forty eight, was published in English in twenty one, in the book entitled The Rights of the Prelate and the Prince, as good Roman Catholick divinity, by J. E. with Licence of Superiors; and confequently, that John Goodwin and John Milton were not the first broachers of it in England. The ftrain of the whole book is of that nature, and the following words are part of it, ch. 15. p. 375. And if Kings, who were not excommunicated nor deprived by the Pope, may by the Commonwealth be depos'd and kill'd, where they are intolerable tyrants; why may not the Commonwealth exercise the fame power over tyrants excommunicated and deprived by the Pope, they, after excommunication and deprivation, being no more Kings, but private men."

The fubject indeed had been before difcuffed in a very interefting difcourfe, of which the title is, "Herod and Pilate reconciled: Or, The Concord of Papift and Puritan (againft Scripture, Fathers, Councels, and other Orthodoxall Writers) for the Coercion, Depofition, and Killing of Kings. Discovered by David Owen, Batchelour of Divinitie, &c. Cambridge, 1610," 4to. To this point I may also apply an extract from "Foxes and Firebrands; or a Specimen of the danger and harmony of Popery and Separation;" attributed by fome to Dr. Nelfon, by others to Sir James Ware: "But that which makes the thing plain, is the discovery which was made to Sir William Bofwell by Andreas ab Habnerfeld; which was communicated firft by Sir William to my Lord of Canterbury, and by him tranfmitted to the King then at York, Novemb. 1640. The whole is printed by itself, and in' Rushworth's Collections; and is too long here to infert; but the principal parts and matter of the

plot was this; That there was a defign on foot, by the Papifts, against the King and the Archbishop. That, to effect this, the Scottish commotions were raised, and fomented by the Jefuits; that they exafperated the English Diffenters by the feverity used against Pryn, Burton, and Baftwick; and the Scots, by the fears of Popery upon the impofition of the Common-Prayer book; that Cuneus or Con, the Pope's Legate, and Chamberlain a Scot, Chaplain and Almoner to Cardinal Richlieu, were the great negociators of this confpiracy; and that the defign was to embroil these nations in a civil war. The troubles came on fo faft, as may well be fuppofed, precipitated for fear of a further profecution of this difcovery, that the Archbishop loft his head for refufing a cardinal's hat, and oppofing the Scottish Covenanters ; and the King his, because he would not give away the crown, and put down the mitre, by granting toleration, £d. edit. 1682, pp. 50, 51." It was one of the threats of the Covenanters, that "the Enemy fhould be forced either to give Liberty of Confcience to the Catholicks, or put themselves in danger of lofing all, p. 48." Other proofs of the combination might be added. The following narrative is too curious, and too well authenticated, to be here omitted. It is from the pen of Dr. Bargrave, (whofe manufcript I have already noticed) who was particularly acquainted with Holstenius, one of Milton's friends. Being at Rome, he fays,

m

"Cardinel Roffetti was fhewed to me to take more perticular notice of him, because that he had binn almost S yeares

See more particularly Kennet's Register, 1728, pp. 539, 540. And Lord Strafforde's Letters, 1739, vol, ii. p. 74.

in England the Popes Nuntio Incognito, as you may find in the Italian Hiftorian mentioned in the margent.

"An°. 1639 There arriued (fayth he) at London, to refide at the Court as a gentleman traueler, fent by Cardinal Barberino, but effectually he was the Pope's Nuntio, by name Charles Roffetti, an Earle by birth; whoe had taken vpon him the Church habite of a Prelate; whoe was of a greate spirit, actiue, and prudent; able to vndertake bufinefs of the greatest difficultie. He was valerous of heart, had a learned tongue, was quick in parts, in breif he was fuch an one, that his fellow could not be fownde in all the Court of Rome. His letters were dated at Rome the 16th. of Aprill: (and then my Author telleth us a fecret that we are not to know, viz.) And because that in England he woare a Secular habit, and tooke vpon him no other name but of Conte Roffetti, therefore I will allfo hide, where I haue occafion to mention him, his ecclefiafticall title of Monfignore, and giue him onely the title of his noble famely P. Vpon his comming to Court, and being courteously receiued, all things went well with the Ro: Catholicks; and thofe Preifts, that by law were to be punished with Death, were onely banished. This was the Spring time of the Catholick Religion in that kingdome, which florished by the sweete favourable blafts of the Conte Roffetti! Vpon this libels went about that the King and Archbishop were Popish &c; wherevpon the Archbishop aduised the King to rid his Court of the Roman Minifters, and to renew the rigour of the law. The Conte Roffetti, hearing of this, wold not hide the Intereffe for which he was at London; but, vpon this occafion, being made more vigoroufe of courrage in this time of dainger, thought that now an opportunety was giuen him to captiuate the Kings foul, and to conduct him to the Catholick Fayth! vpon which he broke his minde to a confident Courtier of theires, whoe yet doubted how to effect it. Roffetti, having

• Il Conte Bifaccione Delle Guerre Civili D'Inghilterra, Edit. 22. 1653. p. 17.

bin perfuaded by the Queene to write to the Pope for abowt an 100000lb fterling to supplie the Kings neceffeties, His Holinefs his anfwer was, That the Pope was very ready to fupply the King fo foone as euer he fhould declare him felfe a Catholick, the onely auaylable meanes to lofen the chaines of the Treafurie of the Cattle of St. Angelo at Rome. But, for a King that should turne to the bofom of the Church, he would lay hands upon that Sacred Treaforie, otherwife fhut vp and impenetrable &c.-Where one may reade a greate many Intreegues abowt the lending of this mony, and how refolutely the King withstood theire attempts, and how Roffetti affalted the two Archbishops to returne to the Roman Fayth. And then we haue mention of Roffetti's letter to the King to perfwade him to turn Papift. But he finding his Matic vnmooveable and firme as a Rock, that strongly refifteth the fury of formes and tempefts, hauing his Faith fixed and faftned to a more fure foundation; this Latent "Nuntio gaue ouer his fruitlefs Defigne. Finding (faith my Author) that he gaue light onto the blinde, that he spake to one that was deaft, and, as the prouerb hath it, wold with water wash a blackmore white, the (Latent) Nuntio forfooke him; and ftole owt of England (for feare of the Parliament that fented him) by the help of Sig'. Giuftiniano the Venetian Imbaffador, and at his comeing to Rome fu decorato della Porpora Vaticana.

Though he was forced to be gonn, yet the effects of his Nuntiature lafted all the Ciuill Warr, efpecially amongst the Irish Rebells. To difprooue the calomny that was rayfed upon the King (probably both by Papist and Presbyterians) he vfed all the meanes he could to fhew that he was a cordiall Proteftant, as is feene by his mony then coyned. So in the feuerall Speeches that he made at the head of his Army, one of them, fayth my Author, hath this paffage *: If I tooke a wife of an other Religion being of the Roman faith, it was

with a Univerfall Confent: If the Lord Roffetti came to my Court, I used him courteoufly, as a noble man and a strainger, as it is fitt for Princes to doe, and yet vpon onely fufpition, and not guilt of any wrong to England, I fent him away.'My Author in another place', fpeaking of the death of Archbishop Laud on the Scaffold, by way of fcoffe faythIt had bin better for him to haue turned Catholick, and to have gonn to Rome, as he had binn aduifed, by the prudent counfell of the Popes zealous Nuntio, Rofetti, now a Cardinall! And, fpeaking of our Kings death, he hath this paffage-His death was foretould (fo long ago as when he was Prince of Wales) when he was in Spaine, where he, going to vifit a holy Nunne, whoe was much efteemed for her fanctity; fhee foretold him, that, if he did not hearken to the infpirations of that light which his gardian Angell fhold inftruct him in, he fhold dye a miferable death, and ruine all his progeny! This ANGELL was Cardinal ROSSETti, whoe by his frequent inspirations, not internall, but to the eare and the eye, by the voice and by writings, by his eloquent and angelicall fuggeftions, indeavoured his conuerfion to the Catholik Faith; Card: Roffetti an Angel in practice! Greate Minifter of the Pope, and an Angel by his office, as being a Nuntio or Mejenger; a zealous Nuntio! Whence it is no maruell, if what the holy Nunne foretold had its effect!

"Card: Barberino at Rome; This Man his Agent here; Card: Mazarino in France; And Gio: Rinuccini Archbishop of Firmo in Italy, and the Popes Nuntio in Ireland; were the Popish Ecclefiafticks, that by the helpe of the Jefuites, in all probabilety, were the men that ruined the King and Kingdome vnder the new name and Cheate of INDEPENDENT; I being tould beyond Sea by Muncks and Fryars that I might heare Mafs where I wold among the Independents; that Word fignefying onely Independent as to the Church of England, but Dependent as to the Church of Rome; and fo our warr was a warr of Religion to bring in