MERCURIUS RUSTICUS: OR, THE Countries Complaint, &c.
I.

ON Monday, Aug. 22. 1642. Sir John Lucas intended with some Horse and Arms, to begin his Journey towards the North, to wait upon the King; which purpose of his being on Saturday by a treacherous Servant discovered to John Langley of Colchester, Grocer, and Captain of the Trained Bands; He, with Henry Barrington, Brewer, and Alderman of the Town, spent the next day, being Sunday, in riding to Coggeshall, Bock­ing, Bayntree, Halsteed, and other Towns of their own Faction, to communicate to them the know­ledg of it, and invite them with strong guards of Muskets, to beset the ways and intercept him in [Page 2] his Journey, and did also (by the assistance of the Mayor) set a guard of Colchester Trainband, on Sunday night about his house. Sir John Lucas in­tended to begin his journey early by one or two a clock on Monday morning, supposing he might so pass mith most privacy and no opposition, but the back gate at which he thought to issue out was no sooner opened, but a strong guard from under a hedge present themselves, and one of them dischar­ged his Musket as a Warning-piece to the Town, where the Alarm is presently taken, the Drum strook up, and the whole Town raised, the Vo­luntiers (of which there were 400 or 500 then in Town gathered to serve under the Earl of Essex and Lord Say) brought up the Beacon, by direction of Dan. Cole Alderman, fired, and Horsemen into all parts sent forth to call in the Country against the Cavaliers in Sir John Lucas's house.

The house is presently beset with at least 2000 people, and two pieces of Ordnance are brought to make a Battery; at last they rushed into the house, and the first man they seize upon is Mr. Newcomin, Parson of S. Trinity Parish in Colchester; they tear his cloaths off his back, beat him with their Cud­gels and Halberts, and with infinite exclamations, carry him in triumph through the chief streets of the Town; by the way entring into a wild but very serious consideration, not whether he should dye (for that they had resolved at first) but to what death to put him; one votes drowning, another ston­ing, another bids beat out his braines. At length hav­ing consulted with Alderman Cole, they carry him to the common Goal, commanding the Jaylor to put him in the strong hold, (a place provided for the most desperate Malefactors) affirming they would soon [Page 3] return to take further order with him. There he remained till one a clock, being then removed to another Chamber. They now return to their fel­lows who were searching Sir John Lucas's house, some twenty of them rush'd into the Ladies Chamber, laid hands upon her, set a sword to her breast, re­quiring her to tell where the Arms and Cavaliers were. The Horse and Arms are soon found and seized on by the Mayor, who sends the Arms to the Town-Hall, the Horse to an Inn to be there kept on Sir John Lucas's cost, till they could be sent to the Parliament. The People lay hands on Sir John Lucas his Lady and Sister, and carry them at­tended with swords, guns, and halberts to the com­mon Goal. Last of all they bring forth his Mother with the like or greater insolency, who being faint and breathless, hardly obtained leave to rest herself in a Shop by the way; yet this leave was no sooner obtained, but the rest of that rude rabble threatned to pull down the house, unless they thrust her out, being by this means forced to depart from thence. A Countryman (whom the Alarm had summon­ed to this work) espies her, and pressing with his Horse through the crowd, struck at her head with his sword so heartily, that if an Halbert had not cros­sed the blow, both her sorrows and her journey had there found an end. Two Gentlewomen (one of which had long been sick) by flight escaped their fury, but their most well-wishing neighbours dared not to be known to receive them into their house, the people threatning to burn that house that gave them entertainment. Having secured the Master, they now begin to plunder the house, all is prize that comes to hand, money, plate, jewels, linnen, woollen, brass, pewter, &c. A few hours disrobe [Page 4] the house of that rich furniture that had adorned it many years. The Mayor and Aldermen standing by all this while, but either not able, or not willing to conjure down the Devil which themselves had raised up. All the servants they could meet with they bring to prison, they lay hands on John Brown, (one who had been a servant to the family from the time of Sir John Lucas's Grandfather) they bind him to a tree, set a Musquet to his breast, and a sword to his throat, and tie lighted matches between his fingers, and John Furley (a young pragmatical boy) examines him concerning his Masters inten­tions, Horses, Money, &c. but especially concer­ning Mr. Newcomin, whether he had not given an Oath of secrecy? Whether he were not to ride a great Horse? whether he were not habited in a Buff Jerkin and Velvet Coat, &c. Fear easily prompts the old man to answer what he thought would give content. Out of his Examination the Mayor frames an Information against Sir John and Mr. Newcomin, not forgetting to relate the good service he had done, the Horse and Arms he had taken, but withal implying how miserably the house was plundered by the zealous people, adding in his Letters (and that very truly) that he could do no more than a Child among them, with these Letters he pre­sently dispatcheth a Post to the House of Commons.

About one a clock a new Alarm is raised, that 200 armed Horsemen are discovered in a Vault at Sir John Lucas's; That they had killed nine men al­ready, and were issuing forth to destroy the Town. The shops are shut up in an instant, and the multi­tUde throng down thither to take or kill these Cava­liers. And because they find none there, they now spend their rage upon the house, they batter down [Page 5] the doors and walls, beat down the windows, tear his Evidences, deface his Walks, and Gardens, do any thing that may do mischief. From thence they go to his Park, pull down his Pales, kill his Deer, drive away his Cattel. And to shew that their rage will know no bounds, and that nothing is so sacred or venerable which they dare not to violate, they break into S. Giles his Church, open the Vault where his Ancestours were buried, and with Pistols, Swords, and Halberts, transfix the Coffins of the dead.

And now the Mayors care begins to shew it self, he sets a guard upon the house that no hurt should be done unto it, yet that Guard suffered 100 l. worth of corn (which at first was neglected as contempti­ble luggage) to be carried out, and the most of it to their own houses. Another Guard he sets upon the Prison, lest the Prisoners should be assaulted by the people who were so much incensed against them, though it had been fit to set some honest men to guard them from those Guardians, who were as for­ward as the people to drink their blood.

On Thursday comes down Sir Thomas Barrington and Mr. Grimston as a Committee from the House, who comming into the market place before the pri­son-door (the Town Hall not able to receive the least part of the multitude) there published two Orders from the House, one wherein Sir John Lucas and his adherents were praclaimed guilty of high Treason for intending to assist the King. Another wherein thanks were given the People for the good service they had done, yet they were told withal, that their Act of Plundering was against the sense of the House. Some of the agents in that work, produced a printed Order of Parliament (not heard of before among honest men) by which they justi­fied [Page 6] what they had done; Sir Thomas Barrington re­plyed that it was a false and feigned Order, contri­ved by the malignant party to render the House o­dious, and very lovingly besought the people to do so no more. And indeed the next weeks Diurnal tells us, that upon occasion of the outragious plundering in Essex, It was Ordered that thenceforward none should Plunder but those that were authorized by the House to do it.

Friday was designed for the carrying up of the Traytors (Sir John Lucas and Newcomin) for whom there was one Messenger come from the Black Rod, and another from the Serjeant at Arms, (for the Ladieswere declared no Prisoners after they had layn in the common Goal four days.) When the time of their departure was come, many thousands of peo­ple were gathered together (both of Town and Country) a Drum being struck up to give them warning. The Coaches are come, and the Prison­ers called forth; only Mr. Newcomin they dared not carry forth as yet, because the people threatned to tear him in pieces; as assuredly they had done, had not Mr. Grimston's care been very great, who place­ing a Court of Guard on each side of Sir Thomas Barrington's Coach from the Prison door, brought him forth unexpectedly, and put him into the Coach, the people then not daring to strike or stone him, lest the mischief intended on him should light on Sir Thomas Barrington.

The Coach being guarded thus a mile out of Town, they passed on, suffering no other strokes but those of the tongue (bitter Curses and Revi­lings) and those they met withal abundantly, at Chelmsford, Romford, and in all the Towns whither the news of their Treason had gone before them, [Page 7] Sir John Lucas's captive Horses being carried in tri­umph with the Coach all the way; at London Sir Thomas Barrington sent the Horses to the Red Lion, the Prisoners to the Serjeant at Arms, where they remained all Sunday, not permitted to go to Church with their Keeper: on Monday they were sent for to the house, and committed Sir John Lucas to the Gate-house, Mr. Newcomin to the Fleet. Immediate­ly issued out a Declaration of both Houses to the whole Kingdom, but especially to the County of Essex, ordered to be read in all Churches and Chap­pels; wherein for the better encouragement of good people (so run the words) it is told them that Sir John Lucas's Horse and Arms are imployed for the service of his Excellency, that Sir John, and Mr. Newcomin are committed to several Prisons, and shall speedily be brought to their Trial, to re­ceive condign punishment according to their de­merits.

Sir John Lucas was afterward enlarged, giving 40000 l. bail to appear upon summons, and not to depart London and the Suburbs without leave. Mr. Newcomin remained in the Fleet from Aug. 29. to Sept. 24. being never called for, and at length discharged.

Sir William Boteler of Kent, returning about the beginning of April 1642. from his attendance, (be­ing then Gentleman Pentioner) on the King at Yorke, then celebrating Saint Georges feast, was by the earnest solicitation of the Gentry of Kent, in­gaged to joyn with them in presenting the most ho­nest and famous Petition of theirs to the House of Commons, delivered by Captain Richard Lovelace, for which service, the Captain was committed Pri­soner to the Gate-House, and Sir William Boteler to [Page 8] the Fleet, from whence after seven Weeks close Im­prisonment, no Impeachment in all that time brought in against him, many Petitions being delivered and read in the House for his inlargement, he was at last upon bail of 20000 l. remitted to his house in London, to attend de Die in Diem, the pleasure of the House. And having thus danced attendance Six weeks more, at last he obtained leave for his health sake to go to his own house in Kent, called Barrhams Place in Teston, and from thence, for re­covery of his health much impaired by long Impri­sonment, he visited the Wells near Tunbridg [...], leav­ing with his Servants both in London and in the Country a strict charge as of his house, so to give him speedy information, if Serjeant Hunt should summon him to make his appearance: while Sir William Boteler remained thus a Prisoner to the House, resolving to yield obedience according to the condition of his Bond, 500 Horse and Dra­goons under the command of Colonel Edwine Sandes, Sir John Seaton, and Dowglas, accompani­ed by several Gentlemen his Neighbours, as Sir William Brookes, Sir Michael Lucy, Mr. Richard Lea Burgess for Rochester, Mr. Blunt, and others, on the 24. of August, between Eight and Nine of the clock at night, beset his house: The Servants were within and the doors shut, only William Nelson, Sir William's Groom comming from the Stables, pres­sed through the midst of them to the Hall door, where Sandes and Seaton stood: They demand of him whether he belonged to Sir William, who an­swering that he did, Thou Rogue, saies Sandes, open the door; the poor Groom tried, but could not, but assured them that there should be no resi­stance made: and withal told them that his Ma­ster [Page 9] was at the Wells, but had left order to give them the best welcome the house could afford, and upon notice given would be ready (if they had such Order) to render himself up to the House of Com­mons, whose Prisoner he acknowledged himself to be: and withal offered that if they would have pa­tience but while he went to the back door, the house should open unto them. This so reasonable an answer could not satisfie unreasonable men, who it seems were resolved to force the door, rather than have it opened, to give a peaceable admittance: Therefore they revile the Groom, call him Rogue, and threaten to kill him, not because he would not, but because he could not give them entrance. And to make good their threats, Sandes and Seaton com­manded some of their Rout to hold him up against his Masters Hall door, and bad some twelve or more Dragooners to give fire on him, which was done accordingly: on the word given, they that held him withdrew, not trusting to the undistin­guishing bullet, and presently the Groom fell down, by which means he escaped the fury of the shot, which took effect only on the door, and beat it down. The entrance that was offered, thus for­ced, the house is instantly filled by the Comman­ders, the Gentlemen their abettors and the Sol­diers. The first man they meet with is Benj. Wiand, Sir William's Steward, who being demanded by Sandes where his Master was, returned answer, the same in effect which before they received from the Groom: Sandes was as courteous to the Steward as to the Groom, calls him Rogue, and tells him that he would have his Master alive or dead, commands him to bring him to the Chamber where Sir William did lodge, their drawn Swords and Musquets bent [Page 10] upon him extort obedience. Being brought into the Bed-chamber, Sandes demands whether there were no private Outlet or Closet? to lay all naked before him, the Steward folds back the Hangings, by which means the Colonel discovers a Close-stool, which at worst could not be so loathsom, as he was before he died: This sight inraged him, not only to revile the Steward, calling him Rogue, but cruelly to beat him with his Pole-ax; and having thus prepared him, he commands him upon no less pain than the loss of his life, to reveal his Masters Plate and Mony; and to inforce the discovery from him, with drawn Swords they prick him, and force him from one Room to another. At last being come to the Dining Chamber, Colonel Sandes causes a dozen of Candles to be lighted, and so to be held to and under the Stewards hands, and lighted Match to be applied between his fingers, for the space of a quarter of an hour, Sandes himself all the while looking on, commanded both Candles and Match to be renewed, as often as either went out, or burnt dull. In this Torment they continued the poor soul, until both his hands were shamefully burnt, not being able to relieve himself by that discovery for which they tortured him. Nor was that barba­rous cruelty thus practised on the Steward only, from him they descend to the rest of the Servants, whom they prick with their Swords, beat with their Pole-axes to the indangering their lives, and all this to ex­tort a Confession where their Masters Mony and Plate were: but when this inhumanity produced not the effect they looked for, they broke up every door, plundered every Trunk and Chest, and ex­amined every dark place, from the Closet and Ca­binet, to the Powdering-Tub and Oven. Nay the [Page 11] Cellar escaped not their fury; What they could not drink, either Wine or Beer, they let out and poured upon the ground. In this search they found and carried away five hundred pounds in money, and some store of Arms. And because the great adventures of Valiant Knights must not be forgot­ten, To the Eternal fame of Sir William Brookes we are to tell you, that when the Ladies Closet was broken open, besides the Charitable Provisi­ons of Medicinal Syrupes and Salves for the poor and the needy Neighbours, all which were tram­pled under foot and spoiled, There were some hospitable Provisions for entertainments, as divers sorts of Preserves and other Sweet-meats, and in these this doughty Knight had his finger as deep as any, except a common Soldier, who seeing him feed greedily on a Gally-pot, and presuming his judgment to be good in the choice, (for the Pro­verb is true which end soever you put formost, A liquorish tail hath a liquorish tooth,) rudely thrust his whole fist all begrimed and besmeared in blood and powder, into the pot with him: which as it turned his worships stomach for the time, so it may serve as a sure Prognostick, That if these Distractions go on, where the Gentleman hath his finger, the Clown will be sure to have his fist. But to leave him to his Sweet-meats, which perchance may have sour sawce, and return to the Colonel and his plundering Regiment. Being Masters of the House, they plundered and pillaged not only Sir William Boteler, but all his Servants, men and maids, not only their Chests, but their very pockets. News of this being brought to Sir William Boteler the next morning early by three of the Clock, and finding by their threats, that his life was in danger, he re­solved [Page 12] to fly for protection to the King at Notting­ham: In his way thither at Pinkeny Mowlton in Northamptonshire, he was seized on by the Country people, and by about 150 Horse conveyed first to Northampton, and from thence to London. About the beginning of September he was brought be­fore the House of Commons, and there in a full House was examined twice; to whom he gave a full and clear satisfaction in every particular. And being unimpeached, the whole House being utter­ly unable to accuse him of any the least kind of of­fence or Delinquency, Sir William Boteler did then and there in the publick House make his Complaint of this intolerable oppression and injustice, charg­ing by name before the House, Colonel Edwine Sandes, Sir John Seaton, Sir Michael Livesey, Mr. Richard Lea, who then was present sitting in the House, and Sir William Brookes with Felony and Burglary, for breaking up his house in the night, and stealing and carrying away his Mony and Goods: and implored the Justice of the House a­gainst them. And now behold their great zeal of Justice, their care of the Subjects Property, and the freedom of their persons from illegal Imprison­ment, instead of harkening to his just complaint, and relieving him in his losses, to keep Magna Charta inviolable, they Remand Sir William Boteler again Prisoner to the Gate-house, where he remain­ed for six months longer: at last being certainly in­formed, that it was really intended if not ordered by the House to send him to Ipswitch, he indeavour­ed and effected an escape from the Gate-house, and got safe to Oxford, where he attested all these particulars.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
II.

THe last weeks Mercurius told you of the Plundring of Sir John Lucas his House in Essex and the barbarous Insolencies practised on him and his. The Tumult was raised and made confident by Success, they go on in Triumph, and like a violent Torrent swelling above its Channel, carry all before them, and fearing no opposition, they divided themselves into several Companies, every place where they come tasts of their Fury and Madness: Some go to Sir Henry Audly's at Beere­church, whose house they plundred of its Furniture, and his Grounds and Pastures of his Cattle.

Others go to M. Erasmus Laud, a poor Minister of Little Try, whose very name with these men was a Crime and reason enough to expose him to their Rage: Guilty he was of nothing but a good and honest Name, yet they spoil him of his Goods, drive away his Cattle, rob of 20 l. in Monies, his own and his Wives Cloaths, all except those upon their backs: M. Laud knowing divers of them, and knowing them to be Colchester Men, repaired thither to the Mayor for Justice, and by chance found him well circumstanced for an acti­on [Page 14] an action of that nature, both in respect of Place and Company, for he found him at the Moote-Hall, and the Aldermen his Brethren with him: Being come thither, he was so far from finding what he sought for, Justice, that he was not permitted to make his complaint, M. Cole, one of the Alder­men telling him openly, that they knew him and his Cause, he was the Minister of Try that was Plundred the day before, but they had other Busi­ness in hand and he must be gone, for they could not hear him.

Others of them went to M. Honifold, a Batchelor in Divinity, and near 70 years of age, dwelling in Colchester, there they rifle his House of all its Fur­niture, take away his Bonds, Bills, and Evidences, leave not a Shelf behind them, nor a Pin to hang a Hat on. The good old Man, thinking that Spoil and Robbery had been as punishable now as when he was a young Man, and not knowing that the pretending defenders of the Law had banished all Law out of the Kingdom, went to crave the Mayors assistance, to restore his Goods and punish the Offenders. Alderman Cole, the Fulk of Col­chester being present, told him, that he wondred he would offer to come abroad being a Man so much hated, and so rated him away. In his return, a multitude of Boys and rude People throng about him, and prosecute him through the streets with Exclamations and Outcries: Nor do they stay here, their hands second their tongues, throwing stones and dirt at him. So little did either the hoary Head and venerable old Age, or the privi­ledg of his sacred Function afford him protection from the inraged multitude: Many see him, some pity him, but none dare own him or take him into [Page 15] protection, lest they should divert this swelling tide of popular fury from the good old Man, and draw it on themselves; at last bowels of compassion yearn on him, a Kinsman of his emboldened, what by the urgency of Nature, and the constraint of Charity, opens his doors to afford him shelter from this storm, but all in vain; like so many Bears robbed of their Whelps they double their rage, the multitude threaten to pull down the house unless the prey be delivered up unto them: The good old Man seeing the inexorableness of his per­secutors, to make a full return of the kindness which he found, resolves rather to expose his own Person as the subject of their fury, than his Kins­mans house: and so he did, for out he goes unto them, and now having retrieved the Game, they pursue him with a high advanced din and confused clamour: At last when all other means to escape their fury failed, he made a voluntary captivity his safety, and took the Common Gaol for his Sanctuary.

Having thus thrown Master Honifold into Pri­son, not so much the Ignominy of the place where they had lodged him, or saciety of contempt of Gods Minister which they had cast upon him, as the want of more day-light, sets an end to this days Frenzie. They part for the present, but resolve to meet next morning; and so they do, a day or two are too scanty to act their boundless malice. Being met, their next plundering expedition is to the Countess of Rivers house at S. Osyth, a rich prize: There they enter the House, and being entred, they pull down, cut in pieces, and carry away her costly Hangings, Beds, Couches, Chairs, and the whole Furniture of her House, rob her of her [Page 16] Plate and Monies: They tear down her Wainscot, Leads, and Windows, they leave not a Door, nor so much as a Bar of a Window behind them. The Countess with her Family, forewarned of their in­tentions to come thither, made an escape, and re­tired to her House at Melford in Suffolk: Thither within a day or two they pursue her, Essex is too narrow to bound the madness of the Essex Schisma­ticks; in Suffolk they meet with some that are as mad as themselves: Few Counties (the more is the pity) but can yield Companions in such Outrages. From thence she hardly escapes with her life: she abandons her House, and leaves it to the mercy of these new ministers of new Justice, who not only rifle the House, but make strict search for her Person. And that you may guess what spiri­tual men they were, and likewise in what danger this Honourable Person was in, they express them­selves in this rude unchristian language, That if they found her, they would try what flesh she had. From whence she fled to St. Edmunds-Bury, where the Gates were shut against her an hour at least; at length she was suffered to lodge there that night, and next day with a strong Guard she was convey­ed out of Town, and so keeping her self as pri­vate as she could, made an escape to London. Her losses at both her Houses, were valued at an Hun­dred thousand pounds at least, though some that knew the rich Furniture that adorned both, affirm it to be no less than an Hundred and fifty thou­sand pounds, besides her Parks in both places were utterly spoiled. One of these Plunderers, whose name was Bowyer, was apprehended in London selling some of these Goods in the very act, and for this committed to Newgate as a Felon, two of the [Page 17] Countes's Servants entring into Recognizance to give in Evidence against him for the King, but up­on his Petition to the House of Commons, it was ordered he should be discharged without paying any Fees, which was done accordingly. And 'twas but an oversight that his prosecutors had not been laid in his place, and publick thanks decreed him for his zeal to the Cause.

Mr. Stevens, Parson of South-Hamfield in Essex, hearing that the Plunderers of that County were coming on him, took Horse and fled, and so saved both himself and his Horse, for he knew that both were sought after. The Father being fled, the Children left to their own providence, bethink how to secure those little pieces of Plate which each had received from the bounty of their Godfathers and Godmothers; neither time nor ac­quaintance could give them latitude of much choice where to hide it, and thinking any place safer than their own House, they run to a poor Woman their Neighbour, and there with her they deposite their whole Treasure. When the Plunderers came and found that the Birds were flown, having intelli­gence, or as some say, but suspecting that the poor Womans house might hide Mr. Stevens his Goods, they go to her House and demand them: The Wo­man denies that she hath any of Mr. Stevens his Goods: hereupon one of the Plunderers strikes her on the head with a Club with such violence, that her Brains came out at her Nostrils. The poor Woman being thus murthered, the bloody Mur­therers insult over her, and say, that the just hand of God was upon her, for lying against her know­ledg, and denying those parcels of Mr. Stevens his Goods that were in her possession: so usual a [Page 18] thing it is with these men to blaspheme God, and intitle him to all those wickednesses which they commit on others.

Mr. Edward Symmons, Parson of Rayne in Essex, in the Months of June and July, 1642, Preached against the sin of Rebellion and Disobedience, and against traducing the King, slandering the foot­steps of Gods Anointed, and refused to promote the Civil-War (then begun) by stirring up the Peo­ple to contribute Money, Plate, and Horses to the maintenance of so unnatural, so destructive a Di­vision, as most of the Ministers of those parts did. This as it was more remarkable in him, so it was more heinously taken from him, in regard of his former intimate acquaintance with Mr. Stephen Marshal, Parson of Finchingfield in Essex, the great Incendiary of this unhappy War, and had given him the right hand of Fellowship: Hereupon he was sent for to the House of Commons by a Pur­sevant, and was told, That he being an Honest Man (but of a different judgment from the Sence and Vote of the House) did more prejudice to the good Cause in hand, than a hundred Knaves, and therefore would suffer accordingly: Which saying since that time, hath been plentifully made good, and veri­fied in many particular Oppressions and Sufferings, unjustly inflicted on him and his whole Family.

First, He was Imprisoned and most illegally deprived of his Liberty, for no other cause, but because he would not, contrary to the dictate of Religion, and his own Conscience, countenance and promote an accursed Rebellion against his gracious Sovereign.

Secondly, He was referr'd after to the Commit­tee for Scandalous Ministers, thereby to blast his [Page 19] Credit and Reputation in his Ministery: a most diabolical and divelish Course, and a work of him who is the accuser of the Brethren, to defame honest Orthodox Ministers with the odious name of Scan­dalous and Malignants, though made so neither by error in Doctrin, Wickedness of life, or Debauch­ness of conversation, but by the malignity of a Vote, knowing, that by this means, such Ministers do­ctrines and Testimonies will be of little or no cre­dit afterward with the vulgar: for had it been Scan­dal in a true and proper sense, which they indea­voured to take away out of the Church, they would never have brought over his head, so scandalous, so infamous a man to be Lecturer in his Cure as they did: for to the wounding of Mr. Simmons his Soul, and the indangering the Souls of his Parishoners, one Lemuel Tuke is appointed Lecturer in Master Simmons his Church, a man by education a Weaver, and that had not so much as saluted either Univer­sity, yet while men slept he intruded into a Cure of Souls in Nottinghamshire, from which ever since [...] the Parliament began he hath been a Nonresident: for not long after the sitting of this Parliament, his Parishoners framed a Bill against him to the Lower House, Articling against him, not only as negli­gent, but insufficient in his calling: Nay they ac­cuse him of no less than Barretry and Battery, Drunkenness and Whordom, and some such other sins, which in the judgment of all honest men, make a man truly and properly scandalous: yet this man thus Articled against to the House of Commons as Scandalous, is thought worthy to be substituted as a Coadjutor in Mr. Simmons his Cure, who only was voted Scandalous, because not Rebellious: so that all the World may judge what it is to be scan­dalous [Page 20] in this new sense, To honour the King, and to live in obedience to the established orders of the Church.

Thirdly, having preached that it was unlawful to take up Arms against the King, and contrary to the Doctrine of the Scriptures to contribute to a War a­gainst him, in opposition to Lemuel Tuke, who la­boured to poison his People with Sedition and Re­bellion, affirming openly, that in some Cases it was lawful not only to Resist, but (which I tremble to relate) to kill the King; instancing in the ex­ample of Athaliah, 2 King. 11. yet the said Tuke is countenanced and encouraged, whereas Master Simmons for asserting the Truth, was summoned be­fore the Committee, there to answer as a Delin­quent: who was so far from a Retractation, that he justified the Doctrine: which he did so fully, that one of the Committee was convicted of it, yet as he himself did, so he would have Master Simmons to withold that Truth in unrighteousness: for Sir Thomas Barrington (who was the man) confessed that it was a Truth and a Divine Truth, yet not fit to be preached at all times, no not by those that were intrusted with it by God himself, no though it might be in some danger of Impeachment. At last being charged to preach no more such Doctrine, and putting in bail, by the Committee he is per­mitted to return to his charge. But behold what it is to be voted a Delinquent, or a scandalous Mi­nister by the Committee; it is to be put out of the protection of the Law, and exposed to the fury of the people: for on his return Oath is made before a Justice of Peace, that at Halstead in Essex it was concluded that an hundred men from Cogshall and Colchester side (some of that Crew that [Page 21] plundered Sir John Lucas his house) should suddenly surprize Mr. Simmons in his house, Plunder his goods, and cut off his person as one not fit to live, because he was (as they said) against the Parliament: But by the good providence of God this Conspiracy was discovered and prevented.

Fourthly, they oppressed him in his State, for after his return home, seeing the necessity of op­posing that inundation of wickedness which was overflowing his Charge, and pressed earnestly in conscience according to his duty and place, to labour to undermine that throne of Satan which by the Luxation of the nerves and sinews of Government was like to be set up both there and in all parts of the Kingdom, he bent himself in his Sermon chiefly against the prevailing sins of the time, as Lying and Slandering, Rebellion and Treason, Pride and Oppression, Malice and Cru­elty: yet these Sermons by his malicious enemies were interpreted little better than Libells against the Parliament: and upon Information given he was sent for up, three or four times, to the Lower House, to his very great charge and trouble, tho when he came to London he was never called to answer to the Accusation. And because he re­fused to contribute voluntarily to the maintenance of the Rebellion, his malicious Neighbours resol­ved to extort it from him in a seeming legal way: for in the rates made for the Royal Sub­sidy, they raised him far beyond his just propor­tion, and therefore in the first rate, they seized him twice as much, and in the second almost thrice as much as themselves; and contrived their business so cunningly, that they caused him to be sent for up to the Parliament while these things [Page 22] were in doing, and returned rates in to the Ex­chequer in his absence, that so he might not have the opportunity, by complaint of a just grievance, to relieve himself.

Lastly, having by most unjust vexations exhau­sted his Estate, and drained his purse: without hearing his defence indeed without further sum­moning him to appear, they sequester his Parson­age and Glebe, and Tyth, and put one Robert Atkins a stranger into Cure; and as they put his Livelyhood into a strangers hands, so they put his life into the power of his Enemies, who are authorized to apprehend him, and carry him Pri­soner to Cambridg: but upon Intimation given, he withdrew himself, and leaving all to the mer­cy of his Enemies, was forced by flight to secure his Person.

And here by the way give me leave to observe one thing to the Courteous Reader, and it is the Reason which was alledged in the sequestration of Mr. Simmons his Parsonage, and indeed is ge­nerally used in all these sequestrations, and it is, For the better supply of an able and godly man in the said Church: I would they could tell us where we should find these two Epithites Able and Godly to meet in any one of those which they have sub­stituted in the Revenues and imployments of those Orthodox Divines, which they have banished from their Cures and families: do but survey the new Plantations which they have made, and you will think that Jereboams Priests were risen again from the dead, the lowest and basest of the Peo­ple: for while honest, learned, and conscientious men could not suffer themselves to be made the base instruments to corrupt and seduce the Igno­rant [Page 23] multitudes to comply with the reasonable pra­ctices of the heads of this Rebellion, it was neces­sary to seek out and invite such of the Clergy into their Party, whom either want of Merit, or want of Honesty, had left destitute of Means; and when Orthodox Men are displaced or driven away, and such Trencher Chaplains put in their places, we may easily guess what work is in hand, even the alteration of the Government: For while they are so earnest both to Preach and Print that other Forms of Government are God's Ordinance as well as Monarchy, they will in time go on to un­dervalue Monarchy in comparison of the rest: But to leave my Diversion, and to return to Mr. Sim­mons.

His Living Sequestrated, and his Person exposed to the licence of his veriest Enemies, but he with­drawing himself from this Storm, and being out of their reach, they reek their malice on his poor Wife and Children, and his aged Father: They threaten to beat down the House about their Ears, unless they would yield possession to Mr. Atkins, His Father, for cutting down three Trees on the Glebe for necessary uses, and an honest Parisho­ner for loving Mr. Simmons, and plowing his Land, were most maliciously handled, and sent for up before the Committee in the Exchequer Chamber: And when after all these Threats and Oppressions they still keep possession of the Parsonage House, having no place else wherein to put their Heads, at last, May the 15, Watt Tyler, I mean Watt Long, whom some call Colonel Long, came with some Troops of Horse, and cast his whole Family out of Doors, his aged Father, his Wife and three Children, the eldest but seven years old, and his [Page 24] Servants; and so gave possession of the House to Mr. Atkins.

He that desires to be better satisfied concerning this faithful Minister of God, and what raised this Persecution against him, let him have recourse to that Learned and Orthodox Book of his lately Published, called, A Loyal Subjects Belief, worthy every Mans reading, wherein he shall see a solid and satisfactory Answer to all those Arguments divulged by way of a Letter by Stephen Marshal, the great Patriarch of Rebellion, whereby he in­deavours to maintain the Lawfulness of this pre­sent War against the King: In which Letter you may see the true Character of a Cauterized Schis­matick, for as if he were afraid the World should not think him sealed up to a Reprobate sense, and past all grace of Repentance; he tells us that as soon as he hath recovered his Health (much im­paired by a hot eager prosecution of this Rebel­lion) he intends to return (with the Dog to his Vomit) to sacrifice his strength to the service of the Cause and his Excellency, in all which, while he labours to free himself from the imputation of Madness, and apologizeth against a prevailing Report, that the horror of his guilt had distracted him, he proves himself to be madder than ever the World took him.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
III.

ESSEX is a deep Country, and though we have Travelled almost two Weeks in it, yet we can­not get out: We are now at Chelmsford, which is the Shire-twon, and hath in it two thousand Com­municants; all these are Parishioners of one and the same Church, for there is but one Church in this great Town, whereof at this time Doctor Mi­chelson is Parson, an able and godly Man. Be­fore this Parliament was called, of this numerous Congregation there was not one to be named, Man or Woman, that boggled at the Common-Prayers, or refused to receive the Sacramant kneel­ing, the posture which the Church of England (walking in the foot-steps of venerable Antiqui­ty) hath by Act of Parliament injoyned all those which account it their happiness to be called her Children. But since this magnified Reformation was set on foot, this Town (as indeed most Cor­porations, as we find by experience, are Nur [...]e­ries of Faction and Rebellion) is so filled with Sectaries, especially Brownists and Anabaptists, that a third part of the People refuse to communicate in the Church-Lyturgie, and half refuse to receive [Page 26] the blessed Sacrament, unless they may receive it in what posture they please to take it. They have amongst them two sorts of Anabaptists; the one they call the Old Men, or Aspersi, because they were but Sprinkled: The other they call the New Men, or the Immersi, because they were over­whelmed in their Rebaptization.

In August, 1641. there was an Order published by the House of Commons, (indeed by some lea­ders in a Committee) for the taking away all Scandalous Pictures out of Churches, in which there was more intended by the Authors than at first their Instruments understood, until instructed by private information how far the People were to inlarge the meaning. When this Order came forth, there was standing in the Chancel a goodly fair Window at the East end, untouched from the first foundation of the Church, in which was painted the History of Christ, from his Conception to his Ascension: And to perpetuate the memory of the Benefactors, in the vacant places there were the Eschochions and Arms of the ancient Nobility and Gentry, who had contributed to the building and beautifying that fair structure. In obedience to the Order, the Church-wardens took down the Pictures of the blessed Virgin, and of Christ on the Cross, and supplied the places with white Glass. But the Sectaries who understood the sense of that Order better than the Church-Wardens, did rest very ill satisfied with this partial imperfect Refor­mation: That therefore they might, according to the phrase of the Times, make a through Refor­mation, on the Fifth of November in the Evening, all the Sectaries assemble together, and in a Riotous manner with long Poles and Stones, beat down and deface the whole Window.

[Page 27]This exercise of an usurped power in the Peo­ple without the lawful Magistrate, like that which Andreas Corolostadius put in practice in the Refor­mation under Luther, and was sharply condemned by him; and indeed gave the unhappy occasion to that Schism, which is hardly made up at this day; stirred the spirit of the Doctor to inveigh, the next Lords Day, against popular tumultuous Re­formations, though to the better: As being vitia­ted, First, By the defect of lawful Authority, which cannot reside in the People. Secondly, In the in­temperancy of the prosecution, who commonly cast out one Devil by another; abolishing Super­stition with Sedition. This so incensed the Secta­ries thus to be opposed in their furious Zeal, that they threatned the Doctor to ruine him, if he preached any more on that subject: And to let him see how welcome such Doctrine was unto them, there was a Carbine discharged at a Win­dow of that room where the Doctors usual abode was, the Bullet passed through the place, and in all probability had slain him, had not the good Pro­vidence of God (without which a Sparrow falls not to the ground) diverted him unexspectedly from a business before known to be appointed for that place and hour. This design frustrated, about a fornight after, one of these new Proselytes, a young Clothier, with others possessed with the same frenzy, came into the Church immediately after Divine Service was ended, laid violent hands upon the Doctor, took him by the Throat, and would have torn his Surpl [...] off his Back, and were so so inraged, that had not some of his honest peace­able Parishoners come to his rescue, they had in all probability endangered his Life: But whom they [Page 28] could not wound with their hands, they cut with their tongues, as with a sharp Razor: They revile him and call him Baals Priest, and Popish Priest, for wearing the Rags of Rome; nay, they cry out against him as a perjured Person, that had violated his faith engaged in the Protestation, to abolish Pope­ry, of which (in their opinion) wearing the Surpless was a part. Many attempts they made upon the Doctor and his Curate, affronting them, both in officiating Divine Service, and administration of the Sacraments; but they being countenanced by a considerable part in the Town, the Sectaries could not effect what they desired, until at last in the Months of June, July, and August, 1642. they were animated by the coming of the Forces rai­sed in Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk: For as they rai­sed each Company it was sent to Chelmsford, the common Rendezvouz, and there staied until they were made up three hundred, or four hundred, and so sent to London. In all the time of their stay there, the Doctor lay at the mercy of the Sol­diers, who egg'd on by the Brownists and Anabap­tists of the Town, used his House as their Quarter, consumed his provisions for his Family, and com­manded there as Lords. Amongst many Outrages committed by the Soldiers, Three are most remar­kable.

First, Upon a Fast Day, they send a Command to the Doctor, that he should not pray for the Bi­shops, nor so much as make mention of them in his Lips, nor use the Book of Common-Prayer; if he did, they threaten to pull him out of the Pulpit, and tear him in pieces: The Doctor not intimida­ted by their Threat, gives order to his Curate to read the Prayers appointed; which accordingly he [Page 29] did. The Soldiers right bred, being Volunteers of Colchester and Ipswich, and rightly designed too, for my Lord Sayes's own Regiment, fit Soldiers for such a Leader, irreverently fit with their Hats on, make a noise to drown the Curates voice, nay, they call to him to come out of his Calves Coope, meaning the Reading-Desk, and make an end of his Pottage: The Curate remembring that advice of our Saviour, Not to cast Pearls before Swine, nor holy things to Dogs, gives over reading, unwilling to expose the holy Worship of God to so foul Con­tempt and Scorn. Having thus silenced the Cu­rate, their Commanders looking on, they violent­ly take the Sacred Bible to tear it, but being repro­ved for it by Sergeant Major Bamfeild then present, they exchange the Bible for the Book of Common-Prayer: Having it in their power, in solemn Tri­umph they carry it into the Streets, and that which holy Martyrs inspired by the Holy Ghost compo­sed, and sealed the truth and sanctity of it with their dearest Blood, these Savage Miscreants rent in pieces: Some of the leaves they tread under feet, some they cast into the Kennel, some they pissed upon, and some they fixed on the end of their Clubs and Cudgels, and in a Triumphant manner marched with them up and down the Town.

Secondly, About a Week after when the Doctor was in the Chancel, there to Interr the Corps of a Gentleman lately deceased, these Soldiers rush­ed into the place with an intent to bury the quick with the dead, to put the Doctor into the same Grave, which they had done (for no other reason but because he used the Form prescribed by the [Page 30] Church at burial of the Dead) had he not been powerfully rescued by his Parishoners.

Lastly, When the glad Tydings were brought to Chelmsford, that Episcopacy was voted down by the House of Commons, all usual expressions of an exulting joy were used; amongst the rest, Bonfires were kindled in every street, but most of the Fuel was violently taken from the Doctor's Wood-yard. And now the pile raised and the fire kindled, they want nothing but a Sacrifice, this they resolve shall be the Doctor himself: To this purpose, the Sepa­ratists of the Town, assisted by two Companies of Soldiers, in the Evening assault him in his House, seise upon his Person, and are ready to carry him to the Fire, there to throw him headlong into the midst of it: But some of his Friends ha­ving information of the design, go and acquaint the Commanders with the bloody intentions of their Souldiers, who presently take a Guard and rescue the Doctor out of their power, as soon as ever they had seized on him.

Since that oppressed and worried every day by these ravenous Wolves, he was forced to forsake his Charge (as many other godly Ministers are) and to fly for his Life; leaving his Wife and eight Children to the mercy of the Rebels, who have deprived his Family of all their Livelihood, and exposed them to extream want: Nay, they have several times broken violently into his House under pretence to search for him, and have held Pistols cocked, and Swords drawn, at the Breasts of his Children and Servants, charging them upon their Lives, to reveal where the Doctor was.

It was lately certified from thence, by a chief Member of that Town, and no friend of the Do­ctors, [Page 31] that he finds the case there to be far worse than he expected; for while they hoped that the power being (Traiterously) wrested out of the King's hand, they should have shared it amongst themselves, they find that either the power is fallen into their hands that are far beneath them, or else hath raised these men up far above them, for as he writes, The Town is governed by a Tinker, two Cob­lers, two Taylors, two Pedlers, &c.

And that the World may see what a Systeme of Divinity these Coblers and Taylors are like in time to stitch together, and what Principles they intend to Rule by, I shall here set down certain prepara­tory prelusory Propositions which they usually Preach (for Preach they do) to their infatuated Disciples, and by them are received as the Divine Oracles of God: And you shall have them in their own Terms, viz.

First, That Kings are the Burdens and Plagues of those People or Nations over which they Govern.

Secondly, That the relation of Master and Servant hath no ground or warrant in the New Testament, but rather the contrary: For there we read, In Christ Je­sus there is neither bond nor free, and, we are all one in Christ.

Thirdly, That the Honours and Titles of Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, Lords, Knights and Gentlemen, are but Ethnical and Heathenish distin­ctions amongst Christians.

Fourthly, That one man should have a Thousand Pounds a Year, and another not one Pound, perhaps not so much, but must live by the sweat of his Brows, and must Labour before he eat, hath no ground, neither in Nature or in Scripture.

[Page 32]Fifthly, That the Common People heretofore kept un­der Blindness and Ignorance, have a long time yielded themselves Sorvants, nay, Slaves to the Nobility and Gentry: But God hath now opened their Eyes, and discovered unto them their Christian Liberty: And that therefore it is now fit that the Nobility and Gentry should serve their Servants, or at least Work for their own Maintenance; and if they will not Work, they ought not to Eat.

Sixthly, That Learning hath always been an enemy to the Gospel, and that it were a happy thing if there were no Universities, and all Books burnt, except the Bible.

Seventhly, That any man whom God hath (as they call it) Gifted, may be chosen by the Congregation for their Pastor: And that Imposition of Hands by the Bi­shop and Presbytery, are meer Popish Innovations.

What more additions to these monstrous Opini­ons, the wildness of such mens Brains, assisted by the cunning of the Devil, and incouraged by the usurped power of these Times may produce, we must leave to the discovery of Time. In the inte­rim (good Reader) stand amazed, and wonder at this excellent pattern of the intended blessed Re­formation. Had not God, to prepare us for destru­ction, deprived us of Knowledg, had he not closed our Eyes that we should not see, and hardned our Hearts that we should not understand, were we not a people as the Prophet speaks, forsaken and meted out for destruction, it could not be, but that Mankind would rise up against this Generation of Vipers, and their Protectors, and sweep them a­way, to use the Metaphor of the Holy Ghost, with the beesom of destruction, who if a while connived [Page 33] at, will prove Moths fretting to the destruction both of Church and State: For in this Model, you may see the Babel which is now in building, and the budding forth of those Brambles, out of which (if not timely quenched) will come forth a Fire (as it is in Jothams Parable) which will devour the Cedars of Lebanon.

The same godly Reformers, which plundred Master Laud, before mentioned, came afterwards to Master Cornelius, Parson of Peldon, in the same County of Essex, whom they rob of all his goods, within doors and without: They spared not his Library, nor his Wives Child-bed Linnen, though she was great with Child, and in danger by the fright she took at their coming, to have occasi­on to make use of them before her due time, they plunder him to the value of Four hundred pounds, a very great sum in a poor Clergy-mans purse, especially as these Times go. For relief of his Loss, he sends his Servant to the Mayor of Colche­ster (a famous Justiciary, as you may remember the last Week, in the relation of Mr. Laud, and Mr. Honifields Cases) having made his Complaint, and accused the plunderers by name, the Mayor knew that some body deserved Commitment, but had the ill luck to be mistaken in the person, and therefore instead of the plunderers, he Commits Master Cornelius his man to the Gaol, where he is lodged for a Malignant, until his Master (plun­dred of his Man too) came and put in Bail, that his Servant should be forth-coming, to answer to all Objections the next Sessions. Master Cornelius knowing that he should in vain expect Justice where he found Oppression, from the Mayor goes to Mr. Gardner, a Justice of Peace not far off, who [Page 34] grants his Warrant for apprehension of the parties: Who being apprehended (though for Felony) put in Bail to answer the next Sessions. When the time came, Mr. Cornelius indicts these plunder­ers, the Bill was found by the Grand-Jury upon the evidence of three or four Witnesses, who were Spectators, and saw them carry away the Goods: Nay, the prisoners at the Bar not only confessed the Fact in their Examination before the Justice, when they were first apprehended, but in the face of the Court, and presence of the Jurors: Yet the Petty-Jury, contrary to Reason and their own Consciences, found the Indictment against the King. The Court wondring at so wilful blind­ness, cause the Statute to be read, lay open the Evidence, and remand them back, not doubting but comparing the Fact with the Law, the Result would be a Verdict for the King: They persist in their Obstinacy, and return Ignoramus. Being ask­ed by the Bench, how they could go against so clear Evidence? They answered in general, Because they did not think PLUNDERING (a new name for an old Theft) to be Felony by the Law: But being beaten out of this starting hole, though ten are Convicted, yet two stand out, and give this reason, that they were a Malignants Goods, and the Parliament had given power to plunder such: But when it was replied, That no such Order was produced, nor was it pleaded by the Prisoners at the Bar; they then professed openly, that these men arraigned at the Bar were honest men, that they had an Intent to do them favour, and they would do it. Hereupon the Bench justly incensed against so wilful perjury, binds over the Jurors to answer it the next Assizes: And withal, order [Page 35] Mr. Cornelius to Indict these plunderers again up­on another Felony; he obeys their command, and the Grand-Jury find it to be Billa vera: But when the Under-Sheriff went out to Impanel a Jury to try the prisoners, he could find none but Separa­tists, who attended there that day purposely to be of the Jury, and professed openly, that they staied there to save the prisoners. Happy men these, that may commit Murthers, Robberies, and Thefts, and yet fear no Condemnation, neither at the Tri­bunal of God or Man. It is an usual doctrine of this Sect, That God sees no sin in his Children, (for that name they will ingross to themselves, though no men less deserve it) and it seems they are re­solved to see no sin one in another. It was a wild saying of a great Patriarch of theirs, That the Children of God were Heteroclites, because God did often save them, even contrary to his own Rules. I know not how true they will find this assertion at the Great Day, when Murther shall be Murther, and Theft Theft, and God that Righte­ous Judg, who without respect of persons, shall render to every man according to his deeds, yet here on Earth, if these men may judg one ano­ther, they may commit what wickedness they list, and let the Rains loose to all kinds of Villany, and yet be saved contrary to all the Rules of Law and Justice.

Mr. Archer, Lecturer at the same place, in his Sermon encouraged the people to take up Arms a­gainst the King, but it may be objected, says he, that the Gentry gainsay this Doctrine, and the Learned utterly disclaim it as Erroneous and Dam­nable; but what though the Gentry and Learned (as you call them) dissent, yet let it not Stagger [Page 36] your belief of this undoubted Truth: For I tell you that in my Conscience you may do it, and in doing it you are so far from sinning, that you will do that which is acceptable to God. Be liberal therefore in contributing to this holy War, and sending forth men to fight this Battel of the Lord. This man in his Prayers and Sermons, constantly calls the Parliament, The Lords Anointed, but with what Oyl it is not yet determinated: I am sure by experience, we find that it is not Oyl of Gladness.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
IV.

ON Monday, the 15 of August, 1642. Sir Ri­chard Mynshul of Bourton, in the County of Buckingham Knight, furnished with ten Horse and Arms, began his journey into the North to wait upon the King, as in the duty of a Servant and Subject he was bound. This being discovered (for they have spies in every corner) to the Lord Brook, Sir Peter Temple, Sir Rich. Ingoldsby, Master Goodwine, and others then at Aylesbury, leaders of an Army raised against his Majesty. It fell under [Page 37] consideration to make Sir Richard Mynshul a pre­cedent to deter others from serving the King, since it was not to be done but by exposing their persons to Imprisonment, and their Estates to Plundering, for the Result of that deliberation was, that since they could not secure his person, they would seise on his Estate. Nor do they stay long before they put the sentence in execution: For on Thursday the 18 of Aug. the Lord Brook commanding a great part of the Army, came to Sir Richard's House, and in case he should find Resistance, they bring divers pieces of Ordnance to batter the House: but being come they find no opposition. The first company that enters the House were under the command of one Captain Jones, who either de­testing the Oppression, or yet not fleshed in the sin, which but then found footing in this King­dom, (for this was the first of this kind commit­ted in Buckinghamshire, and the second in England) moderated the eagerness of the Soldiers sharp set on the prey, so that they gleaned but a little here and there; this moderation renders Captain Jones suspected for a Papist, both to the Lord Brook, and the rest of the Commanders: Nay, he is not only voiced for a Papist, but a Rumour is raised that he was Bri­bed into this Moderation, and had taken a reward to spare Sir Richard's Goods: The Captain blasted with these reports, the jealousie of him grew so high that they threaten to kill him: To avoid the fury of the Soldiers he is fain to withdraw himself, nor durst he appear before a Servant of Sir Ri­chards had made Oath, that he was Innocent of any such Contract. And now the Lord Brook and his Company being masters of the House, the first thing on which they express their rage is the Kings [Page 38] Picture, which with their Swords they most traite­rously pierce through in divers places: And not con­tent to wound him in that representation, (whose person God miraculously hath, and we hope will pre­serve from them) they whet their Tongues against their Sovereign, using Traiterous and scornful Language against him: By all which it is more than manifest to all the World, what they would do to the Substance, if they had him in their power, that express such malice on his shadow: Having at first entrance violated their Loyalty to their King (according to his Majesties frequent predictions) their fellow Subjects cannot expect Justice at their hands: Now all is lawful prize that comes to hand, Money, Plate, Jewels, many suits of rich Hangings, Linnen, Bedding, they plunder from the Cabinet to the Larder, and make clean work as they go, leaving no Booty for a second plunder. And though that House were but one, yet in that one they plundered three, Sir Richard having disrobed two Houses, one in Essex, the o­ther in London, thinking to secure all in this third: While these things were in doing, the Lord Brook with other Commanders, commands the Wine-Seller to be broke up: But in a saucy imitation of greatness, they will not drink without a Taster, yet not being confident enough professedly to own Regal observances for prevention of danger, a pretence was made that the Wine was poisoned, and one of Sir Richard's Servants is compelled (a Pistol set to his Breast) to begin and lead the way, that if there were any danger, the experiment might be made in him; he having gained a cup of Wine by their dissembled State, they follow freely, and drink very liberally to the good success of their [Page 39] designs: without ever scrupling whether drinking so, did not come within the nature of a a Health. And indeed 'twas an oversight that Casuist Prin was not consulted in the Case, the Cup often gone round, at last some inspired with the Spirit of Wine, prophesied that Sir Richard's Treasure was buried in the Cellar, presently they fall to digging, and instead of Treasure, find a Mine of Bottles; they drink up the Wine, and in indignation break the Bottles: From hence to cool the Wine, they go to the Beer-Seller, and in both what they could not drink, they break the Vessels, and let run on the ground: After this they break open the Library, and the place where he kept his Evidences: They seise on all the Bills, Bonds, Deeds, Evidences, Writings, and Books, which they find whether Sir Richard's, or his Friends; some of these they take away with them, some they tear in pieces, some they bind in bundles, and make them serve instead of Fuel, both to heat Ovens, and to roast Meat for their Supper; and would by no means suffer a­ny of them to be redeemed, though large sums of Money were offered for them: The House it self escapes not their fury, wanting Ladders to come at the Lead, they supply this defect with the Racks broken down from the Stables; they rip up the Lead and carry it away, they tear down the walls of the Houses with Spades and Mattocks, they dig up the lower Rooms, hoping there to find more Treasure: They break the Windows, Doors, Wain­scot, Seelings, Glass, they take away all Iron Bars, Casements, Locks, Keys and Hinges: They break open his Wool-house and Barns, and empty all: They enter the Dove-house, and like Vermine de­stroy the Pidgeons; onely one of these Vermine [Page 40] falling from the Holes, brake his Back and died thereof: and because they could not carry away his House covertly they indeavour to fire it, to this purpose they leave Matches burning in the Mats, but were discovered. From his House they issue out into his Grounds; there they lay all common, they break up his Rales and Fences: Of his Sheep what they did not eat, they sold, Sheep worth 20 s. for 12 d. Lambs worth 10 s. for 6 d. and the rea­sons why the rates of their market were so low, were, first, they were a Malignant and a Traitors Goods (so they stiled Sir Richard.) Secondly, They were sold to their Brethren, and therefore must afford good Penniworths. The rest of the Stock they run their Swords or Pikes into most of them and spoiled them. Nor was Plunder the only thing they looked after, Blood is in their thoughts. First, They send a Troop of Horse to pursue Sir Richard, and threaten to cut him as small as Herbs to the Pot: They clap a strong Guard on Sir Richard's Lady, deny her a Bed to lie on, though the Neighbours earnestly intreated to kill them if they can find them: Who (poor Souls) affrighted with these barbarous Insolencies, fled into the Field, and hid themselves in growing Hemp, and there lay on the Ground almost 20 Hours, with­out Meat or any sustenance, so that what with fright and dampness of the Earth, some of them contracted dangerous Sicknesses, and hardly esca­ped with Life. The Terrour which fell upon the Country thereabout was so great, that the neigh­bouring Justice of Peace durst not grant his War­rant to search after any of Sir Richard's Goods, though earnestly intreated to it: And the Neigh­bours were so ill used and threatned, to extort con­fession [Page 41] from them where Sir Richard was, or where any of his Goods were conveyed, that some swoon­ed for fear, some fell mad, and some died. Cer­tain it is their carriage was so barbarous, that it inforced Mr. Jo. Crew, one of the Company, to profess his dislike, and to tell the Lord Brooks and the rest, That they being Law-makers should not be Law-breakers, nor make such precedents as would discover their intentions, and render them odious unto the Country: Since that, knowing Sir Richard to have put himself for preservation of his Life under his Majesties Protection, they have caused his Pond-heads to be digged down, and have destroyed all his Fish, they have cut down his Woods, and seised on all his Lands, or made them utterly unprofitable unto him, for they will not suffer any Bayliff or Servant of his to take any care of his Estate, but have often sent parties of Horse to seise on them, or kill them.

At a place called Kings-harbour near Hounslow-heath, three Soldiers, under the Command of the Lord Wharton, came into a House to drink, going away, they of the House demand Money for their Drink: So unexpected an affront did so incense the Soldiers, that one of them told his Companions he would shew them how they set Houses on fire in Ireland, and so put his Carbine into the Thatch and discharged it, set the House on fire and de­parted. The General ESSEX returning from London, came by as the House was on fire, com­plaint is made unto him, that the owner of the House was undone, but all in vain, his Excellency was not at leisure to do Justice.

The Countess of Rivers (who as you heard in the second Weeks Relation, was Plundered to the [Page 42] value of an Hundred thousand, or an Hundred and fifty thousand pounds) finding her abode here unsafe, having lost her Goods, and her Person in danger; to secure her self, resolved for a time to abandon her Country, and rather expose her self to the hazard of Travel, than commit her self to that protection which the contemned Laws now afford. To this purpose she obtained a Pass to go beyond Seas: While she was in preparing for her Voyage, Mr. Martin, Plunder-master General, he that so familiarly speaks Treason, and steals the King's Horses, or doth any thing, plunders the Countess of her Coach Horses, notwithstanding a Warrant from the Lords House to secure them: And when this Warrant was produced to stave off this Parliament Horse-taker, he replied, That if the Warrant had been from both Houses he would obey it, as coming from the highest authority in Eng­land, (sure this man was born with Treason in his Mouth) but since it came But from the Lords he did not value it. When this Warrant could not prevail, the Countess obtains a Warrant from the Earl of Essex, to have the Horses restored unto her again, but Mr. Martin to overbear all, procures an Order from the House of Commons to keep them. This Honourable Ladies Goods were seised on, though Licensed to pass by the Lords, and searched and allowed by the Custome-House.

At Pebmarsh, in the same County of Essex, on the Lords Day, divers of the Parliament Voluntiers came into the Church, while the Parson, Mr. Wi­borow was in his Prayer before Sermon, and pla­ced themselves near the Pulpit, and when he was in his Prayer, one of them struck divers times with his Staff against the Pulpit to interrupt him, and [Page 43] while he was in his Sermon, in contempt of the place where they were, and the sacred action in doing, they were almost as loud as the Preacher, to the great disturbance of the Congregation. No sooner was the Sermon ended, and the Parson come out of the Pulpit as far as the Reading-desk, but they lay violent hands upon him, rent his Clothes, threaten to pull him in pieces in the Church. With much intreaty they spare him there, and permit him to go into the Church-yard; he is no sooner come thither, but they assault him more violently than before: Mr. Wiborow seeing the Constable (who all this while stood a spectator of his hard usage) calls unto him, and charges him in the King's Name to keep the Kings Peace: At his re­quest they did a little forbear him: But before he could get half ways Home, they assault him again, and demand the Book of Common-Prayer which he used in the Church, (That which was found by the Parish, being torn in pieces before) which he refusing to deliver up unto them, they reek their fury on him: They tug and hale him, and vow to kill him, unless he deliver up the Book of Com­mon-Prayer to their pleasure; he stoutly refuseth: Hereupon they fall upon him, strike up his Heels, and take it from him by force, and so carry it a­way in triumph.

Mr. Blakerby (a silenced Minister heretofore) preaching at Halstead in the same County, told them, That to bow at the Name of Jesus, was to thrust a Spear into Christ's side; and such Mini­sters as signed Children with the sign of the Cross, did as much as in them lay to send such Children unto the Devil.

[Page 44]When the Earl of Essex and the rest went from Reading to London, after the unhappy (to say no more) surrender of that town, they left there a Com­mittee, consisting of none but City Captains and Tradesmen, these according to the authority com­mitted unto them, summon all the able men of the Parishes thereabout, to appear before them at Rea­ding, and Assessed them at their pleasure. In Mar­low they Assessed one Mr. Drue at 1000 l. they fell to 500 l. he refusing to pay was Imprisoned; but the Prison being most nasty and loathsom, deni­ed the accommodation of Bedding, was forced to pay 300 l. Mr. Horcepoole, they assessed at 200 l. Mr. Chase (a man plundered before) at 40 l. 20 pound was offered, but nothing will be abated of 30. Eliot a Butcher, at an 100 l. and Imprison­ed. Cocke a Baker, at 20 l. Mr. Fornace, the Vi­car (not suffered to speak for himself because a Malignant) at 10 l. and paid seven. John Langley 10 l. Thomas Langley 20 l. William Langley 5 l. and Wilmot his Servant 5 l. John More 80 l. Hos­kins a Shoomaker 5 l. Cane an Innkeeper 7 l. Rates so Illegal, or had they been Legal, so unequally proportioned to these mens Estates, that had Ship-money been still on foot, it would not have drawn so much Money out of their Purses in forty or fifty years, as this Blew-Apron Committee at Reading, removed some seven or eight Degrees from the Close Committee at Westminster, extorted from them at one clap. O that we were but so wise as to compare our Conditions! certainly then we could not but acknowledg the just wrath of God upon us for our Ingratitude, murmuring so much when we had so little cause, and bless God for the [Page 45] return of our former Peace, though with all its Grievances, and those maliciously aggravated.

Mr. Giles Thorne, Batchellor in Divinity, and Parson of S. Cutberts in Bedford, was upon Sunday in the beginning of August last, 1642. apprehend­ed in his Parish Church immediately after he came out of the Pulpit (having preached three Sermons in the Town that day) by the Lord Saint-Johns Troops, who lay then in Bedford, and in a very boysterous manner carried away to an Inn in the Town, not permitted to go home to his House to visit his Family, nor any of his Friends suffered to come to him: The next day he was carried away to London, where when he had lain more than three Weeks under the Messengers hands, he was brought to his Trial at the Bar in the Lords House: Accusations are framed against him out of Sermons preached nine years before. Witnesses are produ­ced to prove the Articles, who so well remembred what they were to say, that they were fain to read their Depositions out of Papers which they brought in their hands. Mr. Thorne gives so full an Answer to all the Objections, that the Lords pronounce themselves satisfied, and him Innocent, only the Lord Say disputes with him, and the Earl of Bul­lingbrooke grumbles at him. At length it is pre­tended that there is another Witness in the Coun­try that can say somewhat, (especially if it be writ­ten down in a Paper, as it was to his fellow Depo­nents): Hereupon he is committed to the Fleet, there to remain till that Witness can be prevailed with to find leisure to come up. About three Weeks after the Witness appears, and is Sworn, and contrary to the Rules of that Court, is sent to be examined by a Clerk. Mr. Thorne, with much [Page 46] ado obtains a Copy of his Depositions; which up­on view contain no new Matter, but what he had before answered unto and cleared: Hereupon he Pe­titions again for a Sentence; he is ordered to attend the House: After a chargeable attendance of ma­ny days with his Keeper, he is called, the Cause reviewed, upon the review, the Earls of Pembroke, Holland, Clare, and divers others, affirm, that in their consciences they had Acquitted him at the first hearing, and now upon the review, found no­thing to alter their opinion, and therefore thought it fit he should be Discharged. But well fare a good Neighbour at a dead life: The Earl of Bul­lingbrook objects, That he is a man of a Malignant spirit, that he hath great Interest in the Affections of the People amongst whom he lives, and there­fore if Inlarged and remitted Home, may do much prejudice to the good Cause in hand; upon these just and weighty Considerations, Mr. Thorne is re­manded to the Fleet: Since that time he hath used the assistance of many Friends, drawn many Pe­titions, humbly desiring that he might be heard: Or if the great Affairs of State would not afford their Lordships so much leisure, that he might have leave upon Bail to go down to attend his Cure, until their Lordships should please to call for him: But was so far from obtaining his desire, that he could never get so far towards it, as to have his Pe­tition read. His Parishoners sensible of his Oppres­sion and their own Injury, being bereaved of the comfort and labours of their own Pastor, sent up a Petition subscribed with three hundred hands to the same effect, that Justice might have a free un­interrupted course, either to Condemn or Absolve him, but all in vain: So that for ought we yet un­derstand [Page 47] he is still a Prisoner, and for any thing we are informed to the contrary, he is without hopes for Enlargement, though his Judges have pronoun­ced him Innocent. And now would you know the true cause of all this Oppression? Know then that it is possible for the High Court of England [...]o be made the Instrument of private Revenge: For Sir Sam. Luke divers years since suing Mr. Thorne in the Star Chamber, it was Mr. Thornes un­happiness to get the day of him, an injury which Sir Samuel could never forget, and did now re­venge it by the help of the Earl of Bullingbrook, the Lord Saint Johns Son, and his own interest in the House. This story hath been attested by some that were both Ear and Eye-witnesses of these par­ticulars, and let me be substituted Prisoner in Mr. Thornes place if he (for ought I know) know any thing that I know this, or intended to make it known to the World.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
V.

ON Tuesday the second of May, 1643. Sir Edward Hungerford, a chief Commander of [Page 48] the Rebel in Wiltshire, came with his Forces before Warder Castle in the same County, being the Mansion-House of the Lord Arundel of Warder: But finding the Castle strong, and those that were in it resolute, not to yield it up unless by force, called Colonel Strode to his help: Both these joyn­ed in one, made a Body of 1300. or thereabout. Being come before it, by a Trumpeter they sum­mon the Castle to surrender: The reason pretend­ed was, because the Castle being a Receptacle of Cavaliers and Malignants, both Houses of Par­liament had ordered it to be searched for Men and Arms, and withal by the same Trumpeter decla­red, that if they found either Money or Plate, they would seise on it for the use of the Parlia­ment. The Lady Arundel (her Husband being then at Oxford, and since that dead there) refused to deliver up the Castle, and bravely replied, That she had a command from her Lord to keep it, and she would obey his command. Being denied en­trance, the next day being Wednesday, the third of May, they bring up the Cannon within Musket shot and begin the Battery, and continue it from the Wednesday to the Monday following, never giving any intermission to the besieged, who were but 25 fighting men, to make good the place a­gainst an Army of 1300. In this time they spring two Mines; the first in a Vault, through which Beer and Wood, and other necessaries, were brought into the Castle: This did not much hurt, it being without the foundation of the Castle. The second was conveyed into the small Vaults, which by reason of the intercourse between the several Pas­sages to every Office, and almost every Room in the Castle, did much shake and indanger the whole [Page 49] Fabrick. The Rebels had often tendered some unreasonable conditions to the Besieged to surren­der, as to give the Ladies, both the Mother and the Daughter in Law, and the Women and Chil­dren Quarter, but not the Men; the Ladies both infinitely scorning to Sacrifice the Lives of their Friends and Servants, to redeem their own from the cruelty of the Rebels, who had no other crime of which they could count them guilty, but their fidelity and earnest endeavours to preserve them from Violence and Robbery, chose bravely (ac­cording to the Nobleness of those Honourable Fa­milies from which they are both extracted) rather to die together, than Live on so dishonourable terms. But now the Castle brought to this distress, the Defendants few, oppressed with number, tired out with continual watching and labour from Tuesday to Monday, so distracted between Hunger and want of rest, that when the hand endeavoured to administer Food, surprized with sleep, it forgat its imployment, the morsels falling from their hands while they were about to eat, deluding their Ap­petites now when it might have been a doubt which they would first have laded their Musquets withal, either Powder before Bullet, or Bullet before Pow­der, had not the Maid-servants (valiant beyond their Sex) assisted them, and done that service for them. Lastly, Now when the Rebels had brought Petarrs, and applied them to the Garden Door (which if forced, opened a free passage into the Castle) and Balls of wildfire to throw in at their VVindows, and all hope of keeping the Castle was taken away, now, and not till now, did the Besieged found a Parley. And though in their Diurnals at London, they have told the VVorld [Page 50] that they offered Threescore thousand pounds to redeem themselves and the Castle, and that it was refused, yet few men take themselves to be bound any thing the more to believe it, because they re­port it. I would Mr. Case would leave preaching trea­son, and instruct his Disciples to put away Lying, and speak every man truth with his Neighbour: Certainly the World would not be so abused with untruths, as now they are: Amongst which number this report was one, for if they in the Castle offered so liberally, how came the Rebels to agree upon Ar­ticles of Surrender, so far beneath that Overture? For the Articles of Surrender were these:

First, That the Ladies and all others in the Castle, should have Quarter.

Secondly, That the Ladies and Servants should carry away all their Wearing Apparel, and that six of the Serving Men, whom the Ladies should nominate, stould attend upon their Persons, wheresoever the Re­bels should dispose of them.

Thirdly, That all the Furniture and Goods in the House should be safe from Plunder, and to this purpose, one of the six, nominated to attend the Ladies, was to stay in the Castle, and take an Inventory of all in the House, of which the Commanders were to have one Copy, and the Ladies another.

But being on these terms Masters of the Castle, and all within it, 'tis true, they observe the first Article, and spare the lives of all the Besieged, though they had slain in the defence at least 60 of the Rebels: But for the other two, they observe them not in any part: As soon as they enter the Castle, they first seise upon the several Trunks [Page 51] and Packs, which they of the Castle [...] making up, and left neither the Ladies or Servants any other wearing clothes but what was on their backs. There was in the Castle amongst many rich ones, one extraordinary Chimney-piece, valued at two thousand pounds, this they utterly def [...]ce, and beat down all the carved works thereof with their Pole-Axes. There were likewise rare Pictures, the work of the most curious Pencils that were known to these latter times of the VVorld, and such that if Apelles himself (had he been now alive) need­ed not to blush to own for his. These in a wild fury they break and tear in pieces, a loss that neither cost nor Art can repair. Having thus given them a taste what performance of Articles they were to expect from them, they barbarously lead the La­dies, and the young Ladies children, two Sons and a Daughter, Prisoners to Shaftsbury, some four or five miles from Warder. VVhile they are there Prisoners, to mitigate their Sorrows, in triumph they bring five Cart-loads of their richest Hang­ings and other Furniture through Shaftsbury to­wards Dorchester, and since that, contrary to their promise and faith given, both by Sir Edward Hun­gerford and Strode, they have Plundered the whole Castle: So little use was there of the Inventory we told you of, unless to let the VVorld know, what my Lord Arundel lost, and what these Rebels gained. This havock they made within the Castle. Without they burn all the Out-houses, they pull up the Pales of two Parks, one of Red Deer, the other of Fallow: what they did not kill, they let loose to the world for the next taker. In the Parks they burn three Tenements and two Lodges, they cut down all the Trees about the House and [Page 52] Grounds, Oaks and Elms, such as few places could boast of the like, whose goodly bushy advanced heads drew the eyes of Travellers on the Plains to gaze on them, these they sold for Four-pence, Six-pence, or Twelve-pence a piece, that were worth three, four, or five Pound a Tree: The Fruit-trees they pluck up by the Roots, extending their ma­lice to commit spoil on that that God by a special Law protected from destruction, even in the Land of his Curse, the Land of Canaan: For so we read, When thou shalt besiege a City, thou shalt not destroy the Trees thereof, by forcing an Ax against them, for thou mayst eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down to employ them in the Siege: only the Trees which thou knowest that they be not Trees for Meat, thou shalt destroy, Deut. 20.19, 20. Nay, that which esca­ped destruction in the Deluge, cannot escape the hands of these children of the Apollyon the destroy­er. They dig up the heads of twelve great Ponds, some of five or six Acres apiece, and destroy all the Fish: They sell Carps of two foot long for two-pence and three-pence apiece: They send out the Fish by Cart loads, so that the Country could not spend them: Nay, as if the present Generati­on were too narrow an Object for their rage, they plunder Posterity, and destroy the Nurseries to the greater Ponds: They drive away and sell their Horses, Kine, and other Cattle: And having left nothing either in the Air or Water, they dig un­der the Earth, the Castle was served with Water brought two Miles, by a Conduit of Lead: And intending rather mischief to the Kings Friends than profit to themselves, they cut up the Pipe and fold it (as these mens Wives in North-Wiltshire do Bone-lace) at Six-pence a Yard; making that [Page 53] waste for a poor inconsiderable Sum, which two thousand pounds will not make good. They that have the unhappy occasion to sum up these losses, value them at no less than an hundred thousand pounds. And though this loss were very great, not to be parallel'd by any, except that of the Coun­tess of Rivers, yet there was something in these Sufferings, which did aggravate them beyond all example of Barbarity, which this unnatural War now did produce, and that was Rachels Tears: Lamentation and Weeping, and great Mourning, a Mother weeping for her Children, and would not be comforted because they were taken from her; for the Rebels as you hear, having carried the two Ladies Prisoners to Shaftsbury, thinking them not safe enough there, intend to remove them to Bath, a place then much infected both with the Plague and the Small Pox: The old Lady was sick, under a double confinement, that of the Re­bels and her own Indisposition, all were unwilling to be exposed to the danger of the Infection, espe­cially the young Lady, having three Children with her, they were too dear, too rich a treasure to be snatched away to such probable loss without relu­ctancy: Therefore they resolve not to yield them­selves Prisoners for that place, unless they will take the old Lady out of her Bed, and the rest by vio­lence, and so carry them away. But the Rebels fearing lest so great Inhumanity might incense the People against them, and render them odious to the Country, decline this, and since they dare not carry all to Bath, they resolve to carry some to Dorchester, a place no less dangerous for the Infe­ction of Schism and Rebellion, than Bath for the Plague and the Pox. To this purpose they take [Page 54] the young Ladies two Sons (the eldest but nine, the younger but seven years of age) and carry them Captives to Dorchester.

In vain doth the Mother, with tears intreat that these pretty pledges of her Lords affections, may not be snatched from her: In vain do the Chil­dren imbrace and hang about the Neck of their Mother, and implore help from her that neither knows how to keep them, nor yet how to part with them; but the Rebels having lost all bowels of Compassion, remain inexorable. The com­plaints of the Mother, pitiful cry of the Children prevail not with them, like ravenous Wolves they seise on the Prey: And though they do not crop, yet they transplant those Olive Branches that stood about their Parent's Table: A barbarous fact, and such as must look out of Christendom for a pre­cedent, and hardly find it though among the Hea­then, except among the unwashed Turks, who take Christian Children from their Mothers Breasts either to make a Seminary for their Guards of Ja­nizaries, or by desolation to make them Eunuchs unsuspected Guardians of their Concubines, or if in Christendom amongst none but the Jesuits their Brethren, a Generation whom they would be thought most to hate, yet are known most to imitate, Exod. 21. To steal a Man was death by the Law of Moses, nay, the Romans that saw by no other Light, but that dim Spark of Nature dis­cerned the equity of this Law, as is apparent in their Lex Fabia de Flagiariis: And though these men blanch the Inhumanity, pretending that they rob the Mother to inrich the Church, to bring them up in the true Religion, it were worth the while to ask (if they would vouchsafe an answer) [Page 55] what they mean by the true Religion, if they mean the Protestant, or to speak more properly, the Religion of the Church of England, it is ap­parent they persecute that, but suppose (which we do not grant) that they did bereave Parents of their Children to that purpose to bring them up in the true Religion, yet cannot a good Intention warrant an unlawful Act, nor ought they to do evil that good may come of it: Nor do we find ether that the Church was ever pleased with such Accessions, or that God did give a blessing to such unwarrantable Zeal. When Sesibutus, King of Aragon, in the Year 600. prevailed against the Sa­racens, and in a better Zeal than this, but not ac­cording to knowledg, compelled his Captives to be Baptized, he quickly found his error by the want of Gods blessing upon his endeavours, nay, Gods dislike was so visible in the success, that the Church of God observing it, determined, That the Children of Infidels not having the use and exercise of right Reason, should not be Baptized Invitis Parentibus, contrary to the consent of the Parents. And the fourth Council of Toledo, Cap. 56. disallowing the inconsiderate zeal of Sesibutus, forbad to compel any man to the Faith under the censure of Anathema, and determined withal, that to baptize Children without the consent of the Parents, is all one as to compel men of full age to be Baptized. The same determinati­on is cited and approved by the Canonist, Dist. 45. Cap. De Judaeis, and were it but consistent with the nature of this work, it were easie to decry this Jesuitical Turkish practice by most impregnable Arguments, both in the Schoolmen and Casuists: But I must leave this to Men of the sacred Functi­on, and only beg leave to infer, that if it be no [...] ­ful [Page 56] to baptize the Children of Jews, Infidels, or He­reticks, without consent of their Parents: Though without Baptism when it may be had, there is no entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, certainly it must be far more unlawful being baptized to take them from their Parents, to season their tender years with dangerous principles leading to Pro­phaneness, Brownism, Anabaptism, and Rebellion. A just indignation against so barbarous practice hath transported me in this argument farther than I intended, though not so far as the heinousness of the fact deserves, therefore if any man desires to be more fully satisfied of the power and interest which Parents have over and in their Children, being an Inheritance given them of the Lord, as the Prophet David, and the possession of their Parents, as Aristotle in his Politicks, and the great violation of Justice in relation of the Laws of God, Nature and Men, in despoiling their Parents of them, let him have recourse to that Learned and Elegant dis­course of Petrus Aerodius, Chief Justice or Presi­dent of Aniou, in his Book de Patria Potestate, who being robbed of his Son, stoln from him by the Jesuits, to plant him as a hopeful Imp in their So­ciety, and not able to rescue him out of their pow­er, though he implored, and had the King of Spain's assistance (for thither he was carried) pur­sues his Son with Arguments and Labours to recal him to his Obedience, by laying before him his duty artificially Collected, and strongly applied from the Laws, Divine, Natural, and Moral, and therefore to him I remit him, and turn my discourse into its proper channel.

On Friday, the 12 of May, 1643. Mr. John Bykar (Son to the Vicar of Dunchurch) was with [Page 57] his Father in Law, one of the High-Constables of Warwickshire, at the Market at Coventry. Being in a House in the City, he received some rude af­fronts from a Soldier of that Garison: He being a very civil man, of good Moderation, and it seems well instructed not to answer a Fool in his Folly, or being reviled to answer again, withdrew himself from the place to decline the insolent mad­ness of the Soldiers, and free himself from his pro­vocations: Being come into the streets, secure, as he thought, from all violence, he was suddenly run through the Body, and falling down, died in­stantly. His offence was (for as yet we can hear of no others) that he was a Parsons Son; so in­veterate malice to that Function and all depending on it, do these Rebels bear. And therefore if in this Relation you meet with frequent mention of Affronts, Oppressions, Plundering, and Murthers of the Ministers of the Gospel, do not attribute it to any partiality, as if the Relator were more querulous for them than others, but to a serious desire to proportion his Labours in a just measure to the merit of each mans case.

Master Abraham Haynes of London, in September last, travelling into Shropshire, to visit his Daughter and some other Friends, being benighted, was forced to take up his Lodging in a little Village some eight miles short of his Daughters House: After Supper, his Host in a seeming way of Cour­tesie comes to visit his Guest, and brings with him two or three of his Neighbours, whereof the Con­stable was one, to bear him company. After a little discourse, they will needs persuade him that he is a Malignant, a hard word in those parts be­fore this Parliament began, but however it served [Page 58] the Constables turn well enough to lay hold on him: Having seised on him, they search him, un­der pretence that he carried Letters of dangerous consequence, but searching, they find what they sought for, his Money, 14 l. he had about him▪ this as good Booty they take from him, and for fear he should run away from his Money, that night they set a strong Watch upon him. Next morn­ing very early they carry him before a Parliament Man, residing about two miles distant from that place, who most Committee-man like out of the abundance of his Justice, though no crime were objected, nor any thing found about him to ren­der him liable to restraint, but only the sin of ha­ving 14 l. or because he was guilty of the Consta­bles affirming him to be a Malignant, he commits him to his former guardians, by them to be con­veyed to London. Mr. Haynes unwilling to come so near his Journeys end, and yet not arrive there, tenders Bail, Gentlemen of the best rank and qua­lity in the Country; but it will not be accepted: He desires to have leave to send a Messenger to his Daughter where he was that day expected, but it will not be granted: Away they carry him, they mount him and his man upon two poor Jades, while my Host and Mr. Constable ride on their Geldings. The first night they will allow him no Supper, unless he will pay for it, though they knew he had no Money, having themselves seised on all he had. Afterward, upon much opportunity and earnest intreaty, they are pleased out of his own Moneys, to allow him a poor thin allowance of Food by the way. Being arrived at London, they bring their Prisoner before the Committee, who upon an implicite faith send him unheard, unac­cused, [Page 59] unexamined Prisoner to the Fleet, where af­ter he had lain six Weeks, having made use of ma­ny Friends, and presented many humble Petitions, and ('tis thought, some Monies too) he is resto­red to his Liberty upon this ground, that there were no Articles, nor any Accusation found in the Committee against him: But for his Money that (in the great Justice and Equity of the Commit­tee) was bestowed upon his Accusers, as a just re­ward of their zeal to the Parliament.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
VI.

THat the Kingdom might not be undone but at their own charges, sundry Ways and Arts, both by force and intreaty, have been used to extort Monies from the Kings good Subjects, to maintain the present Rebellion. Amongst others, Mr. Graey of Wellingborow, Clark of the Peace for the County of Northampton, was assaulted by persuasion, and very earnestly solicited by Sir Rowland S. John, to contribute liberally to this unnatural War: But his refusal to partake in so crying a sin, did produce a [Page 60] double effect, indignation in the Rebels, that hate all men that run not into the same excess of Trea­son and Rebellion with them, because others back­wardness doth upbraid their forwardness that rush into Rebellion like the Horse into the Battel: But brought forth imitation in others, not only in Wel­lingborow, but in some Villages bordering on that Town: Who seeing so good a president of Loy­alty, refuse with him to hearken to so Traiterous proposals: And now thinking themselves indan­gered by their refusal, and exposed to the mercy of Rebel Plunderers, they enter into a consultation how to secure themselves from violence, and re­solve to come to each others assistance, if the Dra­gooners from Northampton or any else should assault them, upon notice given by jangling their Bells: And that the World might not think their fears to be groundless, on the 26 of December, 1642. at 12 of the Clock at Night, Captain Francis Sawyer (and as is supposed a Brother of Sir Gilber Pickerings) attended by a 100 Dragoons, beset Mr. Grayes House; and the signal of jangling the Bells being discovered by some of the Town that were of their faction, to prevent the Alarm to the Country, they tie up the Bell-ropes, and place a Guard of twelve Musqueteers in the Church-yard, to secure the passage to the Belfrey: Having thus beset the House, and as they thought frustrated the device of calling the Confederate Villages to their help, Captain Sawyer demands entrance, Mr. Gray out of his Window, tells him that he and his Family were in Bed, and withal desired to know what their intentions were, thus in the dead of the night to disturb their rest, and what Warrant they had to command entrance? They return him answer [Page 61] that they had a Warrant to apprehend his Person, and seise on his Plate and Arms for the use of the Parliament: Half an hour was spent in this Par­ley, Mr. Gray protracting the time, that perhaps his Neighbours hearing of his danger, might come to his rescue: Which accordingly fell out, for some of the Town hearing that the Rebels had beset Mr. Grayes House, hasten towards the Church that by the sound of the Bells (the Signal agreed on) they might summon the Country: When they come thither, they find the way intercepted, a Guard of Musqueteers denying them entrance: but inraged to find opposition where they did not expect it, they fell foul on the Guard, beat them off, took five of their Musquets, forced their en­trance, and so rang the Bells. Hereupon the Re­bels, fearing that their entrance was delayed, there­by to gain time till the Town and Country might come in to his Rescue, brake open a Window, and put in one or two of their company, who pre­sently open the Doors to them and give them free entrance: Having thus possessed themselves of the House, their first work is to seise upon Mr. Graey's Person, to this purpose they make directly to his Chamber, whom they found in his Shirt, and would hardly give him leave to put on his Clothes; and that their seising of his Person might not be without all shew of Authority, they produce a Warrant signed by the Earl of Essex, in which Mr. Gray's name was, this they shew only, but will not permit them to read it. All the Monies and Plate which they found in the House they take away, and as for Mr. Gray himself having ta­ken him Prisoner, they compel him to go on foot from Wellingborow to Welby: While they are on [Page 62] their way towards Welby, some 40 or 50 men from Wellingborow, armed only with Swords and Staves, come to Rescue Mr. Gray from the Rebels: After a short Skirmish (wherein one or two of the Pur­suers were hurt only, not slain) finding that they were unequal for the Rebels both in Number and Arms, leaving the Prey in the hands of the Op­pressors, they retreat to Wellingborow: Being re­turned thither, they find Five hundred of the Country come in to their assistance: The common People (who seldom love or hate moderately) in­raged that Mr. Gray should thus be taken from them, especially some of his poor Neighbours, who in him were robbed of the relief which they received from his Charity, resolve to make some of the Rebels Faction in that Town sensible of their displeasure; and therefore since they cannot reek their anger on the Rebels that did the fact, they fall foul on those that did approve it, if they were not Abettors and underhand Contrivers of it: They break their Windows, break into some of their Houses, and spoil their Goods. Amongst the number of those that suffered under the fury of the People, a Chandler and a Cooper under­went the greatest Loss, yet it could not be much, since upon a strict survey, the whole spoil done in the Town did not amount to 30 l.

Many of this assembly, utterly disliking such disorders, did not only reprove the chief Actors in this Outrage, but to discountenance their proceed­ing withdrew themselves: They of the Town to their Houses, they of the Country to their several Habitations; so that by the break of day the Tu­mult was appeased, and the Town cleared. While these things were in doing, the Cooper and one or [Page 63] two with him post away to Mr. Perne, the Parson of Welby, a Turbulent and Seditious man, and make their complaint to him, and to inflame him that was too apt to kindle without their help, they do not only aggravate their own losses at Wellingborow, but tell him that they threatned to come and do the like at Welby: Mr. Perne (changing his black Coat for a gray) instantly goes to Northampton, and there represents the injury done to their Facti­on at Wellingborow, and the pretended danger of Welby so effectually, that by Noon that Tuesday, Colonel Norwich commanding in chief, Sergeant-Major Mole, Captain John Sawyer, Captain Francis Sawyer, Captain Pertlow, Captain Redman, Cap­tain Farmar, Captain Harrold, with 500, but others say 1000 Horses and Dragooners, came to Welling­borow: Being come thither, they divide themselves into several Troops, to make good several passages into the Town, thereby to keep out the Country that were coming to their aid, Captain John Saw­yer, with 80 or a 100 Dragooners enters the Town at that side which leads to Welby; and riding in the Front of his men marched directly towards Mr. Neile of Woollaston, and some few with him who stood to oppose him: Sawyer discharges at Mr. Neile, and whom he missed with his Bullet he would be sure to hit with his Tongue, shooting out Arrows, even bitter words, calling him Popish Ras­cal: But what reward shall be given unto thee, O thou false Tongue? He staied not long without it, for the words were no sooner spoken, and (to se­cond his words) a charge given to his Soldiers to give fire, but he received what he would have gi­ven, his deaths wound by a shot in the Head and Neck by Goose-shot, which made him fall on his [Page 64] Horse-neck, which shot was seconded by a Coun­try-man, who with a Club beat him off his Horse into the Dirt; being thus beaten down, the Wo­men to revenge their Husbands Quarrel fasten on him, but Mr. Oliver Gray (Nephew to Mr. Gray before mentioned) and Mr. Woolaston rescued out of their hands, who otherwise had immediately died the death of Sisera, by the hands of Women: Reprieved thus for some few hours, they carry him to one Gray's House an Alehouse-keeper, whose Wife was Captain Sawyers Aunt, where they ad­ministred what they could, but in vain, for after two and twenty hours Languishment he died: As soon as Captain Sawyer was fallen, his Soldiers in­stantly ran away, only his Son, unwilling to leave his Father, followed him to the hazard of his life, by many Wounds which he received. In other P [...]rts of the Town, the Townsmen quit themselves like valiant Soldiers and loyal Subjects, and with very little help of the Country, kept the Rebels out: Mr. Gray's man and another, with each man his Musquet, kept out above a 100 at the lower end of the Town, and repelled them twice or thrice; and had not Captain Sawyer coming to himself a little before his death, persuaded them that it was in vain to stand out, there being three Pieces on the way from Northampton, to Batter the Town (which proved true) and withal persuading them to write a Letter to the Commanders, promi­sing that upon their submission the Town should be secured, they had held it out to the last man: But the dying Captain prevailed with them, they write a Letter according to his advice, which as they say was signed by his own hand, the appre­hension of his desperate condition having put new [Page 65] thoughts in him. But this Resolution not being so fully made known to the Town, as a business of that concernment ought to have been, some of the Town, being ignorant of any Treaty, made some shot, and the Rebels willing to take advan­tage, rush into the Town, put both those of the Town and Country to flight. Captain Francis Sawyer much inraged for his Brother, and coming near the place where his Brother was Wounded, seeing Mr. Flint the Curate of Harrowden stand there, not any way ingaged in the Resistance, hav­ing not given any provocation, he barbarously struck him with his Pole-Ax, and cleft his Head down to the Eyes, of which Wound he died in­stantly: The Earth drinking up that innocent Blood, shed by the hand of an accursed Doeg, which like the Blood of Abel, calls loud in the Ears of God for Vengeance upon them, who au­thorize and countenance such horrid Murthers; Cursed be his anger for it was fierce, and his wrath for it was cruel.

Being masters of the Town, at three of the Clock in the Afternoon they begin to Plunder, and continue the Spoil until the next Day-light failed them, until Wednesday night. In this time they carry away the Wealth of the Town to Northam­pton and other places, sparing none but those whose Tongues are framed to Shiboleth, men of their own Faction, whether they were active against them, or stood Neuters: By which Essay, those Luke-warm men (who stand Pendulous equally poised between Rebellion and Loyalty, and know not which side to lean unto) may guess what mea­sure they are like to receive from the Rebels hands, if ever they come to have them in their power.

[Page 66]In the Town, two men especially suffer under these Free-booters, Mr. Gray and Mr. Fisher; from the first being Clerk of the Peace, they take away the Commissions of Peace, the Sessions Rolls, to­gether with his own Evidences and Leases, all his Houshold-stuff, even to his very Bed-cords, leaving but one Sheet for his Wife and five Children: His Wheat and other Corn they give to their Horses; what they did not eat, they threw into the Streets, and trampled it in the dirt. From the other they took Goods, and other things, amoun­ting to a very great Sum: And to compleat their wickedness, to their Oppression they add Scorn; for having taken away all that they could, in de­rision they affix Protections in writing under Co­lonel Norwich his hand, at his and some others doors, forbidding any man to Plunder. Generally what they could not carry away, they spoil, so that the Loss sustained by the Town, is valued at Six thousand pounds.

They took Mr. Neile Prisoner, and some Forty more, amongst them they took the Vicar, Master Jones, a grave and learned man, but lame and very sickly, and having Plundered him of all he had, they mount him on a poor Jade, with a Halter instead of a Bridle; the rest they tie two and two together, and drive them before them to Northampton. Mr. Gray, as I told you, was the day before led Prisoner to Welby, from thence to Northampton, where his Prison cannot afford him protection from the fury and rage of the Soldiers; to make way to his death, they threaten to pull down the House where he was confined: And the Commissioners finding that he could not remain there with any safety, were constrained to send [Page 67] him away Prisoner to London. Being come thither, Articles are framed and exhibited against him, which being examined at a Committee, and no proof at all made, he was Voted to be discharged his Impri­sonment: yet to delude Justice, and the Petition of Right, the Chair-man could never find a time to make his Report to the House, so that he remained a Prisoner for a long time.

On the 28. of January, 1642. the Castle of Sude­ly, upon Composition, was delivered up to the Re­bels; there were Articles agreed on and sworn to, but as he spake truly, Children were deceived with Apples, and Men with Oaths; the Rebels as they swear to Articles for their advantage, so they break them as easily for their advantage, and make Per­jury an easie uninterrupted passage to Theft and Robbery, for these Rebels brake as many Articles as they swore unto: they plunder not only the Ca­stle, the Seat and House of the Lord Chandois, and Winchcombe a neighbouring Village, to the utter un­doing the poor Inhabitants, but in defence of the Protestant Religion, and vindication of the Ho­nor of God, they profane his House. There is in the Castle a goodly fair Church, here they dig up the Graves, and disturb the ashes of the dead: they break down the ancient Monuments of the Chan­doses, and instead thereof, leave a prodigious Mo­nument of their Sacrilegious profaneness: for each part of the Church they find a peculiar way to pro­fane it: the lower part of it they make their Sta­ble, the Chancel their Slaughter-house. Unto the Pulpit (which of all other places in probability might have escaped their Impiety) they fasten pegs to hang the Carcasses of the slaughtered Sheep: the Com­munion-Table, according to their own Language, [Page 68] they make their Dresser or Chopping-board to cut out their meat; into the Vault, wherein lay the Bodies of the Chandoses, an ancient and honorable Family, they cast the guts and garbage: mingling the loathsom Intrals of Beasts, with those Bones and Ashes which did there rest in hope of a joyful Resurrection. The Nave or Body of the Church was all covered with the dung and blood of Beasts: and which was (if it be possible) a degree beyond these Profanations, in contempt of God and his holy Temple, they defile each part and corner both of Church and Chancel with their own Excre­ments; and going away, left nothing behind them in the Church (besides Walls and Seats) but a stink­ing Memory, that part of the Parliament Army raised for the defence of Religion, had been there. Let that railing Rabshekah, or jeering Sanballet, I mean the Author of the ridiculous Pamphlet, inti­tuled, One Argument more against the Cavaliers, read this Story, and then tell me which are most guilty of prophanation of Churches, the Cavaliers or the Round-heads; which were most profaned, either St. Mary Maudlins in Oxford, or the Church at Sud­ly Castle: and yet this Dog sticks not with Shimei to bark at his Sovereign and blaspheme his Piety, as if the Rebels brought from Cyrencester had been Quartered in this Church by his approbation, who to expiate that guilt, gave an hundred an fifty pounds to adorn and beautifie that Church. The truth is, there was a fault in the Commanders for lodging them in Churches, who if they had had their due, had been hanged for Rebellion, their carcasses exposed to the Fowls of the air, and the Beasts of the field, that the Ravens of the valleys might have had their due portion, and never suffered them to [Page 69] come so near the Church, as to have the priviledge of Christian Burial in the Church-yard. So, even so, let all the Kings enemies perish, O Lord, and let all the people say. Amen.

In Saint Maries Church in Warwick, and the Chappel (commonly called the Earls Chappel) ad­joyning to the Choire of that Church, are divers fair Monuments of the Beauchamps, anciently Earls of that place; which Family long flourishing there, had been great Benefactors and Beautifiers of that Church, whereof Thomas Beauchamp (Earl of War­wick, and Earl Marshal of England, and one of the Founders of the most noble Order of the Garter, in the Reign of King Edward the Third) built the Choire now standing, in the midst whereof is his Monument, and adorned the Windows, with the Pictures of Himself, his Wife, and Children which were many; upon the Surcoats of the Men were their Arms skilfully depicted, the Women having the like, and Mantles, over which were the Arms of their Matches, their Husbands being the prime Nobility of those times: The like Portraitures in Glass, but much more rich and costly, were in that stately Chappel before-mentioned: In this stood the Monument of Earl Richard, being Brass gilt; and in the Opinion of judicious observant Travel­lers, esteemed the rarest Piece erected for any Sub­ject in the Christian World: but such is the barba­rousness of the pretenders to Reformation, that upon Wednesday the 14. of this instant June, the Souldiers, by the appointment and encouragement of one whom (in these degenerous Times wherein the dregs of the People are made Commanders for the advancement of Rebellion) men call Colo­nel Purefey (a man of a mean desperate Fortune, [Page 70] but by the means of the late Lord Brooke, chosen Burgess of Parliament for Warwick, and who had the greatest Influence in seducing that unhappy Lord to this desperate Rebellion, in which he mise­rably perished:) did beat down and deface those Mo­numents of Antiquity; and not content with this, by the same Command they break down the Cross in the Market-place, not leaving one stone upon another, Purefey all the while standing by, anima­ting and encouraging them, until they had finish­ed their so barbarous Work. In which the World may observe, that these men are the sworn Ene­mies, not only of pretended Superstition, but of the Ensigns of Nobility and Gentry, that if their Diana, I mean their Parity, may take effect, Posterity may forget, and not read the distinction of Noble from ignoble, in these venerable Monuments of ancient Nobility: there being in these Windows something indeed to instruct a Herauld, nothing to offend the weakest Christian.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
VII.

AFter the great and happy Defeat given by the Victorious Sir Ralph Hopton to the Devonshire [Page 71] Forces at Starton, it pleased the Commanders of His Majesties Forces to entertain thoughts of Cle­mency towards the remainder of the Rebels. To testifie to the World therefore, that there was no­thing more in their desires than a Thrift of Chri­stian Blood, and withal, to heap coles of fire upon their heads, to conquer them by kindness whom they had often conquered by the sword: by their Letters they signifie their readiness to close up those wide rents between them, by a Treaty. And that a Message of Peace might be well suited with a Mes­senger, they sent the Letters by Dr. Cox, Doctor of Divinity, who, attended by a Trumpeter, came to Exeter that Sunday in the After-noon. The Trum­peter, as the manner is, gave the Town warning, as soon as he came within sight of the Guard, and presently an Officer came to receive him, who blind-folding him with a Handkerchief pinn'd o­ver his Eyes, conducted him through the City unto the Earl of Stamfords House: having admit­tance there, the Doctor takes off his Handkerchief, but accidentally did not dispose of the pin that fast­ned it, but still kept it in his Hand: the Earl had no sooner set his eyes upon the Doctor, but pre­sently he reviles him, and calls him all the reproach­ful Names he could imagine, and swore that he would hang him instantly: but first, to extort a confession from him, he offers a Knife or Dagger to his Breast, demanding an answer to some In­terrogatories: the Doctor not affrighted with such rough usage, replies very discreetly, That he had received commands to deliver certain Letters from the Commanders of the Cornish, to those of the Devonshire Army, but that he had no Commission to satisfie any different and by-demands; this denial [Page 72] to answer, together with after dinner, inflamed the Earl, and put him into a new fit of Railing: and for variety sake he did intermix the opprobrious names, with many menaces and offers of stabbing him: In the end, seeing that this harsh welcome could effect nothing, nor awe the Doctor to make any discovery, he demands the Letters: the Doctor, that he might clear his hands, and so dive into his Pockets suddenly, put the Pin which he held in his hands between his lips: hereupon one Baxter, a Ser­jeant-Major of the City, observing the motion of his hand, but not perceiving what it conveyed to his mouth, cryed out, What doth the rogue eat there? he swallows Papers of Intelligence: With this the Earl, forgetting the Gravity and serious Deportment of a Peer of the Kingdom of England, began in an antick manner to leap, and skip, and frisk, crying out, Treason, Treason, he comes to betray the City, Courage my brave blades: and so turning to the Doctor, he set his Dagger again to his Breast, and demanded what it was that he had put into his mouth? The Doctor mildly and softly putting his hands to his lips, took the Pin thence, and shewing it to his Lordship, said, It is a Pin, my Lord. The Serjeant-Major thinking to intercept the supposed Intelligence going down the Doctors throat, instant­ly flies to him, took him by the throat, and griped him so hard, that he had almost strangled him. The Earl himself (most unworthily) crying out, Cut the Villains throat, cut it: nor did he command an­other, what he would not do himself, for with his own hands he offered his Knife thrice at the Doctors throat to cut it, but the Doctor still put it by, God, who is a present help in trouble, restrain­ed the Earl, and delivered the Doctor out of his [Page 73] hands. Nor was it his hap to suffer from Honor­able hands only, the standers by are not idle, but follow so leading an example: as if he had been sent for from Cornwall to Exeter on no other errand than to be made the City scorn, and the subject whereon their wanton insolency should vent it self: every one in the Room had a fling at him: some with their fists beat him about the head; others scratch his face; one with his fingers boars his ears, to his extream torment another with his fingers rakes in his mouth, hoping there to find some Pa­pers of Intelligence: one tears his hair, another forces his hand down his throat, and the thing for which they make this strict search, is Intelligence, some scrole of Intelligence: Sure there is much want of Intelligence in their own heads, that made such strict inquisition for it in another mans. Well, this pursuit of Intelligence so long they continue, and so eagerly, that the Doctor fainting under so barbarous usage, was ready to give up the Ghost, and for fear he should dye under their hands, they leave him a sad emblem of that entertainment which the Messengers of Peace find from the men of this Generation. Let that rebellious City remember and tremble at that condolement of our Saviour over the like sin: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee. I am unwilling to go on and read her destiny, and therefore shall return to the story.

Having in this unchristian manner insulted long enough upon the Doctor, they divert their rage, and spend the rest of their Fury on the Trumpeter; and having either before, in part breathed out their madness, or not thinking the poor Trumpeter so Malignant as the Doctor, though they used him [Page 74] bad enough, yet they express not so keen a malice against him as against the Doctor. Having satiated themselves by cumulating Injury upon Injury up­on them, they are both commanded to an outward Room; here they are assaulted by fresh Furies, for they had not staid long there, but two Aldermen renew the same Insolencies, and act the Injuries all over again, and the very dregs of the People animated by their example, bear them Compa­ny. After this, the Earl commits them to Prison, and being brought into the Room where they were to lodge, they were stript naked, and their Cloaths narrowly searched: and though after all this scrutiny nothing could be found, yet Intelli­gence is the thing the Earl looks after, and Intelli­gence he will have if it be to be had. And though the World never took his Lordship for a Physitian, yet he prescribes two Vomits, where his Honour had his Simples, I know not, but the Composition was of a green colour, divided into two Draughts, put into two Bowls, these the Earl commands to be administred to the Doctor and the Trumpeter, that so they may vomit up those supposed Papers of Intelligence, which Serjeant-Major Baxter thought they had swallowed: the Doctor, the chief Patient, begins first, whom instantly they ply with Posset-drink, having likewise some infusion in it to provoke and help on the Potion taken: all night long did they keep the Doctor at this Exercise, though they saw that what came from him, came with great difficulty and torment, yet they gave not off, till at last it drew Blood from him: all the return that was made into the Basin, was very exactly strain­ed, to see if there were any rag of Intelligence: but there was none: but in case it should work both [Page 75] ways (though his Lordship had many about him wonderous fit for such Imployment) yet whom he placed Sentinel for the Postern, if any Intelligence should chance to escape that way, my intelligence fails me. This Inhumane usage brought the Do­ctor so low, that in three days he was not able to receive any Sustenance. In this his extremity and weakness, he had many visits from the people of the Town, who like Jobs comforters, revile him instead of pitying him: and the third night, as he lay very sick and weak in his Bed, there came into his Chamber a man very likely to prove the Mes­senger of death unto him; his name was Doune, Lieutenant to Captain White, who presently asking for the Jesuite, and calling him Rogue, and as ma­ny base names as himself deserved, offered to lay violent hands upon him: but one of the Soldiers abhorring so barbarous Cruelty, in meer mercy to a dying Man, as he had reason to judge him, in­terposing, restrained him from acting those Mur­derous thoughts which he brought with him. Af­ter the Doctor had remained Prisoner five or six days, and having recovered so much strength as to hold out another worrying, he was (with an ill in­tention in some) brought before the Council of War, where, upon the Doctors complaint of the hard usage he had undergon, some of the prime Gentry being ashamed of the Cruelties acted on him, being a Messenger, and in that regard by the Law of Arms ought to be priviledged from all Af­fronts, much more from such violent Outrages, Sir John Northcoote indeavoured to palliate the busi­ness, and to take off from the odiousness of it, by alledging the Contents of the Letters, which in­deed being for some Preparatories and Overtures [Page 76] of Peace, might inrage these men that were Ene­mies unto it: To which the Doctor replyed, that under favour that could be no ground, nor yet ex­cuse for their savage usage of him; because they had beaten him, and almost murdered him in the Earl of Stamfords presence, before they knew the Contents of the Letters, or read so much as one syllable of them, or indeed received them, the vio­lent Serjeant-Major seizing on him before he could deliver them: This so unanswerable a return, put the Knight to his Italian shrug, and rejoyned no more, but I know not That. After a Week (and more) Imprisonment, the Earl commands the Do­ctor to be carryed aboard the Hope of Toptham, where the stench and noysom smell of the Ship had al­most poyson'd him. The Doctors Wife hearing of her Husbands Imprisonment, came to Exeter to see him; but before she came her Husband being Shipt for London, on much intreaty she obtained leave to go on Ship-board to see him; but on her return, she was Imprisoned till her Husband being under Sail, she had liberty to go away. After ten days being at Sea, the Doctor arrived at London, where he was long detained Prisoner at the Lord Peters his House in Aldersgate-street.

The Lord Gray, with some other Rebels under his Conduct, came to Mr. Nowels House, Brother to the Lord Nowel that now is, demanding his Per­son prisoner, and his Arms for the use of the Par­liament. Master Nowell modestly replyed, That he knew not wherein he had offended, that he should forfeit his Liberty or Goods to the Justice of the Parliament: his House was his Castle, his Arms were his Defence, and his Liberty was precious un­to him; so that he could not satisfie their de­mands [Page 77] in any thing. Hereupon they plant a Can­non very near the House, so near, that the Fire of it took hold of an Out-house that was thatch­ed; this House, though burnt down, was not of any great consequence. Therefore they discharge again, and beat down a beam of his Dwelling-house, but hurt no man within it: and making a third shot, they beat down a Chimney, and the fall of it bruis­ed the foot of one of his Servants. At last, finding that Mr. Nowel was resolved to make good his house against them, notwithstanding their Cannon Bat­tery, and would not deliver up his Person to Capti­vity, nor his House to their Plunder, they fire six of his Neighbors Houses; in one of which there was a Woman in Labor, by which means the Neigh­bors were compelled to expose her to a probable, by snatching her from a certain destruction; for in the midst of her Throws and Pangs of Child-birth, they were fain to carry her in a Chair out into the Streets: having a while sported and warmed themselves at those Flames, at which the poor In­habitants wept and wrung their Hands, they threat­en, that unless Mr. Nowel will yield himself Pri­soner, and deliver up his House to their pleasure, they will not only fire his House, but will not leave a House unburnt in the whole Parish. This so affrighted the poor Inhabitants his Neighbors, that Men, Women and Children, come with tears, and earnestly beseech him to surrender himself, rather than suffer them to be ruined, and utterly spoiled before his face. Overcome at last, not by the Rebels Ordnance, but by that which spake loud­er in his Ears, the pitiful complaints and out-cries of his Neighbors, he founds a Parley, the result of which was:

[Page 78]First, That the Rebels should see the Fire quench­ed.

Secondly, That all in his house should have liberty to depart whither they pleased.

Thirdly, That none should enter the House but Com­manders.

But this generation of Truce-breakers (that keep Faith neither with God nor man, and break Oaths faster then ever Sampson did his Cords, whom no­thing can tye fast but a Halter, the strongest Ob­ligation for a Traytor) were no sooner entred the House, but presently they seize on Master Nowell and Master Skipwith as their Prisoners: and whereas by the Article of agreement, none were to enter the House but Commanders; and since, if the Article had been kept unviolated, there were like to be as many Thieves within as without doors; Therefore Commanders and Common Souldiers, Common Souldiers and Commanders, all Thieves, enter the House and rifle it. They take away his Goods, cut the Ticks of his Beds, burn the Feathers, tear in pieces his Accounts, Writings, and Evi­dences, and That which we have not read in the black Catalogue of the outrages of the Rebellious Irish, was attempted by these; for in the Exami­nations upon Oath of those that report the miser­able Sufferings of the poor Protestants in Ireland, and the barbarousness of the Irish, published by Order of Parliament, we do not find that God gave them up to so roprobate a sense, as to commit or at­tempt any Rapes; give the Devil his due, this sin we find not laid to their charge: But these blessed Reformers, whom they have not blushed blasphe­mously to call, The Host of God, and Christs Armies, and Champions of Religion, added this to the rest of [Page 79] their innumerable Wickednesses, That they attem­pted to ravish two of his Maid-servants; one was dumb, but fourteen years of age; another had her knee put out of joint, striving to resist a Villain in so Beastly an attempt. In a word, their practices were generally so Wicked, so Impious, that one that stood Spectator of all passages, and observed strictly what was done, affirms, That Mr. Griffith (whom some call Prince Griffith) was the only ci­vilized Man amongst them. Having committed these Inhumane Acts among the Living, they go into the Church among the Dead, and there deface a goodly Monument, which this noble Gentleman, Mr. Nowell, had erected for his deceased Wife: deeply wounding the living Husband, by spoiling that Memorial which he had consecrated to the dear memory of his dead Wife. Having ransacked all from the living to the dead, they carry away Mr. Nowell and Mr. Skipwith Prisoners to London, and commit them to safe Custody in the Lord Pe­ters his House (before mentioned) in Aldersgate street, where they remained Prisoners for a long time.

Colonel Sandyes, in his perambulation of Kent, bestowed a Visit upon Dr. Bargraves House, then Dean of Canterbury, the Dean himself then being from home. Sandyes came late in the Night, and the whole Family were in Bed: they soon raise the House, and where they did not find they make an entrance, forcing Mistris Bargrave, a virtuous good Gentlewoman (whom their hasty Summons had permitted to cast only her Night-gown about her) to wait upon them from room to room, not suffering her to turn aside (though she for Mode­sty sake requested that favour at their hands) to [Page 80] draw on her Stockings, unless they might stand by and see it done. They rudely rush into Mistris Boys her Chamber, the Widow of Dr. Boys Dean of Canterbury, a Gentlewoman about fourscore years old, there they seize upon a Cabinet of hers, and break it open, (though the good Old woman would very fain have had it spared, and offered them the Key to open it) they find in it forty five pounds in Old Gold, which she had laid by to bestow as Le­gacies upon her Friends: this they hug and call their own. She intreats them to forbear it, and directs them to her Will which was laid up with the Gold, and in that they might see how she had bequeathed it. Upon perusal of the Will, they find that she had made Dean Bargrave, her own Brother, her Executor; this they pronounce a Crime of so high a nature, that nothing could expiate the guilt, but the forfeiture of the Gold, and the Can­celling of the Will; but by the earnest mediation of Mr. King, one of their Company, at length they are perswaded to restore the Gold, and spare the Will. From hence they go to the Chamber where young Mr. Bargrave the Deans son did lodge; Sandys valiantly breaks his Sword (which hung at his Beds-head) before his face, and calling him out of his Bed, sends him Prisoner to Dover-Castle. Soon after, the Dean hastning home to comfort his di­stressed Family, Sandys hears where he was lodged at an Inne at Graves-end, and as he was undressed and ready to go into Bed, Sandys, and thirteen of his Souldiers, press into his Chamber with their Swords drawn, and command him to yield himself a Prisoner; which the Dean (having neither power nor will to resist) did accordingly; having (with­out any reason given) brought him a Captive to [Page 81] London, they commit him Prisoner to the Fleet where after he had lain three weeks, he was at last released, without ever being examined, or so much as called to the House. After this Sandys writes (I blush to mention so degenerous a Pamphlet) a Book, and was not ashamed to call it, His Travels in­to Kent, unworthy his Predecessors, to strain the name of Sandyes with such Travels: In this worthless Commentary, the Register of his perpetual Infa­my; amongst other things he fastens the Note of a debauched drunken young Fellow, upon young Mr. Bargrave, a Gentleman of so ingenuous a Countenance, so modest and sweet a Temper, that he deserves a far better Character. The old Dean, a Grave and learned Gentleman, heart-broken with these Injuries, soon after dyes; the World in the mean time Condemning Sandyes, not so much for his Barbarity, as Ingratitude in dealing thus with him, who had not many years before, been a special means to save him from the Gallows, when he was Indicted for a Rape at the General Affizes at Maydstone. But you know the old Proverb, Save a Thief from the Gallows, and he will cut your Throat.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
VIII.

WHen the Earl of Stamford was in Hereford­shire, in October 1642. and pillaged all that kept Faith and Allegeance to the King, informa­tion was given to Mistris Swift, Wife of Mr. Tho­mas Swift Parson of Goodwich, that her House was designed to be plundered: To prevent so great a danger, she instantly repaired to Hereford where the Earl then was, some ten miles from her own home, to Petition him, that no violence might be offered by his Soldiers to her House or Goods: He most nobly, and according to the goodness of his Disposition, threw the Petition away, and swore no small Oaths, That she should be plundered to morrow. The good Gentlewoman, being out of hope to prevail, and seeing there was no good to be done by Petitioning him, speeds home as fast as she could, and that Night removed as much of her Goods, as the shortness of the time would permit: next Morning, to make good the Earl of Stam­fords word, Captain Kirle's Troop, consisting of seventy Horse, and thirty Foot which were hangers [Page 83] on, (Birds of prey) came to Mr. Swifts house; there they took away all his provision of Victuals, Corn, Houshold-stuff, which was not conveyed a­way: they empty his Beds, and fill the Ticks with Malt; they rob him of his Cart and six Horses, and make this part of their Theft the means to convey away the rest: Mistris Swift much affrighted to see such a sight as this, thought it best to save her self though she lost her Goods; therefore taking up a young Child in her arms, began to secure her self by flight; which one of the Troopers perceiv­ing, he commanded her to stay, or (holding his Pi­stol at her Breast) threatned to shoot her dead: she (good woman) fearing death whether she went on or returned; at last, shunning that death which was next unto her, she retires back to her House, where she saw her self undone, and yet durst not oppose or ask why they did so? having thus rifled the House, and gone, next morning early she goes again to Hereford, and there again Petitions the Earl to shew some compassion on her and her ten Children, and that he would be pleased to cause her Horses and some part of her Goods to be re­stored unto her: the good Earl was so far from granting her Petition, that he would not vouch-safe so much as to read it: when she could not pre­vail her self, she makes use of the mediation of Friends: these have the repulse too, his Lordship remaining inexorable without any inclination to mercy: at last, hoping that all mens hearts were not Adamant, relentless, she leaves the Earl, and makes her Address to Captain Kirle, who, upon her earnest intreaty, grants her a Protection for what was left, but for restitution, there was no hope of that; this Protection cost her no less than [Page 84] thirty shillings: It seems Paper and Ink are dear in those parts. And now thinking her self secured by this Protection, she returns home, in hope that what was left she might injoy in peace and quiet­ness: She had not been long at home, but Captain Kirle sends her word, that if it pleased her, she might buy four of her own six horses again, assuring her by his Fathers Servant and Tenant, that she should not fear being Plundered of them any more by the Earl of Stamfords Forces while they were in those parts. Encouraged by these promises, she was content to buy her own, and deposited eight pound ten shillings for four of her Horses. And now conceiving the Storm to be blown over, and all danger past, and placing much confidence in her purchas'd protection, she causeth all her Goods, secured in her Neighbors Houses, to be brought home; and since it could not be better, rejoiced that she had not lost all. She had not injoyed these thoughts long, but Captain Kirle sent unto her for some Vessels of Cyder, whereof having tasted, but not liking it, since he could not have Drink for himself, he would have Provender for his Horse; and therefore instead of Cyder, he demands ten Bushels of Oats. Mistris Swift fearing that the de­nial might give some ground of a Quarrel, sent him word, that her Husband had not two Bushels of Oats in a year for Tythe, nor did they sow any on their Gleab: both which were most true: yet to shew how willing she was (to her power) to comply with him, that the Messenger might not return empty, she sent him forty shillings to buy Oats. Suddenly after, the Captain of Goodrige Castle, sends to Mr. Swifts house for Victual and Corn; Mistris Swift instantly repairs to him, and [Page 85] shews him her Protection: He, to answer shew with shew, shews her his Warrant, and so without any regard to her Protection, seizeth upon that Provision which was in the House, together with the Cyder which Captain Kirle refused. Hereup­on Mistris Swift writes to Captain Kirle, complain­ing of this Injury, and the Affront done to him in slighting his Protection: But before the Messenger could return with an Answer to her Letter, some from the Castle come a second time to plunder the House, and they did what they came for: Present­ly after comes a Letter from Captain Kirle in An­swer to Mistris Swifts, telling her, That the Earl of Stamford did by no means approve of the In­juries done unto her; and withal, by word of mouth, sends to her for more Oats: She perceiv­ing, that as long as she gave, they would never leave asking, resolved to be drill'd no more: the Return not answering Expectation; on the third of December, two hours before day, Captain Kirles Lieutenant, attended by a considerable number of Horse and Dragoons, comes to M. Swifts House and demands entrance; but the doors being kept shut against them, and not able to force them, they broke down two Iron Bars in a Stone Window, and so with Swords drawn and Pistols cocked, they en­ter the House. Being entred, they take all Master Swift and his Wives Apparel, his Books and his Childrens cloaths, they being in Bed; and those poor Children that hung by their Cloaths, unwil­ling to part with them, they swung them about, un­til (their hold-fast failing) they dashed them a­gainst the Walls. They took away all his Servants cloaths, and made so clean work with one, that they left him not a Shirt to cover his Nakedness. [Page 86] There was one of the Children, an Infant lying in the Cradle, they rob'd that, and left not the little poor Soul a rag to defend it from the cold. They took away all the Iron, Pewter and Brass, and a very fair Cup-board of Glasses, which they could not carry away, they broke to pieces: and the four Horses lately redeemed, are with them lawful prize again, and left nothing of all the Goods but a few stools for his Wife, Children and Servants, to fit down and bemoan their distressed Condition. Hav­ing taken away all, and being gone, Mistris Swift, in compassion to her poor Infant in the Cradle, took it up almost starved with cold, and wrapped it in a Petty-coat which she took off from her self: and now hoped, that having nothing to lose would be a better protection for their Persons, than that which she purchased of Captain Kirle for thirty shillings. But as if Jobs Messenger would never make an end, her three Maid-servants, whom they of the Castle had compelled to carry the Poultry to the Castle, return and tell their Mistris, that they in the Castle said, That they had a Warrant to seize upon Mistris Swift, and bring her into the Castle; and that they would make her three Maid-servants wait on her there, threatning to plunder all under the Petty-coat; and other uncivil immodest words, not fit for them to speak, or me to write. Hereupon Mistris Swift fled to the place where her Husband, for fear of the Rebels, had withdrawn himself: She had not been gone two hours, but they come from the Castle, and bring with them three Teems, to carry away what was before de­signed for Plunder, but wanted means of convey­ance. When they came, amongst other things, there was a Batch of Bread hot in the Oven, this [Page 87] they seize on, Ten Children on their knees intreat but for one Loaf, and at last with much importuni­ty obtained it: but before the children had eaten it, they took even that one Loaf away, and left them destitute of a morsel of Bread amongst ten Chil­dren. Ransacking every corner of the house, that nothing might be left behind, they find a small Pewter dish, in which the dry Nurse had put Pap to feed the poor Infant, the Mother which gave it suck being fled to save her Life, this they seize on too. The Nurse intreats, for Gods sake, that they would spare that, pleading, that in the Mothers ab­sence it was all the sustenance which was or could be provided to sustain the life of the Child, and on her knees intreated to shew mercy unto the Child, that knew not the right hand from the left, a motive which prevailed with God himself, though justly incensed against Nineveh. But to shew what Bowels of Compassion and Mercy are to be expect­ed in Sectaries, and how far they are from being Disciples to him who says, Be ye merciful, as your Father which is in heaven is merciful. They trans­gress that precept of our Saviour in the Letter, and take away the Childrens meat and give it unto dogs; for throwing the Pap to the dogs, they put up the dish as lawful prize.

Master Swifts eldest son, a youth, seeing this barbarous cruelty, demanded of them a reason of this so hard usage: they replyed, That his Father was a Traitor to the King and Parliament, and ad­ded, that they would keep them so short, that they should eat the very Flesh from their Arms; and to make good their word, they threaten the Miller, that if he ground any Corn for these Children, they would grind him in his own Mill; and not content­ed [Page 88] with this, they go to Mr. Swifts next Neigh­bour (whose daughter was his Servant) and take him Prisoner, they examine him upon oath what goods of Mr. Swifts he had in his custody, he pro­fessing that he had none, they charge him to take his daughter away from Mr. Swifts service, or else they threaten to Plunder him, and to make sure work they make him give them security to obey all their commands: terrified with this, the Neigh­bours stand afar off, and pity the distressed Con­dition of these persecuted Children, but dare not come or send to their relief: by this means the Children and Servants had no sustenance, hardly any thing to cover them, from Friday six a clock at night, until Saturday twelve at night, until at last the Neighbours moved with the lamentable cryes and complaints of the Children and Servants, one of the Neighbours over-looking all difficulties, and shewing that he durst be charitable in despite of these Monsters, ventured in and brought them some provision. And if the World would know what it was that so exasperated these Rebels against this Gentleman, the Earl of Stamford, a man that is not bound to give an account of all his actions, gave two reasons for it, First, because he had bought arms and conveyed them into Monmouth-shire, which under his Lordships good favour was not so; and secondly, because not before, he preached a Ser­mon in Rosse upon that Text, Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars, in which his Lordship said, he had spoken Treason in endeavouring to give Caesar more than his due: these two Crimes cost Mr. Swift no less than 300 l.

About Feb. 1642. the Duke of Vendosme being to return home into France, but resolving first to take [Page 89] his leave of the King at Oxford, obtained a Pass from the close Committee, that he might be free from any let or molestation in his journey, but not­withstanding this Pass, in his return from Oxford he was searched and plundered at Uxbridge, by that worthy Knight Sir Samuel Luke, who was sent by his Excellency from Windsor, with a Troop of Horse for that purpose, That France by experience might know that Thieves rob as confidently in the Towns of England, as in the woods of Ardenna, or any For­rest in France.

About December 1642. the Collonels Waller, Brown, and others marching from Ailesbury to Wind­sor, and thence by Newbury to Winchester, their Sol­diers in the March Plundered every Minister with­in five miles of the Road, without distinction whe­ther of their own party, or of the other, whether they subscribed for Episcopacy, Presbytery, or In­dependency, whether they wore a Surpless, or refu­sed it; only if they did not, they afforded them the less booty. Those that were Confiders, whose Ir­regularity, and Non-Conformity, armed them with confidence to appear, Petitioned the House of Com­mons for Relief and satisfaction: it being taken in­to Consideration that this was not according to their new Phrase to weaken the wicked, but the Righteous and such who stood well affected to the Parliament: hereupon slandering the Cavaliers, with the fact which their own Soldiers had done, and to make the foolish Citizens bleed free, there was an Order drawn up and published, That in regard the Petiti­oners were well-affected men, and Plundered by the Cavaliers, that there should be a general Colle­ction made for them the next Fast-day, and that the Preachers should exhort the People, and pray [Page 90] to God to enlarge the Peoples hearts, bountifully to relieve the Petitioners.

But Winchester being surprized, and the Lord Grandison taken Prisoner, Collonel Brown in a Let­ter to famous Isaac Pennington, magnifies the Vi­ctory, and inlarged the glory of it very much by that Circumstance of taking that Noble Lord Pri­soner; but which did much eclipse the honor ob­tained that day, in the Letter he adds, that by the Treachery of Colonel Urrey, he was escaped: little Isaac had hardly so much patience, as to read out the Letter, but he summons his Mirmidons, and gives an Alarm to his Red-coats, the Messengers of his Fury, and sends them instantly to plunder Mi­stris Urries Lodging: it was no sooner said than done, they being as swift to act mischief as Isaac was ready to command it; what they had in charge they perform faithfully, and Plunder her of no more but all. Mistris Urrey presently gives notice to her Husband what measure she found in the City, while he was in their Service in the Coun­try: the Colonel, upon the Information hastens to London, to expostulate for this Injury, and for redress, complains to the House against the Ring-leader Brown, and Rout-master little Isaac: upon hearing both Parties, the House quits Colonel Ur­rey from any conspiracy with my Lord Grandison, or connivance at his escape: and for reparation of his Losses, they order him 400 l. to be paid him out of the Monies collected the last Fast-day for the Plundered Ministers, who by this means were Plundered twice: and so one Order begetting an­other, they Order, That a new Collection shall be made for the Petitioners the next Fast-day: nor was this the first Debt by many that have been paid by [Page 91] the abused Charity of London, the great Tax-bearing Mule, as one justly calls it.

There is one Beale dwelling at Hasely (as I take it) in Oxfordshire: a Man much devoted to the Pro­ceedings of the two Houses of Parliament, yet it was his chance to fall into their hands who weaken the wicked: some of the Rebels under the command of the Earl of Essex, Plundered him of two Horses: upon complaint made unto the Earl, he gives Beale command to attend him at Tame, and there he should have them again: according to the dire­ctions given him by the Earl (accompanied by his Brother) he comes to Tame, hoping to have his Horses restored; being come thither, Beale is appre­hended and committed to Prison; and his Horse, together with that which his Brother rode on, are both seized for the Earls use; nor can either Man or Horse be released, unless he will pay down twenty pound in ready mony: Having continued in Prison four days, at last his Mother (for fear if she had rode she might have been Prisoner for her Horses sake, as her Son was) comes to Tame on foot, and brings twenty pound with her to re­deem her Son out of Prison; upon receipt of the Money, being a Debt so justly due and so truly paid, his Excellency released him out of his Im­prisonment, and restored him the two worst Horses of the four, and wisely kept the two best for him­self, which with a very little help, may serve to ex­plain the mystery of his Motto, CAVE ADSUM, i.e. where I come, look well to your Money and Horses.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
IX.

WHen I first entred on this Work, it was a promise solemnly made, not to abuse the World with Falshoods or Uncertainties, but to use all Candour and Ingenuity: and if any thing should chance to pass, which upon better information should appear false, I should not blush to make a free and an ingenuous acknowledgment. In these several Relations what to retract or recal of the Rebels Cruelties, I yet know nothing, but what to add unto them I do.

The sixth Weeks Mercury told you of the Plun­dering of Wellingborow in Northampton-shire by the Rebels, and the taking of Mr. Jones Vicar of that Town, Prisoner; and in that account which I there gave of him, I left him in Captivity at Northampton: since that Mercury went abroad, some good Body finding that Relation to come far short of that bar­barous usage which Mr. Jones found from the Re­bels, moved either with detestation of such inhu­mane Cruelty, not to be buryed in Oblivion, or out of affection to his Person murdered by these savage [Page 93] Monsters, hath supplied the former defect, and en­abled me to bring this Story to its sad conclusion-

Master Jones was a man very aged, being ar­rived at that Term which Moses made the usual boundary of mans life in his time, Threescore and ten; and had not these blood-thirsty men short­ned his dayes by an untimely death, he might have been so strong as to come to fourscore years: And though age it self be a disease (which yet few men that have it are willing to be cured of) it pleased God to add a casual infirmity to his natural; for some two years since by a fall he unhappily broke his leg, of which he continued lame to his death. When the Rebels, those Lo­custs that devour all the good things of the Land, came to Wellingborow, having ransacked the Town, they took many Prisoners, and amongst the rest Master Jones: all that knew him must bear him record, that he was a man of a most unblamable life and conversation, an able Scholar, and extra­ordinarily gifted for Preaching, of which he gave ample proof by his Labours diligently bestowed a­mong his Parishoners by the space of Forty years: having him in their power whom they knew to be a great means by his Orthodox Preaching to keep that Town, and some parts thereabouts in obedi­ence, when the rest of the Country were in Re­bellion against their Sovereign, they neither re­verence his calling, nor honour his age, nor pity his infirmity, but abuse him by scoffs and jeers, and compel him to go on foot a great part of the way (lame and weak as he was) between Wellingborow and Northampton: and that he might keep pace with the rest, they compel him to make more speed than his infirmity could brook. At Wellingborow [Page 94] the Rebels murthered a Barber and stole away his Bear; and when they could not force this reve­rend old man to mend his pace, Lieutenant Grimes (a desperate Brownist, the Master of this misrule, and the chief agent in inflicting all this scorn and tyranny on Master Jones, but since a Prisoner in Banbury Castle) to see if fear would add to his strength, forceth the Bear upon him, which run­ning between his legs, took him upon her back, and laying aside the untractableness of its Nature, grew patient of her burthen; and to the astonish­ment of the beholders carried him quietly, so that what was intended as a violence, became his ease. The Rebels overcome by so unusual an example of kindness, the savage Bear reproving the madness of their fury, they remove Master Jones from off the Bear to a Horse, but such a Horse as did but vary, not better the condition of his Transporta­tion. One of the rout observed to be extreamly active in all these insolencies, and to have a hand in murthering the Barber, seing the tameness of the Bear, as quiet under Master Jones, as if she had been accustomed to the Saddle, presumes that it was no more but up and ride, and presently be­strides the Bear, who as if she had been of that race that did revenge the Prophet Elisha's quarrel, dismounts the bold Rider, and as if she had been robbed of her Whelps, did so mangle, rend, and tear him with her teeth and pawes, that the pre­sumptuous Wretch died of these hurts suddenly af­ter.

Stay, Reader, suspend thy opinion, be not too hasty, I profess ingenuously the relation seems at first blush to partake something of the Romanse, or at best to be but an imitation of some Popish [Page 95] Legend, as if we meant to implore the help of feigned miracles to gain credit to a party: but a­gainst all this prejudice I must oppose, first, the integrity and quality of the Relator, being beyond all exception, and affirms it on his credit. Se­condly, why may not God stop and open the mouth of the Bear now as well as the Lions heretofore? or revenge the indignities offered to a Minister under the Gospel, by the same creature, as those offered to a Prophet under the Law? Or lastly, why may not the blood of him that owned this Beast, be required by this Beast of him that had his hand in shedding it? This was not the first time that God gave commission to the Brute to execute his vengeance. But I forget my self; my business is to relate things done, not to encoun­ter Objections against their probability of doing. To go on therefore.

Having brought Mr. Jones to Northampton, his entertainment there was as bad as his usage in the way thither; though it were in the depth of Win­ter, when old age needed good fortifications of Lodging and Diet against the incursions of cold and wet, yet they afforded him nothing but a hard mat, with a little straw under him, and to cover him and to keep him warm nothing but one blan­ket, and his own wearing cloaths: As for his food, they give him the Bread of Affliction, denying his own friends leave to supply him with competent diet, to sustein nature, and his growing infirmi­ties: yet to shew that Man lives not by bread only, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God, it pleased his good providence to preserve him like the young Children in Daniel, fed only with Pulse, so that he was in good plight, and semed [Page 96] to want nothing, though he continued in this di­stressed condition from Christmas to almost Easter: about which time, not remorse of conscience for so much cruelty practised on a decrepid old man, (but an Orthodox Reverend Divine) but impor­tunity of friends, prevailed with the Rebels to re­lease him of his imprisonment in Northampton, and to remit him to a neighbour Minister of his, one Mr. Walters, Bachelor in Divinity, Vicar of Dod­dington near Wellingborow, a very learned and in­dustrious Preacher, and permitted him to Offici­ate in his own Cure at Easter, there being but one Parish Church in the Town, but no less than two thousand Communicants. Having licence to visit his Charge, not awed by that tyrannous u­sage which he had undergone, Conscience of his duty doth press him to a punctual observance of the Orders and Canons of the Church: he ce­lebrates Divine Service according to the Book of Common Prayer; preacheth Obedience as bold­ly as if there had been no Rebels in Northamp­tonshire, administreth the Sacraments with the same Reverence, Decency and Devotion, as if there had been no Puritans in Wellingborow. Nor doth the undaunted old man remit any thing enjoyned by Canon or Rubrick. This constancy of his so in­censed the Schismatical Puritanical Party of the Town, that complaint is made at Northampton, that Mr. Jones is the same man he was, as much a true Son and Minister of the Church of England as ever. Upon this information, he is apprehend­ed in Easter week, and carried Prisoner to North­ampton a second time, where they use him with more inhumanity (if it be possible) than before; they will not permit his Wife to visit him and [Page 97] kept him so short in his diet, not suffering his Wife or friends to relieve him, that most barbarously they starved him to death, for about Whitsontide his spirits exhausted, and his body pined by fa­mine, the good old Martyr resigned his Soul to God.

There is in Northampton one John Gifford, for his extraction the Hog-herds Son of Little-Houg­ton, for his education, a Knitter, afterwards a Hose-buyer, now Mayor of Northampton, and Colonel of the Town Regiment. This man to his power Ci­vil and Martial assumes an Ecclesiastical Super­intendency too, and orders what forms shall be used in Baptism, the Lords Supper, Burial of the Dead, and the like: When therefore they came to interr the skin and bones of this starved Mar­tyr, for flesh he had none, the form enjoyned by this Gifford was the same which one Brooks, a Lon­don Lecturer, used at the burial of John Gough of S. James Dukes Place within Aldgate in London, viz.

The World may in this see what devout Li­turgies we are like to have, when a Mayor of a Town shall suppress the Ancient pious forms, and introduce rime Doggerels, fitter for a painted Cloth in an Alehouse, than the Church of Christ.

Before I leave this particular Relation, I must not forget to tell you one act of these Religious Reformers: being at Willingborow at the Sign of the Swan, two maid Servants making a bed, some of these Rebels did sollicite them to incontinen­cy, but the Maids refusing to hearken to their [Page 98] beastly sollicitations, they began to offer violence, and to enforce what they could not perswade, they still making resistance, they shot one of them dead in the place, and shot the other through the wrist: such Monuments of Religion and Purity do these blessed Reformers leave at all places where they come.

Mr. Frederick Gibb Parson of Hartist in Suffolke, in Morning Prayer before his Sermon, desired his Parishoners to give attention to one of His Maje­sties Declarations newly set forth, with an express Command to have it published in all Parish Church­es, thereby to rectifie the People, and to wipe off those false Impressions which the Incendiaries of the Kingdom had made in them concerning the Kings Actions and Intentions: whereupon one Mr. Coleman a Parishioner being present, impudent­ly replied unto him, openly in the Church, that he might be ashamed to abuse the People by Read­ing his Majesties Declarations unto them, and there­fore he would fetch him some Parliament Decla­rations which were a great deal better to be pub­lished unto them; while this railing Rabshekeh re­viled his Sovereign, Mr. Gibb as if he had receiv­ed the Command in that case given, answer him not, made no reply at all, but as not heeding this snarler, calls on the Congregation a second time to give attention, Coleman interrupts him again, and in a scoffing manner saies, Well then Sir, you mean to be an obedient Servant to his Majesty, Mr. Gibb then thinking it not only seasonable but necessary to profess his Loyalty, replied, Yes, Sir, I am and hope to continue a faithful Servant unto Him as long as I live: and so proceeds to read the Declaration; the People notwithstanding all this Incouragement [Page 99] from Coleman to contradict with them, standing very attentive to hear it: The main drift of the Kings Declaration was to assure all His loving Subjects, That as He expected that they should make the Laws the rule of their obedience, so He would make the Laws the guide of His Govern­ment: Mr. Gibb having published the Declaration, Coleman stands up and most Traitorously replied to his Parson, Well, Sir, the King neither is nor shall be Judge of the Law, whatever such prating fellows as you would have him: after this being inraged (as the rest of that Faction are) that the Peoples eyes should be opened, or that they should, being truly informed, conceive of the King as he is, a most just and pious Prince, but still to look on him and all his actions through those false Perspectives of slander and falsehood which they hold before their eyes; Coleman speeds to London, and com­plains (to that Conventicle which call themselves a Parliament) against Mr. Gibb for so foul an Affront put upon them by Publishing the Kings Declaration: presently (being servilely Observant to every base informer) they dispatch several Pur­sevants to apprehend Mr. Gibb, he seeing the Storm coming (as wise men do) hides himself, after some time of retirement (advised unto it by his friend) he goes to London, where by the great mediati­on of friends, and paying fees to the sum of 30 l. he was dismissed, upon engagement to be forth­coming, whensoever they should call for him.

There is none so insolent and intolerable as a base mean man started up into command or autho­rity, we cannot give you a greater instance, than in that beggarly Captain Ven, Citizen of London made Colonel and Commander in chief of Windsor-Castle, [Page 100] who doth not only assume to himself the propriety of his Sovereigns house, dating his Let­ters to Jezabel his Wife, From our Castle at Windsor, and building some additions to the Deans lodg­ings, as if he meant to set up his rest there, and make that his habitation: when no place in that Royal Castle is fit for such a Couple but the Cole-house, and even that too good for them; but as if there would never come a time to call him to an account, he doth use the Gentlemen and Sol­diers taken by the Rebels, and sent Prisoners thi­ther, with that cruelty and inhumanity, as if they were Turks, not Christians, for the Gentlemen that are Prisoners there are not only kept from Church, nor permitted to receive the Sacrament neither from their own Preachers, nor from any friend whom they could procure to do that office for them, nay they were not permitted to joyn together in de­votions in their private lodgings, but each man a part, and if this petty Tyrant could have hindred that intercourse which every particular devout Soul injoys with his God, this Atheist would have hin­dered that too. And because the sedentary Soli­tary Lives which they led there were prejudicial to their healths, they earnestly entreated Ven that they might recreate themselves in the Tennis-Court near the Keep, and offered to be at the charges of a Guard, if those high walls, and the many guards about them were not thought sufficient to secure them, but yet were denied. Nay, when the Sheriff of Sus­sex was brought Prisoner from London to Windsor very lame, though his Chirurgion offered Colo­nel Ven to be deposed, that on the least neglect his Leg was like to gangreen, yet after he came to Windsor, he was forced to lie with the rest of the [Page 101] Knights and Gentlemen on the ground many nights; at last shewing his leg to Ven, he confessed that he never saw a more dangerous lameness, and pro­mised to acquaint the Earl of Essex with it: and the Sheriff himself being acquainted with the Earl, pre­suming on some interest in him, wrote unto him to acquaint him with his condition, and earnestly en­treating him that he might be sent to London, and disposed of, though in a Dungeon, for a week, that he might have the assistance of his own Phy­sitian, and Chirurgion, offering to give any securi­ty, and be at any charges to assure him of his safe return, to render himself true Prisoner; but neither the sense of his misery, nor his earnest sollicitations could prevail with his Excellency. And if the Knights and Gentlemen who had money to bribe that com­passion which they could not intreat, found no bet­ter measure at their hands, what then, think you, were those heavy pressures under which the poor common Soldiers groaned? there were in the Ca­stle eight poor Soldiers to whom the Sheriff of Sus­sex allowed eight shillings a week: yet notwith­standing because they refused to take the wages of Iniquity, and serve under the Rebels Colours, and fight against their Sovereign, they starved them, in­somuch that being released, (that they might not die in the Castle) coming into the air, three of them fell down dead in the streets: three more recovered as far as Eaton, where a good Woman for five shillings a week given for their relief by the Sheriff of Sussex, gave them entertainment, and when the Sheriff made his happy escape, he left them alive.

There was a poor man living near Moore Park, whom (when Prince Rupert was in those parts) [Page 102] commanded to shew him where the Pipes lay which conveyed water to the Castle, for this crime they apprehend him, and commit him Prisoner to the Castle, where they fed him with so slender diet, that they even starved him: and when upon his Wives tears and lamentable cries that she and her Children were like to starve at home, while her Husband starved at Windsor, they having no subsi­stence but what he got by the sweat of his browes, he was released, he was not able to stand on his legs, and whether dead since we have no infor­mation.

There was at the same time in the Castle, one Lieutenant Atkinson Prisoner, who suffering under the same want of necessary food, sent to his Father, humbly petitioning for relief; his Father though a man of good estate, returned answer, that un­less he would take profered Entertainment from the Parliament, he should lie there, rot, and starve, and be damn'd for him: He finding no pity from his Father, where Nature and Religion bade him expect it, petitioned the Gentlemen in the Keep for bread, as many others daily did, and on his Petiti­on had monies sent him, but died starved two daies after, and left this just ground to the World to make this Observation, That where Puritanism prevails, it cancels all Obligations both of Religion and Nature, and never fails to make men guilty of that sin which is in the number of those, which the Scripture tells us shall heap wrath on the end of the World, the want of natu­ral affection.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
X.

WIlliam Chaldwell of Thorgonby in the Coun­ty of Lincoln Esquire, and Justice of Peace, being an aged Gentleman, yet his Loyalty and desire to serve the King in his just Wars, made him over-look his infirmities, so that he resolved in person to come to his assistance: To this pur­pose he provided four horses compleatly furnish­ed, of which the Rebels having intelligence, they surprize him and seize on his horses. In February 1643. some Rebel-Troopers came to Mr. Chaldwells House and demanded entrance, which he deny­ing unless they could shew some Commission from the King, they presently broke up his Hall win­dows, and forcing his entrance, apprehend his Person: yet his Person is not all they come for, they begin to plunder his Goods, and the first thing which they lay hold on, was some Linnen lying on the Hall Table. A Servant of Mr. Chaldwells stand­ing by, unwilling to lose any thing, if it might be saved, takes hold on the Linnen too, and in­treats the Troopers to spare it: Presently some [Page 104] cry out Shoot him, which was no sooner said than done, for one dscharging a Pistol at him, shot a Bullet into his heart, and the top of his scour­ing-stick into his Body near it. The poor man instantly fell down dead, hardly by any motion expressing the fare-well of life: While most stood amazed at so barbarous an act, some make to­wards him, thinking to help him, but were forbid by these bloody Villains to come near him, who were so far from remorse for what they had done, that tomurther they added Theft, diving into the Pockets of him whom they had thus murthered, and robbing him of his moneys: Nay his Wife whom they had murthered, hearing of this sad ac­cident, being great with child, came to see her dead Husband, but was not permitted to come near him, being threatned by these Troopers, that if she came near him, they would do unto her as they had done unto her Husband, shoot her dead.

Having done their pleasure in Mr. Chaldwell's House, they carry him away Prisoner to Lincoln; Being come thither, they commit him to the Town Goal, and lodged him there in the common Keep amongst Murtherers and Felons: The day after the Lincoln-shire Rebels received the defeat before Newarke, by a verbal command from the Earl of Lincolne he was removed from the Town Prison to the Castle, in Lincolne, where he was put into a nasty stinking place called the Witch-hole, and without any regard to his Quality, being a Gentle­man of prime note in his Country, or to his age being an old man, they permit him to stay there all night, having no other bed but the Ground, and no other pillow but the hard stones. The next day they vouchsafe him the favour to let him pur­chase [Page 105] a little and but a very little better accommo­dation by buying out some poor Prisoners out of their lodging: remaining there in this disconsolate condition, his Wife an aged Gentlewoman came to visit him, being very willing to share with him in his Misery, as before she had done in his Prosperity.

Having spent some time in mutual consolation, and exhorting one another patiently to bear this unjust oppression, hoping that they might enjoy one anothers society, in so mean a condition, without the envy of their oppressors: but even this contented misery did not last long, for the next day after the Rebels lost Grantham by the Kings recovering that Town, out of their posses­sion, the Governour of Lincoln (Welden by name) inraged, and not knowing where to reek his malice safer than on this poor old Gentleman, comes up to the Castle, and most imperiously com­mands that Chaldwell should come before him: the Messenger that was sent to command his appear­ance, returned with this answer, That Mr. Chald­well laboured under some indisposition, that he was in bed, and his Wife with him: the Gover­nour not satisfied with so reasonable an answer, snatched a cudgel out of a Soldiers hand, and swears that he would make the old rascal rise: in this fu­ry away he goes to Mr. Chaldwell's Chamber, and rushing in, in a menacing way shakes his cud­gel at him, and holding it upon his head, threatned to bastinado him if he did not rise presently; the good old Gentlewoman his Wife, prognosticating by the rough message sent her Husband, that there was a storm coming, forsook her bed, and stood by it in her Night-gown, but bare-legged, there to interpose and plead for her Husband if occa­sion [Page 106] served: and now finding more inhumanity than her fear at first suggested, in an humble manner she beseeched the Governour to use her Husband like a Gentleman, not like a dog, to be awed by a cudgel. The Goververnour impati­ent of any mediation, though from a Wife, and though backed with never so much reason, com­mands his Soldiers to take her away, which they did in so rude and boisterous a manner, that they dragged her down the Stairs, pulled her dressing off her head, and at last thrust her out of the Castle. Being thus violently snatched from her dear Husband, and fearing he might suffer as much violence within, as she did in being thrust out of the Castle, she sits down on a stone at the Castle­gate, where the winter blasts fann'd her gray hair, a sad spectacle to all that passed by, and knew who she was. Many there were that pitied her distress, and would willingly have received her into their houses, but durst not; 'tis a Crime to shew mercy where the Rebels intend cruelty. At last having sate there long, full of tears and sor­row, baffled with cold winds and weather, a sister of Mr. Stutts the Apothecary (and the God of mercy restore it an hundred fold into her bosome) sends her a Petticoat (for they thrust her out with no cloaths on but her Night-gown) to fence her against the extremity of the cold. But to let this charitable Gentlewoman know that the rewards of mercy are to be expected in another World, and that here to do good, and for that to suffer evil, is the recompence of this World, that very after-noon her Brothers house was plundered, and all their Goods seized on, so that they needed a return of that compassion in the evening which [Page 107] they shewed to others in the morning. Welden the Governour having compelled the good old Gentleman to rise out of his bed, notwithstand­ing his present infirmity, sends him from his poor lodging which he had lately purchased, to the common Dungeon, where he had neither light nor air but what the Grate afforded. The place was of such condition, that there being three Pri­soners with him in the same room, but one of four must lie down at once, the rest must stand: and yet in this little ease (as was testified by a Letter under his own hand) he remained eleven or twelve nights without Bed, Chair, or Stool: and in that time, for four or five nights, he was not permitted to go forth to do the Offices of nature, a command being given, that if he offered to stir forth they should beat out his brains. Thus much and di­vers other particulars were signified to the Com­missioners at Newarke, when the Ammunition came from thence: At which time Information was given, that Mr. Chaldwell was then in a con­dition not much better than what you have heard here related: and whether their barbarous cruel­ties and inhumanity have not set an end to his sufferings by Death, is uncertain.

On Sunday the second of July 1643. in the af­ternoon, ten or twelve Troopers under the com­mand of Captain Samuel came from Northampton to Wedon Pinkney in the same County, and com­ing thither in Prayer-time, they came into the Church, one of them being Horse-keeper (as it was reported) to Sir Richard Samuel, Father to the Captain, came up to the reading Pew, where Mr. Losse Parson of that Parish was officiating Di­vine Service, and commanded him to leave off [Page 108] his Pottage and to follow him: Mr. Losse intreat­ing him in that sacred work, but to have patience until he had finished what he had began: Patience me no patience (replied the Groom) my business is of greater importance than to admit of any delay, come away therefore, or I will pull you out by the ears: thereupon not knowing whose Soldiers they were, nor of what consequence their business might be, or if he had known both, yet not able to make resistance, he obeys his command, and followed him into the Church-yard. Being come thither, Mr. Losse demands what he would have with him? the Groom tells him, that he must go along with them to Northampton, Mr. Losse demands again, by what authority, and by vertue of what Commis­sion? The Groom replies, that he should know that when he came to Northampton. Mr. Losse en­treats that he may be excused, alledging that he had lost Twelve or Thirteen Horses, taken from him by the Parliament Soldiers, and that he had never a Horse able to carry him two miles out of the Town: one of the Troopers swears Wounds and Blood, that he would carry him behind him, and if that did not like him, he would drag him along with a halter at his horse tail. Mr. Losse abominating so great insolency from Grooms, bold­ly told them, That he would never be a Slave to slaves; and so rushing from them, took Sanctuary in the Church, and shut the door upon him, and perceiving the door on the other side of the Church open, the People having unbarred it for their speedier passage out, he hastens thither, and tho he made what speed he could, he was like to be prevented by one of the Troopers who was come about and was ready to enter the Church on horse­back: [Page 109] which Mr. Losse observing, took up the bar of the door, and resolutely ran at the Trooper to unhorse him: This unexpected resistance so valiant­ly made, put the Trooper to a retreat, whereby Mr. Losse gained time to bar the door fast against him. Having shut both the Church doors upon himself, and the remainder of the Congregation, some being fled for fear; the Clerk at a hole gave him the Key of the Belfrey: Mr. Losse not think­ing himself secure enough in the Church, gets up into the Belfrey, and locks the doors fast after him; being come to the place where the Bells hang, he discovers over head a little hole, only big enough for a man to creep through, and a ladder stand­ing there which led up unto it, Mr. Losse goes up the ladder, and through the hole gets upon the Leads, and with great difficulty draws the Ladder after him, being massy and very heavy; by which means he did not only deprive his pursuers of the means to come at him, but with the Ladder laid over the hole, baracadoed the passage against them: and now being here, had he had any wea­pon to defend himself, he had been impregnable. While Mr. Losse was up in the Belfrey securing of himself, the Troopers are at the Church windows, endeavouring to wrench out the Iron bars, but without any success: at last with their Pole-axes and great Tombstones impiously taken from the Graves of the dead, they break open the Church doors; having thus forced their entrance they ride into the Church (not remembring they were in Gods House) from one end of it to another, spur­ring and switching their Horses purposely to en­danger the People. These barbarous outrages did much affright the People, but especially Mrs. Losse [Page 110] and her poor Children, whom it most concerned, Mr. Losse being the only man aimed at; Mrs. Losse fell into a swoon in the Church, and had no shew of life in her for a long time; at which the Peo­ple moved with compassion, interceded with the Troopers, and desired them to desist, putting them in mind of the place where they were, a place where God met with his People, and they with their God. It seems this Congregation had been better taught, than to subscribe to Doctor Twist the Proloquutor of the absurd Heterogenious Synod, his Interpretation of that Text of Scripture, Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary▪ in his Preface to Mr. Meads Book of the Apostacy of the latter times: as if this Text enjoyned no reve­rence to be used towards the places of Gods pub­lick worship; they were much scandalized at this prophane Irreverence, and made it an argument to awe them to civil demeanour at least, because of the place: and withal they objected, that they did much abuse themselves, and dishonour their cause by such outragious carriages: all this would reflect on the cause they pretended to maintain. And lastly, they alledged, that if they had any shame in them, they might be ashamed, in the Lords House on the Lords day to abuse a Mi­nister in his own Congregation, who besides the honour and reverence due to his calling, might challenge some respect from them being a Gentle­man of good Birth and Descent. In reply to so good reason, (being indeed but Pearl cast before Swine) one breaks out with a great oath, swearing Wounds and Blood (so that all the Blasphe­my is not on the Cavaliers side) and saying, What do you tell me of Birth and Descent, a Plague take him [Page 111] and his Gentility, I hope within this year to see never a Gentleman in England: you remember the Pro­verb, Children and Fools tell truth, having thus des­pised all wholsome admonition, they go to the Bel­frey, they break open the door, and come to the place where the Bells did hang, and from the top of the Frames of the Bells endeavoured through the hole (but now mentioned) to get upon the Leads, where Mr. Losse was, but he having stop­ped that passage with the Ladder, and making the best use he could of his hands and feet (be­ing all the weapons either offensive or defensive which he had) made good the place against them: yet notwithstanding in the Resistence he was in very great danger to lose his life, for they dischar­ged their Pistols at him at least eight or nine times, but by the good providence of God they missed their mark, with their Swords they wounded him in three several parts of his body: yet God be blessed the wounds were not mortal; at last hav­ing received a hurt in his hand, having a vein prick­ed with one of their Swords, his blood flowed so fast upon the Troopers underneath him, that as they bragged there, and in other places after they were gone thence, they thought they had dispatched him, and therefore thinking him to be a dead man, they left him, yet to imbalm him to his funeral, they pour out a flood of reproachful names upon him, calling him Rogue, Rascal, Slave, Villain, Dog, Devil, making no stop till their Master the Devil, and their own memories could suggest no more names of the same stamp: At last, to seal up all, for fear they had not murthered him, they protest with many Execrations upon themselves, that if they had not now sped him (which yet they [Page 112] hoped they had) they would return another time, and have him either dead or alive.

At Bristow in Devonshire there dwells a Husband­man (and though I cannot tell his name, yet let it not weaken the credit of the Relation) who not satisfied with the Parliaments proceedings in taking up Arms against their lawful undoubted Sovereign, stood in a seeming Neutrality: at last conceiving it time to declare himself, he openly adhered to the Kings Party: hereupon he was very diligently sought after, and the Earl of Stam­ford sent a Troop of Horse to his House to ap­prehend him: when they came thither, they found not the good man at home, but a Son of his, about Ten or Eleven years old, they ask him where his Father was, the Child replied, that he was not at home, they threaten him, and use all arts to make him discover where his Father had hid himself; the Child being ignorant it seems where his Father was, still persisted in the same answer, that he knew not where he was: hereupon they threaten to hang him; neither doth that prevail: at last they take the poor innocent Child and hang him up, either because he would not betray his Father, had he been able to satisfie their doubt, or for not having the Spirit of Prophecy, not being able to receive what by an ordinary way of knowledg he did not know: having let him hang a while, they cut him down, not intending to hang him unto death, but being cut down they could perceive no­thing discovering life in him, hereupon in a barba­rous way of experiment, they prick him with their Swords in the back and thighs, using the means leading to death, to find out life: at last after some long stay, some small symptomes of life did ap­pear: [Page 113] yet so weak that there they left him nearer the confines of death than life: and whether the Child did ever recover, is more than my Informer can as­sure me. Only, Courteous Reader, observe from this short Narration, that these Bloody Rebels spare neither the venerableness of the Sacred Fun­ction, the infirmities of old Age, or the tenderness of Youth.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
XI.

THere is in the Isle of Purbeck a strong Castle called Corffe Castle, seated on a very steep Hill, in the fracture of a Hill in the very midst of it, being eight miles in length, running from the East end of the Peninsula to the West: and though it stand between the two ends of this fracture, so that it may seem to lose much advantage of its natural and artificial strength as commanded from thence, being in height equal to, if not over-look­ing the tops of the highest Towers of the Castle, yet the structure of the Castle is so strong, the ascent so steep, the Walls so massie and thick, that it is one of the impregnablest Forts of the King­dom, and of very great concernment, in respect [Page 114] of its command over the Island, and the places a­bout it. This Castle is now the Possession and In­heritance of the Right Honorable Sir John Banks, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and one of his Majesties most Honorable Privy Council, who receiving Commands from the King to attend Him at York, in Easter Term, 1642. had leave from the two Houses to obey those Commands: After the unhappy Differences between the King and the two Houses, or rather between the King and the Faction in both Houses, grew high, it being ge­nerally feared that the Sword would decide the con­troversie; the Lady Bankes, a virtuous and pru­dent Lady, resolved with her Children and Family to retire to this Castle, there to shelter themselves from the storm which she saw coming, which ac­cordingly she did; there she and her Family remain­ed in peace all the Winter, and a great part of the Spring, until May, 1643. about which time the Rebels, under the command of Sir Walter Earl, Sir Thomas Trenchard, and others, had possessed themselves of Dorchaster, Lyme, Melcome, Weymouth, Wareham, and Pool, (Portland Castle being treacher­ously delivered to the Rebels) only Corfe Castle remaining in Obedience to the King: but the Re­bels knowing how much it concerned them to add this Castle to their other Garrisons, to make all the Sea-coast wholly for them; and thinking it more feisible to gain it by Treachery than o­pen Hostility, resolved to lay hold on an Oppor­tunity coming on, to see if they could become Ma­sters of it.

There is an ancient usage that the Major and Barons (as they call them) of Corfe Castle, accom­panyed by the Gentry of the Island, have permissi­on [Page 115] from the Lord of the Castle, on May-day, to course a Stag, which every year is performed with much Solemnity and great concourse of People: On this day some Troops of Horse from Dorchester, and other places, came into this Island, intending to find other Game then to hunt the Stag, their bu­siness being suddenly to surprize the Gentlemen in the Hunting, and to take the Castle; the News of their coming disperst the Hunters, and spoiled the sport for that day, and made the Lady Bankes to give order for the safe Custody of the Castle-gates, and to keep them shut against all comers. The Troopers having mist their Prey on the Hills, (the Gentlemen having withdrawn themselves) some of them came to the Castle under a pretence to see it, but entrance being denyed them, the common Soldiers used threatning Language, casting out words implying some intentions to take the Castle; but the Commanders (who better knew how to conceal their Resolutions) utterly disavowed any such thought, denying that they had any such Commission; however the Lady Banks very wise­ly, and like her self, hence took occasion to call in a Guard to assist her, not knowing how soon she might have occasion to make use of them, it be­ing now more than probable, that the Rebels had a design upon the Castle. The taking in this Guard, as it secured her at home, so it rendred her suspected abroad; from thence-forward there was a watchful and vigilant eye to survey all her Actions, whatso­ever she sends out, or sends for in, is suspected; her ordinary Provisions for her Family are by fame multiplyed, and reported to be more than double what indeed they were, as if she had now an in­tention to Victual and Man the Castle against the [Page 116] Forces of the two Houses of Parliament; present­ly Letters are sent from the Committees of Poole, to demand the four small Pieces in the Castle, and the pretence was, because the Islanders conceived strange Jealousies, that the Pieces were mounted and put on their Carriages: Hereupon the Lady Bankes dispatched Messengers to Dorchester and Poole, to entreat the Commissioners that the small Piece might remain in the Castle for her own de­fence; and to take away the ground of the Islan­ders Jealousies, she caused the Pieces to be taken off their Carriages again; hereupon a promise was made, that they should be left to her possession. But there passed not many days, before forty Sea-men (they in the Castle not suspecting any such thing) came very early in the Morning to demand the Pieces; the Lady in Person (early as it was) goes to the Gates, and desires to see their Warrant; they produced one, under the hands of some of the Commissioners; but instead of delivering them, though at that time there were but five Men in the Castle, yet these five, assisted by the Maid-servants at their Ladies Command, mount these Pieces on their Carriages again, and lading one of them, they gave fire; which small Thunder so affrighted the Sea-men, that they all quitted the place and ran away. They being gone, by beat of Drum she summons help into the Castle, and upon the Alarm given, a very considerable Guard of Tenants and Friends came in to her assistance, there being with­al some fifty Arms brought into the Castle, from several parts of the Island: this Guard was kept in the Castle about a Week, during this time, many threatning Letters were sent unto the Lady, telling her, what great Forces should be sent to [Page 117] fetch them, if she would not by fair means be per­swaded to deliver them, and to deprive her of her Auxiliaries, all or most of them being Neighbors thereabouts, they threaten, that if they oppose the delivery of them, they would fire their Houses: presently their Wives come to the Castle, there they weep and wring their hands, and with clamor­ous Oratory perswade their Husbands to come home, and not by saving others, to expose their own Houses to spoil and ruine, nay to reduce the Castle into a distressed condition, they did not on­ly intercept two hundred weight of Powder provi­ded against a Siege, but they interdict them the li­berty of Common-Markets: Proclamation is made at Warham (a Market-Town hard by) that no Beer, Beef, or other provision should be sold to the Lady Banks, or for her use; strict Watches are kept, that no Messenger or Intelligence shall pass into or out of the Castle. Being thus distressed, all means of Victualling the Castle, being taken away, and being but slenderly furnished for a Siege, either with Ammunition or with Victual, at last they came to a Treaty of Composition, of which the result was, That the Lady Banks should deliver up those four small Pieces, the biggest carrying not above a three pound Bullet, and that the Rebels should permit her to enjoy the Castle, and Arms in it, in peace and quietness.

And though this wise Lady knew too well to rest satisfied or secured in these promises (their often breach of Faith having sufficiently instructed her what she might expect from them) yet she was glad of this opportunity to strengthen her self even by that means, by which many in the World thought she had done her self much prejudice; for [Page 118] the Rebels being now possessed of their Guns, pre­sumed the Castle to be theirs, as sure as if they had actually possessed it. Now it was no more but ask and have: hereupon they grow remiss in their Watches, negligent in their Observations, not heed­ing what was brought in, nor taking care, as be­fore, to intercept Supplies, which might enable them to hold out against a Siege: and the Lady, making good use of this remisness, laid hold on the present opportunity, and as much as the time would permit, furnish'd the Castle with Provisions of all sorts. In this Interval, there was brought in an hundred and half of Powder, and a quantity of Match proportionable. And understanding that the Kings Forces, under the Conduct of Prince Maurice, and the Marquess Hertford were advan­cing towards Blanford, she by her Messenger made her address to them, to signifie unto them the pre­sent Condition in which they were, the great Conse­quence of the place, desiring their assistance, and in particular, that they would be pleased to take in­to their serious consideration, to send some Com­manders thither to take the Charge of the Castle; hereupon they send Captain Laurence, son of Sir Edward Laurence, a Gentleman of that Island, to Command in Chief; but he coming without a Commission, could not command moneys or pro­visions to be brought in until it was too late. There was likewise in the Castle one Captain Bond, an old Soldier, whom I should deprive of his due honor, not to mention him, having a share in the honor of this Resistance. The first time the Re­bels faced the Castle, they brought a Body of be­tween two and three hundred Horse and Foot, and two Pieces of Ordnance, and from the Hills play­ed [Page 119] on the Castle, fired four houses in the Town, and then summoned the Castle; but receiving a de­nial for that time, they left it. But on the three and twentieth of June, the Sagacious Knight, Sir Walter Earle (that hath the gift of discerning Trea­sons, and might have made up his nine and thirty Treasons, forty, by reckoning in his own) ac­companyed by Captain Sidenham, Captain Henry Jarvis, Captain Skuts, son of that Arch-Traytor Skut of Pool, with a Body of between five and six hundred, came and possessed themselves of the Town, taking the opportunity of a Misty morn­ing, that they might find no resistance from the Castle. They brought with them to the Siege a Demy-Canon, a Culverin and two Sacres, with these and their small Shot, they played on the Ca­stle on all Quarters of it, with good observation of Advantages, making their Battery strongest where they thought the Castle weakest. And to bind the Soldiers by tye of Conscience to an eager prosecution of the Siege, they administer them an Oath, and mutually binde themselves to most un­christian Resolutions, That if they found the Defen­dants obstinate not to yield, they would maintain the Siege to Victory, and then deny Quarter unto all, kil­ling without mercy, Men, Women and Children. As to bring on their own Soldiers, they abused them with falshoods, telling them, That the Castle stood in a Level, yet with good advantages of approach; that there were but forty Men in the Castle, where­of twenty were for them; that there was rich Booty, and the like: So, during the Siege, they used all base unworthy means, to corrupt the De­fendants, to betray the Castle into their hands; the better sort they endeavor to corrupt with Bribes; [Page 120] to the rest they offer double Pay, and the whole Plunder of the Castle; when all these Arts took no effect, then they fall to Stratagems and En­gines. To make their approaches to the Wall with more safety, they make two Engines; one they call the Sow, the other the Boar, being made with boards lined with Wool to dead the shot. The first that moved forward was the Sow, but not being Musket proof, she cast nine of eleven of her Far­row; for the Musketiers from the Castle were so good marks-men at their Legs, the only part of all their Bodies left without defence, that nine ran a­way, as well as their broken and battered Legs would give them leave; and of the two which knew neither how to run away, nor well to stay, for fear, one was slain. The Boar, of the two (a man would think) the valianter Creature, seeing the ill success of the Sow, to cast her Litter before her time, durst not advance. The most advantageous part for their Batteries, was the Church, which they without fear of prophanation used, not only as their Rampart, but their Rendezvouz: of the Surpless they made two Shirts for two Soldiers, they broke down the Organs, and made the Pipes serve for Cases to hold their Powder and Shot; and not be­ing furnished with Musket-Bullets, they cut off the Lead of the Church, and roll'd it up, and shoot it without ever casting it in a mould. Sir Walter and the Commanders were earnest to press forward the Soldiers, but as prodigal as they were of the blood of their common Soldiers, they were sparing e­nough of their own: It was a general Observa­tion, that valiant Sir Walter never willingly ex­posed himself to any hazard, for being by chance endangered with a Bullet, shot through his Coat, [Page 121] afterwards he put on a Bears skin, and to the eter­nal honor of this Knights valour be it recorded, for fear of Musket-shot, (for other they had none) he was seen to creep on all four, on the sides of the Hill, to keep himself out of danger. This base Cowardise in the Assailants, added Courage and Resolution to the Defendants: therefore not com­pell'd by want, but rather to brave the Rebels, they sallyed out, and brought in eight Cows and a Bull into the Castle, without the loss of a Man, or a Man wounded. At another time, five Boys fetcht in four Cows. They that stood on the Hills, cal­led to one in a House in the Valley, crying, Shoot Anthony; but Anthony thought it good to sleep in a whole skin, and durst not look out, so that af­terward it grew into a Proverbial Jeer, from the Defendants to the Assailants, Shoot Anthony. The Rebels having spent much time and Ammunition, and some men, and yet being as far from hopes of taking the Castle, as the first day they came thither. At last, the Earl of Warwick sends them a supply of an hundred and fifty Mariners, with several Cart-loads of Petarrs, Granadoes, and o­ther Warlike Provision, with Scaling-ladders to assault the Castle by Scaladoe: They make large offers to him that should first scale the Wall; 20 l. to the first, and so by descending sums a reward to the twentieth; but all this could not prevail with these silly Wretches, who were brought thither, as themselves confessed, like Sheep to the slaughter, some of them having but exchang'd the manner of their death, the Halter for the Bullet, having taken them out of Goals; one of them being taken Prisoner, had Letters Testimonial in his hands whence he came, the Letters I mean when he [Page 122] was burnt for a Felon, being very visible to the be­holders, but when they found that perswasion could not prevail with such abject low spirited men, the Commanders resolve on another course, which was, to make them Drunk, knowing that Drunkenness makes some men fight like Lions, that being sober would run away like Hares. To this purpose they fill them with strong Waters, even to Madness, and ready they are now for any Design; and for fear Sir Walter should be valiant against his will, like Caesar, he was the only man almost that came sober to the assault: an imitation of the Turkish practice (for certainly there can be nothing of Christiani­ty in it, to send poor Souls to Gods Judgment Seat, in the very act of two grievous Sins, Rebellion and Drunkenness) who to stupifie their Soldiers, and make them insensible of their dangers, give them Opium: being now armed with drink, they resolve to storm the Castle on all sides, and apply their Scaling-ladders, it being ordered by the Leaders (if I may without a Solecism call them so, that stood behind and did not so much as follow) that when 20 were entered, they should give a watch-word to the rest, and that was Old Wat: a word ill chosen by Sir Watt. Earle, and considering the business in hand little better than ominous, for if I be not de­ceived, the Hunters that beat Bushes for the fearful timerous Hare, call him Old Watt.

Being now Pot-valiant, and possessed with a bor­rowed Courage, which was to evaporate in sleep, they divide their Forces into two Parties, whereof one assaults the middle Ward, defended by valiant Captain Lawrence, and the greater part of the Sol­diers; the other assault the upper Ward, which the Lady Bankes, (to her Eternal Honor be it spoken) [Page 123] with her Daughters, Women, and five Soldiers, under­took to make good against the Rebels, and did bravely perform what she undertook; for by hea­ving over Stones, and hot Embers, they repelled the Rebels, and kept them from climing their Ladders, thence to throw in that Wild-fire, which every Re­bel had ready in his hand. Being repelled, and ha­ving in this Siege and this Assault lost and hurt an hundred men, Old Sir Watt, hearing that the Kings Forces were advanced, cryed, and ran away crying, leaving Sydenham to Command in Chief, to bring off the Ordnance, Ammunition, and the remainder of the Army, who afraid to appear abroad, kept Sanctuary in the Church till night, meaning to Sup, and run away by Star-light; but Supper being rea­dy, and set on the Table, an Alarm was given that the Kings Forces were coming: this News took away Sydenhams Stomack; all this Provision was but messes of Meat set before the Sepulchres of the dead; he leaves his Artillery, Ammunition, and (which with these men is something) a good Sup­per, and ran away to take Boat for Poole, leaving likewise at the shore about an hundred Horse to the next Takers, which next day proved good prize to the Soldiers of the Castle. Thus after six Weeks strict Siege, this Castle, the desire of the Rebels, the Tears of Old Sir Watt, and the Key of those parts, by the Loyalty, and brave Resolution of this Ho­norable Lady, the valour of Captain Lawrence and some eighty Soldiers, (by the loss only of two men) was delivered from the Bloody Intentions of these Merciless Rebels, on the fourth of August, 1643.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
XII.

MAster Thomas Jones Bachelor in Divinity, and Rector of Offwel in the County of De­von, having discover'd that the right of Patronage of one of the cures of Tuifordton was in the Crown, and worth three hundred Pounds per annum, did in the pursuance of his Right, spend a Thousand Pounds to recover it from those, who account all lawful gain whatsoever they can purloin either from God or the King. The pretended Patrons who had inva­ded this Right, were much offended with Mr. Jones for being at so great expence to redeem the prey out of their hands, and did but watch an oppor­tunity to make him know how sensible they were of this their loss. This Parliament being called, and these men made Members of the Lower House, they quickly perceived that this wished-for oppor­tunity was now come, wherein they might per­vert publick Justice to private revenge, quickly learn­ing to exercise that Arbitrary unlimited power over [Page 125] their fellow Subjects, which the prevalence of a dangerous Faction had put in their hands. Ac­cording to the general practice since this Parlia­ment, they accuse Mr. Jones of some Anti-parli­amentary passages in his Sermons, which his Jud­ges understood as little as his Accusers: Nay per­haps it was with him (as with many of his Ortho­dox Brethren) the same men were both his Ac­cusers and Judges. However any or no accusation we know have served these mens turns, to bring Godly and Learned Ministers to the Bear-baiting of a Committee, and to put them into the expen­sive custody of a Serjeant at Arms: so it was with Mr. Jones, they first pretended some Crimes, and on these pretences they commit him Prisoner to a Serjeant at Arms. Having deprived him of his Liberty, and put him into a consumption of his Estate by the unreasonable unlimited exactions of Parliament Goalers, they then think him reduced to such a condition as to be willing to hearken to a Composition, on any terms. At last vexed to an agreement, he is to enjoy his Liberty and Peace on this mutual stipulation: They are to pardon him the errour of his Doctrine, to deliver up his bail, being with two Sureties Parliament men bound in a Bond of two thousand pounds, and to give two hundred pounds towards his charges. Mr. Jones must resign his lately recovered Cure of Tuifordton to make way for a Clerk of their own: which to avoid farther molestation, to his very great preju­dice, he was inforced to condescend unto. After, in September, 1642. Mr. Jones riding to Taunton in Somersetshire, accompanied by one of the Prince's Servants, who wore his Masters Colours, was for that reason, together with that Gentleman, imme­diately [Page 126] after his departure from thence, apprehend­ed, and like a Felon brought back to the Castle, where he remained Prisoner three weeks, and could not be released without the earnest solicitation of his friends, and his Wives humble and often petiti­oning the Earle of Bedford. In November last suf­fering under continual molestations, and out of all hope to live peaceably at home, he resolved to put himself under the protection of Sir Ralph Hop­tons Army then in Cornwal. To this purpose he fur­nished three Horses and Arms proportionable, and set forward to deliver them up to his Majesties ser­vice: but unhappily in the way thither he was in­tercepted by the Earl of Stamfords Forces, under the command of Captain Gould, taken Prisoner, robb'd to the value of 80 l. the Plunderers leaving him not so much as a boot to ride in. By these he is led Captive to Liskard in Cornwal, where they kept him three days, in which time he and another Minister with him, with his servant, had but one pint of Beer for their sustinence, being kept with­out either fire or light, and for one night had their hands bound behind them, and had been still kept in the like bondage, had not God in mercy res­cued them by Sir Ralph Hopton, after the famous Battle of Liskard: During the time of their im­prisonment, they offer them Conditions on which they may purchase their liberty; viz. to pay three hundred pound; to take an Oath never any more to assist the King with Horse, Arms, or Money: But being delivered on far better terms, he was not long after imprisoned for giving God publick thanks for his deliverance. Afterwards, seeing that Religion it self was but abused, being made the Cloak of these mens Hypocrisie and Treasons, and [Page 127] that they did fast but to strife and debate, he did not observe the Fast every last Wednesday in the Month, with that strict observation as was expected from him by that Faction; hereupon, some of them put him in mind of it: Good Friday coming on pre­sently, upon the last Wednesday in April he de­sired his Neighbours and Parishoners to keep that ancient Fast injoyned by the Church in Comme­moration of the bitter Death and Passion of Christ; and the better to invite them to that days solemn Humiliation, he preached to them twice that day. Though Sermons be all their Religion, yet two Sermons on Good Friday (received and practised by all Churches in all Ages, till of late a Jewish obser­vation of one day hath shouldred out the religi­ous observation of all other days) he was con­vented before the Sessions, where Edmund Prideaux a Parliament man, and a pretender to this Law, prest this his Obedience to the Church most violent­ly against him; malitiously affirming that he did it to affront the Parliament, and to advance Popish Superstition, and Innovation, and that therefore He (see what it is to be a Parliament man) would make him an Example to the World, and as the times then were (God, as he threatned Israel, pro­voking us by foolish people) was like enough to have done it, had not Mr. Jones prevented him by with­drawing himself, and so declined the evil intended against him. Yet we may not omit one thing: though it were so heinous a Crime in Mr. Jones not to observe one of their Wednesdays Fasts, yet Mr. Darke Minister of Musbury in the same County, and a man of that Faction could command his men to follow the Plough that day, and yet was never thought fit of a Reprehension, nor so much as a [Page 128] Brotherly Admonition: and no wonder, for tho heretofore Actions did Qualifie persons, and deno­minate them, by the Sectaries new Divinity they make Persons to Qualifie Actions, those things which are sins in others lose their Nature and their Name in a Child of God, and they will take it very ill from you not to be so reputed, though living in the most notorious scandalous sins that defile the Soul, and lay wast the Conscience of man. But to return to our story.

From the beginning of this Parliament (till God, by the glorious and no less than miraculous Victo­ries of Sir Ralph Hopton, restored some Peace to that miserably distracted Country) Mr. Jones was not permitted to live quietly at his own dwelling, they threaten to hang him, and burn his house, which they plundered no less than seven times: and not content with this, they threaten to carry away his aged Fa­ther Prisoner, being no less than 86 years of age; and had been as good as their word, (for in mischief they seldom fail of their promises) had not the Wo­men of the Parish (in detestation of so great bar­barism,) rescued him out of their hands: And after that memorable defeat of the Rebels at Strat­ton in the edge of Cornwal by the brave Sir Ralph Hopton, Mr. Jones returned to his own house, fear­ing no danger from the fitters of that broken Army: but four Troopers of the Rebels Horse came to his house, searched it very narrowly for him, insomuch that he heard them swear how cruelly they would use that Cavaliering Priest, if they could meet with him, when they were nearer him than they were aware of (had they known it) there being but an Inch board between him and them: at which time missing of the intended Prey, they wreck their [Page 129] malice on his houshold-stuff, what they could not carry away, they spoil; Beds, Bed-steads, Hang­ings, all are torn and spoiled: They plunder the Maid-servants, and that of their Smocks, and ex­change in their very presence their lousie Shirts for their clean Linnen: Hereupon Mr. Jones find­ing by experience, that there was no safety out of one of the Kings Armies (the only Protection which the King is able for the present to afford his good Subjects) he put himself under the Pro­tection of Sir Ralph Hoptons Army, where he now remains.

While the Rebels Army lay at Tame sending out parties, by chance they lighted on some of the Kings Souldiers, and amongst them there was one, who touched in Conscience for so grievous a Sin, as lifting up his hand against his lawful So­vereign, the Lords anointed, forsook the Rebels Army, and was entertained in his Majesties pay: and being in their power, they resolve instantly to hang him: but with such Circumstances as in the murther of the Subject they evidently mani­fest their malitious rebellious hearts towards their Sovereign. Nothing will serve to hang him on, but the sign-post of the Kings Head in Tame; the ppor man being ready to be thrown from the Ladder, prayed very fervently, and cried out Lord Jesus receive my Soul. The Rebels standing about him, instead of joyning with him in his Devotions, made a confused noise, and laughed at him. They that had so little mercy for his Soul, were not likely to draw out any bowels of Compassion to­wards his body. No, they will not only murther him, but murther him by a lingring Torment; they will not afford him the favour of a running [Page 130] knot quickly to obstruct the Throat, and totally de­prive him of breath, but the halter is tyed so fast, that he hanged gasping for breath, not drawing so much as to maintain life, nor so little as sud­denly to lose it: having in this torment hang­ed a while, a barbarous inhuman Villain stept to him, and fearing he should give up his vexed Ghost too soon, he puts his hands under his feet and lifted him up to give him some scope of Respi­ration, but even in this unchristian usage of a poor wretch, he did not forget to Blaspheme his Lord and King: for having lifted him up, he turned the dying mans face towards the sign it self of the Kings Head: and jeeringly said, Nay, Sir you must speak one word with the King before you go, you are blindfold, and he cannot see, and by and by you shall both come down together! Let the World if it can now give us a parallel of so undutiful, so high a contempt of Regal Authority, or tell us whether any of the several Spawns of Hell but only an Atheistical Puritan could possibly commit such devilish Cruelties against his fellow Subject, or belch out such venome against his Sovereign. Amongst those many Sins which call for our pub­lick humiliation and our earnest zeal to purge the land from the guilt which hath polluted it, cer­tainly Contempt and Scorn of so good, so gra­cious a King is none of the least.

On Monday the 29. of May 1643. a Boy of five or six years of age, attended by a youth, was com­ming to Oxford to his Father, an Officer in the Kings Army, passing through Buckinghamshire he fell into the hands of some Troopers of Colonel Goodwins Regiment, who not only pillaged him of the Cloaths which he brought with him, but took [Page 131] his doublet off his back, and would have taken away his hat and boots, if the Youth that attend­ed on him had not very earnestly intercede for them to save them. For one of the Company more tender-hearted than the rest, moved with the Childs cries and affrightment, and with the Youths earnest entreaty, prevailed with the rest not to rob the Child of these necessary fences from the injury of wind and weather. Yet tho they spare him these things, they rob him of his Horse, and leave the poor Child to a tedious long Journey on foot: This barbarism to a poor Child far from his friends, almost distracted with fear, so prevailed with some, that they made Colonel Good­win and Sir Robert Pye acquainted with it, hoping to find them sensible of so cruel practices on a poor Child: but these great Professors and Champions of Religion, only laughed at the relation, without giving any redress to the Childs injuries. This want of Justice in the Commanders, animated the Sol­diers to prosecute their Villanies to a greater height: for that night they came to the place where the Child lay, and the poor Soul being in bed fast asleep, his innocent rest not disturbed with the injuries of the day: they dived into his, and his attendants pockets, robbed them of all their monies, and left them either to borrow more, or beg for sustenance in their Journey to Oxford.

Captain Duckenfield a Commander of the Rebels in Cheshire, came to Mr. Wright's House, Parson of Wemslow in that County, a man of four score years of age, of a very honest Life and Conversation, and eminent for his Hospitality amongst his Neigh­bors. The Captain and his followers enter the House by violence, killed two of his Maid-Ser­vants, [Page 132] wounded others, and in all probability had murthered Mr. Wright himself, had not his Neigh­bors that loved him well rescued him out of their hands. The Crime objected against him was Loy­alty, and that amongst Rebels is Crime enough: for this he is forced to live an exile from his own habitation, and hath absented himself from his house now twelve months. The same Rebels came to one Mr. John Leech his house, in the same County, as I take it, they enter his house by violence, they kill one of his Maid-Servants, for endeavouring to keep the door shut against them, and took away Mr. Leech Prisoner. There was a Gentlewoman in the house come thither but two days before, who seeing so barbarous Cruelty practised upon Inno­cents for no other fault but living in Peace and O­bedience, was so affrighted, that for some time she remained almost distracted.

When the rebellious City of London first deliver­ed up it self the servile instrument to execute the il­legal Commands of the heads of the Faction in Parliament; a Troop of factious Citizens under the command of Colonel Cromwell came to the University of Cambridge, and there seized on the Persons of Doctor Beal, Doctor Martin, and Do­ctor Sterne men of known Integrity, Exemplary lives, profound learning, and heads of several Col­ledges in that famous University: having them in their Custody, they use them with all possible scorn and contempt, especially Cromwell behaving him­self most insolently towards them, and when one of the Doctors made it a request to Cromwell, that he might stay a little to put up some linnen, Crom­well denied him the favour, and whether in a jeer, or simple malice told him, That it was not in his Com­mission: [Page 133] having now prepared a shew to entertain the People, in Triumph they lead them Captives towards London, where the People were before­hand informed, what Captives Colonel Cromwell was bringing. In the Villages as they passed from Cambridg to London, the People were called by some of their Agents to come and abuse, and revile them. When they came to London, being to bring their Prisoners to the Tower, no other way would serve their turn, but from Shoreditch through Bartholomew-Fair, when the Concourse was as thick as the Ne­gotiation of Buyers and Sellers, and the warning of the Beadles of the Faction (that use to give no­tice to their Party) could make it; they lead these Captives leisurely through the midst of the Fair: as they pass along they are entertained with Ex­clamations, Reproaches, Scorns, and Curses, and considering the prejudice raised in the City of them, it was Gods great mercy that they found no worse usage from them: having brought them to the Tower, the People there use them with no less Incivility within the Walls, than the People did without, calling them Papists, Arminians, and I know not what. After some time Imprisonment there, they were removed to the Lord Peters House in Alders­gate-street; and though they often Petitioned to be heard and brought to judgment, yet they could ob­tain neither a Trial, nor enlargement, unless to free their Bodies, they should ensnare their Souls by loans of Monies to be imployed against the King, or taking impious Oaths or Covenants: at last af­ter almost a years imprisonment, on Friday the 11. of August 1643. by order from the Faction, that call themselves a Parliament, they were removed from thence, and all put on Ship-board in a Ship called [Page 134] the Prosperous Sail, or the Prosperous Sailer, lying before Wapping. They went by Coach from Al­dersgate-street to Billingsgate, in the way to the Common Stairs, there to take water; one was over-heard to say These look like honest men, and he was not a jot mistaken: however for bearing testimomy of the truth, he incurr'd the censure of a Malignant, and was in danger to be commit­ted: but another looking these grave learned Di­vines in the face, reviled them, saying, That they did not look like Christians: and Prayed that they might break their Necks as they went down the Stairs to take water. This harsh usage they found by land, but yet they found far worse by water: being come on ship-board they were instantly put under Hatches, where the Decks were so low, that they could not stand upright, and yet were de­nied stools to sit on, or so much as a burden of straw to lie on. Into this Little Ease in a small Ship they crowd no less than four score Prisoners of Qua­lity, and that they might stifle one another, hav­ing no more breath than what they sucked from one anothers mouths, most malitiously, and (certainly) to a murtherous intent, they stop up all the small Auger holes, and all other inlets which might re­lieve them with fresh air: an act of such horrid barbarism, that nor age, nor story, nor Rebellion can parallel; But, O Lord God to whom Vengeance belongeth, thou God to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thy self, O let the vengeance of thy Servants blood, that hath been shed in this land, be openly shewed upon these worse than Heathen Salvages in our sight, O let the sorrowful sighing of thy Prisoners come before thee, according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
XIII.

MAster Anthony Tyringham, Parson of Tyring­ham in Buckinghamshire, having business at Maidsmorton, at his return came to Buckingham, where he met with two of his Nephews. The Un­cle and his Nephews glad of so happy a meeting, after some stay to congratulate the good chance, and to refresh themselves, set forward in their jour­ney, and passed in peace without danger until they came near Stony-Stratford, where a party of Dra­gooners coming from Alesbury surprized them: and instantly (scarce asking them from whence they came) searched and disarmed them, which was no difficult atchievment, there being but one sword amongst all three. The Rebels take from them their Horses, their Coats and Mony: super­fluous things as they conceived for men designed to captivity: for having spoiled them of their Hor­ses, Mony, and Garments, they send them with a strong guard Prisoners to Ailesbury: while the rest of the Party lurking about Stony-Stratford, stay­ed [Page 136] there to expect some fresh Booty: And that in this we do not slander these great Champions of the Subjects Liberties and Properties, the issue will acquaint us, for presently after (to shew that all was Fish which came to net) they seized upon a poor Bone-lace man, and a Shoomaker, robbed them of what they had, and in the same manner sent them away Prisoners to Ailesbury. The Guard of Dragooners having brought their three Prison­ers about a mile and a half on the way towards Ailesbury, commanded them again to alight: The first Plunder was for the Captain or Commanders, or else a share was set apart Anathema for the sup­port of the publick Cause, these men to whose trust they were committed, now intend to plun­der for themselves: And first, they command Mr. Tyringham to put off his Cassock: who being not sudden in obeying the command, nor over-hasty to untye his Girdle to disrobe himself of the distinctive Garment of his Profession: (though now a Cas­sock contracted into the Compendium of a Gippo, is become the Garb of the Reformers) one of the Dragoons to quicken him, cut him through the hat into the Head with the Sword taken from one of his Nephews, and with another blow cut him over the fingers: Mr. Tyringham wondring at so barbarous usage without any provocation, came to­ward him that had thus wounded him, and desired him to hold his hands, pleading that he was a Clergie-man, a Prisoner, and disarmed: the coward­ly Villain either fearing the approach of a disarmed man, or willing to lay hold on any advantage to expose the Prisoners to the fury of his fellows, cried out, Shoot the Rogues, for they intend to resist: the word was no sooner given, but a Musquets was [Page 137] instantly discharged at one of Mr. Tyringhams Ne­phews; but the Musqueteer missing his mark, an­other of the Rebels with his Sword aimed righter, and ran him into the shoulder: a Musquet was pre­sented to the other Nephew, but Gods providence restrained the murtherous intention of the Rebel, that he did not give fire. Thus exercising their pleasure upon disarmed wounded men, they rob Mr. Tyringham of his Cassock, rifle all their pock­ets, and take from them what they please; and to palliate their cruelty, they send two Dragooners back, to tell their Captains and their Companies, that the Prisoners committed to their Custody and Conduct made resistence: Upon this false Alarm given, presently the Captains and their Companies make up to them, to assist a strong Guard against three disarmed, and of them two wounded men; being come where they were, they encompass them about, and without any examination of the business, presuming the suggestion to be undoubted truth, one of the Rebels, Capt. Pollard by name, with a full blow strikes at Mr. Tyringham, and with his Sword cuts his Arme, and Cubit-bones cross the elbow almost asunder: Mr. Tyringham (almost threescore years of age within two) bore this barbarous usage with undaunted Courage, and hearing this bloody Vil­lain called Captain Pollard, in a pleasant indigna­tion expressed the sense of the injury but thus, That now he had made him a Pollard indeed: A Me­tophor easily understood by Wood-men, who usu­ally call a Tree, whose limbs or branches are lop­ped off, a Pollard: Mr. Tyringhams Arm thus mi­serably wounded, and hanging dangling from his shoulder, without any government from the nerves or sinews, one of his Nephews having a mourn­ing [Page 138] Ribband, tendred it to his Uncle to bind up his Arm, but the Rebels will not permit it: tho Mr. Tyringham intreat the favour to have his wounds bound up, and the very spectacle before their eyes, was argument enough to extort this mercy from them, yet they remain inexorable, nor would they be perswaded until a long time after: having now made sure work with their Prisoners, and rendred them so far unable to resist, that some were hardly able to sit the jades on which they were mounted, they again set forward for Ailesbury: The Dra­gooners horses on which they were set, being tired, made the way very tedious, especially to Mr. Tyring­ham, who lost much blood all the way as they went.

While these Gentlemen were in this miserable condition, Captain Pollard, not troubled at all for so bloody a fact, barbarously committed by himself on an aged Gentleman, and a Minister of that Gos­pel which they falsly pretend to maintain, but in­deed deny and blaspheme in all their actions, turned aside to Whaddon Chase, and sported himself in kil­ling some of His Majesties Deer, which he carried along with him to Ailesbury: after almost four hours riding, tired out with tired Jades, and fainting with loss of blood, the Prisoners were again command­ed to alight at a Town called Whitchurch within two miles of Ailesbury. Here they fall on Mr. Tyring­ham afresh, and plunder him as eagerly as if he had been new come into their hands, and not touched by them before. They pluck off his Boots, and take from him his Jerkin, his Hat and Cap, all the fences provided for cold and weather, and the usual Forti­fications against the injuries of wind and rain: and so made a pattern of the man wounded between Je­rusalem and Jericho, they mount him on his Spittle [Page 139] again and drive on, and after an hours riding in cold and darkness, at last they arrived at Ailesbury, that night the Chirurgions (as soon as they could be found) viewed and dressed the wound, but con­cluded unanimously that they must cut off his Arm the next day, or else it would Gangreen and in­fallaby kill him, which next day was done accord­ingly: Mr. Tyringham bore the loss of his Arm with incredible resolution and courage, as knowing the Justice of that Cause for which he suffered, and as willing to lay down his Life in testimony of his Loyalty, as his Brother Mr. Edward Tyringham, one of the Gentlemen of the Kings Privy Chamber had done before him, who the last Winter being im­ployed in his Majesties service, and set on by a Par­ty of Rebels fought valiantly, but oppressed with multitudes, received so many wounds, that he died of them. But it hath pleased God so to bless the means used for this Gentlemans recovery, that there are great hopes he will survive these maimes, and (as himself undauntedly told the Rebels to their faces) Live to see them hanged. Amen.

In the fourth Week of this Mercury, you heard of the cruel usage of Mr. Wiborow, Parson of Peb­marsh in the County of Essex, by the Rebels in those parts; how they abused him in the Church, beat him in the fields, and took from him the Book of Common Prayer, having before torn another of his in pieces. After this the Brownists and Ana­baptists of that place (with which that Country swarms) threaten to kill him; Mr. Wiborow, not daring to trust himself amongst these cruel blood-thirsty men, to preserve his life, was compelled to leave his Cure, his Wife and Children, some seven Months since, and to put himself under the Kings [Page 140] protection: hoping that his absence might be a means to secure his Wife and Children, and pre­vail with these Monsters to permit them to enjoy that which he left behind him for their sustenance: but his absence was so far from working this good effect in them, that they made use of it, to eject him out of the possession of the Profits of his Par­sonage, and his Wife and Children out of their house, exposing them harbourless to the wide World: for taking advantage of his absence, they accuse him to the pretended Parliament, and frame a Bill of Falshood and Lies against him, thereby to gain a Sequestration of his Living: A business not of any great difficulty, they being more ready to grant such illegal oppressive ejections, than the People to ask them: for upon the Accusation, John White that fornicating Brownist sitting in the Chair, Mr. Wiborows Living was sequestred, and the Profits of it given to one Burrows, though the Cure was never neglected, but supplied by Mr. Wi­borows friends, to the content and satisfaction of all moderate peaceable men: yet though they had robb'd him of his livelyhood, and given his Wives and Childrens bread to strangers, by most unjust practices, yet his hopes were that his poor Wife and Children should enjoy the accommodation of their dwelling in the Parsonage house: but such is the implacable cruelty and malice of these Se­ctaries, that on the tenth of June 1643. a Troop of the Rebels came to the Parsonage house, and de­manded entrance: Mrs. Wiborow and her Children being alone in the house, she barr'd up the doors against them, and for her better safety retired to an upper room, to which the passage was through a Trap-door, which likewise she made as fast as she [Page 141] could: all this fortification could not keep these Rebels out, they break open the doors, and make way to the room, where Mrs. Wiborow and her Children thought to secure themselves: when they came thither, three of these Rebels set their Pistols at her breast, threatning to shoot her, if she and her Children would not suddenly depart the house, and leave it to a new Master. Mrs. Wi­borow replied, That she would rather be killed with­in doors, than perish without, but withal earnest­ly intreated that she might enjoy so much of her Husbands right, as his house to shelter her and her Children, who poor Souls stood about their Mo­ther crying, and in their natural oratory craving compassion towards their Mother, whom at eve­ry word the Rebels threaten to Pistol; but neither the earnest intreaty of the Mother, nor the piti­ful out-cries of the Children, could prevail with them, they remain as deaf men, void of all pit­ty or bowels of Compassion: nay they violently seize on her, drag her down the stairs, and out of the house into the yard: the poor Children be­ing almost distracted and at their wits end for fear what would become of their Mother, being thus violently drawn out of the house into the yard, there she found Meriton Simpson and Cooke the Se­questrators, with other attending there to see this joyful spectacle, a poor oppressed Gentlewoman and her small Children cruelly cast out of their own habitation by Rebels and Traitors. As soon as Mrs. Wiborow saw them, she presented them with the Kings Proclamation against the Oppression of the Clergy, by the intrusion of factious and schis­matical persons into the Cures and Revenues of Learned, Orthodox Divines, by Order of one, or [Page 142] both pretended Houses of Parliament, contrary to all Law and Justice: which she hoped would have found so much obedience and respect, as to re­store her to her house: This was so far from mol­lifying these Rebels and Schismatiques, that it pro­voked them to great insolencies: at last when Mrs. Wiborow perceived that all her intreaties, and her Childrens tears prevailed nothing, to restore her to her house, she intreated the Sequestrators, that in case she could not be permitted to dwell in her own house, that yet she might have some other place of accommodation provided, to receive her and her Children: Meriton insolently replied, That he would provide his Tumbril, that is, his Dung-Cart, to carry her and her Children from Constable to Constable, till she came to her Husband: after many bitter scoffs and scorns in this her affliction, she desired that if she might not obtain so much fa­vour to dwell in her house, yet they would not deny her access to her house, but that she might go in to fetch out provision for her Childrens sup­per that night: But these Monsters of men would not give her leave: and to compleat this unheard­of Tyranny and Oppression, the Authorized Thieves, I mean the Commissioners appointed by the pre­tended House of Parliament to seize upon the E­states of all Delinquents, and to point out who shall be plundered next, Order, that whatsoever Mr. Wiborow had left, should be seized on for the use of that Thing which they call a Parliament: thereby to support Rebellion with Robbery and Theft. Instantly they seize on his Corn, and those few Cattle, the remainder of former Plunderings, though they knew it was the life of the Mother and her Children, and that in taking away these, [Page 143] they deprived them of all means of subsistence, and exposed them to extream want, having redu­ced them to this miserable condition, to beg or starve: Now for the comfortless trouble sake of the needy, and because of the deep sighing of the poor, I will up saith the Lord, and will help every one from him that swelleth against him, and will set him at rest: The good God perform his promise, Let God arise and let these Enemies of God and Man be scattered.

Mr. Thomas Dalton Bachelour of Divinity, and Parson of Dalham in the County of Suffolke, be­ing plundered of his Horse by Colonel Russels Troop Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Cambridge, on more than probable grounds, fearing that they would seize upon his Person, and commit him to Prison, was compelled to leave his family and retire privately to some friends, where he con­tinued some months. In the interim one Barnard a poor Smith, and one that formerly had lived on the Parish Alms, informed the Committee at Cambridge of Mr. Daltons absence, and mak­ing it his Crime, Petitioned for a Sequestration of his living, intending to make a gain of it himself; for whereas the living is worth 140 l. per annum, and had been so let for many years before, Vulcan, I mean Barnard the Smith, having got a Chaplain of his own, one Randall by name, intends with him to serve the Cure for 50 or 60 Pounds a year, intending to put up the Overplus into his own Purse: nor did he fail of his pious project, so apparently tending to the publick good, and reformation of the Church: For on the Smiths bare instance, though earnestly opposed by the Lord of the Town, and about forty of the chief­est [Page 144] of the Parish, who all laboured earnestly to withstand it, the committee for the advancement of the Reformation, hearken to Barnard and sub­stitute Randall Vulcan, Priest in Mr. Daltons place, and revenue; This grant of the Committee was ratified by the Committee at Westminster, for 'tis not impossible but Barnard might have sharers with him in both Committees: For the Tyth of the Tyth was enough for an Alms-man: nay this Commit­tee did not only ratifie the Order of the other Com­mittee, but added to the injustice by ordering Mrs. Dalton instantly to resign possession of the Par­sonage house to Randall: of which Ordinance when the Patron of the living had intelligence, he in­stantly posted to London, and knowing how un­just and trivial the accusation against Mr. Dalton were, absence being his main Crime, (being put to this hard Option either to stay and be commit­ted Prisoner, or to fly and be robb'd of the pro­fits of his Living, for this is the Dilemma to which all Orthodox Conformable Ministers are now put) resolved to intercede for him, hoping either quite to take him off, or at least to pro­cure a mitigation of the Order; but contrary to his expectation he found the Smith Courted, applaud­ed, and to enjoy freedom of access to the Committee, and himself (a Gentleman of very good rank and esteem in his Country) to be slighted; negle­cted, and made dance attendance, and after long waiting not regarded what he spake for his Mi­nister: At last this good Gentleman having by ex­perience observed, that the practices of the Fa­ction in Parliament did engage them to slight and suppress the Gentry, and all that made Honour, or Conscience the rule of their Actions, and to [Page 145] court and observe the dregs and scum of the Peo­ple, (as the fittest instruments for their designs) returned home, and sending for Mrs. Dalton, en­treats her to make use of his house as her own, until God should enable the King to restore her, and all his loyal Subjects to their own: Mrs. Dal­ton accepts of his courteous offer, but leaves her man to keep possession of the Parsonage house: She had not stayed long here before her Hoast is threatned to be plundered for his hospitality: Bar­nard the Smith (as bad as Alexander the Copper­smith) being now so rich as to be able to tra­vel to London, and trouble his Neighbours; that his Levite might have the Parsonage House to bet­ter his bargain, speeds to the Committee, and pre­fers a Complaint against Mrs. Dalton for giving up possession of her house according to their Order: upon complaint made, it is further ordered by the same Committee, that because she had presently quitted the House, she should be brought up to London before the Committee, there to answer the contempt: to avoid further vexation she obeyed the Order, and gave up possession, hoping that this resigning of her right, would set an end to her trouble: but according to the Rebels Method from the beginning of this Parliament, first invade the Clergie, and then the Laity, So here they vary not from the first Pattern, for having robbed Mr. Dalton of his Ecclesiastical Revenues, presently they seize upon his Temporal, his Rents and o­ther Debts due unto him, they leave him nothing. But if you please to see the lively Character of a Malitious, Ingrateful, Cheating Schismatick, whose Religion is to return evil for good, and hatred for good will, look once more on this Barnard the Smith, [Page 146] and you will conclude it doubtful which is hard­est, his Anvil or his heart. For this Wretch ow­ing to Mr. Dalton twenty seven Pounds, when the time of payment was come, Barnard come to the Church Porch, the place appointed for payment of the Debt, attended with four Rebel Troopers, as witness of the tender of the moneys. Mrs. Dal­ton being there to receive it, he pours it out, she having told it, was putting it up into her Purse; But Barnard interrupted her, Saying, Stay this is for better use than so, it is for the service of the Par­liament: and presently (as the Plot was laid) the Troopers bent their Pistols at her brest, and force the monies from her: nay, before it was lawful by Order and Ordinances to violate all the Ob­ligations of Religion and Gratitude, this Barnard acknowledged himself much bound to Mr. Dalton for many favours having many ways endeared him, thought all things safe which were committed to Barnards trust; in this confidence Mr. Dalton laid up divers Cooms of Wheat in Barnards house, to be a help in time of need: when Mr. Dalton was gone, his Wife sent to Barnards house to demand some Wheat, this unthankful wretch denied it, af­firming that Mr. Dalton being a Malignant had no rite or property in those Goods; and therefore for­bad her man to come on his ground, threatning that he would run his Pitch-fork in him, if he came thither to make any such Demand: Ab uno disce om­nes.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
XIV.

IF in the Relation of these sad stories thou find (courteous Reader) some Complaints of Lon­don, mingled with those of the Countrey, know that the earnest request of Mercurius Civicus must plead my Apology. The heads of this Rebellion deal with that miserable City as unjust Stepmothers do with their poor Children, Whip them till they cry, and then whip them again for crying: for they have not so much losers Priviledg left them as to have Liberty to Complain: and then let the World judg to what a narrow Scantling the Liberty of the Subject is reduced, by these pretended Assertors of the Liberty, when it is lawful for them to Mur­ther, and Plunder the Kings good Subjects, and yet it is not lawful for the oppressed to bemoan their own Condition. Being therefore denied the com­mon natural mitigation of great pressures, to be­wail their own Miseries, and breath out the sense of them in free expressions, for fear they further [Page 148] provoke their Oppressors while they implore the compassion of their friends, Mercurius Civicus in his Letter, dated Aug. 5. 1643. and directed to me, earnestly entreated (their own Presses not daring to publish the truth of their miserable condition) that their sufferings under the Insolency, Injustice, Tyranny and Rapine of this horrid Rebellion, might be made known to the World by a borrowed pen, and interwoven with those of the Countrey: that therefore we may not be wanting to so just requests, nor leave posterity ignorant what transcendent cru­elties are practised as well within the Walls of that wretched City as without, as oft as they shall pri­vately (by such secret ways of intelligence as the present condition of the times permit) impart their Calamities, I shall according to Mercurius Civicus desire, insert them with those of the Country, and so impart them to the World; and though the barbarous Murthers committed on Mr. Tompkins, and Mr. Chaloner, that second pair of State Mar­tyrs, together with the butchery of a peaceable Ci­tizen slain by Captain Harvey: and the Women slaughtered by Sir Willam Wallers Troopers (that ran away at Roundway Down, to kill Women and Virgins in London, for the unpardonable crime of petitioning for Peace) might justly challenge pre­cedency, yet because the memories of those two worthies are reserved for a peculiar Martyrologue, and these are already imbalmed by the Piety of our Brother Aulicus, I shall set before you the mise­ry, into which that Rebellious City hath Plunged it self and us, in some other instances.

On Tuesday the 15 of Aug. 1643. a Party of Co­lonel Harvies Regiment came to one Walkers house in Chancery-Lane, to Seize on Sir Ralph Canteril, [Page 149] whom they supposed then to have lodged there: on their coming, finding that the Knight was either gone out of Town, or had shifted his lodging, but on diligent inquiry discovering that there was a man in the house that now was, or lately had been Sir Ralphs Servant, they apprehend him, and demand where his Master was, and where he had hid his Money, Plate, and Jewels? The man re­plied that he had left his Masters service, and did know nothing, either where his Master was, or how he had disposed of his Goods: presently they lay violent hands on him, and carry him out in­to the back-side into the house of Office, there to examin him by Torment: there they rip up the Tiles, and one of the Rebels taking a Cord out of his pocket, fastened one end of it about the poor mans neck, and threw the other end over the rafters of the untiled house: Having him at this posture, they interrogate him again where this (Imaginary) Trea­sure was hid; he returns the same answer, that he could give no account what Sir Ralph had done with it: for being to leave his service, he was a stranger to his Masters Actions: Not satisfied with so reasonable an Answer, they hoise him up by the Neck, and let him hang a good distance from the ground, where having hanged a while, they let him down, and examin him again where Sir Ralph had bestowed his Money, Plate, and Jewels? The poor man not able to give any other answer to their Query, protests his ignorance, and that if the discovery might save his life, yet he could not redeem it so, for he knew nothing concerning what they asked him: inraged that the man could not Prophecy, (for without that gift he could not re­solve them) they suddenly hoise him up to the top [Page 150] of the house, and letting go their hold, they let him as suddenly fall to the ground: Being fallen, there he lay for dead without any expression of life: but these barbarous Rebels hoping that there may yet remain some life in him whereon to practise further cruelty, stand by the man, and watch him, and at last perceiving that he was not dead, but that he began to stir and breath, presently they put burning matches between his fingers: hoping by this way of Torment to extort a discovery from him: but in vain, the extremity of this Torment indeed (though half dead as he was) made him cry out and roar in a very lamentable manner, which a Maid-servant of the house hearing, and af­frighted at the noise, ran to her Master, and told him, that certainly the Rebels were murthering the man in the house of Office, hereupon Mr. Wal­ker hastened out, and when he came to the place, found the conjecture of his Servant true, and a­mazed at so horrid, so inhumane a spectacle, in­terceded for the poor man, and earnestly desired them, not to defile his ground and habitation with innocent blood: instead of desisting they return the Aegyptians answer to Moses, Who made thee a Ruler and a Judg? bad him be silent, and withdraw, or else they threatned to use him in like manner: Mr. Walker fearing that those perjured persidious Villains, which keep their words in nothing else, might yet be punctual in performance of mischief, not daring to commit himself to their mercy, left them, and went imto his house, where the Quar­ter-Master to the Rebels lay sleeping while the Troop­ers were acting this cruelty, him he raiseth from sleep, and tells him what the Troopers were do­ing without, who something moved at the Rela­tion, [Page 151] went out unto them, and took them off from farther prosecuting their barbarous intentions. But whether or no the man on whom all this cruelty was acted, survived this barbarous usage, is uncertain.

As amongst the many blessings wherewith it pleased God to advance the City of London far a­bove all other Cities either of this, or other Nations of the Christian World, one was their Clergy: for a more pious, learned, and laborious Ministry, no people ever enjoyed, even their Ene­mies themselves being Judges: So amongst the ma­ny crying sins whereby that proud rebellious City hath provoked God to give them up to a Repro­bate sense and hardness of heart to their own destru­ction, certainly, the contempt and oppression of their Clergy are none of the least: as before the lest Parliament began, a main part of their Religion was to strive with their Priests, and to rob them of their maintenance, by all possible arts of de­ceit, and fraud, so as soon as the Parliament was sate, and the basest of the People were set loose to worrey their Ministers (though never so blame­less, never so Orthodox, if they did not con­spire with them to innovate both Church and State:) the Citizens of London, shewed them­selves most forward in Petitioning against their Mi­nisters: yet at first pretended to molest such on­ly, who had expressed greatest zeal to the Order, and decency of Gods worship, professing that for the rest there was no thought to trouble them: but at last having put to flight, or imprisoned those, they go and discover plainly, that whatsoever is a Friend to the Protestant Religion, as it is establi­shed in the Church of England, is their Enemy: how many have they silenced, imprisoned, or [Page 152] banished from their Cures whom heretofore they did magnifie for the undaunted Champions of the Protestant Religion? and stout opposers of those sup­posed pretended innovations, which they vainly imagined were the eager endeavours of some men to impose upon the Church: he that knows Lon­don, and hath frequented the most thronged Con­gregations there, cannot be ignorant, that Mr. Ephra­im Udall Parson of S. Austins in the Old Change near S. Austines Gate, is a man of eminent Piety, ex­emplary Conversation, profound Learning, inde­fatigable Industry, Preaching constantly every Lords Day twice, and for the Winter half year, if not the whole year, preaching a Lecture at his own Parish every Tuesday in the Afternoon: and if I am not mistaken every Saturday before the first Sunday in the month a Preparatory Ser­mon to the blessed Sacrament of the Sords Supper: and besides all this, he is a man of an affable, cour­teous, peaceable Conversation amongst his Neigh­bours: in a word, he was a man of their own vote: and is (without prophanation be it spoken) a shin­ing and burning light: and his people for a while much pleased themselves in their choice, and were content to walk by his light; but when he found him­self mistaken in the ends and intentions of the heads of this Rebellion, when he saw that the zeal of some did degenerate into madness and frenzie, and that the endeavours of others (under the pre­tence of Reformation) was to bring in Anarchy and Sacriledg, to devour Gods Portion, and the poor remainder of the Patrimony of the Church, he did strongly and powerfully bend both his tongue and pen against them: against Sacriledg he pub­lished that learned Tract, called A Coal from the Altar: against Anarchy he declared himself for [Page 153] Episcopacy, and the established Lyturgy: and published another Book called Communion Comeli­ness, in which by many impregnable Arguments he proves a high Conveniency, if not a necessity, for that most laudable custom of having Rails about the Lords Table: These were in the Schisma­tiques opinion Crimes enough to unsaint a man, nay, had S. Paul himself been now in the flesh, and preached against Sacriledg and Anarchy, there is no doubt, but there would have been some found to petition against him, and John White sitting in the Chair, as undoubtedly he had been voted a scan­dalous Minister at a Committee: but because when these Books were published, Injustice and oppres­sion did not march so furiously, nor were grown so frontless and impudent to seize on innocency it self, not slurr'd with slanders and calumnies, Mr. Udall sate something quiet, some murmurings there were, but his former Reputation in the City bore him up against the Obloquy of private discontent: the Faction found it no easie matter to brand Mr. Udall with Popery, or Popishly affected, or these slan­ders to make any impression in that estimation which the people had of him: but at last when they came openly to defie their Sovereign, the Lords Anointed, and it was almost Treason but to name the 13. Chapter to the Romans, it was a fit time to silence and remove Mr. Udall, for neither Doctor Gouge his Church at Black Fryers, or Mr. Goodwins in Coleman-street, were half so full before this Par­liament began, as Mr. Udalls hath been since. First, therefore, they Plunder his house, they take away his Library and Houshold-stuff: Then they remove him from the Execution of his Ministery, and sequester the profit for a Levite of their own: Thirdly, they sought for him to commit him close [Page 154] Prisoner, being aged, of very weak and infirm bo­dy, his strength exhausted with continual labours in Preaching the word of God, visiting the sick, and in execution of their ministerial Functions, in performance of which in his own person few of his Brethren were more conscientious: And lastly, they cast him out of his dwelling house: But when they came to seize on his house, they found one impediment, which unless they could find some art to remove, they could not take full possession of it: Mrs. Udall (besides the infirmities of age) was lame, and it had been monstrous inhu­manity to take her by violence and carry her out of her house, not knowing where to dispose of her, but in the open street: Therefore to gain her con­sent, and prevent clamour until the feat was done, they tell the good old Gentlewoman that the Par­liament had a tender respect unto her years, and to her present infirmities: and therefore though they had ordered to dispossess her of that house, yet they did not mean to leave her harbourless, but had out of the abundance of their goodness pro­vided another house to receive her: She good old Woman neither awed by fear, nor won by their perswasions and promises, was taken up by two men brought in by him that had broken open three locks, and entred the house by force, and carried out of her house into the street, there they set her down in a Chair, and so leave this weak infirm Matron, of a long time not accustomed to the open air, nor being able to go out of doors in three or four years before, unless unto the Church, exposed her (a sad spectacle of the Rebels cruelty) to the mercy of Wind and Weather.

The Rebels in their march towards Gloucester, seized on Sr. Tho. Hide a Bedfordshire Man, whose [Page 155] sordid Covetousness had made him so far forget all Duty and Loyalty to his Sovereign, as that he refused to assist him either in his Person or his purse: but because either his Estate lay nearer to the Power of the Rebels, than to the Kings Pro­tection: a Consideration which in these Atheisti­cal rebellious times is admitted as a just Apolo­gie, either for Neutrality, or ready Compliance with the Rebels, so far as to submit to all Taxes and Impositions laid on them, a most traiterous and irreligious liberty and dispensation of Conscience, which if all men had made use of, the Kings Crown might long before this have been thrown down to the ground: Or else conceiving it a ve­ry unlikely, if not an impossible thing for the King to withstand their power, who had not only by Lies and Slanders stoln away the hearts of the People, but had seized on all his Castles, Towns, Forts, Magazines: did contribute to the Rebels aid, and wholly complied with them, not so much out of judgment, as fear: thinking that this compliance would be the security of his Estate, and turn to his great advantage: but his Wealth was so well known, that bare Compliance, and small Contributions must not serve his turn, he must bleed more freely: They seize him the Twen­tieth part, and that highly set: This demand struck his heart like pangs of death; and he that was so forward in petty assistances, now discovered the love of himself to be more than that of the holy Cause, and refused to part with more mo­nies: wherefore in recompence of his former good deeds, they seize on his Person, and carry him captive in their Army, and suffered his Servant to walk along by him, leading a horse in his [Page 156] hand, while his Master the Knight was chained arm to arm with another Prisoner, and was com­pelled to beat it on the hoof: Thus did he march for three days on foot, coupled with another Pri­soner, and that Prisoner, as we are informed, is Doctor Stubbing, Doctor in Divinity, whom like­wise the Rebels gathered up in their march, and taking him from his Cure, added him to the num­ber of their Captives: So soon can these Rebels forget former aids, if men do not comply with them, and answer their expectation in every thing, and indeed what measure their dearest friends are to expect from them, if they fail them in any particular, not running into the same excess of Madness and Treason as they do, and shall not shew themselves ready at a call (to their perpe­tual infamy, contrary to the Religion which they profess, the Oaths which they have taken, and the solemn Protestations which they have made) rush into the damnable sin of Rebellion, and give the right hand of fellowship to the Rebels here, to assist them in so unnatural a War against their own gracious native Sovereign, we may fully learn by a Prayer (for now they have turned their ve­ry Prayers into sin, being no better than very Li­bels and Pasquils) lately made by Mr. Bowlstrode, Son to Colonel Bowlstrode, a factious Rebel of Buckinghamshire, before his Sermon at Horton near Colebrooke, which that you may see what Spirit of Prayer and Supplication it is, of which they boast, and that the Nation whom it concerns may see what opinion the factious Preachers here have of them, unless they will serve their vile purposes and ingage themselves as deeply (which God forbid) in the present Rebellion as themselves, we have here inserted.

[Page 157] Thou hast, O Lord, of late, written bitter things a­gainst thy Children, and forsaken thine own Inheri­tance, and now Lord in our misery and distress we expected aid from our Brethren of the neighbouring Nation, (the Scots I mean) but good Lord, thou know­est that they are a false and perfidious Nation; and do all they do for their own ends, and not for our good: if therefore, good Lord, their coming into the Land at this time be for our good, bring them in speedily, if otherwise, keep them out, for they are a false and per­fidious Nation.

There was present at Church at that time, one Mr. Kenada a Scotch man, who being drowsie was wakened by a friend that sate by him, to hear the devotion of the Preacher; who hearing his whole Nation thus publickly blasphemed by this contemp­tible Zelot, spake out in the Congregation saying, I think the man is mad: and certainly Mr. Kenada was not a jot mistaken, to think him mad that should thus rashly in the face of a solemn Congre­gation traduce a Nation, and if there be amongst the heads of the Rebellion (in whose power he is) any care of the honour of that Nation, we doubt not but we shall shorly hear of some exemplary Pu­nishment inflicted on this incendiary between the two Nations: and heightned according to the na­ture of the Crime. If any man doubt of the truth of this Relation, whether it be a fiction or a thing really done, he may consult Mr. Kenada or any of Horton Parish, who are ready to bear Testimony to this truth.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
XV.

UPon Friday the 18. of Aug. 1643. Mr. Squire of Little S. Bartholomews, London, having this present Rebellion upon several Rates, Taxes and Loans, disbursed near a Thousand pounds, was sent unto for a new Sum towards the maintenance of the Holy Cause; but he foreseeing, that as long as their Purses were open to foment this unnatural War, there would be no end of it till their Estates were exhausted, and the wealthiest amongst them reduced to beggery, and a morsel of bread, return­ed a denyal, yet withal professed his readiness to have supplyed them if he had been provided: and his Wife to indear themselves, and to shew how well affected they were to the Cause, wished that all the Malignants in London were plundered, and then there would be less cause to call so often on the Well-affected for so great Supplies, not imagining (good Woman) that her Husband might be num­bred shortly amongst the Malignants: or, that to be wealthy and not pour out all, as often as the heads [Page 159] of this Rebellion should call for it, was in their opi­nion, high Malignity: for next day, notwithstand­ing their former complyance with the Rebels in so great a measure, six men with Pistols were sent to Master Squires House, under pretence to search for Arms, but indeed to find out a hoard of mo­nies, which either their own Jealousie, grounded on the general received opinion of his Wealth, or the treachery of some that knew the House had suggested unto them. After some small search (though Mr. Squire thought that his Treasure had been close enough hid) instead of Arms they find four thousand pounds, a rich booty, and very greedily seized upon. At last, Mistris Squire finding her self so unexpectedly in the number and condi­tion of Malignants, robbed of so great a Sum, fell into a swoon, and for fear she should be recall'd to pursue the Injury with just Clamors and Expostula­tions, when Strong-waters were brought to relieve and comfort her surprised Spirits, the Rebels would not permit it to be administred unto her: but left Nature to the work of its own recovery, without the assistance of any borrowed help. Of this Four thousand pounds, Eight hundred was due to a Son in Law of Mr. Squires, a Creature of the Parlia­ments, and a great Friend to the Cause; and there­fore to redeem the rest, Mr. Squire freely offered to give the Parliament (as those tame People call the Faction of both Houses) the Sum of Three hundred pounds, so the rest might be restored un­to him: but all in vain, it was judged a very high Symptome of Malignity to hide Four thousand pounds, and suffer the Holy League to be endan­gered for want of Supplies, and therefore as a just punishment for his Coldness, and want of [Page 160] Zeal to the good Cause in hand, it was wholly taken from him without restitution (for ought we yet know) of a farthing: and indeed what mea­sure the Rich either of London, or any other place, cursed with the Tyranny and Oppression of this Rebellion, are to expect from their Hands (when the Necessities of Supplies shall press upon them) the World may read in this Warrant, directed from Nathanael Fiennes, in the time of his reign in Bri­stol, to Mr. Gunning the younger of that City: which for the plain English that it speaks, and be­cause it contains a perfect discovery of their Reso­lutions when occasion shall serve, we have here inserted.

On Sunday morning, being the ninth of July, 1643. in time of Divine Service, Colonel Morley, the Crooked Rebel of Sussex, came towards Hasting, one of the Cinque Ports; but in his March being discover'd, presently notice was given to Mr. Hinson, Curate of All Saints, who knowing that one end of the Colonel's Sabbath-days Journey, was to apprehend him, was compelled to break off Divine Service in the mid'st, and fly into a Wood near at hand, there to hide himself: The Colonel being entered the Town, scattered the Body of his Horse into several parts, to intercept all passages out of the Town: and having secured the Ports, he summons the Mayor and Jurats, and demands the Arms of the Town: to which he found ready obedience; for presently the Mayor and Jurats sent their Ser­vants to command all the Inhabitants to deliver up their Arms, which was done accordingly; and one of the Jurats, Fray by name, furnished the Colonel with a Waggon, he sent them away to Battell, be­ing a Town in Sussex, some five Miles from Hast­ing: that night some Soldiers lay in the Church, where Mr. Hinson officiated, where one Wicker, a common Soldier, getting up into the Pulpit, preach­ed unto his Fellows: and to shew the Fruits of so good Doctrine, going out of the Church, either [Page 162] the Preacher, or one of his Auditory, stole away the Surpless; Ralph Mills, the honest Parish Clark, to recover it, complained to their Captain Ri­chard Cockeram of Rye, but received no other an­swer, but this, Do not you think he loves a Smock as well as you? Morley being now Master of the Town, began to exercise his power given him for the good of the Kingdom, and the preservation of the Subjects property, and demanded a Sum of Monies from some of the Jurats, which they paid him, and because they came off so readily, he demanded more, which they refusing, he took them with him Prisoners to Battell: where having stayed but a night, they return with a Warrant next day signed by Morley, which they undertook to execute upon such Persons as themselves had designed for Plun­der and Imprisonment: whereof Mr. Car, the Par­son of St. Clements in Hasting, and Mr. Hinson, were the chiefest. Mr. Car that Sunday was not at home, being fled to prevent surprizal: but hearing that Colonel Morley was gone to Battell, and think­ing the Storm to be now blown over, he resolved to return to Hasting, and being on the way thi­ther, he met Fray the Jurat, who was one of the Combination to execute Morley's Warrant, and apprehend him: as Fray was drilling Mr. Car a­long, by chance one Mr. Breame met them, and seeing Mr. Car so familiarly conversing with a Judas that was resolved to betray him, called Mr. Car aside to speak with him; what he said is un­certain, but in all probability he discovered to Master Car the danger in which he was, for imme­diately he left Fray's company, and rode back a­gain. Fray thus unexpectedly robb'd of his prey, instantly informed Colonel Morley, that Master [Page 163] Breame had frayed away the Bird, that was so near going into the snare: Morley presently sends some Troopers to apprehend Master Breame, and at what sum he did redeem this Crime, is un­certain. On the Tuesday after Morleys coming to Hasting, Mr. Hinson returned home: and that day, the Jurats, that Morley took with him, being come back, summoned the rest of their Brethren unto the Town-Hall, where they acquainted them with the Contents of their new Warrant: who with joynt consent, promise their best endeavors to put it in execution: to this purpose, having picked out of the Town a sufficient number to assist them, and execute their Commands; and having put their names in the Warrant with their own, they bind them by the Religion, and strict bond of an Oath, to do what they would have them, without ever specifying any Particulars, wherein they in­tended to exercise their Obedience, until they should give them in charge what they were to do: Nay, not only so, but having received their com­mands, they swear them not to reveal what com­mands were laid on them, to any body, no not to their own Wives, until they had executed the com­mands; and when some of these assistants startled at this Jesuitical implicite Obedience, to know to what in particular their Oath should bind them: Wenham, a Factious Jurat, replyed, That they must swear in general, and afterwards they should know the particulars. Thomas Staple, one of the Assistants, being pressed to take this Oath, rejoin­ed, Then you may make us swear, and the business we swear to, may be to knock our Fathers in the head, or betray them: Wenham (most convincingly) replyed, That if they would not swear, they had authority for [Page 164] their refusal, to Imprison them for a year: The rest adding, That they need not be so scrupulous, though they did not know what they swore unto, it was no harm, for they had taken the same Oath themselves to do that which they were to assist them in: And so, partly by fear, and partly by the inducement of the Jurats example, they took an Oath upon the Holy Evan­gelists, to assist the Jurats in what they were to do, not knowing what, and to be secret, until it was done. Sure the Oath of Canonical Obedience, and the so much decryed & caetera, must now for ever rest in Peace, and never more be maliciously and ig­norantly traduced after this most Papistical, Jesuiti­cal, Puritanical practice.

Having thus engaged these men by an Oath, to do any thing which they shall command them, they then think them sufficiently prepared to receive the Mysteries of the Warrant which now they reveal unto them, and tell them, that they must appre­hend Master Hinson, and some others nominated in the Warrant: in obedience therefore to the Com­mand, they presently go to Mr. Hinson, and seize on him in his Lodging: and being brought before the Mayor and his Brethren the Jurats, he never questioned by what Authority he was apprehended, but only told them, That he had not done any thing that deserved this usage; Presently Wenham replyed, That he had highly deserved it, because he read the Kings Declarations. After this, all the Ju­rats went out, one by one, and left Mr. Hinson lock­ed up with one Mr. Parker, whom they had a lit­tle before committed, because he would not pay for the carriage of some Ordnance to Rye, a most Factious Town, not far off: Mr. Parker was that night removed from the Town-Hall, but Master [Page 165] Hinson was left there all night, strongly guarded by eight Bill-men, having no other Bed but a Bench: next day Master Parker (who had the favor to be lodged that Night in a Serjeants House) desirous to see his Fellow-Prisoner, prevailed with his Land­lord to go along with him to visit Master Hinson: of which when Wenham had notice, he told Bid­denham (for so was the Serjeants name) that he deserved for this to be laid by the heels himself: which check so awed many of Mr. Hinson's Friends, that they durst not visit him for fear of Imprison­ment: the Mayor and Wenham command the Maid-servant that attended him, not to carry any Letters from him, and being examined by them whether she had conveyed any from him already; upon her denyal, Barlow a factious Schismatick (who because heretofore his Neighbors of Hasting refused to con­cur with him in petitioning against Episcopacy, joyned and subscribed with those of Rye) told her, that she deserved to be put into the Ducking-house (a Prison for Women) for denying it: That night Bid­denham the Serjeant was commanded to carry Mr. Hinson out of the Town-hall, and put him into the Common Goal; which the Serjeant refusing, that bu­sie Fellow Wenham told him, That he deserved to be committed himself, for refusing to perform his office: hereupon, by vertue of this Oath, they command four of the Men whom they had sworn to apprehend Mr. Hinson, to tell him, That he must exchange his Pri­son, the Town-hall, for the common Goal, whither they presently led him; there they lock him fast up in a loathsom place, where there was but one short bench, and no company but a Tinker, and he none of the Jovialists neither, for the stubborn sullen Tinker pleading seniority in the place, took posses­sion [Page 166] of the Bench, and most unsociably kept it all night, not interchanging with Mr. Hinson his re­pose for a walk for variety sake, but left him one while to walk, and another while to sleep on that floor, in which he was forced to do the necessary acts of Nature: while he lay in this loathsom con­dition, four of the Jurats; Jurats, I mean four that had taken the Oath, to do whatever was com­manded them, came to the Goal, and professed to Mr. Hinson their hearty sorrow that they ever had a hand in his Attachment, intreated him, that he would not think evil of them, for they were com­pelled to do that for which they were now sorry: And Thomas Staple that (as before you heard) ex­postulated so freely, and pleaded against the taking the Oath before he was awed to take it, shewing the monstrous evil in which it might ingage them, openly exclaimed against the Mayor and his Bre­thren, wishing that the Plague from God might light upon them, for insnaring their Consciences with such an Oath; when not only Religion, but right Reason might have told him, and the rest, That their Sin was to take an unlawful Oath, it had been no sin to break it: while Master Hinton lay thus in the Goal, one Master Besanno, a Coun­sellor at Law interceded for him, and earnestly intreated, that he might be removed from the Com­mon Goal, and committed to safe Custody in some Chamber in the Town, but could not prevail: at last, after three Weeks Imprisonment, upon Mr. Be­sanno's request, seconded by Mr. Brian (hereto­fore a Jurate of Hasting, but now removed to Bat­tell, as too honest for such a Fraternity as he left behind him) Mr. Hinson was sent with a strong Guard to Colonel Morley: by whom he was trans­mitted [Page 167] to London to Learned Miles Corbet, who committed him to the Custody of a Messenger; and having no particular accusation, but a general charge, and finding no hopes to be brought to a hearing, but perceiving himself designed (as others before him had been) to long attendance and vexa­tious delays, he withdrew himself from his Tyran­ny and Oppression, and escaping to Oxford, put himself under the Kings Protection.

As the Rebels in their march towards Glocester passed through Chipping-Norton, in the County of Oxford: a Woman of that Town (whose zeal to the King, and the justice of his Cause, could not contain it self, though in the midst of his Mortal Enemies) said, in the hearing of some of the Re­bels, God bless the Cavaliers: (so are all good and faithful Subjects called by the Rebels) this expressi­on of the poor Womans affection to the King and his Loyal Subjects in so innocent a Prayer, so high­ly incensed the Rebels, that to punish so heinous a Crime, presently they tyed her to the tail of one of their Carts, and stripping her to the Middle, for two miles march whipped her in so cruel a manner with their Cart-whips, that her Body in many pla­ces was cut so deep, as if she had been lanced with Knives, the torment being so great (as much as her straight bounds would give leave) she cast her self on the ground, so to shelter her self from their stripes, but in a most barbarous manner they drag­ged her along, insomuch that her Legs and Feet were so torn by the Stony rough ways, that her Flesh was worn off in many places to the very Bones: at last, having far exceeded the number of stripes limited by God himself in the Law of Moses (though given by the hand of Justice) Forty [Page 168] stripes he may give him and not exceed, Deut. 25.3. they left her a lamentable spectacle of their Cru­elty: in this miserable condition lay this poor Soul for some few days, and since died of those wounds which she received from them: The blood of this Innocent, mingled with the rest shed by their hands, crying loud with them under the Altar, Revel. 6.10. How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou nou judg and avenge our blood on them that dwell on earth.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
XVI.

AFter that bold affront offered (and that with­out Check or Controul) to publick Justice, and the known Laws of the Land, in those Tri­umphant Reductions of that Triumvirat of sediti­ous Schismaticks, Burton, Bastwick, and Prinne from their several confinements: It was no hard mat­ter for the World to guess what measure the obe­dient Sons of the Church of England might ex­pect, when that spurious, degenerous Brood, (which most undutifully cast dirt in their Mothers face, and in their Scurrilous, Libellous Pamphlets pro­claimed her a Harlot) became the Darlings both [Page 169] of the heads of the Faction in Parliament and the People: And though it seemed good to the heads of the Faction, by restoring these turbulent men, to brave that Authority by which they were just­ly censured, yet, being restored, all were not thought to be of equal concernment: As for Bastwick, if any man labouring under any Indisposition (be­sides that to the present established Government) had a mind to be a Patient, and put himself into the hands of a Mad-man, he might do as he pleas­ed at his own peril: every man was left to the li­berty of his own choice: So for Prinne, if any man desired to retain him of his Counsel, it was law­ful for the Client to give, and him to receive his Fee, but all this was but voluntary: no man was constrained to be a Patient to the one, nor a Client to the other: for the intended Rebellion might well go forward, though Bastwick never wrote an Apothecaries Bill, or Prinne pleaded at the Bar: But for Burton, (a main Engine to pro­mote the design in hand) it concerned them to restore him, not only to a Liberty of the exercise of his calling at large, but likewise to invest him in his former Cure in particular; from which, by the just sentence of Law he was ejected: To this purpose no arts were left unattempted, by the un­der Agents, for the heads of this Rebellion, to re­store Burton to his Parsonage of S. Matthews in Fri­day-street, London: by unjust molestations they en­deavour to weary out Mr. Chestlen that succeeded him (but not immediately) in it, to relinquish his Cure, and make way for this Trumpet of Se­dition; that so, what was not feizable in Law, might yet be effected by horrible injustice and op­pression: First therefore some of Mr. Chestlens Pa­rishoners, [Page 170] (but Burtons old Disciples, levened with his Schismatical Doctrin) deny to pay him his Tiths, or any other accustomed Duties: nor are they content with their own denial, but by earn­est perswasions, and other means they labour to draw other men into the like obstinacy and per­versness: nor did they stick openly to profess that they did this, that by unjust vexations they might weary out Mr. Chestlen, and make way for Burton: hereupon (the Ecclesiastical Court being suppressed, which otherwise have cognizance of the Causes of Tiths of London, nor can there any prohibition be justly granted as Coram non Judice, the Statute only enabling the Lord Mayor to be Judge, if the person grieved think fit to appeal unto him, but no way disabling the Ordinary, or abolishing his power) Mr. Chestlen petitioned (as the Statute in that case provides) the Lord Major that then was Sir Edmund Wright: To the hearing before the Lord Mayor came little Isaac Pennington, no ways interested in the cause, but only to give counte­nance to Mr. Chestlen's Parishoners: being there, he openly reviled Mr. Chestlen, calling him Saucy Jack, Brazen-fac'd Fellow, and the like; nay he threatned the Judge, thinking by this to stave him off from doing Justice, who bravely scorning the threats of so contemptible a Mushrome, in a just indignation replied, What, shall I be afraid to do Justice? and in­deed the event shewed that he was not afraid, for up­on a full hearing of the Cause, the Lord Mayor gave sentence for Mr. Chestlen, and ordered the Parishoners to pay their Tiths: Tillat a Linnen Draper, one of the Citizens that was sued, refused to obey the Lord Mayor's Decree: and therefore the time limited in the Decree being expired, the Lord Mayor accord­ing to the power given him by the Statute of the 37 of [Page 171] Hen. 8. committed Tillat to Prison without Bail, or mainprize, until he did submit to the sentence as the Statute gives him power: But see the Ju­stice of the great pretenders to the maintenance of the Laws of the Land, Tillat had not stood committed many days, before two of the House of Commons (as the Keeper of Newgate sayes) in the name of the House of Commons, command him to be set at liberty, which accordingly was done, though he were in upon Execution, and the Debt not satisfied: every man wondring at, but no man daring to question so illegal an action. When this way took no effect, they joyned their Purses to vex him with an Action of Ejectment, threatning to spend five hundred pounds but they would out him of his Living: but presently de­serted those intentions as not seizable. After this, they slaunder him for Preaching Popery and Armi­nianism: which unjust scandal so prevailed in the City, that he could not pass the streets without affronts and jeers put upon him: they disswade his Parishoners from hearing him, telling them, that they would be damn'd if they lived under his Ministery, they branded them with the name of Malignants, if they frequented their own Church, and procured them to be deeply Taxed in all Sess­ments. In a word, that nothing might be want­ing to their own malice, and Mr. Chestlen's vex­ation, they threw menacing Libels into his House, laid wait in the Pewes of his Church, while o­thers provoked him to express himself in the great differences of the times, hoping to intangle him in his words: and examined his Conversation in the ve­ry places where he lived, even from his Childhood, to that time, hoping to find something whence [Page 172] to frame an Accusation against him: When all these malicious Courses would not effect the thing they aimed at, they go from house to house for hands to a Petition against him, to the House of Commons, pretending that he had Preached false Doctrin, and made it the subject matter of their Petition: and if any man refused to subscribe (as many did, because they could not testifie the truth of the Petition) in their Spirit of meekness, they called them Malignants, Papists, and Enemies to Re­ligion: however it is too well known, that two or three men (though the very dregs of the People) petitioning against Orthodox Ministers, have in the judgment and acceptance of the Faction of the House of Commons, out-poised the rest of the Parish, though infinitely beyond them as in Number so in Quality: their Testimony being rejected with much acrimony and sharpness, when the other Libels have gained credit and reputation with them: Therefore about March, 1641. The Schismaticks of Mr. Chestlens Parish presented a Pe­tition against him to the House of Commons, in the name of the whole Parish, though three parts of four protested against it under their own hands: When it was presented, Pennington and Venne ear­nestly urged that it might be read, pleading in their drivelling, railing Oratory, that he was a very dangerous man, fit to be looked after: To satis­fie their Importunity, the Witnesses (who as their manner is, were never sworn, and yet were both Witnesses and Accusers) were produced and ex­amined at the Bar, and upon examination the Petition was thrown out as frivolous, but like ea­ger bloud-hounds not giving off the pursuit, for be­ing at one loss, upon Easter Eve, to shew the World [Page 173] that malice is part of a Puritans preparation to the Sacrament, when the House was very thin, the Pro­testants of the House being in their Closets, close at their devotions to prepare themselves for the great Feast at hand, and when all private busines­ses by order of both Houses were laid aside (for as yet all opinion of the sanctity of the ancient Festivals of the Primitive Church, those venerable anniversary memorials of Gods great blessings to mankind, was not lost amongst them) Penning­ton and Venne prevailed to have this foiled ejected Petition to be revived and read again in the House, and the Patrons of Justice and Integrity being then absent, the Petition was referred to the Com­mittee for scandalous Ministers: so they are plea­sed to call all Orthodox, conscientious Ministers, who abhor their Rebellion, and refuse to comply with them in their seditious practices: and that no time might be lost, in Easter-week, the Com­mittee sate purposely for this business: to which there was a full confluence of seditious Schismati­cal People from all quarters of the City; that so nothing might be wanting to this Triumph: while Mr. Chestlen was thus tied to a tedious chargeable attendance; God to whom appertain the Issues of death, smote Tillat the main promoter of Mr. Che­stlens troubles with the Plague: of which he died: with whom also for the present died Mr. Chestlens trouble and vexation: and though some (that think that all acts of providence are aimed point-blank at them) having such an oportunity as this, would interpret this to their own Interest, as a sign of personal favour to them, yet not dar­ing to press into the hidden will of God, nor mak­ing our selves of familiar acquaintance with his [Page 174] Counsels; I shall not make any inference from hence, but leave every man to abound in his own sense, only thus much we say, Tillat being dead, the hot prosecution of Mr. Chestlen, for a while lay dead too: when all these endeavours could not re-estate Burton in the Parsonage, some of the Factious of the Parish combine to make him their Lecturer, and perhaps better approved of him as their Lecturer, than their Parson: to this purpose cunningly, and on feigned pretences they get some subscriptions of the Parishoners, and annexing them to a Petition, for which they were never intended, preferred it in their own names, and the names of the rest, to the House of Commons, that Burton might be their Lecturer: which was no sooner proposed than granted, and an Order presently drawn up to give Burton power to Preach in Mr. Chestlen's Pulpit, which Mr. Chestlen resolute­ly opposing, kindled such Coals against him as af­terwards fired him out of the City: for since Mr. Chestlen will not give way to Burton to be part­ner with him in his Pulpit, they resolve to give him possession of the whole, by removing Mr. Chestlen totally from his Cure: To this purpose Mr. Case sends to the Faction in Mr. Chestlen's Pa­rish to frame some accusation against him; in o­bedience to so ghostly Counsel, Mr. Chestlen is presently accused to the House of Commons for Preaching a seditious Sermon on Sunday the 23. of October, that very day whereon the Battel was fought at Edge-Hill: The subject of the Sermon in truth, being nothing else, but an earnest ex­hortation to his Parishoners to perswade them to constancy in the Protestant Religion, perseverance in the fear of God and the King: presently a War­rant [Page 175] is granted for the apprehension of Mr. Che­stlen; on the Thursday following, they rioutously assault him in his house, with great Tumults, arm­ed with drawn Swords and Pistols: and seizing on him, in great triumph they carry him to the Court of Aldermen, who now (it seems) are succeeded in the place of the High Commission, and are to be Judges of true or false Doctrin: being brought before this Lay Sanadrim whereof Pen­nington the pretended Lord Mayor was President, and a Rabble of Schismaticks crowding in, to give countenance to the business, Captain Ven their Leader, stands forth and accuseth Mr. Che­stlen for a most dangerous seditious Preacher (tho he confessed that he never heard him) and that he stood a Delinquent in Parliament: others ob­jected against him that he Preached to discourage the Citizens from going to Windsor, though this Sermon were preached before that treasonable de­sign was known, that the Kings Royal Castle should become Captain Ven's Royal Castle, or his Coun­try house for the recreation of his Mopsa: and that the People might have full content, Mr. Che­stlen was there baited on every hand, every Alder­man had his fling at him: At last having made him a publick scorn of the multitude, Pennington commits him into the hands of his accusers to ex­pose him to more abuse, and to commit him to the Compter: the Rabble being now made Serjeants, they threaten to carry him in a Cart through the open streets to the Prison: to deliver him from the fury, and rage of the People, his Father (a known able Citizen) tendered Bail of ten Thou­sand Pounds, but it was not accepted: away they carry him to the Compter, and the next day being [Page 176] Friday, he is brought to the Bar at the House of Commons; where the Speaker (who had been hap­py in the deceived worlds opinion both of his wis­dom and honesty had he never known other Bar, but that of the Exchequer) interrogated him touch­ing his Preaching against Brownists, and Anabap­tists: and presently though no witness appeared, though no crime were objected, though no accu­ser appeared against him: he was voted by the House of Commons, to be sent Prisoner to Col­chester Goal in Essex, there to remain during the pleasure of the House, and to pay the Charges of his conveyance thither: And that Posterity may read, and reading stand amazed to see how Ty­rannical, how unlimited an Empire these Subjects have exercised upon their fellow Subjects, without any legal process, or any cause shewn, to doom them to Banishment and Captivity during their High and mighty pleasure, we have here inserted a true and perfect Copy of the Warrant and Sub­warrant by which Mr. Chestlen was sent from hand to hand, till he came to his Goal, at Colche­ster.

Next Morning being Saturday was this (righte­ous) sentence put in execution: Thus to make way to reduce Burton, a Stigmatized infamous Scis­matick to his former place, was Mr. Chestlen doom­ed to banishment and captivity: in a remote place from his Father, his Wife and Family, into a noi­some Goal, where he was made a Companion to Theives and Felons; in a Town, where 'twas little less than death to be Loyal: or as themselves phrase it, to be Caesars Friend: A Town in which they that sent him thither, could not but know that they exposed his life to the fury of an inra­ged [Page 178] Fanatick People, and not long before had not only murthered Sir John Lucas, his Mother, and Sister, together with Mr. Newcomin, one of their own Ministers, and for this had received pub­lick thanks from the House of Commons for their forwardness and zeal to the service of the Parlia­ment; Lastly, in a Town arrived at that high de­gree of madness, that the Independent Church is o­penly practised in it, and the Mayor banished one of the Town for a Malignant and a Cavalier whose name was Parsons, and gave this learned reason for this exemplary peice of Justice, Because it was an ominous name: While Mr. Chestlen remained in this durance, if any man durst visit him, it was at his peril, he was in danger to be Plundered and brand­ed with the dangerous name of a Malignant. They raised reports of great resort of Cavaliers to him, and of Arms brought unto him, insomuch that Alderman Barrington told the Committee, that their Town was not in safety because of Mr. Chest­len, who poor man, had no other endeavour than how to free himself from the loathsom nastiness of his Prison: To this end many Petitions were delivered to the House of Commons, that he might be delivered from the Goal to some private house, which boon after much and earnest prosecution by Mrs. Chestlen, and his friends, was obtained: Having an Order to exchange his Goal for a pri­vate house, Mr. Hammon an honest Gentleman dwelling in the Town, entertained Mr. Chestlen: but for his Charity incurred the hatred of the Common People, for whereas before he lived be­loved, and in good estimation amongst his Neigh­bours, now for harbouring Mr. Chestlen, and for this and other actions being under the Jealousie [Page 179] of the Crime of Loyalty, they call him Cavalier, they threaten to call him up to the Parliament, and at last were as good as their word, for upon their Complaint, he was sent for up to the Par­liament, and committed for receiving Mr. Chestlen into his house: though in reason he might safely conclude, that, that Order of the House which gave Mr. Chestlen liberty to remove to another house, did withal give that house liberty to en­tertain him: Thus continued Mr. Chestlen in this exile and Imprisonment from October 1642. until the February following, when the Kings express Warrant being sent for his release, having the op­portunity now and then to go abroad and take the air, he left the Warrant for the Goaler to make use of for his best advantage, while he came away to Oxford and put himself under the Kings Protection: Since that, in London they have bro­ken up his house, and Plundered his Goods: a common evil incident to all the Kings faithful Subjects, which are within the Verge of the Rebels usurped power.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
XVII.

ON New-years day, 1643. seventeen Soldiers sent by Captain Jeremy Buck, came to Mr. Henry Fowlers house, Parson of Minchin-Hampton, in the County of Gloucester; being entred the house, they find Mr. Fowler sitting (as the season of the year required) by the fire side, presently they seize on him, and tell him, that he is their Pri­soner: and though he instantly submitted unto them without any the least resistence, yet to wreck their own malice, and the malice of him that sent them, upon him, one of the Rebels takes him by the throat, and holds the point of his Sword at his breast, two more (on each side one) present their Pistols at him, another shakes his Pole-axe over his head, others strike him with their Pole-axes; threatned he is on every side with varieties of death. All Smite him with the tongue, they rail at him, objecting against him as heinous crimes, First, that he read the Common-Prayers at length, and that he had published the Kings Proclamations with a loud voice; and then with [Page 181] renewed fury they assault him again: they beat him with their Pole-axes, and call him Mass-Priest, Rogue, Rascal, and tell him, Sirrah, you can furnish the King with a Musquet, a Corslet, and a Light-Horse, but thou old Knave, thou canst not find any thing at all for the Parliament: And then to work they fall again with their Pole-axes, and beat and bruise him in most parts of his body; so that being aged, (no less than Threescore and two years old) and being not yet perfectly re­covered of a former lameness in one of his hips, though he were in a probable way towards it, by this barbarous usage, being so cruelly beaten, and tugged, and haled by them, he is made a ve­ry Cripple, irrecoverably lame, without all possi­bility of recovering of his Limbs: All this inhu­manity was practised on Mr. Fowler in the pre­sence of his Wife and Children, the Wife in the behalf of her Husband, the Children in the be­half of their Father, humbly entreating on their knees, that they would have compassion on him, and not murther a peaceable man in his own house. While some of these Rebels were executing this cruelty on his Person, others go up into his Stu­dy, and Chambers, and take away all that was of good value, and portable. And having crippled the Master of the Family, and rifled his house, like the true Servants of that Master whom they serve, the Devil, they leave him, but it was but for a season.

Now though the present sense of these suffer­ings, could not be but very great to an aged man, and one labouring under former infirmities, es­pecially to have his sufferings imbittered by the reproachful railings of the Rebels, and the mocks [Page 182] and mowes of Captain Bucks friends and Kindred, who stood by jeering, and clapt their hands for joy, applauding the exact execution of Bucks com­mands, given his Soldiers concerning Mr. Fowler, yet the sad effects which followed were evidence enough how cruel his usage was: First, Mr. Fow­ler presently upon the Rebels departure, fell into an extream bleeding, which continued, and could not be stanched in six hours and more, by which great outlet of Spirits, his strength was so much exhausted, that the was not able to stand. Second­ly, the next day after his bleeding, what with the loss of so much blood, and what with vio­lence offered to his whole body, the Retentive Fa­culty, was so weakened, that his urine came from him insensibly, and in this wretched condition he continued very near a month. Lastly, by the ma­ny confusions and knocks which he received on his head with their Pole-axes he lost his hearing, which he hath not perfectly recovered unto this day. And now after all this barbarous usage, re­mains there yet any thing else to be added to his sufferings? was not their malice satisfied, and these outrages (designed to be committed on him) compleated yet? No, Captain Bucke knew that it would not be lawful always to commit murther, and rob those that are quiet in the Land, and therefore resolved to make use of the present op­portunity: he was not ignorant that the wages of a faithful Servant to the Rebellion was full licence to do any thing that can satisfie Lust, private Re­venge, or Avarice: And therefore in July last, Bucke himself, not like a Captain of Soldiers, but a Ring-leader to a Rout of Rogues, came to Mr. Fowlers house at Minching-Hampton, and most thiev­ishly [Page 183] broke open the Window of his Sons Study, and so entered the house: In the Study they found Rich Treasure which they did not know, being indeed without a Metaphor Pearl before Swine, for young Mr. Fowler, a Practitioner it seems in Phy­sick, had in his Study Extract of Pearl, Aurum Potabile, Confections of Amber, a great quantity of Compound Waters, a good proportion of Pearl in Boxes, a Box full of Bezoar Stone, with many other things of admirable use, for the preservation of the Life of Man, and of very great value, all which they took and brake in pieces, and tramp­ling them under foot, made them utterly unuse­ful either for themselves or others. One of Mr. Fowlers Daughters in a just indignation at so great wast of things so precious, told Bucke that he might be ashamed to spoil things of that use and value; Bucke (a rude untutored man as he is) called her Whore, and with his Pole-ax gave her a blow on the Neck, and struck her down, and being ri­sen again, again he strikes her down with his Pole-ax, nay, to pursue the glorious victory, he strikes her down a third time, and had she been able to rise from the floor, questionless, had struck her down a fourth time. The compassionate Mo­ther Mrs. Fowler standing by, and seeing her Daugh­ter thus barbarously used, to redeem her from this cruelty, resolved to expose her own person to the fury of this mad Beast, and therefore interposing, asked Bucke, whether he thought she could endure to see her Child murthered before her face: but as soon as Mrs. Fowler came within his reach, with­out regard either to her Age, or Sex, he caught her by the Throat, knocked her down, and being down, kicked her, and trampled on her with his [Page 184] feet. At last having acted what cruelty he pleas­ed (according to the Latitude of that Tacite Commission given every Captain of the Rebel­lion) on Mrs. Fowler and her Daughter, he and his Rabble Plundered the House, and so depart­ed.

If the monstrousness of these barbarous and inhuman cruelties committed on this Reverend Divine, his Wife and Daughter, and reported in this Relation, shall weaken the credit of the Rela­tion, and render the truth of it suspected, let the World know, that here is nothing set down in this account given unto the World, but what was testified upon Oath before the Right Honourable Sir Robert Heath Knight, Lord Chief Justice of His Majesties Court of Kings Bench, on the 18. day of August 1643.

On the 21 of Septemb. 1643. being Saint Mat­thew the Apostle and Evangelists day, a hundred and fifty Soldiers, some from Gloucester sent from Captain Beard being of his Company, and some others from Teuxbury, (all conspiring together, and taking advantage of the Peoples absence from their homes, and being at a Fair that day at Led­bury two miles distant from Malverne Hills) un­der the conduct of Captain Scriven, son to Scriven the rich Ironmonger, and late Mayor of Gloucester, came to Castle-Morton in the County of Worcester, to Plunder Mr. Rowland Bartlets house: a man so well beloved in his Country, for his Hospitality, so dear to all sorts of People, especially to the poor, for his Charity, and those helps which he freely bestowed on them, for the recovery of the sick, the lame, and infirm, that had not these Rebels taken the opportunity of his Neighbours being at [Page 185] the Fair, this force had been too weak, to have made him the first instance of the Rebels inso­lency (in that County) by way of Plunder: when they came to Castle-Morton, for fear of sur­prizal, their Horse secure the streets, and High­ways, while the Pikes and Musqueteers beset the house: having made good all passages, that none could go in, or come out, without their leave, Scriven advanced towards the house: Mr. Bartlet perceiving himself to be enclosed with armed men, their Musquets being bent upon his house, and his Pales serving them instead of Rests; coming out of his doors, met Scriven in the Porch, and after a friendly salute, demanded of him the reason of this Warlike approach to his house? Scriven an­swered, that he came in the name of the Parlia­ment, and by their command to search for Arms: Alas! replied Mr. Bartlet, you are like to lose your labour, for Justice Salloway (meaning that traiterous beggerly Fellow, who in the time of the late universal madness, was made Knight of the Shire for the County of Worcester) hath prevent­ed you: yet Mr. Bartlet bad him use his discretion, to see if he could find any gleaning, after the others full Vintage: and so brought him through his Hall into his Parlour; being there Mr. Bartlet according to the freeness of his disposition, and after the good old English way of bidding wel­come, called for some Beer. While Scriven sate there, and with a curious eye surveyed the furni­ture of the Room, he espied Mr. Bartlet's Sword, hanging on the Wainscot, Scriven presently taking it down, said, is not this Arms? Yes, replied Mr. Bartlet, but no more than is necessary for every honest man, to prevent or repel injury on the [Page 186] High-way; young Mr. Bartlet's Sword hanging by his Fathers, Scriven takes down that too: and utter­ly to disarm them, that so they might rob them with­out resistance, the Rebels in the outward Rooms possess themselves of Mr. Bartlets mans Sword: young Mr. Bartlet coming into the Parlour, hop­ing to recover his Sword, Scriven perceiving a Ring (in which was set a Rubey) hanging in his band­strings, rudely seized upon it, and after some strugling, some seconds with Pistols, and Car­bines, coming to his assistance, Scriven either broke, or cut it off: having rob'd the young man of his Ring, animated by the presence of his fel­low Thieves, he dives into his Fathers Pockets, and takes thence his monies, between three and four pounds: Mr. Bartlet perceiving his hand in the return, to be full of mony, put his own hand into his pocket, to see what was left, and finding but one poor three pence, to have escap­ed his thievish fingers, tendered him that too, desiring him that all might go together, which was no sooner offered, than taken by this poor conditi­oned unworthy Fellow, yet Heir to a Thousand pounds a year, unless the Hangman cut off the entail; Mr. Bartlet being clad in a fair scarlet Gip­po (a shrewd temptation to a man not accustomed to wear good Cloaths, especially at his own charge) so dazled Scrivens eyes, that he offered to pull it from the others back: Mr. Bartlet entreated him not to strip him of his Cloaths since he had taken away his monies, with which he should buy more: O Sir, replied this doughty Captain, you have mony enough to buy more, and so the hopes of a greater prize making him forget the Gippo, he drew his Sword, and threatned to kill Mr. Bart­let, [Page 187] unless he would confess where he had hid his mony and Plate: but finding him resolute not to betray his own Treasure, Scriven seizeth upon a Woman that was Mr. Bartlets House-keeper, an old faithful Servant, in whom Mr. Bartlet and his Wife reposed much trust, and thinking to work upon the weakness of her Sex, and affright her in­to a confession, he causes some to present Pistols at her brest, and others the points of their Swords, threatening her with present death, if she would not discover where her Masters Treasure was: but finding this Woman not to be terrified with their threats, and fearing surprizal by some Forces which might come from Worcester, or the return of the Country people from the Fair at Ledbury, he resolved to make trial if he could find out that which he saw would not be disclosed unto him: Therefore without further delay to work they go, resolving to search the house from the top to the bottom. In Mr. Bartlets Chamber, Scriven seizeth upon Mrs. Bartlets Watch, he breaks open a Trunk, and took thence (by his own confession) six hundred Pounds in mony, he takes away all Mrs. Bartlets wearing Linnen, to the value of three-score Pounds, he breaks open her Cabinets, Trunks and Boxes, and in them seized or (to speak more properly) stole more Mony, Plate, Jewels and Bracelets, amounting to a great Sum: amongst o­ther things valuable both for rarity and use, he took a Cock Eagles Stone, for which Thirty Pie­ces had been offered by a Physitian, but were re­fused: having thus scim'd the house, and rifled it of the principal things in it, a warning-piece is shot off, to signifie to the Rascality, that now they might have free leave to enter: upon the signal [Page 188] given, leaving (instant) their guards, and stations, in a confused Tumult they rush into the house, and as eager hounds at a loss offer here and there, and know not well where to fasten, so, these hunt from the Parlour to the Kitchin, from thence, by the Chambers, to the Garrets: every Room is full, every one fearing that his fellow Thief would prevent him, and seize upon the prey before him­self: Besides Mr. Bartlets, his Wives, and Childrens wearing apparel, they rob their servants of their Cloaths: with the butt ends of their Musquets they break open their hanging Presses, Cupboards, and Chests; no place was free from this ragged Re­giment: and if so barbarous an outrage, could pos­sibly have admitted any time, but for a serious detestation of so foul injustice, it may have drawn a smile from the most concerned beholders, to see their thrusting and tumbling one another, the rude arts used to supplant one another, and how one Thief snatched and stole from another: After this storm was seen coming on, and to threaten this house in particular, the Servants fearing that tho the main brunt might light on their Master, yet some sprinkling might chance to fall on them, used all the art of cunning they could devise, to preserve those small sums of mony, of which their honest labour and frugality had made them Ma­sters. But 'twas in vain to hide, where desperate beggery, and resolved Rapine were to be seekers: in one place the Rebels find Twenty Shillings, in another Forty, three Pounds here, more or less there: but were it more or less, all was fish that came to Net, they spare none: in this strict search, they meet with Mr. Bartlets Sweet-meats, these they scatter on the ground, not daring to tast of [Page 189] them for fear of Poison; a wary consideration, and such as staved not off the hardy Knight Sir William Brooke of Kent, to meet fists with a greazy Common Soldier in a Gally-pot, when the Re­bels of that County did the like out-rage on the truly honoured Lady Butlers Closet, as you heard in the first weeks Relation of this Mercury: and as for Syrupes, and Salves those charitable pro­visions for the sick, and maimed, these they tram­ple under foot, not providently foreseing that some of their Brethren in this Rebellion, might stand in need of them, the Friday next following at the Battel of Wickfield near Worcester, where God by the hand of the Kings Forces under the conduct of Prince Rupert, gave the Rebels their first overthrow. The happy Omen of Edge-Hill, and those many other succeeding Victories with which (no less to the wonder than confusion of the Rebels) it hath pleased God since to bless his Sacred Majesty: In a word, except Bedding, Pew­ter, and Lumber, they left nothing behind them, for besides two Horses laden with the best things (Scrivens own Plunder) there being one hundred and fifty Rebels, each Rebel returned with a Pack at his back. As for his Beer, and Perry, what they could not devour they spoil, the earth drink­ing what the Rebels could not, and then triumph­ing in their wickedness, and glorying in their Vil­lany, they vaunted, That they had made Bartlet a Begger, and left him not worth a Groat: Yet all the Rebels were not of the same belief, for pre­sently after, when the Earl of Essex, possessed him­self of Worcester, some under his Command came from Worcester to Mr. Bartlets house, where what was undervalued and left by Scriven, and his Rout, [Page 190] was good booty to these: They take away good store of Bacon from his Roof, and Beef out of the Powdering Tubs; they steal his Pots, Panns, and Kettels, together with his Pewter to a great value, they seize on all his Provisions for hospitality and house-keeping, and then break his Spits, as unnecessary utensils, they expose his bedding to sale, and press Carts to carry away his Chairs, Stools, Couches, and Trunks, though emptied be­fore by Scriven; and sharply threaten all such as should be known to harbour any of Mr. Bartlets Goods. And though these two Plunders, one upon the neck of the other, left Mr. Bartlet a desolate, naked house; yet when the Earl of Essex came lately down towards Glocester, and hid himself and his Army in hedges, ditches, and the inclosures about Teuxbury, on three several days, three sever­all Companies came to visit Mr. Bartlets house, presuming that in almost a Twelve months time, the house might be new furnished, nor were they altogether deceived in their expectation; without, they plunder him of eight Horses, and within, what ever they found, they made clean work, the fifth Plunder not sparing his Kitchin-stuff, which being reserved in a small Barrel, a Soldier put­ting it on his shoulder, carried it away; com­ing this last time to Mr. Bartlets house, and under­standing that he, and his Sons were in the Kings Army, they abused his Wife in beastly, immodest scurrilous language, which I shall omit to relate, as offensive to Christian ears: I shall conclude this five-fold Plunder, with the relation of one of their Captains Hipocrisie, and a Common Sol­diers impiety, glorying in his wickedness: The Captain being invited to eat of a Stubble-Goose, [Page 191] which a Soldier had Plundered and brought into his Quarters, refused to taste of it, and gave this reason for his refusal, because it was stoln, which bred in Mrs. Bartlet a great opinion that he was a conscientious man, but being to march away, he that would eat no stoln Goose, made no scruple to ride away upon a stoln Mare, for plundering Mrs. Bartlet of her own Mare, this Hypocritical Captain (and pity it is I cannot tell you his name) gave sufficient Testimony to the World, that the old Pharisee and the new Puritan, have Consci­ences of the self-same temper, To strain at a Gnat, and swallow a Camel, measuring all Actions, not by lawful, and unlawful, but as they are more, or less gainful. But while the Captain chose ra­ther to be a Villain, than openly to appear so, the Common Soldiers would not only be so indeed, but desire so to be accounted; and therefore when his Companions were carrying out Mr. Bartlet's Goods, amongst other things, one seized on some live Partridges, and being entreated to forbear, and to spare them, because they were provided for a Great-bellied Gentlewoman, and now ready to lay down her burthen, the Common Soldiers hearing him plead thus, barbarously replied, if we had made Venison of her great Belly, she would not have longed for Partridges, for I have killed young and old, Men, Women, and Children: and boast­ing himself in his sin, and glorying in his shame, without regard had to the dangerous longing of a pregnant Woman, if not satisfied, took them a­way. So truly is that of the Prophet verified in these Miscreants, They declare their Sin as Sodom, they hide it not, Woe unto their Soul, for they have re­warded evil to themselves, Esay 3.9.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
XVIII.

IN Novemb. 1642. some of the Rebels Foot Sol­diers being Billetted at Acton in the County of Middlesex, they presently enquire of their Hosts what their Doctor was, (meaning Doctor Featly, their then Rector) and what Divine Service they had; they answered according to the truth, that he was a man who precisely observed the Canons of the Church, and swerved not a title from the Rubrick of the Common Prayer, wearing the Surplice, and using all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church established by Law. Some of the Red-coats replyed, Doth he so? We will teach him another Lesson, and make him leave those Popish Superstitions, or he shall rue it. Soon af­ter, they repair to the Church at Acton, break open the Doors by force, in the Chancel they find this Subscription on the Wall, This Chancel was repair­ed and beautified, such a year, by Daniel Featly D.D. Rector, which they utterly defaced: Then laying hands on the Rails, they dealt with them (as Ducks do with a Frog) tear them limbless, and afterwards burnt them in the Street, saying, That if they had [Page 193] the Parson there, they would burn him with his Popish Trinkets.

Soon after, Colonel Urrey took up his Quarters at the Parsonage-house, some of whose Soldiers, (whether willingly or by carelesness, being in Drink, is not certified) lying in the Doctors Barn, set it on Fire, which burned the whole Barn full of Corn, and two Stables, down to the ground, the loss being estimated by the Inhabitants at Two hundred and eleven pounds.

But to leave Acton, and come to Lambeth, where the Secretaries wrecked their spleen, not upon Pales, or Rails, or the Fruits of the Earth, as at Acton, but upon the Bodies of Christs Servants, on his own Day, and in his own House and Court. For February 19. 1642. even in the midst of Divine Service, at the reading of the Te Deum laudamus, four or five Soldiers rushed into the Church with Pistols, and drawn Swords, affrighted the whole Congregation out, wounded one of the Inhabitants (whereof he soon after died) shot another dead, as he hung by the hands on the Church-yard wall, looking over to the Palace Court, who might truly have said in the words of the Poet, though in an­other sense, Ut vidi, ut perii.

It was gathered by many Circumstances, espe­cially by Depositions taken before the Coroner, and by some Speeches that fell from their own mouths, that their principal aim at that time, was to have murdered the Doctor, which 'tis probable they had effected, had not some honest Inhabitants premonished the Doctor, who was at the same time on his way towards the Church, intending to have Preached.

[Page 194]About the same time, many of these Murderers were heard expressing their rancour against the Doctor, thus: Some said they would chop the Rogue as small as Herbs to the Pot, for suffer­ing Pottage, (for by that name they usually stile the Book of Common Prayer) to be read in his Church: Others said, They would squeeze the Pope out of his Belly, with such like scurrilous and malicious Language.

The Sunday sennight after this Outrage, being the fifth of March, the Doctor perceiving some Se­paratists at Sermon at Lambeth, took occasion to speak as followeth:

IF ever Schismaticks and foul mouth'd Separatists were set forth in their na­tive colours, the Schismaticks of this age are, Psal. 50.16, 17, 18, 19, 20. What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes, or that thou should'st take my Cove­nant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction (whatsoever thou pratest of Re­formation) and castest my words be­hind thee, (namely, Prov. 14.21. Eccles. 10.20. Rom. 12.1, 2, 3, 4. Heb. 13.8, 9, 17. 1 Pet. 2.13.) When thou sawest a thief, then thou consent­edst [Page 195] with him, and hast been partaker with Adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to lying, and thy Tongue fra­meth deceit. Thou sittest and speak­est against thy Brother, and slanderest thine own Mothers son. For is not this their canting Language? The Pre­lates of England are all Antichristian; The Ministers Baals Priests; The pub­lick Service, Idolatrous; The Ceremo­nies, Superstitious; and the Sacraments corrupted with mans Inventions. I take them at their word; If this be true, then is the Church of England no true Church of Christ; then they which have received all the Religion they have from her, are no better then Miscreants, Pagans, and In­fidels, in apparent peril of drowning in everlasting perdition, because out of the Ark, without God in this World, because without his Church. For as the Blessed Martyr Saint Cyprian soundly argueth against their Fore-fathers the Catharists, [Page 196] Deum non potest habere Patrem, qui Ecclesiam not habet Matrem: And Church they have none for their Mother, for they disclaim the true Protestant Church of England, and the Popish dis­claims them; so they are mere A per se A's, Independents, like the horti pensi­les in Lactantius, and Mausolus his Se­pulchre in Martial, hanging and hovering in the Air.

The Scripture sets forth the true visi­ble Church of Christ upon Earth, under the Emblem of a great Field, a great Floor, a great House, a great Sheet, a great Draw-net, a great and large Foun­dation, &c. The Church shadowed. out under these Similitudes, cannot be their Con­gregation, or rather Conventicles: For as they brag and commend themselves, want­ing good Neighbors; In their Field there are no Tares, in their Floor there is no Chaff, in their House no Vessels of Dis­honor, [Page 197] in their Sheet no Unclean Beasts, in their Net no trash, on their Foundati­on nothing built, but Gold, Silver, and pre­cious Stones. They have not sate with vain Persons, nor kept company with Dissem­blers; they have hated the assembly of Malignants, and have not accompanied with the Ungodly; they have not, nor will not Christen in the same Font, nor sit at the Holy Table, (for to kneel at the Sacra­ment is Idolatry) nor drink Spiritually the Blood of our Redeemer in the same Cha­lice with the wicked. Get ye packing then out of our Churches with your bags and baggages, hoyse up Sail for New Eng­land, or the Isle of Providence, or ra­ther Sir Thomas More's Eutopia, where Pluto's Commoner, and Osorius his No­bleman, and Castillio his Courtier, and Vigetius his Soldier, and Tully his O­rator, and Aristocles Felix, and the Jews Bencohab, and the Manichees Paraclet, and the Gnosticks Illuminate ones, and [Page 198] the Montanists Spiritual ones, and the Pe­lagians perfect ones, and the Catharists pure ones, and their precise and holy ones are all met at Prince Arthurs round Table, where every Guest (like the Ta­ble) is totus teres atque rotundus.

There are three Heads of Catechism and Grounds of Christianity, The Apo­stles Creed, the Lords Prayer, and the Ten Commandments; these may be more truly than Gorran his Postills, term­ed aurea fundamenta, which they go a­bout to overthrow and cast down; and when they have done it, no place remain­eth for them to build their Synagogues, or Maria Rotunda's, but the Sand in the Saw-pit, where their Apostle Browne first taught most profoundly. The Lords Pray­er they have excluded out of their Liturgy, the Apostles Creed out of their Confession, and the Ten Commandments, by the Anti­nomians their Disciples, out of their rule [Page 199] of life. They are too good to say the Lords Prayer, better taught than to rehearse the Apostles Creed, better liv'd than to hear the Decalogue read at their Service, for God can see no Sin in them, nor Man Honesty.

Tell me, ye Bastard brood of Martius, is it not sufficient for the conviction of your cauterized Consciences, that ye wreck your spleen upon the material Temples of God, by breaking down Organs, burning Rails, and defacing the Monuments of the Dead, but will ye go about to destroy the Spiri­tual Temple of the Holy Ghost? not fear­ing that dreadful Sentence of the Apostle, He that destroyeth the Temple of God, him shall God destroy. Could they not be content to tear the Book of Common Pray­er in pieces, and scatter the leaves all about the Church, but will they also rend and dilacerate the living Members of Christs mystical Body? Will they charge the Can­non [Page 200] with murthering Shot to destroy and dissipate whole Assemblies of Gods Servants met together upon his own Day to Worship him in his own House? Do they think that their bare opposition to Popery will save them? If that alone would give a Man a good Title to Heaven, not only the Socini­ans, Libertines, Familists, Antinomi­ans, and other damnable Hereticks, but even the Jews and Turks would snatch Heaven from them, and take it by force, for these are as vehement Opposers of Po­pery as they are: And howsoever the vio­lent Opposition to Popish Superstition is all the Religion some of them have, yet are they not at so deadly fewd with Papists, as they would bear the World in hand, for they shake hands with them in many of their Tenets and Practices, both of them condemn our English Liturgy, and profess Recusancy: both of them Idolize their Teach­ers, &c. Who hath bewitched them, that they should believe Bedlam shall be so far [Page 201] enlarged, and the Spirit of Frenzy possess Old England, that they should have the like success here, as their cousin-germans the Anabaptists had at Munster? though we envy them not their high preferment in the end. After these fits of Convulsion are over, and Peace setled in the Body of the Kingdom, do they think the wisdom of the State will ever change our Holy Churches into their prophane Barns and Stables? our Pulpits into their Tubs? our linnen Ephods into their Aprons? our Li­turgy into their extemporary Enthusiasms? our Learned Pastors into their ignorant Hirelings? and our Apostolical Hierarchy into their Apostolical Anarchy? But I will restrain my self, and confine my Di­scourse.

[Page 202]Soon after this Sermon, seven Articles were pre­ferred against the Doctor to the Committee for Plundered Ministers, by three Mechanicks, who had formerly been Indicted for Brownists, at the Sessions for the County of Surrey; but after long attendance, the Doctor was acquitted of them. Yet at length these Sectaries wrought so powerful­ly, that the Doctor must be committed to Pri­son, how unjustly soever; 'twas enough that he was a Doctor, and maintained the Religion esta­blished in the Church of England: And accord­ingly, on the 30th. of September, 1643. he is com­mitted to Peter-house; his own House, Library and Goods being first seized on, and his Estate seque­stred. The Sunday after his commitment, and for divers other Lords-days, he Preached to his Fellow-Prisoners, but after a while he was prohi­bited by Isaac-Pennington the pretended Mayor of London. And though Sir George Sands, Sir John Butler, Master Nevile, and other Prisoners of Qua­lity, Petitioned that he might continue his so doing, yet it would not be granted.

See how this unjust Imprisonment is relished by a Forein Divine, in these very words:

After the Doctor had been many Months stifled up in Prison, and having a Certificate from his Physitian that he could not live long, if he had not some fresh Air, he Petitioned these Soul-enthralling Tyrants, and at last obtained leave to go to Chelsey-Colledge for six Weeks, upon good Bail, to recover his Health: but it pleased God to take him out of this World, upon the 17. day of April, 1645. being the very last day of the six Weeks limited for his return.

During his Sickness, he gave himself wholly to Divine Meditations, often bewailing with Tears, the present state of the Church of England: he made a Confession of his Faith to Doctor Leo, and the Dutch Ambassadors Chaplain, saying, That the Doctrine which he had always Preached, and the Books which he had al­ways Printed against Anabaptists and other Sectaries, were agreeable to Gods Word; and that he would Seal the Protestant Religion (as it was established and confirmed by the Acts of three Pious Princes) with his Blood. And being asked by some that came to visit him, What he thought of the Covenant? he said, [Page 204] It was a damnable and execrable Oath, made purposely to insnare poor Souls, and full of Malice and Treason against our Gracious So­veraign. And, said he, For Church-Go­vernment (a thing now much controverted) I dare boldly affirm, That the Hierarchy of Bishops is most agreeable to the Word of God, as being of Apostolical Institution, the taking away whereof is damnable; and that by consequence, both the Presbyterian and In­dependent Governments are absurd and erro­neous, neither of them being ever heard of in the Church of God, till of late at Ge­neva; nor is there so much as any colour for them in Holy Writ. It is evident (said he) that as the Priests in the Old Testament were above the Levites, so in the New the Apo­stles were above the Disciples, and that the seven Angels of the seven Churches in the Apocalypse were seven Bishops, and that Polycarpus was Bishop of Smyrna, and Timotheus of Ephesus. And for the Laity, no pregnant proof can be produced, That they ever medled with the Priests Fun­ction, [Page 205] or had any Power to ordain Mini­sters. And these things (said he) I intended to have published to the World, if God had spared me longer life, which I might (through his goodness), have enjoyed, had I not been un­justly Imprisoned: which he several times reiterated to his Friends.

Anon after he Prayed thus: Lord, strike through the reins of them that rise a­gainst the Church and King, and let them be as chaff before the Wind, and as stubble be­fore the Fire; let them be scattered as Pa­tridges upon the Mountains, and let the breath of the Lord consume them; but upon our Gracious Soveraign and his Posterity, let the Crown flourish: This (said he) is the hearty and earnest Prayer of a poor sick Creature. With which, and other such spiritual Eja­culations, he expired.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
I.

THe City of Canterbury, the Ancient seat of the Kings of Kent, while the Saxon Heptarchy flourished in this Island, was by King Ethelbert gi­ven, together which the Royalty thereof to Augu­stine the first consecrated Arch-Bishop of the En­glish Nation, who there fixed his seat for himself and his Successors: for whose sake Gregory the great, then Bishop of Rome, translated the Motropolitan dignity, together with the Honour of the Pall, from London to Canterbury: this City (as the rest) had 'its share in that spoyl and devastation, which War and the sword, in the Innovations of Foreign Na­tions and domestick broyls, brought upon it: the greatest impressions of desolation made on it, were in the Danish Wars, but the Normans succeeding, through the Piety of Godly Religious men, residing there, and the bounty and liberality of the Bishops, it did suddenly start up, not only into its primitive beauty, and Lustre, but out-stripped all other places, as in the number and sumptuousness of Private Houses, so especially in the magnificence and splen­dor of Religious houses: amongst which, two were most famous, far exceeding all the rest, viz. Christ-Church, [Page 117] & bujus pertinacissimus aemulus (as learned Cambden speaks) the eager rival of Christ-Church, St. Augustines. This Church by the injury of Sacrilege, and time, (two greedy devourers) lies almost buried in its own Ruines, presenting nothing else to the eye of the beholders, but a sad spectacle, how spa­tious, and ample a structure it once was, when now, a piece of it hath the honour to be stiled (though seldom imploy'd as) the Kings House. But Christ-Church, placed as it were in the Navel of the City, raiseth it self to so great a Majesty, and Stateliness, that Erasmus, a man not too much taken with mag­nificence in this kind, I am sure not doting on it, saies, that this doth present it selfe with so Majestick state, ut procul etiam Intuentibus religionem incutiat, that it occasions that devotion, which should be used there, and strikes a sensible impression of Religion, in their hearts that behold it, though a far off, and at a distance. This Church built in old time (as Beda saies) by the faithful and believing Romans, and by King Ethelbert given to Augustine, in process of time needed the like Piety to support it, as at first built it, and works of that Nature in those days, did not long lye neglected, for want of benefactors: Lanfranke therefore, the thirty third Arch-Bishop of this Sea (whether more famous for repairing of de­caied Churches, as this of Canterbury, Rochester, and S. Albans, or his indefatigable pains in correcting the corrupt translations of the Holy Bible, scattered every where through the Kingdom in his days, is uncertain.) William Corbet, or (as others will have it) Corbois, the thirty sixth Arch-Bishop of the same Sea, reedified the Quire, and the upper part of this Church, and the Piety of succeeding Bishops built and joyned the Nave or body to the Quire, and [Page 118] brought, it to this Magnificence, and splendor in whih we now see it. But what our Fore-fathers thought Religion to build up, we, their degenerous posterity, think Piety to pull down, so that while some leading Atheists (enemies to God and his Religion, and re­probate to every good work) are busy to Vote and cry down Episcopacy, with the Sacred Hierarchy, Root and Branch: their Emissaries incouraged and set on by them, first deface these Churches, and in the next place, will utterly ruin them, that so, the places where God is worshiped, being demolished, the re­venue that maintains the worship, may become a prey to these Sacrilegious Cormorants: But my God shall make them like a wheel. Now, how the Rebels behaved themselves in their first attempt, in this kind, on the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, un­der the conduct of Colonel Sandys, I cannot better express than in the passionate elegancy of Reverend Doctor Paske, one of the Prebends, and at that time Subdean of that Church, to the Earl of Holland, the most ingrateful, and most unthankful of men.

[Page 121]WHat effect this just complaint wrought, how it prevailed either with that Lord to whom it was addressed, or with the pretended Houses of Par­liament, whose authority, and assistance was im­plored to prevent further outrages, either here or elsewhere, we have too clear testimony, not only in the like sacrileges, and prophanations every day acted, without any the least check, or restraint from the heads of this Rebellion, but more especial­ly from their Votes and Ordinances, for the abolish­ing all remainders of Popery and Superstition, as they call it: in all which, Intelligi malunt quam Audiri, they would have their creatures understand, more than they speak, being certain politick Litotes, in which, minus dicitur, plus intelligitur, signifying more than the Grammatical construction will permit, an carry in them a hidden, secret sense, and meaning, which their own Emissaries know how to interpret, and inlarge, according to the full intention of the Authors. But before we pass from the relation of this horried Sacrilege, committed on the Church of Canterbury, I could not free my self from being guilty of that great sin of obscuring the great mani­festation of Gods Justice, if I should in silence pass over that most examplary vengeance, which per­sued to death, that unfortunate Gentleman Col. Sandys, the ringleader to that Rebellious rout, which were Actors in that more than Barbarous outrage.

Whether the cunning perswasions of others, or his own ambitiom first imbarked him in this fatal undertaking, is uncertain, but as himself confessed on his death-bed, to a friend and Kinsman of his, who asked him, what he meant being a Gentleman of so fair an Estate, to ingage himself in this Trea­son? [Page 122] he answered, That he was so far drawn in be­fore he was aware, that he knew not how to come off, without the danger of his head: So usual it is for one sin to ingage the sinner for a second: having there­fore once lifted up his hand against his Sovereign, the Lords Anoynted, he thought the way to be secure from the punishment of Rebellion, was to presevere in his crime, and go on in Rebellion: in pursuance therefore of so black designs, being Colonel of a Regiment of Horse, in Sept. 1642. with the rest of the Rebels Army under the Conduct of the Earl of Essex, he advanced towards Worcester, and mak­ing some excursions with ten Troops of Horse from the body of their Army, at Wickefeild, near Wor­cester, accidentally were met by Prince Rupert, ac­companied by Prince Maurice, and some others, Lords and Gentlemen of His Majesties Cavallry: be­ing thus by chance met, The Prince glad of any opportunity, to express the braveness of his resolu­tion, charged the Rebels with incomparable valour: In this short, but fierce conflict, Colonel Sandys was wounded, and being dismounted his Horse, became Prisoner to the Kings party. Being thus wounded and as then was conceived, mortally, he began to reflect upon himself, and finding so little warrant in his now unbiass'd conscience for his undertaking, which had brought him into this condition, his per­plexed Soul brake out into many sad expressions of remorse: crying out, Woe, Woe, to evil Counsel, and happy are they that do not take it. And being put in mind by a Reverend Doctor in Divinity, and Chap­lain to Prince Rupert, of the heinousness of the sin of Rebellion, he acknowledged himself to have faln into that sin, and that God was just in his Judgments for finding him out in his iniquity, pro­fessing [Page 123] withal his hearty sorrow, and repentance for it: whereupon the Doctor replyed, that if he recovered, perhaps the same perswasions from others, or inconsiderateness in himself, might again ingage him in his Rebellion, at which words a little lifting up his hand, he professed, He would rather have it cut off, then ever again lift it up against the King: He freely acknowledged the Justice of the Kings cause, and that he had observe the blessings of God to accompany it, and when the Doctor desired leave to testify his Repentance to the world, he freely gave him leave, asking God and the King forgiv­ness, praying for a blessing upon him, and his pro­ceedings. In this mind he continued while Prince Rupert, and the Kings forces with him staid in Wor­cester: and whether after the Earls possessing him­self of Worcester, by the impetuous sollicitations of those Murtherers of Souls, those Factors for Hell, their Schismatical Lecturers, (who make men twofold more the Children of the Devil than themselves) he fell off, and turned Apostate from his newly re­solved Loyalty, as repenting of his Repentance, is uncertain; Those that were about him and saw his weakness, ever declining from the first hour he re­ceived his wounds, must testify to the World that he had neither strength of hand to write, nor so much composedness of spirit, to be the Author of that Spurious, Supposititious Vindication, Published in his name Oct. 11. 1642. He being (whatsoever that forgery pretends) as unable to vindicate himself with his Pen, as his sword: but if he had his heart, as well as hand subscribing to that Atheistical resolu­tion, where they thus bring him in foaming out his own shame, The Apprehension of death never hitherto so nearly touched me, but if God shall once restore me to [Page 124] my former strength, I shall by his help, with as much alacrity and I hope courage, endeavour, to defend, and maintain with my dearest blood, this so good a cause (meaning this present Rebellion) as ever I was at first engaged in it. If I say they had his heart, as well as his hand to that Resolution, I am afraid it was too evident a Symptom of a wretched man, given up to a Reprobate sense, which of all spiritual judg­ments questionless is the greatest; and might justly call for those Torments of body, which afterward, as a Gangreen devoured and eat up his flesh, and those pangs of Conscience, which I am afraid were but the earnest of a worse condition to insue: for as the Psalmist saies, As for such as turn back unto their own wickedness, the Lord shall lead them forth, with the workers of iniquity, Psal. 125.5. but I Remember that of S. Paul, Judg nothing before the time, until the Lord come: 1. Cor. 4.5. And therefore while on Supposition I writ my fears, positively I deter­mine nothing, not knowing, whether God might not give him the grace of Repentance at the last, which if he did, he only (I dare say) that gave the Grace, knew of it: concerning his eternal conditi­on therefore, I shall leave him to the Judgment of that Righteous God, that judgeth Righteous Judg­ment, and gives to every man according to his works: and only inform the World in what condition the Colonel lay, until the time of his dissolution, and putting off his earthly, but loathsom Tabernacle.

As the Col. was amongst the Rebels a very con­siderable man, both for his extraction, and quality, and likewise for his Estate (to say nothing of his valour, and resolution, had they been Loyally imployed) so it was among their chief­est cares to recover him of those wounds which he received in their unchristan quarrel: while therefore [Page 125] the Rebels Army lay in Worcester (which was about three weeks) though then upon more strict search­ing his wounds, in the opinion of the best Chi­rurgions, they were not mortal, yet, whatsoever the Art, and invention either of the Physician or Chir­urgion, could contribute to his recovery, was not omitted: when the Rebels Army drew out, to meet the King, in their March from Shrewsbury, which they did to their cost at Edge-hill, the Colo­nel was committed to the care of his own Chirurgion, then in pay under him, John Anthony of London: to whom, as a witness and an assistant in the crue, was joyned a Chirurgion of the City of Worcester, Edward Marshall: who, though they both used all the Art, and Industry that possibly they could, to effect the cure, yet the difficulties every day multi­plied against the means, and in despight of their Balsoms, his wounds did putrify and the flesh rot, to the wonder of the Artists, and the Scorn of their Art: In so much that the Chirurgions, after much variety of means used, and much strugling with these growing evils (the cure still going backward, as if their skill had been imploy'd to widen those wounds which they pretended to close up) were heard by many of the City of Worcester to confess, what Hippocrates saies every Physician should first look after, in every cure, that there was, [...], the hand of God in it, that it was a peculiar judgment upon him, and that the cause of this putrefaction was more than Natural: nor were they without good grounds for this conjecture, for besides the conclu­sions of their own Art, directly thwarted, experi­ence on the several parts of the body of their Patient, was a clear demonstration: Those wounds in the upper parts of his body, near the Vitals, and there­fore [Page 126] more dangerous, were cured long before his death, but those in his thigh, which were flesh wounds, as they call them, these were the Oppropria Chyrurgorum, here the flesh did daily rot, and putri­fie, and was cut away by degrees, even to the leav­ing of the bones naked, and stunk in so loathsom a manner, that as he was a burthen to himself, so to his friends too, and those that were about him, be­ing hardly able, for the noysomness of the smell, either to come near him to do the office of neces­sary attendance, or so much as to endure the room where he lay, so intolerable was the stench, and so offensive.

Nor were the wounds of his Body more insuffer­able to his friends, than the wounds of his Consci­ence to himself, the guilt of Rebellion wrought in him strong convulsions of Soul, high distempers of mind, yet that he might not sink under the burden of his wounded Spirit, a weight that requires more than man to support it, he sent for Master Cotterell, an Orthodox godly Minister, and Parson of S. Andrews in Worcester, to Administer a word of com­fort unto him in this his afflicted condition.

When Master Cotterell came unto him, he found Obadiah Sedgwick that scandalous seditious Minister of Essex, in private conference with the Colonel: and Bread and Wine, ready prepared for the Lords Supper: Sedgwick having ended his discourse, went to Prayers, whereupon Master Cotterell offering to withdraw, he was intreated by one of the Colonels Servants to stay, which accordingly he did: Sedg­wick having concluded his extemporary Prayer, took his leave and departed, refusing to stay either to administer the Sacrament to the Colonel, or to Communicate with him: of which refusal, when [Page 127] Master Cotterell afterward desired to know the Rea­son, all the satisfaction that was given him, was, that Sedgwick was not fully assured of the fitness, and due preparation of those that were to receive the Sacrament with him. Desperate Hypocrisie,! whatsoever he was perswaded of the preparation of the other Communicants, 'tis most certain, he could not be ignorant of the unfitness of the Colonel himself: whom he himself in all probability per­swaded to return with the dog to his vomit, and to justify himself in that sin of which but very lately he seemed to repent: 'tis more probable, that, that poor remainder of Conscience in Sedgwick, not quite yet put away, though it suffered him to betray, in private, a dying man to impenitency, under feigned pretences of what he in his own Soul must needs confess to be a crying sin, and inrolled by S. Paul himself amongst those works of the flesh which do exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven: yet his heart might smite him, and his conscience with­stand him as it were to the face, that he durst not seal that destructive Counsel, by delivery of the Sa­crament: Sedgwick being gone, the Colonel will­ingly entertained conference with Master Cotterell; to whom he made a general confession of his sins, and the grievousness of them, professing his hearty repentance, and sorrow for them. But as the two pretended Houses of Parliament, in their Ca­talogue of sins, reckoned up in their Homily (if without offence I may so call it) and offered to this Nation as the subject matter of their solemn humili­ation, quite forgot Lying and Rebellion, for some reasons best known to themselves: so this Champi­on of theirs in his general Confession, made no mention of the sin of Rebellion, which most nearly [Page 128] concerned him, and for which in all probability he was very suddenly to render an account to God: a Confession most necessary both for him to make, and the Minister to require, before he could be thought a fit receiver of those dreadful mysteries: but after this general Confession, having received the Sacrament, Master Cotterell commending him to the grace of God, for that time left him; and hav­ing by one or two visits, after that, as he thought gained some interest in the Colonel, coming again to him and finding him in a calm Temper, and judging it a fit oportunity to inquire into his Con­science, and to sound him what perswasion he now had of his taking up Arms against his Sovereign, he desired the Colonel to command his servants out of the room, that he might speak with him in private, which being done, and all witnesses re­moved, but God, and their own Consciences, Master Cotterell, prefacing his discourse, with a solemn Protestation, that in what he did, he pro­posed no other end, but the salvation of his Soul, demanded of him, whether he were not sorry for drawing his sword against the King? and whether he were not perswaded in his Conscience of the un­lawfulness of it? To which the Colonel replyed, that he was perswaded, that it was lawful, having taken up Arms not against the King, but for the King, for his good, to bring him back to his Parliament, to make him more glorious than any of his Predecessors, and to redeem him from his evil Counsellors, and those Popish Malignants that were about him. To which old, thredbare pretences (invented to palliate Treason, and blanch their most gross Rebellion) when Master Cotterell opposed the Laws of God, the Laws of the Kingdom, and seconded both, by the Kings most [Page 129] clear and satisfactory Declarations, able to unde­ceive the abused World, and dispel that mist of er­rour and prejudice, which the heads of this Rebel­lion had cast before the eyes of the People of this deluded Nation: the Colonel not able to return any reasonable answer, or pre-instructed by Sedg­wick, who foresaw what encounter he was like to meet withal, suddenly called aloud to his servants to come in, whose presence set an end to the Con­ference: after this, Master Cotterell (some say by Doctor Bruce his Physicians advice, though I do not absolutely affirm it) was wholly neglected, and Master Halsetor was sent for, Parson indeed of S. Nicolas in Worcester, but more acceptable to those that gave this Counsel, under another capacity, as he was the City Lecturer.

But before we acquaint you with what success Halsetor undertook, and discharged this imploy­ment, it will not be amiss to let the World know, what reward this dying Colonel intended to bestow on Master Cotterell, for all his pains taken with him, when the Colonels Wife came to Worcester to visit her Husband, what pains he had taken in admin­istring the Sacrament, and his great care in Praying and conferring with him: she very nobly pressed her Husband to gratifie Master Cotterell by some honorary gift, as an acknowledgment of his thank­fulness, that he might reap some of his Temporalls, to whom he had so plentifully sowed Spiritual things: to so reasonable a motion made by the Wife of his bosome, the Colonel most unworthily, and most un­charitably replyed, Sweet-heart be content, we shall, find him a Delinquent: but he that shall reward a Cup of cold water, shall not forget so great a work of Charity: he that endeavours to turn a sinner to righ­teousness [Page 130] (though the success answer neither his labour, nor expectation) yet he shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever, nor shall his work be in vain in the Lord.

Master Cotterell being thus most unthankfully re­jected, the Colonel is now committed wholly to the care of his new ghostly Fathers, Master Halsetor, a man of a Schysmatical Turbulent Spirit, fitter to make a Rebel than reclaim a relapsed Traitor: and since hath followed that counsel which he gave by deserting his Cure and joyning himself to the Rebels: the men of this Faction have an Art to torment per­plext consciences, instead of comforting them, dis­pensing not so much the promises of the Gospel, as the terrours of the Law, as if the way to spiritual Consolation were through despair, and no way led to Heaven so sure, as what coasted by the confines of Hell; whether Master Halsetor dealt thus with the Colonel, I cannot say, perhaps he might go about as some others of his Faction have done to sow Pillows under their seduced Champions arm-holes, and to justifie the sinner in the sin, compa­ring circumstances, questionless this was his way, but the sad effects of his Rebellion which the Col. felt in his body, and those flashes of horrour affright­ing his guilty Soul, would not permit this dying man to be lulled asleep in so vain presumption: though at first therefore when Master Cotterell was with him to assist him in that great work to prepare him to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and the preparatories were confessions and sorrow for sins (though but in the general) deprecations of Judg­ment, and the wrath of God, and the like, some spiritual comfort, began to dawn in his benighted Soul, and that he might seal that obscure glimmer­ing [Page 131] of hope opened unto him in this valley of Achor, and obtain more, he desired to Communicate in the Body and Blood of Christ, yet after Master Halsetor came unto him, (woe, woe to evil Counsel, to use his own exclamation) it was observed that the Col. fell into strong distempers of mind, which sudden­ly grew to so great a height that he was utterly di­stracted, even to raving, and madness: which amongst them that think of Gospel ineffectual, unless the spiritual man be mad, is taken for the un­doubted evidence of a Powerful Ministery: certainly it was a sad spectacle, to see him lye in this condition, and a horrid thing to hear, that his last breath, which should have been breathed out in Prayers, and deprecations, and humble Confessions of sin; should be spent in venting the wild fancies of his distracted brain: sometimes crying out, that his Chirurgion and servants had broken up his Trunks, and robb'd him of of his Gold: and by and by starting up, and crying out, that the Enemy was at the Walls of the City, and calling for the keys to lock up the Gates: Thus he lay divers weeks: and in these distractions dyed; dread­ful things are these, but 'tis written, The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonish­ment of heart. His Wife and Son coming to visit him in this wretched condition (poysoned with the stench of his body) both fell sick of the small Pox, of which she dyed, and both of them lie Buried in the South Ile of the body of the Cathedral, in that Cathedral of Worcester where his Grandfather Doctor Edwin Sandys, afterwards Arch-Bishop of York, made his first step to the Arch-Episcopal honour, being first Consecated Bishop of that Diocess: and there laid the foundation of those fortunes, which descend­ing to this man, made him forget his own extraction; [Page 132] and certainly it was no small aggravation of his sin, that being descended from an Arch-Bishop, and that Estate which made him considerable in the World, being raised out of the Revenues of the Church, and a Cathedral Church (a blessing which but few Church­men have attained unto, though advanced to the same, or the like dignity to raise a family) He should yet so far degenerate, so far forget himself, and the Rock from whence he was hewn, to be a Ringleader to so Barbarous a Rout, which beginning at Canter­bury went on to ruine and deface all Cathedral Churches where they came, ending with that of Wor­chester, were he had the undeserved Priviledg to be interr'd.

Thus as briefly as I could, I have given an ac­count of the unhappy end of this miserable Gentle­man. In which I call God to witness there is no­thing feigned, nothing suborned, there being nothing here recorded, but was is attested, by men beyond all exception. And I must appeal again to the same God, that this account is not given to that end to make his name, or memory odious, either with the men of this present age, or with posterity; I must confess I would disgrace the Sin, but my intent is, by this example to teach those that seduced as this Man was, to know and foresee in him, what end attends those, who forgetting all Religion, and Loyalty, shall lift up their hands against their God in Sacrilege, and against their Sovereign in Rebelli­on.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
II.

AS when the Spirit brought the Prophet Ezekiel into the holy Temple, he led him from place to place, and each place entertained him with great­er Abominations than the former, so that the fare­wel to the last Vision, and the invitation to the next is, Turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater Abominations than these: so having brought you in the Cathedrals of this Kingdom, Temples (in despite of Atheists, Rebels and Anabaptists) of God too: and having shewed you the Abomination of desolation in one of them, viz. in Canterbury, the first instance of their accursed rage, and having viewed that, I must now lead you on as the Spirit did the Prophet, from place to place, and the incitement may be the same, for though you have seen great prophanati­ons in the former relation, yet you shall see greater Abominations than these.

The next instance of the Rebels profaneness, which I shall offer unto you, is in the Cathedral of Rochester, recompensed for the smalness of 'its revenue, with the honour of 'its antiquity, as boast­ing of Ethelbert King of Kent, a common Founder [Page 134] to this Church, with those of Canterbury and London. The unhappy loss of Earnulphus History, the thirty second Bishop of this See, deprives us of that light which discovered the various condition of this Church how long in the beginning it struggled with 'its own poverty, and in after ages with the injuries of time and War, remaining some Years in a kind of widowhood, without the government and superinten­dency of a Bishop; till at last Gundulfus the thirtieth Bishop of this See, reedified this Church from the ground, and brought it into that magnificence, in which we now see it: to which pious work, he brought so good, so vigorous affections, that as Maelmesbury records of him Praevenerat vivacitas Gun­dulfi omnium successorum diligentiam, Gundulphus ala­crity in that work did so prevent the piety of his successors, that he hardly left them any place in this kind, wherein to exercise their bounty. Little did the overflowing zeal of our Ancestours to the house of God, like that of the old Israelites, pouring out their wealth and precious things to adorn the Tabernacle, in so great measure, that Moses was fain to publish a Proclamation, to restrain their libera­lity, for the stuff they had was sufficient for the work to make it, and too much, Exod. 36.6, 7. little (I say) did they thnik, when they did this, that what they thus bountifully gave unto God, should ever, while this Kingdom remained Christian, become a prey to those, which as Tertullian speaks, Gentes agunt Christi nomine, have not so much as a form, but the bare usurped name of Christianity, which they fully and pollute with those worse than heathenish crimes of Sacrilege and Prophaneness: had the Sacri­lege lately commited at Canterbury been applauded by the People, (to gain whom, no arts though [Page 135] never so repugnant either to Religion or common honesty were left unattempted) certainly, this Church which next stood in their way, and immediately after Canterbury tasted of their fury, had been ut­terly demolished, and offered up a sacrifice to Po­pularity. But Plundering being then but a stranger in England, newly arrived here from desolate Ger­many, especially Plundering of Churches, which here­tofore were held inviolable Sanctuaries for offenders, but much more for their own innocent ornaments; this made a general outcry, every man detested so foul impiety; nay, their own party (some of them) not yet so deeply leavened with their Anabaptistical Doctrines, nor given up to so reprobate a sense to be­lieve monstrous lyes for truth, did not onely not approve, but sparingly condemn the Fact: and the general vote of the People, awakened by Doctor Paske his Letter, declared it barbarous and wicked; nay, the dislike of such proceedings grew to so great a height, that some wise men were deceived into an opinion, that the Houses would punish the offenders for the present, and publish an Order to restrain the like outrages for the future; and indeed, though some good men. Members of both Houses, did earnestly desire it, yet by experience they quick­ly found how unequal they were to effect any thing, in which they had not the concurrence of the heads of the Faction which ruled in both Houses, but much less when they rowed against the stream, and had them for their adversaries. The Rebels there­fore coming to Rochester brought the same affections along with them which they express'd at Canterbury, but in wisdom thought it not safe, to give them the same scope, here as there; for the multitude though mad enough, yet were not so mad, nor stood yet [Page 136] so prepar'd to approve such heathenish practices: by this means the Monuments of the Dead; which elsewhere they brake up and violated, stood untouch­ed; Escutcheons and Arms of the Nobility and Gentry (upbraiding eye-fores to broken, mean Citizens, and vulgar Rebels) remained undefaced, the Seats and Stalls of the Quire escaped breaking down, onely those things which were wont to stuff up Parliament Petitions, and were branded by the Leaders of the Faction, for Popery and Innovation, in these they took liberty to let loose their wild zeal: they brake down the rail about the Lords Table, or Altar, (call it which you please;) and not only so, but most basely reviled a now Reverend Prelate, who being lately Dean of that Church, had for the more uniform, and reverend receiving of the bless­ed Sacrament set it up, with the odious name of Rogue, often repeated: they seized upon the Vel­vet Covering of the holy Table, and in contempt of those holy Mysteries which were Celebrated on the Table, removed the Table it self into a lower place of the Church, in this, perfect Disciples of that profane Author of the Book called,, Altare Da­mascenum, who in the 718. p. devoutly resolves thus. De loco ubi consistat cur solliciti, cum quovis loco vel An­gulo extra Tempus Administrationis collocari possit; Con­cerning the place where the Lords Table shall stand what need we to be sollicitous, when out of the time of admini­stration of the Sacrament, it may be set aside, in any place, or obscure corner. And to shew what Members they are of the Church of England, they strewed the Pavement with the torn mangled leaves of the Book of Common-Prayer, which, with the Book of Homilies, and the 39 Articles, makes up the third Book, wherein the Doctrin of the Church [Page 137] of England is fully containad: understanding that the Dean that then was, was to Preach on Sunday morning, Colonel Sandys and Sir John Seaton, that false Traiterous Scot, sent unto him to command him to forbear the wearing of the Surpless, and Hood: to which Message the Dean stoutly, and like himself, returned this answer, that if they would expect any Sermon from him, they must permit him to appear in such Ornaments, as the Church, and his degree required: and accordingly did so: afterwards Sandys and Seaton, coming to­wards the Church and hearing the Organs, Seaton started back, and in the usual blessing of some of his Country, cryed, A Devil on those Bag-pipes: perhaps he never read so far in Davids Psalms, where it is written, Praise God upon the Srrings and Pipe, Psalm 150.4. or if he had, it is more than probable, that it had been all one to him: however, this served them both, as a pretence to cloke their Irreligion, and refusal to joyn with that true Prote­stant Congregation. While the Rebels were pull­ing down the Rails about the Communion-Table, one of the Prebends of the Church, Master Larken, interposed, and attempted to stay their madness by reason, and perswasion; but he quickly found, that he did not only prophane Reason, by urging it to S. Pauls, Absurd, unreasonable, wicked men, men made up of Incongruities, but that he did it to the hazard of his life; for one of the Rebels, instead of returning a reasonable answer, discharged a Pistol, or Carbine at him, to have murdered him at the very Altar, but by the good providence of God he miss'd his mark. Thus having done some spoil, that they might render themselves not alto­gether unprofitable to their party, and not daring [Page 138] for the present, to do any more, for fear of losing that party which they hoped to gain, for that reason, they left the Church: but into what further out­ragious Impieties, their Schismatical fury hath since transported them, or what else they have practised on this Church, to compleat their Monstrous Refor­mation, is not yet made known unto us.

The third instance, which I shall give of the Rebels Sacrilege and Profaneness, is in the Cathedral Church of Chichester; Successour in the honour of being the seat of the Bishops Residence to Sealesey: for Wilfrid Arch-Bishop of York, being driven into Exile by Egfrid King of Northumberland, retiring himself into Sussex, and finding the South Saxons wholly given up to Idolatry, his Spirit, like S. Pauls at Athens, was stirred within him, and knowing the unprofitable servants doom, that Buried his Talent, he Preached unto them the Gospel of Christ: and Edil­walch King of those parts (not long before con­verted to the faith, by the perswasion of Wolfhere King of the Mercians) willing that the same saving knowledg, which he himself had imbraced, should be imparted to his People, seconded the pious en­deavours of Wilfrid, and therefore amongst other acts of bounty, he gave the Arch-Bishop, Sealesey for the palce of his residence. Not long after Ced­walla, Conquering Edilwalch, built here a Mo­nastery to the honour (as Malmsbury saies) of S. Peter, and erected the Episcopal Chair: where it stood fixt the succession of 22. Bishops, or as others say (reckoning Wilfrid Arch-Bishop of York for the first) the succession of 23 Bishops; from the year 711. the Reign of William the Conquerour 1070. at which time Stiganeus translated his Chair from Sealesey to Chichester, and so became the last Bishop [Page 139] of Sealesey, and the first of Chichester, where the Episcopal power did flourish ever since, until now; in these last, and worst days, wherein while the heads of a Rebellious, Schismatical Faction, Vote down the sacred Function and Order of Bishops, their Emissaries are mad to deface, if not utterly to demolish their Churches. To this purpose, the Rebels under the Conduct of Sir William Waller, entering the City of Chichester on Innocents day, 1642. the next day, their first business was to Plunder the Cathedral Church; the Marshal therefore and some other Officers having entred the Church went unto the Vestery, there they seize upon the Vestments and ornaments of the Church, together with the Consecrated Plate, serving for the Altar, and ad­ministration of the Lords Supper: they left not so much as a Cushion for the Pulpit, nor a Chalice for the Blessed Sacrament: the Commanders hav­ing in person executed the covetous part of Sacrilege, they leave the destructive and spoyling part to be fi­nished by the Common Soldiers: brake down the Organs, and dashing the Pipes with their Pole-axes, scoffingly said, hark how the Organs go. They break the Rail about the Communion-Table, which was done with that fury, that the Table it self escaped not their madness, but tasted of the same fare with the Rail, and was broken in pieces by them. At the East end of the Quire, did hang a very fair Table, wherein were written the Ten Commend­ments, with the Pictures of Moses and Aaron on each side of the Table; possessed with a zeal, but not like that of Moses, they pull down the Table, and break it into small Shivers. 'Twas no wonder that they should break the Commandments in their re­presentation, that had before broken them all over [Page 140] in their Substance, and Sanction: they force open all the locks, either of doors or desks wherein the singing men laid up their Common-Prayer-Books, their singing Books, their Gowns and Surplesses: they rent the Books in pieces, and scatter the torn leaves all over the Church, even to the covering of the Pavement, but against the Gowns and Surplesses their anger was not so hot, these were not amongst the Anathemata, but might be reserved to secular uses: in the South cross Ile on the one side, the History of the Churches Foundation was very arti­ficially pourtrayed, with the Pictures of the Kings of England; on the other side over against them are the Pictures of the Bishops as well of Sealsey as Chichester, began by Robert Sherborn, the 37 Bishop of that See, and the Series brought down by him to his own times at his own Charges, who as he made that of the Psalmist, Dilexi decorum domus tui domine, Lord I have loved the beauty of thy house, his imprease and Motto, so he made it his work, and endeavour. These Monuments they deface and mangle with their hands and swords, as high as they could reach: and to shew their love, and Zeal to the Protestant Religion established in the Church of England, one of those Miscreants picked out the eyes of King Edward the sixth's Picture, saying, That all this mischief came from him, when he established the Book of Common-Prayer. On the Tuesday following, they had a solemn Thanksgiving, for their success in gaining that City. Men of Cauterized Consciences, and given up to a Reprobate sense, thus, not only to take the name of God in vain, but damnably to Blaspheme it, as if he were the Patron of Rapine, Blood and Sa­crilege. After the Sermon was ended, as men not inspired by the holy Spirit, of which they so much [Page 141] boast, but possessed and transported by a Bachana­lian fury, they ran up and down the Church, with their swords drawn, defacing the Monuments of the dead, hacking and hewing the Seats, and Stalls, scratching and scraping the painted Walls: Sir William Waller, and the rest of the Commanders standing by as spectators, and approvers of these Barbarous Impieties: yet for fear lest in the Schis­matical frenzy, the sword in mad mens hands might mistake, Sir William Waller, a wary man as he is, and well known not to be too apt to expose himself to danger, stood all the while with his sword drawn, and being asked by one of his Troopers what he meant to stand in that Posture? He answered, that it was to secure himself, you know, it is written, the wicked are afraid where no fear is, for though the People made him an Idol in London, yet being no Popish, but a Puritanical Idol, (for they have their Idols, and their Idolatry, as much as the Church of Rome) there was no danger to his person, to be mi­staken for an object of their Reformation, at Chi­chester. The same Trooper added also, That if his Colonel in the Low-Countries were there, and Command­ed in cheif, he would hang up half a dozen of the Sol­diers for examples sake: it not being the custom of the Low-Countries, (though long time hath made their enmity inviterate, and added much to the animo­sity of the parties) to Plunder Churches, it being a mu­tual stipulation between the Spaniard and the Holland­er, that what Town soever should by Conquest pass from the possession of one Nation to the other, though the Con­querour had the free Plunder of the Town, yet Churches with their ornaments, and what ever was conveyed in­to them, should be Inviolable, the Church being San­ctuary to whatsoever was under its Roofe, and, if [Page 142] they would have any thing thence, it was to be purchas­ed at a valuable Price. These good intimations of moderation from a man of less Command, but more Religion than Sir William, prevailed nothing with him to restrain the outragious madness of his fellow Rebels. Having therefore made what spoyl they could in the Cathedral, they rush out thence and break upen a Parish-Church, standing on the North side of the Cathedral, called the Subdeanery: there they tear the Common-Prayer Books, both those belonging to the Church, and likewise those which were left there by devout persons which did usually frequent divine service; and because many things in the Holy Bible make strongly against them, one did contradict, and condemn their im­pious practices, they marked it in divers places with a black cole; 'tis more than probable that the 13. Chapter to the Romans did not escape their Index Ex­purgatorious, for certainly if that be the word of God (as undoubtedly it is) they cannot so far withhold the truth in unrighteousness as not to read their doom in that word, they shall judg them at the last day: here they stole the Ministers Surpless, and Hood, and all the linnen serving for the Communion: and finding no more Plate but the Chalice, they steal that too, which they brake in pieces, to make a just and equal divident amongst themselves; for an Engineer of theirs, Robert Prince a French man with a wooden leg, afterwards shewed the foot thereof broken off; and when complaint was made of these barbarous outrages, Capt. Keely replyed, that he knew not whether all this were not done by Order, or no. About 5. or 6. days after, Sir Arthur Haslerig, demanded the Keys of the Chapterhouse: being en­tered the place, and having Intelligence by a trea­cherous [Page 143] Officer of the Church where the remainder of the Church Plate was, he commanded his ser­vants to break down the Wainscot, round about the room, which was quickly done, they having brought Crows of Iron for that purpose along with them; while they were knocking down the Wainscot, Sir Arthurs Tongue was not enough to express his joy, it was operative at his very heels, for dancing and skipping, (pray mark what Musick that is, to which, it is lawful for a Puritan to dance) he cryed out, there Boys, there Boys, heark, heark, it Rattles, it Rattles: and being much importuned by some members of that Church, to leave the Church but a Cup for administration of the blessed Sacrament, answer was returned by a Scotch man standing by, that they should take a wooden-dish: and now tell me which was farthest from a Christian, either this impure Scot, or that blasphemous Atheist, who seeing the massy Plate, and rich ornaments where­with the Christian Altars were adorned in the Primitive Church, in indignation and scorn of Christ belched out En quam preciosis vasis Mariae min­istratur; Behold with what costly vessels the Son of Mary is served: what further spoyl and Indig­nity they have since done to that House of God, and the habitation where his honour dwelt, is yet un­certain.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
III.

THE next instance which I shall give of the Rebels Sacrilege, and Profaneness, is in the Cathedral Church of Winchester: which City as it was the Royal Seat of the King of the West Saxons, in the time of the Heptarchy, so was it the Seat of the Bishops of that People, after Kenwalchus King of the West-Saxons (not brooking the Barbarous, broken expressions of Agilbertus his Bishop) divided this large Diocess, between Agilbertus, and Wina, and leaving Agilbertus to reside at Dorchester, caused Wina to be consecrated Bishop of Winchester. Be­fore we tell you by whom, and in what manner, this Church was robbed and spoyled of its orna­ments and beauty, it will not be impertient (while it may serve as an aggravation of their impiety) briefly to set down, by whom this Church was built, and so richly adorned, as lately we saw it. This magnificent Structure which now stands, was began by Walkelinus the thirty fifth Bishop of this Sea: which work left imperfect and but begun by him, was but coldly prosecuted by the succeeding [Page 145] Bishops, untill William Wickham (the magnificent Sole founder of two S. Mary Colledges, the one in Oxford commonly called New Colledge, the other a Nurcery to this, near Winchester) came to possess this See: He amongst many other works of Piety, built the whole Nave, or body of this Church, from the Quire, to the West-end, the Chappels on the East-end, beyond the Quire, had their several Founders: The hallowed Ornaments, and uten­sils of this Church, being many, rich, and costly, were the gifts of several benefactors, who tho their Names perhaps are not recorded in earth, have found their reward in Heaven. This Church was first differenced by the Name of S. Amphibalus; who received a Crown of Martyrdom under the Perse­cution of Dioclesian: Next it exchanged this name for that of S. Peter; and again, this, for that of S. Swithin, the eighteenth Bishop of this See: Last of all, it was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, whose blessed name is now called upon it: which Holy name though it could not but put the Rebels in mind whose possession and House it was, did not at all afford it patronage, and protection from their accur­sed rage, and madness.

The Rebels under the Conduct of Sir William Waller, sate down before the City of Winchester, on Tuesday the 12. of December, 1642. about twelve of the Clock, and entered the City that afternoon between two and three: being Masters of the City, they instantly fall upon the Close, under a pretence to search for Cavaliers. They seize upon the Pre­bends Horses, and demand their Persons with many threatning words: That night, they break into some of the Prebends Houses, such Houses as they were directed unto, by their Brethren the Seditious [Page 146] Schismaticks of the City; and Plundered their goods. But the Castle not yet surrendred into the Rebels hands something awed their insolency: which being the next day delivered up to their po­wer, did not only take away the Restraint which was upon them, but incouraged them, without check, or controul to rob, and defi [...]e, both God and all good men. Wednesday therefore and Wednesday night being spent in Plundering the City, and Close, on Thursday Morning between nine, and ten of the Clock, (hours set apart for better imployments, and therefore purposely in probability, chosen by them, being resolved to pro­phane every thing that was Canonical) they violently break open the Cathedral Church, and being en­tred, to let in the Tyde, they presently open the great West doors, where the Barbarous Soldiers stood ready, nay greedy to rob God, and pollute his Temple. The doors being open, as if they meant to invade God himself, as well as his posses­sion, they enter the Church with Colours flying, their Drums beating, their Matches fired, and that all might have their part in so horrid an attempt, some of their Troops of Horse also accompanied them in their march, and rode up through the body of the Church, and Quire, until they came to the Altar, there they begin their work, they rudely pluck down the Table and break the Rail: and afterwards carrying it to an Ale-house, they set it on fire, and in that fire burnt the Books of Com­mon-Prayer, and all the Singing Books belonging to the Quire: they throw down the Organ, and break the Stories of the Old and New Testament, curiously cut out in carved work, beautified with Colours, and set round about the top of the Stalls [Page 147] of the Quire: from hence they turn to the Monu­ment of the Dead, some they utterly demolish, o­thers they deface. They begin with Bishop Fox, his Chappel, which they utterly deface, the break all the glass windows of this Chappel, not because they had any Pictures in them, either of Patriarch, Pro­phet, Apostle or Saint, but because they were of painted, Coloured Glass: they demolish, and over­turn the Monuments of Cardinal Beaufort, Son to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, by Katharine Swin­fort founder of the Hospital of S. Cross near Win­chester, who sate Bishop of this See forty three years. They deface the Monument of William of Wainflet, Bishop likewise of Winchester, Lord Chancellor of England, and the Magnificent Founder of Magda­len Colledge in Oxford, which Monument in a grate­ful Piety, being lately beautified, by some that have, or lately had Relation to that Foundation, made these Rebels more eager upon it, to deface it: but while that Colledge; the unparralleld example of his bounty, stands, in despight of the malice of these inhuman Rebels, William of Wainflet cannot want a more lasting Monument, to transmit his memory to Posterity: from hence they go into Queen Maries Chappel, so called because in it she was Married to King Philip of Spain: here they brake the Communion Table in pieces, and the Velvet Chair whereon she sate when she was Mar­ried. They attempted to deface the Monument of the late Lord Treasurer the Earl of Portland, but being in Brass, their violence made small impression on it, therefore they leave that, and turn to his Fathers Monument, which being of Stone was more obnoxious to their fury: here mistaking a Judg for a Bishop, led into the error by the resem­blance [Page 148] or counterfeit of a Square cap on the head of the Statue, they strike off not only the Cap, but the head too of the Statue, and so leave it. Amongst o­ther acts of Bounty, and Piety, done by Richard Fox the fifty seventh Bishop of this See, he covered the Quire, the Presbytery, and the Iles adjoyning, with a goodly vault, and new glased all the Windows of that part of the Church, and caused the bones of such Kings, Princes, and Prelates, as had been Buried in this Church, and lay dispersed and scattered in se­veral parts of the Cathedral, to be collected and put into several Chests of lead, with inscriptions on each Chest, whose bones lodged in them: These Chests (to preserve them from rude, and prophane hands) he caused to be placed on the top of a Wall, of exquisite workmanship, built by him, to inclose the Presbytery: there, never to be removed (as a man might think) but by the last Trump, did rest the bones of many Kings and Queens, as of Alfredus, Edwardus Seni­or, Eadredus the Brother of Athelstane, Edwinus, Canutus, Hardecanutus, Emma the Mother, and Edward the Confessor her Son, Kiniglissus the first founder of the Cathedral of Winchester, Egbert who abolishing the Heptarchy of the Saxons, was the first English Monarch, William Rufus and divers others: with these, in the Chests, were deposited the bones of many Godly Bishops, and Confessors, as, of Birinus, Hedda, Swithinus, Frithestanus, S. Elphegus the Con­fessor, Stigandus, Wina, and others. Had not the barbarous, Inhuman impiety, of these Schismaticks, and Rebels, shewed the contrary, we could not have imagined, that any thing but the like Piety that here inshrined them, or a Resurrection should ever have disturbed the repose of these venerable, yet not Popish Reliques. But these monsters of men, [Page 149] to whom nothing is holy, nothing is Sacred, did not stick to prophane, and violate these Cabinets of the dead, and to scatter their bones all over the pavement of the Church: for on the North side of the Quire, they threw down the Chests, wherein were deposited the bones of the Bishops, the like they did to the bones of William Rufus, of Queen Emma, of Hardecanutus, and Edward the Confessor, and were going on, to practise the like impiety on the bones of all the rest of the West Saxon Kings. But the Outcry of the People, detesting so great inhu­manity, caused some of their Commanders (more Compassionate to these Ancient Monuments of the dead then the Rest) to come in amongst them, and to restrain their madness. But that devilish malice which was not permitted to rage and over­flow to the spurning and trampling on the bones of all, did satiate it self, even to a prodigious kind of wantonness, on those, which were already in their power: And therefore as if they meant (if it had been possible) to make these bones contract a Posthume guilt, by being now made passive Instru­ments, of more than heathenish Sacrilege, and prophaneness, those Windows which they could not reach with their Swords, Muskets, or Rests, they brake to pieces, by throwing at them, the bones of Kings, Queens, Bishops, Confessors and Saints: So that the spoil done on the Windows, will not be repaired for a Thousand Pounds: nor did the Li­ving find better measure from them than the dead: for whereas our Dread Sovereign that now is (the best of King) was gratiously pleased, as a pledg of his princely favour to this Church, to honour it with the gift of his own Statue, together with the Statue of his dear Father King James of ever blessed [Page 150] memory; both of massy brass: both which Statues were erected at the front, of the entrance into the Quire: These Atheistical Rebels, as if they would not have so much of the Militia, to remain with the King, as the bare Image, and representation of of a Sword by his side; They break off the Swords from the sides of both the Statues: they break the Cross from off the Globe, in the hand of the Statue of our gratious Sovereign now living, and with their Swords hacked and hewed the Crown on the headof it, swearing they would bring him back to his Parliament. A most flagitious crime, and such, as that for the like, S. Chrysostome, Hom 2. ad populum Antioch. With many tears complains, he much feared, the City of Antioch, the Metropolis, and head (as he calls it) of the East, would have been destroyed, from the face of the earth: for when in a Tumult, the seditious Citizens of Antioch had done the like affront to Theodosius the Emperour, in overturning his Statutes How doth that holy Bishop bemoan? how doth he bewail that City? which, fearing the severe effects of the abused Emperours just Indignation, of a Populous City, a Mother boasting of a Numerous Issue, was on the sudden become a Widow, left desolate, and forsaken of her Inhabitants: some, out of the sense and horror of the guilt abandoning the City, and flying into the desolate Wilderness, others lurking in holes, and confining themselves to the dark corners of their own houses, thereby hoping to escape the vengeance due to so disloyal, so Traiterous a fact; because of this foul injury offered the Emperours Statue, He (as that Father speaks) was wronged, that was the sepreme head of all men, and had no equal on Earth. But what wonder is it, that these miscreants should offer such scornful indignities to the Representation of his Royal [Page 151] Person, and the Emblems of his Sacred power, when the heads of this damnable Rebellion (who set these their Agents on work) offer worse affronts to his Sacred person himself, and by their Rebellions Votes, and Illegal Ordinances daily strike at the Substance of that power, of which the Crown, the Sword, and Scepter are but Emblems and shadows, which yet not­withstanding, ought to have been venerable and aweful to these men, in respect of their Relation. After all this, as if what they had already done, were all too little, they goonin their horrible wicked­ness, they seize upon all the Communion Plate, the Bibles, and Service-books, rich Hangings, large Cushions of velvet, all the Pulpit-Clothes, some whereof were of Cloth of Silver, some of Cloth of Gold: They break up the Muniment House, and take away the common Seal of the Church, sup­posing it to be Silver, and a fair piece of gilt Plate, given by Bishop Cotton: they tear the Evidences of their Lands, and cancel their Charter; in a word, what ever they found in the Church of any value, and portable, they take it with them, what was neither, they either deface, or destroy it. And now having Ransacked the Church, having defied God in his own house, and the King in his own Statue, having violated the Urns of the dead, having abused the bones, and scattered the Ashes of deceased Monarchs, Bishops, Saints, and Confessors, they return in Tri­umph, bearing their spoils with them. The Troo­pers (because they were most: conspicuous) ride through the streets in Surplesses, with such Hoods, and Tippets as they found: and that they might boast to the World how glorious a victory they had atchieved, they hold out their Trophies to all specta­tors: for the Troopers thus clad in the Priests Vest­ments, [Page 152] rode carrying Common Prayer-Books in one hand, and some broken Organ pipes, together with the mangled pieces of Carved work but now men­tioned, containing some Histories of both Testa­ments, in the other. In all this, giving too just occasion, to all good Christians to complain with the Psalmist, O God the Heathen are come into thine Inheritance. Thy holy Temples have they defiled, The dead Bodies of thy Servants have they abused, and scattered their bones as one heweth wood upon the Earth: Help us, O God of our Salvation, for the glory of thy Name, Psal. 79.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
IV.

IF in the Catalogue of Plundered Cathedrals, we inroul the now Collegiat Church of Westminster, I hope I shall not be thought to make my discourse, no more of kin to my Title, than Mountain doth some of his Essaies: for if we look back on the va­rious condition of this Church (no place set apart for Religious Persons, having so often shifted its owners) we shall find that amongst many changes, it had the honour of a Bishops Sec. On the dissolu­tion [Page 153] of the Abbies, amongst the rest, Henry the Eighth suppressed this Monastery, and in the place thereof founded a Deanery, Anno, 1536. And two years after, added a Bishoprick to the Deanery. The Bishop sate here but nine Years, and again resigned his dilapidated Revenue, into the hands of a Dean; Middlesex, which was the Diocess of the Bishoprick, being devolved to London: yet though this Bishop­rick of Westminster, as it relates to the Saxons, was but of modern Erection, yet in the time of the An­cient Britains, it was no less than the See of the Arch-Bishop of London: and therefore it is more than probable, that, that record which tells us, that the Arch-Bishop of Londons See, was planted in S. Peters in Cornhil, was either corrupted, or mistaken, for S: Peters in Thorney: for Sic olim à spinis, as learned Cambden, and other Antiquaries, affirm, from the great crop of thorns which heretofore grew there, that which we now call Westminster, was then called Thorney. This Church so famous for its Antiquity, so admired, for its Elegancy of Structure, especially by the addition of Henry the Seventh's Chappel, a Pile of that polished magnificence, ut omnem Ele­gantiam in illo acervatam dicas, as if art, and bounty, had conspired to raise it to a wonder of the World. Lastly, a Church so venerable, as being once the seat of an Arch-Bishop, and a Bishop, and now a long time the place where the Kings of England re­ceive their sacred Unction, and Crowns at their Coronation, and where their bodies rest in honour­able Sepulture, when they have exchanged their Temporal, for Eternal Crowns. This Church, under the eye, and immediate protection of the pretended Houses of Parliament, had its share in spoil, and prophanation, as much as those Cathedrals, which [Page 154] were more remote from them: for in July last, 1643. some Soldiers of Weshborne, and Catwoods Companies (perhaps because there were no Houses in Westminster) were quartered in the Abby Church, where (as the rest of our Modern Reformers) they brake down the Rail abut the Altar, and burnt it in the place where it stood: they brake down the Organ, and pawned the Pipes at several Ale-houses for Pots of Ale: They put on some of the singing mens Surplesses, and in contempt of that Canoni­cal Habit, ran up and down the Church, he that wore the Surpless, was the Hare, the rest were the Hounds. To shew their Christian Liberty, in the use of things, and that all Consecration, or Hallow­ing of things, under de Gospel, is but a Jewish or Popish Superstition, and that they are no longer to be accounted holy, than that holy use, to which they serve, shall by the actual use only, impart a transient holiness to them, they set Forms about the Communion Table, there they eat, and there they drink Ale, and Tobacco: some of their own Le­vites (if my Intelligence deceive me not) bearing them company, and countenancing so beastly Pro­phanation. Nor was this done once, to vindicate their Christian Liberty, as they call Prophanation it self, but the whole time of their abode there, they made it their common Table on which they usually dined, and supp'd, though S. Paul calls it despising the Church of Christ, and asks his Corinthians if they had not houses to eat, and to drink in. 1 Cor. 11. They did the easements of nature, and laid their Excrements about the Altar, and in most pla­ces of the Church. An abomination which God did provide against by a peculiar prohibition in the Law of Moses; and that, in places not rendred so [Page 155] dreadful, by so peculiar a manner of the presence of God, as in the hallowed Temples of his pub­lick worship: God would not permit the Jews to do these offices of nature in the Camp; they must have a place without the Camp, and a Paddle to dig and cover it; you have the Law, and the reason of the Law, both together, they must not do so; For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the Camp, therefore shall thy Camp be holy, that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. Deut. 23.12. If God, for these reasons would not endure it in the Camp, how much more doth his Soul abhor such beastly uncleanness in his House, and holy Temple? Nay, which is the height of all Impiety, they famili­arly kept their whores in the Church, and which I tremble to write (Prodigious Monsters as they are) lay with them on the very Altar it self, and did in that place commit such things, as are unfit to be done by Christians.

These remain yet two Prophanations more of this Church, not to be passed over insilence. The first was committed by Sir Robert Harlow, who breaking into Henry the Seventh's Chappel, brake down the Altar-stone which stood before that goodly Monu­ment of Henry the 7. the stone was Touch-stone all of one piece, a Rarity not to be matched that we know off, in any part of the World: there it stood for many years, not for use, but only for Ornament: yet it did not escape the frenzy of this mans igno­rant [...], for he break it into shivers. The second was committed on the 13. of December, 1643. When the Carcass of John Pym (as much as the lice left of it) was brought into this Church, and after a Sermon Preached by Stephen Marshall Arch-Flamen of the Rebels, and the Church Service Of­ficiated [Page 156] by Lambart Orbaston, one of the Prebends of that Church, is was interr'd under the Monu­mental stone of one Windsor, Buried about 200 years since in the voyd space, or passage as you go to Henry the Seventh's Chappel, between the Earl of Dovers place of Burial, and the Monument of Henry the Third, Founder of that Church: usurp'd Ensigns of honour displayed over him. 'Twas pitty, that he, that in his life had been the Author of so much blood­shed, and those many calamities, under which this Kingdom yet groans, and therefore deserved, not only to have his death with the transgressours, and wicked, but afterward to be Buried with the Burial of an Ass, drawn, and cast forth beyond the Gates of the City, Jer. 22.19. should after his death, make his Sepulchre amongst the Honourable, and mingle his Vulgar, Lowzy ashes, with those of Kings, Princes, and Nobles.

The sixth Instance, of the Rebels Sacrilege, and Prophaneness, which I shall present unto the World▪ is in the Cathedral Church of Exeter: which was once a Monastery, founded by Athelstane the Eighth King of England of the Saxon Race, and by him Consecrated to S. Peter. Edward the Confessor re­moving all the Monks from hence, and planting them at Westminster, which he had newly founded, and endowed, made it the Bishops See, for Devon and Cornwal: That Pile which we now see, owes its being to many founders. William Warlwast, the third Bishop of this See, after it was translated from Cridington, or as it is now usually called Kir [...]on, to Exeter, built the Quire which now is, but was in­tended, by the Founder for the Nave or Body of the Church: but Peter Quivil, the 13th. Bishop of this See, laid the Foundation of that which is now [Page 157] the body of the Church: but he prevented by death, left the work imperfect: John Grandesson therefore, the seventeenth Bishop of this See, thinking the Foundation laid by his Predecessor Quivil, to be faulty in Geometrical proportions, the length not be­ing answerable to the height, added two Pillars more, to the length of the Nave of the Church; of a distance, proportionable to those laid before he closed up the end with a Wall of most Exquisite work, in which, he built a little Chappel, and in that Chappel, a Monument, wherein himself was intombed. He built likewise, the two side Iles, and covered the whole Fabrick with an Arch of Ex­quisite work, and brought it to such perfection, that in splendour, and magnificence, it gives preceden­cy to few Cathedrals of the Kingdom: and which is very remarkable; though this Church was first began by King Athelstane, and made many steps before it came to arrive at its perfection, so that there are numbered almost five hundred years from the laying the first stone, to the covering of the Roof; yet the wisdom, and care of the several Benefactors was so great, that the most curious Surveyor, must confess, that the Symmetry of the parts, and the proportions of the whole, are so exact, as from the Foundation to the Roof, had been the work not of one age only, but of one, and the same hand: and that the Ornaments of the Church might be answer­able to the beauty of the Structure itself, Bishop of Grandesson, bestowed upon it vessels of God, and vessels of Silver, Books, and all other kinds of rich furniture, Copiâ Immensâ, Immensi pretij: in exceeding great measure, of exceeding great price. All which, with many other things of necessary use, and pub­lick Ornament, became a prey to the Schismatical [Page 158] Rebels; whose sin was so much the greater, because being neither inraged by Opposition, nor made insolent by conquest, (Apologies that may possibly be taken up for other Rebels, in other places, as Chichester and Winchester) but which was a main aggravation of their crime, Citizens within their own Wall, in coole Blood, not provoked, spoil, and lay wast their Mother Church: for after this City (now most un­worthy of those Priviledges, and honorary rewards, once purchased by their Loyalty, now forfeited by ingratitude, and Rebellion,) had once shut up their Gates against their King: it was not long before they shut up the Gates likewise of Gods house, deny­ing all access to devout Persons, there to make their Prayers and Supplications: so near bordering upon Rebellion against the King, is Atheism, and Contempt of God: for having demanded the Keys of the Ca­thedral, and taken them into their own Custody they presently, interdict divine service to be celebrat­ed: so that for the space of three quarters of a year, the Holy Liturgy, lay totally silenced. Nor was the restraint upon the Reading Desk only, the Pulpit was made Inaccessible to all Orthodox, Loyal Ministers, and was open only to Factious, Schismati­cal Preachers, whose Doctrin was Rebellion, and their Exhortation Treason, that so the People might hear nothing but what might soment their disloyal­ty, and confirm them in their unnatural revolt, from their duty and Obedience. Having the Church in their possession in a most Puritanical, beastly manner, they make it a common Jakes for the Ex­onerations of Nature, sparing no place, neither the Altar, nor the Pulpit, though this last, finds a better place in their estimation, than the former: yet prophaned it was, nay so prophaned, that it re­mains [Page 159] a doubt yet undetermined, which prophaned it most in their Kinds, either the Common-Soldiers, or their Lecturers. Over the Communion Table, in fair letters of Cold, was written the Holy and blessed name of Jesus: this they expunge as Super­stitious, and Execrable. On each side of the Com­mandmants, the Pictures of Moses and Aaron, were drawn in full proportion: these they deface, they tear the Books of Common-Prayers to pieces, and as if this had been too small a contempt, and despite done to that form of Gods holy worship, they use them, as if they had been a second sacrifice of Cu­rious Arts, and burn them at the Altar, with exceed­ing great Exultation, and expressions of joy. They made the Church their Storehouse, where they kept their Ammunition, and powder, and planted a Court of Guard to attend it; who used the Church, with the same reverence, that they would an Ale­house, and defiled it with tipling and taking To­bacco: they brake and deface all the Glass win­dows of the Church which cannot be repaired for many hundred pounds: and left all those ancient Monuments, being painted glass and containing matter of story only, a miserable spectacle of Com­miseration, to all well-affected hearts that behold them. They strook off the heads of all the Statues, on all Monuments in the Church, especially they deface the Bishops Tombs, leaving one without a Head, another without a Nose, one without a Hand, and another without an Arm. A sad Emblem of that Trunk of Episcopacy, which the accursed Atheists of these times have fancied to themselves, and en­deavoured: a poor deformed, mangled, mutilated thing, having neither head of Prelation, nor face of Honour, nor arm, nor hand, nor finger of power [Page 160] and jurisdiction: they pluck down, and deface the Statue of an Ancient Queen, the Wife of Edward the Confessor, the first Founder of this Church, mistaking it for the Statue of the blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. So she was stiled by the holy Ca­tholick Church many years before it was in danger to be voted Blasphemy in that Committee where learn­ed Miles Corbet sate in the Chair. They brake down the Organs, and taking two or three hundred Pipes with them, in a most scornful, contemptuous man­ner, went up and down the street, Piping with them: and meeting with some of the Choristers of the Church, whose surplesses they had stoln before, and imployed them to base, servile Offices, scoffingly told them, Boys we have spoild your trade, you must go and sing hot Pudding Pyes. By the absoluteness of their power, they send forth their warrants to take away the Lead off a Conduit and a great Cistern that stood in the middest of the Close, giving plen­tiful supplies of water to many hundreds of Inha­bitants; and by vertue of the same warrant they give their agents power to take a great quantity of Timber, which was laid up and designed for the repairing of the Church; such Timber as that it will be a very hard matter to procure the like, all Timber not being fit for that use: and with these a great stock of Lead out of the Common Store­house, reserved there for the same purpose; which warrants were accordingly put in execution to the full. They did enter into a Consultation about ta­king down the Bells, and all the Lead that co­vered the Church, to convert them into Warlike Ammunition, the Bells might be cast into Cannon, the Lead into Bullets, both would serve towards the effecting their Traiterous designs. They took down [Page 161] the Gates of the Close, which the Dean, and Chap­ter, had set up, and kept locked every night for their security: which Gates they imployed, to help for­ward, and strengthen their Fortifications: They lay intolerabe taxes on most of the Members of the Church, and whosoever refused to submit to those most unjust, Illegal Impositions, were threatned to have their Houses Plundered, and their Persons sent on shipboard; where they must expect usage, as bad as at Argier, or the Gallies. Doctor Burnell, a grave learned man, and Canon of that Church, refusing to submit to their Taxations, they gave Command (though he were at that time sick and confined, not only to his Chamber but to his bed) to take him in the night, and bring him away to Prison though they brought him in his bed: but up­on much importunity, some of the best rank of the Citizens being tendered his security, to render himself a true Prisoner, for that time they left him. For the like refusal, they took Doctor Hutchenson another Canon of the Church, a man of a weak infirm Body, but of a vigorous knowing Soul; and violently carried him towards the Ship, there to im­prison him; by the way as they carried him along, he was (not only by the permission but by the in­couragement of those that led him Captive) blasted, and abused, and howted at by the Boys, and expo­sed to the affronts, and revilings of the base Insolent Multitude: at twelve of the clock at night they sei­sed on Mr. Hilliar in his bed, and another Canon of that Church, being almost Fourscore and Ten years of Age, and for the like refusal, because he would not disburse such sums as they demand­ed, for the maintenance of this horrid Rebel­lion, they carry him first to the Prison, and from [Page 163] thence to the Ship: in the way to the Prison, they throw dirt in his face, and beat the good old man so cruelly, that his roaring, and outcries were heard, and pityied by all his neighbours: and at last not able to endure (by reason of his extream old Age) the barbarous usage of the Rebels, he was forced to redeem his liberty at eight hundred Pounds: and now having dispossessed the owners, the Rebels find new imployments for the Canons houses: some of them they convert into Prisons, and in an Apish imitation, call them by the names of Newgate, Kings-Bench, Marshalsey; others they imploy as Ho­spitals, for sick or maimed Soldiers: some they use as Slaughter-houses, and Shambles: and for the Bi­shops Palace, they might have called it their Smith­field, for in, and about it, they kept their fat Oxen, and Sheep, and all their Plundered Provision. These houses though fouly abused, yet do still stand, as to upbraid the Rebels injustice, and oppression; so to give entertainment to their own Master, or their successours, unless some men, possessed with worse devils than ruled in these children of disobedience, shall to their just damnation alienate them from their Original use: but other houses belonging to the Church, they set on fire, and burn down to the ground: for they burnt down the Guild-hall in S. Sidwels, belonging to the Dean, and Chapter, and as many houses more of their Ancient Inheritance and revenues as were worth 100 l. per Annum, mak­ing likewise great havock and spoil of their woods, and Timber, maliciously intending to disable them, from reedifying what they had most barbarously burnt down.

Mercurius Rusticus, &c.
V.

COuld we sooner have produced a certain, and full relation of the observable circumstances about the ruines and desolations of the sometimes flourishing, though now demolished Cathedral of Peterborough, the same might justly have challenged to have been inserted before this time and place, both in respect of the dignity of the Ancient, Re­ligious and Royal Founders, the same of the irre­ligious and unworthy defacers, the admirable vicis­situde of its own condition, and reasons of its Fa­tal doom, having suffered not so much by the fury of the Danes, because a rich Monastery, as by the zeal of Cromwel, because an Episcopal See: and (if his knowlege reached so high) for that it had been so much and often honoured by the Princes of this Nation in several ages.

When Peada the first Christian King of the Mer­cians to propagate the faith of Christ, laid the foun­dation, but had a sudden period put to his life and pious intentions by his unnatural and wicked Mo­ther, Wolpher his Brother, albeit at first averse, yet afterwards a convert to Christianity, (to expire the Murder of his two Sons whom he had cruelly put to death for embracing the Gospel before him) by [Page 212] the help of his Brother Ethelred, and his Sisters Kimburga, and Kinswith, having finished that work in the year of our Lord 633. Consecrated it to the memory of S. Peter (whence the place ever since hath been stiled Peterborough, which before was called Medeswel-hamsted, or Medeshamsted) and it continued for the space of two hundred and four­teen years, in such glory, that in the Judgment of our Learned Antiquary, Monasterium fuit longè Ce­lebratissimum, till the Danes massacred the Monks and destroyed that place of Devotion, which was after an 108. years restored to its former state, by Ethelwould Bishop of Winchester, asisted by King Edger and Adulph his Chancellour, about the years of our Lord 960. in which it remained, until co­vetous Sacrilege began to get the upper hand of wel-meaning charity in his Reign, who was as fit­ly, as truely said to have had Ingentes virtutes, nee minora vitia, though at the undoing of its Kindred, this had least reason to complain, being then ad­vanced to a Bishops See; But this third woe hath so much disfigured that Majesty which till then this building retained in its fore-front, this Cromwel hath so far out-vied in acts of Piety his Precedent, that Cromwel in Henry the 8. time, this place hath now suffered in so great a manner for its Loyalty, as that we know not where to enter upon the narra­tion of the same, except at the great West-win­dow (where his Soldiers made their first breach and entrance) which was adorned with such variety of Ecclesiastical History, as will evidence them to be deformers of that through-Reformation in our blessed Queens time of happy memory, whom not­withstanding they so highly cryed up. From thence they presently hurried to the Choire, where as soon [Page 213] as they had broken open the doors, they, accord­ing to their trade and custom in other places, fell on tearing in pieces the Books of Divine service, and sacred Anthems, yea (which may seem more strange) they were so hot against Preaching or hearing Sermons, that all the seats of the Auditours were plucked up and the Pulpit, the place of the Divine Oracle, and the Book seat pulled down with that black-mouthed cry, Down with that Throne of Antichrist, down with it even to the ground. And when their zeal had driven them, to that height of impiety, that some standers by could not behold it without great reluctancy, which moved one of them to request Cromwel that he would please to stay his Soldiers from further defacing and ruining that place, all the satisfaction he could get, was but a provocation to further mischief, replying, that his Gods were a pulling down, and when the other answered that the God he served was beyond the reach of Soldiers, Cromwel told him that they did God good service in that action, as if even in these days were fulfilled that prophecy of our Saviour, John 16.2. The time is coming whosoever doth the greatest Mischief will think he serveth God. But observe the wages that divine Justice repayed one of them for their work, which may testifie how he accepted of the same; When they had demolished the Choire, the East-end was the next they aimed at, where one espying in the roof right over the Communion-Table, our Saviour pourtraied, coming in glory with his holy Angels, and at the 4. corners, 4. Evangelists (none of which they will endure, as knowing how opposite they are unto them) he charged his Mus­quet to shatter them down, but by the rebound of his own shot, was struck blind; If he did his God [Page 214] good thereby, he did himself an ill turn, his wick­edness falling on his own pate; He laid a long while in a woful condition, and never recovered his former sight: His life by Gods mercy was re­preived, that he might repent, but he was surely scourged, that he might take notice, there is pun­ishment for Sacrilege, and bear witness of that truth unto his fellows, although he found more savour than Calisthenes, who attempting to burn the temples by setting fire on the Gates, was for that act himself burned: or Alcimus, who whilst he was pulling the house of God down, was struck with a Palsie, and dyed in torment. Some would have thought, that that remarkable judgment over­taking him so on the sudden, sufflaminated their running on, and that striking of him blind, should have opened their eyes. But let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet they will not learn righteous­ness, in the land of uprightness will they deal un­justly, and will not behold the Majesty of the Lord; But Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, as thou foretoldest by thy Prophet Esay 26.10.11.13. it should come to pass, When other Lords besides thee have dominion over us; They were not at all deterred, neither left any ways un­attempted to get down that roof, which ladders failed, they cut the Bell-ropes (wich if rightly ap­plyed, might have curred their itch) to eke out their tackling, till they reached it with their Poleaxes, and brake down the carved works. Psal. 7.4. Afterwards espying the rare structure of Stone­works over the Altar, admired by all travellers for the excellent artifices, which was no ways guil­ty of superstitious workmanship, they made all of it rubbish, breaking up also the rails of which they [Page 215] compiled bone-fires, tumbling the Communion-Table over and over, they were also so offended with all memorials of the dead (knowing themselves in the number of those whose memories at the best shall perish as if they had never been) that not one Monument in the Church escaped undefaced, no not of the pious benefactors, (whose accusation was sufficient, they had done good to the Church) not those two fair Tombs of Katharine Queen Dow­ager of Spain, the Repudiate of King Henry the 8th. and Mary albeit Queen of Scots. It was so great a crime to have been Queens, the marble walls, and guards of irons wherewith they were surrounded and incircled could not preserve them in repose from all their miseries, but they would add this one unto the rest, to lay the Emblems of their honours in the dust, pulling away the herse of black velvet, and carrying away whatsoever was vendible: When their unhallowed toylings had made them out of wind, they took breath afresh on two pair of Or­gans, piping with the very same about the Market place, lascivious Jiggs, whilst their Comrades dan­ced after them, some in the Coaps, others with the Surplices, and down they brake the Bellows to blow the coals of their further mischief, and left any should ring auke for the fire they had make, they left the Bells speechless, taking out their clap­pers, which they sold with the Brass they flaied from the graven stones, and the Tin and Iron from other parts of the Church and Chappels be­longing thereto, which were many and richly a­dorned, but the Daughters faired no better than their Mother; there was not suffered any window to remain unshattered, or remarkable place in them unruined, their intent being to leave those conse­crated [Page 216] walls as a room fitted for vermin to nestle in, or which was worse for Cap. Ashwell to exer­cise his Soldiers in, where while he was in town, he made his Rendezvous, and when they went a­way, set fire on some part of the wood-work, to have burnt the remainder down, if it had not time­ly been discovered; Neither did the Cloysters at­tending, scape better than those they were made to wait upon, though these both in their roof and glazing might be compared with the chiefest Ca­thedrals, the first square being beautified with the History of the Old Testament, the second of the New, the third shewed the whole relation of those by whom the Church was builded, the fourth pre­sented us with all the Effigies of our Kings since William the Conquerour: But it seems; those unrea­sonable and wicked men, care for scripture, and Princes, and Pious Monuments all alike, their wide throats were as open Sepuclhres, their Sacri­legious appetites (being yet unsatisfied with de­vouring) must needs swallow up the Lands apper­taining to that Church, to whith that they might pretend the juster title, they broke open the Char­ter-house, Plundered away the great Charter, all the Evidences, leases, and other writings belong­ing thereunto, manifesting their parties desires to have all Estates of others, to come, and be at their arbitrary disposals, and they unto whom in right they are due, to lie as these places and Persons at this day, Mourning in Sack-cloth and Ashes.