The life of Alfred, or, Alvred: the first institutor of subordinate government in this kingdome, and refounder of the Vniversity of Oxford Together with a parallell of our soveraigne lord, K. Charles untill this yeare, 1634. By Robert Povvell of Wels, one of the Society of New-Inne.

The life of Alfred, or, Alvred: the first institutor of subordinate government in this kingdome, and refounder of the Vniversity of Oxford Together with a parallell of our soveraigne lord, K. Charles untill this yeare, 1634. By Robert Povvell of Wels, one of the Society of New-Inne.

Table of contents

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Title page

REVERENDISSIMO IN CHRISTO PATRI, AC DOMIno Gualtero permissione divina Winton. Episcopo, Sacrae Periscelidis Praesuli, Domino suo honoratissimo.

The Preface.

To the Christian and Courteous READER.

THE LIFE OF ALFRED, OR, ALVRED.

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The Preface.

A Parallell of our gratious Soveraigne Lord King CHARLES with King ALFRED.

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THE LIFE OF ALFRED, OR, ALVRED: The first Institutor of subordinate government in this Kingdome, and Refounder of the Vniversity of OXFORD.

Together with a Parallell of our Soveraigne Lord, K. CHARLES untill this yeare, 1634.

By ROBERT POVVELL of Wels, one of the Society of New-Inne.

Printed by Richard Badger for Thomas Alchorn, and are to be sold at the signe of the green-Dragon in Pauls Church-yard. 1634.

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REVERENDISSIMO IN CHRISTO PATRI, AC DOMIno Gualtero permissione divina Winton. Episcopo, Sacrae Periscelidis Praesuli, Domino suo honoratissimo.

Reverendissime Antistes:

INter publicas, & privatas rerum anxietates, per suffuratas ansam arripui horas, opusculum [Page] de antiquis legibus & subdelegatis in hoc regno regendi formulis, ab Alvredo olim praeillustri Angliae principe institutis, & ad Mosaicam moderno tempori deductis imitationem, elucubrandi: non citiùs opus istud peregissem, & honoratissimo juris perito examine suo trutinandū devovissem, cum magnum me incessit desiderium, in illius celeberrimi regis & vitam, virtutes, & gesta penitius inscrutandi, quae omnia [Page] quidem accuratiùs perpendenti, tantum mihi in delitiis erant, ut variis sparsim Chronographis reperta, in unum colligere fasciculum non pertaesum fuerit, in illius adimplendi conatu sic unda supervenit undae, mirae (torrentis instar) in animum meum de serenissimo nostro Carolo rege, & ipsius cum Saxonico illo antecessore suo, aequiparabili fere in omnibus assimilatione, meditationes inciderunt; & eò magis mirae, quod [Page] tunc temporis insignissimus ille Aetoniae praepositus multas earundem (licet longè concinniori & disertiori idiomatis contextu) in plausibus & votis suis ad Regem è Scotia reducem dilucidè pertextuisset: aetate hac calamorum & typorum prurigine laboranti cum non deerint (haud dicam histriomastiges) insolentes, & insensati Regis, legis, ecclesiae Episcoporum, & totius ditionis hujus gubernationis, mastiges licèt ipsissimis ipsi flagellis [Page] pereant; non iniquum mihi (cum nos non nobis solùm natos esse meminerim) hoc minutulum meum in rei-publicae gazophylacium, Regis, & legis ergo immittere visum est: Ad opellam istam de legibus, quod attinet, quantùm naturalem subditorum erga sacram Regis Majestatem, obedientiam, quantum innatam Coronae regalis praeeminentiam, nec non veterum consuetudinum, & novissimorum decretorum scientiam explicatura, [Page] quantùm denique emolumenti, ad rerum gerendarum subordinationē allatura videatur, consultissimos appellare judices fas sit: interim ad nobile par Principum sacrorum redeam; quis de talibus talia, qualia perrarò ulla produxit aetas, silendo praeter ire queat? Etenim (ut alibi in Alfredum dicitur) quae delectatio major, quam clarorum virorum studia, res gestas, mores, vitas, ortus & obitus (tanquam tabulas [Page] bene pictas) quotidie intueri? Quis fructus uberior quam qui ex istiusmodi rerum lectione percipiatur? Non alium hoc aggrediendo mihi finem destinaverā, quām ut incomparabilia omnium in ij [...] praesertim in Alf. nostro superstite) bonorum insignia, quasi totidem exemplaria imitationis commodè singulis accommodentur: qualis haec micula mea, prae grandioribus, apud vulgus hominum estimanda videatur, non multùm [Page] interest; modo dominationis vestrae (cui omnia quicquid me penes, immò meipsum debeo) patrocinio, cum omni humilitate dicari digneris. Intimis igitur à te praesul Reverende votis contendo, ut hujus officii pignoris dedicationem acceptare non pigeat, quo ingenti favore fretus, alterum istud de legibus, reipublicae utilitati devotum (quorum intererit prius consultis) alacrius exhibiturus sum. Deus optimus & maximus [Page] dignitatem vestram in ecclesiae, et regni ornamentum et adjumentum, diu incolumem praestet, et annorum plenitudine transacta aeterna beatitudine in altissimis coronet.

Dominationi vestrae omni observantiae officio, studio, & fide devinctissimus Servulus ROB▪ POVELLUS▪

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The Preface.

HISTORY is the Herauld of Antiquity, and the life of time, and well deserves Cicero his appellation, Magistram vitae: it preserves and presents unto our understanding, and knowledge in the booke of nature (as it were in a Synoptick glasse) the life and light of the boundlesse and beautifull theatre of the [Page] whole world, the heavens, the elements, the glorious lights, the nature of al herbs and plants, and all creatures whatsoever both of sea, and land; yea, even subterraneous things, treasured up in the bosome and bowels of the earth; the variety of all precious gems, and all minerall bodies and materials whatsoever; and not onely the life & light of this great universe, but of all persons and actions memorable and worthy to be recorded, either for imitation of good, or eschewing of evill, ever [Page] since the world it selfe had its first created light: it presents our first Parents in their innocence and naked purity, and after their fall, in their sinfullGen. 9 21 robes of figleaves. Noah in the Arke (the type of the Church militant) and afterwards uncovered in his Tent.

It brings to our memories, the gracious and godly government of David, Iehosaphat, Ezechias, and many other blessed Kings; and on the contrary, the tyrannicall and cruell oppressions of [Page] Pharaoh, Astyages, and Herod, and many others, with their wofull and exemplary punishments, the lives of good and bad subjects; an undermining Ziba, and a faithfull Mephibosheth, a proud Haman, and a loyall Mordecai, an incorrupted Naaman, and a bribing Gehazi; in a word, a Pharisaicall Thraso and a penitent Publican: it presents unto us from the mouth of God, by the hand of Moses the Law of God, or the deca. logue proceeding from the eternall wisdome and rule [Page] of justice in God; by which, as by a Rule or Levell, all the counsels and consultations, all the actions and enterprises of men are to bee directed and squared.

This great Mistresse hath two eyes, and by them she surveyes the whole world, Topographie, and Chronology, and exact knowledge of places, and of times, which like the Cynosura are able to guide and conduct every studious reader in the vast Ocean of the affaires of the world unto the haven of true knowledge.

[Page]History is either universall, describing the whole fabricke of the world, or generall containing a national or provinciall description, Quae mores hominum cognovit & urbes, or speciall, comprehending the lives and actions of particular Princes or persons; this last I shall walke in.

To be versed in the knowledge of forreigne Countries, and affaires, and to be a stranger at home, were great folly, and a way to forget the legiance and obedience which wee owe to [Page] our Soveraigne and his Lawes.

Vnder the service of that great Commandresse, that yeelds subjection to none but eternity it selfe, I shall humbly presume, to present unto the world for the glory of our English Nation such a Prince, as Constantine the great Emperour of Rome, (who rescued the Christians of his time from the persecution,) would have owned and honoured for a Compeere, if he had lived in his time; Alfred, or, as [Page] some name him Aelfred, or Alvred, the 23. King of the West-Saxons, and the first Monarch of England; who not only rescued and defended his Christian Subjects from Pagan persecutions, but was the Author of reconciling and adopting a Danish King, and many Nobles and others to the Christian faith.

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To the Christian and Courteous READER.

THere are, who will expect from mee some reasons, why I, inter minores minimus, should adventure the laboures of my shallow and slender judgement, upon a Subject so Princely and Paramount; Let such accept some few for many.

In that degree of profession, and imployment in the Common lawes of this kingdome [Page] which I now injoy, & have done these twenty five yeares. I had ever a desire to improve my knowledge not, only by traditionall and ordinarie rules of practice, but by a more exact inquirie, Petere fontes potius quàm rivulos, to looke into the antiquities and originall grounds of those lawes wherewith I was to deale.

My first incouragement therein I received by versing in a learned worke compiled and published Anno, 1609. by Master Iohn Skeny a great Senator and privy Counsellor in Scotland, to our late blessed Soveraigne of famous memory KING Iames, intituled Regiam Majestatem, &c. with his marginall annotations touching the Concordance of the divine law, the lawes of this [Page] land, and the latter Parliamentary lawes of Scotland, which ministred an occasion unto me to bestow some stolne houres (amidst many distracting businesses) in the studie of our Brittish, Saxon, and English histories, wherein I observe, notwithstanding the many and often permutations of State and government in the time of the heptarchie, as also before, and after, a constant observation of the fundamentall rules of our Nationall lawes in Tanto, though not in Toto, and I tooke no meane felicity therein, heartily wishing, that they were not so much neglected and undervalued, as they are by many, who are more conversant in Turkish and other forraigne histories, than in our owne, in sua republica hospites, in aliena Gives [Page] Aliens at home and Citizens abroad.

From the studie of those lawes I learned that the bodie of the common weale subsisteth by an ancient monarchicall government, and that the KING is Vicarius Dei and Caput reipublicae, GODS Vicegerent and the head of the Common-wealth. The members which make up the structure of our Republike are the LORDS spirituall and temporall, and the commons: the common-wealth hath an interest in every mans actions, In praemium or paenam, either to reward the good or to punish the bad actions of men, crimes of omission, or commission; Interest rei-publicae ne quis re sua malè utatur, It hath such a power over the actions and estates of men, [Page] that no man must abuse or misimploy the talent of his minde, body, or meanes: And by the rules of contraries, Every man must well and rightly, order, and imploy them for the aid, and defence of the head, and of that great body. Master Crompton in the dedication of his learned Irenarcha, rendereth this motive; for the publication of that book. For that (saith hee) the body of the Common-wealth doth consist of divers parts, and every member ought to indevour himselfe according to his calling, for the maintenance thereof; I have studied how I might put my poore talent into the treasury; for the more safe conservation of that body. The same reason raised up some courage in me to enterprise that work which is mentioned [Page] in the precedent nuncupation.

I had no sooner finished and devoted that to the view and examination of an honourable person eminently learned in the lawes, but my meditations fell amaine upon the lives, lawes and memorable actions of our Royall paire of peerelesse Princes, and especially of our Brittish Alfred, and afterwards perusing that most accurate and learned worke of Sir Henrie Wootton Provost of Eaton Colledge for the gratulation of his Majesties happy returne from Scotland. It bred a wonder in me, that two Subjects, the one noble, the other plebeian should at one and the same time, as neare as may be conjectured, concord for most things in their meditations, upon [Page] the noble acts and deeds of their most glorious Soveraigne.

It seemes to me a strong argument to prevent the sinister conceits and criticke opinions of those who will bee too censorious upon my publishing of this worke: and amongst them some of my owne calling, who never had their breeding in any Innes of Court or Chauncery, such I must passe by with the Poet,

Carpere nostra voles? potes hinc jam lector abire

Quo libet—

I heare some already censure me, for writing some part of the life of our renowned Monarch in his life time; two presidents instar multorum shall serve to vindicate me therein. Asser who wrote the life of Alfred whilst he lived; And our ever honoured [Page] Cambden who wrote part of the life of blessed Queene Elizabeth before her death.

I shall adde a reason, that sithhence by nature wee are apt to imitate the worst things;

—dociles imitandis

Turpibus & pravis omnes sumus—

It is most expedient that the lives of good and gracious Princes, being gods on earth, should be set forth unto their people as specula, a super-eminent watch-Tower whom their subjects every where might behold afar off, and learne to obey their supreme power; and as speculum, a mirrour wherin they might gaze on, and strive to imitate their Soveraigne in vertue and goodnesse.

Two points in my Parallell, I heare, are already quarrelled with.

[Page]One concerning genuflexion at the saving name of IESVS; the Canonicall discipline of our Church ratified by regall authority injoynes it, and I will obey it; and if there were no such injunction, my conscience would warrant me to doe it, with freedome from Idolatry.

The other, concerning recreations on the Lords day after the end of Evening prayer, for which I refer the Reader to the late translated worke of the reverend Divine Dr. Prideux. In either of these I have not presumed to use any arguments; neither needed I, for then I should have walked ultra crepidam: and needlesse it is, to argue or dispute for that which authority hath commanded, and most insufferable insolence to speake or write [Page] against it: know, good Reader, that I have learned the fifth Commandement, which teacheth us, that subjection must attend on superiority; and commands not onely a naturall obedience from children to parents, but a civill obedience from subjects to their Prince who is Pater Patriae, and to all subordinate Ministers and Magistrates under him. How can any man thinke himselfe religious, who will contemptuously violate that Commandement, not onely in not obeying the Ordinances and Edicts of their Christian King, but in oppugning them, and perverting others from yeelding obedience to them. Let this suffice for matter of apologie; I shall conclude with a thankefull remembrance of some living Authors, [Page] to whom this Treatise of Alfred must especially ascribe a part of its being; Mr. Bryan Twyne sometimes Fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford, for his learned and laborious work, touching the Antiquity of Oxford; out of which I excerpted many things conducible to my purpose; and to Mr. Noel Sparks Fellow, and Greek Lecturer of the same house, for his faithfull and carefull collections out of Asser. These and many more I consulted with, before I brought it to that contexture and forme, wherein it now presents it selfe to publike view. And so beseeching the Almighty to direct all our actions for his glory and the common good, and to blesse us with true piety towards him, unfeigned loyalty to our Soveraigne, [Page] and Christian charity one towards another, I rest,

Yours howsoever you censure me, ROBERT POWELL.

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THE LIFE OF ALFRED, OR, ALVRED.

THE light of the Lawes of this vertuous & magnanimous Prince, drawne from the first and best patterne of all Lawes, did not onely minister the occasion of compiling a [Page] Treatise to be hereto annexed, but a just encouragement with my unworthy and unpolish't Pensil to limbe out the life of him, who (though he died seven hundred thirty three yeares since) doth by the moderne practise and imitation of his Lawes and Government still live: To speak sufficiently (as one saith) of so noble a PrinceHolinsh. as Alfred was, might require eloquence, learning, and a large Volume.

I must truly say, that tota vita luctamen, all his life was a perpetuall warfare [Page] against the enemies either of outward, or inward peace, men, or vices. And in this short breviary of his life, I intend not any long discourse of the various and troublesome affaires of his twenty eight yeares raigne: but what concernes his valour, vertue, and religion, his pious and memorable deeds, his orderly (in the times of war and disorder) course and method of a well disposed government.

This good King who is stiled by one the Mirror of Princes, by another, Moses [Page] his imitator, was the Grandchilde of Egbert, who first gave this Kingdome the name of England, and the fourth and youngest son of Aethelwolphe by the Lady Ogburgh. In his child-hood he was a carefull observer, and celebrator of peculiar houres in prayers, and service of God, and so dextrously studious, that he had many Psalmes and Prayers by heart, which afterwards being gathered into a booke, he did continually night and day carry about with him in his bosome, as his inseparable [Page] companion, and as a supply or provision for the worship of God, amidst the manifold changes of those times: he was a sedulous frequenter, and visitor of holy places, Etiam ab infantia, Asser. orandi & eleëmosynam dandi gratia, diu in oratione tacita prostratus (saith mine Author) wherein hee followed his Fathers steps, who by reason of his monasticke education under Swithun a Monke (whom he afterwards made Bishop of Winton,) was a man zealously and piously addicted. [Page] And of all his sonnes, Alfred was most heire apparant to his fathers devotion and vertues, though not to his Crown and Kingdome. When he was not above five yeares old, yet senior virtutibus quàm annis Aethelwolphe Twine Apol. p. 194. his father being warned thereto in a dreame by the voice of an Angell, Adulphe Rex dilecte Dei quid moraris? mitte filium postgenitum, &c. did upon this vision (if it may receive any credite) by an honourable Convoy of Swithun Bishop of Winton, & other Nobles, [Page] send this blessed youngling to the Bishop of Rome, to be anointed King of England: certaine it is, he was there, and was humbly presented by Swithun to Pope Leo the fourth, who (as if divining and presaging his future fortune and succession to his fathers Crown) did in the yeare of Christ eight hundred fifty five, annoint him a King in the presence of his Father (saith Rossus,) and it was about the time that Lewis the second succeeded Lotharius Chytrae [...] in the Empire of Rome.

[Page] Aethelwolphe not many yeares after his return from Rome died, and his three elder sonnes Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Etheldred successively raigned, and dying left the Kingdome distracted by continuall conflicts with the Danes; and Alfred having faithfully served his brothers, as Viceroy, in each of their sev [...]ral raignes survived, and in the twenty second yeare of his age, and the nineteenth yeare of the Emperour succeeded in [...]ewis. his Kingdome, in a yeare wherein eight severall battels [Page] had beene given to the Danes by the Saxons; andHellinshead. himself within one moneth after his Coronation, forced into the field by the Pagan Danes at Wilton, where the end of the fight was more successefull than the beginning, and procured the first truce betweene the Danes and Saxons; yet so implacable were those Heathens against this pious Prince; that like wilde and savage Boares after many overthrowes they would continually whet their tuskes to give new onsets. After this [Page] truce about the yeare, eight hundred seventy five, Halden the Danish King having▪ the fresh supply and aide of Guthrun, and other Danish Leaders, (Viceroyes at least) did both by Sea and Land continually exercise this gracious Prince in a defensive warfare; but not without some perillous imbroylements, he did inforce them to the treatie of a secondHollinsh. peace; and then (more than ever they did before to any) they tooke a solemn [...] Oath to depart the Countrey; but eft-soones perfidiously [Page] violated the same, and for further preparation of warre, marched with an Armie towards Exeter; Alfred approached them in such wise, and so fiercely encountred them, as that they were enforced to deliver pledges for performance of their former agreement of departure: for no oathes would serve to binde the consciences of those lawlesse Miscreants. Hence they departed and drew into Mercia; and having usurped the government of the Kingdome [Page] from the River of Thames forward; no termes, nor tyes of truce could containe them from continuall incursions, and invasions upon this noble Prince: under the conduct of Guthrun (called by some Gurmund.) The remnant of those disbanded Atheists mustered up themselves, and about the first yeare of his raigne invaded the Countrey of West-saxia, and pitched their Tents about Chipnam in Wiltshire, where they infested the whole Countrey▪ and so overlaid King Alfred Speed. [Page] with their united forces; that by extremity hee was necessitated to make his recesse into obscure places almost inaccessible for fennes and marshes, having nothing of his great Monarchie left unto him but that part of the Kingdome, since knowne and distinguished by the Counties of Hampton, Wilts and Somerset.

In this distresse, one of his greatest Courts for residence, was an Iland now knowne by the name of Athelney, in the County ofCambden F [...]. [Page] Somerset, anciently in the Saxon called Aethelingarg▪ (that is,) Nobilium insula, so termed, by reason of the Kings abode, and the concourse of his Nobles unto him: this place is as famous to us for the shelter of Alfred from the Danish pursuit, as the Minturnian fens were to the Romanes for Marius his covert from the persecution of Sylla: In this place hee lived poorely disguised in a Cowheards house, (some would have it in the service of Denwulphus a Hogheard;) Being [Page] excellent in musicke and songes, he oftentimes in the habit and posture of a common minstrill, did insinuate himselfe in the Danish Campe, where his plausible carriage and skill, gained a freedome of accesse and passage in the company of their Princes at Banquets and other meetings; and thereby he discovered their conditions, and all their martiall counsels and designes.

By this prudent and politique course, being now furnished and prepared not [Page] onely to prevent, but to surprize his enemies; (Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?) He returnes to hi [...] comfortlesse company, and unmasking himselfe, and the Danish designes, doth with comfort cheere them up; and with a refreshed power and strength, he suddenly issued forth, and gave a fierce assault upon the secure and carelesse company of the Danes who were then frollicking in their Tents, and Somno vinoque sepulti; he put such a great number of them to the [Page] sword, that the poore remainder of them were utterly disbanded and discomfited, and inforc't to a shameful flight for the safeguard of their lives. This victorious surprizall gave a sure overture and hope to King Alfred of regaining his imbroyled Monarchie; and so weakened and dishe [...]tned the Pagan Rebels, that [...]hey could never recollect sufficient courage, or companie to renew any fresh encounter against the SAXON forces, who had gathered greater strength unto them.

[Page]In this Isle (whether before or after his victory it much matters not) King Alfred had built a kind of Castle or Fortresse to receive him and his Nobles upon returne from their sallies and encounters during his warres in those parts.

About a yeare after that memorable overthrow, viz. Anno eight hundred seventy nine, in a battell at Kinwich in Devon, Halden, Speed. and some of the chiefe Leaders of the Danes, received their deaths-wound, and ended their lives; hereupon [Page] the daunted and dispersed Danes humbly present their termes of peace to King Alfred, with pledges and hostages, that they would either depart the Land, or become Christians, which was accepted by him; for in him Iustice and Mercy met together.

Guthrun their new King upon the death of their other Leaders, with thirty Noble men and almost all his people, received baptisme in the new built Castle of Athelney, where King Alfred was God-father to [Page] him, & gave him the name of Athelstane; and upon a confederation betweene them, Alfred did assigne unto him the Provinces of the Eastang'es and Northumberland, Cambden vt eas, sub fidelitate Regis jure hereditatio foveret, quas pervaserat latr cinio: that hee might enjoy that by right, which before he usurped by rapine; and unto the new baptized Nobles, hee gave many large and rich gifts: This truce or league, must be in time, about the eight or ninth yeare of his raigne, and thus [Page] begins: Foedus, quod Aluredus Lamb. Archaie [...] fo. 49. & Gythrunus reges ex sapientum Anglorum at que eorum omnium, qui orientalem incolebant Angliam consulto ferierunt, in quod praeterea, singuli non solum de seipsis, verùm etiam de natis suis, ac nondum in lucem editis (quotquot saltem misericordiae divinae aut regie velint esse participes) jurarunt: That is, They did by a solemne Oath ratifie this league, as well for themselves, as for those that were then borne and unborne, that would bee partakers of diuine mercy.

[Page]In the Charter, or muniment of this truce; that his Kingdome might bee free from the Danish incroachments, he thus bounded his Kingdome. Primo ditionis nostrae fines ad Thamesin fluvium evehuntor, &c. Let the bounds of our Dominion reach unto the River of Thames, and thence forward unto the River of Lee, and Lermouth (this passeth through Ware, Waltham, and Stratford;) then let them reach straight to Bedford; and last of all being extended through the [Page] River Isis, let them end in Watling-street.

Afterwards, certaine Comitiall Lawes and Ordinances (Alfred no doubt was the prime mover ofLamb. fo. 52. them) were solemnely made between them, inlarged and amplified by their wise men: before all things they proposed and preferred the strict and holy worshipping of Almighty God, and abandoning all barbarous Idolatry; next, they tooke care for the enacting, registring, and inrolling of morall Lawes, for containing [Page] of Subjects in their severall duties and due obedience unto Ecclesiasticall discipline; & therefore they first decreed, That the peace of the Church within her walles (as it was then delivered by the hand of King Alfred) should bee piously and inviolably observed; they proceeded to the promotion and propagation of the Christian faith, and the abolition of all Paganisme and heathenish Rites; for coertion of Clerks, & men in holy Orders, if they committed any perjury, fornication, [Page] or other offences, or were inconformable in the celebration of Festivall dayes, times of abstinence, or other Orders and injunctions of the Church; prohibiting mercature, and secular negotiations upon the Lords day. In all wh [...]ch, the imposition of penalties and punishments upon an English-man, and upon a Dane were differenced one from the other: they also provided for the exilement of Witches, Wizards, common strumpets, and other lewd and wicked creatures; with [Page] other good Lawes for avoiding of homicides, and for preservation of peace and government, and maintenance of each mans right of property in this their nationall commixture.

This adjured league quieted the civill discords of the Danes and Saxons for the space of foure years, untill the twelfth yeare of Alfreds raign. And afterwards the continuall inrode of the stragling unbaptized Danes, issuing out of France and other places (who like Aegyptian Locusts vexed that [Page] Easterne part of the Land) gave this good King little time of intermission from a vigilant provision for defensiue warres; untill not without a holy testamentary preparation, hee surrendred both life and Crown, in the eight & twenty yeare of his happy raigne.

And yet I must not so soon bring him to his grave; I said at first he lived, and still doth live, the Characters of that life which are his vertues, and never-dying well-done deeds: It is my willingnesse, more than my [Page] ablenesse to expresse; I will rather hazard my inabilities for such an enterprize to the censorious opinion of this age, than leave his exemplary goodnesse unpublished to the world.

In the flower of his youth (a time most subject to entertaine pleasure and delights) before hee married his wife (who was Aelswida daughter of Etheldred Earle of Mercia;) he was so chary of a chast and continent course of life, and so studiousAsser. to resist and suppresse all ebullitions of sinfull suggestions, [Page] that most dayes, early at the summons of the mornings Herauld, hee would privately betake himselfe from his rest unto sacred Oratories, and places of Divine Service, and there in a prostrate humblenesse, with no little expence of time, most devoutly offer up the incense of his prayers to the Throne of Heaven; which course he constantly observed in the silent houres of night, and at all seasons; aswell in the times of prosperity and victorious successe, as [Page] also in all adverse, and doubtfull variations of war or State▪ or afflictions of sicknesse, and infirmity of body; in all which he had his vicissitude of participation.

He was the first lettered Prince in this Kingdome, since it had its nomination of England, and had the happinesse to be disciplined under the care of Plegmundus, [...]. Godw. ca [...]. [...]o. 17 a man of excellent learning, and eminent parts, who was borne in Mercia; and from the solitary life of an Eremite▪ in the Island of [Page] Chester, called to be a Tutor to this noble Prince; who at that time found the number of Learned men to bee so scarce and few, by reason of the continuall devastations of warres (which are alwayes incompatible with lawes and literature) as that with incessant sighs and groanes he would notAsser. daily cease to bemone the want of such men, and with assiduity of earnest prayers to implore a supply from that Omnipotent wth soone gave a gratious issue to his desires; for not many [Page] moneths after his inauguration to the Kingdome, he obtained the comfortable service and attendance of Withfrithus, called by some Werefridus (who was consecrated Bishop of Worcester on Whitsunday, 872.) And for his singular learning was had in high estimation by King Alfred, and by his command translated the dialogues of S. Gregorie out of the Latine into the Saxon or English dialect; he wanted not all the helpes, advise and instructions of Plegmundus his Tutor, who [Page] was afterwards, Anno 889. consecrated Archbishop of Canterburie. Those he consulted with, night and day, taking sweet comfort aswell in their discourses, as in their lectures and rehearsals of many learned books and workes, and never thought himselfe happy longer than he had the fruition of their or such like pleasing companies; by meanes whereof he attained the knowledge of most bookes, and ability to understand them by himselfe without any of their interpretacions: [Page] his regall desire of Arts and learning, rested not at home, but extended it selfe by messages and Embassages beyond the Seas, for men of the most exquisit learning that could be heard of; out of France he obtained Grimbald andAsser. Scotus, men famous in their times for their great & singular learning: out of the remotest parts of Wales he sent for Asser who wrote his life, and divers others of like parts▪ he drew from other places.

Asser (as himselfe affirmeth) [Page] abode with the King in his Court by the space of eight moneths before his returne to Wales; in which time he constantly read divers bookes unto him: for (saith he) it was his custome both night and day, amidst all other impediments both of mind and bodie to be ever versed in reading books himselfe, or hearing them read by others; and tooke a great felicity to translate bookes, especially meetre, into the vulgar (then Saxon) tongue, and commanded others to do the like, wherby [Page] he acquired such perfection therein, as that the Art of Poësie was much honoured, by ascribing to him the title of Poet.

This religious Monarch out of his immoderate thirst of the Artes and liberall Sciences, modestly conceiving the want thereof in himselfe, to be more than it was, did apply the greater care for the education of his children: In which charge, Asser being recalled from Wales had the principal imployment, and was vouchsafed the name of Schoolemaster [Page] to his children, being two sonnes and three daughters by his one, and only Queene. No lesse tender was he in the trayning up and tutoring of the children of his Nobility under the same masters, and in the same method of discipline.

For the perpetuall propagation of learning, he revived and repaired the old, and erected, and endowed new Schooles and Colledges, as so many seed plots, and nurseries of Religion and vertue. Some write that [Page] he did first institute the Vniversity of Oxford: the institution of that famous Achademie was doubtlesse long before: but if vivification and redemption from oblivion and ruine, be proportionable to a worke of creation; it is not a graine in the ballance, who should deserve the greatest honour of that renowned Seminary, either the first founder, or Alfred the refounder.

For amidst the many mournefull demolitions of stately monuments by the Danish and Saxon warres, [Page] Oxford had her deplorable part and sufferance, in the exile of her Muses in her houses and structures; All, by warres, laid wast, and even with the dust, little or nothing left to demonstrate what her former beauty had beene, save onely the Monasterie of S. Frideswide.

For repairing the wasts and spoiles of that sacred place, Alfred bestirres himselfe; and there for the studies of Divinity, Philosophy and other Artes, did raise up the fabrick of three magnificent Colledges then [Page] called by the name of his schooles, one for divinity, another for Philosophy, and a third for Grammer; one of which three is now knowne by the name of Vniversity Colledge.

In this revived Seminary he designed and appointed severall Readers and Professors, to whom hee allotted large and liberall stipends. The first divinityTwine Apo. reader was Neote (the second sonne of his father by his Queene Iudith daughterMr. Lytes Geneal. of Charles the bald Emperour and King of France, [Page] whom he married upon his second returne from Rome) a man of admired learning; to whose forwardnes and direction in the reëdification of this ancient Nursery, that place did owe a special part of her being.

Asser as propense andAsser. zealous to his power, in advising and furthering the perfection of that worke, was the Grammar and Rhetoricke reader: hither hee sent Aethelward his second son, and first, and last child, who was borne about An. 880. And thereby gave example [Page] to al the greatest Nobles of his Kingdome, to send their sons thither, and to honour their education with the company of the young Prince.

This worke of restitutionTwine Apol. was begun (saith one) An. Dom. 874. And doubtlesse it could not be presently finished, and furnished; the government thereof began to flourish betweene the yeares 882. & 883▪ about which time Grimbald was made in the presence of that victorious Prince, the first Chancellor of that Vniversity; [Page] to make this worke more absolute, he obtained the grant of many▪ priviledges unto the schollers of this place from Martin theTwine Apol. fo. 168. second Pope of Rome, which he confirmed with his own grant of many honourable infranchisements and immunities. From the same Pope he obtained a relaxation of all tribute to the Saxon schoole at Rome.

As hee was every way royall and magnificent in this ever blessed act of restauration; so he was studious in the preservation therof [Page] in peace and concord: a great dissension and perillous, about the yeare 886, arose amongst the schollers: the parties in this faction were Grimbald, and such learned men as he brought thither with him, and the old schollers, who had their abode there at the time of Grimbalds comming & refused to subscribe to, or obey the lawes, rules, and forme of discipline instituted and prescribed by him: for the space of three yeares the controversie was not visibly great, but a lurking and intestine [Page] hatred, which now taking vent, made its way with the greater fury and fiercenesse, Iamque faces & Saxa volant, furor arma ministrat; it grew so great and dangerous, that none could appease it, but a Regall Arbiter, who being certified of it, upon the complaint of Grambald, hastens thither to accord the controversie, and (saith the Author) summos Twine Apo. labores hausit, &c. he tooke very great paines with unheard-of patience, exactly to heare the differences of each party. The summe of [Page] the controversie was touching the orders and constitutions of that place, long before Grimbalds comming established by Saint Gildas and others; and afterwards allowed by Saint German, who made six moneths abode there, as he tooke his journey to preach against the Pelagian heresie; which being deliberately debated on both sides, the good Prince accorded the discord, and with pious and sweet monitions, incessantly exhorted them to joyne together in peace and unity: [Page] what can be more said of his boundlesse munificence and blessing upon that glorious Garden of Arts and Learning, than the suffrage of the place it self doth ascribe unto him.

Oxonii flores Alured fert iste priores.

That schooles of learning might not be unfurnished of studious Colleagues, hee made a law or decree, wherby he straightly charged all the free men of the Kingdome, who were owners of two hides of Land at the least, (being [Page] such a portion of land asCambden Brit. might be yearely manured by two ploughs.) That they should keepe and traine up their children to learning, until they were fifteen years old; and that in the meane time they should diligently instruct them in the knowledge of GOD, that they might thereby acquire wisdome and goodnesse.

For the better promotionAsser. Godwin. of piety, he built a stately Monastery at Winchester; and upon the occasion before mentioned of his inforced retire into the Isle of [Page] Athelney, hee there out of aTwine fo. 196. locall gratitude erected an other like religious house, and a third for a Nonnery at Shaftisbury in the County of Dorset; the prefecture whereof he assigned to Ethelgeda his second daughter, the first Abbesse there, all which he inriched with large revenewes.

These and other his edifices by his owne former kinde of structure were most spacious, sumptuous, and glorious, beyond all the platformes and presidents of his ancestors.

[Page]And because, To every thing (saith Salomon) there is a season, and a time to every purpose vnder the heaven; and, jactura temporis preciosissima, it was the glory of his first invention, to proportion out a certitude of time, in all his best and choisest actions. The use of Clocks and Watches being not then invented; hee cast the naturall day, consisting of twenty foure houres, into three parts; and having solemnely devoted the best and choisest part of his time to the service of God; he apportioned [Page] the spaces of the day, by a great wax light or Tapor which was placed in his Chappell or Oratory, divided into three equall distances, and measured his time by the burning thereof, whereof he had notice by his wax-keeper or officer appointed for that purpose; according to this threefold proportion of time, he allotted eight hours for prayer, studie, and writing, eight in the service of his body, for his sleepe and sustenance, and eight in the affaires of his estate, which [Page] as farre as humane judgement could discerne, his infirme body, and casualties of that mutable time permit, he most accuratly studied to performe; and for the better admeasurement of time for his subjects and common people, six wax candles were appointed for every twenty foure houres, and the use of Lanthornes first invented by him, to preserve their due time of burning.

The prime motive of that invention was upon this ground: the Churches [Page] then were of so poore andAsser. meane a structure, that the Candles being set before the Reliques were oftentimes blowne out by the wind, which got in not only, per ostium ecclesiarum, but also, per frequentes parietum rimulas; insomuch, that the ingenious Prince, was put to the practise of his dexterity: and upon that occasion, by an apt composture of thin hornes in wood, he taught us the mystery of making a Lanthorne: heeLamb. fo. 54. ca. 6. also made a Law for contribution of money towards [Page] the maintenance of candles.

And in the league betweeneIdem. fo. [...] ca. 54 him and Gythrun: there were strict and severe Lawes made against those who paid not tythes to the Clergie. He was as zealous in inlarging the immunities and priviledges of his Churches, as appeares by his sanction de immunitate Lamb. so 28 Templi, ca. 2. and by another de sacrarum aedium immunitate, 29 cap. 5. By the first, any person being guilty of any crime (if it did not concern villam Regis, or any honorable [Page] family) hee had the priviledge of refuge to the Temple, and of abode there three nights, without any disturbance or expulsion.

By the latter; if a man pursued by his enemie did flie to the Temple, no man might take him away, (à nemine abstrahitor) by the space of seven dayes, if hee were able to live for hunger, & viam vinon apperuerit; other, and great immunities the King there granteth to the Church; but with this caution unicuique templo religiose ab Episcopo consecrato [Page] hanc pacem concedimus, &c. Every Church must be first haliowed by the Bishop before it could be capable of such a freedome; whence a grave and learned CivilianD. Ridley his view. fo. 193. observes upon that Law ca. 5. that the Patron or Founder might bring the stones, and the workeman put the materials together, and make it a house, but the Bishop made it a Church; till then, nothing was but the breathlesse body of a Temple, the soule being yet to come from the diviner influence of the Diocesan.

[Page]As this Princely piety did inlarge it selfe, in maintenance of the rites and ceremonies of the Church, the necessary and divine dues and duties to the Altar, (Tithes) being the just alimony of the painefull ministery; as also in the immunitis of Gods houses, so was it munificently extended, to the needfull supportations of those consecrated bodies, the materiall temples themselves. It was not long ere he cured, and closed up those parietum rimulas, the crannies and chinks [Page] of those crackt and crazed houses, with the expence of his owne estate.

About Anno 892. Not without long seizing, and many doubtfull skirmishes, he recovered the Citie of London out of the hands of the Danes; restored it to its former liberties, repaired the ruines, and committed the custody thereof to Ethelred Duke of Mercia, who maried the Lady Elfed his eldest daughter. And doubtlesse the Churches in London, and elsewhere, had a principall interest in his pious [Page] and prudent provision for restauration, and reparation. And if the first fabrick of the Temple of St. Paul (which was about 210. yeares after his raigne,Episcu. Lond. Conc. 16 [...]0. consumed with fire, with no small part of the Citie) could speake for it selfe, it would not be silent of his magnificent bounty.

The revenewes of his Kingdome, he was as studious to husband, as his time; which, that he might the better ascertaine, and know his own, & (which is the best part of thrift) [Page] confine his expences, unto the provent of his estate: he enjoyned a generall [...]niel [...]. survey of the kingdome to bee made and certified unto him, and that with the particulars of his whole estate, to be deduced into a booke, which he committed to safe custodie within his treasury at Winchester.

The one halfe of his wealth, he faithfully & devoutly resolved to bestow in the service of him whom he ever served: but to avoid the guilt of violating that caution of sacred Scripture, [Page] Si recte offeras, recte autem Asser. non dividas, peccas. He studied discreely to divide what he did religiously devote. Therefore by a holy and divine direction, of all the income of his annuall revenew, he caused a twofold division to be made; wherof, one part for divine, the other part for secular affaires.

1 That part for Gods service; he commands a quadruple subdivision, to bee exactly and carefully made? The first part whereof was to bee distributed to the [Page] poore of each nation, wherin his hand was ever open to cast his bread upon the waters: his bounty and almesdeeds were not circumscribed at home, but liberally dispersed abroad, and not onely to those of his owne and neighbouring nations; but to others of forreigne and remote parts, as if hee should have therein said,

Tros Tiriusque mihi nullo discrimine habetur.

In the yeare 888: hee [...]. Godwin. fo. 164. sent by Athelmus Bishop of Winton, much treasure of his owne; together with a [Page] large collection of his well disposed subjects, unto Marianus then Pope of Rome consigning a portion thereof to be conveyed to Hierusalem. [...]lem. fo. 269. Another time by Sigelmus Bishop of Sherborne a large Almes, or offering of his owne into India: there was scarce any Countrey, where the poore had not a portion of his bounty.

2 The second part was allotted to his Monasteries, for the support and maintenance of them.

3 The third part was sequestred, and appropriated [Page] for the benefit, and indowment of his great Schoole, or Academie at Oxford which hee had stored with many Students.

4 The fourth he laid aside as a portion for all the bordering Monasteries, inAsser. Saxonie, and Mercia, and (in some yeares) to releeve, and repaire severall Churches by turnes in Brittaine, Fraunce, Ireland, and other places.

The other moytie of his estate, he did wholly addict to the service of the secular affaires which he carefully commanded to bee tripartited.

[Page]1 Whereof the first part was yearely conferred on those of his military imployment, whom he highly esteemed; as also upon his meniall officers, and Ministers, who garded his person, and guided his Court; and being lifted into a trinall Company, each of them wayted a moneth by turnes, and then had two moneths recession for their ease and dis [...]ch of their owne affair [...] ▪

2 T [...] second part on the Masters and Workemen of his Fabrickes, whom he [Page] had in great numbers procured, selected, and sent for out of many nations.

The third portion he reserved, for reliefe of strangers, whom, the deserved fame of his vertue, goodnesse, and bountie, drew out of all parts to admire him, and (whether they sought and asked it, or not) to bee partakers of his liberall largesse, which to every one according to their dignitie and desert, hee did aboundantly dispose.

In all this (if vertue and piety were hereditary) hee [Page] might justly challenge a descent therof from Aethelwolphe his father a Prince more affected to devotion, than Action, who being a Subdeacon, was by the dispensation of Pope Leo, afterwards made King, and gave the tenth of his kingdomes tribute (with exemption of regall service) to maintaine the ministery of God, and his Church. And in his last journey to Rome, did confirmeSpeed. the pay of peeterpence to Leo IIIIth. then Pope of Rome, and his successours to the end that no [Page] Englishman should do pennanceAsser. in bonds.

Adde unto Alfreds then unmatchable pietie, his royall gratitude, which (ingratitude being the worst of vices,) is the best of vertues; Asser makes ample relation of his munificence, to him after his eight moneths abode in his Court, yet with his excuse, Non ideo se dedisse parva illa, quòd sequenti tempore nollet dare majora, which promise hee made good shortly after, in bestowing the Bishopricke of Sherborne upon him in the yeare 873.

[Page]His old Host of Athelnry Godwin▪ fo. 163. hee afterwards well requited, by advancing him to the Bishoprick of Winchester, Anno Christi. 879.

He was not so carefull in apportioning his estate and time, as he was in disposing the local government of his now setled Monarchie (the league betweene him and Guthrun being so firmely established,) and before he could not doe it: he did all things stato & statuto tempore, a president for all Princes, yea, and for all persons, in imitation of Iethro his [Page] councell to Moses. He was the first, that reduced this confused Kingdome into an orderly rule of subordinateLam. explic. rerum, &c. government.

And observing the old rule of Divide & impera, did divide this land into Shires, hundreds, and tythings; respectively appointing the prepositure of them to severall Officers and Ministers, now called Sherifs, Constables, and Tythingmen.

But no government could bee without Lawes; and herein Moses is still his ensample, who having first selected [Page] his wisemen, and placed such to be rulers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens: then and not before, Iura dabat populo, hee gave laws to the people frō Lamb. fo. 19 the mouth of eternity it self.

Alfred, with a religious majesty begins his Lawes, Loquutus est Dominus ad Mosem hos sermones, & cites all the decalogue, and then proceeds with the Lawes comprised in the 21, 22 and part of the 23 Chapters of Exodus: all which, and the confirmation of these, with the Lawes of King Inus and [Page] other his Ancestors, I haveLam. explic. rerum & verbo. elsewhere at large expressed.

He caused a booke containing Decreta judiciorum, collected by King Ethelbert, to bee written in the Saxon characters, which the injury of times hath utterly suppressed.

Lawes without execution are but Vmbratiles, cloudes without raigne, shadowes without substance; hee was therefore prepared jus sacere, as well as jus dicere. He was not sparing to administer justice, [Page] and to dispose of affaires of most weight in his owne person; Taediosus, or,Asser. districtus examinandae in judiciis veritatis arbiter existebat, & hoc maximè propter pauperum curam, qui in toto regno praeter illum solum nullos aut paucissimos habebant jutores; he was a most solicitous umpire, in examining the equity and verity of judicatory proceedings, and that principally for the cause of the poore, who besides him alone, had none or very few advocates or assistants: he was the Patron [Page] and protector of Widdowes and Orphanes.

As curious he was in reviewing almost all the judgements, decrees & sentences, rendred in his absence throughout his whole kingdome, where he found any ignorant, malevolent, or corrupt deviation from the line of Iustice: he was discreetly quick in his reprehensions, with a nimium admiror vestram hanc insolentiam, &c.

Hee was a most ready composer of differences which commonly arose betweene [Page] his subjects, both noble and plebeian at their comitiall centuriate, and other assemblies in his severall Counties.

And because there is so neere a conjunction and coherence betweene the body and the mind, Langueat illius, fessus ut iste malis: and the best cure and comfort of either, is the alternate intermixture of some delights either in objects, or actions.

Amidst the tempests ofAsser. warre, the infestations of Pagans, the continuall crazinesse of his infirme body, [Page] his watchfull providence in government, the ponderous depressure of his state affaires; he disposed some intervalum of retired time for the needfull solace, and refection of his tired and toiled spirits: and therefore applied himselfe to royall recreations, all kindes of hunting, and hawking, wherein his skill and dexterity were so incomparable, that he was able to direct and instruct all his Huntsmen, Fawkners, and all other Officers of his game: the interpositions of [Page] these and other recreations added vigor & valour both to his minde and body to support the burthen of his state.

And thus hee measured the paces of his earthly pilgrimage, w•h in the twenty eight yeare of his raigne he cheerefully resigned, leaving behind him Elswich his sorrowfull Queene, who survived him foure yeares; Edward senior heire apparant to his Fathers valour and vertues, aswell as to his Crowne: Ethelward, his second sonne (but youngest [Page] childe) to whom by his Will he devised great revenewes in the County of South-hampton, Somerset, and Devon; a good part whereof the Cathedrall Church of Wels, built, or begun by his Ancestor K. Ine doth now enjoy. He also left behind him three daughters Elfleda, Ethelgeda▪ and Elfrtde: hee was buried in Saint Peters Church at Winchester, but removed thence, and buried by the new Kings direction in the Monastery there being one of his owne edefices.

[Page]His armes are to be seeneTwine Apol. 20 [...] in the publike Hall of Vniversity Colledge in Oxford, and are thus blazoned. A yellow Crosse patence, in a field Azure, (the auncient armes of the West-Saxon Kings) And (added by him) at each end or point of the crosse, a Saint Martins bird, called a Martinet, or Martlet; the reason of which addition, whether (because he was a fourth brother) according to the rule of Herauldry, or for what other cause, it is not certainly historied. A fit embleme may [Page] be drawne from the nature of these birds, who about the moneth of November, before the Feast of S. Martin, for avoiding the coldnesse of the aire, doe in the Winter time for shelter betake themselves unto secret and covert corners, Latebras quaerunt ubi delitescant; they flye much, because they want the use of feet, and thence are called Apodes.

It was the case of Alfred, who in the winter of the Danish pursuit and persecution, was forced latebras quaerere, ubi delitesceret, and [Page] was kept in such continuall agitation, the former part of his raigne, that he could not make use for any setled station or abode.

His Epitaphe is the Epitome of his life, which the happinesse of thankefull times have dedicated to him as a monument of his eternall fame, and here followeth out of the workes of a modern Chronographer.

§

§

Nobilitas inimica tibi probitatis honorem

(Armi potens Alfred) dedit, probitasque laborem,

Perpetuumque labor nomen: immixta dolori

Gaudia semper erant, spes semper mixta timori▪

[Page]Si modò, victor eras, ad crastina bella pavebas,

Si modò victus eras, in crastina bella parabas,

Cui vestes sudore jugi, cui sicca cruore,

Tincta jugi, quantum sit onus regnare, probarunt;

Non fuit immensi quisquam per climata mundi,

Cui tot in adversis vel respirare liceret,

Nec tamen aut ferro contritus ponere ferrum,

Aut gladio potuit vitae finisse labores.

Iam post transactos regni vitae (que) labores,

Christus ei fit vera quies, sceptrumque perenne.

§

Englished by Mr. Flemming.

Nobility by birth to thee (O Alfred) strong in armes.

Of goodnesse hath thy honor given,

Holinsh.

and honour toilsome harmes,

And toilsom harms, an endlesse name whose joyes were alwayes mixt

With sorrow, and whose hope with feare, was euermore perplext:

If this day thou wert conquerour, the next dayes war thou dredst,

[Page]If this day thou wert conquered, to next dayes warre thou spred'st,

Whose clothing wet wth daily swet, whose blade with bloudy staine,

Do prove how great a burthen 'tis, in royallty to raigne.

There hath not beene in any part, of all the world so wide.

One that was able breath to take, and troubles such abide,

And yet wth weapons weary, would not weapons lay aside,

Or with the sword the toilsomnesse of life by death divide.

Now after labours past of Realme, and life (which he did spend)

Christ is to him true quietnesse, and scepter void of end.

That famous AcademieTwine Apo. 202 of Oxford, retained so gratefull a memory of this blessed Prince, that the superstition of that age, ordained a [Page] solemn prayer to be celebrated in the Schooles yearly, upon the vigils of S. Martin, for the soules of all their Benefactors, and especially, for the soule of King Alfred; which the happy reformation of religion, hath reduced to an anniversary commemoratiō by way of thanksgiving, and so continueth, and ever may, til the worlds end.

§

§

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The Preface.

SOme write the lives of dead Princes, to eclipse the glory of the living; in such, a lawlesse humour discontented with the present State, over. swayes the legiance of a loyall heart. This Treatise aimes at no such end, nor other; but only an impartiall Parallell of two such Princes, the one dead, yet living in the other, and the living, raised as it were, out of the ashes of the dead, as many [Page] ages have not knowne the like. You have observed in the past discourse, the life of the dead; and now survey the fulnesse of his vertues surviving in him that lives, CHARLES, our great and dread Soveraigne, the Constantine, and Carolus magnus of our age: and if the stile of Magnus may seeme to bee borrowed from CHARLES the great, Emperour of Rome, yet I must adde Primus, and I should write but truth, if Primus ante omnes: and none who will observe that sacred rule, In cogitatione tua Regi ne [Page] detrahas, will harbour so disloyall a thought of his Soveraigne, as to thinke I flatter: adulation, like a false Glasse, makes things seeme to be what they are not, and exalteth vertue from its proper Sphere; in this subject of Soveraignety there is no need of such imposture, all mens eyes and co sciences may see and know, that the radiant splendor of his gratious goodnesse doth exceed the expression of any tongue or penne.

[Page]

A Parallell of our gratious Soveraigne Lord King CHARLES with King ALFRED.

AS Alfred was, so is he the yonger sonne of a Royall King; and though not anointed King in his younger yeares, yet then by eternall providence designed to his kingdomes [Page] His education, and studious desire of learning, his matchlesse piety even in his tender age inferiour to none; his frequent accesse to our great provincial Councels, his sedulous observations there, and in the greatest Courts of Iustice, did promise of him what now he is: after the death of his most deare brother of famous memory, when the burthen of our so great expectation, as his hopefull succession lay wholly on him, though before he seemed not so agill and valid as his brother, yet [Page] his care of our welfare (which breathed by the breath of him) did raise up such vigor and spirit in him, that his ability and dexterity in body, and his admirable skil and facility, in equestriall and other corporall exercises, did grow up and increase together.

He journied not to Rome, to Spaine he did, whence (to say no more his thrice happy return, entertained with such wonderfull acclamations, and ineffable expressions of joy and gladnesse (as this kingdome never knew [Page] the like before) did quicken and reviue the life and spirit of many sad distressed soules.

Not long after, when by our Salomon his resignation in fulnesse of time, of both life and Crowne Sol occubuit, by his gracious succession nox nulla sequuta est; for (as a great Primate observed)Epise. Menev. modo Archiae. Conc. 1625. by Gods grace, and his royall fathers prudent education, he was confirmata & aptata columna, a Pillar every way fitted to the State he beares, fitted to the difficulties of the times, fitted to [Page] the State, and fitted to the Church, before his Crown was scarce setled on his Royall head; and, ere he was anointed by the hand of the Priest, he was not without his cares, Coronam cura se quitur; the epidemicall sins of our Nation, drew from heaven, one of the greatest instruments of Gods vengeance, the noisome pestilence, which miserably infested not onely our great Ierusalem, but many other famous Cities, and almost all the skirts and corners of our kingdome; shortly after [Page] seconded with its second, the dread and horror of the sword in the times ofAn 1025 both which, first, in the time of contagion, turne backe your eyes upon his strict and carefull edict of a generall fast and humiliation, by a prescribed forme of prayer throughout all his Kingdome: himselfe, like another Phinees, stood up and prayed and the plague ceased, and in a wonderfull manner, that Gods great mercies farre surpassed the extent of our hopes; his royall thankfulnesse, expressedAn. 1625 [Page] in an uniformity of common prayer, in like manner publikely edicted followed, nay, (as if both in one divine conception) issued forth with this great deliverance.

Hee was not, as Alfred, forced into the field in the very infancy of his raigne; nor into any such angustious and distressed recessions: yet for perlustration of his Armies, and the well ordering his military affaires, he forced himselfe, not in a progresse of ease, but by an expeditious toilesome journey, [Page] to the remotest and most navigable harbour of his Westerne Region, exposing himselfe thereby unto no meane dangers.

By the space of those few yeares wherein his preparations of defensive warre, were against two of the most potent and mightiest Christian Princes of Europe; he put not his confidence in his Princes, nor in his men of warre either by Sea or Land, nor in the childe of man; he put not his trust in his bow, neither was it his sword that shold help him [Page] nor did hee trust in his Chariots, nor his Horse, nor in his great Navies of Ships, nor in any Engines of war, nor his warlike provision (of all which his copious supply and store exceeded former times) but in God his strength, and his Redeemer. After the sudden and miraculous deliverance frō the Pestilence, looke upon no lesse and in as little distance of time, his forme of prayer prescribed, in the yeare 1626, necessary to beeAn. 1626 used in those dangerous times, for the safety and preservation [Page] of his Majesty and his Realme: the like not long after with a generall fast for the preservation of his Majestie, his Realmes and all reformed Churches: God heard him, the Lord of Hostes was with us; the God of Iacob was our refuge, he made warres to cease, hee broke the bow and knapped the speare in sunder.

He blessed our Alf. and those two great neighbour Princes with a gratious issue of truce and peace: at unity they are, and their [Page] Kingdomes in publike negotiations, commerce, and affaires of State, and God grant they long may be: and (might they stand with divine providence) in the union of our Church, aswell as our Common wealth.

By this you see, that upon all occasions, God is his refuge and strength, a very present helpe in trouble: the best armour of a Christian Prince is prayer and humiliation; the strength and sinnewes whereof, doe consist in the uniformity of religion and conformity of the [Page] ministry; upon both these the peace and quiet of the Church, (the Spouse of Christ) doe principally depend.

Our royall SoveraignePeace of the Church. had no sooner by the incense of his prayers drawne from heaven a remission of that great contagion upon this land, but instantly hee betakes himselfe to a regall course for establishing the peace of his Church; and therein agrees with Alfred, who in his sanction of theLamb. A [...]hai [...]. fo 5 [...]. league betweene him and Guthrun did decree, ut ecclesiae [Page] pax & tranquillitas pie inviolateque serventur. AndVniformity. for avoiding all offences, and innovations in religion, our now Alf. with the advice of his reverend Bishops, Pro [...]l. 14. Iunij. 1620. did by his edict declare and publish his utter dislike of all those, who did or should adventure to stirre or move any new opinions, contrary and differing from the sound and orthodoxall grounds of the true religion here professed and established: and did thereby charge all his subjects, especially Church-men, that [Page] they should not by writing, preaching, printing, conferences, or otherwise, raise any doubts, or publish or maintaine any new inventions or opinions concerning religion, other than such as are warranted by the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England.

And that all excuse of ignoranceArticles of religion reprinted, might be taken away; his illustrious goodnesse for avoiding diversities of opinions, and for the stablishing of consent touching true religion; hath caused and commanded the [Page] Articles agreed upon by the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of both Provinces, in the Convocation holden at London, Anno 1562: to be reprinted with his royall declaration prefixed thereunto for ratification thereof: what zeale and care hee hath had to suppresse and recall any bookes or writings, though published by some of greatEdict 17 Ia. 4. Rs. learning, that might breed the least doubt and disquiet in points of religion is well knowne.

For the conformity of theConformity. Ministry, I find an old Law [Page] ratified by King Alf. de formula Lamb fo. 1. ca. 1. vivendi ministrorum Dei; it goes with an inprimis praecipimus, Dei ut ministri constitutam vivendi formulam curent & observent; That the Ministers of God should observe a regular forme of living: and certainly it was meant by that Law, as well in their habit and vestiture, as in their condition and gesture; doth not the parallell hold in our times? witnesse the prudent care of the severall Bishops within their Diocesses, by his Highnesse [Page] gratious and provident directions, that the Ministers in their lives and conversations might bee lights and examples to others; and by their Clericall and conformable habites, they might with respect to their callings bee distinguished from others. God hathGodsday. his proper day and time for the more especiall and peculiar advancement of his worship. And albeit his Highnes Ecclesiasticall lawes are armed with competent power, to redresse the transgressing of either; yet hee [Page] hath given a liberty for unsheathing the sword of his secular justice to propugne and maintaine that selected day and time.

There were good LawsLamb fo. 54 ca. made before the Conquest, one by King Alf. De ijs qui die dominico sua negotia agunt, for repressing under a great mulcte all servile and prophane workes upon the Lords day; no speciall law of that subject were ever since made, but in the time of our Alf. in whose first Parliament, the first Law enacted, was for punishing [Page] abuses committed on that day: and in the second and last Parliament, the first Law made, was for further reformation of the breaches & profanations of that day by Carriers and others. AndLiberty of [...]r [...] a [...]on. whereas his Highnesse pursuing the example of his deare Father, directed by the primitive practice of former times, for the ease and comfort of his well deserving people, hath by his Princely declaration vouchsafed a liberty to his subjects, concerning lawfull sports to be used that day, [Page] without impediment or neglect of Divine Service, prohibiting the same to all wilfull and negligent Recusants, that shall not resort to their owne Parish Churches to heare Divine Service before their going to the said recreations: this gratious indulgence hath of late disquieted the spirits of some unquiet humorists: But let the consequence bee discreetly weighed, and all men will perceive a double benefit arise thereby for the propagation of Gods service: 1. In incouraging the [Page] younger sort of people (who are most subject to desire of recreations) with more alacrity to frequent their Church, that they might injoy their harmelesse pastime: 2. In retaining the Parishioners to the discipline of their owne Pastors from stragling abroad to other mens Cures, a thing too frequent and most perillous to conformity.

As the service of GodGods time. hath its principall dependance on devout prayer, so the devotion of prayer is quickned and much improved [Page] by fasting and abstinenceFasting. at times prefixed by the Lawes, which may be termed Gods time.

Alfred made a Law de Lamb. fo. 55. jejunijs; Liber si indictum jejunium cibo sumpto dissolverit, & mulcta, & ipsa legis violatae paena plectitor, &c. A Free-man for the violation of a Fast was to pay a penalty (some say five markes) a servant to be beaten or to redeeme it with monie.

His Majesty ever since his raigne hath had a most watchfull eye, by orders and Proclamations yearely, [Page] published to revive and command the due execution of his Lawes, made against eating and selling of flesh in Lent, and other times prohibited▪ and finding that divers Officers and Ministers were remisse in the punishing and prevention of such abuses, did by a strict edict command all27. Iam. 7. Rs. his people that his Lawes should be duely executed upon all that should offend, either in eating or venting of flesh at times inhibited, or not fasting upon the dayes by his Lawes appointed.

[Page]God hath also a nameGods name. which must not bee taken in vaine: our Soveraigne, for his pious observation of that, may bee proposed for imitation to all the Princes and people of the world, no rash oathes, nor temerous execrations breathe out of his sacred mouth; and that saving Name, by which God ownes our redemption, is had in high esteeme with him. It is said [...]erius M [...]n. of K. Alfred, that God sometimes permit [...]ed his adversaries an insultation over him, ut sciret (saith mine [Page] Author) unum esse omnium Dominum, cui curvatur omne genu, that hee might know that there was one IESVS CHRIST to whom all knees should bow: It is Gods precept or rather protestation, Isay 45. ver. 23. In memet ipso juravi, I have sworne by my selfe, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousnesse and shall not returne, Vnto me every knee shall bow: it is the practise of our Church,Canon. and still may it continue, Ad nomen Iesu curvetur omne genu, Let every knee bow at the name of Iesus.

[Page]As God hath his dayes and times, so his Places,Gods places. Churches, and sacred Oratories for his adoration and invocation of his great Name: the wisdome and munificent piety of ancient times, hath within this Island erected such stately and magnificent Churches, as doe far surpasse all other places in the Christian world: were it not then great pitie that such famous fabricks should by the injury of times bee suffered to moulder away, and be demolished for want of timely [Page] reparations? And here let mee pause a while, and admire his Highnesse tender zeale for supporting the Houses and Temples of GOD; and his beginning with that goodly and glorious structure, which was first begunne in our Kingdome, and dedicated to St. Paul, the great threshingfloore of th [...]s Dominion, purchased and erected by the pious Davids of former Ages and consecrated for a Temple to the GOD of Iacob; and herein his Majesty doth inherit his Fathers [Page] Royall intentions.

It is said of London; That it is Camera Regis, Cor reipublicae, & tanquam Epitome totius regni. The Kings chamber, the heart of the Common-wealth, and as it wereSaint Paules. a Summary of the whole kingdome. What shall I then terme this holy place, which is the very center of that imperiall chamber, but Sanctum Sanctornm, the Mother-church of the whole land, where all publike benedictions are first rendred, all apprecations for blessings, and all deprecations [Page] of publike calamities are resounded and ecchoed out unto the eares of Heaven. Twice hath his Highnesse vouchsafed his presence at severall Auditories in that place: Once as a glorious Starre that followeth the Sun, He attended his Royall Father about thirteeneMart. 26 1620. yeares since, to heare a holy and a powerfull embassage on the behalfe of that Ancient Temple, delivered by the mouth and meditations of a learned Prelate upon a foundation laid, a Text chosen out of a Kingly Prophet.

[Page]

Psalme 102. VER. 13.

Thou shalt arise and have mercie upon Syon, for the time to favour her, yea the set time is come.

VER. 14.

For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.

And in such an assemblie was it, that to use his owne words, Hee never spake in such an Auditorie, never should againe. What would he have said (if hee had beene living) upon his Majesties second comming2 Time▪ to the blessing of that place, [Page] when the birth of his and our hope the most illustrious Prince Charles ushered into the world by a light from Heaven, Stella oriens in oriente manifested in the Meridian of the day was not without a solemne thankesgiving, in such a confluence, and throng of all sorts of Subjects, as no eye ever saw the like in this land; And as it was said of the first, so may it be of this last, worthy to adde a Rubrick more to our Almanacke, and make a new holy day amongst us, for such a Prince borne [Page] to the union of so many Kingdomes was here never knowne, non sic contigit ulli.

The pretious ointmentOther Churches. of his Majesties zeale doth not onely fall upon and drench the beard of this aged Hermon, but descends and runs downe upon all the skirts of Sion, all other Churches within his Majesties Realme of England, whereof hee hath given anEdict. [...] ▪ Rs. evident remonstrance, aswell by his proclamation edicted in the first yeare of his raigne, for preventing the decayes of Churches [Page] and Chappels for the time to come, and prescribing and commanding thereby a speedy reformation in all such cases: as also by his Highnesse late letters and directions to his Bishops within their severall Diocesses; that either by themselves in person, or by their officials or other persons of worth and trust, they take view and survey of the Churches and Chappels in their severall jurisdictions; and where they finde ought amisse to cause a speedy redresse thereof.

[Page]Our Saxon Alfred wasTheir gratitude never more gratefull, nor more studious to prefer his Plegmund, Grimbald, Asser, Scotus, and others his learned Chaplaines, than our Brittish Alfred hath beene, and is, to advance and priviledge his sacred Hierarchie of Bishops, and others of the Tribe of Levi. Who was ever more tender and indulgent unto them? Who more sedulous and speedy in the donation of Ecclesiasticall dignities? scarce doe any fall, but presently he fits a person for the place, no [Page] Episcopall Sees have (as in former times) seene any triennial vacancies. His Princely gratitude hath not onely honoured some of them in their lives, but survived after their death. That late dead Bishop of Winton, a man of most ample and eminent learning shall witnesse instar omnium: his accurate workes published by the reviewing of two his reverend Colleagues by his Majesties speciall command, have raised up an eternall monument of his goodnesse, and not for his [Page] glory onely, but (as in theB. Andrewes misc. dedication) utilitati simul & honori tum Ecclesiae tum Reipublicae futura; and what is there further said of him I cannot conceale, Non habuit Regia majestas servum fidelem magis, non habuit Ecclesia antistitem magis eruditum. It is to be wished that his Highnesse honourable gratefulnesse to him might incite others to deserve the like. His Majesties frequentPiety▪ and fervent exercise of piety in his owne person is not inferiour to that of Alfred. The often and serious frequenting [Page] his Chappels, his reverend attention in hearing his unfeigned devotion in praying, and his religious comportment every way conformable, may be deservedly proposed to our little world; an optative rule, that in this as in other things,

Regis ad exemplum totus componeret orbis.

Let my meditations ofWorkes of justice his unmatchable goodnesse in and to his Church, passe unto his workes of Iustice in the Common wealth: behold him in the [Page] chaire of Moses sitting amidst his people; nay, his selected ones, è sacris & arcanis consiliis, Iethro his Counsellors men of courage, timentes Deum & amantes veritatem; and there you shall observe his meeknesse and patience in hearing, his acutenesse in discerning, and his maturity in deciding whatsoever comes before him. TheEcclesiasticall & Secular justice. two edged sword of justice Ecclesiasticall and Saecular, one side whereof was heretofore (scarce an age since elapsed) rebated by papall [Page] accroachment, is full and absolute in his hands, and vailes power to none but the supreme head of all. Looke upon his unspeakable wisdome in the sincere and upright swaying of that sword; his royall care to fence and conserve his Ecclesiasticall and municipall lawes, from collisions and contestations, and to binde and bound them up in judgement and justice, prohibiting in cases for reparation of Gods houses and such like the too much profusenesse of prohibitions.

[Page]The concurrence of both these Lawes is necessarily required, in the supportation of his regal government. And therefore his excellency as a regall pillar, doth his office in ballancing and upholding their jurisdictions as in a just and impartiall equilibre: he fits his Iudges for the places of his Iudicature: where he findes vertue and goodnesse, hee is not sparing of his honourable guerdons; where he findes any aberration, out of the way of righteousnesse, his discerning judgement hath [Page] beene and is as ready to reprove, even the greatest of them, with as heroicke increpations, as ever Alfred did his Iudges, with his quapropter aut terrenarum potestatum Asser. ministeria, quae habetis illico dimittatis, aut sapientiae studiis multo ut devotius studeatis, impero.

His grave and learnedDirections to the Iudges. Iudges for preventing the causes of such rebukes want not sufficient premonitions either from his owne sacred mouth, or from his honorable Lord Keeper by his directions, of cautionary [Page] dictates, and remembrances for the due execution of his Lawes aswell in their semestriall circuits as at other Iudicatory times; and at this time I dare boldly say that his Majesties solium or tribunal justiciae, & his Cathedra, & chorus Ecclesiae can more glory of their learned, able, and incorrupt possessors than in former ages. But Ministers and Magistrates are mortall, statutum est omnibus semel mori, and therefore a continuall succession must be supplied from Schooles, and Seminaries [Page] of Arts and learning, whereof the two most famous seed-plots are Oxford Oxford & Cambridge. and Cambridge.

His soveraignety hath had a most speciall regard, not onely to preserve the respective priviledges, order, and government of these renowned Sisters, but their peace and unity each with the other; in the laborious Antigraphies for their eldership, hee hath owned no side, vetustas virtute honaratur, vertue crownes antiquity with honour: Grimbald, Twy [...]i Apo. pro Oxo. a great Divine (but a [Page] stranger) was the first Chancellor of Oxford created by Alfred. A greater than hee, and of our owne Nation, and of her education was the first Chancellor there, and the first Metropolitan of Canterburie that was invested by King CHARLES since his raigne. Alfred and Grimbald were not more zealous in appeasing the civill broyles of that honorable Academie, Anno 886.886. than our now living Alfred, and his most reverend and honourable Chancellor in the yeare 1631.

[Page]Amidst his HighnesseExacted fees. many acts of preventing justice, I shall onely insist on two, and but perfunctorily.

The first a Proclamation12 Octo. 1627. in pursuance of his Fathers wise and just directions, for protecting his people from exactions and oppressions in any his Courts of justice, either Ecclesiasticall or temporall, and his royall intention concerning his Commission then lately granted to enquire of new Offices erected, and new fees exacted in his Courts; His Majesty hath not onely intended, [Page] but acted a course of reformation, and it was high time; the common appellation of such crimes is extortion or expilation, & is one of those Cardinall sins that crie aloud to God for vengeance, vox oppressorum; this sin of extortion, is no other than robbery, but more odious, because that is apparant, and in possibility to be avoided: And this is done colore officij, under the mask or visage of a legall verity, and pretext of a due demand; and the poore subject must either yeeld to [Page] such exaction, or redeeme it in some cases, with a more expensive waiting.

The second; his MajestiesProcla. 28. Sep. 8 Rs. cum Articulis watchfull eye of providence by his orders & publik edict, for preventing the dearth of corne and victuall, and his just and speedy proceedings in his high Court of Star-chamber against Fore-stallers and Ingrossers, the common Catterpillers of our Kingdome, termed by our ancient laws depressores pauperum & totius communitatis & patriae publici inimici, who if a seasonable [Page] and timely occurrence of Iustice had not suppressed them, would like the Aegyptian Locusts have covered the face of the whole earth, and have bred a dearth without a scarcity.

His impartialitie in Iustice:Impartialitie. Injustice. where he meets with the scarlet sins of Murther, or with the crimes of open rebellion, unnaturall abominations, or such like; no interpellations of favour or greatnesse, dare implore any hope of pardon from him: His regall inflexibility in the [Page] case of a mutinous (which alwaies implies a malicious) homicide, by the only Champion of his highnesse Noble and faithfull Convoy in his Spanish voyage would admit of no mediation for redeeming of prolonging of life. In another case (I cite but two) of a dishonourable and ignominious capitall crime, he spared not one of the greatest and Antientest Cedars of his Nobility. Let a word suffice; He doth not in the distribution of Iustice in capitall, or criminall causes, accept the [Page] persons of men; And yet, He is not without his multitude of mercie: Mercie andMercie. Truth preserve the King, and his Throne is upholden by mercie: where the crime is any way dispensable with hope to reclaime the offendor for a future good to publike, or private services, and without any injurious example to his government. Est piger ad paenas; No Prince more prone to a mercifull relaxation, of legall rigor; here you might recount numbers of condemned Malefactors delivered [Page] out of severall Prisons, not to their demerited execution, but for some Martiall and other serviceable expeditions: but let such offendors beware of relapse (which is most dangerous as well in civill as naturall diseases.) They never then scape with impunitie.

I must not sever Mercie, and Truth, In verbo veritas. Truth. To use our English adage, His royall word is a Law, His promises and performances are twynnes, conceived together, though produced in birth one after the [Page] other. Hee is constans verbi custos, either in forraigne entercourses, or domesticke pollicitations; his immobility in the one is sufficiently attested to other Princes and States, and in the other, to his owne servants and subjects.

His Eleemosynarie largesse Almesdeeds. either at home, or abroade is not behind Alfreds, though not to Rome, Ierusalem, nor India, yet neerer and more needfull, for the releefe of the Palatinate, the distressed Clergie of the reformed Churches. For whose supply [Page] and succour, His highnesse by his owne example drew a general benevolence from his subjects.

Adde unto this, his greatEmbassage. and chargable disbursments and diminution of his treasure, in the expensive emissions and addresses of honourable embassages, to pacifie the fury of almost al the Christian Continent, was it not most expedient? what danger might not we justly dread, Cum proximus ardet ucalegon, when neighbour Nations are all in combustion, and religion the pretext?

[Page]The magnificent decorationBuildings. of his structures and edifices in all symmetricall proportions, with his prescript forme of building strictly enjoyned, doe farre surpasse all former times: they are such and so pattern'd by the most glorious Architectures of all Europe, that a man would thinke Italiam, in Ilium, Italy translated into England.

Though his Majesty didCare of subord. not divide the Kingdome into centuries and decuries, nor was the first Author of that subordinate kinde of [Page] government in this famous Monarchie, yet his restlesse vigilancie hath ever beene, to preserve and propagate the true and ancient uses of that division. For which5 Ianu. 1630. purpose his highnesse in his commission directed to the then Lord Arch-Bishop, and others of his honorable Counsell, amongst many gratious directions is pleased [...] direct. to descend to the Stewards of Leets and to charge them, what they shall give in charge in their turnes and halfe-yearely viewes of Franckpledge touching [Page] Forestallers, Regrators, and other the most obvious and enormous offences of the Countrey.

It is said of Alfred, that ad Warlike preparation. crastina bella victor pavebat, victus parabat; If unjust peace is to be preferred before just warre, we having the happy fruition of a just and honourable peace with all the Christian world, and having no need in the times of conquest, to dread adverse approaches, or of defeatures to prepare for fresh onsets, may glory in his Majesties assiduous and vigilant [Page] supervising of his military munition and provision both by Sea and Land, remonstrated by his frequent visiting his greatest Storehouse of his Ordnance, and other martiall supply, as also his goodly number of Ships in severall harbours.

Amidst the coacervationsRecreations. of his many and multifarious cares, He hath like Alfred his statuta reficiendi tempora, his convenient times of royall recreations, and no lesse skil & promptnesse in the use and exercise [Page] of them: What insensate subject can envie so gratious a Soveraigne that liberty, which his clemency indulgeth to the least of us? Must Princes onely, be like heathen Idols? must they have eyes, and not see the objects of lawfull oblectations? eares, and not heare the sweet harmony of vocall and instrumentall musick? Of such murmuring miscreants I will onely say, Dij regno tales nostro divertite pestes.

Time in somethings doth difference the parallell; Alfred [Page] lived in the infancie of the English Church, when the fier at the Altar was but newly kindled; and his zeale was by sending to forraigne parts for learned men, and by other meanes to raise up the fabricke of Religion: Wee live in the height in, the Meridian of the Church her Glory; And because, altitudo semper declinationi proxima, his now Majesties principall aime is for the worke of preservation, to keepe the fire upon our Altar burning, which is magnum opus: It was high [Page] time for his goodnesse to put to his owne helping hand, or else by the fanatical schismes and aversions of non-conformists, Religion, and her houses would both have melted together, and Parlors and Groves beene exalted and preferred before the beautifull Temples, and sacraries of the God of Israel.

I have now presented to your favourable view, a paire of Peerelesse Princes, who for their religion, piety, devotion, institution and renovation of good lawes, [Page] government, justice, mercy, truth, meeknesse, temperance, patience, abstinence, conjugall castimony, and all other vertues, may be presidents of imitation to all Princes and people. And what a reverend Arch-Bishop in his Preface upon the life of Alfred commendeth unto the Reader for him, I must say for both, Ista quidem historia non mediocrem Arch-Bishop Parker in preaes. Asseri. menti tuae voluptatem infundet, neque minorem adferet cum voluptate utilitatem si in praeclarissimarum rerum contemplatione defixus, te ad [Page] eorum imitationem, & quasi imaginem, totum effinxeris; and to proceed for both, as he doth for him, Etenim cum vide as regem summo splendore, & tanta, quantum illa praerarò vidit aetas, dignitate regentem, &c. Quo te Lector animo esse oportebit, &c. In brief, where▪ there are such glorious Soveraignes, would it not well become their people to be gracious subjects? As I began, I shall close up my Parallell and not unfitly with the time.

CaroLVs ALVreDo, Charo

1634.

ALVreDVs In CaroLo re VIVIsCIt.

[Page]You have seene the twenty eight yeares raigne of the one, beyond that you can heare no more; and but nine yeares of the other, of him wee shall with incessant prayers to heaven expect much more; numbers of dayes & numbers of deeds, a numerous issue by a most ennobled illustrious Queen, equall in bloud, and equall in good: that as one of Alfreds, many of their royall Off-spring, may with their princely education honour both our Vniversities: and let all true hearted subjects [Page] humbly and thankefully consider GODS ineffable mercie towards us in his Majesties happie birth, his vertuous education, the Almighties provident designing, and fitting him to our our state and government; his royall match, his sweet Olive-branches, and their and our hope of many more; his peaceable raigne with his exemplary goodnesse and vertue, which we all see and know, and have just cause humbly and heartily to supplicate and implore the omnipotent Author [Page] of this so great happinesse for the long life of his Highnesse and his most deere consort: And that whilst the Sun and Moone doe indure, there never may one bee wanting of their thrice Royall Line to sway the Scepter of great Brittaine, Amen.

FINIS.

§

[Page]

Perlegi hunc Librum, cui Titulus, (The life of Alfred) in quo nihil reperio, quò minùs, cum utilitate publicâ, imprimatur.

THO. WEEKES, R. P. D. Episc. Lond. Cap. Domest.

Information about this book

Title statement

The life of Alfred, or, Alvred: the first institutor of subordinate government in this kingdome, and refounder of the Vniversity of Oxford Together with a parallell of our soveraigne lord, K. Charles untill this yeare, 1634. By Robert Povvell of Wels, one of the Society of New-Inne.

Powell, Robert, fl. 1636-1652.

Edition statement

1634

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2005-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A09898

ID [STC]

STC 20161

ID [STC]

ESTC S115025

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99850245

ID [PROQUEST]

99850245

ID [VID]

15432

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A09898)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 15432)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1214:3)

Source

— The life of Alfred, or, Alvred: the first institutor of subordinate government in this kingdome, and refounder of the Vniversity of Oxford Together with a parallell of our soveraigne lord, K. Charles untill this yeare, 1634. By Robert Povvell of Wels, one of the Society of New-Inne., Powell, Robert, fl. 1636-1652., Alfred, King of England, 849-899..

Extent

[34], 96, 99-156, [2] p.

Printed by Richard Badger for Thomas Alchorn, and are to be sold at the signe of the green-Dragon in Pauls Church-yard,. [London] :: 1634.. (With a final imprimatur leaf.) (Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.)

Creation

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