P R E F A C E. vii meeting-houfes if protejlant dijfenters, mzd burnt the m~terials in the open jlreets, in maintenance of the doclrines if pqfjive-~bedzence and non-~e- . jijlance, which their pious corifeflor had been preachmg up; " a bol~ ?n- Hr!l:. p. 537· "fo/ent man (jays bijhop Burnet), with a very Jmall mea{ure if reltgzon~ " virtue, learning, or good jenje :" but to Juch extreams do m:n's pqfjions carry them, when they '<~rite to ferve a cauft ! I ~ave had occajton to make fome ufe if Dr. Walkers corifufed heap of materzals, but have endeavoured carifit!ly to avoid his [pirit and language. No man has declaimed Jo bitterly againfl the proceedir.gs if parliament upon all occa/iom, as this clergyman; nor complaimd more loudly of the un.JPeakable damage the liberal arts and Jciences .fuflained, by their purging the two univerjities; the ?te7v heads and fellows if Oxford are called," a colony Walker's " if prejby•terian and independent novices from Cambridge; a tribe iflntroduCl:. " ignorant enthzffiafls and Jchifrnatics; an illiterate rabble fwept from the P· 139• 14°• " plough-tail, from jhops and grammar flhoo!s, &c." The univerjity of Cambridge is reported by the fame author, " to be reduced to a meer Mun- Walker's " fter by the knipper-dolings if the age, 1vho broke the heart-(lrings iflntro~. " learning and learned men, 1vho thru(t out one if the eyes if the king- Su~~~J~ " dom, and made eloquence dumb, philofophy .fotti/h, widowed the arts, Cant. " drove away the mufes from their ancient habitation, and plucked the re- " verend and orthodox prife/Jors out if their cha~rs.-'They turned reli- " gion into rebellion, and changed the apq/lo/ical chair into a drjk fir " blafphemy.--'They took the garland from off the head if learning, and " placed it on the dull brows if ignorance. --And having zmbived a ?lU- " merous Jwarm of labouring bees, they placed in their room /Warms qj "·Jenfeiefi drones.-" Such is the language of our hiflorian, tranfcribed ji·om D r. Berwick ! I have carefully looked into this qlfair, and collefled the charaflers of the old and new prifejfors from the mq/l approved writers, that the dijintm:fted reader may judge, how far religion and learning fiif– fired by the exchange. The clqfl if this volume, which relates the difputes between· the parlia– ment and army; the ill fuccefS if his majf!fiy's arms and treaties; the j~izure of his royal perfon a fecond time by the army ; his trial before a pre– tende~ high court of juflice,. ~nd his unpar~lelfed execution befo~e tbe gates of hz~ royal_pa!a~e by the mtlttary power, zs. a mq/l melancholy and a.Jj'eff– zng jcene ;. zn 7vhzch, next to the all-difpojing provid~nce of' God, one cart– not b_ut :~mark the ~ing's. ilif!.ex_ible temper,_ together with the indifcretion if bts jrzends, efpectally hr_s dtvme~, at a tune when his crown was loft by the fortune qf war, and hts very life at the mercy of his enemies ; nor is the unwa~mtt~ble fli.Jfnefs of _the parliament lefi unaccountable, when they fow the vzflonous army drawzng t9wardr London, jlajhed with the difi:at of the [cots and engli{h loyalifls, and d~termined to .fet ajide that very uniformity.
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