The main study, that either of them fixed upon, was theology; for, though they were conversant in all the other arts and sciences, yet that they solely professed, and by that came their future preferment. Wolsey, being batchelor, was made schoolmaster of Maudlin school, in Oxford, but Laud came in time to be master of St. John's college, in Oxford, therein transcending the other, as also in his degrees of master of arts, batchelor of divinity, and doctor of divinity; when the other, being suddenly called from the rectorship of his school, to be resident upon a country benefice, took no more academical degrees, than the first of batchelor; and, taking a strange affront by one Sir Amius Paulet, a knight in the country, who set him in the stocks, he endured likewise divers other disasters; but that disgrace he made the knight pay dearly for, after he came to be invested in his dignity. Briefly, they came both to stand in the prince's eye. But, before I proceed any further, let me give the courteous reader this modest caveat, that he is to expect from me only a parallel of their acts and fortune, but no legend of their lives; it therefore briefly thus followeth.

Both these from academicks coming to turn courtiers; Wolsey, by his diligent waiting, came to insinuate himself into the breasts of the privy-counsellors. His first employment was in an ambassy to the emperor, which was done by such fortunate, and almost incredible expedition, that by that only he grew into first grace with King Henry the Seventh, father to King Henry the Eighth. Laud, by the mediation and means, wrought by friends, grew first into favour with King James, of sacred memory, father to our now Royal Sovereign King Charles. They were both at first the king's chaplains; Wolsey's first preferment was to be Dean of Lincoln, of which he was after bishop. Laud's first ecclesiastical dignity was to be Dean of St. David's, of which he was after bishop also. And both these prelatical courtiers came also to be privy-counsellors. Wolsey, in the beginning of Henry the Eighth's reign, was made bishop of Tournay, in France, soon after bishop of Lincoln, and before his full consecration, by the death of the incumbent, was ended, translated to the Archbishoprick of York, and all this within the compass of a year; Laud, though not so suddenly, yet very speedily, was from St. David's re moved to London, and from London to Canterbury, and this in the be ginning of the reign of King Charles. Thus, you see, they were both archbishops; and, as Laud was never cardinal, so Wolsey was never Canterbury.

But, in some things, the Cardinal much exceeded Canterbury, as in holding all these bishopricks at once, when the other was never possessed but of one at one time. The Cardinal also held the Bishoprick of Winchester, of Worcester, Bath and Wells, with a fourth, and two abbotships in Commendam: he had besides an hat sent him from Rome, and made himself cardinal, that, being before but York, he might overtop Canterbury. But our William, howsoever he might have the will, yet never attained to that power, and, howsoever he could not compass a hat from Rome, yet made the means to have a consecrated mitre sent from Rome; which was so narrowly watched, that it came not to his wearing. Moreover, the Cardinal extorted the chancellor

ship from Canterbury; but we find not that Canterbury ever either intrenched upon the jurisdiction, or took any thing away from the Archbishoprick of York,

Wolsey likewise far outwent him in his numerous train, and the nobleness thereof, being waited on not only by the prime gentry, but even of earls, and earls sons, who were listed in his family, and attended him at his table; as also in his hospitality, his open house being made free for all comers, with the rare and extraordinary state of his palace, in which there were daily up-rising and down-lying a thousand persons, who were his domestick servants. Moreover, in his many entertainments of the kings with masks, and mighty sumptuous banquets, his sumptuous buildings, the prince-like state he carried in his foreign ambassages, into France, to the emperor, &c. in which he spent more coin in the service of his king, for the honour of his country, and to uphold the credit of his cardinal's cap, than would, for the time, have paid an army royal. But I answer in behalf of our Canterbury, that he had never that means or employment, by which he might make so vain-glorious a shew of his pontificality, or archiepiscopal dignity: for unbounded minds may be restrained within narrow limits, and, therefore, the parallel may something hold in this too.

They were also in their judicial courts equally tyrannous; the one in the chancery, the other in the high commission; both of them at the council-board, and in the star-chamber, alike draconically supercilious. Blood drawn from Dr. Bonner's head, by the fall of his cross, presaged the Cardinal's downfall. Blood drawn from the ears of Burton, Prynne, and Bastwick, was a prediction of Canterbury's ruin; the first accidental, the last premeditate and of purpose. The Cardinal would have expelled all the Lutherans and Protestants out of the realm, this our Canterbury would have exiled both our Dutch and French church out of the kingdom. The Cardinal took main delight in his fool Patch, and Canterbury took much delight in his party-coloured cats. The Cardinal used, for his agents, Bonner, and others; Canterbury for his ministers, Duck, Lamb, and others. They both favoured the see of Rome, and respected his holiness in it. The Cardinal did profess it publickly, the Archbishop did reverence it privately. The Cardinal's ambition was to be pope, the Archbishop strove to be patriarch; they both bid fairly for it, yet lost their aim; and far easier it is for men to descend, than to ascend.

The Cardinal, as I have said, was very ambitious; the Archbishop was likewise of the same mind, though better moulded, and of a more politick brain, having a close and more reserved judgment in all his observations, and more fluent in his delivery. The Cardinal was very curious in his attire, and ornament of his body, and took great delight in his train, and other his servants, for their rich apparel: the Archbishop's attire was neat and rich, but not so gaudy as the Cardinal's was; yet he took as much felicity in his gentlemen's rich apparel, especially those that waited on his person, as ever the Cardinal did, tho' other men paid for them; and if all men had their own, and every bird her feather, some of them would be as bare as those that profess them

bishop's men were all given to covetousness and wantonness, that I never heard of were in the Cardinal's men.

As the Cardinal was sumptuous in his buildings, as that of Whitehall, Hampton-court, &c. as also in laying the foundation of two famous colleges, the one at Ipswich, where he was born, the other at Oxford, where he had his breeding; so Christ-church, which he left unfinished, Canterbury hath since repaired; and wherein he hath come short of him in building, though he hath bestowed much on St. John's College, yet he hath outgone him in his bounty of brave voluminous books, being fourscore in number, late sent to the Bodleian or University Library. Farther, as the Cardinal was chancellor of Oxford, and as the Cardinal, by plucking down of small abbies, to prepare stone for his greater structures, opened a gap for the King, by which he took the advantage utterly to raze and demolish the rest; so Canterbury, by giving way for one bishop to have a temporal trial, and to be convicted, not by the clergy, but the laity, left the same path open both for himself, and the rest of the episcopacy; of whch, there before scarce remained a precedent.

I have paralleled them in their dignities; I will conclude with a word or two concerning their downfalls. The Cardinal fell into the displeasure of his king, Canterbury into an extreme hatred of the commons: both were arrested of high treason, the Cardinal by process, Canterbury by Parliament. The Cardinal at Keywood castle, near York, Canterbury at Westminster, near London; both their falls were speedy and sudden: the Cardinal sat as this day in the high court of chancery, and within two days after was confined to his house; Canterbury as this day sat at the council-board, and in the upper-house of parliament, and the same day was committed to the black rod, and from thence to the Tower. The Cardinal died at Leicester, some say of a flux; Canterbury remains still in the Tower, only sick of a fever. Vanitas vanis tatum omnia vanitas.

THE

BILL OF ATTAINDER

THOMAS

That passed against

EARL OF STRAFFORD.

Printed for J. A. 1641, Quarto, containing six pages,

WHE

HEREAS the knights, citizens, and burgesses of the house of commons in this present parliament assembled, have, in the name of themselves, and all the commons of England, impeached Thomas Earl of Strafford, of high treason, for endeavouring to subvert the

ancient and fundamental laws and government of his Majesty's realms of England and Ireland, and to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government against law in the said kingdoms; and for exercising a tyrannous and exorbitant power over, and against the laws of the said kingdoms, over the liberties, estates, and lives of his Majesty's subjects; and likewise for having, by his own authority, commanded the laying and assessing of soldiers upon his Majesty's subjects in Ireland, against their consents, to compel them to obey his unlawful commands and orders, made upon paper petitions, in causes between party and party, which accordingly was executed upon divers of his Majesty's subjects, in a warlike manner, within the said realm of Ireland; and, in so doing, did levy war against the King's Majesty, and his liege people in that kingdom and also, for that he, upon the unhappy dissolution of the last parliament, did slander the house of commons to his Majesty, and did counsel and advise his Majesty, that he was loose and absolved from rules of government, and that he had an army in Ireland, which he might employ to reduce this kingdom; for which he deserves to undergo the pains and forfeitures of high treason.

And the said Earl hath been also an incendiary of the wars between the two kingdoms of England and Scotland: all which offences have been sufficiently proved against the said Earl upon his impeachment.

Be it therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, and by the lords and commons in this present parliament assembled, and by authority of the same, that the said Earl of Strafford, for the heinous crimes and offences aforesaid, stand and be adjudged and attainted of high treason, and shall suffer the pain of death, and incur the forfeitures of his goods and chattels, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, of any estate of freehold or inheritance, in the said kingdoms of England and Ireland, which the said Earl, or any other to his use, or in trust for him, have or had, the day of the first sitting of this present parliament, or at any time since.

Provided, that no judge or judges, justice or justices whatsoever, shall adjudge or interpret any act or thing to be treason, nor hear or determine any treason, nor in any other manner than he or they should or ought to have done before the making of this act, and as if this act had never been had or made. Saving always unto all and singular persons and bodies politick and corporal, their heirs and successors, others than the said Earl and his heirs, and such as claim by, from, or under him, all such right, title, and interest, of, in, and to all and singular such of the said lands, tenements, and hereditaments, as he, they, or any of them, had before the first day of this present parliament, any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

Provided, that the passing of this present act, and his Majesty's assent thereunto, shall not be any determination of this present sessions of parliament, but that this present sessions of parliament, and all bills and matters whatsoever, depending in parliament, and not fully enacted and determined, and all statutes and acts of parliament, which have their continuance until the end of this present session of parliament, shall

THE

ACCUSATION AND IMPEACHMENT

OF

WILLIAM LAUD, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, BY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,

In Maintenance of the Accusations, whereby he standeth charged with High-Treason.

Printed anno dom. 1641. Quarto, containing eight pages.

I.

MPRIMIS, That he, the said Archbishop of Canterbury, hath en

to subvert the fundamental laws of this kingdom, by

giving his Majesty advice, both private and publick, at the council table, and high commission, and other places, and so would have them governed by the civil law; and said, he would make the proudest subject in the kingdom give way to him; and, being told it was against law, he replied he would make it law, and that the King might, at his pleasure, take away without law, and make it warrantable by God's law.

II.

Item, His countenancing of books for the maintenance of his unlimited power, wherein the power of the parliament is denied, and the bishop's power set up.

III.

Item, That he traiterously went about to interrupt the judges, by his threatenings, and other means, to constrain them to give false judg ment in the case of ship-money; as will appear by writings under his own hand, and by the testimonies of divers persons of good worth and quality.

IV.

Item, That he hath taken bribes, and sold justice in the high commission court, as archbishop, and hath not only corrupted the judges there, but hath also sold judicial places to be corrupted,

V.

Item, That he hath traiterously endeavoured the incroachment of jurisdiction, institution of canons, and they are not only against law, but prejudicial, and against the liberties of the subjects; that he hath enlarged his jurisdictions by making these canons; and that he hath exercised his authority very cruelly, both as counsellor, as a commis sioner, annd as a judge; and this authority is derived from his own order, and not from the King.