THE

HARLEIAN MISCELLANY.

(HIS MAJESTY'S SPEECH*

IN THIS LAST SESSION OF PARLIAMENT,

CONCERNING THE

GUNPOWDER-PLOT;

As near his very Words, as could be gathered at the Instant.

Together with a Discourse of the Manner of the Discovery of this late intended Treason, joined with the Examination of some of the Prisoners.

Imprinted at London, by Robert Barker, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, Anno 1605. Quarto, containing ninety-two Pages.

The Printer to the Reader.

HAVING received (gentle reader) the copy of the King's last speech to the parliament, as near to the life of his own words as they could be gathered; and being about to commit them to the press, as I did his former, there is presently come to my hands a discourse of this late intended most abominable treason against his Majesty, and the whole state. And because that a great part of his Majesty's speech was grounded upon that fearful accident, whereof this discourse doth make an ample declaration; I have thought it would not be unpleasing unto thee to join them together in the press. And, so leaving thee to make thy best use of both, I bid thee heartily farewel.

MY

Lords spiritual and temporal, and you the knights and burgesses of this parliament, it was far from my thoughts till very lately before my coming to this place, that this subject should have been ministred unto me, whereupon I am now to speak. But now it so

*This is the 150th number in the Catalogue of Pamphlets in the Harleian Library. VOL. III. A 3

L

falleth out, That whereas, in the preceding session of this parliament, the principal occasion of my speech was, to thank and congratulate all you of this house, and in you, all the whole commonwealth, as being the representative body of the state, for your so willing and loving receiving and embracing of me in that place, which God and nature, by descent of blood, had in his own time provided for me: So now my subject is, to speak of a far greater thanksgiving than before I gave to you, being to a far greater person, which is to God, for the great and miraculous delivery he hath at this time granted to me, and to you all, and consequently to the whole body of this estate.

I must therefore begin with this old and most approved sentence of divinity, Misericordia Dei supra omnia opera ejus. For Almighty God did not furnish so great matter to his glory, by the creation of this great world, as he did by the redemption of the same. Neither did his generation of the little world, in our old and first Adam, so much set forth the praises of God in his justice and mercy, as did our regeneration in the last and second Adam.

And now I must crave a little pardon of you, That since Kings are, in the word of God itself, called Gods, as being his lieutenants and vicegerents on earth, and so adorned and furnished with some sparkles of the Divinity; to compare some of the works of God the great King, towards the whole and general world, to some of his works towards me, and this little world of my dominions, compassed and severed by the sea from the rest of the earth. For as God, for the just punishment of the first great sins in the original world, when the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and the cup of their iniquities of all sorts was filled, and heaped up to the full, did, by a general deluge and overflowing of waters, baptise the world to a general destruction, and not to a general purgation, only excepted Noah and his family, who did repent and believe the threatenings of God's judgment: So now, when the world shall wax old as a garment, and that all the impieties and sins, that can be devised against both the first and second table, have and shall be committed to the full measure; God is to punish the world the second time by fire, to the general destruction and not purgation thereof. Although as was done in the former to Noah and his family by the waters; so shall all we that believe be likewise purged, and not destroyed by the fire. In the like sort, I say, I may justly compare these two great and fearful doomsdays, wherewith God threatened to destroy me, and all you of this little world that have interest in me. For although I confess, as all mankind, so chiefly kings, as being in the higher places like the high trees, or stayed mountains, and steepest rocks, are most subject to the daily tempests of innumerable dangers; and I amongst all other kings have ever been subject unto them, not only ever since my birth, but even as I may justly say, before my birth, and while I was yet in my mother's belly; yet have I been exposed to two more special and greater dangers than ⚫ all the rest.

The first of them, in the kingdom where I was born, and passed the first part of my life: And the last of them here, which is the greatest. In the former I should have been baptised in blood, and in my destruc

tion not only the kingdom wherein I then was, but ye also, by your future interest, should have tasted of my ruin. Yet it pleased God to deliver me, as it were, from the very brink of death, from the point of the dagger, and so to purge me by my thankful acknowledgment of so great a benefit. But in this, which did so lately fall out, and which was a destruction prepared not for me alone, but for you all that are here present, and wherein no rank, age, nor sex should have been spared ; this was not a crying sin of blood, as the former, but it may well be called a roaring, nay a thundering sin of fire and brimstone, from the which God hath so miraculously delivered us all. What I can speak of this, I know not: Nay, rather what can I not speak of it? And therefore, I must, for horror, say with the poet, Vox faucibus hæret.

In this great and horrible attempt, whereof the like was never either heard or read, I observe three wonderful, or rather miraculous events.)

First, in the cruelty of the plot itself, wherein cannot be enough admired the horrible and fearful cruelty of their device, which was not only for the destruction of my person, nor of my wife and posterity only, but of the whole body of the state in general; wherein should neither have been spared, or distinction made of young nor of old, of great nor of small, of man nor of woman: The whole nobility, the whole reverend clergy, bishops, and most part of the good preachers, the most part of the knights and gentry; yea, and, if that any in this society were favourers of their profession, they should all have gone one way: The whole judges of the land, with the most of the lawyers and the whole clerks: And as the wretch himself, that is in the Tower, doth confess, it was purposely devised by them, and concluded to be done in this house; that, where the cruel laws, as they say, were made against their religion, both place and persons should all be destroyed and blowed up at once. And then consider therewithal the cruel form of that practice: For, by three different sorts in general, may mankind be put to death.

९

The first, by other men, and reasonable creatures, which is least cruel;) for then both defence of men against men may be expected, and likewise, who knoweth what pity God may stir up in the hearts of the actors at the very instant ? Besides the many ways and means, whereby men may escape in such a present fury.

And the second way, more cruel than that, is by animal and unreasonable creatures for, as they have less pity than men, so it is a greater horror and more unnatural for men to deal with them: But yet with them both resistance may avail, and also some pity may be had, as was in the lions, in whose den Daniel was thrown; or that thankful lion, that had the Roman slave in his mercy.

But the third, which is most cruel and unmerciful of all, is the destruction by insensible and inanimate things, and amongst them all, the most cruel are the two elements of water and fire; and of those two, the fire most raging and merciless.

Secondly, How wonderful it is, when you shall think upon the small, or rather no ground, whereupon the practisers were enticed to invent this tragedy. For, if these conspirators had only been bankrupt persons, or discontented upon occasion of any disgraces done unto them, this might have seemed to have been but a work of revenge. But for my own part, as I scarcely ever knew any of them, so cannot they alledge so much as a pretended cause of grief: And the wretch himself in hands doth confess, that there was no cause moving him or them, but merely and only religion. And especially that Christian men, at least so called, Englishmen, born within the country, and one of the specials of them my sworn servant in an honourable place, should practise the destruction of their king, his posterity, their country and all: Wherein their following obstinacy is so joined to their former malice, as the fellow himself, that is in hand, cannot be moved to discover any signs or notes of repentance, except only that he doth not yet stand to avow, that he repents for not being able to perform his

intent.

Thirdly, The discovery hereof is not a little wonderful, which would be thought the more miraculous by you all, if you were as well acquainted with my natural disposition, as those are, who be near about me. For, as I ever did hold suspicion to be the sickness of a tyrant, so was I so far upon the other extremity, as I rather contemned all advertisements, or apprehensions of practices. And yet now, at this time was I so far contrary to myself, as, when the letter was shewed to me by my secretary, wherein a general obscure advertisement was given of some dangerous blow at this time, I did upon the instant interpret and apprehend some dark phrases therein, contrary to the ordinary grammar construction of them, and in another sort, than I am sure any divine, or lawyer, in any university would have taken them, to be meant by this horrible form of blowing us up all by powder; and thereupon ordered that search to be made, whereby the matter was discovered, and the man apprehended: Whereas, if I had apprehended or interpreted it to any other sort of danger, no worldly provision or prevention could have made us escape our utter destruction.

And, in that also, was there a wonderful providence of God, that, when the party himself was taken, he was but new come out of his house from working, having his firework for kindling ready in his pocket, wherewith, as he confess eth, if he had been taken but immediately before, when he was in the house, he was resolved to have blown up himself with his takers.

One thing, for my own part, have I cause to thank God in, that, if God for our sins had suffered their wicked intents to have prevailed, it should never have been spoken nor written in ages succeeding, that I had died ingloriously in an ale-house, a stews, or such vile place, but my end should have been with the most honourable and best company, and in that most honourable and fittest place for a king to be in, for doing the turns most proper to his office; and the more have we all cause to thank and magnify God for this his merciful delivery. And especially,

I for my part, that he hath given me yet once leave, whatsoever should come of me hereafter, to assemble you, in this honourable place; and here in this place, where our general destruction should have been, to magnify and praise him for our general delivery; that I may justly now say of my enemies and yours, as David doth often say in the psalm, Inciderunt in foveam quam fecerunt. And since Scipio, an Ethnick, led only by the light of nature, that day when he was accused by the tribunes of the people of Rome, for mispending and wasting in his Punick wars the city's treasure, even upon the sudden broke out with that diversion of them from that matter, calling them to remembrance how that day was the day of the year, wherein God had given them so great a victory against Hanibal; and therefore, it was fitter for them all, leaving other matters, to run to the temple, to praise God for that so great delivery, which the people did all follow with one applause: how much more cause have we that are Christians to bestow this time, in this place, for thanksgiving to God for his great mercy, though we had no other errand of assembling here at this time? Wherein, if I have spoken more like a divine, than would seem to belong to this place, the matter itself must plead for my excuse: for being here come, to thank God for a divine work of his mercy, how can I speak of this deliverance of us from so hellish a practice, so well as in language of divinity, which is the direct opposite to so damnable an intention? And therefore may I justly end this purpose, as I did begin it with this sentence, The mercy of God is above all his works.'

It resteth now, that I should shortly inform you what is to be done hereafter, upon the occasion of this horrible and strange accident. As for your part, that are my faithful and loving subjects of all degrees, I know that your hearts are so burnt up with zeal in this errand, and your tongues so ready to utter your dutiful affections, and your hands and feet so bent to concur in the execution thereof (for which, as I need not to spur you, so can I not but praise you for the same :) As it may very well be possible, that the zeal of your hearts shall make some of you, in your speeches, rashly to blame such as may be innocent of this attempt; but, upon the other part, I wish you to consider, that I would be sorry that any, being innocent of this practice, either domestical or foreign, should receive blame or harm for the same. For although it cannot be denied, that it was the only blind superstition of their errors in religion, that led them to this desperate device; yet doth it not follow, that all professing the Romish religion were guilty of the same. For as it is true, that no other sect of hereticks, not excepting Turk, Jew, nor Pagan, no, not even those of Calicut, who adore the devil, did ever maintain, by the grounds of their religion, that it was lawful, or rather meritorious, as the Romish Catholicks call it, to murder princes, or people, for quarrel of religion. And although particular men, of all professions of religion, have been some thieves, some murderers, some traytors, yet ever, when they came to their end and just punishment, they confessed their fault to be in their nature, and not in their profession, these Romish Catholicks only excepted: yet it is true, on the other side, that many honest men, blinded peradventure with some opinions of popery, as if they be not