And secondly , If he had been such , he must have been the seventh Earl , and not the eighth : For thus those Earls are marshalled in our Catalogues of Honor , and Books of Heraldry , viz. 1. William de Meschines . 2. Iohn de ●amalt . 3. William Marquess of Iuliers . 4. Edmond of Langley , D. of York . 5. Edward D. of York . 6. Richard de Conisburgh , yonger Brother of Edward . 7. Iames Marquess Hamilton , &c. No Richard Duke of York to be found amongst them , his Father , Richard of Konisburgh , having lost that Title by Attainder , which never was restored to Richard his Son ( though most improvidently advanced to the Dukedom of York ) nor unto any other of that Line and Family .

4. Proceed we in the next place to Verses , and old ends of Poetry , scattered and dispersed in all parts of the History , from one end to the other ; for which he hath no precedent in any Historian , Greek or Latine , or any of the National Histories of these latter times : The Histories of Herodotus , Xenophon , Thucydides and Plutarch , amongst the Greeks ; of Caesar , Livy , Salust , Taci●us , and Sue●onius , amongst the Latines , afford him neither warrant nor example for it : The like may be affirmed of Eus●bius , Socrates , S●zomen , Theodoret , Russin and Evagrius , Church Historians all ; though they had all the best choice , and the most excellent Poets of the world to befriend them in it : And he that shall consult the Histories of succeeding times , through all the Ages of the Church , to this present day , will finde ●h●m all as barren of any incouragements in this kinde , as the ancients were : Nay , whereas Bishop Godwin in his Annals , gives us an Epitaph of two Verses onely made on Queen Iane Seymour , and afterwards a Copy of eighteen verses on the Martyrdom of Arch Bishop Cranmer ; Annal R. Mariae . he ushers in the last with this short Apology , Contra mor●m ●●storiae liceat quaeso inserere , &c. Let me , ( saith he , I beseech you ) insert these following verses , though otherwise against the Rule and Laws of History ▪ But what alass ! were eighteen or twenty verses compared with those many hundred ( six or seven hundred at the least ) which we finde in our Author ; whether to shew the universality of his reading in all kinde of Writers , or his faculty in Translating ( which when he meets with hard Copies , he knows how to spare ) I shall not determine at the present : Certain I am , that by the interlarding of his Prose with so many Verses , he makes the Book look rather like a Church-Romance , ( our late Romancers being much given to such kinde of Mixtures ) then a well● built Ecclesiastical History . And if it be a marter so inconvenient to put a new piece of cloth on an old garment ; the putting of so many old patches on a new pi●●e of cloth , must be more unfashonable . Besides that , many of these old ends are so light and ludicrous , so little pertinent to the business which he has in hand , that they serve onely to make sport for Children , ( ut pueris placeas & Declamatio fias ) and for nothing else .

5. This leads me to the next impertinency , his raking into the Chanel of old Popish Legends , writ in the da●ker times of Superstition , but written with an honest zeal , and a good intention ▪ as well to raise the Reader to the admiration of the person of whom they write , as to the emulalation of his vertues : But being mixt with some Monk●●h dotages , the most learned and ingenious men in the Church of Rome have now laid them by ; and it had been very well if our Author had done so to , but that there must be something of entertainment for the gentle Reader , and to inflame the reckoning which he pays not for . But above all things , recommend me to his Merry Tales , and scraps of Trencher● jests , frequently interlaced in all parts of the History ; which if abstracted from the rest , and put into a Book by themselves , might very well be serv'd up for a second course to the Banquet of Iosts , a Supplement to the old Book , entituled , Wits , Fits and Fancies ; or an Additional Century to the old Hundred Merry Tales , so long since extant . But standing as they do , they neither do become the gravity of a Church-Historian , nor are consistent with the nature of a sober Argument . But as it seems , our Author came with the same thoughts to the writing of this present History , as Poets anciently addrest themselves to the writing of Comedies , of which thus my Terence .

That is to say , Thus Poets , when their minde they first apply In looser verse to frame a Comedy , Think there is nothing more for them to do , Then please the people , whom they speak unto .

6. In the last place proceed we to the manifold excursions about the Antiquity of Cambridge , built on as weak Authoritie as the Monkish Legends , and so impertinent to the matter which he hath in hand , that the most Reverend Mat. Parker , ( though a Cambridge Man ) in his Antiquitates Britanicae , makes no business of it : The more impertinent , in regard that at the fag-end of his Book there follows a distinct History of that University , to which all former passages might have been reduced : But as it seems he was resolved to insert nothing in that History but what he had some probable ground for ; leaving the Legendary part thereof to the Church-Romance , as m●st proper for it . And certainly he is wondrous wise in his generation : For fearing lest he might be asked for those Bulls and Chartularies which frequently he relates unto , in the former Books ; he tells us in the History of Cambridge , fol. 53. That they were burnt by some of the seditious Townsmen in the open Market place , Anno 1380. or thereabouts : So that for want of ot●e● ancient evidence , we must take his word , which whether those of Cambridge will depend upon , they can best resolve . For my part , I forbear all intermedling in a controversie so clearly stated , and which hath lain so long asleep , till now awakened by our Author to beget new quarrels : Such passages in that History as come under any Animadversion , have been reduced unto the other , as occasion served , which the Reader may be pleased to take notice of as they come before him .

7. All these extravagancies and impertinencies ( which make up a fifth part of the whole Volumn ) being thus discharged , it is to be presum'd that nothing should remain but a meer Church History , as the Title promiseth ; But let us not be too presumptuous on no better grounds : For on a Melius inquirendum into the whole course of the Book which we have before us , we shall finde too little of the Church , and too much of the State , I mean too little of the Ecclesiastical , and too much of the Civil History : It might be reasonably expected , that in a History of the Church of England , we should have heard somewhat of the foundation and enlargement of Cathedral Churches , if not of the more eminent Monasteries and Religious Houses ; and that we should have heard somewhat more of the succession of Bishops in their several and respective Sees , their personal Endowments , learned Writings , and other Acts of Piety , Magnificence , and publick Interess , especially when the times afforded any whose names in some of those respects deserv'd to be retain'd in everlasting remembrance ; it might have been expected also , that we should have found more frequent mention of the calling of National , and Provincial Synods , with the result of their proceedings , and the great influence which they had on the Civil State , sparingly spoken of at the best , and totally discontinued in a maner , from the death of King Henry the fourth , until the Convocation of the year , 1552. of which no notice had been taken , but that he had a minde to question the Authority of the Book of Articles which came out that year , though publisht as the issue and product of it , by the express Warrant and Command of King Edward the sixth : No mention of that memorable Convocation in the fourth and fifth years of Philip and Mary , in which the Clergy taking notice of an Act of Parliament then newly passed , by which the Subjects of the Temporali●y , having Lands to the yearly value of five pounds , and upwards , were charged with finding Horse and Armour , according to the propertion of their yearly Revenues and Possessions , did by their sole Authority , as a Convocation , impose upon themselves and the rest of the Clergy of this Land , the finding of a like number of Horses , Armour , and other Necessaries for the War , according to their yearly income , proportion for proportion , and rate for rate , as by that Statute had been laid on the Temporal Subjects : And this they did by their own sole Authority , as before was said , ordering the same to be levyed on all such as were refractory , by Sequestration , Deprivation , Suspension , Excommunication , Ecclesiastical Censures all ; without relating to any subsequent confirmation by Act of Parliament , which they conceiv'd they had no need of : Nor finde we any thing of the Convocations of Queen Elizabeths time , except that of the year 1562. ( and that not fairly dealt with neither , as is elsewhere shewed ) though there passed many Canons in the Convocation of the year 1571. and of the year 1585. and the year 1597. all Printed , and still publickly extant ; besides the memorable Convocation of the year , 1555. in which the Clergy gave the Queen a Benevolence of 2● . in the pound , to be levyed by Ecclesiastical Censures , without relating to any subsequent confirmation by Act of Parliament , as had accustomably been used in the Grant of Subsidies .

It might have been expected also that we should have found in a Church History of Britain , the several degrees and steps by which the Heterodoxies and Superstitions of the Church of Rome did creep in amongst us ; and the degrees by which they were ejected and cast out again , and the whole Reformation setled upon the Doctrine of the Apostles , attended by the Rites and Ceremonies of the Primitive times ; as also that some honorable mention should be found of those gallant Defences which were made by Dr. Bancroft , Dr. Bilson , Dr. Bridges , Dr. Cosins , and divers others , against the violent Batteries and Assaults of the Puritan Faction in Queen Elizabeths time ; and of the learned Writings of B. Buckeridge , B. Morton , Dr. Su●cliff , Dr. Burges , &c. in justification of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England , against the remnants of that scattered ( and then broken ) Faction in the time of King Iames ; of which we have Negry quidem , not a word delivered : Nor could it stand with his design ( which will discover it self in part in this Introduction , and shall more fully be discovered in the Animadversions ) that it should be otherwise ▪ All which together , make it clear and evident that there is too little of the Church or Ecclesiastical History in our Authors Book : And that there is too much of the State or Civil History , will be easily seen , by that unnecessary intermixture of State-Concernments , not pertinent to the business which he hath in hand : Of this sort to look back no further , is the long Will and Testament of King Henry the eighth , with his Gloss or Comment on the same , taking up three whole sheets at least , in which there is not any thing which concerns Religion , or which relates unto the Church , or Church-affairs ; although to have the better colour to bring it in , he tells us that he hath transcribed it , not onely for the rarity thereof , but because it contained many passages which might reflect much light upon his Church-History .

Lib. 5. ●ol. 243. Of this sort also is his description of the pomp and order of the Coronation of King Charls , which though he doth acknowledge not to be within the Pale and Park of Ecclesiastical History , yet he resolves to bring it in , because it comes within the Purlews of it , as his own words are : But for this he hath a better reason then we are aware of , that is to say , That if hereafter Divine Providence shall assign England another King , though the transactions herein be not wholly precedential , something of state may be chosen out grateful for imitation .

Lib. 11. fol. 124. As if the Pomp and order of a Coro●nation were not more punctually preserved in the Heralds Office ( who have the ordering of all things done without the Church , and are eye-Witnesses of all which is done within ) then in our Authors second-hand and imperfect Collections : The like may be said also of the quick and active Reigns of King Edward the sixth , and Queen Mary , in which the whole Body of the reformed Religion was digested , setled , and destroyed ; sufficient of it self to make a competent Volumn , but contracted by our Author ( like Homers Iliads , in the Nut shell ) into less then 25 sheets : And yet in that small Abstract we finde many Impertinencies , as to the work he hath in hand , that is to say , The great proficiency of King Edward , in his Grammar Learning , exemplified in three pieces of Latine of his making , when he was but eight or nine years old ; the long Narrative of Sir Edward Mountague , chief Iustice of the Common Pleas , to vindicate himself from being a voluntary Agent in the business of the Lady Iane Gray ; the full and punctual relation of W●ats Rebellion , and the issue of it , though acted upon some false grounds of Civil Interess , without relating to Religion or to Church Affairs : Infinitum esset ●re per singula , It were an infinite labor to look into all particulars of this nature , which are found in our Author , make up a great part of the Book ; but we may guess by this brief view , ( as Ex pede Hereulem ) that his diversion upon Civil Matters and Affairs of State , which neither have relation to , nor any influence at all upon those of the Church , do make up a considerable part of the rest of the Book : Which Civil Matters and State-Concernments being discharg'd also ( as in all reason they ought to be ) we next proceed to the Church-History it self : In which , if we should make the like defalkation , and expunge every passage which is either positively false , or ignorantly mistaken by him , there would be very little left to inform the Reader , as by the following Animadversions will appear sufficiently .

8. But well it were , if onely Abberrations from Historical truth were to be met with in our Author : In whom we find such a continual vein of Puritanism , such dangerous grounds for inconformity and Sedition to be raised upon , as easily may pervert the unwary Reader , whom the facetiousness of the stile ( like a hook baited with a painted Fly ) may be apt to work on . Murthering of Kings avowed for necessary prudence , as oft as they shall fall into the power of their Subjects Lib. 4 fol. 109. The Coronation of the Kings , ( and consequently their succession to the Crown of England ) made to depend upon the suffrage and consent of the People , Lib. 11. fol. 122. The Sword extorted from the Supream Magistrate , and put into the hands of the common People , whensoever the Reforming humor shall grow strong amongst them , Lib. 9. fol. 51. The Church depriv'd of her Authority in determining controversies of the Faith , and a dispute rais'd against that clause of the Atticle , ( in which that Authority is declared ) whether forg'd or not : Lib. 9. f. 73. Her power in making Canons every where prostituted to the lust of the Parliament , contrary both to Law and constant practice ; the Heterodoxies of Wickliff Canoniz'd for Gospel , and Calvins Opinions , whatsoever they were , declar'd for Orthodox ; the Sabbatarian Rigors , published for Divine and Ancient Truths , though there be no Antiquity nor Divinity in them ; the Hierarchy of Bishops so coldly pleaded for , as shews he had a minde to betray the cause , whilst all things pass on smoothly for the Presbyterians , whom he chiefly acts for : And this is that which we must look for , par my & par tout , as the Frenchmen say . Nor deals he otherwise with the persons which are brought before him , then he doth with the Causes which they bring . No profest Puritan , no cunning Non-conformist , or open Separatist , comes upon the Stage , whom he follows not with Plaudites and some fair Commends , when as the Fathers of the Church , and the conformable Children of it are sent off commonly in silence , and sometimes with censure : The late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury , so eminently deserving of the Church of England , must be rak'd out of his Grave , arraigned for many misdemeanors , of which none could accuse him when he was alive ; all his infirmities and weaknesses mustered up together , to make him hateful to the present and succeeding Ages ; when Mr. ●ov●'s Treasonable practices and seditious Speeches , must needs ( for footh ) be buried in the same Earth with him . The University of Oxford frequently quarrelled and exasperated , upon ●light occasions , the late Kings party , branded by the odious Title of Malignants , not better'd by some froth of pretended Wit in the Etymology . The regular Clergy shamefully reproached by the Name of covetous Confo●m●sts , Lib. 9. fol. 98. And those poor men who were ejected by the late long Parliament , despitefully called Baals Priests , u●savory sal● , not ●i● to be thrown upon the Dung● hill ; though he be doubtful of the proofs which were brought against them . Lib. 11. fol. 207. So many of all sorts wronged and injur'd by him , that should they all study their personal and particular Revenges , he were not able to abide it : And therefore we may j●stly say in the Poets Language .

Which may be Englisht in these words , Should all wrong'd 〈◊〉 seek t' avenge their same , 〈◊〉 were not enough to bear the shame .

9. But nothing does more evidently discover his unfaithful dealing , then his repo●t of the proceedings in the Isle of ●●gh , between his Maj●sty and the long Parliament Divines ; of which he tells us , Lib. 11. fol. 235. That his 〈…〉 a●●n●wledged their great pains to inform his iudgement , according to their perswasions , and also took especial notice of th●ir civilities of the Application both in the beginning and body of their Reply ; and having cleer'd himself from some mis-understanding about the Writ of Partition which they speak of , puts an end to the business . The man who reads this passage , cannot choose but think that his Majesty being vanquisht by the Arguments of the Prebyterians , had given over the cause ; and therefore as convicted in his Conscience , rendreth them thanks for the Instruction which he had receiv'd , and the Civilities they used towards him in the way thereof : But he that looks upon his Majesties last Paper , will finde that he had Learnedly and Divinely refe●'d all their Arguments : And having so done , puts them in minde of three questions which are propos'd in his former Paper , acknowledg'd by themselves , to be of great importance in the present controversie ; without an Answer whereunto , his Majesty declar'd that he would put an end to that conference : It not being probable ( as he told them ) that they should work much upon his Iudgement , whil●● they are ●●arful to declare their own , nor possible to reli●ve his conscience , but by a free d●●laring of theirs : But they not able , or not daring , ( for fear of displeasing their great Masters ) to return an Answer to those Questions , his Majesty remain'd sole Master of the field , a most absolute Conqueror : For though the first blow commonly does begin the Quarrel , it is the last blow always that gets the Victory : But Regium est , cum benefeceris male audire : It hath been commonly the fortune of the greatest Princes , when they deserve best , to be worst reported .

10. Nor deals he better with the Church , then he does with the King ; concealing such things as might make for her justification , and advocating for such things as disturb her order . In the last Book we finde him speaking of some heats which were rais'd in the Church , about placing the Communion-Table Altar-wise , and great fault found for the want of Moderation in those Men , who had the managing of that business . But he conceals his Majesties Determination in the Case of St. Gregories , Novem. 3. 1633. by which all Bishops and other Ordinaries , were incouraged to proceed therein , and consequently those of inferior rank to defend their actings . The Chappel of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge is built North and South , contrary to the usage of the Primitive times , and the Church of England , with which King Iames being made acquainted , he answered ( as our Author tells us ) That it was no ma●ter how the Chappel stood , so the heart stood right : Which Tale being told by him , and believed by others ( & populum qui sibi credit habet , Ovid. in Ep. Hypsiphil . ) as he is like enough to finde many Believers , farewel to all external Reverence in the Service of God : What need we trouble our selves or others with standing , kneeling , bowing in the acts of Worship ; it is no matter in what posture the Body be , so the Heart be right . What need we put our selves or others to the charge of Surplices and Hoods , of Gowns and Cassacks , in the officiating of Gods Service ; It is no matter in what habit the Body be , so the heart be right . There is another Chappel in Cambridge which was never consecrated , Hist. of Camb. ( whether a Stable or a Dormitory , is all one to me . ) At which when some found themselves grieved , our Author tells them , That others of as great Learning and Religion ( himself especially for one ) dare defend , that the continued Series of Divine Duties , Hist. Camb. fol. 155. publickly practiced for more then thirty years ( without the least check or controul of those in authority ) in a place set apart to that purpose , doth sufficiently consecrate the same : Stables and Barns by this Argument , shall in some tract of time become as sacred as our Churches ; and if the Brethren think it not enough for their ease to be pent up in so narrow a Room , t is but repairing to the next Grove or Coppise , and that in a like tract of time shall become as holy as Solomons Temple , or any consecrated place whatsoever it be : Churches may well be spared , pull'd down , and their Materials sold for the use of the Saints ; a Tub by this our Authors Logick , will be as useful as the Pulpit unto Edification : And that we may perceive that nothing is more precious with him then an irregular , unconsecrated , and unfurnished Chappel . Melvins infamous Libel against the Furniture of the Altars in the Chappels Royal , ( for which he was censur'd in the Star-Chamber ) must be brought in by head & shoulders , out of time and place , for fear least such an excellent piece of Puritanical Zeal should be lost to posterity : These things I might have noted in their proper places , but that they were reseru'd for this as a taste to the rest .