Winchester's death, he found a remarkable alteration in him, his majefty being penfive and out of humor; in which temper he ftill found him for two mornings after: But having learnt the third day that my lord chancellor had by all his interest prefs'd the king to bestow Winchester on Dr. MORLEY, he prefum'd to tell his majesty how uneafie he perceiv'd him to be between the honor of his word that he shou'd fucceed his friend Dr. Duppa, and the importunity of thofe who follicited for Dr. MORLEY; and that therefore he most willingly releas'd his majesty of his promise. Here, continues Dr. GAUDEN, the king ftopt me, and vouchfaf'd to embrace me in his arms, with thefe expreffions; My Lord, I thank you; and it may not be long 'ere I have opportunity to shew you bow kindly I take it. And in the mean time you fall bave Worcester; and, to make it to you as good as I can, all the dignities of that church (I know not how it comes to pafs) being in my difpofal, I give you the difpofing of them all during your time, that you may prefer your friends, and have them near about you.

It was an ordinary thing with king CHARLES the second thus to forget his promises, which made him frequently uneafie, and occafion'd Sir WILLIAM TEMPLE (whom he had ferv'd after this manner) to fay of him in his incomparable Memoirs, "That

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this temper made him apt to fall into the perfua"fions of whoever had his kindness and confidence "for the time, how different foever from the opi"nions he was of before: and that he was very "eafie to change hands, when those he imploy'd "feem'd to have engag'd him in any difficulties

"fo as nothing lookt fteddy in the conduct of his "affairs, nor aim'd at any certain end."

THUS We have don with the narrative of Mrs. GAUDEN, who was often heard to relate the fubstance of it to her friends and relations, and who, when Dr. NICHOLSON, then bishop of Glocefter, did, on her receiving of the facrament, put the question to her, affirm'd, that her husband wrote that book, which several now living in that city do very well remember.

Ws come at length to the laft period of our labor, and that is to fhew the invalidity of the facts which are alledg'd to prove CHARLES the first was the true author of Icon Bafilike. And the firft evidence we shall hear is his own fon and fucceffor, CHARLES II. who granted his letters patents to Mr. ROYSTON for printing all his father's works, and particularly this piece, which, fays Mr. WAGSTAF, contradicts what he's believ'd to have said to my lord ANGLESEY. But with his good leave the conclufion does not follow: for thefe letters were iffu'd out in the year 60, before Dr. GAUDEN gave the king true information; and it was in 75, that he told his opinion to my lord ANGLESEY, long after he was convinc'd that his father had not written the book. But if king CHARLES the fecond had diffembled his knowledge of this affair, it had not bin at all a thing inconfiftent with his character, but a piece of his grandfather's boafted kingcraft, and which he practic'd on many lefs pardona

ble

ble occafions. Have not princes in all ages, as well as other men, bin allow'd to keep things fecret which it was not their intereft fhould be known, and which are commonly call'd by the name of state myfteries? How many juggles are us'd by the eastern princes to beget an extraordinary opinion of their perfons in the minds of their fubjects, who, by the force of fuch fantastical ftories, carry their refpect even to adoration? But what need I go out of England for examples? When our own kings have for fo many ages pretended to cure the king's evil, by meerly touching the affected part; and this power of healing is faid to be communicated to them by the bleffing of king EDWARD the Confeffor, one of the weakeft and most prieft-ridden princes that ever wore a crown. All the monkish hiftorians, and particularly the abbot of Rievalle, who wrote his life, have given us a large catalogue of his miracles: but I wonder why our princes have not alfo pretended to restore fight to the blind; for this is alfo affirm'd of king EDWARD's wonder working touch. Tis strange, that a proteftant bishop should compofe a form of divine fervice to be read on this occafion, when he might as warrantably believe all the other legends of thofe dark and ignorant times. If I did perfuade myself that king CHARLES the fecond (who is faid to have cur'd very many) was a faint, it fhould be the greateft miracle I could believe. But king WILLIAM, who came to deliver us from fuperftition as well as from flavery, has now abolifht this remnant of popery: For it is not, as his enemies fuggeft, because he thinks his title, which

is the best in the world, defective, that he abftains from touching; but because he laughs at the folly, and scorns to take the advantage of the fraud. So much for the letters patents of CHARLES II. and we fhall confider thofe of the late king JAMES in their due order.

THE next witnefs fhall be major HUNTINGTON, who (as Sir WILLIAM DUGDALE relates in his Short View of the Troubles of England *) did, thro' the favor of general FAIRFAX, reftore to king CHARLES the firft, after he was brought to Hampton-Court, the manufcript of Icon Bafilike written with the faid king's own hand, and found in his cabinet at Naseby fight. By the way, they should have faid, for the grace of the ftory, part of the manufcript; for a good deal of the book was written afterwards, be the author who you please. And they should have told us likewife how general FAIRFAX durft fend one part of his papers to the king, when he fent the reft to the parliament; or, fince they would make us believe he was fo kind to the king, why he did not reftore him all the papers, when 'tis very evident, that thofe which the parliament order'd to be publifh'd were infinitely of greater confequence, and made him a world of enemies, which oblig'd the author of Icon Bafilike to write a chapter on this very subject; whereas the papers in question would probably mollify fom of his oppofers. But now when all is don, tho general FAIRFAX was afterwards againft putting the king to death, yet he was not at that time difpos'd to grant him any favors, and acted with as hearty • Page 380.

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zeal against him as any in the nation, which appears by all the hiftories of thofe times, as well as by his own and the memoirs of the lord HOLLIS. As for major HUNTINGTON, Dr. WALKER affures That he told him, when he heard fuch a "book was publish'd and confidently reported to

us,

be the king's, all he faid was that he furely be"liev'd thofe were the papers he faw him fo ufually "take out of his cabinet, and that he never read

one line or word of them." This and Şir WILLIAM DUGDALE's teftimony are diverfe from that of Mr. RICHARD DUKE, of Otterton in Devon, who writes the following letter to Dr. GOODAL, famous for his zeal on the behalf of Icon Bafilike. "Sir, I confefs that I heard major HUNTINGTON to say more than once, that whilft he guarded "CHARLES the firft at Holmby-Houfe (as I remem"ber) he faw feveral chapters or leaves of that great king's meditations lying on the table feve"ral mornings, with a pen and ink with which "the king scratch'd out or blotted fom lines or "words of fom of them. Upon which I must "alfo confefs that I concluded they were originally "from the king; but others have drawn a con

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trary argument from the king's correcting the papers. Yet I put this under my hand, that "the major told me, that he did suppose them originally from that learned prince, which is "the Totum that can be intimated from, Sir,

your humble fervant, RICHARD DUKE." Then one Mr. CAVE BECK writes to Dr. HOLLINGWORTH, "That major HUNTINGTON at Ipswich "affur'd him, that fo, much of the faid book as