Eikon Basilike / The Pourtracture of His Sacred Majestie, in His Solitudes and Sufferings

An Epitaph upon King Charls.

King of England Charles I

O falls that stately Cedar: while it stood

That was the onely glory of the Wood:

Great Charles, thou earthly God, celestial Man,

Whose life, like others, though it were a span:

Yet in that span, was comprehended more

Then Earth hath waters or the Ocean shore;

Thy heavenly vertues, Angels shou'd rehearse,

It is a theam too high for humane Verse:

He that would know thee right, then let him look

Upon Thy rare incomparable Book,

And read it or'e and o're; which if he do,

Hee'l find thee king, and Priest, and Prophet too:

And sadly see our losse, and though in vain,

With fruitlesse wishes, call thee back again.

Nor shall oblivion sit upon thy Herse,

Though there were neither Monument, nor Verse.

Thy Suff'rings & thy Death let no man name;

It was thy Glorie, but the Kingdoms Shame.

J. H.

freize

His Majesties Reasons against the pretended Jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice, which he intended to deliver in writing on Munday January 22, 1648.

Faithfully transcribed out of the originall Copie under the Kings own hand.

H Aving already made my protestations not only against the illegality of this pretended Court, but also that no earthly power can justly call me (who am your King) in question as a Delinquent, I would not any more open my mouth upon this occasion, more then to refer my selfe to what I have spoken, were I alone in this case concerned. But the duty I owe to God in the preservation of the true Liberty of my People, will not suffer me at this time to be silent: For, how can any free-born Subject of England call life or any thing he possesseth his own, if power without right daily make new, and abrogate the old fundamentall Law of the Land, which I now take to be the present case. Wherefore when I came hither, I expected that you would have indeavoured to have satisfied me concerning these grounds, which hinder me to Answer to your pretended Impeachment, but since I see that nothing I can say will move you to it (though Negatives are not so naturally proved as Affirmatives) yet I will shew you the Reason why I am confident you cannot judge me, nor indeed the meanest man in England; for I will not (like you) without shewing a reason, seek to impose a belief upon My Subjects.

Hereabout I was stopt, and not suffered to speake any more concerning Reasons.

There is no proceeding just against any man, but what is warranted either by Gods Laws, or the municipall Lawes of the Country where he lives. Now I am most confident, that this daies proceeding cannot be warranted by Gods Law, for on the contrary the authority of obedience unto Kings is cleerly warranted and strictly commanded both in the Old and New Testament; which if denied, I am ready to prove: and for the question now in hand, there it is said, That where the word of a King is, there is Power, and who may say unto him, what doest thou? Eccles. 8. 4. Then for the Lawes of this land, I am no lesse confident, that no learned Lawyer will affirme that an impeachment can lie against the King, they all going in his name; and one of their Maximes is, that the King can do no wrong. Besides, the law upon which you ground your proceedings, must either be old or new; if old shew it; if new, tell what authority warranted by the fundamentall Laws of the land hath made it, and when. But how the House of Commons can erect a Court of Judicature, which was never one it self (as is well known to all Lawyers) I leave to God and the World to judge; And it were full as strange that they should pretend to make Laws without King or Lords-House, to any that have heard speak of the Lawes of England.

And admitting, but not granting, that the people of Englands Commission could grant your pretended Power, I see nothing you can shew for that; for certainly you never asked the question of the tenth man of the Kingdom, and in this way you manifestly wrong even the poorest Plough-man, if you demand not his free consent; nor can you pretend any colour for this your pretended Commission without the consent at least of the major part of every man in England, of whatsoever quality or condition, which I am sure, you never went about to seek; so far are you from having it. Thus you see that I speak not for my own right alone, as I am your King, but also for the true Liberty of all my Subjects, which consists not in sharing the power of Government, but in living under such Laws, such a Government as may give themselves the best assurance of their lives and propriety of their goods. Nor in this must or do I forget the priviledges of both Houses of Parliament, which this dayes proceedings doth not only violate, but likewise occasion the greatest breach of their Publike Faith that (I beleeve) ever was heard of, with which I am far from charging the two houses: for all the pretended crimes laid against me, bear date long before this late Treaty at Newport, in which I having concluded as much as in me lay, and hopefully expecting the two Houses agreement thereunto, I was suddenly surprized, and hurried from thence as a Prisoner, upon which accompt I am against my will brought hither, where since I am come, I cannot but to my power defend the ancient Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom, together with my own just Right; then for any thing I can see the higher house is totally excluded.

And for the House of Commons, it is too well known that the major part of them are detained or deterr'd from sitting, so as if I had no other, this were sufficient for me to protest against the lawfulnesse of your pretended Court. Besides all this, the peace of the Kingdom is not the least in my thoughts; and what hopes of settlement is there so long as power raignes without rule of Law, changing the whole frame of that government under which this Kingdom hath flourished for many hundred years, (nor will I say what will fall out in case this lawlesse unjust proceeding against me do go on) & beleeve it the Commons of England will not thanke you for this change, for they will remember how happy they have been of late years under the raign of Q. Elizabeth, the King my Father and my self, untill the beginning of these unhappy troubles, and wil have cause to doubt that they shall never be so happy under any new. And by this time it will be too sensibly evident, that the Armes I took up were only to defend the fundamentall Laws of this Kingdom, against those who have supposed my power hath totally changed the ancient Government.

Thus having shewed you briefly the Reasons, why I cannot submit to your pretended authority without violating the trust which I have from God, for the welfare and liberty of my people; I expect from you either clear Reasons to convince my Judgment, shewing me that I am in an error (and then truly I will readily answer) or that you will withdraw your proceedings.

This I intended to speake in Westminster-Hall on Monday 22. January, but against reason was hindered to shew my Reasons.

FINIS.

Transcriber's note.

Inconsistencies in spelling, grammar, capitalisation and punctuation have generally been retained, unless the inconsistency is obviously an error.

e.g. Iustice and Justice (etc.) are both used; wickednss (page 53) may be a printer's error, or the author's contraction. There are a few instances of 'wickednesse', and only one of 'wickedness'; there are a few instances of 'yeild', and 'yeeld', but none of 'yield'; 'then' is used throughout the book where modern writers would use 'than'; and apostrophes are notable by their absence.

The prefix 'un' is used where modern writers would use 'in'. Many other words have more than one spelling. Phonetic spellings have been retained.

'proreption' (p. 66) means 'slow advance' (Google Books).

The long 's' ? or f, prevalent at the time, has been updated to the modern 's', which even in 1649 was used at the ends of words.

There are some instances of what seem to be genuine errata:—

Sundry missing, damaged or extraneous punctuation has been repaired.

(Corrections are also indicated, in the text, by a dotted line underneath the correction.

Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will appear.)

Explanation of the Emblem: 'deprrss'd' corrected to 'depress'd': "Palm-like depress'd, I higher rise"

p. 15: 'agaist' corrected to 'against': "have purposed any violence or oppression against the Innocent"

p. 24: 'assawge' corrected to 'asswage': "and after did'st asswage the floud which drowned the world,"

p. 42: 'kinkled' corrected to 'kindled': "the brands of that fire being ill quenched, have kindled the like flames here.

p. 51: 'noreable' corrected to 'noteable'*: "he is now become a noteable monument of unprosperous disloialtie,"

p. 59: 'and' corrected to 'an': "I must now be urged with an Armie,"

p. 63: 'one' corrected to 'on': "unfortunate Successes of this War, on my side, I do not think my"

p. 73: 'no' corrected to 'to': "if not to conquer, yet at least to suffer."

p. 74: 'eclisp' corrected to 'eclipse': "strip me of my strength, and eclipse my glory."

p. 77: 'Popositions' corrected to 'Propositions': "propound, (for such is one of their Propositions)"

p. 82: removed extraneous 'in': "to the Laws in force,"

p. 87: 'suppplication' corrected to 'supplication': "To thee I make my supplication,"

p. 98: 'with' corrected to 'which': "destroying the innocent with the guilty, & the erroneous with the malicious;"

p. 106: 'ont' corrected to 'out': "they lay out upon their opinions"

p. 107: 'contemus' corrected to 'contemns': "that the other rejects and contemns;"

p. 120: 'clomencie' corrected to 'clemencie': "and thy clemencie hath accepted from us,"

p. 121: 'theia' corrected to 'their': "the Charity of most men is grown so cold, and their Religion so illiberall."

p. 121: 'net' corrected to 'not': "Let not holy things be given to Swine"

p. 137: 'migh' corrected to 'might': "he might seem to justifie his disdainfull reproaches,"

p. 141: 'too' corrected to 'to': "where not the words, but mens hearts are to blame."

p. 144: 'nse' corrected to 'use': "That further, they should use such severity as"

p. 154: 'Goverment' corrected to 'Government': "such a frame or Government which is paternall,"

p. 158: 'Hospitaliy' corrected to 'Hospitality': "also enablements to works of Charitie and Hospitality,"

p. 161: 'judement' corrected to 'judgement': "to my judgement, I am solemnly obliged to"

p. 172: 'bnt' corrected to 'but': "not to trust in the arm of Flesh, but in the living God."

p. 179: 'afficting' corrected to 'afflicting': "Between both thy hands, the right sometimes supporting, and the left afflicting, fashion us"

p. 180: 'punishmenes' corrected to 'punishments': "punishing my self in their punishments."

p. 184: 'abrogae' corrected to 'abrogate': "by the Sword to arrogate, and quite abrogate the Authority of"

p. 186: 'moudls' corrected to 'moulds': "would not run into their new moulds, till they had first melted"

p. 187: 'Christans' corrected to 'Christians': "appear good Christians, that approve not them selves good Subjects."

p. 192: 'thrist' corrected to 'thirst': "the most ambitious thirst of popular glory among the Vulgar"

p. 196: 'pnrpose' corrected to 'purpose': "Fix in me a purpose to honour thee, and then"

p. 201: 'wordls' corrected to 'worlds': "the worlds vanity and inconstancie."

p. 205: 'estabish' corrected to 'establish': "because thou Lord, hast holpen and comforted me; establish me with thy free Spirit,"

p. 207: 'christias' corrected to 'christians': "then is ever used by christians to the meanest prisoners,"

p. 215: 'Honse' corrected to 'House': "when wee went to meet in thy House with the voice of joy and gladnesse,"

p. 221: 'Sate' corrected to 'State': "In suppressing the many schismes in Church, and Factions in State."

p. 223: removed extraneous 'if': "May my people and thy Church be happie if not by me, yet without me."

p. 230: 'abonnd' corrected to 'abound': "they cannot want Enemies who abound in sin; nor shall they be"

p. 251: 'you' corrected to 'your': "Soul in true Religion, and your honour in the love of God and"

p. 251: 'you' corrected to 'your': "let my Memory ever, with my Name, live in you; as of your Father,"

p. 254: 'lttle' corrected to 'little': "Indeed, they have left me but little of life,"

p. 254: 'magnaminity' corrected to 'magnanimity': "yet to suffer with such Christian patience and magnanimity, in"

p. 255: 'afflicton' corrected to 'affliction': "The assaults of affliction may be terrible,"

p. 255: 'Freinds' corrected to 'Friends': "my Friends and loving Subjects being helpless Spectators"

p. 257: 'guitly' corrected to 'guilty': "the cheifest hand, and are most guilty of contriving"

p. 265: 'acceesse' corrected to 'accesse': "any way obstructed my accesse to the Throne of Heaven,"

p. 273: 'acknowlede' corrected to 'acknowledge': "who in my greatest Afflictions acknowledge it"

* The spelling, 'noteable', is also used in the title of a book published 1635:

"A direction for the English traviller by which he shal be inabled to coast about all England and Wales. And also to know how farre any market or noteable towne in any shire lyeth one from an other ... As also the distance betweene London and any other shire or great towne."

... J. van Langeren sculp.(Google Books)

Clyx.com