CHARGE AGAINST MR. OLIVER ST. JOHN. 151 



is perjured in his coronation oath. No greater of 

 fence than perjury ; no greater oath than that of a 

 coronation. I leave it ; it is too great to aggravate. 



Your menace, that if there were a Bullingbroke, 

 or I cannot tell what, there were matter for him, is 

 a very seditious passage. You know well, that how 

 soever Henry the Fourth s act, by a secret provi 

 dence of God, prevailed, yet it was but an usurpa 

 tion ; and if it were possible for such a one to be 

 this day, wherewith it seems your dreams are troubled, 

 I do not doubt, his end would be upon the block ; 

 and that he would sooner have the ravens sit upon 

 his head at London bridge, than the crown at West 

 minster. And it is not your interlacing of your 

 &quot; God forbid,&quot; that will salve these seditious 

 speeches : neither could it be a forewarning, because 

 the matter was past and not revocable, but a very 

 stirring up and incensing of the people. If I should 

 say to you, for example, &quot; If these times were like 

 &quot; some former times, of king Henry VIII. or some 

 &quot; other times, which God forbid, Mr. I. S. it would 

 &quot; cost you your life ;&quot; I am sure you would not 

 think this to be a gentle warning, but rather that 

 I incensed the court against you. 



And for your comparison with Richard II. I see, 

 you follow the example of them that brought him 

 upon the stage, and into print, in queen Elizabeth s 

 time, a most prudent and admirable queen. But let 

 me intreat you, that when you will speak of queen 

 Elizabeth or king James, you would compare them 

 to king Henry VII. or king Edward I. or some other 



