this matter may be laid on a surer foundation. This is the true reason
to be given of his delivering that opinion: Upon his coming over he
found the state of the royal party very desperate. He perceived the
strength of their enemies so united, that till it should begin to
break within itself, all endeavours against it were like to prove
unsuccessful. On the other side he beheld their zeal for his Majesty's
cause to be still so active, that often hurried them into inevitable
ruin. He saw this with much grief; and tho' he approved their
constancy as much as any man living, yet he found their unreasonable
shewing it, did only disable themselves, and give their adversaries
great advantages of riches and strength by their defeats. He therefore
believed it would be a meritorious service to the King, if any man who
was known to have followed his interest, could insinuate into the
Usurper's minds, that men of his principles, were now willing to be
quiet, and could persuade the poor oppressed Royalists to conceal
their affections for better occasions. And as for his own particular,
he was a close prisoner when he writ that against which the exception
is made; so that he saw it was impos[s]ible for him to pursue the ends
for which he came hither, if he did not make some kind of declaration
of his peaceable intentions. This was then his opinon; and the success
of the thing seems to prove that it was not ill-grounded. For
certainly it was one of the greatest helps to the King's affairs about
the latter end of that tyranny, that many of his best friends
dissembled their counsels, and acted the same designs under the
disguises and names of other parties. The prelate concludes this
account with observing, that, that life must needs be very
unblameable, which had been tried in business of the highest
consequence, and practised in the hazardous secrets of courts and
cabinets, and yet there can nothing disgraceful be produced against
it, but only the error of one paragraph, and single metaphor."