TO THE HONOURABLE EDWARD MOUNTAGUE, ESQUIRE, SON AND HEIR TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDWARD LORD MOUNTAGUE OF BOUGHTON. Ir is a strange casualty which an historian* reporteth of five earls of Pembroke successively, (of the family of Hastings,) that the father of them never saw his son,-as born either in his absence or after his death. I know not whether more remarkable, the fatality of that—or the felicity of your-family; where, in a lineal descent, five have followed one another, the father not only surviving to see his son of age, but also (yourself excepted, who in due time may be) happy in their marriage, hopeful in their issue. These five have all been of the same Christian name. Yet is there no fear of confusion, to the prejudice of your pedigree, which heralds commonly in the like cases complain of; seeing each of them being, as eminent in their kind, so different in their eminency, are sufficiently distinguished by their own character to posterity. Of these, the first a judge; for his gravity and learning famous in his generation. The second, a worthy patriot, and bountiful housekeeper; blessed in a numerous issue; his four younger sons affording a bishop to the church, a judge and peer *CAMDEN'S Britannia in Pembrokeshire. to the state, a commander to the camp, and an officer to the court. The third was the first baron of the house; of whose worth I will say nothing, because I can never say enough. The fourth, your honourable father; who, because he doth still (and may he long) survive, I cannot do the right which I would to his merit, without doing wrong (which I dare not) to his modesty. You are the fifth in a direct line; and let me acquaint you with what the world expecteth (not to say requireth) of you-to dignify yourself with some select and peculiar desert; so to be differenced from your ancestors, that your memory may not be mistaken in the homonymy of your Christian names; which to me seemeth as improbable, as that a burning beacon (at a reasonable distance) should not be beheld; such the brightness of your parts, and advantage of your education. You was bred in that school which hath no superior in England; and successively in those two universities, which have no equal in Europe. Such the stock of your native perfection, before grafted with the foreign accomplishments of your travels: so that men confidently promise themselves to read the best, last, and largest edition of Mercator's Atlas in your experience and discourse. That good God who went with you out of your native country, and since watched over you in foreign parts, return with you in safety in due time, to his glory, and your own good; which is the daily desire of Your Honour's most devoted servant, THOMAS FULLER. THE CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. BOOK XI. SECTION I. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 1, 2. News of the King's Death brought to Whitehall. solemn Funerals. 1 Charles I. A.D. 1625. His THE sad news of king James's death was soon brought to Whitehall, Sunday, March 27th, at that very instant when Dr. Laud, bishop of St. David's, was preaching therein. This caused him to break off his sermon in the midst thereof,* out of civil compliance with the sadness of the congregation; and the same day was king Charles proclaimed at Whitehall. On the seventh of May following, king James's funerals were performed very solemnly, in the collegiate church at Westminster; his lively statue being presented on a magnificent hearse. King Charles was present thereat. For, though modern state used of late to lock up the chief mourner in his chamber, where his grief must be presumed too great for public appearance; yet the king caused this ceremony of sorrow so to yield to the substance thereof, and pomp herein to stoop to piety, that in his person he sorrowfully attended the funerals of his father. 3, 4. Dr. Williams's Text, Sermon, and Parallel betwixt King Solomon and King James. Exceptions taken at his Sermon. Dr. Williams, lord keeper and bishop of Lincoln, preached the sermon, taking for his text 2 Chron. ix. 29, 30, and part of the 31st verse, containing the happy reign, quiet death, and stately burial of king Solomon. The effect of his sermon was to advance a parallel See his own Diary on that day. betwixt two peaceable princes,-king Solomon and king James: a parallel which willingly went, (not to say, ran of its own accord,) and, when it chanced to stay, was fairly led on by the art and ingenuity of the bishop, not enforcing but improving the conformity betwixt these two kings in ten particulars; all expressed in the text, as we read in the vulgar Latin somewhat different from the new translation. KING JAMES Had profluentem, et qua principem deceret, eloquentiam.* Was eminent in his actions of religion, justice, war, and peace. So wise "that there was nothing that any would learn, which he was not able to teach.”† As Trajan was nicknamed herba parietaria, "a wall-flower," because his name was engraven on every wall; so king James shall be called herba chartacea, "the paper-flower," and his glory be read in all writers.‡ He reigned in the capital city of London, by him much augmented; Over Great Britain, by him happily united, and other dominions; In all fifty-eight, (though over all Britain but two-and-twenty years,) reigning as better, so also longer, than king Solomon.§ Left the world most resolved, most prepared, embracing his grave for his bed. Reigning gloriously with God in heaven. Whilst his body was interred with all possible solemnity in king Henry VII.'s chapel. • TACITUS of Augustus. + Page 59. ↑ Page 61. § Page 66. the distance thereof; and harder to be kept, so ill-neighboured it was on all sides. So that the king, if so pleased, might, with as much honour and more ease, carve out his own reparations nearer home. 22-33. King James falleth sick. chiefs. A Plaster applied to his the Advice of his Physicians. in his Faith and Charity. A Confluence of four MisWrists, and Julap, without Catechised on his Death-bed His Death, of a peaceable Nature. Made Nobility less respected by the Commonness thereof. His Eloquence and piercing Wit. King James's Return to Gondemar. Judicious, bountiful, and merciful. During these agitations king James fell sick at Theobald's of “ tertian ague," commonly called, in spring; for a king, rather physical than dangerous. But soon after his ague was heightened into a fever; four mischiefs meeting therein : a First. The malignity of the malady in itself, hard to be cured. Secondly. An aged person of sixty years current. Thirdly. A plethoric body, full of ill humours. Fourthly. The king's averseness to physic and impatience under it. Yet the last was quickly removed, above expectation; the king, contrary to his custom, being very orderable in all his sickness. Such sudden alterations, some apprehend a certain prognostic of death; as if when men's minds acquire new qualities, they begin to habit and clothe themselves for a new world. The countess of Buckingham contracted much suspicion to herself and her son, for applying a plaster to the king's wrists, without the consent of his physicians. And yet it plainly appeared, that Dr. John Remington, of Dunmow in Essex, made the same plaster; one honest, able, and successful in his practice, who had cured many patients by the same; a piece whereof applied to the king, one ate down into his belly, without the least hurt or disturbance of nature. However, after the applying thereof, the king grew worse. The physicians refused to administer physic unto him till the plasters were taken off; which being done accordingly, his fifth, sixth, and seventh fits were easier, as Dr. Chambers said. On the Monday after, the plasters were laid on again without the advice of the physicians; and his majesty grew worse and worse; so that Mr. Hayes, the king's surgeon, was called out of his bed to take off the plasters. Mr. Baker, the duke's servant, made the king a julap, which the duke brought to the king with his own hand, of which the king drank twice, but refused the third time. After his death a bill was brought to the physicians to sign, that the ingredients of the julap and plasters were safe. But most refused it, because they |