OCR Text |
Show ( 20 ) tmir Tears without Con,cern, whilff he fat every day in the Court to confirm their difmal Sentences, snd command an immediate Execution. " Tell us, yon Great Divines! was th~s '' Power the Ordinance of God? Were th1s " King and his Minill:ers the Minift~rsof ~od " for Good? Was it Damnauen, thmk " you, for the People to have re!ifted fuch " Magiftrates?" . , , The pious charitable Qjleen pity d the MIferies of the People. and bell:ow'd on them all fhe had ; but when at !aft lhe found it was not in her power to relieve many, t!Jo /he even mcndtd htr own ClotiJCS to that end, ll1e flung ,herfelf at tLe King's feet, and beg'd him for Chrill:'s fake to have (orne Bowels of CompafJion for thofe Multitudes of miferable Creatures lhe faw every where about her. The King reply'd to her iii a very violent Paflion, Madam, we /;ave taken you to _be our ffj_ueen, and not our .Advifer. After which he hardly ever came near her Maje{ly, but con· vers'd and din'd almoft always with an old Woman his Mother, who gave him no Un· ea!inefs on account of his Ufage of his Peo. pie. This Lady, w_ho deferves to b~ remembred in all .Ages, d1ed afterward w1th Gmf, When fue Jay upon her Death-bed, lhe fent for her Children, and fpoke thus to the prefcnt King : I am now going to leqve tv~ ~orld, whicl; I can no longer live in, for that Wctgl;t of Grief !"hich ill jusr now ready to bursr my Heart, Tour Fatber bw.;---At which lhe fetch'd a melancholy Sigh, and [peaking afterwards with more Vigour than before, lhe added thefe words: But Ob ! my Son, if ever you ~omc to rul~ fhefe Kingdo~J<s, pity, pity * 7~; ( 21 ) rable C alamitits of your People, reftore them their E{t!lteJ and Privileges again ; and 46 you do thi6, fo may Heaven blefs you. Ber rrayers feem tO be now fulfilling: for whilll: that J'rince only purfu'd a jufi: War, his Succefs was very great ; but he had no foonef.embru'd his Hands in the Blood of one of his own Subjecrs, the Brave Patkul (that noble foreign Whig, who took up Arms for the Liberty of his Country) but he became as unfortunate as he was before fuccefsful, However, if he fhould be hereafter rell:or'd to his Throne again, 'tis to be hop'd that he will have made fome good ufe of his fo long Sojourn at Bender, and have learnt from the Turks to ufe his SubjeCts with more Mercy than ever his Father did; of whofe unheard of Barbarities were an exaa account to be given it mufl: be in~ Volume as large as it would b~ melancholy, which 1 fhaiL not undertake. J fhall only <!dd at prefent, that I wifh thofe Perfons who are fo violent for this Doctrine of Pa/fi'l/e Obedience and Vnlimitcd Mot, arc.~y, had feen what a miferab!e Condition this Kingdom 1 am fpea~ing of has be~:Q brought into (in a fmall fpace of time) Iince that DoCl:rine was ell:ablifh'd in it. I could wifh that thofe Britifh Peers who enjoy the high Honours due to [heir Birth and Quality, the great Ell:ates that have been left them by their Ancefi:ors, .or acquir'd by their Valour, and the fine Palaces themfelves o~ their Fathers have built, in which they live W!th a becoming Pomp and Splendor ; I could Wl!b they bad feen other Noblemen, who not 30 years ago enjoy'd all the Blcffings they them· ff!'ll.~f no~ po!fers ·~ ~~t at pr~f~nt they would . ' - - ~~!! |