r 
 
 A 
 
 BRIEF ACCOUNT 
 
 OF T#E 
 
 MORAL AND POLITICAL ACTS 
 OF THE 
 
 KINGS AND QUEENS 
 
 OF 
 
 E NGLAND. 
 
 [PRICE FIVE SHILLINGS.]
 
 A 
 
 BRIEF ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MORAL AND POLITICAL ACTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 KINGS AND QUEENS 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLAND, 
 
 FROM WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO THE 
 REVOLUTION IN THE YEAR 1688. 
 
 WITH 
 
 REFLECTIONS, 
 
 TENDING TO PROVE THE NECESSITY OF 
 
 A REFORM IN PARLIAMENT. 
 
 \Ve can fcarccly caft our Eyes upon a Page of Hiftory, which is not 
 ftained with the Relation of fome bloody Tranfaftion the Profcription 
 of the Virtuous, or the Triumph of a Villain ; which is fufficient to 
 convince every unprejudiced Man, that the greater Part of the World 
 has hitherto been governed by Barbarians, and which muft prove, to 
 all Men of Sentiment and Humanity, that it is high Time to enquire 
 into the Caufe which has fo often deftroyed the Repofe of the World, 
 and ftained the Annals of Mankind with indelible Difgrace. 
 
 IMLAY'S EMIGRANTS, VOL. III. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR H. D.SYMONDS, No. 20, PATERNOSTER-ROW; 
 AND J. RIDGWAY, YORK-STREET; ST.*JAMS'S-SQUARE.
 
 TO THE 
 
 EDITORS OF THE REVIEWS. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 AS a man, I have dared to think for my- 
 felf, and I hav*3 had courage enough 
 to fupport my opinions ; perfectly fatisfied 
 with the honefty of my intentions, I have al- 
 ways avowed my principles ; the propriety of 
 a Parliamentary Reform has flared me in the 
 face ; and I have, on all occafions, endeavoured 
 to enforce its neceffity ; at laft, Sirs, I am 
 marked out as an object of perfection, and 
 though I dare my neighbours to prove me 
 guilty of one difhonourable act, they have 
 fufficient temerity to withdraw themfelves 
 from my fociety, merely becaufe I refufed to 
 fign their late declarations ; my principles 
 have therefore been held bad, and a public 
 outcry has been raifed againft me. In juilice 
 to myfelf I publifh the following fheets ; you 
 gentlemen, will, I truft, have the goodnefs 
 A to 
 
 2000819
 
 to recollect, that they are written by a man, 
 whofe education, much confined, leave hint 
 only to regret fo irreparable a lofs ; you, of 
 courfe, will not meet with the elegant periods 
 of a Gibbon, or a Hume ; the work is more 
 from the heart than the head ; it is not to dif- 
 play erudition, but principles ; I hope you 
 will therefore difmiis, with your accuftomed 
 candour, the errors of a man, who is no 
 grammarian ; of one who will think for 
 himfelf, but defires not that others fhould 
 think like him, under the penalty of lofmg 
 his pecuniary favours. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 Your's, very refpeclfully, 
 
 The AUTHOR,
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IN the fir ft ages of the world, when Society 
 began to mould itfelf into Government, 
 we may be allured equality prevailed ; the 
 equal rights of mankind were revered ; Go- 
 vernment muft have exifted for iome time 
 before Kings and Nobles were knowii, and 
 Hill longer before hereditary honours and 
 privileges were invented. The rude chief, 
 whofe conquefts Were fupported and extended 
 by a manly ibn, found little difficulty in 
 perfuading his tribe to elect him for his fa- 
 ther's fuccefibr. An example once fet is 
 eafily followed, till at laft the form only of 
 an election prevails. This father, perhaps, 
 has many fons; to gain their acquiefcence 
 diftin6tions are made ; their drefs and their 
 titles vary from the reft of their clan; an 
 affected refer ve is kept up ; and the whole 
 government finks into the hands of the few. 
 A 2 To
 
 iv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 To preferve their diftincYions Religion is do., 
 ^bafed; an uninformed people are naturally 
 fuperititious ; they eafily believe what their 
 priefts tell them, who invariably fuppprt the 
 divine right of Kings*. 
 
 Governments may be refolved into three 
 divifiqns, viz. the Antieht, the Modern, and 
 the New. By the firfl we mean thole go- 
 vernments which exifted before the capture 
 of Conftantinople by Mahomet II. The term 
 Modern we apply only to thofe governments 
 which took place in Europe after its conqueft 
 by thofe barbarians who defolated it from the 
 third till towards the ninth century. By the 
 New we mean the Government of America, 
 which arofe in confequence of a difgraceful* 
 barbarous, and tyrannical attempt to enflave 
 that continent ; and that of the Republic of 
 France, now fighting in defence of its liberty 
 againft a confederacy in which England joins 
 RufTia, Pruilia, and Germany ; thole vile plun- 
 dering robbers, thofe dividers of Poland, in 
 the glorioufly unfuccefsful attempt of enflaving 
 and conquering France. 
 
 It is not our intention, were we even equal 
 to the inveftigation, to enter into the merits 
 or demerits of every feparate ft ate. Of the 
 
 * See Ruflel's Antient Hift. vol. i. from beginning to end. 
 
 antient
 
 INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 antlent governments i'uflke it to fay, that in 
 proportion as they became civilized, they re- 
 jected defpotiiin. The Chinefe wrote down, 
 on a long table placed in the palace, any thing 
 they might coniider as reprehenfible in their 
 government*. The Greeks and Romans, as 
 they were more civilized than other nations, 
 poflefled a greater proportion of liberty than 
 they. ' In Greece the equal Rights of Man 
 were relpecled, and the voice of every Ro- 
 man was heard in the Comitia-f. It is true, 
 evils arofe from the vaft numbers which ne- 
 ceflarily attended their meetings, and the 
 power which an artful orator will ever have 
 over a multitude, combined with the ambition 
 of the Rich, at laft deprived the Greeks 
 and the Romans of their liberties. In each of 
 thefe itates, previous to their final flavery, 
 ariftocracy fupplied the place of equal rights* 
 In Greece the different cities, animated by 
 DemofthenesJ, formed a powerful alliance ; 
 but, unfupported by public virtue, refting on 
 the llender prop of privileged orders, Alex- 
 ander conquered and enflaved them. The 
 ariftocracy of Rome, at once corrupt and di* 
 
 * Voltaire's Manner and Spirit of Nations, vol. i. p. 22. 
 -| Hook's Roman Hiftory, vol. i. p. 201. 
 I Rollin's Antient Hiftory, vol. i. p. 13. 
 
 A 3 vided,
 
 vi I N T R O D U C T I O N. 
 
 vided, after filling the world with blood, 
 yielded at laft to Caefar ; neither could the 
 arm of Brutus, nor the ftern virtue of Cato, 
 retard its fall. Thefe were the only nations 
 of the antient world that deierve our notice ; 
 and when they became the vi&ims of tyranny, 
 the whole world funk into indolence, igno- 
 rance, and cruelty. The religion of the old 
 world was nobly tolerant ; Socrates only was 
 perfecuted by the Greeks ; the Romans ne- 
 ver difgraced themfelves by fuch barbarity. 
 We certainly are not friends to the demo- 
 cracies either of Greece or Rome ; but we <tfk 
 for the governments that ever produced equal 
 virtues and abilities with them. Imperial 
 Rome, and fceptered Perfia, with timid and 
 fervile Egypt, prefent one wide fcene of 
 low ambition, cruel defpotifm, and mind-funk 
 fuperftition. Liberty alone ennobles man, 
 and States arife to glory and to happinefs in 
 proportion as they enjoy it. 
 
 Equality of Rights was as much refpceled in 
 the earlieft ages of the modern governments 
 as in the antient ; but the extreme ignorance 
 of the world foon engendered fuperftition and 
 defpotifm; the priefls of a religion which 
 teaches humility and meekneisl were no 
 
 Iboncr
 
 INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 fooner placed near the throne of Conflantine, 
 than, forgetting the command's of their maf- 
 ter, they fought only to increafe their worldly 
 power ; by hypocrify and cruelty they de- 
 bafed the world, and forced the paffive flaves 
 of tlie Eaft and Weft to fubmit to their man- 
 dates. At Rome a priert ifl'ued eternal dam- 
 nation at his will, and if any dared to have 
 difputed his power, the heretic was burnt 
 alive. Ever intolerant, the priefls of the 
 Greek and Roman empires quarrelled * ; and 
 although the fubjecl of their difpute was un- 
 derftood by neither party, yet the inhabi- 
 tants of the two empires were led, in direct 
 oppofition to the New Tefiament, to hate 
 each other with true theologic zeal. As the 
 Greek Church has not mixed materially with 
 the governments of Europe, we {hall not notice 
 it ; but the Romifh Church fuiferecl none to 
 exift without placing itlelf above the ienate 
 and the throne. No plagues, no famines, no 
 wars, neither divine punilhments nor the efif- 
 allrous inventions of men, could fave a peo- 
 ple from the payment of Peter's pence, or 
 tythe, till printing informed mankind ; then 
 
 * See Gibbon's Hift. of the Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire, abridged, vol. ii.p. 529. 
 
 did
 
 viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 did reafon begin to dawn ; the pricfls of the 
 world in vain endeavoured to it op its pro- 
 greis ; each fire they lighted ferved but to 
 prove the conilancy of the fufferers, and the ir 
 own folly. Galileo afierted the motion of 
 the earth ; he was imprifoiied at Rome, and 
 forced to retrac~l his opinions. Locke, the 
 immortal Locke, honoured the Englifli nation 
 by publiihing his Eflay on Human Under- 
 handing ; the priefts of Oxford ex lulled him 
 that Univerfity ; the priefts who impriibned 
 Galileo, and expelled Locke, are forgotten ; 
 the truths they aflertcd will remain for ever 
 and ever. Cambridge, not to be behind her 
 fifter Univerfity, has expelled William Frend, 
 for recommending peace and union, and for 
 being too honeft to afcribe perfeftion to com- 
 pofitions merely human. The priells in the 
 high day of ignorance recommended pafllve 
 obedience, firft to themfelves, next to the 
 1 Princes and Nobles of the world ; but fince 
 printing and reafon have driven them from 
 the helm, they are contented to blend their own 
 interefts with thofe of the privileged clafles, 
 and to keep to themfelves their ty thes and their 
 dignitaries ; they willingly preach up that 
 iubmimbn to others which they once endea- 
 voured
 
 INTRODUCTION. i$- 
 
 voured to monopolize to themfelves. The 
 extreme ignorance which the priefts contrived 
 to keep the people in, was very favourable to 
 the tyranny of their Kings ; and, generally 
 fpeaking, no country is free, though very few 
 exift without retaining fome marks of having 
 been once fo. Many enjoy privileges; but 
 we deteft that freedom which is a royal boon. 
 Some of thefe countries have been called 
 Democracies and Republics ; but where in 
 Europe did power emanate from the people 
 only ? The governments of Europe are all 
 either abfolutely monarchical or ariftocrati- 
 cal ; England alone retains the fhadow of 
 freedom. Without entering into the difpute 
 of what conftituted the S^xon wittena-gemot, 
 it is acknowledged on all hands that every 
 freeman voted for his representative in Par- 
 liament till the reign of Henry VI.; Henry 
 VII. to lefTen the power of the nobility, gave 
 reprefentatives to boroughs ; fmall numbers 
 received from him privileges equal to the 
 rights of counties ; his example was followed 
 by his fucceflbrs ; the power which the Crown, 
 then pofleffed is now in the hands of the 
 Nobles, and the free voice of the people is 
 fcarce heard in the Britim Parliament. Ano- 
 ther
 
 x INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ther privilege was left; Juries reprefented 
 the people, and while their purity remained, 
 the people's liberties and properties were fe- 
 cured ; it was under the reign of Brunfwick 
 that Special Juries were invented, and their 
 fervility has proved how little we ought to- 
 be thankful for the invention *. 
 
 The New Governments we defined to be 
 thofe of America and France. In thefe 
 countries, 
 
 u Man, equal man, no vain diftinftion knows, 
 ** With pride he thinks, with energy he glows, 
 " Republic valour even- bofom fires, 
 " Republic virtue every foul infpiresf." 
 
 On thefe Republics we will not indulge 
 ourfelves in praife ; we honour the truly Chrif- 
 tian precept, " Do as you would be done 
 " unto " and we fee with pleafure States 
 forming themfelves on that axiom. In France 
 no charters prevent a Frenchman living 
 wherever* in France he pleafes ; no man, be- 
 caufe he belongs to one parilh, is prevented 
 
 * " A fingle jail, in Alfred's golden rign, ' 
 " Could half the nation's criminals contain ; 
 " Fair Juftice then, without conftraint adop'd, 
 " Held high the fteady frale, but deep'd the faord; 
 " tyfpifs. wrc paid, no facial juries IHO-WI, 
 "Bleftage! but ah! how diff'rent from our own!" 
 
 Dr. JOHNSON'S London* 
 t See Courtenay's beautiful Ode on the Trench Revolution. 
 
 fettling
 
 INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 fettling wherever his honefl industry will 
 maintain him ; no venal fuffrage there can 
 be bought ; no Entail ; no Excife ; no Teft 
 A61 ; no ftarving Curates ; no Game Laws ; 
 no Manorial Rights ; no unmerited Penfions ; 
 no finecure Places ; no Ty thes there fvvell the 
 pride of the few, or deluge with mifery the 
 many; no Monopolies there reflricl: trade; 
 all is open, all is free ; what one enjoys, all of 
 equal ref peccability and virtue may enjoy *. 
 
 The following fheets were principally writ- 
 ten in the months of January and February ; 
 they would have been publifhed earlier had 
 not fome unforefeen delays occurred ; an hue 
 and cry has fince been raifed againft the lo- 
 vers of equality ; and the wicked have made 
 the weak believe, that an equality of property 
 is their defign. Moft folemnly we declare, 
 that never from any one man have we heard 
 
 * We regret the maflacres which have difgraced the French 
 Revolution ; but we do not much wonder at them ; bad men 
 abound in every country ; and the gold of the defpots, we 
 doubt not, has been plentifully diftributed to embroil the affairs 
 of France. Let Englimmen remember the cruelties exercifed 
 by themfelves in their conteft with the Americans, the employ- 
 ing favages to murder and fcalp, the firing of towns, the moot- 
 ing of women, their treatment of prifonersf; and if juftice 
 obliges them in fome things to accufe the French of barbarity 
 let them recollect they are not wholly guiltlefs of the fame crime, 
 t See Gordon's Hifl. of the American War. 
 
 the
 
 xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the nioft diftant intimation of fuch a defign ; 
 it any now defire it, we are convinced that it 
 muit have arifen from the aflbciations, who. 
 flarted the idea ; thofe enemies to liberty and 
 human happinefs -f. To whom we believe we 
 owe the prefent war ; their attempts to de- 
 ftroy the liberties of the prefs will be, I truft > 
 fru'ftrated by the virtues of its friends ; a So- 
 ciety has been formed to defend it ; and with 
 pleafure we fee the wifeft and the beft men 
 }n the kingdom are members of it. 
 
 Nobles, all hail ! O fight of joyful hope 
 
 " For fuffering England ! Patriot band of worthies, 
 
 " Confederate by the holieft bond on earth, 
 
 To the beft, deareft caufe." 
 
 Raitlt of Ha/lings, Art II. Scene I. 
 
 With refpeftto the War, we beg leave to 
 mention the following fafts : The poor rates 
 in the city of Norwich were, at Chrifhnas 
 1792, one fhilling and ninepence in the pound 
 per quarter ; to. relieve the diftrefles of the poor 
 two thoufand pounds were afterwards fub- 
 fcribed; at Lady-day 1793 the poor rates 
 were advanced to three (hillings and feven- 
 pence; and I am well informed, that next 
 Midfummer rates will be four (Killings and 
 
 t We mean not thus to accufe every individual aflbciation- 
 we fpeak of the whole, not of a component part." 
 
 twopence
 
 INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 twopence in the pound, befides a debt in- 
 curred of eight hundred pounds. There are 
 at this time fourteen thoufand poor people out 
 of employment in the city of Norwich ; fpin- 
 ning found bread for thoufands in the county 
 of Norfolk ; fourteenpence was allowed for 
 the fpinning of a pound of wool ; now, in 
 time of war, eightpence only is given ; and 
 it has been lower. 
 
 In the month of March I went into a poor 
 .man's houfe ; the day was cold ; I was afto- 
 nifhed to find the woman in bed without a 
 fire *; this me explained to me by faying, that 
 file could not procure work which would pay 
 for firing. Such are the fufferings of the 
 poor ; let us attend to them, and not infult 
 their feelings by declarations of happinefs, to 
 which they are too generally eft ranged -f . 
 
 Let us remember that from the firft day of 
 January to the laft of May 1793, ^4 2 bank- 
 rupts were announced in the Gazette. It 
 
 * " Ye poor and wretched, fuffer and be dumb, 
 " And wait for happinefs in worlds to come." 
 f One of the arguments againft the abolition of the Slave 
 Trade is, the fuperior fituation of the flaves in the Weft-Tndies 
 to what our common people poflefs ; yet the Afibciators (who 
 include the enemies to the abolition of that trade) aifecl to dwell 
 upon the fuperior happinefs of the people of England ; how are 
 thefe opinions to be reconciled ? 
 
 may
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 may be the intereft of the few to make and 
 continue wars ; it cannot be that of the 
 many ; and it is the bufinefs of the following 
 fheets to prove, that the intereft of the peo- 
 ple was never attended to, nor ever will, till 
 there is a Reform in Parliament. 
 
 '793-
 
 REGAL TABLE. 
 
 Page 
 
 William the Conqueror - i 
 
 II. ... 9 
 
 Henry I. . . .16 
 
 Stephen - - . aa 
 
 Henry II. - - - 26 
 
 Richard I. . . - 30 
 
 John - 36 
 
 Henry III. - - - 45 
 
 Edward I. - - 59 
 
 III. - .11 
 
 Richard II, , 9J 
 
 Henry IV. - . - - xor 
 
 V. -. - ,07 
 
 VL to II4 
 
 Edward IV. . . -129 
 
 V. * , . I26 
 
 Richard III. . . - 130 
 
 Henry VII. . 135 
 
 VIII. . X4S 
 
 Edward VI. . . -159 
 
 Mary . - - 161 
 
 Elizabeth . . . 168 
 
 James I. . - 180 
 
 Charles I. - - 193 
 
 II. * - 207 
 
 James II. ^ - % . &$g
 
 'Jo iJji'JW/OCJ JJOI/f-OffJ liJ ' 
 
 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, 
 
 AS it is not our intention to review the 
 condu6l of William before he feated 
 himfelf on the Throne of England, we {hall 
 wholly omit his pretenfions to that Throne ; 
 poor they certainly were, or an armed force 
 would not have been neceflary to have fup- 
 ported them. For we hold it a mod certain 
 fadt, that all legitimate power is derived from 
 the governed. William feems himfelf to have 
 been confcious of it ; before the Crown was 
 placed on his head he afked the confent of 
 the Engliih *. The confent of a conquered 
 people is eafily obtained, and William was 
 crowned King of England in the year 1066", 
 The fa6l is ftill important, as it proves 
 
 * Rapin, vol. i. p. 151. 
 
 B (though
 
 C 3 
 
 (though called a Conqueror) he dare not 
 afiume the Crown without the forms of elec- 
 tion. He alfo took the oaths ufually admi- 
 niftered to the Saxon Kings *, which he did 
 not break till the moft powerful of the Saxon 
 Nobles voluntarily furrendered to him. To 
 commemorate the action of Hafiings he foun- 
 ded a Church and Abbey there f, as he 
 pretended, to pray for the fouls of himfelf 
 and Harold ; but the true reafon appears 
 through this flimfy difguife ; it was to com- 
 memorate his viclory. In this opinion we 
 cannot be deceived. William was not fuper- 
 ftitious, but vain glorious ; of this a proof 
 immediately follows, by appearing before the 
 French AmbafTador -f at Fefcamp in all the 
 fplendour he could aflume. 
 
 This Prince, naturally of a rigid, mif- 
 truftful, covetous difpofition -f , opprefled his 
 fubjecls beyond the poffibility of fubmiflfion. 
 He forced them into rebellions, which enabled 
 him to fill his own coffers, and reward his 
 followers. As a proof of this we find, that 
 in the courfe of this reign the lands pa fled fo 
 generally from the Englifh to the Normans, 
 that they might be faid to be the only pof- 
 
 * Littleton's Hift. p. 41. | Rapin, 1 52. 
 
 feflbrs
 
 C 3 n 
 
 feffors in England*. -Ed win Earl of Chefter 
 \vas one of the mod powerful of the Englifh 
 Nobles, William therefore endeavoured to 
 amufe him till he could devife fome means 
 to leflen his confequence. With this view 
 the King promifed him his daughter in mar- 
 riage, though it appears he never intended 
 to fulfil that promife. Mankind have ever 
 difcovered a readinefs to depend on the pro- 
 mifes of royalty, and Edwin was deceived ; 
 he flew, as the tyrant expected, to arms, 
 for which William was prepared, who foon 
 forced him to fubmit. The rich and pow- 
 erful of the rebels he pardoned, though large 
 fines were impofed upon them. We might 
 here be tempted to fuppofe he pofiefled fome 
 degree of mercy, had he not thrown fuch 
 numbers of inferior rebels into prifon, and 
 exercifed upon them -exemplary jujlice^. By 
 his order the Englifh were deprived of arms, 
 and were forbid, on pain of death, having 
 lights in their houfes after eight o'clock in 
 the evening. 
 
 An infurreclion took place in Northum- 
 berland ; the infurgents were affifted by the 
 Danes and Scots ; they were foon difperfed . 
 
 * Rapin, 153. f Duke of Brunfwick's Manifefto. 
 
 B 2 William
 
 C 4 3 
 
 William, fenfible that the Englifh fubmitted 
 to his government more from fear than af- 
 feclion, was refolved to render them inca- 
 pable of future infurreclions ; he was heard 
 to fwear by God's fplendour, that he would 
 not leave a Northumbrian alive. He iflued 
 orders for laying wafte the whole tract of 
 country between the Humber and the Tees. 
 The houfes were reduced to afhes*, the 
 cattle feized and driven away, the inftru- 
 ments of hufbandry deflroyed, the inhabitants 
 compelled either to quit the kingdom or to 
 perifh miferably in the woods. It is com- 
 puted that one hundred thoufand perfons 
 were thus murdered by this inhuman defpot, 
 and for fixty miles not a houfe was left 
 flanding. About this time he ordered all 
 pleadings to be carried on in the Norman 
 language. He robbed the churches and mp- 
 nafteries of their riches ; he did not even 
 fpare the ihrines of the faints, or the con- 
 fecrated vefiels. Thus the King's whole 
 conduct convinced the Englifli that his de- 
 fign was to reduce them fo low that they 
 Ihould never again be able to hold up their 
 heads. Frederick, Abbot of St. Alban's, fcc- 
 
 * Mod. Part of Univerfal Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 53. 
 
 ing
 
 C 5 n 
 
 ing that their liberties would be for ever loft 
 if they did not make a vigorous effort, fud- 
 denly drew an army together, which was fo 
 powerful as to intimidate the tyrant, who met 
 the malcontents at Berkhaniftead, calmly 
 heard their grievances, and fwore on the 
 Evangelilts to redrefs them. The infurgents 
 were fatisfied, and difperfed ; but royal faith 
 was not to be depended on. William or- 
 dered great numbers of thofe who had taken 
 up arms againft him to be feized ; fome he 
 put to death, fome he bammed, and fome he 
 imprifoned *. A body of the malcontents 
 retired to Ely, and for fome time defended 
 themfelves; but the monarch at laft made 
 himfelf mafter of the place, when he ordered 
 the hands to be lopped off, and the eyes to be 
 put out, of many of the prifoners -f ; after 
 which he difperfed them through the coun- 
 try, as a terror to the people. We muft not 
 pafs over his immenfe revenues ; he fqueezed 
 from the people four hundred thoufand 
 pounds a year, a fum equivalent to twelve 
 millions of money of modern eftimation j ; 
 befides, he obliged the monafteries to main- 
 
 * Rapin, p. 157. t Univ. Hifl. vol. xxxix. p. 57. + Smol- 
 let's Hift. of England, p. 413. 
 
 B 3 tain
 
 C 6 3 
 
 tain for him fixty tboufand Kniglits. It gives 
 us fome pleafure to find the boldnefs of this 
 King well applied, which it certainly was, 
 in oppofing the claims made by the Pope to 
 the fovereignty of England. He declared to 
 the Nuncio that he held his crown only of 
 God and his fword, forgetting the right of 
 his people, which, at his coronation, he had 
 tacitly allowed, by afking their confent. One 
 ilrong example of royal gratitude may be 
 found in this King's condu6l to Earl Wal- 
 thoff, who, when heated with wine, was 
 drawn into a confpiracy by fome Norman 
 Lords ; the next day he went and difclofed 
 it to Lanfranc, Archbifliop of Canterbury, 
 who commended his repentance, advifed him 
 to caft himfelf at the King's feet, and even 
 wrote a letter to William in WalthofTs fa- 
 vour. The King was fo much alarmed that 
 he left Normandy, where he then was, and 
 returned to England, and Walthotf was par- 
 doned ; but as foon as the confpiracy was 
 itifled, he was apprehended, publicly be- 
 headed, and buried under the fcaffold *. As 
 affection feems to have little ihare in the 
 hearts of Princes, Robert, the eldclt fon 
 
 * Rapin, vol. i. p. 159. 
 
 of
 
 C 7 3 
 
 of William, attempted to rob his father of 
 the Dukedom of Normandy, with the affif- ' 
 tance of the French King ; but they did not 
 fucceed. Some excufe may be attempted 
 for a few of the crimes of William ; but 
 for the inhuman feverity of his For eft Laws 
 it is impoflible. He declared that whoever 
 killed a deer, boar, or hare *, fhould have 
 his eyes put out ; nor was he fatisfied with 
 thus confining to himfelf the vaft tra<5ls 
 of foreft which he found in England ; he 
 made a new one in Hampfhire, laid wafte 
 a country above thirty miles in extent, 
 drove out all the inhabitants, and deftroyed 
 their dwellings and churches ; fo that Attila 
 himfelf did not more juftly deferve to be 
 named the Scourge of God than this. mer- 
 cilefs Norman -f . We cannot but feel happy 
 in having finiflied our review of this mon- 
 fter's acts. He had for fome time been af- 
 flicted with corpulency, and latterly with a 
 fever, which was increafed by a fall from 
 his horfe, in confequence of which he grew 
 worfe and worfe, and died the $th day of 
 September, 1087, in the fixty-fourth year of 
 
 * Univ. Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 62. f Vide Littleton's Hift. of 
 Hen. II. p. 56 and 59. 
 
 his
 
 C 8 3 
 
 his age, and after having reigned twenty-one 
 years over England. 
 
 If we confider William as a Man, by the 
 laws of morality he appears deftitute of every 
 virtue ; that he had great courage and capa- 
 city will not be denied ; but he was cruel be- 
 yond the age in which he lived ; his laws 
 and punimments were often greatly inade- 
 quate to the guilt of the offenders ; his dif- 
 pofition was haughty and overbearing ; to 
 gain his purpofe, equity and humanity were 
 alike difregarded ; no man delighted more in 
 pomp and oftentation than William ; at the 
 fame time none was ever more miferably 
 avaricious. 
 
 WILLIAM
 
 WILLIAM THE SECOND, 
 
 SO firmly was the power of William the 
 Conqueror eftabliihed, that, by will, he 
 bequeathed the Kingdom of England to his 
 fecond fon William, furnamed Rufus, from 
 the colour of his hair. Thus man was made 
 the property of man, and a whole people were 
 difpofed of like Itock. This Prince actually 
 feized the Crown without any form of elec- 
 tion, although he was univerfally hated both 
 by the Normans and Englifh ; a very ftrong 
 proof of the native badnefs of his heart. 
 We cannot but obferve how partial the 
 Englifh have ever been to the fuppofed vir- 
 tues of their Princes before they arrived at 
 the Throne, although there is hardly one 
 inftance in which they have not been de- 
 ceived. William, however, is an exception 
 to this obfervation ; he was as much hated 
 
 before
 
 C 10 3 
 
 before as after he afcended the Throne ; and 
 although little oppofition was made to his 
 accefllon, yet the hearts of his fubjecls were 
 with his elder brother Robert, who appears 
 to us to have been formed by the times in 
 which he lived. He was brave and ferocious, 
 naturally good tempered, fond of fhew and 
 oftentation ; his open, liberal difpofition, made 
 him an eafy prey to every defigning fcoun- 
 drel, and the dupe of every artful villain. 
 Robert was more deficient in wifdom than 
 in virtue ; William more deficient in virtue 
 than in wifdom. 
 
 As it was necefiary to keep the Englifh in 
 good humour, William promifed to repeal 
 the rigorous game laws, and to rule in a very 
 different manner to his father. The Englifh 
 were thus deceived as long as it was his intereft 
 to deceive them. When that ceafed, he be- 
 came even a worfe tyrant than his father. It 
 has been truly remarked*, that he was a per- 
 fect brute in his manners ; that he governed 
 himfelf neither by religion, honour, or ho- 
 nefty. William was crowned the 2 7th day of 
 September, 1087, eighteen days after his fa- 
 ther's death. This event did not take place 
 
 * Patriot, vol. i. p. 433. 
 
 with-
 
 C " 3 
 
 without a druggie in favour of Robert, which 
 was defeated by the indolence and extrava- 
 gance of that Prince. The King now began 
 to difplay his native difpofition, and Lan- 
 franc, Archbifhop of Canterbury, to whom 
 he had hitherto implicitly fubmitted, nay 
 fworn to obey his precepts *, mildly expoflu- 
 lating with him, and reminding him of his 
 former profe (lions, William afked him in an 
 angry tone -f, and with an oath, whether he 
 thought it poffible for a King to keep his 
 promifes. From that time to the death of 
 the Archbifliop, which happened foon after, 
 the King never gave him one kind look. 
 Upon his death he feized the temporalities of 
 his Archbifhopric, and all the vacant bene- 
 fices in England, the moveables of which he 
 fold to the befl bidder. He foon after feized 
 the Bifhopric of Lincoln, and all others as 
 they became vacant, during his reign. In- 
 ftead of abating the rigour of the game laws, 
 he made a new one, by which a man con- 
 victed of killing a deer was puniihable with 
 .death. By the advice of Flambard, (a Mi- 
 nifter adapted to this King "|) a man without 
 
 * Littleton's Hen. II. vol. i. p. 80. f Rapin, p. 166. 
 } Smollet's Hift. of England, vol. i. p. 66a. 
 
 learning^
 
 C i 3 
 
 learning, or even an external fhew of reli- 
 gion, whom he had made Bifhop of Durham) 
 he levied aids by the royal authority*, upon 
 a pretended neceflity, of which the King him- 
 felf was alone the judge ; or afked as free 
 gifts what no man dare refufe. Had William 
 been at all influenced by natural aflfeftion 
 he would have been contented with the 
 Crown of England ; but his mind was too 
 royally formed to admit fuch plebeian vir- 
 tue ; he therefore undertook to rob his 
 brother of Normandy, the government of 
 which was bequeathed to Robert by his fa- 
 ther. The people of England were too 
 much enflaved to refift his will, and he forced 
 an army of Englifhmen to pafs over into 
 Normandy, to conquer that country for him ; 
 for the purpofes of gratifying his ambition, 
 men of one country were to meet men of 
 another, to hew, hack, and murder each 
 other. Humanity mrinks from the idea of a 
 battle where thoufands and tens of thoufands 
 of the fame fpecies are oppofed to each other 
 for purpofes in which, as individuals, they can 
 have no concern ; and the bed a man can 
 expect is to be murdered. For alas I far 
 
 * Littleton's Hen. II. vol. i. p. 88. 
 
 better
 
 C 's D 
 
 better that, tljan to be ipaimed and left to 
 linger through life with painful and incu- 
 rable wounds. Yet this has been the too ge- 
 neral fyftem of Kings, who have contrived fo 
 to deftroy the faculties of man, as to produce 
 and continue hatred for centuries between 
 the people of two countries', divided only by 
 about twenty miles of fea, .We trufl better 
 times will foon arrive, and we hope a libe- 
 ral policy will illuminate the two nations, 
 England and France. But to return. 
 
 When William invaded Normandy, Ro- 
 bert was quite unprepared ; but by the af- 
 fiftance of his younger brother Henry, the 
 Englifh King was obliged to relinquifh the 
 enterprize, keeping however fuch places as 
 he had conquered. William was foon after 
 engaged in a Scottifh war, from which he 
 was released by the mediation of the gene- 
 rous Robert ; which favour William returned 
 by endeavouring to withdraw the Norman 
 Lords from their allegiance. Heaven at laft 
 feemed tired with the enormities of this royal 
 blood-hound, who fickened and pretended to 
 repent. He promifed if he recovered to re- 
 ftore the church lands, and ordered many 
 prif oners to be releafed ; but upon his reco- 
 very,
 
 very, the firft was delayed, on various pre- 
 tences, and the prifoners were again con- 
 fined. He returned to his old courfes with 
 redoubled profligacy. Extortion, injuftice, 
 and rapine, wer'e as prevalent as ever ; in- 
 formers protected and encouraged ; the peo- 
 ple were fo grievoufly opprcfled that multi- 
 tudes were about to quit their native coun- 
 try ; when lo ! the tyrant publifhed an edict, 
 forbidding perfons to leave their country 
 without permiflion from the King. William 
 again invaded Normandy ; but was obliged, 
 by a defcent of the Welch upon England, to 
 quit the Continent. 
 
 About this time crufading became fafhion- 
 able, and Robert wifhed to indulge himfelf 
 in that extravagant folly, which could not be 
 done without money ; he therefore mort- 
 gaged his territory to William ; thus Nor- 
 mandy was again united to the Englifh Crown. 
 The two countries were however fet free from 
 this tyrant on the fecond of Auguft 1100, by 
 a fortunate arrow of Sir Walter Tyrrel, who 
 accidentally (hot him through the heart, at 
 a hunting match in the New Foreft, after a 
 tyranny of twelve years. This man muft be 
 allowed to have been brave, and to have 
 
 given
 
 given proofs, in fome few inflances, of the 
 romantic generofity which marked the age 
 in which he lived ; particularly after having 
 furprifed and taken prifoner Count de la 
 Flefche, who was then befieging Mons, and 
 whom he received with infult. The noble 
 Count declared, " An accident has made me 
 " your prifoner ; but if I was free I know 
 " what I fhould do." " Be goite/' replied the 
 King ; " I give you leave to do your utmoft, 
 " and I fwear to you if you overcome me 
 " hereafter, I will afk no return from you 
 " for having thus fet you free." He was 
 fond of expence, gloried in his vices, and 
 praclifed the moft open and horrid impiety. 
 He was deftitute alike of religion and huma- 
 nity ; diflblute and lavim to fuch a degree, 
 that he was often poor, though his ordinary 
 revenues were the fame as his father's ; and he 
 increafed them by every act of rapacity which 
 could be devifed. ' To conclude his charac- 
 ter, he was, in every fenfe, a BAD MAN, 
 and the mifery of England was complete in 
 his reign *. 
 
 * Littleton's Hen. II. vol. i. p. 132. 
 
 HENRY
 
 t * a 
 
 HENRY, 
 
 ROBERT, at the death of his brothel 4 , 
 was in Apulia^ upon his return from 
 Jerufalem. Henry was in England, and de- 
 termined to make the belt ufe of that advan- 
 tage, and of his birth. Henry being born 
 after the acceflion of his father to the Crown 
 of England, is faid to have afiembled the 
 people*, and on their favour to have grounded 
 his title. His election muft be acknowledged 
 to have been irregular. Fortunately for the 
 Englim, he wanted their afliftance, and felt 
 the neceflity of their affection. Sir Robert 
 Filmer acknowledges, that " he caufed the 
 " Commons to aflemble Knights and Bur- 
 " gefies of their own chufmg-f ." He re- 
 nounced all the unjuft prerogatives of the 
 two laft Kings ; he reftored the Saxon laws ; 
 
 * Patriot, vol. i. p. 435. f Sidney's Difcourfe on Govern- 
 ment, p. 380. 
 
 he
 
 C '7 3 
 
 lie alfo granted a charter, the original of the 
 great charter, and a particular one to" the 
 City of London. We muft obferve, that 
 the people received the firft as a favour, 
 "Which indeed ought to have been demanded 
 as a right ; and of the fecond, that charters 
 thus given to particular places or perfons 
 are no better than robberies. Such we hold 
 all corporations poffefling exclufive rights, 
 as they clearly force from the many, to fce- 
 ftow on the few, thofe rights which nature 
 gave to all *. Their original defign was td 
 increafe the power of the Crown againft ait 
 ariftocracy (powerful and haughty) to whom 
 this kingdom, it muft be allowed, is in- 
 debted for the liberties it has fo long boafted. 
 At the fame time it muft be obferved, that 
 ^very privilege forced from the Kings was 
 defigned to add to the powers of the Nobles, 
 
 * As a proof of the injuftice of Corporation Laws, the 
 author begs lea^e to fay, tliat he was born in the city of Nor- 
 wich, and though his father had carried on a trade in that city 
 for many yean before his birth, yet, as his father had not 
 taken up his freedom before the author was born, he cannot, 
 according to the prefent fyftem, follow his own vocation in thati 
 city without paying to the corporation a fine of thirty pounds 
 atleaft. Hard injuftice! which, m a country that buafls fo 
 much of freedom, permits not a man to get his bread jn the 
 place of his nativity. 
 
 C who
 
 , C l8 3 
 
 who attempted little to eftablifh the rights of 
 the Commons. The general rights of this 
 latter body derive their political confequence 
 wholly from the difpute which for fo many 
 centuries exifted between the Nobles and 
 the Crown. This obliged both parties to 
 court the Commons by turns. Robert, 
 upon his return from the Holy Land, made 
 an attempt to gain the Crown of England, 
 wfych proved unfuccefsful. However, Henry 
 never forgave thofe who fupported it, and 
 by the moft arbitrary proceedings, fubdued 
 the power of feveral Nobles. He boldly fup- 
 ported his right of inverting Bifhops, againft 
 Anfelm, Archbifhop of Canterbury, who 
 oppofed his pretenfions to it. The Duke of 
 Normandy vifited England, in order toprefs 
 the payment of his penfion *, which Henry 
 had promifed him upon refigning the crown 
 to him ; but Henry pretended to take um- 
 brage at this vifit -f, and the King's Prime 
 Minifter hinted to him, that to efcape clanger 
 he mud relinquifh his annuity, which was 
 done accordingly. He foon after, in the 
 mod unjuft manner, invaded and conquered 
 Normandy. Robert was fo unwife as to 
 
 * Rapin, vol. i, p. 1 75. -f Smollct, vol. i. p. 475. 
 
 come
 
 c 19 n 
 
 come over to England to make an appeal to 
 the heart of his brother, but finding himfelf 
 treated with the utmoil infolence and con- 
 tempt, he quitted the kingdom in a tranf- 
 port of rage*. Robert was foon after de- 
 feated in a battle at Tenerchebray, and taken 
 prifoner ; he was fent into England, and kept 
 in clofe confinement in different parts of that 
 kingdom upwards of twenty-eight years, 
 when death fet him free. We muft ob- 
 ferve, that the unnatural brother who thus 
 confined him (it is even faid put out his eyes) 
 who had robbed him of his dominions and 
 property, was indebted to him for his life, 
 which Robert generoufly faved at the fiege 
 of St. Michael. To ilifle the reproaches of 
 his confcience, Henry founded the Abbey of 
 Reading. Though the King was not jufl 
 himfelf, he had hitherto caufed juftice to be 
 well adminiftered, and enacted many ufeful 
 laws ; from which, happy omens were con- 
 ceived of his equity and moderation ; but 
 Robert being now in his power, and Nor- 
 mandy under his government, Henry, like 
 his predeceflbrs, proved how little we mud: 
 rely upon royal promifes, and how neceffary 
 
 * Rapin, vol. i. p. 178* 
 
 C 3 it
 
 C 20 H 
 
 it is for a people who vvifh to be free to 
 eftablifh fuch barriers as would fruftrate all 
 attempts of defpotifm. He baniflied all his 
 former affability, treated his Nobles with 
 the mod indecent rudenefs, and ruled with 
 defpotic fway ; thus breaking the charter he 
 had given when he thought it necefiary to 
 court the people. He married his daughter 
 Matilda to the Emperor Henry the Fourth, 
 and upon this occafion fqueezed from the 
 people an immenfe fum. Soon after his fon 
 was drowned, with a great many of the no- 
 bility, which fo affecled the King, that he 
 was never feen to laugh after *. Pity is al- 
 moft denied to the father who had never 
 fhown any for his brother. William was 
 faid to have been a Prince of great hopes ; 
 but we believe that has been laid of every 
 Prince who did not live to afcend the throne, 
 end thereby falfify that opinion. 
 
 Henry, by his expenfive wars, had into- 
 lerably burthened his fubjecls, and excited 
 an univerfal fpirit of difcontent ; the Judges 
 were become venal and arbitrary f ; the rich 
 were exempted from the penalties of the 
 laws ; the coin was debafed to fuch a de- 
 
 * Smollet, vol. ii, g. n f Ibid. 
 
 gree,
 
 C 21 3 
 
 gree, that a pound would fcarce purchafe the 
 value of a (hilling. At length Henry was 
 feized with a violent illnefs, faid to be afur- 
 feit, caufed by eating lampreys, which carried 
 him off in feven days, in the fixty-eighth year 
 of his age, having reigned thirty-fix years. 
 In forming our opinion of the character of 
 Henry, his deep diffimulation muft not pals 
 unnoticed ; he continued it for years, and the 
 Englifh were completely duped. When that 
 was no longer neceflary, w r e find him am- 
 bitious, vindictive, cruel, and unnatural ; and 
 fo avaricious, that though frequently engaged 
 in expenfive wars, he died the richeft Prince 
 in Europe. He was fenfual to a great de- 
 gree, and left a very numerous illegitimate 
 iflue. 
 
 STEPHEN
 
 22 
 
 STEPHEN, 
 
 HENRY imagined, by the favours he had 
 conferred, and the oaths he had ex- 
 acted from Stephen, that he had fecured his 
 daughter Matilda's afcent to the throne. He 
 might have known, from his own conduct, 
 that when a Crown is in view, oaths and 
 favours are alike forgotten. Stephen was 
 brave, and the Englifh difliked the idea of a 
 woman's ruling over them. He alfo agreed 
 to acknowledge the Crown as the gift of the 
 Clergy and Nobles, and confirmed all their 
 immunities. This was a kind of election 
 which reflected little honour on the parties, 
 as the rights of the people were completely 
 facrificed. We alfo wonder how fuch an 
 impofition could be put upon the Nobles, 
 after fuch repeated proofs of the frailty of 
 royal promifes. Stephen was proclaimed at 
 London, and crowned at Winchefler, where 
 he feized Henry's treafure, which amounted 
 
 to
 
 C 23 3 
 
 to one hundred thoufand pounds, befides 
 plate and jewels *. He foon, only one year 
 after taking the oath to continue the rights 
 of the Clergy, feized the revenues of the 
 Archbifhopric of Canterbury, which then 
 became vacant ; and as the Archbi (hop died 
 inteitate, converted his effects to his own 
 ufe-f-. He alfo feized the perfons of the 
 Bifhops of Lincoln and Salifbury, and thus 
 diflatisfied the whole body of the Clergy; 
 and no wonder ; for it was in direct viola- 
 tion of his oath. In this critical fituation 
 Matilda landed to difpoflefs him of the Crown 
 of England, and thus deluged England with 
 blood . Alas ! how often has it happened 
 that the Kings and Princes of the world, who 
 are fuppofed to be the fathers and protec- 
 tors of mankind, have enlarged their mife- 
 ries, defolated their countries, and deftroyed 
 their habitations. Oneinftance of generofity 
 and politenefs in this Prince it would be un- 
 candid not to relate. Matilda was befieged in 
 Arundel Caftle, and (he muft have fur ren- 
 dered it to him ; but as the Caftle belonged to 
 the Queen Dowager, Stephen thought it rude 
 
 * Vide Smollet, vol. ii. p. 30. f Rapin, vol. i. p. 183. 
 
 to
 
 C ** 3 
 
 to take it by force, and actually himfelf con- 
 veyed the Queen to Briftol taitle. Stephen 
 was foon after taken prifoner, but not till he 
 bad defended himfelf with aftoni thing cou- 
 rage ; the Earl of Glo'fter being afterwards 
 taken prifoner, was exchanged for the King. 
 This Nobleman was brother to the Emprefs 
 Matilda, and the King is accufed by ionie 
 hiftorians of attempting to poifon him*. 
 Some time after, Euftace, the fon of Stephen, 
 died ; and it was agreed, with the aflent of 
 the Barons, that Stephen fhould hold the 
 Crown during his life, and that on his de- 
 ceafe it fhould come to Henry, the fon of 
 Matilda ; which foon after happened. It 
 muft be allowed that Stephen was not fo bad 
 as the Kings, his predeceflbrs ; but whether 
 this negative merit may not be Attributed to 
 the almoft conftant wars he was engaged in 
 to fupport his title. We rather apprehend it 
 may, as he appeared to pay no regard to his 
 oath before Matilda's invafion. England was 
 truly unhappy during his reign ; oppreflecl 
 by two rival Princes, an over -ruling arifto- 
 cracy, each member of which was a tyrant 
 within his own domain ; and a Clergy, who 
 
 * Rapin, voL i. p. 185, 
 
 endea-
 
 I 25 3 
 
 endeavoured to render themfelves indepen- 
 dent, of national authority. It cannot be 
 doubted but Stephen was politic in endea- 
 vouring to leflen their power ; but we muft 
 alfo confider, that to do it he broke the moft 
 facred oaths, and introduced foreign merce- 
 naries into the kingdom. 
 
 HENRY
 
 ,6 
 
 HENRY THE SECOND. 
 
 .11 
 
 THIS Prince was befieging a Caftle in 
 Normandy when he received advice of 
 Stephen's death, which he did not relinquifh, 
 nor did he arrive in England till after an inter- 
 val of fix weeks from the death of his prede- 
 ceflbr. Henry knew that unhappy country 
 was too much injured, and too nearly mined, 
 to oppofe his claims, had the Englifh been 
 ever fo well difpofed to fupport William, the 
 fon of Stephen. The firft acts of Kings 
 are generally popular; Henry accordingly 
 difmified the foreign mercenaries, and re- 
 ftored the value of the coin. He foon after re- 
 fumed all the grants made in the reign of his 
 predeceflbr ; among the reft, thofe of Wil- 
 liam of Blois, fon of Stephen, though he 
 had guaranteed -them to him in the life of 
 his father*, by the moft folemn treaties, 
 proving that Henry was, like his predcccf- 
 
 * Rapin, 202. 
 
 fors,
 
 fors, little regardful of oaths or treaties, when 
 the power to fet them afide was once in their 
 hands. Henry fwore, at the death of his 
 father*, to perform every article of his will. 
 Agreeable to that oath he fhould have re- 
 figned fome earldoms on the Continent to 
 his brother Geoffry, upon his gaining pof- 
 feilion of the Englilh Throne ; but, as foon 
 as he was crowned, he applied to the Pope to 
 difpenfe with his oath, which was accor- 
 dingly done by that holy Pontiff. Some time 
 after, Henry entered into a quarrel with 
 Thomas a Becket, Archbifhop of Canter- 
 bury. As this difpute does not enter into 
 the defign of this work, we fhall only fay, 
 that it ended in the murder of the Arch- 
 bifhop, though it does not appear that the 
 King gave any orders to that purpofe. 
 
 In the latter part of the year 11% about 
 thirty men and women, of a feel called 
 Publicans, who rejected the eucharift, were 
 by the King ordered to be fcourged, and 
 branded with a red hot iron ; and by a pro- 
 clamation ajl perfons were forbidden to admit 
 them into their houfes, or fupply them with 
 the neceffaries of life ; fo that every individual 
 
 * Littleton's Hen. II. p. 316. 
 
 perifhed
 
 C 28 3 
 
 pcriihed by cold and famine*. Henry, not 
 fatisfied with the moft extenfive dominions, 
 and the greateft power of any Prince in 
 Europe, invaded and conquered Ireland. 
 The people of that country have, till very 
 lately, been under the power of this king- 
 dom ; they, a few years back, got the inde- 
 pendence of Ireland acknowledged ; and from 
 the fpirit of the people it is to be hoped they 
 will foon acquire a perfect reprefentation, 
 emanating from the will of the whole people. 
 Henry was addicled to unlimited gallantry, 
 and his Queen was become jealous of him, 
 though flie herfelf had been divorced by her 
 former hufband for the fame vice. She was 
 particularly provoked at his paflion for Ro- 
 famond Clifford, and llimulated by revenge, 
 excited his children to rebellions, which ren- 
 dered him unhappy during the reft of his life. 
 However, to leffen the difcontents of his 
 people, Henry pretended to revive the Saxon 
 laws of Edward the Confeffor ; but this con- 
 defcenfion of the King's was a mere flourifh, 
 as, though fome public orders were given, 
 they were never executed. In the year 1 184 
 his elddt ion Henry died ; and the year fol- 
 
 * SmoUet, vol. ii. p. 108. 
 
 lowing;
 
 lowing he erected Ireland into a kingdom 
 for his youngeft fon. Henry lived but a few 
 years after. He died in the year 1 189. 
 
 This Prince was ambitious, cruel, and 
 haughty; and folafcivious, that he attempted 
 the chaftity of every woman who fell in his 
 way, inceftuoufly not excepting his foil's 
 wife. His ambition, like that of his predecef- 
 fors, was not to be flopped by oaths and trea- 
 ties ; he found the good people of England to 
 be eafily duped, and promifed favours when 
 he wanted their affiftance, which he never at- 
 tempted to perform after having received it ; 
 yet Henry is generally fuppofed to have been 
 one of the wifeft and beft Princes that ever fat 
 on the Throne of England. To admit it as 
 fadl, nothing can more ftrongly prove to 
 the impartial reader, that no Prince can be 
 either fo wife or fo good as not to Itand in. 
 need'of an equal reprefentation, to check the 
 ebullitions of paifion, and thofe other infirmi- 
 ties which are incident to all men when their 
 wills are law. We are fure it is the belt ftep 
 that can be taken tofecure the liberties of the 
 people. We believe that it is the moft cer- 
 tain to fecure the hippinefs of the Prince. 
 
 RICHARD
 
 c: 30 
 
 RICHARD I. 
 
 RICHARD, who had been for fome years 
 in a (late of rebellion againft his father, 
 no fooner came into pofieffion of the throne, 
 than he difmiflcd all thofe who fupported his 
 former conduct ; and to prove that his own 
 rebellion did not arife from the caufes he 
 pretended, he did not confummate his mar- 
 riage with Alice of France ; he arrefled and 
 loaded with fhackles Stephen de Tours, the 
 late King's fenefchal, till he delivered up not 
 only the treafure committed to his care, but 
 alfo his own ; thus punifhing the friends 
 equally of himfelf and his father. But this 
 is not the fir ft example how little depen- 
 dence is to be placed in the gratitude or 
 friend (hip of Princes. 
 
 When Baldwin, Archbifhop of Canter- 
 bury, adminiftered to him the ufual oaths, 
 he reminded him that every Prince had taken 
 thefe oaths fince the Conqueror, but not one 
 
 had
 
 C 31 3 
 
 had performed them ; and conjured him at the 
 lame time to be mindful of them. Richard 
 promifed punaually to perform them *; and 
 immediately fold all the crown lands, liber- 
 ties, charters, caftles, and employments ; and 
 appointed, for the fake often thoufand marks, 
 the Bimop of Durham Jufticiary. The 
 money arifmg from thefe fales was to enable 
 him to undertake a crufade to the Holy Land, 
 where he diftinguifhed himfelf for great 
 courage. Some people, who were uneafy 
 at thefe fales, reprefented to the King their 
 ill confequences ; he flopped their mouths by 
 this reply : I would fell the City of Lon- 
 " don if I could find a purchafer for it." 
 He alfo raifed money by every method of 
 extortion which his abilities could invent f , 
 though he found in his father's treafury gold, 
 filver, jewels, and rich utenfils, to the amount 
 #f nine hundred thoufand pounds. At Cy- 
 prus he married the daughter of the King of 
 Navarre, for whom he had renounced Ade- 
 lais, or Alice, of France J. This incenfed 
 Philip, the King of France, who declared, 
 that unlefs he married Alice, he ftiould look 
 
 * Rapin, vol. i. p. 22 3 . -j- Smollet, vol. ii. p 232. { Unir. 
 Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 124. 
 
 upoa
 
 C 3* 3 
 
 upon Richard as his mortal enemy. Richard 
 replied he could not marry a Princefs who 
 had had a child by his father, a facl he of- 
 fered to prove*. 
 
 Richard having finifhed hio romantic ex- 
 pedition, with what has been called glory, 
 that is, with his own hand he murdered many 
 of the fame fpecies with himfelf, and by his 
 conduct caufed the death of thoufands more, 
 thought of returning to England ; but in his 
 return home was imprifoned by Leopold, 
 Duke of Auftria, who delivered him to the 
 Emperor, Henry the Sixth, by whom lie was 
 thrown into a dungeon, and loaded with irons. 
 Soon after this was known in England, his 
 brother John caufed it to be rumoured in that 
 kingdom, that his brother was dead ; and 
 the King of France prepared alfo to take ad- 
 vantage of that incident ; he invited over John, 
 who royally forgot every tie of gratitude 
 and affection f . Thefe two Princes agreed 
 upon the perpetual imprifonment of Richard . 
 John returned to England, and claimed the 
 Ciown ; but was prevented taking pofleflion 
 of it by the zeal of his mother and the 
 Barons. A confiderable fum was raifed, and 
 
 * Rapin, p. 22 ;. f Univ. Hift. rol. xxxix. p. 1 30. 
 
 Richard
 
 C 33 H 
 
 Richard ranfomed,\vho immediately returned 
 to England. Soon after John was reduced 
 to throw himfelf at the King's feet, who 
 pardoned him. We cannot pafs an acl: of 
 bafenefs with which John left the party of 
 Philip. He invited to dinner all the officers 
 of the garrifon, which had been placed in 
 the citadel of Evreaux ; he caufed them to 
 be maflacred during the entertainment* ; 
 with the afliftance of the townfmen, put the 
 garrifon to the fword, and then fur rendered 
 the place to his brother. Whilft Richard 
 was in France, Hubert, Archbifhop of Can- 
 terbury, quelled a ferious infurreclion, which 
 owed its rife to fome unequal taxes, that 
 fell particularly heavy on the poor ; they 
 were headed by William Longbeard, who 
 was at laft taken, tried, and convicted. He 
 was dragged through the ftreets of London 
 at a horfe's tail, and hung in chains with 
 nine of his companions. This is the fir ft 
 effort we meet in the Englifh hiftory to 
 advance the condition of the lower ranks ; 
 we are therefore not to be furprifed at the 
 odium with which William Longbeard is 
 mentioned by fome hiftorians ; the people 
 
 * Univ. Kift. vol. xxxix. p. 134. 
 
 D locked
 
 C 34 3 
 
 " 
 
 looked upon him as their martyr, and \v<? 
 muft give him credit for his defign ; though, 
 if what has been faid of him be true, 
 (which we much doubt) we cannot ap- 
 prove his moral conduct. Geoffry Fitzpiers 
 was foon after created Chief Jufticiary of 
 England ; the fevere penalties of the game 
 laws were re-eftablifhed, and heavy taxes 
 laid upon the exhaufted people. In the 
 courfe of the year 1199, Richard inverted 
 the caftle of Chains, belonging to Aymar, 
 Vifcount of Limoges ; where he was fhot by 
 an arrow in the fhoulder, clofe to the neck ; 
 of which, from the ignorance of lus furgeon 
 and his own intemperance, he died. Richard 
 appears, from this review of his conduct, to 
 have facrificed duty and gratitude to ambi- 
 tion. To the fame fhrine he alfo facrificed 
 that parental love which a King is fnppofed 
 to bear to his people. It isalmoft impolfible 
 to fay which of the Kings mod opprefled 
 their fubjects ; certain it is, that Richard 
 drained his as much as any of his predecef- 
 fors ; he drew money by every means, and 
 fpent it with profufion. ' He is faid to have 
 been guilty of a crime of a moft detcftable 
 nature, and to have tyrannized as much over 
 
 his
 
 C 35 ] 
 
 his wife as his fubje<5ls. He was regardlefs 
 of benefits received, and crufhed with equal 
 tyranny his friends and enemies. He fwore 
 to maintain the liberties of his people, and 
 immediately fold every place and thing in 
 his power ; to complete his perjuries, we find 
 he re-enacled the game laws, in their utmoft 
 rigotir. 
 
 > 2 JOHN
 
 C 36 3 
 
 JOHN. 
 
 WERE a man to read, who is unacquain- 
 ted with hiftory, the reign of the belt 
 of the preceding defpots, he would think he 
 had acquired a fummit of wickednefs which 
 none of his fuccefibrs could poffibly arrive 
 at ; but were he to read the reign of John, 
 he muft acknowledge, that he combined every 
 vice which disfigured the preceding reigns, 
 without poflefling thofe virtues which a bar- 
 barous age feemed to inflil into the hearts of 
 his forefathers ; they had all courage, and 
 fome (hare of generofity ; John neither. 
 This Prince afcended the throne with a pro- 
 mife to fupport all the rights and privileges 
 of the nobles and people *. He was oppofed 
 in the French Provinces, which belonged to 
 his family, by Arthur, his eldeft brother's 
 fon ; but after a fhort conteft, he re-annexed 
 all thofe dominions to the Engliih throne -f . 
 
 * Rapin, 236. f Goldfmith's Hift. rol. i. p. 230. 
 
 He
 
 C 37 3 
 
 He married Ifabella, daughter of the Count 
 Angouleme, while his Queen* was yet 
 alive, and while Ifabella belonged to another 
 hufband, the Count de la Marche, who 
 ardently loved her ; which produced an in- 
 furre6lion. John attempted to break the 
 oppofition of the infurgents by oaths, pro- 
 teftations, and perfidies ; but thefe adts only 
 produced contempt ; they demanded redrefs 
 of the King of France, as their fovereign 
 lord, to avoid the appeal -f , John promifed 
 every fatisfac~lion to them ; they demanded 
 a fafe condu6l to his court ; this he at 
 firft refufed ; but yielded to the French 
 King's menaces. He violated this agree- 
 ment ; Philip renewed his threats, and forced 
 from him the fortrefles of Tillieres and 
 Boutavant, as a fecurity for his perfor- 
 mance. Arthur prefently joined the confe- 
 deracy, but was unhappily made prifoner by 
 his uncle, and fhut up in the caflle of Fa- 
 laire ; he was from thence removed to the 
 caftle of Rouen, where, it appears, the bar- 
 barous tyrant ftabbed him with his own 
 hands, and faflening a ftone to the dead body, 
 
 * Goldfmith's Hift. vol. i. p. 23 1. f Un. Hift. vol. xxx. 
 P- J 39- 
 
 D 3 threw
 
 C 3* 3 
 
 threw it into the river. John by this a<5l be- 
 came univerfally detefted, and Philip gladly 
 caught the opportunity of uniting his conti- 
 nental dominions to the French Crown*. 
 As John's condu6l made him very unpopu- 
 lar f, he kept a fet of hired brayos, under 
 the denomination of his champions, who 
 were to fight any of his Barons that might 
 prove refractory, fuch defpicable opponents 
 produced in the Nobles nothing but con- 
 tempt. They found him every day ufurping 
 arbitrary power ; he exacted large J fums 
 from the Northern provinces, on pretence of 
 trefpafles on his forefts, and added frefh oc- 
 cafions of complaint by debauching the wives 
 and daughters of his fubjects. Senfible of the 
 general hatred he had incurred, he required of 
 the Barons to give him hoftages for the fe- 
 curity of their allegiance ; and many of them 
 put into his hands fome of their neareft rela- 
 tions. When his emiflaries came to William 
 deBraoufe, the lady of that nobleman re- 
 plied, that flie would never entruft her fon 
 in the hands of one who had murdered his 
 own nephew. Her hufband reproved her 
 
 * Univrr. Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 141, -j- Goldfmith, p. 231. 
 + Rapin, p. 240. 
 
 for
 
 L 39 3 
 
 for this fpeech ; and, apprelienfive of the 
 King's refentment, fled \vith his wife and 
 foil into Ireland. John difcovering the un- 
 happy family, feized the wife and fon, 
 whom he (larved to death in prifon *. The 
 King having entered into a quarrel with the 
 Pope, his kingdom was put under an inter- 
 dict, and he was fhortly after excommuni- 
 cated. GeofFry, Archdeacon of Norwich, 
 ^who was entrufted with a confiderable office 
 in the Exchequer, refigned his employment, 
 which fo enraged the King, that he had him 
 confined, and ordering his head to be covered 
 with a great leaden cope, thus kept him in 
 torment till he died. The Pope's next ftep 
 was to abfolve John's fubjecls from their 
 oaths of allegiance, and he gave his king- 
 dom to Philip of France, and publilhed a 
 crufade againit John. Happy would it have 
 been for England had it in thefe times en- 
 joyed that pure Hate of reprefentation we 
 now fo ardently defire ; it would have 
 guarded it againft the arbitrary mandates of 
 a foreign court, and the perverfe will of its 
 own fovereign. John was hard pufhed, 
 
 * Univ. Hift. voL xxxix. p. 146. f Goldfmith's Hiftory of 
 England, p. 240. 
 
 but
 
 C 40 D 
 
 his mind was too imbecile to fupport a con- 
 teft with the Pope, he fubmitted to him, 
 and agreed to hold his kingdoms as his 
 vaflal, and to pay him a tribute yearly of 
 feven hundred marks for England, and 
 three hundred for Ireland *. During his 
 difputewith the Pope he deprived his no- 
 bles of their favourite diverfion, by a fe- 
 vere prohibition againft hunting, hawking, 
 and fowling ; he ordered all the mounds of 
 his forefts to be levelled, and the ditches to 
 be filled up, that his deer might have the 
 liberty to range abodt, and eat up the corn 
 and fruits of the hufbandmen. A woman 
 \vas killed by accident at Oxford ; he granted 
 a warrant to arreft, and imprifoned three 
 innocent clergymen, who were afterwards 
 hanged without any form of trial. John had, 
 ever fince he afcended the throne, fleeced 
 the people of their money without the leaft 
 compunction ; one mode we (hall mention, 
 on the authority of Matthew Paris -f. The 
 Jews were feized, and cruelly treated, all 
 over England, till they ranfomed thcmfelvcs. 
 Among the reft a Jew at Briftol, though cru- 
 elly tormented, refufing to ranfom himfelf, 
 the King ordered that his tormentors fhould 
 
 * Smollet, vol. ii. p. 3 1 6. f Rapin, voL i. p. 246. 
 
 the
 
 C 41 3 
 
 daily draw a tooth till he would pay down 
 ten .thoufand marks. Accordingly they 
 pulled out feven in as many days ; but on the 
 eighth day he relented, and paid the money. 
 This King got from thefe unfortunate peo- 
 ple, by this curfed conduct, fixty thoufand 
 marks. He put thirty hoftages of the prime 
 nobility of Wales to death, and had formed 
 the praife-worthy determination to extermi- 
 nate the whole race of Ancient Britons ; and 
 had actually concerted meafures for the ex- 
 pedition, when he received advice of a confpi- 
 racy formed againft his life*. This news, con- 
 joined with the abfolvence of his fubjecls 
 from their oaths of allegiance, by the Pope, 
 induced him to give up that enterprize. 
 John's fubmifiions abated nothing of his ty- 
 ranny. An hermit, Peter of Pomfret, had 
 ventured to foretell, that John fhould lofe 
 his crown in the year 1212 or 1213, and had 
 been thrown into Corfe Caftle for his pre- 
 diction. John now refolved to have him 
 punifhed as an impoftor, and ordered him to 
 be arraigned for that purpofe. It was in 
 vain the vifionary enthufiaft maintained the 
 truth of his prediction, alledging that the 
 King had given up his crown to the Pope, 
 
 * Smollet, vol. ii. p. 322. 
 
 King
 
 42 3 
 
 from whom lie again received it. John con- 
 iidered this as an aggravation of his offence 4 
 the unfortunate priibner was dragged to the 
 town .of Warham, at horfes' tails, and there 
 lianged on a gibbet with his fon*. In the 
 year 1213 John fur-rendered his crown a fe- 
 cond tune to the Pope's legate, as the price 
 of the Pope's protection from his Barons, 
 whofe rights he had invaded, and who were 
 then forming a combination againft him. 
 The Barons met at St. Edmund's Bury, and 
 refolved to demand the renewal of Henry the 
 Firii's charter, a copy of which had been fent 
 to every monaftry in England ; but by the 
 pious care of its Kings it was fuppofed every 
 one had been deliroyed ; fortunately a foli- 
 tary copy was lately found, to die great joy 
 of the Nobles, by Langton, Archbifhop of 
 Canterbury ; and they foon- after demanded 
 its confirmation by John, which he at firft 
 pofitively refufed ; but they perfevered and 
 fucceeded, procuring what is to this day called 
 Magna Charta, which was figned at Runny- 
 mede in the year 1215. It does not enter 
 into the defign of this work to examine the 
 merits of this charter; the ariflocracy of 
 England got all they could defire ; but it is 
 
 * Univ. Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 151. 
 
 obferved.
 
 C 43 3 
 
 observed, that the people, who form a .ma- 
 jority in every country, had hut one article 
 Merted in their favour*, viz. that no villain 
 or ruftic flibnld by any fine be deprived of 
 his carts, ploughs, and implements of huf- 
 bandry. Thofe articles which related to the 
 Jews were particularly unjufl ; however, we 
 muft acknowledge, in Mifs Williams's lan- 
 guage, that though in this enlightened 
 " period more perfeft fyftems of legiflature 
 " may perhaps be formed than England can 
 " boaft; her Magna Charta vVas obtained, 
 " not in the illumination of the eighteenth 
 " century, but in the Gothic darknefs of the 
 " twelfthf ." Still this charter may be con- 
 fidered as the womb of Liberty ; and this 
 country boafts of having given birth to men 
 that Rome or France might envy. High 
 above the glittering fplendour of nobility 
 fland the immortal names of Hampden, 
 Milton, Locke, Sydney, Saville, and Price ; 
 others fo numerous appear, who demand the 
 refpeft of the friends of mankind, that vo- 
 lumes might be written in their praife. We 
 hope that in the future acts of men we fhall 
 behold only fucli as they would have autho- 
 rifed ; then the happinefs of the fpecies will 
 
 * Sidney VDifcourfes on Government. | Mifs Williams'* 
 Letters, vol. ii. p. 114. 
 
 be
 
 C 44 3 
 
 be complete. To return. After John had 
 taken the oaths to refpect the charter which 
 he had figned, his next ftep was to procure 
 foreign troops to force his Barons to fubmif- 
 fion ; and at the fame time fent to Rome 
 for a difpenfation from his oaths, which he 
 procured. With his foreign troops he plun- 
 dered the eftates of his fubjects, and ufed 
 fuch cruel modes of exaction, that in their 
 own defence they were obliged to call in the 
 affiftance of Philip of France. During the 
 civil war, which afflicted England, John 
 was arrefted by death. He died in the fifty- 
 fir ft year of his age, after a reign of raore 
 than feventeen years. In the life of this 
 Prince we meet with not one act which an 
 honeft man can praife. He was a compound 
 of every vice ; flothful yet ambitious, cruel, 
 haughty, and rapacious ; covetous yet extra- 
 vagant. It would feem that his whole pur- 
 fuit was to render his fubjects unhappy by 
 every act in his power ; but where he once 
 found oppofition powerful, he fubmittcd 
 with the fawning of a fpaniel, as we find in 
 his humiliation to the Pope and his Barons ; 
 though in the latter cafe, the moment he felt 
 himfelf ftrong he confirmed his character by 
 perjuring himfelf. 
 
 HENRY
 
 C 45 3 
 HENRY THE THIRD 
 
 HE Barons were foon difgufted with the 
 unaccommodating difpofition of Phi- 
 lip, the hereditary title of Henry was ac- 
 knowledged, and the Crown placed on the 
 head of a boy nine years old. As it is not 
 thepurpofe of this work to enter into a dif- 
 cuflion of the politics of the different reigns, 
 but merely to review the acls of Kings, #- 
 veiled of that glare which has induced them 
 to be looked up to as more than mortals, 
 we fhall only notice, that the Kin* was 
 crowned in the year i 215 . He was declared 
 by the Pope of age in 1*23. It i s ridiculous 
 enough that it was neceilkry for a foreign 
 Bifhop to declare when an Englifh Prince 
 was of age to conduct the affairs of that na- 
 tion. The idea of a minor King is equally 
 abfurd. What is a King? We believe, an 
 >fficer appointed by the people to execute 
 3 laws which they have made. How could 
 
 a boy
 
 C 4<S 3 
 
 a boy of nine years old be proper for fo im- 
 portant a trull ? In the year 1228 Henry was 
 declared by Parliament of age ; now there- 
 fore we mean to examine his actions. He 
 began his majority with injuflice ; he obliged 
 all who had charters to pay a certain tax for 
 their being renewed ; he exacted five thou- 
 fand marks * from the City of London, on 
 pretence of that community's having lent that 
 fum to Louis, the fon of the King of France ; 
 Northampton was compelled to pay twelve 
 hundred pounds fterling, on fome other fri- 
 volous pretence ; and he revoked the great 
 charter which he had folemnly fworn to 
 maintain. In order to render himfelf inde- 
 pendent of his Parliaments, he fought a thou- 
 fand pretences to raife money -f. He would 
 invite himfelf to the houfes of his fubjects, 
 and always expected a prefent at the door ; 
 he extorted from the Jews wherever he 
 found them, without remorfe ; indeed, this 
 unhappy people have been opprefled by every 
 tyrant ; and we are forry to obferve, that 
 even in this enlightened age and nation they 
 are fubject to every fpecies of opprobrium 
 
 * Smollet, vol. ii. p. 388. f Hift. of England, in a feries 
 of letters, vol. i. p. 100. 
 
 and
 
 C 47 3 
 
 and oppreffion. What is their crime ? Only 
 continuing a fteady belief in the laws, as 
 given by God to Mofes, and not believing iu 
 the million of Jefus Chrift. Can man force 
 belief? It is impoilible. 
 
 All hiftorians agree, that as Henry ad- 
 vanced in years he difcovered great avarice 
 and ficklenefsofdifpofition.a great readinefs 
 to be governed by thofe about him, with 
 ftrong principles of oppreffion and tyranny. 
 The King in the year 1228 prepared for 
 war with France, and fitted out a vaft arma- 
 ment ; but when they came to embark, th-re 
 were not found (hips enough for the foldiers 
 Upon this occafion Henry flew into a violent 
 paffion with Hubert de Burgh, his Jufti- 
 ciary, drew his fvvord, and would have mur- 
 dered him with his own hand, but was pre- 
 vented by the Earl of Chefter. Henry to 
 pay the expences of this- armament, extorted 
 a large fum from the Clergy, and one-third 
 their jubilance from the Jews. The mo- 
 ney he lavifhed away in entertainments and 
 divcrfiom, as if j n ] eav ; !]g En ,, ]and he op]v 
 took a journey of pkafure*; He alfo, to 
 >dd to the diftreffes of his people, permittee* 
 
 * Rapin, vol. i. p, 2 g , 
 
 the.
 
 C * 8 3 
 
 the Pope to levy a tenth of all moveables in 
 England and Ireland. This was exadted 
 with fo much rigour, that the people were 
 obliged to pay ready money for the fruits of 
 the earth, even while growing*. The King, 
 upon his return to England, was in a (late 
 of abfolute indigence, fo that his Parliament 
 granted him a fiipply, which was very foon 
 Squandered away. He robbed his brother 
 of an eflate ; but Richard went over into 
 Ireland and levied troops, which fo much 
 alarmed Henry, that he reflored his eftate, 
 and in veiled him with the office of Earl Mar- 
 fhal. In the year 1232 he demanded a frefh 
 fupply of money from the Parliament, but 
 that Aflembly had virtue enough to refufe 
 it. In the fame year he difplaced Hubert 
 de Burgh, the beft Minifter Henry ever pof- 
 fefled. Among the many frivolous crimes 
 objected to this man, he was accufed of gain- 
 ing the King's affeclions by enchantment, 
 and fending to the Prince of Wales a gem 
 which rendered the wearer invulnerable. The 
 place of Hubert, as King's favourite and 
 minifter, was given to Philip de Roche, Bifhop 
 of Winchciler, who, in the time of his fa- 
 
 * Smollet, vol. ii. p. 391. 
 
 thcr's
 
 C 49 3 
 
 thef J s abfence, on an expedition into Frante, 
 had governed England with fo defpbtic a 
 fway .as to be one of the chief caufes of that 
 confederacy which forced from John the 
 great charter*. By his advice Henry in- 
 vited over gre'at numbers of foreigners, on 
 whom all offices of power and truft were 
 beflowed. It is aflerted* that in a little time 
 more than two thoufand knights came over 
 to {hare the fpoils of his unhappy fubjecls. 
 Richard, Earl of Pembroke, expoftulating 
 with him on this injuftice, he declared, that 
 if the foreigners in England were not fuffi- 
 cient to reduce his rebellious fubjects, he 
 would fend for more. This haughty anfwer 
 produced a confederacy among the Barons, 
 to check his defpotifm. Henry being rein- 
 forced by a frefh troop of foreigners, laid 
 fiege to the Caftle of the Earl of Pembroke, 
 one of the confederated Barons, and re- 
 quired him to furrender it for fifteen days^ 
 which was accordingly done} but when 
 the time was expired j Henry refufed to 
 reftore it, and laughed at the credulity of 
 the Earl. It was not long before he had his 
 revenge ; for the Earl attacked the King's 
 
 * Univ. Ilift. vol. xxxix. p. 173. 
 
 E camp
 
 camp at Grofmont, and put the whole army 
 to the rout. This nobleman was foon after 
 bafely aad mortally dabbed in the back in Ire- 
 land . Prefently after the confederated Barons 
 were reconciled to the King, and Hubert de 
 Burgh was received with particular aflfeclion ; 
 the Bifhop of Winchefler was difmifled ; fo- 
 reigners baniflied ; and natives reftored to 
 their places in council ; but in lefs than two 
 years he brought over frefh fwarms, and 
 by their advice attempted to revoke all the 
 grants he had formerly made to his nobles, 
 and prevailed on the Pope to abfolve him of 
 his oaths ; but the Parliament refufed to ac- 
 knowledge the bull ; and Henry, to get a 
 frefh fubfidy, was obliged to promife refor- 
 mation ; the money was foon laviflied on 
 foreign favourites ; Henry difregarded the 
 remonftf ances of his fubjects ; they again 
 flew to arms. During the whole of this reign 
 the Pope opprefled the people of England 
 almoft as much as the King himfelf. From 
 luch a Prince little good to his fubjecls was 
 to be expected. The Prince who infidioufly 
 defrauds them himfelf will not defend them 
 from the depredations of others. It is not 
 our bufmefs to mention the individual ty-
 
 51 i 
 
 reuinies of the Pope and his legates ; firffice 
 it to fay, they were highly opprefllve. To 
 prove the ridiculous caprice of this Prince, 
 we relate the following circumftance *. On 
 the death of the Earl of Pembroke he had 
 beftowed the inveftiture of Earl Marfhal on 
 that nobleman's brother Gilbert* whofe at- 
 tachment and fidelity juftified the indulgence. 
 One day, however^ when he repaired to 
 court, according to cuftom^ he was denied 
 admittance, and even repulfed with indignity. 
 He complained to the King by the interpo^ 
 lition of a friend, to whom Henry obferved, 
 that the Earl's brother had been a traitor, 
 and perfifted in his treafon till the laft mo- 
 ment ; and therefore he would deprive the 
 prefent Marfhal of his dignity. Another in- 
 itance occurs in his giving the Earldom of 
 Leiceiter to Simon Mountford, and within a 
 few days afterwards reviling him in the moil 
 abuiive terms, branding him as a traitor 
 and excommunicated wretch, who had de- 
 bauched his wife before marriage, and after- 
 wards procured by bribery the Pope's con- 
 firmation. He again profecuted Hubert de 
 Burgh, though he had adhered to him in 
 
 * SmoJlet, vol. ii.p. 42?. 
 
 E 2 the.
 
 the laft defection of the Barons, and had given 
 him no new caufe of offence fmce the recon- 
 ciliation ; he proved his innocence before 
 his peers, by the moft inconteftible evidence. 
 Such capricious conduit had well nigh pro- 
 duced another civil war, when the birth of 
 a Prince diverted the Barons' attention. In 
 the year 1241 he forced the Jews to prefent 
 him with twenty thoufand marks, and he 
 appointed Boniface (though a foreigner) the 
 Queen's brother, Archbifhop of Canterbury. 
 A difpute happening between David and 
 Griffin, the two Princes of Wales, Henry 
 fold his protection, firft to the latter of thofe 
 Princes ; but David outbidding him, Henry 
 from Griffin's prote&or became his enemy *. 
 Defirous of engaging in a war with France, 
 the King demanded a fubfidy of his Par- 
 liament ; inftead of complying with his 
 requeft, they loudly complained of his breach 
 of the great charter, which he had fworn to 
 maintain ; obferved that the truce with France 
 \vas not yet expired ; and plainly told him 
 nothing was to be expecled from thcm-f. 
 But he perfifting in his defign, prevailed on 
 private perfons to a'fli ft him, and forced 
 
 * Rapin, voL i. p. 289. f Smollet, vol. ii. p. 463. 
 
 money
 
 C 53 1 
 
 money from the cities, boroughs, crown de- 
 mefnes, and clergy of Ireland. Thus fupplied, 
 he landed an army, and thirty hogfheads of 
 filver, at Royane * ; but foon concluded an 
 ignominious peace with the King of France, 
 and lavifhed away the remains of his treafure 
 in entertainments and diver fions. Though 
 his troops in the mean time were diftrefled 
 for all things, fo that he again requefted, 
 and received a fupply from Parliament, he 
 returned to England, was received with 
 great pomp in London, and the money 
 lately granted was foon expended. He there- 
 fore fought a quarrel with the Jews, and 
 forced from them a large fum ; from one 
 Aaron of York he got four marks of gold, 
 and four thotifand of filver. The money was 
 foon expended in a feaft which he gave, 
 which confifted of thirty thoufand dimes -f-. 
 To raife more money he confifcated the ef- 
 tates of all the Norman nobles, who preferred 
 refiding in France to England. But this was 
 not enough for his purpofes, he therefore 
 again demanded money of his Parliament, and 
 to induce them to grant it, he fwore to main- 
 tain the great charter. One would fuppofe* 
 
 * Smollet, vol. ii. 437. f Rapjn, 291. 
 
 E3 &
 
 C 54 3 
 
 fb many examples of royal perjuries would 
 have prevented his Commons being duped 5 
 but this was not the cafe. Again they 
 granted another fubfidy, and again it was 
 fpent in folly, and exhibiting marks cf his 
 odious partiality to foreigners. In the year 
 i 248 lie demanded of his Parliament a frefh 
 fupply, which they pofnively refined ; he 
 therefore fold his plate and jewels to ibme 
 citizens of London, and then, diipleafed that 
 they had purchafed them, he cftablifhed a fair 
 at Weftminfter, and during its continuance 
 prohibited all commerce in London * ; and at 
 Chriftmas compelled the merchants to give 
 him large new year's gifts, and foon after- 
 wards forced from them two thoufand pounds 
 fterling ; but as that fum was too fmall, he 
 borrowed money of all ranks of men, in the 
 moft abjecl: manner. He profelTed himfelf a 
 foldier of Chrift, and the Pope gave him a 
 tenth of all the ecclefiaftic revenues in Eng-r 
 land and Ireland. He raifed fums by fines 
 and refumptions, and laid a talliage on the 
 Jews. He appointed a Judge, wholly devoted 
 to himfelf, to make-f inquifition in all the 
 counties concerning trefpafles upon the royal 
 
 * Rapin, 294. f Ib. 29.5. 
 
 forcfts.
 
 55 j 
 
 forefts, and the lead faults were pi. 
 by exceffive fines, or confifcations ofefiates. 
 In the year 1253 the Pope offered the king- 
 dom of Sicily to the Earl of Cornwall, who 
 refufed it ; he then offered it to Henry, who 
 accepted it without confulting his Parliament, 
 and gave the Pope unlimited credit to expend 
 whatever fum he thought neceflary for effec- 
 ting the conqueft of that kingdom. He thus 
 contracted an immenfe debt ; he therefore had 
 recourfe to Parliament ; and to avoid oppofi- 
 tion as much as poflible, iflued no writs to the 
 refractory members ; but even thofe who were 
 fummoned refufed to take the King's demand 
 into confideration ; this Parliament was there- 
 fore diffoived, and a new one convened with 
 no better fuccefs. At length the Barons, from 
 mere necefiity, granted him a liberal aid, for 
 which he renewed the charter with more than 
 ufual folemnity. The charter was read in the 
 prefence of the Prelates, who exclaimed, 
 " May every foul who proves falfe to this 
 " agreement fo ftink and corrupt in hell ;" 
 and the King fubjoined, " So help me God 
 ' I will keep all thefe articles inviolate, as I 
 *' am a Chriftian,. as I am a Knight, and as I 
 
 * Univ. Hift. Yol. xxxix. p. 177. 
 
 " am
 
 " am a King crowned and anointed *." But 
 no fconer were the fupplies granted than he 
 forgot his promifes, and reftored, contrary to 
 his word folemnly given, the foreigners to 
 their places, who directed all his meafures. 
 The Barons thus cheated, entered into an aflb- 
 ciation with the city of London, and foon 
 forced the King again to fwear to obferve 
 Magna Charta, and certain conditions called 
 the Provifions of Oxford ; for at tliat city they 
 were figned; but the government was by 
 them thrown into the liands of the Nobles, 
 and the people were no happier than when 
 the King opprefied them ; for, however bad 
 the defpotifm of a King may be, yet, in com- 
 parifon with that of an Ariftocracy, it is purity 
 itfelf. The tyranny of a Crown can only be 
 felt in a fmall circle ; but that of an Arifto- 
 cracy falls widely diflfufive. The greater part 
 of the remainder of this reign was fpent in 
 civil wars ; for the King openly difclaimed the 
 ftatutes of Oxford, and was abfolved from the 
 vow he had taken, by the Pope. The Earl 
 of Gloucefter died in the year 1262, and ber 
 fore he would inveft the fon with the father's 
 inheritance, he extorted from him a confi- 
 
 * Univ. Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 1 78*. 
 
 derable
 
 C 57 3 
 
 derable prefent. Although we have aflerted, 
 that the latter part of this reign was princi- 
 pally fpent in civil wars, yet they were inter- 
 rupted by treaties which were as often broke 
 as made, from the little regard this Prince 
 paid to his oaths. In a battle fought near 
 Lewes the Barons were triumphant, and the 
 King and his fon made prifoners. A treaty 
 was the confequence of this defeat, and many 
 from it date the firft time of the counties 
 being reprefented ; for by one provifion every 
 county was to return four members to Parlia- 
 ment. Whether or not this is the firft time 
 fuch a right was exercifed, is of little confe- 
 quence ; for we hold the right to be always 
 exifting, and think it a moft certain fact, that 
 no people are free except where every man, 
 mediately or immediately, has a voice in the 
 framing of thofe laws by which he is governed. 
 Soon after the execution of the treaty of 
 Lewes a diflention divided the moft pow- 
 erful of the Barons, and Prince Edward 
 efcaping from cuftpdy, gathered together an 
 army, with which he defeated his enemies^ 
 and releafed his father, The King being now 
 fuccefsful, profecuted his foes with the utmoft 
 rigour. He was with difficulty reftrained 
 
 from
 
 from totally deftroying the City of London ; * 
 but contented himfelf with depriving it of its 
 fortifications and military enfigns, and with 
 levying upon its inhabitants vaft contributions. 
 Thus peace being re-eftablifhed, Prince Ed- 
 ward determined on an expedition to Jerufa- 
 lem. The health of his father foon after 
 declined, and finding himfelf unequal to the 
 tafk of government, he called aloud for the 
 return of his fon ; but he died before his arri- 
 val, having firft infilled upon the Earl of 
 Gloucefter's fwearing to maintain the inte- 
 refts of his fon. 
 
 We have little to fay of the chara6ler of 
 this King. That he was weak, haughty, vin- 
 dictive, and paflionate, the preceding pages 
 clearly prove. That he was perjured beyond 
 a poffibility of apology, no man will be hardy 
 enough to deny. His was the longeft reign 
 that occurs in the Hiftory of England ; and 
 not contented with oppreffmg his country 
 himfelf, he encouraged to the utmoft every 
 demand made by the Popes, or their domU 
 peering legates. 
 
 * Univ. Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 1^1. 
 
 EDWARD
 
 C 59 3 
 
 EDWARD I. 
 
 THOUGH Edward was abfent, and not 
 even heard of, all the Barons with one 
 accord fwore fealty to him in 1272; but he 
 did not arrive in England till 1276, when he 
 was crowned at Weilminfter. He immedi- 
 ately fet about reforming thofe abufes which 
 had difgraced his father's reign, and intro- 
 duced into his kingdom a ftri6l form of juf- 
 tice. The Jews were the only part of his 
 fubjecls who were refufed it*. He began 
 with impofing arbitrary taxes upon them ; two 
 hundred and eighty of them were hanged at 
 pnce ; the goods of the reft confiscated ; and 
 all of that religion banimed the kingdom, 
 leaving them only money enough to bear their 
 charges into foreign countries. No lefs than 
 fifteen thoufand were thus robbed of their ef- 
 fects, and banimed the country -f. England 
 
 * Goldfmith's Hift. of England, voL i. p. 299. f Univ. Hift. 
 Tfol. xxxix. p. iq{. 
 
 Ml
 
 had fuffered mucli from the invafion of the 
 Welch, and Edward determined on their con- 
 queft, which he effected, and annexed their 
 country to the Crown of England* . This 
 certainly added to the felicity of the two coun- 
 tries, and we might have admired the valour 
 and conduct of the King, had he not difgraced 
 both by permitting the head of the Welch 
 King,. v ,'ho was flain in battle, to be brought 
 to London, encircled with a filver coronet, 
 and placed upon a pillory f . The Prince his 
 brother, and heir to his dominions, was taken 
 prifoner ; in vain he caft himfelf at the King's 
 feet, and fued for mercy ; the tyrant liad him 
 condemned as a traitor, and he died for bravely 
 defending his own pofleffions. Thus ceafed 
 the independency of Wales. It was foon after 
 created into a principality, held by the eldeft 
 fon of the King of England. The Welch 
 however were fome years before they totally 
 fubmitted to the government of England. To 
 accelerate their fubmifiion he caufed the Welch 
 bards to be murdered,- whofe office it was to 
 celebrate the glorious deeds of their anceftors. 
 Such barbarous policy was enough to alienate 
 the affections of any people ; it would cer- 
 
 * Univ. Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 195. 1 Goldfmith's Hiftory of 
 England? vol. i. p. 304. 
 
 tainlv
 
 C 61 3 
 
 tainly prevent that coalition fo neceflary for 
 a people circumftanced as the Englifh and 
 Welch were in thofe days. Soon after the 
 Welch conqueft Edward went abroad to fettle 
 a difpute between the Kings of Arragon and 
 France, in which he fucceeded. He forced 
 from the City of London their charter. He 
 continued abroad about three years, but his 
 finances being exhaufted, and the Parliament 
 refufing to grant any more fubfidies wliilfl he 
 continued abroad, the King was obliged to re- 
 turn. He found many diforders to have arifen 
 from the corruption of juftice ; he brought the 
 Judges to trial, and being convicted, he levied 
 upwards of one hundred thoufand marks upon 
 them. He granted to certain Knights in every 
 county an order to keep the peace ; and the 
 Sheriffs were directed to aflift them, if necef- 
 fary, with their poffe. Such was the origin 
 of the office of Juftice of the Peace. Let the 
 nation be thankful for the inilitution, and let 
 us hope the day will loon arrive when thofe 
 magiftrates will not be confined to certain 
 property. For the purpofes of good govern- 
 ment we think fuch magiftrates fhould be elec- 
 ted by the hundreds in which they refide ; 
 that every market town fhould have at leaft 
 
 one
 
 C 6* 3 
 
 one fuch magiftrate ; and that their numbers 
 fhould be in proportion to the number of in- 
 habitants ; that they fhould receive pay by a 
 county tax. Thus they would be refpecled 
 and independent ; at prefent they are the fag 
 end of the ariftocracy, domineering over 
 their inferiors, fer vilely fubmiflive to their 
 fuperiors. Alexander, King of Scotland, 
 died about the year 1 290, leaving no other 
 defcendant than Margaret, a grand-daughter, 
 about three years of age. Edward wifely 
 thought this a favourable opportunity to 
 unite the two crWns, by means of a match 
 with his fon and Margaret ; but (he dying, 
 he determined on far different methods. 
 The candidates for the throne were nume- 
 rous ; but at laft reduced to three, viz. 
 John Haftings, John Baliol, and Robert Bruce, 
 who left the determination of their rights to 
 Edward. Here was a noble opportunity for 
 pofthumous fame, and very little honour or 
 virtue would have infured it ; but Edward 
 had far other views. He thought the occa- 
 fion favourable to hi? ambitious purfuits, and 
 it was more fuitable to his difpofition to de- 
 luge the two countries in blood than to make 
 Scotland happy. He therefore affeftcd the 
 
 utmoft
 
 C 63 3 
 
 utmoft deliberation ; drew a powerful army to 
 the frontiers of Scotland ; afferted his own 
 feudal fuperiority over that kingdom ; and 
 the competitors acknowledged his claims. 
 Edward then pretended it was necefiary to 
 put all the fortrefTes into his hands ; it was 
 accordingly done. In the year 1292 Edward 
 made his award in favour of Baliol, and re- 
 figned to him the fortrefles. This would have 
 appeared equitable, had not .his fubfequent 
 conduct betrayed his object ; and his eager- 
 nefs to eftablim his fovereignty over Scotland 
 his own views. In the courfe of one year 
 he required the Scottifh King to come ta 
 London fix different times on trivial occa- 
 fions. This arbitrary conduct produced the 
 defign Edward had at heart ; namely, it forced 
 Baliol to arms. Edward hearing that a treaty 
 was concluded by the Scotch and French. 
 Kings, demanded John to do his duty as a 
 vaflal, to deliver up feveral forts, and to fup- 
 ply him with troops againft the latter King ; 
 but none of thefe demands being complied 
 with, Edward offered the crown to Bruce, 
 who joyfully accepted it ; thus he cunningly 
 continued the divifion of that unhappy coun- 
 try. Had the Scotch, with whom he was at 
 
 war,
 
 C 04 3 
 
 war, been unanimous, the tyrant's glories' 
 would have been ihort-lived ; for we hold it 
 certain, no united country can be conquered 
 by an invading army; a fact confirmed 
 lirongly by late experience. Edward's in- 
 vafion of Scotland enforces the opinion ; for 
 though he produced infinite miferies in that 
 country, yet, as we fhall find hereafter, he 
 did not conquer it entirely; the firm fpi- 
 rit of liberty, when implanted in the heart of 
 man, leads him to certain ultimate fuccefs. 
 We rejoice that that fpirit Hill continues in 
 our Northern brethren, and we hope the 
 Southern parts of the ifle are not wholly def- 
 titute of it. Edward, at the head of a nume- 
 rous army, marched into the country ; and 
 multitudes were murdered on the fide of the 
 Engliih ; multitudes died nobly, fighting for 
 the liberties of their country, on the fide of 
 the Scotch. Barbarous tyrant ! may thy 
 crimes be forgiven. Edward made himlelf 
 mafter of Edinburgh, and the principal places 
 in Scotland. Baliol and his party were ob- 
 liged to fubmit to his mercy. He forced the 
 nobles to fwear fealty to him, and to deliver 
 up all their caftles. Let us from this fubmif- 
 fion refcue the honourable name of William 
 
 Douglas,
 
 c 65 3 
 
 Douglas, who could not be perfuaded to fwear 
 allegiance to a Prince whofe only right was 
 that of conqueft. The tyrant kept him impri- 
 foned till death releafedhim ; butnofufferings 
 could deprefs his noble mind ; to the laft he 
 refufed to acknowledge Edward for his fove- 
 reign. Englishmen ! remember, this is one of 
 the Edwards of whom you boaft. Anfwer ho- 
 neftly : What does this conduct deferve but 
 the execration of all good men ? Upon the 
 fubmifiion of Baliol all the records and antient 
 monuments of the kingdom were deftroyed, 
 that Prince brought prifoner to London, and 
 afterwards banimed to France, and all the 
 offices in Scotland filled with Englifhmen. 
 Thus Scotland apparently fettled to the King's 
 clefire, he returned with his army into Eng- 
 land. He now formed the refolution of turn- 
 ing his arms againft France, and getting a 
 large fum from the Barons, he required a fifth 
 of the moveables from the Clergy. This the 
 Pope had forbid ; the Clergy therefore pleaded 
 confcience for their non-payment. Edward 
 poflefled ftrong refolution ; he exempted them 
 from the protection of the laws ; in this ftate 
 they fuffered much, and were glad to fubmit. 
 The war with France \vas foon over, both 
 F Princes
 
 n 66 3 
 
 Princes refting as they began, after a great 
 waite of blood and treafure. Edward impofed 
 many arbitrary taxes and exactions, which 
 produced murmurs of fuch a nature, that in 
 an aflembly of the nobility he publicly apo- 
 logifed for his paft conduct. This did not 
 perfectly fatisfy them ; they infilled upon his 
 ligning Magna Charta, and upon adding a 
 new claufe, which fhould for ever fecure the 
 nation from all impofitions and taxes without 
 confent of Parliament. The King figned 
 them in Flanders, and fealed them with the 
 great feal. This complaifance was certainly 
 forwarded by the meaiures the Scotch were 
 taking for the recovery of their liberties. 
 They were already in arms, under a man 
 unknown to ariflocratic birth or fortune ;< 
 he was the Child of Patriotifm, and Liberty 
 marked him for her own. We have heard 
 men advance, that tvery man has his price ; 
 that there is no fuch thing as a true pa- 
 triot ; that every government muft be carried 
 on by corruption. We difclaim fuch no- 
 tions ; we believe the reverfe. Let thofe 
 who doubt the. exiftence of patriotifm read 
 the Life of William Wallace, own their folly, 
 and aft from the convidlion which mull arife 
 -. in
 
 C 6 7 3 
 
 ill their own minds, if they are not flrangely 
 blinded by prejudice. It is not our bufmefs 
 to enter into a minute detail of this hero's 
 actions ; the Scotch had fuffered much from 
 the Governors left them by Edward. Wal- 
 lace placed himfelf at the head of men who 
 determined to live free or die, and was coun- 
 tenanced by many of the principal Barons. 
 He attacked the Englifh at Stirling, totally 
 defeated them, and foon afrer took the Caftles 
 of Roxburgh and Berwick. He penetrated 
 into the Bifhopric of Durham, and returning 
 loaded with fpoils, was declared Regent of 
 Scotland. Edward being returned into Eng- 
 land, did all he could to regain the aflfeclions 
 of the Englifh ; he reftored the charter to 
 London, marched into Scotland, and defeated 
 the Scots at the battle of Falkirk. This was 
 a dreadful blow ; but the natives were una- 
 nimous againft the Englifli. Though they 
 were forced to retire, from want of provifion, 
 fhortly after the whole nation rofe, as one man, 
 upon the forces left by Edward, who a third 
 time entered that unfortunate kingdom, and 
 routed their militia ; fo that in the year 
 1 304, Scotland might be confidered as nearly 
 conquered. Wallace, with a few followers, 
 F 2 was
 
 r 68 3 
 
 ftill alive, wandering in the mountains ; but 
 that brave man was bafely betrayed, and de- 
 livered to Edward, conveyed to London, 
 tried by an Englifh Court, condemned, and 
 executed, for bravely defending the liberties 
 of his country. Execrable tyrant ! was not 
 the big mealure of thy crimes complete, but 
 thou muft add to the mountainous heap by 
 fuch an accurfed, ufelefs piece of brutality ? 
 Thou envied his virtues, and every honcft 
 man muft deteft thy memory. 
 
 When Edward returned from his laft Scot- 
 tifti expedition he obtained from the Pope a 
 difpenfation * from the oath he had taken to 
 regard Magna Charta. Clement V. the then 
 Pope, granted him a tenth from the Clergy, 
 referving however one half for himfelf. The 
 Parliament fpiritedly forbid the collectors to 
 levy it ; but the King, regardlefs of their 
 refufal, revoked the prohibition, proving that 
 charters and oaths were no longer regarded 
 than when it wasliis intereft to do fo. He 
 probably would have purfued thefe arbitrary 
 meafures had not frefli troubles called his 
 attention to Scotland. Edward had promiicd 
 that throne to Robert Bruce, but tooklio flops 
 
 * Raping vol. i. p. 353. 
 
 towards
 
 towards its performance ; he therefore de- 
 termined to free his country, which groaned 
 under the exceflive defpotifm of Edward. 
 He fled into Scotland, was crowned King, 
 but was defeated by the Earl of Pembroke. 
 Great numbers of prifoners were taken ; 
 three brothers of the new King's Edward 
 condemned to lofe their heads on the fcaf- 
 fold ; and he hardly pardoned any one *. 
 The Guardians and Juftices were directed to 
 proclaim in the cities, boroughs, and market 
 towns, that all who were concerned in the 
 laft rebellion againft the King fliould be 
 purfued with a hue and cry until appre- 
 hended, dead or alive ; and that thofe who 
 neglected thus to profecute them ihould for- 
 feit their effects, and be imprifoned during 
 the King's pleafure-f. This harfh feverity 
 produced not its expected effect ; for as foon 
 as the King had left Scotland, Bruce fallied 
 out, and defeated the Earl of Pembroke. 
 Edward, aftonifhed at this revolution, affem- 
 bled a vaft army, with which he determined 
 to march into Scotland, deftroy that king- 
 dom from fea to fea J, and entirely extirpate 
 
 * Rapin, 354. f Smollet, vol. ii. p. an. + Rapin, vol. i. 
 P- 355- 
 
 F the
 
 C TO n 
 
 the Scottifh name*. The arm of death ar- 
 refted his march ; but he advifed his foil to 
 profecute the war, and to carry his bones at 
 the head of the army ; to fend his heart to 
 the Holy Land, \vith thirty -two thoufand 
 pounds fterling ; and not to recall his fa- 
 vourite Gavefton, whom the King had ba- 
 nilhed. He died the 7th of June, 1307, in 
 the fixty-eighth year of his age, having 
 reigned fomewhat more than thirty-four 
 years. 
 
 Englishmen have been too much dazzled 
 with conquefls to give a fair account of their 
 conquering Kings ; we will endeavour not 
 to be fo influenced. We firmly believe Ed- 
 ward to have been a man of great natural 
 abilities ; but war was his purfuit ; and it 
 would appear that his wifdom was rather a 
 curfe than a benefit to his people. His Welch 
 and Scotch wars were undoubtedly unjuft; 
 his conducl proved him destitute of huma- 
 nity ; blood was his delight ; and after the 
 fields had been deluged, the fcaffolds 
 reeked with it. But let us acknowledge that 
 the laws were executed, and property pro- 
 tetcd, in his reign ; at the fame time we 
 
 * Smoller, vol. ii. p. 215, 
 
 111 lift
 
 C 71 3 
 
 in uft not forget that he drained his kingdom 
 of men and money ; and though he preten- 
 ded to get difpenfations from the Popes, 
 Edward was too wife a man not to know, 
 that no pretence can juftify the breaking of 
 an oath, or make it lefs than perjury. 
 
 EDWARD
 
 C 72 
 
 EDWARD II 
 
 T7DWARD theSecond4afcended the throne 
 *-' in the twenty -third year of his age, an4 
 foon proved himfelf unequal to the ambitious 
 views of his father, His march into Scot- 
 land had more the appearance of a procef- 
 fion than a warlike -expedition. His forces 
 were defeated, and himfelf obliged to retreat 
 into England. In direct oppofition to the 
 promife made his father, he recalled Cavc- 
 fton, made him Earl of Cornwall, married 
 him to his own niece, gave him the thirty- 
 two thoufand pounds left by his father, to be 
 fent to the Holy Land -with his heart ; and 
 as he intended to go abroad to be married, 
 appointed him Regent. Upon his return the 
 King beftowed on him fumptuous prefents ; 
 affected to call him brother ; and carolled 
 him as if he had been a miflrefs *. Such 
 favours conferred upon a foreigner naturally 
 excited the jealoufy of his Barons, who in- 
 
 * Smollet, vol. ii. p. 220. 
 
 lifted
 
 C 73 3 
 
 fitted that Gavefton ihould be banifhed. 
 The King was obliged x to fubmit, and an 
 agreement was accordingly drawn up ; but 
 inftead of performing it, he every day heaped 
 new honours on his favourite, and, fifteen 
 days after, granted him three thoufand marks 
 a year in land ; he wa.s even heard to fay, 
 that if his power* was equal to his affection, 
 he would fet the crown on Gavefton's head. 
 At lait the Archbifhop of Canterbury excom- 
 municated the minion, if he did not leave the 
 realm in a certain time. Edward regarded little 
 this cenfure, and only intreated the Pope to 
 annul it ; upon which the Barons became fo 
 urgent that he dare riot longer refufe to fulfil 
 his agreement ; but that Qave.ilon's exile 
 might be as eafy to him as pjoiliblej appointed 
 him Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; affigned 
 him the whole revenue of that kingdom ; and 
 attended him in perlbn to Briftol,. ; Edward 
 could not do long without him ; he*was there- 
 fore recalled. The King met him.. at Chef- 
 ter, and conferred all imaginary honours 
 upon him. His pride and infolence foon pro- 
 duced a combination among the Barons ; they 
 withdrew the executive power from the King ; 
 
 *Rapin, 359. 
 
 and
 
 C 74 3 
 
 and placed it in the hands of twelve Barons, 
 who enacted many wife ordinances, which 
 received the affent of Parliament; they alfo 
 banifhed Gavefton ; but Edward difregarded 
 the articles he had frgned ; removed to York ; 
 and openly recalled that obnoxious favourite, 
 whofe conduct became more infolent than 
 ever. He infulted the Queen ; and from her 
 anfwer fome fufpecl: a criminal connection 
 between Gavefton and the King*. The 
 Barons took to 'arms; the King attempted 
 not to refift ; but fled to the Caftle of Scar- 
 borough with his favourite, who furrendered 
 to the Barons, and was beheaded. Upon 
 this occafion the King's grief was loud and 
 clamorous ; he attended, and fpent large 
 fums at his funeral, though his people were 
 opprefled by famine. He vowed vengeance 
 againft all who were concerned in the tranf- 
 aclions ; but it was mere Uufter ; he foon 
 fubmitted to whatever his Barons demanded, 
 who granted him a fupply to carry on the 
 Scotch war. Robert Bruce had been fo fuc- 
 cefsful as to drive the Engliih forces out of 
 Scotland, invade England, ravifli its Northern 
 frontiers, and ultimately iecure the indepen- 
 
 * Rapui, vol. i. p. 360. 
 
 donee
 
 C 75 3 
 
 dence of his country. After an aftonifhing 
 lofs of blood and treafure, the Englilh were 
 thus obliged to relinquifh the enterprife, 
 itrongly proving that no country can be 
 conquered, in oppofition to the united will 
 of its inhabitants ; and that if people have 
 virtue enough to be free, they may bid de- 
 fiance to all foreign enemies and domeftic 
 foes. Defpencer, or Spencer, foon after the 
 death of Gavefton, engaged the weak mind 
 of Edward ; to Spencer he gave large pof- 
 feflions in the marfhes of Wales, and even 
 unjuftly difpofleffed fome Lords * of their ef- 
 tates, which he gave to him. The Barons 
 had again recour.fe to arms ; but the power 
 of the King overcame them. He took Leeds 
 Caftle-f , hanged the Governor, and feveral of 
 the inferior officers ; the Earl of Lancafter's 
 troops were defeated, himfelf taken and be- 
 headed, and eighteen of the principal infur- 
 gents were afterwards executed . Vaft eftates 
 were forfeited, and given to young Spencer, 
 whofe avarice was infatiable, and who be- 
 came every day more and more odious to 
 the people. The French King took advan- 
 tage of Edward's weaknefs ; avoided a war 
 
 * Goldfmith, vol. i. p. 340, f Rapin, vol. i. p. 365. 
 
 by
 
 C 76 3 
 
 by a difadvantageous treaty negotiated in 
 France by his Queen, the fifter of the King ot" 
 France, who lived with Mortimer in an infa- 
 mous familiarity. He had been condemned 
 for his adherence to the Lancaftrian party, 
 but efcaped to France. She entered warmly 
 into all his confpiracies ; many of the Englifli 
 Nobles joined them; {he loudly inveighed 
 again 11 the Spencers, and levied troops in 
 France to oppofe their power ; landed in Eng- 
 land, where (he was joined by a numerous 
 body of malecontents ; took old Spencer pri- 
 foner at Briitol ; had him tried, condemned, 
 and hanged. His body was cut in pieces, and 
 thrown to the dogs ; his head was fent to 
 Winchefler, and let upon a pole. This old 
 man died in hispoth year ; and all hiftorians 
 agree, that the malevolence of party has not 
 been able to tarnim his character. At Glou- 
 cefter * the Queen publiflied a proclamation, 
 inviting the King to come and refume the 
 government. She was not fmcere ; fhe had 
 no defign to reinftate him ; and knew he dare 
 not place confidence in .her. As he did not 
 appear, fhe caufed her fon to be declared 
 Regent, and the Nobles of his party took 
 
 * Rapin, vol. i. p. 370. 
 
 thi
 
 C 77 3 
 
 the oaths to him in that capacity ; the King 
 was foon after taken prifoner, with Spencer, 
 the Earl of Arundel, and a few others. The 
 Queen had not patience to wait the forma- 
 lities of a trial ; Ihe ordered Spencer to be 
 led before the populace, and took a pleafure 
 in feafting her eyes with his diftrefles. She 
 enjoyed herfelf the horrid gratification of 
 feeing him led to the place of execution, 
 where he was hanged on a gibbet fifty feet 
 high, and his head fent to London. Arun- 
 del was alfo executed without any trial, at 
 the inftigation of Mortimer *. The Parlia- 
 ment depofed the King, and his fon was 
 made King in his room. He but a fhort 
 time furvived his depofition ; he was hurried 
 from prifon to prifon ; fuffered every indig- 
 nity from his keepers ; and was at laft mur- 
 dered in fo cruel and inhuman a manner, 
 that we muft forget his vices and folly, and 
 drop the pitying tear on the fufferings of the 
 man. 
 
 Edward was a very weak man ; his mis- 
 1 fortunes almoft make us forget his crimes ; 
 but in fpite of our feelings we muft endea- 
 vour to be juft. He totally disregarded the 
 
 * Univ. Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 237. 
 
 promifes
 
 t 78 3 
 
 promifes he made his father on his death- 
 bed ; his connection with Gavefton was at 
 leaft fufpicious ; and when he had power, he 
 was cruel and arbitrary in the punifhments 
 lie inflicted on thofe who oppofed his will. 
 His Parliament depofed him, thereby exer- 
 cifmg a natural right ; and his weaknefs was 
 alone a juftification of that a<5l ; but we look 
 on his murder with horror ; and of his wife 
 we mufl fay, that her cruelty, her inconti- 
 nence, and her difllmulation *, make us think 
 we have been rather reviewing the acts of a 
 devil than a woman. 
 
 * She pretended to fwoon when (he heard the news of her 
 hulband's deposition. 
 
 EDWARD
 
 C 79 
 
 EDWARD III, 
 
 THE Englifli entertain a very great re- 
 fpe6l for this man ; but as it is not in 
 our nature to efteem the memory of a Prince 
 for his conquefts, but for the benefits he did 
 to his country, we fhall review his conduct 
 with impartiality ; honour his memory if 
 upon a review we find that he was the father 
 of his people ; give it that cenfure it deferves 
 if we find that he was rapacious, cruel, and 
 ambitious. Ar cording to the plan we have laid 
 down, it will not be neceffary to confider the 
 acts of this reign till Edward took the reins 
 of government into his own hands, which he 
 did in 1330. Edward feized on the perfon of 
 Mortimer ; the Parliament condemned him ; 
 and he was hanged. The Queen, his mo- 
 ther, was confined to her houfe at Rifings ; 
 ilie lived twenty-eight years in her confine- 
 ment, Edward vifiting her, from motives of 
 decency, once or twice every year. Thus 
 
 the
 
 C 8o 3 
 
 th% ) r oung King revenged the murder of his 
 father. If we have any thing to blame, it 
 was the infufficiency 6f the Queen's punifh- 
 ment ; but we mull recollect flie was Ed- 
 ward's mother. 
 
 In the fame year that Edward took upon 
 himfelf the government, his Queen was de- 
 livered of a fon named Edward ; but better 
 known by that of the Black Prince. Edward 
 found the kingdom in perfect peace ; but 
 that was too quiet a flate for his ambitious 
 mind. The King of Scotland was a minor ; 
 Edward determined to take advantage of that 
 circumftance ; but a peace which was con- 
 cluded with that country, only two years 
 before, was apparently an infuperable ob- 
 ftacle to his views. He procured Edward, 
 the fon of John Baliol, to aflert his right to 
 that throne ; he hinted to the Englifh Nobles, 
 that by aflifting Baliol they would oblige 
 him ; and at the fame time iflucd a procla- 
 mation againlt thole who engaged in that 
 fervice. Thus Princes, like other men, when 
 they deviate from the paths of honour, are 
 obliged to wander in the impervious ways of 
 art. Edward knew he did that which he 
 ought not to have done, and wanted to pcr- 
 
 fuade
 
 C 81 D 
 
 fuade the world that he was not concerned in 
 an undertaking of which he himfelf was the 
 author ; pofterity, ever juft, fees through the 
 weak evafion, and looks with contempt on a 
 Prince who, to make a kingdom wretched, di- 
 vided, and ruinous ; to fill it with civil wars, 
 murders, and blood ; was guilty of meannefs, 
 hypocrify, and falfehood. Baliol, after a vie* 
 tory, was crowned at Scone, did homage to 
 Edward for the throne of Scotland, but being 
 loon after defeated, Edward prepared an army 
 to vindicate his claims. He defeated the 
 Scotch in a great battle, where thirty thou- 
 fand Scotchmen are faid to have been (lain. 
 This appeared to determine Baliol's claim ; 
 but no fooner was the King of England with- 
 drawn than the indignant Scots returned to 
 arms* and drove out Baliol. Thus it will 
 ever be : foreign invaders may fpill feas of 
 blood ; but if they cannot murder the whole 
 of the natives, they will not prevail. Edward 
 made four different expeditions into Scot- 
 land. When his arms were there, thofe brave 
 patriots retired to their mountains ; when he 
 left their country they drove out his garrifcn. 
 At laft Edward,, quite tired out, neglecled 
 Scotland ; turned his ambitious attention to 
 another country ; hoped that his murders 
 G would
 
 would there be more fuccefsful, and his en- 
 deavours more gratifying to his rapacious 
 mind. Edward had, on a very bad preten- 
 fion, demanded the Crown of France ; it was 
 urged againft him, that the Gallic law pre- 
 vented the claim of a woman ; that the next 
 heir male had a right to the throne of that 
 kingdom ; that if women had pretenfions, 
 the three laft Kings of France had all daugh- 
 ters, who neceflarily had a prior right to 
 Edward, whofe fole claim to the diadem of 
 France proceeded from his mother. Ed- 
 xvard anfvvered, that though women had no 
 right, yet the fon might poflefs through his 
 mother ; but even this argument was more 
 favourable to the King of Navarre than to 
 Edward * ; Philip of Valois, though more 
 diftantly removed, was the heir male ; he was 
 therefore unanimoufly elecled King. Ed- 
 ward did him homage at Amiens, though in 
 the following year he claimed that crown, of 
 which he had thus folemnly declared himfelf 
 a vafial. Having caufed himfelf to be crowned 
 King of France, he got together a large army ; 
 formed feveral continental alliances ; re- 
 ceived from his Parliament one hundred 
 
 * Univ. Hift. p. 246. 
 
 thoufar.d
 
 n 83 3 
 
 thoufand pounds, and invaded France ; thus 
 Ed ward, by force of arms, wanted to make 
 himfelf the King, /. e. the Father of a People 
 who difclaimed him ; and the Protector of 
 the Rights of Men, who had unanimoufly 
 elected his rival to that office. We do not 
 pretend to fay that fuch ideas entered the 
 King's mind ; but we think that fuch fhould 
 be the duties, and fuch the defign of all 
 Kings. However, to return. After an im- 
 menle ex pence, and fome ufelefs victories, 
 Edward agreed to a truce with the French, 
 and returned, chagrined and difappointed, to 
 England, where he gratified his ill humour 
 by fome arbitrary a6ls of opprefiion *. He 
 was obliged to cail a Parliament to procure 
 frefh fupplies, which were granted to him 
 upon his confirmation of Magna Charta, in 
 full Parliament ; but he fecretly entered a 
 proteft of fuch a nature as would feem fuffi- 
 cient to have deflroyed all future truft and 
 confidence -f . He declared, that as foon as 
 his convenience permitted, he would, of his 
 own authority, revoke what had been ex- 
 torted from him, which was prejudicial to his 
 prerogative ; and that he had never given it 
 
 * Univ. Hift.p. 253. t N>. 255. 
 
 G 2 the
 
 C, 8 * 3 
 
 the fanction of his own breaft. Engliflimen ! 
 remember this is one of your boafted Ed- 
 wards ! Can his murders in France and Scot- 
 land compenfate for his perjuries ; or his cele- 
 brated victories over a people who fought for 
 their freedom be fufficient to make him your 
 idol? You, my countrymen, who have Ib long 
 exulted in being the moft free among the na- 
 tions ! A free man, who loves liberty, muft 
 hate a tyrant, be he of what country he may ; 
 he muft hate every attempt at opprefllon, let 
 who will make it ; he muft grieve to fee a people 
 who are fighting for their liberties unfuccefs- 
 ful, though for ever fo fhor t a period . Edward 
 having fettled matters in England, again inva- 
 ded France ; and after many fkirmifhes, fought 
 the decifive battle of CrefTy, which, fays one 
 hiftorian*, every honeft Englishman boafts 
 of to this very hour. Sure nothing can be 
 more mifreprefented ; EnglHhmen muft hold 
 power to be delegated to any perfon or per- 
 fons the people chufe to appoint ; the French 
 nation had elected a King, and refufed the 
 offer of Edward to rule over them ; his inva- 
 fion was in direct oppofition to that right ; 
 and every victory he gained was only a means 
 
 * Hift. of England, in a Series of Letters, vol. i. p. 129. 
 
 of
 
 C 85 3 
 
 of prolonging the contefts. We therefore 
 think every honeft Engliihman fhould grieve 
 for a victory, gained over men who were de- 
 fending their liberties ; happy would it have 
 been for the two countries had Edward been 
 defeated ; it would have opened the eyes of his 
 people, and prevented the long feries of in- 
 vafions which unhappy France fuffered from 
 the Englim Kings. Let us do juftice to Ed- 
 ward's conduct to the wounded and the dead, 
 whom he treated with humanity and refpecl ; 
 but his orders before the battle were inhuman 
 and fanguinary ; they were, to give no quar- 
 ters ; and the whole campaign was employed 
 in ravaging the lands, burning the habita- 
 tions, and butchering the perlbns of thofe 
 over whom he wanted to rule *. After the 
 vi6lory of Crefly the King advanced to Calais ; 
 feventeen hundred half-ftarred wretches, ufe- 
 lefs to the garrifon, were turned out of the 
 town, and Edward had humanity enough to 
 let them pafs ; an a6l we readily praife, and 
 fmcerely wifh, for Edward's honour, that his 
 future conduct had been regulated by the fame 
 benevolence. Calais flood a fiege of twelve 
 months, during which the inhabitants defen- 
 
 * Smollet, vol. iii. p. 412. 
 
 G 3 ded
 
 C 86 3 
 
 ded themfelves with fmgular courage, which 
 greatly offended the haughty King ; and he 
 declared, that when it furrendered he would 
 take fignal revenge on them ; it was not 
 therefore without difficulty that he was per- 
 fuaded to accept their fubmiffion ; and then 
 only on condition that fix of the principal 
 citizens fhould be given up to him, which 
 was done. He ordered them for inftant exe- 
 cution ; but the intereft of the Queen pre- 
 vented their lofing their lives in cold blood, 
 for having defended and protected their habi- 
 tations from the invader of their country. 
 On taking pofleffion of Calais, Edward forced 
 all the inhabitants to leave their native town, 
 and peopled it with Englifhmen. 
 
 Edward, in the year 1348, was offered the 
 Imperial Crown of Germany, but he refufed 
 to accept it ; and a dreadful peftilence break- 
 ing out in Europe, flopped the ambitious 
 views of this monarch, who entered into a 
 truce with the French King ; but he foon after 
 dying, was fucceeded by John his fon. At 
 this time France was divided into factions, and 
 Edward determined to increafe its diflrefles ; 
 he prepared again to invade that kingdom, 
 though his own territories had been ravaged 
 
 by
 
 L 87 : 
 
 by the pefiilence with fuch violence, that in 
 the fpace of one year there had been buried 
 in the Charterhoufe church-yard, London, 
 above fifty thoufand perfons ; and his Nor- 
 thern frontiers had been invaded by the Scots, 
 who were defeated in a battle, and their King 
 taken prifoner. Such diftreffes, one would 
 fuppofe, might have induced a man of com- 
 mon humanity to have piiied the fuffermgs 
 of his people. By the enaction of wife laws, 
 by a peaceful and ceconomic government, he 
 would have alleviated their d litre fles ; but it 
 has not unfrequently happened, that the very 
 exigence of Kings has depended on the evils 
 they have produced. Edward fent his fon with 
 an army into France, and himfelf chaflifed the 
 Scots, bought Bailors pretenfions to the Scot- 
 tifli crown, and foon after concluded a truce 
 with that people. As it is only our exprefs 
 deiign to review the acts of the Kings and 
 (Queens of England, it may appear going out 
 of our way to follow Edward the Black Prince 
 into France ; but we cannot avoid the oppor- 
 tunity, as it gives us a power, which we have 
 hitherto feldom met with, of faying fomething 
 favourable of royal blood. We allow the 
 war was unjuft ; but the crime falls on the 
 
 head
 
 C 88 3 
 
 head of the father, not on that of the fon, 
 who was only obeying the injunctions en- 
 forced upon him by his father and fovereign. 
 With a fmall army he defeated the French 
 King at the battle of Poicliers, and took him 
 and his fon prifoners. What we admire is, 
 his condu6l after the battle. We recolle6t 
 in no conqueror equal humanity and mode- 
 ration difplayed to the unhappy prifoners ; 
 we admire the marks of regard and fympathy 
 with which he met the captive monarch ; and 
 we honour the heart of that man who in 
 the flufh of victory could forget his tri- 
 umph, and ufe his utmoft endeavours to alle- 
 viate the misfortunes of his captives. Con- 
 querors, if there be any more, imitate the 
 good example. If the defire of fame, the 
 love of war, or the thirft of dominion, muft 
 ftill continue to deluge kingdoms in blood, 
 remember, Oh remember, that your captives 
 are men, with the fame feelings as yourfelves, 
 whom without provocation you have torn 
 from their wives, their homes, and their chil- 
 dren. Reflect on the miferies they endure ; 
 and at leaft, by an attention to their misfor- 
 tunes, leflen , the corroding pangs of their 
 afflictions. Edward had now the fatisfaction 
 
 of
 
 r 8 9 3 
 
 of having prifoners his two moft potent ene- 
 mies, viz. the Kings of France and Scotland. 
 A peace was foon made with the laft, upon 
 his paying one hundred thoufand marks for 
 his ranfom ; but the King of France was not 
 fo fortunate ; he entered into, and agreed to 
 a treaty with Edward, which was not ratified 
 by his States. He had been confined forfome 
 time in the Cattle of Somerton, and the 
 Tower of London; he was fet free by this 
 treaty, upon paying, by way of ranfom, three 
 millions of crowns of gold ; but when he got 
 to France he found that exhaufted country in 
 too impoverifhed a ftate to raife fo vaft a 
 fum ; he therefore returned to his imprifon- 
 ment, where he died. 
 
 Edward again invaded France with a large 
 army ; he deftroyed the country up to the 
 gates of Paris ; but nothing could induce the 
 Dauphin to hazard a battle, though he faw 
 the flames arife from the villages which were 
 burnt by the Englifh. An invading army 
 cannot flay i n an invaded country without 
 fome fignal fuccefs ; for fuch an army not to 
 fight is to be defeated ; and Edward found 
 his army moulder away daily ; he therefore 
 confented to a treaty figned at Bretagny. 
 
 Edward,
 
 i: 9 i 
 
 Edward in 1362 confirmed again Magna 
 Charta, which had been ratified ten different 
 times in his reign ; a ftrong proof how little 
 he regarded it. The Pope now made a 
 claim for the tribute promifcd by John ; this 
 Edward pofitively refufed ; and his Parlia- 
 ment fupported him againlt the papal ufur- 
 pation. That Biihop was wife enough to 
 abftain from the claim. We have endea- 
 voured to do juftice to the moderation and 
 clemency of Edward the Black Prince ; the 
 fame Juftice obliges us to mention his expe- 
 dition into Caftile. The Caftilians had expel- 
 led as cruel a tyrant as ever fat upon a throne ; 
 he applied to the Englifh Prince, who by 
 force of arms obliged the people to fubmit 
 again to Peter, furnamed the Cruel. We grieve 
 to fee a favourite character thus proftitute 
 itfelf ; we lament the fuccefs of the expedi- 
 tion ; we wifh, for the honour of Edward, 
 that he had died one year fooner. That event 
 took place in the year 1377, when his father 
 was engaged in a new war with the French. 
 He levied large fums on his people ; but fo 
 little conduct had the Englifh, and fo wifely 
 did the French King condu6l himfelf, that 
 he very fooa recovered whatever was loft by 
 
 his
 
 C 91 n 
 
 his predecefTor. England began to wear a 
 face of difcontent, which was not appeafed 
 by a difhonourable truce with the French, 
 or by the King's ridiculous fondnefs for Alice 
 Ferrers, to whom he gave all the jewels and 
 moveables of the Queen. She commanded 
 
 s ^ ' N - 
 
 every thing ; the Ministers were of herchufing ; 
 me prefided at the courts of juftice *. The 
 King gave a tournament at Smith field ; he 
 appeared in a chariot with this woman, in a 
 triumphant chariot ; and gave her the name 
 of the Lady of the Sun. By this kind of con- 
 duel his money was foon fpent ; he called on 
 Parliament for a fupply ; they remonflrated 
 againft his late extravagance ; in return Ed- 
 ward confined their Speaker in Nottingham 
 Caftle. Fortunately he had now nearly 
 finimed his mortal career ; he died at Skeen, 
 in Surry ; and Richard, fon of the Black 
 Prince, fucceeded him. 
 
 Edward poflefTed great natural abilities ; 
 he was firm and decided ; knew when to act 
 with vigour, and when it was more to his 
 intereft, to fubmit to the power of his Par- 
 liament. Had it been his will, his people 
 might have been happy ; but Edward had too 
 
 * Smollet, vol. iv. p. 32. 
 
 much
 
 C 9* 3 
 
 much ambition to wifh to add to the happi- 
 nefs of his fubjecls. In a few inftances he 
 appeared to be influenced by humanity ; but 
 too frequently he fuffered himfelf to a6l with 
 brutal ferocity ; his great difregard to oaths 
 is proved by his repeating the ceremony of 
 confirming Magna Charta fo often ; his peo- 
 ple, during his whole reign, were much 
 opprefled ; blood and treafure were alike 
 fquandered away ; he built the Caftle of 
 Windfor by obliging every county in Eng- 
 land to fend him a certain number of mafons, 
 tilers, and carpenters * ; and his oppreflions 
 were too numerous for his people to have 
 borne, had they not been deluded by the 
 brilliancy of his victories. 
 
 * Univ. Hift. p. 276. 
 
 RICHARD
 
 C 93 3 
 RICHARD II, 
 
 RICHARD afcended the Throne in his 
 eleventh year ; happy would it have been 
 for himfelf and the nation, had the pure fyfiera 
 of reprefentation been then known : we have 
 no doubt but it would have preferved this Prince 
 from his misfortunes, and the nation from the 
 ills it fuffered in the difpute between the Rofes. 
 Parliaments have ever been in England rather 
 a reprefentation of the ariftocracy, than of the 
 people, and it has all the characterises of the 
 former body ; iubmifiive to a wife King, impe- 
 rious to a weak one ; puming forward it's own 
 corporate fpirit, but feldom attentive to the 
 real intereft of the multitude. Was a true re- 
 prefentation to be formed, and a part of it re- 
 gularly chofen by rotation, to fall into the mafs 
 of the people, their interefls would be the fame 
 with thofe of the people, and the corporate 
 fpirit would be annihilated. We were led 
 into thefe remarks by the circumftance of a 
 law, pafled in the beginning of this reign, 
 
 which 

 
 C 94 3 
 
 \vhich ena6led, that fuch of the peafantry as 
 had bought their freedom fhould flill con- 
 tinue in vaflalage, and their purchafe be of 
 no avail ; and a poll tax, which fell particu- 
 larly hard upon the poor, inafmuch as they 
 paid equally with the rich*. The tax was 
 farmed probably by foreigners, (Flemings) 
 who levied the tax with brutal rigour. One 
 of the collectors in Kent demanded payment 
 of one Walter Tyler, for his daughter ; he 
 declared (he was under the age appointed by 
 law, (15 years.) The tax gatherer aflcrted 
 (he was not, and was proceeding to an inde- 
 cent and uncertain mode of conviction ; at 
 which the father's paflions were inflamed, and 
 he nobly ftruck the rafcal with his hammer, 
 fo that he died on the fpot. The fpectators, 
 influenced by the fame zeal, fworeto fupport 
 him ; the people opprefled by many imp6- 
 fitions, foon became tumultuous, and pro- 
 ceeded to -unlawful violence; Walter was 
 made their leader, and they advanced to Lon- 
 don, murdered many, and deftroyed vafl 
 property there. Their conductor held a con- 
 ference with Richard ; in which, he was killed 
 by his attendants ; and the King's life would 
 probably have beenfacrificed in revenge, haci 
 
 * Univ Hift. p. 276. 
 
 he
 
 C 95 } 
 
 he _not faved it by an admirable prefence of 
 mind, though he was not then 16 years of 
 age *. The next day, the rebels received a ge- 
 neral pardon, and a free charter ; but both were 
 ibon retracted, and the ring-leaders executed 
 without mercy -\-. The infurreclions of the 
 Barons againlt their Kings, hiflorians talk of 
 with no great degree of animofity. The in- 
 furreclions of the plebeians againft the Barons 
 is branded with all the virulence of reproach. 
 The punifhment of the infurgent Barons is 
 generally filled cruelty ; and the punifhment 
 of men, who fought for native freedom, (and 
 who had received a free pardon from the 
 King) was called juftice. How long will this 
 continue ? 
 
 Richard, in his feventeenth year, became de- 
 firous of affuming the reins of Government, 
 and foon proved himfelf unequal to that taflc. 
 Fond of flatterers, he was not long without a 
 favourite. Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, 
 a man of diflblute manners, gained an entire 
 afcendant over him ; for him he created 
 titles before unknown. To one courtier he 
 
 * As foon as Tyler fell, the King rode up to the people, and 
 defined them not to regret the death of their leadei ; for, faid he, 
 1 will be your Captain ; follow me, and all your reafonalue de- 
 fires (hall be complied with. 
 
 t Hift. of England, in Series of Letters, vol. i. p. 143. 
 
 made
 
 C 9G 3 
 
 made fuch confiderable grants, that the Chan- 
 cellor refufed to annex the great feal to 
 them. The King, provoked at the refufal, 
 took it from him, and for fome days kept it, 
 and made a very inconfiderate ufe thereof *. 
 Whilft he fquandered away his revenues on 
 his favourites and pleafure, the Queen acted 
 with the fame profufion to her needy and ra- 
 pacious countrymen -f. A truce was entered 
 into with France, and though the Scots in- 
 vaded England, and an army was fent againft 
 them, they came offunpunifhed. The King de- 
 manded a fupply ; Parliament requefted that 
 his treafurer and new favourite the Earl of 
 Suffolk, might be removed ; he anfwered, he 
 would not turn out the meanefl fcullion in his 
 kitchen to pleafe them J. Shortly after he fent 
 his Chancellor to demand, in a moft imperious 
 manner, a fubfidy ; but Richard was foon 
 brought to reafon, by the firm refinance of 
 his Parliament, and obliged, though very 
 reluctantly, to abandon his favourites. It was 
 on this occafion that he declared, he would 
 fooner throw himfelf into the hands of France, 
 than be a flave to his own fubjects ; unac- 
 cuftomed to controul, he could not bear the 
 lofs of his favourites, nor the management of 
 
 * Rapin, 426. f SmoJ!et, p. 113. + Rapin, v. t. p. 427. 
 
 his
 
 C 9? 3 
 
 his Parliaments, he determined t6 govefii' 
 without their affiflance ; he afked the opiiiiori'- 
 of the Judges, and they flavifhly declared* 
 that in their opinion, the King was above law. 
 One, however, of the Judges obferved, after 
 figning, that never did action better deferve 
 hanging * than that he had juft done-f. 
 Richard ifllied orders to levy mi army, but 
 men would not ferve ; and fome male- 
 content Lords, at the head of fbrty-thoufand 
 men, foon forced him to feel his dependence 
 on his people, by a perfect obedience to their 
 commands. By fome means, however * he 
 recovered his authority, and rufhed again 
 into expence; diforder and confufion were 
 foon vilible in public affairs ; a"nd though 
 an intolerable plague and famine afflicted Eng- 
 land, yet it did not induce him to lay afidd 
 his diffipation ; his arbitrary proceedings pro- 
 duced general difcontent ; but he had rendered 
 himfelf fo defpotic, that he had influence 
 enough with Parliament to juftify his actions, 
 though he had feteed the Charter of London, 
 and forced Londoners to redeem it with ten 
 
 * Rapin, 421. f Smollet fays the words ufed were, " Now 
 I want nothing but a horfe, a hurdle, and a halter, to bring 
 me to the death I deferve, for thus betraying my country." 
 His name, Belknafs. 
 
 H thoufand
 
 C 98 3 
 
 thoufand crowns, and two gold ones. Though 
 lie had told this Parliament the moft palpable 
 lies ; though he had borrowed money of every 
 wealthy man near his country ; and although, 
 by the falfeft pretences, he had banifhed his 
 uncle, the Duke of Glo'fler, and imprifoned 
 feveral other Lords ; yet this Parliament was 
 fo devoted to his will, that it has been nick- 
 named the mercilefs Parliament. The Earls of 
 Arundeland Warwick were by it condemned 
 to die for crimes pardoned by the King him- 
 felf nine years before ; they were too obfe- 
 quious to his will to be diflblved. Richard 
 therefore, contrary to the then cuftom, only ad- 
 journed them. How neceflary is it for men 
 to be watchful of their liberties ; our Parlia- 
 ments continue for feven years. The Duke 
 of Hereford, coufin to the King, accufed the 
 Duke of Norfolk of treafonable ex pre (lions ; 
 as he denied the charge, a duel was to take 
 place, in the prefence of the King ; but the 
 fickle monarch, inftead of fuflfering them to 
 engage, banifhed them both, though no 
 crime could be alledged againft the Duke of 
 Hereford, who, upon his father's death, which 
 happened foon after, became Duke of Lan- 
 cafter ; he retired to France, where he met a 
 
 favourable
 
 t 99 1 
 
 favourable reception from the French King. 
 But Richard ordered his ambafTadors to re- 
 prefent him as having been guilty of treafo- 
 nable practices, and to aflure that Court he 
 never would be permitted to return to Eng- 
 land. The mercilefs Parliament were again 
 fummoned to meet at Shrewfbury. He 
 raifed in Chefhire four-thoufand archers, 
 which he marched into * that town. This is 
 the firft Handing army we met with ; he let 
 them loofe as freebooters -f, and connived at 
 every excefs of rape, robbery, and murder 
 they committed ; he was obliged to pafs 
 into Ireland, to remedy the diforders which 
 had arifen in that kingdom ; but before he 
 went, he procured a bull from the Pope, con- 
 taining dreadful anathemas againft all who 
 fhould oppofe or reverfe the decrees of his 
 laft Parliament. The liberties of England 
 were now in a difmal ftate, and the male- 
 contents became daily more numerous. The 
 Duke of Lancafter landed in England whilft 
 the monarch was abfent ; he at firft claimed 
 only his paternal inheritance ; but his views 
 foon became more extenfive, and he found 
 
 * Cooper's Anfwerto Burke, p. 47. f Hift. of England, in 
 a Series of Letters, v. i. p. 147. 
 
 H 2 himfelf
 
 ICO 
 
 himfelf entire matter of the kingdom . Richard 
 learnt what was parting in England, and 
 landed at Milford Haven, with an army, 
 but being unable to maintain the con- 
 teft, he furrendered himfelf to the Duke, 
 who called a Parliament, that depofed 
 Richard. Different accounts are given of 
 his death ; all agree he was murdered, in the 
 year 1399. This Prince was weak, extra- 
 vagant, and ridiculoufly fond of fhow ; he 
 gratified his tafte, without at all confidering 
 the diftrefles he thereby brought upon his 
 fubjecls. He feems to have had fome know- 
 ledge of the doctrine of influence, or, the 
 " mercilefs Parliament" would not fo readily 
 have fubmitted; he alfo appears to have 
 known the ufe of a (landing army, in favour 
 of defpotifm. Other monarchs have had re- 
 courfe to the fame experiment ; ami we ac- 
 knowledge, in the darker ages, with fuccefs ; 
 but we believe, in thefe enlightened ones, our 
 foldiers do not forget that they are citizens. 
 
 HENRY 

 
 HENRY IV 
 
 Parliament having depofecl Richarcf, 
 elected Henry for King ; he would 
 therefore have had the beft pofllble title to 
 the Crown, had the Parliament been the true 
 reprefentatives of the people; that they were 
 not, the fubfequent convulfions prove. We 
 cannot inculcate the neceffity of an equal re- 
 prefentation too ftrongly ; the happinefs of 
 the people depends on it, and we ardently hope 
 to fee it eflablifhed in Britain. This monarch 
 was elected by the fame Parliament that de- 
 pofed Richard ; at leaft a new Parliament 
 fhould have been called : but he was fecure of 
 obedience of the prefent ; an effort of the 
 other party might have prevailed ; and had 
 that meafure been purfued, Richard might 
 have been reftored. What could Henry 
 have feared, had he been fecure in the 
 affections of the people ; from what fol- 
 H 3 lows
 
 102 
 
 lows, it rather appears, that they were ad- 
 verfe to him ; indeed we do not wonder at it, 
 when we confider that Richard was depofed 
 without being admitted to be heard in his de- 
 fence. We believe the fentence was juft ; 
 but the mode was certainly the reverfe. Some 
 unfuccefsful attempts were made to reft ore 
 Richard, which only haftened his end ; Hen- 
 ry caufed him to be murdered the fame year 
 in which he afcended the throne. An infur- 
 reclion of the Welch was foon quelled ; and 
 an invafion of the Scotch retaliated ; they 
 concluded a fliort truce with the King. The 
 clergy (who by the by have as a body always 
 favoured intolerance and arbitrary power, and 
 had ever fupported the pretenfions of the 
 court of Rome) were a very powerful body ; 
 to pleafe them the King procured fevcral 
 penal ftatutes to be pafled by Parliament (to 
 their honour be it remembered that they un- 
 willingly enacted them) againft the Lollards, 
 a religious feel, lately fprung up ; and the year 
 1401 was the difgraceful period which firft 
 faw a man burnt in England for thinking for 
 himfelf on religious fubjecls. This monarch 
 
 foon after raifed a large fum by his own fole 
 
 *u 
 
 authority ;
 
 C 103 3 
 
 authority ; this increafecl the diffatisfa&ion of 
 his fubjects. A report prevailed that Richard 
 was yet alive, and thoufands flew to arms. 
 Henry fwore never to pardon them * ; and he 
 executed his vengeance with great feverity. 
 Soon after, a more formidable confpiracy 
 claimed his attention ; the parties concerned 
 were, the Scotch and Welch, allied with the 
 Earl of Northumberland. A great battle 
 was fought by the King in perfon, at Shrewf- 
 bury, where he obtained a complete victory. 
 Northumberland's fon was killed in the battle ; 
 himfelf was prevented by ficknefs from being 
 prefent ; his connections were too powerful 
 to permit him to be made a fubject of punifh- 
 ment. Henry made a merit of neceflity, and 
 pardoned him ; but the Earl thought he could 
 place no dependence on the King, a fecond 
 time had recourfe to arms ; he was deceived 
 by an infamous and cowardly ftratagem. The 
 Earl of Nottingham and his confidant the 
 Archbifhop of York were feized and execu- 
 ted ; the latter without either trial, indictment, 
 or defence ; the Earl of Northumberland 
 found fafety in Scotland. The King this 
 year fummoned a Parliament ; but directed 
 
 * Rapin, 454. 
 
 * in
 
 in his writs, that no man who undcrftood the 
 law fhould be returned *. A fine ftate of re- 
 prefentation truly ! They were therefore 
 called the illiterate Parliament. To this Par-, 
 liament Henry applied for money ; they ad-, 
 vifed his feizing the Church revenues ; but the 
 Archbifhop of Canterbury being prefent, 
 fell on his knees to the King, afked him how 
 lie could expect God's protection, if the prayers 
 of the Church were fo little regarded ; and 
 added that hewould oppofe this injuftice ; that 
 of all crimes a Prince could commit, none 
 was fo heinous as feizing the revenues of the 
 Church. Here we muft beg leave to (top a 
 while ; we are not to wonder at an Archr 
 bifhop's (landing up in defence of the privi- 
 leges of the Church ; whilft it is the opinion of 
 a majority of the people of any country, that 
 a national Church fhould be continued, its 
 members ought to be maintained in a certain 
 degree of affluence ; but fure it waits the 
 pleafure of the people, or their reprefentatives, 
 how they are to maintain that body. As we 
 mean to fay more of that fubject afterwards, 
 for the prefent we fliall only add, that the 
 
 * Smollet, vol. iv.p 261. 
 
 exhaufted
 
 C 105 3 
 
 exhaufted Commons were obliged to find other 
 refources ; and that the Clergy continued to 
 welter in their riches. Another proof of the 
 unequal ftate of the reprefentation. Had it 
 been a pure one, this demand muft have been 
 attended to ; we believe that to this hour the 
 Commons of England were never fairly repre- 
 fented ; and during this reign the King ufed 
 every means to influence the election, to render 
 the freedom of voting of no ufe * ; but with all 
 his care, he could not induce the Parliament 
 to grant him an annual fubfidy, though that 
 body did not meet. Henry's health now be- 
 gan to decline ; he became timid and religious ; 
 confcious of his crimes, he hoped to bribe the 
 Almighty to prolong his exiftence. He took 
 the crofs with a defign to pafs into the holy 
 land ; but his illnefs became more fevere, and 
 his affection for his Grown ridiculous; he 
 would not let the bauble be removed from his 
 pillow. Juft before he died, his fon thinking 
 him dead, removed it ; but the monarch re- 
 covering his fenfes, exprefled great anger at 
 it ; it was reft ored to its place, where hefeafted 
 his eyes till he died. 
 
 * Rapin, vol. i. p. ^27., 
 
 Thi*
 
 This Prince appears to have poflefTed 
 prudence, which was only ufed as a ladder to 
 ambition ; he was clofe, cruel, and avaricious ; 
 he drained, by the mod tyrannic acts, the 
 people of their money ; and without the 
 forms of trial, condemned his fubjects to 
 death. 
 
 HENRY
 
 C 7 3 
 
 HENRY 
 
 T 
 
 IRE death of Henry IV. gave very little 
 pain to the Englifh people ; his fon 
 Henry was, and ftill continues a favourite 
 character ; indeed my countrymen feem to 
 require nothing but a fuccefsful war ; con- 
 queft makes a Prince their darling ; and how- 
 ever unjuft the war, fuccefs renders him popu- 
 lar. Upon Henry's acceflion to the throne of 
 England he found two powerful parties, the 
 Yorkifts and the Clergy. The firft he courted 
 by removing the body of Richard the Second 
 to Weftminfter Abbey, and burying it there ; 
 and by founding religious houfes, in which 
 prayers were to be offered for that King's foul 
 night and day. The fecond, by an a6t of in- 
 tolerance. He forbad any meetings of the 
 Lollards ; and the King undertook to convert 
 John Oldcaftle, Baron of Cobham, one of the 
 moil refpeclable men of that age, and the 
 principal of that feel: ; but his reafonings not 
 
 being
 
 
 C 
 
 being fufficiently convincing to the mind 
 Oldcaftle, the monarch determined to try 
 the ftrength of his body ; he delivered him 
 over to the Clergy, and the Archbimop of 
 Canterbury condemned him to the flames. 
 He was committed to the Tower, from 
 which he was fortunate enough to make his 
 efcape the day before that intended for his 
 execution, and found fafety for a time in 
 Wales ; but about four years after he was 
 taken, drawn, hanged, and burned, for he- 
 refy and treafon. Other accounts mention 
 his death differently ; they fay, never * did 
 the cruelty of man invent fuch torments as 
 he was made to endure. Fie was hung up 
 with a chain by the middle, and thus by a 
 flow fire burned, or rather roafted to death. 
 This man had been in high efteem with the 
 King, for whom no apology can be made ; 
 it was his own act ; he might have refcucd 
 him from the fury of the Clergy ; but then 
 they would not have feconded with fo much 
 zeal his favourite war with France. Some 
 apologifts for regal villainy pretend to excufe 
 this aft by the darknefs of the age ; but dare 
 they pretend to fay that the times of Henry 
 
 * Goldfmith, vol. ii, p. 19. 
 
 the
 
 3 
 
 the Fifth were lefs enlightened than thofe of 
 his predeceflbrs ; they were not ; a fufficient 
 proof is, the exigence of Diffenters from the 
 national Church ; it is a perfect evidence that 
 investigation had commenced . But to admit, 
 for the fake of argument, that the age was as 
 uninformed as any of which we read ; can 
 that excufe an unjuil act ? Does not every 
 man know, and through every age have they 
 not known, the difference between right and 
 wrong ? Is not juftice immortal ? Let not 
 then fuch excufes (helter the heads of tyrants 
 from the cenfure they deferve ; let them not 
 pretend to exculpate an act of horrid barba-^ 
 rity, or to fay that a King's breaking his 
 oath was not a perjury, becaufe the like had 
 been committed by Henry the Firll, Second, 
 and Edward the Third. In the reign of 
 Henry the Fifth, the Clergy, as is inva- 
 riably their practice, when they have any 
 project in view, pretended the national 
 church was in danger ; and, with the af~ 
 nftance of the King, produced an act by 
 which all magiftrates, from the Lord Chan- 
 cellor downwards, were obliged to fwear 
 to employ their power to extirpate here- 
 tics. The a6t was no fooner pa fled than 
 a violent peiTecution commenced againll the- 
 
 Lollards ;
 
 C o 3 
 
 Lollards ; feveral were burnt alive * ; fome 
 left the kingdom ; and others abjured their 
 religion. Henry being determined on a war 
 with France, fent ambafladors to that king- 
 dom to demand an alliance ; but fo exorbi- 
 tant were his demands, that the French, 
 though involved in all the horrors of civil 
 diflentions, and though extremely unwilling 
 to provoke Henry, refufed to comply with 
 them ; he therefore invaded France with an 
 army of thirty thoufand men ; he immedi- 
 ately laid fiege to Harfleur ; he took the 
 town by ftorm ; put all the garrifon to the 
 fword ; (a courtly word for murdering them) 
 expelled the inhabitants, and peopled it with 
 a colony from England. Some excufe might 
 have been offered for Henry, had he in this 
 cafe only condemned a few of the comman- 
 ding officers, as they had promifed to furren- 
 der the town within three days, if not relieved ; 
 they were not ; but yet continued to defend 
 themfelves ; but can this excufe the murder 
 of all the foldiers, who were obliged to execute 
 the orders of their officers, or the banimment 
 
 * Without Bifhopgate-ftreet, Norwich, is a pit, called Lol- 
 lard's pit to this day, in which thofe unhappy men were cruelly 
 burnt. 
 
 of
 
 C in j 
 
 of the natives of the town ; many of whom 
 were probably quite paflive during the fiege. 
 Henry, after this enterprife, purfued his 
 march towards Calais, with an army much 
 reduced by dyfentery. He was intercepted 
 in his march by the French army ; he fought 
 and by his and his foldiers' valour gained the 
 viclory of Agincourt. Multitudes of pri- 
 ioners were taken, when a report prevailed, 
 that his baggage was attacked ; the King in- 
 ftantly ordered all his prifoners to be mur- 
 dered ! After this victory he marched to 
 Calais, and returned to England, where he 
 was received with triumph. The King foon 
 after claimed the crown of France ; its King 
 was obliged to enter into a treaty with Henry, 
 who married his daughter. It was agreed 
 that the French King mould continue the 
 title for his life ; that if Henry outlived him, 
 he and his heirs were to fucceed to that crown. 
 We are not to fuppofe that the whole king- 
 dom fubmitted to this treaty ; the Dauphin 
 protefted againft it, and retreated to the dif- 
 tant provinces. Henry returned to England 
 to raife fupplies, ftaid there but a fhort time, 
 being foon after attacked with a dyfentery, 
 and died ; leaving an infant fon to the care of 
 
 his
 
 C i" 3 
 
 hisbrothers the Dukes of Bedford andGlo'fter*; 
 Henry appears to have been cruel in his na- 
 ture ; ftrong additional proofs arife ; firft at 
 the fiege of Melun, where he violated the 
 capitulation, imprifoned the commander, 
 hanged twenty Scots foldiers, and confined 
 the reft of the garr ifon in pr ifons and d ungeons, 
 where they peri fried by famine* ; fecondly, at 
 Meux, where the garr ifon defended them- 
 felves feven months with great courage ; they 
 then furrendered at difcretion ; the Scots, 
 Englifh, and Irifli, he totally excluded from 
 all hopes of mercy ; and upon taking poftef- 
 iion of the town, he commanded three offi- 
 cers to be inftantly beheaded, and one to be 
 hanged on a gibbet ; and thirdly, at the fiege 
 of Rouen, the garrifon being diilrefled for 
 provifion, turned out of that city above 
 twenty thoufand miferable wretches. Henry 
 would not permit them to pafs, but drove 
 them back to the walls, where they perilhed, 
 the wretched victims of cold and hunger -f. 
 Whoever reads his reign muft be convinced 
 that he was ambitious ; to his love of military 
 actions muft be attributed his perfccution of 
 the Lollards ; for had he not fubmitted in 
 
 *Smollet, vol. iv. p. 364. f Jb. vol. iv. 372. * Ib. 350. 
 
 thil
 
 C 3 D 
 
 this to the intolerance of his Clergy, he would 
 never have been able to have profecuted his 
 unjuft war againft the French ; to the fame 
 idol the property and lives of his fubjecls he 
 equally forced to fubmit. In Ihort, in Henry 
 we fee 
 
 " The flight of earth-born Kings, whofe low ambition 
 
 " But tends to lay the face of Nature wafte, 
 
 ** And blaft creation." Reman Father, A<1 I Scene I. 
 
 io riOjjj'-jlST.j 
 
 HENRY
 
 J 
 
 ' 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 HENRY, a child of twelve months old, 
 upon the death of his father, became 
 the Father and Protector of the People of 
 England ; and, as if that truft was not fuffi- 
 cient for this Prince, upon the death of the 
 French King, which happened about two 
 months after that of Henry V. he was pro- 
 claimed King of France at Paris, becaufe the 
 protection of fix or feven millions was not 
 enough for the abilities of one who pro- 
 bably could not walk alone ; but thus has 
 the happinefs of the people been for ever 
 fported with. During the long minority, 
 various were the difputes between the prin- 
 cipal nobility ; at laft, through the, interefl 
 of the Earl of Suffolk, the King was mar- 
 ried to Margaret of Anjou, a woman pro- 
 perly qualified to protect Henry, whole im- 
 becility of mind rendered him unable to di- 
 rect the reins of government. She found, 
 
 upon
 
 upon her acceffion to the Englifh throne* 
 that the French had retaken all the towns 
 conquered by Henry the Fifth, another proof 
 of the impoflibility of conquering a country. 
 Had it been poflible to have continued the 
 pofleflion of that kingdom, the abilities of the 
 late King's brothers, and the valour of. their 
 troops, would have fecured it ; fortunately for 
 England it was impracticable; and after a 
 vaft wafte of blood and treafure, the Englifh 
 were obliged torelinquifh their conquefts, re- 
 taining however, for their monarch, the im- 
 portant TITLE of King of France *. The firft 
 act of the Queen, (for it is rather her life than 
 that of the King which is under our review, 
 lie having no will of his own) was to aflbciate 
 with Suffolk's party, who was created a Mar- 
 quis. The DukeofGlo'iter had vainly opppfed 
 hermarriage ; him therefore Hie determined to 
 make the tirft vi6tim of her power ; his wife 
 Was acctifed of witchcraft, for which (lie was 
 j condemned to do penance, and fuffer perpe- 
 tual imprifonment ; perlbns were iiiborned to 
 accufe the Duke of treafon ; he was thrown 
 
 * The abfiirdity of this title has been Ion* apparen* but 
 "nee aace h,, become A He-public, u.re it vviil be no ion^r 
 ued. 
 
 I 2 
 
 ItJto
 
 into prifon *, and the day on which he wag 
 to have made his defence, was found dead in 
 his bed. It is the opinion of all hiftorians, 
 that he was murdered by order of the Queen. 
 Thus died the Duke of Glo'fter, whole only 
 crime feems to have been the love the people 
 bore him. This a6l, and the want of vic- 
 tory in France, produced univerfal difcontent, 
 and encouraged the Duke of York's hopes of 
 feating himfelf upon the throne. His defcent 
 from Edward the Third was certainly more 
 direct in the order of fucceflion than that of 
 the Lancaftrian line. 
 
 A rebellion breaking cart in Ireland, th > 
 Queen and her parry, in hopes of getting rid 
 of York, fent him to command in that king- 
 dom ; but he reduced the rebels, and go- 
 verned with fo much propriety as conliderably 
 to increafe his popularity, both in that king- 
 dom and England. Suffolk being 'ead, the 
 Duke of Somerfet was become the envied 
 object, poflefling the full power of the late 
 favourite. A revolt had taken place under 
 one Cade, which proved how popular the 
 Duke of York was ; he therefore wrote to 
 the King, advifing a reformation in his Mi- 
 niftry, and the difmiflal of Somerfet ; his 
 
 * Goldfmith, TO . ii. p. 46. 
 
 advice
 
 C "7 3 
 
 advice he .backed with an army ; his requeft 
 was prc-mifed to be complied with ; and the 
 Duke difbanded his troops ; but upon his 
 going to Court, he was furprifed by the Duke 
 of Somerfet, who was concealed behind the 
 hangings. The King commanded him to be 
 apprehended ; but fuch was his power, that 
 upon promife of future fubmifllon, he was per- 
 mitted to depart. Henry being foon after taken 
 ill, the. Duke of York had intereft enough to 
 be appointed Protector, when he caufed So- 
 merfet to be arrefted, and lent to the Tower. 
 The King at laft recovering from his indif- 
 poiition, refumed his authority ; Somerfet was 
 releafed, and York had recourfe to arms. The 
 firft battle of St. Alban's was fought ; the 
 Lancaftrians were defeated ; and Henry made 
 prifoner. York again aflumed the. title of 
 Protector, leaving Henry the empty name of 
 King. It is not our bufmefs, were we equal 
 to the tafk, to review the battles fought in 
 this deft r active conteft ; fuffice it to fay, that 
 the Duke's victories increafed his power till 
 he aflerted his right to the throne, and was 
 acknowledged its true heir by Parliament, 
 continuing to Henry the title during his life. 
 But as Parliaments, when not the rcprefen- 
 I 3 tatives
 
 C "8 3 
 
 tatives of the people, fpeak no more than rhe 
 voice of individuals, the Lancaitrians refufed 
 to iiibmit to its award. The Queen collected 
 an<'ariny in the North, the Duke was de- 
 feated, and (lain at Wakefield ; his head was 
 cut off by Margaret's order, crowned with 
 a paper crown, and fixed upon the \valls of 
 York. The Duke's ion Edmund was inhu- 
 manly murdered after the battle, in cold 
 blood ; the Earl of Salifbury was wounded, 
 taken priibner, and beheaded ; Lord Bonville, 
 who was intruded witli the care of the King, 
 ftaid with him after his defeat, on an afl'u- 
 rance of pardon ; but Margaret, regardlefs 
 of her hulband's promife, immediately or- 
 dered his head to be ftruck off. Such arbi- 
 trary and barbarous conduct was not likely 
 to make Henry's party popular; the late 
 Duke's fon took upon himlelf his father's 
 claims, and was loon at the head of an army ; 
 more Englifh blood was to be fpilt, and the 
 queftion, who was to be the future tyrant of 
 England, was to be decided by more battles. 
 Unhappy people ! what was the queftion to 
 you ? Whom did it concern amonglt you, 
 whether a Yorkilt or a Lancaftrin was to be 
 your mafter ? But it did concern the arilto- 
 
 cracv ;
 
 
 C 9 3 
 
 cracy ; the party which any Noble favoured, 
 he expected would, if it proved f uccefsful, add 
 to his power, and to his riches ; your lives were 
 of no avail, put in competition with the inte- 
 refts of a Baron ! better thoufands of the peo- 
 ple lie mangled and unburied in the fields, than 
 a Baron lofe one jot of his importance. Pre- 
 fumptuous tyrants ! The day of juftice mull 
 come, when man fhall be no longer the flave 
 of man, but what his gracious and beneficent 
 Maker intended him, the child of reafon, 
 fubmitting to government from conviction, 
 that the laws are appointed for his good, and 
 that they equally protect and punjfh all. 
 
 At laft Edward, the fon of the late Duke, 
 caufed himfelf to be proclaimed King, in 
 London. We fhall thus clofe our account of 
 the reign of Henry the Sixth. We will not 
 defcend to review his character ; the mind of 
 a fool is not worth enquiring into. His wife 
 was cruel and ambitious ; it was probably 
 owing to the ferocity of her chara6ler that thefe 
 wars took fo barbarous and cruel a turn *. 
 
 * In this reign the equality of rights received a mortal ftab 
 bv what is called the Difqualifying Aft, which confined thr 
 right of fuffrage in counties to thofe only who polfefled 40 J. 
 ^ year in freehold land f. 
 
 t Patriot, vol. ii. p. 138. 
 
 EDWARD
 
 C 12 3 
 
 'h f'-.-ki'. 
 
 . 
 
 EDWARD IV* 
 
 .' 
 
 __ 
 
 .ittfloqffT 
 
 THE firft act of Ed\\*ard's reign was the 
 caufing to be hanged a tnuk-linun of 
 London, who lived at the fign of tUe Crown, 
 for feying that he would make liis Ion heir to 
 the Crown, and the gibbet foon became loaded 
 with his adverfaries. The King prepared to 
 fight Margaret. Many were the battles, va- 
 rious the fuccefs, and horrid the barbarities. 
 exercifed on the conquered party. At lalt 
 Edward appeared triumphant, and Henry 
 was again made prifoner. This was the fitu- 
 ation of affairs when Edward fent Warwick 
 to demand Bona of Savoy for his wife ; whilii 
 he was negociating the match, the capricious 
 monarch married Elizabeth WoodviUc, whom 
 he had in vain endeavoured to debauch. This 
 a6l of impolicy, effrontery, and difregard to 
 public faith, difgufted Warwick, who was at 
 that time the mod powerful of the King's 
 fubje&s. The King, infiead of endeavouring 
 
 to
 
 121 j 
 
 to appeafe the haughty Peer, refolved to drive 
 him from the Council, and by acts of favour 
 to the new Queen's party, effe&ually irritated 
 him. Warwick determined on revenge ; it 
 is added by fome hiftorians, that the King had 
 endeavoured to debauch his daughter * ; be 
 that, however, as it may, Warwick feized 
 the King's perfon, and kept him fome time 
 prifoner, but he was fortunate enough to 
 efcape ; new wars enfued ; Warwick com- 
 bining with Margaret, and the Duke of Cla- 
 rence, brother to Edward, raifed a formidable 
 army . Well might Mr. Burke call the people 
 a fwinifh multitude. Have they not proved 
 themfelves deferving of the epithet ? Have 
 they not been driven to the field of battle, 
 like hogs to a butcher's flaughter-houfe ? Are 
 not their rights to this day publicly bought 
 and fold ? Many battles were fought ; at laft 
 Edward was obliged to leave the kingdom ; 
 Henry releafed from the Tower, was again 
 placed on the throne. Whichever fide was 
 victorious in thefe times of civil (laughter, 
 confirmed their injuftice with a fhew of au- 
 thority ; obfequious Parliaments fupported at 
 all times the ciaim of the conqueror. 
 
 * Rapiu, vol. i.p. 563. 
 
 Edward
 
 C 1J2 2 3 
 
 Edward, landing in Yorkfhire, was joined 
 by many of his partizans, again acknow- 
 ledged King, and the unliappy Henry was 
 once more fent to the Tower. After fe- 
 ver al victories Warwick was (lain, Marga- 
 ret and her fon made prifoners, and Edward 
 continued, after twelve battles, matter of the 
 Englifti crown ; and well worth lighting for, 
 the parties undoubtedly were. A noble au- 
 thor fays, " Indeed, on neither fide do there 
 feem to have been any fcruples *." Yorkifts 
 and Lancaftrians, Edward and Margaret of 
 Anjou entered into any engagements, took 
 any oaths, violated them, and indulged their 
 revenge as often as they were deprefled or 
 victorious -f . The firll vi6lim was the un- 
 fortunate fon of Henry ; he was (lain, accor- 
 ding to fome authors, in the prefence of the 
 King, by Richard Duke of Glo'fter ; but we 
 confefs, the arguments ufed by Lord Orford -|- 
 rather make us believe that it was not com- 
 mitted by that Prince, but by the order of 
 the King. Henry was the fecond viclim. 
 On the fame authority we venture to lay that 
 crime alfo to the charge of Edward. "\Vc 
 
 * Hiftoric Doubts, p. 4, f Ib. p. 6 and 7. * Better known 
 as Horace Walpole, 
 
 know
 
 C 1*3 3 
 
 know that Lord Orfbrd's opinions are con- 
 troverted ; but, with great deference, we think 
 his arguments are fufficient to exculpate 
 Richard from many of his fuppofed crimes. 
 Margaret was for fome time confined in the 
 Tower, but at laft ranfomed for fifty thoufand 
 crowns. A temporary calm fucceeded, and 
 Edward's court became the centre of de- 
 bauchery and excefs. The Clergy, as they 
 themfelves practifed every kind of lewdnefs, 
 were alfo ready to give abfolution ; Ed- 
 ward, not contented with the mifchiefs he 
 had already done his country, determined to 
 lay claim to the Crown of France ; he there- 
 fore invaded that country ; but upon the pay- 
 ment of a flipulated ftim, agreed to withdraw 
 his army from that kingdom. In truth, he 
 wanted to return to his miftrefles, his cruelty, 
 and his extravagance. His brother, the Duke 
 of Clarence, who had affifted him in getting 
 pofleflion of the crown, had been for fome 
 time treated with difrefpecl, (which probably 
 was increafed by the condu6l of the Duke of 
 Glo'fter ; for we cannot think the author we 
 have before mentioned has exculpated him in 
 this inftance.) One Burdet was executed for 
 fome Iiaily, but certainly pardonable expref- 
 
 fions :
 
 fions ; the man was a great friend of the Duke\ 
 who vented his grief in reproaches againft his 
 brother. The King, unmindful of fraternal 
 affedlion or gratitude, had Clarence arraigned, 
 condemned, and executed. We doubt not 
 but the Duke of Glo'fter was concerned in 
 this bufmefs ; he undoubtedly, at leaft indi- 
 rectly urged the King to the a6t. We think 
 the King's words, after the death of Clarence, 
 imply it. Unhappy brother ! for whom no 
 man would intercede *. We may fairly lup- 
 pofe that the man who would not intercede 
 for his brother was not at all averfe to his 
 execution. The King's pleafures were more 
 cxpenfive than his wars ; he purfued every 
 method to extort money to gratify them ;4ie 
 ordered the rich to be accufed of high treafon, 
 in order that they might confiscate their ef- 
 tates -( ; he engaged largely in commerce as 
 a private adventurer ; he fold the profits of 
 vacant places ; he fearched into offices of re- 
 cord, to find out defective titles to lands, and 
 compelled the proprietors to pay large fums 
 for their confirmation ; he laid frequent impo- 
 iitions on the Clergy ; he became totally in- 
 
 * Hiftoric Doubts, p. 14. f Rapin, vol. i. p. 584. J Smol- 
 fet, vol. v. p. 136. 
 
 fe&ed
 
 C '"5 D 
 
 fe61ed with the vice of avarice, though his time 
 was fpent in the mod effeminate amufements, 
 riot, and debauchery ; gratifications only plea- 
 fing to a narrow mind. His Parliament, obfe- 
 quious to his will, agreed to a new war with 
 France, when it was impoflible to fucceed ; but 
 in the midft of his preparations he died, in the 
 forty-fecond year of his age, and thirty-third 
 of his reign. This man exhibits achara<5ler 
 equally Ihocking and difgufting : a fot in his 
 pleafures, a tyger in his cruelties ; in fhort, 
 he was the perpetrator of every vice, and 
 cleflitute of every virtue, unlefs courage in 
 allowed to be one. 
 
 i^llp ? jib '.'*{.[\j\l ?lk .' i., 
 icmrn fc 
 
 .; r^ ? >. 
 
 <: vi ji;-;: ; ?:;* iQclM ir.-,i v; ; "o vJjit.. 
 
 
 EDWARD
 
 EDWARD V, 
 
 NO minor ever filled the Englifli throne, 
 without either inconvenience and dif- 
 grace to the kingdom, or injury to him- 
 felf. If an hereditiiry fyftem be the beft 
 form of government, we hcfitate not to 
 fay, that it is the intereil of every King, 
 who is a good father, to endeavour to pro- 
 cure the people an equal reprefentation ; it 
 would ever fecure a minor from the inva- 
 fions of the ariftocracy ; and every weak Prince 
 would find in it a protection. 
 
 Nothing can fo ill become an unknown 
 author as an endeavour to fet alide the au- 
 thority of the beft hiftorians ; but to judge for 
 himfelf is the privilege of man. The author 
 wifhes not to impofe his opinions on others ; 
 the reign of this Prince would have fcarcc 
 come within his plan, had not the moral 
 character of his fucceflbr been deeply involved 
 in it. The author of Hiftoric Doubts has 
 
 railed
 
 C 127 3 
 
 raifed many ftrong objections to the generally 
 received character of Richard the Third ; it 
 fhall be our endeavour to do juftice to that 
 Prince ; at the feme time we will ftrive not 
 to be led alide by any man. Edward the 
 Fourth left two fons, the eldeft thirteen years 
 of age. The Duke of Glo'fter laid claim to 
 the government during the minority, and 
 was appointed Protector. Thus he appears 
 to have acknowledged the right of his ne- 
 phew. He got the King and his brother into 
 his pofleffion ; he then rerr. ved the young 
 King to the Tower. The author of Hiftoric 
 Doubts endeavours to do away this circum- 
 ftance ; but can we forget that Henry the 
 Sixth was committed to the fame place, by 
 way of prifon ; even if we allow that foine 
 part of it was a royal palace, Hill it muft be 
 confefled that the Tower of London was then 
 ufed as a place of confinement for ftate pri- 
 foners. Soon after his emiiTaries raifed fcru- 
 pies againll the legitimacy of the King, pre- 
 tending that his father was married to Eliz. 
 Lucy before his marriage with Edward's mo- 
 ther ; therefore Edward and his brother were 
 baftards, and could not afcend the throne of 
 England. 
 
 The
 
 The Duke appears to have feconded thefc 
 luggeftions ; and after carrying on the farce 
 for fome time, was, by a mock election, ap- 
 pointed King. We think it does not appear 
 that either of the Princes were murdered by 
 his order. One author * fays, that " Edward 
 " died not long after, of ficknefs and infir- 
 *' mity, being of a weak and fickly difpofi- 
 " tion ;" and we are very much inclined to 
 believe that the fecond fon was the famous 
 Perkin Warbeck, who made his appearance 
 ua the time of Henry the Seventh. 
 
 It is not the intent of this work to give 
 reafons for our belief or difbelief of any facts ; 
 we give the authors from whom they are 
 quoted, and we leave every reader to judge 
 for himfelf. We fhould not have introduced 
 fuch difputed points into our work, had it 
 not been absolutely necefiary for the pur- 
 pofe of forming an opinion of Richard 
 the Third, who undoubtedly paved the way 
 to the throne through the blood of feve- 
 ral lords, friends to the Queen's interelts. 
 Lord Or ford juftifies this on the plea of ftate 
 neceflity ; he acknowledges it to be a wicked 
 code ; and, we will add, an unneceflkry one. 
 
 * Buck's Hift. of Richard III. p. 85. 
 
 Was
 
 t 
 
 Was Government formed on principles, it 
 would be a matter of internal conviction. 
 No man couldy unknowingly, or without de^ 
 fign, violate its 'laws: if he did, -there could 
 be no injuftice in puniihing of him. 
 
 K RICHARD
 
 C 
 
 RICHARD III 
 
 IN every hereditary monarchy, unguarded 
 by an effectual reprefentation of the people, 
 when the King for the time being is, either 
 from menOd or corporeal infirmity, unequal to 
 condu6l the affairs of Government, the moft 
 powerful of the ariftocracy will endeavour to 
 get the adminiftration of the country into their 
 own hands ; from the nature of things they 
 will frequently fucceed, and form parties dif- 
 treffing and injurious to the general good. 
 The Noble who can place himfelfon the top of 
 the wheel, muft be fupported in the attempt 
 by others of nearly equal power with him- 
 felf ; to the latter, no reward will appear 
 equal to the favour done the former ; dif- 
 contents will arife ; and often civil wars will 
 enfue. Richard had received, in his fuccefs- 
 ful attempt on the Englifh throne, afliftance 
 from the Duke of Buckingham ; he had be- 
 ftowed on him confiderable favours, but had 
 
 refufed
 
 C 131 3 
 
 refufed him a moiety of fame ccaififcated 
 lands, to which he had an hereditary claim. 
 The Duke was difgufted with the new mo- 
 narch, and entered into treaty with the 
 Duke of Richmond, heir to the claims of 
 the Houfe of Lancafler. Richard being in- 
 formed of the confpiracy, broke its force 
 by obliging the Duke of Buckingham prema^ 
 turely to take arms ; his troops were dif- 
 perfed, himfelf feizedj and immediately exe- 
 cuted. Richard foon after facrifi^d many 
 perfons to his vengeance ; a Parliament was 
 called, who aflerted Richard's right to the 
 crown, and declared both the Princes illegi- 
 timate , This muft not be confidered as a 
 proof that they were, Parliaments having been 
 too frequently fubfervient to the will of the 
 reigning King. His wife died about this 
 time ; there certainly exifls no proof of her" 
 being poifoned ; indeed, we cannot conceive 
 the poffibility of what is called flow poifoning* 
 On the i/th of Auguft, 1485, the Duke of 
 Richmond landed at Milford Haven, with an 
 army of about two thoufand men, -to make 
 good his title to the crown, as heir of the 
 Houle of Lancafter. He was joined by num- 
 bers. Richard marched againft him, and was 
 K 9 (lain,
 
 C 
 
 flain, bravely fighting at the head of his 
 troops in Bofworth Field. Henry was crowned 
 in the field of battle. 
 
 Richard poflefled great perfonal bravery ; 
 and although we by no means think him fo 
 bad a man as the hiftorians who wrote in the 
 reigns of his fucceflbrs reprefent him, yet \\e 
 do believe that he was guilty of much injuf- 
 tice, and many murders, to get poflefiion of 
 the throne, and that after he had obtained it, 
 he mafiacred his enemies, without any at- 
 tention to the right which every man has 
 of being heard in his own defence. 
 
 HENRY
 
 C 133 
 
 HENRY VII. 
 
 HENRY VII. appears to have founded his 
 right to the throne of England on con- 
 queft, as he would not permit Parliament to 
 meet before his coronation * ; he firft appoin- 
 ted the Yeomen of the Guard. This was the 
 Jecond attempt to raife a Handing army in this 
 kingdom, and it was more - fortunate than 
 Richard's ; it has continued, to our difgrace, 
 to the prefent hour. Parliament were fum- 
 moned, and he found them as obedient as he 
 could defire. He married the heirefs of the 
 Houfe of York ; but he never omitted an op- 
 portunity of humbling that Houfe, and would 
 not admit the - coronation of his Queen till 
 two years after his own, left he mould be 
 fuppofed to ground his title to the throne on 
 the pretenfions of that Houfe. So it is, that 
 Houfes give governors to the people, but not 
 
 * At this coronation it appears, that Edward V. walked in 
 the proceffion. See Hiftoric Doubts, p. 65. 
 
 K 3 wifdom
 
 C 
 
 wifdom or virtue. By his defire Parliament 
 attainted the principal of his enemies, and he 
 himfelf applied to the Pope for a confirma- 
 tion of his title to the throne. How weak is 
 pride? It would not permit Henry to fubmit 
 his pretenfions to Parliament, the (fhould be) 
 reprefentatives of his people ; but allowed him 
 to afk of a foreign Prieft his confirmation to 
 the throne of England. The acts of Hen- 
 ry's firft Parliament being thus di61ated by 
 himfelf, could not fail pleafing him ; but he 
 knew what the Parliament had done was not 
 agreeable to the fentiments of the people *. 
 In truth, Parliaments have been ever under 
 the guidance either of the Crown or the Arif- 
 tocracy. Henry framed the Parliament to 
 his own will ; a rebellion broke out, but it 
 was foon quelled, though the people were 
 diflatisfied, particularly at 'his extreme cold- 
 nefs to the Queen, though fhe had brought 
 him a Ion. The Houfe of York appears to 
 have been the favourite of the people, and 
 they feem firmly to have believed that one of 
 the Sons of Edward was alive. One Lambert 
 Simncl (at firft perfonatcd that youth, but 
 : after wards the Earl of Warwick) got over to 
 
 * Rapin, vol. ii. p. 28. 
 
 Ireland,
 
 C 
 
 Ireland, and was there crowned. Henry im- 
 prifoned his wife's mother, and confiscated 
 her eftates ; took from the Tower (where he 
 had been long confined) the Earl of War- 
 wick, and fhewed him to the people. Sim- 
 nel foon after landed in England ; a battle 
 was fought, and the rebels defeated ; he in- 
 flicled but few capital punifhments ; his love 
 of money was to be gratified by confifcation 
 and heavy fines, given him by Commiflioners 
 wholly devoted to his will, or by the fen- 
 tences of courts martial, as the ufual courfe 
 of jufiice would not have fuited his pur- 
 pofe. A Parliament being called, granted 
 him confiderable fubfidies, which fell fo heavy 
 on the Northern counties, that they refufed to 
 pay the tax. An army was fent againft them, 
 and fubmiflion foon enforced, by the death of 
 the principal oppofers of the impofition. 
 Money was his great object, and to raife it 
 he carried an army into France ; but entered 
 into a treaty with that King, upon his paying 
 him a large ium, not to eafe his fubjecls, but 
 to fill his coffers. He got his Parliament to 
 confirm the Star Chamber, a court confiding 
 of members of the King's Council, who were 
 to try all offences under capital ones. 
 
 Some
 
 Some troubles happening in Scotland, the 
 King applied to Henry for alfiftance, as well 
 as to the King of* France and the Pope. Our 
 author * fays, " The Kings accordingly in- 
 <f terpofed their mediation in a round and 
 " princely manner ; not only by way of re- 
 " queft and perfuafion, but alfo by way of 
 " proteftation of menace, declaring that they 
 " thought it to be the common caufe of all 
 " Kings, if fubjecls fhould be allowed to give 
 " laws unto their fovercign ; and that they 
 " would accordingly refent it and revenge it." 
 This may, for aught we know, be a round 
 and princely manner ; but we are alfo very 
 iure that it is an arbitrary and tyrannical one. 
 Who are to give laws to governors but the 
 governed ; thofe who appoint them for the 
 executors of their will? May the will of 
 the people prevail ; may its omnipotence be 
 felt from the walls of Paris to thofe of Pekin ; 
 may it be known and relpecled in the wilds 
 of Afia, the plains of Africa, and in the centre 
 of Mexico, Peru, and Chili. A new and 
 more formidable opponent arofe to Henry in 
 the perfon of Perkin, \Varbeck, who perfo- 
 
 * Francis Lord Verulam, &c. &Q. in his Hift. of Hen. VII. 
 
 .p. 41- 
 
 natcd,
 
 . C 137 3 
 
 , and probably really was, the Duke of 
 York, youngeft fon of Edward IV. and for 
 fuch he was acknowledged by the principal 
 Yorkifts. He invaded England, and was 
 fuccoured by the King of Scotland ; but de- 
 feated at Blackheath. He took fhelter in a 
 fancluary, but, under promife of pardon, quit- 
 ted it, and furrendered himfelf to the King, 
 He was carried through London in a mock 
 triumph, and bore with fortitude the derifion 
 of the populace. He was made to confefs 
 himfelf an impoflor ; Henry imprifoned him 
 in the Tower ; he made his efcape from 
 thence, was retaken, upon a promife of mercy, 
 and put into the flocks. Henry appears to 
 have laid a trap now, to enfnare the youth, 
 into which he fell ; he entered into a confpi- 
 racy with Warwick, to efcape, and murder 
 the keeper of the Tower -f*. The plot having 
 tranfpired, they were feized, tried, and exe- 
 cuted. It was in this reign that Poynings 
 was lent into Ireland, and thofe infamous laws 
 enacled which are known by his name, and 
 which have been fo lately repealed, Henry's 
 avarice became extremely opprefllve to his 
 
 *Hiftoric Doubts, p. 130. f We mufl recoiled, that all 
 {hefe facts are from Lancaftrian hiftorians. 
 
 people
 
 C 138 j 
 
 people. The taxes were exorbitant, and as 
 the King hoarded the money he received, cir- 
 culation was almoft flopped. He flill, how- 
 ever forced confiderable fupplies from his Par- 
 liament ; a large annual fum from the French 
 King ; and drained the purfes of his fubjecls. 
 On the moft frivolous pretences perfons were 
 committed to prifon, but never brought to 
 trial ; and to procure their liberty were obliged 
 to pay large fums *, which were called mitiga- 
 tions and ranfoms ; by degrees the very ap- 
 pearance of law was forgotten. Sir William 
 Stanley, who had been a principal means of 
 raifing Henry to the throne, was accufed 
 of faying, when fpeaking of Warbeck, that 
 " if he was fure that the young man was King 
 " Edward's fon, he would never bear arms 
 " againft hinrf." For this crime he was exe- 
 cuted ; but the true caufe of his death was his 
 wealth and power ; the firft Henry envied ; 
 the fecond he dreaded. An infurreclion 
 having broke out in Cornwall, in confequence 
 of a very heavy tax, it was foon quelled ; but 
 Henry, though the richeft Prince in Europe, 
 exacted from the miferable infurgents about 
 two or three fh ill ings a head by way of ran- 
 
 * Univ. Hift. p. 3 75. f Verulam's Hift. of Hen. VII. p. 7 7. 
 
 foni.
 
 C '39 3 
 
 fom. Indeed, money was his pur fiat, and 
 he was determined, by any means, to amafs 
 it. He had found two minifiers perfectly 
 qualified tofecond his rapacity*. Thefe men 
 maintained, that for two years the King ought 
 to have the half of all men's lands and rent. 
 To get money they threatened Jurors, en- 
 couraged fpies and informers in every quar- 
 ter of the kingdom f ; they would, not permit 
 the King's wards, when of age, to enter into 
 poflefiion of their lands, without paying ex- 
 travagant fines ; in fhort, they acted as con- 
 trary to the exprefs tenor of Magna Charta . 
 It is faid, that in regard to fines, this monarch 
 never remitted one during his reign. In vain 
 the people looked up to Parliament for re- 
 drefs ; his Majefty's dutiful and loyal fubjecls, 
 in Parliament aflembled, fcorned to confider 
 the miferies of the people ; nay, they carried 
 their fubmifiion fo low as to appoint Dudley 
 himfelf their Speaker ; voted Henry an addi- 
 tional fupply, though he was then poflefled 
 of one million eight hundred thoufand pounds, 
 a moft immenfe fum, when we confider the 
 fcarcity of money in thofe days. They alfo 
 pafled an a6t, by which all perfons were at- 
 
 * Empfon and Dudley, t Univ. Hift. p. 375. } Rapin, p. 58. 
 
 tainted
 
 3 
 
 tainted who had been concerned in rebellions 
 from the beginning of his reign. This af- 
 forded him a pretence for raifing more mo- 
 ney ; notwithstanding, before the end of the 
 year, he demanded a benevolence, and obliged 
 the City of London to pay five thoufand 
 marks, for a confirmation of its liberties. 
 Philip of Cafu'le being driven into England 
 by itrefs of weather, Henry would not fuffer 
 him to depart till he had made a treaty with 
 him beneficial to the Englifh. This is almoft 
 a folitary inftance in an Englifh King atten- 
 ding to the commerce of his people ; but 
 Henry knew well that was the fource only 
 from which the crown could be enriched. 
 He was now grown fo abfolute that no man * 
 durft oppofe his will, or even fhew the lead 
 fign of difcontent. Empfon and Dudley con- 
 tinued their extortions with all imaginary ri- 
 gour ; he laid up his riches under his own 
 key and keeping, in fecret places at Rich- 
 mond. At laft finding his end approaching, 
 he determined to try the merits of a death- 
 bed repentance; he diftributed alms, and 
 founded religious houfes ; he bellowed large 
 finns in charity ; difcharged all prifoners for 
 
 * Rapin, p. 62. 
 
 debts
 
 C H D 
 
 debts under forty {hillings ; and ordered his 
 fon to return the money to all whom he had 
 unjufily robbed of it ; but Henry, his fon, 
 when he came into the pofleflion, did not 
 comply with the laft wifh of his father. 
 
 He died in the year 1509, after a reign of 
 twenty-three years. Money was his God ; to 
 accumulate it, the whole purfuit of his life was 
 directed. He found, when he afcended the 
 throne, that his nobles and clergy were too 
 powerful for his benefit ; he determined to 
 reduce them ; he therefore encouraged the 
 commerce of his fubjecls, and endeavoured to 
 raife a party in the people to fecond his will, 
 but not powerful enough to withdraw from 
 his interefts ; corporations were found to an- 
 fwer his purpofe ; and all his fucceflbrs (as 
 far as we go) have followed his example. 
 In this reign America was firfl difcovered ; 
 it has fmce been peopled by the commercial 
 induftry of Europe ; it has richly repaid every 
 advantage it has received from this quarter 
 of the world, by the improvement its natives 
 have introduced into the fyftem of govern- 
 ment, and by the firft example of a pure 
 Republic ever fet the wondering world . We 
 know that Rome, Carthage, Athens, &c. have
 
 t *4* 3 
 
 been confidered as Republics ; the two firlt 
 were under the influence of an ariftocracy ; 
 the laft was the government of a mob, 
 though frequently regulated by men of fenfe ; 
 but wherever a whole people aflemble toge- 
 ther, to make, or give their fanclion to laws, 
 there will ever be, at times, confufion and 
 tumult, which can never arife in a reprefen- 
 tative government. In the reign of Henry VIL 
 ceafed the civil wars between the Houfes of 
 York and Lancafter, after confiderably more 
 than an hundred thoufand men had perifhed 
 in thofe commotions. Horrid indeed was the 
 flate of England in thofe days. But how fel- 
 dom have the interefts of Kings agreed with 
 thofe of their people ; when they have not, 
 the interefts of the many have ever given way 
 to thofe of the individual. Henry was of a 
 dark, fufpicious, referred, ambitious, haughty 
 temper ; prudent and felfifh ; it clearly was 
 not to fpare his fubjecls that he declined en- 
 tering into wars ; but it was notorioufly to 
 fave his pelf. 
 
 HENRY
 
 HENRY VIII. 
 
 good people of England, completely 
 tired with the tyranny of the laft King, 
 hailed the afcenfion of his fon to the throne 
 with every demonftration of joy ; but they 
 were not long deceived by him ; he foon 
 proved himfelf poflefled of every vice which 
 can difgrace a man or injure a people. His 
 father, on his death-bed, had ordered refti- 
 tution to be made to all whom he had injured ; 
 but the fon preferred extravagance to juftice, 
 and the people never recovered a penny. 
 Empfon and Dudley were delivered up as 
 viaims to popularity ; their condua being 
 examined, nothing was found that amoun- 
 ted to a capital conviction ; a falfe accufa- 
 tion was exhibited againft them ; new and 
 itrange crimes were objeaed to them * ; and 
 they were both beheaded. Henry confum- 
 mated his marriage with Catherine of Arra- 
 
 * Herbert's Hifiory of Henry VIII, p. S.
 
 C H4- 3 
 
 gon, widow of his brother Arthur, and 
 termined on a war with France, which ter-> 
 minated as ufual, in vain triumphs, great 
 expence, ufelefs murders, and a truce. A 
 war broke out with Scotland ; a great battle 
 was fought ; the King of the Scots, and the 
 flower of the army, were left dead on the 
 field. Woolfey, a man of great abilities but 
 little virtue, became the favourite of Henry ; 
 and, as if the expences of the mailer were 
 not fufficiently opprefiive to the people, 
 the favourite vied with the King in extrava- 
 gance. He was created a Cardinal, and was 
 loaded with a vaft prof ufion of dignities ; he 
 was at once a Legate, a Cardinal, and a Prime 
 Minifter ; but thefe did not fatisfy his ambi- 
 tion ; he therefore procured a bull from the 
 Pope, impowering him to make knights and 
 counts, and grant all forts of difpeniations. 
 Only one man in the kingdom had refolution 
 enough to complain, fo greatly was his vin- 
 dictive temper feared ; and that man was the 
 Duke of Buckingham, fon to the Duke who 
 loft his life in the caufe of the prefent King's 
 father. Woolfey had him accufed of high 
 treafon ; the fubftance of the accufation was, 
 his affecting to make himfelf popular, and 
 
 confulting
 
 C 1453 
 
 confuting a fortune-teller concerning his 
 iiicceflion to the throne ; for this he was con- 
 demned and executed. France had long been 
 the grave of the Englifh ; it was now to be- 
 come a fcene of abfurd and enormous extra- 
 vagance. Henry met the French King near 
 Calais ; the expence of this meeting can beft 
 be conceived from the name given the field 
 where they met, which was, the Field of 
 " the Cloth of Gold ff Some time before this 
 meeting Henry had caufed the Earl of Suf- 
 folk to be beheaded, without any form of 
 trial, though his father had promifed the 
 King of Caftile that the life of that unfortu- 
 nate man fhould be fpared. The whole of the 
 late King's treafures being fquandered, and 
 Henry's income being unequal to his expendi- 
 ture, the people were applied to, and a large 
 benevolence exaded from them. Parlia- 
 ment granted fubfidies for four years, to 
 be levied at four different times ; but the 
 King and his Minifter levied them all at once. 
 The poor might complain, but their fuffer- 
 ings feldom reach the gates of palaces, whofe 
 inhabitants tell them they are happy, and the 
 /winifb multitude arc bound to believe it. 
 The Cardinal forced from the Clergy a con- 
 L fiderable
 
 C H<5 3 
 
 fiderable fum, and demanded a frefli fupply 
 of the Commons, who had virtue enough to 
 grant but half the demand. Having again en- 
 tered into a war with France, the King deter- 
 mined to levy money without the content of 
 Parliament ; he obliged the Sheriffs * to fend 
 a lilt of all perfons above 16 years old, with 
 an exact account of what each perfon was 
 worth, in lands, itock, moveables, and mo- 
 ney ; he then a defied his lay fubjecls one 
 tenth, and his Clergy one fourth, according 
 to the true value of their eltates ; and would 
 have obliged the City of London to lend 
 him twenty thoufand pounds : thus he broke 
 through MagnaCharta ; but the refiftance of 
 the people was great, and an univerfal de- 
 feclion feemed to prevail. He therefore 
 thought proper to allow the tax to be 
 gathered much more mildly than was at 
 firil intended, and fufpend oppreifion till a 
 more favourable opportunity fliould prefent 
 itfelf. Martin Luther made his appear- 
 ance in this reign, in Germany, where he 
 gained many profelytes ; his doctrines were 
 introduced into England ; Henry, to ihc\v 
 his zeal for the papal fyftcm, wrote a book 
 againil the principles of the Reformers, 
 
 * Rapin, vol. U. p. 123. 
 
 1 v hich
 
 C H7 3 
 
 which fo pleafed the Pope, that he gave 
 him the title of Defender of the Faith, 
 'which has been adopted by all his fuccef- 
 fors. Henry, it feems, was fmitten with 
 the charms of Anne Boleyn ; he had been 
 married eighteen years to Catherine; it 
 therefore required fome addrefs to get rid 
 of her, which he determined upon, as 
 Anne would not- gratify his defires without 
 marriage. He therefore affecled fcruples at 
 having lived fo long with his brother's wi- 
 dow ; folicited a divorce from the Pope, who 
 I for fome time endeavoured toamufe him ; but 
 Henry was refolved. Woolfey in this affair 
 | being fubjeft to the Pope, a&ed in conformity 
 I to his dictates, which drew down upon him the 
 ) King's resentment ; he was foon deprived of 
 his employments, and probably poifoned him- 
 felf. Henry applied to the different Univerfi- 
 ties in Europe, and got the majority of them 
 to declare his match with Catherine illegal, 
 and againft all laws human and divine. 
 Cranmer, Archbifhop of Canterbury, annulled 
 his marriage, and he immediately took Anne 
 Boleyn to wife. The wedding was celebrated 
 with all poffible marks of triumph and extra- 
 L a 
 
 valance,
 
 C 143 1 
 
 vagance ; he completed his quarrel with the 
 Pope by getting a fevere law patted againft all 
 the Clergy who had fubmitted to iegantine 
 decrees, and compelled them to pay a fine of 
 one hundred and eighteen thoufand pounds. 
 He was loon after declared Head of the 
 Englilh Church, and thus feparated himfelf 
 from the fee of Rome. To fee the Church 
 humbled was a fubjecl of great pleafure to his 
 people, particularly to the Proteftants, as the 
 Reformers were called ; but he foon after 
 proved that his views were wholly felfilh, 
 and that his only defire was to add to his 
 power, and gratify his appetites. The King, 
 though he had withdrawn himfelf from the 
 Church of Rome, prided himfelf on his Ca- 
 tholic doctrines. Queen Anne was a Protef- 
 tant, and his court and kingdom being divided 
 between the two parties, each courted Henry, 
 and enabled him to ailume abfolute authority . 
 Many were burnt for being heretics ; not a 
 few for declaring in favour of papal fupre- 
 macy. Amongil the fufferers were fome of 
 the belt and mod learned men in England, 
 particularly Sir Thomas More, and Fifher, 
 Bifhop of Rochefler. Henry being perfect 
 mailer of his Parliament, determined to fup- 
 
 prefl
 
 C 149 3 
 
 prefs the monafteries, and feized their reve- 
 nues. He was poflefled of abfolute power ; 
 his Parliament teftified their fatisfaction, not 
 only for what he had done, but for what- 
 ever he intended to do. They enacted that 
 the fame obedience fhould be paid to the 
 King's proclamation as to an act of Parlia- 
 ment ; they declared their readinefs to believe 
 not only whatever he directed, but whatever 
 he fhould direct, in matters of religion * ; 
 and to crown all, declared that the King 
 fhould not pay his debts. Let no man fup- 
 pofe this Parliament confided of deputies, 
 elected by the people ; it was no fuch thing. 
 In thecourfe of Henry's reign he added thirty- 
 two places to thofe which already fent mem- 
 bers -f ; thofe places fent thirty -eight mem- 
 bers, who were undoubtedly an additional 
 ftrength to the placemen and penfioners of 
 thofe days. Indeed, to the time of Charles the 
 Firft, the Kings exercifed a power to create as 
 many neiv members in every Parliament as 
 each had occafion for J. Could fuch packed af- 
 femblies be confideredas free, or fpeakingthe 
 
 * Hiftory of England, in a Series of Letters, vol. i. p. 248. 
 f Gentleman's Mag. vol. v. p. 539. % Edward VI. added 24, 
 Mary 22, Elizabeth 62, James 1. 27, Members to Parliament. 
 
 L 3 voice
 
 voice of the people ? No ! their own interefls 
 were their only purfuits ; and yet we are told 
 with fenfelefs effrontery, that no amendment 
 ought to take place in our reprefentation, 
 though the fame places continue to return 
 Members to Parliament, elected by a fmall 
 part of the inhabitants. We acknowledge 
 that the Crown has loll its influence over 
 many of them ; but they have fallen under a 
 ilill worfe influence, that of the Ariflocracy, 
 which has by turns infulted the Crown, and 
 injured the peopJe. 
 
 Henry's brutal appetite being now fatiated 
 with enjoyment, he foon grew tired of Anne 
 his Queen, and fell in love with Jane Sey- 
 mour. He accufed Anne before his Parlia- 
 ment of inceft and adultery with her own 
 brother, Lord Rochefort ; and they con- 
 demned them both without ever knowing the 
 foundation of the fentence. Rochefort was 
 beheaded ; two other men were hanged for 
 having paid her fome flight compliments ; a 
 third was made to acknowledge having re- 
 ceived fome favours from the Queen, and 
 hanged without being confronted with 
 her * ; fhe herfelf was foon after beheaded. 
 
 * Hift. of Eng. in a Series of Letters, vol. 5. p. a 
 
 The
 
 The next day Henry was married to Jane 
 Seymour, who died the following year in 
 child-bed, two days after fhe was delivered 
 of Edward, afterwards King. Henry caufed 
 his Parliament to declare the children by his 
 two fir 11 marriages illegitimate, and excluded 
 them from the throne. The King being in- 
 formed that the Emperor of Germany was 
 ftirring up a rebellion in Ireland, in order to 
 ftrike a terror into the Irifh, he ordered Tho- 
 mas Fitzgerald and five of his uncles to be 
 executed *, though they had furrendered on 
 a promife of pardon -f. An infurre6tion 
 having broke out in the North, it was foon 
 fupprelTed ; but it exafperated the tyrant's 
 deftru&ive temper. Many perfons of diftinc- 
 tion fuffered, though an amnefty had been 
 granted ; one Lambert, a fchoolmafter, having 
 embraced the new opinions, Henry deter- 
 mined to difpute with him publicly. The 
 event, as may be fuppofed, ended with a de- 
 claration that Henry was victor. He then 
 offered to Lambert either to die or abjure his 
 opinions ; he preferred death, and was con- 
 fumed by a flow fire, as were feveral others 
 a few days after. Cardinal Pole was an ob- 
 
 *Rapin, vol. ii. p. 190. f Smollet, vol. vi. p. 53. 
 
 jecl
 
 jcct of great jealoufy to the King, he having 
 oppofed his divorce with Catherine, and his 
 religious opinions. Several of the principal 
 nobility were apprehended, tried, and exe- 
 cuted. No other circumftances are known 
 from their trial but that they had correfpon- 
 ded with Pole, which, in the King's mind, 
 was an unpardonable offence. The Parlia- 
 inent being met, Henry caufed them to pafs 
 an act for aboliming diverfity in religious 
 opinions. This act was called the Bloody 
 Statute. For the credit of Parliament we 
 heartily wifh they had pafled an act to hang 
 or burn every man who did not weigh, to a 
 grain, Henry's weight ; for a man's -bulk is 
 at leaft as eafily fixed as his opinions ; no ty- 
 rant can bind the one ; no laws can force the 
 other. But as cunning and diHimulation may 
 conceal a man's opinions, the fufferers might 
 have avoided the application of this act ; now a 
 man's weight could be eafily afcertained, Hen- 
 ry's Parliament could not therefore have paid 
 fo handfome a compliment, or one which might 
 have given him fo favourable an opportunity of 
 difplaying his blood-thirfty difpofition. Detef- 
 table caitiff'! and you, ye fervile croud of arif- 
 tocratic fycophants ! did you fancy your opi- 
 nions
 
 C *53 3 
 
 nions were to dictate what men {hould think ? 
 Could the tyrant fancy that his fentiments even 
 regulated your 's r Ye coward throng ! ye know 
 that the affent you gave to his will was not 
 dictated by your hearts ; that there were few 
 of you but would have been glad to have feen 
 the monfler dead at your feet. This bloody 
 itatute gave to the people of England a new 
 eftabliihed religion ; we are no friends to 
 fuch eftablifhments ; it is impoffible to mo- 
 dulate religion fo, that upon that fubjecT: 
 there {hall not be a variety of opinions ; if 
 the reigning power favours one feel, in pre- 
 ference to another, difcord will take place, 
 and a party be formed, endeavouring to feize 
 the good things its enemies poflefs. If all feels 
 were treated with equal indulgence by Go- 
 vernment, nothing would there be to difpute 
 about ; religion would be left to its own in- 
 trinfic worth ; and where, no intereft biafled, 
 no contentions would arife ; but reafon mult 
 prevail. This Parliament confirmed the fen- 
 tence pafled on thofe Nobles who correfpon- 
 ded with Cardinal Pole, and for the fame 
 crime condemned, without hearing their de- 
 fence, the Cardinal's mother, and the Mar- 
 chionefs of Exeter ; the latter was pardoned, 
 
 and
 
 C - 
 
 and the former was not executed till two years 
 afterwards. The fame Parliament declared 
 all proclamations equal to laws ; the tyranny 
 over religious opinion produced the effects to 
 be expected ; the fires of Smithfield began 
 to blaze, and England faw a company of peo- 
 ple burnt together, fome for adhering to the 
 old, others to the new opinions. We may 
 with great truth fay, 
 
 Dreadful are the ills 
 
 44 Which cruel Kings have brought on human kind *." 
 
 The tyrant having feen a flattering portrait 
 of Ann of Cleves, he demanded her in mar- 
 riage, and curfed her by its completion ; he 
 was foon tired of his bride ; pretended he had 
 never given an inward confent to the mar- 
 riage ; and his obedient Parliament declared 
 him divorced from her. Cromwell, Earl of 
 Eflex, was accufed of divers herefies and 
 treafons, condemned, without a hearing, to 
 die any death the King fhould pleafe to in- 
 flict ; he was accordingly beheaded. Henry 
 fell once more in love, and married Ca- 
 therine Howard, niece of the Duke of Nor- 
 folk ; (he was accufed, and with truth, of 
 
 * Altered from Franklin's Tranflations of Sophocles, vol. i. 
 p. 26. 
 
 lewdneffl
 
 t: 155 3 
 
 lewdnefies before marriage ; this was not to 
 be expiated but by blood ; fhe was therefore 
 executed on Tower -hill ; and feveral perfons 
 were alfo condemned for concealing the 
 Queen's impurities. Henry next married Ca- 
 therine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer ; a w r ar 
 was entered into againft Scotland, in which 
 the Scots were defeated with great lofs ; he 
 next invaded France, but foon returned. 
 Thefe wars ferved but to drain the kingdom 
 of men and money, and the fuccefs was va- 
 rious. In the year 1545 Parliament granted 
 Henry a fubfidy of fix (hillings in the pound. 
 Anne Afkew prefumed to think for herfelf, 
 in oppofition to the bloody ftatutes ; fhe was 
 racked, but all to no purpofe ; her body was 
 almoft torn to pieces ; fhe continued firm in 
 her belief ; fhe was therefore burnt ; but as 
 fhe was unable to Hand, fhe was carried to 
 the place of execution in a chair ; and Queen 
 Catherine had a very narrow efcape, from 
 Henry's diflike to her religious opinions. 
 
 The Duke of Norfolk, and his fon, the 
 Earl of Surry, were the lafl who fuffered 
 from his tyrannical difpofition. The Duke 
 had long ferved him with fidelity. Surry 
 \vas accufed of having entertained fome Italian 
 
 fpies,
 
 C '56 1 
 
 fpies, and he had quartered the arms of Ed- 
 ward the Confeffor oh his efcutcheon. For 
 thefe crimes the Earl was executed on Tower- 
 hill. The Duke of Norfolk efcaped the fame 
 fate only by the death of the King, which 
 happened on the 28th of January, 1547. 
 
 Henry poffcfled good natural abilities, and 
 fome learning ; but the whole length of his 
 reign was one continued feries of cruelty and 
 extravagance. We know that we have omitted 
 feveral of his afts ; but the reader will, we 
 truft, excufe us. It may be painful enough 
 to read his life ; but what muft it have been 
 to have written it, when the mind neceflarily 
 dwells longer upon his accurfed deeds. His 
 character was of the hlackeit dye ; the Englifh 
 language (the only one we are acquainted 
 with*) cannot do itjuftice ; comprehenfive as 
 it is, we muft leave the reader to judge for 
 himfelf, and from the foregoing facts to de- 
 termine in what degree of criminality he ought 
 to be placed. Two things defer ve notice : 
 Firft, this is the firft reign in which one Par- 
 liament continued fix years ; and we will afk, 
 Were the Parliaments of this reign models fit 
 
 * We mention this fai in hopes that it will fhduce learned 
 authors to tranflate quotations from other languages. 
 
 to
 
 
 C 157 3 
 
 to be followed ? The fecond is, the Reforma- 
 tion took place in this King's reign. We 
 have endeavoured to avoid giving any opinion 
 on that fubject ; the author thinks for him- 
 felf ; he can love an honeft man, whether he 
 is a Catholic, a Prefbyterian, a Quaker, a 
 Jew, a Turk, or what not. One analogy we 
 cannot help obferving, which is, the famenefs 
 of means taken to prevent the Ipreading of 
 information on religious, as now, in fome ar- 
 bitrary Rates, on political fubjecls. The Ger- 
 man States which had embraced the Refor- 
 mation were invaded ; Books were prohibited, 
 and religious meetings declared illegal. How 
 happy mufl the ftate of this free country be, 
 where every man may publifh his opinion ; 'tis 
 true an official information may be laid againft 
 him, and the prifon and the pillory may re- 
 ward his zeal ; but we believe thefe means 
 are not taken with a view to deter men from 
 reading, but to ftimulate them to it. Our 
 Governors know this is a land of freedom, 
 and that the people are happy ; what then 
 have they to fear ? Such a government and 
 fuch a people know that no books can injure 
 them ; arbitrary governments indeed may 
 fear the attack of reafon, left it fhould drive 
 
 them
 
 C 158 3 
 
 them to atoms, and tell the aftonifhed multi- 
 tude that they are men ; but free govern- 
 ments, depending on the (lability of the prin-- 
 ciples on which they are formed, will court 
 reafon as their belt ally, well knowing that 
 governments formed by reafon can beft be 
 fupported by it, and that it is impoffible to 
 overturn them. 
 
 EDWARD
 
 C '59 
 
 EDWARD VI, 
 
 THIS Prince was little better than nine 
 years old when he afcended the throne ; 
 and as he reigned but fix years, he cannot 
 properly be confidered in this work. Much 
 has been faid of his virtues ; we know but 
 little of them. His religion made him popu- 
 lar with the party which afterwards pre- 
 vailed ; and in England all Kings have been 
 popular till their acts have rendered them 
 defpicable. Smolbt thinks he was a bigot, 
 and that his humanity and penetration were 
 at leaft doubtful when he confented to the 
 death of his uncle. We will quarrel with no 
 man ; and whoever wifhes to believe, that 
 had he lived he would have made the wifelt 
 and beft king that ever reigned, is welcome 
 to do fo. We mould have been glad to have 
 had one character without reproach ; man- 
 kind then mould have feen that it was not 
 our wifh to have levelled every regal charac- 
 ter ; but by candidly invefligating their con- 
 duct,
 
 C 160 j 
 
 duct, to have done them juftice ; it cannot be 
 faid to be our fault if no King has been a 
 good man. In this reign the people felt all 
 the ills of an hereditary monarchy defcending 
 to a child, with nought but an ariflocracy to 
 protect him. 
 
 MARY.
 
 MARY, 
 
 lT>DWARD the Sixth, a boy, pretended to 
 J ' a right of giving away the kingdom of 
 England. He had made a will, and left it to 
 Lady Jane Grey ; but the people were in 
 favour of Mary, who was prefently feated on 
 the throne, and the unfortunate Jane and 
 her fupporters bathed the fcaffold with their 
 blood. She had promifed the men who de- 
 clared for her, that fhe would fuffer religion 
 to remain in the fituation in which fhe found 
 it* ; but Mary gave an additional proof how 
 little royal faith was to be depended upon. 
 She was no fooner in peaceable pofleflion of 
 the throne than fhe difcovered a difpofition 
 to keep no meafure with the Reformers ; fhe 
 fent for Cardinal Pole to reconcile England 
 to the Pope, and filled places of honour and 
 truft only with Catholics ; fhe, however, 
 
 * Hift of England, in a Series of Letters, vol. i. p. 266. 
 
 M thought
 
 thought proper to repeat the declaration fhe 
 had made before. She faid in council that 
 fhe would ufe no force in matters of con- 
 fcience *, and the Proteftants hoped fhe would 
 have kept her word ; but the Queen did not. 
 The Men of Suffolk fent deputies to her, 
 praying her to remember what fhe had pro- 
 mifed them with her own mouth ; but the 
 petkion was rejected with great haughtinefs, 
 and one of the deputies was even placed in 
 the pillory -f . A Parliament was called, and 
 the molt infamous means ufed to get only 
 court reprefentatives returned, fhe found 
 them fufficiently obedient to her will, though 
 they had virtue enough to petition her to re- 
 linquifh a negotiation of marriage with Philip 
 of Spain, in confequence of which fhe ditto! ved 
 them. Cranmer, Archbifhop of Canterbury, 
 and fome other Bifhops, were thrown into 
 prifon for their religious opinions ; and Judge 
 Hales for oppofmg thofe practices . Numbers 
 of foreign Proteitants, who had fettled in 
 England, were obliged to quit the country ; 
 and fo intolerant was fhe, that the bones of 
 the dead were dug up, and committed to the 
 flames. Mary married Philip, Prince of Spain, 
 
 * Rapin, vol. ii. p. 257. f Ib. 258. 
 
 and'
 
 ttnd the murmurs of the kingdom increafed. 
 An in fur reel ion broke out, but being ill con* 
 dueled, was foon fupprefled, and a multitude 
 of executions followed, though no blood was 
 fpilt by the infurgents. Sir Nicholas Throg- 
 morton was tried as an accomplice in the 
 confpiracy *, but being acquitted for want of 
 proof, the Jury were feverely fined ; his bro- 
 ther therefore, on the fame evidence, was found 
 guilty. This confpiracy having ftrengthened 
 the Queen's hands, fhe determined to root out 
 the Reformers. She ordered the Chancellor 
 to purge the church of all married Bifhops and 
 Priefts. Dr. Burnet fays, that above twelve 
 thoufand priefts were turned out of their pre- 
 ferments for being married . A Parliament was 
 again called, and by a proper, though noto- 
 rious application of penfions, that aflembry 
 became as venal and obfequious as any fove- 
 reign could wifh them. The murders this 
 infamous woman caufed to be committed we 
 {hall not minutely relate. Under the fpecious 
 mafk of religion what crimes will not the 
 weak and the wicked commit ? In thefe en- 
 lightened times we do not take away life ; but 
 intolerance, that pcft of fociety, dill both 
 
 * Rapin, vol. ii. p. 263. 
 
 M 2 v/ rites
 
 c i&t n 
 
 Writes and fpeaks againft thofe of different 
 opinions ; and the fires of Birmingham, their 
 beginning, their end, and their confequences, 
 will mark the year 1791 with difgrace. If 
 to that direful acl there were inftigators above 
 the common rank, may the utmoft remorfe 
 feize them, and may their contrition here- 
 after prove their expiation. By the fury of 
 this horrid woman, Hooper, Rogers, Saun- 
 ders, and Taylor, clergymen, were burnt ; 
 but ftill unfatisfied, fhe exhorted her emif- 
 faries to purfue " the pious work without pity 
 " or interruption." Can the reader believe 
 all this to be true ? The bell hiftorians con- 
 firm it ; and the Bifhops of London and Wor- 
 cefter received the martyr's crown. Cranmer 
 was the next that fuffered ; but their fury 
 was not thus to be fatisfied ; whole troops 
 muft die to fatiate their brutality. Men, wo- 
 men, and infants, were indifcriminately de- 
 ftroyed ; a woman was delivered in the 
 flames ; the infant was humanely matched 
 from the fire, but immediately ordered to be 
 confumed. We will get rid of this f hock ing 
 fubjecl by giving the reader a total of all that 
 were burnt in this reign. The number was 
 five Bifhops, twenty-one Minifters, and above 
 
 eight
 
 C 165 3 
 
 eight hundred others ; befjdes numbers who 
 died in prifon, and who fuffered whipping 
 and other torments*. An inquifition was 
 eftablifhed, and a proclamation iflued, de- 
 claring that all peribns who had books of 
 herefy in their pofleflion, and who did not 
 burn them without reading, mould be profe- 
 cuted as rebels. Thus has man been trampled 
 upon, his rights difregarded, and his reafon 
 contemned. As the Members of Parliament 
 had not been paid their penfions regularly, 
 they determined to refill ; and when the 
 Queen applied for a fubfidy, they refufed to 
 grant it her, and were accordingly diflblved. 
 She, of her own authority, levied a loan of fixty 
 thoufand pounds on a thoufand perfons -f ; 
 but that not being fufficient, me levied a ge- 
 neral loan on every one who poflefled twenty 
 pounds a year. Many were, in confequence, 
 obliged to difmifs their fervants. She iflued 
 a proclamation, enjoining all mafters to take 
 back their former fervants ; ihe levied fixty 
 thoufand marks on feven thoufand yeomen 
 who had nbt contributed to the former loan ; 
 and fhe exacted three thoufand fix hundred 
 
 * Hiftory of England, in a Series of Letters, vol. i. p. 272. 
 7 Univ. Hift. vol. xxxix. p. 49 7, 
 
 M 3 more
 
 C 166 3 
 
 more from the merchants. Her rapaciouf^ 
 nefs induced her to give perpetual annoyance 
 to commerce. She obliged, by an embargo, 
 .the Antwerp merchants to give her forty 
 thoufand pounds ; twenty thonfand more in a 
 limited time ; and to fubmit to an impofition 
 of twenty (hillings a piece. Some time after, 
 being informed that the Italian merchants had 
 (hipped forty thoufand pieces of cloth for the 
 Levant, for which they were to pay her a 
 crown a piece, the ufual impofition, me 11 ruck 
 a bargain with the merchant adventurers in 
 London ; prohibited the foreigners from 
 making any exportation ; and received from 
 the Englifh merchants, in confideration of this 
 royal villainy y the fum of fixty thoufand pounds, 
 with an exaction of four crowns on each piece 
 of cloth which they fhould export. All this 
 was done when (lie was in profound peace with 
 all the world *. Philip, the hufband of Mary, 
 being engaged in a war with France, the 
 Queen plunged England into that fituation, 
 and by thofe means loft Calais, the lafl place 
 the Englifh pofTefled on the French coaft. 
 Would to God this had been the laft war with 
 France ! but to what infamy hath not the 
 
 * Univ. Hift. Modern Part, vol. xxxix. p. 298. 
 
 ambition
 
 C 167 3 
 
 arhbition of Kings fubjected their people. In 
 future we hope the national influence will re- 
 tain that hoftile propenfity within its proper 
 bounds. 
 
 Mary continued to levy money in a moft 
 violent and arbitrary manner ; fhe obliged the 
 City of London to fupply her with fixty thou* 
 fand pounds, and fhe feized all the corn flie 
 could find in Suffolk and Norfolk, without 
 paying any price to the owners. At laft fhe 
 died. Would my reader believe, after having 
 reigned little more than five years ; I fay, 
 would my reader believe it poffible in fo 
 fhort a time to commit fo many horrid and 
 arbitrary acts. Mary's character, like her 
 father's, is beyond the power of our pen. 
 We can hate and deteft her actions, but the 
 language will not afford words ftrong enough 
 to exprefs her guilt. 
 
 ELIZABETH.
 
 ELIZABETH, 
 
 WE have feen the national church formed 
 by Henry the Eighth ; it was altered 
 by Edward the Sixth, (or rather his advifers) ; 
 again it returned to the old forms, under the 
 influence of Mary ; and upon the acceflion of 
 Elizabeth it refumed the form of Edward's 
 re'gn. Oh Man ! Man ! how have you been 
 debafed ? Monarchs, not fatisfied with driving 
 you to the fields of battle, of robbing you of 
 your property, muft enter your clofets, exa- 
 mine your thoughts, and prefcribe your opi- 
 nions. Elizabeth's acceflion was certainly 
 highly gratifying to the majority of her fub- 
 je6ts. As their religious opinions were con- 
 genial with her's, (he was fcarce feated on 
 the throne before Philip, the hufband of the 
 late Queen, made an offer of marrying her ; 
 but Elizabeth was too wife to fall into his 
 fcheme ; fhe gave him a very civil refufal. 
 Very foon after the acceflion of the Queen 
 
 an
 
 "C 
 
 #n a6l patted the two Houfes, and received 
 her alien t, to eftablifh uniformity of worfhip. 
 The natural confequence was, the forming of 
 a party againft it. Roman Catholics were 
 very numerous, and other difienters foon 
 arofe. We again repeat, that a national 
 church is a political evil ; every man cannot 
 fix his belief to one creed ; if he does not, 
 he diffents from the national faith, and muft 
 become either the open or concealed enemy 
 pf the eftabJfliment. If he is of a firm mind, 
 an open and generous difpofition, the country 
 lofes his fervices ; for he will not fubmit to 
 the tefts which eftabliftiments enforce. If 
 his mind is of the dark, d if Emulative, hypo- 
 critic caft, he (loops to the performance of 
 what is contrary to his belief, and to get into 
 office, and enjoy the fweets of power and 
 emolument, he breaks through the dictates of 
 confcience, and makes religion the {talking 
 ladder to his ambition *. Happy indeed would 
 it have been for this country had Elizabeth and 
 her Minifters pofiefTed fufficient wifdom to 
 have feen thefe truths ; many of the foreign 
 wars would have been avoided, which after- 
 wards enfued ; and much, if not the whole, 
 
 * \VJaich will make the bed fervant of a ftate. 
 
 Of
 
 L 170 3 
 
 of the domeflic contentions. The Catholics 
 were diflatisfied at the a6l of uniformity, and 
 from their number Mary Queen of Scots was 
 induced to afllnne the title of Elizabeth, and 
 to bear her arms. Had difference in reli- 
 gious opinions been no impediment to the 
 pofleffion of (late employments, the Catholics 
 could have had no plea for difcontent ; and 
 where a people are fatisfied, foreign Princes 
 may murmur, but the defpots cannot affect 
 the happinefs either of the governed or the 
 governors. Elizabeth foon took a favourite, 
 but me never fuffered him to guide her mea- 
 fures ; thofe were left to her Minifters, who 
 were men of bufmefs and application. Dud- 
 ley was fubfervient to her plcafures ; Bacon 
 and Cecil to the bufmefs of the ilate. Eliza- 
 beth became the champion of the Pro- 
 teftant intereft, and the Catholic Princes held 
 her as their greatest enemy. She lent fupplies 
 to the Proteftants in France and Scotland, 
 opprefled by their refpeclive monarchs ; but 
 file regulated her fupplies with a commen- 
 dable frugality. An infurreclion took place ; 
 the Catholics rofe in favour of Mary, Queen 
 of Scots ; they were foon fupprefled, and 
 Elizabeth's conduit was marked with ho- 
 nourable
 
 C 171 3 
 
 nourable humanity. She acted widely dif* 
 ierent with refpecl to Catherine, fifter to Jane 
 Grey, who was executed in the preceding 
 reign. This woman had married the eldeft 
 fon of the Earl of Pembroke, from whom me 
 had been divorced, and afterwards privately 
 married to the Earl of Hertford, who then 
 
 (went to France, The Queen being informed 
 of this marriage, fent Catherine to the Tower, 
 though big with child. The Earl returning, 
 and owning his marriage, was committed to 
 the fame prifon. The Archbifhop of Can- 
 terbury annulled their marriage, becaufe it 
 was not fufBciently proved, and they both 
 remained in the Tower, The Earl found 
 means of accefs to her, and fhe again proved 
 pregnant ; he was therefore accufed of three 
 capital crimes, viz. of breaking prifon, of 
 debauching a virgin of royal blood, and of 
 abufmg her a fecond time ; and for each of- 
 fence was fined five thoufand pounds. The 
 Earl was obliged to forfake her, by an au- 
 thentic act, before he could regain his en- 
 largement ; but the unhappy Catherine lin- 
 gered, and at laft died in prifon*, a martyr 
 to arbitrary power. Elizabeth had now an 
 
 * Rapin, vol. ii. p. 291. 
 
 opportunity
 
 opportunity of revenging herfelf on the Queen 
 cf Scots ; fhe practifed every act of diflimu- 
 latioii that could infure her ruin, and ihe was 
 fuccefsful. Mary was obliged to refign her 
 crown ; Ihe was imprifoned ; and the Earl of 
 Murray was appointed Regent during the 
 minority of her fon. We particularly defirc 
 not to be mifunderftood. We do not blame 
 the Queen of England for the affiilance fhe 
 gave the Scotch ; we rather rejoice that Eng- 
 lifhmen afllfted the Scotch when they were 
 wreftling with arbitrary power ; when they 
 were fighting for that unalienable right of 
 man, freedom of thought and religious wor- 
 fhip ; but we do blame her for the difllmu- 
 lation with which fhe acled . We accufe her 
 of battening the ruin of the woman whofe 
 bed friend and advifer fhe pretended to be. 
 
 Mary efcaped into England ; Elizabeth, on 
 frivolous pretences, caufed her to be con- 
 fined, firft at Carlifle, then at Tetbury, next 
 at Coventry, and lattly at Fothcringay Caflle. 
 Her fubjecls were fuborned to accufe her in 
 a foreign ftate, and before a foreign court ; 
 a court which could have no poflible right to 
 try Mary ; and in this court fhe was con- 
 demned. The vile, hypocritical Elizabeth, 
 
 affe&ed
 
 C '73 3 
 
 affected great reluctance to put the fentence 
 in execution. She was at laft beheaded on 
 the yth of February, 1587, after an iniqui- 
 tous imprifonment of more than eighteen 
 years. We wifh not to palliate the vices of 
 Mary ; great they were indeed ; but with 
 refpecl to Elizabeth ihe was pure, except in 
 claiming the Crown of England ; Elizabeth, 
 however, could not blame her for that ; (he 
 herfelf, with a much worfe title, laid claim 
 to the Crown of France. She was Elizabeth's 
 equal ; what claim could the latter make to 
 try her ? The Scotch indeed might have 
 aflerted that right, had me been tried in that 
 country, and there condemned by an equi- 
 table and fairly chofen jury, or by an aflem- 
 bly of the States. The author of this work 
 would have looked on her death as deferved, 
 and honoured the men who inflicted it. 
 But if on Elizabeth we look with the proud 
 contempt which honeft men will ever beiiow 
 on royal villains, what portion of our indig- 
 nation muft fall on Mary's fon James, after- 
 wards King of England, who with coward 
 apathy faw his mother's blood fpilt on a fcaf- 
 fold, without attempting to revenge her death, 
 by the imperious command of a foreign 
 
 Queen !
 
 C 174 3 
 
 Queen ! Mimfelf a King ! Away, fyco a 
 phants, away ! I fay he was a monfter of fuch 
 enormous villainy, that he was only fit to aflb* 
 ciate with men and women like his predecef- 
 fors, the Kings and Queens of England . We 
 muft now return fome years back ; we wifhed 
 to finifh at one view the relation of the Queen 
 of Scots. She had not been imprifoned during 
 the long period we have recited, without fome 
 attempts being made to releafe her ; but Eli- 1 - 
 zabeth had managed matters fo well, that 
 they all were unfuccefsful. The Duke of Nor- 
 folk was the root of thefe efforts ; he fuffercd 
 for them in the year 1573, and foon after him 
 the Duke of Northumberland, and feveral 
 others. The Catholics were treated with 
 great rigour, and the moll fevere edi6ls pafled 
 againll them, as if feverity would make men 
 Well affected to a government. 
 
 We come now to a more pleafing profpecl. 
 The Dutch, much opprefled by the tyranny 
 of the Kings of Spain, refilled ; Elizabeth 
 afTifted them in their ftruggles for freedom ; 
 fhe encouraged trade ; and it was owing to 
 her that Sir Francis Drake made the firft 
 voyage round the world. When her paifions 
 were not in queftion, Elizabeth's good fenfe 
 
 led
 
 c 175 y 
 
 led her to regard the advice of her Miniftry ; 
 Commerce^, the mother of freedom, was en- 
 couraged ; the people became reipectable ; 
 and if their endeavours to be free plunged 
 their country in blood, their fuccefs would 
 have been more beneficial to their poite- 
 rity, had they then difcovered that arcana 
 in government, equal reprefentation. Un- 
 fortunately it was not known ; the greateft 
 and moft apparent truths are fometimes the 
 longell before they are difcovered. What can 
 now be fo fimple or fo true as the circulation 
 of the blood ; but how many hypothefes had 
 been formed before the immortal Harvey dif- 
 covered that now notorious fa<5l ; and yet 
 his difcovery was for a long time condemned, 
 and, from the bigotry of his contemporaries, 
 his practice for a time was much leffened by 
 it. America was in this reign firft colo- 
 nifed from England ; let her fons (till look 
 upon us as her brethren. We acknowledge 
 that it is (he who has firft put in full prac- 
 tice the principles of reprefentation ; but 
 let her recollect that to England fhe owes the* 
 immortal labours of Paine. Courtiers, men 
 of penfions and places, and even f Jine ho- 
 neft, refpe6lable, men, will wonder at our 
 
 hardi-
 
 c 176 i 
 
 hardinefs in thus daring- to fpeak with ho- 
 nefty of Paine ; but toll us wh^/\ve fhould 
 not? The man who has been honoured 
 with the approbation of Wafliington, Frank- 
 lin, and Lee*, can never reap additional luftre 
 from our pen ; but humble as our abilities 
 may be, we fhall be always proud to think 
 like them, and fhall always glory in mixing 
 our praife with theirs. But to return. The 
 bigoted tyrant of Spain, enraged at the aflif- 
 tance given by Elizabeth to the Dutch, deter- 
 mined on the fubjugation of England; he 
 fitted out a vaft fleet, and a large body of 
 land forces, to invade England. This arma- 
 ment, fo well known in England by the 
 name of the Invincible Armada, given to it 
 by the Pope, was entirely ( defeated by the 
 Britifh Admirals. Much matter of triumph 
 this has defervedly been to the Englifh ; had 
 the Spanifh forces landed, the Queen's troops 
 were ready to receive them ; and we doubt 
 not but they would have learnt that no force 
 can conquer a people fighting for their liber- 
 ties. Few have been the opportunities which 
 prefented themfelves in our review, of praifing 
 the a61s of the Kings and Queens of England ; 
 let us here contemplate one which fully me-* 
 
 * Sec Memoirs of General Lee. 
 
 rits
 
 C 177 D 
 
 rits it. An unjtift tyrant endeavoured to in- 
 vade the dominions of Elizabeth ; but was pre- 
 vented by the courage of her faiiors ; had they 
 not, Elizabeth was prepared for him. She 
 aflembled her troops and met them at Til- 
 bury ; (he exhorted them to do their duty ; re- 
 minded them of the facred caufe for which 
 they fought ; and nobly declared, " I myfelf 
 " will be your General." Courage, in a juft 
 caufe, is one of the firft of virtues ; when 
 employed to defiroy, or to enflave, it be- 
 comes one of the greatefl vices. Simply to 
 confider Elizabeth's conduct on this occafion, 
 we almoft idolize her. How nobly great does 
 me appear when animating her fubjec~ts to 
 fight for their opinions and their property, 
 againft an impious tyrant, who dared even to 
 hope to deprive them of their liberties. 
 
 Dudley, the Queen's iirli: favourite, being 
 dead, (he filled his place with the Earl of 
 Eflex, whofe rafimefs hurried him into diffi- 
 culties, from which he extricated himfelf by 
 fome fulibme compliments to the beauty of 
 the Queen ; but he foon after rufhed into a 
 rebellion, for which he died. The Queen 
 did not long furvive him ; fhe died the s^th 
 of March, 1603. 
 
 N This
 
 This woman may fairly be confidercd the 
 belt monarch that ever fat on the Englifh 
 throne; (of courfe we mean before her.) 
 We do not deny but (he was cruel and into- 
 lerant, haughty, vain of her perfon, full of 
 difiimulation and artifice. We by no means 
 pretend to fay that thefe are not vices ; but 
 which of her predeceflbrs had fewer. Her 
 virtues we gladly mention ; they were, atten- 
 tion to the property of her people. Avarice 
 is a very great vice in a King ; oeconomy a 
 noble virtue. She encouraged commerce ; and 
 though her temper was imperious, we firmly 
 believe fhe confulted the good of her iubjecls. 
 It may be faid that the profperity of her 
 kingdom was owing to the wifdom of her 
 Minifters. Admit it. Can there be fo great 
 a compliment paid to her underftanding as to 
 fuppofe her capable of chufing, and of being 
 governed by wife men ? Indeed the character 
 of this Queen convinces us of the injuftice 
 that has hitherto been done to the Rights of 
 Women ; they are equally fubjecT: to the 
 laws as the Men ; why not then have an 
 equal voice in the choice of the reprefen- 
 tatives of the people? The want of this 
 right is peculiarly abfurd in this kingdom, 
 
 where
 
 C '79 D 
 
 where a woman may reign, though not vote 
 for a Member of Parliament. Even the liberal 
 Cooper feems to hefitate whether married 
 women fhould poflefs the right of voting ; 
 why fhould they not ? Is it becaufe their votes 
 may be influenced by their hufbands ? So 
 much the better reafon to grant that right ; 
 it would add to the confequence of the mar- 
 ried members of fociety, which a wife State 
 fhould aim at with all its powers. We re- 
 gret the prevailing mode -of educating this 
 fex, which is the caufe why the majority of 
 women are fuch per feel: dolls ; why their 
 converfation is filled with frivolity and non- 
 fenfe ; but we rejoice to find a better method 
 has taken place ; We have the pleafure of 
 knowing many well informed women ; and 
 we will not leflen the abilities of a Macaulay, 
 a Wollaftoncraft, a Williams, &c. &c. by 
 our unequal praife. 
 
 N 2 JAMES
 
 JAMES I, 
 
 ONE of the principal evils of an heredi- 
 tary monarchy is, that the immediate 
 heir to the laft King, fucceeding dire6% to 
 the throne, on the death of his predeceflbr, 
 the people have no time to limit the power of 
 the Crown ; the Kings keep purloining by 
 degrees the liberties from the people, till at 
 lalt they find themfelves totally bereft df 
 them. The people of England had an op- 
 portunity, from the abfence of James, of li- 
 miting his power ; but the Council, compofed 
 of courtiers, confidering only their own pe- 
 cuniary interefts, hurried to fawn upon James, 
 leaving, to the people a lading monument, 
 how little at any time may be trufted to the 
 patriot ifm of what are called Great Men. 
 
 The fight of a King has always been a 
 favourite object with the Englifh ; and as 
 their new governor was a foreigner, they 
 became particularly defirous of feeing him ; 
 
 multitudes
 
 multitudes flocked about him from every 
 quarter. James iflued a proclamation to for- 
 bid this refort ; he diftributed with vaft pro- 
 fufion titles, proving that the weakeft Kings 
 are always the fond eft of beftowing thofe 
 imaginary honours. The King difmifled fe- 
 verai of the late Miniftry ; three of them were 
 faid to be engaged in a confpiracy againft his 
 perfon, which was never proved ; Cobham 
 and Grey were pardoned after they had laid 
 their heads on the block ; Raleigh was re- 
 prieved, but confined for many years ; and at 
 laft executed for this fuppofed offence -f . James 
 was ftrongly prepoffeffed with an opinion of 
 his own abilities ; his hungry courtiers flattered 
 him with the title of Solomon and Sacred 
 Majefty ; and he accepted with avidity this ab- 
 furd and impious title J. He affected to owe 
 his title only to hereditary right, which gave 
 birth to the Tory and Whig fastens, of 
 which let us obferve, that the Tory fa6tion 
 have ever fupported all the folly of Kings and 
 Church ; the Whigs, more liberal in their poli- 
 tics, have fupported the claims of Parliament. 
 
 * Univ. Hift. Modern Part, vol. xl. p. 4$. f Rapin fup- 
 pofes this plot to have been concerted by the Court, in order to 
 deftroy Raleigh, the dread of the Spaniards. 
 
 \ Rapin, vol. ii.p. 386. 
 
 N Had
 
 C 
 
 Had Parliaments been a fair and equal rcpre- 
 fentation of the people, the Whig pol.tics 
 cojld never have been condemned ; but as 
 the Englifh have never poflefled an equal 
 reprefentation, the attempts of the Whigs 
 have only ferved to increafe the power of 
 the ariftocracy. We fpeak generally of the 
 Whigs and their politics; the author can 
 have no prejudice againft them ; before he 
 could fpeak plain he was taught to vene- 
 rate them ; and, though a child, to rejoice 
 at the fuccefies of the Americans. The 
 King foon fhocked the Englifh by his re- 
 ferve, and idle prodigality *. He wiflied 
 to eftablilh a power abfolute, and without 
 controul ; he neglected all bufmefs to in- 
 dulge in hunting, and would curfe the peo^ 
 pie who afTembled to fee him. On his firft 
 coming to London he difplayed fomevvhat 
 of his arbitrary difpofition, by hanging a cut- 
 pur fe without a legal procefs, and quickly 
 afterwards one Valentine Thomas, folcly to 
 gratify his revenge -f-. He foon fhewed his 
 gratitude to Elizabeth for the kingdom fhe 
 left him, by refufing to permit any one to 
 
 * Smollet,vol. vii. p. 6 and 7. f Harrib\ Life of James I. p. 51. 
 
 appear
 
 C l8 3 J 
 
 appear in mourning for her. If he meant 
 this to revenge the murder of his mother, it 
 was the revenge of a fneaking coward. He 
 indulged himielf in drinking, and there is 
 great reafon to think he was not wholly free 
 from a vice moft unnatural ; he ufed curfing 
 and fwearing in his common converfation, 
 and uttered the moft bitter imprecations on 
 himfelf and on his pofterity, and yet affected, 
 to poflefs ftrong fentiments of religion *. The 
 King had fo increafed the nobility, that a 
 pafquinade was affixed at St. Paul's, in which 
 an art was promifed to be taught, very ne- 
 ceflary to affift frail memories in retaining 
 the names of the new nobility ; it might be 
 highly neceffary to have fuch a fchool now ; 
 and the elegant Apologift for the Houfe of 
 Stuart, as . Lord Chatham called Hume, 
 allows, that to villify the immortal Raleigh, 
 the court lawyers affected to call him traitor, 
 monfter, viper, fpider of hell, when he was 
 under trial for life and fortune -f . Alas ! how 
 will man degrade himfelf to oblige a defpot, 
 who feldom poffefles any virtues. 
 
 A conference being held between fome 
 Bilhops and Diflenters, the King declared that 
 
 * Harris's Life of James I. | Hume, chap. xlv. p. 4. 
 
 his
 
 C 
 
 meaning was not to change the government 
 of the Church, which he knew was approved 
 by God*. Impious man! how dare he af- 
 fume fuch faith? We allow with the utmolt 
 readinefs our firm belief, that a good man of 
 every perfuafion is acceptable to his Creator ; 
 but that any man could aflume a knowledge 
 of a faith being approved by his Maker, is 
 a prefumption which nought but Royalty 
 could arrogate. A profecution followed this 
 conference, which forced many families to 
 leave ths kingdom. The Catholics having 
 embraced the Tory principles, he gave them 
 many marks of his favour ; but the Puritans 
 being Whigs, he allowed not the ieail indul- 
 gence to their tender confciences. This reign 
 was a reign of proclamations, and his venal 
 Minifter wifhed them to be obferved as laws. 
 One enjoined all Puritans to conform to the 
 eftablifhed worfhip ; another inflicled fevere 
 penalties on hunting ; and a third appointed 
 the fifth of Auguft to be held as a holiday, 
 for ever, to commemorate the King's efcape 
 from a confpiracy which probably never ex- 
 ifted. He called a Parliament, and under- 
 took to prefcribe what fort of representatives 
 
 * Ripin, vol. ii. p. 388, 
 
 fhould 

 
 ihould be chofen *. He even endeavoured to 
 force on the Houfe a member whom they 
 had declared not elected. The Clergy, who 
 have ever been the (laves of defpotifm, in 
 this inftance did not forfeit their claim to the 
 title. We mean not to include the whole body ; 
 we know that individuals have ever defended 
 the rights of the people ; at this hour the 
 Clergy of the Englifh Church boaft a Wat- 
 fon, a Parr, and a Wyvill ; but alas ! prefer- 
 ment has feldom been within their grafp. A 
 plot of the mod fatal tendency was formed by 
 forne Catholics ; it was, however, difcovered 
 and defeated. Had equal laws and liberty 
 prevailed, we firmly believe this plot would 
 never have been entered into. The profufion 
 of James made it neceflary for his Minif- 
 ters to procure him large f urns of money ; 
 and it may well be thought they did not for- 
 get themfelves ; but this is fo cuftomary a 
 thing, that thefe muft not be alone upbraided 
 with it. Very lately Mr. Pitt' s family enjoyed 
 places and penfions to the amount of eighty- 
 one thoufand pounds per annum J. To devife 
 
 * Rapin, vol. ii. p. 389, and Univ. Hift. vol. xl. p. 46. 
 
 f At this conference the Archbiftiop of Canterbury declared, 
 that undoubtedly his Majefty fpake by the fpecia) affiftance of 
 God's fpirit, Hume, chap. xlv. p. 12, See Patriot, No. xvii. 
 
 means
 
 means of railing it for James, many trades 
 were monopolized by him, to the injury of 
 his fubjecls ; he fold to the Dutch the liberty 
 of fiftiing on his coaft, which contra6t he 
 would afterwards have broken ; but the Dutch 
 fwearing to vindicate their claim, the coward 
 King dare not quarrel with them, though on 
 his own fubjecls he exercifed an arbitrary 
 power, and by his prerogative alone altered 
 the rates of cuftoms, and eftablifhed higher 
 impofitions on feveral kinds of merchandize *. 
 James was an author ; he had written 
 againft witchcraft ; but of hiftory he had not 
 the leatt knowledge -f ; he wrote a Paraphrafe 
 on the Revelations, which a court chaplain 
 complimented by fuppofing, " God put it 
 " into a royal heart to expound them." Of 
 this work Harris fays, that it was poor, low, 
 mean, and incapable of bringing any honour 
 on the compofer J. He alfo wrote his " True 
 " Law of Free Monarchy," in which he af- 
 ferts the regal power flrongly ; allows re- 
 fiftance to it upon no account whatever ; and 
 a Book of InftrucYions on Reigning, for his 
 fon Henry, in which he infinuates, that it is 
 
 * Hume, chap. xlvi. p. 49. 
 
 -} Harris's Life of James I. p. 31. j Ib. p. 37. 
 
 improper
 
 C 187 3 
 
 improper for him to permit truth to be fpoken 
 of Princes, even after their death. He pub- 
 lifhed againlt one Vortius, a Dutchman ; the 
 title of one of whofe books, he declared, ren- 
 dered him worthy of the faggot*. His next 
 ftep was to caufe two of his own fubjecls 
 to be burnt for herefy. We cannot at- 
 tempt to give a relation of all this wretch's 
 crimes ; if we did, his reign would compofe 
 a volume ; whoever wifhes to fee them will 
 find enough in Harris's Life of this man- 
 The Commons had remonftrated againft the 
 proceedings of the High Commiffion Court ; 
 but James refufed compliance with their re- 
 queft ; in a fpeech to them he declared, that 
 it was fedition in fubje6ts to difpute what a 
 King may do in the height of his power -^ . 
 James now took a favourite ; perfonal beauty 
 was his chief qualification J. This was Robert 
 Carr, created Vifcount Rochefter ; and whilft 
 his Minifters could fcarcely find expedients 
 fufficient to keep in motion the overbur- 
 thened machine of government, James, with 
 unfparing hand, loaded with treafures this 
 iniignificant and ufelefs pageant, who was 
 guilty of the mod abominable crimes ||, but 
 
 * Harris's Life of Jas. I. p. 43. 
 
 7 Hume, Jam.";, chap. x'vi. p. 54. * Ib. 56. jj Ib. 65. 
 
 the
 
 C 188 3 
 
 the King not only refcued him from the pu- 
 niihment of the laws *, but granted him a 
 penfton on his retiring from court. Viliiers 
 was taken into the King's fervice as cup- 
 bearer ; in the courfe of a few years he was 
 created Vifcount Viliiers, Earl, Marquis, Duke 
 of Buckingham, Mailer of the Horfe, Chief 
 Juftice in Eyre, Warden of the Cinque Ports, 
 Mailer of the King's Bench Office, Coniiable 
 of Windfor, and Lord High Admiral of Eng- 
 land ; befides titles conferred on his mother 
 and brother, a numerous train of needy re- 
 lations were pufhed up into credit and autho- 
 rity -f. James's extravagance had led him 
 into many difficulties ; he had given up the 
 cautionary towns to the Dutch for a third 
 part of the money for which they were 
 pledges ; he had recourfe to a project of the 
 late Earl of Salifbury's, to create two hundred 
 Baronets, each Baronet paying for his title 
 one thoufand 'pounds ; every rank had its 
 price fixed to it ; privy feals were circulated 
 for two hundred thoufand pounds ; benevo- 
 lences were exacled, to the amount of fifty- 
 two thoufand J ; by letters patent he granted 
 
 * See the account of Overbury's murder in all the hiftorians ; 
 Hume cannot glofs it. 
 tUniv. Hift. vol. xl. p 57. }Hume, James I. p. 71. 
 
 monopolies
 
 C 189 3 
 
 monopolies to private perfons ; he revived old 
 laws, making men who could fpend forty 
 pounds a year compound for not being 
 knighted * ; but all thefe means being infuf- 
 ficient, he was, againft his will, at lait forced 
 to call together a Parliament, who, inftead of 
 granting him fupplies, prefented a petition 
 for a redrefs of grievances, which fo incenfed 
 James, that without permitting them to ena<5l 
 one ftatute, he diffolved them ; raifed up- 
 wards of fifty thoufand pounds by benevo- 
 lences, which was all expended in a fortnight, 
 to entertain the King of Denmark . But mark 
 the words of the courtiers of thofe days, and 
 let they who dare, compare them with thofe 
 of a lefs diftant period. Speaking of the be- 
 nevolences, the courtly author, as quoted by 
 Rapin, fays, " which yet madded the ill- 
 " minded men ;" fo it is, the friends of liberty 
 have ever been calumniated . We rejoice that 
 pofierity always beftow thofe praifes which 
 iervility refufes. James endeavoured to eftab- 
 lim a conformity in difcipline and wor- 
 (hip between the Churches of England and 
 Scotland, which gave rile to long and ferious. 
 difputes. Raleigh was releafed from the 
 
 * Pvapin, vol. ii. p. 411. 
 
 Tower,
 
 C 1 J 
 
 Tower, but not pardoned* and fent to make 
 discoveries on the coaft of Guinea ; on his 
 return he was executed on his former fen- 
 tence. This murder was committed to pleafe 
 the Spaniards, who dreaded the abilities and 
 integrity of Raleigh. James had married Eli- 
 zabeth, his only daughter, to Frederic, Elec- 
 tor Palatine, by whom file had a numerous 
 ifliie. The Elector received an invitation 
 from the States of Bohemia, (who had long 
 fuffered oppreflion from the Houfe of Auf- 
 tria) aiid an offer of their crown, which he 
 accepted . This fo exafperated James, that he 
 denied him the title of King ; and though he 
 owned he had not examined the caufes of the 
 revolt, fo exalted was his idea of the Rights 
 of Kings, that he concluded fubjects muft ever 
 be wrong when they flood in oppofition to 
 thofe who had acquired or afiumed that ma- 
 jeftic title*. His fon and daughter being 
 ilripped of their dominions, he fuffered them 
 to remain exiles in a foreign land, to the 
 great amazement of Grangers, and grief of 
 his own fubje&s, who molt willingly would 
 have afllfted them f . . He fuffered the Englifh 
 flag to be infulted by the Dutch, who exer- 
 
 * Hume, James I. p. 103. f Harris's Life of James I. p. i ,'4. 
 
 cifed 

 
 I 191 3 
 
 cifed the mod horrid cruelties on the Englifh 
 at Amboyna with impunity, and by a weak- 
 nefs beyond conception, admitted his fon 
 Charles to go to Spain, to contract a mar- 
 riage, which the Spanifh court pretended to 
 accede to, merely to amufe the fimple James, 
 whofe extravagance had embarraffed him, and 
 forced him to have recourfe to another Par- 
 liament, he having ineffectually tried to raiie 
 money by what were called free gifts. Parlia- 
 ment granted two fubfidies, upon the King's 
 promifmg to affift his fon. James ifliied a 
 proclamation, forbidding his fubjects to talk 
 upon flate affairs*. He applied for more 
 money, but Parliament would not grant it 
 till they fhould fee that James would really 
 apply it to the affiftance of Frederic ; they 
 demanded a red refs of grievances, which fo 
 provoked the King, that he diflblved them, 
 and imprifoned feveral of the members ; 
 but James's expences obliged him to have 
 recourfe to a new Parliament ; they granted 
 him fubfidies, but iniifted that ibmething 
 iliould be done for the Elector. James at fi.rH 
 endeavoured to befriend him by fpiritlefs ne- 
 gociations, which proved him the dupe of the 
 
 * Srnollet, vol. vii. p, 70. 
 
 Aim nan
 
 n *9 2 3 
 
 Auftrian courts, and made him the laughing- 
 flock of all Europe * ; but the will of his peo- 
 ple could be no Longer refitted, and James 
 was obliged to declare war againft the Em- 
 peror of Germany and King of Spain, though 
 the fuccours fent to Frederic were ineffectual. 
 This was the laft a<5l of James's reign ; he 
 died the ayth of March, 1625. This reign 
 affords no one action to leflen the contempt 
 which an ingenuous mind muft feel for James ; 
 probably guilty of the worft of crimes, he 
 pofleffed no one virtue to palliate his meaner 
 vices ; his cowardice, his weaknefs, his pe- 
 dantry, his defpotiim, his meannefs, and his 
 extravagance, are fufficiently proved by the 
 above facts. Courtly authorities have endea- 
 voured to impofe upon us a better character 
 than James certainly deferved ; we have there- 
 fore extracted principally from fuch our acts 
 of this King, and we leave his character for 
 good men to determine what portion of re- 
 fpect it commands. 
 
 * Smollet, vol. vii. p. 81. 
 
 CHARLES
 
 C 193 
 
 CHARLES I. 
 
 CHARLES being infefted with the opi- 
 ^-^ nions of his father, with regard to regal 
 prerogative, no alterations took place ; the 
 fame council, the fame favourite, and the fame 
 Minifters were continued. Upon his accef- 
 fion Charles found an empty trcafury, and 
 the nation involved in war ; he fummoned a 
 Parliament, who, diilatisfied with the favou- 
 rite, and the Court, refufed him that aid which 
 his neceffities demanded. He diffolved that 
 affembly, iflued privy feals, and borrowed 
 money ; and forced all perfons poflefled of 
 forty pounds a year to be knighted. Thefe 
 means not producing the money he expected, 
 Charles was obliged to fummon another Par- 
 liament, who, with a fmall fupply, prefented 
 a petition of grievances. It may be fuppofed 
 that the nation, in fo fhort a time, could have 
 but few injuries to complain of ; but let the 
 O reader
 
 C '94 D 
 
 reader recollect that the fame plan and en- 
 gines of government were continued ; that 
 Charles adopted the meafures of his father ; 
 and the nation was afflicted by a continuance 
 of the grievances of the preceding reign. 
 
 This Parliament impeached the Duke of 
 Buckingham, and during the impeachment 
 the King was imprudent enough to beftow on 
 him favours, and the Lord Keeper, in the 
 King's name, exprefsly commanded the Houfe 
 not to meddle with his Minifter and Servant. 
 He told the Commons that if they did not 
 fupply him with money, he muft have re- 
 courfe to new councils. He caufed the two 
 managers of the impeachment to be impri- 
 foned, and foon after diflblved the Parlia- 
 ment. To raife money he demanded of the 
 City of London one hundred thoufand pounds, 
 which they refufed ; he laid a tax upon the 
 fea ports ; he levied a certain fum on every 
 individual, according to his eftate ; venal Cler- 
 gymen were employed to preach up paflive 
 obedience and non-refiftance ; Sibthorp de- 
 clared from the pulpit, that fubjecls were 
 punifhable for refuting to obey the commands 
 of their fovereign, though they fhould be 
 contrary to the laws of God, of nature, and 
 
 the
 
 C '95 3 
 
 the nation *. Manwaring affirmed that fub- 
 jecls were bound in conscience to obey the 
 King, under pain of eternal damnation. In 
 the following Parliament he was condemned 
 by the Houfe of Lords, but pardoned by the 
 King, and afterwards rewarded with a Biihop- 
 rick. A new Parliament being called, voted 
 Charles a fupply ; but before they pafled it 
 into a law, they prefented him a petition of 
 right ; this Charles evaded with all his cun- 
 ning, but without fuccefs ; he was obliged to* 
 aflent to it; and immediately violated it ; the 
 Parliament was preparing a remonnrance, but 
 the King fuddenly prorogued it. A petitioil 
 was prefented, in confequence of the King's 
 having levied taxes by his fole authority, im- 
 prifoned thofe who refufed to pay them; and 
 Members of Parliament who declared their 
 opinions ; billeted foldiers on private houfes ; 
 difplaced Sir Randolph Crew, becaufe he was 
 very unfit, fays Hume -f, for the purpofes of 
 the court ; and impreffed as foldiers thofe 
 poorer citizens whofe virtue was fufficiently 
 courageous nobly to fupport their right, in 
 oppofition to a defpiot, and a courtly crowd 
 of flaves. The Parliament being again called. 
 
 * Smollet, vol. vii. p. 1 14. 
 
 f Hume, Reign of Charles I. p. 265. 
 
 O 2 complained
 
 complained that one Savage, contrary to the 
 bill of rights, had been punifhed with the lofs 
 of ears by an arbitrary act of the Star Cham- 
 ber, and they appointed a committee to exa- 
 mine into the cafe of feveral merchants, whofe 
 effects had been feized becaufe they refilled 
 to pay the duties of tonnage and poundage ; 
 they entered into an examination of grievances, 
 but were foon flopped by a diflblution, and 
 feveral of the members imprifoned *. This 
 fhewed the King's difregard to the privileges 
 of Parliament, and it added immenfely to 
 the popularity of the fufferers, who had fo 
 bravely, in oppofition to arbitrary power, 
 defended their liberties. Charles now deter- 
 mined to do without Parliaments, and the 
 militia were called out to overawe the peo- 
 ple -f ; to procure money, companies bought 
 letters patent to enable them to monopolize 
 certain trades ; this was done fo generally, 
 that even old rags were not exempted from 
 this baneful traffic ; but thefe tricks would 
 not fufficiently fill his coffers ; he forced one 
 hundred thoufand pounds from thofe of his 
 fubjefts who poflefled above fifteen pounds 
 
 * Smollet, vftl. vii. p. 129. f Rapin, vol. ii. p. 514. 
 
 a year,
 
 [ 197 3 
 
 a year, and refufed to be knighted. We can- 
 not wonder at thefe exactions when we re- 
 collect that the Clergy declared from their 
 pulpits that Kings governed by divine right. 
 
 Charles increafed tonnage and poundage, 
 and laid new impofitions on feveral kinds of 
 merchandize ; the cuftom-houfe officers re- 
 ceived orders to enter into any houfe, ware- 
 houfe, or cellar ; to fearch any trunk or 
 cheft ; and to break any bulk whatever, in 
 default of the payment of thefe unlawful 
 duties*. The Star Chamber encroached on 
 the jurisdiction of other courts, and inflicted 
 with new feverity punifhments beyond the 
 ufual courfe of juftice-f . 
 
 We notice the religious intolerance of 
 the different parties at this time, on the King's 
 fide ; Archbifhop Laud, and other bigots to 
 ceremonies and fliew, which Charles himfelf 
 approved, and many of his opponents, equally 
 intolerant, profeffed a purity of conduct, and 
 exaclnefs in religious worfhip, which often 
 concealed a hypocrite, and enveloped a 
 fcoundrel. Charles, in the year 1663, made 
 a journey into Scotland, and, in oppofition to 
 
 * Hume, Charles, p. 293. f Ib. 297. 
 
 O 3 the
 
 t >S8 3 
 
 the will of that country, determined to efta- 
 blifh epifcopacy, and to alter the church fer- 
 vice ; in fhort, to ellablifh the \vorfhip of 
 England in that country. But Charles found 
 the Scotch determined to refill this innova- 
 tion ; they formed a covenant to defend and 
 iupport their opinions. An infurreclion be- 
 came general, which Charles imagined would 
 be quelled by the very name of King * ; but 
 as that word did not produce any great effect, 
 he was forced to raife an army. A fufpen- 
 fion of hollilities and a treaty took place, and 
 both armies were difperfed. The King, on 
 his own authority, impofed a tax well known 
 by the name of -Ship Money; the Judges 
 ianclioned it by an opinion, which Charles 
 publifhed. John Hampden was rated at 
 twenty (hillings, and he determined to try 
 its legality ; after feveral hearings the hardy 
 Judges decreed he (hould pay the tax ; bu^ 
 Hampden obtained his end, and the people 
 were aroufed from their lethargy ; they found 
 they poflefled not even the fhadovv of liberty, 
 and to acquire it Englifhmen determined to 
 meet every calamity. Oh ! Hampden, may 
 thy fpirit never defort this ifle ; may Englifh- 
 
 * Univ. Uift. vol. xl. p. 8 1. 
 
 men
 
 C 199 3 
 
 men, to the lateft pofterity, revere thy me- 
 mory, emulate thy virtues, and fupport thy 
 principles. What a chafm ! from Hampden 
 we ftoop to royalty ; and from an example 
 of patriotifm to many of defpotifm. Charles 
 had governed for fome years without a Par- 
 liament ; but his debts and difficulties were 
 fo great that he was obliged to have recourfe 
 to that popular meafure. Parliament met in 
 the year 1640. Charles applied to them for 
 money ; the Commons anfwered by a repe- 
 tition of their grievances ; this difpleafed the 
 monarch, and they were immediately dif- 
 folved ; their petitions and complaints, which 
 had been fent to them, were demanded of 
 the chairman, who, refufing to deliver them, 
 was imprifoned ; the clofets, and even pockets 
 of the Earl of Warwick and Lord Broke were 
 examined *. Charles endeavoured to force 
 money, by way of loan, from the City of 
 London, but was repelled by the invincible 
 fpirit of Liberty ; forty thoufand pounds were 
 extorted from the Spanifh merchants ; coat 
 and conduct money was levied, in oppofition 
 to the petition of rights ; all the pepper was 
 bought of the Eaft-India Company on truft, 
 
 * Univ. Hift. voK xl. p. 83. 
 
 and
 
 C 20 
 
 and fold for ready money, at a great difcount. 
 Numerous were the fchemes to raife money 
 without a Parliament, but they were infuffi- 
 cient ; and Charles was obliged again to meet 
 one. This was the famous Long Parliament, 
 who ultimately robbed the people of the very 
 claims for which they fought ; who formed 
 in England a government wholly ariftocratic, 
 which was overturned by, if poffible, a worfe, 
 viz. a military one. This Parliament im- 
 peached the Earl of Stafford, the King's firil 
 Minifter ; Charles endeavoured to defend 
 him ; but he fuffered on a fcaffold, a victim 
 to the juft fury of the people. The King, 
 alarmed, endeavoured to appeafe the Com- 
 mons, who, irritated almoft to madnefs, de- 
 termined in future to guard againll fuch vio- 
 lations as the conftitution had received. They 
 very confiderately leflened the power of the 
 Crown ; Charles wifhed to reftore it ; he 
 therefore ordered his Attorney General to 
 profecute Lord Kimbolton, and five of the 
 Members of the Houfe of Commons, for high 
 treafon ; a Serjeant at Arms was fent, in the 
 King's name, to demand the Houfe to deliver 
 up the five members, but was fent back with-* 
 out any pofitive anfwer ; meiTengers were 
 
 employed
 
 C 2C1 3 
 
 employed to fearch for and arrefl them ; their 
 trunks, chambers, and ftudies, were fealed 
 and locked ; the Commons voted all thefe 
 a6ls of violence, and breaches of privilege ; 
 the next day the King went to the Houfe to 
 demand them ; but as the members were not 
 prefent, he was obliged to return, and the 
 Commons immediately adjourned to the next 
 day. The accufed members retreated into the, 
 city, whofe inhabitants were in arms all night ; 
 the following morning Charles prefented 
 himfelf at Guildhall, but he met not there 
 the favourable reception he expected ; and 
 when he left it, the cry of Privilege refoun- 
 ded from all quarters ; one man, more indig- 
 nant than the reft, with honeft zeal exclaimed, 
 " To your tents, O Ifrael !" Charles, over- 
 whelmed w r ith fhame, retired to Hampton 
 Court ; wrote a fubmiffive letter to the Com- 
 mons, and declared he defifted from all pro- 
 ceedings againfl the accufed members. This 
 was a triumph to the Commons ; and as it 
 was an additional attempt againft their liber- 
 ties, fo it was an additional flimulus to induce 
 that body to leflen the power of the King ; 
 they demanded that the principal fortreffes 
 ihould be entrufted to perfons of their chufing ; 
 
 they
 
 C 202 
 
 they defired to have a militia raifed, and offi- 
 cered by themfelves ; Charles dare not at firfl 
 refufe, though unwilling to grant their re- 
 queft ; he therefore had recourfe to middle 
 means, for ever bad ; he prayed for time to 
 confider their defires ; but the Commons de- 
 claring' the ftate of the nation would not ad- 
 mit of delay, they folicited to command the 
 army for a limited time. Charles exaiperated, 
 faid, " No, not for one hour." This was a 
 declaration of hoftilities ; both parties pre- 
 pared for the field ; and civil war, with all its 
 horrors, enfued. This conteft owed its rife 
 to the arbitrary difpofition of the King, which 
 forced the Parliament to endeavour to limit 
 his power. The reluctance he difcovered in 
 fubmitting to them urged that body Hill far- 
 ther to abridge his authority, till at laft they 
 reduced his prerogatives as much below the 
 iiandard of the conftitution as the King had 
 raifed them above it. Stiil then it appears 
 that all the evils of this unhappy war were 
 owing to the King ; his infmcerity forced the 
 Commons to guard themfelves as much as 
 poffible againft him ; his fluctuating mind, 
 one day firm not to grant ; the next granting 
 all that was required ; deprived him of many 
 
 friends,
 
 C 203 3 
 
 friends, who would other wife have fupported 
 him. 
 
 Sir John Hotham was appointed by Par- 
 liament Governor of Hull. The King, fen- 
 fible of its importance, was defirous of fecuring 
 it for himfelf ; he therefore approached the 
 gates, and demanded entrance, which was 
 refufed by the Governor on his knees. The 
 King ordered the nobility to attend his per- 
 fon, and erected his ftandard at Nottingham 
 in Auguft 1642. It appears that in this con- 
 tention the inhabitants of cities were in favour 
 of Parliament ; thofe of the counties fuppor- 
 ters of the King. 
 
 As it is not our intention to enter into a 
 minute Hiftory of England, we fhall not de- 
 tail the unhappy events of tliis war ; it proved 
 the wretched miferies which always arife from 
 a revolution brought about by arms ; at the 
 fame time it may be confidered as a leflbn to 
 future ftatefmen not to refift with too much 
 obftinacy the demands of the people. After 
 a long ilruggle Charles became a prifoner ; 
 he was tried for high treafon, condemned, 
 and executed. 
 
 Charles does not appear to have been an 
 immoral man his want of fincerity perhaps 
 
 was
 
 C 2 4< 3 
 
 was owing more to his want of fortitude 
 than of morality. He fuffered, in our opi- 
 nion, an illegal, and therefore an unjuft death. 
 It does not confequently follow that we 
 approve of Charles's meafures ; we mean 
 only to fay, that according to our idea Par- 
 liament poflefles not the power of appointing 
 Judges to try and condemn a King. We rea- 
 dily acknowledge the right of the people to 
 expel one ; and no danger could arife from 
 fuch expulfion if the people poflefled a go- 
 vernment which rendered them more happy 
 than their preceding one. When governors 
 are jealous of the attachment of the people, it 
 ftrongly argues a conviction, that there is 
 fomething wrong in the government. Charles, 
 we think, ihould have been banifhed. To 
 do this properly the then Parliament fhould 
 have publifhed their articles of accufation ; 
 diflblved themfelves ; a new Parliament have 
 been immediately chofen, who, f peak ing the 
 voice of the people, would have poflefled the 
 power of paffing fentence. We profefs not 
 to be quite fatisfied with the right which any 
 man, or body of men, may claim, of putting 
 to death a fellow-creature ; we know they 
 cannot give life ; and we are not convinced 
 
 that
 
 C 2 5 3 
 
 that they poflefs the right of taking it away. 
 The apologifts for Charles have endeavoured 
 to palliate his regal guilt by faying, that the 
 love of power is natural to man ; and that 
 every one will, as much as polfible, try to 
 indulge it. 
 
 We believe that to be the ftate moil natu- 
 ral to man which arrives neareft to angelic 
 perfection. The love of power, like lull and 
 other vices, predominates only over low and 
 uncultivated minds ; it is mellowed by civili- 
 zation into a love of equality, as luft is into 
 love. About the time that Charles fufFered, 
 a feet arofe called Levellers, whofe wifh it 
 was to level all , property, under the juft idea 
 that all men being born equal, they afliimed 
 the unjuft inference, that property fhould alfo 
 be equal. We mention this fec~l to ihew the 
 difference between them and the lovers of 
 equality ; with the firft thefe admit, that all 
 men are born equal ; but confident that it is 
 impoflible, and even, if poffible, it would not 
 be defirable to equalize property ; they wifh 
 only that all men may be equally fubjecls to 
 the laws of the country in which they live, 
 and equally eligible to its offices. Hail then 
 Equality, nature's firft law ! to civilized man 
 
 thou
 
 C 206 i 
 
 thou only fource of genuine freedom ! may 
 thy mild influence fhine upon mankind ! may 
 they, defpifing the infignificant pageantry of 
 ariftocratic pomp, raife only to power and 
 authority thofe citizens whofe united wifdom 
 and virtue demand refpecl. We will con- 
 clude our account of this reign with the fol- 
 lowing quotation : " Let us look back to the 
 " days of our forefathers^ and view them 
 " ftruggling for their laws and liberties ; and 
 " let us gratefully remember* and worthily 
 " preferve, what was maintained with honour, 
 " and purchafed with blood*." 
 
 * Fofter's Sermon at Durham, before Sir Richard Adam.%- 
 p. 20. 
 
 CHARLES
 
 C 2 7 3 
 
 CHARLES II. 
 
 THE death of Charles was followed by 
 the ufurpation of Oliver Cromwell, 
 The intentions of this wonderful man were 
 probably at firft honeft ; but hurried by an 
 eddy of fortunate circumflances, into fitua- 
 tions of which originally he had no concep- 
 tion, his ambition was fired ; his abilities, no 
 longer employed in a juft caufe, were ftrained 
 to the utmoft, to acquire for himfelf that 
 power which it is the glory of his life to have 
 deitroyed, and which, when he had gained, he 
 ufed with fuch extreme defpotifm, that the 
 people of England were more opprefled than 
 during the times of the Kings ; he was able 
 to ward off the indignation of the people ; but 
 upon his death, the limited genius of his 
 fon, incapable of directing a diftraCled people, 
 relinquilhed a government which alone could 
 be fupported by the hypocrify and courage of 
 
 Oliver-
 
 C 208 3 
 
 Oliver. The Royalifts caught the opportunity, 
 and Charles the Second, fon of Charles Stuart, 
 was, by a kind of volcanic impulfe, feated on 
 the throne of England, without limitations, 
 or without any fecurity for the liberties of the 
 people. From hence iprung the divifions of 
 the fucceeding reigns, and even fome of the 
 ills which now afflict our country. What a 
 noble opportunity was thus loft for eftablifh- 
 ing a free and equal reprefentarion of the 
 whole people ; but let Englifhmcn never for- 
 get the leflbn it affords in ftruggling for li- 
 berty. May pofterity ever remember, that a 
 mifplaced confidence enabled Cromwell to 
 trample on thofe liberties for which he fought ; 
 may they ever feparate men from meafures ; 
 and may no man, we fmcerely pray, again 
 receive that mare of public confidence which 
 may enable him to deprive the people of Eng- 
 land of the leaft of their privileges. 
 
 Charles afcended the throne in 1660, in the 
 thirtieth year of his age. Extreme were the 
 exultations of his fubjecls at this event. The 
 King recommended to his Parliament an a6l 
 of indemnity, which pafled, excepting thofe 
 who 'were immediately concerned in his fa- 
 ther's death. He alfo received from his fir ft 
 
 Parliament
 
 Parliament a fettled revenue of twelve hun- 
 dred thoufand pounds a year, a fum larger 
 than any of his predeceflbrs had ever before 
 enjoyed*. The crown and church lands, 
 though fold in the time of Cromwell, were now 
 taken from the pur chafers without making 
 them the leaft fatisfaclion f . The King dif- 
 folved^the Parliament which had placed the 
 crown upon his head, and which was com- 
 pofed chiefly of Prefbyterians, a fe6l the 
 Court was determined to ruin. Charles had 
 folemnly promifed, in a declaration figned at 
 Breda, previous to his acceffion, that no per- 
 fon fhould be molefted for his religion ; but im- 
 mediately after it he publifhed a proclamation, 
 forbidding all meetings under pretence of reli- 
 gion J. Charles would willingly have kept up 
 a (landing army, as a ready engine of defpo- 
 tifm ; but his Minifters, more wife, advifed him 
 to the contrary. About one thoufand horfe, 
 and four thoufand foot, were retained ; but even 
 this was an unconftitutional force. Some at- 
 tempts had been made by other Kings to keep 
 up an army, yet no monarch before Charles 
 
 * Unive'-fol Hiftory, vol. xl. p. 102. 
 
 f Harris's Life of Charles II. vol. i. p. 170. 
 
 jRapin, vol. ii.p. 8^5. 
 
 P had
 
 C 21 3 
 
 had been able to continue a regular ftanding 
 army in England ; we are, however, now 
 pretty well accuftomed to one ; in the molt 
 profound peace eighteen thoufand men are 
 kept in arms. On this fubjec~l we particu- 
 larly recommend to the reader's attention Mr. 
 Cooper's patriotic Reply to Mr. Burke's In- 
 ve<5live, a work which cannot but inform ; he 
 will there fee the millions which folly and 
 wickednefs liave fquandered ; he wLl there 
 find the caufe of our prefent heavy taxes. 
 In truth, the man who am read that book 
 attentively, without riling a better and a vviler 
 man for his pains, policies more of virtue 
 and ability than we fear falls to the lot of 
 mod of our fellow -citizens. 
 
 Charles, immediately after his acceflion, 
 reltored prelacy, and caufed a conference to 
 be held between fome divines of the Church 
 of England and the Prefbyterians ; but, like 
 all fuch conferences, it ended without pro- 
 ducing any alteration ; the forms of the 
 church were preferved, though fome of our 
 mod refpeclable divines have thought t!ur 
 claims of the Prefbyterians not unjuft ; th;,t 
 what they defired might have been granu\l 
 with impunity to the church, and wo^ld have 
 
 quieted
 
 C 211 3 
 
 quieted thofe difcontents which have created 
 fuch divili'ons between the different fec- 
 taries. A new Parliament was called, which 
 was afiembled on the 8th of May ; it was 
 elected by the influence of the Crown, and 
 compofed principally of High Churchmen, 
 that is, of men devoted to monarchy, and to 
 the minuteft ceremonies in religion. This 
 Parliament was called the Penfionary Parlia- 
 ment, becaufe it was afterwards difcovered 
 that many of its members received penfions 
 from the Court *. We fhould have been 
 happy had .this Parliament been the only pen- 
 fioned one ; it continued for eighteen years ; 
 that was fomething like, and a fine example 
 to follow. Our Parliaments, in thefe degene- 
 rate days, remain but feven years ; it is true, 
 that is found long enough for any purpofes 
 a Minifler may be fuppofed to want; and 
 fome majorities are found as favourable, and 
 fome fad men believe, as venal as any Mi- 
 nifler can defire. By this time the Royal- 
 ills, who had fuffered much in their fortunes, 
 and by frequent imprifonments, fequeflra- 
 tion, and compofitions-f , had deferved favours 
 
 * Rnpin, vol. ii. p. 856. 
 
 f Harris's Life of Charfcs IT. vol. ii. p. 19. 
 
 P 2 I'*'
 
 of Charles which he ungratefully neglected 
 to beftow, .began to complain that they were 
 left to perifh with hunger ; the city fwarmed 
 with libels on this account ; and one L'Eitrange 
 told the King bold truths ; but he thought it 
 not proper to take notice of them, believing 
 that fufferers had a right to complain * ; an 
 example this well worth following ; widely 
 different from, and far better than the pre- 
 fent mode, when trials at the fuit of the 
 Crown deluge our courts, perfecutions and 
 profecutions diftracl the kingdom. But let 
 us examine their effect. 
 
 Men who really love liberty will be care- 
 lefs of what may befall themfelves ; they will 
 therefore publifh, without fear, their opinions ; 
 and however they may fuffer in the onfet, 
 they muft be fuccefsful in the event. The 
 King, in his fpeech to the Penfionary Parlia- 
 ment, entirely departed from the declaration 
 of Breda, and the act of indemnity. This 
 fpeech was the fignal of perfecution, which 
 was peculiarly levelled againft the Prefbytc- 
 rians, though all the Di (Tenters were involved 
 init-f. The Commons voted him twelve 
 hundred thoufand pounds, to difpofe of as lie 
 
 * Rapin, vol. ii. p. 858. f Ilx 
 
 pica fed ;
 
 pleafed ; plots were much talked of, and Cla- 
 rendon, the King's Minifter, affirmed pofi- 
 tively that there was a real confpiracy ; com- 
 mittees were appointed to examine into the 
 fact, fo that this infamous Parliament would 
 not, upon the word of a Minifter, believe, 
 without examining, the exiftence of the con- 
 fpiracy. Our Parliaments now indeed de- 
 cline that trouble ; and if a Minifter fays there 
 is an infurreclion in the country, they imme- 
 diately nod aflent, though the time and place 
 of its exiftence is left to their own imagi- 
 nations. This plot of Clarendon's, of which 
 he appeared to have the moft minute infor- 
 mation, was not attended with the profecution 
 of one fmgle perfon ; it was, however, in 
 confequence of this ideal confpiracy that the 
 Corporation Act was framed. Bythisacl 
 all peribns were to be obliged to fwear, before 
 they could become an officer in a corporation, 
 " that it was not lawful, upon any pretence, 
 " to take armsagainft the King* ;" that is to 
 fay, that whatever is done by a King is right. 
 How very abfurd muft it be to fuppofe, as 
 that oath evidently does, that the King cculd 
 do no wrong. Did not Cbarles take an oath 
 
 * Rapin, 8^9. 
 
 ? at
 
 D 
 
 at his coronation ? The very a6l of fwearing 
 fuppofes the pofllbility of perjury ; is not per- 
 jury a crime. We allow the pofition, as ap- 
 plied to Kings fince the Revolution, when 
 they a6t upon Revolution principles ; that is, 
 when every meafure is figned by Privy Coun- 
 feliors, then the people pofiefs reiponnbi- 
 lity, which may be puniflied by their repre- 
 fentatives if they pleafe. The fame Parlia- 
 ment, in the fame year, granted Charles a 
 power to receive a free and voluntary (as it 
 was called) contribution from his fubjecls ; 
 the eftates of the regicides were confifcated ; 
 Lord Monfon and others were dragged in a 
 hurdle to Tyburn, with ropes about their 
 necks, and doomed to perpetual imprifon- 
 ment ; the penalties of high treaibn were, by 
 this complaifant Parliament, extended to all 
 who fliould devife the death of the King, or 
 any injury to his perfon ; that whoever fhould 
 affirm him to be a heretic- or Papift, fhonld 
 be rendered incapable of employment. They 
 declared the power of the militia belonged to 
 the King alone ; and they im powered him to 
 difpofe of the land forces *. In Scotland the 
 tide of loyalty ran with equal fury ; but whe- 
 
 * Smollet, vol.viii. p. 14. 
 
 tlior
 
 ther the members of the Scotch Parliament 
 were equally the penfioned hirelings of the 
 Court with thole of the Englifh Houfe, we 
 cannot fay ; but we hope Englishmen will 
 ever reeollec~l that a penfioned Parliament 
 can never be an ceconomic one. If a man 
 once fmks fo low as to fell a Minifier his vote, 
 he will confider that the more he fqueezes 
 from the people the more fure he will be of 
 his falary ; and if he once proves honeil, and 
 regards the pockets of his conftituents, his 
 ceconomy of the public money will neceflarily 
 prevent the receipt of his penfion. A curious 
 anecdote of bribery will be found in the Life 
 of Lord Chatham, viz. that twenty-five 
 thoufand pounds were diflributed in one day 
 among the members of the Britifh Houfe of 
 Commons, in his prefent Majelty's reign. 
 Reform ! thou falvator of the Britifh Confti- 
 tiition, thou enemy to Revolutions, come and 
 fave us ; lend us thy protection ; give us thy 
 bleifings ; deitroy the fiend corruption. The 
 Corporation A6t had fcarce received the 
 royal aflent, when another, to enforce unifor- 
 mity in religion, by the influence of the 
 King, paffed the two Houfes. Prefumptuous 
 man -we find hath dared not merely to con- 
 fine
 
 fine the will of his fellow-man ; but, Oh 
 blafphemy ! to enforce one peculiar worfhip 
 of his God ! Man, born in error, di6\ates that 
 worfhip which his Maker fhall receive ! We 
 feize every opportunity of expofing the ab- 
 furdity.of an attempt to produce uniformity 
 in religion ; we will, with all our power, ex- 
 pofe the folly of conftraining the mind of 
 man, formed by nature to be free ; we will 
 on all occafions exert ourfelves as far as our 
 abilities will permit ; and in our humble life 
 we will endeavour to expofe the foily of reli- 
 gious tells, which {hackle the opinions of man. 
 We hate religious eflablifhments becaufe they 
 mix worldly confiderations with thofe fenti- 
 ments which ought to lift man above them ; 
 they force his attention to ceremonies which 
 himfelf often defpifes. Two thoufand Mini- 
 fters chofe rather to quit their livings than 
 fubmit to the Act of Uniformity. 
 
 Charles, on the 21 ft of May, 1662, mar- 
 ried Catherine, Infanta of Portugal, with a 
 portion of three hundred thoufand pounds ; 
 but his extravagance foon diflipated that Him, 
 and four hundred thouland pounds, for which 
 he fold Dunkirk to the French King ; fiill 
 the Royaiifis, who had fupported his father 
 
 and
 
 a ad himfeif, were left in beggary, whilft royal 
 gratitude displayed itfelf in lavifhing vafl fums 
 on his whores ; in fhort, his prodigality and 
 libartinifm prefently altered his fubjecls' opi- 
 nions, and their veneration for royalty was 
 changed into a contempt for his perfon. His 
 obedient, penfioned Commons, carelefs who 
 fuffered whilft they received their hire, granted 
 him one million two hundred thoufand pounds, 
 and fettled upon him for life two (hillings on 
 each hearth*. Charles, whofe princely prodi- 
 gality kept him ever neceffitous, determined 
 on a war with the Dutch. Regardlefs of the 
 miferies he produced, he forefaw that a war 
 would give him an opportunity of converting 
 fome part of the money, granted by Parlia- 
 ment for his fleet and army, to his own libi- 
 dinous pleafures. He knew the men who 
 compofed his Parliament ; he openly deman- 
 ded a repeal of the Triennial Acl, and de- 
 clared he never would allow any Parliament 
 to be afiembled as prefcribed in that ftatufe. 
 To this the obedient varlets fubmitted ; and 
 what would they not have done in obedience 
 to their mojl gracious Sovereign Lord the King, 
 bis mojl facred Majejly Charles, by the Grace 
 
 *Hume, Charles II. p. 377. 
 
 if
 
 C 
 
 of God, King of England, Scotland, &c. De~ 
 fender of the Faith, Supreme Head of the 
 Church, &c. whofe iniquitous debaucheries 
 merely to relate, would tinge with crimfon 
 hue the modeft cheek ; whofe difregard of 
 religion and morality ftrike even the molt 
 carelefs mind with horror ; whofe wanton 
 extravagance impelled his country into an ig- 
 nominious, ruinous, and murderous war. But 
 fuch, my countrymen, are the effects of pen- 
 fioned Parliaments ! Avoid them, Britons, 
 for they are more deadly than the Stygian 
 flood. To carry on this war, Parliament, in 
 the year 1664,, granted Charles two millions 
 five hundred thoufand pounds. The war was 
 continued with doubtful fuccefs, though the 
 Dutch Admiral failed a coniiderable way up 
 the Thames, and greatly alarmed the City of 
 London ; but a more ferious calamity after- 
 wards affli6ted that metropolis. A plague 
 fwept away one hundred thoufand of its inha- 
 bitants, and a fire, which raged with great 
 fury for three days, almoit confumecl it. 
 London has, however, fince rofe more beau- 
 tiful ; its ftreets have become wider and more 
 capacious, admitting a much freer circulation 
 of air through the city, thereby preventing 
 
 that
 
 L 219 ] 
 
 that moft dreadful calamity, which fo often 
 formerly affixed it with uncommiferating 
 fury ; a difeafe fo juftly dreaded by the hu- 
 man fpecies, and fo emphatically called The 
 PLAGUE. But horrid as thefe calamities were, 
 they affe6ted not Charles, whofe expences 
 Nwere as unbounded as before ; though mar- 
 ried, he openly kept many miftrefies, fome 
 taken from the public theatres, by whom he 
 had iflue ; we had nearly faid unfortunately, 
 in allufiori to the heavy taxes paid by the 
 people of England to their defendants, had 
 we not recollected, that from the vices of 
 Charles is defcended Charles James Fox, 
 whofe tranfcendent abilities make corruption 
 and venality hide their diminimed heads ; who, 
 leading a patriotic phalanx, hath boldly fup^ 
 ported the rights of the people. May Brn- 
 tons, through his means, recover their rights; 
 and may he ever with manly honefty fupport 
 the caufe of freedom ; then will we even re- 
 joice in the vices of his progenitor ; but, my 
 countrymen, let us not fupport even Fox with 
 bigot zeal ; recollect, the fallen angels were 
 the brighteft of the heavenly choir. Whilft 
 he fuftains the godlike caufe in which we are 
 all engaged, we will honeflly fupport him ; 
 
 but
 
 C 22 3 
 
 but fhould he ever, like Richmond, or like 
 Pitt, with apoftate zeal oppofe it, we will Ihew 
 him, that though great his abilities, if he leaves 
 the path of rectitude, the people of England 
 will ftill perfevere^in it. v> 
 
 To carry on the war againft the Dutch, who 
 were aflifted by France and Denmark, twelve 
 hundred and fifty thoufand pounds were 
 granted, in that fame fatal year that England 
 was ravaged with the plague, and its capital 
 deftroyed by fire. But, in truth, this Parlia- 
 ment were toofubmiffive to refufe ; and Charles 
 too extravagant not conftantly to apply for 
 money ; we therefore wi'l not particularly 
 notice the immenfe fums they yearly granted 
 their Sovereign, as it will give a famenefs to 
 the work, and but little either amufe or in- 
 form the reader. In the year 1665 patted 
 the two Houfes, and received the royal ailent, 
 one of the mod difgraceful ftatutes that ever 
 difgufted man, under pretence of guarding 
 monarchy : it enacled, that no di {Tenting 
 teacher, who took not a non-reft 1 fiance oath, 
 fhould, except upon the road, come within 
 five miles of any Corporation, or any place 
 where he had preached, after the act of ob-^ 
 livion, under a penalty of 4 fifty pounds, and 
 
 fix
 
 221 
 
 fix months imprifonment*. We attribute the 
 acts of the penfioned Parliament wholly to 
 Charles, becaufe they were dire6ted by him ; 
 and we are aftonifhed at the paflive fubmiffion 
 of a people, who had fo lately (lied feas of 
 blood in defence of liberty. What flavery 
 can be fo fevere as religious flavery, which 
 fetters the more divine part of man. It is 
 really wonderful, what different turns have 
 been given to religion, by Governments. He 
 muft have very little knowledge of chriftianity 
 and real religion, who does not fee the dif- 
 ference between the pure heartfelt worfhip 
 of the Creator, and a national eftablimment ; 
 if they were the fame, then were the Sache- 
 verels of all ages, and their followers, the 
 mobs of Birmingham, Cambridge, the Af- 
 fociators, &c. extremely religious; but they 
 are totally different ; the firfl leads a man 
 to contemplate the divinity, to know that he 
 cannot be concealed from God in any of his 
 motions -j- ; it leads the politician to a love of 
 equality in laws and government ; becaufe it 
 directs man to do as he would have man do 
 unto him ; the fecond, begets an attachment 
 
 * This a6t ftill exifts. See Secret Hiftory of the Reign of 
 Chas. II. vol. ;i. p. i 72. 
 
 f See A(l;Iey's preface to the Cyclop-jedia. 
 
 to
 
 C 222 H 
 
 to forms and ceremonies, to an over valuation 
 of riches, honour, and all the other meaner 
 concerns of life, whence all vice arifes. This 
 beftows honours on the Kings, the Peers, the 
 Herods, the Pilates, the rich, and the many ; 
 the former is not to be found but in the mind 
 of the wife, and of the good, and of the few 
 who enter in at the f trait gate. The war 
 which Charles waged againft the Dutch 
 and their allies, became extremely unpopular ; 
 and even his Parliament began to Ihow fome 
 marks of difcontent ; a treaty therefore \vas 
 haftily concluded at Breda, in 1667, after 
 a lofsto England of five millions, five hundred 
 and fifty thoufand pounds, befidesmany fliips 
 of war, and a great multitude of lives*. Soon 
 after, he formed the triple alliance ; its obje6t 
 was an union between England, Holland, and 
 Sweden, to check the progrefs of the French 
 arms in the Netherlands. This was a fa- 
 vourite meafure of the Englifli, and reftored 
 to Charles great part of his former popularity ; 
 indeed the meafure was a wife one, as it be- 
 came necelTary to check the power of France ; 
 but it has fmce been proved, that lie only pro- 
 pofed it to amufe his fubjecls. He had lately 
 difmifled Clarendon, his minillcr, and pro- 
 
 * Rapin, vol. ii. p. 878. 
 
 bably
 
 C 22 3 J 
 
 bably encouraged his impeachment, though 
 his only crime was, his oppofition to the dii- 
 folute manners of the King. In the year 1670, 
 the act again it conventicles received the royal 
 a (lent; itsfubitance was, as follows: " That 
 if any perfon, upwards of fixteen, fhould be 
 prefent, on account of religion, in any other 
 manner, than according to the liturgy and 
 manner of the church of England, where there 
 were five perfons or more, befides thofe of 
 the houfhold, they were to be fined five 
 (hillings for the firft oiFence, and ten (hillings 
 for the fecond ; the preacher, and the perfon 
 in whofe houfe the conventicle met, were to 
 be fined twenty pounds for the firft offence, 
 and forty pounds for the fecond/' And yet 
 we have heard men defend this Itatute. The' 
 Charles had entered into the triple alliance 
 againft France, Louis well knew that he had 
 little to fear from him, he fent the Duchefs of 
 Orleans (fitter to Charles) to London*, in 
 order to fix him in the interefts of France ; 
 and here we cannot avoid admiring the morality 
 of Princes ! This woman, this filter, brought 
 Charles, by way of prefent, a young lady, of 
 the name of Querouaille, to be his miftrefs ; 
 
 * Upon the return of the Duchefs of Orleans, fire waspoifoned 
 J>v her hu/band, a Prince of the Biaqd. of France.
 
 fhe was made Duchefs of Portfinouth, and 
 he was extremely attached to her during his 
 life*. The King's brother, James, Duke of 
 York, heir to the crown, declared himfelf a 
 catholic ; and the people of England were 
 terror ftruck ; indeed we muft not too rafhly 
 blame their fear ; neither wonder that they 
 fhould dread the repetition of the barbarities 
 of a Henry's, or a Mary's reign. War was 
 again entered into with Holland, butfo juftly 
 unpopular was it, that even the penfioned Par- 
 liament either had virtue enough left, or not 
 courage enough to grant the money to carry 
 it on. Charles determined to raife money 
 without parliamentary confent ; he feized all 
 the money of the bankers in the Exchequer. 
 A general confufion prevailed, and the failures 
 of feveral enfued ; by this means he was 
 enabled to profecute his war with Holland, 
 till the year 1673, when the murmurs of the 
 Englifh became too loud to be unattended to. 
 He was obliged again to fummon his old Par- 
 liament ; but the difcontent of the nation had 
 much altered thatafiembly, for though it was 
 the fame Parliament, yetfmce its firft election, 
 deaths and other circumftances had voided 
 
 * Hume's Hiflory of England, vol. vii. p. 465. 
 
 many
 
 C 22 5 3 
 
 many feats, the majority of which were filled 
 now by real patriots, men who were deter- 
 mined to fave their country ; men who were 
 too honeft to fubmit inplicitly to their King. 
 Inftead therefore of immediately granting 
 fupplies, they expoftulated with him on his 
 ftretches of the prerogative ; indeed never was 
 more occafion given ; for befides (hutting the 
 Exchequer, he had, by Proclamations, fuf- 
 pended a6ls of Parliament) inforced rigorous 
 preffingSj menaced thofe who prefumed to 
 fpeak undutifully of his meafures, and even 
 thofe who heard fuch difcourfe, unlefs 
 they informed, in due time, againit the 
 offenders. By Proclamations only, he forbad 
 the importing or vending of painted earthen 
 ware, (except that of China) upon pain of 
 being grievoufly fined, and fuffering the ut- 
 moft punifhment, which might be lawfully 
 inflicted upon contemners of his Majefty's 
 authority. He alfo levied an army, and martial 
 law was eftablifhed by order of council, tho' 
 contrary to the petition of right*. Thefe 
 things Hume confiders of little importance. 
 We materially differ from him ; and confider 
 that when the leaft thing can be eftablifhed 
 
 * Hume, vol. vii. p. 477.
 
 C "6.3 
 
 by Proclamations, the liberty of this country 
 will be nearly at an end ; but when an army 
 can be raifed at the fole will of the crown, and 
 martial law enadled by council, courtiers may 
 call fuch things trifles ; but we, who hate all 
 power which emanates not from the acknow- 
 ledged will of the people, condemn and deteft 
 them ; readily would we rifk our all to pre- 
 vent them *. The Parliament, though they 
 would not approve the war, however, granted 
 to the King's neceflities, feventy thoufand 
 pounds a month. They took into confidera- 
 tion the danger which might arife from a 
 popim fucceflbr, the favour the King had 
 (hewn the catholics, and their known attach- 
 ment to the divine rights of Kings, and non- 
 refilling high church politics, gave the patriots 
 of thofe days great apprehenfion ; befides, the 
 minds of the Proteftants and Catholics had 
 long been inflamed againlt each other, as each, 
 when in power, had opprefled the other. To 
 fecure the eftablifhed religion, the famous 
 Teft Act was enacled. This acl evidently 
 pafled in oppofition to the will of the King, 
 
 * On this condition would we build our fame, 
 And emulate the Greek or Roman name; 
 Think freedom's rights bought cheaply with our blood, 
 And die with pleafure for our country's good. 
 
 and
 
 I 22 7 3 
 
 certainly does not come within the ftricl: 
 view of this work, but we truft we ihall be 
 excuied mentioning it, as at this time it exifts, 
 And is much the fubjecl of converfation. This 
 a6l imported, that every one in office and 
 employment fhould take the oaths of Alle- 
 giance and Supremacy, receive the iacrament 
 in fome parifh church, before competent wit- 1 
 nefies, and renounce the doctrine of Tran- 
 fubftantiation. This a6l, firongly pointed 
 againftthe Duke of York, and the catholics, 
 is entitled " An act for preventing the dangers 
 which may happen from popifh recufants." 
 Great pains were taken by the Court to divert 
 this bill, but the diflenters apprehending the 
 proteftant religion in clanger, joined with the 
 church party in palling it ; they declared, 
 that for the prefent, they were willing to lay 
 under the feverities of the laws, rather than 
 clog a more neceflary work with their con- 
 cerns *. Thus then we fee the diiTenters fub- 
 jected themfelves to difqualifications, to fecure 
 to the people of England the proteftant religion ; 
 we alib know that the church has never al- 
 lowed this act to be repealed, though now 
 there can be no pretence of danger to the 
 
 * Harris';; Life of Charles' II. vol. ri. p. 161. 
 
 Q 2 church
 
 church from catholics. The difcontents of 
 the people were by this time arrived at a great 
 pitch ; the Parliament was adjourned ; a ge- 
 neral election had not taken place of many 
 years ; an alliance, contrary to the interefts 
 of the people, and of their religion, was en- 
 tered into with France againft Holland. The 
 Court tried in vain to appeafethefe difcontents ; 
 they even fupprefled the coffee houfes. This 
 ferment could not laft long ; the old Parl la- 
 ment was again afiembled, who met with in- 
 creafed ill humour, which was not diminifhed 
 by Charles's requefting of Parliament to pay 
 the money he had robbed the bankers of, by 
 ihutting up the Exchequer, which amounted 
 to more than two millions flerling ; the Com- 
 mons voted an addrefs to the King, in which 
 they ftated, that a Handing army was a grie- 
 vance and a burthen ; they were immediately 
 prorogued to the yth of January following. 
 Being then met, they entered into a con fide- 
 ration of the grievances of the nation. Charles 
 directly made a peace with the Dutch, which 
 was proclaimed the s8th of February, 1674. 
 By this peace, the States agreed to pay the 
 King eigjtt hundred thouiand patacoons ; thus 
 the people defrayed the expences ; but Charles 
 
 reaped
 
 C 22 9 3 
 
 reaped the fole benefit of the war. Though 
 he thus made peace with the Dutch, his par- 
 tiality to France kept ten thoufand men in the 
 French King's army. 
 
 The Houfe of Commons being again met, 
 addrefled the King, begging of him to recall 
 his troops from France ; he refufed, though 
 he iffued a proclamation, forbidding his fub- 
 je6ls entering into the fervice of that power ; 
 the two Houfes were engaged in a violent dif- 
 pute ; he again prorogued Parliament ; but 
 more money being wanted, they were fum- 
 moned to meet on the 13th of October, 1675. 
 Inftead of granting money, they entered into 
 an examination of the late expences, and wer e 
 unable to difcover how one million had been 
 applied ; they, however, granted him three 
 hundred thoufand pounds for the building 
 twenty fhips of war. There was no Parlia- 
 ment affembled in 1676, but they met the 1.5th 
 of February, 1677 ; Charles again requeftect 
 money, which 'the Commons granted him ; 
 they defired him to endeavour to check the 
 French conquefts in the Netherlands, and con- 
 el tide an alliance with the Dutch. The King 
 demanded a large fum of money to enable him 
 to comply ; but the Commons miftrufting the 
 
 monarch.
 
 C 2 3 3 
 
 monarch, chofe to keep the money in their 
 own hands ; he reproved them for their dif- 
 truft, and adjourned them ; but we wonder 
 hot at their fufpicion ; Charles himfelf was 
 a penfiQiier to the Court of France*, he re- 
 ceived two millions of livres from the French 
 King annually, during the continuance of the 
 warf .' So much did this man facrifice the 
 good of ITS fubjecls that, for a fum of money, 
 he permitte.i the alLes of his kingdom to be 
 deftroyed ; but the itrong diflike of his people, 
 forced Charles into other meafures ; the 
 treaty of Nimeguen was figned, which gave 
 a general peace to Europe. The difcontents 
 in the nation were aflonifhingly great ; plots 
 were re-echoed through the kingdom, and the 
 life of the King was faid to be threatened ; 
 the Houfe of Commons were in an extreme 
 ill humour ; they impeached Danby, the mi r 
 nifter, and infifted he fhould be taken into 
 cuftqdy ;but the King, dreading the difclofure 
 of his negotiations with' France, in which 'he 
 fold his good offices f:o that crown, dillblved 
 the Parliament, which had continued almoft 
 eighteen years. On the 1 7th of January, itfyc), 
 
 * Harris's Hut. of Charles II. vol. ii. p. 241. 
 f Smollet, vol. viii. p. 117. 
 
 he
 
 C 231 3 
 
 he ilTued writs for the fummoning a new Par- 
 liament, thus reftoring to the people the right 
 tliev had been fo long deprived of; never did 
 the Court endeavour fo notorioufly to infliienc2 
 ele6lioxis ; but the virtue of the people was 
 not to be intimidated, they returned men in 
 oppofition to its dictates ; indeed they confi- 
 dered that their religion, their liberties, their 
 property, and even their lives were at Hake. 
 Thefe Hume call prejudices ; but we muft ac- 
 knowledge, that if they were prejudices, they 
 appear to have arifen from the whole conduct 
 of the King fince his accefiion ; in every in- 
 ilance he endeavoured to acquire an arbitrary 
 power over his people ; he was in heart, a 
 catholic ; in politics, the penfioner of France ; 
 in will, at leaft, the abfolute difpofer of the 
 lives and properties of his fubjects. Before 
 the new Parliament aflembled, Charles, who 
 dreaded the coming ftorm,requefted the Duke 
 of York to abfent himfelf from England ; to 
 this, he confented, and retired to BrufFels. 
 When Parliament met, they chofe Edward 
 Seymour for their Speaker ; but the King 
 rejected their choice, recommending Sir Tho- 
 mas Meres ; an obflinate difpute enfued ; at 
 laft a compromife was made, and Gregory, 
 
 a law-
 
 a lawyer, appointed Speaker. Danby was 
 impeached by the new Parliament ; but 
 Charles, fearful he would reveal iecrets, had 
 the precaution to grant him a free pardon ; 
 the Commons declared that no pardon of the 
 King's could be pleaded in bar of an im- 
 peachment of the Commons ; Charles was 
 obliged to fubmit, and Danby was committed 
 to the Tower. The King endeavoured to 
 buy off fome of the chiefs of the oppofition, 
 by admitting them into a fhare of the admini- 
 ftration ; this trick has been played off more 
 than once fince. The people, from an appro- 
 bation of meafures, frequently attach them- 
 felves fo much to particular men, that when 
 they leave the caufe which procured them 
 fupport, pride and long continued partiality 
 prevent that defertion which public virtue re- 
 quires. The King now propofed certain li- 
 mitations, in cafe of a popifh fucceflbr acceding 
 to the throne ; this was done to prevent 
 an exclufion bill, which would fuperfede the 
 Duke of York's claim to the throne ; but the 
 Parliament were not to be deceived by the 
 firft, and the lower Houfe aftually parted the 
 latter ; they read a bill twice, and would have 
 parted it excluding all men from a feat in the 
 
 F.oufe
 
 C 2 33 3 
 
 Houfe of Commons, \vho held lucrative 
 offices under Government ; a noble aft, which 
 would render the Houfe independent of the 
 Crown; and which would have given the 
 people great additional fecurity. This Par- 
 liament alfo palled that bulwark of our liber- 
 ties, the Habeas Corpus act ; Lord Danby's 
 trial approached ; the Biihops claimed a right 
 of voting as Judges ; this right was admitted 
 by the Houfe of Lords, but the Commons re- 
 fufed to acknowledge it ; a difpute enfued be- 
 tween the Houfes, which ended in the diflblu- 
 tion of a Parliament, who pafled fome of the 
 wifeft acts, and feem to have had as much the 
 interefts of their conftituents at heart, as 
 almoft any aflembly of that kind. We have 
 only to add, that he diflblved this Parliament 
 of his own will, and without the advice of his 
 council. The new Parliament having met 
 in. January 1680, the King inftamly prorogued 
 them to the following April. In the mean 
 time he fent for the Duke of York, who ar- 
 rived in England in February, and was re- 
 ceived by his brother with great pomp, which 
 much difpleafed the patriots, who feared 
 every thing from the Puke, and who had 
 called out Icuily for the meeting of Parlia- 
 ment :
 
 C 23-1 1 
 
 ment ; but Charles was much encouraged by 
 the numerous addrefles he received, tell ify ing 
 their abhorrence of the liberty taken by fome 
 men, to require him to hold the Parliament ; 
 and in that from Norfolk, the addreflers were 
 obedient enough to thank Charles for recalling 
 the Duke of York ; fo much for addrefles. 
 In our own days, we have feen others from 
 the fame county, in our opinion, equally op- 
 pofite to the true interefts and liberties of the 
 people ; Charles ufed every act to reconcile 
 the majority of the people, who were evi- 
 dently againft the addrefles to his Government. 
 He lent the Duke of York into Scotland, 
 and aflembled the Parliament ; he declared to 
 them that he was ready, to concur with them 
 in all reafonable expedients for the fecurity of 
 the Proteftant religion, provided the fuccef- 
 fion was preferved in its legal courfe ; the 
 Houfe, however, pafled a bill, excluding the 
 Duke of York from the Crown; but the 
 Lords refufed their concurrence. The King 
 finding lie could neither extort money nor 
 obedience, diflblved the Parliament ; another 
 wasfummoned to meet at Oxford, that place 
 being fuppofed' more favourable to the King's 
 intcrefts than London. This aflembly Charles 
 
 met,
 
 C 235 ] 
 
 met, and affected to treat with aufterity ; but 
 the patriotic fpirit of the times was not to be 
 fuppreffed ; Charles found this Parliament as 
 inflexible as their predeceflbrs, and difiblved 
 them, with a firm determination never to call 
 another. He bore down all oppofition ; he 
 governed by the caprice of his own will ; 
 and gave a fanguinary proof how little power 
 ought to be trufted to Princes, without a pro- 
 per check ; how careful people ought to be, 
 who wifh well to their country, to watch 
 over every invafion of their rights, however 
 fmall the firft attempt may be ; for if unre- 
 fifted, they may depend upon it others more 
 fatal will foon follow. 
 
 Charles, now arbitrary, gave a loofe to his 
 difpofition ; fpies and informers were encou- 
 raged ; one College was apprehended on a 
 pretended confpiracy ; but the Grand Jury 
 of London rejected the bill ; the prifoner was 
 removed to Oxford ; a Jury fummoned, con- 
 lifting entirely of Royalifts ; ftrong objections 
 were made to the characters of the evidences 
 againft him ; and he defending himfelf with 
 great prefence of mind, invalidated all their 
 teftimonies ; the Jury, however, declared him 
 guilty, and the attendant Royalifts fhouted 
 
 applaufe.
 
 applaufe *. We (ball pafs over in filence the 
 trials of Roufe and Shaftefbury, alfo the in- 
 tended murder of Archibald Campbell, and 
 the particular attachment fhewn by the Clergy 
 to the doctrines of paffive obedience and non- 
 refiitance-f ; the annulling the charter of Lon- 
 don ; the outlawry of above two thoufand per- 
 fons, on pretence of their converting or having 
 intercourfe with rebels. Thefe and fuch like 
 acts we leave to be defended by theprefent nu- 
 merous tax and tythe aflbciators, and we par- 
 ticularly recommend to them a perufal of this 
 virtuous reign ; they will find in it a variety 
 of precedents well worthy their imitation. 
 Addreflfcs and profecutions, proclamations 
 and plots, were then, as now, fupported and in- 
 vented by the enemies to the Rights of Man . 
 The murders of Lord Ruflel and Algernon 
 Sydney demand our attention. On a plot, 
 probably pretended, Lord Ruflel, foil of the 
 Earl of Bedford, and Algernon Sydney, two 
 of the belt men humanity can boa 11, were 
 apprehended and imprifoned. On the trial 
 of the firfl, he was very urgent to be granted 
 one day longer, to procure witnefles ; or even 
 to have the tried poftponed till afternoon ; but 
 
 * Univ. Hift. vol. xl, p. 237. f Ib. vol. xl. 238. 
 
 this
 
 C 237 j 
 
 this fmall favour was refufed. Lord Howard, 
 a man every way debauched, was the princi- 
 pal informer; the Jury pronounced him 
 guilty, and he died on the fcaffold for " words 
 fpoken in his hearing." The good and 
 pious Ruffel, thus elevated to martyrdom, 
 with his laft words protefted his innocence, 
 and ignorance of any delign againil the per- 
 fon of the King, or contrivance to alter the 
 government. We are not unaware of Sir 
 John Dalrymple's attempts to blaft the cha- 
 racter of this patriot ; we thank him for 
 them ; they have given birth to Lady Buffers 
 Letters ; and the virtue which could not be 
 leflened by envy or malignity, appears with 
 additional luflre, from the ordeal it has paffed . 
 The infamous Howard was the only evidence 
 againft Sydney ; as the law required two, a 
 moil villainous expedient was put in practice ; 
 his clofet was ranfacked, and his Difcourfes 
 on Government were found in his own hand- 
 writing. In vain he alledged that papers 
 were no evidence ; the brutal Jefferies pre- 
 vailed on a partial Jury to find him guilty. 
 Should any man fuppofe thefe difcourfes 
 treafonable, we ftrongly recommend to him 
 to read them, and bs convinced of their inno- 
 
 ceuce.
 
 C 238 3 
 
 cence. We will omit the punifhments that 
 followed, and (hall barely notice the King's 
 reftoring the Duke to the office of High Ad- 
 miral, of his own authority, contrary to 
 law, and gladly come to the clofe of the reign. 
 Charles died the 6th of January, 1684-5, 
 foon after receiving the communion from 
 fome Catholic Priefts who attended on him. 
 Except this one adl, the whole courfe of 
 his life difplayed a total difregard for re- 
 ligion, and a great propenfity to extra- 
 vagance and debauchery. Need we adduce 
 any farther proof of this, than that the 110-^ 
 torious and infamous Rochefter was the chofen 
 companion of his leifure hours- The ingra- 
 titude of Charles we have before noticed, and 
 his extreme diflimulation cannot have efcaped 
 the reader's attention. The latter years 
 of his reign proclaim a third of blood, and 
 the whole of it a defire of arbitrary power. 
 In almoft every inftance he neglected the true 
 intereils of his own country, which cannot be 
 wondered at, when we recollect, that he was 
 the mean, penfioned dependent of the King 
 of France. 
 
 JAMES
 
 JAMES II, 
 
 TAMES aicehded the throne with the re- 
 *J joieings ufual upon thofe occafions. It is 
 the nature of man to indulge hope ; a tyrant 
 opprelTes him ; he dies, and is fucceeded by 
 another ; the fubje6t rejoices, and trufls that 
 his miferics will be leflened ; but no fuch 
 thing ; the fucceflbr is as bad as his prede- 
 ceffor ; and the opprefled, at laft roufed by 
 their injuries, demand redrefs, and tyrants 
 are appalled. 
 
 James, immediately after being proclaimed 
 King, fummoned his Privy Council ; profefled 
 to maintain the eftabiifhed government in 
 Church and State ; and declared that he would 
 go as far as any man in maintaining the juft 
 righ <* and liberties of his fubjects. The peo- 
 ple, as if the promife and performance of a 
 King were fynonimous, were gratified by his 
 declarations, and already was he known by 
 
 tha
 
 the name of James the Juft * ; but his con* 
 duel foon manifefted the falfehood of his 
 proteftations ; he levied the Cuftoms and Ex- 
 cife, granted to the late King for his life 
 only, without a new act for that purpofe ; he 
 formed the ridiculous projecT: of reigning in 
 the fame arbitrary manner as his predeceflbr, 
 and changing the eftablifhed religion of his 
 country. Jaiftes fent an agent to Rome, to 
 make fubmiffions to the Pope, and to pave 
 the way for the re-ellablifliment of the Ca- 
 tholic religion in England ; and himfelf went 
 openly to mafs within two days after his ac- 
 cefiion. As foon as he was feated on the 
 throne, he received numerous loyal addrefles, 
 in which the addreflers pledged themfelves to 
 fupport the prerogative in its full extent, and 
 to choofe only fuch reprefentatives as would 
 fupport it. The Diflenters alfo, particularly 
 the Quakers, prefented him with fulfome con- 
 gratulations ; their aim indeed was felfifh ; 
 they knew the King to be a DifTenter, and 
 they hoped, through his influence, to get rid 
 of thofe tefts and penal laws which opprefled 
 them. James was open in declaring, that he- 
 would retain no Minifter who did not prac- 
 
 * Rapin, vol. ii. p. 977. 
 
 tife
 
 C 241 3, 
 
 iife an unreferved obedience to his commands ; 
 but thofe very commands were greatly under 
 the guidance of his Queen. The Parliament 
 being fum moiled, met on the i9th of May, 
 1685 ; James, in his fpeech, again promifed 
 to fupport the rights and liberties of his peo- 
 ple ; but at the fame time demanded a reve- 
 nue to be fettled on him for life ; and fur- 
 ther declared, that he muft not fuffer the 
 fupplies to be precarious ; proving that he 
 wifhed to be independent of Parliament. The 
 Commons granted his requeft, and voted that 
 all the revenues enjoyed by the late King 
 fhould be granted to his Majefty for life; 
 Some fay this revenue amounted to two mil- 
 lions five hundred and fifty thoufand pounds. 
 A rebellion, headed by the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth, nephew to the King, and fupported 
 by the Earl of Argyle, interrupted the profpe- 
 rity of James ; but its inftant fuppreffidn 
 feemed only to confirm his power. Argyle was 
 defeated in Scotland j taker); and executed. 
 Rumbold, who had the audacity to laugh 
 at divine hereditary right, and who hadfaid that 
 he could not think God had made the greater 
 part of mankind with faddles on their backs, 
 and bridles in their mouths, and a few with 
 R boots
 
 3 
 
 boots and fpurs, to ride them at their pleafurc, 
 was executed. One Ayliffe was examined 
 by the King in perfon, who exhorted him to 
 difcover his correfpondents in England, fay- 
 ing, " You know it is in my power to pardon 
 you/' Ayliffe declared he knew it was in 
 his power, but it was not in his nature * ; he 
 was accordingly executed. Monmouth being 
 alfo a prifoner, was admitted into the King's 
 prefence, in hopes of alluring him to a dif- 
 covery of his accomplices, At this interview 
 the Duke begged his life in the molt abject 
 terms ; James infifted on his figning a paper, 
 in which he declared the late King had aflured 
 him that he never had been married or con- 
 traded with the Duke's mother. The King 
 then, as if his vengeance had been gratified 
 by feeing his rival's mifery, told him his crime 
 was of fuch a nature that it could not be par- 
 doned ; the Queen infulted him in the mod 
 outrageous manner ; he retired with an air 
 of difdain ; and was executed, after having in 
 vain requefted his uncle to grant him a few 
 days' refpite. Of the Duke's officers twenty 
 were hanged at Feverfham, nineteen atBridge- 
 water ; others were occafionally executed with 
 
 * Smollet, vol. viii. p. 215. 
 
 the
 
 t 2 43 3 
 
 the mod wanton barbarity ; the country 
 ravaged ; and the foldiers lived upon free 
 quarters. If it be faid that thefe atrocious 
 deeds were not by order of James, and there- 
 fore ought not to hold a place in this work i 
 we anfwer, that as James did not caufe the 
 infernal Kirke to be punifhed, it may fairly be 
 fuppofed he had orders from his moft gracious 
 Sovereign to fpread exemplary vengeance; 
 befidesj Jefferies, called a' Judge, whole legal 
 Daughters were ftill more horrible, received 
 marks of royal approbation. Such confidera- 
 tions oblige us to place all their villanies to 
 the charge of Royalty ; we will mention a 
 few ; and if the reader's heart beats indignant* 
 let him recollecl:, that to prevent, in any fu- 
 ture age, a repetition of fuch barbarities, the 
 people muft be fairly and fully reprefented ; 
 then all tyrants will be forgot, and defpotifm 
 unknown; 
 
 Kirke, as if to make a fport bf death -, or- 
 dered a company to be executed, while he 
 and his fellow-brutes drank the King's health. 
 The unhappy wretches, in the agonies of death j 
 writhing and drawing up their legs, the im- 
 pious barbarian ordered the trumpets to found 
 declaring that they (hould have muiic to their 
 R 2 dancins:
 
 dancing*. His own regiment, accuftomed to 
 fuch deeds of horror, were diftinguifhed by 
 the moft favage cruelty, and with attempted 
 wit he called them his lambs. By way of ex- 
 periment he ordered one man to be hung up 
 three feveral times, and at laft hung in chains. 
 One man was condemned; his fitter threw 
 herfelf at his feet, and folicited his pardon ; 
 the lafcivious tyrant promifed to grant it, pro- 
 vided fhe alfo would comply with his defires ; 
 to fave a much loved brother, fhe fubmitted 
 to his deteftable embraces ; the next morning 
 he took her to the window, and (hewed her 
 the brother for whom (he had facrificed her- 
 felf, hanging on a gibbet. The ihock de- 
 prived her totally of fenfe, and fhe felt not 
 the acutenefs of thofe misfortunes which 
 others could not fufficiently deplore. 
 
 We will now look at the deeds of Jefferies, 
 whofe infatiable third of blood was inflamed 
 by continual intoxication. He threatened, 
 calumniated, and threw afide even the ap- 
 pearance of clemency ; he told the prifoners 
 if they would plead guilty they might expecl 
 fome favour ; but no lefs than two hundred 
 and ninety-two received fentence at Dorchef- 
 
 * Univ. Hift. vol; xl. p. 248. 
 
 ter ;
 
 C 345 n 
 
 ter ; at Exeter vaft numbers were executed ; 
 and to Taunton and Wells he carried confter- 
 nation. The timid Juries, (truck with his me- 
 naces, gave their verdict with precipitation ; 
 and many innocent perfons fuffered. We will 
 (elect two cafes : thofe of Mrs. Grant and Lady 
 Lifle. The former having concealed a rebel, 
 was, in hopes of the reward, accufed by the 
 fcoundrel ; he was pardoned ; fhe was burnt 
 alive. The latter was accufed of harbouring 
 two rebels ; in vain fhe pleaded that there 
 was no proof of her being acquainted with 
 the guilt of the perfons ; that they had been 
 put into no proclamations ; had been convic- 
 ted by no verdict ; nor could any man be 
 deemed a traitor till he was fentenced by a 
 legal court ; and that ihe had fent her fon to 
 fight againft thofe very rebels (he was accufed 
 of harbouring. The Jury were twice inclined 
 to bring in a favourable verdicl, but were as 
 often fent back with menaces and reproaches ; 
 and at la(t obliged to give fentence againft 
 the aged prifoner. Interceffion was made to 
 the King, but he difregarded all that could 
 be urged in her. behalf, and (he died an ig- 
 nominious death*. On the return of Jefferies, 
 
 * Smolfct, vol. viii. p. 221. 
 
 R 3 . James
 
 James made him a Peer, and after wards Chan- 
 cellor, as a reward for his meritorious ferviccs. 
 By thefe and finiilar butcheries James thought 
 to have broke the fpirit of his people. Par- 
 liament being affembled, he feemed to think 
 himfelf exempted from the neceflity of further 
 hypocrify ; he told the two Houfes that the 
 jnilitia were of no ufe, and required a new 
 fupply to maintain a Handing army, in which 
 were a great many Catholic officers, in whofe- 
 favour he had difpenfed with the law enjoin r 
 ing the teft. He faid he found them ufeful, 
 and was determined to keep thetii in employ- 
 ment. .We have never defended teds ; but 
 whilft there is any given law in exiitence, we 
 hold it the duty of every man, King, Lord, 
 or Commoner, to fubmit to its injunctions ; 
 we fay at the faine time that it is alib the duty 
 of every man, by all peaceable means, to rer 
 prefent bad laws as injurious to the public 
 weal, and to endeavour at their being re- 
 pealed. Many fevere reflections were thrown 
 out againlt the King's fpeech ; but feven huiir 
 dred thoufand pounds was at lait voted him. 
 A very fubmiffive addrefs was prefented to 
 him, againft his power of difpenfmg with 
 the teft ; but this was harfhly received, and 
 
 the
 
 the Commons were frightened by his anfwer, 
 when at laft Coke *, Member for Derby, rofe 
 up, and faid he hoped they were all Englifh- 
 men, and not to be frightened by a few hard 
 words -f. So little fpirit appeared in the af- 
 fembly, that they fent him to the Tower for 
 thofe expreflions ; however the King dare not 
 truft even this paffive Parliament, but dif- 
 folved them. James now admitted fome 
 Catholic Lords into his Privy Council, and it 
 was univerlally feen that Popery was the only 
 road to preferment. Such extreme partiality 
 offended the Clergy of the Church of Eng- 
 land, whp from their pulpits exclaimed againft 
 Popery. This incenfed the King ; he re- 
 vived the High Commiffion Court, which 
 fufpended from the exercife of their clerical 
 functions the Bifhop of London and Dr. 
 Sharpe. We have feldom had an opportu- 
 nity of viewing the Clergy of the Englifh, 
 Church a&ing in oppofition to the will of the 
 Crown ; they almoft invariably have endea- 
 voured to fupport its moft lofty pretenfijons ; 
 
 * This Coke was, we believe, the anceftor of Thomas Wil- 
 liam Coke, the prefent Member for Norfolk, who, we hope 
 and truft, will never forget the magnanimity of his prcdeceflbr, 
 por omit any opportunity of defending the Rights of the People. 
 
 | Um>, Hift. vol. xl. p. 250. 
 
 and
 
 and let us not forget, tliat in this inftanco 
 their own intereft was materially affedted by 
 the difpofition of the King. James finding 
 the Church party againft him, endeavoured to 
 gain the Difienters, by a declaration of gene- 
 ral indulgence in matters of rejigion ; but the 
 Diflenters favv his drift, and however they 
 might diflemble, they were not deceived. 
 
 Although the kingdom was now in a ftate 
 of profound peace, the King had an army of 
 fifteen thoufand men * encamped on Hounf- 
 low Heath, and fent a fplendid embafiy to 
 Rome, to acknowledge the King's fpiritual 
 obedience to the Pope ; but the ambafiador 
 was received with the moft mortifying con- 
 tempt. James, knew, that to eflabliih the 
 Roman Catholic religion in England he muft 
 fet himfelf above the laws ; he therefore fent 
 for his Judges, one by one, to his clofet ; four 
 only virtuouily-f refufed compliance with his 
 will ; they were difmifled, and others more 
 pliable appointed J. Thefe wretches declared, 
 " that a power in the King to difpenfe with 
 
 * Smollet, vol. viii. p. 229, 
 
 - Does not this faft tell us, that no Judge ought to poflefs; 
 place or penfion during the pleafure of the Crown j they ought 
 to have nothing to hope for ; nothing to fear. 
 
 | Rapin, vol. ii. p. 991. . f ~ 
 
 law
 
 C 2 49 3 
 
 " law was law ;" all but one declared, " that 
 " the laws of England were the King's laws ; 
 ft that he could difpenfe with all penal laws, 
 " himfelf being the only judge of their necef- 
 fity." We mean not to defend the penal 
 laws ; we hold them in the moil abfolute de- 
 teftation ; but we intreat of our countrymen 
 to watch with the moft rigorous attention 
 every inroad made upon our rights ; if a King 
 can fet aiide even a bad law by his authority, 
 what certainty can we have that he will not 
 Attempt good ones. Let Britons of the pre- 
 fent day be particularly jealous of their rights ; 
 and zealoufly oppofe every encroachment 
 which threatens tfieir freedpm of opinion, 
 and the liberty of the prefs. James now 
 forbid preachers to introduce into their fer^ 
 mons controverfial points of religion, per- 
 haps ever as well let alone ; but certainly no 
 authority ought to enforce it. This only in- 
 flamed their zeal, and Tillotfon, Tennifon, 
 &c. &c. &c. difcharged their duty without pre- 
 varication. Jefuits were permitted to ere6l 
 colleges in England, and exercife the Catho- 
 lic religion in the moft open manner. James 
 recommended a Benedictine Monk to the 
 
 Univer-
 
 C 250 3 
 
 Univerfity of Cambridge, for the degree of 
 Mafter of Arts ; the Univerfity refufed to ac- 
 cept him ; the Vice Chancellor was deprived 
 of his office, but James was obliged to defiit. 
 
 The King recommended to the Fellows of 
 
 Magdalen College, Oxford, for their Prefi- 
 
 dent, Dr. Parker, Bifhop of Oxford, but 
 
 they refuied to comply with this injunction ; 
 
 all except two were expelled the College, 
 
 Parker put in pofiefiion of the office, and the 
 
 College filled with Catholics ; this fpread uni- 
 
 verfal alarm ; ftill, however, J<.mes continued 
 
 to invade the civil and ecclefiaftical liberties of 
 
 his people ; it is true James had acquired al- 
 
 mofl abfolute power, and the nation in general 
 
 feemed to acquiefce in its flavery. Thefotiety 
 
 of the Temple diftinguilhed themfelves by a 
 
 cleteftable addrefs, in which they declared 4 
 
 that the prerogative being the gift of God, 
 
 no earthly power could diminifh it ; fimilar 
 
 to this declaration, are the words delivered 
 
 inafermon, (if our information be right) in 
 
 a parifli church in the county of Norfolk, on 
 
 the 3d of February 1 793, in which the preacher, 
 
 fpeaking of Kings, faid, << And we confefs 
 
 that their rights are divine, as they proceed 
 
 from God ;" Oh ! Doctrine, mod abominable ; 
 
 Oh!
 
 Oh! Language, feeble and impotent, inca* 
 puble of furnilhing us with expreflions fuf- 
 ficiently ftrong to mark our deteftation of 
 fuch opinions. 
 
 If our account of the acts of the Kings of 
 England be true, can any man in his fenfes 
 believe, they proceeded from the Almighty ; 
 are we to believe that one fet of men are de- 
 figned by Providence to trample on the rights, 
 to feize the property, and to deflroy their 
 fellow men, Oh, No! far, very far be fuch 
 ideas from us ; we acknowledge, and with 
 the utmoft humility we reverence the be- 
 nignant kindnefs of our protecting God, who 
 made man after his own image, who created 
 all with equal rights, and if in his wifdom he 
 permits an unequal diftribution of the good 
 things of this world, their poffeffbrs are bound 
 to protect and relieve their lefs fortunate 
 brothers in fociety. But let us rejoice, that 
 the Kings who filled Great Britain's Throne, 
 require no fuch abfurd and wicked tides, they 
 inherit, from thefovereign will of the people 
 declaring their Kings their executive fer- 
 vants ; and high indeed is the honour of being 
 the fir ft fervant of a free people. James in- 
 tended to call a new Parliament, in the year 
 
 1687,
 
 C 252 3 
 
 1687, and took meafufes to fecure the re- 
 turns of fuch only as would implicitly obey 
 his commands. The Juftices of the Peace 
 ' were already his tools *. He made a journey 
 through feveral counties to intimidate and 
 cajole the people, clofeted individuals, and 
 employed arguments, threats, and promifes 
 alternately, but all his attempts were found 
 unable to fhake the zeal of our anceftors, and 
 he dare not venture to meet a Parliament, 
 well knowing, that the public virtue of our 
 forefathers, was proof againft the threats or 
 promifes, the places or penfions, which a 
 tyrant or his fatellites could beftow. 
 
 This work is already fwelled to almoft 
 double its intended fize, the author therefore 
 will haften to a conclufion, omitting the im- 
 prifonment of the Bifhops, the flavifh ad- 
 dreffes on the birth of a Prince, and the open 
 violation of the laws ; but he would do in-- 
 juftice to the freeborn foldiers of England, 
 if he left unnoticed their attachment to the 
 liberties of their country, When James 
 ordered a regiment to be drawn up, hoping 
 if he could intimidate them, the reft would 
 follow their example. What muft have been 
 
 *SmolIet, vol. viii. p. 235. 
 
 his
 
 his furprize, when he defired thofe, who were 
 againft his late Declaration, to lay down their 
 arms, to fee that all did fo, except a few 
 Roman Catholics. We cannot pafs this fa6t, 
 without glorying in the noble example, and 
 we hope, nay, we will believe, that our 
 foldiers will never forget that they are citizens. 
 The difcontentsof the people were Encouraged 
 by the Prince of Orange, and the nobles of 
 England turned their eyes towards him for 
 'relief; all parties felt alike the tyranny of 
 James, and the Whigs and Tories joined for 
 a moment, equally determined to reftore then 
 religion, their Parliament, and their laws. 
 By the invitation of many of the Engliih, 
 William, Prince of Orange, landed an army 
 in their country, and under the pretence c 
 redrafting the grievances of the people, for- 
 warded his own ambitious views. To his 
 ftandard the Englifh reforted, James was 
 expelled the kingdom, and the people af- 
 ferted their right of choofmg their own form 
 of government, and their own governors. 
 No man can adore the principles aflerted at 
 this revolution more than we do, but ftill 
 impartiality obliges us to examine the prin- 
 ciples of fome who brought it about. Let us 
 
 recol-
 
 C 354 3 
 
 recolle6t, that William had married a daughter 
 of James ; let us not forget, that Anne, after-^ 
 wards Queen of England, who joined her 
 brother, was alfo another daughter of that 
 King's. We readily acknowledge the right of 
 the people to expel a tyrant ; but we cannot 
 applaud the conduct: of thofe children, who, 
 eager to feize the polTeffions of their father, 
 invade his dominions, and drive him into exile ; 
 our hearts are not fo callous but we can feel 
 for the poignancy of that grief, which obliges 
 a father to exclaim, " God help me, my own 
 children have forfaken me *. Here we mean 
 to flop. We have traced the a6ls of our 
 monarchs, we truft, with truth ; if we have 
 not been able to pay homage to their virtues, 
 we believe we fhall not be condemned for 
 endeavouring to palliate their vices. James 
 was a true bigot ; to make converts to his re- 
 ligion, was his fole idea of perfection. He 
 had early imbibed high notions of prerogative, 
 and was unwilling to lofe a tittle of what he 
 conceived to be his right ; his weak mind, 
 eafily attracted by the fliow and forms of 
 religion, never feemed to have attained a true 
 knowledge of chriftianity. This man, haughty 
 
 * Hift. of England, in. a Series of Letters, vol. ii. p. 78. 
 
 and
 
 C 255 1 
 
 and cruel *, died in France, eiglit years after 
 his expulfion from the Englifli throne, little 
 regretted by any ; a lafting proof of the fu- 
 perior power of the people, from whom only 
 proceed the rights of Sovereignty. 
 
 * His difpofition is faid to have altered after he quitted England, 
 
 CONCLU-.
 
 C *56 3 
 
 CONCLUSION, 
 
 XT7E have now patted through our review 
 of the reigns of the Kings and Queens 
 of England, from the time of William the 
 Conqueror to the expulfion of James II. more 
 than fix hundred years ; may the wifdom of 
 Britons prevent a repetition of the crimes, 
 which difgraced thofe ages. We have feen 
 the Englifli people, for more than fix centuries, 
 opprefled either by their Kings or their 
 Nobles ; their rights have been infringed* 
 and their properties invaded. During thig 
 long feries of years, we have feen that their 
 Parliaments have feldom attended to the true 
 interefts of the multitude ; they have been too 
 often forgotten, though the Reprefentative 
 has not forgotten his own. We have found, 
 that in the reign of Henry VI. a difqualifying 
 act palled, which robbed the great body of the 
 people of that invaluable inherent right, THE 
 
 RIGHT
 
 OF SUFFRAGE ; we have feen centuries 
 pafs away, but alas ! that right is not even 
 now reliored ; we confefs, that if the prefent 
 mode .of election is continued, univerfal 
 futFrage would produce, from the multitude 
 it affembles, great confufion ; but we con- 
 ceive the right might be reftored, without the 
 afTemblage of fuch large bodies as would en- 
 danger the public peace. We have; we hope, 
 not unfairly reviewed the acls of our Kings ; 
 but we have not feen one, whofe reign is un- 
 de filed with blood ; we have feen religion 
 made the pretence for crimes, black enough 
 to " make e'en angels weep ;" we have beheld 
 our Kings forcing the nation into the moft 
 unjuft and wicked wars ; our Nobles ftirring 
 up civil ftrife, and (bedding feas of brothers 
 blood/for monopolized rights ; ambition, re- 
 venge, and all the hellifh paffions, conipiring, 
 under the pretence of fupporting, or de- 
 throning a Prince, to fink the kingdom into 
 domeilic wars ; we have feen our fcaffolds 
 drenched with the wifeft; the beft, and the: 
 moft patriotic blood in the nation. Our Kings, 
 fometimes tyrannizing over the Nobles, and 
 fometimes held in thraldom by them, we have 
 feen one King lofe his head by an unjuft fen- 
 S tence,
 
 C 258 3 
 
 tence. One Parliament declares itfelf perpe- 
 tual; another continued eighteen years by 
 the power of the monarch ; many of our fo- 
 vereigns murdered ; and the laft act we have 
 reviewed was the expulfion of James. Thefe 
 things we have feen, thefe things we have 
 narrated, and thefe things we have regretted. 
 They force us to look forward ; to penetrate 
 the mazes of futurity ; and fee how their 
 repetition may be prevented. The mode is 
 obvious : LET THE PARLIAMENT BE REFOR- 
 MED ; let it become the organ of the whole 
 people ; let it fpeak their will ; and the King, 
 the firft fervant of the State, execute their 
 fovereign fiat. Such a Parliament would view 
 any encroachments which the ariftocracy 
 might make on the prerogatives of the Crown 
 with a jealous eye ; for lefs have the people 
 to fear from the Crown than the Nobles ; 'tis 
 true that in our memory Parliament, in a fit 
 of conviction, refolved, " That the influence 
 " of the Crown has increafed, is increafing, 
 " and ought to be diminifhed ;" and we hear- 
 tily wifli proper means had been taken to do 
 it. To leflen the influence of the Crown, 
 Englifhmen, you miift reform your Parliament ; 
 no man will deny that if the influence of the 
 
 Crown
 
 Crown is increafmg, it may in fome future 
 reign become dangerous. It is alfo poflible 
 that danger may arife to the conftitution of 
 this country from the preponderating weight 
 of the arifio:racy. At the Revolution, we 
 believe, there were not many more than one 
 hundred peers of this realm; durifig Mr. Put's 
 adminiflration full half that number has 
 been created *. If their rapid increafe threa- 
 tens to abforb the whole of the landed inte- 
 refl of this kingdom into the Houfe of Lords, 
 to prevent that evil, my countrymen, endea- 
 vour that your PARLIAMENT BE REFORMED. In 
 fhort, nothing can reftore this country to the 
 Hate it was in at the Revolution but a Reform 
 in Parliament. This meafure can only aflure 
 to the people their conftitutional right in the 
 three eftates ; fecure them from the evils they 
 felt before the Revolution ; and prevent any 
 future neceffity of recurring to its principles. 
 When the omnipotent will of the Englifh 
 people hurled James from his throne, th^y 
 eftablifhed thefe principles : 
 
 1. The right of the fubjecl to refifl power 
 when abufed. 
 
 2. The right to cafiiier their governors, 
 when they are guilty of mifconduct. 
 
 * See Prefeiit State cf the Britifti Conftttution, p. 12. 
 
 S 2 When
 
 C 260 3 
 
 When the Convention fat which finally 
 placed the crown on the heads of William 
 and Mary, their deliberations afcertained this 
 principle, " That the people of England have 
 " a right to frame a government for them- 
 " felves ;" and when William and Mary were 
 elected King and Queen of England, they 
 exercifed the right of chufing their own go- 
 vernors. Thefe were the principles of our 
 noble ancestors ; thefe were the principles 
 then held by men who willed to be free ; 
 thefe are the principles which every man who 
 loves liberty ought to venerate. The Friends 
 of Man, the Citizen of the World, may ex- 
 claim, one other is wanted ; we admit it ; 
 and hope that the Right of Man to worfhip 
 his Maker in the mode he thinks moft accep- 
 table to him, without either tefts or penalties, 
 will not much longer be denied. When Mr. 
 Paine fays, that the people of England pof- 
 fefs no Conftitution, we confefs we differ from 
 him ; and from the filent acquiefcence of the 
 people at the Revolution, we acknowledge 
 the right of the Convention to give a conlii- 
 tution to thefe kingdoms. We adore the Re- 
 volution for the principles it allerted ; we 
 venerate the conftitution as eftablifhed at that 
 
 period ;
 
 C 
 
 period ; but we do not relinquifh our claim 
 of examining whether this ConlHtution has not 
 been filently though materially altered. The 
 Conftitution of England, as fettled at the Re- 
 volution, confided of an hereditary monarchy, 
 an afiembly of Nobles emanating * from the 
 Crown ; with a body of reprefentatives de- 
 rived from the people. It is true that the 
 patriots at the Revolution left the ftate of 
 reprefentation as they found it ; the Revo- 
 lution was unluckily too much an acl of 
 precipitation to attend to every thing ; but, 
 on the other hand, let us remember, that 
 the flate of the reprefentation was not then 
 fo connected with the Crown, and the ari- 
 ftocracy, as now. No union of the Crowns 
 of England and Scotland had infulted the 
 latter kingdom by a mock election, fmk~ 
 ing its counties into the ftate of the rotten 
 boroughs of England, and adding, with few 
 exceptions, forty-five members to the beck 
 of a Minifter-f. We have not figned the 
 prefent fafhionable afibciations ; by not doing 
 fo we have offended men whom we refpe<5t, 
 and are perfecuted by thofe we regard ; but our 
 
 * Proceedings of the Society for the Prefervation of the Con- 
 ftitution, Liberty, and Peace, in Ireland. 
 f See Hiftory of Boroughs, 3 vols. 
 
 S 3 vene-
 
 C 262 j 
 
 veneration for the conftitution as eftablifhed at 
 the Revolution prevented us. We will there-* 
 fore, to juftify ourfelves, examine what was 
 then done to preferve the rights and liberties 
 of EnglKh.nen. If the Conftitution be the fame 
 now as then, we are wrong; if eflential diffe- 
 rences exiil, thofe fure are wrong who in their 
 declaration exprefs themfelves attached to the 
 Conftitution, as eftablifhed at the Revolution, 
 and are fatisfied with it as now exifting. The 
 patriots of 1688, before they offered the 
 crown to William, hoped to be able to tranf- 
 mit to all pofterity the bleffings arifing from 
 their ineftimablelabours ; they therefore caufed 
 a declaration to be read, which was after- 
 wards confirmed by the Bill of Rights, in 
 which it was faid, that elections of Members 
 of Parliament ought to be free, and that Par- 
 liaments ought to be held frequently. By this, 
 it was evidently meant, that the voice of the 
 people fhould be frequently heard througfy 
 the medium of their reprefentatives, often and 
 freely chofen. Are {hey f o heard, or fa 
 chofen*? If not, i$ the Conftitution what it 
 
 ought 
 
 *The enemies to univerfal fuffrage have faid, that if the 
 poorer citizens were to vote, the Senate would be compofed of 
 
 umvorth/
 
 ought to be ? It fuppofes the reprefentative 
 fpeaks the will of the majority of his confti- 
 tuents ; if not, a very fhort time gives them 
 an opportunity of redrefs. But the man who 
 is elected for feven years, dreads not the in- 
 dignation of his eledlors ; it is almcft a life 
 before he may expect to meet them again. 
 The man who is elected for a fhort time, has 
 but little opportunity of felling himfelf to a 
 JVIinifler ; but he who feats himfelf for feven 
 years, may fell with impunity his vote. 
 When a frefli election advances, he goes to 
 his borough or his county ; if an oppofition 
 enfues, a fcene of drunkennefs and confufion 
 takes place, which continues for months ; 
 party rage prevails ; and years end not the 
 difpute. We call then upon all good men to 
 join in endeavouring to procure SHORT PAR- 
 LIAMENTS ; and we hefitate not to declare, 
 that they will do more towards leflening the 
 vices of the people than a million of procla- 
 
 im worthy members : this is contrary to hiftory, Wh.ea the 
 Roman people obtained the right of raifing plebeians to em. 
 ployments, they were long before they elected any. In Athens, 
 although, by law, magiftrates might be chofen from all the 
 clafles, the lower orders never elected perfons particularly con^ 
 netted with them *. 
 
 * Kendall'* Translation of Filangier on the Science of Legiflation, 
 * *V> 
 
 clamations,
 
 C 264 3 
 
 clamations, or the fan6lified looks of tcii 
 thoufand Bifhops. At this glorious Revolu-t 
 tion the people endeavoured to limit the 
 power of the Crown ; fo that one author fays, 
 William was far more arbitrary in Holland, 
 where he was Stadtholder, than in England*. 
 The Revolution Patriots, determined to guard 
 their liberties, enacted the triennial a61s, 
 which limited the duration of Parliament to 
 three years; if that time is too long, what 
 muft we think of feven. They granted the 
 King a civil lift, which was fettled at fix hun- 
 dred thoufand pounds ; but this was only 
 granted from year to year, and not for life- 
 By the term Civil Lift is meant a feparate in- 
 come for the maintenance of the King's houfe- 
 hold, and the fupport of his dignity. They 
 pafled a vote which reduced the army to lefs 
 than eight thoufand men; and it was with 
 great reluclance that they obliged the King, 
 by increafing that number to ten thoufand. 
 If in the moment of the Revolution they 
 did not fufficiently retrench the prerogatives, 
 they proved themfelves willing to amend the 
 omiflion ; but the Tory influence obftrudled 
 them ; the patriots wifhed to take the ma- 
 
 * Hift. of England, in a' Series of Letters, vol. ii. p. 20. 
 
 nagenient
 
 c 2% n 
 
 iiagement of the militia from the King and 
 the Lord Lieutenants ; but the High Church 
 faction in the Houfe of Lords prevented it, 
 as well as a bill which would have rendered 
 placemen and penfioners incapable of fitting 
 in the Houfe of Commons. The Clergy 
 ftrengthened the Tory party; thirteen cut 
 of fifteen Bifliops, in the Houfe of Lords, 
 voted againft William being declared King* ; 
 the majority of the Clergy were alfo againft 
 him -f ; and though they generally took the 
 oaths, yet they did it with too many referva- 
 tions and distinctions, which laid them open 
 to cenfures, as if they had taken them againft 
 their confciences J. The bulk of them voted 
 at all elections with the Jacobites ||. This coali- 
 tion was too powerful for the friends of li- 
 berty ; they were foiled in all their attempts 
 to abridge the prerogatives ; the Tories fuc- 
 ceeded, and by degrees vaft alterations have 
 taken plac,e. We {hall notice but a few, 
 though certainly enough to prove that an 
 iminenfe difference exifts between the Con- 
 ilitution at the Revolutipn and now. At that 
 period we find then, that the power of the 
 
 *Rapin, vol. ii.p. 1023. 
 
 f Tindall's Introduction to the Continuation of Rapin, p. 20. 
 
 + Burnet's Hift. of his own Times, vol. iv. p. 53. || Ib. p. 41 r, 
 
 Crown
 
 C 
 
 Crown was reftrained by the fuperior will of 
 the Commons. The number of Peers is more 
 than double what it then was. Were they 
 unbiaffed and independent, it would not fig- 
 nify ; but out of two hundred and fifty-nine 
 members, one hundred and ninety-live* are 
 faid to hold places and pen (ions under Go- 
 vernment -)-, and that in the Houfe of Peers 
 the Miniiler may at all times expe6t a majo- 
 rity of more than three to one. Next, in- 
 fiead of our reprefentation arifmg from the 
 free choice of the people, out of five hundred 
 and fifty-eight Members that compofe the 
 Houfe of Commons, four hundred in England 
 are returned by places under the patronage 
 of individuals ; boroughs are transferred with 
 as little ceremony as freeholds, yet the people 
 of England fay they are repreiented. This 
 certainly applies to the third article. The 
 Bill of Rights fays, that elections of Mem- 
 bers of Parliament ought to be free. We 
 afk, If feats in that Houfe can be bought, 
 are the Members freely elected? If they are 
 not, is it not a grievance? Parliaments 
 were limited to three years ; we now fee them 
 
 * Bifhops capable of tranflations arc in this lift. 
 
 | See prefent State of the Conftitution, by an Old Whig, p. 8. 
 
 extended
 
 C 267 i 
 
 Extended to feven. The King's civil lift is 
 110 w a million, and fettled for life ; the army 
 kept annually in this kingdom, in the moit 
 profound peace, is eighteen thoufand men ; 
 our anceftors thought eight thoufand fuffi- 
 cient ; and we have full evidence, that nume- 
 rous placemen and penfioners now fit in the 
 Englifh Houfe of Commons. In the reign of 
 George the Fir ft there were two hundred and 
 thirty -two penfioners in that Houfe * ; there 
 is no reafon to fuppofe fewer now f . 
 
 Let us alfo recollect, that fmce that far- 
 famed sera, the national debt has arifen. 
 to its prefent magnitude ; excifemen, cuf- 
 tom-houfe officers, tax gatherers, places, 
 penfions, titles, lotteries, fortifications, inclu- 
 ding barracks, independent companies, &c. 
 &c. have arifen to a moft alarming and danr 
 gerous number. \Ve fee in the Houfe of 
 Commons one hundred and eighty-feven 
 members, elected under the patronage of 
 Englim Peers ; and we fee its effects in the 
 Commutation and other taxes, in the Game 
 Laws, the Marriage Act, and in the oppofi- 
 tion which is often made to canals, and other 
 
 * Prefent State of the Englifli Conftitution, by an Old Whig, 
 p. 13. f See the Neceffity of a fpeedy Reform, p. 46- 
 
 beneficial
 
 C 268 3 
 
 beneficial regulations. We have lately feen 
 the vaft patronage of India thrown into the 
 hands of the Minifter, through the medium 
 of a Board of Controul. The Judges for- 
 merly, from their dependence on the will of 
 the Crown, were obliged to court the people 
 for fupport. Now, having their places for 
 life, with penfions during pleafure, or in ex- 
 pectancy, certainly increafe the power of the 
 monarch. Thefe and many fuch things force 
 us to call upon all men to fupport a Reform 
 in Parliament. The honeft and good citizen, 
 in every fituation, we truft, will endeavour at 
 it ; he will know that it is the only means of 
 preventing the evils noted in our preced ing 
 pages ; he will recollect, that every future 
 monarch may not po fiefs the virtues of the 
 prefent ; he will recollect the American war, 
 the General Warrants, the Middlefex elec- 
 tion, the inhuman neglect which the Queen 
 of Denmark received, the employing favages 
 to burn, plunder, and murder our brethren, 
 fighting for liberty in America ; he will know 
 that a Reform in Parliament can only fecure 
 patriots from the treatment which Beckford 
 met with, or the hard fate of a York and a 
 Sutherland ; he will recollect the throwing 
 
 out
 
 C 
 
 out of Mr. Legge*, for difobeying a court 
 mandate ; the pardon of Balf and Macquirk ; 
 the letters faid to be written to fever al peers, 
 in the year 1784 ; and that fecret influence, 
 dcftruclive to patriotifm and virtue, which 
 drove the great, the difmterefled Pitt, from 
 the helm, but which now upholds his fon. 
 Such things, and many more, would not have 
 difgraced this reign had the reprefentation 
 been perfect ; he will know that without it 
 no monarch can infure his infant fucceflbr a 
 quiet reign, nor defend himfelf in the hour 
 of ficknefs. He will look forward to a Re- 
 form in Parliament as the only means of alle- 
 viating the hardfhips which the majority of 
 his fellow-fubjecls now labour under ; he will 
 confider the prefent oppreflive fyftem of our 
 poor laws, which oblige the poor to maintain 
 the poor-f ; the hardfhips of our debtors, con- 
 fined for years in a prifon, often to gratify 
 the refentment of a villain ; he will contem- 
 plate the mode of maintaining the Clergy by 
 tythe with indignation, and the length of our 
 law-fuits|| with abhorrence; he will confider 
 
 l 
 
 * Life of Lord Chatham, vol. 5. p. 286. 
 f See Sinclair's Statiftical Account of Scotland, vol. 6. 
 || Lord Stanhope declared, in the Houfe of Lords, that he 
 ftttkd by arbitration a cafe which had been in the Court of 
 
 Chancery
 
 C 270 3 
 
 the enormous burthen of the public taxes ; if 
 fortunately placed in a fituation which fets 
 him above their preflure, he will pity his fel- 
 low-man, from whofe hard labour one moiety 
 is drawn, to bribe a venal Member of Parlia- 
 ment, or to replenifh the coffers of an extra- 
 vagant gamefter. The honeft and the good 
 citizen, who knows that all thefe evils would 
 be remedied by a virtuous representation of 
 the people, will meet the- calumnies of the 
 interefted enemies of that meafure with con- 
 tempt, and perfevere till he is crowned with 
 fuccefs, Let us confider who are the enemies 
 to a Parliamentary Reform ; they confift of 
 venal Lords, venal Members of Parliament, 
 Placemen and Penfioners, Expectants, the 
 great body of the Clergy and the Law, the 
 unthinking and unreading Members of the 
 State, with the old and the timid. We are 
 not to wonder at the oppofition this meafure 
 meets with from the firft defcription of its. 
 enemies, when we confider the great pro- 
 portion of the Peers are ufelefs placemen ; that 
 many of them poflefs one only merit, viz, 
 patronage of boroughs; that a Reform in 
 
 Chancery forty-two years. Mr. Haftings's trial is a notorious 
 example, that fbmething bad exifts fomewhere. 
 
 Parliament
 
 C 271 3 
 
 Parliament would deftroy that influence, and 
 render them no longer of confequence to a 
 Minifter ; they know a reformed Parliament 
 would be an reconomic one ; their interefts 
 tell them that unmerited penfions would be 
 abolifhed; that Government, made for the 
 many, would then no longer pamper the 
 few * ; they know that their beloved pleafure 
 of gaming would receive a mortal ftab ; the 
 morals of the people are materially injured by 
 our prefent corrupt representation. The great 
 eafe with which our penfioners receive im- 
 menfe fums of money, certainly render them 
 carelefs of its difpofal ; their example fpreads, 
 and every member of fociety is more or lefs 
 affe6led by it. We wonder not that men 
 who fell their venal votes to every Minifter, 
 whofe principal delight centers in the ilud, 
 the kennel, or the gambling-houfe ; whofe 
 hearts are fo hardened as to deprive their 
 younger children of their proportion of 
 
 fc Children were undoubtedly defigned by Providence for a 
 blefling; a large family would naturally increafe the happinefs 
 of a father ; but fo much are the people of England oppreflcd 
 by taxes, that nothing is fo dreadful (at leaft to the poor atid 
 middling ranks) as a numerous offspring; and the death of a 
 child is frequently confidered as a blefling. Oh Man 1 Man! 
 thou and Nature feem ever to have been at variance. 
 
 wealth :
 
 C 2 72 3 
 
 wealth, that their elder may whirl in the? 
 fame vortex of diffipation with themfelves; 
 mould oppoie that which would deprive them 
 of the labours of fin, though it would add to 
 the eafe and happinefs of millions*. The 
 fame reafons apply to the oppbfers of reform 
 in the Lower Houfe ; an adcHti6nal one alfo 
 prefents itfelf. Many of our borough mem- 
 bers are well aware, that if neither money 
 nor minifierial interell could place a member 
 in the Houfe of Commons, their abilities are 
 not fo well known, nor their integrity fo ge- 
 nerally underftood, as to affure them a feat 
 in a virtuous, independent third eftate. Who 
 can behold without indignation a man with- 
 out abilities, notorioufly known to vote with 
 every Minifter ; who places himfelf in Par- 
 liament through the intereft of fome Bed- 
 chamber Lord, fquandering away thoufands 
 at Newmarket -f ; whofe extravagant houfe- 
 
 hold 
 
 * Our prefent ariftooratic government is as cowardly as it is' 
 cruel ; all its preflure falls on thofe who cannot refill its ty- 
 ranny BECAUSE THEY ARE UNREPRESENTED. 
 
 t ^ T e have heard the vicious extravagance of the higher ranks 
 applauded; it has been faid, without gambling they could not 
 difpofe of their immenfe wealth; and that without fome fuch 
 outlet, circulation of money would be flopped; a bad fyftem 
 Jnuft be fupported by bad arguments. To remedy this evil, let 
 
 entail*
 
 C 273 3 
 
 hold fpends perhaps ten times his oftenfible in- 
 come, without enquiring how this is kept up ; 
 that John Bull pays for all there is no doubt. 
 We know that more than ninety Placemen 
 fit in the Houfe of Commons ; but we do not 
 know the number of Penfioners. Out of 
 the Houfes there are vaft numbers of thefe 
 ufelefs, coftly vermin ; the honorary fervants 
 of his Majefty's houmold coft this country 
 fifty thoufand pounds per annum, the deputies, 
 berks, afiiftants, &c. are not included * . We 
 mean not, however, to be fuppofed that every 
 penfioner is averfe to reform, folely becaufe 
 it is againft his intereft ; we do believe that 
 to be the cafe with the majority ; but in fo 
 great a concourfe, we believe that fome have 
 no difhoneft motive ; a fecret bias operates 
 often unknown to the perfon himfelf ; many 
 of the out-door penfipners are averfe to re- 
 form from the dread of want ; and we fin- 
 cerely hope, whenever that bleft event takes 
 
 entails be prohibited, and let the eftates of all who die without 
 wills be equally divided among their children; if they have none, 
 then amongft their next of kin, fo that all poffeffing an equal 
 degree of affinity, (lion Id receive an equal benefit. A plan of 
 this kind would add much to the happinefs of men, by deftroy- 
 ing the baneful, monopoly of farms. 
 
 * Prefent State, &c. by an Old Whig, p. 19. 
 
 T place,
 
 place, care will be taken to avoid diftreffing 
 individuals ; better for the whole to continue 
 fome unneceflary expence for a fhort time, 
 than even a few fhould during life be 
 impoverifhed. 
 
 To avoid frefh taxes, we would propofe 
 that an office fhould be opened to receive lives 
 under one year ; for one fhare, lool. half and 
 quarter (hares might alfo be fold. The per- 
 fon, for each fliare fo purchafed, fhould have 
 a demand on the office, when the nominee 
 comes of the age of twenty -one years, of 6ool. 
 as more than three out of five would never 
 live to that period. With the accumulation 
 of intereft, it would be found not only to 
 allow that proportion, (which every father 
 would wifh to procure his child) but a very 
 confiderable gain ; befides every year pro- 
 ducing, upon the average, the fame number 
 of purchafers. The fum in hand would be al- 
 ways alike. A plan fimilar to this, we think 
 we have read, is practiced in fome of the 
 Italian ftates *. 
 
 No 
 
 * We think Tontines have not been pwmed far enough. In 
 the State Tontine, too many fhares were brought to market at 
 one time. In a country borne down as this is by taxes, Tontines 
 properly managed, might become extremely beneficial. It is 
 
 to
 
 C 2 75 H 
 
 No men are fo dangerous to the reformers 
 as the expectants, thofe men who bark at 
 places becaufe they are not in pofleflion 
 of them, who loudly call for reform till 
 they get into place ; that fuch men have 
 exifted, the Duke of Richmond and Mr. 
 Pitt are a fufficient proof. There is another 
 fet of men equally to be guarded againft, 
 viz. thofe who oppofe Government, in 
 all things, except indeed where the attempt 
 is to benefit the people, then thefe men join 
 the minifter, and call it a proof of their 
 honefty ; they know if places are decreafed, 
 their chance is diminifhed ; thefe are the 
 men who preach up ignorance to the Swinifli 
 multitude ; thefe are the men who aflert, 
 
 to the intereft of a ftate, to get its commodities to market at the 
 leaftpoflibie expence, therefore the ufe of canals and navigable 
 rivers. But if the Truftees of fuch undertakings were obliged 
 to offer a certain proportion of the fum neceflary for a given 
 time, to be raifed by Tontine, each fhare to be fmall, we doubt 
 not but it would fill, and, in time, eafe the country of [a heavy 
 tax on the carriage of goods. We think, after paying the pro- 
 prietors i o per cent, the furplus ought to be appropriated to 
 the difcharging of the debts incurred by the promoters of fuch 
 public benefits. Parifhes might alfo raife money by the fame 
 means, which, in time, would confiderably diminifh the preflure 
 of the Poor Rates. But the (hares in Tontines fhould not b e 
 too large, twenty would purchafe 20!. fhares, where, one could 
 afford to venture one hundred pounds. 
 
 T 2 " that
 
 C 276 3 
 
 " that the only means of keeping mentioned, 
 is to make them flaves." 
 
 It is certainly a painful reflection, but there- 
 fore no lefs true, that the great body of the 
 Clergy have ever been enemies to the liberty 
 of the people. Every page of the Englili hif- 
 tory, from the reign of the Conqueror, proves 
 this fa6t. The Clergy in early days dogmatifed 
 over both King and people, declared itsfubjec- 
 tion only due to a foreign Prince. When learn- 
 ing began to illuminate Europe, and various 
 opinions on fpeculative fubjecls divided men, 
 the Clergy alone were always right, and 
 whoever differed from them was burnt. 
 When printing had taught man to think for 
 himfelf, and the iniquitous horrors of the 
 abbies and monafteries had removed his cre- 
 dulity, Henry VIII. feized the opportunity, 
 declared himfelf the head of the Englifh 
 church ; the Clergy felt their want of power 
 to oppofe his will, and have ever fince been 
 the zealous fupporters of the prerogatives, 
 the afferters of the divine right of Kings. A 
 proof how ftrongly they believed the right, we 
 think appears from the general change in re- 
 ligion, which took place in the reigns of Ed- 
 ward the Sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth ; the 
 
 doctrine
 
 I *77 3 
 
 doctrine of paffive obedience and non-re- 
 fi (lance, was the language of the pulpit, from 
 the acceflion of James I. till long after the 
 expulfion of James II. The great body of 
 the Clergy were enemies to William's ac- 
 ceffion to the regal dignity ; the Tories were 
 ever fupported by them, friends to preroga- 
 tive, to tefts, to eftablifhments, to burnings, 
 and to tythes. We afk with boldnefs, for 
 one {ingle inftance in which the Englifh 
 Clergy have, as a body, come forward in 
 defence of the civil and political rights of 
 Englifhmen ; we fpeak of the whole body ; 
 no one man ought to take to himfelf what 
 we have faid ; we know many liberal-minded 
 Clergymen, andean fairly fay, that we refpecl 
 thofe individuals ; we repeat, that we believe a 
 bias frequently operates infenfibly over many 
 minds. The Englifh Clergy almoft unani- 
 moufly fupported the American war, and are 
 now unanimous againft reform ; this arifes, we 
 believe, from their education and profpec~ts 
 in life ; they confift generally of the younger 
 children of our great men, who turn them 
 over to the Church, that they may give their 
 eldeft their eftates ; thefe young men are 
 fent to College, placed under men who ex- 
 pert
 
 C 278 3 
 
 pe6l all they can gain from the Crown alone ; 
 they take orders, and look for preferment 
 either from wealthy individuals, or from the 
 King. This neceflarily produces a fervility 
 of difpofition; befides, many of our Clergy- 
 men poiTefs livings too fmall even to enable 
 them to rank with the common farmers of 
 their parifhes ; all this evidently proves, that 
 our fyftem of Church Government is defec- 
 tive : the mode of maintaining our Clergy 
 by tythes, being deftruclive both of harmony 
 and morality *. 
 
 We cannot wonder that the lawyers are 
 adverfe to reform, who fatten fo much 
 upon the glorious ftate of prefent things. 
 That blefled fyftem, which continues for 
 centuries law fuits, whofe entanglements the 
 
 * We think no Clergyman ought to receive lefs than 1 50!. 
 per annum, and that the income fhoukl be increafed according 
 to the duty, wealth> and extent of the pai ifb ; whereas by the 
 prefent eftablifhment of tythes, the largeft incomes are fre- 
 quently gained from the lead populous places. No pluralities 
 fliould be allowed, and we look upon dignified Clergy as en- 
 tirely ufetefs. Let every parifh ele<5l their own clergyman, and 
 whatever religioa the majority of a par ifii profefs, the Clergy- 
 man ought to be of their perfuafion. We coniider a Clergyman, 
 and a Layman as equally members of the fame fociety, and 
 fhould equally fubmit to the fame laws. All ecclefiaftical laws 
 ought therefore to be abolifhed. 
 
 cleareft
 
 C 2 79 j 
 
 cleared heads cannot unfhackle ! What a 
 beautiful fimplification there muft be in that 
 ilate, whofe laws, when abridged, fill thirty- 
 fix volumes, oclavo * ! To the clear head 
 and honeft heart of Erfkine, we leave this 
 profeffion, We truft a reformed Parliament 
 will much abridge our laws. Though we know 
 the petty -foggers of the profeflion are men 
 capable of undertaking the vileft caufes, yet 
 let us declare, that in our knowledge, now 
 live lawyers, who poffefs all the higher 
 virtues, and whofe patriotifm Hand unble- 
 mifhed ; let us alfo not forget, that our own 
 politics are derived from lawyers, who, tho' 
 now no more, claim our warmeft gratitude. 
 The next clafs of enemies to a reform, are 
 thofe who never think, and thofe who never 
 read ; the fi-rft description cannot be amended ; 
 the number of the Jail can onlybediminifhed 
 by a.fy Item of national education ; a part of this 
 fhould be to encourage political clubs -f . Men 
 who know their own rights are eyer the leafl 
 likely to deftroy that of others. As a proof of 
 this, we refer to the condu6l of the clubs in 
 
 * We have heard fuch a work, is now preparing for the prefs. 
 We know Viner's abridgement contains more than twenty vols. 
 
 7 See Patriot, No. 23. 
 
 Eng-
 
 C 280 3 
 
 England . Where have the clubs been guilty 
 of rioting or other mifcondu6l ? They defy 
 calumny to prove one inftance. Let us mention 
 that Benjamin Franklin and General Wafh- 
 ington have each recommended them*. 
 That the old and the timid fhould wifh to go 
 to the grave without alteration ; which by the 
 interefted, whether aflbciators -f or not, they 
 are told will produce confufion, excite not 
 our furprize ; but let us tell them, that to keep 
 the people quiet, when they afk only their 
 right, is to grant their requeft. Reform your 
 Parliament, convince the people of the good- 
 nefs of your Government, not by proclama- 
 tions, aflbciations, persecutions, or profecu- 
 tions, but by an attention to their grievances, 
 and a repeal of all obnoxious and oppreffive 
 ftatutes. Then may you laugh at thofe who 
 talk of invafions, or commotions ; an united 
 people never will be conquered ; a happy 
 people never will rebel. Come then, my 
 countrymen, let us once more join J, and pe- 
 tition Parliament to reform itfclf; but if they 
 
 * See Memoirs of General Lee. 
 
 t The prefent aflbciations are very different to the clubs ; 
 they are to prevent knowledge the clubs to diflfcfe it. 
 
 jThis excellent toaft was drank at the Whig Club. A long 
 pull, and a ftrong pull, and a pull altogether." 
 
 they
 
 C 281 3 
 
 will not, (and we much doubt it) let the de- 
 termined remonftrant take the place of the 
 humble petitioner ; remember they are your 
 fervants, not your matters. 
 
 The writer has now finifhed his little work, 
 and it may be neceffary to fay that lie never 
 thought of becoming an author, till perfecu- 
 tions and profecutions commenced ; thefe, 
 with the general unpopularity of his opinions, 
 in the circle of his acquaintance, deter- 
 mined him to publifh an account of his 
 politics. He is confidered as a rank leveller; 
 the term is in his mind, abfurdly contemptible ; 
 but if his opinions merit the name, fuch as 
 think fo are welcome to retain it ; and nothing- 
 will convince him but argument, that he is 
 not right. 
 
 March 2, 1793. 
 
 FINIS.

 
 ftl" The Author has publifbed no lift cf 
 Errata, as they are feldom attended to. The 
 candid will allow for fome errors oftheprefe, 
 when they conjider that he lives many miles 
 from the printer.
 
 mi 
 
 A 000018422 6