a briefe remembrance of all the english monarchs with their raignes, deaths, and places of buriall : from the normans conquest, vnto our most gratious soueraigne / by iohn taylor. taylor, john, 1580-1653. 1622 approx. 2 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a13427 stc 23738.5 estc s1145 21464697 ocm 21464697 23996 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a13427) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 23996) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1737:2) a briefe remembrance of all the english monarchs with their raignes, deaths, and places of buriall : from the normans conquest, vnto our most gratious soueraigne / by iohn taylor. taylor, john, 1580-1653. 1 sheet ([3] p.). printed by george eld, london : 1622. advertisement. "the sheet is divided into 4 quarters, the bottom 2 containing the title and verses on prince charles reimposed from [stc] 23738. the upper left has an engraving of the royal arms, while the upper right is cut away. it may have contained a full-length portrait of prince charles."--stc (2nd ed.). reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers. 2007-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-08 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-09 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2007-09 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion honi soit qvi maly pense . a briefe remembrance of all the english monarchs , vvith their raignes , deaths , and places of buriall : from the normans conquest , vnto our most gratious soueraigne . by iohn taylor . london , printed by george eld , 1622. the most illustrious prince charles , prince of great britaine and ireland , duke of cornwall , yorke , and albany ; earle of ch●ster , and knight of the most noble order of the garter , &c. illustrious off spring of most glorious sten● , our happy hope , our royall charles the great , successiue h●y e to foure rich diadems , with gifts of grace and learning ●●gh repleat . for thee th' almighties aid i doe m●●●at , to guide and prosper thy proceedings still , that long thou maist suruiue a prince compleat , to guard the good , and to subuert the ill . and when ( by gods determin'd boundlesse will ) thy gra●ious father shall immortall be , then let thy 〈◊〉 ( ●ike his ) the world fulfill , that thou maist ●oy in vs , and we in thee . and all true britaines pray to god aboue , to match thy life and fortune with their loue , finis . whereas there has been a horrid and detestable conspiracy formed and carried on by papists and other wicked and traiterous persons for assassinating his majesties royal person 1699 approx. 2 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a37640 wing e1236 estc r27640 10051768 ocm 10051768 44474 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a37640) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 44474) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1356:3) whereas there has been a horrid and detestable conspiracy formed and carried on by papists and other wicked and traiterous persons for assassinating his majesties royal person leverett, john. england and wales. parliament. 1 broadside. s.n., [boston : 1699?] a declaration of support for william iii against the followers of james ii. title from 1st lines of text. at head of broadside: association. signed in manuscript: john leverett, samuel layman, thomas browne, jam.s converse. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng william -iii, -king of england, 1650-1702. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2008-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2009-01 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2009-01 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion association . whereas there has been a horrid and detestable conspiracy formed and carried on by papists and other wicked and traiterous persons for assassinating his majesties royal person , in order to encourage an invasion from france , to subvert our religion , laws and liberty . we whose names are hereunto subscribed , do heartily , sincerely and solemnly profess , testify and declare , that his present majesty king william is rightful and lawful king of the realms of england , scotland and ireland : and we do mutually promise and engage to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our power , in the support and defence of his majesties most sacred person and government , against the late king james and all his adherents . and in case his majesty come to any violent or untimely death ( which god forbid ) we do hereby further freely and unanimously oblige our selves , to unite associate and stand by each other in revenging the same upon his enemies and their adherents , and in supporting and defending the succession of the crown , according to an act made in the first year of the reign of king william and queen mary , intituled , an act declaring the rights and liberties of the subject , and settling the succession of the crown . oaths appointed to be taken instead of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and declaration. 1699 approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a70767 wing o81 estc w35764 10051757 ocm 10051757 44472 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a70767) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 44472) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 723:8 or 1356:4) oaths appointed to be taken instead of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and declaration. leverett, john. england and wales. parliament. 1 broadside. s.n., [boston? : 1699?] oath of allegiance to king william iii and opposition to the pope and declaration of disbelief in catholic doctrines and practices. signed in manuscript: john leverett, samuel layman, thomas browne, jam.s converse. attributed by wing to parliament. this item appears at reels 723:8 and 1356:4. wing number e1676 (at reel position 1356:4) cancelled in wing (cd-rom, 1996). reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng william -iii, -king of england, 1650-1702. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2008-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-06 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-06 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion oaths appointed to be taken instead of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy . and declaration . i a. b. do sincerely promise and swear , that i will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his majesty king william the third . so help me god. i a. b. do swear , that i do from my heart abhor , detest and abjure as impious and heretical , that damnable doctrine and position , that princes excommunicated , or deprived by the pope or any authority of the see of rome , may be deposed or murthered by their subjects , or any other whatsoever ; and i do declare that no forreign prince , person , prelate , state or potentate , hath or ought to have any jurisdiction , power , superiority , preeminence or authority , ecclesiastical or spiritual , within the realm of england . so help me god. i a. b. do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of god , prosess , testify and declare , that i do believe that in the sacrament of the lords supper , there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine , into the body and blood of christ , at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever ; and that the invocation or adoration of the virgin mary , or any other saint , and the sacrifice of the mass , as they are now used in the church of rome , are superstitious and idolatrous . and i do solemnly in the presence of god , profess , testify and declare , that i do make this declaration and every part thereof , in the plain and ordinary sence of the words read unto me , as they are commonly understood by english protestants , without any evasion , equivocation or mental reservation whatsoever , and without any dispensation already granted me for this purpose by the pope , or any authority or person whatsoever ; or without any hope of any such dispensation from any authority or person whatsoever , or without thinking that i am or can be acquitted before god or man , or absolved of this declaration or any part thereof , although the pope or any other person or persons or power whatsoever , should dispense with or annul the same , or declare that it was null and void from the beginning . the speech of the right honourable henry powle, esquire, speaker of the house of commons: delivered to the king and queen's majesties, at the banqueting-house in white-hall, friday, april 12, 1689. with his majesty's answer thereto. powle, henry, 1630-1692. 1689 approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). b04792 wing p3113b estc r212864 52614846 ocm 52614846 176014 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. b04792) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 176014) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2759:18) the speech of the right honourable henry powle, esquire, speaker of the house of commons: delivered to the king and queen's majesties, at the banqueting-house in white-hall, friday, april 12, 1689. with his majesty's answer thereto. powle, henry, 1630-1692. 4 p. s.n., [edinburgh? : 1689] place and date of publication suggested by wing (2nd ed.). a variant of this edition is at wing 1937:19 indentified as p3113a on reel and p3113b on record; printed on single sheet. reproduction of original in: national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -history -william and mary, 1689-1702 -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. broadsides -england -17th century. 2008-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-06 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-07 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-07 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the speech of the right honourable henry powle , esquire , speaker of the house of commons : delivered to the king and queen's majesties , at the banqueting-house in white-hall , friday april 12. 1689. with his majestys answer thereto . your most loyal and dutiful subjects , the commons of england assembled in this present parliament , having to their unspeakable joy seen your majesties plac'd upon the imperial throne of this kingdom , they have desired access at this time to your royal presence , humbly to congratulate your majesties upon this occasion , and to wish your majesties a long and prosperous reign , with all the blessings that ever did attend a crown . we are all sensible , that your majesties greatness is the security of your subjects . it is from your power , that we derive to our selves an aslurance of being defended from our enemies ; and from your justice , that we expect a full enjoyment of our laws and liberties : but that which compleats our happiness , is the experience we have of your majesties continual care to maintain the protestant religion ; so that we can no longer apprehend any danger of being deprived of that inestimable blessing , either by secret practices , or open violence . to the king . may the same divine providence which hath hitherto preserved your majestie in the greatest dangers , and so often given you victory over your enemies , still crown your vndertakings with success . to the queen . and may these vnparallelled vertues , which adorn your majesties royal person be the admiration of the present age , and an example to the future . and may the lustre of both your names so far out-shine the glory of your predecessors , that the memory of their greatest actions may be forgotten , and your people no longer date the establishment of their laws and liberties from st. edward's days , but from the most auspicious reign of king william and queen mary . his majesty's answer . gentlemen , we return you our hearty thanks for the kindness and respects that you have upon all occasions shewed to both of us ; we shall take care to the best of our power of all things that conduce to the good of the kingdom ; and i do not doubt , but by gods assistance and yours , we shall be able in a short time to make you a flourishing people . finis . november. cartwright, william, 1611-1643. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a80944 of text r210671 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.11[93]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a80944 wing c711 thomason 669.f.11[93] estc r210671 99869447 99869447 162745 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a80944) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 162745) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 246:669f11[93]) november. cartwright, william, 1611-1643. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london : 1647] anonymous. by william cartwright. imprint from wing. verse "thou sun that shed'st the dayes, looke down and see". annotation on thomason copy: "nouember 6. 1647". reproductions of the originals in the british library (reel 246) and in the bodleian library (reel 1845). eng charles -i, -king of england, 1600-1649 -poetry -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -poetry -early works to 1800. a80944 r210671 (thomason 669.f.11[93]). civilwar no november. cartwright, william 1647 947 11 0 0 0 0 0 116 f the rate of 116 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2007-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-11 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-11 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion november . thou sun that shed'st the dayes , looke downe and see a month more shining by events , than thee ; departed saints and soules sign'd it before , but now the living signe it more . persons and actions meet , all meant for joy , but some build up , and some destroy . bate us that ushering curse , so dearly knowne , and then the month is all our owne . so , at the first , darkenesse was throwne about th' unshapen earth , and light was th●nce strooke out . draw the first curtaine , and the scene is then a triple state of cull'd and trusted men : men in whose hands 'twas once t' have giv'n us more then our bold fathers askd before : who , had they us'd their prince's grace , had got what no armes could , and theirs will not . what more then witchcraft did our blessing curse , and made the cure make evills worse ? 't is the third d●y ; throw in the blackest stone , marke it for curs'd , and let it stand alone . but hold ! speake gentler things ! this fourth was seene the softest image of our beauteous queene . bring me a lambe , not us'd to elder food , that ha's as yet more milke then blood , that to the honour of this early bride ( like thetis joynd to peleus side , ) some tender thing may fall ; though nore can be so white , so tender , as is she . whiles we at home our little turfe debate , she spreads our glories to another state . next view a tr●●son of the worst intent , had not our owne done more then strangers meant ; religion is the thing both sides pretend , but either to a different end : they , out of zeale , labour to reare their owne , these , out of zeale , to pull all downe . blesse us from these , as them ! but yet compare those in the vault , these in the chayre , though the just lot of unsuccessefull sin fix their's without , you 'l finde worse heads within . but hearke ! what thunder 's that ? and who those men flying tow'rds heav'n , but falling downe agen ? whose those blacke corps cast on the guilty shore ? 't is sin , that swimmes to its owne dore . 't is the third scourge of rebells , which allow'd our army , like the prophets cloud did from an handfull rise , u●till at last their sky was by it overcast . but ( as snakes hisse after th' have lost their sting ) the traytor call'd this , treachery in the king . away , and view the graces and the houres hov'ring aloofe , and dropping mingled flowres upon a cradle , where an infant lay more grace , more good●sse then were they ; thrice did they destine her to passe the seas ( love made her thrice to passe with ease ) to raise a strength of princes first , and then to raise another streng●h of men . most fruitfull queene ! we boast both gif●s , and thus the day was meant to you , the joy to us . next to this mother stands a virgin queene , courting and courted wheresoever seen ; the peoples love fi●st from her troubles grew ; her raigne then made that love her due . that comely order , which did then adorne bo●h fabricks , now by facion's torne ; that forme , by her allow'd , of common pray'r is styl'd vaine beating of the ayre . how doe they h●nour , how forsake her crowne ! her times are still cry'd up , but practis'd downe . reach last , the whitest stone the world yet knew , white as the soule , to whom the day is due . sonne of the peacefull iames , how is he blest with all his blessings , but his rest ! though undeserved times call all his pow'rs , and troubles season other hour's , let this day flow to him as void of care , as feasts to gods , and poets are : the wish is just , o heavens ! as our strife hath added to his cares , adde yee to his life . and now , since his large heart with hers is met , whose day the starres on purpose neare his set . november shall to me for ever shine , red in its inke , redder in wine . and since the third ( which almost hath made shift t' absolve the treason of the fift ) cannot be well remembred , or forgot by loyall hearts , as if 't were not ; the last extreame , against the first wee 'l bring : that gave us many tyrants , this a king . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a80944e-30 1. day , is all saints . 2. all souls . 3. day , the assembling of the unhappy parli●ment . 4. day , the birth of the princesse mary . 5. day , our delivery from the papists conspiracy . 12. day , the kings victory at brainford . 16. day . the birth of our gracious q. mary . 17. day , the beginning of q. elizabeths raigne . 19. day , the birth of our gracious king charles . a letter from scotland written occasionally upon the speech made by a noble peer of this realm by a better protestant than the author of it (though a servant to his r.h). roscommon, wentworth dillon, earl of, 1633?-1685. 1681 approx. 9 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 2 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a48078 wing l1504_cancelled wing r1931b estc r36334 estc r36334 15666550 ocm 15666550 104307 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a48078) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 104307) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1152:11) a letter from scotland written occasionally upon the speech made by a noble peer of this realm by a better protestant than the author of it (though a servant to his r.h). roscommon, wentworth dillon, earl of, 1633?-1685. 1 sheet (2 p.) s.n., [london : 1681?] caption title. imprint suggested by wing. imperfect: print show-through. this item appears as wing l1504. in wing (2nd ed.) this number is cancelled and reassigned as wing r1931b. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -history -charles ii, 1660-1685. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. great britain -politics and government -1660-1688. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2003-04 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter from scotland : written occasionally upon the speech made by a noble peer of this realm . by a better protestant than the author of it , ( though a servant to his r. h. ) i have heard much of the sad state and condition we are in , and i am convinced of it , since i see such reflections made with impunity upon the kings person and government . i shall say little to the president of our henry the iv , unbridled violence , and mean condescensions , are the unhappy necessities of an usurper ; but a good and a lawful king is obliged to maintain his own prerogative , as well as the rights of his subjects . but is it possible , that the supposed author of the printed speech , should already forget , how lately the king ( after a great retrenchment of his family ) did at once , and ( as it is said ) by his lordships advice , change almost his whole council ? and yet the people ( or those that still make use of their names ) never were , nor will yet be satisfied . i will not put his lordship in mind of the court ladies , since he doth not remember he spoke of them : but unless he make himself a samuel , i do not know what authority he has to examine saul , about the bleating of the cattel ? i cannot believe his lordship could have the heart , to sacrifice the fairest of them ; his lordship may read in the same place , that obedience is better than sacrifice ; but if a sacrifice must be made , it is not to the people , but to god and iustice. i would fain understand what is meant by the people ? for now every man calls himself the people ▪ and when one man calls for one thing , and another for something , directly opposite , both cry out , that if this , or that be not done , the people is betray'd ; that is to say , they will endeavour to perswade them so . but the people in this speech , hath a strange dialect , such as i hope no englishman understands ; must , was never the language of a good subject , nor submission the part of a king ; ( we must , &c. and no new converts , ) i am sorry , that with all our zeal , we are so unkind to proselytes , we had a greater value for them not long since ; for though l. b. was accused of the plot , his conversion secured him without a pardon , though either his lordship was deeply guilty , or the kings evidence grosly perjured . till the author discover who he means by sempronia , i shall not tell him who i believe to be as bad as catiline . but it is prodigious , that while we are frighted with bug-bears of invisible dispensations from the pope , his lordship with his arbitrary must , should dispence at once , with the law of god , as to the queen ; with the law of nations , as to foreign ministers ; with the laws of hospitality , as to strangers , and all that part of the oath of allegiance , that concerns the heir of the crown , which is equally binding with the rest , to all whose suspected honesty cannot accept of such an arbitrary dispensation . his lordship seems much concerned to hear of a bargain between the king and the house of commons ; and so am i , for things are too ripe for mischief , when subjects are permitted to capitulate with their soveraign . the kings subjects ( by his permission ) have made capitulations with foreign princes ; but his lordship would not have the king so far trusted , as that his own subjects may capitulate with him , because as his lordship says , he has so often deceived ( that hard word ) the people . and i beg leave to use the same expression of his majesties patience , which his lordship uses of his little care of his person , that no story affords a parallel of him . the actings of the duke are indeed admirable to all , but incomprehensible to such as have not the true principles of loyalty rooted in them . but his lordship ( who in cromwell's time was much better acquainted with what pass'd at london , then at bruxels ) avers , that the duke had an early aim at the crown , before the kings restauration ; this is a high charge , and ought to be better proved than by a bare assertion : hath his lordship any letters to produce from his royal highness to himself , or any other chief minister of the vsurpers ? or to what crown could the duke pretend , when they had robbed the king of his own ? the duke can shew undeniable proofs of his allegiance , even in those days ; for what could an exiled prince do more , than leave the great commands , and pensions that he had abroad , and all the advantages that his birth , his courage and his reputation promised him , to follow the fortune , and the wants of his majesty ? but how will his lordship make out , that after the match with a portugal lady , ( for that is the only title his lordship allows the queen ) the duke and his party made proclamation to the world , that we were like to have no children , and he must be the certain heir : where is the world ? and where is the proclamation ? he says the duke took his seat in parliament , as prince of wales ; but his lordship knows , that the seat on the right hand of the state , was , and is reserved for the prince of wales , the duke took that on the left hand ; the printed pictures of the house of peers , sitting upon the tryal of the earl of strafford , shew , that this is no innovation ; and his royal highness had the same seat , when the king his father called the parliament at oxford . he urges , that the duke had his guards about him , upon the same floor with the king , and so the king was every night in his power : it was a timerous ambition that lost so many opportunities . but what an impudence is this ? the duke never had guards ; they are the kings , the king pays them , they wait in their turn upon the king , and have but the name of the duke , as the foot-regiments have of colonel russel , and my lord craven ; so the duke was every night in the kings power . next he fires his greatest guns , the duke is plainly the head of the plot ; by whose evidence ? long before the duke was named , mr. oates declared to the lords , that he had no more to accuse ; if he accuse him now , and oates be divided against oates , how can his testimony stand good ? bedloe said as much ; and here appears no evidence , where the greatest would be little enough i say nothing of a presbyterian plot ; but ( with his lordships leave ) what has been , may be . the calling , the proroguing , and the dissolving of parliaments , are so absolutely in the king , that they ought to be riddles to a subject . when the duke was commanded to leave the kingdom , i appeal to all the world , how readily , how submissively he obeyed ; and comparing his immediate obedience , with the obstinate refusal of others , who still stay in opposition to the kings command , let any impartial man of sense decide , which has shewed most loyalty and duty . his lordship and his party ( for he says , we ) expect every hour , that the court should joyn with the duke , against them ; but i find , the court is as hard a word , as the people , and as boldly , and as odly used ; if by that word , he means the king , all his lordships rhetorick will scarce perswade us , that the king should conspire with the duke , against his own crown , and his own life ; if not , what can the court do without the king , and against the nation ? besides , his lordship has too many friends among the courtiers , to suspect them ; and the duke has met with too much ingratitude , to trust them . his lordship avers as truly ▪ that the king has declared the duke to be dangerous ; as , that his royal highness is now raising men in scotland , that whole council , that whole kingdom , will disprove him ; and by the apparent falshood of his assertion , let all men judge of the truth of the rest . if the arms , the garrisons , &c. be in such hands as the king thinks safe , we are safe too ; but if not , it concerns his mujesty to secure them , since his lordship declares , the king is to be trusted with nothing , till he has resigned himself himself to his lordship , and his party , and is wholly theirs ; and yet then too , he must trust their good nature , and surrender upon discretion ; they will allow him no other terms , no , not to be himself , and have his senses , unless they can fright him out of them . i will yet charitably hope , that the pretended author is abused ; it concerns him to vindicate himself , by wishing , as i do , that the true author may have the same fate , that his speech had , by order of the house of peers . finis . a brief account of the royal matches or matrimonial alliances vvhich the kings of england have made from time to time since the year 800 to this present 1662 collected by a careful collation of history with records. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1662 approx. 12 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44707 wing h3057 estc r41276 31354760 ocm 31354760 110252 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44707) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 110252) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1740:14) a brief account of the royal matches or matrimonial alliances vvhich the kings of england have made from time to time since the year 800 to this present 1662 collected by a careful collation of history with records. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [2], 6 p. printed by j.g. for h. brome ..., london : mdclxii [1662] imperfect: print show-through. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng marriages of royalty and nobility. great britain -kings and rulers. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-01 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-01 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a brief account of the royal matches or matrimonial alliances , vvhich the kings of england have made from time to time since the year 800. to this present 1662. collected by a careful collation of history with records . london , printed by i. g. for . h. brome at the gun in ivy-lane , mdclxii . a preamble . the saxons having succeeded the romans in the sway of this country , as they changed the name thereof from britain to england , so the government also came to be altered , and diffused to an heptarchy or septemvirat , for there rul'd here seven kings at once ( such as they were ) for the space of 400. years and more , during which time as the government was confus'd , so the history is full of distraction and incertitudes , there being scarce any authentic record to be found for asserting any thing ; in somuch that what is written of that heptarchy is believed rather in courtesie , or by an implicit faith then otherwise . but since egbert king of the west saxons came by his prowess and policy to be sole king of england , which was above 800. years since , the current of history runs more cleer , and the renown of the succeeding kings rang lowder beyond the seas , which made forren princes to seek alliances and confederations with us . therefore touching the present design , we will take our rise from that time when england came to be a monarchy , and first of king ethelwolph the son of the foresaid egbert , anno dom. 837. king ethelwolph the second english monark , having visited pope gregory the fourth at rome , and returning through france , married the lady judith , called in those dayes the perl of beuty , daughter to charles the bald , who was then emperor and king of france . king edward the outlaw ( as they call'd him ) married the lady agatha daughter to the emperor hen. 2. king athelstans sister was married to otho the emperor . the lady margaret daughter to king edmund ironside coming to be queen regnant , was married to malcolme the third king of scotland , anno 1026. whence king james and his progenitors are lineally descended . king canutus ( the first of the three danish kings which raigned here about 26. years ) married the lady emma sister to the duke of normandy , and guinhilda his daughter by her was married to the emperor hen. 3. king edward the confessor , or st. edward took a wife at home ( as all the rest of the saxon kings did , except the above-mentioned ) viz. the lady editha daughter to the earl godwyn . we come now to the norman and english kings after the conquest . king william the first , or the conqueror married the lady maude daughter to the earl of flanders . king william the second called rufus had no wife , but divers natural children , among whom the lord bertran was most advanced . king henry the first married . the lady matilda or maude , daughter to malcolme king of scotland by margaret sister to edgar atheling , whereby the saxon or english blood royal was restored , he had by her maude the empress , but left 14. natural children besides , viz. seven sons , and seven daughters . king stephen married the lady matilda the late duke of bullens daughter , but had no issue lived ; he left two natural sons , whereof the one was made earl of norfolk , the other abbot of westminster . king henry the second son of maude the empress ( by ieffrey plantaginet her second husband ) married elenor the divorced wife of lewis the seventh king of france , by whom he had divers children , and left besides some natural children by rosamund . king richard the first married the lady berengania daughter to the king of navarre . king iohn married three wives , two at home , and one abroad , viz. alice daughter to the earl of morton , and avice daughter to the earle of gloucester , and having no issue of neither , he married isabel heiress to the duke of angoulesme in france , of whom he had hen. 3. ( who succeeded him ) and richard who was earl of gloucester , and crown'd king of the romans . king henry the third married elenor daughter to raymond earl of province in france , by whom was edward the first , the scourge of the scots , and edmund crouchback duke of lancaster , who was the ground of the feud 'twixt the two roses . king edward the first married two wives , the first was eleanor daughter to ferdinand k. of spain , by whom he had four sons , and nine daughters ; his second wife was margaret eldest daughter of philip the hardy king of france . king edward the second of caernarvon ( the first install'd prince of wales ) married isabel daughter of philip le bel ▪ king of france . king edward the third married . philippa daugher to the earl of henault , by whom he had seven sons , and five daughters , the eldest was the black prince , who married at home , viz. the lady joan daughter to the earl of kent , though twice a widow ; he had two base sons , sir robert clarendon , and sir john sounder . richard the second married two wives , viz. the lady anne daughter to the emperor charles the fourth . his second wife was isabel daughter to charles the sixth king of france . king henry the fourth married two wives , the first at home , viz. the lady mary daughter of humphrey bohun earl of hereford , &c. his second wife was joan daughter to charles king of navarre . king henry the fifth married yhe lady katharine daughter to charles the sixth of france , who being left a young widow married owen tewdor of wales , who was grandfather to hen. 7. and thereby restored the british royal blood , uniting it with the english. king henry the sixth was married to margaret daughter to reyner earl of anjou , and king of jerusalem , scicily , and aragon . king edward the fourth married elizabeth widow of sir john grey . richard the third married the lady anne daughter of richard nevil earle of warwick , widow to ed. prince of wales , son of hen. 6. king henry the seventh married the lady elizabeth daughter to edw. the fourth , heir to the house of york , who united the two roses . king henry the eight had six wives , whereof three were katharines , two were forreners , the other four born within the realm ; of which wives , he was divorced from two , and two were beheaded . his first wife was katharine daughter of ferdinand king of spain , a most pious lady , from whom after 20. years cohabitation he got to be divorced . the second , anne daughter of sir tho. bullen earl of wiltshire , and ormond . the third was jane seymor daughter to the earl of hartford . the foursh was anne of cleve , from whom he was divorced . the fifth was katharine widow to the lord latimer , and daughter to tho. howard duke of norfolk beheaded and buried in the tower with anne of bullen . the sixt was katharine parr , sister to the marquess of northampton . queen mary was married to philip the second king of spain . king iames married the lady anne daughter to frederick the third king of denmark . king charls the first married the lady henrietta maria youngest daughter to henry the great of france , which was the eighth royal alliance that was 'twixt england and france . king charls the second married the lady katherine sole daughter to don john the fourth king of portugal , and sister to don alonso the sixth now regnant . there was a matrimonial alliance once before 'twixt the blood royal of england and portugal , which was about anno 1376. between iohn the first , king of portugal , and the lady philippa daughter to iohn of gaunt duke of lancaster ; king iohn had five sons by her , the two eldest with the father were all three knights of the garter at one time ; the youngest son was henry , who being a speculative studious prince was much addicted to the mathematicks , and specially to the art of navigation , which induced him to set forth some ships for discovery of new countries , and his design succeeded so well , that in the first voyage , he discovered the azores & other islands in the atlantick sea , next the coasts of gu●ney , cape verd , and so at last the passage by the promontory , or cape of good hope to the east indies , which discoveries have proved so gainful and glorious to that nation ever since . by the former alliance , it may be said that portugal married with england , by this england hath married with portugal . and as the former was the fortunatest alliance that portugal ever made by their own confession to this day ; so may this prove to england : may all the blessings of heaven be poured down upon it according to the due and daily devotions of all true-hearted subjects , and particularly of i. h. finis . the true copy of a letter sent to the kings most excellent majestie. by w. covell gent. covel, william. 1661 approx. 9 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a80701 wing c6614 thomason 669.f.26[70] estc r210949 99869697 99869697 163952 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a80701) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 163952) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 247:669f26[70]) the true copy of a letter sent to the kings most excellent majestie. by w. covell gent. covel, william. 1 sheet ([1] p.) printed by j.c. for the author, london : [1661] publication date from wing. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng charles -ii, -king of england 1630-1685 -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -duties -early works to 1800. 2007-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-02 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2008-02 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the true copy of a letter sent to the kings most excellent majestie . by w. covell gent. jehovah our great master commands me to speak to thee o king after this manner . king , thou hast taken upon thee to rule part of the king of kings great houshold , and if thou art his steward , they that rule our men must be just , ruling in the fear of the lord , as in 2 sam. 23. 3. and they that are ruled must fear god and the king , by whom kings reign , which is gods order onely ; therefore care is to be taken for the poor and despised and oppressed , as well as for the rich and mighty of this world ; for our great master hath put a law in every thing he maketh , to guide it according to its kind ; without counsel the people perish , and his counsellors are the aged in christ , for not many wise men after the flesh , nor many mighty , nor many noble are called , but god hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise , and god hath chosen the weak things to confound the mighty and base things of the world , and things that are despised hath god chosen , and things which are not to bring to nought things that are , that no flesh should glory in his presence ; and as our great master is good to all , so must his stewards and counsel and servants be , for christ will not be made a slave and a vagabond to dag●n ●or ever ; but the poor penitent souls have received of his fulness and goodness , and they that are counted mad as paul was , oftentimes speaks forth the words of truth and sobriety , and the wisdom of god in the despised and poor persecuted ones , is a chief good and help to rulers , who are gods deacons : therefore thou art to provide a counsel of poor penitent souls , and not to take counsel of none but mighty men of this world , for the ministry of wisdom is in the poor saints , the worlds despised ones , gods cherubims at his command , and his enemies deliverers , when they obey him in them ; they are his enemies coverings , when the enemy combines with subjection to his will , and be sweetly contained ; it is the wisdom of a king to conceal a matter , so do thou , and defend them in peace and truth , and provide for them , and relieve them , and as a good steward of the manifold gifts of god , out of the abundance of the earth ; in thy disposing , dispence part thereof to set such people to work , who are willing to live according to gods order in some place convenient for them , that they may be a pattern of good works to the ignorant world , through gods wisdom outsighting them , for the good of thee and of these people of these nations ; which being settled in our great masters order , will bring glory , peace , truth , plenty and health to thee and them , and by degrees remove ignorance , idleness , want and beggery out of the land , and make thee great in our masters eye , and be loved of him ; without which , greatness in this world will make us miserable in the world to come : but if thou dost seek after the love of our great master , and own and obey him in thy place , according to his order , and not after the ordinances of men , which are not for the lords sake , which ought to bear the emphasis and chief rule in all ordinances and orders whatsoever , which he offereth to thy understanding by his mean instruments ; then shalt thou be made great , and the nations of the world shall dread thee , for his power in thee and them ; those which are ruled by our masters law in them , are subject to his ministry , and are no trouble to his stewards , but their trouble is most to rule such as will not be ruled by gods law which is in them , and manifested to them ; and instead of following his law and order , do hearken to and obey such priests as have departed out of the way , and caused many to stumble at the law ; and such lawyers also as establish the traditions of men for gods laws , after their blind reasons , for the love of gain , which god hath cursed by his prophet , malachy chap. the second : but thou must defend them , and provide for them , which are obedient to our masters law and order , and as a good shepherd go before them in the same , and that is it which will bring good to thee ; and make them thy coverings , and shew forth our masters glory and thine , and if thou embrace the truth , more may be communicated to thee as thou art able to bear it , thy work and danger in the work being great , and my work is according to our great masters command and obligation to plead this before thee o king , for the poor and oppressed people of god , our great jehovah , amen . from a beggar in bonds , who craves neither honour nor wealth , but a waiter upon our great master , and a beggar to him for thee and the nations with tears and groans , that they may be saved from the judgments which are sealed for the rebellious , and i am directed in thy behalf to the 12th chapter of job , for thee to read , and consider of alone by thy self , and if thou be broken off from the wild olive tree , and art engrafted into the good olive tree , and made partaker of the fatness thereof , then thou wilt grow in the spirit of knowledge , and the secrets of the lord will be with thee , and shalt see his wonderous works ; for which wo is me , that i cry , wilt thou hear his voice ? which if obeyed , i and others shall hear the eccho , and there will be coverings to thee and them , which hear and believe ; but if laught at and rejected , oh! my bones shall be broken , and i tremble before our great master , under whose ministry i am , the end whereof is known to him , and shall be known to them to whom by vision , revelation or inspiration , or any other way he shall reveal himself ; which in us , if it be observed and obeyed , is our glory , and will yield all glory to our great master jehovah . king , i am under great trouble of mind concerning thee and the nations , and being commanded further to speak unto thee , truth maketh me bold , wo is me for fear i grieve thee , i am full of love to thee , and to the whole creation of god , under whose ministry i am . thou art to take heed of the crown of gold , which is of mens making , for a crown of glory is offered to thee , that thou mayest wear for ever , and if thou imbrace the same , the worldly crowns will well fit thee . thou art to take heed of making contracts with these people , for they are out of order , and god hath a controversie with these nations . thou art to take heed of the oath they will put upon thee , for fear of being snared , for there are many things to be done , and many things to be undone , which must be according to the word of our greatest king and law-giver . thou art to take heed of the phylosophers , and such as will slatter thee for their own ends , minding more the commands of man , and love to man more than the command of god our greatest master . thou art to open the prison doors for debtors , and appoint commissioners in all thy counties , to examine every mans cause , there will appear great advantage to thee , to remit thy self in the people hearts , for none can stand before our great masters sword which is within every man , and thy sword which is without , let be one proceedings in all courts , as in the exchequer . thou art to take heed of all thy officers in all places in the nations , for if that they through corruptions shall any way abuse the people , it will all reflect on thee , and make thee little ; and although the world , flesh and sin be thy enemy , god will be thy friend , and thou shalt never want counsel , nor miss at last the eternal crown of glory . thou art to hold the ballance equal to all sorts of people , and to persecutions and imprisonments of people for conscience , thou art to forbear and hinder those fiery angels in the world , that would burn up all with a fiery zeal , which is not true , having no wisdom but in their lips. thou art to be like our great master , good to all , for he hath created a full creation , that shews his love ( there is no want ) of his works , but there is a want of inlarged hearts , universal men , for narrow covetous spirits will never do good , but to themselves ; our great masters house must be built by steps , by those which have skill ( even a solomons house ) for the delivering of the poor , oppressed , despised bodies , that wants food and cloaths . breeding and planting restores . oh king , live for ever , our great master jehovah bless thee , amen . buying and selling destroyes . william covell . london , printed by j. c. for the author . the observator's observations upon the bill of exculsion let every one mend one, and begin the reformation at home. do as you would be done by, is no text for excluders. l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. 1685 approx. 14 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a47899 wing l1283b estc r224152 99834560 99834560 39061 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47899) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 39061) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1813:14) the observator's observations upon the bill of exculsion let every one mend one, and begin the reformation at home. do as you would be done by, is no text for excluders. l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. 7, [1] p. reprinted by andrew crook and samuel helsham; and re to be sold by william weston in christ-church-lane, [dublin : [1685]] observator = roger l'estrange. caption title. imprint from colophon; date of publication from wing. reproduction of the original at the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng l'estrange, roger, -sir, 1616-1704. -observator -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-01 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-01 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the observator's observations upon the bill of exclusion . let every one mend one , and begin the reformation at home . do as you would be done by , is no text for excluders . trimmer . there 's more a stir with you , and your politiques , morals and duties , than with half the town beside . as if there were no brains forsooth . but under your night-cap ; no conscience or loyalty but under your doublet . prethee let 's have no more of these invidious , and grating reflexions upon controversies that are now dead and buried ; no raking of exclusions , and associations out of their graves again : reform at home first , before you break-in upon the province of your neighbours . let but every man mend one , and we shall quick'y have a good world on 't . in fine , do as you would be done by , is a good lesson . observator . wouldst thou have the history of the exclusion so forgotten , as to leave the common people still poring , and bro●ding upon the principle of it ? or wouldst thou have such an amnesty pass'd upon the association ▪ as utterly to suppress the memory of the crime , and yet uphold the reputation and credit of the position : & consequently , support the lawfulness , and the authority of the practice ? so that all this while here is but private medling on the one hand , to the hazard and dishonour of the crown , the royal family , and the publick peace : and private med●ing on the other hand , to detect the rottennels , the hypocrisy , and the pernicious tendency of those doctrines and doings . how comes it to be more lawful , ( nay and laudable too . ) for a quack to give the kings subjects poyson in their po●ridge , then for an honest man to ofter them a plain doss of sallet-oyle to setch it up again ? and now to go on with ye , 't is good advice for every man to reform at home , before he takes upon him to reform others : and it is as good advice taken , as given . if you find that i do not practice my self , what i inculcate to others ; do but say wherein , and i shall take it well to be minded of it : and in the mean time , i would have you to consider a little , of governing your self by those measures that you prescribe to others . what are all your petitions but invectives against your superiors , and censorious reflections upon the management of publick affairs ? how many thousands of bodies and souls ; how many millions of money might have been sav'd , if your weavers , your butchers ; tinkers and coblers had been kept to their looms , their kettles , and their stalls , instead of trooping to westminster to advise with the close committee , about the settling of religion , and state ; the rights and priviledges of parliament , the liberties of the subject ; and the reformation of england and ireland , in doctrine , worship , discipline and government , according to the word of god , and the example of the best reformed churches ; and i know nothing to the contrary , but that the late king might have ordered the business of calling and dissolving parliaments ; or of making war and peace ; every jot as well by his authority royal , or the advice of his privy council , without troubling so many bumkins and mechanicks to leave their ploughs , their shops , and their trades , only to lend a helping hand ▪ to the keeping of the ark steddy . the very support of your interest is the license of the multitude , and the only argument for your cause , is the madness of the people . vvhat are all your vox-populi's , and patriae's , but the usurpations and encrochments of fools upon the business of wise men ; and the setting of the government upon the head , with the heels uppermost ? what are all your popular remonstrances , and addresses , i say , but so many attempts of the mobile , to confound and subvert the order of the publick , by intermedling in matters which they have nothing to do withal ? vvhy d' ye not live-up to the moderation that you preach , and keep within the compass that you prescribe ? the subjects part is resignation , and obedience ; and that which you impose upon the world for reformation , is downright sedition ▪ and 't is not the name , or colour of liberty , or religion , that will bear-out private men in any enterprises whatsoever , upon the work and authority of their governors . in one word , your conversations are a direct contradiction to your precepts , and your discourses . trim. as in what particulars , i prethee ? obs. why truly , in the whole course of what you either recommend , or condemn , you are the greatest meddelers in nature , your selves , and yet at the same time the greatest complainers of other peoples medling ; as if the reputation of a trimmer , were more sacred , on the one hand , then the honour of the government , on the other ▪ and 't is much at the same rate , that you manage the doctrine of , do as you would be done by ▪ as for the purpose ; how would all your popular sticklers for the sovereignty of the people , take it , to be beaten out of doors by their own servants , and to have their children rise in rebellion against their fathers ? what a hurry have we had ; what plotting , swearing and conspiring , to cut-off the unchangable succession of the crown , as the only expedient under the sun , to deliver us from death and damnation ? to say nothing of the imposture , both of the fears , and of the dangers : to say nothing of the treason that was cover'd under the cloack of that exclusion : to say nothing again , of the malicious manage of the contrivance which was as rude , and unmannerly , as it was wicked and unjust : but to speak a word now , to parity of reason in the case . how would the agitators of the exclusion of a lawfull prince , take it to be pay'd in their own quoyn and disinherited , themselves ? if either conscience , or pollicy may be heard upon the point , the equity lies infinitely stronger against the subject ; if they shall pretend to be jelous , without reason ; pragmatical , against law , and impossing , beyond president . in one word ? according to your rule of do as you would be done by , every man that would disinherit deserves to be disinherited . trim. nay , i have nothing to say to the contrary , but that it was an ill bus'ness , though the devil ▪ let me tell ye , is not always so black , as they paint him . obs. but for the devil of the bill of exclusion , i defy all the painters in nature , to make him blacker then he is but no man can sufficiently abominate that execrable project , without laying it in all the hideous colours , before his eyes . do but read it there a litle ; and if thou hast but one drop of honest , english , or christian bloud in thy veins , 't will fire the very soul of thee , with indignation , and horrour . iames duke of york is by this bill , in the first place to be made [ for ever uncapable to inherit , possess , or enjoy the imperial crown of this realm , and of the kingdom of ireland ▪ and the dominions , and territories to them , or either of them belonging , or to have , exercise , or enjoy any dominion , power , iurisdiction , or authority in the same kingdoms , dominions , or any of them . bill of exclusion ] now go on your self there . trim. [ if the said iames duke of york shall at any time hereafter challenge , claime , or attempt to possess , or enjoy , or shall take upon him to use , or exercise any dominion , power or authority , or jurisdiction withn the said kingdoms , or dominions , or any of them , as king or chief magistrate of the same , that then he the said iames duk of york , for every such offence shall be deemed , & adjudged guilty of high-treason , and shall suffer the pains , penalties , and forfeitures , as in case of high-treason ibid ] ▪ obs plain-dealing is best among friends . trim. and further [ that if any person , or persons whatsoever shall assist , or maintain , abett , or willingly adh●re unto the said iames duke of york , in such challenge claim , or attempt , or shall of themselves attempt , or endeavour to put , or bring the said iames duke of york into the possession , or exercise , of any regal power , jurisdiction , or authority , within the kingdoms and dominions aforesaid , or shall by writing or preaching advisedly publish , maintain , or declare , that he hath any right , title , or authority to the office of king or chief magistrate of the kingdoms and dominions aforesaid , that then every such person shall be deemed , and adjudged guilty of high-treason : and that he suffer , and undergo the pains , penalties , aforsaid ▪ ibid. ] and forfeitures obs. prethee tell me what did all the engagements , negative oaths , and abjurations , effectually , more then this bill of exclusion ? or what did cromwells high court of iustice , do more , or worse , to charles the first , then the treatment that this bill had provided for iames the second ? but go on with it still . trim. [ that he the said iames duke of york shall not at any time from and after the 5th of november . 1680. return , or come into , or within any of the kingdoms or dominions aforesaid , and then he the said iames duke of york , shall be deemed , and adjudged guilty of high-treason ; and shall suffer the penalties , and forfeitures , as in case of high-treason . and further , that if any person or persons whatsoever , shall be aiding and assisting unto such return of the said iames duke of york , that then every such person shall be deemed , and adjudged guilty of high-treason , and shall suffer in cases of high-treason . ] obs. turn the text now , of , do as you would be done by , and see what will come on 't . but what if the duke should have return'd after all this , with his friends about him , to stand by him in the vindication of his right ? trim. why then [ it shall and may be lawfull to and for any magistrates , officers , and other subjects whatsoever of these kingoms and dominions aforesaid ; and they are hereby enjoyned to apprehend , and secure the said iames duke of york , and every other person offending in any of the premisses ; ●nd with him or them in case of resistance , to fight , and him or them by force to subdue : for all which actings , and for so doing , they are , and shall be by vertue of this act saved harmless , and indemnifyed . ibid. ] obs. wel● ! and now read this last enacted : trim. [ that during the life of the said iames duke of york , this act shall be given in charge , at every assizes , and general sessions of the peace within the kingdoms , dominions , and territories aforesaid , and also shall be openly read in every cathedral , and parish church and chappels within the aforesaid kingdoms , dominions and territories , by the several respective parsons , vicars , curates , and readers thereof , who are hereby required immediately after divine service , in the forenoon , to read the same twice in every year , that is to say , on the 25th of december , and upon easter day , during the life of the said james duke of york ibid. ] obs. prethee take notice , for a conclusion ; that the motion was first open'd upon a sunday ; and now for the memorial of this holy work , christmas and easter were the two days chosen out of the whole ca●lendar , for the solemnizing of the act : and it is not all neither , that you have here , the most violent , and temerarious resolution perhaps , that ever was taken : but the design was manifestly fore-lay'd : and it is little less then a miracle for any reasonable man to engage in 't , and not see through it . dublin . reprinted by andrew crook and samuel helsham ; and are to be sold by william weston in christ-church-lane . the white rose, or, a word for the house of york, vindicating the right of succession in a letter from scotland to a peer of this realm. w. b. 1680 approx. 35 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 7 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29953 wing b5268 estc r2802 13664025 ocm 13664025 101148 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29953) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 101148) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 838:6) the white rose, or, a word for the house of york, vindicating the right of succession in a letter from scotland to a peer of this realm. w. b. brydall, john, b. 1635? [2], 10 p. [s.n.], london : 1680. signed at end: w.b. ascribed to john brydall by wing and huntington library. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-10 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-11 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2006-11 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the white rose : or a word for the house of york , vindicating the right of succession , in a letter from scotland to a peer of this realm . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . leges sequi patrias , pulchrum est . e clearcho . london . printed anno dom. mdclxxx . the white rose . my lord , i need not acquaint your lordship , what a general sorrow invaded us , upon the departure of his royal highness from amongst us , when i tell you , that we lookt upon , and esteem'd his coming hither , to be one of the most signal honours that hath been done our nation , since the happy restauration of his most sacred majesty . the benign influence of this generous prince , vouchsaf'd to our cold clime , seem'd like the welcome approaches of the sun , to the benighted indians , who are said to welcome that glorious luminary with the extatick acclamations of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . if ever our nation had any affinity to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , whence etymologists tell us 't is derived , 't was at the departure of this great duke ; i cannot , without fresh reluctancy , acquaint your lordship , what a mutual uneasiness and trouble was exprest at parting , his royal highness assuring us , that nothing , but the satisfaction of waiting upon the king , could ballance the trouble he had , to part so soon from us : on the other hand , we made our humble acknowledgments , for the great happiness we had in his illustrious presence , and how much we were obliged to his good advice and conduct , protesting , that as our allegiance obliged us to venture our lives and fortunes for his majesty , our affections to his royal highness would engage us to do the same for him , if his occasions should require it . this royal heroe , like the dove turned out of the ark , took footing here , finding the threatning inundation abated ; and , i hope , is some time since , returned with safety , and the olive of peace , having compleated that imperfect conquest which left us but too many instruments of revenge ; for i am confident , we have now few male-contents here , but what his departure hath made . those mists were dissipated so soon as his royal rayes broke out amongst us ; for 't is this gracious prince's peculiar to subdue the heart , ( whilst others can only tame the violence of the man ) and make rebellion lick its own lips and mis-shapen issue , into the beauty and symmetrice of subjectian and loyalty , from the secret instincts of nature , birds and beasts , are taught to obey the eagle and lyon : though several are hardy enough , to undertake unequal matches , from any of the lower rank , especially , if edg'd by keen hunger , or exasperated by bloody revenge ; yet the same wolfe that bristles at a bear , will crouch to the lyon ; insomuch , that ethicks seem amputated from the rational , and grafted in the sensitive stock . we know what birds , with greatest noise proclaim their encounters , as if mighty matters were atchiev'd , when a sew despicable vermin are the sole trophies of the scorn'd and derided victor , who mistakes the chattering of the multitude for ovations , and io triumphes , and the fights of a coffe house , or the registry of an intelligencer , sufficient records to eternize his illegitimate fame and glory . should i recount the atchievements of his royal highness for the peace and safety of the three kingdoms . i should intricate my self in a labyrinth , too tedious for your lordship to expect my regression ▪ and possibly offend the virtue of that prince , which as 't is the blessing of this , will be the standing wonder of future ages ; a prince whose heroick spirit , glories in great and adequate actions , taking a greater complaisance and satisfaction in doing brave , than in hearing of it . in short , all that can be said upon so glorious a subject , will be so far from panegyricks , that 't will be but telling men , when the sun shines in their hemisphere , 't is day . i proceed therefore to a nearer observance of your lordship's commands , and the letter you were pleased to send me , in which i find so much writ , and so well , in vindication of the right of succession , that the author hath almost anticipated all further discourse upon the same subject . however , i shall presume to advance the superstructure a story higher , since the foundation seems so firm and supportable . i must confess you have as much engag'd me out of my province , as if architecture were the thing to be considered of indeed . but yet i shall shew my obedience , as well as vnskilfulness in the performance of your irresistible commands . i have ( since the contracting of this weighty point ) lookt into such books of law and history , as i am at present furnisht with , which assure me that the course of right succession to the crown , is not to be diverted from its proper channel : or if you please ▪ the descent of the crown in the right line , cannot ( de jure ) be impeded by any act or deed whatsoever . this proposition i shall endeavour to evince , by authority and reason , proceeding by an easie climax or gradation to the matter , and consider it first in its less questionable instances . and first , says an (a) antient author , roys ausi ne pourront rien aliener , en droit de leur corone , ne de lour royaltie , que il ne soit repealable per lour successors . with which (b) mr. lambard in his antient laws of england , concurs , in these words , debet , de jure rex omnes terras & honores , omnes dignitates & jura , & libertates coronae hujus regni , in integrum cum omni integritate , & sine diminutione servare & defendere . so that the alienations of kings , in the right of their crowns , are repealable , by their successors , and that they are bound by law , to defend and preserve all the lands , honours , dignities , laws and liberties of the crown entire , with all integrity and without diminution . the opinion of all the judges and doctors , both of the civil and common laws , assembled in the exchequer-chamber upon the demise of h. 4th . was , (c) that the said king might make a will , and give legacies , but that he could not bequeath the goods of the realm , ( vizt . ) the antient-crown and jewels : much less can a king dispose of the soveraignty it self . in the time of (d) ed. the third about the 40th . of his reign ▪ the pope , by his legate , demanded of the king homage , for his kingdoms of england and ireland , and the arrears of 1000 marks per annum , granted by king john , to pope innocent the 3d. and his successors ; and threatned that if it were not paid , the pope was resolv'd to proceed against the king , by excommunication &c. whereupon king ed. called a parliament in which it was declared by the unanimous consent of the lords and commons , that no king can put himself , his realm , or people , under a foreign subjection , without assent of the lords and commons , in parliament ; and therefore if king john had done it by the common-council of his barons , as his charter purported , yet it was altogether invalid , for that it was not done in parliament by the king , lords and commons ; and albeit it might , ( though it appears it could not without authority of parliament to back it ) yet it is contra legem & consuetudinem parliamenti , to do such an act ; as by the (f) record appears ; by which it was declared in full parliament upon demand made on the behalf of the king , that they the lords and commons could not assent to any thing in parliament that tended to the disherison of the king and his crown , whereunto they were sworn . upon the same principle , the attournment of tenants , seems to have its basis , and is requisite , where lords dispose of their mannors , ne capitalibus inimicis subjugentur , that they may not be subjugated to their capitall enemies . sr. edward cook tells us , that the dignity royal is an inherent inseparable to the blood royal of the king , and cannot be transferred to another , it is said that edward the confessor , gave william the conqueror , a colour to claim the crown of england , by a donation made by testament ; which act was not of power to prejudice the state , or alter the course of right succession , and the reason rendred is this , that the crown of this realm being held not as patrimonial , but in a constant succession by remotion , ( which is a succeeding to another's place ) it was not in the power of king edward to collate the same , by any dispositive and testamentary will , the right descending to the next of blood only , by the custom and law of the kingdom . we read in our english histories , that king richard surnam'd ceur-de-lyon , depos'd himself of this kingdom , and deliver'd the same to the emperor , as his supreme lord , and invested him therein , by delivering of his hat , but 't was adjudg'd that this investiture , could not prejudice the state , nor alter the course of right succession , though it might keep the kings-head cold , as the statists of those times observ'd . the civil-law asserts , principem cum omnia possit , res tamen imperii abalienare non posse , and the municipal constitution of france is , that the french king cannot dispose of the soveraignty of the kingdom : so that foreign laws concur with our own in this point , which have had the suffrage of the whole kingdom , for these many hundreds of years , being as iudge fortescue defines them , an artificial perfection of reason , and the productions of much wisdom , time , and experience . the law is sanctio sancta , jubens honesta , prohibensque contraria : to which (a) cicero is parallel : recti praeceptio , pravi est depulsio . having in its prospect the same which religion hath , ut cives bonos efficiat , that it may make men good . being iuvenibus regimen , senibus solamen , pauperibus divitiae , et divitibus securitas , religion is to the wicked and faithless a jurisdiction against which they readily rebel , because it rules severely , yet paies no worldly recompence for obedience , obedience being by every human power invited , with assurances of visible advantage . the good need not the power of religion to make them better , for her power proceeds from threatnings , which ( though mean weapons ) are fitly used , since she encounters a base enemy . it may be observ'd , that all virtuous men , are so taken up with the rewards of heaven , that they seem to live as if out of the world and ; no government can receive assistance , from any man meerly as he is religious , but as that religion makes him active in temporal things , 't is acquaintance with the world , and knowledge of men , that makes abilities of ruling , for though a sufficient belief of doctrine , would beget obedience , ( which is the grand design of government ) yet since diversity of doctrine , distracts all auditors , and makes them doubtfully dispose their obedience , therefore religion hath little to do in government , and an active spirit is fittest for the menage of an empire . but however i think it cannot rationally be presum'd , that any governour would purely for the sake of religion , subjugate himself and people , to a foreign power , and make that which is design'd for the safety of our souls , the grand instrument of our destruction . when the people consider a ruler they would have him all dove , whereas policy teacheth him to be most serpent ; though they look upon this as more dangerous , than the ills it would prevent , and that outwitting the people is but giving reputation to falshood and corruption , and maintaining the publick by politique evils , and the base prostitution of religion . i shall not upon machiavel's word , recommend dissimulation and cruelty for cardinal virtues and as the best supporters of authority ; for a prince ought to refuse a kingdom , and retire to privacy , rather than reign to the ruine of mankind : but when we consider the mutual sympathy ( as between the head and members so ) between a prince and his subjects , and the complication of their interests , and that their happinesses and miseries proceed from each other mutually , it cannot be presum'd , that a prince of approv'd wisdom , should so mistake or divide the interest , as to precipitate them into ruine , only to undo himself by the rebound , but to return to my province , it may be demanded , whether there are not foreign examples to be produc'd , that kingdoms have been transferred from one prince to another , by a voluntary gift ? i answer affirmatively , and shall instance in two of the chiefest which occur to my memory at this time . the one is of alphonzo king of arragon and sicily , who having conquered the kingdom of naples from the duke of anjou , gave it to his natural son by his last will and testament . the other is of alphonzo el bravo , king of castile an● leon , who having conquer'd portugal from the moors , gave it in marriage with his bastard daughter to count henry of lorrain , so that here are two examples , one by testament , the other per donationem inter vivos . but here is to be noted , that no ancient or hereditary rights were dispos'd of , but the conquerors new acquisitions , for 't is affirm'd by most lawyers , that no king in a monarchy , that is by the ancient custom and fundamental laws of the realm meerly successive , either to the heirs male or heirs general , can any wayes dispose of his kingdom , in prejudice of the next heir in blood , according to the custom ; no not , though the parties interessed , should commit treason , or be excluded by any act of the states or parliament . that treason cannot avoid a lawfull succession in blood , we have an example in louis the 12th . who was in armes against charles the 8th . both kings of france , and our own king henry 7th . stood attainted of high-treason at the time of his coming into england , and by the judges in their consultation , in the exchequer chamber , what should be done for the king concerning his attainder , it was with unanimous consent resolved , that the crown takes away all defects and stops in blood , and that from the time the king did assume the crown , the fountain was cleared , and all attainders and corruption of blood discharged : but however for the sake of honour ( says the lord verulam ) it is ordain'd by parliament that all records in which there was any memory or mention of the king's attainder , should be defaced , cancelled , and taken off the flie. so in the case of george duke of clarence , we find the pue'ple ( though he was their great favourite ) were not much concern'd about his attainder , since they had learnt by the kings example , that attainders do not interrupt the conveying of a title to the crown . hence it is evident , that by the laws of this kingdom , there can be no inter-regnum within the same , and that immediately by descent , the next heir in blood is compleatly and absolutely king , without any essential ceremonies , or act to be done , ex post facto ; and that coronation is but a royall ornament , and outward solemnization of the descent . thus having considered the subject in the less disputable instances , i come to the grand doubt , that is , whether an act of parliament may alter the course of right succession in blood ? there are , i must confess , statutes that make it treason but to deny it , but never otherwise made , then only for fear or flattery of the present prince , and after , never observed ; and i am confident , 't is the desire of the sober and temperate sort here , that any new one of that nature , may have the same fate . i hope we are pretty well secur'd , having a king of such excellent wisdom and princely virtue , bearing such a sacred regard to his laws , that the royal assent shall never be ravisht from him , to stamp such an adulterate coin , as must pass currant for disabling his royal successor , to inherit the crown of these three kingdoms . should our statesmen suffer this remora to ding to the great ship of government , in which they are the trusted pilots , government would be at a stand , nay wreck'd by that which was design'd for her safety and establishment ; and the people , who are the lading , a fraight more dangerous and much looser than any other living stowage , being usually as troublesom in calms , as horses in storms , fall into the hands of algerines even in there own harbours ; for where could liberty and property tide safe at anchor ? we are perpetually exclaiming ( with the highest detestation ) against the king-killing doctrine of the — jesuits , whose principles , like the fruitful slime of nilus , have increast into so many various shapes of serpents , whose windings are so intricate and unknown , that even justice her self the painful pursuer of evil men , is almost wearied out . i have made a break before the word jesuite , that your lordship may add your own epithet , for i know none bad enough , for those worst of men , who seem like machiavel's belphagor dispatcht from hell in human shape to negotiate the devil's affairs . their order i must confess is specious , and i need not tell whence it is deriv'd , since boys of the 2d . or 3d. class can do it ; but they are no more like their primitive , than snow's like the sun , which warms the earth by antiperistasis , just as these men would save it , by destruction ; when i consider these men , they seem like those of cadmus sprung from the serpents teeth , 't is no wonder to find them of such a serpentine nature ; i can not think them christians but that their baptismal water was so far from being sacramental , that 't was some of the whores own making , fit for the putrid spawn and gender of such , toads i won't call them , since they are not at once poyson and an antidote , but the first altogether ; and though one of their saints by his whistle , purg'd ireland of all venemous creatures , yet they can live there and retain their natures , and when they come croaking into the pallaces of kings , they prove a worse plague than those did to the egyptian monarch . i wish all christian princes may prove to them as the stork to the froggs in the stable , kings not to protect ▪ but devour : i have made this digression , first to justifie my self in your lordship's opinion , in the next place that whilst we are exclaiming against the pernicious principles of these men , we may not improvidently lay the foundations of far worse ; for 't is less barbarous , to destroy a prince altogether , than keep him perpetually tortur'd with the loss of three kingdoms , and by a civil death make him survive the funerals of his own royalty . let us leave off annually to commemorate that royal martyr and best of kings , charles the first ; unless we resolve upon better usage , towards his royal off-spring , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , fiat justitia , ruat coelum . the history of saul and david , which we have recorded in holy writ , is worthy to be adverted to ; when at en-gedi and in the valley of the ziphims , david , who had saul twice at mercy , and was hunted after as a partridge , a flea , and a dead dog , even for but cutting of the lap of his garment , was wounded in his heart since saul was his king , his master , and the anoynted of the lord. but to come nearer to this great point . in the civil wars , between the two houses of york , and lancaster , how many statutes have been made in disherison of the line of york , and all vanished into smoak . that of h. 8th . in disherison of queen mary &c. and confirmed by another statute of the same kings , how have they been observed ? and lastly the great act which gave authority to the king that after his own line , he might dispose under his great seal , or by will , of this kingdom , have we not been sensible of it , to our lasting joy ? how happily it hath been neglected , so far as that the case , which is put in the statute of extinguishment of king henry the 8ths line , and a will made ( such as it was ) to the disherison of the scottish-line , the validity whereof , was never so much as once considered upon by the great council of the kingdom , as being a matter , that whether the same were a will or not , skilled not at all , the act it self being a void act , that should have given life and validity to the will. so that we may say with the rhetorician , multi quidem utuntur malis consiliis , num me autem dextro , quibus quod malum designabant , cedit in bonum ? to what hath been already said , i shall add the judgment of that ingenious and learned gentleman mr. roger coke , whose words are these . no humane law can create a humane right ; jura sanguinis nullo jure civili , dirimi possint . nor is this right of succession , from divine positive laws , but observed as well where god's revelation of himself is not received , as where it is . and if according to the resolution of all the learned judges in calvin's case , subjection is from no humane law , but from the law of nature , then of necessity must regal-right and inheritance , be from the law of nature ; for no man supposeth subjection , where he does not presuppose power . the acts therefore made by h. 4. h. 5. and h. 6. which intailed the crown upon their heirs males , were void , and wholly to be rejected : so likewise were the acts of rich. the third , and henry the seventh , which intailed the crown upon them and their heirs . but peradventue , though your lordship may approve of what hath been here offer'd , yet ( with others ) you will be ready to object , that all this and much more must be layed aside for the preservation of our religion , against the dangers that threaten us from the romish-church , and that 't is not so long , since our ancestors drew their gauled necks from that heavy yoke , but that still manet al● â mente repostum . i must confess , if the multitude ( whose character it is , aut humilitr servire , aut superb dominari ) are proper judges of this point , and that the machines of state , must turn upon their hinges , the verdict may pass against me , yet i shall not magnifie the politicks of euripides so much , as to say , jus regnandi gratiâ violandum est , aliis in rebus pietatem colas . this indeed is to make the mistress serve the handmaid , to make religion truckle to policy , as if the seasons of the year , ought to accomodate themselves to men , rather than men accomodate themselves to the seasons . policy presupposes ethicks , and so the footsteps of that ancient virtue , are almost worn out and invisible . but can the consideration aforesaid , be so weighty as to preponderate that of nature ? for we are taught in our church , that the ties and bonds of duty and subjection , even to heathen and idolatrous princes , are sacred and inviolable ; dominion and soveraignty being the ordinances of god , not as he is the author of grace , but as he is the governour of the world , and therefore the duty of children to their parents , of servants to their masters , and of subjects to their prince , is not a consequence of christianity , but a principle of nature , and consquently unalterable , upon the score of religion . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the very morals of the heathens ( had we no bibles ) teach us a passive obedience to princes ; that we ought patiently to indure governors , though set as a scourge over us , and pray to the immortal powers for liberation . nay there is a subjection due even to tyrants themselves , neque quenquam tyrannum occide , deorum foedera iniens ; and why ? imago rex est animata dei , regem ergo cum tibi dii paraverint sis eo dignus , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ the greek poet could tell us , that kings are by divine ordination , and he that shall kill a king ( though a tyrant ) is as much a regicide , as he that destroys a prince of the most gracious and clement temper , this consideration made the great duke of norfolk , so highly espowse the interests of that bloody vsurper richard the 3d. who notwithstanding the caveats that were sent him by the adverse party , in this distick . good jack of norfolk be not too bold , for dicon thy master is bought and sold . made him break out into these expressions of his loyalty ; that were the royal diadem placed upon a stake , he would there sacrifice his last drop of blood and serve his king with a victorious sword or a glorious death . a king is the animate image of god , nay we know who it is that says , i have said that ye are gods , he then that shall oppose their rights and interests , what is it , but gyant-like , to invade heaven ? none but god can make an heir to a crown , says sir edward coke ; solus deus haeredem facere potest : and this heir , is but an heir in fee to lands or tenements , according to common law or custom : if then only god can make such an heir , and the kings of england in their royal stiles , acknowledge the tenure with a dei gratia , the emperor with a deus dedit , and the french king with a dieu done , surely none but the same superintendent power ( by which kings reign ) ought or can dispossess or disinherit princes , from their rights fenced with the laws of god and nature , and establisht upon the foundation of humane laws and customs . what atlas shall support the state of the ruinous and tottering world , in these perilous ends of time , whereinto , as into a common sink , have sunck all the foul enormities of former ages ? we live not only in the iron age of the world , but in the very rust of it , and may take up the complaint of old , that justice hath left the earth , that truth sculks into by-corners , that they are good mistresses indeed to those that keep them , but such as follow them too close at heells , may have raggs and broken heads . may the parliament prove so many catos or fabicii ; of whom it was said , that the sun might as soon be altered in his race , as they in the course of justice , that they may give no more occasions for dissolutions , as if frequent dissolving parliaments , were like drawing of spirits in an alymbeck , the oftner the more refin'd and essential . the law is the pulse of the common wealth , when it beats not at all the common wealth is dead ; if it have but slow motion , 't is weak ; if too quick , feaverish and in a fatal hectick ; but if it keep an equal course , then the common wealth is in a good constitution , true is that of a learned politician in the curious clock-work of justice , the least pin or wheel amiss distempers and disorders all , and causes the whole frame to be taken in pieces ; and 't is heartily wisht they may keep time with the royal hand ; and strike as that points . thus , my lord , having given you a brief account of my thoughts in such a weighty matter , i humbly take my leave and subscribe my self , my lord , your lordships most obedient servant , w. b. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29953-e140 (a) brit. cap. 34. de donis . (b) tit. de reg. off. f. 130. (c) fitz. h. abr. til. devise . n. 5. exec. n. 108. (d) rol. parl. 40. edw. 3. n. 8. (f) 42 ed. 3. n. 7. lex & consuetud . parliamenti . lib. 12. f. 28 dan. hist . of w. first . (a) lib. 2. de nat. deorum . 1 h. 7.4 . plowd com. f. 238. cok's litt. f. 16. ann. h. 7. f. 8. 1 sam. 24.26 . 25 h. 8. c. 22. 26 h. 8. c. 2. 35 h. 8. c. 1. lib. 3. c. 2. of inherit . & succession . sen. coke litt. sect. 1. the forme of government of the kingdome of england collected out of the fundamental lawes and statutes of this kingdome : wherin is manifested the customary uses of the kings of england upon all occasions, either of marriage, peace or warre, to call their peeres and barons of the realme to be bartners [sic] in treatizes, and to give their judicious advice : the state and security of the whole kingdome depending upon such counsells and determinations : likewise the names of the kings and the times when such parliaments were called, and the acts that passed upon those and the like occasions : henry i, iohn, henry 3, edward i, edward 2, edward 3, richard 2, henry 4, henry 5, henry 6, edward 4, henry 7, henry 8 : published for the satisfaction of all those that desire to know the manner and forme of the government of the land, and the fundamentall lawes of the kingdome. cotton, robert, sir, 1571-1631. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a34717 of text r21849 in the english short title catalog (wing c6492). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 38 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a34717 wing c6492 estc r21849 12684198 ocm 12684198 65726 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a34717) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 65726) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 252:e150, no 15) the forme of government of the kingdome of england collected out of the fundamental lawes and statutes of this kingdome : wherin is manifested the customary uses of the kings of england upon all occasions, either of marriage, peace or warre, to call their peeres and barons of the realme to be bartners [sic] in treatizes, and to give their judicious advice : the state and security of the whole kingdome depending upon such counsells and determinations : likewise the names of the kings and the times when such parliaments were called, and the acts that passed upon those and the like occasions : henry i, iohn, henry 3, edward i, edward 2, edward 3, richard 2, henry 4, henry 5, henry 6, edward 4, henry 7, henry 8 : published for the satisfaction of all those that desire to know the manner and forme of the government of the land, and the fundamentall lawes of the kingdome. cotton, robert, sir, 1571-1631. 19 p. printed for tho. bankes, london : 1642. attributed to robert cotton. cf. blc. reproduction of original in thomason collection, british library. eng england and wales. -parliament. prerogative, royal -england. great britain -politics and government. great britain -kings and rulers. a34717 r21849 (wing c6492). civilwar no the forme of governement of the kingdome of england: collected out of the fundamental lawes and statutes of this kingdome. wherin is manifes cotton, robert, sir 1642 5996 36 0 0 0 0 0 60 d the rate of 60 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-10 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-05 taryn hakala sampled and proofread 2006-05 taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the forme of governement of the kingdome of england : collected out of the fundamental lawes and statutes of this kingdome . wherin is manifested the customary uses of the kings of england upon all occasions , either of marriage , peace or warre , to call their peeres and barons of the realme to be bartners in treatizes , and to give their juditious advice : the state and security of the whole kingdome depending upon such counsells and determinations . likewise the names of the kings , and the times when such parliaments were called , and the acts that passed upon those and the like occasions . henry 1 iohn henry 3 edward 1 edward 2 edward 3 richard 2 henry 4 henry 5 henry 6 edward 4 henry 7 henry 8 published for the satisfaction of all those , that desire to know the manner and forme of the governement of the land , and the fundamentall lawes of the kingdome . london , printed for tho. bankes , 1642. that the kings of england have beene pleased usually to consult in their great counsells of marriage , peace , and warre with their peeres and commons in parliament . to search so high as the norman conquest , it is necessary to lay downe the forme of government of those times , wherein the state of affaires led in another forme of publique councels : for the people ( wrought under the sword of the first william , and his followers , to a subjected vassaladge ) could not possesse in such assemblies the right of their former liberties , divisions and power having mastered them , and none of their old nobility and heads , being left either of credit or fortunes . what he retained not in providence as the demeasnes of the crowne ) or reserved in piety ( as the maintenance of the church ) he parted to those strangers that sayled along with him , in that barque of his adventure ; leaving the natives for the most part ( as it appeares by his survey ) in no better condition , then villany ; moulding their customes to the manner of his owne countrey ; and forbore to grant the lawes of saint edward , so often called for . to supply his occasions of men , money , and p●o 〈…〉 on ; hee ordered that all those , that enjoyed any fruit of his conquest , should hold their lands proportionable by so many knights fees of the crowne ; admitted them to enseoffe their followers of such part● ( as they pleased ) of their own portions , which to ease their charge they did in his and his sonnes time by two feoffments , the one de novo , the other de veteri . this course provided him of the body of his warre ; the money and provision was by headage assested the common people by the co●sent of their lords ; who held in all their seigniories such right of regalitie , as to their vassalles ; so as ( saith paris ) quot domini , tot tyranni : and proved to the king so great a curbe and restraint of power , that nothing f●ll into the care of maiestie afterward more , then ●o retrench the force of this aristocracy , that was in time like to strang●e the monarchy . though others foresaw the mischiefe betimes , yet none attempted the remedy , untill king iohn , whose overhastie undertaking brought in those broyles of t●e barrons warres . there needed not before this any ca●e to advise with the commons in all publique assembly , when every man in england by tenure , held himsel●e ●o his great lords will , whose presence was ever required in those councells ; and in whose assent his dependant tenants consent was ever included . before this kings time then we seeke in vaine for any commons called , they were called ever for making of lawes , but not to consult touching warre or peace t●e fi●st ( as may bee gathered ) though darkely ) by the records ) that used their counsells and assents , was t●is king in the sixt yeare of his raigne : here are the first summons on record to the peeres or barrons , tractaturi de magnis & ardius negotiis . it was about a warre of defence against the french . and that the commons were admitted at this time , may fitly be gathered by the ordinance ; provisum est communi assensu archiepiscoporum , comitam , baronum , & aliorum fidelium nostrorum angliae , quod nomen milites angliae invenirent decimum , &c. and this was directed to all the shirefs in england . the auncient use in publique lawes . from this time , there is a breach untill 18. hen. 3. where the next summons extant , is in a plea rolle of that year , but the ordinances are lost , from thence the records afford us no light untill the 49 of the same king , where then the summons to the bishops , lords , knights , and burgesses are much in manner , though not in matter alike to the use in our times , this parliament was called to advise with the king pro pace assecuranda & firmanda , they are the words of the writt ; and where advice is required , consultation must be admitted . to this king succeeded edward the first , his sonne , a wise , just , and fortunate prince . in his raigne we have no light of publique councell of this kind ; and so along to the fourth of his granchild , but what we borrow out of the rolles of summons , wherein the forme stood various according to the occasions , untill it grew constant in the forme it is , about the entring of richard the second , the journall rolles being spoiled by the injury of time or private ends . this king in the fift of his raigne called a parliament , and therein advised with his lords and commons , for suppressing llewellin prince of wales : and hearing that the french king intended to invade some peeces of his inheritance in france , summoned a parliament ad tractandum , ordinandum , & faciendum cum prelatis , proceris & aliis inco●is regni , quomodo huiusmodi periculis & excogitatis militiis sit obviandum ; inserting in the writt , that it was lex notissima & provida circumspectione stabilita , that that quod omnes tangit , abomnibus approbaretur . in the thirty fourth of his raigne super ordinatione & stabilimento regni scotie , he made the like convention . his sonne , the second edward , pro solempnitate sponsalium & coronationis , consulted with his people in his first yeare , in his sixth yeare , super diversis negotiis statuum regni & expeditione guerre scotie specialiter tangentibus , he assembled the states to advise : the like he did in his eight yeare . the french king having invaded gascoigne in the thirteenth yeare , the parliament was called super arduis negotiis statuum ducatus vasconie tangentibus ; and in the sixteenth to consult ad refraenandum scotorum obstinantiam & malitiam . before edward the third would resolve in his first year , whether peace or warre with the scotish king ; he summoned the peeres and commons super praemissis tractare & concilium impendere . the chancellour anno the fifth declareth from the king , the cause of that assemby , that it was to consult and resolve , whether the king should proceed with france for recoverie of his seignories , by allyance of marriage , or by warre ? and whether to redresse the disobedience of the irish , he should passe in person or noe ? the year following he resembled his lords and commons , and required their advice , whether he should undertake the holy expedition with the french king , or no ? the bishops and proctors of the clergie would not be present , as forbidden by their canons such councels . the peeres and commons consult , applauding the religious and princely forwardnesse of their soveraigne to this holy enterprise , but humbly advise forbearance this year , for urgent reasons . the same yeare though at another session , the king demaunding the advice of his people , whether he should passe into france to an enterview as was desired , for expediting the treatie of marriage : the prelates by themselves , the earles and barons by themselves , and the knights of shires by themselves , consulted apart , for so are the records , and in the end resolved , that to prevent some dangers likely to arise from the north : it would please the king to forbeare his journey , and to draw towards those parts where the perils were feared , his presence being the best prevention ; which advise he followed . in the following parliament at york , the king sheweth , how by their former advice he had drawn himselfe towards the north parts , and now againe he had assembled them to advise further for his proceedings . to which the lords and commons having consulted apart , pray further time to resolve , untill a full assembly of the states , which the king graunting , adjourneth that session . at their next meeting they are charged upon their allegiance and faith , to give the king their best advice ; the peeres and commons consulting apart , delivered their opinions ; and so the parliament ended . in the thirteenth yeare , the grandees and commons are called to consult , and advise , how the domestique quiet may be preserved , the ma●ches of scotland defended , and the sea scoured from enemies . the peeres and commons having apart consulted , the commons after a desire not to be charged to counsell in things de queux ils n'ount pas cognizance , answers that the guardians of the shires assisted by the knights may effect the first , if pardons of felons bee not granted : the care of the marches they humbly leave to the king and his councel , and for the safeguard of his seas , they wish that the cinque ports and maritine townes ; discharged for the most part from many burthens of the inland parts , may have that left to their charge and care : and that such as have lands near the courts be commanded to reside on those possessions . the parliament is the same yeare reassembled , advisamento prelatorum , proceram , nec non communitatis , to advise de expeditione guerrae in partibus transmarini● . at this ordinance are made for provision of ships , arraying of men for the marches and defence of the i le of iersey , naming such in the records , as they conceived fit for those imployments . the next yeare de la poole accompteth the expences of the warre ; a new ayde is granted , and by severall committe●s , in which divers were named that were not peeres of parliament , the safeguard of the seas , and defence of the seas are consulted of . in the fifteenth yeare de assensu praelatorum procerum . & alioram de concilio , the kings passage into france is resolved of . anno. 17. badlesmore in place of the chancellour declareth unto the peeres and commons ; that whereas by their assents the king had undertaken the warres in france , and that by the mediation of the pope a truce was offred : which then their soveraign forbore to entertain without their allowance . the lords apart consult , and also the commons , returning by sir william trussell in answer their advise , and desireing to compose the quarrell , approve the truce and the popes mediations , the popes undertaking proving fruitlesse , and delayes to the french advantagious , who in the mean time with scotland and others practised to roote out the english nation in france : the king againe assembled his parliament the yeare following : in which the peares and commons after many dayes of deliberation , resolve to end it , either by battaile or peace , and no more to trust upon the mediation or message of his holinesse . in the 21. yeare the chiefe iustice thorpe declaring to the peeres and commons , that the french warres began by their advice : the truce after by their ass●nts accepted and now ended . the kings pleasure was to have their counsells in the procecution . the commons beeing commanded , que ils se devoient faire assembler , & fils essent agree le devoient monetre an roy & al grandees de son councell , after 4. daies consultation , humbly desire of the king , that he would bee advised herein by his lords and and others of more experience then themselves in such affaires . to advise the king the best for his french imployments , a parliament was summoned anno 25. herein the king by a more publique dispatch willeth the commons to elect 24. or 30. of their house to consult with the lords , these to relate to their fellowes , and the conclusion generall to the king . in the 27. a great councell is assembed , many of the lay peeres , few of the clergy : and of the shires and burroughs but one a piece . this was for the prosecution of the french warres , when an honourable peace could not bee gotten . but the yeare following a truce being offered , the king forbore to entertaine it , untill he had the consent of his peeres and commons which they in parliament accorded unto before the popes notary by publique instrument . the dallying of the french in the conclusion of peace ; and the falling off of the duke of brittaine ( having wrought with france by the reputation of the english succours ) is the yeare following declared in parliament , and their advice and ayde required for the kings proceedings . in the thirty sixth yeare he calleth his parliament to consult whether warre or peace by david the king of scotts , then offered , should be excepted . in the fortieth yeare the pope demanding the tribute of king iohn , the parliament was assembled ; where after consu●tation apart , the prelates , lords , and commons advised the deniall , although it bee by dint of sword . in the forty third yeare the king declared to the peeres and commons , that the french , against the articles of the truce , refused payment of the monies , and delivery of the townes , summoning la brett , and others of the kings subiects in gascoigne , to make at paris their appeales , and had forraged his countrie of poitiers : requiring in their breach , whether hee might not resume the style and quarrell of france . the lords and commons having apart consulted , advise the king to both , which he approving , altered the inscription and figure of his seale . two yeares after it was declared to the peeres and commons , that by their advise he had resumed the style and quarrell of france ; and therefore desired their advise for the defence of the reame against the french , securing of the seas , and pursuing of the warres . of which they consult , and resolve to give the king an ayde . the like counsell and supply was the very next yeare following . in the fiftieth yeare , a parliament to the purpose of the former two , was sommoned ; and the yeare following , the king in parliament declaring how the french had combined underhand against him with spaine and scotland , required their advice , how peace at home , the teritories abroad , securitie of the seas , and charge of the warre might be maintayned . i have the longer insisted in observing the carriage of these times so good and glorious , after ages having not left the iournall entries of parliament so full , which therefore with a lighter hand i will passe through . richard the second , the grandchild succeeded to the crowne and troubles , having nothing worth his great fortunes , but his great birth . the first of his raigne , hee pursued the steps of his wise grandfather , advising with his peeres and commons , how best to resist his enemies that had lately wronged divers of his subiects on the sea coasts . in the second yeare hee againe consulted with his people , how to withstand the scotts , who then had combined with the french to breake the truce . in the third yeare hee called the advise of his parliament , how to maintaine his regality , impared by the popes provisions , who to resist spayne , france , and scotland , that had raised warres against him , how to suppresse his rebells in guyon and ireland , and to defend the seas . in the fourth yeare of his raigne , he called the like at windsor . the yeare following in a great councell , the king having purposed a voyage royall into france , now called his parliament to determine further of it . and it is worthey your observation , that for the most pa●t before any propositions of warre or peace w●re vented to the commons , a debate thereof precedeth in the great councell to shape in fitter for popular advise . the quarrell with spaine continuing the duke of lancaster offereth a voyage against them , so as the state will lend him money : after consultation they grant an aide , but not to binde them to any continuance of warre with spaine . in the sixth the parliament was called to consult about the defence of the borders , the kings possions beyond the seas , ireland and gascoyne , his subiects in portugall . the lords approve the dukes intentions for portugall , and the commons that the bishop of norwich having the popes crosyer should invade france . the same yeare the state was called againe to consult , whether the king should goe in person to rescue gaunt or send his army . the commonsafter two dayes debate , craved a conference with the lords . the effect is not entred in the rolle onely they by sir thomas puckering their speaker , protest that councells for war did aptly belong to the king and his lords , yet since the commons were commanded to give their advice , they humbly wished a voyage by the king , if not , that the bishop of norwich might with the advantage of the popes crosier be used in that service , who accepted , the charge with ill successe , he further for the commons prayeth , that the kings vncles should not be spared out of the realme before some peace was setled with the scotts ; and that the lord de lars-par sent with propositions of peace from spaine might first bee heard . the chancellors in the seventh yeare in name of the king willeth the lords apart , and so the commons to consult , whether peace or warre with scotland , and whether to resist or assault the kings adversaries of spaine , france , and flanders : their opinions are not entred in the rolles , an omission usuall to the clarkes neglect , onely their petitions are recorded , that the bishop of norwich may accompt in parliament the expence of the money , and be punished for his faults in the service , which hee undertooke , both which are granted . and at the next session in the same yeare , the commons are willed to advise upon view of the articles of peace with the french whether warre or such amitie should bee accepted ? they modestly excuse themselves as to weake to counsell in so weighty causes ; but charged againe as they did tender their honour , and the right of the king , they make their answer , giving their opinions rather for peace then warre . peace with france not succeeding , in the eighth year , the body of the state was called to advise , whether the king in his owne person ; or by sending forces against the french , spaine , flaunders and scotland , should proceed . the king haveing this yeare assembled at oxon his great councell to advise , whether he should passe the seas or no , with an army royall ; and they not daring to assent without a greater councell : a parliament the tenth yeare was called to have the advice of the commons , aswell as of the lords , how the realme should be governed in their soveraignes absence . the truce with france now neare expired , the parliament was called in the thirteenth yeare to advise upon what condition it should be renewed : otherwise how the charge of warre should be sustained . at this assembly and by consent of all , the duke of lancaster is created duke of aquitaine , the statutes of provision were now pas●ed , and the commons are named a party , in the letter to the pope . the yeare succeeding a parliament is called , for that the king would have the advice of his lords and commons for the warre with scotland , and would not without their counsell conclude a finall peace with france . the like assembly for the same causes was the yeare ensuing , wherein the commons desire the king to use a moderation in the law of provision , to please at this time their holy father , so as the statute upon their dislike might again be executed , and that to negotiate the peace with france , the duke of aquitaine might rather then any other , be imployed . to consult of the treaty with france for the king in the seventeenth calleth a parliament , the answer of the lords is left unentred in the rolle , but the commons upon their faith and allegiance charged , advise that with good moderation , homage may be made for guyen , an appenage of the french crowne , so as it intrench not to involve the other peeces of the english conquest , their answer is modest , large , and worthy of marke . now succeeded a man that first studied all popularity , as needing all to support his titles , he in the fifth year called a parliament , to suppresse the malice of the duke of orleance , and to advise for the warres in ireland and scotland , neither counsels or supplies are entred in the rolle , and to resist an inovation intended by france and brittaine , he assembleth the state againe . the like was in the two yeares following for fraunce . in this the commons conferr with the lords for guard of the sea , and make many ordinances to which the king assented : the peace with the merchants of pruce , and the hanstowns is debated , and a proclamation published , as they resolve , by the speaker the commons complain of 96. peeces of ordinance lost in guyen the yeare before , the need of defence for the borders , and guard of the sea coasts . to suppresse the rebellion in wales , and the disloyalty of the earle of northumberland , they humbly desire , that the prince may be dispatched into those parts with speed : and to have a vigilent eye of the scottish prisoners . in the tenth the parliament is commanded to give their advice about the truce of scotland , and preparation against the malice of the french . his sonne , the wise and happy undert●ker , consulteth with the parliament in his first yeare , how to cherish his allies , and restrain his enemies , for this there wa● a select committee of the commons , appointed to confer with the lords , the matter being entered into a schedu●e . touching ireland , wales , scotland , calice , guyen , shipping , guard of the seas , and wary provision to repulse the enemy . in the second he openeth to the parliament his title to france , a quarrell he would prosecute to death : if they allowed and ayded , death is in this assembly , enacted to all , that either break the truce , or the kings safe conduct . the year following peace being offred by the french king , and the king of the romanes arrived to effect the worke , the king refuseth any conclusion , untill he had thereunto the advice and assent of his lords and commons , which occasion the chancellour declareth to that assembly . in the fourth and fifth , no peace concluded with france , the king calleth the state together to consult about the warre , concluding a treaty of amitie with sigismund king of the romanes , by the allowance of the three states , and entreth the articles in the iournall rolle . in the same yeare by the duke of bedford , in the kings absence a parliament was called to the former purposes , as it appeareth by the summons , though in the rolle omitted . the like in the seaventh year . and the treaty with france is by the prelates , nobles and commons of the kingdome perused and ratified in the tenth yeare of this king . his sonne more holy then happy succeeded , and adviseth in the second year with the lords and commons for the well keeping of the peace with france , consulteth with them about the delivery of the scottish king , and the conclusion is confirmed by common assent . in the third yeare they are called to advise and consent to a new article in the league with scotland , for charge of hostage , and in the ninth yeare conclude of certain persons by name , to treate a peace with the dolphin of france . the treaty of arras , whether the pope had sent as mediators two cardinals , not succeeding the king in parliament , anno 14. sheweth that he must either loose his title , style , and kingdome of france , or else defend it by force : the best meanes for provision whereof he willeth them to advise him . he summoneth again the next year the same councel to advise how the realme might be best defended , and the sea kept safe against the enemies . in the twentith the commons exhibite a bill for guard of the se● , the number of ships , assesse wages , and dispose of prizes if any fortune , to which the king accordeth . and that the genowaies might be declared enemies , for ●ssisting the turk in spoyle of the knights of rhodes , and that the priviledge of the pruce and hanstownes might be suspended , untill composition be made to the english for wrongs they had done them . to the which in part the king accordeth . the king by the chancellour declareth in parliament , that the marriage with margaret the king of sicily his daughter was contracted . for induceing the peace made with france . against the which the lords not by their advise effected , make a protestation , and enter it on the rolle . the king intending to passe in person into france , there to treat of peace with the king , adviseth with his lords and commons in parliament , and letters of mart are granted against the brittaines for spoyles done to the english marchants . the lord hastings and the abbot of glou● , declare in parliament the preparation of the french , the breach by them of the peace , the weake defence of normandy , and the expiration shortly of the truce : requiring speedy advice and remedie . it injoyned the parliament to provide for the defence of the sea and land , against the french . it was commanded by the king to the states assembled , to advise for the well ordering of his house , payment of his souldiers at calice , guard of the seas , raysing of the seige at berwike made by the scots against the truce : disposing of 1300. souldiers arrayed the last parliament : according of differences amongst the lords , restraining the transportation of gold and silver , and quieting the disorders in wales , of all which committees are appointed to frame bills . edward the fourth by the chancellour declareth to the lords and commons , that having made peace with scotland ; entred league with france and denmark , contracted with burgundy and brittaine for their aide for the recovery of his right in france , he had now assembled them to give their cousell in proceeding , which charge in a second session was again pressed unto them . the like was at another parliament held in the eleventh yeare . after this time the journals of parliament have bin either not well preserved , or not carefully entred , for i can find of this nature no records , untill the first of henry the seaventh , wherein the commons by thomas lov●ll their speaker , petition the king to take to wife elizabeth the daughter of edward the fourth , to which the king at their request doth agree . the next is the third of henry the eighth in which from the king , the chancellour declareth to the states the cause of that assembly to be first , to advise a course for resisting the innovation of the scots : the next , how to quiet the quarrell between the king of castile , and the duke of gelders , lastly for assisting the pope against lewes of france , whose bull expressing the injuries done the sea apostolique , was read by the master of the rolles in open parliament , after which the chancellour , there and other lords were sent downe unto the commons to confer thereof . the last is in the two and thirtieth yeare wherein the chancellour remembring the many troubles the state had undergone in doubtful titles of succession , declareth , that although the convocation had judged void the marriage with anne of cleve , yet the king would not proceed without the counsell of the states , whereupon the two arch-bishops are sent downe to the commons with the sentence sealed , which being there discussed , they passe a bill against the marriage . in all these passages of publique counsels , i still observe , that the soveraigne lord either in best advise , or most necessitie would entertaine the commons with the weightiest causes , either forreine or domestique , thereby to apt them and bind them to a readines of charge and they as warily avoiding it to shine expence . fjnjs . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a34717e-270 william the conqueror . domesday . edmerus . huntington . ex libro feodorum in sccio . hen. 1. stat . ex libro rubro sccij . chronicon de durst●ble . paris . benedict . monac . in vita . h●n . 2. gervasins doubo . iohn . roger wendon . claus. 6. io. in dors . claus. 6 , io. pt. 2. in dors . hen. 3. plita de bau co . 18. hen. 3 claus. 49. hen. 3. iij . an. 11. dors edw. 1. ex rot. part in archinis loud . claus 5. edw. 1. iij . 12. dors. claus. 7. e. 1 iij . 3. dors. claus. 34. e. 1. dors. edw. 2. claus. 1. e. 2. iij . 19. claus. 6. e. 2. iij . 3. claus. 8. e. 2. iij . 3. claus. 13 , e. 2. iij . 13. dors. claus. 16. e. 2. iij . 27. edw. 3. claus. 1. e. 3. rotl . parl. 5. edw. 3. parl. 6. e. 3. rotl . parl. 6. edw. 3. ses . 2 ij . 6. rotl . parl , 7 edw. 3. rotl . parl. 7. edw. 3. sess. 2. ij . 6. parl. 13. edw. 3. rot. parl. 13. edw. 3. sess. 2. da . parl. 14. e. 3 parl. 15. e , 3. parl. 17. e. 3 iohn 21. parl. 18. edw. 3. parl. 21. e●w . 3. parl. 25. edw. 3. parl. 27. edw. 3. parl. 36. edw. 3. parl. 4● . e●w . 3. vrbane 5. parl. 43. edw. 3. parl. 45. edw. 3. parl. 46. edw. 3. parl. 50. edw. 3. parl. 51. edw. 3. rich. 2. parl. 1. ric. 2. ▪ anno 5. stat . 6. parl. 2. ric. 2. anno 2. parl. 3. ric. 2. anno 7. vrban , 6. parl. 4. ric. 2. anno 2.3 . parl. 5. ric. 2. sess. 1. parl. 5. ric. 2. sess. 2. parl. 6. ric. 2. sess. 1. parl. 6. ric. 2. sess. 2. parl. 7. ric. 2. sess. 1. sess. 2. parl. 8. rich. 2. claus. 9. rich. 2. parl. 10. rich. 2. parl. 13. rich. 2. claus. 13. rich. 2. boniface 9. parl. 14. rich. 2. parl. 15. rich. 2. parl. 17. rich. 2. hen. 4th . parl. 5. h. 4. parl. 6. h. 4. claus. 7. hen. 4. iii 33 iii . 57 iii . 59. parl. 10. hen. 4. hen. 5. parl. 1. hen. 5. anno 9. parl. 2. hen. 5. rot. parl. an. 3. hen. 5 parl. 4. & 5. hen. 5. parl. 5. h. 5. parl. 7. h. 5. parl. 10. hen. 5. hen. 6th . rot. parl. 2. hen. 6. rot. parl. 3. hen. 6. 9. hen. 6. eugenius 4.14 . hen. 6. parl. 15. hen. 6. anno. 20. hen. 6. anno. 23. hen. 6. parl. 25. hen. 6. anno 3. anno. 27. hen. 6. anno 29. hen. 6. anno. 33. hen. 6. edw. 4. anno 7. anno 11. edw. 4. hen. 7. parl. 1. hen. 7. hen. 8 , rot. parl. 3. hen. 8. iulius 2. rot parl. 32. hen 8. ex instrument . original . a vindication of the character of a popish successor, in a reply to two pretended ansvvers to it by the author of the character. settle, elkanah, 1648-1724. 1681 approx. 43 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54796 wing p2114 estc r6364 13501951 ocm 13501951 99784 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54796) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 99784) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 472:13) a vindication of the character of a popish successor, in a reply to two pretended ansvvers to it by the author of the character. settle, elkanah, 1648-1724. phillips, john, 1631-1706. [2], 15 p. printed for r. dew, london : 1681. attributed to elkanah settle. cf. nuc pre-1956. attributed also to john phillips. cf. nuc pre-1956. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng l'estrange, roger, -sir, 1616-1704. -character of a papist in masquerade. settle, elkanah, 1648-1724. -character of a popish successor. -part 2. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. great britain -history -charles ii, 1660-1685. 2002-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-12 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2002-12 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a vindication of the character of a popish successor : in a reply to two pretended ansvvers to it . by the author of the character . london : printed for r. dew . 1681. a vindication of the character of a popish successor : in a reply to two pretended answers , &c. a reply to the first answer printed by n. thompson . there has lately , as the author has most truly exprest , a very slight . reply been made to a pamphlet call'd , a character of a popish successor ; in which he arraigns the pamphleteer ( as he calls him ) of contradictory discourse and reasoning , but says his principles are not so : to prove which he allows you to fancy a picture of the late rebellion ; for like that it begins with fears and jealousies of religion , liberty and property , and continues in murmur and revile at the imperial root , and to stiffen the knees that would bow to a crowned head . the last two parts of this inditement has been so far from being justified by the author , that where he found them , they were own'd , as the evil effects of a worse cause : but by advising us not to be subdued like less than english men ; not to submit our necks like slaves to the roman yoke , he does infer , we must repel a king under the name of an invader . truly when tho' by the permission or aid of any english king , popery , superstition , idolatry , and cruelty , are entring our gates , and are ready to butcher our protestant ministers at their divine worship , make human smithfield sacrifice of us , our wives and children ; we justly may resist the invading tyrannick power of rome . in the next place our answering pamphleteer would have you believe , notwithstanding your own sense and reason to the contrary , there is no just fear of popery , nor any danger in any of their plots ; but from his own wise suppositions drawn from 41 , and 48. has found or made a plot , and as prudently laid it at the presbyterians door ; a plot so subtil , that they have outdone the very jesuits themselves in the contrivance ; and laid it with so much art and cunning , that no heart could have imagined it , nor no eye discerned it but his . and now let us take notice who this honest gentleman under the sinily of his leviathans , means , that sport and take their pastimes in our troubled deep ; whose restless and uneasie rolling does not foretell , but is it self the storm . but i think , with our wise authors leave , this had been better proved , before so positively asserted , considering 't is no less than three whole successive parliaments ( his leviathans ) that have been restless to find out a plot , and vigorous to prevent our ruin ; all which he has drawn in as the greatest , nay only principals of our destruction , and as his text goes , are themselves the storm or plot ; he musters up a thundering accusation against them , that they foment the people into rebellion , distract them with dreadful apprehensions , casting them into a raving frenzy ; and as the greatest plague of the wicked , makes them afraid where no fear is . and this honest well principled man is all this while a man of the church of england . and to prove the correspondence of this truth with that of his pamphlet , we may easily remember , that all the parliaments were not all presbyters ; the first parliament were all men chose at his majesties blessed restoration , when there was not the least favour for that party ; and those loyal , wise , and honest patriots of their countrey , gave the first blow to the plot , first allarmed the people , made tests , and removed the duke out of his places and seat in parliament ; yet these are the men , and this the storm which is ready to shatter our royal vessel , the brittish kingdom , into pieces . but since he is a zealous protestant , they have no reason to be angry at his making bold with his own party . but why should we stand in fear of popery ? ay , why indeed , says he ? he has no fear at all ; they will not hurt him for his religion , then why should we fear ? but alas ! all are not such protestants as he , heaven knows , such champions for their cause and interest ; and therefore we may have reason to fear , notwithstanding all his brotherly advice to the contrary . in the next place let us see what small difference he makes between the principles of the church of rome , and those of the church of england ; only a few disputable matters of faith , and not very material ceremonies of divine worship ; as what harm is it to pray to saints , to worship images ? or what great matter to believe the infallibility of the pope , or the transubstantiation in the sacrament , or to allow the doctrine of the roman church without error , when it shall depose and murder kings , command massacres , make plots , fire cities , canonize the principal actors of their revenge and barbarous cruelties , and consecrate the instruments of death ? is it not hard , says our honest protestant , that these frivolous divisions on a sudden should ruine and efface all those good characters of magnanimity and iustice , of generosity and goodness in this our popish prince , which even his greatest enemies , nay the most detestable character it self allows him ? indeed mr. scribler , i remember no such allowance ; but as your self remarkt , suppose , and suppose : but if the encouraging of plots and popery , holding correspondence with his holiness and other forreign princes , contrary to the laws of this nation , be virtues , those and more perhaps of such a nature , may be allowed him . in the next place he takes a great deal of pains to let you know what the virtues are ; which though the characterizer does not understand , he does especially when cardinal ; and to shew you he is a man of truth , and can keep his word sometimes , he has there made so slight a reply , as i have not thought it worth the answering , but will refer the ingenious reader to compare that part of the character with his answer ; and now i will skip over this page , as he has done several which he could not with all his stock of impudence defend . well now , says he , since we have laws to suppress popery , what remains then for a popish king , but to put those laws in execution ; and for us , but to sit down under the shadow of this fence ? yes , i think a greater assurance that he will execute them , than our answerer can give . his next argument , or rather opinion , is so far from thinking that the reign of a popish king can be any ways advantageous to the iesuitical instruments , that he rather believes it will be their destruction ; and why ? because there is laws of foree against them , and the power of executing those laws he himself has already given to the people ; and which he has concluded they will more vigorously do under such a king. but hold ! this sham wont pass ; we know the people may convict them ; but none can punish them but their prince . but if the people by the authority of our scribler do , what will he have this king to be the mean time asleep ? or with all his cardinal virtues an atheist ? for if he is not a papist , he has no pretence to any religion , having himself renounc't all churches else . certainly he must be the first of these two , if this power be assumed in his reign , without his permission ; and the last , if with it . for no man can be , or pretend to be a son of the church of rome , that will not be obedient to all her principles and commands , and will not maintain on all occasions to their utmost power , her cause and interest : he shall no sooner refuse or neglect to do this , but he shall be exploded as the basest coward , and excommunicated as the vilest heretick . besides , there will be more danger for him to permit their punishments , than any other prince whatever ; for as their hopes in him has given them almost assurances of their utmost wishes ; so will their hatred and malice be greater to him , when they shall find themselves more than frustrate of all their ambitious expectations . and if an atheist , ( a man that believes no god , no punishment for vice , nor no reward for virtue ) to pretend to be of a religion by which he has banisht himself his native countrey , lost the hearts of three kingdoms , and thrust himself for ever from a throne , he must be the greatest mad man , or the most a fool in the creation ; and i think it not fit for either of these to wear a crown , or a papist our english diadem . and prudently considering all this , that exclusive bill in parliament , was like the wise fathers advice to rash phaeton , as much for his own good as the kingdoms safety ; for no doubt but if ever he should ascend this throne , and hurried on by the furious conduct of his romish counsellors till he had set his nation in a flame , he himself at last will most certainly perish in his own fires . now our answerer bids us consider the weight of a coronation oath with a prince of any sense of honour or religion , and he has promis'd upon this account ( pray heaven he keeps his word ! ) a very smart argument , which he makes out thus ; he has a double tye , of nature and religion . those tyes indeed ought to be very strong ; but how strong the tyes of nature and gratitude to the best of kings and brothers , are in him , has been sufficiently experienced , and largely treated of in the popish character ; but for religion , that has no tye at all upon him that loosens all other tyes contrary to the pride and interest of the romish church . and though our answerer has to a miracle confest , that there is such a doctrine in the church of rome , as dispencing with , and absolving papists from all oaths to hereticks ; yet says he , 't is a doctrine never universally received , aud that even they that do believe it , do not preach it to all ; and therefore these , with him , are poor shifts and evasions . why should we fear it should be made use of against us ? for says he , that prince that would lose all his honourable preferments rather than tell a lye against his conscience , ought certainly , to be believed when he shall make so solemn a protestation as his coronation oath . but that oath we have by sad experience found to be such a juglers knot , and has so often plaid fast and loose , that if he were a mahumetan , and should swear by alha , we should have much more reason to believe him as turk or infidel , than as a roman catholick ; for we know the bands of nature , morality , and honour , have been sacred to heathens , but never to papists . and besides , i must tell my smart gentleman , tho' we very well know that dispensations are frequent things from rome , yet it would have been no less than a mortal sin , and never to have been forgiven , to have presumed in that case to have told a lye without the popes permission ; tho' truly as some papists have declared , his holiness was to blame not to dispense both with the dukes receiving the sacrament in the protestant church , and their taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance for some time , since they would have been no less sons of his church , nor no less true to his power , and considering he might so easily have done it , which would have prevented all their misfortunes , and for ever have secured their interests . and next says our scribler , what if the king of france , contrary to his oath upon the sacrament , has invaded flanders , he is but one president ; and must all princes of that religion violate their oaths because he has done so ? but for q. mary of eng. violation of her oaths , covenants , and her honor , with all her barbarous recorded cruelties , let her pass , 't is not at all pertinent to his purpose to take the least notice of her . besides , for his coronation oath , 't is an oath upon compulsion ; and he has greater and more ambitious motives to make him take it , tho' against his conscience , than the french king had to take his oath upon the sacrament , and break it ; for that was only a little to enlarge his empire : but this of our popish successors is to mount him on a throne . and since it is a like ambitious cause in both , we very well know , that ambitio multus mortales falsos fieri coegit . he tells us now his first design was only to be of the defensive part . but if comparisons of these times with those of the late rebellion ; if railing at , and accusing three parliaments of a horrid plot , a plot to ruin monarchy , ferment us into civil wars , and make us cut our own throats , be more than defensive , the second page of his pamphlet must tell him to his face he lies . but now he is at the same thing again ; he must say something . well tho' he denies the possibility of introducing popery , because a great many as good protestants as the characterizer do both say so , and believe it too ; yet certainly he thinks the party very powerful , to protect his notorious impudence against the king , the parliament , and all the judiciary power of the nation , who has with great wisdom , and by strong proofs , found out a most hellish and dangerous plot ; a plot against the life of his sacred majesty , the protestant religion and government ; and with reason and thankfulness have acknowledged 't was only the especial providence of god that has delivered us . but he says , 't is not only impossible to introduce popery , but 't is impossible for the papists themselves to believe it could be done ; that is to say , there has been no plot on that side . but what has he made all the three estates of england to be , but a pack of rascals and villains , to pretend a plot where there was none ; and to set their hands to the confirmation of such a falshood , and to the delusion of the undiscerning multitude ? nay , he has a further charge against that great and honourable council of parliament , who ( tho' a papist king cannot influence the judiciary officers of his own creation ) have already depraved the bench , and obstructed justice , as in the last line of his 8 th page , where he says , iustice has been denied , where it might give distast to the representatives of the nation . well , but after much sensless quibling upon the characterizer's being a papist , because he was of their minds so far as to believe their design of establishing popery in england might have took effect ; he at last has not only granted the possibility of their belief , but the introducing of popery feasible . yet ( says he ) does it follow , that because they thought so then , that they think so still ? sure they have little reason to believe that that design which was in so hopeful a forwardness as never since queen maryes days could be boasted of , carried on with all the art and contrivance , all the secresie and cunning of a diligent and active party , favoured by several the greatest persons in the kingdom , and those most eminent for their riches and interest to support the cause , and the universal security of the nation conspiring with all these , and after all this brought to nought ; should ever at all , or at least in this age , be effected , when all their measures are broken , and all their wicked contrivances laid open , and the whole scene of that religious villany displayed to publick view ; when the whole nation is still awake with continual fears , and fresh alarms against them . yes , mr. scribler , 't was and might still be possible , if the people of england be yet more sensless than in that security you spoke of , and does yet leave them the hopes of a pernicious popish king ; there will be then no need of plots , his power will undoubtedly perform much more than all their hell-born stratagems cou'd ere design . it was indeed an over-hasty roman zeal to mount him on the throne before his time ; they were impatient of delays thought long till they arrived at their dear promised land , and wou'd have took delight to have waded through that sea of blood that wou'd have brought them thither ; 't was that and providence that it seemed had not designed we all should perish in our dreams , made them so unhappy to themselves , and fortunate to us . their fear ▪ that death might interpose betwixt them and all their hopes , and snatch their darling prince before his brother's or their work was done ; their dread of this , and eager thirst of blood , made them plot on for what they might have had without , and ruin all . but to prove 't is possible , in case of a popish king , 't is in the power of any english prince to remit the punishments due to that party when convicted , as has been experienced ; and i think none will doubt but a popish king , and an obedient son of holy mother church , will extend his negotiation a little further for them than an heretick , so far no doubt as to encourage his own religion , and suppress its enemies , and give them leave to revenge their long sufferings . well , admit this king , and more certainly the impowering his party to all they can desire , what will the cackling of all our protestant geese do then , to the preserving our capitol ? even as much good as our scriblers vindication has done his master . next , if it were possible that we shall ever suffer a papist king in england , and put the reins of government into his hands , whose arbitrary principles we so abhor ; when we do this , we shall no doubt not only be content to let him have a standing army , but shall every man voluntarily contribute to the setting up and maintaining that army we know before-hand is design'd to enslave us , or cut our throats . but i will hope , and believe it impossible for the whole nation to be mad at once ; and on that presumption agree with my pamphleteer in that point , that we shall have no standing army , no arbitrary government ; and indeed i fancy the jesuits have just cause to say now , perditur haec inter miseros lux. well but he says again , it were folly for a papist king to attempt the bringing in of popery : for , says he , young as the reformation was in queen maryes days , it might indeed with some ease have been pluckt up , ere it had taken root ; the papist in those days equal , at least , if not exceeding the protestants , all longing for the restoration of their religion : but now when this idolatrous superstition has been so long worn off the minds of the people , and the reformation so deeply and so strongly rooted , the roman church so detested both for the dangerous innovations of its doctrine , and the idolatry of its ceremonies ; and so odious in the eyes of the people for its pernicious principles exprest in the villanous practises of its professors , in massacres , and plots all detected . all this indeed is very true ; and i confess he is so far much in the right . but soft and fair ! how came this to pass ? how has the papists disobliged you , now that you are so briskly treating of their pernicious principles , the dangerous innovations of their doctrines , idolatry of their ceremonies , and their villanous practices in plots and massacres ? how came the wind to be thus turn'd now ? or has my good friend forgot himself since he writ the second page of his wise answer , where he was showing that the principles of a papist and a protestant so little differ ; 't is contrary to reason or common sense a papist should be less an honest man for them , as only differing in a few disputable matters of faith , and not very material ceremonies of divine worship . and is it possible that he who has so exclaimed against contradictory discourse and arguing , and has so much endeavoured to find it out where it never was , by leaving out , or adding words of his own , should at last be found so grosly guilty of the same fault ? well , but perhaps he may as justly as his master say the case was alter'd , so he could not help it ; for indeed his first business was to perswade us to believe what a happy condition we should be in under the reign of so virtuous and heroick a popish king , and to take off our dreadful apprehensions of his religion ; therefore he tells us the small difference betwixt us and them , as only a few disputable matters of faith , &c. but fearing that work with all his painful arguments may not be perfectly finisht , therefore he now says we have no reason to think it can do us any harm , because it can never be establisht in england ; for the dangerous innovations of its doctrines , and the idolatry of its ceremonies , and villanous practises of its professors in plots and massacres , have rendred it so odious . but this contradiction was a little unlucky in this place , just where he is accusing the false satyr of blowing hot and cold with the same breath ; but in that we may suppose he did forget himself , which may be forgiven him too , since by his handling both these arguments with so much convincing art and cunning , he has proved good wits are incident to ill memories . but now he says , 't is plain , tho' the triple mitre be struck at , the three crowns is their aim ; nor would they be so violent against popery , which they have no reason to fear , but that they know 't is the charm to bring in the people to the ruine of monarchy ; knowing the multitude to be not unlike beasts or cattel in a ship , which in any storm that is raised , if they are made apprehensive of the vessels sinking on the one side , run immediately with such a violent panick fear to the other , that they overset the ship , and quite overwhelm themselves and it in ruin . and all this lyes again at the parliaments door , because they have endeavoured for the good of the kingdom to disinherit a popish successor , and have not supplied the king with moneys , tho' at the same time they have declared , if his majesty will be graciously pleased to join with them , and bar all the pretence of papists to this english diadem , secure their fears by passing that one bill against that prince , whose succession is the terror and distraction of this nation ; an act in which consists the peace , the safety , and the glory of three kingdoms ; let him but be removed from all pretensions to this crown , which justly may be done by king and parliament , and they will open their purses so wide to him , give him that mass of wealth , as will make him both fear'd abroad , and beloved at home . so vast a treasure will they make him , as none of all his royal ancestors , nor he himself was ever master of . but should they have done 't without , it would have betrayed the nation , ruin'd their own priviledges , and left all grievances as unredressable as unredrest , and then they might thank themselves for what would follow . and next our scribler thinks it very unreasonable that the prince alone should not have the benefit of liberty of conscience , which every subject in his dominions takes very ill to have denied to himself . truly 't is hard indeed ; but the circumstances of this nation considered , not at all to be wondred at : for i believe all men of sense , as well as sir poll , as he calls him , will take it for granted , that if this popish heir comes to the crown , he will by the dictates of that religion , in spight of vows and covenants , promote the romish interest with all the severity , injustice , and tyranny , that most religious cruelty can invent . but whether or no he will condescend to make the least excuse for it , as the characterizer has supposed he might , i cannot tell ; but our answerer that laughs at the supposition , 't is probable knows more of his mind , than to think he will be guilty of so much curtesy , as to make us an excuse for any thing he does against us . if ( says a critick in the character ) these be the dangers of a popish king , why have we not such strong , such potent laws made before this popish heir comes to the crown , that it shall be impossible for him ever to set up popery , tho' he shou'd never so much endeavour it ? the character answers , to endeavour to do it by law , even with those laws we have already against it , is impossible . but it is likewise as impossible for any man of sence to believe , that he being a papist , and vassal to the pope , either will or can put those laws in execution . but then a little after 't is confest he may be totally restrain'd from all power of introducing popery by the force of such laws as may be made to tye up his hands ; and put the execution of those laws into the hands of the people , and consequently those laws must be such as must ruin his prerogative . well , but granting thus much , says our answerer , what you infer from this is doubly ridiculous ; first , that no monarch would thus intail such an effeminacy on a crown as shall render the imperial majesty of england but a pageant , a meer puppet upon a wire . and what can you make more of a king that has no power , no not so much as the meanest subject in his dominions can have after these laws are made to tye up his hands ? he cannot put an officer in any place throughout his kingdoms , for fear he should be a papist , nor take one servant of that perswasion into his court , they being all liable then to the conviction and persecution of the people ; and when it is so far from him to defend them , that 't is not in his power to favour , in any case , the dearest of his own party : for may not his subjects , or rather his masters , inspect into his actions , and call him to account for every thing they think a misdemeanor , having the law in their own hands ? and when his prerogative is thus ruined , is not this prince more like a pageant born upon mens shoulders , than a king ? which when they are weary of , they may throw him down , and dash him all to pieces . but these laws , says he , that bind up a king so strictly , suppose him to be a popish king , such only to be restrained , this is not therefore an intailed effeminacy , but a short eclipsing of the full splendor of a crown , which in the next protestant successor is to shine forth with greater luster . but how will you assure us that the people , after they have been once possest of such a glorious power , will ever give it back again ? indeed i doubt it : for we have not seen the english men so willing to part with any of their magna charta , or the least of their priviledges : no , i am rather afraid it will rather give them the itch of taking the name as well as power upon them ; and i believe 't is the only expedient to subvert this glorious monarchy into a commonwealth . but to give us hopes that we may have a very good and merciful popish king , that will neither remember petitions , protestings , nor association votes , he refers us to the consideration of his royal brothers clemency , which indeed has been so great , that ingratitude it self cannot but acknowledg it ; but all this while he was a protestant prince , and therefore that can be no argument to make us think a papist king will be as gracious : for were his nature an original of mercy , he could not be the man he would be , without the forfeiture both of his conscience , religion , and his kingdoms : for if an emperor or a king ( says parsons ) shows any favour to an heretick , for that he loseth his kingdom , philopat . p. 109. becanus , another of their authors , says , if that kings and princes are negligent in rooting out of hereticks , they are to be excommunicated and deposed by the pope , controv. anglican . p. 131. 132. and when the papists tell us how many virtues he is master of , and amongst the rest how noble and how strong his friendship is , then granting the truth of this , his opposers has more reason to dread his power : for 't is a known maxim , the greatest and truest friend , the most implacable and revengeful enemy . but for those acts of parliament which we find ordering and disposing of the succession , they make ( says he ) very little for the purpose for which they were produced . yes , they prove that the succession has been given by act of parliament , where the king and the parliament thought fit ; and upon those reasons they afterwards thought more weighty , the gift has been recalled , and they have placed a right elsewhere ; and who shall dare to say these acts , or any made by king and parliament , are unjust ? indeed the king without his people , or the people without their king , cannot alter the succession , but with a joynt consent : those acts of parliament declare it has and may be done again ; and certainly there never was a cause that did require the changing of the succession half so much as we have now . but he is drawn to an end ; and i thought nothing could have been more audacious than his answer is throughout , in notorious accusations of all our great and honourable parliaments ; but the dedicating his libel to those very men with the same hand he writ it of them , is a boldness that certainly has no president , but is an original of impudence . a reply to roger l' estranges pamphlet . well , but now for our second masquerade , who begins just like his brother , and carries on the argument of forty one throughout every paragraph of his whole pamphlet , to answer all that can be said against popery with that . he tells us : the character of a popish successor were an excellent piece in the kind , if it had not too much sublimate in it . the truth of it is , says he , the author has made the figure of his successor too frightful , and too enormous ; and then he finishes his master-piece with a paradox , by the supposal of a most excellent prince , and yet making him the greater devil for his virtues . i cannot suppose it any paradox , to say the intoxication of romish principles , and that religious frenzy in the brains of majesty , will pervert all his natural virtues , and make him imagine he does his god and his people good service , and think he improves his talent sevenfold , when he puts the severest roman laws in force against us , which is no less than the forfeiture of our estates , next the loss of our liberties , and our lives in a very short time after . nor are we to suffer any death more merciful than burning alive , which is the popes own law , in these words , decerminus ut viva in conspectu hominum comberatum ( de hereticis . 7 decretat . sect . in consutilem ) . nay , his obeying his superior ecclesiastick power in executing these laws , shall be so far from making him or any other papist else , think him the greater devil , as he says , that on the other side the pope , and all of that church , will tell him he has improved all his virtues to that height , that he deserves to be a saint ; has merited that heaven which they will give him . but before i go any further , says he , let me recommend to the reader one remark , as a thing worthy his attention , that he cuts all the way upon the successor , as presupposing him to be a papist , and consequently dangerous and insufferable by reason of that perswasion ; and very magisterially gives his own bare word for the dangers of that perswasion : why does he not rather tell us in particular terms , these and these are the principles , and then make his inference from those principles , to the dangers that attend them . i thought both the principles of the roman church , and the dangers that attend them , had been too well experienced in england , as well as other places , not to be known to the most vulgar person in it : for what was q. maries tyranny , but an impulse of conscience derived from those popish principles that told her that all hereticks are all notorious traytors , traytors against god himself , and therefore guilty of the highest high treason , which they call crimen laesae majestatis divina , and therefore they deserve that worse penalties should be inflicted for that , than other high treason ? and it is besides enacted by a general decree , that whatsoever king , bishop , or nobleman , shall believe that the decrees of the roman bishops may be , or shall suffer them to be violated in any thing , be accursed , and shall remain for ever guilty before god , as a betrayer of the catholick faith , caus. 25. 91. cap. 11. and therefore considering all this , we cannot with reason think that such barbarous cruelty could be the delight of naturally soft and tender hearted woman , or that majesty could be so perjured , so ungrateful , and so dishonourable for little or no advantage ; but she was a servant of the church and pope , and durst not incur his curse , that was to open her the gates of paradice ; and 't is impossible for any papist to have such a soveraign power as hers , and not to be the same tyrant that she was . now in answer to a paragraph which his brother , the wiser of the two , skipt over , concerning the barbarity of the known doctrine of the roman church , that pronounces damnation to all that differ from it in any one matter of faith , and to justifie his masters and his religion from such a terrible accusation , as tearing up his fathers sacred monument , branding his blessed memory with the name of heretick ; and the compleating the horrid anathema , of most impiously execrating the very majesty that gave him being . he says the characterizer lays down a false supposition , and then raises out of it a most uncharitahle consequence ; for the very position , that there is no salvation out of that church , is yet qualified with an exception , in case of an invinsible perswasion . i think that case was plain in that royal martyr , who sealed the invinsible perswasion of the protestant faith with his blood . and next he says , if this be so lewd a principle in one religion , why is it not so in another ? which being admitted , involves every individual member of the church of rome in the same condemnation . so that he says , in asserting this doctrine the characterizer himself damns all the papists , as well as he makes them damn all the protestants . now as i never thought the protestants in a more likely state of damnation for the papists saying or believing so ; so i always thought it was the proof of crimes , and not the accusation ; that must condemn all men before so just a judg as god almighty ; and there are such proofs of that hellish doctrine , that it bears witness against it self : for 't is not the protestants knowing and judging their principles , but their believing and following them , damns the papists ; but he is a protestant that holds the romish tenents as good as those of the church of england , and is of whether for a peny : so that 't is possible he may believe a man deserves to be hanged as much for being accused of burning a house , or killing a man , and think him as guilty , as if he were taken in the fact : nay , with him a protestant shall as justly deserve to be damn'd for saying this is a popish tenent which they themselves declare to be so , as those papists that believe it ; and we must have a special care of saying they do any thing ill , lest we contribute more to their damning than they themselves . and now let us see what this pretended protestant champion mr. le strange says to an oath of a roman catholick prince . take that for granted once , that there is no trusting to their oaths , and you cut all the ligaments of society and commerce ; there is an end of all treaties and alliunces , amicable and mutual offices betwixt christian princes and states ; nay ( says he ) 〈◊〉 but that maxim , and you turn all europe into a shambles , and put christendom into a state of war ; for where there is no trust , there is no security . well i allow all this , that these politick reasons of state may oblige papist princes to keep their oaths with foreign princes , nay with heathens , when they shall break them with their own subjects , to usurp an arbitrary power in their own kingdoms , and to establish their own religion amongst their own people , where they can never be called to an account . and as the character says , he has religion to drive the royal jehu on ; religion that from the beginning of the world , through all ages , has set all nations in a flame , yet never confessed it self in the wrong . mr. le strange says these are strange words to come from the mouth of a pretender to scruples , and a protestant advocate ; his quarrel is not now so much to a popish as a religious successor . if he had said only the pretext of religion , he might have appealed to the clamours of his brethren , or his own papers . hold there , honest mr. towzer ▪ follow not the scent so close ; 't is his religion will drive the royal iehu on to our destruction ; and i am sure blind zeal as well as pretext , has at some time or another set almost all nations in a flame . he has told us , 't was the pretended fear of popery that brought a pious and a protestant prince to the block . and tho' we all know this to be a sad truth ; yet that can be no argument to us now , who have the demonstration of evident plots , and an heir , an apparent roman catholick to bring in popery , and to establish tyranny , if it shall ever be in his power ; when that was but a pretence against his royal father , which they made use of , like those rogues that went and pretended a commission to search for priests and iesuits in hatton-garden , and under that colour robbed a house ; and because they were villains , and had none , must there be no further search made after those traytors . must the authority of all constables be denied in that case , because they came with a villanous cheat ? and must there be no plot , no danger in a popish successor , nor no just fear of popery now , because for the late rebellion they had only that pretence ? but his design is to divert our eyes from approaching tyranny , by bidding us look another way . and tho' i am no papist in masquerade , yet i must say this for that party he calls so , notwithstanding all the crimes he alledges against them , which indeed tho' never so much deluded into , or set on by the papists , will bear no excuse ; yet there is but that one president of horror against that party ; and we have no reason to suspect they would be at the same game again , for being against a popish successor's coming to the crown ; a cause so much concerns the nation . to prove that government was purely divine , he tells us , it needs no other support than the authority of the holy scriptures , by me kings reign , &c. that which we call kingly government , he says was at first paternal , and after that patriarchal ; but to prove still that kings were made for the people by the consent of god himself upon the request of the children of israel , the chain of kingly succession has been broken , and the same divine right invested in another , as we may see in 1 sam. 8. 1. where samuels sons , as judges of israel , no doubt had as great a right of kingly power , as either paternal or patriarchal government ; but they not walking in the ways of their father ( c. 8. v. 3. ) god almighty to satisfie his troubled complaining people , did grant the dispossessing these men of their lawful birthrights , and command the crowning of saul , 1 sam. 8 22. a man so remote from any pretence to that power , that he was of another tribe ; and after saul , david was anointed king , tho' saul had many sons living at the same time ; yet who dares to say , that saul's or david's was an usurpation , or an unjust power ? now we see by this , that the succession of kingly government has not been so sacred , but upon some occasions it has been changed by divine as well as lawful authority ; and from his own text of scripture , i have made the man ; the earth , and the beast that are upon the ground , and by my outstretched arm have given it to whom it seemed meet into me , jer. 27. 5. there is as much a divine right for the unmolested injoyment of five shillings per annum by a subject , as for the inheritance of three kingdoms . and for the expedient offer'd at oxford in parliament , in lieu of the exclusive bill , where 't is proposed that his children shall wear his crown ; shows plainly 't is not malice against his person , nor forty one , they aim at ; but the preservation of peace and safety in these three kingdoms . and we have great reason to thank god , and pray for a blessing on those men that struggle most against a religion which from the effects of its bloody principles we can produce so many records of tyranny and persecution . i have been told , that a reply to the first pamphlet would have sufficiently answer'd both that , and the papist in masquerade ; there being so little difference in the substance of their arguments : however i think i have particularly answered every material part of that , and mr. le strange's too . finis . the character of a bigotted prince, and what england may expect from the return of such a one ames, richard, d. 1693. 1691 approx. 44 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 14 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a69451 wing a2975ab estc r9100 13274820 ocm 13274820 98713 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a69451) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98713) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 450:8 or 1663:3) the character of a bigotted prince, and what england may expect from the return of such a one ames, richard, d. 1693. [4], 22, [1] p. printed, for richard baldwin ..., london : 1691. "licensed, may the 9th, j.f. 1691." includes half-title page. attributed to ames by wing. the "bigotted prince" is james ii. item at reel 450:8 identified as wing c1963 (number cancelled in wing 2nd ed.). item at reel 1663:3 has advertisement, "books printed for r. baldwin," on p. [1] at end. reproduction of originals in the huntington library and the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. jacobites. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. great britain -politics and government -1689-1702. 2005-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2005-04 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the character of a bigotted prince , &c. the character of a bigotted prince ; and what england may expect from the return of such a one. licensed , may the 9th , j. f. 1691. london : printed , for richard baldwin , at the oxford-arms in warwick-lane , 1691. the character of a bigotted prince , &c. it has been the great unhappiness of the kingdom of england , for some years last past , to be troubled with two very different sort of persons of quite contrary tempers ; the one party of so very costive a faith , that they could believe nothing , and the other of so easy a belief that they could swallow every thing ; the first of these could not see the sun of truth in its brightest meridian ; and even mathematical demonstration signified nothing in order to persuade them ; they could not ( or at least would not ) see their native country hurried to the very jaws of ruine , and imitated nero in his stupidity , who could unconcernedly tune his harp when rome was in flames ; every thing about 'em seem'd pleasant and gay , they never suffered their minds to be rufled with anxious thoughts for the future , so they enjoy'd the present , and observ'd in the literal ( but corrupted ) sence the command of our saviour , to take no care for the morrow ; the most surprizing relations mov'd them not a jot , and they gave as equal a credit to an information or confession upon oath , as they would have allow'd to a chapter in rablais his history of garagantua . the other were of a quite different stamp , they could credit the most improbable stories , and the most far fetcht lyes were with them esteem'd as oracles ; they were ever at coffee-houses or places of such resort , still listning to every idle pamphleteer's discourse , with more attention than to a sermon ; they could not see a chimney on fire , but immediately some treachery they believ'd was in agitation ; and a drunken midnight quarrel in the streets allarm'd their thoughts into the belief of a massacre ; they had nothing in their mouths but plots and designs ; and holy writ it self stood upon the same bottom in their creed with some witnesses depositions ; their imagination hag-rid with suspicious and fears , daily presented them with such frightful scenes , that they were not only uneasy to themselves , but likewise to all about them , which render'd their days unpleasant , and their nights unquiet , insomuch that some of them durst not go to bed for fear next morning they should wake and find their throats cut. from these two very corrupt humours in the late times ; were produced those two odious characters of whigg and tory , which were banded about so long in jest , that they soon turn'd earnest , and he was thought either a knave or a blockhead who would not suffer himself to be dignified or distinguished by one of those titles . this humour continued for some years with great violence and disorder , during the latter end of the reign of k. charles the second ; in all which time 't is obvious whoever wore the crown , a great person then at court manag'd affairs at the helm . that great prince ( who had seen both the extreams of a prosperous and an adverse fortune ) by his death yeilded the throne to his only brother , in the beginning of whose reign the two discriminating names before mention'd seem'd to have been utterly forgotten ; the former in seeing a prince the darling of their thoughts and wishes now become a monarch , and the latter in their mistaken apprehensions of his unexpected clemency in affording them liberty of conscience . the storm was now abated , and mens tempers grew more compos'd , the virtues of the soveraign fill'd every mouth with his praises ; his goodness , his justice , and his piety was the theme of common discourse , and nothing but the name of james the just heard in the most ordinary conversations . it does not become a subject too nicely to inquire into the miscarriages of a crown'd head ; but this must be consest ; very ill things were done , even to the alteration of the fundamentals both of our religion and government ; and this must be own'd by every one whose ears are not stopt by invincible prejudice or partiality . 't would be vain labour to descend to particulars in a discourse which is design'd to be of another nature . the jewish feast of tabernacles , tho' long time abrogated by the coming of our saviour , hinders not , nor forbids me to reflect on the dangers i escap'd in the wilderness . i may lawfully , i think , select such days in the year to consider how corporations were regulated , bishops imprison'd , and other irregularities committed in the late reign , without assembling a conventicle , and there in some lewd harrang swell every miscarriage to a prodigious greatness . the actions of princes ( evil ones especially ) are their own proper heralds , and every one of his subjects carries some short remarks of his reign in their memories . i do not believe that history can parallel the joys and triumphs of any nation upon their deliverance from oppression , with the universal triumphs of the english upon the never to be forgotten late revolution ; they seem'd like men kept a long time in durance , and now were blest with the sweets of liberty ; nay , even some of our present murmerers themselves were most forwardly active to shew their zeal for the then prince of orange , who by his coming seem'd to open the scene of a new world , and restore the english to the poet's time of the golden age again . but like true israelites , we long again for the onions and garlick of egypt , and would fain be under our old task-masters once more ; the wound which was seemingly heal'd , is now broke out again , and what we lost in the antient tory , we find reviv'd in the modern jacobite . we were told in a prophetick discourse some years since , what treatment we were to expect if a prince of the romish communion should settle upon the throne ; the effects of which every one who is not wilfully blind must acknowledg . did he not drive jehu-like in a full carreer to rome ? were not his emisaries in every great town in england regulating corporations , and poisoning the minds of the people with popish doctrins ? were not all places of trust both civil and military fill'd up with those of the romish faith , or others whom he made use of for his own ends ? were they not come to an excessive hight of impudence both in their sermons and discourses ? was not the torrent swell'd so high that they hourly expected the deluge ? were not the fences of the law ( the security of the subject ) attempted to be broke down ? and magna charta , when in opposition to the princes will , be valued no more than a cancell'd deed of conveyance ; was not an embassador sent to rome , and a nuntio entertain'd here ( to settle the protestant religion no doubt ) and a thousand other practices committed as directly opposite to the interest of the english nation , as fire is contrary to water . was all this done in a corner ? were not their actions as barefaced as the sun ? and after all this , and the deliverance we enjoy , must we go into the house of bondage again , and put on those fetters we so lately shook off ? let the seeming warmth of this parenthesis be a little excus'd ; yet i must confess , such considerations as these are almost valid enough to justify a passion , and make anger appear no fault ; for were the roman catholicks the only asserters of the rights of the late king james , the wonder would be little ; bodies often sympathise at a distance , and they by several obligations are bound to wish him success ; and while they terminate in empty hopes , let them still regale themselves with their airy diet ; i pity the deluded creatures , but cannot blame them , because they act upon their own principles ; and 't would be as unnatural for them not to pray for his return , as for a cardinal , in hopes of the popedom , to wish success to the protestant forces ; or a calvinist to drink a health to monsieur catinat : but when a sort of men guided , as they pretend , by the dictates of an unerring conscience , shall at this time of day openly declare for an exploded interest , and these protestants too , men no ways leven'd with popery , or any of her doctrin's , but zealous maintainers of the church of england , devout and pious , charitable and just , in the chief employments of the church , and the brightest of the golden candlesticks : for these so openly to declare their aversion to this present government , and their fondness for the last , is what does not a little elevate and surprise ( to use an expression of mr. bays ) and comes almost as near to a miracle as transubstantiation . a late very eminent doctor of the church , when the prosecution was violent against the dissenters , wrote a most learned tract , concerning the nicety of a scrupulous conscience ; wherein he very curiously anatomizes the several meanders and turnings of that invisible operation , and proves that humour , discontent and interest do frequently wear the livery of conscience . how nice soever some may be in point of religion , i wish these gentlemen could acquit themselves from the forementioned disguise with which they masquerade their political conscience . one would wonder what strange bewitching sophistry the church of rome makes use of to blind the understandings of her votaries , to that degree , that they are continually mistaking their own interest , and tamely to deliver up their bodies , souls , reputation and fortunes for the reversion of purgatory hereafter , only for the slight gratification of their humours here ; and i appeal to the greatest asserter of king james his interest , if they can produce any crown'd head in england since the conquest , who was half so infatuated and bigotted to the interest of the see of rome , as the late king : indeed we read of a religious edward , and a pious , devout henry ; but our english history cannot afford us one instance of a prince who would sacrifice his own honour , his kingdoms safety , his interest abroad , and the love of his subjects at home , meerly out of a mistaken zeal to the advancement of the romish faith ; the most solemn oaths and protestations esteem'd no more than words of course ; and that which was held sacred amongst all mankind , valued as nothing in competition with a command from the apostolick chair : the old lady at rome with all her wrinkles , has still some charms to subdue great princes ; and tho she has abus'd , depos'd , and murther'd so many of her lovers , yet she finds every day some new admirers who are proud of her charms ; a practice which comes as near a miracle , as any that church in her legends can boast of ; and i hope some passages in the late reign are not so forgotten , but they may serve to justify the truth of the assertion . indeed for our amusement we were once told by a popular pen , that allowing a king upon the english throne , principled for arbitrary government and popery , yet he was clog'd and shackl'd with popular and protestant laws , that if he had ne're so great a mind to 't , there was not a subject in his dominions would dare to serve him in his design . how true this assertion has since prov'd , let any indifferent person judge ; the late king himself both dar'd and found no small number of his subjects as resolute as their master , to alter the whole frame of the english government ; he found not men only of his own communion , but men of all religions , or rather of no religion at all , whose desperate fortunes push't'em on to the most daring enterprises ; his single command added life to their motions ; and no wonder he found tools to work withal , when all the obligations of law were shrunk into the small compass of a princes will , and the musty lines of magna charta dwindled to a sic volo , sic jubeo . several other artifices were us'd , to let us conceive a popish prince no such terrible bugbear as common fame represents him ; as that the idolatrous superstition of the church of rome was by a long series of time so worn off the minds of the people , and the reformation so strongly rooted , the church of england so firmly establish'd , the romanists so detested for their innovations in doctrin and absurdity in ceremonies , &c. that it was impossible ever to fix popery here : but , alas , 't was meer delusion , we quickly saw through the juggle , and the state-quacks discover'd their leigerdemain tricks too openly ; and had not almighty god by a most surprising , and almost unparllel'd providence deliver'd us , i know not by this time , but that the name protestant had been as odious in england , as the term of hugonot is now in france ; and the dominicans and franciscans left their cells in lincolns-inn-fields and the savoy , to have sung their regina coelorum in all the cathedrals in england . i am not ignorant how some persons do still magnifie the merits of the late king , as to his private virtues , as his being descended of the blood royal , his inviolable tenderness for his friend , the exact correspondency of his mouth and heart , his courage against the dutch , &c. but these were glimmering rays of his , which shin'd upon some few only ; for when he came to his meridian , they chang'd their nature , and the scorching beams of his zeal for his religion got the ascenednt of all his other accomplishments , which so clouded his discerning faculties , that he mistook his friends for his enemies , and his enemies for his friends ; the most sage and deliberate advices given him in opposition to beloved jesuits , were censur'd as intrenchments upon his prerogative , and the single ipse dixit of father peters , valued above the joynt council of the realm ; the colledges of oxford and cambridg esteem'd as nurseries of hereticks , and the president and fellows of magdelen colledg most illegally ejected from their just rights , to receive upon the foundation a sort of sparks who were neither schollars nor gentlemen . priviledg was swallow'd up by prerogative , and know i am your king , was a supersedeas to all manner of humble petitions and remonstrances ; his priests , those fatal scorpions , he so hugg'd in his bosom , were the chief incendiaries , and contrary to our known laws , swarm'd over from doway and st. omers , greedily gaping after preferments , which they needed not have wanted , could his will alone have placed them in ecclefiastical dignities ; they must be humbly content with titular and imaginary bishopricks in nubibus , till the stubbern hereticks who enjoy'd 'em , would at once part with their reasons and their livings together . but the greatest occasion of his arbitrary government , and the aera from whence he may date all his late misfortunes , was his friendship with the french king , a right son of ishmael , whose hand is lifted up against every man's , and every man 's against his ; a man who has not one single virtue to counterballance that prodigious stock of vices which harbour in his breast ; a man who has built a reputation upon the ruins of his neighbours kingdoms ; and yet with this gallick nimrod did the uunfortunate king james contract a most lasting alliance . i perceive i am stopt in my assertion , and a little dabler in politicks challenges me to prove the contract : 't is true , we cannot shew the original deed , with their signets and names affixt to it ; but he must surely be delivered over to unbelief , who cannot credit such circumstances as serve to clear the matter from all doubt or hesitation : who promoted the marriage of the duke with the princess of modena ? who defraid the charges of her journy , and paid the greatest part of her fortune , but the french king ? if this will not satisfie , pray examine coleman's letter to sir william throgmorton ; the duke 's then agent at the french court , where he tells him , that when the duke comes to be master of our affairs , the king of france will have all reason to promise himself all that he can desire ; for according to the dukes mind , the interest of the king of england , the king of france , and his own , are so closely bound up together , that 't is impossible to separate them one from the other , without the ruin of them all three ; but being joyned , they must notwithstanding all opposition , become invincible : there are other letters between mr. coleman and father le chaise which carry such undeniable marks of a contract between king james when duke of york and louis le grand , that none but those devested of common sense , can have reason to doubt it : if this is not throughly convincing , let any one consult the memorial given in by monsieur d' avaux , the french embassador at the hague , sept. 9th 1688 , which if the curious reader desire to see at length , i refer him to the 1st vol. of mercurius reformatus , or the new observator , no. 5. wherein the ingenuous author of that paper , does prove it beyond all possibility of contradiction . there are several other arguments as unquestionable as the former , which for brevity's sake , i omit . and now 't is time to breath a while , and consider what are the those regal virtues , of which , if a prince has not a share , he will hardly answer the expectations of his people , nor the ends of government ; they are generally recon'd to be piety , prudence , justice , and valour ; but if his piety degenerates into biggottism , his prudence into unsteady timerousness , his justice into acts of cruelty and severity , and his valour into rashness and obstinacy ; what ever his flatterers may say of him , yet certainly he is unfit to govern. let the reader apply the character where he pleases , and find a crown'd head whereon to fix these four vices , by another name call'd virtues . how much of the comparison may fall to the king's share , we know not ; but of his bigottry , zeal , ( or what other name you please ) to his religion , i believe by this time the world wants not to be convinc'd ; for if for arguments sake we should allow ( what we cannot believe ) viz. a merit in religious actions , certainly the late king has bid the fairest for cononization , after his death , of all the crown'd heads who have liv'd these two centuries , who would sacrifice three kingdoms to the capricios of a priest ; but be it unto him according to his faith ; and indeed it is but just he should expect a crown in heaven , if for its sake he has lost one on earth . this in a few lines we have given the character of a bigotted unfortunate prince : but leaving him at his devotions , let us a little return homewards , and observe a sort of men who are so very impatient under this government , that their very looks express their discontent ; they are as uneasy , tho in the sun-shine of liberty , as the slaves at algeirs are with their chains ; they cannot take an oath to a government that will protect 'em , and nothing will ever satisfy them , but the return of their old master . good god! to what stupidity is mankind arriv'd ? to dislike the most easy government in the world , to espouse that which is the most barbarous in its nature : a government that in measures of cruelty exceeds ev'n the most savage communities on the coast of india ! a government so debauch'd with false religion , that considering the interest of mankind , and the ill usage it exposes mens persons and fortunes to , it could be almost wisht that such a religion had never been known in the world. in the name of wonder , what would these gentlemen have ? they were many of them ( at least many pretended to be ) uneasy under the last , when popery and arbitrary government seem'd to come as an armed man ; and now they are almost beyond the possibility of such fears , they murmur : of what mercurial temper are the english compos'd , that they can never be setled ? popery was once their terrour , and now that is remov'd , they fear they know not what ; like men in feavers , they are restless in this bed , and when remov'd to another , are as uneasy in that . i appeal to any of them , if the pressures that gawl their shoulders , either in their persons or fortunes , was not brought upon themselves by their own perverse obstinacy , for which conscience is still the pretence ; the government would have them live easy , and enjoy their estates and preferments both civil and ecclesiastical , nor would molest them while quiet they might sit under their vines and under their fig-trees , but they will not ; and if men will turn themselves out of all , in compliance to a humour , who can help it ? it must be confest , that when once the persons of kings grow contemptible , or little in the eyes of their subjects , their smallest miscarriages are magnified to that degree , as very often terminates in their ruin : but there is an errour on the other hand , when the worst actions of princes shall be thought innocent ( for according to some persons creed , a king can do no wrong ) and the belief of passive obedience is carried so high , that even his arbitrary proceedings shall be winkt at : this is to exceed even the arts of the turkish policy , who pay not a greater veneration of their grand signiors , than some of our zealots do to the late king , they solemnly drink his health upon their knees , and pray for him in their private devotions affectionately ; nor do they forget him in the publick liturgies of the church , for every one knows the secret mystery of bless and protect the king our governour . to be short , nothing will serve them but his return , to redeem them out of their imaginary bondage ; for this they wish , for this they pray : nay , the jews themselves do not at this day with greater impatience and mistaken zeal expect the coming of the messias , than these kind of men do for the restauration of king james to his crown and dignity . let us therefore a little examin what specious pretences they have for such an ambition ; and tho indeed they are as shy of revealing the secret , as they would be of a fairy treasure ; yet by some expressions occasionally dropt in conversation , 't is not very hard to conjecture some of them . as first , they are great pretenders to moral justice ; they say king james had a great deal of wrong done him , and being their soveraign prince , they are obliged to see him righted . are they so ? but who gave them the commission ? their conscience , they will tell you , but their conscience is so great a riddle , that it will never be expounded ; their conscience would have king james in his throne again , tho never so much bloodshed and miseries might ensue ; their fondness to his person closes their eyes and stops their ears to all the calamities their fellow subjects must necessarily suffer by such a revolution ; nay , this very conscience of theirs , was one of the chief occasions which prompted the late king to commit those arbitrary actions in his shortliv'd reign ; they told him he might do what he pleas'd , and for his actions , was accuntable to none but god , tho he should turn upside-down our laws , religion , and liberties , and that we were tamely to submit our necks to the blow when ever he should command it , in spite of laws , tho it were in the power of our hands to save our selves by a just defence . no wonder then upon such considerations as these , and prompted by the native cruelty of his own religion , he permitted those unaccountable actions to be committed ; and he is as much beholding to those fiery sticklers for the loss of his crown , as he was to father pretre's , and other jesuetick advice . it is the nature of mankind to covet liberty , and to have all things about them easy and free : now i would ask these gentlemen what greater freedom they can expect , were their beloved prince reinstated in his throne again , than what they now enjoy ? are not their fortunes secur'd to them by the best laws in the world ? who goes about to invade their properties , or devest them of their estates ? yes , they reply , some bishops and other ecclesiastical persons have lost their livings and means of subsistence , because : — yes , the because is very well known , because they cannot take the oaths . it would have been wisht , that those reverend persons would have inform'd the world with the reasons of their non-compliance , which might have regulated the unthinking minds of some of their bigotted followers , who out-do even the votaries of the church of rome in an implicit faith ; and believe 't is not lawful for them to swear to the government , because dr. such a one refuses the oaths . a very pretty conclusion ; but allowing it to be conscience in their own acceptation , i believe when humour , prejudice , and some other niceties are separated from it , the thing call'd conscience will appear in this case but an airy notion . some of the most moderate of them , i confess , who are great lovers of the late king , could wish him here again without the assistance of the french ; but if their faith was but as strong and powerful as their hopes , they might certainly remove mountains , and joyn the alps to st. michaels-mount in cornwall ; but these are wishes as improbable as they are impossible to be effected ; for you may as easily separate heat from fire , or moisture from water , as divide the interests of king james , from those of lewis the fourteenth ; no , no , like hippocrates his twins they must live and dye together ; and therefore these sort of men deserve rather our pity than our laughter . but there are another sort who will have their old master return again , though by never such indirect means ; and are as glad when they hear of the success of the french arms , as they would be to receive the news of the death of some decrepid relation of theirs , who by his exit , leaves them a plentiful estate . and let mons and flanders , savoy , and all the confederate countries be reduc'd to heaps of ruins , so their dear king may come to his throne again , though he enter'd the city of london with luxemburgh and boufflers at the head of fifty thousand french dragoons . these are hopeful protestants i'faith , blessed reformers and defenders of the christian church ; fresh straw and a dark chamber , cooling purges , leeches and blood-letting are only fit for such as these ; they are mad beyond the cure of hellebore : but because it is necessary sometimes to answer a fool according to his folly. let us ask 'em what mighty mischiefs have the dukes of savoy , and bavaria , the electors of brandenburgh , mentz , and cologne , the emperour of germany , the king of spain , and the united provinces done these gentlemen , that they are so mighty angry with them , and could wish the sculls of all their subjects were to pave the way for king james his accession to ae forfeited throne ? how came these involv'd in the quarrel ? must king james his supposed right , like pharoah's lean kine , swallow up all other princes properties ? what has he done to be so much the darling of mankind , that other mens glories must be ecclips'd to make his glimmering rays shine the brighter ? are great britain , france and ireland , to be the only goshen , and must there be darkness all over europe besides ? these men are a most strange sort of political predestinarians , who will allow no peace nor plenty to any but their master and his friends ; and it is hard to be determin'd , whether folly or madness has the greatest share in the composition of their hopes . all pity and humanity to their fellow creatures is laid aside , and they seem to exceed the indian cannibals in acts of cruelty , for how severe they may be to strangers , they yet seldom devour those of their own tribe ; no man that hears 'em discourse , can certainly keep within the bounds of moderation ; for who ever has the patience to hear their arguments , will certainly expect better reasons in bedlam , from the lucida intervalla of a lunatick . the love of ones country , was ever by the most polite nations , esteem'd as the characteristical mark of a noble soul , and vincit amor patriae , seem'd to be written in indelible marks upon their breasts ; for this the ancient greeks and romans were famous . remarkable to this purpose is the relation livy gives us of curtius a noble roman , who when the earth was sunk with a wide gap in the middle of the forum , and it was told , it would not come together again , unless some prime young nobleman were put into it ; he to deliver his country , mounted on horse-back , rode into the gaping chasma : but we on the contrary , have a sort of men amongst us , who would gladly see their native soyl over-run with a knot of villains , to gratifie one mans lust of power on the one hand , and their unaccountable humour on the other . i would fain ask them , supposing the possibility of such success , whether the french arms are so well bred , as to distinguish them from the rest of the english sufferers by such a revolution ( to which that of the goths and vandals in italy , was but a civil visit ) ? i fear like tarpeia the vestal virgin , who covenanted with the sabines to betray the capitol to them , for what they wore on their left arms ; but when they were entred , into of bracelets which she intended , they threw their targets upon her , and pressed her to death ; so would these very men suffer in the common calamity ; for the french , as well as other nations , agree in this , that though they love the treason , they hate the traytors . to invert a little the words of mr. dryden to the reader , before his poem of absalom and achitophel , every man is a knave or an ass on the contrary side ; and there 's a treasury of merits in sam 's coffee-house , as well as in richard's at the temple ; but the longest chapter in deuteronomy has not curses enough for well-wishers to the french. it was the speech of a moderate gentleman in the long parliament , when the faction in the house of commons was high against the bishops , and the establish'd church , gentlemen , ( says he ) let us see the model of your new intended superstructure , before you pull down the old one . if we should ask some of these fiery bigots for the interest of the late king , what advantages they can propose to themselves by his return ; unless like the unrewarded poor expecting caviliers at the restauration of king charles the second , they can be content to be loyal and starve ; for if the latter end of king james his imaginary reign , should be of a piece with his first real beginning , he will still neglect his truest friends , and stick close to flattering enemies . with so deep a root has the advice of a chancellor , about the year 1660 , still remain'd in the breasts of the princes , oblige your enemies , and your friends will be true to your interest . but i have wandred from my subject , by a long , but i hope , not very impertinent digression , and therefore ( asking my reader 's pardon ) return to my subject , or rather the applicatory part of it . we have seen the character of the prince and his bigotted followers ; and as all things are best set off by examples , let us now draw a parallel or landscape of the two different complexions of the reigns of king william and queen mary , and king james , and what we are unavoidably to expect , should almighty god in the course of his providence , for our punishment , and the gratification of some restless spirits , bring king james to his throne again : of the ease and tranquility of the first we are certain , but of the horrour of the latter , the most terrible ideas we can form of it in our imaginations will come short of the life ; for as the safety we now enjoy , almost exceeds our hopes ; so the stripes we must then feel , will transcend our very fears . in the person of the king , we have a prince who is truly ( what the historian says of titus ) humani generis deliciae , who has centred in his person all the valour and wisdom of his ancestors : a prince so truly great , that those lawrels which add such lustre to anothers brow , look but faintly on his , he needing no additional varnish to set off his native goodness : a prince , born to be the arbiter of christendom , whom all the crown'd heads and states of europe adore as the only person who must break the jaws of the french leviathan : not the greatest dangers which so terrify pusilanimous minds , can at all move him , who caring not for an inactive inglorious greatness , expos'd his sacred person to rescue these ungrateful kingdoms from the moct insupportable tyranny of arbitrary power ; since which , in ireland he gave most invincible proofs both of his courage and conduct ; the united force of europe could not concert their measures against france , till his presence influenced their counsels at the hague , to which he went through a thousand perils at sea ; after a short return , he is now gone again to flanders to head that prodigious army : victory seems to accompany him in attempts of war , and his worst enemies must own him to have the very soul of courage . in the person of the queen , we have a second queen elizabeth ; but with respect to her sacred ashes , we may say , the copy far exceeds the original . never did a crown'd lady shew more conduct and magnanimity than when the french fleet was upon our coast , when her illustrious husband was fighting in ireland : a princess , whose thousand charms make her fit to rule , and command even respect from her very enemies ( if any such there are ; ) her majesty is temper'd with so much mildness , that at the same time , she neither invites nor forbids access ; the glory of her own sex , and the admiration of ours . under these two illustrious persons is england , &c. at this time govern'd by the most exact laws that ever were made , the prerogative of the king not dominating over the priviledges of the people , the church of england flourishes , not withstanding the peevishness of some of her votaries ; and the dissenters enjoy their liberty of conscience without design : the great blessing of this nation , viz. the parliament , does frequently meet , and their votes are unanimous for supplies for the nations good : the taxes by them levied are ( excepting by some few discontented spirits ) willingly paid , and the people satisfied that their mony is employ'd for the uses intended , not lavishly and unaccountably thrown away on pensioners , &c. every man enjoys his plentiful or competent fortune , with all the freedom imaginable ; no tricks are made use of to decoy us into slavery ; from the very prospect of which , the king designs by his utmost endeavours to free us by appearing himself in person at the head of the confederate army , in opposition to the power of france : he designing to rescue the glory of the english nation from that stupidity , the luxury , and effeminacy of the late reigns had obscur'd it with ; and we have nothing to render us unhappy but our own groundless fears and jealousies , in which unaccountable humour , if we still persist , like the seditious amongst the jews , we shall do our selves more mischief within the walls , than our enemies could possibly do without , when the glory of their city and nation yeilded to the arms of the romans , who could never have conquered them , had not their murmurers within done more execution to themselves , than all the battering rams of titus could possibly effect against their walls . but now to shew the reverse of the medal . if king jame's return to re-assume his justly forfeited right , as no human reason can possibly suppose him to come in without the assistance of the french , let us consider what a field of blood will our country be ; he coming in like a conqueror , will make us quickly feel the difference between the easy government we now live under , and the insupportable tyranny we must then endure ; his imaginary zeal for the defence of the protestant religion , being long since quench't by the affronts he pretends to have suffered by those of that communion ; then will rome erect her standard in defiance to all the methods of the reformation , and popery become the standing religion of the nation . it cannot be suppos'd that the instructions he has receiv'd from his great patrone lewis , will easily be forgot ; and he who when in a private capacity would ever hardly forgive one whom he suppos'd had done him wrong , will now be hardly brought to forget a national indignity ; he will never certainly listen to any overtures of capitulation ; and 't is impossible to believe that things can be ever accomodated between an incens'd prince , and ( as he supposes ) a rebellious people . he has not so long breath'd in the air of france , as not to learn its tyrannical and arbitrary maxims ; and the ( as he thinks ) meritorious zeal of propagating his own religion , will let him stick at nothing , how arbitrary soever , to establish it . we may indeed imagin him to be of a merciful nature , and that all shall be forgotten as if never done , and that an act of indemnity will make all even again ; but those who are so blinded as to believe these fair promises , let them but look into an act of his own , dated at his residence in dublin . and in a proclamation of his , to his pretended subjects in scotland , may 4. 1689. he is most graciously pleas'd , not only to incourage his friends to be destroyers of mankind , but likewise offers them pardons for such inhuman cruelties : telling them in the said proclamation , 't is his pleasure they should rise in arms , and assault and destroy , and what ever blood-shed and slaughter , mutilations or fire-raisings should be done to these rebels , ( as he calls the scotch ) his proclamation should be their sufficient warrant for such acts. if this is his kindness for the scotch nation , can we think the english will more civilly be treated ? no , no , let us no longer amuse our selves with fancies of his clemency and kindness . we live under a government where we may be hapy if we please , and nothing but our discontent can render us miserable ; for as certain as there is a providence , if ever such a fatal revolution should happen , not savoy , nor piedmont , nor all the places where the arms of the french have ravag'd , were ever such scenes of blood and confusion as england will be . we are now in our crisis , and a few months will , in all probability , determin the fate of europe in general , and of our own country in particular ; and upon the success of the confederate army , headed by our most victorious prince , depends the liberty or slavery of the most civiliz'd part of the world. postscript . at the conclusion of this discourse , i imagin some smiling reader finding fault , and by his looks would seem to tell me the landskips are as ill drawn as they are ill design'd , and that the lyon is not so fierce as he is painted , nor will the return of a prince of the romish communion be so terrible to his protestant subjects as i would seem to represent . but in answer to this , i must acquaint the gentleman , that i fear i have committed un error on the other hand , and instead of adding fierce colours to make the piece seem tremendous : i have used such faint shadows as do not heighten the picture . partiality and prejudice are very ill spectacles , and but too often cause a false medium . i have seen a picture , which if one lookt obliquely upon , on the left hand were represented the heads of three fair ladies ; but if you chang'd the position of your body , and stood on the right hand of the design , the very same picture shew'd you a monkey and two parrots . i know not on which hand my reader 's judgment stands , which valued faculty of ours we find to be very often deluded ; for if i may apply a place in holy writ , very pertinent to this purpose , only exchanging the case of the father for that of the son ; they who form such terrible ideas of the imaginary severities they feel under the present reign , where they are only beaten with rods , will at the return of their idoliz'd prince , be chastis'd with scorpions . finis . books printed for r. baldwin . new predictions of the fate of all the princes and states in the world. price 4. sodom fair : or the market of the man of sin. containing , a true account of the prices of the pope's pardons and dispensations ; being a treatise very useful and necessary for all young english papists , who intend to take holy orders , or travel through italy ; and all such as intend to be cheated both out of their souls and mony. to which is added the history of adultery , as it is now at rome by law established ; with the life of clement the sixth , and blasphemous bull which he published for the year of jubile , 1350. a journal of the late motions and actions of the confederate forces against the french , in the united provinces , and the spanish netherlands . with curious remarks on the situation , strength and rarities of the most considerable cities , towns and fortifications in those countries . together with an exact list of the army . the present state of christendom consider'd , in nine dialogues , between i. the present pope alexander the viii . and lewis the xiv . ii. the great duke of tuscany , and the duke of savoy . iii. king james the second , and the marescal de la feuillade . iv. the duke of lorrain , and the duke of schomberg . v. the duke of lorrain , and the elector palatine . vi. louis the xiv . and the marquis de louvois . vii . the advoyer of berne , and the chief syndic of geneva . viii . cardinal ottoboni , and the duke de chaulnes . ix . the young prince abafti , and count teckly . the power of parliaments asserted by g.h., in a letter to a friend, lately chosen a member of the house of commons, in answer to an indigested paper by e.f. called, a letter from a gentleman of quality to his friend upon his being chosen a member to serve in the approaching parliament, being an argument relating to the point of succession to the crown, &c. g. h. 1679 approx. 47 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 7 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44972 wing h34 estc r23370 12068136 ocm 12068136 53416 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44972) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 53416) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 72:6) the power of parliaments asserted by g.h., in a letter to a friend, lately chosen a member of the house of commons, in answer to an indigested paper by e.f. called, a letter from a gentleman of quality to his friend upon his being chosen a member to serve in the approaching parliament, being an argument relating to the point of succession to the crown, &c. g. h. [2], 10 p. s.n.], [s.l. : 1679. place of publication from bm. reproduction of original in yale university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng e. f. -letter from a gentleman of quality in the country, to his friend, upon his being chosen a member to serve in the approaching parliament, and desiring his advice. legislative power -england -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2007-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-03 john latta sampled and proofread 2007-03 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the power of parliaments asserted , by g. h. in a letter to a friend , lately chosen a member of the house of commons . in answer to an indigested paper by e. f. called a letter from a gentleman of quality , to his friend , upon his being chosen a member to serve in the approaching parliament . being an argument relating to the point of succession to the crown , &c. fort. of the court of parliament . si antiquitatem spectes est vetustissima , si dignitatem est honor atissima , si jurisdictionem est capacissima . printed in the year 1679. the power of parliaments asserted , in answer to a letter from a gentleman of quality to his friend , &c. sir , if e. f. had kept himself strictly to his task , premised in the title page : namely , of the great difficulty , which is the true meaning of his two epithets of improbable and impossible of barring the right line in the succession ; i should have acquiest , knowing it to be a great truth , but when , in the height of his zeal to the cause , he admits of a barring law to that purpose , yet he invalidates it , as he would have the nation believe , to all intents and purposes : his reasons for that , worthy sir , may be worthy consideration ; the steps that he makes towards it , are in my opinion not very congruous to his designed end , which must be submitted to the scrutiny of your more discerning judgment . he begins first with the statute of the queen about succession . whosoever shall , after the death of the queen , affirm , that the parliament of england hath not full power to bind the crown in point of descent or succession , shall forfeit his goods and chattels . which he very learnedly says , doth not affect a member of the commons , because he is so , neither doth it affect any other person , because its natural for any member freely to advise with his friend about it , with mutual safety : and to prove the latter , i suppose , he tells us what irrefragable records of parliament he hath perused , that the members of the commons in ancient time , have sometimes demurred to pass certain bills of extraordinary nature , till they had consulted their countreys they served for . and then shewing his ill nature to the statute of eliz. he goes on , and tells us , he hopes his friend will find he hath stabb'd it into the fifth rib , a man that had not studied to forget scripture , as the wicked jews in antiochus's time , endeavoured to uncircumcise themselves , would have said under , or in the fifth rib , but why should he be quarrell'd with , for his unskilfulness in scripture language , when he is so notoriously out in other matters : he tells his friend , he hath searched records , but that may be questioned , when his mistakes about that statute are so gross , for the words are not as he gives e'm . if any shall after the death of the queen , &c. but they are , if any shall , during the queens life , claim right to the crown , &c. or affirm , that the laws and statutes of this realm do not bind the right of the crown , and the descent , government and limitation thereof , &c. yet though they are printed in an italick character , as all expir'd statutes are , he makes so many impertinent flourishes and inferences about his own sense in the matter , that there is no room to lay any fault upon the printer ; yet it may be these mistakes arises from his not trusting the printed statutes , because sometimes faulty , but applying himself to the record , which , for want of skill in that obsolete hand , caused these mistakes ; yet from what he says , no man knows what measures to take , for having afterwards occasion to have another bout at that terrible statute , at the end of his letter , he makes it talk at another rate . this gentleman you see hath but ill luck in his preliminary attaque , how he behaves himself afterwards , is now to be examined , he lays down for his maxim , that parliament of england cannot by their act exclude or disable the next heir of blood royal from succession to the imperial crown of this nation , when he hath made out that — erit mihi magnus apollo . for this assertion , he gives several reasons , such as they are . for his first reason , he alledges , that the succession to the crown is unseparably annexed to proximity of blood by the laws of god and nature . secondly , statute laws contrarient to those , are null and voyd . to make good his first reason , he offers at the 27 of numb . which he calls the statute law , which god himself pronounced for ordering the descent of honors and possessions , ( to use the authors own words , ) but to so little purpose , as i am sorry he lyes under the suspicion of being an english man. for the first part of that chapter treats onely about directions concerning the disposal of the inheritance of zelophehads daughters , which should be a standing rule or a statute of judgment to the children of israel . the latter part gives an account about nominating a successor to moses in the kingdom or chief magistracy , upon gods giving him an accompt of his approaching death , in which as may appear by the text , proximity of blood was not at all regarded , for though moses in probability had sons , because no account of their deaths , however he had nephews , yet joshuah the son of nun , all others set aside ; was preferred for his graces and excellent endowments , and the lord said unto moses , thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him , that all the congregation of the children of israel may be obedient . is not this a special text to prove descent of honours , according to proximity of blood ? but i conclude no great matters from that practise against this champion for succession by blood , neither indeed is any part of moses's law , whether judicial or ceremonial , at all argumentative in our circumstances , for if the statute about zelophehads daughters was as binding as the moral law , then wo worth all tenants in copy-hold or borough english for evermore ; from hence he goes on to other scripture presidents , to as little purpose , and then falls a citing of fathers to less , for what inference can be made to affect the force of our laws from any thing the fathers have said about government ? from thence , to confirm and fortify this his first reason , he had recourse to bodin a frenchman , who argues strongly for the descent upon the issue male of the next of blood , sic enim ordo non tantum natura & divinae legis sed etiam omnium ubique gentium postulat , for so , says he , not only the order of nature and divine right , but of all nations do require it . anotable advocate for the kings of england , who claim by the female , then he falls to cite a company of civilians with hard names , as pertinent to his design , as if he had prayed aid from the jewish talmud , or the old arabian doctors , but at last , as if he was conscious of some mistakes , he is content to leave the argument to civilians and divines , who are as proper for it , quatenus so , as such , as the lord mayor of london and court of aldermen . now he falls into an heroick harangue , and tells us it is most evident , but how , he hath not told yet , that all the humane acts and powers in the world , cannot hinder the descent of the crown upon the next heir of blood , to make this out , he tells you of watsons case , of the kings never dying , as if limiting the succession would alter it : after all , he takes a great deal of pains to prove allegiance due to kings , from the form of the indictments for high treason , as if any body in their right wits would deny it . now he falls to a very confident but undue concluding the question , and says , as the common law is more worthy than the statute law , so the law of nature is more worthy than that , from thence he tryumphantly concludes , no humane power can hinder the descent upon the right heir of the crown . because allegiance to the king is due by the law of nature , as he proves by the forms of the indictments before spoken of , which no body will deny , though they cannot agree with e. f. in the conclusion , as being too foreign to the point , especially when it is obvious , how that every day both the common law and the law of nature are impos'd upon , and set aside by the statute law in something or other ; for the first it is known to every little pettisogger , to the latter i shall speak hereafter : this common law , that he , so much without all reason cryes up , as if he had by some vow abandon'd the divine faculty of the soul , as people do when they turn papists , received its vigor from a meaner power , than the statute law , for it had its sanction from the conqueror alone , who had right here , neither by god nor nature . in the preamble to the confirmation of st. edwards laws , which he made the fourth of his reign , you may find these words , electi igitur de singulis totius patriae comitatibus vir . duodecem quo ●● possent recto traimite incedentes , nec ad dextram nec adsinistram divertentes legum suarum , & consuetudinum sancita patefacerent nihil praetermittentes , nil addentes , nil praevaricando mutantes . twelve men of every county being chosen , did first make oath before the king , that to their power , they would without any deviation to the right hand , or the left , discover the sanction of their laws and customs , pretermitting nothing , adding nothing changing by prevarication , the commissioners made their return , and the practice hath gone since accordingly , but when the statute law breaks in upon it , and for the better ease and instruction of the people , they were turned into french. this was the original and growth of the common law , so sacred with my author . yet e. f. mistrusting i suppose , the efficacy of what he has said , shuffles all off to the law of nature , about which he had been nibbling a little all along , and declares it not abrogable by any humane power , and from thence concludes an incapability of disherison by parliament , as being but a humane power ; then the gentleman falls on to illustrate his dogmatismes by examples of our own stories to as little purpose as the rest ; he tells you that the second william usurped upon robert his elder brother , which cannot be granted , for william claimed by virtue of the conquerors will , who ( after the example of the patriarch jacob , who gave to joseph his younger son , the land which he had taken with his sword and his bow ) gave his younger son , his english acquisition : 't is true robert made a bustle , but all was compounded for 3000 marks per annum at present and the crown in reversion : now though the intrinsick value of that summ be much more than so much now , yet it falls far short of any thing like a valuable compensation . to clear now the usurpation of william the second , i offer this foreign story ▪ alphonso of arragon conquered the kingdom of naples , and gave it to his base son ferdinand , his lawful son succeeded him in the crown of arragon , sicill , ferdinands posterity enjoyed it , without any imputation of usurpation by any writers of that or any succeeding age , until they were expuls'd by the french arms , the treachery of the spaniards concurring . then he tells you , without any regard to truth , though it be to no purpose , of the establishment of h. the ii. in whom the saxon line was restor'd , as he faith , his grandmother being the next heir to edgar atheling : which all that knows history , must conclude a notorious untruth , for edgar king of scotland was brother uterine to that lady , whose posterity is yet undetermin'd , this gentleman by these petty remarks , i suppose , will put in for a compurgatour at the tryal of the next traytors , being as well qualifyed as any young man of st. omers . from thence , after some impertinent digression , concerning the multitude of men , kill'd in the civil wars 'twixt york and lancaster , he comes to records , which he seems to set a great value upon , and tells us , that the entayl of the crown upon h. 4. and his heirs , was over ruled by rich. duke of yorks friends ; and gives you the words pro and con , and likewise tells you it had the same success under edw. 4. and from thence magisterially concludes , that a title of that sublimity and grandeur is not at all impeachable even by act of parliament . now any man of common sense would have given another reason , than the sublimity of the title to have defeated that act , namely , the incompetency of the parliament that past it , being not rightly constituted , as not conven'd by a legal authority , under a lawful king , that was the true reason of its faileur , though others may be fancyed , which more fully appears from the invalidity of all the acts of parliament by the three henryes , till confirm'd in edward the iv. time , as may appear by the statute of confirmation , to which i refer the inquisitive . now further to confirm what he would be at , he puts a modest case of the king and his three estates , for that 's the natural meaning of the word parliament , of passing an act , that no man should honour the king or love his parents or children , or give alms to the poor , or pey tithes to the parson of the parish , it would be void in it self , as the better to adjust his two later examples , he cites doctor and student , * and 21 h. 7. 2. but still according to his wonted ingenuity , for the doctors words there are , if it were ordained , that no almes should be given for no necessity , the custom and statute were void , yet he with the same wind determines , that the statute of 23 of edw. iii. since repealed , which forbad , under the penalty of imprisonment , every man to give almes to any valiant beggers , as he terms them ( which i suppose were the words of the statute ) that may well labour , that so they may be compelled to labour for their living , to be a good statute , for it observed the intent of the law of god , there is a later since made , that so modifies almes giving , that it is not to be done at all times and all places under a penalty : so that authority makes nothing for his case , his other is like 151 psalm . no such thing in being , for the last act of h. 7. was in the 19 of his reign as may appear by the printed statute , which passes in all courts for record and uncontraversable evidence . then dictator like , he concludes , after all this foisting , that he hath proved his two first propositions , that the succession of the crown in england , is inseparably annexed to proximity of blood , by the laws of god and nature , and that statutes contrarient to such are voyd , from whence it necessarily follows , as he says . that the heir of the blood royal , cannot be barr'd from succession by parliament , what need he now say any more ? but being satisfied , i suppose , of proving nothing all this while , he goes on to his second reason . that the succession of the crown to the next heir of blood , is a fundamental constitution ; to confirm this now , which no body will deny , he cites sir edward cooke , but now , whither that or any other fundamental , or any thing so called , be not alterable by parliament , is the question , about which words the gentleman seems to be fallacious , for if by that word , he means only the major of lords and commons , excluding the king , as he seems to do , by so slightly speaking of their power , he is in the right , but if by parliament , he means as the law means , he is ( as i hope to make it appear ) mistaken , now he would run down the reasonableness of their authority , from consequences , for if says he , a parliament may alter such a constitution , then the monarchy of england will become elective in a short space : but why , he does not so much as offer at , but he says it , and that 's enough , well , if it should be elective ; as long as all parties concern'd are agreed , no sin against the holy ghost , i hope : poland is an example in this case , which became an elective kingdom , from despotical , upon the fayling of the posterity of crocus in popielus the second ; as denmark hath of late by consent of their estates , become an hereditary , from an elective monarchy , but nothing of that can be here , without the royal assent , which as in probability , it will never be demanded , so it will never be granted to that , then that fear is out of doors . then he goes on with a company of lofty words , about the oriency of the pearl of succession , and tells you that the kings of england themselves , their chancellors , treasurers , and all great officers of state , their privy councellors and judges , are all by the provision of the law , sworn upon the holy evangelists , to defend and maintain the rights of the crown , and that they suffer no disherison or dammage to accrue thereto , and very gravely cites poulton for his authority : this is very disingeniously done , for that president he so much raves on , is only the form of the oath for justices , by which name judges were then called , to ●ake upon admittance , which i suppose . they may do at this day , to their offices , which was amongst other things , that they should not assent to any thing in damage or disherison to our lord the king , nor to know any such damage or disherison , but to reveal or cause it to be revealed unto him ; not a word of the rights of the crown , which are , i suppose foisted in , the better to impose upon the world , that the judges , &c. are bound by the tenure of their oath , to hinder any law , to alter the succession ; the words do not at all look forward , but are only as to what may concern the king regnant , to whom they are sworn . 't is a great fayleur in our law , that there is no punishment , for such impudent mis-citers of records , to serve a turn : for , without doubt they are within the equity of the pillory for their officious pains and industry . next he comes to a great remarque in parliament , which he cites the roll for ; namely , that the lords and commons , being demanded their advice by the king , in a matter relati●g the crown , did answer with one voice , that they could not assent to anything in parliament , that tended to the disherison of the king , and his heirs , or the crown , whereto they were sworn this looks like somewhat , but will not appear much , upon strickt inspection : the story is thus ; the arch-bishop of canterbury , declared in that parliament , that the offers of david bruce of scotland for peace were , so as he might freely enjoy to him the whole realm of scotland , without any subjection , &c. the lords and commons , being willed to give their advice , made several answers , that they could not assent to any such peace , but to the disherison of the king , and of his crown , and to the great danger of themselves , being sworn to the same . that answer now , resolves only into this , it sets forth the ill consequence of such a peace , not much considered it may be before , as the disherison of the king of the fee of scotland , which his parliament could not , that is , were unwilling to assent to an usual form of denyal amongst great men , it does not at all declare their incapability through want of power , for had that been the case , the kings council would not have been so weak as to have put it to them . but sir edward cokes comment upon the record makes all out , as he says , in margine or the margent of inst . 4. 14 no king can alien the crown , though by consent of lords and commons , then my author is at his old ward again , for my lord cookes words are not so full , but only declarative , what were the words of the parliament at that time , what his opinion was of the power of that high court , i shall shew hereafter ; then he comes to a late example of the recognition to king james , in which that kings title is acknowledged , and the parliament doth humbly beseech the king to accept the recognition not only to himself but to his heir forever , nay , they go further , they desire that this recognition may have the royal assent , &c. i wonder now this should be urged , for nothing of virtue can be conveyed by an act of parliament to that title that 's derived from god and nature , because one parliament may undo the acts of any of their predecessors , nay magna charta it self is not shotfree , notwithstanding the statute , that says , all judgments against magna charta shall be void . next he tells you , that the right heir of the crown cannot be barr'd or excluded by act of parliament , because the descent of the crown in an instant absolutely purgeth and dischargeth all obstructions and incapacities whatsoever , created by the same act of parliament , but now , if an act of parliament hinder that descent , that argument is non-suit , notwithstanding all his examples according to his usual way , to no purpose , no case alledged being any thing parallel to that he pretends to ; one great argument he hath is , that the law of the crown differs from subjects in point of descents , as descending to an alien , no coheirs in the case , no tenancy by courtesy , descent by half bloud , as all honours do , and therefore that may be law in case of the crown , which is not in case of the subject . so not to be affected by parliament as he would imply , or else he says nothing ; by that rule copy-hold tenure and gavel kind are exempted too , because their descents are not like the common law , a pretty consequence . i must now take notice how this unworthy son of the church of england , as he , and i think truly terms himself , treats queen elizabeth , though it be out of my province to say any thing in justification of the usage of the queen of scots , yet i must vindicate that great queen from his black calumny : after a kind expression or two about the scots queen , he tells you , that queen elizabeth inheriting her fathers malaversion to the house of scotland , sent her to a loathsom prison , 't is true , she was a prisoner at large under the care of the earl of shrewsbury , where nothing of liberty was denyed her but access to the queen , until she fell into the correspondence with babington , &c. he tells you farther , that the generality of mankind lookt upon maryes title to the crown better than the other , elizabeth being bastardized and rendred uncapable by act of parliament , yet unrepealed , at leastwise but a stature queen , as he unmannerly terms her , when he treats queen mary her sister , who was in his sense but a statute queen at another rate , for in the dispute betwixt her and the lady jane grey , he brings in an historian , saying tali & constanti veneratione nos angli legitimos reges prosequimur ut ab eorum debito obsequio , &c. by him thus englished : such and so constant a veneration have we englishmen for our lawful princes , that we are not to be drawn from our due obedience , &c. here queen mary notwithstanding her being bastardized by parliament is allowed a lawful queen , but religion covered her nakedness , which laid the others more open ; but our protestant is now come to himself , for cat will be cat still . i must ask this protestant now who they were that judged queen maryes title better than queen elizabeth , it was not the parliament , for queen elizabeth was proclaimed queen by a popish parliament , sitting at her sisters death , she was so by heath the chancellor , arch-bishop of york she was allowed to be so by the pope , and so stiled , till his holiness published his bull against her , she was so stiled by all christian princes , except you will say , francis the second of france his quartering her arms was an implication to the contrary , though he never had the courage to justify it . besides all these , my author may remember what he allowed to be law once in her case , and in the case of hen. the seventh , that the crown takes away all defects in blood and incapacities by parliament , and from that time that the king viz. henry the seventh did assume the crown , all impediments were discharged . i have now run over the most material points of his arguments about succession , to which i shall now oppose something of my own : i shall lay down for my position , that the parliament may make what laws they please , even against the law of nature , which nevertheless shall be binding . but before i enter any further i premise this , that my design is only to set forth the power of a king environed with his three estates , more terible than an army with banners ; his power is then like that king solomon speaks of , in the word of a king there is power , who may say unto him , what dost thou : it is not at all to direct or advise to make use of it , hoping there may never be occasion for it . in order now to the making good my assertion , its fit to examine a little what the law of nature is , or what is meant by it , which he was never so kind to do ; though he make such a noyse about the words , yet he would never tell us what he meant by them , which by his good favour , is a kind of ( if not absolute ) jargon or canting ; one of the fathers defines it to be impressio divini luminis an impression in us , and a participation of the eternal light in the rational creature . another says , it is an act of reason taken properly , man now being a creature adopted to society is allowed by natures law ( which according to which definition you please ) is nothing but rectified reason , to improve it , as far as he pleases , saving to every man the like liberty , either by way of commerce or otherways , notwithstanding now this natural liberty , nothing's more ordinary than to rescind it , as in case of warrs betwixt country , and country , or upon other state accounts , yet no complaining in our streets , by the law of nature every man is free to follow what profession he pleases , yet you see how there are restriction layd dayly in the case upon men , and such and such trades confin'd to such , and such societyes of men , as the east-indy , guiny companys , &c. or else to persons qualified , by the contemptible statute law ( as the learned author would intimate ) to follow them , yet not a word of these violations , upon the sacred law of nature ; nay to come more home , and familiarly to the case , the great law of nature is violated in the statute that declares who are , and what shall be the punishment of rogues , yet the most strict casuist , never wrote , nor much spoke against them . if now upon an indictment e. f. should be enterteyned upon the traver●… , who would make us believe he is a lawyer , to run down those acts as invalid , because violences upon the law of nature , ( as he doth endeavour to run down one though not yet in embryo , if it should pass into an act , upon the same account , ) he would pass for a quaker , or one candidate for the new palace in morefields , nay polygamy is not against the law of nature , yet the restrictions upon it , i hope by e. f's . leave , are pardonable . it will not be amiss now in order to our end , to examine how those laws of nature for succession , according to proximity of blood are regarded in other christian countreys , they are set aside in all elective kingdoms , as the empire , the kingdom of poland , the titulado dukedom of venice , nay the kingdom of france , which is e. f. s beloved president , gives no regard to the example of zelophehads daughters , though he lay such stress upon it in another case ; besides how many times , without regard to the male line it self , hath that line bin altered ? yet none disputes that kings title , but to say the truth , the pope , who alone may dispose of succession , had a hand in advancing the carolingian line , to the prejudice of the merovinian , which like offa cerbero , a sop to cerberus , keeps the cur from snarling , . how was that law of nature violated by the gui●t of the dauphinale to the crown of france , by the union of the kingdom of navarr and dutchy of britain to the said crown ? by virtue of which union , britagne is enjoyed by the french king , when the right of proxinity of blood lyes in the house of savoy to no purpose . if natures law be violable , or hath bin violated in one place , without taxation of injustice , at the discretion of the supreme power , which in every constitution of government is lodged somwhere , as by these examples is made out , then it may admit of violations again under the like circumstances , that is of safety and security , for those were the true ends of those unions , for that rule of living , quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris , what thou wouldst not have done to thy self , do not to another , improved by the law of grace to , whatsoever you would that ▪ men should do unto you , that do unto them : does not at all reach communityes or societyes of men , as may modestly be offered , otherways maiefactours might make use of that plea against the security of the laws in their concerns ; now a great latitude must be allowed to the legislative power , in making laws upon emergent occasions to provide for the publick safety , otherwayes our sanguinary laws against robbery and polygamy , being contrary to the laws of god , which directs otherways in the former , and allowed , the latter must fall under a severe censure . i shall now hasten to conclusion only subjoyn somwhat about henry the seventh , whose laws e. f. says my lord bacon comments ( because he says somthing in his case ) very handsomly upon , that king past two notable statutes , as he says , one that the crown should rest and abide to himself and his heirs , &c. the other that all persons should be indemnifyed that served the king for the time being in his warrs , this law says my lord bacon , had in it parts of prudent and deep foresight , for it took away occasion for the people to busy themselves in prying into the kings title to the crown : for howsoever that fell out , good or bad , the peoples safety was provided for . the same author in the close of that kings life , accounts it amongst his blessings that he dyed so soon , viz. before the prince comes to mans estate , who , in likelyhood considering his great spirit , would not have sitten down under the law of settlement , but have seazed the present possession of the crown , as his right by common law , the curtesy not reaching the case of the crown , as has bin sayd before , this e. f. is mighty fond on , as coming from so great a man , but to examine the matter over again , i cannot see notwithstanding my lord bacons authority , how the peoples safety was provided for by the law of indemnity , if the kings was not by the statute of settlement ; for if once henry the seventh had fallen under the power of his son , as there has often hapned such cases or any other pretender , of the house of york , the statute of safety for the people , as well as that of settlement for the king had bin equally out of doors , by alledging that henry the seventh was no legall king , so no legall parliament , like those of the three henryes , and therefore nothing of that king binding . i wonder therefore so great a man as my lord bacon should branch at so empty a rate , but more that so palpable a nothing should pass upon a man , that has such skill in that knotty way of argumentation , as e. f. pretends to have . now that something has been said to prove that parliaments have done , and do daily encroach upon the law of nature , without the least grumbling imaginable , i shall give some scripture presidents when proximity of blood , the thing insisted upon , in the case of government hath not been much regarded , yet no absolute proof of gods immediate command in the case , cain was set aside for seth , sem is not agreed to have bin the elder brother , whether abraham was or no , is likewise a question , but to be sure neither isaac nor jacob were , reuben , simeon and levi were set aside for their vices , and the dominion of all given to judah ; but these examples may be objected against , because the times before the flood were dark ; and the other may be said to be in relation to spirituals ; because none of them had , as appears , many to exercise a royal authority over , but a royal power some did exercise as is evident by abrahams offering to sacrifice his son , and judah's commanding his daughter in law to be burnt , which none but an unaccountable person could do : from the time of moses unto david proximity of blood was not regarded , joshuah of another tribe succeeded moses in the monarchy , the succession going at the same race amongst all the judges , except in the case of abimelech , whose manners and success are not very argumentative for the traverse : now that those judges were kings , or so esteemed , is plain from the text , in those days there was no king in israel , but every man , &c. because at that time when that villany was committed by the benjamites , then was an inter regnum , none to judge the people as formerly . the asmonaean family or machabees began at the same rate , for mattathias who got a party to oppose the wicked proceedings of that ungodly antiochus epiphanes , when he dyed , bequeathed the captainship of israel , which he had exercised amongst them successfully for a while , unto judas his third son , as the most fit , setting aside simon his eldest , though a worthy person , which he made appear when he came after the death of jonathan his younger brother , to the administration of publick affairs , no immediate hand of god in this , as may be said in the other , for then there was no prophet in israel to direct them , the theocracy being determined , as may appear from mach. 1. cap. 4. ver. 46. and they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place until there should come a prophet to shew what should be done with them . for a parting blow , now in answer to what is or can be said in the case , i shall lay down this thesis , that statute laws though contrarient to the laws of god are binding , this i shall make out by pertinent examples , an unanswerable argument of the power , though perhaps not of the justice of parliaments ; concerning their power i will give you my lord cookes sense , whose authority my author seems to value elsewhere . the power and jurisdiction of parliament for making of laws in proceeding by bill , is so transcendent and absolute , as it cannot be confined either for causes or persons within any bounds , to whose unlimited power the judge applyes the verse of virgil. hic ego nec metas rerum● nec tempora pono , intimating the same , i must now to make my position good give you some examples of their extravagancies , yet binding acts , jan. 26. an. 14. edw. 4. it was enacted that henry duke of buckingham should be to all intents and purposes reputed and taken a person of full age of 21 years . it may bastardize a child that is by law legitimate . as in marys winc. case 5. 6. ed. 6. it may bastardize secundum quid as to part , to bar the fathers inheritance , and not the mothers , as the late case of the children of the lady anne pier●…nt , it can legitimate totally or secundum quid , as in the case of the children of the ●…ke of lancaster , who were legitimated to all capacities but the crown ; it can allow ● man to marry another wife , his former being living , as the case of l. r. nay it ●…n dispense with a new intermarriage to both parties , no peccancy in the case , as the ●…ng and the lady anne of cleve . 23 h. 8. c. 25. if these examples now be not at least some of them contrary to gods law , i 'me in the dark , what is ; there being a positive text in one case ; as ●…om god hath joyned together , let no man put asunder ; and the other so sig●…ly anathematized , as it may be said by moses , a bastard shall not enter into the ●…ngregation of the lord , even to the tenth generation : but of all the exam●…es of their power , there is none greater than that of t. cromwell , earl of essex , whose ●…ory is commonly mistaken , but it lyes thus ; the king commanded the earl to attend ●…e chief justices , to know whether a man that was forthcoming might be attainted parliament of treason and never called to his answer ? the judges made answer , ●…hat it was a dangerous question , the high court of parliament ought to give examples inferiour courts , and none of them could do the like , and they thought that the parliament would never do it , but being prest again by a second message for a positive an●…wer , they said , if he be attainted , it could not come in question afterwards , whether he ●…as called or no , the earl soon after was sent to prison , attainted without being called ●…o answer and executed accordingly . that this statute was contrary to gods law , none will dispute , that considers that say●…ng of nichodemus ; doth our law judge any man before it hear him , and know what he ●…oth , now as much contrarient , to use e. f's . new word once more , as this law was and is ●…o gods law ; it s so far from being voyd in respect of that , that it works to this day , that family suffering under it yet , as deprived by virtue of that harsh attainder , of the earldom of essex , which no prince or parliament ever yet took notice of to the advantage of that injured lord. i shall give you another instance , that acts of parliaments against the law of god quoad forum humanum , though not in foro conscientiae , to man-ward , though not to god-ward are binding , which is to be so understood by my position at the beginning of this paragraph , for though we must chuse rather to obey god than man , yet to oppose by force an act so made , viz. contrary to gods law , is treason by mans law , as it may be circumstanced , my presidents are such as both papists and protestant e. f. and g. h. will agree to be such : the bloody statute of the vi articles which made popery a statute religion , as well , as some say , that protestanism is made so since , was against all the rules and methods of christianity , and consequently against the laws of gods , as all protestants hold , yet it must be allowed to be binding , as long as it lasted : the papists , viz. e. f. and his fellow clubbers at the compendium of the plot , that bundle of lyes and ill manners , without doubt think , and upon occasion , will say , that our sanguinary laws against priests are against the laws of god , yet even they will not deny but they are binding quoad forum humanum to manward . now as conclusive , and in answer concerning what he says , that his sacred majesty that now is , will not suffer in his time , a pearl of this magnitude and oriency , to be ravished by any hands out of the imperial diadem of this realm , i shall offer this , that a declarative act of that power in the parliament is the greatest security to any prince regnant , in the case of a contingent remainder , as i will put a case , which may , but i hope will never be our own , admit the now queen of spain , happen to be the next remainder or presumptive heir , which god forbid ; and being acted by her husbands and other popish councils should without natural affection , which is always with them postpond to religion , attempt to remove the obstruction by vile agents , quis tot referre fa●inorum formas potest , regnum petentis per gradum omnium scelerum . who can express the methods of impieties in them that ambitiously seek after a kingdom , commit insolent overtacts , as quartering the arms of england , as mary of scotland did when queen of france , which might be the occasion with the continuando of that act of the 13 of eliz. so much talked on , nay admit her husband the king of spain , should make open war , by attempting an invasion , and claim the present possession of the crown , as devolved unto the pope for heresy , and from him consigned unto that king , who without doubt hath as good a title to the crown of england , as julio ii. had to navarr , yet the king of spain holds upper navarr , that is all in a manner worth holding , by virtue of that grant to this very day , it s well enough known how other crowns too have been disposed on by the see of rome , what shall we in such a case sit and sigh , and feed our fancies with a company of insignificant wishes , hang up a rogue or too when we can catch e'm , and behave our selves like the foolish jews , who tamely let their throats be cut on the sabbath day without resistance , shall we with them say ? let us die in our innocency , heaven and earth shall testify for us , that you put us to death wrongfully . spain in the late marriage with france , provided against all contingencies of that nature , by making the daughter of spain renounce all pretensions to the crown , in case it should happen to be her right , and though it may be objected , it was not injurious , because of her assent , yet whoso considers her young years , will not argue much from thence . if there was no remedy in such a case , especially when there is a natural impossibility of defeating the presumptive heir , by natural means , as in the case of the late great queen , what encouragement can any man have to do his duty , in defending the present possessour from the practises of the impatient heir , when he is sure to be at last layd open to all injuries imaginable ▪ the holy league to prevent that , petitioned the consistory at rome , that they might have leave to overthrow the succession in a full assembly of the states , and to make the naming of a successor subject unto the said states , yet none of that party concerned themselves much , with the unreasonableness of that petition , being satisfied i suppose , with the expediency of the thing . therefore since that no laws can be , or has been made , but such as shall at some time entrench upon some particulars . it rests then naturally in the supremacy to add what new ones it in reason shall think fit , that being the only proper judge of all conveniences in that case , to think otherwise were to dismantle and disarm the government , by making it so defective , as not to be able to provide either for its own support or the subjects security , a parliament , viz. the king and his three estates , being then the only remedy in such a juncture : i shall apply for a conclusion to that uncontroulable and unaccountable authority , the 33. 34. verses of job . 41. vpon earth there is none like him , who is made without fear , he beholdeth all high things , he is a king over all the children of pride . no more worthy sir , but i am your humble servant , g. h. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a44972-e150 13 eliz. c. g. 2. sp. glos . l. 1. c. 6. ● e. d 4. c. 1. * l. 1. c. 6. p. 9. 1. edw. 3. 18. 42 edw. ● . 1 jac. c. 1. 25 ed. 1. c. 2. p. 15. aquinas . inst . 4. c. 1. deut. 23. 2. i. 7. 51 : de. 17. 10. 8. 19. 15. the example of spain disinheriting the daughter . mac. l. 1. c. 3. v. 36. 37. idem iterum, or, the history of q. mary's big-belly from mr. fox's acts and monuments and dr. heylin's hist. res. 1688 approx. 28 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-06 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a45999 wing i33 wing f2040_cancelled estc r5327 13205673 ocm 13205673 98485 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45999) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98485) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 422:8 or 1632:66) idem iterum, or, the history of q. mary's big-belly from mr. fox's acts and monuments and dr. heylin's hist. res. foxe, john, 1516-1587. actes and monuments. heylyn, peter, 1600-1662. ecclesia restaurata. 8 p. s.n., [london? : 1688] caption title. place and date of publication from nuc pre-1956 imprints. a letter to the bishop of london, closing on p. 2, is dated 1554. item at reel 1632:66 identified as wing f2040 (number cancelled). reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng mary -i, -queen of england, 1516-1558. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2005-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-01 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2006-01 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion idem itervm : or , the history of q. mary's big-belly . from mr. fox's acts and monuments and dr. heylin's hist . ref. the thing that hath been , it is that which shall be ; and that which is done , is that which shall be done : and there is no new thing under the sun. eccles . 1. 9. upon wednesday , being the 28. of novemb. there was a general procession in pauls for joy that the queen was conceived and quick with child , as it was declared in a letter sent from the council to the bishop of london . the same day were present at this procession ten bishops , with all the prebenda●●es of pauls , and also the lord major with the aldermen , and a great number of commons of the city in their best array . the copy of the council's letter here followeth , ad perpetuam rei memoriam . a copy of a letter sent from the council unto edmund bonner , bishop of london , concerning queen mary's conceiving with child . after our hearty commendations unto your good lordship ; whereas it hath pleased almighty god amongst other his infinite benefits of late most graciously poured upon us and this whole realm , to extend his benediction upon the queens majesty in such sort , as she is conceived and quick of child , whereby her majesty ( being our natural liege lady , queen , and undoubted inheritor of this imperial crown ) good hope of certain succession in the crown is given unto us , and consequently the great calamities ( which for want of such succession might otherwise have fallen upon us and our posterity ) shall by god's grace be well avoided , if we thankfully acknowledge this benefit of almighty god , endeavouring our selves with earnest repentance to thank , honour , and serve him , as we be most bounden : ●hese be not only to advertise you of these good news , to be by you published in all places within your diocess , but also to pray and require you , that both your self do give god thanks with us for this his special grace , and also give order that thanks may be openly given by singing of te deum in all the churches within your said dio●●ss ; and that likewise all priests and other ecclesiastical ministers , in their masses , and other divine services , may continually pray to almighty god so to extend his holy hand over her majesty , the king's highness , and this whole realm , as that ●●is thing , being by his omnipotent power graciously thus begun , may by the same well continued and brought to good effect , to the glory of his name . whereunto , ●●it we doubt not , ye would of your self have had special regard without these our letters diligently continued , we have also written these our letters , to put you in remembrance ; and so bid your lordship most heartily well to fare . from westminst . nov. 27. 1554 your assured loving friends , s. winton , cancel . arundel . f. shrewsbury . edward darby . henry sussex . john barton . r. rich. thomas watthom . john huddilstone . r. southwell . ye heard a little before the councils letter sent to bishop boner , signifying the good news of q. mary to be not only conceived , but also quick with child , which was in the month of novemb. the 28 day . of this child great talk began at this time to rise in every mans mouth , with busie preparation and much ado , especially amongst such as seemed in england to carry spanish hearts in english bodies . in number of whom here is not to be forgotten nor defrauded of his condign commendation for his worthy affection toward his prince and her issue , one sir richard southwell , who being the same time in the parliament-house , whereas the lords were occupied in other affairs and matters of importance , suddenly starting up , for fulness of joy burst out into these words following : tush my masters , quoth he , what talk ye of these matters ? i would have you take some order for our master that is now coming into the world apace , lest he find us unprovided , &c. by the which words both of him , and also by the aforesaid letters of the council , and the common talk abroad , it may appear what an assured opinion was then conceived in mens heads of q. mary to be conceived and quick with child : insomuch that at the same time , and in the same parliament , there was eftsoons a bill exhibited , and an act made upon the same , the words whereof , for the more evidence , i thought good here to exemplifie , as followeth : the words of the act. albeit we the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons in this present parliament assembled , have firm hope and confidence in the goodness of almighty god , that like as he hath hitherto miraculously preserved the queens majesty from many great imminent perils and dangers , even so he will of his infinite goodness give her highness strength , the rather by our continual prayers , to pass well the danger of deliverance of child , wherewith it hath pleased him ( to all our great comforts ) to bless her : yet forasmuch as all things of this world be uncertain , and having before our eyes the dolorous experience of this inconstant government , during the time of the reign of the late king edward vi. do plainly see the manifold inconveniencies , great dangers and perils that may ensue this whole realm if foresight be not used to prevent all evil chances , if they should happen : for the eschewing hereof , we the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons in this present parliament assembled , for and in consideration of a most special trust and confidence that we have and repose in the king's majesty , for and concerning the politick government , order and administration of this realm in the time of the young years of the issue or issues of her majesties body to be born , if it should please god to call the queens highness out of this present life during the tender years of such issue or issues ( which god forbid ) according to such order and manner as hereafter in this present act his highness's most gracious pleasure is , should be declared it hath pleased his highness not only to declare , that like as for the most part his majesty ●erily trusteth that almighty god ( who hath hitherto preserved the queens majesty , to give this realm so good an hope of certain succession in the blood royal of the same realm ) will assist her highness with his graces and benedictions , to see the fruit of her body well brought forth , live and able to govern ( whereof neither all this realm , nay all the world besides , should or could receive more comfort than his majesty should and would , ) yet if such chance should happen , his majesty , at our humble desires , is pleased and contented not only to accept and take upon him the care and charge of the education , rule , order and government of such issues as of this most happy marriage shall be born between the queens highness and him ; but also , during the time of such government , would by all ways and means study , travel , and employ himself to advance the weal , both publick and private , of this realm and dominion thereunto belonging , according to the said trust in his majesty reposed , with no less good will and affection than if his highness had been naturally born amongst us . in consideration whereof , be it enacted by the king and the queens most excellent majesties , by the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons in this present parliament assembled , and by the authority of the same , &c. as it is to be seen in the act more at large ratified and confirmed at the same parliament , to the same intent and purpose . ¶ thus much out of the act and statute i thought fit to rehearse , to the intent the reader may understand not so much how parliaments may sometimes be deceived ( as by this child of q. mary may appear ) as rather what cause we englishmen have to render most earnest thanks unto almighty god , who so mercifully , against the opinion , expectation , and working of our adversaries , hath helped and delivered us in this case , which otherwise might have opened such a window to the spaniards , to have entred and replenished this land , that peradventure by this time englishmen should have enjoyed no great quiet in their own country : the lord therefore make us perpetually mindful of his benefits . amen . thus we see then how man doth purpose , but god disposeth as pleaseth him . for all this great labour , provision and order taken in the parliament-house for their young master long looked for , coming so surely into the world , in the end appeared neither young master nor young mistris that any man yet to this day can hear of . furthermore , as the labour of the lay-sort was herein deluded , so no less ridiculous it was to behold what little effect the prayers of the pope's church men had with almighty god , who travelled no less with their processions , masses and collects , for the happy deliverance of this young master to come , as here followeth to be seen . a prayer made by dr. weston dean of westminster , daily to be said for the queen's deliverance . o most righteous lord god , which for the offence of the first woman , hast threatned unto all women a common , sharp , and inevitable malediction , and hast enjoined them that they should conceive in sin , and being conceived , should be subject to many and grievous torments , and finally , be delivered with the danger and jeopardy of their lives ; we beseech thee for thine exceeding great goodness and bottomless mercy , to mitigate the strictness of that law : asswage thine anger for a while , and cherish in the bosom of thy favour and mercy our ●…ting the trouble , may with joy , laud and praise the bountifulness of thy mercy , and together with us , praise and bless both thee and thy holy name world without end . this , o lord , we desire thee , we beseech thee , and most heartily crave of thee . hear us , o lord , and grant us our petition : let not the enemies of thy faith , and of thy church , say , where is their god ? a solemn prayer made for k. philip and q. mary's child , that it may be a male-child , well-favoured and witty , &c. o most mighty lord god , which regardest the prayer of the humble , and despisest not their request ; bow down from thine high habitation of the heavens the eyes of thy mercy unto us wretched sinners , bowing the knees of our hearts , and with many and deep sighs bewailing our sins and offences , humbly , with eyes intent and hands displayed , praying and beseeching thee , with the shield of thy protection , to defend mary thy servant and our queen , who hath none other helper but thee , and whom , through thy grace , thou hast willed to be conceived with child ; and at the time of her travel graciously with the help of thy right hand deliver her , and from all danger , with the child in her conceived , mercifully preserve . it hath seemed good in thy sight , merciful father , by thy servant mary , to work these wonders ; that is to say , in her hands to vanquish and overthrow the stout enemy , and to deliver us , thy people , out of the hands of hereticks , infidels , enemies to thee , and to the cross of thy beloved son jesus christ , that of thy servant thou mightest speak in far countries . therefore for these wonderful works which thou dost to thy servants , thou art magnified lord god for ever , and we thy people bless thee the god of heaven , which hath wrought upon us this great mercy , and hast excluded from us the heretick , the enemy of truth , the persecutor of thy church . we know , we know , that we have grievously ( lord ) sinned , that we have been deceived by vanity , and that we have forsaken thee our god. our iniquities be multiplied on our head , and our sins be encreased up to heaven , and we our selves having offended , and our princes and our priests , for these our sins , have deserved an hypocrite to our prince , our sins have deserved a tyrant to our governor , that should bring our life to bitterness . we be not worthy to have so gentle and merciful a queen , so godly a ruler , and finally , so vertuous a prince ; at the very beginning of whose reign , a new light as it were of gods religion seemed to us for to spring and rise . the jews did bless the widow judith with one voice , saying , thou art the glory of jerusalem , thou art the joy of israel , thou art the honour of our people , for that thou hast loved chastity , and thou shalt be blessed for ever . and we the english people with one agreeable consent do cry , thou mary art the glory of england , our joy , the honour of thy people , for that thou hast embraced chastity , thine heart is strengthened , for the hand of our lord hath comforted thee , and therefore thou shalt be blessed for ever . but bow down , o most merciful father , thine ear , and open thine eyes , and behold our affliction , and our humble confession . thou knowest , lord , that against philip , not by humane , but by thy ordinance our king , and against thy servant mary , by thy providence our queen , the restorers and maintainers of thy testament of the faith , and most constant defenders of thy church ; thou knowest , i say , that against these our two governors , by the power of their hands they would change thy promises , and destroy thine inheritance , and stop and shut up the mouths of them that praise thee , and extinguish the glory of thy catholick church and altar . it is manifest and plain how many contentions , how many conspiracies and seditions , how great wars , what tumults , how many and how great troublesome vexations , how many heresies and schisms ( for these be the most ready devices and evident tokens of hereticks ) for our sins do hang over us , if thy servant be taken from this life ; for we acknowledge that our lord is omnipotent , who hath pitched his dwelling-place in the midst of his people , to the intent to deliver us out of the hands of our enemies . turn therefore thy countenance unto us , shew unto us , o lord , thy face ; punish us for our sins according to thy will and pleasure , only now deliver us . we bowing the knees of our heart , beseech thee , that thou wilt not reserve unto us punishment for ever , and we shall praise thee all the days of our life . hear our cry , and the prayer of thy people , and open to them the treasure of thy mercy , thy gracious favour , the spring of lively water . thou that hast begun , make in the hand of thy servant a perfect work : suffer not , we pray thee , the faithless rebels to say of thy servant and her counsellors , that they have devised matters which they cannot perform : and grant unto thy servant an happy and an easie travel ; for it is not impossible to thy power , nor indecent to thy justice , nor unwonted to thy mercy . it is well known unto us how marvellously thou didst work in sarah of the age of 90 years , and in elizabeth the barren , and also far stricken in age ; for thy counsel is not in the power of men. thou lord that art the searcher of hearts and thoughts , thou knowest that thy servant never lusted after man , never gave her self to wanton company , nor made her self partaker with them that walk in lightness ; but she consented to take an husband with thy fear , and not with her lust . thou knowest that thy servant took an husband , not for carnal pleasure , but only for the desire and love of posterity , wherein thy name might be blessed for ever and ever . give therefore unto thy servants , philip our king , and mary our queen , a male issue , which may sit in the seat of thy kingdom . give unto our queen , thy servant , a little infant , in fashion and body comely and beautiful , in pregnant wit notable and excellent . grant the same to be in obedience like abraham , in hospitality like lot , in chastity and brotherly-love like joseph , in meekness and mildness like moses , in strength and valour like sampson ; let him be found faithful as david after thy heart ; let him be wise among kings as the most wise solomon : let him be like job , a simple and an upright man , fearing god and eschewing evil : let him finally be garnished with the comeliness of all vertuous conditions , and in the same let him wax old and live , that he may see his childrens children to the third and fourth generation : and give unto our soveraign lord and lady , king philip and queen mary , thy blessings , and long life upon earth ; and grant that of them may come kings and queens which may stedfastly continue in faith , love and holiness : and blessed be their seed of our god , that all nations may know thou art only god in all the earth , which art blessed for ever and ever . amen . another o almighty father , which didst sanctifie the blessed virgin and mother mary in her conception , and in the birth of christ our saviour thine only son ; also by thine omnipotent power didst safely deliver the prophet jonas out of the whale's belly ; defend , o lord , we beseech thee , thy servant mary our queen , with child conceived , and so visit her in and with thy godly gift of health , that not only the child thy creature , within her contained , may joyfully come from her into this world , and receive the blessed sacraments of baptism and confirmation , enjoying therewith daily increase of all princely and gracious gifts both of body and soul ; but that also she the mother , through thy special grace and mercy , may in time of her travel avoid all excessive dolor and pain , and abide perfect and sure from all peril and danger of death , with long and prosperous life , through christ our lord , amen . it followeth now further in process of this story , that upon the tuesday , being the 10th of january , nineteen of the lower house of the parliament , with the speaker , came to whitehall to the king , and offered him the government of the realm and of the issue , if the queen should fail , which was confirmed by act of parliament within ten days after . concerning the child-bed of queen mary , as it was rumoured among the people . long persuasion had been in england , with great expectation , for the space of half a year or more , that the queen was conceived with child . this report was made by the queen's physitians , and others nigh about the court ; so that divers were punished for saying the contrary : and commandment was given , that in all churches supplication and prayer should be made for the queen 's good delivery ; the certificate whereof ye may read before in the letter of the council sent to boner ; and also the same moreover may appear by provision made before in act of parliament for the child . and now forasmuch as in the beginning of this month of june , about whitsontide , the time was thought to be nigh that this young master should come into the world , and that midwives , rockers , nurses , with the cradle and all , were prepared and in a readiness ; suddenly , upon what cause or occasion it is uncertain , a certain vain rumour was blown in london of the prosperous deliverance of the queen , and the birth of the child ; insomuch that the bells were rung , bonfires and processions made , not only in the city of london , and in most other parts of the realm , but also in the town of antwerp guns were shot off upon the river by the english ships , and the mariners thereof rewarded with an hundred pistolets or italian crowns , by the lady regent , who was the queen of hungary . such great rejoycing and triumph was for the queens delivery , and that there was a prince born : yea , divers preachers , namely , one the parson of st. anne within aldersgate , after procession and te deum sung , took upon him to describe the proportion of the child , how fair , how beautiful , and great a prince it was , as the like had not been seen . in the midst of this great ado , there was a simple man ( this i speak but upon information ) dwelling within four miles of berwick , that never had been before half child , here is a joyful triumph , but at length all will not prove worth a mess of pottage , as indeed it came to pass ; for in the end all proved clean contrary , and the joy and expectations of men were much deceived . for the people were certified , that the queen neither was as then delivered , nor after was in hope to have any child . at this time many talked diversly . some said this rumor of the queens conception was spread for a policy ; some other affirmed , that she was deceived by a tympany or some other like disease , to think her self with child , and was not ; some thought she was with child , and that it did by some chance miscarry , or else that she was bewitched ; but what was the truth thereof the lord knoweth , to whom nothing is secret . one thing of mine own hearing and seeing i cannot pass over unwitnessed . there came to me whom i did both hear and see , one isabel matl , a woman dwelling in aldersgate-stree in horn-ally , not far from the house where this present book was printed , who before witness made this declaration unto us , that she being delivered of a man-child upon whitsunday in the morning , which was the 11th . day of june , 1555. there came to her the lord north , and another lord to her unknown , dwelling then about old-fishstreet , demanding of her if she would part with her child , and would swear that she ne'er knew nor had any such child . which , if she would , her son ( they said ) should be well provided for , she should take no care for it , with many fair offers if she would part with the child . after that came other women also , of whom , one they said should have been the rocker ; but she in no wise would let go her son , who at the writing hereof being alive , and called timothy malt , was of the age of thirteen years and upward . thus much , i say , i heard of the woman herself . what credit is to be given to her relation , i deal not withal , but leave it to the liberty of the reader , to believe it they that list ; to them that list not , i have no further warrant to assure them . among many other great preparations made for the queens deliverance of child , there was a cradle very sumptuously and gorgeously trimmed , upon the which cradle for the child appointed , these verses were written both in latin and english . quam maria sobolem , deus optime , summe dedisti , anglis incolumem redde , tuere , rege . out of dr. heylyn's history of the reformation . pag. 216. the queen about three months after her marriage began to find strong hopes , that not only she had conceived , but also that she was far gone with child . notice whereof was sent by letters to bonner from the lords of the council , by which he was required to cause te deum to be sung in all the churches of his dioscess , with continual prayers to be made for the queens safe delivery . and for example to the rest , these commands were executed first on the 28th . of november , dr. chads●y one of the prebends of pauls preaching at the cross in the presence of the bishop of london , and nine other bishops , the lord mayor and aldermen attending in their scarlet opinion gathering greater strength with the queen , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was enacted by the lords and commons then sitting in parliament , that as it should happen to the queen otherwise than well in the time of her travel that then the king should have the politick government , order and administration of this realm , during the tender years of her majesties issue , together with the rule , order , education and government of the said issue . which charge as he was pleased to undergo at their humble suit , so they were altogether as forward to confer it on him ; not doubting but that during the time of such government he would by all ways and means study , travel , and imploy himself to advance the weal ( both publick and private ) of this realm , and dominions thereunto belonging , according to the trust reposed in him , with no less good will and affection than if his highness had been naturally born amongst us . set forms of prayer were also made for her safe delivery , and on particularly by weston , the prolocutor of the first convocation ; in which it was prayed , that she might in due season bring forth a child in body beautiful and comely , in mind noble and valiant : so that she forgetting the trouble , might with joy , land and praise , &c. great preparations were also made of all things necessary against the time of her delivery , which was supposed would fall about whitsontide in the month of june , even to the providing of midwives , nurses , rockers , and the cradle too . and so far the hopes thereof were entertained , that on a sudden a rumor of her being delivered the bells were rung , and bonfires made in most parts of london . the like solemnities were used at antwerp , by discharging all the ordnance in the english ships ; for which the mariners were gratified by the queen regent with 100 pistolets . in which , as all them seemed to have a spice of madness in them , so none was altogether so wild as the curate of s. anns near aidersgate , who took upon him after the end of the procession to describe the proportion of the child , how fair , how beautiful , and great a prince it was , the like whereof had never been seen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a45999-e10 the child which thou to mary , o lord of might hast send , to england's joy , in health preserve , keep and defend . a cat may look upon a king weldon, anthony, sir, d. 1649? this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a96173 of text r209518 in the english short title catalog (thomason e1408_2). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 55 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 60 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a96173 wing w1271 thomason e1408_2 estc r209518 99868394 99868394 169924 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a96173) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 169924) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 181:e1408[2]) a cat may look upon a king weldon, anthony, sir, d. 1649? [6], 105, [5] p., plate printed for william roybould, at the unicorn in pauls church-yard, london : 1652. anonymous. by sir anthony weldon. cf. wing. annotation on thomason copy: "jan. 10th.". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng kings and rulers -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -early works to 1800. a96173 r209518 (thomason e1408_2). civilwar no a cat may look upon a king: weldon, anthony, sir 1652 9257 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 b the rate of 6 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-07 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-07 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ●ars puer alecto , virgo , vulpes , leo , nullu ▪ a cat may look upon a king . depiction of a cat london , printed for william roybould , at the unicorn in pauls church-yard . 1652. to the reader . if i were master either of good language , or good method ; i would then presume to present this ensuing discourse , & according to the fashion , intreat thy courteous acceptance : but being so rude & naked ( yet true ) i send it forth into the world to take its fortune with the rest of the paperbrats of this age : some may fret , some may laugh ; both please me alike : my end only is , that we may all of us , after so much blood & treasure spent , with hearts and hands , pray for and endeavor the welfare , security , & prosperity of the whole . adieu . the introduction . the unparallel'd transactions of these our late times have raised in mee such a confusion of thoughts , that i resolved to look back ; as a man that is stunn'd with a stone , looks not after the stone , but after the hand that flung it . and surely i find ( by the help of my spectacles ) king james was the fountain of all our late afflictions and miseries . it hath been a custome among our flattering priests ( for i know none else used it ) upon mention of deceased princes , to use the expression , of blessed memory ; and so i believe have used it , ever since william the bastard of normandy over-ran this kingdome . which begat another itch in me , to search the lives of all our kings since him , to see if any of them had deserved that reverend remembrance . and first for king william the conqueror . i know no better testimony of him , then out of his own mouth , lying upon his death-bed : his words take as followeth . the english i hated ; the nobles i dishonoured , the commons i cruelly vexed , and many i unjustly disinherited : in the county of york , and sundry other places , an innumerable sort with hunger and sword i slew ; and thus that beautifull land and noble nation , i made desolate with the deaths of many thousands . william rufus . this king did not only oppresse and fleece this nation , but rather with importunate exactions did as it were flay off their skins . his chiefest consorts were effeminated persons , ruffians , and the like ; and himselfe delighted in continual adulteries , and company of concubines ( even before the sun . ) none thrived about him , but treasurers , collectors , and promoters : hee sold all church — preferments for mony , and took fines of the priests for fornication . hunting in that most remarkable new-forrest , walter tyrrel shot him to the heart with an arrow out of a crosse-bow , whether of purpose or not , is no great matter . henry 1. is branded with covetousnesse , and intolerable taxations ; and cruelty upon his elder brother , whom he kept in perpetual prison , and put out both his eyes : and for his most excellent leachery , leaving behind him fourteen bastards . king stephen . in famous for perjurie ; a hater of this nation , whom he durst never trust , but oppressed this land with strangers , notwithstanding that he had received the crown upon courtesie ; dyes , and leaves behind him two bastards . henry 2. never such a horrid extractor of monies from the subjects , as this king ; and is infamous for perjury , jealousie , and lechery ; curses all his children upon his death-bed , and so dies leaving three bastards . richard 1. raked more money by unparalell'd taxes upon this nation , then any king before him : his voyage to the holy-land pared them to the bones by many unjust wayes ; but his unlucky return quite ruined it : he dyes by a poyson'd arrow , and leaves two bastards . king john . of this king we cannot reckon so many impieties as he had : unnatural to his own blood , to the wife in his bosom ; bloody to nobility and clergy ; perjury , often swearing , but never kept his word ; betrayes the crowne and kingdome to the pope ; and rather then want his will to ruine both church , nobles , and the whole nation , sends ambassadours to a moor , a mighty king in africa , to render unto him this kingdome of england , to hold it from him as his soveraign lord , to renounce christ , and receive mahomet . in the heat of his wars with the nobility , gentry , and commons of this land , repaires to the abbey of swines-head , where he is poysoned , and leaves behind him three bastards . henry 3. a chip of the old block , for no oath could bind him ; jealous of the nobility , brings in strangers , despiseth all counsell in parliament , wastes all the treasure of the kingdome in civil wars , sells his plate and jewels , and pawnes his crown . edward 1. govern'd his will by his power , and shed more blood in this kingdome , then any of his fore-runners ; counted his judges as dogs , and died as full of malice as he lived full of mischief . edward 2. a man given to all sorts of unworthy vanities , and sinful delights : the scourge and disgrace of this nation in scotland , against a handfull of men , with the greatest strength of england . after so many perjuries about his favourite gaveston , and slaughter of the nobility , he is deposed and murdered . edward 3. to his everlasting staine of honor , surrenders by his charter , his title of soveraignty to the kingdom of scotland ; restores the deeds and instruments of their former homages and fealties ( though after the scots paid dear for it ) to supply his want . whatsoever he yielded to in parliament , was for the most part presently revoked : and in that parliament which was called the good , they desire the king ( having abundantly supplied his wants ) to remove from court four persons of special prejudice to his honour , and the kingdomes , with one dame alice piers , the kings concubine , an impudent troublesome woman : but no sooner ended this parliament , having gotten their monies , but those four forbidden return to court , and their wonted insolencies : the speaker , who had presented the kingdomes grievances , at the suit of alice piers , is committed to perpetual imprisonment . richard 2. t is said of this king , he spared neither the dignity , nor the life of any that crost his pleasure ; spared neither lewd example , nor vild action , to follow cruell councell ; a man plung'd in pleasure , and sloth ; in his private councels would alter whatsoever the parliament had setled ; neglects his debts ; prodigal to strangers , destroyes the nobility ; and for his hypocrisie , cruelty , perjury , and tyranny , is deposed and murdered at pomfret-castle . henry 4. so true is that distych translated out of suetonius : who first exil'd , and after crown'd , his reign with blood will much abound . for after he had murdered his predecessor , nothing took up this kings reigne but ruine and blood upon the nobility and gentry of this kingdome , with such unsufferable taxes as never were before , nor since . henry 5. this king reigned about nine years and a halfe , all which time our stories mention nothing but his wars , raising of monies , and spending the blood of this poor nation . henry 6. and edward 4. were two men , born as it were , for ruine , blood and misery to this kingdome ; whose lives and actions no man can read with patience : that so much treasure and so many mens lives should be spent and lost , to maintain the ambition , luxury , pride and tyranny of but two men , in so many set-battels fought in the bowels of this kingdom . henry was stab'd with a dagger by the duke of glocester in the tower . edward died at westminster and left behind him two bastards , and a miserable whore jane shore . richard 3. a monster of lust & cruelty ; whose murders , too many to be here repeated , are at large set down in our chronicles , with his attempts of rape and incest . so perfect he was in villany and hypocrisie , that he would alwayes use most faire language , and shew greatest signs of love and courtesie to that man in the morning , whose throat he had taken order for to be cut that night ; and was the first i read of in our stories , that ever used that oath , god — damn — me . he was slain at bosworth-field ; his body stark naked & mangled , besmear'd with blood and dust , was brought upon a horse to leicester , where for a spectacle of hate and scorn , he lay two dayes unburied . henry 7. this king , my lord of virulam hath washt his face so cleane with good language , that without a neer approach he is hardly discovered : but surely i find no right he had to the crown , more then the consent of the people , ( which was not then in fashion ) whom hee never durst trust neither , his heart continually burning to destroy all sparks of the right blood , and their abettors . how was the lord chamberlaines life jugled away for his thoughts , and his estate which was so considerable , with many more of our nobility . and for that story of richard duke of york , son to edward the 4. under the name of perkin warbeck , i do as verily believe he was the said duke of york , as i believe henry the 8. was the son of this henry the 7. the circumstances being so pregnant from so many persons of honour , but nothing more confirmes me in it , then this kings indefatigable paines and most infinite cost to get him , and ruine him , and with him the harmless earl of warwick , the one beheaded , the other hang'd at tyburn ; and surely though this king did far excell all his predecessors in craft , yet was he as guilty of cruelty and blood as the worst of them ; nor can all the water in the sea wash from him those two monstrous sins of avarice and ingratitude . henry 8. to say much of him , were to make you surfeit ; sir walter raleigh's testimony of him is sufficient . if all the pictures and patternes of a merciless prince were lost in the world , they might all be painted again to the life out of the story of this king : his vast expence of treasure , and profuse blood-shed , made this kingdome look with a ghastly face ; and to express him fully , this remaines of him to everlasting , that he never spared man in his anger , nor woman in his lust . i do none of them wrong , for thus i find them branded to my hand by publique records : and surely this puts me in mind of a story i have heard in spain ; a friar preacht before don pedro the king , sirnamed the cruel , took his text which invited him to extoll regal dignity to its highest pitch , often saying , few kings went to hell ; but in the close of his sermon , said , you may , peradventure , wonder that i so often tell you that few kings go to hell , marry the reason is , there are but few kings , for if there were more , they would go all to the devil . of all these our kings , i would know which was of blessed memory , who ruled by blood , oppression , and injustice upon this nation , in contempt of god and man : let no man now wonder if this nation endeavour ( after so long and grievous bondage under tyranny ) to reduce themselves into a free state . and as the face of things do now appeare in their glory ( for such surely they are ) i see no great hinderance to an honorable , and secure setling of this nation in a free state to the worlds end , if we can agree amongst our selves ( which i pray god we may . ) if an honest league be made , and as honestly kept betwixt us and the hollander , ( not that i care much for hans , but because he is a man of business , and surely 't is trade must make this nation rich and secure ) i know no power in christendome can hurt us : shipping and mariners must be cherished , the value of our money so setled , that the mint may go plentifully ; our gold must not be sold for profit as merchandize , by the fraudulent goldsmith to merchants to transport , nor our silver by them pickt and cull'd , to sell to refiners for silver thread to make superfluous lace . ( these digressions , though true , crave pardon . ) as the wheels of our state are many whereon it goes , so there are ( god be thanked ) sufficient to attend them , and make them go right : let them go on and prosper , and i doubt not but that shortly we shall see a clear light shine upon this nation , of honour , respect , and security . now in the close of this preface , if any man aske why i have curtail'd the lives and persons of these thus ; i answer , the common people of this kingdome cannot attend to read chronicles , and they are the major part whom it concerns ; and now by the providence of god , that we are reduced to a free state , in this little book i would have them hereafter know for whom and for what they fight , and pay . next , if any man ask why i make such mention of their bastards ; i answer , onely to let the world see what foundation these six and twenty bastards have laid for honourable , noble , and right worshipfull familes of a long continuance , which have been maintained by the blood and treasure of this oppressed nation . if why i mention not edward the 5. and edward the 6. i say they were children , and so died , affording no matter for this present . if why i omit queen mary and queen elizabeth ; i answer , i have nothing to do with women , and i wish i never had . but i must not make the door bigger then the house , i have onely one vote to passe , that ireland may once be setled in obedience to this common-wealth , and scotland reduced to an english province , that there may never more be heard the name of a kirk , or covenant ; and so i address my self to king james . king james . to write the life and reign of this king , requires a better book-man , and a better pen-man : that which i have to observe , is onely to render him as great a tyrant as any of the rest ; for though his fearfulness kept him from wars and blood , yet as much as was in his power he laid as many springs to enslave this nation as ever any ; his will was the sole rule of his government ; nor had the people any thing to act but submissive obedience . his first work was to sound the prelates and nobility , whose ambition and corruption he found suitable and serviceable to his intentions ; and 't was their infusion , so agreeable to his disposition , that made him carry himself so majestically to the parliament of england , ( a power he might justly fear to offend ) but their councels ( though they then served his and their ends ) are now come upon them like a storm , the one voted down root and branch , the other voted uselesse and dangerous . the king brings with him a generall peace with all christendome , not considering the particular interest of this nation , whether it were honourable , or safe , as the affaires of england then stood , his predecessour having taken upon her to be head , and protectrix of the protestant party wheresoever : but he had his ends to himself . first he had heard how many and how often attempts had been used to take away the life of queen elizabeth , whom god notwithstanding preserved and protected , by the diligence of her servants : but he would rather trust to his king-craft , then to gods providence . then having taken away all thought of wars , his design was to luxuriate the people , that so hee might more insensibly lay that foundation of tyrany he intended . and now comes tumbling in monstrous excesse of riot , which consumed many good families , and more good hospitality , formerly the glory both of our nobility and gentry ; with an incredible increase of tavernes and bawdy-houses , for which two we are to this day beholding to the scots . and with this king , and this peace , came the greatest plague that ever this kingdome felt before his time ; as if god had told us from heaven we had deserved it , by betraying our selves ; and which was but a light fore-running punishment , in respect of what in time should follow ; and yet peradventure that plague was but a shadow of himselfe , the greater . the kingdome could not afford more pomp and glory , then was shewn when king james came first through london ; and 't was so much the more considerable as to him , that from a nasty barren country , ( rather a dunghil then a kingdome ) came to be at that instant as great a prince as any in christendome : and indeed it was the wonder of those states-men who had had experience of the gallantry of this nation , that a scot should enjoy this crown without resistance . if the temper of these our dayes had then ( as now ) taken head , we had saved much blood : much mony , and in all likelihood been long since setled to such a free state , as we yet struggle for ; rich , and secure . long had he waited for the death of queen elizabeth ; but longer had they waited , that waited upon him : for had not their hopes as well as his expected their shares of spoils of this kingdome , we may with out doing any wrong to that nation , conclude him in the fate of his many predecessors , whom they murdered . his stock was odious to the more ancient nobility of that nation ; and the cloak of the kirk would have served without scruple for such a covering , as the grand-signior uses to send men doom'd to death . his original extract i find was this : banchoo a nobleman of scotland , had a fair lady to his daughter , whom mackbeth the king desires to have the use of ; banchoo refuses , and mackbeth murders him , and takes the lady by force . fleance , the son of banchoo , fearing the tyrants cruelty , flies into wales to griffin ap lhewellin the prince of wales . lhewellin entertaines him with all hospitable civility . fleance to requite his courtesie , gets lhewellins daughter with child : lhewellin murders fleance , and lhewellins daughter is afterward delivered of a son , named walter ; this son proves a gallant man , and falling out with a noble person in wales , that call'd him bastard , walter slew him , and for his safeguard fled into scotland , where in continuance of time he gained so much reputation and favour , that he became steward of the whole revenue of that kingdome , of which office , he and his posterity retained the sirname , and from whence all the kings and nobles in that nation of that name had their originall ; here 's a goodly foundation . for his person , a man might sufficiently and truly make a volume , onely to tell of his lazinesse , and his uncleannesse ; but i cannot do it without fouling too much paper . he was a great pretender to learning and religion , and for the speculative part , had as much as any of our kings upon record ; but for the practical , and best part of it ( if we may judge of the tree by the fruit ) we may without breach of charity conclude him not guilty : he was the greatest blasphemer in the world ; sweare faster then speak , and curse the people by the clock : and it appeares by the whole course of his life , that he was a most malicious hater of this nation . that insolent act of ramsey's switching my lord of montgomery , at bansted-downs at a horse-race , was questionlesse a laid quarrel to have destroyed much of our english nobility ; and had it been practised upon any but that thin-soul'd lord , who was importun'd but to draw his sword , that had been a bloody day : what reserve the scots had was never known ; but such an affront is not to be construed without reservation . the king was naturally fearful , even as low as could be ; and what he would do , and durst not own , that he would do by his favourites , whom ( for the fitness of his designs ) he would raise from low degree , to oblige them the more , and to desert them with more ease , and shift them often til he had them sitted to his purpose . dunbar was too solid , hayes too light ; northampton too crafty , montgomery too silly , ( here 's two english , two scots , all deserted ) and now he hath found a young scot , that had been one of his pages in scotland , and turn'd off with fifty pounds in mony and cloaths , to seek his fortune ; having spent his time , and his means in france , comes over hither , and for his fashion and language , is entertained by his country man , then lord hayes , ( another scot of the like extract ) for a page , where the king takes notice of him , calls for him , and at the first dash makes him one of the bed-chamber , and suddenly his favourite , and knight sir robert , then viscount rochester , and after earl of somerset . this man the king had wound up to his just pitch , of whom we may justly say trim tram , like master , like man . when this man had long wallowed in his masters bounty , and the treasures of this kingdome , he fell the foullest that ever man did , upon the rocks of dishonor , adultery , and murder : of dishonour , to a noble peer of this land , and in him to the whole , nobility ; adultery , not only to bewhore her , but to get her divorced , and marry her ; and murder , upon the body of that unfortunate gentleman , sir thomas overbury , only for disswading him . and here it is much to our purpose , to insert how this favorites carriage had highly offended pr. henry , who understanding the loose kind of life this man lived , especially relating to her , distastes him , disrespects him , and forbears his company , and flatly fals out with him . somerset complaines to the king : shortly the prince falls sick and dies . that he was poysoned , hath been a common fame ever since : but to snuffe the candle , and make it burn cleare , take the testimony of these famous physitians , that dissected his body , and have left it upon record under their hands . the dissection of the body of prince henry . first , we found his liver paler then ordinary , in certain places somwhat wan ; his gall without any choller in it , and distended with winde . secondly , his spleen was in divers places more then ordinarily black . thirdly , his stomack was in no part offended . fourthly , his midriffe was in divers places black . fifthly , his lungs were very black , and in divers places spotted , and full of a thin watery blood . lastly , the veines in the hinder part of his head , were fuller then ordinary ; but the ventricles and hollownesse of the brain , were full of cleare water . in witnesse whereof , with our own hands we have subscribed this present relation , novemb. 7. 1612. mayern atkins hammond palmer . gifford . butler . this prince was an active man , and full of high thoughts ; a lover of this nation , and lookt upon by them with much affection and expectation . what feares & jealousies somerset might maliciously infuse into the kings too fearful and timorous soul , we cannot tell : but that language from somerset to the lieutenant of the tower , when he told him he must provide himself to go the next morning to westminster to his trial , said , he would not ; that the king had assured him , he should not come to any trial ; neither durst the king bring him to any trial . this language , i say , stinks abominably : and when he did come to his trial , fearing ( being enraged ) that he might flie out into some strange discovery , there were two men placed on each side of him with cloaks on their arms , with peremptory cōmand , that if sommerset did any way flie out against the king , they should instantly hoodwink him wth their cloaks , take him violently from the bar , and carry him away : and this could be no mans act but the kings . he would often boast of his king-craft ; but if his feares , and somersets malice took this princes life away , 't was a sweet peece of king-craft indeed , but the fruit of it hath been bitter . i cannot enough admire that language hee used , when he gave in charge to his judges the examination of sir thomas overburi●● murder : my lords , i charge you , as you will answer it at that great and terrible day of judgment , that you examine it strictly , without favour , affection , or partiality : and if you shall spare any guilty of this crime ; gods curse light upon you and your posterity ; and if i shall spare any that are found guilty , gods curse light on me and my posterity for ever . this expression hath a most honest out-side : but if the king had a designe of feare , rather to be so rid of somerset , then an inward desire of justice , 't was monstrous foule ; which we shall better judge of by the sequel . seven persons were by the judges condemned to die for this foule murder ; four of them of the least account , and accessaries , are executed ; the three great ones , and principals , the king pardons ; and to somerset himself , to his dying day , was most profusely liberal , and suffered to live with that fire-brand of hel his wife , under the kings nose , all the dayes of their lives . here 's fine jugling ! these must be saved , for fear of telling scotch tales of the king . would the spirits of those noble souls of these our dayes , put up such a piece of injustice in the master , and such an affront and contempt of this nation , both from the master and the man ( two scots ) without vengeance ? i believe not . and this favourite of his , when his estate was seised upon for this foul murder , was found to have two hundred thousand pounds in mony , plate and jewels , in his house ; and nineteen thousand pounds a year in lands comming in : a fine advance from a scots page ; fifty pounds , and a suit of cloaths : ( and can any man tel for what ? ) i never heard that all scotland was worth so much . but enough of him . this king had no wars ; but spent more mony prodigally , profusely , and riotously then any of his predecessors . what swarms of scots came with him , and after him , into this kingdome ? who perpetually suckt him of most vast sums of moneys , which stand yet upon record ; which put him upon all dishonourable wayes of raising monies , to the most cruell oppression of this nation , to serve their riot and luxury : but there are many yet living can justifie this truth : though they lived a while at such a height ; yet they died like themselves , contemptible , miserable beggers ; and at this day scarce one of them can shew the fruits of those vast donatives , either in themselves , or their posterity , that 's worth looking upon : and so let them all perish , whomsoever , scots or english , whose foundation is such . though , i see no reason but any estate may be now questioned , which is known to have been raised upon the oppression of this nation ; nor that any title of honour so bought should descend to posterity . a lord is to be a lord by merit of imployment in some noble office , for the publique good ; not by projecting tricks , and cozening devices to fill a tyrant's coffers , to the enslaving of a gallant free nation . but , &c. to return to king james . in those dayes 't is true , the bishops , nobility , and the lawyers , had a great influence upon the people for their abilities , and supposed honesties ; yet amongst these , such are found , and others are made such , that whatsoever the king would have , they are fit , and willing instruments to bring it about , and make it passe for currant divinity , and law . witnesse , the burning of a whole cart-load of parliament presidents , that spake the subjects liberty ; that were burnt at the kings first comming . witnesse the nullity . witnesse the life of sir walter rawleigh , that was taken away in point of state , whose least part was of more worth then the whole race of the best of the scots nation . witnes , the inhancing of customes . witnes , privy seals , monopolies , and loans , benevolences , sales of lands , woods , fines , new-buildings . witnes , the lamentable losse of the palatinate . witnes , the treaty of the spanish-match . in which two last , this nation received more dishonour , then in any action any former age can paralel , and all under the colour of an honourable treaty . his daughter was undone , and his son bob'd of a wife , after the hazard of his person , and vast expence of infinite treasure to this day undischarged . i could never understand what piece of king-craft it was , to let the prince his onely son , with buckingham his favourite , make that voyage into spain , unlesse it were to be rid of them both : and had he not had to do with a noble enemy , surely they had never returned . hee would sometimes call a parliament , for mony , not for busines : but if the kingdome presented any grievances , he would quarrel by his prerogative , and dissolve it . one letter of his to the parliament , i cannot read but with amazement : which being but briefe , take here from his own hand . a copy of his majesties letter to the lower-house of parliament . mr. speaker , we have heard by divers reports to our great grief that the far distance of our person at this time from our high cou●t of parliament , caused by our want of health , hath imboldened some fiery and popular spirits in our house of commons , to debate and argue publiquely in matters far beyond your reach and capacity , and so tending to our high dishonour , and trenching upon our prerogative royal : you shall therefore acquaint that house with our pleasure , that none therein shall from henceforth presume to meddle with any thing concerning our government , or mysteries of state ; namely , not to speak of our dearest sonnes match with the daughter of spain , nor to touch the honour of that king , nor any our friends or confederates ; and also not to medle with any mans particulars , which have their due motions in our ordinary courts of justice : and whereas we heare they have sent a messenger to sr. edwyn sands , to know the reason of his late restraint ▪ you shall in our name resolve them , that it was not for any misdemeanour of his in parliament : but to put them out of doubt of any question of that nature , that may arise among them hereafter , you shall resolve them in our name , that wee think our selves very free , and able to punish any mans misdemeanours in parliament , as well during their sitting , as afterwards ; which we mean not to spare hereafter , upon any occasion of any mans insolent behaviour there , that shall be ministred unto us . and if they have already touched any of these points which we have forbidden , in any petition of theirs , which is to be sent to us : it is our pleasure , that you shall tell them , that except they reform it before it come to our hands , we will not dain the hearing or answering of it . i leave every reader to comment upon it , according to his own patience and passion : but , that a scot , from so beggerly a condition , to be so peaceably and honorably received to so royal a government over so brave a nation , should use such ungratefull , presumptuous , and proud language to the parliament of england , is to my understanding monstrous , horrible , and not good . but 't was his humor all his reign ; with impatience over-ruling , with jealousies threatning , and at pleasure to dissolve all parliaments , thereby to lay that foundation of tyrannical and arbitrary government , which he intended to bring upon us . his favourite somerset being condemn'd , and quietly laid aside , he was ready provided of another , george villiers by name , a handsom young man , lately return'd out of france , from an allowance of threescore pounds a year : who comes to court , is admitted to a bearers place , presently knighted , and made gentleman of the bedchamber , and the same day a thousand pounds a yeare out of the court of wards given him ; and in a breath made master of the horse , then knight of the garter , then baron of whadon , viscount villiers , earl of somerset , and a privy-councellor , marquesse of buckingham , lord admiral of england , chief justice in eyre of all the parks and forrests on the south-side of trent , master of the kings-bench office , head — steward of westminster , and constable of windsor-castle , and lastly duke ; and then he could go no higher in title ; but by his masters pleasure and courtesie , all the affairs of the kingdome are steered by his compasse , as is at large made known in many mens writings published . yet when he knew his master ( notwithstanding his slabbering expressions of affection , and extravagant honours and riches ) to be weary of him , he found a plaister and a powder , that made him amends for all his favours ; and here the king-craft met with his match . how far king charles might be privy to this busines , i determine not ; but the private familiarity between them , continued so long after , and protecting him from being questioned for this very particular in parliament , is no small presumption . but what the king denied ( justice ) god sent by the hand of john felton , who stabb'd this duke at portsmouth , with a ten peny knife , that hee instantly gave up the ghost with these words , gods wounds , i am slain ! to write all those actions this duke did by these two kings favours , in prejudice of this oppressed nation , would make a cholerick man mad , and a flegmatick stupid : but let him go ; the king is the thing i intend , who made use of him , the flattering prelates , the poor-spirited nobility , and corrupt lawyers , to frame such a government , as all the wealth in this kingdome should be at the kings disposing . which course , with such instructions , he left to his son ; and how his son managed them , hath been so clearly published by supreme authority , fairely written by sowhite a hand , that i intend not here to say much of that prince : only this i can say ; he was a man so wilfull , obstinate , and uxorious , that he quite forsook his own interest as a king , and the honour and interest of this nation , thorough malice , and her counsel ; and did so farre incline to the interest of france against spaine , ( and no thankes for his labour ) that by his meanes alone rochel and dunkirk were both lost : but that , and his fathers instructions , lost him , with the losse of more blood and treasure to this nation , then all our wars had spent since the william the norman . it hath been to me the greatest wonder of the world , how this king could be so blind , as not to prevent that storm that came upon him , till it was too late . were all his counsellors false ? o unhappy king ! or would he be ruled by none but himselfe and his wife ? o more unhappy man ! ( surely in this was the hand of god most visible . ) mischief was in his heart against this nation ; but it came upon himself & all his , as the world hath seen . there was about the time of his death , a book published , which was presented to the world , as he the author : which was so gross an imposture , that i have much marvail'd ( the fraud being so plain , and easily detected ) that no course hath been taken to find him out , and punish'd , that made it : for that it was not his , is as plainly to be discerned , as the sun at noon . but that false perfume lasted but a while , & the scent was only pleasing to them that could not smell . so that i may say , that in our dayes we have seen two the most remarkable and most eminent passages of humane affaires , that this nation hath afforded since the creation : the entrance of king james into this kingdome , with as much pomp and glory as the world could afford : and the exit of his son , with as much shame and misery as could befall a king . and although god almighty be the judge of all men ; yet gods judgments that are so remarkable , are for our instructions , and god is to be glorified by us for these judgments of his upon this kings family . i cannot in the best stories i have read , find who was clearly king james his father . mary queen of scotland ( a lusty young widow ) marries the lord darly son to the d. of lenox , in the year 1565. or thereabouts : and at the same time , had for a reserve in great favor with her an italian fidler , and bothwel a scotch lord . after marriage , the queen proves with childe . the king her husband , that was lord darly , ( enraged by some informations ) comes into the roome where the queen his wife was at supper , and very big ; drags the italian fidler into another roome , and murders him . the queen was shortly delivered of a son , which was our king james . the solemnity of the christening ended , she and bothwel murdred the king her husband . then the queen marries bothwel , ( and all this in a moment of time ) but they are both fain to flie ; the queen came into england , and was here beheaded ; bothwel fled into denmark , and there lay in prison all the dayes of his life . and now ( reader ) observe the fortune of this prodigious family . his supposed father was strangled in his bed , by the consent of his mother , and flung out into a garden . his mother is beheaded . his eldest son pr. henry , by the jealousie , and consent of his father , in the flower of his youth and strength of his age , is poysoned . his daughter , married to the palsgrave ; where shortly her husband ( in ambition to becom a king ) is slain , and she with her many children are driven out of their estates , and flie for shelter into holland , where she hath lived ever since upon the courtesie of this state . her eldest son , having lived long upon a particular charity of this nation , is now at length restored to a feather of his goose . two other of her sons , after six yeares following arms and plunder for king charles , turn'd pyrates at sea , and so are at present . king james himself ( after two & twenty years reign , by the act of his favourite buckingham , and the consent of his son charles that succeeded him ) is poysoned . king charles , after eight years was with the parliament , is taken , arraigned and condemn'd , and is beheaded at his own dores ; his wife fled home to her friends , and his children scattered abroad in the world , to live upon the charity of others . are all these circumstances to be slighted , or unconsidered ? and shall we take the priests word ; king james was of blessed memory ? i challenge the proudest of them ; let them publish one cleare act of honesty from him all the time of his reign , or any honestman that ever he loved , & i 'le yield . his hypocrisie , perjury , cowardise , blasphemy , malice , are known to all ; and base ingratitude , which comprehends more then all the rest : whereof one example of him is well worth our remembring , to sir henry wo●●on , which briefly was thus : sir henry ( a man for person & parts highly esteemed , and honoured of all that knew him ) being in florence , when queen elizabeths death drew nigh , ( which king iames gaped for ) the duke of florence had intercepted some letters , which discovered a designe to take away the life of king james : the duke abhorring the fact , resolves to endeavour the prevention , calls for his secretary to advise by what meanes a caution might be best given to the king ; and it was resolved to be done by sir henry wotton , who ( being well instructed ) is presently dispatched into scotland with letters to the king , and most rare antidotes against all manner of poysons , whereby that mischief was prevented ; and sir henry wotton returns into italy , where shortly after came the news of the death of queen elizabeth , and james king of scots proclaimed king of england ; and away comes sir henry wotton , to joy the king . this had been a fit subject for to have shewn his noble minde upon for a favourite : but what doth the king ? takes him into two and twenty years travaile , like a pack horse , to make him an agent in forreign parts , and leaves him in his old age in eaton-colledge , unable to pay his debts , as many appear by his lamentable complaint upon his death-bed ; his words are these in his last-will and testament . i humbly beseech my lords grace of canterbury , and the lord bishop of london , to intercede with our most gracious soveraign , ( in the bowels of iesus christ ) that out of compassionate memory of my long services , some order may be taken for my arrears , for satisfaction of my debts . this president alone is so transcendently foul , as all his other actions and passions are vertues to it . fellowes of no merit , at home , must wallow in his bounty and their own luxury , to do his foul pleasure , and to execute his tyranical actions ; whilest such a noble soul as this , must suffer want , and die in it . and now lay all these things together , the lives of all our former kings , and the lamentable condition of this nation under these two last ; and tell me if it were not high time to consider of the honour , welfare and security of this nation , by reducing it to a free-state . but before i take my leave of these kings , i would willingly ( as a preparative to the cordial agreement of our free-state ) present some few considerations ; and herein i shall onely shew my hand , and my heart , wishing that some abler pen-man may more substantially publish something to this purpose , in better language , and more at large . first , how often wee have been made slaves to forreign powers , by not agreeing among our selvs . our kings having other dominions beyond seas , have consum'd our blood and treasure , to defend , maintain , or increase them at their pleasures : and their frequent matching into strangers blood , hath increased new titles , and pretences of quarrels , that have afforded matter for bitter warres , both abroad and at home . all which are now laid asleep . next is worth our serious consideration , how god almighty in his providence hath divided us from all the world by a wall of water , and hath brought us into a condition this day , by shipping , trade , and able sea-men and merchants , that no prince in christendome can shew the like for number and abilitie : so that now we have no complements for matches , nor busines with foraign princes but for trade . and here let me use the words of sir walter raleigh , in his discourse of shipping : whosoever commands the sea , commands the trade : whosoever commands the trade of the world , commands the riches of the world , and consequently the world it self . a faire invitation to cherish shipping , sea-men , and merchants . and if hereafter we fall into difference with any forreign prince , we fight for our selves , not for ill-grounded titles , nor to satisfie the ambition of particular , nor to maintain the luxury of any spurious issue . there are but two things ( which i mentioned in the introduction ) can obstruct us ( as i hope ) ireland , and envious presbytery : the royalist , i presume , will heare reason ; and scotland , i suppose , will shortly be reduced to an english province , and kept so by force ; for jocky is not to be trusted ; he is naturally so false , and hath been so high-fed since their scotch king came to this crowne , that his owne country — fare will not down , till they be humbled , ( which , god be thanked , is in a faire way . ) yet if there be any of that nation sensible of their owne security and welfare under our wing , ( which i much feare ) that shall comply in this union , i shall pray to god to make them good christians . and if any forreigne prince whatsoever , shall hereafter ( through ambition , or envy to our state , or pretence of donation from the pope ) assist or maintain , a faction either in scotland or ireland , ( as heretofore ) to hinder , prejudice , or molest our right or interest in these , or either of these places ; i see no reason why we should treat with them as friends . but i am now beside my cushion : my end is only to prepare and perswade a hearty agreement amongst our selves , to the secure setling of our free-state . so farewell scot , and farewell king ; and god blesse the common-wealth of england . finis . published by authority . courteous reader , these books following are printed and sold by william roybould , at his shop at the unicorn in s. pauls church-yard , neer the little north-door . the ( holy-arbor , containing a body of divinity , or the summe and substance of christian religion : first , methodically and plainly treated , of then analysed and applied : wherein also are fully resolved the questions of whatsoever points of moment , have been , or are now controverted in divinity : together with a large alphabetical table of such matters as are therein contained , or occasionally handled either by way of exposition , controversie , or reconciliation . in folio , by john godolphin , j. c. d. 1651. christ alone exalted . in seventeen sermons , preached by dr. tobias crisp . in 8o . 1650. the history of the bohemian persecution , from the beginning of their conversion to christianity , to these times . in which the unheard of secrets of councels , policie , arts , and dreadful judgments are exhibited . in 8o . 1650. the assertion of grace , or a treatise of justification , by r. town . the ladies vindication , or the praise of worthy women . in 12o . 1651. a further discovery of the mysterie of the last times : set forth for the good of such , as in these dissenting times know not to what society of christians to joyn themselves . in 4o . 1651. a sermon preached by dr. homes , octob. 8. 1650. at christ-church , before the lord major and aldermen . the mischiefe of mixt-communions , by dr. homes . 4o the life and reigne of king charles , or the pseudo-martyr discovered : together with some animadversions on the strange contrariety between his publike declarations , protestations , imprecations , and his pourtraicture , compared with his private letters and other of his expresses , not hitherto taken into common observation . in 8o . 1651. the antiquity of commonwealths , instanced by that of holland , wherein is declared the rise & continuance of that government , as also their lawes and customes both in their civil & military power . in 8o . 1652. a sermon preached at mary-aldermanbury , novemb. 5. 1651. by m. william jenkins , being the first he preached after his releasement . church-cases cleared : wherein are held forth some things to reclaim professors is that are slack-principled , antichurchians , nonchurch-seekers , church-levellers : with a pacificatory preface , &c. by d. n. homes . the judgment of an anonymous writer concerning ... i. a law for disabling a papist to inherit the crown, ii. the execution of penal laws against protestant dissenters, iii. a bill of comprehension : all briefly discussed in a letter sent from beyond the seas to a dissenter ten years ago. hickes, george, 1642-1715. 1684 approx. 58 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-08 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a43659 wing h1854 estc r5996 12271135 ocm 12271135 58249 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a43659) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 58249) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 187:16) the judgment of an anonymous writer concerning ... i. a law for disabling a papist to inherit the crown, ii. the execution of penal laws against protestant dissenters, iii. a bill of comprehension : all briefly discussed in a letter sent from beyond the seas to a dissenter ten years ago. hickes, george, 1642-1715. l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. the second edition. [4], 30, [1] p. printed by t.b. for robert clavel and are to be sold by randolph taylor ..., london : 1684. written by george hickes. also ascribed to r. l'estrange by the nat. lib. of scot. cf. halkett & laing (2nd ed.). advertisement on p. [1] at end. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng dissenters, religious -england. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-04 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2004-04 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the judgment of an anonymous writer . concerning these following particulars . i. a law for disabling a papist to inherit the crown . ii. the execution of penal laws against protestant dissenters . iii. a bill of comprehension . all briefly discussed in a letter sent from beyond the seas to a dissenter , ten years ago . the second edition . london , printed by t. b. for robert clavel , and are to be sold by randolph taylor near stationers hall. mdclxxxiv . the bookseller to the reader . this little book was first printed in the year 1674. who the author of it was , i cannot tell , nor dare i presume to conjecture . when it came out first it was received as the last thing that was written by a late learned and right honourable author , who was in france at that time , and since hath been cited , as if it had been his , and i was so carried away with the common opinion , that i was almost perswaded to print it under his name , especially having heard , that the late firebrand of the nation , the earl of shaftsbury always took it for his : but as i was ready to put it to the press , a gentleman , to whom i communicated my design , did assure me he was not the author of it , but another person ; but because i cannot speak upon assurance , for fear of mistake , i will not so much as hint to the reader , whom i think him to be . i was perswaded by a learned gentleman , as ignorant of the author as myself , to give it a new impression ; and by this small pamphlet , which came out so long since , the republican party might have seen , that there were good men in the nation , who would not sit idle , and see them run down the government : for if a loyal subject at such a distance did ten years since defend the succession , when it was but lightly attack'd , it was easie to foresee , that there would be great numbers to defend it , both with their pens and swords , when it came to be so powerfully opposed . god almighty be praised for giving the king the victory over the enemies of the monarchy , and give his loyal subjects grace to walk worthy of the same , amen . robert clavel . a letter sent from beyond the seas to a noted dissenter . dear cousin , i was very glad to receive your letters , but very sorry to find by them , that you are still so extreamly desirous of innovations in a government so well established , as that is under which you live . i perceive you are more zealous then it becomes a good subject , or a good christian to be , for carrying on a project of the earl of shaftsbury , as unreasonable as new ; viz. that of disabling a papist to inherit the crown . for doubtless that proposal was first made , and afterwards promoted by him , the last sessions of parliament , not out of true love to the reformed religion , but out of spite and revenge to the d. of y — who , were he not only papist , but heathen or mahumetan ( which i think is not much worse ) would certainly have as good a title to his crown , and all his temporal rights , as if he were the most orthodox and holy christian in the world. and i am perswaded , that my zealous lord chose would not be willing that the king and parliament should make a particular act , to disable his own posterity , to inherit the great estate he hath got , if they should turn papists or atheists , as others have done before them . we all know what mischief in the world , that damnable doctrine has made , that temporal rights and inheritances depend upon saintship and grace . and if it be clear from scripture ( as nothing is more clear ) that a king ought not to lose his crown , for not being a christian , or for renouncing the christian religion as iulian did ; then it is plain , that neither the duke nor any other prince ought to be debarred from the crown , which is the greatest and most sacred of temporal rights , for not being protestants ; or which is more , for renouncing the christian religion . and i am heartily glad , that god gave the fathers of the english church the grace and courage to defend her doctrine , in opposing that unreasonable , and truly romish proposal of my lord chose ; which if they had approved , and defended after it was proposed , they had truly acted in that like prelats popishly affected , and really shewed themselves to be what their adversaries would fain perswade the world , they are . for 't is the romish church , and her doctors , which maintain , that kings excommunicated , or heretick kings , or ( which is all one ) that kings that renounce the apostolick faith , ought to be deprived and deposed . but 't is the church of england that maintains the contradiction of that unscriptural , unevangelical principle ; and thinks her self as much obliged to submit her self to a heathen , atheistical , heretical , or popish prince , where she can , as to an orthodox king ; and where she cannot , she thinks her self obliged to suffer , as her saviour , like a lamb brought to the slaughter ; and dares pretend to take up no arms but those of the primitive christians ( whose true copy she is ) tears , arguments and prayers . i say , it is the church of england , that is of this judgment , and neither the church of rome , nor the kirk of scotland ; both of which have actually excommunicated and deposed lawful and rightful princes , under the notion of being hereticks , and enemies to christs kingdom ; forgetting both alike the precepts and examples of our saviour and his apostles , on which the church of england hath grounded the contrary doctrine , as well as on right reason . our saviour , though god rendred unto the heathen caesar the things that were caesar's ; he owned his right to the empire , both by word and deed , although he were but the adopted successor of the greatest usurper that ever was in the world. nay furthermore , he owned and submitted to the procuratory power of pilate , who acted but by commission from the emperour tiberius ; who ( if there be any truth in the character of tacitus ) was one of the greatest tyrants , and most wicked men that ever the world saw . and as for st. paul , there is no article of our religion , not even that , that iesus christ is the son of god , more clear in his epistles , than that every soul should be subject to the higher powers ; that we should obey , not only for wrath , but conscience sake ; that whosoever resisteth , receiveth to himself damnation ; and lastly , that all the powers ( and when he wrote there were none but heathen powers ) were ordained of god. i might here insist upon the practice of the apostles , as it is represented in their acts , and the constant submission and sufferings of the primitive christians , as they are reported by the ecclesiastical fathers and historians ; but the scripture it self is sufficient to demonstrate the truth of this argument , which the church of england has not only established in her doctrine , but her fathers and sons of late , maintained in their practices : and which the kirk of of scotland ( agreeing in this and many other points with that of rome ) did ever oppose , both in word and deed. and since that kirk and nation have been of this opinion , we need not wonder that the english disciples of their buchanan and knox have practised those rebellious principles , which have so debauched and corrupted the subjects of the kings of england , as to make them be proverbially called , the kings of devils : and which the anababtists in germany improved into this maxim , that saintship was the foundation of soveraignty , and that the righteous ought to inherit the earth . and furthermore , if crowns ought to descend upon protestants only , then it is but just , that the estates of all subjects whatsoever should be so entailed : and if for example , the d — of y — must be cut off from his rights , for being a roman catholick , then let the rest of the papists lose theirs ; they are all alike idolaters , and let them all alike suffer . and , to bring the case to your own house , can you imagine that you your self ought to lose your right to the estate you have , or may have hereafter , upon that supposition , that you should turn papist ; which men as firmly resolved against it as you have certainly done . these practises and proposals are such , that they have left a blot on the memories of some men , that seem more zealous than their brethren . and i am glad at present , that the religious lord chose is the chief patron and promoter of such an unreasonable and romish design . it is unreasonable to exclude a popish heir from a crown , to which he derives his right from popish ancestors , and i have more than ordinary reason to call it romish , because i have heard it maintained here among all the priests i converse with . it is a doctrine dearly beloved by the romanists : and put but the name of heretick to a prince here , and it is just the same case , as when you call a prince a papist in england ; where , if there be no more than my good lord chose that are fautors of this romish doctrine , my country is in a far better case than i thought it to be . and truly this noble project of the late lord chose was condemned by all protestants as soon as it took air in france ; not only for that it was an ungospel way of proceeding , and savours strongly of the doctrine of rome , which they abhor ; but because it puts their king in mind of a project he is very much inclined to , viz. to make a like law here , that none but a roman catholick shall ever be king , or bear any office or trust in the kingdom . and certainly , if it should ever please god , for our sins , to suffer our princes to backslide into romish idolatry and superstition , we have nothing to do , but to pray , and like our glorious ancestors in queen mary's days , suffer quietly , when we cannot flie . and therefore i wonder that you would so obliquely reflect upon the bishops , and censure them for doing that , which in honour and duty , they were bound to do , and represent this to their disgrace , which all good and well advised protestan's must needs command them for , if they will be impartial . but put the case such an act were made , who can see the bad consequences thereof ? the union of great brittain will be broke upon it , and war entailed upon both kingdoms , and by the same reason , that none but a protestant shall succeed now , faction still increasing , none perhaps within a while , will be thought fit to inherit the crown , but a presbyterian , &c. for you that are used to talk of numbers and strength , can best tell how numerous and powerful they are that are possessed with as firm a prejudice against the church of england , as the church of rome it self ; denying communion equally with both ; and who educate their children in perfect hatred of the one , as the genuine daughter of the other . i have wrote all this to present to your view what ( perhaps in the hurry of zeal ) you have not had time to consider . and though i think it very impious and unreasonable ▪ to debar any such prince from the crown , upon this account , yet could we imagine the government were to be formed again , i would be as zeal us for this condition , as the greatest zealot of them all : and i am as sorry as any other good protestant , that it was not always one of the fundamental laws of england , though now it be too late to make it such . you tell me also that my lord — intends to come and live in london ; i suppose it may be under pretence to secure his person from the papists ; but i wish it may not be with a design to act over the same things , under a pretence of securing the protestant , which the duke of guise acted in paris , under a seeming zeal to secure the popish religion . the reason that makes me fear it , is the conformity of our times in england with those in france , as you may see by the following account . the duke , who was a man of an high spirit , and not able to bear the least disgrace , being removed by henry iii. from the most rich and honourable of his court-preferments , became thereupon male-content ; and retiring from the court , which he now did hate , went to live at his house in paris : where , by many arts , as in particular by the subtle practises of the priests and jesuits , he became in a short time the minion of the people ; whose affections he drew off from the king , by representing him ( though a hearty roman catholick ) as a favorer of the hereticks ; who under the protection of the princes of the bloud increased mightily in his reign . he also represented him in particular to be a great favourer of the king of navarre , against whom he himself had a particular ill will ; and whom the people , through the instigation of the priests and iesuits , did perfectly hate , because he was a protestant ; although he was primier prince of the blood ( for whom the french commonly have a great reverence ) and by consequence heir apparent , or as a friend of yours would have said , heir presumptive ( for the king had no child to inherit ) to the crown of france . after he had thus made the credulous people , by the help of the priests and iesuits , zealous for the defence of their declining religion , he drew them to league into rebellion against their lawful soveraign , under a pretence of securing the same , by removing evil councellors from his person , and obliging him to employ his royal power in suppressing the protestants ; and in particular by declaring the heretick king of navarre ( afterwards h. iv. ) uncapable of succeeding to the crown . for the sake of peace the king was willing so far to deny himself as to grant the two first , but could never be made so false to the interest of the royal family , as to consent to the last , by changing the order of succession to the crown , by which his ancestors had reigned so many hundred years ; and which have been so long established , without any respect to religion , by the salique or original laws of france . hereupon the league ( in imitation , and after the pattern of which the solemn league and covenant was formed ) or rebellion grew so high , as to beat the king out of paris ; where the guisards had a design to sieze upon his sacred person , shut him up , like king chilperick , in a monastery , and set up the silly old cardinal bourbon , the king of navar 's uncle , to reign in his stead . but the king escaping from paris , sheltered himself in chartres ; where to compose differences , he issued out writs to call together the three estates ( which much resemble our parliaments ) at blois . thither the deputies or members repair , some for the king , but far more for the cursed league ; and therefore the guisards finding themselves more potent than the royalists , insisted almost on nothing else , but securing the roman catholick religion , by declaring the king of navarre , because an heretick , uncapable of succeeding to the most christian crown . you see cousin , what a parallel there is between those times and ours ; excepting first , that there are no priests and jesuits to second such a design in england , as there were in france : but to supply that defect , there may be found men as fit in all points as they in black , to stir up the people to discontent and rebellion . i mean the same sort of persons that preached up the late bloody war ; who really are the bastard-brood of the monastick and jesuitical emissaries , though they bear not the names of their fathers ; but ( like bastards ) are disowned by those that begot them . the seditious principles preached and printed by them in the late times , are evident proofs of what race they are come : and as a man may travel so far west , till at last he come to the same eastern point from which he did set out , so you cousin , and your brethren have gone so far from the church of rome , that you are ( some i believe unawares ) come thither again ; as is unanswerably proved by lysimachus nicanor , lately reprinted at oxford , in his letter of congratulation to the kirk . but secondly , the parallel fails in this too , that his royal highness is not a declared papist , as the king of navarre was a declared protestant ; nor has yet openly renounced the communion of the church of england , for which his blessed father died a martyr . and therefore of the two , our english guisards are much more to blame , in representing his royal highness as a papist , which is so difficult to imagine him strictly to be . but furthermore , upon supposition he were a declared papist , the proposal of my lord chose was very ridiculous , since it did suppose a possibility of prevailing with his majesty to disinherit his royal brother , who must needs be so much dearer to him , than the king of navarre was to henry iii. as he is nearer in blood. and for my own part , i cannot but imagine at this distance , that his majesty who is a prince incomparably wiser and juster then was henry iii. of france , must needs disdain and abhor such a proposal ; which , were it enacted , it would enervate the laws of succession by which he and his ancestors have hitherto reigned , and give a greater blow to the english monarchy , than that which cut off his royal fathers head. i have here forborn to give you an account of the tragical end of the duke of guise , which is a lesson well worth your learning , and may teach all persons , so disposed as he was , how unsafe it is to provoke soveraign authority ; since the goodness of the best of kings , like the infinite goodness of god himself , whose ministers they are , may at length be so injured and affronted , as to be forced to sharpen it self into sovereign vengeance and justice . and therefore cousin , let me advise you , if not for conscience , yet for wraths sake , to have nothing to do in blowing up the flames of sedition : nor let your soul enter into the secret of my lord — though his interest among the senators ( as you write ) be so very considerable and strong . you likewise forget your self , in miscalling the execution of the late laws by the odious name of persecution ; which if you can prove to be such , according to the scriptural notion of persecution , viz. infliction of evil for righteousness sake , then will i become your proselyte , and forsake the church of england , as much as i have this idolatrous church of rome . for no man is persecuted , but either for immediate matters of divine worship , which concern the first table ; or with respect to matters of morality , or a good life , which concern the second . with respect to the first ; a man is persecuted either on a negative account , for not worshiping a false god , as the three children in daniel ; or for not worshipping the true in a false way : as st. paul and the other apostles were persecuted by the pharisees , for not worshipping the true god according to the jewish manner after it was abrogated : or as our fore fathers in england , for not worshiping god and our saviour after the romish rites . or secondly , on a positive account , for worshipping the true god in a way that is true ; or to express it yet more clearly and absolutely in your own terms , for serving of god : as daniel was cast into the lyons den , for praying to god against the king's decree . with respect to the second ; a man is also persecuted on a negative account , for not doing something , which is in its own nature , or by gods positive command , morally evil : as the good midwives were afraid to be persecuted by pharaoh , for not murthering the hebrew infants . or else on a positive account , for doing some good moral action , which ought in such and such circumstances to be done : and thus was our blessed saviour persecuted , for opening the eyes of the blind man , and for healing on the sabbath-day . now these distinctions being premised , tell me in which of these cases you are persecuted ? or , which is all one , for what you are confessors and martyrs ? for no man is persecuted , but as he is persecuted he is a confessor or martyr ; and by his sufferings bears witness to the truth . with respect to the second head , you cannot say that you are persecuted ; and therefore let me see whether you are so with respect to the first . and first , 't is plain that you do suffer for not worshiping a false god ; and 't is likewise as plain , that you do not suffer for not worshipping the true god in a false way . for first , the laws , whose execution you mis-call persecution , do not punish you for not worshiping god after our way ; or if they did to prove their execution to be persecution , you must first prove that the church of england ( whose doctrine is down right against idolatry and superstition ) does worship god in an idolatrous and superstitious manner ; which , good cousin , you know can never be proved . there remains nothing then but to assert , that you are punished for serving god , or for worshipping god in a way which you are sure is true . that you worship god in a true way , i verily believe , and could heartily joyn with you in other circumstances . but then you are not punished for worshipping god in that manner ; for the same laws you complain of , allow you to worship god in what fashion you please ; and not only you , but your family , be it as great as it will ; and lastly , not only your family , but five persons more ; which allowance , were you the only christians in the world , and the magistrates heathens ; or , which your friends are more likely to suggest , were they papists or atheists , is so far from being persecution , that were you of the temper of the primitive christians , you would esteem it as a great priviledg , and instead of reviling , thank the kind magistrate for the same . but then if on the contrary hand you be considered ( and many good english men , and good christians cannot but consider you ) as a sort of men that have formerly raised a most unnatural rebellion , and now make schism in the church , and broyles in the state , the punishments you suffer and complain so loudly off , will be so far from seeming persecution of you as christians , that they will rather seem your just desert , as factious and turbulent subjects . and i assure you , that your brethren in france ( whom you falsly so call , and for whom you pretend so great respect ) are so far from judging you persecuted , that they will not excuse you ; but wonder at your non-submission to the church , and pity your mistakes , that make you stand out against the laws . they that have seen and examined our english liturgy , which is printed at geneva in french , cannot understand your notion of persecution . and ministre claude , the most famous of them all , for piety and learning , told me in the presence of many others , ( after a discourse , wherein he said all for you that could be said ) that he wondred how the presbyterians in england could rend the peace of the church , for such little indifferent matters ; and that , if he were in england , he would be of the episcopal party , and heartily submit himself to the discipline and government of the church of england . and if you would do so too , how happy a thing would this be both for your selves and the nation ? or seeing , as you pretend you cannot , yet at least live peaceably , and forbear to trouble the world with compassing sea and land ; that is , by doing all that you can , like your fathers the old pharisees , to make proselytes ; when yet you cannot shew any sinful condition of communion with the church of england , nor prove your way of worship as apostolical , as that of hers ; from which out of pride , interest or ignorance , or partly altogether you dissent . i am sure this would rather become the dissenting brethren , then to foment divisions , raise parties , betake themselves to the wickedest of men , as of late to — and cry up the kings prerogative , which they formerly cried down ; which with many other self-contradictions , confirms me in an opinion you know i was of before , that in those matters wherein you differ from us , you are men of no principles , and know not where to fix . i have enlarged upon this theam more than i thought to do at first , because the papists here in france complain as loudly as you of the cruelty of our ecclesiastical laws ; and cry out wherever they come , how their brethren have been ; and still are persecuted among us ; though with this difference , that in disputing ad hominem , their case is far more reasonable and pleadable then yours . as for you , i protest , tho' the laws you complain off look like hard laws , when i consider you as free born subjects of england , yet when i consider you as head-strong , turbulent and factious subjects , i cannot but think them just and good , and i will maintain that the execution of them would not be persecution , altho' you were the only true christians in the world. for , as i hinted before , you have the liberty in your houses to profess what religion you please , and to worship god in what manner you will : and for fear your family should not be a just congregation , you may have five more : but for fear you should do as you have formerly done , you are not to have five hundred , or five thousand ; which liberty , not only the primitive christians , but our own ancestors , an hundred years ago would have called a blessing , and a priviledg , and have heartily thanked god and the king for the same . and god grant we may never see that time in england , when truly tender consciences will esteem so much liberty as the greatest blessing in the world. the good protestants here in france , though their religion is made an obstacle to all state-preferments , though it disable them to sit in the courts of parliaments ( except just so many as serve in the chamber of edicts , to decide controversies between protestants and papists ) or to have any other charges of iudicacature , or any high offices in the army ; though their numbers are much diminished , and their interest weakened , by a prohibition to marry with roman catholicks , and by a capital law , which makes it death to return protestants after they have once turned papists ; and though a great number of their temples have been demolished ( some under a pretence that they were built since the edict of nantes , others that they were built without license , and others that they were built upon holy ground ) so that hereby they are forced in very many places to the grievous inconvenience of going two , three , four or five leagues to church , if not more : and though all the places of strength , where they do abound are demolished , and cittadels are erected to awe them in other towns , where they are numerous ; though their own particular hospitals , and all other their perpetual provisions for their poor , are taken away , and they disabled , either living or dying , to give any setled maintenance either to their own ministers or people ( as to endowe churches , build schools , colledges or hospitals , &c. ) nay , tho' they are deprived of the benefit of other hospitals , provided for the rest of the subjects ; and although their ministers are forbid to speak against the pope , or to preach against the romish religion , with half that freedom and plainness that you dare speak against the church of england ; or to preach in any places but those few appointed by the king , though they are forbidden to call the papists in their sermons by any other name but that of catholicks ; or to make mention of their religion and ceremonies , without reverence and respect , though they are forbid to call themselves priests or pastors , and have no other title allowed them , but only ministres de la religion pretenduë reformés ; and though it be enacted , that their religion shall be called by no other name in any publick acts , registers , &c. though they are forbidden to bury their dead in catholick churches , or church-yards , even where the deceased person was patron of the church ; or where his ancestors had purchased burying-places for their families ; though they are forbid to make any publick exhortations or prayer , or to sing psalms at their burial : though they are forbid to instruct or condole those of their own religion in prisons or hospitals ; or to pray with them in a voice so loud as to be heard by the standers by , tho' they are forbid to make any collections of money among themselves , but such as are permitted and regulated by the edicts of the king ; though they are forbid to work or open their shops on romish holy-days , or to sell flesh on their fasting-days , &c. i say the good protestants here in france , notwithstanding all this hard dealing , are yet so far from complaining of persecution , that they shew themselves thankful both to god and the king , for the liberty and indulgence they enjoy . indeed they will complain , for the aforesaid reasons , that their religion is very much discouraged , and they themselves hardly used : but persecution is a notion that they rarely think or speak of , when they discourse of their own condition , being very far , though not so far as you , from a state of martyrdom ; which consists in a forcible obligation to suffer or renounce the truth and therefore cousin i beseech you and conjure you , not to misuse the name of persecution again . it is a very sinful way thus to abuse and amuse the vulgar , by calling things by their wrong names : and as to this particular , honest and knowing men will be apt to suspect , that through the name of persecution , you have a design to make your governours pass for tyrants , and your selves for martyrs . to conclude : if this which you call persecution , be not such indeed , then i doubt not but they who miscal it so , that is all presumptuous or affectedly ignorant schismaticks , without bitter pangs of repentance , will be persecuted by the god of peace himself to a sad and endless eternity . as for the bill of comprehension , it begun to be talked of , before i left my country , and i have often discours'd it with many of the projectors , but could never understand from them , how it was practicable to unite so many incompossible sects , which agree in nothing , but their opposition to the church . however if the altering , or taking away of a ceremony or two would effectually unite the protestant partys , as you are pleased to assert , i think it would be worth the while to do it , and that the doing of it for so sure an end , would reflect no dishonour upon the church of england , which acknowledgeth the few innocent and decent ceremonies , which she hath ordained to be indifferent and alterable , according to the exigency of times . neither , if this were done , could the romish church have the least apparent reason to reproach us for such a slight alteration ; seeing her own missals and breviaries have been so diverse and different in several times and places ; and have undergone so many emendations , or rather corruptions , before they were established in the present form , by the authority of pius v. and the decree of the council of trent . but unless this alteration would surely and infallibly produce this effect , it had far better be let alone , and in the mean time , i would have all good christians wait in peace and complyance with the established religion , till authority shall think to make this alteration in it , that so a poor english traveller would not be tauntingly asked by every impertinent priest here , whether he were a true son of the church , or presbyterian , or independant , or anabaptist , or quaker . and i assure you , when they meet with a man that owns himself a true son of the church of england , they will seem with great formality to pity him more than any other ; but yet they will never attempt to convert him . but when they meet with one that will own himself of any other sort , they will be pleased , smile in their sleeves , and set upon him as a person not far from their kingdom of god. and i am perswaded , had you seen or heard as much of their idolatries , blasphemies and superstitions , as i have done in one christmas , one lent and one easter , you would be so far from doing the church of england any ill office , that you would rather ( like st. paul after his conversion ) preach against your own partizans , and thank god that you lived in a church reformed from romish idolatry and superstition . and i cannot but freely confess , that i am since my travels become ten times a greater lover of our own church , and as many times a greater hater and detester of the romish church , than i was before . and therefore i cannot here dissemble the hearty grief i have conceived , for the great hopes you have , that the licenses ( as you express it ) will be once more authorized by his majesty , or the declaration revived . for as it is that which at first was hammered out by a popish lord , who was the patron and idol of the presbyterians ; so 't is that which the roman catholicks here ( especially the priests ) do hope , and wish for as well as you . they desire nothing more , than such a toleration , as that was , knowing that it must needs tend to the ruine of the church of england , which is the principal butt of all their envy and malice ; as being the main support and credit of the reformed religion every where , and the only hedg against popery it self in our unfortunate british isles . we meet with not a few priests of several orders , that have the confidence ( in our most familiar conferences ) to tell us , that by the just judgment of god upon our church , the time of her ruin is at hand ; the nation it self being over-spread with schism and atheism , and the hearts of the faithful being disposed by the spirit and providence of god , to re-embrace the holy catholick truth . and therefore they freely confess , that this time of distraction is their harvest ; and withal express their intentions and zeal to transport themselves into england at the critical time of toleration , that they may be fellow-laborers with your selves in that harvest . they seem to lament as much , and complain as fast , of the prodigious increase of schism and atheism among us , as you are wont to do of the daily growth of atheism and popery . and whilst you both complain alike , and in the formality of your complaints , both alike reflect upon the church of england : it is she only that is the sufferer , and she only that truly laments the growth , and at the same time sets up banks to hinder the perfect inundation of all the three among us . as for schism among protestants , you were the first fathers , and continue the chief fautors thereof ; all the inferior sects having sprung from you , and dividing both from you and one another , under pretence of the same reasons , for which you profess to divide from the church . and 't is from you , that even the quakering sect it self ( the dregs of schism ) have learned to talk of illumination , and the spirit : and the rest of the sectaries ; in what number soever they be , differ no more from you than the second , third , or fourth , &c. from the first book of euclid . not that by this comparison i intend , that you have any such principles , or data among your selves , as there are among mathematicians ; for i am very well assured , that take but any four of the presbyterian demagogues , and they can scarce agree amongst themselves in any four particulars , wherein they differ from the church of england . and therefore if you be not schismaticks , then the church of england , from which you separate , and out of which you have gathered congregations , and preach and administer the sacraments unto them ; i say , if you be not schismaticks , then our church must be the schismatick , in the controversie between us ; and be justly chargable with the same indictment , which she hath drawn up against the church of rome . an assertion , cousin , which i never knew any other person , except one or two , besides your self , have the confidence to aver , and an assertion , which no protestant here in france could hear us yet relate , without horror , impatience and disdain . and therefore , if the reformed church of england , from which you wilfully divide , and to which by your divisions you cause so much scandal abroad and evil at home , be not a schismatical church , that is , a church which requires some sinful conditions of communion ; in what a woful condition will your unpeaceable , seditious spirits appear before the god of peace ? and how will you answer that , at the tribunal of his wisdom and justice , which neither your fathers , nor you could ever yet answer , to those instruments of his glory , judicious hooker and the venerable sanderson ? but whether you are schismaticks , or whether you are not , the separations which you and your brood have made from the church , are the apparent causes of the growth of popery ; and both your separations , and your superstitious enthusiastical way of worshipping that god , whose people you emphatically pretend to be , are the true causes of that abundant atheism , which at present makes england an astonishment and a scandal to foreign nations . and if you , or any other of the brother-hood , think it strange , that i charge yours , which is the capital sect , with enthusiasm , or make superstition , which seemeth diametrically opposite to atheism , the mother thereof ; i offer , upon the challenge , to make good the charge , in both particulars : but in the mean time , to show you how unsafe it will be to provoke me to that trouble , i advise you to read one or two short chapters in the beginning of mr. smith's discourses , concerning these distempers of the soul , and you shall find what i have said , proved with more demonstration , than you can gainsay ; and with more plainness and perspicuity , than , i am confident , you would wish to see . but besides the schism and enthusiasm , the bloody wars , which you formerly made in the state , under pretence of the glory of god , and the reformation of of the reformed religion , have given many inconsiderate men occasion to suspect , that all religion , like that of most of your leaders , is but a politick engine which men use , to make themselves popular and powerful , that they may afterwards act with good colour whatsoever their interest shall suggest . and furthermore , to consider , that the great pretenders of the spirit , and the power of the christian religion , ( which with respect to magistrates teacheth nothing but to obey or su●er ) should notwithstanding preach up rebellion against their rightful prince , fight him from field to field , romove him from prison to prison , and at last most barbarously put him to death , is such an absurdity against the principles of right reason , so repugnant to the laws of our own nation , and so inconsistent with the peaceable doctrine of the gospel ; that , besides the atheists it hath made , it hath , and ever will constrain men of honest principles , and just resentments , to persecute you with satyrs and exclamations to the end of the world. i had not here presented that tragical scene of the king's murther , but that i have had so many unpleasant occasions to hear our nation reproach'd with the scandal and dishonour of that inhumane fact. particularly , it was my bad fortune to be at a station in paris ; where there were met about two hundred persons , to read the gazetts , at that very same time , when that of england came full charged with the news of burning the pope in effigie at london . this feat did at first surprize that roman catholick concourse of people ; but after a little recollection , they ceased to wonder , saying in every company as we passed along ; it is not so strange that the english devils should do this , who formerly murthered their king. and another time , it was my ill luck also to be at the same place , when the london gazette brought us the news , that the house of lords had taken into consideration the growth of atheism in our nation : whereupon some french gentlemen of my acquaintance seriously enquired of me the causes of so much atheism , amongst such a thinking and solid people . i assigned the same reasons which i have written above , besides some others which i will not stand to mention , as the most probable causes thereof . and as i hope i did not misinform them , so i am confident i did not unjustly charge you in any particular , especially with the murther of the king. for there were no accessaries in the murther of that sacred person ; neither was it the last stroke only that fell'd the royal oak ; but you and the independants , like the two sacrilegious priests of iupiter , are equally guilty of the crime ; the one for binding the direful victim , and the other for putting the knife to his throat . but to be short , where i am so unacceptable , i 'le conclude my argument with a fable . a principal ship , which for many years had been sovereign of the seas , was at last attacted by a tempestuous wind , which the devil raised , and notwithstanding all the help that could be made to save her , was driven by the force of that malignant wind , and split upon a rock . the very same instant she dashed upon the rock the wind ceased ; and being afterwards cursed by the sea-men , for the wrack of the royal charles ( for so the capital vessel was called ) answered , you charge me most unjustly my friends , it was not i , but the rock as you saw that split your ship. the moral of this parable is very obvious ; and if the application thereof , or any thing else that i have written , may conduce to awaken your conscience , and reclaim you from schism , i shall think my pains well bestowed . but if you and your seditious brethren will still persevere to assault the church on one hand , as fast as the romish priests do undermine her on the other , her days are like to be but few and evil ; and except god encline the hearts of our magistrates to put the laws in execution against them , and find some effectual means to reduce you , you may live to see her ruin accomplished , which you both alike desire and expect . how numerous you are , the world can guess , and if the accounts which we receive from the fathers of intelligence of several orders , be credible , there are about three thousand of them , which find entertainment and success within the king of great britain's dominions . but in the mean time , till her hour is come , she struggleth against both , like her saviour against the pharisees , whose true disciples in part you both are ; they representing those sworn enemies of the gospel , by the cabala of their ridiculous and impious traditions ; and you representing them in their hypocrisie , pride , envy , evil speaking , moross and censorious dispositions , &c. ( which are sins scarce consistent with humanity , much less with grace ) as likewise in observing many fasts and making long prayers , with design not to serve god , but to delude the people . and therefore i wonder not that you are such malignant enemies to the church of england , since that pharisaical spirit , which reigneth so much amongst you , is a wicked pusilanimous spirit , that affects to be seen in the head of parties , and dictate amongst the ignorant ; and loves as much to rule , as it hates to obey . but would you once be so sincere , as to subdue your pride , lay aside your prejudice , inform your ignorance , and forsake your dearly beloved interest , for the truth ; it would not be long ere we should see you joyn with the church of england , without troubling our senators to bring you in with an act of incomprehensible comprehension . your pride appeareth in heading of parties , and in the pleasure you are seen to take in the multitudes , that run after you ; and in your boasting , that without you the souls of people would starve for want of knowledg . your prejudice is an effect of your pride , and discovers it self together with your ignorance , in not submitting to those invincible reasons , which you cannot answer . and as for your interest , the greatest paradox of all , that is evident enough to me , who have so often heard many of you glorifie your selves in the number and riches of your followers , boast of their affection to your sacred persons , and brag of the great sums you have collected in your congregations ; which makes the king's chapples ( as you arrogantly call your conventicles ) better places than most of the churches , of which he is patron . and therefore never complain that you live either worse , or at greater uncertainties than you did before . for by your pretentions to poverty and sufferings , and by other unworthy arts , you have so wrought your selves into the esteem of your disciples , that few of them are either so covetuous or so poor , but they will pinch at home to supply you . there are several orders of fransciscans here , who have renounced not only parsonages , but all temporal estates and possessions whatsoever ; and by their vain glorious sanctity and austerities , they have got ( like you ) such fast hold on the souls of the people ( which is the fastest hold of all ) that they can easily make most of them dispose of their children , cashire their servants , and settle their estates as they please ; and by these tricks do more effectually promote the interest of rome , than all the parish ▪ priests within the pale of that church . and really , when i consider what influence these sanctimonious and self-denying zealots have o're all families , in all places where they live ; how they steal away the hearts of the people from their parish-priests , and drain their congregations ; and how the deluded people had rather give them the worth of a shilling , than the dues of two pence to their own curees ; it makes me often run the parallel between you and them , and think what a politick and gainful pretence you have got to renounce your livings , for to secure your consciences , and to preach the word gratis like the primitive apostles ; when god knows , 't is not out of love to the people , but to your selves . and i protest to you , were i a man to be maintained by the pulpit , and consulted my profit more than the goodness of my cause , i should take the same courses that you do ; i should rather be mr. m. than dr. a. of plymouth ; and should chuse the plentiful income of that dull zealot dr. manton , before that of his most learned and religious successor of govent-garden . but though you live very well , and better indeed than most of the ministers of the church , yet the mischief of it is , you are uncapable of dignities ; which makes you such aerians , and upon all occasions openeth your throats as wide as sepulchres against the bishops and the church . you know what an history of bishops mr. pryn hath wrote , and what a fair collection the learned smec . hath taken out of him ; as if when a bishop is defective , either in piety , learning or the skill of government , it were not the deplorable unhappiness , but the fault of the church of england . should an heathen or mahumetan , make such an historical collection of scandalous christians , either in this , or former ages , you would not be perswaded for all that , to prefer the alcoran before the gospel ; or the most exalted paganism whatsoever , before the christian religion . therefore wise and sober men will make no inference but this , from such a malicious enumeration of particulars ; that corruptions will creep into government , notwithstanding all the care that can be used to the contrary ; and that by the favour of princes ( who hear with other mens ears , and often receive undeserved characters of men ) sometimes ambitious , sometimes ignorant , and sometimes slothful , imprudent or debauched persons , will be preferred to the most honourable dignities in the church . but this , as often as it happens , is the misery of the church of england , which all true church men lament ; though the men of the short cloke take all such occasions to expose her to the scorn of the common people who judge by sense , and not by reason ; and who are taught by you , to make no distinction between the bishops and the church . but were all her bishops the best christians , the best scholars and the best governours in the world ; and should the royal hand place her mytres on the heads of none but iewels , whitgift's , andrews's , hall's , usher's , morton's , taylor 's , and sanderson's , yet that unchristian spirit of envy and discontent , which informs the non conformists , would still fly upon her with open mouth , like beasts upon the saints of old condemned to the amphitheater ; and make her , as she hath already been for almost forty years , a spectacle to god , to angels , and to men. the wicked lives of scandalous bishops and priests , if there be any such , are her sad misfortune , but cannot justifie the schism you are guilty of ; who are bound to hear even them , as much as the iews were bound to hear the scribes and pharisees those hypocrites , that sate in moses's chair . and in that deplorable state of the iewish church , when the priests and prophets were both alike corrupted and called by the holy spirit , dumb and greedy dogs , yet it had been unlawful to make a separation , and set up other altars against that which god ( who was their king ) had set up . i cannot but mind you of the sehism of ieroboam , who by dividing the church , as god was pleased to divide the kingdom into two parts , made israel to sin but to insist on the samaritan secession , and write all , that is necessary to discover and aggravate the damnable nature of schism , would require as much more paper as i have bestowed , and so make me as tedious again , as , i fear , i have already been . besides , it would oblige me to answer mr. hales's treatise of schism , with whose leaves you vainly endeavour to cover your shame : and i had indeed a year ago undertaken that easie task , but that a western gentleman , to whom i discovered my intentions , told me , that mr. long prebendary of exeter , a friend of his , had already begun that good work : so that i hope it is printed by this time . and if either that or this , or any thing else , a thousand times better , than i am able to write , may prove effectual to reclaim you from schism ; i shall be as glad , as to see some other of our friends reformed from drunkenness , swearing , and uncleanness , which are very grievous , and dreadful sins , but yet not more damnable in their nature , nor more distructive to the christian religion , nor more deeply rooted in the soul of man , than that of schism ; from which , i pray god , by the power of his grace , to preserve me , and reform you , through iesus christ our lord ; to whose protection i commit you , and rest , your most affectionate cousin , and humble servant . saumur : may 7. 1674. finis . advertisement . there is lately published a book entituled the , royal apology : or an answer to the rebels plea : wherein the most noted anti-monarchical tenents , first , published by doleman the iesuite . to promote a bill of exclusion against king iames , secondly , practised by bradshaw and the regicides in the actual murder of king charles the 1st . thirdly , republished by sidney and the associators , to depose and murder his present maiesty , are distinctly considered . with a parallel between doleman , bradshaw , sidney , and other of the true protestant party . london , printed by t. b. for robert clavel , and are to be sold by randolph taylor near stationers-hall . 1684. price 1 s. a serious consideration of the oath of the kings supremacy wherein these six propositions are asserted. 1. that some swearing is lawful. 2. that some promissory oaths are lawful. 3. that a promissory oath of allegiance and due obedience to a king is lawful. 4. that the king in his realm, is the onely supreme governour over all persons. 5. that the king is the governour of the realm, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things, or causes, as temporal. 6. that the jurisdictions, priviledges, preeminences, and authorities in that oath, may be assisted and defended. by john tombes b.d. tombes, john, 1603?-1676. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a62874 of text r220153 in the english short title catalog (wing t1818). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 60 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 14 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a62874 wing t1818 estc r220153 99831579 99831579 36043 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a62874) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 36043) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2046:30) a serious consideration of the oath of the kings supremacy wherein these six propositions are asserted. 1. that some swearing is lawful. 2. that some promissory oaths are lawful. 3. that a promissory oath of allegiance and due obedience to a king is lawful. 4. that the king in his realm, is the onely supreme governour over all persons. 5. that the king is the governour of the realm, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things, or causes, as temporal. 6. that the jurisdictions, priviledges, preeminences, and authorities in that oath, may be assisted and defended. by john tombes b.d. tombes, john, 1603?-1676. 27, [1] p. printed by henry hills, living in aldersgate-street next door to the sign of the peacock, london : [1660] publication date from wing. caption title on p. 3 reads: the oath of supremacy as it is in the statute i. eliz. cap. i. reproduction of the original in the harvard university library. eng loyalty oaths -england -early works to 1800. allegiance -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -early works to 1800. a62874 r220153 (wing t1818). civilwar no a serious consideration of the oath of the kings supremacy: wherein these six propositions are asserted. 1. that some swearing is lawful. 2. tombes, john 1660 11643 1 35 0 0 1 0 40 d the rate of 40 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2005-01 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a serious consideration of the oath of the kings supremacy : wherein these six propositions are asserted . 1. that some swearing is lawful . 2. that some promissory oaths are lawful . 3. that a promissory oath of allegiance and due obedience to a king is lawful . 4. that the king is his realm , is the onely supreme governour over all persons . 5. that the king is the governour of the realm , as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things , or causes , as temporal . 6. that the jurisdictions , priviledges , preeminences , and authorities in that oath , may be assisted and defended . by john tombes b. d. prov. 23. 21. my son fear thou the lord , and the king : and meddle not with them that are given to change . london , printed by henry hills , living in aldersgate-street next door to the sign of the peacock . to the christian readers . being by special providence brought hither upon some occasions of mine own , and finding many persons of different perswasions scrupling the taking of the oath of supremacy now beginning to be urged , by reason of their unacquaintance with it through the long disuse of it ; by various conferences i convinced sundry of them , that the end and matter of the oath was not such as they imagined : whereupon some persons tender of the publique peace , and the liberties of those doubting persons , who still remained unsatisfied , earnestly pressed me to draw up something in writing , tending to the elucidation of this doubt : which i was unwilling to do , being absent from mine own books and collections , and hoping to have staid here less time then i am now necessitated to do : yet the instant pressure hath drawn from me this writing , though short and indigested , it being conceived useful in this juncture of time , wherein if i be offered on the sacrifice and service of your faith , i joy and rejoyce with you all , as being studious not how to have dominion over your faith , but to be a helper of your joy . for which and i crave your prayers , who am , london oct. 13. 1660. your brother and servant in christ , john tombes , the oath of supremacy as it is in the statute 1. eliz. cap. 1. i a. b. do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience , that the queens highness is the only supreme governor of this realm , and of all other her highness dominions and countreys , as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes , as temporal ; and that no forreign prince , person , prelate , state or potentate hath , or ought to have any iurisdiction , power , superiority , preheminence , or authority ecclesiastical or spiritual , within this realm ; and therefore i do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign iurisdictions . powers , superiorities and authorities , and do promise that from henceforth i shall bear faith and true allegiance to the queens highness , her heirs and lawful successors , and to my power shall assist and defend all iurisdictions , priviledges , preheminencies and authorities , granted or belonging to the queens highness , her heirs and successors , or united and annexed to the imperial crown of this realm . so help me god , and by the contents of this book . the proviso in the statute of 5. eliz. cap. 1. provided also , that the oath expressed in the said act , made in the said first year , shall be taken and expounded in such form as is set forth in an admonition annexed to the queens majesties injunctions , published in the first year of her majesties reign ; that is to say , to confess and acknowledge in her majesty , her heirs and successors , none other authority than that was challenged , and lately used by the noble king henry the eighth , and king edward the sixth , as in the said admonition more plainly may appear . the admonition annexed to the queens injunctions . the queens majesty being informed , that in certain places of this realm , sundry of her native subjects , being called to ecclesiastical ministery in the church , be by sinister perswasion , and perverse construction induced to finde some scruple in the form of an othe which by an act of the last parliament , is prescribed to be required of divers persons , for the recognition of their allegiance to her majesty , which certainly neither was ever ment , ne by any equity of words or good sence , can be thereof gathered : would that all her lovyng subjects should understand , that nothing was , is , or shall be ment or intended by the same othe , to have any other duty , allegiance , or bonde required by the same othe , then was acknowledged to be due to the most noble kynges of famous memory , kyng henry the viii . her majesties father , or kyng edward the sixth , her majesties brother . and further her majesty forbyddeth all manner her subjects to give ear or credit to suche perverse and maliciouse persons , which most sinifferly and maliciously labour to notify to her loving subjects , how by the words of the sayde othe , it may be collected the kings or queens of this realm , possessours of the crowne , may challenge aucthority and power of ministrie of divine offices in the churche , wherein her said subjectes be much abused by such evyl disposed persons . for certainly her majesty neither doth : ne ever wyll challenge any other aucthority , than that was challenged and lately used by the sayde noble kinges of famous memorye , king henry the eight , and kynge edward the sixt , which is and was of ancient time due to the imperial crowne of this realm . that is under god , to have the soverainty and rule over all maner persons born within these her realms , dominions , and countries , of what estate , either ecclesiastical or temporal soever they be , so as no other forrain power shall or ought to have any superioritie over them . and if anye person that hath conceived anye other sence of the fourm of the sayde othe , shall accept the same othe with this interpretation , sence , or meaning , her majestie is well pleased to accept every such in that behalf , as her good and obedient subjects , and shall acquit them of all maner penalties conteyned in the said act against such as shall peremptorily , or obstinately refuse to take the same othe . the 37. article professed in the church of england . the kings majesty hath the chief power in his realm of england , and other his dominions , unto whom the chief government of all estates of this realm , whether they he ecclesiastical or civil , in all causes doth appetain , and is not , nor ought to be subject to any forrain jurisdiction : where we attribute to the kings majesty the chief government , by which titles we understand the mindes of some standerous folks to be offended , we give not to our prince the ministring either of gods word , or of the sacraments : the which thing , the injunctions also , sometime set forth by elizabeth our ( late ) queen , do most plainly testifie , but that onely prerogative , which we see to have been given to all godly princes in holy scriptures by god himself , that is that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by god , whether they be ecclesiastical or temporal , and restrain with the civil sword the stubborn , and evil doers . the oath of supremacy briefly considered , and the lawfulness of taking it asserted . it is questioned , whether the oath of the kings being acknowledged supreme governour in all causes , according to the statute 1. eliz. may be lawfully taken ? to which i answer affirmatively , and thus argue , if it may not be lawfully taken , it is either because no oath may be taken , or no promissory oath , or no promissory oath to a king , or the matter of this oath is not to be acknowledged or promised . but none of these make it unlawful . ergo . the consequence is proved , because there is a sufficient enumeration made of things that seem to prohibit the taking of it : if not , let what else may make it unlawful be named . the minor is proved by parts , in confirming these six propositions . i. that some swearing is lawful . ii. that promissory oaths may be lawful . iii. that to swear to a king or governour may be lawful . iv. that the king is supreme governour over all persons in his dominions . v. that he is governour in ecclesiastical causes . vi . that the iurisdictions , preeminences , and priviledges meant in that oath may be lawfully acknowledge and defended . the first is proved thus . i. that which is not de toto genere , in it's whole kind evil , may be lawful : but swearing is not de toto genere , or in its whole kind evil . therefore some swearing may be lawful . the major is manifest of it self . the minor is thus proved . that is not wholly evil about the use of which some directions are given by god . god doth not give directions about the use of blasphemy , witchcraft , idolatry , &c. which are in their whole kind evil . but god giveth directions about the use of swearing , as in the third commandment ( which is undoubtedly moral ) jer. 4. 2. where he saith , and thou shalt swear , the lord liveth , in truth , in judgement , and in righteousness . ergo . 2. that which is approved by god , is lawful . but some swearing is approved by god . psal. 63. 11. every one that sweareth by god shall glory . ergo . the major is of it self manifest , the minor the text evidenceth , sith the swearing by god is made part of glorying in god , or of the swearers glory . 3. if it were unlawful to use any oath , then it were unlawful to put any oath on any . but this is not to be said . ergo . the consequence is manifest , sith we cannot lawfully urge any to that which is of it self sinful : now that it is lawful to put an oath on some persons at some times is manifest by gods own appointment , levit. 5. 1. 4. his ratifying solomons petition concerning this thing , 1 king. 8. 31. 2 chr. 6. 22. and the practise of abraham in the old testament , gen. 24. 2 , 3. putting an oath on his servant , and pauls in the new , putting an oath on the thessalonians , 1 thes. 5. 27. for so the greek word translated , i charge you by the lord , or adjre you , as it is in the margin , by the lord , is , i put the lords oath on you , or swear you that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren . alike charges are , 1 tim. 6. 13. 2 tim. 4. 1. 4. that which hath been the practise of the godly before , under the law , and in the times of the gospel without reproof is lawful , for in all these times , and by such men moved as they were by gods spirit , even in their holy speeches and writings , it would not have been done had it been sinful . but some swearing hath been the practise of the godly , before , under the law and in the times of the gospel , as is proved by instances , as of abraham that lift up his hand to the most high god , gen. 14. 22. of isaac , gen. 26. 31. of jacob , gen. 31. 53. under the law , of the people of israel , josh. 9. 19 , 20. of david and jonathan , 1 sam. 20. 3. 42. david to saul , 1 sam 24 22. of urijah , 2 sam. 11. 11. of ittai , 2. sam. 15. 21. of david , 1 kings 1. 29 , 30 & 2. 8. of solomon , vers. 23. of elijah , 1 kings 17. 1. of michajah , 1 kings 22. 14. of elisha , 2 king. 2. 4 , 6. and 3. 14. and 5. 16. and the woman of shunem , 2 king. 4. 30. in the times of the gospel , of paul , 2. cor. 1. 18. using this oath , as god is true , verse . 23. i call god to record upon my soul , and 11. 31. and 12. 19. 1 cor. 15. 31. this is a form of swearing , by your rejoycing which i have in christ jesus , it being in the greek {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} which is a particle of swearing , not {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , which are prepositions noting the means or instrument of the effect ; of the angel , revel. 10. 6. who sware by him that liveth for ever . the like are rom. 1. 9. & 9. 1. gal. 1. 20. philip . 1. 8. ergo . 5 that which hath a necessary use for the benefit of humane society , is not unlawful . but some swearing hath a necessary use for the benefit of humane society . ergo . the major is plain , it agreeing with the law of nature and nations , which is of necessary use for the benefit of humane society , which laws god the author of nature hath imprinted in all , and indeed hath made all his laws for men one towards another subservient thereto . the minor is plain from the words of the author to the hebrews , chap. 6. 16. an oath to men is an end of strife , which is a necessary use for humane benefit . 6. that which hath been counted by all nations as a sacred thing , a principal part of the acknowledgement and worship of god , is not unlawful of it self . but so hath some swearing been counted . ergo . the minor is proved by gods own words , deut. 10. 20. thou shalt fear the lord thy god , him shalt thou serve , and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name . the second [ that promissory oaths may be lawful ] is thus proved . 1. that is not altogether of it self evil or unlawful , which god makes a bond of the soul to be kept and performed to the lord . but some promissory oaths god makes a bond of the soul to be kept and performed to the lord . ergo . some promissory othes may be lawful . the major is proved , because that which is altogether unlawful cannot bind the soul to god , nor is to be kept and performed to the lord . the minor is proved from numb. 30. 2. if a man vow a vow unto the lord , or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond , he shall not break or profane his word , he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth . matth. 5. 33. again ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time , thou shalt not forswear thy self , but shalt perform unto the lord thine oathes , where a promissory oath is made a bond to bind the soul with , to be kept and performed to the lord . 2. if holy men afore the law , under the law , in gospel times have put promissory oaths on others , then they are not altogether unlawful . this is proved by the same reason by which the like consequence is proved before , in proving the fourth argument of the former proposition . but holy men afore the law , as abraham , gen. 24. 2. 3. under the law , as moses , deut. 29. 14. jonathan , 1 sam. 20. 17. asa and the people of israel , 2 chron. 15. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15. ezra , ezra 10. 5. in gospel times , paul , 1 thes. 5. 27. adjuring the thessalonians by the lord , that that epistle be read to all the holy brethren , have put promissory oaths on others . ergo . 3. that which godly men have practised and still counted as well done that is lawful . but some promissory oaths godly men have practised and still counted as well done . ergo . the major is probable , and in this case , considering the persons , and the holy ghosts recording as he hath done , certain . the minor is proved by instances , of david , psal. 119. 106. i have sworn and will perform it , that i will keep thy righteous judgements . 1 sam. 20. 42. and jonathan said to david , go in peace , forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the lord , saying , the lord be between me and thee , and between my seed and thy seed for ever . nehem. 10. 29. they clave to their brethren , their nobles , and entred into a curse , and into an oath to walk in gods law . 1 king. 1. 29 , 30. and the king sware and said , as the lord liveth , that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress , even as i sware unto thee , that by the lord god of israel assuredly solomon thy son shall reign after me , and he shall reproof is lawful , for in all these times , and by such men moved as they were by gods spirit , even in their holy speeches and writings , it would not have been done , had it been sinful . but some swearing hath been the practise of the godly , before , under the law and in the times of the gospel , as is proved by instances , as of abraham that lift up his hand to the most high god , gen. 14. 22. of isaac , gen. 26. 31. of jacob , gen. 31. 53. under the law , of the people of israel , josh. 9. 19. 20. of david and jonathan , 1 sam. 20. 3. 42. david to saul 1 sam. 24. 22. of urijah 2 sam. 11. 11. of ittai , 2 sam. 15. 21. of david , 1 kings 1. 29 , 30. & 2. 8. of solomon , vers. 23. of elijah , 1 kings 17. 1. of michajah , 1 king. 22. 14. of elisha , 2 king. 2. 4. 6. and 3. 14. and 5. 16. and the woman of shunem , 2 king. 4. 30. in the times of the gospel , of paul , 2 cor. 1. 18. using this oath , as god is true , vers. 23. i call god to record upon my soul , and 11. 31. and 12. 19. 1 cor. 15. 31. this is a form of swearing , by your rejoycing which i have in christ jesus , it being in greek {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} which is a particle of swearing , not {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , which are prepositions noting the means or instrument of the effect ; of the angel , revel. 10. 6. who sware by him that liveth for ever . the like are rom. 1. 9. & 9. 1. gal. 1. 20. philip . 1. 8. ergo . 5. that which hath a necessary use for the benefit of humane society is not unlawful . but some swearing hath a necessary use for the benefit of humane society . ergo . the major is plain , it agreeing with the law of nature and nations , which is of necessary use for the benefit of humane society , which lawes god the author of nature hath imprinted in all , and indeed hath made all his laws for men one towards another subservient thereto . the minor is plain from the words of the author to the hebrews chap. 6. 16. an oath to men is an end of all strife , which is a necessary use for humane benefit . 6. that which hath been counted by all nations as a sacred thing , a principal part of the acknowledgment and worship of god , is not unlawful of it self . but so hath some swearing been counted . ergo . the minor is proved by gods own words , deut. 10. 20. thou shalt fear the lord thy god , him shalt thou serve , and to him shalt thou cleave , and swear by his name , the second [ that promissory oaths may be lawful ] is thus proved . 1. that is not altogether of it self evil or unlawful , which god makes a bond of the soul to be kept and performed to the lord . but some promissory oaths god makes a bond of the soul to be kept and performed to the lord . ergo . some promissory oaths may be lawful . the major is proved , because that which is altogether unlawful cannot binde the soul to god , nor is to be kept and performed to the lord . the minor is proved from numb. 30. 2. if a man vow a vow unto the lord , or swear an oath to binde his soul with a bond , he shall not break or profane his word , he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth , matth. 5. 33. again ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time , thou shalt not forswear thy self , but shalt perform unto the lord thine oaths , where a promissory oath is made a bond to binde the soul with , to be kept and performed to the lord . 2. if holy men afore the law , under the law , in gospel times have put promissory oaths on others , then they are not altogether unlawful . this is proved by the same reason by which the like consequence is proved before , in proving the fourth argument of the former proposition . but holy men afore the law , as abraham , gen. 24. 2. 3. under the law , as moses , deut. 29. 14. jonathan , 1 sam. 20. 17. asa and the people of israel , 2 chron. 15. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15. ezra , ezra 10. 5. in gospel times , paul , 1 thes. 5. 27. adjuring the thessalonians by the lord , that that epistle be read to all the holy brethren , have put promissory oaths on others . ergo . 3 that which godly men have practised and still counted as well done that is lawful . but some promissory oaths godly men have practised and still counted as well done . ergo . the major is probable , and in this case , considering the persons , and the holy ghosts recording as he hath done , certain . the minor is proved by instances of david , psal. 119. 106. i have sworn and will perform it , that i will keep thy righteous judgements , 1 sam. 20. 42. and jonathan said to david , go in peace , forasomuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the lord , saying , the lord be between me and thee , and between my seed and thy seed for ever . nehem. 10. 29. they clave to their brethren , their nobles , and entred into a curse , and into an oath to walk in gods law . 1 king. 1. 29 , 30. and the king sware and said , as the lord liveth , that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress , even as i sware unto thee that by the lord god of israel assuredly solomon thy son shall reign after me , and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead ; even so will i certainly do this day . 4. that which is made a qualification of one that shall dwell in gods holy hill , is not unlawful : but to swear to his hurt and not to change , that is , to take a promissory oath , and not to change , though it be to his dammage is made a qualification of one that shall dwell in gods holy hill , psal. 15. 4. ergo . some promissory oaths are lawful . the third proposition [ that to swear to a king or governour is lawful ] is proved , 1. from approved examples , which prove either a duty , or at least lawfulness of the thing . that which hath been practised by holy men without reproof is lawful . but swearing to kings and governours allegiance and obedience hath been practised by holy men . ergo . the minor is proved by instances of the people to david , 2 sam. 5. 3. so all the elders came to the king to hebron , and king david made a league with them in hebron before the lord : and they anointed david king over israel , 1 chron. 11. 3. then came all the elders of israel to the king to hebron , and david made a covenant with them in hebron before the lord , and they anointed david king over israel according to the word of the lord by samuel . a covenant before the lord was an oath , but the people of israel , a holy people made a covenant before the lord with david their king , therefore they entred into an oath of allegiance and due obedience . the other is more plain , 2 king. 11. 4. and in the seventh year jehojada sent and fet the rulers over hundreds with the captains and the guard , and brought them to him in the house of the lord , and made a covenant with them , and took an oath of them in the house of the lord , and shewed them the kings son , vers. 17. and jehojada made a covenant between the lord and the king , and the people , that they should be the lords people : between the king also and the people , 2 chron. 23. 3. and all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the hosue of god : and he said unto them , behold the kings son shall reign , as the lord hath said of the sons of david , vers. 6. then jehojada made a covenant between him and all the people , and between the king , that they should be the lords people . these are express examples of swearing allegiance to kings , which is consonant to what our lord christ teacheth , that we should render to caesar the things that are caesars , as to god the things that are gods , matth. 22. 21. besides we finde david swearing to saul , 1 sam. 24. 22. the people conceiving themselves bound by sauls adjuration , 1 sam , 14. 24 , 28. shimei was bound by the oath which solomon imposed on him , where solomon speaks thus to him , why hast thou not kept the oath of the lord , and the commandment that i have charged thee with ? abrahams servant sware obedience to abraham , and counted himself bound to keep it , gen. 24. 2 , 3. then arose ezra , and made the chief priests , the levites , and all israel to swear , that they should do according to this word , and they sware , ezra 10. 5. nehemiah made them swear by god , saying , ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons , nor take their daughters unto your sons , or for your selves , nehem. 13. 25. 2. from gods dealing with zedekiah , that kept not the oath made to the king of babylon , ezek. 17. 18 , 19. where god doth not except against the oath , but the breaking of it calling it his oath , which he had despised , and his covenant that he had broken ; whence i argue , that which god calls his oath , the despising of which he avengeth , may be lawfully taken . but an oath of subjection even to the king of babylon , god calls his oath , the despising of which he avengeth , therefore some oath of subjection to a king , may be lawfull . 3. from the words of solomon , eccles. 8. 2. i counsel thee to keep the kings commandment , and that in regard of the oath of god . the oath of god seemeth to be an oath by god to the king , being made the reason of keeping the kings commandment , as the oath of shemei , 1 king. 2. 43. is termed the oath of the lord , zedechiah's oath to the king of babylon , gods oath and covenant , ezek. 17. 19. prov. 2. 17. the wives covenant with her husband , is called the covenant of her god ; whence i argue , that which is gods oath , and is urged as the reason of keeping the kings command is lawful . but an oath of subjection to a king is gods oath , and urged as the reason of keeping his commandment , as the text shews , therefore it is lawful . if by the oath of god be meant , not a particular oath to a king , but the general oath or covenant to obey god ( which seems not so likely , because it is the special reason of keeping the kings commandment ) yet thus also the argument holds : if it be lawful to make a general oath to god of keeping his laws , and this be one of gods laws to keep the kings commandment , and that the particular oath of subjection to the king is comprehended in the general oath of keeping gods commands , a particular oath of obedience to the king is not unlawful . 4. that is lawful which is of necessary use for the publique good . but some swearing to a king or other governors is of necessary use for the publique good , therefore it is lawful . the major is confirmed in proving the major of the fifth argument of the first proposition , the minor is proved by experience , even jehojada and david conceived so , and the reason is , because the common peace and good government cannot be kept but by good correspondence between prince and people : therefore if mutual oaths tend thereto , as often they do , they are of necessary use for the publique good . the grand objection is from the words of our saviour , math. 5. 34 , 35 , 36 , 37. but i say unto you , swear not all , neither by heaven for it is gods throne : nor by the earth , for it is his footstool : neither by jerusalem , for it is the city of the great king . neither shalt thou swear by thy head , because thou canst not make one hair white or black . but let your communication be yea , yea , nay , nay , for whatsover is more then these cometh of evil : and of the apostles , jam. 5. 12. but above all things my brethren , swear not , neither by heaven , neither by the earth , neither by any other oath : but let your yea be yea , and your nay , nay ; lest ye fall into condemnation : which words do seem expresly and fully to forbid any swearing at all , excluding some sorts of oaths by name , and the rest by general terms , with prescription that our communication be yea , yea , nay , nay , and determination , that what is more then these cometh of evil , or the evil one , which made some of the ancients and later godly persons conclude all oaths of any sort prohibited now to christians , though they were not to the jews . but the reasons foregiven are so cogent to the contrary , that we must of necessity finde out a limitation of the speeches , as we do , and rightly , for the next words of our saviour following , vers. 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42. which are as full in shew for not resisting of evil , but offering our selves to receive further injury , and permitting more dammage and profuse vain casting away our estates , contrary to the law of nature , in our necessary defence , to that necessary moderate providence , which belongs to every man , that due respect which each is to have to the rules of mercy , bounty , and our own imployment and family , so that without good caution we shall make christs precept in stead of being useful to become pernicious . that we may then consider how to understand our lords precept about swearing , we are to take this as certain , that christs precept forbids somewhat which the pharisaical teachers allowed , though they forbad perjury ; now one thing seems to be forbidden by our lord christ , to wit , the making of such distinction of oaths as the pharisees did , and accordingly used them , which seems to have consisted in two things . 1. in conceiving they might use oaths by some creatures , as if in such use there were no relation to god , and so no profaning of his name , or taking it in vain . the reason of this seems to be christs and james his instances onely in such sorts of oaths as were by creatures , and the refutation of their conceit , by shewing , that all referred to god , as the oath by the heaven , was by god , sith it was his throne ; by the earth , sith it is his footstool ; by jerusalem , sith it was his city ; by the head sith he makes the hair white or black . 2. that some of these oaths made them debtors to perform what they sware and not other , which appears from christs own charge upon them , matth. 23. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22. where he terms them fools and blinde guides for such decision , concluding that all those oaths had respect to god , and did binde . and accordingly christ is not to be understood as forbidding simply all oaths , but such differencing of oaths in their meaning and obligation , as the pharisees , and other jews , either superstitiously or otherwise erroneously used , yet i do not conceive this is all . for the words , swear not at all , neither by heaven nor earth , nor any other oath , but prescribing yea , yea , nay , nay , censuring more to be from evil , or the evil one , seems to forbid all oaths in some cases or manner , which some conceive as if he forbad a promissory oath universally , or a vow with an oath : but these opinions stand not with the second proposition before proved , nor do i finde any thing in the text leading to them . and therefore i conceive , that the prohibition is of that frequent , vain , light , profane , unnecessary , customary passionate swearing , or in secular matters of no importance , without any dread of an oath , or consideration of the holiness of god , upon a provocation to anger , as david , 1 sam. 25. 21. or deceifully as those , psal. 24. 4. all who take gods name in vain , which i gather from the text . 1. in that he prescribeth their yea , yea , nay , nay , to be in their speech or communication , which seems to be meant of their familiar speech one with another , in their answers to each other . 2. because james saying , let your yea be yea , and your nay nay , doth exlude inconstancy and lightness , and prescribes such considerateness as that they need not unsay what they have said , that to use the apostles speech , 2 cor. 1. 18. our words may not be yea , and nay , off and on , but yea and amen , that is , firm and ratified , so as that deeds answer to words , as becomes men , that consider what they say , and still say that taught the good knowledge of the lord , 2 chron. 30. 1 , 2 , 5 , 22. removed the high places , and brake the images , and cut down the groves , and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that moses had made : for unto those days the children of israel did burn incense to it , 2 king. 18. 4. appointed the courses of the priests and levites , with the portion to be given to the priests and the levites , 2. chron. 31. 2 , 4. josiah purged the land of idols , repaired the lords house , gathered all the people to hear the law read , and to make them to stand to the covenant he made before the lord , to walk after the lord . and in the doing of these things the kings are said to do that which was right in the eyes of the lord , and to walk before the lord with a perfect heart . 2. on the contrary , the not removing the high places , and permitting idols , and neglecting the setting up of gods true worship and service , is charged upon some of the kings as their sin , 1 king. 15. 14. and 22. 43. 2 king. 14. 9. and 15. 4. 3. god gives a special charge to the king to have a copy of the law , and to read therein , that he may learn to fear the lord , and to keep all the words of the law , deut. 17. 18 , 19. and therefore when jehojada crowned king jehoash he gave him the testimony , 2 king. 11. 12. that he might be minded , that he was , as a king , to know and to see to the keeping of the whole law . 4. the open practice of idolatry is imputed to the want of a king in israel , judg. 17. 5 , 6. and 18. 1. which proves , that the king in israel ought to restrain from idolatry , and not to permit every man to do what was right in his own eyes . the ma●or is manifest , because the office of the kings of israel was no ceremonial function , as the priests , but moral , and of perpetual use , and therefore belongs to other kings as well as the kings of israel ; nor doth the gospel deprive them , or any other of their state and authority , by their becoming christians : for then suppose king agrippa had become a christian , he must have ceased to be a king , and have had his kingly power diminished : but as the apostle resolves concerning servants and persons of other conditions , 1 cor. 7. 24. brethren , let every man wherein he is called therein abide with god , that is , his christian calling doth not bind him to leave the state and condition of life in which he was , nor diminish his authority which he had when he was called to be a christian , as not consisting with christianity ; so is it true concerning kings and other magistrates , they have greater obligation to god , and the lord christ , no less authority and power as kings by their christianity : but they may abide in their office , and exercise the lawful authority they had before . perhaps it will be said , the kings of israel were types of christ , and therefore their power and authority did cease in things spiritual and ecclesiastical , when christ was come . 1. but to the contrary , this is said without proof , and so is rejected as easily as it is alledged . 2. it is true , christ is often termed david , and it is said , he shall sit on davids throne , luk. 1. 32 , 33. but this power of reforming religion was not appropriate to david , or the race of the kings of judah , but belonged also to the kings of israel , ( who were not types of christ ) who are charged with the permission or promoting of idolatry , as their sin , as on jeroboam , ahab , &c. and jehu is in some measure rewarded for the partial reformation he made , 2 king. 10. 28 , 29 , 30. and therefore it belonged not to the kings of israel to reform religion , onely as types of christ , but even as kings . 2. this is proved , and the proposition it self . that is to be ascribed to the king , which was with approbation ascribed to kings out of the church . but the government in things and causes spiritual or belonging to religion , is ascribed with approbation to kings out of the church . ergo . the major is proved , because what of this kind is with approbation ascribed to kings out of the church , is to be taken as belonging to kings as kings , and not as typical kings or rulers . the minor is proved by instances . the first of cyrus king of persia of whom we read that the lord stirred up his spirit to make a proclamation for building of gods house , 2. chron. 36. 22 , 23. ezra . 1. 1 , 2. in doing this he is called gods shepherd , isa 44. 28. and anointed by god , isa. 45. 1. and the same was continued by decrees of darius , ezra 6. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. and artaxerxes , ezra 7. 13 , 21 , 23 , 26. now these things belonging to the building of gods house , furthering his service , were spiritual things , and therefore government in spiritual things belonging to religion , is ascribed to kings out of the church . to these may be added the decree of nebuchadnezzar against them that should speak any thing amiss against the god of shadrach , meshach and abednego . dan. 3. 29. and of darius , dan. 6. 26. that in every dominion of his kingdom , men tremble and , fear before the god of daniel , which are undoubtedly about spiritual causes or matters of religion : and the king of nineveh his proclamation by the decree of the king and his nobles , that all should fast covered with sackcloth , and cry mightily to god , jonah 3. 7 , 8. which is approved by god , in that he defer'd his judgement thereupon : in all which government in matters of religion was exercised and approved . 3. that which agrees to other rulers besides kings , agrees much more to kings , but to govern in causes spiritual or things of religion , belongs to governours below kings , therefore much more to kings . 4. the major is proved from the title given to the king , 1 pet. 2. 13. where he is called the supreme or excelling , and of those that are in authority or excelling , 1 tim. 2. 1 , 2. the king is reckoned as chief ; therefore if inferiour governours are to govern in matters of religion , much more kings . now that they are to do so , appears by the practice of nehemiah , who being not king , nor priest , but governour under the king of persia , reformed the priests , excluding aliens from the priests chambers , giving the levites their portion , and chiefly by restraining the profanation of the sabbath , nehem. 13. 9 , 10 , 15 , 22. reckoning it among the works for which he would have god remember him . jacob reforms his houshold by requiring them to put away the strange gods that were among them , and bury them , gen. 35. 2 , 4. parents are required to bring up their children in the nurture , in greek discipline or government and admonition of the lord , ephes. 5. 4. servants are to be obedient to their masters as to christ , vers. 5. as the servants of christ doing the will of god from the heart , vers. 6. with good will doing service as to the lord and not to men : therefore parents and masters have government in matters of religion , much more the father and master of the common-wealth , having a more ample authority . 4. this is further confirmed in that the apostle where he speaks of the powers , he saith without limitation , that rulers are not a terrour to good works but to evil : wilt thou not be afraid of the power ? do that which is good , and thou shalt have praise of the same , he is the minister of god , a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil , rom. 13. 3. 4. kings and governours sent by them are for the punishment of evil doers , and for the praise of them that do well , without limitation and distinction of civil and spiritual things , 1 pet. 2. 14. now where the law doth not distinguish , neither are we , and therefore are to understand the governing in the text to be in religious things as well as civil . 5. which is further confirmed from the titles given to them : they are termed gods , psal. 82. 1 , 6. john 10. 34 , 35. ministers of god , rom. 13. 4. that judge not for man but for the lord , 2 chron. 19. 9. therefore they are to be ministers in a political way , and to judge in things of the lord . 6. paul did not refuse to apologize for himself about the accusations of the jews against him for his profession and preaching of christian religion , but did justifie himself before felix , festus and king agrippa , and appealed to caesar , act. 23. 29. and 24. 5 , 6 , 8 , 10. and 25. 8 , 11 , 19 , 21 , and 26. 2 , 3. therefore he denied not , but acknowledged the kings government , even in the things and causes that concern christian religion , and consequently we may in like manner acknowledge it . 7. paul exhorts us to pray and give thanks for kings and all that are in authority or excellency , that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty , 1 tim. 2. 1 , 2. therefore he supposeth that kings have some government in matters of godliness , as well as honesty , and therefore are governours in causes spiritual , or of religion . 8. from the absurdities which follow if this be not granted . 1. if the king be not governour in ecclesiastical things and causes , then his kingly power is of no use in matters of religion , for if he have no government in them he is to be a looker on , and in effect a meer cipher in respect of such things ; but this is not to be said , sith matters of religion do as much concern him to govern in , as any causes , all experience shewing that no government can be well ordered without some regard had to religion . 2. all the actions which kings have been commended for by godly persons were unjustifiable : the pulling down of idols , restraining the importation and vending of popes pardons , and consecrated ware , the causing the holy bible to be translated , and publiquely to be read , proclaimnig fasts , and days of thanksgiving , with many of the like acts of kingly authority have been unwarrantable . 3. kings should have no way of expressing their zeal for gods worship and true religion more then other men , if they were not governours in spiritual things and causes , nor be more accountable to god for neglect thereof , then other men , nor this sin of theirs of more guilt then the like sin of others , which are all absurd . 4. all the holy martyrs who have owned their authority , and submitted to it when they suffered under it , all those who have petitioned for reformation of religion to kings , have giventhanks to god for it , have advised that it should be sought from them , should be censured as foolish , if not sinfully countenancing an unrighteous usurpation , and the best christian kings who have done most for the settling the affairs of the church censured {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} busie in other mens matters , and the like is to be said of parliaments , and so all matters of religion must be left wholly to bishops , the evil and miserable effects of which are discernible in the records of former and later times , to be intolerable ; as it fell out in the troubles by thomas becket in the time of henry the second , of stephen langton in king johns days , the persecution in queen maries days by bishops , whose disowning the kings supremacy and asserting the popes , occasioned the making and the imposing of this oath . 5. those titles which have been given them for their care in ordering the things of the church , that they were nursing fathers and nursing mothers to it , according to isaiahs prophecy , isa. 49. 29. should be recalled : all the exhortations and charges given to them by preachers to take care of the church of god , should be retracted , they should be no longer minded , that they are to be keepers of both tables of the law ; in a word , it should be their virtue to be as gallio was , that cared for none of these things , acts 18. 17. which are all absurd . against this many things are objected . 1. that to acknowledge the king the onely supreme governour is to make him god . to this i answer : not so , sith he is acknowledged governour in his dominions , and supreme therein under god , and the exclusive term [ onely ] excludes foraign jurisdiction of the pope and other princes and states , ( which by the oath is renounced ) not gods government . object . 2 if kings are governours in all causes , then they may appoint what religion , and worship of god they please , and it is evil to disobey or gainsay what they impose . answer . though in temporal things they be governours , yet are they to govern according to laws . so in spiritual and ecclesiastical things they are to govern according to the laws of christ , and such rules as agree with them , and not in either , in a meerly arbitrary way after their own will : nor are we necessitated to obey or own what they require , if inconsistent with the laws of christ , and such rules as agree with them . object . 3. if kings be governours in all causes over all persons , then may they dissolve churches and their government , and mould and order them as they will . answ. so far as church constitution , government , and ordering is by christs appointment , or such example which hath the force of an institution of christ , it may not be altered by a king ; but in such things as are left to humane prudence , and there is a concernment of the weal publique ; kings have authority to order them so , as that they tend to the real good and advantage of the churches of christ , and the glory of god , which is the highest and ultimate end of all . object . 4. this will make the use of synods , and assemblies of pastors to determine things of religion , and to order government unnecessary , sith the determination of all will lye in the kings breast . answ. though statute-laws require the kings assent , and the government is to be exercised in his name , by his commission , yet are not debates in parliament , and passing bills by both houses , nor consultations with judges , nor their decisions of cases unnecessary : the like is to be said of the use of synods and assemblies of pastors and learned men , though the calling of them , and validity of their canons , that is rules , in respect of the imposing them on others with civil penalties , require the kings concurrence . object . 5. this hath occasioned great evils in so much that persecution hath been raised against godly persons as heretiques and schismatiques , when princes have been misled ; so as to burn , banish , imprison , and otherwise to afflict persons , judged by prelates and others to be such . answ. 't is true this hath fallen out , when princes ignorant of the true religion , corrupted in their education , perverted by seducers and ungodly guides in their judgements have yielded too much to the misinformation of others , and so have been unhappy in the abuse of their government to the great hurt in life , liberty , and estate of innocent persons : and the like hath been in mal-administration of civil affairs , through the like causes : yet the power and authority in neither is to be denied for some abuse : for that would introduce a worse evil of anarchy and mischievous confusions . on the other side when princes have been good , and have used such good counsellours , as jehojada was to joash ; their government in religion hath been of great advantage to the church of christ . and , as things have stood in england , it was the means under god whereby popery was expelled , and the protestant reformation was established . object . 6. by allowing so much power in ecclesiastical things , religion is often changed with the king , and thereby peoples minds are at much uncertainty what religion to be of , which tends to irreligion and atheisme . answ. so it fell out in the kingdom of judah , yet the power of the kings of judah in matters of religion was not for this cause denied . and the like happens upon change of teachers , as in the churches of galatia : and paul , acts 20. 29 , 30. foretels the like would be in the church of ephesus , yet is not therefore the use and government of pastors to be denied , but more diligence to be in using such holy means as prayer for kings , 1 tim. 2. 1 , 2. &c. which by gods blessing may prevent these evils . object . 7. no man is to govern in that whereof he is no sit judge , nor is any man a fit judge but he that is skilful in the things he judgeth : which seldom happened to kings in matters of religion , and therefore government therein is ill ascribed to them . ans. as a king may be fit to govern in temporal causes ( whereto is required skill in the laws of the land , of which perhaps he hath little or no knowledge , not so much as a judge is to have , who passeth sentence ) if he choose and use them that are skilful and upright therein : so it may be in ecclesiastical causes , if he choose and use the help of them that are skilful and faithful in religion . but in this thing there is need of the greatest circumspection , vigilancy and wariness , on the one side by reason of the cunning and diligence of seducers , and the violence of spirit in profane persons against the most holy and harmless christians , and on the other side by reason of the weakness in the faith of many upright souls , whose consciences are very tender , and their wounds hardly cured : of whom our lord christ was very tender , matth. 12. 20. and gentle toward them , as the great shepherd of the sheep , through the blood of the everlasting covenant , heb. 13. 20. as was foretold , isai. 40. 11. and the apostle paul requires much indulgence to be given them , rom. 14. 1 , 4. object . 8. the acknowledgement of this supremacy of the king hath been opposed by sundry godly protestants , who have in their writings excepted against it , as calvin , and the century writers of magdeburg . answ. t is true , they excepted against the title of head of the church given to king henry the eighth , as stephen gardiner , and such like persons misreported it , as if it gave to the king an uncontrollable authentique power , to determine of faith , and worship of god : but when those learned protestants better understood what was meant by it , they withdrew their exceptions , as doctor rainold shews in his conference with hart in the tower , chap. 10. object . 9. many godly persons are offended with the taking , and defending the lawfulness of the taking of this oath , as fearing it many tend to the taking away those liberties of their consciences in religion , which are dearer to them then their lives : and being jealous of those who take it , least they betray those liberties . ans. it is to be considered by those conscientious persons , who make this objection , that the takers , and defenders of the taking of this oath do apprehend , that the imposing this oath was for the excluding the popes jurisdiction , and other forreign power , as the admonition of queen elizabeth here prefixed shews , and therefore there is nothing done by such takers or defenders in prejudice of their brethrens liberties , or imposition on the consciences of others : but they that have taken it , or conceive they may take it , if imposed , do it , as being satisfied in their consciences by the foregoing arguments , or such like , that they do but what they may do lawfully without offence , and hope that it will fall out as it did in the business of the altar of ed , josh. 22. that a right intelligence of their fact will prevent any breach between them and others , and unite them more closely . object . 10. this acknowledgement of the kings supremacy in causes ecclesiastical hath been but of late , not before king henry the eighth and edward the sixth . answer . the title of head of the church of england , ( now altered into supreme governour over all persons ) though it were not assumed by the kings of england before henry the eighth , yet the power of supreme government in causes ecclesiastical , as saith bishop bramhal in his answer to militiere , pag. 111. the ancient kings of england ever exercised , not onely before the reformation , but before the norman conquest , as appeared by the acts of their great councils , by their statutes , and articles of the clergy , by so many laws of provision against the bishop of romes conferring ecclesiastical dignities and benefices upon foreigners , by so many sharp oppositions against the exactions and usurpations of the court of rome , by so many laws concerning the patronage of bishopricks , and investitures of bishops , by so many examples of churchmen punished by the civil magistrate . this power , though not this name , the christian emperors of old assumed to themselves , to convocate synods , to preside in synods , to confirm synods , to establish ecclesiastical laws , to receive appeals , to nominate bishops , to eject bishops , to suppress heresies , to compose ecclesiastical differences , in councils , out of councils , by themselves , by their delegates . all which is as clear in the history of the church , as if it were written with a beam of the sun . the sixth proposition is [ the jurisdictions , preeminences , priviledges , and authorities in that oath may be assisted and defended ] the jurisdictions , &c. meant i conceive to be expressed a little before the form of the oath in the statute of 1 eliz. cap. 1. of which the queens admonition saith , no other authority is challenged , than that was challenged and lately used by king henry the eighth , and edward the sixth , that is , under god , to have the soveraignty and rule over all manner of persons , born within her realms , dominions and countreys , of what estate either ecclesiastical or temporal soever they be , so as no other foreign power shall or ought to have any superiority over them . what was used in the days of henry the eighth , and edward the sixth , appears by the book of acts and monumens and statutes in their days , to wit , the rejecting the popes jurisdiction , appointing visitors , judging and deposing some bishops , commands to take down images , causing divine service to be in the english tongue , the bible in the english tongue to be in churches , with many other things of the like kinde . the promise to defend them is [ to our power ] whether by opposing the bringers in of a forreign power , especially the popes or by aiding the king in the right use of this authority , neither is the power granted which may not be lawfully used or exercised , nor is the abuse of it required to be defended . with this explication , the proposition is thus proved . that we may lawfully swear to assist and defend , which may lawfully be exercised , and may be of necessary use . this proposition needs not any further proof being of it self manifest . but all the jurisdictions , priviledges , preeminences and authorities meant in the oath according to the queens explication in her admonition , ratified in the proviso of the statute 5. eliz. may be lawfully exercised , and may be of necessary use , as appears by the recital of them and their use before specified : therefore we may lawfully swear to assist and defend them . the objection that is made against this is , that these jurisdictions , preeminences , priviledges , and authorities were the same that were taken from the pope and given to the king , and thereby papal power was conferred on him . to which i answer , the power ( saith hart conference with rainold , chap. 1. division 2. ) which we mean to the pope by this title of the supreme head is , that the government of the whole church throughout the world doth depend of him : in him doth lie the power of judging and determining all causes of faith , of ruling councils as president , and ratifying their decrees ; of ordering and confirming bishops and pastours ; of deciding causes brought him by appeals from all the coasts of the earth , of reconciling any that are excommunicate , of excommunicating , suspending or inflicting other censures and penalties on any that offend , yea , on princes and nations ; finally of all things of the like sort , for governing of the church , even whatsoever toucheth either preaching of doctrine or practising of discipline in the church of christ . now this immense power , as too heavy for the shoulders of a mortal man , and as not belonging to the kingly office at all in many parts of it , is disclaimed by the kings of england , as is before shewed , and not meant to be acknowledged in the oath . therefore , saith dr. john rainold confer. with hart , chap. 10. that which we take from the pope we give not to any mortal creature , and having by the reading of dr. nowels reproof of dormans proof of certain articles convinced hart the jesuite , that no more is meant by it then what august . saith epist. 50. that kings do serve gods as kings , if in their own realm they command good things , and forbid evil , not onely concerning the civil state of men , but the religion of god also : thus much he did subscribe to . out of all which i infer , that it was very presumptuously and unjustly made by mounsier de la militiere the crime of the kings of england , which god chastised by the late tragedy , that the authority which god gave the king in temporal matters was used by him for governing spiritual , in his tempting epistle to his majesty that now is , whom the lord preserve and direct in the mannaging of this power of so great concernment to so many millions of precious souls as are within his dominions . amen . finis . a letter from a gentleman in the city to one in the country concerning the bill for disabling the duke of york to inherit the imperial crown of this realm gentleman in the city. 1680 approx. 41 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a47998 wing l1390 estc r14744 12940138 ocm 12940138 95852 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47998) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 95852) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 388:14) a letter from a gentleman in the city to one in the country concerning the bill for disabling the duke of york to inherit the imperial crown of this realm gentleman in the city. [2], 21 p. [s.n.], london : 1680. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2007-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-03 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-03 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter from a gentleman in the city , to one in the covntry ; concerning the bill for disabling the duke of york to inherit the imperial crown of this realm . london , printed in the year , 1680. a letter from a gentleman in the city , to one in the country . sir , the nation being awakened out of that lethargy , which for so many years had bound up its senses , and deprived it of all feeling and perception ; begins at last to discern it's danger and to provide against the ruine and mischiefs which threaten it . accordingly the house of commons have not only declared , nemine contradicente , that the duke of york's being a papist , hath given the greatest countenance to the present designs and conspiracies of the papists , against the king and protestant religion ; but have brought in a bill , disabling him to inherit the imperial crown of this realm . now , sir , this being the affair i design to write freely to you about , i presume in the very entrance to tell you , that they could do no less , without abandoning themselves , and the whole kingdom , to bondage and popery . and all true english men as well as protestants , are so fully satisfied of the necessity and justice of the course which they steer ; that they not only applaud and commend them in what they have undertaken , but are ready to stake their lives and fortunes towards the seeing it effected and accomplished . sect. i. nor , in the first place , can the papists themselves condemn us for taking these due ways and methods to secure our religion , and preserve our lives and properties ; seeing they are not only agreeable to the measures , ( but much more modest ) which they have taken in forreign countries to preserve their own . shall it be lawful for the french , to endeavour to preclude henry the 4th . from enjoying the crown of france , because he was a protestant , and must it be unjust for the english to debar james duke of york from attaining the soveraignty over this realm , that is a papist ? shall the pope and church of rome cherish and justify a bloody war , upon the alone foot of his being of a different religion from what was received in that nation ? and shall not we be allowed to use such legal means , as are consistent with and warranted by our constitution , to hinder a papist from ascending the regal throne of this kingdom ? shall it be lawful for those in the communion of the papal church , to advise phillip the 2d . of spain to murder his son charles , for speaking only favourably of his fathers subjects in the netherlands , who were called lutherans ? and shall not we have the liberty humbly to pray and desire our king , to desert a brother who hath plotted the ruin of his majesties subjects , and for no other reason but because they are not papists . and suppose it should be said ; that these methods were not only unjust , but condemned by some of the very roman communion ; yet the desparity is so great between a papists arriving at the government over a protestant kingdom , and a protestants being advanced to reign over a popish countrey , that it will no ways follow from thence , that what the parliament have undertaken , is in the least reprehensible . for no protestant prince will either enslave his kingdom or subjects to a forreign jurisdiction , nor call his people into question for their religion , provided they be not influenced by the principles of it , to disturb the government , and disquiet the civil peace . so that papists instead of receiving prejudice by having a protestant prince to rule over them , they become possest of many advantages as to safety , ease and immunities , which their being under a popish king excludes them from . and therefore it is , that we find the papists do no where so fully enjoy the right and liberties of mankind , as in some protestant nations , where they have had the wit and sobriety , not to molest their fellow subjects , or conspire against the government under which they live . so far as their religion is found to have an influence only up-a future life , and meerly to endanger their own happiness ; they are pitied instead of being capitally prosecuted , and the worst they are made to suffer , is now and then to be rationally accosted by their neighbours , and addressed unto by arguments , which may conduce to rectify and instruct their judgments . whereas through the having a popish prince succeed over a protestant people , they become immediately subjected to the severest punishments , and that upon the alone score of their christian profession . it is not only lawful for such a prince to destroy those of his subjects , who disagree from him in faith and worship , but it is an indispensable duty upon him to do it . nor is he only sure of a pardon upon the accomplishing so blessed a work , but the merit of the atchievement entitles him to unspeakable happiness and a glorious crown . sect. 2. and this conducts me to the 2d . thing , namely that no papist ever since the reformation succeeded to supream authority over a protestant country , but he both endeavoured to overthrow the religion which he found established , and pursued his subjects with the most outragious cruelties . nor hath the loyalty of their people been able to appease or obstruct their indignation , but they have been treated as the worst of criminals , because they would not renounce the faith which they had embrac'd . this is so certain and beyond all control as to matter of fact , that there is not one instance upon the whole file of history to the contrary . wheresoever any of the popish belief , have attained the soveraignty over a protestant nation ; whether they were crowned heads or princes of a more inferior rank , they have universally applyed themselves to subvert the protestant religion , which they found legally setled , and to destroy those innocent and generous souls which had the courage to own it . and if sweedland , hungary , bohemia , and several principalities in germany , do not suffice to confirm the truth of this assertion ; england can produce queen mary in the proof , and for the attestation of it . and as i challenge any man to assign so much as one opposite example , so it is not to be expressed what cruelties they have used towards the accomplishing their design of rooting out protestancy , and re-establishing popery . not only laws have been trampled upon , but cities and kingdoms made swim with blood , in order to the extirpating the faith of the gospel and destroying those who profest it . and therefore let me say , that the portion and lot which hath befallen other nations , through their folly in admitting persons of a papal stamp to succeed over them , should instruct england to prevent and obviate his ascent to the throne , from whom we may justly expect to undergo the same mischiefs . sect. 3. for thirdly , no antecedent promises made by popish princes on their assumption to rule over protestant countries , have been any security to those who relyed on them , or any confinement to such as made them . the examples of the violation of all faith are as numerous , as the persons who have been admitted to sovereignty upon such stipulations . every own knoweth that it was the emperor's transgressing against the promises which he had made to the bohemian's concerning the liberty of their religion , which occasioned that long bloody and fatal war. and as thereby all europe came less or more to be concerned and entangled ; so by the ill conduct of some , and treachery of others , the protestant religion , after the shedding of an ocean of blood , is at last extirpated that kingdom . yea the present differences in hungary between the emperour and that people , are wholly to be resolved into a departure from the promises which ferdinando made to them for their preservation in the enjoyment of their religion , when in anno 1618. he was chosen to be their king. and notwithstanding the hungarians have been at all times ready to submit to his imperial majesty , providing their religion and legal rights might according to the first contracts and stipulations be secured unto them ; yet in the midst of all his necessities he hath chosen rather to venture the ruine both of the empire and his own hereditary countries by the french , than fulfil the promise of his ancestors or comply with so just requests . which plainly shews us that it must be a strange implacableness which papists bear to our religion , that neither regard to covenants nor interest of state can induce them to moderation towards such as profess and maintain it : but what need we to consult forreign examples , seeing our own queen mary affords us a remarkable instance as to breach of faith in this matter . who as she was the only papist who hath weilded the english scepter since the reformation , so she hath left us abundant warning how we admit others of that impression and stamp to ascend the throne , be their promises before hand what they will. for neither the finding the protestant religion legally established , nor the having pledged her own faith for the preservation of it according to the establishment , were of any significancy to keep out popery , or to secure protestants from fire and faggot , when once she was possessed of the crown . sect 4. and therefore fourthly , some neighbouring nations professing the protestant religion , having found that by submitting to suffer a papist to reign over them , they had betrayed themselves to lose all that was dear unto them ; took not only care to relieve themselves from the violence and treacherous attempts of their regnant papish king ; but made provision to debar all of roman principles , from being capable for the future of pretending to the throne . the case in brief stood thus , sigismond the sweed who had been before chosen king of poland , was as next heir to the deceased king of sweedland admitted to the throne of that kingdom , but upon previous conditions that he should not infringe their liberty as to religion , nor introduce popery which they had banished out of their dominion . now this prince having contrary to all stipulations endeavoured both to overthrow their religion , and to break in upon their civil rights ; the sweeds like a generous people that would expose themselves to all hazards rather than give up their legal rights , and sacrifice their consciences to the will and lust of their prince , commenced a war against him under the conduct of his uncle charles , whom they chose to be their protector . in which war being at last conquerours , they not only deposed him , but made a law that no papist should at any time after be trusted with the scepter . and how conduceable that law hath been to their preservation , all the world hath observed upon queen christina's resigning the kingdom , having entertained a purpose of renouncing her religion . for as she knew that she could not declare her self a papist , and at the same time remain their queen ; so they had too sadly experienced what it was to have popery and soveraignty meet in one person , to suffer her to continue their soveraign if she once abjured their religion . now i would gladly be informed , why the parliament of england may not as well exclude a papist from all capacity of mounting the throne , to destroy this nation and the resormed religion here , as the states and people of sweedland have done there . surely it is much better to be instructed by the prudence of others after the foretast of manifold mischiefs which they had undergone , than when we have made our selves through folly and credulity subjects and examples of misery , to think to provide for our own safety and interest , and these of our posterity by the hopes of an aftergaim . sect. 5. fifthly supposing it were possible at an other juncture ▪ to preserve our religion under a popi●h prince , and that therefore it were not altogether unreasonable to admit one ; yet at this season when the whole papal party in europe have conspired to extirpate protestancy in all the schem's and branches of it , it were no less than madness to think we could secure our religion , were the soveraign authority over these nations once lodged in a papal hand . he must be very ignorant in the present state of things , who doth not know that there is a design laid and carried on for the enslaving all europe again to the tripple crown . and he must be also a very great stranger in the affair's of the world , that doth not understand how far this projection hath already succeeded , and that there is very little wanting to the full accomplishing of it . i am sure separate but once england from a hearty espousal of the protestant interest , and it must necessarily sink and , without a miracle , be supplanted in all other places . and as we cannot imagine that should we have a popish prince in england , he would prevent the ruine of a religion elsewhere which himself hath renounced ; so we can as little think that he would support a religion at home , that is both opposite to his own , and which had lost it's footing every where else . so that as matters stand , we should by admitting a popish prince to succeed his majesty , not only lose the protestant religion from our selves and our posterity , but through abandoning of that profession abroad , we should be a means of making all the world vassals again to the romish yoke . and hence it is that the eyes and hopes of all protestants are upon the present parliament , and from the councels of this great assembly , they are ready to date their happiness or misery . how much they judge their whole interest and concernments to be wrapt up in our consultations and resolves , is evident from this , that since the meeting of this assembly , they have in several protestant countries and provinces abroad , observed selemn days of fasting and prayer , to beg a blessing from the lord upon it , and that there may be a happy correspondence between the king and his parliament . sect. 6. sixthly , should it be allowed as a thing ( at least ) credible , that there are some persons in the papal communion , who should they ascend the english throne , we might nevertheless deposite with them and consign into their hands the preserving of our laws and the protestant religion ; yet we have little reafon to believe james duke of york to be a person of that temper and moderation , that we ought in a matter of this consequence and importance to rely upon him . for though i could venture far upon the moral principles and good nature of such a one as maximilian was ; yet i would be loth to abandon my life , fortune , and the liberty of my worshipping god to such as charles the ninth of france , or philip the second of spain were . and if i mistake not , the experience we have had of the duke of york while only in a remote prospect of the crown , may perfectly instruct us what we are to expect from him were he once possest of it , and vested with the purple robe . he that while subject to the law hath so industrioufly pursued the subversion of protestancy , which is established and fenced by it ; what would he not do ? were he once so stated , as that according to a fundamental maxim of our law , he could do no wrong . if you take a view of his private friends , during his being in the rank of a subject , you may eafily guess what his publick ministers would be , were he once arrived to the quality of a king. there are few men of any observation about the town , but they have taken notice that both his court at st. james's , and his train in the park used mostly to cousist of those who had formerly washen their hands in the blood of protestants , or who are the genuine off-spring of those that did . and how far we have reason to suppose he would be from overthrowing our religion , and trampling upon our laws , were his temples once encircled with our imperial crown , we may in some degree learn from the arbitrary counsels which he hath been observed to give , and the plots against our religion which he hath influenced , and ( to speak modestly ) hath given countenance unto . sect. 7. seventhly , the nation hath already so much provok'd him , that it will not be hereafter safe to advance him to a condition , and trust him with a power , whereby he may be enabled to revenge himself . the very endeavours of this parliament , and the last , to disable him from inheriting the imperial crown , will be judged expiable by no less than the blood of those worthy patriots who acquitted themselves so well in those two houses . and therefore as they have engaged themselves beyond any possibility of a safe retreat , it were a base thing in those whom they represent , and whose welfare in all this they have been consulting , to abandon them to the revenge of an enraged and implacable prince . it had argued great simplicity to have trusted him with the government at any time since we had the first opportunity to know him , seeing a secret aversation for the english people hath betrayed it self in his whole carriage ever since his majesties return : but we should proclaim our selves perfectly frantick , after we have expressed our resentments for his ill behaviour towards our laws and religion , and thereby have more exasperated him , if we should trust our lives , fortunes , and consciences under his power , and leave them to his mercy and discretion if a gracious king , who could both command him and and call him to an account , hath hardly been able from time to time to restrain his fury , what can be able to bridle him wh●n he hath all under his power , and hath no man to controll him . besides , how many english protestants must be offered up , to attone for the deaths of the late tyburn martyrs ? the blood of thousands will be accounted too little , to appease the angry ghosts of those who have suffered by reason of this meritorious plot. sect. 8. eighthly , it were ridiculous to entertain any thoughts of discouraging the papists from prosecuting their conspiracies , while we leave them any hopes or expectations of the duke's succeeding to the government . for as so many of all qualities and conditions would never have embarkt in designs so hazardous to themselves and their posterity , unless they had been encouraged and supported by the hopes of the duke's being the presumptive heir ; so they will never desist from pursuing the plot wherein they are engaged for the enslaving of england , and the final subjugating the norrhern heresie , while there is any probability left them of his coming to the throne . so long as they enjoy the least hope that it is possible for the duke of york to succeed unto his majesty , instead of being disheartned from following their trayterous undertakings , they will be animated to accelerate their villanies , especially that of destroying the king. you may find that through the interruption of this affair , during the late interval between this and the last parliament , how that instead of being dismaid by the detection of their crimes , they have been enflam'd to carry on their plots with more zeal and vigour than ever . moreover as the disabling the duke to inherit the imperial crown of this realm , is the only rational medium to hinder the continuation and pursuit of the plot , so it will be the most effectual inducement to prevail with persons to come in and make a further detection of it . for can we reasonably conceive that they who have cooperate in it , should venture by discovering to save us ; when they must needs know that their reward may in a short time , amount to their being hanged themselves for their service , 't is indeed a wonder , that in the prospect of death , and torment which such persons must necessarily foresee themselves adjudged unto , should a papist once mount the throne , how so many have already exposed themselves to lay open this conspiracy against our religion and government . whereas were the duke made once uncapable of arriving at the soveraignty over this nation , there are many more who seeing themselves put into a condition of safety for the future as well as for the present , would undoubtedly without the prospect of any reward , offer themselves to be instruments of further detecting , and thereby disappointing this whole hellish conspiracy . sect. 9. ninthly , there is nothing in this bill of exclusion , but what is consonant unto , and justified by that which is the supream and ultimate end of all government , for no government was either designed by god , or ever erected by men , but in order to self-preservation . all humane laws whether they relate to the kinds of government , or the ways in which persons shall succeed unto it , they suppose an antecedent right in men of protecting their lives and liberties , and preserving to themselves a freedom of judging how they ought to serve and worship their creator and maker ; and the design of all humane laws is to secure those antecedent and natural rights . no persons ever congregated or coalesc'd into societies , but with an intent to live more safely and better , than if they should continue separated and alone . nor did ever any condescend on this or that mode and form of government , but with a prospect and upon a supposal , that the priviledges , rights and liberties of men should be preserved unto them . and therefore as all government is founded in trust and setled in such a person or limitted to such a family , for the safety and advantage of the people as well as of the ruler ; so there can be supposed no primitive agreements in reference to such and such links of succession , where the ruine of the people is unavoidable without a break in the chain . if an ideot may be justly put by from succeeding in the royal line , because he is uncapable of understanding the interest of his people , or protecting them in their rights ; much more may one who hath designed and resolved to destroy them , and overthrow every thing for which kingship was both erected and submitted unto ; be debarred all plea and title to inherit . for to what purpose serve laws betwixt king and people , but to instruct us not only concerning the fealty and obedience which we are to pay to our prince , but what we may claim and expect from him that is to be advanced to that grandure and dignity , yea were there any laws for the establishment of a mortal enemy over us , on this alone supposal that he were of next affinity to the foregoing and lawful prince , such laws were revocable and ought to be repealed as inconsistent with the safety and happiness of subjects . for though our ancestors might restrain and limit us in the usage of those things which we derive from them ; yet they could not restrain and limit us in such things which we have a right unto by the law of nature . that is ( and blessed be god they never attempted it ) they could not deprive us of , nor abdicate from us , a right to protect and defend our selves from our declared adversary . so that if the people of england be but acknowledged to have a right to preserve their lives , maintain their proprieties , or secure their religion ; it is lawful for them to disable the duke of york to inherit the imperial crown of this realm , as having already not only rendred himself unsafe to the nation in all these , but proclamed by his actions that he is an open enemy to every one of them . sect. 10. tenthly ; it is remarkable that there was never a conveyance of the crown of england to any person , but upon the tacite concurrance and with the virtual or implicite consent of the people . and indeed though a people may be made slaves without their consent , yet it is impossible that they should be free subjects but with it . and therefore anciently before any king of england was actually crowned , the people , being first acquainted with the day appointed for that solemnity , were three several times publickly ask'd , whether they would have such a person to rule over them . and till the consent of the people was thus obtained and declared , they who held in fee of the king together with the nobility , were not obliged , neither were they called to do homage to him . and though these kind of tenures be since abolished by act of parliament , yet it plainly shews that heretofore the nation had a great interest in recognizing the right of their king. now the people of england are no where so universally present , as when represented in parliament by those whom they have chosen and delegated to act in their places and names , as well as for their interests . and therefore what is the language of the house of commons , 1s the unanimous voice of all the people of england . yea were the several individuals of the nation to be demanded their opinion , they would harmoniously resound the vote of that house , namely that they will not have james duke of york to reign over them , sect. 11. eleventhly , the parliament of england have from time to time so disposed of the crown of this r●alm , as both to settle and limite the succession in referrence to the english throne . it was a parliament that deposed richard the 2d , and chose henry the 4th . to reign in his stead . it was a parliament which limitted the crown to henry the 6th . only for his life with an exclusion of his posterity from all title to it , and setled the succession upon richard duke of york . and it is observable that they who afterwards took part with the said henry the 6th . and fought by his authority , as well as under his banner at the battel of wakefield , where richard duke of york was killed ; were in the 1st . of edward the 4th . attainted of treason because they fought against and slew a person who was by act of parliament declared heir after henry to the crown . it was a parliament who chose and advanced richard the 3d ; though edward the 4th had not only left behind him a brothers son whose title was prior to richards , but two sons of his own . it was the parliament that entailed the crown in henry the 4ths time ; and setled the inheritance of the realms of england and france , &c. upon his sons by name , and upon all of them successively , in case he or they upon whom the settlement was first made , should die without heirs ? yea our parliaments during the reign of henry the 8th . made a threesold settlement and entail of the crown , and that with such various limitations and provisions , as they thought the interest of the kingdom conducted them unto . these three entails were made and enacted the 25th of henry the 8th the 28th of henry the 8th . and the 35th of henry the 8th . but to omit more instances , it was the parliament that having by statute recognised queen elizabeths title to the crown in the first year of her reign , afterwards entailed it upon her and the heirs of her body in case she should come to have any , in the 13 of her raign . now it is very remarkable that in diverse of these entailes and settlements , our parliaments proceeded without any regard to legitimacy , their sole will and pleasure , under the influence which the interest of the kingdom had upon them , being both the best motive into which we can resolve diverse of those settlements , and the only standard according to which we must account for the limitations contained in some of those entails . and can we be so silly as to believe that the most magnanimous and victorious princes that ever reigned over this nation , would have suffered parliaments to interpose about the succession and meddle in the disposal of it , if it had not appertained unto them by the constitution of the kingdom and the ancient usages thereof . surely bequeathment of the inheritance of the crown by the regnant prince , would have better become the prerogative of our kings , if they had not believed that it belonged to the parliament in conjunction and cooperation with their kings to dispose and to settle that matter . sect. 12. twelfthly , nor hath the supreme court of parliament in their interposure about the disposal of the crown of this realm , confined themselves to nearness and proximity of blood , as if it had been to descend without interruption , or be conveyed to the next in the royal line . and therefore whosoever consults our laws and histories , they will find that our parliaments in their choice and designation of princes to ascend the throne , have often diverted from the next of kin , and regulated themselves in their election and appointments by the alone measures of publick good , and the safety and happiness of the kingdom . and to begin with william the conquerour , that norman prince had no right but from the peoples election of him . for whereas he pretended to derive a title to the crown of england , from the will and testament of edward the confessor , that very edward had no hereditary right himself . however by the peoples advancing william the norman to the throne of this realm , edgar etheling the nearest prince to the crown , if respect had been shewn to blood , was excluded and shut out . and no sooner was william the conquerour dead , but william rufus was preferred before robert , who being his eldest brother would otherwise have had the better right . yea upon the decease of rufus , robert was again put by ( though upon an agreement between them two he had been promised the crown in reversion after him ) and henry the first was advanced in his room . and if we proceed a little farther , we shall find that king john was advanced before his eldest brothers son , who must needs have had the best right , if nearness of blood had obtained and taken place . and to pass by other examples , it is easie to determine whether any regard was had to the next of kin , when richard the third was preferred before the two sons of edward the fourth . sect. 13. lastly , the bill depending before the parliament about disabling the duke of york to inherit the imperial crown of england , is not introductive of a new law , but corroborative and explanatory of those which we have already . and indeed all the laws which we are provided of against popery , are not only weak fenses to withstand the irruption of it ; but in themselves null and void , unless we admit that there is this intended in them , that no popish prince shall ever be allowed to reign in england . and this being of some consequence to be known , i shall therefore insist somewhat the more largely upon it . every one knows that there is a vast difference between a persons right to an estate , and persons remote title only to govern. for an estate is a mans property , whereas the advancing one to rule over a nation , is but the recognizing of a right originally inclusive of a trust . and therefore if our laws have made papists to forfeit their estates , or any part of them , for meer recusancy : we may very rationally suppose that they intended that every popish recusant should forfeit and be incapable of all regal authority , seeing that is but a trust limited to such a family , in order to the preserving us in our due rights . now that our laws have made papists liable to forfeit all their goods and two thirds of their real estates , notwithstanding all title either by birthright or purchase which they may have in them , is evident and beyond all contradiction to whosoever reads the statute of the 29. of eliz. cap. 6. and the statute of the 3. of james , cap. 4. besides our laws provide that no recusant convict shall be a publick officer , or shall exercise any publick office or charge in the commonwealth , but that every recusant shall be utterly disabled to exercise the same by himself or by his deputy . sat. 3. of jam. cap. 4. yea that they shall be disabled in law to receive , take , or have any office , ministry , or service in this realm . stat. 1. of eliz. cap. 1. and can it after all this be thought , that they who enacted those laws , intended that it should be lawful for a popish prince to ascend the throne , and be trusted with the exercise of soveraign rule over us ? moreover our laws have ordained and declared , that every papist who is convicted , shall be disabled to be an executor , administrator , or to have the custody of any child , as guardian , and that if any wards be granted to such , they shall be utterly void , and of none effect . stat. 3. of james cap. 4. and can we then suppose , that they who enacted that law , ever thought , or intended that a papist should be capable of having the guardianship of the whole nation . our parliaments have provided both by a statute of the 13. eliz. cap. 2. and by one of the 23. of eliz , cap. 1. and by another of the 3. of james cap. 4. that it shall be treason to be reconciled to the church of rome . now as those laws are wholly insignificant , as to ends for which they were made , if a papist be left still capable of inheriting the crown ; so i cannot therefore but think , that they do in effect exclude all such who suffer themselves to be seduced to popery , and who thereupon are brought to acknowledge a forraign jurisdiction , from all right , claim and title to the throne of this realm . i● is also provided by a statute of the 5. of eliz. cap. 1. that it shall be treason , by deed , or act , &c. to hold , or stand with , extoll , maintain , or defend the authority , jurisdiction , or power of the bishop of rome , or his see. now what doth this law amount unto , or of what use is it to the preserving the established religion ? if he that both doth all this , and also glories in it , be held still capable of mounting the throne . again the statute of the 3d of james which appointeth and injoyneth the oath of allegience , doth in reality and in the drift and scope of it , debar a papist from being admitted to reign in england . for as the design of that oath was to extirpate popery , so that is impossible to be compassed , should we be liable to admit a popish successor . nor can there be any thing more silly and ridiculous to be required of us , than that we should swear allegiance to a papist in opposition to popery . and not to pursue this point any further , the statute of the 1 of eliz. concerning the oath of supremacy , can no ways be adiusted to principles of reason and wisdom , if notwithstanding any thing contained in that law , a popish recusant remains in a condition to inherit the imperial crown of this realm , in a word that and all other statutes made against popery , serve only to reduce us into a worse condition than ever we were , if this do not run thorough and enliven them with sense as well as vertue , namely that no papist can have right , or is ever to be suffered to reign over this nation . sir , you see with what freedom , i have represened my thoughts unto you in relation to the bill for disabling james duke of york , to inherit the imperial crown of this realm . and indeed it is a bill of vast importance , not only to our selves and posterity , but to all of other nations who have forsaken the fellowship of the papal church . i could have not only enlarged upon the several heads , but have reasoned from more topicks : but i think there is enough already said for one letter , and shall therefore reserve the rest , till i receive your advice whether it be necessary to say any more , or whether you dare trust the farther manage of it in so weak and mean a hand . and shall only add that our church-men are like to be strangly entangled , should the bill once pass into an act. for if they omit to pray for the illustrious prince james duke of york , they will be thought to offend against the obligations they are under of reading the whole liturgy ; and should they continue to pray for him in the wonted form , they may perhaps not only meet with some affront from the angry and incenced multitude , but be judged by wiser heads , to bespeak a publick calamity at the hands of god , and entreat him to inflict the worst of judgments upon the nation . i am . sir , your most affectionate and willing servant . lond. nov. 8. 1678. finis . the state and interest of the nation, with respect to his royal highness the duke of york discours'd at large, in a letter to a member of the honourable house of commons. l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. 1680 approx. 72 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a47921 wing l1309 estc r7627 13102053 ocm 13102053 97418 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47921) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 97418) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 744:15) the state and interest of the nation, with respect to his royal highness the duke of york discours'd at large, in a letter to a member of the honourable house of commons. l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. [2], 32 p. [s.n.], london : 1680. attributed to roger l'estrange. cf. nuc pre-1956. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 john latta sampled and proofread 2005-01 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the state and interest of the nation , with respect to his royal highness the duke of york , discours'd at large ; in a letter to a member of the honourable house of commons . london , printed in the year , 1680. the state & interest of the nation , &c. sir , § 1. well were it for this poor distracted nation , were there less ground , than there is , for your opinion , that it is not the particular case of your friend only , but of a great many ( otherwise ) worthy and eminent persons , to be mis-led , and intoxicated , by the plausible pretence of a free estate , into a passionate fondness , and admiration of a popular government : never distinguishing betwixt the form and essence of a commonwealth ; the mistake whereof ( each for the other ) has prov'd so fatal in this age ; nor calling to mind that it was the misfortune of those that surfeited of our kingly regiment , and gap'd as impatiently after novelty as any now adayes can do ; to lose the substance of liberty and happiness , in persute of the shadow . nay , too too many , i fear me , there are , that sacrificing all considerations of conscience and religion to their mammon , interest , do labour with all the vigour and artifice imaginable to create in the multitude a loathing of their present manna , and a fresh longing for their late aegyptian leeks and garlick . so that you are not to look upon my endeavours to set things aright , as to this point , to be the pure effects of my compliance with your desires for the satisfaction of your friend , but rather of a pressing and indispensable duty . neither your friend , nor any other republican will , i presume , maintain that a free estate ( as they call it ) is subject to no violations ; because woful experience will confute , and force them to confess either that a commonwealth may degenerate ; or , at least , that the so much cry'd up model of the late times was no commonwealth : and they must not only renounce their senses , but even the faith of story also ; which sufficiently proves that republiques have been sometimes invaded with usurpations ; sometimes debauch'd and embas'd with oligarchy ; mostly ( by reason of their weakness and divisions ) subdu'd or compell'd to truckle under their neighbouring princes ; but alwayes tormented with faction and convulsions . nor , in truth , has that party as yet been able to produce any arguments but such as , in effect , beg the question ; by presupposing great unity in the coalition , great probity in the intention , and great purity in the exercise ; which being admitted , doubtless we should so little need to differ about forms , that perhaps we should scarce need any government at all . now for my own part ( on the other side ) i abhor bloodshed , and deem one party in all wars guilty of murther ; a crime which as it cryes high for vengeance , so ought it to cry lowd for unity and moderation ; into which blessed path may this ballance us , that we be not again balotted into a field of blood : i plead for liberty ; not the name , but the thing ; and design not to assert tyranny , but kingship ; ( as it relates to the laws of the land ) to whose protection i am entitled by my birth , for the preservation of my freedom in person and estate ; and that with more assurance , then possibly can be secur'd under the government of many ; who scruple not commonly to term that justice ( and without remedy too ) which is down right faction . so that with these thoughts about me i shall readily acknowledge ( you may imagine ) that even monarchy it self is but as earthen ware , ( tho' of the finest and strongest sort ) and liable to sundry contingences ; nothing under the heavens being compleatly perfect . and in the constitution of governments , 't is childish to think upon erecting babels against the deluge ; but the design must be , to embank against floods , and enclose the best that may be against trespassors . this being premised , i shall proceed to handle the matter in debate , not metaphysically , in notions abstracted from their subjects ( a pastime which our platoniques much delight in ) but morally , and reasonably ; and enforce such arguments only as are plain , sensible , and appropriate to our own countrey ; leaving the notional to our book-men , whose volumes , calculated for all climates , swell big against the evils of the rule of many , or democracy . § 2. i shall not here presume to insist upon such other insuperable difficulties , ( of a quality too high for a private person to meddle with ) as must necessarily obviate the establishing of a popular platform amongst us ; but lay before you in the first place the present state of the nation , so far forth only as may carry any immediate relation to the subject ; and then apply the premises to the point in hand . this island , now , is a large continent , abundantly populous ; and govern'd ( i may say ) by the subordinate influence of the nobility and gentry ; who live plentifully , and at ease upon their rents , extracted from the toyle of their tenants and servants ; and every one of them acts the prince within the bounds of his own estate , where he is purely absolute ; his servants and labourers are in the nature of his vassals , his tenants indeed are free , but yet in the nature of subjects ; whom he orders in his courts , draws supplyes from by his fines , and awes by his power and oaths of fealty , to infinite submissions . the more his mannors are , and the more indulgently he behaves himself ( like a good prince ) the larger is his territory , and the more awful are his commands . a neighbour more rich and potent gives cheque to his inferiour neighbour ; and brings his petty-princeship into awe ; he again being overaw'd by one that is greater and more powerful than himself in estate and friends . but none of these , with respect to his quality and estate , will admit a parity with his inferiour neighbours , much less with his tenant or dependent . into the rank of gentry do our officers , citizens , and burghers aspire to be enroll'd : so that no sooner by arms , office , or trade do they acquire a competent stock , but forthwith for land it is dispos'd ; and then , disowning the title of souldiers , citizens , or burghers , they take to themselves the degree and name of gentlemen , with arms not improper ; for england within it self , has been so often shuffled from high to low , that there is scarce any artificer but may find his name in the heralds-book , tho' not his pedegree , which ingenuity yet and good will may easily supply : and thus being equipt with a title and estate , they set up suitably the dominion within their territories ; which none can dispute , because they have no right to intermeddle with what any man has or does within himself : for by gentry i intend not only such as are so in blood , but so in quality also ; such as live easily , and like princes , upon the labours of their dependents . out of this order are constituted our sheriffs , justices of the peace , and all that execute the authority of a judge ; by the influence of which powers , they so order all elections to parliament , or otherwise , that the whole countreys commonly follow their respective factions , and the commonalty in their votes are menag'd by them , as a horse by his rider . so that as the agrarian or interest of land , is principally in these two ranks ; so is the consequence thereof , dominion and command ; which emboldens them to such a height of spirit ( natural to our nobility and gentry ) that they are too apt to undervalue persons of inferiour quality , [ burgesses and mechaniques , ] with whom to inter-marry by our old law it was a disparagement for a ward ; and this spirit of generosity cannot be supprest , so riveted is it in their natures , but by the eradication of their persons , or at least their qualities ; to which strange effect i have heard some grandees vent a sense . and indeed the establishing of a free estate ( so call'd ) were otherwise desperate and impracticable ; and therefore it was the course that the prevailing mechaniques , among the swisses , were forc'd to take : how else shall we be levell'd to a parity , which is of the very essence of a commonwealth ? for as titles and honours are incident to kingship ; so also are equality in place , degree , and birth , to democracy ; unless where , in case of office , for the time only they are entitled to a precedency . reduced you must be , sir , to the condition of the vulgar ; commoners already are you in title , which yet is but a fallacy of the name , and deludes our statists ; for indeed you are so only representatively , being rather the tribunes and leaders of the peoples strength , and the governours of their purse , then purely commons . neither yet will the bare obtaining of such a parity be sufficient to do your friends business ; unless there be a supreme power establish'd in some body corporate , compacted and permanent ; such as is that of london , where the grandure of that city ( but that it is never to be debauch'd into such a degree of disloyalty and fanaticism ) might possibly erect it self into a free-state , ( could it once overcome all opposite interests ) and by that great magazine of treasure and men , there embody'd , give law to the whole people scatter'd as they are in a large continent : having , first , reduc'd some meet cities , forts , and castles , which being garrison'd from the head-colony would aw the countreys , and mould them into a vassalage competent to make up a free-estate . but then our nobility and gentry would neither have the honour of the name , nor benefit of the thing : 't will be instiled the commonwealth of london , not of england ; and our pay must be as they impose , and our liberty as they vouchsafe it ; only in this it will be the less agreeable , that we must be subject to our inferiours . nor is this discourse to be look't upon as meer drollery ; for from this embrio have issued those commonwealths which are so fam'd in notions ; as those of rome , carthage , athens , lacedaemon , corinth , thebes , &c. great cities of that name , which having subdu'd their adjacent territories , denominated the dominion ; wherein only those of the freedom ( citizens and denizens ) had vote or power ; the nobles and gentlemen being purely tributary to the chief city ; unless they transplanted themselves , renounc'd their cities , and so , by degrees advanc'd into the honour of a burgess , as we now do exercise our junior issue . and little different are at this day the celebrated commonwealths of venice , the united provinces , the swisses ; not to instance in those petty states of genoua , ragusa , geneva , &c. all of them mostly denominated from those principal cities , which give the law to the adjacent provinces . those indeed of the hollanders and switzers , tho' they derive not , so directly , their title from one city , yet are they ( in substance ) of the same composure , being only an united body of corporated cities , combin'd in one , for mutual defence against invaders , but of an equal power to impose upon the adjacent territories , scituate under the aw of each respective city , or town-garrison . it falls not within my memory , that there ever was , or at this day is , a free-estate in the whole world that 's manag'd by the gentry inhabiting at large , or by any people not combin'd within the jurisdiction of their walls ; except the grisons ; who are a scatter'd people of a mean quality , having long since disown'd their gentry ; and are without walled towns or garrison . 't is a small territory , possibly of extent to an inland country ; upon emergences , the whole people at a set day , meet in the open ayre , where the major vote ( as with you knights of the shire ) cryes up the magistrates , and determines warre . their confusions makes them easie for conquest , were their country worth it , and not secur'd by the united cantons . now to apply the premisses ; can your friend , or any other man of the same stamp imagine , that our nobility and gentry ( as now in power ) will ever be induc'd to admit a parity ; will level their degree and domination to a proportion with their copy-holders ? nay , will renounce the wearing of a sword , and learn to make one ? will submit to become tributary to the neighbour-colony ? if this can be brought about ; then perhaps ( and not till then ) may we again hope to aspire from our present glorious state of king-ship , to a free-state in clown-ship ; or at least , from the free-giving of subsidies , to the majesty of a scepter ; to the forced-payment of excise to the high and mighty burgher ; such as was that high and mighty butcher , who , not many years ago was commissioned by the swisses , as one of the chiefs to be god-father to the french kings son. as plato phansi'd his community , and sir thomas moor his utopia ; so are these people bigg with hopes of a relation ; thereby to reassume their idoliz'd model of a commonwealth , out of the scatter'd gentry , in the nature of a house of commons . but if nothing but new experiments will serve their turn , i could wish they would find other subjects to try conclusions upon , than the estates , lives , nay , the very souls of christians . you well remember i 'me sure , sir , that we once ran the loss of those , and the hazzard of these , upon the hopes of a chimaera in the brains of some : the word liberty deluded us into patience , and patience from 1648. to 1660. brought forth not less payments , but more servitude . and let them not hope to bring countenance to their cause , by alledging ( as they did before ) that they could never be permitted to foster up their babe to full perfection ; for that they will ever be opposed by all wise and loyal men , who having once experimented the evils of such a state , will be as vigilant and industrious to keep it from getting footing among us again , as those that are otherwise , can be to bring it on . beside that , you cannot have forgot , sir , that from 1648 to 1653. they had it from the nurse , and ( had they stuck to their pretences ) might probably in five years time have set it upon its feet ; but they found the sweet ( poor wretches ) of ingrossing power to themselves : but then it could never have been of any long continuance , as manifestly appear'd from the great scorn and bitterness that the supporters of it were reproach'd with , when it was dissolv'd ; there was not so much as one bloudy nose in the defence of that high and mighty state ; but all the persons were held in the utmost degree of detestation , as they most justly deserved . and though these rumpers , 't is true , came twice into play , yet were they only made use of to serve a turn , as being fit to be made a property ; for it was presently seen that it was not the desire of their rule , but of a further change , that inspirited the people against the army ; and the rump ( as being next at hand ) had no sooner mounted the empty saddle , but ( before they were warm in their seat ) they were again unhors'd with a publick leave , as appear'd by the bonefires ( upon that occasion ) that might have lighted them to the lands-end , if they had dar'd to be seen among them . so that it is plain from what has been said , that it is not the sense or interest of a few , that can long sway a nation ; for if the publick spirit be averse , at the long run it will prevail ; the more dispute there is with that spirit , the more embitter'd it will be found : for , whatever such enthusiasts may dream , even when the multitude have the power , the command yet rests in a few : the most active spirits lead the herd , and ingross the place , the profit , and the sway : this , in generous minds , begets disdain , and that , faction ; for when all are equal , thousands think themselves as deserving of rule , as those that carry it ; to satisfie all it is impossible , to please few displeases the most ; the transactions of that party from 1648. to 1660. have made this as sensible , as they made themselves contemptible . in a word , the nobility and gentry of england have spirits pure , naturally just and generous , like fire aspiring , as a pyramide , from low to high ; and never resting till it contracts it self into an unity at top : so god is one , or he were not god , nor could he rule the world ; and if your friend likes not this president , but still continues to delight in the rule of many , let him begin a pattern in his own family , and he may there , possibly , have enough to do . § . 3. now my hand 's in , i shall venture to set one step further , and refresh your memory with a view of our condition whilst this free-state kept above-water , the past being the most certain line to direct us in our conjectures upon futurities . we were never free ( you may remember ) from the apprehensions of an insurrection at home , or an invasion from abroad , and liv'd in continual jelousie , even of our very next neighbours . these fears obliged us to maintain a considerable force at land and sea , which , lying idle , corrupted , as standing-water in a pool , and every moment threaten'd fresh combustions , as they were blown up this way or that way by their new masters ; but at the best ( like our old lord-danes ) they were most insupportably burthensome and odious to the country , by their quartering ; and to keep them as much in action as possibly we could , we were fain either to be perpetually amusing them with pretended discoveries of some new-feigned plot or other , or else to engage them in forreign wars . for the support of this army ( now ) we were compelled to daily contributions , besides great and innumerable customs that were exacted , together with the excise , ( a brat begotten in the low-countries , with their state , which makes them free indeed , but then it is in purse , not in priviledge ) a tribute which no king of england durst demand , before they enforced us to pay it ; which being ever before look'd upon as poyson ; we then took as physick ; though in that age , it was generally believ'd that no english-man would ever swallow it ; and for the bare but necessary mention whereof , in the house of commons , that grand patriote ( as they call'd him ) mr. pym was by a young spirit ( not without great applause ) call'd to the bar ; add hereunto the benevolences , sequestrations , five and twentyth parts , a tax of fifty subsidies at once , ( though the late king suffer'd so much by the demand of twelve only ) fines and compositions , sale of kings , bishops , deans and chapters , and delinquents lands , the two parts of papists estates , nay a share of our very charities to the distressed ; over and above the constant contributions that were levy'd . how was all this devour'd by the army , whose belly indeed was bottomless ? and yet what arrears did we owe them just before the king's return ? three millions at least ! reform the army we durst not , and our constant charge could not be less than two millions yearly , to supply it ; in a word , we never used to be in a worse condition , than when none would rebel , because when the people were quiet we had no lands either to sequester or to sell. our trade fell to nothing , our traffique was interrupted , our gold walk'd beyond sea more freely than in our own country ; and we lost no less than 2000 sail of ships in two or three years time : there was no settlement , but we were every day dancing after a new whistle ; ten models we had in proposal at one time , and every faction ready with blood to aver his own way to be the best . by our known laws we could not be imprison'd , but by a regular proceeding in a course of justice ; but under our free estate ( on the other side ) upon the most slight suggestions of a spiteful neighbour in authority , we were presently seiz'd by the serjeant at arms , with his exorbitant fees ! no bail , no habeas corpus , no regular way of justice to do us right ! but , after a twelvemonths stay in goal , if we could make good friends , and humble our selves to our potent adversary , we might possibly be discharg'd ; but without amends , or knowing of our crime . loe thus , while we cajol'd our selves with the name of freedom , we lost the thing , and became free , only to be made the most despicable of slaves . by this , sir , you see that the question might be decided in a few words , only by alledging the inclination of the people to monarchy , as it is now established : for as no man can well be wrong'd with his consent , so neither is any man to be oblig'd against his will. and indeed how should a government , founded upon inequality and force , ever subsist without it ? or a state that must necessarily be the meer adjective of an army , become a substantive ? with as much reason might i also object matter of title , because the same estate , with a flaw in the conveyance , or clogg'd with statutes and judgments , is not surely of like value , as if it had been descended clearly from the great grandfather , and were free from claims and incumbrances . but it shall be the next part of my business to shew that the present establish'd government ( as it excellently complies with the laws , genius , and interest of this nation , so it ) comprehends all the benefits of a common-wealth in great perfection ; and this i shall do as briefly as i can . to demonstrate how it complies with our laws and constitutions , let it suffice , that ( monarchy , in these nations , being more ancient than story or records more venerable than tradition it self ) our laws were born ( as it were ) under this climate , habituated to this diet and air , grafted into this stock ; and though we have ( thanks be to god ) forgotten our norman , yet will it be very hard for us to learn greek , much less utopian ; that in the late usurper's time , our lawyers , with one voice , importun'd him rather to assume the style and power of a king , to which they found all our laws were shaped , than retain that of a protector , unknown to the law : that nothing render'd the late architects of a common-wealth more obnoxious , than that ( notwithstanding their infinite discords , in other things ) they generally agreed in the necessity of subverting all our fandamental laws , in order to their design ; which consideration ( we are in charity to believe ) obliged the sober men of all parties , the true patriotes , ( nay and even the chiefest pillars of the parliaments-cause too ) to unite themselves with the royal interest ; as not enduring to hear of those violent and dangerous alterations which they plainly saw a republick must necessarily introduce . for its complyance with our genius , examine we ( in the first place ) the various revolutions that have happened to this island ; brittains , romans , saxons , danes and normans ; or ( more nearly ) the changes in their descents from the direct line to the collateral ; or ( yet nearer ) the times of insurrection and deposing kings , edward and richard , ( both the seconds of the name ) and we shall find king-ship still in fashion . nay , that of king john is more notorious , for when the people had in a sort dethron'd him , and sworn allegiance to lewis of france , yet when john dy'd , the same people not only expelled the foreigner , but having got the power into their own hands , they crowned king john's son , being then an infant without interest or adherents : nor will all our chronicles afford us one single instance of any design or endeavour to erect a free estate , ( before the late unnatural times furnish'd the president ) no not when wat tyler , or jack straw revell'd it with their clowns . nor yet is this genius ever to be chang'd , for reflect we ( in the second place ) that as our english nature is not like the french , supple to oppression , and apt to delight in that pomp and magnificence of their lords , which ( they know ) is supported with their slavery and hunger ; nor like the highland scots , where the honour and interest of the chief is the glory of the whole clan : so doth it as little ( or less ) agree with the dutch humour , addicted only to traffick , navigation , handicrafts , and sordid thrift , and ( in defiance of heraldry ) every man phansying his own scutcheon . for does not every one amongst us , that has the name of a gentleman , labour his utmost to uphold it ? every one that has not , to raise one ? to this end , do not our very yeomen commonly leave their lands to the eldest son , and to the other nothing but a flail , or a plow ? did not every one ( in the days of our late blessed martyr ) pinch himself in his condition , to purchase a knight-hood or small patent ? what need further proof ? you cannot but remember , sir , how that bare glimpse and shadow of monarchy under cromwel , and his son dick , ( though persons even at that very time hated and scorn'd , and that too upon a most impious and scandalous account ) was for meer resemblance-sake admitted astolerable and ( in respect of a common-wealth ) courted ; which clearly evinces , how grateful the substance must needs be to all true english spirits . as to our interest , briefly , ( to wave tedious and politick discourses ) there is no man , but with half an eye may foresee that a republick ( were there any possibility of setling one ) would destroy all our present peace , and felicity , ruinate our trade and traffick , involve us in a field of blood , alarm all our neighbours , make our best allies our bitterest enemies ; and probably draw upon us the united force of christendom , to crush the embryo ; which would be the utter destruction and enslaving of this most free and prosperous nation , ( could it but once be capable of a due sense of its own felicity ) to the tyrannical damnation of a foreigner . beside , ( at best ) by what title can we pretend to hold scotland and ireland , should that of descent be avoided ; for consent there is none , nor can any be expected . § . 5. but i come now directly to assert , that the present government eminently includes all the perfections of a free-estate , and is the kernel ( as it were ) of a common-wealth in the shell of monarchy . and , first i shall begin with the essential parts of a common-wealth , which are three , viz. the senate proposing , the people resolving , the magistrate executing . for the senate ( or parliament ) if ever there were a free and honourable one under the cope of heaven it is here ; where the deputies of the whole nation most freely chosen , do with like freedom meet , propound , debate , and vote all matters of common interest : no danger escapes their representing , no grievance their complaint , no publick right their claim , or good their demand : in all which , the least breach of priviledge is branded with sacriledge ; and though there lyes no appeal to the dispersed body of the people , ( a decision manifestly impracticable in government , and fitter indeed for tribunes to move , then nations to admit ) yet ( elections being so popular and conventions frequent ) the same end is attained with much more safety and convenience . the prince may likewise ( in some sense ) be said to have only an executive power , which he exercises by ministers and officers , not only sworn , but severely accomptable ; and though both he and the lords have their negatives in passing of bills , and though it be the king only , that , by his royal fiat makes our laws ; yet ( no tax being imposable but by the consent of the commons , nor any law ( without it ) of such validity , that the ministers of justice dare enforce it ) there is a wise and sweet necessity for the king , and likewise for the lords to pass all such bills as are convenient for the people , and not greatly hurtful to the prince ; and those that duly weigh the reason of things , do find a negative in the king to be a most safe preservative of peace to the people , who have as much comfort under the protection of his prerogative , as they have benefit by their own priviledges : for in truth , this bug-bear negative ( as our republicans labour to represent it ) is an impenetrable target , to shelter and secure the government from being alter'd at the will of the commons , if at any time they shou'd prove factious . and this ( being in reason manifest ) has also been confirm'd by great experience ; our kings having rarely obstructed any bill which they might safely grant ; but on the otherside , pass'd many high acts of mere grace , circumscribing their prerogative , and clipping its wings ; nay better had it been for us , if they had not pierc'd its very bowels . this is that triple-cord that could never yet be broken , tho' it has been cut asunder ; this is our gold seven times refin'd ; for every bill being thrice read , debated , and agreed in either house , is at last brought to the king for his royal assent ; ( which is the mint of our laws : ) a tryal so exact , that surely no dross can escape it ; since all interests , must thereto concur : ( as truly it is but fit they should , in the establishment of that which must bind all . ) this is that temperament , which purges our humours , and ( at once ) indues us with health , vigour , and beauty : no vote is precipitated ; no act huddled up ; as by sad events , you saw they formerly us'd to be , when the power was engross'd by one of the estates , purg'd and moulded to the interests of a faction ; a consequence but natural to such premises ! nothing was ( there ) weigh'd , but ( as in a balance consisting of one scale ) our laws were mandrakes of a nights growth ; and our times as fickle as the weather of the multitude . the king indeed has the power of making war , but then he has not the means ; so that it signifies little more , then a liberty to fly if he can get wings ; or to go beyond sea , provided he can waft himself over without shipping : he has a sword , but himself alone can never draw it ; and the train'd-bands ( in whom he has the sole right ) are a weapon which he decently wears , 't is true ; but the nation only may ( in effect ) be said to have the use and benefit of it . he chuses his ministers ; ( as who doth not his servants ? ) but then they pass through such a test , as none but the soundest integrity can abide : he can hinder the stroke of justice with his pardon , ( tho' still , the jaws not being muzzled , it will bite terribly ) but then ( on the other side ) the power of relieving his wants rests in the commons , to balance his will , and induce him to a correspondence with parliaments . that his person should be sacred , is most needful , to avoid circulation of accounts ; reasonable , since it carries with it the consent of nations ; just , that he become not the meer butt of faction , and malice , and be in a worse condition then the basest of vassals ; honourable , that the nakedness of government be not daily uncover'd ; wise , in the constitution , that so we may not ( at once ) both trust , and provoke , by forcing him to shift for his own indempnity ; no danger to the publique seeming so extreme , as the outlawry of a prince ; no task ( by daily experience ) so difficult , as the arraigning of any power , whether regal or popular ; and if we make golden bridges for flying enemies , much more should we afford them to relenting sovereigns : ( upon which account , in our neighbour kingdom of france , even princes of the bloud are not subjected to capital punishments . ) finally , very safe it is in the consequence ; for should a king be never so wicked and tyrannical , yet being ( by the danger threatning his corrupt ministers ) stript of agents , his personal impunity might signifie something to himself , perhaps , but nothing to the people . a revenue he has , for the support of his state and family , ample ; for the ordinary protection of his people , sufficient ; but for any considerable undertaking , defective ; and for publique oppression so inconsiderable , that when prerogative was most rampant , our greatest princes ( and some doubtless we have had , the most renowned warriours of their age ) would never , prudently , aspire to make themselves absolute . the royal revenue is proportioned to the maintenance of courts , not camps , and fleets : in fine , it is very competent for ordinary disbursements , and as for extraordinary he resorts to parliaments ; the wiser he , and the happier we ! now there is nothing more demonstrative , then that upon examination , we may find the present government to be ( compared with all the other models of the late times ) a mighty ease to the publique charge ; we allow'd the tyrant cromwell no less then a constant revenue of 1900000 l. to support him in his usurpation ; and yet that sum ( beside all his other intolerable squeezings ) at the years end , clear'd not the account by far . under the rump a great deal more was yearly collected out of the bowels of the people , to maintain the army ; and yet we could never be at quiet neither , but were perpetually embroyl'd in wars either abroad or at home , by our active spirits , some to feed their ambition , others their purses : and such a spirit we read of , working in all free-states , ancient and modern . what shall we say now of the expences of the late king , ( if examin'd by this standard ) whose revenue in lands , perquisites , and customs , exceeded not 700000 l. a year ; and yet by the good management of that most thristy and temperate prince , that petite annuity furnish'd a glorious court , a noble equipage for the honour of the nation , and paid off a considerable fleet ; which never was much improved afterwards by all our vast payments , when we were so unfortunate as to fall into other hands . nay and our present charge is rather a sport , then a burthen , compared with their monthly tax . true it is , that while we live with men , we shall be subject to that which is the effect of their nature , sin ; nor is it possible to reap the more general fruit of the best establish'd policy , unless we submit to some possible inconveniences . but yet i defie your friend , and all other projectors of commonwealths , to contrive greater freedom for their citizens , then is provided by magna charta , and the petition of right ; or shew that it is not much easier to violate , then to mend them ; for thereby , our lives , liberties , and estates are , under monarchy , secur'd and establish'd ( i think ) as well as any thing , on this side heaven , can be . it is no soloecism to say , that the subject has his prerogative , as well as the king ; and sure i am , he is in as good condition to maintain it ; the dependance being less on his side . beside that no prince ever attempted any violation thereof , but that , at long run , he suffer'd in that point of his prerogative that let in the opportunity . hence it is that the rights of the people have grown stronger and stronger against the prince , and sometimes have hurried his person to be a sacrifice ; always , his instruments ; whereof few , in our history , can we read , that , contriving against the law , have died in peace . if , possibly , one prince , ( as king harry ) by his high spirit , swept all before him , yet his infant successor is forc'd to make amends for his fathers violations : so that liberty ( we see ) is no less sacred , then majesty ; noli me tangere being its motto likewise : and in case of any , the least infringement , ( as escapes in government may happen , even in the most perfect ) it is resented as if the nation had received a box on the ear. if it be ( as they say ) the glory of a tree-state , to exalt ; the scandal of tyranny , to embase our spirits ; doubtless the establish'd form is our only commonwealth ; for all that we got by the change of it , was but the learning quietly to take the bastinade . nay , and at the very worst that can be imagin'd , it is much more easie ( were it lawful ) for us to dispute our rights with a single p●ince , and his trembling agents ; then ( as it was our case formerly ) with a knot of sovereigns that are backt with the sword. we are now again able to distinguish ( which we could never do under their free-estate , for all the fair promises they made us ) the legislative and the ministerial authority : for tho' both of them are inherent in the king , yet are not both of them his own peculiar and personal act. we know that the house of commons has not the power of a court-leet , to give an oath , nor of a justice of the peace , to make a mittimus : and this distinction , doubtless , is the most vital part of freedom , and far more considerable to poor subjects , then all these mens pretended rotations ; as , on the contrary , the absolute jumbling and confounding of them , is an accomplishment of servitude , for which all republiques , i fear , ( and our late one more especially ) have more to answer , then any limited sovereign can have . and certain it is , that as our prince , in his personal capacity , makes no laws ; so neither does he , by himself , execute or interpret any : no judge takes notice of his single command , to justifie any trespass ; no not so much as the breaking of a hedg ; his power is circumscribed by his justice ; he is ( equally with the meanest of his subjects ) concern'd in that honest maxim ; we may do just so much , and no more , then we have right to do . and it is tolerably enough said , he can do no wrong , because , if it be wrong , he does it not ; it is void in the act , and punishable in his agent . his officers , as they are alike lyable , so perhaps they are more obnoxious to indictments and suits , then any other ; by how much their trespass seems to be of a higher nature , and gives greater alarm : his private will cannot countermand his publique ; his privy seal still buckles to his great seal , as being ( in a sense ) the nations , as much as his ; his order supercedes no process ; and his displeasure threatens no man with an hours imprisonment , after the return of habeascorpus : an under-sheriff is more terrible , a constable more sawcy , a bailiff more troublesom , then he : and yet by his gentle authority , by this scabbard of prerogative ( as some in derision have lewdly term'd it ) which ( if it would ) could scarce oppress an orphan ; tumults are curb'd faction moderated , usurpation forestall'd , intervals prevented , perpetuities obviated , equity administer'd , clemency exalted , and the people made happy to a degree even of satiety and wantonness . to conclude this point : what shall i add more ? the act enjoyning the keepers of the great seal , under pain of high treason , to summon a triennial parliament , of course , by virtue of the act , without further warrant ; the act forbidding the privy-councell to intermeddle with meum & tuum ; the law abolishing the star-chamber , high-commission , &c. branding all past , and bridling all future enormities : the statutes limiting the kings claims , and relieving his tenants from exaction of forfeitures ; beside many other principal immunities , wherewith ( by the especial favour of god , and the bounty of our princes ) we are blessed , far beyond any of our neighbours : above all , our assurance ( by the goodness and clemency of our present dread sovereign ) readily to obtain such further addition and perfection of liberty and security , ( if any such there can be ) as may consist with modesty and liberty it self , to ask : does not all this proclaim aloud , that we are the mirrour of governments , envy of monarchies , and shame of common-wealths ; who cannot but blush to see themselves so eclipsed and silenc'd , in all their pretences to freedom ? and does it not more than justifie my assertion , that with all the ornaments of the noblest kingdom , we have likewise all the enjoyments of a free-estate ? § . 6. after all these solid blessings and advantages , which we reap from the most excellent of governments , and of princes ; the bare fruition of the tithe whereof , would be sufficient to transport the best to pass of our neighbour nations into all the cordial and passionate expressions of joy and gratitude imaginable : after all these comforts ( i say ) a body would think , there should scarce be found one single murmuring and disaffected person in the whole kingdom . and yet so hard is our fate ; our hearts infensible ; and so ingenious are we in starting fears and jealousies ; that a great part of us deprive our selves of the enjoyment of all our present felicities , through a too eager and pensive solicitation for futurities . nay so miserably hood-wink'd is our reason , that our carefulness to avoid miscarryin● upon a scilla , hurries us violently into the other extreme of splitting upon a charybdis . popery and tyranny ( we cry ) are breaking in upon us like a deluge ; the presumptive heir is of the red-letter stamp : and therefore another sect of our pseudo-protestants , apprehending the danger and the impracticableness of a commonwealth-government here amongst us , do hope to mend the matter mightily , by propounding the setting up of a single person either of a crack'd title , or of a new line ; upon the death of his present majesty without legitimate issue : whom god preserve . there is no man shall be more willing than my self to grant that the popish religion ( if it may deserve the name ) is little better than a compound of meer secular interest , tyranny , hypoc●●sie , homicide , and delusion ; and that the very principles of the jesuits do inspirit and egg them on to the inflicting of all manner of outragious violences upon the persons of those that enjoy a greater light and purity of the gospel then themselves . but yet i must averr ( on the other hand ) that , since through the peculiar mercy and providence of god , and the indefatigable industry and vigilance of authority ; all their machinations have hitherto been defeated , and their conspiracies both against our church and state rendred abortive ; it will become us both as men and christians , to temper our passions , and to rest satisfied with the singular care and concern , that the government vouchsafes continually to express both for our present and future safety and preservation , in all respects . full well know , that nothing is of greater concernment then the security of that religion , which by the bloud of so many blessed and glorious martyrs has ( by gods immediate blessing ) been so firmly establish'd amongst us . but then we are to take special heed that we lend not too easie an ear to such as cry up religion , & design faction ; that cry out zeal for the lord of hosts , when they intend self-interest ; to keep up a party ; an affected way ; or to be the ipse dixit of a county : religion has not at all prosper'd by undue practices to advance it . 't is meekness , patience , humility , and those graces of the spirit , that convince and convert ; when rigidness , censuring , and the sword exasperate and harden . has not gods power , or truth , evidence to secure it self ? let but the gospel have free passage , and it will make its own stay : for all true protestants do unanimously disown the promotion of it by the sword , as totally unchristian ; and bequeath it to the pope and the turk . was not , now , the maintenance of our fundamental laws the pretence of our late quarrel ? found we not the spirit of the nation rouz'd up , upon the sound of the trumpet ? popery , was it not decry'd , and religion , protestant religion , judg'd to be in danger ? were we not call'd out to the battle upon the account of zeal , with curse ye meroz ? and yet under our free estate , ( as they call'd it ) our religion ( so much of it especially as could any way be term'd protestant ) turn'd into wantonness ; and our divisions became so great , that we durst not exasperate , by advancing that idol of the presbyters , discipline ; nor indeed could we , if we durst ; for the most active of our statists , ( if they had any religion at all ) 't was that of the sectary , which they own'd as the main supporter of their model , whose interest it was to give licentiousness to all . as for laws , those which we ador'd for excellency and antiquity , they were ( by them ) of necessity alter'd , in our freedoms of person and estate , wherein true liberty is principally concern'd : for when the house of commons ( or rather the rump of it ) engross'd the soveraign power , they both imposed taxes , and levy'd them , by vertue of a trifling ordinance , which could never be done before , but by an act of parliament , solemnly and regularly pass'd by the king and the three estates : and having of tribunes of the people , ( as it were ) and their bulwark against high payments and impressures , demanded by the king , advanc'd themselves into the degree of princes ; they took upon them to assess and impress us at pleasure ; and we might complain as long as we would of the reiterated burthen ; but there was no remedy but patience , because no appeal left us , themselves being both parties and judges . i could heartily wish there were at present no more reason , to be apprehensive of popery coming amongst us , then there was in those days : but yet , let his royal highness's perswasion be what it will , this i'm sure of , that dr. oates has deposed upon oath , that the jesuits were so far from saying or acting , indifferently , as to his person , that in their hellish plot , they had mark'd him out also for slaughter , with his most royal , most protestant brother . now the late marquess of argyle was wont to lay it down as a principle in policy , that it was the character of a wise man not to let the world know what religion he was of : but ( for my own part ) i cannot in charity but hope the best of a person , ( till i shall be convinc'd of the contrary , by more certain and positive arguments , then any that i have yet been able to meet with ) that has been so lectur'd and tutor'd by our late glorious martyr , ( as well as by experience ) into a veneration for , and a perseverance in that pure , reformed religion , the principles of which he suck'd in with his very milk , and in defence of which his ever blessed father laid down his most precious life , upon a scaffold . you may read his words thus ; i do require you , ( addressing to his present majesty ) as your father and your king , that you never suffer your heart to receive the least check against , or dis-affection from the true religion establish'd in the church of england : i tell you i have try'd it , and after much search , and many disputes , have concluded it to be the best in the world , not only in the community , as christian , but also in the special notion , as reformed ; keeping the middle way between the pomp of superstitious tyranny , and the meanness of phantastick anarchy , &c. to this sence , spake he , when he had no more to speak . nay , and so zealous , this way , was our english solomon , ( the duke's grandfather ) king james , that rather then any of his progeny should ever come to be tainted with the errors and idolatries of the church of rome , he made it his prayer to almighty god , that they might be taken out of the world first . as to the apprehensions of tyranny , i hope , by what i have already deliver'd in the body of this discourse , it is evident , that there is less ground to fear it , then many people might before imagine , for that it is next to an impossibility to introduce it . and , upon probable grounds , i perswade my self , that should the duke ever have the occasion offer'd , yet would he be wiser then to make tryal of the experiment , knowing so well as he must needs do , that should the english liberties be violated in the example but of any one single person , the whole nation would take it self to be concern'd upon that account , apprehend it self ready for the fetters , and , thereby , what with fear , what with hate , such a storm would be rais'd , as might shake the surest foundations of the government ; and so very much has majesty already felt by the fury of the people , that it will be chary ( doubtless ) of giving occasion to encounter it again . but 't is farther objected ( it seems ) that there is a vindictive and implacable spirit in the case . now this is most manifest ( indeed ) that there have been provocations to the height ; but shall we therefore continue to provoke , because we have begun ? 't is a rule ( you know ) that he that does wrong , never forgives , but he that has wrong , may . the interest of revenge is passionate , but the interest of profit arises from a passion that prevails more ; and he is very weak , that anteposes rumour and vain passion , when it stands in competition with his safety . to speak home , interest rules the whole world ; and princes ( as others ) design more the security of their own greatness , then a petty revenge that may hazard it : but for this search we the experiences of past ages . henry the great of france , was so far from punishing any of the holy league , that labour'd , by all means possible , to keep him from his right , and to murther him , that ( on the contrary ) he imploy'd those very persons that were his main opposites , in his armies , in his offices , and in his councels . and what shall we say of king james , who sent messages , made vows , menac'd revenge , and all to prevent that fatal stroke from falling upon his mother , ( the queen of scots ) under queen eliz. but to no effect . observe the issue now ; shortly q. eliz. dies , and those very lords that acted personally in the mothers death , were the most forward to court the son to the crown , and he became establish'd with all prerogatives incident to the english scepter . what ? acts he in the way of revenge ? no ; he , like a wise prince , feeling the warmth of so rich a climate , is so passionate to confirm his own greatness , that he not only forgets the injury of his mother , but manages his great affairs by the hands of those very persons that were contrivers of it ; yet through her bloud did he derive his title ! nor do we read of one of these nobles , or their issue , that suffer'd diminution , by any resentment , upon that account . his wise father also , that had been beaten into the knowledge of the english spirit , writes thus : let no passion , ( my son ) betray you to any study of revenge upon those whose own sin and folly will sufficiently punish theu , in due time : be confident that most of all sides that have done amiss , have done so , not out of malice , but mis-information , or mis-apprehension of things . none will be more loyal to me or you , then those subjects , who , sensible of their errors , and our injuries , will feel , in their own souls , most vehement motions to repentance , and earnest defires to make some reparations for their former desects , &c. the like said he at his last hour . but what do we doubt or distrust ? may we not have a protestant parliament upon all exigencies ; and the disposal of commands and offices secure to us , for a time , in case of his majesties decease ? have we not a protestant councel , a protestant militia , a protestant clergy , and a protestant people ; what can we ( in reason ) desire more ? § . 7. as to the project of erecting a cracht title , or a single person of another line ; ( over and above the heinousness and impiety of the proposition , and to wave tedious canvassings ) that must unquestionably be the most desperate of all other remedies , and infinitely worse then the disease it self : for thereby we should set on foot a personal quarrel ; and ( at the long run ) beyond measure disgust the spirits of this generous people , in that they will then be subjected to their equal ; who , to retain his usurpation , will be forc'd to repeat and accumulate those violences , whereof we had most woful experience under the old protector : otherwise , he will soon be made the object of our contempt ; as was his son , with his easie and gentle way of acting ; and his name be used only as a cloak to cover the avarice , and exorbitances of a ravenous faction . nor can this project prevent a relapse into our former calamities ; because our fears will ever be great and continual , and , consequently , our charge proportionable . in a word , all the evils and miseries that were brought upon us by the army , the rump , and by all other architects of our slavery in the late times , will certainly be found tolerable ; compared with the probable , and genuine effects of such a desperate and unchristian proceeding . § . 8. you will not expect from me , ( i 'm sure , sir ) that i should so acquit my self of every objection , as to leave all men satisfy'd ; especially such as carry a byass of preferment , profit , or faction ; men that have in design exorbitances of power , or wealth , will hardly , with arguments , be reclaimed : and some there are ( i know ) that have so long possess'd their heads with strong notions , that they are not capable to take in reason , against them ; and thereupon , run on frantique in error , till there be a rotation in their brains : such there are , that , with confidence , so often have told a lye , that , at length , themselves believe it to be a truth : but we shall be too wise ( i 'm sure , should ever that day come ) to preferr the interest or wilfulness of a few , to the safety and welfare of the whole . i shall not deny , yet , that it is easier to demonstrate what may be evil , then positively to assert what will be good : but however , comparing times with things , ( as is above represented ) i doubt not to evidence , that to keep where we are , and to be contented with our lot , is a course much rather to be embrac'd , as that which , in great probability , may be good ; then , by pushing at incertainties , to pull down most lamentable confusions and desolations upon our own heads , which certainly will be evil i therefore ever was , and still am of opinion , that it is both our interest and our duty to embrace , with open arms , the ample , generous offers of his most gracious majesty , in order to provisions for our future security , in point of freedom and religion : as for the rest , let us but have our good old laws duly put in execution ; and then ( by gods assistance ) we shall be in a capacity to defie the pope , the devil , and all their works , come what will come . § 9. thus , sir , have i run through the several heads that you were pleased to propound . i have , in the first place , given you my reasons why i conceive the project of fixing a free-estate , ( as your friend thinks fit to term it ) here amongst us , would be utterly impracticable ; i have , in the next place , presented you with a summary of those mischiefs and distractions , which were the consequents of a like attempt , from 1640. to 1660. in the third place , you find the natural bent and inclination of the people to monarchy , exclusively of any other form of regiment whatsoever , fully demonstrated ; the royal prerogative anatomiz'd ; and an account of those great immunities , blessings , and priviledges which the english do at this day enjoy under the present government establish'd , both ecclesiastical and civil , peculiarly , and above any other people or nation in the known world. the fourth , rips up the ground of our fears and jealousies of popery and arbitrary power flowing in upon us , should the duke of york ever come to sway the english scepter ; and furnishes arguments for the moderating and lessening our apprehensions as to the one , and for the proving the almost impossibility of effecting the other , were there never so great a will and disposition that way . in the fifth place , you have represented the danger and impiety , of erecting a crackt title , or a single person of a new line ; together with the probable calamitous effects that would inevitably ensue upon such an attempt . and lastly , i have presum'd to offer my own expedient , in reference to the security of our religion and freedoms , for the present and for the future . upon the whole matter , if , by what i have written , i be so fortunate as to make your friend a convert , 't will be an infinite satisfaction to me ; because , thereby i may hope to save a soul ; but , at the worst , i may say with the text , that i shall hide a multitude of sins . now should i frame twenty excuses to you for the length , the inequality , the insufficiency , the incoherence , the freedom , the extravagant rovings and impertinencies , the unskilful management , nay and for the boldness and presumption of this discourse : but i have neither will nor leisure to trifle at such a rate . i am conscious to my self ( no man more ) of my great want of abilities requisite for an undertaking of such weight and importance ; only i was resolv'd to let you see , that no considerations whatsoever were of force ( with me ) to withstand the authority of your commands . i have unbosom'd my self to you , sir , ( under the protection of a private letter ) with all the frankness and simplicity imaginable ; not doubting but you will make such use of it , as may not redound to the disadvantage of , sir , your most obedient servant . feb. 21. 1679 / 80. certaine serious thoughts which at severall times & upon sundry occasions have stollen themselves into verse and now into the publike view from the author [wyvill coat of arms] esquire ; together w[i]th a chronologicall table denoeting [sic] the names of such princes as ruled the neighbor states and were con-temporary to our english kings, observeing throughout ye number of yeares w[hi]ch every one of them reigned. wyvill, christopher, 1651?-1711. 1647 approx. 95 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 47 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a67233 wing w3784 estc r38784 18112258 ocm 18112258 106831 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67233) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106831) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1113:19) certaine serious thoughts which at severall times & upon sundry occasions have stollen themselves into verse and now into the publike view from the author [wyvill coat of arms] esquire ; together w[i]th a chronologicall table denoeting [sic] the names of such princes as ruled the neighbor states and were con-temporary to our english kings, observeing throughout ye number of yeares w[hi]ch every one of them reigned. wyvill, christopher, 1651?-1711. marshall, william, fl. 1617-1650. wyvill, christopher, 1651?-1711. chronologicall catalogue of such persons as ruled the neighbour-states, and were contemporary to the severall kings of england, since the coming in of the conqueror. [6], 36, [2], 41-88 p. printed by f.b. for george badger and are to be sold at his shop ..., london : 1647. attributed to wyvill by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints; coat of arms attributed by nuc. "w. marshall sculpsit." engraved t.p. "a chronologicall catalogue of such persons as ruled the neighbour-states, and were contemporary to the severall kings of england, since the coming in of the conqueror, with some short notes thereupon ... / collected by c.w. esqueir" (p. [2], 41-88) has special t.p. and imprint: london : printed by f.b. for g. badger, and are to be sold at his shop ..., 1647. errata: p. 88. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng english poetry. great britain -kings and rulers -chronology. 2004-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-07 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-07 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion certaine serious thoughts which at severall times & upon sundry occasions have stollen themselves into verse and now into the publike view from the avthor esquire . together w th a chronologicall table denoeting the names of such princes as ruled the neighbor states and were con-temporary to our english kings , observeing throughout y e number of yeares w ch every one of them reigned . london printed by f. b. for george badger and are to be sold at his shop in s t dunstons church-yard fleetstreet . w. marshall sculpsit 1647 ▪ to the right honourable and truly vertuous lady , the lady katharine d'ar●i , these following poems are by the author , humbly dedicated and presented . to the reader . and now reader i dare be bold to tell thee , that thou hast something of true worth and value within these leaves , since the foregoing schedule hath acquainted thee with the name of a ladie who is exemplarily eminent , in every reall perfection . it may bee thou wilt expect i should adde a word or two , as to the contents of the booke thou art about to looke into ; and it shall bee onely this ; that , i can assure thee , it will neither wound , nor defile the hand that takes it up . certaine serious thoughts : which at severall times and upon sundry occasions have stollen themselves into verse , and now into the publike view . sometimes a well-aymd thought would point at heaven but o mine heart , that broken bow , carrying the shaft on even aside doth start : lord ! that i may not , from that mark decline let my fraile ew be back't with the true vine , and give me arrows winged from above with the sure flying feathers of the dove , then guide my hand , and make me levell right and 't is thy honour if i hit the white . on the 6. parts of prayer . my1supplications often have prevail'd , nor have my2deprecations often fail'd ; my3intercessions have been heard by thee ; but lord ! 4 confession best-becommeth me ; for all thy love ; for giving and forgiving , accept the sacrifice of my5thanksgiving ; little i say by6imprecation , more , then , in all things , let thy will be done . going to the sacrament of the lords supper . thou ever-blessed saviour , at thy death by by-partite indenture didst bequeath thy body , bloud , and merits to each one whose grace-instructed faith cal's them his own , whose sin-avoyding actions doe proclaim , him an adorer of thine holy name . till thou o lord , or call , or come again , let me not violate the counter-pane , goe with me , o my gracious god , and give life to my faith , that i by faith may live . on a particular occasion . rouze thee my too forgetfull muse ; rehearse th'almightie's goodness in a thankfull verse , he only shew'd thee trouble , sent reliefe when best-applyed means but added griefe , he to his servants prayer had regard , and turn'd his chastisments to a reward . another . shall cunning satan still defraud my soule and steale into my heart by gilded sins ? he can make splendid , what is ne'r so foule ; he knowes not how to end , who once begins to tast his sly deceits ; beware , hee 'l give thee poyson in sweetned pills , and so deceive thee . vpon psalm 90. 10. first written upon a bare leafe in quarles his poems , over-against his verses on mors tua . great god! this death-beleaguerd fort cal'd man though strongly back't by nature , seldom can out-last the seventeeth yeare ; though thou afford to my sin-stained life that number , lord the third part of them have already slip't me too regard less ; satan still hath nipt thy blooming crop , my weak resolves have bin swift to dissolve into accustomd sin , o let th' uncertain remnant of my dayes be dedicated to my makers praise ; o that this lump of dust knod-up in bloud , would once leave trifles , and pursue what 's good . feare then i would not ; though a voice should say , thy glass is run , and thou must dye to day , for so from sin , and sorrow should i rest ; and rise , not unto judgment , but a feast ; that marriage-supper , which , we read , of old was by the bridegroom , to the iewes foretold : that marriage supper , where to heavens king blest soules eternall alleluja's sing . vpon psalm . 7. 12. 13 , 14. god is a righteous iudge , strong and patient : and god is provoked every day . if a man will not turne , he will whet his sword : he hath bent his bow , and made it ready . he hath prepared for him the instruments of death : hee ordaineth his arrowes against the persecutors . hast thou not heard o man , or canst forget this terrible alarme , god will whet his sword , prepare his arrows , and his bow ; doth not experience daily bid thee know that , when he will revoke thy borrowed breath a fly or gnat's an instrument of death , canst thou shake off those thoughts w ch whisper to thee , this minut's sin for ever may undoe thee ? will not thy head-strong will be curbed by the thought of fathomless eternity ? or doth thy weak conceipt befoole thee so as once to think that god , though he be slow to punish , see 's not when thou goest astray , that thus thou dars't provoke him every day ? if man return not dost thou say ? is then the pow'r of turning in the choyse of men ? my soul lord know's it is not , yet i see by thy command , what i should beg of thee ; nor can i beg till thou my god prepare , my un-prepared heart and voyce to prayer . from my wast-field if any good proceed , thou must be author both of will and deed : stub-up the thornes , un-pave the soyle and make the well-injected seed deep rooting take , afford me fruitfull seasons that i may bring some sheafs with me on my judgment day . vpon matth . 10. 34. came then the god of peace to send the sword ? doth variance accompany his word : must all those sacred knots nature doth tye in father , mother , brothers , sisters dye ; truth hath if selfe depos'd it , and i must believ 't how-ever strange , yet sure 't is just . nor doth religion cancell or withstand , or any way abbreviate that command : whereby we duty-bound to parents are , nor charity and love doth it impare , to other friends ; what 's theirs , to them impart we may , we must , and yet choose mary's part : he , whose direction only point's-out right the most disjoynted soules can re-unite , and so cement a friendship by his word too strong to be dissolved by the sword . on a particular occasion . in thee alone my wearied thoughts can find , where to repose their doubts : my setled mind , on thee secure depends , great god arise ; thy timely goodnesse to our wondring eyes may banish't joyes reduce , here fixed be my deaded hopes , and fetch new life from thee . thy wonted mercies often shewn before , imbolden my weak verse thus to implore thy powerfull ayd , who , ever more then i by blest experience , could thy love discry ? in trouble , sorrow , sicknesse , feare and griefe , my case , to thee commended , met reliefe . my sins though many , cancelled by thee shall neither prejudice my suit , nor me . i will not doubt , my god i know can doe 't my god i know can doe 't , i will not doubt . a domino factum est istud . nor was there ever any had recourse to him by humble prayer that sped worse ; for this , my heart within me shall rejoyce , in all distresses thou shalt heare my voyce ; and if at any time , my suite ungranted , return , i 'le think 't is better for me wanted . to master wroth school-master at epping in essex . those recollective thoughts to me , most welcome , sir , must ever be ; which to my memory represent , the time , under your roofe i spent ; though spent improvidently , there large fields of corne for reaping were : yet i but glean'd , which make's my starved muse such leane , ill-thriven verses now produce . i might have learn't how to decline all vices ; and forme by divine sweet conjugations , my sence to due and fitting mode and tence : you th' pronouns , mine and thine did teach to be no more but parts of speech ; from you a generall rule i might have got to use the world , as though i us'd it not . but oh , how zions plants would thrive and like , if it were fenced round with such a dike as he , whose pithy sermons double were in number , to the sabbaths in the yeare ; who , summon'd up to heaven , back hath sent his posthume book t' attend the sacrament . nor is it from ingratitude , that in the middle of my non-age i begin : vnto his care my childish yeares were given , whose cure now poynt's us out the way heaven . too few such men are found in any age as was the guardian of my pupill-age ; he scorn'd the common roade , did not discharg by some raw scarce-made bachilor his charge . lord i admire thy providence , and see how vast a summe i am in debt to thee , but nothing have to pay : if thou do'st call for an account , behold , forgive me all is all i can produce ; o cross the score , and make my love proportionably more . scindimur incerti . can mans distracted fancy find the way to truth ; where thousand sects themselves display supporting errour ? this terrestriall round hath scarce a place where veritie is found . asia . asia , which only , glories to have ●een a spotlesse man , where canaan hath been a type of heaven , and the blest abode of the whole world's creator iacob's god , where all the sacred pen-men once did preach , nay , where the lord himself vouchsaf'd to teach , wallow's in darknesse now their sun is set , with bended knees they crouch to mahomet ; and in the stead of sinai's law-divine , the talmude is receiv'd in palestine . africa . though hippo's sainted-bishop augustine like a bright lamp in tunis once did shine ; in aegipt , by st mark , although were sown the early seeds of true religion , though aethiopia's eunuch did proclaime the lamb whom he mis-tooke till phillip came ; all 's now erased , and a man may say nothing but error spreads in africa . america . this spain-enriching new-found world , a gem once proffer'd to our henry's diadem ; with reverence to their puppet-zemes do pray , whil'st to them they themselves become a prey . those devill-spirits every where appeare , not honour'd though ador'd , serv'd but for feare ; and yet this now in-fatuated flock shal know the shepherds voyce and bridgroom's knock : their time of gospell's next religion may still bending west find out america . evrope . no harbour where my sea-tost ship may lye , at anchor , and expect felicity ! so many lands run o're , and yet not see a path directing to eternity ! what hope remain's ? in europ , sure , he shall that fly's charybdis into scyll fall . opinions here , as much as faces vary , some this , some that , some think the quite contrary . hence 't is that every nation may discover her armed natives murthering one another . wa' st not from hence the king of france thought good , to drench his sisters nuptials in bloud ? hence all the present forreign jarrs , and those where t●weed her flowing streames doth interpose ; and as asham'd to heare warrs threats again , hastens to hide her face within the maine . poor soul , thy wearied foot-steps may in vaine survey the universe , return again as farre from satisfaction as before , vnlesse divine direction thou implore ; lord teach my wary thoughts so to decline , all devious paths , as to keep close to thine . vpon 1 cor. 3. 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15. for other foundation can no man lay , then that which is laid iesus christ. and if any man build on this foundation , gold , silver , precious stones , timber , hay stubble ; every mans work shall be made manifest : for the day shall declare it , because it shall be revealed by fire : and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is . if any mans work that he hath built upon abide , he shall receive wages . if any mans work burn , he shall lose , but he shall be safe himselfe : neverthelesse , yet as it were by fire . the heaven-instructed master-builder layd zions foundation , skilless men have reard their own inventions : some have wooden made and saplesse doctrines , of small use when heard . others their hay-like withering sermons vent , no scyth is sharper then their byting phrase ; most bring us stubble , when the corn is spent , and trifles prosecute with strained praise . all these are combustible ; send that fire thine holy spirit , try , consume , refine , thy prophets so with sacred truths inspire that they may rectifie each crooked line . vs hearers such affections affoord as fit 's a spirituall building to thee lord. vpon amos 1. 11. behold , the dayes come , saith the lord god , that i will send a famine in the land , not a famine of bread , nor a thirst for water , but of hearing the words of the lord. in sacred scripture , i have sometimes read a sorer famine threatned then of bread . that judgments fal'n on us . where for a time i sojourn'd , west-ward in a northern clime , two counties , for the lack of wine unable were to invite us to the holy table ; this question rose , amongst discourse , about it , may not the sacrament be given without it ? some said it might , some that again deni'de , i dare not take upon me to decide , nor unto other doe i ayme to give a law : but for my own part thus conceive ; so god vouchsafe my soules repast to mak 't i care not though in vinegar i tak 't , feb . 8. 1642. t is not base trembling , cowardize and feare that mak's me in this fighting age , forbeare to draw my sword : but seem an uselesse thing perhaps , whil'st others by adventuring gaine glorious titles ; for my countries good my steps would fearlesse march in seas of bloud , and welcome certaine ruine : yet i finde a war within my selfe , and stay behind . eternall blessings fasten on the crown , to charles his head ; god grant him all his own : and may as long-liv'd curses fall upon their heads who honour not his princely son , so from my heart i wish : and yet suspect many unsound will sound that dialect : the form-obtrudors may deform and make eneruous ( whilst the church of rome doth take advantage , and supplant religion ) i l'e not thrust in my hand to help them on . whose heart can lesse then bleed , whose head can be lesse then a spring of teares , when his eyes see distemper'd zion , in this wofull plight , her ●un with-drawn , inveloped with night ? my willing muse , so she were unperplext , could wish to sing her nunc-dimittis next . ho! all that love her , all that passe this way , contribute here your sighs , sit down to pray and mourn , till god , all other hopes are vaine , make up the breaches of his church again . amen , so be it . lord say amen , let it be so , that we the beauty of thine holinesse may see . vnum hoc , a te domine , expetivi , usquè immo & usque idem expetam : sacro-sanctae nempe ut aedis tuae incola , populi tui laetitiâ fruar , psallentique israeli comes adjungar . si fractus elabatur orbis impavidum ferient ruinae : though all the elements , like us , should jar and wrap up ruin'd nature by the war , though the worn fabrick of the sphears above should , in disjoynted fragments , downward move , and horrid catarackts should headlong come with swift descent , to make the world one tombe , yet should my feareless soule hope to espie , a place of safety in my saviour's eye . that skilfull chymist's never-failing art , can good , extracted out of ill , impart , and ev'n by her distresses rear a frame , that zions re-built glory may proclaime ; which , if my longing eyes but live to see , 't is lord that one thing which i beg of thee . some foot-steps of this warre traced . the low-tun'd numbers of my humble verse cannot this scene of death to th' life rehearse , i offer but one dish , and that i feare will , reader , worth thy tasting scarse appeare ; yet may prepare thy stomach , thou wilt be hereafter feasted with the historie ; some cunning hand will strike so high a string , that all the quarters of this orb shall ring the great atchievements of our nobles : they shall live in numbers that are lap 't in clay , and those that make iambicks in their pace , shall , in heroicks , run with nimble grace . here my ingaged thoughts , could i but frame a verse that worthy were to beare his name , would vent themselves and tell thee who did come though lame yet loaden with much honour home . at worster , first the tragedy begun ; from worse to worse , since that , we head-long run : for follow south-ward , and discover still , the edge of war , but sharp'ned at edg-hill : many tall cedars fell , some shaken lye , yet discord bloomes again since newbery . besides these three , how many fields have been forc't into blushing tinctures , from their green by flowing bloud ? this issue , though it be not twelve yeares old , ô god by none but thee , is curable , unless the selfe-same hand that heal'd that woman save this bleeding land , we perish ; all our thoughts amazed are , on thee our eyes are fix't , thy people spare . sure some prophetick spirit gave the name , vnto that village where , beside the lame four thousand christians all bereav'd of breath by fire-enraged messengers of death , the setting sunne beheld , and at the sight hastned his western journey , and sent night to force a truce : 't is call'd long mar-ston , yet mars thy command i wish may soon be shortned in this land. but can our wishes , which from flesh and bloud , and common-sence arise procure this good ? no , we have sinn'd , and each one must begin to be impartiall to his proper sin . o let us to the throne of grace repaire with true-repentant , humbly-servent prayer , presented in our saviours oratory , then god will finis write to this sad story . on the death of our vertuous and deare friend mistris dorothy warwick at marsk , aug. 6th 1644. if only light griefs find a tongue ; and those that are extream , cannot themselves disclose immur'd by stupid silence , surely then nothing but flowing teares must from my pen be-blur this paper : 't is beyond the art , of language to expresse the smallest part of our deep sorrowes for her losse , whose age scarce to the summer of her pilgrimage attayned had ; yet so ripe fruit , but few after the autumne of their yeares , can shew . no act of hers could be esteemed lesse , then one step forward to that place of blisse ; where now her faith is crowned , and we find her sweet and pretious memory behinde . mors mea. my flitting soule must leave her house of clay , the tim 's not more uncertaine then the way and manner , whether my consumptive breath shall leisurely-expiring creep to death , or some more furious , hasty sicknesse have commission to snatch me to my grave . water may cause or th'torrid element , my dissolution by some accident . ten thousand means and more doe this discry , that young , strong , healthfull , rich , and all may dye , though i scape chance , and sickness , yet i must at length by age subdu'd crumble to dust . i dare not wish , nor were it fit , to be a carver for my selfe ▪ my god , to thee my willing soule resign's her fate , what s'ere thou layest on me , give me strength to beare . yet , if it stand with thy good pleasure , send not suddaine death , nor sence-bereaved end . and if thou 'st honor with white haires my dayes ; o teach me how to spend them to thy praise , that when i shall forsake the sons of men , my better part may flye to thee , amen . mors christi . thou son of god , descending from above would'st manifest by that rare act thy love to poore lost mortalls ; did'st vouchsafe to take a death-subjected nature for our sake ; nor did'st disdaine to have thy sacred face ; made by those stubborn iewes , their spitting-place . thou patient stood'st the object of their scorn , deck't in a purple robe , and crown of thorn ; and millions of such troubles having past , a shamfull death thou underwent'st at last , all this for us and more ; for even as we , thou tempted wast , the cup was drunk by thee , which thy just-angry father had prepar'd to ransome man by sathan's art insnar'd . mine heart to thee 's too poor an offering , who by once dying took'st away death's sting . fraus mundi . fond man i why doth thy fancy doat upon such nothings , as the world can call its own ? why should such ignes fatui divert , thy erring foot-steps , or mislead thy heart ? belike thy soule but little light injoy's , for darkness gives the being to such toyes . grant thou hast honour , beauty , riches , pleasure , delitious fare with heaped summes of treasure , all in superlatives ; get one gem more , or else the former makes thee but more poore : nay thou must sell them all that one to buy , if thou do'st mean to gaine felicity . gloria caeli . stay , doe not black this paper , for it is a better emblem of the place of blisse then my dull pen can draw ; 't is pure and white may serve to represent eternall light ; hath neither spot nor wrinckle , none of them may come within the new ierusalem . but how should paper , or my lines , which are composed both of ragges , such joyes declare as never eye , nor eare , nor heart , nor braine of man within that small sphear could containe ? yet may thy humble contemplation discern some glimpses by reflection : read then the glory of thy great creator in this large book the world , which is his creature . if wandring there thou chauncest to espy an object that is glorious in thine eye , be it those greater , or the lesser lights innumerably sparkling in cleare nights ; or the those-emulating diamond that pretious issue of inriched ground , doth from some costly root a flow'r arise , whose various colours please thy gazing eyes . do'st thou admire the structure of some face , which seem's to have engrossed every grace , hast thou observed all the excellence , wherewith gods bounty feast's each severall sence ? screw up thy meditation then , think , lord if to earth on earth thou art pleas'd t' afford such blessings , ô thrice happy sure they be who sainted are in blest eternity . dolor inferni . let not thy over-curious appetite thy puzled cogitations invite , to lose themselves in seeking hell , nor it beyond the pillars of the holy-writ , think to discover : looke not to advance , where god nil ultra writ's , thine ignorance . but know that there doth nothing want which can adde tortures to that miserable man , who 's thither cast for sinne ; in that curst place nature run's retrograde to her own pace ; fire administers no welcome light , but serv's in torment , and makes sad the night , the parched tongue for water call's , but that it 's cooling faculty hath quite forgot , by gnashing teeth and trembling yet is show'n that hell is not without a frozen-zone : once sleeping-conscience , then shall in despight awake , and make those sufferings exquisite . what vulture-thoughts shall gnaw for evermore that heart which proffer'd mercy scorn'd before ? all objects , by the ever-weeping eye , shall wound the soul with curst eternity . now blessed lord , inflame my keen desire to seeke that narrow path , which from this fire may keep my steps secure : sure 't is not that to which some fancies give a shorter date , no , purge me here , and make me leane upon that sure foundation , the true corner-stone . faith . tvrn or'e the sacred leaves , th' almighty hath by sweet gradations , open'd to thy faith the word of promise , new-fal'n man hath got a new-found meanes , to spoyle the serpent's plot . for god hath said ; the woman's seed shall give a wound unto thy head , that man may live . thence , through sucessive generations , trace that more explayned covenant of grace : till , ( from the world's beginning slain ) the lambe attended by a quire of angels came , in his rich bosome , bringing plenteous store of blessings , only pointed at before ; and then observe , what pretious legacies thy bounteous lord bequeath's thy soule , and dye's to give thee life from both the testaments , and from the heaven-ordayned sacraments , suck ever-flowing comfort : for to thee as well , as any heretofore , agree the still effectuall promises , which stand now proffer'd to thy faiths applying hand . hope . bvilt-upon this foundation , 't is the scope of saving faith's next coosen-german , hope , with patient longings to expect that blisse whereof , the former present earnest is . faith ( in some sort ) already christ injoy's ; hopes object are those consummated joyes . fides intuetur verbum rei , spes autem rem verbi . charity . and from the fruitfull teeming womb of faith each work of charity beginning hath ; from these the happy evidence is had which prove's them sons of god , whom faith hath made . what e're thy god or neighbours good requires must be the serious bent of thy desires . else know that to those things which heavenly bee a mis-call'd faith cannot entitle thee . how dare presumptous hast once think to make christ , saviour and not lord : sit down and take a survey of thine heart ; though nothing there can justifie thee , yet unlesse thou beare the image of thy god , and strive to frame thy likened conversation to the same , thou hast no part nor share in him who gave himselfe to death , repentant man to save . now blush you rhemish factors who have lay'd your envious heads together to upbray'd with liberty a doctrin which hath shown far better , strickter precepts then your owne ; perhaps you pick halfe sentences , and thence extract an unmeant heresie and sence . a cloud of reverend witnesses i might produce , which neither more nor lesse do write as to this point ( though not in rime ) then lye here recollected , for the readers eye . on gods ubi qvitary presence . no gloomy shades , nor darkned face of night can shrow'd a sinner , from the quick-ey'd sight of all-discerning heaven : god doth rule beyond the controverted coasts of thule . and his unbounded justice doth controle , the frozen vertices of either pole. all inter-fluent seas , all regions stand subjected to the power of his command . then let not fancy'd secrecy invite thy deeds of darknesse to out-black the night , nor though some forraine clime thou wandrest in , where no know'n face can argue thee of sin , dare to let-loose thy rebell-soule , but know there is a god above , see 's all below : who shall hereafter be thy judge , and then thy bare-fac'd crimes , unmask't before all men , and angells must appeare , nay more , the devills will aggravate , that prompted to , those evills . decemb. 10. 1644. how many contradictions dayly come born on the wings of lying same ! by some we hear of battailes , stratagems , and sleights whil'st others make them victories , or flights . all various rumors struggle for beliefe whil'st varying humours feed the present griefe . once more , the hopefull tearmes of happy-peace salute's our greedy eares : o , may it please the all-disposing power above , to frame our fitted hearts , to entertaine the same . going to bed. thus , on a pale sheete , i extended , shall become ere long a livelesse coarse , and all these too-much prized trifles , which retard my soule in her best flights , without regard or rellish , must be left : then , in my grave where all things are forgotten , i shall have a coole and lonely lodging , by the earth lock't-up from all this worlds mis-called mirth . if thou , o blest creator , shalt restore the peace , ease , plenty we injoy'd before , let not those over-valued blessings move our earth-bred thoughts to sleight the things above ▪ her 's no abiding city : but thy grace may make the house of death a resting place . thou sacred arbitrer of life and death , who summon'st , at thy pleasure , vitall-breath , when in thy house , my elevated soule should mount to thee , yet lingring-here , doth foule her self with terrene fancies make mine eye recall my thoughts , and preach mortality . there lyes those dear remembrancers , i have two parents , and two children in one grave ; in twice-two yeares , thy wisdome saw it best to call these two sweet couples to their rest ; and since so neer , on both sides , i have seen thine arrowes to me , teach me how to weane from this distemper'd globe , my mis-plac'd love and fix it firmly on the things above . then if 't shall please thee next to call on mee , i 'le boldly leave this clay , and come to thee . may 10. 1645. hearing the birds sing after the departure of our deare mother . and can you sing poor birds ? do you not see a mourning countenance on every tree ? doth not each stone in this sad fabrick , tell what sable thoughts within these walls do dwell ? since she who added sweetnesse to the spring , to summer glory , she whose care did bring more fruit then autumne , and from whom it was that icy-winter undiscern'd did passe , hath left these habitations , my-thinks you should leave henceforth your warbling sonnets too , yet sing , but change your note and joyne with me , tune your loud whistles to an elegie . iune 8. 1645. mvst then the fate of york-shire , and the north be try'd once more by dint of sword , step-forth thou god of battle , let the people see by the successe , which side is own'd by thee . — sub amici fallere nomen tuta frequensque via est — easie and undiscerned is the guile which brings on mischiefe usher'd by a smile . thus many who arride the common-weale with joynt-pretences but disjoyn'd designe , their own with publique interests intwine the better , and more covertly to steale advantage to a party , putting on a forme of paralell-expression , faced with good and safety ; yet extend their actions and endeavours to the end of time , they 'l never meet , but hold a course in lasting distance still , from ill to worse ▪ hei mihi ! qnas urbes , & quanto tempore martis ignaras , uno rapuerunt praelia cursit ? claudiani carmen . dum procerum mentes privata ad commoda torsae in commune vetant socias extendere dextr'as buchanani carmen . a chronologicall catalogue of such persons as ruled the neighbour-states , and were contemporary to the severall kings of england , since the coming in of the conqueror , with some short notes thereupon : observing throughout , the number of yeares , which every one of them lived , during the raignes of our english kings . collected by c. w. esqueir . multa me impedierunt . london , printed by f. b. for g. badger , and are to be sold at his shop in saint dunstans church-yard . 1647. anno 1067. william the conqueror 21. scotland malcolm the third . 21 oviedo & leon alphonso the sixth . 21 navar sancho the fifth . 09 sancho the sixth . 12 castile sancho the first . 06 alphonso the first . 15 after it was made a kingdom , for there had been a former sancho who was but earle . arragon raymir . 19 sancho . 02 france philip the first . 21 rome a schisme . 19 this schisme began about the yeare 1061. betwixt the emperours , successively , and the popes for almost 200. yeares . victor the third . 01 urban the second . 01 emperour of germany henry the fourth . 21 denmarke harald third . 02 canutus fourth . 10 olaus . 09 poland boleslaus audax . 12 vlaslaus hermanus . 09 hungarie soloman . 08 gersa . 03 ladislaus . 10 emperour constan. constantinus ducas . 03 romanus diogenes . 04 michael parapinit . 06 neceph : botoniates . 04 alexius comn . 04 north wales conan . 21 south wales theodore magnus ▪ 10 rhese the first . 11 an. 1087. william rufus 13. scotland malcolm the third . 09 donald bane . 02 edgar . 02 oviedo and leon alphonso the sixth . 13 navarr sancho the sixth . 05 02 pedro. 06 castile alphonso the first . 13 arragon sancho . 07 pedro. 06 portugall henry of lorreine . 13 france philip the first 13 rome vrban the second . 12 the emperour in pursuance of his own right , to conferre ecclesiasticall honours , which had bin practised by the caesars ever since constantine teste sliedano , warred with this pope , and tooke him prisoner , who then solemnly made peace with the emperour upon his own termes ; but soone after hee receded from those vowes , and renewed the warre , excommunicating the emperour . paschall the second . 01 emperour of germany henry the fourth . 13 olaus . 02 denmark ericus . 11 poland vlaslaus herm. 13 hungary ladislaus . 09 calomannus . 04 emperour constan : alexius comn . 13 hierusalem godfrey of bullen . 01 north wales conan . 12 griffin . 01 south wales rhese the first . 06 griffin the first . 07 an. 1100. henry the first 35. scotland edgar . 07 alexander the first . 17 david . 11 oviedo and leon alphonso the sixth . 08 vraca and alph. the 7th 16 alphonso the eigth . 11 navarr pedro. 04 alphonso . 30 garcia . 01 castile alphonso the first . 07 urraca . 15 alphonso the second . 13 arragon pedro. 18 alphonso . 26 petronilla and raymund . 01 portugall henry of lorreine . 11 alphonso . 24 france philip the first . 10 lodowick the sixth . 25 rome paschall the second . 17 to whom hen. the first made knowne by ambassadors his right to investiture of bishops being then assumed by the clergy , and a quarrell betwixt the popes and almost all christian princes . gelasius the second . 01 calistus the second . 06 besieged sutrium , took it , and in it his competitor whom the emperor had made pope , and carried him disgracefully to rome . honorius the second . 05 innocent the second . 05 tancred . beaumond . roger. 10 savoy ame the second . anno 1109. emper. germany henry the fourth . 06 henry the fifth . 19 lothar . 10 bohemia borivorius . 08 sutopulchus . 27 denmark ericus . 02 harald the fifth . 31 nicholaus . 02 poland vlaslaus herman . 03 boleslaus . 32 hungarie colomannus 08 stephen the second . 18 bela the second . 03 07 emper. con. alexius comn . 17 calo iohannes . 18 hierusalem baldwin . 18 bald. the second . 15 millicent & foulk . 02 north wales griffin . 20 owen . 15 south wales rhese the second . griffin the second . an. 1135. stephen 19 ▪ scotland david . 18 malcolm the fourth . 01 oviedo & leon alphonso the eighth . 19 navarr garcia the seventh . 15 sancho the seventh . 04 castile alphonso the second . 19 portugall alphonso . 19 arragon petronilla and raymund . 19 france lodowick the sixt . 02 note that lodowick and lewis are the same name . lewis the seventh . 17 rome innocent the second . 08 was taken prisoner by the duke sicilie , and remmitted fairly ; after which he fled into france , and anathamatized his competitor peter . celestine the second . lucius the second . 01 eugenius the third . 08 anastitius the fourth . 01 naples roger. 14 william . 05 savoy   emperor of germany lothar . 03 conradus the third . 15 frederick barbarossa . 01 bohemia vladislaus . 19 sobislaus . 19 denmarke ericus the fift . 05 ericus the sixt . 10 sueno . 04 poland boleslaus . 05 vladeslaus the first . 06 boleslaus crispus . 08 hungarie bela the second . 06 01 gersa the second . 12 empr. const. calo iohannes . 07 emanuell comn . 12 hierusalem millicent and foulk . 07 baldwin the third . 12 north wales owen . 19 south wales griffin . anno. 1154. henry the second 34. scotland malcolm the fourth . 10 william . 24 oviedo and leon alphonso the eight . 02 fernand the second . 31 alphonso the ninth . 01 navarr sancho the seventh . 34 castile alphonso the second . 02 sancho the second . 02 alphonso the third . 30 portugall alphonso . 29 sancho . 05 arragon petronilla and raymund . 07 alphonso the second . 27 france lewis the seventh . 26 phillip the second . 08 rome adrian the fourth . 04 granted a dispensation to our henry the second , of the oath he had taken , by his fathers will and command , to resigne anjou to his brother geofrey when he should come to the crown of england . alexander the third . 22 betwixt this man and the emp. fred. barbarossa was hot warrs , he fled to venice , and there the emperours sonne being taken , he was forced to redeem him by submitting himselfe to the pope ; who troad upon his neck ; strangely applying psal. 91. verse 13. lucius the third . 04 vrban the third . 02 gregorie the eighth . clemens the third . 02 naples william . 15 william the second . 19 savoy   empr. germ. fred. barbarossa . 34 bohemia sobeslaus 04 vladislaus the third , vldericus , fred. sobeslaus , conrade . wenseslaus , henry . 30 denmarke sueno . 05 valdemarus . 24 canutus the fifth . 05 swethland sherco . 05 carolus . 08 canutus . 21 poland boleslaus crispus . 19 meizlaus . 04 casimirus . 11 hungarie gersa the second . 07 stephen the third . 18 bela the third . 09 empr. const. emanuell comn . 24 alexius comn . 03 andronicus com. 03 isacius angilus . 04 hierusalem baldwin the third . 09 almerick . 10 baldwin the fourth . 12 baldwin the fifth . 01 guy . 02 anno 1187. saladine sultan of aegypt took hierus . from guy , and anno 1517. selimus the first added it to the turkish empire , where the possession yet remaines , though the kings of spaine insert that amongst their titles . north wales owen . 23 david . 11 south wales cinerick and meredith . were taken by henry the second , and their eyes put out . anno. 1189. richard the first 10. scotland william . 10 oviedo & leon alphonso the ninth . 10 navarr . sancho the seventh . 05 sancho the eighth . 05 castile alphonso the third . 10 portugall sancho . 10 arragon alphonso the second . 07 pedro the second . 03 france phillip the second . 10 rome clemens the third . 02 celestine the third . 06 innocent the third . 02 naples william the second . 07 deposed by pope celestine the third . tancred . henry of ger. 01 savoy   emperor of germany fred. barbarossa . 03 henry the sixth . 07 bohemia vladislaus the fourth . 09 primislaus . 01 denmark canutus the fifth . 10 swethland canutus . 10 poland casimirus . 06 lesco albus . 04 hungary bela the third . 02 emericus . 08 emper. con. isacius angilus . 06 alexius angilus . 04 north wales david . 05 leolin . 05 anno 1199. iohn 17. scotland william . 15 alexander the second . 02 oviedo & leon alphonso the ninth . 17 navarr sancho the eighth . 17 castile alphonso the third . 15 henry . 02 portugall sancho . 13 alphonso the second . 04 arragon pedro. 15 iames. 02 france phillip the second . 17 savoy thomas anno 1210. rome innocent the third . 16 honorius the third . 01 naples henry of germ ▪ 03 frederick . 14 emperor of germany . philip. 08 otho the fourth . 05 frederick the second . 04 bohemia primislaus . 17 denmarke canutus the fifth . 04 valdemarus the second . 13 swethland canutus . 17 poland lesco albus . 17 hungary emericus . 01 andrew the second . 16 emp. const. alexius iunior . 01 baldwin earle of fland. 02 henry . 13 beeter . 01 north wales leolin . 17 anno 1217. henry the third 56. scotland . alexander the second . 37 alexander the third . 19 oviedo and leon alphonso the 9th . 13 fernand : the third . seized on the castiles . navarr sancho the eighth . 17 blanch and theob : of champagne 19 theobald the second . 18 henry . 03 castile fernand : the second . 35 alphonso the 4th . 21 portugall alphonso the second . 06 sancho the second . 34 alphonso the third . 16 arragon iames. 39 pedro. france philip the second . 07 bretagne lewis the eighth . 03 saint lewis . 44 philip the third . 02 britaine iohn the red , anno 1250. in h'i line that dutchy continued till the time of lewis the 11h of france anno 1488. rome honorius the third . 09 gregory the ninth . 14 the see was voyd during this kings reigne , sometimes two or three yeares , and diverse of these popes held it odde moneths . celestine the 4th . innocent the 4th . 11 alexander the 4th . 06 vrban the 4th . 03 begun the observation of corpus christi-day , which was not generally observed till iohn the 22d . clemens the fourth . 03 gregory the 10th . 02 naples frederick . 33 conrade . 04 manfroy . 07 charles of province . 12 savoy peter anno 1256. emperour of germany fred : the second . 33 conradus the 4th . 04 richard earle of cornwall . 06 inter-regnum . 12 rodulphus habspurg . 01 bohemia primislaus . 22 ottacarus . 34 denmarke valdemarus 26 ericus the 7th . 09 abell . 01 christopherus . 07 ericus the 8th . 13 swethland canutus . 05 ericus . 27 bingerius . 02 valdemarus . 22 poland lesco albus . 11 uladislaus the 2d . 15 boleslaus pudicus . 30 hungarie andrew the second . 19 bela the fourth . 35 stephen the fourth . 02 emperour constan. peter . 03 robert. 07 baldwin the second . 33 michael paleolagus . 13 north wales leolin . 23 david . 06 leolin the second . 17 anno 1274. edward the first 34. scotland alexander the third . 14 a warre for the crowne of scotland , king edward being made arbitrator , gave it to iohn balioll , anno 1300. who kept it . 05 robert bruce . 03 navarr ioane mar. philip of france . 31 lewis huttin . 03 castile alphonso the fourth . 10 sancho the third . 12 fernand the third . 12 portugall alphonso the third . 05 denis . 29 arrgaon pedro the third . 09 sicily alwayes followed the fortune of naples , till an. 1281 , this pedro seized it , and after the massacre of all the french , outed charles of province ; since that time it belonged to the house of arrag . and so to spaine . alphonso the third . 06 iames the second . 17 france philip the third . 12 philip the faire . 22 rome gregory the 10th . 01 innocent the fifth . adrian the fifth . iohn the 21. nicholas the third . 04 martin the fourth . 04 honorius the fourth . 04 the see was vacant two yeares by reason of the bitter dissention among the cardinalls . nicholas the fourth . 04 celestine the fifth . 01 boniface the eighth . 08 benedict the eleventh . clemens the 15th . 03 naples charles of province . 10 charles the second . 24 emperor of germany . rodolphus habspurg . 18 adolphus nossou . 06 albert austr . 10 austria albertus . 30 bohemia ottacarus . 04 wenseslaus the second . 06 wenseslaus the third 20 rodolphus . 01 henry of carinthia . 03 denmarke ericus the 8th 14 ericus the 9th 20 swethland valdemarus . 03 magnus the 2d 13 bingerius the 2d 18 poland boleslaus pudicus . 06 lesco niger . 10 boleslaus the 4th henricus pro●us . uladislaus the 3d 03 primeslaus . venceslaus . 04 uladislaus the 4th 02 hungarie ladislaus the 2d 17 andrew the 3d 12 venceslaus . 03 otho . 02 emper. con. michael paleolagus . 21 andronicus paleol . 13 north wales leolin . 08 anno 1282. hee was brought prisoner to london , and here end the princes of the welsh bloud . turke anno 1300. ottaman took nice and began the turkish empire . 08 anno 1308. edward 2d . 19. scotland robert bruce . 19 navarr lewis huttim . 07 philip the long . 05 charles the faire . 07 castile fernand. the third . 04 alphonso the fifth . 15 portugall denis . 17 alphonso the fourth . 02 arragon iames the second . 19 france philip the faire . 06 from whose daughter isabell married to edward the second , his sonne edward the third , had his title to the crown of france ; her brothers lewis huttin , philip the long , and charles the faire all dying issuless . lewis huttim . 02 philip the long . 05 charles the faire . 06 rome clemens the 15th 06 vacant . 02 iohn the 22. 11 against whom lewis the emperor set up nicholas the fifth . naples charles the second . 02 robert. 17 empr. germ. henry the 7th 06 lewis of bavar . 13 austria albertus the 2d 19 bohemia henry of carinthia . 03 iohn of luxemb . 16 denmark ericus the 9th 14 christophorus the 2d 05 swethland beringerius the 2d 05 magnus the 3d 13 magnus the 4th 01 poland uladislaus the 4th 19 hungarie otho . 01 charles the first 18 empr. const. andronicus paleolag : 17 andronicus iunior . 02 turky ottaman the first . 19 an. 1327. edward the 3d 50. scotland robert bruce . 05 edward baliol. 10 david bruce . 29 robert steward . 06 navarr charles the faire . 01 ioane mar. phil. of eur. 21 charles the second . 28 castile alphonso the fifth . 23 pedro crudelis . 18 henry the second . 09 alphonso the fourth . 30 portugall pedro. 10 fernand. 10 arragon iames the second . 01 alphonso the fourth . 08 pedro the fourth . 41 france charles the faire 01 philip de valoys . 22 iohn . 14 charles the fifth . 13 burgundy philip the hardy anno 1369. rome iohn the 22. 07 benedict the 12th 07 clemens the sixth . 10 innocent the sixth . 10 urban the fifth . 08 gregory the 11th 08 naples robert. 15 ioane . 29 charles the third . 06 emper. germany lewis of bavar . 19 carolus the 4th 31 austria albert the 2d 32 leopold . 18 bohemia iohn of luxemb : 19 charles . 16 wenceslaus the 4th 15 denmarke christopherus the 2d 07 valdemarus the 3d. 41 00 margaret . 02 swethland magnus the 4th . magnus the fift . albertus . poland . vladislaus the 4th . 06 casimirus magnus . 38 ludovicus . 06 hungarie charles . 15 ludovicus . 35 empr. const. andronicus iun. 27 iohn paleolagus . 23 turky . ottoman the first . 01 orchanes . 22 amurath . 23 baiazet . 04 anno. 1377. richard the second . 22. scotland robert steward . 13 robert the 2d . 09 navarr charles the 2d . 09 charles the 3d. 13 castile henry the 2d . 02 iohn . 11 henry the 3d. 09 portugall fernand. 08 iohn . 14 arragon pedro the 4th . 10 iohn . 08 martin . 04 france charles the 5th . 04 charles the sixth . 18 rome gregory the 11th . 01 vrban the sixth 11 sent into england to require the kings ayd , against the cardinalls , whom he named schismaticks , for electing another pope , whom they called clement : and the cardinals did the like for their creature , but vrban prevailed , and henry spencer bishop of norwich carried over an army for his assistance : behold the vnity of the roman church . boniface the ninth . 10 naples charles the third . 09 ladeslaus 13 emperour of germany charles the fourth . 01 venceslaus . 21 austria leopold . 09 albert the third . 09 albert the fourth . 04 bohemia venceslaus the fourth . 22 denmark margaret . 22 swethland albertus . 10 margaret . 12 poland lodovicus . 06 vladislaus the fifth . 16 02 hungary lodovicus . 06 mary mar. char. of napl . 02 sigismund . 12 emper const. iohn paleolag . 10 emanuell paleolag . 12 turke bajazet : 22 anno 1399. henry the fourth 14. scotland robert the third . 07 iames the first . 07 navarr charles the third . 14 castile henry the third . 08 iohn the second . 06 portugall iohn the first . 14 arragon martin . 13 ferdinand . 01 france charles the sixth . 14 amede anno 1409. rome boniface the ninth . 05 peter de luna a spaniard , alias bennet the 13. alias clement the 7th was anti-pope , and held the see at avignion , till the councell of pisa deposed both him and grego . the 12th and chose alexand. the 5th , which both the former for a while resisted : so the roman church was during that time a monster with three heads . innocent the seventh . 02 gregory the twelfth . 03 alexander the fifth . 01 iohn the twenty third . 03 naples ladislaus . 14 florence iohn de medicis anno 1410. emp. germ. venceslaus . 01 rupert palat. 10 iadocus barbatus . 01 sigismund hung. 02 austria albertus the fourth . 14 bohemia wenceslaus the fourth . 14 denmark margaret . 12 ericus pomeran . 02 poland vladislaus the 5th . 14 hungary sigismund brand. 14 emp. const. emanuel paleolag . 14 turky mahomet the first . 14 anno. 1413. henry the fift . 9. scotland iames the first . 09 navarr charles the 3d. 09 castile iohn the 2d . 09 portugall iohn the first . 09 arragon ferdinand . 03 alphonso the 5th . 06 france charles the 6th . 09 rome iohn the 23d . 02 no pope for almost . 03 martin the 5th . 04 decreed that a generall-councell should bee held every tenne yeares . naples ladislaus . 02 ioane the 2d . 07 florence iohn de medicis . 09 emperor of germany sigismund hung. 09 assembled the generall-councell at constance and deposed all the three popes , videl . bennet the 13th . gregory the 12th . and iohn the 23d . for alexander the 5th . lived scarce a year , and dyed during the schism : it was then decreed that a generall-councel was above the pope . austria albertus the 4th . 09 bohemia venceslaus the 4th . 05 sigismund . 04 denmarke ericus pomer . 09 poland vladislaus the 5th . 09 hungary sigismund brand. 09 emperour emanuel paleolag . 08 constan : iohn paleolag . 01 turke mahomet the first . 03 amurath the 2d . 06 anno 1422. henry the sixth . 39. scotland iames the first . 26 iames the 2d . 13 navarr charles the third . 03 blanch marr. iohn of arra . 36 castile iohn the 2d . 32 henry the fourth . 07 portugall iohn the first . 11 edward . 05 alphonso the 5th . 23 arragon alphonso the 5th . 36 iohn the 2d . 03 france charles the 6th . 01 charles the 7th . 38 burgundy phillip the good , anno 1424. lord also of almost all the netherlands , or flaunders unit●d . rome martin the 5th . 08 eugenius the 4th . 16 the councells of basil and florence one against the other , whilest the one cleaves to eugenius , and the other to felix anti-pope . nicholas the 5th . 08 calistus the 3d. 03 pius the 2d . 04 naples ioane the 2d . 12 alphonso . 24 ferdinand . 03 florence iohn de medicis . 39 emperor of germany sigismund hung. 17 albert the second . 01 duke of austria , since which time , the german emperors have beene alwayes of that family . frederick the third . 21 austria albert the fourth . 17 frederick . 22 bohemia sigismund . 15 albert of austr . 03 ladislaus . 18 georg. pogiebrac . 03 denmark ericus pomer . 17 christop herus bavar . 09 christianus the first . 13 swethland 26 carolus canutus . 13 poland hedingis mar. vlad . 5th 09 04 vladislaus the 6th 10 02 casimer the 4th 14 hungary sigismund brand. 16 albert. 02 ladislaus the 3d 04 by the instigation of pope eugen. 4th broke the truce he had solemnly sworn to , with the turke , and was miserably discomfited and slaine . vladislaus . 14 matthew coruin . 03 emper const. iohn paleolagus . 22 constantinus paleolag . 09 in his time the famous city and empire of constantinople was taken by mahomet the 2d , or the great . turky amurath the 2d 28 mahomet the 2d . 11 anno 1461 edward the 4th 22 edw. the 5th rich. the 3d. 2 dimi . 24 dimi . scotland . iames the second . 01 iames the third . 23 dimi . navar blanch mar. iohn of arr. 18 leonora mar. gaston de foyx 00 francis phebus . 04 cath. mar. iohn of alb. 02 dimi . castile henry the 4th 14 isabell mar. fred. of arrag . 10 this ferd. began the spanish monarchy , anno 1475. and was sir-named the great . portugall alphonso the 5th 20 iohn the 2d 04 dimi . france lewis the 11th 23 charles the 8th 01 dimi . savoy charles anno 1481. burgundy charles , after whose death that dutchy was seized on by lewis the 11th of france ; and the county ( for so was the distinction ) went , by mary daughter to this charles unto maximillian the emperor , about the yeare 1498. and from him to his son charles , and so continues with the kings of spaine . rome pius the 2d 03 paul the 2d 07 sixtus the 4th 12 innocent the 8th 02 naples fernand. 24 dimi . florence cosmo de medicis . 04 peter de medicis . 07 lorenzo and iulian. 13 dimi . emp. germ. frederick the 3d 24 dimi . austria frederick 24 dimi . bohemia george pogiebrach . 10 ladislaus the 2d 14 dimi . flan. vnited philip the good . 06 dimi . charles the warlike . 09 mary . 05 maximil . aust. 05 philip : austr . 04 ioane castile . 04 in whose successors the kings of spaine , remained the command of those provinces till the states rejected philip the second for breach of their priviledges , anno 1570. or thereabout . denmark christianus the first . 21 iohannes . 03 dimi . swethland carolus canutus . vpon the discontent of the people retired himselfe , and they appointed marshalls in the stead of kings , and so continued till gustanus bishop of vpsall betrayed that country to the dane anno 1519. poland casimirus the 4th 24 dimi . hungary mathew coruin . 24 dimi . turky mahomet the 2d 20 bajazet the 2d 04 dimi . anno 1485. henry the 7th 23. and an halfe . scotland ▪ iames the 3d 05 dimi . iames the 4th 18 spaine fernand. the great . 18 dimi . philip of austr : son to maxml . the emperor . 05 navarr kath. mar. to iohn of albert. 23 dim in this man's time , fernand. the great of spaine surprized navar , and his successors yet hold it , but anthony of burbon married ioane the right heire of it , and so conveyed the just title to his successors the kings of france . portugall iohn the second . 09 dimi . emanuell . 14 france charles the 8th 12 dimi . lewis the 12th 11 rome innocent the 8th 05 dimi . alexander the 6th , father to caesar borgia the eminent patterne of all villanie . 11 pius the 3d iulius the 2d 60 naples fernand. 08 dimi . alphonso the 2d fernand. the 2d 03 florence lorenz . and iulian. 06 dimi . peter . 17 fred. the 2d in whose time the spaniard and french joyned together to spoyle him of the kingdome , which at first they devided betwixt them ; but anno 1503 , the king of spayne made himselfe sole master of it . emperour of germany frederick the third . 08 dim . maximillian the first . 15 austria frederick . 08 dim . maximillian . 15 bohemia ladislaus . 23 dim . denmarke iohannes . 23 dim . poland casimir the 4th . 08 dim . iohannes of albert. 09 alexander . 05 sigismund . 02 hungarie mathew corvin . 05 dim . vladislaus the 2d . 18 turky bajazet the 2d . 23 dim . anno 1509. henry the eighth 38. scotland iames the 4th . 05 iames the 5th . 28 mary . 05 spaine pillip arch duke of austr . 07 charles the 5th . emp. 31 — atque hinc diademata mundo — sparsit iberae domus . portugall emanuel . 12 iohn the 3d. 26 france lewis the 12th . 06 francis the first . 32 savoy charles the 3d. anno 1536. rome iulius the 2d . 04 leo the 10th . 09 adrian the 6th . 02 clemens the 7th . 10 paul the 3d. 13 first called the counsell of trent . florence peter . in his time the french seized on it , and leo the 10th , pope , as also his successour clement the 7th being both of the family of the medicis , after long wars , by the help of charles the 5th . emp. got it restored to alexander grandson to peter . anno 1531. 16 emperor of germany . maximilian . 10 charles the 5th . 28 son to philip of spain and austria , after whom the emp. befell his brother ferd. and to his son philip spaine , &c. bohemia ladislaus the 2d . 07 ludovicus the first . 10 ferd. austria . 21 brother to charles the 5th emp. likewise k. of hungary , and afterwards emperour himselfe . denmarke iohn . 05 christianus the 2d . 09 frederick . 12 disposessed his vncle christian : the second , who for his cruelty had lost the affections , both of his own people of denmarke , and also of newly-conquered swethland . christianus the 3d. 12 poland sigismund . 38 swethland gustanus erious . 24 anno 1523 , this man recovered his country from the subjection of the danes , and outed christianus the 2d . king of denmark . hungarie vladislaus the 2d . 08 lewis the 2d . 10 ferdinand of austr . 20 brother to charles the 5th emp. likewise of bohemia , and afterwards himselfe emperor . turky bajazet the 2d 03 selimus . 07 solyman the magnif . 28 an. 1547. edward the sixth . 06 mary . 05 11 scotland mary . 11 spaine charles the 5th . emp. 11 portugall iohn the 3d. 10 sebastian . 01 france henry the 2d . 11 rome paul the 3d. 03 iulius the 3d. 05 marcellus the 2d . paul the 4th . 03 florence alexander de medicis . 03 cosmo de medicis . 08 empr. germ. charles the 5th . 11 denmark christianus the 3d. 11 swethland gustanus ericus . 11 poland sigismund . 01 sigismund the 2d . 10 turky solyman the magnif . 11 anno 15558. elizabeth 45. scotland mary . 09 iames the 6th . 36 spaine philip the 2d . 40 son to charles the 5th . emp. and first branch of the austr . family . this philip had a sonne named charles , elder then philip the third , but hee suffered him to be put to death in the inquisition . philip the 3d. 05 portugall sebastian . 20 henry the cardinall . 02 antonio from whom philip the 2d . of spaine took that kingdome by force . france henry the 2d . 01 francis the 2d . 01 charles the 9th . 14 henry the 3d. 15 henry of burbon . 14 savoy emanuel philibert . anno. 1558. rome paul the 4th . 03 pius the 4th . 06 01 pius the 5th . 05 gregory the 13th . 13 sixtus the 5th . 05 vrban the 7th . gregory the 14th . 01 innocent the 9th . clemens the 8th . 11 florence cosmo de medicis . father to the late q. mother of france . emper. germany ferdinand . 07 brother to charles the 5th . likewise k. of bohemia , and hungarie , and second branch of the austr . family . maximilian the 2d . 12 rodulphus the 2d . 26 denmarke frederick the 2d . 29 christianus the 4th . 16 swethland gustanus ericus . 03 ericus filius . 08 iohn . 24 sigismund . 10 poland sigismund the 2d . 13 03 henry the 2d . 02 stephen . 10 01 sigismund of swethland . 16 turky . solyman the magnif ▪ 09 selimus the 2d . 08 amurath the 3d. 20 mahomet the 3d. 08 an. 1603. iames the first 22. spaine philip the 3d. 17 philip the 4th . 05 france henry of burbon . 07 lewis the 13th . 15 savoy charles emanuel 1620. rome clemens the 8th . 02 leo the 11th . paul the 5th . 16 gregory the 15th . 02 urban the 8th . 02 emperour of germany rodolphus . 10 matthias . 07 ferdinand the 2d . 05 first of the house of gratz the 4th branch of the austrian family . the 3d. having forfeited his right to succession , by marrying a burgers daughter . denmarke christianus the 4th . 22 bohemia frederick palatin . rhen. swethland sigismund . 04 charles . 10 anno 1607. this charles vncle to sigismund , seized the kingdome to himselfe . gustavus adolphus . 08 poland sigismund of swethland . hungarie bethlem gabor of transil . anno 1620 , the hungarians rejected the germane government , and chose this man. turky achmat. 15 mustapha . 05 osman . amurath the 4th . 02 page 42. l. 1. r. after which there were continuall . wars betwixt the emperor , &c. p. 48. l. 3. adde of . finis . chuse which you will, liberty or slavery: or, an impartial representation of the danger of being again subjected to a popish prince character of a bigotted prince. ames, richard, d. 1693. 1692 approx. 45 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a25258 wing a2975ad estc r213413 99825801 99825801 30191 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a25258) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 30191) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1803:31) chuse which you will, liberty or slavery: or, an impartial representation of the danger of being again subjected to a popish prince character of a bigotted prince. ames, richard, d. 1693. [4], 22, [2] p. printed for r. stafford, london : 1692. by richard ames. the same sheets as "the character of a bigotted prince" with different title page. the "bigotted prince" is james ii. with a half-title. with a final advertisement leaf. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. jacobites -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. great britain -politics and government -1689-1702 -early works to 1800. 2005-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-05 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2005-05 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion chuse which you will , liberty or slavery : or , an impartial representation of the danger of being again subjected to a popish prince . london : printed for r. stafford , 1692. chuse which you will , liberty or slavery ▪ &c. advertisement . the jacobite conventicle . a poem , is just published . price 6 d. the character of a bigotted prince , &c. it has been the great unhappiness of the kingdom of england , for some years last past , to be troubled with two very different sort of persons of quite contrary tempers ; the one party of so very costive a faith , that they could believe nothing , and the other of so easy a belief that they could swallow every thing ; the first of these could not see the sun of truth in its brightest meridian ; and even mathematical demonstration signified nothing in order to persuade them ; they could not ( or at least would not ) see their native country hurried to the very jaws of ruine , and imitated nero in his stupidity , who could unconcernedly tune his harp when rome was in flames ; every thing about em seem'd pleasant and gay , they never suffered their minds to be rufled with anxious thoughts for the future , so they enjoy'd the present , and observ'd in the literal ( but corrupted ) sence the command of our saviour , to take no care for the morrow ; the most surprizing relations mov'd them not a jot , and they gave as equal a credit to an information or confession upon oath , as they would have allow'd to a chapter in rablais his history of garagantua . the other were of a quite different stamp , they could credit the most improbable stories , and the most far fetcht lyes were with them esteem'd as oracles ; they were ever at coffee-houses or places of such resort , still listning to every idle pamphleteer's discourse , with more attention than to a sermon ; they could not see a chimney on fire , but immediately some treachery they believ'd was in agitation ; and a drunken midnight quarrel in the streets allarm'd their thoughts into the belief of a massacre ; they had nothing in their mouths but plots and designs ; and holy writ it self stood upon the same bottom in their creed with some witnesses depositions ; their imagination hag-rid with suspicions and fears , daily presented them with such frightful scenes , that they were not only uneasy to themselves , but likewise to all about them , which render'd their days unpleasant , and their nights unquiet , insomuch that some of them durst not go to bed for fear next morning they should wake and find their throats cut. from these two very corrupt humours in the late times , were produced those two odious characters of whigg and tory , which were handed about so long in jest , that they soon turn'd earnest , and he was thought either a knave or a blockhead who would not suffer himself to be dignified or distinguished by one of those titles . this humour continued for some years with great violence and disorder , during the latter end of the reign of k. charles the second ; in all which time t is obvious whoever wore the crown , a great person then at court manag'd affairs at the helm . that great prince ( who had seen both the extreams of a prosperous and an adverse fortune ) by his death yeilded the throne to his only brother , in the beginning of whose reign the two discriminating names before mention'd seem'd to have been utterly forgotten ; the former in seeing a prince the darling of their thoughts and wishes now become a monarch , and the latter in their mistaken apprehensions of his unexpected clemency in affording them liberty of conscience . the storm was now abated , and mens tempers grew more compos'd , the virtues of the soveraign fill'd every mouth with his praises ; his goodness , his justice , and his piety was the theme of common discourse , and nothing but the name of james the just heard in the most ordinary conversations . it does not become a subject too nicely to inquire into the miscarriages of a crown'd head ; but this must be confest , very ill things were done , even to the alteration of the fundamentals both of our religion and government ; and this must be own'd by every one whose ears are not stopt by invincible prejudice or partiality . 't would be vain labour to descend to particulars in a discourse which is design'd to be of another nature . the jewish feast of tabernacles , tho' long time abrogated by the coming of our saviour , hinders not , nor forbids me to reflect on the dangers i escap'd in the wilderness . i may lawfully , i think , select such days in the year to consider how corporations were regulated , bishops imprison'd , and other irregularities committed in the late reign , without assembling a conventicle , and there in some lewd harrang swell every miscarriage to a prodigious greatness . the actions of princes ( evil ones especially ) are their own proper heralds , and every one of his subjects carries some short remarks of his reign in their memories . i do not believe that history can parallel the joys and triumphs of any nation upon their deliverance from oppression , with the universal triumphs of the english upon the never to be forgotten late revolution ; they seem'd like men kept a long time in durance , and now were blest with the sweets of liberty ; nay , even some of our present murmerers themselves were most forwardly active to shew their zeal for the then prince of orange , who by his coming seem'd to open the scene of a new world , and restore the english to the poet's time of the golden age again . but like true israelites , we long again for the onions and garlick of egypt , and would fain be under our old task-masters once more ; the wound which was seemingly heal'd , is now broke out again , and what we lost in the antient tory , we find reviv'd in the modern jacobite . we were told in a prophetick discourse some years since , what treatment we were to expect if a prince of the romish communion should settle upon the throne ; the effects of which every one who is not wilfully blind must acknowledg . did he not drive jehu-like in a full carreer to rome ? were not his emisaries in every great town in england regulating corporations , and poisoning the minds of the people with popish doctrins ? were not all places of trust both civil and military fill'd up with those of the romish faith , or others whom he made use of for his own ends ? were they not come to an excessive hight of impudence both in their sermons and discourses ? was not the torrent swell'd so high that they hourly expected the deluge ? were not the fences of the law ( the security of the subject ) attempted to be broke down ? and magna charta , when in opposition to the princes will , be valued no more than a cancell'd deed of conveyance ; was not an embassador sent to rome , and a nuntio entertain'd here ( to settle the protestant religion no doubt ) and a thousand other practices committed as directly opposite to the interest of the english nation , as fire is contrary to water . was all this done in a corner ? were not their actions as barefaced as the sun ? and after all this , and the deliverance we enjoy , must we go into the house of bondage again , and put on those fetters we so lately shook off ? let the seeming warmth of this parenthesis be a little excus'd ; yet i must confess , such considerations as these are almost valid enough to justify a passion , and make anger appear no fault ; for were the roman catholicks the only asserters of the rights of the late king james , the wonder would be little ; bodies often sympathise at a distance , and they by several obligations are bound to wish him success ; and while they terminate in empty hopes , let them still regale themselves with their airy diet ; i pity the deluded creatures , but cannot blame them , because they act upon their own principles ; and 't would be as unnatural for them not to pray for his return , as for a cardinal , in hopes of the popedom , to wish success to the protestant forces ; or a calvinist to drink a health to monsieur catinat : but when a sort of men guided , as they pretend , by the dictates of an unerring conscience , shall at this time of day openly declare for an exploded interest , and these protestants too , men no ways leven'd with popery , or any of her doctrin's , but zealous maintainers of the church of england , devout and pious , charitable and just , in the chief employments of the church , and the brightest of the golden candlesticks : for these so openly to declare their aversion to this present government , and their fondness for the last , is what does not a little elevate and surprise ( to use an expression of mr. bays ) and comes almost as near to a miracle as transubstantiation . a late very eminent doctor of the church , when the prosecution was violent against the dissenters , wrote a most learned tract , concerning the nicety of a scrupulous conscience ; wherein he very curiously anatomizes the several meanders and turnings of that invisible operation , and proves that humour , discontent and interest do frequently wear the livery of conscience . how nice soever some may be in point of religion , i wish these gentlemen could acquit themselves from the forementioned disguise with which they masquerade their political conscience . one would wonder what strange bewitching sophistry the church of rome makes use of to blind the understandings of her votaries , to that degree , that they are continually mistaking their own interest , and tamely to deliver up their bodies , souls , reputation and fortunes for the reversion of purgatory hereafter , only for the slight gratification of their humours here ; and i appeal to the greatest asserter of king james his interest , if they can produce any crown'd head in england since the conquest , who was half so infatuated and bigotted to the interest of the see of rome , as the late king : indeed we read of a religious edward , and a pious , devout henry ; but our english history cannot afford us one instance of a prince who would sacrifice his own honour , his kingdoms safety , his interest abroad , and the love of his subjects at home , meerly out of a mistaken zeal to the advancement of the romish faith ; the most solemn oaths and protestations esteem'd do more than words of course ; and that which was held sacred amongst all mankind , valued as nothing in competition with a command from the apostolick chair : the old lady at rome with all her wrinkles , has still some charms to subdue great princes ; and tho she has abus'd , depos'd , and murther'd so many of her lovers , yet she finds every day some new admirers who are proud of her charms ; a practice which comes as near a miracle , as any that church in her legends can boast of ; and i hope some passages in the late reign are not so forgotten , but they may serve to justify the truth of the assertion . indeed for our amusement we were once told by a popular pen , that allowing a king upon the english throne , principled for arbitrary government and popery , yet he was clog'd and shackl'd with popular and protestant laws , that if he had ne're so great a mind to 't , there was not a subject in his dominions would dare to serve him in his design . how true this assertion has since prov'd , let any indifferent person judge ; the late king himself both dar'd and found no small number of his subjects as resolute as their master , to alter the whole frame of the english government ; he found not men only of his own communion , but men of all religions , or rather of no religion at all , whose desperate fortunes push't 'em on to the most daring enterprises ; ' his single command added life to their motions ; and no wonder he found tools to work withal , when all the obligations of law were shrunk into the small compass of a princes will , and the musty lines of magna charta dwindled to a sic volo , sic jubeo . several other artifices were us'd , to let us conceive a popish prince no such terrible bugbear as common fame represents him ; as that the idolatrous superstition of the church of rome was by a long series of time so worn off the minds of the people , and the reformation so strongly rooted , the church of england so firmly establish'd , the romanists so detested for their innovations in doctrin and absurdity in ceremonies , &c. that it was impossible ever to fix popery here : but , alas , 't was meer delusion , we quickly saw through the juggle , and the state-quacks discover'd their leigerdemain tricks too openly ; and had not almighty god by a most surprising , and almost unparllel'd providence deliver'd us , i know not by this time , but that the name protestant had been as odious in england , as the term of hugonot is now in france ; and the dominicans and franciscans left their cells in lincolns-inn-fields and the savoy , to have sung their regina coelorum in all the cathedrals in england . i am not ignorant how some persons do still magnifie the merits of the late king , as to his private virtues , as his being descended of the blood royal , his inviolable tenderness for his friend , the exact correspondency of his mouth and heart , his courage against the dutch , &c. but these were glimmering rays of his , which shin'd upon some few only ; for when he came to his meridian , they chang'd their nature , and the scorching beams of his zeal for his religion got the ascenednt of all his other accomplishments , which so clouded his discerning faculties , that he mistook his friends for his enemies , and his enemies for his friends ; the most sage and deliberate advices given him in opposition to beloved jesuits , were censur'd as intrenchments upon his prerogative , and the single ipse dixit of father peters , valued above the joynt council of the realm ; the colledges of oxford and cambridg esteem'd as nurseries of hereticks , and the president and fellows of magdelen colledg most illegally ejected from their just rights , to receive upon the foundation a sort of sparks who were neither schollars nor gentlemen . priviledg was swallow'd up by prerogative , and know i am your king , was a supersedeas to all manner of humble petitions and remonstrances ; his priests , those fatal scorpions , he so hugg'd in his bosom , were the chief incendiaries , and contrary to our known laws , swarm'd over from doway and st. omers , greedily gaping after preferments , which they needed not have wanted , could his will alone have placed them in ecclesiastical dignities ; they must be humbly content with titular and imaginary bishopricks in nubibus , till the stubbern hereticks who enjoy'd 'em , would at once part with their reasons and their livings together . but the greatest occasion of his arbitrary government , and the aera from whence he may date all his late misfortunes , was his friendship with the french king , a right son of ishmael , whose hand is lifted up against every man's , and every man 's against his ; a man who has not one single virtue to counterballance that prodigious stock of vices which harbour in his breast ; a man who has built a reputation upon the ruins of his neighbours kingdoms ; and yet with this gallick nimrod did the unnfortunate king james contract a mo●● lasting alliance . i perceive i am stopt in my assertion , and a little dabler in politicks challenges me to prove the contract : 't is true , we cannot shew the original deed , with their signets and names affixt to it ; but he must surely be delivered over to unbelief , who cannot credit such circumstances as serve to clear the matter from all doubt or hesitation : who promoted the marriage of the duke with the princess of modena ? who defraid the charges of her journy , and paid the greatest part of her fortune , but the french king ? if this will not satisfie , pray examine coleman's letter to sir william throgmorton ; the duke 's then agent at the french court , where he tells him , that when the duke comes to be master of our affairs , the king of france will have all reason to promise himself all that he can desire ; for according to the dukes mind , the interest of the king of england , the king of france , and his own , are so closely bound up together , that 't is impossible to separate them one from the other , without the ruin of them all three ; but being joyned , they must notwithstanding all opposition , become invincible : there are other letters between mr. coleman and father le chaise which carry such undeniable marks of a contract between king james when duke of york and louis le grand , that none but those devested of common sense , can have reason to doubt it : if this is not throughly convincing , let any one consult the memorial given in by monsieur d' avaux , the french embassador at the hague , sept. 9th 1688 , which if the curious reader desire to see at length , i refer him to the 1st vol. of mercurius reformatus , or the new observator , no. 5. wherein the ingenuous author of that paper , does prove it beyond all possibility of contradiction . there are several other arguments as unquestionable as the former , which for brevity's sake , i omit . and now 't is time to breath a while , and consider what are the those regal virtues , of which , if a prince has not a share , he will hardly answer the expectations of his people , nor the ends of government ; they are generally recon'd to be piety , prudence , justice , and valour ; but if his piety degenerates into biggottism , his prudence into unsteady timerousness , his justice into acts of cruelty and severity , and his valour into rashness and obstinacy ; what ever his flatterers may say of him , yet certainly he is unfit to govern. let the reader apply the character where he pleases , and find a crown'd head whereon to fix these four vices , by another name call'd virtues . how much of the comparison may fall to the late king's share , we know not ; but of his bigottry , zeal , ( or what other name you please ) to his religion , i believe by this time the world wants not to be convinc'd ; for if for arguments sake we should allow ( what we cannot believe ) viz. a merit in religious actions , certainly the late king has bid the fairest for cononization , after his death , of all the crown'd heads who have liv'd these two centuries , who would sacrifice three kingdoms to the capricios of a priest ; but be it unto him according to his faith ; and indeed it is but just he should expect a crown in heaven , if for its sake he has lost one on earth . this in a few lines we have given the character of a bigotted unfortunate prince : but leaving him at his devotions , let us a little return homewards , and observe a sort of men who are so very impatient under this government , that their very looks express their discontent ; they are as uneasy , tho in the sun-shine of liberty , as the slaves at algeirs are with their chains ; they cannot take an oath to a government that will protect 'em , and nothing will ever satisfy them , but the return of their old master . good god! to what stupidity is mankind arriv'd ? to dislike the most easy government in the world , to espouse that which is the most barbarous in its nature : a government that in measures of cruelty exceeds ev'n the most savage communities on the coast of india ! a government so debauch'd with false religion , that considering the interest of mankind , and the ill usage it exposes mens persons and fortunes to , it could be almost wisht that such a religion had never been known in the world. in the name of wonder , what would these gentlemen have ? they were many of them ( at least many pretended to be ) uneasy under the last , when popery and arbitrary government seem'd to come as an armed man ; and now they are almost beyond the possibility of such fears , they murmur : of what mercurial temper are the english compos'd , that they can never be setled ? popery was once their terrour , and now that is remov'd , they fear they know not what ; like men in feavers , they are restless in this bed , and when remov'd to another , are as uneasy in that . i appeal to any of them , if the pressures that gawl their shoulders , either in their persons or fortunes , was not brought upon themselves by their own perverse obstinacy , for which conscience is still the pretence ; the government would have them live easy , and enjoy their estates and preferments both civil and ecclesiastical , nor would molest them while quiet they might sit under their vines and under their fig-trees , but they will not ; and if men will turn themselves out of all , in compliance to a humour , who can help it ? it must be confest , that when once the persons of kings grow contemptible , or little in the eyes of their subjects , their smallest miscarriages are magnified to that degree , as very often terminates in their ruin : but there is an errour on the other hand , when the worst actions of princes shall be thought innocent ( for according to some persons creed , a king can do no wrong ) and the belief of passive obedience is carried so high , that even his arbitrary proceedings shall be winkt at : this is to exceed even the arts of the turkish policy , who pay not a greater veneration of their grand signiors , than some of our zealots do to the late king , they solemnly drink his health upon their knees , and pray for him in their private devotions affectionately ; nor do they forget him in the publick liturgies of the church , for every one knows the secret mystery of bless and protect the king our governour . to be short , nothing will serve them but his return , to redeem them out of their imaginary bondage ; for this they wish , for this they pray : nay , the jews themselves do not at this day with greater impatience and mistaken zeal expect the coming of the messias , than these kind of men do for the restauration of king james to his crown and dignity . let us therefore a little examin what specious pretences they have for such an ambition ; and tho indeed they are as shy of revealing the secret , as they would be of a fairy treasure ; yet by some expressions occasionally dropt in conversation , 't is not very hard to conjecture some of them . as first , they are great pretenders to moral justice ; they say king james had a great deal of wrong done him , and being their soveraign prince , they are obliged to see him righted . are they so ? but who gave them the commission ? their conscience , they will tell you , but their conscience is so great a riddle , that it will never be expounded ; their conscience would have king james in his throne again , tho never so much bloodshed and miseries might ensue ; their fondness to his person closes their eyes and stops their ears to all the calamities their fellow subjects must necessarily suffer by such a revolution ; nay , this very conscience of theirs , was one of the chief occasions which prompted the late king to commit those arbitrary actions in his shortliv'd reign ; they told him he might do what he pleas'd , and for for his actions , was accuntable to none but god , tho he should turn upside-down our laws , religion , and liberties , and that we were tamely to submit our necks to the blow when ever he should command it , in spite of laws , tho it were in the power of our hands to save our selves by a just defence . no wonder then upon such considerations as these , and prompted by the native cruelty of his own religion , he permitted those unaccountable actions to be committed ; and he is as much beholding to those fiery sticklers for the loss of his crown , as he was to father pretre's , and other jesuetick advice . it is the nature of mankind to covet liberty , and to have all things about them easy and free : now i would ask these gentlemen what greater freedom they can expect , were their beloved prince reinstated in his throne again , than what they now enjoy ? are not their fortunes secur'd to them by the best laws in the world ? who goes about to invade their properties , or devest them of their estates ? yes , they reply , some bishops and other ecclesiastical persons have lost their livings and means of subsistence , because : — yes , the because is very well known , because they cannot take the oaths . it would have been wisht , that those reverend persons would have inform'd the world with the reasons of their non-compliance , which might have regulated the unthinking minds of some of their bigotted followers , who out-do even the votaries of the church of rome in an implicit faith ; and believe 't is not lawful for them to swear to the government , because dr. such a one refuses the oaths . a very pretty conclusion ; but allowing it to be conscience in their own acceptation , i believe when humour , prejudice , and some other niceties are separated from it , the thing call'd conscience will appear in this case but an airy notion . some of the most moderate of them , i confess , who are great lovers of the late king , could wish him here again without the assistance of the french ; but if their faith was but as strong and powerful as their hopes , they might certainly remove mountains , and joyn the alps to st. michaels-mount in cornwall ; but these are wishes as improbable as they are impossible to be effected ; for you may as easily separate heat from fire , or moisture from water , as divide the interests of king james , from those of lewis the fourteenth ; no , no , like hippocrates his twins they must live and dye together ; and therefore these fort of men deserve rather our pity than our laughter . but there are another sort who will have their old master return again , though by never such indirect means ; and are as glad when they hear of the success of the french arms , as they would be to receive the news of the death of some decrepid relation of theirs , who by his exit , leaves them a plentiful estate . and let mons and flanders , savoy , and all the confederate countries be reduc'd to heaps of ruins , so their dear king may come to his throne again , though he enter'd the city of london with luxemburgh and boufflers at the head of fifty thousand french dragoons . these are hopeful protestants i'faith , blessed reformers and defenders of the christian church ; fresh straw and a dark chamber , cooling purges , leeches and blood-letting are only fit for such as these ; they are mad beyond the cure of hellebore : but because it is necessary sometimes to answer a fool according to his folly. let us ask em what mighty mischiefs have the dukes of savoy , and bavaria , the electors of brandenburgh , mentz , and cologne , the emperour of germany , the king of spain , and the vnited provinces ▪ done these gentlemen , that they are so mighty angry with them , and could wish the sculls of all their subjects were to pave the way for king james his accession to a forfeited throne ? how came these involv'd in the quarrel ? must king james his supposed right , like pharoah's lean kine , swallow up all other princes properties ? what has he done to be so much the darling of mankind , that other mens glories must be ecclips'd to make his glimmering rays shine the brighter ? are great britain , france and ireland , to be the only goshen , and must there be darkness all over europe besides ? these men are a most strange sort of political predestinarians , who will allow no peace nor plenty to any but their master and his friends ; and it is hard to be determin'd , whether folly or madness has the greatest share in the composition of their hopes . all pity and humanity to their fellow creatures is laid aside , and they seem to exceed the indian cannibals in acts of cruelty , for how severe they may be to strangers , they yet seldom devour those of their own tribe ; no man that hears 'em discourse , can certainly keep within the bounds of moderation ; for who ever has the patience to hear their arguments , will certainly expect better . reasons in bedlam , from the lucida intervalla of a lunatick . the love of ones country , was ever by the most polite nations , esteem'd as the characteristical mark of a noble soul , and vincit amor patriae , seem'd to be written in indelible marks upon their breasts ; for this the ancient greeks and romans were famous , remarkable to this purpose is the relation livy gives us of curtius a noble roman , who when the earth was sunk with a wide gap in the middle of the forum , and it was told , it would not come together again , unles some prime young nobleman were put into it ; he to deliver his country , mounted on horse-back , rode into the gaping chasma : but we on the contrary , have a sort of men amongst us , who would gladly see their native soyl over run with a knot of villains , to gratifie one mans lust of power on the one hand , and their unaccountable humour on the other . i would fain ask them , supposing the possibility of such success , whether the french arms are so well bred , as to distinguish them from the rest of the english sufferers by such a revolution ( to which that of the goths and vandals in italy , was but a civil visit ) ? i fear like tarpeia the vestal virgin , who covenanted with the sabines to betray the capitol to them , for what they wore on their lest arms ; but when they were entred , into of bracelets which she intended , they threw their targets upon her , and pressed her to death ; so would these very men suffer in the common calamity ; for the french , as well as other nations , agree in this , that though they love the treason , they hate the traytors . to invert a little the words of mr. dryden to the reader , before his poem of absalom and achitophel , every man is a knave or an ass on the contrary side ; and there 's a treasury of merits in sam 's coffee-house , as well as in richard's at the temple ; but the longest chapter in deuteronomy has not curses enough for well-wishers to the french. it was the speech of a moderate gentleman in the long parliament , when the faction in the house of commons was high against the bishops , and the establish'd church , gentlemen , ( says he ) let us see the model of your new intended superstructure , beforè you pull down the old one . if we should ask some of these fiery bigots for the interest of the late king , what advantages they can propose to themselves by his return ; unless like the unrewarded poor expecting caviliers at the restauration of king charles the second , they can be content to be loyal and starve ; for if the latter end of king james his imaginary reign , should be of a piece with his first real beginning , he will still neglect his truest friends , and stick close to flattering enemies . with so deep a root has the advice of a chancellor , about the year 1660 , still remain'd in the breasts of the princes , oblige your enemies , and your friends will be true to your interest . but i have wandred from my subject , by a long , but i hope , not very impertinent digression , and therefore ( asking my reader 's pardon ) return to my subject , or rather the applicatory part of it . we have seen the character of the prince and his bigotted followers ; and as all things are best set off by examples , let us now draw a parallel or landscape of the two different complexions of the reigns of king william and queen mary , and king james , and what we are unavoidably to expect , should almighty god in the course of his providence , for our punishment , and the gratification of some restless spirits , bring king james to his throne again : of the ease and tranquility of the first we are certain , but of the horrour of the latter , the most terrible ideas we can form of it in our imaginations will come short of the life ; for as the safety we now enjoy , almost exceeds our hopes ; so the stripes we must then feel , will transcend our very fears . in the person of the king , we have a prince who is truly ( what the historian says of titus ) humani generis deliciae , who has centred in his person all the valour and wisdom of his ancestors : a prince so truly great , that those lawrels which add such lustre to anothers brow , look but faintly on his , he needing no additional varnish to set off his native goodness : a prince , born to be the arbiter of christendom , whom all the crown'd heads and states of europe adore as the only person who must break the jaws of the french leviathan : not the greatest dangers which so terrify pusilanimous minds , can at all move him , who caring not for an inactive inglorious greatness , expos'd his sacred person to rescue these ungrateful kingdoms from the moct insupportable tyranny of arbitrary power ; since which , in ireland he gave most invincible proofs both of his courage and conduct ; the united force of europe could not concert their measures against france , till his presence influenced their counsels at the hague , to which he went through a thousand perils at sea ; after a short return , he is now gone again to flanders to head that prodigious army : victory seems to accompany him in attempts of war , and his worst enemies must own him to have the very soul of courage . in the person of the queen , we have a second queen elizabeth ; but with respect to her sacred ashes , we may say , the copy far exceeds the original . never did a crown'd lady shew more conduct and magnanimity than when the french fleet was upon our coast , when her illustrious husband was fighting in ireland : a princess , whose thousand charms make her fit to rule , and command even respect from her very enemies ( if any such there are ; ) her majesty is temper'd with so much mildness , that at the same time , she neither invites nor forbids access ; the glory of her own sex , and the admiration of ours . under these two illustrious persons is england , &c. at this time govern'd by the most exact laws that ever were made , the prerogative of the king not dominaring over the priviledges of the people , the church of england flourishes , not withstanding the peevishness of some of her votaries ; and the dissenters enjoy their liberty of conscience without design : the great blessing of this nation , viz. the parliament , does frequently meet , and their votes are unanimous for supplies for the nations good : the taxes by them levied are ( excepting by some few discontented spirits ) willingly paid , and the people satisfied that their mony is employ'd for the uses intended , not lavishly and unaccountably thrown away on pensioners , &c. every man enjoys his plentiful or ▪ competent fortune , with all the freedom imaginable ; no tricks are made use of to decoy us into slavery ; from the very prospect of which , the king designs by his utmost endeavours to free us by appearing himself in person at the head of the confederate army , in opposition to the power of france : he designing to rescue the glory of the english nation from that stupidity , the luxury , and effeminacy of the late reigns had obscur'd it with ; and we have nothing to render us unhappy but our own groundless fears and jealousies , in which unaccountable humour , if we still persist , like the seditious amongst the jews , we shall do our selves more mischief within the walls , than our enemies could possibly do without , when the glory of their city and nation yeilded to the arms of the romans , who could never have conquered them , had not their murmurers within done more execution to themselves , than all battering rams of titus could possibly effect against their walls . but now to shew the reverse of the medal . if king jame's return to re-assume his justly forfeited right , as no human reason can possibly suppose him to come in without the assistance of the french , let us consider what a field of blood will our country be ; he coming in like a conqueror , will make us quickly feel the difference between the easy government we now live under , and the insupportable tyranny we must then endure ; his imaginary zeal for the defence of the protestant religion , being long since quench't by the affronts he pretends to have suffered by those of that communion ; then will rome erect her standard in defiance to all the methods of the reformation , and popery become the standing religion of the nation . it cannot be suppos'd that the instructions he has receiv'd from his great patrone lewis , will easily be forgot ; and he who when in a private capacity would ever hardly forgive one whom he suppos'd had done him wrong , will now be hardly brought to forget a national indignity ; he will never certainly listen to any overtures of capitulation ; and 't is impossible to believe that things can be ever accomodated between an incens'd prince , and ( as he supposes ) a rebellious people . he has not so long breath'd in the air of france , as not to learn its tyrannical and arbitrary maxims ; and the ( as he thinks ) meritorious zeal of propagating his own religion , will let him stick at nothing , how arbitrary soever , to establish it . we may indeed imagin him to be of a merciful nature , and that all shall be forgotten as if never done , and that an act of indemnity will make all even again ; but those who are so blinded as to believe these fair promises , et them but look into an act of his own , dated at his residence in dublin . and in a proclamation of his , to his pretended subjects in scotland , may 4. 1689. he is most graciously pleas'd , not only to incourage his friends to be destoryers of mankind , but likewise offers them pardons for such inhuman cruelties : telling them in the said proclamation , 't is his pleasure they should rise in arms , and assault and destory , and what ever blood-shed and slaughter , mutilations or fire-raisings should be done to these rebels , ( as he calls the scotch ) his proclamation should be their sufficient warrant for such acts. if this is his kindness for the scotch nation , can we think the english will more civilly be treated ? no , no , let us no longer amuse our selves with fancies of his clemency and kindness . we live under a government where we may be hapy if we please , and nothing but our discontent can render us miserable ; for as certain as there is a providence , if ever such a fatal revolution should happen , not savoy , nor piedmont , nor all the places where the arms of the french have ravag'd , were ever such scenes of blood and confusion as england will be . we are now in our crisis , and a few months will , in all probability , determine the fate of europe in general , and of our own country in particular ; and upon the success of the confederate army , headed by our most victorious prince , depends the liberty or slavery of the most civiliz'd part of the world. postscript . at the conclusion of this discourse , i imagin some smiling reader finding fault , and by his looks would seem to tell me the landskips are as ill drawn as they are ill design'd , and that the lyon is not so fierce as he is painted , nor will the return of a prince of the romish commifon be so terrible to his protestant subjects as i would seem to represent . but in answer to this , i must acquaint the gentleman , that i fear i have communited an error on the other hand , and instead of adding fierce colours to make the piece seem tremendous : i have used such faint shadows as do not heighten the picture . partiality and prejudice are very ill spectacles , and but too often cause a false medium . i have seen a picture , which if one lookt obliquely upon , on the left hand were represented the heads of three fair ladies ; but if you chang'd the position of your body , and stood on the right hand of the design , the very same picture shew'd you a monkey and two parrots . i know not on which hand my reader 's judgment stands , which valued faculty of ours we find to be very often deluded ; for if i may apply a place in holy writ , very pertinent to this purpose , only exchanging the case of the father for that of the son ; they who form such terrible ideas of the imaginary severities they feel under the present reign , where they are only beaten with rods , will at the return of their idoliz'd prince , be chastis'd with scorpions . finis . books printed for r. baldwin . new predictions of the fate of all the princes and states in the world. price 4. sodom fair : or the market of the man of sin. containing , a true account of the prices of the pope's pardons and dispensations ; being a treatise very useful and necessary for all young english papists , who intend to take holy orders , or travel through italy ; and all such as intend to be cheated both out of their souls and mony. to which is added the history of adultery , as it is now at rome by law established ; with the life of clement the sixth , and blasphemous bull which he published for the year of jubile , 1350. a journal of the late motions and actions of the confederate forces against the french , in the united provinces , and the spanish netherlands . with curious remarks on the situation , strength and rarities of the most considerable cities , towns and fortifications in those countries . together with an exact list of the army . the present state of christendom consider'd , in nine dialogues , between i. the present pope alexander the viii . and lewis the xiv . ii. the great duke of tuscany , and the duke of savoy . iii. king james the second , and the marescal de la feuillade . iv. the duke of lorrain , and the duke of schomberg . v. the duke of lorrain , and the elector platine . vi. louis the xiv . and the marquis de louvois . vii . the advoyer of berne , and the chief syndic of geneva . viii . cardinal ottoboni , and the duke de chaulnes . ix . the young prince abafti , and count teckly . the proceedings of the present parliament justified by the opinion of the most judicious and learned hvgo grotivs, with considerations thereupon written for the satisfaction of some of the reverend clergy who yet seem to labour under some scruples concerning the original right of kings, their abdication of empire, and the peoples inseparable right of resistance, deposing, and of disposing and settling of the succession to the crown / by a lover of the peace of his country. grotius, hugo, 1583-1645. 1689 approx. 32 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 11 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a42235 wing g2124 estc r17553 11739267 ocm 11739267 48480 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a42235) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48480) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 532:12) the proceedings of the present parliament justified by the opinion of the most judicious and learned hvgo grotivs, with considerations thereupon written for the satisfaction of some of the reverend clergy who yet seem to labour under some scruples concerning the original right of kings, their abdication of empire, and the peoples inseparable right of resistance, deposing, and of disposing and settling of the succession to the crown / by a lover of the peace of his country. grotius, hugo, 1583-1645. grotius, hugo, 1583-1645. de jure belli et pacis. 20 p. printed, and are to be sold by randal taylor, london : 1689. the latin text of selections from grotius' de jure belli et pacis is accompanied by an english translation and commentary. reproduction of orginal in bristol public library, bristol, england. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng nonjurors. great britain -history -revolution of 1688 -pamphlets. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-03 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2008-03 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the proceedings of the present parliament , &c. the proceedings of the present parliament justified by the opinion of the most judicious and learned hvgo grotivs ; with considerations thereupon . written for the satisfaction of some of the reverend clergy who yet seem to labour under some scruples concerning the original right of kings , their abdication of empire , and the peoples inseparable right of resistance , deposing , and of disposing and settling of the succession to the crown . by a lover of the peace of his country . with allowance . london : printed , and are to be sold by randal taylor , 1689. the opinion of the most learned and judicious hugo grotius , &c. there are some , i do observe , amongst the clergy of the church of england , who seem very much concerned for the late king's interest , and dissatisfied with the management and disposure of affairs relating thereto , by this great and honorable convention of the lords and commons now assembled in parliament . all who cherish resentments of this kind i dare not indistinguishably condemn , because they may possibly be directed in some by a principle of honor and honesty : but those whose intentions are honest , and do not principally design thereby to betray their country into popery and vassalage ( for such will be the natural consequences , tho not the inducements to their wishes ) i desire they would seriously weigh this right they so much contend for , in the ballance of law and reason , before they pass a censure , or ground an opinion . there can be no right pretended either to property or dominion , but by the laws of nature , nations , or the municipal laws of the country where such right is claimed , and altho the latter of these are grounded upon and derived from the two former , yet do they notwithstanding take place in the deciding of all difficulties , so far as their statutes or presidents do extend : but where the municipal laws are silent or defective , there recourse is to be had to the laws of nature and nations . upon this account it was , that the grave and learned serjeant maynard , being applyed unto , as the fittest person , in respect of his great age and learning , to signifie what the laws of the land did direct in such an exigence as this , replyed , that it was true , he was the most ancient of all those who attended that prosession , that he had outlived several kings , and several sets of judges , but now he had also outlived the law it self . intimating thereby , that the case was so unusual and extraordinary , that it went beyond the direction of the municipal laws , and therefore must appeal to a more remote tribunal . the reason why i do more particularly single out the opinions of this famous civilian upon this occasion , is because of the great credit and authority he has obtained in the world , especially amongst the clergy , and is above all other of his faculty , most tender of the rights and prerogatives of crowned heads . upon this account there can nothing reasonably be objected to his sense of those scruples and difficulties which some at present labor under . therefore i desire they would hear him in his own words , with the most fair and genuine translation they will admit . grot. de jure belli & pacis , lib. 1. cap. 4. sect. 16. si bello injusto & cui juris gentium requisita non adsint , imperium arripuerit aliquis , neque pactio ulla secuta sit aut fides illi data , sed sola vi retineatur possessio : videtur manere belli jus , ac proinde in eum licere quae in hostem licet , qui , à quolibet etiam privato , jure potest interfici . in reos majestatis , inquit tertullianus , & publicos hostes omnis homo miles est . if any one by an unjust war , such as wants those requisits which by the laws of nations it ought to have , does usurp a government , nor afterwards enters into any compact with the people , nor is there any trust reposed in him , but his possession is maintained by force ; the right of war does in this case still continue , wherefore it is lawful to deal with him in all things as with an enemy , for he may be justly slain by any private person . tertullian tells us , that against those who are guilty of usurping majesty , and against common enemies , every one is a soldier . i know but of three ways whereby empire can be originally acquired . the first is by nature , and the governor a patriarch , who immediately presides over a family or city of his own natural generation , or claims the government by a lineal descent from him who was the common natural ancestor of all his subjects . to this title i think there is no prince now in the world lays claim : if there be , let him produce his pedegree , and prove himself the primogenitus by an hereditary line from the natural father of his people , and i will not farther contend it with him . the second sort of empire is by conquest , of which you see what grotius says . but put the case the conqueror had a right prior to his conquest , so that the war cannot be called unjust , yet after he has acquired the government , he cannot at once be in , by two titles , so as to exercise the respective powers given by both ; because if he holds by conquest his power is absolute ; if by contract , then limited and directed by the people ; and he cannot be both absolute and limited at the same time . from hence it must necessarily follow , that by every act wherein he transgresses his limited power , in usurping what he had no manner of right to , he renounces his lawful title , and rules by force and violence only , and thereby the conquerors unjust war , and the peoples just right to vindicate themselves from this unjust usurpation , is still continued . as the case stands now with us in england , if the late king could have claimed by conquest , as many have pretended he might , from william the conqueror , only to palliate some illegal proceedings ; what has been done against him , and much more , in the opinion of this learned man , had been both lawful and justifiable . but if he claims neither as a patriarch , nor by conquest , then there is only left for him to claim by compact , under which qualification i desire you would farther consider him by the rules which our learned author lays down . grot. de jure belli , lib. 2. ch. 14. sect. 4. promissa quoque plena & absoluta atque acceptata , naturaliter jus transferre , demonstratum supra est ; quod itidem ad reges , non minus quam ad alios pertinet , ita ut improbanda sit , hoc quidem sensu , eorum sententia , qui negant regem teneri unquam his quae sine causa promisit . that promises fully made and accepted do naturally transfer a right , is already shewn . now this holds as well in kings as in private men : their opinions therefore are not to be allowed of , who hold , that what a king promises without a good cause , is not obligatory . contrary to this fundamental law of nature and reason is the opinion of those divines who hold all kings to be jure divino , and consequently their power absolute ; so also of those common lawyers who would justifie that all concessions made by the prince to his people , in diminution of his prerogative royal , ( tho dangerous and destructive ) are void and revokeable . ib. lib. 1. ch. 4. sect. 7. n. 3. notandum est , primo homines non dei praecepto sed sponte adductos , experimento infirmitatis familiarum segregum adversus violentiam , in societatem civilem coiisse , unde ortum habet potestas civilis , quam ideo humanam ordinationem petrus vocat , quanquam alibi & divina ordinatio vocatur , quia hominum salubre institutum deus probavit . deus autem humanam legem probans , censetur probare ut humanam & humano more . 't is to be observ'd , that men did not originally unite into civil communities by any command from god , but voluntarily , and from the experience they had that separate families were alone unable to resist any foreign force . from hence grew civil power , which peter therefore calls an humane ordinance , tho elsewhere it is called a divine ordinance , because god did approve thereof as suitable and convenient for the good of mankind ; but when god approves of an humane law , he must be suppos'd to do it as humane , and after an humane manner . in this paragraph our author traces a lawful empire to its originals : he finds it then to reside in the people , and derives it , together with the reasons thereof , from them , to such person or persons in whom it is by their act and sanction plac'd and confirm'd . ib. lib. 1. cap. 4. sect. 7. n. 2. ferri enim leges ab hominibus solent & debent cum sensu humanae imbecillitatis . haec autem lex de quâ agimus , pendere videtur à voluntate eorum qui se primum in societatem civilem consociant , à quibus jus porro ad imperantes manat . hi vero si interrogarentur , an velint omnibus hoc onus imponere , ut mori proeoptent , quam ullo casu vim superiorum armis arcere , nescio an velle se sint responsuri , nisi forte cum hoc additamento , si resisti nequeat , nisi cum maxima , reipublicoe perturbatione aut exitio plurimorum innocentium , quod enim tali circumstantia caritas commendaret , id in legem quoque humanam deduci posse non dubito . all laws and governments always are and ought to be establish'd by the first legislators with respect to humane frailty . the law we treat of ( viz. of resistance in cases of inevitable necessity ) seems to depend upon the intention of those who first enter'd into civil society , from whom the right of governing is transferr'd to the governor . if such were ask'd , whether they intended to impose a yoke equal to death it self upon all who should offer to resist the tyrannies of a superior magistrate , by force , upon any account whatsoever ; i much doubt , whether they would declare themselves in the affirmative , unless perhaps to avoid the inconveniencies which might attend such a storm in the state , and the destruction of many innocents : for what in this case charity would oblige , may be received as a law. here our author gives another touch at the original of empire , and in effect tells us , that as it first was in the power of the people to make the laws of government , so it is absurd to think , that they should not by those laws secure themselves against the passions and infirmities of the governour , which they then made , that thereby they might be justifiable in re-assuming their native liberty , so far as to repel by force the violence he should offer either to themselves or their laws . to this effect , and more closely , does vasquius write , lib. 11. cont . illust . cap. 82. n. 3. semper licet subditis si possint , in libertatem eam , scilicet quae populi est , se vindicare : quia quod vi partum est imperium vi possit dissolvi ; quod autem ex voluntate sit profectum , in eo poenitere liceat & mutare voluntatem . grot. de jure belli , lib. 1. cap. 4. sect. 13. si rex partem habet summi imperii , partem alteram populus aut senatus , regi in partem non suam involanti , vis justa opponi potest , quia eatenus imperium non habet : quod locum habere censeo etiamsi dictum sit , belli potestatem penes regem fore , id enim de bello externo intelligendum est : cum alioqui , quisquis imperii summi partem habeat , non possit non jus habere eam partem tuendi . quod ubi sit , potest etiam rex sui imperii partem , belli jure amittere . if the supreme power be divided between the king and the people , he may justly be resisted by force if he invade that part which is not his own , because his power extended not to it . this i conceive must be allow'd , though the king have the power of peace and war ; for this is to be understood of foreign war. whosoever hath any part of the supreme power , must also necessarily have a right to defend it ; and where the government is so constituted , the king himself may justly , by the right of war , lose even his own part of the empire . this is plainly the case of england , where the supreme power is divided between the king , lords , and commons , and where the king in his greatest magnitude is always acknowledged to be minor vniversis . it is evident then , that if either of these three do break in upon the rights and priviledges of either of the other two , force is justifiable to repell this invasion : as for instance , if any new precept , ordinance or command should be introduced as an obligatory law ; or if any law formerly made should be repeal'd or dispenc'd with , which in effect are both the same , by any one of these three estates , without the concurrence of the other two in parliament ; this is such an invasion as grotius here speaks of , because this power of making and repealing a law is jointly in the king and people , but in neither of them separately . now whether the erecting of an high commission court directly contrary to an act of parliament , be not a virtual repealing of that act ; whether the dispensing with several other statutes be not equivalent with the assuming of a power to abrogate them ; whether the establishing a standing army in time of peace be not a virtual introduction of a new law in it self , and a repeal of all the old ones in its consequences ; and whether all these be not such an invasion of that part of the government which belongs to the people as will justifie resistance , let the world judge : if so , the legality then of all that has been done or is farther likely to be done against such an invader , will easily appear . theodosius the emperor often used this excellent expression , tantum mihi licet quantum per leges licet ; and st. paul acquaints us with the conditions of our submission not for wrath but conscience sake , knowing that he is the minister of god for our good. nor indeed does it seem christian or reasonable , to impose obedience farther than it shall appear to be for the general good of the people , for whose safeguard and protection , not their ruine and destruction , government , nay religion it self , was first instituted . vnicus imperii finis est populi utilitas , saith junius brutus ; and i cannot but concur with this fundamental maxim , salus populi est suprema lex . grot. de jure belli , lib. 1. cap. 4. sect. 10. si tamen rex reipsâ etiam tradere regnum aut subjicere moliatur , quin ei resisti in hoc possit non dubito . aliud est enim ut diximus imperium : aliud habendi modus , qui ne mutetur obstare potest populus : id enim sub imperio comprehensum non est : quò non male ap●es illud senecae in re non dissimili , et si parendum in omnibus patri , in eo non parendum , quo efficitur ne pater sit . if a king shall endeavour to give up or subject his kingdom to another , i doubt not but he may be resisted ; for empire is one thing , and the manner of holding it another , the alteration whereof the people may hinder , for that is not comprehended under the notion of empire it self . to this may that saying of seneca be well applied , being in effect the same case , although an universal obedience is required to parents , yet not in those things wherein they cease to act like parents . what designs have been carried on to alter the government by subverting the fundamental laws thereof , and by private leagues and combinations with a neighbouring prince , to subject the kingdom to his power by admitting of a foreign army into it , is in part evident by the french king's testimony , and in convenient time will farther appear , to add to those many other weighty inducements , which the people had , to proceed by such measures as the wisdom of the nation has thought fit . grot. de jure belli , lib. 1. cap. 4. sect. 9. si rex aut alius quis imperium abdicavit aut manifeste habet pro derelicto , in eum post id tempus omnia licent quae in privatum , sed minime pro derelicto habere rem censendus est qui eam tractat negligentius . if a king or any other superior magistrate shall abdicate or manifestly desert the government , any thing may be lawfully done against him that may be done against a private person : but he who governs only negligently , is not to be esteem'd as one who hath deserted . the word abdicate in its proper sense , is used to signifie , when a superior magistrate does renounce and utterly withdraw himself from the government , or from that share of it which he holds . this may be done voluntarily and designedly , by transferring the government to another by some formal method of conveyance , as charles the fifth did to his son , being himself inclined to become a recluse ; or else there may be an involuntary and undesigned abdication , as when an office , and the executing of the same , does determine by misfeasance , or nonfeasance . the word desert implies only a nonfeasance , and must naturally amount in all ministerial offices ( that of a king , who hath only the executive power , being no other ) to an end and determination of the same , and thereby does vest again in him or them who first created or instituted the office , an immediate power to erect and institute a new one , together with such an officer as they they shall approve of to execute it , with such restrictions and limitations as they shall think expedient . how far this poor government has been abdicated , renounced , deserted and forsaken by malefeasance , misfeasance nonfeasance , and at last by an utter dereliction , i need not repeat , it being too evident to all , but those who will not see , than whom there is none so blind and incorrigibly ignorant . grot. de jure belli , lib. 1. cap. 4. sect. 8. primum ergo , qui principes sub populo sunt , sive ab initio talem acceperunt potestatem , sive postea ita convenit ut lacedaemone , si peccent in leges & rempublicam non tantum vi repelli possunt , sed si opus sit puniri morte , quod pausaniae regi lacedaemoniorum contigit . those princes who are inferior in power to the whole body of the people , whether by original or subsequent compact , as in lacedaemon , if they violate the laws , or wrong the commonwealth , such may not only be resisted by force , but if necessary , be punished by death , which befel pausanias king of the lacedaemonians . how sacred the person of a king is , i cannot determine ; but to his office , as to all things that are for universal good , whilst executed in order to that end , i will allow a character of sanctity . some kings , such as were by god's immediate appointment , are stiled , his anointed , and were handed to his people with a particular command to be tender of their persons ; but this must be understood of such only , who are also nursing fathers to their people ; for of others of a different stamp , the scripture speaks but with a slender respect , when it says , i have given you a king in my wrath . in deut. we find the people left to chuse a king from among their brethren , and moses elsewhere prescribing laws to him . david makes a league with the people at hebron , which was doubtless that original contract , according to which he was to go in and out before them . it was a noble expression of the emperor trajan , when he delivered a sword to a captain of the pretorian band , and said , hoc pro me utere si recte impero , si male contra me : but it is not upon every small occasion , that kings may be bound in fetters , or that trajan's sword should be inverted to his own breast . a king's office is sacred , and so is his right also , which , while it keeps within its due limits , ought not to be invaded . the laws of god do in positive terms command honor and obedience as well as tribute to be paid to him , with which the municipal laws of this kingdom do equally conspire in favor of his dignity and person . but divine as well as human laws , tho they sound absolutely , yet refuse not upon extraordinary exigencies , to submit to implyed exceptions . upon this account , the jewish doctors in case of their sabbath ; which of all things was esteemed most sacred amongst them , and the laws for the observance of it most strict and absolute , yet they held that periculum animae impellit sabbathum , and for the same reason christ himself justifies the breach of sabbath , and eating of the shew bread , in cases of extreme necessity ; so likewise must the danger be imminent , and the necessity very urgent , that can any ways excuse so much as an irreverend thought of majesty : yet , as the great law of necessity is superior to all others , so will it sometimes justifie such acts as are against all laws of an inferior order . in such cases the people are , must and will be absolute and arbitrary , and therefore they cannot by any contract or promise either with prince or peasant , renounce and abdicate this great law of self-preservation , in affirmance of which great truth , johannes major in lib. 4. sententiarum , thus expresses himself , non posse populum à se abdicare potestatem destituendi principis in casu quo ad destructionem vergeret . but how far the present exigence may justifie the act of the people in altering of the succession where the monarchy is hereditary , and the heir may plead his innocence , the following authorities will resolve . grot. de jure belli , lib. 2. cap. 4. sect. 10. n. 2. sciendum est , ejus qui nondum natus est nullum esse jus , sicut nec ulla sunt accidentia rei non existentis . quare , si populus , à cujus voluntate jus regnandi proficiscitur voluntatem mutet , iis qui nondum nati sunt , ut quibus jus quaesitum nondum est , nullam facit injuriam . sicut autem populus expresse mutare voluntatem potest , ita & tacite credi mutasse . mutata igitur populi voluntate , neque dum existente eorum jure qui expectari possunt , parentibus autem è quibus nasci possunt , qui jus suo tempore essent habituri , id ipsum jus derelinquentibus , nihil est quod obstet quo minus illud ut derelictum , ab alio occupari possit . we must know , that no right can belong to him who is yet unborn , as that which hath no existence can have no accidents . wherefore , if the people , from whose will all right of sovereignty did originally proceed , should happen to change their will , yet cannot they be supposed thereby , to injure them who have yet acquired no right . and as the people may be believed to change their will by express words , so they may tacitly likewise : allowing then , that the people have changed their will , and that such future rights have no real existence in those who are only in expectancy ; but that the parents from whom they may be born , having in them this right , did relinquish the same , what should hinder but that which is thus derelinquished may be possessed by another . this point of succession , upon supposition that the pretended prince of wales was really born of the queen , requires a decision , for it happening before any alteration actually made in the government , leaves the point to turn upon the change of the peoples will. our author here takes notice of an express and a tacit change. that the people did in a publick formal manner change their will as to the succession , before the birth of this child , i cannot say ; but it is certain , that they did generally shew their aversions to such a succession , long before this birth , and would undoubtedly have done it in a more publick legal method , had they not been awed by an illegal standing army . as to a tacit change of their will none can doubt , but it had a full existence before the young prince had his , bearing date from that day , wherein publick prayers and thanks were by order , offered up for the queens pretended conception , and may by this parliament , be accordingly so declared . grot. de jure belli , lib. 2. cap. 7. sect. 26. similis est quaestio , an abdicari possit regnum , aut jus succedendi in regnum : & quin pro se quisque abdicare possit non est dubium : an & pro liberis , magis controversum . ib. illud interest inter natos & nascituros , quod nascituris nondum quaesitum sit jus , atque ideo , auferri iis possit populi voluntate , si etiam parentes , quorum interest jus ad filios transire , jus illud remiserint : quo pertinent ea quae de relictione supra diximus it is such another question , whether a king can so abdicate his kingdom as to destroy the right of succession to his son. that he may abdicate for himself is not doubted ; but whether for his children also , is the question . the diversity depends upon the childrens being born before or after the renunciation , for those who are yet unborn , the people may deprive of this right , because it is not yet accru'd , if the parents , whose interest it is that such right should descend to the children , do also remit it . to the same purpose is what has been said concerning abdication . our author does here again affirm a change of succession to be lawful , upon the change of the peoples inclination . but he is also farther of opinion , that a king may abdicate for a child unborn as well as for himself . it is already sufficiently proved by the authority of this author , and others , that a breach of the office and duty of a king is an abdication ipso facto ; and if so , that of king james ii. may bear date from the day he first erected the court of ecclesiastical commissioners , establish'd a standing army in the nation , or took those customs , the grant whereof expired by k. charles the second's death , and ought not to commence again till given by another parliament . this was done in the very infancy of his reign , whereby his abdication became an early act , and did betimes cut off both such real and supposititious issue , as might after pretend by birth and title to bring in popery and slavery into this nation . grot. de jure belli , lib 2. cap. 7. sect. 27. n. 2. si de primaevâ p●puli voluntate ( in successione controvertendâ dictum ) quaestio incidat ; non abs re erit , populum qui nunc est , quique idem cum eo qui olim fuit censetur , suum super ea re sensum exprimere ; qui sequendus erit , nisi satis certo constet , olim aliam fuisse populi voluntatem , & ex eâ jus quaesitum . if ( in discussing of a right of succession ) any doubt does arise , it would be convenient that the people who now are , and may be supposed to be of the same mind with their first ancestors , should express the sense of the matter ; which ought to be pursued , unless it be manifest , that the original will of the people was otherwise , and from thence a right was established . our author , in his own annotations upon this paragraph , farther adds , that such disquisition may be made by convention of the states ( viz. the lords and commons ) as it was in england in the year 1571 and 1572 , according to camden . in the two former paragraphs he puts cases about the change of a succession , and resolves them ; but by this and by his annotations thereupon , when any other doubts shall arise concerning succession , he leaves them to the decision of the people , and particularly to the states of england by express name ; as if they were more undoubted judges in such controversies than the states of any other nation : and they , according to this learned author's opinion , have regularly and justly proceeded to assert their own rights , and to settle both them and the succession of the crown , for the future , upon such an establishment , that we may reasonably hope and believe , that all the powers of france , or prayers of rome , no nor the very gates of hell , shall ever be able to prevail against them . finis . the case put, concerning the succession of his royal highness the duke of york l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. 1679 approx. 84 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 21 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a47810 wing l1206 estc r39022 18206531 ocm 18206531 107089 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47810) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107089) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1127:4) the case put, concerning the succession of his royal highness the duke of york l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. [2], 38 p. printed by m. clark, for henry brome ..., london : 1679. attributed to l'estrange by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints. includes marginal notes. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. great britain -politics and government -1660-1688. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-12 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2003-12 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the case put , concerning the succession of his royal highness the duke of york . london : printed by m. clark , for henry brome at the gun in st. pauls church-yard . 1679. the case put , concerning the succession of his royal highness the duke of york . the case of his royal highnesses succession ( in regard of the present circumstances of plots and popery ) has been , of late , sufficiently agitated , pro , and con ; while the advocates of both sides pretend equally to support themselves upon arguments drawn from nature , scripture , law , history , custom , and political expedience . [ et pila minantia pilis ] now as it is utterly impossible for a contradiction , to be both ways in the right ; so the difficulty will not be much less , for a common man , in a proposition of this nicety , to distinguish betwixt the truth , and the paradox ; and to determine , upon which side the reason lies . or what if the contendents themselves should yet , in some degree , have left the very pinch of the point betwixt them ? for it is not the bare citing of a piece of scripture , or a record , that does the business ; but the fair expounding , and applying of it , with a due regard to the context of times , persons , interests , occasions , and other circumstances . there is a great difference betwixt the counsels of factious times , and of peaceable ; of vsurpers , and of lawful princes ; the concessions of kings in a moral state of liberty , and of kings under a kind of duresse . we should , in fine , distinguish betwixt the sacred , and inviolable resolutions , that are founded upon equity , and the common good , and those temporary shifts , which are only invented to serve a present turn of state. was there ever any sedition that did not recommend , and support it self upon some pretext of law and president ? was there ever any heresie , or schism , that did not advance it self under the countenance of some text ? and yet heaven forbid , that we should think ever the worse , either of the word of god , or of the law of the land , for being made use of as a cloak to so much wickedness . he that has a mind to destroy the discipline , the order , or the very doctrine of the church of england , shall quote ye twenty texts for 't ; and as many presidents , ( if there shall be occasion ) for diverting , or cutting off the succession ; nay for deposing the king himself , and changing the very form of the government . this is no more then what has been actually done in the memory of man. 't is a hard matter to imagine a new case : so that let the instance be what it will , it is but looking back into former ages , to match it ; where you shall be sure to find choice of presidents ready made to your hand ( like cloaths in a wholesale shop ) of all sizes , and colours . wherefore we should have a care , methinks , of dealing in perverted texts , and presidents . the devil himself fishes with these baits ; and ( as some body says ) the rabble swallow them whole , without either examining , or dreaming of the danger , till they feel the hook in their guts . or , if i may change my metaphor ; the common people are caught just as we catch larks ; 't is but setting up a fiue thing for a wonderment , they all flock to 't as far as they can see it , and never leave flickering about it , till the fowler has them in the net. a pomp of words , and colours , to the multitude ; is but the casting of the sun in their eyes from a looking-glass ; the more they look at it , the less able are they to discern what the matter is : and the great mischief is this ; they never take themselves to be so clear-sighted , as in those cases wherein they are stark-blind . they are akin to what d' ye call him 's monsters ; their eyes are in their breasts , and their brains in their bellies : and therefore whoever would make an interest with the vulgar , applies himself not to their vnderstandings , but to their passions , and appetites . he comes with absolons exclamation in his mouth , oh! that i were made a iudg in the land ! which seldom fails of being the prologue to some approching tragedy . but let me try now , if i can find my way back again . there is an assertion laid down , that all the human acts , and powers in the world , cannot hinder the descent of the crown upon the next heir of the bloud . this position , the assertor undertakes to make good by scripture , law , history , and reason . and his opponents , on the other side , undertake , upon the very same authorities , to overthrow it ; and i find a very extraordinary pen engag'd in the controversie : we shall enquire , first , how this question came at this time , to be set a foot ; and then , into the quality of the question it self . there was a bill brought into the house of commons , in may last ; ( which was twice read ) for disabling his royal highness to inherit this imperial crown , because of his departure from vs to the romish communion . the matter going no further , and that parliament being soon after dissolv'd ; there came forth , in print , a pretended copy of that bill ; which was publish'd by a person ( if a mans affections may be judg'd by his practices ) that has as little kindness for his majesty , as for his royal brother ; and not one jot more for the church of england , then for that of rome : of both which aversions , there are instances more then enow : beside that in the very same pamphlet , he carries an inference , from the case of foreclosing the duke , to the same right of removing the king himself ; in case of disability ( as he says ) to do the kingdom any good. so that instead of pursuing the seeming ends of the said bill ; that is to say , the preservation of his majesty , and the protestant religion , by this act of exclusion ; he very fairly , and for brevity sake , sweeps all together . by the character of the first publisher , we may imagine the intent of that publication : and it is further to be noted , that the anti-ducal party were the aggressors ; and it would have lookt like a yielding of the cause , to have let the subject fall without a reply . so that the blame ( if any shall arise from this matter ) must be laid at his door that mov'd the question : which question is briefly this. whether the parliament of england , may by the laws of england , exclude the next heir of the bloud from succession to the crown . some are of opinion for it , others against it . but the legality , or illegality of such an act , is a point that i am not willing to meddle with , either one way , or other . for whether the thing may lawfully be done , or not , there may be danger yet , and inconvenience , in the putting of the question , so that , in the order of reasoning , it should be first agreed , that this is a fit question to be put , before we joyn issue upon the merits of the main cause . for my own part , i think it had been much better let alone ; and that out of divers respects , in their due places to be consider'd . first , as to the question it self ; it is a ticklish point , to say , what a king of great britain , with his two houses of parliament , either can , or cannot lawfully do : when perhaps it would puzzle the three inns of court , to state , and determine the very priviledges of the single house of commons . secondly , i do not know how far private men may be allow'd to pronounce upon the power of that government , to which they are born subject . thirdly , this particular case renders the undertaking more invidious , and dangerous : the king , 't is true , calls the house of commons to consult , and advise de arduis regui ; ( of which ardua that now in hand is undoubtedly the chief ) but i cannot yet learn that the soluta multitudo were ever joyn'd with their representatives in the commission . fourthly , what can be more hazardous , then the probable effects of this dispute ? it splits the people directly into two parties ; one of which is certainly in the wrong : and the publick peace endanger'd upon the division . beside that the people being made iudges of a case , that they do not one jot vnderstand ; it looks as if they were not call'd upon , so much for their opinion , as for their help . the publishing manifesto's of this kind is not so much the stating of a case , as the pre-engaging of an interest ; for it is not a rush matter , to the multitude , whether the thing be lawful , or not , according to the law of the land : let but them be once possess'd , that it is reasonable , and for the common good , ( thô in truth , never so inconvenient , and vnreasonable ) the old story of self-preservation , and kings being constituted for the good of the people , ( in their mistaken sense ) will make it lawful . and when it comes to that once , the government is lost. a popular error , upon the matter here in debate , must necessarily draw after it a train of dismal consequences : as distraction of thought , in the bus'ness of conscience , and duty ; an aversion to their superiors ; irreverence to the laws , and a spirit of opposition to all publick acts of civil administration ; if not an vsurpation of the power it self . and all this is no more , then to pass a sentence in a case where we our selves have given 'em the chair . the very exprosing of the question , is a kind of reference ; as who should say , gentlemen , can the parliament disinherit the duke or not ? and this they take for an authority , to proceed upon , to an arbitration . now , on the other side , i cannot find so much as one colourable pretence of advantage , by the broaching of this dispute , to countervail all these mischiefs . it is a great matter , you 'l say , the clearing of a truth ; especially of a truth so necessary to be known ; that the safety and well being of every particular man ; the preservation of our king , kingdom , and religion , depends upon the people's understanding this matter aright . if either this suggestion be not put home , or that the matter here suggested can be made good , i shall submit my self to be better instructed in it . first , as to the clearing of the truth ; — magno iudice se quisque tuetur . the very question is a moot-point . one probable is set up against another ; and the learned themselves are divided upon 't . there are presidents produced on both sides ; and objections also on both sides to those presidents . and in short , it must be the work of a casuist , as well as of a common lawyer , to decide this controversie . how shall the common people come to distinguish between the right , and the wrong ; where the doctors themselves differ ? or how is it possible , to make any thing clear , to those that want capacities to vnderstand it ? how shall they come to separate matter of fact , from right ? to know what presidents are warrantable , or what cases parallel , and what not ; without any sort of acquaintance , either with law , or history ; with the intrigues of parties and factions ; or the secret ressorts of state ? if it be said that these books are written only for such as are competent judges of the subject they treat of ; my answer is , that it were well enough , if they could be kept from falling into other hands . but lying open , indifferently , to all , it is to be fear'd that the argument does more hurt where it is not throughly understood ; then good , where it is . and there is this further to be said ; that in all cases of appeal to the people , whether they vnderstand them , or not , they never fall of siding with those propositions , that promise liberty , to the subject , and fetter the government . so that their partiality , in one case , is as bad as their ignorance , in another . if it be agreed , that a man cannot be the better for any thing that he does not vnderstand ; ( or at least , so far as he does not understand it ) and that not one man of a thousand understands the stress of the point here in issue ; the pretence of clearing the truth falls to the ground : or however , there is not one man of a thousand the better for 't . but now on the other side ; let us suppose the people so wise , that every man that reads the case sees through it . this might serve to set some people right , and to confirm others . but right ? in what ? in the critical explication of a riddle of state : which would serve us just to as much purpose , as the knack of solving other common riddles . it would make us , ( as many other curiosities do ) only a little more learnedly , and vnprofitably troublesom . it is not the common peoples province , to dive into the arcana imperii ; and it is as little , either their duty , or their interest , to intermeddle in the mysteries of government . as the vniverse it self is compacted into one body , by the orderly disposition , and contiguity of parts : so is every political society also bound up in one community , by a regular distribution , and subordination of degrees , offices , and functions . and is not all this , the work and dictate of the same almighty providence ? he that made the world , appointed the order of it ; and assigned to every part , its proper place , and station . but to proceed now , upon the admittance of a supposition , that the subject matter of this dispute is competently vnderstood . 't is as broad as 't is long , take it which way ye please : and the very same thing , to the people , whether it goes for the duke , or against him . if they find that a parliament cannot disinherit him , they are but where they were before ; unless they should impose it upon the government by force . and what , on the other side , if the parliament may legally do it ? may they not as legally yet refuse it ? so that the people are ty'd up this way , as well as the other ; without any manner of benefit , beyond the bare knowledg whether the thing may be done , or not . if the parliament will , they may ; and if they will not , they may let it alone . but it many times falls out , that overtures of this nature serve rather as a temptation to the doing of some thing at a venture , then a simple , and candid deliberation , whether a thing may be lawfully done , or no. or what if this thing may lawfully be done ? we are never the nearer yet : if his majesty has not as well the will to do it , as the power : and it seems more reasonable to believe that he has not , then otherwise ; having so expresly declared his mind to the two houses of parliament against it , in his most gracious speech of may last , in the words following . i am as ready to join with you in all the ways , and means , that may establish as firm a security of the protestant religion , as your own hearts can wish ; and this not only during my time , ( of which i am sure you have no fear ) but in all future ages , even to the end of the world : and therefore am come to assure you , that what reasonable bills you shall present , to be pass'd into laws , to make you safe in the reign of any successor ( so as they tend not to impeach the right of succession , nor the descent of the crown in the true line ; and so as they restrain not the iust right of any protestant successour : ) shall find from me a ready concurrence . and i desire you to think of some more effectual means for the conviction of popish recusants , and to expedite your counsels as fast as you can , that the world may see our vnanimity ; and that i may have the opportunity of shewing you how ready i am to do any thing , that may give content and satisfaction to such loyal , and dutiful subjects . now if so it be that the very question it self , ( thô handled with all the simplicity of thought imaginable ) carries along with it so many difficulties , and inconveniences ; and without any benefit at all to the publick ; as is already set forth : what shall we say if upon a fair , and temperate examination of the arguments employ'd for the support of this disinheriting proposition , it shall appear , upon evident reason , and a natural deduction of consequences , that , whether the duke stands , or falls , the meer ventilation of the question opens a gap to let in all those calamities upon us , by unavoidable inferences , which we propound to avoid by a preventional exclusion ? to say nothing either of the boldness of the argument , from a private pen , or of the opposition of a subject to the solemn , and declared will of his sovereign : and that declaration too , recommended to us by a previous grant of the thing in the whole world which we would be thought to set the highest value upon , the security of the protestant religion by all ways imaginable , to this , and to future ages . truly the trumping up of this question , has an ill visage any way ; but the doing of it directly against his majesties will , made known with his own lips to the contrary ; this makes it look a great deal more suspicious . for to what end is it to put our selves in a sweat , upon a question , whether or no the king may lawfully do such a particular thing ; when he has told us before-hand , that he will not do it ; and the thing cannot be done , without him ? and the other way , it looks worse ; and carries such an innuendo along with it , as who should say : look ye , my masters ; here 's a thing the government may do if they please ; and it is absolutely necessary to be done : but if they will not ; — and so forth . there 's no managing of this discourse , without making frequent mention of his royal highnesses quality , and title ; and yet ( saving my duty to him in all his capacities ) i shall keep my self in these papers , upon a punctual noutrality , as to his pretensions : my bus'ness being only to acquit my self , in what i ow to my religion , my prince , and my country , where i find any of these sacred interests concern'd . as for instance ; where any contemptuous reflections are past upon the person of the duke , his majesty himself becomes a sufferer , through the indignities that are cast upon his brother . or where the same argument , that is levell'd at the duke , strikes the king too and the government . in these cases i reckon my self to be at liberty . the motives , or inducements to this project of exclusion , together with the very form it self ; are set forth in the pamphlet abovementioned , under the title of a copy of the bill concerning the duke of york , viz. that james duke of york , albany , and ulster , having departed openly from the church of england , and having publickly prosest , and own'd the popish ligion , which hath notoriously given birth , and life to the most damnable , and hellish plot , ( by the most gracious providence of god lately brought to light ) shall be excluded , and disabled , and is hereby excluded , and disabled , for ever , from possessing , having , holding , inheriting , or enjoying the imperial crowns and governments of this realm , and these kingdoms ; and of all territories , countries , and dominions , now , or which shall hereafter be , under his majesties subjection ; and of , and from all titles , rights , prerogatives , and revenues with the said crowns , now , or hereafter , to be enjoy'd : and that upon the demise , or death of his majesty , without heirs of his body ( whom god long preserve ) the crowns , and governments of these kingdoms , and all territories , countries , and dominions now , or which shall hereafter be , under his majesties subjection , with all the rights , prerogatives , and revenues , therewith of right enjoy'd , and to be enjoy'd , shall devolve , and come upon such person who shall be next lawful heir of the same ; and who shall have always been truely , and professedly , of the protestant religion now established by law within this kingdom ; as if the said duke of york were actually dead , &c. here is first , to be consider'd , the ground of this exclusion ; and then , the extent of it . the ground of it is said to be the dukes departure from the church of england , to the romish religion ; as that which notoriously gave birth , and life to the plot . now dr. tonge , that knows better , tells us , that this is no new plot ; but an old one , continu'd : and dr. oates , most expresly , in the twenty third paragraph of his narrative , informs us , that the english fathers of st. omers , writing to thomas whitebread , and other fathers here ; pray'd them to prosecute their design of taking away the king ; and if his royal highness should not comply with them , to dispatch him too : for they did fear , that not any of the stuarts were men for effecting their purposes . and in this letter . instructions were given to the fathers , to feel how his royal highness stood affected . in the paragraph following , the said fathers render this account to the aforesaid letter , that they had found , that althô the duke was a good catholick , yet he had a tender affection to the king ; and would scarcely be engaged in that concern ; and if they should once intimate their designs , and purposes unto him , they might not only be frustrated of their design , but also might lose his favour . which letter the deponent saw , and read in the month of february . and dr. oates moreover , gives this evidence against the conspirators , upon the tryals of ireland , pickering , and grove ; fol. 22. of the said tryal : that they did intend to dispose of the duke too , in case he did not appear vigorous in promoting of the catholick religion . and this is not all neither : for the doctor aforesaid , in the appendix to this narrative , under the head of the general design of the pope , society of iesus , and their confederates in this plot , subjoyns this further testimony , fol. 64. that in case the duke of york will not accept these crowns , as forfeited by his brother unto the pope ; as of his gift ; and settle such prelates , and dignitaries in the church , and such officers in commands , and places , civil , naval , military , as he hath commissioned ; ( as above ) extirpate the protestant religion , and in order thereunto , ex post facto , consent to the assassination of the king his brother , massacre of his protestant subjects ; firing of his towns , &c. by pardoning the assassins , murtherers , and incendiaries ; that then , he be also poyson'd , or destroy'd , after they have for some time abused his name and title to strengthen the plot , &c. proceeding in the same page more particularly , that the royal family of the stuarts , are condemn'd to be cut off , root and branch ; and namely the king , duke of york , and prince of aurange ; because that family hath not answer'd their expectations ; nor have they any hopes that any of them will comply with this their bloudy design , when full discover'd to them . and fol. 65. as to the duke of york ; notwithstanding they acknowledg his sincerity , and affection to their religion , and to the society ; and his demonstration thereof , by his taking bedingfield ( a iesuit ) for his confessour ; they design to dispose of him as is abovesaid . how could the dukes change of religion now , give birth to a plot that was in agitation , before that change ? and so for his giving life to 't ; we have proofs here of the clear contrary , under the hand and oath of the prime , and eminent discoverer of the plot it self . here are first , instructions from st. omers hither , for the feeling of the dukes pulse ; and secondly ; it appears by the return to those instructions , that they durst not give his royal highness the least hint of the design . beside , that in despair of the dukes complyance , they had mark'd out his r. h. for slaughter , as well as his majesty . a new , and unheard of way , certainly , of giving life to a plot , for a prince to run the risque of being assassinated himself , for fear he should disappoint it . this calumny of state being removed , that of religion , i suppose , will not bear so much weight , as bordering too near upon a doctrine , which all true protestants do , with one voice , condemn . as to the extent of this imaginary exclusion , we may take a computation of it , partly from the frame of this pretended bill , and partly from a view of the consequences that attend it : for upon the naked sight of the bill , one would think that the dukes case were the single point in question . but whosoever looks a little further , will find a snake in the grass ; and that more inconveniences may be grafted upon this president ; then the very contrivers of the project themselves were aware of , of which , by and by . for admitting the disinherison contended for , to be lawful ; it must be either simply so , upon a kind of omnipotent , and vnaccountable prerogative in government ; or conditionally so ; which needs no further explanation ; then to refer , to it s known , legal , visible , and intelligible limitations . but if it be lawful the former way ; it is lawful , without any respect to crimes of state ; opinions in religion ; personal defects , or inhabilities ; minorities ; families , or the like . and then the power may be as well transferr'd from one , to more , as from one to another ; for i do not know of any law , that permits the one , and prohibits the other . so that at this rate ; this hereditary government may be turn'd into an elective , into an aristocrasie , a democrasie , or into a medly of all these , at pleasure . and it is not to say , what ? do ye think that kings , or parliaments will be mad ? we have heard of parliamentum insanum , and read of princes that have been next door to it : and though we are safe enough at present , it is not impossible , but posterity may come to have more of them . wherefore it should be in state , as it is in play ; there should be some common rules agreed upon , to keep shufflers , in order , as well as fair gamesters . no government can stand , without a foundation ; and that foundation must be known too , and stable ; without running to the cabalistical notions of salus populi , and instinct . this is it , that preserves a nation in a due temperament of dominion , and subjection ; where every man knows his post in the government , and stands firm upon his own bottom . the foundations of government should be like those of the earth ; not to be moved : for otherwise , our lives , liberties , and estates , are but precarious , and at mercy . in a popular parliament , the crown goes to wrack , in a prerogative parliament , the people . we have seen , and felt , the one ; and there are those yet in being , that have heard of the other . and from the periods of these distempers we furnish our selves with presidents , ( as we have occasion ) either for tyranny , or sedition : as if the doing of an ill thing once , were an authority for the repeating of it . and from what root is it that all these disorders spring ; but the spinning of the thred too fine ; and resolving the plain and practical duties of government , and obedience , into mystery , and notion ; without shewing any state , or degree of men , what they are to trust to ? i do not speak in this place to the legality of things , but to the vtility of them ; and to evince , that it is possible for a thing to be lawful , and yet extremely inconvenient . suppose an act of parliament , to prohibit the making or importing of any sort of arms , or ammunition ; the authority would not at all excuse the consequence . and the consequence , in this matter , is the main import of the question , what good , or what ill , will probably ensue upon it , either the one way , or the other . but in our way to that disquisition , we should take notice that there are four points to be all clear'd , before we can reasonably expect his majesty should come to a resolution : that is to say ; 1. the lawfulness of the thing . 2. natural affection . 3. matter of conscience . and 4. reason of state. in the first case of the four the learned in the law may be consulted ; but in the other three the king himself is the only competent iudg. what if we should , for quiet-sake now , let the first point pass for granted , and suppose his majesty convinc'd of the legality of the act ? there is yet a brother ; a prince ; and a friend in the case : a person that has as frankly ventur'd his bloud , for his king , and his country , as the meanest subject in his majesties dominions . and there may be certain stimulations of honour , as well as impulses of natural affection . let but any generous subject make it his own case , and ask his own heart , what he himself would do under these circumstances ? and who knows further , but a scruple of conscience may fall in too with this tenderness of nature , upon the thought of depriving a legal heir , by so extraordinary a way , of his vndoubted birth-right ? if this should be the rub , there 's no getting over it . or if the way were clear thus far ; yet if his majesty should see any thing in the tendency of the proposition , either inconsistent with the dignity of his office , or with the peace , and security of his government , and people ; such reason of state would undoubtedly put a stop to any such bill . how far these reasons , or any of them , may prevail toward the preventing , or obstructing of this project ; we shall not presume to enquire . but as to the manner of promoting it , on the other side ; the quality , the force , and the consequences of their arguments ; there are many things to be noted in them that seem worthy of consideration . it is a strange thing , in the menage of this cause , where the honour , and safety of the king appears to be the main point in question : first , that men should be so quick-sighted , as to see things in their consequences so remote ; and yet , at the same time , so blind , as not to discern the affronts ; and indignities that are dayly offer'd to his majesties authority , nearer hand ; and the hazzards that more directly strike at his sacred person . my charity persuades me , that if some of them had taken notice of the dangerous practices hereby intended ; their loyalty would have render'd them as zealous , and officious the other way : for if a prince be destroy'd ; 't is the same case to every good subject , whether it be done by a phanatick or a iesuite . and then the honour they have for the king , in his family , as well as in himself , would have interpos'd , in the vindication of our sovereigns brother from the malice , and contempt that has been past by several pamphleteers upon the very person of his royal highness . 't is like they would have had the prudence too , not to have markt out unto the rabble , all the dissenters to this bill , as conspiraters , and the betrayors of their country , till they should have seen the result of this next parliament ; for fear they should find kings , lords , and commons under that character . this is not reasoning of the case , but downright setting the dogs at a man. there is no doubt in the world but many an honest man , and a welwisher to his prince and country stands well enough affected to this bill ; ( as many did in 1641. to the pretensions then a foot ) but when they found that other people made ill use of their good meaning , and improv'd the countenance of reforming the government to a violent dissolution of it ; how many thousand instances might a body produce of an unprofitable , and late repentance , among those credulous and well-minded gentlemen ? and it is to be consider'd also , that their mistakes contributed no less to the ruin of the church , and state , then the malice of the most potent conspirators : nay more perhaps ; for the error of an honest man misleads other honest men by example , and gives a kind of authority to the wickedness . now thô this parallel does not run upon all four ; yet the cases jump exactly in this ; the same anti-monarchical principles which were the ground-work of that sedition , are now set a foot again in concurrence with the present proposition ; and supported also by some of the active promoters of it . so that let the design be never so innocent , or lawful in it self ; if it be yet made use of to introduce the old disloyal , and republican leaven ; it is much the case as if a man should set fire to his house , for fear of thieves . now whether the liberties of the press be so great , so foul , and so dangerous , or not , as i have represented them , it shall be seen in a few words , and left to the reader to judg of the intention of such desperate positions , and what may be the event of such bold beginnings , if not seasonably prevented . upon the publication of these papers i should be glad to find some of the fierce sticklers for the kings safety by the exclusion of the duke , as nimble , on the other side , for the honour , and safety of his majesty , in punishing the authors , and promoters of these libels . there are some irreverences toward the person of his royal highness which are not with decency to be recited , and which for other reasons i am willing to pass over ; contenting my self only with the modestest of a great many in the author of the plea to the dukes answers . consider his humours , ( says he ) so fierce , revengeful , and resolute : but i 'le say no more : who knows not how improper it is to make a woolf a shepherd ? nay he goes further yet : if the duke be a papist , ( as none deny him now ) he 's an heretick , as to , or from vs : and what shall we do ? not do by the papists , as they would by vs ? but what 's that ? he tells us three or four lines before ; that it is a maxim among papists , not only that the pope may at his pleasure depose kings , and dispose of crowns : but further , that the people may ever chuse a king , when he should else be an heretick , so that after the popes example of deposing protestant kings , we may depose popish . this is a nail home driven ; and yet for fear it should not hold , he has be bestow'd a rivet upon it . i hope he will allow a popish king to be an ill one ; and for that , he tells ye that when kings themselves be ill ones , god not only approves of their removal , but even himself does it . which is a most emphatical way of expounding his meaning : for not only ill dukes but kings ( i perceive ) themselves are as well to be remov'd , if they be ill ones . there 's another libel that takes the very same byass too ; he begins with the duke , and ends with the king : laying it down for a maxim , that the king may be remov'd for inhability to govern : and then for an vse of application , he gives us the late instance of portugal for a president . nay i have not found any man yet , so cautious upon this subject , but he has let fall somthing , tantamount ; and in truth the question does naturally lean that way . some tell us that the people are the source of government ; and that the last resort in all cases of principal import must be to them. whereas , first , there was a providential power , before any subject actually in being , for that power to exercise it self upon : secondly ; there is nothing more common , then for a people to convey away what right they have , beyond a power of revocation . and if a man desires to see the covenants ; the answer is , that the conditions are either exprest , or imply'd : which word imply'd serves to all turns and purposes imaginable . by a power imply'd , a protestant , as well as a popish successour may be disinherited : a king in possession , deposed , whether good , or bad. for who can set forth the terms and condition of an unknown , and an unbounded power . a government , we are told , cannot be suppos'd destitute of a power to preserve it self , in cases of manifest , and publick dangers . if we enquire where that power of preserving the government is plac'd ; the reply is this : that governours are set up for the good of the people ; and when they fail of doing their duty , the people may provide for themselves : that is to say , the people , by their representatives in parliament . but what if that representative , should prove false too ? the king was not pleas'd with the parliament of 1641. nor the people with the late long parliament : what 's to be done next ; but only to go together by the ears about it , and when they have their bellies full , only shuffle the cards , and deal again . from these dark reserves of government , the point rises by degrees into cases of instance , and illustration . as in the case of lunacy , or vnfitness to govern ; of if a prince be really bent to alienate his kingdom . in these cases it is taken up for granted , that the people may depose and substitute another sovereign . but who shall judg now when such a case arrives ? if the people ; they judg for themselves ; and only take the government out of other hands , to put it into their own : what if they should say that this is the case where it is not ; or that it is not , where it is ? if the king do but keep a guard to preserve his person from an assassin ; or make a foreign alliance , upon the common terms of priviledg that all other crowned heads proceed upon ; he lies at the mercy of the people , if they shall think fit to interpret this to be a design upon an arbitrary power , or the alienation of his dominions ; and that he is consequently deposable . it carries a very ill face with it , that the two cases of disinheriting the duke , and deposing the king should be so unluckily coupled , that you shall very rarely find the one without the other : and little more then this difference betwixt them : that the one is to be done forthwith , and the other may be done ( when the people please ) at leisure . if ever this question should come to be taken up again ; i do verily believe that the house of commons will not thank the refiners upon the former bill , for charging the proposition with so many suspicious aggravations ; as for ought any body knows , may endanger the whole bus'ness . for these venerable patriots did only , out of an excess of zeal , intend the exclusion of the duke , without clogging the bill with any subsequent incumbrances , upon the crown . there are some qualifications , i know , that look as if they would be thought to stick to the single matter of the bill ; and distinguish betwixt an heir presumptive , and apparent , a king in posse , and in esse ; and fortifie themselves with authorities to warrant the proceeding . the duke is a subject , they say : and not properly an heir of the crown ; but only in possibility so to be . the unwary reader will imagine now , that the duke , being a subject , may be put by ; but that if the king were of the romish communion , they could not meddle with him. and yet , according to the propositions above-mentioned , his majesties case would be found no better than his brothers . and not only so neither , but the very saying that he is so , in construction , makes him so , even thô he should give up his life , as his father did , for the reformed profession . it is not to say that this is either impossible or vnlikely : for , first , the thing has been done already . that is to say , this popular power has been already laid down as a fundamental right in the people . secondly , that pretended power has been exerted in a formal charge , of popish , and tyrannical designs , upon a prince , the most innocent peradventure , in those two particulars , that ever liv'd . and thirdly , a sentence of death , past , and executed , upon that innocent person , in the name , and by the assumed authorities of the commons of england . so that this imagination is not a chimaera , but a true , and tragical history of a prince murther'd , even in our days , upon this foundation . and then for the probability of the same thing over again , now in agitation ; we have the writings of the very persons concern'd , in evidence against them , for notwithstanding their formalizing upon the lawfulness of the thing , in regard that his royal highness is but a subject ; they are now come up roundly to the point of opposing , and rejecting him , even supposing that he were their sovereign : and without the ceremony of an act of parliament in the case . the house of commons passed a vote upon may 11. last past , that if his majesty should come by any violent death ( which god forbid ) they would revenge it to the vtmost , on the papists : which vote they explain'd in their address of the 14 , by saying that they would be ready to revenge upon the papists , any violence offer'd by them to his sacred majesty : by them t is said , because it might be understood otherwise , that an anabaptist might commit the crime , and a papist suffer for 't . this vote , and address , are printed both together in the same pamphlet ; and with a most dangerous prospect upon his majesties person : if malice on either hand should take place . for the edge of the reasoning is turned against it self ; while the one faction is provoked , and the other encouraged to the most execrable villanies imaginable . the libel here reflected upon , is called englands safety : and said in the title page to be published for information of all true protestants , that they may not be affraid , nor ashamed openly in parliament to act , and oppose any popish successour and his adherents from inheriting the crown of england , in case his majesties life ( which god forbid ) be taken from him . this preface was worded by somebody that knew well enough what he said ; and without dispute intended to be as good as his word . we shall not need to look any further for his meaning than to grammar , and common construction . the question was put , in case of the presumptive heir : and he has streyn'd the point already , and remov'd it to the successor and his adherents ; from the expectant to the occupant , from the duke , to the king ; and so premeditates , and encourages a rebellion , in the very body of his proposition : for his majesty that now is , must be dead , before the libellers device against the successour can take effect ; and king , and successour , in this case are all one . now upon this principle , there needs no more than to say , that any king is a papist , to depose him . nay admitting this power to be in the people ; acts of parliament are but matter of course ; and they may do the thing even as well , without giving any reason for 't ; upon the ground of their vnaccountable prerogative . it would be known too , what his meaning is by the parliament he speaks of , that is openly to oppose the successour . it cannot be understood of king , lords , and commons ; for the king is the party opposed , and excluded . and then i would as willingly learn what kind of opposition it is , that he intends . it must be an opposition , either of force , and violence , or an opposition in the way of argument , counsels , and debate . it cannot be the latter sure ; for what could be more ridiculous , then to expect that a prince should pass a bill for the deposal of himself . and if it be the other , we are e'en half-seas-over already , into a new rebellion . there is not such a monster in nature as a headless parliament : we have had the experience of it ; and without rubbing the old sore , or reciting the calamities it brought upon this nation ; i shall only say this ; i cannot bethink my self of any sort of oppression , either in religion , property , or freedom ; or of any one crying sin , in that impious , and seditious interval , that scap'd us . i could add several other instances , of the same complexion with those above recited ; which i shall forbear , partly out of respect , and in part to keep my self within compass . for i must not quit this subject without giving further evidence of a confederacy against the king and government ; like those that rob the house , under colour of helping to quench the fire ; and in the very instant of pretending to save the kingdom , they are laying their heads together how to destroy it : witness the most audacious libel ( perhaps ) that ever flew in the face of any government . it bears the title of a political catechism , concerning the power , and privileges of parliament ; taken , ( as pretended ) out of his majesties nineteen propositions of june 2. 1642. with a construction , and application , much at the rate of the devils gloss upon the text to our saviour upon the pinacle of the temple . the compiler of this libel , makes his majesties answer to be , effectually , an admittance of the right , and reason of the propositions : and the publisher of it recommends the doctrine of 1642. to the practice of 1679. we 'l take a short view , first , of the quality of the propositions ; secondly , of the kings sense upon them : and after that of our catechists new model of government . the main scope of the propositions is this. all privy-councellors and ministers of state to be discharg'd ; and their places supply'd by direction , and approbation of both houses : and all to be vnder such an oath , as they shall agree upon . the great affairs of the nation to be transacted in parliament , and no publick act of the kings to be valid , unless subscribed by the major part of the councel . ( chosen ut supra . ) the number of the councel to be limited ; and all vacancies fill'd , by direction of parliament . all the great officers , and iudges to be so chosen : the militia acknowledg'd to be in the two houses ; and they likewise to have the approbation of the tutors and governors of the kings children ; and of those that attend them . all forts , and castles to be put into the hands of persons approv'd of by the two houses . the kings guards , and military forces to be discharg'd ( thô the rebellion was now begun . ) no peers created in time to come to sit and vote in parliament , without the consent of both houses , &c. there will need no other descant upon these propositions , ( being so gross in themselves ) but only the citing of some passages out of his late majesties answer , in reflection upon them . these demands ( says the late king ) are of that nature , that to grant them were in effect , at once , to depose both our self , and our posterity . these things being past ; we may be waited upon bare-headed ; we may have our hand kist ; the stile of majesty continu'd to vs ; and the kings authority declared by both houses of parliament , may be still the stile of your commands ; we may have swords and maces carry'd before vs ; and please our self with the sight of a crown , and scepter . ( and yet even these twigs would not long flourish when the stock upon which they grew are dead ) but as to true , and real power ; we should remain but the outside ; but the picture ; but the sign of a king , &c. and again , thô we shall always weigh the advices both of our great , and privy-councel , with the proportionable consideration due to them ; yet we shall also look upon their advices , as advices , not as commands , or impositions ; vpon them , as our counsellors , not as our tutors , and guardians ; and upon our self as their king , not as their pupil , or ward . pag. 318. and further pag. 320. we call god to witness , that as for our subjects sake these rights are vested in vs ; so for their sakes as well as for our own we are resolved not to quit them ; nor to subvert ( thô in a parliamentary way ) the antient , equal , happy , well-poised , and never enough commended constitution of this kingdom ; nor to make our self of a king of england , a duke of venice , and this of a kingdom a republick . moreover pag. 322. the common people , when they find that all was done by them , but not for them , will at last grow weary of journey-work , and set up for themselves ; call parity , and independence , liberty ; devouring the estate which had devoured the rest ; destroy all rights , and proprieties , all distinctions of families , and merit ; and by this means the splendid , and excellently-distinguish'd form of government , end in a dark , equal chaos of confusion , and the long line of our many noble ancestors , in a jack cade , or a wat tiler . after the mockery of the abovemention'd propositions , and the kings just and prophetical judgment made upon them ; we shall only add , that the ruin of the late king , was as certainly the intent of those vndutiful demands , as it was the effect of them in the execution of the powers claim'd thereby : and we may as reasonably conclude , that the same pretensions , now over again , are publish'd with the same ends ; and that the sufferance of this licence will naturally run into the same consequences . for the whole work of moving a rebellion is but , first , to possess the people with ill thoughts of the present administration ; ( which is done abundantly already in swarms of defamatory libels , which we meet with every day in the street ) secondly , to possess the people with false opinions , in the matter of government and duty ; which is the bus'ness of our political catechism : thirdly , to put those principles and thoughts in execution ; which is express'd by the drift of another pamphlet newly come out of the press ; entitled , an appeal from the country , to the city , of which we shall say somthing in course , taking only a taste by the way of our catechistical positions . if the king be regulated by the law ( say they ) then is the king accountable to the law , and not to god. only . pag. 1. the immediate original of the kings power was from the people : and if so ; then in questioned cases the king is to produce his grant , ( for he hath no more then what was granted ) and not the people to shew a reservation ; for all is presumed to be reserv'd , which cannot be prov'd to be granted away . vpon the late kings saying in his answer to the nineteen propositions , pag. 321. that the power legally placed in both houses is more then sufficient to prevent , and restrain the power of tyranny ; our politick catechizer infers , the two houses to be the legal iudges , when there is danger of tyranny : and to have legal power to command their iudgment to be obey'd , for prevention , as well as restraint of tyranny . and not only when arms are actually rais'd against them ; but when they discern , and accordingly declare a preparation made towards it . and that they have legal power in such times of danger , to put into safe hands , such forts , ports , magazines , ships , and power of the militia , as are intended , or likely to be intended to introduce a tyranny . and a legal power also to levy mony , arms , horse , and ammunitions upon the subjects , in such cases of danger even without , or against the kings consent . these are his positions in the very terms ; and the passing over of such indignities upon his majesties royal office , and the honour of the monarchy it self , without either punishment , or reproof ; looks like a tacite legitimation of the utmost violences upon his sacred person . and now consider the matchless malice , and absurdity of his inference . the king having thus expounded himself in the same page ; the house of commons ( an excellent conserver of liberty , but never intended for any share in government , or for the chusing of them that should govern ) is solely intrusted with the first propositions of raising monies , &c. and again the lords being trusted with a iudicatory power , are an excellent skreen , and bank between the prince and people . after this open , and audacious way of authorizing a commotion ; it is but natural for an incendiary to blow the coal , and to apply his clamour to the people , to bid them vp and be doing . and that 's the part our boute-feu-appellant has to play . but how does this scandalous pamphlet address it self to the city ; after so fresh , so loyal and so generous an instance from the whole body of it , of their scorn , and detestation of a seditious practice . why should a wat tyler expect better quarter from a lord mayor under charles the second , then he had from a lord mayor under richard the second ? nay that very rebellion of 1641. is most injuriously charg'd upon the city of london ; for gourney , ricaut , garraway , and the most considerable of the citizens , were not only against it in their opinions , but oppos'd it to the utmost , with their estates , and persons . and that honourable city has not yet forgotten , either the calamities of the war ; or the methods and instruments which brought so great a reproch , and mischief upon the city . beside that it is as much their interest as their duty , and as much their inclination as either , to support the government . for by a war they must of necessity suffer doubly ; and not only in the loss , or abatement of their trade ; but in the deep proportion of their taxes to the charge of the war. this scribler i perceive , has read hodge upon the monument ; and writing after that copy follows the same phansie ; of the citizens looking about them from the top of the pyramid . first , says he , imagine you see the whole town in a flame occasioned this second time by the same popish malice which set it on fire before . at the same instant phansie that among the distracted croud you behold troops of papists ravishing your wives and daughters ; dashing your little childrens brains out against the walls , plundering your houses , and cutting your own throats by the name of heretick dogs . then represent to your selves the tower playing off its canon , and battering down your houses about your ears . also casting your eye toward smithfield , imagine you see your father , or your mother , and some of your nearest and dearest relations ty'd to a stake , in the midst of flames ; when with hands and eyes lifted up to heaven they skream , and cry out to that god for whose cause they die ; which was a frequent spectacle the last time popery reign'd among us . phansie you behold those beautiful churches erected for the true worship of god , abused and turn'd into idolatrous temples to the dishonor of christ , and scandal of religion . the ministers of gods holy word torn in pieces before your eyes ; and their very best friends not daring to speak in their behalf ; your trading's bad , and in a manner lost already ; but then the only commodity will be fire and sword : the only object ; women running with their hair about their ears ; men cover'd with blood , &c. now to match this dismal prospect of imaginary calamities to come , we shall mind this man of frightful apprehensions , with a brief summary of what this nation has really suffer'd in fact , and brought upon it self , by giving credit to such stories as these , without any other effect . see his majesties declaration of aug. 12. 1642. collect. pag. 540. one day the tower of london is in danger to be taken ; and information given that great multitudes , at least a hundred , had that day resorted to visit a priest , then a prisoner there by order of the lords : and that about the time of the information , about fifty or sixty were then there ; and a warder dispatcht of purpose to give that notice : vpon inquiry , but four persons were then found to be there , and but eight all that day , who had visited the priest. another day a taylor in a ditch over-hears two passengers to plot the death of mr. pym , and of many other members of both houses . then libellous letters found in the streets , without names . ( probably contrived by themselves ; and by their power , published , printed , and enter'd in their iournals ) and intimations given of the papists training under ground , and of notable provision of ammunition in houses ; where , upon examination , a single sword , and a bow and arrows are found . a design of the inhabitants of covent-garden to murther the city of london . news from france , italy , spain , denmark , of armies ready to come for england . and again , pag. 536. they cause discourses to be published , and infusions to be made of incredible dangers to the city and kingdom , by that our coming to the house : ( in the case of the five members ) an alarum was given to the city in the dead time of the night , that we were coming with horse and foot thither , and thereupon the whole city put in arms : and howsoever the envy seem'd to be cast upon the designs of the papists , mention was only made of actions of our own . upon a fair understanding of the whole , this supposition of his is no more then the counterpart of the old story : and the declamatory dangers that he foresees in vision , were outdone by those sensible cruelties and oppressions that this poor kingdom suffered in very deed . and now to bear him company in his phansy , we shall give you a truth for his imagination . first imagine the whole nation in a flame , and brought to the extremities of fire and sword by the malice of the same faction that embroyl'd us before ; and at the same instant , phansy whole droues of coblers , draymen , ostlers , quartering upon your wives and daughters , till ye want bread to put in your childrens mouths ; ( which was the very case ) your apprentices discharg'd of their indentures by ordinances ; your houses rifled ; your accompt-books examin'd ; servants corrupted to betray their masters ; your persons sent on ship-board , transported , or thrown into nasty dungeons ; or in mercy , perhaps your throats cut , by the name of popish dogs , and cavaliers . and all this only for refusing to renounce god and your soveraign . then represent to your selves the thimble-maker , once again lieutenant of the tower ; your citizens clap up , orders for the demolishing of your gates and chains ; and nothing less than military execution threatned ye , unless you will redeem your selves with 100000 l. a mouth contribution , toward the perpetuating of your slavery . then cast your eye toward cheapside , corn-hill , charing-cross , pallace-yard , tower-hill , nay , white-hall it self ; and there imagine your father , your brother , your citizens , the nobility , gentry ; nay , the king himself , and his best friends and ministers under the hand of the common executioner ; appealing to god , for whose cause they dy'd . which was a frequent spectacle , when the king reign'd no longer among you . phansie again that you behold those beautiful churches erected for the true worship of god , abused and turned into stables , and the pulpits into iugling boxes , to hocus your wives and your daughters , out of their bodkins and thimbles : and there to hear nothing but heresie and sedition , to the dishonour of christ , and scandal of religion . phansie the ministers of gods holy word cast out of their livings by hundreds , and with their wives and children expos'd to the wide world to beg their bread. your women running with their hair about their ears , one half to the works like pioneers , the other dancing attendance at some merciless committee to put in bayl for a malignant child , or husband ; men cover'd with blood , lost limbs , and mangled bodies , with horrors of conscience over and above . if it be true , that these and forty times more cruelties were committed : and that the people were frighted into these precipices only by shadows : if it be true again , that those glorious pretenders when they had the king and his papists ( as they call'd his most orthodox friends ) under foot ; that these people , i say , never lookt further after religion ; but fell presently to the sharing of the church and crown revenues among themselves , it will concern every sober man to look well about him , and to make use of his reason , as well as of his faith , for these fore-boders seldom croak but before a storm . this subject has carry'd me too far already , but i shall be shorter in what follows . after his affected image of the tyranny and desolation that is breaking in upon us , he does as good as nothing , without working up the peoples horror and astonishment upon those apprehensions , into a direct rage and desperation . and this he endeavours to bring about by undertaking so positively for his majesties murther , as if he himself were of the conspiracy : very peremptorily issuing out his orders to the city to be ready with their arms at an hours warning . the first hour ( says he ) wherein ye hear of the kings untimely end , let no other noise be heard among you , but that of arm , arm ; to revenge your soveraigns death , both upon his murtherers and their whole party ; for that there 's no such thing as an english papist , who is not in the plot , at least in his good wishes . let not fear of losing part by your action make you lose the whole by your patience . pag. 4. and then , pag. 25. he points them out the very general to lead them ; a respect which neither the city , nor the illustrious person himself , will thank him for , upon so disorderly an occasion : enforcing his proposition with this inducement , that he who hath the worst title ever makes the best king. which is no complement at all to his majesty himself ; for an usurper , it seems , would be better for his turn . so that without any if 's or and 's the thing is given for granted ; and upon this instigation , the least rumour in the world , that way , puts the people upon a general massacre ; as the bare report lately of the french appearing before the isle of purbeck , had like to have done in several places . and then to the same purpose , pag. 23. they will vigorously , and speedily attempt the kings ruine , unless he suddenly prevent it , by adhering to his parliament , and ruining them first . whether this be the way to expose the life of his most sacred majesty , or to preserve it , let the world judg : and of the irreverence of handling so tender a point at this course rate . nay , he does not only pronounce upon the thoughts and purposes of men , but upon the most secret appointment of god himself . when god designs the destruction of a king , or people , ( says he ) pag. 11. he makes them deaf to all discoveries . this observation of his , i 'm affraid is more to the purpose then he was aware of : for there are discoveries of several sorts , that are evident enough , and yet not much taken notice of . to say nothing of the censures he passes upon the kings actions , and publick resolutions of state : only i wonder who made this man a judg in israel . he quarrels his majesty , pag. 3. for prorogations , and dissolutions of parliaments . and pag. 4. upon another point . pag. 23. he pre-judges the parliament , as if they would give his majesty no supplies , unless he takes off the heads of the popish faction , exclude the successlon , and consent to such laws , as must of necessity ruin them . in his 6 th page , he shews himself so good an english-man , that he professes , he would rather be under a french conqueror then under the duke , as successor . and he goes so far too toward the dislike of the government it self , that he says , no government but monarchy can in england , ever support , or favour popery , p. 7. he tells the city , pag. 5. that their enemies are young beggerly officers , courtiers , over-hot church-men and papists , and charges the three first with lessening the plot ; and resembling the times to 1641. now how is it possible , but the positions of 1641. should put us in mind of the rebellion of 1641 ? he begins his 10 th page thus . after the catholicks had thus brought the fathers head to the block , and sent the young princes into exile , &c. now to give the devil his due , i cannot find so much as one papist in the whole list of regicides . he has , i confess , one admirable fetch to prove his r. h. dangerous to his majesty , because he is both a friend , and a brother , pag. 17. as if the king were safer in the hands of his enemies , then of his friends . if his meaning be , that they are more dangerous in regard of confidence , and opportunities ; there is no fence against that danger , but utterly to cast off all the bonds , and dictates , of society , and good nature . we must contract no friendships , and trust no relations for fear they should out our throats . how much more wretched then beasts has our appealer made us at this rate , by poysoning the very fountain of human comforts ▪ though i have drawn out this pamphlet already further then i intended ▪ i must not close it yet without one general observation upon the people we have to deal with in this controversie . calumny and imposture have ever been the two main pillars of their cause ; and if they can but wheedle the vulgar , on the one hand , and defame the friends of the government , on the other , their business is done . there scarce passes a day without a libel against both church and state ; without either provocation , or punishment : which both shews their malice , and confirms them in their insolence . there is nothing so odious , and so ridiculous together , as betwixt droll , and sophisme , these people represent the publick management of affairs . and who can blame the multitude now , under these circumstances of licence , and delusion , if they either forget , or depart from their duties ? is there not law , and power sufficient for the preventing , or suppressing these indignities ? or is it a thing not worth the taking notice of ? for his majesty to be told every day , in a pamphlet , at his palace-gate , that his ministers are traytors and conspirators ; his courtiers a pack of knaves , and he himself but upon his good behaviour to his own subjects ? will it end here ? did it end here ? but whence is it that all this venom and confidence proceeds ? the former is only a fermentation of the old leaven ( for we have our iesuits too ) the papal iesuite is an enemy to heretical kings , and the protestant iesuite will have no kings at all , and then for their confidence , they have both impunity ▪ and encouragement : the former proves it self ; and i shall now conclude with a word or two concerning the other . the bringing of this devilish plot upon the stage , has struck all men of piety , loyalty , and love to their country , with amazement , and horror . the murther of a prince , the subversion of our government , and religion ; what can be more exercrable ? the thought of so diabolical a practice has justly transported the people to the highest degree of rage against it , imaginable : and it is a meritorious , and a laudable zeal too , so long as it contains it self within the bounds of law , and duty : while the king , council and parliament are , in the mean time , sifting , and examining the design , and doing justice upon the offenders . now there are a sort of men , that under the countenance of this plot advance another of their own , and 't is but the rubbing of a libel with a little anti-popery , to give it the popular smack ; and any thing else against the government goes down current . if a man writes , or speaks , or reasons against them , he is presently a favourer of the papists , a lessener of the plot , and run down with nonsence , and clamor . a person of untainted honour and integrity , puts in for a parliament-man ; 't is but any little fellows taking advantage of the humour of the people , and billing of him for having some papist to his kinsman , perhaps , or visiting some lord in the tower ; or under the common scandal of a courtier , or a pensioner , and he 's gone to all intents and purposes . this is the character they give to every man that loves the king , the church , or the law. they serve them as nero did the christians ; they put them into bears-skins ; that is to say , they call them papists , pensioners , conspirators , and then deliver them up to be worry'd by the rabble . shall we never distinguish between indubitable truths , and transparent falshoods ? betwixt words and deeds , that stand in a direct opposition , the one to the other ? what priviledg has a phanatick to blow up a government , more than a iesuite ? it must be confest , however , that he is the braver enemy of the two , for he scorns to sneak to the execution of his exploit with a dark lanthorn ; and to take advantage of authority by surprize ; but arraigns princes , and puts them to death in the face of the sun ; and at this instant , charges the church openly with idolatry , superstition and oppression ; the state with tyranny ; and the law it self , with error and insufficiency . his first work is to accuse his superiors of mis-government : and then he tells the people ; next , that in case of mis-government they may resume their power . and what 's all this to the plot ? the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a47810-e110 the dukes succession the common subject of the press . law , and scripture pretended on both sides . texts , and presidents may be misapplyed . heresie , and sedition , pretend texts , and presidents . texts and presidents to all purposes . have a care of perverted authorities . the dispute , pro , and con. how the question came to be set a foot. the king removed by consequence . who were the aggressours . the case put. a preposterous question . reasons why the question ought not to have been put. the people incompetent judges of the case . an error of dangerous consequence . great mischief , and no benefit by the question . the dispute justified . the question a moot-point . not one of a thousand understands the point . or what if the people did understand it ? an unprofitable question . his majesties speech . it is a question of dangerous consequences . the king wounded through the duke . the motives to the bill of exclusion . the excluding clause of the pretended bill . the ground and extent of this exclusion . the duke gave neither birth nor life to the plot. proved by dr. oates . they durst not trust the duke with the knowledg of any design . the duke to be dispatched too . dr. oats his narrative fol. 64. the duke to be poyson'd , or destroy'd . no hopes of the dukes compliance . the duke clear'd by dr. oates . security to his religion . the extent of this exclusion . suppose the disinherison . lawful . the danger of absolute , and unknown power . a necessity of some known fundamentals . a thing may be lawful and yet inconvenient . four obstacles to be removed , before the king pass the bill . no notice taken of libels against his majesty , and his government . a well meaning mistake as dangerous as a malicious one . the old cause reviv'd . scandalous reflections upon his royal highness . seditious positions . the kings case , and the dukes are unluckily coupled . the king no safer , then the duke . the dangerous consequences of placing the power in the people . the commons vote . the question changed , from heir , to successour . a desperate consequence . the political catechism . the scope of the ninteen propositions . husbands collections pag. 316. the kings ruin was and is design'd . seditious positions . a malitious inference . a scandalous address to the city . mr. walworth . the city of london has been always loyal . hodge upon the monument . the libeller sets up for an oratour . the old story . truth for his vision . we should do well to look about us . he gives the kings murther for granted . one plot under another . to the kings most sacred majesty : the most faithful and unfeigned thanks and resolves of the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen, citizens and commonality of the city of norwich, in common council assembled ... norwich (england). common council. 1681 approx. 4 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). b06129 wing t1559a estc r185324 52615013 ocm 52615013 176241 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. b06129) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 176241) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2765:23) to the kings most sacred majesty : the most faithful and unfeigned thanks and resolves of the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen, citizens and commonality of the city of norwich, in common council assembled ... norwich (england). common council. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n.], [s.l. : re-printed in the year, 1681 caption title. reproduction of original in: national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng charles -ii, -king of england, 1630-1685. great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. norwich (england) -history -17th century -early works to 1800. great britain -politics and government -1660-1688 -early works to 1800. broadsides -scotland -17th century. 2008-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-02 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2008-08 spi global rekeyed and resubmitted 2008-09 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-09 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the kings most sacred majesty : the most faithful and unfeigned thanks and resolves of the mayor , sheriffs , aldermen , citizens , and commonality of the city of norwich , in common council assembled , at their general quarter assembly , held the 3d. of may , in the 33d . year of your majesties reign , and sealed with their common seal . first , we restore your majesty , our hearty thanks for your majesties steady resolution of maintaining the rights of the crown , and succession in their due course , and our religion , by law established , the right of your subjects , their liberties and properties , against the arbitrary proceedings of the house of commons , in their two last parliaments , and their vnlimited , and illegal imprisonments ; and their messengers exorbitant , exacting pretended fees form your loyal subjects , contrary to magna carta , and your majesties declaration , dated the eight day of april , 1681. we also vnanimously thank your sacred majesty , for giving your last parliaments such timely dissolutions , and for your gracious and kind declaration sent after them , and not passing limitations , or nullifications of such wholesome acts , as were designed for a preservation of the reformed religion , especially the 35th . of queen elizabeth , as well as for not signing such others , which were prepared for your majesties subjects , to associate and destroy the succession , and extirpate monarchy , not doubting , but by your majesties great wisdom , effectual care will be taken , that those laws , now in force , may vigorously , speedily , and equally be put in execution , against all papists and protestant dissenters , whereby we hope in time , they will be all brought to their right vnderstanding , obedience , and allegiance to your majesty . and we do vnanimously resolve , that it shall be our utmost endeavours , when your majesties occasions require , to send such men for our representatives , as shall readily , and willingly supply your majesties occasions , and the defence of the kingdom by sea and land , and give discouragements to all papists , and other malicious opposers , being clearly convinced , that the conveening of parliaments to any place , managing , proroguing , and dissolving the same , is the unquestionable right of your majesty . we farther resolve , that to our utmost power we will , as in duty bound , stand by , and defend with our lives and fortunes , your majesties sacred person and government , as by law established , and the succession in the right line , and legal course of descent , against all vile attempts of all that do yet retain their old common-wealth principles , by whom your father of ever-blessed memory , was barbarously murthered , and shall always , upon all occasions , be in greatest readiness to perform the same , and glad to shew our selves , great sir , your sacred majesties most faithful , dutiful , obedient , loyal , and true hearted citizens and subjects . re-printed in the year , 1681. his grace the duke of monmouth honoured in his progress in the west of england in an account of a most extraordinary cure of the kings evil given in a letter from crookhorn in the county of somerset from the minister of the parish and many others. clark, henry, 17th cent. 1680 approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 2 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a33265 wing c4456 estc r39371 18389711 ocm 18389711 107444 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a33265) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107444) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1630:5) his grace the duke of monmouth honoured in his progress in the west of england in an account of a most extraordinary cure of the kings evil given in a letter from crookhorn in the county of somerset from the minister of the parish and many others. clark, henry, 17th cent. 1 sheet ([2] p.) printed for benjamin harris ..., london : 1680. caption title. signed by clark and eight others. imprint from colophon. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng monmouth, james scott, -duke of, 1649-1685. great britain -history -charles ii, 1660-1685. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2006-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-08 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-09 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2006-09 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion his grace the duke of monmouth honoured in his progress in the west of england in an account of a most extraordinary cvre of the kings evil : given in a letter from crookhorn in the county of somerset from the minister of the parish and many others . vve whose names are under-witten , do certifie the truth of a miraculous cure of a girl of this town of about twenty years age by name elizabeth parcet , a poor widows daughter , who hath anguished under the sad afflicted distemper of the kings evil , termed the joint evil , being said to be the worst evil for about ten or eleven years time , she had in her right hand four runing wounds , viz. one in the inside , and three on the back of her hand , and two more in the same arm , one above her handwrest , the other above the bending of her arm , she had betwixt her arm-pit and brest , ( a bunch ) which the docters said fed those six several runing wounds ; the said distemper was likewise on her left eye , insomuch she was almost blind ; her mother despairing for the preserving her sight , and being not of ability to send her to london , to be touched by the king , being miserable poor having many small children , and this girl not being able to work , her mother desirous to have her daughter cured , saught to the chirurgions for help who tamper'd with it for a time , but could do no good ; went likewise 10 or 11 miles , to a seventh son , but all in vain ; no visible hopes of a cure remained , and expected nothing but the grave . but now , in this the girls great extremity . god the great physitian dictates unto her , thus languishing in her miserable , hopeless condition ; what course to take , and what to do for a cure , which was to go and touch the duke of monmouth ; which the girl told her mother that if she could but touch the duke she should be well , her mother reproved her for her foolish conceit , but the girl did often perswade her mother that she might go to lackinton to the duke , who then lay at mr. speaks , for certainly said she i should be well if i could but touch him ; her mother slighted the pressing requests of her daughter , and the more her mother slighted it and reproved her , the more earnest was the girl for it ; in few days after the girl having notice that sir john syd●nham intended to treat the duke at white lodg in henton-park , which this girl with many of her neighbours went to the said park ; she being there timely waited the dukes coming : first , she observed the person of the d. to have knowledg of him as he was passing into the said lodg , she prest in among a crowd of people , and caught him by the hand , his glove being on , and she had a glove likewise to cover her wounds , she not being herewith satisfied with this first attempt of touching his glove only , but her mind was , she must touch some part of his bare skin ; she weighting his coming forth , intended a second attempt : the poor girl , thus betwixt hope and fear waited his motion , on a sudden was news of the d. coming on , which she to be prepared , rent off her glove that was clung to the sores in such hast , that broke her glove , and brought a way not only the sores , but the skin : the dukes glove , as providence would have it , the upper part hung down so that his hand-wrest was bare ; she prest one and caught him by the bare hand-wrest with her running hand ; ( saying , god bless your greatness ; and the duke said god bless you ) the girl was not a little transported with her good success , came and told her friends that now she should be well , she came home to her mother with great joy , and told her she had that touched by the dukes bare hand ( and that she should now be well ) her mother hearing what she had done , reproved her very sharply for her boldness , and asked her how she durst do such a thing , and threatned to beat her for it , she cryed out o mother i shall be well again , and be cured of my wounds ; and as god almighty the great physitian would have it , to the admiration of all that know of it , or heard of it . her six running wounds in her hand and arm , in four or five days were dried up , the bunch in her brest was dissolved in eight or ten days , of which now is no sign : her eye that was given for lost , is now perfectly well , and the girl in good health ; the marks of her several wounds are yet visible in her hand and arm , all which has been discovered to us both by mother and daughter , and neighbours that know her . henry clark minister of the parish , captain james bale , captain richard sherlock , john stacky clerk , william pike , samuel daubeney , g●orge strong , john greenway , robert chislet . whoever doubts the truth of this relation , may be satisfied thereof by sight of the original under the hands of the persons before mentioned , at the amsterdam coffe-house in bartholomew lane near the royal exchange . london ; printed for benjamin harris at the stationers arms in the piazza under the royal exchange in cornhil . 1680. discoverye of a counterfecte conference helde at a counterfecte place, by counterfecte travellers, for thadvancement of a counteerfecte tytle, and invented, printed, and published by one (person) that dare not avovve his name constable, henry, 1562-1613. 1600 approx. 86 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 49 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a19224 stc 5638.5 estc s111899 99847159 99847159 12180 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a19224) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 12180) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 218:03) discoverye of a counterfecte conference helde at a counterfecte place, by counterfecte travellers, for thadvancement of a counteerfecte tytle, and invented, printed, and published by one (person) that dare not avovve his name constable, henry, 1562-1613. 96 p. s.n., printed at collen [i.e. paris?] : 1600. by henry constable. a reply to: parsons, robert. a conference about the next succession to the crowne of ingland. actual place of publication suggested by stc. identified as stc 6913 on umi microfilm. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng parsons, robert, 1546-1610. -conference about the next succession to the crowne of ingland -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -sucession -early works to 1800. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-08 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-02 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-02 tcp staff (michigan) text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-03 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discoverye of a covnterfecte conference helde at a counterfecte place , by counterfecte travellers , for thadvancement of a counterfecte tytle , and invented , printed , and published by one ( person ) that dare not avovve his name . printed at collen . 1600. to the avctor of the counterfaicte conferēce &c. itvvere as easy for meyf ivvould to discouer your name vvith assured proofes as to detect the deuises and dristes of your conterfeat conference made at amsterdam , but since as it seameth youe are ashamed to iustifye the same vvith your name , i am not he that vvill publishe it , because it might be thought by somme that are redye to enterpret thinges to the vvorst that hatred might induce me therunto , that vvhich i desire chefely to be effected by this discourse next to the inconuenience that might generally haue grovven by your fraude and desceit vndesciphred is that you vvould looke vpon your ignorance or malice or perhaps bothe , vvhich is manifest by seakinge to make diuision betvvene christian princes that are in charitye and frendship one vvith an other , by defacing the monarchical state , vvhich so longe tyme hath ben vsed and approued , and by disposinge of the croune of englande not vveighinge vvheare the right lieth , but vvhear your fācye best liketh ; if in this later poit your vvould excuse your selfe by sayng you determine no mans title , the course of your vvhole booke and diuerses practises de facto shevue the contrarye . these thinges be not os small vveight or importance , for that they concerne kinges and kingdomes , and require the practise vvisedome and experiēce of other maner of heddes then yours is , yea and that in nombre to the assēbly of a court parlement . tharfore your maye see vvhat cause of discontentement you geue to all vvise and indifftrent men , and vvhat disgrace you haue braught to your selfe and bretherne , for thar if any happē to be kinge of england besides those tvuo youe vvould seme most to aduance , it is likelye , according to the rules of policye and state that your selfe vvilbe in question for meddlinge in these matters abo uè your reache and capacitye , and your bretherne vvilbe blamed and banished out of the country for approuinge , or at the least for not chastisinge your levvde and yvell demenor , methinketh the preuenting of these incomodities should ma ke youe cōsider of somme remedyes , and the remorse of your conscience shoulde breede repentaunce vvhich cominge from the botome of youe harte vvill force youe in as ample and publicke maner to disclame and disauovve your sayd conference , as euer passion and partialitye did inuite you to set forthe the same . this is the best and casiest vvaye to satisfie the princes discontented the people scandalized , and your selfe endaungered , and this is that i suppose your vvisest friendes vvill aduise you vnto : for my particular , i do praye for you , and vvishe no vvaye reuenge to your person , but re formation in your maners , as god i call vvitnes , vvho direct youe to that a discoverye of a covnterfecte conference , helde at a countersecte place , by counterfecte travellers , for th aduancemēt of a counterfecte tytle , and invented , printed , and published by one ( person ) that dare not avovve his name . it is obserued , and hath bene noted , lōge in the vvorlde , that no vanitye is so light vvhiehe beareth not somme credite , no fable so phantastical , but some vvill beleeue it , nothinge so disorderly attempted vvhiche hath not fovvnd a supporter . euen so it falleth ovvt touchinge a certē vaine diet appointed somme yearespast to abuse the vvorld vnder the title of a conference aboute the next succession to the crovvne of englande , beinge in deede a confused bablinge of idle troublesome trauailers , vvithout interest to deale in suche matter , and a verie confederacie of a practize against the blood royall , state and dignitye , of that nation . therfore vvantinge the true and certaine of place , persone , author , and other due circomstances ; it may vvell be called an infamous fablinge chartel or libel , feigned to be conceiued in holland , knovven to be fostered in spayne , falselie fathered of r. dolman , printed at n. to vvit , no certain place iustifiable , vvith licence of , it may not be knovvē , vvho . neuerthelesse all must be so commended at the first sight for pleasure & vtilitye , the author so extolled for sharpnesse of vvitte , plentye of muche readinge cunninge in conueyhance , abondance of eloquēce , and other graces , as none can finde any vvant or default . nay ( to amplify the estimation as vvel of the author as of the libel ) it is prouided that vvhosoeuer by vvorde , deede , or contenance seemeth to dislike the one or the other : all suche persones must be reputed by a common fame , & there vpon condemned as enemyes to the priuat designes of the kinge catholique , and aduersaryes to the common cause . albeit it is very likely that the late kinge of spayne , nor this kinge liuinge vvere euer priuye to the contents of that libel , nor expressely consented to the publishinge therof , as vvill appeare heareafter , therfore it is but a ridiculouse sentence so rashelye to censure men , and very partial , suche also , as aduāceth the credit neyther of kinge , nor cause . for vvhen a man pretendethe a clayme neuer heard of in any age , to an other mans lande vvhose quiet possession actually , & right also apparently in all vvyse mens eyes , haue concurred & cōtinued manye hundreds of yeares , in him & those vvhose state & title he hath , & inioyeth , no indifferent vvise man vvill allovve , that the sodainlye supposed pretendor may haue any reason by a bare clayme to think that he should beare all avvay vvithout contradictiō : especiallye vvhen the clayme excedeth measure , is misliked generally , and bringeth vvith it suspicion of euill dealinge other vvayes , as made by trauailinge strangers , vvithout the supposed pretendors vvarrant and priuitie . in respect vvherof , & for vvant of vpright behauiour , the same crime may be imputed more iustly to the libellor , & his libell , as preiudiciall to the same kinge and cause . for as there are manye indifferent persones in diuers nations , all a like affected to the matter of suc cession , not caringe vvhat vvaye it runne : & are not tied to the kinge in any speciall obligation , nor alienated from his ma. nor frō the sayd cause , vvho are persuaded that a redier course might haue been taken vnder a better pretense for aduauncement of bothe : euen so , there are manye others of the same opimon , vvho ( if comparisōs may be allovved ) are accōpted to haue as muche interest as the libeller & his trauailinge consorts haue in the matter of successio ; & haue better vvarrant of lavv & in defence of lavve to reproue that conference ; then those conferrers haue vvithout lavve & against lavve , to iustifye or commende it , yea ; haue bene fouvnde hetherto as redie ( hopinge god vvillinge so to continue ) as the practizers in that conference , to aduaunce the common cause euerye lavvfull vvaye , and the sayd kinges honorable designes also , and to doe to his ma. seruices & offices in aduauncement of his honor to the vttermost of th aire povver , mary in ordine addeum , & vsque ad aras , so farre fouth as they may in adue order tovvards god , and vvith saftie of a rectified conscience ; & more thē this [ i am sure ] so good a kinge vvill not requyer . therfore vvhat so euer the sayde practizers for theire pleasures & profits doe pretend , & blovv a broode by vvordes & clamours against others , for the catholique kinges priuat or publique designes , or for the common cause : true it is , that suche as findinge thē seliues thus affected to gods honor & safetye of theire consciēces , and there vpō vnvvillinge to incouraige the sayd practizers & thair cōference , are the bolder to speake against bothe , as they haue greater reasons , & more effectuall motiues in vveight & measure to dislike boath ; and that in respect as vvel of the matter , as of the manner or forme , and of circūstances touchinge theffect that may depend therof or concurre there vvithall ; accomptinge for matter the lothesome drifts and scoopes vvherunto the sayd conference doth tend ; for manner & forme , suche absurd vvayes and meanes as theis cāuassers haue deuised , to abuse the vvorld , & therby to vvork ther feat ; and for circumstances of effects , the feares perills , mischiefes & inconueniēces thretned not only to the englishe natiō , but also to the vvhole christiē vvorld , and eyther necessarilye cōcurringe vvith those cāvasses , or occasiōally folovvinge them ; yea vvayting and attendinge to offer theit seruices . the principal scoape & dryft , first in mynd , though last in operation , & in meane vvhyle dissembled ( besides the deposīge , of the present possessor ) is to supplant , dispossesse , & disherit the true heire & lavvfull successor of the english crovvn , vvith all the ofsprīge , to translate and alter the ancient lavves and customes of that realme , and cōsequently to trāsforme the gouernement of that nation in to a prouince ; or at the least to thrust in to the royall throne , against the right course of english lavves , a forainer bred & borne farr of , vvhiche neyther in her ovvne personne , nor any braunche of the roote from vvhence theis practizers pretend to deriue hir title , vvas auer herde or tho ught of in the memorye of man , nor before mentioned in any record of any age , to suche effect or purpose as novv is deuised ; nay if any such things haue bene spokē of , theis smoothe conferers haue practized in time past to suppresseit , & to beare the garland an other vvay , & that not longe a goe , as heare after shal be declared . and for the vvayes & meanes to dravv this on , they are many , but all rovvghe , vneauen , tedious , indirect , out of the highe vvaye that may be lead to any good end , all things vvell vveighed , yet agreable to suche an attempt : as in like trouble some interprises it falleth out , that odd shifts must be made for tooles to remoue blockes , to skovver strets , & make vvays clearer , for crafty surmises , & vvily insinuations to vvalke more smoothely & currātly to the marke . touchig the scope&butte of the booke , i vvill speake hearafter generally , for the particular mischiefes therof euery true english mā dooth throvvghlye see at the first sight , in the meane tyme , let vs serche the vvayes to see vvhat monsters lye hydden therin ; and soe vve shall find theffects like to folovv the practizes of theis conferrers , vvhat gloriouse pretense so euer they geue . thersore , first to begine vvithall , emonge diuers crafty shifts vvhiche vve finde there is a deuice to make the mattet seeme good by all lavvs as vvell civil roman , as municipial englishe , touchinge ciuil gouernement and direction of thenglishe nation , for guidinge the course of that crovvne , although the same deuice be opposit to that aunciēt ordonaunce , vvhich for abolishinge the force of cesars civil lavves our of that realme , & for establishinge a municipial lavv there vvas ordained by authoritye of that famous holy father pope eleutherius euen in the begininge , vvhen christian religion vvas first vniuersally plāted in that iland , and vvith the full consent , and vpon request as vvell of the christien kinge of great britaine , lucius , as also of his nobilitye spiritual and temporal lords of that realme . this deuice beinge once set dovvne , then tvvo lavvyers , the one a gētilmā , theother a speciall temporall lavver of englāde must be brought in to represent the persones of all other lavvyers of professions , & vvith the tongues ofbothe those lavves , thies tvvo ( vvhiche neuer before agreed in this affayre , & many other ) must be novv made fryends ( or els all vvere marred ) to conspire vvith certaine idle troublesome trauailers against the municipial lavves , yea cōtrarye to the purpose vvhy bothe those lavves vver made , vvhiche is to make peace : and against the profession of all good lavvyers , vvhiche is to resolue doubts and quarels spetially vvhē dyets are appointed for consultation , as the finall cause of this assemblye touchinge suche an affayre , vvolde haue bene , if it had bene called in gods name , and collected of setled men , & not of vvan dringe trauailers : vvell , this nevv reconciliation of auncient aduersaries , is novv thovght to be necessarye , as in like practizes of innouation hathe been often vsed against truthe & iustice , for novv , by their agremēt , vve must haue not only a trāsfiguration of the shape & forme of that common vvealth but a transmutation also , or translation at least of the verye matter , vvher vpon the true common vvealthe of englande , & euerye particular mans state doth rest , and that is the lavves , & lavvful customes of that realme , as a speciall meane to haile vs al to the forsay de scope : and all this must be contriued through thattonement of this tvvo lavvyers , by a more spedy intrusion of cesars ciuil roman lavves thovvgh they are by authentique authoritye longe agoe abolished , & by continuall silence vvorne out of vse & buried vvith a free consent of the vvhole nation in manye ages . 1. and amonge manye conclusions agreed vpon betvvene these tvvo , one must be , that vvhat soeuer the ciuilien sayeth , our tēporall lavvyer must svvere & subscribe to it , be it true or false : and he must up holde the ciuiliā vvith yea or nay at all assayes that may serue to ouerthrovve the municipiall lavves of englande vvith out respect to the vveightye reasons & sage considerations therof deriued from the lavves of god and nature , as most agreable to the cōditiōs and qualityes of that natiō . 2. an other conclusion is that theis tvvo lavvyers thus prepared for opinions & affectiōs must set forvvard , so as the ciuiliā shall lead the vvaye , & the tēporal lavvyer must folovv , the ciuilian shall goe before , not as the angel raphael vvent before younge tobye , to chase a vvaye murderinge diuels , but to call in mischieues vpō mischieues al maner of vvayes by contentiouse spirits : not to demande due dets vpō lavv fall spetialties , but to make vndue dets & bank roupte by playne rauin & robbery : not to procurre a mariage by order of lavve vvith due respect to proximitye of blood , but to breed a deuorse of frēdship in kinred by disturbinge the lavvfall liniall course of consanguinitye prouided by lavves , for passaige of th inheritance & successiō , & that in suche a sorte as hath not bene allovved by iudgement of lavv to passe in englande though by violence some suche enormities haue bene intruded and bolstered for a vvhyle to the horrible ruyne of manye noble families not recouerable . the temporall lavvyer also for his part must folovv as an echo not betvven tvvo hills or like place vpon stoppage of breathe for modestye or feare : but in playne fields not subiect to rebovvnds boldly vvithout blushinge to correspond , not caringe if all true englishe men of all sorts & degree doe vvonder after him ; yea he must folovv , not as the litle kinde dog folovved yong to bye to serue his right master : but as the mastyue folovveth the tinker for his ovven commoditie , to beare the burdē , lest his master ouer labored could not attaineto his inne , & hym selfe should leese his bayte , for it appereth demonstratiuely that the ciuilians credit for this matter , in the sight of all true english mē vvould be litle vvorth is the temporal lavvyer vvere not present to contenance the same : and if the ciuilians plea be reiected , the temporall lavvyer must seeke his meat in the myre : for he deserueth to be casten ouer the barre , as an ambidexter : neuerthelesse he can not stād this vvaye also in any great stead at theende vvhen the matter commeth to hammeringe by right tooles . 3. a third conclusion of this accord is that theis tvvo lavvyers must cōforme them selues somevvhat to the manners and conditions of those troublesome tribunes , the paires or couples of pensioners among the states of the lovve countryes : so as by treadinge the steps of popularitie thei maye imprint a fauorable opinion & liking of this purpose in the phāsies & conceits of people vvho euer delyghte in change , and loue muche to haue suche houlde on the brydle as thei maye cōptreol their soueraigne or ouerthrovve hym out of the sadle , vvhen they lyst : therfore a popular doctrin must be published as a lavv , & ther vpon must folovve a difinitiue sentence indifinitlye that th inheritāce & succession of the soueraigne gouernement in that realme doeth depēde vpō a multitude , so as at theire pleasure they maye pike a quarell sufficient to disthrone theire lavvfull kinge and vvhen they lyst to cal for an election of a nevv kinge , because their pleasure must stand for a lavv in this case . and this multitude forsothe must beare the name of a commō vvelthe vvhen they comme to gither , though often tymes it falleth out to be a common mischiefe or vniuersall confusion : yea & assembled onely or principally by acanuasse & practize ofsome one or other popular personne , malcontent , & seditiouse or ambitious : vvhich by a gracious opinion among the people is hable to bringe the may game home to his ovvne or frynds houze ; for hovv , and by vvhat authoritye , that multitude is to be assembled , & other circumstances most expedient and necessarye , thies lavvyers neyther define , nor regarde , it is suficient at this tyme in their bookes and for theyr purpose , if theire assemblye beare a shevv of a common vvealth by somme presence of the nobilitye & commons , any thinge or matter that by thes tvvo lavvyers is expressed to the contrarye notvvithstandinge . and this sentence thus generally set dovvne , is to be made good allovved and ratiffied by pretēce of sōme principals , maximes , or assertions of ciuil lavve or lavvyer , suche as though in speciall cases , for some singular respect , in a priuat sence , vpon due circumstances , and necessarye occasions ( to speake onlye touchinge designements , & ordinances of a true vnfeigned cōmon vveth and not other vvyse ) may be true , & haue somme grovvnde in the ciuill lavve , yea in common reason , & maye also stand vvith thenglish lavves : yet neuerthelesse to serue these mēs turnes , in pleasinge the multitude , they must be made generall vvith out exception , to ouerrule the municipial lavves of englande , and this sentence must also be confirmed by exāples and patterns of practizes executed in colorable common vveathes , or rather disordered multitudes , beinge no common vvealthes in deed , but prodigious monsters of manye heads , vvith out a good foot to stand vpon , and in materiall points for temporall affayres agreable to that of holande and zelande at this daye : soe as those most seditiouse rebels shal be hable to auouche this popular doctrin by authoritye of thies tvvo lavvyers to vvarrāt their rebelliōs against their most lavvfull soueraigne . therfore ( by the vvaye ) a man may note vvhat good feruice thies conferers haue done by this popularitye to that most renoumed kinge catholique , in geuinge to his ma. a colourable pretence of title to an other kinges crovvne , to minister matter of vvarrant for a rebellious rout to thrust him selfe fourth of his ovvne crovvne . 4. besydes this popular doctrine , vve must haue an other deuis to leade the multitude vnder a penthouse in the shadovve of a lavve more nearer the mark novv shot at against the lineal course of inheritance in cases os feesimple . therfore other allegations must be brought in to the court by the ciuilian as principels and maximes deriued from his lavv , vvhiche in deede are no other thē fansies or opiniōs of theone side of a controuersie , vvherunto it liketh novv this ciuiliā to subicribe , neuer set dovvne in the corpsof that lavv , but fovvnd in comments & gloses of lavvyers as notes or memorials of exercises , or of allegations vpon sutes passed on the behalfe of some cliēt , neuer defined authentiquelie by comon cōsent , but remaine as letigious , apliable ( like the rules of lesbos ) to the diuersities of mēs opiniōs grovvinge vpon affections , or other irresolute concepts . neuerthelesse they must no vv be all defined as true & certein on that syde vvherunto it liketh thies lavvyers to leane . and if they happē to stumble vpon a certayn rule either in the bodye of the ciuil lavv , or in the note bookes & monuments of ciuilians , that must either haue suche constructiō , as pleaseth this ciuilian to enforce , or els it must be sayd to stand certayn & cleare also for english affayres , & be preferred before the most currant ru , les , & most certeine maximes of our english municipiall lavvies , hovv opposit so euer they be to thēglish forme of la vufull gouernement . and a accordinge to this ciuiliās rules must the inheritāce & succession of the english crovvne be squared for the covvrse therof to runne as pleaseth this ciuilian to vphold the same vvith the bolster of a frē ticke multitude seduced by a conterfaited temporal lavvyer : for euerye factious assemblie ( if it once take place , and cary all vvay cleane ) must be accompted for a common vvealth in thies mēs books , be they neuere so often assembled in one yeare , euerye one opposite to the other in all extremities . and by the practizes , gests & procedings of suche common vvealths must thies axiomes & principles be cōfirmed as by imitable & exemplare patterns at all assays : so as to helpe or hinder any pretend or in this case it must be sufficient by thies mens rules to say , this or that vvas done vvithout respect to this or that ought to be done : or vvhat the lavve sayth for her selfe against this or that act : thus are vve novv come by help of thies mens doctrin to reuiue & allovv for lavvfull the sayenges and doings of olde tyrātes ( vvho to iustifie their vvikednesse vsurped in a maliciouse sen ce that anciēt prouerb : quod exem . plo fit id iure fit ) euerye thinge , be it neuer so bad is lavvfully done , if it can be exemplified to haue bene done , espetially of a multitude , that may seeme to beare the colour of a common vvealth . as if a tyrant defacto & malefacto , vpon possession , & vniust possession too , shall therfore be a true kinge de iure right fully by order of lavv : as if right ought to follovv possessiō , & possessiō should rule the right : as if an vnlavvfull bare possession of the dissezor & his heyres in case of inheritance & successiō by a lineal discēt to that crovvne ought by lavv to dishable the right of a disseizer and his heyrs , or in any other , ovvt of the poynt of lavvfull prescription : a prik of a vveapō sharper thē thies lavvyers vvil be hable to vvard , if the matter cōme to a demurre in lavve . 5. furthermore the trauailers for theire parts must help the credit of thies lavvyers by a couple of odd shiefts , or els all vvill not goe streight , for by the meanes of their raunginge throvvgh by countries , vve must haue a common opinion setled euery vvhere , if it be possible , that all is true vvhiche thies tvvo haue sayd , as agreable to the lavves of nations ; and consequently a cōmon fame of three horrible blasts must course both ayre & earth to possesse the mindes & mouthes of the ydle vvorlde speciallye amōge the symplest and most credulous of one side , vvhich for meede or dreede ar to be lead avvaye , amōg suche of an other syde as are naturallye disposed , or maliciously incited to desyre a chaunge ; the first blast is an vntrue surmise of a doubt fulnesse to be in the municipial lavves of englande touchinge the inheritāce & succession of the crovvne of englande , vvho ovvght to haue it albeit in truthe the matter is verye cleare in the iugement of the same lavve & of all the vvisemen , lavvyers , & others vvhiche haue interest to iudge therof , as vvhose states doe depend ther vpon : neuerthelesse it appereth by their ovvne confession that the doubt shall lye , not in the lavve vvho ought to haue it , but in theuent vvho shall haue it : not vpon right but vpō the oportunitie of time . the second blast is a daungerous insinuation , full of sclaunderous vntruthe & intolerable in dignitie vvith contradictiō , that the realme of englande is at this daye , & hath bene many hundred yeares destitut of a lavvfull soueraigne . and vpon thies tvvo must folovv a third , to vvit a generall chalenge for the crovvne for vvhan that surmise of doubtefulnesse hath possessed the myndes of the people ; all competitours and preten vvil take occasion of chalengde , euerye one for him selfe , and the most mightie by force or frendship vvil beare all avvaye ; and the other blast by insinuation shall serue as a motiue to inforce the people of al fortes for their ovvne indemnitie , either to seeke the blud royall vvher so euer they think it to be : euerye one after his ovvne conceit ( and to bring it home if it can be founde , or to intrude one or other into the place , & affervvarde for a colour of in diferencie to call for an election of a kinge or queene by the deuice of thies traualers , vvho mynde to sovvnde a trompette that there is not novv liuinge any of thenglish blood royall borne in englande , nor els vvhere inheritable of that crovvne , or capable of it , saue onelye , theone of tvvo , they care not vvhether and those must bee the late catholique kinge him selfe , or els his daughter . 6. and ( to speake some vvhat in particular touchinge the absurditie of the sayd surmise ) it greueth my very hart to consider vvhat paynes thies men do take to consume theire naturall coūtrie vvith the terrible fier of greate discord & euil diuisiō , and to vvhat fovvle shifts they are driuē , that thei may cary all avvay cleanly , lest they be accompted among them , vvhich euen thē are most deceitfull , vvhē they most pretend to be iust . therfore to put the vvorld fourth of suspition , & them selues fourth of ielouzie . ( an inconuenience that comenly hapneth vvhen old foes are be comme nevv fryēdes ) thies tvvo lavvyers , for an other conelusiō must comply vuith the tyme like vvether vvise mē oflesbos , for thies deuises can not be so closely rolled vp but that simulation must vvalke smothely , either vvith tergiuersation to please & displease , or vvith yea & nay to contredict them selues , & in fine , to couer all vvith doublinge & redoubling betvvene playne vvordes & crooked meaninges , from one sensse to ane other , as far as any equiuocation , pregnancye or other elenche of sophistree , legier demaī , or deceipte of sight cā helpe for cariage of all avvaye uvith the generall drist ; and ( as i said before , vvhiche is to be noted after ) lest theire surmise of doutfulnes in lavve doe faile , they vvil in the ende depende vpon tymes , speciallye as they may be made to stande , more then vpon doutfullnes of lavve , so as to them maye vvell be applyed , that odle prouerb , omnia pro tempore , nihil proveritate , they measure all according to the tyme , & nothinge to the truth , like men geuen ouer , to vayn talke , desirous to be accompted doctors in lavv , and ether vnderstande litle , or regarde lesse , vvhat thei affirme or denie , if their ovvne turne may be serued vvithall , no not thoughe the vvorlde do eth see hovv miserabli theire ovvne cōsciēces may be gauled by such shifs : for better euidēce herof vve may note other olde corners of particular shifs that thiese men are forced to seeke for pleasig the tyme to further their surmise , for though they vvorlde confesseth , & none vvilbe fovvnd so impudent as openly to deny that as all men vniuersally and in particular are bovvnd by the lavve of god & nature to vvish & desire the cōfinuance & happie preseruatiō of common quyet vvelth & felicitie of their natiue countrye : so are they also by the same lavves bovvnd euery one for their degree of qualitye , condition and possibilitie , to employ all their bodilye trauails , all their externall povvers vvith discourse of reason , pregnācye of vvit , cares , industries , and al their internal forces to prouide best means for furtherance & aduancement of the same common quiet , vvealth & felicitie , yea and to preuent , cast of and eschevv all impediments thereof , & all occations that may breede any peril to the same , and albeit amonge the commodities cōcurring vvith the happy state of a realme next to the reuerent loue & due obedience of subiects to god & to their soueraigne for the tyme beīg the greatest preseruatiue of quyet among people , by confession of vvisest men , is to fore knovve an heyre apparent of the crovvn : so amonge all the inconueniences that can be practized against the prosperouse estate of a countrye , that embraceth an ordinarye discēt of theire soueraigne by vvaye of inheritance and succession in a certaine knovve issue & ofspringe in a linial course according to a municipial lavv , or lavvfull custume none is more vvicked , in it selfe , more pernitiouse to the state more vntunable in the earses of al godlye vvise men , nor more scādalouse to the vvhole vvorld , thē is either to houlde the opinions ofsubiects in suspence & dovvt , vvithout offer of resolutiō , vvhat that persone is to vvhome they ought by order of lavv to beare allegeance after decesse of their present soueraigne , or by any vvaye or meane to broache or to nsinuat any dout or ambiguitye therof , vvhere ther is a setled opinion of all vvise men to the cōtrarye . aud though it be so euident & demonstrable as nedeth no exemplification hovv carefull good princes , & sovvnd comō vvealths haue bene in tymes past to auoyd such ambiguities , & hovv curious some kinges haue bene in suche a case , vvho hauinge lavvful issues inheritable & capable of that crovvne , vvith out exception , suspicion , scruple , or doute neuer the lesse before their death , haue by spetiall othes , & cerimonious submissions of their ovvn principall subiects , established the state expectant in their issue : not for any dout in lavv touching the true & lavvfull title of their issue in the right of inheritance , ( as these tvvo lavvyers vvould vvrest that good prouidēce of princes but to arme them selues & their issue against all euents , for preuenting of ambicious & seditious purposes of popular persones , vvho at chaunge of princes vse to put out their hornes more boldly then before , vpon confidence of aduātage by oportunitie of tyme , to dravveuents contrarye to thintention & expectation of the lavv , ascope vvherunto thies lavvyers shoote all their bolts , al thies euidentes & confessiōs of truthes , and all thies stratagemes & prouidēt pollicies of good princes and sovvnd common vvealths notvvithstandinge , our tvvo lavvyers vvith their trauailers haue taken courses quyte contrarye , in so much as by neglecting , yea vvilfull reiecting the foresayd prouisions & good policies for preseruation of common quyet by mature cautions & remedies of lavves against mischieues & inconueniences that may grovve by vvant of due foresight to knovve & acknovvledge a lavvfull heyre and succession to the crovvn , thies men doe practize by all meanes to haile men headlonge in to vvilfull doutfulnesse and ignorance thereof : and to furthcr their purpose vvith a glosse of flatery , to please this tyme , the queene must be iustifyed , & her doeinge cōmended for prohibiting the declaratiō of an heyr apparent , so as it must be vvell allovved that no speciall lavve or order be established to cut of all dovvts in lavv or tyme that may iustly grovv for vvant of a certain knovven successor to bee named in her life , hovv daungerous so euer the delay thereof may be esteemed for the tyme to come , for so thies conferrers are not ashamed to conclude in expresse vvordes ; a most monstrouse excesse in speache against all reason equitie and good conscience . and this must be hudled vp vvith fevv vvords as a confessed maxime to please her humour , & to serue theyr ovvne turne yea this absurde surmisse of doubtefulnesse ( cōtrarye to the good counseill & foresight before mencioned , must be bolstred by vayne blasts of cōmō brutes , vvhilst vvith varieties of opinions and vpon incertaintie of tymes they seeke to couer truthes amonge mists & cloudes for vvininge of tyme , suche as po litike simulation , & dissimulation vvith help of poetrie can breath & puff out to dasel the sight of simple , or credulous people : in hope to gayne the victorye by ay de of tyme : yet it mai fall ovvt ( as it hapneth amōge all garboyles amonge multitudes ) that the matter in question vvilbe founde more dout full vvho shall preuaile by force and violence , thē vvho ought to preuail by lavve & iustice and so perhaps suche as think them selues surest , may be accōpted amōg those that make theire ovvn reckening vvith out ther host . but to encrease the sayd surmises of dovvbts vve must haue many other speciall deuices by pleasinge the tyme vpon a purpose that this libel mai haue more rome to passe & repasse vvith the lesse difficultye . therfore as her ma. policye of delay must be highlye extolled so must she be born in hand and the vvorld made to beleue , by a common forme to , for vvynninge of tyme , that none of the dovvbtes must seeme to touche her title , all thinges must seeme cleare durīge hir tyme , neuerthelesse the titles of al those frō vvhēce she directly claymeth and of all those vvhich are to clayme frō her are by thies lavvyers called in questiō : apoint of most impudent flatterye vvith subtill conueyhance of vvords , vvhiche she her selfe derideth knovvinge hovv short thies felovvs vvold make her tyme , if they could get a tyme to serue their ovvn turne , as may be seene by the practises and deuices vvihich haue byn made against her and her state since the verye same tyme. and to aduaunce his surmise vve must haue an other odd shift that must haue a longe reache , for all matters must be affirmed by vvay of protestation , vvhich vvill not be mainteined for sufficient pleadinge vvhen the matter cometh to hearinge in court of record before an indifferent iudge , but vvilbe disliked & denied mightiely : a subtil shipft of deskant to auoyde blame , if matters be not vvell taken , and to serue for baites if a partie cā be made to vpholde them ; for example , no ordinarie course of inheritance in fee simple by lineal discent in blood neare or farre of to the cro vvne of englande accordinge to the lavves thereof , must be regarded othervvise thē suche as from time to time shall please a multitude that is hable to geue a colour of a common vvealth : again all pamphlets books and vvrittings that haue bene spread a brood , fra med effectionatli accordinge to the variable opinions of eache mans priuat appetit be it sincere or sinister must be gathered to gether in to one volume and allovved as authentique , vvith out distinction so fare forth as they may make a shevv of doubtfulnesse in respect of varietie , though the erronious eyther haue been sufficientli confuted , or neede no confutation , but are condemned in the iudgement of all vvise mē . and though all be allovved and brought in to make a shevv of doutfulnesse in respect of their nomber & varietye of opinions , yet they must all be condemned of partiallitye , except one vvhich must serue the turne ; yet there must be no contradiction in these mens vvords , for all passeth by vvaye os protestation : more ouer euery mans pretence of claime to the crovvn must seeme iust , and his allegations true , for none must be discouraged to stur questions and dovvts ; yea the matter is so handled , that euery one vvhich is of kinne to the crovvne , hovv farre ofso euer it be , shal be allovved and encoraged to pretēd & clayme a title , both men & vvomen , to make the matter much more dovvtfull , as the nomber of pretēdors encreaseth more & more ; though in verye deed thies lavvyers intend that none of them shal be hable to preuail , except one of tvvo , at the most they care not vvhiche , as i said before : yet it is not long syns they both should haue bene excluded and an other preferred , if thies lavvers myght haue their vvilles . besyde all this , theise lavvyers vvil protest indifferencie to all , though they shevv them selues fryndes to none but to one alone , vvhich in their cōceits vvilbe hable to rule the tyme ; and some persones & their cause must be couertly abased , vvhose renovvne other vvhils these men haue magnisied , as so me others must be extolled aboue the skyes vvhome in other tymes they vvolde haue blotted fourth of their bookes : as also the late queene of scotts mary of famous memorye , and consequentli her heires must be reiectedvvith in dignities , and impudently spotted vvith infamy of treason & other crimes to please the tyme , though vvhen tyme serued they thought othervvise of her , or els they vvere most odible dissēblers to speak of the chefest of thies cōferrers . the state of a monarchy must seeme to content thies lavvyers a vvhile in some place abroode thoughe thei vvoulde per suade the people that the state of a prouince vnder a foreine prince vvere better to be established and continued at home , to serue the presēt turne . an vnsauerye sainge to the sences of all true englishe men , & meriteth smal thankes at the kinges hādes i spare to speake of many other particular shifts for breuities sake , & because the vvise reader easelye find thē . but by thies a man maye vvell cōceiue vvhat good reason ther is to moue a dislik of the vvayes & mea nes vvhiche thies lavvyers haue deuised to lead the simple men to the marke that they shoote at . and vvith all it is vvorth obseruation to mark hovv curiouse & hovv full of vvordes thies lavvyers shevv them selfes in prouinge some thinges that no vvise man vvil graunte , so subtil conueyhance they haue to seduce othets . an thus much touching the manner & forme of their procedinges . novv thē to speake somevvhat of the circumstances touchinge the proper effects or casualties depending vpon the practizes and shifts , or concurringe vvith them vvho seethe not those horrible scandals , & steepe dovvne falls , threatninge present ruyne to all obedience , humilitie & ciuil order , vvhen it shal be knovvē to be allovved for an vndoubted maxime and published vvith the trōpet of commō fame , as a prescript lavv , that a multitude hauinge once got by any indirect practize a conterfeited name of a comon vvealth ( for suche are the commō vvealthes vvhom thies lavvyers haue produced for they re profes ) may lavvfully place & displace kinges and soueragns , accordinge to their restelesse humours and affections ; vho cōceiueth not the consequences of this doctrin ? vvhat other good cā be expected to folovv it , thē that preposterously against all good fashion & order , accordinge to a lesbian rule reason shal be addressed to mens doeing , & not their doeinge directed to reason : lavves shal be construed according to the sensuall vvils & appetits of a multitude & not the multitude reformed acding to gods lavves : and cōsequētly the soueraign shal be forced to accōmodate him selfe agreable to the māners & cōditions of his subiects , & not his subiects appliable to tharbitramēt of their soueraign be he neuer so good & gratiouse longer thē they vvil obey : thē in vvhat quiet state or securitie is that nation like to stand vvhich hath a soueraigne vpon souffrance onely de facto , in respect of a bare possession durante bene placito populi : at the vvill of the people onely : and not de iure in his ovvne right to cōtinevv by order of lavv , othervvise then as it pleaseth the people to interpret the lavv frō tyme as the varieties of humours doe alter their dispositions : euen so , vvhat good assurance can a kinge or soueraign haue or expecte for safetye of his state or persone , vvhen the people shall haue suche a directorie as vvil make theire actiōs good & allovvable to displace him at their pleasure , because some multitude vnder a colourable name of a comon vvealth hath doen the like , for in suche sorte thies lavvyers doe argue . by thies general circumstances & an infinit nomber of particular enormities , absurdities , mischiefs & incōueniences concurringe vvith this popular doctrin , a vvyse man may easely conceyue vvhat commendatiō thies tvvo lavvyers deserue for their conference : & they them selues vvolde easelye be enduced to confesse , if either theyr ovvne consciences vvere discouered , or the state of tyme vvere suche as vvolde alter the cafe & inuite thē to tourne ouer the leafte to thoetherside : but touchīg theffect of this popularitie vve shall haue occasiō to speake more here after . in meane vvhile it is a vvōder to see vvith vvhat glosses & cōments they seeke to delude simple personnes by vvaye of preocupation & forstalling of mens conceits at first sighte to auoyde all farther examination of their straunge proceadings , for they haue proctors & brokors in all places to extoll them and all theyr attempts aboue the skyes vvith generall speaches ; and by the industrie of thies trauailers a common fame is blovven a broade , that al vvhich thies men doe is done in ordine ad deum , in a course to god vvard : & therfore are not reprehensible nor to be called in question by any : as if there vvere no other vvaye allovvable to lead vs tovvard god then by that most inconuenient passage vvhich they vvill iustly cōdemne in others : to vvit , by innouatinge most iniustly settled lavves , to supplant right & establishe lavves : to disseize trevve heires of their lavvfull inheritances , and consequently to haile and dravv innocents through bloody shambles , to massacre all sortes of people bothe friends & foes : for suche vvilbe theffects of theire sur mised doubtz , vvhils vvith a vvicked conspiracye against the vvhole corps of theenglish blood royall bred & borne in england , or in the same iland , & against all the nobilitie & commons of their natiue countrye vnder most vniuste pretenses of vvrested titles ther practises for doubts doe tēd to no other end then to procure a conquest vuith a common hauoke & confusion of home bred citizens & of a vvhole nation for aduauncinge of foreigners , like men that care not , for a most vncerteyne gayne to throvv them selfes & others into a moste certeyne mischiefe , & a labirinthe of all kinde of miseries , vnder a vayne hope of an vnsteadfast tyme , vvith a pretense notvvith standinge to loue all , though vpon the matter , it is like to fallout that thei loue none but them selues & theire correspondants : nor them neither , if the euent be not ansvverable to their desires . therfore vvhat course so euer thieslavvyers vvith their aduocats , proctours atturneys , solicitours , porsuyuants & apparetors vvolde seeme to take tovvardes god , or the vvorld in vvords , and vvhat faulte so euer they vvold impute to others touchinge the sayd kinges priuat designes , or a common cause , it is in very deed more then probable , that they them selfes by there busy heades vvith their brablinge discources in suche an impertinent conference haue doen ill offices to bothe , and are not like to gaine so great thankes as thei looke for at eythers handes , but muche blame & reproof , vvhen all reckeninges are made , and all accompts casten by iust & skillfull auditors . novv then for so muche as cōcerneth the king , many vvise men of diuers natiōs hearinge the māner of proceeding in this conference are persuaded that thies lavvyers and their trauailinge companions by their rashe attempts so impertinētly in suche a vveightye cause haue preiudiced his ma-many vvayes : as amonge the rest , none is greater , nor more contagiouse , daungerouse , & domageable to his persone and ma. royal , then is the platforme , of the sayd popular doctrin , first layde in scottland , after sent a lost in the lovv corenttyes : attempted in arragon , and ready to be raysed , rooffed & builded vp in all nations . therfore vvhat speciall fauour so euer thies men , aboue all others , vvould protest tovvards the kīges deseignes all vvise men maye perceaue that they seeke their ovvne priuat ; hough very vnprouidētly more thē the kinges aduan̄cemēt in honor , ma. orother vvays : for if their principall intention touchinge their ovvne priuat , had relyed vpon suche substanciall meanes in praynge the kings ayd as vvere expedient , & most agreable to his ma. dispositiō . touchinge the comō cause , they vvoulde neuer haue sovvght to set vvyde open so large gappes , doores , and vvindovves for rebellious multitudes to enter and clayme authoritie ouer their lavvfull kinges , & soueraigne , vnder pretenses of glorious styles , & titles of cōrnon vvealths , & stats of a coūtrye , for vvhat other instrument then this enormious rule of lefbos , had that monstruouse minister of scottlād geovge bvckhannam to euer throvv the most noble queene of scotlande & the commonvvealth thereof , by seducinge the nobles & commōs of that realm , yet not all , neither , nor the most part to be accompted in vveight & measure , though enough & to many in nomber , for makīg of a party to geue a shovv of a comō vvealth hable to vvage battaile in open field against their lavvfull queene , to thrust her in to prison , & after to expell her for the of her ovvne dominions , and finally to practize her death in a foreing countrie : a most barbarouse fact , & suche , as against it , thies lavvyers haue in tymes past exclamed mightilie vvith mouth & penn . neuerthelesse if the doctrine vvhich thies men allovve be true , ( as it pleaseth them to deliuer it , ) vve must also allovv this fact , as good and imitable , being doen by a common vvealth . and vpon vvhat other grovvnd thē this , did those madd ministers in scottlāde snacthe the brydel in to their ovvne handes , & in most malepert māner presumed to thret ten their kinge that he shal be sent after his mother ; if he vvill not mainteine the covvrse that they had begon , meaninge their hereticall practizes against his mother & his mothers friēdes , and allovv their fantasticall and irreligious covvrses , as if he vvere but a kinge made of clouts , & not framed nor formed by order of lavv to succede in a course of inheritāce , but to be let in , & put ovvt at their pleasur by authoritie of a cōmon vvealth of their ovvne making , suche a one , as neuer god nor good mē haue seen read or heard of a vvorse and suche as no vvise & discrete kinge can or vvill endure . euen so did not that vnnatural vvicked traiter , antonio peres , by help of the sayd doctrin procure a rebellion in arragō against his natural soueraign vvhich had raized him out of the dyrt in to the rāk of nobilitie , & had he not therby preuailed so farre by all likelyhode , as to haue his practize to be accompted an imitable stratageme of a common vvelth , if god vvolde haue permitted suche malice to raigne in that coaste ? i could exemplify vvhat mischiefe the same doctrine hath vvrought in englande , but i passe it ouer to an other place ; in meā tyme i praye yovv vvhat shal vve say of that prodigiouse republicke or colourable commō vvealth in holand & zeland , framed and cloke togither in a hochepot vvith the basser sorte of a rovvt & rable of artificers & handy crafts men , vnder a glorious style & title of stats ? haue not they also a vvarrant by our lavvyers doctrine to auoūche & mainteine : for la vvful all theyr ovvtragious & malipert rebellions and enormities more then hethenish against their soueraign , & against the sovvndest part of the nobilities & commons vnder a cloak of a commō vvealthes authoritie ? yes vvithout dovvbt ; and vvhat so euer glosse or comment our sayd lavvyers vvill make for excuse , certein it is that their ovvn text ( as they haue delinered it to he vvorld in vvord and exēplified it by deeds forth of this late cōferēces ) vvil serue those vnstatlye states to make a commoditie for seruice against their soueraign vvhē our tvvo lavvyers haue sayd & doen vvhat they cā , for there hath not come many yeares amonge that vnbridled people a doctrine more plausible thā this , vvhich so largelye & liberally aduaunceth the authoritie of their cōmō vvealth , at least as they doe , & may take it , and vvilbe sure to take fast holde of it , yea the rather for that it rouethat libertie vvithī the countryevvhere the kinge cōmandeth , and vvith his ma. priuitie & licence too as theye alledge & vpon no light presumption , & the lavvyers thē selues vvith their adherants doe confesse , though no vvise men of indiferēt affectiō vvill beleaue it to be true that his ma. is priuie as hereafter shal be declared . neuerthelesse ( to returne vvhere ileft ) the disseruices of thies tvvo lavvyers come novve to be more agruated by presuming to publish or to offer suche a scandalovvse doctrin to be published or printed vvithin his ma. dominions , vvere it set foth vvith his licence or no ( as i verilye thīk it vvas not ; or ifitvvere , at the least , vvith out his ma. priuitie . for though sins the publishing of it , the auctor by him selue or frīds haue geuē out by bare vvordes that it vvas prīted & put forth vvith the late kinges , or this liuīg , theire priuities , licence , & cōmandement authētiklye yet no suche thing is auouched expresselye in the front of that booke , but generally it is sayd to be printed vvith licence at n. so muche to saye as at no place iustifiable . and though it maye be suffred to passe vvith an ordinaire licence in generall maner consigned by some common censurer of bookes vpon a fauorable motion or by abusinge the credulitie of some authoritie allovved to be published , vvhich may be also doubtfull : al this not vvith standing , no proufe appeareth that it hath passed for the in suche precise order by the priuitie and commandement of the king , so authentiklie , as euery man beīg vnder his allegeance is bovvnde to take notice the of , and prohibited to shevv his reasonnable conceit touching the contēts thereof vnder peine to incurre the displeasure of his ma. therfore to think that thies mē haue entred in to this matter , for publishing thereof in manner & forme , vvith his ma. licence , or at the least vvith out his priuitie cōsent & commādement vpon speciall respect to their ovvn priuat more thē vpon due regard directly to his ma. stat honor & aduancement , many thinges lead me , not onely for collaterall matters idly foysted in to the discours vvhiche may seame preiudicial to the crovvne & saftye of his ma. persone & of his honorable familie novv or in tyme to come , but also touchinge the principall scope & but of that booke . and i say for proofe in part , & for vehemēt presumption in the rest first no in different man of iudgemēt vvill imagin that in suche perillous tymes as novv vvhen myndes of people in all nations are easelye to be exulcerated & corrupted vvith sores & maladies of contention , throughe superfluous humors of nevv fangleness , ambitiō , disdaingne , gredinesse of vengeance and other troublesome passions ) so vvise & good a kinge vvould be induced or allured to allovv and mainteine by his royall authoritie the publicatiō of the sayd doctrine so contagious & preiudiciall to him selfe , & so scandalous to the rest of the christian vvorld as therbi ( if their exemples produced for confirmation ther of be allovved ) any monarchie hovv vni forme so euer it be othervvise mai & must be reduced to a dimocra cie or popular state , and a kinge crovvned to day , may & must be vncrovvned tomorovve , if it so please the multitude that can make a partie strong inovvghe to beare the style & tytle of a publike state or colourable comō vvealth for the tyme ; so as if his ma. vvere in possession of the englishe crovvne tomorovv , he vvere to depēd vpon the vvils of his ovvn vassals to be expelled next daye folovving , and so from tyme to tyme by these mēs lavve an other to be placed or displaced at their pleasure , & iustlie too , bi his ovvne acceptance & allovvance of this lavv , and so one , after an other so often as the vvether cok of suche a cōmon vvealth chaūgeth vvith the vvinde offactious humors : in so muchc as their kinge or soueraigne shall serue them like a lackye or page in a frenche ioupe to runne or ryde after theire master , rather then sit in his chayre of estate , vvith scepter & royal roabe to commaunde like a kinge , so contemptible shall the ma. of a king stand in suche a case . and the reason of this prerogatiue ouer their kinge is ( say thies lavvyers ) because forsuthe a kinge vvas made for a common vvealth , & not a comon vvealth for a king ; as if it vvere good reason , that childrē shoulde rule their parents , because parentsvvere or dained for children , & not they for parents , people must rule preachers , scolars must guide scholl maisters the cart must lead carte horses & carters too because preachers scholmasters , cart horses , & carters vvere ordeyned for people , scolers & carts , & not thies for the other : neuerthelesse that assumptiō serueth not their turne : for they vvere ordeyned in a subalternel covvrse & degree on for an other , as the head for the bodye & the body for the head . a kinge to rule his comon vvealth , & the cōmon vvealth to obey the king . beside theis indignities touching ma. & state royall there are many other deformities and inconueniences concurringe vvith suche enormiouse succession of gouernement by a monarche , as dependeth vpon the phantasticall toys of a colourable comon vvealth , vvhich yeeld sufficiant probabilitie that his ma. vvas neuer priuie to the sayd libel , nor the puttinge forth rhereof , nay it is more then probable , that if his ma. had seene and looked deeply in to this conferēce , or had bene trulye informed touching all the contents thereof , & the deuises for bevvirchīg the phansies of men vvith plausible matter , for more cleanly conueyhance of a cōsent to their purpose , his vvisedome vvolde haue vtterlye reiected that libell , for he vvold haue quickly perceyued the contradiction betvvene their opinions in shevv of vvordes , and their real proceedinges in practizes , vvhere they hold titles of prīces once setled & admitted are not to be examined by priuat mē , but to be obeied : neuerthelesse thies companions novv ( as at other tymes ( haue not onely allovved suche examinations , but haue also presumed vpon their ovvue heades , to examine titles of kinges & queens , and to determine them also by circumstaunce , yea by vvay of consultation in a publicke conference , as if they vvere caled by authoritye , not as priuat mē , but as publique persones . besydes this his vvisdome vvolde haue noted an od shifte of deskant by flatterye & dissimulation to gleane sōme credit of the present state in englande ( for that state is novv settled ) though they haue practized the contrarye in tyme past : a prety toy to mocke an ape , but it is so grosse as she maye easelye perceue it , and for their merit make them a movv , euen so vvhere their vvordes run so rovvndly to curry fauour ( for feare of displeasinge possessors ) that vvhat so euer a princes tytle be , if once he be setled in the crovvne & admitted by the commō vvealthe , it is not to be examined by any priuat men : euery man is bovvnd to settle his conscience to obaye the same , and the reason [ for so the ] is that of all other they esteame the honor of a crovvne to be most irregular and extraordinarie : here his ma. vvisedome & zeal to regall dignitie generally , besyde his ovvne ptiuat , may discouer diuers fallacies , errors , contradictions , yea & mōstruous absurdities , accompting their common vvelth to be suche as are cōformable to their ovvne exāples , or other vvise as good as they vvolde make it . for by this doctrine it must folovv necessarilye as most consonant to reason , that the common vvealth vvhiche is to controole regall dignitie ( ī such sorte as thier men appoinr ) hath to chalenge a preuileige to be guided by the holly ghost , not subiect to error , in opinion or sentence iudicially , & so anevv fovvndation of a special maxime must be lay de for heretiques & rebels to buyld vpon it vvhat they list , to vvit r●●●bliea non potest errare , a comō vvealth can not erre vvhich is more then somme comon vvealths vvil allovv to the churche of god. again it must folovv that no mēber of suche a common vvealth is to be accompted a priuat persone nor priuatly cariēd avvay daylv & hovvrely remouable from his ovvne opinion , nor may examine the matter priuatli before or after he come to conferr therof , or els their admission is not sufficient by this rule of theirs . more ouer thes tvvo lavvyers and all those trauailinge conferers in this supposed assembly at amsterdame are by this rules condemned beinge all priuat persones for entermedlige thē selfes vvith this matter of successiō touchinge the title of a kinge . fourthly the state of monarchie vvhiehe thies tvvo lavvyers do confesse & acknovvledge to be of al other formes of gouernement most excelēt & perfect in it selfe , must needs be most contemptible , vnperfect , & infamous of all other because the ciuilian so esteemeth the tenure of a crovvne to be most irreguler , & most extraordinarie , for the ciuilians opinion is the sentence of all thies conferrers , & to be irreagler and extraordinarye is to be vnder no rule nor order , vvher vpon consequētly the kinge holdeth his crovvne by no rule nor order , & is of hiselse irregular not subiect to rule or order ; and if the comō vvealth be theonely iudge ouer the kinge to cōptrol him as thies men teache vs , & none is by theire doctrine appointed nor allovved to comptroll the common vvealths sentēce , thē it must needs folovv , that the common vvealth in this case is also vnder no vvill nor order , & no meruail for a multitude vvithout a head , or of manie heads none good , vvhat is it but a chaos & confused masse ovvt of al order : thus vve are taught that the vnrulie must rule the vnruly , if an irregular & disordered multitude must gouerne the most irregular & exrraordinarie crovvne as theis men terme it : nay by this doctrine , an vsurper , disseizer intruder , impious tyrant , or infidel once admitted by the cōmon vvealth must not be deposed : again a possession onely must guide the right as the most materiall point to lead thin heritance & succession of a crovvne ; tvvo assertiōsneuer allovved for good plees in any lavv spiritual or temporal , diuin or humain , & most vvorthie of ovvt claps , vvith hisses & vvhistles , yet they must both be allovved & maīteined vnder this generall maxime of admission . and so all enormities must be streight rules , vvronges must be rights , violence must be lavv , bad must be good , & good must be bad , if thies be allovved & admitted by a multitude dravven to gether any vvaye to represēt & beare the name of a republick or comon stat , vvhiche for cleanelye conueyhance of a fovvl thinge in a fayre hand kerchife , thies men doe call a common vvealth : a speciall fallacie to abuse the simple ; besides euerie lavvfull king is deposible for or vvithout cause , if the common vvealth dislike him : & euery quarel is a sufficiēt cause to depose a kinge if the cōmon wealth so esteme it , & euery kinge shal be accompted a tyrant , an hereticque , an infidel , or incapable othervvays & vnfit , & consequētly deposible , because the publick state here called a cōmon vvealth holdeth him so to be & is theonlye iudge of all causes in this case of a kings state & of all cōmisions that must procede from a kinge , for no other iudge is appointed in thies mens text , a plaine contradiction to their ovvn doctrin , & an error that thies lavvers vvill not stand to if they be pressed to ansvvere by authoritie authentique . more ouer it must folovv , vpon thies mens doctrin that euerye multitude so incorporated , as they got the style & tytle of a publick state in their ovvn consceit by pretence , may rightly be called a common vvealth habled by lavv to inioye all the preuileges before mentioned , though they vvant a head , yea thovvgh no vvelth nor commoditie commō or priuat be by them maintened ; and that euery publick stat or suche common vvealth as they haue allovved , may at their pleasure alter chaunge & innouat the caur se of inheritance & succession to the crovvn , so as they may barre the right & true title all redye cast vpon any persone , by the lavves of the same state , though the same persone be no member of the same state , nor subiect ther vnto by nature , submissiō , or other lavvful meanes . consequently that the kīge of spaine is bovvnde to setle his consciēce & not impugne the ordinance of the novv english common vvealth , hovv iust so euer his title be for the present , or future tyme , nor to examine any others title allovved & admitted by the same common vvealth , if that negatiue pregnant foisted in to the margent touching priuat men can not be hable to cōptroll the text vvhich bindeth euery man vvithout exception or difference of priuat or publick . and last of all it is sett dovvn in plaine termes , that euery kinge holdeth his crovvne by the good vvill of his common vvealth as by the onely lavvfull & good tenur of a crovvne , a playne contradiction to the state of inheritance , and an absurditie vvorthie to haue all manner of scorne & moquerye , neuer auuoched for any plea , neuer mentioned in any booke , rol , or record or vvritting of vvise mā , nor admited in to the thought or imagination of any lavve maker , lavvyer , or other mēindued vvith common sence in englande , and an hiperbolical fictio against the state of regall ma. yet vve must beleaue it , because the ciuilian saith so , vvho by al thies trauailinge opinions must be allvvayes allovved . thus vve see that by the ciuiliās lavve his ma. tenur vvherby he boldeth his crovvne must be irregular & extraordinarie , & though he be admitted by his comon vvealthe once setled in his state & therfore not remouable , yet that vvill not serue , if he holdeth his crovvne as tenant at vvil of the cōmon vvealth vvho may reuoke their admissions vvhē thei vst to finde suche cause as they thinke sufficient , & consequently he hath no state of inheritāce nor succession , vvhat vvould the king catholicke say to this thīke yovv , if he vvere vvel informed of this particular ? nay vvhat they of holande and zelande vvil presume , here on to thīke & say for hardeninge theire harts , & mainteyninge theire actual rebellions , euery man seeth & his ma. can not be ignorāt ; therfor it is not like that he vvas priuie to the contents of this book so farre as to allovv of it here his ma. may behold the blinde presūptiō of thies statists vvho dare thus confront his ma. in the chiefest point of his maiestical state , vvith such indignities , by abusinge all regall dignitie so lovv as to make it the vassal of eueri arrogant rovvt , of any vnlavvfull assembled multitude that can by hook or crroke , vvile or guyle , flaterye or violence catche & snatche the visard of a common vvealth & for more credit to their excessiue speache also vse his ma. as a bolster to leane vpō vnder cloak of a licēce to roue freely through his ma. dominions vvhere it ruleth and comaundeth . yea these bold aduenturers do raūge so farre farther as by colour of his ma. authoritie they dare attempt to stoppe the mouths and pennes of all those that haue vvriten against popularity & vvith infamie of absurd flatterye to blot the names & estimations of those men vvhich haue vvritten in the defēce of the sacred state of a kinge against all popularitye it is not to be doubted that either his late ma. vvisedome vvould be so vnmindefull as to vvink at suche popular presōption . or that his most gracious nature vvould permitt the paynes & good vvilles of such vvritters to be requited for any scorne full libell put forth vnder the protectiō of his late ma. ( specially times standinge as they did then . ) neuertheles though some haue vvritten in defence of kinges & kingly state & geuen them more immunityes priuileges or prerogatiues then good kinges vvil claime , or good common vvealths are bovvnde to yelde , yet that excuseth not these commen vvealth mē to straye so far forth out of the right vvaye , as to engrosse their bad vvays by priuat monopoles & franchesies in preiudice of royall fredome and common good of all for i am sure that many haue vvrittē apologies touchinge that subiect very laudable vpon good assertions and propositions vvith limitations , exceptions & allovvāces , al allovvable by lavv of reason & conscience yea most beneficiall to vvhole & sovvnd common vvealths , but quite opposite to the general pro positions & assertions of these lavvyers layd dovvne for the surmised authorities & their broken common vvealths , suche as they haue exemplified as patternes to be folovved . but this proceedinge of these lavvyers is not all that vvas to dislīke the late kīge or this liuing , for albeit this author that carieth vpō his shoulders all the parties named in the sayd libel vvoulde make the late kinge beleeue that all tytles being doutfull his force & might should beare avvaye the crovvne of englāde for him selfe or theinfante his daughter , and to facilitat this course made diuerse seminaryes priestes in spayne that vvēt into englāde by threats or fayre meanes to subscribe that in theire conferences there by all possible meanes , they should aduaunce the pretence of the sayd infante : yet since that tyme some of his dependents vvith his priuitie practized the aduaūcement of the late earle of darby an hereticke to the crovvne of englande , vvhich vvrought his vntimelye death as many say , & besides after this he him selfe vvrotte a discour se vvhich vvas sent into englande & published to many of the best catholickes there that he vvoulde vvishe & aduise them vvhen the commoditie serued that they should make an election of some principall noble englishe catholicke to be their kinge , so that the late king , might haue seene if he hade liued , vvhat affection & respect this author caried either to him or his daunghters tytle or ther persons , for that as nevve inuentiōs & cōceipts came in to his head , he vvould frame suche nevv titles & covvrses as vvould best fit the marke he shott at for his particular profit & aduauncemēt , vvhich if the late kinge had liued vvould haue bene a sufficiēt vvarnīge to him for euer beinge abused by the sayd author any more , & no doubt vvill brede the same effect vvith the kinge present & his sister the infante , vvhen they shall knovv thus muche . and as youe may herby see playnly vvith vvhat reasō the kinge of spayne & all monarches in generall are to finde them selues greeued vvith these lavvyers for the litle respect they haue to regall & kingly authoritye vvhich kinges are for their saftie to prouide for , soe is there none more toched to the quicke by thies lavvyers & aucthor then the kings ma. of scotland , nor vvhome they desire to be more defaced touching his persone & right then he , for then they doe as it vvere assure them selues , that all their drifts & practises vvould haue suche issue as they vvish vvith outlet or empeschement . vvherin first their malice is greatly to be taxed that seake to ruyn & ouerthrovve a king that neuer did any of them hurte , but contrarivvise hath so far fauored somme of the authors function , that in deliuering them from daunger of their liues , he hazarded him selse for the same , as the partyes them selues can not denye if they be asked , besides the fauour that he hath shevved to some catholickes , & hath neuer vsed persecution against anye vnelest it be against somme verye fevve that haue bene discouered to deale in some practises vvhich he thought might be daūgerous at that tyme to his person & state . secondely their arrogancy is great in that they vvill determine vvhere the right of the crovvne of englāde avvght to be , & vvoulde haue euery one to folovv the same , vvhen they dare not auouche their names , being ashamed to iustifie their ignoraunce in the common lavves of the realme & crovvne of englande & genealogies bi the vvhich the right is to be tried , if there vvere any doubt of the kinge of scotlandes , & yet neuerthelesse they vvoulde haue theire sayinges & courses to disanulle & anichilate the manifest & knovven right afore all others vvhiche the kinge of scottlande hath to the crovvne of englande due to him first by the quiet possesiō his ancesters for diuerse hūdrethe yeares haue had frō vvhēce he is first liniallye discended , next for that he is in the first place also by the same meane & vvayes that the pretendors vvhome this libeller setteth dovvne , vvoulde aduaunce them selues , & if neede be can lavvfully & iustly deriue him selfe a title long tyme afore them all to the crovvne of englande , and lastly , for confirmatiō of the same kinges right to be the truest & perfectest of all other vvithout exceptiō sr. nicolas saunders that vvas lorde cheefe baron of thexchequer in englande sr. antonye brovvne that vvas lorde cheefe iustice of the commen pleas . mr. carell called the father of the iavve attorney for the queens ma. of the duchye , & mr. edmonde ployden , vvhich vvere very vertuous vvise & most famous mē for their knovveledge in the lavves of the realme & crovvne of englāde as the like hath not bene for manie yeares , did vvith out doubt & difficultie sincerely & playnely resolue and determine that the late queene of scotlāde vvas next heire apparent to the realme and crovvne of englande , vvho vvas his ma. mother , & so consequētly she diinge , her heires vvere to succeede , vvho debated this point vvith the aduise of the best heraults of englande that could be fovvnde , & had also the opinions of the vviser & skilfuller sorte of the realme that did accorde vvith them : yet notvvistanding all this , this ignorant author & lavvyers vvithout name neither vnderstanding the lavves of england nor skilfull in genealogies , vvoulde haue their friuoulous and rediculous reasons to be of more ualour and credit then theis a fore rehersed . lastly thies lavvyers & other are to be noted of great presumption & disobedience that vvith out the authoritie or vvarrant of their superiou's , & specially of his holinesse & others his predecessors vpon vvhō they ought chefly to relye dare ouerthrovve and make kinges forme & frame comon vvealths after their pleasures & fancyes , as thoughe they vvere the superious vpō vvhome pope & all persones of vvhat qualitye so euer are to depēde , & frō vvhome al persons are to receaue & take their directions for spirituall & temporall affaires , vvhich hovve great an absurditye it is for thē to thinke that all vvise mē do not see their rashe folishe & dangerous courses , vvherunto they pretende doth argue ther insolenty , & pride so much to blinde their iudgement , as that they see not hovv their deuises & drifts vvilbe vvhoped & hallovved out of all mens conceipts that be indifferent and that vvould haue their countrye kept from tyrāny & spoile of ancient nobilitie , lavves costumes & priuiledges , vvhich is that it semeth these masqued author and lavvyers most desiere . and it semeth straūge to vvise & vertuous people that this author & disguised lavvyers makinge shevv to be catholickes , & to aduaunce gods cause folovv not the patterne & example of his holiness & predecessors vvho haue euer helde milde & modest courses tovvardes the kinge of scotlāde , moste aggreable to the apostolicke , romaine catholicke church , vvhich is a svvete mother esteeminge it the best and rediest vvaye to dravve & gaine suche princes to the right & true religiō as be out of the sayd churche specially not of malice but by education , and yet these phantasticall aucthor & lavvyers vvould haue all violente & furious courses exercised against the sayd kinge , as depriuation of his ovvne realme and right to the crovvne of englāde , yfit laye in their povver thoughe they see by dayly experience that both princes & other particular persons of great qualitye that falle from thecatholicke churche beinge once in it , & vvere accompted as desperat persones for euer returninge , yet since haue reconsiled them selues vvith great repentance and haue done notable seruices by theire examples , in procuring & hasteninge others of principall ranck to be reconsiled , as namely the most christian kinge of fraunce hath done , for the vvhich he deserueth immortall fame . and therfore since god hathe geuen his grace , that suche remember to returne to the right vvaye that vvere strayed forth of the same , as also hath called and doth call dayly infinit nombers that haue bene borne & bred vp in heresie , in many places & specially in fraunce , vvher of late haue bene recōsiled to the catholicke churche , as it vvere manye vvhole to vvnes and cities of people , & that vvhich is gteatlie & miraculouslie to be noted , the chefe occasion & instruments hereof to be by thre persons conuerted to the catholicke faithe , that vuere in theyr kinde & qualitie the most sharpest and bitterest enemies against the catholicke cause , that is to say , the kinges ma. of fraunce that novve is a most mightie prince , the bishop of eureux a very learned prelate , and monsieur sainct marye a gentilman of great respect vvherfore should these vncharitable aucthor & lavvers condemne the kinge of scottlande as desperate to reconsile him selfe to the true churche , since besides that vvhich hath bene sayd of his ma. he neuer shevved him selfe vvillfull & obstinate in any of his actions but gouerneth him selfe vvith that vvisedome , clemencye , liberalitye , & affabi litye vvithe other singular naturall and morall parts vvhich god hath geuē him that gaineth him great renovvme , & gi ueth great contentement to them that knovve him . and it is verie like that god vvho hath bestovved these notable partes vpon his ma vvill not refuse him the grace that maye make him knovve god & be best for his soules health demandinge the same as he ought to do , & as vpon good consideration & conference if he vvill accept the same he may do & hereunto no doubt vvill he be the better incited vvhen he shall thinke that it is he onely of his race that svvarueth frō the catholicke religiō in vvhich all his noble & princely progenitors haue liued & died , and specially his most sacred mother vvho sealed the same at her death vvith her bludde for the vvhiche she is a martyr , & by the meanes vvherof he is a martyrs sonne , vvhich passeth the dignitye of a kinge or any other vvorldly tytle , and lastly vvhen his ma. shall here , hovv disceatfully & falslye plessey morney did alledge so many hundred places & passages of the doctors & others to maintaine his vvicked doctrine , vvhich being manifestly discouered in his ovvne presence a fore indifferent iudges of catholickes , & of his ovvnne religion , & novv knovven to all the vvorlde , haue procured hi perpetual shame , & haue made many since that tymevvhich accōpted him as one of the chefe heddes & learnednest ofther religiō , to leaue him & to yealde them selues to the obediēce of the catholicke churche . and therfore since there is not desperation of the kinges ma. of scotlandes acknovvledginge the true churche , this auctor vvith his lavvyers maye see vvhat grosse and foule errors they commit , that vvill not let god vvorke his vvill vvho hath the hartes of princes in his handes , but vvill take vpon them , by speaches vvritinges and practises , to censure of his sayd ma. in the vvorst sence that may be to the tuine of his honor and tytle to the crovvne of englande , because he doth not iust at that tyme as they vvould haue hi folovve their pleasures and directions , thoughe his holiness and his predecessors haue bene & are contented to sitte stil , and be silent , vvithout doinge any thinge against his ma. and haue reiected all informations vvhiche i haue herd of credit this author or somme of his associats haue caused to be geuen to his holines or some about him to procure an excomunication against his ma. and herin it is to be noted , that his holines & predecessors procedinges and actions ar gouerned and directed vvith ane other manner of spirit , vvisedome , and discretion then those lavvyers haue bene and that they had and haue their scope and ende cheiffye to aduance gods glorye and rhe true church , vvith out shovvinge fantasticall humors passion and partiallitye as this auctor and his lavvyers haue done and do : and let them not think hovve smothely and svvhiftly so euer they hope to runne avvaye vvith their driftes and deuises , and that they vvould seeme to daunce in a nette in suche sorte that no man shoulde marke & finde their subtiltyes and craste , but that they be espied and clearely seen , and that vvhen opportunitye serueth ( vvhich perhaps vvill not be longe therunto ) they vvilbe mette vvith all by those that are most interessed , and that the name of the aucthor of the booke of tytles , vvith his odious practises shal be presented to his holines , and secunded vvith suche manifest profes as neyther his accustomed cauillations , equiuocations , nor doblinge vvill or shall serue for his purgation , but onely simple and playne dealing must be shevved , & than it shall appeare , vvhether princes and others haue iuste cause to be greeued and offended or no , and vvhether this author meriteth not to be chastised and commaunded to retyre him selfe from meddlinge farther in matters of state , vviche shal be best for the publicke good and his soulthes healthe . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a19224-e100 the book of succesfiō is put fourth as a babling libel . the booke vvas preiudicial to the late kinge of spay ne and to this present . the argument of the treatise . the conference to be disliked for three reasons . tbe scope of the conference . tbe vvayes to the marke . a general compact of the conserrers so bring englande to the ciuil lavves roman . aspecial compact that tvvo lavvyers , and not lavvmust be vmpiers of this matter . six articles of the la vvyers agreement . the ciuilian must lead the temporal lavvyer . popularitye . popular doctrin . feigned mnximes of foreing lavves to direct the crovvne . practise for acōmon fame . a furmised dovvtfullnesse . a dangerous insinuation . a sediciouse cballenge . shyfts to further surmise by complyinge vvith the tyme. dissimulatitn & duplicitie in speache must be vsed . no heyr apparent must he knovvē . to vvyne tyme by false bruts . the qvvene must seeme to be put in securitie for her tyme. things must hes affirmed byvvaye of protestation onely . the late earle of darbye . the circumstances of effect like co folovv this matter of con ference a vayne euasiō . general mischiefs innouasion theltbeller nayther pro fiteth the kinge nor the comon cause . of disser uice done to the kiuge by this conference . the popular doctrin , is ill grovvnded . mischieses in scotlande by this popular doctrin . mischiefes in arragō by the same doctrin . mischieues of this doctrine in the lovve countrie this book of conferēces vvas not published vvith the late kinges priuitye nor this lininig . no vvise man vvill cōsent to his ovvn the kinge preiudicied in stat by the booke manye vvayes in this dayes specially no kinge sure of his state , but remouable by lavve at vvill of people . a fond assumption of the lavvyers . a cra sty shyft to blere the late kinge & this liuin ge heeyes vvith a contradiction . flatterye & dissimulation disgraceth any attempt . blasphemis against the sac●●●d state of regall dignitye . absurdities against bothe king & subiect . a kinge is but tenant at vvil of the people . vvhat vashe boldenesse these difguysed lavvyers shevve . this author and lavvyer mock & abuse the kinge of spayne . the authors extreame malyce against the kinge of scotlande . this author preoccupi ethe the office of a pope . this author refusethe to take his holinesse for an example . no cause to esteme the kinge of scotlande desperate to be reconcyled to the true caetholicke churche as theis lavvyers vvolde haue the vvorld to thincke . the character of a popish successour, and what england may expect from such a one humbly offered to the consideration of both houses of parliament, appointed to meet at oxford, on the one and twentieth of march, 1680/1. settle, elkanah, 1648-1724. 1681 approx. 89 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a59298 wing s2670 estc r10639 11907383 ocm 11907383 50753 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a59298) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 50753) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 511:32) the character of a popish successour, and what england may expect from such a one humbly offered to the consideration of both houses of parliament, appointed to meet at oxford, on the one and twentieth of march, 1680/1. settle, elkanah, 1648-1724. [2], 22 p. printed for t. davies, london : 1681. reproduction of original in huntington library. in reference to the succession of the duke of york, afterwards, james ii. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2005-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-10 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2006-10 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the character of a popish successour , and what england may expect from such a one. humbly offered to the consideration of both houses of parliament , appointed to meet at oxford , on the one and twentieth of march , 1680 / 1. london , printed for t. davies . mdclxxxi . the character of a popish successour , and what england may expect from such a one. it has been my fortune to be a subject and a native of that part of the world , where almost three years last past i have scarce heard any thing , but the continual noise of popery and plots , with all the clamorous fears of a jealous kingdom , about my ears . and truly , i must plainly confess , i am not so ill a commonwealths-man , but that i am glad to see my country-men disturb'd in a cause , where religion , liberty , and property are at stake . if their jealousies are just , and their fears prophetick , in god's name let them talk . every good man ought to be so far from silencing any reasonable murmurs , that 't is rather his duty to bear a part in a choire so universal . and if we see the great and wise men of our nation , like true english patriots , strugling and toiling to prevent our threatning calamities , let us take delight to behold them restless and uneasie , rolling about our troubled sea , like porpoises against a tempest , to forewarn us of an approaching destruction . but amidst our evident danger , we see another sort of people daily slattering and deluding us into a false and fatal security . and sure none are so little our friends , or indeed so void even of humanity it self , as those who wou'd lull us asleep when ruine is in view . but since zeal and hypocrisie , naked truth and artificial falshood , have oftentimes alike faces , i cannot but think it the duty both of a christian and an english-man , to unravel the treachery of those false arguments which they raise to destroy us . as first , they say , why shou'd we stand in fear of popery , when in the present temper of england 't is impossible for any successour whatever to introduce it ? and next , amidst our groundless fears , ( say they ) let us consider what that prince is that appears so dreadful a gorgon to england . a prince that on all accounts has so signally ventur'd his life for his king and country : a heroe of that faithful and matchless courage and loyalty : a prince of that unshaken honour and resolution , that his word has ever been known to be his oracle , and his friendship a bulwark whereever he vouchsafes to place it ; with such an infinite mass of all the bravery and gallantry that can adorn a prince . why , must the change of his religion destroy his humanity , or the advance to a crown render his word or honour less sacred , or make him a tyrant to that very people whom he has so often and so chearfully defended ? why , may there not be a popish king with all these accomplishments , that whatever his own private devotions shall be , yet shall publickly maintain the protestant worship , with all the present constitution of government , unalter'd ? yes , now i say something ! if this rara avis in terris can be found , then england were in a happy condition . but , alas ! what signifie all the great past actions of a princes life , when popery at last has got the ascendant ? all vertues must truckle to religion ; and how little an impression will all his recorded glories leave behind them , when rome has once stampt him her proselyte ? but since unlikely things may come to pass , let us seriously examine how far the notion of such a popish successour consists with reason , or indeed has the least shadow of possibility . if to maintain and defend our religion be any more than a name , it is impossible for any man to act the true defensive part , without the offensive too : and he that wou'd effectually uphold the protestant worship , peace , and interest , is bound to suppress all those potent and dangerous enemies that wou'd destroy 'em ; for all other defence is but disguise and counterfeit . if then the wisdom of several successive monarchs , with a whole nations unanimous prudence , and indefatigable care for the protestant preservation , has determin'd , that those popish priests who have sworn fealty to the see of rome , and taken orders in foreign seminaries , are the greatest seducers of the king's liege-people , and the most notorious incendiaries and subverters of the protestant christianity and loyalty ; and for that cause their several laws declare them traytors ; by consequence these are the potent and dangerous enemies which , in defence of the protestant cause , this popish king is oblig'd to suppress and punish , and these the very laws he is bound to execute . and though , perhaps , till the discovery of the late plot , for several ages we have not seen that severity inflicted on popish priests , as the laws against them require ; and why ? because the flourishing tranquility of the english church under this king and his father's reign , rendred them so inconsiderable an adversary , that the natural tenderness of the protestant people of england , not delighting in blood , did not think it worth their while either to detect or prosecute 'em , and therefore has not made 'em the common mark of justice . but under the reign of an english papist , when the fraternity of their religion shall encourage the pope to make his working emissaries ten times more numerous ; when , if not the hope of publick patronage , yet at least their confidence of private indulgence , connivance , and mercy , emboldens the missive obedience of his jesuitical instruments , whilst the very name of a popish monarch has the influence of the sun in egypt , and daily warms our mud into monsters , till they are become our most threatning and most formidable enemies . and if ever the protestant religion wanted a defender , 't is then . if the word , honour , or coronation oath of a king be more than a name , 't is then or never he is oblig'd to uphold the protestant interest , and actually suppress its most apparent and most notorious enemies . well then , for arguments sake , by the vertue of a strong faith ( a faith so strong as may remove mountains ) let us suppose we may have such a roman catholick king , as shall discountenance pope and popery , cherish protestantism , and effectually deter and punish all those that shall endeavour to undermine and supplant it : and then let us examine what this king , thus qualified , must do . first then , in continuing the ecclesiastick jurisdiction , honours , and preferments in the hands of the protestant clergy , he must confer his favours and smiles on those very men , whom ( by the fundamentals of his own uncharitable persuasion , which dooms all that dye out of the bosom of the romish church to a certain state of damnation ) he cordially believes do preach and teach , and lead his subjects in the direct way to hell : and next , at the same time he must not only punish and persecute , but perhaps imprison and hang those very only righteous men , whom from the bottom of his soul he believes can onely open them the gates of paradise : whilst in so doing he cannot but accuse himself of copying the old jewish cruelty . nay , in one respect he out-goes their crime ; for he acts that knowingly , which they committed ignorantly . for , by the dictates of his religion he must be convinc'd , that in effect he does little less than save a barabbas , and crucifie a jesus . a very pretty chimaera ! which is as much as to make this popish king the greatest barbarian in the creation ; a barbarian that shall cherish and maintain the dissenters from truth , and punish and condemn the pillars of christianity , and proselytes of heaven : which is no other than to speak him the basest of men , and little less than a monster . besides , at the same time that we suppose that king that dares not uphold nor encourage his own religion , we render him the most deplorable of cowards ; a coward so abject , that he dares not be a champion even for his god. and how consistent this is with the glory of a crown'd head , and what hope england has of such a successour , i leave all men of sense to judge . besides , what mis-match'd incongruous ingredients must go to make up this composition of a king ! his hand and heart must be of no kin to one another : he must be so inhumane to those very darling jesuits , that like mahomet's pidgeon infus'd and whisper'd all his heavenly dreams into his ears , that he must not only clip their wings , but fairly cage 'em too ▪ even for the charming oracles they breath'd him : and at the same minute he must leave the wide and open air to those very ravens that daily croak abhorrence and confusion to them , and all their holy dreams , and their false oracles . thus whilst he acts quite contrary to all his inclinations , against the whole bent of his soul , what does he but publickly put in force those laws for the protestant service , 'till in fine , for his nations peace , he ruines his own , and is a whole scene of war within himself ? whilst his conscience accusing his sloth on one side , the pope on the other , romes continual bulls bellowing against him , as an undutiful unactive son of holy mother church , a scandal to her glory , a traytor to her interest , and a deserter of her cause ; one day accusing the lukewarmness of his religion , another the pusilanimity of his nature ; all roman catholick princes deriding the feebleness of his spirit , and the tameness of his arm : till at long run , to spare a faggot in smithfield , he does little less than walk on hot irons himself . thus all the pleasure he relishes on a throne , is but a kind of good-fryday entertainment . in stead of a royal festival , his rioting in all the luxury of his heart , to see romes dagon worshipp'd , romes altars smoak , romes standard set up , romes enemies defeated , and his victorious mother church triumphant ; his abject and poor-spirited submission denies himself the only thing he thirsts for : and whilst the principles he sucks from rome do in effect in the prophets words bid him , rise , slay and eat , his fear , his unkingly , nay unmanly fear , makes him fast and starve . however , if there be such a king in nature , as will not defend his own religion , because he dares not ; but sneaks upon a throne , and in obedience to his fear shrinks from the dictates of his conscience , and the service of his god : if , like jupiters log , such a king can be , and fate has ordain'd us for a popish prince , pray heaven shrowd the imperial lion in this innocent lambs-skin . but i am afraid we shall scarce be so happy ; and i shrewdly suspect , that all those cunning catholick trumpetters who in all companies found the innocence of a popish successour , and flatter us with such a hopeful , harmless , peaceful prince in a papist , have a little of the romish mental reservation in the promises they make us , and no small jesuitical equivocation in the airy castles they build us . but i have heard some say , why , may there not be a zealous prince of any religion , who still out of the meer principles of morality , shall have that tenderness and sense of his peoples peace , as to trouble himself about religion no farther than concerns his own salvation ; and therefore continue the administration of laws and devotion in the same channel he found them ? and all this his meer morality shall do ! alas ! alas ! if he 's a bigot in religion , all his morals are slaves to his zeal . nay , grant him to be the most absolute master of all the cardinal vertues , there 's not one of them that shall not be a particular instrument for our destruction . as for example , allow him fortitude , suppose him a prince of matchless courage : so much the 2worse ; what does that but make him the more daring , and more adventurous , in pushing on the cause of rome , and with a more undaunted and manly patience bear all the oppositions he meets in the way . if he be a man of justice , that still makes for rome : for whilst he believes the pope to be christ's lawful vicar , and that that office includes the ecclesiastical supremacy , no doubt but he 'll think it as much the duty of his cstristianity to give the pope his right , as to take his own : and in christ's own words , that give unto caesar the things that are caesar 's , and unto god those things that are god's , he 'll certainly judge the popes restoration as great a piece of justice , as his own coronation . then if he be a master of temperance , in the properest sense of this moral vertue , viz. a man that can govern his passions , that 's still as bad : for he that has the most bridled passions , has always the firmest and steadiest resolutions . who so renown'd for constancy , so fixt in his resolves , and so unalterable in his determin'd purposes , as that philip of spain , who was never heard to rage , or scarce seen to frown ? nay , history gives this character of him , that after the discovery of his queens adultery with his own son , at the same minute that he order'd her a bowl of poyson , he did not so much as change his look , or voice , either to his treacherous son , or his incestuous wife . and what so fit a pillar for popery , as such constancy in a king ? but if we take temperance in its larger signification , viz. the self-denial of a man's worldly appetites ; still worse and worse : for a riotous luxurious monarch bounds his ambition wholly in the pleasures of a crown , resigns his reins to his charioteers , and leaves the toil of power to his subordinate magistrates , like the work of fate to second causes ; whilst his intemperance so slackens his zeal , that it unbends those very nerves , which otherwise might be more strenuously wound up for our destruction . and lastly , if he has prudence , that 's worst of all . that 's his onely winning card ; the onely leading vertue that manages his policies and conduct with that care and art , till he effects the business of rome , and ripens that mighty work to a perfection , which otherwise an overforward fool-hardy zeal , by ill management , might destroy . thus his very cardinal vertues are the absolute hinges that open the gates to rome . alas ! where superstition rules the day , all moral vertues are but those lesser lights that take their illumination from that greater orb above ' em . and thus , what boots it in a popish heir , to say he 's the truest friend , the greatest of heroes , the best of masters , the justest judge , or the honestest of men ? all meer treacherous quicksands for a people to repose the least glimpse of safety in , or build the least hopes upon . but i have heard a great many say , it cannot enter into their thoughts , that a popish successour will ever take such an inhumane and so unnatual a course to establish popery , it being so absolutely against the english constitution , that it can never be introduced with less than a deluge of blood. surely his very glory should withold him from so much cruelty , considering how much more it would be for his immortal honour , to have the universal prayers than the curses of a nation . and one would think a king would so much more endeavour to win the hearts , than the hatred of his people , that certainly in all probability this excentrick motion , this disjoynting the whole harmony of a world , should be so ungrateful to him , that no religion whatever should put such a thought into his head. and all this his glory shall do ? his glory ! the glory of a papist ! a pretty airy notion . how shall we ever expect that glory shall steer the actions of a popish successour , when there is not that thing so abject that he shall refuse to do , or that shape or hypocrisie so scandalous he shall not assume , when rome or romes interest shall command ; nay , when his own petulant stubbornness shall but sway him ? as for example ; for one fit he shall come to the protestant church , and be a member of their communion , notwithstanding at the same time his face belies his heart , and in his soul he is a romanist . nay , he shall vary his disguises as often as an algerine his colours , and change his flag to conceal the pyrate . as for instance ; another fit , for whole years together , he shall come neither to one church nor th' other , and participate of neither communion , till ignobly he plays the unprincely , nay the unmanly hypocrite , so long , that he shelters himself under the face of an atheist , to shrowd a papist . a vizor more fit for a banditto , than a prince . and this methinks is so wretched and so despicable a disguise , that it looks like being asham'd of his god. besides , if glory could have any ascendant over a popish successour , one would think the word of a king , and the solemn protestations of majesty , ought to be sacred and inviolable . but how many precedents have we in popish princes to convince us , their strongest engagements and promises are lighter than the very breath that utters ' em . as for examples sake ; how did their saint mary of england promise the norfolk and suffolk inhabitants the unmolested continuation of the protestant worship , calling her god ( that god that saw the falseness of her heart ) to witness , that though her own persuasion was of the romish faith , yet she would content her self with the private exercise of her own devotion , and preserve the then protestant government , with all her subjects rights and priviledges , uninjur'd . upon which those poor , credulous , honest , deluded believers , on the security of such prevalent conjurations , led by the mistaken reverence they paid to a protesting majesty , laid their lives at her feet , and were the very men that in that contest of the succession plac'd her on a throne : but immediately , when her soveraign power was securely established , and his pious holiness had bid her safely pull the vizor off , no sooner did smithfield glow with piles of blazing hereticks , but chronicles more particularly observe , that no people in her whole kingdom felt so signal marks of her vengeance , as those very men that raised her to a throne . her princely gratitude for their crowning her with a diadem , crown'd them with their martyrdoms . but since we have mentioned her princely gratitude , 't will not be amiss to recollect one instance more of so exemplary a vertue . in the dispute betwixt hers , and the lady jane grays title to the crown , it was remarkable , that all the judges of england gave their unanimous opinions for the lady janes succession , except one of them only , that asserted the right of mary : but it so fell out , that this man proving a protestant , ( notwithstanding of all the whole scarlet robe he had been her only champion ) was so barbarously persecuted by her , that being first degraded , then imprison'd and tortur'd for his religion , the cruelty of his tormentors was so savage , that with his own hand he made himself away to escape ' em . and well might the violence of his despair sufficiently testifie his sufferings were intolerable , when he fled to so sad a refuge as self-murder for a deliverance . but here says another objection , suppose that the conservation of a nations peace , the dictates of a princes glory , and all the bonds of morality , cannot have any influence over a popish successour ; yet why may there not be that prince , who in veneration of his coronation oath , shall defend the protestant religion , notwithstanding all his private regret , and inclinations to the contrary ? when rather than incur the infamous brand of perjury , he shall tie himself to the performance of that , which not the force of religion it self shall violate ? and then , how can there be that infidel of a subject , after so solemn an oath , that shall not believe him ? why , truly , i am afraid there are a great many of those infidels , and some that will give smart reasons for their infidelity : for , if he keeps his oath , we must allow , that the only motive that prompts him to keep it , is some obligation that he believes is in an oath . but considering he is of a religion that can absolve subjects from their allegiance to an heretical excommunicated prince , nay depose him , and take his very crown away ; why may it not much more release a king from his faith to an excommunicated heretical people , by so much as the ties of vassals to monarchs , are greater than those of monarchs to vassals ? but 't will not be amiss , for strengthning this argument , to give the world an instance of the power of an oath with a roman catholick king. there is a famous gentleman on the other side the water , whom we all very well know , ( pray heaven we live not to be better acquainted with him than we desire ) that once took the strongest of oaths , the sacrament , that he would never invade nor make war upon flanders . but whether or no his confessour found some jesuitical loop-hole from that sacrament , or that the body and blood of christ could not hold him , we see that flanders of late years has not liv'd so merrily , nor so peaceably , as so royal a voucher ( one would have thought ) might have assured them they should . and now let us a little balance the difference between the breach of his oath , and that of a popish princes in england . all the motives that could provoke him to the breach of his oath , was only his ambition , a lust of being great : and at the same time that he is an invader of his neighbouring princes , his conscience must tell him his conquests are at best but so many glorious robberies , and all his trophies but shining rapines . was it not the sense of this that made charles the fifth , who may be also called great , after all his victories , retire from a throne into a cloyster , out of meer remorse for all the streams of blood he had shed , to make the last part of his life an attonement for the faults of the first ? and then if a roman catholick can break an oath only for the pleasure of conquering , which he knows is doing ill ; shall not a popish prince in england have ten times more inclination to break an oath for the propagation of his own faith , which his conscience tells him is meritorious ? for , besides the specious flattery , that kings can do no ill , and that all crimes are cancelled in a crown , he has religion to drive the royal jehu on ; religion , that from the beginning of the world , thro' all ages , has set all nations in a flame , yet never confesses it self in the wrong . besides , how can a popish prince , in attempting to establish his own religion , believe he does his subjects an injustice in that very thing in which he does god justice ; or think he injures ●hem , when he does their souls right ? alas ! no : when rome by her insinuating witchcrafts has lifted the full bowl of her inchantments to his lips , what will his holy enthusiastick rage do less than the hot-brain'd drunken alexander ? all his best friends , and every honest clytus that dares but thwart his frenzy , is presently his frenzies sacrifice : only with this difference ; the frantick alexander , after his drunken fit was over , in his milder and more sensible intervals , with all the compunctions of penitence , could mourn and groan for what his blinder rage had murder'd : but religious frenzy leaves that eternal intoxication behind it , that where it commits all the cruelties in the world , 't is never sober after to be sorry for 't . thus whilst a popish king sets his whole kingdom in a combustion , how little does he think he plays a second nero ? good consciencious man , not he : alas ! he does not tune his joys to the tyrannick nero's harp , but to david's milder and more sacred lyre ; whilst in the height of his pious ecstasie he sings te deum at the conflagration . thus with an arbitrary unbounded power , what does his licencious holy thirst of blood do less , than make his kingdom a larger slaughter-house , and his smithfield an original shambles ? thus the old moloch once again revives , to feast and riot on his dear humane sacrifice : and whilst his fiery iron hands crush the poor burning victime dead , the propagation of religion , and the glory of god , as he calls it , are the very trumpets that deafen all the feeble cries of blood , and drown the dying groans of what he murders . thus whilst the bonds of faith , vows , oaths , and sacraments can't hold a popish successour , what is that in an imperial head , but what in a private man we punish with a gaol and pillory ; whilst the perjur'd wretch stands the universal mark of infamy , and then is driven from all conversation , and like a monster hooted from light and day . but the pope and a royal hand may do any thing ; there 's a crown in the case to gild the deeds his royal engins act . — et quod turpe est cerdoni , volesos brutosque , decebit . they are still that adorable sovereign greatness we must kneel to , and obey . what if a little perjur'd villain has sworn a poor neighbour out of a cow or a cottage ! hang him , inconsiderable rogue , his ears deserve a pillory . but to vow and covenant , and forswear three kingdoms out of their liberties and lives , that 's illustrious and heroick . there 's glory in great atchievements , and vertue into success . alas ! a vast imperial nimrod hunts for nobler spoils , flies at a whole nations property and inheritance . a game worthy a son of rome , and heir of paradise . and to lay the mighty scene of ruine secure , he makes his coronation oath , and all his royal protestations , ( those splendid baits of premeditated perjury ) the cover and skreen to the hidden fatal toil laid to insnare a nation . but now to their main objection : some people will tell us , that 't is wholly impossible for any popish successour , by all his arts or endeavours whatever , to introduce popery into england . to this i answer , if he 's a papist that says so , he knows he belies his conscience ; for our late hellish plot is a plain demonstration , that their whole party believed it possible . for did not the late secretary st. coleman's records tell us , that the pestilent northern heresie was to be rooted out , and that now they had as much hopes of accomplishing that sacred work of rome , as they had in queen marys days ? could any thing be plainer , than that the subtle jesuits had formed a design to effect it ? for it is contrary to reason , and even nature it self , ( as bloody as their principles are ) to think they aim'd at the life of their king , and would play the regicides only to commit the blackest of murders , for meerly murders sake . no : they had the assurance under a presumptive popish heir , of making a national conversion ; and how little privy soever he might possibly be to their principal and hellish blow , yet they had that perfect in-sight into the very soul of a papist , that they were satisfied that under that notion it was impossible for him to be otherwise than a man of romes right stamp , and their hearts own liking . and if under such a successour , their hopes of a nations conversion were equal to those in queen marys time , no doubt the converting means must have been as bloody or bloodier than hers . for if after the short infancy of seven years reformation , under the protestant edward the sixth's reign , there wanted fire and faggot to restore the pope ; how much more will he want them for his restoration , after an exclusion of almost seven-score years together , with all the necessary difficulties of regaining his empire , where his throne has been so long demolish'd ? nay , in edward's days the only detestation of the fopperies , idolatries , and superstitions of rome , was all that went to make a protestant reformation . alas ! the beast was then but young : but his horns are since grown stronger , and his teeth and tallons sharper ? for , since that , we have had the notorious paris and irish massacres , when at one riotous festival above 100000 bleeding protestant hearts were all gorged by the devouring monster in a night . add to these , the successive villanies of gunpowder-treasons , fired cities , with plots against kings and kingdoms , which serve to heighten the protestant abhorrency . and if after all this we must still be converted , most certainly his holiness must follow nebuchadnezzar's example , and heat his fiery furnace seven times hotter than formerly . thus far we are convinc'd that the jesuits beliv'd it possible ; and they are too cunning and politick a sort of people , to be deceiv'd with shadows , or make mountains of mole-hills . and that it may not be objected , that their zeal has blinded their reason , let us but rightly consider , how far the first foundations of popery , ( viz. arbitrary power ) may be laid in england . first , then , if a papist reign , we very well understand that the judges , sheriffs , justices of the peace , and all the judiciary officers , are of the king's creation : and as such , how far may the influence of preferment on baser constitutions , cull'd out for his purpose , prevail even to deprave the very throne of justice her self , and make our judges use even our protestant laws themselves to open the first gate to slavery ? alas ! the laws , in corrupted judges hands , have been too often used as barbarously as the guests of procrustes , who had a bed for all travellers ; but then he either cut them shorter , or stretch'd them longer , to fit them to it . well , but if the publick ministers of justice betray the liberty of the subject , the subject may petition for a parliament to punish 'em for 't . but what if he will neither hear one , nor call the other ? who shall compel him ? the intail'd revenues of the crown are much larger than his popish predecessors e're enjoy'd , notwithstanding all the branches of it that terminate with the life of this present king. besides , if this will not do , there 's no doubt but he 'll find sufficient assistance from the pope , english papists , and foreign princes : and then having but a prudent eye , and a tenacious hand , to manage his exchequer , we shall find he 'll never call that people he shall never have need of . and then where are our parliaments , and a redress for all the grievances and oppressions in the world ? but all this while the pope is not absolute , there wants a standing army to crown the work. and he shall have it ; for who shall hinder him ? nay , all his commanders shall be qualified , even by our present protestant test , for the employment . he shall have enough men of the blade out of one half of the gaming-houses in town , to officer twice as many forces as he shall want . 't is true , they shall be men of no estates nor principles ; but they shall fight as well as those that have both : for people are ever as valiant that have their fortunes to raise , as those that have them to defend : nay , of the two they shall be more faithful to him ; for they have no property to be concern'd for , and will more zealously serve him , by reason their whole interests and estates lie in him . and that this army may be more quietly raised , how many honourable pretences may be found ? perhaps the greatest and most importunate preservation of his kingdom shall call for it ; and then , upon second thoughts , in stead of defeating some foreign enemy , they are opportunely ready to cut our throats at home , if we do not submit , and give all that this king shall ask . and then i hope none will deny , but his revenue may be as great as he and his popish counsellors shall think fit to make it . thus far we have given the pourtraicture of a popish king : and now let us take a draught of his features in his minority ; that is , whilst he is only a popish heir apparent . imagine then a long and prosperous reign of a protestant prince , a prince so excellently qualified , that true original of clemency , goodness , honour , all the most dazling beams of majesty : that with all his sacred princely endowments he renders himself so true a vicegerent of heaven in his three kingdoms , so near an image of god in the moderation of his temper , and the dispensation of his laws , that even the nearness of his affinity to heaven should entitle him to the dearest care of it . and to prove him the dearest care of heaven , imagine likewise that heaven has given him a people of those loyal and grateful principles , looking up with that thankful allegiance , and kneeling with that humble veneration to the best of kings , the authour of their prosperity , and the founder of his kingdoms glory , that they have made it the greatest study of their obedience to deserve so good a king. witness in all exigences their cordial tendring their lives to serve him , and so far endeavouring to strengthen his scepter and his sword , till perhaps they have added those gems to his crown , that all his princely ancestors could never boast of : being so truly strenuous in rendring their purses and fortunes his absolute votaries , till they have made his revenue more than trebbly exceed all his royal predecessors : and not stopping here , but upon all occasions continuing their generous and unwearied bounty : nay , that too , not always where his peoples safety , and his kingdoms glory , but where his private satisfaction call'd for it ; as if they were resolved to yield their hands and hearts so entire a sacrifice to majesty , that they would gratifie even his softest wishes , studying to sweeten his fatigue of empire with all the pleasures of a throne . now let us suppose , after a long tranquillity of this matchless monarch's reign , that the immediate heir to his crown , and a part of his blood , by the sorceries of rome is canker'd into a papist . and to pursue this landschape , we see this once happy flourishing kingdom so far ( as in all duty and reason bound ) concern'd for themselves , their heirs , and their whole countries safety , till with an honest , cautious , prudent fear they begin to inspect a kingdoms universal health ; till weighing all the symptoms of its state , they plainly descry those pestilential vapours fermenting , that may one day infect their air , and sicken their world ; and see that rising eastern storm engendring , that will once bring in those more than egyptian locusts , that will not onely fill their houses , and their temples , but devour their labours , their harvests , and their vintages . thus they so long survey their threatned countries danger , till with a more than prophetick horrour , they manifestly discover all the inseparable concomitants of a popish successour ; and , like true patriots , anticipate their woes , with a present sense of the future miseries they foresee . with these just resentments of their dangerous state , 't is easie to conclude what follows . what is this popish heir in the eye of england , but perhaps the greatest and onely grievance of the nation , the universal object of their hate and fear , and the subject of their clamours and curses ? at whose door lie their discontents and murmurs ; but 't is murmurs so violent , that they thrust in amongst their very prayers , and become almost a part of their devotions : murmurs so bold , that they dare approach the very palace , nay throne and ear of majesty . and whenever the people of england reflect on this heir as their king in reversion , they have reason to look upon him as no better than jupiter's stork amongst the frogs . yes , notwithstanding all his former glories and conquests , his whole stock of fame is so lost and buried in his apostacy from the religion , and consequently the interest of these protestant kingdoms , that all his services are cancell'd , and his whole mass of glory corrupted . suppose likewise this popish heir for many happy years so blest in the tenderness and friendship of the best of kings , that there is not that favour or honour within the reach or wish of majesty , that he has not made it the study of his whole reign to confer upon him ; whilst his greatness and lustre have been so much his dearest darling care , as if the promoting his interest had been the support of his own ; till in short he has had so large a share in the bosom of this royal pylades , this kindest and most gracious of princes , as if one soul had animated them both . on this foundation , as great affections are not easily removed , and sympathy is that bond which humane power can ne'er dissolve , suppose moreover , that this inseparable tie continues so long , notwithstanding all the changes of principles and religion , a byass so heavy that it almost overturns a kingdom : yet still the force of nature and friendship surmounts them all , and stands that zealous unshaken bulwark , for the protection and safety of this dearest part of himself ; till at length he does little less than act so over-fond a pelican , that he exhausts even his own vitals to cherish him . thus whilst the long and lawful fears of a drooping nation have fully and justly satisfied them , that the kindest and most favourable aspect of majesty that smiles on england , thro' the defence and interest of a popish heir , shines but like the sun thro' a burning-glass , whose gentlest morning vernal beams , thro' that fatal medium , do but burn and consume what otherwise they would warm and cherish ; what can the consequence of this unhappy friendship be , but that the very souls and loyalties of almost a whole kingdom are staggered at this fatal conjunction ; till i am afraid there are too many , who in detestation of that one gangren'd branch of royalty , can scarce forbear ( how undutifully soever ) to murmur and revile even at that imperial root that cherishes it ? insomuch that those very knees that but now would have bow'd into their very graves to serve him , grow daily and hourly so far from bending ( as they ought ) to a crown'd head , till they are almost as stubborn as their petitions and prayers have been ineffectual . thus whilst a popish heir's extravagant zeal for rome makes him shake the very throne that upholds him , by working and incroaching on the affections of majesty for that protection and indulgence that gives birth and life to the heart-burnings of a nation ; what does he otherwise , than in a manner stab his king , his patron , and his friend , in his tenderest part , his loyal subjects hearts ? which certainly is little less than to play the more lingering sort of parricide ; a part so strangely unnatural , that even savages would blush at ; yet this religion , incorrigible remorseless religion , never shrinks at . thus whilst the universal nerves of a whole strugling nation bend their united force against the invasion of pope and popery , in studying to prevent tyranny , they grow jealous of monarchy . and fearing lest their loyal aid to the father of their country should unhappily contribute to the strengthning of the subverters of their peace and liberty , instead of that tributary gold which once they so cheerfully shower'd at their dread soveraign's feet , now on the contrary the protection of a popish successor makes them so far from supplying the real and most pressing necessities of majestie , that they are rather well-pleased and triumph in his greatest wants , and that perhaps when his glory , nay possibly when his nearest safety calls for their assistance . thus what does this popish heir in tying up the hands of a whole nation from their just devotion to their king , but onely this , in return for the accumulated honours heaped upon him , he most inhumanely starves the very hand that fed him . an ingratitude that even an infidel would be ashamed of ! but this religion , incorrigible remorseless religion , never blushes at . besides , if there can be a son of that royal martyr charles the first , a prince so truly pious , that his very enemies dare not asperse his memory or life with the least blemish of irreligion ; a prince that seal'd the protestant faith with his blood ; who in his deplorable fate and ignominious death , bore so near a resemblance to that of the saviour's of the world , that his sufferings can do no less than seat him at the right hand of heaven . if , i say , there can be a son of that royal protestant , of that uncharitable popish faith , who by the very tenets of his religion dooms all that die without the bosome of their church irreparably damn'd ; then consequently he must barbarously tear up his fathers sacred monument , brand his blessed memory with the name of heretick ; and to compleat the horrid anathema , he most impiously execrates the very majestie that gave him being . then in fine , provided and granted that we have an heir to the imperial crown of england perverted to the romish faith , and consequently of that depraved constitution and principles , that he has neither charity for the stock from whence he sprang , concern or care for the safety , peace , glory , or prosperity of the best of patrons , friends , and kings ; nor lastly , any remorse for all the groans of an afflicted kingdom : what promises can we give our selves of his future reign , when we have all these fatal prognosticks before-hand ? ex pede hercules . or is it likely he will have greater care and tenderness for a nations peace , when he shall be seated on a throne , and have more power to take it from them ? but says a critick to all this , suppose this popish heir undoubtedly believes ( as a papist must do ) that there 's no way to heaven but his own ; should he so far comply with the glory or interest of his king , though a father or a brother , on the one side , and the quiet and safety of a nation on the other , as to renounce his principles of christianity , and conform to theirs ? what were that , but to purchase their peace with his own damnation , and to sacrifice his own soul for their worldly interests ? and certainly neither duty , nor allegiance , nor any tye whatever , ought to extort that from him . and then , if all the grievances of a kingdom lie at his door , alas , the worst can be said of him is , that if he be any occasion of it , 't is his unhappiness , and not his fault . more especially , provided he is onely passive , and that we plainly see , that during his being this popish heir , he acts nothing that may encourage or favour popery in the least . pray , by the way , how must it follow , that if we do not plainly see him act , that therefore he must not act ? does no man act , but he that publickly treads the stage ? does no man sit at the helm , but he that visibly holds the rudder ? does no wind stir the troubled sea into a tempest , but what the poor mariners both hear and feel ? no storm , but that which lightens in their eyes , and thunders in their ears , to warn 'em 't is a coming ? alas , alas , the greatest hurricanes are onely made by subterranean winds . a secret , silent , underground-working mine of ruine , which never bursts out till it destroys , and which no man hears or sees till he is lost . but to return to the objection , the grievance of a nation may be his unhappiness , and not his fault , &c. that is , in short , he cannot help it . very right . and so when this popish heir comes to the crown , and promotes the romish interest with all the severity , injustice , and tyranny , that religious cruelty can invent ; his answer will be , he cannot help it , or at least cannot withstand those irresistible motives that prompt him to their execution ; which is the same thing . the injunctions of his conscience make him as active now in the ruining a kingdoms peace , as he was passive in it before . for who can be so void of common sense , as not to know , that the same impulse of conscience that makes a man a roman catholick , will make him act like one when opportunity serves ? and what greater opportunity to establish popery , than for a papist to wear a crown ? and tho' perhaps the stubborn english genius will not easily bend to the superstition of rome , yet since his almighty friend the pope , the undisputed keeper of the keys of paradise , will no doubt assigne him no common diadem in heaven for so glorious a task as a nations conversion , who then will not make that sacred work the study of years , which cannot be accomplisht in a day , for such a reward ? especially when he has these two infallible arguments to spur him on in so godly a cause : first then , he is of a religion that makes humane merit the path to salvation . merit , the roman catholick exchequer , rome's bottomless golden mine . merit , that makes the frighted dying sinner starve his own blood , and pawn his estate , to redeem his soul. merit , that drains the wealth of nations into the priestly coffers , and makes the luxury of a world the pamper'd riotous church-mans inheritance . merit , that can make a loretto-chappel vie with a venetian arsenal ; and rome's altars , cloysters , and covents , rise so high , so rich , so numerous , and so magnificent , tho' the impoverisht widows groans , and the naked orphans cryes , do little less towards the building than a second amphion . nay , merit , that can consecrate daggers , and kill kings . thus whilst he has the wonder-working merit for his tutor , what greater and more meritorious act to canonize him a saint of the first magnitude , than the converting of an apostatized heretical kingdom ? and then next , he is of a religion that does not go altogether in the old-fashion apostolical way of preaching and praying , and teaching all nations , &c. but scourging , and wracking , and broiling 'em into the fear of god. a religion that for its own propagation will at any time authorize its champions to divest themselves of their humanity , and act worse than devils , to be saints . and thus whilst neither the cries of blood can deter him on the one side , and so no tyranny come amiss to him ; and next , that he has the undeniable assurance of the greatest blessings of eternity to encourage him on the other ; with these advantages , who would not be as active as a second romulus , and with all his utmost vigour and pride , build up his romes new walls , tho' he made his nearest , nay the nations dearest blood their cement ? and thus what is a popish heir , but the most terrible and the most dangerous of englands enemies , and of all our foes , has the most inflexible invincible enmity . nay , the very outrages of thefts , murders , adulteries , and rebellions , are nothing to the pious barbarities of a popish king. the murderer and adulterer may in time be reclaimed by the precepts of morality , and the terrours of conscience . the thief , by the dread of a gallows may become honest . nay , the greatest traytor , either by the fear of death , or the apprehensions of hell , may at last repent . but a papist on a throne has an unconfutable vindication for all his proceedings , challenges a commission even from heaven for all his cruelty dares act . and when the enchantments of rome have toucht his tongue with a coal from her altars , what do his enthusiasms make him believe , but that the most savage and most hellish dooms his blinded zeal can pronounce , are the immediate oracles of god ? and all the apology a poor nation can expect from him , is , he cannot help it . i , but ( say the wisest criticks we have met with yet ) if these be the dangers of a popish king , why have we not such strong , such potent laws made before this popish heir come to the crown , that it shall be impossible for him ever to set up popery , though he should never so much endeavour it ? to this i answer ; to endeavour to set up popery by law , even with the laws that we have already against it , is impossible ; and therefore the very supposition of the projection that way is nonsence . and on the other side , to conclude he 'll endeavour to do it against law , and so to make new laws on purpose for him to break them with their fellows , is worse nonsence than t'other . besides , who shall call this king to question for breaking these laws , if he has the power and will to do it ? i fancy that the onely nearest illustration i can make upon this point , in creating new laws against popery in case of a popish successor , is as politick a piece of work in the kinde , as building the hedge to fence in the cuckow . 't is true , i will not deny , but a popish king may be totally restrain'd from all power of introducing popery , by the force of such laws that may be made to tye up his hands ; but then they must be such as must ruine his prerogative , and put the executive power of the laws into the hands of the people . if a king of england were no more than a stadt-holder in holland , or a duke of venice , no doubt popery would have little hopes of creeping into england ; which is in short , he that is no king , can be no tyrant . but what monarch will be so unnatural to his own blood , so ill a defender , and so weak a champion for the royal dignity he wears , as to sign and ratifie such laws as shall entail that effemenacy and that servility on a crown , as shall render the imperial majesty of england but a pageant , a meer puppet upon a wire ? if then no king will assent to make laws to do it this way , and no laws can do it t'other , all laws against popery , in case of a popish successor , are , as i told you before , but building the hedge , &c. for indeed , how can the force of laws made by a protestant predecessor , and a protestant parliament , in any sort binde a popish successor , when the very first advance of the popes supremacy introduces that higher power , those canonick ecclesiastick laws , which no secular , or any temporal court can or may controul ? laws that shall declare , not onely all the statutes and acts of parliament made against the dignity of mother church , void and null , but the very law-makers themselves as hereticks , wholly uncapable of ever having any right of making such laws . no doubt then , but that fire that burns those heretick law-makers , shall give their laws the same martyrdom . with this certain prospect , both of the ruine of their estates , lives , and liberties , where lyes the sin in the commons of england to stand upon their guard against a popish successor ? aye , a god's name let 'em stand upon their guards , and use all expedients to keep out popery and tyranny , provided still that we preserve the sacred succession in its right line ; for that we are told both king and people are obliged in conscience to defend and uphold . i think i need not insist further in multiplying arguments to prove how far 't is impossible to do one without the other ; but on the other side , let us examine how the defending and establishing a popish successor , is an obligation on our duties or consciences . first then , let us fancy we see this popish heir on his throne , and by all the most illegal and arbitrary means , contrary to the whole frame and hinges of the english government , introducing popery with that zeal and vigour , till his infatuated conscience has perverted the king into a tyrant . and not to stop here , if the constitution of the english majesty makes a king supream moderator and governour both ecclesiastick and civil : what does this popish king by admitting the pope's church-supremacy , but divest himself of half his royalty , whilst like the junior king of brainford in the play , he resignes and alienates the right and power of majesty to an invader and an usurper ? and whilst we are thus enslaved by a medley-government betwixt tyranny and usurpation , by establishing a papist on a throne , we are so far from preserving the crown , that is , the imperial dignity , in a right line of succession , that we do not preserve it at all , but on the contrary extirpate and destroy it , whilst by enthroning a papist we totally subvert and depose the very monarchy it self . and can it be the duty of either englishmen or christians , to have that zeal for a corrupted leprous branch of royalty , that we must ruine both religion , government , and majesty it self , to support him ? how much more consistent would it be with the honest , prudent , and lawful means of a nations preservation , to take out one link out of the whole chain of succession , than by preserving that , to break the whole to pieces ? next let us see , who 't is the commons of england would render uncapable of inheriting the imperial crown ; a prince of the royal blood , nurst and bred up in the protestant allegiance and faith , and afterwards seduced and perverted to the romish principles and superstition . and what 's that , but a prince whom the unanimous voice both of king and people , ( for such are the laws of england ) have declared guilty of high-treason , as we finde it in the first statute in the 23 d of elizabeth . statute . be it declared and enacted by the authority of this present parliament , that all persons whatever , which have , or shall have , or pretend to have power , or shall by any way or means put in practice to absolve , perswade , or withdraw any the queens majesties subjects , or any within her highness realms and dominions , from their natural obedience to her majesty ; or withdraw 'em for that intent from the religion now by her highness authority establisht within her highness dominions , to the romish religion ; or to make them , or any of them , to promise any obedience to any pretended authority of the see of rome , or any other prince , state , or potentate , to be had or used within her dominions ; or shall do any overt-act to that intent or purpose ; and every of them , shall be to all intents adjudged to be traytors ; and being thereof lawfully convicted shall have judgment to suffer and forfeit as in case of high-treason . and if any person shall , after the end of this sessions of parliament , by any means be willingly absolved , or withdrawn as aforesaid , or willingly reconciled , or shall promise any such obedience to any such pretended authority , prince , state , or potentate , as is aforesaid ; then every such person , their procurers and councellors thereunto , being thereof lawfully convicted , shall be tryed and judged , and shall suffer and forfeit as in cases of high-treason . nor was this act any more than a confirmation and explanation of an act made before , in the 13 th year of her reign ; where 't is likewise declared , that if any person , or persons , shall willingly receive or take any absolutions , or reconciliations from the see of rome , that they and their seducers shall be equally guilty of high-treason . nay , we have an act even in henry the 8th's reign , in which is declared , that any man that shall refuse the oath of henry 's supremacy in renunciation of the pope , shall be guilty of high-treason . if then we have a popish heir presumptive , of the same brand that these laws have markt him out , i would ask , what crime 't is in the people of england to endeavour to disable a tyrant from wearing a crown ? besides , they consider they are under a regulated and bounded government , a government where no man stands or falls but by his own act and decree ; whilst the whole dispensation of meum and tuum are made by every mans self , or his representatives . since then the people of england , as the lawmakers , are an essential part of the government ; and are fully assur'd in the reign of a papist , that right will be destroy'd , why should not they be as active and vigorous for their own royal inheritance , and sacred succession of power , as a king for his ? nay they ought to be the more vigorous of the two . for the king in defending a popish heir , protects but that successor , whose tyranny he shall never live to see ( since it commences but from his grave ) ; but the people of england , in asserting their rights and liberties , and defending themselves and their heirs , do oppose that tyranny which they may both live to see and feel . and that they may assure themselves they shall feel it , if ever a papist mounts this throne , then all their murmurs , their petitions , protestings , and association-votes will be remember'd to the purpose . he that has gone a long and tiresome journey through brakes and briars to a splendid palace , when once in possession , will send out to root up all those thorns , and weed those thistles that gor'd him in the way . alas ! too sure he 'll make good that old promise of god to the seed of the woman , he 'll crush their heads , that bruised his heels . and would it not be hard , that the folly and fall of one man should renew our old adam's misfortune , and entail a curse on our whole english generation ? if the policy of rome , like the old serpents subtilty , has puft him up into an ambition and lust of being equal to gods ; may he have adam's success too , whilst the protestant hearts and hands of england , stand like the angels flaming sword to expel him from that once hereditary paradise , which now his apostacy has justly forfeited and lost . besides , that the disinheriting of an heir to the crown of england may not appear a thing so illegal , or indeed so monstrous as some people would make it , i would only refer those vehement assertors of the inviolable right of succession , to our own chronicles for their confutation . for they 'll find not only the succession was scarce ever kept for three kings reigns together , in a direct line of descent , since the conquest ; but that the crown and succession were frequently disposed and settled by acts of parliament . i shall need instance but in some few particulars . in the 25. of henry the 8 th , we find the parliament ordering the succession , and enacting , that the imperial crown of this realm shall be to king henry the 8th , and to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten on queen anne , and the heirs of the bodies of such several sons respectively , according to the course of inheritance ; and for default of such issue , then to the sons of his body in like manner ; and upon failure of such issue , then to the lady elizabeth , &c. by the same statute is every subject at full age obliged by an oath to defend the contents of this , and the refusal made misprision of treason . in the 28 th year of his reign , was that act repealed , and the parliament entailed the crown on the heirs of his body by queen jane , the lady mary and the lady elizabeth being both declared illegitimate , the first as the daughter of katharine , formerly his brothers wife , and divorced ; and the last as the daughter of anne boleign , atainted of high treason . and in case he died without issue , then the parliament empower'd him by the same act to dispose of the succession by his own letters patents , or his last will. in the 35th year of his reign the parliament granted the succession to edward , and for want of heirs of his body , to the lady mary , and the heirs of her body ; and for want of such heirs , to the lady elizabeth ; but both subject to such conditions as the king should limit by his letters patents , or by his last will signed by his hand ; and if the king left no such conditions by his will , or under his letters patents , then either of them should enjoy the imperial crown , with the limitations only made in that act. by these acts we may plainly see , that the succession of the english crown was wholly subjected to the disposal , determinations , and limitations of parliament . and that we may be well assured that that right lay in them , henry the 8th was a prince of that wisdom and prudence , and so far from submitting to parliaments , that we may be very well assur'd , that he would never have complimented them with a power that was not their due . if he had thought in the least that he could have disposed of the succession himself , no doubt but he would have challenged the prerogative , had he had it to challenge . and as in every one of these three acts they declared that their zeal for setling the succession was for prevention of those mischiefs , and that bloodshed that might possibly be occasioned by future disputes ; here 't is observed , that whilst they thus bandied the succession so many various ways , by three several acts in one kings reign , they did not so much respect the preservation of the right heir , as the kingdoms safety . for had they been so passionately tender for the next of blood in that age , as some would have us be in this , they would never have excluded the lady mary and elizabeth from the crown in one act , or never have re-admitted them again in another . besides , one thing is rema●kable in these acts of parliament , viz. the last act of parliament gives the succession to those very ladies whom the king and parliament had before declared and recorded illegitimate . nay , they had proceeded so far , as to make it treason for any man by writing or printing to say or declare that either the lady mary or the lady elizabeth were legitimate ; and yet afterwards these were no impediments to debar them from a throne . and england was never more blest , than under the long and glorious reign of that excellent princess elizabeth , how illegitimate soever she had been rendered . i shall onely cite one act more , and that is the 13 of elizabeth , where 't is made treason to affirm the right of succession of the crown to be in any other than the queen ; or to affirm that the laws and statutes made in parliament , do not bind the right of the crown , and the descent , limitation , inheritance , and governance thereof . if after so plain and evident proofs of the undeniable power of parliaments , we meet so many snarlers against the proceedings of the last , i know no excuse they can make for themselves , but by owning their ignorance to be as great as their impudence . if then ( which no man in his right wits can deny ) our religion , lives , and liberties are only held by a protestant tenure , and the majesty of england not only by the force of his coronation-oath , but by all the tyes whatever ought to be the pillar and bulwark of the protestant faith , and at the same time granting that we have a popish prince to inherit the imperial crown of england , he ought certainly in all justice as little to ascend this throne , as nebuchadnezzar ought to have kept his when the immediate blast of heaven had made him so uncapable of ruling as a king , that he was only a companion fit for brutes and savages . and if he had no injustice done him when he was thrust out into his proper element , to feed and herd with the beasts of the field ; a papist heir of england , with that perswasion and principles so destructive to the british state , has as little wrong done him in being debar'd from the succession , as a fitter guest for a cloyster than a throne . i remember story tells us , that the mother of paris , the son of king priam , dreaming before his birth she had brought forth a firebrand , that should one day set their troy in flames ; immediately upon this , the afflicted king , as a true father of his country , notwithstanding all the compunctions of nature , and tyes of blood , was so far from cherishing even his own race , and a branch of himself , that he ordered the infant to be brought up amongst swains , as the son of a shepherd ; where divested of all his princely fortunes , and ignorant of his own high blood , he should end his days in ignoble obscurity . and all this out of the prophetick horror but of a dream , that seemed to threaten the peace and safety of his kingdom . and how much more reason has the present power of england , for effectually opposing popery , by disinheriting a popish successor , when under a popish monarch , our troynovant has the undeniable assurance of being put into a flame ; when priams fear was but a dream ? how fabulous soever this story may appear , yet i am certain we have too much reason to esteem the moral of it oraculous . and surely our present greatest sticklers for an unbroken succession of the crown , must of all mankind set but a very little price upon their countrey , and conclude our england the most inconsiderable part of christendom , when the interest of one man shall outweigh that of three kingdoms , with the whole safety of religion itself , and the glory of god to fill up the ballance . but indeed they are resolved to be positive ; and be the next of blood a papist or a mahumetan , yet if he be born to it , let him govern us . and truely i cannot forbear to repeat one of their commonest arguments , and as they think strongest ; which is , if the son of a private gentleman , though a papist , shall inherit and quietly possess his hereditary estate ; is it not hard , nay barbarous injustice , that the son of a king , and the heir of a crown , should lose his patrimony of three kingdoms for being a papist ? though this argument , as argumentum à fortiori , has mighty sound in 't ; yet how feeble will it appear , when the analogy shall be examin'd ! the papist gentleman that 's born to an estate , may peaceably inherit it ; yes , and with some reason for it : for he 's a subject of a protestant kingdom , and as such , has protestant laws to rule him . he can neither force his neighbour or his tenant to mass , or imprison or burn 'em for hereticks , nor seize their estates as forfeited to rome , whilst he is a papist . his religion is only to himself , and if he takes any violent or unlawful course to propagate his own perswasion , he 's not so big but he may be brought into westminster-hall to answer for it . nay , possibly the papist subject under a protestant government , may sometimes behave himself as a more harmless and quiet common-wealths-man , than a protestant himself , if for no other than his own preservation , as not daring to awaken that justice that may inflict the penal statutes against him for his recusancy . but how directly contrary to all this is the influence of a romish heir , when there is not one of all these destructive qualities ( of which a private man can ne're be guilty ) that he on the other side shall not vigorously and undoubtedly put in execution , when once the acquisition of a crown has enabled him for it , as we have at large discoursed before ? and if the princely popish heir be disinherited , when a private gentleman escapes , 't is not for his religion , for that may be alike in both ; but for his uncontrolable power of establishing that religion , which a royal station will inevitably give him . alas , the protestant strength is above the fear of any little popish beasts of prey : it only behoves their safety , to hunt the imperial lyon down . if then the english blood boils so high , and the access of a papist to a throne must necessarily meet a passage so difficult , with all these solid bars between ; if his religion were as honourable as 't is invincible , what deathless fame , and what eternal trophies might a popish heir atchieve , if the welfare of a king and kingdoms could so far influence him , as freely of himself to make the union of king and people a work of his own creation , by slacking the fatal strength of a too generous brothers over-violent friendship ; and so rendring our universal peace his inclination , and not necessity ? i remember in the old roman history , when a long plague had reigned in rome , and an earthquake had opened a prodigious gulph in the middle of the forum , their consulteo oracle told 'em , that neither the plague should be stopt , nor the breach closed , till the most noble victim in rome had appeased their angry deity . when curtius , a noble youth of rome , of the best and highest roman quality , most princely adorn'd , and most gallantly mounted on horseback , with a look so gay and so cheerful , more like that of a bridegroom than a sacrifice , amidst a thousand wondering tender eyes around him , rode headlong into the yawning pit . thus falling , unterrified at so dreadful a precipice for his countries deliverance , he extorted the promise of the oracle ; for the pestilence ceased , and the closing earth sealed up his grave . the voluntary resignation of a popish heir , would be no less a signal national service in the present exigence of england , than that of curtius in rome ; only 't is attended with milder circumstances . our state , as dangerous as it is , does not require any sanguinary sacrifice : the cure he might make to all our plagues , would be only the easier oblation of quitting the doubtful prospect of a remote and craggy throne ; and that too , to refix a shaking crown , to regain the hearts of a whole nation , and build himself that pyramid of honour , which would outshine the wearing a diadem . besides , let plotting but once end , and the pendant sword , which like that of damocles , hangs but by a hair o're our soveraigns head , be safely sheath'd , and give nature fair play , the little disparity of their years considered , the resigning of a crown in all humane probability , would not appear at so much distance , and such uncertainty , altogether so extravagant an offering , especially when 't is made for a king and brothers safety and glory , a kingdoms peace and prosperity ; nay indeed , the whole repose of christendom , when the concordance of the king and parliament is the greatest means for strengthening those forreign alliances , that may give check to the fatal growth of france . nay , above all this , what immortal glory would it bring even to the romish religion it self , when a prince so immediately allied to a crown , shall voluntary lay aside the hopes and pretensions to a temporal diadem , for an immortal one ? and how many more , at least more hearty converts would so transcendent an example of piety make , beyond the utmost severer influence of a throne ? nay , i may even without flattery say , the deed would make him so adorable , that for losing a crown , he would almost raise himself an altar . but rome ( heaven knows ) has other work in hand ; she 'll have no proselytes of that kind of creation ; her rode of conversion , i assure you , lies quite another way : besides , her champions are not made of so pure and so refin'd an oar , their minerals are more course , and more allay'd . her saints , in spight of all their heavenly contemplations , have still so much of earth about them , that like the feet of daniels image , they are a mixture between iron and clay . but to sum up all ; if no reason must or shall prevail , and that right or wrong a papist must succeed , when all the inseparable cruelties of pope and popery shall surround us ; suppose the worst that may be , that the dreadful approach of certain slavery , so opposite to the free born genius of england , has exasperated them into a spirit of rebellion ; what is it but the pestilential air of reigning popery , that bloats and swells them into that contagion ? and if the popish king summons all his thunder to punish 'em for 't , what can the greatest favourer of rome make more on 't , than that he warps them crooked , and then breaks 'em to pieces because they are not straight ? and what 's the whole sum of a revolting nation under a popish tyrant , but using a violent cure to expel an universal poyson ? but here will some pretended pious objectors say , how shall we dare to revolt ? remember we are christians , and we must obey , or at least yield a passive obedience to our king ; be his religion , principles , or government never so tyrannick , he is still the lords anointed , and our native soveraign . i would ask what this lords anointed is ? and who 't is is our native soveraign , when instead of being free subjects , pope and tyranny shall rule over us , and we are made slaves and papists ? we are bound indeed by our oaths of allegiance , to a constant loyalty to the king and his lawful successours . very right ; by that oath we are bound to be his lawful successours loyal subjects ; but why his loyal slaves ? or how is an arbitrary absolute popish tyrant , any longer a lawful successour to a protestant establisht and bounded government , when lawfully succeeding to this limited monarchy , he afterwards violently , unlawfully , and tyrannically over-runs the due bounds of power , dissolves the whole royal constitution of the three free states of england , and the subjects petition of right ? whilst wholly abandoning those reins of government which were his lawful birthright , and making new ones of his own illegal creation , he makes us neither those free-born subjects we were when we took that oath , nor himself that king we swore to be loyal to . but alas ! that bugbear passive obedience is a notion crept into the world , and most zealously , and perhaps as ignorantly defended . there never wanted the authority even of holy writ itself on all occasions to vindicate every thing ; and there 's scarce a precedent in the oldest historick part of the bible , that shall not by an extorted application , be appropriated even to the duty and necessity of all ages , places , and constitutions of the world . for example , they 'll tell you that the prophet samuel makes this answer to the jews that desired a king , that he would make their sons and daughters slaves , and give their fields , their vineyards , and their olive-yards , &c. to his servants , and all this and much more they must expect from a king , &c. and ye shall cry out in that day , because of your king that you have chosen , and the lord will not hear you in that day . which was as much , as if the prophet had said , if a king shall , as he may do this , you have no redress but to your prayers for his conversion , and they perhaps too shall not be hear'd . he does not tell them they might revolt or rebel to redress themselves ; no , heaven forbid he should . for what was the king they desired , but like those of the nations about them ? and what were those kings but absolute ? in their own breath lay the voice of the laws , and sic volo sic jubeo was a decree or statute ; and if they voluntarily submitted , and vowed allegiance to a king so absolute , and so arbitrary , as such they ought to obey him . and as they freely would run all risks of whatever might follow , it was their own choice , and volenti non fit injuria . here indeed a passive obedience was due ; but what 's this to a king of england ? 't is not here , sic volo sic jubeo , here 't is first sic vult populus , and then comes sic jubet rex . here all our laws and decrees by which we are govern'd , are of the peoples choice ; first made by the subject , and then confirm'd by the king. here a king cannot take our sons and daughters , or our fields and vineyards away , unless we please to give him them . if the three states of england , which we suppose the whole body of england lawfully convened in parliament , shall submit to such an arbitrary majesty , to have their magna charta abolisht , their religion and liberties destroyed , and to have popery and arbitrary power set up , and yield to have the right of lords and commons extirpated , and all devolve into the king , so that like the old kings of israel , he may set up idols and molten calves , and make us bow down and worship 'em ; if they will do all this , then indeed we are his lawful slaves , and as such , 't is our duty to pay him an entire , undisputed obedience . i would only beg the world seriously to consider how monarchy itself is acquired and founded , and then the duty of subjects will be more easily discern'd . monarchy can be acquired but two ways . first , by the choice of the people , who frequently in the beginning of the world , out of the natural desire of safety , for the securing a peaceful community and conversation , chose a single person to be their head , as a proper supream moderator in all differences that might arise to disquiet that community . thus were kings made for the people , and not the people for the king. the other acquisition of monarchy , was by conquest . the glory and pleasure of reigning grew so tempting , that ( especially in later ages ) they spur'd on ambitious minds to obtain that by force , which in the infancy of time , and the first original of nations , appears to be generally the people's choice , and not compulsion . however , whether choice or compulsion , yet after possession , and the peoples submission , the right of kings is sacred . now conquest is twofold . the first sort is , where the conquerour wholly over-runs a nation , or people , and like those that take towns by storm , destroys and depopulates , kills or enslaves ; and then establishes religion , rights and laws , solely at the will of the conquerour . the other kinde is , when the vanquisht come to capitulate before they yield , and only surrender upon terms . such was our last norman conquest , when the inhabitants of kent , and the bishops of london upon a parley , prevailed with him ( as our records attest ) to confirm their customs and rights , establish'd and granted them by edward the confessour ; whilst the lenity of the conquerour , contenting himself with no larger a prerogative than their last saxon king had possest before him , submitted to make their own native common laws of england the standard of his justice , and the continuation of their antient priviledges the cement of their new allegiance . in this milde channel ran the english monarchy , till in the reign of henry the third , the magna charta was confirm'd ; which indeed was but a monumental register of the liberties and immunities of englishmen , enjoyed before ( tho' not so fixt ) in their pious edward's reign . in this state has the majesty of england , the dignity of parliaments , and the liberty of the people ( bating their former servility to rome ) continued ever since . and if now at last popery must and shall come in , ( as by law it cannot ) and consequently must be restored by arbitrary power : if a new monarchy , then a new conquest ; and if a conquest , heaven forbid we should be subdued like less than englishmen ; or debar'd the common right of all nations , which is , to resist and repel an invader if we can . but to sum up all this , i must say , the most vehement disputants against the peoples right of defending themselves , must at least acknowledge thus much , that whenever a popish king shall by tyranny establish the pope's jurisdiction in england , undoubtedly in the eye of god he is guilty of a greater sin , than that people can be , that with open arms oppose that tyranny . for by introducing popery by tyranny , by one unjust power he establishes another as unjust ; and by one ill , defends a worse : whereas the people of england , in taking arms against that tyranny , defend a just right , viz. their religion , lives and liberties . thus when a popish monarch shall subvert all right , and violate all laws , till oppressing a wretched nation , more like a lupus agri than pater patriae , he so wholly perverts the duty of his great office , and defaces in himself the nearest image of a deity , by so falsly representing his vice-gerent : imagine on the other side , a persecuted deplorable people , even abandon'd by god , and so exasperated by injustice , till they struggle against the yoak , and the horrour of this gorgon in spight of all their native duty , has hardned 'em into disobedience , and then what can a poor nation expect but vengeance and destruction ? if this be our rod of iron , this the king ordain'd to rule over us , what signifies all our long pudder about a plot ? give the papists that point , and allow them all they dare ask , that there neither is nor has been any popish plot : that the evidence are perjur'd , and that coleman's letters , godfrey's murder , and bedlow's dying attestations , &c. are nothing to the purpose : grant this and twice as much more , yet allowing at the same time , that providence has decreed us a papist and a bigot for a king ; no matter then for plotters , jesuits , or russians : the very essence of a popish successor is the greatest plot upon england since the creation . a plot of god himself to scourge a nation , and make three kingdoms miserable . as for the other plot , what was it but a secret confederacy between a handful of feeble villains , the limbs of the roman hydra ? but , alas ! with all their designs they were but men , and as such we have seen them both detected and defeated ▪ but if we are predestined for a romish government , that 's a plot indeed , a designe form'd by the irresistible decrees of heaven , either for our sins , or what cause to it self best known , to lay a groaning country in ruine . nay the ruine is so universal , we must give it no bounds . for upon the supposition of a popish heir , we must not conclude that 't is only the poor distressed protestants that shall feel the smart , and stand the mark of slavery and martyrdom . a popish king has that pestilential influence , that he blasts even the very party he smiles upon , and entails a curse upon his dearest darling favourites . as for instance , if after this king's reign , steps up a protestant prince ( for surely the whole royal blood must not all follow his apostacy , and degenerate in secula seculorum ) then what becomes of the popish interest in the next generation , and all that flourishing party , whom either the witchcrafts of rome , or the contagion of regis ad exemplum has nurst up for mine ? 't is the greatest toyl of the next king's reign , to make those severer statutes for future ages , to suppress the insolencies and follies of the past ; whilst those very idols , that were saints but yesterday , are now crusht and dasht to pieces . thus a popish king undoes at once the heretick party in his own reign , and the roman catholick in the next : and then who is it , that he either does or can make happy ? why nothing but an atheist , he that believes there is no god , and so makes the name of the most fashionable religion , the bawd to his pleasures and preferments ; or at best that latitudinarian believer , that can kneel to a crucifix to day , and burn it to morrow . this and this onely principle , can be safe under a papist ; and these are the only men that in their right wits ought to be unconcern'd at the danger of a popish successour . finis . a memorial of all the english monarchs being in number 151, from brute to king charles. in heroicall verse by io. taylor. taylor, john, 1580-1653. 1630 approx. 105 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 57 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a13472 stc 23774 estc s118225 99853433 99853433 18816 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a13472) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 18816) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1611:15) a memorial of all the english monarchs being in number 151, from brute to king charles. in heroicall verse by io. taylor. taylor, john, 1580-1653. [112] p. : ports. (woodcuts) printed by iohn beale, for iames bowler, london : 1630. in verse. signatures: a-g. the first leaf and the last two leaves are blank. running title reads: a memoriall of monarchs from brute to king charles. includes bibliography. reproduction of the original in the british library. with added frontispiece portrait of king charles. some print faded and show-through; some pages creased, torn, and tightly bound. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers -poetry -early works to 1800. 2002-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-08 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-09 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2002-09 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion carolus stuart . koningk van engelandt . schotlandt , en irlandt , gebooren a o. 1600. binnen londen onthalst , a o. 1649. in 't 24 iaer zyner regeeringe . ant●… van dyck pinxit . ioost hartgers excud . s. savery f●●tt a memorial of all the english monarchs being in number 151 , from brvte to king charles . in heroicall uerse by io. taylor . london printed by iohn beale , for iames bowler , 1630 ❧ to the right honourable , lionel lord viscount cranefield , earle of middlesex , &c. my humble muse , in lofty manner sings a a catalogue of englands mighty kings : at first i do begin with troian brvte , and following chronicles i do dispute , proceeding briefely with their raignes and names , till these blest dayes of our best monarch iames , t is but an argument that 's written here , that in such time such and such princes were : but he that meanes their actions more to know , may read boetius , hollinshed , or stow , or our true labouring moderne master how , which authors , learned iudgement do allow : or if you le see how former times doe runne , reade the laborious paines of middleton . we haue had kings since brute , of royall blood , one hundred forty sixe , some bad , some good , foure queenes in all , this time did only raigne , whose memories in histories remaine . so in two thousand and seuen hundred yeeres , we had thrice 50 princes it appeares . this kingdome here was fiue times won and lost , and kings ( as god decreed ) oft chang'd and tost . sometimes one swaid the scepter , sometime twaine , and sometime seuen at once did rule and raigne , till sixe ( by bloudy warres ) lost life and throne , and valiant egbert ioyn'd them all in one . but since ( through heauens high prouidence ) i see , t is growne more great , and greater like to be : long may he liue , by whom in one 't is guided , and may they sinke that wish't againe diuided . then ( noble lord ) with good acceptance take this poem , for the royall subiects sake , and though it be not compleate as it should , beare with it , and accept of what i could , the matter 's worthy , though the manner poore , vvhich makes me heere your patronage implore , and may you be externall and internall , blest and aduanc'd to happinesse eternall . your honours in all obseruance to be commanded , iohn taylor . yeeres before christ. medulla historioe anglicanoe brvte , the first king of brittaine , began his reigne , 1. brvte . anno mundi , 2858. before christ , 1108. aeneas from subuerted troy exilde , in tuscan wedded king lati●…s childe : by whom the realme of italy he gain'd , and after he had 3 yeeres fully raign'd , he died , and left ascanius in his stead : to whom sil●…s post●…s did succeed . from which posthumus royall loynes did spring , * great brutus , brittaines first commanding king : the people then were ( here ) all voyd of pride , borne naked , naked liu'd , and naked dy'd . three sonnes brute left , locrinus was his heire to england , cambria ( wales ) was cambers share , to albanact ( the youngest ) 't was his lot , to sway the scepter of the valiant scot. thus 'mongst his sonnes this ile he did diuide , and after twenty foure yeeres reigne he dy'd . locrine 20. yeeres , 1084. locrinus , eldest of old brutus sonnes , by valour vanquisht the inuading hunnes : he chas'd them , & their power did quite confound , and their king humber was in a humber drownd : this locrine had a queene , faire b guendolin , yet folly led him to the paphaean sinne , ●…esotted sence , and blood with lust inflam'd , he lou'd a beautie , beautious estrild nam'd , ●…y whom he had a daughter , sabrin hight , 〈◊〉 whome the king had whole and sole delight : ●…or which the queene made war vpon her lord : ●…nd in the fight she put him to the sword ; ●…nd after a reuengefull bloody slaughter , queene guendoline tooke estrild and her daughter , ●…nd drownd them both ( to quēch her ielous flame ) ●…nd so from sabrine , seauerne got the name . q. guendoline , 1064. about this time saul was king of israel . vvhen 15. yeeres this queen had wisely raign'd , she dy'd , & then her son the kingdome gain'd . queene guendoline was allowed the gouernment in her sonne madans minority , whose p●…dent reigne is app●…fully recorded in histories . madan , 1009. vvhen forty yeers this king had rul'd this ile , ( as stories say ) he died a death most vile : the wide-mouth'd wolfe , and keene-tusk'd brutish bore did eate his kingly flesh , & drinke his gore . madan was a vicious and wicked prince , the sonn●… of locrine and guendoline . hee was a great tyrant . h●… built the to●…ne of doncaster . hee had two ●…nes , mempricius and mannus . mempricius raigned 20. yeeres , 991. mempricius base , his brother 〈◊〉 slew , and got the crowne , by murder , 〈◊〉 as d●…e : maids , wiues and widdowes , hoby 〈◊〉 deflowr'd : he liu'd a beast , and dy'd , by a beast , d●…uour'd . hee killed his elder brother tre●… sly as ●…ee was parlying with him . hee was eaten of wolues as hee was hunting . hee was so beastly , that he was ta●…din histories to be a sodomite with beasts in his time . ebranke , 989. king dauid reigne ouer israe●… at edinburgh the castle he did found , alcluid & york , he built new from the ground he builded bambrough , and reigned sixty yeeres , belou'd , as it in chronicles appeares . ebranke had 21. wiues , by whom he had 20. sonnes and 30. daughters ; hee inuaded gallia , now france he was the sonne of mempricius . in his reigne reigne king salomon . alcluid is dumbreton in scotland . brute the second , 929. if any noble act brute greeneshield did , hee 's wrong'd , because from histories th' are hid : twelue yeeres he rul'd , that 's all i of him read , and how at yorke , hee iyeth buried . this brute was the sonne of ebranke and some histories write doubtfully , that he conquer'd france , and that after he receiued a great foyle in field by brinchild , or brinchillus , prince of henoway , or henault . leil . 917. leil carleile b●…t , and raign●…d yeeres twenty fiue , and as fame still keepes dead mens acts aliue : so leil ( though dead ) 〈◊〉 euer liue by fame , he lyes at carleile , which himselfe did frame . leil was the sonne of brute greeneshield . it is also written that he bu●… the 〈◊〉 of chester . lud , or rudhudibras was the sonne of leil , a religious prince in ●…s superstitious way of paganisme , for in these 3. townes ●…ich he built , hee erected 3. temples , and placed 3. 〈◊〉 or pagan bishops in them . rudhudibrasse , 892. this king built canterbury , winchester , and shaftsbury , he from the ground did reare : and after twenty nine yeeres reigne was past , at winchester sore sicke , he breath'd his last . bladud reign'd 20. 863. baathe was by bladud to perfection brought , by necromanricke arts , to flye hee sought : as from a towre he thought to scale the sky , he brake his necke , because he soar'd too hig●… this bladud had beene a st●… in ather ●…id : whence hee brought ●…ny learned men : hee bui●… elue ford , a colledge i thinke , the first in england : play the fowle or the foole , he brake his necke on the temple of apollo in troynouant . leire , 844. leire ( as the story saies ) three daughters had , the youngest good , the other two too bad : yet the old king lou'd thē that wrong'd him most , she that lou'd him , he banisht from his coast. false gonorel and ragan , he betweene them gaue the kingdome , making ●…ach a queene . but young cordeilla wedded was by chance , to aganippus , king of fertile france : the eldest daughters did reiect their sire , for succour to the young'st hee did retire , by whose iust aide the crowne againe he gain'd ; and dyed when he full forty yeeres had reign'd . leire built leicester and was a good prince . at leycester he built a temple to ianues bifrons , or ianues with two faces . qu. cordeilla , 805. mad morgan , and vnmanner'd cunedague , their aūt cordeilla with fierce war did plague : they vanquish'd her , and her in prison threw : and hauing reign'd fiue yeeres , her selfe she slew . she reigned with her husband aganippus till he dyed , and then in her widowhood her cruell kinsmen opprest her . shee stabb'd her selfe in prison , being tyrannously vsed , in despaire of her liberty . morgan cunedagu●… , 800. then morgan did 'gainst cunedague contend , and at glamorgan , morgan had his end . then cunedagus sole king did abide , full three and thirty yeeres , and then he dyed . morgan was the sonne of gonorel , leires eldest daughter , and cunedagus his kinsman , was the sonne of ragan . the prophet esay prophesied about this time . riuallo , before christ , 766. three daies it rain'd blood , when riuallo reign'd , and great mortalitie the land sustain'd ; hee forty six yeeres rul'd in kingly state , and then surrendred to all humane fate . this land in this kings reigne was almost vnpeopled with dearth , death and desolation . in his time rome was builded , 356. yeeres after brute : innumerable multitudes of horse-flyes or hornets sprung out of the blood that raind , which flyes stung many people to death . riuallo was buried at yorke . gurgustus , 7●… . scicillius , 684. a common drunkard was this wicked king , which vice did many other vices bring , yeeres thirty eight , the diadem he wore , scicillius next raignd nine and forty more . gurgustus and scicillius were brethren . i finde little mention of any good they did , though they reigned long : they were both the sonnes of riuallo . iago , 636. 〈◊〉 , 612. of these two kings , small mention i doe finde , they left bare names ( for me hori●… ) behinde ; one twentie fiue yeeres : 〈◊〉 other fifty foure , had in this land commanding regall power . iugo was a kinsman to gurgustus , and by his vicious life , he got a sleepy disease called the lethargy , whereof he dyed . these two kings were both buried at yorke . gorbodug , 559. gorbodug next did in the throne succced , was sixty three yeeres king , and ●…ast decreed , 'twixt his two sonnes this kingdome to diuide , at yorke hee 's buried , where in peace hee dy'd . some write that he reigned but 42. yeeres , and that he was buried at troynouant . ferex , and porex , 496. porex , in fight his brother ferex kil'd , for which their mother , porex heartblud 〈◊〉 these murthers mercilesse , did quite deface , these princes , last of royall brutus race . ferex and porex were the sonnes of gorbodug . their mother and her maides chopped porex in pieces , in reuenge of her sonne ferex : they reigned fiue yeeres : after whose death the land was a long time diuided into fiue kingdomes . mulmutius donwallo . 441. the land vnguided , kinglesse did remaine , till great mulmutius did the wreathe obtaine : he builded temples , made lawes , ploughs , high-waies , and 40. yeeres he liu'd in fame and praise . mulmutius slew pinnar , slater , and rudack , three kings of seuerall parts of this i le , and at last brought the kingdome to his sole obedience . he was the sonne of ●…lotten , duke of cornewall : he was the first of all the kings of this land that wore a crowne of gold. bellinus and brennus reigned 26. yeeres . 401. these brethren did diuide the realme in twaine , but kings can brooke no partnership in reigne ; they fell at oddes , and brennus fled , subdude with slaughter of his warlike multitude . to france he scap'd , and was receiu'd in state , in london , belline builded bellins-gate braue brennus conquer'd italy and rome , bellinus lies heere in an honour'd tombe . brennus slew himselfe with the sword , at the fiedge of delphos in greece . bochas . they were the sonnes of mulmutius donwallo . belinus brought denmarke to be tributary to brittaine : they were a paire of worthy brothers . gurguintus , 373. gvrguintus , was belinus first-borne sonne , victorously ●…e denmarke ouer-runne : he the vnpeopled ireland did supply , reign'd nineteene yeeres a king , and then did dye . this king gaue leaue to a company of stragling distressed spaniards to possesse themselules in ireland , hee lyeth buried at carelion . guinthelinus , 456. he married mercia a renowned dame , from whom the iust , wise , mercian statutes came : he sixe and twenty yeeres the scepter swaide , and then with honour in his tombe was laide . he was the sonne of arguintus , he builded warwick and lyeth buried at london . cecilius , 330. kimarus , 223. seuen yeeres cecilius kept the regall chaire , three yeeres kimarus rul'd as his sole heire ; the syre with loue did well and iustly reigne , his sonne kimarus was a hunting slaine . about this time , a sauage people called the picts , beg'd habitation of the king of scots , and liued in the marshes betweene england and scotland . kimarus was a vicious prince , and killed by wild beasts as hee was hunting : he was the sonne of cecilius . cecilius was buried at carelion . elanius , 321. elanius ( as most histories agree ) was king of brittaine yeeres iust three times three : what acts he did , or what lawes he decreed , they are vnwrit , and therefore are vnread . elanius was the sonne of kimarus . morindus reigned 8 yeeres . 311. this king morindus , valiant more then wise , a ran'ning monster from the sea did rise : which many people to destruction brought , who kil'd this braue king as he brauely fought . he killed the monster , after the monster had deuoured him , for he was in the belly of it liuing , and found dead with his dagger in his hand . gorbomanus . 303. this king eleuen yeers wore the brittain crown . he founded cambridge , & built grantham town ; his subiects peace , past kingdomes he prefer'd , lou'd and bewail'd , at london was inter'd . he built the townes of cambridge and grantham . archigalo , and elidurus . 392. these brothers were not kings both at one time , but for extortion ( an vnkingly crime , the eldest hauing gaind his subiects hate ) depos'd , and elidurus got the state. but he ( not greedy after worldly reigne ) to archigalo gaue it vp againe . rul'd tenne yeeres more : thus twenty yeeres in all , his state maiesticke , did twice rise and fall . archigalo put away from him and reiected the true and 〈◊〉 nobility and gentry : and in their roomes was ●…pplyde with the counsels of flatterers and parasites , which was his downefall . elidurus , 272. vigenius , peredurus , 270. then archigale beeing dead and gone , good elidure two yeers kept brittaines throne . vigenius , peredurus two yeeres more , thrust elidure from all the sway he bore , but they both dy'd the third time he was crown'd , elidurus , 261. and reigned foure yeeres more , belou'd , renown'd . once subiect , twice a slaue , and thrice a king ; thus fortunes fauours vp and downe did fling . in these often changes of princes estates , this land was miserably vexed . heere because hystories make little or no mention of any the doings of the kings , from the reigne of elidurus to king lud , i thinke it fit , onely to insert their names , and the times of their reignes , with their yeeres before christ. 258. gorbonian reigned ten yeeres . 248. morgan foureteene yeeres . 234. emerianus seuen yeeres . this king was deposed from all regall gouernment for h●… tyranny . 227. iuall twenty yeeres . this king was a iust and prudent prince . 207. rimo sixteen yeeres . his reigne was blest with abundance of peace and plenty . 191. geruncius twenty yeeres . 171. catillus ten yeeres . catillus caused all the oppressors of the poore to be hanged vp : but since his time they are doubly increased . 161. coylus twenty yeeres . a peaceable king , and a quiet reigne . 141. porrex fiue yeeres . a good prince . 136. chirimus one yeere . chirimus through excessiue drinking gat his death . 135. fulgon two yeeres . 133. eldred one yeere . 132. androgius one yeere . 131. varianus o●…●…re . varianus giuen ●…to lust , purchsed himselfe a short reigne●… and it may bee perceiued , that all these prince : either by treason , or their ow●… bad liues , were soon brought to their ends , for 25 of them did not reign●… aboue 62 yeeres . 129. fliud fiue yeeres . 120. dedamius fiue yeeres . 118. gurginius three yeeres . 115. mercianus two yeeres . 113. bladunus two yeeres . 110. cupenus three yeeres . 108. quinus two yeeres . 106. s●…ius two yeeres . 94. bledgabredus ten yeeres . a great louer of musicke , and a good patron to musician●… . 92. archemalus two yeeres . 90. eldolus two yeeres . 88. rodianus two yeeres . 86. redargius three yeeres . 84. samullius two yeeres . 81. penisellus three yeeres . 78. pirrhus two yeeres . 76. caporus two yeeres . 74. dinellus foure yeeres . a noble and vertuous prince . 70. hellius one yeere . the i le of ely tooke the nomination from this prince . there hee built a palace , and there he dying was buried . lud reigned 11. yeeres , 66. a long time after troynouant was fram'd , it was by lud , kair-lud , or lud-stone nam'd , he made 〈◊〉 strong with battlemen●…s and towres , defensiue against foes inuasiue pow'rs . of free stone for free-men ludgate hee founded , where freemen ( wanting freedom ) are confounded . he dy'd and left two sonnes , too young for reigne , wherefore his brother did the crowne obtaine . some writers doe affirme , that this king b●…ilded ●…ondon from ludgate to london-stone , and that the stone in memory thereof was called luds stone . cassibelan , 17. yeeres . 58. lvd deed , the nobles crown'd cassibelan , in whose reigne her●… the romane conquest ●…an , great iulius caesar sailed out of france , and in this land his eagle did aduance . but brittaines bold scorn'd base at first to stoope , twice caesar f●…ed , before their warlike troope . the ●…iuill warres , this kingdome ouer 〈◊〉 , betwixt cassibelan , and luds two sonnes , whilst they ( vnnaturall ) sought each others fall , the romanes tooke aduantage , conquer'd all : where caesar , by his high imperiall doome , made brittaine tributary vnto rome . nennius a valiant duke of this kingdome , receiued his de●…ths ●…und of caesar : yet after that he tooke caesars sword from him , and with the same kil●…d la●…ianus a romane tribune , and lastly , ma●… the fi●…ld and 〈◊〉 . caesar built the castles of dou●… , canterbury , and the tower of london . theomantius , 37. then theomantius ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all blood ) the 〈◊〉 sonne 〈◊〉 o●… his father 〈◊〉 : reign'd three and twenty yeeres , a king in 〈◊〉 whose picture stands on luds 〈◊〉 gate . cimbelinus . in this kings reigne , ( the glorious king of kings in person came , and mans saluation brings ) when through the world all bloody wars did cease , ( for our soules peace ) then came the prince of peace . our sauiour iesus christ was borne in his reigne , in the 42. yeere of augustus caesar , then being emperour of rome : cimbelinus was the sonne of iheomantius , yeeres after christ. guiderius , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 21. this king and sub●…cts , brauely , nobly ioyne , to hold from rome the tributary coyne : but claudius caesar with an army came , the b●…t bold rebellious hearts to tame ; one hamon there ( a romane ) di●… 〈◊〉 , himselfe like to a britaine to 〈◊〉 , guiderius brauely cha●…de his fo●…s amaine , was by disg●…ifed hamon falfely slaine . when guiderius was king of britaine , our redeemer suffered vnder claudius tiberius caesar , being the romane emperour . guiderius was a valiant prince . aruiragus , 44. stout aruiragus being in the fight , the kings death added fury to his might : perceiu'd the britaine host , almost dismaide , in 's brothers armour hee himselfe array'd , the souldiers thought the king againe suruiu'd . with co●…rage new through euery veine deriu'd , braue aruiragus , like a tempest goes , and pell mell topsieturuy throwes his foes . grear caesar with his romane army fled , the king tooke hamon , and cut off his head , and more , with sharp reuenge his wrath t' appease , hew'd him piece-meale , and cast him in the seas , the place long time , this name did then allow , of hamons hauen , or southampton now . the emperour would quite the tribute free , if brittaines king his sonne in law would be . then aruarigue did faire genisse marry , and claudius caesar heere a while did tarry , he builded gloster , whil'st he heere remain'd : the king dyed hauing twenty eight yeeres reign'd . marius , 73. in this kings reigne the lawlesse proling pict , ( a nation strange ) did the north part afflict : but marius , in a battell slew their king , and all their power did to subiection bring . the picts from scythia , into scotland came , rude , barbarous , ingratefull , hard to tame : for by the scotsh kings fauour hauing got possession , they oft warr'd vpon the scot. and more and more that kingdome they annoy'd , till kennith scotlands king , them all destroy'd : yeeres fifty three reign'd marius iust and wise , dyed : and at carleile his corps royall lies . much about this time , ioseph of arimathea , after he had buried christ ( being hated for it of the mis-beleeuing iewes ) came into this land , and first planted christianity heere , built a chappell at glastenburgh : some writers say , that he repaired chester , and was buried there . coylus , 124. in rome this king was fostred all his youth , he lou'd peace , iustice , fortitude and truth : he builded colchester , and did suruiue , till he had reign'd a kings yeeres , fifty fiue . coylus was the sonne of marius , hee was buried at yorke . lucius , 179. the first of kings that was a christian nam'd , was lucius ( with the spirit of god inflam'd ) the bread of life he did receiue with ioy , the pagan idols hee did all destroy , the flamines and archflamines he downe cast , and bishops and archbishops here he plac'd , he lou'd and fear'd th' eternall three in one , and dyed when he had 12 yeeres kept the throne . this was the first christian king of brittaine , he caused twentie eight idolatrous temples of the ●…agan gods to be made cathedrall churches , for the seruice of the 〈◊〉 god ; elutherius was then bishop of rome , king lucius was buried at glocester : hee dyed leauing no 〈◊〉 , so that this land was in a burly-burly 15. yeeres , through want of a king. seuerus , 194. this was a romane emperour , and was slaine at york the eighteenth yeere of his proud reigne●… hee was an alien and a stranger heere , and therefore bought his vsurpation deare : seuerus was 60. yeeres old when hee tooke the crowne , and caused a wall of turfe to be made betwixt england and scotland to kepe this land from the incursions of the scots and picts : the wall reached from tyne to the scottish seas , 112. miles . bassianus , 212. seuerus here did wed a brittish dame , by whom this king ( their son ) the crowne did claime . but after sixe veeres time , he left this land , and had the romane empire at 's command . bassianus was brought from rome by his father seuerus . carausius , 290. when carausi●… reigned , dioclesian was ●…mperor . alectus , 292. this king ( of meane birth ) did the crown attain after seuen yeeres , was by alectus slaine : thre yeeres alectus did in state recide , our protomartyr then saint alban dyde . dioclesian and maximilian ruled the romane empire , when saint albane suffered ; alectus was sent from rome against carausius : this alectus was a cruell tyrant , and was also slame by asclepiodatus . asclepiodatus , 299. asclepiodatus , ( in a mortall fight ) suodude the romane generall gallus might , kil'd him , and cast him head-long in a brooke , whence gallus or wallbrooke , for name it tooke , and as alectus did carausius kill , so did this king alectus life bloud spill , and after two yeeres reigne in mortall strife , asclepiodatus slaine lost crowne and life . gallus brooke or wallbrooke tooke the name from gallus a romane captaine , slaine by asclepiodatus , and throwne into that brooke . asclepiodatus was after slaine by coil duke of colchester . some write that asclepiodatus reigned 30. yeeres . coil raigned 14. yeeres . 301. colchesters duke coil in the throne inuested , was by constantius caesar much molested : till coil gaue's daughter to him for his bride , and paid romes tribute , that was long denide . the lady was of beauty most diuine , faire hellen , mother to great constantine . the king at colchester , dead , laide in 's tombe , his sonne constantius did supply his roome . this hellen reedified ierusalem , and adorned it with ●…oodly churches . she also walle●… london and colchester . constantius , 305. spaine , italy , france , britaines emperor , foure yeeres he raign'd heere , with maiesticke power , true honour was the ayme at which he shot . iust , valiant , these reports his actions got . this constantius was grandfather to constantine the great : he came from rome to this i le , and was buried at yorke . constantine , 306 , great emp'ror constantine , surnam'd the great : in all respects a worthy prince compleate , the glorious gospell , he ador'd , and fear'd , constantinople famously he rear'd , maxentius , romes great tyrant , ( most abhor'd ) he made him flie from his 〈◊〉 sword . belou'd , be wail'd , high honor'd and admir'd , in grace with god and men , his dayes expir'd . this worthy prince constantine was borne in this land , the sonne of constantius and hellen. after constantius decease , our land was molested by octauius maximus and others for many yeers . these times are so diuersly written of in histories , that a man knowes not which to beleeue most . 84. constantinus , 337. 85. constans , 340. these two were brothers of the royall line , and sonnes vnto the emperour constantine : ambition and debate for kingly raigne , was the vnnaturall cause they both were slaine . kings and louers can brook no partners : for these two brothers were each others destruction . 86. octauius , 345. 87. traherus , 349. octauius duke of windsor to oke the crowne , traherus came from rome and put him downe : the land was ●…ull with hurly-burlies fild , traherus by octtauius last was kild . theodosius was emperour of the east ●…d macri●… of the west : some write that octauius 〈◊〉 54. yeeres noncredo . 88. constantius the third . 353. the romane empire he did closely sway , and as a king this land did him obay : th' apostate iulian was the emp'rour next , by whom the christians all were slaine , or vext . constantius was a victorious prince , and triumphed in rome : yet a cruell oppressor , and an arian hereticke . 89 maximinianus . 375. next iulian , raigned valentinian , and after him , succeeded gratian maximi●…nus was of life depriu'd , 'cause he with gratian for the empire striu'd . how like bauius these tyr●…ts confi●…med one another ; these were all emperours of rome , & kings of brittaine , 90. gratian. 376. then gratian claim'd this kingdome as his right●… but hauing gain'd it , he was slaine in fight : fierce warres the romane empire did deuide , and caesars and their viceroyes fought and dyde . honorius romes tribunall did obtaine , next after him did theodosius raigne , then did the scot ioyne with the barbarous pict , this headlesse , kinglesse kingdome to afflict . the romane scepter we had long obayd , foure hundred eightythree yeeres tribute payd ; and now this land shook off their wrongd comand when ciuill discord had neer spoyl'd this land. in one battell the whole nation of the piets were quite ●…xtinguished about this time the romanes g●…uernement ●…nded here . gratian was a brittaine emperour but foure 〈◊〉 . 91 vortiger . 447. this king through murder did the throne ascend , and had a troublous raigne , and murdrous end : constanes ( constantines ) lawfull heyre and sonne , by vortigers false meanes to death was done . for which ( to keepe the crowne vniustly gain'd ) the saxons for his ayde he entertain'd . then hengist , with his brother horsus crue , in britaines best bloud did their blades embrew . king vortiger with doting loue inthral'd , match't hengists daughter , beauteous rowan cal'd : but saxons troopes , on troopes came in so fast , that britaines did depriue the king at last . hee murdered his lawfull prince , and vsurping the throne , was enforced to haue ayd of the saxons , who at the last almost ouer-ran this kingdome , but the brittaines deposed vortiger , and crowned his sonne vortimer . 92. vortimer . 454. then a vortimer , the sonne of vortiger , vpon the saxons made successfull warre : till he by rowan was by craft o'r-●…ane , from whose false hands , he dy'd by poys'nous 〈◊〉 deposed vortiger ( his sonne once slaine ) his ill gain'd , ill kept crowne he gain'd againe : hengistus with his saxon fresh supplies , the plaines of salisbury did all surprize . the king tooke counsell of his brittaine lords , and all in generall to a peace accords . the saxons and the brittaines did agree , that at this meeting all vnarm'd should be : but traitrous hengist did a watch-word speake , which did the law of armes , and honour breake , the saxons vnsuspected drew forth kniues , foure hundred , threescore lords , all lost their liues , all brittaine nobles , then the saxons there , surpris'd the king , constraining him through feare to giue kent , sussex , suffolke , norfolke , and that hengist , king should in those lands command , but after nineteene yeeres were quite expir'd , * reuenging fire , the king in 's castle fir'd . and thus the saxons , and great hengists heyres , won shire to shire , till brittaine all was theirs . 93. aurelius ambrose . 466. in honour of the nobles basely slaine , this king set vp the ston●…s on saru●… 〈◊〉 the gospell with great zeale he dignifi'd , raign'd thirty two yeeres , and by poyson dy'd . this king was a rom●…ne , and brother to vter pendragon that succeeded him . 94. vter pendragon raigned 18 yeeres . 498. this king ( by merlins meanes a skilfull man ) igrene , the duke of cornewals dutchesse wan : on her he got , ( though illegittimate ) the christian worthy , arthur , stilde the great . vter pendragon poysoned by the saxons , after he had reigned 18. yeeres . 95. arthur . 516. of the nine worthies was this worthy one , denmarke , and norway , did ●…y his throne : in twelue set battels he the saxons beat , great , and to make his victories more great , the faithlesse sarazons he ouercame , and made them honour high iehonah's name . the noble order of the table round , at winchester , his first inuention found . whilst he beyond sea fought to win renowne , his nephew mordred did vsurpe his crowne , but he return'd , and mordred did confound , and in the fight great arthur got a wound , that prou'd lo mortall , that immortally it made him liue , although it made him dye . full sixteene yeeres the diadem he wore , and euery day gaind honour more and more . arthur the great was buried at glastenbury . 96 constantine , the fourth . 542. 97 aurelius conanus . 545. constantine was by king 〈◊〉 kil'd : aurelius ( 〈◊〉 ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yeeres held , seuen kingdomes heere at once the saxons held , and slaughter launc'd , when proud ambition sweld . this constantine was kinsman to king arthur , and was slaine by conanus . constantine was a wicked prince , and slaine in battell by his kinsman conanus , when he had reigned neere 3. yeeres . of the tyme of this aurelius conanus his reigne , there is much variation in histories . heere beganne the heptarchy , or 7 kingdomes in this land , namely , kent , south-saxons , west-saxons , east-saxons , northumberland , mercia , and east-angles : which diuision continued more then 600. yeeres , before it was all vnited into one monarchy the names of the kings , & times of their reignes , and limits of their kingdomes , are hereunder expressed . 1 kent was only a kingdome which had 17 kings , namely , 1 hengist , 2 eske , 3 octa , 4 ymerick , 5 ethelbert , who was the first christian king of kent , hee was an ayde and helper of sebert , king of the east-saxons , in the famous and memorable buildings of s t. pauls church in london , and saint peters at westminster . 6 eabald , 7 ercombert , 8 egbert , 9 lother , 10 edrick , 11 withred , 12 edbert , 13 edelbert , 14 alick , 15 ethilbert , 16 cuthred , 17 baldred . these kings reigned in kent 372. yeeres , from the yeere of grace 455. till the yeere 827. 2 the kingdome of the south-saxons contained the counties of sussex and surrie , it continued from the yeere 488. vntill the yeere 601. being 113 yeeres : they had three kings , namely , 1 ella , 2 cissa , 3 ethelwolfe a christian king , 4 berthrum , 5 authum . 3 the west-saxons kingdome , whose beginning was in the yeer 519. and ended , anno. 166. lasted 561 yeeres , hauing 17 kings , namely , 1 cherdick , 2 kenrick , 3 chequilin , 4 cealick , 5 chelwold , 6 kingils , a christian , 7 kenwald , 8 eskwin , 9 kentwin , 10 ceadwald , 11 inas , 12 〈◊〉 , 13 cuthred , 14 sigebert , 15 kenwolfe , 16 brightrik , 17 egbert , : these kings had vnder their gouernments , the counties of cornewall , deuonshire , somersetshire , wiltshire , hampshire and barkshire . 4 the east-saxons reigned 281 yeeres , beginning , anno. 527 , and ending in the yeere 827. their bounds were essex and middle-sex , and their kings were in number 14 , namely , 1 erchenwin , 2 sledda , 3 sebert a christian king , that assisted ethelbert , king of kent , in the building of the churches of saint paul and saint peter aforesaid . 4 seward , 5 sigebert , 6 sigibext , 7 switheline , 8 sighere , 9 sebba , 10 sigherd , 11 seofrid , 12 offa , 13 selred , 14 suthred . 5 northumberland was sometimes diuided into two kingdomes . it contained the coūties of yorkshire , durham , lancashire , westmerland , cumberland and northumberland : this kingdome beganne in the yeere of our lord , 547. and expired in 926. continuing 379. yeeres vnder 23 kings , whose names were , 1 ella , 2 adda , 3 theodwald , 4 frethulse , 5 theodrick , 6 ethelrick , 7 ethelfrid , 8 edwin , 9 oswald , 10 oswy , 11 egfrid , 12 alkfrid , 13 ofred , 14 kenred , 15 oswicke , 16 ceolnuph , 17 egbert , 18 oswolfe , 19 edilwald , 20 alured , 21 ethelred , 22 alswald , 23 osr●…d . amongst these , edwin was their first christian king. 6 the east angles vnder 15 seuerall kings , continued 353 yeeres , beginning in anno , 575. and 〈◊〉 iii 914. their territories were su●… nor●…olk , cambridgeshire and the i le 〈◊〉 , ely , th●…ir kings names were , 1 vffa , 2 ti●…us , 〈◊〉 red●…ald their first christian king , 4 〈◊〉 , 5 sigebert , 6 egrik , 7 anna , 8 ethelbert , 9 ethwald , 10 aldwol●…e , 11 aswald , 12 beorn , 13 ethelred , 14 ethelbert , 15 edmund . 7 the seuenth kingdome were the mercians , who had 20 kings and 17 shires vnder their command : their kings were , 1 creda , 2 wibba , 3 cheorle , 4 penda , 5 peada their first christian king , 6 wolfere , 7 ethelred , 8 kenred , 9 chelred , 10 ethebald , 11 offa , 12 egfrid , 13 kenwolfe , 14 kenelme , 15 chelwolse , 16 bernulfe , 17 ludecan , 18 whitlafe , 19 bertwolfe , 20 burdred . their bounds and dominions were 17 counties , as of northampton , leister , darby , lincolne , huntington , rutland , notingham , chesshire , oxfordshire , staffordshire , worcestershire , glostershire , shropshire , warwickeshire , bedfordshire , buckinghamshire , and hartfordshire . 98 vortiporus . 578. 99 malgo. 581. this vortipore from good kings did decline , kept his wiues daughter as his conc●…ine : and malgo put his wife to bloudy slaughter , to liue in ●…ncest with his brothers daughter . about this time augustine the monke , mellitus , iustus and iohn , all learned men , came from rome , and preached the gospell to the english men . vortipore reigned 4. yeeres . malgo , his raigne was short and wicked . 100. careticus . 586. gvrmundus hither out of ireland came , and with the saxons ioyn'd with sword and flame : the king to wales did flye , his life to saue , whereas he chang'd his kingdome for a graue . he reigned 3. yeeres : and now the saxons had all england , the brittaines and their kings being expulsed and chased to the west sides of the riuers seauerne , and d ee . cadwane . 613. this cadwane did the saxon force withstand , of ethelfridus of northumberland : and made him to intreate and sue for peace : raign'd two and twenty yeeres , then did decease . 102. cadwallin . 635. cadwallin slew king edwin , egfrids sonne , he penda mercias king did ouer-runne : he neuer fought but conquest home did bring , and eight and forty yeeres did raigne a king. cadwallin was buried at london in saint martins church neere ludgate . 103. cadwallader . 685. this king renowned was both neere and farre , the last of brittaines kings , cadwallader , the name of brittaine was quite alterd then , the kings of england , subiects , englishmen . then in this land , of kings there raign'd so many , that subiects knew not to obey all , or any : their names and times of raigne i meane to tell , should i write more , my book too big would swell . here the inhabitants lost the name of brittaines , the land being called anglia , or england , and the people englishmen . 687. cadwallader left his crowne , went to rome , and dyed there . these kings following were of the west saxons . 726 ethelard was king of the west saxons . 740. cuthred succeeded him . 757. sigebert next him , was slaine by a swineheard . 758. kenulphus was slaine by a kinsman of sigebert . 786. brithricus . in his time it rained blood . in the 800. ●…re of christ , the danes landed at portland , but brithricus beat them backe , and afterwards was poysoned by his wife ethelburga . eghricus , king of west-saxons . 839. adelnulphus ouercame 〈◊〉 danes , that came to inuade the kingdome with 350. ships . 857. athelbald . 860. athelbrict . 866. etheldrid . 872. aelfred . 900. edward surnamed senior . heere end the kings of the west-saxons , now follow the kings of britaine . 104. athelstane reigned 15. yeeres . 905. this king did tame the welsh , the danes sub du'd , he conquerd scotland and the marches rude : the danish gyant colebrand in hyde-meade , by guy the earle of warwicke was strucke dead . king athelstane was crowned at kingstone , hee brought this land againe to one sole monarchy , he was buried at malmsbury . 105. edmund . 940. 106. eldred . 946. edmond , reigned next his brother athelstane , and after fiue yeeres was vntimely slaine : nine yeeres was eldred englands king inst●…d , th' insulting danes , he from this realme exilde . edmund was buried at glastenbury . eldred was brother to edmund , he was crowned at kingstone , he expelled the danes , and was buried at winchester . 107 edwin . 955. 108 edgar . 959. then edwin ( as his right ) obtain'd the crowne , for rape , and brutish iust he was put downe , his brother edgar a man iust and w●…se , by edwin●… fall , vnto the throne did rise . the church and commonweale ( long time deform'd ) he by his iustice and good lawes reform'd . raign'd sixteen yeeres , and then by death assail'd , as he had liu'd belou'd , he dy'd bewail'd . edwin was eldreds kinsman crowned at kingstone : he defloured his owne kinswoman and slew her husband , for which odious acts hee was deposed of all kingly dignity , and his brother edgar was in his stead crowned at bathe . edgar had 3600 ships to withstand the inuasion of his enemies , hee founded and repaired 47. relligious houses , hee was buried at glastenbury . 109 edward . 975. 110 etheldred . 978. edward was slain by his accurst stepmother , ayded by etheldred his cruell brother . this etheldred caus'd all the danes be slaine : and dyed the thirty eight yeere of his raigne . he was crowned at kingstone : he reigned 3 yeeres , and was buried at shaftsbury . etheldred was buried in s. pauls church in london . 111 edmond ironside . 1016. the danes came to reuenge with sword and fire , both kings to combat single did desire : on equall termes , their valours both were tride , in loue the realme betwixt them they deuide . edricus a traitor murdered king edmond ironside , for the which canutus the dane caused him to bee tormented to death grieuously as he deserued . 112 canutus . 1018. this mighty danish king foure kingdomes hel●… danes , norway , england , scotland he compeld , taxes and toles he rais'd in england here , and dyed when he had gouern'd twenty yeere . in canutus his raigne the danes possessed all england : he lies buried at winchester . 113 harold . 10●…8 . 114 hardicanutus . 1041. harold from england did exile his mother , and kild allured his king and his brother : hardicanutus then the crowne obtain'd , who quaffing died , when he 3. yeeres had raig●…'d . harold was a tyrant : hee was called hartfoote for his swift running : he murdered prince allured hee raigned three yeeres , and was buried at westminster . hee caused the body of harold to be digged out of the graue , and ●…ast into the thames , in reuenge of his brother allureds death : he was buried at winchester . 115. saint edward . 1043. 1●…6 . harold the second . 1066. saint edward from the danes this ki●…gdom freed , and for he had no heyre , he heere decreed , that william duke of normandy ●…hou'd be next king , but harold seeming to agree , assoone as edward was laid in his toombe , this hasty harold mounted in his roome , but william came from normandy amaine , by whom king harold was vnking'd and slaine . the end of the first part . the second part . william conquerour . an. dom. 1066. vvhen britains , romanes , saxons , danes had done , the normans ( fiftly ) englands glory won , ●…w lords brought in new lawes incontinent , ●…nd all were conquer'd but the county kent . king william ( after he had all surpriz'd ) ●…lted , domineer'd , and tyranniz'd , 〈◊〉 englishmen ( like slaues ) their doores must lock , 〈◊〉 paine of death , each night at eight of clocke . 〈◊〉 english from all office were disgrac●…d , 〈◊〉 in their places the proud french were plac'd . 〈◊〉 beating down the right , with wrong on wrong , ●…aining men should speake the english tongue . 〈◊〉 so to bring o●…r memory to naught , 〈◊〉 grammar and the lawes in french were taught , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sonnes , with danes a mighty band , 〈◊〉 in ●…umber to inuade the land , then yorke was burnt , the wealth away was borne and danes on composition home did turne . a dearth in england was so great , that heere cats , dogs , and mans flesh , was our wofull cheere . the mercians and northumbers they rebel'd , strong warres the scots within our country held : the i le of ely did the king surprize , he caus'd the rebels lose hands , feet , and eyes . the normans did rebell and were subdu'd , danes came and fled , with all their multitude . the kings sonne ( robert ) by the french kings ayd , did diuers parts of normandy inuade . the scots spoild england , with all might and maine , and durhams bishop in a broyle was slaine , heere euery acre of mens lands were measur'd . and by a heauy taxe the king was treasur'd : slaine by a deere the kings sonne lost his life , and glassenbury monkes were kill'd in strife . the english nobles almost were decay'd , and euery place of rule the normans swai'd . and all mens goods and lands , and coyn were rated through england , and vnto the king related . the french mens pride did england ouerwhelme , and grieuous tributes did oppresse the realme . churches and chappels were throwne down with speed , to make new forrest as the king decreed : who hauing rul'd in trouble , toyle and care , and tryannously pol'd this kingdome bare , neere twenty one yeeres , death was then his bane : he lyes in normandy , enterr'd at cane . william conquerour was crowned on christmas-day , 1067. the yeere then beginning on that day . in the 〈◊〉 forrest in hampshire called new forrest , where this king had defased many churches ( wherein the name of god was called vpon ) and placed wild beasts for his disport : in the same forrest two of his owne sonnes were slaine , prince robert killed by a deere , and william rufus by a knight shooting at a deere . william rufus . an. dom. 1087. william the cruell conquerours second sonne , with ease , got what his fathers paines had won , oppressed england he opprest and prest , and great exactions wrongfully did wrest . for symony , and base corrupting gold , the king most churches and church-liuings sold , and more , ( his subiects vilely to abuse ) against them he in armes did arme the iewes , and swore if they the victory did gaine , that he their faithlesse faith would entertaine . vpon his eldest brother hee rai'sd warres , his youngest brother troubled him with iarres . at london , such a furious winde did blow , which did sixe hundred houses ouerthrow . the city gloster was by welshmen sack'd . northumberland was by king william wrack'd : william de oue , and william de aluery , in cruell torments dyed at salisbury . duke robert laid all normandy to gage vnto the king , warres with the turkes to wage . westminster hall was built , the danes came in , and th' orchades , and the i le of man did win . but as the king was hunting in hampshire , sir walter tirr●…ll shooting at a deere , the arrow glauncing'gainst a tree by chance , th' vnhappy king kild , by the haplesse glaunce . a colliers cart to winchester did bring the corps , where vnbemoand they laid the king. rufus . in the 8. yeere of his reigne , the christian army went to ierusalem vnder the conduct of godfry duke of bulleine , in which warres serued robert duke of normandy the kings eldest brother , who pawned his dukedome for 16666 pounds weight of siluer . in the 11. yeere the lands of the late earle godwine sunk in the sea , and are to this day called godwine sands . this king died the 2. of august 1100. he reigned 12. yeeres , 11. moneths , and was buried at winchester . henry the first . an. dom. 1100. this henry ( for his wisedome beuclarke nam'd ) th'vnlawfull lawes and measures he reclaim'd . the norman duke , eld'st brother to the king , to claime the crowne a mighty hoast did bring . saint bartholomewes was founded and saint gyles , and henry stop'd duke roberts mouth with wiles . then peace was made ; but after , warres did rise , the king tooke's brother , and put out his eyes . here windsor church and castle were erected , and wales ( rebeld ) most sharpely was corrected . all the king's sonnes and eight score persons more , were drown'd by tempest neere the norman shore . thus all his ioy in childrens losse bereft , saue onely maud , the widdow empresse left , whom geffrey anioy's earle to wife did get , from whom did spring the name plant●…genet . the king proclaim'd his daughter , or her seede , after his death should in the realme succeede , and after thirty fiue yeeres time was past , king henry by a surfet breath'd his last . much trouble in his dayes this kingdome wearied , he dyed , and dead , at redding he lies buried . thus god that lifts the low , casts downe the high , caus'd all the conquerors sonnes vntimely dye . henry the 1. he held the crowne wrongfully from his elder brother robert duke of normandy , and ouercomming him in battell , most vnnaturally put out his eies : he reigned 35. y●…res , his braines , eyes and bowels were buried at roane in france , and the rest of his body at redding : his phisician that opened his head , was killed suddainely with the stench of his braines . king stephen . an. dom. 1135. stephen earle of b●…loign , ( th' earle of bloys his son ) from th' empresse maud this famous kingdome won . domestike , forraigne , dangerous discords , 'twixt factions f●…ctions , of the king and 's lords , wars 'twixt the king and th' empresse for the crown , both tasted fortunes fauours , and her frowne , now vp , now downe , like balles at tennis tost , till stephen gain'd the goale , and th' empresse lost . and after eighteene yeeres were come and gone , the king not hauing any lawfull sonne , he dyed , and chang'd his kingdome & his strength , for a small sepulcher of sixe foote length . king stephen . he was noble , valiant , liberall , and politique , and almost in continuall trouble . in the 1. yeere of his reigne a fire burnt all the streete , from london-stone east , to pauls , and west , to algate , and within 2. yeeres after , the ci●…ties of york , rochester , and bathe , were burnt . hee reigned 18. yeeres , 10. moneths , and was buried at feuersham . henry the second . an dom. 1154. this king vnto the empresse maud was heyre , and lawfully obtain'd the regall chayre , he was couragious , and yet most vnchaste , which vice , his other vertues all defac'd . he lou'd faire rosamond , the worlds faire rose , for which his wife and children turn'd his foes . he made his sonne copartner in his crowne , who rais'd strong warres to put his father downe . faire rosamond at woodstock by the queene was poyson'd , in reuengefull-iealous spleene . in toyle , and trouble , with his sonnes and peeres , the king raign'd almost fiue and thirty yeeres . hee neere his death did curse his day of birth , hee curst his sonnes , and sadly left the earth , hee at founteuerard in his tombe was laid . and his son richard next the scepter swaid . henry the 2. in the 12. yeer of this king an earthquake in norfolk , suffolk , and elye , that made bels ring with shaking the steeples , and ouerthrew men that stood on their feete . nicholas breakespeare , an englishman was pope of rome , and was named adrian the fourth , hee gaue the lord-shippe of ireland to king henry . richard cordelion . an. dom. 1189. this braue victorious lyon-hearted prince , the foes of christ , in iury did conuince : whilst at ierusalem he wan renowne , his brother iohn at home vsurp'd his crowne . and as he home return'd , ( his owne to gaine ) by austria's duke the king was prisoner tane . his ransome was an hundred thousand pound , which paid , in england he againe was crown'd . yet after nine full yeeres , and 9. months raigne , hee with a shot was kild in aquitane , his buriall at 〈◊〉 was ●…hought meet , at his dead fathers , second henries feet . richard the 1. he conquered the kingdome of cypresse , and he tooke from the infidels the cities of acon , & ioppa , and deliuered them to christians . in his 2. yeere , the bones of the renowned king arthur were found at glastenbury . king richards bowels were buried at chalne castle in aquitane , his heart at roane , and his body at founteuerard . king iohn . an. dom. 1199. john earle of morton tooke the regall seate , his state , his toyle , his pompe , his cares , all great : the french , the welsh , the scotsh , all prou'd his foes , the pope king iohn did from his crowne depose . his lords rebel'd , from france the dolphin came , and wasted england much with sword and flame . and after seuenteene yeeres were full expir'd . king iohn being poysoned , to his graue retir'd . king iohn . in the 8. yeere many men , women , and cattell were slaine with thunder , and many houses burnt , and the corne was beaten downe with haile as bigge as goose egges . some say , the king was po●…son'd by a monke , and others write that he died of a surfeit at newark , but his life was full of troubles , and after his death he was by base villaines rob'd and left naked without any thing to couer the corpes , hee was buried at worcester . henry the third . an. dom. 1216. wars , bloody wars , the french in englād made , strong holds , towns , towres & castles they inuade . but afterwards it was k. henries chance , by force perforce to force them backe to france . great discord 'twixt the king and barons were , and factions did the realme in pieces teare . a world of mischiefes did this land abide , and fifty sixe yeeres raign'd the king , and dy'd . henry the 3. this king was born at winchester , crowned at glocester , & buried at westminster . in the 17. of his reigne on the 8. of aprill 1233. there were 5 sonnes in the firmament , and the naturall sun was as red as blood . edward long-shanks . an. dom. 1272. this was a hardy , wise , victorious king , the welshmen he did to subiection bring : he scotland wan , and brought from thence ( by fate ) their crowne , their scepter , chaire , and cloth of state , that kingdome with oppression sore he brusde , much tyranny and bloodshed there he vsde . when thirty fiue yeeres he the crowne had kept , at westminster , he with his father slept . edward the 1. in the 13. yeere his sonne edward was borne at carnaruan , who was the first sonne of any king of england that was prince of wales . an. 17. wheat at 3. pence the bushell . edward of carnaruan . an. dom. 1307. the hard mis haps that did this king attend , the wretched life , and lamentable end , which he endur'd the like hath ne'r bin seene , depos'd , and poyson'd by his cruell queene . which when the poyson had no force to kill , another way she wrought her wicked will. into his fundament a red hot spit was thrust , which made his royall heart to split . in his 8. yeere such a dearth , that dogges and horses were good food , many ate their owne children , and old prisoners tore such as were newly committed in pieces , and deuoured them halfe liuing . the king reigned 19. yeeres 6. moneths . edward the third . an. dom. 1316. in peace and warre , ●…his king was right , & good , he did reu●…nge his murdred fathers blood : hee , and the blacke prince , his most valiant sonne , the field at cress●… and at poytiers wonne , at first and l●…st in his victorious raigne , of french and scots , were six score thousand slaine . and more , ( his glory further to aduance ) he tooke the kings of scotland and of france . the noble order of the garter , he at windsor , instituted caus'd to be . when fifty yeeres this land had him obaid , at westminster he in his tombe was laid . in his 12. yeere he quartered the armes of england and france , as they are at this day . henry pichard vi●…tner , in his maioralty feasted at once , edward king of england , dauid king of scotland , iohn king of france , the king of cypres , the prince of wales , the dolphin of france , with many other great personages of honour and worship . richard the second . an. dom. 1377. yong king , rash coūsell , lawes & right neglected , the good put downe , the bad in state ●…rected : the court with knaues & flat'rers here did swarm , the kingdome , ( like a farme ) was let to farme . the commons rose in armies , rou●…es , and throngs , and by foule treason , would 〈◊〉 foule wrongs . in this kings raigne , began the ciuill warre , ( vnnaturally ) 'twixt yorke and lancaster . oppression on oppression , breedes confusion , bad prologue , bad proceeding , bad conclusion : king richard , twenty two yeeres raign'd , misse-led , deposed and at pomfret knock'd ith'head . this king was grandchild to edward the 3. and sonne to the black prince , he was borne at burdeux in france , and was but 11. yeeres old when he was crowned , so that all his miserable calamity may be imputed to his not hauing or not regarding good counsell . henry the fourth . an. dom. 1399. the crown wrong got frō the wrong ' doing king , more griefe then ioy did to king henry bring : france , england , scotland , wales , arose in armes , and menac'd henry , with most fierce alarmes : hot percy , dowglas , mortimer , glend●…wre , at shrewsbury , the king or●…threw their power , he fourteene yeeres did raigne , and then did dye , at cant●…rbury buried , he doth lye . henry the 4. hee began his reigne the 29. of september , 1399. and the 14. of february following , king richard the 2. being in prison at pomfret-castle , was murdered . the raigne of king henry was a continuall warre and trouble . henry the fift . an. dom. 1412. this was a king renowned n●…ere and farre , a mars of men , a thunderbolt of warre : at agencourt the french were ouerthrowne , and henry heyre proclaim'd vnto that crowne . ●…ine yeeres raigne this valiant prince wan more , i hena●… the kings did after or before . intomb'd at westminster his carkas lyes , his soule did ( like his acts ) ascend the skies . henry the 5. in his 3. yeere hee past the sea with 1000. 〈◊〉 of ships and vessels into france . his tombe or statue was couered with siluer , but this yron age hath deuoured henry the sixt . an. dom. 1422. this infant prince scarce being nine moneths old , the realmes of france and england he did hold but he vncapable through want of yeeres , was ouer-gouern'd by mis-gouern'd peeres . now yorke and lancaster , with bloudy wars , both wound this kingdome , with deep deadly scars . wh●…st this good king by yorke oppos'd , depos'd , expos'd to dangers , is captiu'd , 〈◊〉 ' d , his 〈◊〉 ●…xilde , his sonne and many friends , f●…d , murdred , slaughtred ; lastly , ●…ate contends to crowne him once againe , who then at last was murdred , thirty nine yeeres being past . king henry the fixt , being 10. yeers old , was crowned king of france in paris , but with the strife betwixt the nobility , and the commons in england , the most part of france was lost againe , which was neuer recouered since . edward the fourth . an. dom. 1460. edward , the 4 the house of yorks great heire , by bloudy wars attain'd the regall chair●… , the poore king henry into scotland fled , and foure yeeres there was royally cloath'd and fed , still good success●… with him was in the wane , he by king edwards power at last was tane . but yet before the tenth yeere of his reigne , hence edward fled , and henry crown'd againe . by warwicks meanes sixe moneths he held the same , till edward backe in armes to england came , and fighting stoutly , made this kingdome yeeld , and slew great warwicks earle at barnet field . thus ciuill wars on wars , and broyles on broyles , and england against england spils and spoyles , now yorke , then lancaster , then yorke againe quels lancaster ; thus ioy , griefe , pleasure , paine , doth like inconstant waters ebbe and flow : ones rising is the others ouerthrow . king edward , twenty two yeeres rul'd this land , and lies at windsor , where his tombe doth stand . edward the 4. in the first yeere on palme-sunday , 1460. there was a battell fought betwixt king edward and king henry , neere todcaster , wherein were slaine of english-men on both sides 53000 , 700 , and 11. persons : the bloudy victory fell to king edward . in the 10. yeere of his reigne , he was forced to forsake this land , whereby king henry was restored againe to the crowne . but shortly after , edward returned , and henry was ●…urthered . edward the fifth . an. dom. 1483. high birth , blood , state , and innocent in yeeres , eclips'd , and murdred by insulting peeres : this king was neuer crown'd , short was his raigne : for to be short , hee in short space was slaine . edward the 5. within 3. moneths after the death of his father , hee and his brother richard duke of yorke , were depriued both of their liues , and he of the crowne , by their tyrannous unkle richard , duke of gloster . richard the third . an. dom. 1483. by reason , mischiefe , murder and debate . vsurping richard wonne the royall state : vnnatnrally the children of his brothe . the king , and duke of yorke he caus'd to smother . for sir iames tirrell , dighton and blacke will , did in the tower these harmlesse princes kill , buckinghams duke did raise king richard high , and for reward he lost his head thereby . a fellow to this king i scarce can finde . his shape deform'd , and crooked like his minde . most cruell , tyrannous , inconstant , stout , couragious , hardy , t' abide all dangers out , yet when his sinnes were mellow , ripe and full , th' almighties iustice then his plum●…s did pull : by bloudy meanes he did the kingdome gaine , and lost it so , at bosworth being slaine . this richard was neuer a good subiect ; but wh●… he had got the crowne , he striued by all meanes to be a good king , for in his short reigne of two yeeres , two mo●…s , he made very profitable lawes , which are yet in force : by which it may be perceiued how willing he was to 〈◊〉 his mis-spent time . henry the seuenth . an. dom. 1485. vvhen ciuill wars , full fourescore yeers & more , had made this kingdome welter in her gore : when eightie of the royall blood were kild , that yorke and lancasters crosse faction held , then god in mercy , looking on this land , brought in this prince , with a triumphant band , the onely heire of the lancastrian line , who grac●…ously consented to combine , to ease poore england of a world of anone , and make the red rose and the white but one , by marriage with elizabeth the faire , fourth edwards daughter , and yorks onely heire . but margret burgunds lancaster storm'd & frown'd , that th' heire of lancaster in state was crown'd . a counterfeit , one lambert she suborn'd , ( beign with princely ornaments adorn'd ) to claime the state in name of cla●…ce sonne , who in the tower before to death was done . wars ' gainst the french king henry did maintaine , and edward braue lord wooduil●… there was slaine . northumberlands great earle ( for the kings right ) was slaine by northerne rebels in sharpe fight . the king besiedged boloigne , but a peace the french king sought , and so the siedge did cease . still burgunds dutchesse , ( with inueterate hate ) did seeke to ruine henries royall state : she caus'd one perkin warbecke , to put on the name of richard , edwards murdred sonne , which richard , was the youngest of the twaine of edwards sonnes that in the tower was slaine . the king at last these traitors did confound , and perkin for a counterfeit was found . sir william stanley , ( once the kings best friend ) at tower hill , on a scaffold had his end . on blacke heath cornish rebels were o'rthrowne , a shoomaker did claine king henries crowne . the earle of warwicke lost his haplesse head , and lady katherine did prince arthur wed . but ere sixe moneths were fully gone and past , in ludlow castle , arthur breath'd his last . king henry built his chappell from the ground , at westminster , whose like can scarce be found . faire margret eldest daughter to our king , king iames the fourth of 〈◊〉 home did bring , where those two princes , with great pompe and cheare , in state at edenborough married were . but as all mortall ●…hings are tra●…ory , so to an end came h●…nrie ●…arthly glory . twenty three yeeres , and 8. months here he swaid , and then at westminster , i●…s tombe was laid . he all his life had variable share , of peace , warre , ioy griefe , royaltie and care. in his 1. yeere in 7. weekes space , there dyed in london 2. masors , and 6. aldermen , besides many hundred others of a strange sweating sicknesse , 1485. anno reg. 12. at saint needs in bedfordshire , there fell bail-stones 18. inches about . king iames the 4. of scotland , married margret , eldest daughter to henry the 7. from whom our gracious soueraigne is lineally descended . henry the eight . an. dom. 1509. from both the lines , and both the loynes did spring of york & lancaster , this mighty king : katherine that was his brothers wife of late , he tooke to wife , and crown'd her queene in state . empson and dudley lost their heads at tower , for racking the poore commons by their power . warres , dreadfull wars , arose 'twixt vs and france , lord edward howard , drowned by mis-chance at brest , he was high admirall in fight , cast ouerboord , dy'd like a valiant knight . in england suffolks duke did lose his head , the king to tur●…in d●…d an army lead , turney he wonne with his victorious blade , king iames of scotland , england did inuade : but surries earle , the sco●…sh king ouercame , who lost life there , but wonne immortall fame . now cardinall wol●…ey , in the kings high grace , was rais'd to honours , from great place to place , lordship on lordship laid vpon his backe , vntill the burthen was the bearers wracke . the duke of buckingham , his head did lose , and luther stoutly did the pope oppose , blinde ignorance that long had look'd awry , began to see truth with a clearer eye , and then the king ( inspir'd with feruent zeale ) reformed both the church and common weale , iehouah with his power omnipotent , did make this king his gracious instrument , t' vnmaske his truth from antichristian fables , and purge this wofull land from babel●… bables . this king at boloigne was victorious ; in peace and warre , magnifique , glorious ; in his rage bounty he did oft expresse , his liberality to bee excesse , in reuels , iusts , and turnies he spent more , then fiue of his fore-fathers did before , his auarice was all for noble fame , amongst the worthies to inrole his name , a valiant champion for the faiths defence , was the great title of this mightie prince . sixe wiues he had , 3. kates , 2. annes , one iane , two were diuorc'd , two at the blocke were slaine : one sonne and two faire daughters he did leaue , who each from other did the crowne receiue : the first was edward ; mary next , whose death left state , and realme , to queene elizabeth . he thirty eight yeeres kept this royall roome , at windsor hee 's enter'd without a tombe . leeth , edenbourgh , and diuers other parts of scotland were spoyled by sir iohn dudley , lord viscount lisle , lord high admirall of england , with a nauy of 200. tall ships . anno 1544. king henry went to boloigne , hee entred france the 13. of iuly , and into boloigne the 25. of september , in which yeere were taken 300. french ships for prizes . edward the sixt . an. dom. 1546. had this kings reigne bin long , as it was good , religion in a peaceable state had stood , what might haue his age bin , when his blest youth , so valiantly aduanc'd gods sacred truth ? at nine yeeres age , the crowne on him hee tooke , and ere sixteene , he crowne and life forsooke . too good for earth , th' almighty tooke his spirit , and westminster his carkas doth inherit . in his 5. yeere a strange earth-quake did much harme in diuers places of surry , and a sweating sicknesse generally ouer england , that dispatched those that were in good health , in 12. houres , or 24. at the most . in one weeke there dyed of it in london 806. the most of them being men of best strength . queene mary . an. dam. d●… after a while this queene had worne the crown , idolatry was rais'd , and truth put downe , the masse , the images , the beades and altars , by tyrannie , by fire , and sword and halters , th' vngodly bloudy antichristian sway , men were force , perforce forced to obey . now burning bonner , londons bishop , he was from the marshal-sea againe set free : iohn dudley , great duke of northumberland , and sir iohn gates dyed by the headsmans hand . with them sir thomas palmer likewise dy'd . hoping for heau'n , through iesus crucified . in latine seruice must be sung and said , because men should not know for what they prai'd . the emp'rors sonne , great philip king of spaine , a marriage with queene mary did obtaine : against which match , sir thomas wyat rose , with powers of kent the spaniards to oppose . but wyat was or'throwne , his armie fled , and on the tower hill after lost his head . lord gray the duke of suffolke also dy'd , an axe his corps did from his head diuide , a little after , the lord thomas gray , the dukes owne brother went that headlesse way . a millers sonne asl●…m'd king edwards name , and fa sely in that n●…me the crowne did claime , but he was tane and iustly whip'd and tortur'd , and claiming it once more , was hang'd & quarterd . king pl●…lip won saint . quintins with great cost . but after to our shame was callice lost , calli●…e was lost , which threescore yeeres and ten , had beene a garrison for english men . thus by gods mercy englands queene did dye , and england gain'd much ease and rest thereby . fiue yeeres and 4. months was her bloudy reigne , and all her glory doth one graue containe . though of her selfe this queene was well inclin'd , bad-minded counsell al●…red much her minde . she married philip king of spaine , on saint iames his day , 1554. at winchester . callice was won by edward the 3. in the 21. of his reigne , 1347. and it was lost the 1. of ianuary 1557. after the english-men had possest it 210. yeeres . august 7. 1558 a tempest neere nottingham , beat damne 2 townes and churches , and cast the bels to the further side of the church-yard , threw whole sheetes of lead 400. foot into the fields , where they were crumpled together like burnt parchment : the streame and mud of the k●…er of trent was blowne a-land a quarter of a mile : a childe blowne out of a mans hand 100. foot and kild , there fell hayle 15. inches about . queene elizabeth . an. dom. 1558. a debora , a iudith , a susannae , a virgin , a virago , a diana : couragious , zealous , learned , wise and chaste , with heauenly , earthly gifts , adorn'd and grac'd , victorious , glorious , bountious , gracious , good , and one , whose vertues dignifi'd her bloud , that muses , graces , armes , and liberall arts , amongst all queens , proclaim'd her queen of hearts , she did repurifie this land once more , from the infection of the romish whore . now abbies , abbots , fri'rs , monks , nuns & stews , masses , and masse-priests , that mens soules abuse , were all cast downe , lamps , tapers , relikes , beads , and superstitions that mans soule misse-leads , all popish pardons , buls . confessions , with crossings , christening bels , saints intercessions , the altars , idols , images downe cast , all pilgrimage , and superstitious fast , th' acknowledging the pope for supreme head , the holy water , and the god of bread , the mumbling mattins , and the pickpurse masse , these bables this good queene did turne to grasse . she caus'd gods seruice to be said and sung , in our owne vnderstanding english tongue . in scotland and in france , fierce warres she held , the irish she subdu'd when they rebeld , the netherlands her name doe still admire , and spaine her like againe doth not desire . when forty foure yeers reigne was past and gone , she chang'd her earthly for a heauenly throne , at greenwich she was borne , at richmond dy'd , at westminster she buried , doth abide ; and as the fame of this imperiall maide , is through the world , ( by the foure winds ) displaid , so shall her memory for euer grace her famous birth , her death , and buriall place . at teuxbury anno 1574. the 24. of february , being a hard frost , the riuer of seuerne was couered with flies and beetles , so that it was thought , within the length of a paire of buts , to be 100. quarters of them the ●…ils were stopped with them , but from whence they came , is vnknown . 1582. a piece of land of three acres in dorsetshire , in the parish of armitage , was suddenly remooued 600. foot from the place where formerly it stood . king iames. an. dom. 1601. vvhen as elizaes wofull death was act●…d : when this lamenting land was halfe 〈◊〉 : whē tears e●…ch loyall heart with grief had drownd , then came this king and made our ioves abound , ordain'd for vs by heauenly power diuine , then from the north this glorious starre did shine , the royall image of the prince of peace , the blest concorder that made warres to cease ; by name a s t e v v a r d , and by nature one , appointed from iehonahs sacred throne , and by th' almighties hand supported euer , that treason or the diuell should hurt him neuer : and as his zeale vnto his god was great , gods blessings on him were each way compleat , rich in his subiects loue ( a kings best treasure ) rich in content , ( a riches aboue measure ) rich in his princely issue , and in them , rich in his hopefull branches of his stemme ; rich in munition and a nauy royall , and richer then all kings in seruants loyall . when hell and ro●… together did conspire , ●…o blow him and his kingdome vp with fire , then did the king of kings preserue our king , and all the traytors to confusion bring . and whoso reckons vp from first to last , the many hel-hatch'd dangers he hath past through all his daies , he will beleeue ( no doubt ) that he with heauenly pow'rs was wall'd about . all christian princes held his friendship deare , was fear'd for loue , and not belou'd for feare : and pagan monarchs were in l●…ague combin'd with him , as farre as is the easterne ind●… . and like a flame a midst a riuer fix'd , so was his iustice with his m●…rcy mix'd : he striu'd to imitate his ma●…er still , and clemency preseru'd where law 〈◊〉 : he hath cur'd england and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wounds , and made them both great ( 〈◊〉 ) britains bounds all bloudy deadly fewds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and canker'd hate he turn'd to christian 〈◊〉 , the mouth of warre he muzzled mu●…e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he still'd the roaring cannon and the 〈◊〉 secure in peace , his people sup and dine , 〈◊〉 with their owne fig-trees shaded and 〈◊〉 whilst in an vprore most of christendome , one nation doth another 〈◊〉 . vnto the king of kings let 's praises sing . for giuing vs this ●…appy peacefull king. none know so well how they should peace prefer , as those that know the miseries of warre : t is true ( though 〈◊〉 ) and must not be forgot , the warres are sweet to such as know them not . peace ( happy peace ) doth spread tranq●…illity , through all the bounds of britaines monarchy ; and may we all our actions still addresse , for peace with god , and warre 'gainst wickednesse . vnto which peace of god this king's 〈◊〉 , to reigne in glory that shall ne'r be ended . his mortall part at westminster enter'd , his soule and fame immortally prefer'd . god did wonderfully preserue him ( vpon two seuerall tuesdaies ) from 2 most dangerous treas●… , the one at the towne of saint iohnston in scotland , on tuesday the 5. of august , 1600. where the earle of gowry attempted to kill his maiesty . the ●…her was in england , in that fearfull treason and deliuerance from the powder-plot , on tuesday the 5. of nouember . 1606. king charles . two williams , henries 8. 1. steuen , 1. iohn , sixe edwards , richards 3. and 1. queene mary : elizabeth , and iames , all dead and gone , our gracious charles doth now the scepter carry ; and may they liue and dye of god accurst , who wish the pre●…dice of charles the first . iust 25. kings and queenes of england since the norman conquest . finis . this avthor hath newly caused all his works ( being aboue 60. ) to bee printed into one volume , the names of all which works are set downe in this following catalogue . taylors vrania . the life and death of the virgin mary . the whip of pride . against cursing and swearing . the fearefull summer . christian admonitions . the trauell of tweluepence . the armado . the begger . taylors goose. iacke a lent. taylors peninlesse pilgrimage , the sculler . the dolphins danger . the cormorant . a sea-fight by captaine wedall . the praise of hempseed . taylors pastorall . prince charles his welcome from spaine . an english mans loue to bohemia . three weeks and three daies trauels taylors farewell ●…o bohemia . sir gregory nonsence . a very merry whir●…y voyage . the great o tnole . a voyage to the west . the scourge of basenesse . taylors motto . odcombs complaint . coriats resurrection . laugh and be fat . coriats newes . a bawd. a whore. a thiefe . a hangman . the vnnaturall father . taylors reuenge . fenners defence . a cast ouer the water . the praise of cleane linnen . the water-mans suit . wit and mirth . a dogge of warre . the world runs on wheeles . the nipping or snipping of abuses . a chronicle from brute . a briefe from the conquest . a farewell to the towre bottles . the marriage of the princesse elizabeth . an elegie for king iames. an elegy for the earle of nottingham . an elegy for the earle of holdernesse . an elegy for the bishop of winchester . an elegy for the duke of richmond . an elegy for iohn moray esquire . the summe of the bible in verse . the sum of the booke of martyrs in verse . the churches deliuerances . archies making peace with france . the acts and exployts of wood the great eater , in kent . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a13472-e220 a the 7 kingdomes were , 1. kent . 2 south-saxons , sussex and surry . 3 east-angles , norfolke , and cambridge-shire . 4 west saxon , barkshire , deuonshire , somersetshire , and cornewell . 5 mertia , glostershire , herefordshire , worcester , shropsh●…re , scaffor●…shire , cheshire , warwike , leycester , noreb , oxford , ●…ingham , bedford , and halfe hartfordshire . 6 east-saxon , essex , middlesex , and halfe hartfordshire . 7 northumberland diuided to two kingdomes , 〈◊〉 ●…nd bernicia , all brought to one monarchy by egler●… : 〈◊〉 west-saxons , and called england , 196●… yee●…s after 〈◊〉 . notes for div a13472-e980 * brute being of the age of 15 yeeres , as he shot at a wild beast , the arrow glanced vnfortunately and slew his father siluius aeneas , for the which he was exilde , and came into this land , then called albyon . i follow the common opinion : for many writers doe neither write or allow of brutes being here , accounting it a dishonor for our nation , to haue originall from a par●…ide , and one that deriued his descent from the goddesse ( alias strumper ) venus . howsoeuer , histories are obscured and clouded with ambiguities , some burnt , lost , defaced by antiquity ; and some abused by the malice , ignorance , or partialitie of writers , so that truth is hard to be found . amongst all which variations of times and writers , i must conclude there was a brvte . a the riuer of humber tooke the name from the drow●…d king of the huns , now hungarians . b guendoline was daughter vnto corineus , duke cornewall . estrild was a beautious lady of king ●…umbers , whom locrinus tooke prisoner . notes for div a13472-e9350 a on the plaine of salisbury at stonehing ( where the stones are to be seene at this day . ) * the king & queene burnt to death . vortiger married his owne daughter 〈◊〉 his third wife . the history of the association, containing all the debates, in the last house of commons, at westminster concerning an association, for the preservation of the king's person, and the security of the protestant religion : the proceedings about an association in the reign of queen elizabeth, and a true copy of the association, produced at the earl of shaftsbury's tryal, and said to be found in his lordships study, with some observations on the whole : to which is added by way of postscript reflections on the parallel between the late association, and the solemn league and covenant. 1682 approx. 105 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a43914 wing h2144 estc r13449 11833510 ocm 11833510 49745 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a43914) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49745) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 497:4) the history of the association, containing all the debates, in the last house of commons, at westminster concerning an association, for the preservation of the king's person, and the security of the protestant religion : the proceedings about an association in the reign of queen elizabeth, and a true copy of the association, produced at the earl of shaftsbury's tryal, and said to be found in his lordships study, with some observations on the whole : to which is added by way of postscript reflections on the parallel between the late association, and the solemn league and covenant. england and wales. parliament. house of commons. [2], 26, [4] p. printed for r. janeway, london : 1682. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng solemn league and covenant (1643) great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2006-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-05 john latta sampled and proofread 2006-05 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the history of the association , containing all the debates in the last house of commons , at westminster : concerning an association , for the preservation of the kings person , and the security of the protestant religion . the proceedings about an association in the reign of queen elizabeth , and a true copy of the association , produced at the earl of shaftsbury's tryal , and said to be found in his lordships study . with some observations on the whole . to which is added by way of postcript reflections on the parallel between the late association , and the solemn league and covenant . london , printed for r. janeway . 1682. the history of the association , &c. after the bill of exclusion was rejected in the house of lords , the commons seemed to be at a stand , not knowing what to do . but soon after his majesty in his most gracious speech of the 15th . december 1680. having promised them the fullest satisfaction their hearts could wish for the security of the protestant religion , &c. he concludes thus , and being thus ready on my part to do all that can reasonably be expected from me , i shall be glad to know from you as soon as may be , how far i shall be assisted by you ; and what it is you desire from me ; upon which grounds the first time you heard of the bill of association being mentioned was in the grand committee , to secure the kingdom against popery and arbitrary government , wherein mr. powel had the chair . at which time the lord c. and several others speake to this effect , as follows , all already printed in the collection of the debates of the house of commons at westminster , 1680. published by richard baldwin . ld. c. sir , when i consider the immunities and advantages we enjoy by the excellent composure of our government both in church and state , how the king as soveraign , enjoys all the prerogative that can be necessary to make him either great or happy , and the people all the liberty and priviledge that can be pretended for their encouragement to be industrious , and for securing to themselves and posterities the enjoyment of what they get by their industry . how the doctrine of the church is void of idolatrous superstitious opinions ▪ and the government of tyranny or absolute dominion ; i cannot but admire that there should be any body amongst our selves that should aim at any alteration , and be the occasion of this days debate . but , sir , it is too evident that such there are , and that they have made a great advance to effect their design , by many contrivances which they have persued for a long course of years , according to the results and cousultations held by jesuites for that purpose : but above all , by converting to their religion james duke of york , the presumptive heir of the crown , and by engaging him to espouse their interest with that zeal and fervency which usually attends new converts ; especially when so great a glory is proposed as the rooting out of a pèstslent heresy out of these three nations , and the saving of so many souls as would depend thereon . the sad effect of this conversion we have felt for many years , it having had the same operations in our body politick , as some sorts of lingring poyson hath in bodies natural ; made us sick and consumptive , by infecting and corrupting all the food and physick which hath been applied in order to reduce us to popery and slavery , worse than death it self . from this fatal act the declination of the grandieur of this monarchy may be dated , and to the consequences thereof its absolute ruine if not timely prevented ) will be hereafter attributed . this being our case , i could not but admire to see this house so long coming to consider this weighty point ; insomuch , that i began to perswade my self , that either our dangers were not so great as our discourses upon some other occasions had represented them , or that we were not in good earnest to endeavour any redress . it is true when we consider what ill fortune we have had with our bid lately sent up to the house of lords , we may with some reason be discouraged . but i hope , sir , that seeing our country hath thought us worthy to be their representatives , we shall not be so easily daunted in what so nearly concerns them , but be as indefatigable in finding out wayes for our preservation , as our enemies are to find out means for our destruction ; hoping we shall not meet always so bad success in the house of lords : for though the too much kindness of some men who pretended to be for the bill , but underhand made a party against it , did this time operate as fatally as enmity disguised in friendship useth to do , yet i hope that in another occasion we may have better success ; not doubting but a great many lords , when they are perswaded that they shall not be able to find out any other way ( as i hear they begin to despair they shall ) to secure the protestant religion , that they will joyn with us in the same , or some other bill to the same purpose : especially my good lords the bishops , who cannot be presumed to have made peace with rome , but to be ready to die for the protestant religion , and therefore doubtless will not long stick at joyning in a bill to save it . but seeing that according to the course of parliaments we are not like to bring this to a tryal for a long time i am of opinion we had best try something else ; and although i know not what other act can be made to serve instead of that , but will either prove to weak or two strong ; yet seeing we are put upon it , we must try , that so we may not be represented as stubborn . and therefore i humbly move you that a bill may be brought in for the association of all his majesty's protestant subjects . r. m. sir , great things are expected from this dayes debate , and we could not well have entred into it sooner ; it now comes more seasonable than it would have done before , because of the opportunities we have had to feel the pulse of affairs since the beginning of the session , and the time we have spent in asserting the right of petitioning , by which the essence of parliaments , and the foundation of the peoples liberties were struck at . and the tryal of my lord stafford , and the disinheriting-bill could not possibly have been avoided . and as our labour hath not been lost in all , so i hope that at last we shall have some benefit , of that spent about the succession-bill . for as it was said at the passing of the bill , that there were a loyal party that will never acquiesce in it ; so i do believe there is a true protestant party that will never acquiesce in any thing less than what may be sufficient for the security of their religion , which i am apt to believe will end in that bill . but in the mean time , that we may shew that we are not humorists , let us try what strength we can muster up to oppose these great enemies by some other laws ; as when an house is on fire we make use of buckets and tubs for casting of water , until the great engines can be got . but i would move you to be cautious what you do , for i am afraid that the design of putting you upon finding out expedients , is not in order to have any thing done that is effectual against popery , but in order to have you offer at something that may purchase a disrepute on the house , and give your enemies an advantage to persue their designes of breaking us , by alleadging that you aim at laws that will overturn the government . for my part i am fully perswaded that this is the design of those that have put the king so often to declare against altering the succession , and to recommend other wayes ; and that offer at what you will , if it be any thing that is like to prove strong enough to secure us against popery , that you will see the house put off before it come to any perfection , and that in time it will be made use of to arraign the proceeding of parliament , and to perswade the people that this house did attempt to alter the government by such and such bills , and so by degrees possess the people that parliaments are either dangerous , or inconsistent with the government , that if possible they may be well content to be without them . sir , i am afraid that the popish party are more serious in this design than we are aware of ; and that next to the great endeavours they have used for many years to keep on our divisions in points of religion , the next great artifice which they depend on , is the infusing into the people the dislikes of parliaments : for they well know that popery can never be established in this nation , as long as parliaments are permitted to sit and act. therefore , though i know it is below a house of commons to mind every little discourse , yet i think if we conclude that this powerful party amongst their many designes have this for one , that we ought to countermine it as much as we can . we cannot well comprehend what a bill of association will be before it be drawn up , nor what difficulties may be found in the contriving of it ; and therefore i think no great debate will be necessary about it before such a bill will be brought in . and i believe it will be found more likely to be serviceable in case the papists be banished ; and therefore i conceive a bill for banishment of all the considerable bapists out of england may be very nacessary . and if at the same time that we endeavour to secure our selves against poperty , we do not also do something to prevent arbitrary power , it will be too little purpose ; for the one will be sure to give a hand to bring in the other ; and i think nothing can prevent that ; or rather both , better than frequent parliaments . and therefore i humbly move you that a bill for securing frequent parliaments may be taken into your consideration . sir g. h. sir , i think you are well adviced that the way to secure our selves effectually against popery , is to secure our selves also against arbitrary government , and that the having of frequent parliaments is the best way to secure both ; and therefore , sir , i think you do well to move the house that a committee be appointed to inspect what old laws there are for enforceing the sitting of frequent parliaments , that if they should be found deficient , some new laws may be made for that purpose . i do agree that a bill for banishing out of england the most considerable papists may do well ; but i hope , sir , that if you banish the men , you will banish some women too ; for i do believe that some of that sex have been great instruments in bringing about our ruine : and if in time you would consider how to prevent the royal families marrying popish women , it would be of great security hereafter . for i am of opinion that the late queen mother's zeal for her religion was not only a great occasion ( amongst many others ) of the miseries that befel us in forty one , but the great cause of all our miseries now , by perverting the duke from his religion , as is reported , and may reasonably be believed , if we conclude that she had that motherly care for the salvation of her children as other mothers usually have ; for according to her opinion , it was not to be obtained out of the pale of that church : and no man can doubt but that the protestant interest hath been much prejudiced by his majesties marrying a princess of that religion : for we have plainly seen since the discovery of the plot , how some of the most material jesuites and popish instruments have sheltered themselves under her royal protection , and how they have helpt to carry on the plot , by being so impudent as to pretend they had her patronage , and by abusing her authority ; but more especially by the dukes marrying the princess of modena , because of her near relation to the pope and cardinals . all which was plainly foreseen by that parliament which met a little before that marriage , in 1673. and therefore they made an address to his majesty , representing the said ill consequences , desiring him not to permit it , because it would tend to the destrustion of the protestant religion . but their endeavours were defeated by that party , as we may guess , seeing we find so much use of her name in colemans letters ; for well might they who have over-ruled in so many affairs as have been instanced in this house , have an influence also in this , that so that party might not want so useful an instrument in so great a station : and so the parliaments address miscarried ; but that they had either a good judgment , or prophetick spirit , i hope will never miscarry , but remain upon record . and unless you do believe that these ladies are less compassionate than others usually are , how can it be otherwise , their principles considered ; but , sir , i will not trouble you farther about it , but suppose it may be worth your consideration in due time . in the interim , i agree for the bill of banishment and association too . i. b. sir i retain a good opinion of an association-bill , notwithstanding what hath been said as to the weakness it may receive from our unhappy divisions in point of religion and interest , too much promoted by some of our clergy . for , sir , when i consider how the laudean principles , as to raising of money without parliaments in the late times , infected most of our clergy , so as that they not onely preached up the kings absolute authority over mens properties , but branded with the title of rebels , and condemned to hell those that offered to argue against it . i do conclude that it is usual for one or two bishops , to give measures or directions to the rest of the bishops , and they to the clergy of their several diocesses : and that therefore the clergy derive the politicks generally from one bishop or two in some great station . yet sir , when i remember how after some little time many of the clergy fell off , and would not follow such instructions ; and how the people soon excused themselves from following their advice in such politicks , and would not freely pay illegal taxes , notwithstanding all their endeavours . i am apt to think ; sir , that as the people were not long then mislead , so as to submit to lose their property , so they will not now , to any thing that shall tend to the losing of their religion and property both . they will soon discover what is their interest , and how true interest will not lye . i have often told you within these walls , they will soon apprehend that popery will bring in slavery , and reduce them not only to an idolatrous superstitious religion , but to wear wooden-shooes like the french , and to eat herbs like the spaniard , because they will soon know that they shall not be long masters of any thing they have : and however they may be perswaded for a while , i am confident they will at last consult how to save their bacon . they will discern that the clergy may be good divines , but not so good politicians ; and that there may be some difference in point of interest between them and the clergy , because clergy-men may be in a possibility of being advanced by popery if they submit ; but the laity under a probability of losing all notwithstanding all submissions . sir , i do not trouble you with this discourse out of a fear that our clergy will not shew themselves good protestants , for i have that veneration for them , and opinion of them , as to believe that many of the bishops and clergy too , would assoon die for the protestant religion as any persons in the nation . but i am jealous that there is some over-awing power got in amongst them , something answerable to that of a popish successor in the state ; by whose means those bills were so easily past in the late long parliament , under a pretence that they were for the preservation of the protestant religion , which the commons than found , and any person that will now peruse them may find , would infalibly have brought in popery . and , how since the plot , the danger of fanaticks is cryed up more than that of the papists ; and how tender they are in the point of a popish successor , or joyning in any thing against him . but though these things make me jealous there is some body that misleads them now in matters relating to popery , as formerly in things relating to property , yet i am of opinion that they will ere long see , that to stand up for the interest of a popish successor , to have a popish king , to weaken the protestant interest and to speak ill of parliaments , is not the right way to preserve the protestant religion ; but a plain contradiction , and an invention of jesuites . and therefore , sir , i am for going on with the allociation-bill ; for i will never doubt , that the true interest of the nation , in so great a concern as this , will long be baffled by such projectors . and therefore it is my desire , that the house may be moved to appoint a committee to draw up a bill for that purpose . sir w. h. sir , i think you have been well moved , as well for the association-bill , as the banishing-bill . by the one , you will send your enemies out of the country ; by the other , be in a good condition to keep them out , which may go a great way to secure us . sir r. t. sir , you have been verywell moved for the bringing in of such bills as may tend as much to the security of the protestant religion as any that can be offered . that of banishment will certainly go a great way to destroy , not only their power , but their interest and principles too , and be a great disheartning to their party abroad . that interest will not then have so many engines to work with here , as now they have . and the bill of association will be necessary , that we may have a law to defend our selves . the association made in queen elizabeth's time , will be a good president to draw it up by . and seeing there is no opposition , i move you to put the question . r. m. sir , by offering at the exclusion bill , we may conclude we have offended the duke of york , by this bill for banishment , all the rest of the considerable papists in england . as we have made many enemies , so it will be convenient that we should endeavour to get some law to defend our selves against their implacable designes . for which a bill for an association of all his majesties protestant subjects may do well , and therefore i pray that we may move the house to have it brought in , sir g. g. sir , i am of opinion the popish plot goeth on as much as ever , and the papists are so proud of it , as they cannot forbear bragging of their hopes to see better days speedily . i think sir , seeing we are not like for one while to have the exclusion-bill , we shall appear neglectful of our duty , if we do not try what security can be contrived by an association-bill . and therefore i humbly pray that the house may be moved to appoint a committee to draw up and bring in a bill for associating all his majesties protestant subjects . i find in cooke's reports , that when the nation was in apparent danger , the people might go directly to the king with their grievances , and make their complaints and petitions known . i think we may do well to consult this text , and see if we can find out any better way than what we have tryed already , to convey our humble supplications to his royal person . in the mean time i think you had not best to go off from the bill of association ; for which we have a president in queen elizabeth's time , first made by the gentry , and afterwards confirmed by act of parliament . l. g. sir , i would not discourage you from going on with these bills ; but i am afraid they will fall far short of the power and strength that will be necessary to root out an interest that hath been above an hundred years reivetting it self by all arts and wayes imaginable , and hath now fixt it self so near the throne . i must confess , i am afraid we are at labour in vain , and that this interest hath so clenched it self ( as the jesuites term it ) that it will break not only this parliament , but many more , if not all parliaments , and the protestant religion too . it is too weighty to be removed , or perverted , by such little bills as these : no , sir , you will find , that nothing less than a firm vnion amongst all the protestants in this nation , can be sufficient to give any check to this interest . as long as there are amongst us so many persons as know not rightly how to apply the dangers of the church and state , nor the miseries of forty one , but will be lead by popish projectors ; i am afraid such bills as these will not do our business : because they will not destroy that footing which they have at court , nor strengthen the protestant interest , which must have its original from union . it is strange , that none but those who are for the duke's interest , should be the only persons thought fit to be in places of trust ! it is so strange a way to preserve the protestant church and religion , that it raiseth with me a doubt , whether any such thing be designed . such persons may be proper to manage affairs in favour of the popish interest ; but it is to be admired , that they , and they only , should be thought fit to be intrusted with the protestant interest . i think it as hard for them to do it , as to serve two masters . it is not usual in other countryes to retain their enimies in the government , nor such as are friends to their enimies ; and it is strange that we , of all other nations , should fall into this piece of policy . but sir , for these reasons you may conclude , that unless what laws you make , be strong and well penned , they will signifie nothing against so powerful a party as you have to do with . sir w. j. sir , there hath been so much said already upon the subject-matter of this debate , that i shall have little occasion to trouble you long . the worthy member that spoke a while since , hath shewed you from whence our fears of popery arise , from the dependance they have of assistance from france , ireland , and scotland in case there should be a popish king , besides the party they have here , and the advantage they will have by the government , which is already secured for that interest ; and of it self would be sufficient to contest with the protestant interest , who in such a case would have no king to head them , no persons in any place of trust to execute any laws in their behalf , nor no legal power to defend themselves . and therefore , seeing there is a negative past upon the bill , we had contrived to secure us from these great dangers , i think sir , we may do well to try if we can get any thing else . but i am perswaded if this association-bill be made as it should be , that we shall have no better success with it than we had with the exclusion-bill : for i am afraid , that though we are permitted to brandish our weapons , yet that we should not be allowed to wound popery ; but rather do believe , that they which advised the throwing out of that bill , will also do the same by this , or dissolve the house before it come to perfection : for this bill must be much stronger than that in queen elizabeths days ; that was for an association only after her death , but i cannot tell if such a bill will secure us now , the circumstances we are under being very different . in queen etizabeths days the privy councellors were all for the queens interest , and none for the successors ; now most of the privy councellors are for the successors , and few for the king 's . then the ministers unanimously agreed to keep our popery , now we have to much reason to fear , there are many that are for bringing it in . in those days they all agreed to keep the popish successor in scotland , now the major part agreed to keep the successor here ; all which must be considered in drawing out of the bill . after all these debates it was at length resolved , that it is the opinion of this committe , that the house be moved , that a bill be brought in for an association of all his majesties protestant subjects , for the safety of his majesties person , the defence of the protestant religion , and the preservation of his majesties protestant subjects , against all invasions and oppositions ; and for preventing the duke of york , or any other papists , from succeeding to the crown . december 17. 1680. the house resolved into a committee , further to consider of ways and means to secure the kingdom against popery and arbitrary government ; and after several debates , how ineffectual all laws would prove without having good judges , justices , and others in commission that will execute them , and how frequent parliaments would conduce to have laws put duely in execution . resolved , that it is the opinion of this house , that the house be moved , that a bill be brought in for the more effectual securing of the meetings and sittings of frequent parliaments . resolved , that it is the opinion of this committee , that the house be moved , that a bill be brought in that the judges may hold their places and sallaries , quam diu se bene gesserint . resolved , that it is the opinion of this committee , that one means to prevent arbitrary power is , that the house be moved , that a bill be brought in against illegal exaction of money upon the people , to make it high treason . reported to the house , and agreed to . his majesties speech made to both houses , decemb. 15. was read . j. h. mr speaker , sir , the veneration that is due to all his majesties speeches , doth require that we should seriously debate them before we give any answer to them ; but the circumstances we are under at this time , challenge a more than ordinary consultation . for by the tenor of the speech , i conclude , that the success of this parliament depends upon our answer to it , and consequently the safety of the protestant religion , both at home and abroad . and therefore i think my self very unable to advise in this matter , and should not have attempted it , but that you have encouraged me by your leave to speak first . so that if i offer any thing amiss , those that come after will have opportunities to correct me . i would begin with the latter end of the speech first , because that part of it is most likely to be get a fair understanding between his majesty and this house . but i cannot but observe what great care is here again taken of preserving the succession in the right line , as in all other his majesties speeches ever since the plot break out . i think more could not be done , though it were in behalf of the kings son , and a protestant too . that limitation , and his majesties offers of securing the protestant religion , ( if by succession in the right line may be meant the duke ) upon many debates in this house is found irreconcileable , and therefore must be imputed to those that have advised his majesty thereto . to preserve the right of succession in the duke , is to preserve something or nothing . the something must be no less , then the crown , in case of his majesties death , and so consequently the interest of the popish party , who after one hundred years endeavours to have a prince of their religion , the indefatigable industry of the jesuits to obtain it , and the loss of so much blood spent therein , will , besides their principles and inclinations , lay on them great obligations to make use of the opportunity to establish their religion again in this nation . so that i must confess , these reservations look to me like a perfect design to save the whole party , accompanied with a power and a pretence sufficient to enable them to accomplish their end . for to this , the saving the dukes right doth amount , and consequently the destruction of the protestant religion . which cannot be imagined to proceed from his majesty . in former times the interest of no one man could ever bare up against the interest of the nation , now , it seems , that the religion , lives , and liberties of all the people of this nation ; nay , i may say , all the protestants of the three nations must all be lost , rather then one man be dispossest of his right , though by his own act hath made himself incapable to enjoy it . certainly there must be more intended by this , then the saving of one man , it must be the saving of a party . and therefore , sir , i am afrraid we are but where we were two years ago . for it is plain to me , that there is a certain fatal scheme which hath been exactly pursued these twenty years , in order to destroy the protestant interest , and hath had a strange secret operation in the management of all our affairs . and although now and then some accidents have hapned , that have occasioned some alteration for a time , as by his majesties recalling the toleration , some transactions of parliaments , the breaking out of the plot , and his majesties toleration of his council , 1679. yet i observe that after a little while there is no change in the main , all returns to the old scheme , as if there were a certain infallible ballance that did preponderate . we have had so much experience of his majesties goodness and inclinations , that we cannot but conclude , that there is still some such thing , as a wheel within a wheel , whether jesuits , ( for 't is like them ) or who i cannot tell , nor how the government is influenced , that the protestants should not be able to obtain any thing for their security . but we may guess , and justly fear , that it will never be other ways , as long as there is a popish successor . the truth is , we have a hard task to serve our king and country , in such a time as this is . we may expose our selves to the rage of a powerful party , but i am afraid , get little to secure our selves against their revenge . we are under the same inequailty as fair gamesters , that meet with those that use false dice , and are like to have the same ill luck at last , unless his majesty should be pleased to consider , who stands up most for his government , and who plays fairest , and accordingly , change his councils . the first three paragraphs of the speech are about alliances , the fourth about tangier , the fifth about securing the succession , the sixth to know what we desire , and what we will do . sir , i take no delight in looking backward , but without doing it at this time , i am afraid we shall not mend , as we go forward . it is not to be doubted , but that as well for the security of the nation , at home , as of flanders against the power of france and the protestant religion abroad , we are under a necessity to make alliances , and that they cannot be made nor supported without money . but did we not give above two millions for the preservation of the tripple-league , and was it not by the power of the french and popish party imployed to break it ? did we not a little while since give about a million and half for an actual french war , and was there not presently a general peace made ? do not all forreign nations complain , that notwithstanding all our treaties , pretences , and declarations , we have been only true to france ? and what reason have we now to imagine , that if we should give money for leagues , that it would be imployed otherwise then formerly ? is not the same scheme of government pursued still ? is not the french ambassador , and the french women too , as great at court as ever ? and have not the dukes creatures the management of all our affairs ? and if the dukes interest , the french interest , and the popish interest be all one , can you imagine , that your money shall be imployed to make any alliances that shall be for the advantage of the protestant religion . no , sir , though his majesty so intend it , yet the wheel within a wheel , which hath managed all other alliances hitherto , will also manage these , and have the disposal of your money too , and pervert it to our destruction . and until things settle here at home , on a true protestant bottom , it cannot be imagined , that any forraign prince will depend on us , or make alliances with us . and therefore , as well for that , as because our money may not probably be disposed of for any good end , it is in vain to treat of either alliances or money . for until the interest be changed at court , that so there may be a better understanding between the king and his people , it cannot produce any thing for our advantage . as to tangier , and the succession , there hath been so much said already , when those points were debated , that i will not trouble you with more at this time . but i beg leave to add something about the latter part of the speech , which doth a little comfort me , because i hope we may graft such an answer thereupon , as may beget a right understanding with his majesty . i know this house is constituted of persons much different from that of the long parliament , because of the many pensioners that were in it , and that we need not now be afraid to talk of money . i believe we all know , that without giving money this session , the nation can never be happy , nor his majesties government so formidable as it ought to be . and therefore i would humbly move you to appoint a committee , to draw up an address to assure his majesty , that when his majesty shall be pleased to grant us such laws , as are necessary for the security of our religion , which may be particularized in the address ; that we will be ready to give him what money his occasions may require , not only for the support of tangier , and alliances , but to enable him to have a good fleet at sea , for the encouraging of seamen , and security of trade , and preservation of his dominions ; that so we may shew we are ready to express our duty , as well by our acts as words . ld r. mr. speaker , sir , being it is so apparent that all our fears of popery arise from , and center in the duke of york ; and that it is impossible the affairs of this nation should ever settle on a good protestant bottom , as long as there is a popish successor , which cannot be prevented but by the succession bill . that there may be no ill construction made of our desires i would humbly move you to offer to supply the king , with what money he may need for the support of tangier and alliances , upon his granting of the succession bill only , that so his majesty may have no reason to be diffident of us : not doubting , but that if we can once but lay a foundation for a good correspondence , that his majesty will take so much content in it , beyond what he doth now enjoy , that to preserve it , he will afterwards grant us what more bills may be further necessary for the security of the protestant religion . and therefore i am not for clogging this address with any request for anything more , than that one bill . sir w. j. mr. speaker . sir , we have hitherto had so little success in our endeavours , that we may justly suspect , we are permitted to sit here , rather to destroy our selves , then to save our country . it is a matter of admiration to me , that those who have so often advised his majesty , to put this and the former parliaments upon finding out expedients , for securing the protestant religion , without altering the succession should all this while find out none themselves , but still continue advising the king to put that upon us , which after many debates is found to be impossible . and that the king should always have at his elbow , persons ready to remember him constantly to make his limitation , which in all appearance must tend to the final destruction of the protestant religion . and that there should be no body there , to mind him of proposing some expedients to prevent it , only in general words , of which no use can be made , according to the opinion of three successive parliaments , the limitation in favour of the popish interest , is plain , intelligible , and practicable . i hope his majesty against the next occasion , will require them that have so advised him , to make the expedients , and other ways to secure the protestant religion , as plain and practicable ; that so we may see if the security of the protestant religion be designed in good earnest by such advisers , which i cannot believe ; because what they propose , is in my opinion a contradiction in it self . without the exclusion-bill , there can be no expedient , but what will leave us in that miserable condition , of having first or last a contest with our lawful king. and there can be no such thing as setting up a power to oppose him , but by putting a kind of supream authority in the parliament , with a power to oppose , as well by making war as laws , which might prove the destruction of the monarchial government . the said trust or power ( without the exclusion bill ) being not to be reposed in the next heir , or any single person , least he should dye before he come to have the power in him , or utterly refuse to act if he should live to have a right by vertue of such a settlement , to administer the government . in such a case there would be no lawful power lodged any where else , to oppose such a king , and there must not be an inter regnum . by this short account you may see , what difficulties all expedients will be liable too , and may conclude , that those that advise the king to make this limitation , do intend it as an expedient to make the endeavours of parliaments ineffectual , and to bring in popery . and if you had offered at such expedients as i have mentioned , as the last house of commons was arraigned for omnipotent and arbitrary , so would this with some worse character ; as having attempted to destroy the monarchical government , that if possible the king and people might be put out of love with parliaments . but sir , though it is plain that things are thus out of order , yet let us not be wanting in our duty , but give such an answer to his majesty , as may if possible , create in him a good opinion of his house , and satisfie him of the necessity of the bill of exclusion , and that all other acts of grace will but serve to fatten us for the slaughter of our enemies . the last part of this speech , i believe , is his majesties own ; he seems willing to know what you expect from him , and what you will do for him , which i think is a fair proposition to come to an understanding . and although it be not good manners to offer to make a bargain with his majesty ; but as in bargains there is a quid and pro quo , so in this . and i think we need not fear talking of money in this house , being all seem resolved to give it freely , if we can be secured of our religion , but not otherways . and therefore i humbly conceive , you may accordingly express your selves plain in your address . w. g. mr. speaker , sir , if you do not represent all your grievances in this address , as the condition of your giving money , whatever you shall offer at afterwards , will be looks as clamarous and out of order . and therefore i would advise you not to omit any one grievance you expect any ●e ready in . and i am for enumerating all your grievances in the address , which have been lately debated . and i do admire no body does take notice of the standing army which if not reduced to such a number as may be convenient for guards , and so limited , that they may not be increased , unless in case of a rebellion or an invasion , all your laws may signifie nothing . and i am not satisfied , in the making of such general offers of money . for if you do , you will hear in time , that the fleet needs one million allyances as much more , and tangier ( though i think not worth keeping ) little less . a demand of three millions , grounded on your general promise , would perplex the house how to come off with that reputation , which a house of commons ought to preserve with the king. i know not how such a promise may be turned upon you , and therefore i am either for demanding more , or promising less . sir e. h. mr. speaker , sir , i am very unwilling to have this parliament broken , yet i cannot agree , that to prevent it , we should offer so much , and demand so little as hath been mentioned . have we not sat two dayes in a committee , to examine the dangerous estate of the kingdom , and ordered several good bills to be brought in thereupon , for the securing us against popery and arbitrary power , and shall we now the next day lay all those bills aside , and be content with the exclusion-bill onely , which i think will be worth nothing , unless you can get more . and therefore , though to obtain them you spoke plain english , and mentioned what sum you intend to give , i think you will be safer to offer money in general words , without declaring what , or enumerating your bills . g. v. mr. speaker , sir , i cannot agree with this worthy member , for it would take up some days debates , to agree what some is necessary to supply his majesties occasions , and what sum to express . and it may be to no purpose , as the case stands with us , unless we were sure his majesty would find out some way to bring the exclusion bill about again , then indeed we might come to particulars . in the mean time , a promise in general words may be sufficient , and save the house a great deal of time . and for my part , i am not for enumerating many bills , but should be content to give money upon having the exclusion bill only , which being so precisely necessary for the preservation of our religion all the world will justifie us in the demanding it , before we part with money , and therefore i desire the committe may draw up the address accordingly . resolved , that a committee be appointed to prepare an humble address to his majesty , upon the debate of the house , in answer to his majesties speech . december 20. 1680. mr. hampden reports the address ; which was read . the humble address of the house of commons presented to his majesty , in answer to his majesties gracious speech to both houses of parliament , upon the 15th day of the same december . may it please your most excellent majesty , we your majesties most dutiful and loyal subjects , the commons in this present parliament assembled , have taken into our serious consideration , your majesties gracious speech to both your houses of parliament , on the 15th of this instant december ; and do with all the grateful sense of faithful subjects , and sincere protestants , acknowledg your majesties great goodness to us , in renewing the assurances you have been pleased to give us of your readiness to concur with us in any m●●● for the security of the protestant religion , and your gracious invitation of us to make our desires known to your majesty . but with grief of heart we cannot but observe , that to these princely offers , your majesty has been advised ( by what secret enemies to your majesty and your people , we know not ) to annex a reservation , which if insisted on , in the instance to which alone it is applicable , will tender all your majesties other gracious inclinations of no effect or advantage to us . your majesty is pleased thus to limit your promise of concurrence in the remedies which shll be proposed , that they may consist with preserving the succession of the crown in it's due and legal course of descent . and we d● humbly inform four majesty that no interruption of that descent has been endeavoured by us , except only the descent upon the person of the duke of york , who by the wicked instruments of the church of rome , has been manifestly perverted to their religion . and we do humbly represent to your majesty , as the issue of our most deliberate thoughts and consultations that for the papists to have their hopes continued , that a prince of that religion shall succeed in the throne of these kingdoms , is utterly inconsistent with the safety of your majesties person , the preservation of the protestant religion , and the prosperity , peace , and welfare of your protestant subjects . that your majesties life is in continual danger , under the prospict of a popish successor , is evident not only from the principles of those devoted to the church of rome , which allow that an heritical prince ( and such they term all protestant princes ) excommunicated and deposed by the pope , may be destroyed and murthered , but also from the testimonies given in the prosecution of the horrid popish plot , against divers traitors attainted for designing to put those accursed principles into practice against your majesty . from the expectation of this succession , has the number of pupists in your majesties dominions so much increased within these few years , and so many been prevailed with to desert the true protestant religion , that they might be prepared for the favours of a popish prince , assoon as he shall come to the possession of the crown : and while the same expectation lasts , many more will be in the same danger of being perverted . this it is that has hardned the papists of the kingdom , animated and confederated by their priests and jesuits , to make a common purse , provide arms , make application to forreign princes , and sollicite their aid , for imposing popery upon us ; and all this even during your majesties reign , and while your majesties government and the laws were our protection . it is your majesties glory and true interest , to be the head and protector of all protestants , as well abroad as at home : but if these hopes remain , what alliances can be made for the advantage of the protestant religion and interest , which shall give confidence to your majesties allies , to joyn so vigorously with your majesty , as the state of that interest in the world now requires , whilst they see this protestant kingdom in so much danger of a popish successor ; by whom at the present , all their councils and actions may be eluded , as hitherto they have been , and by whom ( if he should succeed ) they are sure to be destroyed ? we have thus humbly laid before your majesty , some of those great dangers and mischiefs which evidently accompany the expectation of a popish successor . the certain and unspeakable evils which will come upon your your majesties protestant subjects and their posterity , if such a prince should inherit , are more also than we can well enumerate . our religion , which is now so dangerously shaken , will then be totally overthrown ; nothing will be left , or can be found to protect or defend it . the execution of old laws must cease , and it will be vain to expect new ones . the most sacred obligations of contracts and promises ( if any should be given ) that shall be judged to be against the interest of the romish religion , will be violated ; as is undeniable , not only from argument and experience elsewhere , but from the sad experience this nation once had on the like occasion . in the reign of such a prince , the pope will be acknowledged supream ( though the subjects of this kingdom have sworn the contrary ) and all causes , either as spiritual , or in order to spiritual things , will be brought under his jurisdiction . the lives , liberties , and estates of all such protestants , as value their souls and their religion more than their secular concernments , will be adjudged forfeited . to all this we might add , that it appears in the discovery of the plot , that forreign princes were invited to assist in securing the crown to the duke of york , with arguments from his great zeal to establish popery , and to extirpate protestants ) whom they call hereticks ) out of his dominions , and such will expect performance accordingly . we further humbly beseech your majesty , in your great wisdom to consider , whether in case the imperial crown of this protestant kingdom should descend to the duke of york , the opposition which may possibly be made to his possessing it , may not onely endanger the farther descent in the royal line , but even monarchy it self . for these reasons we are most humble petitioners to your most sacred majesty , that in tender commiseration of your poor protestant people , your majesty will be graciously pleased to depart from the reseruation in your said speech ; and when a bill shall be tendred to your majesty , in a parliamentary way , to dissable the duke of york from inheriting the crown , your majesty will give your royal assent thereto ; and as necessary to fortifie and defend the same , that your majesty will likewise be graciously pleased to assent to an act whereby your majesties protestant subjects may be enabled to associate themselves for the defence of your majesties person , the protestant religion , and the security of your kingdoms . these requests we are constrained humbly to make to your majesty as of absolute necessary , for the safe and peaceable enjoyment of our religion . without these things , the alliances of england will not be valuable , nor the people encouraged to contribute to your majesties service . as some farther means for the preservation both of our religion and propriety , we are humble suiters to your majesty , that from henc●forth such persons only may be judges within the kingdom of england and dominion of wales , as are men of ability , integrity , and known affection to the protestant religion . and that they may hold both their offices and salleries : quam diu se bene gesterint . that ( several deputy-lieutenants and justices of the peace , fitly qualified for those imployments , having been of late displaced , and others put in their room ; who are men of arbitrary principles , and countenancers of papists and popery ) such only may bear the office of a lord-lieutenant as are persons of integrity and known affection to the protestant religion . that deputy-lieutenants and justices of the peace may be also so qualified , and may be moreover men of ability , of estates and interest in their country . that none may be employed as military officers in your majesties fleet , but men of known experience , courage , and affection to the protestant religion . these our humble requests being obtained , we shall on our part be ready to assist your majesty for the preservation of tangier , and for putting your majesties fleet into such a condition as it may preserve your majesties soveraignty of the seas , and be for the defence of the nation . if your majesty hath or shall make any necessary alliances for the defence of protestant religion , and interest and security of this kingdom , this house will be ready to assist and stand by your majesty in the support of the same . after this our humble answer to your majesties gracious speech , we hope no evil instruments whatsoever shall be able to lessen your majesties esteem of that fidelity and affection we bear to your majesties service ; but that your majesty will alwayes retain in your royal breast , that favourable opinion of us your loyal commons , that those other good bills which we have now under consideration , c nducing to the great ends we have before mentioned ; as also all laws for the benefit and comfort of your people , which shall from time to time be tendred for your majesties royal assent , shall find acceptance with your majesty . e. v. mr. speaker , sir , i have hearkened with all the attention i could to this address , and do agree with the first part of it . the dangers and inconveniences arising from a popish successor , are very obvious ; and that there will be no peace nor tranquility in this nation for the present , as long as there is a popish successor , and that our religion will be lost , if there should be a popish king , i am afraid is too true : but yet i must crave leave to dissent from the opinion of those worthy members that have drawn it , as to the other parts thereof . i think it is not convenient at this time , to press so hard for the exclusion , bill , because we know we cannot have it without a prorogative , which for my part i fear at this time , as much as i do a popish successour : for i do believe , if it should happen , that you will sooner see the duke at white-hall , than this assembly meet together again between these walls . and therefore am not willing to give the popish party such an advantage to procure our dissolution , lest they should lay hold of it , as i believe they would ; by which the protestant interest both abroad and at home , will be ruin'd . and as i cannot agree in this , so neither in pressing the association bill . for being it hath not yet been brought into the house , we do not well known what will be the purport of it . and it is not proper , that we should ask of the king we know not what ; nor expect that he should grant us what he can know nothing of . and truly , sir , i think that these things about the judges , deputy-lieutenants , and justices of the peace , are minute things to be insisted on at this time , compared with others which might be demanded . queen elizabeths councellors never thought her safe , until the popish successor was inclosed in a tower ; and i am afraid that you will never be safe , until you take some such course that may bring things to an issue . when you have done that , and banished all the considerable papists out of england , i think we shall not be in so apparent danger , as we now are . and seeing this may probably be granted , and the other bills not , i humbly move you to recommit the address that it may be better considered . i know not how this may agree with the sense of the house , but i shall always crave leave to speak in this place according to my conscience , that so i may have peace within me ; but readily submit to better judgments . sir w. j. mr. speaker . sir , i am very glad that worthy member agrees in the apprehensions of the dangers arising from a popish successour , and in the necessity of the bill of exclusion ; and am very sorry i cannot agree with him in the rest of his discourse . i cannot imagine , without a high reflection upon his majesty , that if he should be perswaded to prorogue the house for two or three days , in order to pass the exclusion bill , that he should instead of permitting us to meet again , dissolve the parliament which is quite contrary to it . i fear a prorogation , without being intended for this ; but if once we could prevail with his majesty to do it for this end , i shall not doubt the desired effect . and in pressing the association bill , we shall not press the king to grant us we know not what ▪ the word association may very well be understood , and the ends of it are declared to be for the security of his majesties person , and the protestant religion . and if when drawn , it should be directed to other ends . i suppose this house will take care to mend it ; if not , the kings promise can bind no farther than to pass a bill for those ends . but i do much admire to hear , that the having of good judges , justices , and commanders at sea and land , is a trivial thing : for i think that all other things you desire without it , would signifie nothing . as long as the laws and militia of the nation is in the hands of persons not well-affected to the protestant interest , i am afraid we shall have no security against popery . as to the new way that hath been proposed of bringing matters relating to the popish successour , to such an issue , as that he may be secured , as in queen elizabeth's time . if he had been sensible that there are none in office but what are for his interest , he would first have agreed to have endeavoured to have got such changed , before he would have proposed that way . and it would be necessary that we should also have such privy-councellors as queen elizabeth had , and not eleven to seven for the popish successor . and therefore seeing these proposals have no more appearance of being for your service , i see no reason you have to be diverted from the way you were going : and therefore i humbly move to agree with your committee . the house agreed . december 21. 1680. a bill was read for vniting his majesties protestant subjects . p. mr. speaker . sir , is it not to be doubted but that the happiness of this nation and safety of our religion doth depend very much upon preserving the well-constituted government of the church , and that the government in the state will not long stand if that be pull'd down , to which , i am afraid , this bill will contribute very much . sir , it is well known , how notwithstanding all the endeavours of his majesty , as well in parliament as otherwise , all the acts that are in force against dissenters , all the endeavours of the fathers of the church , there are a sort of men , and great numbers too , who will neither be advised nor overruled , but under the pretence of conscience break violently through all laws whatsoever , to the great disurbance both of church and state. and if you should give them more liberty , you will encourage them to go on with more boldness ; and therefore i think it will be more convenient to have a law for forcing the dissenters to yield to the church , and not to force the church to yield to them ; and i think we are going quite the wrong way to do the nation good . and therfore i 〈◊〉 against this bill . d. mr. speaker . sir , i would not open my mouth in favour of this bill if i thought it would any ways prejudice the church , or church-government ; but i believe it may have a quite-contrary effect , and tend more for the preservation and safety of the church and church-government , than any bill whatsoever that could be contrived . we have a church-government setled by law , to which the major-part of the people like good christians and loyal subjects give obedience ; but it is our misfortune that there are in the nation a great many which will not submit to this government , which may be divided under three heads . 1. the papists , who differ from us in points of faith , and will not give any obeysance but to the church of rome . 2. independants , presbyterians , and some others , who agree in points of faith , and differ only in some points of doctrine and ceremonies , 3. quakers , who disagree not only in points of doctrine and ceremonies , but in points of faith , and are a head-strong sort of unreasonable people , that will not submit to any laws made about religion , but do give obedience to the civil magistrate upon all other occasions . the church of england men , are not only the greatest number , but have the government of their side . what laws to make that may tend most to the preserving of it is your business . it is in danger from the papists on the one hand , and the rest of the protestant-dissenters on the other , who in some measure agree in their enmity and disrespect to the church ▪ and therefore the more care ought to be taken for its preservation . having thus , sir , discovered the danger of the church in general , it will be necessary , in order to find out a remedy , to discourse a little of the strength and interest of each party in particular . sir , the papists are not the greatest number , but yet in my opinion , upon several considerations , are most to be feared , because of their desperate principles which make them bold and indefatigable , and the assistance they may have from rome , france and ireland ; but above all , from the great share they have in the management of the government , by the means of a popish successour , and the fear of their getting the government into their hands hereafter , by having a popish king. which of it self hath been sufficient in former times to change the religion of this nation , and may justly be feared , may have the same effect again , unless the protestants be well united . the presbyterians , independants , and all other dissenters , may be more in number than the papists , and may be willing enough to have the church-government altered , if not destroyed ; yet being they cannot have any succour from abroad , nor from the government here at home , i cannot see any great danger of them . for it is not probable that they shall ever have a king of their opinion , nor a parliament , by the discovery they made of their strength in the last elections . for according to the best calculation i can make , they could not bring in above one in twenty . and therefore , because they have not such bloudy desperate principles as the papists , and because we agree in points of faith , and so no such great danger from them as from the papists , i think we have reason to conclude , that the church is most in danger from the papists , and that therefore we ought to take care of them in the first place ; and we cannot do that by any way more likely to prove effectual , than by some such bill as this . because if it should have the effect designed of bringing in many of the dissenters into the church , it would disappoint them of the great hopes they have grounded on our divisions , and make the church stronger , not only to oppose the papists , but such fanaticks as may not come in . and if we should be so unfortunate as that this bill should not have this success , i do not understand it will any way weaken the church-government . and therefore i am for this bill . f. mr. speaker , sir , this bill is intended for the preservation of the church , and i am of opinion , is the only bill that can be made in order thereto , our circumstances considered . but i know not what effect it may have , because you are to deal with a stubborn sort of people , who in many things prefer their humour before reason or their own safety , or the publick good . but , sir , i think this is a very good time to try whether they will be won by the cords of love or no , and the bill will be very agreeable to that christian charity which our church professes ; and i hope that in a time of so imminent danger as we are in , of a common enemy , they will consider their own safety , and the safety of the protestant religion , and not longer keep afoot the unhappy divisions that are amongst us , on which the papists ground their hopes . but rather seeing the church doth so far condescend as to dispence with the surplice and those other things which they scruple at , that they will submit to the rest that is enjoyned by law , that so we may unite against the common enemy . but if this bill should not have this desired effect , but on the contrary , notwithstanding this condescention , they should continue their animosities and disobedience to the church , i think still the church will gain very much hereby , and leave that party without excuse and be a just cause for the making of more coercive laws . so that upon all accounts you have been well moved for the passing of this bill . e. mr. speaker , sir , i very much admire to hear it alledged , that this bill will tend to the advantage of the church ▪ for how can the pulling down of the pales , and weakning the laws against its enemies , be a way to preserve it ? i am of another opinion , and do think this bill may not only occasion , a great weakness , but give , i fear , a mortal wound to the church . is it not much more reasonable , that the dissenters should submit to the church , than the church to the dissenters . and i am afraid , if once the government should begin to yield to them , it will be as in 41. nothing will serve but an utter subversion , the having of one thing , will give occasion for demanding more ; and will be impossible to give them any satisfaction , without laying all open , and running into confusion . it is our misery that the church is in so much danger of popery , pray , sir let us have a care how we increase her danger from fanaticks . instead of this bill , i humbly conceive , that laws to force the execution of such laws as are in being against the dissenters , and what more may be necessary to compel an entire obedience , ( seeing the experience we have already had of this other way hath not proved effectual ) may more contribute to the strengthening of the church , and prevention of popery . mr. speaker , sir , as well church-men as dissenters , do all know we have a dangerous common . enemy that is got within our bowels , and wants nothing but a king to their minds to have the strength of the nation , as well civil as military , at their command , and so consequently a sufficient power to destroy the protestant religion , if not prevented by a timely union of the protestant interest . the question that may properly arise at this time is , whether the putting of the laws we have already in execution , and making more against dissenters , in order to bring them into the church by force , or the making of this law to bring them in by fair means , be the most likely way to unite us , that so we may be in a better condition to oppose the common enemy , it is obvious to me , that the making of new laws , or execution of the old at this time , is the ready way to ruine us ; and what the papists do certainly desire and aim at above all things whatsoever . for if it should be put in practice , the effect would be this , it would be the occasion of throwing off the further prosecution of the plot and popery , and in a little time occasion , not only more heats and animosities , but such a revengeful implacable spirit amongst us , as would prove irreconcilable , and give opportunity for the popish interest to joyn with either party , or at least ways to abet and assist them under hand , so as that they shall be easily provoked to destroy one the other . but if this should not happen , what real love , friendship , or obedience can the church expect from such persons , as by the execution of such laws may be forced to come to church ? how can they be depended on , or the church be strengthened by them ? you may prevent their conventicles , and force them either to come to church or pay fines , or be imprisoned ; but you cannot expect that their opinions or affections should be altered by such proceedings , without which the church can never be the stronger . it must be a work of time to reconcile the divisions that are amongst us , and may be a great and necessary employment for many parliaments hereafter , when the common enemy doth not give such a just occasion of distraction , and for employing all your thoughts and care about him when they may have more leisure , because their dangers may not be so imminent . but to go about it at this time by any such laws , is the ready way to weaken the protestant interest , and bring ruine upon us . but suppose we would follow this advise , and make new laws , and require a severe execution of the old , how can you imagine that as long as the popish interest is so prevalent , the execution of such laws shall be continued longer , than may be subservient to the interest of that party ? have we not had a sad experience of this ? hath the oxford act , or that of the 25 of queen elizabeth , or any other against the dissenters being executed in favour of the church ? are not the dissenters as many , if not more , now than ever ? and is not experience in all affairs the best master ? and is there any thing more visible , than that these laws have been made use of to serve the popish interest , or as engines rather for the affairs of the state than church : when in the year 1670. by the severe execution of these laws all meetings in conventicles were prevented and many dissenters came to church , did not the tolleration happen thereupon ? and was not the execution of the laws put ●oot , as may be presumed , by that great papist clifford , who had then the greatest share ( under his majesty ) in the administration of the government ? if the execution of the laws against dissenters had been for the advantage of the church , why was there then granted a tolleration ? and if the tolleration had been intended for the advantage of the protestant religion , why were not the churchmen , nor dissenters of any kind , pleased with it , and if the oxford-act , and other laws against dissenters , were projected in favour of the protestant religion , it was strange that they were so much promoted ( as many members , now here , who did serve in those parliaments do remember ) by sir tho clifford , sir solomon swale , and sir roger strickland , who have since all appeared to be papists . sir , we have been strangely led by the popish interest for many years already , i pray sir , let us not now at last do like narcissus , to be so much in love with a shadow , as to fall into a gulph and drown our selves . sir , i am afraid the name of church hath been strangely made use of to bring in popery . i hope we shall endeavour to preserve , not onely the name , but the substance , i mean the protestant religion , otherwise we may come off no better than the dog in aesop's fables with his shoulder of mutton . i hope that what i have said , will not represent me as an enemy to the church , or church government ; i am sure , i am not conscious to my self , that i ever entertained a thought against the preservation of either . all what i have said , doth proceed from an apprehension that our church-men of late have been out of the right way to preserve either our religion or our church ; because the courses which they take must ( though i am far from suspecting they design it ) give a great assistance to popery . i remember that after the plot broke out , there was for a little while a kind of a reconciliation amongst protestants , and an united opposition made to the common enemy , and how then the popish interest gave way , we may all remember but this was too much in favour of the protestant religion to hold long . within a few moneths the fire broke out again , and the pulpits and the press , instead of being employed against the common enemy , were reduced to their old way , of carrying on the divisions amongst protestants : and how the popish interest have since gone on triumphant again , all here , i suppose , may know . sir , the church hath two strong enemies , the papists and fanaticks . we are already engaged in a sharp contest with the papists , and find they are strong enough for us ; why must we now also enter into a fresh engagement with the fanaticks , especially when we may be sure thereby to strengthen our enemies , and weaken our selves ? such advice cannot proceed from such as are friends to the protestant church : if we should make new laws against dissenters , as hath been moved , and enforce the execution of the old ones , as long as we have a popish successor , can any man imagine , that the execution of them will be longer kept afoot , than will consist with the popish interest . sir , our church and religion will be lost , if union be not improved amongst protestants , and i think no bill can promote it like this . and therefore i am for the passing of this bill . vpon these debates it was resolved , that the said bill be committed upon the debate of the house . upon the 4th . of january 1680 / 81. his majesty was pleased to send a most gracious message to the commons in these words . charles r. his majesty received the address of this house with all the disposition they could wish , to comply with their reasonable desires ; but upon perusing it , he is sorry to see their thoughts so wholly fixt upon the bill of exclusion , as to determine that all other remedies for the suppressing of popery will be ineffectual : his majesty is confirmed in his opinion against that bill by the judgment of the house of lords , who rejected it . he therefore thinks there remains nothing more for him to say in answer to the address of this house , but to recommend to them , the consideration of all other means for the preservation of the protestant religion , in which they have no reason to doubt of his concurrence , whenever they shall be presented to him in a parlimentary way ; and that they would consider the present state of the kingdom , as well as the condition of christendom , in such a manner as may enable him to preserve tangier , and serve his alliances abroad , and the peace and settlement at home . all this while here was nothing but a means debated , conformable to the incouragement which his majesty himself had most graciously given them , which next to the bill of exclusion , might be most probable ( since the first was to be laid aside ) to secure his majesties person and his government , and consequently the whole kingdom , and the protestant religion . and thus at length an association was thought upon and found to be one of the best expedients for those most noble an pious ends aforesaid , as having been formerly practicable for preservation of our prince and country in the raign of queen elizabeth . at what time to prevent the wicked designes and seditious practises of the pope , the spaniard and the guises in france , and to provide for the queens safety , upon which the welfare both of the realm and religion depended , as now it does on the life of our sacred sovereign , many men of all degrees and conditions throughout england , by leicesters means , and out of their own publick care and love , while they stood not in fear of the queen , but were full of fear for her , bound themselves in an association by mutual vows , subscriptions , and seals , to prosecute to the death , as far as lay in their power , all those that should attempt any thing against the queen . this association was afterwards confirmed in parliament in the year 1658. with the approbation and consent of all , at what time it was enacted that twenty four or more of the privy council or lords of parliament to be de puted by the queens commission , should make inquisition after all such as should invade the kingdom , raise rebellion , or attempt to hurt or destroy the queens person , for or by whomsoever employed that might lay claim to the crown of england : and that he for whom , or by whom they should attempt the same should be utterly uncapable of the crown of england , deprived wholly of all right and title to it , and prosecuted to death by all faithful subjects , if he should be judged by those 24 men to be guilty of such invasion , rebellion or treasonable attempt , and by publick proclamation so declared : the noise of such an assotiation as this , for it cannot be imagined , that the parliament of england ever intended any other , rang such an astonishing peal in the ears of the kings , and kingdoms enemies , that to render the very name of association odious to the world , they framed an infamous piece of treason , which they called the association intended , and would needs to make the thing pass the more current and probable have it found in the study of the right honourable earl of shaftsbury's ; which follows in these words , as it was exhibited to the grand-jury at the old baily . then this paper was read as followeth . we the knights , &c. finding to the grief of our hearts , the popish priests and jesuits , with the papists and their adherents and abettors have for several years last past , persued a most pernicious and hellish plot , to root out the true protestant religion as a pestilent heresie , to take away the life of our gracious king , to subvert our laws and liberties , and to set up arbitrary power and popery . and it being notorious that they have been highly encouraged by the countenance and protection given and procured for them by j. d. of y. and by their expectations of his succeeding to the crown , and that through crafty popish councils his design hath so far prevailed , that he hath created many and great dependents vpon him by his bestowing offices and preferments both in church and state. it appearing also to us , that by his influence mercenary forces have been levied and kept on foot for his secret designes contrary to our laws ; the officers thereof having been named and appointed by him , to the apparent hazard of his majesties person , our religion , and government , if the danger had not been timely foreseen by several parliaments , and part of those forces with great difficulty , caused by them to be disbanded at the kingdoms great expence : and it being evident , that notwithstanding all the continual endeavours of the parliament to deliver his majecty from the councils , and out of the power of the said d. yet his interest in the ministry of state and others have been so prevalent , that parliaments have been unreasonably prorogued and dissolved when they have been in hot pursuit of the popish conspiracies , and ill ministers of state their assistants . and that the said d. in order to reduce all into his own power hath procured the garrisons , the army and ammunition , all the power of the seas and soldiery , and lands belonging to these three kingdoms to be put into the hands of his party and their adherents , even in opposition to the advice and order of the last parliament and as we considering with heavy hearts how greatly the strength , reputation and treasure of the kingdom both at sea and land is wasted and consumed , and lost by the intricate expensive management of these wicked destructive designes ; and finding the same councils after exemplary justice upon some of the conspirators , to be still pursued with the utmest devilish malice , and desire of revenge ; whereby his majesty is in continual hazard of being murdered to make way for the said d.'s advancement to the crown , and the whole kingdom in such case is destitute of all security of their religion , laws , estates , and liberty , ( ad experience in the case , queen mary having proved the wisest laws to be of little force to keep out popery and tyranny under a popish prince . we have therefore endeavoured in a parliamentary way by a bill for the purpose to bar and exclude the said duke from the succession to the crown , and to banish him for ever out of these kingdoms of england and ireland . but the first means of the king and kingdoms safety being utterly rejected , and we left almost in despair of obtaining any real and effectual security , and knowing our selves to be intrusted to advise an act for the preservation of his majesty and the kingdom , and being perswaded in our consciences that the dangers aforesaid are so eminent and pressing , that there ought to be no delay of the best means that are in power to secure the kingdom against them . we have thought fit to propose to all true protestants an vnion amongst themselves by solemn and sacred promise of mutual defence and assistance in the preservation of the true protestant religion , his majesties person and royal state and our lawes , liberties and properties , and we hold it our bounden duty to joyn our selves for the same intent in a declaration of our vnited affections and resolutions in the form insuing . i a. b. do in the presence of god solemnly promise , vow , and protest to maintain and defend to the utmost of my power , with my person and estate , the true protestant religion , again popery and all popish superstition , idolatry , or innovation , and all those who do or shall endeavour to spread or advance it within this kingdom . i will also , as far as in me lies , maintain and defend his majesties royal person and estate ; as also the power and priviledg of parliaments , the lawful rights and liberties of the subject against all incroachments and vsurpation of arbitrary power whatsoever , and endeavour entirely to disband all such mercenary forces as we have reason to believe were raised to advance it , and are still kept up in and about the city of london , to the great amazement and terror of all the good people of the land. moreover j. d of y. having publickly professed and owned the popish religion , and notoriously given life and birth to the damnable and hellish plots of the papists against his majesties person , the protestant religion , and the government of this kingdom ; i will never consent that the said j. d. of y. or any other , who is or hath been a papist , or any ways adher'd to the papists in their wicked designs , be admitted to the succession of the crown of england , but by all lawful means and by force of arms , if need so require , according to my abilities , oppose him , and endeavour to subdue , expel and destroy him , if he come into england , or the dominions thereof , and seek by force to set up his pretended title , and all such as shall adhere unto him , or raise any war , tinnult , or sedition for him , or by his command , as publick enemies of our laws , religion and country . to this end we and every one of us whose hands are here under written , do most willingly bind our selves and every one of us unto the other , joyntly and severally , in the bond of one firm and loyal society or association , and do promise and vow before god , that with our joynt and particular forces , we will oppose and pursue unto destruction all such as upon any title whatsoever shall oppose the just and righteous ends of this association , and maintain , protect and defend all such as shall enter into it in the just performance of the true intent and meaning of it , and lest this just and pious work should be any ways obstructed or hindred for want of discipline and conduct , or any evil minded persons under pretence of raising forces for the service of this association , should attempt or commit disorders ; we will follow such orders as we shall from time to time receive from this present parliament , whilst it shall be sitting , or the major part of the members of both houses subscribing this association , when it shall be prorogued or dissolved : and obey such officers as shall by them be set over us in the several countries cities , and burroughs , until the next meeting of this or another parliament ; and will then shew the same obedience and submission unto it , and those who shall be of it . neither will we for any respect of persons or causes , or for fear , or reward separate our selves from this association , or fail in the prosecution thereof during our lives , upon pain of being by the rest of us prosecuted . and suppressed as perjured persons , and publick enemies to god , the king , and our native country . to which pains and punishment we do voluntarily submit our selves , and every one of us without benefit of any colour or pretence to excuse us . in witness of all which premises to be inviolably kept , we do this present writing put our hands and seals , and shall be most ready to accept and admit any others hereafter into this society and association . this contrived peice of scandalous treason , is that which was said , or rather sworn to have been found in the earl of shaftsbury's study . now , whether the paper were really in the hair trunk , or put into the velvet bagg among other loose papers , is a dispute of another nature . however the paper being found , or pretendedly found in the earls study , the business was prosecuted by the attorny general , before special commissioners of oyer and terminer , the 24th . of november 1681 , upon a bill of endictment for high treason , against anthony earl of shaftsbury . his grand-jury were . the grand-jury . sir samuel barnardiston . john morden . thomas papillon . john dubois . charles hearle . edward rudge . humphrey edwin . john morrice . edmund harrison . joseph wright . john cox. thomas parker . leonard robinson . thomas shepherd . john flavell . michael godfrey . joseph richardson . william empson . andrew kendrick . john lane. john hall. who having altogether heard and examined the evidence that was brought against him , of which the chiefest were a band of irish rakeshames , after a short , though serious debate among themselves they returned the bill ignoramus . the kings and the kingdoms enemies being thus defeated in their design , set their mercenary pens at work to prosecute the very association which they had themselves contrived with all the fury imaginable , and to that purpose it was teized and clawed off and parrallel'd with the covenant , and laden with all that ignominy which it well deserved . though all this while their indignation was not so much against this form of association of their own contriving , but as it were through the sides of that , to wound all manner of legal and loyal associations ; more especially that which the parliament were about to have devised in a legal and parliamentary way , and in pursuance of his majesties most gracious promises . thereupon after they thought they had rendered the issue of their own brains sufficiently deformed , as indeed it could appear no otherwise in the eyes of all true protestant english-men ▪ then they began to set up abhorrencies of all manner of associations , and having drawn in the credulous , ignorant , and unwary to sign their plausible addresses , threw them at the feet of majesty , as the choicest jewels of the kingdoms loyalty , whereas indeed the grand arcanum of these abhorrences was to provoke and incence the people against all manner of associations , how necessary and expedient for the safety of the king and kingdom , or how legal soever , and thereby to put them out of love with the most probable means for the safety of their prince and themselves , and madly to abhor their own preservation . if self preservation be a thing to be allowed to all men , even every individual person by the law of nature , certainly the preservation of the great monarch , and three kingdoms is much more congruous even to the laws of god. so that indeed it is a shame that these late abhorrers should under the pretence of loyalty shew themselves so disloyal , and void of future prospect , as to be gull'd with the sh●ddow of a forged contrivance into a dislike and abhorrency of legal and parliamentary proceedings . we find in the learned camden ▪ that the earl of leicester , zealous for the good of the queen and kingdom , and seeing the imminent dangers , wherein both were involv'd , procured an associaation with seals and subscriptions to it ▪ without her knowledg ( and yet she was princess , that used to be very smart upon those that attempted any thing without it . ) nevertheless she was so far from thinking it a crime , or blaming her great minister , that she not only gave her parliament liberty to confirm it , but gave them her thanks in these words . the association you entred into for my safety , i have not forgotten , a thing i never so much as thought of till a great number of hands and seales to it were shewed me . this has laid a perpetual tye and obligation upon me , to bear you a singular good will and love who have no greater comfort then in yours , and the common-wealth's respect and affection toward me . cambdens eliz. l. 3. p. 365. from whence it may seem probable that the world would have had no reason to think ill of any of those who had it in their power , seeing the parliament fail'd , had they imitated the earl of leicester , and procured an association of the same nature of all his majesties loyal subjects , rather than to promote and connive at abhorrences of the only way which the parliament could think of for his preservation : there is no question to be made but his majesty who is all goodness and clemency might have prov'd as thankful as queen elizabeth . sir francis whithins after the deservedly exploded paper was read at the old-baily , confessed , that it was plausibly penn'd at the beginning , and went on a great way so , till the last clause but one ; then which there is nothing that makes it more probable , that this same traiterous association was written and fram'd by some jesuite , and that for mischiefs sake ▪ for if ever they do any good , 't is always that will any may be at the end of 〈…〉 his religious long cloak sweep the ground as well before as behind , his cloven feet will appear one way or other . and this you see the holy roman-catholick league , conorived by the jesuites against henry the third of france , contained many heavenly and pious pretences , but aim'd at the destruction of the lawful monarch of france , and obliged his subjects to it : whereas the counter-association of the french protestants was made to better purposes , the preservation of their prince and the defence of themselves against the pope and the guises their mortal enemies , and then rebells to their prince , of which the king himself was not a little sensible , and indulged them several favours in reference to the exercise of their religion . to associate is no more then devovere se pro regis & patriae salute , to devote himself for the safety of his king and country . now for men to be so scandalously led away by their own imprudence , and the subtlety of others , as to abhor the defence of their king and country , is an apparent sign , that few of the addressors ever considered what they writ or what they read . the consul or preter among the romans , had power to devote any citizen of rome , in time of iminent danger , as a piaculum to all one by his death the anger of the gods , and they who were thus devoted never disobeyed , but threw themselves headlong into certain ruin , to preserve their own country . by this means curtius and decius saved the romans in ancient time . thus leonides with his three hundred spartans associated in an indispensible resolution to live and dye for their country saved greece from that seemingly invincible power of xerxes ; and after the destructive battle of cannae , rome had been utterly lost , had not scipio affricanus compelled them that were left behind and spared from the carthaginiam slaughter , to swear that they would never forsake their country ▪ of later times , the prince of orange was the person that caused several cities of the low-country's to enter into an association , which was called the holy union , and peace of religion . from these or some such president the earl of leicester doubtless drew the plot from off that association , which was afterwards confirmed in parliament , and was so graciously accepted of the queen , so that it was no wonder that the parliament proposed among themselves the same expedient which their predecessors had made use of upon the same importunities of danger to his present majesty and his kingdom . for which their debates most certainly merited a more kind reward and a higher gratitude then hot brained abhorrences of a their loyalty to their prince ▪ and country , and the reproach of a fobb'd association , which 〈◊〉 good man will ever believe to have come within the verge of their thoughts . post script upon these grounds , and upon these reasons , i am apt to think the author of the parallel was more zealous , then wise , or else he had little to do , to sweat and turmoil himself in satyrising against a thing that was never justified by any person living , so that it was but a hard shift to beg a question , that he might shew the world how well he could behave himself upon a better occasion : truly the gentleman is very sharp , and his sharp●ess had been commendable , had any been found guilty , either of framing or abetting the paper . but now we may as well believe that he was the author of it himself , and that he slid it into the world , that he might have a subject to excercise the cutting lashes of rapsodies ; 't is such a pretty odd kind of way of writing , and indeed such a one as hardly has any parallel , for a man to rave and tear and fret himself for so many paragraphs together , that you would fear the melting of his grease ; and yet that his reader must be forced at every stop , to ask the gentleman what he meanes ? who is 't he storms against ? if it be the old baily association he fumes at , as to the peccant part of it , there is no body but had as much to say , and would have said as much against it , and perhaps more then he has done , had there been occasion . but for people that never saw the thing , and perhaps never heard of it till it was printed by two loyal stationers for them , to be brought under suspitions of treason and rebellion , and rendred odious to the world , seems rather a plot upon the innocent , then a reproof or rebuke of the guilty , so that what ever the gentleman has said against the association it self , shall be freely granted him , he shall have the bays and the victory : but let him not however be proud of it , because he has not abtained it over foes but friends , besides i find the gentleman is not an enemy to all associations neither , but only factious associations , in which point we most harmoniously agree with him . but why he should be so furious upon the late juries as to tax them for a band of covenanting associators such as would have acquitted the factious inditor of this association , had they found him musing upon it at his desk ; such as would have cleared a protestant joyner , had they seix'd him with his hand on his majesty , &c. i say why the gentle should lay such dismal aspersions , and hyperbolize in such a hot-headed and malicious stile upon the fame , the reputation , nay the very thoughts of men , which it may be justly presumed were altogether unknown to him , there is no true reason to be given , unless it were some young crape gown levite that had a mind to be dabling in gall and ink ; and then there are two . for among that sort of people there are many , for want of education , very malapar tothers for want of that which in them should be most conspicuous good example , and out of a cruel and bonner-like disposition , most remarkable uncharitable : otherwise the very names of most of the gentlemen that were upon those late juries , had been a charm against those bloudy reflections and virulent repoaches , which the paralleller , like a little god a mighty , or searcher of hearts has cast upon them . let him be who he will , the rashness of his hyperboles plainly shew's , that his pen run before his wit , and his inconderate inveteracy before his religion : as for his thoughts of the presbyterian plot , they are not worth taking notice of , only it may not be a miss to give you a short account of his arguments by which he proves the late association to be a member of it . imprimis , every tyler , or jack straw . item , conscience applyed to the capriciousness of fancy . item , every froward fool. item , each dissenting ass . item , every prejudiced noddle . item , the silly rout. i only cite the stress , marrow , pith or quinticense of the gentlemans arguments ; the rest would be too redious . now is not this enough to convince any man of reason of the truth of the presbiterian plot , and that the sham association was of their fraiming in imitation of the covenant ? nay gentlemen , if age will not believe pulpit rhetorick , and crape gown extasie — y' are all men of lost consciences , heaven have mercy on you defrauded judgments . but these declaimers doe not consider the fable of esop , that man is born with two pouches , one hanging before , wherein are the failings of other men ready at hand ? that behind contains their own miscarriages , which they want the help of the brass screws , to turn their heads to look into . only by this we find the difference between a popish and a presbiterian plot , that the first is a plot upon full proof and evidence , the other a plot by conjecture . as for his large comment upon the association it self , let them give an answer to it whom it concerns . only i am apt to believe that had not those loyal gentlemen that exposed it first to publick view found out a way to print it for the sake of a little gain , jig by joul with the covenant , it had died upon the earles acquittal , without ever been taken notice of , as being a thing little known , and less regarded by all wise men who were not only sensible of the illegality of it , but well knew how unlikely , if not impossible it was to be put in practice : so that the publishing of it was a thing done rather out of the spite and malice of those loyal gentleman , or rather factious associators , according to the gentleman 's own distinction between a true patriot and a factious associator , to inflame the nation , & cast an odium upon the peaceable people of the kingdom rather then to do their prince any real service . and perhaps it would have become the parallell or himself , since he would needs play the gladiator , and exercise his pen against an image of those gentlemens erecting , to have better informed us who those persons against whom he so bitterly declaimes , then to lay such opprobious scandals upon thousands ; for the miscarriages of some few ; and those few for ought i find as little known to him , as the vast numbers of the innocent . finis an argument proving, that the abrogation of king james by the people of england from the regal throne, and the promotion of the prince of orange, one of the royal family, to throne of the kingdom in his stead, was according to the constitution of the english government, and prescribed by it in opposition to all the false and treacherous hypotheses, of usurpation, conquest, desertion, and of taking the powers that are upon content / by samuel johnson. johnson, samuel, 1649-1703. 1692 approx. 84 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 32 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a46942 wing j821 estc r2049 12576699 ocm 12576699 63605 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a46942) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 63605) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 962:25) an argument proving, that the abrogation of king james by the people of england from the regal throne, and the promotion of the prince of orange, one of the royal family, to throne of the kingdom in his stead, was according to the constitution of the english government, and prescribed by it in opposition to all the false and treacherous hypotheses, of usurpation, conquest, desertion, and of taking the powers that are upon content / by samuel johnson. johnson, samuel, 1649-1703. 52, [i.e. 62], [1] p. printed for the author, london : 1692. reproduction of original in bodleian library. advertisement: p. [1] at end. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. william -iii, -king of england, 1650-1702. great britain -history -james ii, 1685-1688 -pamphlets. great britain -history -william and mary, 1689-1702 -pamphlets. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-03 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-03 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an argument proving , that the abrogation of king iames by the people of england from the regal throne , and the promotion of the prince of orange , one of the royal family , to the throne of the kingdom in his stead , was according to the constitution of the english government , and prescribed by it . in opposition to all the false and treacherous hypotheses , of usurpation , conquest , desertion , and of taking the powers that are upon content . by samvel iohnson . nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus inciderit . — horat. london , printed for the author , 1692. to the commons of england in parliament assembled . the favourable acceptance , which my bounden services to my country , as i ever accounted them , ( though they were always difficult and upon the forlorn ) have heretofore found in your honourable house , hath caused me to bring you this small offering . in former days an appeal to the parliament was a removal of the cause from white-hall ; but it is our peculiar happiness in this reign , that we live under a prince who had no other business here , but to restore the constitution ; which as his declaration speaks , was wholly overturned in the former reigns ; and who lay under a happy necessisty of assisting the people to assert their rights , before he could secure his own right and remainder in the crown . this subversion and overturning of the best frame of government in the world was very artificially managed , and began at your house ; which has been run down as an innovation , and no essential part of parliament , a mushroom sprung up in the 49th of h. 3. and founded in rebellion ; as if you had no deeper root in the government , than corn has upon the house top . this scurvy pedigree of the commons in parliament , drawn up by dr. brady , was so well liked by the loyal clergy , and particularly he was so applauded by jovian , that mr. petyt found the tide so strong against him , as not to venture on a reply ; though to my knowledg he was furnished with a very good one . but that is not so material , when you began , as what you are : and of the two it is better to be an upstart authority , than a silly cypher ; and thus you have been represented to all the degrees of insignificancy . your precarious being was told you by a wonderful statesman , who did not spare to inform you , that as the king had created the house of commons by his power , so he would preserve it by his goodness ; but then come some of the clergy and say , what little creatures both you and the house of lords are . dr. hicks lodges in the king the whole legislative , or the power that makes any form of words a law. he says , the sovereign power may indeed be limited as to the exercise of this legislative power , which may be confined to bills and writings prepared by others ; but still it is the soveraign authority who gives life and soul to the dead letter of them . now this is so contrary to the constitution , as nothing can be more . for not only king charles the first acknowledged that the laws were jointly made by the king , lords and commons , ( though the houses insisted upon more ) but also in every act of parliament that is made , it is expresly said in the enacting part , that it is made by the authority of them all : whereas by this doctrine the two houses have only a ministerial office of preparing a form of words , and furnishing bills and writings , as the king's printers use to do you with pen , ink and paper : and in short , the king alone makes laws , and the two houses only find stuff . now if this sort of paradox had been advanced concerning the parish-chest of barking , where the parson has one key , and each of the church-wardens one , they could soon have mathematically shewn him , that his key had but one third of the chest-opening-power , and such a mistake would only have made a iest : but in a case of more consequence than all the land in the nation , if it were now to be sold , is worth , such false positions are very dangerous . for if the legislative were once contracted in one single hand , it were as absurd to say it could be limited in the exercise of it , as it is to say that your house has not power over your own orders , to recal and alter them as you think fit . what shall hinder the whole legislative ? at this rate the saying , of which my lord lauderdale has had the honour , would have been true , that he hoped to see the king's edicts to be laws , and above the laws ; for all new laws are always too hard for the old ones . and the arbitrary proclamation to forbid the nation to petition for a parliament had been a law , if the whole legislative authority was in it : for the l. c. i. north found it very easy to supply the place of both houses , in drawing up the form of words . however this is very civil usage to what you have had from other hands ; for in this way you have still left you the honour of being clerks , and of drawing up a form of words . but dr. womack in his short way to a lasting settlement , printed by robert clavel ; the chief design of which was , to out the two houses from having any share or authoritative hand , as he calls it , in making the laws , and was shortly after made a bishop for the service , has this very insolent expression : the houses you say have a hand in the legislation : so hath the beggar in my almes . as soon as i saw this odious comparison , i knew it was falsly applied : for even the coronation-oath acknowledges that the laws of england are of the folks choosing ; and it is certain that beggars are no choosers . but i humbly beseech both houses upon this occasion , to have a special care how they suffer this sort of men to have the ascendant , who treat them in this manner ; because we have a very harsh english proverb concerning beggars . in the year of jovian 83. wherein these doctrines were published and rung all over the nation , some of the honourable beggars that were for a bill of exclusion of the duke of york in his first desertion , and were for keeping him out when he was out , after their lives had been long hunted by these men , fell into their nets : which bill had given us this happy reign several years sooner , and had saved the lives of more than an hundred thousand men , whose blood lies at their door ; but it was then their hour , and the power of darkness . let that year be blotted out of chronology ! these doctrines i conceive are destructive to the nation , because they undermine the power and authority of parliaments , who represent the nation , and are the conservers of our liberties , if we had any ; but those are all taken away by another of their new-adopted church-doctrines of passive-obedience , which i therefore look upon as the worst of them , because it lays waste all your laws , after you have made them , or worded them , or begg'd them , or however you came by them . the former doctrines do immediately destroy you only in the quality of legislators ; but this makes you slaves too , and will not leave you to be so much as english freemen . you must be just such defenceless wretches under the irresistible powers of the sovereign and his forces , as the roman slaves were under the soveraign and unaccountable power of their masters . you must be slaves as to this particular , you must trust your lives and liberties with your soveraign : and therefore the passive behaviour taught by st. peter to the roman slaves is your duty . so that if the late soveraign being enraged at your address 17 novemb. 85. which broke all his measures , had sitting the parliament sent his forces to murder you , you ought to have submitted as the thebaean legion did , in which army of martyrs you would have made a goodly regiment . you were to have suffered it patiently with your swords by your sides , and passive obedience even unto death had been your duty , by virtue both of the imperial laws , and the laws of the gospel . the thebaean legion would not sacrifice , and you would not come to , which was a like case ; or rather yours was the more provoking disobedience to an arbitrary prince , and so you were bound in conscience to fare alike . nay if without any incompliance on your part , he had only had a mind to kill five hundred kings at once , as king james the first called the parliament , for so dr. womack relates it from dr. heylin , ( but whether in way of jear , or otherwise , he cannot tell ) the soveraign's forces had been kings of kings , and lords of lords . for the chaplain of the thebaean legion would have charged you in christ's name , by virtue of his own saying . he that useth the sword , shall perish by the sword , not to resist under the specious pretext of self-defence , ( though i think in that case the specious pretence had been very much in earnest ) : and if you had thus sinned against the laws imperial , or the people had rescued you by force from the soveraign's forces , he would have pronounced concerning you both ; well , let them do so at their peril ; they may be legally hanged for it in this world , and ( without repentance ) will be damned for it in that which is to come . this is passive doctrine to a tittle ; and as you like it , you may cherish that party which has enslaved the nation by it , and to whom is owing all the oppression of the last reigns . for if the doctrine of defending our rights when they were invaded , had not been burnt , martyr'd and stigmatiz'd , and the clergy had not expresly promised king james to inculcate passive obedience upon all his subjects , and thereby to bind the nation hand and foot , and to leave nothing but suffering souls in his whole kingdom , he would never have ventured to think of dragooning us , nor have begun with his preparatory oppressions in order to it . but after they had made him believe that they were passive to the death , and loyal to the death , when the burden of their own ill-contrived oppression came home to themselves , and touch'd but one of their fingers , they soon let him understand that they had given him only a spiritual kingdom , and not a kingdom of this world : for if his kingdom had been of this world , then would his servants have fought for him . but so they deluded and parted with their passive-obedience-king . for passive obedience is calculated only for tyranny ; suffering under arbitrary and illegal commands and orders , cannot take place in a legal government , neither is there room for any such thing . till passive obedience has either found or made a tyranny , it can never be a duty ; nor then neither , for tyranny is not government , but the destruction of it . and therefore the two histories passive obedience , and the brisk sermons that have been preached upon that subject in this reign , are contraband goods : for we live under a prince who within these few years raised the whole posse of england against this doctrine , and by his declaration invited and required all the people of england of all ranks , to assist him against the soveraign and his forces , to prevent the nation 's being kept under arbitrary government and slavery . we were under arbitrary government and slavery then , and we may thank passive obedience for it ; and i am humbly of opinion that we ought never to come under it more . and therefore i think it worthy your great wisdom and iustice , that as you have annexed that princely declaration to the crown , and made the pursuance of it a principal point in the confidence and trust you reposed in the king , when you invested him : so you would provide that all those who began , continued and ended that glorious expedition under the prince of orange , ( which had been a blew one , if passive obedience had been believed , as it was constantly preached for gospel ) may not in this reign , at least , be represented as rebels and traytors , but by some temporary act may be relieved from the aspersion of delivering their country . that one vsurping priest in his pulpit may not call for pontius pilate's bason of water to wash his hands clean from the sin of this revolution ; and another conquering priest may not represent those who invited in , and assisted this present king , as men not afraid of the power as they ought to have been ; and another deserting priest may not make king james's forfeiture to be his going away , which was the best thing that ever he did ; and thereby leave all men to be rebels and traytors who had invited , joined , or were prepared to join the prince of orange before the 10th of decemb. 88. when our deliverance was compleated . these wretched inventions of usurpation , conquest , and desertion , were found out merely to cover the doctrine of passive obedience , and to keep that safe and sound , notwithstanding the prince and the whole nation had engag'd in resisting oppression , and defending their rights . and furthermore , that king william's coming to the crown might not be enquired into , and be found to be to the prejudice of non-resistance , there is one has likewise found out another invention , that you are not to trouble your head , whether the king 's , title be right or wrong , but you are to swear to whatever is vppermost , whether he be a rightful prince or an vsurper ; which is the primitive doctrine of the pastoral letter . and this is such a scorn put upon a free nation as never was in the world , as if the subjects of england were to engage their allegiance blindfold , and were to venture their lives and fortunes in behalf of a title which is to be unsight unseen , at that ridiculous rate as no countryman will buy a pig. now all these hypotheses have but these two small faults in common to them all . first , that they vndermine the king's throne , as if he had no legal right to the crown ; and if he has not , what has he to do with it ? for my part i will never pay allegiance to him as an vsurper ; he ought rather to be told daily by his chaplains that are of that mind , that he ought to make restitution : it is not lawful for thee to have thy father iame's crown ; or else they are no st. john baptists . a revelation sent on purpose from heaven , cannot oblige us to be subjects to an vsurper under that notion , because it is a notion of wrong , and god himself cannot make wrong to be right . and then shall any wretch bid us in his name to swear to be faithful to acknowledged wrong , and to be false to acknowledged and unextinguished right ? in short , an vsurped crown is a stol'n crown , it is blood 's crown . it is true indeed that god can give kingdoms to whomsoever he will ; i know it ; he can make them a new world on purpose for them , or take the forfeiture of the old , and dispose of his own creation as he pleases : but then it must appear to his will , and he must send a new revelation into the world along with such a highly favoured prince , to every man that is to be his subject . for i am not bound to do what god would have me do , till i can certainly know that he would have me do it . promulgation is of the essence of a law. and this extraordinary revelation ought to be as clear and as distinct as abraham's was for the sacrificing his son : for it is as contrary to all the settled rules of right to dethrone a rightful king as it is to destroy an only son. and yet that command was only intended for a trial of abraham's obedience ; neither would god suffer it that there should be a precedent of an humane sacrifice in the world , though at his own bidding . is it not enough for an vsurper to wrong a prince of his crown , but this must be hallowed by false prophets , and said to be done in god's name : and this proved by no better argument than mahomet's miracle of success and settlement ? if therefore a pretended prophet tells me that i am to own an vsurper as god's choice , and by divine right , and therefore he is no vsurper , i must needs answer that the title is far fetch 't , and comes a great way , and therefore i must desire to see some proof in point , and shall always call for miracles for what is said to come from heaven . and if i had but one half of the sense which god has given me i should never be satisfied with the mahomet an miracle of success and settlement . that impostor's come-off , when he was call●d upon for miracles , was this : that god had sent moses his first prophet with miracles ; & when the belief of them was worn out , and the iews were degenerated , he sent iesus the son of mary with more miracles which did good for a time ; but his followers likewise degenerated and altered their books : and then he sent mahomet his last prophet , not with miracles which had failed and miscarried twice before , but with the mouth of the sword you ask for a miracle , says he : did not we sack the city tauris the other day , and put them all to the sword ? there 's a miracle for you . i confess i have loved a good cause in my time better than my life , but never a crumb the better for success : but on the other hand , the want of success has made it the dearer to me . success is the new weathercock upon the banqueting-house at white-hall : for when the popish priests saw the wind westerly , then it was deus pro nobis ; but when at last it stood easterly to bring over the prince of orange , then it was deus contra nos ; and so god is made to be of all sides at that rate what if this settlement should be vnsetled , ( which god of his mercy defends as i am bold to say it cannot stand upon king james's rubbish , no more than a new pile of building upon the heaps which lay in the stone gallery . well , what then ? why then in that supposed case , though the wind be against us , will i venture a weather-beaten life for his majesty's service ; but not an hair of my head , if i can help it , for several ministers he has . in short , vsurpation is of the devil ; and at the rate that any man alive shall prove , by the old standing revelation we have , that an vsurper is a king by divine right , will i prove that the french and irish massacres were by divine right , and that every one of those three hundred and fifty thousand souls which fell therein were well killed , and that it was all the lord●s doing . for there is as plain and as legible scripture , 1 sam. 2. 6. the lord killeth and maketh alive , to entitle him to that bloody business , as there is to make him the setter up of divine vsurpers . conquest is likewise another wicked false title to unsettle the throne . this the prince of orange disclaimed with detestation in his additional declaration , as the horridest calumny that could be invented against him , and so unnatural a thing for an english man to join in , as if it had been to be felo de se. if this pretension had been set up when the prince of orange came , he had never marched forty miles in england , though he had come five times stronger than he did : and that which would infallibly have barr'd him out of england then , can never settle him in it now ; no not though it were preach't from the clouds , as it only is from the pulpit , which they have rendred by such means very insignificant . for what is conquest ? why truly it is a publick enemy got within us . it is the king of france , not at tingmouth , but at white-hall . a conqueror is one , whom no after treaties nor consent can ever make a king ; for he must have the consent of slaves and minors , who have nothing to give : who cannot make a will though it were their last ; who cannot be parties to a contract ; for that is everlastingly impossible , unless men be sui juris , and their own men at the same time . in a word , conquest may perhaps extend to lawful plunder , and to goods and chattels , which i never took the people of a free nation to be : but if such a prize-office-divinity must needs be set up , that always supposes the right of reprizals . desertion is manifestly false : for king james must needs go ; he was as much driven from england , as nebuchadnezzar was driven to grass ; and he claimed as he fled , by the rochester letter . and as for the wonderful mystery of dropping the great seal in the thames , if it was done purposely , there was a very wise reason for it . for if it had fallen into other hands , the broad-seal of england might have been immediately employed in proclamations and otherwise against himself : as queen elizabeth made use of queen mary's great seal for a good while ; which the bishop of lincoln , lord keeper of the great seal in king james the first 's time , assures us was so , in his answer to dr. cole . now to establish the throne upon a notorious untruth , is to establish it upon mr. milton's vacuum , where it must fall ten thousand thousand fathom deep , and know no end of falling . the last doctrine , that we are to be subject to the powers that are , or any thing that is uppermost , is at the first sight so wretched a foundation of our allegiance , that i scorn to confute it . for whereas a rightful title is as immoveable as the pillars of the earth , on the other hand , upon this supposition , that obedience is only due to the present prevailing powers , it is but shifting the guards , and in an instant all the peoples allegiance bids their king good-night . secondly , all these hypotheses , besides their vndermining the king's throne , as if he had no rightful title to it , have another fault in them , that they leave nothing of liberty or property in the nation . this revolution had almost stunnied the hierarchy , and was so cross to their pulpit-doctrines of passive obedience , vnalterable succession , indefeasibleness , and vnaccountableness of princes , and the rest of their iargon , that it was very much feared by some of their disciples , that they would not comply nor swear to this government , and so must leave their places , and that thereupon would be a famine of the word . but there would be no miss of their preaching to the world's end , if it were such as is before us . so long as people have a bible , they had better be without their false glosses upon it : which the people of england have more reason to hate , than king james had the geneva notes , printed in queen elizabeth's bibles ; for which reason he forbad all marginal notes upon his translation of the bible . in the conference at hampton-court , his censure of those notes is this , that they were very partial , vntrue , seditious , and savouring too much of dangerous and traiterous conceits . as for example , exod. 1. 19. where the marginal note alloweth disobedience unto kings , &c. but i think the text allowed it before , ver . 17. but the midwives feared god , and did not as the king of egypt commanded them , but saved the men-chidren alive . was ever such an exception taken against express scripture ? and yet because of his vnsensical apothegm , no bishop , no king , repeated over and over again in that conference ; and that ecclesiasticus was a bishop , for which reason the puritans were against that piece of apocrypha being read in churches , and such-like clawing of the clergy , the arch-bishop of canterbury said , that undoubtedly his majesty spake by the special assistance of god's spirit . so easy is it for those that call themselves the church , to make men inspired , and saints and martyrs , when they please . vpon the prince of orange's invasion , and all honest mens rebellion , as that party do and must term it , they could not for their lives make both ends meet : and because they could not make their slavish doctrine of passive obedience agree with the revolution , they have endeavoured to bring back the revolution to them , and to reinstate as just in the condition we were in five years ago . it 's no matter for the church of rome's infallibility , impenitency will serve their turn as well ; and if they never repent , they have never err'd . hereupon , while i was a poor prisoner , and the eldest of all those that lay upon a publick account in england , ( tho i thought a thanksgiving-deliverance from popery and slavery , would have reached me in the first place by seniority ; but as i was saying , while i was a prisoner , and before it pleased god that my liberty fell into my lap , to which i was born , and which i threw away with both hands , and with my eyes open , for my country's service , some years before it was taken away from me ) was i sollicited to write upon the desertion , in answer to king james's claiming letter at rochester . i challenge the piece of prelacy , who would have put me upon that iob of under-journey vvork , to print the letter which i wrote the next morning upon that occasion , and to answer it if he can . in short , i shewed that by the law of england no advantage could be taken of a king's withdrawing himself from the government ( if it had been voluntary , as all the vvorld knows it was not ) without a summons sent after him to return again in forty days ; and yet i guess the same person had the confidence afterwards to write upon the desertion , and to found this government upon it . but i then in those early days foresaw , that their design was to begin where the attoning passive fag-end of the lion and vnicorn sermon left off ; and that they intended to enslave the nation over again , with the only alteration of the name of james into william . their intent was , that all things should run in the late arbitrary channel : for which reason the very mention of king james's forfeiting his remainder in the crown , by vnqualifying himself for it before he had it , and of his abdicating the crown when he had it , by breaking the fundamental contract , and by his tyranny and subversion of the laws , was ratsbane to these men , and would have hurt their passive doctrine : and therefore there was need of slight of hand , to give a new turn to the peoples delivering themselves , and to call it king james's own desertion . well then , according to this hypothesis of desertion , till a king runs away of his own accord , which was not true in the last instance , nor ever will be to the end of the world , the people of england have no remedy against oppression , nor can ever be rid of a tyrant ; which makes ours and our posterities case worse than it was in k. james's time : for once in an hundred years there may fall out some vnhappy occasion to assert the english liberties , which never yet were so stinted , as to lie at the mercy of so vnlikely a case as a prince's own desertion . we had better have been without our present happy deliverance , than have it upon those terms ; for that would be selling a perpetual estate of inheritance for one year's purchase . for though we have a good prince at present , yet there may arise such another pharaoh as knew not joseph . but no doubt the flattering sir politick foresaw , that if one prince might forfeit for his arbitrary government , another might , and this would be no agreeable court-doctrine . yes verily it is even so : for whoever acts king james's part , ought to have king james's fate , only i wish it him earlier . and i so far rely upon the integrity and sincerity of his majesty's publick declaration , that a single deliverance was the least part of his care ; but his main end was , to secure the nation from relapsing into the miseries of arbitrary government any more . so that if we should relapse into the miseries of arbitrary government ( which i will never suppose in his time ) himself being iudg , we shall then want a new revolution , as much as we did his . but there are some men so secure , now popery is gone , though in great part it is where it was ( and that for such a wise reason as never was in the world , because our allies are papists ; whereas all the papists here are french papists , and entirely in that interest : ) but because popery is gone , they have no apprehensions of slavery . whereas slavery is popery , mahometanism , paganism , atheism , or any thing that the prince pleases . for a slave is a dog that must leap over a stick , and leap back again at his master's bidding . desertion was discussed , whereby the cause was puzzled , and then there was need of a new contrivance , and so conquest was started ; and it was asserted in the pastoral letter , that the king had a right to the crown by conquest , and that it was a great condescension to receive it at the hands of the people . this raised two bishops more to pitch upon conquest as the stronger hypothesis of the two ; the one of which answered poor ashton's speech , and the other has given us but one third of his sermon , which has been about two years in modelling . i called him poor ashton , because i heartily pitied his death : for he acted in pursuance of those principles which his answerer , to my knowledg , has publickly preach'd above these twenty years , and which were church-of england-doctrine , or else they had none during that time . i knew their doctrine was false , and the men false , and that they would never be martyrs for it : but they have an excellent hand at martyr-making ; and when they have brought men to the gallows , they leave them in the lurch , after the same manner as they report the devil does a vvitch . but then they need not write against them . the answerer's argument is , that we ought to swear allegiance to the conqueror , for so they do in the new french conquests ; and the right of war here is the same as it is abroad . vve thank him for his love as much as if we did ; but we will never submit to be in the condition of mons and namur , till we are taken by storm : and if by his saying , that the right of vvar here is the same as abroad , he means that we are the new dutch conquests ( as the words are capable of no other meaning ) i will never trouble my head with that matter ; for whenever foreigners pretend to be lord-danes here in england , i will leave that controversy to our wives who can best decide it . behold , thrice honourable and thrice sage representatives of your country , what is become of your english rights ! you are by this doctrine a subdued nation , and a foreign conquest ; and then i am sure that all the boasted english liberties amount to no more than this , that our thoughts are free , and your post-letters frank. another conquering bishop that heretofore helped to spoil the prince of orange's first declaration , and to put a full stop to his expedition , by the proffered advice which the bishops gave king james , to palliate our grievances , and to have cheated the nation the most effectually that could be , has lately done as much for the second declaration , and has endeavoured to render it the falsest paper in the world. with your leave and patience i will make out my story . when the prince of orange had made his preparations , aud our court was sensible of it , there was means made to draw several noblemen to court to make their complement to king james ; which was to make a shew to the world , by the help of the gazette , that the most disobliged peers were wholly in king james's interest . accordingly the bishops who hade made themselves popular , by refusing the declaration for liberty of conscience , and by beginning to quote law when it came to excusing themselves from digging their own graves , were likewise sent for to court. when the summoned bishops came to the king , septemb. 28. the arch-bishop being then not well , there passed nothing but acknowledgements of duty and loyalty on their side , and gracious promises of favour and protection from their king. this surprized these overweening persons , who thought they had been sent for to advise the king in these difficult affairs . hereupon they repaired to the arch-bishop , who waited upon the king , sept. 30. with a proffer of their advice ; which he was ready to accept , and had it three days after in eleven articles , which have been several times printed and boasted of . as soon as ever i saw them , i plainly perceived that they were all of them deceitful and mountebank remedies : and being urged for my opinion of them , i gave my thoughts very freely concerning them , and the rather , because they were said to be very much applauded abroad . i said that i was sure the king would comply with them , but not all at once ; but he would make his concessions so , as to garnish the gazette with them twice a week , and to amuse the people with a succession of favours , as if there were to be no end of them . that these grievances being thus redressed , there would be no need of the prince of orange's expedition , to take care of that which was already done to his hand ; and he might even stay on the other side where he was . that these concessions would stand till the king had recovered his fright , and then all things would return into the old channel : for by this advice he would put nothing out of his reach ; and by fresh quo-warranto's he would fetch back the charters in a few terms , and every thing else in a less time . but if he should make any shew of being reconciled to the protestant religion , which was the last part of their mischievous advice , it would very much impose upon the nation , though it might make for the interest of the advisers . for the advice was selfish i plainly saw , and all over church ; and tbe ecclesiastical commission , dispensations , the two magdalen colleges , iesuits schools , the four apostolick vicars which carried the grist from their mill , and not filling the vacant sees , particularly that of york , was the burden of their complaint . whereupon i could not forbear saying , that if the inn-keepers of england had been bishops , and all the bishops inn-keepers for several years past , then they would have thought a standing army a grievance , which was not so much as mention'd in this advice , and which would at any time retrieve all the former concessions . i said therefore , i was afraid they did not mean honestly , but intended to forestal our expected deliverance , and to intercept the prince's voyage ; but if they meant in favour of the prince's coming , their proffered politicks would nor qualifie them to be states-men . but i much more questioned their honesty than their understanding , and therefore was sorry to see so generous a design as the prince's was , to be unblest by bishops , and puzzled by a little priest-craft . the thing was taken right at the hague : but the first declaration being thus spoiled , it gave the prince the trouble of an additional declaration ; partly to expose and lay open the fraud of these pretended remedies , and partly to meet with a dangerous suggestion which was then started , of his intending a conquest . his excellent words concerning the last are these : we are confident , that no persons can have such hard thoughts of us , as to imagine that we have any other design in this undertaking , than to procure a settlement of the religion , and of the liberties and properties of the subjects upon so sure a foundation , that there may be no danger of the nations relapsing into the like miseries at any time hereafter . and as the forces we have brought along with us , are utterly disproportioned to that wicked design of conquering the nation , if we were capable of intending it ; so the great numbers of the principal nobility and gentry , that are men of eminent quality and estates , and persons of known integrity and zeal , both for the religion and government of england ; many of them being also distinguished by their constant fidelity to the crown , who do both accompany us in this expedition , and have earnestly sollicited us to it , will cover us from all such malicious insinuations . for it is not to be imagined , that either those that have invited us , or those that are already come to assist us , can join in a wicked attempt of couquest , to make void their own lawful titles to their honours , estates and interests . conquering and enslaving the nation , which are equivalent words , and both put together in this declaration , was so wicked a design , that his majesty was not capable of intending it , and disclaims it with abhorrence . how then come his priests to tell him , and the whole nation besides , that this is god's way of disposing kingdoms , and that in this divine way he came by his kingdom , and holds it by that tenure . is not this , as i said , spoiling the second declaration ? but i will presently joyn issue with this conquering bishop ; for i have not been afraid of a conqueror these eighteen years . for so long since i used to walk by the new-exchange gate , where stood an overgrown porter with his gown and staff , which gave him a semblance of authority ; whose business it was to regulate the coachmen before the entrance ; and would make nothing of lifting a coachman off his box , and beating him , and throwing him into his box again . i have several times look'd up at this tall mastering fellow , and put the case ; suppose this conqueror should take me up under his arm like a gizzard , and run away with me ; am i his subject ? no , thought i , i am my own man , and not his : and having thus invaded me , if i could not otherwise rescue my self from him , i would smite him under the fifth rib. from that time i have had a clear idea of conquest , and no conquerour in the world , with all his power , can have any more right to me than that fellow . yea , says the bishop , but though the porter had no clear right to you by being soveraign of the exchange gate , and conquering you , yet he had you in possession . and therefore according to the common saying , which is most true in this case , he had eleven points of the law. now , i say , give me but the one point of right , and i will dispute the eleven points of possession with any man whatsoever ; and do no more mind them , than all the variable points of a divinity-compass . but did ever any man in a pulpit talk in behalf of the eleven points of law , and maintain wrong against right ? why does he not quote another common saying , which is most true in the same case , that right and wrong is nothing but weak and strong . such men by god's iudgment are left us in the world to unteach us the difference of good and evil. but the man is quite out of his story , and must begin again . for conquest , even in his notion , is justling a man out of his seat , and sitting down in his place ; and this is done in an instant , as one nail drives out another . but this is quite contrary to the matter of fact in relation to our two kings . for king william was not king upon king james's first flight , nor upon his second flight , nor during the long vacancy , which was no fault of mine that it was not shortned , nor till such time as our people made him king. and we have an act of parliament in this reign , which declares the realm of england to have been soveraign during that time , by ordering all indictments , from the time of king james's withdrawing till the 13th of febr. to run in their name . and he that was not king till the 13th of febr. could not have been so then , if his english friends had not made him so . by the doctrine of an usurper set up by god , you have nothing left you : for a kingdom of god's giving is nebuchadnezzar's kingdom ; dan. 5. 18 , 19. whom he would he slew , and whom he would he kept alive , and whom he would he set up , and whom he would he put down . so that it is the world●s end with any or all of you , whenever the court sends for your lives , liberties , or estates . such an usurper is a god upon earth , which it is easie for some sort of men to make . for so calyban made stephano his god , and offered to lick his foot ; but it was for what he could get by him : and therefore it was trinculo's opinion , and it is also mine , that if his god were asleep , he would rob his bottle . who shall set bounds to a divine authority ? he himself that has it from god , cannot part with an inch of it ; much less can that herd , which they call the people , either limit or dispute it . his part is to command , and theirs to obey without reserve . humane laws are sacrilegious waste paper , where there is a god amongst them , and a nation is wholly at discretion . no , say they , he is accountable to god. what is that to us ? we may be destroyed , or laid in gore blood for all that . i not the french king accountable to god ? and yet what reparation is that to the many millions of souls which he has destroyed , or what remedy against the destruction of as many more ? i hate that phrase , for the english law has provided better than to make their king only accountable to god ; there 's always mischief in that saying . i know a kingdom where an arbitrary king had exercised his people with intolerable oppressions for above twelve years together by his own confession , and after that engaged them in a bloody war ; and after some respite , but before their wounds were well healed , though he were a prisoner himself , he caused a new war to break loose upon them , and was wholly secure , because he insisted mightily upon it that he was accountable only to god : whereupon , though with a regret of a great part of the nation , they sent him to god to give an account . for which reason i cannot abide that saying , of being accountable only to god. in the mean time the mishpat hamelek , and the right of an arbitrary and despotick king is revived by this doctrine ; and the things which are caesar's , according to their former false glosses , is every thing that is not preingaged to god , which we all know is the church's portion . so that the church and caesar divide the world betwixt them . or as dr. ball used to lisp it out in his court-sermons , lives and estates , wives and children , all things were thaethar's : all we had was thaethar's , and therefore we were to render it to thaethar . but i suppose no able lawyer in either temple , of which he was master , was ever able to understand this blaese divinity . it is true , the scripture calls princes , gods , and that is enough for court-parasites . for when they have got such a scripture-metaphor by the end , how have i seen them ride on the ridg of it ! then subjects withdrawing their obedience from their lawful prince , is a denying god's authority ; treason against him is a kind of sacrilege ; a revolt from him , an apostacy from god ; a resisting him an opposing god ; rebelling against him , fighting with god ; the setting up the title of a counterfeit prince against the true one , an introducing a plurality of godheads ; the obeying of an usurper , idolatry ; the slandering his anointed , and his footsteps , a blaspheming god ; the blaming his conduct , a quarrelling with providence . i have said , ye are gods , is divulged scripture , and every body has heard it aloud an hundred times ; but there is a neglected text of scripture as full of inspiration as that , which never used to be quoted ; prov. 28. 15. a roaring lion and a ranging bear is a wicked ruler over the poor people . here are two metaphors for their one ; and if any body were disposed to follow the way of their former descant , it must run thus upon this text. a lion is a beast of prey , seeking whom he may devour , therefore give him no law ; destroy all his iackalls ; deliver the prey out of his teeth , and wear his spoils as hercules did . a ranging bear will kill you if you do not kill him ; therefore destroy all his cubs , for they will be bears in time ; set a price upon their heads , and let the church-wardens pay it . this text is so lively a picture of a bad prince , that the messieurs of the port royal are amazed at it , and say thus in their annotations upon it : il n'appartient qu'à dieu de dire des veritez si etonnantes . it belongs to no body but god to say such astonishing truths . but he is so good an authority , that any body may safely say such astonishing truths after him . now an hungry ranging bear cannot possibly be a god ; and therefore when david calls princes gods , he meant good princes , benefactors to mankind , and not his son solomon's bears , who cannot be called gods , no not by a figure . and this distinction is so natural , that it became proverbial in several of the learned languages , homo homini deus , & homo homini lupus . one man is a god to another , and one man is a wolf to another . and so far as princes resemble god himself in iustice and goodness , let them wear the psalmist's titular honour of gods , and good luck may they have with it ; but when they degenerate into solomon's beasts of prey , it would be so harsh a figure to call them gods , that no language upon earth can bear it , unless it can be that figure , whereby they use to call things in scorn . and yet our false pulpits used to treat the bears as if they had been divinities , when they had just been sucking the best blood in the nation ; and when they had had more carnage in half a year's time , than popish queen mary had in her whole reign . but if there be no difference betwixt a good prince and a bad , why did the nation , a great number of them , with the apparent hazard of their lives , give themselves the trouble and charge of this present exchange ? king james would have served their turn as well . how came the prince of orange so generously to undertake his expedition , but to rescue us out of the paw of the bear ? if we had been under a god , there had been nothing amiss , and there had been no cause with force and arms to have sent him a travelling , where he is , to the head-quarters of tyranny . but the worried people of england invited the prince , and the prince assisted the worried people of england ; who at last laid their hands on their swords , and were unanimously bent to join him against all their oppressors : and so we came by our deliverance . the people of england , if they had not been enslaved by the base doctrine of passive obedience , might very easily have done their own work themselves , for whom it was most proper ; for his majesty acknowledges in his additional declaration , that his preparations were to assist the people against the subverters of their religion and laws . so that it was their work principally , to which they invited his assistance , and prayed him in aid . and on the other hand his words were these . we do invite and require all persons whatsoever , all the peers of the realm , spiritual and temporal , all lords lieutenants , deputy-lieutenants , and all gentlemen , citizens , and other commons of all ranks , to come and assist us in order to the executing of this our design , against all such as shall endeavour to oppose us , that so we may prevent all those miseries which must needs fall upon the nation 's being kept under arbitrary government and slavery ; and that all the violences and disorders which have overturned the whole constitution of the english government , may be fully redressed in a free and legal parliament . this invitation sounded the best to me of any that came since the gospel came ; but according to the passive-obedience-men , it was a call to hell , and to dip the nation one and all into damnation : for he that resisteth , shall receive to himself damnation . if the prince had directed this invitation to them , he had spoken to stocks and stones that could not stir : nay , they could not possibly be neutral , for by their forward treacherous loyalty they had staked down their lives and fortunes on the other side long before ; and by their principles were as dangerous to him as so many grandvalls . so that it was only the brave and sound part of the nation , that was not tainted with the poison of passive obedience , which assisted his majesty in his arrival to white-hall , and afterwards in his access to the throne , or else he had never come there . there was not an honest man in england capable of joining the prince , but he that thought it his right to defend his right ; which was always the standing english principle , kept alive in the late tyranny it self , though to the continual hazard of a person 's life that i know . 't is true , there are men of no principle at all , that have since made sufficient earnings of this revolution ; who being obnoxious , and out of service in the last reign , were willing to try their chance in this , in order to their last resort , which is the next . but i look upon such pretended statesmen as souldiers of fortune , who would serve king james one day , and king william the next , and the french king once over again the third , and would be very glad to be vizier the day following . and therefore there is no relying upon such men , nor employing them neither ; for being hated by the people , they are a dead-weight to that government which endeavours to support them . but my soul abhors above all , those that obstructed his present majesty's accession to the crown as far as they could for their lives , whereby they lost ireland , and involved this kingdom in blood and misery ever since ; and when the nation had gained the point , and placed the king in the throne , could creepingly come off with this excuse , that though they could not tell how to make a king , yet they knew how to obey a king ; and have ever since vouchsafed to take his money in places of the greatest trust and profit . but i am sure that those that did not know how to make him king , that is , to give a vote for his being so , do not know how to serve him faithfully ; for they must of necessity believe him ill made , unless they have quite and clean altered their mind since , which cannot possibly be discovered by their management of his majesty's affairs . the same may be said concerning those of the clergy , who to hold their great preferments , and to grasp-greater , have taken the slippery oaths of allegiance which the pastoral letter buttered for them ; and who have thriven by their mischievous principles that ruined the nation , and are so far from being retracted , that they are very often repeated ; which are as contrary and irreconcileable to this revolution , as darkness is to light. but perhaps it is merit to ruine a nation , and to give an occasion for a gainful revolution . the last hypothesis of submitting to titles without examining them , and taking the powers that are upon content , is passive obedience in the first instance : for you must never after question any thing that proceeds from them , but take all things in good part , without so much as shrugging your shoulders . this author has been among the quietists ; and it is a great principle of molinus , that you must go often to mass , and inure your selves to take a wafer for a man , and thereby learn to mortify your senses . but because we are men before we are christians , and it is impossible to be otherwise , i will sooner mortify my senses in the way of transubstantiation , than in the way of passive obedience . your honours must needs be sensible , that i have written with some eagerness against passive obedience ; but i gave you such a samplar of that doctrine in the beginning of this humble address , as will justify the utmost sharpness of expression , and will answer for me in treating the preachers of it as publick enemies ; and so i have treated them , and not as mine . though it is very hard for a man to separate his private resentments from his publick zeal , when his sufferings have been all for the publick ; for that mingles them together , and he cannot possibly know them asunder , till such time as these common enemies have made publick amends for their wrong done to the nation , and not to him . so the great sampson when he was making his last effort upon his country's enemies , in his very prayer to god for extraordinary assistance , could not forbear mentioning his own two eyes . i do not care for my two eyes , god thou knowest it . but sharpness of language signifies nothing , where there is more need of the severity of laws . for shall a poor pickpocket or a highway-man be hanged for taking away a little loose money , and these wholesale thieves , who strip a nation of their lives , liberties and estates , and all they have , not be look'd after ? 't is true , they have not the money ; but if the pickpocket by conveyance deliver the money to the ballade-singer , it will be shared at night , by all the rules of bartholomew-fair . i had rather have my house robb'd for once and away , than be told by pretended churchmen , that a king has a high-way to my coffers , and that all persons he sends on that errand are irresistible : i had rather live in prison , than have my liberty lie at the same lay : and it is better for a nation ( though there is no need of it ) to die and go off the stage , than live a dog's life at any one man's mercy whatsoever . i will add further , that though i have been much more conversant with prisons than with palaces , yet i have left me that natural idea of honour , that i would scorn to be the prince of a passive-obedience-nation . it degrades a king , and gives him the meanest office in the world , and the most dishonourable employment . for whereas a herdsman and a muleteer are mean callings , because they only govern cattel : so a king , because he governs a vast number of men like himself , brave , wise and free , is in the most exalted station that is upon earth ; he is king of kings , and is served by princes . but to wish they were a venal or a servile people , is as if my lord mayor should choose to be common-hunt . it is true , the men that i have to deal with , may very well be of a different mind from me as to the constitution of this government , because they build upon quite different principles . they excuse themselves , for a very good reason , from the intricate labyrinths of law and history , which are the rule that i go by ; and which are the standard in this affair , as the gospel is of christianity : so that we may make use of st. austin's words in this case , quomodo legis ? ubi scriptum est ? how readest thou ? where is it written ? shew me the written law , make it out by approved history . nay , they have departed from the standing rules of right and wrong , and the standing revelation upon that subject , and have betaken themselves to the intimations of providence , and the out-goings of the morning and evening , which were their scoff the other day , when those expressions were used in the parliament army . the revolution is proved to be right , because at torbay the wind chopped about , as if it had been in the prince's pay. avowed usurpation is made out by success and settlement . the wicked design of conquering and enslaving this kingdom is hallowed by providence , and made to be divine promotion ; and the wreck of a whole nation is proved to be god's-goods . to deny god's providence , is to shut him out of his own world ; but to ascribe wicked actions to the divine providence , is the greater injury of the two . for the english of god's providence is , [ as god would have it ] : now when this is applied to usurpation , which is robbery and wrong in the highest degree ; and to the conquest and enslaving of a free nation , which is the most outragious oppression ; to say that these are by god's providence , is to say , that robbery is as god would have it , and oppression is as god would have it . but this all the world knows is contrary to god's known and revealed will : and therefore as the atheists deny god , so these men make him to deny himself . i hope i shall ever adore god's providence whilst i live , and do it with more understanding when i am dead , and therefore i shall be sorry to see the greatest injustice in the world fathered upon it . that usurpation , or conquest , or any other wicked thing , are by god's providence , i absolutely deny ; but that they are by divine permission , and may use the stile of bishops , that i allow : is it not enough to prostitute pulpits to the mischievous flattery of passive obedience , ( which were made for publishing the everlasting gospel of christ , and nothing else ) but they must slander providence too ? but the best of it is , that these interpreters of providence ( who would fain have the bestowing of crowns and titles , when it is the peoples gift ; and the re●●●●●ing of westminster-hall law , by their own iury pulpit-law ; and the direction of all publick affairs , by handling a text pick'd out of a private place in the psalms ) are easily overthrown in the very ground-work of their iudicial astrology . for the disposeal of all other things is attributed to god in scripture , as well as promotion ; and if this promotion be attained by wrongful and wicked means , such as usurping , conquering and enslaving a nation , plainly are ; it is blasphemy to ascribe this ill-gotten promotion to god. for instance , prov. 16. 33. the lot is cast into the lap : but the whole disposing thereof is of the lord. now , i say , to apply this text to a foul throw and cogging the dice , is blasphemy : and to say that god has disposed and transferred the hundred pound stake to this false gamester , and that now he has a divine right to it , is repeated blasphemy . the bible is a miscellaneous book , where dishonest and time-serving men may ever , in their loose way , find a text for their purpose . i could give so many instances of this in the late times , as would be hateful and tedious . but this i say , that eternal righteousness , iustice and truth , upright honesty , the right of the case , and the reason of the thing , must always govern the sense of scriptural expressions . for iustice and righteousness are the same in heaven as they are upon earth ; and if the notion of it were not the same in both places , it were vain to tell us that god is iust and righteous , for we could not tell what that means ; and more vain to bid us be like him in those divine perfections , if we did not know them when we see them . but if there were never a passive-obedience-man left in england , which i hope to see ; yet false titles are of dangerous consequence . if we are a conquered and enslaved people , ( as the simoniacal parson said by his bought preferments ) we came honestly by it , for we paid the penny for it . the hollanders have had six hundred thousand pounds for it , besides great sums which cannot yet be placed to account . now i am of opinion that these are dangerous matters ; for the dutch are merchants . we shall have conquests and titles bought and sold and trumpt upon us , perhaps sooner , perhaps 500 years hence . for not to mention danegelt , after the restoration of the saxons in edward the confessor and harold , and after the succession of five norman kings , in richard the first 's time philip of france demanded the sister of the king of denmark with no other dower , than the danish right to england , and the assistance of a fleet and an army for one year . which the danes not complying with , for fear of the vandals on one hand and the english courage on the other , philip at last took her with a dower of 10000 marks , which was i believe the better bargain . but as the historian says , he therein designed a bloody business for the realm of england . gervas . chron. p. 1244. molitus est regno angliae cruentum negotium . knyghton , p. 2406. if philip had succeeded in this bloody business , we have false prophets now-adays that would have hallowed it , and made a divine right of it , in these following words . and therefore it is that god , though he has infinite ways , yet commonly chuses to employ men in this service . he either finds them at home that are not afraid of the power as they ought to be : or he brings them in from foreign countries , ( that is these danes and french ) whistling for the fly out of egypt , or the bee out of the land of assyria ; in plain words stirring up a pharaoh or a nebuchadnezzar against them . now in obscure words here had been both fly and bee whistled in ; but for all these little interpreters of prophecies , i am satisfied that our ancestors would have whistled them out . the old popish clergy were englishmen , and were in at magna charta ; and the lawyers can best tell , whether the cathedrals they left behind them , are not since forfeited , for not reading magna charta publickly to the people every year , as is enjoined by two acts of parliament : for which reason they were each of them intrusted with a record of those english rights ; i do not now speak of that charter's being continually preached down . i love the memory of the abbot of st. albans in william the norman duke's time , who not being satisfied with his title , when he was marching his army towards that place , fell'd all the trees cross the road , and laid blocks in his way , and harassed all his army . and when the duke askt him , why he did so ? he answered , because he knew of no business the norman had there ; and if all honest englishmen had done the same , he had never come so far as st. albans to ask him that question . i admire the presence of the prior of clerkenwell , in the time of hen. the 3d as i take it , ( it is in history ) when in a dispute about a point of right the king meant to overawe him , by saying in king james's way to the magdalen-college men , am not i your king ? yes , says he , while you govern according to law , but no longer . i hate popery , but i love relicks . i know whom i have spoke to all this while in this tedious address ; you are my countrey , and therefore i submit it wholly to your great wisdom ; and if you dislike any thing in it , i wish it unsaid : only i will abide by this in which i can be positive , that i intended it intirely for his majesty's and my countrey 's service in conjunction ; and he that talks of their having a separate interest , ought rather to be made an example than a secretary . but i humbly take my leave ; you represent the body of the brave english nation , you have my prayers , and long since had my heart . an argument proving , that the abrogation of king iames by the people of england from the regal throne , and the promotion of the prince of orange , one of the royal family , to the throne of the kingdom in his stead , was according to the constitution of the english government , and prescribed by it . the argument . in this ensuing argument , which will be very short , i have but these two points to clear ; the one of fact. the other of right . first , that the people of england did actually abrogate or dethrone king james the second for misgovernment , and promoted the prince of orange in his stead . secondly , that this proceeding of theirs , was according to the english constitution , and prescribed by it . first , this matter of fact being so fresh in our memory , needs not to be so industriously proved . the act 1 o william and mary , declaring the rights and liberties of the subject , and settling the succession of the crown , recites the very instrument of conveyance of the crown to the prince and princess ; which begins in these words : whereas the late king james the second , by the assistance of divers evil counsellors , iudges and ministers imployed by him , did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the protestant religion , and the laws and liberties of this kingdom : which is there made out , by an enumeration of sundry particulars . and not long after there are these words : and whereas the late king james the second , having abdicated the government , and the throne being thereby vacant , the two houses of parliament do thereupon invest the prince and princess of orange with the crown . king iames endeavoured to subvert the government , as they favourably word it ; or rather , he had long before wholly subverted and overthrown the government , as the prince of orange's declaration speaks , ( which this very act has annex'd , and made parcel of the crown , and expresses to be the only means of redressing that mischief ) . there is but one doubtful word in all that i have recited , which some people make a hard word ; and that is , king iames's abdicating the government ; which no man would stumble at , who had read tully in his third philippick , who says thus concerning mark anthony , that for his offering a crown to caesar , eo die non modo consulatu sed etiam libertate se abdicavit , esset enim ipsi certè statim serviendum , si caesar ab eo regni insigne accipere voluisset . at that time he not only abdicated his consulship , but his liberty ; for if caesar would have accepted the crown , mark anthony must presently have turned slave . now mark anthony by this action did not expresly renounce his consulship or liberty , or run away from both of them , but he did that which was inconsistent with them both , he forfeited them both ; which is the true import of that phrase . the second thing is the point of right ; that this proceeding of the people of england was agreeable to the english constitution , and prescribed by it . to make this out , i need only recite the declaration of the lords and commons , 10 th rich. 2. in their message to the king then at eltham . knyghton , pag. 2683. domine rex , set & unum aliud de nuncio nostro superest nobis ex parte populi vestri vobis intimare . habent enim ex antiquo statuto & de facto non longe retroactis temporibus experienter quod dolendum est habito , si rex maligno consilio quocunque , vel inepta contumacia aut contemptu , seu proterva voluntate singulari , aut quovis modo irregulari , se alienaverit à populo suo , nec voluerit per jura regni & statuta & laudabiles ordinationes , cum salubri consilio dominorum & procerum regni gubernari & regulari ; set capitose in suis insanis consiliis propriam voluntatem suam singularem proterve exercere ; ex tunc licitum est eis cum communi assensu & consensu populi regni , ipsum regem de regali solio abrogare , et propinquiorem aliquem de stirpe regia , loc● ejus in regni solio sublimare . our lord the king — but there is moreover one part of our message still left to acquaint you withall , in the name of your people . they have it by ancient statute , and by a late doleful instance , that in case the king shall alienate himself from his people by any bad advice whatsoever , or foolish contumacy or contempt , or self-will , or any other irregular way ; and will not be govern'd and ruled by the laws , statutes and laudable ordinances of the realm , with the wholesom advice of the lords and peers of the realm ; but in a head-strong way will exercise his own self-will , from thence-forward it is lawful for them , with the common assent and consent of the people of the realm , to depose the king from the regal throne , and to promote some k insman of his of the royal family , to the throne of the kingdom in his stead . here the parliament laid down the law before the king , and gave him fair warning thirteen years before they thought of putting it in execution ; for this was in the tenth of his reign , and he reigned three and twenty years . and as for the statute they quote , it must needs be a very ancient statute , because the deposing of edw. 2. ( who was his great-grandfather ) in comparison of that , is represented but as of yesterday . this declaration of the lords and commons , the king could not gain-say ; and they gained their point upon him by it , to bring him to parliament . and it is not to be believed that the parliament of england would affirm they had such an ancient statute when they had not . it remains therefore to consider how we come by this record , seeing it is not upon the rolls in the tower : but 't is no strange thing it should not be there , because it is the four and twentieth article in the charge against richard the second , afterwards in the three and twentieth year of his reign ; et praeterea rotulos recordorum statum & gubernationem regni sui tangentium , praedictus rex deleri & abradi fecit , in magnum praejudicium populi , & exhaeredationem coronae regni praedicti , & ut verisimiliter creditur in favorem & sustentationem sui mali regiminis . and besides the said king caused the rolls of the records , touching the state and government of his realm , to be defac'd and razed , to the great prejudice of his people , and disherison of the crown of the said realm ; and as is credibly thought , in favour and support of his male-administration . the only means left us in such a case , where the records of the tower fail us , is to have recourse to the undoubted history of that age , which was written upon the spot : such is knyghton's authority , whose history was both written , and finished , and closed up in that very reign . and though this should be scare-crow-doctrine to the passive-obedience-men , yet it is the tenor of all antiquity ; it is the doctrine of the mirror in very many places . it is the doctrine of the sevententh chapter of king edward the confessor's laws . it is the sense of king alfred's stile , dei gratia , & benevolentia west-saxonicae gentis . that he was king by the favour of god , and the good-will of the english nation . it is the doctrine of the great lawyers since the norman times ; as particularly bracton : rex autem habet superiorem deum ; item legem , per quam factus est rex ; item curiam suam ; videlicet , comites , barones , qui comites dicuntur quasi socii regis ; & qui habet socium , habet magistrum , & ideo si rex fuerit sine fraeno , i. e. sine lege , debent ei fraenum ponere , nisi ipsimet fuerint cum rege sine fraeno , & tunc clamabunt subditi & dicent , domine ihesu christe in chamo & fraeno maxillas eorum constringe , ad quos dominus , vocabo super eos gentem robustam & longinquam & ignotam , cujus linguam ignorabunt , quae destruet eos , & evellet radices eorum de terra , & a talibus judicabuntur , quia subditos noluerunt juste judicare , & in fine , ligatis manibus & pedibus eorum , mittet eos in caminum ignis & tenebras exteriores , ubi erit fletus & stridor dentium . bracton . lib. 2. cap. 16. sect. 3. the king hath three superiors , god , and the law , by which he is made king ; and his court , namely the earls and barons , because they are called comites , as being the companions of the king ; and he that hath a companion , hath a master : and therefore if the king shall be unbridled , that is lawless , they ought to bridle him , unless they themselves with their king shall be unbridled and lawless too ; and then the subject shall cry out and say , lord jesus christ , hold in their jaws with bit and bridle : to whom the lord shall say , i will bring in upon them a robustious and foreign and unknown nation , whose language they shall not understand : which nation shall destroy them , and shall pluck up the roots of them from the earth ; and by such they themselves shall be judged , because they would not justly judg the english subjects . and in conclusion , being bound hand and foot , the lord shall throw them into a furnace of fire , and outer darkness , where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth . so that if the parliament of england neglect to do their duty in this case , in not restraining their king from lawless and arbitrary courses , they do it at their utmost peril ; for they are threatned with destruction for it in this world , and will dearly answer it in the next . i have here quoted a knocking sentence of a lord chief justice of england in the time of henry the third , four hundred and fifty years ago , whose authority hath been so far valued by both sides , as to be strove for . the prerogative-men quote such sayings as these ; rex non habet parem in regno suo ; quia par in parem , non habet imperium . nemo de factis ejus praesumat disputare ; multo magis contra factum ejus ire . and in the very context of the former large quotation , item nec factum regis nec chartam potest quis judicare , ita quod factum domini regis irritetur . now these and the like sayings , which are often to be met with in bracton , are to be understood concerning the ordinary administration of justice , and not to limit the transcendent power of parliaments which he has so fully display'd in this place ; and his rule in other places , where there is a new case , or any thing too weighty for the judges , is this , respectuetur ad magnam curiam , which is the key of bracton's whole book . this doctrine is agreeable to fortescue , who says , that the people are the fountain of power , in that expression , rex à populo potestatem effluxam habet . and in another place he says , that an arbitrary power to oppress the subjects , could not proceed from the people themselves ; and yet if it had not been from themselves , such a king as the king of england could have had no manner of power at all over them : for the truth of it is , it is a contradiction to deny , that all civil power is originally in the people : for what is civil power in english , but the city's power , and derived from the community ? and this either limited ; or enlarged , as they please . the intention of the people ( as fortescue tells us ) is the heart-blood of the government , and is the primum vividum in the body politick , as the heart is in the body natural . and it is impossible to be otherwise ; the nation must make their king , for i am sure the king cannot make the nation . and as sir william temple very well observes , the basis of governmen● is the people , though the king be at the top of it ; and to found the government upon a king , is to invert the pyramid , and set it upon the pinacle , where it will never stand . this doctrine is agreeable to the original contract , which is in the mirror of iustice , fol. 8. upon the election of the first english monarch , which contract is still continued in the coronation oath , and the oath of allegiance : which oath of allegiance doth depend upon the king's taking the coronation oath first , which was ever practised till the reign of henry the fifth , to whom homage and allegiance was sworn before he was crown'd ; which was a singular courtesy , and done on presumption of the goodness of his future reign . i might speak of the curtana sword ; the power of the lord high steward , and other great officers of the kingdom , and draw all the lines of the government to this center : but i have been heretofore forc'd to destroy all the reading of my whole life with my own hands , and have not since had health enough to retrieve it ; and now a late calamity hath fallen upon me that i can do nothing . only i must answer one objection , and that is , that our ancient statute is not practicable : for the king having the prerogative of calling and dissolving parliaments , will never assemble them , nor suffer them to sit for such a purpose . but such an objection as this betrays great ignorance of the constitution of english parliaments . we will allow that the king hath a prerogative of calling parliaments , but he hath no prerogative of not calling them : for not to mention our right of having stationary parliaments , not only annual , but anniversary , which sat down constantly at the calends of may , as appears by the laws of william the first . it is plain likewise , that they were not dissolvable at pleasure ; but that even as low as henry the fourth's time , proclamation used to be made to know whether there were any petitions that were to be answer'd in parliament . the first abusion of law , as the mirror tells us , is for the king to be above law , to which he ought to be subject , as is contained in his oath . and the second abusion of the law , next to this first and soveraign abusion , is for parliaments to be a la volunt d' roy , at the king's pleasure . one of the ancientest remains that we have concerning the english parliaments , is in the mirror ; where he says , in king alfred's time , it was made for a perpetual law , that the counties of england should assemble themselves twice a year [ in temps d' paix , in time of peace ] at london , pour parliamenter , to hold parliament . now i conceive that these words [ in time of peace ] do let us into the reason why this perpetual law hath been broken , and how it comes to pass that parliaments could not be punctual either as to time or place ; for we had many wars and invasions after that time , and the danes had the possession of london ; and consequently it was impossible for them to meet there , or indeed to keep their times of meeting any where else : whereupon there was a necessity for the king to assemble them , when and where they could meet in safety ; from whence arose the prerogative ( as i believe ) of calling parliaments ; which if a prince uses honestly , is rather a trouble to him than any thing else . if any person shall vouchsafe to give an answer to any thing i have here said , i desire him to do it fairly , by setting his name to it , as i have done ; for i hate to have my books answer'd ( as they lately were ) in a midnight vizor-masque . finis . a catalogue of books written by the reverend mr. samuel johnson . jvlian the apostate : being a short account of his life ; the sense of the primitive christians about his succession , and their behaviour towards him ; together with a comparison of popery and paganism . iulian's arts to undermine and extirpate christianity : together with answers to constantius the apostate and iovian . remarks upon dr. sharlock's book , intituled , the case of resistance of the supream power stated and resolved , according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures . reflections on the history of passive obedience . a second five year struggle against popery and tyranny ; being a collection of papers published by the reverend mr. samuel iohnson , during his last imprisonment of five years and ten days . wherein are contained these following tracts . 1. a sermon preached at guildhall-chappel . 2. the church of england as by law established , &c. 3. godly and wholesom doctrine , and necessary for these times . 4. a short disswasive from popery , and from countenancing and encouraging papists . 5. a parcel of wry reasons , wrong inferences , but right observation . 6. an oration of mr. iohn hales . 7. several reasons for the establishing of a standing army , and the dissolving the militia . 8. four chapters . 1. of magistracy . 2. of prerogative by divine right . 3. of obedience . 4. of laws . 9. the grounds and reasons of the laws against popery . 10. an humble and hearty address to all the english protestants in king iames's army . 11. the opinion , that resistance may be used in case our religion and rights should be invaded . 12. the trial and examination of the new test of the church of england's loyalty . 13. reflections upon the instance of the ch. of england's loyalty . 14. the absolute impossibility of transubstantiation demonstrated . 15. bp ridley's letter to bp hooper , with some observations on it . 16. a letter from a freeholder , to the rest of the freeholders of england . 17. religion founded upon a rock . 18. the true mother-church . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a46942-e160 jov. p. 202. p. 24. jov. p. 242. p. 200. p. 23. jov. p. 248. p. 249. barlow , p. 46 , 47. additional declaration , oct. 24. dr. fitz-williams's thanksgiving sermon , for the murder of my lord russel , &c. ●● 26. rom. 13. 3. esay 7. 17. numerus infaustus a short view of the unfortunate reigns of william the second, henry the second, edward the second, richard the second, charles the second, james the second. caesar, charles, 1636-1707. 1689 approx. 118 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 67 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a31743 wing c203 estc r20386 12259127 ocm 12259127 57753 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a31743) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57753) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 175:12) numerus infaustus a short view of the unfortunate reigns of william the second, henry the second, edward the second, richard the second, charles the second, james the second. caesar, charles, 1636-1707. [4], 89 [i.e. 125], [3] p. printed for ric. chiswell ..., london : 1689. written by charles caesar. cf. halkett & laing (2nd ed.). advertisements: [3] p. at end. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng william -ii, -king of england, 1056?-1100. henry -ii, -king of england, 1133-1189. edward -ii, -king of england, 1284-1327. richard -ii, -king of england, 1367-1400. charles -ii, -king of england, 1630-1685. james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. great britain -kings and rulers -biography. 2006-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-10 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2006-10 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion numerus infaustus . a short view of the unfortunate reigns of william the second . henry the second . edward the second . richard the second . charles the second . james the second . — sine caede , & sanguine pauci descendunt reges , & siceâ morte tyrrani . london : printed for ric. chiswell at the rose and crown in st. pauls church yard , 1689. licensed . june 25. 89. j. frasier to the reader . meeting accidentally the other day with a passage in heylins geography which he sets down in these words . p. 225. i will present you with a fatal observation of the letter h. as i find it thus versed in albions england . not superstitiously i speak , but h this letter still . hath been observed ominous to englands good or ill , &c. a sudden conceit darted into my thoughts ( from the remembrance of former reading ) that such kings of england , as were the second of any name , proved very unfortunate princes both to themselves , and to their people , whereupon i consulted the english chronicles , and out of them i have drawn a summary narration of the lives and reigns of six kings . for the matter of fact i have faithfully adher'd to the history , and yet i have not transcribed their method , style , or language . the writing of this was an entertainment for afew of my idle hours , and perhaps the reader may be pleased to divert himself for a few minutes , in the perusal , numerus infaustus . the life and reign of william the second , nick-named rvfvs the first william gain'd england by conquest , and bequeath'd it to the second by will. by his invasion he usurped the right of his cosin edgar ; and by his legacy he infringed that of his heir . he put out harold the unlawful possessor of the kingdom ; and put by robert his lawful successor . william the second of that name , of fewer years than his brother , but of greater interest in the inclinations of his father , with hasty steps ascended the throne , entring the royal palace at the wrong door . he indear'd himself to the one by the resemblance of humours , and the roughness of his temper ; and over-reach'd the other by the credulity and easiness of his disposition : giving no more deference to the obligation of promises , than to the right of primogeniture . his vows to god , his word to his brother , and his ingagements to his subjects , were all plighted with a like sincerity , and with the same integrity observ'd , and maintain'd . he was positive and sturdy , and that pass'd for valour ; he was crafty and politick , and that was reported for wisdom : he was accounted religious , when he pursued his own temporal advantages , and was reputed prophane , when he invaded the priviledges of the church : he was immeasurably covetous , only in order to the being unreasonably profuse ; and under the pretence of religion he committed the greatest acts of enormity and impiety . his incontinency was not taken notice of , because he could not transgress the vow of matrimony ; and tho' in speculations and disputes he seem'd concern'd for religion , yet by his actions he appear'd to be a practical atheist . the course of his life was turbulent and uneasie ; and the manner of his death violent , and untimely . he was no sooner mounted on the throne , but troubles arose to discompose his quiet . robert his eldest brother highly resenting this great injury , to be justled out of his seat by the partiality of his father , and the incroachment of his brother ; began to think of some timely expedients for the recovery of his right , and being assisted in his pretensions by several of the nobility in england ; as odo bishop of bayeux and earl of kent , roger montgomery earl of shrewsbury , hugh de-grandemenil , robert moubray earl of northumberland , william bishop of durham , and divers others of the clergy , and nobility ( who raised great forces , and possessed themselves of many considerable places ) the king was constrain'd to compound for his peace , by an assurance of three thousand marks per annum to his brother during life , and the reversion of the crown of england after his decease ; and by a solemn promise to restore to the people their ancient laws , and to indulge them the liberty of hunting in his forests . by these condescensions he dissipated the present storm that impended over his head , and gain'd some short respite from his growing troubles . this tempest was hardly allay'd in the south , but fresh clouds began to gather in the north. malcolin king of the scots thinking it a fit opportunity to purvey for himself , and inlarge his borders , when his neighbour was imbroyl'd with intestine commotions ; makes a sudden and furious incursion into northumberland , over-runs the country , burns and destroys all before him , and returns home loaden with the spoils of the inhabitants , without the least hinderance , or opposition . and tho it was not long , before king william was sufficiently revenged on his invader , whom he reduced to the necessity of paying the ancient homage due to the crown , and to give assurance of his future fidelity by new stipulations ; yet such an enterprise could not be accomplished , without a vast expence of treasure , and a great loss of men. the king ( who was very prodigal of his promises , but slow and penurious in the performance ) neglected the payment of the composition made with his brother robert ; whereupon he makes his application to the king of france ; who presently furnish'd him with considerable supplies , by which assistance he assaulted and took several towns in normandy ; and by his success obliged king william again to raise a powerful army , and to transport them into that country ; where tho by his crafty address he avoided the effusion of blood , and the consumption of his forces , yet he wasted his treasure , and purchased a truce with the king of france , by the mediation of mony. and now all things were calm and quiet , but not long so ; the skie began to be overcast with gloomy exhalations , and troubles arose upon an occasion as unusual , as unnecessary . malcolin king of the scots was a generous and magnanimous prince , and being at peace and full amity with his neighbours , he undertook the toyl of a journy as far as gloucester , to pay a royal visit to his ally and friend the king of england : who either out of a humour , pique or pride , would not vouchsafe so much as to see him ; which barbarous return to the civility of the affronted king did so exasperate him , that he posted back to his own country , made ready a powerful army with all expedition , and again infested northumberland , ravaging thro' the country without comptrol , and enriching his followers by the ruin and desolation of harmless and unconcerned people . and tho' in the prosecution of this design he lost his life , and the life of edward his eldest son , and his whole army intirely routed and defeated ( being drawn into an ambuscade by robert moubray the kings lieutenant ) yet king vvilliam suffer'd a great diminution of his honour and fame , by so unhospitable a refusal of a common respect to his equal in degree and title . the king , who was never happy in any long intermission of those distemper'd fits that shook him , fell now into a snarp and dangerous paroxysme . the vvelchmen taking notice of the kings incessant troubles and distractions ; to gratifie both their revenge and avarice , enter'd the english borders , and making use of such advantages as naturally attend a surprize , they became masters of many towns and strong holds , committing all manner of outrage and hostility , exercising that malice , which they bore to the king , upon the lives and estates of his innocent subjects . the king with great industry and care , got together a handsom army , with which he marched in person toward them , promising to himself an easie and a cheap victory : but he was disappointed of his purpose , and forced to retreat with all speed to london to compose an army of greater strength , and number . in the mean time to increase his perplexity , robert moubray earl of northumberland , ( who had done him such signal service in repelling the scots , and destroying their king ) finding himself disregarded , and no competent honour , or reward designed for his singular merits , began to be male-content ; and joyn'd in an open conspiracy against his lord and master . but the king reinforced with an army far stronger than ever he had imbodied before ; took , and imprison'd the earl , and enter'd the vvelch territories , where not being able to provoke them to the decision of a battle , he persued them with stratagems , erected many castles and forts , that so by degrees he might become master of the country : but they retreating to the natural fortifications of woods , mountains , and inaccessible passages , did so baffle him in his attempts , and so harass and tire out his souldiers , that he thought it most advisable to withdraw from the enterprise , and to commit the further prosecution of it to his lieutenants , who in time utterly subdued those naked and wild people , but not without horrible instances of cruelty , and barbarity . thus we have seen a man advanced to a throne , invested with regal authority , surrounded with all the external glories , and felicities of a diadem ; yet denied the inward satisfaction and tranquillity of a quiet and peaceable injoyment of his acquisitions . hitherto we have observed , how invasions from abroad , and distractions at home render'd his life uneasie : let us now take an account of his immoral , and irregular actions , which made his person unacceptable , and his reign unfortunate to his subjects . he assumed to himself an immoderate and licentious power to supply his necessities by the detriment and spoil of others . and because in his time the clergy was of all ranks of men the most opulent , he found them the most proper objects of his rapine , and oppression . when any bishoprick , or abby became vacant , he presently seized the revenues into his own hand . he kept the see of canterbury four years to his own use , and would have done it longer , but that a desperate sickness put him into a fit of devotion ; for being at the brink of death , and ready to expire , he resolved to commute for his intrusion , by the donation of those livings , which ( as he thought ) he could no longer detein , and hastily conferred the arch-bishoprick of canterbury upon anselm , and and the bishoprick of lincoln upon robert bloët : but no sooner was health restor'd , but his old inclinations return'd , and no other tokens of repentance appear'd , but a remorse and sorrow for parting with two such rich morsels ; for he never desisted from importuning and tormenting the two poor bishops , till he squeesed good sums of mony from anselm , and five thousand pounds from bloet . he kept in his hands at one time three ●●●●opricks ( canterbury , vvinchester , and salisbury ) and twelve abbies ; all which he set out to farm , and gather'd the profits of them into his own coffers . being obliged to pay a great sum of mony to the king of france , he found this invention to procure it ; he pretended a resolution to make war , and a sudden irruption into normandy , in order to which he levied twenty thousand men ( by press and other coercive means ) who being drawn to the sea side , and ready to imbarque , he order'd it to be signify'd and made known , that because he could more commodiously levy men in normandy ( without the toyl and charge of transporting ) whosoever would pay ten shillings toward the raising of such forces , should be excused from going on that expedition , which proffer was so grateful and plausible to the army , that there was hardly any man that did not greedily comply with the proposal . he added extortion to usury , took up mony by indirect courses , and imploy'd it to unjust purposes ; he would not supply his brother with mony ( tho upon a pious undertaking to the holy land ) without a mortgage of his dutchy of normandy ; and he could not raise it but by exactions , and compulsory loans , so that to advance the sum , the bishops melted their plate and the temporal lords destroyed their tenants . spiritual preferments were not given , but sold by auction , and he received from thurstan five hundred pounds for the abby of glastenbury ; and fell out with anselm , because he would not give a thousand marks for being made arch-bishop of canterbury . he arrogated to himself the glory of building westminster-hall ; but his subjects were at the expence , who believed , that he rear'd that fabrick only for a pretence to lay a heavy tax upon the people , and was a great gainer by the project . if the preists transgressed by carnal deviations from the strict rule of their profession , the pennance was in the purse ; and a composition with the king was as effectual , as a sacerdotal absolution . and because he received very great profit by particular indulgences given to the jews , he incouraged the relaps of such as were converted to christianity , accounting it no matter to be followers of christ , so they were but benefactors to him . among other faults laid to his charge , it is worth observing , that he is noted for imposing excessive fines upon diverse of the nobility , for small offences . having by his avarice and severities wearied his subjects , and disposed them to seek for safety and liberty in other countries ; he unexpectedly issued a proclamation that no man should depart the realm without his license , for the purchase of which he did not care to lose a subject . while promoters , informers , and such sort of state-caterpillars were his principal favorites , and partakers of his grace and bounty . he had a mind to be reputed an exact observer of his word and promise . and perhaps he was so in matters of small importance : but when profit and advantage came to be weighed , self-interest soon turned the scale . he made a solemn agreement with his brother robert , to bequeath the crown of england to him ; but it does not appear , that he remembred the ingagement , or ever had an intention to be just to his word . when he was pressed by an intestine war , and by the loyalty and valour of the english rescued from the rebellion of his norman followers , he promised a restitution of their ancient laws , and an indulgence to some priviledges which were much valued by the people of those times ; but with the necessity the obligation ceased , and he became a bankrupt of his word and promise . as little did he regard his promises to god his creator , for being dangerously sick at gloucester , and despairing of recovery , he made a solemn vow , that if he were restored to his health , he would lead a new life , and give over all his disorderly courses , but the restoration of his strength was accompanied with the return of his former vicious inclinations , and he became ten times more the child of wrath , than he was before . he is reported to be very lascivious and incontinent , but in regard he did not defraud his own wife , ( having never been married ) and was not observed to debauch the wives of other men , he only passeth for a simple fornicator , and even in that not at all curious , not entertaining a select concubine , but promiscuously trucking with any woman that came in his way . to shew how conscientious he was in matters of religion , take the words of sir richard baker in his chronicle of england , p. 35. he appointed a disputation to be held between christians and jews , and before the day came , the jews brought the king a present , to the end they might have an indifferent hearing ; the king took the present , encouraging them to quit themselves like men : and swore by st. lukes face ( his usual oath ) that if they prevailed by disputation , he would himself turn jew , and be of their religion . a young jew on a time was converted to the christian faith , whose father being much troubled at it , presented the king sixty mark , intreating him to make his son to return to his judaism ; whereupon the king sent for his son , commanding him without more ado to return to the religion of his nation : but the young man answered , he wondred his majesty would use such words ; for being a christian he should rather perswade him to christianity : with which answer the king was so confounded , that he commanded the young man to get him out of his sight . but his father finding the king could do no good upon his son , required his mony again . nay ( saith the king ) i have taken pains enough for it ; and yet that thou mayst see how kindly i will deal , you shall have one half , and the other half you cannot in conscience deny me . in one act he shew'd himself a tyrant , and an atheist , for fifty gentlemen being accused for hunting and killing the kings deer , he caused them to be condemned to the trial by fire , which they escaping untouch'd by the miraculous providence of god , and he thereby defeated of his greedy expectation by the confiscation of their estates , fell into an outragious passion , and cry'd out , how happens this ! is god a just judg in suffering it ? now a murrain take him that believes it . but vengeance from heaven soon overtook him that did not believe it ; for the king ( though warned by dreams and other uncommon presages , of some approaching disaster ) appointed , a hunting in the new forest upon the second of august . when the day came , he began to be perplexed with the remembrance of those ominous bodings , and stay'd within till noon : but having at dinner driven away all care and fear , by drinking himself into hardiness and security , he mounled his horse , and eagerly folowed the chase : shortly after sir walter tyrrel , a knight of normandy ( to whom the king at their going out had given two arrows very strong and sharp , telling him , that he knew how to shoot to purpose ) having a very fat buck in view , and at a convenient distance to be struck , let fly an arrow , which glancing on a tree , or else grazing on the back of the deer , reach'd the king , hit him in the breast , and he immediately dropt down dead . thus fell nimrod the mighty norman hunter , destroy'd by that very sport in which he took such excessive delight , violently brought to death on that occasion ; by which he had deliberately design'd the destruction of many others ; and in that very place where his father had depopulated so many town , and ruined so many religious houses , for the accommodation of wild beasts , and to gratifie his own inordinate pleasures . the life and reign of henry the second . tho' the accession of henry the son of geoffrey plantagenet duke of anjou , to the crown of england , be not branded with the unsavory terms of intrusion , or usurpation ; yet whosoever will impartially revolve the chronicles of those times , may modestly conclude , that he jumpt into the throne over the back of his mother . maud ( commonly styled the empress ) was the only daughter and heir of henry the first , and tho she was an empress , and afterward a dutchess , yet she could never arrive at the station of a queen . stephen usurp'd the crown , and kept it from her ; and henry her son confirm'd the disseisin , by compounding for his own succession , without any regard to his mothers title . whether she was lockt up in an unknown prison , or estranged by banishment , or secretly made away , it were a great presumption in me to assert , since the writers and historians of those days make no positive determination in the matter : but that she was civilly dead , that no notice was taken of her right and legal claim to the government , after she had so unsuccessfully contended with king stephen , nothing can be more manifest . henry her son was a young , active , and valiant prince , very potent , endow'd with great possessions , and in expectation of greater additions : he was in his own right duke of anjou , in right of his wife duke of guyen and earl of poietou , and in right of his mother , duke of normandy , and presumptive heir to the kingdom of england . this greatness of estate added to the greatness of his spirit , and buoy'd up by the hopes of a far greater augmentation of his fortunes , push'd him on to set up for himself in a competition for the crown of england ; to the achievement of which many accidents concurring ( as the untimely death of eustace the son of king stophen , the melancholick despair of his mother the empress , upon her improsperous contest with stephen , and the loss of her brother , and other her fast friends ) he came to a composition with king stephen , and a perfect reconciliation was made between them , choosing rather to succeed him by adoption , than to wait the natural descent of his inheritance by the death of his mother . whether a prophetick foresight of the short period prescribed to the reign of king stephen , or a secret design to catch some opportunity to accelerate his own investiture , prompted him on to this accommodation , lies only within the compass of conjecture ; but so it fell out , that his possession by survivership was not long prorogued ; the agreement being made in january by mutual consent , and consummated in october following , by the death of king stephen . henry the second being now actually king , disturbed by no competitor , or pretender , might with all affluence of honour , wealth , and pleasure , have enjoy'd his kingdom in profound peace ; but in despight to fortune , who hitherto had courted him . he created troubles to himself , and was the unlucky author of his own misery . for tho the rebellious insurrection of the welsh , in the first year of his reign , did somewhat discompose his quiet ; yet the issue of it did only tend to aggrandise his name , to make him more revered at home , and more awfully consider'd abroad . but the expedition into scotland was the product of his own injustice : stephen his father by adoption had granted cumberland , and huntington shire to malcolm king of the scots , and maud his mother had given northumberland to the same : henry disdaining to see his kingdom cantonised , and grudging that such considerable parts of it should be dismember'd from the body , and become the patrimony of his neighbour , demands the estate by a military claim , and marching thither with a powerful army , repossesseth himself of part of these alienated lands , and voluntarily relinquisheth the rest . the same restless humour prompted him to persecute his brother geoffrey . for his father on his death-bed bequeath'd the dukedom of anjou to him , but with this limitation , that so soon as he should become king of england , he should deliver up anjou to his brother geoffrey : and for the further assurance of it , he obliged his lords to swear , not to suffer his body to be buried , till his son henry had taken his oath exactly to perform it . henry solemnly binds himself by oath to perform his fathers will , but afterward as wickedly breaks his vow ( having obtain'd a dispensation for so great an impiety , from his holy father pope adrian ) and entring into anjou with an army , took from his brother ( who was in no capacity to resist so puissant an invader ) not only the country of anjou , but some other cities also , which his father had absolutely given him for his maintenance , which unnatural treatment had so fatal an operation on the poor duke , that within a very short time it broke his heart . and now lewis king of france began to find him a costly and hazardous diversion ; for having not well digested the affront put upon him by king henry in marrying of eleanor his divorced queen , and seeking all occasions to demonstrate his resentments , he became an open abettor of raymond earl of st. giles , with whom king henry had a controversie about the earldom of tholouse . hereupon the litigants began mutually to arm , and great forces were rais'd on both sides , but being just ready to joyn in a bloody battel , a peace was concluded by the mediation of friends . and least matters should be wanting to propagate new cares , and interruption to the progress of his felicity ; by an over fond and unexampled indulgence , he assumed his son henry ( then seventeen years of age ) into a partnership in the throne ; whose arrogant behaviour , and picgant repa●tee at the very time of his coronation , administred just cause to the king to repent his rashness . for the king to do honour to his young colleague , at the coronation feast would needs carry up the first dish to the table ; which the archbishop ( who had perform'd the ceremony ) observing , said merrily to the new king , what an honour is this to you , to have such a waiter at your table ? the other reply'd , why ? what great matter is it for him , that was but the son of a duke to do service to me , that am the son of a king , and a queen ? neither was it long before the king was sensibly convinced of his weakness . for the young king having imbibed some mutinous notions of discontent from the insinuations of the french king , and being animated by his advice and assistance , began openly to oppose his father . for an aggravation to the old kings misfortunes , eleanor his queen inraged with jealousie , and not able to endure the sight of so many concubines to which her husband had given up himself , she not only incenseth her son henry to proceed in his enterprise , but secretly perswadeth richard and geoffery , two other of her sons , to joyn with him against their father , encouraging them to expect a more liberal maintenance from their brother , than their penurious father did allow them ; by these instigations they repair into normandy , and joyn themselves with their brother , who growing more insolent by their assistance , return'd a haughty and imperious answer to a kind and loving message from his father , disdaining to lay down arms , unless he would first lay down his authority , and resign the kingdom . to shuffle matters into the greater perplexity , lewis king of france began to form a league against king henry , and having call'd together the great lords of his kingdom , and inveigled william king of the scots , hugh earl of chester , roger moubray , hugh bigod , and other the accomplices of his son , they all joyn'd in an oath to aid and assist the young king with their whole power , and thereupon in one day they began their attacks , the french invading normandy , aquitain , and britain ; and the king of scots northumberland . the old king in a short time disincumbred himself from these exigencies , and triumphed over all his enemies ; but new troubles like hydra's heads , sprung up every day to arrest his tranquillity ; and he had no sooner made a truce with his son henry , but the defection of his son richard , who had possest himself of a great part of the province of poictou , obliged him to transport an army thither , and by the influence of it to reduce him to obedience . but the splendor of his success was darkned with a sensible misfortune , henry his darling , the copartner of his empire , but the excrescence of the throne , ended his competition with his life , to the equal content and sorrow of his father . within a while richard his heir apparent , revived his former discontent , relapsed into the old fit of rebellion , and drew along with him his brother john , with many more of his fathers adherents , and followers , who all joyn'd with philip king of france ( the inheritor of his fathers crown , and his animosity against king henry ) he presently form'd an army , and ( least natural affection should prevail above conceived injuries ) with all speed and vigour laid siege to the city of mentz , in which king henry was then personally present ; who apprehending himself to be in great danger , and unwilling to fall into the hands of such enemies , secretly withdrew out of the town , and escaped . but the town being taken ( the place of his nativity , and in which he took great delight ) he became almost distracted with grief and passion , and in the extremity of his rage utter'd this blasphemous expression , i shall never hereafter love god any more , that has suffer'd a city so dear to me , to be taken from me . indeed this inconsiderable loss made a mortal impression on his spirits , bereaving him of that vigor and majestick grace which accompanied him in all his actions , so that he tamely condescended to seek a peace at their hands , to whom before he scorn'd to vouchsafe the favour of any conditions ; but when he came to understand that his beloved son john was in the conspiracy against him , he fell into a fit of fainting , and dy'd within four days . king henry was the author and instrument of his own misfortunes ; he came to the crown in peace and quiet ; but never injoy'd it in content or satisfaction . he was an ungrateful son , an indiscreet father , an unnatural brother , an unjust husband , a niggardly master , a fickle friend , a severe enemy , a valiant king , but too penurious . his actions were great and renowned , but smutted with the tincture of notorious vices . he dealt unjustly with the king of the scots ; and to his cruelty extended to his brother was added a manifest perjury . he made his son a rival in his throne , and took many strange women to be rivals in his bed. as his wife was divorced from her other husband , so was his conjugal love estranged from her . his partiality to his sons is too manifest , while he fondly gave to henry a share of his crown , and substracted from his other sons a competent maintenance . but these contrary causes produced the same effect , his indulgence to one , and his niggardliness to the rest , provoked them all to be rebels against him . his incontinency is so evident , that it supersedes all the misprisions of jealousie : his close amours with the fair rosamond were palpably detected by the industrious curiosity of his queen ; but his incestuous dalliance with the spouse of his son , has left an indelible blot upon his memory . his carriage toward thomas becket , while alive , speaks him brave , and magnanimous ; but his mean submission to a sordid penance at the tomb of that sawcy prelate , discovers plainly that superstition was predominant in him beyond a sense of true religion . parsimony , which is commendable in men of lower ranks , was a vice in him ; by it he lost the love of his children , and disobliged his subjects , while by taxes , confiscations , seisure on bishopricks and abbies , and other avaritious practises , he lived poorly , only that he might die rich . the life and reign of edward the second . edward of carnarven was the eldest son of edward the first , and succeeded his father in the kingdom of england . he was in his person handsome ; in his conversation acceptable ; in his inclinations not extrémely vicious ; continent beyond any of his predecessors ; not given to grind his subjects by hard taxations , or to enrich himself by their impoverishment . he ascended the throne with the universal joy and acclamations both of the nobility , and the people ; the way to it was plain , and the seat easy . he had the advantages of an extraordinary education , the example of an illustrious father and a victorious king ; an early initiation in the business of state , a happy opportunity to understand the art of reigning , by commanding the realm , and presiding in parliament , during his fathers absence . when he took the reins of government into his hands , he was neither in his nonage , nor dotage ; the kingdom stood in no need of a protector because of his minority , nor an administrator , because he was super-annuated . he was just ripe for rule , and all circumstances concurr'd to make the conclusion of his reign as prosperous as the beginning . notwithstanding all these happy prcludiums , never was there a prince more unfortunate , never was there a life perplexed with more disasters , or a death attended with sharper instances of misery and horror : being persecuted by his subjects , deserted by his qeen , deposed by the people , and inhumanly murdered by wretched miscreants . he began his reign with a rude and irreligious contempt of his renowned fathers will , and dying commands , which as it gave just cause to the subjects to suspect his veracity and constancy , so it appear'd an ominous presage of his future calamities , and desertion by heaven . for whereas his father had expresly charged him , never to recall pierce gaveston from banishment ( who had been the pandar to the young prince's lusts , and the debaucher of his youth ) he immediately sent for him home , heaped honours and riches upon him , and grew scandalously fond of him . his father setled his quarrel with scotland upon him by entayl , requiring him to carry his bones about with him through that kingdom , till he had subdued it : but so little veneration had he for those glorious reliques , that he neither took them with him in a military procession , nor regarded their quiet sepulture ; but rather to affront them , he entred into a treaty for his own nuptials , before he had solemnized the funerals of his father . the old king had obliged him to send his heart to the holy land , with sevenscore knights to prosecute the holy war , and two and thirty thousand pounds ( a mighty sum in those days ) which he had gathered for that pious use : but he not only neglected his fathers directions , but in plain scorn and despight to his commands , he prodigally squander'd it on that same gaveston , from whose very sight he was precluded by his dying father . i shall not need to divide the history of his life into several acts , i may recite it , as it was , in one scene of trouble and misfortune . the revocation of peirce gaveston from perpetual exile was very displeasing to the people ; his admission to the highest honours and favours about the court , did smartly aggravate their just resentments ; but his pride and ostentation at the marriage of the king in france ( where the four kings and four queens , were seen in all their pomp , besides the king and his bride , yet he was observed to excel them all in bravery ) had so sensible an operation on the lords of england , that when edward , and isabel expected to be crown'd , in the presence of many princes , and noble persons , they boldly went to him and briskly told him , how haynously he had transgressed his fathers will in recalling gaveston , to which since they were cautioners ; they would see it performed ; and unless he would remove gaveston from court and kingdom , they would not suffer his coronotion to proceed . king edward , confounded with this stinging declaration , gave them satisfaction , and solmnly swore to do what they desired , in the next parliment , and so the coronation proceeded : in the solmnizing whereof the king again provoked the lords to discontent , adding the honour of carrying st. edwards crown before him , to the other titles he had conferred on gaveston ; which urged them to enter into consultation , how to contrive some plausible way to restrain the violence of the kings affection which in a short time took affect . for gaveston not content to engross the kings favor , and dictate his arbitrary orders through the kingdom , encroached on the honour of the nobility , and placed opprobious nick-names upon divers of them , who therefore did not only envy him for his undeserved advancement , but mortally hated him for his un-sufferable insolency . it was not long before a parliment met , who unanimously press the king to apply a remedy to their greivances in the rere of which they urge the banishment of gaveston : the king seing no safety in expostulation , consents to their demands , and the several articles ( like those of the council of trent ) are injoyn'd under an anathema , and pain of excommunication : hereupon gaveston was sent into ireland , but as the chief goovernour , not as an exile ; where after he ●ad stay'd a while , and acted things much conducing to his reputation , king edward , not able to endure his absence , or indeed to live without him , remanded him home , and married him to the sister of the earl of glocester ; but gaveston was incorrigible , his power exceeded all limits , and his expences all possibility of supply ; the kings revenue was wasted , the queens maintenance retrenched , and all diverted to the accommodating the luxury of the favorite . the lords began to ferment in a new discontentment , and repairing to the king , positively told him , if he did not immediately remove gaveston out of the court and kingdom they would rise in arms against him , as a perjur'd king. but he , after he had strugled a while between love and fear , condescended to his pertual banishment , making his return a capital offence , and so to be proceeded against , if ever found in the kingdom . gaveston once more is dispatcht out of england , and goes to france , where finding no safe abode , he past into flanders , and there meeting with no secure shelter , he secretly returns to england , relying on the immovable favor of the king , and the interest of the duke of gloucester . the bewitched king received him with transports of joy , and slipping out of the sight of the lords , and all other observers , betook himself to york , carrying his beloved minion with him . the lords hearing of it , make after him , and choosing the great and potent earl of lancaster for their general , sent a message to the king to deliver gaveston into their hands , or at least to send him peremptorily out of the kingdom . but being abused by evil counsel , and disregarding the message from the lords , he marcht from place to place , seeking a sure refuge for his dear favourite , refusing to stay with the queen , who with tears beg'd his company , and lodg'd him in scarborough-castle ; which being furiously assaulted by the confederate lords , gaveston thought it best to render himself , desiring only the favour to be allow'd once to see the king's face , and the king reciprocally ask'd the same . gaveston was sent under a convoy toward wallingford , but being intercepted by the way , and forced from his guard by the earl of warwick , after long deliberation his head was struck off at a place call'd blacklow . in the mean time the king of scots taking notice in how unready a posture affaires were in england , how the king remitted all case of the government to gaveston , and that he gave himself up to luxury and licentiousness , in a short time , and with little or no opposition , reduced almost all scotland to his obedience ; and encouraged by that success . he entred england , burnt , and took several towns , and being encounter'd with a splendid army raised by king edward , more resembling a court , than a camp , and consisting of a hundred thousand men ; he with an army hardly amounting to thirty thousand , utterly overthrew and defeated them . this misfortune was follow'd by the loss of almost all ireland , and the treacherous rendition of berwick , which yet king edward was in a fair way to recover , had not the earl of lancaster discover'd his immoderate kindness to hugh spencer the younger , ( whom he had substituted and embraced in the room of gaveston ) and thereupon withdrew his forces from his assistance . these crosses were accompanied with the loss of northumberland , whereof all the towns were taken , or burnt by the scots , and an incredible number of prisoners and cattel carried into scotland ; king edward in vain attempting to seek a reprizal , and at last forced to pass over all hopes of satisfaction , by the conclusion of a truce . the unhappy king postponing the affections of his subjects to the fond love of a darling , advanced hugh spencer to the highest pitch of honour and favour , committed all affairs to his sole administration ; he ( in perfect imitation of his predecessor ) servilely complying with the kings humours , and arrogantly insulting over the lords . they to remove this insupportable nusance , continue in arms , confederate together , and send a peremptory message to the king , requiring the confirmation and execution of the articles formerly granted , otherwise threatning to constrain him by force of arms , and accordingly assembled a mighty body about dunstable , where the king then lay ; but by the interposition of the prelates , an accommodation was made , and all things agreed to their mutual satisfaction . soon after a parliament was call'd , wherein the king complain'd that the lords had taken up arms , had murthered pierce gaveston , and done him many other affronts ; they on the other side justifie their proceedings , as not undertaken against , but for the preservation of his person , and the punishment of the publick enemies of the kingdom ; but the queen , with the prelates and the duke of gloucester , found an expedient to qualifie these heats ; the lords became humble suitors to the king for his grace and pardon , and he receives them kindly , as dutiful and loyal subjects . but this reconcilement not being founded in sincerity , was but of a short duration : the two spencers , father and son , became intolerable in their covetousness , oppression , and arbitrary disposal of all affairs ; wherefore the earl of lancaster with divers other lords , entred into a new confederacy , binding themselves by oath to live and die together , in the maintenance of the rights of the kingdom , and to procure the expulsion of the two spencers . in pursuance hereof , they gather a great army , march to london , and insist stoutly on their former demands ; to which once more the king is induced to condescend , by the mediation of the queen and the prelates , and by publick proclamation the spencers are banished ; but in a short time after the edict was revoked , they recall'd , and restored to their former place and authority . the wind ●●gan now to change , and by a strange caprichio of fortune , the king got the ascendent over the mutinous lords , conquered them in battel , slew many of them in the field , and put many to death , by the sword of justice ; but so soon as the heat of revenge was a little qualify'd , repented of his proceeding . hitherto the miserable king received only slight wounds in the extreme parts of his body , now he received a stab at the heart . the queen enraged to see her husbands love diverted upon upstart favorites , and disdaining to be a pensioner to their pleasure , found a plausible excuse to repair into france , where ( to be revenged on her husband for his neglect of her ) she continued in too scandalous a familiarity with the lord mortimer . the king being advertised of it , commanded her to return , and she delaying to come , he proclaimed her , and the prince ( who was at that time also in france ) enemies to the kingdom , banish'd them and their adherents , and strongly guarded the seas with three fleets , to intercept their passage . the queen by the help of foreign friends , got together a considerable army , and landed near harwich , and was presently reinforced by the conjunction of the earl marshal , the earl of lancaster , the earl of leicester , and many other lords and bishops . the king was astonish'd at the news , being utterly irresolute what course to take : he had no counsellors about him , but the spencers , london was not to be trusted , his army was wavering , the people from all counties flocking in to the queen . in this perplexity he secretly withdraws from the court , attended by the two spencers , and a very few others , and being disappointed of his retreat to the isle of lundy , he hides himself in the abby of nethe ; where within a short time he was taken , his followers all apprehended , and the two spencers publickly and ignominiously executed , and himself committed to the custody of the earl of leicester . after christmas a parliament was call'd , wherein it was agreed to depose the king , and set up his son , who refusing to take the crown , unless his father would freely resign it , the poor king as tamely surrender'd the scepter , as he had before unworthily weilded it , and having formally renounced and abdicated the government , and the speaker of the parliament , renounced all allegiance to him , in the name of the whole kingdom , he was taken from the earl of leicester ( from whom his enemies thought he had too kind usage ) and being hurried from place to place , and wearied with all manner of severity and indignity , wasted by starving , tormented by noisome stinks , and attempted by poyson , he was at last barbarously and inhumanely stifled to death between two pillows . the murder being disavow'd by the queen , the executioners of it fled , and died miserably . the life and reign of richard the second . if magnanimity , valour , piety , gentleness , liberty , and other heroick and princely qualities , were communicable by generation : if vertue could be intayl'd ; if the gifts of the mind descended by inheritance , or were demisable hy will , or inseparably annex'd to the body ; no man could ever have a juster pretension to glory and fame , than richard the second , the only son of that incomparable hero , edward the black prince , and grand son of that most illustrious and victorious edward the third . but children do not always resemble the features of the father , to the great shame and scandal of the mother : wit , and vigor are seated in the brain ; and children are not begotten by the head. richard was a child at the death of his father ; and never acted like a man , during his own life . a crown was too heavy a load for his tender brows , and the reflection of its brightness daizled his eyes . the transactions of state , during his minority , are not to be the subject of my recital , since the event of all affairs that were prosperous , is to be imputed to the conduct of his guardians ; and where any accidents interrupted his prosperity , it ought not to be attributed to his misfortune . i shall therefore pass over such occurrences as are recounted by historians , during his pupillage ; and begin my remarks , at that period when he assumed the regal government . and first he deposed the lord scroop from his chancellor-ship , because he refused to seal some extravagant grants made by the king , and receiving the seal from his hands , he kept it for a certain time , and with it seal'd such grants and writings as he thought fit , at his own absolute will and pleasure . his army sent against france , commanded by the bishop of norwich , was not very prosperous ; but laying seige to ypres , as they past through flanders , were forced by the power of a french army coming to their relief , to raise the seige , and retreat . and tho the bishop advised the king to lay hold on that opportunity to try the fortune of a battle with the french , and he pretended over night to be in a mighty hast and eagerness to ingage in that enterprise , yet in the morning the humor was off , and consulting his own ease and safety , he appointed the duke of lancaster to go on that inployment , who spinning out the time with dilatory preparations , till the bishop was return'd , the project was disappointed , the undertaking came to nothing ; and the dispute was ended in a short lived truce . neither did the expedition into scotland , tend to the honour of the king , or advantage of the kingdom : for the scots having made incursions into england , taken , and burnt divers towns upon the borders , and enriched themselves by a general depredation of the country . the duke of lancaster with the earl of buckingham was dispatcht with a mighty army to repress them : but having entred scotland , and not being able by any art , or stratagem to provoke the scots to battel , they returned without obtaining any further satisfaction , then a suitable revenge in burning , and destroying many towns there . and tho a truce was made with the scots ; yet without any regard to the stipulation , they again entred the borders , and took berwick . but now the unfortunate king began to form plots against his own honour and quiet ; for being incensed against the duke of lancaster ( whether upon real , or upon imaginary provocations ) a design was laid to have that great man arrested , and arraign'd of treason before sir robert tresilian , chief justice ( tho by the law of the land his tryal ought to have been by his peers ) and it is easie to imagin what would have been the issue of such irregular proceedings : but the duke having timely intimation of the mischief and contrivance against him ; withdrew himself opportunely to his castle of pomfret , where he stood upon his guard , till by the laborious travel and powerful intercession of the kings mother ( tho by reason of her corpulency she was most un-fit for such an imployment ) the king was pacified , and reconciled to the duke . the scots still meditating revenge and the french king still ready to foment the quarrel , prepared for a fresh invasion of england , and receiving auxiliary ayds of great number and strength from the french , once more entred the english borders . king richard receiving advertisement of it , with great speed rais'd a mighty army , and marching in person at the head of them , entered scotland , burnt edingburgh proceeding without control , but could by no means draw the scots to battle ; they in the mean time to divert the kings progress , made a descent into cumberland , and besieged carlisle ; to the relief of which the king approaching with so formidable an army , obliged the scots to retreat into their own country , and upon their recess the king returned into england , bringing with him neither honour nor advantage by so fruitless an expedition . after these things ( and some other passages not so directly appertaining to the history of his life ) king richard began to hasten his own destiny , and by imprudent actions , pernicious counsels , and an arbitrary assertion of his indisputable prerogative , to kindle those flames of mutiny , and discontent , which never were extinguish'd , but at the expence of his own blood , and the loss of his crown . robert vere earl of oxford and marquiss of dublin was his darling , and michael de la pool was his favorite : the first a gentleman of commendable good parts , he created duke of ireland ( tho he himself was but lord of it ) the other a man of mean extraction , he made earl of suffolk , and chancellour of england ; both very obnoxious , and not accomplish'd with such merits , as might advance them in titles , or offices beyond the ancient nobility , without envy , or obloquy . these wicked counsellors set a false glass before the short sighted king , and abused him with erroneous representations of his own sufficiency , absolute authority , and uncontrollable power : insomuch that in a parliament then call'd , the king began sharply to expostulate with the lords , and by an undecent comparison with the freedom of their tenures , to challenge to himself an unquestionable liberty . this haughty carriage of the king , exasperated the parliament , and fermented them to such a degree of dissatisfaction , that instead of consenting to grant him a subsidy toward his wars , they fell foul upon the new chancellour , and never gave him over , till they obtain'd a severe judgment against him to the forfeitures of his life , and the confiscation of his estate . the adverse party were highly nettled at these proceedings , and being push'd on by revenge , and malice , they combined in a horrid design to murther the duke of gloucester , and such other lords as cross'd the king in his extravagant courses ; which flagitious plot was to be perpetrated upon an invitation of them to a supper in london : sir nicholas brember the former lord mayor was a prime instrument in this enterprise ; but the king imparting this matter to richard exton the present mayor , and endeavouring to make him an accomplice in the action , he would by no perswasions be induced to consent to so vile an attempt , and thereupon they desisted from the further prosecution of it . notwithstanding this , and many other untoward passages , a subsidy was granted to the king under certain limitations ; but the parliament were so disgusted ; because the king had respited the execution of the judgment against the chancellour , that they positively declared , unless the chancellour were removed they would proceed no farther in a parliamentary course . the king hereupon grew cholerick , and plainly told them , he would rather apply himself to the french king for assistance , than submit to his subjects : yet upon good reasons offer'd by the lords , a great change was made in the ministers of state , and particularly the chancellour was removed : and so desirous were the lords and commons to have the duke of ireland excluded from the kings presence , that they were content he should receive thirty thousand marks , on condition he would transport himself into ireland . but no sooner was the parliament dissolved , but the king recanted all his condecensions , revoked all orders against the chancellour , the duke of ireland , and the rest , and received then into higher favour , than they were in before . and tho' the earls of arundel and nottingham performed a noble exploit , hardly to be parallel'd in history , yet their service was disregarded , and their persons slighted , because the duke of ireland gave them no countenance : by whose contrivance a new plot was laid to destroy the duke of gloucester , and the easie king surrounded with parasites and corrupt judges , suffer'd them to pursue their extravagant practices , and two thousand persons were at once indicted before sir robert tresilian the chief justice . he then propounded certain queries to robert belknap lord chief justice and other judges , which they soon resolved , in defiance of the law , and the priviledges of parliament . and notwithstanding he stood in such ill terms with his people , yet a way was found to pack juries in london , and indictments were found of many crimes against some of the lords : whom having a design to persecute , he summon'd the judges , justices , and sheriffs of the kingdom , that he might be informed , what power of men they could assure him of , to serve him against the lords : and intending shortly to call a parliament , he tamper'd with them to have no knight or burgess chosen , but such as the king and his council should name . but finding by the answer of the sheriffs , that they could not raise any forces upon such a pretence , nor infringe the ancient liberty in elections to parliament ; the king and the duke of ireland sent into all parts to raise men in this quarrel against the lords , consulting on some devices how to intrap them . the duke of gloucester being advertised of this , had a secret conference with the rest , and assembling a numerous body of men , stood upon their guard , and sent commissioners to the king , requiring such traytors and seducers as were about his person , to be delivered up to them . the king was advised by the duke of ireland , the earl of suffolk , and others about him , to offer calice to the french king , to procure his assistance against the lords ; and with all sent to the mayor of london , requiring to make an estimate of how many able men might be rais'd in the city , who making tryal of what could be done on such occasion , received this answer from the people , that they would never fight against the kings friends , and defenders of the realm . in the mean time the earl of northumberland interposed with his advice , and perswaded the king to send for the lords under safe conduct , and friendly to expostulate with them ; to which the lords consented , upon oath given by the arch-bishop of canterbury , and the lord chancellour , that no fraud , or evil practice should be used against them : but being ready to come according to appointment , they received intimation of an ambush laid to intrap them , and so desisted . if the king was privy to this plot , he was guilty of an action most unworthy of a prince : but the conspirators were certainly known , yet not call'd to account for it . after this , upon a more secure conduct from the king , the lords presented themselves before him , and after some cholerick contest a reconciliation was made , and it was concluded that all matters should be heard and regulated in a parliament , speedily to be call'd . hereupon the favorite-lords were highly dissatisfy'd , and plainly told the king , they would not hazard their appearance at such a meeting ; and so the duke of ireland , and the rest of that faction withdrew from court , and absconded . but the king not able to brook their absence , ordered an army to be rais'd for the safeguard of the duke of ireland , and to reconduct him to his presence ; who being encounter'd on the way by the earl of derby , he fled and escaped by leaping into a river , but after two or three years dy'd miserably in a foreign country . and now the lords , having got matter enough against the king , at least to justifie their taking up armes , march'd directly to london with forty thousand men , and some of them going to the king in the tower , they shew'd him the very letter which he had writ to the duke of ireland , to levy an army for their destruction ; as also the letters writ to him by the french king , importing a safe conduct for him to come into france , there to do acts tending to his own dishonour , and the prejudice of the kingdom ; which being done , they civilly retreated , upon the kings promise to come next day to westminster , to concert all matters ; but the fickle king alter'd his mind , before he went to bed , and discover'd his purpose to avoid the meeting next day . the lords being advertis'd of this , sent a peremptory message to him , that if he did not come according to his promise , they would choose another king , that should hearken to the faithful counsel of his lords . the king sensibly touch'd with this sharp message , gave them a meeting , and they positively insisting that the traytors so often complain'd of , should be removed from the court , he at last with much reluctancy consented to their desires , and so the whole nest of vipers was dissipated , some expell'd the court , some bound by good sureties to appear and answer , and some committed to prison . when the parliament met , they proceeded roundly , the corrupt judges were arrested in their seats of judicature , and carried to the tower , for acting contrary to the agreement made in the preceding parliament ; the duke of ireland , and the rest of that crew , cited to appear and answer to certain articles of high treason , and for non-appearance banish'd , and their lands and goods seized to the kings use ; sir robert tresilian was hang'd , sir nicholas brember beheaded , several others executed , and the judges condemned to die , and the king obliged by oath to stand to such order as the lords should set down . some years after , upon a riot committed in london , the king seised on their liberties , and took away their charter , which could not be restored till they paid a fine of ten thousand pounds . i intend a compendious abstract , and not a compleat history ; therefore i studiously omit the recital of many transactions and occurrences coincident with this relation , as not having a direct and principal concernment in the estate and life of king richard. unstable fortune had the ascendent over all the affairs of the poor king , and the course of his reign was imbroiled with a strange vicissitude of prosperous and adverse accidents . the duke of gloucester , and other lords , entring into a combination to seise upon the king , the plot was detected , and their lives taken away for the assurance of his safety . a parliament was call'd , wholly conformable to the kings will , they that opposed him were banish'd , confiscated , and executed , and the whole power of it devolved on a certain select number of commissioners , to the great prejudice of the state , and a dangerous example to future times : a pardon was granted to all the subjects , except fifty , whose names not being expressed , he kept the nobility under an awe , that if any of them offended him , they might come under the notion of exempted persons ; and thus the king seem'd secure against all mischances . but an unforeseen accident , grounded on a very slight occasion , produced an extraordinàry revolution , by which the whole frame of government was unhinged , and that cloud which at first appear'd but of the bigness of a hand , soon overspread the sky , and dissolved in a tempestuous shower of blood. the duke of hereford was banish'd the kingdom for six years , and several persons of note and quality , either by voluntary withdrawing , or a compulsory exile , went beyond the seas . the duke within a short time was advertis'd that his father was dead ( and thereby he became duke of lancaster ) and that king richard had seised into his hands all the estate descended to him by his fathers death . and meeting often with the archbishop of canterbury , then in exile , and mutually lamenting the deplorable condition of england , the enormous actions of the king , and the impossibllity of ever reclaiming him ; they began to enter into consulation , by what means best to get him removed ; and in the very nick , solicitations came from several parts of england to urge the duke to hasten over , and to take the government upon him , promising all ready assistance to that work the duke presently grasp'd the opportunity , and without further deliberation prepared for his return , and with a very few lords and gentlemen , and about threescore persons presently put to sea , and landed in york-shire , which was no sooner known but several lords , and great numbers of the gentry and common sort , flockt into him . and tho he was invited to come and take the government upon him , yet he pretended no other cause , but to take possession of the inheritance , descended from his father , and most unjustly seized and detain'd by king richard. his forces increased dayly , and a mighty army was got together , and all the kings castles forthwith surrendred to him , many of the kings friends were arrested , and some put to death . all this while king richard was in ireland and for six weeks ( by reason of contrary winds ) had no notice of the dukes landing : after which time wasting many daies in a dilatory preparation , he landed in wales ; but hearing that all the castles from the borders of scotland , and bristol , were delivered up to the duke of lancaster , that the greatest part of the nobility and commons were joynd with him , and his principal counsellors taken and executed ; he fell into absolute despair , dismissed his army , bidding every one to shift for himself , and the next night stole away , and got to the castle of couwey . the duke proceeded on his march , and every day some lords and gentlemen of account came in to him , and having proferred conditions to the king with which he seem'd to be content he agreed to meet the duke , but upon his journy was seis'd by an ambush laid for him , and carried to flint-castle . thither the duke came , and carri'd the king with him by easie journeys , to london , and the next day lodged him in the tower. presently a parliament was called by the duke , but in the name of king richard , aad many heynous crimes laid to his charge , ingrost and sum'd up in three and thirty articles for which the parliament adjudg'd him to be deposed from all kingly honour , and princely government ; thereupon the king by a formal instrument made a solemn resignation of his crown and authority , making it his request that the duke of lancaster might be his successor , and in token thereof taking the signet from his finger and puting it upon that of the dukes : which being reported to the parliament , they approved of it and appointed the sentence of his deposition to be publickly proclamed . we have followed this most unfortunate prince to the last scene of his life ; but the manner of his death is so variously reported , that it is hard to pitch upon that author , on whose credit we may safely rely . it is most certain that he did not long survive his resignation , but being carried to leeds , and from thence to pomfret , soon after a period was put to his life , and miseryes together , in the three and thirtieth year of his age. if he did not imitate , his father ; yet he resembled his mother , and was the goodliest person alive . his disposition was good ; but corrupted by education , his inclinations prompted him to vertue , but were perverted by flatterrers , and evil counsellors . crafty men made advantage of his credulity ; and he was ruined by too strict a constancy . if he had not been deficient to himself ; his opposer had not so easily prevail'd , his timidity apeared in not fighting for his crown , his moderation in the surrendred of it , and his courage in surviving the loss . the life and reign of charles the second . iam now ingaged in a difficult task , divided between truth and respect , being to describe the life of a prince , who ( contrary to the custom of the world ) was better spoken of while he lived , than he has been since his death . his fame had suffer'd a great diminution by succeeding so admirable a father ; had it not recover'd by the prospect of such a brother , who was to be his successor . if in the lives of former kings any mistake was committed , the records and ancient writers must vouch the relation , and the present age cannot confute it : but to give an account of a life so lately ended , requires an exactness beyond my reach , wherein the least trip overthrows the credit of the reporter . to enumerate the vertues of a prince , without taking notice of his failings , is but to flatter his memory , and deceive posterity ; to reckon up his vices , without intermingling the mention of his laudable actions , is but so sully his fame , and deduce no benefit to the curiosity of observers . i resolve to tread lightly on his grave , and not press too hard upon the heels of truth . i may pursue my topic , in recounting the instances which justly denominate him unfortunate , and note the errors of his government , without reflection on his person . that he was of extraordinary parts , that he had a quick mercurial wit , a great insight into the liberal sciences , and even the mechanical arts no man will deny : he had a piercing , if not a solid judgment , his intellect was comprehensive , if not profound . his lenity and clemency were very conspicuous , and recommended him to the love , and praise of the spectators ; yet it so fell out , that such egregious acts of severity and injustice were exercised upon all sorts of men , as will puzzle posterity to comprehend the meaning . in his time no man had the reason to set a value on himself for any promotion , nor no man had cause to despair of a preferment : the cards were daily shuffled , and unexpected chance turn'd up the trump . upon all occasions he profest a great zeal for the protestant religion , yet every day that profession lost ground . popery was not allow'd yet it hover'd among us : the frogs did not cover the land , yet the jesuitical vermin swarm'd in every corner : tho' the papists were not shelter'd by a legal indemnity , yet they grew numerous and confident upon the expectation of an approaching jublie . his brother and successour had a mighty ascendent over his genius , catching at all opportunities to gratifie his ambition , and propagate the faith ; while the other indulged himself in pleasure , and avoided the fatigue of government . there are so many living monuments of his incontinency , that if i forbear to mention it , i shall render the truth and impartiality of my other remarks suspected . it is usual with kings and princes to prosecute prohibited amours , but so great was his generosity , that he thought it a disparagment to manage a secret intrigue . his liberality was so extraordinary , that he spared not to give a thousand years purchase for a moments fruition . he lost the love of his friends , by too fond a love of his brother ; and by too stiff a refusal to consent to his exclusion , he endanger'd the interest of his family , and gave a shock to monarchy it self . the first and greatest misfortune that befell charles the second was , the cruel and ignominious death of his father , that incomparable charles the first , sentenced to die , and publickly executed before his own palace , by a jancto of flagitious men , garbled out of a parliament by the usurper . from his fathers martyrdom to his own restauration , was one continued scene of misery , and sorrow . in the year 1648 charles the first was deprived of life by his evil subjests , his friends looking on , and not able to prevent it : in the year 1660. charles the second was brought to the throne by his good subjects , his enemies looking on , and not able to hinder it : the one an inhumane action , and unparallel'd ; the other wholly surprising , and miraculous : in the one no blood shed , but that of the king himself ; in the other not one drop of blood drawn , even of the meanest subject . charles the second was then beyond the seas , and succeeded immediately to the right of three kingdoms , but did not actually possess them for many years . and now behold a king truly unfortunate ! his father barbarously destroy'd , and he in no capacity to call to account the bloody actors of that tragedy ; three potent kingdoms usurped by violence , and by force detain'd from him , and he not able to put in a claim for his right , or contend for the recovery : his enemies insulting in their success , abjuring his title , and metamorphosing a glorious monarchy into an anarchical commonwealth : his friends harassed , imprison'd , plunder'd , sequestred , executed , no man daring to own his allegiance , or capable to contribute advice or aid toward his restoration : himself a deserted exile , wandring from one princes court to another to seek for shelter and subsistence ; while the subtle machinations of the usurpers did not more sensibly aggravate , and advance his unhappiness , than the improsperous attempts of his loyal subjects to compass his restitution . in scotland the heroick acts of the most renown'd marquis of montross , ( who with an inconsiderable handful of men traversed the kingdom , and performed such exploits , as may justly denominate his history the moral of a romance ) only ended in his destruction , while he became a sacrifice to his enemies implacable malice , and a glorious martyr for loyalty , but with an irreparable detriment to his masters cause . in ireland the most noble duke ( then marquis ) of ormond was so successful in his undertakings , that he had reduced the whole kingdom to the obedience of the king , except dublin , and london-derry , to the first of which having laid a close siege , and beleagured it with a royal camp , he was disarry'd by a fatal sally from the town , his army totally routed , and himself obliged to a hasty and hazardous escape ; which disaster was follow'd by the rendition of drogheda , and many other considerable towns , and after a faint resistance the whole kingdom was subjected to the triumphant conqueror , and the interest of the king wholly exterminated . england was so manacled with the chains of an armed power , that they could not budge ; the royal party , than call'd the cavaliers , were debar'd the liberty of meeting at home , or stirring abroad , their persons were disarm'd , their houses ransackt , and their estates brought into the unmerciful inquisition at goldsmiths hall ; in some corners of the land small parties started up now and then to exert their loyalty , and manifest their allegiance , and the king was received into the island of jersey , but by a fleet sent thither by the usurping power , soon compell'd to forsake it ; so that these weak struglings like the last efforts of nature , tended only to diminish the number of the kings friends , and to heighten his infelicity . in the year 1650 , the king was invited into scotland , landed there safely , received with all the demonstrations of joy and satisfaction , and solemnly proclaimed king. but to disturb his tranquillity , and interrupt the calm fruition of his new acquired soveraignty , cromwell ( that victorious rebel , who in the space of one year had reduced almost all the garrisons in ireland , and caesar-like made a compleat conquest of that kingdom only by walking through it ) is dispatcht into scotland , who in july entred that country with an army of sixteen thousand men effective ; the scots were not idle on their side , but form'd an army consisting of six thousand horse and dragoons , and fifteen thousand foot , a party of whom attempting to beat up the enemies quarters about musleburgh , surprised the out guards , and routed the first regiment that opposed them , but were so warmly received by the rest , that the commander being wounded , the whole party was disorder'd , and pursu'd to the army , and the whole camp in danger of a surprisal , had not the king himself unexpectedly appear'd in person , and stemm'd the torrent . but in september following hapned a fatal decision of the dispute at dunbar , where the scots army reinforced to above twenty thousand men , and presuming on a certain victory ( having inclosed their enemies beyond a probability of an escape ) encountred the english army , then decreased to the number of twelve thousand , and with much courage and gallantry charged them ; but the hand of god was in it , their whole army was routed , four thousand slain , and nine thousand taken prisoners , with the loss of three hundred on the invaders side : after which the kings interest in scotland declined daily , the enemy getting advantage by the dissention between the court and the kirk-party , and cromwel by springing of mines ( but more by corrupting the governour with money ) had edinburgh-castle surrendred to him , the taking of which was follow'd with the loss of many more garrisons . nevertheless the scots were neither daunted in their courage , nor deficient in their allegiance , but proceeded to the coronation of the king , and he to the calling of a parliament , and having got together a good body of an army , it was thought best that the king should give cromwell the slip , and make a sudden descent into england , leaving him to take his swing and range through scotland ; to make this enterprise the more hopeful , the earl of darby and many other loyal persons began to peep out of their recesses , and to use all expedition to joyn ; but a malignant constellation still influenced k. charles his affairs , some of his abettors were intercepted , some routed , and the earl of darby , discomfited , and many persons of quality and resolution taken prisoners . at last came on the dismal ingagement at worster , that critical arbiter of the kings cause , from whence we may date the depression of the monarchy , the exaltation of anarchy , and confusion of governments . i take no pleasure in descanting too long on so unpleasant a theme ; in a word the king was defeted , his whole army given up to death , or captivity , except a very few , with whom he made his escape , and after some weeks spent in lurking , disguising , shifting , and un-easy travelling , he arrived safe in france . the king was now actually devested of his three kingdoms , his enemies victorious , in possession of his right , and usurping the regal authority , under the disguise of other appellations : & how soever the grand apostates from loyalty dayly crumbled into factions , and divisions , and the supream authority frequently changed its dress , and put on a new face ; yet all concur'd in the detestation of king-ship , and an abjuring the family of stuart . to recount the transactions of the junto at london , or the exploits of their legions , through all the dominions subjected to the common wealth of england , might prove a tollerable entertainment for the reader , but i have no inclination to admire their policy , or cry up the fame of the protector : my business is to observe the disastrous fate of an exil'd king , and ( there being yet no exact memoirs transmitted to us of his forrein adventures ) to sum up his misfortune in a nine years banishment , by noting how miserably he was abandond ' , thurst and kept out from the possession of england , scotland , and ireland , and all the dominions and territories belonging to them , a pensioner to strangers , and all designs of his friends at home , or his allies abroad frustrated , and baffled . but when the almighty governor of the world had so long scourged the royal family , as to his wisdom seem'd sufficient , and all the practices of human strength and invention were rendred ineffectual ; in a sudden and unexpected manner ; without means , without contrivance , without the success of a battle , or the operation of any stratagem ; the repulican babel was over turned , the king restored , and peaceably seated in the throne of his ancestors . from his restoration he reign'd more than twenty four years , and i wish i could say happily . but not being blest with a legitimate issue , he was continually teas'd with the incroachments of an impatient heir : having misapplied his revenues ( which were vastly increased beyond all that was given to his predecessors he was by his necessities induced frequently to call parliaments , and by his evil councils as often prompted to dissolve them : his gentle disposition inclined him to an universal indulgence ; but the malevolent insinuations of self-interested men misled him to a connivence at extraordinary severities : the papists hated him for avowing so much favor to the church of england ; and dissenters blamed him for a suspected propension to the church of rome : his constitution was happy ; but by his irregular courses he rais'd batteries against his own health , and he might have lived longer , if he had not lived so fast . the indowments of his mind were admirable ; but his immersion in pleasures over-shadow'd his reputation : the prolonging of his life had given an adjournment to the mischeifs that quickly assaulted both church , and state ; but one sort of men thought he lived too long : whether any hand , but his own , contributed to the accelarating of his death , i have no warrant to make any asseveration ; let the future writers of history adjust that matter to the clear information of posterity . all i have to say , is the news of his death was published , before there was any report of his sickness : he died of an apoplexy the sixth of february 1684 , and the whole body ( whereof he was the head ) was presently seised with convulsive motions . the reign of james the second . the reign of james the second was so lately begun , and ( by the mercy of god ) so soon determin'd , that every mans remembrance of it may justly supersede the trouble of a repetition . there needs no art , nor arguments to convince the world , that he was more unfortunate than all his predecessors ; and every impartial observer will allow , that he was the principal engineer , that sapped the foundations of his own happiness . if he had arrived at the throne by an indirect road : if he had gain'd it by conquest , and ow'd his title to the umpirage of the sword : if he had come in by intrusion , invasion , or usurpation ; by craft , or violence ; by force of arms , or the prevalency of pensions : if he had justled out the true heir , or supplanted the lawful pretender , or out-stript his competitor by the aid of the people , or over-topt his opposers by the assistance of foreigners : it had been no wonder , that the crown had totter'd on his head , that his seat had been uneasie , and his government short lived . but when his title was not disputed ; when he was saluted king by an universal acclamation ; welcom'd by the addresses and congratulations of all his subjects ; his revenues settled and augmented ; his enemies subdued , and his throne establish'd by a loyal parliament , and a submissive people ; his ruin must necessarily be imputed to himself ; and all his misfortunes undeniably accounted the result of his own miscarriage . so that while the histories of all ages and nations do abound with examples of the strange , cruel , false , and unnatural methods used by ambitious men to gain principalities , king james must remain single upon record ; as the only person that willfully and industriously dethron'd himself . we read of aspiring men , who have dissembled , changed , and comply'd with the fashionable religion of the country , to insure their possession : but it is without president , that a prince quietly settled in his throne ; courted by his neighbours , obey'd by his subjects without reserve , or distrust ; not grudged , nor affronted in the private exercises of his own perswasion ; should be so intoxicated by the fumes of zeal , to attempt the subversion of the general religion current thro three kingdoms , establish'd by parliament , and incorporated so into the laws , that the religion of the nation is the law of the nation ; and to obtrude upon his subjects a way of worship as dissonant from their humour , as repugnant to their conscience ; a way exploded by the former age , and detested by this ; and so forseit his right to the imperial crown of three opulent kingdoms upon a fallacious assurance of a reprisal in heaven ; is such a stupendious act of supererogation , as may serve to supply half the roman catholick church with a superfluity of merit . on the sixth day of february 1684 charles the second put off mortality , and by his death revived the languishing hopes of the popish expectants . he departed about noon , and in that very afternoon james the second was proclaim'd in london and westminster , by order of the council : to convince the world , that howsoever the parliament labour'd to exclude him from succession by political ordinances , and by a course of law ; yet , that design not being accomplish'd , they would not so much as hesitate , or demur upon the right of his inheritance . he on the other side saluted them graciously , promised to imitate his brother in his tenderness to the people , celebrated the loyal principles of the church of england , and past his royal word to take care to defend , and support it . the collection of the customs , and the duties of tunnage and poundage ( which were annexed to the crown during the kings life ) were continued de bene esse , till the meeting of a parliament : all men were quiet , and contented , and he was congratulated with addresses from all parts of england , testifying a ready obedience to his commands , and devoting their lives and fortunes to the defence of his person , and the maintenance of his prerogative : his accession to the crown was solemnised with great acclamations of joy thro' the kingdoms of england , scotland , and ireland : ambasladours from foreign princes , and states arrived daily , presenting their complements of condolence for the deceased king ; and their satisfaction in his assumption of the regal power : on the twenty third of april , the king and queen were both crown'd , and at his coronation he took the accustom'd oaths to maintain the laws , and the establish'd religion : no king ever ascended the throne with less opposition , disputes , or preluminary cautions ; none was ever attended with more apparent circumstances of felicity ; or had a fairer prospect of becoming glorious at home , and formidable abroad . the parliament of scotland having prevented him in his wishes , and out done all their predecessours in a redundancy of zeal and loyalty : a parliament met also at westminster , to whom the king reiterated his assurance of supporting the church of england ; preserving the government in church and state , as by law establish'd , and a resolution never to invade any mans property . in this very juncture , when the king had so endear'd himself to the parliament by such gracious expressions , and they reciprocally courted him with all dutiful respect , the unfortunate earl of argyle ( whose persecution was unparellel'd , attainted for treason , before the law that made it so was promulgated ; and condemn'd only for scrupling to take the test , which in a short time after , it was a capital offence to subscribe ) landed in the highlands of scotland , and set forth a declaration to justifie his undertaking , and to renounce all allegiance to the present king ; who immediately communicated the intelligence he had received to the parliament , and both houses without delay express'd their resentment in raputres of love and zeal , with protestations to stand by him with their lives and fortunes against all opposers , and particularly the earl of argyle ; and to demonstrate , that it was no complement , they presented him with a bill , for settling the revenues on him for life , and resolved on an extraordinary supply for these incident occasions . while these matters were transacting . news came to the king that the duke of monmouth was landed in the west of england ( an unseasonable landing for that unhappy gentleman ! when the parliament was charm'd with the good words , and amused by the great and gracious promises of the king ) with a small party , but every day increasing ; who presently were proclaim'd traytors , and the king imparting the news to both houses , they forthwith in a transport of loyalty reassure him that they will stand by him with their lives and fortunes against the duke of monmouth , and all other his enemies , and with an unusual expedition they past two acts to augment his revenue , by a new imposition on wine , vineger , tobacco , and sugar ; and to secure his person , an act of attainder of the duke of monmouth . it was morally impossible for such inconsiderable parties to effect their purposes : the parliaments in both kingdoms were unanimous , almost all people relyed on the king's word , not doubting but he would continue a defender of the faith , tho he was not a professor . and so the event proved , for within a few days or weeks at most , the whole enterprise came to nothing , the forces in each kingdom were routed and dispersed , the duke and earl both taken prisoners , and both executed on the scaffold . violent hurricanes tear trees out of the ground ; but the shaking of small winds make the tree take deeper root ; the quenching of an intestine rebellion alway sets the prince some steps higher , and depresseth the subject as much . the parliament had now sat long enough to do the kings business , and the king had business to do not fit to be intrusted to the parliament ; whereupon it was adjourn'd to the fourth of august , and from thence to the ninth of november . at which time being reassembled , the king made the first discovery of his claim to a dispensing power , telling them plainly , that he will not want the services of such men whom he accounted faithful , but would imploy them in the army , tho they were not qualified according to the late tests : the parliament modestly and civilly expostulated this unexpected resolution in an humble address , and proposed an expedient to moderate the extremity of the law , purely to gratifie the desires of their prince ; but this did not sound well in the ears of the court , some other measures must be taken , and so the parliament was prorogued to the tenth of february , and here we may bid them adieu , having after several prorogations been dissolved , as a company of inflexible stubborn protestants , who would not tamely comply with the king 's arbitrary pleasure . several noblemen , and other persons were now indicted and try'd for their lives , some escaped by the merit of their ingenuous defence , some were respited from execution , and some suffer'd death . the earl of clarendon was sent lord lieutenant into ireland , that the protestants might be cajol'd into a lavish credulity , till matters were ripe for their destruction . an army of twenty thousand men was rais'd , and encamped at hounslow-heath , because the militia was not found to be useful ; and the late invasions of monmouth and argyle were a sufficient warning to the king not to be taken again unprovided . but the erecting of a popish chappel in the midst of the camp , and the open and daily celebration of the mass there , ( together with the setting up convents of friers , and schools , and seminaries of jesuits in several places in london , the unclean beasts crossing the streets , and entring their arkby couples ) began to startle the people ; and the dispatch of the earl of castlemain to rome as an embassador to the pope , and the entertaining a nuncio from him , gave a mighty umbrage of offence to all considering men . that strict injunction by law for every man that exercised any office , to take the oaths and test , was a great barricado against the preferment of catholick candidates ; the judges must be consulted ( or rather directed ) how to apply some remedy , and they to their eternal shame , made false glosses on the text , betray'd the law , the impregnable fortress of english property , and skrew'd up the rules of a circumscribed monarchy to an absolute and despotick government , to command without controul ; and to he obey'd without reserve . but the putting a muzzle upon the old laws to keep them from biting , was not enough to carry on the work , without introducing some innovations ; wherefore a commission was given to certain persons to order all ecclesiastical affairs , with an authority and extent almost unlimited , and a non-obstante to all rights and priviledges . the first essay made by this exorbitant court , was on the bishop of london ( a person noble by birth , and high in office , reverenced , and beloved by all men for his candor , moderation , and many eminent vertues ) whom for a frivolous matter , without colour of law or reason , they suspended from his episcopal function . it was now high time to recall the earl of clarendon from the government of ireland , that the sword might be put into the hands of the earl of tyrconnel . to enumerate the mischiefs that have accrew'd to the protestants by his administration , would require a treatise by it self ; let it suffice to say , that in that miserable kingdom popery was predominant , and bare faced mass-houses set up in every town and village , the corporations changed , their charters condemned , all offices civil and military conferr'd on papists , the act of settlement ( which the king had so seriously promised to keep inviolated ) infringed , and eluded , and gentlemen dispossessed of their estates by erroneous judgments , the protestants disarm'd and dismounted , such as were able to remove forced to fly ; and such as stay'd behind subjected to all the insolencies and barbarities of slaves vested with authority . to scotland strict and severe orders were sent to restrain all field-conventicles , and in england the dissenters were indicted , fined , and imprison'd . and yet within a short time after , a general indulgence was publish'd to all perswasions , with a counterfeit saving to the rights of the church of england ; the king being made to believe , that since he was secure from any opposition from the church of england ( they lying quietly intrenched under the blinds of non-resistance , and passive obedience ) if he could but cast a mist before the eyes of the dissenters , and muffle their hands , and charm them into a supine security ; the desired reformation might proceed gradually without interruption , and after a while the doors might be open'd , and popery let in with a full breast . but they were grosly mistaken in their politicks : the illegal proceedings against the bishop of london , seconded by the arbitrary and most unjust persecution of the vice-chancellor of cambridge , and the ejection of the president and fellows of magdalen colledg in oxford , and the intrusion of profest papists in their rooms , open'd the eyes of all sorts , and quickly taught the dissenters what they were to expect ( whose toleration was temporary and precarious ) when such open invasions were made on that church that was firmly establish'd by law. but unless the jesuits and popish counsellors had been self murderers , and conspired to overthrow their own designs , by their imprudent and precipitate actings , they had never abused the poor king by such pernicious advice , to attack the church of england in the persons of the bishops , who were the reverend fathers of it ; to lay such a snare before wise and religious men , as must endanger their safety , or prejudice their conscience ; and because they presented an humble apology by way of petition ( a priviledg allow'd to all men by the laws of god and nature ) imploring to be excused from being made instruments to countenance and publish the monstrous assertion of an absolute and dispensing power ; they were committed to the tower , indicted of misdemeanor , compell'd to plead , try'd by a jury , and fairly acquitted upon their trial , to the shame and confusion of their prosecutors ; and to the unexpressible joy and satisfaction of the whole nation . the king hoping to establish that by a law which he could not bring to pass by his will and power , propos'd the calling of a parliament ; whom that he might form to the standard set out by the popish cabal , he condescended to such mean shifts , and such indirect practices , by forestalling mens judgments , and preingaging them against the liberty , and indifferency of their votes , and turning men out of their imployments , who would not abjure the natural freedom of their reason , that in mere decency and respect , i forbear to inlarge upon it . neither will i any more than make mention of the intrigue about the birth of the prince of wales : great pains have been taken to offer convincing proofs to the world of the legitimacy of that child ; whereas there is nothing so hard to be proved , as a business of that nature : and the suspition of an imposture has made such an impression on common belief , that an act of parliament in favour of the birth would hardly reconcile the people to a submission . the bloody executions in the west of england , upon the unhappy abettors of the duke of monmouth , exasperated multitudes of people into discontent , and mutiny : but when it was reported , that the king had given the lives of so many wretched men by whole sale to his servitors to be retail'd by them for lucre and profit ; the whole nation was affected with that unexampled barbarity , and became seasoned with a secret aversion to his government . the furious drivers of the jesuitical plots began too late to be sensible of their mistaken policy : they had stretached the prerogative so high that is began to crack ; they had by their damnable counsel hurried the unfortunate king to the brink of ruin : the skie began to thicken with clouds , and thunder was heard a far off . wherefore they began with all hast to tack about to unravel that work which with so many hands and such indefatigable industry they had been knitting . suddenly and unexpectedly a proclamation issued to summon a parliament with exclusion of the roman catholicks ; soon after the charter of london , and all other corporations was restored : the suspension of the bishop of london taken off : the vice-chancellor and others of cambridg , and the president and fellows of magdalen-colledge in oxford reinstated in their places ; the monstrous commission for ecclesiastical affairs dissolved ; a proclamation set out carrying the face of a general pardon ; but squinting at and indemnity to papists . all men were fill'd with wonder at such a hudled and surprising alteration ; that the great ministers of state should so poorly truckle to the satisfaction of the people ; that the king should send for the bishops and court them , from whom a little before he would not endure the address of an humble petition . but the riddle was soon unfolded , and the wonder was turned into an exultation of joy at the miraculous revolution of affairs . the lords spiritual and temporal and the prime gentry of england , sadly resenting the invasion on their religion , liberties , and properties observing the arbitary and despotical proceedings in scotland , beholding ireland wholly given up to popery , and slavery , and their own ancient laws and establish'd religion subverted by him , who had so often and so solemnly promised the maintenance and protection of them ; they began to consult of some proper and effectual means to divert the impending mischiefs , and to assure the restitution of their ravish'd freedom . to this end they made application to the most illustrious prince of orange , the champion and protector of the protestant religion , imploring his aid to rescue them from oppression and slavery , and to save their liberties now expiring and at the last gap. he with a bravery and generosity , not to be matched in any history descended to their relief , and ( postponing all his own interests and advantages ) with the hazard of his person , and the consumption of a vast treasure , landed in england , not with a mighty army , least it should look like an invasion ; neither with too small a party least he should seem pusht on by a necessity , or ingaged in a desperate undertaking . the king had a great army on foot , which was quickly increased by a considerable addition . and with appearance of great resolution , and confidence of success , he marcht from london : but he soon found by a fatal experience , that the hands of his subjects were directed by their hearts , in which having forfeited his possession , he was to expect no service or assistance from them . on the contrary the lords and gentlemen , from all parts of the kingdom flock'd in with their arms and horses to joyn their deliverer , and many trops and regiments of the kings army deserted him , not enduring to be mingled among papists , or be obliged to fight against protestants . the king in this perplexity was wholly irresolute what course to take ; at last he posted to london , where missing his popish favorites ( whom fear of punishment , and the terror of an evil conscience had utterly dissipated ) he did not think it fit to trust his best and truest subjects , but secretly withdrew himself in a disguise , and being by a strange accident discoverd , he was reconducted to london ; from whence , at his own desire , he was attended to rochester : but not being able to live without the ministration of priests , and jesuits , he slipt away to the sea side , and saild for france , voluntarily , and without constraint abdicating the government , leaving the throne vacant , and the body of his people , without a head . here ended the reign of james the second , too violent to last long . a prince who ( when he was a subject ) had the reputation of being a valiant leader , afirm friend , and an immovable observer of his word and promise : but the assumption of a crown , the flatteries of a bigoted queen , the desperate counsels of a popish and atheistical cabal , with a blind perswasion of meriting heaven , by the adventure of all he had upon earth , hath exposed him to censure , and represented him under a contrary character . perhaps he is absolved from the guilt of his personal vices by his confessor , and he shall be acquitted of the remembrance of them by me , i have so great a reverence for those of his nearest blood , that i shall not by the blots of my pen imprint a stain on his memory , or diffuse the tincture on his posterity . the conclusion . thus you have a breif epitome of the unfortunate reigns of six of the english monarchs . of which the first broke his neck ; the next broke his heart ; and every one of them broke his vows to god , and his promises to his subjects . the first of them came to an untimely end ; the second died with trouble of mind ; the two next were deposed from government , and violently put to death . the next died suddenly , to say no more of it ; and the last dethroned himself , lives miserably , and in all human probability will not die happliy . one of them was struck to the heart by an arrow ; another by greif ; two perish'd by the hands of cruel men ; the next died of an apoplexy ; i guess the fate of the last , but i will not take upon me to prophesie . i wish , all those who desire to be call'd protestants , would understand their own happiness ( and joyfully and thankfully acknowledg it ) to live under a protestant king , and a protestant queen ( a blessing rare in these kingdoms , and not known for many years past ) god grant them a long and prosperous reign , attended with all the instances of glory and felicity ; that under their auspicious influence true religion may flourish , and detestable popery may for ever be banish'd out of their dominions . finis books lately printed for ric. chiswell . the case of allegiance in our present circumstances considered , in a letter from a minister in the city , to a minister in the country . a breviate of the state of scotland in its government , supream courts , officers of state , inferiour officers . offices and inferiour courts districts , jurisdictions , burroughs royal , and free corporations . fol. some considerations touching succession and allegiance . a discourse concerning the worship of images ; preached before the university of oxford : by george tully sub-dean of york , for which he was suspended . reflexions upon the late great revolution : written by a lay-hand in the country , for the satisfaction of some neighbours . the history of the dissertion ; or an account of all the publick affairs in england , from the beginning of september 1688. to the twelfth of february following . with an answer to a piece call'd , the dissertion discussed , in a letter to a country gentleman : by a person of quality . k. william and k. lewis , wherein is set forth the inevitable necessity these nations lie under of submitting wholly to one or other of these kings ; and that the matter in controversie is not now between k. william and k. james , but between k. william and k. lewis of france , for the government of these nations . an examination of the scruples of those who refuse to take the oath of allegiance , by a divine of the church of england . a dialogue betwixt two friends , a jacobite and a williamite ; occasion'd by the sate revolution of affairs , and the oath of allegiance . an account of the reasons which induced charles the second , king of england , to declare war against the states-general of the united provinces in 1672. and of the private league which he entred into at the same time with the french king to carry it on , and to establish popery in england , scotland , and ireland , as they are set down in the history of the dutch war ; printed in french at paris , with the priviledge of the french king , 1682. which book he caused to be immediately suppress'd at the instance of the english ambassador . fol. an account of the private league betwixt the late king james the second , and the french king. fol. the case of the oaths stated . 4to . the answer of a protestant gentleman in ireland to a late popish letter of n. n upon a discourse between them , concerning the present posture of that country , and the part fit for those concern'd there to act in it . 4to an apology for the protestants of ireland , in a brief narative of the late revolutions in that kingdom ; and an account of the present state thereof : by a gentlemen of quality ●to . a letter from a french lawyer to an english gentleman , upon the present revolution . 4to scriptorum ecclesiasticorum historia literaria a christo nato usque ad saeculum xiv . facili ethodo digesta . qua de vita illorum ac rebus gestis , de secta , dogmatibus , elogio , stylo ; de scriptis genuinis , dubiis , supposititiis , ineditis , deperditis , fragmentis ; deque variis operum editionibus perspicue agitur . accedunt scriptores gentiles , christianae religionis oppugnatores & cujusvis saeculi breviarium . i 〈…〉 untur suis locis veterum aliquot opuscula & ●ragmenta , tum graeca , tum latina hactenus inedita . praemissa denique prolegomena , quibus 〈…〉 ma ad antiquitatis ecclesiasticae studium spe 〈…〉 ia traduntur . opus indicibus necessariis ●uctum . autore gvilielmo cave , ss . theol. profes . canonico windesoriensi . accedit ab alia manu appendix ab ineunte saeculo xiv . ad annum usque mdxvii . fol. 1689. animadversions upon the modern explanation of ii hen. 7. cap. i, or, a king de facto collier, jeremy, 1650-1726. 1689 approx. 34 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a33897 wing c5241 estc r6488 12905802 ocm 12905802 95315 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a33897) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 95315) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 977:21) animadversions upon the modern explanation of ii hen. 7. cap. i, or, a king de facto collier, jeremy, 1650-1726. 8 p. s.n., [london : 1689] reproduction of original in cambridge university library. attributed to jeremy collier. cf. nuc pre-1956. caption title. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers. 2003-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-07 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2003-07 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-08 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion animadversions upon the modern explanation of 11 hen. 7. cap. 1. or , a king de facto . though our gentlemen of the revolution seem well satisfied with their new allegiance , yet the reasons ( if not the degrees ) of their compliance are very different . 't is true , there are some few furnished with that variety of demonstration as to be able to make out the justice of the late proceedings from no less than four infallible topicks , abdication , forfeiture , &c. but men of this compass of thought are not commonly met with . the more moderate undertakers are content to maintain a single post , and think themselves well if the cause will afford them one good reason for what they do . now in this their vindication they are no less divided from themselves than from their neighbours of the old government . some men affirm , that the crown was lapsed to the people , and that their representatives have given it to the prince of orange , by way of gratitude . others thinking their consciences not safe in this bottom , tell us , that they are either conquered or undone ; and seem uneasy , because they don't argue in chains . in earnest , our circumstances must needs be hard , when our best friends , who were so nicely apprehensive of the least incroachment , desert us at this surprising rate . who would have thought that these keepers of the liberties of england , who declaim'd so heartily against arbitrary power , and gave god solemn thanks for their deliverance , should reverse their devotions thus soon , plead against magna charta , and set all their wits on work to make us as great slaves as those in turkey ? for that this glorious condition is the consequence of conquest , is a truth so obvious to collect , that a very little reasoning will make it undeniable . and as if disputing and printing against the freedom of their country were not enough ; to make all sure , they are pleased to ratify their slavery with an oath . that they do no less is apparent ; for those that swear to the new establishment , upon the principle of conquest , swear that the laws of the old constitution are no longer in force . and that the present possessors may turn them out of their freeholds , and sell them to the west indies without any legal injustice . for when a people are conquered their lives and fortunes lye at the mercy of the conquerour . this title makes his sovereignty absolute , and his will a law. but i shall take leave of these submissive gentlemen , and proceed to consider the arguments for a king de facto . now it is asserted by some of the long robe , that possession of the throne , abstracted from any other title , is sufficient to challenge a full obedience from the subject ; and that the right of a lawful prince expires upon his dispossession : this opinion is founded upon sir ed. coke's authority , who in his institutes part 3. ch. high treason , maintains , that the word roi , mentioned 25 ed. 3. is to be understood of a king in possession ( though unjustly ) of the crown and kingdom . the grounds of this conclusion are taken from 11 h 7. c. 1. now supposing this act did resolve all right into force , and was as extraordinary as some people would make it , yet it could secure no more than thē dominion of england to the present possessors . for first , it cannot reach scotland because it is an independent kingdom ; and it has lately declared in parliament ( when duke lauderdale was high commissioner ) that the prosperity of that nation has been chiefly owing , next under god , to the absolute power , and uninterrupted succession of their kings . so that it is plain , a king de facto has nothing to do there ; neither has he any better colour of pretence to the government of ireland . first , for the reason above-mentioned , viz. because ireland is a separate and distinct dominion from england , as sir ed. coke undeniably proves , calvin's case , p. 22 , 23. secondly , if it be objected , that the irish obliged themselves by poyning's act to be governed by the laws of england . to this i answer , that the irish bound themselves only to receive those laws which were then made , not such as should be made , for the future ; and therefore that kingdom is unconcerned with 11 h. 7. in regard it was enacted a year after the statute of poynings . besides in that island , the king de iure , and de facto , is the same person . to return therefore to england , i observe first , that sir ed. coke , in his notion of the prerogatives of a king de facto , contradicts himself : for , in calvin's case , he tell us , that allegiance and faith are due to a king by the law of nature . he must mean a rightful king ; for the law of nature doth not incourage injustice and usurpation . secondly , he affirms , that the law of nature is part of the law of england , and cites bracton , fortescue , &c. for this point . and thirdly , that the law of nature is immutable , calvin's case , p. 12. from hence i infer , that if allegiance is due to a rightful king , by the law of nature ; if this law is incorporated into our english constitution , and of an immutable obligation , then it necessarily follows , that as long as we have a king de iure , we must be de iure his subjects : so that by sir ed. coke's argument , it must be unlawful to assign over our obedience to a prince de facto , who hath nothing but meer power to prove his authority . farther he tells us , that rex de facto & non de iure , is seignieur le roi , within the purvieu of the statutes , sc. 25 ed. 3. which he pretends to prove from 11 h. 7. c. 1. which being the first authority he cites in confirmation of his opinion , he owns by consequence , that before the making this statute , a king de facto was not within the purvieu of 25 ed. 3. and therefore , upon his own grounds , the king for the time being , mentioned 11 h. 7. c. 1. must be a king de iure , at least one that was presumed such ; because at that time the constitution knew no other : for that possession was not a sufficient title before 11 h. 7. will evidently appear from these following remarks . first , because we don't find so much as the name of a king de facto in our statutes till ▪ 1 ed. 4. c. 1. where all the lancastrian line are declared kings ▪ de facto , but not de iure ; in deed , but not in right ; pretensed ( or pretended ) kings . 1 ed. 4. c. 1. secondly , henry the sixth is said to be rightfully amoved from the government : and his reign affirmed to be intrusion and usurpation ; and himself attainted for being in arms against edward the fourth . cotton's abridg. fol. 670 , 671. baggot's case , 9 ed. 4. thirdly , all patents of honour , charters and priviledges , which were granted by the house of lancaster ; all acts of royal authority , which the kings of england have a right to execute by vertue of their sole prerogative ; ( nay acts of parliament themselves , particularly those relating to shrewsbury , and some others , which by parity of reason supposes the rest in the same condition ; ) all acts of this nature were confirmed by the first of edw. the fourth , which is a good argument that this parliament believed the authority by which they were performed to be defective and illegal : for we never find any such general confirmations as these pass upon the grants of kings de iure . fourthly , in the first year of hen. 7. ric. 3. was attainted of high treason in parliament , under the name of duke of glocester ; ( lord bacon , vit . h. 7. p. 1004. ) from whence its plain , that as there was no statute , so neither was there any common law to support the title of a king de facto ; for treason is an attempt against the king's person , his crown and dignity , but no man can commit treason against himself : therefore if ric. 3. had been a king in the sense of the law , we may be sure he would not have had such an infamous censure past upon him after his death . bradshaw , and his high court of justice , were the first that were so hardy as to pronounce a king of england guilty of treason . fifthly , if this notion of a king de facto had been allowed in the 1 h. 7. the principal assistants of ric. 3. would not have been attainted , ( lord bacon ibid. ) for richard being actually in the seat of the government , he was , according to our modern way of arguing , rightful king ; and consequently the people ought to own him as such , and defend him against all opposers : and if so , certainly they ought not to be condemned as traytors for doing their duty , as we find many of those were who fought for king richard. sixthly ; at the end of this parliament hen. 7. granted a general pardon to the common people , who had appeared against him in the behalf of ric. 3. now pardon supposes a fault , and the breach of a law ; which they could not have been charged with , if the plea of a king de facto had been warranted by the constitution . the consideration of these things is sufficient to confute that new notion , which is advanced in a late book ( the unreasonableness of a separation , &c. p. 30. ) viz. that a king de facto is in the sense of our law no usurper . the instances of proof are made in the three successive henrys . thus this author : but we see unrepealed and unexceptionable acts of parliament say the contrary . for , not to sum up the whole evidence , are not these lancastrian princes called pretensed kings , kings in deed but not in right ? now what are pretended kings , who have no right , but are rightfully amoved from the government , what are such kings but usurpers ? if the detaining and exercising that power or property , which by evident declarations of law belongs to another , be not usurpation ; then no man can be an usurper , but all titles are alike , and there is no such thing as right and wrong . but possibly this author thinks the crown to be ferae naturae , and that its every ones that can catch it . if so , the parliament 1 ed 4. was not of his opinion . for they condemn the proceedings of henry earl of darby ( as they call hen. 4. ) in very sharp expressions ; they affirm the reign of hen. 6. to be intrusion and usurpation . they are very positive , that he who is an intruder at first , must ( provided the right owners are known ) be an usurper ever after ; and that the continuation of an injury cannot alter the nature of it , except it be to heighten the crime . indeed it would go hard with honest men if dominion might be acquired by injustice , and right depended upon wrong . this parliament , rot. parl. 1 e. 4. n. 9 10. . &c. and that of 1 iac. 1. ( though possibly this author may not think it material ) fix the crown upon the point of proximity and declare , that ed. 4. and iac. 1. are rightful kings of england by virtue of their lineal descent , by the laws of god , of nature , and those of the land ; and that they will repute them , and their heirs , for true kings of england , and no other , in virtue of their said right and title , and spend the last drop of their blood in defence of it . this one would imagine is sticking upon the point of proximity to purpose : and yet our author is pleased to say , that a king of england may challenge obedience though he does not claim by an immediate hereditary right , pag. 30. now he that has allegiance due to him must have the prerogatives of sovereignty : for the word allegiance , applied to kings , imports thus much in the sense of our laws , 11 h. 7. &c. so that by consequence he may be king to all intents and purposes without an immediate hereditary right , i. e. without any hereditary right at all : for hereditary right is nothing but a lineal succession to the last lawful possessor , and therefore it must be immediate in the very notion of it . for where the next in blood may be lawfully pretermitted , the whole family may be served so too ; and consequently can lay no claim to an hereditary right . but as far as our author can see , our laws require allegiance to be paid to a king , without such hereditary right . i am sorry he could not see these acts of parliament , nor the oaths of allegiance and supremacy ; for then possibly he would have been of another opinion . there is an excellent book , called the grand question , which , had it lain in this gentleman's way , i believe the authority and reason of it would have inlightned him upon this point : for that great author proves , that an act made 1 ed. 3. was not barely repealed , but declared in parliament to be unlawful ; because ed. 2. was then living , and true king. rot. parl. 64. 21 rich. 2. grand quest. p. 80 , 81. secondly , he takes it for granted between himself and his adversary , that hen. 4. was an usurper , and consequently that the repeal of 21 rich. 2. was not legally made ; especially considering rich. 2. was then living , id. p. 83. thirdly , he avers , that ed. 3. was an usurper as long as his father was living , and the proceedings of the parliament under him , during that time , null and void . p. 85 , 86. and yet it must be granted , that ed. 3. had several advantages which some kings de facto cannot pretend to . for 1. he was heir apparent to ed. 2. 2. his father had resigned the crown , though by constraint . 3. the parliament which adhered to him was summoned in edw. 2. name . 4. there was no oaths of allegiance and supremacy enjoyned the members of both houses , under the penalty of nulling every thing they did , by omitting to swear ; as there are since by express statutes ▪ 7 iac. 1. 30 car. 2. farther i desire to know of our author , whether the english of a king de iure is not one to whom the government belongs , according to the constitution ? he grants thus much , and affirms , that he who succeeds by proximity of blood is such a king de iure . now if a prince who claims by descent comes in by the constitution , then he who founds himself upon the peoples consent ( the author's king de facto ) must cross upon the same constitution , and consequently be an unlawful king. for if the laws tye the crown to succession , as they evidently do ; then a title drawn from the peoples consent is against law : unless a kingdom can be elective and hereditary at the same time ; i. e. unless the people may have a liberty , and no liberty , to chuse their king. now if a king de facto be neither de iure nor a usurper , neither a lawful nor ( as our author affirms ) an unlawful king , then certainly he is no king at all . for to aver , that there is a medium between these two , is to say , that a man may have a title which is neither right nor wrong : and then sure aristotle is much to blame for exposing those philosophers who asserted , a thing might be , and not be , at the same time . for the one is not a greater contradiction in nature than the other is in morality . farther , this 11 h. 7. though never so loosely interpreted , can do no service to the present settlement ; because it 's vertually repealed by 1 eliz. by which we are obliged to swear to be true to the king , his heirs and lawful successors , i. e. those who have a right to the crown by proximity of blood. from whence i argue , first , that if we are sworn by act of parliament to pay allegiance to the heirs of a king de iure , who never were in possession , then a fortiori to a king de iure ; who besides the legality of his title , has been actually recognized as sovereign , and enjoy'd an uncontested administration of the regal power . secondly , if our laws oblige us to swear subjection to the heirs , &c. of a rightful prince , then by undeniable consequence we are bound not to translate our allegiance to those who are unjustly set up by the people . for without all question the words heirs and lawful successors were made use of on purpose to secure the hereditary rights of the monarchy , and to prevent all usurpations upon the direct line . and since by virtue of the statute which framed the oath of supremacy , we are not to acknowledge any pretended governors to the prejudice or disinhersion of the heirs of the king de iure , then most certainly we ought not to do this in opposition to the king de iure himself . so that now we have no pretence to make right the consequence of possession in the crown , any more than in other private cases . but supposing this statute of h. 7. was in full force , it cannot be applied to the present case . first , because the title to the crown was then somewhat doubtful and intangled , at least , in the opinion of the people : for notwithstanding the right lay in the house of york , yet that of lancaster had possessed the throne for three decents successively , and pretended that edmund crouchback , under whom they claimed , was elder brother to ed. 1. the case therefore being thus disputable and perplex'd with respect to the multitude ; this act ( as my lord bacon observes ) was made to indemnify the subject , who out of a principle of integrity had serv'd the crown ; it being thought unreasonable that the common people should suffer for their loyalty . they had not an opportunity of examining pedigrees , and searching records , and therefore it would have been hard , if they had been obliged to forfeit their lives and their estates , only for their being so unfortunate as to pay a well meant allegiance to a wrong person : and since at that time they were not so well qualified to find out the right of their prince , it was thought sufficient for them to follow the solemnities of pomp and power , and to be exempt from punishment , provided they adher'd to him , who was in present possession : but to apply this statute to a case where the title is clear and uncontested , is a very illogical and dangerous way of arguing , and has as little warrant from the reason of the act , as from equity it self . it appears sufficiently from the history of those times , that this act was only intended for the security of h. 7. who had a very lame title , and therefore being made upon a particular and singular occasion , it ought not to be extended farther to the prejudice of equity and common-law , nor be interpreted in such an extravagant sence , as encourages treason and ambition to scramble for the crown as often as they have any prospect of succeeding in their wickedness . but , secondly , to put the matter out of all doubt , i shall prove from the very words of the act , that it was no more then a temporary law , and expir'd with the life of the prince who made it . the statute begins thus , the king our sovereign lord calling to remembrance the duty of allegiance of his subjects of this realm . afterwards the enacting part follows , sc. those who attend upon the king for the time being , and do him true and lawful service of allegiance , &c. shall be secur'd from all manner of forfeitures and molestations relating to their persons or estates , provided always that no person or persons , shall take any benefit or advantage by this act , which shall hereafter decline from his or their said allegiance . now we know a proviso is an exception or restraint upon the latitude , and comprehensiveness of the law , and that all statutes are perfectly null so far as the proviso reaches . having premised this , i shall endeavour to prove that this act was designed only for the security of that reign in which it was made , and cannot be stretch'd any farther . to make this appear , let us suppose a competition between a prince de iure , and h. 7. i. e. an other de facto , and that the subject ingages for the latter . in this case if the king de facto prevails , there is no need of the assistance of this statute ; for we cannot imagine any prince could be so impolitick as to punish those who have ventur'd their all to maintain him in his government . this , besides the ingratitude of the action , proclaims the injustice of his cause , and is the way to ruin his interest . if it be objected , that if it had not been for the indemnity of this statute , he would have been oblig'd to have punish'd them for opposing their lawful prince . to this i answer , first , do kings de facto always perform that which the laws require ? if so , they would never have been kings de facto ; since they could not make themselves masters of the sovereign power , without dispossessing those who are supposed the right owners of it . secondly , the possessour would not so much as seem obliged to punish his adherents upon a competition , except he own'd himself to be no more then a king de facto , that is , unless he acknowledg'd the acquisitions of his victory unjust , and himself an usurper ; but we have neither example nor reason , to expect such singular confessions as these ; for no usurper will own himself in the wrong so long as he intends to enjoy the advantages of his injustice : upon supposition therefore that the victory had fallen on the side of a king de facto , the act would be wholly superfluous . but secondly , if the king de iure had prevailed , the matter is not mended ; for now , though those that stood by the king de facto will have great occasions for an indemnity , yet this act will be as helpless to them now , as it was needless before : for either they must submit to the king de iure or not ; if they do not submit , it 's easie to imagine the consequences , how a victorious and irresistable prince will treat the obstinate and rebellious opposers of his just title ; if they do submit , as of necessity they must , then they can claim no manner of priviledge and indemnity from this act , for they cannot come into the side de iure without deserting that de facto , i. e. without declining their allegiance to him , who was king when this statute was made . by declining which allegiance , the proviso expressly excludes them from all manner of benefit or advantage by this act. in this condition the law would have left the de facto party . if the sovereignty had been disputed between h. 7. and the house of york , and the prince de iure , or house of york had been successful : from whence it 's undeniably plain , that neither the design nor words of this statute can be drawn to such a monstrous construction , as to enact bare possession a good title , and make might and right the same thing . the only design of this parliament was to continue the crown to h. 7. during his life ; which both by the body and proviso of the act , was as effectually done as in them lay . now the reasons that prevailed with the two houses to consent to a temporary alteration of the constitution with respect to the crown , were probably these . 1. because h. 7. did not openly disavow his reigning in his wifes right , who was queen de iure , for the act of parliament by which he was recognized king of england , was interpretable in this sence , ( lord bacon , ibid. p. 1003. ) and with this construction there was no injury done to the hereditary right of the crown . 2. elizabeth , the queen de iure , by her subsequent marriage and acquiescence , seem'd contented with this settlement . so that her forbearing to claim , or in the least to insist upon her right , was a tacit resignation of it to king henry , which seem'd to make him not only de facto , but during her life de iure too . 3. when this parliament was called , perken warbeck had lately made a descent upon kent , and threatned the kingdom with a more formidable invasion ( lord bacon , p. 1075 , 1076. ) now though the two houses might see through the imposture ; yet it 's plain many of the people did not . nay some persons of great quality , who had better opportunities for enquiry , believed perkin to be the true plantagenet , son to ed 4. the parliament therefore , who knew him to be no more than a counterfeit prince , must conclude that the best way to secure the succession of the crown , was to support the government of h. 7. which ( considering the present scruples and uncertainties of right ) could not be more effectually done , than by indemnifying all those who should afterwards appear for him . 4. we are to consider that at this juncture h. 7. had several children by his queen , viz. arthur , henry , &c. so that now the contending families of york and lancaster , being thus happily united , there was no reason to fear , that a security , though an unusual one , to the present possessor , could be prejudicial to the right line ; especially since the force of that act was confined to the reign of that prince , as has been already prov'd . 5. that this act was no more than temporary may be made good from the practice , as well as the reason , of that law ; i shall cite the duke of northumberland's case , who , when he was tryed for treason for leading an army against q. mary , desired to be informed by the judges , whether a man acting by the authority of the great seal , and the order of the privy council , ( or prince's council , as stow and heylin word it ) could become thereby guilty of treason ? to which the judges answered , that the great seal of one that was not lawful queen could give no authority , or indemnity , to those that acted by such a warrant . burnet's hist. reform . p. 2. p. 243. upon which the duke submitted ; though without question he did not want lawyers to reinforce his plea , if his case would have born it . from whence 1. i infer , against sir. edw. coke , that treason lyes against a king de iure , though out of possession : for its plain , by all our historians , that q. mary was far from being possessed of the crown , when the duke of northumberland acted against her. so far was she from being regnant that , its pretty plain , she had no great hopes of succeeding . for when she understood q. iane had taken the government upon her , she retired with only a few suffolk gentlemen to framingham castle , near the sea , that she might be ready to embarque for the security of her person . but i shall insist upon this corolary no farther though were it necessary it might be proved by other unquestionable authorities . 2. i infer , that any commission or authority granted by a king de facto , against one de iure , is null and insignificant ; though it has all other advantages and forms which the law prescribes . the only objection against this inference is , that the lady iane was not a queen de facto . but why not a queen de facto ? had she not the colour of k. edward's letters patents , and the concurrence of all the judges save one , to support her claim ? did not a numerous privy council , several of which were persons of the first quality , and highest offices of the kingdom , swear allegiance to her ? heylin's ref. p. 160. was she not proclaimed in london , and in most of the chief cities , towns and places , of greatest concourse ? heyl. ibid. p. 237. burn. p. 237. were not the tower of london , and the land and naval forces , under her command ? 't is true , some of them deserted her soon after ; but this proves they were with her before . did she not assume the name and state of a queen , and were not the seals those dead springs of the government in her custody ? i grant our historians agree , that her queenship lasted but nine or ten days ; but if she had reigned but so many hours , it had been sufficient to prove the point in hand : for the essence of a king de facto consists in possession , and extent of power ; not in the length of his government . besides , when the duke pleaded the warrant of the privy council , and the great seal ; the judges answered , that his authority was invalid , because granted by one who was not lawful queen . where we may observe , they don't deny her the name of a queen ; but allow it by implication in their answer . and since she was a queen , and not de iure , she must be one de facto : for i have already proved , that our laws take no notice of any third chimerical monarch , distinguished from these two. we see therefore , in the opinion of the judges and court in q. marys reign , that the 11 h. 7. cannot indemnify the subjects for bearing arms against a prince de iure : for if it could have been serviceable to the duke , its unimaginable to suppose his counsel should forget such a remarkable defence . but to bring the dispute nearer home , and to make the case more plain , if possible . let us suppose 11 h. 7. still in force ; and upon this supposition i argue , that this act must necessarily give the same advantages to the lawful successors of h. 7. which it gave to himself : for if allegiance is due to a king de facto , then certainly it is equally due to him , who is king both de facto and de iure . therefore those who decline from their allegiance to such a rightful possessour ( as they certainly do who depose him or swear allegiance to another ) are expresly bar'd from receiving any benefit or advantage by this act. so that now they must lye under the lash of those antecedent laws , which punish all disloyal practices against a rightful prince , whether in or out of possession ; and if they are punishable by a king de iure , than undoubtedly they are his subjects and consequently not at liberty to translate their allegiance to another . if it is objected , that the penalty of this proviso affects the subject no longer than the king is in possession . to this ( besides what has been said already ) i answer , that this construction makes the sence of the act insignificant and ridiculous . for then the meaning of the law runs thus , viz. those who adhere to the king in possession shall be indemnified , but those who fight against him shall have none of this favour ; that is they shall be punished . be punished by whom ? why by the king they opposed , if he happens to sit sure and gets the better of them ; otherwise it seems they are safe enough . now this is profound discourse , and very suitable to the wisdom of a parliament , to tell us , that rebels when they are routed and subdued , may be lawfully punished . had we not statutes , common law , and common sence enough , to acquaint us with this before ? what need this admirable discovery have been thus carefully drawn up into a proviso , as if there had been something in the body of the act , which made it unlawful for a conquering prince to chastise rebellion ? if it be farther replied , that this proviso was intended for a recaption . for though it does not tye the subjects allegiance to an ejected prince , yet upon the recovery of his crown , it gives him authority to punish those who dethroned him ; and with this interpretation the law appears intelligible . in answer to this , i desire to know which way a prince dispossessed can recover his right , according to the modern construction of this act ? for if the whole kingdom be bound to assist the king de facto against the king de iure , how is it possible for the latter to re-enter upon his dominions ? and since by the supposition , his right to punish doth not commence till he has power to execute ; this proviso will have little terror in it , and prove a very slender preservative against treason . and besides , if it ever happens to come into play , 't will be perfectly useless ; for this expedient cannot take place unless the king de iure makes his way back to the throne by conquest , and foreign force . and if he returns with this advantage , there are old laws enough to punish traytors , ( 25 ed. 3. &c. ) which we may imagine he would venture to make use of , whether this clause had given him such a liberty or not . in short , this act , as it is now the fashion to understand it , is such a monstrous and unaccountable piece of legislation , as i believe the most barbarous and unpolished nation was never guilty of . for it leaves the kingdom hereditary , and yet obliges the subject to obey the possessor , though never so obscure and remote from the royal line . it resolves all title into force and success , and puts no difference between a good cause and a bad one . it sets the best princes aside only for being unfortunate ; encourages the ambition of enterprizing , and unreasonable men ; and gives the rights of sovereignty to those who have done the greatest wrong . it overthrows the most sacred and established maxims of justice ; repeals , in effect , almost half the commandments ; and makes the devil , if he should prevail , the lord 's anointed . besides , it s not only unnatural and unrighteous in the body , but useless and impertinent in the proviso . in earnest , i am afraid those lawyers who debauch mens understandings with such singular absurdities as these , will have a great deal to answer for . god grant they may consider before its too late . finis . a letter from a person of quality to an eminent dissenter to rectifie his mistakes concerning the succession, the nature of persecution and a comprehension. hickes, george, 1642-1715. 1685 approx. 58 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a43660 wing h1854a estc r40161 18769318 ocm 18769318 108255 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a43660) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 108255) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1656:15) a letter from a person of quality to an eminent dissenter to rectifie his mistakes concerning the succession, the nature of persecution and a comprehension. hickes, george, 1642-1715. [2], 30, [1] p. printed by t.b. for randolph taylor ..., london : mdclxxxv [1685] attributed to hickes by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints. "a reissue of the sheets of: the judgment of an anonymous writer, 1684, with the title-page and clavel's preface cancelled and a new title-page substituted:--nuc pre-1956 imprints. advertisement: p. [1] at end. numerous errors in paging. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng dissenters, religious -england. persecution -england. great britain -history -restoration, 1660-1688. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2008-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-11 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2009-01 megan marion sampled and proofread 2009-01 megan marion text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter from a person of quality to an eminent dissenter , to rectifie his mistakes concerning the succession , the nature of persecution and a comprehension . london , printed by t. b. for randolph taylor near stationers-hall . mdclxxxv . a letter sent from beyond the seas to a noted dissenter . dear cousin , i was very glad to receive your letters , but very sorry to find by them , that you are still so extreamly desirous of innovations in a government so well established , as that is under which you live . i perceive you are more zealous then it becomes a good subject , or a good christian to be , for carrying on a project of the earl of shaftsbury , as unreasonable as new ; viz. that of disabling a papist to inherit the crown . for doubtless that proposal was first made , and afterwards promoted by him , the last sessions of parliament , not out of true love to the reformed religion , but out of spite and revenge to the d. of y — who , were he not only papist , but heathen or mahumetan ( which i think is not much worse ) would certainly have as good a title to his crown , and all his temporal rights , as if he were the most orthodox and holy christian in the world. and i am perswaded , that my zealous lord chose would not be willing that the king and parliament should make a particular act , to disable his own posterity , to inherit the great estate he hath got , if they should turn papists or atheists , as others have done before them . we all know what mischief in the world , that damnable doctrine has made , that temporal rights and inheritances depend upon saintship and grace . and if it be clear from scripture ( as nothing is more clear ) that a king ought not to lose his crown , for not being a christian , or for renouncing the christian religion as julian did ; then it is plain , that neither the duke nor any other prince ought to be debarred from the crown , which is the greatest and most sacred of temporal rights , for not being protestants ; or which is more , for renouncing the christian religion . and i am heartily glad , that god gave the fathers of the english church the grace and courage to defend her doctrine , in opposing that unreasonable , and truly romish proposal of my lord chose ; which if they had approved , and defended after it was proposed , they had truly acted in that like prelats popishly affected , and really shewed themselves to be what their adversaries would fain perswade the world , they are . for 't is the romish church , and her doctors , which maintain , that kings excommunicated , or heretick kings , or ( which is all one ) that kings that renounce the apostolick faith , ought to be deprived and deposed . but 't is the church of england that maintains the contradiction of that unscriptural , unevangelical principle ; and thinks her self as much obliged to submit her self to a heathen , atheistical , heretical , or popish prince , where she can , as to an orthodox king ; and where she cannot , she thinks her self obliged to suffer , as her saviour , like a lamb brought to the slaughter ; and dares pretend to take up to arms but those of the primitive christians ( whose true copy she is ) tears , arguments and prayers . i say , it is the church of england , that is of this judgment , and neither the church of rome , nor the kirk of scotland ; both of which have actually excommunicated and d●posed lawful and rightful princes , under the notion of being hereticks , and enemies to christs kingdom ; forgetting both alike the pr●cepts and examples of our saviour and his apostles , on which the church of england hath grounded the contrary doctrine , as well as on right reason . our saviour , though god rendred unto the heathen caesar the things that were caesar's ; he owned his right to the empire , both by word and deed , although he were but the adopted successor of the greatest usurper that ever was in the world. nay furthermore , he owned and submitted to the procuratory power of pilate , who acted but by commission from the emperour tiberius ; who ( if there be any truth in the character of tacitus ) was one of the greatest tyrants , and most wicked men that ever the world saw . and as for st. paul , there is no article of our religion , not even that , that jesus christ is the son of god , more clear in his epistles , than that every soul should be subject to the higher powers ; that we should obey , not only for wrath , but conscience sake ; that whosoever resisieth , receiveth to himself damnation ; and lastly , that all the powers ( and when he wrote there were none but heathen powers ) were ordained of god. i might here insist upon the practice of the apostles , as it is represented in their acts , and the constant submission and sufferings of the primitive christians , as they are reported by the ecclesiastcal fathers , and historiaens ; but the scripture it self is sufficient to demonstrate the truth of this argument , which the church of england has not only established in her doctrine , but her fathers and sons of late , maintained in their practices : and which the kirk of of scotland ( agreeing in this and many other points with that of rome ) did ever oppose , both in word and deed. and since that kirk and nation have been of this opinion , we need not wonder that the english disciples of their buchanan and knox have practised those rebellious principles , which have so debauched and corrupted the subjects of the kings of england , as to make them be proverbially called , the kings of devils : and which the anababtists in germany improved into this maxim , that saintship was the foundation of soveraignty , and that the righteous ought to inherit the earth . and furthermore , if crowns ought to descend upon protestants only , then it is but just , that the estates of all subjects whatsoever should be so entailed : ●nd if for example , the d — of y — must be cut off from his right , for being a roman catholick , then let the rest of the papists lose theirs ; they are all alike idolaters , and let them all alike suffer . and , to bring the case to your own house , can you imagine that you your self ought to lose your right to the estate you have , or may have hereafter , upon that supposition , that you should turn papist ; which men as firmly resoved against it as you have certainly done . these practises and proposals are such , that they have left a blot on the memories of some men , that seem more zealous than their brethren . and i am glad at present , that the religious lord chose is the chief patron and promoter of such and unreasonable and romish design . it is unreasonable to exclude a popish heir from a crown , to which he derives his right from popish ancestors , and i have more than ordinary reason to call it romish , because i have heard it maintained here among all the priests i converse with . it is a doctrine dearly beloved by the romanists : and put but the name of heretick to a prince here , and it is just the same case , as when you call a prince a papist in england ; where , if there be no more than my good lord chose that are fautors of this romish doctrine , my country is in a far better case than i thought it to be . and truly this noble project of the late lord chose was condemned by all protestants as soon as it took air in france ; not only for that it was an ungospel way of proceeding , and savours strongly of the doctrine of rome , which they abhor ; but because it puts their king in mind of a project he is very much inclined to , viz. to make a like law here , that none but a roman catholick shall ever be king , or bear any office or trust in the kingdom . and certainly , if it should ever please god , for our sins , to suffer our princes to backslide into romish idolatry and superstition , we have nothing to do , but to pray , and like our glorious ancestors in queen mary's days , suffer quietly , when we cannot flie . and therefore i wonder that you would so obliquely reflect upon the bishops , and censure them for doing that , which in honour and duty , they were bound to do , and represent this to their disgrace , which all good and well advised protestants must needs commond them for , if they will be impartial . but put the case such an act were made , who can see the bad consequences thereof ? the union of great bri●tain will be broke upon it , and war entailed upon both kingdoms , and by the same reason , that none but a protestant shall succeed now , faction still increasing , none perhaps within a while , will be thought sit to inherit the crown , but a presbyterian , &c. for you that are used to talk of numbers and strength , can best tell how numerous and powerful they are that are possessed with as firm a prejudice against the church of england , as the church of rome it self ; denying communion equally with both ; and who educate their children in perfect hatred of the one , as the genuine daughter of the other . i have wrote all this to present to your view what ( perhaps in the hurry of zeal ) you have not had time to consider . and though i think it very impious and unreasonable to debar any such prince from the crown , upon this account , yet could we imagine the government were to be formed again , i would be as zealous for this condition , as the greatest zealot of them all : and am as sorry as any other good protestant , that it was not always one of the fundamental laws of england , though now it be too late to make it such . you tell me also that my lord — intends to come and live in london ; i suppose it may be under pretence to secure his person from the papists ; but i wish it may not be with a design to act over the same things , under a pretence of securing the protestant , which the duke of guise acted in paris , under a seeming zeal to secure the popish religion . the reason that makes me fear it , is the conformity of our times in england with those in france , as you may see by the following account . the duke , who was a man of an high spirit , and not able to bear the least disgrace , being removed by henry iii. from them most rich and honourable of his court-preferments , became thereupon male-content ; and retiring from the court , which he now did hate , went to live at his house in paris : where , by many arts , as in particular by the subtle practises of the priests and jesuits , he became in a short time the minion of the people ; whose affections he drew off from the king , by representing him ( though a hearty roman catholick ) as a favorer of the hereticks ; who under the protection of the princes of the bloud increased mightily in his reign . he also represented him in particular to be a great favourer of the king of navarre , against whom he himself had a particular ill will ; and whom the people , through the instigation of the priests and jesuits , did perfectly hate , because he was a protestant ; although he was primier prince of the blood ( for whom the french commonly have a great reverence ) and by consequence heir apparent , or as a friend of your would have said , heir presumptive ( for the king had no child to inherit ) to the crown of france . after he had thus made the credulous people , by the help of the priests and jesuits , zealous for the defence of their declining religion , he drew them to league into rebellion against their lawful soveraign , under a pretence of securing the same , by removing evil councellors from his person , and obliging him to employ his royal power in suppressing the protestans ; and in particular by declaring the heretick king of navarre ( afterwards h. iv. ) uncapable of succeeding to the crown . for the sake of peace the king was willing so far to deny himself as to grant the two first , but could never be made so false to the interest of the royal family , as to consent to the last , by changing the order of succession to the crown , by which his ancestors had reigned so many hundred years ; and which have been so long established , without any respect to religion , by the salique or original laws of france . hereupon the league ( in imitation , and after the pattern of which the solemn league and covenant was formed ) or rebellion grew so high , as to beat the king out of paris ; where the guisards had a design to sieze upon his sacred person , shut him up , like king chilperick , in a monastery , and set up the silly old cardinal bourbon , the king of navar 's uncle , to reign in his stead . but the king escaping from paris , sheltered himself in chartres ; where to compose differences , he issued out writs to call together the three estates ( which much resemble our parliaments ) at bl●is . thither the deputies or members repair , some for the king , but far more for the cursed league ; and therefore the guisards finding themselves more potent than the royalists , insisted almost on nothing else , but securing the roman catholick religion , by de claring the king of navarre , because an heretick , uncapable of succeeding to the most christian crown . you see cousin , what a parallel there is between those times and ours ; excepting first , that there are no priests and jesuits to second such a design in england , as there were in france : but to supply that defect , there may be found men as fit in all points as they in black , to stir up the people to discontent and rebellion . i mean the same sort of persons that preached up the late bloody war ; who really are the bastard-brood of the monastick and jesuitical emissaries , though they bear not the names of their fathers ; but ( like bastards ) are disowned by those that begot them . the seditious principles . preached and printed by them in the late times , are evident proofs of what race they are come : and as a man may travel so far west , till at last he come to the same eastern point from which he did set out , so you cousin , and your brethren have gone so far from the church of rome , that you are ( some i believe unawares ) come thither again ; as is unanswerably proved by lysimachus nicenor , lately reprinted at oxford , in his letter of congratulation to the kirk . but secondly , the parallel fails in this too , that his royal highness is not a declared papist , as the king of navarre was a declared protestant ; nor has yet openly renounced the communion of the church of england , for which his blessed father died a martyr . and therefore of the two , our english guisards are much more to blame , in representing his roual highness as a papist , which is so difficult to imagine him strictly to be . but furthermore , upon supposition he were a declared papist , the proposal of my lord chose was very ridiculous , since it did suppose a possibility of prevailing with his majesty to disinherit his royal brother , who must needs be so much dearer to him , than the king of navarre was to henry iii , as he is nearer in blood. and for may own part , i cannot but imagine at this distance , that his majesty who is a prince incomparably wiser and juster then was henry iii. of france , must needs disdain and abhor such a proposal ; which , were it enacted , it would enervate the laws of succession by which he and his ancestors have hitherto reigned , and give a greater blow to the english monarchy , than that which cut off his royal fathers head. i have here forborn to give you an account of the tragical end of the duke of guise , which is a lesson well worth your learning , and may teach all persons , so disposed as he was , how unsafe it is to provoke soveraign authority ; since the goodness of the best of kings , like the infinite goodness of god himself , whose ministers they are , may at length be so injured and affronted , as to be forced to sharpen it self into sovereign vengeance and justice . and therefore cousin , let me advise you , if not for conscience , yet for wraths sake , to have nothing to do in blowing up the flames of sedition : nor let your soul enter into the secret of my lord — though his interest among the senators ( as you write ) be so very considerable and strong . you likewise forget your self , in miscalling the execution of the late laws by the odious name of persecution ; which if you can prove to be such , according to the scriptural notion of persecution , viz. infliction of evil for righteousness sake , then will i become your proselyte , and forsake the church of england , as much as i have this idolatrous church of rome . for no man is persecuted , but either for immediate matters of divine worship , which concern the first table ; or with respect to matters of morality , or a good life , which concern the second . with respect to the first ; a man is persecuted either on a negative account , for not worshiping a false god , as the three children in daniel ; or for not worshipping the true in a false way : as st. paul and the other apostles were persecuted by the pharisees , for not worshipping the true god according to the jewish manner after it was abrogated : or as our fore fathers in england , for not worshiping god and our saviour after the romish rites . or secondly , on a positive account , for worshipping the true god in a way that is true ; or to express it yet more clearly and absolutely in your own terms , for serving of god : as daniel was cast into the lyons den , for praying to god against the king's decree . with respect to the second ; a man is also persecuted on a negative account , for not doing something , which is in its own nature , or by god ; positive command , morally evil : as the good midwives were afraid to be persecuted by pharaoh , for not murthering the hebrew infants . or else on a positive account , for doing some good moral action , which ought in such and such circumstances to be done : and thus was our blessed saviour persecuted , for opening the eyes of the blind man , and for healing on the sabbath-day . now these distinctions being premised , tell me in which of these cases you are persecuted ? or , which is all one , for what you are confessors and martyrs ? for no man is persecuted , but as he is persecuted he is a confessor or martyr ; and by his sufferings bears witness to the truth . with respect to the second head , you cannot say that you are persecuted ; and therefore let me see whether you are so with respect to the first . and first , 't is plain that you do not suffer for not worshiping a false god ; and 't is likewise as plain , that you do not suffer for not worshipping the true god in a false way . for first , the laws , whose execution you mis-call persecution , do not punish you for not worshiping god after our way ; or if they did to prove their execution to be persecution , you must first prove that the church of england ( whose doctrine is down right against idolatry and superstition ) does worship god in an idolatrous and superstitious manner ; which , good cousin , you know can never be proved . there remains nothing then but to assert , that you are punished for serving god , or for worshipping god in a way which you are sure is true . that you worship god in a true way , i verily believe , and could heartily joyn with you in other circumstances . but then you are not punished for worshipping god in that manner ; for the same laws you complain of , allow you to worship god in what fashion you please ; and not only you , but your family , be it as great as it will ; and lastly , not only your family , but five persons more ; which allowance , were you the only christians in the world , and the magistrates heathens ; or , which your friends are more likely to suggest , were they papists or atheists , is so far from being persecution , that were you of the temper of the primitive christians , you would esteem it as a great priviledg , and instead of reviling , thank the kind magistrate for the same . but then if on the contrary hand you be considered ( and many good english men , and good christians cannot but consider you ) as a sort of men that have formerly raised a most unnatural rebellion , and now make schism in the church , and broyles in the state , the punishments you suffer and complain so loudly off , will be so far from seeming persecution of you as christians , that they will rather seem your just desert , as factious and turbulent subjects . and i assure you , that your brethren in france ( whom you falsly so call , and for whom you pretend so great respect ) are so far from judging you persecuted , that they will not excuse you ; but wonder at your non-submission to the church , and pity your mistakes , that make you stand out against the laws . they that have seen and examined our english liturgy , which is printed at geneva in french , cannot understand your notion of persecution . and ministre claude , the most famous of them all , for piety and learning , told me in the presence of many others , ( after a discourse , wherein he said all for you that could be said ) that he wondred how the presbyterians in england could rend the peace of the church , for such little indifferent mat●ers ; and that , if he were in england , he would be of the episcopal party , and heartily submit himself to the discipline and government of the church of england . and if you would do so too , how happy a thing would this be both for your selves and the nation ? or seeing , as you pretend you cannot , yet at least live peaceably , and forbear to trouble the world with compassing sea and land ; that is , by doing all that you can , like your fathers the old pharisees , to make proselytes ; when yet you cannot shew any sinful condition of communion with the church of england , nor prove your way of worship as apostolical , as that of hers ; from which out of pride , interest or ignorance , or partly altogether you dissent . i am sure this would rather become the dissenting brethren , then to foment divisions raise parties , betake themselves to the wickedest of men , as of late to — and cry up the kings prerogative , which they formerly cried down ; which with many other self-contradictions , confirms me in an opinion you know i was of before , that in those matters wherein you differ from us , you are men of no principles , and know not where to six . i have enlarged upon this theam more than i thought to do a first , because the papists here in france complain as loudly as you of the cruelty of our ecclesiastical laws ; and cry out wherever they come , how their brethren have been ; and still are persecuted among us ; though with this difference , that in disputing ad hominem , their case is far more reasonable and pleadable then yours . as for you , i pro●est , tho' the laws you complain off look like hard laws , when i consider you as free born subjects of england , yet when i consider you as head-strong , turbulent and factious subjects , i cannot but think them just and good , and i will maintain that the execution of them would not be persecution , altho' you 〈◊〉 the only true christians in the world. for , as ●●●●ted before , you have the liberty in your houses so profess what religion you please , and to worship 〈◊〉 ●n what manner you will : and for sear your fa●●●● should not be a just congregation , you may have 〈◊〉 ●ore : but for fear you should do as you have 〈◊〉 done , you are not to have five hundred , or 〈◊〉 thousand ; which liberty , not only the primi 〈…〉 christians , but our own ancestors , an hundred 〈…〉 would have called a blessing , and a privi 〈…〉 have heartily thanked god and the king for 〈…〉 e. and god grant we may never see that time england , when truly tender consciences will esteem so much liberty as the greatest blessing in the world. the good protestants here in france , though their religion is made an obstacle to all state-preferments , though it disable them to sit in the courts of parliaments ( except just so many as serve in the chamber of edicts , to decide controversies between protestants and papists ) or to have any other charges of judicature , or any high offices in the army , though their numbers are much diminished , and their interest weakened , by a prohibition to marry with roman catholicks , and by a capital law , which makes it death to return protestants after they have once turned papists ; and though a great number of their temples have been demolished ( some under a pretence that they were built since the edict of nantes , others that they were built without license , and others that they were built upon holy ground ) so that hereby they are forced in very many places to the grievous inconvenience of going two , three , four or five leagues to church , it not more : and though all the places of strength , where they do abound are demolished , and cittadels are erected to awe them in other towns , where they are numerous ; though their own particular hospitals , and all other their perpetual provisions for their poor , are taken away , and they disabled , either living or dying , to give any setled maintenance either to their own ministers or people ( as to endowe churches , bu●ld schools , colledges or hospitals , &c. ) nay , tho' they are deprived of the benefit of other hospitals , provide for the rest of the subjects ; and although their ministers are forbid to speak against the pope , or to preach against the romish religion , with half that freedom and plainness that you dare speak against 02 the church of england ; or to preach in any places out those few appointed by the king , though they are forbidden to call the papists in their sermons by any other name but that of catholicks ; or to make mention of their religion and ceremonies , without reverence and respect ; though they are forbid to call themselves priests or pastors , and have no other title allowed them , but only ministres de la religion pretenduë reformée ; and thought it be enacted , that their religion shall be called by no other name in any publick acts , registers , &c. though they are forbiddent to bury their dead in catholick churches , or church-yards , even where the deceased person was patron of the church ; of where his ancestors had purchased buring-places for their families ; though they are forbid to make any publick exhortations or prayer , or to sing psalms at their burial : though they are forbid to instruct or condole those of their own religion in prisons or hospital ; or to pray with them in a voice so loud as to be heard by the standers ; by , tho' they are forbid to make any collections of money among themselves , but such as are permitted and regulated by the edicts of the king ; though they are forbid to work or open their shops on romish holy-days , or to sell flesh on their fasting-days , &c. i say 02 the good protestants here in france , notwithstanding all this hard dealing , are yet so far from complaining of persecution , that they shew themselves thankful both to god and the king , for the liberty and indulgence they enjoy . indeed they will complain , for the aforesaid reasons , that their religion is very much discouraged , and they themselves hardly used : but persecution is a notion that they rarely think or speak of , when they discourse of their own condition , being very far , though not so far as you , from a state of martyrdom ; which consists in a forcible obligation to suffer or renounce the truth . and therefore cousin i beseech you and conjure you , not to misuse the name of persecution again . it is a very sinful way thus to abuse and amuse the vulgar , by calling things by their wrong names : and as to this particular , honest and knowing men will be apt to suspect , that through the name of pers●cution , you have a design to make your governours pass for tyrants , and your selves for martyrs . to conclude : if this which you call persecution , be not such indeed , then i doubt not but they who miscal it so , that is all presumptuous or affectedly ignorant schismaticks , without bitter pangs of repentance , will be persecuted by the god of peace himself to a sad and endless eternity . as for the bill of comprehension , it begun to be talked of , before i left my country , and i have often discours'd it with many of the projectors , but could never understand from them , how it was practicable to unite so many incompossible sects , which agree in nothing , but their opposition to the church . however if the altering , or taking away of a ceremony or two could effectually unite the protestant partys , as you are pleased to assert , i think it would be worth the while to do it , and that the doing of it for so sure an end , would reflect no dishonour upon the church of england , which acknowledgeth the few innocent and decent ceremonies , which she hath ordained to be indifferent and alterable , according to the exigency of times . neither , if this were done , could the romish church have the least apparent reason to reproach us for such a slight alteration ; seeing her own missals and breviaries have been so diverse and different in several times and places ; and have undergone so many emendations , or rather corruptions , before they were established in the present form , by the authority of pius v. and the decree of the council of trent . but unless this alteration would surely and infallibly produce this effect , it had far better be let alone , and in the mean time , i would have all good christians wait in peace and complyance with the established religion , till authority shall think to make this alteration in it , that so a poor english traveller would not be tauntingly asked by every impertinent priest here , whether he were a true son of the church , or presbyterian , or independant , or anabaptist , or quaker . and i assure you , when they meet with a man that owns himself a true son of the church of england , they will seem with great formality to pity him more than any other ; but yet they will never attempt to convert him . but when they meet with one that will own himself of any other sort , they will be pleased , smile in their sleeves , and set upon him as a person not far from their kingdom of god. ana i am perswaded , had you seen or heard as much of their idolatries , blasphemies and superstitions , as i have done in one christmas , one line and one easter , you would be so far from doing the church of england any ill office , that you would rather ( like st. paul after his conversion ) preach against your own partizans , and thank god that you lived in a church reformed from romish idolatry and superstition . and i cannot but freely confess , that i am since my travels become ten times a greater lover of our own church , and as many times a greater hater and detester of the romish church , than i was before . and therefore i cannot here dissemble the hearty grief i have conceived , for the great hopes you have , that the licenses ( as you express it ) will be once more authorized by his majesty , or the declaration revived . for as it is that which at first was hammered out by a popish lord , who was the patron and idol of the presbyterians ; so 't is that which the roman catholicks here ( especially the priests ) do hope , and wish for as well as you . they desire nothing more , than such a toleration , as that was , knowing that it must needs tend to the ruine of the church of england , which is the principal butt of all their envy and malice ; as being the main support and credit of the reformed religion every where , and the only hedg against popery it self in our unfortunate british isles . we meet with not a few priests of several orders , that have the confidence ( in our most familiar conferences ) to tell us , that by the just judgment of god upon our church , the time of her ruin is at hand ; the nation it self being over-spread with schism and atheism , and the hearts of the faithful being disposed by the spirit providence of god , to re-embrace the holy catholick truth . and therefore they freely confess , that this time of distraction is their harvest ; and withal express their intentions and zeal to transport themselves into england at the critical time of toleration , that they may be fellow-laborers with your selves in the harvest . they seem to lament as much , and complain as fast , of the prodigious increase of schism and atheism among us , as you are wont to do of the daily growth of atheism and popery . and whilst you both complain alike , and in the formality of your complaints , both alike reflect upon the church of england : it is she only that is the sufferer , and she only that truly laments the growth , and at the same time sets up banks to hinder the perfect inundation of all the three among us ! as for schism among protestants , you were the first fathers , and continue the chief fautors thereof ; all the inferior sects having sprung from you , and dividing both from you and one another , under pretence of the same reasons , for which you profess to divide from the church . and 't is from you , that even the quakering sect it self ( the dregs of schism ) have learned to talk of illumination , and the spirit : and the rest of the sectaries ; in what number soever they be , differ no more from you than the second , third , or fourth , &c. from the first book of eu●lid . not that by this comparison i intend , that you have any such principles , or data among your selves , as there are among , mathematicians ; for i am very well assued ; that take but any four of the presbyterian demagogues , and they can scarce agree amongst themselves in any four particulars , wherein they differ from the church of england . and therefore if you be not schismaticks , then the church of england , from which you separate , and out of which you have gathered congregations , and preach and administer the sacraments unto them ; i say , if you be not schismaticks , then our church must be the schismatick , in the controversie between us ; and be justly chargable with the same indictment , which she hath drawn upagainst the church of rome . an assertion , consin , which i never knew any other person , except one or two , besides your self , have the confidence to aver , and an assertion , which no protestant here in france could hear us yet relate , without horror , impatience and disdain . and therefore , if the reformed church of england , from which you wilfully divide , and to which by your divisions you cause so much scandal abroad and evil at home , be not a schismatical church , that is , a church which requires some sinful conditions of communion ; in what a woful condition will your unpeaceable , seditious spirits appear before the god of peace ? and how will you answer that , at the tribunal of his wisdom and justice , which neither your fathers , nor you could never yet answer , to those instruments of his glory , judicious hooker and the venerable sanderson ? but whether you are schismas ticks , or whether you are not , the separations which you and your brood have made from the church , are the apparent causes of the growth of popery ; and both your separations , and your superstitious enthusiastical way of worshipping that god , whose people you emphatically pretend to be , are the true causes of that abundant atheism , which at present makes england an astonishment nad a scandal to foreign nations . and if you , or any other of the brother-hood , think it strange , that i charge yours , which is the capital sect , with enthusiasm , or make superstition , which seemeth diametrically opposite to atheism the mother thereof ; i offer , upon the challenge , to make good the charge , in both particulars : but in the mean time , to shew you how unsafe it will be to provoke me to that trouble , i advise you to read one or two short chapters in the beginning of mr. smith's discourses , concerning these distempers of the soul , and you shall find what i have said , proved with more plainness and perspicity , than , i am confident , you would wish to see . but besides the schism and enthusiasm , the bloody wars , which you formerly made in the state , under pretence of the glory of god , and the reformation of of the reformed religion , have given many inconsiderate men occasion to suspect , that all religion , like that of most of your leaders , is but a politick engine which men use , to make themselves popular and powerful , that they may afterwards act with good colour whatsoever their interest shall suggest . and furthermore , to consider , that the great pretenders of the spirit , and the power of the christian religion , ( which with respect to magistrates teacheth nothing but to obey or suffer ) should notwithstanding preach up rebellion against their rightful prince , fight him from field to field , romove him from prison to prison , and at last most barbarously put him to death , is such an absurdity against the principles of right reason , so repugnant to the laws of our own nation , and so inconsistent with the peaceable doctrine of the gospel ; that , besides the atheists it hath made , it hath , and ever will constrain men of honest principles , and just resentments , to persecute you with satyrs and exclamations to the end of the world. i had not here presented that tragical scene of the king's murther , but that i have had so many unpleasant occasions to hear our nation reproach'd with the scandal and dishonour of that inhumane fact. particularly , it was my bad fortune to be at a station in paris ; where there were met about two hundred persons , to read the gazetts , at that very same time , when that of england came full charged with the news of burning the pope in essigie at london . this feat did at first surprize that roman catholick concourse of people ; but after a little recollection , collection , they ceased to wonder , saying in every company as we passed along ; it is not so strange that the english devils should do this , who formerly murthered their king. and another time , it was my ill luck also to be at the same place , when the london gazette brought us the news , that the house of lords had taken into consideration the growth of atheism in our nation : whereupon some french gentlemen of my acquaintance seriously enquired of me the causes of so much atheism , amongst such a thinking and solid people . i assigned the same reasons which i have written above , besides some others which i will not stand to mention , as the most probable causes thereof . and as i hope i did not misinform them , so i am confident did not unjustly charge you in any particular , especially with the murther of the king. for there were no accessaries in the murther of that sacred person : neither was it the last stroke only that sell'd the royal oak ; but you and the independants , like the two sacrilegious priests of jupiter , are equally guilty of the crime ; the one for binding the direful victim , and the other for putting the knife to his throat . but to be short , where i am so unacceptable , i 'le conclude my argument with a fable . a principal . ship , which for many years had been sovereign of the seas , was at last attacted by a tempestuous wind , which the devil raised , and notwithstanding all the help that could be made to save her , was driven by the force of that malignant wind , and split upon a rock . the very same instant she dashed upon the rock the wind ceased ; and being afterwards cursed by the sea-men , for the wrack of the royal charles ( for so the capital vessel was called ) answered , you charge me most unjustly my friends , it was not i , but the rock as you saw that split your ship. the moral of this parable is very obvious ; and if the application thereof , or any thing else that i have written , may conduce to awaken your conscience , and reclaim you from schism , i shall think my pains well bestowed . but if you and your seditious brethren will still persevere to assault the church on one hand , as fast as the romish priests do undermine her on the other , her days are like to be but few and evil ; and except god encline the hearts of our magistrates to put the laws in execution against them , and sind some effectual means to reduce you , you may live to see her ruin accomplished , which you both alike desire and expect . how numerous you are , the world can guess , and if the accounts which we receive from the fathers of intelligence of several orders , be credible , there are about three thousand of them , which sind entertainment and success within the king of great britain's dominions . but in the mean time , till her hour is come , she struggleth against both , like her saviour against the pharisees , whose true disciples in part you both are ; they representing those sworn enemies of the gospel , by the cabala of their ridiculous and impious traditions ; and you representing them in their hypocrisie , pride , envy , evil-speaking , moross and censorious dispositions , &c. ( which are sins scarce consistent with humanity , much less with grace ) as likewise in observing many fasts and making long , prayers , with design not to serve god , but to delude the people . and therefore i wonder not that you are such malignant enemies to the church of england , since that pharisaical spirit , which reigneth so much amongst you , is a wicked pusilanimous spirit , that affects to be seen in the head of parties , and dictate amongst the ignorant ; and loves as much to rule , as it hates to obey . but would you once be so sincere , as to subdue your pride , lay aside your prejudice , inform your ignorance , and forsake your dearly beloved interest , for the truth ; it would not be long ere we should see you joyn with the church of england , without troubling our senators to bring you in with an act of incomprehensible comprehension . your pride appeareth in heading of parties , and in the pleasure you are seen to take in the multitudes , that run after you ; and in your boasting , that without you the souls of people would starve for want of knowledg . your prejudice is an effect of your pride , and discovers it self together with your ignorance , in not submitting to those invincible reason which you cannot answer : and as for your interest , the greatest paradox of all , that is evident enough to me , who have so often heard many of you glorifie your selves in the number and riches of your followers , boast of their affection to your sacred persons , and brag of the great sums you have collected in your congregations ; which makes the king's chapples ( as you arrogantly call your conventicles ) better places than most of the churches , of which he is patron . and therefore never complain that you live either worse , or at greater uncertainties than you did before . for by your pretentions to poverty and sufferings , and by other unworthy arts , you have so wrought your selves into the esteem of your disciples , that few of them are either so covetuous or so poor , but they will pinch at home to supply you . there are several orders of fransciscans here , who have renounced not only parsonages , but all temporal estates and possessions whatsoever ; and by their vain glorious sanctity and austerities , they have got ( like you ) such fast hold on the souls of the people ( which is the fastest hold of all ) that they can easily make most of them dispose of their children , cashire their servants , and settle their estates as they please ; and by these tricks do more effectually promote the interest of rome , than all the parish priests within the pale of that church . and really , when i consider what influence these sanctimonious and self-denying zealots have o're all families , in all places where they live ; how they steal away the hearts of the people from their parish-priests , and drain their congregations ; and how the deluded people had rather give them the worth of a shilling , than the dues of two pence , to their own curees ; it makes me often run the parallel between you and them , and think what a politick and gainful pretence you have got to renounce your livings , for to secure your consciences , and to preach the word gratis like the primitive apesiles ; when god knows , 't is not out of love to the people , but to your selves . and i protest to you , were i a man to be maintained by the pulpit , and consulted my prosit more than the goodness of my cause , i should take the same course that you do ; i should rather be mr. m. than dr. a. of plymouth ; and should chuse the plentiful income of that dull zealot dr. manton , before that of his most learned and religious successor of govent-garden . but though you live very well , and better indeed than most of the ministers of the church , yet the mischief of it is , you are uncapable of dignities ; which makes you such aerians , and upon all occasions openeth your throats as wide as sepulehres against the bishops and the church . you know what an history of bishops mr. pryn hath wrote , and what a fair collection the learnes smec . hath taken out of him ; as if when a bishop is defective , either in piety , learning or the skill of government , it were not the deplorable unhappiness , but the fault of the church of england . should an heathen or mahumetan , make such an historical collection of scandalous christians , either in this or former ages , you would not be perswaded for all that , to prefer the alcoran before the gospel ; or the most exalted paganism whatsoever , before the christian religion . therefore wise and sober men will make no inference but this , from such a malicious enumeration of particulars ; that corruptions will creep into government , notwithstanding all the care that can be used to the contrary ; and that by the favour of princes ( who hear with other mens ears , and often receive undeserved characters of men ) sometimes ambitious , sometimes ignorant , and sometimes slothful , imprudent or debauched persons , will be preferred to the most honourable dignities in the church . but this , as often as it happens , is the misery of the church of england , which all true church men lament though the men of the short cloke take all such occasions to expose her to the scorn of the common people who judge by sense , and not by reason and who are taught by you , to make no distinction between the bishops and the church . but were all her bishops the best christians , the best scholars and the best governours in the world and should the royal hand place her mytres on the heads of none but jewels , whit-gift's , andrews's , hall's , ushers's , morton's , taylor 's , and sanderson's , yet that unchristian spirit of envy and discontent , ; ; ; which informs the non-conformists , would still fly upon her with open mouth , like beasts upon the saints of old condemned to the amphitheater ; and make her , as she hath already been for almost forty years , a speactacle to god , to angels , and to men. the wicked lives of scandalous bishops and priests , if there be any such , are her sad misfortune , but cannot justifie the schism you are guilty of ; who are bound to hear even them , as much as the jews were bound to hear the scribes and pharisees those hypocrites , that sate in moses's chair . and in that deplorable state of the jewish church , when the priests and prophets were both alike corrupted and called by the holy spirit , dumb and greedy dogs , yet it had been unlawful to make a separation , and set up other altars against that which god ( who was their king ) had set up . i cannot but mind you of the schism of jeroboam , who by dividing the church , as god was pleased to divide the kingdom into two parts , made israel to sin . but to insist on the samaritan secession , and write all , that is necessary to discover and aggravate the damnable nature of schism , would require as much more paper as i have bestowed , and so make me as tedious again , as , i fear , i have already been . besides , it would oblige me to answer mr. hale's treatise of schism , with whose leaves you vainly endeavour to cover you shame : and i had indeed a year ago undertaken that easie task , but that a western gentleman , to whom i discovered my intentions , told me , that mr. long prebendary of exeter , a friend of his had already begun that good work : so that i hope it is printed by this time . and if either that or this , or any thing else , a thousand times better , and i am able to write , may prove effectual to reclaim you from schism ; i shall be as glad , as to see some other of our friends reformed from drunkenness , swearing , and uncleanness , which are very grievous , and dreadful sins , but yet not more damnable in their nature , nor more destructive to the christian religion , nor more deeply rooted in the soul of man , than that of schism ; from which , i pray god , by the power of his grace , to preserve me , and reform you , through jesus christ our lord ; to whose protection i commit you , and rest , your most affectionase cousins , and humble servants . saumur : may 7. 1674 finis . advertisement . there is lately published a book entituled , the royal apology : or an answer to the rebels plea : wherein the most noted anti-monarchical tenents , first , published by doleman the jesuite . to promote a bill of exclusion against king james , secondly , practised by bradshaw and the regicides in the actual murder of king charles the 1st . thirdly , republished by sidney and the associators , to depose and murder his present majesty , are distinctly considered . with a parallel between doleman , brad , shaw , sidney , and other of the true protestant party . london , printed by t. b. for robert clavel , and are to be sold by randolph taylor near stationers-hall . 1684. price 1 s. some observations upon the tickling querie (viz.) whether the admitting of a popish successor be the best way to preserve the protestant religion, with other passages touching the history of the succession and other pamphlets / by a gentleman in the countrey to his friend in london. gentleman in the countrey. 1681 approx. 28 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a60816 wing s4542 estc r17822 11936250 ocm 11936250 51184 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a60816) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 51184) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 513:42) some observations upon the tickling querie (viz.) whether the admitting of a popish successor be the best way to preserve the protestant religion, with other passages touching the history of the succession and other pamphlets / by a gentleman in the countrey to his friend in london. gentleman in the countrey. [2], 7 p. printed for joanna brome ..., london : 1681. reproduction of original in university of pennsylvania library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2007-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-01 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-01 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-01 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion some observations upon the tickling querie , ( viz. ) whether the admitting of a popish successor , be the best way to preserve the protestant religion ? with other passages touching the history of the succession and other pamphlets . by a gentleman in the countrey to his friend in london . in illa tempora perventum est quibus nec vitia nec remedia pati possumus . liv. london : printed for joanna brome , at the gun at the west-end of st. pauls , mdclxxxi . some observations , &c. sir , vve return you our humble thanks for your constant communicating to us your city-pamphlets , for though generally there is neither much wit nor truth in most of them , yet they give us some divertisement to observe how industrious they are to sow the tares of disloyalty and sedition in the heads and hearts of the people : but , god be thanked , we do not find that it takes much effect , at least , about us , for we knowing their design , and having , many of us , seen the cheat acted once before , are not so easily prevail'd upon to renounce our loyalty to the best of kings , and our veneration and obedience to the best religion in the world , only to rescue a company of furious zealots from those punishments they know their ill actions have deserved , and which they think cannot be safe but by attempting greater . as for your intelligences and mercuries , that call themselves protestant , certainly they are the last effort of the pope and the devil to make the word odious in the world , and certainly are as great a scandal to the true intention of the word protestant , as popery is to christianity . and though the word it self doth not signifie religion ( no more than the late protestation of the lords at oxford made them one jot the more religious . ) for the true and proper distinction between us and the papists is the reformation , and at this day those whom we call protestants of france , stile themselves ceux de la religion reformée , and their church , l'eglise reformée . however time and use those great arbitrators of words , have made the word protestant , familiar and significative amongst us , and is not so large as , no papist , ( as some would have it ) so as to include turks and jews and what not : but hath its sober signification , and with us signifies , those in the communion of the church of england established by law at the times of the reformation in the days of king edward the sixth , and queen elizabeth , and so continued down to this day . but as for those sham-protestants , those scribling-bermicham , and as they call themselves dissenting-protestants , are no more protestants in the true notion of the word , than one that denies a thing can be said to affirm it , or one that dissents can be said to assent . and as the word took its origin from those gallant protesting princes of germany against the edict of spire : so it were not much matter if it were laid aside , when it is usurped by such seditious and scandalous persons , who shame the word . your other books of the history of the succession , character of a popish successor , and such like , what do they but rake in the kennels of history , and pick up all the black and unjustifiable actions of several ages to make good their own seditious principles , and think themselves good men , if they can find any upon record as bad as themselves : it being as illogical from those many rapes that have been made upon the legitimate succession of the crown , by those several bold usurpers and ambitious pretenders to royalty through the assistance of discontented grandees and clergy-men , to prove this an elective monarchy , as to prove the lawfulness of robbing upon shooters or gads-hill , because de facto it hath often there been put in execution . but it is an easie thing to persuade men that are resolved upon the point ; and though we know they would stick at no villany to compass their ends were it once in their power , yet they please themselves to see how many gudgeons they catch , with these specious baits of precedents and history , which neither they themselves believe , nor hope they will prevail upon any thinking men , yet knowing how willingly the zealous party are led by the nose , they venture to print any thing , rather than seem to starve their cause , or let their mad admirers cool into soberness and loyalty . how much more ingenuous aud beneficial to mankind were it for these men to have observ'd to the world how funest and tragical both to prince and people , most of those usurpations have been , though otherwise confirmed , as they call it , by parliaments ; what seas of blood have been let out of the veins of noble and simple , what ruins and desolations have attended the defence of their ill-obtained regalities , where as 't is said in ill-gotten goods , vix gaudet tertius haeres : so in these parliamentary titles they never were of long continuance ; but the restless nation through an innate loyalty and secret love and acknowledgment of the sacred right of succession , was alwaies rowling and never quiet , till the crown was fixed upon the true and legitimate heir . and how little knowledge in judicial astrology would serve the turn to predict the same effects from the same causes ? and how easie to imagine that they may at last be cudgell'd into that loyalty and obedience , which now they willingly forfeit , and after a vast expence of blood and treasure be glad to return to that blessed peace and protection we now enjoy , but do not value . ay , but the protestant religion will be destroyed under a popish successor ? and we are under more strong obligations of conscience to defend our religion , than we are to defend the title of any prince whatsoever : and it is a greater offence to god almighty to introduce idolatry than to destroy monarchy : and several other pretty arguments to prepare the people to rebel for conscience sake . to these and a great many more i shall not trouble my self nor you to make any remarks upon , as arising rather from mistaken zeal , than from solid reasoning : but i shall only touch upon their beloved , darling querie , over which they hug and tickle themselves , and make such an oration , as if they had gotten some signal victory ; viz. whether the admitting of a popish successor , be the best way of preserving the protestant religion ? now if there can be any rational account given of this paradox , or that any one can make the question it self consistent with religion or policy , erit mihi magnus apollo . but though i shall not undertake so seemingly difficult a province , as to answer the querie , as they term it , categorically , yet you will pardon me if i give you my slight thoughts of it . and first i must dissect it into parts , as whether the admission of a popish successor be in our choice or no ? or , whether god almighty hath left it to the liberty of every people to chuse their prince ? and if so , which of the people is to do it ? and if religion hath any influence upon his being admitted , then another querie may be , whether the admitting a presbyterian successor be the best way of preserving the protestant religion ? and so an independent , anabaptist , or quaking successor . then i am to ask , what you mean by protestant religion , whether that established by law , or some other , or all other but that ? for if we may judge by the querents , we know there is nothing less in their thoughts than being over solicitous to preserve that religion , which they brand with these ridiculous terms of torism , tantivism , masqueradism , and such like ingenious titles : for which reasons the querie might be , whether popery or presbytery is the readier way to destroy the protestant religion ? and indeed this is a querie too hard for me to determine , i know the papists have will enough , but the presbyter hath constantly had the better of them , as having better advantage , being a seeming friend and so less suspected ; and indeed the papists despair of doing any great mischief but through their sides , and by their assistance . and i do extremely wonder , that men of parts , as some of the faction certainly are , should be so gull'd with malicious zeal against the religion established by law , that they are content once more to be the papists journey-men and tools , as they in their prints confess they were , when they would divert the odium of the late rebellion , and murdering the late king , of ever-blessed memory , from themselves upon the papists , who they acknowledge insinuated themselves into their councils , to their armies , their pulpits , and what not , ( i was going to say their very beds . ) so that whilst the innocent presbyter had no other ends but advancing the kingdom of jesus christ , and making the king a glorious king , according to the covenant , the jesuitical independents snatched the king out of their hands ( who was their king , by one title more than any other party could pretend , as having bought him of the scots , and that at a great rate , and some of them knew for what end too ) and , god knows much against their will , cut off his head ; while on the other side , the more ingenious villains of the two , the independents , own the fact , but tell them they could never have done it , had not they held him by the hair. thus the king was once murdered , and the religion destroy'd by the zeal of the presbyter , under the conduct of the subtle jesuit . and now we see , since the great plot against the king and the church of england hath failed , having been so happily and fully discovered , by that never-to-be-forgotten doctor oats , and the rest of the concurring evidence , the sly jesuit hath betaken himself to his old slights of plowing with the zealous dissenters , as the said doctor oats so prophetically swore and foretold in his first discovery , assigning the very places and stages on which they were to act , as he said such and such going for scotland , and mingling themselves with the discontented party there , who no doubt play'd their parts so well , as to stir up some zealots to murther the late bishop of st. andrews ; others to the late rebellion there , which was so happily suppressed by the courage and conduct of his grace the duke of monmouth . but that which is most strange is , that it seems that the very blood which was there drawn from the rebels , hath by some energetick influence infected some of those that drew it ; who have ever since been suspected , at least , very much to favour the party and abett the principles of those they chastised . mysterious victory ! where on one side their bodies , on the other their minds were interchangeably led captive . nay more , that victory of the dukes was so ill resented by that party here that have a secret compassion for all insuccessful rebels , ( and probably the jesuits the doctor mentioned and these were all of a complexion ) that some had like to have lost their interest , for pushing that service farther than was intended they should have done , and destroying so many of those daring and precious souls they might hereafter have occasion to make use of . but to return to our tickling querie , and the little ones in the belly of it ; though indeed it is the most disingenuous thing in the world to make queries and lay some stress upon them , which they themselves know have no foundation in reason or practice . for if it be as clear as the sun that in such a kingdom as we are in , viz. an hereditary kingdom , where the succession hath been continued down for so many ages ( saving some interruptions by usurpers , which never lasted long , and cost the nation so dear as was before hinted ) we are no more concerned in the qualifications of a legitimate successor , than we are in the frosty weather in may , or the no rain in april : but if god in his wisdom shall think fit by sending us a popish successor ( as they call him ) for to revenge and punish a sinful and peevish nation , or for the tryal of the faith and courage of those that call themselves protestants , what have we to do but receive him , as we should do all other chastisements , with all veneration and submission , and beg of him to give us grace to make the right use of those afflictions , that is to amend our lives , and be so much the better , by how much the times are the worse . as for the writer of the character he hath taken indeed a great deal of pains to represent his popish successor in all the dismal and frightful appearances that wit or malice could handsomely invent , on purpose to scare unwary people out of their wits first , and then out of their loyalty and allegiance as well towards the possessor as the successor ; for to speak the plain truth , the arguments as well as the design is clearly against both , at least they know there is no plausible way to prevent the successor , but by using the possessor so ill , that he may be forc'd at last to yield to their importunities , and pass such laws as may either totally exclude , or so modifie and shackle the successor , that it shall not be in his power to do half the harm the character threatens us with . and here naturally falls in a question , whether a king in possession with the advice and consent of his three estates assembled in parliament ( the mint and fountain of all our laws ) can legally do the one or the other , that is , either exclude or modifie ? and though it be a dangerous thing to question what a king so fortified may or may not do , yet we see every day , several undertaking and determining the question on either side , and that positively ; so that we are left , in aequilibrio , which side to take , as our affections and interest most incline us . and though i will not be positive on either side , i shall only put this querie : whether if it were clear , or granted , that they could not exclude , whether then they could not modifie ? i know that the current of opinions is , that all modifications are ineffectual and delusory , nothing but a total exclusion will serve the turn . now if they would be ingenuous and would confess that they are of opinion , that nothing but an exclusion will serve their turns , i should be a little of their minds , for being conscious to themselves how far they have provok'd him , they judging by their own charity , conclude themselves unpardonable , and therefore for their own security must endeavour to wheedle the whole nation into the same degree of guilt to save them harmless . but we hope the nation is not so mad yet , to involve themselves in so great sin and danger only to gratifie or secure a few discontented republican desperado's . therefore to leave that question to them of those principles , give me leave to put you a case that on this subject was urged by one of our company ( and he a very honest man too , as we take him at least . ) i would willingly be satisfied , saith he , why the king in possession with the advice and consent aforesaid , foreseeing that by a popish successor at any time , it is more than probable , not only the religion established , but the very laws and government will be in danger of suffering such convulsions as may hazard the ruin and downfall of monarchy and religion both , whether ( saith he ) they may not make such laws and provisions , as may in humane probability prevent or alleviate such dismal consequences . as for instance , without reflecting upon the d. y. whether he be a papist or not , nor if he were so , whether he be the worse ( as the character asserts ) for being one of the most accomplished persons in europe : we are only to enquire , says he , whether if the religion established by law in england , be a religion worth our care , and that certainly by all lawful means we may endeavour its preservation and continuance among us , and its consignation to our costerity ; and that the religion in england is so implicated and involved with the laws and government , that one cannot be invaded but the other must be in danger , and if it be necessary to preserve either or both , and that it is not consistent with reason to expect this from a popish successor at any time ; then whether it be not in the lawful power ( i will not add , saith he , the duty and obligation ) of the king in possession with the advice and consent aforesaid , to make and pass a general law by act of parliament , that no papist whatsoever shall at any time hereafter be capable of inheriting the crown , with such other circumstances as shall be thought necessary for such an act. and first , saith he , here is no wrong done to any man ( for the d. y. is not yet convict of being so ) for if the modes and qualifications be lawfully laid , then 't is not the law but you that exclude your self , and the subjects are excused by a law ( as great as that which requires them to take the oath of allegiance ) from submitting to such an unqualified person . now though it is urged by some ( continues he ) that in hereditary successions , no limitations can be laid by any power upon earth to bar the inheritance , being founded by a law paramount to all humane and positive laws , viz. the law of god and nature : yet give me leave , says he , to ask these gentlemen , whether the laws of god and nature have more force here in england , than in any other part of the world ? we know very well that by the laws they speak of , proximity of blood is only to be regarded , without any other consideration , either of religion , manners , sex or age , even to ideots and madmen . how then comes it to pass , that in france an hereditary monarchy of the first magnitude , the crown is limited to the heirs males , for whether the salique law be as old as pharamond , as they pretend it is , or whether it were only made to serve a turn to exclude our edward from his natural right to that crown , in right of his mother , it will not be worth the while to enquire at this time a-day , de facto , it is so , and hath been , to the exclusion of all females and their issue to this very time . and though some would seem to justifie the practice with a dispensation from heaven , because there is such a passage in the scripture , lilia nec nent nec laborant , yet that will scarce pass with any but such as interpret scripture a la mode de france . so in portugal , where they admit of females to inherit the crown , yet they are limited to such as marry within that kingdom , and this upon pretence of the law of lamego ; a fresh instance of which is now upon the stage in the infanta of portugal , who being to marry with the duke of savoy , in order to make their issue capable of inheriting the crown of portugal , the states of the nation were convened , and their consent required , for dispensing with that law for this time , and in that case . and by vertue of that law the late duke of braganza ( father to the present king and prince regent of portugal ) was declared king , having marryed catherine , a younger daughter , yet marryed within the kingdom ; whilst the issue of mary though elder daughter marryed to the duke of parma , were excluded , according to that law of lamego . in poland ( though it be yet an elective kingdom ) yet their very elections are confin'd and limited to one that is a roman catholick . and so in several parts of germany their chief magistrate must be alternatively a romanist and a lutheran . now if all this be well done in these countries notwithstanding the divine , natural right of succession by proximity of blood ; and if every nation is bound by the highest law to take care , ne quid detrimenti respublica capiat ; and we see other countries do and have made laws which they judge most convenient for the good of those respective countries even to the limiting the succession ; how comes it to pass that we in england are deprived of this liberty that other countries take in preserving themselves and their government entire and unshaken . another question of this nature and probably as important as the former was urg'd by another friend , viz. in case the wisdom of a king in possession by the advice and consent aforesaid : should make such a law to deprive all papists from inheriting the crown , and should declare , that such and such overt acts should be a sufficient conviction in law to affect such persons of being so , and then entayling the crown upon the next protestant heir in succession : how then should good subjects behave themselves in such a juncture ? and several other queries incident hereunto we had , which i shall not trouble you with at this time , but intreat you to give us your thoughts of these i have mentioned , as freely as we have imparted ours . and though these sort of questions seem a little to confirm or favour the tickling querie i mentioned at first ; give me leave to say thus much to this and all other queries of this nature ? first , that the protestant religion of the church of england , teaches us no other doctrine than what was taught by the apostles themselves , that is , obedience and submission to kings and governours : and that not because they are of this or that religion or persuasion ( as they now term it ) but purely and abstractedly for conscience sake , it is the ordinance of god , and he that resisteth shall receive to himself damnation . next , that we ought continually to bless god for , and earnestly pray for the long life of our most gracious sovereign ( never one more truly termed the light of our eyes and the breath of our nostrils ) and then these captious queries are needless of themselves . but if it should please god to change the scene , and send us a king of another temper , i am sure that then the best way to preserve the protestant religion is , to be of the same mind still , that is to fear god and honour the king , and we need not fear but that the god whom we serve , who hath the hearts of kings in his hands , will so order things , that by our peaceable conversation in such a juncture , most of those dismal apprehensions we are terrified with , will blow over , or if it should prove a storm , it will be either not violent or not long . and this is so peculiarly the doctrine of the church of england , that i think i may challenge all the churches of the several persuasions in the world , to say and prove they hold this doctrine ; for certainly if it were so , those desperate tenents of murdering of princes , &c. would never have been heard of in the world ; and whether the jesuit or the presbyter be most guilty in that particular , both in doctrine and practice , would be a subject too long and too odious for to be comprehended within the compass of a letter . to conclude then this great case and answer this curious querie as positively as i can , i shall be bold to affirm , that if almighty god in his providence should please to send us a popish prince , the best way to preserve the protestant religion in the purity of her doctrine , is not only to admit him , but submit to his just authority in all his lawful commands . we know no arms but those of the old christian martyrs , prayers and tears : we are alwaies ready to fight for , never against our prince . we fear hell more than smithfield ; and assuredly if the princes of the world would impartially weigh the purity and simplicity of the doctrines of the church of england , the innocency and decency of her ceremonies , the regularity and decorum in her offices and administrations , the integrity and candour of her principles and manners , they would not only conclude her to be the best transcript of the original copy of primitive christianity that is left in the world , but the best security to establish the thrones of kings , and the best rule for subjects to learn and practise that due obedience they owe to governours . oh! that i could add , that the lives of her professors were answerable to the doctrines and principles of their profession . for 't is such a paradox , as well as burthen of spirit to all true , sober protestants , to observe that generally those that walk most strictly in their lives , and pretend to have a degree of sanctity and holiness above other men , they have no proportion of submission and deference to their lawful superiors both in church and state , with other men of less sanctity or parts . whilst on the other side those that pretend to have the greatest loyalty for their prince , and obedience to all in authority under him , do commonly give themselves too great a liberty in their outward conversation , and indulge themselves too much in their sensual enjoyments , to the reciprocal scandal one of another ; for whilst one side takes advantage and says , look what lives these loyalists lead : the other returns , observe what principles these zealots hold , thereby encouraging and hardning each other in their half-christianity . and without peradventure it will never be well , till one side adorns his loyalty with a holy-life , and the other crowns his zeal with loyalty and obedience . then should we be the happiest people alive , under whatever dispensations of providence we may possibly fall . thus begging your pardon for troubling you with our country conceptions , we kiss your hands and remain , your faithful servants , &c. the end . reasons for his majesties passing the bill of exclusion in a letter to a friend. devonshire, william cavendish, duke of, 1640-1707. 1681 approx. 20 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a35809 wing d1233 estc r253 12264627 ocm 12264627 57968 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a35809) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57968) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 180:14) reasons for his majesties passing the bill of exclusion in a letter to a friend. devonshire, william cavendish, duke of, 1640-1707. [2], 6 p. printed for j.w. and sold by langly curtis, london : 1681. "by william cavendish, afterwards duke of devonshire?"--halkett & laing (2nd ed.). title page vignette. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -history -charles ii, 1660-1685. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2006-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-09 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-10 celeste ng sampled and proofread 2006-10 celeste ng text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion reasons for his majesties passing the bill of exclusion . in a letter to a friend . london : printed for j-w . and sold by langly curtis , 1681. reasons for his majesties passing the bill of exclusion . i am not ignorant that you have lately heard reports to my disadvantage , concerning some matters relating to the publick : and though i flatter my self ( much more i confess from your partiality to me , than any merit i can pretend to ) that you do not think the worse of me for them ; yet because one cannot be too sure of what one values so highly , as i do your esteem , i take the liberty to give you some account of my thoughts of the present posture of affairs , that if i am not so happy as to continue still in the good opinion you have formerly had of my firmness to the publick interest , i may learn at least in what particular you conceive i have varied from it : which last , though perhaps less welcome than the first , will yet be own'd as a very great mark of your friendship , since i assure my self , you have too much charity for me to impute my errours in this kinde to any worse cause than want of understanding . i must confess , i have had no great veneration of late for some men , who though extreme zealous in appearance for things of publick concern , and particularly for the bill for excluding the duke of york from the succession to the crown , have yet taken such methods for the obtaining that bill , as ( with respect to their popularity ) look't to me , as if they had rather wish'd it should be denied , than granted . i mean a sort of men that pass with the vulgar for very publick spirits , yet are no otherwise for the publick good , than as they think it may conduce to their own private designs . if matters be not dispos'd for them to leap into a great place , or to be restor'd to some office they have formerly enjoy'd , and in which they have discovered principles far different from what they now profess : if every one they have a prejudice to be not immediately removed , or perhaps if they fancy themselves the most likely to head the rabble , should things fall into confusion ; they will be sure with great appearance of zeal to press things of less moment , and which they think will be denied , lest any thing that really tends to settlement should be granted ; and they are for the most part gainers by this , for their vehemence , which proceeds from dark and hidden causes , seldom fails of being mistaken by the vulgar for a true and hearty love of their country . i believe his majesty will finde these men harder , i am sure less necessary to be satisfied , than the nation : and therefore i hope you will not wonder if i , who care not much for a great office if the bill of exclusion do pass , or to be popular with the rabble if it do not , cannot heartily concur with all that seems to be aimed at by that sort of people . i suppose you have heard which way i have declar'd my opinion concerning that bill , when i thought it to any purpose : but give me leave ( with as little reflection upon the causes of the breach of the last parliament , as the subject will permit ) to tell you , what in my poor judgment may most conduce to the passing it in the parliament which is to meet at oxford . i cannot imagine how popular speeches in either house , or angry votes that are not always backt with the strongest reason , much less the pamphlets that fly about in the intervals of parliament , can signifie much to the obtaining this bill ; for to what purpose are arguments to the people to prove the necessity of that , which they are so fully convinc'd of already ? i should rather think it worthy the wisdom of the next parliament , to consider what argumens are most likely to prevail with the king himself in this matter ; and instead of such addresses as carry the least shew of menace in them , which cannot but be offensive , since to suppose a king capable of fear , is the worst complement can be made him ; instead of angry votes which may alienate the hearts of the people yet farther from his majesty , and make him more averse from granting their reasonable desires , and consequently from consenting to this bill , to lay before him such reasons for it , as may convince him that it is his own particular interest to pass it . i do not mention the house of lords , being too well assur'd of the loyalty of that noble assembly , to doubt of their passing any thing for which his majesty shews the least inclination . taking it then for granted that this bill only sticks with his majesty , no arguments are of moment to obtain it , but such as ought to be of weight with him ; and those i conceive to be of this nature . one objection must first be removed : for since kings , of all men living , ought to have the greatest regard to justice , we must not suppose that his majesty can ever consent to this bill , till he be satisfyed of the justice of it . i shall therefore endeavour to prove , not onely that it is just , but agreeable to the very intention and design of government . it seems to me to be an undeniable position , that government is intended for the safety and protection of those that are govern'd ; and that where the supreme power is lodg'd in a single person , he is invested with that power , not for his own greatness or pleasure , but for the good of the people . the tyrannies in aristotles time , and those that continue to this day in the eastern parts , must certainly have degenerated from a better kind of government by some accident or other ; since what people can be suppos'd to have been so void of sense , and so servilely inclin'd , as to give up their lives and liberties to the unbounded disposal of one man , without imposing the least condition upon him ? for admit , according to mr. hobbes , that monarchical government is form'd by an agreement of a society of men , to devolve all their power and interest upon one man , and to make him judge of all differences that shall arise among them ; 't is plain , that this can be for no other end , than the security and protection of those that enter into such a contract ; otherwise , you must suppose them mad-men , voluntarily to strip themselves of all means of defence , against the fury and violence of one of their number , rather than continue in a state of war , where at the worst , they are as free to rob , as they are subject to be rob'd . 't is hard therefore to conceive , that absolute monarchy could ever have been constituted by consent of any society of men , ( besides that we see those that live under them , would be glad to shake off their yoke if they could ) but 't is probable they may have been rais'd by the ambition and valour of some prince , or succession of princes , or by the peoples supineness in suffering themselves to be enslav'd by degrees , and so being at last forc'd to submit , when 't was too late to oppose . i have insisted the longer upon this argument , because another depends upon it , which comes nearer the present question ; for if no reason of government can be assign'd , but the safety and protection of the people , it follows naturally , that the succession of princes in hereditary monarchies , cannot be binding , nor ought to be admitted , where it proves manifestly inconsistent with those ends . i need not instance in all the cases that incapacitate a prince to perform the office of a chief governour ; but i can think of no disability so strong or so undeniable , as his being of a different religion from that which is generally own'd by the people . religion , consider'd only in a politick sense , is one of the chief supports of civil government ; for the fear of corporal punishments , nay of death itself , would often prove insufficient to deter men from refusing obedience to their superiours , or from breaking their laws , without those stronger tyes of hope of reward , and fear of punishment in another life . the romans , of a fierce and rude people , were made tractable by numa , and submitted to such laws and customs as he thought fit to introduce , not so much by their being convinc'd of the reasonableness of those laws , as by the finding a way to perswade them , that all his new constitutions were the dictates of a divinity , with whom he pretended daily to converse . this sense of religion rais'd that people afterwards to that incredible exactness of order and discipline ; and the belief they had the gods of their side , made them run so intrepidly upon dangers , that cicero observes , that though some nations excell'd them in learning and arts , others equall'd if not exceeded them in valour and strength , 't was to religion , and their respect to divine mysteries , that they ow'd their conquest of the world. but this very religion , that is the bond of union between a prince and his people , when both profess the same , must of necessity produce the contrary effects , and be the seed of the most fatal disorders , nay of the dissolution of governments , where they differ . the same conscience that tyes the peoples affections fastest to the prince in the first case , dissolves all manner of trust , all bonds of obedience , in the second . it is impossible that a prince should signifie any thing towards the support of the people's religion , being himself of another ; nor would it ever be believed , if he could : and how can that government subsist , where the people are unanimously possest with a belief that the prince is incapable of protecting them in that which for the most part they value above all other considerations ? i know no instance can be given in this northern part of the world , even in those kingdoms that have varied from their original constitution and are become absolute , that a prince of a different religion from the people , was ever admitted to the crown . queen mary here in england met with some opposition ; yet she could not be said to be of a different religion from the people : for popery was so far from being extirpated in her days , that she found a parliament that joyn'd with her in the restoring that religion . but in france , when the king of navarre , a protestant , was presumptive heir to the crown , the states assembled at blois ( as all historians of that time agree ) had certainly excluded him , and the rest of that branch that were protestants from the succession , if they had not parted abruptly , upon the death of the duke of guise and his brother . nay some affirm , that the king himself , though of the establish'd religion , was not out of danger of being depos'd , upon a suspicion of his favouring too much the protestant faction , in opposition to the league . after the kings death the hereditary right was without dispute in the king of navarre ; but he found none to assist him in the making good his title , but the protestant party , of whom he was the head , and some creatures of his predecessour , that took his part more out of hatred to the league , than affection to him . this prince was at last indeed admitted to the crown , upon his conversion to the church of rome . but that would not have sufficed , nor would the generality of the people , who were extremely zealous for their religion , ever have trusted one that had been of another , had he not happen'd to be a prince of incomparable courage and conduct , who through seas of blood , and after many victories , forcing his entrance into the capital city , made his way to the throne by conquest , rather than by a voluntary admission of the people . it is observable by the way , that the bishops and clergy of france were so far from setting up a divine right of succession above the religion establish'd , that most of them opposed him even after his conversion , all of them before ; and the pulpits rung with such bitter invectives against him , ( only upon the account of religion ) as perhaps no age can parallel . this i should think might serve for instruction to some bishops , that i could name , who by maintaining that nothing ought to over-rule the hereditary right of succession , must either confess , that their religion deserves not so much to be defended as the romish doth , or that they themselves are not so zealous in the defence of it as they ought to be . let these assertors of divine right tell me , if in france , at this day the most absolute monarchy in europe , and where the succession is held most sacred , a protestant prince would be admitted to the crown . and here in england , besides the consideration of religion , that of property is not to be neglected , since what security can be given that abbey-lands , in which most landed men in the kingdom have a share , would not be restor'd to the church under the reign of a popish prince ? the objection that a prince may be of the church of rome , and yet not change the establisht religion , is frivolous . for though there may be a possibility of his not attempting it , deterr'd perhaps by the peoples universal detestation of popery , or discourag'd by the ill success of former attempts ; this amounts to no more , than that he will not bring popery in , because he cannot . but is this all that a king of england is obliged to do , by the oath which he takes at his coronation ? an oath not only a crime for him to take , ( if he be a papist ) but impossible for him to keep . for can a papist defend that religion to the utmost of his power , which cannot be fully secured but by the suppression of his own ? can he be a fit head of the protestant interest abroad , who ( while he continues of the church of rome ) must wish there were never a protestant left in the world ? if he be incapable of doing this , that is , if the ends of government cannot be obtained in the ordinary course of succession , the state must of necessity fall into confusion , if there be not an extraordinary power lodg'd somewhere , to provide for its preservation . that power here in england , is in a parliament , and has often been made use of ; but i conceive , for the reasons above mention'd , never more justly than upon this occasion . and though the justice of this bill be very clear , i think the next thing yet easier to prove , which is , that it is his majesties real interest to pass it . for if this government be so constituted , that the king having the hearts of his people , is one of the most considerable princes in europe , but without them signifies but little , either at home or abroad , as i doubt that is the case ; and if nothing can contribute more to the alienating the peoples affections from him , than his denying this bill , one would think there needed no other motives to induce his majesty to pass it . but besides , i should not think this unworthy of his majesties consideration , if there are some persons to whom he may have a just prejudice ; and who if they cannot bring to pass what-ever they propose to themselves , will still be endeavouring to make the breach wider ; whether the denyal of this bill may not furnish them with too plausible arguments with the people , to refuse such necessary demands as his majesty may make for the safety of the kingdom , or the support of his alliances ; and whether on the contrary , the passing it may not very much disappoint those counterfeit patriots , by taking from them the best pretence they have of stirring up the people to sedition . nay , who knows but the refusal of this bill may exasperate the nation to that degree , that a title may be set up on pretence of a former marriage , by the help of false witnesses , which though as ridiculous in itself , as injurious to his majesties reputation , may yet put the whole kingdom into a flame ? the expedient of taking away all regal power from a popish successor , and leaving him only the name of a king , can be no satisfactory security to the nation , unless such a form of government were setled during the life of his predecessor . for otherwise the successor , ( having a right to the crown , which without an act to exclude him he will have ) may not only pretend that the predecessor cannot give away his prerogative , but probably may succeed in opposing it , by the difficulty that is always found in the introducing of new constitutions . now whether this expedient ( being put in practice during the life of the present king ) be not as good for the people , as the bill , i shall not now dispute ; but as to the king himself , i think 't is clear , that nothing can be less for his honour or interest , than to admit of such an expedient . the objection that this bill may disunite scotland from england , seems not very weighty . for first , we know not but a free parliament there , may pass a bill to the same effect ; but if they do not , the disunion cannot happen , unless the duke outlive the king ; and in that case , will continue but during his survivance , for the next successor will unite the kingdoms again . this inconvenience therefore , if it be at all , will be of so short continuance , as cannot be of weight to ballance with those present and visible mischiefs that may fall upon the nation for want of this bill . some have fancy'd , and i hope 't is but a fancy , that the king has made a solemn promise to his brother , never to pass it . i will suppose the worst . if his majesty have made such a promise , i conceive , with submission , it is void in itself . for if he have taken an oath at his coronation to maintain the establisht religion , and in order to that , it be necessary to pass this bill , i doubt no subsequent promise can absolve him from the performance of that oath . in the next place , all promises are understood to be for the advantage of him that makes them , or of him they are made to , or both . but the performing this would not only be ruinous to his majesty , but of no advantage to his royal highness : for how great soever his merit and vertues are acknowledged to be , he lyes under a circumstance that makes it impossible for him to come to the crown ( though this bill never pass ) but by conquest ; and that way he may have it , notwithstanding all the acts that can be made to oppose him . i shall add no more to the trouble i have given you upon this subject , but that i am for this bill , because i think it just and necessary , not because it is contended for by a party : for i hold my self as free to differ with that party , when i think them in the wrong , as to agree with them when they have reason of their side . this may be an errour , at least may be subject to mis-construction , in a time that most things are so ; but i hope you that have known me long , will judge more charitably of sir , your most humble servant . finis . the true portraiture of the kings of england, drawn from their titles, successions, raigns and ends, or, a short and exact historical description of every king, with the right they have had to the crown, and the manner of their wearing of it, especially from william the conqueror wherein is demonstrated that there hath been no direct succession in the line to create an hereditary right, for six or seven hundred years : faithfully collected out of our best histories, and humbly presented to the parliament of england / by an impartial friend to justice and truth. parker, henry, 1604-1652. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a56345 of text r33010 in the english short title catalog (wing p429). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 119 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 24 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a56345 wing p429 estc r33010 12841418 ocm 12841418 94379 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a56345) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 94379) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1038:1) the true portraiture of the kings of england, drawn from their titles, successions, raigns and ends, or, a short and exact historical description of every king, with the right they have had to the crown, and the manner of their wearing of it, especially from william the conqueror wherein is demonstrated that there hath been no direct succession in the line to create an hereditary right, for six or seven hundred years : faithfully collected out of our best histories, and humbly presented to the parliament of england / by an impartial friend to justice and truth. parker, henry, 1604-1652. [4], 42 p. printed by r.w. for francis tyton ..., london : 1650. "to the reader" signed: henry parker. imperfect: print showthrough with loss of print. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. eng kings and rulers -succession. great britain -kings and rulers. great britain -politics and government. a56345 r33010 (wing p429). civilwar no the true portraiture of the kings of england; drawn from their titles, successions, raigns and ends. or, a short and exact historical descri parker, henry 1650 22163 33 5 0 0 0 0 17 c the rate of 17 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-04 john latta sampled and proofread 2008-04 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the trve portraitvre of the kings of england ; drawn from their titles , successions , raigns and ends . or , a short and exact historical description of every king , with the right they have had to the crown , and the manner of their wearing of it ; especially from william the conqueror . wherein is demonstated , that there hath been no direct succession in the line to create an hereditary right , for six or seven hundred yeers ; faithfully collected out of our best histories , and humbly presented to the parliament of england . by an impartial friend to iustice and truth . psal. 146. 3. put not your trust in princes . psal. 62. 9. men of high degree are a lye ; to be laid in the ballance , they are altogether lighter then vanitie . nihil est imperium ut sapientes definiunt , nisi cura salutis alienae , ammianus lib. 39. london , printed by r. w. for francis tyton at the three daggers in fleet-street , neer the inner temple-gate , 1650. to the reader . reader , in the study of politicks , the more confident we are , commonly the less proficient we are . for there is no other study wherein the passions of men do more impetuously contravene , and overturn right reason . men born in popular states , think themselves bound to abhor all kings , as being de genere bestiarum rapacium : so rome it self pronounced from the mouth of cato the censor . others on the contrary born under monarchs , speak as odiously of democracies , and make this reply to cato , that even rome her self , when she plundred a third part of the world , and graced her own captains , with the pompous titles of africanus , asiaticus , achaicus , &c. was as ravenous a beast as any other . see what strong byasses wisemen have , and obey . the question is not , whether this , or that form be free from oppression and injustice , or not ; we know well , all forms have their peculiar advantages , and disadvantages : and that at some times they all transgress their own rules and interests , as it were by accident , and not out of misconstitution : the question is , whether the one constitution or the other be more free , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , from oppression , and injustice ? now for solution of this , greater light shines , and breaks in upon us from demonstration , and sensual proof , then from syllogisms , and logical inductions . reading assures us , that rome was not so just to other nations , nor so constant to the interest of her own citizens , when she was under kings and emperors , as she was , when she chose her own consuls , and limited magistrates . t is as apparent also at this day , that the people of venice , the german hans-towns , switzerland , the united provinces , &c. do more flourish , and truly injoy the due benefits of liberty , there the french , turkish , or any royalists whatsoever . t is further as visible by the publike banks of treasure kept in democracies , and the strange splendor which traffick brings to them beyond monarchies , that faith is not kept so sacred and inviolable where one raigns , as where majesty and supream power remains vested in the people ; and most sure it is , the sanctity and untemerated chastity of publike faith is the best and firmest basis of all government . to dispute these things , is to undervalue the report of our own senses ; and to deny our own senses , is to deny our selves to be men . the enemies of our present government ubraide this our popular model , the rather , because it exasperates all our neighbours against us ; whereas this is a great argument for us , that our neighbours are troubled at the ejection of monarchy . for neighbours are more apt to envie then pitty : and the condition of him that is envied , is far better then his that is pitied . the main advantage that commends hereditary monarchy , is the unity of it , for that it is not so liable to civil broils and commotions , as other temperaments where the magistrate is elective : yet reader , if thou wilt strip thy self of thy passions and prejudices , and peruse this treatise , thou shalt see that even hereditary monarchy it self is far from being a soveraign , a remedy against civil breaches and divisions . the author of this book is unknown to me , and the book it self came casually to my hands , but i have been induced to publish it , because it invites thee not to precepts , but precedents , not to disputable but to visible politicks . i need say no more ; by the work rather then report judge of the author , and by experiment rather then logick judge of the work . henry parker . the true portraiture of the kings of england , drawn from their titles , successions , reigns , and ends , &c. to treat of the nature and difference of governments , the distinction and preheminence of monarchy , or aristocracie , with the other kinds , and forms , which have , according to the temper of the people , and the necessity of providence , had their course in the world , will be useless in this discourse , which is calculated only for this nation , and to describe not so much the government , as the persons who have ruled among us , and is onely suited to monarchy as it hath had the sway of the english throne ; a discourse not so pleasing as profitable ; we are loth to have our old soars launced , or to think of change , though it be of misery , the temper of this nation being apt to be pleased with any thing that is stately , and costly , though never so dangerous and miserable ; yet something must be said in generall , to prepare the way for the particulars of this treatise , which is not intended as controversall , or definitive of the nature of things , but meerly practical and demonstrative , fit for every eye that means not to shut himself up in blindness , and darkness . as the foundation and originall of government is confest to be of equall antiquity with the generation and multiplication of mankind : so doubless the just and methodicall use , and due management of it , is as necessary to the well-being of men , as the exact proportions , and orderly motions of the heavens are to the preservation of the globes ; and certainly without it the rationall world would be more miserable then the materiall without sun , moon and stars , with all coelestiall influences , which as they do beautifie and bespangle the world , so they do preserve it from returning to its first chaos , and rude mass of matter ; nothing being more contrary to that unity , and harmony , which the god of nature hath moulded , and disposed all things at first in , then disorder , and confusion , in which , as there is nothing of a deity to be discerned , so nothing of peace or happiness can possibly be found . and notwithstanding all this , the world hath scarce known what the natural sweetness and true benefits of government are , but only as comparative and rather as opposite to anarchy , then as advancing really and effectually the just liberties and freedoms of societies , or propagating the commonwealth of mankind ; for what through the ignorance and sloath of the people , and the pride and ambition of governors , the whole order and end of government hath been inverted , and subverted , upon all occasions ; and that which was made for the good of the whole , hath been so contracted , and circumscribed in one person , that the great and soveraign use , and end of it , by practise and custom , hath been rather to set up the pomp , and state of one man , and his family , then to promote or propagate the profit and happiness of the universe ; and whereas of right to its constitution , it should have a free election as its originall , and common good for its end , and just and equall laws for its rule ; it hath had usurpation for its principle , and tyranny , and bondage for its medium , and end . as to this day we may see in the greatest part of the world , where all the liberties of millions of men of all sorts of conditions , and ranks , are buryed in the glory and splendor of one family ; through which narrow channels , all honor and justice , all law and reason are to run up and down the world . and whereas the goodness , and beauty of government consists in the harmonious temperature of power , and obedience , of authority , and liberty , it hath been quite otherwise inverted by practise , and made apparent to lie in the majestie , and greatness of the monarch , and the absolute subjection , and servitude of the people ; and the excellency , and sweetness of it rather to be seen in the presence-chamber , and the magnificence , and grandeur of the court , then in the courts of justice , and the rich and flourishing estate of the kingdom , nothing being accounted more politicall , and glorious , then to have the prince high , and the subjects beggars ; and yet this ceremoniall way of government , hath took most place in the world , and got almost divine adoration , and hath thrust out all other forms of government , ( equally sacred with it self , and most proportionable to the nature and benefits of societies , and the fee-simple of all the liberties of the people ( which are as their bloud and spirits in their veins ) sold to maintain its state . besides many causes , and grounds of this degeneration ( whereby so much misery hath overflowed the nations of the world ) i find two , which at present are principally to be mentioned ; the first is the neglect of a right sence , and the often inculcating the originall , and end of government ; and the next a lineal succession , or continuation of government , by a natural and supposed heirship ; for want of the first , neither the people know their own rights , or how to maintain them ; or the governour his use and end , nor how to keep himself within the just bounds , and limits of his creation ; for what between the stupidity , and ignorance of the people in not knowing their primitive priviledges , that they are the originall , and end of vernment ; and the pride , and ambition of men , when once they have got power , forget both how they came by it , and to what end they are distinguished from other men , government comes both to be usurped , and tyrannicall . did the people but know that their choice and election is the foundation of just authority , & that none can rule over them but whom they appoint , they would not then be drawn into controversies and debates , whether it be treason in them to cast off a bad governour , who have the only power of choosing a good one ; and on the other side , if kings , and princes ( for to reduce all to them who have been most guilty of the abuse of government ) had but the continuall sence of the root from whence they sprung , and the duties annexed to their offices , they could not look on themselves as rulers , but tyrants when they acted for their own private prerogative ▪ in distinction from , and contrarie to the liberties and freedoms of the people ; but these considerations have been by time and prescription worn out of the mind and memories of both , partly through continual insinuations of court maxims , and the spirit of bondage in the people , and by force and usurpation in the magistrate , whereby it hath gone a long while for currant , that the people have no power , nor the prince no account to give but to god , from whom they challenge an immediate title , as if kings and princes , all their names , and successions were let down from heaven , in the same sheet that the beasts were in peters vision , and had not their root in the earth as all other magistrates besides . we have had much ado of late , but to beat off from these royal notions , both by pens and swords , and yet still they have too strong a hold in most mens hearts , though to their own undoing . whereas all men are equally born free , and naturaliz'd into all the priviledges of freedom and just liberty , no man can obtain a speciall power over any , but either ex pacto aut scelere , either by willing agreement , and consent , which is the right and just way of title , and most naturall , or by conquest , and usurpation , which is most exotick , and unjust ; for the original of kingly power , in the scripture , we all know it came in as an effect of the wantonness , and discontents of the israelites , against that speciall way of government god himself had set over them ; and view the character god gives to them of that government , and not a blessing he gives them with it ; for its rise among the heathens , and nations ( which knew not god ( among whom that government most prevail'd ; ) it was certainly first good , and grounded on the exorbitancies , and excess of other magistrates , and a high opinion of the justice , and vertue of some particluar persons , as cicero lib. offic. 2. excellently expresseth it ; mihi quidem non apud medos solum ( ut ait herodotus ) sed etiam apud majores nostros , servandae justiciae causa videntur olim bene morati reges constituti : nam cum premeretur initio multitudo ab iis qui majores opes habebant , ad unum aliquem confugiebant virtute praestantem . as if taking it for granted that among all nations that preservation , and execution of justice , with injoyning of vertue , was the first ground of the constitution of kings ; but they having got by their own goodness chief power and authority , use that favour they had gained from their own deserts , to advance their own family ; and having got in the affections of the people , through the sence of their own present worth , what by power and force , and what by policy and craft , got the same power entailed on their heirs , and so by custom have made succession the onely right , or at least the most just to crowns , and scepters . a principle which hath more hindred the advance of government , and run it on more hazards and mischiefs then any other , where by a fatall custom , people must be irreparably content with what they can finde , and reducing all to a blinde fate , & fortune , be he good , or prove bad , talis , qualis , give up both their own wills and liberties to such a succession , not only by a natural necessity , but a divine institution : how the world came to be so blinded , as thus to give away their rights and liberties , and morgage their understandings , and freedom , as bankrupts do their lands , is not to be determined , but by supposal of a judgement of god , and an over-reach of power and force , or by an ignis fatuus of policie and subtilty . for this naturall and hereditary succession ( which is now adored as the grand title ) if truly considered , is nothing else but a continuation of conquest , or a surprisall by the good nature of the people , when they have been either low , and in fear , and taking advantage of their high esteem of some eminent person , who hath been more then ordinary instrumentall to them , have got the people to convey the same honor to their posterity after them ; the peoples consent being thus ravished from them , it s made a law , both civil and divine to after generations ; but the world is now , or should be grown wise : let us consider the nature and use of this succession , both in general , and particular , especially as it hath been acted in england . among all the catalogue of vanities which solomon reckons up in his sacred retractations , there is none he puts such a character on , as for a man to spend his time and strength in getting of riches , and knows not who shall succeed him in the injoyment of the profit and good of his labour , or whether he may be a wise man or a fool ; but what a misery , and worse then vanity is this , that the supream power of government ( in the right execution of which all the concernments of millions of men are interested ) should be intailed on one man , ( though never so deserving in his own person , ) and the heirs of his body , be he good or bad , a wise man , or very nigh a fool , and so all their happiness depend on hap and hazard from generation to generation ? it cannot be rationally or spiritually supposed , that any man should be born a magistrate or governor , especially not successively , when the best men , and most choise spirits , who have had the highest eminencies of vertue , and best improvement of education , and natural genius , are hardly fit for so great a work . if kings have such a vis formativa in their loyns , as to beget kings in the likeness of their office , as children in the image of their natures , it must be necessarily supposed , that they must generate all these royall qualifications together with them , and by the same naturall necessity transfer all their princely endowments to them also . whereas i had almost affirmed it , ( and i hope no man can account it either heresie or treason ) that god himself cannot intail on any particular line of mankinde , the power and authority of government out of his wisdom , and love to their happiness ( without he meant to do it in judgement , and to plague the world ) and not give them sutable and successive qualifications also , fit for that emploiment ; it being gods use ( according to his wisdom , and righteousness ) neither ordinarily nor extraordinarily to call out persons to any place , but he anoints them with proportionable gifts to it . and yet the poor people ( whom god hath naturally made free , and to make use of their own understandings and affections for their own good ) are by this succession , bound up from the improvement either of soul or body , fain to be content with what they can get for present , and to shift it out from age to age ( with the loss of all opportunities of choice ) only with what corrupt nature brings them forth , which oftentimes travels sorely in pain with the curse of the fathers who begat these governors . hence also it comes to pass , that oftentimes children are made kings , and though they are uncapable at present for the actuall exercise of that office , yet are proclaimed , as having the right , and title , and all things acted in their name , and the whole commonwealth , it may be of many nations , must wait for his capacity with fear and hope , which capacity is also at best to be judged by his years , rather then fitness or qualification for so high a trust ; and in the mean while the kingdom must be governed by some favorites of the last king , or some next kinsman to this ; and while the king is thus in pupillage , we may well ask , who governs the kingdom ? and yet oftentimes it hath faln out , that their government hath been better ordered in their nonage by others , then in their own by themselves , as appears especially in the raign of henry the third , and henry the sixth , kings of england ; the first being but nine years old when his father died , the latter but nine moneths ; who while they were yong , and under the protection of certain wise and sober men , the laws were administred uprightly , and with much justice ; but when they themselves came to the years of kingship , and prerogative ▪ so royalled , that both laws & liberties were soon altered and abolished , as anon the reader shall have a more exact account ; and how sad is it , that when government may be advanced as well , if not better by others in their minority , without their presence or influence , the world must be at such vast charges for a title , and to maintain it ere they can use it , and which is worst , that when they come to exercise it themselves , should make their title the ground of their tyranny . but if it so happen ( for its a meer chance ) ▪ that the next heir prove somewhat more then ordinary capable , yet what the next may prove , who knows ? if he be an infant , ( as it many times falls out ) then there must be patient and hopefull waitings , to see what he will be when grown up ; untill that , there can be no further progress made in the alteration or reformation of affairs , though of never so great , and present concernment ; and when he comes to these years which custom pronounceth him capable , how unreasonable is it , that nothing can hinder , or exclude him from his authority , but that he is incapable of being beg'd for a fool ? it being enough , if he can koow his own name , and be able to write himself rex , though he knows little what belongs to the office , or relation of a king . if he be one of riper years , and stature , on which this su●●●ssion falls , then must all the observation of his nature , and the ominous , and more then astrological aspects of his constitution , and education be forgotten ; and although silenced in his pretended title , and a full complyance looked after , though opprest with never so many fears , and secret wishes of a more hopefull governour ; yea , and though he hath been never so active against the liberties of the people , when but a prince , and given demonstrations what a governor they may expect , yet his succession must be his qualification , and indemnity , and his title his vertue . on this ground also it comes to pass , that oftentimes women come to hold the rains of government ; and to steer at the helm , as wel as men ; for if there be any defect of the male line , the female succeeds ; and that feeble and weaker sex , whom god & nature have ordained to be onely particular helps , and good subjects , ( only to keep up the name of a family ) must be invested with the highest authority , over the choisest , and most select spirits of many nations , and all further thoughts of bettering the state of things utterly extinguish'd by a female pretence . and which is most desperate by this succession , ( and its plea of the only and absolute right ) the fundamental liberties of the people are not onely insensibly undermined , but absolutely rooted up , and that birth-right priviledge of the people , their election and choice , then which , they have nothing more naturall , and which is far more hereditary to them and theirs , then by all the laws of god ▪ nature , and reason , crowns can be to kings and their heirs , is quite extinguished ; for pass by the first king , ( who it may be as with us it hath been , came in by conquest ) you must go back in some kingdoms five hundred , in others a thousand years , ere you can but recover the clear notion of a free election ( wherin the peoples power and priveledge is alone and peculiarly seen ) and yet that so faintly and hardly extorted from them , as great loans of mony from a cruel miser , without use or advantage ; and though election must be acknowledged at last , the first just ground of government , yet custom in successions soon wears out its right , and transfers it on the next bloud ; and though in england it appears by the coronation oath , that there is even in succession a kind of election , yet it s so limited in the line , that it s as good as nothing , and so weak and implicitely manifested , that it s but a meer customary ceremony , which always is pursued by the natural title , and onely used to deceive the people , and as a step to the further confirmation of a more fundamentall , and sure right ; and its easie to demonstrate it ; for our kings soon forget it , ere they come from westminster to whitehall , or from the chair of inauguration to the presence chamber . in a word , what gives all this ground of such an inevitable and successively insensible incroachment on the laws and liberties of nations , but this lineall title , whereby the son without remedy goes on where the father left off , and by a divine pretence seiseth on what by nature is due to the meanest subject , as to himself ? and what makes the present kings so daring , and venturous to raise their own prerogative , but this , that that they know there can be no alienation of the crown from his heirs , and that they may make it better ( that is more tyrannicall ? ) but surer they cannot : and thus there is a constant hope , and possibility , by continuation and propagation of principles , and designs , backed with title , and authority , that what cannot be done in one kings reign , may be done in the next , and so on ; for the minds of princes are not usually contracted , or contented with present enjoyments ; especially if there be any restraint on their wills , or more of heighth , or advancement to be attained unto . yea , this is one of the main reasons ( that in our times can be rendred ) why we have had such uneven actings , and such strange alterations in several kings raigns ; the principles , and laws , the people have been always the same , who are capable of small or no variation or change , but as higher , and supream influences move them , of which none hath been so powerfull as princes , who as they are stars of the first magnitude , so of the strongest operations ; and though the people be compared to the sea , yet as the sea , they have no turbulent motion of their own , but what is occasioned by violent and uncertain winds ; but the great change hath been by the temper , and actings of princes , and commonly the next successor hath been the omen and fate of the times ; if any way good , then the nation smiled , and his raign began the spring ; if probable , there was hopes ; and yet both these at first promised , but at length frustrated ; and however the beginnings were , yet the succession of acts demonstrated how the title was created ; for untill they have made their succession sure , none have been more fair , and promising , but afterwards both laws and liberties , like favourites , have been advanced ad placitum ; and what they have got an interest in by nature , that by prerogative they have centred in their own proper persons , even the most fundamentall priviledges of the people , and have only granted leases unto the people of their own inheritances , and dated them not for life ( which would have been too great a mercy ) but as long as the royall pleasure lasts , which changes alwayes with advantages . yea , by this succession tyranny is so intailed , and all things so necessarily acted , as if the prince were not onely the civil , but natural parent of the people , and that kings had begot the people as so many bastards to obey , as they do beget one lawfully to raign over them . it s too well known , that good and wise men are the fewest of the sons of men , and are commonly pickt out here , and there , as rich pearls on the shoar of violent torrents ; but to expect in one line , and family , a succession of good , wise , and governing men , is almost as probable to christians , as to expect mahomets second coming among the turks , after so many hundred years delusion ; and although it must be acknowledged , that there have been some good kings , yet they have been so few , that as their names from the beginning of the world can hardly make up the dominical letters in the almanack , or possibly supply the holydayes in the year , so a little goodness hath gon far , and at the best we shall finde it but comparative ; good kings instead of better governors , as some of the roman cesars , chose those to succeed them who were worse then themselves , that they might commend , and set off their own raign , though tyrannicall enough in it self ; and we may without any passion demonstrate , that the design by succession hath been rather to keep up the governors , and palliate their vices , then ever to maintain or highthen the glory , and splendor , or carry on the benefit of the government it self in the execution of good and righteous laws . but to come nigher home , and leave generals ( granting succession in it self to be a good title ) let us view without partiality , the succession of the kings of england , whereby they plead their title to the crown , and we shall find in our histories , that nothing hath been more commonly interrupted , then a succession of the next heir ; and for this seaven or eight hundred years ( if not more ) we have not had succession continued in any even line or just right , and no title was ever more broken , and unjust , then of our kings , if they make a lineall , and hereditary succession the foundation of their right ; let us look but a little back to those which preceded the norman race , especially among the saxons and danes , the ancient competitors for the government of this nation , and it will appear , that the right heir hath been commonly past by ; and strangers or usurpers preferred ; to go no further back then to alfred king of the west saxons , and the twenty fourth monarch of the englishmen ; as soon as he died , athelstan his bastard was preferred before his legitimate son edmond , & after him got his own brother edmond to succeed him ; and though this edmond left two sons , edwin , and edgar , yet as he & his former brother had usurped the goverment , so edred his brother stept into the throne , and put them by until he had finished his raign , & then they took their turns ; edwin first , and edgar after him ; this edgar had two wives , ethelfled his first , and elfrida the second : by the first he had issue , edward , sirnamed the martyr , who succeeded his father in title ; but having hardly felt the crown warm , and fast on his head , was cruelly murthered , to make way for the second wives son ethelred who succeeded him , as daniel well expresseth it , whose entrance into his raign was blood , the middle misery , and the end confusion ; and though he left his son edmond , sirnamed ironside , to succeed him , yet canutus the dane by compact got half of the kingdom from him , and soon after the whole , setting up his danish title , and murthering the two sons edmund had left , with his brother edwin , that no further pretence might be made by them of their title ; and now come the danes to convey their title by ▪ canutus ; and yet harold his bastard gets the crown before hardicanute , who was his legitimate son ; and among these three kings ( for the government under the danes continued but twenty six years , and only under these three was aone usurper , & immediatly interrupted the right of succession . and the danes government being ended , which was but an intervall of conquest ) the saxons regain their title ; and edward , called the confessor , the seventh son of elthelred ( who came in with the murther of the right heir ) being kept as a reserve in normandy ) is elected king , and the saxons title now begins to revive , but soon it s extinguished , not onely by the norman pretence ▪ but by the next successor , harold the second , son to goodwin , earl of kent , who came in with the expulsion of edgar athlings the proper successor . and with harold ended the saxon race , which had lasted about five hundred years , after the coming in of hengist , and their plantation in this kingdom ; and yet you see what have been the titles successively of these former kings , wherein the line hath not onely been now and then through force and violence cut off and discontinued , but usurpation solemnized with as much ceremony as any natural pretence : but these instances are but as representations of objects afar off , which may seem otherwise then they are ; we will go on and review the title of our kings from william the norman , sirnamed the conqueror , and by whom , not onely the line , but all the whole fram of laws and liberties were not onely curtail'd but changed ; for though in the raigns of the former kings , every conqueror made his impression , and drew his picture in england , yet never was the whole scene of state changed untill now , and a new modell so peremptorily ( and without repeal ) introduced , as by him : the first jus , or right of his title ( the onely foundation of all the rest of our latter kings ( we all know was by meer conquest , which as it is a disseisin in law , so an unjust title in reason , and common to one as unto another : yet he though a bastard , ( and so had less title to his dukedom then to england which he won by the sword ) made himself the principal of that divine succession we now stand upon , and all our kings have no other pretence then by the succession of his sword ; and certainly , if the fountain , and head-spring be corrupt , the stream cannot be christall and pure ; and yet ( as baron thorpe declares in his charge given at the assizes holden at yorke the twentieth of march , 1648. and now in print ) of all these twenty four kings , which have king'd it amongst us since that william , there are but seven of them that could pretend legalty to succeed their former predecessors , either by lineal , or collaterall title , ( and he might have contracted that number , and have been modest enough . ) but that the reader may not be prejudiced , or wrap up his understanding in any expression , let him but follow the discents of the kings of england in the line , ( and pardon the first strange and exotick way of right ) and he will discover , that as the first title was created by force , so the succession hath been continued by usurpation . speed ( too royall a writer ) gives us a hint to go on upon in the life of henry the fourth , page 746. ( asketh by way of interrogation ) what right had will , the conqueror , the father of all our glorious tyrants ? what right ( we speak , saith he , of a right of equity ) had his son william rufus , and henry the first , while their elder brother lived ? and so he goes on . but to give a more particular account to the reader , how ▪ every king came to his crown , let us begin with the first of the first . after that the first william , who laid the foundation of his right in the blood of the english , had left this world , as well as his kingdom , great strivings there were who should succeed ; and though he left three sons , robert , william , and henry , yet could leave but one heir , which was robert ; yet william surnamed rufus , gets the crown set on his head , notwithstanding the elder brothers title , and though robert fights for his right , yet being too weak in the field , is fore't to a composition , on these terms that he should injoy it after his decease , if he hapned to survive ; and yet notwithstanding , henry the youngest brother ( called henry the first ) steps in , and makes use of his brothers absence to set up himself in his place ; and robert yet surviving , he weares it in his stead , and however he strove to regain his right , he at last was fain to yield up , not only his title , but his person to henry , who not only unjustly excluded him from the succession to the kingdom , but cruelly put out his eyes that he might only feel his misery , and never see his remedy . the line male of the conqueror is now extinct , as well as it was irregularly diverted ; as william got his right by his sword , so all his successors maintained it in imitation of him , rather then by any legal pretence they could derive from him . but henry the first ( though ▪ he had come in over the back of his elder brother ) that he might make more sure work for a succession , wanting issue male living , pitcheth on maud his daughter , formerly married to the emperor henry the fourth , who left her a widow , and died without issue ; and having sworn all the nobility ( especially stephen ) to her , ordained her & her issue to be his successors in englands ▪ throne , and married her again to jeoffrey plantagenet , the son and heir apparent of fulk , then earl of anjou , by whom she had three sons , henry , jeffrey , and william ; to henry the crown belonged as next heir after his mother ( by the usurped title of his father , ) yet stephen , earl of mortain , and bulloign , son to adelincia the third daughter of william the conqueror , by maud his wife , ( notwithstanding his oath to the last king ) gets the crown set on his own head , and excludes her , and her issue for the present ; yet after he died , henry , called the second , sirnamed shortmantle , though his mother was alive , enjoys it . this henry had six sons , william , henry richard , jeoffrey , philip , john ; the two first dying , richard the third son , the first of that name , sirnamed ceur de lyon succeeded his father ; this richard dying without issue , his yongest brother john usurps the crown , notwithstanding jeoffrey his elder brother had left a young son , named arthur plantaganet king of brittain , who was heir apparant to the crown ; and after he dyed , henry his son the third of that name succeedes him , though arthurs sister was then alive , ( though in prison ) who was next to the title ( such as it was ) ; after him edward sirnamed longshankes , called edward the first , layes hold on the crown and wore it with much majesty , and after him edward the second his son goes on , but still on the old account , and on the ruine of the most proper heirs ; this edward was deposed by the parliament for his ill government as anon shall be more fully related ; and his son edward the third of that name set up in his room ; after him followed richard the second , son to the black prince , who was also deposed , after whose dethroning , henry called the fourth , son to john of gant duke of lancaster , and uncle to the former king , snatcheth up the crown , though of right it , was to discend to edmund mortimer , earle of march , the son and heir of lionel duke of clarence , the third son of edward the third , and an elder brother of john duke of lancaster ; and thus we have nothing hitherto , but interruption , and usurpation ; and those which in their own reigns can pretend a divine title by succession , which must not be altered , can for their advantage put by the succession of the issue of others . but to go on , here now began the bloody wars , and contests between the house of lancaster , and york which made the world to ring of the misery of the civill wars of england , and all about a title , and neither of them ( if seriously weighed ) had a right title by succession , if the first title of their ancestors were to be the originall ; but that custome might be the best right , he got in his son henry , who was the fifth of that name , to succeed ; and his son henry the sixt ( though an infant ) takes his place , untill edward duke of york overthrew his army in the battle at towton field , and got him deposed , and was proclaimed king by the name of edward the fourth , though the title had been carried on in the house of lancaster thorow three discents ; thus favor , and fortune , not lineall succession alwayes gave the best title ; this edward left two sons behind him , ( to maintain the succession of the house of york ) edward and richard duke of york and five daughters . his eldest son edward who was the fifth of that name , succeeded him in claim , & title , but rather lived then raigned ( being an infant ) had never any actuall exercise of his government ; for ric. duke of glocester , and uncle to this infant , and made his protector , that he might set up himself , causeth both the young titular king , & his brother , ( these two royall infants ) to be barbarously murthered in their beds , and so wears the crown himself , by the name of richard the third , untill henry earl of richmond ( a twigg of a bastard of john of gaunt ) by his valour at bosworth field , having overthrown his army , slew the tyrant himself , and created by his sword ( for other he had none ) a new title to himself , and was crowned king , by the name of henry the seventh , who , what by his power and by a marriage of the lady eliz. the eldest daughter of ed. the fourth , confirmed his succession , & from him do all our later princes derive their title , as henry the eighth , edward the sixth , queen mary , queen elizabeth , king james , and our last tyrant charls . this henry , the foundation of our great ones , was himself but a private man , who as speed says , had scarce any thing of a just title , or of a warrantable intention , but to remove an usurper ; besides there were many naturall heirs of the house of york which were children of edward the fourth , and george duke of clarence , richards elder brother , who had better right : but when once a title is made , it must be maintained , and if it can but get thorow two or three successors , it s presently proclaimed to be jure divino , and pleaded as the onely just title and right . thus you have a faithfull , and true account of the succession of our norman monarchs ; we can onely say we have had so many persons raigning , and as kings of england ; but for a title by lineal succession , there is none , but what every man may make aswell as any man , and what is as proper to a stranger , as to an heir ; power , and favour , murther and deceit being the most common principles of the right of most of our kings to their government over us . if it be asked , as speed doth , what right had william the conqueror ? then it must follow , what right had all the rest ? but supposing his right , what right had these , who so many times cut off the line , and made themselves the stock of future succession ? and what misery is it that this broken and usurped title must still be forced on us , even by an ecclesiasticall , and divine institution , who have now a way of redeeming our liberties , and bettering our conditions , and following the direct line of just and true titles , the election and choice of the people ? is not five or six hundred year enough for england to be under the succession of a norman bastard ( pardon the expression , its true though plain ) and to be sold with all its liberties , from usurpation to usurpation , as well as from generation to generation ? i need not be very zealous in application , the history is enough to make all wise men consider , by whom we have all this while been governed , and upon what terms ; how tyranny and usurpation comes to be adored , if it have but a royall name added to it . shall the parliament of england be now blamed for cutting off that race of usurpers and tyrants , and reducing affairs to their first naturall and right principle ; or will the people of england after all their experiences , centre their liberties and freedoms in a customary usurpation of succession , and lose their common-wealth for the personall glory of a young pretender ? especially , when they have fought against the father , and cut him off as a tyrant , endeavour to set up the son to follow on both the first cause , and revenge , meerly because he was supposed to be proceeded of his polluted loyns : this blindness will be our misery , and endear us to a more perfect and more tyrannicall slavery then ever yet england felt . but to go on , the reader hath seen what a line we have had in england , and how pure a title our kings have had to their crowns ; le ts now but have patience to view their actings successively , and yet shortly , and we shall better guess of their right by their raigns ; for though one would think that they should endeavour to make good a bad title by a good raign , yet it hath been far otherwise ; every man having made his right by force , maintained it by tyranny ; and when they have gotten power , never remembered how , or to what end they attained it ; if we look back again , and make a new and strict survey of their severall actings in their government , and go over every kings head since willam the conqueror , we shall not much mistake if we pass by turkie , russia , the moors , and yet call englands kings tyrants , and their subjects slaves ; and however in the theory , and system it have been limited , and bounded by good and distinguishing laws , yet in the exercise and practique part almost of every kings raign , we shall find it deserve as bad a name as others who are called most absolute ; for the laws and priviledges which this poor nation hath enjoyed , as they have been but complementally granted for the most part , and with much design , so they have ever ( upon any occasion ) proved but weak and low hedges against the spring-tides , and land floods of the prerogative of the prince , which hath always gained more on the priviledges of the people , then ever the sea by all its washing and beatings of its boysterous and unmerciful waves hath gained on the land ; for if at any time the poor commons ( through much strugling , and a good and present necessitous mood of the prince ) have got off any present oppressions , and forced out the promise for enacting of any good and seasonable laws : yet either the next advantage , or at least the next successor , hath been sure , either to silence , or diannul it , and incroached upon it ; and never was priviledge or good law enacted , or gained to the people , but by hard pressure of the subject , and with a predominant ingredient of the kings advantage , and still rather out of courtesie then right . we shall finde also that england for three or four hundred years together ( some lucida intervalla excepted ) hath been a stage of blood , and the astonishment of all nations in civil wars , and that meerly , either for the clearing of the title to the crown ( which yet at last was onely made lawfull by the prevailing power , and as soon made illegall when another side got the better ) or else by the subject and barons , taking up arms to defend themselves , and make rampiers ( if possible ) against the inundation of prerogative , and rather preserving , then obtaining any additions of liberties , and yet they were commonly defeated at last ; for if for the present by some eminent advantage , they got a little ground , they soon lost it again by royal stratagems , and were either forced , or complemented ▪ into their old miseries , with a worse remembrance of former actings . but to enter into the particulars of this sad story : all men know ( or may ) the tyrannical domination of that first william , who behaved himself as a conqueror indeed , and a most perfect tyrant ( since whom we have never had an english man , but one , who hath been naturalized by the succession of his conquest as king of england ) he presently changed most of our laws , especially those wherein the english liberties were most transparent , and preserved , and made new laws , and those which he left , writ them all in french ; disweaponed all the natives , sent the children of the best , and most faithful of the nobility into normandy as hostages , and the most gallant of the english were transported by him into france to serve his wars , that he might extinguish their families ; he advanced his normans into all places of the nation , and kept them as a guard over the english ; brought in the cruel forrest laws , and dispeopled for thirty miles together in hampshire , pulling down many towns , and villages , with churches , chappels , and gentlemens houses , making it a forrest for wilde beasts , ( which is ever since named the new forrest , but was the old ensign of our misery and slavery ) he laid on innumerable taxes , and made laws royal , very severe , and in an unknown language , that the english offending might forfeit their states and lands to him , which they often did , through ignorance : but alas , what need i mention these ? who ever reads but our histories , ( and the most favorable ▪ and fawning royalist ) will see more then now can be expressed ; and yet here is the first fruits of our kings and of their righteous title , whose succession hath been as much in tyranny after him , as in title : and yet we must , by a sacred obligation be bound to maintain with our blood , and lives , the branches of this rotten root , notwithstanding all the providential , and divine opportunities of casting off that miserable yoak which our forefathers , so sadly groaned under , and would have triumphed in the pouring out their blood ( which they shed freely , but to little purpose ) but to have foreseen their childrens children might have but the hopes of attaining to . but although william the first made sure his conquest to his own person , yet by his tyranny he gave ground of designs , and hopes of recovery after his death , & therefore the people who but murmured and mourned in secret formerly , consider now their condition , and that robert the right heir was wanting , and his second son endeavored to be set up , begin to capitulate , and repeat their former grievances , and to stand upon their terms , with the next successors ; but william rufus who longed for the crown , and saw what advantage he had by his brothers absence , through the mediation of lanke-frank the arch-bishop of canterbury ( a man for his vertue and learning in great esteem with the people ) got himself to be accepted , and crowned king ( with exclusion of his elder brother ) by fair promises , and engagements to repeal his fathers laws , and of promoting the liberties of the english ( any probability being then taking to the poor people . ) but no sooner had he got the crown fastned on his head , ( and defeated his brother in battle ) but he forgat all his own promises , follows directly his fathers steps , grows excessive covetous , lays on intolerable taxes , and merciless exactions , returns their longings , and hopes after their just libertie into a sad bondage and slavery . the poor people having thus smarted for their credulity , & renewing their sense of their misery , under the two former tyrants , take heart once again , and refuse to admit any after his death , until ( as judge thorpe well expresseth it in that forementioned discourse ) they were cheated into a second election of hen. the first , his youngest brother ; for the people standing for their liberties ( and yet , alas , but negatively , rather to be freed from excess of oppression , then knowing what true freedom was ) having felt the misery of their loss in the two former persons ( shall i call them kings ? ) raign ; denied any consent to another person of that stock without solemn capitulations , and covenants to settle just laws , and to ingage for the execution of them , with abrogation of all former mischievous and inconvenient ones , ( which matthew paris calls unworthily , a politique , but trayterous way of capitulating . ) whereupon henry , who had nothing of title , made friends by his engagements , and roberts absence in the holy-land , and doth absolutely promise to begin all anew , constitute just laws , reform his fathers , and brothers exorbitancies , and to be as a nursing father both to church and state ; these fair insinuations got him the crown , though robert was to have it first by his own right , and next by his brothers covenant and will . and that he might not seem altogether disproportionable to his engagement , the first action of his government was to bait the people , and sugar their subjection , as his predecessor in the like interposition had done , but with more moderation and advisedness ; but having once secured his title from his brothers jus , and setled some affairs abroad , began much after the old strain , ( yet not altogether so violent ) yet these cruel and savage laws of the forrest he revived , and put in execution , yea , urged as the most fundamentall law of the realm , and many sore in positions he levied ( which the people were not able to bear ; ) that these two sons , though they ended the direct line , yet they propagated their fathers tyranny ; onely he got the throne by force ; they by subtilty , and delusive engagements ; and now the poor people , who had still been cozened , and are commonly passive , begin in the next kings reign , ( viz. of stephen , another usurper ) to be active , and to struggle for their liberties more seriously and thorowly , and not contented with promises of abating former pressures , drew up the summ of their desires in a more exact method , and demand publikely the restoring and re-establishing of st. edwards laws ( for such a rarity was that former prince , as they canonized him a saint ) which were many years before granted ▪ but by new and strange successions buried ; and stephen , who came in odly to the crown , and was continually in various motions to maintain it , confirmed all these laws , and to gain the people , ratified them by parliament , the best security in these cases ; but soon after prerogative ( like a lion in chains ) breaks forth again with fuller rage , and devours all these grants , with the hopes , and expectations of the people ; for though in the two next kings raigns these grants were not actually repeled , yet were laid by , and only wrapt up in parchments , and husht by the noise of drums , and trumpets . for henry the second , the next king , spent most of his time in cleering the controversie ▪ between regnum & sacerdotium , the crown and the mitre , as in setling his own title both here , and in normandy ▪ and ireland ; a while he and thomas becket were standing in the special rights , and priviledges of the church , and state , the liberties of the people were laid asleep , and certainly he hated the former grants , because made by stephen , who had stoln the crown both from his mother , and himself ; the notablest story in this kings reign ( setting by his warlike atchievements ) is , that after becket had often foiled him in his authority , he was handsomly whipt by the monks , in going to visit beckets shrine , which was part of his pennance , for giving secret order to assasinats to make him away ; and that he kept rosamond as his concubine , to the vexation of elenor his wife , who at last vented her revenge on her , having found her out in that intricate labyrinth made on purpose for her at woodstock , by the clew which rosamond had carelesly untwisted . the next that laid claim to this crown , was his son richard the first , surnamed ceur de lion ( as before ) who was to be commended rather for his personal valour , in other nations , then for any good done to this ; he began well in enlarging his mother elenor , whom his father had imprisoned , because she could not abide his lascivious living with his wanton paragon rosamond , and advanced many persons by speciall favours ; yet these respects were more particular , then of any publike advantage to the state ; for out of a blind zeal in those times , after he had been in england but four months after his coronation , he went into the holy-land , against the turks , leaving the regency of the kingdom to an ecclesiasticall person , william longchampe , bishop of ely , who to please the king , and by speciall command , undid the people , and committed great exactions , and as hoveden says , clerum & populum opprimebat , confundens fasque nefasque did all as he listed , and little cared by what means he filled the kings coffers , and his own ; ( acting but by proxie and in imitation of what his master would have done , if at home ▪ & by many a private command ) as it afterwards proved ; for when richard undertook this voyage , that he might not seem at first burthensom to the people when he left them , and to maintain both his design , and absence on their purses ( and so alienate their affections from him when at so great a distance , and give grounds to his brother john to try an experiment for the title ) wifely sold much of his own estate to raise him monies , as the castles of berwick ▪ and roxborough , to the king of scots for ten thousand pounds , and the lordship , and earldom of durham , to hugh then bishop of that see , for much mony , as also many honors , lordships , mannors , offices , priviledges , royalties , to many of the nobles , and rich commoners , whereby he furnished himself with a vast treasurie of mony for that service ; and that you may see what interest he and his companions think they have in his peoples goods ( however they dissemble it ) he often protested that he would sell his city of london ( as my author saith ) to any that would by it , rather then be chargeable unto others ; but notwithstanding all this , as the people were sadly opprest in his absence by his viceroy , so much more when he returned by himself ; for he then began to redeem his time , and to play rex with a witness ; he fell presently to plunder all religious houses , laid on new and unheard of taxes on the people , and resumed into his hands again all the lordships , mannors , castles , &c. which he had sold to his subjects , and confirmed it by all the security they could have from man ; this is the misery of depending on royal promises , and engagements , which are usually nothing else but complementall engins to move up the peoples affections , while they more easily , and insensibly drain out their blood , and purses , this was the end of this rough , and lionlike king , who reigned nine years , and nine months , wherein he exacted and consumed more of this kingdom then all his predecessors from the norman had done before him , and yet less deserved it then any , having neither lived here , nor left behind him monument of piety , or any publike work , or ever shewed love or care to this common-wealth , but onely to get what he could from it ; we see hitherto what a race of kings we have had , and what cause we have to glory in any thing but their tombs ; and yet if we expect better afterwards , we shall be as much mistaken of their actings as they were of their right . the next that raigned ( though without any hereditary title ) was king john , stephens brother ; whose government was as unjust as his title , for he ( having by election , out of fear and policy of state , got the crown , with expulsion of arthur the right heir ut supra ) embarked the state , and himself in these miserable incumberances , through his violence and oppression , as produced desperate effects , and made way to those great alterations in the government which followed ; the whole reign of this king was a perfect tyranny ; there is in history hardly one good word given him ; the barons and clergy continually opposed him , strugling for a confirmation of their long desired liberties , but were most commonly either cluded , or defeated by promises which were never intended to be performed , until at last being more entirely united with the commons , and stoutly resolved and confirmed by an oath , taken at st. edmunds-burie in a general assembly , they then swore on the high altar , never to lay down arms , if king john refused to confirm and restore unto them these liberties ( the rights which this kingdom was formerly blest with , and which all the late kings had cheated them of ) the king knowing their power , and considering their engagements , makes use of policy , and desired time to answer them , entertaining them with smooth and gentle language , and courtesie , untill he had got strength , and then he began anew to try experiments of securing himself , and frustrating their desires : but the lords continuing their resolution , and knowing nothing was to be obtained but by strong hand , assemble themselves with a great army at stamford , from whence they marched towards the king , who was then at oxford ; sent him a schedule of their claimed liberties , with an appendix of their absolute resolutions , in case of his denyal ; this tyrant having heard them read , with much passion replies : why do they not demand the kingdom as wel ? and swore he would never grant these liberties , whereby himself should be made a servant ▪ the barons upon his answer being ( as daniel saith ) as hasty as he was averse , resolve to seaze on his castles , and possessions ; and repairing to london , being welcomed by the citizens , who had too long groaned under the same tyranny , they get a great access of strength by new confederates , and renew their spirits & oaths for the thorow prosecution of the war ; the king seeing himself in a strait , which by no ordinary strength he could evade , by gentle and teeming messages sent to the barons , he obtained a conference in a medow called running-mead , between windsor and sta●es , where armed multitudes came from all places , crying nothing but liberty , liberty , so sweet was that tone to them then : after many hard conferences , the king seeing it no time to dally , & that they would not trust him with any complemental expressions , whom they looked on as formerly perjured , grants their desires ; not only , saith speed , for liberties specified in magna charta & charta forrestae , but also for a kind of sway in the government , by five and twenty selected peers , who were to be as a check over the king , and his chief justiciar , and all his officers to whom any appeal might be made in case of breach of any article or priviledge confirmed by that charter ; and now one would think the people were secure enough ; but though they seem now to have the livery , yet they had not the seisin ; for presently the king having got now credit by the largeness of his grants , gets liberty with less suspicion to undo all ; and in a short time ( pretending these grants to be acts of force ) having got power , renounceth his engagement by them , and afterwards repeals them , and dispoiled all these of their lands and possessions , who had any hand , or heart in procuring the former grants ; and by new , and additionall laws made them more perfect slaves then ever they were before , untill at last he was poysoned by a monk , instead of being deposed . but though he be dead , yet the miseries of this nation ended not with him ; for his son henry the third ; who succeeded him , though he could not at first follow on his fathers designs , being an infant , yet at last did not onely imitate , but outstrip him , yet the english nation , ( who are much given to credulity , and apt to be won by fair and plausible promises , ) notwithstanding all the fathers iniquity , imbrace the son , having taken an oath of him to restore , and confirm the liberties they propounded to his father , which he had often granted , and as often broken ; but for all his first oath , they were fain , not onely to remember him of it , by petitions , but oftentimes by arms and strength . and though there was in this kings raign twenty one parliaments called , and many great subsidies granted , in confirmation of their liberties , yet every parliament was no sooner dissolved , but the ingagement ceased ; a hint of two or three special parliaments , and their success will not be amiss to be set down in this place . this king not being able to suppress the barons and people by his own strength , ( they having gotten not onely heart , but power ) sends to forraign nations for aid , and entertains poictovines , italians , almains , provincioes to subdue his own people , and set them in great places ; which dangerous and desperate design the barons much resenting , raised their spirits , and ingaged them in opposition to his government , and set them on with more courage to look after their liberties ; therefore they several times stand up against the violence of prerogative ; but what through want of strength or caution they were commonly disappointed ; yet rather ( if we may speak truly ) from the unfaithfulness of the king then any other defect , except it were their easiness to believe kings , when their prerogative , and the peoples liberties came in competition ; for after they had many times got , or rather extorted many promises , and confirmed them by oaths , ( the best humane security ) they were put to new designs , through either the suspention , or breach of them , witness these instances ; after many foiles ▪ and tedious and various delusions by this king ( whose beams attracted most , dazled others ) the barons , and people ( who were then unanimous through mutual oppressions ) fall more close , and severe on their principles , and wil not endure either delays , or delusions , and therefore effectually to redress their grievances , came very well armed to a parliament then holden at oxford ( intended rather for getting subsidies , then removing oppressions ) in which assembly they put the king to it , urge their former complaints with more zeal and reason , and with an addition of a mighty spirit , demand the absolute confirmation of magna charta , and in a larger edition ( wherein are comprised those gallant priviledges of the commons of england , which have yet been but kept by ink , and parchment ) and not trusting the king , got his son , prince edward , to seal it , with an addition of twenty four ( some write twelve ) peers which fabian stiles the douze peeres , not only to see these priviledges truly observed , but to be as joynt regents with the king ; and all the lords , and bishops in parliament took a like oath , to maintain these articles inviolable ; yea , and all that would have any benefit of residence in the kingdom , were enjoyned to take the same ; but these were too strict bonds for such a princes wil , he soon finding advantages ( as he sought them ) recals all , gets a dispensation from the pope for his forced oath and to countenance his perjurie ▪ and acts in the old account ; the barons again stand up with the people stoutly for the performance of the articles of oxford ; and sometimes brought him into straits ; yea , fully ▪ defeated him in many bloody battles , and regained the confirmation of the same laws , with security ; that all the castles throughout england should be delivered to the keeping of the barons , that the provisions of oxford be inviolably preserved , that all strangers should be dismist the kingdom , but those which by generall consent should be thought fit to remain ; this necessitous act though as it gave the people some peace and hopes , so it gave the king time to consider of new mediums , and therefore still to delay , and blind , he assembles a new parliament at london , where having ( by the sprinkling of court water ) won many lords to take his part , begins to surprise as many of the barons as he could get , and spoiled their castles and houses , that success and authority grows strong on his side , and the barons with some calme provisoes mediate a peace , insisting onely in generall that the articles of oxford might be observed ; but the king relying on his strength , defies them as traitors ; which done , the peoples two generals , the earls of leicester and glocester , seeing no other means but to put it to a day , supply their want of strength by their wit and diligence , and carefully and artificially placing their battel ( which was fought at the town of lewis in sussex ) overthrew the kings army , took the king , the prince , the earl of cornwal , and his son henry , the earls of arundel , hereford , with many other lords , and gentlemen , both english and scottish . and now having the king , and prince , and most of the nobles , and a new confirmation of all , one would think the great charter was out of danger , either of blotting or razing ; especially if we consider the solemnities formerly used in the ratification of it , ( as daniel excellently relates it in his history , p. 169. ) the people knowing that no civil promises , or verbal professions would hold in kings raptured by prerogative ▪ & devoted to perjury to maintain their tyranny , take a more ecclesiasticall and divine way of obligation , swearing to excommunicate all that should be found infringers of that charter ; when the people with the king , and all the great nobility were assembled with all the prelates , and the chief bishops in their reverent ornaments ( with burning candles in their hands ) to receive that dreadfull sentence ; the king having one great candle in his hand , gives it to a prelate that stood by , saying , it becomes not me being no priest to hold this candle , my heart shall be a greater testimony ; and withall laid his hand spred on his breast all the while the sentence was pronouncing , which was authoritato omnipotentis dei , &c. which done , he caused the charter of king john his father to be read , and in the end having thrown away their candles ( which lay smoaking on the ground ) they cryed out , so let them that incurre this sentence be extinct and stinck in hell ; and the king with a loud voice said , as god help , i will , as i am a man , a christian , a knight , a king crowned and annointed , inviolably observe these things . never were laws saith he ( whose words express the thing most emphatically ) amongst men ( except those holy commandments from the mount ) established with more majestie of ceremony , to make them reverenced , and respected , then these were ; they wanted but thunder , and lightning from heaven , ( which likewise if prayers could have effected they would have had it ) to make the sentence ghastly , and hideous to the breakers of it ; the greatest security that could be given was an oath ( the onely chain on earth besides love , to tye the conscience of a man , and humane societie together ) which should it not hold us , all the frame of government must needs fall quite asunder ; yet so ( almost a miracle ( though over common among our kings , saith master prin out of mat. paris ) the parliament being thus dissolved ( by a sacred and most solemn conclusion ) the king presently studies how to infringe all the premises , his parasites telling him the pope could soon absolve him for a summ of mony , which afterwards the pope did , and the king returned to his former oppressive courses with more violence , and hardness ; and taking advantage by the division of the barons , two generals , the earls of leicester and glocester , the latter of which joyned with the young prince edward , and sir roger mortimer the kings wicked counsellor , a new and potent army is raised by them , against the earl of leicester ( who had the king prisoner ) and those which kept constant with him for the peoples liberties ; and he with the rest of the barons , are overthrown ; and immediately after a parliament is called , and all these laws and decrees made voyd ; and that parliament held at oxford , wherein all these laws were first confirmed by him , called insanum parliamentum , the mad parliament ; and all these patents , commissions or instruments made to ratifie these articles , were brought forth , and solemnly damned ; and so bright and resplendent did prerogative break forth , that it was proclaimed treason in any but to speak or mention any of these grants with the least approbation ; and because the city of london had engaged with the barons and people as a principal part of the whole , he would needs have burnt the city , had not some wise and potent favorites interposed , and yet they could hardly disswade him from that barbarous and impolitick wickednesse ; but what he spared in their houses , that he gott out of their purses , and made up all his losses with a thorough subjection of their persons , and suppression of their liberties . i need relate no more of this king , nor make observations , the reader will be amazed at the repetition ; he at least 20 times gave his promise for the confirmation , & execution of these just decrees ( contained in magna charta ) and as many times was perjured , notwithstanding all the solemnities , both civil , moral , and ecclesiastical , used in the acts of ratification ; this may learn us how to trust the most positive engagements of princes , which cross their own interest , and what to think of that word and promise they call royall ; this king reigned fifty six years , the longest of any king of england : but we have had too much of the story of him , as he had too long a time to rule , considering his temper , and design . it s well if we can be wary for the future , and be more cautious then to trust the most promising and insinuating princes with our liberties , and priviledges , which can be no longer expected to be preserved by them , then they may serve as footstools to advance them in the throne of absolute majesty , but no more of this king ; never were there more hard strivings and wrestlings between tyranny and liberty , with such bad success to the people ; i onely conclude his raign with the exhortation of the psalmist , psal. 146. 3. o put not your confidence in princes , surely men of high degree are a lye . king henry is by this time layd in his grave , and one would think magna charta buried with him ; his son edward , who was his right-hand in his wars against the barons , and the principal agent in their ruine , succeeds him in the throne ; and instead of lessening goes on and makes an higher improvement of that royalty which his father left him ; having in his own person got the victory over the peoples libertyes in his fathers time , and having wonne or worne out the greatest of those which opposed , and being long experienced in the world , so secured and advanced the prerogative , that as one sayth , he seemed to be the first conqueror after the conqueror that got the domination of this state in so absolute and eminent a manner , as by his government appears ; he layd unsupportable taxes both on the clergy and laity , even unto fiveteens and halfs of their estates ▪ as for tenths , that was comparatively accounted easy ; the barons and people for a long time durst not move for removal of greivances , untill that the king ( being always in wars in france , flanders , wales and scotland , and so needed continually vast sums of mony ) called a parliament wherein he demanded a great treasure of mony from the people , that he might give them somewhat in lieu of their expences , confirmed the two great charters on the petition of the barons and people , ( and so stopped their mouths ) and this he did as often as he had extraordinary occasions for mony ; but ( like all other royall promises ) they were performed by leasure . never was royalty more majestick and glorious then in this kings raign , and the people less able to oppose ; he was always so watchful and eager to enlarge his own power ; i shall end his raign also with what daniel that impartiall and witty historian saith of him , he was more for the greatness of the kingdom then the quiet of it ; and never king before or since ( except our last charls ) shed so much christian bloud within this isle of britain , and was the cause of more in that following , and not one grain of benefit procured unto the people by all their expences on him , which was but to make themselves more perfect slayes . the next king was edward the second his son , who though more vicious then the father , yet not more tyrannicall ; he gave more advantage to the people thorough his lewd life and unmartiall nature , to seek the confirmation and establishment of magna charta , and other good laws which were utterly supprest , and darkened in his fathers reign . this prince gave himself over to all wicked courses , and surrendred his judgement , and the management of all affairs of state unto evill and corrupt counsellors ; especially to one peirce gaveston , who had both his ear and heart , unto whom he was so much endeared , that he ventured the loss of kingdom , and all the hearts of his subjects for his company , and preservation ; and though the barons had by often petitions , and earnest sollicitations prevailed with the king to banish him , yet he soon after sent for him home , and laid him more nigh his bosom then before ; on this the barons raise an army against the king ; and send him word , that unless he would observe the late articles ( which they had formerly by much ▪ ado got him to sign in parliament ) and put from him pierce gaveston , they would rise in arms against him as a perjured prince ; the king ( whom they found , was apt to be terrified ) yeilds again to his banishment , with this clause , that if he were found again within the kingdom he should be condemned to death as an enemy of the state : all places were now dangerous to gaveston ; both ireland ( where he formerly was protected ) & france also too hot for him ; in this extremity , finding no security anywhere else , he again adventures on england , and puts himself once again into the kings bosom ( a sanctuary which he thought would not be polluted with blood ) and there he is received with as great joy as ever man could be ; the lords with more violence prosecute their suite to the king for delivering up ▪ or removing him once more ; but to no purpose ; they therefore set forwards with an army , say siege to the castle wherein gaveston was , took him , and notwithstanding the kings earnest sollicitation for his life , they condemned him to the block , and took off his head ; this obstacle being removed out of the way , the lords having now the better end of the staff make advantages of it for demanding the confirmation , and execution of all those articles formerly granted , threatning the king , that if he would not consent to it , they would force him by a strong hand ; with this message they had their swords also drawn , and march towards london : a parliament is called , where the king , after a submission by the lords to him , for that act done against gaveston , contrary to his consent , and will , grants the articles and pardon to them . but the king goes on his old way , adheres to wicked counsel ( waving the grave advice of his parliament ) and is ruled by the two spencers , who acted with mighty strain of injustice , which caused the lords again to take up arms , and stand for their liberties , but are , through the revolt of some , and the treachery of others overthrown at burton upon trent , and two and twenty noblemen , the greatest peers in the realm executed in several places for nothing but opposing his evil counsellors ▪ this was the first blood of nobility that ever was shed in this manner in england since william the first , which being so much , opened veines for more to follow ; and now the beam of power being turned , regality weighs down all . but by degrees , through the continuation of his ill government , whereby he daily lost the peoples hearts , the lords get an army , and take the king prisoner , and by generall consent in parliament deposed him as a tyrant , and elected his son edward the third to succeed , and his son was crowned before his eyes . thus ended his raign , but not his life . poor england which had laboured so long and successively under so many tyrants , and had contested so long with royalty for their dearly purchased liberties , might now hopefully expect at least a dawning of reformation , especially when they had got so much power as to depose authority ; and began , as it were , on a new account ; and the truth is , affairs were now promising , and distempers seemed to wear away with the former governor ; yet the condition of the kingdom , had but a new face on it , and grievances were rather not aggravated or multiplied then any whit removed , and oppressions may be rather said to be changed from one shoulder to another then abolished . prince edward who succeeded , who was crowned in his fathers life , had observance enough to remember his fate , and was much warned by it , both to prevent and suppress insurrections , knowing by experience the full state of the controversie , and therefore began his government very fairely , and with much applause ; onely to prevent factions , and sidings , he privately caused his father , the deposed king to be cruelly murdered , and so sate more securely , though with more guilt upon the throne ; his raign was fifty years , & odd months , the longest next hen. the third ; he spent most of his time in the wars of france to regain his titile to that crown , which the poor subject felt in their estate and families , and it was a happiness ( say some ) that he was so much abroad ; for when ever he came home , as he wanted money to supply his expences , so the people got ground to urge their priviledges , & magna charta was at least twelve times ratified in this kings raign , and so often broken ; yet because he goes under the name of the best prince that raigned so long , and so well , let the reader take but an instance or two concerning his engagements to perform the grand charter . this king in the first parliament made the fifteenth year of his raign , had granted the enacting of divers wholsom and seasonable laws , which he willed and ingaged unto for him and his heirs , that they should be firmly kept , and remain inviolable for ever , for the ratification of magna charta , and other good laws formerly enacted ; and that all the officers of state , as chancellor , treasurer , barons of the exchequer , judges , &c. should at that present in parliament , and for ever after , take a solemn oath before their admission to their offices , to keep and maintain the point of the great charter , and the charter of the forrest , &c. but no sooner was the parliament dissolved , but the very same year he publikely revoked these statutes , pretending that they were contrary to the laws and customs of the realm , and to his prerogative and rights royal , &c. wherefore we are willing ( saith he ) providently to revoke these things we have so improvidently done ; because ( saith he ) marke the dissimulation of princes even in parliaments ) we never really consented to the making of such statutes , but as then it behoved vs , we dissembled in the premises , by protestations of revocation , if indeed they should proceed to secure the dangers , which by denying the same we feared to come , with many more such passages ; and yet this king is the phoenix of our more antient monarchs ; but the reader may still learn what the best of our princes have been , and what weak assurances any ingagements from them are where power is wanting from them , and advantages present to them . another instance of his actings we may take up from the successe of his first siege of tourney in france ; having laid on heavy and excessive taxes to maintain that war , and the people seeing no fruits of all promises for executing the articles of magna charta , they refuse to pay any more , without more faithfull performance of his vows , and solemn engagements to them , whereby he wanting mony was fain to quit the place , and return for england , full of revengefull thoughts , and in much fury breaths out destruction to all the refusers ; but the arch-bishop of canterbury told him publikely , but plainly , that he had oftentimes as well as his father offered manifest violences to the liberties of the english nation , comprehended in that grand charter , and if he expected subsidies , from the people , he must more carefully maintain their priviledges so justly due . but the king vexed with such language , both storms against the arch-bishop , and as much as possibly he then could , sought the ruine of all that had made any refusall of payment of these taxes , although he had not in any manner performed his own promises . yet i will end his raign , because he hath a name of a good king . ( though as speed saith , by the generall vote of historians , he committed many foul errors in his government ) with a good act he did at the fiftieth yeer of his age ( which he kept as his jubilee ) he called a parliament , and there freely heard the grievances of the people , and redressed many , especially a petition of the commons against the doublings of lawyers ; he caused the pleas which were before in french to be made in english ; a necessary law ( saith speed ) if it had been as carefully observed ; especially if he had ordered ( saith he ) that the same should not have been written in french , that the subject might understand the law , by which he holds what he hath , and is to know what he doth . but all this is not for nothing ; for as he imparted grace unto his people ( saith the same auther ) for so all acts of justice are termed , wh●n granted by kings , so he took a care to replenish his own purse by it , that the poor commons obtain not any thing which they pay not too dearly for . here ends the life of the best reputed prince ; and yet you see wherein his excellency lay ; the best happiness the people had in his raign , was ▪ that they had more engagements for their liberties with more cost , and the remembrances and sense of the goodness of them more fresh and sweet by the often repetition of them ; but for execution or addition to them , they were as far to seek as in former times . and if it do possibly happen that in one kings raign either through the goodness of his nature , or rather want of advantages , there be an intermission of oppressions , ( for that is the utmost to be expected ) yet the next king will be sure to make it up , and if they give the people a little breath , it s but that they may sow for the next to reap , or as they do with men on the rack , let them down , and give them cordials , and spiritfull liquors , that they may be the longer and more sensibly tormented ; which was made good in the next kings raign , viz. richard the second , who presently dashes and utterly nips these blossoms that sprung out in the former kings raign , devoting himself to all uncivill and lewd courses , and to enable him the better unto it , layes on sad and miserable taxes on the people without so much as a mention or hint of their liberties , and as the parallel of edward the second , both lived and died ; it s enough to decypher his raign by his end ; for he was deposed by the universal consent of the people in parliament as a tyrannical , and cruel governor , and not a good word spoken of him to commend him in his government , and its pitty to aggravate his misery after his death , and yet ( as we say ) seldom comes a better ; when one is cut off , another like the hidra's head springs up in his place . henry the fourth who overthrew him in battel , and was made king in his stead ( though by a wrong title ) at first promised the new modelling of laws to the peoples ease , and did , as in a complement ( rather to secure his title , then out of affection to the people , or sense of his relation ) redress many grievances , which were more gross and less concerning the common-wealth ; and as he did strive by these common acts to engage the people to him , so ( as one that had continuall sence of guilt on him ) he got the deposed king to be barbarously murthered in the castle of pomfret , that no competition might endanger his title by his life ; he spent most of his raign incontinuall wars about his title , and was often opposed as both a tyrant and usurper ; but he still got ground on both the liberties and laws formerly granted ; yet not so sensibly as in the former kings raigns , that the people may be said to have a little respite from the violence & heighth of prerogative by him ; but they may thank the unjustness , and brittleness of his title , for that he being more in fear of of loosing it , then out of love with the excess of his ancestors . i shall only add one story to conclude this kings raign , which is universally reported by most of our historians , worth observation , because it hath much of ingenuity in it , and because they were his dying words ; being cast into an apoplexie , and nigh his end , he caused his crown to be placed by him on his pillow , least in the extremity of his sickness it might have been delivered to some other , who had better right thereunto then he had ; but when his attendants , ( through the violence of his distemper , supposed him to be dead , the young prince of wales seised on his crown , whereat the king started up raising himself on his arms , demanded who it was that had so boldly taken away the crown ? the prince answered that it was he ; the king fell back into his bed , and fetching a deep sigh , and sending forth many a pensive groan , replyes thus ; my son , what right i had to this crown ; and how i have enjoyed it , god knows , and the world hath seen ; but the prince , ( ambitious enough of a diadem ) answered him thus ; comfort your self in god ( good father ) ; the crown you have ; and if you die , i will have jt and keep it with my sword as you have done ; and so he did soon after , maintaining his fathers injustice by his own . and now comes up his son henry the fifth as the next heir , who though while a prince was given to many wicked practises , yet when a king , became moderate , and hath better commendation then most of his ancestors ; the people had two advantages and comforts by him ; first , that his reign was short , and that he was much imployed in the war with france for regaining a title to that crown , which he accomplished , and so they were free of civil wars ; though they had still heavie taxes , yet they thought it better to pay for maintaining war abroad then at home ; and truly , the people thought themselves very happy in this kings reign , ( though their priviledges were laid asleep ) that they had a little breathing time from domestick and civil wars , and had hopes to regain by degrees a reviving of their spirits . but the next king , henry the sixth , makes up what was wanting of tyranny and oppression in his fathers raign . he was crowned king about the eighth or ninth moneth of his age , and so had not present oppertunity to shew his royalty . until he came to age , the kingdom was well governed by his three uncles , humphrey , duke of glocester , john duke of bedford , thomas duke of excester , who by their wisdom and justice , kept up the flourishing estate of the english nation ; but when his years of nonage were expired , and he came to weld the scepter with his own hands , ( what as some favorably think out of weakness , for he was no solomon ) all things went presently out of order , and prerogative breaks forth beyond bounds ; which gave occasion to edward duke of york to try conclusions for his title against the house of lancaster , and making use of the discontents of the people through his evil government , opposed him , and afterwards deposed him , and raigned in his stead by the name of edward the fourth , and so by conquest he got the title to run through the house of york , having cut it off by his sword from the house of lancaster ; notwithstanding actuall possession of three descents , many overtures of war were yet between them ; for henry was not yet dead , though for the present outed ; but as a dying man strove for life , but being quite overthrown was imprisoned , and afterwards murthered to secure the title ; there was in these two kings raign but meerly for a title fought ten bloudy battles , besides all lesser skirmishes , wherein many thousands of lords , gentlemen , and commons were slain , and yet not one jot of advantage gotten by it for the peoples liberties ; it being the misery and folly of the people to venture all they have , to set up those over them who afterwards prove most tyranni call , and to sow seeds of future misery , by spilling their bloods for a usurped title . in this kings reign , as in the former , the whole land was miserably rent by unnaturall divisions against his title , and government ; and though neither or these two had a just title ( if we will begin from the root ) yet all the bloud of the nation is thought too little to be spilt to maintain their pretences ; yet we may not reckon this king among the worst , had it not faln out that his title must be kept up with expence of so much blood and ruin of the english nation ; yet in his last five yeers , he laid on such extraordinary taxes , and changed the form of laws , that he lost the love of all his subjects . for edward the fifth his son , who succeeded him in title , we need but mention him , for he had but the name of a king ( being an infant ) and his reign may wel be called an inter-regnum , for ere he came to know what government was , he was cruelly murthered with his infant brother , by his uncle rich. duke of glocester , who reigned both for him , and afterwards for himself by the name of richard the third , a bloody and cruel man , rather a monster then a prince , his name stincks in the english dialect ; the shortness of his reign was the happiness of the people ; for after three yeers usurpation , he was slain in the field by the earl of richmond , who by his valour , more then his title got the crown by the name of henry the seventh ; this was the best act that was done by him , in easing the kingdom of such a viper . in his reign ( who is the first root of our kings since ) the people had more hopes then benefits , and were rejoyced and made happy more by expectations , then enjoyments of any reall priviledge , or liberty . for though he took all the ways to secure his title by his marriage with the lady elizabeth daughter to edward the fourth , yet many stratagems were laid to disturbe his peace , which put him on acts of policy , and diligence , ( which he excellently demonstrated ) to free and extricate himself out of dangers and designs ; many sad divisions were stil in the kingdom , all men were not pleased either with his title or government , and that they might but disturbe him , or hazard his crown , they made stage kings , drest up pretty lads in princely robes , and carried them up and down the kingdom as puppets for the people to gaze one , and admire ; all this while king henry had not time to advance his prerogative , while he was but securing his title ; but after he had done that , and now began to look on himself as free from either forraign or home competitors , and the coast of state seeming cleer from all thickning weather , he thinks of redeeming what he had lost by factions , and imployes his wit for bringing down the height of the english nation , and plucking down their courage , and was especially ( saith one ) jealous over his nobility , as remembring how himself was set up ; and how much more did this humor encrease in him after he had conflicted with such idols and counterfeits as lambert simnel & perkin warbeck ? the strangeness of which dangers made him think nothing safe ; and thinking that the riches of the english occasioned their rebellions , he took a course to empty their coffers into his ; and the plot whereby he meant to effect it was by taking the advantage of the breach of penal laws , which he both found , and made for that purpose ; his instruments which for this work were pickt , and qualified sufficiently , were sir richard empson , and edmund dudley , men learned in the law , and of desperate and subtle heads , and forward in executing the kings commands ; these two attended by troops of base informers , promoters , catchpoles , cheaters , knights of the post &c. went up and down the kingdom , cruelly polled and taxed all sorts of people , and prosecute in every shire the most deserving and generous men , that the kingdom in a little time was more beggard , then by most of the former civil wars ; and all this done by the kings speciall command , and countenance , that we may see what was the reason he began not sooner to play rex ; want of opportunity , and fear of loosing his crown while he was advancing it ; but the latter end of his raign was too soon , and too long for such actings . this king ends his raign with the greatest acts of tyranny ; he made himself a rich king by beggaring his subjects ; after he had freed his own person out of danger ▪ he imploys all his wits to enslave the english ; the fruits both of his title and tyranny we have felt ever sence in these that followed him . his son henry the eighth of that name , succeeds him ; in his first beginnings he seemed to be tenderly affected to the common-wealth , and redressed many grievances , especially those which were laid on by his father , and executed by empson and dudley , doing justice on them for their cruelty and oppression . but those affections were too good , and too violent to last long ; the sound of drums and trumpets soon quasht them , and many encroachments grew on the peoples liberties ; many tempestuous storms and controversies there were in this kings raign ; but they were more ecclesiastical then civil , and so more dangerous and strong . in a word , he was accounted a better souldier then a governor , and more fit for a general then a king to govern by just and equal laws ; the best act he did , was the discovery of the wickedness of the clergy , and casting off the popes supremacy , which yet he took to himself , and annexed it to his own crown ; as the most of his raign was ful of controversies and tempests , so all affairs were managed in a ranting and turbulent maner , not with that gravity & soberness as becomes civil and prudentiall transactions ; he was very lascivious , and delighted much in variety , and changes of laws , as wives ; he oftentimes much pleased himself to be in the company , and was over-familiar with swaggering and loose fellows ; and the people ever and anon found the power of his prerogative at home , as his enemies did of his sword abroad . edward the sixth his onely son succeeds him , a prince that was too good to live long , the phoenix of english kings , had he had time to prosecute his intentions and mature his genius ; but the sun in him did shine too bright in the morning ; god gave england onely the representation of a good king , but would not in judgement let us be blest long with him ; religion began to revive , liberty to bud forth , the people to peep out of their graves of slavery and bondage , and to have their blood fresh and blushing in their cheeks ; but all is presently blasted by his death , and the people ( who have seldom more then hopes for their comforts ) are now fainting for fear ; england is benighted ; and hung with black ; queen mary that alecto , and fury of women succeeds ; and now both souls and bodies of the people are enslaved , and nothing but bone fires made of the flesh and bones of the best christians : but it s too much to name her in the english tongue ; queen elizabeth succeedes her , who being prepared for the crown by suffering , came in a most seasonable time , both for her self and the people , who were made fuel for the flames of her sisters devotion . and now england begins to flourish again , and to recover its strength ; many inlargements were granted , both to the consciences , and estates of the people ; yet if we speak impartially , we were kept further off rome , then royalty ; yet doubtless she may be chronicled for the best princess , and her raign the most even , and best mannaged , with more fruits to the people then any of the former kings , especially if we consider how long she governed this nation ; i end her raign with this character , that she was the best queen that ever england had , and the glory of her sexe to all ages . the english line is now ended ; we must go into scotland to seek for a king , because a daughter of henry the seventh was married to james the fourth , king of scotland ; but i will not question his title . king james the sixth of scotland , and first of england , succeeded on the english throne ; a prince that had many advantages to set up prerogative , which he improved ; he was too timorous to act , but most subtile in councel and designs , and no king did more insensibly and closely undermine the liberties of england then himself ; he gave us cause to remember from whence he came ; but his peaceable raign was the rail to his design , and did choak suspition ; we were brought by him very nigh rome and spain , and yet knew it not ; he had an inveterate hatred against puritans , as he had a fear of papists , and made more of bishops then ordinary by remembrance of the scots presbytery ; he had as much of royalty in his eye as any prince could have , but had not so much courage to prosecute it ; the puritan alwayes lay in his spleen , the papist on his lungs , that he durst not , that he could not breath so clearely and strongly against them ; but the bishops lay in his heart . i will not rip up his personal failings after his death ; he was the most profane king for oaths and blasphemies that england had besides , &c. he now grows old ▪ and was judged only fit to lay the plot , but not to execute it ; the design being now ripe , and his person and life the only obstacle and remora to the next instrument , he is conveyed away suddenly into another world , as his son henry was , because thought unsuteable to the plot , it being too long to waite , untill nature and distemper had done the deed . we are now come to our last charls ( who is like to end both that race and its tyranny ) the perfect idea of all the rest , and the most zealous prosecutor of the designs of all his ancestors , who , if divine providence had not miraculously prevented , had accomplished the utmost of their intentions , and for ever darkned the glory of the english sun ; so much i must say of him , that he got more wisedom by action , then could possibly be expected by his nature ; experience that teacheth fools , made him wise ; he endeavoured to act what others designed ; he dissembled as long as he could , and used all parties to the utmost ; but his zeal and hardiness brought him to his death . he needed no physick for his body , had he remembred his soul . but what need i mention him ? he is the last of english monarchs , and the most absolute monument of monarchy , and example of tyranny and injustice that ever was known in england ; he would have been what other kings are , and endeavoured to attain what others would be ; he lived an enemy to the common-wealth , and died a martyr to prerogative . thus you have seen a faithfull representation of the norman race , under which we have groaned for about six hundred years ; the first title made onely by the invasion and conquest of a stranger and bastard , continued by usurpation and tyranny , that take away but two or three persons out of the list ( and yet these bad enough if we consider all things ) and all this while england neither had a right heir , or good king to govern it ; and yet by delusion and deceit we must be bound to maintain that title as sacred and divine , which in the beginning was extorted and usurping ▪ as if gray hairs could adde reverence to injustice . england hath now an advantage more then all its ancestors , of freeing it self from this successive slavery , and interrupting that bloody line , and after an apprentiship to bondage for so many hundred yeers , providence hath given us our own choice ; if we take it we are made ; if not , the old judgement of god lies on us for our stupidity , and blindness . for my part , as i do not give much to that monkish prophecy from henry the seventh times ; mars , puer , alecto , virgo , vulpes , leo , nullus ( yet i wonder how the devil could foresee so far off , and must needs say that it hath yet been literally fulfilled ▪ both in the characters of the persons , and the issue ) yet i must so far give way to the power of divine actings on my faith , as to think that either we shall never have a king more , or else we shall have one sent of god in wrath , as the israelites had , seeing we are not contented that way which god hath from heaven led us to . as for the title of this prince ( who would fain be accounted the right heir ) let us but remember from whence he had it , and how it s now tainted ; were it never so just , the treason of the father hath cut off the son ; and how unwise an act , besides all other considerations , will it be for england to set up the son to propagate both his fathers design , and death . we may prophecy soon what a governor he is like to be which hath both suck't in his fathers principles , and his mothers milk ; who hath been bred up under the wings of popery and episcopacy , and doubtless suckt both brests ; one who was engaged from the beginning in the last war against this parliament , who hath the same counsellors his father had , to remember him both of the design , and the best wayes of effecting it ; one who hath never yet given any testimony of hopefullness to this nation ; who was in armes when a subject , against the libertyes which england and scotland spilt much blood for to maintain ; one who hath both his fathers and his own scores to cleer , and is fain to make use of all medium's , though never so contrary , attended with all the crew of malignants of three nations ; who is so relatively and personally engaged , that both old and new reckonings are expected to be payd only by him . to his father he is endebted for his crown , and bound to pay his debts , both ecclesiastical and civil ( which will amount to no small summe ) ; to the papists he is engaged for their old affections , and hopes of new , besides the obligation of duty to his mother , and freeing her from her monastry and hermitage . to the prince of orange he owes more then his ransom , besides the states courtesies ; to ireland he is in more arrears then his kingdom of scotland will be able to pay , and to scotland for his entertainment and enstalment more then england ( for present or in many years ) can repay without a morgage , or community of lands , and liberties , besides what he owes england for helping his father to make the parliament spend so many millions of treasure , besides blood ( which would have weighed down all expences besides ) and helping as a prime agent the utter destruction of england ; all which must be reckoned for with much seriousness ; and if men have so much charity and generousness to forgive all , yet we have a reckoning with heaven to be discharged , which debt is yet unpaid ( without we think the fathers blood be sufficient satisfaction to divine justice ) ; and if that death should be a satisfaction for himself , yet not for his son , who joyned with him , & now continues the same fault , and guilt , and intends to follow on with more violence and intention then ever . can we think ( & retain our memories and reasons ) that charls the second can forget charls the first ? that custom and education can easily be altered ? that the true and reall engagers with him and his father , shall be razed out of his heart , or that he can heartily love his opposers , but as he may make use them : or that when some banks and rocks are out of the way , the waters and floods of royalty will not run in its wonted channel ? will episcopacy dye in england , when kingship is set up ? can reason think or dream , that majesty will not eat out sincerity ? or that presbytery can flourish in that state where prerogative is the ascendant ? or is that person fit to be the medium of peace , and the glory of this nation , who was the conjunct instrument of the war , & the survivor both of the war and peace ? a person that durst not stay in his own nation to plead his right , because of his guilt , whose youth and wilfulness is most unapt for the setling the storms and tempests of a distracted nation . but no more untill we feel the misery of such an attempt ; it was said of tiberius caesar in a satyricall expression , yet it proved true , regnabit sanguine multo ad regnum quisquis venit ab exilio , who first exil'd is after crown'd , his reign with blood will much abound . when this poor nation ( after all neglects of providences ) hath spent its blood and treasure to set up this prince in the throne , ( which it may be they shall never effect ) yet at the last they must stand to his courtesy for all their liberties , which they can never expect , and make him a monarch . the patience and long suffering of god hath permitted usurpation and tyranny in england this long time for the hardness of our hearts , and sottishness of our natures , and it may be , may lengthen it out to the utmost , which will be a misery with a witness , and yet a just punishment of god on those who were born free , but will sell away their inheritances for nothing to a stranger . did ever king since the world began ( seting aside some who were priests and prophets also ) naturally , and ingenuously , with a royall affection devote himself to the propagating of the pure and reall liberties of the people ? let him be shown forth as a miracle ; but that ever any one that hath been all his dayes , both in the fathers time , and his own engaged in wars against the liberties of the people , ( solemnly proclaimed in parliament ) and to set up prerogative , either intended or managed his raign that way ( how ever he was brought into his government ) i durst affirm to be a paradox , and the utmost contradiction ; i am sure it s as impossible to be fouud in england as the philosophers stone among the peripatecicks . but a word more to the title , between the now present power , and this charls ; what reason is there , and equity , that the parliament of england ( take them in what qualification you will ( following to the utmost the first principles for the liberty of the people ) should not be esteemed as just heirs , and their parliamentary successors as this young confident ? shal william the norman , ( only having a better sword ) a stranger , one who by nature was never born heir of any thing , create himself a title to enland , and a succession for many score of years , meerly on that account ? and shall every one after him break the line as they please , and take their opportunities to make themselves roots of kings , though springing in the wilderness ? shall henry the seventh ( the father of us all ) who was little less then a bastard , being the son of an illegitimate son of john a gaunt , a forraigner , and private man , by fortune and power give himself a title to this crown , and all our kings since acknowledging right by that root ? must those pretences be sacred which have only the ordination of a more keen and glittering sword ? and a confirmation by custome be thus divine ? and shall not the parliament of england ( cloathed with the authority of all the people , and carrying all the libertyes of england with them ) backt with the power of a faythfull army , be thought ( in the utmost criticisme of reason ) to have as much title to propagate their successe for our freedoms , as they have had to convey both their usurpation and tyranny ? that a private claym by a better sword should be jure divino ; and a publique title both by reason , success , and providence of a solemn assembly , who have been many years opposing the former oppressions , and now have gained it , should not be accounted valid , nor of equall right with a successive illegall claim ? let all the world be judge ( who consider the premises ) and let the violentest reason unroyalis'd speak its utmost . it is high time now to end that line that was never either well begun , or directly continued ; charls the father is gone to his own place , and so is charls the son likewise , he being in his own proper nation , scotland ; let us keep him there if we be wise , and intend to be happy , and let england disdain to be under the domination any more of any forraign power for the future ; and seeing we have conquered the conqueror , and got the possession of the true english title , by justice , and gallantry ; let us not lose it again , by any pretence of a particular , and debauched person . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a56345e-480 dan. hist. p. 14. speed . speed . william rufus . dan. life of henry the first . dun. pryn. mat. paris p. 961 dan. hist. p. 179. mat. paris , p. 8 , 9. master prin , the parliaments interest in the militia , second part , p. 38. 39. sir francis bacon . martin . suet. lib : 3. c. 59. by the king trustie and welbeloved, we greet you well : hauing obserued in the presidents and customes of former times, that the kings and queenes of this our realme vpon extraordinary occasions haue vsed either to resort to those contributions ... charles i, king of england, 1600-1649. 1625 approx. 2 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a22655 stc 9175j.1 estc s124027 33142937 ocm 33142937 28182 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a22655) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 28182) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1885:88) by the king trustie and welbeloved, we greet you well : hauing obserued in the presidents and customes of former times, that the kings and queenes of this our realme vpon extraordinary occasions haue vsed either to resort to those contributions ... charles i, king of england, 1600-1649. 1 sheet ([1] p.). s.n., [london : 1625] blank form for loans to the king. this copy filled in, with date changed in ms. to 1626. reproduction of original in: society of antiquaries. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng finance, public -great britain -to 1688. great britain -kings and rulers -finance. great britain -history -charles i, 1625-1649. broadsides -london (england) -17th century. 2008-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-09 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-11 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-11 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion by the king . trustie and welbeloved , we greet you well . hauing obserued in the presidents and customes of former times , that the kings and queenes of this our realme vpon extraordinary occasions haue vsed either to resort to those contributions which arise from the generality of subjects , or to the private helpes of some well-affected in particular by way of loane ; in the former of which courses as we haue no doubt of the loue and affection of our people when they shall againe assemble in parliament , so for the present we are enforced to proceede in the latter course for supply of some portions of treasure for divers publique services , which without manifold inconveniences to vs and our kingdomes , cannot be deferred : and therefore this being the first time that we haue required any thing in this kind , we doubt not but that we shall receiue such a testimony of good affection from you ( amongst other of our subjects ) and that with such alacrity and readines as may make the same so much the more acceptable , especially seeing we require but that of some , which few men would deny a friend , and haue a minde resolved to expose all our earthly fortune for preservation of the generall ; the summe which we require of you by vertue of these presents is _____ which we doe promise in the name of vs , our heires and successours to repay to you or your assignes within eighteene moneths after the payment thereof vnto the collector . the person that we haue appointed to collect , is _____ to whose hands we doe require you to send it within twelue dayes after you haue receiued this privy seale , which together with the collectors acquittance , shal be sufficient warrant vnto the officers of our receipt for the repayment thereof at the time limited . giuen vnder our privy seale at _____ the _____ day of _____ in the first yeare of our raigne of england , scotland , france , and ireland . 1626. a plea for the pardoning part of the soveraignty of the kings of england philipps, fabian, 1601-1690. 1682 approx. 82 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 36 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54690 wing p2012 estc r9266 13539670 ocm 13539670 100066 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54690) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100066) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 472:3) a plea for the pardoning part of the soveraignty of the kings of england philipps, fabian, 1601-1690. [2], 68 p. printed by h. h. for john fish ..., london : 1682. attributed to fabian philipps. cf. bm. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers. 2004-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-09 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-09 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a plea for the pardoning part of the soveraignty of the kings of england . london , printed by h. h. for john fish , near the golden-tun , in the strand , 1682. a plea for the pardoning part of the soveraignty of the kings of england . if monarchy hath been by god himself , and the experience of above 5000 years and the longest ages of the world approved ( as it hath ) to have been the best and most desirable form of government . and the kingdom of england , as it hath been , for more than 1000 years a well tempered monarchy , and the sword and power thereof was given to our kings only by god that ruleth the hearts of them . the means thereunto which should be the power of punishment and reward , can no way permit , that they should be without the liberty and prerogative of pardoning , which was no stranger in england long before the conquest , in the reign of king athelstane , who did thereby free the nation from four-footed wolves by ordaining pardons to such out-laws as would help to free themselves and others from such villanous neighbours , the laws of canutus also making it a great part of their business to injoyn a moderation in punishments ad divinam clementiam temperata to be observed in magistracy and never to be wanting in the most superior , none being so proper to acquit the offence as they that by our laws are to take benefit by the fines and forfeitures arising thereby . edward the confessors law would not have rex regni sub cujus protectione & pace degunt universi , to be without it ; when amongst his laws which the people of england held so sacred as they did hide them under his shrine , and afterwards precibus & fletibus obtained of the conqueror , that they should be observed , and procured the observation of them especially to be inserted in the coronation-oaths of our succeeding kings , inviolably to be kept . and it is under the title of misericordia regis & pardonatio , declared , that si quispiam forisfactus ( which the margin interpreteth rei capitalis reus ) poposcerit regiam misericordiam pro forisfacto suo , timidus mortis vel membrorum perdendorum , potest rex ei lege suae dignitatis condonare si velit etiam mortem promeritam ; ipse tamen malefactor rectum faciat in quantumcunque poterit quibus forisfecit , & tradat fidejussores de pace & legalitate tenenda si vero fidejussores defecerint exulabitur a patria . for the pardoning of treason , murder , breach of the peace , &c. saith king henry the first , in his laws , so much esteemed by the barons and contenders for our magna charta , as they solemnly swore they would live and die in the defence thereof , do solely belong unto him , & super omnes homines in terra sua . in the fifth year of the reign of king edward the second , peirce gaveston earl of cornewall , being banished by the king in parliament , and all his lands and estate seized into the kings hands , the king granted his pardon , remitted the seizures , and caused the pardon and discharges to be written and sealed in his presence . and howsoever he was shortly after upon his return into england , taken by the earl of warwick and beheaded without process or judgment at law , yet he and his complices thought themselves not to be in any safety , until they had by two acts of parliament in the seventh year of that kings reign obtained a pardon , ne quis occasionetur pro reditu & morte petri de gaveston , the power of pardoning , being always so annexed to the king and his crown and dignity . as the acts of parliament of 2 e. 3. ca. 2. 10 e. 3. ca. 15. 13 r. 2. ca. 1. and 16 r. 2. ca. 6. seeking by the kings leave and licence in some things to qualifie it , are in that of 13 r. 2. ca. 1. content to allow the power of pardoning to belong to the liberty of the king , and a regality used heretofore by his progenitors . hubert de burgh earl of kent chief justiciar of england , in the reign of king henry the third , laden with envy and as many deep accusations as any minister of state could lie under , in two several charges in several parliaments , then without an house of commons , had the happiness , notwithstanding all the hate and extremities put upon him by an incensed party , to receive two several pardons of his and their king , and dye acquitted in the estate which he had gained . in the fiftieth year of the reign of king edward the third , the commons in parliament petitioning the king , that no officer of the kings , or any man , high or low , that was impeached by them , should enjoy his place or be of the kings council . the king only answered , he would do as he pleased . with which they were so well satisfied ; as the next year after , in parliament , upon better consideration , they petitioned him , that richard lyons , john pechie , and alice pierce , whom they had largely accused and believed guilty , might be pardoned . and that king was so unwilling to bereave himself of that one especial flower in his crown ; as in a grant or commission made in the same year to james botiller earl of ormond of the office of chief justiciar of ireland giving him power under the seal of that kingdom to pardon all trespasses felonies , murders , treasons , &c. he did especially except and reserve to himself the power of pardoning prelates , earls and barons . in the first year of the reign of king henry the fourth , the king in the case of the duke of albemarle and others , declared in parliament that mercy and grace belongeth to him and his royal estate , and therefore reserved it to himself , and would that no man entitle himself thereunto . and many have been since granted by our succeeding kings in parliament , at the request of the commons ( the people of england in worldly and civil affairs as well ever since , as before , not knowing unto whom else to apply themselves for it . ) so as no fraud or indirect dealings being made use of in the obtaining of a pardon , it ought not to be shaken or invalidated , whether it were before a charge or accusation in parliament or after , or where there is no charge or indictment antecedent . the pardon of the king to richard lyons at the request of the commons in parliament , as the parliament rolls do mention , although it was not inserted in the pardon , was declared to be after a charge against him by the commons in parliament , and in the perclose said to be per dominum regem . and a second of the same date and tenor , with a perclose said to have been per dominum regem & magnum concilium . john pechies pardon for whom that house of commons in parliament was said to intercede ; only mentioneth that it was precibus aliquorum magnatum . 15 e. 3. the archbishop of canterbury before the king , lords , and commons humbling himself before the king lords and commons ; desired that where he was defamed through the realm he might be larraigned before his peers in open parliamenti unto which the king answered , that he would attend the common affairs , and afterward hear others . 5 h. 4. the king at the request of the commons ; affirmeth the archbishop of canterbury , the duke of york , the earl of northumberland , and other lords , which were suspected to be of the confederacy of henry percy , to be his true leige-men , and that they nor any of them should be impeached therefore , by the king or his heirs in any time ensuing . 9 h. 4. the speaker of the house of commons presented a bill on the behalf of thomas brooke against vvilliam widecombe , and required judgement against him ; which bill was received and the said william widecombe was notwithstanding bound in a 1000 pound to hear his judgment in chancery . and the many restorations in blood and estate in 13 h. 4 and by king e. 4 and of many of our kings may inform us how necessary and beneficial the pardons , and mercy of our kings and princes have been to their people and posterities . the commons accuse the lord stanley in sundry particulars , for being confederate with the duke of york , and pray that he may be committed to prison : to which the king answered , he will be advised . william de la poole duke of suffolke being in a parliament in the 28 th year of the reign of king henry the 6 th deeply charged by the commons and not demanding his peerage but submitting himself to the kings grace and mercy was only banished for five years . whereupon the viscount beaumont ▪ in the behalf of the bishops and the lords required that the said judgment without their assent might be no barr to their priviledge of peerage , but no saving at all either requested or granted for , or by the commons . and pardons before indictments or prosecution have not been rejected for that they did anticipate any troubles which might afterwards happen . for so was the earl of shrewsbury's in the reign of queen elizabeth for fear of being troubled by his ill willers for a sudden raising of men without a warrant to suppress an insurrection of rebels . lionell cranfeild earl of middlesex lord treasurer of england , being about the 18 th year of king james , accused by the lords & commons in parliament , for great offences and misdemeanours fined by the king in parliament to be displaced , pay 50000 l. and never more to sit in parliament , was in the 2 d year of the reign of king charles the martyr , upon his submission to the king and payment of 20000 l. only , pardoned of all crimes , offences and misdemeanors whatsoever any sentence , act , or order of parliament , or the said sentence to the contrary notwithstanding . for whether the accusation be for treason wherein the king is immediately and most especially concerned , or for lesser offences where the people may have some concernment , but nothing near so much or equivalent to that of the kings being the supreme magistrate , the king may certainly pardon and in many pardons as of outlaries , felonies , &c. there have been conditions annexed . ita quod stent recto si quis versus eos loqui voluerit . so the lord keeper coventry's in the reign of king charles the martyr to prevent any dangerous questions , touching the receiving of fines and other proceedings in chancery , sued out his pardon . the many acts of oblivion , or general pardon ; granted by many of our kings and princes , to the great comfort and quiet of their subjects , but great diminution of the crown revenue did not make them guilty , that afterwards protected themselves thereby from unjust and malicious adversaries . and where there is not such a clause it is always implyed by law in particular mens cases , and until the sovereignty can be found by law to be in the people , neither the king or his people ( who by their oaths of allegiance and supremacy are to be subordinate unto him ) are to be deprived of his haute et basse justice , and are not to be locked up or restrained by any petition , charge or surmise which is not to be accompted infallible , or a truth , before it be proved to the king and his council of peers in parliament , and our kings that gave the lords of manors , powers of soke and sake , infangtheif , and outfangtheif in their court barons , and sometimes as large as fossarum & furcarum , and the incident power of pardons and remissions of fine and forfeitures which many do at this day without contradiction of their other tenants enjoy , should not be bereaved of as much liberty in their primitive and supream estates as they gave them in their derivatives . and though there have been revocations of patents during pleasure , of protections and presentations , and revocations of revocations quibusdam certis de causis , yet never was there any revocation of any pardon 's granted where the king was not abused or deceived in the granting thereof . for in letters patents for other matters reversals were not to be accounted legal , where they were not upon just causes proved upon writs of scire facias issuing out of the chancery , and one of the articles for the deposing of king richard the 2 d. being that he revoked some of his pardons . the recep's of patents of pardon , or other things were ordained so to signifie the time when they were first brought to the chancellour , as to prevent controversies concerning priority or delays , made use of in the sealing of them to the detriment of those that first obtained them . and the various forms in the drawing or passing of pardons as long ago his testibus , afterwards per manum of the chancellour or per regem alone , per nostre main , vel per manum regis , or per regem & concilium , or authoritate parliamenti , per regem & principem , per breve de privat . sigillo , or per immediate warrant being never able to hinder the energy and true meaning thereof . and need not certainly be pleaded in any subordinate court of justice without an occasion or to purchase then allowance who are not to controul such an act of their sovereign . doctor manwaring in the fourth or sixth year of the reign of king charles the martyr being grievously fined by both houses of parliament , and made incapable of any place or imployment ; was afterwards pardoned and made bishop of st. asaph with a non obstante of any order or act of parliament , so they that would have attainders pass by bill or act of parliament to make that to be treason which by the law and antient and reasonable customs of england , was never so before to be believed or adjudged , or to accumulate trespasses and misdemeanors to make that a treason which singly could never be so , either in truth , law , right , reason or justice . may be pleased to admit and take into their serious consideration , that arguments a posse ad esse , or ab uno ad plures , are neither usual or allowable , and that such a way of proceeding will be as much against the rules of law , honour , and justice as of equity and good conscience . and may be likewise very prejudicial to the very ancient and honourable house of peers in parliament , for these and many more to be added reasons , viz. for former ages knew no bills of attainder , by act of parliament after an acquittal or judgment in the house of peers , until that unhappy one in the latter end of the reign of king charles the martyr , which for the unusalness thereof had a special proviso inserted , that it should not hereafter be drawn into examples or made use of a president . and proved to be so fatally mischievous to that blessed king himself , and his three kingdoms of england ; scotland and ireland , as he bewailed in his excellent soliloquies , and at his death , his consenting to such an act , and charged his majesty that now is , never to make himself or his people , to be partakers of any more such mischief procuring state-errors . the house of commons if they will be accusers , wherein they may be often mistaken , when they take it from others , and have no power to examine upon oath , wild and envious informations , and at the same time a part of the parliament , subordinate to the king , will in such an act of attainder be both judge and party , which all the laws in the world could never allow to be just . and such a course , if suffered , must needs be derogatory and prejudicial to the rights and priviledges , and judicative power of the peers in parliament , unparallelled , and unpresidented , when any judgments given by them , shall by such a bill of attainder , like a writ of error , or as an appeal from them to the house of commons , be en●rvated or quite altered by an act of attainder framed by the house of commons , whereby they which shall be freed or absolved by their peers , or by that honourable and more wise assembly , shall by such a back or by-blow be condemned , or if only fined by the house of peers , may be made to forfeit their lives , estates and posterities by the house of commons ; or if condemned in the upper house , be absolved in the lower , who shall thereby grow to be so formidable as none of the peerage , or kings privy-council shall dare to displease them , and where the dernier ressort , or appeal , was before and ought ever to be to the king in his house of peers , or without , will thus be lodged in the house of commons , and of little avail will the liberty of our nobility be to be tryed by their own peers , when it shall be contre caeur , and under the control of the house of commons . or that the commons disclaiming , as they ought , any power or cognisance in the matters of war and peace , should by a bill of attainder make themselves to be judges and parties against a peer , both of the kings privy council and great council in parliament , touching matters of that nature . for if the commons in parliament had never after their own impeachments of a peer or commoner , petitioned the king to pardon the very persons which they had accused , as they did in the cases of lyons and john pechie , in the 51 year of the reign of king edward the third , whom they had fiercely accused in parliament but the year before , the objection that a pardon ought not to be a bar against an impeachment might have had more force than it is like to have . neither would it or did it discourage the exhibiting any for the future , no more than it did the many after impeachments , which were made by the commons in several parliaments , and kings reigns , whereupon punishments severe enough ensued ; for if the very many indictments and informations at every assizes and quarter-sessions in the counties , and in the court of kings-bench at westminster , in the term time , ever since the usurpation and reign of king stephen , and the pardon 's granted shall be exactly searched and numbred , the foot of the accompt will plainly demonstrate , that the pardons for criminal offences have not been above or so many as one in every hundred , or a much smaller and inconsiderable number , either in or before the first or later instance , before tryal or after , and the pardon 's granted by our kings , so few and seldom , as it ought to be confest , that that regal power only proper for kings , the vicegerents of god almighty , not of the people , hath been modestly and moderately used , and that the multitude of indictments and informations , and few pardon 's now extant in every year , will be no good witnesses of such a causelesly feared discouragement . and it will not be so easily proved , as it is fancied that there ever was by our laws or reasonable customs any institution to preserve the government by restraining the prince , against whom and no other the contempt and injury is immediately committed from pardoning offences against him , and in him against the people to whose charge they are by god intrusted . or that there was any such institution ( which would be worth the seeing if it could be found or heard of ) that it was the chief , or that without it consequently the government it self would be destroyed . to prove which groundless institution the author of those reasons is necessitated ( without resorting as he supposeth to greater antiquities ) to vouch to warranty the declaration of that excellent prince , king charles the first of blessed memory , made in that behalf ( when there was no controversie or question in agitation or debate touching the power of pardoning ) in his answer to the nineteen propositions of both houses of parliament , wherein stating the several parts of this well regulated monarchy , he saith , the king , the house of lords , and the house of commons , have each particular priviledges . wherein amongst those which belong to the king , he reckons the power of pardoning , if the framer of those reasons might have been fair and candid , and added the words immediately following , viz. and some more of the like kind are placed in the king. and this kind of excellently tempered monarchy , having the power to preserve that authority , without which it would be disabled to protect the laws in their force , and the subjects in their peace , liberties , and properties , ought to have drawn unto him such a respect and reverence from the nobility and great ones , as might hinder the ills of division and faction ; and cause such a fear and respect from the people as may hinder tumults and violence . but the design being laid and devised to tack and piece together such parcels of his said late majesties answer , as might make most for the advantage of the undertaker to take the power of pardoning from the prince , and lodge it in the people , and do what they can to create a soveraignty or superiority in them , which cannot consist with his antient monarchy , and the laws and reasonable customs of the kingdom , the records , annals and histories , reason , common sense and understanding thereof , the long and very long approved usages of the nation , and oaths of allegiance and supremacy of those that would now not only deny but be above it . and would make the king , by some scattered or distorted parts of that answer , mangled and torn from the whole context and purpose of it , to give away those undoubted rights of his crown , for which , and the preservation of the liberties of his people , he died a martyr ; the author and his party endeavouring all they can to translate the assent of the commons required in the levying of money into that of the power of pardoning , and jumbling the words and sense of that royal answer , cements and puts together others of their own to fortifie and make out their unjust purposes , omitting every thing that might be understood against them , or give any disturbance thereunto . and with this resolution the author proceedeth to do as well as he can , and saith : after the enumeration of which , and other his prerogatives , his said majesty adds thus ; again ( as if it related to the matter of pardoning which it doth not at all , but only and properly to the levying of money , wherein that misinterpreter can afford to leave out his said majesties parenthesis ( which is the sinews as well of peace as war ) that the prince may not make use of this high and perpetual power to the hurt of those for whose good he hath it , and make use of the name of publick necessity ( which clearly evidenceth that his late majesty thereby only intended that part of his answer to relate to the levying of money ) for the gain of his private favorites and followers to the detriment of his people . whither being come , our man of art or putter of his matters together , finds some words which will not at all serve his turn inclosed in a royal parenthesis of his late majesty , viz. ( an excellent conserver of liberty , but never intended for any share in government , or the choosing of them that should govern ) but looked like a deep and dangerous ditch which might sowse him over head and ears , if not drown him and spoil all his inventions , and therefore well bethinks himself , retires a little , begins at an excellent conserver of liberty , makes that plural , adds , &c. which is not in the original , fetches his seeze and leaps quite over all the rest of the parenthesis , as being a noli me tangere , dangerous words and of evil consequence , and having got over goeth on until he came to some just and considerable expostulations of his late majesty , and then as if he had been in some lincolnshire fens and marshes , is again enforced to leap until he come to , therefore the power legally placed in both houses , is more than sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of tyranny . but not liking the subsequent words of his late majesty , viz. and without the power which is now asked from vs , we shall not be able to discharge that trust which is the end of monarchy , since that would be a total subversion of the fundamental laws , and that excellent constitution of this kingdom , which hath made this nation for many years both famous and happy to a great degree of envy , is glad to take his leave with an , &c. and meddle no more with such edge-tools , wherewith that royal answer was abundantly furnished . but looks back and betakes himself to an argument framed out of some melancholick or feverish fears and jealousies , that until the commons of england have right done unto them against that plea of pardon , they may justly apprehend that the whole justice of the kingdom in the case of the five lords , may be obstructed and defeated by pardons of a like nature . as if the pardoning of one must of necessity amount to many , or all , in offences of a different nature committed at several times by several persons ( which is yet to be learned ) and the justice of the nation which hath been safe and flourished for many ages , notwithstanding some necessary pardons granted by our princes , can be obstructed or defeated in a well constituted government under our kings and laws ; so it may everlastingly be wondred upon what such jealousies should now be founded , or by what law or reason to be satisfied , if it shall thus be suffered to run wild or mad . for canutus in his laws ordained that there should be in all punishments a moderata misericordia , and that there should be a misericordia in judicio exhibenda , which all our laws , as well those in the saxon and danish times as since , have ever intended , and it was wont to be a parcel of good divinity that gods mercy is over all his works , who not seldom qualifies and abates the rigour of his justice . when trissilian chief justice , and brambre major of london , were by judgment of the parliament of the eleventh of king richard the second , hanged and executed , the duke of ireland banished , some others not so much punished , and many of their complices pardoned , the people that did not know how soon they might want pardons for themselves , did not afflict themselves or their sovereign with complaints and murmurings that all were not hanged and put to the extremities of punishment ; nor was richard earl of arundel , one of the fierce appellants in that matter , vexed at the pardoning of others , when he in a revolution and storm of state was within ten years after glad to make use of a pardon for himself . king james pardoned sir walter rawleigh , the lord cobham , sir griffin markham with many others then guilty of treason , and the earl of somerset and his lady , for the murder of sir thomas overbury , without any commotion in the brains of the rest of his subjects , some of whom were much disturbed that he after caused sir walter rawleigh to be executed for a second offence upon the score of the former , not at all pardoned , but reprieved or only respited . and therefore whilest we cry out and wonder quantum mutantur tempora , may seek and never find what ever was or can be any necessary cause or consequence that the five lords accused of high treason , and a design of killing the king , will be sure to have a pardon , if that the pardon of the earl of danby , whose design must be understood by all men rather to preserve him , shall be allowed . nor doth an impeachment of the house of commons virtually , or ever can from the first constitution of it be proved or appear to be the voice of every particular subject of the kingdom ; for if we may believe mr. william pryn , one of their greatest champions , and the records of the nation and parliaments , the commons in parliament do not , or ever did represent , or are procurators for the lords spiritual and temporal and their numerous tenants and ancient baronies , and those that hold or do now hold in capite , nor for the many tenants that should be of the kings ancient demesne and revenues , nor for the clergy , the multitude of copyholders heretofore , as much as the fourth part of the kingdom , neither the great number of lease-holders , cottagers , &c. that are not freeholders , citizens or trades-men , nor can all the members of the body politick be equally wounded in their estates or concernments by the vain imaginations , causless fears , and jealousies and bugbears of other seditious or fanciful mens own making . and to men that have not yet proceeded so far in the school of revelation as to be sure of the spirit of prophesie , it may prove a matter of ill consequence that the universality of the people should have occasion ministred and continued to them to be apprehensive of utmost dangers from the crown , from whence they of right expect protection . and a wonder next a miracle , from whence the premisses to such a trembling and timorous conclusion can be fetched , or how a people , whose valiant and wiser forefathers were never heretofore scared with such panick fears , nor wont to be affrighted with such phantasmes , should now suspect they can have no protection from the crown , when some of them do at the same time labour all they can to hinder it . or how it should happen in the long rebellious parliament that after mr. chaloner a linnen draper of london , was hanged for plotting a surprize of the city of london and reducing it to the kings obedience , honest mr. abbot the scrivener should be pardoned without any such discontent and murmuring of the people , or that oliver cromwell should not be debarred of his power of pardoning in his instrument of government , and be allowed to pardon the lord mordant for a supposed treason against his usurped authority ; and our king deriving his authority , legally vested in him and his royal ancestors , for more than one thousand years before , may not adventure to do it without the utter undoing and ruine of his subjects in their properties , lives and estates , by his pardoning of some capital offenders : or why it should not be as lawful and convenient for the king to grant pardons to some other men , as to doctor oates or mr. bedlow . when no histories jewish , pagan or christian , can shew us a people petitioning their kings , that they would not pardon , when all are not like to be saints or faultless , and it will ever be better to leave it to the hearts of kings , and god that directs them , than to believe tyranny to be a blessing , and petition for it . and the most exact search that can be made , when it findeth the commons petitioning in parliament to the king or house of peers , that they may be present at some tryals there , upon their impeachments , cannot meet with any one president where they ever desired , or were granted such a reasonless request , pursued and set on by other mens designs to have one mans tryal had before another , and by strugling and wrestling for it , expose the king and kingdom to an utter destruction . and therefore in those their fond importunities might do well to tarry until they can find some reason why the lords spiritual may not vote or sit as judges or peers in parliament , in the case of the five-lords , as well as of the earl of danby . or any president that it is or hath been according to parliamentary proceedings to have any such vote or request made by the commons in parliament . who neither were or should be so omnipotent in the opinion of hobart and hutton and other the learned judges of england , as to make a punishment before a law , or laws with a retrospect , which god himself did never allow , but should rather believe that laws enacted contrary to the laws of god and morality , or that no aids or help are to be given to the king pro bono publico , or that there should be no customs or prescription , or that the king should be governed by his people , would be so far from gaining an obedience to such laws or acts of parliament as to render them , to be ipso facto null and of none effect . when the king hath been as careful to distribute justice as his mercy , without violence to his laws and well-inform'd conscience hath sometimes perswaded him to pardon , to do justice , or to cause it to be done in a legal and due manner , and is so appropriate to the office and power of a king , so annext , appendant and a part of it , as none but his delegates are to intermeddle or put any limits thereunto , and if it should not be so solely inherent in him would be either in abeyance or no where . for the house of commons are neither a judicature or sworn to do justice , and if they were , would be both judges and parties , and the lords spiritual and temporal are not as to particular proceedings sworn but meerly consultive ; so as justice can vest in none but the king , who is by his coronation-oath only sworn to do it , if his right of inheritance and greater concernments than any of his subjects , did not abundantly ingage and prompt him thereunto ; and is therefore so every way , and at all times obliged to do justice and protect the lives , estates , peace and liberty of his subjects , as he is with all convenient speed and hast to try or bring to judgment , a subject accused of treason by the houses of lords and commons , both or either of them in his court of kings-bench before the justices thereof , or by special commission by a lord high steward in or without the time of parliament . and the king may acquit ( which amounteth to a remission or pardon ) by a more supreme authority than any of his judges ( some particular cases wherein appeals are , or may be brought , only excepted ) do ordinarily by an authority derived from no other , not to be debarred by probabilities , or possibilities , or by consequences , not always to be foreseen or avoided . for a man pardoned for man-slaughter , may be so unhappy as in the like manner afterwards to be the death of five or ten more ; 20000. rebells pardoned at a time as in the insurrections of wat tyler , jack cade , &c. may be guilty of the like offence , twenty or forty years after : the lord mayor of london that hath an allowance of tolls and profits to take a care of the city and wholsomness of food , might be , as they are , too much careless and undo them in their health and well being . the judges may as those in the reign of king edward the first , and thorp in the reign of king edward the third , be guilty of misdemeanours , yet that is not to bereave us of that good which better men may do us in their administration of justice , our kings have granted priviledges , to certain cities and towns not to pay subsidies , and granted pardons as their mercies and right reason inclined them , in the course of their several reigns for many ages last past , yet have not acquitted or left unpunished all the offenders ever since , there being a greater likelyhood that they would not be so easie in pardoning , where they were to gain so much by attainders , fines and forfeitures . and therefore panick & vain fears , such as in constantem virum cadere non possunt , should not be permitted to affright our better to be imployed imaginations , unless we had a mind to be as wise as a small and pleasant courtier of king henry the eighths who would never endure to pass in a boat under london-bridge lest it should fall upon his head , because it might once happen to do so . our magna charta's and all our laws which ordain no man to be condemned or punished without tryal by his peers , do allow it where it is by confession , outlawry , &c. and no verdict . did never think it fit that publick dangers , such as treason should tarry , where justice may as well be done otherwise without any precise formalities to be used therein . for although it may be best done by the advice of the kings greatest council the parliament , there is no law or reasonable custom of england either by act of parliament , or without , that restrains the king to do it only in the time of parliament . when the returns , law-days and terms appointed and fixt , have ever given place to our kings commissions of oyer and terminer , inquiries , &c. upon special and emergent occasions . and notwithstanding it will be always adviseable that kings should be assisted by their greatest council , when it may be had yet there is no law or act of parliament extant , or any right reason or consideration to bind him from making use of his ordinary council in a case of great and importunate necessity for the tryal of peers by their peers , before a lord high steward , attended by the kings learned judges of the law. for cases of treason , felony and trespass , being excepted out of parliament , first and last granted and indulged priviledges by our and their kings and princes , there can be no solid reason or cogent argument to perswade any man that the king cannot for the preservation of himself and his people , in the absence or interval of parliaments , punish and try offenders in cases of treason , without which there can be no justice , protection or government , if the power of the king and supreme magistrate shall be tyed up by such , or the like as may happen , obstructions . so until the honourable house of commons can produce some or any law , agreement , pact , concession , liberty or priviledge to sit and counsel the king , whether he will or no , as long as any of their petitions remain unanswered ( which they never yet could or can ) ( those grand impostures and figments of the modus tenendi parliamenta and the supposed mirror of justice , being as they ought to be rejected ) when the parliament records will witness that many petitions have , for want of time ( most of the ancient parliaments not expending much of it ) been adjourned to be determined in other courts , as in the case of staunton in 14 e. 3. and days have been limited to the commons for the exhibiting of their petitions ; the petitions of the corbers depended all the reigns of king edward the first and second , until the eleventh year of edward the third , which was about sixty six years , and divers petitions not dispatched , have in the reign of king richard the second , been by the king referred to the chancellor and sometimes with a direction to call to his assistance the justices and the kings serjeants at law , and the commons themselves have at other times prayed to have their petitions determined by the councel of the king or by the lord chancellor . and there will be reason to believe that in cases of urgent necessity for publick safety , the king is & ought to be at liberty to try & punish great and dangerous offenders without his great council of parliament . the petitions in parliament touching the pardoning of richard lyons , john peachie , alice peirce , &c. and a long process of william montacute earl of salisbury were renewed and repeated again in the parliament of the first of richard the second , because the parliament was ended before they could be answered . anno 1. of king richard the second , john lord of gomenez formerly committed to the tower for delivering up of the town of ardes in that kings time , of which he took upon him the safe keeping in the time of king edward the third , and his excuse being disproved , the lords gave judgment that he should dye , but in regard he was a gentleman and a baronet and had otherwise well served , should be beheaded and judgment respited until the king should be thereof fully informed , and was thereupon returned again to the tower. king henry the second , did not tarry for the assembling a parliament to try henry de essex , his standard-bearer , whom he disherited for throwing it down and affrighting his host or disheartning it . 16 e. 2. henry de bello monte a baron refusing to come to parliament upon summons was by the king , lords and council , and the judges , and barons of the exchequer then assisting committed for his contempt to prison . anno 3 e. 3. the bishop of winchester was indicted in the kings-bench for departing from the parliament at salisbury . neither did henry the eight forbear the beheading of his great vicar-general cromwell , upon none or a very small evidenced treason , until a parliament should be assembled . the duke of somerset was indicted of treason and felony , the second of december , anno 3 & 4 edwardi 6. sitting the parliament , which began the fourth day of november , in the third year of his reign , and ended the first day of february in the fourth , was acquitted by his peers for treason , but found guilty of felony , for which neglecting to demand his clergy he was put to death . in the reign of king philip and queen mary , thirty nine of the house of commons in parliament ( whereof the famous lawyer edmond plowden was one ) were indicted in the court of kings-bench , for being absent without license from the parliament . queen elizabeth charged and tryed for treason , and executed mary queen of scots her feudatory , without the advice of parliament , and did the like with robert earl of essex her special favourite , for in such cases of publick and general dangers , the shortest delays have not seldom proved to be fatally mischievous . and howsoever it was in the case of stratford , archbishop of canterbury in the fifteenth year of the reign of king edward the third , declared that the peers de la terre ne doivent estre arestez ne mesnez en jugement , si non en parlement & par leur pairres , yet when there is no parliament , though by the common-law their persons may not then also be arrested at a common persons suit , they may by other ways be brought to judgment in any other court. and charges put in by the commons in the house of peers , against any of the peers have been dissolved with it . for sir edward coke hath declared it to be according to the law and reasonable customs of england , followed by the modern practice , that the giving any judgment in parliament doth not make is a session , and that such bills as passed in either or both houses , and had no royal assent unto them , must at the next assembly begin again ; for every session of parliament is in law ( where any bill hath gained the royal assent , or any record upon a writ of error brought in the house of peers hath been certified ) is and hath been accompted to have been a session . and although some of this later quarrelling age have espoused an opinion , too much insisted upon , that an impeachment brought by the house of commons against any one makes the supposed offence , until it be tryed , unpardonable . a reason whereof is undertaken to be given , because that in all ages it hath been an undoubted right of the commons to impeach before the lords any subject for treason or any crime whatsoever . and the reason of that reason is ( supposed to be ) because great offences complained of in parliament , are most effectually determined in parliament . wherein they that are of that opinion may be intreated to take into their more serious consideration ; that there neither is , nor ever was , any house or members of commons in parliament , before the imprisonment of king h. 3. by a rebellious part of his subjects , in the forty ninth year of his reign , or any kind of fair or just evidence for it . factious designing and fond conjectures being not amongst good patriots , or the sons of wisdom ever accompted to be a sufficient , or any evidence . nor was the house of lords from its first and more ancient original , intituled under their king to a judicative power to their kings , in common or ordinary affairs , but in arduis , and not in all things of that nature , but in quibusdam , as the king should propose and desire their advice , concerning the kingdom and church , in matters of treason or publick concernments , and did understand themselves , and that high and honourable court , to be so much forbid by law , ancient usage and custom to intermeddle with petty or small crimes or matters , as our kings have ever since the sixth year of the reign of king edward the first , ordained some part of the honourable house of peers , to be receivers and tryers of petitions of the members of the house of commons themselves and others , directed to the king , to admit what they found could have no remedy in the ordinary courts of justice , and reject such as were properly elsewhere to be determined , with an indorsement of non est petitio parliamenti . which may well be believed to have taken much of its reason and ground from a law made by king canutus who began his reign about the year of our lord , 1016. nemo de injuriis alterius regi queratur nisi quidem in centuria justitiam consequi & impetrare non poterit . for certainly , if it should be otherwise , the reason and foundation of that highest court would not be as it hath been hitherto , always understood to be with a cognisance only de quibusdam arduis , matters of a very high nature concerning the king and the church . but it must have silenced all other courts and jurisdictions , and have been a continual parliament , a goal-delivery or an intermedler in matters as low as court leets , or baron and county courts , and a pye-powder court. and the words of any crime whatsoever do not properly signifie great offences , and that all great offences do concern the parliament , is without a key to unlock the secret not at all intelligible , when it was never instituted or made to be a court for common or ordinary criminals . for the house of commons were never wont to take more upon them than to be petitioners and assenters unto such things as the king by the advice of his lords spiritual and temporal should ordain , and obey , and endeavour to perform them . and an impeachment of the house of commons cannot be said to be in the name , or on the behalf of all the people of england , for that they never did or can represent the one half of them , and if they will be pleased to examine the writs and commissions granted by our kings for their election , and the purpose of the peoples election of them to be their representatives , substitutes or procurators , it will not extend to accuse criminals , for that appertained to the king himself and his laws , care of justice and the publick ; the common people had their inferiour courts and grand juries , assises and goal-deliveries to dispatch such affairs without immediately troubling him or his parliament , and the tenour and purpose of their commissions and elections to parliament , is no more than ad faciendum & consentiendum iis to obey and perform such things as the king , by the advice of his lords spiritual and temporal , should in parliament ordain . for although where the wife or children of a man murdered shall bring an appeal , the king is debarred from giving a pardon , because by our saxon laws derived from the laws of god , they are not to be disturbed in that satisfaction which they ought to have by the loss or death of the man murdered . yet the publick justice will not be satisfied without the party offending be arraigned and brought to judgment for it , if the party that hath right to appeal should surcease or be bought off , so as an appeal may be brought after or before the king hath indicted , and an auter foitz acquit in the one case will not prejudice in the other , and where the matter of fact comes to be afterwards fully proved , and the appeal of a wife or children of a bastard called filius populi , quia nullius filius , where only the king is heir , cannot vacate or supersede an indictment of the kings . neither is an appeal upon a crime or in criminal matters , in the first instance to be at all pursued in parliament , by the statute made in the first year of the reign of king h. 4. the words whereof are , item for many great inconveniencies and mischiefs that often have happened by many appeals made within the realm of england ( to the great afflictions and calamities of the nation , as it afterwards happened by the lancastrian plots and designs in that mischievous appeal in anno 11 of king richard the second ) before this time ; it is ordained and stablished from henceforth , that all the appeals to be made of things done out of the realm , shall be tryed and determined before the constable and marshal of england for the time being ; and moreover it is accorded and assented , that no appeals be from henceforth made , or in any wise pursued in parliament in any time to come . and therefore that allegation that the house of peers cannot reject the impeachment of the commons , because that suit or complaint of the commons can be determined no where else , will want a better foundation ( an impeachment of the house of commons , in the name of all the people being no other than an appeal to the king in parliament . ) and the suit of such as might be appellants in another place ( being there expresly prohibited ) cannot be supposed to be the concern or interest of all the people deserving or requiring satisfaction , or especially provided for by law to have satisfaction , unless it could by any probability or soundness of judgment be concluded that all the people of england , besides wives , children or near kindred and relations ( the necessity of publick justice and deterring examples ) are or should be concerned in such a never to be fancied appeal of the people . and it will be very hard to prove that one or a few are all the people of england , or if they could be so imagined , are to be more concerned than the king , who is sworn to do justice , unless they would claim and prove a sovereignty and to be sworn to do justice , which though they had once by a villanous rebellion attacked , until oliver cromwel their man of sin , cheated them of it ; for god would never allow them any such power or priviledge , or any title to the jesuits doctrine , which some of our protestant dissenters , their modern proselites , have learned of them , that the king although he be singulis major , is minor universis . and it is no denial of justice in the house of peers to deny the receiving of an impeachment from the house of commons , when they cannot understand any just cause or reason to receive it , and the records , rolls , petitions and orders of parliament will inform those that will be at the pains to be rightly and truly directed by them , that petitions in parliament have been adjourned , modified or denied ; and that in the common or inferior courts of justice , writs and process may sometimes be denied , superseded or altered according to the rules of justice , or the circumstances thereof . and our records can witness , that plaintiffs have petitioned courts of justice recedere a brevi & impetrare aliud . and it cannot be said that the king doth denegare justitiam , when he would bind them unto their ancient , legal , well experimented forms of seeking it in the pursuing their rights and remedies , and hinders them in nothing but seeking to hurt others and destroy themselves . for justice no otherwise denied should not be termed arbitrary , until there can be some solid reason , proof or evidence for it . when it is rather to be believed , that if the factious vulgar rabble might have their wills , they would never be content or leave their fooling until they may obtain an unbounded liberty of tumbling and tossing the government into as many several forms and methods , as there be days in the year , and no smaller variety of religions . and they must be little conversant with our records , that have not understood that the commons have many times received just denials to their petitions , and that some have not seldom wanted the foundations of reason or justice . that many of their petitions have adopted the concerns and interests of others , that were either strangers unto them , or the designs of some of the grand nobility who thought them as necessary to their purposes as wind , tide , and sails are to the speeding of a ship into the port or landing-places of their designs . for upon their exhibiting in a parliament in the 28 year of the reign of king henry the sixth , abundance of articles of high treason , and misdemeanours , against william de la poole , duke of suffolk ; one whereof was that he had sold the realm of england to the french king , who was preparing to invade it . when they did require the king and house of lords that the duke ( whom not long before they had recommended to the king to be rewarded for special services ) might be committed prisoner to the tower of london , the lords and justices upon consultation , thought it not reasonable unless some special matter was objected against him . whereupon the said duke not putting himself upon his peerage , but with protestation of his innocency , only submitting himself to the kings mercy , who acquitting him from the treason and many of the misdemeanours ▪ and for some or them by the advice of the lords , only banished him for five years . and that thereupon when the viscount beaumont in the behalf of the lords spiritual and temporal required that it might be inrolled that the judgment was by the kings own rule , & not by their assent , and that neither they nor their heirs should by this example be barred of their peerage . no protestation appears to have been made by any of the lords spiritual or temporal for or on the behalf of the commons . or by the commons for themselves . so as a different manner of doing justice can neither truly or rationally be said to be an absolute denial of justice , and was never believed to be so by the predecessors of the house of commons in parliament in our former kings reigns , when some hundreds of their petitions in parliament have been answered by , there is a law already provided , or let the old law stand , or the king will provide a convenable or fitting remedy . and is not likely if it were , as it is not to be , any arbitrary power , or any temptation or inducement thereunto , to produce any rule or incouragement to the exercise of an arbitrary power in the inferiour courts , when there is none so weak in his intellect , but may understand that different courts have several boundaries , methods and forms of proceedings , and that the kings extraordinary great court and councel in his house of peers although very just and unarbitrary in their procedures , is so always ready to succour the complaints of people , as it never willingly makes it self to be the cause of it . and cannot misrepresent the house of peers to the king and his people , in the case of mr. fitz-harris , or any others , when that honourable assembly takes so much care as it doth to repress arbitrary power , and doth all it can to protect the whole nation from it , and many of the house of commons impeachments have been disallowed by the king and his house of peers in parliament without any ground or cause of fear of arbitrary power , which can no where be so mischievously placed , as in the giddy multitude whose impeachments would be worse than the ostracisme at athens , and so often overturn and tire all the wise men and good men in the nation as there would be none but such as deserve not to be so stiled , to manage the affairs of the government , subordinate to their king and sovereign . to all which may be added , if the former presidents cited to assert the kings power of pardoning aswell after an impeachment made by the commons in parliament , as before and after an impeachment received by the lords in parliament , or made both by the lords and commons in parliament , and after an impeachment received by the lords in parliament , or made both by the lords and commons in parliament be not sufficient that of hugh le despenser , son of hugh le despenser , the younger , a lord of a great estate , which is thus entred in the parliament roll of the fifth year of the reign of king edward the third , ought surely to satisfie , that the laws and reasonable customs of england will warrant it . anno 5 e. 3. sir eubule le strange and eleven other mainprisers , being to bring forth the body of hugh the son of hugh le despenser the younger , saith the record , a respondre au prochein parlement & de ester an droit & affaire ce & de liu en conseil soit ordine & mesuerent le corps le dit hugh devant nostre seigneur le roi countes barons & autres grantz en mesme le parlement & monstrent les l'res patents du roi de pardon al dit hugh forisfacturam vite & membrorum sectam pacis homicidia roborias felonias & omnes transgressiones , &c. dated 20 martii anno primo regni sui et priant a n're seigneur le roi quil le vousist delivrer de las mainprise & faire audit hugh sa grace & n're seigneur le roi eiant regard a ses dites l'res & voilant uttroier a la priere le dit mons'r eble & autres mainpernors avant dit & auxint de les prelatz qui prierent molt especialment pur lui si ad comande de sa grace sa delivrance . et voet que ses menpernors avant ditz & chescun d' eux soient dischargez de leur mainprise & auxint & le dit hugh soit quit & delivrers de prisone & de garde yssint & si ho'me trove cause devers lui autre & nest uncore trove quil estoise au droit . and the english translator , or abridger of the parliament records , hath observed that the old usage was , that when any person being in the kings displeasure , was thereof acquitted by tryal or pardon , yet notwithstanding he was to put in twelve of his peers to be his sureties for his good behaviour at the kings pleasure . and may be accompanied by the case of richard earl of arundel in the 22 year of the reign of king richard the second , being appealed by the lords appellant , and they requiring the king , that such persons appealed , that were under arrest , might come to their tryal , it was commanded to ralph , lord nevil , constable of the tower of london to bring forth the said richard earl of arundel , then in his custody , whom the said constable brought into the parliament , at which time the lords appellants came also in their proper persons . to the which earl the duke of lancaster ( who was then hatching the treason which afterwards in storms of state and blood came to effect against the king ) by the kings commandment and assent of the lords declared the whole circumstances ; after the reading and declaring whereof the earl of arundel , who in anno 11 of that kings reign , had been one of the appellants , together with henry earl of derby son of the said duke of lancaster , and afterwards the usurping king henry the fourth against robert de vere , duke of ireland and earl of oxford , and some other ministers of state , under king richard the second , alledged that he had one pardon granted in the eleventh year of the reign of king richard the second , and another pardon granted but six years before that present time . and prays that they might be allowed . to which the duke answered , that for as much as they were unlawfully made , the present parliament had revoked them . and the said earl therefore was willed to say further for himself at his peril ; whereupon sir walter clopton , chief justice , by the kings commandment declared to the said earl , that if he said no other thing , the law would adjudge him guilty of all the actions against him . the which earl notwithstanding would say no other thing , but required allowance of his pardons . and thereupon the lords appellant in their proper persons , desired that judgment might be given against the said earl as convict of the treason aforesaid . whereupon the duke of lancaster , by the assent of the king , bishops and lords , adjudged the said earl to be convict of all the articles aforesaid , and thereby a traytor to the king and realm , and that he should be hanged , drawn and quartered , and forfeit all his lands in fee or fee-tail , as he had the nineteenth day of september , in the tenth year of the kings reign , together with all his goods and chattels . but for that the said earl was come of noble blood and house , the king pardoned the hanging , drawing and quartering , and granted that he should be beheaded ; which was done accordingly . but anno 1 hen. 4. the commons do pray the reversal of that judgment given against him , and restoration of thomas the son and heir of the said richard earl of arundel . unto which the king answered , he hath shewed favour to thomas now earl , and to others , as doth appear . the commons do notwithstanding pray , that the records touching the inheritance of the said richard earl of arundel , late imbezelled , may be searched for and restored . unto which was answered , the king willeth . and their noble predecessors in that honourable house of peers , the lords spiritual and temporal in parliament long before that , videlicet , in the fifth year of the reign of king edward the third , made no scruple or meet point or question in law , whether the power of pardoning was valid and solely in the king after an impeachment of the lords in parliament , when in the case of edmond mortimer , the son of roger mortimer earl of march a peer of great nobility and estate , the prelats , counts , barons , & autres gentz du parlement , did in full parliament , as the record it self will evidence , petition the king to restore the said edmond mortimer to his blood and estate which were to remain unto him after the death of his said father , to whom it was answered by the king in these words ; et sur ce nostre seigneur le roi chargea les ditz prelats , countes ▪ & barons en leur foies & ligeance queux ils lui devoient & de puis ce que le piere nostre seigneur le roi que ore est estoit murdre per le dit counte de la marche & person procurement a ce quil avoit mesmes comdevant sa mort que eux eant regarda le roi en tiel cas lui consilassent ce quil devoit faire de reson audit esmon filz le dit counte les queux prelats , countes , barons & autres _____ avys & trete entre eux respondirent a nostre seigneur _____ le roi de common assent que en regard a si horrible fait comme de murdre _____ de terre & lour seigneur lige quen faist unques me avoient devant en leur temps ne nes devant venir en le eyde de dieu quils ne scavoient uncore juger ne conseiller ceque serroit affaire en tiel cas . et sur ce prierent a nostre seigneur le roi quils poierent ent aver avisement tanque au prochein parlement la quelle priere le roi ottroia & sur ce prierent outre que nostre seigneur le roi feist au dit esmon sa bone grace a quoi il respond quil lui voloit faire mes cella grace vendroit de lui mesmes . sir thomas de berkeley ( who sir william dugdale in his book of the baronage of england , found and believes to have been a baron ) being called to account by the king , for the murder of his father king edward the second , to whose custody at his castle of barkeley , he was committed , not claiming his peerage , but pleading that he was at the same time sick almost to death at bradely , some miles distant , and had committed the custody and care of the king unto thomas de gourney & william de ocle ad eum salvo custodiendi , and was not guilty of the murder of the king or any ways assenting thereunto et de illo posuit se super patriam , had a jury of twelve knights sworn and impannelled in parliament who acquitted him thereof , but finding that he had committed the custody of the king to the aforesaid thomas de gournay & william de ocle , and that the king extitit murderatus , a further day was given to the said sir thomas de berkeley de audiendo judicio suo in prox . parliamento , and he was in the interim committed to the custody of ralph de nevil steward of the kings houshold . at which next parliament prierent les prelatz ▪ countes & barons a nostre seigneur le roi on the behalf of the said sir thomas de berkeley , that he would free him of his bayl or mainprize , whereupon the king charging the said prelats , counts and barons to give him their advice therein : le quel priere fust ottroia & puis granta nostre seigneur le roi de rechef a leur requeste que le dit mons'r thomas & ses mainpernors fusseient delivres & discharges de lure mainprise & si estoit jour donne a dit thomas de estre en prochein parlement , which proved to be a clear dismission , for no more afterwards appeareth of that matter . neither after a fierce impeachment in the said parliament of 21 r. 2. against thomas arundel archbishop of canterbury and chancellor of england , of high treason , upon which he was by that injuried prince condemned and banished , when as the record saith , les dits countz prierent , au roi ordenir tiel jugement vers le dit ercevesque come le cas demande & le roi sur ceo recorda en le dit parlement que le dit ercevesque avoit este devant lui en presence de certeines seigneurs & confessor que en la use de la dite commission il sey mesprise & lui mist en la grace du roi surquoi , the judgment was given against the said archbishop , that he should be banished and forfeit all his lands , goods and estate , when in the first year of the reign of the usurping king h. 4. that archbishop not tarrying long in exile , the minds of the commons became so setled on the prevailing side , there was so small or no opposition made by them against him , as the duke of york and earl of northumberland , and others of the blood of the said archbishop of canterbury did in parliament pray the king that the said archbishop might have his recovery against roger walden , for sundry wasts and spoils done by him in the lands of the said archbishoprick , which the king granted , and thanked them for their motion . the bishop of exeter chancellor of england at the assembling of the parliament , taking his text out of the prophecy of ezekiel , rexerit unus omnibus , alledging the power that ought to be in soveraign kings and princes whereby to govern , and the obedience in subjects to obey , and that all alienations of his kingly priviledges and prerogatives were reassumable and to be repealed by his coronation-oath , pour quoi le roi ad fut assembler le estatz de parlement a cest faire pour estre enformer si ascun droitz de sa corone soient sustretz ou amemuser a fin que par leur bon advis & discretion tiel remedie puisse estre mis que le roi puisse esteer en sa libertie ou poir comme ses progenitors ont este devant lui & duissent de droit non obstante ascun ordinance au contraire & ainsi le roi as tener , et les governera , whereupon the commons made their protestation , and prayed the king that it might be inrolled , that it was not their intente ou volunte to impeach or accuse any person in that parliament sans congie du roi , and thereupon the chancellor by the kings command , likewise declared , that nostre seigneur le roi considerant coment plusieurs hautes offenses & mesfaits on t estre faitz par le people de son roialme en contre leur ligeance & l' estat nostre seigneur le roi & la loie de la terre devant ces heures dont son people estiet en grant perill & danger de leie & leur corps & biens & voullant sur ce de sa royalle benignite monstre & faire grace a son dit people a fyn quilz ayent le greindre corage & volonte de bien faire & de leure mieux porter devots le roi en temps avenir si voet & grante de faire & ease & quiete & salvation de son dit people une generalle pardon a ces liges forspries certaines pointz limitez par le samant la suite al partie forspris cyn quont persones queux plaira au roi nomer & tour ceux qui serront empecher en ce present parlement & dit austre que le dit roi voet que plein droit & justice soyent faitz a chascun de ses liges qui en violent complandre en cest parlement & ad ordiner & assigner receivers & triers des petitions en cest parlement . and did in pursuance thereof in full parliament excuse , the duke of york , the bishop of worcester , sir richard le scroop then living , william late archbishop of canterbury , alexander late archbishop of york , thomas late bishop of exeter , and michael late abbot of walton then being dead , of the execution and intent of the commission made in the tenth year of his reign , as being assured of their loyalty , and therefore by parliament restored them to their good name . and it is more than a little probable that the prelates , counts and barons in that honourable house of peers in parliament , did well understand that the king was a fit , and the only person to petition unto for that pardon , discharge or dismission amounting to a pardon , and did not think it to be either legal or rational to petition the people and their fellow subjects , upon a supposed incredible and invisible soveraignty , no man knows when or how radicated and inherent in them . the decree of the great ahashuerus that reigned from india to ethiopia , over one hundred twenty seven provinces , whose laws were holden to be irrevocable , was reversed for the preservation of the jewish nation upon the petition of queen esther , and his holding out his golden scepter unto her . the unquiet people of athens now come enough under a mahometan slavery , would not again wish for draco's bloody repealed laws , without the mercy of a prince to moderate them according to the rules of a prudent and discerning mercy . which made the goodness and wisdom of solomon , so extraordinarily eminent in his determination in the case betwixt the two mothers claiming one child . neither can a people ever be , or so much as think themselves to be in any condition of happiness when their laws shall be inflexible and hard hearted , and there shall be no superior power to allay the rigidness or severity of them . no cities of refuge or asylums to fly unto , upon occasion of misfortunes , which god himself ordained for his chosen people of israel . and therefore when juries may erre or play the knaves , be corrupt , malicious or perjured , and judges mistaken , our judges have in their doubtings stayed the execution until they could attend the king for his determination . whereupon his pardons did not seldom ensue , or a long lease for life was granted to the penitent offender , it being not amiss said by our old bracton , that tutius est reddere rationem misericordiae quam judicii , the saxons in doubtful cases appealed to god for discovery , by kemp or camp , fight , fire or water ordeal , which being now abolished and out of use , requires a greater necessity of the right use of pardoning ; for sir edward coke saith , lex angliae est lex misericordiae , like the laws of scripture wherein mercy is not opposite unto justice but a part of it , as 1 john 19. psalm 71. 2. jer. 18. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. ezek. 33. 13 , 14. and it hath not been ill said , that justitia semper mitiorem sequitur partem , for it is known that a judge since his majesties happy restoration , who were he now living , would wish he had made a greater pause than he did in a case near brodway-hills , in the county of worcester or glocester , where a mother and a son were , upon a seeming full evidence , hanged for the murther of a father , who afterwards when it was too late , appeared to be living . and posterity by the remembrance of matters and transactions in times past , may bewail the fate of some ministers of state , who have been ruined by being exposed to the fury of the people , ( who did not know how or for what they accuse them ) and left to the never to be found piety or wisdom of a giddy , incensed and inconsiderate accusing multitude , and hurrying on the reasonless or little wit of one another . and consider how necessary it had been for the pious good duke of somerset , in the reign of king edward the sixth to have had his pardon , when at his tryal neither his judges , nor the prevalency of the faction that would have rather his room than his company , nor himself could remember to put him in mind to demand the benefit of his clergy . or how far it would have gone towards the prevention of that ever to be wailed national blood-shedding miseries and devastions , which followed the murthers of the earl of strafford , and archbishop laud , if their innocencies had but demanded and made use of his late majesties pardon . or what reason can be found why a pardon after an impeachment of a particular person by an house of commons in parliament , or an house of peers joyning or consenting therewith , should not be as valid and effectual in law , reason and good conscience . as the very many general pardons and acts of oblivion , which have been granted by our kings and princes to their people for extortions of sheriffs bayliffs , &c. together with many other misdemeanours , grievances and offences , often complained of in many of our parliaments , as the records thereof will witness , whereby they have acquitted and given away as much of their own just rights and regal revenues to their subjects , than the aids and subsidies , which they have contributed towards his preservation , and in his their own , when they have not had a king or prince but hath been , as more especially this our present sovereign , piger ad poenas ad praemia velox . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a54690-e90 ll. canuti . ll. edwardi confessor ▪ p. 19. ll. h. 1. rot. claus. 5 e. 2. indorso , m. 15. mat. paris . rot. part . 50 e. 3. rot. part . 51 e. 3. rot. claus. 51 e. 3. rot. part . 1 h. 4. rot. part . 15 e. 3. rot. part . 5 h. 4. rot. part . 9. h. 4. rot. part . 38 h. 6. rot. part . 28 h. 6. exact collection of remonstrances , declarations and messages betwixt his late majesty and the parliament , printed by order of the commons in parliament , 24. march , 1642. ll. canusi . rot parl . 21 r. 2. pryns 4 part of his register of parliament writs . prins animad . upon cokes 4 instit. rot. parl . cokes 4 part of the institutes . cokes 4 part of the institutes tit. parliament . rot. parl . 7 e. 1. ll. canuti , 16. ll. inae , 6 1 h. 4. ca. 14. rot. parl . 28 h. 6. n. 16 , 17. rot. parl . 5 e. 3. n. 8. 22 r. 2. in the abridgment of the parliament records in english said to be done by sir robert cotton . rot. parl . 1 h. 4. n. 109. 111. rot. parl . 5 e. 3. n. 16. rot. parl . 4 e. 3. n. 16. rot. parl . 5 e ▪ 3. rot. parl . 21 r. 2. esthe● ca. 1 , 3 , 5 , 8. 1 reg. 3. bracton . cokes instit. 2. 315. the loyal speech of george plaxtone, m.a., minister of sheriff-hales in shropshire spoken at shifnal in the same county upon the proclamation of his sacred majesty, king james the second, &c. plaxton, george, 1647 or 8-1720. 1685 approx. 8 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a55017 wing p2416 estc r8312 13732725 ocm 13732725 101609 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a55017) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 101609) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 846:33) the loyal speech of george plaxtone, m.a., minister of sheriff-hales in shropshire spoken at shifnal in the same county upon the proclamation of his sacred majesty, king james the second, &c. plaxton, george, 1647 or 8-1720. 1 sheet (2 p.) printed by j. leake for richard grosvenor, bookseller, ... and are to be sold by a. jones ..., london : 16[85?] caption title. imprint from colophon, where the date of publication appears only as "16"; date from wing. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. great britain -politics and government -1660-1688. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. broadsides -england -london -17th century 2008-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-04 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-05 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-05 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the loyal speech of george plaxtone , m. a. minister of sheriff-hales in shropshire ; spoken at shifnal , in the same county , upon the proclamation of his sacred majesty , king james the second , &c. gentlemen ! you have laid the greatest task upon me , that i ever under-went in all my days : you have obliged me to speak of the most important matters of our nation , and allowed me scarce one minute for thought or premeditation : but may that almighty power , by whom kings reign , instruct me ! and may an heart and soul full of loyalty , furnish my tongue with argument and elocution ! my undertaking is great and difficult : who can speak of kings , without awe and reverence ? or , who can be an orator , when those two contrary passions of grief and joy , at once struggle in his breast ? i cannot look back to the peaceful days of charles the second ; i cannot remember the lasting happinesses of his reign , but i must drop a tear upon his hearse : nor can i look forwards , towards the present glories of james the second , but i am overwhelm'd with joy , and a loyal transport seizes me . we have lost one of the best of princes , which ever sway'd these british scepters , charles the gracious ; a prince , who was the care of heaven , the darling of his subjects ; whose life was a miracle , and his whole reign one continued blessing : mercy and justice were the supporters of his throne ; and peace and good wishes the legacy he has left us . i cannot relate the last words of that incomparable prince , without a sigh ; i dare not name them , without tears for our general loss : thus he remembred us in his dying words , if such a prince may be said to die : brother ! i am now going to resign up my self to god , and my crown and government to you ; grant me these few requests . i. in all your vndertakings , set the fear of god before your eyes , and let that direct you . ii. remember to maintain the church of england , as now by law established . iii. govern your subjects with mercy , ease and peace . iv. be good to my queen , and children . this was the royal legacy which he left us ; a legacy , truly becoming such a prince as charles the second . but this is not all , though a great deal more than we deserved , the greatest blessing is still behind ; he has jest us his royal brother , james the second , to succeed him in his throne , and vertues : this must wipe away all our griefs , this must make our joys perfect , and crown our lives with a lasting happiness . the sun is set with us ; but no night follows : charles the gracious , is only exchang'd for james the just : and though our king be dead , yet the monarch lives . we are blest again with a gracious prince ; a prince , whose vertues need no panegyrick ; and to praise him according to his most excellent greatness , is above the feeble power of oratory and eloquence . what vertues can we wish for in a prince , which our present soveraign brings not to his throne ? what joyes are wanting to make us happy , which he will not bestow ? would we have our religion secured ? we have the laws on our side , and the royal word of a king for 't : the king has declared , that he will maintain our religion , as now by law established ; and do what in him lies , to make the church of england flourish . gentlemen ! where the word of a king is , there is power : and what the king hath declared , he will make good ; for no prince is juster to his word , than he is . would we have our rights and liberties preserved ? we have a prince of the greatest justice upon earth . whil'st he was a subject , he was the most faithful friend , and the best of masters to his servants ; and , i hope , a good master will never make an ill king. but more ; we have his royal promise , that he will walk in the steps of his dearest brother . would we have the glories of our kingdom maintain'd ; would we see the old english bravery once again flourish ! we have now the most victorious and warlike prince in christendom ; a king , who dares attempt any thing , but an ill act ; a king , who has been a souldier almost from his cradle . i need not tell you , how he signalized his valour under the protestant mareschal turenne in france : i need not speak of his magnanimity under don juan of austria , against the french king then in league with the english rebels : i need not remember you of the extraordinary hazards of his royal person , in the dutch engagements , fighting for the rights and honour of our nation , and exposing himself in a shower of fire and bullets ; bullets , which distinguish not the greatest prince from the meanest souldier . gentlemen ! he was then the joy and treasure of our nation ; and our representatives in parliament , did not only gratefully acknowledge his services ; but did almost loyally chide him , for hazarding his royal person in war , in whom all our hopes and expectations were center'd . he is still the same james the just , the valiant , and the brave ; though we ( i wish i were not to name it , for the honour of my nation ) ingratefully revolted from him . away then with all phanatick fears and jealousies ! can the grand-child of james the peaceful , can the son of charles the martyr , can the brother of charles the gracious , can the victorious and just james duke of york and albany prove an ill king ? it cannot be . can he , who has been an obedient subject for fifty two years together ; can the justest master , and the firmest friend , and the most faithful brother , prove an ill king ? it cannot be ; and god forbid , that any one should think it . gentlemen ! let us remember our duties , and endeavour all we can to be loyal ; and then we need not doubt , but god will bless us with a merciful and a gracious king. our submission to his rule , our content and chearful obedience under his government , will return to us in showers of mercy , kindness and justice . good subjects do generally make good kings ; and if our king should prove otherwise , it will be our own faults . what shall i say more ? charles the gracious still lives in james the just . we have only chang'd the name , not alter'd the sovereign . away then with those odious names of whigg and tory ; let 'em be forgotten and buried : let us remember , that we are christians , and english-men ; the former will teach us loyalty and allegiance to our king ; love , unity , and good wishes towards one another : the latter will engage us to maintain the glories and peace of our church and nation ; and to preserve the best of kings , and the happiest of governments . let us all , with one heart and mind , bless god for these mercies ; and say , god save king james the second . london , printed by j. leake , for richard grosvenor , bookseller in wolverhampton , and are to be sold by a. jones , at the flying-horse in fleet-street , 16 to the king's most excellent majesty. the humble address of the magistrates and council of your city of glasgow in scotland, and in the name of the inhabitants. glasgow (scotland). city council. 1685 approx. 2 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). b06121 wing t1510a estc r225808 52615010 ocm 52615010 176238 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. b06121) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 176238) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2765:20) to the king's most excellent majesty. the humble address of the magistrates and council of your city of glasgow in scotland, and in the name of the inhabitants. glasgow (scotland). city council. england and wales. sovereign (1685-1688 : james ii) 1 sheet ([2] p.) re-printed by the heir of andrew anderson ..., [edinburgh, 1685] caption title. imprint from wing (2nd ed.). reproduction of original in: national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. great britain -history -james ii, 1685-1688 -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. broadsides -scotland -17th century. 2008-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-02 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2008-08 spi global rekeyed and resubmitted 2008-09 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-09 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the kings most excellent majesty . the humble address of the magistrates and council of your city of glasgow in scotland , for themselves , and in name of the inhabitants . as we your majesties most dutiful and loyal subjects , could not but in a very special manner , have a deep sense of , and be much afflicted for the inexpressible loss of our late gracious monarch , by whose care and protection , we were so well defended from the dangers that did constantly threaten us from disorderly neighbours , for which loss , each of your majesties subjects is truly grieved ; so this grateful and decent sorrow does not at all hinder us from blessing almighty god , and having our hearts filled with sincere joy , for your sacred majesties succession to the throne of your royal ancestors , by by whom we and our predecessors have been so long protected , and from whose extraordinary experience , as well as wisdom and courage ; we have just reason to expect that this kingdom will be again reduced to quiet and happiness ; and the trade by which this place is only supported , will be secured , and encouraged by that extraordinary skill which your sacred majesty has in affairs of that nature ; in return of all which , we shall endeavour with hearts far more loyal than any professions we can make , not only to concur our selves in our own stations , in your majesties service but be very exemplary to others , in spight of all dangers and oppositions ; though we have very good reason to hope that none of those will threaten your majesties peaceable reign , which that i● may be as happy as your majesties great virtues deserve , and as our sincere loyalty should inspire us to wish , shall be the constant and ardent prayers of may it please your sacred majesty , your majesties most humble , most faithful , and most , dutiful subjects . daphnis polystephanos an eclog treating of crownes, and of garlandes, and to whom of right they appertaine. addressed, and consecrated to the kings maiestie. by g.b. knight. buck, george, sir, d. 1623. 1605 approx. 81 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 33 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-08 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a17119 stc 3996 estc s104803 99840534 99840534 5046 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a17119) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 5046) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1129:18) daphnis polystephanos an eclog treating of crownes, and of garlandes, and to whom of right they appertaine. addressed, and consecrated to the kings maiestie. by g.b. knight. buck, george, sir, d. 1623. i. w. s., artist. woutneel, ioan, engraver. [56] p., folded plate printed by g. eld for thomas adams, at london : 1605. signed on a2v: georgius bucus. in verse. first two words of title in greek characters. signatures: a-g⁴. the folding engraved genealogical table is signed: i.w.s. delineauit. ioan. woutneel excud. 1602. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng plantagenet, house of -poetry. great britain -kings and rulers -early works to 1800. 2004-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-05 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-05 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion δαφνις πολυστεφανος . an eclog treating of crownes , and of garlandes , and to whom of right they appertaine . addressed , and consecrated to the kings maiestie . by g. b. knight . quod maximum , & optimum esse dicitur , oportet esse vnum . ex arist. top. li. 7. at london printed by g. eld for thomas adams . 1605. blazon or coat of arms qvod devs conivnxit , homo non separet . math. 19. quatuor hasce cruces clypeo coniunxit in vno ( quas ergò nemo separet ) ipse deus . invicto , pacif . foel . avg. christianiss . fidei defensori , iacobo d. g. magnae britanniae , galliae , & hiberniae regi , domino svo clementiss . haec stemmata , & diademata , i. has genealogiae avg. et imperii britannici leves advmbrationes , georgivs bvcvs e q. r. s p. c. l. m. d. d. most sacred soveraign : i haue aduentured to present your maiestie , not with a faire pourtrait , but with a slight shadow of your imperiall greatnesse , which i began long since , but then the end was in nubibus , or in abeiance ( as our lawyers say ) for i could not finish it ( according to my proiect ) vntill such time as he , which should be sent , expectatio gentium ( britannicatū ) should come , who was ordained from aboue to weare all these crownes and garlands , and to reduce this whole isle ( with the hereditary kingdomes , and prouinces thereof ) to one monarchie , and entire empire , as they had been in the times of diuers ancient . british saxon , and some english kings of the norman , or danish race , as it shall hereafter appeare . the foundation of this great worke hath bin layd , by many kings your maiesties ancestors ( i meane by alliance , not by armes for those plots were frustrate ) but as lately by king henry the eight when he mediated the mariage of his sonne the prince of england with the princesse of scotland your maiesties mother : as also in this maner many ages before the good king malcolm (1) cammoir proiected this worke ( and that with happy successe ) by the mariage of margaret daughter of the saxon prince edward exul , heire of the great edgar ) out of which royall bride-bed your maiestie is issued . likewise alexander the first maried sibilla eldest daughter of william duke of normandy king of england . the first dauid also king of scotland maried matilda daughter of the earle waldeof and of iudith neece to the said king william : king alexander the second maried ioan plantagenet daughter of king iohn . king alexander the third maried margaret plantagenet daughter of king henry the third . king dauid the second maried ioan plantagenet daughter of king edward the second . king iames the first maried ioane daughter of the duke of somerset grandchild to king edward the third . king iames the fourth your maiesties great grandfather maried margaret eldest daughter of king henry the seauenth , and of queene elizabeth plantagenet daughter and heire of king edward the fourth . but these princes maried onely but daughters of england ; but you ( most sacred prince ) the great iacob , enthronized vpon the patriarke iacobs fatall stone , and vpon saint iacobs festiuall espoused solemnely faire england her selfe . and all the former matches were but preparatiues , & ( as i said ) foundations of this great worke , which your maiesty ( whom i may now call an english man , as well for being descended from so many english princes , as also for that your maiesties father was an english man , and your mother princesse , and heire of england ) hath by diuine preordinance now finished and accomplished in plenitudine temporum ; and that by iust right , for in your sacred person are iointly met , and coalesced , the royall blouds , interests , and titles not onely of all great britaine , but also of france and ireland . which to prooue will not require much search , nor study , for they are euident , and i will for breuities sake but thus point at them . for some of them namely scotland ( the crowne and scepter whereof ( missa per innumeros auos ) your maiestie hath borne from your infancy ) all men know and acknowledge your ancient royall right , and estate therein . and your maiesties title to ireland will be manifest in your genealogie herein deduced from that great plantagenet king henry the second , the first english prince lord of ireland , & from his heroycall posteritie ( as well marches as others ) who haue been continually seysed thereof vntill this day . * so likewise your maiesties tytle to the crowne of france sheweth it selfe clearly in the ancient possessions of these royall plantagenets here presented , your maiesties progenitors first dukes of normandy , then of aquitaine , earles of poictow , of aniow , of maine , of touraine , and of britaine , and after of angolesme : and lastly kinges of all france in the right of isabell or elizabeth sole daughter , and heyre of philip le bel king of france mother of king edward the third , who made a most renowned and happy entry vpon that his royall inheritance : & hee his great heires were not onely titulare lords , but also actuall possessors of france many yeares , and yet to this day in token of that ancient right ) haue seysine of a (1) part of that kingdome , notwithstanding that counterfeit hethenish law salica maintained by all the power of france many ages against them . * your maiesties tytle , and descent from the ancient kings of great britaine ( and which is least knowne ) may thus redily be deriued . the welsh bardes , as also our best heralds record that (1) rhese ap-gruffith ( surnamed atgluid ) prince of southwales about the yeere of our lord 1196. ( and issued from cadwallader the last british king ) had a daughter named (2) gwenlhian maried to (3) edneuet vachan lord of bransencle , and chiefe iustice of wales , and bare to him a sonne called (4) grono , this grono had (5) tedor , tedor had grono , grono had tedor , tedor had (6) meredith , meredith had owen . which owen maried catherine ( widow of king henry the fift , and daughter of the french king charles the sixt ) by whom hee had edmond creaeted earle of richmond by king henry the sixt , his brother vterine . and this edmond was father of king henry the seauenth , who was father of queene margaret your maiesties great granmother , &c. but some deriue your maiesties british race from a namelesse , & a good namelesse daughter of gruffith ap leolhin ( a prince ●f wales about the yeere 1051 ) vpon whom ( as they pretend ) fleanchus thane , or steward of abria flying into wales for suc●our ) begat vnlawfully a sonne , who should be ancester to all the ●hiefe stewards to this day : but this being not acknowledged by ●he best scotish historiographers , & the thing not honourable , i may well pretermit it . lastly , to finish all these your maiesties natiue titles to these many diadems mentioned in this poësy , i haue inserted a genealogy of the saxon kings drawne from the first vniter of the heptarchye , and the godfather of anglia king egbert vnto matilda the empresse , daughter and heyre of king henry the first , and mother of this great plantagenet king henry the second , ancester of all the english kings vntill this day . and from him this poesy is a continued pedegree vnto queene elizabeth the first , and from her to your maiesty , and to your maiesties most excellent sonne henry , the prince of great britaine . now it resteth that i answere , or excuse some faults found in this poesy . for some note that i am too long in my induction , notwithstanding i propound in the first stanze . others reproue me because i began no higher . others charge me that i haue concealed , and coloured the faultes of bad princes . angliae regvm prosapia a tempore qvo anglia appellari caepit , nimirvm ab egberto rege primo eivsdem monarcha ▪ vsqve ad henricvm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . royal genealogical tree i. w. s. delineauit . but to conclude shortly , whatsoeuer be the faults of the booke , or of the buc i most humbly submit them to your maiesties most gracious censure , who ( next to the omnipotent lord of lords ) are vitae , & necis arbiter , and not onely the supreme , and highest iudge but ( which is best ) the best iudge . i. the most wise , the most learned , and the most clement iudge . and so therefore eftsoones prostrating my selfe , my small talent , ( or rather mites ) and all at your sacred feete ; not seeking either praise , or thankes , nor so much as one branch or leafe of any of these your many garlands , but with the old poet veniam pro laude peto laudatus abundé si fastiditus non tibi daphnis ero . and with the new inauguratorie hymne still pray to the almighty that . your happy dayes may not be done , till the great comming of his sonne . and that your health , your ioyes , your peace , may as your raigne , and yeres increase . amen . the preface , or argument of this poësy . damaetas hauing long bin a woodman had obserued the natures , & propertyes of many trees , and apprehended there was some mistery , and some peculiar maiesticall matter in the genest , more then he could discipher . whereupon hee went to silenus a man of great learning and authoritie ( for he was held a pro●het ) and exposeth to him his conceit , and prayeth earnestly his ayde . silenus entertaineth him curteously , and is very willing , ( and by the meanes of a late accident ) well able to rese●ue him : for ( saith he ) : there was a complaint mad●●ately to our great god apollo against certaine vnworthy fellowes , which presumptuously tooke garlands of his ancient tree the laurell without leaue . whereat he hauing indignation , determined to take order for that , and such like abuses . and foorthwith calling the muses to counsell in helicon established ordinances for the due wearing of that & of al other ghirlands . and because the ancient ghirlands were abused , & prophaned with common and vnworthy vse , hee made choice of a new tree ( viz ) the genest , and instituted ghirlands thereof , and gaue to them praerogatiues aboue the rest , & appropriated them to one imperial family seated in (i) leuceessa : & with expresse defence that none else should weare them . and that not all the princes of this family should haue garlands hereof , but to some of them better deseruing should be permitted a chappelet , and to the rest but a branch , or plante of the genest . but the chiefe garland of genest complete and adorned with diuers sacred flowers should be reserued for his fauorite daphnis ( the most puissant , and the most vertuous , and ( in briefe ) the most true heroycall prince of that imperiall race ) ordained long-since by the highest aeternall wisedome to reconcile the olde , and vnnaturall fewd betweene locrine , and albanact , to reduce all the britannik isles into one entyre monarchy , to restore the ancient vnity of religion , lawes , and language in this great iland , and finally to extend the limit of his empyre as farre , as they were in the times of albion , of brutus , of artur , of edgar , or of any other our monarkes , whose dominions were largest . thus farre apollo's decree . after this silenus declareth more particularly , who , and what these royall worthyes were , which should beare , or weare chappelets , or garlāds of the genest tree , and lastly the garland complete . beginning with that great henry sonne of the empresse matilda ( the first king of this iland surnamed plantagenet ) and so deducing a genealogy from him through his royall posterity to our present sacred soueraign iames , his now next heire , and nephew , whom the prophet herein styleth the true polystephanus , the peace-maker , king arturs successor , great aedgars heire , high seneschall of albion , the great briton &c. and crowneth his head with this imperiall polyanthine ghirland , and his raigne with all the blessings of peace , victory , long life , a rare fayre wife , hopefull princely issue , and a perpetuall succession of their posterity in the empire of great britain . and now to that obiection touched in the dedicatory , and made because i deriue not this title , and genealogy from some of the ancient monarkes of this isle britons , or saxons , or at the least from king william the conquerour , i must answere that to haue chosen any of the most ancient kings , i must haue looked so farre backe , as i should not onely haue made this eclog ouer-long , and tedious , but also haue lost my selfe in the cloudes of obscurity by soring too high amongst them ( as they know , which know what our ancient storyes bee . ) but as for william the conquerour there be many reasons why i should not begin with him ( although i goe as neere him , as his sonnes daughter ) for firstly , he was a bastard , ( and yet not that of the blood royall of england ) hauing no title to the crowne but violence , and his sword as he confessed , and thereof had remorse of conscience at his death . secondly he was neuer possessed of the one halfe of britain , for hee had neither scotland , nor wales , and in ireland he not one foote . furthermore girard du-haillan and other french antiquaries according to their salike heraldry say that his lyne ended in his sonne king henry the first : for all they holde as a maxime , ( la famille se continué es masles , et se finist aux filles . ) and yet du-haillan ( notwithstāding , or forgetting this ) affirmeth in an other place , that the race of the kings of england issued out of the house of aniow ( viz ) from our great henry , and his ancesters ) continueth vntill this day . from whom there be many reasons on the other side , why i should deduce the genealogy of our kings passed , and of our present soueraigne lord king iames : for this great henry was not onely rightfull heire , and king of england , but also the greatest king ( of whom there is any credible story extant ) which hath been in this isle of britain since the time of the romaine emperous ( who were reputed lords of all the world ) and which thus i demonstrate , and briefly . he was king of england in the right of his mother matilda the empresse , daughter and heire to king henry the first , by matilda bona daughter of king malcolm canmoir , and of margaret his wife , who was the daughter of edward exul the saxon prince the sonne of edmond ironside king of england anno dom. 1016. this edmond was sonne and heyre to king etheldred , who in ancient charters is written totius britanniae rex ( quod nota ) because a late anonymus in a little booke dedicated to his maiesty , affirmeth that neuer any prince was king of this whole isle vntill now : but he is deceiued for ( besides constantius chlorus and his sonne our countriman constantine the great , constans , aurelius ambrosius , vter , & others ( which were lords of all great britaine ) edgar also the father of this king etheldred was absolute monarke of this isleland , and so puissant in forces both by land , and sea , as hee was surnamed the great , and was stiled totius albionis basileus , & anglici orbis basileus ( as g. malmesburiensis & florentius wigorniensis witnesse . whereupon ( to note also by the way ) some thinke that the word anglia was sometimes vsed for the whole isle , and which ion lidgate disertly asseuereth in king arthurs complaint in these words , great britain now called england : so likewise doth geffrey chaucer in the franklins tale ( viz. ) in england , that clepid was britain : and ranulfus cestrensis a grauer authour peremptorily affirmeth that king egbert after his conquests ordained , and commaunded that the saxons , and iutes should bee called angles , and that britain should bee called england : but i leaue this to be discussed by antiquaryes . and to returne to the ancient saxon kings progenitors of this henry , and also possessors of this whole isle ( as i will shew for the better confirmation of that , which i haue said against the opinion of this anonymus . ) in diuers ancient records and charters of donations of these kings to monasteries , and to cathedrall churches , and in other ancient monuments , i haue obserued these seuerall stiles , * ego athelstanus rex anglorum anno dominicae incarnationis d. ccccxxx . r●gni verò mihi gratis commissi vi. indictione iii. * epactae xviii . concurrente iiii . nonis mensis aprilis iii. lunae rotigerae vaga , tionis i. per eiusdem omnipatrantis dextram totius britanniae regium solio sublimatus &c. ego eadmundus rex anglorum , ceterarumque gentium in circuitu persistentium gubernator et rector an. dom. 945. ego edredus rex terrenus sub imperiali potentiaregu seculorum , aeternique principis , magnae britanniae temporale gerens imperium , &c. an. dom. 948. ego edgarus totius albronis monarcha &c. an. dom. 966. and in another , ego edgarus totius albionis , finitimorumque regum basileus . an. dom. 974. these three last stiles i finde in the history of ingulfus abbot of croyland transcribed by him from the charters of that monastery . and the other two before going , are copyed out of the records of the cathedrall church of chicester , as also these three next following . ego eadwis a) basileon totius albionis &c. an. dom. d. cccc.lvi . imperii autem 1. an in another , ego eadwin rex gentium albionis &c. and in the date of a charter of bishop brighthelmus , anno 2. imperii eadwin totius albionis insulae imperantis . i finde also ( in asser meneuensis ) aelured or aelfred a more ancient saxon king then these written omnium britān . insulae christianorum rector . an. dom. 872. and edward ( surnamed pius , and confessor ) was from the yeare of our lord 1050. king of this whole isle ( if there be any credite to be giuen to our stories ) and was stiled rex albionis , as ion twine auoweth out of his charters giuen to the abby of abingdon . and that same king etheldred before cited , was stiled in the charters of glastonbury , aetheldred anglicae nationis , caeterarumque gentium triniatim intra ambitum britān . insulae degentium &c. basileus , and another k. in old inscription , britanniae anax : and many such more , which were too long to recite . and some kings of the norman race ( which is more rare ) haue been so stiled for the lord bishop of bristow voucheth a coine of king ion , wherein is stamped ioānes rex britonum . but that coine which his lordship shewed to me had the armes of little britain vpon the reuerse : but his grandchild king edward the firsty & after him king edward the third were greater monarkes here then he . but this great henry plantagenets empire extended beyond the bounds of the britannish world ; and his greatnes so farre exceeded all other kings his ancesters , that he was stiled maximus britanniae regum , as i will shew by and by , and by good right : for besides this his great britain and ireland , he was possessed of a great part of france , and by these titles . he was duke of normandy by right of inheritance from his granfather king henry the first duke of normandy &c. he was duke of aquitain ( that is ) gascoin , and guien ( sometimes a kingdome ) and earle of poictow by the mariage of queene elianor daughter & heire of william duke of aquitain and earle of poictow ( whose wife ieanne was daughter of dauid king of scots ) he was earle of aniow ( seminary of kings ) of touraine , and of maine ( his natiue country ) by right of enheritance from his father geoffrey le bel earle of them all . he swayed all in litle britain ; which authority he acquired partly by the mariage of constance daughter and heire of conan earle of britain with his third sonne geffrey earle of richmont , but chiefly by his swoord : as it appeareth by gu : neuburgensis , who then liued , and thus writeth . cum a potentioribus in britannia inferiores premerentur , regis anglorum auxilium expetentes , eius seditioni spontaneè subdiderunt &c. ipsosque potentes viribus subegit , sicque in breni tota britannia potitus est . he also conquered auuergne : and thus much for his possessions in france : and now to ireland . he twise inuaded that kingdome , and by armes seconded with the letters of fauour of his good friend pope adrian ( an englishman ) hee brought the discording princes there , to submit theyr differents and their tytles to him , and so obtained the possession of the isle . and as for those parts , & partyes in this our great britain ( viz ) of engl. scotl. and wales ( which did not acknowledge his souerainty ) hee reduced them in good time to the ancient subiection , and obedience , which they owed to the british , & saxon kings his progenitors . the welshmē in their stories acknowledge this , & in their loyalty & dueties ( as the english ) liuely expresse it euery day . but for the other ( if any doubt be made ) g. neuburgensis ( veridicus autor as polidore vergill obserueth him ) will thus satisfie him , speaking of this k. henry , & of dauid k. of scots his prisoner , being then both at yorke . occurrit eirex scotorum cum vniuersis regni nobilibus , qui omnes in ecclesia beatissimi apostolorum principis , regi angliae , tanquam principali domino hominium cum ligeantia ( id est ) solemni cautione standi cum eo , et pro eo contra omnes homines ( rege proprio praecipiente ) fecerunt . ipse quoque rex scotorum coram vniuersa multitudine nobilium vtriusque regni regem anglorum modis solemnibus dominum suum , seque hominem et fidelem eius declarauit , eique tria praecipua regni sui munimina ( scilicet rokesburk , berwik , et castellum puellarum loco obsidum tradidit &c. but ion bishop of chartres maketh his empyre yet much greater , for hee boundeth it to the southward with spaine , and to the northward with the isles of orkney , and mought as well ( if it had pleased him ) with the north pole ( as giraldus cambrensis did ) and then styleth him maximum britanniae regum 1. the greatest of the kings of great britaine vt supra : and giraldus goeth further , for he compareth him with the great alexander , and ascribeth ( as some interpret ) the first discouery of the west indies ( which was made by madok , a yonger son of owin gwineth prince of northwales an. dom. 1170. ) to this king , because it was done by his auspices : as we may as well also attribute to him the redeeming of our great artur from the iniurious imputation of a fabulous heros , because he caused his monument to be sought out ( which was sunk deep within the ground in the isle of aualon ) by the occasion of a bardes song , which he heard in pēbroke . but i will set downe giraldus his owne words written in maner of a panegyrick to this king , and in my conceit elegant enough for those times . certant cum orbe terrarum victoriae vestrae a pyrenaeis enim montibus vsque in occiduos , et extremos borealis oceani fines alexander noster occidentalis brachium extendisti . quantum igitur his in partibus natura terras , tantum et victorias extulisti si excursuum tuorum metae quaerantur , prius deerit orbis , quam aderit finis . animoso enim pectori cessare possunt terrae , cessare nesciunt victoriae , non deesse poterunt triumphi , sed materia triumphandi . qualiter titulis vestris , et triumphis hibernicus accesserit orbis ? quanta , et quàm laudabili virtute occani secreta , et occulta naturae deposita transpentraueris & c ? qualiter fulguranti aduentus vestri lumine attoniti occidentales reguli tanquam ad lucubrum auiculae ad vestrum statim imperium conuolauerunt ? and much more , which for breuity i omit . that which the bishop of chartres writeth of him before mentioned and promised , is thys : rex illustris anglorum henricus secundus regum britanniae maximus &c. circa garumnam fulminat , et tolosam falici cingens obsidione , non modò prouinciales , vsque ad rhodanum , et alpes territat sed munitionibus dirutis , populisque * suba●lis ( quasi vniuersis praesens . immineat ) timore principes cōcussit hispanos , et gallos . and to these i will adde onely will. of neuboroughs elogie for a corollarie . regis supra omnes , qui vnquam hactenus in anglia regnasse noscebantur , latius dominantis ( hoc est ) ab vltimis scotiae finibus ad montesvsque pyrenaeos nomen in cunctis regionibus celebre habebatur &c. hunc finem habuit inclytus ille rex henricus ● . inter reges terrarum nominatissimus , et nulli eorūvel amplitudine opū , vel faelicitate successuū secundus . and thus much for the testimony of the greatnes of his conquests , & of his empire ▪ as for his other greatnesses ( viz ) of his wisedome , of his iustice , of his magnanimity , of his bounty and other heroycall vertues i shall not need to produce any proofe , for his wise and politik administration of his great affayres , and estate , his victoryes and hygh acheeuements secretly intimate them at the full . he was also well learned , as giraldus affirmeth , and ( which was his best prayse ) he was very charytable , and pious , ( incomparabilis eleemosynarum largitor , et praecipuus terrae palestinae sustentator . ) and radulph de diceto writeth that in the time of an extreame dearth in aniow and maine hee releeued with bread ten thousand people dayly from aprill till haruest . and william of newborough addeth that he receiued with great deuotion the character of the sacred militia for the recouery of the holy land . and afterward ( because he was not able to goe by reason of infirmities , and for the great daungers wherein his estate should stand in his absence which giraldus sheweth ) hee gaue toward this expedition the summe of 47. m. li. or there abouts . iean de la haye also writeth that hee built s. andrews church in bourdeaux , and s. peters in poitiers , and founded a bishops sea there , and enlarged the towne by the one halfe . hee reedified the abby at waltham in essex , and the charterhouse of witham in wiltshire . he repaired and much beautified the monastery of font euerard ( or fronteuaux ) neere egle in normandy : and founded the priories of staneley , and of douer . he also began the stone-worke of london bridge , which was finished by his sonne king ion ( or caused to be finished ) for it is all one to a common wealth . and he instituted the circuits of the iudges : and not to be tedious in the enumeration of such particulars ) in a word he was ( as ion carnotensis who knew him well ) testifieth , rex optimus apud britānias , normanorum , et aquitanorum dux faelicissimus , et primus tam amplitudine rerum , quam splendore virtvtvm . quam strenuus quam magnificus , quam prudens , et modestus quam pius ab ipsa ( vt ita dicam infantia ) fuerit , nec ipse liuor silere , nec dissimulare potest : cum opera recentia , et manifesta sint &c. and after those his great workes , and all his high achiuements , his victoryes , his trophees of his heroycall , and christian vertues , and a long and happy raigne , he departed at chinon in touraine , in the 35. yeere of his raigne , and in the 61. yeere of his age an. do. 1189. and was with all due funerall pompe enterred , at fronteuaulx , and vpon his tombe had this inscription engrauen . sufficit hic tumulus cui non suffecerat orbis , res breuis ampla satis , cui fuit ampla breuis . rex inuictus eram , mihi plurima regnasubegi , multiplicique modo duxque , comesque fui . cui satis advotum fuerant haud omnia terrae climata , terra modo sufficit octo pedum . qui legis haec pensa discrimina mortis , et in me humanae speculum conditionis habe . quod potes instanter operare bonum , quia mundus transit et incautos mors inopina rapit . thus this great henry left his great name , and his glory to the world : and his kingdomes and his dominions to his posterity the princes aranged , and enrouled in this following poesy . vnto which his empire i dare affirme , & vpon the present allegata , et probata conclude , that neuer any prince heyre generall of this kingdome had so many , so ancient , & so lawfull titles as hee , to whose happy inauguration this humble verse is consecrated . an eclog , entituled δαφνις πολυστεφανος , betwixt damaetus a woodman , and silenus the prophet of the shepheards , damaetas . silenvs . stanza 1. of all the trees in heau'nly siluan's guard , ( wherwith the worthest brow 's were crown'd of yore ) there is but one , or few ( o reuerend barde ) amid whose vertues maze i would require a line of any learned wiserds lore : the plante of genest chiefly i admire , whose humble highnes makes me oft surmise , that lowly steps be ladders to the ski's . 2 for well i wist though genest doth not dwell in proudest soile , nor tops of mountaines hye , she shews by this , that she foreseeth well the perils , which doe all extreames impend . th' aspiring pine ( whose top doth threat the sky ) diuine reuenge doth headlongs oft downe send , when this is safe vpon her humble hill , not thrall to any proud superiors will. 3 againe i know her gentle property to yeeld , and bowe , as reason shall aduise : loe here a type of true humility , and therefore hath by kind the soueraine pow'r of parts of man , which onely duty tyes to bowe to kings , and to their creatour . o iust respects , who can so well deserue for to commaund , as one that knows to serue ? 4 and that the genest doth by nature holde a speciall honour of aeternall green : and that hir boughs be charg'd with flowr's of gold : and many such like graces more i wot : but in my minde long this conceit hath been , that yet the greatest wonders i weet not . and i am wont this tree oft to compare to that , which is in all the world most rare . 5 now good silenus , as you are a man endew'd with passing skill , and mystick art , enforme me rightly , ( for i know you can ) what be the other mysteries of this tree : and by the way i pray you to impart both which , and what those other flowers be , whereof ( they say ) the * praesident of light hath made a garland for his † fauorite . 6 thou hast long liu'd ( damaetas ) in the woods , and there for woodman hast genista serued , to prune her plants , and saue her tender buds , as seasons did the charge to thee commend : and many of her vertues hast obserued , which vse , or common mought apprehend , but for to deem the doubt thou stick'st vpon . would aske some time bestow'd in helicon . 7 when first i went those sacred wells to see , my will to good was harsh , benumm'd and cold : my head now white , was then like eben-tree dy'de in the sensuall sumes of youthfull will. loe now of each the contraries i hold , for time , and trauaile , and those springs of skill of frost , and snow haue made my sculls attire , and warm'd my spirits with their holy fire . 8 now of these flames i will impart to thee , and happily perhaps thou hast refer'd the resolution of this doubt to me : for why this case was argued long-agone , in helicon , and i my selfe it heard , where phoeb ( amid the muses ) on his throne , establish'd by those sacred maides aduise , what ghirlands should be ech acchiuements price . 9 the question grew because apollos suite , praeferd a plant against such as praesumed to weare a garland of his holy fruite , without desert or speciall grace diuine . apollo was much mou'd , and chaf'd , and fumed , and went anone to counsaile with the nine . and when he had a leafe of laurell eat , thus spake , as i his speeches can repeat . 10 the laurel-crowne was giu'n , and shall be still to peerelesse men , to clarks , and emperours , and such as in a mood of metrik skill , could of my fauours make their vants at large . and then that long-enduring palme of yours , was due ( my sisters , and my sacred charge ) to such , as worthily to gaine the price , had suffer'd watching , famine , fire , and ice . 11 and he , which had with valiant hand preserued a citizen , receiv'd a crowne of oke . but he a wreath of oliue-leaues deserued , who had with arts , and plea's of peace beguiled the bitter times , which discord had forspoke , or els some dangerous foe had reconciled . and he , who long had flam'd in true loues fire , receiv'd a crowne of mirtle for his hire . 12 i meane whose amorous flame is fed by grace , by grace of hir , who doth his deare perseuer . i meane not one forlorne , and in disgrace : he must a wreath of bitter willow weare : for as that tree by buds doth promise euer , a hope of fruite , yet fruite doth neuer beare , so vaine , and fruitlesse is his , hope and loue , who an inconstant womans loue doth proue . 13 of all the most authentik is of grasse , that crowne ( before i had my bayes ) was vsed . and with those words his colour alter'd was , and fetch'd a sigh , which would haue rent a rock . so much his guilty conscience him accused , whose rape to scape a maide was made a stock . in briefe remorse did so with him preuale , that he had much adoo to end his tale . 14 yet what he could his passions he subdu'de what could he not , who was a wight diuine ? and for that he his purpose would conclude , the garland of the grasse did serue ( quoth he ) for some such politik , or paladine , who from a seege should set a city free . and then the hood of cypresse-leaues was woorne of such , as had ( as i haue ) cause to moorne . 15 for safe conuoy is borne the veruain wreath of foecials , and mars his oratours . to tuiscons race the iuy i bequeath . lillis , chardons , and sweets of erycine , of seuerall empires be the signall floures , symboles of beautie , power , and grace diuine : and now i doe employ them to adorne the crowne , which of my daphnis shall be worne . 16. the pine is pan's , and hee bestoweth that of herds , which best can skill to tune an ote , or wist to make their cartell soonest fat . but more from this , and from the rest i hast to speake more large of one ( as you may note ) the first in honour , though in order last : as it befalls with gold which is refin'de , the worst comes first , the best remaines behind . 17. there is an island (1) leucëëssa calld , and in that isle there growes (2) a gentile tree , whose bough's bee all of carued emerald , and for hir flowrs my raies i did employ . for her abode she listeth not to be where either heat , or cold can hir anoy . whether the bee of homagers most true comes oft to yeeld his sute , and seruice due . 18. vpon this tree is set my chiefest care . now thou faire genest art my dearest tree . thy ghirlands now of all shal be most rare . and i pronounce , and make a solemne vow , ( sisters accord for so it must needs bee ) none shall pręsume to were hereof one bough but such as standing high in vertues grace , shal be aduanc'd to honours highest place . 19. but to put on my new composed crowne it shall not fall to any but to one . and such an one , as merit , and renowne shall recommend vnto the supreme good . eu'n such a one as shall deserue alone to weare a wreath of ech tree in the wood , wise , valiant , iust in briefe indued with all vertues christian , and heroicall . 20. to him his neighbour potentat's shall bend , the polare princes shall his vassalls bee , afrik , and iude , to him shall pręsents send , aesteeming those the happiest wights alone , which league contract with him or amitee , fortunes dearling , pieties champion , successor and heire in all by right to great king artur * iesu's faithfull knight . 21. thus said the king , the prophet , and the god , ( which i must credit as my blest beleefe ) and here he made his parting period . but that thou may'st the better bear away this oracle , i will declare in briefe what worthies haue bene graç'd vnto this day , by bearing branches of this happy tree , as diuers haue , and hearken now to mee . 22. you see ( damaetas ) that the gods decree admitts but one to weare the complet ghirland . but some , whose fame hath scal'd a high degree may beare a branch , and some a chappelet . th' empress matilda's sonne , who conquerd irland : ( the greatest britanne king , which hath beene yet ) must by good right now lead this royall band of the triumphant worthies of this land . 23. a prince form'd of the true imperiall mould , hee was as valorous , as politike ; hee could well win , & what he wan could hould , and fortune follows such men in their traine . 1) westria was his , he rul'd in 2) armorike : and raignd in albion , and in aquitaine . in breef a soueraign hee did raigne , and rule from pyren mountaines to the frozen 3) thule . 24. with slipps of broome he decked next his cap , whose valiant zeale , whose chiualry diuine made in the pagan kingdomes such a gapp , as all the christian hosts mought enter in . he tooke acon , and ioppe in palaestine , and did besides , the realme of cyprus win . he warr'd with men , and slew the austriak lyon , and made a peace with god , and went to zion . 25. next rides king ion , to whom stout caledoun solemly vow'd to be loyall leege-man to him the king , and heyrs of his crowne . and by his auspices the * brabant knight from rebell lords their ile of refuge wan . by him great themses bridge so exquisite , ( which did before in woodden modells lurke ) became of europe the most stately woorke . 26. then comes his sonne with other architects ( not to build babels and castles in the ayre ) but hee a holy house for god proiects , the which he doth at westminster performe . a temple high , magnificent , and faire , a princely pile as well for vse , as forme , and shall remaine to all posterity , a glorious tropheè of his piety . 27. now add the foremost two which bore his name , ( who of the saint desguis'd a ring receaued ) to th' one some giue a hammer for surname , bycause he bruis'd (2) gaiothel in his wroth , and him of iacobs stone , and chaire bereaued . but iacob soone shall repossesse them both . th' other edward the templars did expell . of whom i can no more say , to say well . 28. behold him next who in a doome supreme pouuoir aboue an estre did aduance , for he was offred coesars diademe . but follow'd boons forbod , and downe anon cuts with his mothers sword the flowrs of france , and plants them in his fields of albion and puts them in his royall lions guard , for so ( quoth he ) dieu & mon droit award . 29. right gentile too was that conceit of his , when hee the garters order did ordaine , a noble pledge of princely grace it is : happy are they which therewith gird their knee . thrise happy hee , and ay so may remaine who doth protect both that , and them ; and hee , which saith not so , ill come to him and worse , then hōni soit , qui mal y pense's curse . 30. philipp the famous macedonian had not a sonne of higher worth then hee , for where the prince black edward went hee wann . this honors comete first did faire appeare at crecy field , which 1) nauaret did see after more bright then mauors in his sphere , but poitiers cheifely , where hee tooke king ioan , for there a 2) double victory he wann . 31. two * richards more succeed , the one a prince , whose goodly presence men to woonder moued , and was as bountifull as any since . § fame hath been sharp to th' other , yet bicause all accusations of him are not proued : and hee built churches , and made good law's , and all men held him wise , and valiant , who may deny him then his genest plante ? 32. but henry bolinbrook ( me thinks dooth frowne , that glo'ster here should next to burdeaux come , bycause he from his cousin tooke the crowne . mistake not henry , for by right for neither of yee , in these triumphall car's is roome : but best of all ye may be match'd together . yet doo i grant thou wert a princely knight , and patrone of the bloody rose by right . 33. but to thy sonne the § dolphins strange repeyre ( swimming in post vp to the royall port ) foretold that hee was born the lillies heire . this signe was soon by sequels verified : dolphin hee was by right , or swords effort . and he in france victorious liu'd and died . whom azincourt so nobly did receaue , at * vincienne parke of all he takes his leaue . 34. henry his sonne surnamed of windlesore ( who was in london and in paris crowned ) most worthily a plant of genest bore . but not by scepters sole his praise began : his christian vertues made him most renowned , for he was deem'd a very holy man , and had been made a saint , and long since shrin'd , but that the vice-saint maker was vnkind . 35. i must omitt that proud plantagenet , who in high parlament the king defi'de . but i may not his gallant sonne forget , who twice did winne the royall gole by armes : and was the father of the happiest bride , that euer camber compassd in his armes : she made the losse the lighter of that sonne , whose raigne then ended as it was begonne . 36. she , and her richmont ( on'd by sacrament ) refus'd the golden offer of colône , foreseeing that the riches and the rent would hardly counteruaile the keepers care : and had besid's a secret reed that one , ( who should hereafter set in arturs chaire ) should fetch the fleece when he occasion saw , and hold the golden monark in his awe . 37. this richmont was a very prudent prince and therefore was surnamed solomon . the world hath seen great works accōplish'd since , which were proiected by this theodore . this man of god did happily atone the ciuil feud , which long had been before , betwixt the rose , which first grew in the wood and that which venus colour'd in hir blood . 38. these happy plants haue ouerspreed this i le by henry , and more fruitfull margaret . ( but henry's branches florish'd but a while ) she is the roote of the immortall seed , whence iames the wise a new plantagenet did spring , and was hir father who did breed the great polystephane , as shall appeere when they are past , which come triumphing here . 39. that henry with his broome attempted first to sweep out of this land the drosse of roome ; a worke of worth , which els no monarke durst . and made a bal when hee had doon this deed in triumph of the flowers of the broome . yet see how duly vertue hath hir meed , for the pope himselfe as ( the bishop saith ) first stiled him defender of the faith . 40. his hopefull sonne brought happily to passe what was attempted by that hardy king. for hee abollished the romish masse : timely resolu'd to maintaine christian troth . and as his yeeres , so did his vertues spring , but enuious fates vntimely cropd them both . then let this serue to make complete his praise , whom gods do loue , he dies in tender dayes . 41. this is king henries eldest daughters place , a dame endewd with hev'nly vertues many : devout sansdout , a mary full of grace , iust of hir word as euer any queene : hir liberall hand was neuer clos'd to any , whose need requir'd . this maks her plant stil green , for what someuer piously is geuen , is with great vsury restor'd in heauen . 42. hir younger sister next to hir doth set , who was in acts , and age the happier much ? and therefore weares the brauer chappelet . a queene , whose state so happily did stand , that men did say ( seeing hir greatnesse such ) this lady leadeth fortune in hir hand : a virgin which did keep hir lamp still light and eke for rarenes was a phaenix hight : 43. for weigh hir peace established at home , and next hir victories acheev'd abrode as well in th' indies as in christendome . then hir safe garding hir confederates , hir zeale to the true worshipping of god , hir wisely moderating hir three estates , these say she was a glorious amazone , as euer any was : but fates spare none . 44. add more , which ioynd strange scepters to their plant , as cornwall did the scepter of almain , and that of castile royall ion of gant , progenitor by sonnes , and either daughter of all the kings of britain , and of spain : without sir bolinbrook , who for the slaughter of a king inunct ashamed hid his eyes long-sithence with a hood of strange desguise . 45. but bedford shall his fathers place supply , who though no king , yet was a great vice-roy , and in his place behau'd him royally . th'arm'd sorceresse committed to the flame , narbone , alanson , and their * petty roy vanquish'd at vernueil witnesse well the same , who while he liv'd preserv'd th' inheritance of his drad leege , and kept in awe all france . 46. some more great genesters recount i may , whose fronts should with this crowne haue circled been , but they were absent at their sacring day : as artur , heire vnto the greatest king : and she , that was of france and scotland queene , whose vertues praises all the muses sing , and weares in sted of chappelet of plantes in hev'n a diademe of amarants . 47. and diuers other sett on fortunes knee , highly advanc'd for vertues rare respects haue worne a branch of this imperiall tree . farther they neither did presume nor m 〈…〉 t , for they were men , and had some light ●●fects : but yet they pass'd as far ech other wight , as he ( that peerelesse hee ) eclipseth them , who is of all the world the rarest gemm . 48. defects empesch'd they were not absolute , and fates conspir'd to keepe them in their wants : but god , and fates desert and publike brute haue all pronounc'd him sole the worthy one to weare the ghirland made of many plants . th' high seneschall ( i meane ) of albion , of whom apollo in his holy rage , did as you heard such wond'rous goods pręsage . 49. and this is hee , for whom by desteny the complet ghirland was reseru'd so long : of whom to say in sooth my fantasie , it were in vaine for any man aliue , with flatering hopes to doo himselfe that wrong , to thinke his stile mought at his praise arrive . but true that is which erst thy muse did sing , hee is the true beau-clerc , and the best king. 50. this is that oliue-bearer of this i le , who shall by high pręordinance diuine that great intestine quarell reconcile , which so vnnaturally so long hath been betwixt brutes sonnes albanact , and locrine : as theodore did that , which was betweene the bloody brothers lancaster and yorke , and was a figure of this greater worke . 51. to this his reunited albion hee shall annex the crowne of pharamound , and fayre hibornia's ioyning three in one . still victory shall follow his ensigne . he shall in treasure , peace , and yeeres abound . aequity , clemency , and lore diuine in all causes , and of all opinions shall be his iudges in his dominions . 52. and to accomplish this his happinesse heau'ns doo to him a princely spouse decree : all those fraile saints , those gentile goddesses shall kneel to hir : so wise , so chast , so loyall , so faire , so good , so goodly she shal be : and both thrise blessed in their issue royall : for hee , and they which from them shall discend , shall raigne in britaine , till the world haue end . 53. and britain had no sooner faith and force combin'd , but hir dolphin in tender age vowes to redeem from gallile bands the cors of his grand-sire the great plantagenet , and seize vpon his southern heritage , and bounds , and tropheés in the pyrens sett . soft muse : but prosper god , and natiue right this flowre of flowers , this sweet s. georges knight . 54 what doost thou now ( damaetas ) more command , lo here discuss'd the mysteries of thy tree , thy doubts dissolu'd , assoiled thy demand , and eu'n thy thoughts ( i thinke ) descyphred are . and if that rarest thing great daphnis bee , to whō thou didst some time those plants compare , then lo at length the white is striken pat , which thy conceits so long haue aymed at . 55. o blessed prophet hallow'd bee thy art , which hath so much releeu'd my travaild mind , thou hast discharg'd in faith a frendly part : my thoughts , and doubts are ridled every-on . and i confesse his name thou hast divin'd , to whose high worth the plants were pargon . silenus live , and so naught resteth now , but to his seruice all my life to vow . 56. wherfore i wish i wist to bring to passe , to haue a penn plucked from angels wings : and then to bee as high as atlas was , who on his shoulders did support the skies . ( o king of flours , o fairest floure of kings ) thus would i write in starry paradise , daphnis a toy le chappeau roialest , de roses , chardons , lis , & de genest . 57. triumph yee trees , which had so high a hap to beare the flowers of this royall hat : florish yee flowers lul'd in flora's lap , wherof apollo did his ghirland make , ghirland in honour aequall bee to that , which shines in hev'n for ariadne's sake , and may his state , for terme with starrs contend , to whom the hev'ns this garland recommend . l' envoy au roy. lo now ( great briton ) by decree divine , this fowre-fold diademe devol'd to thee , great aedgars heyre by fortunes , and by line . but greater by thy wisdome , and thy witt , thy minde inuict , thy bounteé , pieteé , and all the vertues for a caesar fit . wherfore on thee all happines attend , whom heav'ns to vs so happily did send . gran cose in picciol fasce stringo . f. petrarc . dij boni quid hoc est , quòd semper ex supremo fine mundi nova deûm numina vniuerso orbi colenda descendunt ? orator belga in panegirico constantino d. πολυχρονιον . the hymne inauguratory for his maiestie : mentioned in the epistle d.d. o god of gods , o king of kings , aeternall father of all things , in heav'n and earth , and euery where , by whom all kings their scepters beare . great god of iames our blessed king , who peace , and ioy , to vs did bring . whom thou a cheef , a royall guide didst for thy herdlesse troupes prouide . now we beseech the mighty lord , to vs such fauour to afford , that this triumphall festiuall , this holy-day imperiall , to his inauguring consecrated , may bee so often celebrated , that finally it bee not doone , till the great comming of thy sonne , and that his health , his ioyes , his peace may as his yeeres , and raigne encrease . amen . epigrammatis s. regi iacobo iampridem hantoniae regiae oblati exemplar , cuius mentio est stanza . 49. anglice dauid aue , rex scilicet optime , vates optime , quos mundi secula sera vident . vir caelestis aue , nam non industria talem te fecit tun , sed gratia summa dei. tu pius et fortis , tu prudens , ordine , stirpe , fortuna , meritis ( prime iacobe ) vale . aliud de symbolo nummi noui . vos ( henrice ) rosas , vnisti regna ( iacobe : ) dat deus vt fiet haec vnio perpetua . finis . faults escaped in the printing . in the epistle dd. in the marg . vite for vitae . arbit for arbiter . fol. b. in the pręface . britania for britannia . fol. b. 2 in the marg. conquestorre , for conquestore . fol. b. 3. in the marg. seditioni for se ditioni . fol. c. in the eclog , datus for datur . stanz . 5. in the marg. cars for carrs . stanz . 32. hertford for hereford . stanz . 32. in the marg. abollished for abolished . stanz . 40. ? for : stanz . 42. and eke for rarenes . read : and for hir rarenes . stanz . 42. chardone , for chardons . stanz . 56. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a17119-e200 vide r● . ascam●in toxophil . of the iustnes of this vnion . (1) capito , vt buchanā . buchanan rerū . scotie . lib. 7. an do. 1603. iul 25. ap . westminster . his maiesties title to scotland & to ireland . g. buchan . lionel plantag . du. of clarence , third sonne of king ed. 3. maried eliz. daugh & heire of vvil. murc-burk erle of vlster l. of connacht : from whom the dukes of york are descended . camden in hiber . * his maiesties title to france , see it more a● large in the argumēt vide 1. froissar à tom ● (1) gersey , garnesey , aldern●y , &c. are parcels of normandy , and so consequently of france yet possessed by the k. of eng. * his maiesties title frō the british kings . (1) russin . (2) faire iulian. (3) edmund . (4) gerion , or ieronim . (5) theodore . (6) veridik . d. povvel in historie of the princes of wales . his maiesties title from the saxon kings . vite , & neele gentibus arbit seneca . quicquid dominatur vim dei habet . artemidorus . ouid. notes for div a17119-e2170 (i) britania , or albion rather . vide stanz 17. and it is taken out of orpheus in his argonaut : where ma. camden rather readeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . albion or alba , rather then pinaria , and iudiciously . he was also surnamed courtmantel . vide lib. s. stephani cadomensis de gulielmo conqu●storre editum . an . 1603. philosalicus . in summaire des ducs , et contes d' aniov . k. henry the second , the greatest king &c king malcolm knighted this k. h. the secōd at fifteene yeeres of age , novbrig . who writeth much in the honour of this king malcolm . lib. 2. cap. 20. britannia ab aduentu saxonum in insulam appellatur anglia ioān . salisbur , in policratico . ranulfus higeden in polichronic . * ex archiuis ciscestreasis ecclesiae by the fauour of the reuerend d. hen. blaxtoa ch●unce●lor . * epoch● k edred was vncle to edgar ingulf . a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sub . rex . this eadvvis or edvvin was elder brother to the great edgar . io. asser in histor . de gestis ealfredi . io. tvvinus in albionicis . i haue seene this charter in the hands of ma. of holland , a learned gentleman , & a good antiquary . sigillo . v. ion b. of bristow in his first treatise about the vnion . vide tho. vvalshingham in k. edvv. 1. & in ed. 3. io. praesul carnotensis in polycratico . k. edw. 3. erected aquitain into a princedome for his eldest sonne edw. ican de la hay . gyr. du hailian en la sommaire des contes d' aniovv . &c. lib. 11. cap. 18. giraldus cambrens . in hiber . expugnata & g. càmden . g. neuburg . lib. 2. cap. 38. io. bish . carnotensis in polycratico . d. povvell . d. powel in the history of the princes of wales . sil. giraldus in topographia hiberniae cap. 47. & 48. distinct. 3. ioan. saresbur . in policratico lib. 8. cap. 24. * profligatis . g. neuburg . lib. 11. gyral . cambr. an dom. 1176. vide s. giraldum in topograp . hibern . distinct. 3. cap. 48. & in hiber . expugnala lib. 1. cap. 45. io. sto. in anna● fabian . ●●du haillan es contes , & d. d' aniov . he loued hunting and hauking exceedingly . girald . he first kept lyons , & made of the armes of normandy ( viz ) the two leopards , and of the single lyon of aquitain one coate of armes for engl. as it is yet borne . nic. vpton . io. carnotensis . lib. 16. cap. 18. and much more , and much and in his honour writeth giraldus in hiberna pugnata . lib. 1. & g. nevbrig . lib. ● . cap. 25. wherunto for breuity i recommend . the reader . notes for div a17119-e5960 the ancient wisemen of britain were callēd bardi . diodor. sic. humilitas scala caeli . bernard . flexit pinum ferox astris minantem , & de nube media vocat . se●●ca genuum doloribus modetur , hinc genista ditta fu●●sius . vide stanz 54. * apollo praeses luminis . gal. † sup. daplmis quod nomen in hac celoga datus s.r. iacobo , sicut iulin caesari olim in ecloga 5. virgilii . a pastoribus . silenvs . capitis niues : sic horatius . the italians , french , and spaniards write the first syllable of garland with an i. & that is neerest to the etyemologie of guir & dalen 1 : greene leaues in british . hinc vates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 olim olim dicti lycophron ap . caelium . rodig . the laurel garland . plin lib. 15. the palme garland . a. gell. lib. 3. the oken garland . gel lib. 5. the oliue garland . gell. & textor . the mirtile garland . virg. & ouid. the willow garland , authorized by homer and virgil homer calleth this tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. frugiperdam odyss k. and virgil placeth the forlorne louer inter salices : eclog. 10. the grasse garland . plin. lib. 22. daphne versa in laurum ouid. met. 1. and heereupon lucian saith apollo was infortunate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in dial . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the cypresse-garland . cato apud plin. lib. 16. the veruain garland . vergil . plin. iuy garl : plin. lib. 16. the garlands of lillies , roses , & thistles . de his vide pierium in hieroglyph . the pine garland . propertius lib. aeleg . 1. the genest garland . (1) orpheus calleth britain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in argonantic . (2) gentile hath diuers significations , sometime it signifieth supremo grado de perfectione per natura , percostumi , & per valor &c. i. ruscelli . sometime it signifieth of , or belonging to the same stock or nation , as gentilis clyteus , gentile sacrum , & gentilhuomo in italian , and as it is vsed here . sometime also it betokeneth mild , or pliant , as it is vsed stanz . 3 and sometime a hethen or pagan , as it is vsually taken in the holy scriptures and stanza . the garland of genest , roses , chardons & lilies reserued for daphnis apollo's fauorite . &c. viz. k. iames . * the oracle giuen to augustus , me puer hebraeus , &c. recorded by nicephorus , and that reported by eugubius , heutripodes lugete perit praesagus apollo shevvs that these hethen gods knevv christ : quod notet b. i. k hen 2. vide praeface . 1) normandie not neustria pitheus . 2) litle britain . 3) terrarum vl●ima thule , seneca island , or thylen sell , that is shetland secundum gasp peucerum ap . g. camd num . k rich 1. surnamed coeur-de lion. maried borengaria daughter of garcia king of navarre . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . richard demeura en asic la ou il fist plusieurs belles choses . ( after the departure of the french k. louys ) du-haillan . li. 1. k. ion , brother to ric. 1. surnamed sās-terre ▪ he got angolosme , by marrying with isabell daughter and heyre of almery earle of angolesme : and the i le of man by conquest . * vvalter buc brought 700 men out of braband , wan ely and diuers castles for this k. ion. vide camdenum in ottadini , & holinsh. k. hen. 3. surnamed de vvinchester maried elianor , daughter of raimond erle of prouence . k. edvvard 1. surnamed longshank , maried first elianor daughter of the king of castile , she was heir of ponthieu , & mother of k. edvv. 2. by his second wife margaret daughter of the french king , he had tho. of brotherton , from whom by segraue , and moubray the hovvards are discended . (2) vide tho. vvalsingham in edvvard 1. k. edvvard 2. surnamed of carmarvon , maried isabell daughter and heire of philip le bel k. of france . k. edvvard 3. surnamed de vvind sore , maried philip daughter of vvilliam erle of henalt , &c. hee tooke calais , & wonn many victories of the french , as at crecy & slays , &c. refused to be emperour . paralipom . ad abb. vrspergens . the order of the knights of the garter instituted . edvv. de vvoodstock pr. of wales , and of aquitain , maried ioan daughter and heire of edm. plantagenet erle of kent . vn tel prince estoit digne de gouerner tout le monde . froisard . 1) hee ouerthrevv 60000. spaniards and french in spain betwixt navaret & naiara . idem . 2) le ieune prince doublement victorieux , aiant vaincuson enemi par valeur , et par courtoisie , laissant vne venerable trophè de son humanitè & prudence , &c. ie. de serres . * k. ric. 2. his sonne surnamed de bourdeaux , maried anne of luxembourg daughter of the emperour vvenceslaus . § k. ric. 3. surnamed de fotheringay , duke of glocester . &c. maried anne nevill daughter of rich. the great earle of vvarvvik . k. hen. 4. surnamed de bolingbrook , maried mary daughter & heyr of humfrey bohun erle of hertford . &c. he vvas duke of lancaster in the right of his mother blanch daughter of henry duke of lancaster , &c. § of this dolphin vide tho. vvalsingham in an. do. 1392. hee conquered france for the most part . k. hen. 5. surnamed de monmouth , maried katharine daughter to char. the 6. the french king. * hee died at bois de vinciennes nere paris . k. hen. 6. surnamed the saint , built a college at eaton , and the kings college in cambridge : maried marg. daughter of renè k. of sicil , duke of aniovv . k. h. 7. sollicited the pope to canonize k. h. 6. vvho refused . rich. duke of yorke , heire generall of the crovvne , regent of france , maried cecily nevil daughter of rafe erle of vvestmerland . k. edvv. 4. maried eliz. vvidevile daughter of ant. erle riuers . extinguished lancaster . q. elizab , 1. k. edvv. 5. k. hen. 7. erle of richmont , maried elizab. plantag . daughter & heire of k. edvv. 4. for them christopher colonus offered to discouer the indies . r. hakluit to . 3. hen. erle of richm. vvanne both the field and the crowne at bosvvorth . margaret his mother vvas an heyre of the house of somerset . hee extinguished the male line of yorke . vide ouid in metam . these roses were the devises of yorke & lancaster . margaret their daughter was maried to ia. 4 k. of scotland , by whō she had k. iames 5. who maried mary daughter to claud duke of cuise , who bare to him mary queene of scotland and of france , heyr apparent of england , and mother of our souerain lord king iames. k. hen. 8 maried katarine daughter of ferdinand king of castle , by whom he had q. mary : he had q. elizabeth by anne bolein daughter of the erle of vviltshire . hee had k. edvv. by iane sister of the duke of somerset . doctor cooper b. of lincolne in chronicis . k. edvv. 6. quem dij diligunt , moritur iuvenis . menander . q. mary maried to philip 2. king of spaine . q. elizabeth . 2. shee added virginia to hir empire . &c. ric. erle of cornvvall brother to k. hen. 3. elected k. of almayin , or romanes . ion of gant. duke of lancaster . k. of castile & lion by q constāce his wife . k. hen. 4 vt supra . ion duke of bedford . 3. sonne of k. hen. 4. regēt of frāce where he tooke the great champion of france ieane la pucelle : ouerthrew the vicont of narbone at sea : wann the bataile at vernueil , which ( as serres saith ) faisoit porter le dueil a toute la france . * k. charl. 7. was called in scorne le petit roy de bourges . artur plantag , erle of britain , sonne of geffrey , 3. sonne of k h. 2. heir apparent proclaimed by k. r. the first . mary daughter and heire of iam. 5. king of scotland , by mary de loraine daughter of the duke of guise , vt supra . 38. s. peter calleth the crowne of immortall glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. epist. ca. 5. daphnis . k. iames is high seneschall of england , scotland , and france , by private heritages , viz. by leicester , ab. & aniovv . vide epigramma latinum in calce libelli . sic minerua dicta olivisera ab ovidio . tria iuncta in vno : it is the mott of his maiesties devise for the knights of the bath . anne queene of great britain , daughter of frederick 2. king of denmarke . henry prince of great britain . prince henry . k. henry the 2. buried in frontenaulx in france . damaetas . in stanz . 4. the doctrine of non-resistance or passive obedience, no way concerned in the controversies now depending between the williamites and the jacobites by a lay gentleman of the communion of the church of england, by law establish'd. bohun, edmund, 1645-1699. 1689 approx. 108 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 21 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28559 wing b3451 estc r18257 12395582 ocm 12395582 61155 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28559) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 61155) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 271:2) the doctrine of non-resistance or passive obedience, no way concerned in the controversies now depending between the williamites and the jacobites by a lay gentleman of the communion of the church of england, by law establish'd. bohun, edmund, 1645-1699. [2], 38 p. printed for richard chiswell ..., london : 1689. attributed to edmund bohun. cf. bm. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng jacobites. great britain -history -revolution of 1688. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2006-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-06 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2007-06 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the doctrine of non-resistance or passive obedience no way concerned in the controversies now depending between the williamites and the iacobites . by a lay gentleman , of the communion of the church of england , by law establish'd . cruces nec colimus , nec optamus . london , printed for richard chiswell , at the rose and crown in st. paul's church-yard , mdclxxxix . the doctrine of non-resistance , or passive obedience , no way concern'd in the controversies now depending , &c. i have with some impatience and wonder beheld the bandying of the non-resisting doctrine to and fro in this disturbed kingdom , for so many months , and to so little purpose ; because i am not able to comprehend what any of the contending parties would be at , nor why that doctrine , rather than any other , should be made now the subject of our disquisitions and enquiries . for what if god has forbidden us upon pain of damnation , to resist our lawful princes when they do amiss ; and has reserved to himself the censure and punishment of his own ministers , as i'believe all lawful princes are such ; and that god has for great and wise reasons tied up our hands ; doth it therefore follow from hence , that james is still the lawful king of england ? or that when he was so , we that believe the non-resisting doctrine , were bound to sight for him , whatever he did ? and on the other side , what can the friends of their present majesties pretend to palliate their contempt and scorn of the doctrine of passive obedience ? it was indeed dangerous to them when he first entered england , because all that believed themselves bound by it , were obliged not to take up arms for him against king james ; and so consequently it deprived him of their assistance : but when he had once subdued the forces , and obtained the throne of that infatuated monarch ; of what use can it be to him to have his subjects so frequently told , that it is lawful for them to take arms and defend themselves , their rights and religions against him ? i doubt not but his majesty intends to govern us with the utmost clemency and mercy according to our laws : but when neither moses nor david could always please their subjects ; it is to be feared the best of princes may at one time or other need the influence of the doctrine of passive obedience to restrain the madness of the people : and therefore they can be no friends to government in general ; nor to him , or his , in particular , who are so zealous to have the doctrine of non-resistance extirpated out of the world. the consequence of which , is , that it is lawful for every man to rebel against his lawful prince , whenever he think● it necessary . my design therefore in this discourse being to put an end , as far as i can , to this unseasonable dispute . i shall endeavour to prove these particulars , as to the friends of the late king. 1. that th●se that believed it , were not thereby bound to assert the mis government of james the second . 2. that seeing he has deserted his throne , and withdrawn his person and seals , they are not thereby obliged to endeavour the restoring of him . the doctrine of passive obedience doth not oblige a subject to assert the mis-government of his prince : for it supposeth the prince may command what he ought not , and then it obligeth me to suffer rather than to resist my prince , or to break the commandments of god , or the laws of my country , or do any other ill action in obedience to his commands . now what is this to the purpose ? king james had notoriously subverted all our constitutions and laws , both in church and state , and would suffer no redress ; the church of england , on the other hand , petition'd him from time to time by her bishops and nobility , to suffer a parliament to meet and redress our grievances ; but this he would not yield , and what should they do in this case ? why , said the jesuit , in the answer to the petition of the 17 th of november , 1688. ( when they had set forth , that in their opinion the only visible way to preserve his majesty and this his kingdom , would be the calling of a parliament regular and free in all its circumstances . ) i hope to make it out , that the summoning a parliament now , is so far from being the only way to effect these things , that it will be one of the principal causes of much misery to the kingdom . and , i am sure , both our duty to god and our holy religion , as well as to his majesty and our country , doth plainly enjoyn us to use one other effectual means , &c. which is the keeping inviolably to our allegiance to our sovereign ; and effectually joyning with him to resist all his enemies whether foreign aggressors , or native rebels . that is , let the king do what he please to you , you are bound to fight for him and expel the prince of orange , and subdue all his adherents . i can very well remember what small effect this oratory had then upon the minds of all men. there did not seem to be one protestant in the nation , who could not distinguish between the doctrine of non-resistance and that of actually aiding a prince to destroy and enslave his people . his late majesty however persisted in his opinion , that no parliament could be holden till the prince of orange was driven out ; and the clergy and nobility in theirs , that this was the only visible way to preserve the late king and kingdom : which imply'd , that all fighting was dangerous to both , till this was done . and accordingly , as we had no disloyal exhortations from press or pulpit to perswade men to fight against their prince ; so neither had we any to perswade us to fight for him : but the thing was committed to god to determine as he thought fit . in this our bishops , clergy , nobility and gentry ; and in general all the children of the church of england behaved themselves like good christians and good subjects too ; this difficult case could then be no otherwise well and justifiably managed ; and if some few forgot their duty , and declared too soon for the prince of orange , his now majesty ; this they only are responsible for ; those that adhered to the late king till he actually left the nation and the government , fell for want of the first mover , are not responsible for their miscarriage if it was one . in the primitive times , when this doctrine was best both understood and practised , their loyalty was one of their lesser virtues , upon which they never valued themselves . it would have been then a mean piece of virtue for a man to have alledged he had been ever loyal to his prince , when a rebel or a traytor christian was a thing they looked upon with horror and affrightment ; they expected martyrdom every moment , and were preparing for it at all times ; they were told then , at their first admission into the church , that they must expect persecution , and every one who took up that profession , did it with that expectation : and the religion being contrary to the established laws , whoever came in to it , knew beforehand that at one time or other he might be called to lay down his life for it , and when it happened , it was no new or unexpected accident , but foreseen and provided for . but then they were not so silly as to be fond of their persecutors , or to wish or fight for it : we are ( said tertullian ) defamed as enemies to the emperour's majesty ; tamen nuaquam alainiani , nec nigriani vel cassiani inveniri potuerunt christiani ; yet never was any christian found like albinus , pescennius , niger or avidius cassius vsurping the throne , and invading the government . they prayed for the emperor , and performed all the duties of good subjects till he persecuted them , and endeavoured to destroy the church of god ; but then they changed their notes , quales erg● leges ist , quas adversus nos soli exequuntur impii , injusti , turpes , truces , vani , dementes ? what laws are these which none ever put in execution against us , but impious , unjust , base , barbarous , vain and mad princes ? who ever pleaseth may see enough of this laid together in jovian , pag. 161. and 162. there is not one of those princes who persecuted the church , but he is represented to the world by the fathers and church historians in the blackest characters . that little book that was written by lactantius to shew the dismal ends , and sad catastrophies of the persecuting princes , shews how far they were from being fond of persecution or persecutors ; and by what hand soever the enraged fool fell , the deliverance was ascribed to god , who makes use of such instruments as he thinks fit to punish bloody and tyrannical men. and let any man shew me that the primitive christians were discontented when they were delivered , if he can . so far were some of the ancient fathers from fighting for the persecuting princes , when they hapned to be dethroned or invaded , that they would not suffer a baptised person to list himself in the service of a pagan prince , tertullian , de corona , cap. 11. to which purpose he alledgeth that passage of our saviour . he that takes the sword , shall perish by the sword : but then , saith he , plane si quos militia praeventos fides posterior invenit , alia conditio est . those who were admitted to baptism after they were listed in the service of the emperor , were not under the same obligation . and we have the passion of one maximilian , an african , who suffered martyrdom for no other cause , but for that he would not serve the emperor as a soldier . and the council of a●les , which first admitted baptized persons to take up arms , limited the grant to times of peace ; which was all one with the saying , they would not allow it under pagan princes . from all which i may reasonably infer , they did not think themselves bound to bestir themselves for pagan or persecuting princes , as if the church must have perished , if they had not had the honour to preserve every prince god had set over them till he had ended his reign and his life together . yet in all these times the doctrine of passive obedience was at the highest never call'd in question , never doubted of . it is as true also , the roman emperors , under whom they lived , were absolute independent princes , whose will was the law ; and the constitution of the empire differed vastly from that of england . so that we are not under the same obligations they were , because our princes have not the same legal powers the roman emperors had : but then , i doubt not , but we are as much bound to submit to the legal commands of a king of england , as the primitive christians were to the legal commands of their princes . but this was no part of the controversie under the reign of james ii. who had as little law as reason for what he did . i could never meet with one single protestant , how discontented soever he was , that james ii. is not still king of england , who would pretend to justifie or excuse any of his actions ; no , they all grant his design was certainly to extirpate the protestant religion , to enslave , and consequently to extirpate the english nation : but then say they , what of all that , no evil is to be done ; we ought not to rebel to save a church or a nation . why , what then ? supposing all this were true , what is this to them ? have any of them rebelled ? yes , say they , all that have sworn allegiance to their present majesties , have made defection from james ii. who tho' he were never so bad a man , is still our lawful prince , and we are bound to swear allegiance to no other , as long as he is alive . to this i reply , if the things laid to the charge of james ii. in the prince of orange's declaration , are true , and i think no body questions that , for all the same things , in a manner , are complained of in the bishops proposals , but one or two , which were too high for any subject to take notice of ; why then , i say , that prince had a just cause to make war upon james ii. and if he was conquered by him , he has as good right to our allegiance , on that score , as ever any conquering prince had . but this is not all , it is well known , his now majesty offered to submit all his controversies to the decision of an english parliament , which is more , perhaps , than was ever done by any invading prince before ; but james ii. was resolved , that neither he nor we should have any right or redress ; but rather than submit to that , he would go make a voyage to his most christian majesty for his assistance to make a second conquest of us . there has been much bandying , whether james ii. went voluntarily away , or were forced ; and this is a question not worth one farthing , at the bottom . for if he went voluntarily , he was forced ; and if he was forced , he went voluntarily . i suppose no man ever said or thought he freely resigned the crown , but that his mis-government had raised such jealousies and discontents in the minds of his subject , that they neither could nor would fight for him till he had in parliament done right , first to his people , and then to the prince . this he was resolved not to grant , be the event what it would ; and when he saw himself deserted by all the world , still he persisted in his resolution ; and after he had promised a parliament , broke his word with the prince and the nation , and withdrew his person and seals , and left us in anarchy and confusion . now , i say , he was not forced to do this : he might , and as the case stood , he was bound to have granted a parliament , and then he might have staid with good safety to his person and sovereignty . now , if there be nothing asked of a prince by his neighbour-prince upon an invasion , but what he ought to grant and may grant ; he is forced by no body but himself , if he will run away from his people , rather than do them and his neighbour right . but then , when we say , his retreat was voluntary , we do not pretend there was no force made use of , but that it was not made use of to that end . all that was asked by the prince or his own subjects , was a free and legal parliament ; and all the force that was used was to that end : and this he might and ought to have granted ; but if he would not , the prince is not to be supposed to have brought 14000 men , only to make a vain shew with all , but either to force him to do him right , or force him out of his kingdom . this prince was no subject to king james , nor to any other prince , and consequently was no rebel : he had as well good right as a good cause to invade this injurious prince who had injured both him and his good subjects , and without a war would do no right either to the prince or us . for the prince had tried all fair waies before he tried force , as is notoriously known to all the world. but our jacobites prate of the force that was used against him by another sovereign prince , as injurious , only because it was force . why , the prince was no subject , and if james ii. would do him no right without force ( tho' we that were then his subjects had no right to compel him ) he might lawfully compel him by force to do what he ought to have done without it , but would not . what stupidity is it to deny a sovereign prince may make use of force against a neighbouring prince that has done him wrong ? well , but say they , his subjects ought to have fought for king james : to which i say , why did they not , who hindred them from fighting ? no , they would not fight , or , which is all one , they durst not ; and now he is gone , they think to make him amends , by a fullen disclaiming of the present king's sovereignty . but tho' they will not swear , they will promise to live peaceably under this king : that is , they will not own him for the lawful king of england , but they will submit to him as they did to oliver cromwel , till they have an opportunity to dethrone him , and deliver him into the hand of king james ; and for this they would be allowed the same condition with those subjects that have sworn allegiance to him . is this reasonable ? will they admit a servant or a rival on the same terms into their own families ? well but some of his subjects forsook , and others of them fought against him , and almost all the rest stood still , and would not fight for him . 1. what is this to them , if they have done as much for him as they could or ought , they shall answer for no body but themselves . 2. what was the reason , and who gave the cause of this general desertion ? 3. it is denied that king james his subjects were bound to stand by him and fight for him . he had notoriously invaded and destroyed all our civil and religious rights and liberties , and designed the ruine and destruction both of them and us , and would give us no assurance , we could rely on , to do otherwise for the future ; and therefore if it were unlawful to resist him , it was also as unlawful to assist and enable him to destroy the true religion , the english liberties and immunities ; nay the very nation . now jovian tells us , pag. 272. whosoever acts contrary to law , in this realm , to the prejudice of any other person , must be subject to make reparation by law ; against which the king himself can protect no man , as long as the courts of law are kept open ; ( this has been sufficiently confuted ) so that there can be no tyranny , nor any persecution , but a most exorbitant and illegal persecution , which must presuppose , that justice is obstructed , the laws and lawyers silenced , the courts of judicature that up , and that the king governs altogether by arbitrary power and the sword. ( the courts were indeed open , but we know for all that , no man could have any redress ; but the consequences were the same as if they had been shut up . ) but to suppose this ( saith the doctor ) is plainly to suppose the utmost possibility , which is next to an impossibility , a possibility indeed in theory , but scarce to the reduced into practice , for in such a violent vndertaking all good men would withdraw from the service and assistance of the king ; ( mark that ) and the bad durst not serve him , because if he died , or repented of his vndertaking , they must be answerable for all the wrongs and illegalities they were guilty of in his service . and a little lower he tells us , to shut up the laws or obstruct and pervert justice , would prove an exceeding difficult and almost impracticable undertaking , because all his good subjects , and all the bad too , that tendered their own safety , would desert him ; nay foreigners , upon this account , would make a difficulty to serve him , because he could not protect them against his own laws . now all this was done and averred in the face of the sun , this possibility was brought into act , and things driven on to the utmost extremity ; and the only question then was , whether we should intail this arbitrary tyrannical exorbitant persecution on our posterity , without any hopes or possibility of redress , or whether we should withdraw from his service , and secure our rights and religion by it ? and this was done by all but the irish and papists , both good and bad , in a manner , as the doctor foretold it would ; and to me it seems altogether justifiable . i know the doctor means only a civil recess ; but if it was highly punishable and infamous to have persisted in a co-operation and assistance of these things , it was worse and more punishable to have fought for them . and from hence i conclude , all that did withdraw from the service of the late king , when they saw he was resolved on these illegal exorbitant courses , are not to be blamed ; and that the best of the primitive christians would have done the same thing , if it had been their lot to have fallen under such a prince . tertullian , de corona , c. 12. expounds that place of scripture , give unto caesar the things that are caesar's , and unto god the things that are god's . give the man to god , and the penny to caesar . the man bore god's image , as the penny did caesar's ; and when god and caesar were in opposition , the whole man was god's right . so far were they from thinking , their loyalty to their prince obliged them to be disloyal to their religion , even then when they never thought of resisting , their hands were tyed up neither to assist nor resist a against persecuting prince , they would do neither of these tho' they ( perished . and are not we still under the same obligations as to the latter as well as to the former ? for shame , let no man boast of that loyalty to his prince , which makes him disloyal to god and his church , to whom his duty is first owing ; for in this case it is our undoubted duty , to obey god rather than man. art thou then ( saith tertullian ) a servant and soldier to two , to god and caesar too ; certainly thou wilt not be for caesar when thou owest thy service to god : even in common things , i yield to the better : or i believe thou wilt be for the better . so far were they then from valuing themselves upon the score of their loyalty to their prince . the disloyalty of two other parties have made the church of england take into the contrary extreme ; and as a jesuit wished it might do her much good , in scorn : so she had like to have paid too dear for the pretence ; and they that would now again sacrifice her to their interest and reputation , are , to speak softly , none of her best friends . they pretend we have not suffered enough for our religion , to justifie our resistance ? why , according to their principles we are never to resist , whatever we suffer , but to suffer on till there is not one man left to resist . now did ever any man , before they , complain , that for the elect's sake god had shortned those . daies ▪ if they think we have not suffered enough for our religion , they may be pleased to go for france or ireland and there make up what is wanting : but if they love company , and would needs have us suffer with them too , i do not understand the favour . if they are prodigal of their own lives and fortunes in this world , they ought to be tender of other men's ; cruces nec colimus , nec optamus ; we neither worship nor wish for crosses , said octavius , a primitive christian : and it is madness to desire to be , and to bring others into affliction and trouble , when god doth not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men , and hath sent us a deliverance , before we expected it , and sooner than some men are well-pleased . they have another objection , which is full as extravagant as this ; if , say they , king william has conquered king james , why doth he not claim the crown by conquest ? why , he that has several rights to the same thing , may use his best , and wave the rest . nemo juro suo quod cum damni periculo conjunctum est , uti cogitur ; no man is bound to produce an invidious title : should king william have treated us as a conquered people , they would have been the first that would have complaimed ; who now complain , only , because they have not that case . the truth is , they would have him claim as a conqueror , that they might thence take occasion to ruine him ; but he has the right of a conqueror , and the right of a lawful successor too ; and tho' his own personal right of succession is more remote , that of his lady is immediate ; and by it be claims , to our great good , and his immortal honour : and they , in the mean time , might , if they pleased , be as satisfied in the right he has by conquest , as the saxons were , when king william i. won the crown in a battle , and wore it , under the pretence of an election , because he could lay no claim to it by succession : and henry . vii . twisted his right by conquest with his descent from lancaster , and his right by marriage . but these men seem not to care which way our ruine come , if we may but be miserable ; we have not suffered enough under king james , but he , too , would fain come in by conquest ; and if ever he get the crown again that way , these gentlemen will have no reason to complain of the want of sufferings . tertullian , who wrote his apology for the christians , in or about the year of christ cc. as pamelius stateth the time , in his annals of the life of that father , saith in his first apology , c. 37. if we christians would become your publick and declared enemies , or secret revengers of our own wrongs , should we want force and number to support it ? we exceed the moors , the marcomans , and the parthians , or any other one single nation in the whole world ; we are but of yesterday , and yet we have filled all your places , your cities , your islands , castles , corporations , councils , tribes , companies , palace , senate and forum or market-place ; and we have left you nothing to enjoy alone but your temples ; now we who so willingly lay down our lives , are we not thereby fitted and prepared , do you think , to manage any war , tho' we were very much inferior in number ; if our religion did not oblige us , rather to suffer death than to inflict it ? we might without arms or resistance , barely by disagreeing with you , and the envy of a separation , very much endager and disquiet you ; for if so great a part of the empire , as we now make , should break it self off from the rest , and retire into any remote corner of the world , it would certainly confound your dominions , to lose so many subjects , be their quality what it will ; yea , our very departure from you would be a severe punishment ; the desolation and silence we should leave behind us , would strike you with an horror and amazement , as if the world were expiring ; you would be forced to seek for new subjects to supply our places ; and perhaps we should leave you more enemies than subjects or defenders . this place has been often cited to prove the doctrine of passive obedience ; and in truth it is a noble testimony of the faith and patience of those saints : but then the church continued after this under pagan and persecuting princes one hundred and ten years , and something more , in which short time there is reckoned about twenty nine emperors ; their times being short , and their ends bloody ; they almost all of them pershing by the sword. did any of the primitive christians in those days make any scruple to submit to the prevailing power ? the same author , in this very apology , puts the question to the pagans , vnde cassii , nigri , & albini , &c. de romanis ( nisi fallor ) id est , de non christanis . from whence are all your vsurpers , traitors , and rebels ? they were ( if i am not deceived ) all romans , that is , no christians . those very loyal pagans , that persecuted the poor christians , because they would not sacrifice for the safety of the empire and emperor , those loyal pagans , who would swear falsely by all their gods , rather than by the single genius of the emperor , they were the men that so frequently deposed , murthered , and destroyed their princes ; that in one hundred and ten years there was about thirty of them , and scarce three in all that time that died a natural death . but where the numerous body of loyal christians in the mean time , who , as he tells scapula , were so great a multitude that they were almost the greatest part of every city ; and as he tells us in the other apology , they were fit to have undertaken any the most dangerous war , though they had been inferiour in numbers , who so stoutly and fearlessly suffered deaths , that were extraordinarily dreadful for their religion ? why did they not appear in the defence of some of these poor miserable emperors , who were thus slaughtered one upon the neck of another ? how could they satisfie their consciences to pay their allegiance to thirty emperors in one hundred and ten years , and suffer above twenty of these to be deposed and murthered without ever in the least concerning themselves what became of them , or who was in the imperial throne . certainly here was some reason for this , it was not cowardice ; never in any age were there greater numbers of heroical martyrs than in this century ; four of the ten persecutions fell in this short period of time ; and they bore them with all the bravery that any of their ancestors had shewn . the deposing doctrine was not then dreamt of ; at the end of this dreadful century they were as innocent as at the beginning of it , there was never a traytor or usurper to be yet charged upon the christian church . well , but what then , why did they suffer the pagans to murther their princes at this rate ? how could they in conscience pray for thirty emperors in one hundred and ten years , most of which were stained with the royal bloods of their predecessors ; and who had no other . title than that of a prosperous usurpation and a successful rebellion ? let the iacobites of our age come forth now , and try if they can justifie these primitive christians in all this ; let them produce their arguments and form apologies for them , which shall not at the same time be unanswerable objections against their own practice . all that i can say for these holy menl , is this , they followed the example of our saviour ; and , as he said in another case , who made me a judge and a divider of civil inheritances , or of the titles and claims of princes ? so they said here , who has given us power or command to interest our selves in these things ? if we do our duty and submit to and pray for those powers that we find set over us , by men as the instruments , by god as the great disposer of crowns and scepters , we are safe ; for it is he that ruleth in the kingdoms of men , and sets over them the basest of men , such as oliver cromwel was , kings given to sinful nations in his wrath , and sometimes as suddenly again taken away in his anger ; and at others continued longer for the tryal of his people or the chastisement of wicked men. st. austin saith , let us ascribe the gift of kingdoms and imperial powers to none but the true god ; he that gives eternal felicity in the kingdom of heaven to none but the pious : but the earthly kingdom , both to the good and to the bad , as he pleaseth , who is not pleased with injustice : for though we should in this case say all we know , yet it would at last be impossible for us , to search the hearts of men , and by a clear discovery to judge of the justice of ( god in relation to ) kingdoms . that one true god therefore , who needs neither the approbation ( judgment ) nor assistance of men , when he pleased , and as far as he pleased , gave the empire of the world to the romans , who gave it before that to the assyrians and persians . and a little lower , he that gave the kingdom or empire to marius , gave it to julius caesar ; he that gave it to augustus , gave it also to nero ; he that gave it to vespasian and titus , two merciful sweet princes , gave it also to domitian , a most cruel prince : and that i may not be forced ( saith he ) to run through all the particulars , he that gave it to constantine , a christian , gave it to julian an apostate , whose great parts and sacrilegious and detestable curiosity was deceived by the love of empire ; who trusting afterwards in those vain oracles to which he was too much addicted , and being too secure of the victory they had promised him , burnt his navy on the tigris , which should have supplied his army with provisions , and rashly pursuing irrational designs , was deservedly cut off in the enemies country . now i would fain have our jacobites tell me , whether the same true god has abandoned the government of the world , and when he did so ? did he give the empire of the world to nero , to domitian , to julian the apostate , all usurpers , and some of them murderers of their predecessors ? nay , to marius , who was the very image of oliver cromwel ? and has he not since that done any thing of that nature ? did not he that gave the kingdom of england to king james , give it also to king william ? did not the primitive fathers submit to , and pray for nero , domitian and julian , though murderers and usurpers , as well as to claudius , titus , and constantius . it was well known , claudius left a son , whose birth was never questioned , and that nero was set up by the intriegues of agrippina his mother ; yet st. paul owned his power to be god , rom. 13. for in that princes reign , this epistle was written , as bishop pearson proves in his annals of st. paul , pag. 15. but the christians were few in number then . well , but they were numerous enough in the second and third century , but they were all of st. augustin's mind then too , and left god to dispose of the kingdoms of the world as he thought fit . now how did they know that he had given the empire in their times to this of that man , but by the event ? and was that sufficient to justifie them in their acquiescing in , and submitting to , the will of god thus discovered and will not the same be sufficient to us too ? is not the same providence as powerful and as vigilant in our times as in theirs ? for my part i was none of them that did , or durst have resisted or rebelled against king james : but when he chose rather to leave his kingdom , than to do his subjects right ; it was just with god and men to confirm the election he had made ; and seeing he would not continue in the station , god had placed him in ( that of a regular and limited monarchy ) but aspired to an absolute and unlimited arbitrary empire , and persecuted those who had set him up and preserved him in his throne ; it was just , i say , that god should say unto him as he did to saul , because thou hast rejected the word of the lord ; he hath rejected thee from being king. seeing you have provoked and deserted your people , and have fled into a strange country , when you might by observing your oath and your laws , have lived happily in your own ; you shall the fruit of your own folly , and i will give it to a neighbour of thine that is better than you . now i would fain know of my country men , who are still dissatisfied , what i or any of the other members of the church of england , who never resisted king james till he left us , have done more than the primitive christians did in the like circumstances ; and i would have them produce but one example in all those times of a christian that did scruple to submit to , or pray for , the prince that was set over him , be his title what it would . and when his hand is in , let him shew me the christian that desired the restitution of dioclesian or liciniu ; two persecuting princes , who were as manifestly laid aside as king james was or could be ; supposing he was purely forced , and that there was nothing of his will in it , which yet were a very extravagant supposition . 2. i come now to the second thing , i proposed to examine , whether those who stand for the non-resisting doctrine are by it bound to endeavour the restitution of james the second , now he had deserted the throne , and withdrawn his person and seals ? i have in part anticipated this enquiry in the former part , as it was impossible to do otherwise , by shewing the primitive christians who owned and practised this doctrine to the highest , did yet never concern themselves for the titles or successions of their princes , but submitted to those they found in the throne , good , or bad , by what right , title or pretence soever they came in . the only reason that be given for this , is what i have assigned out of st. augustin , viz. that the kingdoms of the world were so particularly under the government of god , that no person could usurp them without his particular gift and providence . they did not in this case make any difference between his approbation and permission : they knew and acknowledged this thing was managed in such manner , that it was impossible for man sometimes after the utmost search to find out the reason of it ; but yet they said also with st. augustin , god could approve nothing but what was just , and in this be sure nothing could happen but what he approved : no force , no fraud ever prevailed against any prince that was in possession , but by the will , and approbation of god almighty . the only objection that can be made against this , is , that this will seem to make god the author or approver of the ill things that have been done to good princes in the several ages of the world. to which i reply , that god has very great reason and justice in all his actions , though it is not always known to men. the best of men have been guilty of great offences , some of which have not been known to men in general , and others that were known have not been committed to writing , and are lost ; but when all things shall in the last day be discovered , then it will appear , that god was just in all his ways , and righteous in all his works . and though god has pleased to settle the kingdom of the world in certain families and persons as he thought fit , yet he has not thereby bound up his own hands so , that let them do what they please , every person that is by his providence exalted to a throne must necessarily reign till his death , and shall then be succeeded by none but his next right heir . god never made a personal promise to any family , but that of david ; and after that to jehu : but in the family of david ( as the promise was in part conditional ) there were many false steps , and aberrations from the true rules of an hereditary succession ; and for the sins of solomen , god rent ten of the tribes out of the hand of rehoboam his son , which never after returned under the house of david ; and though this is stiled a rebellion , yet god owns that this thing was from him , 1 king. 12. 24. and the family of jehu ended in the fourth desent , as it was foretold . now put these two together , that there is a particular providence , that particularly concerns it self in the disposing of crowns , against which neither fraud nor force can prevail : and , that god has an absolute right , as well as full power to dispose of the kingdoms of the world as he please ; and accordingly has in every age of the world , de facto , disposed of them ; and the conclusion will be , that whosoever ascends a throne , and reigns in any kingdom , doth it by the will and appointment of god : and in this no wrong is done by god , for he may dispose of what is his own , when and how he please : all princes are gods ministers and deputies , and , when he please , he may lay them aside , and set up others in their stead . and this in general is true of all princes , good and bad ; but as to the latter , to what purpose are prayers and tears stiled , the arms of the church against persecuting princes , if they were of no force ? to what purpose should men cry unto the lord , because of the king , if he were resolved never to hear them ; or which is all one , never to help them ? and the difficulty is the same yet ; if i may not accept of a deliverance , when it comes . why , if god is pleased to put an end to the life of an ill prince , and to set up the next immediate successor , then i may say i am delivered ? but when did god oblige himself to this ? that he would exercise this most sovereign jurisdiction , over princes , only one way ; and that every prince should be succeeded by none but his next immediate heir : where has he obliged us to accept of no other deliverance , and to reject all other successors but those that we took to be right , with the loss of our lives and fortunes ? did the primitive fathers of the church act or write thus , or how come we to be under other laws than they were ? if james ii. governed us as he ought , according to his laws and his oath , we are bound , in gratitude , to desire the continuance of his government , and to be much concerned that we are not still under his scepter ; for he was once the undoubted rightful king of england : but if it was otherwise , if he persecuted that church , he promised and was bound to protect , and did not treat us like englishmen , but like slaves , what reason have we to desire , now we are delivered , to be again brought into the same circumstances we so lately groaned under ? nero , domitian and decius , the three first persecutors of the christian church , all of them perished by the sword ; but valerian , the fourth , as he is reckoned by lactantius , did not escape neither ; at illum deus novo ac singulari poenae genere adfecit , ut esset posteris documentum adversarios dei s●pe dignam scelere suo recipere mercedem : god took a new course with him , and inflicted upon him a new kind of punishment , that he might teach posterity , that the enemies of god do often meet with a recompence worthy of their wickedness ; for he being taken prisoner by the persians , lost not only his sovereignty , which he had most insolently abused , but his liberty also , which he had deprived others unjustly of ; and he continued in wretched servitude to the day of his death ; not only destitute of help or pity , but scorned and trodden upon by his proud enemy . did the christians of this age petition for their old persecutor , did they refuse to be under the milder government of his son gallienus , because the father was still living , tho' in captivity ? no , he tells us , that this was added to his punishment ; that though he had a son , which succeeded in the empire , yet there was no revenger of his captivity and slavery , nec omnino repetitus est , nor was he , in the least , ever demanded or desired . next after him arose † aurelian , a mad and a rash prince , who was cut off in the beginning of his rage : after him came * dioclesian , who was hardly persuaded to begin a persecution , but raged more than any of his predecessors ; soon after he fell into a sickness , and was thought by the violence of it to have been dead ; but tho' he escaped with his life , he was a long time disracted , and was forced by galerious , imperio cedere , to resign the empire , in the year 305. † and although he lived to the year 313. which was nine years after he was deposed , none of the christians of that age desired he should again ascend the throne . one of the last of the pagan princes , that persecuted the church , was licinus , upon whom constantine made war , for that very cause , and reduced him to a private life , in thrace , in the year 324. and in the year 325. put him to death , for endeavouring to recover his throne : but neither here did the christians , that were his subjects , desire again to be under their pagan persecuting prince , rather than under their deliverer , constantine . julian the apostate was the last pagan prince that reigned in the roman empire , and he perished in persia , by an unknown hand , within two years and one month ; and was followed , both living and dead , with the detestation of that , and all the succeeding ages . s. ambrose , as he is cited by grotius , de jure belli & pacis , saith , this apostate had many christian soldiers under him , who when he commanded them , to stand to their arms , against the common enemy of their country , obeyed him ; but when he commanded them to sight against the christians , then they acknowledged the emperor of heaven : that is , they refused to serve him in this . and the famous thebean legion made this their apology , we offer our service against any enemy ; but we esteem in an impiety to stain them with the bloods of innocent men : you may command our hands against the wicked and your enemies , but we cannot butcher the pious , and our fellow-subjects . we do well remember , that we took up arms for , and not against our countrymen ; and we have ever fought for justice , for piety , and the preservation of the innocent : these things have hitherto been the rewards of our dangers . shall we , oh sir , ever be able to keep our faith and our promise to you ; if we now fail of performing our promise to our god ? they were then said to be led into france , to fight against the bagaudae , a sort of outlawed christians , who were forced , by the iniquity of the times , to take up arms under dioclesian ; and were all of them destroyed by maximianus ; so that if that story be true , it is a pregnant testimony , that he doctrine of passive obedience doth not oblige any man to lend his assistance to the ruine of the true religion . beside these pagan princes , there were some arian princes , who treated the catholicks of their times very hardly ; and though none of the christians of those times rebelled against them , yet neither would the catholicks assist the arian princes against the catholick bishops , as is plain in the story of s. ambrose , and the many tumults at constantinople , antioch and alexandria , in those times ; and when these princes sell by the justice of god , in civil or foreign wars , their ends were looked upon as deserved : thus valens perished in thrace , and valentinian , the younger , at vienne , the one by the hands of the goths , and the other by the procurement of arbogastes , an usurper ; and the untimely deaths of these two princes , proved the exaltation of theodosius , the resettler of the catholick religion , and the extirper of arianism , in the roman empire . in all the various events of these times , the providence of god ordered things for the good of his church , and the christians of those times , left them to his disposal , and submitted to those he set over them , quietly , and without disputing their rights or titles ; whereas procopius , who claimed the empire , as cousin to julian the emperor , perished in the attempt , without pity , or the regard of the church . there is no part of the reign of james ii. that has not been examined and represented by many pens ; so that it were a needless , but an ungrateful task for me , to rip it up again ; it may suffice to say , in general , never any of our princes so openly attempted the ruine of the english liberties , or went so far in it ; never did any man more openly endeavour the ruine of an established religion , or by more illegal courses than he : nor laws , nor oaths , nor promises , nor gratitude could restrain him ; he broke through all the barriers god and man had put in his way , and seemed resolved to ruine us or himself ; no remonstrances from abroad , no petitions at home , could work upon him , till he saw the sword coming to cut up the gourd he had planted , and was so fond of ; then indeed , he seemed to relent and to give back ; but still he would be trusted ; he would yield up nothing , but so as that he might , when the danger was over , re-assume the same again . an english parliament was the thing , in the world , he most hated , because he foresaw , if it was free , there was an end , for ever , of the hopes of setting up popery in this kingdom ; and that was his main and almost only design ; and yet , as fond as he ever seemed to be of an absolute and uncontroulable power , if he had been of our church , he would not have hazarded all for it , but he would have managed things with some reserve ; but the jesuites he took into his bosom , and his queen , especially , spurred him on ; and put him upon these courses , only by representing to him the glory and merit of extirpating the northern heresies , and settling the catholick religion in england . well , but what has he done since he left us , that may give us any assurance , we were mistaken , as to what was past , or may hope for better usage for time to come ? why , there have been some general promises made : in the letter , pretended to be sent to the lords and commons of england , and after wards printed in london , he , or some other person for him , tells us ; we are resolved , nothing shall be omitted on our part ( whenever we can with safety return ) that can contribute towards the redress of all former errors , or present disorders , or add to the securing of the protestant religion , or the property of every individual subject ; intending to refer the whole to a parliament , legally called , freely elected , and held , without constraint ; wherein we shall not only have a particular regard to the church of england , as by law established , but also give such indulgence to dissenters , as our people shall have no reason to be jealous of , not expecting , for the future , any other favour to those of our own persuasion , than the exercise of their religion in their own private families . this letter bears date at s. germans en laye , feb. 3. 1688-89 : the letter to the convention of scotland runs in a higher strain . we think fit to let you know , that we have at all times relied upon the faithfulness and affection of you , our ancient people , so much , that in our greatest misfortunes , heretofore , we had recou●se to your assistance , and that with good success to our affairs : so now , again , we require of you to support our royal interest , expecting from you what becomes loyal faithful subjects , generous and honest men , that will neither suffer your selves to be cajoled , nor frighted into any action misbecoming true hearted scotchmen ; and that to support the honour of the nation , you will contemn the base example of disloyal men , and eternise your names , by a loyalty suitable to the many professions you have made to vs : in doing whereof you shall chuse the safest part , since thereby you will evite the danger , you must needs undergo ; the infamy and disgrace you must bring upon your selves in this world , and the condemnation due to the rebellious , in the next ; and you will likewise have the opportunity to secure to your selves and your posterity , the gracious promises , we have so oft made of securing your religion , laws , properties , liberties and rights , which we are still resolved to perform , as soon as is possible for vs to meet you safely in a parliament , of our ancient kingdom : in the mean time , fear not to declare for vs , your lawful sovereign ; who will not fail on our parts , to give you such a speedy and powerful assistance , as shall not only enable you to defend your selves from any foreign attempt , but put you in a condition to assert our right against our enemies , who have depressed the same by the blackest of vsurpations , the most unjust , as well as the most unnatural of all attempts ; which the almighty god may for a time permit , and let the wicked prosper , yet then must bring confusion on such workers of iniquity . we further let you know , that we will pardon all such as shall return to their duty , before the last day of this month , inclusive ; and that we will punish with the rigor of our laws , all such as shall stand out in rebellion against vs or our authority . given on board the s. michael , march. 1. 1689. a jesuit , who printed a small paper , under the title of advices given to his r. h. m. the prince of orange , by one of his most faithful servants . your emissaries ( saith he ) made use of the mantle of religion , to create in the minds of the people ( of england ) false impressions , of the designs of the king their master ; whilst they who knew the bottom of the business ( the jesuites ) and his true intentions as well as you , are fully perswaded , that this is a good prince , who desireth nothing but to pass the remainder of his life in peace ; and who would be well-contented to obtain from his parliament , the free exercise of his own religion , without giving the least disturbance to that which the greater part of his subjects profess . it is not possible for you to take too much care to hinder this truth from spreading it self amongst the people , &c. thus the late king promiseth and threatneth ; and the true hearted jesuite , who would not for the world speak one tittle of untruth , to an heretick of the first magnitude , voucheth for him , and would make the whole society , that holy society , which has so great an influence over the mind and actions of that good prince , garantee for the performance of all these fine things : nay , i will undertake , if the english hereticks will once more put their heads into the yoke , that lewis the fourteenth , too , shall pass his royal word and unquestionable faith , that james the second shall , for the future , keep his faith with them , in spite of all the canons of the church of rome to the contrary , as well as he himself has his to his own protestant subjects . the letter to the convention of scotland , was dated on board the s. michael , a french ship , then in the road of brest ; and the late king was then passing in her into ireland ; where he arrived the 12 th of march at kinsale , with twelve french men of war , three fire-ships and eight merchant-ships . now , notwithstanding the king's promise of pardon to those of brandon , several were indicted at the assizes , insomuch that thirty or forty of them fled and came to bristol ; being frighted at the bloody proceedings against one mr. brown of cork , who was hanged , drawn and quartered at the same assizes . several petitions were also preferred for the pardons of sir thomas southwel and captain mills and many others , who being taken in their way to the north , were carried to galloway ; and there tried and condemned to die , but the king rejected their petition ; but however , reprieved them for three weeks , deferring it till his arrival at dublin , to which place he set forward on the 21st of march. nor was the rest of his proceedings , in that miserable kingdom unlike this beginning , all the english being plundered of all their horses and arms first , then of their cattle and houshold-stuff , and at last of their very cloaths , that they might be reduced to a necessity of perishing by hunger , nakedness and want ; and great numbers of them destroyed by pretended legal proceedings , because they would not at first summons open their doors , and suffer the rabble to plunder them of all they had ; which i have had from some of my near relations , who fled on that account . the twenty fifth of march a proclamation was issued by him for the sitting of a parliament the 7th of may , at dublin , as it accordingly did : wherein they passed these acts. i. an act to levy 20000l . a month for 13 months . ii. for repealing the act of settlement , and restoring old preprietors . iii. for liberty of conscience . iv. for taking off penal laws and oaths . v. for taking off all writs of error and appeals to england . vi. for taking off valuation money and other rights from the clergy . vii . for repealing the act of the 23d . of october , 1641. viii . no benefit of clergy for two years . ix . all patents for offices void . x. ireland to be independent of england . they seized in the mean time all the protestants estates who fled into england ; and all this they effected by the 26th of june . 1. after this they passed an act for repealing poyning's law. 2. against counterfeiting foreign coins . 3. and an act for the attainting of many hundreds of the nobility and gentry of ireland , who were fled to england . but the town of london-derry holding out , and an army being every day expected from england , the 18th of july this parliament was prorogued till october : and notwithstanding their act for liberty of conscience , and the dreadful expectation of a sudden revenge from england , the popish clergy took possession of the tithes and church revenues ; and many of the protestant clergy , were clapt up in prison , in order to be sent into france . all that our discontented party , here in england , have to say to all this is , that we must not believe all is told , as out of ireland ; but they mean , that we must believe nothing of it , but call in king james , and try if he will use us at the same rate . we have a proverb , that experience is the mistress of fools ; and certainly none but such will come a second time under her discipline , when they have so lately tried it ; and see every day hundreds of the nobility , gentry and clergy of ireland flee hither to save their lives , with the loss of all besides , who agree very exactly one with another in these dreadful stories . now let it be considered , that nothing was asked by the bishops , in their proposals , and by the lords spiritual and temporal in their petition of the 17th of november , but a free and legal parliament , and the redress of our grievances ; and that this was the principal thing insisted on by the prince of orange in his declaration ; viz. that a free and legal parliament might settle and adjust all things in difference or dispute ; and that it was obstinately refused till the 28 th of that month , and then granted when it could be no longer denyed , the greatest part of the nobility and army being then gone over to the prince . let also that passage in the proclamation of the 30th of november be considered . for the reconciling all publick breaches and obliterating the very memory of all past miscarriages , we do hereby exhort and kindly admonish all our subjects to dispose themselves to elect such persons , for their representatives in parliament , as may not be byassed by prejudice , or passion , but qualified with parts , experience and prudence proper for this conjuncture , and agreeable to the ends and purposes of this our gracious proclamation . and after this , that by his message of the 8th of december , sent by the three lords to the prince of orange , he promised , that he would consent to every thing that could be reasonably required for the security of those that came to it ; that is , to the parliament . and that the 10th of december he sent for the lord mayor and aldermen and sheriffs of london to whitehall , and again passed his word to them , that though the queen and child were gone for france , he would stay with them ; and though this evening he received such an answer from the prince to his proposals , that he could not but acknowledge , it was fairer than he could or did expect ; yet after all these solemn ingagements he burnt the writs for the summoning a parliament , and went the very next morning away for france , as his roman catholick friends had foretold he would above a fortnight before . and who accordingly sent a letter to him whilst he was at salisbury , perswading him to come back from thence , and withdraw himself out of the kingdom , and leave it in confusion ; assuring him , that within two years or less the nation would be in such disorder , that he might come back and have his ends of it : that is , ruine both our civil rights and our religion . when all these solemn promises were thus easily broken , or rather never intended to be kept at the very time they were made , and all those he has since made have been violated in ireland , where only he had power to keep or break his word , what can we conclude , but that , as a minister of state told our planters , it is very undecent , not to say undutiful , to tax ( this ) king with his promises ; who of all mankind has shewn the least regard in time past to them , and for time to come can never be blamed for any breach ? the parties that take his word being alone responsible for their incorrigible folly . some of these men have confessed to me , that if ever he be restored they expect to be treated as they were before ( without truth , justice or mercy ) but yet if it be his right , he must have it . and they cannot think his right can be determined but by death or a voluntary surrender , or a conquest made by meer foreigners , to the utter ruine of the english nation . and they will admit no answer to these their scruples , but what shall be palpable , convictive to that degree that they can make no objection against it . now if they admit all the dreadful consequences that attend this relapse , and yield up both church and nation to certain and inevitable ruine , only that they may not be damned for perjury and disobedience to a king that has left them when he might have staied ; and now offereth to return and do what he then refused ; what shall we also consent and sacrifice our selves and our posterity to the humour or scruples of these men ? shall we suffer the english church , liberties , and the very people of england to be destroyed to gratifie two or three hundred persons ? i have been told from good hands , that one of our bishops said , though he could not satisfie his own scruples , yet he thought the english nation fools if ever they suffered king james to return ; and i may from hence reasonably conclude the far greatest part of our scruplers are satisfied in the main , and do heartily wish they could also be of the same mind with the rest of their brethren in the rest ; so that the cause is half obtained against them , and those that shall finally persist will , i hope , not meet with much compassion , it being scarce possible there should not be a very great deal of will in so much blindness . our neighbours abroad have observed with wonder , that england was delivered from an arbitrary government , which threatned the ruine and desolation of the whole nation , and the destruction of our religion , without the shedding any of our blood , and that the army of our deliverer has committed no disorder or rapine in any of our places through which it passed . now one would think the manner of our deliverance were a mercy almost equal to the deliverance ; no , they cry , if king william the third had entered england as william the first did , and had slain fifty or sixty thousand english men in a battle , then it had been a true conquest , and would have justified our submission , and god would not have been offended with us if we had transferred our allegiance from the beaten james to the victorious king william . now if men were like beasts , altogether distitute of the use of reason , and capable of no reflection but the terrour of a brandished and irresistable sword , then there might perhaps be some force in this reason : but if a man is conquered whenever he is brought to submit to another ; the noblest as well as the most effectual conquest is that of the pen ; swords conquer bodies only , reason and interest , justice and mercy , subdue souls too , and at once bring the whole man under ; whereas brutish force can triumph over none but the brutish half of a man. a lyon or a woolf may master my body and bring me under his power , so that i neither can nor durst resist him ; but none but an hero can bring me to a willing submission when i am free , none but an hero would with his own hazard deliver me from slavery when i were oppress'd . st. peter saith , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . by whom a man is overcome , him he must serve ; that is , he cannot resist him ; and it is as true , he whom i neither can nor durst resist , has conquered me . when james the second was desired to leave whitehall and go to ham ; and sent to his now majesty for leave to go rather to rochester , than to any other place ; it was a plain confession he was no longer free , i. e. that he was brought into bondage , and consequently that he was conquered : if conquest be nothing but the depriving a man of the power of resisting , as i take it to be ; and that servitude or bondage is nothing but the effect of that deprivation . and in his letter from rochester he saith , he did not think it convenient to expose himself to be secured so as not to be at liberty to effect it ( to redeem the nation from slavery ) and for that reason to withdraw , &c. that is , he left england , because as long as he staied in it he was a captive and liable to be secured . and by consequence he was conquered . the roman catholicks too , and those few of the church of england , who still adhere to him , were conquered by force of arms ; for they durst not resist , nay they durst not print the reasons why they will not comply , which is a plain confession they are subdued . the rest of the nation too was conquered not by the sword , but by the justice of his arms ; and his kindness to a miserable enslaved people designed for ruine . and after all this , to query whether it is a real conquest , is very absurd . but every conquest will perhaps not create a just and good title , but here it is confessed the present king had the most just cause to make a war upon james the second , that ever man had , by them who scruple to submit to him ; he managed this war also with the utmost justice , he did not enter into it till he had tried all other ways to obtain justice , and was denied it and persecuted into boot , he offered to submit all his pretences to an english parliament : and when that was rejected he managed the war with so exact a disciplie , with so little injury to the rest of the nation , that the want of the effects of war , blood and rapine , is objected against his victory . every man has not the right of making a conquest : a subject that rebels against his prince is but a victorious traytor if he prevail ; but william the third was a sovereign prince when he entered england , and by the law of nations had a right to vindicate his , and his ladies injuries , and obtain by the sword , what he could not get by a fair treaty . but to what end is war allowed at all , if the cause and the effect must be separated , and the most just war in the end leave the conqueror in the same state he was before ? no , but all subjects , right or wrong , are bound to stand by their lawful princes in their most unjust quarrels : and if at last they are subdued , their allegiance must be reserved for the injurious beaten prince till he die or freely resign ; that is , victorious sovereign prince and a prosperous rebel , and a just and an unjust war , shall , according to these men's notion , have the same effect . evagrius , in his apology for the christian religion against zozimus the pagan historian , thus bespeaks him : let us , if you please sir , consider the ends of those princes who imbraced the pagan superstition , and the deaths of those princes that were christians . did not caius julius caesar the first of them that obtained the empire of rome , perish by treachery ? and was not caius caligula murthered by his own souldiers ? was not nero slain by one of his own servants ? did not galba , otho and vitellius all perish by the sword in the space of sixteen months ? did not domitian poison his brother titus , and then he himself fall by the sword of one stephanus ? what will you say of commodus ? did not narcissus lay violent hands upon him ? and did not pertinax and julian fall by the same means ? antoninus , the son of severus , slew geta his brother , and soon after fell by the sword of martialis himself . was not macrinus the emperour taken captive by his own souldiers , and being led about the streets of byzantium afterwards , was he not most traiterously slain by them ? aurelius antoninus the emperour who was born at emisa , a city of syria , was slain with his mother . to what end should i speak of maximinus , who was slain by his own souldiers ? of gordian , who fell by the swords of his too who were stirred up to it by philip ? and were not philip and decius both slain by their foreign enemies ? gallus and velusianus by their own armies ? and had not aemilian the same fate ? was not valerian taken prisoner , and carried about by the persians till he died ? was not galienus , the son of valerian , slain by treachery , and carinus beheaded , and so the empire fell into the hands of dioclesian and those he associated to him in the empire ; of which maximianus herculius , and his son maxentius and licinius all fell by the sword ? but from the time constantine , a christian prince , became emperour , to this , see if you can find any one who has reigned in constantinople , except julian the apostate and valens the emperour , who have fallen by the hands of their own subjects or of foreigners , who both so grieviously afflicted the christians ; nor has any tyrant usurped against any of our princes except basiliscus , who rose up against zeno the emperor , and drove him from his palace ; but was afterwards overcome by zeno , and put to death . you cannot assign any other emperor , but these two , that was slain in all this time . this happened in the year of christ 476. and licinius was put to death in the year 325. so that in the space of 151. years no christian prince had been deposed or murthered by domestick or foreign enemies in the east : and whereas , i observed before in the latter times of the pagan superstition , in the space of 110. years , there were twenty nine emperors in this period , which makes 151 years , there was but twelve , of which number julian and valens were cut off by the justice of god for persecuting his church . now the force of all this argument lies in this , that the providence of god watcheth over pious princes to preserve them from violence : and as he suffereth not persecuting princes to end their daies in peace , he looks graciously upon his servants to preserve their souls from violence and wrong , because they are such . but if it is said he has suffered some good princes to be oppressed as he did henry the sixth and charles the first ; i say the judgments of god are sometimes unscrutable , and those that have any hand in such actions , shall doubtlessly be responsible for it . but as for those who are meerly passive , as they could not hinder the ill things that happened in their times , they may and ought to commit them to god ; who in his due time will punish all unjust usurpers , either in their persons or in their posterity . but then this new doctrine of standing by wicked persecuting princes , to the apparent and visible ruine of the church , or at least of those that imbrace it , was never heard of in the church before , was never taught or practised by the primitive christians ; and is not any part of the doctrine of passive obedience or non-resistance : as they would not rebel against their princes , how wicked or cruel soever they were ; so neither would they against god , whose only right it is to dispose of the kingdoms of the world ; without whose approbation as well as permission , no force ever did , or ever shall , prevail ; who when he pleases punisheth the wicked , and when he pleaseth pulls down not only unjust usurpers , but those who have the justest title . the great thuanus makes this reflection on the deposition of christian the second , king of denmark if princes will reign well and happily , they must govern their affections , and not out of a violent lust of insulting over their subjects give up themselves to the conduct of their passions , or otherwise they ought to assure themselves , god is a severe revenger , alway ready and delighting to pluck off their thrones the most proud and insolent who shall abuse that power he has intrusted them with . nor is this less true of lawful princes , than of unlawful usurpers , no title can exempt a prince from being responsible to the justice of god , and he will use his power as he thinks fit , and punish one man after one manner , and another in another ; some in this world , and others in the next ; and the church in the best of times accordingly left it to him to dispose of the government of the world : and as she did not anticipate his judgments by disturbing the peace of the world , whatsoever she suffered ; so neither did she think her self more wise or just than he , but submitted to those he was pleased in his providence to set over her ; and would certainly have been very thankful for such a deliverance as we of the church of england have had , by the ministery of our king , who like another constantine has delivered us out of the hands of our enemies , who designed to enslave and ruine us and our posterity for ever . the primitive church in the best times took the words of st. paul in their plain and literal sense , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the powers that are , ( i. e. in possession ) are ordained or ordered of god. they never formalize or make any exception , but conquest , election , usurpation , were to them all alike , if once the man was established in the throne ; and whereas they so frequently affirm , empires are given by god , according to that of tertullian , apolog. cap. xxx . we invocate for the preservation of the emperors , the eternal , true , living god , him whom the emperors themselves would wish propitious above all others , for they know who gave them the empire ( they know it as men , ) and who ga●e them their breath . they feelingly know that he i● the only god in whose power they only are , &c. there is no power but that of god that can touch the person , the power or the life of any prince . thus soz. in his ecclesiastical history , lib. vi. c. 35. reprehends the vanity of the pagan philosophers who had been too inquisitive to find who should succeed valens ; and the over great severity of that prince in executing many who had no hand in it , because their names began with the letters pretended to be discovered . if ( saith he ) these things are once agreed to depend ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) on the motion or course of the stars , we ought to expect ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) the prince that is thus decreed for us , whosoever it is : but if these things are ordered by the counsel of god , why do men prie curiously into them ; for the fore-sight or endeavours of men can never find out the will of god. and if is were possible , it is not fit to be done , because the wisest of men cannot order them ( the succession of princes ) better than god. the ancient fathers and primitive christians do every where ascribe the setting up and pulling down of princes to god only , as they do raine and other such things ; and you shall never find any exception , of lawful , or unlawful powers , that were supreme in fact in the writings of the first ages . to this purpose , see that passage of st. augustin de civitate dei , lib. v. c. 21. cited above . some have alledged in answer to this , that we in england are under other circumstances than the primitive church were , both in relation to our laws and our oaths ; for the law , sir edward coke in his pleas of the crown , chap. 1. p. 7. saith , upon the 25 e. 3. c. 2. this statute is to be understood of a king in possession of the crown and kingdom ; for if there be a king regnant in possession of the crown , although he be rex de facto & non de jure ; yet he is seignior le roy within the purvieu of this statute , and the other that hath right and is out of possession , is not within this act. nay , if treason be committed against a king de facto & non de jure , and after the king de jure cometh to the crown , he shall punish the treason done to the king , de facto . and a pardon granted by a king de jure , that is not also de facto , is void , for which he cites 11 h. 7. c. 1. 4 e. 4. 1. 1 ed. 4. 1 , 2. the words of the statute are as followeth . the king our sovereign lord calling to his remembrance the duty of allegiance of his subjects of this realm , and that they by reason of the same are bound to serve their prince and sovereign lord for the time being in his wars , for the defence of him and the land , against every rebellion , power and might reared against him , and with him to enter and abide in service in battel , if case so require ; ( 2 ) and that for the same service what fortune ever fall by chance in the same battle against the mind and will of the prince ( as in this land some time passed hath been seen ) that it is not reasonable , but against all law , reason , and good conscience , that the said subjects going with their sovereign lord in wars , attending upon him in his person , or being in other places by his commandment within this land or without , any thing should lose or forfeit for doing their true duty and service of allegiance , &c — that for the said deed and true duty of allegiance he or they be in no wise convict or attaint of high treason , ne of other offences for that cause by act of parliament or otherwise by any process of law whereby he or any of them shall lose or forfeit life , lands , tenements , &c. or any other things , but to be for that deed and service utterly discharged of any vexation , trouble or loss . and if any act or acts or other process of the law hereafter thereupon for the same happen to be made contrary to this ordinance , that then that act or acts or other process of the law , whatsoever they shall be , stand and be utterly void . ( 5 ) provided always that no person or persons shall take any benefit or advantage by this act which shall hereafter decline from his or their said allegiance . which is to be understood of the king in being , as the rest is , and against the same king. to this statute it is alledged , that the title of the crown was then so ambiguous and uncertain , that it was hard to know where the right lay ; which is a meer cavil . the title was as well known then as it is now , and is a thing of that nature , that it can never be universally known ; but the greatest part of mankind take those that are set over them , without further inquiry ; nor is it reasonable any man should suffer for obeying them whom he cannot nor ought to resist : so that what some have said , that every one is bound to take notice of the right title at his peril is true , if the person is in possession , but false if he is out of possession . conquest , a voluntary surrender , and a wilful desertion of a crown , will put an end to the best founded title in the world , as i think is universally agreed ; so that if the party pretending , has a title , why is he not in possession too ? if he is outed by his own act , i am absolved ; if by the force and power of another , why then , he is conquered : and both waies ( especially if i had no hand in it ) i am , and ought to be absolved before god and man. but then not only the three estates of england , but all the princes and sovereign states in christendom ( except the king of france ) have allowed king william and queen mary , as the rightful sovereigns of england ; which is a kind of giving judgment against the late king , after hearing what has been alledged on both sides . so that this case is determined by all the ways that are possible ; and must absolve any man that submits now to that which is the only supreme power in england . as to the oaths taken to the late king , they create no new obligation upon us as to the extent or duration of our allegiance ; i was under the same obligations of allegiance , before i was sworn , as i was afterwards ; and every subject of england , oweth , by the laws of england , a natural allegiance to his prince before he is sworn , as every man ows naturally obedience to god , before he entreth into the baptismal covenant : and so the primitive christians were under the same obligation to their princes we are , tho' i do not find they ever swore any allegiance to them . 2. this allegiance is no everlasting obligation as to time ; death , a voluntary resignation , a wilful desertion , or a lawful conquest will put an end to it . 3. it is no wild , unlimited obedience , whilst it lasteth , but is plainly limited by the laws of god and the laws of the land , and if i obey further actively , i am responsible to god and man for it . i come now to the words of the oaths , which may seem to create any scruple ; which in the oath of supremacy i suppose may be these . i do promise that from henceforth i shall bear faith and true allegiance to the king's highness , his heirs and lawful successors ( and to my power ) shall assist and defend all jurisdictions , priviledges , preheminences and authorities granted or belonging to the king's highness , his heirs and successors , or united and annexed to the imperial crown of this realm . where first i observe , no man is bound beyond his power , but that all those who stuck to the late king , till he left the nation , and another took possession of his place , are thereby disabled and freed from attempting any further . 2. that the authorities i am to defend are such only as belong to the crown of england by the laws of england ; which are to limit my allegiance ; but by the law of england , my allegiance is now transferred to another , and cannot be due to two in opposition each to other ; so that if i persist in my allegiance to james ii. i am punishable by these very laws ; therefore my allegiance , which was a legal allegiance is determined . that in the oath of allegiance , which may be objected , is this , i will bear faith and true allegiance to his majesty , his heirs and successors , and him and them will defend , to the uttermost of my power , against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever , which shall be made against his or their persons , their crown and dignity , by reason or colour of any such sentence or otherwise , &c. now this oath , which binds us to the person , as the other did to the power , is capable of the same limitation , and is to be limited both as to its duration and extent , by the laws of england , and the law of nations ; and therefore is determinable the same way the other was . the power , and uttermost power , reserved and expressed in these oaths , is a legal power , and therefore no man is by these oaths bound to exert his natural power for any prince , when he may by the laws of england be punished as a traytor for so doing ; it being a legal and not an illegal allegiance we promise by them . if king james would have been contented with the preheminences , priviledges , authorities and jurisdictions granted and annexed , or belonging to the crown of england , i believe no body questions but he had been still king of england ; but by grasping at others , which did not belong to him , he cut off his own succours , and hindred those that otherwise would have defended him and them from doing it : he would not be content with those that belonged to him , and they could not fight for , or defend any other ; and between these two his power fell to the ground , by his own default ; and his withdrawing put an end to his sovereignty ; and put our present king and queen in the actual possession of all those legal jurisdictions , priviledges , preheminences and authorities , which he was formerly vested with ; and it is now the same sin to resist them , it was formerly to resist him . there may possibly be some , who will lightly regard what ever i or any other man of this age can say to them ; will they then vouchsafe to hear one of the most noble and royal orators that ever spoke to men , constantine the great , in his oration to the holy assembly . chap. 24. of the calamitous deaths of decius , valerian and aurelian , three emperors who persecuted the church . and now i ask thee , o decius , who didst once insult over the calamities of the just , who didst hate the church , who didst inflict such punishments on those who lived most piously : what art thou doing in the other world ? with what and how dreadful circumstances art thou surrounded ? yea , the remainder of thy life ( after it ) in this world , and the manner of thy ▪ death shew thy felicity , when thou and all thy army fell in the scythian fields : and the celebrated roman empire , by thy fall became ( after this ) contemptible to the goths . and thou , o valerian , when thou didst enter into a bloody war against the servants of god , hast thereby made his justice known to men ; being taken prisoner by the persians , and kept in chains in thy purple and royal robes . after which thou wert flea'd ( being dead ) by sapores , king of persia , and thy skin , by his order , ta●●ed and kept as an eternal trophy of thy misfortune . and thou , o aurelius , the unjustest and most wicked incendiary , how much hast thou discovered his justice , whilst madly invading thrace , thou wert cut off in the field , and didst de●ile the surrows of the publick road with thy wicked blood ? chap. 25. of dioclesian , who basely resigned the empire , and was struck with lightning for persecuting the church . dioclesian also , after a wicked slaughter and cruel persecution , condemning himself , through distraction , was reduced to a private life , and punished with the restraint of a mean house . what did he get by his war against our god ? why , that he was ever after afraid of thunder and lightning . nicomedia saith this , and they who saw it will not be silent ; among whom i my self was one . the palace was consumed , and his very chamber burnt with fire from heaven ; and thereupon wise men foretold what would follow , for they could not conceal their thoughts , nor suppress their resentments at the ill things were done , but openly and publickly , with assurance , said one to another , what madness is this ? what boasting in human power for a mortal to begin a war against god , and injuriously to affront the most chast and holy religion ? and without any cause or provocation to contrive the destruction of so many just men , and of so numerous a people ? what a famous master and teacher of modesty to his subjects will he appear ? how rarely he teacheth his soldiers to take care of their countrymen ? why , they stab their fellow subjects bravely , who in fight never saw the back of a beaten enemy . at last the providence of god undertook the avenging this impiety , tho' not without the publick hurt ; for so much blood had been shed by him , that if he had slain as many of the barbarians as he did of his own subjects , we might have procured a long peace by it . but the whole roman army being then in the hand of a mean-spirited prince , who had acquired it by force , his whole army perished , when god was pleased to think fit to restore the romans to their ancient liberty . the voices of oppressed men , who cryed to god for help under their burthens , and begged the return of their natural liberty ( are not forgotten ; ) nor the praises they returned when they had regained it , and saw an end of their calamities : did they not declare to all the world , how much they admired the singular providence and paternal love of god to men , when their liberty , and the equity of their contracts was restored ? that is , when they were delivered out of the hands of perfidious tyrants , and became subject to a prince who would keep his faith and promise to them . they may be pleased to consider , how much of this was our case ; and ask their consciences , if the self-same divine justice and providence has not appeared in our times also , and whether we have not as much reason as they to be pleased and thankful . having thus dispatched what i think fit for the present to be offered to the friends of the late king ; i come now to that part of the nation , who being satisfied and highly pleased with the present state of affairs ; may therefore be called , in contradistinction , the williamists . many of these of late have appeared very pertly against the doctrine of non resistance and passive obedience ; and discoursed of it with a contempt and scorn , as if it were one of the worst and most exploded doctrines in the whole world ; and full as antichristian as that of deposing kings , and disposing of their kingdoms . now , these two being directly contrary each to other , in all probability one of them is true . if we of the church of england are not in the right with the scriptures , and all primitive antiquity on our side ; it is fairly probable , they of the deposing church are ; for their claim is older than the peoples : but the mischief is , the devils is older than either ; for he pretended to our saviour , when he had shewed him all the kingdoms of the world , and made a conditional tender of them , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . all this power and glory is delivered into my hands , and i give it to whomsoever i will : now this was long before people or pope put in any claim , and before the latter of these had any being . the pope , it is true , claims under the people , but the devil in his own right : but i believe neither of them can shew their charter , though the devil claimed by a grant ; and so i shall leave him and them , pope and all , in the intire possession of their several rights , if any they have . the doctrine of non-resistance has been often proved the genuine doctrine of the best ages of the church ; and that so fully and clearly , that those who would not yield to the force of the proof , have not been able to deny the truth of it , but have been forced to pretend it was only temporary , and doth not oblige all ages ; which is hardly sense ; or that the church is now in other circumstances than she was then ; which is not true neither ; for in some places she is now under the same or worse circumstances ; than she was in the three first centuries , and consequently , they at least , are under the same obligations the primitive christians were ; and therefore this very doctrine is of eternal verity , and will have its use till the end of the world. the command is general , the examples of it are general , and it is now confessedly necessary in turky , and all countries where christianity is oppressed ; and by consequence every where , except some body can shew , we have one gospel for the afflicted , and another for the prosperous daies of the church ; or one remedy , viz. that of patience was prescribed to our ancestors , and another directly contrary to us ; which if any man can shew , when and where it was done , i shall be very thankful . but it may be pretended it has been stretched too far ; and that some of the church of england have written too much in favour of wicked and tyrannical princes , even to the encouraging them to do worse than otherwise they would : to this i say , the heat of controversie has in other instances mis-led men as well as in this ; and the doctrine of non-resistante is nevertheless true , tho' their notions of it should happen to prove too loose or too large . let it then be fairly and truly stated once for all , and then let it be as it ever has been , the glory of the church of england , and the bulwark of all religious kings and states , against the rage of mutinous and rebellious spirits , who pretend to sight for god's truth , against the laws and governments of their countries . if any man thinks some of the things that were done in the heat of the late revolution cannot be justified , without exploding this doctrine : i say those are the faults of a few men , and better it is to leave them to their own master , than to set up our selves against the doctrines of christianity to excuse them . the men of our generation have all the infirmities that have gone along with the former ; and being so highly provoked by a handful of perfidious ungrateful miscreants , what wonder is it if the temptation , which was so strong , prevailed over the restraint , and made them guilty of some irregularities , which according to the strict rules of the gospel , cannot be justified ; such things have happened in the best of the former ages , and will happen again in those that shall follow us . but the rule of christianity ought to be preserved , notwithstanding , and delivered down to our posterity just as we received it . those that have appeared against this doctrine have done their majesties two great injuries . first , they have exasperated the dissatisfied party in the nation , and made them harder to be won over ; they concluding , that this revolution was not the work of god , because so many of those who have defended it , have made it their business to ridicule or confute the doctrine of passive obedience , as if there were no other way than that to justifie it . but then they are well assured this is as certain a principle of the christian religion , and was ever practised by the primitive church in the five first centuries ; and from thence they conculde , the men that do this and all other that joyn with them , have made a defection from this doctrine , and from the church of england ; and they think themselves bound in conscience to oppose all those that are thus united , lest they should seem betrayers of this loyal , holy , excellent doctrine , and of the honour of that church that hath ever taught it . secondly , they have deprived them , as much as in them lies , of that religious awe and reverence , which is due to all crowned heads and sovereign states . if they are the ministers of god , if they are the powers ordained by god , then is all resistance of them a sin against god. but these men write as if it were lawful to resist when they pleased , and whom they pleased ; which , if it is true , i am very confident it will not be long before they will pretend they have cause , or some other for them ; and so all princes shall be deprived of their best safegard , the fear of god over-awing their subjects , as the just avenger of such as rebel against their rightful , lawful princes , and the laws of their country . as there must be in every country a supreme power lodged somewhere , against which there is no appeal but to god ; so that power must be acknowledged to be sacred and irresistable , by the laws of christianity : and this is as true of commonwealths as monarchies , for wheresoever the supreme power is lodged , it is the ordinance of god , approved by his word , and settled by his providence , whosoever then resisteth that power , resisteth the ordinance of god , and shall receive to themselves damnation . he , then , that shall endeavour to destroy this obligation , and to persuade men they are not bound in conscience to submit to the laws and lawful governors of their country , contradicts this plain doctrine of the apostle , and exposeth the supreme powers in all countries to the rage and fury of the multitude , or any faction that is potent , and thinks it self injured ; and consequently he is an enemy to all government . but then though i am bound not to resist , i am not equally bound to assist , my hands may be tied both ways ; if i live in a pagan country , where christianity is persecuted by the supreme power , i must suffer and ought not to resist ; but then i am not to lend my assistance to that state to encourage or enable it to destroy this religion , but i must be meerly passive in that case . and this was the case of england , we were persecuted against law , by a handful of men , who expected to ruine us by our own hands ; and we were bound not to assist them in this wicked and foolish project ; and for want of our assistance they could not justifie or carry on the enterprize : and when they came to be called to an account by a prince who was no subject , and consequently was not under the obligation of not resisting their injustice and oppression ; so they fell an easie victim to his arms , and we were delivered out of their hand , not by any resistance we made , but by refusing to assist them ; and they that went no farther than this ( which it is certain the greatest part of the nation did not ) are justifiable by the strictest rules of christianity , and the practice of the best ages . to conclude , i would advise even those who have no kindness for the doctrine of non-resistance , to speak modestly of it ; it has such characters of divinity to shew , that it will deserve this respect at their hands , if they are christians : and as to those that are not , those that despise all revealed religion ( for they of late have been very witty against it ) they ought to shew some reverence to it , for the sake of government , and to preserve the peace of the world in which that sort of men have a greater interest than others ; for their all lies in this world , and they pretend to nothing in the next ; and if the world be imbroyled , let the pretence be what it will , their happiness must necessarily be very much abated , and perhaps their machines destroyed , and then there is an end of them . finis . licens'd , august 27. 1689. j. fraser . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28559-e150 history of the desertion , p. 48. ad scapulam c. 2. apolog. c. xxxv . f●seb . h. e. lib. 7. c. 1. lib. 10. c. x. de vita . const . lib. 2. c. 2. tertul. apol. cap. 6. anno christi 295. cum ecclesia pace gauderet : & proinde in maximilianum animadvertitur ob spretam militiam , non ob fidem christia●am . grotius . cap. 2. tanta hominum multitudo , pars pene major civitatis cujusque . dan. 4. 17. de civitate dei , lib. v. cap. 21. lactantius de mortibus persecutorum . euseb . h. e. lib. viii . c. 13. euseb . l. 7. c. 13. missis literis persecutionem adversus nostros commotam sedavit . † euseb . h. e. l. 7. c. 30. p. 231. * euseb . l. 8. c. 13. lactantius de mortibus persecut . † jaacius & chronicon alexandrinum , say , he lived to the year 316. lib. 1. cap. 1. § 9. socratis h. eccl. lib. 2. cap. 12 , 13 , 27. ☞ bishop ken. l● vrai interet des princes chretiens , p● 176. hist . eccl. lib. iii. cap. 41. see the 1. collect , for the 5 th of novemb. thuanus , ann. 1559. rom. 13. 11 h. 7. c. 1 magna cha . c. 29. 2 e. 3. c. 8. constantini oratio ad sanctorum caetum . king richard the third revived. containing a memorable petition and declaration contrived by himself and his instruments, whiles protector, in the name of the three estates of england, to importune and perswade him to accept of the kingship, and crown of england, by their joynt election, (as if he were unwilling to undertake, or accept, though he most ambitiously aspired after them, by the bloudy murthers of k. henry 6. edward 5. and sundry others) before his coronation; presented afterwards to, and confirmed by the three estates and himself, in his first parliament, to give him a colourable title both by inheritance, and their election to the crown. transcribed out of the parliament roll of 1.r.3. (printed in speeds history of great britain: where his other additionall policies to engage the city of london, lawyers, divines and people, to elect, and make him their king, are at large recorded.) prynne, william, 1600-1669. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a91202 of text r203357 in the english short title catalog (thomason e896_5* e903_9). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 25 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 6 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a91202 wing p3990 thomason e896_5* thomason e903_9 estc r203357 99863331 99863331 168426 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a91202) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 168426) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 135:e896[5*] or 136:e903[9]) king richard the third revived. containing a memorable petition and declaration contrived by himself and his instruments, whiles protector, in the name of the three estates of england, to importune and perswade him to accept of the kingship, and crown of england, by their joynt election, (as if he were unwilling to undertake, or accept, though he most ambitiously aspired after them, by the bloudy murthers of k. henry 6. edward 5. and sundry others) before his coronation; presented afterwards to, and confirmed by the three estates and himself, in his first parliament, to give him a colourable title both by inheritance, and their election to the crown. transcribed out of the parliament roll of 1.r.3. (printed in speeds history of great britain: where his other additionall policies to engage the city of london, lawyers, divines and people, to elect, and make him their king, are at large recorded.) prynne, william, 1600-1669. [2], 9, [1] p. printed for william leak, at the crown in fleetstreet, betwixt the two temple-gates., london, : 1657. attributed to william prynne. annotation on thomason copy e.903[9]: "march 1st"; the 7 in imprint date has been crossed out and date altered to 1656. reproductions of the originals in the british library. eng richard -iii, -king of england, 1452-1485. cromwell, oliver, 1599-1658 -early works to 1800. great britain -history -edward iv, 1461-1483 -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. great britain -politics and government -1649-1660 -early works to 1800. a91202 r203357 (thomason e896_5* e903_9). civilwar no king richard the third revived.: containing a memorable petition and declaration contrived by himself and his instruments, whiles protector prynne, william 1657 4190 5 0 0 0 0 0 12 c the rate of 12 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2009-01 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2009-01 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion king richard the third revived . containing a memorable petition and declaration contrived by himself and his instruments , whiles protector , in the name of the three estates of england , to importune and perswade him to accept of the kingship , and crown of england , by their joynt election , ( as if he were unwilling to undertake , or accept , though he most ambitiously aspired after them , by the bloudy murthers of k. henry 6. edward 5. and sundry others ) before his coronation ; presented afterwards to , and confirmed by the three estates and himself , in his first parliament , to give him a colourable title both by inheritance , and their election to the crown . transcribed out of the parliament roll of 1. r. 3. ( printed in speeds history of great britain : where his other additionall policies to engage the city of london , lawyers , divines and people , to elect , and make him their king , are at large recorded . ) eccles. 3. 15. that which hath been , is now , and that which is to be , hath already been : and god requireth that which is driven away . 1 sam. 12. 17 , 19. the lord shall send thunder and rain , that ye may perceive and see , that your wickednesse is great which ye have done in the sight of the lord , in asking you a king . and all the people said unto samuel , pray for thy servants unto the lord thy god , that we die not ; for we have added unto all our sins , this evil , to ask us a king . london , printed for william leak , at the crown in fleetstreet , betwixt the two temple-gates . 1657. in rotulo parliamenti tenti apud westm. die veneris vicessimo tertio die januarii , anno regni regis richardi tertii primo , inter alia continentur ut sequitur . memorand . quod quaedam billa exhibita fuit coram domino rege in parliamento praedicto in haec verba . whereas late heretofore , that is to say , before the consecration , coronation , and inthronization of our soveraign lord king richard the third , a roll of parchment containing in writing certain articles of the tenor underwriten , on the behalf , and in the name of the three estates of this realm of england , that is to say , of the lords spiritual , and temporal , and of the commons by name , and divers lords spiritual and temporal , and other nobles and notable persons of the commons in great multitude , was presented & actually delivered unto our said soveraign lord , the intent and effect expressed at large in the same roll , to the which roll , and to the considerations , and instant petition comprized in the same , our said soveraign lord for the publique weal , and tranquility of this land being duly assented . now for as much as neither the said three estates , neither the said persons , which in their name presented , and delivered as it is aforesaid the said roll unto our said soveraign lord the king , were assembled in form of parliament , by reason whereof divers doubts , questions , and ambiguities been moved and ingendred in the minds of divers persons , as it is said . therefore , to the perpetual memory of the truth , and declaration of the same , be it ordained , provided , and established in this present parliament , that the tenor of the said roll , with all the contents of the same , presented as is abovesaid , and delivered to our abovesaid soveraign lord the king , in the name , and in the behalf of the said three estates out of parliament ; now by the said * three estates assembled in this present parliament , and by authority of the same , be ratified , enrolled , recorded , approved , and authorized to the removing of the occasions of doubts , and ambiguities , and to all other lawfull effects that shall now thereof ensue , so that all things said , affirmed , specified , desired , and remembred in the said roll , and in the tenour of the same , underwritten in the name of the said three estates to the effect expressed in the said roll , be of the like effect , vertue , and force , as if all the same things had been so said , affirmed , specified , and remembred in full parliament , and by authority of the same accepted , and approved , the tenor of the said roll of parchment wherof above is made mention , followeth , and is such . to the high and mighty prince , richard duke of gloucester . pleaseth it your noble grace to understand the considerations , election , and petition underwritten of us the lords spiritual and temporal , and commons of this realm of england , and thereunto agreeable , to give your assent to the common , and publique weal of this land , and to the comfort , and gladnesse of all the people of the same . first we consider , how that heretofore in time passed this land for many years stood in great prosperity , honour , and tranquillity , which was caused for so much as the kings reigning , used and followed the advice , and counsel of certain lords spiritual and temporal , and other persons of approved sagenesse , prudence , policy , and experience , dreading god , and having tender zeal , and affection to indifferent administration of justice , and to the common , and publique weal of the land : then our lord god was dread , loved , and honoured ; then within the land was peace and tranquillity , and among the neighbours concord and charity ; then the malice of outward enemies was mightily resisted , and repressed , and the land honourably defended with many great and glorious victories ; then the intercourse of merchants was largely used and exercised ; by which things above remembred , the land was greatly inriched , so that as well the merchants as the artificers , and other poor people ; labouring for their living in divers occupations , had competent gain , to the satisfaction of them , and their housholds , living without miserable and intollerable poverty . but afterwards , when as such had the rule and governance of this land , delighting in adulation , and flattery , and led by sensuality and concupiscence , followed the counsel of persons insolent , vicious , and of inordinate avarice , despising the counsel of persons good , vertuous , and prudent , such as above be remembred ; the prosperity of this land decreased daily , so that our felicity was turned into misery , and our prosperity into adversity , and the order of policy , and the lawes of god and man confounded , whereby it is likely this realm to fall into great misery , and desolation , ( which god defend ) without due provision of convenable remedie be had in this behalf in all godly haste . over this , among other things more special , we consider how that the time of the reign of edw : 4th . late deceased , after the ungracious pretended mariage ( as all england hath cause to say ) made betwixt the said king edward and elizabeth , sometimes wife to sir iohn gray knight , late naming her self , and many years heretofore queen of england , the order of politique rule was perverted , the laws of god , and of gods church , &c. also the laws of nature , and of england , and also the laudable customs and liberties of the same , wherein every englishman is inheritor , is broken , subverted , and contemned , against all reason and justice : so that the land was ruled by self-will , and pleasure , fear and dread , all manner of equity and law laid apart and despised , whereof ensued many inconveniencies and mischiefs , as murders , extortions , and oppressions , namely of poor , and impotent people , so that no man was sure of his life , land , or livelyhood , ne of his wife , daughter , or servant , every good maiden , and woman , standing in fear to be ravished , and deflowred . and besides this , what discorts , inward battels , effusion of christian mens blouds , and namely , by the destrnction of the nobles blood of this land was had , and committed within the same , it is evident , and notorious through all this realm , unto the great sorrow , and heavinesse of all true english men . and here also we consider , how that the said pretended mariage betwixt the above-named king edward , and elizabeth gray , was made of great presumption , without the knowing and assent of the lords of this land , and also by sorcery and witchcraft committed by the said elizabeth , and her mother iaquet dutchesse of bedford , as the common opinion of the people , and the publique voice , and fame is throughout all this land , and hereafter if the cause shall require , shall be proved sufficiently in time and place convenient . and here also we consider , how that the said pretended mariage was made privily , and secretly , without edition of banes , in a private chamber , a prophane place , and not openly in the face of the church , after the law of gods church , but contrary thereunto , and the laudable custom of the church of england ; and how also at the time of contract of the same pretended mariage , and before and long time after the said king edward was and stood maried , and troth-plight to one dame elinor butler , daughter to the earl of shrewsbury , with whom the said king edward had made a precontract of matrimony , long time before he made the said pretended mariage with the said elizabeth gray , in manner , and form aforesaid . which premisses being true , as in very truth they be true , it appeareth , and followeth evidently , that the said king edward during his life , and the said elizabeth , lived together sinfully , and damnably in adultery , against the law of god and of his church ; and therefore no marvel that the soveraign lord , and head of the land being of such ungodly disposition , and provoking the ire , and indignation of our lord god , such heynous mischief , and inconveniences as are above remembred were used , and committed in the realm amongst the subjects . also it appeareth evidently , and followeth , that all the issue , and children of the said king edward be bastards , and unable to inherit , or claim any thing by inheritance by the law , and custom of england . moreover , we consider how that afterwards by the three estates of this realm assembled in parliament , holden at westminster , anno 17. of the reign of the said king edward the 4th , he then being in possession of the crown , and royal estate , by act made in the same parliament , george duke of clarence , brother to the king edward now deceased , was convicted , and attainted of high treason , as in the said act is contained more at large ; because , and by reason whereof , all the issue of the said george was , and is disabled , and barred of all right and claim that in any case they might have , or challenge by inheritance , to the crown and dignity royal of this realm , by the antient laws and customs of this same realm . over this , we consider , that you be the undoubted heir of richard duke of york , very inheritor of the said crown , and dignity royal , and as in right king of england by way of inheritance ; and that at this time the premises duly considered , there is none other person living but you only , that may claim the said crown and dignity royal , by way of inheritance , and how that you be born within this land , by reason whereof , as we deem in our minds , you be more naturally inclined to the prosperity and common weal of the same , and all the three estates of the land have , and may have more certain knowledge of your birth , and filiation aforesaid . we consider also the great wit , prudence , justice , princely courage , and the memorable and laudable acts in divers battels , which as we by experience know you heretofore have done , for the defence , & salvation of this realm , and also the great noblenesse and excellency of your birth , and bloud , as of him that is descended of the three most royal houses of christendom , that is to say , england , france , and spain , wherefore these premises duly by us considered , we desiring effectually the peace , tranquillity , and weal publique of this land , and the reduction of the same to the antient honourable estate , and prosperity ; and having in your great prudent justice , princely courage , and excellent vertue , singular confidence ; * have chosen in all that in us is , and by that our writing choose you high and mighty prince our king , and soveraign lord , &c. to whom we know of * certain it appertaineth of inheritance so to be chosen . and hereupon we humbly desire , pray , and require your most noble grace , that according this election of us the three estates of your land , as by inheritance ; you will accept , and take upon you the said crown and royal dignity , with all things thereunto annexed , and appertaining , as to you of right belonging , as well by inheritance as by lawfull election ; and in case you so do , we promise to assist and serve your highnesse , as true , and faithfull subjects and liegemen , and to live and dye with you in this matter , and in every other just quarrel ; for certainly we be determined rather to adventure , and commit us to the peril of our lives , and jeopardy of death , than to live in such thraldom and bondage as we have done long time heretofore , oppressed and injured by extortions , and new impositions , against the law of god , and man , and the liberties , and old policy , and laws of this land , wherein every englishman is inherited . our lord god , king of all kings , by whose infinite goodnesse , and eternal providence , all things bin principally governed in this world , lighten your soul , and grant you grace to doe as well in this matter as in all other , that which may be according to his will and pleasure , and to the common and publique weal of this land : so that after great clouds , troubles , storms , and tempests , the sun of iustice and of grace may shine upon us , to the joy and comfort of all true-hearted englishmen . albeit that the right , title , and estate which our soveraign lord king richard the third hath to , and in the crown and royal dignity of this realm of england , with all things thereunto within the same realm , and without it annexed and appertaining , bin just and lawfull , as grounded upon the laws of god & nature , and also upon the antient laws and laudable customes of this said realm ; and also taken , and reputed by all such persons , as bin * learned in the abovesaid laws and custom ; yet neverthelesse , for as much as it is considered , that the most part of the people is not sufficiently learned in the abovesaid laws and customs , wherby the truth & right in this behalf of likelihood may be hid , and not clearly known to all the people , and thereupon put in doubt , and question . and over this , how that the * court of parliament is of such authority , and the people of this land of such a nature and disposition as experience teacheth , that manifestation and declaration of any truth or right , made by the three estates of this realm assembled in parliament , and by authority of the same , maketh before all other things , most faith , and certain * quieting of mens minds , and removeth the occasion of doubts , and seditious language . therefore , at the request , and by the assent of the * three estates of this realm , that is to say , the lords spiritual and temporal , and commons of this land assembled in this present parliament , and by authority of the same , be it pronounced , decreed , and declared , that our said soveraign lord the king was , and is the very undoubted king of this realm of england , with all things thereunto within the same realm , and without it , united , annexed , and appertaining , as well by right of consanguinity and inheritance , as by lawfull election , consecration and coronation . and over this , that at the request , and by the assent and authority abovesaid , be it ordained , enacted , and established , * that the said crown , and royal dignity of this realm , and the inheritance of the same , and all other things thereunto within this realm , or without it , united and annexed , and now appertaining , rest and bide in the person of our said soveraign lord the king , during his life , and after his decease in his heirs of his body begotten , and in especial at the request , and by assent , and the authority aforesaid , be it ordained , enacted , established , pronounced , decreed and declared , that the high and excellent prince * edward , sonne of our said soveraign lord the king , be heir apparent of the same our soveraign lord the king , to succeed to him in the abovesaid crown and royal dignity , with all things ( as is aforesaid ) thereunto united , annexed , and appertaining , to have them after the decease of our said soveraign lord the king , to him , and to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten . quae quidem b●lla communibus regni angliae in dicto parliamento existentibus transportata fuit , cui quidem billae idem communes assensum suum praebuerunt sub hiis verbis : a ceste bille les communs sont assentes ; quibus quidem billa & assensu coram domino rege in parliamento pradicto , lectis , auditis , & plenè intellectis , & de assensu dominorum spiritualium & temporalium in dicto parliamento similiter existentium , et communitatis praedictae ; nec non authoritate ejusdem parliamenti pronunciatum , decretum , & declaratum existit , omnia , et singula in billa praedicta contenta fore vera et indubia , ac idem * dominas rex , de assensu dictorum trium statuum regni , et authoritate praedicta , omnia & singula praemissa in billa praedicta contenta concedit , et ea pro vero et indubio pronunciat , decernit , et declarat . eccles. 1. 9 , 10 , 11 the thing which hath been , it is that which shall be : and that which is done , is that which shall be done ; and there is no new thing under the sun . is there any thing whereof it may be said , this is new ? it hath been already of old time , which was before us . there is no remembrance of former things , neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come , with those that shall come after . yet it is both solid piety , policy , prudence , in such an age as this , for all considerate , conscientious englishmen , advisedly to remember , read , consider the tragical ends , * as well as the successfull beginnings , proceedings of this king richard , and his activest instruments , to gain and settle the kingship on him by such politick stratagems . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a91202e-240 things done & concluded without the 3. estates in parliament , gave little or no satisfaction to the people , though in the name of the parliament & 3. estates . * the 3. estates must concurr to make a parl. else his title would neither be valid , nor satisfactory , but ambiguous , as before : no one or two of them being a full parl. but all 3. conjoyned . the new device of this bloudy usurper , to intitle himself to the crown of england , and take upon him the regal government . good counsellors . administration of justice . merchandise , and trade . merchants . artificers . gains . adulation , avarice . iii counsel . laws confounded . edward the 4 his mariage blemished . laws perverted . liberties , and laws every engl●sh mans inheritance . arbitrary go-force . it s mischievous fruits . murders . extortions . oppressions . incettainty of mens lives & estates . discords . warrs . nobles bloud destroyed . kings mariage without the lords assent , & by sorcery & witchcraf● . void mariage . private mari●●e in a chamber . precontract . edward the 4. his ungodly disposition . his children illegitimate , & bastards . the duke of clarence attainted by parliament . his issue therby not inheritable and uncapableto claim the crown . richard the 3. declared undoubted & only heir to the crown . an englishman by birth . his pretended vertues & fitness to reign as king , without one word of his murders , treasons , regicides , hypocrisy & other vices . his valour in battel . his honourable and royal birth . * his election by the 3. states & this instrument to be k. of england . * they make his hereditary title , the ground of their choice . their petition and importunity to him , to accept of the crown , though himself most eagerly thirsted after i● . his hereditary right thereto , seconded by their election . their promise to assist , serve , & obey him , upon his acceptance thereof , as his subjects , and to live and dye with him . their pretended great thraldom , bondage , oppressions , &c. under his predecessors . extortions . new impositions against laws and liberties . nota. their prayer for him . great trouble ( occasioned partly by himself . ) justice . richard the 3. his hereditary title to the crown by the law of god and nature . * the lawyers flatter , and approve his title . the common people ignorant in the laws . * the parl authority with the people , when true , free , and real , consisting of the 3. estates . * its declaration quieteth all mens minds , removeth all doubts & seditions . yet he that considers 39 h. 6. n. 8. to 33 1 e. 4. n. 8. to 40. will scarce believe this for a truth , neither proved it so in his own case . * the 3. estates must all concurr to make a parliament , and valid election . they decree and declare him undoubted king of this realm , by inheritance and their lawful election coupled together . the crown setled & entailed on him , and the heirs of his body . * his son declared heir apparent . * here he creats & ratifies his own title . * psal. 73. 17 , 18 , 19. ps. 92. 6 , 7. two great questions determined by the principles of reason & divinity i. whether the right to succession in hæreditary kingdoms, be eternal and unalterable? neg. : ii. whether some certain politick reasons may not be sufficient grounds of divorce? affirm. lawrence, william, 1613 or 14-1681 or 2. 1681 approx. 79 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 20 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a70542 wing l692a estc r19202 12350808 ocm 12350808 59988 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a70542) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 59988) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 893:3 or 1724:13) two great questions determined by the principles of reason & divinity i. whether the right to succession in hæreditary kingdoms, be eternal and unalterable? neg. : ii. whether some certain politick reasons may not be sufficient grounds of divorce? affirm. lawrence, william, 1613 or 14-1681 or 2. [4], 35 p. printed for richard janeway ..., london : 1681. table of contents: p. [3]-[4] attributed to lawrence by wing. this item appears at reel 893:3 as wing l97 (number cancelled in wing 2nd ed.), and at reel 1724:13 as wing l692a. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng divorce -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-09 melanie sanders sampled and proofread 2004-09 melanie sanders text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion two great questions determined by the principles of reason . & divinity . i. whether the right to succession , in haereditary kingdoms , be eternal and unalterable ? neg. ii. whether some certain politick reasons may not be sufficient grounds of divorce ? affirm . — it was enacted and provided out of the warrant of ancient laws , that if any should affirm , that the laws and statutes cannot limit and bind the right of the crown , and the succession thereof , every such person should be guilty of high-treason . camb. hist. of qu. eliz. ann. 1571 , & 1572. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erasm. london , printed for richard janeway , in queens-head-alley , in pater = noster = row , 1681. the contents the first question , whether the right to succession in hereditary kingdoms be eternal and unalterable ? chap. i. that the power and authority which princes , or supreme magistrates have , is derived to them from god ; and that , by these several wayes , immediate deputation , hereditary succession , and election . page 1 chap. ii. that a disposition in a prince , proceeding from opinion or otherwise , to both the spiritual and temporal dammage and destruction of a nation , maketh a forfeiture of right to succession . p. 6 chap. iii. that the forfeiture is made to the supreme authority ; that it is none , unless it be taken advantage of whilst he continues a subject ; but that a prince once possest of the supreme power , cannot be deposed : that the same reasons which warrant to take the forfeiture of him whilst heir , if it be not taken then , are afterwards of no force against him. p. 11 chap. iv. that mens throwing themselves wholly on providence , for averting these mischiefs , without making use of rational and moral means to prevent them , is unreasonable and absurd . page 17 the second question , whether some certain politick reasons may not be alone sufficient grounds of divorce ? chap. i. of marriage , its institution , ends and obligation , of its special rights and priviledges in the state of christianity . p. 19 chap. ii. what is divorce ? what are sufficient reasons of divorce ; and the words of our saviour , st. mat. 5. 31 , 32. & chap. 19. 9. and elsewhere about divorce , only for the cause of adultery and fornication , considered and explained . p. 23 chap. iii. whether the case of princes marriages be the same with private mens ; and whether they are not sometimes extraordinarily indulged and dispenced with by god. p. 30 errata , pag. 3. lin. 15. before the insert of . for posterity , p. 5. 1. 3. read paternity . immediately , p. 5. 1. 16. mediately . either , p. 27. 1. 34. neither . a vowed , p. 28. 1. 33. an avowed . two great questions . i. question . whether the right to succession in hereditary kingdoms , be eternal and unalterable ? chap. i. that the power and authority which princes , or supreme magistrates have , is derived to them from god ; and that , by these several wayes , immediate deputation , hereditary succession , and election . being about to discourse of a point both difficult and dangerous , i mean , the right of succession to supreme authority , whether it be not limited by conditions , and subject to alterations ? i shall in the following dispute use such caution in arguing , and that too , from no worse topicks than principles of reason and divinity , as may , i hope , prove some means of satisfaction , but none of distaste . and because this question about the alterability of succession to the supreme authority , will receive great light from a discussion of what is the nature of that right which princes have to succession , and the nature of that right be cleared , by a consideration of him who gives it , and to what ends ; i shall in the first place state , from what fountain , power , and authority , it is derived ; by what ways , and to what end. first , i take it for granted , that no man naturally and of himself , has a right inherent in himself to exercise rule and government over others ; and all men as to a state of nature to be born in the same degree of equality with one another ; but yet , that most men are born in a state of subjection to some other , comes thus to pass ; because man , being at the will , disposal , and command of his creatour , who gave him life and existence , and continues it to him , shall be likewise at the command of whomsoever the creatour shall transfer a right to of government and command ; and only of him : so that supposing god not to have transfer'd his right of dominion over man , or any part of it to any else , every man is born in the same condition and relation of equality , ( for though son-ship doth oblige to many offices of gratitude and duty , yet not to such a subjection as we are handling ) and consequently , no one is naturally a servant or subject , nor any one a prince , till god hath invested some person with an authority of governing such a number of men , and all that shall be born of them . the inference then is plain , that if men should be naturally equal , and no one subject to other , did not god depute some one person to exercise part of his authority and government over others ; then , that they are not equal , is the effect of god's appointment ; and so all pre-eminence of power and authority , is primarily derived from him. and that this immediate conclusion from right reason , is consonant to god's word ( and so must all such of necessity be ) i shall quote but one place of scripture , viz. rom. 13. 1. let every soul be subject to the higher powers , for there is no power but of god , the powers that be are ordained of god , &c. this being laid for a foundation , that all authority is derived from god ; the next doubt is , how we shall know to whom he does derive it , that we may give him due obedience , and not be imposed on by usurpers ? and this will best be known , if we consider the several ways , by which god derives this power to men : for we may infallibly conclude , that he has no authority from god , who did not receive it by those ways by which god confers it ; and that he is god's minister to whom we see providence has derived it by some such way , as he makes use of to that purpose : and they are these ; his own immediate choice and deputation . hereditary and natural succession of kindred . and election by the common votes and suffrages of any people . of the first sort , were moses , saul , and david ; of the second , were solomon , and rehoboam , &c. the last was jeroboam ; though god had also foretold to him by his prophet , that he should be king over ten tribes , and accordingly v. 20. of the 12. chap. of the 1 of kings , all israel , when they had heard that jeroboam was come again , ( out of egypt ) sent and called him to the congregation , and made him king over israel . of these three ways of being inaugurate into the supreme power , the first is more noble and glorious , for as much as in that , a particular approbation of the person by god himself , is the reason of his advance ; but he who succeeds as next of blood , owes it to his good fortune ; and he who is elected by the people , often to some policy , whereby he ingratiated himself ; but sometimes to his vertues : and of the two last , hereditary succession and election ; the former is more preferrable , for the inconveniences it avoides , which elections subject a nation to : and besides , one time with another , it has produced as many examples of vertue and ability to govern , as the other . the right of government then being once by god immediately transfer'd to any one , after his decease ( unless god immediately by himself transfer it to any other , or the prince do ) naturally doth pass to the very next of blood and kin , and that for these reasons : because he who received authority from god to govern a people , received it to this end , to procure that peoples good and welfare , to the utmost of his knowledg ; which he would never do , if he took not care that the evils of anarchy , ( to prevent which god had crowned him , ) might likewise be prevented for the future , by translating his authority at his death to some other , who might sustain the government when he was incapable of bearing it himself ; and on this reason is founded the axiom in our common law , rex nunquam moritur . now because government doth not only intend the peoples good , but imply the great honour and dignity of him who bears it ; the prince cannot be supposed to wish so great a dignity ( if he declare not himself to the contrary ) to any less than him who may be reasonably supposed most inward in his affections the next of kin ; and therefore if he die , his silence shall be taken for consent that the very next in blood is the person to whom for love and custom sake he propagates his right : ( by the very next of blood meaning that person , who is esteemed so by the vulgar account of that nation ; opinions as to nearness of blood , among different people , differing ) and that princes may exercise their authority in provision for the future after their decease , and consequently appoint a successor , is evident from hence , because the laws any one of them makes , are not supposed to cease to be so immediately upon his death , but to retain their full force for ever after , unless a like authority repeals them . before i proceed further , i must speak to an objection , which possibly may be raised ; that to found the right of succession to government in being lineally descended or next of blood and kin , or appointed by testament , to succeed to some one , who originally , tracing the line of princes backwards , derives his authority from one who immediately received it , and was deputed to it by god , is to destroy the right of most or all princes , who cannot derive their authority from such a predecessor , and that it is to take away the old and common notion of supreme authority , being naturally founded in posterity : i answer , that i am of opinion , that paternity or father-hood never did give a right of soveraignty over children ; that before god actually and immediately constituted governours , and that , not upon the account of fatherhood , or men chose some to themselves , or voluntarily upon certain considerations submitted themselves , there were no such persons in the world as kings , or persons possest of soveraign authority , or pretending to be so merely as fathers : and that if no prince can trace his authority backwards to him who received it from god himself immediately , yet he may to him who received it , together with the condition of hereditary succession for the future , from god immediatly , either by the election of men , for as much as that first predecessor could not reign without the consent of people ( which is the same thing as choice ) or else to him who took the advantage of a forfeiture of their liberty by some offence , and so in compensation righted himself by enforcing their subjection ; which is as good a title to dominion as any , especially if by after-acts and compacts settled and confirmed . now , that election of princes doth transfer as full and ample power and right to government as any other way whatsoever , ( which being prov'd , though all princes may succeed to such an one as primarily was elected by the people , will take away all defect on that account ) i argue thus , that where god doth not immediatly provide for the safety and welfare of any people by giving them laws , or a sufficiently authorised law-giver ; there god , and nature , and reason do permit and encourage that people , to procure their own welfare , by what honest means are most conducive to it in their judgment , by choosing or pitching upon a person or persons to exercise over them gods power and authority , in order to the publick good ; and the person so elected acts by gods authority not the peoples , forasmuch as all power is solely gods , and therefore no one can act lawfully as a governour by any authority but by gods , though this authority may be conveyed to him instrumentally by a predecessor or the people ; and as a successor in the government , acts not by the authority of his predecessor who had none originally of himself , and therefore could not properly give any , ( for he governed not by his own authority , but by gods ; and therefore his successor acts not by his authority who had none of his own , but by gods , which the other conveyed to him ) so neither may an elected prince be said to govern by the peoples authority by whom he was elected , but by gods , who empowred these people by right of nature and reason , to depute or name one to the government in order to the publick good , when he himself did not : and such a prince is subject or accountable to none but god : but if in any nation the prince , or he who bears the title of such , and appears to be so , is accountable to any else , they to whom he is accountable are the supreme authority , and he only in name , not really a prince . chap. ii. that a disposition in a prince , proceeding from opinion or otherwise , to both the spiritual and temporal dammage , and destruction of a nation , maketh a forfeiture of right to succession . having discours'd of the principle from whence all humane power is derived , namely god ; and of the several wayes by which he conveys this authority to men ; that right and succession , depends either on the prince's will to bestow it on whomsoever he pleases , whether next of kin or not ; or , in case of law. to tye it precisely to the next of kin ( which still is the princes will , because his law ) it may depend on the nearness of alliance , or , on popular election ; the question lies thus , whether a prince having right to succession , by those laws which tye it up precisely to the next in blood or kin , may not lawfully and rightfully , for some reasons be deprived of succession without injury done to him , and both forfeit and lose his right to succession ? and this we shall be able more clearly to decide , after having considered what qualifications are necessarily requisite in a prince , and they are these ; first , to intend and design the utmost good of his people both spiritual and temporal . secondly , that intending and designing well , he be not accidentally disposed either by opinion or otherwise to both the spiritual and temporal destruction of his people , though contrary to his intent . now , i assert , that either the want of the first of these , or addition of the last , is sufficient reason and ground to cut off , and alter succession , and makes forfeiture of right to it , which may be taken without injury or wrong to the person so affected . for the proof of this position , i shall first shew , that hereditary right to succession is not of it self in its own nature eternal or unalterable ; and secondly , that the above mentioned disposition in a prince , makes a perfect forfeiture of it . 't is used by some as an argument , to prove that a right to succeed to the soveraign and monarchical authority in hereditary kingdoms is unalterable and sacred , because monarchy , say they , is of divine right , and the apparent heir to it , having his right from god , his right is immoveable . i answer , that i acknowledg not only monarchy , but all other forms of government to be of divine right : because there is no power but is ordained of god ; ( so the sanhedrim or great council among the jewes being an aristocracy was by god constituted to be , and continued for a long while the soveraign authority on earth over them ) but deny , that any person , who by ordinary course or rule , has a right to succession , has it from god ; for succession is determinable , according to the will of the supreme authority on earth , and then , he who has right to succession , has it by vertue of those laws and determinations of the supreme authority which might otherwise have setled it ; and not from god ; who appointed not him to succeed , and therefore , gave him no right to succession , but he has it from the supreme authority on earth ; in which authority is comprehended a power of appointing a successor , as i before shewed , that is , of giving the right of succession to some person who can receive that right from none but him , and may be deprived of it by him , because he gave it . but supposing ( which i need not ) that he has his right to succession from god , i deny that he has therefore an unalterable right , because he has his right from whence he is to have his power , from god ; for neither right nor any thing else is therefore unchangably appropriated to any man , because god gave it ; for what he gives us , he gives on certain conditions , on the non-observance of which , the thing given may be impropriated and taken from us ; so life , which i think a man may as properly call his own as any thing , is given on condition of obeying god , else our life is forfeited , and our right to it lost . so that right to succession is not unalterable supposing it is gods gift ; but contrariwise , is therefore alterable because it is gods gift , that is , bestowed and granted on certain conditions to be performed , which not performed do forfeit it : so that secondly , the heir to succession having no other reason for his right to succession in the government , than there is for government in general , that is , the safety and welfare of prince and people ; if he be so disposed as to destroy the reason of government , he likewise loses the reason of right to succession in government ; because no one has right to succeed in government who destroys the very reason of it , why there should be any government at all , even the safety of the people which was the foundation and reason of his right ; and he who hath no reason for a right hath no right at all ; and being yet a subject , ( for the very words , heir , and having right to succeed , imply , that he is not in actual possession of the soveraignty , and therefore in subjection ( for between them there is no medium ) he may incur the forfeiture of every thing he has as a subject , and so he has the right of succession ; for , though the heir to one kingdom may be soveraign in another , yet is a subject in the kingdom to which he is heir , because he receives right from another ; and such an one is less than him who gives it , and therefore subject ; and if he be a subject , and byassed from the publick good , he is accountable , and may be censured with disinheritance . and this the heir has no great reason to resent in such a case ; for if he be conscientiously disposed to both the spiritual and temporal ruine of the subjects , he then will exact obedience to many things which they will in conscience know to be sins , and therefore , be obliged not to obey ; and so that prince , had better never have assumed the regal authority , than in his own opinion be slighted and disrespected , because disobeyed in what he commands ( though really it be no disrespect to be disobeyed in things not within his command , but the dishonour lies in enjoyning them ) and be forced to turn the persecutor of his subjects , to vindicate the honour of himself and commands , and leave his name to stink upon earth . but neither is the person so disinherited at all injured ; for , injury implies violence to right , which i have prov'd he forfeited , and therefore , that proceeding just ; the whole argument i will thus sum up : he who is a subject , ( and so is every heir to the supreme power as heir , as i hinted before ) is in a capacity of offending the supreme power , and then of being punished : he may offend against the present soveraigns authority and care of providing for the future welfare of his people , by intending and purposing to do such things as would hereafter prove extreamly damageable and destructive to the nation ; and if he offend in this kind , a more proper punishment cannot be applied to him than such an one as will prevent those mischiefs , the designing of which brings him to punishment , and that is disinheritance ; for civil punishments ought not properly to be vindicative , but remedies for preventing mischief : or , if his intentions and designs are not evident by any hint or prospect he has given of them by words or actions , yet if his prepossessions , which himself owns , are such as naturally and necessarily tend and lead him to such designs and intentions , as being most nearly conjoyned with them , though outwardly he makes no declaration of his intentions ; he is , as far as reason can judg , most dangerously affected , and uncapable to attain the end of government , the general welfare ; nay , will hereafter , as far as men can see , do that , which will be destructive to their welfare , the end of government , insomuch as it were the same thing if they had none : now , he who destroys the end of government , doth as ill as destroying government it self , but since that ought to be eternal , for the same reason it ever had a beginning , he forfeits his right to it , who is disposed to a nations extreme hazard or destruction , to prevent all which is the only reason he should succeed in the government , and that there should be any such thing at all ; which if he will not only not prevent , but is the person who brings it about , there is no reason he should succeed in the government , he has made a forfeiture of his right . chap. iii. that the forfeiture is made to the supreme authority ; that it is none unless it be taken advantage of , whilst he continues a subject ; but that a prince once possest of the supreme power , cannot be deposed ; that the same reasons , which warrant to take the forfeiture of him , whilst heir , if it be not taken then , are afterwards of no force against him. i above put the power of designing a successor , either at pleasure , or else by some fixed standing rule and law , in the supreme authority ; and therefore , if the designed successor make forfeiture of his right , it can be to none but him who conveyed it to him , his superiour , for none else could convey it to him ; and for another reason , the forfeiture must be made to the supreme authority , because the care of the future welfare and safety of the subjects , against which he was disposed , belongs properly to the supreme magistrate , and therefore the power of preventing future mischiefs and taking the forfeiture , which is the way to prevent , doth reside solely in him. for although it cannot be denied , but that the people are mainly concerned in a matter of that weight , as is their spiritual and temporal welfare , and so might seem sufficiently warranted of themselves to provide for their own safety , as is every one naturally ; yet may they use only such means as are to them lawful , and as may not prove as great or greater inconveniences than the thing they would avoid ; and what such are , i shall presently shew . every one naturally hath a power and right to preserve himself , not only by avoiding , or flying from that which actually assaults him , but by standing and defending himself against it , nay , by offending and assaulting that ; for the others violence being arbitrary , that is , exercised by one who had no right or authority so to do , was unjust , and might therefore not only be resisted , but returned in the same degree according to the just and natural laws of retaliation . and that even immediately , and by the private hand of the person assaulted , forasmuch as the imminent danger could not admit of the delay of expecting a publick determination : but in case , one be not actually assaulted ( i speak of private persons , ) it is not lawful either to kill or bind him , who you suspect will be the aggressor , but to fly from him is lawful , or , to endeavour to perswade him who bears authority over him , to take away his arms , or confine him , or make him give security for his keeping the peace ; by this way of prevention , for any one to provide for his own safety , is not only lawful , but prudent and commendable : so in case a nation fear the future practices of him who is now heir , they may forecast a prevention , by engaging and obtaining of him , under whose authority he is , to tye him up by such rules and laws , as will put it without his power to effect the dreaded mischief ; or by utterly and totally removing him out of that place and capacity , in which alone he can hurt them : but they themselves have not sufficient authority to tye him up by laws , or disinherit him , and therefore cannot do it without injury ; and if it so come to pass , that the supreme authority will suffer him , whom you suspect will murther you , to bear arms , and will not confine him ; if he assaults you , being a private man , you have the power of defending your self ; but if the supreme magistrate will appoint a successor over a nation , who that nation has good reason to suspect will endanger their lives and fortunes , and corrupt them in their religion , to the hazard of their souls , they have done all that lawfully they may , for preventing that successiòn ; but violently and of their own authority ( which is none ) to go about to disinherit , or alter the succession , upon pretence that the injury done to him is not comparable to the mischiefs and injuries prevented ; ( which though true enough , and there want nothing but a competent authority to alter the succession without injury , to the person disinherited ) yet still , it remaining an injury because they do it who have not sufficient authority , it is a breach of the lawes of christianity , which allows not evil to be done that good may come of it , or evil be prevented : and supposing my self to speak to christians , i hope the laws of our religion will be judged to oblige them , as much as any civil lawes whatsoever , for christians ought to suffer injury rather than do any . having then proved this forfeiture to be made to the supreme authority , that the care and power of preventing those ' foreboded mischiefs resides only in it , the subject ought in prudence , and duty to himself , to endeavour their prevention by moving the supreme authority to prevent them , but not otherwise ; and if he foresees no remedy , ought to arm his conscience from corruption in religion and the spiritual danger , and his resolution to suffer under the temporal , and bear injury when it cannot without sin be prevented or opposed : and this submission is not only necessarily enforced from the principles of christianity , but grounded upon civil and sate-policy ; for if it were in the peoples power to disinherit whom they would , no person could ever succeed , from whom the multitude might not have assurance of being complyed with , in what they pleased ; and mens desires being sometimes extravagant and sinful , great inconveniences must needs ensue too the government by the allowance of them ; frequently to a successor might be disinherited by the faction or ill disposition of the most , by reason of false and scandalous imputations , which they can hear and believe , but not disprove ; or on purpose , which is sometimes very be-witching , to shew their power : and this must needs make a government unsetled , and dispose it to anarchy , ruin and destruction . now , upon reflection of the inconveniences of a power in the people to disinherit , and of those which sometimes may happen for want of that power in them , when the ordinary supreme authority which hath power will not exercise it upon a due occasion ; some men may possibly fall into a rage , accusing their ill fortune which unavoidably subjects them to misery on both sides ; and him , who having power will not use it to secure them from the dangers they fear ; but if they consider that he who refuses to gratify them in this , cannot be imagined not to wish & intend his peoples good as much as his own , and several wayes formerly has procured it , they have no reason to be disaffected to him for this , since the cause of his refusal to comply , must be either that he is not so apprehensive of the danger they dread , and sees no reason so to be ; or if he be as apprehensive as they , yet perhaps he thinks it not within his power to deprive the next legal heir of succeeding without injury , forasmuch as he judges his personal affection or disposition to any opinion or religion , cannot alter and take away his right ; and either , or both these being the motives which with-hold him from proceeding as he is desired , and both pertaining to conscience , which he must satisfy as well as other men ; besides , the consideration of the kings heart being in the hand of god , and particularly directed and turned by his providence , his subjects ought to submit to and acquiesce in his pleasure ; and so no remedy , but succeed he must , and the forfeiture , not being taken advantage of whilst he remained a subject , after he is once possest of the supreme authority , cannot then be taken : for , although that disposition which forfeited his right to succession when he was heir , may seem to forfeit his right to actual possession , because no one has a right to be possest of that which he had no right to take into his possession ; yet the condition of this forfeiture is such , that , not being taken , the supreme magistrate is supposed not to have judged it a forfeiture . ; and it belonging properly to his cognizance to determine , whether it were or no , what he judged was no forfeiture that he did not take for one , and what he did not take , when he is dead , no one can take for him , if to no one he delegated authority so to do ; and if a forfeiture is made to a superiour , and the supreme magistrate neither by himself nor delegate did take it , no one being superiour to the succeeding heir , no one may take it , either by forcible hindring him to succeed , or warring against , or deposing him when he is possest ; for the crown once worn taking away all defects , as say the lawyers , and that passing over to the heir immediately upon the expiration of the predecessor , all previous forfeitures or present indispositions are of no force against him , because there is none on earth sufficiently authorised to take advantage of them . god indeed , if he pleases , by interposing his immediate command , may depose him ; i mean not on the account of his supreme intendency over all the world , ( for so he may depose a prince though he be not so evilly affected ) but according to the rules of justice and reason , as an offender against him whose substitute he is , by overthrowing the ends of government : but this god rarely doth ; for although saul for his grievous offences were rejected by god , yet suffered he him to live and dye a king without proceeding to actual deposition , although samuel had told him from god , that the kingdom of israel was rent from him , that is , from his tribe and family . if it be objected , that though the predecessor by a particular application of his will did not take the forfeiture , because he did not see it , or believed it not ; yet generally he must be supposed to will and design the taking it , forasmuch as he wills and designs the publick wellfare ; and so , though not by a special act , yet by his general intention of the peoples good he must be supposed to have taken the advantage of it . i answer , that this will not stand good in policy , as it may do in many other things ; because such a belief would put it in the peoples power at their pleasure to disinherit and dethrone whomsoever they would , forasmuch as they might frequently upon distaste , pretend him to have made a forfeiture , who made none , and so depose him under the colour of the predecessor's implicite and general will to disinherit him : and this is so great an inconvenience and danger to the publick , that it 's far more eligible to run the hazard of sometimes having a bad prince , than of having good ones turned off as bad , or of suffering such ill consequences as war , and bloodshed , and an unsettled kingdom , which must attend an attempt to depose even bad ones , since there is no one but has some adherents . the scriptures command servants obedience not only to gentle , but froward masters , applaud suffering wrongfully ; and the primitive christians did so , even when they were strong enough to resist , and the souldiers were content to be decimated , and to lay down their armes , to be wrongfully put to death , that is for a cause not deserving death , for professing the christian religion ; which plainly proves that both the apostles , and primitive christians , who were as well catechised in the principles of religion as we can pretend to be , thought it an article of their faith , that it was not lawful for subjects to depose or resist the cruelest tyrants , though endeavouring their spiritual destruction by obliging them to idolatry , and their temporal by proscribing them , by imprisoning and murthering them if they refused : and this we call passive obedience , that is , submitting to the supreme authority's pleasure even when we are injured rather then rebel against him. and thus much to shew , that if the heir be not disinherited whilst he remains so , it will afterwards be too late , and in reason and justice impossible . chap. iv. that mens throwing themselves wholly upon providence for averting these mischiefs , without making use of rational , and moral means to prevent them , is unreasonable , and absurd . the country-man in the fable who called upon hercules , to draw his cart out of the mire in which it was set , was bid to apply his own shoulders to it , and thrust , if he would have it out . many there are , who idely rely upon providence to save them from the dangers they foresee , but will not step a foot themselves , or use the least industry and care for preventing those evils ; and because nothing comes to pass without gods permission , imagine therefore that nothing is done without his appointment ; and on this account leave it wholly to him to provide for their safety . but this careless opinion i much dislike ; because it often brings men into misery , by making them to neglect those means for their safety which god frequently puts into their own hands , and so they are undone for want of care , for presuming god will save them without the least of their caution and circumspection . nay , sometimes there may be some , whose honours , lives and fortunes , must stand or fall with a present condition of a nation ; who know in their hearts , and are sure , if the times turn , unless they will turn with them ( which 't is reasonable many times to believe they may not ) they must lose both lives and fortunes , and the spiritual welfare of all the subjects be endangered ; yet they are not content not to endeavour the disinheriting a successor , with whom all this mischief comes in , upon a scruple , that such a disinheriting is un-lawful ; are not content fairly to give way to such a successor without opposition ; but are his best friends , court and complement him most at every turn , and take occasion from their opinion of the unlawfulness to disinherit him , to be the strongest maintainers of him ; which is both imprudent and unreasonable flattery ; drudging for one who laughs at their sedulousness to their own ruin. in any nation , if there be any in such a case so mad , they must not think themselves e're the honester and wiser for courting their own destructions ; submit one would , where it was unlawful to resist , but not invite him who was to do one a mischeif . t is to be confessed , that disinheriting a prince , perverting the lineal succession , is a dangerous precedent , because of the ill consequences it may draw with it ; the right of succession ought to be sacred , and not toucht or medled with , but with the greatest reverence and caution , and upon weighty considerations ; but when once people have prevailed on a prince , to disinherit a legal heir for real and great causes , they may often afterwards prove humoursom ; and sometime for no causes , or not equal , exact and require the doing of it , because they have an example and precedent : this , i say , is a great inconvenience , but is unavoidable ; because , as long as men are men , they will be subject to faults ; but yet i suppose it not impossible , but such laws and rules may be stated and provided , whereby to procede in such cases , as would much alleviate this inconvenience : but shall leave that to wiser heads to determine what they must be . and so much of the first question . the second question . whether some certain politick reasons may not be alone sufficient grounds of divorce ? chap. i. of marriage , its institution , ends , and obligation : of its special rights and privileges in the state of christianity . i am very sensible , this second question carries so much the more difficulty than the first , as it has been less controverted , and consequently less understood ; that it lies under a far greater disadvantage , by reason of the many more actually interested and concerned in it ; the right of marriage being more mens , than is right to succession and heir-ship in government , and they generally prejudicated in their opinions about it ; and lastly , so much the harder case , as it concerns the dispossession of those who are actually in possession of a right , and so owned to be ; but the other only the prevention of succeeding into such actual possession . but in order to its discussion , i will proceed in the same method i used in the first , that by inquiring into its institution , rights , and ends , we may better judg of the true causes of its dissolution . the institution of marriage seems not to have been occasional and by accident , as the appointment of most things by god was , but cotemporary with the very creation , and formation of man it self ; so that he was no sooner shaped into the form of body which we see he has , but he seemed to be incompleat and solitary , till such a companion were given him ; for the use and enjoyment of which , in order to another end , procreation , his body both in its inward and outward fabrick , provision and design of nature appeared to have been purposely framed , and by it self , as to that end , to be useless and imperfect : nay , marriage must have been instituted , and pre-ordained , even before mans creation ; for if god , when he said , let us make man , had an exemplar or idea before him , of what manner of creature he was about to make , he then both saw , that the creature he should make according to that pattern , would want such a companion , because of his inability to procreate without her ; and yet , for which procreation his body appeared purposely designed , by reason of its proper , natural , and convenient composure for it ; nay , further , designedly and on purpose made him such a creature , as should have such a companion in order to procreation , because else , all that aptitude and structure which now serves to that end , would have been useless ; and god have done , what he and nature never do , something in vain . now the institution , or reason of ordaining marriage , depending on its end ; and its immediate , and natural end , being procreation and propagation of a species of creatures , and man's body apt and suitable for such procreation , at the moment of his formation compleated ; it follows , that at the moment of his formation compleated , when he was an apt , and fit creature for the end of marriage , procreation , the institution of marriage , if not before , yet then commenc'd ; because the natural frame of man , did necessarily suppose such a thing as marriage ; and therefore , its institution was original and natural , not occasional : it was designed by nature , it self , and therefore needed not to be instituted with any formal ceremony , law , or circumstance whatsoever . i confess , that a secondary end of marriage , namely mutual society , help and comfort , seems to have been occasional : for after god had made man , and placed him in the garden , he said , gen. 2. 18. that it was not good that man should be alone , that he would make him an help meet for him ; as if , upon consideration of his solitariness , as having no creature capable of conversing with him , he resolved for remedy of that evil , to give him a wife : and adam in the 23 ver . of that chap. gives another reason , why a man should leave his father and mother , and cleave to his wife ; because she was taken out of him , was bone of his bone , and flesh of his flesh ; not that this was the only reason of marriage , because woman was taken out of man ; but that it should be a strong motive of love and inclination to woman , because she was a piece of man himself , and therefore he should prefer her before the dear relations of father and mother . by which very words , father and mother , adam seems to have understood the end of marriage to be procreation , and what procreation was ; else he could not have known what the words father and mother signify ; unless you will suppose those words not adams , but the holy pen-mans by a prolepsis . from what has been said , 't is clear , that the two great ends of marriage are procreation , and mutual help ; and that he who marries , is obliged to intend none other but those ends. having shewed , that the institution of marriage was cotemporary with mans first creation , that the natural disposition and frame of mans body , was its very institution in nature it self , without further ceremony , law , or circumstance , that adams marriage was consummate , and perfect without such ; yet now since the world is increased , there is something more requisit to be done , i mean , as to the contracting , and solemnization of matrimony . for when there were none in the vvorld but one man and one vvoman , and both naturally loving one another , circumstance and ceremony were needless , since they are significative only of our minds to others , but there being no others but themselves , and their minds sufficiently known to one another , from the very inclinations and dispositions of nature , as man and woman in general , and there being no other vvoman for him to take , or man for her ; i say , neither nature nor reason could require circumstance and ceremony as convenient or useful : but now they must be used as signs and tokens of consent , that such a particular man and woman do agree to marriage , and to prevent defrauding one onother by denying the marriage , ( which , if done in secret between themselves only , either might ) and to prevent any ones wronging of either , by intruding upon the right of either ; which is better secured and known , by being publick and solemn , and acted before vvitness . further , because all words do not equally express consent , but some more , some less ; 't is likewise convenient , a determined form of words , whereby to express consent validly , should be authorised , and so all refuge to equivocation , and dubious interpretation of former promises might be avoided . and to the end , that the persons consenting to marriage , might have the stronger obligation to stand to their promise , it was thought fit , they should mutually promise each other , as far as lies in their power , before god himself , in the presence and hearing of one of his ministers . so then , the ends and reasons of marriage , is procreation and mutual help ; an inducing motive is the natural love man and vvoman bare to each other , as being originally flesh of one anothers flesh ; the essence or actual contract of it consists in consent , and several outward circumstances , are requisite for its confirmation ad extra , and may not ordinarily be neglected without fault , because they are wholesome and useful appointments . i have been the longer on this head , because the notion of any thing being first clearly and at large laid down , 't is easier after to pass a judgment on it ; and that i may pass by nothing which concerns it , i shall observe what advantages and privileges christianity has raised it to , beyond what it has in nature , or in judaism . it is become the representation of that holy union , love and obedience , which is betwixt christ and his church , and therefore is accounted now a more honourable estate than formerly ; forasmuch as neither the jewes nor heathens tied themselves up to strict marriages , but using polygamy , did , as it were , prostitute and dishonour the marriage-bed , which became thus common to many ; but now the marriage of two persons during life , is enobled and recommended by that similitude of christ and his church ; the first owning no other spouse , the last no other lord : besides , that marriage is not now so easily dissoluble as among the jewes , nor for such slight reasons ; and lastly , there lies now an obligation on each , to procure , as far as they can , not only the others temporal , but spiritual comfort and vvelfare . and so much for the nature , institution , and duties of marriage . chap. ii. what is divorce ? what are sufficient reasons of divorce ; and the words of our saviour ? st. matth. 5. 31 , 32. and chap. 19. vers . 9. and elsewhere , about divorce , only for the cause of adultery and fornication , considered and explained . marriage , although so strait an union as nothing more , yet admits of a dissolution , commonly called divorce ; that is , a separation of both man and vvoman , so as to return into the very condition of liberty , and singleness of life , in which they were before their marriage ; but this , not lightly , but on great weighty and high considerations : and this is by the by to be observed , that every separation of man and vvoman after matrimony outwardly solemnized between them is not properly divorce ; for divorce is only a separation of persons , who according to the intent of outward solemnization , were really and perfectly in a state of marriage , and that , so as to return into a state of utter disobligation or non relation one to the other : but a separation of persons not perfectly married , or of persons married if not for ever , so as both shall remain disengaged , is not properly divorce . when therefore two persons are separated and disjoyned , because the one is naturally impotent ; that is , in body not perfect man or vvoman , ( for by natural impotency , age , vveakness , or barreness is not to be understood ; for they are to be born with ; but an imperfect or monstrous body . ) such separation i say , is not properly divorce , because none are divorced but husband and wife ; and such were not they : for since none are husband and wife , but they who are perfectly married ; and the firm contract of marriage depend not only on the consent of the parties , and solemnization , but on a supposition that they are what they are taken to be ; that is , perfect man or woman ; ( for marriage supposes the joyning of such together ) if either be naturally impotent , that is , not perfectly man or vvoman , the other is imposed on , and the consent of that person to have married a man or woman , shall not be adjudged valid , so as to imply that persons consent to oblige to cohabitation , with one who is not man or woman , whom alone that person did consent and intend to have in marriage ; and therefore , such are not joyned together by god and nature , since nature abhors such a conjunction ; but without more adoe , are actually single . secondly , if for other reasons , a man and vvoman perfectly so , and married , do part ; that parting is not a real divorce , so as to be disengaged from each other ; for thus st. paul , 1 cor. 7. 10 , 11. and unto the marryed i command ; yet not i , but the lord ; let not the wife depart from her husband , but and if she dapart , let her remain unmarried , or be reconciled to her husband ; and let not the husband put away his wife : in which place st. paul first exhorts , that there be no separation between man and wife , that is , that they should not disagree , so as to part from one another ; but if such a case ever happens ; that their separation for such a reason , is not divorce , doth not dis-unite them , but that the vvoman continues the mans vvife still , notwithstanding this separation , and ought not to marry any one else , but that a reconciliation should be endeavoured , and both return to each other : but by the last words , let not the husband put away his wife , is not to be understood , as if a man might by no means , for no cause , totally divorce his vvife ; for even our saviour allows adultery and fornication to be a sufficient cause ; matth. 5. 32. and 19. 9. &c. in the first place in these vvords , i say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife , saving for the cause of fornication , causeth her to commit adultery ; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced , committeth adultery : in the last place thus , i say unto you , whosoever shall put away his wife , except it be for fornication , and shall marry another , committeth adultery ; and wboso marrieth her which is put away , doth commit adultery : which exception of the case of adultery , plainly proves , that divorce for some cause is lawful , namely for that . but because these places are generally understood in that rigid sence , which the vvords without due attention , seem to bear , as if no other cause whatsoever but adultery and fornication in the vvoman , is sufficient cause of a total divorce , and so 't is impossible that my policick reasons should be sufficient cause ; i shall clear the sence and meaning of the vvords , first , observing , that even adultery it self is partly a politick reason of divorce ; forasmuch as marriage is instituted for propagation , and that is mischiev'd , and hindred by nothing more , than promiscuous embraces ; and thence accrues great dammage to a common-wealth , and its politick good. besides , if the vvoman do sometimes prove with child , it being possibly anothers , it shall however be obtruded on the mothers husband to maintain : she then who is found guilty of this high crime , shall be finally dismist , as one who perverts and hinders the end of marriage , and endamages the publick if she have not children ; and if she have , greatly injures her husband , both by disposing of her self to another , who was rightfully only his , and probably burthens him with what ought naturally to be anothers charge . but to clear the sence of the above cited places . in the 19. of st. mat. ver. 3. we have the pharisees coming to our lord , and tempting him , by proposing a branch of moses's law , to try whether he would contradict it ; and then they had sufficient reason of accusation against him they thought . they asked him ; whether it were lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause , according to what is written in deut. 24. 1. when a man hath taken a wife , and marryed her , and it come to pass , that she find no favour in his eyes , because he hath found some uncleanness in her , then let him write her a bill of divorcement , and give it her in her hand , and send her out of his house . the law gave license to put away wives for every cause , for every dislike ; for not finding favour in their husbands eyes , for no greater cause than not pleasing their humour : what thinkest thou , is it lawful or agreeable to the rules of equity and reason , as well as to the strict letter of the law ? and this their question he thus in effect answers : that such reasons as these , for which moses allowed the jewes to put away their wives , were not reasonable nor equitable , but extorted from him by them , whose hardness of heart would be content with nothing less ; and therefore it was better the law should be remitted , and so their hardness become more pardonable , as not being an offence against any positive law , but allowed of : but for the future , divorce shall not be lawful for any of those petty reasons , but for no less than adultery , which the law judged so heinous , as to punish with death it self ; but , as all rigors in the gospel are mitigated , so now adultery shall be punishable only with divorce ; or else , because the jews now cannot put any man to death , have lost jus vitae & necis ; they shall punish it by divorce , which remains in their power . the whole scope and design of which answer , i judge to be this ; that the jewish rigor and moroseness of divorcing their wives for every petty dislike he did not only not approve , but hereafter would not have adultery it self punisht so severely as formerly , with death , but only with divorce ; and that divorce was punishment great enough for adultery ; and that nothing less than adultery does deserve to be , & must in the gospel-state be punished with divorce . and that this answer does not suppose , but that offences as great as adultery , may deserve it as well as adultery ; nor deny , but some offences may be as great as adultery , i have this reason to think ; because , in the 6th . verse , christ sayes of man and wife , that they are no more twain , but one flesh , and that man should not put asunder what god had joyned together ; which being generally spoken of all husbands and wives ; ( for , all god hath joyned together ) one might conclude , that because all husbands and wives are joyned together by god , and no man must put asunder what god has joyned ; therefore it is not lawful to put them asunder for any cause whatsoever , no not for adultery , because god did once joyn them together ; which being contradictory to the permission he gives afterwards , for the cause of adultery , plainly shews , those words are not to be understood in a strict and literal sence , which excludes even the cause of adultery . and therefore it is reasonable to suspect , that it s not being lawful to divorce but for the cause of adultery only , is not either strictly and literally to be understood of adultery , and only that ; but that nothing less than adultery is a sufficient cause , not denying , but something may be as great . i shall state a case , which i will leave others to judge , whether it be as great or no. suppose two persons of different religions married , and one by the avowed necessary and immutable principles of his or her religion , firmly believes the other to be in a state of heresy , damnation , and enmity to god and true religion , and that faith may lawfully be broke with that person ; that 't is lawful , nay , highly commendable to murther that person , because his or her religion , by this act , is according to all moral certainty , sure to be propagated ; which to promote , as far as in this person lies , is an indispensable duty ; and to compass , is to rescue multitudes of souls from hell , and to cover and expiate for all this persons private sins , and to secure to him or her self heaven and gods favour , by so meritorious an act : that there is no other probable way of effecting this great vvork but by this means ; that to die in the attempt , or failing of success to be afterwards put to death for it , is a most glorious martyrdom . i should think a person in the same kingdom , city , house , but much more bed , with such an one , to be very un-secure ; and if the person escapes , it can be attributed to nothing but the others extreme faint-heartedness , which one can scarce imagine any guilty of , who is prepossest by such winning , prevailing , and strong motives , as these i have been mentioning : and therefore , between a sinful , amorous and adulterous love of a stranger , if it remain still within the heart , and has not proceeded to actual commission ; and such principles as believing it lawful and meritorious to murther an husband or wife , as to the influence they have on marriage in order to dissolution , there is no other difference but this ; that a man must expect the actual commission of adultery , the bare intention or desire of which is not sufficient cause of divorce ; besides , that it proceeds not from a vowed principle , that 't is lawful and commendable so to do , and therefore that intention may alter ; but the imminent danger from those other principles as fixt and unalterable , will not admit of that delay until the fact be committed . separation therefore from such a person , as to all society and converse , is immediatly necessary , and always , is natural and agreeable to reason , forasmuch as 't is for the preservation of life ; and a separation warranted by reason to be perpetual , cannot suppose any mutual obligation , tye or relation whatsoever in reason to remain between them whom good and justifiable reasons have perpetually separated ; and therefore being thus separated , not accidentally , but by moral and reasonable necessity , there shall not remain an obligation to the person so necessitated to remain bound to the other in the tye of marriage ; the duties of which 't is impossible for one to satisfy and perform , because it is absolutely rendred useless by the other : and for disengagement in such a case as this , there is both ground and countenance in scripture ; we have these words in the 15 ver. of the 7 chap. of the 1 epistle to the corinth . but if the un-believing depart , let him depart ; a brother or sister is not under bondage in such a case : whence i argue thus , if upon the voluntary departure of a barely un-believing husband or wife , either from other , neither is so tyed up , but that in such a case of separation and departure , a christian is not in bondage ; that is , remains not obliged under the yoke of that marriage which the other by final departing , has dissolved , but may marry ; shall not then the necessitated sending away or dismission of a person for the reasons i have mentioned ( since 't is the same thing , whether a person depart voluntarily , or force himself to be sent away , because the person who caused the separation must be judged to depart ) ? shall not such a necessity release a brother or sister , a christian , from being bound , and leave him or her at their liberty to marry if they please ? the only difficulty is , whether one person believes the other to be throughly so principled or perswaded , as that religion of which that person is a member , teaches , and as is necessary to justify the divorce . chap. iii. whether the case of princes marriages be the same with private mens ; and whether they are not sometimes extraordinarily indulged and dispenced with by god ? if the case , i in the last chapter put , were a princes , no doubt but that would aggravate it with circumstances , as peculiar to princes as is their charracter and authority ; for a prince being not only an husband but a soveraign , such principles would be more than doubly pernicious , because they are directed against a person , who is not only in a twofold capacity , and therefore doubly injured , but likewise , because imagining or believing the destruction of a prince to be lawful , is it self an higher crime than the same belief concerning a private man ; because his right in his wife as his subject is more immediate from god and absolute , than as he is her husband ; the right of dominion being greater than that of propriety and use. besides , the endangering such a person is not confined to his own detriment , but involves all his subjects in it , as those whose welfare depends on their head and protector ; and either the utter ruin , or extreme danger of the whole nation attends his destruction , especially in the case of being morally certain after his death , to be both spiritually and temporally enthralled : and therefore , such a case would so much the more warrant a divorce , as the breach of a far greater obligation is more notorious , and of more dangerous consequence , and less capable of delay , and a stronger and more necessitating reason to put her away , supposing the wife to be so principled as to give just occasion of such fear and necessity . 't is possible , i consess , that one externally of such or such a profession may not be so in heart , or may not be seasoned with those doctrines which the presidents of that religion judg too apparently startling to communicate to some of their disciples : but nothing there is but may be susspected and feared from some mens importunity , cunning , boldness and impudence . but i will not insist upon this supposed case any longer , which under all these aggravations must needs imply the lawfulness of divorce , which i think i can infer allowable in a case more moderate , and of less evil aspect . for i will imagine the consort not so dangerously disposed and affected , nor to design any such thing ; but that the prince having no heir of his body , to succeed , to be instructed in such a religion and principles , as will incline him to procure the peoples real good , and that such a destructive and dangerous religion naturally falls in with him who is the presumtive heir , as they call it , that is the next of blood or kin for want of a nigher ; and that this princess or queen never had , nor , morally speaking , ever can have , and bring forth an heir to be so instructed and succeed ; and this conjecture for the future , grounded on the time past ; because she had none then when it was more probable and natural , and without such an heir so much danger and destruction imminent ; the case thus stated , i say , prevention of mischief , which could not give the people authority to depose a prince , because though they may be injured by him , yet they never can have authority to vindicate themselves against him ; will however give a prince , who has a full authority over all , power and warrant to divorce a wife , as being unavoidably and necessarily forced thereto , though not by her self , or own principles , yet so accidentally , as is inseparable from her marriage ; and this necessity is unavoidable , because 't is absurd , that a prince should suffer his people to incur such great danger and destruction knowingly , upon any pretence whatsoever , and therefore is not to be supposed : for the christian maxim of not doing evil that good may come of it , would be mis-appli'd here ; for , a private interest or good standing in competition with the publick , ceases to be a real right if inconsistent with the publick , inasmuch as every subject doth implicitly and tacitly relinquish his right , possession and pretentions to every thing which cannot consist with the common good ; and then to make void such a right , is not to do evil , and so the necessity remains unavoidable ; but still with this proviso and not else , that the prince may proceed thus , if he believe the probability and certainty of such a destructive religion's coming in , if he die without other heir than he has already ; or that , if it do come in , he believes it as dangerous and destructive as others do : else his conscience is bound , and he obliged to follow it . in the last place , to strengthen the belief of this maxim , on which the stress of the dispute depends , that what was once a mans full and undoubted right and propriety , if it ever after prove utterly inconsistent with the publick good , finally ceases to be his right or propriety ; and that to deprive him of the possession of that thing , is not an injury , nor doing evil that good may come of it , i will in short , endeavour to make out , by shewing , that god doth himself dispence in such cases , with princes forc't actions . i might insist on a tacit consent of every subject to this purpose , because government is not fixed and setled without such a consent , but shall rather conclude with the strongest proof , the authority of scripture . the apostles had a power given them by our saviour , that what soever they did bind on earth should be bound in heaven , and whatsoever they did loose on earth should be loosed in heaven ; and whosoever sins they did remit they were remitted , and whosoever sins they did retain , they were retained . which apostolical power of loosing and binding , remitting and retaining , the learned observe , and expound to be the power of admitting into the number and fellowship of the faithful , upon repentance , and exclusion or banishment from it for sins scandalous , and putting them into a state of unworthyness , to partake of the christian mysteries , and be reputed a member of christ ; and this is called excommunication ; from which too , upon unfeigned repentance , they had authority to release ; now this power is commonly called the power of the keyes , is an ordinary jurisdiction derived from the apostles to their successors , who exercise such an authority to this day . now , this jurisdiction seems to derive from the abovementioned texts , on which 't is grounded , so universal an extent , as if no one whatsoever , not princes themselves , were exempt from it , the words whatsoever and whomsoever being universal ; and in common speech excluding none , but comprehending all . and some men , namely the romanists , who catched at the least outward appearance or countenance from scripture for erecting the popes unlimited power , suppose these places of scripture to confer on church governours a jurisdiction , authority , and right of government over princes themselves , so as to censure , and actually excommunicate them ; because 't is said , that whatsoever they did bind on earth , should be bound in heaven : but neither in the apostles practise nor examples of antiquity can we find ever such an authority to have been exercised over princes , though no doubt , occasion might often enough occur . and conformably to this , the best reformed church , ( i mean that of england ) teaches , that 't is not lawful to excommunicate princes ; that is , denounce them to be no members of christ and his church . for , although this power is for edification , and not for destruction ; and no doubt every christian prince , like every other private christian , is intrusted to the care of some spiritual pastor or pastors to instruct him , and give account for his soul , if it be lost through their default ; and therefore they might seem to have power of using all means for his salvation as they may for others , and this of excommunication being such , they might therefore excommunicate him ; ( i mean not from the visible company of the faithful , for that they cannot , but from participation of the mysteries and ordinances of our religion , and from being a member of christ's invisible church ) ; but this neither they did nor we do , on this supposition , and maxim in divinity , that princes are , and ought to be exempt from common and ordinary rules , which others are subject to , if so be the obliging a prince to those rules , would be occasion of dammage and danger to the common-wealth , as subjecting him to church-censures , tho never so deservedly , would necessarily be ; for it would look as if he had a superiour on earth , though really it were only a superiours delegate ; and subject him to be despised and slighted by some , who would value themselves above him , as not so near to gods favour and commnunion as themselves ; it would occasion discord between the prince and the church , and hazard the taking away all just authority , nay , the expulsion of christianity it self : and therefore rather than endanger the publick peace and tranquillity , the prince should be exempt from an ordinance and institution of christ himself , which in reason doth touch him as well as any else ; will it not then follow , that rather than manifestly hazard the both spiritual and temporal good of his people , a divorce , being the only remedy , may as well be warranted ; and he as well freed from the dangerous tye of marriage in such a case , as from excommunication it self ? nay , we find god himself dispensing with an eternal and natural law for the sake of the publick spiritual good. god dispensed with the natural law of doing no murther , and that within the near relation of father and son , and commanded abraham to flay isaac , that he might thus give a rare example of his faith for all the church of god afterwards to imitate , both jewes and christians : and david in extremity of hunger was indulged , and that not immediatly by god , but by the prudential rational deduction of ahimelech the priest , that a case of necessity did sufficiently dispense , was indulged , i say eating the shew-bread against a positive law , that none but the priests alone should eat it , and yet did not do evil , in eating the forbidden bread , that good might come of it , the preservation of his life ; and that was all the good it did , because his life , at that time not being king , had no other influence on the publick good , than as afterwards he was to be king. i conclude therefore , that if not only the publick good cannot be procured , but the greatest and highest mischiefs be prevented without the divorce of a person whose marriage hinders the only remedy and prevention of those great mischiefs , introduction of idolatry , superstition , and defection from the true religion ; that a perpetual separation of that person from the prince is made necessary to the avoiding those mischiefs , and because those mischiefs must and ought to be , and may lawfully , by this way of separation be avoided ; ( christianity it self , for the prevention of like mischiefs dispensing with him in another as solemn an ordinance of religion , ) this separation so necessitated shall not leave any tye or obligation on the prince which is inconsistent with perpetual necessary , not accidental separation , and such a tye is marriage , but that the prince is thus dis-ingaged single and free to pursue the averting those dreadful , destructive , and otherwise certain mischiefs which would ensue to the ruine of the greatest publick good , both spiritual and temporal ; the procurement of which cannot be prejudiced by any private interest or right , for that ceases to be so , when it stands in competition with the publick ; but dispenseth with the annulling that right and propriety , by a prudential , rational , and true inference from an unavoidable necessity . finis . the number and names of all the kings of england and scotland, from the beginning of their governments to this present as also how long each of them reigned, how many of them came to untimely ends, either by imprisonments, banishments, famine, killing of themselves, poyson, drowning, beheading, falling from horses, slaine in battells, murthered, or otherwise / written by john taylor ... taylor, john, 1580-1653. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a64190 of text r10068 in the english short title catalog (wing t492). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 40 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a64190 wing t492 estc r10068 11815302 ocm 11815302 49530 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a64190) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49530) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 552:2) the number and names of all the kings of england and scotland, from the beginning of their governments to this present as also how long each of them reigned, how many of them came to untimely ends, either by imprisonments, banishments, famine, killing of themselves, poyson, drowning, beheading, falling from horses, slaine in battells, murthered, or otherwise / written by john taylor ... taylor, john, 1580-1653. 32 p. [s.n], london : 1649. reproduction of original in bodleian library. eng great britain -kings and rulers -early works to 1800. scotland -kings and rulers -early works to 1800. a64190 r10068 (wing t492). civilwar no the number and names of all the kings of england and scotland, from the beginning of their governments to this present. as also how long eac taylor, john 1649 6790 108 0 0 0 0 0 159 f the rate of 159 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-00 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2001-08 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2001-10 tcp staff (michigan) text and markup reviewed and edited 2001-11 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the number and names of all the kings of england and scotland , from the beginning of their governments to this present . as also how long each of them reigned , how many of them came to untimely ends , either by imprisonments , banishments , famine , killing of themselves , poyson , drowning , beheading , falling from horses , slaine in battells , murthered , or otherwise . written by john taylor , at the signe of the poets head , in phoenix alley , neer the middle of long aker , or covent garden . london , printed in the yeare 1649. noverint vniversi . be it known unto all men &c. history hath such sorce and vertue that it wil make a man a traveller that never went 10. miles from home ; it will describe unto him cities , countries , manners , lawes , customes , fashions , wars and peace both at sea and land , it will give him admittance to speake with his hat on to the greatest emperours , princes , and poten●ates , and all sorts of people and nations that have inhabited the whole world : all this , true and well written histories will furnish a man withall in his owne chamber . and because great bookes are of great prices , and our large chronicles are of such high rates , that all men cannot reach to , i have at , mine owne cost , written and caused this briefe to be printed . many writers do make doubts whether this land had ever any king called brute ; but the most authours do affirme , that when troy was spoyled by the greekes , that prince aeneas fled into italy , and there he was married to a daughter of latinus , king of tuscany , now the dukedome of florence , by which lady he had a son named ascanius , who was the father of silvius posthumus , and that silvius was the father of brute ; brute being but 15 years old , unfortunately as he in a forrest was hunting , slew his father silvius with an arrow as he shot into a thicket , thinking he hadshot at a deere , for which he was banished from that countrey , and shipping himself with a good , or great , number of his followers , he landed here , and was the first king of this land . this is the opinion of many grave writers , but divers learned men do oppose those authors . for my part , i am sure that one king or other did reigne here when this land was first a kingdome , and because it beares the ancient name of brittain or brutaine , i do hold with su● . authours , as for brute do hold with me . anno mundi 2858. yeares before christ 1108. 1 brute raigned 24. yeeres : to his 3. sonnes locrinus , camber , and albanact , hee gave to the first england , to the second wales , to the third scotland . 2 locrine raigned 20. yeers ; he beat the hunns ( or hungarians ) hence , who would have invaded this land , and their king was drowned in humber . 3 queene guendoline ( wife of locrine ) raigned 15 yeers , beloved and honored for her just and vertuous government . 4 madan raigned 40. yeeres , was eaten by wolves , as he was hunting● he was fierce and tyrannous : he built doncaster . 5 mempricius , the son of madan , raigned 20. yeers , and at last ( like his father ) was devoured by wolves . 6 ebrank , built yorke , and reigned 21 yeeres : he had by 21. wives , and other females , 20. sonnes , and 30. daughters : he lived in the times of k. david and k. solomon . 7 brute 2. raigned 12. yeers , buried at york . 8 leile raigned 25. yeers , built carlile , and some say chester . 9 rudhudibras raigned 29. yeers , built canterbury , winchester , and shaftsbury . 10 bladud raigned 20. yeers , built bathe , brake his neck in practising to flie . 11 leire raigned 40. yeers : he built leicester , before christs birth 830 yeers . 12 cordelia , the daughter of leire , raigned 5. yeers : kild her selfe in prison . 13 morgan and cunedague were brothers , and grandchildren to leire : they ruled together , but cunedague slew morgan at glamorgan in wales , and raigned 33. yeers . 14 rivallo raigned 46. yeers : it rained bloud 3. dayes in his time : rome was built out of the putrefaction of the bloud that fell : it bred swarms of hornets and horseflies , that stung many folks to death ; insomuch that with famine , and other calamities , there died so many that they which lived were not enough to bury the dead . 15 gurgustus raigned 38. yeers : a most vicious drunkard , and his brother , 16 sicilius raigned 49. of both which our histories make no good mention . 17 iago raigned 25. yeers : a wicked prince : he died of a sleepy le●hargy . 18 kimmarus raigned 54. yeers . 19 gorbo●ug raigned 63. yeers , as some write and some write but 42. let the reader beleeve as he pleaseth . 20 ferex and porex were brethren : they were the last princes of the race of brute ; porex killed ferex ; to revenge which their mother kild porex , by which meanes this land was without a king , and at division many yeares , and shared into 5. petty kingdomes . some say ferex and porex raigned 50. yeers , and others write but 5. 21 m●lmutius donwallo raigned 40. yeers : hee was the sonne of a cornish duke , named clotton : he brought this land againe into one monarchy , and was the first king that wore a crowne of gold . 22 belinus and brennus were brethren , and shared this land betweene them ; but ( disagreeing ) brennus was forced from hence into france , from whence hee went and wan italy , ransackt rome , and at a siege of delphos in greece , he slew himselfe : belinus raigned 26. yeers : he builded the port called belingsgate . 23 gurguintus raigned 19. yeeres , hee overcame the danes , hee sent many scattered and distressed spaniards to inhabite ireland . 24 guinthelinus raigned 26. yeeres : hee built warwicke . 25 cecilius raigned 7. yeers , and was buried at caerleon in wales . 26 kimarus raigned 3. yeers : a wicked king , kild by a wild beast in hunting . 27 elanius raigned 9. yeers : histories make little mention of him . 28 morindus raigned 8. yeers : he fought with a ravenous sea-monster , which had devoured many people , who also devoured the king , but hee killed the monster afterward , for he was found dead with his dagger in his hand , in the belly of his devourer . 29 gorbomanus raigned 11. yeers : a good king , built cambridge and gra●ham . 30 archigalo , ●lidurus , vigenius , and peredurus , 31 were crowned and deposed again , and with 32 shusfling fortunes these 4. kings raigned 28. yeers . from the time of elidurus to king lud , there reigned in this land 33. kings , of whom historians doe make very various , or little mention , i will therefore but only name them . gorbonian raigned 10. yeers , morgan 14. emerianus 7 , deposed . ival 20. rimo 16. geruncius 20. catillus 10. hee caused all oppressors of the poore to be hanged . but since that time they have increased much . coylus raigned 20. yeers , ferex 5. chirimu 1 he kild himselfe with excessive drinking . fulgon raigned 2. yeers , eldred 1. androgius 1. eliud 5. dodamius 5. gurginius 3. merianus 2. blodunus 2. capenus 3. quinus 2. sillius 2. bledgabredus 10. rodianus 2. archemalus 2. eldalus 2. redargius 3. samullius 2. penisellus 3. pirhus 2. caporus 2. dinellus 4. helius ( or elius ) 1. from this king the i le of ely had its name . of these kings , 24. of them had very short times of either lives or raigns ; 4 of them raignd but 4 yeers , ( that is to say , each of them raignd but one yeere ) and in that course 11 of them reigned 22 yeares ( to years each , as many years as eares ) 4 reigned each three yeares , and one reigned 4 years ; 3 had the happy , or unhappinesse to beare the royall toile , hazard and slavery each 4 years . but although records and histories are burnt , lost , and falsified , by the injury of warres , alteration of times , and partiality or flattery of writers , that there is no mention made by what meanes all these kings did come to their long homes in so short a time . it is more then conjecturable , that they died not all in their beds . 64 king lud reigned 11. yeers : he named troy-novant , ( or this city of new troy ) kair-lud , or lu●stowne : hee enlarged the building of london , from ludgate ( which he founded for freemen to lie in bondage ) to london stone , which stone was set up in memory of lud , 60. yeeres before the incarnation of our saviour . 65 cassibelane raignd 17. yeers : the 2. sonnes of lud and cossibelane fild this land with blody contention , that whilst they strived for the mastry , julius caesar came in and mastred them . 66 theomancius the son of lud raigned 22. yeers : all that i can write of him is , that in memory of his father and himselfe , his statue is on ludgate . 67 cimbelinus raigned 21. yeers : in his raigne the heavens did raine the showres , flouds , innundations of gratious love and favour to most miserable mankinde ; for in this kings time our blest redeemer jesus christ was borne . 68 guiderius raigned 21. yeers : in his time our saviour suffered ; then tiberius caesar was emperour of rome , and commanded the knowne world . 69 a●viragus 28 yeares , a valiant man ; he founded and built gloucester . 70 marius reigned 53 years , he did much for the repairing of the citie of chester ; in his time , it is written , that good joseph of aramathea came hither , and taught the people christianitie at glastonbury in somersetshire ; some writers say that he was buried there , in a chappell of his owne erecting , of which i saw the ruines and rubbish remaining in the yeare of grace , 1649. 71 coylus the second reigned 55 years ; he built coylchester , and was interred at york . 72 lucius was the first king , of any land a christian , by the meanes and perswasion of godly men whom elutherius bishop of rome sent hither , the king and people were brought from paganisme to christianity : lucius cast downe 28 heathen temples , and erected churches for gods service . he reign'd 12 years , buried at glocester , anno christi , 194. 73 severus was an emperour of rome , he reign'd 18 years , he made a strong wall between england and scotland , to secure us from the invasion of the scots , the wall was 112 miles in length , from the river tyne to the scottish seas . hee was slaine 78 years of age . 74 bassianus reigned 6 years , he was emperour of rome , and son to severus . 75 ca●rasius reign'd 7 years , slaine by alectus our first english martyr ( saint alba● suffred martyrdome in his time . 76 alectus was a bloudy tyrant , reign'd 3 year killed by asclepiodates . 77 asclepiodates reign'd 2 yeares , as some do write , others relate 30 years ; he was all slain by coyle duke of colchester . 78 coyle duke of colchester reign'd 14 years , h● married hellen who was the mother ● the emperour constantine , she beautifie●jerusalem , with many faire buildings an● churches , and she also walled london an●colchester , where coyle was buried , an. 315● 79 constantius reigned 4 years , a good king , buried at york . 80 constantine the great was an english m●●orne , he was emperour of the christia● world ; he was the founder of constant●nople , which was an old ruin'd towne called bizantium , he was zealous for god glory , for which he was honoured o● earth , and doubtlesse eternally glorified● he raigned 22. yeers . 81 constantinus raigned 5. yeers , and his brothe● 82 constantius 3. yeers : these were the sonnes●● the great constantine : they raigned together , and together by the eares they fell , and never agreed till death made an end of the quarrell . 83 octavius ( as some do relate ) raigned 54. yeers : he was duke of windsor ; hee was slaine by traherus who succeeded him . 84 traherus raigned 6. yeers , an. dom. 353. 85 constantius 2. raigned 1. yeer , slain by gratia● . 86 maximinianus raignd 1. yeer , slain by gratian . 87 gratian reigned not one full yeer , was slain : this land at this time shook off the roman oppression , having beene vassalls and payd tribute to rome 483. yeers , an. do. 446 88 vortiger raigned 6. yeers : hee was an usurper , and by his murthering of his lawfull prince constans , ( the son of constantius 2. ) he gat the crowne , and the peoples inveterate hatred ; insomuch that he was forced to send for saxons out of germany to ayd him against his owne subjects ; which saxons not onely ayded , but invaded the whole land , and vortiger was deposed , and afterwards hee and his queene burnt to death , by firing of the house where they lodged . 89 vortimer the son of vortiger ; raignd 11. yeers ; he was victorious against the saxons , but was poysoned by his wife . 90 aurelius ambrose raigned 32. yeers ; a good king , yet was poysoned . 91 uter pendragon , ( which in welsh is a dragons head ) he cornuted a duke of cornewall , by corrupting the dutchesse igrene , on whom he begot englands & the christian worlds worthy ( arthur ; ●●er was poisoned by the saxons , after he had raigned 18. yeers . 92 arthur raigned 16. yeers : hee was king of england , denmark and norway . he beat the infidels and misbeleeving ●aracens in 12. great battels : he instituted the order of knights of the round table at winchester . he had a kinsman named mordred , who ( in arthurs absence ) usurped the crowne ; but arthur fought with the rebels , slew mordred their leader , and in the fight lost his owne life , and won the name and fame to bee one of the 9. worthies ; he was buried at glastenbury . an. dom. 541. 93 constantine , ( some have written him the 4. of of that name ) raigned 3. yeers , was kild by his successor . 94 aurelius conanus raigned 33. yeers : writers differ much in writing of this king , and the variation of times that were then : for this land was divided by the saxons into 7. kingdomes , and in the time of 500. and od yeers following , they had to each kingdome these kings under named ; and those lands , shires , and counties heerunto annexed . 1. kent , the first kingdome of the 7. divisions , had to its first king hengist , 2. esk , 3. octa , 4. ymerick , 5. e●helbert , a good christian king , he built st. pauls london , and st. peters at westminster , 6. eabald , 7. ercombert , 8. egbert , 9. lother , 10. edrick , 11. wi●hed , 12. edbert , 13. edelbert , 14. alick , 15. ethilbert , 16. cuthred , 17. baldred : these 17. kings raigned in kent 372. yeers . 2. the south-saxons kingdome was onely sussex and surry : it continued under 5. kings 113. yeers : and though histories doe not mention their deaths , it seemes they died naturally , because so few kings raigned so long in such cut-throat times as those were . 3. the third kingdome was the tumultuous , it endured 561. yeers : it had 17. kings , and contained the counties of cornewall , devonshire , somersetshire , wiltshire , hampshire , and berkshire . 4. the east-saxons , they raigned only over essex and middlesex ; they continued under 14. kings 281. yeeres . 5. northumberland had 23. kings : it consisted of 6. shires and counties ; namely , yorkeshire , durham , lancashire , westmerland , cumberland , and northumberland . it was divided into 2. kingdomes ; it lasted 379. yeers . 6. the east angles bounds , were suffolke , northfolke , cambridgeshire , and the isle of ely : under 15. kings it continued 353. yeers . 7. the seventh , last , and greatest , was the kingdome of the mercians , it had 20. kings : it continued 497. yeeres : it contayned 17. counties ; northampton , leicester , darby , lincoln , huntingdon , nottingham , rutland , cheshire , staffordshire , oxfordshire , worcestershire , glocestershire , shropshire , bedfordshire , warwickshire , hartfordshire , & buckinghamshire : all this while i finde that the welchmen held their owne ; for there is no mention that any of those wrangling petty kings had possession of so much as one village in wales . 95 vortiporus raigned 4. yeeres , an incestuous prince , with his wives daughter . 96 malgo raigned 5. yeers ; hee murthered his wife , and lived incestuously with his brothers daughter . 4. learned men were sent from rome hither , to convert the idolatrous heathen saxons , from paganisme to christianity : their names were augustine , melltius , john and justus . 97 careticus raigned 3. yeers , and being oppressed with the saxons , he fled for saie●y into wales , where he died . 98 cadwane raigned 22. yeers , he tamed the saxons of northumberland . 99 cadwallin raigned 48. yeers , a brave victorious prince : hee was buried in london at st. martins ludgate . 100 cadwallader raigned 3. yeers , a valiant and vertuous king : he was the last king of this land called britaine till his time , for then it was , and not till then , named anglia , and the men english men . cadwallader went to rome , and died there . 101 athelstane was a valiant noble prince : hee raigned 15. yeers , he brought this land to be but one kingdome againe , after it had beene divided into 7. neere 600. yeeres : he was crowned at kingstone , and buried at malmsbury , anno dom. 940. 102 edmund raigned 5. yeers : he was son to athelslane , slaine , and buried at glastenbury . 103 eldred raigned 9. yeers : the da●es were entred heer and opprest the people , and banished him : he was buried at winchester . 104 edwin raigned 5. yeeres , was crowned at kingstone ; he was deposed for being an incestuous ravisher of his own kinswoman , & murdring hir husband . 105 edgar raigned 16. yeers , he was brother to edwin , ( by birth , but not by nature ) edgar was crowned at bathe : he was a vigilant , a valiant , and a pious prince , he had a navie of 3000. ships ( as some have written ) to scowre the seas from enemies and pirats , hee built , and repayred of churches and religious houses , the number of 47. he took 8. petty kings of wales prisoners , and they rowed him in his barge on the river dee , to his parliament at chester : buried at glastenbury . 106 edward raigned 3. yeeres , crownd at kingstone , murdered by his mother in law , and his unnaturall brother etheldred , buried at shaftsbury . 107 etheldred raigned 38. yeers , he caused all the danes to be slaine , or expeld out of england , he was buried in st. pauls london . 108 edmond ( sirnamed ironside ) raigned 2. yeers , canutus king of denmarke came with a mighty power of danes , to revenge their nations being banished & kild in the time of k. etheldred , but edmond and canutus cōbated singly , with condition that the surving victor should have all the kingdom : the royall combatants fought gallantly , till through many wounds , & much blou● lost , they fell both downe in each others armes , and embraced : then they agreed , that the kingdome should be divided into halfes between them , and the longest liver take all ; which agreement they lovingly kept till a traytor named edricus , murdered k. edmond ; for the which the danish k. canutus , put edricus to death with most grievous exquisite torments . 109 canutus raigned 20. yeers , buried at winchester , an. dom. 1038. 110 harold the first raigned 3. yeers . 111 hardicanutus raigned 3. yeers : this king was given so much to excessive drinking , that hee dranke himselfe to death at lambeth : in joyfull memory wherof the merry hock mondaies were kept ye●rly , with dancing , and friendly meeting of neighbours , which some ( that have beene mistakingly thought wise ) have judged to be popery . 112 edward , called the confessor , raigned 23. yeers ; he freed this land from danish slavery , having no heire , gave his kingdome by will , to his kinsman william duke of 113 normandy , but harold● crownd himselfe king , and in the ninth month of his raign , duke william came , kild , and unkingd king harold . thus ended the raignes of the britaines , romanes , saxons and da●s in this land , from the yeer of the wo●lds cre●●ion 2858. before the birth of christ 1108. yeers , which was 1150. yeeres : then ( by deed of gift , some write by conquest ) william the first came hither , after a bloudy battell , neere hastings in sussex , with the slaughter of 70000. men on both sides , the norman duke was crowned an english king on christmasse day following : he had a troublous raigne 21. yeers . 115 william 2 ( sirnamed r●fus ) raigned 13. yeers , hee was slaine in newforrest in stead of a deere , as he was hunting , buried at winchester . 116 henry the first raigned 35. yeeres , in much vexation , he was buried at redding . 117 stephen raigned 19. yeeres , in continuall trouble ; buried at feversham . 118 henry 2. raigned 34. yeers , in much unquietnesse . one of his sonnes named jeffrey was troden to death in a throng at paris : also his son henry he caused to be crownd king in his own life time , which afterward vext him much : and ( to loade him with more afflictions ) his wife , with his sonnes richard and john , raysed armes against him ; he died in france , buried at fonteverard , 1189. 119 richard the first , called cor de lion , raigned 9. yeers , slaine . 120 john raigned 17. yeers , some have written that he was poysoned by a monke , others write , he surfeited with eating peaches . 121 henry 3. raigned 56. yeers , and after a long , tedious , and troublesome life , had the miraculous fortune to die in his bed . 122 edward the first raigned 35. yeeres . 123 edward 2. raigned 19. yeers , murdered at barklay castle . 124 edward 3. raigned 50. yeers , was buried at sheen● , 1378. 125 richard 2. raigned 22. yeers , murdered at pomfret castle . 126 henry 4. raigned 14. yeers , buried at canterbury . 127 henry 5. raigned 9. yeers , buried at westminster , 1422. 128 henry 6. raigned 37. yeeres , murthered in the tower . 129 edward 4. raignd 22. yeers , buried at winsor 130 edward 5. was never crowned , raigned o● murdered . 131 richard 3. raigned not 3. yeers , slaine . 132 henry 7. raigned 23. yeers , buried at westminster , 1509. 133 henry 8. raignd 37. yeers , buried at winsor . 134 edward 6. raigned 7. yeers , buried at westminster . 135 mary raigned 5. yeers , buried at westminst. 136 elizabeth raigned gloriously 44. yeeres . 137 james raigned 22. yeers , a learned man , a poet , a poets friend , and a peaceable king , buried at westminster . 138 charles raigned 24. yeers , beheaded . scotland began to bee a kingdome 339. yeeres before the comming of our savior : it hath been neere 2000. yeers under 108. kings . anno mundi 1641. years before christ 330. 1 fergus raigned 25. yeeres , he was a gallant spirited man , and was drowned by storm & shipwrack , neer carigfergus in ireland . 2 fe●harius raigned 15. yeers , murthered . 3 mainus raigned 29. yeers , he died in peace . 4 do●nadilla raigned 28. yeeres , lived and died peaceably . 5 n●●hatus raigned 20. yeeres , a wicked man ; he was killed . 6 reutherus raigned 26. yeeres , a good king . 7 reutha raigned 14. yeers , hee voluntarily left the crowne , and lived private . 8 thereu● raigned 12. yeeres , was banished by his subjects , died at yorke . 9 j●●●●a raigned 24. yeers , in peace . 10 ●●●●●●anus raigned 3● . yeers . 11 du●●u● raigned 9. yeers , a cruell tyrant ; he was slaine . 12 evenus raigned 19. yeers , a just king . 13 gillus raigned 2. yeers , he was bastard to evenus , was cruell , was slaine . 14 evenus 2. raigned peaceably 17. yeers . 15 ederus raigned 48. yeers , a good king . 16 evenus 3. raigned 7. yeeres , a wicked man , he died in prison . 17 metellanus raigned 39. yeers , a good king . 18 caractacus raigned 20. yeers , about this time our saviour was borne . 19 corbredus raigned 18. yeers , a good king . 20 dardanus raigned 4. yeers , he was by his own subjects beheaded . 21 corbredus 2. raigned 35. yeers , a good king . 22 lugtharus raigned 3. yeers , he loved bloudshed and lechery , and was murdred . 23 mogallas raigned 36. yeers , a good man at first , but turnd bad , and was murdred . 24 conarus raigned 14. yeers , a tyrant , was deposed , died in prison . 25 ethodius the first , raigned 33. yeers , murdered by an irish harper . 26 satraell raigned 4. yeeres , by his owne servants hee was murdred . 27 donald the first , and first christian king of scotland , in anno 199. he raigned 18. yeers . 28 ethodius the second , raigned 16. yeers , by his owne guard he was murdred . 29 a●hrico raigned 12. yeeres , a wicked king ; for his bad life his noble men did rise against him so furiously , that to escape them he kild himselfe . 30 n●●●alocus raigned 11. yeeres , a tyrant , and was murdred , and cast into a privy . 31 findocus raigned 11. yeeres , was murdered by counterfet huntsmen . 32 donald 2. raignd one yeer , he was slaine . 33 donald 3. raigned 12. yeers , he was a tyrant , and slame . 34 crathil●●hus raigned 24. yeeres , he delighted in goodnes , he advanced christian religion , he lived peaceably , and died in peace , anno 277. 35 fincormachus raigned 47. yeeres , hee was pious and couragious , died in peace . 36 r●machus raigned 3. yeeres , hee was a cruell tyrant , beheaded . 37 a●gusianus raigned 3. yeeres , a good king , and slaine in ●ighting with the picts . 38 e●●h●macus raigned 3. yeeres , murdered by treason of an harp●r . 39 eugenius the first raigned 3. yeers , slaine by the picts and roman● , in battell ; and all the scotch people were forced to forsake their country 44. yeeres . 40 vergus 2. raigned 16. yeers , he recovered his country valiantly fighting with romanes and picts , yet at last was slaine . 41 eugenius 2. raigned 32. yeers , he was a good king , and died peaceably . 42 dongardus raigned 5. yeers , a just couragious prince . 43 constantine the first raigned 22. yeeres , murthered by one of his lords , whose daughter he had ravished . 44 congalus the first , raigned 22 yeers . 45 goranus raigned 34. yeeres , a well governing prince . 46 eugenius 3. raignd 23. yeeres , a good king . 47 congallus 2. raigned 11. yeeres . 48 kinnatillus raigned one yeer almost . 49 aidanus raigned 35. yeeres . 50 kenelihus the first , raigned one yeer . 51 eugenius 4. raigned 16. yeeres . these 8. wèere good and just kings , and died naturall deaths : and among all the chronicles of scotland , so many kings successively had not the like fortune . 52 ferquard the first , raignd 12. yeer , a wicked man , he was cast in prison by his nobles , where he kild himselfe . 53 donald 4 raigned 14 yeers , a good king , yet by misfortune drownd in the river tay , as he was fishing for his recreation . 54 ferquard 2 raigned 18 yeers , a bad man , an● a worse king : he was killed by the biti● of a wolfe , as he hunted . 55 malduin raigned 20 yeers , his wife was je●lous , and strangled him , for which sh●e w● burnt . 56 eugenius 5 raigned 4 yeeres , slaine . 57 eugenius 6 raignd 10 yeeres , a good king● 58 ambirkelethus raigned little more then ● yeere , he was a vicious prince , and be● bad was badly used , murdred , anno 6●● 59 eugenius 7 raignd 17 yeers , a good king , ●● died in peace . 60 mordacus raigned 16 yeeres . 61 etsinus raigned 31 yeers , both good prince and died peaceably . 62 eugenius 8 raigned 3 yeers , he was good● first , but hee changing his maners , his nobles chāged their loyalties , & murdred hi● 63 fergus 3 raigned 3 yeers , as chast as a go● was poysoned by his wife . 64 salvathius raigned 20 yeers , a discreet kin● 65 achaius raigned 32 yeers , hee was a goo● king , charles the great being then emperour and king of france , this scottish king made a league with france , which league was never broken or crackt , although it be almost 900 yeeres old . 66 congallus raigned 5 yeers . 67 dongallus raigned 7 yeares , was drowned in the river of spey . 68 alpinus raigned 3 yeeres , beheaded by the scots . 69 kenneth 2 raigned 20 yeers , for his valour and other princely vertues , he attained the sirname of great , hee quite overcame and slew all the nation of the picts , and left his kingdome , ( as he died ) in peace . 70 donald 5 raigned 5 yeers , a bad life founda bad death , for he kild himselfe . 71 constantine 2 raigned 16 yeers , slaine , as he fought valiantly with the danes . 72 ethus raigned 2 yeers , a wicked prince , hee died in prison . 73 gregorius ( who by his prowesse wan the name of magnus ) raigned 18 yeers . 74 donald 6 raigned 11 yeers , a good king . 75 constantine 3. raigned 40 yeers , he was a valiant man , but hee left his crowne for a cowle , and died a religious monke . 76 malc●lme the first , raigned 9 yeers , a good king , yet murthered . 77 indulfus raignd 9 yeers , a couragious prince , slaine by danes . 78 dussus raigned 5 yeeres , was murthered , although a good king . 79 cudenus raigned 4 yeeres , a vicious princ● murthered . 80 kenneth 3. raigned 24 yeeres , a tyrant , h● was murdred . 81 constantine 4 raigned 2 yeers , an usurper , ●● was slaine . 82 grimus raigned 8. yeers , a lewd prince , ● was slaine . 83 macolme 2. raigned 30. yeers , he was a v●tuous prince , yet was murthered by ● chiefest courtiers , who flying away to g● over a frozen river called farfar , the l●● brake , and the murtherers were drown●● 84 duncan the first raigned 6. yeeres , a goo● king , murthered . 85 mackbeth raigned 17. yeers , a cruell tyrant killd . 86 macolme 3. raignd 36. yeers , a good king , slain● 87 donald 7. raigned not a yeere , expulst as a● usurper . 88 duncan 2. raignd one yeer , an usurper , slaine . 89 donald 8. raigned 3. yeeres , he was taken by egar , had his eyes put out , and died in prison lamentably . 90 edgar raigned 9. yeeres , a good king . 91 alexander the first , raigned 17 yeers , he was a valiant good prince , hee was called alexander the fierce . 92 david the first , raigned 29. yeeres , a worthy king , hee built 11. stately religious houses , died in peace at carlisle , buried at dumfermling . 93 macolme 4. raigned 12. yeeres , a maiden unmarried king . 94 william raigned 49. yeers , for his courage sirnamed the lion . 95 alexander 2. raigned 35. yeers , a good king . 96 alexander 3. raigned 17. yeers , died of a fall from a horse . 97 john baliol raigned 4. yeeres , edw. 1. king of england deposed him . 98 robert bruce raigned 24. yeeres , a wise , valiant prince . 99 david 2. raigned 40. yeeres , a good king , was a prisoner 12. yeers in england , 1310. at this time there was scuffling for the crown , robert baliol had the possession , and david the second expeld him , their raignes are uncertainely written . 100 robert 2. was the first king of the name of stuarts 1371. hee was a good king , raigned 19. yeeres . 101 robert 3. raigned 16. yeeres , a good king , whose life was full of affliction , hisonne prince david was famished to death by rebells in scotland , and his son james was 1● yeeres prisoner in england . 102 james the first , raigned 13. yeers , after hi● 18. yeers imprisoned in england , hee w● slaine by traytors . 103 james 2. raigned 24. yeeres , slaine . 104 james 3. raigned 29. yeeres , slaine at ban● nockburne field . 105 james 4. raigned 25. yeeres , slaine at ●lod●don field . 106 james 5. raigned 29. yeeres , a good king . 107 mary daughter to james 5. her raigne wa● sull of trouble , shee was beheaded at fo●●ringham castle , after 18. yeeres thra● dome . 108 james 6. raigned 36. yeeres in scotland , ● most learned peaceable king . england had 33 kings before scotland had any● the number of our kings were 138 , whereof 2 ; did not die naturall deaths ; for 7 were slain , 6 were murdered , 4 were poysoned , one was burnt , 2 fled the land , one was beheaded , one dyed with drinking , one was banished , and one● deposed . the kings of scotland were in number 108. whereof 21 were slaine , 19 murdred , 3 killed themselves , 4 died in prison , 4 beheaded , 3 drowned , 1 banish'd , and 3 deposed . thus of all the scottish kings , onely 50 dyed naturally , and 58 by casualties . by this short relation may bee perceived that the top of honour is slippery , and most unsure , where is not to be expected any sure footing , or endurance of standing . for the king of kings , being the great and only disposer of kings and kingdomes , hath in his just indignation ( for the peoples transgressions ) turnd and overturnd monarchies , principalities , states and common-wealths . the assyrian monarchy began with confusion , and mouldred away to the persian . the persian glory was swallowed in the ravenous gulph of a grecian conquest . the grecian ( like a violent blaze ) was no sooner in but out , was graspt into the hands of the triumphant caesars . the roman greatnesse overthrew it selfe , with its owne weight ; insomuch that whereas it formerly had all , it hath almost lost all . our england hath had his share in changings and alterations : first , by the britaines ; secondly , by the romans ; thirdly , by the saxons ; fourthly , by the danes ; fifthly , by the normans ; and now lastly , ( by the permission of god ) by our selves . there have beene commonwealths translated into kingdomes , as israel and judah , and kingdomes turnd into commonwealths ; italy is now divided into more then one , nam●ly venice , genoa , luca , pisa ; also the sw●zers , or helvetians , are a free state . so are● greatest part of the netherlands . and since it● the almighties unresistable will to change the nations rule and government , from a 5. or●● times changed monarchy , into a republiqu● i will not repine against divine providence , b● as i was a faithfull servant and subject 45. y● to two kings , ( who were good masters to m● so now i must obey the present government , ●● else i must not expect that i should live und● it , or be protected by it . finis . a sermon at the solemnizing of the happie inauguration of our most gracious and religious soueraigne king iames wherein is manifestly proued, that the soueraignty of kings is immediatly from god, and second to no authority on earth whatsoeuer : preached at paules crosse, the 24. of march last 1608 / by richard crakanthorpe ... crakanthorpe, richard, 1567-1624. 1609 approx. 136 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 28 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a19548 stc 5979 estc s308 22255107 ocm 22255107 25274 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a19548) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 25274) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1749:15) a sermon at the solemnizing of the happie inauguration of our most gracious and religious soueraigne king iames wherein is manifestly proued, that the soueraignty of kings is immediatly from god, and second to no authority on earth whatsoeuer : preached at paules crosse, the 24. of march last 1608 / by richard crakanthorpe ... crakanthorpe, richard, 1567-1624. [54] p. printed by vv. iaggard for tho. adams, dwelling in paules church-yard, at the signe of the blew bell, london : 1609. signatures: a⁴(-a1) b-g⁴. reproduction of original in the trinity college (dublin, ireland). library. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -i, -king of england, 1566-1625 -coronation -sermons. bible. -o.t. -chronicles, 2nd, ix, 5-9 -sermons. sermons, english -17th century. great britain -kings and rulers -religious aspects -sermons. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-02 ben griffin sampled and proofread 2005-02 ben griffin text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a sermon at the solemnizing of the happie inauguration of our most gracious and religious soueraigne king iames . wherein is manifestly proued , that the soueraignty of kings is immediatly from god , and second to no authority on earth whatsoeuer . preached at paules crosse , the 24. of march last . 1608. by richard crakanthorpe , doctor of diuinitie . london , printed by w. iaggard for tho : adams , dwelling in paules church-yard , at the signe of the blew bell. 1609. to the right reuerend father in god , thomas lord byshop of london , my honourable good lord : all grace , prosperity , and happinesse . the manifolde and waighty ecclesiasticall affaires , wherein your lordshippe is daily imployed , and many times wearied ; partly in aduancing the sincere profession of gods holy truth , and partly in maintaining the happy tranquility of this most renowned church , haue often occasioned me to remember the words , & complaint of that learned father s. augustin . though besides those a innumerable ecclesiasticall cares which hee sustained , and of which he said , that almost none would beleeue them , but such as had experience of them , he was daily incumbred also with the iudiciall hearing of verie many secular causes , for which as he saith , b he was daily with al reuerence attended and saluted by the people ; yet some in that age most vniustly blamed both him & other bishops , as being desidious , and like the pharisees , tying heauie burthens on other mens shoulders , which themselues would not touch with their litle fingers ( & who can possibly escape that censure , if the indefatigable industry & toile of s. augustine could not quit him thereof ? ) he then with a most serious and solemne protestation answered , c i call iesus christ to witnesse vpon my soule , that i had much rather giue my selfe to reading , praying , and other spirituall exercises , yea to daily handy-workes , then indure the most tumultuous perplexities of other mens causes about their secular businesses , either ( d ) iudicially to end them or by perswasion to preuent them . the cogitation heereof , had almost perswaded me not to withdraw your lordshippe , so much as to the viewe of these my slender labours , but that the seuerall bandes of duty which i owe vnto your lordship , ouer-swayed with me heerein at the last . for hauing not onely beene called ( as from little zoar to ierusalem ) by that message which to me was no other then the voice of god , though some younger samuels , may perhappes mistake it to bee elias voice ; but further also in that straitnesse of time , extraordinarily encouraged by your lordship to this seruice ; the fruit of my labours therein ( if it be any ) i iudged it my duty to present to him , by whose authoritie and appointment they were first vndertaken . againe , seeing my heartie and sincere desire heerein , was to testifie my vnfaigned loue , first to gods truth , and then to the peace of our ierusalem , in both which , i expect no lesse then the seuerest censures of two , in themselues opposite , and both of them very rigorous aduersaries , who contrary to the apostles e rule , either follow not the truth , or follow it not in loue : i was emboldened in both these to intreat protection vnder your lordships name , as one who liuing vnder your lordships , both publicke and domesticall gouernment , haue , and do daily see manie assured experiments of your lordships zeal to the one , and prudence ioyned with great moderation in the other . besides , i must and do with thankefulnes acknowledge , which i haue often heeretofore gladlie recounted , a good part of that light with which god hath in mercie vouchsafed vnto me , to haue bin receiued frō that faire burning lamp , which many years in our vniuersitie , your l. verie often and happilie helde forth vnto vs : then especiallie , when in the last yeares of our late soueraigne , & in those , as some thought , declining daies ; wherein the children of babylon , vpon some vainly conceiued hopes , i know not what , began somwhat insolently to insult . at which most needfull time it cannot bee forgotten , how the religious , constant & godly zeal of your l. being one most eminent in that place , did animate & incourage many others , my selfe among the rest , who then sat at the feet of gamaliel , and who by those words vttered in fittest time , by the tongue of the learned , found in our selues , how truly the wiseman saide , f the words of the wise are like goads , and like nailes fastned by the maisters of the assemblies . if in these respectes i present this small pledge of my dutie , to your lordshippe , and with a willing heart offer this mite vnto the lords treasury , let me in excuse of the slendernesse thereof , vse those fit words of s. ierom. g euery man offers in gods tabernacle according to his ability ; some offer gold , and siluer , and precious stones , others bring silke , and purple , and scarlet , and fine linnen , nobiscum bene agitur si obtulerimus pelles & caprarum pilos . howsoeuer it bee , i gladly submit it to your lordships graue wisedome , and to the church of god , euen in those most submissiue words and maner , which i long since learned of the most learned s. austen , and which ( beeing heere expressed ) in all my speeches and writings , i earnestly desire to be vnderstood ; domine ( h ) deus , quaecunque dixi de tuo , agnoscant & tui , si qua de meo , & tu ignosce & tui . blacke notley in essex . may , 15. 1609. your lordships chaplaine in all duty , most humbly to be commanded , richard crakanthorpe . 2. chron. chap. 9. verse 5. and shee saide to the king , it was a true word , which i heard in my owne land of thy sayings , and of thy wisedome . 6. howbeit , i beleeued not their report , vntill i came , and mine eyes had seene it : & behold , the one halfe of thy great wisedome was not tolde mee , for thou exceedest the fame that i heard . 7. happy are thy men , and happy are thy seruants , which stand before thee alway , and heare thy wisedome . 8. blessed bee the lord thy god , which loued thee , to set thee on his throne , as king , in stead of the lorde thy god : because thy god loucth israell , to establish it for euer , therefore hath he made thee king ouer them , to execute iudgement and iustice. 9. then she gaue the king six score talents of gold , and of sweet odours exceeding much , and precious stones . the solemnity of this most ioyfull day , and happy opportunity which god hath giuen vs to celebrate the same , to the glory of his holy name , to the honour of our most religious soueraigne , to the comfort of vs and all his loyall subiectes , but to the confusion of those sonnes of beliall , who hauing euill will at sion , repine and pine away , to see the peace and prosperity of this most flourishing church and kingdome , and to heare of the myrth and melodie in our streets this day , hath mooued me to make choice of these wordes of the queene of sheba to king salomon ; wherein euery one may see both a fit correspondence to our salomon , and a woorthy example of that loue wee all owe to him , and thankesgiuing vnto god , for this so great , and so incstimable a blessing . in the wordes themselues , not to seeke any curious diuision ( which in an history you will not expect ) obserue i pray you with me , foure seuerall pointes , which concerne foure seuerall parties . the first , concernes king salomon ; wherein is set downe a singuler commendation of his wisedome , which exceeded all reports . [ behold the one halfe , &c. ] the second , concernes the people and subiects of king salomon ; wherein is declared their blessed and happy estate , who had salomon a wise king to rule ●…uer them . [ happy are thy seruants . ] the third , concernes almighty god , wherein is expressed a most religious thankesgiuing vnto him , for placing salomon , a wise king ouer his people . [ bl●…ssed bee the lord thy god. ] in which third point , besides many other , two particular branches are especially to be considered : the former , from whom salomon had or held his kingdome , and that was immediately from god , who made him king ouer israel , and placed him in his owne throne , and in his owne stead . [ to set thee on his throne . ] the latter , what moued or induced god , to graunt his people so wise a king ; no merrits nor deserts , eyther of king or people , but onely his owne fauour and free loue to israell . [ because thy god loueth israell . ] the fourth and last point , concernes the queene of sheba ; wherein is set forth , a manifest and outward testification of the honour and honourable respect shee bare toward king salomon , in token whereof , s●…e bestowed on him such royall and magnificent presents : six score talents of gold , sweete odours , and precious stones . [ then shee gaue the king. ] of these seuerall pointes , by the most gracious and helpefull assistance of gods holy spirit , and by your honourable and wonted patience and attention , wee are at this time ( god willing ) to intreat . the first point , concernes the admirable , & ( indeed ) inexplicable wisedome of king salomon , whereof god himselfe is a most sufficient witnesse . wisedome and knowledge is granted vnto thee , so that there hath not bin the like among the kings which were before thee , neither after thee shall th●…re bee the like . 2. chron. 1 , 12. and againe , god gaue salomon wisedome and vnderstanding exceeding much , he was wiser then any man , and a he excelled all the kinges of the earth in wisedome , 1. kings , 4. verse 29 , 31. to goe no further then my text , so famous was he for wisedome among all nations , that there b came of all people vnto him , and all c kinges of the earth sought to heare the wisedome of salomon , which god had put into his hart . and though fame bee not onely a swift messenger , but vsually an amplifier & multiplier of that which it doth report , as saint hierō saith , d ijdem authores , & exaggeratores , yet in this it was quite contrary . the report of this wisedome was such , that it seemed incredible ; and therefore this queene confesseth she belieued it not : but when she had heard it her selfe , and bin an eye and eare-witnesse of all , as one amazed and astonished thereat , she breakes into this admiration thereof , set downe in my text. behold , the one halfe of thy great wisdome was not told mee , thou exceedest the fame that i heard . hauing spoken this of the wisedome of king salomon , may i now presume to speake a word or two of the sacred maiesty of my dread soueraigne ? it is not my purpose to make any paralell to salomon , of whom god himselfe hath saide , that none should be like vnto him : nor take vppon me to set forth vnto you , any portraiture of that wisedom , which no zeuxes nor apelles can otherwise expresse , but onely , by drawing ouer it the vaile or curtaine of timanthu●… , to import , it cannot be expressed . the wisedome of a man , much more of a king , is compared by gods spirit , e to deepe waters , and to a flowing riuer : who am i , to diue into that bottomelesse depth , or with my span to measure the depth and bredth of the maine ocean ? yet with all loyall submission , let mee thus much say , and say much lesse then i do conceiue : neither can this present age , nor al the chronicles ( i say ) not of great brittaine onely , but of all europe , present vnto vs a king , indued with such admirable gifts of learning , iudgement , and memory ; adorned with so many princely and heroicall vertues , iustice , clemency , and wisedome ; especially , with that diuine and heauenly wisedome , which is the fountaine and foundation of all the rest ; with religion , piety , zeale , and constant magnanimity to professe , maintaine , and vphold the truth of god , and of his gospell . which report of mine , if any suppose to be too lauish , and with this queene of sheba beleeue it not , let him well consider , those many , and most religiously wise speeches , vttered in a manner in the hearing of the whole realme : conferences , disputations , free monarchies , but specially , that most learned apologie , for the oath of allegiance against the popes two breues , and that kingly gift , fit onely for a peerelesse king , to giue to a peerelesse prince ; all which are but some few sparkes of that euer-burning lampe , or but small streames , of that euer and ouer-flowing spring , and then hee will bee forced euen with admiration , to professe and say with this queene , as after the hearing and reading of diuers of them , my selfe with many others , haue often said , it was a true word indeed which i h●…ard of thy sayings , and of thy wisedome ; howbeit i beleeued it not , vntill i came , and mine eies had seene it : and beholde , the one halfe of thy great wisedome was not told mee , for thou exceedest the fame that i heard . with which true testimonie of the wisedoms of both these salomons , i end this first point , which concernes the king , and the admiration of his great wisedome . the second point concernes the people and subiects of king salomon , of whom the queene heere saith , that they were blessed & happy , who had salomon a wise king , to rule ouer them . happy are thy people , and happie are thy seruants . nor can there in truth be a greater comfort to any people , or greater safety to any kingdome , then to be gouerned by a wise and prudent king : by a man of vnderstanding and knowledge , a realme indureth long . prou. 28 , 2. a wise man ( much more a wise king ) is as a fortresse and strong piller , to support euen an whole realme : and better is wisedome , then weapons of warre . eccles. 9 , 28. nay , a wise king , is not onely a safety , but euen an happinesse ( as the queene heere saith ) to a kingdom , for so god himselfe doth witnesse . eccl. 10 , 17. blessed art thou , ô land , when thy king is the sonne of nobles , that is by the hebrew f phrase , truely noble , indued with vertue , piety and wisedome , wherein alone consists true nobility . on the contrary , a foolish or childish king , is one of those heauy iudgements and curses , which god in his wrath threatens to bring vpon a land . i wil appoint children to bee their princes , and babes shall rule ouer them . isay 3 , 4. and againe : woe vnto thee ( ô land ) whose king is a child , a child in knowledge , in wisedome , in vnderstanding . ecclesiastes . 10 , 16. the reason of both which , is very euident . a wise king , gouernes with iustice and equity , and the kinges throne is established by righteousnesse . prouerbes 25 , 5. and the king that iudgeth in truth , his throne shall bee established for euer . prou. 29 , 14. againe , a prudent and wise king , as he maintaines iustice , so his principall and chiefe care is , to maintaine and aduance piety and godlinesse , the true & sincere worship of god throughout all his kingdomes . so did holy dauid , of whom it is said , g that he ruled thy people prudently with all his power . and wherein did his prudence appeare ? he was no sooner set vpon the throne , but he assembled all the congregation of israel , and they brought againe the arke of the lord , with singing and dauncing ; with vyols , with cimbals , and with trumpets , 1. chron. 13 , verse 2 , and 8. the like did that most religious and wise king iosiah , he made a couenant before all the people , to walke after the lord , and to keepe his commandements ; and be caused all that were found in ierusalem and beniamin to stand to that couenant , and he compelled all that were found in israel , to serue the lord. whereupon it followed , that all the daies of iosiah , the people turned not backe from the lord. 2. chron. 34 , ver . 31 , 32 , 33. such a blessing the church and the whole kingdome hath , of a prudent , religious , and wise king. on the other side , an irreligious , a wicked and vnwise king or gouernor , by suppressing iustice and equity , and making his lust a law ; impiously saying with the donatists , h quod volumus sanctum est : or as iulia did to i caracalla , si libet , licet ; what i list , that 's a law : such an one is euen a trouble to the whole land , and to his owne people , as eliah said to king ahab , 1. kings 18 , 18. thou and thy fathers house trouble israel , in that you haue forsaken the commandements of the lord : nor onely trouble israel by violent and tyranicall intrusion into the vineyards and lands of naboth , but chiefely , by causing the people to forsake the lord and his worship , and to follow baal , or the calues , as did ieroboam , of whom it is therefore said , that he did euill aboue all that were before him ; and why ? for he did not onely sinne himselfe , but he did sin , and hee caused israell to sinne , 1. kings 14 , verse 9. and 16. you see now what an heauy iudgement and curse an vnwise king is vnto the land and people : but that kingdome is happy , that people , and those subiects are happy , ouer whom salomon a wise and prudent king is placed by the lord. i may truely heere say vnto you , your selues also being witnesse , and say it to the immortell praise of gods name , to the honour of our soueraigne , and to the ioy and comfort of all his people , that in this happinesse , this renowned kingdome , among all , and aboue all nations of the earth is blessed this day . happie o king are thy people , and ●…appie are thy subiects or seruants . it is not my meaning , nor is it fit , to make a panegericall oration in this place at large , therein to recount and amplifie also those manifold blessings , which by the meanes of our salomon , we doe now enioy . yet the more to stirre vs vp to magnifie and blesse gods glorious name , and if it be possible , more also , to loue and honour that sacred maiesty whom god hath chosen to be his royall instrument , whereby so many and great blessings are deriued vnto vs ; i may not omit to mention some few which are most eminent , commending the rest to your priuate & religious consideration . the first is our long tranquility and happie peace , with all the blessings and blessed fruites of peace . a blessing which god began to bestow on this land , at the ioyful entrance of our late soueraigne qveene elizabeth , whose sacred spirite doth now rest and raigne with the lord , but her memory shall bee blessed and eternized in the world for euer ; when all those venomous k and viperous tongues ( set on fire by hell ) which now in vaine bark against her , and seeke to staine her spotlesse honour , shall rot , and be euen as the dung vpon the earth . hauing enioyed long and happy peace , vnder her long and happy raigne , it was expected by the agents and vassals of antichrist , that the day which ended her life , should haue ended all our comforts , and beene to vs a dismall day , a day of murthers and massacres , a day of warres , of tumult , and of vtter desolation ; one of their owne false prophets l with a lying spirit in his mouth , foretelling of that day , catholici quidem dimicabunt , at that day they will fight it out indeed . behold , hee that sits in heauen laught them to scorne , the lorde had them in derision . himselfe placed in his owne throne , after dauid , saloman ; a m man of rest and peace , sor god hath giuen him , and in him to vs , rest and peace from all his , and our enemies , round about . and loe , this is now more then the fiftieth yeare , wherein the people of this lande , in abundance of peac●… sat ( as the prophet n saieth ) euery man vnder his owne vine , and vnder his owne fig-tree without danger . such , so long , and so happy peace , neuer did our fathers nor ancestors see before vs in this land ; nor haue any of all the nations and neighbour-kingdomes enioyed the like , who in the meane time haue beene wearied and wasted , either with forraigne or with intestine warre . yea , and this very day which they had cruelly designed to weeping , mourning and lamentation , god by the happy meanes of our salomon , hath turned it ( as we all now see ) to a day of mirth and melodie ; a day offeasting , singing , and reioycing ; a day of praise and thankesgiuing to his blessed name , which be therefore magnified and praised , and blessed for euermore . a second blessing , which vnder our salomon this whole empire enioyeth , is the sincere profession of gods holy truth , the blessed continuance , yea the establishment also ther●…of among vs. the extinguishing of this most glorious light , hath bin often wished , by most malicious and diuellish deuises attempted , and at the chaunge of our late soueraigne , was vndoubtedly expected . but the wisedome of our salomon , knowing that piety and religion is the surest prop to a kingdome , ( like constantine o the great ) made it his first care , by his most religious edicts and lawes , p to establish gods truth , and true worship in the land . assuring further , & protesting his ardent zeale for euer to vphold and maintain the same : and that so often , in so many honourable and publicke assemblies , with such vehemency of speech , in so many learned and diuine writings , published to the view of the world , with so religious and royall promises , nor this onely for himselfe , but in assured hope also of the most happy braunches of that most happy vine : that now , blessed bee god , that cursing balaam , and his cursed priests of baal , which ere this , hoped , and vaunted in their hopes , to haue seene baal , or moloch , or the queene of heauen , and the whole hoast thereof ; nay , the very abhomination of desolation set vp in our temples , do now gnash their teeth at this our felicity , and their hearts doe euen languish , and faint , and pine away , to see the truth o●… god so sincerely professed , so constantly maintained , both by king and people , so assuredly setled , and as we may iustly hope , and do hartily pray , euen for euer established in this land. the greatnesse and indeed the happinesse of this blessing , my tongue cannot possiblie expresse vnto you , nor can our s●…allow hearts sufficiently conceiue thereof . we neuer saw those marian and bloudy dayes , wherein for the people of god to haue beene acquainted with the q gospell and word of god , was haeresie , not to haue falne down before the calfe , and adored the beast , was no lesse then fire and faggot , and what else the rage and furie of that beast could adde vnto it . we neuer felt nor knew those antechristian , and more then barbarous inquisitions , r to the tyranny and vnexpressable torments whereof , the bull of phalar●…s , the alter of busiris , and those primitiue persecutions vnder heathen tyrants , were almost but ludus & iocus ; death it selfe , euen a pleasure to the rage of that beast , which needs not learne of caligula , s i●…a feri vt sentiat se mori , torment them so , that they may sensibly feele death , and yet not die . and yet all this is as nothing to their spirituall bondage . they may not buy , t nor sell , nor liue , nor breath , vnlesse they receiue the marke of the beast . they may not teach u ought , they may not beleeue x ought , no not so much as the scriptures y to bee the word of god : no , not that there is a god , vnlesse the beast say so , and what soeuer the beast saith , that without all scruple must be receiued as an oracle z of god , and an vndoubted article of their faith. consider but in one point what themselues doe teach and professe , concerning rome , which is the sea of that beast . they cannot indure a to heare it called the seate of antichrist , but yet they willingly professe , and foundly proue rome to be that babylon , b whereof s. iohn prophesieth ; that very babylon i say , which is the c mother of whoredomes and abhominations of the earth , which d hath made all nations drink of the wine of her fornications , and her selfe is drunk e with the bloud of the saints and martyrs , whose destruction and vtter desolation is fore-shewed by the apostle . f thus much themselues professe and prooue concerning rome . now , though some of g them , very childishly indeed , haue supposed onely the old and heathnish rome , to bee meant thereby ; yet who fo pleaseth to read ribera the iesuite , in his commentarie vpon the 14. of the reuelation , shall see him by many euident and vndeniable demonstrations , declare and proue ; first , rome to be that very babylon h where of saint iohn speaketh ; and secondly , euen that rome i to be babylon , which shall remaine neere vnto the end of the world . of his large treatise , let mee alledge some few wordes of his . quoniam dubium non est ; because ( saith he ) k there is no doubt , but that babylon is the very shop and store-house of al idolatry , and of all wickednesse : if we haue already proued ( as before he had ) rome to be babylon , dubitari non potest , quin roma prope finem saeculi haec omnia habitura sit , it cannot be doubted , but that rome toward the end of the world , shall leaue all these ; to wit , all idolatries , and all abhominations . and againe , that rome shall be l burned and consumed with a mighty fire , not onely for her old sinnes , when it was heathnish , but for those also , which in * the last times it shall commit , ad●…o perspicue cognoscimus . we know it ( saith he ) so euidently by the words of this reu●…lation , vi ne stultis●…imus quidem negare possit , that the veriest foole cannot deny it . and yet their great cardinall bellarmine and the rhemistes , blush not to denie it ; whose sentence and doome , their owne iesuite hath ( as you see ) pronounced . and then citing the words of the apostle , m babylon the great citty is falne , which hath made all nations drinke of her fornications ; hee addes , n haec qui leget , who so reades these things , may thinke them to be spoken of those , who liued before s. ioha , or in his time ; and this is true : but they are also spoken of those , qui extremo mundi tempore 〈◊〉 , & cum ea fornicabuntur , who shall liue ( at rome ) in the last time of the worlde , and commit fornication with her . whereof hee giues a cleare proofe out of the apostle , o the marchants and louers of babylon ( that is , of rome ) shall weepe and waile , and say ; alas , alas , the great citty in one houre is made desolate , vtrum illi lugebunt ; whether ( saith ribera ) p shal they lament thus , which are dead a thousand yeares since and more , an qui tunc viuent et videbunt fumum incendij eius ? or they , who shall then liue , ( when rome is consumed ) and shall see the smoake of her fire ? ex quo manifeste p●…rspicitur , by which it is manifestly perspicuous , that the sinnes which rome shall perpetrate in the last times , shall bee altogether like those , which it committed vnder the heathen emp●…rors ; that is , as himselfe q expoundeth it , there shall bee then in rome , summa idolatriae omnis , & omnium peccatorum licentia , the greatest licence or allowance of all idolatry , and of all sinnes , and so turned r into a very sinke of nefarious mischiefes . thus writes their owne iesuite ribera . seeing then it is not rome heathnish , which many hundreds of yeares since is out of date , but that rome which as yet is to fal , and to be burned with fire , & which shall remaine neare to the end of the world , as ribera truly doth demonstrate , which the spirit of god calleth babylon , & whose eternall destruction is foreshewed by the lord : seeing againe , as bellarmine s of purpose proueth , and saieth , t that it is pia et probabilissima sententia , a pious and most probable sentence , that peters chaire cannot be seperated or remoued from u rome , and that therefore the roman church , euen the particular church of rome absolute , non possit 〈◊〉 nec deficere , absolutely cannot erre , not faile , nor cease , but rome shall continue christian , yea popish , professing their present popish faith , vnto the very end x and destruction thereof : which by the calculation of this worthy prognosticator , must precisely fall out within three y yeares and an halfe of the end of the worlde : it is hence euidently and ineuitably consequent , that the present popish rome , professing their present popish faith , from which , as the cardinall saith , it shall neuer faile nor fall away , is that very same babylon , which is the mother of idolatries and all abhominations , & which shall most vndoubtedly receiue those iudgements of desolation & eternall condemnation from the lord. what a wofull and miserable thing is it then , to bee a papist , a member of the church of rome , or ( which is all one ) of babylon ? especially , seeing god himselfe hath foretolde , apocalipse 18 , 4. that they who pertake of her sinnes , shall receiue also of her plagues . and againe , apocalipse 14 , 9 , 10. if any receiue the marke of the beast , ( that is subiection vnto him ) the same , vnlesse hee repent z and goe out of babylon , shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of god , and bee tormented in fire and brimstone , before the holy angelles , and before the lambe . thinke now with your selues , what a blessing and happinesse wee do all inioy , who vnder the most religious raigne of our soueraigne , are freed and secured from that iron , and more then babylonish captiuity : who in aboundance of peace and tranquility , liue to serue god in bethel , and at iervsalem , in the house of god and citty of peace , not in beth-aven , not in babylon , in the house of vanity , of confusion and vtter desolation . let me say yet one thing more : whereas the spirite of god hath fore-told , a that sundrie kings and kingdomes loathing and detesting the abhominations and idolatries of babylon , which is confessed to bee rome , shall not onely forsake the whore , but hate her , and make her desolate and naked , and burne her with fire ; which prophesie is in part begunne b to bee fulfilled , but in due time shall be fully accomplished . though i am no prophet , nor sonne of a prophet , that i can deuine , yet as one of those who expect and pray for the performance of gods promise , and full deliuerance of all his people , from that miserable thraldom , c crying ; how long lord , holy and true , doest thou not auenge our blood . it may well i say be hoped , considering the piety , zeale , and magnanimity of our most religious soueraigne , that either himselfe , or some of his most happy and religious off-spring , shall be the very generall , the first and chiefe leaders of the armies of the lord of hoastes against babylon , and so not onely giue cause to all the people of god , with endlesse ioy to sing that triumphant song for the ruine thereof foretold by the apostle . apoc. 18 , 20. o heauen reioyce of her , and ye holy apostles and prophets reioyce , for god hath giuen your iudgement of the whore ; but purchase also to themselues , that blessing and happinesse , which god hath promised , d & wil vndoubtedly performe to the ruinaters & destroyers thereof . o daughter of babylon , wasted with misery , happy shal he be that rewardeth thee , as thou hast serued vs , blessed shall hee bee which taketh thy children , & dasheth them against the stones . to this blessing of piety and religion , let me adioyne another of neerest affinity , and which is also a speciall meanes to continue the former happines vnto vs ; to wit , the peaceable and happy setling of the ecclesiasticall gouernment and affaires of our church . would to god that tumult in the church , might neuer be remembred , but buried in eternall obliuion , which the new donatists of this age haue made : who e like those f in saint austens time can abide no spot nor wrinckle in the church : who cry vnto others ; depart , g depart ye , go out from thence , and touch no vnclean thing , or stand h apart , and come not neare vs , wee are holier then you ; and who glorying , as s. austen i sheweth in these words of the apostle . k take away euill from among you , ad sacrilegium scismatis , & occasionem praecisionis vsurpant : they abuse those apostolicall words , to make a scisme , which is sacriledge , and for an occasion of praecision , of cutting off , and seperating themselues from the true church of god , which by a late learned man l is condemned for diabolicall , though otherwise a man liue an angelicall life . but alas , it is too apparent to the world , & the church which hath felt the smart thereof , hath grieued and groned to see her owne children , whom she hath nourished , and tenderly brought vp , to rebell against her , and with corah , dathan and abyram , to go apart , and make a faction against moses and aaron , and with disdainefull insolency to say m vnto them , moses and aaron , ye take too much vpon you , seeing all the congregation is holy , wherefore lift ye vp your selues aboue the congregation of the lord. nay though the church out of the tendernesse of a mothers compassion , would willingly couer and conceale all these wronges , yet are they too well knowne in gath , and published in the streets of askalon ; and the vncircumcised philistims by these mens occasion , haue and do daily blaspheme the name of god , and his glorious truth and gospell , which we do professe : who reioycing in our discordes , and saying among themselues ; there , there , so would we haue it , do euen laugh and triumph , to see how those who should haue turned their edge against amalecke and babylon , the enemies of the lord , haue bin most sharpely whetted , and seditiously backed also , to wound their owne mother ; and those , who in the church are like eliah , n the very chariots and horsemen of israel . it is not my purpose at this time to intreat , eyther of the dignity , or of the diuine and sacred authoritie of those most reuerend fathers of the church , which in another very learned and academicall assembly , i haue some yeares o since at large demonstrated , to haue an assured and vndeniable warrant , not onely from all antiquity and the renowned practise of the whole primitiue church , but euen from the apostles themselues , and from the diuine institution and ordinance of the lord. nor is it my purpose at this time , to make euident vnto you , how that imperious , nay rather imperiall , presbiteriall consistory , which those new builders had fancied ; besides that , it wants all ground of scripture and of antiquity , is in truth , and in experience would prooue , a very seminary of sedition , and a sanctuary to euery turbulent and seditious gracchus , both in church and kingdome . nor was it possible , that a fancy so repugnant to scriptures , fathers , and all antiquity , so contrary to the peace and tranquility both of church and kingdome , could euer haue found like entertainment , if the maintainers and abetters thereof had not bin guided , nay blinded with two most dangerous affections both for church and common-wealth , affectation of singularitie , and of popularity . that which i would onely mention at this time , is the great blessing , which by the happy meanes of our salomon we now enioy ; who seeing , and grieuing to see a rent in gods church , himselfe like p phinees , stood in the gap , and with more then princely clemency and moderation , made vp the breach , appeased those affaires , and remoued that shame and reproach from israel , which the vnquietnesse of contentious spirits , had brought vppon it . who being wise as the angell of the lorde , according to the aboundance of that admirable and diuine wisedome , wherewith god hath extraordinarily filled his royall heart , hath firmely setled and established the arke of the lord vpon those holy mountaines of sion , on which , euen from the most pure and primitiue dayes of the church , and from the apostles themselues it had euer rested . which if their fancy might haue preuailed , had long since not onely beene remooued from sion , but placed also as did the philistims place it . 1. sam. 6 , 11. most basely and totteringly , and disgracefully euen set vpon a cart. in the happy establishing whereof , though some fewe as the eckronites q haue bin iustly smitten of the lord , because they neither had right , nor bare sincere loue to the arke of god , whose cure also hath beene sought , & that with most tender and fatherly care and compassion : but such is the zeale of opposition , and predominancy of popularity and contentious humors , that by no demonstrations of reason will they be perswaded , no , not when they are indeed perswaded ; by no authority will they be mo●…ed , no , not by that sacred and soueraigne , which god himselfe hath appointed in many of those affaires , to bee the very canon and rule of right : though some fewe of these , i say , may repine heereat , yet shall it euer be the honour , yea , the felicity and safety also of our soueraigne , to haue those holy aarons to support his princely hands : and this shall euer be reckoned as a speciall , and as it is in truth , euen a rare blessing of god vpon this church and kingdome , by all those , whosoeuer not in shew , but in sincerity and truth , wish to see peace in sion , and prosperity in ierusalem . i must in silence passe by many other and great blessings , which by the meanes of our salomon , are heaped vpon vs. but let my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth , if i forget that one most memorable happinesse , which wee all receiued by him on that fift of nouember . that one day shall be for euer a most glorious . tro ▪ haeum , and euerlasting monument , both of his most blessed and vnspeakable wisedom , and of the infinit blessings which by him we haue all receiued . by it , wee enioy not onely our goods , our lands , our liuings , our liberty , our religion ; but euen this , that we liue and breath this day , we owe it to him , and to his wisedome . it was not the loue nor loyalty of his , though most louing and loyall subiects , which preuented that sudden and secret blow , that should at once haue dispatched and blowne vp all . it was not the prudence and vigilancie of those thrice-noble woorthies of king dauid ; the golden pillers of israel , though a most wise , and a most honourable senate . all may , and all willingly doe disclaime the praise of that day . the whole honour of that most wonderfull , and withall , most happy deliuerance , must bee giuen first to thee , o most glorious , and most gracious god , and next after thee to thine annointed alone . thou didst fill his hart , as thou didst sometime the hart of thy holy prophet daniel , with wisedome frō aboue to r discouer the deepe and secret thinges , and to know what is in darknesse . and he being full of thy spirit , to the endlesse comfort of this empire , and of all his loiall subiectes , discouered indeede that darke and secret speech , that darke and secret vaut , that darke , secret , and hellish treason , & so kept off that imminent blow , which would haue proued fatall to him , to vs , and to all his kingdomes . the happinesse of that day , & of thy wisedome ( o gracious king ) our histories and chronicles shal commend , our lawes and statutes shall record to all eternity . euery citty , towne , and village , euery church in this land , euery degree of thy people , from the tallest caeder , to the very shrubbe , shall sing and sound foorth thy noble praise . and as the israelites did s in honor of iosiah , euery tribe and family shall praise thee apart , and their wiues apart : the royall and princely tribe of iuda shall prayse thee apart , and the holy tribe of leuie shall praise thee apart : the nobility shall praise thee apart : the gentry & commons shall praise thee apart : the students of a●…professions shal praise thee apart : the men of warre , and the men of peace shall praise thee apart : yea , euery house , & euery family throughout all israell shall praise thee apart . we in this age will speake of thy praise to our children , & our children , to their childrens children , vnto all generations . and if it were possible that we or our posteritie could bee silent herein , yet the magnificent and princely buildings and monumentes , in these two famous and renowned citties , the very wood and wals of these houses , & stones in these streets , euen with their dumb eloquence , would sing aloud , and sound foorth thy noble praise : all which in their kinds are pertakers of that happines , which vnder thee , and by thee , we then all receiued . iudge now with your selues , if besides many and great blessinges which i haue purposely omitted , for these so great and indeed inualuable blessings which by the happy meanes of our salomon we doe enioy , we may not all most iustly say to him , as did the queene of sheba to king salomon : [ happy o king are thy people , and happy are thy seruants . ] shall i further here adde , whereof this queene is silent in that king of israel , that the wisedom of our salomon is an happinesse , not onely to his owne people and subiectes , but euen to strangers also ? the gracious beames there of like those of the sunne , spreading themselues to far and forraine countries ; yea , to the vtmost coastes of this and the other world . to omit many other and euident proofes hereof , euen that which beeing the chiefe , if time would suffer ought not to bee omitted , that with such constancy and zeale , himselfe holds forth a glorious lampe of piety , and true religion vnto all christian kings and kingdomes , performing heerein that which gods spirite hath noted t as the greatest part of wisdome , the more wise the king was , the more he taught them knowledge , & caused them to heare : but omitting these , let the honourable expedition now happily intended for virginea be a witnesse : enterprised , i say not auspicijs , but by the most wise & religious direction and protection of our chiefest pilot , seconded by so many honorable and worthy personages in this state and kingdome , that it may iustly giue encouragement with alacrity and cheerefulnesse for some to vndertake , for others to further so noble & so religious an attempt . i may not stay in this straightnes of time , to mention , much lesse set forth vnto you , the great and manifold benefits which may redound to this our so populous a nation , by planting an english colony in a territory as large and spacious almost as is england , and in a soyle so rich , fertill , and fruitefull , as that besides the sufficiencyes it naturally yealds for it selfe , may with best conuenience , supply some of the greatest wantes and necessities of these kingdomes . of these and such like particulars i will not now intreat , though i could commend them by more then ordinary and vulgar report vnto you . but that happinesse which i mentioned , is an happie and glorious worke indeede , of planting among those poore and sauage , and to be pittied virginians , not onely humanitie , instead of brutish inciuility , but religion also , piety , the true knowledge and sincere worship of god , where his name is not heard off : and reducing those to faith and saluation by christ ▪ who as yet in the blindnesse of their infidelity and superstition , doe offer sacrifice , yea , euen themselues vnto the diuell . this being the religious and honourable intendment of this enterprise , what glory shall heereby redound vnto god ? what honour to our soueraigne ? what comfort to those his subiects , who shall be the meanes or furtherers of so happy a worke , not only to see a new brittaine in another world , but to heare also those , as yet heathen , barbarous , and brutish people , together with our english , to learne the speech and language of canaan : and next after their hymnes and alleluia●…es vnto god , to sound forth the honour and happinesse of our soueraigne ; not onely saying with this queene of sheba , happy are thy people , and thy subiects , but happy are wee and others , that were strangers to you ; yea strangers and aliants to god , happy are we by thee , and by thy wisedome . and this be spoken of the second generall point , which concernes the people and their happinesse , by hauing salomon a wise and prudent king to rule ouer them . the third generall point concernes almighty god , and containes a thankesgiuing to him , for setting salomon a wise king to rule ouer his people . blessed bee the lorde thy god which set thee on his throne . the acknowledgement in this queene , of the true god of israel , of his diuine prouidence , and omnipotent power in placing salomon in his owne throne ; of his goodnesse and loue to israel , whom hee would establish for euer ; of his righteousnesse , in that hee would haue his people gouerned by iustice and iudgement ; specially this her religious thankesgiuing vnto god , for this blessing bestowed on his people ; all these are so many euident demonstrations of her true knowledge of god , of her loue to god , and gods children , of her sincere piety , and religious seruing of god ; & that though by nature she was a gentile , and aliant from god , yet was she by his speciall grace one of those primitiae gentium , which were ingrafted into the true oliue , and made pertakers of the fatnesse thereof , and of those heauenly blessings stored vp in iesus christ. but i purposely omit all these particulers . the onely point which i would now commend vnto you is , what a motiue and prouocation this ought to bee for vs all , to laud and magnifie the lord , for placing so wise and religious a king ouer vs and all these kingdomes . king salomon was but a stranger to this queene , who yet as you see is so thankfull to god : he so farre from being a stranger to vs , that we may say as did the tribes of israel to king dauid . 2. sam. 5 , 1. we are thy bones , and thy flesh . she being but a soiourner for a very short time in that kingdome , could not long pertake the benefit of his instructions , nor of peace and protection by his iustice and iudgement : but we from our salomon , receiue continuall influence of his diuine both sacred and politicall wisedome , continuall protection vnder his sacred shield , continuall tranqu●…lity vnder his most iust , equall , and wholsome lawes , both ecclesiasticall and ciuill : how much more then should our mouths be filled with praises and blessings vnto the lord our god ? and how religiously should we say as she did ; blessed be the lord thy god , which loued thee , to set thee on his throne . i doubt not , but for these blessings of the lord , often times in your priuate houses and chambers , ye sing hymnes and psalmes with a grace in your heartes vnto the lord. but because for these publicke and extraordinary blessinges , god lookes for publicke and extraordinary praises at our hands ; because we are now assembled in this place , as at the temple of ierusalem , of purpose to offer the sweet sacrifice and incense of our lippes vnto god , and this day both before men and angels , to testifie our thanksgiuing vnto god , our loue and ▪ loyaltie to our soueraigne . let euery one of you prouoke & stirre vp another , and suffer me as one of the trumpeters of the lord to excite vs all , and stirre vp your prepared hearts , and religious affections , for all and euery of these blessings , to laud and magnifie the glorious name of god , and if it be possible , by some extraordinary straine of our vnited thankes , to pierce the very skies , and giue an eccho to those celestiall quires , singing halleluiah , halleluiah , honour , and praise , and glory , be vnto god , & to the lamb for euermore . first , for that aboundance of our continued and happy peace , let vs say with the prophet , u praise the lord , o ierusalem , praise thy god , o sion , for he hath made fast the barres of thy gates , and blessed thy children within thee : he maketh peace in thy borders , and filleth thee with the flower of wheat . for establishing togither with this peace , his holy temple and sanctuary among vs , and in it the true and sincere worship of his holy name , o that wee could expresse the like ioy , as did the israelites for their temple which salomon built and established among them ! all the congregation assembled therein , the leuites and singers of all sortes , of asaph , heman , and ieduthun , being clad in fine linnen , stood with cimbals , with vyols , & with harpes , at the east end of the altar , and with them an hundered and twenty priests blowing with trumpets , & they were all but as one man , and made but one sound to be heard in praising the lorde . 2. chron. 5 , 12 , 13. but because the pompe and beauty of the second temple , is euen as nothing to the first , let vs yet with the best trumpets of our hearts and tongues , and with all our most solemne instruments of musick , sing that psalme of thanksgiuing , which they then did vnto god ; praise the lord , for he is good , and his mercy indureth for euer . praise the lord. like ioy and thankesgiuing let vs all shew for the arke of the lord , which by the meanes of our salomon , according to gods owne ordinance is established on those holy mountaines of sion , of which the lord hath saide , heere will i dwell , for i haue a delight therein . yea , let vs for these blessings , not onely sing and reioyce , but with the kingly prophet , x euen shoute , and daunce with all our might before the lorde . for which , howsoeuer some michols of babylon , or of the house of saule , shall scoffe and scorne , and tauntingly say vnto vs. o how glorious are you for the temple , and for the arke this day ! yet this is our comfort , and shall for euer bee our honour , that in vprightnesse of heart , we can truly say with that man of god : it is before the lord , who hath chosen vs , and not your fathers house , and who hath commaunded vs to rule ouer the people of god : and therefore will wee sing , and play , and daunce ; yea , and be more vile also then thus before the lorde . and euen of those maide-seruants of israel , of whom you spake , that is , of the holy church of god , shall we be had in honor . but for those scoffing michols of the reiected house of saule , and those blaspheming rabsekaes of assyria , they shall be as chaffe scattered before the winde , and as dung swept away from the presence of the lord , and from the face of the earth . but what can we render vnto god , or say vnto him for that most rare and woonderfull deliuerance ? let vs say with the israelites , after the like deliuery from the iawes of pharaoh and the red sea . exod. 15 , ver . 1 , 2 , 11. we will sing vnto the lord , for he hath triumphed gloriously . who is like vnto thee o lord ; glorious in holines , fearefull in praises & doing wonders : the lord is my strength & praise , & is become my saluation : he is my god , and i will praise him ▪ he is my fathers god , and i will exalt him . or let vs sing that psalme y of the whole church . if the lord himselfe had not beene on our side , may israel now say . they had swallowed vs vp quicke when they were so wrathfully displeased at vs. the waters ; nay , the raging fires had deuoured vs , the flames had gone ouer our soule . praised bee the lord , which hath not giuen vs ouer for a prey vnto their teeth . lastly , for all these , and for all other the blessinges of the lord ; specially , for his sacred maiesty , vnder whom , and by whom wee liue , and liue to enioy them all ; let vs with one heart and minde sing that last psalme of the prophet : o praise god in his holinesse , praise him in the firmament of his power ; praise him in his noble actes , praise him according to his excellent greatnesse : praise him in the sounde of the trumpet , praise him vppon the lute and harpe , praise him in the cimbals and daunces , praise him vpon the strings and pipe : praise him vpon the well-tuned cimbals , praise him vpon the loud cimbals . let euery thing that hath breath , praise the lord. and this be spoken of the thankesgiuing to god , for placing salomon a wise king ouer his people . in this thankesgiuing , we before obserued two particular branches . the former was , from whom king salomon had and held his kingdome . of which it is heere shewed , that he had it neither from the priest , nor from the people , but immediately from god ; and therefore , it is expressely heere said , [ god made thee king ouer israel and he set thee on the throne ] not the priest , not the people , but god made him king , and god set him on the throne . for further euidence whereof , it is heere added that salomon was set in the throne , neither of the priest , nor of the people , but he was set in gods owne throne , as king , & set there in gods steed , as one immediately represeuting gods owne person among them , and beeing his immediate vice-gerent , or lieutenant ouer all israel . to this purpose , the scriptures , not onely in generall call kings the ministers or lieutenants of god , rom. 13 , 4. and saith , that god sets vp kinges and giues kingdoms , daniel 2. 21. 37. but particularly also noteth this immediate designment of god in many of them : as of dauid , the lord chose him to be king , and delighted in him to make him king ouer all israell . 1. chron. 28 , 4. of saul , the lord hath annointed thee to be gouernor ouer his inheritance , 1. sam. 10. 1. of hasael and iehu , god saide vnto the prophet , annoint hasael king ouer aram , and iehu shalt thou annoint king ouer israel , 1. king. 19 , 15. and to omit others of salomon , whom our text mentioneth : god chose salomon to sit vpon the throne , and he said of salomon ; i will stablish his kingdome for euer . 1. chron. 28 , 5 , 7. the describer a of the victory and glorious tryumphe , as he b calles it , which pope clement 8. got ouer henry 4. the present french king , at his vnhappy reuolt and subiection to the man of sin , among other pageants of that tryumph tels vs , that whereas some curious french polititians ( as he c tearmes them ) doe maintaine , the king to d hold his kingdome immediately from god , that this h●…beatur res maximè ridicula romae : is at rome accounted a ridiculous , nay , a most ridiculous matter . indeed it is no newes nor maruell , that the sacred truth of god should bee blasphemed , and made a very iest and laughing-stocke at rome , which is the mother of abhominations , as themselues e professe , and which hath a name of blasphemie f in her fore-head , and hath inlarged her mouth to blaspheme god and his tabernacle . where if any doctrine distast the beast , or want his allowance , not this onely , and such like sacred truthes , but euen the sacred scriptures themselues shall bee made a iest , and no better esteemed then are aesops fables , as you may perceiue both by car linall hosius , g and by gretzer , h the late defender of bellarmine , the most scurrile writer that this or the former age hath seene ; who shames not to excuse that very speech and comparison , from falsity , from impiety , and from blasphemy . but howsoeuer this doctrine be by the romanists i condemned , and in these dayes counted at rome most ridiculous , yet both in it selfe it is most sacred , being grounded as you haue seene vppon the word of god , and as most sacred hath it beene esteemed in the primatiue church , among the ancient fathers , and godly writers of all ages . it was most sacred in the daies of tertullian , who liued in the next age to the apostles . in his booke ad scapulam , ca. 2. colimus imperatorem vt hominem à deo secundum , et quicquid est à deo consequutum , & solo deo minorem ▪ we christians ( saith hee ) doe honour the emperor as a man , next or immediate vnto god , inferior to none but god , and whatsoeuer he hath ( in respect of his imperiall authority ) he hath it from god. and againe , most excellently in his apologeticall against the gentiles , cap. 30. christians ( saith he ) doe know , who it is that giues the empyre vnto caesars ; euen god alone : in cuius solius potestate su●…t , vnder whose onely power and authoriry they are : à quo sunt secundi , post quem primi , ante omnes & supra omnes deos , atque l homines : from which god , emperors are the second , after whom they are the first ; before all , and aboue all other , both gods and liuing men . inde est imperaetor , vnde est & homo antequam imperator , inde potestas illi vnde et spiritus : he makes him emperour , who made him a man before he was emperor ; from him hee hath his scepter , from whom he hath his soule . what could be spoken more diuinely ? what more eloquently ? what more effectually for the imperiall authority of kinges , immediatly and onely deriued from god , immediatly depending of god , and of god alone ? and all this was spoken in those ancient and primitiue dayes of the gospell , not in the person of tertullian onely , but as the iudgement and iust defence of all the christians , and of the church , as at that time ; yea , euen of the whole church of r●…me it selfe , then catholike and apostolicall , where tertullian liued and writ this , though the very same doctrine in the present apostaticall , antichristian , and babylonish rome bee made a very iest , and accounted as you haue heard a most ridiculous matter . it was sacred to optatus , bishop of meliuis , who in his 3. booke m against permenian , most diuinely saith : super imperatorē non est nisi deus solus , qui s●…cit impera●…orē : there is none at all aboue the emperor , but god onely who made the emperour . sacred to s. chrysostome , who speaking of theodosius the great , in his 2. homilie , ad pop. antioch saith of him : parem non habet vllum super terram , summitas & caput omnium super terrā hominū : the emperor hath not his peere or equal vpon earth , he is the highest , and head of al men vpon earth . sacred to saint ambrose , who in his apologie of dauid n saith ; that kings are not subiect , nor obnoxious to any humaine lawes , tuti imperij potestate , beeing freed by the highnesse of their imperiall authority , but yet they are subiect to god , vnto whom king dauid said : to thee only haue i sinned . sacred to s. austen , who often saith , o that it is god who giues earthly kingdomes , whether to good or bad : and when kings command that which is good , per illos non iubet nisi christus , none commaunds by them , but onely christ. epist. 166. and yet had kinges depended on any superior power , their commaunds should haue beene both christs , and his also to whom they had beene subiect . sacred to their owne pope gregory the first ; great i confesse for learning , but in acknowledgement of this truth , which is now at rome so ridiculous , farre greater . in his 2. book of epist. ca. 100. he thus writes of mauritius the emperor . potestas super omnes homines , dominorum meorum pietati caelitus data est . first , he cals the emperor his lord , then he faith , power and authority is giuen vnto him , but from whom ? caelitus , euen from god , and from heauen . i , but perhaps with a subordination or mediation of some other . no ( saith pope gregory ) it is giuen him aboue , and ouer all other persons whatsoeuer ; and therefore without any dependance of men , who are all inferiors to him , & so immediately depending and deriued from god , who alone ( as this pope truely saith ) is aboue the emperour . omitting the succession of other ages , let me adioyn to these , two other most memorable examples , and of far later times : the one in the roman , which is electiue ; the other , in our english , which is an hereditary kingdome . about 300. yeares since , when some depressed the imperial authority , as depending on some other besides god. lewes of bauare then emperor , not onely by his edict declared and proued , that the empire was held à solo (p) deo , et immeditate à deo ; from god alone , & immediately from god , which out of their owne canon (q) law hee further proueth , as may be seene in the history of nauclerus , vpon the yeare 1338. but further , legem sanciuit , the emperour made and published a law , & that most deliberately ; omni ambiguitate per sacra●…um literarum antistites maturè solerterque discussa : all doubts and ambiguities beeing leisurably and soundly discussed : some part of which imperial law being worthy not the reading onely or hearing , but ingrauing in golden letters vpon the wals of our houses , & posts of our doores , i haue thought requisite to recite vnto you . de consi●…io et consensu , by the counsell and consent of the electors and other princes we declare : imperialem dignitatē et potestatem à solo d●…o pendere , that the imperiall dignity & authority depends only of god. and whosoeuer shall presume to affirme , or consent to others , affirming ought against this decree , we depriue them , and hereby do decree them iure et facto , both in right , and indeed to be depriued of al their freeholds r or farmes , & of all their priuileges which they hold of the empire , et insuper eos crim●…n laesa mai●…statis incurrisse : and further wee decree and declare , such to haue incurred the crime of high treason , and to be subiect to all those punishments which are infflicted vpon traitors . these are the very words of that imperiall law , as you may see them set downe , and much more to this purpose . in hieron ▪ balbus , one of their owne popish bishops , in his booke de coronatione , dedicated vnto charles the fift , the emperor . pag. 39. and 40. of that booke . the other testimony is an authenticall record also of no lesse moment , and somewhat of a later time . a statute made in the 16. yeare of king richard 2. cap. 5. of purpose to keepe sacred and inuiolable the soueraignety and regality of this kingdome . it was therein declared , that the crowne of england hath beene so free at all times ( not then onely , but which is specially to bee remembered at all times ) that it hath beene in subiection to no realme , but immediately subiect to god , and to none other , in all thinges touching the regalty of the same . these are the words in that statute , besides diuers other tending hereunto , in defence of which statute they in the parliament then assembled , promised to liue and die , as it is there noted . by al which it is euident , that this doctrine which now at rome is counted most ridiculous , is in it self most sacred , as being grounded on the scriptures of god ; and as most sacred hath bin embraced by all the christians in the primitiue church ; taught and maintained with a generall consent by the ancient and godly fathers in their seuerall ages and successions : constantly defended by whole kingdoms and empires , and that vnder paine of high treason to the gainesayers thereof , euen in those later times also , when superstition had dimd , i cōfesse , but not quite extinguished and put out the truth , and ( which is far worse ) the loue of the truth , as it may iustly be feared , it hath done at this day in rome , and in those of their sect , who to error and heresie haue added not onely obstinacy , but blasphemy , like new lucians scoffing the sacred truth of god , accounting it a most a ridiculous matter . may i with your patience proceed a litle further in this argument , to consider ( which is in truth worthy your consideration ; seeing these men will not allow kinges and emperours to hold immediately from god , which being the most honourable , is most fit to bee a regall tenure ) to whom else they would haue them bee beholden , and to doe homage and fealty for their crownes and kingdomes . and to whom else thinke you but to the vtter enemie of god , to that man of sinne , and sonne of perdition , who exalts himselfe indeed , as the apostle s saith , and whom they also haue exalted aboue all : exalting him first from a christian byshop , to an antichristian pope , and then from a pope or pastor , to a temporall king & supreame monarch of all , whose soueraignty must be ouer al kings and people , and his dominion ouer all lands , goods , and possessions in the whole world . euen of this man of sinne , must all kings hold their crownes and kingdomes , and that in the most base & seruile tenure that can be deuised , holding thē as tenants at will , ex pontificis mero fauore & gratia , by the meere fauor & good wil of the pope ; as the vaine triumpher t affirmes of the kingdome of france . these to be their resolued positions , you may cleerely perceiue by franciscus bozius , who professedly sets down , and vndertakes , by the helpe of god and saint peter , to proue thus much , u supremam iurisdictionē temporalem esse penes petri. successores ita vt idem sit hierarcha , et monarcha in omnibus , that the supreame temporall iurisdiction belongs to the pope , so that hee is both an hierarch , and a monarch in all things : affirming u againe his arguments , to shew that to the pope belonges indeede the supreame temporall monarchy , for which he entitles his booke , de temporali ecclesiae monarchio : by rodulphus cupers , who y saith , that the pope is deseruedly esteemed , and is indeed , rex regum & dominus dominantium , the king of kings , and lord of lordes ; and that z the direct dominion of the empire belongs to god , and consequently to the pope , as being gods vicar , who permits ( as he saith ) the power of the sworde , cui libeat , to whom hee listeth . by aug. steuchus , a who not onely challengeth soueraignty b and dominion in many kingdomes , as in right belonging to the pope , particularly c of spaine , arragon , portugall , england , france , italy , denmarke , hungaria , croatia , dalmatia , russia , bohemia , su●…tia , norwegia , and in a word , of ( d ) all the westerne kingdomes and countries : but as if all this were too small a patrimony for the pope , he addes ; that this e ( as he cals it ) most ancient , and almost omnipotent power , is extended ouer all kinges and kingdomes , and that the pope rules f the whole worlde , and holdes the raignes of al kingdoms , g suffring other kings and emperors to raigne , modo dominam ac reginam agnoscant & fateantur , but with this condition , that they acknowledge and confesse an higher power or soueraignty to bee in the pope . by the romish th●…asonicall triumpher ( h before mentioned , who bragges that all i kingdomes in the world are beholden to the pope , because all do , or ought to sweare to defend his sea. and to omit others , you may see this most largely in alexander carerius , the late k controuler of cardinall bellarmine , in the second of those his bookes , de potestate romani pontificis , intituled by him against impious polliticians and haeretickes of this time , but of purpose , and at large refuting , and that not without scorne their owne great cardinall , his position and reasons . carerius there tels vs , that as l god , so the pope may be called a temporall lord and monarch of the world , that the m pope , as pope , is such a prince , in whom is the top of temporall authority , and therefore that as pope , hee may make ciuill lawes , and may chaunge and correct thy imperiall lawes . further , out of saucius one of their byshops , he c affirmes , that this is cum recta side tenendum , to be held as an article of the right faith , principa●…um romani pontificis esse verum , & vnicum immediatum principatum totius orbis , nedum quoad spiritualia , sed quoad temporalia , that the kingdome of the pope , is the true , and the onely immediate principality or kingdome of the whole world , & that not onely in spirituall , but in temporall causes . in regard whereof , he somewhat pleasantly cals the pope d orbis virū , the husband or good man of the world , which you may well thinke , is indeed a fit wife for his holinesse . as for kings and emperors they teach , that their authority is but e ministerial deriued from the pope , and dependant f of him , as the light of the starres depends of the sun , or as the body depends of the soule , which receiues being , vertue , and all operation from it : and out of saucius he affirmes it to be , adiussum ( g ) princip●…tus papalis nobilē , reuocabilem , corrigilem , et punibilem , the kingly and imperiall authority to be at the popes pleasure and command , moueable , reuocable , corrigible , & punishable : they further to this purpose teach , that kings & emperors are but the popes ( h ) ministers , the popes i commissioners , or deputies ; yea , the popes men k or vassals , swearing fealty to him , as the pope l himselfe hath defined , receiuing m crownes , and holding their kingdomes from him , and by his donation and being , to vse their temporall sword and authority , ad nutum pontificis , at the popes pleasure and sufferance , as not onely bozius , l but pope m boniface the eight , before him affirmeth . in a word , that other powers and authorities n à prima summi pontificis regiâ potestate pendent , doe depend of that first kingly authoritie of the popes . but tell vs i pray you : is the pope lord onely ouer the persons , or is he not lord also of the goodes and posessions in the whole world ? yes , the pope he is lord of al. as the dominion of the whole world was in christ , ita & in papa idem esse fatendnm est , so must it be confessed , that the same dominion is in the pope ( saith carerius . ) o and againe , seeing p the earth is the lords , & all that is therein , et per consequens papae sui vica●…ij , by consequent also this belongs vnto the popes , who is gods vicar ; and so the earth is the popes , and all that is therein . the same teacheth bozius , q seeing in christ , according to his humain nature , by the doctrine of saint thomas , there was an absolute power of all things , erit itaque pontifex omnium regionum iure & potestate dominus , seu mauis dicere totius orbis , therefore the pope shall be the lord both in right and in power of all countries , or if ye will rather say so , of the whole world . whereupon it followeth , that neither constantine , r nor any other did , neither can any man possible giue ought vnto the pope , for all is his owne already , but they may restore vnto him , what they vniustly do withhold , and so did constantine s the great . from this soueraignty of dominion , and as the triumpher truly cals t it , vnlimited power , for so it is indeed , by his description thereof , as extending it selfe aboue the heauens , and as low againe as is hell : from hence , i say , proceedes that absolute and vncontroulable authoritie , which he claimeth , to giue , to take away , not onely smaller quillets , but as the pope u himself expressely affirmes , empyres and kingdomes , et quicquid habere mortales possūt , and whatsoeuer mortall men can possesse or haue ; yea , take kingdomes away from some , quamuis nihil omnino demereantur , as saith carerius , x though they commit no fault at all , and giue them to those who haue no right vnto them . so did pope gregory the tenth , with the empire of the east , abstulit y baluino vero domino , & dedit michaeli , qui nihil iuris habebat ; he took it from balwin the second , who was the true owner thereof , and gaue it to michael pal●…ologus , who had no right at all vnto it . but tell vs further by what right and title hath the pope so large and faire a patrimony , as is the monarchy and soueraignty ouer the whole world , and in all both ciuill & ecclesiastical causes ? he hath it ( say they ) a euen iure diuino , by the very law of god. i , but perhaps this is but your priuate opinion onely , no sentenced & decreed doctrine among you . yes ( saith carerius b ) it is the cōmon iudgment of our deuines , yea , of our greatest deuines , wherof he there expresly nameth 26. it is further the cōmon iudgement of the canonists , c some of them boldly avouching d the contrary opinion to bee haereticall . more then so , it is e ( saith bartolus ) the sentence or iudgement of their holy mother the church . and lastly , which is all in all , it is approued by the decrees and determinations of the popes f themselues , by name , of innocentius g the third , cap. h per venerabilem , and cap. i solitae , de maioritate & obediētia : to whom may be added innocentius the fourth , who k thus defines the popedome , papatus est principatus tam in temporalibus quam in spiritualibus . the popedome ( saith he ) is a prince-hood or soueraignty , as well in temporall , as in spirituall matters . boniface the eight , who l in token of his right to both the swords , at the solemnity of the iubile , by him first instituted , solenniter ostentauit , with great pomp and ostentation , shewed himselfe the first day in his pontificalibus , like a pope , and the next day in his imperiall robes like a temporall monarch , and causing a naked sword to be carried before him , proclaimed vnto al , ecce duo gladij hic : behold the two swords are heere : who further made m a decree or constitution wherein he affirmed , that the pope is dominus in spiritualibus & temporalibus in vniuerso mundo , the lord both in spirituall and temporall causes , and that in the whole world , iudging it haereticall , as saith martinus , to speake ; nay , sentire contrariū , to thinke the contrary , & that he might subiect all others to this soucraignty , definitiuely determining n it as a needfull thing to saluation for euery humaine creature to bee subiect to the pope : iohn the 22. who expressely also affirmeth o that to the pope , terreni simul & caelestis imperij iura deus ipse commisit , god himselfe hath giuen the right both of the earthly & of the heauenly kingdome , that is , both the temporal and ecclesiasticall monarchy . and to omit other particulars , lastly , may bee added the generall consent of all later popes , who p yearely on the night of christs natiuity , bestowes an hallowed sword of some great prince , whom it pleaseth him , the mystery of which gift , as the pope himselfe explaines it , is to betoken thereby , potestatem summam temporalem à christi pontifici collatum , that the supreame temporall power is giuen to the pope by christ , according to those scriptures ( which most blasphemously the popes apply to themselues ) all power is giuen to mee in heauen , and in earth . and againe , hee shall rule from the one sea to the other , and from the floude vnto the worlds end . thus teach carerius , bozius ; together with their popes and popish confederates , whose very wordes , in so important a cause , i haue now more at large , and expressely alledged . you do now euidently perceiue , that these men who thought it a most ridiculous matter , for kinges to holde their crownes immediately from god , do teach and define it to bee a matter of religion , of piety , of conscience ; yea , of saluation , to holde the same immediately from the beast , that is in truth , from the verie deuill ; for of the beast , ( the apostle saith ) apocalipse 13 , 1. that the draggon , which is the diuell , gaue the beast his power , and his throne , and his great authoritie . these are the fruites of popish religion , and this the verie helena for which they so earnestly fight and contend . of which positions , ( though i might iustly say as did saint hierome q in another cause , sententias vestras prodidisse , superesse ▪ est , patet prima fionte blasphemia . to haue recited your assertions , is enough to refute them , they are stamped with blasphemy in the verie fore-heade ; yet as you haue willingly heard the iust defence of regall soueraignty , so suffer me to speake somewhat also at this time against him , who shewes himselfe in his colours , to be hostem humani generis , the enemie not of one or two kingdomes , or some people and sort of men , but the enemy of all mankind : who most violently intrudes himselfe into the rightes and regalities of all kings , christian and heathen , and like a wild boare inuades the lands , goods , and possessions of all men in the world ; yea , most sacrilegiously challengeth vnto himselfe that which is the peculiar prerogatiue ( and as i may say ▪ ) one of the royalties of god , domini est terra , the earth is the lords , and all that is therein . psal. 24 , 1. i shall not neede to prooue that this priestly monarchy was not known in the time of the old testament : of which not onely aquina : r and stapleton , s but carerius himselfe expresly confesseth , l that the king had then power ouer the priestes , and might for their offences , not onely haue depriued them of their spirituall offices , but haue kild thē also : that in the time of the old testament m the kingdom was the substantiue or superior , & the priesthood was thē but an adiectiue , as depending in good congruity vpon the other , though the pope since hath altered that most congraeous grāmer rule , that seeing in the old testament the promises were onely temporall , but in the new are eternall , mirum n minime videri debet , si in veteri testamento sū ma potestas fuerit temporalis : it must not seeme strange as he saith , that the temporall power in the time of the olde testament , was the supreame . so then , though they pretend o for this soueraignty the law of nature , yet by this expresse confession , and cleare wordes of aquinas and carerius , it is euident , that this priestly monarchy was not heard of , for the first p foure thousand yeares almost of the world . in the new testament what in duty ought first to bee performed by the apostles and their successours , let the holy apostle , or the spirite of god by his mouth speake ▪ and determine . let euery soule ( saith q he ) be subiect to the higher powers : which himself in that place expounds to bee those seculare kinges and princes , who beare r the sword , and to whom tribute is due . now this precept was directed and giuen to the whole s church of rome , euen at that time also when saint peter by their doctrine t was bishop of rome : and therefore the spirit of god commaunding euery soule ( particularly in that church ) to bee subiect to the secular powers and princes , without all doubt inioynes obedience and subiection , euen to s. peter himselfe , and to all his successours ; yea , much rather vnto them , who were to be ensamples u to the rest , both in word and in conuersation . a truth so cleare , that claudius espenseus , x one of their owne and a learned bishoppe , not onely confesseth thus much , but confirmes it further out of theodoret , theophilact , oecumenius , and others ; specially out of saint chrysostome , who expresly y mentions the apostles themselues , to be included in that precept . etiam si apostolus sis , though you bee an apostle , though an euangelist , though a prophet , ( and which i thinke will reach to the pope ) etiam si quiuis alius fueris , or what else soeuer you bee , euery soule must be subiect to those higher and secular powers . or if any notwithstanding this euidence of truth and such a cloud of witnesses , wil yet exempt either the pope , or any other from this duty , it may most iustly be replyed vnto him , with the wordes of saint barnard , in his 42. epist . si omnis anima , et vestra : if euery soule bee subiect , then must yours , who hath exempted you from this vniuersality ? si quis tentat excipere , conatur decipere . if any goe about to exempt you , he goeth about to deceiue & tempt you . and again , do ye despice seculare powers ? seculiarior nemo pilato , none was more secular then pilot , before whō christ himselfe stood to be iudged , and of whom he confessed : potestatem super sefuisse caelitus ordinatam : that pilate had power ouer him , and that giuen from god. what in duty then ought to bee done for the whole time of the new testament , by this example of christ , and precept of gods spirit , is most euident . and as subiection is commaunded by god , so was it practised and performed by the apostles , by the primitiue bishops ; yea , euen by the popes themselues , for many hundreths of years together . for the first three hundreth yeares after christ , while kings and emperours were paganes and persequutors of the church , it is confessed both by bellarmine z and carerius , a that for all that time , the apostles and bishops of rome were subiect tō emperours , as all other christians were : and this subiection was b both de iure , & de facto , both indeede performed , and in right to be performed . what ? and shall wee thinke ( which they without all shame would perswade ) that their conuersion to the faith , was the ouerthrow and aeuersion of their temporall dominions ? and that the gaine of christ , was the losse of all their crownes and kingdomes ? nor onely so , but that of soueraignes they became subiects euen , to those , who before while they were paganes , were de iure & facto , subiect vnto them ? i will not say what an effectuall dissuasion this might haue beene vnto them , and others also , neuer to haue embraced the fayth : what a motiue it may yet bee to turne heathen and paganes againe . i will not enforce that true maxime , approoued both ( d by bellarmine and carerius : lex christiana neminem suo iure et dominio priuat : christianity depriues no man of his right , nor of his dominion : as is confessed in that hymne of se●…lius , non cripit mortalia , qui regna dat caelestia : o wicked king herod , why art thou affraid of christ ! he giues an heauenly kingdome , he takes not away an earthly , he e perfects vs in that want , he depriues vs not of that we had . consider of many but some few examples , & those euen of the popes themselues , who haue testified and recorded their subiection to christian emperors . with what lowlinesse and humility did pope leo the first , foure f hundreth and odde yeares after christ , sue g vnto the emperor theodosius the younger , that he would call a generall counsell in italy , and yet preuailed not . how submissiuely did hee againe entreate the like of marcianus the emperour ? i beseech our lord iesus : qui regni vestri est author & rector : who is the author and ruler of your kingdome , that ye would not suffer the ancient faith : quasi dubiam retractari : to be called into doubt and question againe , illudque potius iubeatis , and that ye would rather commaund the decrees of the nicene counsell to be kept . how religiouslie doth he professe his subiection and obedience to the same emperour ? i haue willingly ( saith the pope ) i added my consent or sentence : quia omnibus modis obediendum est pietati vestrae religiosissimaeque voluntati : because by all means we must obey your sacred and religious will. pope gregory the great is euen admirable in this point . who am i that speake to my lord , but dust and ashes ? said he k to the emperor mauritius . it l well beseemes a religious prince vt ista sacerdotibus praeciperet , to commaund bishops in such matters : and that particular was an ecclesiasticall cause also , betwixt pope gregory himselfe , and iohn bishop of constantinople , in which the pope confesseth , that it well beseemed a christian prince to command , not onely other bishops , but euen the bishop of rome himselfe . and as it was fit for the emperour to commaund , so the same pope iudged it his duty , and fit for him to obey . vobis m obedientiam praebere desidero , i am desirous to yeald obedience vnto you , i am n subiect to your commaund . ego o dominorum iussionibus obedientiam praebens : i am obedient to the commaunds of my lord , and of the emperour . how often and vsually doth he giue the emperour those titles which are witnesses of his loyalty and subiection vnto him , my lord , my gratious lord , my sacred lord , and the like ? and such were popes sixe hundereth yeares after christ , at which time p this pope gregory liued . to these i wil adioyne but one more , leo the fourth , who liued q aboue eight hundreth yeares after christ. whose loyall subiection to two emperors , lotharius and lewes his son , their own canon law hath for euer recorded . first , to the father r lotharius , this pope most solemnly promised , that as much as in him lay , he would for euer & euery way be obedient to his , and his predecessors imperiall praecepts . afterwards , when complaint was made to lewes the sonne , of some disorders in the popes gouernment , this leo the fourth writ vnto s him in this manner . if we haue done ought amisse towardes those that are vnder vs : vestro admissorum nostrorum cuncta volumus emendare iudicio , wee will amend all our faults , not by your aduice or admonitiō , but vestro iudicio , by your iudgement : beseeching the clemency of your highnes , to send such as may narrowly sift all thinges , and that not onely these , but all matters , siue minora , siue etiam maiora , both greater and smaller , that all may be iudged and ended t by them . thus were popes in all matters , greater and smaller , yea euen in ecclesiastical causes , as by these you doe perceiue , how much more in ciuill , subiect to the emperors , as to their lords , to their iudges , to their soueraignes , almost for nine u hundreth yeares after christ. as yet was not knowne , this new found monarchy and soueraignety ouer all kings and kingdomes ; as yet had neuer bin seen his authority in deposing kings , and disposing their kingdomes and empires . nor long after this , vntill about two hundereth yeares after leo the fourth , pope hildebrand , the very fire-brand of christendome ( though they haue sainted him in their calendare ) first of all tooke vppon him to put in practise that transcendent , and most extrauagant authority , deposing the emperour x henry the 4. and giuing his empire to duke rodulph : of which act of his , otho frisingensis , a worthy historian near to those times , thus writeth . y lego et relego : i read , and read ouer againe the acts of the romain kings and emperours , and i no where finde any of them to haue been excommunicated or depriued of his kingdome by the pope , before this henry . this was the first a time , and that was more then a thousand yeares after christ , when the popes buls began to push at kings and kingdomes . but with such vnhappy successe both to the giuer and receiuer , as might iustly haue affrayed all others , eyther to giue or take the like againe . hildebrand the vniust doner of the empire , by a general b consent , being put from the popedome , died in c banishment at sal●… in normandie : and at his death ( as sigebert relateth ) confessed to god and the whole church , that hee had grieuously offended in his pastorall office , et suadente diabolo , contra human●…m genus , odium et iram con●… ▪ asset : and that by the perswasion of the deuill , he had stirred vp strife and hatred against mankind : and withall sent his confessor to the church & to the emperor , vt optaret ei iudulge●…iā , to aske forgiuenesse in his behalfe . this was the end of the pope hildebrand : in quē clamat sanguis ecclesiae , against whom ( saith cardinal benno ) the bloud of the church crieth vnto god for vengeance . rodulph the vniust receiuer of the empire , some three yeares after ▪ he had got the same , in a battel against the deposed emperor , had his right hand cut off , & at his death gaue a memorable warning , reported in abbas e vespergensis , to all violators of theyr oaths and alleigiance , and to all vsurpers of kingdomes , vpon any such title , for being in extremts at the point of death , looking vpon the stump of his maimed arme , and fetching a deepe sigh , this ( quoth he ) is the hand wherewith i sware alleigiance to my lord the emperor henry , and behold i now leaue both his kingdome , and with it my owne life . thus you see how sathan , who as the apostle foretold , apoc. 20. 2. was chained & bound for a thousand yeares , as soone as he got loose , at the end f of those years , began shortly after in pope hildebrand to bestirre himselfe , and prepare a way : for this papall monarchy . and indeede he onely made way vnto it , laying as it were the foundation thereof , though i confesse he layed that low enough , euen as low as is the pit of hell. but for the stately building of his monarchy , it was not erected diuers hundereths of yeares after hildebrand . in the daies ▪ of pope eugenu●…s the thirde , almost an g hundreth years after hildebrand , when some were exceeding busie in this building , saint barnard with great courage and constancy opposed himselfe vnto them , and oppugned this papall monarchy . disce sarculo tibi opus esse non sceptro , said he to h pope eugenius . a shepheards staffe is fit for you , not a kinges scepter ▪ s. peter could not giue you dominion or soueraignety , hee had it not , quod habuit hoc dedit , that which he had he gaue you , sollicitude and care ouer the church , not dominion . nay , this is the very forme and order of the apostle , dominatio interdicitur , indicitur ministratio , domination and soueraignety is forbidden , ministration and seruice is inioyned . and again , dispensation is committed vnto you , not the possession of the world : si pergis vsurpare & hanc , contradicit tibi , qui dicit ▪ meus est orbis . if you go forward to vsurp or claime this dominion of the world , god himselfe wil controule you , the earth is mine , and al that is therein . thus and much more to this ende , writ saint barnard in those daies , aboue eleauen hundreth yeares after christ. in the dayes of lewes the 4. duke of bauare the emperour , who liued almost three k hundred yeares after hildebrand , it was adiudged high treason by the imperiall lawes , as before i declared , and little lesse in this our kingdome , in the daies of king richard the second , either to affirme , or to assent to others , affirming either of these imperiall kingdomes to bee helde of l the pope , which were then declared to be immediately held of god , and of none other , which part of those imperiall lawes beeing in truth most sacred and diuine , when , by whom , & by what i●…st authority it was euer repealed or adnulled , wil be very hard , i suppose , to declare : and this was about foureteene m hundreth years after christ. let me now discend but one step lower , euen to our owne times , and to these daies , wherein though the workmen and maister builders of babylon , incessantly labour night and day to raze this papall monarchy like the tower n of babylon , that the top thereof may reach vnto heauen , yet to this day is it not erected : god by his vnsearchable wisedome and goodnesse , so infatuates and confounds the builders thereof , as he did o of old ▪ that what some of them by their craft and great cunning erect and set vppe , others of their owne sect , with might and maine doe pull downe the same : diuers p of their chiefe men , among whom is cardinall bellarmine , with many euident demonstrations confirming , that q the pope is neither the lord of the whole world , neither so much as lord of the christian world ; yea further , s directe or iure diuino non habere vllam temporalem iurisdictionē , that directly , or by the law of god , the pope hath no temporall iurisdiction of any place in the world . so that notwithstanding the common iudgment of their greatest diuines : the cōsent of their canonists ; the sentence of their holy mother the church ; the decrees and determinations of the popes , in which bozius and carerius triumphe , as if the field were won : notwithstanding , all this i say , euen to this day as you see , that is , more then sixteen hundreth yeares after christ , this papall monarchy is not erected . did i say , it is not erected ? i say more , this tower of babylon neither can , nor euer shal be erected . not so much because by gods ▪ iust iudgment , the tongues and trowels of those builders are most strangely confounded , but because they build it in pride to t get thēselus a name , & that they may say as did old babylon in the prophet , u i sit as a queen , i shall be a lady for euer , i am & none else ; now this is gods honour and decree , isa. 23. 9. to stain the pride of all glory , and bring to contempt al them that be glorious in the earth : and chiefely because they built it , as we haue now declared , against the will and the eternall word of god , whose trueth shall stand firme for euer : nay , which is worst of all , they builde it euen in contempt and despight of the lord , who hath said , apoc . 18. 2. babylon shall fall , yea , for x certainety thereof , babylon is fallen : & therefore howsoeuer for ruinating thereof , the means in mans eye be most weak and vnlikely ; howsoeuer again for vpholding and erecting thereof , all craftes , deuises , and meanes be vsed , which in mans iudgement are most strong and vnconquerable , yet shall babylon fall , because true is the god who hath saide it , and y strong is the lord of hosts who will effect it : and there is no wisedom , nor vnderstanding , nor counsel against the lord. pro. 21. 30. my conclusion of this whole point , is that , which if the time had permitted , i purposed more at large to haue handeled . though these men striue , and like a cadmean or ▪ midianitish z generation , fight among themselues , and sheath their swordes in theyr owne fellowes bowels , quarrelling about the nicetie of that our poore distinction , directe and indirecte , whereof , whether soeuer be said , to vs , and for the truth it skilleth not : yet seeing they all a ioyntly professe , & resolutely defend such a soueraignty in the pope , as that his iudgement , and his commaund , must be the last and most certaine rule , both of faith , and of al obedience : as there can bee no true : faith in them ▪ seeing they relye on so fallible and sandy a foundation , as is the iudgement of man ; yea , of one man , and him euen the man of sinne : so cannot that possibly bee true loyalty , nor sincere obedience , which euer attending to an-higher command ▪ includes in it , as in a troian . horse ▪ that condition of ( b rebus sie stantibus ; durante beneplacito , or the like , which must euer stand or fall at the popes becke and pleasure ; and out of which if ( c strength ▪ and opportunity might serue ( as i pray and hope in god that it shall neuer ) or if rebus sic stantibus , were once changed into rebus cadentibus ; those romishi sinons , can easily and with a ready ginne , let out whole armies and troops of armed mē , sodenly to surprise both church & kingdom . true loyalty ( which i doubt not but you do performe , and to the constant and continuall performance whereof , i earnestly exhort you all this day ) is to looke at our soueraigne , as at one placed immediately by god , placed in gods owne throne , placed in the steede of god himselfe among vs : and then to loue , honour , and obey him , not for other respects , but for that loue , religious dutie and conscience , which wee owe vnto god , who placed him in his own throne , and in his own stead to gouerne vs. to honour and obey him for fear , is seruility and basenesse ; to obey for gaine or profit , is selfe-loue ; to obey with that implyed condition , is implicite , rebellion , and antichristian ; to loue and honour him ( as wee all ought ) for his owne piety , vertue , and goodnesse , is christian charity ; but to loue and obey him for gods owne cause , who set him in his owne throne , to rule in his own steed , is true and christian loyalty , true and most loyall subiection . and this be spoken of the first particular braunch proposed ; namely , from whom the king had or held his kingdome , euen immediately from god , who made him king , who set him in his throne , and in his steed ouer the people . the other particular ; namely , what moued or induced god to place salomon ouer his people , which was no desert of theirs , either king or people , but his owne fauour and free loue vnto them , i purposely omit , and in that short remainder of the allowed time , intend to speake a little of the last point , and then commend you all to the grace of god. she gaue the king six score talents of gold , and of sweet odours exceeding much , and precious stones ] these great , magnificent , and princely gifts bestowed by this queene on king salomon , as the like also from other princes sent vnto him . 1. kin. 10 , 25. was not for any want or necessity at all , for siluer was nothing esteemed in salomons dayes . 1. king. 10. 21. he gaue siluer as stones , verse 27. and exceeded al the kings of the earth in riches , ver . 23. but they were outward & euident testimonies of that reuerence & loue , & of that louing & honorable respect , which both she and they had to king salomon . the like customes of giuing presents , hath bin vsuall from subiects also , thereby to testifie , not only their loue , as did strangers , but their loyalty also to their soueraignes . suetonius d reportes , that the romans by their strenae or annuall presents , testified their loue to augustus , whom they honoured as patrem patriae . of king iehosaphat it is said . 2. chron. 17 , 5. that in token of their loue and loyall affections , all iudah brought presents to iehosophat . on the contrary , it is said of those wicked men , sonnes of belial , and vndutifull subiects of king saule , the wicked men despised him , and brought him no presents 1. sam. 10. 27. it is not my purpose to speak of this particular vnto you , though i might truely compare the willingnes and readinesse of the subiectes of our salomon , to those of constantius clorus , father vnto constantine the great . of whom eusebius saith , e that they did striue , and vehemently contend among themselues to fill the emperours treasury , reioycing greatly , that now they had that long wished for opportunity , to witnesse their beneuolous harts and minds vnto the emperour . whereupon he truely and excellently saide , that the loue of the people is the richest and safest treasury of the prince . but for the generality , which is the outward testifying of loue and loyalty , in ▪ ust needs say thus much , that it is the honour of our religion , and the honour of so religious a people , and no doubt , it is also the ioy and comfort of our soueraigne , to haue ●…eeretofore so often seene , and daily , especially on this day , to ●…ehold euery where so many , so manifest & publick , so solemn & ●…o religious testifications , both of the loue and loyalty of his people vnto him . at his happy inauguration , whereof this day is but a resemblāce and a rememberance vnto vs , how did not onely all the people throughout the land , of all sorts , sexe●… , & degrees , reioyce in that blessing of the lord , but ( as this day also ) euen our temples , our houses , our streets , did witnesse and proclaime that publicke ioy : no otherwise then did the people of israel , at the inauguration of their salomon , 1. kings . 1 , 39 ▪ 40. all the people ran after him , ●…iping with pipes , blowing trumpets , & reioycing with so great ●… ioy , that the earth rang with the sound thereof ; and crying with all their might , god saue king salomon . the people to testifie their loue , vsed to celebrate some festiual dayes in honour of their emperor . sometimes natalem ortus , the day of the emperors birth , as the romans in suetonius f of their own ●…ccord , obserued two dayes euery yeare for the byrth of augustus : sometimes natalem imperij , the day of their inauguration , when they first came to the empire , as did the people in aelius g spartiatus , in honor of adrian . their emperor . somtimes natalem salutis , ●…he day of the emperours preseruation or deliuerance from some great & imminent danger . so did the romans , when they heard of the safety and recouery of germanicus , whom they expected to succeede tiberius ; they were so admirably ( h ) affected with ioy thereat , that euen in the night time they ra●… with lampes & sacrifices to the capitoll , ac pene reuu●…sae templi fores , and for hast they had almost burst assunder ▪ the gates of the temple , euerie where with shouts and ioyfull exclamations , singing and crying , salua roma , salua patria , saluus est germanicus , the city , the country , and all is safe in the safety of germanicus . i may truely say , that as wee haue far greater cause , so haue we and the whole people of this land expressed farre greater ioy , both for the most happy birth , the most happy inauguration , and those two most strange and most happy deliuerances of our most gracious soueraigne . those festiuall dayes obserued as a statute ▪ in israell , and euen this day , shall witnes to the whole world , and to all succeeding ages , that as no people is more blessed of the lord , so is none more thankfull vnto god , none more louing or loyall vnto their soueraigne ; in whose happinesse and safety , we most iustly may sing on this , and all our festiuall daies , salua britanni●… , the empire of great brittaine is safe and happy , nay the church of god is safe and happy , we and all the people of these kingdoms are safe and happy , in the safety & happinesse of king iames . for whose continuall safety and felicity , wee will pray as did good nehemiah , i god saue the king for euer . i haue now according to my slender ability , handled those foure ●…euerall points , which in the beginning i proposed . the successe of al which , i earnestly commend to the grace of god , not doubting but that he , whose word k like the bow and arrowes of ionathan , neuer returnes empty , will graunt some 〈◊〉 of his blessings vpon them . howsoeuer , this shall be my comfort , that god hath first , though very vnexpectedly called , and thus far as you see hath now inabled me , on this so ioyfull & solemne a day , in this so frequent and honourable an assembly , to performe some seruice vnto god , in testifying vnto you that truth wherein yee now constantly stand : in offering this day at his temple , not any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but the sweet smelling sacrifice of many hundreth , ye●… many thousand religious and thankfull harts vnto god , in testifying my loue and duty to sion , and to the peace of 〈◊〉 : and lastly , in expressing , as ye haue al done with me this day , an humble and most loiall affection to our most gracious soueraigne , the annointed of the lord. and now for conclusion of all , let vs once againe and continually pray , in those few , but most feruent and affectionate wordes of nehemiah : god saue the king for euer , and let all the people say , amen . laus deo , vni , trino , in s●…cula . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a19548-e50 a innumerabiles ecclesiasticas curas . aug. lib. de oper . monac . ca. 29. b non de auro non de argento , non de fundis & 〈◊〉 , pro quibus quotidie sub●… isto capite salu●…amur . vt dissen●…iones hominum terminemus . aug epist. 147. c aug l. de oper monac . cap. 29. d vel i●…dicando dirimendis , vel interueniendo praecidendis . ibid. e ephes. 4 , 15. f eccles. 12 , 11 g hier. apol 2. aduers. ru●…in . h aug lib , 15. de trinit . cap. vlt. notes for div a19548-e430 〈◊〉 2 chron. 9. 22. b 1. kings . 4. 34. c 2. chron. 9 , 23. d hier. ●…om . 〈◊〉 . epis●… . ad furiā . e prou. 18 ▪ 4. f filij sapientiae i. sapientes . mat. 11. 19 , filij hominum , i. homines . mar. 3 , 28. sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 achinos vocat homerus . g psal. 78. 72. h august . lib. 2. cont . epist. parmē . cap. 12 i ae●…i . spart . in vit . anton. caracal . in fine . k pars in his answere to the apol. l west , de trip . homin . ●…ffic . lib. 3. pag. 435. m 1. chron. 22. 9. n mich. 4. 4. o euse●… . lib. 2. de vit . const. cap. 25. & seq . & cap. 44. p stat. iam. an . 1. cap. 4. & an . 3. cap. 4 , 5. q vid. regist. ioh. lōgland . epis . lincol. apud fox . fo . 822. & seq . r vid. reginal . gonsal . lib. de sanct. inquis . hispa . crtibus & emaen . metar . hist. belg. lib. 234. s sueton. in vit . calig . cap. 30. t ap. 13 , 16 17 u trid. sinod s●…ss . 25. de resor . cap. 2 x non alij in numero fidelium habentur , nisi qui per verbum apostolorum . 1. ecclesiae , magistrorum qui ipsis successerunt , crediderint . stapi l. 8. doctrin . prin●… cap. 10. pa. 287. y scripturae traditio , & omnia plane dogmata , a testimo●…io ecclesiae pendent . bellar lib. de eccles. milit . cap. 10. §. adh●…c . & ecclesiam interpretantur papam . non abnno . gretz . defens . bellar. lib. 3. cap. 10. pa. 1451. et mentitur caluinista . per ecclesiam enim ( quando dicimus ecclesiam esse omniū controuersiarum fidei . iudicem ) intelligimus pontisicem romam●…m , qui pr●… tempore prasens ecclesiam gubernat . ibid. pa ▪ 1450. z papa cum totam ecclesiam docet in his quae ad fidem pertinent nulio casu ●…rrare potest . dellar . lib. 4. de pontif . rom. cap. 3. a bell. lib. 3. de p●…nt . ro. ca. 13 b io●…annes in a●…ocalipsi pass●…m romā●…cat bab●…io 〈◊〉 . bell. l●…b . 2. de p●…ntif . rom. cap. 2. §. praeterea et iohannes apoc. 17. dicit decem 〈◊〉 habitu ro●… pu●…puratam 〈◊〉 , id est , 〈◊〉 bellar . lib. 3. de 〈◊〉 rom. 〈◊〉 . 1. § secun 〈◊〉 . ego non 〈◊〉 argument . 〈◊〉 , vt 〈◊〉 , c●…nseci 〈◊〉 noms ne romā iudic●…ri in epist. petri , & in 〈◊〉 . r●…bera 〈◊〉 com ment . in cap. 14. apoc. pa. 374. c apoc. 17. 5. d apoc. 18 ▪ 3. e apoc. 17 , 6. f apoc. cap. 14 , 8. et ●…ap . ●…8 , 2. g dici potest et melius , per meretri●…em intell●…gi romā , sed romam eth●…icam , 〈◊〉 . idola colentem , & c●…ristianos persequentem , non autem roma●… christianam . bella●… ▪ li●… . 3. de pont . rom. ca. ●…3 , § secundo , and by babylon is signified , partly th●… whole societ●… of the wicked , partly the citty of rome , onely in respect of the terrene and hea●… s●…ate of ●…hem that persecuted the church . rhe. test. annot . in cap. 17. apoc. 5. h 〈◊〉 quae casara praedicitur mat●…r fornicationum ▪ rome quidem est , riber ●…bid pa. 377. i babylon est illa roma , superstitionum et imp●…etatū author et conseruatrix , idolatriae princeps , scelerum omnium sentina c●…ristiani nominis hostis teterrima , sanctorū persequutrix atque interfectrix , qualis sub ethnicis imperatoribus olim fa●…t , & qualis in fine saeculis futurae est . riber . ibid. pa. 378. k rib. ibid. pa. 382. l rib. ib. p. 381 * extremis illis temporibus cōmissura est . m apoc. 18. 2. n rib. pag. 381. o apoc. 18. 19 p rib. ibid. vt supra . q rib. pa. 383. r in nefariorū scelerum sentinam conuertetur . rib. p. 182. s bel. lib. 4. de pont . rom. ca. 4. t 〈◊〉 §. quod. u idem probari potest ex eo , quod deus ipse iussit romae figi apostolicam petrisedem : quae autē iubet deus , mittari ab hominibus non possunt . bellar. ibid. §. secundo . x neque obstat quod tempore antichristi ro ma desolanda & cremanda videatur , vt d●…ducitur ex cap. 17. apoc. nam hoc non fiet nisi iu ●…ine 〈◊〉 . bel. ibid. §. accedit . y antichristus non apparebit , neque regnare incipiet nisi tribus annis cum dimidio ante finem mundi . bel lib. 3. de pont. rom. ca. 9 §. denique ▪ & antichristus odio habebit romā & cum ea pugnabit , eam●… de solabit & incēdet . ibid. cap. 13 § tertio . z apoc. 18 , 14 a apoc. 17 , 16 ▪ b ●…reui occupa●… ( lutheri 〈◊〉 ) non solū multa reg na in partibus septent●…ionalibus , sed etiam vs●… ad indos excurrere ausa est b●…l l●…b . 3 de pont rom. cap. 23. § simili●…udo . & nostris semporibu●… romana sedes magnam germaniae partem amis●…t , suetiā , gothiam , norwegiam , dania vntuersam bonā angliae , galliae , hei●…etiae , poloniae , bohemiae , ac 〈◊〉 partem . bel lib. od . cap. 21. §. at postea . c apoc 6 , 10. e in hoc tota est controuersia quod putent nul lamibi esse ecclesiam vbi haec politia non est c●…nstituta , aut non eo quo decet modo exercetur : nec illic homini christians licere caenam recipere , eoque praetextu sese ab eccle●…ijs segregant in quibus verbum dei pure annunciatur , volentes & inquiunt eius pollutionis participes esse , qua commaculantur ij , qui flagitiosos & sceleratos non relegant . cal●…in . institut . aduers. anabap. artic. 2. pa. 576. & duae fuerunt haereticorum sectae , alteri cathaeci , id est puri , alteri donatistae , vtrique in eodē errore fuerunt , quo isti somniatores , eccl●…siam quaerentes in qua nihil possit desiderari . ibid. p. 581. forsomuch as these assemblies stand in a false constitution , euen in apostasie , it is as cleere as the sunne , that all men ought vpon paine of damnation without delay , to depart out of them . franc. iohns . treatise of the minist . of england , whether it be to be separated from or no. pag. 62. none may haue any spirituall communion therewith . ibid. pag. 105. their church-assemblies are not congregations of faithfull men , but a confusion o●… all manner of people ( though neuer so wicked and prophane ) holds of all soule spirits . fr. 〈◊〉 . ans . to h. iac. except . 1. pa. 6. they are not to be iudged true christians , nor ●…rue constituted churches of christ. ibid. pa. 23. and that name of conuenticles is to light and contemptuous for those meetings ( of them of the separation ) for therin is to be considered for what cause they departed which was , through the mislike of that which antichrist had brought in . t. c. reply 2. to b. whitg . pag. 38. and the gouernment , ministerie , offices , and ceremonies in england , are contrary to gods word : simply euill . hen. lac lib. 4. assertion , dedicated to king iames , an. 1604 pa. 1. & 4. & seq . and whet●…al pa. 66. 67. ●…8 . f insinuabo secundum apostolum , quod ecclesia mea rugas & maculas sola non habeat , ait fulgentius august . lib contra fulg. donatist . art . 15. g isa. 52. 11. ille non intelligens illa verba isaiae ad sui erroris sententiā detorqueri conatur , recedite , reced●…te , &c. august lib 3. cont . ep . parm . cap 4. euery one must be an hee-goat before the rest to lead them out . fr. iohn . treat of the minist . pa. 66. h isay. 65 5. i aust. lib. 3. cont . epist. tarm . cap. 1. k i cor. 5. 13. l tametsi vitae plusquam angelicae speciem prae nobis feramus , tamen si tali audacia nos sepa●…mus à christiano caetu , fimus diaboli . cal. inst. aduer . anab. art . 2. pag. 582. m num. 16 , 3. n 2. king. ●… , 11 o praelect . i. in epist. ad tit. oxon. i. iul. 1605. p psal. 106 , 30 q 1. sath . 5 ▪ 10 , 12. r dan. i. 21. 22 s zach. 12 , 12 , 13. t eccle. 12. 9. u psa. 147 , 12 , 13. x 2 sam. 6. 14. 15. y psal. 124. a author libelli , cui inscripti●… : breuis n●…rratio quomodo henricus 4. fra●… ▪ ●…c nauar. rex apud clem. 8. humiliter per legatos egerit , ac s●…pius s●…pplex factus , tandem h●…reseos , absolutionem obtinuerit . anno. 1596. b idē author , pa. 3. de authoritate & potentia rom. pontificis , victoriâque clementis 8. de henrico 4. gloriose triumpl●…ātis . c quod nugantur huius aetatis plus satis curiosi politici galli . ibid. d suum imperium immediate à deo obt●…nere , ibid. e babylon quae casura praedicitur , babylon meretrix purpurata , babylon mater fornicationū et abhominationū terrae , roma quidē est . riber . iesuit . in ca. 14. apoc. pa. 377 f apoc. 17. 5. in fronte me●…etricis scriptum est nomen ▪ bl●…spbemiae , id est , romae aeternae hierom. ad algas . quest 11. as for his behauiour who now raig●…eth , i haue seene him and considered , of him . hauing vpon his head a triple crowne where is written vpon his forehead in precions stones the word mystery . a christian declaration of fran. breton , a monke of the celestines , publikely made at vendosm ianu. 28. 1601. g scripturas valere quantum a●…sopi fabulas , si 〈◊〉 authoritate ecclesiae : potuit illud pio sensu di●…i , &c. etiam quae pie dict●… esse scis in sensu n impium deto●…ques . hosius de author sacr . scrip . lib. 3. cōtr . b●…ent . proleg . sol . 148. h quod quidem wo●…fangus hermanus dixit , scripturas tantum valerequātum valent aesop●… sabulae nisi accedat ecclesiae testim ●…iam ●…ō a leo absurde dictum est vt mereatu●… stigmati illo muri . o impium & blasphemum os . loquitur enim &c. iaco●… . gretz . append. 2. ad lib. 1. bellar . pa. 396. i be●…lar . lib. de laicis . ca. 5. & rhemist . tes●…ā . annot in 1. pet. 2. 13. l super omnes deos. quidem ? cum super omnes homines , qui vtique viu●…nt et mortuis antistant . 〈◊〉 sentiunt eum deum esse solū . m page 85. n nullis legibus tenebatur humanis . ca. 4. rex . vtique era●… nullis ipse legibus tenebatur qui●… liberi sunt reges a vincul●…s delictorum . ibid. ca 10. o august . lib. 4. de ciuit . d●…i . ca. 33 (p) imperator non habet imperium a papa s●…d a solo deo. et concludit quod potestas imperialu est immeditate a deo decret . lud : caesar ▪ aduer . pont . builā apud na●…cler . an . 1338. (q) imperator habet priuilegia sua potestatis quae diuinit●…s co●…sequutus est . dict. 96. ca. si imperator . vbi glossa sic . ait . diuinitus , non ergo a papa , nam imperium a solo deo est . v●… 20. q. 3. ca quaesitum . r omnibus feudi●… . s 2. thes. 2. 4. t breuis narrat . victor . clem. 8. de hen. 4. gloriose triumphātis . u fr. boz . lib. 1 de tempor . ecclesiae monarchiae ca. 3. p. 52. x ibid. cap. 20. pa. 210. u fr. boz . lib. 1 de tempor . ecclesiae monarchiae ca. 3. p. 52. y cup. ●…ō . ad ca. oportebat dinct . 79. pa. 43. nu . 39. merito censeatur , reque ipsa existat . z ibid. pa. 257 nu . 62. a lib. de donat . const. b haec romana sacro-sancta ecclesia supremiā absolutumque habet principatum ac potestatem . lib. 2. sol . 236. c ●…u . steu. lib. 2. fol. 237. & seq . d quid superest in occidente sp . ape ▪ te non sit sedis apost●…licae ? e quid plura prosequar vt comprobitur retustissimā , ac fere omnipotētem , ecclesiae ro manae super omni bus regnis ac regibus potestatem . sten . ibid. fol. 238. f totum orbem terrarum imperij●… moderabantur habenas omni●…m terrarum tenentes . ibid. g steu. ibid. fol 238. h brev. nar. de hen. 4 & clem. 8. i non est regnum in terra quod non est obligatum huic sedi apostolicae . k nullo quidem labore sacilique negotio bellarmini ratio ▪ ibus possimus satisfacere . car. lib. 2. cap. 6. §. nullo . & tertium corellarium à bellarmino adiectum , iam fuit explosum , & infra dissusius explodemus . ibid ca. 8. §. tertium . l lib. 2. ca. 5. §. nec in . m negatur quod papa , vt papa non sit princeps . car. lib. 2. ca. 8. §. assertio . ideo falsum est , quod papa vt papa , lege , ciuiles condere , & caesareas immutare ac corrigere nequeat . ibidem . c car. lib. 2. ca. 9. §. sequitur . d ibid. cae . 15 , § argumentum . e pro exacta huius rei notitia , obseruandum est , quod potestas est immediata , & in ministerium data . prima est in solo papa , vt uniuersalis iurisdictio omnium spiritualium & temporalium . altera est i●… imperatore , regibus & principibus saecularibus qui iurisdictionem super talia adeo mediante papa accipiunt . carrer . lib. 2. cap. 14. §. hinc . f variae sunt hominum potestates , à deo datae diuersaeque authoritates , quae omnes à summa potestate ( p●…ntificis ) pendent , ab illaque lumen recipiunt , vt sidera à sole . carrer . lib 2. cap 12. §. secundo . docet diltus thomas pendere alia dominia , a dominia pontificis sicut corpus ab anima quod recipit ab illa esse , virtutem et omnem operationem . boz . lib. 1. ca. 2. pa. 32. g sanc. lib. de orig . ac differ . principatus , apud carrer . lib. 2. ca. 9. §. sequitur . h cum imperator sit papae minist . car. li. 2. ca. 18. §. ec dum . i dicimus quod papa temporale iudicium imperatori committit , ab eoque illud recognoscere debet . car. l. 2. ca. 16. §. dicimus . k rex venit ante fores , iurans ●…riu . vrbis honores , post homo fit papae , sunt quo dante coronam . sic de imperatere scribi mandauit innocentius 2 car. sigon . lib. 11. de regn . ital. an . 1 133. l authoritate apostolica declaramus , illa iuramenta praedicta fidelitatis existere et censer●… deberi . ait . clemens . 5. lib. 2. clement . tit . 9. ca. romanis . m antiqua scilicet monumenta prodiderunt regaa occidentalia velut genitorem authoremque suum recognouisse regnum ecclesiae , ab eoque confirmationem accipere , propte●…ea quod ab ecclesia regibus illis fuissent à principio donata . sieu . lib. 1. de dona●…i . const. cont . laurent . val . fol. 211. l caeteri doctores canonistae idem docent , asserentes vtrumque gladiū esse penes pontificem , sed vnum immediate per ipsum exercendum , alterum in quibusdam casibus , aut certe ad nutū pontificis per alios . boz . lib. ●… . ca. 2. pa. 31. m vterque ergo est in potestate ecclesiae , spiritualis scilicet gladius et materialis . ille sacerdotis , is manu regum et mi litum , sed ad nutum et patientiam sacerd●…tis . bon. 8. ca. vnam sanctam . extr. de maior . & obedient . n car. l. 2. ca. 7. § haec . o lib. 2. ca. 5. § praeterea . p idem . ca. 21. § respondebite . q boz . lib : 1. ca. 2. pag. 31. r constantinus de suo nihil dedit , sed donando reddidit . carerius lib. 2. ca. 21. § respondebite , & illa donatio redditio censetur ibid. s constantinus potius restituit , quod imuste detinebat . car. l. 2. ca. 16 falsumque 7. & principatum mundi quem habebat constantinus , licet antea non haberet siluester de sacto , de iure debitus erat boz . lib. 1. ca. 2. pa. 31. t pontifex suam potentiam vindicauit ab omni limite . brev. narrat . de vict . clem. 8. & authoritas aut potestas pontificia non limitatur aut circumscribitur vllis terminis , sed patet quacunque tellus & aequor , sese attollit supra firmamentum , in caelos vsque & discendis in abyssum , claudit patentes hiatus erebi . ibid. u gregor . 7. in execratione cōtra henr. cuius exemplar citatur a platina in vita greg. 7 vt omnes intelligant in terra , imperia , regna , principatus , & quicquid habere mortales possunt , auferre & dare nos posse . x car. lib. 2. ca. 19. § denique . y car. ibidem . a summus pontifex iure diuino habet plenissimam potestatemin vniuersum orbem terrarum tum in rebus ecclesiasticis , tum in po liti●…s . car lib. 2 ca. 9. § tertia & , diuino reuelato , & naturali iure , his potissimum titulis convenire ecclesiae , m onarchiam ostēdemus . boz . lib. 1. ca. 2. pa. 38. b probatur cōmmuni maximorum theologorum authoritate . car. tit . ca. 9. ex his apparet hanc esse communem theologorum sententiam . ib. §. extis . c probatur communi canonistarū testimonio , qui sic adhaeserunt huic decreto , vt infinitum sit illos enumerare . carer . lib. 2. ca. 10. tit . ca. 10. & doctores , & boz . l. 1. ca. 3. pa. 31. d hinc factum est vt audacter dixerit banelus , maturi vir iudicīj , opinionem contrariam esse haereticam . car. lib. 2. cap. 10. §. doctores . e iurisperitorum princeps bartolus dicit esse sententiam s. matris ecclesiae . boz . lib. 1. cap. 2. pa. 31. f es●… plurium patrum , theologorum , canonistrarum & pontificum sententia , boz . lib. 3. cap. 6. pa. 4●…6 . g innocentius ca. licet de foro competenti , expresse ●…ult , vice christi successisse in regm & sacerdotio petrū & eius successores . boz . lib. 1. cap. 2. pa. 30. h ex quibus colligite , primo in summo pontifice apicem vtriusque potestatis reperiri . sec. papam in toto orbe christiano habere temporale dominiū . carl. lib. 2. cap. 11. § vt . i ex ijs veritas dicti cap. so litae intacta manet , imperialem scilicet potestatē , à pontificali potestate , sicut lumen lunae à lumine solis , quoad temporaliū administrationem proficisci . car. lib. 2. cap. 12. § respondetur . k inno. 4. com . in cap. ego n. extra . de iureiurando . l paral. abb. vrspec , in an . 1294. m hic papa constitutionem fecerat in qua se dominum spiritualem & temporalē in vniuerso mundo asserebat . mart. polo . chron. in an. 1301. & , in tantam arrogantiam erexit seipsum , vt dominum totius mundi se diceret , tam in temporalibus , quam in spiritualibus , wern . in fasc . temp . an . 1294. n porro subesse romano pontifici , omni humanae creaturae , declaramus , dicimus , definimus & pronunciamus esse de necessitate salutis . bon. 8. cap vnam sanctam . extra . de ●…aior . & obed . o iohn 22. cap. si sratrum , extra . nesede vacante . p sacrar . cerē . san . rom. eccles lib. 1. sect . 7 , pa : 85 ▪ q hier. epist. ad ctesiph . aduer . pelag. to . 2 , pa. 260. r in veteri testamento regnum praeeminebat sacerdotio , ideoibi regnū , hic sacerdotiū in substan tiuo ponuntur , eo quod ibi ex reg no , hic ex sacerdotio quasi subsista : religio aqui. com . in 1. pet 1. s stap. doct . princ . lib. 5 , ca , 22. l in ▪ veteri testamento rex super sacordotes potestatem habebat , cosque pro crimine occidere , multo magis officijs et dignitatibus spiritualibus eos priuate poterat . carer . l. 2. ca. 18 ▪ respondeo . m hinc in lege veteri regnum erat substantiuum ▪ et lacerdotium adiectiuum . car. l. 2. ca. 1. §. hinc . n car. l. 2. ca. 18. §. secundo . o ecclefiasticam potestatem , naturali iure esse omnino super saecularem , &c. boz . lib. 1. pa. 7. et cap. 2. pag. 38. p ad passionem christi vigebat . lex . passio incidit in an . mundi 3996. funct . q rom. 13. 1. r ib. v. 4. 6 , 7. ter repetit prin cipes saeculares quibus tribuca redduntur esse ministros dei . bell. lib. de laic : ca. 3. §. praeterea . vt absurde detorqueathaec verba , ad praesules ecclesiasticos lib. 2. de pont . rom. ca. 29. §. respon ▪ deo tam. s omnibus qui romaesūt , delectis dei . rom 1 , 7. t bell l ▪ 2. de pont . ro. ca ▪ 2 & 5. u 1 tim. 4. 12 x comment . in ca. 3. epist. ad tit. dig●… 10 y chrys. in cap 13. ad ▪ rom. z quo tempore principes erant ethnici , nō erat pontifex iudex illorum , sed è contrario illis subiectus erat in omnibus ciuilibus causis non minus quam caeteri homines . bel lib. 2. de pontif . rom. cap 29. §. respōdeo , primo . a carer . eadem verba habet quae bell. lib 2 ca 23 , §. respondetur . b bel. ibid. §. quod carer ▪ loc . citat . d bell. et car. loc . citat c at vero cum principes facti lunt christiani , continuose tāquam oues pastori , et membia capiti , eccle siasticae hierachiae praesidi ( i. papae ) subiecerunt , et proinde ad illo iudicari , non illum deinceps iudicare debent . bell. et carer locis citatis e christus non venit destruere ea quae bene se habebant , sed perficere : ergo quando rex fit christianus , non perdit regnum terrenum , sed acquirit nouum ius ad regnum aeternum , alioqui obesset regibus christi beneficium , et gratia naturam destraeret . bel●… , l , 5 , de pont . rom. ca. 3. § , iann . f leo caepit . an . 443 , prosp . g leo cpist . 9. et 24. h leo epist ▪ 43 i leo epist. 59. k greg. lib. 2. epist. ca ▪ 100. l greg. l. 4. epist . ca. 78. m greg. l. 4. epist . ca ▪ 76. n ego iussioni subiectus lib. 2 ca , 100. o lib. 4 , epist , ca. 76. imperatori obedientiam praebin ▪ lib. ●… , ca. 100. p greg prim us obijt an . 604. palm . in supplem , eu●…eb . q leo 4. caepit an . 847 , palm . r de capitulis et praeceptis ▪ im periabbus i●…refragabiliter custodiendis , quanto valuimus , et valemus , nunc et in aeuum nos cōseruatuios modis omnibus profitemur . leo 4. lothar . august . distinct 10. ca. d●… capitulie . s cau . 2 , q. 7. cae●… nos si incompetenter . t sint de nobis iudicata negotia . u leo 4. obij●… an . 853 palm ▪ in supp . euf . x henricum regē imperatori●… administratio ne regiaque deijci , & christianos omnes imperio subiectosiuramento illo absoluo , quo fidem ve ▪ ris regibus pr●… stare consueuerūt . form. abrog . pontif. apud plat. in vita . greg. 7. et henrico regiāpotestatem adimo ▪ interdicoque christianis omnibus , ne henrico vlla in re obtemperent , rodulphum in regē suscipian●… execc . greg , 7. apud plat. saxones rebellant instinctu hildebrandi papa . imperatorem abiurant , rodulphum regē statuunt corona et à papa missa , cui erat inscriptū , petrae dedit ▪ petro , petrus deadem ▪ rodulpho . sigebert in an . 1077. y oth. fris. chron. lib ▪ 6. ca ▪ 35. a hactenus sanctissimi patres quemadmodum christus et legatieius fecerūt et alios docutrunt , caesaresin terris à deo sec●…ndos , anteom nes mortales , pri mos. i supremo numine dat●…s , diuinitus constitutos renerabantur , hildebrandus vtrāque personā sibi impositam à christo , omnem potestatem in se transferre : caesares , reges , augustos , et precario regnantes flocci sacere ▪ &c auent . annal. li. 5. p. 446. 447 b hildebrandum papam vnanimiter abdicarunt . abb. vesperg . in an . 1083 et sigeb . in an . 1084. hildebrandus tanquam lupus fur ac latro relat●… persidus transfuga , o●…ium desertor , gregi●… proditor , charitatis os●…r ▪ ommū consens●… abdicatur , auent . an ▪ lib. 5. pa ▪ 462. c sige. et abb. ves . in an . 1085. e abb. ves . in an . 1080. f h●… mille amisi inchoentur a morte christi i. ab an . 35. vt sine dubio inchoandos esse ait ribera ( com . in apoc. ●…0 . v. ●… . incidunt directe in tēpora hildebrands , ac fere in ipsius pontificatū : quem ingressus est an . 1074. palm in sup . euseb. d ben. apud abbvesp . in an 1077 g circa an . 1150. palm . h barn. lib. 2. de consid ▪ ad euge. i bar. l 3 : de c●…sid . ad eug. k obijt lud. u 4 an . 1346. palm l quia nonnulli in assertiones detest●…biles prorumpant , asserentes failaciter imperialē potestatem esse à papa , coast. lu ●…u . 4. apud balb. episc. gurc . lib. de coron . ad carol. 5. pa. 39. contra nos , et imperialem authoritatē dignitatem , potestatem , et ius imperij allegatur , quod potestas et authoritas imperialis est à papa . decr lud. 4. apud naucl. in ann . 1338. m rich. 2. regnare desijt ann . 1399. stow. n gen. 11. 7. o ib. r. 7. 9. p citati a●… ud bell. lib. 5. de p●…utif . r●…m . ca. 1. §. tertia . & by gear . blackwell in his large examin . an . 1607. q bellar. lib. 5. de pont . ro. ca. 2 pas am non esse dominum totius mundi . s bell. ibid. ca. 4. & pontificē vt pontifice●… nō habere directe et immeditate vllam temporalem potestatem ibid. ca. §. tertia . r papam non esse dominum totius orbis christiani . bell , ib. cap. 3. t gen. 11 , 4. u i say 47 , 7 , 8. apoc. 18. 7. x praeterito vti tur profuturo vt certissimum esse sciamus quod dicit . riber . in ca. 14. apoc. pa. 373. y apoc. 18. 8. z iudg. 7. 22. a carer . et quos ille citat . l. 2 , ca. 9. bellar. et quos ille citat . lib. 5 de pont . rom. co . 1. et ca. 6 ▪ 7. 8. b petatur interpretatio bullae pij . 5 contra eliz. vt obliget catholico , nullo modo rebus sic stantibus , sed tum demum quando publica eiusdem bulla exe cutio fieri poterit . ha●… pradictas gra tias concepit sumus pontisex patri rob. parsonio , & edmundo campiano , in angliam profecturis , die . 14. april prasente patre oliuerio manario assistente , facult . comc . parso . & camp. c si principes conentur averter●… populum a side , omnium consensu , possunt & debent priuari suo dominio : & tenentur christiani nō pati super se talem regem . quod si christiani oli●… non deposueru●… neronem dioclesia●…m valentem arrianum & similes ; id suerat quia de●… ▪ vires temporales christiauis ▪ bellar. lib 5. de pont . rom. cap. 7. 6. probatur . & §. quods d in vir . aug. cap. 57. 58. e abiecta omni cūctatione , mature , auro , argento & alijs opum generibus aeraria eius complete laborant . studio quodam & ardore inter se , quo alius alium in largiendo superaret , vehementer contēdunt . euseb. in vit . const. lib. 1. cap. 10. f natalem eius sponte , biduo semper celebrarunt . suet. in . vit . aug. cap. 57. g natalē imperij statuit celebrandum . spart . in vit . adrian . h s●…et . in vit . calig . cap. 6. i nehe. 2 , 3. k 2. sam. 1 , 21. isa. 55 , 16 , 11. a letter from a gentleman of quality in the country, to his friend, upon his being chosen a member to serve in the approaching parliament, and desiring his advice being an argument relating to the point of succession to the crown : shewing from scripture, law, history, and reason, how improbable (if not impossible) it is to bar the next heir in the right line from the succession. e. f. 1679 approx. 91 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 11 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a39852 wing f14 estc r19698 12290014 ocm 12290014 58871 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a39852) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 58871) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 626:2) a letter from a gentleman of quality in the country, to his friend, upon his being chosen a member to serve in the approaching parliament, and desiring his advice being an argument relating to the point of succession to the crown : shewing from scripture, law, history, and reason, how improbable (if not impossible) it is to bar the next heir in the right line from the succession. e. f. [2], 18 p. s.n.], [london : 1679. signed at end: e.f. place of publication from wing. includes bibliographical references. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2006-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-12 pip willcox sampled and proofread 2006-12 pip willcox text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter from a gentleman of quality in the country , to his friend , upon his being chosen a member to serve in the approaching parliament , and desiring his advice . being an argument relating to the point of succession to the crown : shewing from scripture , law , history , and reason , how improbable ( if not impossible ) it is to bar the next heir in the right line from the succession . printed in the year 1679. to my honoured friend a. b. sir , you have been pleased ( among far better choice ) to consult a mean man in a great point now depending before you in parliament , and agitated in every man's mouth ; it is no less than , whether the parliament of england may by their act exclude , and disable the next heir of the blood royal from succession to the crown . i know it hath been commonly discours'd , that the statute of 13 o eliz. cap. 1. hath already setled this point , and anticipated the debate thereof , wherein it is enacted ; that whosoever shall after the death of that queen affirm , that the parliament of england hath not full power to bind the crown in point of descent , and succession , shall forfeit his goods and chattels . but , sir , under favour this law doth not in any wise affect either you or me , as this case is . it doth not affect you , because you being a member of the grand council of the nation , have thereupon a part and share in the legislature , that is , in the making new , and abrogating of old laws ; and all men know that freedom and liberty of speech , and debate , are the very essence and soul of all councils . it doth not affect me , because this being a point stir'd in your house , and being also of that sublime nature and importance , it is but natural for any member thereof freely to advise with his friend about it with mutual security ; for if it were enacted even by parliament that no member thereof should consult his books , or friends , about any affair moved in either house , that act would be null , and void in it self , as being ridiculous and impertinent . and i am able to prove by irrefragable records of parliament which i have perus'd , that the members of your house in ancient time , have sometimes demurr'd to pass certain bills of extraordinary nature , till they have confer'd and advis'd with their countreys who had intrusted and chose them . and if the question now before you be not of that nature , i know not what is . but because the objection founded upon the said statute of 13 o el. is one of the herculcan arguments now in every man's mouth , and of which i observe some men are not a little fond , and lay a great part of their stress upon it , it shall not so easily escape my animadversions ; and therefore towards the close of this discourse , i hope you will find i have stab'd it into the fifth rib. only i conceived it not altogether unseasonable to pinch this sturdy objection a little in the beginning by way of anticipation . sir , there is no english man hath a more profound veneration and deference for the public sanctions and establishments of my country than my self ; i know well they contain the collective wisdom and providence of the nation . they are in great measure the ramparts and sea-walls of the common liberties and propriety . they are ( humanly speaking ) the fountains and sources of all that is dear to our souls and bodies ; but withall it is to be remembred , that god , nature , and the immutable customs of this realm , have plac'd some things and matters above their influence and coercion . and we know that the judges of the common law ( to whom alone by a deep polity the construction and superintendency of all statute-laws is intrusted ) have in all ages made bold sometimes to weigh the same statute-laws in the ballance , and for certain reasons appearing to them , have now and then ( without deflowring their consciences and integrity ) adjudged them null and void . of this kind i shall produce some instances in their proper place . neither is it to be forgotten that his sacred majesty ( whose concernment in the fate and event of this question is not small ) hath in several of his late speeches , printed and publish'd by his special command , admonish'd the two houses , that they do not in any of their bills impeach the right of the succession , nor the descent of the crown in the true line . upon this foundation it is ; together with that profound duty which i owe to my gracious soveraign ; and love to my country ( to say nothing of my particular respect to your self ) that i have undertaken the following discourse . in the which you will perceive i have laid before you my sentiments and notions with that freedom and assurance which becomes a faithful advisor and friend . and i should be sorry you should find any thing in the whole discourse contrary to right reason , or the laws of england , or not munited with authorities sacred and inviolable . there is one thing i had almost forgot to tell you ( which yet perhaps may seem superfluous enough to your self , who knows me so well ) which is , that i am an unworthy member of the church of england , i was baptis'd in that faith , and i design ( by god's grace ) to live and dye in it . and ( which doth not always happen ) i know no relation i have in the world of a contrary persuasion . for my principles , as they respect the state , i am for supporting the monarchy of england , with those regalities and flowers with which the laws of my country have embellish'd and illustrated the crown ; and yet am , and shall upon all occasions appear as zealous in the defence and vindication of the common liberties and property of my country-men as any man whatsoever ; and ( if i may mention it without too much ostentation , or envy ) my relations were fidele and loyal to the crown during our late domestic revolutions , the tragical marks whereof ( i praise god ) we have chearfully born in our bodies and estates . having thus premised these things , i shall now address my self to the debate of the principal matter , wherein , sir , i must all a long so consider your time and patience , that i must much more consider the dignity , and nature of the argument , and subject matter . and i doubt not ( under favour ) effectively to maintain and prove , that the parliament of england cannot by their act , exclude , or disable the next heir of blood royal from succession to the imperial crown of this nation . this i shall make good by great and important reasons and authority drawn from the laws of god , nature , the laws of england common and statute , the canon and civil laws , histories ancient and modern , and records of parliament , and other courts ; from which foundations a point of this nature and sublimity is to be decided . first then , i shall lay this down for a ground : that the succession of the crown of england , by the laws of god and nature , is inseparably annexed to proximity and nextness of blood : and then all statute-laws contrariant to the laws of god and nature are ipso facto null and void . so then i am here to prove two things : first , that the succession to the crown is inseparably annexed to proximity of blood by the laws of god and nature . secondly , that statute-laws contrariant to those laws are null and void . that the succession of the crown by the laws of god is inseparably annexed to proximity of blood , appears plainly by that statute-law ( or statute of judgment , as it is there call'd ) which god himself with his own mouth pronounced for the ordering the descent of honors and possessions , numb . chap. 27. which are there by his immediate direction to be conferr'd by birth-right , and propinquity of blood ; and not by the election or discretion either of moses , their supreme magistrate , or the community of the people , a part , or both in conjunction . and there , verses 9 and 10 , it is expresly enjoyn'd by the same divine authority , that if a man have no son , or daughter , his inheritance shall descend upon his brother . the preference likewise and prerogative of primogeniture in point of dignities and possessions , is of the same divine institution , as appeareth in several places of the holy scriptures . as where god said a to cain of his younger brother abel . his desires shall be subject unto thee , and thou shalt rule over him . again , where he forbiddeth b the father to disinherit the first-born of his double portion , because by right of birth it is due unto him . and lastly , where he maketh choice of the first-born c to be sanctifi'd and consecrated to himself . consonant hereunto are the suffrages of the fathers , and doctors of the civil or imperial law. st. hicrom d writeth , that a kingdom is due unto the first-born . st. chrysostome e saith , the first-born is to be esteemed more honourable than the rest . bodine , the great french lawyer , tells us , f that it is not enough that the kingdom go in succession , but that it descend also upon the eldest issue male , where he is next of the blood , [ sic enim ordo non tantùm naturae , & divinae legis , sed etiam omnium ubique gentium postulat . ] for so ( saith he ) not only the law of god , and nature , but also of all nations doth require . and baldus , g ( a famous doctor of the civil law ) saith , [ semper fuit , & semper erit , &c. ] always it hath been , and always it shall be , that the first-born , and next of blood , succeedeth in the kingdom . wherein he is followed with open cry of all the choice interpreters , both of the canon and civil law ; as namely panormitanus , h hostiensis , corsetta , i alciat , k and innumerable others . now what hath been said here of primogeniture in point of succession to the crown , is said likewise with equal consequence of proximity of blood. for by the civil law , if a king have issue , five sons , and the first-born die before the succession fall , or if he being possess'd of the kingdom die without heirs of his body , his right of primogeniture devolveth unto the next in blood ; and if he dyeth in like manner , then unto the third ; and so likewise to the next in order . and herein albericus l ( a famous doctor ) is most express in point . and baldus saith , m that succession hath reference to the time of death , and respecteth the priority that is then extant . and again , n he is not said the first-born in law , who dyeth before the fee openeth , but he who at that time is eldest in life . o and of the same opinion is p alciate ; for as celsus saith ; q [ primus is dicitur ante quem nemo sit ] he is first who hath none before him . and herein the common law of this nation accordeth with the civil law. and therefore the second son of the king of england ( after the death of the first-born ) is eldest son within the statute of 25 ed. 3. r where it is enacted , that it shall be high treason for a man to compass the death of the king 's eldest son , and heir , &c. so if the first son dye in the life time of the king his father , the second son forthwith becomes primogenitus , or first-born , within the charter of king edw. 3. for the dutchy of cornwal , as it was resolved s in the case of prince charles , upon the death of his elder brother prince henry . by which it appeareth , that proximity of blood is ennobled with all the prerogatives and preferences of primogeniture . but leaving this way of arguing the point , to be farther illustrated and pursued by the church-men and civilians ; i shall for the most part derive my own proofs thereof from the authority of the common and statute-laws of england , from records of parliament , and other eruditions of that kind , as best sorting with my person , and profession , and a discourse of this nature . first then it is most evident , that all the human acts and powers in the world cannot hinder the descent of the crown upon the next heir of the blood , ( i do agree they may hinder the possession , and enjoyment , and so they have often done by open hostilities and violence ) but i say they cannot hinder the descent . and the reason is plain , because this is a dowry which the great king of kings hath reserved to his own immediate donation , and hath plac'd above the reach of a mortal arm ; and mankind can no more hinder or intercept this descent , than it can the influences of the stars , or the heavens , upon the sublunary world , or beat down the moon : and this ( though perspicuous enough in it self ) i shall farther prove anon in my last reason of this point , by irrefragable authorities of the common law of england ; and in my answer to the second objection . this being so , i shall add , that in the very moment of the descent , the person on whom it descends , by the law of this nation , becomes compleat and absolute king to all intents and purposes . and so it was expresly resolv'd by all the judges of england , 1 o jacobi , watson and clarks * case . and the same person being thus compleat and absolute king by the said descent , i do then farther add , that the ligeance and fidelity of the subject is due to that person by the immutable law of nature . and so it was solemnly adjudged by the lord chancellor , and all the judges of england , in the exchequer chamber in the great case of calvin , 6 jacobi . coke's 7th rep. 12. v. 13. a. &c. & 25. a. and herewith concurs the principal secretary , or amanuensis of nature , i mean aristotle , who t writes , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . by the law of nature the father hath the rule over his children ; and the king over his subjects . and seneca the philosopher hath a saying not u unlike , natura commenta est regem . nature ( saith he ) did first find out a king. and for this reason it is , that our x statute-laws do so frequently stile the king our natural liege lord , and the people , natural liege subjects ; and the fidelity which the subject owes to the crown , natural obedience . and this more clearly appears in indictments of treason ( which of all other law process , are pen'd with the greatest niceness and certainty . ) and therefore in the indictment of the lord dacre ( upon the northern rebellion ) 26 h. 8. it is said , predictus dominus dacre debitum fidei , & ligeantiae suae quod prefat . domino regi naturaliter , & de jure impendere debet , minime curans , &c. the said lord dacre not regarding the faith , which he did naturally and of right owe to the king , &c. and reginald poole ( a cardinal of the church of rome ) was indicted 30 o h. 8. for committing treason [ contra dominum regem supremum & naturalem dominum suum . ] against the lord the king , his supreme and natural lord. and the constant form of the indictments against the persons lately executed for the popish plot , is , that they as false traitors against the most illustrious , most serene , and most excellent prince charles the second , &c. their supreme and natural lord ; the cordial love , and natural obedience , which faithful subjects should , and of right , ought to bear to our said soveraign lord the king , wholly withdrawing , did compass , &c. and therefore as the common law is more worthy than the statute , so the law of nature is more worthy than both . so then , no human power can hinder the descent upon the right heir of the crown . the descent makes the king , allegiance is due to the king by the law of nature ; the law of nature cannot be abrogated by human power ; ergo , the right heir of the blood cannot be excluded by parliament , which is a human power . secondly , it is evermore a certain vestigue or footstep of a law founded in nature , when a thing displac'd is seldom or never in a state of rest , until it be compos'd again in its own native centre , and repository . for though all human and written laws may be worn out by desuetude , and tacit consent , yet the institutions of nature will never be abolish'd by the longest tracts , and courses of time , but will always retain an animum revertendi , and will certainly at length attain it . and of this kind is the law of succession to the crown by the right heir . for we find in the stories of all nations , as well barbarous as civil , that during usurpations and invasions upon the crown , though countenanced even by public establishments and consent of the people , that those states notwithstanding have always continued under convulsion , and disease , like a magnetic needle , that never ceaseth to tremble and trepidate 'till it have found out its beloved north-pole . and in such case it hath constantly far'd with those bodies politic , as with a body natural upon dislocation of a principal bone ; they have breathed it may be , and moved a little , but still under languors , and anguish , and feavorish habits , and dispositions , and never well 'till the bone was set again , and reduced to its right place . i will rather choose to extract some short instances of this kind out of the memoirs of our own , than foreign nations , ( as being argumentum ad hominem . ) and shall for brevity ascend no higher than the norman conquest . and the same instances shall be of usurpations upon the crown , contenanc'd by the public sanctions of this state. the second william , and first henry , usurp'd the crown , and thereupon this realm remain'd constantly under inquietude , and commotion , until the death of robert their elder brother , and his son william , without issue , whereby the right of the crown centred in the said henry . the usurpation of stephen upon maud the empress ( daughter and heir of the said henry ) was accompanied with tragical convulsions of this nation , which never ceased till the restauration of the right heir , viz. henry the second son of the said maud , in which henry the saxon bloud was likewise restor'd , his grandmother being next heir of the bloud to edgar atheling . upon the disinherison of the house of york by that of lancaster , this state sustain'd a convulsion not to be parallell'd in all the stories of the world. it is infinite to recount the laniages , the butcheries , the rapines that were committed here : there were fought in this island during this tempest of war ( as a modern author hath observed ) 17 pitch'd battels , and no less than 8 kings and princes of the bloud , 40 dukes , marquesses , and earls , besides barons and gentlemen innumerable , and 200000 of the common people slaughter'd and destroy'd . and though this combustion continued 60 years , ( for so long it was from the usurpation of henry the fourth , to the expulsion of his grandson henry the sixth ) yet the body politic enjoyed little ease till it had purged out the usurpers : like a body natural , that having received into the stomach matter inimical and contrariant to nature , is never at quiet till it have work'd out the same noxious and malignant matter by all the passages of evacuation , though to the manifest hazard or destruction of the man himself . the usurpation of richard the third determined in his own death , and the introduction of the right heir some time after . that of jane grey of the house of suffolk , was but an offer of usurpation , as being a quotidian ague that lasted but nine days , which ended upon the restitution of queen mary . lastly , it 's a matter of fresh and bleeding sentiment and experience , what agonies and throws the english nation sustained after that fatal and impious stroke given to king charles the first , of ever glorious memory : nature is wanting in adequate metaphors and similitudes to express so great a calamity . this state was like the demoniac in the gospel ; she was torn , worried , and shak'd together . and of this there was no intermission untill the evil spirit was dispossessed , and his gracious majesty that now is ( whom god long preserve ) restor'd to that crown which god , and nature , and the immutable customs of this nation had given him . so then it doth most evidently appear by these instances , that the succession of the crown to the next of bloud is a law eternal , and wrote with the immediate hand of god and nature . and that although nature may for some time be repell'd and kept off with the forks and instruments of humane violence , that yet it will sooner or later ever more recur , and return with the greater swing and vigour . and that therefore a dominion obtain'd by usurpation is like a vast and ponderous globe of iron , supported in the air by main strength of arms , which upon removal or withdrawing of the same force by fatigue or imbecillity of the bearers , will at length certainly attain its centre of gravity , and with the fall crush and confound the supporters . and where ever this eternal law and rule of nature hath been impeached and violated , that hath evermore been done by the immediate and most visible act and finger of the divinity it self , who is king of kings , by whom they reign , and that giveth the kingdoms of men to whom he will , ( as the holy scriptures tell us . ) and who being the creator of nature , can alone ( when it pleaseth him controul her methods and operations , as appeareth by the interruptions of the succession in the cases of a david , solomon , c jehu , and the like . and they that from these and other instances of this nature do fancy they may maintain the lawfulness of impeaching the succession of the crown in the true line , may as well infer , that they may lawfully rob and spoil their neighbours , because god commanded the israelites to spoil the d egyptians . in those cases we are bound to the law , but not to the example . i come now to records of parliament , which shall be three in number . first , that of the 39 h. 6. e wherein the daring rich plantagenet d. of york , by his council exhibited to the lords in full parliam . a writing , containing his right and claims to the crowns of england and france . against which claim it was objected on the king's part , that the same crowns had been entailed by act of parliament upon the king's grandfather king henry the fourth , and the heirs of his body , from whence the same king henry the sixth did lineally descend . the which act ( say the king's friends there ) is of autoritee to defeat eny mannere title made to eny person , ( for so are the words . ) to which objection the said duke of york answereth , ( i shall cite the words of the record as they are entered up in the old english ) that if king henry the fourth might have obteigned and rejoysed the seyd corones of england and fraunce by title of enheritaunce , descent , or succession , he neither needed nor would have desired , or made them to be granted to him , in such wise as they be by the seyd act. the which taketh noo place , neither is of any force or effect against him , that is right enheritor of the seyd corones ; as it accordeth with god's laws and all natural laws , ( saith the roll. ) and this answer of the duke of york to the king's title , and his said claim , is afterwards by express act of the same parliament , declar'd and recognized to be good , true , just , lawful , and suffisaunt , ( as it is there worded . ) and at the same time for preventing effusion of bloud an accord , by the free consent of the said duke , is likewise established , that king henry the sixth shall during his life enjoy the crown , and that from thenceforth the duke of york should be reputed heir apparent to the crown . the next record is that of 1 ed. 4. f wherein after that parliament hath in a long pedigree disclos'd the title of the same king edward to the crown , as being in a right line descended from lionel duke of clarence , third son to king edward the third ; and , upon the death of his father the above mentioned richard plantagenet , next heir of the bloud royal , they immediately add these very words ; knowing also certainly without doubt and ambiguity , that by god's law and law of nature , he ( i. e. king edward the fourth ) and none other , is and ought to be true ; rightwys , and natural leige and soveraigne lord. and that he was in right from the death of the seyd noble and famous prince his father , very just king of the same realm of england . so here it is most expresly declared by two parliaments of different complexion and interest , and therefore the more remarkable , that the succession of the crown of england is inseparably annexed to proximity of bloud by the laws of god and nature : and that a title of this sublimity and grandeur is not at all impeachable even by act of parliament . and besides the said parliament of 39 h. 6. doth make the same declaration to the manifest prejudice of the title of the king in possession , who was ordained also by the same accord to reign over them during his life , and whom for that reason it must be presum'd they would have favour'd , if they had found but the least colour so to have done . the last record is the statute of recognition made in the first year of king james by the whole parliament , in which among other things , they do in most humble and lowly manner ( i shall all along use the very words of the act ) beseech his most excellent majesty , that as a memorial to all posterity , it might be publickly declar'd and enacted in the high court of parliament , that they being bound thereunto by the laws of god and man , did with unspeakable joy recognize and acknowledge , that immediately upon the decease of queen elizabeth the imperial crown of the realm ofengland , &c. did by inherent birthright , and lawful and undoubted succession , descend and come to his most excellent majesty , as being lineally , justly , and lawfully next and sole heir of the bloud royal of this realm . and that by the goodness of god almighty , and lawful right of descent , his majesty was king of england , &c. and to this recognition we do ( say they ) most humbly and faithfully submit , and oblige our selves and posterities for ever , untill the last drop of our bloud be spent . and all the judges of england some time after in the great case of calvin in the exchequer chamber do resolve , h that king james his title to the crown was founded upon the law of nature , viz. by inherent birthright and descent from the bloud royal of this realm . so that this parliament doth not in the least manner pretend to give any title to king james or his posterity by their own act and establishment , but on the contrary doth expresly recognize , that the same king 's right and title to the crown doth accrue to him by the laws of god and man onely , as the said judges do by the law of nature , viz. as next and sole heir of the bloud royal. by all which it doth most manifestly appear , that in the opinion of the three several parliaments , the succession of the crown is united to proximity and nextness of blood , by the laws divine , natural , and human : and a threefold cord of this sanctimony , and strength is not easily broken ; to say nothing of the said resolution of all the judges of england in the point , which ( as our books tell us ) in matters of law , is of the most sacred authority next unto the court of parliament . this being thus made out , i come now to prove , that statute-laws contrariant to the laws of god and nature , are ipso facto null and void . and here i shall first observe , that by a profound polity of our law , the sole power of expounding statute-laws , whether relating to church or state , is intrusted and lodged in the judges of the common law , as king charles the first hath noted in his i speech to both houses , upon passing the bills of 3 d of his reign . and as the authorities of k law are very clear , now the judges have exerted this constructive power in expounding statute-laws , sometimes even null and void for certain reasons to them appearing . as sometimes for repugnancy , and impertinence , and therefore where the statute of carlile enacted , that the common seal of the cistercian and augustine monks should be in the custody of the abbot , and four others of the covents ; and that any deed seal'd with the same seal , not so kept , should be of no effect . this statute was adjudged void l for repugnancy , because the seal being in the custody of the four , the abbot could not seal with it ; and when it was in the hands of the abbot , it was out of the custody of the four . and so by this statute , these two orders could make no deed valid in law. sometimes for absurdity , as where the statute of m edw. 6. gives chantries to the king , saving to the donors , and founders , all services , &c. this act was adjudged void as to the services . for it is absurd and contrary to common reason ( saith the book ) that the king should hold of , or do service to his subjects . 14 eliz. dyer . 3. 13. a. mich. 16 & 17 eliz. &c. b. strowd's n case . lastly , the judges have expounded statute-laws void in themselves , when they are contrary to those of god and nature ; and they are bound to adjudge them so , when ever such statute laws come before them ; because the laws of god and nature are the rays , and emanations of the divinity , they are eternal , indelible , immutable , and therefore cannot be altered , or impeached by any human power , or authority , but only by the god of nature it self , who did originally ordain them . and of this ( because it is the principal matter now in hand ) i shall be the more plentiful in instances . and therefore if it should be enacted by parliament , that no man should honour the king , or love his parents or children , or give alms to the poor , or pay tithes to the parson of his parish , or the like , these acts are ipso facto void , because they are contrary to the express divine commands . dr. & stud. lib. 1. cap. 6. 21 hen. 7. 2. v. so where a man was made judge in his own cause by act of parliament , this act hath been adjudged void ; because ( say our books ) it is contrary to the law of nature , that one and the same person should be judge and party . cokes 8 rep. a. & v. dr. bonham's case . hobart's rep. 87. day . v. savadge . so an act of parliament can never make the grant of an ideot or lunatic good , for jura naturae sunt immutabilia ( saith the book . ) the laws of nature are immutable . hob. 224. needler's case . by the statute of the 25 edw. 3. cap. 22. a man attainted in a praemunire , is by express words out of the kings protection generally , and that it should be done with him as with an enemy ; by which words any man might have slain him as it is holden , 28 hen. 8. title crown br. 197 ) until the statute of 5 eliz. 1. yet the king may protect him , and pardon him . because the protection of the soveraign to the subject is due by the law of nature . coke's 7th rep. 14. a. calvin's case . the statute of 23 hen 6. cap. 8. and several other statutes enact , that no man shall be sheriff of any county above one year ; and that any patent of the king to any person for a longer term , though with an express clause of non obstante , shall be absolutely void , and of none effect ; and the patentee perpetually disabled to bear the office. and yet notwithstanding it is resolved by all the judges of england , that these acts of parliament are void . and that the king may by non obstante , constitute a sherif for years , life , or inheritance . and what is the reason which the judges give of this resolution ? why because , say they , in express words this act of parliament cannot bar the king of the service of the subject , which the immutable law of nature doth give unto him ; for obedience ▪ and ligeance of the subject ( add they ) is due to the soveraign by the law of nature . see 2 hen. 7. 6. v. calvin's case , 14. a. in coke's 7th rep. and thus upon the whole matter of my first reason , i have ( as i conceive ) effectually prov'd these two propositions : first , that the succession of the crown of england is inseparably annexed to proximity of blood by the laws of god and nature . secondly , that statute-laws contrariant to those of god and nature , are ipso facto null and void . and from hence it doth necessarily follow , that the next heir of the blood royal , cannot be barr'd from the succession by act of parliament . secondly ; the succession of the crown to the next heir of the blood royal , is a fundamental and primary constitution of this realm ; and , indeed the basis , and foundation of all our laws . sir ed. coke o says , that the kingdom of england is a monarchy successive by inherent birth-right , of all others , the most absolute and perfect form of government , excluding interregnums , and with it infinite inconveniences . the lord chancellor egerton tells p us , that in cases of the crown the eldest , sole ( or alone ) is to be prefer'd . and this he reckons among the ancient customs of this nation , against which there never hath been ( saith he ) nor ought to be any dispute . and indeed if the parliament may alter so essential and fundamental a custom , or constitution , then the monarchy of england , which by the law is , and ever since we were a nation , hath been hereditary , will immediately become elective , and disposable at the arbitry , and will of the people . and by the same reason , that they may exclude , and reprobate the next heir , they may the next to that , and so by consequence the whole line : for when men have once transgress'd , and broken down the boundaries which the law hath set and prefix'd , the progress is infinite , and there is no stop : and though the common law of england ( which , as i have said , doth superintend all statute-laws ) doth allow the parliament to repair and amend , and improve the building , yet it doth never allow them to pull it down , and subvert the foundations thereof . and it is some odds that such electors may in time believe , that they have a power to mar what they can so easily make , and that with good conscience they may destroy ( when they think fit ) their own creature , and work of their own hands : and therefore those kings of england who have submitted their necks to this popular , or statute-kingship , ( as i may call it ) it is plain they came not in at the door , but evermore at the windows ; and have been constrain'd , during their whole reigns , to stand upon their guards , and to defend their wrongful possessions by divine right of the sword , ( as some in raillery have call'd it ) as well even against the people that chose them , as the right heirs . as i shall anon demonstrate at large . and this alteration of the monarchy in so fundamental a part thereof , from inheritance to election , may prove equally mischievous also to a king in possession , though he claim too by inherent , and undoubted birth-right ; for the same reason which the people may think sufficient to exclude the right heir , may ( when they please ) be deem'd valid enough also to depose , and eject the lawful possessor of the crown . thirdly ; no person , or community of mankind , can give away , or transfer a thing , which they never had in them to give . and of this nature is the right of succession to the crown , which is not the gift of man , but the immediate dowry of god , nature , and the immutable customs of the state. this may be prov'd by the scriptures , fathers , councils , canon , civil , common , and statute-laws , of which i shall give only a tast . fourthly ; the succession of the crown to the next heir of the bloud , is one of the highest , most essential , and undivided rights of the crown ; and a pearl of the most transcendent oriency and magnitude in the imperial diadem of england . and the kings of england themselves , their chancellors , treasurers , and all other the great officers of state , their privy counsellors , and the * judges , ( who are onely to expound all statutes by which this right of succession may be violated ) are all by provision of the law solemnly sworn upon the holy evangelists , to maintain and defend the rights of the crown , and that they suffer no disinherison or damage to accrue thereto . and every member of the commons house ( who is to be a party to the making these laws of reprobation ) by the statute of eliz. is obliged before he enter or have voice in the said house , to swear that he will to his power defend all jurisdictions , privileges , preheminences , and authorities united and annexed to the imperial crown of this realm ; and if he do not , he shall be deem'd no member of that house , and shall receive also further punishment . and the q oath at this day to be taken in the court leets all over the kingdom , by every subject above 12 years old , is , that he will be true and faithful to our sovereign lord king charles the second , and his heirs , &c. and it is remarkable , that in the r parliament of 42 ed. 3. the lords and commons being demanded their advice by the king in a matter relating to the crown , did answer with one voice , that they could not assent to any thing in parliament , that tended to the disinherison of the king and his heirs , or the crown , whereunto they were sworn . and sir edward coke s ( commenting upon that record ) saith , that it is law and custom of parliament , that no king can alien the crown from the right heir , though by consent of the lords and commons . and in another place he saith , t that king john 's resignation of the crown to the pope was utterly void : because ( saith he ) the royal ' dignity is an inherent inseparable to the royal bloud of the king , descendable to the next of bloud of the king , and cannot be transferr'd to another : thus he . and which is much more , the v parliament of 1 jacobi do recognize , that the crown of england did descend upon king james by inherent birthright , as being lincally , justly , and lawfully next and sole heir of the bloud royal. and to this recognition they do submit themselves and posterities for ever , untill the last drop of their bloud be spilt . and further do beseech his majesty to accept of the same recognition as the first fruits of their loyalty and faith , ( not only ) to his majesty , ( but also ) and to his royal progeny and posterity forever ; ( for so are the words . ) so here this parliament do oblige themselves and posteritics ( which we are ) to defend and maintain the succession of the crown , not onely to king james , but also to his royal progeny , and that not in a general way to any of his bloud , but onely to such person to whom it shall be due by inherent birthright and proximity of bloud , as ( they recognize ) it was to the same king james . so then the succession of the crown to the next heir of the bloud , being a fundamental right of the crown , and a right annexed and secured to the same heir , not onely by the laws divine , natural , and humane , but also ( as i have clearly proved ) by the obligation and sanctimony of national , lawful recognitions and oaths ; it doth evidently follow , that the parliament of england cannot by law alter or violate the said succession , contrary to the same national and legal recognitions and oaths . lastly ; the right heir of the crown cannot be barr'd or excluded by act of parliament : because the accession and descent of the crown in an instant absolutely purgeth and dischargeth all obstructions and incapacities whatsoever , created by the same act of parliament . and the reason given in our books of law is , because ( say they ) upon descent of the crown immediately a body politic is superadded to the body natural of the king 's ; and these two bodies in an instant become consolidate , consubstantiate , and indivisible in one and the same royal person ; and thereupon the body politic , which is the more worthy and sublime nature , and that is in no wise subject and obnoxious to the humane imbecillities of death , infancy , crime , or the like , draweth from the natural body all imperfections and incapacities whatsoever , and in a moment endows and ennobles the same natural body with the divine embellishments and perfections of the politic. as it hath been frequently resolved by the judges of england , plowd . com. 238. v. lord barkley's case . et ibid. 2 ▪ 3. a. v. the case of the dutchy of lancaster . coke's 7th . rep. 10. a. calvin's case . and in the same calvin's case 12. a. ( a case argued by the lord chancellour and all the judges of england ) it is affirmed , that the king 's being a body politic is founded upon necessity , and the deepest polities and wisdom of our law. and why so ? because ( saith that case expresly ) hereby the attaindors and disability of him that hath right to the crown are avoided , lest in the interim there should be an interregnum , which the law will not suffer . this i shall now proceed to make good by two great and impregnable instances , drawn out of our books of common law , histories , and records . the first is that of king henry the sixth , who being discomfited in battel by king edward the fourth , was in the first of the same king edward disabled from all regiment , and attainted of high treason by act of parliament . the said king henry some years afterwards ( by the assistance of the great earl of warwick ) was restor'd again to the crown , and held a parliament . and the judges of that time were all of opinion , that notwithstanding the parliament of edward had disabled henry from all government , and attainted him of treason , that yet in the same moment that henry reassumed the crown , the said parliamentary incapacities were to all intents discharged and avoided . and yet henry was at first but onely king de facto , the true and legal title abiding in the house of york . see to prove this brook parl. pl. 105. 1 h. 7. 4. v. the second instance is that of king henry the seventh . this king while he was earl of richmond ( together with many lords and commons that took his part ) were all attainted of high treason by the parliament of richard the third . afterwards at the battel of bosworth the earl obtain'd the victory , and slew richard in the field , and on the same day assum'd the crown upon him , and presently afterward summon'd a parliament . on the first day of this parliament ( say our books of law and histories ) all the judges of england were assembled in the exchequer chamber , to resolve a very rare and perplex'd case , viz. what should be done about the reversal of the said parlementary attaindors of the king , and divers lords , and many knights , citizens , and burgesses , that were to sit in parliament that day . and after mature deliberation had among themselves they all resolved , that for all the lords and commons that were attainted , they advised them not to sit in parliament till an act of parliament was passed by the other lords and commons not attainted , and assented to by the king , for the reversal of those attaindors ; and after the reversal , then all of them to sit in the houses : for that it was not convenient that any should sit as judges in those houses that were attainted . but concerning the king himself they unanimously resolved , that the crown takes away all defects in bloud and incapacities by parliament . and that from the time the king did assume the crown the fountain was cleared , and all the said attaindors and corruptions of bloud , and other impediments , absolutely discharged and yet the said king henry the seventh was onely king de facto also , the legal title ( as i have before observed ) abiding in the house of york see to prove all this the books of 1 h. 7. 4. v. fitz. parl. pl. 2. brook p. & statutes pl. 37. & 175. plowden's com. 238. v. lord barkley's case co. 7 rep. 12. ● . calvin's case . co. 1 inst . 16. a. jenk . centuries 203. lord bacon's hist . h. 7 fol. 13. all in express terms . and if the influence and operation of law be so forcible and vigorous in cases of colourable and specious title onely , ( as that of the said king henry the seventh was , as i shall demonstrate at large in the sequel of this discourse ) how much more will it be where there is proximity of bloud and undoubted right ? the last instance is that of queen elizabeth , an instance of fresh and recent memory . this princess had been bastardiz'd and render'd incapable of succession to the crown by solemn act of parliament ; and yet notwithstanding upon the death of queen may the said queen elizabeth succeeded to the crown . and sir nicholas bacon lord keeper of the great seal , and oracle of the law in that age , and upon whom the queen altogether relied in matter of law , and who no doubt in a case of that importance had consulted all the judges of england , was clear of opinion , ( saith cambden ) that there needed not any formal repeal of the said act , as there never was any ; because ( saith the same author ) the law of england had long before pronounced [ coronam semel susceptam omnes omnino defectas tollere ] that the crown once obtain'd , doth absolutely wipe out all defects whatsoever . and in this point the civil law agrees also with the common law of england ; for vpian , a famous doctor , tells us , that the possession of the crown purgeth all derects , and maketh good the act of him in authority , although he wanteth both capacity and right . moreover by the laws of england the right heir becomes absolute , and perfect king , in the very moment that the crown descends upon him , though he happen to be at the same time in the remotest parts of the world , and before he be actually crown'd . and therefore king edward the first , though at the time of his father's death he was absent in the holy land in war against the infidels , yet he was immediately acknowledg'd here by the whole realm for their king. and in his return homewards did homage to the french king , for the lands which he held of him in france , and repressed certain of his rebellious subjects in gascoign , and yet he was not crown'd till almost two years afterwards . and the case of his sacred majesty that now is , was very like , for he began his reign from the moment of that fatal and impious stroke , given to his royal father of ever glorious memory , and yet his present majesty was not at that time in england and this is expresly resolved to be the law of this nation by all the judges of england . mich. 1. eliz. dyer's rep. 165. a. so king henry the sixth , edward the fourth , henry the seventh , summon'd parliaments , condemn'd traitors , made grants , and did all other acts which a crowned king may do , before their several coronations . and the like was done by king henry the eighth , edward the sixth , queen mary , queen elizabeth , king james , king charles the first , and his gracious majesty that now is : for coronation is but an ornament , and solemnization of the royal descent , but no part of the title ; and the kings of england are to all intents and purposes compleat and perfect kings before coronation ; and so it was expresly resolved by all the judges of england , 1 o jacobi , b in the cases of watson , clarke , and sir walter raleigh , which in a matter so clear shall suffice . having thus ( as i conceive ) made my point good and impregnable , viz. that the next heir of the blood cannot be excluded from the succession by act of parliament . i come now to answer certain objections , which some men i perceive are fond of , and do not a little glory therein ; and the most considerable of them are three in number . first , ( say they ) there are several instances of kings of this realm , whose titles to the crown depended purely upon the election of the people , and acts of parliament , and not upon proximity of blood , and inherent birth-right , as ( to go no higher ) the titles of king john , henry the fourth , henry the seventh . moreover henry the eighth entail'd the crown upon himself , and his children , by act of parliament . and these establishments by parliament were look'd upon as good titles to the kings in possession , and bars against the next heirs . i answer , they were never look'd upon as good titles to the kings in possession ; or bars against the right heirs , neither ought they to be deemed so , as doth most evidently appear by the former part of this discourse . and which i shall now farther demonstrate by enquiry into the titles , and circumstances of each particular king , mentioned in the objection . first for king john , it is plain he was king de facto , but not de jure , for he invaded the crown against the right of his nephew arthur of britain , ( who was the son of geossry , john's eldest brother ) as all the histories of that time do observe and lament . and therefore wanting that title which god , nature , and the immutable customs of this realm give to the right heir , he was constrain'd to pray in aid of the people , and to patch up a title from them by election . the story is this , ( as i have extracted it out of matthew paris , a learned monk , who lived in that time , and who became afterwards chronologer royal to king henry the third , son of the said king john. john ( saith the monk ) upon the death of his brother king richard the first , was advanced to the throne by the favour and help of the great ministers of state ; and at his coronation , in the presence of the clergy , nobility , and populace , hubert , arch-bishop of canterbury , and chancellor of england ( a man of profound subtilty and reach ) tells them all in a very fine harangue , that no man whatsoever was to succeed in the kingdom here , upon any previous reason , unless he were freely elected by the universality of the people , with consideration had of his moralities , and other personal vertues , after the example of saul's election ; and then he added , that john was a well qualified person in that kind , and that therefore they ought to choose him for their king. but when the said hubert was afterwards demanded , why in so great an assembly he durst broach so notorious a falshood , viz. that the monarchy of england was elective ; o , saith he , this i did out of certain revelations and prophesies that i have received , that john will at some time or other endanger the realm , and bring all into confusion . [ et ne haberet liberas habenas hoc faciendi , ipsum electione , non successione haereditaria eligi debere , affirmavi ; for so are the historian's words . ] and that i might curb him with this bridle from effecting these things , i did pronounce him admitted to the crown by election , not by hereditary succession . so then we see here that the pronouncing the monarchy of england to be elective , was done only by way of umbrage , and dissimulation , and to serve a turn at a certain crisis , and juncture of time . and the truth is , the people did accordingly afterwards check this unfortunate king with the same bridle , and reduc'd him to a very low condition , and they chose lewis ( the french king's son ) their king. and this was the consequence of king john's election by the people , and invasion of the right of his nephew ; which tenure was good only so long as he could maintain it with his sword ; and so likewise is the tenure of pyrats , and robbers , when they have ravish'd the properties of other men. secondly ; for king henry the fourth , he was likewise king de facto only , and not de jure , for he laid violent hands upon the crown , by the treasonable , and barbarous deposition , and murder of his natural lord and soveraign king richard the second , after whose death , without issue , the legal title remain'd in the house of clarence , being the elder line ; and so king henry the fourth was constrain'd to truckle under an election by the people , and their establishment in parliament , which establishment was ipso facto void and null in law against the house of york , ( which married afterwards with the said house of clarence ) as i have evidently proved by the roll of parliament of 39 o of henry the sixth , recited by me at large here in the beginning of this discourse . and indeed this very king henry the fourth , well knowing how much a title to the crown by the common law , and inherent birth-right , exceeded a title by statute , and suffrage of the people , made his solemn claim to the crown in parliament by descent from king henry the third , which though it was the meerest figment and pretence that ever was , ( as all the world knows ) yet he thought he might with more security rely upon that ( though fictitious ) than popular establishment , though real : the story is considerable , and therefore i shall extract my account thereof from the roll of parliament of that time . forthwith ( saith the record ) upon vacancy of the realm by deposition of king richard the second , henry duke of lancaster rising from his seat , and standing up , so that he might be well seen by the people , and humbly crossing his forehead and breast , calling upon our saviour's cross , he claim'd and challeng'd the realm of england , thus void ; in his mother-tongue , under this very form of words : in the name of fader , sonne , and holy gost , i henry of lancastre challenge this rewme of ynglonde , and the crown , with all the membres , and appurtenances , al 's i that am descendit be ryght lyne of the blood , comynge fro the gude lord king henry therde , and thorghe that right that god of his grace hath sent me , with helpe of my kin , and of my frends to recover it , and which rewme was in poynt to be ondone for defaut of governance , and un endoying of the gude laws . so we see here , that the title he laid stress upon was , al 's descendit be right line of the bloud comynge fro the gude lord king henry therde ; he meant from edmund second son of king henry the third , from whom the same henry the fourth by the mother's side lineally derived , and who would fain have fac'd down the world , that the said edmund was elder brother to king edward the first , contrary to his own knowledge , and that of all mankind in that age , and the express testimony of a matthew paris , ( who was chronologer royal to the said king henry the third at the time of the birth of the said edmund , and b polydore virgil , and all our historians . thirdly ; for king henry the seventh , he was also king de facto , but not de jure , the legal title abiding at that time in elizabeth the eldest daughter of king edward the fourth , with which elizabeth the same king henry did afterwards marry : now because the claim of the same king henry the seventh to the crown is not generally understood , and it will conduce much to my present purpose to clear that matter , i shall crave leave here briefly to open it . it is to be known then that king henry the seventh laid claim to the crown , as descending in a right line from john duke of somerset , eldest son to john of gaunt duke of lancaster , by his third wife katharine swinford , by which katharine the same john of gaunt had issue the said duke of somerset , and other children , before marriage with her ; and during his marriage with his second wife the lady constance , daughter and heir of peter king of castile . so the said children were plainly all bastards by our law , and by consequence not capable of inheriting any thing . after the death of his second wife , john for the passionate affection which he bare to his children by katharine , married her ; and some time after procured them by act of c parliament to be legitimated , and made inheritable to all preheminences , honours , dignities , &c. [ exceptâ regali dignitate , for so are the very words of the record , excepting the regal dignity . ] besides , margaret countess of richmond and derby , the mother of king henry the seventh , ( through whom he must necessarily derive what ever title he could pretend to ) died not till d 1 h. 8. so then here are four plain legal impediments in the title of king henry the seventh : 1. he derived from a bastard stem or slip. 2. though the said children by katharine swinford were legitimated by parliament , yet the dignity regal was excepted by the same parliament , and they remained illegitimate as to that . 3. his mother out-liv'd him . and 4. ( which was worst of all ) the onely true and legal title remained in elizabeth eldest daughter to king edward the fourth , ( who descended lineally from lionel duke of clarence , john's elder brother ) with which elizabeth the said henry afterwards married , as i have observ'd . and therefore this prince having so many palpable flaws and impediments in his title , and well knowing that the laws divine , natural , and humane , were all against him ; no man ( i suppose ) will wonder that he made his courtship and addresses to the people for their favour and good will , and was so sollicitous of an establishment by them . and as the most considering and thinking men of that age had no great opinion of this prince's parliamentary title , so it is plain that this king himself laid no great stress upon it ; which is the more remarkable , because all our historians do with one voice proclaim him one of the wisest and most sagacious princes , that ever sway'd the scepter in this realm . now that he himself relied not upon this statute-kingship is most plain from two acts of parliament which i that produce . first , by that very statute law by which the crown was establish'd upon him : for , as my lord bacon hath observ'd , he did not press to have that act penn'd by way of declaration or recognition of right , as on the other side he avoided to have it by new law or ordinance ; but chose rather a kind of middle way , by way of establishment , and that under covert and indifferent words , viz. that the inheritance of the crown should rest , remain , and abide in the king , &c. which words might equally be applied , that the crown should continue to him , but whether as having former right to it , ( which was doubtful ) or having it then in fact and possession , ( which no man denied ) was left fair to interpretation every way . secondly , from that act of parliament which he procur'd to be made in the 11th . of his reign , in which it was ordain'd , that no person that shall serve the king for the time being ( for so are the very words ) in his wars , shall therefore be attainted or impeach'd in his person or estate , what fortune soever fall by chance in battel against the mind and will of the same king for the time being . this law ( saith the lord chancellour bacon , who comments very handsomly upon it ) had in it parts of prudent and deep foresight , for it took away occasion for the people to busie themselves in prying into the king's title to the crown ; for howsoever that fell out to be good or bad , the people's safety was already provided for . and the same author in the close of this king's life , reckons his opportune and seasonable death among his greatest felicities , which withdrew him from any future blow of fortune ; which certainly ( continues he ) in regard of the title of his son , being then 18 years of age , and a bold prince , had not been impossible to have come upon him : because upon the decease of king henry's queen , in whom ( as i have often said ) the true title lodged , and who died some years before , the crown immediately by the law of england descended upon prince henry ; for there can be no tenancy by the courtesie of the crown . so then in the opinion of the said lord chancellour also this king's title by statute was of small account in respect of that of his son by common law. by all which it plainly appears , that this king had no legal or inherent right of his own to the crown ; and therefore full contrary to his own inclination he was constrain'd to stoop and truckle under an establishment of the people , which notwithstanding was invalid and null in law , as i have proved . for king henry the eighth , though no man ever doubted but that he was king de jure , as bearing ( united in his own individual person ) his father's pretended title of lancaster , and his mother's legal and undoubted one of york ; yet there happened to fall out in this prince's case certain anomolous and odd circumstances , and niceties , and secret intrigues , which necessitated him ( contrary to his better knowledge and the native greatness of his soul ) to allow his people a share or copartnership ( as i may say ) in the ordering the succession of the crown , that so the matter might go as far as human power could carry it . and therefore first by the statute of 25 he confirms his divorce from katharine , and bastardizeth mary her daughter ; and on the other hand corroborates his marriage with anne , and legitimates elizabeth her daughter , and makes her inheritable to the crown . the legitimation or bastardy of these two daughters depending much upon the validity or weakness of the papal dispensation in the first marriage ; and this point being a vexata quaestio in those days , he had hoped to have cut this gordian knot ( which he could not untie ) with the sword and pretended omnipotency of a parliament . and then after he had done this , he forthwith marries jane seymour , and by the statute of the 28 attaints his wife anne , and bastardizeth elizabeth her daughter ; and so then ( according to the poet ) qui color albus erat nunc est contrarius albo . and then breaking down the boundaries of all law and common reason , and with a prodigious wildness and extravagancy he procures it to be enacted , that in case he had no issue by jane , he might dispose of the crown to whatsoever person he did in his own discretion think fit . and the whole nation was oblig'd by the sanctimony of an oath to the defence of this law. this he did that he might advance to the throne his natural son henry fitz roy duke of richmond , whom he loved most passionately , ( who yet died not long after ) and so to exclude for ever his sister margaret of scotland , and all her descendents . then by the statute of 35 he entails the crown upon himself , prince edward , and the said mary and elizabeth ; and in case they happened to have no issues of their bodies , then he was again impower'd by the same act of parliament to dispose of the crown to what person or persons soever he pleased by his last will and testament . and the whole narion was likewise sworn to the maintainance of this law. and by virtue of this extravagant power ( in case his three children died without issue , as afterwards they did ) he bequeathed the crown to the house of suffolk , being the younger house , and in defiance of all laws , and brotherly affection disinherited , and totally excluded the elder house of scotland : and therefore all those niceties and designs considered , it is most plain king henry was constrain'd to pray in aid of the people , to give some colour at leastwise to all the contradictions and impossiblities . and therefore , i conceive that no man of common reason , or that bears true faith and allegiance to his majesty that now is , or his crown , will draw arguments from the three statutes above mentioned , to prove that the parliament of england may exclude the next heir of the blood. so that upon the whole matter of this first objection , it appears most plainly , that the princes which submitted and stoop'd to these tumultuous and statute-kingships , either it was because they invaded and usurp'd the crown contrary to the laws divine , natural , and humane , or to give a colour and varnish to contradictions , and impossibilities , and private intrigues and designs . and yet after all these popular establishments , though munited , and fenc'd about with the highest penalties and oaths that mortal men could devise ; yet could not in reality transfer the right from the next heir of the blood ( that being a dowry , as i have said , which god reserves to his own immediate donation , and hath plac'd above the reach of a mortal arm. ) for though an act of parliament shall command me to say , that an ethiopian is white , and that under the highest oaths and penalties ; or , that an ape is a man ; yet notwithstanding the ethiöpian can never in truth change his skin , or complexion , nor the ape his species , and commence a creature rational . ay ; but ( saith another ) why may not the crown be transfer'd from the next heir of the blood by parliament , as well as all other inheritances , and possessions whatsoever in the kingdom may , from the right heir of the subject ? i answer there is no similitude between the cases . for ; 1. private men derive their inheritances from their ancestors ; but the next heir of the blood royal derives not the crown from his predecessor , or the people , but immediately from god ; as i have prov'd at large in this discourse . and no person , or community can give away , or transfer a thing , which they never had vested in them , either in possession , or so much as right . secondly ; the law of the crown ( which yet is a principal part of the common law of england ) differs from the law of the subject in point of descents ; and therefore that may be law in case of the crown , which is not in case of thē subject , of which i shall here give some instances . a private man being an alien born , cannot by our law inherit land here , but the crown shall descend upon the next heir of the blood , though an alien ; as it happened many years ago , in the case of king henry the second , who was an alien born , and begot of a father who was also an alien : and the like happened not long since in the case of king james , of ever blessed memory . if a king of england have three daughters , and dye , the crown shall descend upon the eldest alone ; but in case of a subject , the inheritance shall go to all three daughters . co. 1. inst . 165. a : 25 h. 8. cap. 22. circa medium . if a subject marry an heiress , and hath issue by her , a son , and the wife dye , the husband shall enjoy the wive's lands during his life ; but if a man marry a queen regnant of england , and hath issue by her a son or a daughter , and then she dyes , here the crown descends immediately upon the issue , which becomes king or queen presently , though the father be alive ; as ought to have been in the case of king henry the seventh , and his son prince henry , ( as i have before observed ; ) and would have been in the case of philip that married queen mary , if she had dyed having issue . ellesmere's postnati 36. lord bacon's h. 7. fol. 4. 121 , 217 , 231. so the half blood is no impediment to the descent of the lands of the crown , as it happened in the cases of edward the sixth and the two queens mary and elizabeth ; and yet in the cases of subjects it is clearly otherwise . plowd . com. 245. a. co. 7. rep. 12. v. postnati . co. inst . 15. v. so likewise if the right heir of the blood , or the father or mother of the right heir from whom the crown descends , are attainted of high treason by parliament , these attainders yet are no obstructions to the descent of the crown , as it happened in the cases of our king edward the fourth , and his father richard plantagenet , duke of york , who were both attainted of high treason by act of parliament . as also in the case of king james , as it is related to his mother mary queen of scots , who was attainted of high treason , and executed , and yet the commissioners and judges that gave sentence upon her , set forth a public declaration , that the attainder of the mother did not at all derogate from the right of her son to the crown of england : but all men know 't is otherwise in the case of subjects , whose descents are obstructed by the attainders of their ancestors . i could be infinite in cases of this nature , but by these few instances ( wherein the law , for ought i know , is no more alterable by parliament than the succession ) it doth plainly appear , that there is no small difference in point of law ; between the descents of the crown , and private inheritances . and therefore , though an inheritance may thus be given away from a subject , yet it doth not in any wise follow that the crown may be dispos'd from the next heir . the third , and last objection is founded upon the statute of 13 o eliz. cap. 1. wherein it is enacted , that if any person shall affirm , that the parliament of england hath not full power to bind , and govern the crown in point of succession and descent , that such person ( during the queen's life ) shall be guilty of high treason , and after her death ; shall forfeit his goods and chattels , &c. i answer ; first , it is to be observed ; that this law was made in the time of a queen , whose title to the crown depended upon statute-law , as appears by the very act recognizing her title to the crown ; and this act of 13 o was made in affirmance and vindication of such title to the crown by statute ; and this is plain from the body of the same act , wherein it is expresly enacted , that if any person shall affirm , that any statute for recognizing the right of the crown of england to be lawful in the royal person of the said queen , is not , or ought not to be for ever of sufficient force to bind all persons , and their rights , that in any wise may , or might claim an interest to the same crown in possession , or otherwise , shall , during the life of the queen's majesty , be judged a high traitor ; and therefore the same queen had little reason to scruple the passing a bill of this nature . but i much doubt , whether a common law-prince ( who owes his title only to god , nature , and the immutable customs of the nation ) unless under like circumstances with king henry the eighth , would have assented to an act , so derogatory to the regalties ; for the manifest inconveniencies that might insue to himself , and posterity , by such assent and condescention : some of which i have discovered in the beginning of this discourse in my second reason , why the succession of the crown is annexed to proximity of blood. secondly ; wise men do not only consider things that are acted , but more especially the season and junctures of time , when those things were acted ; and sir edward coke ( a great master in the science of our law ) doth frequently admonish us , that the true scope and design of our statute-laws , are oftentimes not at all intelligible , without the help of the chronicles and memoirs of that age , wherein the said statute-laws were made . of which there cannot be a more pregnatn instance than this here . and therefore i will in charity believe , that the contrivers of this objection did never rightly inform themselves of the history , and true reason of making this statute , which in truth was this : some time before this statute , mary queen of scots ( dowager of france , and the mother of our king james ) being discomfited in battel by her own rebellious vassals of scotland , she ( like a dove pursued by vultures ) fled into the bosom of her kinswoman elizabeth of england for protection . elizabeth ( who inherited her father's malaversion to the house of scotland , and contrary to those royal sympathies which one sovereign prince ought to have for another in distress ; and indeed against the rules of common hospitality ) commits mary to a loathsom prison . the pope , with some of the catholick princes , and others of her friends , thought this was no very kind treatment , and therefore endeavour not onely to set her at liberty , but also to advance her to the throne ; the generality of mankind in that age looking upon the said mary's title to be much clearer than that of the queen in possession , the later being bastardiz'd , and render'd incapable of the crown by solemn act of parliament , which still stood unrepeal'd , and therefore valid in law ; at leastwise but a statute-queen , as i prov'd before : and the former deriving ( as is shew'd above ) by the common law , and a direct true line from margaret the eldest daughter of king henry the seventh , and elizabeth his queen . and besides , in the very year this statute was made , there was a marriage warmly prosecuted between the said queen elizabeth ; and henry duke of anjou , ( who afterwards became king of france , upon the death of his brother charles the ninth ; ) and no small care was then taken for establishment of the succession upon the issues proceeding from the same marriage . and there is a remarkable clause among others in the same statute of 13 , viz. that every person or persons , of what degree and nation soever they be , shall during the queen's life declare or publish , that they have any right to enjoy the crown of england , during the queen's life , shall be disenabled to enjoy the crown in succession , inheritance , or otherwise after the queen's death . which clause was most apparently contriv'd against the same mary and her son king james . so that the plain scope and design of this statute was , utterly and for ever to exclude and disinherit the same mary queen of scots , and all her posterity , and to extinguish absolutely that right to the english crown , which the laws of god and nature , and the common law of england , had given to her and them . and therefore how any man that pretends loyalty or allegiance to his gracious majesty that now is , ( who derives his title lineally from the said mary queen of scots ) can object this statute was a precedent for exclusion of the next heir by act of parliament , i cannot understand . and the objector may do well to consider , how far he may enforce this objection without hazard to his person and estate ; for no man can maintain the validity of this statute , without manifest derogation and injury unto his majesty's title . thirdly ; to affirm that the parliament hath no power to bind the succession of the crown in point of descent ; and to affirm that the parliament hath no power to exclude the next heir of the bloud royal , is the same proposition . now i have proved above , that the succession of the crown is annex'd to proximity of bloud by the laws of god and nature , and that acts of parliament contrariant to those laws are void . so then the case is no more than this ; an act of parliament ordains , that no person under a certain penalty shall dare to affirm , that statute-laws contrary to those of god and nature are null and void ; i think no man ever did , or doth , or will doubt , but that such act of parliament is absolutely void in it self , and that the judges are oblig'd to expound it so , when ever it comes before them in point of judgment . lastly ; this act of 13 being a law made ( as i have proved above ) in diminution , or rather in open and hostile defiance of the title of scotland to this crown , it was by tacit and implied consent of the law , and the whole nation , utterly abrogated upon the first moment of the happy union of the two crowns in the person of king james ; or at leastwise by the solemn and express repeal here of all hostile and unkind laws between england and scotland , of which i am sure this of 13 was none of the least . i shall draw towards a conclusion with a certain apposite note , which one of our latin historians makes upon the nine days reign of jane grey , and the easie admission of queen mary to the crown . tali & constanti veneratione nos angli legitimos reges prosequimur , ut ab corum debito obsequio , &c. such and so constant a veneration ( saith he ) have we englishmen for our lawful princes , that we are not to be drawn from our allegiance and loyalty to them , by any colours or specious pretences whatsoever , no not with the bait even of religion it self ; of which matter this case of jane may be a memorable and plain instance : for though the foundations of her government were laid as firm as was possible , and the superstructure also wrought with all the art and cunning in the world ; yet as soon as ever the lawful and undoubted heir of the crown appear'd , and shew'd her self to the people , all this fine and curious frame presently fell to the ground , and was ruin'd as it were in the twincle of an eye ; and that principally by the hands and industry to those very persons , who upon the account of religion were thought to have most favoured the interest of jane . and though the duke of northumberland ( jane's father in law , and a man of prodigious subtilty ) had instructed the preachers of london to cry down the title , and blacken the person of mary in their pulpits by all the ways imaginable ; yet this device was smoak'd , and would not take even with the londoners themselves ; no though ridley their bishop ( a man of singular sanctity and persuasion , and whose person they passionately revered ) laboured in the matter with all his might , &c. so far the historian . thus i have ( as i conceive ) answer'd all material objections , and have likewise made good my proposition , viz. that the parliament of england cannot by the laws of england exclude the next heir of the bloud from succession to the crown . and i doubt not his sacred majesty that now is , will not in his time suffer a pearl of this magnitude and oriency to be ravish'd by any hands out of the imperial diadem of this realm . sir , i doubt not but upon a serious and deliberate perusal of this discourse ( which i have compos'd at your earnest intreaty ) you will gather some notices and knowledge which may be of use and satisfaction to you . whatever it be , i beseech you to believe that i am , sir , your faithful and humble servant , e. f. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a39852-e90 1. reason . a gen. 4. 7. b deut. 21. 17. c exod. 13. 1. 22. 9. numb . 3. 13. luc. 2. 23. d in epist ad onagr . et in gen. 49. e hom. 5. adversus judaos . f de repub. lib. 6. cap. 5. g lex hoc d. de just . & jure . h iac. licet de voto . i tract . de pot. & excell . regia . q. 9. k in l. obvenire d. de verb. sig . l in proaem . d. sect. discipuli . et in 1. donationes , c. de don. inter vir. & vx . m in l. 2. c. de jur. emph. n per l. ex facto sect. pen. d. ad treb o cons . 275. lib. 2. p in l. proximus d. de verb. sig. q l. ex duobus d. de vulg. & pup . r cokes 3d. inst . 8. s jac. the case of the dutchy of cornwal . * cited in coke's 7th rep. 10. v 11. d. calvin's case . t arist . ethic. nicomac . lib. 8. cap. 13. u de clemen . lib. 1. cap. 19. x 24 h. 8. cap. 12. 34 h. 8. cap. 1. 23 eliz. cap. 1. &c. a 1 sam. 16 1. c 2 kings 9. 4. d exod 11. 2. 12. 35. e rot. parl. 39. hen. 6. num. 10. 13 , 15 , 27. f rot. parl. 1 ed. 4. num . 8. &c. & 9 ed. 4. 10. a. bagot's assise . 1 jac. c. 1. h 6 jac. co. 7 rep. 10. v. & 14. v. i printed in poulton's statutes . 3 car. 1. k coke's 1. iast . 344. a. l 27 hen. 6. fitch title annuity 41. m 1 edw. 6. cap. 14. n cited in coke's 8. rep. 118. v. dr bonham's case . 2 reason . o preface to his fourth rep. in principio . p his argument of the case of the postnati . pag. 36. 3 reason . 4 reason , * 18 ed. 3. the oath of the judges printed in poulton . 5 eliz. ca. 1. q co. 7. rep. 6. v. calvin's case . r rot. parl. 42 ed. 3. nu . 7. s 4 inst . 14. in margine . t 12 rep. 28. v 1 jac. c. 1. a recognition that the crown of england is lawfully descended unto king james , his progeny and posterity . k. h. 6 rot. parl. 1 ed. 4. num . 12 , 22. k. h. 7. 28 h 8. cap. 7. vita eliz. an● , no 2. regni . in lib. barbarious d. de offic. praesid . walsingham in vita . ed. 1. dyer . 165. a. b coke's 7th rep. 11. a. post-nati . 1 objection . answer . king john. vita johannis . fol. 197. henry 4th . rot. parl. 39. h. 6. num. 10. 13 , 15. 27. rot. parl. 1 h. 4. memb. 20. a vita h. 3. fol. 488. & 654. b in ane vitae h. 3. & principio h. 4. henry 7. c r. 2 num . 29. rot. parl. 20. rot. parl. 20. ri. 2. pars secanda memb . 6. rot. parl. 8 h. 4. pars prima memb . 14. d lord herbert h. 8. fol. 8. bacon hist. 11. 12. 11 h. 7. cap. 1. his history of h. 7. fol. 144. ib. fol. 233. & 217. henry 8. 25 h. 8. c. 22. 28 h. 8. cap 7. heylin's ecclesia restaurata , fol. 5. 35 h. 8. cap. 1. 2 objection . answer . nil dat quod non habet . 1. inst. 11. v. & 344. a. 〈…〉 eliz. reg. 28. 1586. 〈…〉 die ( saith cambden ) 〈…〉 sententia in scotorum regia 〈◊〉 prolata est , à delegatis & 〈◊〉 judicibus declaratum erat , ●●rentiam iliam nihil derogare jacobo regi scotorum in jure aut ●●onore ; sed ilium in eodem esse 〈◊〉 , ordine , & jure , ac si s●mentia illa nunquam lata fuiset . ( fo. so are the very words of the historian . ) 3 objection . answer . ● eliz. cap. 3. 〈…〉 a. 28 h. 8. cap. 7. cambden in 13 eliz. 4 jac. cap. 1. rerum anglicarum annales lib. 3. vita mariae ré the apostate protestant a letter to a friend, occasioned by the late reprinting of a jesuites book about succession to the crown of england, pretended to have been written by r. doleman. pelling, edward, d. 1718. 1682 approx. 141 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 31 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a53949 wing p1075 estc r21638 12361524 ocm 12361524 60244 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a53949) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 60244) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 645:6) the apostate protestant a letter to a friend, occasioned by the late reprinting of a jesuites book about succession to the crown of england, pretended to have been written by r. doleman. pelling, edward, d. 1718. l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. [2], 59 p. printed for w. davis and j. hindmarsh ..., london : 1682. sometimes ascribed to sir roger l'estrange. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng parsons, robert, 1546-1610. -conference about the next succession to the crowne of ingland. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-02 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2005-02 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter to a friend , occasioned by the late reprinting of a jesuites book . about succession to the crown of england , pretended to have been written by r. doleman . my son , fear thou the lord and the king , and meddle not with them that are given to change , prov. 24. 21. london , printed for w. davis and j. hindmarsh , at amen corner , and at the black bull in corn-hill near the royal exchange , 1682. the apostate protestant . sir , i received your present , and if i thank you for it , 't is purely out of respects to the hand that sent it ; i mean a book bearing this title , a conference about the next succession to the crown of england , pretended to be written by r. doleman . yet considering what you write , that you was startled and astonish'd to see in it such horrid and traiterous assertions , and principles so destructive not of monarchy only , but of every form of government ; i am apt to mistrust that you parted with it chiefly out of fear of keeping such a lewd and dangerous companion in your closet , especially since you confess , that 't was brought to your hands as it were by stealth , being happily seized on by one of his majesties officers . 't is a dangerous book indeed , and without doubt is published and handed up and down to serve a turn in these ticklish times , when some ambitious men have taken pepper in the nose , and to be revenged for their disappointments endeavour to make another strong pass at our government , and would sain hurl the world into confusion . since you have lodged the knave with me , i 'le take care that for me he shall not go abroad to do mischief . but yet i cannot answer your commands , unless i give you some account both of the author , and the book . as for the author ; it was not r. doleman , ( that is but a counterfeit ) but robert parsons was his name ; a notorious and violent jesuite in the days of queen elizabeth ; a fellow born at stockersey in somerse●shire , and a bastard it seems : which possibly might be an omen , that afterwards he would own for his mother that church which is an whore , and ( as much as in him lay ) prefer bastards to a crown . a man of whom the papists themselves in those days gave this character , that he was filius populi & filius peccati ; one born to be a plague to the world , restless , seditious , turbuleu● , cruel , imperious , treacherous , and in a manner the very epitome of all wickedness . they who knew him and his dealings at oxford , have told us , how seditious , wanton , and factious this lewd bastards conversation was , and how for his libelling and other misdemeanours he was thrust out of baliol college , having been so infamous there , being then master of arts , that they hissed him out with hoo-bubs , and rung him out with bells . in those days , saith my author , england was made the main chance of christendom , the only butt , mark and white that was aimed at . and indeed , such was the strength of the romanists , their conspiracies so frequent , and their endeavours so great for a successor for their turn , that affairs were in a very uncertain and tottering condition ; so that it was expresly given out , that england should be made an island of jesuites . but to promote the plot , none was more industrious than this parsons . 't was he chiefly that wrought with pius quintus to excommunicate the queen . 't was he chiefly that stirred up the king of spain to invade our country . 't was he chiefly that sollicited her majesties subjects to abandon their allegiance . nay , 't was he chiefly that that occasioned those severities the government was forced to use upon the papists : for the secular priests did acknowledge , that her majesty used them kindly for the space of the first ten years of her reign , so that their condition was tolerable , and in some good quiet : it was the principles and practices of this parsons , that were so injurious not only to our religion , and our government , but to the interest even of his own party too . you may take this character , as i find it given ( and very deservedly ) by a popish priest then living . this ( saith he ) is that same parsons , whom pope , prince and peer with all true english hearts have cause to hate . this is he of whom his own general reported , that he was more troubled with one english man , than with all the rest of his society . this is he of whom cardinal alan held this opinion , that he was a man very violent , and of an unquiet spirit , and of whom mr. blackwell ( now his darling ) said , that his turbulent and lewd life would be a discredit to the catholick cause . in short , the general conceit of all that ever have throughly conversed with him , is this , that he is of a furious , passionate , hot , cholerick , exorbitant working humour , busie headed , and full of ambition , envy , pride , rancour , malice and revenge : whereunto , through his latter machiavilian practices , may be added , that he is a most diabolical , unnatural , and barbarous butcherly fellow , unworthy the name ( nay , cursed be the hour wherein he had the name ) of a priest , nay , of a religious person , nay , of a temporal lay-man , jesuit , nay , of a catholick , nay , of a christian , nay , of a humane creature ; but of a beast or a devil ; a violater of all laws ; a contemner of all authority ; a stain of humanity , an impostume of all corruption , a corrupter of all honesty , and a monopoly of all mischief . this was the man , sir , whose book you sent me ; and had i never look'd into the book , yet considering who and what the author of it was , i could not but blush and be ashamed to think , that any in our days ( especially pretenders to the protestant religion ) should be such enemies to truth , to religion , and to common honesty , as to bring such a wicked mans issue to light again , and to dress it and set it out afresh for a tool . what good can the indifferent world conceive of them , who of all principles , espouse the principles of the jesuits , who are the worst of papists ; and of them , do especially admire and recommend to our reading the writings of this parsons , who was one of the worst of all jesuites ? as touching the book it self , sir , there are divers things which are worthy your observation , and which may be of good use to you , and to every man in these times who is a zealous , impartial , and honest-hearted protestant . first , that it is so full of principles that are apparently false , pestilent , and scandalous , that in queen elizabeths days when it was first printed , it did not only exasperate our english government , but did likewise give such offence to the very popish faction , that several of them wrote books on purpose in confutation of this counterfeit doleman , so ashamed they were of it : nay , parsons himself finding his party so offended , and himself so rated and condemned upon the coming out of this book , though he was shameless enough , endeavoured nevertheless to shift and wash his hands of it , as if he had not been the author of it , though 't was notorious that he was . secondly , 't is to be noted that in the fatal year 1648 , when that blessed martyr king charles the first was so barbarously murdered , the several articles brought in charge against him were all grounded upon principles taken out of this jesuites book ; nay , a great part of the very book it self ( so much as served the turn of those cursed regicides ) was reprinted under another counterfeit title , viz. several speeches delivered at a conference , concerning the power of parliaments to proceed against their kings for misgovernment . they were forced to be beholden to this jesuite for principles to defend that unnatural war , and that unjust sentence : for could the protestant religion ( which they pretended to maintain ) have born them out , it is not credible ; they would have brought upon themselves so much infamy , by raising up a jesuites ghost to speak for them . the sending of that book abroad , did clearly demonstrate what they and their designs were . and i would sain know , whether an unprejudiced man will not conclude , that there is some ugly design on foot now , when this very book is brought upon the stage again ? for , you must observe , in the next place , that the present you sent me , is the very same book , now lately printed the third time ; the very same book , that was first intended to tear the government into pieces , and to turn this land into a field of bloud : the same book , that laid the foundations of the late rebellion : the very same book , ●hat served to bring the best of kings to the scaffold : the very same book , that helped them to justifie that villanous and most horrid fact. and what can we gather hence , but that some extraordinary intrigue is in hand ▪ which needeth the help of this old jesuit again ? there are so many knaves in the world already , that men need not fetch father parsons from the dead , only for a shew : and the world is so abundantly stockt with books , that doleman would not have been re-printed for nothing . for , be pleased to observe too , what the state of affairs was then , in the days of queen elizabeth , when this book was published first under that title . a zealous and wise protestant monarch was then reigning ; but she being not likely to have any issue , the discourses of men were ( as they are now ) about the succession . james king of scotland was the next heir by bloud , but his religion did not please the jesuits . for this reason they laid their noddles together , to defeat him of the crown , if it were possible ; and that matchless man at mischief , father parsons , wrote ( among other books ) this , which he called by the name of doleman : wherein he indeavoured to persuade the world , that all monarchies are de jure elective , and that proximity of bloud was not sufficient to intitle any man to the imperial crown of england , without the peoples choice , approbation , and consent , ( which by reason of the numbers , interest , and policy of the papists then , he did hope would never be given to king james . ) as the ground of all this , he had the confidence to place the plenitude of power , and all absolute soveraignty in the hands of the people ; so that ( according to his principle , owned in this doleman ) the commonwealth may lawfully and at their pleasure fore-close and hinder the next heir , if on the account of his religion , or in any other respect , they judg him unfit to succeed ; nay , that they may , without sin , depose and destroy a prince , though actually vested and possest of the throne , if in the administration of the government he answer not that trust , which was reposed in him by his lords and masters , the people . in fine , he told the queens subjects , that the descent and disposal of the crown did depend wholly upon their pleasure , and that they had an unlimited power at any time to determine upon this or that form of government , and might alter it when they thought fit , and chuse whether they would have a king , or no , and turn the monarchy into an aristocracy , or democracy , as they saw occasion , and judged it best . by these popular principles , this jesuit and the rest hoped to serve these ends ; either to prevent the succession of the king of scots , ( which was the first and grand design ) or in case he should succeed , to prepare a ready way to ruine him , and indeed to ruine his family too , and to subvert his government , if they did not answer the expectations of the church of rome . nor did they fail of their ends in every particular . for though king james came peaceably to the crown , yet these principles did work so powerfully , that they laid barrels and trains of gunpowder under the parliament house , and afterwards made stirs in the parliament it self , and in forty one raised a bloudy and unnatural rebellion , and in the end changed the government into a republick , and caused the monarch and the monarchy to be cut off together . haec ithacus voluit ; these were the natural effects of this book , called doleman , which some now have thought convenient and necessary for their turns to set out again in a new and more polish'd edition . these things being observed touching the author , and of the design in printing and reprinting of this book , i cannot fancy my self to have paid you all those respects which are due from me , till i take a few steps further , and shew you a little , first , what use hath been made of this book and these dolemanian principles of late ; and then what those reasons are on which these principles are founded . for affairs are uncertain now , as they were when these principles came first into the world : the book is admirably well calculated for our meridian ( otherwise it might have lain still in the dark , and no more regarded than an almanack out of date : ) methinks i see in it some of lilly's prognosticks , or hopes at least , of some change of weather : and therefore 't is necessary , that to preserve our peace and good government , we look a little into the nature and strength of the aforesaid principles . and the rather , because i see they are very pleasant and taking with the people ; their bare popularity , though they have no reason or sense , is enough to recommend them to the favour and kind embraces of the vulgar , who love dearly to be medling with government , and cannot but be tickled at heart when they are told , that they have a soveraign power in them which they did not dream of , that they can make and unmake kings , that crowns and scepters lie at their worships feet , that princes must make court to them for succession , and that they can , if they will , bar them out , and come like the tribunes of the people of rome , with an uncontroulable veto . these are fine and delicate doctrines , and beyond the fawnings of some others , who tell us , to please us , that we have power to chuse all our bishops ; though i confess we may think it fitting , that we should have power in both points , as well as in one ; and as the world goes , kings and bishops way well expect to fare alike . but in good earnest , sir , i am grieved at heart ( and 't is enough to raise the indignation of every honest man ) to find , that so many among us do inconsiderately ( not to say , maliciously ) run altogether upon this jesuits principles , and that in these times , when we are all so afraid of popery , that one would think we should be most especially afraid of jesuitism . yet if you please to give your self the trouble to peruse those seditious pamphlets which have been published of late , you will find what i note to be true ; that generally they borrow large portions out of this most wicked libel , written by a most wicked wretch , on purpose to ruine the interest of the protestant cause : nay , that the authors of them have so exactly followed the scope , the tenents , the arguments , the examples , and the very phrase ( many times ) that we may well believe they had old doleman open before them as they were writing . i shall give you proof and instances of this by and by . in the mean while we may conclude , that these men were not so straightned , as to be constrained to do this . for they might have been abundantly furnished with anti-monarchical and republican principles out of other authors , such as a ficklerus , b stephanus ▪ junius brutus , knox , 〈◊〉 , and some more of that age , who were main good friends to the jesuits in this point . but because fa. parsons hath made great improvements of those principles which others had vended a little before , and because his great design was to bar all succession to the crown of england by natural descent and inheritance , and to that end hath used all the most plausible arguments ; and because all this is serviceable to the designs of some now , who consider more what is expedient than what is just , therefore they do willingly chuse to make this author ( though a jesuit ) their guide , and do take all their measures from this libel , rather than others . how they will answer this to god , to their own consciences , and to the sober world , i do not know ; but that the truth of what i say may be manifest , i shall instance in some of the principal pamphlets , which have been written of late . and i shall begin with that which hath made the greatest noise , viz. the history of succession , which the author saith is collected out of the records , and the most authentick historians . but had he said , collected out of doleman , he had spoken a more ingenuous truth , than perhaps he hath told us in the whole book besides . for , though he hath adorned his margin with div●rs quotations out of records and authors , ( which i suppose he consulted to conceal his theft , or to put a fair colour upon it at least ) yet the matter is taken out of that authentick historian , doleman . however he came by the fringe and the lace , 't was his friend , honest fa ▪ parsons that furnish'd him with the stuff . i do not intend to examine the candour , the sincerity , or the logick of this collector , because it is a thing besides my purpose , and for the consideration of those things i refer you , sir , to that learned and solid answer called , the great point of succession discussed , &c. and to that excellent tract entituled , religion and loyalty supporting each other . for my business is only to shew matter of fact , that this collector hath filch'd his pamphlet out of that jesuit , who to cheat the world gave himself the surname of doleman . in this blessed history we are to consider , first , the design ; secondly , the principles of the author ; and thirdly , the examples he useth to serve his ends. i● now the design is to prove , that the government of england is not a setled hereditary monarchy ; that succession is not title enough to make the next heir king , but that the election of him ought to be before his coronation ; that the succession is wholly under the controul of parliament , and that they can limit it , and subject it to conditions , and alter the course of it as they please . now , this is the very sum of the first , and the sixth chapter in doleman , part. 1. for in the first chapter he tells us , that succession to government by nearness of bloud is not by law of nature or divine , but only by humane and positive laws of every particular commonwealth , and consequently may up●n just causes be altered by the same , pag. 1. and in the sixth chapter he affirms , that though priority and propinquity of bloud in succession , is greatly to be honoured , regarded , and preferred in all affairs of dignity and principality , yet are we not so absolutely and peremptorily bound thereunto always , but that upon just and urgent occasions that course may be altered and broken , pag. 104. he founds regal power in succession and election both , pag. 105. and being to answer that question , what interest a prince hath by secession alone to any crown , before he be crowned or admitted by the commonwealth ? he saith , that an heir apparent before his coronation and admission by the realm , hath the same ( and no more ) interest to the kingdom , which the king of romans , or caesar hath to the german empire after his election and before he be crowned ; and to use a more familiar example to to englishmen , as the mayor of london hath to the mayoralty , after he is chosen , and before he be admitted , or have taken his oath . for as this man in rigour is not truly mayor , nor hath his jurisdiction before his oath , and admission , nor the other is properly emperour before he be crowned , so is not an heir apparent truly king , though his predecessor be dead , until he be crowned and admitted by the commonwealth , pag. 106. in fine ; he is positive , that heirs apparent are not true kings , until their coronation , how just soever their title of succession otherwise be , and so , that no allegiance is due unto them before they be crowned , pag. 108. to make these things out , is the grand design of father parsons and his plagiary , the author of this history of succession . and though you well know , that all this is contrary to the laws of our realm , which recognize all succession to this crown to be by inheritance , and allow of no interregnum , but say , that the king never dieth , because the next heir is actually king that very minute after the breath of his predecessor is gone ; yet you see , how closely this collector hath followed the steps of doleman , all our laws to the contrary notwithstanding . ii. as touching this collectors principles . 1. he is clearly of opinion , that the commonwealth hath power to change the direct order of succession , for otherwise the government would want power to defend it self , by making such alterations as the variety of accidents in several ages may make absolutely necessary , p. 15. that in parliament a supreme uncontroulable power is lodged , ibid. that a nation ( in excluding a successor ) is to be excused for executing justice summarily , and without the tedious formalities of law , when the necessity of things requires haste , pag. 19. and that the people are bound in conscience to obey ( the parliaments ) laws , and must not pretend to enquire whether they were made upon just grounds , ibid. now such simple men as you and i , have ever thought , and do think still , that all humane power is subordinate to gods , under the correction of it , and controulable by it : that law-givers ought to take their measures according to the rules of natural justice , and equity ; that m●ns laws do not oblige , if they be contrary to the laws of god or nature ; that parliaments have not that power , which bellarmine ( another jesuit ) gives the pope , to make good evil , and evil good ; that common honesty ought to govern the whole world ; that necessity cannot be pretended to justifie an evil action ; that no commonwealth hath a sovereign power over the commands of god and nature ; and that divers statutes and acts have been judged ipso facto void , and without need of repealing , being contrary to divine or natural laws . but you see , that this collector is of another faith , telling us , that a commonwealth can do any thing , what they please , without any controul . but the reason is , because he takes father parsons for his great apostle . for he , speaking of a commonwealths power to exclude a successor , though contrary to the ordinary course of law , saith , that our common law must needs have further consideration than of the bare propinquity of bloud only , for that otherwise it would be a very imperfect law , that hath not provided for accidents so weighty and important , as these are , for saving and conserving of our commonwealth ; preface to doleman , pag. penult . these are the words which the collector hath in a manner transcribed and copied out . moreover the jesuit tells us , that the commonwealth hath authority to judge of the lawfulness of the cause ( for putting back the prince ; ) that god doth allow for a just and sufficient cause in this behalf , the only will and and judgment of the weal publick it self : and seeing that they only are to be judges of this case , we are to presume , that what they determine is just and lawful for the time ; and that they being lords and owners of the whole business , it is enough for every particular man to subject himself to that which his common-wealth doth in this behalf , and to obey simply without any further inquisition , &c. pag. 159 , 160. part . 1. now do but compare this passage in doleman with that cited above out of the history of succession , and judge whether this jesuit was not that collectors guide . 2. another of the collectors principles is this , that though government is of nature , and derived from god ; because nothing is more natural in man than the desire of society , and without government society would be intolerable ; yet it cannot be proved from hence that the government cannot be moulded into several forms , agreeable to the interest and dispositions of several nations , and may not be varied from time to time , as occasion requires , by the mutual consent of the governours , and of those who are governed , pag. 16. this is right father parsons all over , and so exactly , that as i was comparing the books , i was like to have mistaken doleman for the history of succession . for thus saith the jesuit , albeit sociability or inclination to live together in company , man with man , be of nature , and consequently also of god , that is author of nature ; and though government in like manner , and jurisdiction of magistrates ( which doth follow necessarily upon this living together in company ) be also * of nature , yet the particular form or manner of this or that government , in this or that fashion , as to have many governours , few , or one : or that they should have this or that authority , more or less , for longer or shorter time , or be taken by succession or election , themselves and their children , or next in bloud , all these things ( saith the jesuit , agreeably to the collector ) are not by law either natural or divine , but they are ordained by particular positive laws of every country ; doleman , part . 1. cap. 1. pag. 2 , 3. i have seen many an harmonia evangelica ; but never shall i see a fairer harmonia politica than between these two brethren in iniquity , parsons and the collector of the history of succession . 3. especially if we add another principle of his , viz. that it is no matter of what stock or lineage a successor to the crown is , or whether next heir or not , if he doth but pass for one that promiseth well , and is likely to make a good king. and to let us know his mind in this , he tells us a remarkable story , which i beg of you , sir , to observe , because it is word for word in doleman . i cannot ( saith our collector ) forbear reciting the speech , which embassadours sent from the states of france , made to charles of lorrain , when they had solemnly rejected him ( though he was brother to louys d' outremes , and next h●ir to the crown ) and had elected hugh capet for their king. they told him , that every one knew that the succession to the crown of france belonged to him , and not to hugh capet . but yet ( say they ) the very same laws which give you this right of succession , do judg you also unworthy of the same ; for that you have not hitherto indeavoured to frame your manners according to the prescript of those laws , nor according to the usages and customs of your country , but rather have allyed your self with the german nation our old enemies , and have loved their vile and base manners . wherefore seeing you have forsaken the ancient virtue and sweetness of your country , we have also forsaken and abandoned you , and have chosen hugh capet for our king , and put you back ; and this without any scruple of conscience at all , esteeming it better and more just to live under him , enjoying our ancient laws , customs , priviledges , and liberties , than under you , the heir by bloud , in oppression , strange customs and cruelty . for as those who are to make a voyage at sea , do not much consider whether the pilot be owner of the ship , but whether he be skilful and wary , so our care is to have a prince to govern us gently and happily ( which is the end for which princes were appointed ) and for these ends we judge this man fitter to be our king. hist. of succession , pag. 15. there is a mistake in this story : for charles of lorrain was son to one louys , and vncle to another . however thus our collector sets it down , and quotes gerard for it , when he ought ( but that he would not betray himself ) to have quoted his father parsons , who relates the same story in the same words , and directed him to gerard. i think it not amiss ( saith the jesuit ) to put down here some part of the oration or speech , which the embassadors that were sent from the state of france unto charles of lorrain , after their election of hugh capet , and charles's exclusion , did use unto him in their names , which speech gerard doth recount in these words : every man knoweth ( lord charles ) that the succession of the crown of france , and so on , to the very similitude of the pilot , which our collector useth , being of the same mind with the jesuit , who speaking of a successor to the crown of england , saith , i for my part do feel my self much of the french opinion before alledged , that so the ship be well and happily guided , i esteem it not much important of what race or nation the pilot be . doleman . part. 1. cap. 8. pag. 139 , 140 , 143. father parsons moreover observes , that this hugh capet had that surname given him when he was a boy , for that he was wont to snatch away his fellows caps from their heads , whence he was termed snatch-cap , which some did interpret as an abodement that he would also also snatch a crown from the true owners head in time , as afterwards it fell out . but this our collector would take no notice of , lest hugh capet should be lookt upon as an usurper , as indeed he was , notwithstanding the election and approbation of the realm . 4. it is an avowed principle in doleman , that 't is both sinful in an high degree , and against all wisdom and policy to suffer a prince of a contrary religion to come to the crown ; part. 1. cap. 9. and thus much our collector insinuates , when he saith , he will not dispute how far the difference of religion , which will also necessarily draw on a change of the gocernment , doth justifie men in seeking to preserve the two dearest things on earth in an orderly and lawful way . pag. 19. 5. but he doth confidently insist on this , that the crown is not a bare inheritance , but an inheritance accompanying an office of trust , and that if a mans defects render him uncapable of the trust , he has also forfeited the inheritance . ibid. this , if it be true , equally holds against the king himself , as well as against his heir . for faileur in point of trust may be ( and has been ) pleaded , for the deposing of the king , as well as for the exclusion of his successor . and so parsons reckons ; who affirms likewise , that the princes power is potestas vicaria , or delegata , that is to say , a power delegate , or by commission , given ( by the commonwealth ) with such restrictions , cautels , and conditions , as if the same be not kept , but wilfully broken on either part , then is the other not bound , &c. doleman , part , 1. cap. 4. pag. 59. and from this principle he concludes , that even a true king may be deposed when he answers not that trust which the people hath reposed in him : id. part . 2. pag. 48. cap. 4. this jesuitical doctrine did not long ago cost one of our kings his throne and his life too ; i pray god it may not be so chargeable to another ; but 't is ominous , when pretending protestants will be nibling at such jesuitical principles , which under colour of keeping back an heir , naturally and necessarily strike at the very crowned head. iii. having hitherto instanced in some of this gentlemans principles , to shew you that he hath carefully written after the vilest of men , and the worst of books , i shall now for your further satisfaction instance in those examples which he makes use of ( and hath borrowed out of doleman ) to prove , that succession to the crown ( and even to the crown of england ) dependeth upon the pleasure and courtesie of the people . if you compare the history of succession with this book of the jesuit parsons , you will find it to be nothing but a little improvement of the eighth chapter of doleman , part. 1. for that jesuit and this collector undertaking to prove , that the commonwealth hath power to alter titles of succession , as publick necessity or utility shall require , do both of them shew , what the realm of england hath done , and what alterations they have made formerly , and their instances are alike , as you may see by casting your eye upon the two following columns , ( for it will not be amiss to set the thief just over against the knave . ) thus saith doleman , the jesuit . and thus saith the collector of the history of succession , the protestant . king egbert came to the crown by election , though he were not next by propinquity of bloud , doleman , pag. 144. egbert himself , the first english monarch , came to the crown not by succession , but election , being no ways related to bithricus . hist. of succession . pag. 1. athelstan , illegitimate son to to king edward , was preferred to the crown before his two brothers , the princes legitimate . id. pag. 145. athelstan , though a bastard succeeded his father , and was preferred to his legitimate brothers , id. pag. 1. king edmond left two lawful sons , but for that they were young , they were both put back by the realm , and their uncle eldred was preferred before them . id. p. 146. eldred , the younger brother of king edmond , was advanced to the throne , though the deceased prince had two sons , id. ibid. canutus was admitted for king of england by the whole parliament and consent of the realm , id. p. 149 canutus had so great an interest , that by an unanimous consent , in a full council , he was elected king , id. pag. 2. after the death of canutus , all the states of the realm met together at oxford , to consult whom they should make king , and at last by the more part of voices was chosen harald , the first son of canutus by a concubine , &c. id. p. 149. immediately upon the death of canutus , there was assembled at oxford a great council to determine , who ought to succeed , and harald harefoot , canutus his bastard , was elected , &c , id. p. 2. after the death of harald , hardicanutus was received with the great good will of all , and by common consent made king , id. p. 150. harald died in the fifth year of his reign , and then the people were content to accept of hardiknute for their king. id. p. 2. haraicanutus being dead , the states of the realm determined to chuse alured for their king , id. ibid. after the death of hardiknute the people proceeded to elect alfred , id. ibid. alfred being traiterously murdered by earl godwin of kent , prince edward was chosen king , id. ibid. alfred being murder'd by the treachery of earl godwin , they chuse his brother edward , commonly called edward the confessor , id. ibid. nor had the state herein any respect to antiquity of bloud , for that before alfred were both his own elder brother prince edward , and before them both were edmond and edward , the children of their elder brother edmond ironside , id. ibid. nor were these elections of theirs made with any respect to nearness of bloud ; for edmond ironside , their elder brother , had a son then alive , whose name was edward , id. ibid. the confessors title by succession cannot be justified , for that his eldest brothers son was then alive , to wit , prince edward , who in this kings reign came into england , and brought his wife and three lawful children with him . but yet was not this good king edward ( the confessor ) so scrupulous , as to give over his kingdom to any of them , or to doubt of the right of his own title , which he had by election , &c. id. p. 151. and though this edward had an undoubted title to the crown , if proximity of bloud could have given it , yet the confessor was so far from suspecting any danger from such a title , as that he invited his nephew into england , and welcom'd him when he came with the greatest expressions of joy , and entertain'd him with the greatest confidence , id. ibid. this king edward being dead , harald , son of earl godwin , had also the approbation of the realm to be king , id. p. 152. nor had the people any regard to this royal bloud upon the death of the confessor , but elected harald , the son of earl godwin , id. p. 2. all this is before the conquest ; but if we should pass any further down , we should find more examples than before , viz. of kings made in england , by only authority and approbation of the commonwealth , contrary to the ordinary cours● of linc●l successi●n by propinquity of bloud , id. p. 53. these few , among many other instances which may be given , will shew plainly enough , how men intituled themselves to the crown in those days , and that then it was no strange thing to hear of a parliaments medling with the succession . — let us go on more particularly to observe , what has been done since the conquest , id. ibid. after the conquerors death , william rufus was chosen king , though younger brother to robert duke of normandy , to whom the most part of the realm ( he means the normans ) was inclined , to have given the kingdom presently ▪ as due to him by succession , notwithstanding his fathers will to the coutrary , id. p. 153. william rufus had the consent of the nobles and wise men for his title ; and the english interest was so great at that time , that it k●pt the crown upon william rufus's head , in spight of all that the normans could do in the behalf of robert , though they universally joyn'd with him , id. p. 3. by like means got henry his younger brother the same crown afterward , to wit , by fair promises to the people , &c. id. p. 154. it was by the full consent and counsel of the whole body of the realm , that the conq●erors third son henry was elected for their king , id. p. 3. king henry dying left a daughter behind him named mawd , which being married first to the emperour henry v. he died without issue , and then was she married again the second time to geoffry plantaginet , earl of anjou , to whom she bare a son , named henry . — but for that stephen , earl of bologn , was thought by the state of england to be more fit to govern , he was admitted , and henry put back , id. p. 154. king henry died , leaving no issue but mand his daughter , who had been married to the emperour , and afterward to geoffry plantagenet , earl of anjou . no dispute can be made , but that she had all the right which proximity of bloud could give ; yet stephen , earl of bologn , stept in before her , and prevail'd with the estates of the realm to elect him king , id. p. 3. the states some years after in a parliament made an agreement , that stephen should be lawful king during his life only , and that henry and his off-spring should succeed him . id. p. 155. afterwards stephen came to an agreement with the empress and her son , and a parliament ( who alone could give a sanction to such agreement ) was assembled to confirm it , and then stephen publickly adopts henry for his son , and with their full consent declares him his heir , and with the same consent henry gives stephen the name of father , and agrees that he should continue to be king during his lise , &c. id. p. 4. after king richard , john , younger brother to richard , was admitted and crowned by the states of england , and arthur duke of britain , son and heir to geoffry ( that was elder brother to john ) was against the ordinary course of succession excluded , id. p. 155. richard dying without issue , arthur ( son of geoffry duke of britain , ) the next heir to the crown ought to have succeeded . but john , younger brother to richard , without regarding this divine right of his nephew , applies himself to the people for a more sure , though but a humane title , who being summoned together elected him king , id. p. 5. some years after , when the barons and states of england misliked utte●ly the government and proceeding of this k. john , they rejected him again , and chose lewis the prince of france to be their king , and did swear fealty to him in london ; depriving also the young prince henry , king john's son , that was at that time but eight years old , id. p. 156. when king john gave over to dissemble his nature , and went about to change his religion , and discovered himself not to be that worthy man , which the people supposed him to have been , they remember'd whence he derived his title and proceeded , upon the same reason they had chosen him , to make a new election , chusing lewis son of philip king of france , who coming to london , was there elected , and constituted king , id. p. 5. upon the death of king john , the people recalled again their former sentence , and admitted ( prince ) henry to the crown , by the name of king henry the third , and disanulled the oath of allegiance made unto lewis prince of france , id. p. 156. king john hapning to die very opportunely , the great men of the kingdom were called together , and prince henry then an infant , placed in the midst of them ; and the whole assembly cried out unanimously , fiat rex ; and acordingly they crowned king henry the third , and soon after compelled lewis to renounce all pretences to the crown , id. p. 6. the jesuit parsons goes no further upon particulars , in chap. 8. part. 1. than henry the third . but saith , should we enter ( into the contention about the crown , between the two houses of york and lancaster , which took their beginning from king henry the third ) we should see plainly , that the best of all their titles , after the deposition of king richard the second , depended on the authority of the commonwealth , for that as the people were affected , and the greater part prevailed , so were their titles either allowed , confirmed , altered , or disanulled by parliaments ; cap. 8. part. 1. pag. 156. this hint the collector of the history of succession took to proceed upon more particulars still , and pickt them up and down out of other places in doleman , to which book he was mainly beholden for the history of the pretences , claims , titles , and fates of those princes he names since henry the third . the doubt , whether edward the first , or his brother edmond were the elder , he fetcht clearly out of doleman , part. 2. cap. 2. pag. 25. and both parsons and this collector say , that edmond was believ'd ( by some ) to have been put by the crown for his deformity . the story of the deposition of edward the second is in doleman , part. 1. cap. 3. p. 46 , 47. the instance of edward the third's being chosen and elected by the people , you find it ibidem , and in part . 2. cap. 2. of doleman . the instance of king richard the second's being deposed , is in doleman , part . ● . cap. 3. and part . 2. cap. 3 , 4. that of henry the fourth's being elected by the people ( as he pretends ) is in the same place . and what our collector saith of henry the fifth , is all taken at large , and word for word ( in a manner ) out of doleman , part . 1. cap. 6. pag. 108 , 109. not to trouble you with every little particular , when you have already so much of a specimen , i dare say , that let any man carefully peruse , observe , and remember the contents of doleman , and he will easily discover , that this book is the forge , out of which the collector of the history of succession hath taken all those irons , which he hath sent abroad to set this kingdom on fire . but i must observe unto you , that as he hath followed the jesuit over hedge and ditch in his examples , so he hath followed him exactly too in dealing basely with the world , by downright falsities in some things , by gross partiality and disingenuity in others , and by illogical consequences in the rest , forcing out such conclusions as the instances do not really yield him , to serve his turn . but for this i must intreat you to consult well those two excellent tracts which i recommended unto you above . and so much for that gentleman . from whom we could not expect any other notions , than what are serviceable to his secular ends , because his book argues him to be one that is a meer politician , regardless of the laws of religion , and governed only by his interest : and he must thank your charity , if you do not think him to be much of the mind of a gentleman , famous now for his zeal ( whether for his countrey or himself you may judg it ) who said once upon a time , that he is a fool who hath any more of religion than what will serve his interest . and if that be true , i must give him that due character , which he hath been meriting for above these 40 years , that he for his part is one of the wisest of men . but of all men living , i wonder at mr. hunt ; a person whose name i cannot mention without due respect , because in his argument for the bishops right , &c. he hath shewed a great deal of good learning in the laws , and hath exprest his just zeal for the interest of the church , and that deep sense ( which i am perswaded he hath ) of the calamitous condition which this poor nation is now in . so that i should have taken no notice of his writings , but what would have been entirely for his honour , but that his personal worth ( which i love and value ) may probably give a reputation to some foreign and groundless opinions which he runs upon in his postscript , and which the jesuite parsons hath furnisht even him with . i have heard say , that when our government was lately in a fair way to be run down , he was prevailed with to write that postscript partly by fear , and partly as penance and satisfaction ( to a party ) for the argument which he had written before . this is clear , that the bishops are more beholden to him than the king is : for he owns their authority ( as bishops ) to be divine ; but as for the kings title to his crown , he believes it , as doleman ( alias parsons ) did , to be a meer human thing . if any of our clergy deny this , i see no reason mr. hunt hath to be so very angry with 'em ; for they hold no more than what all good christians have ever held , no more than what the church of england hath declared , no more than what the laws of our country do own and will bear them out in . i have been told by many of them , that mr. hunt hath done them wrong , and that he may convince himself , if he will but look into their sentiments well , and consider them with an indifferent and candid mind : but where he pretends to vindicate and to be concern'd for them , there he accuseth'em , and the charge is unjust , and , had another drawn it up , i would have said malitious , designed on purpose to render the clergy odious for being steady and true to the establisht government , in a time when so many are longing for a change. those fancies and dreams of his , that the clergy of england are for a popish successor and no parliaments , that they allow of arbritrary power , that they are ready to abett any extravagancies in a prince , and the like , are idle , evil and unworthy insinuations ; and if mr. hunt please to enter the lists , i will find him one that shall undertake the cause in this point , out of that veneration which we all ought to have for that sacred function , and out of just and due respects to our present clergy , than which perhaps this nation was never yet blest with a better . but , sir , my business is to shew you , that mr. hunt hath been foully imposed upon by the jesuite parsons , as to principles and doctrines , which concern the state. and for evidencing thereof , you may please to remember , that 't is a fundamental principle in doleman , that all power and authority to institute , to modifie , or to change the particular form of any government , and to admit or exclude a successor in monarchy , is wholly and uncontroulably in the people . now this is taken for granted by mr. hunt , as if it were as clear as a postulatum in the mathematicks ; and so he does not so much as offer at any solid and just proof of it , only now and then touches upon some notions in doleman , which at first sight may seem to look a little that way . sir , i would not willingly and knowingly do this gentleman any the least wrong or unkindness ; nay , i have that respect for him , that i could strain my charity to believe , that he himself hath not borrowed of doleman , but some body else for him . but that there has been borrowing in the case , you may easi●y perceive by the following account . the jesuite saith , and mr. hunt saith , that though government and jurisdiction of magistrates be of nature ( and consequently also of god ) yet the particular form or manner of this or that government , is not by law either natural or divine , but is ordained by particular laws of every country . doleman , part . 1. pag. 2 , 3. that government is from god , as he hath made governments necessary in the general order of things , but the specification thereof is from men . postscript , p. 38. father parsons tells us , that particular forms of government are not determin'd by god or nature , for then they should be all one in all nations , seeing god and nature are one to all. doleman , part 1. pag. 7. 11. and mr. hunt tells us , that no man intends by any thing in the scripture , that all mankind is obliged to any one form of government , and therefore all men are left to their own . posts . p. 39. it is left unto every nation or countrey to chuse that form of government which they shall like best , and think most fit for the natures and conditions of their people . id . p. 7. 10. civil offices are of humane original , id . argument . p. 241. the government is de jure such as it is , ibid. god never made any common-wealth but one by his directive will , and that only for one nation : for in these things he hath left men ordinarily in the hands of their own councils , and to their own prudence . ibid. god approveth what a realm determineth in chusing or changing its form of government . doleman , pag. 10 , 11 , 58 , 118. such governments which men make god approves , and requires obedience to them , mr. hunt in postscript . p. 38. the commonwealth hath power to chuse their own fashion of government , as also to change the same upon reasonable causes . doleman , par . 1. cap. 1. pag. 10. no civil establishment but is controulable and alterable to the publick weal. postscript , p. 42. though many learned and great men have believed ( and for good reasons , as i may shew you hereafter ) that monarchical government came into the world by gods own grant and appointment . yet doleman saith , that monarchy was commonly chosen by the people in the beginning . part. 1. pag. 12 , 21 , 66. and mr. hunt asketh , where is the charter of kings from god almighty to be read or found ? postscript , pag. 36. the jesuit alledgeth , that st. peter calls kingly authority a humane creatu●e , for that by mans free choice this particular form of government ( as all others also ) is appointed in every commonwealth , and that by mans election and consent , the same is laid upon some particular man or woman , according to the laws of every countrey . doleman , part 1. cap. 2. pag. 14. and mr. hunt alledgeth in like manner , that saint peter stileth kings , as well as the governours under them , the ordinance of man , which cannot have any other sense , but that men make them , and give them their powers . postscript , pag. 37. whereas an objection was foreseen , that god said to solomon , by me kings reign , prov. 8. 15. and that st. paul told the romans , that there is no power but of god ; the powers that be , are ordained of god ; whosoever therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , rom. 13. 1 , 2. and whereas the apostle doth there speak not only of authority in general and in the abstract , but pointeth also to the very person of the chief magistrate ( to nero himself ) stiling him , the minister of god , a revenger , one that beareth the sword , meaning plainly the man ; to this the jesuite answers by a jesuitical evasion , that all this is to be understood of authority , power , and jurisdiction in itself , according to the first institution . doleman , part 1. cap. 1. pag. 7. and mr. hunt answers to the very same effect , that this is meant of government in the general , which is called gods ordinance for this reason , because in general god approves of governments . postscript , pag. 37. yet this reacheth not the point , nor is it any answer at all . for the scripture there speaketh of the person and power of a monarch , and of government by a monarch ; and so it followeth , that monarchy is of divine institution , the ordinance of god himself . to evade which , the jesuite and mr. hunt do equally hold , that regal government is by gods permission ; that kings are said to reign by god , because they reign by his permission ; and that their power is the ordinance of god , because gods permission goes along with the peoples choice . doleman , part 1. c. 6. pag. 99 , 100. and postscript , pag. 36. both of them do interpret it , not of gods directive , but his permissive will ; which is not pertinent , nor home to the purpose , because gods general providence is over all things : he suffers even sin to reign ; he permits thieves to steal , and murderers to kill ; and yet who will dare to say , that by him thieves r●b , and that murder is his ordinance ? as to the point of succession to a crown by descent , inheritance , and birth , thus saith father parsons . and thus saith mr. hunt. it was ordained by the commonwealth , that the elder and first in blood should succeed . doleman , part 1. cap. 6. pag. 106. the succession to the crown is hereditary , because the people so appointed it , would have it so , or consented to have it so . postscript , pag. 43. some other conditions must needs be requisite for coming to government by succession , besides the only propinquity or priority in blood — and yet it seems they are not prescribed by any law of nature or divine , for that then they should be both immutable , and the self same in all countries ( as god and nature are one and the same to all , without change ) where notwithstanding we see , that these conditions and circumstances of succeeding by birth , are divers or different in different countries ; as also they are subject to changes , according to the diversity of kingdoms . id. par . 1. c. 1. p. 2. the succession to the crown is of a civil nature , not established by any divine right : several kingdoms have several laws of succession , some are elective , others are hereditary , under several limitations . — the several limitations of the descent of the crown , must be made by the people , in conferring the royal dignity and power , which is more or less in several kingdoms . id. ibid. pag. 42. as the commonwealth hath authority to chuse and change her government , so hath she also to limit the same with what laws and conditions she pleaseth . id. p. 10. if the royal family be extinct , it belongs to the people to make a new king under what limitations they please , or to make none . id. ibid. p. 43. the commonwealth giveth the king his great power over them — and prescribeth laws unto him — and all limitations of the princes absolute authority , do come from the commonwealth , as having authority above their princes . id. part 1. c. 2. it is evident , that the succession to the crown , is the peoples right . id. ibid. both the one and the other of these two points , were ordained by the commonwealth , to wit , that the elder and first in blood , should succeed , and that he should be such a person , as can and will govern to the publick weal of all . id. pag. 106. for princes are subject to law and order , and the commonwealth which gave them their authority for the common good of all , may also restrain or take the same away again , if they abuse it to the common evil. id. p. 58. though the succession to the crown is hereditary , because the people so appointed it , would have it so , or contented to have it so ; yet in a particular case for the saving of the nation , the whole line and monarchy it self , may be altered by the unlimited power of the legislative authority . id. postscript , pag. 43. if one of a false religion , or some other notorious wicked man or tyrant should be offered by succession , or otherwise to govern among christians , in these cases every man is bound to resist what he can . id. pag. 16● , 169 , 172 , 173. what unreasonableness is there in shutting the door upon him , making it fast against him by an act of state , who hath excluded himself by his principles and designs . id. postscript , pag. 45. now if you ask , by what law or power a commonwealth can pretend to keep a prince back from succeeding ? the jesuite and mr. hunt will tell you , that the will and pleasure of a people in this case is law enough ; that they have an unlimited and arbitrary power lodged in them , and that we ought to submit to their determinations , without calling their proceedings into question , or disputing about the lawfulness and justice of them . thus saith father parsons . and thus saith mr. hunt. the realm or common-wealth hath power to admit or put back the prince or pretender to the crown ; and the same commonwealth hath authority to judg of the lawfulness of the cause : it is their own affair , and a matter that hath its whole beginning , continuance and substance from them alone , i mean from the commonwealth , for that no man is king or prince by institution of nature — therefore it is enough for every particular man , to subject himself to that which his commonwealth doeth in this behalf , and to obey simply , without any further inquisition . doleman , part 1. pag. 160. it is criminal , and dangerous to the being of any polity to restrain the legislative authority , and to entertain principles that disables it to provide remedy against the greatest mischiefs that can happen to any community . no government can support it self without an unlimited power in providing for the happiness of the people . no civil establishment but is controulable and alterable to the publick weal . whatever is not of divine institution ought to yield and submit to this power and authority . mr. hunt in postscript , pag. 41 , 42. and a little before ; if any law should exceed the declared measures of the legislative authority , though in such a case men may have leave to doubt of the lawfulness of such a law , yet if it be not against any express law of god , they will upon a little consideration determine it lawful , if it be necessary to the commonweal , for that nothing can be the concerns of men united in any policy , but may be govern'd and ordered by the laws of their legislature , for publick good : for by the reason of all political societies , there is a submission made of all rights , especially of the common rights of the community , to the government of its own laws . id. ibid. pag. 32 , 33. according to these principles , the power of a commonwealth is so unlimited , boundless and extensive , as that it can over-rule matters which are naturally just and right , and justifie any thing that is intrinsically evil , if it be for the publick good . and whether this be not against the tenor of christianity , and clearly repugnant to the apostolick rule , that we must not do evil that good may come ; and whether it be not perfectly introductive of a more arbitrary power in the people , than can be feared in any english prince , i leave to such honest and indifferent persons as your selves to judg . it hath been a doctrine hitherto received by all rational and sober men , that dominion is not founded in grace , and that men do not hold their estates and civil rights by their religion . and i am confident , there is no dissenter from the church of england , but would think himself hardly and unjustly dealt with , should he be bound to forfeit all he is worth in the world for his non-conformity . now one would think that princes should have the same priviledg , at least which all ordinary and private men have . but in this point some are very partial , and would vary and alter the case , where a successor to the crown is concern'd . for thus saith the jesuite parsons ; of all other holds , i esteem the tenure of a crown ( if so it may be termed ) the most irregular and extraordinary — men may not judg of this as of other pleas of particular persons , nor is their trial alike ; nor the common maxims or rules always of force in this thing as in others : for if a private man have many daughters , and die seized of lands in fee-simple without heir male , his said daughters by law shall have the said lands , as copartners , equally divided between them ; but not the daughters of a king , for that the eldest must carry away all , as though she were heir male ; doleman , part 2. pag. 72. and thus saith mr , hunt , as he had written just after doleman , the descent of the crown is governed according to the presumed will of the people , and the presumption of the peoples will is made , by measuring and considering what is most expedient to the publick good , whereas private estates are directed in their descent according to the descendents . and this is the reason that the descent of the crown is governed by other rules than private estates : only one daughter , and not all , as in private estates , shall succeed to the crown , postscript . pag. 42. i did not think to have found so much of old father parsons his paw in a new book set forth for the preservation of the protestant religion : for who could dream , that any man should make use of a woolf to save and secure the sheepfold ? yet i am willing to believe that mr. hunt in all this has no design which he thinks to be evil , and am heartily sorry , that so zealous a protestant hath so unfortunately run upon jesuitical principles . but mr. hunt in page 33. of his postscript directs us to a pamphlet called , the great and weighty consideration considered . and good reason he had to recommend it , the book is so very like his own , that a diligent reader would believe them both to be the off-spring of one father , and as near of kin as simeon and levi. old father parsons can never die , as long as he hath such an hopeful issue , so like him in lineaments and spirits : and i begin to wonder , why some of late would be at the expence to set out doleman in a new edition , since in this and the two former pamphlets a true protestant ( so called ) may find matter enough to compile a dolemanian catechism , were old doleman utterly lost ; at least he might extract enough again to do the job of 41. and 48. and that , i suppose , is as much as some in the world do desire . sir , you must well remember , that these are the articles of doleman's creed , that though government , in the general notion of it , be of natural and divine institution , yet the particular forms of governments depend upon the consent and good will of the people , that kings are their creatures ; that succession to the crown is at their disposal , that they can alter government and succession if they please , and even depose the king himself , if they judge it needful ; and all this by a boundless , and unlimited power of right belonging unto them . now this considerers faith is just of the same piece for all the world . for he holdeth , that though god commands us in our nature , to form our selves into governments , for that mankind cannot tolerably subsist without them ( which is dolemans very reason ; ) though government , because it makes men equal and reasonable , &c. seems to be the most principal institution and appointment of god in nature , yet the forms of government , the persons of the governours , the order of succession , their respective powers and ministries , are of mans appointment , and an humane creature , pag. 8. exactly agreeable to what doleman delivers , pag. 2 , 3. if you urge , that soveraign power is called in scripture the ordinance of god , doleman will tell you in answer to it , that 't is so called , because gods approbation and concurrence goes along with the peoples consent . and this is our considerers very notion , that gods doing a thing is only the course of natural and second causes , to which because god gives the direction and motion , he both doth , and is said to do all that is done , pag. 13. whence he proceeds to tell us , that every form of government is of our creation , and not gods , ibid. that the king hath his authority from the consent of the people in the first constitution of the government , pag. 20. 't is upon the strength of this principle that he tells us , with the same confidence as doleman doth , that no laws of men are so fundamental , but that they are alterable , consider . p. 4. that a government made by men is not to be left meerly to chance and the contingency of birth , pag. 5. that all rights of property are of positive and civil appointment and institution , p. 7. that no man can have , or is entitled to any thing , but what , and as the laws allots it to him , ibid. and that ( just according to dolemans notion ) every form of government was never intended unalterable , or at least inflexible , but was intended and made under reservations , reasonable exceptions of unforeseen accidents , and rare contingencies in humane affairs , pag. 13. now to prove all this , that every form of government is of humane institution , &c. doleman offers and insisteth upon but one argument , and 't is this , viz. that had forms of government been prescribed by any law of nature or divine , then they should be both immutable , and the self-same in all countries , as god and nature are one , and the same to all , without change , doleman part . 1. pag. 2 , 3. now this is a very weak argument ; for god and nature have been one and the same to all , because anciently every form of government in all countries was monarchical : and it will no more follow , that this one form of government was not setled at first , because several other forms of government were set up afterwards , than it will follow , that one sort of religion was not instituted at first , because so many sorts of religion crept in afterwards . however , this poor argument of dolemans is made use of by our considerer , for ( saith he ) nature hath made no laws about property , nor about governments ; otherwise all laws of property and right , and all governments would have been the same ; for what she makes are universal , as the nature of man : answer to a letter , p. 29. 't is an avowed principle in doleman , that it belongs to the commonwealth to order all succession to the crown . and this is our considerers principle , that succession is properly the right of the community , p. 20. that succession to the crown is the peoples right , the right of the whole community , their appointment , their constitution , and their creature ; answer to a letter , pag. 32 , 33. whereas it is urged well , that the king is by nature , that he is our natural prince , our natural liege lord , &c. this considerer calls this , loathsom pedantry ; answer to a letter , p. ●9 . and in like manner saith doleman , when men talk of a natural prince , or natural successor , if it be understood of one that is born within the same realm or country , and so of our own natural bloud , it hath some sense : but if it be meant as though any prince had his particular government or interest to succeed by institution of nature , it is ridiculous , doleman , part 1. pag. 11. if you ask , what power a commonwealth hath to deprive a successor without such causes and reasons which in the eye of the law seem just ? doleman will tell you up and down , that the peoples power is boundless , uncontroulable , and unquestionable ; and that it is to be presumed and owned , that what they do in this case is just , because they do it . and at the same rate our considerer speaketh , that no government can want a power to preserve it self , ( whether it be by right or wrong means he considers not ) pag. 4. that no private right but what is governable , and may be ordered as to the legislature shall seem necessary to the preservation of the whole , pag. 20. that the king and his great council , in providing for the establishment and security of the government , in their proceedings are not tied up to the forms of judicial proceedings ; but are to act upon such inducements , and in such methods , whereby the wisest men govern their affairs , in which they are at perfect liberty , and not under the restraint of laws : and that they cannot do unjustly , whatever methods or means they use , that are prudentially and morally necessary to this end , ibid. p. 21. it is justly demandable , how a commonwealth came by this prodigious , omnipotent , and ungovernable power , so as to be under no laws of religion or natural equity ? in answer whereunto father parsons saith , ( what i noted before ) that it would be a very imperfect law , that hath not provided for accidents so weighty and important , as some are , for saving and conserving of a commonwealth , preface to doleman , part 1. answerable whereunto is that question of our considerer , can we imagine a government , which is of humane contrivance , to be without a power to preserve it self , and an authority in cases that threaten its ruine , to interpose with apt remedies for its preservation ? consider . p. 5. if by apt remedies he meant honest and lawful means , we deny it not . but we cannot yield , that any men have authority to do injustice . they may have power and force enough to do so ; as some upon shuters-hill have power to take away my purse , and as the high-court of justice ( so called ) had to take away the late kings life ; but this is not authority , or lawful power , or lawful proceeding . no private man ought to lose his estate , but for legal causes , and by legal proceedings : to evade the force of this argument , parsons the jesuit saith , that the tenure of the crown is irregular and extraordinary . men may not judge of this as of other pleas of particular persons , nor is their trial alike , nor the common maxims or rules always of force in this thing as in others . to prove which he tells us , that only one daughter of a king ( though he hath many ) is to go away with the crown ; whereas private estates are divideable among all the daughters for want of issue male , dolman , part 2. pag. 72. it seems there is law and justice for private persons , but not for princes . and so this considerer reckons too , that the right of succession to government is not placed in the same rank with private inheritances , nor to be governed by the same rules . that there is one rule for the succession of the crown ; and another for the succession of private estates : for the descent of the crown is governed and directed according to the presumed will of the people , and this ( saith he ) gives us the reason , ( the very reason in doleman ) why one daughter or female of the next degree shall succeed to the crown , and not all , if more than one ; whereas a private inheritance is equally divided amongst them all , consider . p. 32. heirs apparent are not true kings until their coronation ; nor is allegiance due unto them before they be crowned , saith doleman , pag. 108. no allegiance is due to any prince , but whom the law appoints , and as the law appoints , saith this considerer , pag. 30. but doleman is positive that princes may lawfully be deposed ; and he observes too ( as a remarkable circumstance , as he calls it , ) that god hath wonderfully concurred ( for the most part ) with such judicial acts of the commonwealth against their evil princes , not only in prospering the same , but by giving also some notable successor in the place of the deposed , pag. 26. and chap. 3. had father parsons been alive in our days ▪ perhaps he would have instanced in that blessed bird oliver cromwell , among the rest . but i leave it to you and to other honest men to judge , whether our considerer had an eye to that passage and observation in doleman , when speaking of the exclusion of the d. of y. he saith , we know , and are most assured of the justness of the undertaking , and we have good hope in the goodness of god , that he will succeed it , p. 7. yet i do not much wonder at this , considering that he goes higher still , even from the successor to the possessor of the crown . for thus his politicks run , the crown doth not lie in dominion , but in trust ; not in property , but in care , pag. 31. this is exactly dolemans notion , that a princes power is , potestas vicaria , or delegata ; a power delegate , or power by commission from the commonwealth , given him as their trustee , or proxy , part 1. chap. 4. upon this doctrine he builds that position ( and it naturally follows ) that true kings may be deposed , ibid. and part 2. cap. 4. wherein our considerer follows the jesuit at the heels , owning that the people may recall their letters of attourney , and exauctorate their lawful king , p. 6. where he saith , ( and with base abusing dr. falkner , when he seems to commend him ) i will hope there are very few in this nation so ill instructed , that doth not think it in the power of people to depose a prince , &c. here the gentleman speaks out and home ; and insinuates , that for a man to be a martyr , or to bear the cross of christ , is to be ill instructed . according to this jesuitism is the only true orthodox principle ; and so this considerer hath lastily con'd doleman thanks for all his orthodox instructions . for , saith doleman , the commonwealth hath authority above their princes , pag 19. and this considerer calls the commons , the greatest and best part of the nation , p. 6. which is plainly meant with respect to their authority , because a king cannot be deposed but by some that are supposed to be greater and better than himself . and so you see in the end what it is which this gentleman and others of his party and persuasion would fain be at . they pretend the preservation of religion , and at the same time ven'd such principles as overthrow the very foundations of our government ; so true is that common observation , that these pamphleteers begin with his royal highness , and end at last with his royal majesty . i need not say any thing of this considerer's short historical collection touching the succession of the crown . for you and every body may easily see , that 't is taken out of doleman . and so , let this considerer and his father parsons go together . the next that comes to my hands is that sir positive statesman , the author of plato redivivus , who was so well pleased with the comical preface to doleman ( where the jesuit , after a poetical manner , brings in two lawyers at amsterdam , discoursing about succession to the crown of england , ) that he could not but imitate the poetical fancy himself , bringing in a noble venetian , an english gentleman , and a doctor at london , all discoursing about the present government in england : so that 't is but altering the scene , and the quality of the interlocutors , and then the dramatick farce is in a manner the same . i confess this gentleman is not doleman all over from head to foot , but seems to have only the guts and garbage of the jesuit ; i mean , his most carrion-principles , for in two respects doleman seems to have been the better man of the two : 1. first , in respect of that regard and esteem for religion , and for the church , which the jesuit expresseth with so much zeal , that he would have all other interests to truckle to this : whereas this gentleman seems to own no apostle but machiavil the divine ( as he often calls him ) but ridicule's things sacred , scoffs at ordination , maliciously depraves our church constitutions , and makes use of his best rhetorick ( that is , buffoonry and scurrility ) to reproach all our clergy , speaking plainly thus , ( pag. 98. ) the truth is , i could wish there had never been any clergy ; the purity of christian religion , as also the good and orderly government of the world , had been much better provided for without them . had the bookseller been well advised , he might have been so respectful to the memory of the divine plato , as not to have put a jewel of gold in a swines snout , but should have entitled this book rather , lucianus redivivus . 2. then as touching monarchy , even doleman is so fair , that he allows it to be the most excellent , most perfect , and most ancient form of government , pag. 12. but this gentlman looks upon it as the very worst , and to have proceeded from the corruption of better governments , pag. 33. therefore he admires the venetian government , as the only school in the world at this day , pag. ●4 . and prefers a democracy before all , as a government which is much more powerful than an aristocracy , pag. 46. . and speaking of the democratical government of rom● , ( which he extols as the b●st and most glorious government that ever the sun saw , pag. 45. ) he is pleased to observe , how truly we are not to examine now ) that in the most turbulent times of that commonwealth , and factions between the nobility and people , rome was much more full of vertuous and heroick citizens , than ever it was under aurelius or antoninus , p. 43. by the way , i do not wonder , that this gentleman should indeavour , as he doth , to persuade the king ( as if he could cully him out of his rights ) to share those four great branches of his prerogative among the p●ople , the power of making war and peace , the disposal of the militia by sea and land , the appointing of officers of trust , civil , military , and ecclesiastical , and the imploying of the revenues of the crown , pag. 2●6 , 257 , 258. for if these things were done , the ends of this gentleman , and of his party , would soon be served , and his majesty would shrink into a duke of venice strait , and we should have an imaginary prince indeed ( as he calls the king , pag. 43. ) were but our government new modelled according to this platonick idea . but not to digress . though doleman and this gentleman differ in some points , yet they agreein the main ; viz. that the foundation of government , and the power of making princes , is in the people . this ( saith doleman , p. 11. ) is the ground of all the rest that i have to say : meaning , that if this power be once allowed , the rest of his book must be granted , and the peoples power to change their government , to fore-close a successor to the crown , to depose , chastise , and proceed against their king , to renounce their allegiance , to forsake their oaths , and the like ; all this pow●r will naturally follow . so that all rebellions and treasons are grounded upon this prime jesuitical principle , touching that soveraign and absolute authority supposed to be lodged in the people , of making kings , and of making choice of them a● their proxies and trustees . and is not this the faith of the author of plato redivivus ? for , pag. 32. he slights the plea of a monarchs divine right to his crown , as a piece of court-flattery ; just as parsons doth in answer to belloy , dolman , part . 1. cap 6. he tells us , that the frame of government was first made by the persuasion and mediation of some wise and vertuous person , and consented to by the whole number , p. 30. that our ancestors made choice of this sort of government ( monarchy , ) p. 113. that the burden of the government is divided between the king and his subjects , p. 116. that the kings share in the soveraignty is cut out to him by the law , p. 120. that our prince hath no authority of his own , but what was first intrusted in him by the government , of which he is the head , p. 125. he looks upon these notions as meer pretences , that the kings power came from god , that his subjects cannot dispute it , and that he ought not to give an account of his actions to any but god. p. 178. he excuseth the taking arms by any people in opposition to their prince , from their claim to a lawful jurisdiction or co●ordination in the government , by which they may judge of , and defend their own rights , p. 215. he tells us ( as if it were nothing but lawful ) that all people in the world that have property , will drive out a king that doth reign injussiv populi , and exercise the government tyrannically , p. 71. besides all these principles , exactly agreeable to those in doleman , he hath a fine similitude , that as in some distempers in the body , when the head is out of order , though the distemper may begin from the disease of some other part , or from the mass of bloud , or putresaction of other humours ; yet since that noble part is so affected by it , that reason and discourse fails , therefore to restore this again , remedies must be applied to the head , and humours and vapours must be drawn from the head , that so it may be able to govern and reign over the body as it did before , or else the whole man , like a slave , must be ruled and guided ab extrinsec● , that is , by some keeper : so ( saith he ) it isnow with us in our politick disease , where granting ( if you please ) that the distemper does not proceed from the head , but the corruption of other parts , yet in the cure , applications must be made to the head , &c. p. 231. now as i was reading doleman , i found such another similitude , in part . 1. cap. 3. where he saith . as the whole body is of more authority than the only head , and may cure the head if it be out of tune , so may the weal publick cure or cut off their heads , &c. pag. 31. how admirably well do good wits many times jump ? i remember now , that a friend of ours dreamt about two years ago , that a great consult was held somewhere at the sign of the nags-head , which afterwards adjourned somewhere else to the sign of the kings-head , and that there father parsons the jesuit sate chair-man , under the name of r. doleman . among other things , my friend dreamt too , that a wicked political catechism was a making there . but i lookt upon that as an idle fancy ; for who could dream that such a seditious pamphlet should come abroad at this time of day ? but i perceive i was mistaken ; for yesterday i hapned to read a new assemblies catechism bearing that title , a political catechism : and i found it as full of the jesuits venom , as if it had been spitten out of dolemans own mouth . for these are some of the principles in it , word for word ; that the government being a regulated monarchy , the king is not above the law , but is accountable to the law , and not to god only , p. 1. 2. that whatsoever is done by the king , without and beyond the limits of the regulation , is not regal authority , p. 2. 3. that to resist the notorious transgressions of that regulation , is no resisting of regal authority , ibid. 4. that it is so far from being a resisting of the ordinance of god , that it is not so much as resisting the ordinance of men , ibid. 5. that the king hath not his power , solely , or immediately by divine-right . but 6. that the immediate original of it was from the people . 7. that in questioned cases the king is to produce his grant ( for he hath no more than what was granted ) and not the people to shew a reservation . 8. that the good of the subject is ever to be preferred before the greatness of the king , p. 5. 9. that it is lawful for the two houses to raise arms to defend themselves in case an army be raised against them , p. 7. 10. that they are the legal judges , when there is danger of tyranny , and that they have legal power to command their judgment to be obeyed . 11. that they have power to dispose of the militia ▪ to levy moneys , horse , arms , &c. even without or against the kings consent . 12. that of their power they are the legal judges , and that all the subjects of this kingdom are bound by the laws to obey them herein . ibid. sir , you cannot but remember , that the late rebellion was raised and maintain'd upon these principles . and if there were no new rebellion intended again , for what reason can you imagine is there a revival of these principles , which serve for no other end : the author of plato redivivus , who doth confess , ( pag. 172. ) that we are to this day tugging with the same difficulties , managing the same debates , and giving the same disgusts to the court , and hopes to the country , which our ancestors did before the year , 1640. might have added too , if he had pleased to speak truth to the full , that we are acting to this day upon the same principles , on which they acted in 1641. all which principles are of their fathers the jesuites ( who are of their father the devil ) and are so manifest , that he that runs may read them all in doleman redivivus . if now you chance to read the character of a popish successor , you will find it there asserted , ( pag. 21. ) that in the infancy of time , and in the first original of nations , monarchy came by the peoples choice , who frequently in the beginning of the world , o●● of the natural desire of safety , for the securing a peaceful community and conversation , chose a single person to be their head , as a proper supreme moderator in all differences that might arise to disquiet the community . now this is utterly false : but yet 't is directly dolemans very notion , pag. 12. and in the vindication of that character you will find another of dolemans pleas , viz. that the succession of kingly government has not been so sacred , but upon some occasions it has been changed by divine as well as lawful authority , pag. 14. and in the vox populi the zealous true protestant speaks after the jesuite , saying , that the king has no power , but what the law gives him , pag. 2. ( and yet i ever thought , that the law hath no power but what the king gives it ; and if the law be his creature , how can it be his creator ? ) and again he tells us , that the kings share in the sovereignty is cut out to him by law ; and not left at his disposal , pag. 9. and that the king has no prerogative , but what the law gives him , pag. 13. now , sir , the books and pamphlets hitherto mentioned , have been all printed since the beginning of the year , 1680. b●t i must observe to you , that these anti-monarchical and seditious doctrines have come so thick into the world , by the midwivery of a certain speech which was made five years before , and which was father'd upon a noble peer , who was then very active in the house of lords . in which speech you find these positions , that the king is king by law , and by the same law that a poor man enjoys his cottage : that to say , this family are our kings , and this particular frame of government is our lawful constitution , and obligeth us , is owing only to the particular laws of our countrey . where the author confesseth also , that he cannot find that ever the jesuites or popish clergy , only some of our episcopal clergy , owned monarchy to be of divine right . of all this we had heard no n●ws for a long time , 'till some turn'd mal●contents , by being turn'd out of their honours and offices at court : then the world began to turn too , and old doleman , who had been so serviceable to faction all along , was brought again above-board . you see the gentleman doth own , that he had been dealing and consulting with the jesuites and popish clergy ; for he matches them against our episcopal clergy , and declares himself plainly on the jesuites side . but had he held his tongue as to that , yet such as had parsons his libel in their studies , clearly perceiv'd whom he had been trucking with ; for what he saith in that speech , is the very substance of the first chapter in doleman . our clergy do not deny , but the king is king by law , if he means , according to law : for the law doth recognize his sacred authority ; our laws give him his due , they own and acknowledg that right of sovereign power which he hath by the laws of god , by natural claim and inheritance . but the law doth not found his right to the crown , as it doth the poor mans right to his cottage . for kings were kings before there were laws ; and our king would be our rightful sovereign , were there neither statute-book nor magna-charta in all england . for the authority of kings doth not originally depend upon the laws , or consent of the people , any more than it dependeth upon the consent of my children that i should be their father . the kings power is antecedent to law , which hath its force from him ; as my being is antecedent to the being of my children , which have ( under god ) their life from me . i hope it will appear ●'re long , that our episcopal clergy ar● but just to their king , in owning their principles , which every knowing man may justifie for them , if he will but obey his own reason . that the jesuites and popish clergy should be otherwise perswaded , is not to be wondred at , because being ingaged by their interest to pretend , that the popes supremacy is of divine right , they are forced in defence of his pretended power over all princes , to lay their authority very low , as if it were a mushrome of the earth , a little creature of yesterday , depending for its being upon the peoples courtesie . they therefore are not to be wondred at : but the wonder is , that any among us , that are protestants , zealots , patriots , should fetch their principles from dow●y or st. omers . we are like to have good work , when an israelite must go to the philistines to sharpen his coulter , and for heisers to ●●ough with . really , sir , i am quite tired with looking into libels of this nature ; and shall only add , that if you have time and patience enough to read over as many of them as i have done , you will find , that the most considerable writers of sedition , have taken large collops out of dolemans sides , and that every little pamphleteer has come in for a snack ; so that could father parsons now peep out of the earth , he would bless himself to see what filching and kidnapping work hath been made of his principles . but i must not forget to tell you of one very lewd tenent , which father parsons had the impudence to publish to the world , to the great dishonour and scandal of christianity . for speaking of the primitive christians passive obed●ence , under julian and other evil princes , he was not asham'd to give this as the reason why they suffer'd so patiently and resisted not , because they wanted arms to maintain their quarrel , and had not strength , power and force enough to cope with their governours . indeed i do not remember to have met with this tenent in doleman : but you may find it in another book written by parsons , which he called philopater , though i have it not by me at present to refer you to the particular place . i confess too , that it was not parsons single conceit for that notorious and swinging j●suite , cardinal bellarmine saith , that if christians in the primitive times did not depose nero and diocletian , and julian the apostate , and valens the arian , and the like , it was because the christians had not strength enough . in like manner another jesuite , azorius , giving a reason why the antient popes dealt not roughly with princes , ●●ith , it was because they wanted strength . i own too , that buchanan spake at the same rate in his book de jure regni apud scotos : and whether buchanan did borrow this notion of the jesuites , or the jesuites borrowed it of buchanan , others are concern'd to dispute it out . this is evident● that it is a jesuitical notion ; and i will add , a notion which others even of the popish clergy did detest when it was first broached , as being utterly against the constant sense of the whole catholick church . yet the late angry author of julian the apostate confidently runs upon this very notion . for speaking of the submission of christians under julian , he saith , what would men have a few defenceless christians do , when they had lost all their strength , and so many of their numbers ? p. 94. have they never heard a west-country man say , chud eat cheese an chad it . by applying which boorish proverb to his purpose , our author doth seem to intimate , that if the primitive christians had had strength and numbers sufficient , rebellion would have been as welcom to them as their very food , and that they would as gladly have resisted , as they would have relieved their hunger : but it seems they wanted cheese , and could not do what they had a mind and stomach to do . a most monstrous expression from the pen of a christian , of a protestant , of a clergy-man ! for , first , nothing can be more false : because it is notorious , that julians own army consisted for the most part of christians , ( if their religion and consciences would have given them leave ) could soon have done the emperors work , when their swords were in their hands , and julian was at the head of them in the field . in those days the numbers of pagans were inconsiderable in comparison . for christianity gained ground every day at such a strange rate , that ( before julians time ) st. cyprian tells us , the heathens were overmatcht by christians : for ( said he to the proconsul of africa ) none of us resisteth , when he is apprehended , nor revengeth himself against your unjust violence , although the men of our side be numerous and more than enough to revenge themselves . and before st. cyprian , tertullian boasted of the great numbers and strength of christians . of which , ( to omit other pregnant instances ) that passage in his apologetick is a clear demonstration . for saith he to the emperor , had we ( christians ) a mind to do like enemies , could we want numbers or armies ? such foreigners as we are accounted , we have filled all that belongs to you , your cities , islands , castles , towns , camps , tribes , your palace , senate , courts : we have left your temples only to your selves . we who are thus willingly killed , what war were we not fit , not ready for , but that by our religion it is permitted us rather to be killed , than to slay ? we could have fought against you even without the help of arms , and without being actual rebels , only by standing out , and holding off from your assistance , out of spight for being severed from your fellowships and societies ( for so i understand those words , solius divortii invidia . ) these testimonies alone do plainly shew the horrible falshood of that jesuitical notion , which this author hath entertained , and is pleased to revive . and were this all , it would not be so much . but i add , secondly , that 't is a pretence which casteth such a disgrace , such a reproach , such a scandal upon christianity , and the christian church , that you can hardly find any thing to compare with it ( unless it be the lewdness of a certain virulent scribler , that pretending to write a church-history , hath calumniated the christian bishops , as if they had been a race of the most blood-thirsty and wicked men in the world , ) what would not a celsus , or a porphyry , or julian have given for a clergy-man in those days , who would have given it under his hand , that christians were a sort of men , that wanted only strength and opportunity to be rebels ? such a man would have done most rema●kable service to all sorts of infidels and blasphemers : for then they would have had some reason and authority for such di●bolical sugg●stions as these . 1. that when christ said to his disciples . render to caesar the things which are caesars , he was nevertheless caesars enemy , being supposed to mean , t'ill you can help your selves , and can be able by force of arms to be revenged upon the emperor . 2. that when the apostles commanded christians to honour the king , to obey magistrates , to be subject to the higher powers , and that not only for wrath , but also for conscience-sake , yet nevertheless they disse●bled and plaid the hypocrites , being supposed to mean , that christi●ns should be civil to the government for the present , and till time served , and for fear only , and that they should be subject till th●y were ●ble to rebel , and that they should be damned for resisting , unless they could resist to some purpose . 3. whereas the ancient christians universally acknowledged , that the emperor was the vicegerent and minister of god himself , that he was inferiour to god alone , and that julian himself reigned by gods authority , as well as constantine ; the pagans would have lookt upon all these professions to have been gross falsifications and lies , had a church-man but insinuated , how that it was the sense of the church , that they could lawfully fore-close or dethrone princes when they had power ; and nothing could have served more ●ffectually to render christians odious , and christianity it self abominable . 4. whereas the simplicity of religion was so much preached up , and the simplicity of its professors was so much admired , that ' ●was the great honour of the church in those days , they would have been hated as meer parasites and hypocrites , should they have doubled in this particular , and the heathens would have scoff'd and steer'd at their profession of loyal●y ( as this author doth at the doctrine touching prayers and tears , pag. 30. ) as a piece of quackery and mountebank-craft . i doubt not but all those in this age who have no kindness for religion , will make a great use of this authors insinuations , and hereafter upon his credit believe , that the primitive christians were in their hearts so many cut-throats and rebels , whatever they pretended to the contrary while they wanted strength : and if this be not a scandal thrown upon the catholick church , a reproach cast upon religion , and an horrible reflection made upon the very founder and author of it , i know not what is . and since this person hath been pleased thus to disparage christianity , and to ridicule the doctrine of the cross , by drolling with the doctrine of passive obedience , i do not at all wonder that he h●th taken the confidence also , to fall so foul upon dr. hicks , as to bring both his integrity and his learning into question . 1. first his integrity . for he plainly intimates his suspition , that when the doctor in his sermon on the 30th of january preached the doctrine of passive ob●dience , he might have a secret design to wheedle men out of their lives : that he taught such doctrine as is fit to turn a nation into shambles , and enough to tempt and invite tyranny and cruelty into the world , pag. 88. nay , he declareth his fears , that this doctrine was calculated and fitted on purpose for the use of a popish successor , and to make us an easier prey to the bloody papists , pag. 89. in such times as these , when it may soon cost any man his life to lye under the displeasure of the rabble , could this author have any but a black and malicious design , in thus exposing a worthy person to their hatred and fury ? dr. hicks is better known than to be suspected by any but ill men , and yet i do not see what reason even such men can have to suspect his integrity for that sermon . for , is not the purport of the day enough to excuse and justifie him ? or could a man preach upon the point of passive obedience more seasonably than on that day ? if you please to consult the office appointed for that day , you will find that the epistle ordered to be read contains and inculcates that very doctrine ; and i wonder how it should escap● this authors observation , if he useth to be at church on the anniversary of the kings martyrdom . the doctors business was to preach submission to our lawful governours . this every clergy-man ought to do , and every honest clergy-man will do , that loves and regards his flock , and is careful to give them wholsom food , and to keep them from the bane , ( for it seems the sermon was preacht a year before in his own ●arish , where he resides . ) now , could the doctor pursue this good design better than by shewing what the doctrine and practice of christ himself was as to this matter , and how agreeable thereunto the doctrine and practice of the primitive christians was ? since therefore that blessed prince was resisted and murder'd by men , whose principles and practices were of a far different nature and utterly inconsistent with christianity , how could the doctor chuse ( unless he would have been a tergiversator ) but take notice thereof , and shew the difference by making a comparison ? and why should this be construed , as a design to serve the turn of a popish successor ? surely the doctor had no need to look so far : for i am bound to believe , upon this authors principle , what some would be doing even now , had they but opportunity and power : they have plainly shewn their teeth , and we may read the west-country-proverb on their grinns , chud eat cheese an chad it . but whatever these are for , the ministers of the gospel ought to be for obedience and peace ; and i wish that the c●nstitution of our present times were such , as that they might think it an unnecessary and impertinent thing , to preach against resisting even a protestant prince . 2. besides this , he is pleased to disparage the doctors learning , as if he were better versed in the dissenters sayings , than in the histories of england and had been behold●n to the dissenters sayings for a great part of his sermon . truly i think this gentleman may well forgive the injury , if he be abused with this complement , that he may compare with the doctor for his readings . but i am apt to think , that what books soever he hath been poring into , he hath not read ( at least , not considered ) some of the doctors . for in the dedication of that controverted sermon , he tells that excellent good man , the pr●sent lord mayor , that he had made it a year ago , ( before the dissenters sayings came abroad ) and that since he had made that discourse ; new collections had been made ( meaning those sayings ) but , saith he , i have added very little , contenting my self with what i had before provided out of their originals . he seems to have mentioned the dissenters sayings , not upon his own account , as having been beholden to those collections himself , but rather for the readers sake , to direct him where he might find many more of the same nature with his own . besides , dr. hicks his several citations in his peculium dei , which was not only framed , but printed before the dissenters sayings , do sufficiently shew , that the doctor had no need to consult them . into the bargain there was printed about three years ago a very useful book ( which i would recommend to you ) whereof dr. hicks is on all hands taken to have been the author , ) 't is called , the spirit of popery , &c. and the animadversions up and down in th●t book upon the speeches of kid and king , give abundant evidence , that the doctor had been long conversant with the phanatical originals , and the histories which give an account of them . i believe the author of the dissenters sayings will not think himself dishonoured , should it be said , that this book furnisht him with some materials . but suppose ( which is common among writers ) that dr. hicks had borrowed some hints from mr. l' estrange , and that mr. l' estrange had borrowed others of dr. hicks , yet this is no more , than for one honest man to borrow of another ; and that is far more reputable than for a true protestant to borrow of a true jesuit , and then to be ashamed of his creditor and friend . for the doctor had justly arraigned the author of the history of succession , for having stoln his pamphlet out of doleman ( the book which you sent me , and which the doctor in his sermon calls , the most pestilent and dangerous piece , that ever was written against this government , p. 28 . ) julian took snuff at this , that a seditious pamphleteer was discovered to have been trading with a wretched jesuit . and yet he confesseth it to be possible to write an history of the succession without borrowing from doleman , p. 60. very good : and why then did not that pamphleteer do it ? why , was he so ill-advised , as to be beholden to a jesuit at all ? or why was he so immodest , as to borrow his whole stock ? or why was he so disingenuous , as not to own his benefactor , in whose book he had run a tick thus ? or , why was he so impudent , as to pretend , that this pamphlet was written by a protestant hand , when 't was taken out of the closet of father parsons ? all that julian saith to it , is , that 't is impossible to write an history of the succession , without having a great many passages which doleman has got into his book ibid. but , by his good leave , 't is possible to write one history without stealing out of another . 't is possible to imitate a book , without transcribing it . 't is possible to observe another mans method , without running upon his principles . 't is possible to treat of his matter without using his fancy , and to pursue his design without using his phrase : this is as possible , as 't is possible for me to follow a leader though i do not tread in his very steps . but let an indiff●rent person compared doleman with the history of succession , and he will find such an exact agreement , not only between the method , matter , and scope of them both , but also between the principles , expressions , arguments , instanc●s , and the like in b●th , that though the world be full of histories , yet you shall not find any two , that do so exactly jump together , as doleman and the history of succession do unless they be abridgments or transcripts . ) so that a man may well say , that the pamphleteer had a design , not to write a new piece , but new vamp an old one ; and to put a damned j●suit into such a new dress , that he might appear in the world like a true protestant . all these things considered duly , i may infer , that since there is now adays such fresh trading and trucking with the jesuits , it is high time for every honest man in this kingdom to make a pause , and consider seriously whose hands we are in , &c. p. 27. it is high time for all the honest men in the kingdom to consider whose hands we are in : and i am glad , that you begin to consider what a sort of men these are , who out of a pretended zeal for the protestant cause , take such an extravagant course as they do . what , is there no way to prevent popery , but by planting jesuitism ? is this the way to uphold the church of england , to fetch shoars and buttresses from the church of rome ? have we not good store of wholsom lews on our side ? is not the genius of the nation so set against popery , that they may as soon be persuaded to turn turks ? is not our church so firmly establisht , that if we be but faithful to her , it is impossible for that scarlet whore ( with whom so many princes have committed forni●ation ) ever to have again joynture or dower in this kingdom ? besides , and above all this , are we not sure , that the good hand of god will be over us , if we be but careful to commit our selves to him in well-doing ? but 't is observable , that these men in all their writings take so little notice of the providence of god , that a sober man may reasonably suspect , that god is not in all their thoughts . they begin at the wrong end , and thinking that all must be done by humane arts and policy , even rake hell and scum the devil , as if that were an effectual course to preserve the true religion and church of god. setting aside the romish faith , and the vow of blind obedience , tell me wherein these men differ from the disciples of ignatius loyola ? why , only these are popish , and they protestant jesuits . " of all sects and religions ( saith father watson ) the jesuit and the puritan come nearest , and are fittest to be coupled like dogs and cats together . and so he goes on comparing them , and making both of them equally alike for their hypocrisie , for their conspiracies , for their schismatical humour , for their malice against bishops , for their insolence and disobedience to government , for their violation of oaths , for their commonwealth-opinions , for their tyranny and usurping a power over princes , for their conforming to the laws sometimes to serve a turn , for their dispensing with one another in case of occasional communion and occasional perjury , &c. he instanceth in no less than twenty four points ; a full double jury ( if that would do any good ) by which if you try both factions , you will find , that as they came into the world much about a time , so they have been sworn brethren from the womb. but he abuseth the old moderate puritans , for 't was only some rigid men among them that were so ill-natured , so imperious , and such thorns and goads in their governours sides . however , one faction has hither so shifted it self into another , that the old puritan , that was peaceable and fair-conditioned , is quite gone out of the world ; he has been long ago lost in the presbyterian , and the presbyterian too is upon the matter lost in the independent , and all of them are so lost in the jesuit , that if you go to unkennel the fox , 't is an even lay whether you hunt a jesuit or a whig . what an odd thing is this , that men should turn jesuits for fear of being papists ? as i am an honest man , 't is matter of great astonishment to me , and a most horrid scandal to religion , that people should pretend such zeal for the protestant faith , and yet infect themselves with such jesuitical principles . we rusticks are wont , when we plant an orchard , to observe this rule generally , to graft a better sort of fruit upon a worse , as we use to graft an apple upon a crab. h●d these men taken this course , and have studied melioration ( as our term of art is ) they would not have grafted the jesuit upon the protestant , but the protestant upon the j●suit : then they would have ●hewn their good husbandry , and good fruit would have come of their labours . but they do not go according to the rule : and then they say , they act according to their consciences . now cons●ience , if it be right and honest , observe , the laws of the great husbandman : but when men overlook the directions of god , and act according to their humours , or according to the humours , or seeming interest of a party , then conscience makes m●d work , and proves a meer ignoramus , for it ever grafteth the crab way . hence it cometh to pass , that there is such a d●mn●ble deal of sowre fruit among us , as hath set the teeth of all honest men in the kingdom on edge . for when once men are jesuited , they will never stick at any manner of wickedness . lying , libelling , sedition , dishonesty , d●faming of government , disobedience to laws , obstruction of justice , hypocrisie , perjury , and i know not how many vices more , they have now lost the name of sins , and are made the honourable characters of som● , who are pleased ( by a figure ) to call themselves true protestants . for you may easily observe , that mens scruples now lie one way only , viz. about ceremonies , and little things pertaining to order and decency in the church ; but there is little or no scruple about immorality ; they protest against conformity , but not against knav●ry . they will condemn kneeling at the sacrament as a damnable sin , and yet be guilty of it themselves to serve an end : and i cannot but tremble to consider , that the blessed sacrament of christs body and bloud should be used only as a politick tool , to capacitate men to be potent villains . are not these dainty conscientious men , who can thus play fast and loose with their consciences ? and who have got such a perfect mastery over them , that they can set them a whining , or put them to sleep at their pleasure , so that if a friendly job be to be done at guild-hall or the sessions-house , poor dame conscience is commanded to lie quiet behind the door ; and when the business is over , then she is taken up again to pewk the next sunday at the very sight of a surplice . sir , if you think me somewhat sharp , i must desire your excuse , because nothing is more hateful to me , than a conscience that is tender in part only ; a conscience , that is much like an animal in your garden , which you call a tortoise ; a creature that is so very nice and tender in some parts , that it shrinks up it self presently , if you touch it with a straw ; but yet is wrapt up in such a deadly hard , crusty shell , that you may drive horses and carts over it , and not hurt it . and really , sir , as i was considering with my self , how mighty shy and scrupulous some are in things which are of an inconsiderable nature , ( but straws in comparison ) and yet what little impression the weighty things of the law make upon them , i thought presently of your tortoise ; and was minded ( but that i do not care to give names ) to call that a tortoise conscience , which some call a tender , a true-protestant , and an ignoramus-conscience . you need not wonder at all this , since ( as i said ) they have grafted the crab upon the apple , i mean the jesuit upon the protestant : for no good can ever be expected , where dolemans principles are suckt in . but you may see , how basely partial these folks are in their ordinary censures : for let a man be a true friend to the king and the established government , and presently ( forsooth ) he is a papist . let him kneel at the rails in a chancel , and he is a papist . let him be for the use of the sign of the cross , or for reading part of the communion-service at the communion-table , and h● is a papist . let him refuse to do evil that good may come though that was st. pauls way ) and he is called a papist . or let him be for subjection to a lawful prince , and ( when time serves ) for passive o●edience , and he is a papist with a witness . but let these men profess the faith and doctrines of the jesuits ; let them lie and equivocate like the jesuits ; let them violate oaths , or conster them in the●r own sense like the j●suits ; let them dispense with one another in doing any wickedness that is serviceable to their cause ( as the jesuits do ) yet who but they the true protestants ? the only patrons of their country ? the brav● assertors of religion , liberty , and what not ? that learned and great man bishop sanderson hath in one of his incomparable sermons this following passage : i remember ( saith he ) to have read long since a story of one of the popes ( but who the man was , and what the particular occasion i cannot now recal to mind ) that having , in a consultation with some of his cardinals , proposed unto them the course himself had thought of for the setling of some present affairs to his most advantage , when one of the cardinals told him , he might not go that way because it was not according to justice ; he made answer again , that though it might not be done per viam justitiae , yet it was to be done per viam expedientiae . the pope thought , that any thing was lawful for him to do , that was but expedient for his turn and interest . are not our factious men now clearly of that popes persuasion ; ( goodly protestants , as they are ! ) do they not break over all bounds of justice , when it is expedient for them ? do they not plead or contemn the laws , according as it is expedient for them ? do they not obey or disobey , as it is expedient ? do they not cry up or cry down parliaments , as it is most expedient ? do they not go to a church or a conventicle , as it is expedient ? do they not receive or refuse the holy sacrament , as it is expedient ? do they not avoid or stickle for offices , as it is expedient ? do they not observe or violate oaths , as it is expedient ? do they not shake hands with the jesuit , or give him a kick , as it is expedient ? and yet these men would persuade us , that there is no plot on their side , though doleman be brought to life again : just as the jesuits pretended , that there was no plot on their side , though they plaid the like pranks , and disseminated the like principles , when doleman saw the light first . i accuse no particular persons , but if the faction have no villanous design in hand , they are damnable fools to make such broad signs , and have damnable ill luck to have so many ugly marks upon them . for what courses have they omitted , which a cunning achitophel would think necessary to be taken , supposing that there were a design to subvert our present government ? as little a politician as i am , yet were i a great man , and could i suffer my self to be an ill subject , i know not what more effectual course could be taken to rend all into pieces than this : first , i would make my self popular , and would curry favour with city and country , by pretending to be a very consciencious man , and a zealous protestant , whether i had any thing of conscience or religion in me , or no. my next care should be , the populace having entertained a great opinion of me , to tell my fellow-subjects and admirers , that kings are not such great men , nor kingly government such a great matter , but that monarchs and monarchy it self ought to truckle to the conveniences of a kingdom . thirdly , my business should be to possess the people throughly with this opinion , that all power is derived from them , that a crown is a donative and gift of theirs , and that they have an unlimited power either to continue a king and his government , or to lay aside both , as shall be most expedient . my fourth care should be to lay open my princes infirmities , to disparage his judgment as weak and impolitick , to render his authority contemptible , to reflect upon all miscarriages in his government , and to make his person vile and hated . but then , for fear of falling into open treason , my next care should be to traduce and accuse his counsellours , and to make the world believe , that they were all papists , and perfectly designed the introduction of arbitrary power , that so i might wound the prince himself through the sides of his ministers . sixthly , under pretence of securing religion , liberty , and property , i would make my interest and party strong , and gain over as many considerable men as i could , and persuade them to enter into a mutual league , and throw the government into the hands of such , and such only , as should subscribe and enter into the association . after this , i would work so with my friends , that if one of our allies and confederates should be found out and indicted , a pannel should be packt of such true men to the cause , as would stretch their consciences a little to bring off a poor brother , and keep him out of the reach of the king and his laws . besides , i would load all the kings friends with reproaches , and odious characters , and call 'em tories , rogues , popishly-affected rascals , enemies to their country , and the like . and at last , if a parliament should happen to be called , especially to oxford , i would indeavour that our party should go in a formidable mann●r , and with a numerous train of such true protestants as stephen colledge ; and should be strongly guarded with men , horse , and arms , so that nothing should be wanting but the sound of the trumpet , and a rendezvouz . now , should i do thus , would not you think that i had a base design a●d plot in my head ? would not any man think , that i had a mind to set things on a flame , when i had thus laid the fewel together , and had blown the coals , and was stirring up the fi●e ? sir , i do not say , or mean , that my conscience can suffer me to do these things ; but whether these things have not been done , let the world judge . yet truly i do not believe , that there is a protestant-plot , nor would i have it called so ; for the principles of our religion are such , that we dare not be seditious ; we dare not be ungovernable ; we dare not be enemies to the king ; we dare not endeavour to pull down a government that is so admirably well established ; we dare not be dishonest , unless we will be hypocrites ; nor be rebels , unless we will be damned . in a word our religion is such , that we can lay no plot , but this , how to be quiet while we live , and how to go to heaven when we die . this is the business of a right protestant . nor do i believe , that there is a presbyterian-plot neither ( properly so called . ) for that is such an odious , such an ill-natured sect , that the genius of the nation is set against them ; and we have had already such abundant experience of their hypocrisie , knavery , and tyranny , that 't is not credible , that any man of consideration will plot , or venture his neck for them . neverth●l●ss , the late loyal addr●sses from all parts do shew , that 't is the general opinion of the kings good subjects throughout the nation , that there is another wicked design on foot , besides that horrid popish conspiracy , which was discovered about four years ago . indeed we cannot say , 't is managed by any one single party or faction in religion , but rather that 't is a motley , pye bald combination of many factions , somewhat like that army we read of 1 sam. 22. which was made up of men that were in distress , of men that were in d●bt , and of men that were discontented . in like manner the factions which threaten our peace now consist of a farrago and a medley : you miy call it the confusion-●ot , not only b●cause it tendeth to the utter 〈◊〉 ●n of our laws , liberties , prop●r●ies , peace and gover●●●●t both in church and ●tate , but also because it is carried ●n by a confused mixture , such as th●s● viz. some that hav● lost their preferments at court , and would fain be revenged ▪ some that never d●served any p●●ferments , and would fain be scrambling ; some that have inr●ched themselves by the kings favour , and are therefore ungra●●ful , because they are unfatiable ; some that want money , some that want wit , and some that wa●t nothing b●t honesty and religion ; some that are a●heists and hobbists ; some that have been old rob●●s , republicans , rumpers , cromwelians , committee of safety-men , levellers and sequestrators ; or the heirs and children of such ; some that hav● an aking tooth after crown and church revenues , some th●t are notorious for dishonesty , and become bankru●●'s and som● , that have been infamous for vice ; some that have been catechiz'd in a wine-cellar , and made maudlin-c●●●e●ts at the tap head ; some that have been illuminat●d on a sudden in moor-fields , and been dipt in cornelius his tub ; s●●e pretenders to conformity that have been unfortunately hook't in unawares ; and divers ringleaders and abettors of schism , who would gladly have another run after that breath'd puss , the good old cause , which we were apt to think , when a most graciour act of oblivion came forth , would have died quietly in its form. of this design we had evidence abundant by the late famous association , which opened the eyes of so many honest royalists in the kingdom . that alone gave a clear demonstration of the matter , though we had reason enough to suspect it shrewdly before . for it was observed , that upon the discovery of the popish plot , when the church of england-men unanimously and vigorously fall upon the church of rome , the dissenters at the same time fell foul upon the church of england . you know how maliciously active and zealous mr. baxter and the rest have been in that cause , and in that cause only . this we were amazed to see , and could make no other construction of it , but that they took an early care to destroy the establisht church themselves , as if they believed not , that the papists could be able to do it . for the church of england being the only impregnable fort against popery , we could not conceive , that protestants would endeavour to remove , or weaken , or pull down that , if they did believe really that the common enemy had a plot against it . how can this be , that men should fear an enemy , and believe him to be under the walls , and yet at the same time open the city gates , and with a pretended design to keep the enemy out too ? this is as unlikely , as that men should believe and fear that the kings life and person is in imminent danger , and yet at the same time endeavour to remove his guards and leave his palace naked , pretending to preserve him. how , i pray , can these things consist ? besides , we see how zealous the factious have been and are , in stickling for offices of trust , which in quiet and setled times they studied as much to avoid , as being only vexatious , troublesome and chargeable , but of no use than for the disturbance of a profound peace . we see how readily they themselves have confuted their own pretences , touching the sinfulness ( forsooth ) of complying with some laws , and conforming to the church of england . for rather than stand out of play , when the old game is going again , they will ( for once ) abju●e the covenant , and take the test , and seal all this by receiving the holy sacrament according to law , even when their own consciences tell them ( unless their tongues lie ) that it is damnable to do so . add to this , that the world rings of ignoramus-juries , when full , clear and plentiful evidence hath been given by men whose credit in other cases has passed unquestioned . by which means justice hath been obstructed , and the law hath been over-ruled , or the edg of it hath been turned on one side only , so that the king himself hath been denied the benefit of it , and men that were notorious for dishonesty and sedition have been protected against him . now , it is not credible , but that all this is in order to some very evil design , which cannot be carried on but by these very evil means ; because it cannot be supposed , that men would dare to be hated by the government , to be obnoxious to the magistrates sword , to mock heaven , to forfeit their reputation , and to play handy-dandy with their consciences , did not some desperate plot require such desperate courses , as they cannot but know will one day rise up in judgment against them even in this world , if the establisht government holdeth . the consideration of these things is enough to convince all thinking persons , that there is a monstrous intrigue in hand against the government . but , to deal plainly with you , all these arguments to me seem to be over and above . for , as i mistrusted something of an extraordinary nature above three years ago , when pamphlets came every week abroad full of unworthy and base reflections upon the king , upon his counsellors , upon the bishops and all the clergy , upon the offices and rites in the service book , upon the long loyal parliament , and indeed upon the whole frame and constitution of our excellent government ( which reflections , had they been just , were surely altogether needless then , if nothing but an engagement against the popish interest was intended ) so when i saw the jesuites principles brought upon the stage again , and found it confidently asserted , and by many believed , that monarchy is a meer human ordinance , that kings hold their crowns by the consent of their subjects , that all power is originally in the people , that this power of theirs is unlimited and uncontroulable , and many the like positions more , which overthrew the government once ; then all my doubts vanished strait , and what i mistrusted before , then i firmly believed , that an alteration of our government was intended again , and that these principles were vended about to prepare a way thereunto : for to what other purposes could these principles serve ? but now at last , when i saw that evil men were not contented to skim and retal these principles out of doleman , but moreover have reprinted dolemans whole book at large , it is impossible for me to force my charity to believe otherwise , than that they have such a black design against the whole royal family and the present government , as i am loth to mention . for books are not wont to be sent abroad into the world , but with a design ; nor are booksellers willing to run the hazard of a whole impression , unless there be strong probabilities that it will do either good or mischief : and the reprinting of doleman at this ticklish juncture , when the affairs of england are in such an u●certain and tottering posture , is a plain argument , that 't was done with a design to possess the people of england with such notions , that they might be ripe for a rebellion , and ready ●or a total change of our government , either according to the state of venice ( which is the drift of plato redivivus ) or according to the model of holland ( which other factionists are generally more inclined unto . ) consider the thing well , sir , and then tell me your thoughts , whether that might not be the intent of putting that pestilent and villanous book again into the press now , which at the kings restauration , and for many years since , was hardly valued so much as waste paper in comparison . men and books rise or sink in their price according to the condition of times . twenty years ago it was hony-moon in england , and , under god , nothing was so dear to our souls then as our king and our government : and had doleman appeared abroad then , as he doth now , we should have thought that oliver cromwel had sent the jesuite from hell , and he would have been executed at tyburn by the hangmans hands , before he had done any further mischief . but now the case is alter'd , and the smart of rebellion and innovation is quite out of some mens fingers ; and such as are for playing the old game over again , think it their best course to use the same cards that were so lucky to 'em once before ; and father parsons is called for to help 'em deal . sir , i will not give you any further trouble now , though when i first set pen to paper , i thought it necessary to examin those principles in doleman , which are so popular in these days . and because i find , that the doctrine of the kings divine right to his crown is become odious to many , who look upon it to be full of dangerous consequences , as well as unreasonable in it self : and because the clergy of our church are hated for that doctrine sake ; and the ashes of that learned , loyal , and honourable person , sir robert filmir , have been of late polluted with a great deal of dirt out of the kennel , for no other reason but because he was such a fatal enemy to that jesuitical principle , that the original of all power and government is in the people ; therefore i judged it proper and seasonable to shew you , what is meant by the jus divinum of monarchy , and what strong reasons that doctrine is founded upon , that so i might vindicate the integrity and honour of the assertors of it . but i am not willing that this letter should swell into a large discourse . however , if it may be an acceptable thing to you , to be acquainted with my thoughts on that subject , you know you may command me , as my business shall give me leave . in the mean time i own my self , sir , july the 6. 1682. your faithful servant , &c. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a53949-e160 fa. watsons quodlibets pag. 236. id. p. 109. id. p. 217. id. p. 30● . id. p. 305. id. p. 265. id. p. 236. quodlibet , p. 286. a de jure magistrat . in subdit . b vindiciae cont . tyran . though 't is hard that the same men should be parties and judges too . * for without order there is nothing else to be hoped , but horrour and confusion , doleman , pa. 6. ca. 1. part . 1. for remarques upon this story see the answer to the history of succession , p. 25. observe , that the power of deposing a king naturally follows from the doctrine of the peoples power to chuse one . but is not that right of power which a father hath over his child , and an husband over his wife , by divine appointment ? quod si christiani olim non deposuerunt neronem & diocle●ianum , & julianum apostatam , & valentem arianum , & similes , id suit quia deerant vires . bellar. de rom. pontif. 1. 5. c. 7. azor. instit . moral . par . 2. 1. 10. c. 2. nemo nostrum quando apprehenditur , reluctatur ; nec se adversus injustam violentiam vestram , quamvis nimius & copiosus noster sit populus , ulciscitur . st cypriar . ad demet●ian . p. 257. edit . pamel . quodlibets p. 27 . serm. 12. ad aulam , p. 166. certain considerations upon the duties both of prince and people written by a gentleman of quality ... spelman, john, sir, 1594-1643. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a61099 of text r28174 in the english short title catalog (wing s4937). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 59 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 15 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a61099 wing s4937 estc r28174 10445597 ocm 10445597 45044 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a61099) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 45044) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1390:11) certain considerations upon the duties both of prince and people written by a gentleman of quality ... spelman, john, sir, 1594-1643. 24 p. printed by leonard lichfield, oxford : 1642. attributed to sir john spelman--nuc pre-1956 imprints. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. eng monarchy -great britain. great britain -kings and rulers. a61099 r28174 (wing s4937). civilwar no certain considerations upon the duties both of prince and people. written by a gentleman of quality, a well-wisher both to the king and parl spelman, john, sir 1642 11305 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 b the rate of 4 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-07 melanie sanders sampled and proofread 2004-07 melanie sanders text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion certain considerations upon the duties both of prince and people . written by a gentleman of quality , a well-wisher both to the king and parliament . oxford , printed by leonard lichfield , printer to the vniversity . 1642. certain considerations upon the duties both of prince & people . among many intemperances that minister disturbance to the church and state , we have those , whose supine affectation of flattery has grown to that impudence , as that they have not only for learnings sake disputed , but in the name of the word of god , and at the time and place when we should expect no other then the lively oracles of god , delivered , that the persons , and fortunes of all subjects , are absolutely at the will and command of the prince , to dispose according to his will and pleasure . to such licentiousnes , we need give no other answer , then only to demaund , that the maintainers of such doctrine , would put us but a case , wherein ( those opinions of theirs being admitted ) a prince can commit any injustice , and that they would shew us , wherein lies the justice which the scripture commaunds princes to execute , and which it affirmes to be the establishment of their thrones , and the violation of it to be their adversity or subversion . we have on the other side those , who finding it written , that governours are for the good of the people , pursue it with sophistry ; that the people are the end of princes and governors beings : and that therefore as their government is for , or against the good of the people , so may they be continued or deposed by them . to that end also there are opinions set on foot ; that all government first came from the people , and that all authority does in the last place reside in them ; that in every kingdome the whole body of the people must of necessity contain , all power and authority whatsoever either is or may be erected in it ; so as that all the people or the greater part of them ( which amounts to all ) may by their votes , re-assume all power into their own hands : abrogate all ordinances : anull the formes of present government : and new mould the state into such formes and institutions as best liketh them . these are falsities which yet lay hold upon reasons , and prevaile over the judgements of many that are understanding men , and which have no evill affection toward government , and these are of that consequence , as that they subvert the stability of all kind of government whatsoever . but were we shie of iesuitisme , as well as of popery , we would not with so little examination receive opinions , which we know had their first hatching in the schoole of the iesuite . the matter would require a very large field , should we set forth all things that fitly conduce to the support of the truth , but my purpose is to be very short . therefore declining to controvert what may be , and usually is alleadged in the matter , i shall humbly offer to consideration such apprehensions of the truth as i have conceived lesse vulgar , & submitting them to the approbation or correction of better judgements , expect they shall returne unto mee , with confirmation , or rectification of my own private thoughts ; if from so mean a talent , no mite of benefit be raised to the publique , and first , we are to consider that the originall of kingdoms is of three sorts , to wit , naturall , ( which we may also call civill , ) violent , ( or if you will , martiall , ) or mixt of these two . the first was of parents over their children , childrens children , and servants bought or borne unto them . in this , the person of the governour was before the being of the subject , and his authority , before ever the subject consented , or had power to obey or disobey . such a king was shem , called therefore melchisedeck , or king of righteousnesse . and a prince of this kind was abraham , after that by gods command he had left his country and his father shems house , and lived of himselfe , and kings of this nature were they that were intimated in the names of abimelech , abiam , abiram , abram , abishalom , &c. and this soveraignty was not inherent to the person of the father only , but from him descended , by right of primogeniture , to the eldest sonne , to whole rule , we see that god subjected the younger . the second sort of kingdoms was wholly founded by the sword , over people that were subjugated by usurpers and invaders , such as followed the way of nimrod : who being potent in his naturall dominion , used his power to the oppression of his neighbours , and changed the state of government into tyranny ; i say not the state of liberty , ( as if till then men had lived in solute liberty ) but changed the naturall government into that which is tyrannicall . the third sort had much what the same originall with the second : where people surcharged at home and forced abroad ; men in division ; in distresse ; in feare ; exiles ; and fugitives , distrusting their present condition , served themselves on the wit , spirit , and courage of some notable man ; to whose command they ( with such limitation of his power as they could agree on , ) subjected themselves ; and then falling into action prospered even into a kingdom : from hence sprung our moderne kingdoms , more novell and various in their frame , and many of them so qualified , as not properly to be called kingdoms , but rather republiques under regall stiles , with princes elective , much circumscribed in authority , and obnoxious to deposing . now in the first and second sort , apparantly the people had never any thing to doe with the institution and limitation of soveraign power : and though in the third sort they had more to doe therewith , yet not alike in all of that sort , nor had they the whole and sole power of instituting , scarce in any of that sort , so as we must rectify that misapprehension , that in all kingdoms the first derivation of authority was from the people . in the next place , we are to consider ; that kingdomes are not associations of men in their naturall capacityes : but communions of men quatenùs members politique , united in one common bond of obedience into one politicall body , where none can move to give his due aid for the weale of the body , but in the capacity of a politique member , and according to the peculiar office which every severall member properly ought to execute ; which office the members duly exercising , make a true and perfect civill communion . now though we consider a kingdome as a meere civill or temporall state only ; yet even there , the observance of this communion is a duty strictly required of every member , even by the law of nature , or morall law , and by the law of god it selfe . for man having lost his originall righteousnesse or justice , and consequently the right of governing himselfe ; and being thereby necessarily subjected to the government of some justice without himselfe : it was necessary , for his owne good and safety , that he should not only be subject to that justice in the things that concerned the well governing himselfe toward others ; but likewise in those things that concerned his safety and defence from the violence of others misgoverning themselves toward him , and that necessarily brings in empire . so that ( unlesse we can imagine some kingdome to consist of people sprung of themselves , in perfection of righteousnes , not depending , nor obliged to god , or nature , nor obnoxious to those conditions to which the fall of man has subjected all men , ) we cannot devise how men should naturally be free from subjection to government ; and lesse , how ( being subject ) private men in any state , should in their naturall capacity , meddle with any thing concerning government ; or so much as goe about the making , changing , on anulling of ordinances ; or so compell governours ▪ to doe them , without being criminally culpable ; not only against the positive lawes of the land , but even against conscience pressed with the bonds of naturall , or morall , and also divine law . therefore to explicate the sense which all intend , but some ( not well distinguishing ) confound : it is certainly true , that all the people of a kingdome must needs comprehend all power whatsoever is , or may be exercised in it : but when we say so , we by all the people , meane , the whole entire body of the members politique , from head to foot , every one of them abiding and working according to his proper and ordained office politique . but if beside their ordained office & power , any shall doe or attempt any alteration in the state , ( howsoever intended for common good ) their act must needs be so farre from being lawfull , as being from the beginning repugnant and resisting the ordained power , it can never become a lawfull act , though all the subjects of a kingdome should after consent unto it . but in the third place , we are farther to consider : that if the kingdome be also a church of god , then is the originall , and authority of it , of farre higher nature , and more remote from the reach and power of the people . it is true , god is king of all kings , and highest soveraigne in all kingdomes , as well heathen as christian : yet , as he cautioned in the behalfe of his church , that no stranger should be king there , but by any meanes one that was of the brethren of the people : so in his church he himselfe is a neerer and ( as it were ) a more cognate soveraigne , then in other kingdomes ; and his vicegerents there , are of more immediate and more important subordination to him . for which cause he there reserves to himselfe the choice of the man , and leaves the people no more then the bare investing of him . not but that god in all kingdomes , makes kings whom he pleaseth ; but he will have it known , that in his church , the choice is not only his , and to be sought at his hand , but that he more strictly requires the observance of his right , in his church ; then he does otherwhere . therefore he expresly commands there ; thou shalt in any case set him over thee , whom thy lord thy god shall chuse . and as in his church he to himselfe reserved the nomination ; so when he had nominated , he did not leave it to the people , there to declare the right and manner of the kingdom : but by the prophet by whom he signified his choice , by the same was the manner of the kingdom declared to the people , written in a book and laid up before the lord . kings of gods church , having from god a more immediate and more sacred ordination , have also a more especiall endowment of his spirit , for which cause they have beene ever instituted with annointing , & their persons therewith consecrate , for the exercise of their function . this we see in saul , whose person ( though he were a wicked prince ) david in this respect declared so sacred , as that he pronounced a curse upon the mountaines of gilboa , because in them his person was cast downe and vilefied , without regard of the sacrednesse of his annointing . their annointing therefore is not a meere outward solemnity , but is significant of the spirit of god in a more especiall manner given unto them , and from thence proceeds that which the scripture witnesseth , a divine sentence in the lipps of the king , yea , and a sacred integrity also , his mouth transgresseth not in judgement . and suitable to their prerogative of graces , beyond the ordinary of other princes , god vouchsafes them his eare , with more favour and familiarity then to the other , as we may see by his ready hearing , gratious answers , vouchsafed messages sent , and will declared touching them ; not only to the good , as david , salomon , asa , iehosaphat , hezechiah , iosiah , &c. but even to coniah , saul , ieroboam , ahab , jehu , and other wicked princes . and we not only heare god himselfe saying , by me kings raigne ; and i have said yee are gods : but his word couples also the feare that is to be rendred unto kings , with the feare that is due unto himselfe , feare god and the king . keepe the kings commandement , in regard of the oath of the lord . nor is it ordinary obedience that is commanded , but the highest ( under god ) submit unto the king , as unto the supreame . and that not for the danger that may ensue , but ( as the apostle saith ) not for wrath only , but also for conscience sake . now if the king be supreame , then is there in no kingdome any superintending power or authority , that may lawfully call the king to account : for that power only is the supreame , over which there is not any other to take account . so high and sacred is the authority of them whom god has made , nursing fathers , and nursing mothers , to his church . when kings then , both in their persons , and functions , are of so sacred an ordination , and so hedged in , by gods especiall protection , where is there place for the people to interpose and meddle with the affaires that doe belong unto them ? besides , when without the kings consent there can be no concurrence of people , to joyne in any accord for the disposing of any affaires of the kingdome , but that the matter must first passe the project , sollicitation , and prosecution of diverse private men , no way thereunto authorized : how can any act of the people to such an end be justifiable , when an unlawfull beginning , ( what number or quality soever the attempters be of ) can never make a lawfull act ? therefore omitting those places of scripture , it is not fit to say to a king thou art wicked , who may say to a king , what doest thou ? feare god and the king , and meddle not with those that love innovation : and many others ( which yet block up the way against private mens medling with matters of government . ) if it were to be granted that the people in any kingdome had power over all rights of the kingdome ; yet unlesse that by the ordinances of that kingdome , it be expresly declared and appointed , how , and by whom , that power shall be executed , ( and by the way , where such ordinances are , there is not a right kingdome , but a republique ) and againe , unlesse those ordinances be rightly pursued , there can be no combinement , to doe any such act , but with the guilt of sedition , and treason , in the sight of god . for it will lye against every particular man , betweene god and his conscience to answer , who hath called thee to this ? who hath separated thee ? who hath made thee a iudge or an executor of these matters ? and though it be pretended ( and perhaps intended too ) that the worke so to be done shall make for the glory of god and good of his church : yet that will but little helpe the matter ; for , for men to doe god a good office against his declared will , is to be gods good maisters , not his good servants . he does expresly command , that every soule be subject to the higher powers ; and declares plainly , that the powers that are , are ordained of god , and that they that resist the power , resist the ordinance of god , and receive to themselves damnation : and our saviour himselfe forbids us , that we doe not evill , that good may come thereon . the scripture tells us the reason , for god hath no need of a wicked man , & he is best glorified when his voyce is obeyed . we have also the examples of scripture to the same purpose . it did not only turne to sinne to saul , that he , to satisfie the people in their devotion , spared the best of the amalekites spoile to offer in sacrifice unto the lord , when god had commanded that all should be destroyed : but it became a finall sinne even unto his rejection . and vzza was strucke with suddaine death , for nothing but putting his hand to the arke of gods covenant ; ( which no man but the sonnes of aaron might doe ) yet vzza did not doe it , but with a good and a pious mind to save the arke of gods covenant from falling . therefore it is not enough for men to be assured that the worke which they doe , in their consciences tends to a good and a religious effect : but they must every man have a sufficient warrant for his conscience , and for his calling to the worke ; that is , either the expresse word of god , or else such manifest inference and deduction from it , as by the concurrent judgement of the church universally in all ages , is agreed for truth , not such judgment as some particular ministers take upon them to make , for the spirit of the prophets , are subject to the prophets ; that is the spirits of the particular , to the spirit of the universall : for god is not the author of confusion , which else would necessarily follow . men therefore must looke to the ground & first beginning of their actions ; for if the root be evill , so will also the branches be , though it promises never so good fruit , and be countenanced by all the people of a kingdome . if further we looke into scripture , the story of moses is not without some doctrine to this point . moses having an ardent zeale to the reliefe of his brethren the people of god , and finding himselfe above others inabled to be the instrument of their deliverance , both by his extraordinary abilities , & also through the great power he had with pharaohs daughter , perswades himselfe , and ( as appeares by st stephens relation ) would have the people understand , that he was even then called to be their deliverer . hereupon he makes his addresse to the people , and by the slaughter of one of their oppressors , takes say of their affection toward an attempt of liberty , as if there needed no more in the case , but that the people should resolve , and joyne with him to breake from the subjection of the king they lived under , who was an enemy to gods church . in this now , ( though we make no question but that moses had a zeale acceptable to god ) yet may we see by that which followeth , that he had not yet a particular calling thereunto , neither was the way wherein he thought to have executed his zeale agreeable to the will of god ; therefore the people themselves ( whom moses only sought unto ) they reject him : his attempt is frustrate , and himselfe is driven to repent it with forty yeares exile in the wildernesse . after that long space of expiating the errour of his selfe-led zeale , god calls him then indeed to the worke to which he came of himselfe before ; come now ( saith god ) and i will send thee : and god sends him then indeed ; but sends him not to the people ( that we may know he sent him not before ) but ( though he could have made the people able to make their owne way by the sword , and could by his command have made it lawfull so to have done ) yet ( to teach us the observance of ●ustice and duty , in our proceedings ) he sends him to the king , of him to demand the dismission of his people , that so the peoples obedience to his messengers , and to the word delivered in his name , might be without any reluctance of conscience in regard of their allegiance to the king . when moses did this way set upon the worke , all went the right way , and the unspeakable obstinacy of king pharaoh , being aggravated by the fairenes of proceedings toward him , did to his condemnation before men and angells , and to the magnifying of gods justice redound the more unto his praise and glory . it is not inconsiderable that god by a starre declared our saviour in his birth to be the borne king of the iewes ; and in that stile brought the wise men to worship him . and likewise , that when our saviour ( to fulfill the prophesyes concerning him ) did solemnly present himselfe to ierusalem : he suffered his disciples publiquely to congratulate his comming by the name of king , and told those that were offended at it , that their gratulation was so necessary , as that if they should omit it , the stones in their default would have performed it also . that he himselfe before pilate , maintained that he was a king , and at his death had his crosse ( notwithstanding the iewes opposed ) adorned with the title , king of the iewes : but when the people would have made him king , he refused their officiousnes and would by no meanes accept of that dignity from them : he would rather be without his right , then receive it either in a wrong way , or from a wrong hand : no , he would not at any of their instances so much as acknowledge himselfe to be authorized for a judge or divider amongst them . so little did he acknowledge any power in them to conferr crownes , or to have superintendence over them . but it is true , that when god had determined to make a division of the kingdome of his people , the first king of the ten tribes was of the peoples making , and was made in the way of reformation : but that you may know it was only permitted by god , that so he might give that stiff-necked people of the fruit of their owne hands , and make them an example unto others ; he designed ieroboam king , which neither annointing , nor blessing , nor other ceremony then a rent : the prophet rent the new coate into twelve pieces , and when he had done , he gave him none of them , but ( as if he would shew he should be a king in fact , not in right , in some way in which god would own nothing but the permission only ) he bad him ( as one would say ) be his owne carver , and take ten peices to himselfe . what the progresse of the story was we all know ; when the people had made a king of their own , then they and their king must have a religion of their own fitted to their new framed kingdome , and to effect that , the old priests of god must be sent away , as absolute impediments to the setling of their new government : and when that was done ; then were they absolute indeed , and had as much authority over their god , as they before had taken liberty against their king : so it followed , that when the people had made an usurper king , their king and they made a calfe their god ; and the summe of the peoples reforming their kings misgovernance , and relieving their own grievances , was ; they made them selves a king that made them all castawaies : he himselfe the reproach of soveraignty , and an infamous stigmatique to all posterity , and his sinnes for ever adhering to the people , till they had caused their utter extirpation , and till of free-borne subjects under a king of their own , they became perpetuall slaves to the subjects of another kingdome . so unpleasing to god , and so pernitious to the people themselves , are the fruits of those reformations which only or principally are managed by the popular inclination , in which , though for the most part a desire of doing justice , or preserving true religion be pretended ; yet private discontent in some , and ambition in others , is commonly the chief and radicall incitement of the work . the means that belongs to private men to use , for reforming of kingdoms , is that which the apostle shewes , let prayers , ( saith he ) and supplications be made for kings and all that are in authority , that we may lead a godly life . the people must not with impatience and puffed up mindes invade gods peculiar right , of calling kings to account , but every man betaking himselfe to the reformation of himselfe , and to prayers unto god , must seek of him ( that has the hearts of kings in his hand ) to dispose the kings heart to the desired reformation . many think this way long and tedious , and like better that the people should offer themselves willingly , and help god in some readier way . but truly if such private reformation and prayer be the right means of publique good , and be too long neglected , that is the peoples own fault ; and they may not by their fault , gaine a power which before they had not . yet true it is , that in great misgovernances , god often uses the peoples hand , to doe his work of iustice , but that we may know the way is not right ; as not agreeable to his revealed will ; we shall finde that the work of justice that he so beginneth by them , he endeth not till he hath finished it on them , and his hand is never more heavy , then against that rodd , that in the way of injustice , hath done his justice service . but will you heare god himselfe taking cognisance of the misgovernance of princes , and determining of it ? in the 81. psalme , god declares himselfe to stand in the congregation of princes , and to be judge among gods ( so calleth he kings there . ) then he expostul●teth the matter with wicked princes , how long will ye give wrong judgement and accept the persons of the wicked ? then he complaineth , they will not be instructed , but walk on in darknesse , the foundations of the earth are out of square . the misgovernance is great and the consequence of it desperate , but does god in that case give the people power to reforme ? no clean contrary : god without any revocation still affirmes , i have said ye are gods , and ye are all children of the most high , persons sacred , not to be approached by the prophane hands of the people : but to awe , and restraine princes , he tells them , that though he has made them gods , yet they shall dye like men , when they must make account to him of their misgoverning : so that god reserves the judgement of them to himselfe , and no whit authorises the people to have any thing to doe with their misdoeings . this is not to flatter princes , to say god has appointed men no meanes to relieve themselves against their misgovernment , but only praiers , to be made either to them , or for them : and that men have not otherwise to meddle with the right of liberty and duties of princes , then only by way of supplication . nor is this a security for princes , for though in a lawfull and ordinate way there be no other means , yet no examples are more familiar , then those in which the sinne , the injustice , and violence of wicked princes , are in this world punished , by the sinne , injustice , & violence of wicked people , sometimes their own , sometime others subjects , gods extraordinary and supream justice is tied to none of those regulations , with which he has circumscribed his ordinary justice committed to the administration of man , but ( as we said before ) we may still observe gods indignation , not more fatally incensed against any , then against those whose wickednesse has put them forward to be the instruments of his extraordinary justice upon others . but to pursue the examination of the right that people may have in questioning and reforming the rule of kings . let us farther examine what we find in scripture . david sinning by numbring the people , was enforced to his choice of one of three plagues , famine , sword , or pestilence ; & deus malum avertat , this is but a dolefull instance for the people . the king sinnes , and god laies all the punishment upon the people : nay he gives not them so much as the choice of the punishment which they must suffer for the king , but the sinning king must choose , which of the three plagues , the innocent people must undergoe : this is strange , did not the great judge of heaven and earth doe right ? yes undoubtedly , and the matter was ; the wickednesse of the people had grievously provoked god , so as the king must be let goe , and suffered to fall into sinne , that way may be made for the peoples punishment . this seems no lesse strange on the other side ; that because the people sinne , therefore the prince should be let fall : that for the transgressions of the land , the prince ( as wee have it in another place ) should be punished with division and diminution , and many should be the princes of the land : nay , that for the sinne of the people , the prince should be cast away , as in that place , if ye doe wickedly ye shall perish , you and your king . all this were strange indeed , should we consider prince , and people , as persons strangers in interest to one another : but therefore these places shew the strict union , and indivisible mutuality of interest , that they have in the doings and sufferings each of other , beyond any thing that can be created by the meer constitution or agreement of men . this case of davids further teaches ; that if when the sinnes of the people be grown high , it be any way necessary that the king be let fall into sinne before the people be punished : then are kings immediatly between god and the people , and stand there like moses in the gap , to with-hold the hand of god from the people , untill that they also by falling someway be removed . again if the kings transgression in government has the originall from the sinnes of the people ; then are the people the prime offendors , and first agents in the kings transgression , and he himselfe is as it were accessary , and in a manner passive in it . we see that god himselfe here judged so , and laid the reall punishment upon the people , whom he accounted the originall sinners : as for the king ( to whom the sinne is verbally ascribed ) we see god reckons , as if he were only passive in committing it , and therefore inflicts no punishment on him , but what he voluntarily took upon him , an humbling of himself , and a compassionate fellowfeeling of punishment , such as a good common father has alwaies by the sense of his peoples suffering . it now followes plainly : that the people that have their hands in sinne , are no competent iusticiars for hearing , judging , and reforming of any misdemeanours ; especially of those in which they themselves ( having the principall hand ) are the principalls ; and lesse , where the person questioned , is but an accessary , drawn in by them : and least of all , where he is a person sacred , and one so much superiour , as by gods ordinance to stand immediatly betwixt god and them , sure , he that would not suffer one with a beam in his eye , to pull a moat out of the eye of his brother ; does not permit him to doe it toward one so much superiour as his prince : nor suffer guilty subjects to arraigne their soveraigne ; guilty servants , their lord ; nor guilty sonnes their common father . to conclude , we may consider the unlawfulnesse of popular animadversion into the manners and government of princes , ( especially of princes that are lawfull christian monarchs ) even in this alone , that there are no received , nor known bounds of limitation , how farre people may walk in the way of questioning and reforming the errours of princes , but that if any thing at all be lawfull for them to doe therein , then may they without restraint proceed so farre as to depose princes , and deprive them of their lives , if ( according to the doctrine of the iesuite ) they finde it for the good and reformation of the church and commonwealth , which how well it is warranted by the word of god , we may see plainly enough in the case between saul and david . saul was king , but , misgoverning himself and the kingdom , became as bad as excommunicate and deposed : for he was rejected of god , and david was by gods expresse command annoynted to be king , all which notwithstanding ; neither david nor the people ever sought to depose him ; to renounce obedience unto him ; to combine against him ; question his government , or so much as meddle with ordering any of the affaires that belonged to the king . nay , saul after this persecuted david unjustly , and in the midst of his unjust and hostile persecution , was delivered into davids hand , and it was of necessity that david should take the advantage and kill him , for he could not otherwise have any assurance of his owne life : david did then but even cut of the skirt of sauls garment , to the end it might witnesse his faithfull loyalty , because it made it manifest he could as easily have cut the thread of his life ; and even for this , his heart so smote him , as that he cries out , the lord forbid that i should doe this thing to my maister the lords annointed , to stretch forth my hand against him . that was not all neither , but there were more circumstances in the case , saul was not yet reformed , and going on still , was another time delivered into davids hands , and the people both times understood it , the speciall delivery of his enemy into his hands by god , and would have embraced the opportunity and have made him away : david restraines them still with the same bridle ; the lord forbid &c. and tells them , who can lay his hands on the lords annointed and be guiltlesse ? no , david ( though already annointed ) would tary gods time , the lord should smite saul , or his day should come , or he should descend into battaile and perish , but davids hand should not be against him . no whatsoever saul was , or whatsoever he had done ; neither his falling from god , nor gods declaring him rejected , nor davids annointing by gods command , nor sauls unjust persecution of david the lords annointed in future , could dissolve the duty of his subjects , nor make it lawfull for them to lay their hands on him , no not when he was in wicked hostility against them . but saul in davids account , was still the lords annointed , still a sacred person , still davids maister , notwithstanding the circumstances which might seeme to have discharged the tyes of duty which david and the people did formerly owe unto him . neither is the annointing of kings a thing sacred as to their own subjects only : but the regard thereof is required at the hands of strangers also , because of the prophanation and sacriledge that in the violation of their persons is committed even against god . wherefore , we see that though the amalekite were a stranger , and made a faire pretence , that he had done saul a good office , when at his own request he dispatched him of the paine of his wounds , and of the pangs of his approaching death : yet david ( taking his fact according to his owne confession ) makes a slight account of the causes which he pretended , as a frivolous extenuation of an haynous fact , and condemnes him , though a stranger , as an hainous delinquent against the majesty of god . how wert thou not afraid ( saith he ) to stretch forth thy hand to destroy the lords annointed ? neither his being a stranger , nor any of the other circumstances were so availeable , but that his bloud fell deservedly upon his own head . the act is in it selfe perfectly wicked , and in the degree hainous ; altogether against the word of god : and therefore all actions of subjects , that in the progresse of them tend , or by the way threaten to arrive at that upshot , are all unlawfull , fowle , and wicked ; and not only the actors themselves wicked , but their assistants , favourers , those that wish them well , or ( as st iohn speakes ) that bid them god speed , are partakers of their evill deeds . but errour in this point , has made such impressions in the mindes of many , as that they will never be perswaded , but that they may disobey and resist authority , if ever they finde it faulty , or the commaunds thereof not agreeing with their consciences . they will grant , that they may not disobey authority in the lawfull commaunds thereof , neither doe evill that good may come thereon : but then , they themselves will be the judges what commaunds are lawfull , and what not ; what things good , and what evill ; & so they make obedience arbitrary , and government ( by pretending conscience ) at the discretion of the subject : yea , though the things whereat they take check , be of their own nature indifferent , or doubtfull , ( and therefore not matters of faith ) yet will not they submit themselves , nor their opinions unto any , no not to the judgement of the church they live in , no not to the judgement of the church catholique , nor to the authority of it , even in the purest times thereof . but they from the authority of their own opinions , or from the authority of such teachers , as they themselves have chosen to themselves to be their guides , they will both censure , condemne , disobey , and revile the ordinances of their church , and the governours thereof , so secure in opposing imaginary , or at least unproved superstitiō , as they will not see how incompatible , self-will , presumption , disobedience , arrogance and railing are with true religion , nor that the false teachers , and their disciples ( which our saviour and his apostles foretold should be in the last and perilous times , and which st peter calleth cursed children ) are not only described by this , that they have a forme of godlinesse , but deny the power thereof . that they are in sheeps clothing , but are inwardly wolves . that the fruit they beare is not answerable to the tree they seem to be . that their way of working is after the way of private insinuation , creeping into houses , and leading silly women captive . having itching eares , and after their own liking heaping to themselves teachers . that they be they that separate themselves , and the like . but they are especially described to be traiterous , heady , high-minded , to be such as despise government , as are presumptuous , self willed , and not afraid to speak evill of dignities . and again that they despise dominion , and speak evill of dignities . and that they perish in the gainsaying of corah . now we know that the sinne of corah was , that he ( being a levite , and countenanced by an hundred and fifty princes of the assembly , famous in the congregation , and at least fourteen thousand seven hundred of the people ) upon his own private opinion ( to which also his followers adhered ) that both he , and all the congregation were holy , and might offer incense before the lord as well as aaron , charged moses and aaron that they tooke too much upon them , and that they exalted themselves above the congregation of the lord , and therefore they holding themselves in a parity of authority with them , would not appeare on their summons , nor be obedient unto them . yet ( as if these passages of scripture nothing concerned our times ) we are nothing shie of those things whereof they doe admonish us . there be some , that justifie , that private men may resist authority , when it would doe that which is hurtfull to the church of god , yea , that it is then their duty to resist it , that such resistance is no disobedience , no rebellion , no sinne at all . these swallow that which may not be granted , viz : that they are competent iudges of the churches hurt , and besides they make the rule that our saviour gave us for discovering teachers of false doctrine to be nothing worth . our saviour tells us , we shall know them by their fruits , as granting fruit to be a thing apparant , knowne of all and unchangeable : but these men make the fruit to alter according to the diversity of the tree that beares it , though otherwise it have the same shape , taste , and vertue . for example : disobedience , resistance of authority , sedition , and rebellion , are by the law of god , and by the law of nature , agreed both by christians and heathens to be evill fruits . but these men ( and iesuites ) tell us that resisting authority , and raising force against it , thereby to worke the good and safety of the church of god , though done by subjects , is no resistance , no rebellion , no sinne . the fruit has lost his own nature , which in it selfe was nought , and takes a new nature of goodnes , because it was brought forth by the good tree of piety toward the church of god . so our saviours precept is made of no effect , and we must learne of the iesuite , to un-know a knowne thing , and know it for some other thing , then ever we knew before , and that by a new way too ; viz : by that which is not to be known of it selfe . we must know the fruit by the tree . we deny not , but that authority may commaund things , that by no meanes at all ought to be done , and that then we must not doe them : but those things are such as are manifestly contrary to the expresse word of god , and principles of religion . and even in them we are only simply to refuse the doing of the evill commaunded , without any actuall resistance otherwise , and so doing , our not obeying , is not to be counted disobedience ; because it being necessary obedience to the expresse word of god , the primitive soveraign of all authority : it can never be disobedience as to the derivative . but where authority commaunds nothing against the expresse word of god , and principles of religion ( as in things disputable it doth not ) there , except the governours that are the derivative be obeyed , god , the primitive is disobeyed . for he strictly commaunds obedience to his vice-gerents , even in every ordinance of man . but we are also to take heed we play not the hypocrites with god . when thinking to doe a good office to the church or state , we resist authority , that presses us with that , which ( as we suppose ) threatens depravation of true religion , or due liberty . for what know we but that by wrongfull suffering ( whereto all are called ) god calls us to a tryall of our faith , patience , and obedience in that way , which if we doe not shew by keeping close to his command , not turning on the left hand to doe any evill though commanded , nor on the right hand to resist authority with violence , although it hath commanded evill , we then refuse gods tryall , and with an unseasonable zeale for religion , and for our wordly rights , we contrary to gods commaund resist his lawfull vice-gerents , & the excuse we have for it , is little better then like the pharisees , to say corban , god shall have profit by it in the good that we shall doe his church thereby , and make the precept of god of no effect ; and antevert the glory that god seemed to seeke in our tryall : and having so justified our resistance , we must then call it pious , and an act of duty , and such as god requires , and so make god the author of our sinne , and lodge it where we can never repent us of it . there may undoubtedly be such pressures laid upon subjects ▪ as that humanity cannot but commiserate , and perhaps in some part excuse their impatience and resisting of them . but the pittifulnes of the case cannot make the resistance lawfull , though we remit much to the doers , we must yet condemne the fact ; and though their sufferings wash away much of the soile that would make both the deed and the doers more odious , yet must they be content to confesse the deed to be evill . but to justifie it , were to commit the accursed sinne of calling good evill , and evill good ; yea , the sacrilegious sinne of making god weake and wicked , who for the necessary support of his church , should stand in need , and require not only the helpe of sinfull men , but even of their sinnes also . private men , in things not plainly forbidden , cannot say they resist not authority , but sinne : not the lawfull power , but the licentiousnes of them which abuse it : for they have no authority to distinguish . and if they offer to pull the mote out of the governours eye , they will put a beame into their owne . for though we be every one tyed to resist sinne in our selves that we commit it not ; yet are we not every one tyed to resist it in others , that they commit it not ; and we must leave every thing to be rectified by those only , to whom it properly belongs ; and where there is no ordidinate meanes of reforming , there god has reserved that particular case unto himselfe , and we must not justle him out of his tribunall . we might in this place remember also what infinite doubts , and questions ( perpetually ensnaring and wounding the consciences of private men , and with continuall disturbance and divisions threatning the ruine of the state ) doe follow the admitting of this one opinion : that when other remedies faile , subjects in case of necessity may leavy armes , and defend their lawes , liberties , and religion , against the oppressors of them . for what shall be sufficient necessity ? and who shall be judge of it ? what way , and how farr may subjects so proceed ? who shall commaund ? &c. but it is impossible to set forth all the branchings and consequents of errours , or the confusions that follows upon them . we might also remember , what dangerous straines and snares these opinions are to those that have taken expresse oaths of obedience and allegiance ; but we hope , that this shall be hint enough to stirr men up to take heed , how they entertain such opinions : and if already they have been led away with them , they make a more advised examination of the matter , and like good christians be content ( whatsoever censure fall upon their actions past , or whatsoever diminution upon their present esteem ) they will yet submit , that gods truth may not be corrupted , nor his holinesse blasphemed , but that , as the psalmist faies , he may be justified in his sayings and be cleere when he is judged , yea that god may be found true and every man a lyar . we do not all this while contend that princes are without law , we have in the entrance of our discourse shown the contrary : and we doubt not but that the rights & maners of kingdoms , are religiously to be observed as well of the prince as of the people : that the establishment of a kingdom depends upon the observance of the rights thereof , as well by the one , as by the other : and that the rights , and maner of every kingdom is as sacred as the kingdom it selfe . when god layd a curse upon those that removed the bounds between private man and private man , he left not the bounds of publique right ( in which all private right is included ) open to secure violation : but what was wicked in the one case he accounted hainous in the other , as carrying with it , not only the transitory fortunes , but even the lives and soules of the people . and for this cause , when god finds in princes the sinne of those that remove the bounds , he threatens that he will powre out his wrath on them like water . it will not be unworthy our labour a little to enquire into the reason . tyranny ( as we have touched ) began first in the eastern parts , and thence dispersed it selfe through the world . and being from the beginning greivous , and incomportable , in time it discovered it self to be but weak . withall it was supposed , that the greivousnesse of it consisted in the monarchall forme , for remedy of which they instituted , in some places aristocraticall , in some places popular government , but in the use of them , they all also were discerned to be but other faces of the same tyranny : and men found plainly , that the absolute government of either people , or nobles , was as well obnoxious unto tyranny , as the sole government of the prince : and that in which of the three soever the government absolutly resided , the government was both tyrannicall and infirme : and that in every of them the comportablenesse and stability depended only on the well regulating of the soveraigne power , by a reasonable interposition of some power committed into the hands of the two other potent limbs . so it became an experimented principle among statists ; that the composite forme ( wherein every of the three potent limbs , for the surer support of the instituted state , had such apportioned influence and power as was proper for the frame of government ) was the only firme and durable forme ; and that of the three powers , regall , aristocraticall , or popular , any of them prevailing so far , as to be wholy free from being qualified or tempered by some operation of the other two , corrupted the legitimate form into a tyrannicall , and made a prognostick of the states declining into ruine . this principle of state is not impeached by any instance of long continuance of the old assyrian , or present turkish empire , because the assyrian had a peculiar advantage of continuance , by the simplicity and unactivenesse of the age it was in . and the turks to worke their security and continuance , have wholy put out the light of knowledge from among their people , and have subdued them to a false religion , that has in it selfe no other end , nor office , then only to keep men in subjection ; so that they having deprived themselves of the principall of all conditions of humanity , and made themselves ( in a manner ) an empire of beasts , the successe of their affaires determines nothing of the event of theirs , that ayme to live as men ; much lesse of theirs , who are to live the lives of supernaturall men , that is to say of christians . absolute power then , when it hath neither bound , nor limitation , ( like the naturall heat too much enforced , which soon devoures the radicall moisture that maintaines it ) tends not to prosperity , but to the distruction of itselfe . for all things being created in number , weight , and measure , the destruction of their proportions must needs be the decay of their being . where there is no inclosure ( saith the wise man ) there the possession goes to decay . for though one , by decaying his fence , gives himselfe liberty to prey upon his neighbours , ( which seems some advantage ) yet he thereby layes himselfe open to be a prey also unto them ; and when after he would close it again , he will find it hard to shut unruly beasts out from the haunt they have once gotten . now for preservation of the bounds and fences of a kingdom , it is necessary , not only to have just and equitable lawes , but it must have also an institution of good and sound orders , for the making and executing of those lawes : which orders must be sacredly observed . for as evill words corrupt good manners ; so evill manners frustrate the effect of all good lawes ; and good manners ( especially those that belong to government ) are not preserved without strict adherence to the instituted orders of the kingdom . neither will those orders long continue valid and of use , unlesse the protection and care of them be committed into the hands of some conservatory power , more especially interessed in the continuance of them . who though not absolutely , nor with any single power of immediate coertion , yet by their powerfull intercession in the councells , and convocate assemblies of the state , may be effectually operative to the preservation of the publike right , for which cause the use of these assemblies are by no meanes long to be neglected . when then the continuance and prosperity of every state , stands upon no surer ground , then the observance of the rights and orders of the kingdome : upon no better stand the lives and fortunes of the subject , of the prince , and royall race ; yea , and of the inheritance , and church of god himselfe . and it is then no marvaile that god should threaten to powre out his wrath like water on princes that are like to those that remove the bounds . it is no marvaile that to the kings of iudah , ( to whom god ( no question ) with a promise of perpetuity , gave the most absolute dominion that has beene communicable to the princes of his church ) he should command , execute yee judgement and righteousnes , &c : for then shall king sitting on the throne of david , enter in by these gates , &c : but otherwise , i will prepare destroyers against thee . it is the important consequence that makes god not give the charge without threatning . though god declares princes to be gods among men , yet between him and them , god ( as david confesses ) has made the observance of the rule of justice and religion , to be the condition of their reigning . bear rule ( saith god to david ) over men , being just , and ruleing in the feare of god . indeed when princes derive their authority from christ , and justly challeng the prerogative of his vice-gerents , it well behoves them to looke that the derivatives faile not of the condition of their primitive . the scepter of christs kingdome is declared to be a right scepter , and therefore his seat to endure for ever . if his vice-gerents would have their seates durable , they also must have care their scepters be right scepters : they must see that the aunciently-established formes and orders of their kingdomes be not violated or neglected , but from time to time renewed and kept : they must not , to be absolute , breake the rights , and orders of the kingdome , and thinke to be good and just princes in their arbitrary rule : it were a reproachfull incongruity , and nothing suitable to the vice-gerents of christ , to be good and faire governours of that which they have made a tyrannicall government . the governours and government must have one face and way , their rule cannot otherwise escape infamy ; not their providence cut off occasion from after times of invading the rights , and consequently the continuance of their kingdomes . the lawes then , the rights , and orders of kingdomes , are most sacred , and binding , even to kings themselves : but that is to be understood , in safety , in honour , in conscience betweene god and them : not in any way , wherein , in their default , the people can become authorized . for if we looke to what is written , we find that when subjects doe amisse , they ought to feare , for the ruler is gods minister to take vengeance , and beareth not the sword in vaine . but we read of no authority committed to the people , in case the prince failes of his duty ; nor of any sword that is to be born by them : if therefore they take the sword , or any course that leades unto it , they take the sword of injustice to the wounding of their own soules . but while we name the people in these things , we doe not make all subjects , living under the obedience of soveraignes , naturally to have this protence , that they may doe themselves right , in case their prince doe not . for as we see them of their owne naturall inclination to desire a king , so we know they naturally submit unto his government . and prince , and people , of themselves stand naturally well-affected one to the other . but as there are those that are sinisterly officious to the one , so are there toward the other also . and as those often counsell the prince , as if they would have him pull out the stones from out the foundation of his throne , to build higher the roofe and enlarge the battlements thereof : so these often perswade the people , that they have the authority of princes , though they have neither throne , scepter , nor any thing belonging to the sovereigne right : these find pretences , and broach opinions in the peoples behalfe ; and then the people naturally jealous , and impatient of the violation of their supposed right or liberty , are facile to entertaine suggestions , and through want of judgment easily carryed away with them ; but wanting also moderation , they so violently adhere unto them , as that with their intemperate prosecution , they often by their owne instruments bring upon themselves the evills that they most doe feare from others . so the people of rome having expelled their kings and setled a republique with such hatred to the memory of them , as that they would not endure the name of king : growing afterward ill satisfied with the proceedings of their senate , they would not only have tribunes , ( guardians of their liberty , and rights , ) which was indeed no more then necessary , but they would have their tribunes indued with consular authority ; then with that of the dictator ; of the pontifex max : and whatsoever other power the common-wealth afforded . in the end , they made them so unresistable , to vindicate their liberty against the nobles , and the senate , as that in the upshot , when they were become secure against their adverse party , they had no meanes of interposition against the absolutenes of their own guardians . insomuch as that caesar , obtaining to be head of their faction , could not be hindered , but that even under the formes which they ordained to preserve their liberty , he introduced a tyranny more absolute , and worse conditioned , then was that of their kings , which they expelled . hitherto tends the doctrines of those , who while they pretend to instruct for the common good , liberty , and right ; doe as it were appeale unto the people , and support their doctrines with the peoples approbation and applause , and do so , in shew , make the people , and indeed themselves , the soveraigne judges of all things . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a61099e-110 prov. 29. 4. gen. 4. 7. deut. 17. 15. 1. sam. 10. 25. prov. 16. 10. prov. 8. 15. psal. 81. 1. pet. 2. 13. rom. 13. 5. prov. 24. 21. rom. 13. 1. 2. 1. sam. 15. 22. 2. sam. 6. 6. 1. chr. 13. 10 , 1. cor. 14. 32 , 33. acts. 7. 25. exod. 2. 12. acts. 7. 30. exod. 3. 10. 1. king. 12. 4. 1. tim. 2. 1. prov. 21. 1. vers. 6. 2. sam. 24. 1. 1. sam. 12. 25 1. sam. 15. 23. & 16. 13. 1. sam. 24. 5. 1. sam. 26. 9. 2. tim. 3. 5. matth. 7. 16. 2. tim. 3. 6. 4. 3. iude. 19. 2. tim. 3. 3. 2. pet. 2. 10. iude. 8. & 11. numb. 16. mat. 7. 16. 1. pet. 2. 21. psal. 51. hosea . 5. 10. eccles. 36. 25. hosea . 5. 10. ier. 22. 3. 7. 2. sam. 23. 3. psal. 45. 7. rom. 13. 4. 1. sam. 8. 5. the character of a popish successour compleat in defence of the first part, against two answers, one written by mr. l'estrange, called the papist in masquerade, &c., and another by an unknown hand. phillips, john, 1631-1706. 1681 approx. 147 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 22 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54759 wing p2081 wing s2671_cancelled estc r23102 12752478 ocm 12752478 93323 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54759) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 93323) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 727:40 or 751:15) the character of a popish successour compleat in defence of the first part, against two answers, one written by mr. l'estrange, called the papist in masquerade, &c., and another by an unknown hand. phillips, john, 1631-1706. [8], 35 p. printed for j. graves ..., london : 1681. attributed by wing to john phillips. written in defence of elkanah settle's the character of a popish successour, and in answer to sir roger l'estrange's the character of a papist in masquerade. reproduction of original in duke university library. entry for s2671 cancelled in wing (2nd ed.). created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng settle, elkanah, 1648-1724. -character of a popish successour. l'estrange, roger, -sir, 1616-1704. -character of a papist in masquerade. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2002-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-12 john latta sampled and proofread 2002-12 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the character of a popish successour compleat : in defence of the first part , against two answers , one written by m r l'estrange , called the papist in masquerade , &c. and another by an unknown hand . london : printed for i. graves , and are to be sold by most booksellers . 1681. the preface . upon perusal of a pamphlet written by so ingenious an author as mr. l'estrange , called , the papist in masquerade , in answer to the character of a popish successour , my expectation was strangely frustrated , when i found the book look more like a poor robin's almanack than an answer , the major part of the pamphlet being a kind of red-letter kalendar in two columes , with the popish worthies on one side , and the republican ones on the other ; as raviliac on that hand and oliver over against him ; and so mariana and knox , pius quintus and buchanan , guido faux and hugh peters , &c. i confess , had he design'd to publish the villanies both of a popish and a republican conspiracy , and after a plain demonstration of the government 's being really undermined by both those threatning enemies , had given his country some light to steer in the golden medium between both those fatal extreams , his intention had been honest , and he had writ like a patriot : but alas ! that 's none of his province ; his talent is otherwise employ'd : for the sole drift of his book was not in the least to expose popery any farther than to make the fanatical and jesuitical principles agree ; for take his opinion abstracted from that designe , and his whole book has no other aim but to make all our dangers of popery and a popish successour , and all the whole plot against the king , religion , and government , ( to use his own phrase , p. 69. ) but a painted lion upon a wall ; and the prosecutors of that plot , and the opposers of those dangers , a real bed of vipers . in fine , the main purpose he drives at , is to make an exact parallel between this age and that of 40 & 41 , &c. and that he may so do , you must allow him this great fundamental , that all the sticklers against popery and a popish successour , are fanaticks ; and that all fanaticks hate both the king and kingly government , and are tooth & nail down-right republicans . vpon this basis his whole fabrick stands . but to rectifie his mistake in this great point : have not four parliaments successively been satisfied in the truth of a popish plot for the murder of the king , and subversion of the government , and jealous of the dangers of popery , like honest patriots muster'd all their strength to prevent it ? if the plot were onely a bugbear , how comes it that the wisdom of the nation in four parliaments together , has not discover'd the cheat ? or if they do know the cheat and act themselves the legerdemain , and so make the prosecution of the plot but a presbyterian artifice to inflame a kingdom , in order to playing the game of 41 ore again , as his impious detractions would insinuate , i would ask him , first , how comes it to pass that all the plot-evidence have all along so constantly adhered to their attestations , and that too in so beggarly and starving a cause , after such vast and tempting proffers for retracting of their evidence ; and vaster rewards , no doubt , they might have , upon the discovery of such a presbyterian cheat , if it were one , not onely as a ransom for so many great mens lives , but likewise from the greatest hands of the nation that would desire nothing more than such a discovery ? secondly , i would ask him how it came about that the first of these four parliaments grew so vehement against the plot ? they , i hope , he 'll confess were a protestant and a church of england parliament ; they were elected members just after the king's restoration , in all the height of the extasie of england , when majesty and monarchy were the peoples darlings even to idolatry , at a time when the horrours of the civil wars were fresh in their memories , when the very thought of presbyterian or independent commonwealths , with rumpers and rumps , were as detestable as hell ! that parliament , i hope , thus chosen and thus qualified , he 'll allow had no presbyterian gall in their veins , and no canker of 41 , being the very men that on the contrary made the laws against all dissenters , and in all their acts throughout maintain'd the dignity and glory of the present church of england ; and yet this parliament , as little presbyterian as it was , gave the first stroke against the plot ; as i remember , 't was they that discovered those swarms of papists that had infested the king's guards , and his court it self , and crept into almost all offices of trust , and by whom planted , i need not tell him : and as i remember , those were the very men that created the test , and made the reception of the protestant sacrament , and the renunciation of the idolatries of rome , an introduction to all employments , on purpose to sweep out those locusts : nay , those were the very men that removed our popish heir presumptive from his admiralty , and all other his preferments ; and no doubt had they continued still , would have very little varied from the true and honourable english genius of the last : so that without shamming this inveteracy onely upon dissenters , there has been a protestant people , a protestant house of commons , and protestant lords , ( protestant lord bishops onely excepted ) that have struggled both against popery and a popish succession . so that upon mr. l'estrange's argument that the present dangers of england lie onely in a republican conspiracy , and that the present state of 80 and 81 , is but a kind of transmigration of the spirit of 41 and 42 , in order to the revival of the old game of 48 ; it is not onely the dissenters but the protestants are in the confederacy ; and so the whole nation is in a spirit of rebellion , ( the innocent papists onely excepted : ) that is , there 's a plot lies at every door but the right . however , the pamphleteers of this age will not be so satisfied : for 't is the great maxime they all lay down , every man that is for excluding a popish successour is a fanatick , and every fanatick ( as i told you ) a republican . but to convince 'em , if they are not incorrigible , that 't is not onely a fanatical exclusion , what if i pickt out even of the very protesting lords themselves , several of them of famous and exemplary loyalty , so far from the possibility either of fanaticks or republicans , that they have been caviliers and loyalists through all our late troubles ; one or two of them that have been generals in the king's service ; a third , whose father lost his head for him ; a fourth , that for asserting the king 's right in the field , had no other reprieve from a gallows but his majesties return ; a fifth , that beside the constant sums sent over to the king in his exile , after a total sequestration of his estate , pawn'd even his last stake , his plate , to serve him ; with several other sufferings that many others of 'em underwent : and yet the scriblers of these times shall tell you there 's never a mothers son of them all that loves either the king or the government , but is a rank fanatick ; for the very thought of an exclusion turns ipso momento fanaticism . so that it will be worth a mans while to give the world the true definition of a fanatick , and a full interpretation of the word . formerly in old times , a fanatick so called , signified an enthusiastick in religion , one that pretended to inspiration and new light , or had a picque against a liturgie or surplice , or the like : but a fanatick of 79 and 80 , is quite another thing , and the word of a quite different signification ; for now , he that values the safety of himself and his posterity , he that thinks he has an estate and liberty worth preserving , a country worth saving , a religion worth defending , and indeed a god worth serving , is a fanatick . but 't will not be amiss to instance the validity of some of those comparisons he makes between the present iealousies and those of the late times . mr. l'estrange , p. 21. says earle before the commons , nov. 5. 1644. saul's sons are not spared , no nor may agag or benhadad , though themselves kings : zimri and cosbi , though princes of the people , must be pursued into their tents . this is the way to consecrate your selves to god. vpon which he remarks , and what was the ground of all this fierceness , but a popish king , though the glory of the reformation , for want of a popish successour ? so that here lies the analogie betwixt our fears and theirs . then the groundless fierceness lay against a pretended imaginary popish king , though in truth the glory of the reformation ; and now the fierceness lies against a real popish subject , that may be our king , the very infamy of all apostacy , when degenerated to such principles , and yet born of such a father . and afterwards in the same page , he says , mr. l'e . this is enough to convince the world that the very sound of popery will do the business as well without a ground as with it ; and whoever goes to alarm the people upon this desperate point , had need give good security for his allegiance . and what 's all this , but to tell us , because a bugbear frighted us once , therefore a real fiend must not fright us now ? so that his whole discourse can be reduced to no other heads but these . first . it makes the most uncharitable inferences that 't is possible for malice or ill-nature to invent . because a judas once kiss'd and betray'd , and a joab embraced and stab'd , therefore no man must ever kiss or embrace without a treacherous and murderous intention . the hatching of the old republican conspiracy under the fictitious fears of approaching popery , must now make the just fears of the true danger of popery equally guilty of the same treason and combination . secondly , he cuts off the whole right and liberty of the subject at one blow . because a knot of achitophels once pretended grievances where none was , to accomplish their own wicked purposes ; therefore no subject shall or may petition or vote , though in a legal parliamentary way , for the redress of the greatest grievance in nature , and that in the plainest and most imminent exigence of a nation ; but must be forced silently to sit down by his hard fate , and be debarred the priviledge of laws , nay even of his very prayers for his deliverance . now is it not a little hard , that after the goodness of our most gracious soveraign that has made an act of oblivion , mr. l'estrange's vengeance alone should be implacable , and set the childrens teeth an edge for the sour grapes their grandfathers eat so long ago , by entailing a curse upon their posterity in secula seculorum ? but how ridiculous and how false soever were the fears of popery in the last age , how treacherous the serpent that lurkt under those fair but false pretences , and how fatal soever the sting that attended it , yet our endeavours sure may beboth legal and honest , against the plain and visible dangers of popery under the threatning influence of a popish heir ; manifested such a one , not onely by the long and indefatigable machinations of hell in his behalf , the most horrid iesuitish confederacy against the life of a protestant king , a protestant church and government , animated and founded on their assurance of establishing their own infernal reign under the umbrage of his scepter , a scepter design'd to be made out of that consecrated ponyards hilt reserved to cut a passage for him to a throne through the heart of a protestant majesty , a scepter that both like moses and aaron's rod , at once should bud and blossom for the glory of rome , but turn a devouring snake for the heretick confusion and destruction ; manifested such a one , i say , not onely from all this apparent testimony , but even by a yet stronger demonstration , those printed recorded pacquets of letters which as littora scripta manet , flie in the face of all dispute , and stop the very mouth of flattery , equivocation , and artisice , by plainly exposing to all eyes and all vnderstandings a private intrigue and correspondence between the heir of a protestant kingdom , and the pope , the most implacable enemy both of protestant kings and kingdoms ; a correspondence too subtly disguis'd in mysteries and characters , that usual hocus pocus-language where the world has so often been the cully , whilst treachery play'd the iuggler : so that to match the present genius of england with that of 41 and 42 , as all the scribling canting favourers of popery would impudently sham upon the world , is to make even north and south meet together , to unite the most opposite contradictions in nature , to make a plot and no plot , shadows and substances , truth and falshood , dangers and no dangers , protestants and no protestants , nay patriots and traytors the very same thing , the designe of that age being to reduce us to slavery , and this to free us from it . but suppose ( as they say ) there were some turbulent malecontented spirits in the nation of commonwealth principles , and that they herded amongst the honest and worthy opposers of popery , resolving to play the spider and extract poyson from the same flower from which the bee sucks honey . let us but consider two things , and then we shall find how impossible 't is for them to attain their desires , and perfect so extravagant a projection . 1. the grievance of the nation is a popish successour ; and that grievance once removed by a bill of exclusion , we countermine all the arts and subtilties of rome , that have or can be form'd against us , and raise an impregnable bulwark against all our enemies on that side , and at the same time they will not onely supply the king with money , which is one of the strongest nerves of power , but also it will undoubtedly restore him the intire affections of all or most of the commonalty of england which have or can be alienated , or estranged by his unhappy and too vigorous defence of a successour so universally odious : so that these republican matchivilians joyn in the very project that destroys them ; for by this means what the monarch wins , the republican loses . 2. 't is an undeniable truth , that the whole populace in general abhor such a thought , and the miseries of the late civil wars are too lively in their memories , for them ever to be wrought up again into the same frenzy . though the deluded multitude were then put out of love with kings , they found too soon by woful experience , that the protectorate was ten times worse , and whatever prejudice they had conceived against the old unhappy king , yet the grievous oppressions , taxes , and standing armies under gromwel , quickly open'd their eyes , and to their own sad cost , assured them they had not mended but marred their condition by rebelling : and that oliver's policy in deposing a king to establish a protector , was but an old roman iuggle revived ; when as history tells us , after the romans had been weary of kings , as a power too arbitrary for them , they were cunningly drawn in to a subjection to that of imperator , which was ten times more tyrannick of the two , and shelter'd the cruelties of the worst of monsters , a nero and a caligula : so that in our circumstances , 't is almost impossible that english men should be twice gull'd with the same cheat , or their swords be ever drawn in our old unnatural broyls ; but if ever that day shall come that they are drawn again , it must be onely then when a popish successour's possessing the throne shall represent to them a more terrible scene of misery than a civil war can bring : so that if ever they are inflamed into that desperation , it must be when they shall run headlong into a less charybis to avoid a greater scylla . but whether one be greater or less than t'other , or they but think it so , yet this is most certain , popery and rebellion are both those dangerous gulphs that will either of them swallow up the peace of england . and as 't is unanswerably true , that the glory of god , the defence of our lives and liberties , and the support of our present monarchy of england , are onely to be upheld by a protestant interest , and that interest is never to be effectually secured but by a popish exclusion : so that exclusion likewise at the same time puts an end to all our dangers on the other side , viz. to all thoughts or possibility of a rebellion . but to give a truer account of the present state of england than mr. l'estrange has done in affinity to 41 , i will confess this present age has derived one thing from 41 and 42 , and that is a curse they left behind 'em , the curse of the shepherds boy in the fable ; our crying out so often formerly , help , master , help , the wolf 's in the shepfold , when he was not there , has made us disbelieved at last now he is there ; and like him too , be left most helpless when we most want it . postscript . the author of the character of a popish successour was so far from priding himself upon that piece , that his greatest ambition in writing it , was the serving his country ; and he 's very well pleased to see so many scions since sprung from that root . but one particular acknowledgment he is bound to make for the unexpected favours it has received , that the authorship of a book that has no other merit than the truths it relates should be so esteemed , that coming fatherless into the world , it has since had the honour of so many kinde friends , that like the rival cities of old for the birth of homer , have given it their adoption . the character of a popish successour compleat . the first allegation mr. l'estrange makes against the characterizer's reasonings is , that his master-piece is a paradox , by the supposal of a most excellent person , and yet making him the greater devil for his vertues ; and so he sums up the characterizer's opinion in short thus : ch. his fortitude ( says he ) makes him the more daring in the cause of rome ; his iustice makes it a point of conscience to deliver us up to the pope ; his temperance in the government of his passions , makes him more close and steady ; and his prudence crowns the work by the assistance it gives him in the management of his policies and conduct ; and so he goes on . what boots it in a popish heir to say , he 's the truest friend , the greatest of hero's , the best of masters , the justest judge , and the honestest of men ? all meer treacherous quick-sands for a people to repose the least glimps of safety in , or build the least hopes upon . thus much the character . to which he answers , this is fairly push'd , i must consess ; but 't is onely a cast of his rhetorick : for every body knows that all christian princes thus qualified , and under articles of treaty and agreement , keep touch even with infidels , nay , and infidels with christians . this is all he has in his whole pamphlet in answer to this part of the character : for he thinks he has made the characterizer's whole argument so plain a contradiction in its self , that he needs no other brand than his own words , to stigmatize him ; and the very repetition of a supposition so monstrous , is its own confutation . but this on our answerers part is not so fairly push'd : for thus far here 's neither rhetorick nor reason . for what relation can christian princes keeping touch with infidels , and infidels with christians , upon articles of treaty and agreement , have to a popish successour's tyranny and injustice over his own subjects ? does it follow , because the french king upon articles of treaty and agreement , has kept touch with the swede , though the most inveterate enemy of the popish religion perhaps of any protestant prince in christendom , and consequently the most opposite to his own perswasion , that therefore he has not overleap'd all the due and lawful bounds of the french government , and tyrannically enslaved his people ; nay , contrary to the solemn covenant at nants in behalf of the hugonots , most inhumanely persecuted the poor protestants ? what if a christian prince keeps his articles with turks or infidels , nay villains and robbers , the pyrates of argiers or sally ? nay , what if q. mary her self had done as much , must it therefore follow that she would not break her vows and protestations with the norfolk and suffolk-inhabitants , and burn the very men that mounted her into her throne , when animated by the withcrafts of rome ? but that the fidelity betwixt prince and prince may more plainly appear to hold no proportion or affinity with that betwixt prince and people ; or foreign articles either for the enlargement or security of empire , the promotion of trade , or any other state-interest , with a church-government or church-persecution at home , we shall give this undeniable reason . a king for breach of faith with his people , esteems himself onely accountable to god ; but for breach of faith with foreign princes , either christian or infidels , he is accountable to man , and may draw down a just war upon his head for such a violation ; nay , perhaps wholly dispossess himself of the hopes of foreign assistance for the future in his greatest dangers and exigences , occasion'd by the stain such infidelity may lay upon him , when his more venial breach of vows at home , shall be no blot in his scutcheon . and whereas here he 's onely answerable to god , what if his priests , as in queen mary's case , impose so far upon his blinded zeal till they make him believe that the performance of protestations in cases derogatory to the glory of heaven , and against the propagation of christianity , shall be more answerable to god than the breaking of them ? but mr. l'estrange resolves to play the state-sophister , and gives us this tryal of his strength in his very first page , to let us know how great a casuist and how potent an antagonist we must expect to find him . but here the other answerer is a little more prolix upon this subject , and tells the characterizer , that in a roman catholick he makes virtues themselves turn vices , and equals if not outgoes transubstantiation it self . and to justifie the four cardinal virtues from the characterizer's making them an instrument of our destruction , he assignes 'em a quite contrary operation in a popish successour than that in the character , viz. if he has fortitude , which is a vertue equally distant from temerity and rashness , as from fear and cowardize , it will with-hold him from attempting things impossible ; as setting up arbitrary power , or introducing popery . if he be a man of iustice , that should give us the greater assurance that his courage shall be no otherwise exercised than for our safety and honour , to whom all his endeavours by all the laws both humane and divine are due , and to which he shall be by oath obliged . but here by the way , i could have wish'd our author had left out the word [ divine ; ] for those hearty endeavours the divine laws of a popish successour will instruct him to exercise for the safety and honour of a heretick nation and heretick religion , we are better inform'd of . but to proceed , if he 's a master of temperance , what is that but a bridle upon all his excesses , a perpetual bosom-monitor that will with-hold his arm and allay his heat , and curb all the motions of cruelty and revenge ? and lastly , if he has prudence , that will teach him not to exasperate a people of so stiff a neck , nor lose the hearts of his subjects for their difference of opinion , and thereby peradventure endanger the loss of his crown , &c. now this author i confess has push'd a little fairer than t'other ; for he has given us an argument that looks like sence , though it be none : for what 's all this to the conduct of an inflexible papist ? the characterizer tells us , that in a bigotted prince , his morals shall be slaves to his zeal ; and accordingly instances how far they shall be instrumental to the protestant subversion and destruction : but here the answerer artfully leaves out the main point , and tells us what a meer moral man would do , in case of succeeding to the crown of england . he mounts the poor postilion into the saddle , and tells us how his meer morality would drive ; but takes no notice of that lordly charioteer , religion , that holds the reins above him , whose nod he obeys , and at whose absolute command he turns either to the right or the left . so that as this answerer has stated the case , i am thus far of his mind , that had we an heir apparent of no more religion than a iulian or a nero , and yet at the same time were compleatly master of the moral virtues , possibly he might steer as he proposes : but let him recollect himself , and put popery and morals together , and then he 'll find his mistake . for my part , i am asham'd that any men that pretend to write sence , should endeavour to perswade us that a popish bigot , and a man of courage and wisdom in a successour , should not go farther towards the establishing of popery , than a coward and a fool ; so that not onely his morals , but every other natural gift or perfection , shall be particularly assistant to the ruine both of protestant religion and liberty . but because example is more powerful than precept , i 'll give you a taste of the popish morals in a very remarkable story . soon after the selling of dunkirk , from which time the poor protestants in france date the aera of their calamities , it being about that time that the french king began to disturb their peace , infringe their liberties , and demolish their churches , contrary to all the sacred bonds of the solemn engagement at nants ; the distress'd hugonots groaning beneath a greater load of misery than any of the rest of the french subjects , their fellow-slaves , under the persecution of his new ashtaroth arbitrary power , thought fit privately to implore the intercession of a powerful neighbour , a protestant monarch , to mediate in their behalf in mitigation of the french king 's unchristian-like severity ; and accordingly chose a very honest and wise man , by name rohux , an inhabitant of nisme in languedock , for this secret embassie , as being a person formerly very fortunate in england before on the like occasion , having obtain'd a lucky favour from cromwel in reconciliation of a difference betwixt the french protestants and cardinal mazarine . this rohux thus commission'd , the approach to majesty being difficult , to make his access more easie , applies himself first to a visibly protestant heir apparent , hoping to strengthen the power of his own supplications by the introduction and countenance of so great and so princely an advocate . this royal heir or masquerader , or by what other title disguis'd or distinguish'd , with a seeming-cordial friendship embraces the poor hugonots cause , and day after day receives his address with many solemn but airy promises of speedy assistance ; but in the mean time , disgusted and gall'd to the soul at so audacious and impious a petition as the protestant preservation , and abhorring so detestable an employment , nay , the very name of the hereticks defender , instead of his promis'd aid , he on the contrary most cunningly laid the platform of a revenge as exquisite as so heinous a petition deserv'd . immediately he goes to the french embassadour , and tells him how one of the french subjects had very arrogantly and scandalously calumniated his great master with obprobrious names of tyranny , oppression , and breach of faith ; into which very language he himself before had exasperated him , on purpose to make his ruine secure , which the bare accusation of a suit in behalf of his religion , would not alone have effected . the embassadour , as bound in duty , for the vindication of his king's honour , desires a farther testimony of the offence and offender : which the royal informer effectually gives him , by appointing another conference with rohux ; where privately he plants this kingly representative as an honourable evesdropper , to over-hear a repetition of the whole discourse , and confirm his belief from his own ears . now some people would start an objection , and say , that this humble office and low-spirited snare against the life of a poor wretch , might derogate from the glory of two such illustrious personages ; the one for the greatness of his employment , and the other the greatness of his birth . but to remove their mistake , i assure 'em there is not that deed so abject , when acted for the cause of rome , that cannot be transform'd into princely and heroick , by the stupendious power of that infallible church , where even daggers and ponyards admit of consecration . but to return to our history . this conference contrived and managed as heart could with , the embassadour posts over this rohux treachery to france , whilst he , poor unsuspecting innocence , continues his dayly prayers to his great advocate . but finding in time so many delatory demurs , he luckily at last discovers he is betray'd : upon which , dreading the vengeance of the french king , not daring to return to france , he steals away into switzerland for his protection ; but the french king being advertised of his motions , gets him trepan'd by an ambsuscade in the night , and being by surprize forced out from thence into france , he is broken upon the wheel . now who so blind as cannot but plainly see that each particular cardinal virtue in this illustrious heroe , were most signally exercised in this triumphant encounter ? first , here was courage even to admiration ; he play'd the romish champion young , and early flush'd himself in heretick bloud , whilst like a second alcides , who strangled snakes even in his cradle , he most victoriously tore up that heart by the roots whose tongue durst but hiss against the papal dignity , as the first bold prologue of his more undaunted atchievements , and more dazling glories yet to come . then here was iustice to the height ; an impudent french villain as he was , to cross the seas on so infamous a commission as the rebuilding of the hugonot-temples , those altars of baal , which the god-like hand of france had so justly laid in ruine ? an impiety so hainous as forfeited both life and soul , and deserved the severest rods and axes of justice : he deserv'd 'em , and he had ' em . then here was temperance even to astonishment ; here was no launching into passion , no thunder in his tongue , nor basilisks in his eyes , at the surprize of so execrable a petition as the imploring his intercession for the loath'd hereticks deliverance : alas , no , his temperance , like a bosom-monster ( as our author has it ) bridled all those excesses , and treated this notorious suppliant with those hearty professions of kindness , and promis'd services , till he betray'd his bones to the wheel , with a conduct and aspect so moderate and so serene , as the old romans lead their victims with flowers and garlands to their execution . then here was prudence beyond example ; first , in inflaming the poor french-man into declamations and detractions against the majesty of france , thereby to manage his tragedy more artfully , by making him receive the blow from the hands of the temporal not ecclesiastical justice , as dying more for a traytor than a heretick : for though , 't is true , the last was crime sufficient , yet lest the ill-judging world might mistake , and not think so , he was wisely noosed into one crime , to pull down the vengeance due to the other . but what 's the greatest prudence of all yet , this politick heroe all this while was a visible member of the protestant church , knelt at our altars , joyn'd in our prayers , and shared in our sacrament and communion . but one thing i had almost forgotten ; the unknown answerer , to prepare us for the more firm security that a popish successour's cardinal virtues shall keep that honourable and indeed innocent path that he has traced out for him , he makes a very long harangue in praise of his adored mecoenas . first , for his courage , that his royal bloud ( as often as his king or countries honour or safety called upon him ) was ever as dangerously and as freely exposed , as that which fills the veins of the vilest plebeian , &c , and why not ? since it is no such wondrous novelty for even crown'd heads themselves personally to fight their own battels : i cannot think it any great condescention in a prince ( at that time not altogether so visible an heir apparent ) to accept of the admiralty of an english navy ; an employment , where the glory of it does more than reward the hazard . so that as i take it , his own honour as well as his countries , call'd upon him . after this , he passes to another branch of princely endowments , viz. that his friendships have ever been as firmly maintain'd , as they were judiciously chosen : that his mouth and his heart have always been so true to one another , that his word has been as inviolate as the oaths of others : and this noble constancy has not been the effect so much of his honour as his conscience , &c. without all doubt : yet i have heard a very odde story of one mr. coleman that tipt over the pearch about a year or two ago . i fancy i could draw a picture with this label in his mouth , there is no faith in man , so like him , you 'd scarce know one from t'other : nay , poor iack catch shall cry out shame of all such usage . there was not that poorest rogue of all the plot-martyrs , that had not two or three guinneys at least at his service , to bribe him to use a gentle hand with them and hang 'em out of pain , before he made minced meat of them . but coleman was so trepan'd into pluto's court , came so unprepared for the elysian-shades , that he that had been master of the purses both of the french and english monsieurs too , when he came to cross the stygian lake , had not so much as one poor obelus to pay his ferriman's fare . durum est post omnia perdere naulum . and methinks this was a little unkindly done ; yet upon second thoughts , possibly it might be contrived for his good . flesh and bloud is frail , and who knows but he might have had humane thoughts about him , and so have fallen from the holy cause ; which careful mother church , for the salvation of his soul , in her pious and christian wisdom , thought fit to prevent , by making a saint of him without his knowledge : and alas , he was shrewdly hurt , was he not ? to be tript up into heaven , and cheated into immortality . but here i cannot omit one remarkable observation of mr. l'estrange's , pag. 38. speaking of this princes former services to his country ; where he says , mr. l'e . i find some people of opinion , that this king in reversion , is of the same perswasion at this day , that he was when he acquired all those glories . now if there be such a sort of people , and so strong a faith in the world , i would willingly be instructed what they , or mr. l'estrange for them , mean by perswasion . if the popish perswasion , then they justifie the severest reflections in the whole character , and lay that unprincely and unchristian disguise at his door of kneeling at our altars , and participating of our sacraments with all the meanest and basest hypocrisie imaginable ; little less than dipping in the dish , and drinking of the cup , and kissing where he betray'd . but if they mean the protestant perswasion , of which communion he then visibly was ▪ and they will be but so kind as to prove him a protestant still , i assure them the author shall burn his character , and make a publick recantation for his mistake ; but at the same time they must give him leave to write another tentimes bitterer than the first : for he that can suppose a prince really and truly a protestant , that shall for so many years together withdraw from his own communion , and that too not onely so manifestly against his interest , but against the very dictates of his conscience , the duty of his religion , and the glory of his god ; thereby to exasperate and embroil a whole nation in distractions , to inflame and widen all our divisions , and in short , to put out both his own eyes to put out one of his brothers ; and all this for just nothing , except a meer humour , a letchery of doing mischief for no other end or purpose but meer mischiefs sake , is a character of that unparallel'd ingratitude , and indeed all that 's ill together , that i hope earth nere bore , nor hell ere punisht : for i should be sorry to think it possible there could be such a creature in nature ; neither am i a little sorry to think there is a people in the world that can fancy there is such a one . i confess , the withdrawing from our communion upon the change of opinions , may admit of some apology ; and our ill circumstances under that change , are not altogether so wonderful . now after this answerer has sum'd up all his matchless virtues , he tells you in short , how improbable a thing it would be , how contradictory to reason and common sence , that the difference of a mans opinion about some few disputable matters of faith , and not very material ceremonies of divine worship , should on a sudden efface all those good characters of magnanimity and iustice , generosity and goodness , not slightly traced , but deeply engraved in his breast . here the reader may observe what a good protestant the author is , and how prettily he states the little disparity betwixt the protestant and popish faith , differing onely in some few disputable matters of faith , and not very material ceremonies of divine worship . as for example : the deifying of wafers , the idolizing of images , the invocation of saints , and making the milk of a mary almost of as great vertue as the bloud of a iesus ; with twenty other trifles and inconsiderable ceremonies . for my part , i would not be he that at cadice or salamanca should make no more difference betwixt the divine worship of holy church and that of heretick dogs , for fear the lords of the inquisition should make some material ceremony with me , and treat me with a cauldron of scalding oyl for my entertainment . but perhaps our answerer durst say twice as much , if he were there ; for no doubt but they know him so well , that they 'd pardon his railery , and take it for but a copy of his countenance . but whatever our author's religion is , his memory is none of the best ; for within three leaves after this , he quite forgets himself , and unluckily compares the difference between the two religions in haec verba . this idolatrous superstition has been so long worn off the minds of the people , and the reformation so deeply and so strongly rooted in the reigns of four most religious and prudent princes ; the church of england so firmly establisht , and that as much by the purity of its doctrine , the decency of its discipline , and the innocency of its principles , as by the authority of the publick and the laws of the land. the romish church so detested both for the dangerous innovations of its doctrine , and the idolatry of its ceremonies ; and so odious in the eyes of the people for its pernicious principles express'd in the villanous practices of its professors in massacres and plots , &c. but our answerer's ingenuity can answer all this , and tell you , what though their ceremonies are so idolatrous , their innovations so dangerous , their principles so pernicious , their plots so odious , their massacres so barbarous , and their professors so villanous ? yet a popish heir presumptive professing the same superstition , shall be a lamb , a dove , a saint amongst us upon occasion , and that too for his reasons above-said : for as he told you before , he is a person of royal bloud , loves his friend , is a man of courage , and a prince , and has been an admiral . a thundering demonstration of a peaceable popish innocence ! three more such unconfutable arguments are enough to convert the turk , and bring in the jews . but now from these infallible morals in our heir presumptive , the great bulwark against all our fears , this unknown author concludes both our protestant religion and laws secure under him ; that the present constitution of government , and the present church of england , must and shall , in spite of fate , continue unshaken . if the popish priests are such incendiaries ( says he ) and our most potent enemies , have we not laws against them ? and then why are we in such fear ? what is left to any monarch that succeeds , but to execute the laws be finds derived down to him to maintain and preserve together with his crown and dignity ? and though the characterizer seems to be in so much dread of those swarms of roman emissaries that will infest us under the connivance and indulgence of a popish successour , he tells you he is quite mistaken ; the reign of a popish king will be so far from advantageous , that it will be rather destructive to all those iesuitical instruments ; and that it shall be so , 't is in the power of every subject in the three kingdoms to be a defender of the protestant religion , if it want it ; there being no information , no conviction of recusants , no administration of tests or oaths , that shall be wanting , and no diligence that shall be spared , backt by the laws of the land , which then more than ever will be wakened against them , which can't be dispenc'd withal , but must be effectual to the utter ruine of the whole party . miracles and prodiges ! and that there shall be nothing wanting on the kings part to do all this , this worthy author is pleased to be his guarrantee , assuring us in his name , that he will take care to let the laws have their due course ; and whatever his private opinion may be , whatever tenderness he may bear to the persons be shall punish , yet he shall remember his obligation to the publick , so far as to give 'em up to the hands of iustice with the same constancy of mind , with the same applauses of present and commendation of all succeeding ages , that the immortal brutus delivered up his darling sons to the rods and axes of the lictours , &c. i , here 's a stupendious character of a popish successour indeed ! what iö paeans might england sing , if rome's long hope , their churches champion and restorer , their hopeful hercules , would build his columnes and write his nil plus ultra here ! but alas , we are deceived , his labours are to come ; there 's a pestilent contagious northern heresie to be rooted out ; that many headed beast of errors and schisms , that like cerberus and hydra , are to be subdued , whilst in the defence of religion and the cause of god , he 's to play a second atlas , and even the weight of heaven is to lie on his shoulders . but our oratorical scribler has promis'd wonders in a popish successours name , and elegantly pickt out a most excellent brutus for his comparison . i remember there was another roman of that name , though not of that nature , whose story is equally as famous and as pertinent to the matter in hand . a brutus the head and leader of a conspiracy against the life of the great caesar ; a brutus that joyn'd his heart and hand with the murderers , and blended his dagger in the assassination amongst the thirty mortal wounds that stab'd the majesty of the world ; a brutus to whom the dying monarch with an astonishment more surprizing than the death he received , in his last gasp could say , et tu brute ? is my son , my friend , my darling , my delight , the man i have rais'd , loved , honour'd , cherisht and defended , is brutus a traytor ? but to bring our author to his right wits again , and to shew him how unlikely 't is that the english rods or axes shall ever hurt a son of rome under a romish successour . if the popish or jesuitish party have found such mercy under the reigns of protestant kings , but shall now on the contrary stand the inevitable shock of statutes , jayls , and gibbets , under a popish king , the jesuits have plotted fairly . if the pope and his conclave have no deeper politicks than this comes to , the very geese that kept thir capitol before them , had more brains than they . if this were the effect of their hopeful royal heirs conversion , heaven help 'em , for hell has forsaken ' em . no , mr. littleplot , once in thy life thou art mistaken ; and to convince thee that the protestant laws will not , nay shall not be so hard-hearted under his reign , nor his st. omers friends treated so coursly as thou imaginest , they have had a little taste of their kinder entertainment before hand . for example : were there a country where commissions of peace , day after day , and time out of mind , have been taken away for daring but to lift a hand against a son of rome ; nay , at the same time when all other recusants have been prosecuted , and that with encouragement and reward ; and all by a royal heir's protection and interest . would not any reader reply , will he that has been their guardian-angel whilst but their fellow-subject , suffer a hair of their heads to perish when he 's their king ? but yet our new sir positive will defend our protestant laws even in despight of fate , and tell you , that justice shall guide her hand so impartially , and poise her scales so evenly , as shall be to the admiration of present and succeeding ages . now i fancy i have heard a tryal , where a criminal of quality convicted of no less a crime than the subornation and stifling of evidence , and in no less a case than where the life of the king , and the subversion both of religion and government were concern'd , has been mulkt in the inconsiderable sum of a hundred pound , payable perhaps at latter lammas ; a meer trifle , and scarce more than a peter-peny for an absolution : whilst in the other extream there has been a poor fellow condemn'd to the pillory , imprisonment , and five hundred pound fine , ten times more than he was worth in the world , for publishing a scandalous reflecting line in a pamphlet ; much less offensive in my simple opinion , than a dagger to kill kings and subvert states . and pray , where will our protestant laws be ? and what even ballances is justice like to have under the full-grown scepter of a popish successour , if his influence is so potent in his minority ? no , a rhadamanth for an astraea must be the best of our expectations at that black day . alas , the see of rome is like the old lake of sodom , the lightest feather that offends it , sinks in it ; but to its darling catholick champions , 't is a lake of liquid gold , where , incircled round in wealth , glory , and preferments , the heaviest massiest bars of iron , swords , daggers , poniards , float on the glittering surface of honour , and swim securely . nay , i would ask any reasonable man , that if the jesuits hellish machination against the kings life had taken effect , whether 't is likely that they feared smarting for 't either in this world or the next , as dreading a vengeance temporal or eternal ? no doubt but they had fairer hopes than so ; for had their execrable blow succeeded , the blood of majesty might in all probability have found the same inquisition as the firing of london : or if at worst the world would not have been so satisfied , were not the fanatick shoulders broad enough to bear both the guilt and the punishment ? alas , 't was but at worst reviving an old experienced shift , a known pia fraus for a recovery . has not the gunpowder-treason ( poor innocent papists ! ) been a thousand times affirm'd a plot of cecils ? has not our late designe against both king , religion , and government , in contradiction of the unanimous voice of the whole nation in parliament , been confidently retorted upon the presbyterians ; and that too without the least proof or shadow for 't ? and then how easily might the papal policy have made a popish murder a fanatick stab ? and so by the borrow'd face of innocence , have most triumphantly play'd the second part of amboyna , and have sheath'd the false sword in the false murderers heart , whilst the true dagger had been consecrated , and the real traytor canoniz'd . thus wisely did the prudent nero lay his burning of rome at the poor innocent christians doors , and then with all the most exquisite studied cruelties , made the christian bones rue for what the infidels hand had perpetrated . but to return to our author , i will refer him to some modern records , more applicable to our purpose than the history of his immortal brutus . have we not lately perus'd whole scrowls of letters from our saint secretary coleman to french confessours , french ministers , and all for french interest ; and as many rome-wards bound to jesuits , cardinals , and pope himself , fraught with golden mountains , and promis'd miracles to be acted by the royal — for rome's glory , catholick cause , and mother church : and will any person of common sense believe that our trusty and well-beloved secretary promis'd more in the name of al. than al. would perform . and were all those sums of money to be return'd from france to england to be laid out onely in rosaries , beades , and crucifixes . believe it who can ; for for my part i am an infidel . alas no , our hopeful english son of mars , that modern achilles , without whose arm our protestant troy could never fall , was no doubt to have been brought over to rome's holy war , as once the old achilles to the grecian . the subtle france , like the cunning vlysses , plays not the pedler with such small wares , such effeminate toys and trifles ; but wisely hides a sparkling sword amongst those guil'ded bawbles , a sword , a temptation fit for a valiant masquerader ; an instrument worthy rome's hero. besides , have we no records but coleman's ? have we not had whole pacquets from al. al. al. to that priest , this jesuit , and t'other cardinal ; but more especially with commendations to his holiness , his adored holiness ; and all wisely and artificially coucht in characters ? and can any man , with half the brains of a woodcock , believe that they were all but so many how do ye's ; or some idle compliment onely to beg a chip of the cross , or a rag of the virgins petticoat ? if the designes of al. were honourable , why an intrigue betwixt the heir of a protestant kingdom , and the profest and greatest enemy of our religion and liberties ? or if that commerce between 'em could by any extorted supposition , or upon any pretence whatever , be imagined to be innocent , why was the whole correspondence disguised in riddles and in characters ? why in such mystick cloathing , those fraudulent missives of hell , and the usual notorious masks of villanies , treasons , and conspiracies . now from this testimony , i would ask if it be reasonable to suppose that the protestant religion and liberty , and the laws of that wilde boar harry the eighth , and his daughter bess that she-devil , will be defended by a popish successour , when in defending of them he must rob both the church and god himself of their right ; and as much as in him lies , strike his dagger into the sacred gates of rome , and dart a javelin at the very heart of christs own vicar , and gods undeniable representative ; and at the same minute be obliged to dayly outrages , nay butcheries too upon the very persons of gods elect , the pillars of religion , and the very successours of the apostles themselves ? a pretty kind of law , that shall oblige him to commit at once both murder and sacriledge ; and all this , forsooth , in defence of a religion , as they 'll swear for 't , sprung from harry the eighth's codpiece , maintain'd and preacht onely by a pack of reprobate rascals , a bastard-sort of priests ordain'd by the by at the nagshead-tavern . — i , but there lies his honour and coronation oath in the way to a crown , that shall oblige him to do all this . and so if there lay a knot of thieves in a mans way home , that should compel him to engage and promise 'em to meet 'em such a day with a good horse under him , and a good pair of pistols before him , to take the rode with them , and rob and murder in their company . a pretty piece of honour that , and a strange point of conscience , that shall tye him to keep his word with them ! let us but rightly consider ; is it to be conceived that the pope with all his wisdom and politicks , will ever be guilty of so much ill-husbandry as to make no better emprovement of such a pretty spot of ground as england , when he has once retrieved it again into his own hucksters hands , a popish successours possession , as to let it lie waste still , because it has lain so for so many ages last past , with scarce any thing more upon it than a parcel of rank weeds and thistles that have been running up to seed for above a hundred years together ? perswade him to it , if you can . i will onely refer my reader , for his diversion , but to one short passage in the above-named printed pacquets of letters , where his transported holiness , at the receipt of a comfortable line or two from a very good hand , and as 't is to be imagined , a true and trusty friend , is said to have wept for ioy. now i would seriously ask my reader , if he believes those precious tears , that sanctified brine , that , like aaron's ointment , trickled down the beard of the reverend sire , dropt at the hearing of no better news , and at the prospect of no fairer hopes than this . my life for yours , there was no such meaning in it . no ; for once i 'll give you a better key for those characters : our protestant sun , 't was hoped , was near setting when that dew fell . from this we come to the power of a coronation-oath with a popish successour ; and there our answerers are extraordinary vehement against the character for averring , that if the popish religion will absolve subjects from their allegiance to an heretical king , why may it not release a king from his faith to an heretical excommunicated people . upon which , mr. l'estrange remarks , mr. l'e . take it for granted , there 's no trusting to the oath of a roman catholick prince , and ye cut the very ligaments of society and commerce . there 's an end of all treaties and alliances , amicable and mutual offices betwixt christian princes and states . nay , in one word , erect but this maxime , you turn europe into a shambles , and put christendom without any more ado into a state of war , &c. though by the way , all this makes nothing to his purpose : for treaties , alliances , and commerce betwixt christian princes and states , have no affinity with a princes keeping faith with his people upon the account of religion ; as had been proved before . but from this he goes on , and says , mr. l'e . i am not ignorant yet , either of the doctrine , or of the practice of several profligate wretches of the roman communion , in this impious particular : but they are such then that are wholly lost in brutality and blindness ; and i neither do nor can believe all papists to be equally susceptible of that unchristian impression . it is a position that may be made use of at a dead lift to serve a political turn : and the trick will not pass neither , but upon some enthusiastick sick-headed zealot , that takes all his dreams for visions , and the vapours of his distempers for revelations . now in my apprehension , never did any man so forget himself as mr. l'estrange has done here : he believes here , that that unchristian impression , as the allowance of perjury , is onely the tenet of some profligate wretches wholly lost in brutality and blindness . but at the latter end of his book , pag. 83. he down-right contradicts that belief , and says , mr. l'e . pope pius quintus absolved the subjects of queen elizabeth from all their oaths of allegiance to her for ever . so that now belike it was not onely the maxime of the above-said profligate wretches , but even of the great successour of peter , and the voice of infallibility it self ; and that too not the product of blindness and brutality upon dreams and vapours , but the deliberate act and decree of the imperial see of rome . i could make several other instances in this kind , as the popes absolving the subjects from their allegiance to k. iohn , &c. but 't is the common theme of all pens , and so much the known practice and principle of their popes through all ages , that i shall not think it worth my while . besides , mr. l'estrange forgets himself a little further in this point , and says in the same 83 page , that the romish iesuit holds that dominion is founded in grace , and upon that principle deposes protestant princes , &c. then adds , that the pope may deprive a king of his royal dignity for heresie , schism , &c. ( as in the bishop of lincoln 's popish principles . p. 20. ) and after excommunication , says mariana , in case of obstinacy , the people may take away his life . after these affirmations of mr. l'estrange , if these are the principles of the pope and jesuit , i hope we may safely conclude , that they that set such little value on the sacred dignity and persons of kings themselves , when once attainted with heresie , that not onely their crowns are forfeited , but their very lives lie exposed to the fury and hand of every vile plebeian , should in all reason set less on the rights , priviledges , and lives of subjects under the same attainder : for no doubt , if heresie can make a forfeiture in the first , the devil 's in 't if it does not in the last . so that by his leave , where 's all the oaths , honour , and all the mighty and illustrious attributes he gives our popish successour in vindication of the protestant peace and security under him , whilst these are the principles not onely of the jesuits that seduced him , but of the very head of his church , that lord god the pope ? but according to his first belief , if this were really the opinion of some doctors , but not all , he would do well to prove that father patrick , that curst incendiary of all our distractions , was not one of those affirmative doctors , and benningfield his successour another of them . no doubt the subtle rome in converting our heir presumptive , did not bound its ambition in the gaining one single soul , but the recovery of a kingdom was their designe . in his conversion they had brought their long hopes to a perfection , they had found that second moses , who under the god-like influence of rome , like a cloud by day , and a pillar of fire by night , should guide and lead 'em through all opposition and all dangers to their beloved canaan , a land that flows with milk and honey , rome's old treasure-house , that dear puteus inexhaustus , england . and is it to be imagined , if fides non est tenenda cum haereticis were ever in request , it should be wanting now , on so glorious an occasion ; or so inconsiderable a trifle as a coronation oath should blast so forward and so sacred a designe . and if , as he confesses , that tenet is onely made use of to serve a political turn , i would gladly be inform'd what greater or more political turn it could serve , than for the conversion of england , that great work which the unknown answerer tells us , has , like china , been a hundred years a ripening . but here our answerers continue , and assure us we need have no fear of any such prejudice in that case from our popish heir , considering , as mr. l'estrange says , mr. l'e . if he could so scandalously play the hypocrite as to change his shape at that rate as the character says , and act any part for his advantage , which rome or rome's interest shall impose upon him , what should have hinder'd him from continuing a protestant to the eye of the world , though a papist in his heart ? since that was the onely means to have gain'd him his point . and as the other answerer enlarges upon it , if out of the conscience of an oath , and the obligation he believ'd was in it , he has already parted with the places of the greatest honour and profit in the kingdom , is it likely he 'll ever have a less veneration for that most religious one he must take at his coronation ? or is it likely if he had made no scruple of an oath , he would have refused it at a time when he might have removed all suspicions and iealousies of his religion by it , and thereby have facilitated his way to a throne ? now i wonder to what readers these authors write , that at this time of day they would make us believe that his squeamishness against the test and the oath of supremacy , made our consciencious heir quit his honourable employments ! as we better remember ▪ 't was not so much the test , as the test-makers , that disgusted him , his natural antipathy to parliaments , his continual little thoughts of that great council , ( and less of them he will have , if ever he comes to the crown ) with his disdain that such insolent earth and ashes should dare to give laws to his divinity . so that in short , his pride , not conscience , got the ascendant ; and whatever advantages he might have gain'd by keeping his employments and swallowing the oaths , yet such is his perverse and stubborn haughtiness , that he would rather cry , sink interest , perish succession , and even popedom it self , rather than truckle to what i scorn . but mr. l'estrange , methinks , of all men should be farthest from supposing it a difficulty in a papist to take an oath he never intends to perform , when in the 4th page of his book he grants the very protestants themselves , nay the church of england protestants , upon occasion , may do the like : where he says , mr. l'e . in the case of a popish king , who is either kept out or driven out from the exercise of his right by the tumultuary license of the rabble , an oath of abjuration in case of any fair opportunity for him to assert his claim with his sword in his hand , will be so far from engaging any man against him , that yielded contrary to his conscience to swallow it for the saving of his stake , that he will find no firmer friends to his cause or interest , than those men that are stimulated both by honour and revenge to the execution of their duties . now by those firm english friends that may take this abjuration-oath against their consciences , he cannot mean the fanaticks ; for they 'tis supposed are the drivers out , that impose this oath . besides , mr. l'estrange is so far from believing that party capable of coming under the denomination of a popish successour's friends , that on the contrary it has been the drift of almost all his pamphlets to prove them his onely implacable enemies . neither can those firm friends here mentioned , be understood the popish party ; for upon the supposition of this tumultuary driving out of the popish heir from his right , 't is likewise to be concluded that party will most of them share in his fate ; that there will be very few of them left to be put to that oath of abjuration : or if there were , and they would take such an oath , it would be so far from doing their business ; that lying under such a brand of infidelity already ( as they do ) all the oaths they could ever take would never be believed : so that the saving of their stake that way would be impossible . so that 't is plain ( as i said before ) by those abjuring oath-swallowing friends , he can mean no other but the church of england protestants . and yet methinks after mr. l'estrange has so long and so vigorously play'd the church of england's champion , so strenuously maintain'd the integrity and purity of that belief and communion , with the undaunted courage of its professours , continually copying and patterning their perfections from a no-less sacred original than the fortitude , patience , and perseverance of the primitive christians ; it is a little odd , as i may say , from a protestant defender , and indeed unlike himself , after all this , to lay so wretched , so despicable , and so cowardly a condescention at their doors ; as the abjuration of gods anointed and their native soveraign to save a stake , a cow , a farm , or a cottage . aye , but that abjuration is but a copy of their countenance , he tells you . fie , mr. l'estrange , this is worse and worse ! what , the members of the church of england's communion so notoriously break a gospel-precept , as to come to a so help me god , with a lye in their mouths , and a reserve in their hearts , to play the hypocrite , and that too even with oaths ; and so do so impious an ill that good may come of it ! are these the true passive obedient sons of the church , those unshaken professors of christianity , the martyrs that will be upon occasion under a romish tyrant ? but cry you mercy : now i think on 't better , i find mr. l'estrange is onely making room for more masqueraders ; as he made the fanaticks papists in masquerade , so he intends to make the protestants abjurers in masquerade . but to return to our coronation-oath : if the members ( as he says ) of a religion that professes against breach of oaths , shall yet swallow one against conscience for the saving a stake , and that so inconsiderable a stake as the possession of a subject ; i suppose he will allow that a member of a religion that absolves oaths , will not stand out at the swallowing one for the securing so great a stake as that of three kingdoms . so that without any other evidence than his own , where 's the obligation of an oath , or indeed the least shadow of a trust to be reposed in a popish successour ? but however , mr. l'estrange goes farther , and gives us an example of the innocence and indulgence of a popish king , in favour of protestants , page 49. he acknowledges indeed , that queen mary did persecute the christians : and before , page 26. he yields with the character , that she brake her promise with the norfolk and suffolk inhabitants , and with a mean ingratitude to the generous loyalty of that people , persecuted and burnt those very men that gave her the first lift to the crown . but though , as he grants , all this is true , yet he says , all princes are not alike : queen mary persecuted the protestants ; henry the fourth of france did not so : and it is as good an inference from the instance of henry the fourth , that a popish heir will not be a persecutor , as from that of queen mary that he will. but where the popes authority intervenes , both king and people are bound to obey . and yet we see , for all the power of the pope and the covenant of holy league to boot , the people of france , though roman catholicks , would not submit to the dispossessing of a protestant successour ; neither did that generous prince upon the reconciling of himself afterwards to the church of rome , exercise any one act of tyranny over his protestant subjects : which is enough upon this point . enough indeed , unless there were more truth or more reason in 't : for to pass by the clemency and moderation , he designes to prove from the example of this popish king , here 's one of the most notorious falshoods averr'd that ever look'd light i' th' face . the roman catholick people of france were so far from admitting this protestant successour to the throne , that 't is recorded , they shut their very gates against him ; and so little acknowledged him their king , that the pope and the states of france were for setting up no less than three competitors against him : nay , there were such insolent indignities and oppositions offer'd him , that the onely cause of his changing his religion was , that nothing less than his reconciliation to the romish faith , could gain him his birthright and his crown . and all this is so plainly and so amply testified from the french history , that never was any assertion more false than this of mr. l'estrange . and then his inference of a popish successours lenity to the protestants , from the instance of this popish king , is the weakest and shallowest that ever any man of sence could have thought on : for this king was at best but one of mr. l'estrange's abjurers in masquerade ; for 't is most apparent that the saving of his stake , his crown , not the dint of their arguments or perswasion , the strength of the romish power , not that of their religion , made him a convert . and if this king of all mankind had proved a protestant persecutor , he had been a monster indeed , and worse than a nero ; for he must have acted quite contrary to the dictates of his soul and conscience . now more and above all this , the reader is here to take notice , that out of all the chronicles of all ages , and of all the popish kings in europe , this is the onely popish prince he has found out for an example of good-nature , and a true and favourer of the protestants . now i profess , might i advise him , if either the popish records afforded no other instance in this kind , or his reading could not finde it out , he should e'en throw up the cudgels and answer no more characters , but believe a popish successor's cause either impossible to be defended , or himself uncapable of doing it . but this breaking of oaths still sticks in his gizard , and he cannot forbear another fling at it . mr. l'e . taking his position for granted , that a popish prince is bound by his religion , to act contrary to his oaths and promises , honour and iustice , the dictates of nature , the laws of nations , and the bonds of humane society ; contrary to all this ( i say ) and to his interest too , be must be unman'd as well as unchristian'd ; an excommunicate to humane nature , and excluded from all the benefits and offices of mankind . it must be a strange digestion sure , that can put over all other impieties , and turn the violation of all that is sacred in nature into a meritorious virtue . never did mr. l'estrange in all his fardles of writing sum up so many truths as in these few lines : for indeed ( as he says ) a prince that 's guilty of all this , must be both unman'd , unchristian'd , and an excommunicate to humane nature , &c. if the gospel and christianity be truth ; for the doctrine of christ and his apostles will pronounce him such a one , but all this while the reader is to observe , that this great truth is urged by mr. l'estrange in favour of his great mecaenas , designing it not so much to set this brand upon a popish successour's perfidy in such a case , as to let us understand 't is a picture of a popish successour so strangely deform'd , and so extravagantly monstrous , that 't is not to be matcht or copy'd in flesh and bloud , and indeed has no being in nature . but not to let him carry it off so , what does he think of sigismond king of sweden , crown'd in the year 1580. who in the very exact parallel to our present state of england , being privately bred by his mother a roman catholick , unknown to his father , and afterwards being elected king of poland , openly profest the romish religion ; but upon his fathers death , return'd to his hereditary swedish kingdom : where with much difficulty he was received ; but under all the solemn conditions and engagements that could possibly be made between prince and subject , of his maintaining and upholding their lutheran religion . but on the contrary , no sooner were the reins in his hand , but with all the fiercest career of infidelity , as if hell drove him , he presently erects popish churches , places popish governours in all his forts and castles , encourages and countenances no other perswasion , but striving by all arts imaginary to bring in the romish religion . upon this notorious perjury his subjects gave him the reward which mr. l'estrange has elegantly allow'd such perjury deserv'd ; they excluded him from all the offices and benefits of mankind : for accusing him of breach of faith and mischievous practices against the government , they deposed him . and this was done by lutheran protestants , neither presbyterian nor independent fanaticks ; yet with offer of crowning his infant-son vdislaus , provided they might have the breeding of him in their own belief ; which he refusing after seven years treaties and other endeavours for accommodation , all in vain , in the year 1607. they crown'd his uncle charles the third son of his grandfather gustavus errichson . now how many bejesuited , fanatical , rebellious , covenanting , trayterous , holy-leaguing , dissenting psudoprotestants , would mr. l'estrange have call'd these lutherans , were his pen retain'd against them ? and what volumes would he publish in vindication of iure divino and unalterable succession , &c. with all the curses of bell , book , and candle , against them , as he has done against the popish character , for making so slight of that indispensable duty , passive obedience ; though as ill luck would have it , certainly the busie spirit of mr. l'estrange was not then in the world : for there are no such vilruent records against them either in any of the historians of that age , or indeed ever since . now one remark i would make upon this sigismond , to continue the parallel to our case : he was a prince in his nature as heroick as we have or can have a popish heir , worthy of all those praises that either of these two answerers have given the last ; and in short , to use one of their own words , a prince for every thing else , bating his perswasion , brave to admiration : which one thing must more particularly witness for him , his being elected king of poland , a nation which we all know make their choice for a king out of the gallant , famous , and illustrious worthies of all the princes and nobility through the whole christian world . and yet we fee neither magnanimity , justice , all the cardinal vertues that adorn'd him , nor all the promising perfections and accomplishments of nature , strengthen'd with all the bonds of protestations , oaths , or sacraments , could hold the head-strong violence of his religion . but to return to mr. l'estrange , in answer to the character 's proving how improbable , nay impossible 't is to suppose we may have a roman catholick king , that shall discountenance popery , cherish protestantism , and effectually deter all those that shall endeavour to undermine or supplant it , he says . as to the influence , which a popish suceessor may have upon ecclesiastick matters ( as in the character ) , there needs no more to be said in 't then this ; that the king has been gratiously pleased , to offer the passing of any bill for securing the protestant religion , without barring or diverting the succession . and such expedients have been also framed to that effect , as have been by great authority judged competent for the obviating of that difficulty . the first part of this assertion , all the world knows to be truth ▪ but if such competent expedients have been framed , either the framers of them have been the unkindest men in christendom , or the three last parliaments the unluckyest : the first , in either never producing or publishing those expedients for the nations service , in this time of exigence , or the last in never having the good fortune to meet with them ; for if the parliament at oxford were not damnably mistaken , or very lewdly forgetful , they have declared ( nemine contradicente ) that neither they , nor their predecessors have ever heard or seen one syllable of such a frame of expedients offered them ; so that with mr. lestranges pardon , his above named great authority has been greatly unkind in this matter , or else their expedients were like one of the virtuosoe's engines never design'd for use . but he goes on . as to the rest i will not deny , but that it is a hard thing for a prince to teize and persecute a people of his own religion , purely eonomine for their being so . and it is very probable too , that he will connive as men of that perswasion in many cases , where the law directs a punishment . and what is there more in this , than what has been done already more or less from the date of the statutes themselves to this very day : and what is done by the government it self towards the nonconformists at this instant ! where is the great crime now , ( upon this admittance ) in not punishing the papists , so long as the protestants are not persecuted . here the reader by the by may take notice , that these two answerers did not confer notes , for one says a popish successor will be a second part of the immortal brutus , and the other that he will be a quite contrary manner of man. but here i would beg mr. lestrange to explain himself : if he means by a popish successors conniving at men , of his own perswasion , to be no larger an extent of royal favor , than what that party have received in the two last kings reigns , the priviledge perhaps of no more than a queens or an embassadors private chapple , for the visible worship of the whole party throughout all england , then he contradicts the confessions of all the late popish martyrs , for amongst all their plot silence , they unanimously confess they had a fair list for a toleration . and in case of such a toleration in the next kings reign , under a popish successor ; wha'rs that less than sigismunds erecting of popish churches , and with them no doubt placing popish governors in all forts and castles , popish ministers in all offices of trust , with popish generals , and popish admirals upon occasion , encouraging and countenancing no other perswasion , and striving by all acts imaginary of setting up the romish religion , and all this dayly pusht forwards farther and farther , higher and higher by degrees . alas ! the character never design'd to sham such a ridiculous impossible supposition on the world , that the persecuting fury of a popish king shall falt down upon us like fire from heaven , all of a suddain , and no less miraculously , or that popery or arbitrary power , should grow up like ionas goad , in a night . alas , smith field stakes , lollards towers , and inquisition houses are the work of time ; and therefore where as yet , open hostility cannot march , nor greater conflagrations be attempted , they must have redress to less games in the mean while , the use of smaller fire-brands , and foxes tailes to tye 'em to . in the next page he continues very smart upon the character , part of which to be better understood , i must be forced to repeat . char. speaking of a popish successor , executing the laws . a very pretty chimera ? which is as much as to make this popish king the greatest barbarian of the creation , a barbarian , that shall cherish and maintain the dissenters from truth , and punish and condemn the pillars of christianity and proselytes of heaven : which is no other than to speak him the basest of men , and little less then a monster . besides at the same time that we suppose that king that dares not uphold nor encourage his own religion , we render him the most deplorable of cowards , a coward so abject , that he dares not be a champion even for his god. and how consistent this is with the glory of a crown'd head , and what hope england has of such a successor , i leave all men of sense to iudge . mr. lestrange . behold here 's the upshot of his high flown paragraph [ a popish prince that puts the laws in execution for the punishing of papists and for the countenancing and protecting of protestants , is little less then the basest of monsters . ] how comes it then that the crown of france has not treated the protestants there , as this pictur-drawer pronounces , that a popish successor would treat his subjects here ? the protestants have now and then been severely handled , i know , in france , as the papists upon some junctures have been in england : and now of late wors then usuall . all which hath been influenced as well by reasons of state , as by impulse of religion . but shall we pronounce the most christian king the greater monster for his better usage of us &c. now i dare defie the world to find me out that author , that ever wrackt his brains to labour out such mormoes as this ; a discourse soe intirely mal a propos , and altogether soe little to his purpose ; what can he intend , or what would he argue from this ? is there any resemblance between the state of england and france ; is the french king , ( as the character says ) bound to condemn the pillars of christianity and proselytes of heaven ? or has he any laws to put in execution against the papists ? doe his laws uphold no other religion but the protestant , and in defence of that , declare popery treason , and oblige him to hang every popish priest in his kingdom . is there therefore the least compulsion upon him to render him that barbarian or coward mentioned in the character . nay on the quite contrary is not popery there the establisht lord of the soyl , and the protestant religion only an inmate by toleration . is there any more hugonot churches to that great city paris , then one stragling one , like our pancras , for all the protestants in that populous town . and now what if mr. l'estrange would bring no less then 20. precedents of good natured french kings that have not molested the hugonots under them . has not their own religion the ascendant of the nation , does it not flourish and triumph in pomp , state and glory , whilst the poor hugonot perswasion only humbly truckles beneath it , and what then , if their royal mercy does not persecute the protestants , is there any thing in that mercy so monstrous or so unnatural ; or is their any laws , restrictions or clogs upon the french king that can give such a shock to the soul of a papist as the protestant laws of england . i confess mr. lestrange in one clause before was much in the right , where he affirm'd the continuing a protestant to the eye of the world had been a means of gaining the point : and 't is no less a truth , that showing the cards before the playing , has often endanger'd the game . and indeed i have heard some smart sort of people a little satyrical upon this subject . i remember a passage of this kind i read to'ther day , being an invective against machiavel for an unlucky miscarriage in one of his great designs , which translated into our own english runs thus . oh! that our shallow thoughtless machiavel should have so much zeal , and so little brains to manage it . such a bigot , such principles , such resolution , such infatuation : impenetrable to all foolish effeminate thoughts of humanity ; a temper as rough , and as brutal as a second ajax , untainted with remorse or pitty , that hates all thoughts of gratitude , friendship and fidelity , as much as rome loves greatness , as deaf to a kings interest and a kingdoms groans , as romes own wish could form him . that excellent matchless engine for our work , had not this only wretched ill conduct blasted all , and crack't the whole foundation . had he but play'd the sly and wise ulysses till under his disguise he had stoln their fatal palladium , and left their ruind troynovant guardianless and defenseless , our glory had been compleat . how might our great , our adorable machine have succeeded , had not this unlucky marr-al ruind it ? how might the reaking gore of butcher'd infidels have fatten'd the land , and with the steam perfumed the skies , and smelt sweet in the nostrils of the saints . we had a time , we had a day , a favourable smiling courting hour , the morning dawn to our great iubile : but oh ! that dear , that blest minute 's gon . a curse of all unthinking greatness ! how might this mighty hunter have pursued the glorious game , like the immortal roman tullia that drove her chariot over her murder'd fathers heart , and rod tryumphant o're the crackling bones of majesty , had he not so rashly pull'd off the vizard too soon , thus senselesly turn'd up his cask , and show'd the fatal face within it . and by that only accurst unfortunate act , waken'd a whole alarum'd nation to snatch the reins , from this bold rider , and cry , stop iehu . well , but mr. lestrange , through almost all his whole pamphlet is still upon the impossibility of popery , and arbitrary powers advance into england . page 82. he says , take the matter as they suppose it , a king upon a throne that 's principled for arbitrary government and popery , but so clogg'd and shackled with popular and protestant laws , that if he had never so great a mind to 't , there 's not one subject in his dominions , that would dare to serve him in his design . now the king of france we see has made himself absolute ▪ and that as i take it by the help of his subjects ; and why english men should not dare to do any thing , that the french have done before them , i cannot understand . neither do i find , but a popish king might not only have good irish hands out of his dominions , but good english ones too upon that occasion , for besides his popish friends , we have but too many of all religions , but more of no religion at all , whose desperate fortunes would make their hearts leap at so pleasing a motion , and push for a change at any rate to fish in troubled waters , and that too notwithstanding the hazard of their necks , upon a scheame of law which he proposes pag. 40 , to be form'd for that purpose . nay that scheame of capital laws should serve for an incentive to their resolution , and make 'em wade the deeper , the more unsafe and dangerous it should be to retire . in the foregoing page he says , mr. lest. that possibly there may be a popish king that may not have the will to change the government , in respest of the immorality of inclinin to such a violation of his trust and word , but most certainly not , in regard of so manifest an inability to bring it to pass . now 't is evident the plotters and jesuites have not believed it such an impossible exploit , and why may not a prince of their own opinion , and their own industry for rome , upon the presumption of whose principles and for whose sake their whole machine moved ; with a crown on his head , and a sword in his hand believe as they do ? so that were there a real inability in the case , yet if the blindness of zeal and the over-sight of ambition shall not distinguish that inability to be manifest till the event & fatal success has proved it so , what shall that hinder his endeavors in attempting and prosecuting it , and then where 's the certainty of his will against it . and these endeavors once prosecuted amidst all the violent inrodes or subtle attaques that shall be made for popery and slavery , no god ha' mercy to his kindness for 't , it is none of his fault that he lays his bones by the seige , and does not live it out to put us to storm . and i need not insist how far the peace , prosperity and freedom of this once flourishing kingdom will suffer under such a seige and how far they will be dayly harass'd and gall'd with so potent and so pressing an enemy . at best they must expect to have their laws snapt asunder as often and as fast as sampsons cords , and their city gates in the scuffle twing'd off , and if at last they play the philistians , and live to pick out both his eyes for 't , the end of all must terminat in sampsons fate , they 'll have an old heavy roof pull'd down both upon his head and theirs together . the next thing mr. l'estrange falls foule upon , are the acts of parliament recited in the character , and here he either tells the reader they are nothing to the characters purpose , or if they are , he finds such flaws in the law-makers that made them , that they are unreasonable , and consequently void in themselves , as you shall hear anon . and so he fairly trips up the heels of kings , lords and commons at once , and makes their whole authority insignificant because their laws are against mr. l'estranges inclination . first , he 's very angry with the character , for advancing the popish succesour first from the possibility of a good man , then from bad to wars , and at last to a downright traitor : and that from a statute of queen elizabeth , that declares every subject of england , that shall take absolution from rome , or own the ▪ popes supremacy , or pay any fealty to the see of rome guilty of high treason . and then he answers this by saying , there are two provisoes in the act that makes the case somwhat different from what the characteriser has stated it . viz. 1 provided alway , that for as much as the queens maiesty is otherwise sufficiently assured of the faith and loyalty of the temporal lords of her high court of parliament : therefore this act , nor any thing therein contained , shall not extend to compell any temporal person , of or above the degrée of a baron of this realm to take or pronounce the dath abovesaid , ( viz. of supremacy ) nor to incur any penalty , limited by this act for not taking or refusing the same ( &c. ) 2. provided also , that if any péer of this realm shall hereafter offend contrary to this act , or any branch or article thereof , that , in that and all such case and cases , they shall be tryed by their péers , in such manner and form as in other cases of treasons they haue used to be tryed , and by no other means . now i would defie any impartial reader to judge if ever any thing was so weakly and so impertinently urged as these two provisoes . the first tells you that the queen was so assured of the loyalty of her nobility , that she would not put them to the trouble of swearing to confirm it , as the law required from her inferior subjects , but on the other side the second proviso tells us that notwithstanding that , if any of them offended against the law or any branch or article of it , they should find no more mercy than the meanest commoner in her kingdom , but be equally tryed for high treason . now what he drives at by this objection or what favor these provisoes make for a popish heir , i declare i cannot imagine , neither do i believe he knows himself . upon this he comes to a touch of conscience , and says ; it would be well if every man that presses with this unprecedented rigor upon the person here in question , would lay his hand upon his heart , and say , if the king has pardoned me ten thousand times more than this comes to , with what reason or conscience can i importune his majesty thus bitterly against his brother . ten thousand times more than this comes to , is a very great disproportion . but thus much i am certain , for the heir of a protestant kingdom , and the son of a protestant martyr , to be perverted to the religion and interest of rome , so notoriously destructive to the english government , and thereby to be the cause of all those distractions in the nation , that tye up the hearts and hands of the subject , from their duty to the best of princes , and weaken both his greatness at home , and his alliance abroad ; and not only this , but to be seduced to a perswasion , in such a juncture of affairs , on whose only score , have all the late conspiracies against his majesties sacred life been contrived and animated , this i say , is bad enough , but to find out a man guilty of ten thousand times more than this comes to , and pardoned for it too , is ( to use his own word ) to give us an original of an unprecedented criminal , and as unprecedented mercy . but if he intends this as a lash against the author of the character , i 'le venture to clear him , for to my knowledge , he is a person so far from laying his hand on his heart , and owing any benefit to royal pardons or acts of oblivion , that i must say this truth for him . ianuary 48 was past before he was born. in the next page he confesses that the strongest argument he finds in the whole character is this . char. if ever a papist mounts this throne , then all their murmurs their petitions , protesting and association votes will be remembred to the purpose , upon which he makes this remark . mr. l. now what can be a greater indignity to the iustice and resolution of that illustrious body ( viz. the parliament ) then to imagine so narrow a thought could any way influence the candor and solemnity of their debates . yes , indeed , what greater indignity then to imagine it . for if as the character says , and mr. lestrange grants , they will be remember'd to the purpose , and the heretick dogs , upon his mounting into the throne may live to be hang'd for their barking , what greater indignity to the courage and resolution of those illustrious patriots then to imagine they 'le slacken their votes and debates against a popish succession for fear of his revenge . so cowardly a thought indeed ( as he says ) would be too narrow for the souls of english men. from this he comes to the main point the characters proving the succession of the english crown to be wholly subjected to the disposal determinations and limitations of parliament . the parliament ( says the character ) 25 of henry the 9th , setled the crown upon the heirs of that kings body by queen anne , and in the 28 repealed that act , and intayl'd the succession upon the heirs of his body by queen jane , mary and elizabeth being declared illegitimate . and in case they died without issue then the parliament empowr'd him by the same act to dispose of the succession by his own letters patents or his last will. in the 35th . year of his reign the parliament granted the succession to edward , and for want of the heirs of his body to the lady mary , and the heirs of her body , and for want of such heirs to the lady elizabeth , under certain limitations and conditions contain'd in that act. but to prove all this nothing to his purpose he makes these six objections . mr. lest. first , he says the charasteriser infers that a parliament may order or dispose the succession . but whither they may or no , here 's little or nothing proved from these citations . first under the ambiguity of the word parliament , he would have this thought to be the single act of the lords and commons , when the enacting authority of it was solely in the king. this first objection has more quibble than reason in it , and deserves no serious answer . for the character is so far from starting up an ordinance instead of an act of parliament , that no man of sense can extort any such meaning from him . secondly he says . these statutes do not so properly transfer a right , as declare and notify the persons , for the prevention of disputes and competitions , as appears by the preamble to that of the 28th . statute . wherefore we your most humble and obedient subiects , in this present parliament assembled , calling to our remembrance the great divisions which in times past have been in this realm , by reason of several titles pretended to the imperial crown of this realm . which sometimes and for the most part ensued , by occasion of ambiguity and doubts , then not so perfectly declared , but that men might upon froward intents expound them to every mans sinister appetite and affection , and posterity of the lawful kings and emperors of this realm ; whereof hath ensued great effusion and destruction of mans blood , as well of the great number of nobles , as of other the subiects , and especially inheritors in the same , and the greatest occasion thereof hath been , because no perfect and substantial provision by law hath béen made within this realm it self : when doubts and questions have been moved and proponed of the certainty and legality of the succession , and posterity of the crown , &c. mr. l ▪ now so far is the intent of this act from diverting the succession , that the express end of it was the setting of it right , by the avoidance of a former settlement upon the nullity of the marriage . and afterward 26th . of the same king. cap. 2. the act here before mentioned is called : the act for the establishment of the succession of the heirs of the kings highness in the imperial crown of this realm . mr. l. now there 's a great deal of difference betwixt translating the succession from the wrong to the right , and the diverting it from the right to the wrong . now certainly never had any objection less sense in it then this , for if this act impowr'd the king upon the failure of edward , mary and elizabeth , to give the crown to whome he pleased , as really it did , and that must be expounded to give it only to the next right heir . now their could be but one right heir in the case , and consequently if that right ought to possess , the empowring the king , to dispose of the crown where he pleased , was downright nonsense and a palpable contradiction in the very words . so that for instance had henry the 8th upon presumption of this act , out of some particular inclination , bequeath'd the reversion of his crown to a tenth cozen removed instead of a first , and this law had been to have been read by mr. l'estranges spectacles , the very end they made it for , ( viz. ) to keep peace and quiet had been utterly destroy'd ; for instead of reconciling all differences between future pretenders , and fixing the succession , it had only given new occasions for fresh feuds , and so the parliament had only wisely made an act to ruine the very intent of it's creation . mr. l. thirdly , this change and disposition of settlement though it pased all the formalityes of bill and debate , yet the first spring of it was from their certain knowledge of the kings pleasure to have it so , without which they durst never have ventred on such a proposition . mr. l. fourthly , matter of fact is no proof of right , and especially a fact accompanied with so many circumstances of cross capers and contradictions , as the pronouncing of the same persons to be both illegitimate , and legitimate , &c. and a man cannot imagine , without a scandal to that grave and wise assembly , that the levity of those councels and that humor of swearing and counter-swearing could be any other than the caprice of their new head and governor . now pray observe the slyness of this slur he puts upon majesty : he cunningly insinuates that matter of fact may not be matter of right , and that when the humor , caprice or pleasure of a king influences the votes of his parliament to make it so . now upon concession of mr. lestranges opinion , here 's a broad gate opened for a rebellion ; for by his argument 't is but disallowing the rightfulness of hearth money , and indeed almost all the rest of the kings revenues because the king generally askt the parliament money first , and so since the first spring of those grants were from the knowledge of the kings pleasure to have it so , 't is but mr. l'estranges denying the matter of right in this case , and so he makes the king a tyrant to demand his own , and thereupon encourages the subject to the most impudent undutifulness and disloyalty in nature . now those cross capers and contradictions , as he calls them , in declaring the same persons one while illegitimate and afterwards legitimate is one of the greatest arguments that the conservation of a nations peace , was held a greater piece of conscience in that age , then the maintaining the right of blood , when illegitimacy it self upon occasion could be restored to the power of succession . neither was there any such swearing or counter-swearing or any such levity ( as he calls it ) in that grave assembly , for the oath they enjoyn'd the people in fidelity to the kings heirs could have no other meaning than whilst they were lawfully so , and in all justice the obligation of it expired in course , when the law declared them no longer such . nor was it indeed any more than the tenure of our present oath of allegiance , in which we swear to be faithful to the king 's lawful heirs and successors , which the ignorance of some people has used as an argument against the changing of succession ; as thinking they have sworn fealty to the next of blood , whereas in reality there 's nothing in that oath that binds them to the person but the thing , to no particular man any further than as he is heir and successor , lawfully so , and no man truly is either heir or successor til he inherits and succeeds , and as 't is most ridiculous to think the intent of an oath of allegiance is to make a man swear loyalty to a fellow subject , as as the greatest heir apparent is no more whilst the king lives , so the duty of that part of the oath cannot necessarily be understood to commence or take effect till the present kings death , and then if in the mean while the absolute power of the land , the king , lords and commons have constituted a new heir and successor , the obligation of that oath of allegiance can have no other aspect , then to the heir and successor so constituted . mr. lest , fithly , with reverence to the utility and constitution of good and wholesome laws , it is not presently to cite a statute and say , there 's a precedent , for those laws that are repugnant to the light of nature and common right are nullities in themselves . now here 's one of the boldest master strokes of the pen that ever came in print . this point once gain'd , all the protestant laws since the reformation , and the whole fabrick of the present government are totally subverted . 't is but a popish successors believing aud maintaining that all the protestant laws ever since henry the 8ths . perversion are against the light of nature , and consequently nullites in themselves : so down goes the protestant church , up start the old statutes de haeretico comburendo , the old smith field fire-works , whilst popery comes in in the open face of day most triumphantly introduced even by the awful divinity of law and justice for its supporters . so that after all mr. lestranges vindication of the honor , honesty , veneration of oathes , performance of laws , and preservation of the protestant religion in a popish successor , he has very subtly sound him out an evasion to be a greater tyrant and devil than the author of the character could paint him , and that too with all the innocence in the world , and even without the least blemish of infidelity . but to come a little nearer to him , in the first place these acts for the settlement of the crown were so far from being repugnant to the light of nature , that on the contrary 't is evidently manifest that the law-makers that made e'm mov'd by no other guide or light but that . for since self preservation is the first and greatest thing that the light of nature teaches all mankind , the very preamble to the acts confirm us that the preservation of themselves and their heirs in peace and tranquillity , and to avoid the future effusion of english blood , was the sole end and design of those acts. secondly these acts have nothing repugnant or destructive of common right . for if by common right , he implies a right to any possession or pretension derived from human power and the laws of man , then 't is plain by the constitution of our government , where our laws are not like these of the medes and persians , that the law-makers that gave can take , and in that respect there 's no right so firm , which the absolute power of the law lying in the three states in parliament cannot shake . but if by common right he means a right derived from the laws or commands of god , and therefore those acts of parliament are nullities in themselves , because repugnant to the rules and duty of christianity . then he would do well to tell us when that law of god was made or that command given . but that there is no such law nor any such rules of christianity is plainly to be demonstrated from the most eminent precedents of holy writ ; where we find proximity of blood has been so far from challenging that unalterable right of empire that on the other side there have been several changes of kings made in that case even amongst gods own people and that always by his consent , and sometimes by his special order . besides if any such law of god had been made , and left us in holy scripture , 't is certain that law ought to have no more obligation over one christian kingdom than another , and then consequently venice and holland that have no kings at all , and poland that always elect their kings , by mr. lestranges inference live age after age in continual violation of common right , the duty of christians , and the laws of god. i do confess i have heard of a command of christ that says , let every soule be subject unto the higher powers ; for there is no power but of god ; whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of god , and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation ; and therefore if the higher powers of england the king , lords and commons are an ordinance of god too , it is an article of my creed , that he that denies their authority and power , and not content with that only , endeavors to perswade and seduce the rest of his fellow subjects to the same denial is not only a traitor to his country , but from christs own sentence shall receive , if possibly , a double portion of damnation . but now for his sixth observation on this statute . mr. l. lastly he brings instance here to prove that a parliament may divert the succession , but he shows withal , that there can be no security even in that exclusion , showing that what one parliament does another may undo , so that now we are upon equall tearms of security or hazard , either in the exclusion of the successor or in restraining him , for if he be tyed up by one parliament , another may set him at liberty ; and if he be excluded by one parliament , another may take him in again . now certainly this is the most comical humor i ever met with , to advise a parliament to have a care of excluding a papist for fear another parliament restore him . perswade e'm to fear that once , and make e'm jealous of fancyes and chimeras indeed . but to dissipate all shadows of any such dangers , there are some heads as wise as mr. l'estranges ( no disparagment ) that are of opinion if one english parliament once exclude a popish successor we may safely defy five hundred parliaments afterwards to restore him . the disinheriting of a popish successor being a kind of limbus , that if we have once got him into it , 't is damnable odds that all the intrest of rome with ten millions of masses never get him out of it . i must confess if we could have a parliament of mr. l'estranges particular choosing , the consistory of cardinals for the house of lords , and st omers colledge for the house of commons much might be ; but till then we are pretty safe in that point . but amongst all mr. l'estranges despicable thoughts of the decrees and power of parliaments in henry the eight's days , he clearly forgets to answer that act of parliament of queen elizabeths mentioned in the character , in which 't was made treason for any man to affirm that the disposal of the imperial crown of england lay not in the queen and parliament , and indeed that act comes so near the present face of the affairs in england , that it was made upon the selfe same occasion , that the bill of exclusion was endeavour'd by the late parliaments , ( viz. ) with an intention of putting by mary queen of scots the then next popish heir from the succession , had not her conspiracy against the life of the queen , put an end to all farther care , by the forefeiture of her head . but these six objections with the help of common right and the light of nature may serve to answer both ; and truly mr. l'estrange has given us the top of his politicks , and the utmost strength of his reason for the defence of a popish successor , in opposition even to the supreme authority of the nation , and against all the precedents of laws and history . but alas ! what signifies supreme authority , presidents , laws , &c. there 's nothing so sacred which stands in their way , that the champions of rome must not endeavor to overthrow , and when the popish interest cries halloo , they must bark at least though they cannot bite . now 't is plainly to be discovered at what foundation he strikes , by lessening and enfeebling the legislative power of the nation , and though he wisely lays the scene at such distance as the remoter age of henry the 8th , yet we understand where he aims the lash he gives , and what gall his ink's made of . but truly in his remarks and reflections upon the capriches ( as he calls them ) of henry the 8th , with the weakness of his great council , the shallowness of their debates , and the invalidity of their decrees , he chooses the safer subject . the majesty he reviles , and the authority he ridicules , being so long since inoffensive dust and ashes , that he has this reason for his boldness , and this shield for his defence . nulli gravis est percussus achilles . but to answer those strait-laced consciences that so vehemently maintain and assert succession to be iure divino , and cannot be alter'd by any human laws , i will put this instance . suppose a king has two sons , the eldest of which , ambitious of a crown , and mislead by the ill counsel of his priests , favourites or the like , conspires to depose his father , and in order thereunto , confederates with some neighbouring monarch ; who upon assurance given him , by this aspirer of resigning of some part of his dominions to him , or becoming tributary to him , furnishes him with money and men , by which assistance he flies out into an open rebellion against his father , upon w ch the father commissions his younger son to fight this rebel prince , who beats him , and makes him fly out of his fathers dominions to that confederate neighbours protection , upon which the king with the unanimous consent of his loyal subjects passes an act for a total exclusion of the elder son from the crown , and to place the succession in the younger . now will any man say that this is not warrantable and just both by the laws of god and man. for if it be unwarantable , and that this rebel prince must still suceeed , then consider what follows . frst , here 's a manifest obstructing of the distribution of the greatest justice both human and divine . for whilst this prince continues safe by his flight , and his forreign protection , from any personal sufferance for his crimes , and at the same time 't is granted he cannot suffer in his birthright , then this indispensable continuation of succession confers the greatest earthly felicity and reward viz. a diadem on the greatest of criminals , one doubly a traitor not only against the lords anointed , but even to the fountain of his own royal blood , and the author of his being , a father . secondly ; it makes crown'd heads the most miserable state of all man kind ; nay they are below the meanest peasant in their kingdoms : for the vengeance of a subject , having the power to disinherit , shall persue a rebel son even to the east indies , whilst a king , who they say , has , or should have long hands shall notwith all his thunder reach the worst of rebels cross the next sea , or perhaps the next county . so that where 's their boasting themselves to be gods vicegerents , when they alone of all men are most debarred that greatest prerogative of a diety , revenge . 3d , by this means majesty that should be most sacred , and the person of it most religiously guarded , and defended , lies more exposed than all mankind besides , for if it be true that . filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos . and the lust of inheritance makes the blood of the impatient heir boil high for possession , then 't is most true , where the inheritance is greatest , and the temptation strongest , as in the case of a crown , that there the blood boiles highest . and if so , and birth-right be still unforfitable , then to the strongest temptation here 's the least danger , and the greatest encouragement for gratifying that lust , and accomplishing all such tempting desires . so that upon this position , who so arm'd for a traitor as he that 's born to a crown , and who so unsafe as he that wears it . but surely 't is inconsistant with that particular care , that god takes for the preservation of kings , to entail that ius divinum upon them , that places them infra statum humanum . however to give a little clearer light into this great point of succession i shall trouble my reader with one instance more . it cannot be disputed but that either queen mary or queen elizabeth did succeed to the imperial crown of england not by divine right of succession , since queen elizabeth was born whilst queen katharine the mother of queen mary was living , but one of them must undoubtedly enjoy the crown iure parliamentario : if the latter , ( as cannot be denyed ) and that succession is iure divino , then she was an usurpess upon the right of the house of scotland : and what then is the consequence of all this ! first , it shakes , and strikes at the foundation of the church of england , which derives all its power and authority from the crown which began in king henry the 8ths , and were more fully confirmd by queen elizabeth , and therefore the church of england was setled by a princess de facto and not de jure , insomuch that it undermines the very basis of the hierarchy and ecclesiastick power , and the order of the whole clergy , who derive their distinctions and ordinations from that queen . 2ly . it may call in question all the grants of that queen , which have not been confirmed by the scottish line , and destroy the many and great priviledges conferr'd on both the universities . 3ly . according to the rule of ius divinum it may raise a question hereafter of what validity those honors are which that queen was pleased to confer upon several great and eminent families . lastly it would well become many worthy and learned men seriously to consider whether they do not labor to do the work and drudgery of the church of rome , who assert so fatal a principle , whereby they make queen elizabeth an usurpress , and build the superstructure of the protestant religion , the right of the church , and the legality of the whole clergy of england , upon such a sandy and ruinous foundation as the high and mighty ius divinum . but if we will allow that princess our lawful queen , which i hope no man will have the impudence to deny , then the disposal of the crown by parliament is just . but if ius divinum that lay buried 44 years together must make a resurrection in our present distractions of england , and both honor and conscience render an exclusion bill unlawful , how came the proposition of making a popish successor but a nominal prince , and setling the administration in protestant hands : if that may be , then here 's ius divinum quite laid aside : for divine right of birth entitles a prince to the power as well as the name of a king , and if that right be sacred and inviolable , no one part of it more than another ought or can lawfully be alienated . but if the greatest part of it be by the greatest authority allow'd justly alienable by act of parliament , there 's an end of all divine right , and a concession of the iurisdiction of parliaments , insomuch that if they may legally take away the kernel , and leave only the husk of succession , by the same authority they may as well take away both : and a total exclusion is no more repugnant to honor or conscience then an exclusion in part . but if any man has a curiosity to examine the effects of exclusions in part , viz. limitations and restrictions that have been put upon the english crown , i will only advise him cursorly to run over the contests between king iohn and the barons ; henry the 3d , edward the 2d , and richard the 2d and their barons , and the troubles of henry the 6th , and the several agreements made between him and the d. of york , and he 'le easily satisfie himself that notwithstanding the several agreements restraints and limitations put upon the crown , and those confirm'd not only by acts of parliament but solemnly ratifyed in the face of heaven by many oaths and dreadful excommunications by the church , yet none ever held : but so soon as those parliaments were dissolved , or the first opportunity or advantage happen'd , those kings by the ill advice of their favourites and minions broke all , whereupon both parties flying to arms , the king accusing them of treason , and they him of perjury , the rise of all those long and bloody civil wars had no other ground but this . but to back his last six arguments in defence of the succession we find him for the next three or four pages together corroborating his opinion with the practice of the primitive christians . first he tells you 'tis a gospel precept not to do ill that good may come of it , such as the unwarrantable devesting of a prince of his birthright though for any safety or preservation whatever . so that in the case of england supposing it would come at last to a down-right persecution under a popish successor , yet to stand upon our guards to prevent it would be more than ever the primitive christians did under the ten persecutions ; and we have not only their example but their express doctrine against it . and therefore ( as he says in another place ) 't is our duty to bless god for the peace and happiness we now enjoy , and rather wait his farther pleasure with thankfulness and resignation , then with murmuring and a●●trust to anticipate future evils and prejudge providences to come . now never was any thing more plausibly managed to so little purpose , for the correspondence between ours and the primitive christians case is here so incoherently ballanced , that never were arguments more sophistical . the primitive christians preacht obedience to nero , yes , and they had forfeited their christianity if they had done otherwise , but what was that nero , an absolute monarch : and what those primitive bishops ? not such as ours , they were not a part of the legislative power of the nation , as our prelates are . if nero invented wracks , tortures and gibbets for persecuting or murdering the poor christians , he did it by his own uncontroulable authority , nor were those primitive bishops call'd to make laws , and therefore had not the lawful power of the least vote in moderation of neroes cruelty , or in redress of the christians torments . i am sure if they had had any such voting or law-making power , and yet out of a base principle of cowardly fear on one side , and like fordid sycophants out of a servile flattery of neroes barbarous inclinations on the other side , had neglected the means , ( as much as in them lay ) of preventing those persecutions , they had been rather wolves then shepherds over the flock of christ , and accessaries to all those butcheries that nero committed against them . for not to oppose where opposition is lawful , is to permit , and to permit is to act. so that there would not have been that engine made to rend the tortured christians bones , that they them selves in so doing had not lent a helping hand to the winding of it up . nor is it to be doubted but that if those primitive prelates had had those sacred recorded statutes , those royal decrees , presidents and laws before 'em , wherin the disposal of the crown under which they lived had lain in the absolute power of the nation , it being declared no less then treason to deny it , and that the kingdoms safety in despight of birth-right had sometimes authorized the change of the sucession ; had these prelates , i say , lived under such a government , and at the same time sat at the helm like ours , it is to be presumed upon the certain prospect of a next successor of known principles of barbarity and persecution , with the innate implacable inveteracy against christians and christianity ; they would boldly and unanimously have endeavored and voted for his removal , and whatever obedience they preacht to a nero upon a throne , they would have thought it neither an obligation of conscience or christianity to have lent their assistance to the mounting a nero into a throne . so that 't is more than likely under such a power and such circumstances they would have stood upon their guards , ( as the character says ) against so dangerous and so fatal a succession ; not stood upon their guards , as mr. lestrange interprets it , with their swords in their hands , but as the author meant it , with their eyes and tongues in their heads and resolution in their soules , to see the real dangers themselves and their religion are in , and to propose and provide all lawful and necessary means to prevent them . nor would they upon second thoughts with mr. lestranges tender conscience have judged this legal & manly resolution in defence of their religion to fall under the premunire mention'd in the 3d. p. of his book , a prostituting of their soules to save their skins and fortunes . this i am sure , they could never with reason or religion have judged it any such prostitution , but if they had made religion and conscience the pretence to judge it so , and thereupon had directed and managed all their studies , labors , endeavors , votings , preachings , insinuations and encouragements for the establishment of such a successor , they might very seasonably fall under as severe a scandal , and i am sure as justly deserved , as what mr. lestrange has given the fanaticks under the name of papists in masquerade ; for in this case the wiser part of the world would have shrewdly suspected they had been more heathens in masquerade , than christians . neither is there ( by mr. lestranges permission ) that incumbent duty upon christianity , to be so wholly employ'd in blessing god for our present peace and prosperity , as to wait his farther pleasure and providences to come with so intire a resignation , till we neglect a lawful preservation when approaching ruine threatens us ; he that by the blessing of god stands upon the firm shore and sees that terrible and unusual torrent come rowling on , which in probability may break the banks and drown him , is so far from being oblidged to an idle standing still , and a resignation to the will of providence , whether the innundation shall break in , and he sink or swim : that if he miscarries by that idle neglect of himself , it will not at all clear him from being accessary to his own destruction , ( and therefore answerable for it ) by excusing himself to god , and saying , lord , i submitted to thy pleasure . from this we come to the characters doctrin of passive obedience , which the character avows may be laid aside under the tyranny of a popish succession ; in answer to which we have mr. l'estrange very severe against him , for so bold and so dangerous a position , and perhaps if there be any glimpse of reason throughout his whole answer 't is there ; but however that the authors opinion may not appear so strangely enormous , nor his position so wholly destructive to government , and so opposite to christianity , as his answer would render it ; let us venture to make a little explanation of the character . first then to distinguish what that tyranny is which he justifies we may lawfully oppose , and what invasion that , we may justly repel , i must refer the reader to the character page 22d . char. what does this popish king by admitting the popes supremacy , but divest himself of half his royalty , whilst like the junior king of brentford in the play he resigns and alienates the right hand power of majesty to an invader and usurper ; and thus we are enslaved by a medley government betwixt tyranny and usurpation . and again . page 6. char. if he be a man of justice that still makes for rome , for whilst he believes the pope to be christs lawful vicar , and that office includes the ecclesiastick supremacy , no doubt but he 'le think it as much the duty of his christianity to give the pope his right as to take his own . so that upon this supposition of the popes supremacy restored , the author has stated both our tyrants and our slavery . but to return to mr. l'estrange . page 73. mr. l. in our oath of supremacy we swear that the king is the only supreme , governor supreme , so none , ( not the pope ) above him , and only supreme , so none coordinate or equal with him . if so , and the king is supreme governor ecclesiastick and civil , and a popish king notwithstanding shall alienate half his supremacy to the pope , then the pope is co-king with him ; and that it may not be objected that supream ecclesiastick power is not kingly power , where the highest and last appeal lyes , there lyes royal power , and therefore whilst the highest and last appeal in all causes ecclesiastick , in such a government is lodged in the pope his power is royal. for it would be very absurd to say that a supreme moderator in causes betwixt man and man should be a kingly governor , and a supreme moderator in causes between god and man should be none . that were to place a majesty in that authority that says thou shalt not steal , and none in that that says thou shalt have no other gods but me . 't is true the pope to mince the matter , and to sham upon those romish kings that admit of his church supremacy , very cunningly usurps the prerogative without the name , and therefore wherever he is supream iudge , he lets the temporal soveraignty be still the supream sheriff , for whereever his tribunal condemns , the popish king is hangman generalissimo to execute . yet still in reality his power is never the less kingly , when we see that this popish executioner under him , is so far from the exercise of any regal authority in his sheriffalty , that he 's but a substitute of the popes , and accountable to the pope for the least neglect or misdemeanor in his office of that kind , so that the reestablishment of the popes supremacy here , is setting up a new kingly power . but by what title ? none . for granting his supremacy of old was his right whilst he possest it , yet considering that right has been lost above a hundred years together , by the laws of conquest 't is now wholly expired , and he can lay no more claim or pretence to 't after so long an alienation , then the christians to constantinople , or the danes or saxons to england . now 't is a known maxim in england that a king of himself cannot give , sell , or alienate all , or part of his hereditary soveraign power , neither can he any more restore the pope ( out of a freak of conscience ) to his supremacy , or his abby lubbers to their old fat pastures , then he can say to the duke of saxony , sir , lay claim to half england and 't is yours , and therefore land a colony in the west of england , and crown your self king there , whilst i content my self with the soveraignty of york-shire , and two or three more northern counties about it . nay suppose a king should say so , and this saxon prince upon that presumption should come , and make a seisure , there 's never a subject in england , notwithstanding their lawful soveraigns special gommand to them to yeeld obedience to this usurping invading saxon , that may not justly and with a safe conscience oppose this invader , and shoot him though the heart at the very first step he makes into england . for whatever passive obedience is due to our native prince we have none due to a forreign invader . so likewise 't is a plain case that the popes supremacy entring into england is an invading and usurping royalty . for though we are bound to pay fealty , to what ever deputies , viceroys , or subministers the king shall ordain or institute under him , yet the popes supremacy cannot come under that name , for it ceases to be supream if there be a power above it . so that whenever the king shall say to the pope assume your prerogative , there 's never a subject of england , that may not by violence rescue an heretick from a stake that 's condemn'd by that prerogative , or any delegated authority from the usurped supremacy of the pope , nay if they burn the very tribunal about those jesuitish judges eares that pronounced that hereticks condemnation , they may iustify the fact both to their king and their god. the papist in masquerade draws now near to a conclusion , and gives the characteriser a dead doing blow at last stroke , by the argument raised against the characters position , that kings were made for the people , and not the people for the kings . though by the way the characterisers assertion is not only one drs. opinion ; for if he will allow king iames to have as much sense as himself , we shall find him , ( if we may take his royal word for 't ) a little leaning towards the characters side , witness this clause in one of his speeches in parliament . anno 1603. as i am a head and governor of all the people in my dominions , who are my natural vassals and subjects considering them in number and distinct ranks ; so if we take the people as one body and mass , then as the head is ordeind for the body , and not the body for the head , so must a righteous king know himself to be ordain'd for his people , and not his people for him ; for though a king and his people be relata , yet can he be no king if he want people and subjects ; but there be many people in the world that lack a head , &c but no matter for all this , kings are but men , and this human error of king iames , must not dare to oppose the more sacred authority of mr. lestrange . for to bafflle this gross mistake of them both , he continues , but after all these words , to shew that government originally was not popular , i shall add a few more to prove the institution of it to be purely divine ; which opinion , in truth , needs not any other support then the authority of the holy scriptures . by me kings reighn &c. i have made the earth , the man , and the beasts that are upon the ground by my great power , and my out-stretch'd arm , and have given it to whom it seem'd meet unto me ier. 27th . 5. now i cannot find by this text : by me kings raighn &c. but that by me subjects possess their lawful inheritances might claim the same right . for an empire to a monarch and a lordship to a subject , a naboths vineyard , or an ahabs kingdom are equally the gift of god , and by our authors reasons may equally pretend to a divine iustitution . neither is there so much support as he calls it in this holy authority , but i can match it with another as holy and as much to his purpose , which tells us , not a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of my father , &c. now if no king reighns without him , and no sparrow falls without him ; a manmight ask him why the holy authority of this last text might not make the falling of a sparrow have as much of divine institution in it as the enthroning of a monarch . nor can i perceive that there lies so much stress in gods giving the government of the earth , man , and beasts to whom it seem'd meet to him , as to nebuchadnezar in the text , but that a mene , mene , tekel , upharzin , written by the almighties own hand against his impious heir , the sacrilegious idolatrous balshazar was as much the word of god , and had as much divine institution in it as by me kings raign . but to proceed in our authors argument . mr. l. that which we now call kingly government was at first called paternal , and after patriarchal &c. and we sind by the powers they excercised &c. and so he advances in a florid descant upon this subject till he lodges the first paternal kingly government in adam . here you may perceive he 's harping at the old iure divino , but i shall wave that point of dispute , and even with granting his supposition true , out of his own opinion invalidate the chief argument of all his discourse , and the fundamental design of his whole pamphlet , ( viz : ) unalterable right of succession . if then ( as he says ) the patriarchall power was kingly , how comes it to pass that esau forfeited his royal inheritance ? and iacob his younger brother got it from him ; nay the alienation of his birthright ( as regal and as divine as our masquerader would have it , ) was transferd to the younger brother even by god himself , and that too ( as we read in gods promis to the mother ) before they were born . nay though the father isaac had no prejudice against esau , but resolved to make him his heir , and accordingly sent him for venison to cherish his heart , that he might receive his blessing and with it the assurance of his inheritance ; yet when iacob by artifice , and his brothers borrowed name had deceived the father , and extorted the blessing , we find the grant of his inheritance , though fraudulently obtain'd was so far from being retracted , that the fathers promise and word even to the counterfeit esau was more sacred , then all the formidable ties of blood , and the inviolable right of succession . now i hope , our wise author will not quarrel with isaacs injustice and appeal to the light of nature and common right for the redress of esaus wrongs . perhaps it may be objected rhat esau sold his birth-right foolishly for a mess of pottage , though that we find had no influence on isaacs determination , yet if a royal birth-right could be sold or forfeited either by the folly or fault of the heir , where 's succession ? and if in our present state of england we have an heir of those corrupted principles , and that depraved infatuation , till he has prodigally forfeited his fathers and his grand-fathers blessings , the one having sealed the protestant faith with his blood , and the other having particularly entayl'd a curse upon all his progeny that should ever apostatise from the protestant truth to the popish superstition , if we have an heir so bewitcht by the charms of rome , which like the syrens songs can convert reason into madness , or rather like circes bowles transform men into swine , why not the prodigals fare the husks , a more proper reward from him , than a coronation festival . this i am certain , if he had esaus fate , the blessing and inheritance should go together . i shall only instance one particular more out of holy writt , i hope his &c. in the last paragraph will allow the iudges of israel were a kingly power as well as the patriarchal , and that they may indeed appear so , we find their government the most agreeing with the present monarchy of england , for they had the power of life and death , peace and war in their prerogative , but then as a restriction against absolute and arbitrary power , ( like our common and ecclesiastick laws ) their constitution of government was limited and confined withing the establisht and recorded mosaick law which was the ultimate verge of their jurisdiction both civil and spiritual . now here in the case of samuel judge of isreal we find him parting with his royalty and conferring it upon his two sons even in his own life time : after that we find the israelites disgusted against their ill government and asking for a king , that is such a king as those of the nations round about e'm , viz. an absolute monarch . and upon this saul stept up into the throne . now here we may observe there was so little regard had to the right of succession that their lawful judges even after possession were divested of their royal dignity , and that too ( mark it ) not only upon the peoples request , but even by a command from the immediate voice of god , without the lest reflection of the duty of passive obedience to samuels sons those corrupted judges of isreal . and though it may be objected that god was angry with the children of israel for their desires of change , in that they had follow'd other gods , and that this asking for a king as we read ) look'd like rejecting of him that had brought e'm out of egypt , and deliver'd them from the hands of their enemies , yet since god complyed with that desire , no man must say , this change was unlawful or the removal of their royal judges unjust . but in answer to all this , our masquerader will not want a justification for the unalterable right of succession , nay rather than stand out at a dead lift hee 'll start you up a common right and a light of nature that upon occasion shall supersede even the records of scripture and the very immediate acts of god. nay we find , after the constitution of that more absolute iewish monarchy which began in saul , that his very next successor was a stranger to his blood , a man of a quite different family ; in so much that david the man after gods own heart , a man so eminently beloved of the almighty , that from his loyns the promis'd messias should procceed , was a prince so far from owing his crown to the right of birth and blood , that he was anointed king even in his predecessors life in spight of the greater sons of saul those nearer and juster pretenders to the crown had birth-right given e'm title to it . but so early a sea-mark did god set up against that fatal rock , unalterable succession ; and so timely a care did the great founder of empires , the divine omnipotence take , to show that the dispensations of majesty for his peoples good and his own glory , were to be preferr'd before the soveraignty of birth , that blinder gift of chance . but to come a little down to our own age , even in all our latest modern constitutions of monarchy , and that not only in england but all the christian kingdoms in europe , we find there is not altogether that infallibility in birth right , but that fools and mad-men notwithstanding their proximity of descent are excluded from empire , so that by mr. lestranges permission a shallow perecranium or an addled one upon occasion shall put very good royal veins out of play . so that to make monarchy go a little hand in hand with our new natural philosophy , some criticks will tell you , that the life of it lyes more in the head than the heart , that is , in the brain than the blood. and that i need not stray far for an instance , have we not had a late king of portugal deposed as delirious and frantick and consequently render'd by law uncapable of reighning , and all this done by his own subjects and those of his own religion , without the least reflection of treason or rebellion or the aspersion of lifting a hand against the lords anointed . nay if truth might make bold in england there be those that dare honestly venture to say there must go so strong a dose of folly and madness or indeed both together to make up the composition of a popish heir to the protestant crown of england , especially an heir that can be fond of the gugaws , bawbles and trumpery of the romish superstition as to hazard three crowns for them , and that too by an apostacy from a native hereditary protestant faith , not only derived down to him , but more signally sealed by a royal fathers martyrdom , a light which certainly would shine through all the mists and fogs the iesuitish magick has or can cast about him , though thicker if possible then the egyptian darkness it self , a darkness to be felt ; were there not a skull in the case more than strangely impenetrable , and a cerebellum if possibly more than supernaturally impedimented : so that if in truth he but fairly stood the test of an old statute we have already , the begging of his reversion would be so feasible that it would be cross we won , and pile he lost . but to come yet a little nearer to the mark , as it is most undoubtedly true that soules are never generate , and consequently not always derived from the father that begets , it sometimes so falls out by the caprice of some ill natured planet , or to come to a more christian notion , by the indisputable will of omnipotence that moulds the clay as he pleases , to make such infinite disproportions in the unequal distributing of those sparks of his own celestial fires call'd soules , that so much over rule the inferior mass of flesh and blood , and sometimes so far estrange and alienated a son from the nature , temper , and indeed almost every thing of the father , till it does worse then bastardize even legitimacy it self . finis a prophesie of cadvvallader, last king of the britaines containing a comparison of the english kings, with many worthy romanes, from william rufus, till henry the fift. henry the fift, his life and death. foure battels betweene the two houses of yorke and lancaster. the field of banbery. the losse of elizabeth. the praise of king iames. and lastly a poeme to the yong prince. herbert, william, fl. 1604. 1604 approx. 118 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 36 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a02624 stc 12752 estc s103828 99839573 99839573 4005 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a02624) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 4005) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1070:03) a prophesie of cadvvallader, last king of the britaines containing a comparison of the english kings, with many worthy romanes, from william rufus, till henry the fift. henry the fift, his life and death. foure battels betweene the two houses of yorke and lancaster. the field of banbery. the losse of elizabeth. the praise of king iames. and lastly a poeme to the yong prince. herbert, william, fl. 1604. cadwaladr, vendigaid, d. 664? [70] p. printed by thomas creede, for roger iackson, and are to be solde at his shop in fleetstreete, ouer against the conduit, london : 1604. dedication signed: william harbert. in verse. signatures: a-i⁴ (-a1). reproduction of the original in the harvard university. library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers -poetry. 2006-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-06 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2007-06 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a prophesie of cadwallader , last king of the britaines : containing a comparison of the english kings , with many worthy romanes , from william rufus , till henry the fift . henry the fift , his life and death . foure battels betweene the two houses of yorke and lancanster . the field of baubery . the losse of elizabeth . the praise of king iames. and lastly a poeme to the yong prince . london printed by thomas creede , for roger iackson , and are to be solde at his shop in fleetstreete , ouer against the conduit . 1604. to the no lesse vertuous then honourable gentleman syr philip herbert , knight of the most noble order of the bathe . right worthy sir , the honor which i beare , and euer will vnto your worthy line , makes me presume ( presumption cannot feare ) to tender you this litle booke of mine : whose substance if your honor will approue , my lines shall limits want , so doth my loue . that man of men whose fatall name you beare , of his vnnumbred worthes the chiefe were these : three glorious wreathes vpō his brow to weare , which said he , loued learning , warre , and peace . o aemulate this man the sonne of fame , haue all his vertues , though but halfe his name . pursue thy first designments ( noble knight ) affect thy country , and admire thy king : the epistle dedicatorie . be as thou art , sincere in all mens sight , do this , and i thy praise will euer sing . i smoothe not i , nor do i hope for gaine , accept my loue , and so requite my paine . the admirer of your vertues , whose life is deuoted to your loue . william harbert . the avthor to his poeme . trace the wide stage of spight and proud disdaine , and mount the steps of scornefull enuies staire , imperfect embrion of an idle braine , soare not aloft , vse meane , do not despaire , the best way is betweene the sea and ayre : be like thy selfe , be neither proud nor base , one enuy gets , the other gaynes disgrace . be not too huge in shew , in strength a childe , these imateriall epithites eschew , be to the scornfull proud , the humble milde , put not thy censure to an open view , speech enuy oft , but silence neuer knew . when thou seest good then prayse , when bad be blinde , then wit will beare with thee , and fooles be kinde . to the reader . i which in silence nest so many dayes smoothered the slight of my vnfeathered quill , because i knew it could not merit prayse , here where the muses sang and shewd their skill , for this did seeme to be parnastus hill : but this amaz'd my minde , and grieu'd mine eye to see the buzards with the eagles flye . to see a troupe of souldiers neuer tride , besiege a fort by nature fenc'd on high , i was asham'd to see the heires of pride , debase in vnexperienc'd poetry , the immortall vertues of great maiestie , i these are they that do the muses staine , one wanton pen makes all be iudged vaine . i which securely on these errours gaz'd , and safely stood vpon the silent shore , when others ships by enuies rockes were craz'd , loue me constrain'd , as pride did them before , to trust the rockes and leaue the silent shore : the loue of friends , not prayse did me perswade , against my will , against the streames to wade . therefore to you whose iudgement is sincere , if any fault , as many faults there be , seeme harsh and iarring to a tuned eare , impute the blame to those , and not to me , who made my pen shew his infirmitie : if any good as small there is you see , reape you the profit , yeeld but thankes to me . a prophesie of cadwallader , last king of the britaines . sitting with clio by the gliding thame , neere to her siluer girt the verdant strand , i saw rhamusis so adornd by fame : dauncing in measures , on the farther sand , holding a ball of gold within her hand : she stood on that , that neuer stood but went , so must all those that trust her gouernment . then did this queene , her wandring coach ascend , whose wheeles were more inconstant then the winde , a mighty troope this empresse did attend , there might you caius marius caruing find , and martiall scylla courting venus kind : times alter , and in times we changed bee , chaunce onely constant is in leuitie . there might you see how archimedes art , as a strong bulwarke guarded syracuse : how scipio fought and cato stabd his hart , how anthony did wrong the sacred muse , and cleopatras body did abuse . how mago fell in spaine , and hanniball did pitch his tents before saturnias wall . his stratagems , his snares , vnequall fightes , scipio , sempronius , and flaminius slaine : aemilius dead amidst his wounded knights , how chance his youth with praise did entertaine , and in his age how fortune wrought this paine : all this shee did , oh man her fraude perceiue , and trust her not , for shee will thee deceiue . how alexander rose at darius fall , lysimachus within the lyons den : how scypio did besiedge numantias wall , and many thousands more which scape my pen , amongst this fatall troope of fortunes men : i saw an aged king except i erre , that cleaped was the high cadwallader . he was the last , saue three of fortunes trayne , those were a danea , saxon , and a norman king : hengist the first , next was denmarkes swayne , the last was normanes bastard , which did bring plenty of ioy ; whose praise the english sing . william , whose valure mixt with happy fate , brought bondage to the iuthes and augles state . the britaine monarch ware a simple crowne , hauing small beades of amber by his side : a siluer crosse , a friers white frize gowne , vpon an humble asse this king did ride , as white as snow , or as the siluer tide . one hand a staffe , the other held a booke , on which his eyes continually did looke . wherein were charactred in lines of gold , locrinus warres , and humbers tragedy : the king himselfe by gwendoline controld , the scythians paramour of germany estrilda drownd , the praise of hungary . sabrina thrust in seuerns flowing maine , poore madan by the curres of ireland slaine . the britaine manlius , not the romane knight , thinking to slay mempricius madans sonne : himselfe was by his brother slaine in fight , and he by wolues ( as madan was ) vndone , for sodomes gilt to lust his mind had wonne . the foremost booke did britaines raigne relate , the next of swayne , the third of saxens state . the fourth and last did write of williams raigne , in which there was an ancient prophesie : written of yore , confirmd by merlins twaine , what should ensue to williams progeny , was there at large expainde in poetry . the warres of england for the crowne of france , there many battels with their mournfull chance . the ciuill warres of yorke and lancaster , the cambrian helmet changde for englands crowne : how true discent did tudors blood preferre , the brow of peace dispearced mars his frowne , the land of warre is rulde by iustice gowne . these shall haue end , then shall arise a king which plenty shall conduct , in concords string . he with vnnumbred linkes of reasons chaine , shall three in one , and one in three vnite : britaine should be the name , for brute doth raigne , a king commands no princes fauorite , this he intreates , for this his penne doth write : cease to command , learne subiects to obay , reason where iustice rules , beares greatest sway . is it not peerlesse praise with peace to gaine , that for the which , our fathers spent their blood : and neuer age but ours could reobtaine ? o happy men if that you saw such good , but will is masked still with errors hood . let ture obeisans vp this diet breake , so caesar wils , so cicero doth speake . the fect was this , the prophesie was such which he had read with carefull industry , and quoted euery line with iudgments touch , a midst his study casting vp his eye , seeing his mistresse fortune was not nye . his booke he sleightly set into his gowne , which on the yellow sand fell quickly downe . thence posted he on his maiestique asse , like some slow rider pacing to the race : than isis siluer channell did i passe , and thither went , where as mine eyes might gaze on that faire booke , clad in a golden case . i past the annales , for it pleasde mine eye , to muse vpon that sacred prophesie . when i had read vnto the latter lyne , i saw the aged king returne with speede ? kind syr ( quoth he ) saw you a booke of mine ? i syr ( quoth i ) if this be he indeed i gaue it him ; he gaue me thankes for meed . he posted thence , i to my study went , where on this matter many houres i spent . at last i was resolu'd for to relate in poetry the things mine eyes did see : which was the vncertainety of humane state , to paint the things a right with equitie , i did implore the ayde of memorie . which she denide ; oh worthies pardon mee , if ought i write amisse which you shall see . not orpheus trees , and birds inchanting quill , nor homers art heere ( reader ) shalt thou see : expect not ouids verse , nor maroes skill , for if you doe , you shall deceiued bee : if bad it is , pray gentles beare with mee . say it is meane , thou dost mee much commend , i 'de haue it meane , because i meane to mend . mistake mee not , i liue in hope to please : dispraise mee not , before thou knowest mee well : maugre sweete , not reuenge , my lines loue peace , doe not my shame before thou seest it tell : marke euery line , and each wordes nature spell . ere thou beginst to reade , looke , beare in minde of whom i write , yea how , and in what kind . faire englands peeres with romanes i compare , their warres , their spoiles , their fightes and victory , their filthy vices , with their vertues rare : their laud , dispraise , their praise and infamy , their conquests triumphes with their treachery . then doth our muse declare intestine warres , kings conquering fields , and princes wounding iarres . then doth she mount the ayre with eagles winges , then to the north shee goes , and passeth twidet and sings his praise , which endles glory bringes , who like a pilot doth this island guide , which like a barke , within the sea doth ride . this land is seated like to venice state , the waues , the walles , and euery ship a gate . least that my gates be wider then my towne , and that diogines my folly see : my proems prologue i le set quickly downe , and bend my muse vnto the prophesie : where you may reade art mixt with industry . needs must i erre , to erre all men are bent , to perseuere , is a bad beasts intent . the comparison . o what a sea of blood shall england spill , when normans prince , and palastinas friend , with burgonets of steele our fieldes doth fill , brothers must striue as did seuerus kind , enuious ambition makes iust nature blind . arunce and brutus dead , alarums cease , publicola doth liue , and loueth peace . when brutus dide , valerius then did raigne , when arunce fell , the tuscan emperour fled : when tirrolls shaft shall enter rufus braine , when henries life with roberts lightes are fled , when all these sleepe in natures earthly bed . norfolke shall giue to stephen , henries due , peace then shall be , but warre shall soone ensue . flora is fled , stout hiems weares her crowne , attir'd like mars in furniture of steele : aniow and blois striue for the imperiall crowne , a griefe surpassing griefe doth england feele , whilst doubtfull fortune turns her doubtfull wheele . camillus comes , the frenchmen feare his voice , alba is freed , and albion hath her choice . when rome was sackt , camillus ended strife , and made bellinus brother to dispaire : when germanes empresse mawd shall end her life , henry shall claime the crowne , as lawfull heire , his eame in graue , but he in regall chaire is plac't , and rules his princely peeres with peace , his sonnes rebell , and concord gins to cease . now springs the plant , from hence our ioy shall spring , victorious aniow crownd in regall state : liuing , adopts an heir , inuests a king , vagratefull child spurd by a womans hate , sturd forraine foes the land to ruinate . romes sword is consul , foe-men tribute paies , both henries dead , christs friend the septer swaies . marcellus which did syracusa burne , made affricks praise , to praise his matchles minde , and place his ashes in a golden vrne : so aibious lyon sprung from lyons kinde , when death the king and prince in cords shall binde . hee le spend his treasure , for iehouas good : but woe alas , a slaue shall spill his blood . designed iohn disuests young britaines duke , but antichristians prince , our sauiours foe : bringes lewis in , and doth him straight rebuke , egles of england , yeeld to swans of poe , a monarch falles by monkes , fates wills it so . titus suruiues , though flames flaminius burne , worster is safe , and lewis doth returne . at thrasimenus valiant titus fell , in prusias court , his sonne reuengde his death : form happie heauen , though iohn to haples hell headlong did slide , his sonne shall weare the wreath , the dolphen flyes , and mars begins to breath : tempestuous whitle-windes , breake the temple gate of peace ; the peers the king , the prince the baron hate . ciuill dissention and dislovall armes , cleerly declares clares hidden enmitie : a fatall starre foretelleth future harmes , the legions meete , each doth the other spye , eccho resounds , s. george , s. george , both cry : gracchus is stabd , young scipio peace maintaines , the barrons tam'd , all conquering longshanckes raignes . romes enuious tribunes that ignoble tribe , the vitious issue of a vertuous dame : did the base mindes of poore plebeians bribe , to gaine them honour , with their countries shame : they dead ; the world did ring with romanes faine . so clare and mountford shall , who being slaine , edward shall vanquish calidonias plaine . acon is tane , and tunis feares his stroakes , he loued peace , yet bare a warriors shield : cambria disdain'd to weare her sisters yoake , the ensignes spred , both striue to win the field , the bridge is past , and leoline must yeeld : marius departs , proscriptio●s gin to cease , the prince of warre shall end his dayes in peace . destruction graz'd on fertill italy , till syllas legions vanquisht marius might : so ciuill warres shall feed on britany , till leolinus that all daring knight , is tane by edward in vnequall fight : when marius fell , concordia gan to smile , so wales will amplify faire englands stile . resplendant iuno , leaues her sacred throne , young gaueston bewitcht great edwards hart : the minor gods bewaile saturnias mone , bohume and beaumount takes the marchers part , and false matreners stabbes carnaruans hart : for caesars office scipio striues in vaine , and march too soone retells his triple gaine . when that the romane eagles graspt of yore , scipio with auncient lentulus did striue : for iulius priesthood , whose deserts were more , but when that pompeys legions did not thriue , they tasted gall within the honies hiue . so wigmore seekes in vaine to get a crowne , but by lord mountaoute is tumbled downe . terras proud issue tam'd , immortall ioue rides in his chariot , through the azurde skie : adornd with valure , mercy , peace and loue , so caesar rode in rome with maiesty , scipio would liue , life cato doth deny . so wigmores honor seekes , but must not part , matreuers hand , hath stabd matreuers hart . warres thunderbolt , with his egiptian pearle , illustrious venus and her martiall bride phillips faire sister , with great mercias earle , submits to henaults mounting-minded bride , vengeance and fury scourge inhumane pride . egipt is lost , and authony must die , march is immurde , and twise he may not flie . when anthony did cleopatra loue , and did augustas chamber-bed forgoe : bellona caesars irefull minde did moue : to worke reuenge on chaste octauias foe , marcus is slaine , he must his loue forgoe . as anthony and cleopatra were , so is queene ifabel and mortimer . depressed waters element , some thinke , is downe supprest by powers most diuine : some iudge that terra doth the moisture drinke , yet certes shall men see with mortall evne , when deadly water shall with ayre combine , great mortimer whose name from waters sprang , shall waue in waues of ayre , and there shall hang. vermilion collour'd clowdes of purple warre , are by the radiant beames of edwards raigne : form englands territors exiled farre , but stay ( me thinkes ) bellona soundes againe : and calles forth mars to fight in aquitaine , stay caesar stay , let valiant drusus goe : great arthurs heire , can vanquish artois foe . when that tiberius did the septer sway , of albas empire , great saturnias king : germanicus whose head was deckt with bay , fought still abroad , and conquest home did bring : so edward did whose praise the spanyards sing , let beaumount witnes fearfull phillips flight . and iohn which yeelded to the gascoigne knight . the wandring planets of the burnisht skye , are by the vncomprised spheare of loue , thrust here and there , as men condemn'd to dye , heauen were nought , if heauen did not moue : so nature taught , so natures sonne did proue . like vnto these , or like a comet bright , through euery region caesar sent his light . the zodiaks lamp in the eclipticke line , twice vrgd his courser to a swift careere : the hitrurian sonne doth in the east decline , in europes west his praise did first appeere , oh climatericall disaster yeere : caesar thy glory in the west did rise , the poisoned east , thy raine did deuise . so siluer streames and toplesse apenine , which doe confront terrestriall paradise : must not great edwards wandering fame confine , mars and bellona stratagems deuise : that he with honors wings should mount the skyes . exiled peter doth implore his ayde , iberia quakes , to see the crosse displayd . reuolting henault , and relenting iohn , are terrified at bruse and balliols fall : no salike law , can barre bold phillips sonne , his matchlesse valure caused a kingdomes thrall : whilst slothfull charles immur'd him in a wall . germanias terror wan a glorious field , so cambrias monarch made a king to yeeld . carelesse of death , like to a thunder-bolt , englands crasinius with a massie lance : and not vnlike a fierce vntamed colt , glides like the siluer rheine through yeelding france , blinded with age great boheme falls by chance . caligula is borne , the sinke of shame , richard misled , deserues an endlesse blame . the worldes faire mistresse , empresse of the earth , ordaines a triumph for augustus heire : so gascoigne triumphes at young gascoignes birth , wonder of armes set in victorias chaire , to troynouant with tropheys doth repaire . romes senators attended albas starre , so albion peeres did waite on albious carre . two glorious sonnes , rules the celestiall globe , cheering the world with their transpearcing rayes : garnisht with saphires , and a iasper robe , ( vntimely chaunce ) times wonder ends his dayes , aemilius mournes amidst his tropheys praise . troies hope is dead , and priams hector slaine : edward hath lost his sonne , his sonne a raigne . impartiall death maskt in a sable weede , passeth the romanes watch and praetors guard : and to tiberius royall tent doth speede , phisicke resists , and death by art is bard , but art doth yeeld , for death was too too hard : he laid in graue , his nephewes sonne doth raigne , the scourge of rome , and europes empresse slaine . so when that death of edward made an end , essence of value , substance of renowne : whome peace for iustice , warres for rule commend , exalting vertue , putting vices downe , his bones entombd , his worthy sonnes doe crowne : their nephew richard second of that name , the first , though not the last disgrac't by fame . me●omene thou dismal muse appeare , and moralize the anthemes which i bring ; richard misled by bushy , poole andvere , ignoble scroope in his new empires spring , inchaunting charmes vnto his eares did sing : flattry corrupteth kings , but good aduise makes counsellors gratious , and the princes wise . when neroes sonne was borne in neroes campe , quirinus father rheas valiant spouse , in his red spheare enlightned had his lampe , leauing his yron roabes and brazen house , did to bellona cups of blood carowse . saturne then ioynd with mars , which did foretell that neroes sonne for murther should excell . whom brutus freed by death from tarquines stroakes , princes of peace , for warres admirde of all : the worlds arch monarches rent their chained yoakes , consulls and tribunes do a senate call , their voice is one caligula must fall . nature doth swarue and from her limits passe , the imperious lyon , got an abiect asse . so when chaste alice richard forth shall bring , in edwards campe , victorias sacred seate : prophets like starres , ensuing harmes shall sing , the peeres ( like albas knights ) were all repleate with wrath , disdain was in a mightie sweate in working waies , the king for to depose , which being done , the nobles darby chose . the northerne planet great northumberland , whose peerles issue neuer shall decaie : till nature doth confound both sea and land , and shapeles chaos comes his part to play , vertue must liue though men be turnd to claye . this glorious moone true badge of honor bright , disdaynes the sunne , and did not borow light . foreseeing gaunt like to a carefull fire , seeing that lost by sloth which labour wonne : doth contermaund his soueraignes hot desire , and like a blast doth caulme the scorching sunne , which by illuding sycophantes is wonne , two combatants on their earth threatning steedes , attend the trumpets sound in yron weedes . the reuerent consulls yorke and lancaster , doe conuocate a senate of the peeres : and equalizing woodstocke did preferre , due banishment to those ambitious peeres , the barons ioynd to this ; the champions sweares mowbray for aye , ten yeares must harford part , griefe galles the one , and kills the others hart . the gallant courser in the listed race dismounts the ryder , scornes his curbing raine : stamping with ioy , his freedome doth embrace , and doth his pristine seruitude disdaine , leauing his ryder breathlesse on the plaine . so raging burdeux tumbles downe his kinne , and runnes from sin to vice , from vice to sinne . in his imperiall pallace pleasures bowre , romes mightie monster did himself repose : sacking cytheress for t , faire venus towre , the raging multitude their wrath disclose , for his praetorian guard , they did insclose : chaerea did split his hart ; oh happie thing ! t' was good he dide , t was bad to kill a king. so honors spurre did pricke the percies blood , to tumble richard from his bloudie throne : wishing great herford to transpasse the flood , to come and sit on iocobs sacred stone , where he might raigne as king , and rule alone . as claudius rose , so herford came to raigne , as nero fell , so edwards sonne was slaine . now gaunts great issue in his throne is set , whose sacred science this my muse should tell : for margarets sake , that sprang from sommerset , for her it should , if cambria did not tell , for lawes vnheard , this monarch did excell . who gaue him wings to mount , he threw to ground , claudius who ran so faire , is claudus found . in silence vault my muse shall hide his fame , who dide the grey goose wings with purple red : praise he deseru'd , though he deserued blame , sertorius like his warlike troopes he led , for by alluring hope they both were fed . had men and fortune equaliz'd his minde , his conquests seuernes neuer had confinde . victorious hotspurre and his valiant sire , the kings great steward , wosters reuerent lord : with neuer daunted dowglas doe conspire , whose endles praise our annales doe record : with these doe glendowre ioyne , and wigmors lord , to pull the scepter from the tyrantes hand , and giue it him that should by right command . dowglas and hotspurre peerlesse for their might , are ouermatcht by henries matchlesse sonne : who like a lyon rows'd him in the fight , glendowre himselfe is by himselfe vndone , northumberland is sicke and cannot come : like to a tyger in his eager chase , great monmouthes praise doth run from place to place . tumults appeas'd and armor set aside , the stately cirty of the highest god diuine ierusalem , iehouas bride , being whipt with warre , and famines pinching rod , implores the helpe of this all-conquering lord : his soule defilde with sinne , by merits sought that to redeeme which iesus blood had bought . his royall nauy like a sea of wood , attends his princely presence in the bay : but see how meager death still enuying good , with fatall stroake his enterprise doth stay , the caedar falles in time , so kings decay . why stay you shippes , he treades the sacred path , ierusalem his soule and body hath . henry the fift , his lyfe and death . avaunt proud rome and bragge not of thy men , nor thy aetheriall caesars warres declare : cease peerlesse plutarch with thy sacred pen , the worlds archmonarches aptly to compare , reason doth vrge , and this alledge i dare , that englands homer portraid hath his warre , which doth excell the worthiest caesars starre . what telst thou me of famous hasdruball , of cannas chance , and varros ouerthrow : aemisius death , and conquering hanniball , of syllas legions , and a parthian bowe , of titus valure , catos wrinckled browe , of syracuse , and strong namantias wall , or phillip , persia , iugurth iubas fall . of noble drusus and proud saturnine , of scipios death , and gracchus infamy : of marius trophies , and sterne cataline , how caesar vanquisht france and germany , and twise returnd as foild from britany . the world admir ; d their victories to see , yet none of these must be comparde with thee . let athens praise the lawes which solon gaue , and marathon extoll miltiades , write caria of mansolus stately graue , and let cycilia wish demosthenes , but salamina praise themistocles . greece did admire their tryumphes for to see , yet all of these cannot comparewith thee . let sparta now conceale lycurgus fame , and lacedaemon hide lysanders praise : cease argos now , to shew th'olimpicke game , let silence cloud or maske those golden dayes , when epires monarch acted tragicke playes : but what of him ? or what are these to thee ? for thou alone doest farre exceed those three . though alexander wan darius crowne , and forc't the easterne emperour leaue his tent : burning persopolis that regall towne , seeing thy valure freely giues consent that two bright sonnes should rule the element : with thee great prince we aptly may compare , rich europes paragon , and phaenix rare . thou didst not want parmenios aiding hand , nor valiant perdicas aspiring minde : which might alansons quarels fierce withstand , as long as langlies gallant issued minde had faithfull suffolkes loue to him combinde . they wan , they lost , they liue though they are dead , they liue in heauen , and dide in conquests bed . france did ten yeares withstand the romanes might , both parties oft with equall courage plaide ; yet that before the sun shewd twice his light , madst great mompensier flye as all dismaide , to see thy kingly banner forth displaide , like to crassinius yorke the yaward led , true valure is by hope of honor bred . henry two diadames doth now combine , europes faire daughters , eldest sisters twaine : by marriage of a maide a mimph diuine , whilst lewis liues , as emperour he mustraigne , henry as heire apparant doth remayne : when katherin is betrothd his beauteous wife , peace conquers warre , and concord endeth strife . immortalized virgin sacred queene , britaines aurora harbinger of day : fairer then thought could thinke or eye hath seene , rich vertues port , and honors cleerest bay , thrice blessed wombe fram'd of aetheriall clay , which didst enclose that glorious theodore , whose sonne did britaines regalty restore . her amber-tresses like to wyers of gold , that shadowed her white vermilion face : like vulcans chayne did venus champion hold , vvho triumphed erewhile , now sues for grace , vndecent action for a captaines place : thy eyes are now bewitcht with eyes diuine , thy heart consents to honor katherine . if i had zeuxes at to paint thy lookes , did i enioy maeonian homers quill : to pourtraiture thy praise in golden bookes , thy vertues rare would aequalize my skill : thy sacred paps sweete nectar did distill . hadst not thou bene , our eyes should neuer view our present peace and pleasures to ensue . stay ranging muse , thy wandring course restraine , when ioues all-seeing eyes did view this king : he sent his harauld to that spatious plaine , where the three fatall sisters , then did spinne : to know when henries life did first beginne . and if his thred were not already spunne , that lachesis should make it quickly runne . his wisest sonne did place his golden wings , holding a siluer rodde all-charming wand : vvherewith he could inchant all mortal things , vvith this attire he claue the aetheriall land , where loue and luno doth the gods command : when that he came vnto the appointed place , he told his message with a comely grace . sisters ( quoth he ) for so they were indeed , th' omnipotent and all-commanding ioue : vvhich doth on nactar and ambrosia feed , iuno , apollo , and cythereis loue : vvith all the gods that rules the sphere aboue , entreats , cōmands , of you faire sisters three , to end his life , though not his dignitie . atlas you know is old alcides dead , you know the waight of heauens massy throne : the planets houses couered all with lead , ioues pallace varnisht with rich rubies stone , the gates of iuory and indian bone : he that doth heauens heauiest waight sustaine , must patience haue to tollerate his paine . therefore ( quoth he ) this is my fathers will , ( for ioue his father was , or fame doth lye ) that you which power haue great kings to kill , would shorten henries life that he might dye , a heauenly thought deserues aeternitie . atlas is old , and atlas must haue aide , all feare the heft , henry was nere afraide . the sisters stood amazde at his request , each looke at others eyes as in a glasse : whereat sterne clotho eldest of the rest , brother quoth shee ( for ioue their father was ) shall fates be rulde by gods ? ahlas , ahlas , they reuell still , but we poore wretches worke , we labour , they in caues of pleasure lurke . the worlds poore impes may iustly now complaine of humane sorrow , mans still growing griefe : how birds and beasts a longer life do gaine then man , poore man ; and mans commaunding chiefe if you deny them helpe , where is reliefe : men say that fates are certaine , now they see ioue made vs constant in inconstancy . the angry god invelloped with ire , wrath in his face , and fury in his lookes , his eyes more redde then was the reddest fire : shewes auncient monuments of sacred bookes , which earst he wrote by the idalian brookes . there might you see what act the gods did frame , amongst the rest ioue might the sisters blame . out of this place he drawes his argument , and doth confute their sugred sophistry : then reades another act of parliament , which did confirme ioues royall empery , his great prerogatiue and dignity . then doth he powre forth sacred eloquence , selected flowers of learnings quintessence . what if proud terras issue briareus , vvould combat with your great aetheriall sire ? fntring castalia , where the sacred muse liues still inspirde with yong apollos fire ? vvhat if the giants could so high aspire , vvould not they touch the christalized sky , vntuning heauens sweetest harmony ? vvhat god should then the heauens waight sustaine , vvhilst bacchus in his indian tygers carre vvould shake the orbes and that celestiall plaine , vvhen faire victoria conquering queene of warre , brighter then venus , or the brightest starre , doth giue to ioue a crowne bedeckt with gold , could atlas then heauens heauiest waight vphold ? his age is great , and yeares will strength remoue , therefore faire sisters well aduised bee : to answere loue and all the gods aboue , though loth they were , yet all did well agree to cut his thred for meere necessitie . then atlantiades did soone depart , and atropos did stabbe great henries hart . thus dide the phaenix of the vastie round , whose worth my muse should euer memorize : and eccho-like his martiall deeds resound , put that he did his country scandalize in following henry which did tyranize . she gaue thee breath to liue and men to fight , yet thou depriu'st her of her cleerest light . when noble henry ended hath his daies . bedford with conquering swords vernoi shal fill , and spend his blood to gaine immortall praise : beauford and beaumount shall good humfrey kill , and warwicke gaine the popular good will. poole is exilde from wofull margaret , and yorke malignes the duke of somerset . mars mounts his ensigns on our highest towers , and decks our helmets with ambitions plumes : reuenge sad massacres and scarlet showres distills , cities are burnt , whose dankish fumes contaminates the ayre , now yorke presumes vvith sarums earle and warwickes willing hand , to gaine the crowne , and with the crowne the land . the ciuill warres . plutonian princesse sacred proserpine , licence megaera and c●esiphone , vvhich neuer saw the sunnes all-pleasing shine enter this vale of humane misery , and consecrate to endles memory these ciuill broyles in characters of brasse , set forth these warres which did all warres surpasse . heer 's mars pauilion , there bellonas tent , the lanciers here , & there the carbines stands : the bilmen strikes , the archers bowes are bent , here raging fury flies with burning brands , distorted limmes are pilde on purple sands : here gassamores are cract , there helmets crazd , here gorgets cut , there vaines of azure razd . now doth the courser neigh , the clarions sound , and wrath mounted on a flaming steed : doth both the legions fortitude confound , the moistlesse earth for very griefe doth bleed , to see the gardner spoyle the sowen seed . heere might you see what age could neuer tell , whilst lyons fought , the forests barons fell . heere ambuscadoes watch the sallying scout , there hanniball entraps marcellus traine : here wings are plac't and squadrons round about , scipiades must leaue disloyall spaine , and like anebises clippe the elizian plaine . nature hath digd for men more kind of graues , then indian ganges hath translucent waues . no valiant martius stout coriolaene , did now the raging multitude withstand : tumultuous windes haue left the rocky lane , where sterne hypoaates with mace in hand , their lawlesse force , by force doth countermaund . eurus will blowe and shake the islands king , rebells will rise , and belles of discord ring . vnworthy i , to mount that sacred hill , and clodius-like see female sacrifice : virgill sang this , and none but virgill will aduenture valures worth to memorice ; thrice glorious obiect fit for princely eyes . pardon great homer , my all-daring muse , let cherills folly , cherills fault excuse . the lesser starres makes phoebe shine more bright , so may my infant muse comparde to thine , make thy heroicke poems splendant light , seeme fairer farre in mens iuditious eyne , comparison makes vertue seeme diuine . yet giue me leaue with my vnworthy pen , to blazon forth the acts of worthy men . cease mournfull rome thy sad enlangoring , those fatall fields neere to campania sought , wherein the very prime of marius spring , the spring of griefe which carbo deerly bought , ambitious conquest rulde great syllas thought . speake not of these proud rome , nor make thy mone , or if thou speak'st , make not comparison . what of stout varro , and affranius lost , massilias ruine scaeuas pierced shield : home by brundusium , caesars shippes were tost , euer renowm'd pharsalias bloody field , how iuba fell , and diator did yeeld . pompey in egipt by pothinius slaine , and endles shame which ptolomy did gaine . caesar is stabd , and albas doth lament , antonius doth the tyrants plea refute : irefull octauius to reuenge is bent , cascas and cassius , cicero and brute , for countreys freedome frame a faithlesse suite . lawes silent are when armies rule the towne , who conquered kings , by kings are tumbled downe . enuious desire of honor , loue to raigne , seuers their mindes whome nature did combine : two romaine nauyes cut the ocean maine , one brothers losse , doth cause anothers gaine , nothing is worse then potentates disdaine . rome simild with ioy , when ciuill warres did cease , england admired more at perfect peace . in thirteen battells englands strength was tryde , gauntes issue striues with clarence progenie : through euery place destructions steed did ryde , making debate and endles enmitie , twixt subiects loue , and princely soueraigntie . the lords conspire , and at saint atbons meete , here 's warwickes tent , there yorke doth man the streete . vnder the castell somerset is slaine , here clsfford falls , and there northumberland , great buckingham renewes the fight againe , in vaine the lion doth the beare withstand , where warwicke leades his all subduing band : the rose doth wither , and the daysie spring . the queene escapt , but warwicke hath the king . o whither shall she fly ? whose ay de expect ? who is encombred with a thousand woes : vvhat peasant boore will princes griefes respect ? by flight she scapes the furie of her foes : thus to the north this amazonian goes . griefe flies to those , who are opprest with griefe , societie in woe is some reliefe . vvhen romes two scipios fell , two glorious starres in andeluzia or illuding spaine : none durst but scipio vndertake those warres , euen so when clifford was for england slaine , and percies pride lay breathlesse on the plaine , none durst the ragged staffe and beare withstand , but cliffords sonne and great northumberland . the trumpets wake the champions to the field , vvho rode in tryumph through epaeons towne to vvestmerland ; and margaret must yeeld , vvhose vertues did deserue a golden crowne : his browes are circulizde with paper browne . themistocles doth yeeld to xerxes might , yorke ouermatcht , giues place to heuries right . penthisilea bends her course to troy , shewing the spoiles of larisseas king , and henry like to priam smiles with ioy , seeing his queene such tropheys home to bring : and all the phrigian virgins io sing . like vnto this , or like a brauer wight , couragious margret doth returne from sight . neuer discouragde warwicks royall peere , vnconstant clarence , constant montacute , seeing the southerne coast of albion cleere , did essex , suffolke , surrey resalute , norfolke doth mowbray captaine constitute . both armies ioyne , and to saint albons came , they flye their foes , where first they ouercame . mowbray to suffolke , warwicke with the rest , in haste , poste haste , to cambrias borders flye : new rising march doth rowse his spangled crest , and vnderstanding by a sallying spye his fathers friends , and fauourites were nigh , with decent gesture doth them entertaine , imploring aide his right to reobtaine . warwicke who was the speaker for them all , in modest sort , as well became his age : not duke of yorke but doth him soueraigne call , a name so great doth vertue equipage , now each to other doth his honour gage . like caesar now he ioynes with anthony , and like to him doth foster enmitie . when brutus hand had stabd great caesars hart , octauius honour euery where did finde : antonius takes the stout caesareans part , but when reuenge had satisfide her minde , whome mariage chaste with friendship had combinde , ambition makes them striue for endlesse raigne , and with their bloud to dye the crimson mayne . so edward and renowned sarums sonne ioyne to reuenge dead richards iniury : but when that gaunts great issue was vndone , warwicke doth enuy yorkes prosperitie , and much disdaines his peerlsse soueraigntie . witnesse when edward durst not here abide , and barnet field where noble warwicke dide . henries faire queene , great neapolitane , blinded with masked fate , vnconstant chance , did neuer feare her future fatall bane , like a sierce coult this iennet proud did prance , smiling with ioy to see her smiling chance . harke how the drumme doth summon to the field , see how she takes her ill beseeming shield . stay naples pride sicilian empresse stay , will france for euer showres of vengeance raigne ? thy first approch presage this fatall day , fire flew from heauen and made our turrets plaine , when thy armados cut the ocean maine . had caesar read that which the poore man gaue , egypt had neuer beene antonins gratre . had but great henry , great in maiestie ioynd with that match which bedford first did make , he had not tasted base seruilitie , but when his minion suffolke did forsake , that nimph of ioy , great heire to arminake , then yorkes depressed issue gan to rise , an abiect prince each subiect will despise , clifford and percy proppes of henries state ; ( seeing the southerne lords entend to fight , ) doth the fierce tygers anger instigate , proposing arguments of henries right , how her decayd , augmented edwards might . in hampton first she did our woe begin , two hamptons cannot end her endlesse sin . fury awakes the murthred lions whelpe , and like poore hector his deceased sire , craues of his kinsemen their supporting helpe , their smotherd hate hath kindled murthers fire , which none can quench till they haue quencht desire , where nemssis of late did murther end , there she begins heroicke bloud to spend . like the worlds monarch , yorkes apparant heire ioynes with his fathers friend , great neuils race : they to northampton with their troupes repaire , vvhere aniowes tamiris with martiall grace cliffords triumphant armes did embrace : clifford whose name as taibot did in france , made warwicke feare his colours to aduance . octauius now , and chaste octauias bride , conspire the death of tyranizing brute . clifford must fall , in top of all his pride , who did by armes great muusters plea refute , doth pleade his cause , but warwicke gaines the suite . a headlesse arrow piercst his armed throate , who in his youth did saile in conquests boate . if homer liu'd and dwelt in castalie , and daily tasted of parnassus well , inspirde with furious sacred poesie , yet would he not our virgils worth excell , whose paeans did these fierce massacres tell . delia is praisd with thy all-praysing hand : no wonder , for thou dweltst in delos land . eight seuerall battels shall escape my muse , least pride it selfe should me esteeme as proud : let maros quill that sacred path peruse , couer my temples with a sable cloud , cimerian wreathes my head of sorrow shrowd : giue me a brazen pensill not a pen , some drops of blood to portraiture these men . the field of banbery . now warre is mounted on rebellions steede , and discontent perswadeth willing pride , his crest to raise , and wears an iron weede : long smothred enuy doth the army guide , which made firme loue from true obedience slide : 't was that great neuill made proud george rebell , whose haughty spirits warwicke knew too well . warwicke that raisde the race of mortimer , whose eyes did see too soone , thy death saies so : the downfall of immortall lancaster , 't was he that did , what could not warwicke doo ? make kings and queenes to loue and feare him too . 't was that great peere , who with one warlike hand , crown'd and vncrown'd two kings who rulde the land . thus while these royall but disloyall peeres , maugre reuenge to him that knew not feare , vnnumbred bands of men and swarmes appeares in north and south , east , west , yea euery where they throw away their coats , and corslets weare . wiues , maides , and orphants eyes are stuft with teares , and cannot see the spades transform'd to speares . the shepheards hooke is made a souldiers pike , whose weather-beaten hands must learne aright his speare to traile , and with his sword to strike vpon the plumed beauer of a knight , none must be sparde by warres impartiall might . if euery souldier were a king , what then ? princes should die as fast as other men . the senator must leaue his skarlet gowne , and keepe him in some turret of defence : when warres once flourish , iustice must goe downe , lawes to correct , is lawlesse warres pretence , valure doth greeue to see ill gotten pence . to see a man without deserts to rise , makes warre such men , not iustice to despise . you that in peace by vse of golden hoords your dunghill race to barons did erect : you that by english phrase and chosen woords make heauens enuy your toplesle architeck , your angels cannot you from warres protect . the campe and court in manners different are , words may in peace , but deeds preuaile in warre . for robes of honor furr'd with miniuere you must haue brest-plates of well tempred steele , and on your aged heads strong helmets weare , all states must turne when fortune turnes her wheele , that man which pleasure tastes must sorrow feele . who sees the wracke of mightie empery , he loues his life too well that will not dye . when kings must fight , shall subiects liue in peace ? what coward is of such a crauant race , that loues not honor more than idle ease ? great romane i applaud thy worthy phrase , to liue with shame , is worse then dye with praise . all which haue being , alwaies cannot bee , for things corrupt must die , and so must wee . could cressus mightie mines from cyrus hand , his captiue carkasse or his state defend ? wealth cannot warre , nor siluer speares withstand : by strife we see the greatest states haue end , and most they marre by warre , who most would mend . when old warres cease , then straight their springs anew , for harmes still harmes , and euils do ills ensue . no sooner had the gladsome eyes of peace beheld this warlike sea inuiron'd ile , but disobedience heire to sluggish ease , did weake beleefe subdue with subtile stile , grace winnes the heart , but words the eares beguile . t was warwicks tongue , whose speech did all men please whose words were such , or very like to these . the earle of warwicks speech . you know great lords , your very eyes did see the spotlesse honor which my house and i did euer beare this kingdome ; who but wee did checke the pride of wilfull tyranny : and with our grandsires we esteemde it good , for englands weale to spill our dearest blood . witnesse the dismall fall of salisbury and richard duke of yorke in wakefield slaine , the wracke of my decaied familie , why did we this , what profit did we gaine ? t was but to shew our country our good will , which now we also do , and euer will. how many times haue i in complete steele yea mounted on my steed pursude the chase ? witnesse these weary limbes , for age must feele , if youth hath runn'd astray or tedious race . witnesse these siluer haires which now appeares , cares makes vs old , though we be yong in yeares . when as these eyes , impartiall eyes of mine , beheld my king illuded and misled by baser men , true honor did repine to see great maiestie with basenesse wed : for which i waged warre , and warring wan , and winning , chose a tyger for a lambe . both you and i great lords , yea all the state with vniuersall voice adiudg'd him wise : who now hath prou'd a tyrant and vngrate , humilitie makes time obseruers rise . for you i chose him king and spent my blood , but tryall saies , good seeming is no good , now therefore friends let warwicks tongue intreate , since that our hopes of edwards loue dispaire , that lancaster may repossesse his seate , whom we vnkindly thrust from honors chaire , the reason is which gouernes our pretents , tyrants are worser farre then innocents . thus this enraged lord doth instigate with spurlike words swift coursers to the race : enuy ambition breeds , ambition hate : hate discontent breeds , discontent disgrace , these be warres angry sounds , pernitious race . these vices by iniustice nourisht are , affection in a iudge is worse then warre . blessed that state , thrice happie is the land vvhere sacred iustice is esteemde diuine : and where the iudge on one eare holds his hand , my pen applaudes that sentence iust of thine , romes holy prince , peace louing antonine , as i am marcus , i am not thy foe , but being iudge , i must be iust also . that lawe deryding peere , disdaining lord , warwick doth his rebellious ensignes reare : and vowes reuenge on edward with his sword , hastings and stanley do withstand the beare , true honor neuer yeelds to seruile feare . he is a friend that loues when fate doth frowne , he shall haue thousands that doth weare a crowne . thus while these threatnings like some blazing starre , the wracke of some great emperour do portend : their friends on either side addresse for warre , great william earle of pembrooke doth entend , ere warre begin to make of warre an end . and for that purpose for his friends he sent , to whom as thus he shewed his right intent . the earle of pembrookes oration . you that did euer with your swords maintaine , the vndoubted title of the whiter rose : by whose great ayde great edward did obtaine , the royall crowne and homage held of those , vvhich now rebell , deere friends correct this sinne , 't is as much praise to keepe , as praise to winne . if speech might spur you to this glorious race , where endlesse honor is the purchast fee : selected words my ruder speech should grace , we pricke in vaine his sides whose feete are free . you euer did the house of yorke adore , true loue encreaseth daily more and more . giue not occasion to the enuious pen , to brand you with the badge of infamie : be firme in resolution worthy men , and thinke vpon your auncient libertie . behold why warwicke doth these warres entend , a bad beginning hath a worser end . looke with indifferent , not respecting eyes , vpon these two coriualls in the warre : edward a king , couragious , honest , wise , warwicke whose name is like a blazing starre , that some ensuing harmes doth foretell , enuy doth still worke ill , but neuer well . for whom doth he this bloody battell wage ? for aged henry , and the prince his sonne : who but for him had led a quiet age , but they poore princes , were by him vndone . i finde it true which hath bene often sed , beares must sometime with humane flesh be fed . it is not loue to either of these twaine , that doth enforce this proud ignoble peere : these wandring troupes of rebells to maintaine , but t is ambition whom he holds most deere , that doth compell his willing hands to fight : vnsetled braines bloud still respect , not right . nay , what if henry should enioy the wreath , thinke you by yeelding fauour to enioy ? friends , when warres rise say kings should neuer breath , princes in neede men of regard imploy . to this iust action loyall friends be mou'd , the firmest faith in danger great is prou'd . thus hath this lord as with a touch-stone tride , the courage of his countrey-men and loue : the voyce of all is on warres , warres they cride , the princes vertues do the subiectes moue , dangers and perils eminent to proue . the noble earle with speede pursues his fate , delay brings danger to the surest state . when fame reported this to edwards care , hope vanquisht feare and gaue encouragement : to see them firme who euer faithfull were . then to lord stafford , southwike earle he sent , to muster all his friends incontinent : then gaue he ioynt commission to these twaine , as equalles when they came in campe to raigne . thus these two captaines as those two of yore , vvhen romes selected youth in cannas bled , equall in power , but not in iudgements store , as varro , stafford from the battell fled , as paulus , so renowmed pembrooke sped . thus lord-like stout aemilius forth doth goe , to chase the pride of his rebellious foe . stafford and hee weake staffe to leane vpon , no stafford he , nor sprung from buckingham , nor let that name so base a man bemoane , his cowardize escandalizde his fame . lassiuious lust did explaiten his shame . these two to banbary with armies bend , thence stafford fled , there herberts life did end . there might you see a troope of warlike men , conducted by the glories of their clyme : vnworthy i , with my vnworthy pen , to aeternize in layes vndecent rime , their memories , which liue in spight of time . these two as fabius and marcellus weare , romes guarding target and offending speare . richard was valorous , but his brother wise , youth made him forward , age the other stayde : richard for action , pembrooke for aduise , if both their worths were in a ballance way de , neither should fates partiallitie vprayde , the differences betweene these brothers are , one peace affected most , the other warre . there might you see the champions of the beare , mounted on iustie coursers , scoure the plaine : there might you see the sonne of latimer , with rashnesse charge , with feare returne and slaine , they neuer feare , who neuer feeled paine . there might you see , o i am greeu'd to say , what yeares confirm'd , consumed in a day . there might you see that worthy man of men , richard with his victorious sword in hand , like a fierce lyon passing from his den , or some sterne boare , whose anger plowes the land , securely passe through euery conquer'd band . as a round bullet from a canon sent , this knight alone through fortie thousand went. and backe return'd to his amazed traine , but more enraged with anger then before : begins to kill , where he before had slaine , like a close myzer he augments his store , the more he slaies , to slaie he loues the more . all this thou didst , what latter age can tell , of one that better did , or halfe so well . thus like alcides all composde of ire , whose fiery lights shut sparkes of fortitude : this champion doth to greater deeds aspire , still pressing on the hydra multitude , till like to sheepe they fled in order rude . then to his tent with tryumph he doth goe , valure doth loue to spoile , not chase the foe . but see vnconstant chance , and seeing weepe , for euery word requires a siluer teare : whiles carelesse victory did sweetly sleepe , and conquest by desert did honour weare , ( vvhen most we liue secure , we most should feare ) sixe hundred men conducted by a squire , made those that chaste with praise , with shame retire . but ere that these confused warriours fled , whom vnexpected horror did amaze : they sold their liues for liues ere they were dead , their conquering blood their honors did emblaze , bnt all were not deriued from one race . some stallions in a field , some asses bee , and so of men there be , of each degree . richard thou canst not mount thy steed and flye , nor thou great lord experience makes thee stay , to feare the name of death is worse then dye : but men borne base , a baser word will say , i care not how i scape so liue i may . ye slaues to feare whom i abhorre to see , that loue life more , then praise or honestie . still do they striue till that vnnumbred presse like bees of hybla swarmed euery where : courage in danger doth it selfe expresse . submission to a lyon breeds but feare , but rauenous beasts their prostrate subiects teare : by such great richard falls , and pembrooke dies , conquering twise twentie thousand enemies . mount sacred spirits with cleare conscience wings to the ninth heauen whereas your glorious eye may gaze on the immortall king of kings : liue you in peace , but we in misery , man cannot happie be before he dye . vnto your glorious tombes i sacrifice , these dismall anthems and sad elegies . cease mournfull muse , to chaunt these ciuil broiles , vnciuill warres , and sence-amizing times : brothers by brothers spoild , vnnaturall spoiles , the guilt whereof to ioues tribunall climes , oh subiect fit for thaeban statius rimes . all warres are bad , but finall end doth tell , intestine warres all other warres excell . witnesse the same the macedinian downe , when pompey did the senates cause defend , and caesar sought the worlds imperiall crowne : witnesse philippes and antonius end , milde othos death which authors so commend . richard now riseth at his nephewes fall , a conscience cleare is like a brazen wall . now englands traiane sprung from troiane race , doth oxford helpe and darbies aide implore , froth-faced neptune with his trident mace doth guide his argosies to milfords shoare , at bosworth field he slaies the tusked boare . leicestrian dales their crimson goare did fill , a scarlet streame from richard did distill . cheiney thy armes and sinewes are not strong enough to match with albions martiall king : brandon thou dost thy youthfull vigor wrong , to combat him who to the field did bring those cruell parts which collingbourne did sing . now consolations wings doth reare my minde , to shew his praise , who sprang from priams kinde . great impe of kings , heroicke theodore , englands augustus , famous prince of peace , great treasurer of sacred vertues store , eden of pleasure , which didst all men please , comfort of albion , and they countries ease : from the foure golden fountaines did arise like vnto those that sprang from paradise . oh that i had all wittes excelling witte , to eternallize thy deeds immortall king : my pen thy trophies should , and tryumphes writte , the triple lauor of this round should ring vvith thy great name , which my great muse should sing . but since that nature did the same denie , accept my will , aetheriall dietie . elizabeth , o princely perfect name , combinde with thee , oh cheerfull cordiall knot : no priuate quarell could white albion fame : vvith blood and rapine fierce dissention blot , fury it selfe , within it self did rot . two parted roses which so long did striue , grew on one stalke , and both began to thriue . from that faire stalke great arthur first did rise , arthur who matcht with castiles katherine , childlesse he dide , and death he did despise , his body was intombde in gorgeous s●rine , his soule ascended , for it was diuine . henry then prince and heire apparant was , henry which did all former henries passe . the snow-white cliffes which albion do confine , whose subiect sands are deckt with margarites : clearer then is the clearest christaline , the towring waues , which rule the narrow streights , which do adumbrate sleepy rockes deceits , could not debarre his thoughts , but he did goe to conquer france , and englands greatest foe . wolsey then liu'd , high minded worthy clarke , vvhich did erect those glorious towres of yore : learnings receptacle , religions parke , oh that some eagle-mounting thought would so are to finish that which he began before . oh that some prince ( for none but princes can ) vvould perfect that , that excellent worke of man. the siluer isis and the gliding thame , whose billowes resalute the verdant strand , should warble paans to his mightie name , the leaden age is past which rulde the land , saturne is come , and saturne doth command : vvhose hopes were dead , rich students neuer feare , ( most rich in hope ) some will your turrets reare . nurse of ingenious spirits athens praise , chiefe benefactor of what ere is mine : o might i see some mightie monarch raise those halfe built walles and parted towres combine , then christ might yet be iustly tearmed thine : as christ is best , so should his houses bee , and in perfection haue a sympathie . henries triumphant carkasse laid in graue , couered with gold in caesars ancient towre : edward succeeds , a prince though yong , yet graue , the skye which whilome smilde begins to lowre , and showres of sorrow on the land to powre . he endes his life before it scarce began , what is more short then shortest life of man. when nature fram'd this prince , oh goodly creature , compos'd of pure and elementall fire : turnd in a heauenly mowld diuinest feature , she saw her selfe deceiu'd , and wroth with ire , when life began , his end she did desire . what enuie so could thee proud nature sting , nothing should make and marre the selfe same thing . the gods did enuie mans felicitie , and therfore did to nature condescend : that this yong king , great king of maiestie , in sixteene yeares his vitall course should spend , his life hath end , and all our ioyes haue end . nature doth hasten to the house of death . and shee consents to steale away his breath . now spayne and england ioynes , that peace i loue , that concord doth augment the common state : pray god it doth both firme and faithfull proue , but for to match with spayne , oh cruell fate , could mary so her countrey ruinate ? guiltlesse shee was , but those that made the match , vnder their wings did egges of serpents hatch . oh now me thinkes i could in dismall blacke shadow my lookes , and neuer wish the light : writing red lines of blood , more blacke then blacke , the massacres of mans amazing sight , after these duskie clouds comes elearest light . mary is dead , elizabeth doth raigne , her conscience cleare , no corasiue could staine . the losse of elizabeth . faire virgin , empresse , royall princely maide , sprung from the damaske rose the roses bud : t is true as truth it selfe which men haue saide , the end is best , though all the meanes be good , she was the last and best of henries blood . henry did well in all , excell in this , in getting of this maide , our greatest blisse . he vanquisht bolleine , and strong turnus towne , and rode in tryumph through the english pale : placing the diademe of france , that regall crowne , vpon his sisters temples ; and withall made the twelue peeres to feare their finall fall . but what of these ? if bullain had not bin , we all had liu'd for aye in endles sin . astronomers did dreame and fondly saide , that twelue designed signes did rule a spheare : virgo did guide the earth , oh heauenly maide ; but now sky-teachers wise men neuer feare , to say she is in heauen , for sure shee s there . oh she is gone , with her our pleasures fled , they liu'd in her , they dide when she was dead . bright gem of honor , albions glorious starre , the cynosure of englands hemispheare : princessse of peace , cytherian queene of warre ; rides through the cloudes on her caelestiall beare , conquering deathes ebon dart and sharpest speare . fathers of peace put on triumphant weedes , a gratious king , a gratious queene succeedes . reasons first founder , natures eldest sonne , the stoikes prince did also erre in this : repugnant natures neuer raigne in one , perfect my griefe , more perfect is my blis , i smile with ioy , yet teares my cheekes do kisse . a present salue hath cured a pensiue sore , britaine is now , what britaine was of yore . the wandring brute , who sprang from priams kinde , though artlesse men with their malignant muse : still bearing burning enuie in their minde , britaines first monarch warlike brute abuse , of all the northern world , this isle did chuse . with fire and sword he did obtaine his sute with peace and ioy we chuse a second brute . peace , valure , learning , science hee did bring , thou feare of god , whom thou doest onely feare : imperiall monarche , truth and concordes king , no champion then did weild his fruitlesse speare , no chaine did tye the milde vntamed beare . saturne then liued , no sinon did amisse , all men were free , ( no slaue by nature is . oh sacred age , and blessed times of yore , when iust astraea rul'd this circled plaine : then each man liu'd alike , and liu'd withstore , no persian blood did salamina stayne , no vandals rome , nor romane gouernd spayne . no cannas chaunce did cause saturnia mourne , no sencelesse nero wisht new troy to burne . no manlius sought a diademe to gaine , no iust papirius sude for fabius bloud : claudius as then did not virginia stayne , no consulls fell at alias flaming flood , red charea was not dewde with fabys blood . albans and romanes knew no single sight , saffetius did not yeeld to martius might . the vnspotted spowse of martiall collatine , did not consent to sextus lawlesse lust : each virgin was ybound with vestas line , camillus needed not the ardeans trust , nor sceuola his hand in flames to thrust . but see , oh see how age doth follow age , vvorse after worse , as actors on a stage . thrice happy britaine , strong vnited ile , disioynted was by her first monarches fall : then albanact was slaine by humbers guile , caesar then conquer'd it , who conquered all , hunes , pictes and danes tryumph't in britaines fal . vaile sorrowes roabes , ioues father comes againe , the golden age begins with iacobs raigne . the lords great stuart , albions mightie king , our second brute like to the morning starre , to englands court doth light of comfort bring , now concords boult doth ianus temple barre , binding in chaines the sternest god of warre . vertue and valour triumph euermore , augustus liues adornd with crassus store . to the maiestie of king iames , monarch of all britayne . all haile great monarch of the greatest ile , the northerne worlds vnited lawfull king , pardon my rudest reede vndecent stile , though i want skill in thy new empires spring , yet doe i loue , and will thy prayses sing . me thinkes i do on clarps kingdome stand , no maruaile , for apollo rules the land . on true obedience knee i pardon aske of thy diuine heroicke maiestie , it was thy merites great impos'd this taske on my weake pen , badge of infirmitie , too weake indeede to prayse thy excellency . each cherrils muse doth now salute thy grace , shall i alone be mute and hide my face ? mar● extold augustus peacefull daies , the liricke poet sung mecenas fame : ennius did scipio affricanus praise , if all they liu'd and saw thy sacred name , each verse they made should sure containethe same . but if they reade thy gift , oh princely worke ! for shame they would in vntrode desarts lurke . if englands load-starre pride of poesie , could the firme centers regiment transpearse : and formalize his peerlesse ingeny , thy all-surpassing vertues to rehearse , a princely matter fitts a princely verse : yet were his wit too weake thy deeds to praise , which brought vs ioyes , in our most mournfull daies . could lidgat passe the tower of proserpine , and like to virbius liue a double age , penning thy trophies in a golden skrine , yet could he not thy mertis equipage , admiring most would vse a tapinage , bocchas and gowre , the virgils of their time , could not vnfold thy prayse in antique rime . if these foure poets liu'd like lions foure , they should thy famous coach of glory drawe from vertures temple , to true honours towre , each should a kingdome haue , thy foes should know thy might , and feare their finall ouerthrow . but what should muses sing ? the world doth see , and seeing , feares vnited britany . still liuing sidney , caesar of our land , whose neuer daunted valure princely minde , imbellished with art and conquests hand , did expleiten his high aspiring kinde , ( an eagles hart in crowes we cannot finde . ) if thou couldst liue and purchase orpheus quill , our monarches merits would exceed thy skill albions maeonian , homer natures pride , spenser the muses sonne and sole delight : if thou couldst through dianas kingdome glide , passing the palace of infernall night , ( the sentinels that keepes thee from the light ) yet couldst thou not his retchlese worth comprise . whose minde containes a thousand purities . what fatall chance is this , and lucklesse fate , that none can aptly sing thy glorious prayse , and tell the happinesse of englands state , o barren time , and temporizing dayes , fowle ignorance on sacred learning prayes . but now i doe a diapazon see , none but thy selfe ( great king ) can sing of thee . that macedonian starre , first prince of greece , sent for that wandring learned stagirite , to teach his sonne knowledge of knowledges : his sword was keene , his sense could ill indite : thy sworde is shape , and who can better write ? he had another to instruct his sonne , what he by others did , thy selfe hath done . some caesar deemde the happiest mortall wight , that breath'd the ayre , or did ascend the skye , for conquering scipios force , and pompeis might , some did augustus iudge more happy , why ? because the vanquisht aegypts anhtony , romes holy prince , said nerua did surpasse , for leauing such a sonne as traian was . if those olde wisards which of yore did sing , read with impartiall eyes thy peerlesse deeds , ( great prince of warre , of peace thrice happie king ) concord should reconcile their striuing reeds , and sensures ioyne , which censures enuy breeds . caesars acts , augustus peace , good neruas kinde , in thee alone , in non but thee we finde . the siluer moone plac'd in her circle round , at her encrease , her equall distant hornes vpwards ascends , as scorning abiect ground , so when the worlds great honour first was borne , that fayre arising sunne , cleere faced morne , her mounting thoughts did to the heauens towre , scorning the earth , or any terrene bowre . but when that virgins goddesse doth decrease , her picked forkes their course to terra bend : so when our englands lunas light did cease , the artike clime an vnicorne did send , vvhose radiant iusture , night shall neuer end : phoebes cleere light seemes darke , whilst he doth shine he borrowes perfect light of god diuine . those that do reade the secrets of the skie , whose iudgement is in heauen conuersant : which portraiture the signes in heauenly die might asseuere that virgo was on high , i sawe a starre of late from heauen flie : why cannot this starre then faire virgo bee ? a starre more chaste i thinke we cannot see . o now my thoughts can diue into the deepe , our all ships guiding starre was fixed there : and when eliza did with honor sleepe , mounted vpon her praise deseruing beare , she did obtaine of him she lou'd so deare , that she might haue his seate , he rule the land which she of late as empresse did commaund . the anatomizers of our learned daies , affirme that virgo do the belly guide : no wonder then that albions wondrous praise , that virgin queene which here on earth did bide so nourisht each poore hunger-bitten side . now she is dead , oh who will them reliue ? the present starre doth present comfort giue . i heard an aged woman often say , that she did see a starre from heauen descend : which was as true me thought , as trees did bray : for she alledg'd the same , and did commend a certaine crowe , whose wit she did defend . pardon me age , for now mine eyes do see a starre on earth , more bright than starre can bee . to whom shall i this northerne starre compare ▪ to caesar which did first subdue the state : to horsus who no limbe of christ did spare , damming his soule this land to ruinate , great williams conquest and the normanes hate . thus doth my muse all wanting art begin , to sing thy vertues , and to shewe their sin . caesar was twice repulst ere he could see this litle world from all the world remote : before we sawe thy face we sent to thee , as to a pilot for to guide our boate : which did in seas of suddaine sorrow floate . he lost his sword before he conquest wan , we yeeld thee all our hearts , and all we can . horsus by cruell tyrant trechery , subdude ambrosius that wise prince of peace : witnesse the hidden kniues at salisbury , he trauaile brought , but thou doest bring vs ease , thy true descent makes greedy warres to cease . a wolfe possest his heart , a lyon thine , he worse then man , thou better more diuine . william was fierce in warre , and so art thou : in counsell sage , thou doest him aequalize : his sword forc't foes their trembling knees to bowe , thou conquerst hearts , by thy hearts winning eyes by force he wan , by merits thou doest rise . he brought subiection , thou doest freedome bring . he loued warre , but thou of peace art king. rufus was rude , thou ciuill , gentle , kinde : he was austere , thy browes hath mercies frowne : he had a neros hart , thou caesars minde : he hunting lou'd , for pleasure tumbled downe many a castle fayre , and stately towne : thou lou'st the chase , yet cities doest adorne , thou wert for all the worlds great profit borne , henry was grac't with artes , thou doest excell : children did blesse his age but soone did dye : children thou hast in health and perfect well , ( god prosper them with pure prosperitie , ) adorne their harts with louing pietie : he was a worthy king , thou worthier farre , thou art our northerne-pole , harts-guiding starre . soare humble thoughts , and let my abiect pen touch the high mounted artike northerne starre , and there compare this man excelling men : vve should compare the things that equall are , and who is like this light , this lampe , this starre ? mine eyes distill sweete teares , the teares of ioy , to see troyes issue raigne in new found troy. let barland cease to write of wisest kings , and mellificius with his tuned voyce , from whose sweet tong sprang learnings sweetest springs ? sing not of persians prayse , or caldeans ioyes , the grecians emperour , europs worthiest choyce . these three combinde , each sought the others fall , britaine is ioynd , and concord guides it all . when alexander sawe that precious stone , vnder whose isye wings achilles lay , shedding ambitious teares , he said with mone , vnhappy i , and ten tunes happy they , whose ensignes prayse , sweet homer did display : then happy art thou king , whose raigne wee see homer doth sing thy prayse , for thou art hee . the maiestie of marius fearefull face did terrifie the cymbrians crauen minde : though he were armde with clothos fatall mace , and solemne oath to murther did him binde , a wandring bucke did feare the eagles kinde : so did thy princely lookes and grace of god protect thy issue from a traytors rod. now doth my ship in plenties ocean sayle , pusht with a pleasant gale of pleasures winde : but stay i here an enuious momist rayle , thy toothlesse threate doth not amaze my minde , barke , for thou canst not bite , i scorne thy kinde , that which i write , i reade , and both are true , i dare not , nor i will not tell what will ensue . my hope is good that we shall happy bee , hopelesse our foes , they feare , we still secure : we peace , they warre : ye endlesse peace shall see , we plenty haue , they pouerty endure , religion we sincere , but they impure . they liuing seeme to dye , we dying gaine to liue with saints in paradisus plaine . what said the learned , those that learning loue , if causes perish , then effects decay , pray for the cause , yea , pray to god aboue that he may long the albion scepter sway , who shinde like sol in our cimmerian day . liue , and liue long , great king , liue many dayes , vse that fayre theame , be as thou art alwayes . finis . to the worthy and honourable gentleman sir philip harbert , knight of the most noble order of the bathe . the second time doth my unworthy muse salute thy milde aspect thrise noble knight , let gracious censure his defects peruse , whose genius waites on thy heroicke spright , whose loue and life are bent to honour thee : and whilest breath lasteth vse both them and mee . these poems which my infant labours send as messengers of dutie to thine eares , are of small value , but if nature lend some perfect dayes to my unripened yeares , my pen shall vse a more iudicious vaine , and sing thy glory in a higher straine . your honours at commaund . william harbert . to the ivdiciovs reader . i which in bloudy warres haue sleep'd my pen , whose muse the passing bell of peace did wring , and how the world did loose a world of men , now chuse to touch a more concordant string , my prince his prayse , whose prayse i le euer sing . t is no mechanicke hope of hired gaine that mou'd my minde these labours to sustaine . no , that ignoble basenesse i abiure , it was the loue i euer bare the place where first i breathed life did me allure , in pleasant paines for to consume a space , and her to prayse , though with mine owne disgrace : with my disgrace , why ? though my verse be ill , i do not doubt to please the good with will. to thee iudicious reader do i send these fruites of youth , t is thee i hope to please : if that my muse the ignorant offend , no lines of mine their fury shall appease , i set iust warre before an vniust peace , i rayle not i , though i with plato say , to please the wise , must bee the wisest way . the lotted seruant to rhy infant age , thrice glorious issue of a gracious king , least that her twelue-monthes fearefull tapynage , ingratitude suspect to thee should bring , me , though vnworthy , chose thy prayse to sing her mourning garments she hath cast aside , and hopes ere long to entertaine her bride . the cleargie with the barons borrowed light , is now obscured by thy transplendant shine : the rochet nor the border hath no right to rule , but that which doth from thee decline , she ioyes and glories to be onely thine : shee deemes it honour , count it no dispraise for thee with her to spend thy yonger dayes . no matchles machauil , nor arietine , doth her plaine meaning breast with enuy breede , her wits do moderne seeme , and not diuine , loyall her loue though lowly is her weede , a sympathie there is of word and deede : such as these are , in wales thine eyes shall see , thousands that will both liue and dye with thee . o was she euer false , vntrue , vnkinde ? since her obedience did augment thy stile ? or since the parted roses were combinde , did euer rebels blood her brest defile ? or did she euer englands hopes beguile ? witnesse the world , and those that liue therein , her spotlesse soule did neuer taste that sin . search truthes records , not times illuding lines , then shall thy princely thoughts and eyes be fed with the strange wonders of those warlike times , when thy great grandsyres made our channels red with blood of those that on our shoares laie dead . teaching great caesar how to runne away , that neuer knew to slye before that day . ten yeares did rome and all the world admire , for all the world and rome ten yeares did feare the lusture of thy bekons set on fire , great odonisis king , character , whose endlesse worth my worthlesse muse shall reare to that bright spheare where honor doth remaine , she loues thee dead , thy life her loue did gaine . vvhat honor or what glory didst thou win vvith the earthes strength to conquer but an i le , maister of the worlds mistres , mightie king ? only this grac'd the greatnes of thy stile , claudius with blood did not his hands defile . this triumph rome did thee as highly grace , as when by scipio affrique conquered was . how many legions caesar didst thou send ? how many consuls did returne of thine , vvhich sought what others marr'd , by warres to mend ? how many emperours britaine did repine , to see thy honor rise , their praise decline . let tacitus vnto the world declare , no land saue rome might with this land compare . i know yong prince , and am agreeu'd to see the leeuy'd lookes of squint-cyde theonyn : who saies this sault is proper vnto mee , to iudge all others base our selues diuine , no enuious momist t is no fault of mine : that seme are so , i must confesse t is true , all are not bad of vs , nor good of you . the mellow fields haue tares as well as corne , and thistles grow amidst the greenest grasse : an anacharse in tartary was borne , vertue and vice do meete in euery place , clodius in rome as well as milo was . both good and bad in euery land we see , and so are you , if of a land ye bee . curbe the malignant pride of enuies rage , and checke the stubborne stomackes of disdaine , these penny poets of our brazen stage which alwayes wish , o let them wish in vaine , vvith rossius gate thy gouernment to staine , make them more milde , or be thou more austere , t is veretue , vnto vice to be seuere . i speake not this vnto the learned wise , for them i loue , because the truth they loue : t is the bleard iudgement of seditious eyes , that doth my muse and my affection moue , a most vnwilling satirist to proue : nature hath made me milde , but these hard men turn'd my soft quill into a brazen pen. play not the satyr peace affecting muse , i doubt not but their conscience will prouoke these lucilists their follies to refuse , and make them soft , though they were hard as oke , conscience makes bad men good , so wise men spoke i leaue them to their spurres , my muse shall flye vnto that sphere where enuy dares not prye . vnto that sphere whose circuit doth containe the neuer spotted essence of his soule , whose sacred intellect no worldly staine could with desires rebelling aide controule : this guilded sphere is like a golden boule , which many lesser mazers doth containe , so many vertues in this one do raigne . why parriall nature stepdame to my birth , ye mixed elements affections slaues , vvhy did ye frame this vessell but of earth ? an equall matter to the dead mens graues , and ioynd thereto a spirt like the waues : low as the earth although my genius be , yet doth it touch skye threatning maiestie . o were my wit but equall to my will , vvere i as wise as i am ignorant , here were a place that would deserue my skill , had i as great experience as i want , then would i in a booke of adamant , and inke compoz'd by water made of golde , vvith pens of diamond thy prayse vnfolde . let iustice rule the organ of thy speech , and clemency adorne thy princely browe : vnto thine eares long absent patience teach , by these which good men wish , let all men knowe , none but thy selfe , thy selfe can ouerthrowe . let pittie check the rod when we offend , that makes the good more good , the bad to mend . i witnesse call the seuen hilled queene , how we obey'd , when lawes obey'd were : and shall not we be now as we have bene ? feare made vs then vnnaturall bondage beare , vve now securely liue , and cannot feare . doubt not thereof , but come experience haue , vve loue to serue , but loathe the name of slaue . our gazing expectation longes to see the true admired image of thy syre : which nature hath so rightly grau'd in thee : as phisicke causes seem'd , they did conspire to shape the like to him whom all admire . so sions sacred singer dauid saies , good trees bring forth good fruit , good fruit alwaies . do not sweete sallets spring from soundest seed ? and is not man like god , which man did make ? can bad effects from causes good proceed ? do we see fruite on any withered stake ? or do we see in sea a bush or brake ? how canst thou then not good and perfect bee , that wert engraft on such a goodly tree ? finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a02624-e210 s. p. s. baye . oliue , and oake . notes for div a02624-e1070 description of fortune . geometry william the conquerour . cadwallader last king of the buranes , his land being vexed with the scourge of pestilence , went to rome , where he vndertooke the habit of a friar wolues . madans second sonne . the helmet was the ancient crest of the teudors . so called for assisting godfrey of bullion , in his expedition to judaea . bassianus and geta. henry the 2. sonne of mawd the empresse , and stephen earle of blois , nephew to henry the first . brennus . henry the 2. the first plantaginet . richard 2. marcellus , so called by hanniball . ●●nniball . ●i●us flam. ●●s slaine at ●●e batle of ●hrasimenus ●●ose death is by his ●●nne ●●enged in the ●●isoning of ●anniball . ●enry the 3. caius and tiberius gracchus . the saying of leoline himselfe , as powell hath laid down in his life . queens isabel wife to edward the ● . was next heire to charles king of france whose title our present king doth enioy scipio & lentulus two worthy ro stroue vehemently in the campe of pomper : for the bishoprick of rome , but the battels ioyning & caesar winning , their strife ended with their liues ed. the third , maried phillip daughter to the earle of henault . lord roger mortimer earle of march and queene isabel , compared to anthony & cleopatra : edward the blacke prince compared to geranicus . edward the blacke prince ayded the erle of artois against king iohn of france . aristotle . ●ermanicus ●●peased ger●any , but end●d his dayes by ●oison in as●i●a . ●dward prince of wales re●●ored peter ●ing of spaine ●nto his king●ome by the ●onquest of henry his basard brother , at ●he battle of nazers . ●ohn lord ●eaumont , ●ooke part with the eng●ish against the french nation , but afterwards ●e fauoured the ●actiō of iohn , king of frāce . the lord audley at the battle of poytiers behaued himselfe most valiant , as crasinius did in pharsalia , who bad caesar be of comfort , and take courage before he fought and that day he should praise him aliue or dead , which he performed , for he lost his l●e in the pursuite of honor , and for the safety of caesar . ed. the 3. compared to paulus aemi● who in his greatest glory lost his chiefest ioy , namely his t●● sonnes . romanes . the halfe moone is t●● armes of th● percies ea●● of northu●● hen. bussi●●brooke d●●● of heref. w●● accused by th. mowb●●● duke of n●●folke of tre●son , which 〈◊〉 not being 〈◊〉 to proue , w●● contented t● maintaine 〈◊〉 allegation 〈◊〉 combat , 〈◊〉 his aduersa●● did accept . but better ●●uice being ●●●ken , they w●●● both banish●● the land , he●●ford for the terme of ten yeares , and mowbray 〈◊〉 the date of 〈◊〉 caligula slain by his own friends the stone where the kings of englands chaire is placed at their coronatiōs , is reported to be that stone wheron iacob laid his head whē the angel appeared to him in his dream genes . brought frō scotland by edward the first . henry 4. the extremitie of his lawes are set downe at large in powels annales . owen glēdour compared to sertorius . edmund mo●timer earle o● march was d●signed heire apparant in the dayes o● richard the 2. if the king dye● without issue . the battle at shaftsbury henry the 5. borne at monmouth shire in wales . henr. 5. pyrrhus . the duke of yorke & earle of suffolke , were the onely men of nobilitie that ended their liues in the battell of agincourt . crassinius was the first captain that charged the enemy in the field , which office of valure , edward the duke of yorke enioyed at agincourt . mercuries oration . he dyed in a chamber at the deane of westmi . lodging named ierusalem . the fates ●nswere . mercinys reply . the ciuil wars of marius and sylla . the battell spayne , whe● caesar was victor . caesar slaine the court of pompey . the battell 〈◊〉 phillippia . the feelde at actium . the first of sain● albons barrells . daysie in ●rench , signi●●eth margaret at wakefield , rich. duke of yorke being taken by the lord clifford , in reuenge of his fathers ideath slaine at s. albons , i crowned the dukes head with paper . the secon● battell of s ▪ albons . thard earle warwicke . ●argret daugh●●r to reino ●●rle of aniow ●ho entituled ●●mself king of naples , sycil , & ●erusalem , but ●●ioyed none . that day in which caesar lost his 〈◊〉 in the court of ●ompe● , a poor man tendred him a petition which he light●y regarded , the contents wherof if he had pervsed , his life might haue bene preserued at her first c●ming , landin● at southham●ton , some pa●● of paules st●●ple . and many other church●● in england were set on fi●● a compari●on of edward and warwicke with octaui●s & anthony . richard. 3. the battle o● bosworth . henry . 7. arthur . henry . margaret . mary . elizabeth eldest daughter to edw. the 4. was maried to henr. the 7 by which mariage the both houses of yorke and lancaster so long seuered wer vnited henry 8. christ chur●● in oxford . edward 6. queene mary married with phillip prince of spayne . ●●●stotle . 〈◊〉 . iames the 1. of england , and 6. of scotland . basilicon doron . chaucer , so called by m. camdon . philip aristotle notes for div a02624-e29400 cornelius tanitus in the life of agrippa . the royal charter granted unto kings, by god himself and collected out of his holy word, in both testaments / by t.b. ... ; whereunto is added by the same author, a short treatise, wherein episcopacy is proved to be jure divino. bayly, thomas, d. 1657? this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a27115 of text r17476 in the english short title catalog (wing b1514). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 199 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 91 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a27115 wing b1514 estc r17476 12012113 ocm 12012113 52433 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a27115) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 52433) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 81:16) the royal charter granted unto kings, by god himself and collected out of his holy word, in both testaments / by t.b. ... ; whereunto is added by the same author, a short treatise, wherein episcopacy is proved to be jure divino. bayly, thomas, d. 1657? [30], 144 p. [s.n.], london : 1649. attributed to thomas bayly. cf. bm; erroneously attributed to thomas browne. reproduction of original in british library. eng divine right of kings. great britain -kings and rulers. a27115 r17476 (wing b1514). civilwar no the royal charter granted unto kings, by god himself: and collected out of his holy word, in both testaments. by t.b. dr. in divinitie. wher bayly, thomas 1649 36848 628 0 0 0 0 0 170 f the rate of 170 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2005-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-08 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2006-08 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion diadema regis in manu dej esaj . 60.3 . diev et mon droit ps. 36.6 . flos jesse , iudaeque leo , sacra quem lyra laudat flores atque lyram caroliquetuere leones the royal charter granted unto kings , by god himself . and collected out of his holy word , in both testaments . by t.b. dr. in divinitie . whereunto is added by the same author , a short treatise , wherein episcopacy is proved to be jure divino . matt. 22.21 . da caesari quae sunt caesaris . job 14.7 . there is hopes of a tree , if it be cut down , that it will sprout again , &c. sublato episcopo tollitur rex . king jame's bas. dor. london , printed in the year 1649. chara dei soboles magnum jovis incrementum . the of-spring of so many loyal showers of blood and tears , and heir apparent to all the love and affection that your royall father had first purchased , and then intail'd upon you by a deed of martyrdome : the anchor of hope which we expect daily to be cast upon englands shore , by the hand of providence : hope hath for a long time brought up the rear , but now shee 's in the van of all your squadrons ; and when the sun is once set in an island , how can it rise again but out of the water ? may the sighs of your people fill your sailes with such a prosperous gale , as may land you safely upon english ground , and seat you in your fathers throne ; ●ay the flower of jesse ▪ and the true lion of the tribe of judah , whom the sacred harp so often praised , defend all your lyons , harp and lillies . never was there a prince , whose people were all prophets , and whose prophets did all center in their princes future happinesse before : whilst the enemy stands like the every-where wounded man in the almanack , pointed at by all the caelestiall signs ; never was their an army , who gloried so much in their strength , when they are not able to stand , by reason of the slipperinesse of the ground undar their feet , made so , by the tears of the people , and the bloud of their soveraign . nothing but your majesties royall fathers sufferings could have made him so famous and them so imfamous : nothing but that could have made the people know the difference between a golden cepter , and an iron rod . your father had been now living , had he been lesse wise : and he had not been put to death , had not his people loved him too well . was ever prince put to death by two such hands ? they forced the laws to take away their own life ; they made wisdome to sley her own children , by whom shee should be justified ; and the love of the people the murderer of their own darling : who can help it ? to cure the kings evil requires a royall hand . i doe not teach my pen so high ambition as to undertake such cures : but it may be inke will serve to cure a tetter or a wring-worm , if it doe but so , i shall think my pains well bestowed , and my duty highly approved of , if , when i have presented this royall charter to your royall hand , it may be graced with your princely eie ; being it proceeds from as loyall a heart as can direct a pen how to subscribe the pen-man your majesties most faithfull and loyall subject t.b. to the reader . reader , this wretched kingdome , lately the envy of other nations , and now the object of pitty to all but to her selfe ; upon whom , peace had long doted , and dandled their kingdomes in her lap ; whose natives , as though they had clipt the wings of peace , so that she could not flie away from them , nor make the happinesse of peace , once common to all the world , now an inclosure , within the broad ditch of their narrow seas , and the strong fence of their innumerable ships , having attain'd to all the prosperity and happinesse that such sun-shine daies could ripen ; shee fell from thence into the most bitter war , that the greatest plenty could uphold , and thence into the greatest miseries , that the highest pride could cast her downe ; and now lies plunged in all the miseries of a civill war : whose direfull effects are as remedilesse , as those , whose causes are not to be found , and as far from redressing , as is the malady for which no reason is to be given : though we cannot fathome the depth of these our unserchable miseries , nor dive into the bottom of this ocean of calamities , yet let us wonder a little , how we could squander away so great a share of that felicity , which we once enjoyed ; out our selves of possessions so full stockt with blessings , trifle away , not sell , our birth-rights of peace , for a messe of pottage , that hath death in the pot . if for religion we have fought all this while , when did the church change her weapons ? must prayers and tears be turned into pike and musket ? did god refuse to have his temple built by david a man after his own heart , because only his hands were bloudy ? and will he now be contented to have his church repaired , and her breaches made up with skuls and carkasses ? must bloud be tempered with morter that must bind the stones of his temple in vnity ? or are the smitings of brethren , strokes fit to pollish her stones withall ? hath god refused the soft voice to remaine in thunder ? or hath his spirit left the gentle posture of descending downe upon his apostles , to the approaching of a mighty and rushing winde ? to go about the reforming of a church by humane strength , is as quite opposite to the nature of reformation , as is the going about the repairing of a castle wall with a needle and thred . he that looks for such inestimable goodnesse within iron sides , may as well looke to find a pearle in a lopster . no , no , the church must not be defended with helmets , the risisters of blows , but with miters which have received the cleft already ; not by broken pates , but by cloven tongues : not by men clad in buffe , but by priests cloathed in righteousnesse : decitions in matters of faith , must not be determined by armour of proof ; nor did the sword of the spirit ever make way to the conscience by cutting through the flesh . he therefore who takes up armes against his soveraigne , with pretenses of defending his religion , doth but take such courses , as are condemned by the same religion he would defend ; and indeed he doth but make religion his stalking-horse , to blind him , whilst he aimes at that , which he would have least suspect him , which when he hath effected , he meanes to get up upon the horse and ride him at his pleasure : they pretend the good of the church , when , you may be assured , they intend nothing more , then the goods thereof , and like dissembling lapwings , make a shew of being nearest the nest , when they are furthest of it . if we fight for our liberties , what liberties are they that we fight for ? if for liberty of conscience , what doe you meane thereby ? if by liberty of conscience you mean , that it shall be lawfull for every one to chuse his owne religion , or to be of his own opinion , those are things which we ought not to have , much lesse to fight for ; for then let us not blame every panim that bakes his cake to the queen of heaven , or every ignorant votary , who creeps to his own image , or makes his own idoll ; for in this kind of liberty , we do but sacrifice unto the net wherein we see our selves caught , and burne incense to the drag that hales us to destruction . christians are not to be at such liberty , loose christians are but lost men ; true christians will be contented to be bound up in the unity of the same spirit , and the bond of peace : if the bond be broken , the sheaf of corn is but so many loose eares , and no way fit to be carried into the lords barne : if we be sons and daughters , let us belong all to one house , if we be servants , let us be all of one family , if we be lively stones , let us be all of one building , if we be severall grapes , let us be all of one cluster , if we be severall clusters , yet let us be all of one vine ; if we be saints , let us have a communion , for this is it which is called the communion of saints , this is it which is called religion , which commeth of the word religando , which signifieth to bind . wherefore for a man not to thinke himself bound to those articles which the church proposes , is to be of no religion , and to fight for this , is to fight for nothing : and if by liberty of the subject , you mean liberty from oppression , i know not any man or woman of any quality or condition what soever , that knows what belongs to any such thing , except it be some few , who have liberty to do what they will with all the rest . if we fight for the property of the subject , i beleeve the subjects have so altered the property of their goods , that had they but their old properties restored , they would not think it good sighting for a new ; their expectations being so much deceiv'd , that instead of fighting for the property of the subject , they rather see themselves subjest to have all things in common . if we fought for the laws of the land , whose laws are they ? are they not the kings ? will he not maintaine the foundation of his house from sinking ? will he not maintaine his leggs under him ? are they not supporters of that body politick whereof he is the head ? nay , doth he not maintaine himself when he maintaineth them ? for the king and his lawes may be compared to god and his word , both inseperable : for as god is the word , and the word is god ; so the king is the law , as the life thereof , and the the law is the king , as the body of that soule , wherefore there needed not any fighting against the king for this , except it be by those , who would be kings themselves . and for priviledges of parliament , i remember to have read of jack cade , in the reigne of richard the second , who comming up as far as london-stone , and resting himselfe thereon , vowed that within three daies , there should be no other law , but what did proceed out of his mouth : now if it stand with the privilidges of parliament to have a few jack cades , relying on their london-stones , to tell them what they must doe , and they will have ; if it stands with the priviledges of parliament ; to have tumults to drive away their king , armies to awe themselves ; countries to send up their inhabitants in multitudes with petitions in their hats , cudgels in their hands , and threatnings in their mouths ; so that the king was faine to slash the citizens from white-hall , and then the parliament , the country-men from westminster-hall , then they have fought to some purpose : but suppose that the parliament did really fight for all these particulars ; so did the king too ; so that the king may safely expostulate with his parliament , as s. paul did with the rest of the apostles , are ye fighters for the protestant religion ? so am i : are you for the liberties of the subject ? so am i : are you for the laws of the land ? so am i : are you for the properties of estates ? so am i : are you for the priviledges of parliament ? so am i : and in all these things i have laboured more abundantly then you all ; where lies the quarrell then ? it must consist then in nothing but this , that they do not believe one another , in that they both fight for one and the same thing , the meanes of reconciliation is taken away : for should they differ in their grounds , the law may be judge between them , reason may be judge , the world may be judges : but rebus sic stantibus , instead of having reason to fight , we do but fight against reason , both contend for the same power , like the two women that contended for the same child : solomon judg'd the child to belong to her who would rather part with it all , then have the child divided : now the parliament would have this powerfull child divided , half to the king , and half to themselves : the king rather then so , is contented to lose all : in whom there is most affection and pitty , in him is the right of true parentage : but because there are no solomons in this age , let us go the down-right way to worke . the two houses gave out that they fought in defence of the kings person , crown and dignity , do ye beleeve them ? don't ye believe the king did ? the parliament said they ●ought only to bring him to his parliament , was the parliament at holmeby house ? or was it at carisbrook-castle in the isle of wight ? was he in honour , or was he dignified by being there ? have they not fought then all this while upon a false ground ? have not they given themselves the lie ? and will you believe them still ? but instead of being instructed by solomons divided child , they divided their solomon . o country-men , do but remember what ill luck the nation hath had , by imprisoning their kings : when they had imprisoned the old lyon and the young within their grates , the 3 henry and his son ; did they not , like the inclosed wind , make the whole land shake ? had not the whole kingdom a shrewd fit of an ague then ? did they not ( lik● fire too close beseiged with clouds ) sally out in thunder and lightning , to the terrour and destruction of all thos● who stood in the way ? what successe● had the imprisonment of edward 2 ▪ upon his imprisonment followed his deposement , and the murder of his person was a consequent of the deposement of his dignity , but what becam● of those who did it ? is there one remaining of the name of mortimer ? was not that mortimer , who was the cause of his imprisonment , beheaded ? were not all those who had a hand in it condignly punished ? nay , was not the immediate heire of this too much conniver at his fathers sufferings , and too ready accepter of his fathers office ▪ imprisoned , deposed and murdered in like manner ? and what successe ( i pray you ) had the imprisonment of richard the 2 ? it cost the kingdome whole ages of miseries , 80 of her nobility , and 100000 of her commons , & the disposing of all her royall roses in their budds , and before they were halfe blown , untill they was but one of a colour left in the royall garden of great brittaine ; and they being married , made such a composure of red and white , as blushing at the former mischiefs : and it is worth your observation , how that the last two kings ( to save their lives ) resigned their crowns , and so lost both ; whereas the former , by keeping his crown upon his head escaped the blow . let all these base begotten meteors appear glorious for a time , till by their yeilding more and more to aire , they fall to earth ; whilst kings , like suns in firmaments , look biggest when they are going down , with confidence that they shall rise againe . lastly , henry 6. and his son must be imprisoned and murdered , to make way for edward 4. and edward 4. his two sons and heires must be imprisoned & murdered to make way for richard 3. and richard 3. murders these two little children , and henry 7. slayes richard 3. with infinite of his followers , for his usurpation : if you go on with your worke , you see your wages ; gods hand is not shortned , but stretched out still , and he is as great an enemy to such proceedings as ever he was : he is yesterday , and to day , and the same for ever : do ye thinke that ever ye shall have peace till the king be restored ? ye may as well expect the needle of the compasse to leave its treppidation before it point at the north pole , as to find quietnesse in the land before the hearts of the people turne to their soveraigne . do you not see that the parliament cannot bring any thing to maturity , and what 's the reason ? but because their labours will not admit a treaty with the sun . good men should endeavour to take off , not verefie that saying of maximilian the emperour ( as johannes aventinus witnesseth de bello turcico ) viz. that the emperour of germany was rex regnum , because his princes were so great : the king of spaine was rex hominum , because his people were so obedient : that the king of france was rex asinorum , because they bare such heavie burdens but the king of england was rex diabolorum , because the people use to treat their kings so wickedly . now reader , whether thou be'st christian , or kind , or courteous , or otherwise ; whether thou be'st for one , or other , or neither , or both , yet as thou art an english-man , suffer not thy self to be so abused , and thy country so ruined , by the names of king and parliament , religion , and liberty , priviledges and properties , for many a snake lies under the strawberry leaves of such pretences , and stings you ere you be aware , and feeds you with poisons instead of dainties ; but return to your old obedience , if you would return to your old peace , and if you would have god speed the plough , begin to cry , god save the king , that we may once more hear the voice of joy and gladnesse amongst us , that our oxen may be strong to labour , that there may be no decay , no leading into captivity and no complaining in our streets ; that every man may sit quietly under his own vine , and his own hands pluck his own grapes , that the mowers may fil their sithes with their own rights , and the reapers bind up their sheaves in the bonds of justice . one word to thee o thou great city , the pantapolis of all miseries : the seminary of rebellion , the magazine of gunpowder treasons , the treasury of the wages of iniquity , the tower against david , wherein hangs so many shields and bucklers ; the mart towne for conspiracies ; you nursed up this rebellion when it was but tender ; you both fed and taught it , when it was but young : you maintain'd it in its wantonnesse , when it was in its youth ; when it came unto its full strength , ye gloried in your production ; and now rebellion is in its declining age , you ceres its wrinkles , you lend it artificiall eyes , leaden its gray haires , lend it your staffe for fear it should fall ; and now at last you help it to crutches when it cannot otherwise go : take my advice , and judge not salubrity by sweetnesse , a plaine dealing friend is like those sawces which a man praises with teares in his eyes ; though you have brought it to this , yet cast off the old man of sin , and put on the new man of righteousnesse . an eagle reneweth her age , saith david , david saith so , and therefore you must believe it : but how it is done ? you must be advised by plyny ; when the eagle hath surfeited by reason of her age , not being able to digest so great a quantity of bloud as formerly shee was wont , shee bathes and molts her self in a fountaine , untill all her feathers fall away , and beats her beak against a rock , untill it loosens and fals off , and thus with renewing of her bill and feathers , in a manner , shee becomes young againe , now after seven years sucking of the bloud of innocents , if ye find your aged stomakes to be fil'd up to your consciences , like the eagles bath and molt your selves in the tears of repentance , untill your peacocks plumes come downe , and strike with the fists of contrition , upon your hard and stony hearts , so you shall become new men ; new to god , new to his vicegerent , new to your selves ; which will be the best newes , that hath been cried in your streets these many years . and as you have been principium & caput , so be but finis hujus rebellionis , and habebis laudem ex illa , rom. 13. and as it hath been your fault to begin this rebellion , so let it be your vertue to make an end of it , for if you will not make an end of it , there will be an end of you . the contents . chap. i. god himself was the first founder , and the first that instituted the office of kings . pag. 1 chap. ii. the people cannot make an anointed king. 9 chap. iii. the meaning of the anointing of kings . 11 chap. iv. the reason why they are called the lords anointed . 19 chap. v. bad kings are the lords anointed as well as good . 25 chap. vi . it is not lawfull upon any pretences whatsoever to depose , or so much as touch the lords anointed . 29 chap. vii . what is meant by touching the lords anointed . 39 chap. viii . that kings now adayes are to be had in the same veneration and esteeme as the kings of judah and israel were , notwithstanding our christian liberty . 50 chap. ix . that a king failing in his duty , and not performing those things which he hath sworn unto at his coronation ( so solemnly ) yet the people are not dis-obliged in their obedence unto him . 57 chap. x. touch not mine anointed , psal. 105. meant by princes , and not otherwise . 65 chap. xi . the objection of the ten tribes revolting from rehoboam , answered . 72 chap. xii . the objection of jehu slaying his master joram , and taking the kingdome upon him answered . 79 chap. xiii . a discourse concerning the necessity and excellency of monarchy . 83 chap. xiv . that there is no such thing as a free-state in the world . 93 chap. xv . a discourse concerning episcopacy , proving it to be jure divino . 112 the royall charter granted unto kings , by god himselfe : chap. i. who was the first founder , or the first that instituted the office of kings . wee say some people were the first that desired them , and moved for them , and had them , and chose them . and all the people went to gilgall , and there they made saul king before the lord in gilgall . 1 samuel 11.15 . 1 samuel ● . 5 . soft and fair , good people ; do not ●istake your selves ; you desired , and moved for , and would have , and had a king ▪ but god gave him you : i gave thee a king , o israel , in mine anger , and i too● him 〈◊〉 ●n my wr●th . hosea 13.10 , 11. according to this we read , acts 13 . 2● ▪ they desired a king , and god gave unto the● saul , &c. and for your making of ● king at gilgall ; your making was bu● approving , and applauding him , tha● was made already ; for saul was bot● made a king , and confirmed king , an● executed his office , before the people a●● said to have made him king in gilgal ▪ he was anointed king over israel : 1 sam. 1 ▪ 1. he was confirm'd by signs . 1 sam. 10.2 , 3 , &c. he executed his office . 1 sam. 11.7 , ● ▪ god first , sent . and secondly , shewed . and thirdly , chose . and fourthly , anointed . and fifthly , found them out a kin● before ever i● is said , they made him . first , god sent him ; i will send thee man out of the tribe of benjamin , and thou sh●●● anoint him to be captain over my people . secondly , god shewed him ; for n●●ther the people , nor any of the sain● nor the elders of bethlehem , no , nor sam●●l himself , knew not where to find this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kings , till god said , this is he , he shall ●ign over my people , 1 sam. 9.17 . thirdly , god chose him himself ; and ●●muel said to all the people , see him ●●om the lord hath chosen : sam. 10.24 . 〈◊〉 the people ma●e him themselves , or ●●uld make him , what needed they to ●●ve come unto samuel to bid him ; make 〈◊〉 a king to judge us ? sam. 8.5 . and to 〈◊〉 , give us a king ? which deprecation ●as indeed no otherwise , then as if they s●ould have desired samuel to have asked a king for them of the lord ; for so it ●●ems by the sequell , for immediately h●reupon samuel went unto the lord , and declared their importunity , and the lord said , that he should hearken unto the ●●●ce of the people in all that they said unto him , ●●rse 7. and this most certain and agreea●le unto 1 sam. 1. where samuel tels 〈◊〉 people ; yee have this day rejected your 〈◊〉 , &c. and have said unto him , set a king 〈◊〉 us . fourthly , god anointed him ; samuel took a violl of oyle & powred it on his head , 〈◊〉 kissed him , and said , is it not because hee 〈◊〉 anointed thee to be captain over his in●●●itance : sam. 10.1 . fifthly , god found him out for them , where he was hidden from them ; for when all the tribes of israel were come together , and the tribe of benjamin was taken , and the families of that tribe drew neer ; & the family of matry was taken out of those families , and saul the son of kish from thence : 1 sam. 10.20 ▪ 21. ( the smallest tribe , the least family , the poorest benjamite , as shewing us that kings were not to have derivation from the mighty people , but from the almighty god : sam. 9.21 . ) the people sought him , but they could not find him , so that they were fain to enquire of the lord for him , , and the lord shewed them were he had hid himself in the stuffe : 1 sam. 12.22 . so that all that the people of israel had to doe , either in the election , institution , nomination , creation , or invention of their first king , was ( when god had done all this ) to shout , and say , god save the king : 1 sam. 10.24 . and for their making a king , after all this in gilgall , it could be no otherwise then their approbation of him , who was thus made by god already . neither was god only the founder of the first king of the jews , but of all the rest also : he was davids founder too , i have found david my servant , with my holy oyle have i annointed him : psal. 89.20 . it was well for david , for he should have been but a poor king , if he had been but of the peoples finding ; and it may be they would not have knowne what to have made of him when they had found him . david was not filius populi , but dei , the sonne of god , not of the people : psalm 89.26 . he was neither exalted of the people , nor chosen of the people ; i have exalted one chosen out of the people , said god , ( verse 19. ) but the exaltation was gods , and the choice not of , ●ut out of the people . kings are not children of the most voices ; but children of the most high : ps. 82.6 . yet the approbation of the people may serve ad pompam , but not ad necessitatem ; it may add somthing to the solemnity , but nothing to the essence of the constitution ; what was divinely given , may be humanely received , and so are kings . neither will we speak of the king , or the first of the kings of jud●h or israel , ●ut we will go along with the first king ●hat ere was read of ( if there be not books antienter then the books of moses ) and that was melchizedec king of salem ; this melchisedec is said to have neither father nor mother , it could not be said so in regard of his person , for wee all know who he was , and who his father and mother were ; he was sem , the eldest son of noah , but it was said so , in respect of his office ; shewing us , tha● kings , they are not the off-spring of men , but an emanation from the deity ; and teaching us , that as kings are not of the poeples making , so they ought not to be of the peoples marring , and as they are not the founders , so they ought not to be the confounders of them ; cujus est instituere , ejus est abrogare , they that institute , may abrogate , they that make , may un-make , what thou buildest thy selfe , thou maist lawfully pull down ; thou maist diruere edificar● , mutare , quadrata rotundis , but if thou destroyest that which another hath built , thou maist chance to be sued for dilapidations : if a limner draw a picture , he may alter and change it , and if he dislike it , race it out at his pleasure ; or i● a carver or ingraver mislike his owne handy-work , he may destroy it when he pleases ; but if god makes a man after his own image , and creates him after his own similitude , wee offend god in a high degree , when we cut off , or deface the least part , or member of his handy-work . now kings are lively representations , living statues , or pictures , drawn to the life , of the great deity ; these pictures , for their better continuance , are done in oyle , the colours of the crown never fade , they are no water colours ; as kings with their own statues , will not be angry , though time and age devour them ; yet they will not suffer them spitefully to be thrown down , or shot against ; so god , though he will suffer kings to dye like men , and fall like other princes ; yet he will not suffer his character , spitefully to be rased , or his image defaced ; but though he will have them die like men , yet he will have them live like gods . and if all this be not proof sufficient , you shall hear god the father , god the son , and god the holy ghost affirm as much . god the father plainly affirms , john 10.34 . dixi dij estis , i have said ye are gods ; but if the stroke had been in the people , then it should have been , nos diximus , dij estis , we have said ye are gods . god the sonne told pilate thou shouldest have no power except it were ( data desuper ) given from above ; but if the people had given him that power , then it should have been , thou should'st have no power , except it were ( data desubter ) given from beneth ; and i am sure the holy ghost tels us , per me reges regnant , by me kings reign ; but if they reigned by the suffrage of the people , then it should have been per nos , according to the moderne dialect , they reign by us ▪ and as long as we think fit , and when wee thinke it fit no longer , they shall reign no more ; they received their authority from us , and we may recall it when we please , and depose them when we list ; for they are but proxies and attornies of the people : see buch. de jure regni fickerus & renecherus &c. little thinking how by this powerfull doctrine of theirs , they ( quite contrary to the word of god ) destroy the higher powers , and give the whole trinity the lie at once : and if these testimonies are not sufficient , i know why they are not , because they never were confirmed by act of parliament . chap. ii. whither the people can make a king or not . if the question be asked , whether the people doe make the king or not ? i could no more grant it , then i should grant , that the people made heaven ; but if you ask me , whether the people can make a king ( such a one as they use to make ) if they have not one already of gods making , they may ; such are kings , and no king ; not reges , but regentes ad placitum , kings by election , are alwaies kings upon condition , and where the condition is so little worth , the obligation is the lesse , and but small security will be required : for my own part i should be a shamed to were a crown on my head , when the people must raign , and the king stand under the penthouse ; and i had as live they should make me a iack a lent , for apprentices to throw their cudgels at me , as to make me a king to be controuled by their masters , and every tribune of the people ; for as an invitation to a dinner where there is no meat , is but a distastfull banquet , so the name of a king without its adjuncts , is but a savourlesse renown ; and indeed such as they are not actu reges , ●hey do but agere regem , they are not actuall kings , they doe but act the part of a king , and i hold him that acts the part of a king an hour upon the stage , to be as reall a king for his time and territories , as the best king by election , who is chosen but for his life ; herein consists the difference , as the one must act his part as the poets please , so the other must act his part as the people please ; they must have their parts given them , they must act it accordingly , they must not so much as tread the stage awry ; their subejects are both spectators and judges , and it lies within the favour of the next society , whether or no the sonne shall come to act the fathers part . such kings as these the people may make ; but to make a sacred and an anointed king , an established and successive monarch , a king that hath this heredit●tem in him , a king that hath this noli me tangere about him ; whose writs were alwaies termed , sacri apices , whose commands divalis jussio , whose presence sacra vestigia , whose thorne is the lords , whose scepter is his rod , whose crown is his favour , and whose representation is of himself ; the people can no more make such a deity , then so many tapers can make a glorious sunne , or so many sparks of sprey and faggots , can make a firmament of stars . chap. iii. what is meant by anointing of kings . anointing , in severall places of scripture , betokens some spirituall grace , as james 5.14 . call the elders of the church , and let them pray over the sick , anointing him with oyle in the name of the lord : which the roman-catholicks call extream unction , though now adaies , we only make use of the extremity , and leave out the unction : and therefore some will have the anointing of kings to signifie some spirituall grace also , which shall inable him with religion and aptnes to govern wel ; which when they cease to doe , their anointing falleth off , and they cease to be kings ; if they be not good , they are none of gods anointed , and if they be not his anointed , they care not whose they are . this doctrine hath caused the shedding of more bloud then there is now running in the veins of living christians ; whereas the truth is , it is neither religion , nor virtue , nor grace , that is meant by this royall anointing : cyrus was christus domini as wel as josias , and saul as well as david : if religion were that that did the deed , then cyrus had not been the lords anointed ; if virtue , then not saul ; if grace , neither : if religion makes kings , then there should have been of old no kings , but those of judah ; and now no kings , but those of christendome . it is jus regnandi that is meant by this royall anointing , and royall vnction , confers no grace , but declares a just title only ; vnxit in regem , he anointed him king , includes nothing but a due title , excludes nothing but usurpation ; gives him the administration to govern , not the gift to govern , well ; the right of ruling , not of ruling right : kings are anointed with oyl , to shew , that as they have thrones to signifie that they are the cesterns of justice ; and crowns to signifie that they are the fountaines of honours ; and scepters to signifie that the hands which hold them , are the magazines wherein the whole strength and ammunition of kingdoms are reposed : so anointing is a sacr●d signature betokning soveraignity , ob●dience to the throne , submission to the scepter , allegience to the crown , and supremacy to the oyle must needs be given , for oyle will have it : poure oyle and wine , and water , and vineger , or what other liquour you please together , oyle will be sure to be the uppermost : the three first ceremonies make him but high and mighty , and puissant , but the last only , makes him sared , and therefore some have maintained that a king is mixta persona cum sacerdote , whether he be so or no i will not here insist ; but sure i am , that their is much divinity in the very name , and essence of kings ; which duly considered and believed , that kings are thus sacred ( as we ought , and gods word informs us ) we would take heed how we touch , take warning how he tear and rend in peeces , as much as in us lies ( with those leaden messengers of death ( with their gunpowder commissions ) to fetch the higher to the lower powers , and make the king a subject to the subjects wils ) the sacred person of so great a majesty ; whereas the cutting off but a piece of the lappe of sauls garment , hath checkt a greater spirit , then the proudest riser up against his soveraign : we would not speak so despicably of the lords anointed ; what is the king ? he is but a man , he is but one , he hath a soule to be saved as well as others ; for though all this be true , yet the end for which all this is said , is most false and abhominable , for though it be true , that the king is but a man , yet it is also true , that that man is the light of israel , 2 kings 8.19 . wee must take heed how we put it out . and though it be true , that such a piece of silver , is but a piece of silver , yet as it bears caesars image , and superscription upon it , it is more significant ; & if thou either pare or impare it a jot , if thou art found either clipping , or diminishing of it in the least degree , ●hou dost it to the preiudice of thine own life ; so though a king be but a man ●s in himself , yet as he ●ears the representation of god , and hath his character stamp'd upon him , he is some-what more , if you will believe him that said ●e are gods , psalm 82.6 . and therefore we must take heed how we debase or detract ●rom them who represent so great a dei●y , who by reason of their proximity ●nd neernes unto god in some respects , ●re most commonly of more discerning spirits then ordinary men : for mephi●osheth , when his servant had so grievivously slandred him to david , he makes but a short complaint , my servant hath ●landred me ; but ( as if he should say , i need not tell thee much , thou hast wisdome enough to find it out ) my lord the king is as an angell of god , doe therefore what is good in thine own eies : therefore because thou art as an angell of god , and thy selfe art a good intelligence , as all angels are , doe what is good in thine own eie ; as if he should have said , if thou doest onely that which seemeth to be good in other mens eies , it may be they will perswade thee that the thing was true , wherein my servant slandred thy servant poor mephibosheth , and he suffer wrongfully . i am of opinion that god gives to every king to whom he communicates his name and authority , this extraordinary gift of discerning ; but because they do not some times make use of it to the end it was bestowed upon them , viz. ( the better government of their severall dominions ) but are contented to see and discerne with other mens eyes , and to have false spectacles put upon their noses , whereby many a good man suffers : god in his justice gives them over , that in their own particular , and wherein their own greatest good is chiefly concerned , they shall make least use of their own judgements and advise , and wholly give themselves to be over-swayed by the advise of those , whose judgements perhaps is not so good as their own , and whose intentions ( it may be ) are no better then they should be . it is written that the hearts of kings are in the hands of the lord , and he disposeth them as seemeth best to his heavenly wisdome ; certainly i would ●ake a little advice from that heart , ●hat is so directed by that hand ; the kings head never plotted treason a●ainst the crown , and no man can wish ●etter to his majesty then the king . i ●peak not this in derogation either of the great , or privie councell ( for it is ●ritten , in the multitude of councellors there 〈◊〉 safety ) but in defence only of these ●ons of oyle , who are supreme in both . and as it is true that the king is but ●ne man , so it is also true , that one man ●s worth ten thousand of the people ; ●hou art woth ten thousands of us ( though all ●is worthies were in place ) 2 sam. 18.3 . ●nd though it be true , that the king ●ath a soul to be saved as well as others , ●et it is also true , that he should have ●o body to be crucified by his subjects , ●nd out of his dis-esteem of the person , the ceremonies of state ( as anointing , ●itting in thrones , holding of scepters , ●nd coronation it selfe ) being to be ●xploded now a daies ; and who look'd ●or it otherwise , when the lawfull and ●ecent ceremonies of the church , were ●alled reliques of popery , and raggs of the whore of babilon : was it otherwise ●o be expected , but that they would call these ceremonies of state , theatrica pompa : stage-plaies , toyes : tush say they , what need all these● fopperies , a kings throne is his justice , his crown his honour , his scepter , and cheifest strength , the peoples hearts , his holy oyle , is his religion , and zeal to gods glory ; and so it is : what then ? may we not have the signes , and the things signified also ? because the true receiving of the communion , is the receiving of the body , and bloud of christ by faith ; therefore shall we have no bread and wine ? or because that true baptisme is the washing away of originall sin , with the laver of regeneration ; therefore shall we have no water powred on the child ? we have scripture for these ceremonies , and i am sure we have no scripture for the abolishing of them , but rather scripture for their continuation for ever . reges in solio , collocat in perpetuum : god establishes kings upon their thrones for ever , job 36.7 . chap. iv. why they are called the lords anointed . the lords anointed , is as much as to say the lords christ , and christi signifieth anointed ones : in the hebrew you shall read it , who shall ●ay his hand upon the lords messiah ? for the lords anointed 1 sam. 26.9 . in the greek , who can lay his hand upon the ●ords christ . kings are taken into the ●●ociety of gods name , dixi dii estis , i ●ave said ye are gods ; and here into the society of christs name , and all to ●errefie subjects from lifting up their ●ands against the lords anointed , as ●uch as if he were god or christ him●elfe . againe , kings are not termed uncti ●omini ( for that were no prerogative to ●hem at all ) but christi domini , for not ●nly persons , but things also , were a●ointed under the law ; not only kings , ●ut priests and phrophets likewise , nei●her did it rest there , but it extended to the tabernacle it selfe , and ran down to the vessels thereof , even to the very fireforks , ashpans , and snuffers ; but unto whom said he at any time , tu es● christus meus , heb. 1.4 , 5. but unto christ , and kings ? to christ once , luke 2.26 . to kings thirty two times throughout the bible ; four times by god himself ; kings are called christ● mei , mine anointed ; six times to god , christi tui , thine anointed ; ten times of god , christi ejus , his anointed ; twelve times in termes terminant , christi domini , the lords anointed : and therefore the old translator observed it rightly , when in the same word , in the hebrew , and the greek , he speakes of the priest , he translates it unctus ; but when of the king ( alwayes ) christus . and as they are not uncti , but christi ▪ so they are not christi populi , but christ● domini ; not the peoples anointed , but the lords anointed ; there may be a master of the ceremonies , but ther● must be no master of the substance ; they are the lords christs , and they hol● their kingdomes under him , in king● service ; neither are the kingdomes o● the earth any bodies else but gods : t●● kingdomes are gods , dan. 4.17 . neither ●are they at any mans disposing but his , he giveth them to whom he pleaseth ( loco citato ) therefore for whose they are , they are the lords ; and for what they ●re , they may thanke him and none else . secondly , they are the lords , because that by him , and in him , and ●hrough him , they have their dominion , and regiment , from him they have ●heir crowns , from his hands their coronation ; diadema regis in ●manu dei , esay 60.3 . the royal diadem is in the hand of god , and out of that hand ●e will not part with it so much , as for ●nother , to place it upon the kings ●ead ; but it must be tu posuisti ( tu domine ) thou , o lord , hast set a crown of pure gold upon his heard , psal. 21.3 . the emperours used to stamp their coyne with a hand coming out of the clouds , holding a crown , and placing it upon their heads ; we have no ●uch hierogliphicks in our coyne , as a hand coming out of a cloud ; but we have grace from heaven : dei gra●ia , so that there is not a king but may say with the apostle , gratia dei , sum qui sum , by the grace of god i am that i am ; and indeed kings are kings , as paul was an apostle , not of men , neither by man , but by god . thirdly , they are the lords christs ; because , not only their crowns , are in the hands of the lord , but he puts the scepter into theirs ; nay , the scepters which princes hold in their hands , are gods scepters , being there , virga dei i● manibus ejus , it is gods rod that is in their hands , exod. 17.9 . and therefore right is the motto ▪ ( and reason is it that they should be esteemed the lords anointed ) diev et mon dro it , god and my right ; none else have to do with it , the scepter of a kingdome , in the hands of a king , is the livery and seison which is given him by god , of the whole militia , within his dominion , they that take away that , put a reed into the hand of christs anointed ; and why should it be expected that they should deal otherwise with christs anointed then they did with christ himself , first put a reed in his hand , and afterwards a spear into his heart . fourthly , kings are the lords anointed , because , they sit upon his throne : sideba● solomon in throno ▪ dei , solomon sate upon gods throne 1 cor. 29.23 . but if solomon should have lived in these our dayes , instead of his six steps ●o his great throne of gold , and ivory ; he should have six steppers to his throne , for the gold and ivory sake ; instead of having a foot-stoole of gold under his feet ; he should have much adoe to keep a crown of pure gold upon his head : instead of hands to stay his throne , he should have hands enough to pull it down , and cast it to the ground : and instead of two , and twelve lyons , fixed on each side , as a guard unto his throne , he should have found many lyons , without regard , running up and downe , seeking how they might destroy him . lastly , kings are the lords anointed , because they are anointed with his own oyl , oleo sancto meo , with my holy oyl have i anointed him , psal. ●9 . 20 . it is not with any common , or vulgar oyl , or oyl that any laies claime ●o but himself : but it is oleo meo , my oyl ▪ neither is it oyl , that was fetch'd o●● of any common shop , or warehous● , b●t it is oleo sancto , with holy oyl , oyl out of the sanctuary : and no question but this is a maine reason ( if they would speak out ) why some have such an aking tooth at the sanctuaries , because they maintain in them , oyl for the anointing of kings : but if the alablaster box were broken , the ointment would soon be lost : if they could perswade the king out of the church , into the barne , they would soon pull a reed out of the thatch , to put into his hand , instead of a scepter ; or if they could get him to hear sermons under a hedge , there would not be materials wanting to make a crown of thornes to pleat it on his head . thus you see the the reasons , why kings are called the lords anointed , because the lord hath appropriated them unto himself , not in a common and generall way , but in a particular and exclusive manner : my king , my kingdome , my crown , my scepter , my throne , my oyl , where is there left any place for claime ? pride may thrust down angels out of heaven , and violence may crucifie the son of god ; but ( all these things considered ) who can stretch forth his hand against the lords anointed , and be guiltlesse ? 1 sam. 26.9 . chap. v. whether bad kings be the lords anointed , or not . they are : for they are of the lords sending , and appointment , as well as the good . i will set an evill man to rule over them ( said god ) and i gave them a king in mine anger , hosea 13.11 . which king was saul , which saul was a tyrant , which tyrant was the lords anointed ; when he was at the worst , you cannot have two better witnesses then david , and the holy ghost , 1 sam. 26. cyrus was a heathen persian , and one that knew not god , yet for all that , haec dicit dominus , cyro christo meo , thus saith the lord to cyrus mine antinted , esay 43.4 . nero was no good emperour , but a monster of man-kind , yet saint peter , in whose day●s he wrote his epistle , commanded all christians to submit to him , 1 pet. 2.13 . hasaell , whom the lord fore-saw , and fore-shewed unto his prophet elisha , to be the destroyer of his people of israel , and one , that should make them like the du●● by threshing , 2 kings 13.7 . on that wil●set their strong holds on fire , slay their young men with the sword , dash their children again●● the wall , and rip up their women with child ▪ insomuch that it made the prophet weep , to fore-see all the miseries that should happen , 2 kings 8.12 . insomuch that it made hasaell himself ( when he was told thereof ) cry out , is thy servant a dogge , that he should do all these things ● vers. 13. yet for all this , god will have him to be king , and it be but to scurge his people , the lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over syria , vers. 13. julian , when from his christianity , he fell , to flat paganisme , yet this anointing held , no christian ever sought , no preacher ever taught to touch him , or resist him in the least degree ; for whilst the cruell and bloudy emperours were persecuting the poor christians , they were fitting their necks for the yoke , and teaching on another postures , how they might stand fairest for the strok of death . an● this was not quia deer ant vires , because they could not help it , for the greatest part of julians army , and the most part of his empire were christians : for saith tertullian in his appologeticall defence of the christians of those times , una nox pauculis faculis , &c. one night with a few firebrands will yeild us ●ufficient revenge , if we durst , by reason of ●ur christian obligation : and shewes , how they neither wanted forces , nor numbers , and that neither the moors , or the persians , or any other nation whatsoever , were more mighty , or more populous then they : and how they filled all places , townes , cities , emperia●l pallaces , senats , and seats of judgement ; and that they could do any thing , in their revenge , if it were any thing lawfull ; but this anointing was the thing that kept the swelling down , and hindred the corrupt humours from gathering to a head : and therefore it is not as stephanus junius , franciscus , hottomanus , georgius , buchananus , ficklerus and renecherus , with the rest of the pillars of the puritan anarchy , do answer ( being gravel'd at the practice of the primitive christian● ▪ and those precepts of the holy apostle ) that the church then ( as it were swathed in the bonds of weaknesse ) had not strength enough to make powerfull resistance ; and therefore , so the one taught , and the other obeyed : but if this doctrine were allowable , then would inevitably follow these two grosse absurdities . 1. that the pen of the holy ghost ( which taught submission even to the worst of kings ) was not directed according to the equity of the thing , but the necessity of the times . 2. that either the holy ghost must turne politician , and become a timeserver , or else the church must lose the meanes of its being , and subsistance . whereas ▪ we know the contrary so well , that when acies ecclesiae , was so far from its bene ordinata , that when al the souldiers fled , and the life-guard routed , the lord of hoast ( the generall himself ) taken prisoner , yet then , like the sun looking biggest in lowest estate , so the son of righteousnesse , thinke ye not that i can pray unto my father , and he will send l●gions of angels ; and ra●her th●n gods children shall be oppressed by a company of egiptians ( if it be his pleasure to deliver them ) he can , without the drawing of one sword , turne rivers into bloud , produce an army of froggs to destroy them : and rather then they should be necessitated for lack of means , ●end swarms of flies , that may serve ●hem in the stead of so many rescuing angel● , and therefore it was not any ●ecessity , that the church was , or could ●e in , that procured in the apostles , or the first christians , either that doctrine , ●r that use ; it was not dis-ability , but duty ; not want of strength , but a reve●end regard of the lords anointed , that wrought these effects in both : let the people be never so many and mighty , and the princes of the people never so wicked and cruell , mos gerendus est , we must obey them ; not in the performance of their unjust commands ; but in submission to their just authority ; if not by our active , yet by our passive obedience : if not for their own sakes , yet propter ▪ dominum , for the lords sake ; if not for wrath , yet for conscience sake , rom. 13.5 . if it goeth against thy conscience , say , ●s the people were wont to say , when they fell down before the asse that carried the image of the goddesse isis , upon his back , non tibi sed re●igioni ; if thy conscience condemns thee , god is greater then thy conscience , and we must look what he commands , as well as what she dictates ; the one may be mislead , the other cannot mislead ; sacrifice may be either pleasing , or displeasing to the lord , but obedience was never faulty ; thou maist offer the sacrifice of fools , when thou thinkest thou doest well ; but upon how sure grounds goes he , who can say with the prophet in all his actions , if i have gone a stray , o lord , thou hast caused me to erre ? never deviating from the expresse of his word . now god gives us expresse command , that we should not touch his anointed , what condition soever they are of : n●lite tangere christos meos , touch not mine anointed ; and where gods rules are generall , we must not put in exceptions of our own ; for the wickednesse of a king can no more make void , gods ordinance , of our orbedience unto him , then mans unbelief can frustrate gods decree in us , rom. 3.3 . let saul be wicked , and let wicked saul be hut once anointedd , david states the question neither concerning saul , nor his wickednesse , but whether he being the lords annointed ( there 's the businesse ) it is lawfull to stretch forth a hand against him ( who can stretch his hand against the lord● anointed and be guiltless ? 1 sam. 26.9 . chap. vii . whether upon any pretences whatsoever it be lawfull to depose , murder ▪ or so much as touch the lords anointed . there was the first time that ever it was put to the vote , ●hether a king might be put to death ●r not , but it was resolved upon the ●uestion in that parliament ; ne perdas , ●estroy him not ; it is well that david●ad a negative voice , or else it had been ●ut a bad president for kings : it is wel ●hat the men with whom david had this ●arley , would hearken unto reason , and ●et that sway them , otherwise david●ight have been forced to flie as fast ●way from his own men , as he did first ●rom saul : for there wanted no lay●reachers then , to preach the destruction ●nd slaughter of princes , under the pre●ences of wicked government and tyran●y ; who had the trick then , as well as ●ow , to couch their foul meaning in ●ood words and scripture phrase , with a dixit dominus , when the lord said no such thing ; as davids zealots , 1 sam. 24 . 5●this is the day wherof the lord said unto thee , i will deliv●r thine enemy into thine hand , an● thou shalt doe unto him ( what ? ) as shal● seem good unto thee , that is thou shall murder him , that was their meaning : though the word was a good word ; and we do● not read where the lord said any such thing at all : so abishai , 1 sam. 26.8 . god hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand : what then ? therefore let me smite him ; no such matter ; david denies the consequence , as if he should have said god hath delivered him into my hand , but ● will make no such bad use of his deliverance , i had rather hereby shew him hi● own errour , and my innocency , then any way stretch forth my hand against him , for he is the lords anointed ; and when sleep had betrayed saul to davids power , in the trench , and made the king a subject for davids innocence ; he esteemed himself but as a partridge in the wildernesse , when he might have caught the eagle in the nest : he passified sauls anger , by inabling his power to hurt , sent him his speare ( it seems he did not think it fit to keep the kings militia in ●●s hands ) and humbly begs , let not my ●ud fall to the earth ; when , if it had not ●●en for david , abishai would have smi●●n saul unto the earth at once , so that 〈◊〉 needed not to have smiten him the ●●cond time : but david would not , de●●●oy him not saith he , and his reason . ●as , quis potest ? who can stretch forth ●●s hand against the lords anointed ●●d be guiltlesse ? another most notable demonstration 〈◊〉 davids innocency , and subjection , ●●to a hard master , a most tyrannicall ●●ing , cruell saul ; we have 1 sam. 24. ●hen in the cave of engiddi , david●ight have cut off sauls head ; like pre●●ous oyntment , he descends only to 〈◊〉 skirts of his garment , and with a ●uid feci ? checks himself , and beshrews ●s heart that he had done so much , and ●pon a little looking back of saul ( as 〈◊〉 he had put on rayes of majesty ) da●●d bows , and stoops with his face to 〈◊〉 earth to him , when he might have ●id his honour in the dust , call'd him 〈◊〉 father ; when that father came to ●●crifice him upon the mountaines , and ●isaac-like ) nothing but see my father , ●hen he could see nothing but fire , and sword , and himself also the lamb , ready for the sacrifice . a true isaac ( though many young men staid behind with the asse ) will after his father , though he have fire in the one hand , and a knife in the other , ready for to sacrifice his follower . a right david , and he that is a man after gods own heart , though he could bite to death , and gnaw into the very bowels of his soveraign , yet he will assume no further power to hurt , then to the biting of a flea ; after whome is the king of israel come out ? after a flea ? after whom doth saul pursue ? after a dead dog ? when he might have caught the lion in the toyle . i could easily be endlesse in instances of the like nature , as our saviour christ's obedience to the death , under the reigne of tiberius , his disciples under nero , claudius and caligula , whose governments were as opposite to the propagation of the gospel , as themselves were enemies to the propagators of it ; yet we see they neither attempted the alteration of the one , or the destruction of the other ; yet christ could do much if he pleased , and if the napkins of saint paul , and the shadow of saint peter could cure diseases , if a word out of their mouthes could strike men and women dead in the place ; if an oration at the bar , could make a king tremble on the bench , then surely you will confesse that his disciples could do something : yet nothing was done or attempted against those wicked , cruell , and pagan emperours , one instance shal suffice for all : what mischief or injury could be done more to a people , then mebuchadonozer king of babylon did unto the jewes , who slew their king , their nobles , their parents , their children , and kinsefolkes , burn'd their country , their cities , their jerusalem , their temple , and carried the re●idue ( who were left alive ) captives with him to babylon . and now behold ( then ) nebuchadonozers good subjects : will you hear wat advice the prophet daniel gives them for all this ? baruch . 1.11 . pray you for the life of nebuchadonozer king of babilon , and for the life of balthasor his son , that their dayes may be upon earth , as the dayes of heaven , and the lord will give us strength ; ( what to do ? to wage war against him ? ) and lighten our eyes ( what , with new revelations how they may be reveng'd ? o no ) that we may live under the shadow of nebuchadonozer king of babylon , and under the shadow of balthasor his son , and that we may serve them many dayes , and find favour in their sight : truely shewing that a king is alkum , prov. 30.31 . one , against whom there is no rising up ; that is , not upon any pretences whatsoever : there can be no pretences whatsoever more faire and specious , then those of defending the church , and red●essing the common-wealth . for the first , if religion be any thing push'd at , think you that rebellion will keep it up , or that it ever stood in need of such hands ? when god refus'd to have his temple built by david , because he was a fighter of the lords battailes , thinke you that he will have his church defended by fighters against the lords anointed ? to defend religion by rebellion , were to defend it by meanes condemned , by the same religion we would defend ; and to reforme or redresse the common-wealth , by insurrection and rebellion , were to rectifie an errour with the greatest of all mischiefs ; no government worse then a civill war , and the worst governour is alwayes better then the best rebell : rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft , and stubbornnesse is as idolatry : and how perilous a thing it is , for the feet to judge the head , the subjects to choose what government and governours they will have , to condemne what , and whom they please , to make what pretences and surmises they have a mind to , this kingdome by wofull experience hath had sad resentments . imbecilities and weaknesses in princes , are no arguments for the chastisements , deposing , or murdering of kings ; for then giddy heads will never want matter or pretences to cloak their rebellion . shall moses , because pharaoh was an oppressour of gods people , and had hardned his heart , and would not let the israelites depart , therefore inflict punishments upon pharaoh , or so much as depart without his leave ? though moses could inflict punishments upon the whole land , yet his commission never went so far , as to touch pharaoh , in the least degree , though swarmes of flies came into the house of pharaoh , and frogs entred into the kings chamber ; yet we read not that they seized on pharaohs person ; there were lice in all their quarters , saith the psalmist , and there became lice in man and beast , upon the smiting on the dust , but none were smitten of the person of the king : boyles and blaines were upon all the egyptians , and upon the magicians , so sore , as they could not stand in the presence of pharaoh , but they were not on pharaoh , that he could not stand himself ; pharaoh his eldest son may die , but vivat rex , pharaoh must not be touch'd . did absolon doe well to conspire against his father , though he defiled vriahs bed , and cloaked adultery with murther ? should the priest , peers , prophets , or people , offer to depose solomon , because he had brought strange wives into the land , and as strange religion into the church ? shall elias entice a●abs subjects to rebellion , because he suffered jezebell to put naboth to death , and killed the lords prophets ? shall peter take vengeance upon herod because he put him in prison , beheaded john the baptist , and killed james ? shall reuben be no patriarch , becuse he was unstable as water ? shall simeon and levi lose their patriarchal dignity because they were brethren in iniquity , & instruments of cruelty , because in their anger they slew a man , and in their self-will digged down a wall ? shall judith be deposed from his rule and government for making a bargain with a harlot upon the high way ? shall issacher not be numbred amongst the other twelve , because he was none of the wisest ? no reason ; they were patriarchs as well as the rest , which was the immediate government before kings ; and ( indeed ) were princes themselves : princeps dei es inter nos , gen. 23.6 . thou art a mighty prince amongst us : and thus much shall suffice , ( and i hope sufficient ) to shew , that no faults or pret●nces whatsoever , can make it lawfull to depose , or so much as to touch the lords anointed . chap. vii . what is meant by touching the lords anointed , or stretching forth the hand against the lords anointed . not dare to touch the lords anointed , is an awfull reverence , and a supposed difference to be kept , between every subject and his soveraign , especially in point of violence . a mother doubting the discretion of her children , and being to leave some curious looking-glasse in a place , doth not command her children that they should not break it , but that they should not touch it ; knowing full well , that if they have the liberty to meddle with it in the least degree , they may break it before they are aware , and destroy it when they think least of any such matter ▪ so god is very chary of his king , wherein he beholds the representation of himself , and knowing him to be but brittle , and though the most refined earth , yet but glasse : he commands his people that they should not touch his anointed ; knowing that if they were permitted but to tamper with him in the least degree , their rude hands may break it in peeces , when they doe but think to set it right . a touch is but of one man , though but with one of his fingers , yet this must not be ; nolite tangere , it is not said ne tangete , wherein only the act of touching is forbidden , but nolite tangere , whereby the will is also prohibited : how wary should we be in touching , when the lord is so cautious in his prohibition ? now stretching forth the hand may signifie a combination of many into one confederacy , the hand being a part of the body , composed of five members ( one and all ) but this must not be ; a most unhappy instrument is that hand that turns it self into the bowels of its own body ; if the head break out be chance , the hands must not presently be in the head , clawing , with invenom'd nails , the corruption there , lest that itching desire , turn into smart in the end , lest when the peaceable day springing from one high , shall happily visit us , that now sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death ; we then see our bloudy hands , and this ( once happy ) kingdome , the only pillow , whereon peace had laid her head , streamed ( like the aegyptian rivers ) all with bloud : in a word , by touching the lords anointed ; or by stretching forth the hand against him , is meant any kind of violence ▪ that is used against sacred majesty ; and the signification thereof is of a large extent ; for we stretch forth our hands when we doe but lift up our heels in scorne against him ; who so lifteth up his heel , psalm 41.9 . secondly , we stretch forth our hands against the lords anointed , when wee doe but raise up armes in our own defence ; whosoever resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , and draweth damnation upon himself . rom. 3. thirdly , we stretch forth our hands against the lords anointed , when wee stretch not our tongue and voice , when we hear of any traiterous plots or conspiracies against the lords anointed , and so bring such conspiracies to light : it is a foul thing to hear the voice of conspiracy , and not to ●tter ●● : lev. 5.1 . as good lay thy hand upon the lords anointed , as lay thy hand upon thy mouth & conceal the treason . fourthly , we stretch forth our hands against the lords anointed , when we doe not stretch forth our hands for the lords anointed , when we see him assaulted with any danger , or traiterous opposings . should a man see his own father feircely assaulted , and should not presently run into his rescue , but should suffer him to be slain before his face , would we not equally exclaim against him with the murtherers , qui non vetat peccare quum potest , jubet , he bids , that doth not forbid with all his power ●like a true son ) such outrages and vio●●nces , to be committed against the fa●●er of his country . fifthly , we touch the lords anoin●ed , when we touch his crown and dig●ity , intrench upon his regalia , hold or withhold his sons or daughters , kill or ●ake prisoners his men of warre . wee must take heed of defacing the garment , as well as of hurting the person , for they are both sacred ; the precious oyntment , wet not aarons head alone , but it ran down upon his beard , and down unto the skirts of his garment , making all sacred that was about him ; such touchings therefore are worse , then when we touch the person with the greatest violence , for then the anointed are most touched , when they are touched where the anointing is , which is their state and crown , dearer to them then their lives ; touch both , the murder of the person , is but a consequence to the deposement of the dignity . sixthly , we touch the lords anointed , when we take away his revenue and livelyhood from him , the devil thought that he had stretched forth his hand exceedingly against job , touch'd ( and touch'd him to the quick ) when he had procured gods permission , that the sabeans and caldeans should take away his oxen and asses , his sheep and camels , and plundred him of all he had ; god called this a destruction unto job , job . 2.3 . and that before ever a hand was stretch'd forth to touch either his bone , or his flesh . seventhly . is there no stroke but what the hand gives ? yes , the tongue can strike as well as the best : jere : tels us so , venite percutiamus eum lingua : come let us smite him with the tongue , jer. 18 , 18. and david said , his tongue was a two-edged sword : there is , ( saith solomon ) that speaketh ( and that waiteth too ) like the piercing of a sword : it is bad enough in any , or against any man , but worst of all against the lords anointed ; for it is said thou shalt not revile the gods , nor speak evil of the ruler of the people : saint paul , but for calling a high priest , painted wall , ( though ) when he caused him to be smitten contrary to the law , yet he eat his words , and confessed his errour ; and now many , that would seem to be followers of paul , are revilers of kings , and make no bones thereof . the same god that commanded laban , in respect of his servant , vide ne quid loquare durius , ●ee thou give him no ill language ; certainly expects that subjects should set ● watch before their mouths , to keep the door of their lippes , lest they offend with their tongue , in speaking ill of princes . eightly , as the tongue can strike without a hand , so the heart can curse without a tongue : eccl. 10.2 . curse not the king , no not in thy heart , for a bird in the ayre shall carry the voice , and that which hath wings shall tell the matter : the hand implies both ; never was the hand stretched forth to any evil act , but the heart was the privy counsellor , & the tongue the chief perswader unto such enormities ; therefore it is good , obstare principiis , to crush the cockatrice egg , kill it in the heart , lest those pravae cogitationes want room , and then out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh , and perswades the hand to be the destruction of the whole body ; if hand , and heart , & tongue , & pen were thus regulated , we need not long look for peace , or despaire of an accomodation , but whilst the hand is up , and the heart is set at liberty , and the tongue saith , our tongues are our own , 〈◊〉 ought to speak , who is lord over us ? and every pen is a ready writer , in matters pertaining to the king : in vaine it is to seem christians , whilst we are such antichrists : the bible under our arme ▪ fals to the ground , whilst we stretch forth our hand against the lords anointed : why do we take gods word into our mouthes , if we let it not down into our hearts , to do as that word directs us ? christian liberty never cut the string , that tied the tongue to those observances . of these things there might be applications made , but lapping as they go along is best for doggs , where there are cordials in the river . it seemes by the story , that kings may be coursely dealt withall , if men make no bones of being guilty ; they stand like the forbidden tree , in the midst of the paradise of god , men may touch them , but they had better let them alone ; if god had placed ( at the first ) cherubims , and a flaming sword , turning every way to defend that tree , how could there have been a triall of adams obedience ? so if god by some instinct , ●ad chain'd the hearts of men , and tied ●heir hands , and bound them to the ●eace , so that they could neither in ●hought , word , nor deed , have committed violence against his vicegerent , how could there have been a triall of the subjects duty ? the tree had no guard , ●or fence about it , but only , thou shalt not ●at thereof , if thou doest , thou shalt die the death . princes have no better security ●or themselves , then the almighties command for their preservation , nolite ●angere , &c. touch not mine anointed , ●o break the first , was but death , the second is damnation ; if you resist the ●igher powers , you resist the highest god , and he that resisteth shall be damned , rom. 13.2 . the commandment concerning the tree of paradise , was only thou shalt not eat thereof ; but we are forbidden to touch so much as a leaf of our forbidden tree , much less to shake down all his fruit ; there is hopes of a tree , saith job , that if it be cut down , yet it will sprout again , but not only a finger , a hand , but an axe must be laid to the root of the tall cedar of our lebanus ; yea , they must be rooted up like the names of taronius ; they will not leave so much as a of stump nebuchadnezzars tree chain'd to the earth , up must all root & branch , till all the royall branches lie like sprey upon the ground : these men had rather be destroyed themselves , then say the lords anointed is not to be destroyed . go on blind zelots , hearken to your wives , and let them perswade you to disobedience , and the divel them , as eve did adam , and the divel her , behold the objects shee presents unto your view ; how good they seem , how fair they look , how pleasant they are to thine eye , how wise you thinke you shall be , how full of knowledge , when poor wretches , you shall find all these promises turned into fig-leaves , to hide your nakednesse : all these golden apples of palestine once touch'd , evaporated into stench and blindnesse : and that your disobedience hath given you nothing but curses , and brought you nothing but sorrows and death upon your selves and children , and profitted you nothing but the turning of an edom into a wildernesse , till you be glad to eat the herbs of the field , and by the same fault , fall into the same punishment with our neighbours of germany , ●ye with grasse in your mouths . these ●●ings fell upon adam for his disobedi●●ce unto god , and the like will fall ●pon us ( the sons of adam ) for our dis●bedience unto gods anointed . o then ●et us not by any meanes lift up our ●ands against the lords anointed , lest ●like adam ) we fall from our state of ●nnocence , and be guilty : guilty of all the bloud that hath , and shall be spilt ●pon this land ; guilty of the teares of ●o many fatherlesse children and wi●owes : and if we will not be obedient ●nto a prince of men , guilty of all the ●ternall thraldome and submission unto ● prince of devils : take then the advice of the wise solomon , prov. 30.32 . if thou ●ast done foolishly in lifting up thy selfe , or if ●hou hast thought evill , lay thy hand upon thy ●outh : fear god , honour the king , have nothing to doe with them that are subject unto ●hange , for their destruction commeth sodainly ; and so will yours . let no man deceive himself , he who is not good in his perticular calling , can never be good in his general calling , he is no good man , that is no good servant , and if he be no good subject , he is no good christian , he that honoureth not the king , doth never fear god ; and except he obeyes both , he obeyes neither . chap. viii . whether kings now adayes are to be had in the same veneration and esteeme , as kings were under the law , by reason of our christian liberty . certainly the murmuring of corab , dathan and abiram , with their complices : thou seekest to make thy self altogether ▪ a prince over us , the lord is among us , we are all alike holy unto the lord , ( and therefore moses and aaron must be no more excellent then the rest of the people ) was no prophesie to be fulfilled in these our dayes , for if it had , surely our saviour would never have paid tribute for himself and peter , mat. 17.27 . which was a symbole of their subjection to heathen pagans ; for this cause pay ye tribute , rome . 13.6 . we have those who are apt enough to make arguments with our saviour , bearing this conclusion , then are the children free , mat. 17.26 . but few that will imitate his peaceable example , to fish for money , rather then offend the higher powers , mat. 17.27 . ●nd if you conjecture that our saviour ●id this meerly for quietnesse sake , behold the question rightly stated . is it ●awfull to give tribute to cesar or not ? mat. ●2 . 17 . seriously propounded ( master we ●now that thou art true ( and therefore we ●ope thou wilt not deceive us with a ●ie ) and teachest the way of god in truth 〈◊〉 and therefore thou wilt not cause us ●o erre through the deceiveablenesse of ●nrighteousnesse ) neither carest thou for ●ny man ( and therefore thou wilt not ●e afraid to speak the truth ) thou regar●est not the persons of men ) therefore fea●ing only god , thou wilt boldly , & faith●ully without partiality , or fear , plainly ●ell us , whether it be lawfull or not ) ●learly determined and concluded upon ; da caesari quae sunt caesaris , mat. 22.21 . if christian liberty , should loose the ●eignes of civill government , then christ would never have acknowledged pilates power to have been of god , john 19.11 . if subjection unto kings were a hinderance to the propagation of the gospel , then saint peter would never have exhorted the christians to submit themselves to every ordinance of man . 1 pet. 2.9 . we have too many submitters now-adayes unto every ordinance of men , but they are not unto such ordinances , whereof the king is supreme , 1 pet. 2 , 13. object . it is better to obey god then man , and therefore for his sake we cannot obey every ordinance of man . sol. the apostle doth not in this place discourse of obedience , but of submission : obedience is to be given to things , only lawfull ; submission is to be given to any ordinance whatsoever , though not for the things sake , which is commanded , yet propter dominum , for the lords sake who doth command , so absolute submission : where god commands one thing , and the king commands another thing . we may refuse his will , and there is perfect obedience , when god commands one thing , and the king commands the contrary , we may not resist his authority , and therein is true submission ; and this the apostle doth not only assure us to be the will of god , but puts this well doing in the stead of knowledge and wisdome , whereby the ignorance of foolish men may be ●ut to silence , 1 pet. 2.15 . when freedom ●ands of tiptoes , her coat is too short ●o cover her malitiousnesse , therefore the apostle exhorts us to behave our ●elves as free , but not using our liberty , as a ●loak for malitiousnesse , 1 pet. 2.16 . if christian liberty did break the ●choole of civill government , then ●aint paul would never have been ●uch a schoole-master to the romans , rom. 13. let every soul be subject to the ●igher powers : an excellent rule for ●ur obedience , every soul , no exem●tion by greatnesse , or holinesse , or ●ny by-respect whatsoever , but if he ●ave a soul , let him be subject to the higher ●owers : if two powers clash one against another , here we know which to stick ●o in our obedience , that is , which is ●ighest ( and that saint peter plainly tels ●s is the king , whether to the king as supreme , 1 pet. 2.13 . ) there is no power but ●f god , the powers that be , are of god , who●oever therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , and they that resist shall ●eceive to themselves damnation . vers. 2. what christian then can have his con●cience so misled , as to resist those powers out of conscience , when the apostle plainly tels us , verse 1. we must needs be subject , not onely for wrath ( that is , fo● fear of them ) but also for conscience sak● because god commanded it . there were anti-monarchists , and anti-dignitarians even in the apostle● time , but if it had been laudable , or agreeable to christian liberty , the sain●jude in his epistle , verse 8. would never have called the despisers of domini●● and evill speakers of dignities , filthy dreamers , and defilers of the flesh ( as he put them , so we find them both together ) he never would have compared them to bruit beasts , verse 10. he never would have pronounced woes unto them , as unto the goers into the wayes of cain : greedy runners after the errour of balaam , for reward ; and perishers ( as in the gain-saying of corah ) ver. 11. he would never have compared them to clouds without water : carried about with wind : to fruitlesse withered trees , twice dead , plucked up by the roots : to raging waves of the sea , foaming out their owne shame : wandering stars , to whom is reserved the blacknesse of darknesse for ever . verse 12 , 13. he never would have described them unto you so fully , to be murmurers , complainers , walkers after their own lusts , widemouth'd , speakers of great swelling words , having of mens persons in admiration , by reason of advantage , separatists , sensuall , ( and though they pretend never so much unto it ) having not the spirit , verse 16.19 . christian liberty frees from the ceremoney of the law , not from the substance of the gospel : whereof we see submission & subjection unto kings , is a great part thereof . the romane yoke , and the romans hands which held the plough , ploughing upon the christians backs , and made long furrowes , and for a long time , were both adverse to the propogation of christs gospel , yet during all that time , neither christ , nor any of his disciples , ever attempted either the change of the one , or the displaying of the other ; and shall we thinke our selves more wise then he , who is the wisdome of the father ? or better advised then by him , who is the everlasting councellour ? or that any mans doctrine can settle us in more peace and quietnesse then he , who is princeps pacis , the prince of peace ? will you have more orthodox fathers then the apostles ? or the children of this generation to be wiser then the fathers of old ? christ and his apostles with all the antient fathers taught , and subscribed to this doctrine : first , christ , da caesari quae sunt caesaris : then saint paul , render to all their due , tribute to whom tribute is due , custome , to whom custome , fea● to whom fear , honour to whom honour , and all to cesar : then saint peter , submit your selves , &c. fear god , honour the king , &c. sic passim in scripturis . dear christians , are we better pleased with the glittering tinsell of a painted baby from a pedlers shop , then with the rich , and inestimable jewels of divine truth ? will we suffer our selves to be cosened with the guilded slips of errour ? and what enthusiasmes every pretended spirit , if not every cobler , weaver , groome , or coach-man , shall dictate , who are but velut igneae , and velut flatus , as it were of fire , or as it were a mighty and rushing winde , but nothing sensible , some hot exhalations of the braine set on fire , by the continuall motion , and agitation of the tongue . good god , have we thus learnt christ ? is this the fruit of so clear a gospel ? and the return of all our holy mothers care , and paines for education ? shall we take gods word into our mouthes and preach sedition , rebellion and insurrection , contrary to that word which we pretend to preach ? to maintaine religion by insurrection , is to maintaine it by meanes , condemned by the ●ame religion we would maintain . chap. ix . whether a king failing in his duty and not performing those things which he hath sworn unto at his coronation ( so solemnly ) the people are not disobliged in their obedience unto him , and may , thereupon , depose or put him to death . if kings held their crowns by indentures from the people , then were the people disobliged to their obedience unto him , upon his failing ( in those things whereto he hath been sworn ) on his part ; but if they receive their crowns immediatly from god , and that by him alone kings reign ( as hath been heretofore proved at large ) then all the failings that can be in a king , can but make him a bad king ; but still he must remain a king ; the oath assures us of his being a good king , not of his being a king ; for he was king before he took it : coronation is but a ceremony , and his oath is but at his coronation ; the issue of ceremony , must not dis-inherit the right heire , of all that substance : king and kingdome , are like man and wife , whose marriages are made in heaven , who are betrothed by god himself ; now as in the ceremony between man and woman , the husband in the presence of god and angels , and al the congregation promiseth ( which is as solemnly binding as any oath ) that he will live together with her after gods holy ordinance in the state of matrimony , that he will love and cherish her , maintain and keep her , and forsaking all other , keep himself onely unto her : now if he performe all these things , he doth well , he is both a good husband , and a good christian ( considering the vow that he hath made ) but if he doth not live with her according to gods holy ordinance , nor love , nor cherish her as he should , nor maintain and keep her as he ought ; shall it be lawfull for a man to put away his wife for every cause ? matt. 19.3 . much lesse can it be lawfull for the wife to put away her husband upon every distaste ; it was god that made them male and female : mat 19.4 . and therefore it is fit they should continue together so ; they twain are but one flesh ; matt. 19.5 . therefore they cannot be divided ; god joyned them both together : matt , 19.6 . therefore no man can put them assunder . now to apply this to the king wedding himself to his people at his coronation ; the king ( solemnly ) takes his oath at his coronation before all the people , that he will live together with them according to the lawes of the land , that he will protect and defend them to the uttermost of his power , with all other protestations contained in the said oath , which if he doth perform , he doth wel , and is both a good man and a good king ; but if he should not govern them according to the laws of the land , and if he should not cherish and defend his people , shall it be lawfull for this wife to make away this husband ? god forbid ! god made him king , them subjects , therefore they must continue so , like man and wife , for better for worse , they two are both one , the head may not be divided from the body , and quae deus conjunxit , nemo separet ; there have been bils of divorcement given unto these king● husbands in former times : but of those bils , i may say , as our blessed saviour said of the bils of divorcement which moses commanded ; it was propter duritiem cordi● , matt. 19.7 . deut. 24.1 . for the heardnes of mens hearts ; and then again , this durities cordis , never went so far as that the woman might put away her husband , but only the husband his wife , and that only in the case of adultery ; & if it had been otherwise , it had but a late begining , a bad foundation : for our saviour saith , matt. 19.8 . in principio autem non erat sic , it was not so from the beginning ; and a hard heart is but a bad foundation for a good christian to build upon . i will conclude this application with words not of my own , but of saint paul , which words are a commandment , neither is it i ( saith the apostle ) 1 cor. 7.10 , but the lord , that gives you this commandment , let not the wife depart from her husband ; no , if shee be an heretique , or which is worse a heathen ; if the woman hath a husband which believeth not if he be pleased to dwell with her , let her not leave him : 1 cor. 7.13 . if i would resist my soveraign in any kind , it should be ●or my religion , but when my religi●n tels me that i must not resist him in ●ny case ; then i think i should but doe ●in doing so ) like the boasting jew , ro. ● . 13 . who boasted of the law , and dis●onoured god through breaking of that law , which he had boasted of : what if some did not believe , shall their unbelief make the faith of god of none effect ? saith paul rom. 3.3 . god forbid : no more can the wickednesse of a king , make void gods ordinance of our obedience unto him : our obedience must look upon gods command , not upon the kings good behaviour ; god doth not command things because they are fitting , but it is fit that wee should obey , because he commands them ; neither ought we to have respect so much unto the goodnesse , as unto the authority of a king ; for kings do not consist in this , that they are good , but in this , that they are kings ; for as it is possible for one to be a good man , and a bad king , so it is often seen , that a bad man may be a good king ; and it is an observation here at home , that the best laws have been made by the worst of kings . it is an observation , that divers kingdomes have long continued in peace and happinesse under bad lawes , and worse governours . well observed ; when unwarrantable attempts to better both , and inconsiderable courses to mend all , hath brought all to ruine and confusion . he that sets a kingdome in combustion , to advance his own opinion , and preferre his private judgement , doth but set his house on sire to roast his egges . god makes kings of severall conditions , sometimes he gives a king , whose wisdome and reach in government is like sauls , head and shoulders higher then all the people : and then , when we have wise kings , and learned judges , psalm 2.10 . we shall be sur● to have all those breakers of their bonds asunder , and those casters away of their cords from them ; verse 5. to be bruised with a rod of iron , and broken in pieces like a potters vessell ; verse 9. sometimes god will send us a little child , sometimes a child in years , otherwhile a child in understanding , which of both it be , vae regno ( saith sol. ) cui puer dominabitur ; woe to the kingdome , over which a child reigns . for then the whole kingdome is sure to be put upon the rack . sometimes god in his ●udgement sends a tyrant amongst us , 〈◊〉 will set an evil man to rule over them , saith god himself , & then we are never in hope ●o be from under the lash ; and some●imes in mercy he sends meek and ●hild princes ( like moses ) who carried his people in his bosome , one that shall only make use of his prerogatives , as christ did of his miracles in cases of necessity ; one who shall say with the apostle saint paul , ● i have no power to doe hurt , but to doe good , to edification , but not ●o destruction : one who shall continue his reign , as saul began , videre ne quid sit populo , quod fleat , who will hear and ask why do the people cry ? deserve well and have well ; shall we receive good from the hands of the lord , and shall we not receive evil princes ? though they be ●amarae sagittae , yet when we consider that they are edulci manu domini emissae , wee should not refuse them , but be contented with whomsoever his mercy or his justice sends , or throws upon us : never was there a bad prince over any people but he was sent by our heavenly father for a scourge to his children ; and shall we kisse , or snatch the rod out of our fathers hand ? to conclude , there is nothing can disoblige the people from their king , because his authority over them is a domino , from the lord , bu● their obedience towards him is prop●e● dominum , for the lords sake ; though i● himself there be all there asons that ca●● be given to the contrary , many will be glad to hear the father of their country , say , i and the lord will go , and to be sol● elect , and to hear his father tell him , de●● providebit , as abraham said to his son isaac ; but if he takes fire and sword in hand threatning his follower , how many followers will he have ? i had rather , with isaac , follow my father ● know not wherefore ; and with abraham , obey my god , contrary to my own nature , and beyond all hope , then to serve so great a god and his vicegerent by rules drawn by my own fancy and reason . chap. x. psal. 105.15 . touch not mine anointed , meant by kings . by the words touch not mine anointed , is meant kings and princes : neither ●n any other interpretation , whatso●●er , be obtruded upon this text , with●●t a great deal of impudence and igno●●nce ; if there were no other argument 〈◊〉 be used but this , to a modest man , it ●ere sufficient . viz. that not any ●hurch , nor any church-men , nor ●●y christian , nor any father , nor any ●xpositor whatsoever , did ever give it ●ny other interpretation , before such ●●me as the jesuite and the puritan , and ●●ey both at a time , and that time , bea●ing not above 100 years date neither , ●egan to teach the world that it was ●awfull to murder kings ; and no mar●ell if this found some querke or other ●o turne the streame of scriptures sence , ●ut of its proper channell , and constant course ; the two birds of a feather , persecutors of one another , like two fighting cocks who quarrell among●● themselves , being both of the same kind , and yet both agree in taking councell together against the lord and against his anointed : or like pilate and herod they could not agree but in the principles of condemning the lord● christ . but it is objected , that as a little child upon a gyants shoulders , may see farther then the gyant himself , so a weaker understanding comming after those fathers , and taking advantage of such helps , getting up upon the shoulders of time and learning , may see more then they did , or hath been seen in former ages ; and therefore it is no wonder , i● a man without aspersing himself with the least immodesty , may pretend to set more , then all those who went before him had observed , and what hath this child pick-a-poke spied ? a birds-nea●●● can there be a simpler thing imagined , whereby to give impudence the chaire , and throw all the antient fathers flat upon their backs , then this so common and so much approv'd of instance to usher innovation , not only into the church , but also into the very soul of scripture it self ? for what if it be granted , that a child upon a gyants shoulders sees further then doth the gyant himself , doth the child know better what he sees then doth the said gyant ? must not the child aske the gyant what is what , of all that he beholds ? must not the child be informed by the knowing gyant , of the difference between the mountaines & the vallies , the water and the skie , a cock & a bull ? if the child be thus ignorant , what doth the childs getting up upon the gyants shoulders advantage the child in points of controversie ? except it be such a child as saint christopher had got upon his shoulders , that was judge of all the world : if the child be not so simple but understands all these things ; then believe me he is no child in understanding , but a gyant himselfe in knowledge , and so the similitude , the child , and the gyant come tumbling all down together ; seat a child never so high , he is but a child still , and sits but at the feet of a gamaliel , when he is upon the shoulders of a gyant ; no child was ever thought worthy thy to pose all the doctors , but the child jesus . now to clear the text from those blots and blurs that are throwne upon the words , going before this text of scripture , touch not mine anointed , viz. i have reproved kings for their sakes , ergo , the word anointed could not betoken kings , because kings were reproved , for their sakes who were the lords anointed : now say they , the word anointed must necessarily signifie the people of god , for whose sake these kings were reproved , and so it doth ; but yet my corahmites , dathamites , and abiramites , you must not thinke to be all alike holy unto the lord , as that ye are all concern'd in this nolite tangere : there is no question but that in some sence the elect of god are anointed ones of the lord , but not peculiarly the lords anointed : they are filii olii , sons of oyl , as the prophet termes them , but not christi mei , or christi tui , or christi ejus , or christi domini , which were attributes that were never given by the holy ghost to any but to christ , and kings : the priests who were anointed ( really ) never were term'd in scripture the lords anointed , and the proudest , and most ●ebellious people that ever were , whose ●rrogance claim'd an equality with , ne●er ( in sacris ) strove to be above their priests . now if you expect clearnesse ●n the fountaine , do not ye trouble the ●aters , and you shall behold the springs of truth arise ; 't was the elect and ●hosen of the lord that were here meant by anointed , and it was the seed of abraham , and it was not kings that were meant by this word anointed in the text . but it was not all the elect of god , that must not be touch'd , it was not all the seed of abraham who have this noli me tangere about them , but it was abraham , isaac and jacob , for whose sake god reproved kings , as they are plainly nominated in the same psalm , and none else ; if there be mention made of the seed of abraham , isaac and jacob were the seed of abraham ; who were else mentioned ? and though we cannot comprehend these three under the notion of nominall kings , yet we may be pleased to consider them as reall princes , principi dei es inter nos , as it was said to abraham , thou art a mighty prince amongst us , so kings may be reproved for their sakes ; they may be kings too , and yet the lords anointed for whose sake kings were reproved , for we doe not dispute about the name , but the thing : now wheresoever you find this word nolite tangere , you shall find this word , saying , going before it , which of necessity must have some reference to some other place of scripture to which it must allude , and in reference to which it must be spoken , for the word , saying , makes it rather a question of some authour , then the psalmist's own , this allusion you may easily perceive , gen. 26.11 . where it is set down , how that god touched the heart of abimelech king of the philistims , in the behalfe of isaac , one of the three named in the psalm ; so that king abimelech charged all his people , saying , he that toucheth this man , shall surely die : so abimelech and king herod were both reproved for abrahams sake , gen. 12.10 . and to what place of scripture can this nolite tangere be more aptly applied , then to this , where we find the same words reiterated ? or what clearer testimony can be given of the scriptures alluding to this saying , touch not mine anointed , then to gen. 16.29 . where totidem verbis , it is said to abimelech in the ●ehalfe of isaac , we have not touched thee ●●ou blessed of the lord ; what difference ●etween these words , and touch not mine anointed ? besides the marginall notes of all our bibles directs us to abraham , isaac and jacob , as to the anointed of the lord , ●nd as the princes of gods people , which must not be touch'd , and for whose sakes kings were so much reproved ; the word , king , in the text , doth not exclude ●hose who were princes , but it only includes those princes who were called kings , and were reproved for their sakes who were kings themselves re , though not nomine so that all the ground that will be gained hereby , will be , that one prince was reproved for another , though not called kings . to conclude , as no christians ever interpreted this place of scripture but of kings and princes , untill jesuites and puritans , undertook that it is lawfull to murder kings : so no english author ever interpreted it otherwise , till within this 7 or 8 years ; when presbyters and independents began to put this doctrine in execution , and if the former of these two would wash their hands in innocency , as relating to this last unparallel'd act of regicide , let them remember charls the proto-martyr of gods church , and people , his own words , in his book of meditations , wherein he tels them , how vaine is the shift of their pleading exemption from that aspersion , to grant commission for shooting of bullets of iron and lead in his face , and preserving him in a parenthesis of words . chap. xi . objection . rehoboam hearkened unto young men which gave him evil councell , and would not hearken unto his sages which gave him good advice , but answered the people roughly , wherefore they renounced the right they had in david , and the inheritance they had in the son of jesse , fled to their tents , and crowned jeroboam king : ergo , we may doe the like upon the like occasion , hahaving a president from the word of god , and warrantable , because god said , this thing was from the lord , 1 kings 13.8 . answer . all this proves only that such a thing was don , not that it was well don ; for if it be a sufficient proof to prove out of scripture , that such a thing was don , and thereupon conclude that therefore we may do the like , then this is as good an argument as the best , judas betraid christ , therefore it is lawfull for a servant to betray his lord and master ; first , the scripture blames him in a most patheticall climax , 1 kings 11.26 . jeroboam the son of nebat , the servant of solomon , whose mothers name was zeruah , even he lifted up his hand against the king , shewing how he had desperately run through all those obligations , and ties that were upon him ; 2ly he & al his adherents are called rebels for their paines , not only by abijah his enemy , but also by the holy ghost , who is enemy to none who are not gods enemies , 2 chron. 10.19 . and israel rebelled against the house of david unto this day , his adherents were termed in scripture ●aine men , and sons of belial , they were punished with a destruction of five hundred thousand of them , which was one hundred thousand more then there were true subjects for the slaughter , the scripture saith , god smote abraham , verse 5. if it be objected , that the thing could not but be well done , because god saith , 1 kings 14. i exalted thee from among the people , and made thee prince over my people israel , and rent the kingdom from the house of david , and gave it thee : then it could not but be well done of rehoboam ( by the same reason ) to answer the people as he did , for it is written , that rehoboam hearkened not unto the people , for the ●ause was from god , that he might performe the saying which he spake by abijah unto jeroboam the son of neba● , 1 kings 12.15 . both were passive , and neither of them could resist the will of god ; but these places of scripture are often times mistaken , and misapplied , and interpreted either by those who are not well acquainted with the nature of scripture language , or else by those who wilfully and wickedly laid hold of such a meaning as the scripture may seeme to give them leave ; for all these and the like places of scripture we must no● take as gods beneplacence or approbation , but only for his permission , for ●therwise we should make a mad piece ●f worke of it , for god said , 1 sam. 12. ●1 . i will raise up evil against thee out of thine 〈◊〉 house , and i will take thy wives before ●●ine eyes , and give them to thy neighbour , ●nd he shall lie with them in the sight of the ●●n : doth this justifie absolon for lying with his fathers wives and concubines ●n the sight of all israel ? is there any euil ●hat i have not done it , saith the lord ? therefore did the citizens do well to do evill , because the lord said , i did it ? god did it , that is to say , he caused it to be done , as the evill of punishment , not as the tolleration of evill , so this thing was from the lord , that is to say , the lord suffered such a thing to come to passe as a punishment of solomon for his idolatry on his posterity , and yet may no way approve of any such rebellious courses : neither was rehoboam so much to be blamed for his answer , as may be supposed , nor the people justified in their rebellion neither , for they grounded their discontents upon a false ground , for the people complained when there was no cause , and demanded that which was not reason ; hear the whole grievance and consider it a little , 1 kings 12.4 . thy father made 〈◊〉 yoake grievous ( that was false ) do t●● make it light ( no reason for that ) fo● the people never lived happier neithe● before nor after , then they did in thi● kings fathers time , and might have done in his time , if they had know● when they had been well , and god● judgements would have suffered them to have seen it . for , 1. they were a populous nation , as the sand on the sea for multitude , 1 kings 4.20 . 2. they liv'd merrily eating and drinking and making merry . 3. the nation was honoured abroad , for solomon reigned over all the kings that were round about him , verse the 21. 4. they lived peaceably , they had peace on all sides round about them , verse 24. 5. they liv'd securely and quietly , every man under his owne vine , and under his own figtree . 6. they had much trading in his dayes , and much merchandize , 1 kings 10.15 . 7. he was very beneficiall to those merchants , for he gave solomon , not only large wisdome , but largenesse of heart , and let those merchants have commodities from them at a price , ver. 28. 8. he maintained a brave fleet at sea , kings 4.21 . 9. he made silver and gold to be in jeru●●●em as plentifull as stones , and cedars as ●●amore trees , 2 chron. 1.16 . 10. these felicities were not only in the ●●urt , or among the nobility , or between the ●●tizens , but they were universall , even from ●an unto beersheba . 11. they were not for a spurt and no more , 〈◊〉 at one time and not at another , but all the ●●yes of solomon . o me prope lassum juvate posteri . neither doth the scripture make any ●ention of any such hard yoke at all , ●nly the margent of the bible directs ●s from the complaint of the people , to ●ooke upon the first chapter of the kings verse 7. and there you shall only find how solomon had 12 officers over all israel , which provided victuals for the king and his houshold , each man his moneth in a year , but here is but a very slender ground for a quarrell , when the immediate verse after the naming of those 12 officers tels us , that the multitude of people as numberlesse as the sand upon the sea shore , were● merry eating and drinking as the kin● and this place unto which we are di●●●cted ( and no other ) to find out t●● grievousnesse , appears by the context ● the same chapter , to be mentioned 〈◊〉 an expression of solomons glory and wi●dome , rather then of any tyranny , 〈◊〉 polling of his people : for the whole r●lation ends with an expression , that 〈◊〉 the people were as the sand of the 〈◊〉 for number , so the largeness of the king● heart extended as the largenesse of the sea for bounty , all were partakers of it , 1 kings 4.29 . pardon me therefore if i thinke that rehoboam had more reason 〈◊〉 answer the people as he ●id , then the people had just reason to complaine . o ●●titudo ! o the unserchable wayes of god where god suffers his people to be ● rod to visit the sins of the fathers upo● the children , he permits them to take a wrong cause in hand , that he may also cast the rod into the fire . i pray god the merchants of london b● not too like those merchants of jerusalem , who traded so long , untill they brought over , together with other merchandize , apes and peacocks , and the traders begin to be too like their traffique , apes for manners and behaviour , peacocks for pride , and rusling untill the apes grow to be so unhappy , as to be brought to their chaines , and the peacocks , so vaine glorious , as to loose their feathers : and so i leave them both , tasting the fruits of their own follies . chap. xii . the objection of jehu slaying his master joram answered . objection . thus saith the lord god of israel , i have anointed thee jehu king over the people of the lord , even over israel , and thou shalt smite the house of ahab thy master , that i may avenge the bloud of all the servants of the lord at the hands of jezebel , ergo , if a king be thus wicked , we have gods warrant , for the deposing and putting such a one to death . answer . but stay untill you have this warrant , and then we will allow it to be lawfull ; for though every one is apt enough to be a jehu in his own case , yet every one is not a god-almighty , we must not clap his seal to our own warrants ; what god commands at one time , we are not to make it our warrant to doe the like at all times , this is a prerogative of the almighty , no priviledge of a subject ; god may command abraham to slay his son , but we must not go about to murder our children ; god may command the israelites to spoile the egyptians , but we must not rob and cosen our neighbours ; christ may give order for the taking away of another mans goods because the lord hath need of it , but we must not make necessity our pretence for arbytrarie power ; these acts of the almighty are specially belonging unto him , and we must have his speciall warrant before we go about any such thing . but setting all such plea aside , i utterly deny that either jehu did , or that ●od gave jehu any such authority as to ●ay king joram . jehu slew joram , but ●ehu did not slay the king , for jehu by ●●e lords immediate appointment was ●ing himself , before ever he laid hand ●pon joram ; joram was but then a private ●an , for in the verses going before , it 〈◊〉 set down how that jehu was anoin●●d king , how he was so proclaimed , ●nd accordingly how he took the state ●f a king upon him and executed the ●ffice : 2 kings 12.13 . before ever any ●ention is made of jehu slaying joram , ●●rse 14. therefore here is no regicidium , ●s yet here is but plaine man-slaughter , ●nd a lusty warrant for that too ; again , ●e must not ▪ only take heed of unwar●antable actions , but of false warrants , the private spirit is no sufficient war●ant to lay hold on such a publique ma●istrate ; as there are false magistrates , ●o there is a false spirit , for an erroneous ●pirit may as well condemne a good magistrate , as a bad magistrate may be ●ondemned by a good spirit : but there may be a higher mistake then all this , ●nd i wish it were not too common amongst us now adayes , to mistake the workes of the flesh , for the fruit of the spirit : let us compare them both together , as the apostle hath set them i● order . the works of the flesh . adultery , fornication , vncleanness , laciviousness , idolatry , witchcraft , hatred , variance , emulations , wrath , strife , seditions , heresies , envyings , murders , drunkennesse , revellings . the fruit of the spirit ▪ love , joy , peace , long-suffering , gentlenesse , goodnesse , faith , meekenesse , temperance . by which of these two was charls the first's head cut off ? chap. xiii . of the necessity and excellency of monarchy . a jove principium , let us begin with heaven , and behold its monarchy ●n the unity of the blessed trinity ; ●hough there be three persons , yet there must be but one god : for the avoiding of that which we are fallen into , a confounding of persons , and dividing of substance . descend lower , and consider the angels , and you shall find one arch-angel above the rest , as the angels monarch . lower yet , to those senselesse and inanimate rulers of the day and night , the sun and moon , and you shall not find ( or so much as the appearance of such a thing ) more suns or moons in the same firmament then one ; without a prodegie or portent , of some dire , and direfull event . come down to the regions and you shall find in the head of the highest region a prince of the aire . come to the lowest and you shall find amongst the wing'd inhabitants thereof , the soveraigne eagle , as the king of birds . come amongst the beasts of the field , and the lion will soon let you know , that there is a king of beasts . run into the sea , and there is a king of fishes . descend into hell and there is a prince of devils : and shall only man be independent ? do we not observe the delving labourer what paines he takes to joyn house to house , and land to land , til there be no more room for any competitor within his dominions ; and when he hath wrought his petty dunghils into a mixen , he thinkes it law and reason , that the place should not admit the dominion of more cocks then one , this mans dies a monarch in his own thoughts , and his son lives to inlarge his fathers territories , but at last dies big with thoughts of a principality , his son laies hold of all the advantages that may help him to the accomplishment of his hereditary desires . juno , lucina per opem obsecro , he is a prince , caelo timendum est regna ne summa occupet qui vicet ima , he must be an emperour , divisum imperium cum jove caesar habet , he must have all or none , none but jupiter must share with him . mundus non ●ufficit unus , when he hath all , and when all is done , the empire after that it hath disimbogu'd , and incorporated into it selfe , all the kingdomes of the earth , terminates in an everlasting kingdome , that shall never be destroyed ; quam primum appropinquaver at regnum caelorum , as soon as the kingdome of heaven shall be at hand : and what 's all this ? but to shew us that not only nature , but god himself , who is the cod of nature , affects monarchy . the further off any government is to monarchy , the worse it is , the nearer the better ; the reason 's thus , that government which avoids most the occasion of differences , must be most happy , because most peaceable ; and peace only consists in unity : now where there are many governours there must be differences : where there are few , there may be differences : where there is but one , there cannot . the romans , when they shooke off their government by kings , and were distasted with their government , for their governours sake ; tried all the contraverted governments of the world , of two by their consuls , of three by their triumvira● , of ten by their decemviri , of ten thousand by their tribunes : when they found that the farther o●● they departed from monarchy , the center of all government , the more they lost themselves in the the circumference of their own affaires , they began a little to look back upon the government from which they had deviated all the while , but yet with squint eyes ; first , a king , and no king , a thing that was like a king , but not a king ; a thing that was so re , and tempore , but not nomine ; he must be only so , pro una vice , unoque anno , such were their dictators : at last this sucking government gathered strength , and grew to be perpetuall , which perpetuity in one , begot an everlasting monarchy in all ages , which is to continue unto the end of the world ; for the prophet daniel tels us , that at the end of the last and fourth monarchy , which was the roman , christ should sit upon his everlasting kingdom that should never be destroyed ; therefore my enthusiasticks , must either leave dreaming of pulling down all kingdomes , and empires in the world , or else thinke themselves the kingdome of christ , that we have pray'd for all along . neither is it unworthy of your observation , that as soon as ever this monarchy was restored , there was universall peace over the whole world ; and the saviour of the world , who was princep●● pacis , vouchsafed not to come into the world , under any of the forementioned governments ; but imperante augusto natus est christus , who was the first emperour of the romans . he who affects purity , let him begin it in his own house , and as he likes it in the modell , so let him attempt it in the fabrick : for my part , i have read their arguments , and am so far from being evinced by any of them , that i do not believe that there is any such thing : i have been in all the common-wealths in europe , & i could not find any such thing as a free-state , i could find the word , libertas fairely written over their gates , but within ther wals the greatest bondage & arbitrary power that could possibly be imagined in any part of the world , but no liberty at all that i could find , but only some few there were , who had liberty to do what they would with all the rest . geneva may of six , genoa may have seven , venice may have eight , the holla●ders nine or ten , england may have five members or leading-men as they call them ; but what 's all this but taking the government from off its shoulders , and putting it in some hand ? and when you have done , its ten to one but you shall find one of the fingers longer then all the rest , and if you please you may call that king , and all the rest subjects ; what 's this but a change from a monarchy with one crown , to a tiranny with so many heads ? if it were so that all free-states , as they call themselves , had all equall power , it would be so much the worse , all these kinds of government have their continuation and subsistance upon this only ground , viz. that necessity and craft drive them to come so near to monarchy , and sometimes to an absolute monarchy , when you reckon your hog and mogons only by the pole , and not by the polar star , that commonly is fixed amongst them , about which , all the rest move and turn . but what do we talke of monarchy or aristocracy or democracy , behold a wel regulated parliament , such a one as ours ●ight have been , and ought to be ; hath the benefit and goodnesse that is in all ●hese three kind of governments , of monarchy in the king , of aristocracy ●n the peers , of democracy in the house of commons , where the acerbities of any one is taken away by their being all three together , but if one will be all , ●hen all will be nothing . this stupendiously wise , and noble way of government had its dissolution by inverting the course it took in its originall . when the first william had conquered the nation , the normans would not admit that any laws should be observed , or rules obeyed , but only the will of the conquerour ; and why so ? but because thereby the conquerour might take away the estates of any english-man , and give them to his conquering normans ; but in process of time ; when these normans became english , they began to insist a little upon m●um and tuum , and would know the what that was belonging to the king , as a king , and to themselves as subjects ; for by the former rule , the king might as well take away the estates from one norman , and give it to another , as he did formerly from the english , and give to his normans ▪ wherefore they would have no more of that , but joyntly and unanimously petitioned the king to the same effect , the king thought it reasonable , condescends to their desires , consultation was about the premises , the result of the consultation was , that the king should issue out writs to the lords spirituall ( who in those ) dayes were thought the wisest and most consciencious ) to reason with the king , and advise with him , as well concerning the bounding of the ocean of soveraignty , as bridling in the petty rivers of private interest . these spirituall lords thought it a work of too high a nature for their private undertakings , wherefore they supplicated his majesty , that the lords temporall might be also summoned by writ , and joyn with them in the same authority ; 't was done accordingly ; being done , they both thought it a businesse so transcendent , and of so universall concernment , that they found a way to involve the whole nation in a joynt consent , which was , that all free-holders in the kingdome , in their severall precincts , might by the election of two in every county , disimbogue all their suffrages into theirs , and to remaine the countries proxies , to vote for , and to be directed by their several countries ; and thus the commons were brought in : but behold the viper , that eats through the sides of its own parent ; behold the asses foale , who when she hath done sucking , kicks her own dam . the king brings in the lords spirituall , the lords spirituall bring in the lords temporall , both bring in the commons , the commons destroy both , both destroy the king . neither was kingship ( as they call it ) and episcopacy better rewarded , for being the principall , and so zealous reformers of the gospel , to have both their crowns and miters broke in pieces by the same hammer of reformation ; and the wals of their pallaces mingled with abby dust , casting thereby such a blot upon the very name of reformation , that it will scarce be legible by christians , except what went before , and what may follow after , may help the future ages to the true sence and meaning of the word : thus rivers run backwards and drowne their own head ; thus the monsterous children who are borne with teeth in their mouthes , bite of the nipple , and starve themselves for lack of sustenance ; thus blind sampsons revenge themselv●s upon their enemies , by pulling downe the house upon their own heads ; thus the formes of the most glorious government of a church & state , are wounded to death through the sides of reformation : if you are not , i am sure you will ere it be long be satisfied , that all the specious pretences of popular government , free-state , liberty of the subject , are but figments and delusions of the people , obtruded by vaine-glorious and haughty men , who knowing that they could not be that one governour of all the rest , yet they hope to be one of many ; thus foolish children set their fathers barnes full of corne on fire to warme their hands , when they are ready to starve for lack of bread : who had not rather live under a government , wherein a man i● only bound to submit to him , whom it is honour to obey , then to live under a government where every man is a slave , because every one is a master ? finally , my opinion is this , i had rather have my liberty to kneel before a throne , then 〈◊〉 be the tallest man in a crowd , and should ●●inke it more for my ●ase and honour . chap. xiv . that there is no such thing as a free-state in the world . if by a free-state , you mean a people who have shook off their allegiance to their prince , there are many such free-states to be found , but a beggars-bush , or a company of gipsies ( who propound to themselves new laws , renouncing the old , and yet chuse a king and queen amongst themselves , pleasing one another with a selfe-conceited opinion of a thing they call liberty , which is no otherwise then an ignoble bondage of their own chosing , preferring the correction of a bundle of rods ( because their own hands have made them ) before the sway-meant of a scepter , which god himself hath put into their soveraignes hand ) is as good a common-wealth , or free-state as the best : but if you mean by a free-state , a freedom from tyranny , you will be as far to seek for any such thing in rerum natura , as for a reason why tyranny may not be in many , as well as in one : but if you mean by freedome an exemption from all such tyrannicall oppressions as are expressed in the petition of right ; i see not why such a free-state may not be under a monarchy : certainly i have seen such petitions , and insistances , during the late kings reigne , as having relation to free-born people of england , and should thinke that the magna charta defended by one , who had power to make it good against the infringement of many breakers , and by a parliament of many , authorized to the same purpose against the pessundation of it by any one , be it by the highest , may not be as good a way to make , preserve and keep a nation free , as well as the intrusting of a nations freedome into the hands of a few , whose independency deny all remedies to be either above them , or below them . it may be it will not be thought tedious , if i entertaine your eye and consideration with some observations of my owne , in those free-states of christendome ( as they call themselves ) wherein i have been . i shall begin with the free-state of genoa , wherein i have been resident some time , and the rather , because whilst england was a kingdome , they could not have the face to stand in any competition with us ; but now the kings armes were cut off as well as his head , how should we do to make a distinction between them and us ? for both the state of genoa , and the state of england give the very same coat of armes , and saint george i● both our patrons : certainly england must give the halfe-moon as the younger brother ; and why should not the moon crescent follow after , now the turkish alcoran is come before ? when the overspreading romane monarchy , like nebuchadnezzars overgrown and lofty tree was brought only to a stump chained to the ground , and when the keyes of heaven and hell had so wel fitted the locks belonging to the gates of rome , as to give way to the enterance of that high priest into the imperiall seat , then was genoa a lop of that great fall , and soon after it was wrought into a bundle or faggot of a common-wealth , untill such time as charls the great recovered all his right in italy , saving only the holy land , whose princely sword could never strike at the already cloven miters , but at helmets . amongst other counties whose subduements , acknowledged charls to be the great , genoa was one ; which city was no lesse happy then famous , in affording a man who honoured her wals , with making it known unto the world , that he came out of them under the name of andreas dory , a genoese ; this famous andreas dory was a zealous common-wealths-man , and one of the new gentlemen , as they call'd themselves , ( for you must understand , that when these states-men had shooke off the yoke of soveraignty , they expelled all their gentry or nobility ; which no sooner done , but they made a new gentry or nobility amongst themselves ) and being a deserving man , the emperour charls the great , will'd this andreas dory to aske and have what he desired of all that he had conquered : he asked genoa , the emperour gave it him , to do with it what he pleased , he gave it ●●e citizens , together with all their ●iberties , and former freedomes , upon ●●is condition , that they should recall ●●e old gentry in againe , and settle ●●em again in all their rights and privi●edges , which being assented unto , ge●oa became a free-state againe ; but be●old the freedom , or rather the power ●nd bonds of love and gratitude , nei●her the old or new gentry , nor the common people , would allow of any ●hing that was said or to be done , but what this dory should command or say : ●or was there a more absolute and pow●rfull monarch upon the earth then he ; ●nd whilst he liv'd he did continue so , because the people would obey : who being once dead , the people soon found they did obey , because they must : yet still it must be a free-state , because libertas was written over the senate-house , and city-gates , but neither within their senate , or their wals , was there ever such tyranny over the common people , or the citizens , then hath been all along , and is at this day practised by some few , who spit monarchy in the face , and make no bones to swallow down all its adjuncts ? exercising their severall tyrannies with this justification , that they are the supreme authority , whilst they deny supremacy ; gulling the people into a sottish beliefe , that they are not suppressed by one hand , because it hath many fingers . i shall instance unto you one particular , which was done whilst i was there , whereby you may easily judge in what free-state their commons live ▪ there was a substanciall citizen , between whom , and a noble genoese there was some grudge , this senator studies a revenge , and thus he intends it to be put in execution . he gives command to one of his braves ( for so they call their executioners ) to kill this citizen : this slaughter-man ( being by reason of some former obligations ) struck with some remorse , of doing so high an act of ingratitude , to one , who had so well deserved at his hands ; discovers the whole plot to his so much acknowledg'd patron , who very much acknowledges and commends the ingenuity of this discoverer ; bids him to follow him where he leads him over a trap , where the leader knew full wel how to order his steps , so that he might advance safely over the place , but the follower ( ignorant of these observations ) must needs fal down a precipice , no lesse terrible , then destructive ; the poor man is slaine : this perfidious murderer watches his opportunity of meeting this designer of his death , in the merchato , and gently takes him by the arme , and desires him that he might speak a word with him ; they withdraw themselves out of the walke to a private corner : the citizen tels this noble-man that his servant had betraid him , in discovering his design to him on whom it should be executed ; in detestation of which perfidiousnesse , he had given him the reward of a traytor ( declaring the manner and forme as is expressed ) and desired in all humility that he would be pacified , and that whatsoever differences were between them , that he would bepleased to be his own judge , whereupon they both became friends , no lesse satisfaction being acknowledged by the one , then ingenuity on the other party . such shifts as these , are these free-borne people faine to make , to appease the wrath and fury of their lords and masters : in a word , as their territories is no otherwise then a continued breach of three hundred miles along the sea-shore , so the inhabitants live no otherwise then do the fishes in the sea , the greater fishes devour the lesse ; so where there is no king in israel , every man doth that which is good in his own eyes : it cannot be otherwise . from thence i went unto the free-state of lucca , and there i found the free-men to have six princes every year ; and the senate chusing six men , who elect a prince for the common-wealth every two moneths ; this prince ascending his throne up these six steps , acts what he pleaseth : nor have the common people any more liberty , then the most rigid calvinist will allow a papist , free-will : neither is there any other difference between this government of the free-state of lucca , and the empire of germany ; but that the one have so many prime chusers , and the other so many prince electors , the one keeps it within the house of austria , and the other keeps it out of the house of the medices . i went from thence unto the ancient common-wealth of venice , whose government ( if in any ) i should approve of , because they never revolted from a better : but yet i must tell you , that at my first enterance into that city , i found the people full of complaints , of the heavy taxes , exorbitant power and arbitrary government , which seized upon all their plate , and what other goods of value they had , for the use of the state , toward the maintenance of a war , which was both foolishly begun , and most carelesly run into by their trustees , or representatives ; for the pope of rome had certaine intelligence that the turke was preparing to make war against some part of christendome ; the pope sends to all the fronteir princes of christendome , advising them that they should all agree as one man to make it their own case , and that they would assist one another , on what part of christendome soever the storme should fall , and that the severall embassadours would take it into consideration , about proportioning every prince or state according to their abilities , for their severall supplies of men and money ; to which they all soon condescended , except the venetian , who told the rest , that there was a league between the grand seigniour and the venetians , and therefore they were not t● fear any such war to be intended against them ; to which it being demanded , that if the turke prevailed against other parts of christendome round about the venetians , whether they thought he would let the venetians alone at last or whether the venetians thought so or no● , whether they did not thinke themselves bound in honour and christianity to defend their neighbour-christians against so common an enemy ? to which it was answered , by the venetians , that the very entring into such a league and covenant with them , were enough to break the peace between them and the turke ; whereupon the juncto was dissolved , and every tub was faine to stand on his own bottome : but it fell out , that ( by the machiavillianisme of the card. richlieu , who taught and perswaded the turke to break the league between him and the venetians , because he would not have the venetians to lend the emperour so much money , but would find them wayes how to disburse it otherwise ) the turkes waged war only against the venetians , and none else , whereupon they were faine to endure the whole brunt of the war themselves , and had no body to help them : this being so grievously found fault with by the common people , and their goods taken away , ad placitum , their persons prest de bene esse , whether they thought so or no : i would faine know what liberty these people had , who could find such faults without remedies , and lose their goods without redresse ? what liberty is there in having freedome in the state , and none in the condition ? i shall part with my children with tears in mine eyes , and through the same water behold the word , libertas , written upon the rialto ; what am i the better for this freedome ? am i robbed of all my money , because one thief takes it away ? and am i not rob'd because six or seven layes hold upon me ? believe it , i never heard such complaints , neither in the king or parliaments time , of oppression and tyranny , as i heard in this city during the time that i was there ; and this not only during the war , but also in the times of peace , five or six men rule the whole state , and it may be the prince none of them neither . i shall relate unto you a story of one loridan a noble venetian , who keeping a curtisan , on whom he was intended to bestow a favour , he went into a rich shop for to buy her some cloth of gold to make her a gowne , the prentice was only in the shop , whom he commanded to cut out so much of such a piece as the taylor gave directions , which done , he will'd the prentice to tell his master , that he would be accomptable to him therefore ; the boy excus'd himself , it being but a servant , and not having any such directions from his master , not doubting , but that if his master were there , he would willingly trust him for what he should be pleased to command ; the noble venetian takes his leave , willing the boy to tell his master , that he should rue the day that ever he kept such a sawcy boy to give him such an affront , and so departed in great fury : the master of the shop presently comming in , and hearing the relation of what had happened , tore his haire , wrung his hands , stampt upon the ground , and like a mad-man cryed out that the boy had undone him , and and all his posterity ; takes the whole piece with him , follows this noble venetian to his curtisans , offers to bribe the curtisan with the whole piece , if she would intermediate for him ; which with much difficulty , & many pleadings she so appeas'd his wrath , that he was satisfied : and this was as common for a senatour of venice to do , as for a parliament-man to pay no debts . neither is there any law or justice to be had against any of these states-men : there was a noble-man who was an austrian both by birth and family , who being a traveler , chanc'd to cast his eyes upon a fair and virtuous lady , who in every respect were deserving of each other : this noble-man had no sooner made his mind known unto this paragon for beauty , but he was soon obstructed with a corrivall , who was a nobile venetiano ; who perceiving his mistresse affections to this stranger , to be more liberally expressed then unto him , contrives his death , and soon effects it , shee loving her martyr more then either others conceived , or shee her self could brook so great a crosse concerning them , studies revenge , and being an italian found her selfe easily prompted by her own naturall inclination , she pretends much love , that she might the better put in execution her greatest hatred , shee gets him into a chamber , where shee praies him to rest himself in a chair , wherein he was no sooner sat , but his arms and thighs were caught with springs , & being thus fastened , shee murders him with her owne hands , and flies for sanctuary to the next nunnery within the popes dominions , leaving behind her , by the murdered , these words , written with her own hand in a piece of paper , because there is no justice to be executed against a noble venetian , i have been both judge and executioner my self . men may talk what they will , and fancy what they please , but there is no more difference , in point of freedom between a monarchy and a free-state ( as they call it ) then there is between a high sheriffe of a shire , and a committee of a county ; v●rum horum mavi● accipe . now for the free-state of our neighbour netherlands , otherwise called the states of holland ( who have sprung up ( as all other free-states will do at last ) from the submissive and humble stilings of the distressed , to the high and mighty ) the particulars which occasioned their revolt from their soveraign the king of spain i shall not insist upon , but referre you to the spanish and netherland histories ; only i shal hint upon the main inducements to their rebellion ; viz. religion and freedome . for the first , there is not a people amongst whom the name of god is known , to whom religion is a greater stranger , then unto these stilers of themselves , reformed protestants ; for if this free-state , who allow all religions both of the jews and gentiles , whose severall churches own , in capitall letters over their doors , the severall s●cts of religions , to which each libertine is inclined , be religious , then the pantheonists were as truly reformed and religious as the amsterdamians ; but as he , who sacrificed to all the gods in generall must needs have sacrificed unto the true god , and yet know him not , because he joyned others with him , who was to be worshipped alone : so that country which embraceth all religions , happily may have the true religion among●● them , and yet have no religion , because they admit of many , being there is b●● one : this i speak in reference to the country , not to particular men . neither is there a sort of christians in the world who are less servants unto christ , if it be enough to make them so , to be the greatest prophaners of his day : for the sabbath day is only distinguished from other daies , by a sermon in the church , and the alehouse being full of mechannicks , drinking and carousing from morning untill night , the shops are open , and buying and selling all the day long , excepting halfe the window , which is to distinguish the day , but the door is open to let in the buyers , and the other halfe of the window is open to let in the light : and wonderfully strange it is and remarkable to consider how these people , who shook off their allegiance to their prince upon pretences of reformation , should be so besotted , as to fall into such a strange and unheard heard of prophanenesse of him , and the day whereon christ himself is to be worshipped , as in their metropolis , or chief city , to have a dog ●arket kept to the utter scandall of ●●ue religion , and christianity it selfe , ●●is is no more then what i have seen , ●●d if it were not true , it were easily re●●rned upon my self as the greatest im●●udence that could be imagined ; but o ●●e partiality of the picture-drawer , ●hen he receives large wages for a si●ilitude ! he insults over his own work ●nly because it is like , when the face it ●elf is most abhominable . now for their freedome from ty●anny and oppression ; if the turkes or tartars had conquered them , they never would ( nor never did where ever they extended their dominions ) impose such taxes and rates as they have imposed on one another , incredible ; even to the full value of the severall commodities , which run through their natives hands ; but you will aske me , how it is possible they should live then , to which i answer you , by sharking and cosening of strangers : let any forraigners come there and ask for a dinner , and for such a dinner as they may well afford for eight pence a piece , they will ask you five shillings a man ; find but the least fault with them , and they will demand twelve pence a piece more for fouling of linnen ; and if you seem angry at that ▪ you shall mend your self with the payment of six pence a piece over and above , for fouling the roome : and seeke a remedy , and you shall be told , the prince of orange himself if he were there could not help it : altom all , is all the reason they will give you ; if in sadnesse you shall complaine of such abuses to indifferent judges , they will tell you , that the states do lay such heavy taxes upon the inhabitants , that they are faine to fly to such shifts for their subsistance ; thus men pleased with the itch of innovation , are contented to scratch the bloud out of their own bodies , till they feel the greatest smart ; rather then their physitian should let out a little spare bloud , to cure the disease , and preserve them in good health ; but you will say , that for all this , they thrive and prosper abundantly , so do the argiers men , but with what credit and reputation in the eye of the world ? i believe both alike : it was not their strength or policy , which brought them to this height and flourishing condition : but it was our policy of state , in ●●mulation to other princes , which hel●ed these calfes to lions hearts , teeth , ●nd clawes , untill the high and mighty ●utter-boxes stood in competition with the crowne : and i am afraid the siding with such rebels , hath turned rebel●ion into our own bosomes , as a just ●udgement from that god who is a re●enger of all such iniquities ; they may call it the schoole of war , whilst wanting a good cause , it could be no otherwise then the christians shambles : i should be sorry that holland should be the english-mans looking-glasse : a spur for his feet , or a copy for his hand . i hope the hand of providence will cure us , like the physitian , who cur'd his patient by improving his disease , from a gentle ague , to a high feaver , that he might the better help him . chap. xv . that episcopacy is jure divino . in this discourse i shall not trouble my selfe , nor you with titles , names and words of apostles , evangelists , arch-bishops , bishops , patriarchs , presbyters , ministers , angels of churches , &c. which were all from the highest to the lowest , but tearmes reciprocal ; and were often taken in the church of god , and in the scripture it self , for one and the same : for if any man , though never so meane , a minister of the gospel converted any nation , the church ever called him , the apostle of that country ; as austin , though but a monke , was every where tearmed the apostle of england : and saint paul , being an apostle , stiles himselfe a minister of the gospel of jesus christ : paul bids timothy being a bishop , to do the work of an evangelist ; and therefore no wonder if bishops and presbyters be ●ften mentioned for one and the same : ●ut it is a great wonder that any man●er of men , should make this a ground ●or any argument against episcopacy ; ●hese kind of arguments instead of stri●ing fire that should light the candle , ●hey do but pin napkins over our eyes ●nd turne us round , untill we know ●ot where we are ; and then we grope ●or we know not who , and lay hold ●f we know not what : he that will ●ut down this over-grown up-start tree ●f errour , must first clear his way to the ●oot , and brush away all those bram●les , and briers , which grow about it ; ●e must not leave any thing standing ●hat may lay hold of the hatchet , and ●eviate the stroke , turning the same ●dge upon the feller , that was intended ●or the tree : if we should insist upon ●ames and titles , we should make but a ●onfounded piece of worke , and run our ●elves into a most inextricable labourinth and mazes of errour ; where we might run and go forwards , and backwards , and round about , and nere the near : christs are kings , kings are gods : god is christ , and christ is bi●hop of our souls : bishops are presbyters , presbyters are ministers , a minister is an apostle , an apostle is a minister : and so if you will quite back againe . i must put off these , as david threw away sauls armour , non possum incedere cum iis , i love to knock down this monstrum informe ingens in lumen ademptum , with a blunt stone taken out of a clear river , which with the sling of application may serve well enough to slay this erroneous philistine , though he were far greater then he is . in the first place therefore let as understand what is meant by jus divinum , if any man meanes that episcopacy is so jure divino , that it is unalterable , and must continue at all times , and in all places ; so that where it is left off there can be no church , he meanes to give much offence and little reason ; for there is no question but the church may alter their own government ( so that it be left to themselves to alter ) as they shall thinke most convenient , as well as alter the sabbath from the seventh day to the first of the week , or as well as they chang'd immersion into aspersion of the baptised , and many other things which carried as much jus divinum with them as episcopacy , and yet were chang'd . the jus divinum , that is in episcopall government , doth not consist in the episcopacy , but in the government , be it episcopall or what it will ; but where the government is episcopall , no question but there episcopall government is jure divino , because a government ; and if it were otherwise that government into which episcopacy degenerateth , would be jure divino , as well it , provided that none touch this ark of the church but the priests themselves ; for if the hand which belongs to the same body pull the hat from off the head , the man loses not his right , only he stands in a more humble posture , but he is in as strong possession of his owne right , as when 't was on his head ; but if another hand should chance to pull it off , the party stands disgracefully depriv'd of his highest right and ornament : so if episcopall government of the church be put down , or altered by church-men themselves , the jus divinum is but removed from the supremacy of one , and fastened in the stronger hold of many members , for this is a maxim that admits no posterne ; power never fals to the ground , neither in church nor state , but look what one lets fall , another takes up before ever it comes to ground , wherefore loosing nothing , they keep their own ; but whether this power in church or state in the point of convenience , be better in the hands of one or many , let whose will look to that , that 's not my work ; neither the names of governments nor the numbers of governours shall ever be able to fright away this jus divinum out of the church government , be the government what it will , bene visum fuit spiritui sancto & nobis , keeps in the jus divinum , be the government never so altered , whereas forbidden and improper hands , actions , as unusuall , as unwarrantable lets out this jus divinum , when they have changed it to what they can imagine ; now whether or no it be proper for a lay parliament or a representative of lay-men , by the power of the sword declining the kings authority , will and pleasure , who was appointed by god to be a nursing father of his church , to alter church-government so antient , so begun by christ himself in his own person , over so many apostles , so practis'd by the apostles over others , so continued all along , i mean episcopacy , that is to say , one minister constituted an overseer of many , and to lay hold upon tumults and insurrections , to pull down these overseers , and for men who in such cases should be governed by the church , to pull down the church-government without any the least consent of the church-governours ; i leave it for the world to judge , only my own opinion is this , that any government thus set up , or by such practises as these altered , must needs be so far from being jure divino , that it must needs be jure diabolico ; but it may be objected , that if they should have stayed untill the bishops had altered themselves , they might have staied long enough ; to which it may be answered , that had the bishops been but as poor as job , there would have been no such haste to change their cloathes : the ark was a tipe of the church , and whatsoever was literally commanded concerning the tipe , must be analogically observed in the thing tipified ; god sate in the mercy-seat that was over the ark , the ark contained within it aarons rod , and a pot of manna , so the church containes the law & the gospel , the killing letter and the reviving spirit ; others interpret the rod to signifie the government and discipline of the church , as the manna the doctrine of christ , and food that came down from heaven : i take it to signifie both , and both answers my purpose , if both be therein contained , neither must be touch'd but by the priests themselves ; neither must we confine this prohibition to the priests of the law only , but we must extend it also to the ministers of the gospel , both which were tipified by the two cherubims , or ministring angels of the almighty ; these ministers or angels , though opposite to one another , yet they both lookt alike , and neither of them upon one another , but both of them upon the ark that was between them , there was mutuality in their looks , and their wings touch'd one another ; so though the ministers of the law and the gospel seem opposite in the administration of the same grace , yet they must come so near as to touch one another in the manner of the administration , exempli gratia ; as there was in the old law high priests , priests and levites , so in the new law , bishops , presbyters and deacons ; as none but priests were to touch the ark , so none but the ministers should reforme the church . thus much for government ; now for episcopacy , the question then concerning episcopacy will be , whether or no jure divino , one minister ( which answers to all names and sorts of church-men , and church-officers whatsoever ) may not exercise jurisdiction and power over many ministers within such a place or territory ? if this be granted , the bishops aske no more : if it be denied , how then did christ jesus , bishop of our souls , give orders and directions to his twelve apostles , and taught them how they should behave themselves throughout this dioces the whole world ? how did saint paul exercise jurisdiction over timothy and titus who were both bishops ? and how did these two bishops exercise jurisdiction over all the ministers of creet and ephesus ? was not this by divine institution ? if i find by divine writ , that christ laid the foundation of his church in himselfe alone being over all the apostles , and if i find that these apostles , every apostle by himselfe ( in imitation of ou● saviour ) accordingly exercised jurisdiction and authority over many minister● which were under them , and commanded others to do the like , as paul , timothy and titus , and if i find the practise of the church all along through the whole tract of time , to continue the like discipline ; shall not i believe this discipline to be jure divino , except christ sends down a new conje deslier from heaven , upon the election of every new bishop ? christ laies the foundation , we build upon it , he gives us the modell , we follow the pattern , the church is built ; is not this by divine right , because he doth not lay the severall stones with his own hands ? christ promised that he would be alwayes with his church , and that he would send his holy spirit amongst them , which should lead them into all truth , so that the gates of hell should not prevaile against it ; but if episcopacy be anti-christian , then the gates of hel have not only prevailed against it a long time ; but all along . as all judgements are given in the kings name , and all records run rege presente , though the king be not there in person , but in power ; so the universall and un-interrupted and continued and generally received discipline of his holy catholick church ( which church we are bound to believe by the apostolical creed ) is christo presente ( ergo jure divino ) though christ be not there in person , but in power ; which power he conferr'd upon those who were to be his successours , which were called apostles , as my father sent me , so send i you : and he that heareth y●u , heareth me ; and loe i will be with you alwayes unto the end of the world : surely this discipline of one over many , call it what you will , is to descend and continue unto the end of the world . object . but it may be objected , how can you prove that christ commanded any such thing , or that christ gave to the apostles any such power , as to make successors in their steads , with a warrant for it to continue from age to age ? sol. where do you find that christ gave the sacrament to any but his disciples ? drike ye all of this , but they were all apostles to whom he said so ? where did you find that christ administred the sacrament , or commanded it to be administred unto any lay-men , or women ? therefore is not the sacrament given unto them jure divino , because the words were left out in the conveyance ? when there grew a disputation concerning divorcements , christ sends us to the originall , sic autem , not fuit ab initio , if christs rule be good , then the bishops are well enough , for they may say concerning episcopacy , i mean one over many ( and that safely too ) sic erat ab origine , some are very unwilling that this episcopacy should be intaild by christ upon his apostles and their successours , out of these words , mat. 28.20 . i will be with you alwaies to the end of the world ; they will not have it to mean in their successours ; but the meaning to be this , i will be with you alwayes unto the end of the world ; that is to say , in the efficacy and power of my word and gospel , to all ages : why may it not signifie this , and that too ? that it doth one , is no argument but that it may do both : god made all things , in number , weight , and measure , and will you ●●●ike his word ? shall sensus factus thrust out sensus destinatus out of the scriptures ? the first ministers of the gospel must adequate to the first minister of the law , and behold the same method observed in both their institutions : what difference is there between christs words to his disciples , i am with you alwayes unto the end of the world , mat. 28.20 . and gods words unto aaron at his setting him a part for the high priests office ? this shall be a statute for ever unto thee , and to thy seed after thee , exod. 28.43 . certainly if the gospel be nothing else but the law revealed , and the law be nothing else but the gospel hidden ; whatsoever is written or said of the ministers of the one , must needs have reference also to the ministers of the other : and i shall desire you to look a little back upon the words which god said to aaron : when god speakes of the seed of aaron , he only maketh mention of the seed after him ; but when he speakes of the statute , he saith it shall be for ever : if i do not flatter my own judgement that tels me , that this statute of high priest-hood , or episcopacy , call it what you will , must have heires after the seed of abraham is expired , and did not the catholick church all along call the receiving of the holy ghost , the order of priest-hood ? did ever any record above seven years date call it making of ministers ? and why are they angry with the word priest ? is it because the prophet isaiah prophecying of the glory of christs church tels us , we shall be named priests of the lord , but that men shall call us ministers of god ? isay 61 , 6. if the ministration of the law be glorious , shall not the ministration of the gospel be much more glorious ? 2 cor. 1.3 . and shall the ministers of the same gospel be lesse glorious ? when you see a man that cannot abide to see anothers glory , you may be sure he is no kin to him , or very far off ; so you may be assured that these are no true sons of the church , nor no right children , who thinke a chaire too great state for their fathers to sit in : in the apostles time these bishops , or if you will , superintendents ( which are all one in signification , only a good greek word chang'd by mr john calvin , into a bad latin word ) were stiled embassadours of the almighty , stars of heaven , angels of the church , ●c . but now these embassadours are ●sed like vagabonds ; these stars , are ●ot stars but fallings , and the angels ●re no where to be found bu● ascending ●nd descending jacobs ladder , whilst ●his reputation was given unto the church , and to its officers : the stones ●f its building were in unity , but as it ●s now it seemes no otherwise , then as a corps kept under ground seemingly in●ire , but once touch'd , soon fals to dust and ashes : never was there such a monster as this ruling , and thus consti●uted pre●bytery , the father of it rebel●ion , the mother insurrection , the midwife sacriledge , the nurse covetousnesse , the milke schism , the coats armour , the rattle drums , a bloudy sword the corrall , money the babies it delights to play withall , it grows up to be a stripling , and goes to school to a councel of war , its lesson is on the trumpet , its fescue a pistoll , its going out of school in ranke and file , its play-dayes the dayes of battaile , and blackmunday the day of judgement ; it comes of age and is married with a solemn league and covenant , it begets children like it self , whose blessing upon them is the power of the sword , an● whose imposition of hands are broke● pates ; this monster cries downe th●● truely antient catholick and apostollick power which the bishops exercised , and then take it up againe and use it themselves in a higher nature then eve● any bishops or apostles themselves did or durst have done , even to the excommunication and deposement of their kings ( to the delivering of them up unto satan , and to hang-men , if they stood but in their way ) to whom the apostles taught submission ( how faulty so ever they were ) and if not obedience , yet submission , to every one of their ordinances , if not for their own sakes , yet for the lords sake , and for conscience sake : these men cry down the same authority , as popish , whilst they exalt themselves above all that are called gods , in a higher manner , then ever any pope of rome ever yet did : we will begin with this monster in the very place of its nativity , and so observe him all along through the whole tract of time ; we will consider how it dealt with the first prince , under whose dominions it pullulated , which was under the prince and bishop of geneva , and these two were both nullified in the same person , as they were both here in england by the same parliament ; verefying that max●m of ours ( with that fore-running of theirs ) no bishop , no king ; and then we will shew you how they dealt with our princes here at home , where ever they had a power , viz. with mary queen of scots , and james and charls the first kings of england and of scotland both , and then usurpe a power themselves higher then popes or kings . calvin with his gladiators , having expuls'd the prince and bishop of geneva , sets up a government so high , and unexpected , that the people would have nothing to do either with him , or his government : and thereupon they banished him the city : calvin ( in exile ) bethinkes himselfe how he might appease their fury , and give them satisfaction , and be invited in again ; calvinus de tristibus thinks it his best course of endearing himself unto the people , to make them sharers with him in the government , whereupon he invented his new fangle of lay-elders , and so all parties were agreed ; in comes mr john calvin ( whilst he was scarce warme in his seat ) i shall present you with a story of him and of his demeanour of himself towards the temporall throne : there was a noble-man of italy , who liked the reformation which he had begun so well , that he forsook his religion , and country , sold his lands and fortune , converted all into money , and took sanctuary in geneva ; as soon as he came there , great rejoycing & insulting there was , that their cause was honored with so high a convert : the grand seigniour fals a building ; directing his masons , he found one of them something more sawcy then to what his lordship ( in his own country ) had been accustomed , little thinking that where there was promised so large a respect of souls , there had been so little respect of persons : this noble-man hereupon gives this mason a gentle tap upon the head , the mason flies upon him like a dragon , and fhakes him by the beard : my lord not being used to such course salutations , stabs him with his dagger , thinking nothing lesse but that so high a provocation would have pleaded his indempnity ; no such matter , my lord was soon ●aid hold on and brought to his triall : calvin upon the tribunall , not as a ●emporall judge in such cases ( take ●eed of him ) but only to be asked his opinion in cases of conscience ; the delinquent pleads for himself , tels them ●ow insolently he was provoked , and wonders , considering such provocation , he should be questioned for so vile a ●arlet : hereupon mr calvin soon starts up , and tels him , that with god ( whose seat they held ) there was no respect of persons , and for ought he knew , that man whom he despis'd to death , was as near and dear to god and his favour , as himself ▪ their laws knew no such distinction as man-slaughter , and murder ; but they were regulated by the divine law , that told them , that the man that shed mans bloud , by man shall his bloud be shed , that there was no exemption by greatnesse , nor buying it off by favour ; the noble-man replied , that he had not been long enough amongst them to be acquainted with their laws ; it was answered , that the law of nature did forbid that , of which he could not be ignorant ( all this was well enough ) my lord told them how hard a case it would be , for a man out of his love and liking to the place and manners , should seeke to it as a sanctuary for his conscience , and so soon find it his grave : that he was heartily sorry for what he had done , and would give any satisfaction to his wife and children that the court should order , or his estate allow ; h● intended the man no hurt , before such rough hands shook him out of himself , that he knew not what he did , and therefore he humbly begg'd their pardon , assuring the● for the future , that his waies should be so directly answerable to those paths they walked in , that he would not by gods grace hereafter step aside ; the temporall judges , wonne with his humble and submisse behaviour , began to relent , and desired mr calvin to abate a little of his rigour , for the reasons before mentioned , assuring him that his case was no common case , and therefore it ought to have respect accordingly ; hereupon there grew a hot dispute between the spirituall , and the temporall judges ; calvin remained stiffe in his opinion and would not be bent to the least mercy ; the nobleman thought to throw one graine of reason more into the ballance , that should turne the scales , and that should be taken out of a consideration had of their own good : for saith he , if you shed my bloud hand over head , without any the least respect had to my years , to my birth , to my education , to the little time i had of being acquainted with your laws , nor to the provocation it self , nor to the suddennesse of the action , nor to the surprize of all my senses , nor to the satisfation i would have given , nor ro the repentance of my very soul , who will come amongst you ? what lord or gentleman will live within your wals ? wherefore if you will have no consideration of me , yet consider your selves ; consider what a blow it wil give to your religion , how many this very thing will stave off from ever having any thing to do with you ; by this time they were all prone to mercy , but calvin alone , who stands up and cries fiat justitia ruat caelum , neither could he be brought to give his opinion , that the jury ( as we call them ) might not passe upon him , but out went the jury ▪ and contrary to their owne law , hearing the noble-mans plea , and observing well the inclination of the bench in generall , they brought in their verdict , not guilty ; whereupon the noble-man was acquitted : hereupon john calvin rises from the bench , and whilst the rest proceeded to their matters , cals all the ministers within the wals and liberties of geneva , who appear before the judgement sets , with white wans in their hands , which they laid down , telling them , that with those wans they laid down their offices , protesting that they would never preach the gospel to a people whose humane laws should run contrary to the laws divine ; and suddenly turned about and took their leave : which being acted with so much gravity , wrought so much upon the beholders , that they presently sent for them back againe , and hanged the noble-man . this story i have read in their own history in geneva , then which my thoughts were then , as they are still , that never any pope of rome , did act as pope of rome , or so much as claime halfe that authority over the civill magistrate , as this anti-pope did virtually act ; and yet was not ashamed to make lesser matters then this , the ground of his quarrell with the bishop , who also was their prince , when in his own person he acts the part of both . now we will see how these kind of ●reatures have plaid the masters of mis-●ule among our princes here at home . king james in his discourse at hampton court , tels us , how the presbyterians ●ecame lords paramount in his kingdome of scotland , and how they used his mother the queen of scots , viz. knox●nd buchanon and the rest of that gauge , came unto mary queen of scots , and told ●er , that by right , no pope nor poten●ante whatsoever , had any superiority over her in her own dominions , either ●n cases civill or eccesiasticall , but that ●hee her self was supreme in both ; and constituted by god as the only nursing mother of his church , within her dominion , and therefore conjured her to look about her , and not to let the pope of rome or any of his agents , to have any thing to do within her territories , and to have care of christ evangil as ●hee would answer it at the dreadfull day of judgement ; shee gives them her ●ar , and at last her authority , they make use of it in the first place , to the pulling down of the bishops , and exalted themselves in their roome ; when the queen look'd for an absolute supremacy , behold all the supremacy that these men would alow her , was , not so much as to have one private chappell for her self , nor one priest whereby shee might serve god according to her own conscience ; shee finding her self so much deceived , labours to recall her authority ; they kept her to it , shee takes up armes , they oppose her , fight her , bea● her out of her kingdome , shee flies into england , they follow her with invectives , thrust jealousies into the queen of englands bosome concerning her , shee is imprisoned , and after a long imprisonment put to death : king james having related this passage in the forementioned discourse unto dr renolds , and knewstubs and the rest , turnes unto the bishops , and closes his discourse with this animadversion , wherefore my lords , i thanke you for my supremacy , for if i were to receive it from these men , i know what would become of my supremacy ; the shining light of the gospel , and the burning zeal of the ministers thereof may fitly be compared to fire , which if it be not in every roome confind to on hearth , and limited to one tunnell , that may convey out of this so comfortable and necessary a blessing , all that may be destructive and offensive in it , up toward the highest ●egion , but is suffered like wild-fire to ●un up and down the house , it will soon ●urne all to flames and high combusti●ns ; so the government of the soul ●eemes to be of so transcendent nature ●o what the government of the body ●nd goods is , that if it be not overtopt with superintendency or episcopacy , ●nd so disimbogued into the supreme ●uthority , this comfortable heat if limited , as it turnes to our greatest benefit , so neglected and boundlesse , soon converts its self into a suddaine destru●tion and ruine , if you will hear how these men dealt with king james her son , and father to charls the first , you shall find it in his basilicon doron , crebrae adversus me in tribunitiis conscionibus callumniae spargebantur non quod crimen aliquod designassem sed quia rex eram quod omni crimine pejus habebatur , are these men good subjects ? did they not convene him diverse times before them , school him , chatechize him like a school-boy ? did he not protest unto his son henry , that he mislik'd their proud and haughty carriage ever since he was ten years of age ? did he not say that monarchy and presbytery agreed like god and the devil ? and have we not found it so , if we consider the behaviour of our new mad● presbyterians in england to charls the frist his son ? o but the presbyterian● had no hand in it , they pray'd and preach'd , and writ against it , fasted and pray'd for a diversion of all such intentions : but i pray , who took the scepte● out of his hand , in taking away the militia , of which it was an emblem , that should have defended him , was it not the presbyterian ? who cast down his throne by taking away his negative voice , was it not the presbyterians ? who took off his crown , the fountaine of honour from off his head , by denying those honour on whom he had confer'd it without them , was it not the presbyterian ? who took away his supremacy singnified by the sacred unction wherewith he was anointed , in not allowing him the liberty of his owne conscience in the point of episcopacy and church government , was it not the presbyterian ? who would not ●reat a minuite with their king before they had made him acknowledge himself guilty ( as they say ) of all the bloud that had been spilt throughout his dominions , was it not the presbyterian ? who ( notwithstanding all the concessions on his ●●rt that could be granted , even to the ●ery grating his princely conscience , ●hen he bid them aske flesh from off his ●ones and he would not deny it them , ●it might have been a benefit unto his ●eople , prayed that he might keep his ●onscience whole , it was the queen ●●gient of all good mens actions , and ●e hoped there were none would force ●is queen before him in his house , as ●●asuerus said to haman ) voted not sa●isfactory so long , untill the indepen●ent army came from edenb●rough , and ●urpriz'd and murdred him , was it not the presbyterians ? he that said the pres●yterians held him down by the haire , while the independents cut off his head , said true enough , they murdred him as ● king , before ever they murdred him as a man ; for what may the independent say to the presbyter , if yuo 'l take off his authority , we 'l take of his head ; if you 'l make him no king , we 'l make him no body ; if you 'l make him a man of bloud , we 'l use him accordingly ; therefore at your doors o persybterian hypocrites do i lay his innocent bloud , it is but like the rest of your actions , committed by your ancestors to former princes all along . one thing i pray you well observe● ▪ there was never any reformed church in christendome , but when they shook off their bishops , they made their apologies to all the christian world , how they were necessitated to alter that antient and best form of government of the church by bishop● , in regard that they could not be drawn off from their obedience and dependance on the pope of rome ; and if possible they would retaine that laudable government as most convenient ; but never were there any reformers in the world , but ours , that ever held episcopacy to be unlawfull and anti-christian before ; and will you know the reason , which is only this , the bishops what they receive , they lay down at his majesties feet , as acknowledging him to be supreme in all cases , when they would have him to be supreme in no case , as buch. de jure regini plainly tels us that princes are no more but the proxies , and atturneies of the people , and yet for all this the authority which they hold to be as anti-christian in the chaire , they practise as most christian on the bench , and much improve it ; these monsters , that they may the better cry downe the divine right that is in episcopacy , and descended to them , from the apostles , tel us ●hat the calling of the apostles was extraordinary , and died with them : to make answer to which assertion , we must consider how many wayes a thing may be taken to be extraordinary , and if we find that it may be taken so many wayes , if we can prove a thing extraordinary one way , we must not take it to be extraordinary in every respect , exempli gratia ; saul was extraordinarily called by god , because imediately by him , but this doth not make the calling of kings to be an extraordinary calling , for that succeded ; so the apostles were extraordinarily called by god , as not being called out of the tribe of levi , nor taken from the feet of gameliell , nor brought up in the schools of the prophets , yet this doth not follow , that the calling of the apostles should be extraordinary , for they had their successours : it may be extraordinary à parte ante , but not à parte post , only in regard of the manner of their election , but not in regard of the nature of their commission , they were called apostles in regard of their mission , not in respect of their commission , which was no more but what bishops had , neither doth the word apostle signifie so great authority as doth the word bishop , the one betokening but a messenger , the other an overseer , and therefore there is no extraordinarinesse hitherto , that they should not b● extraordinary . 2. a man may be said to be extraordinary , in regard of some extraordinary gift and endowment● which god hath given unto a man , as unto the apostles the gift of tongues , of healing , &c. but thi● doth no way make the calling extraordinary for then it would follow , that if god almighty should give unto any ordinary minister , extraordinary gifts , then his calling should be extraordinary , or that the calling of kings should be an extraordinary calling , because god bestowes on some kings the extraordinary gift of healing . it may be further urg'd , the calling of the apostles was an extraordinary calling , because they were pen-men of the holy ghost , and in regard that the holy ghost sate upon each of them , no , that doth not make it extraordinary quoad nos , that it should not descend , for other divines and evangelists , were pen-men of the holy ghost as well as they , therefore what was not extraordinary to themselves , cannot be extraordinary to us . 4. for their receiving the holy ghost 〈◊〉 is no otherwise but what all bishops , ●astors and curates do receive , when they ●eceive orders , receive ye the holy ghost , only the difference is this , they received it by the fleeing of cloven tongues , and they by ●●position of hands , but still the extraordinaries , consists in the manner , but not the matter of the thing received , so that ●ll this while there is no reason why this calling of the apostles should be so extraordinary , as that it should not descend ; if christ promised to be with his apostles unto the end of the world , and they did not continue unto the end of the world ; surely i should thinke without any straining of gnats , or swallowing of cammels , that the meaning of our saviours words should be this , that he would be with those in the assistance of his holy spirit , that should succeed the apostles in their offices of supervising his church , and propogation of his gospel , except i should see more reason then i do yet , why the apostles calling should be so peculiar , that it must not descend , or that the government of one over many , be so inconsistent with the church her good in after-times , more then in the beginning , that episcopacy should be so abominable . briefly i can compare these presbyt●● pulling down the bishops , to no oth●● thing , then to a company of unhappy boy● who being not tall enough to reach 〈◊〉 fruit , and wanting a ladder , for the fr●●● sake , lay hold upon the branches and br●●● down a bow , making it thereby no part 〈◊〉 the tree , so these men , wanting mer●●● to taste the fruit of learning , and not h●ving capacity enough in themselves , t● reach those preferments , which the church holds out to those who are deserving , they render that which was part of the church ▪ as sever'd from the body , which is the highest kind of sacriledge , not only in depriving the church of part of its goods , but part of it self . lastly , if there were no other reason to be given if not for the divine right of episcopacy , yet for the lawfulnesse thereof , but this one topicall argument which i sha● use , raised out of the continued practise of the church in all ages , to men whose faces are not bras'd so thick , that it were reason proof , it were sufficient in my understanding , viz. suppose all the arguments which were for episcopacy , were as weak as so many strawes to support a cause , yet though four strawes are not able to support a table , yet 〈◊〉 thousand bound up together in 〈◊〉 bundels , will hold it up as firme as so 〈◊〉 props of iron ▪ so though some few 〈◊〉 of some few men within some few 〈◊〉 , are not able to make an argument 〈◊〉 episcopacy , that shall be evincing , yet 〈◊〉 practise of the church all along for 〈◊〉 hundred years , in fourteen hun●red dioces , and throughout fourty ages , ●ake● good the argument against any few 〈◊〉 straws or wat tilors whatsoever . 〈◊〉 but there were no diocesan bishops 〈…〉 primitive times . sol. was not christ a diocesan bishop ? ●nd was not the world his dioces ? were 〈◊〉 the apostles diocesan bishops , when ●●e whole world , divided into twelve 〈◊〉 , were their twelves dioces ? were not ●imothy and titus diocesan bishops , when creet and ephasus were alotted to be their dioces ? ob. there were no lord bishops in those daies ? sol. those who ruled well were to be accounted worthy of double honour , and will you not allow them single lordship ? ob. the lords of the gentiles exercised dominion , but so shall not you . so. no , not such dominion as they exercised , there is a great deal of differe●● betwixt dominion and domineering , ●●●twixt lordship and lording it over go●● inheritance ; a paternall government 〈◊〉 never accounted intollerable but by unru●●● children ; if this were not to be allowed 〈◊〉 how did christ rule his apostles ? paul , t●mothy and titus ? both these , all the ministe●● in creet and ephasus ? ob. st paul laboured with his hands th●● he might not be chargable to the brethren ▪ sol. so might the bishops if they neede● no more to study divinity then did the apostles , but if any benefactory had bestowed large revenues upon s. paul , i see n● reason why he might not be a keeper 〈◊〉 hospitality , as well as he advised timo●●● so to do ; but now julians persecution is reviv'd ; do not ( saith julian ) destroy the christians , but take away the maintenance of the church , and that will bring their ministers in●o contempt , and so destroy their religion ; and now they are at it . libera me domine ( saith sain● augustine ) ab homine impio id est libera me 〈◊〉 me , so we had need to pray unto almighty god , that he would save his church out of the hands of her church-men , for shee now lies upon the ground like the tree that complained , that she was rent in sunder by wedges made out of her own body . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a27115e-2290 see buch. de jure . reg. sam. ●4 . 5 . wonderful predictions of nostredamus, grebner, david pareus, and antonius torquatus wherein the grandeur of their present majesties, the happiness of england, and downfall of france and rome, are plainly delineated : with a large preface, shewing, that the crown of england has been not obscurely foretold to their majesties william iii and mary, late prince and princess of orange, and that the people of this ancient monarchy have duly contributed thereunto, in the present assembly of lords and commons, notwithstanding the objections of men and different extremes. atwood, william, d. 1705? 1689 approx. 233 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 37 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a52522 wing n1401 estc r261 12495770 ocm 12495770 62495 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a52522) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 62495) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 769:43) wonderful predictions of nostredamus, grebner, david pareus, and antonius torquatus wherein the grandeur of their present majesties, the happiness of england, and downfall of france and rome, are plainly delineated : with a large preface, shewing, that the crown of england has been not obscurely foretold to their majesties william iii and mary, late prince and princess of orange, and that the people of this ancient monarchy have duly contributed thereunto, in the present assembly of lords and commons, notwithstanding the objections of men and different extremes. atwood, william, d. 1705? grebner, ezekiel. nostradamus, 1503-1566. pareus, david, 1548-1622. torquato, antonio, 15th cent. [44], 27, [1] p. printed for j. robinson ..., t. fox ..., and m. wotton ..., london : 1689. includes bibliographical references. advertisement: p. [1] at end. dedication signed: will. atwood. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers -prophecies. 2007-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-01 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2008-01 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion wonderful predictions of nostredamus , grebner , david pareus , and antonius torquatus . wherein the grandeur of their present majesties , the happiness of england , and downfall of france and rome , are plainly delineated . with a large preface , shewing , that the crown of england has been not obscurely foretold to their majesties william iii. and mary , late prince and princess of orange ; and that the people of this ancient monarchy have duly contributed thereunto , in the present assembly of lords and commons : notwithstanding the objetions of men of different extremes . london , printed for j. robinson at the golden lion in st. paul's church-yard , t. fox in westminster-hall , and m. wotton at the three daggers in fleet-street . 1689. to the right honourable charles earl of macclesfield , lord president of wales , and one of his majesty's most honourable privy-council . my lord , since the great grotius and sir matthew hales , sometimes softned their severer studies with verse ; i hope your lordship will not think a plain english preface the more unworthy of your patronage , because of the rhimes that follow it . certainly we are bound by the most sacred ties , to use all means in our power for the preservation of the present government , with which the protestant religion throughout christendom may expect to flourish or fail , as to its visibility . and as your lordship's sword is ready , under our glorious king william , again to do wonders , whenever this noble cause shall draw it ; permit me in the mean while , under your lordships banner , to offer this earnest of my utmost either natural or acquir'd force in its service , against a sort of enemies below your lordships indignation . some of them , being men of letters , will yield to no authority , but what they find in books ; and were it not for the invention of printing , would almost have been depriv'd of the use of reason : for these , i hope , i have brought both weight and measure , and prov'd to them , that our government is as legal , as it may be happy , if they please ; and , i doubt not , will be , whether they please , or no. with others , no arguments are of any moment , but as they work upon their hopes or fears ; and reason in them is always subservient to sense or interest : these , if they have not religion , at least are superstitious , and as the poet has it , are the men who tremble and look pale at every flash of lightning : every cross accident is with them a presage of more , and disposes them to change their side ; and time was , when by looking up to the fane over the horse-guards , one might know who they were for . if these men can be persuaded , that the wonderful successes which his present majesty has met with , have been plainly foretold , and that no less are promis'd yet to come ; if they do not assist , they will not dare to oppose : and till they can either fix an imputation of forgery upon the predictions here collected , or evade their agreement with known events , the government has them sure . i must confess , i believe it will never be well with this divided nation , till men act , like your lordship , upon more generous and steady principles . whoever espouses truth only while it is prosperous , is beholden to chance for his honesty , as some have been for their mistaken loyalty , with which specious pretence , they have varnish'd over a long series of the most illegal and barbarous actions , that ever were the reproach of any civiliz'd nation . vnder that rage your lordship suffer'd ; and not to have suffer'd , would have been enough to have brought your fame in question ; when it was hardly possible for one of so great a figure to live in safety , without such shameful compliances , as our english spirits were never guilty of in the darkest ages of popery . these things , i am confident , your lordship would be loth to remember against any , now likely to represent themselves fair to a prince newly come from abroad , were it not for the manifest tendency , i may say , effects , of their principles : and till they either publickly repent of , or condemn those doctrines , upon which such actions are grounded , your lordship may well apprehend a relapse into the former state. the absurdity of their notions is not a more proper subject of laughter , than the guilt is of punishment ; yet had they the ingenuity , by a free confession , to stop the spreading contagion , i dare say , few would have the ill nature to upbraid them with their faults . i am sensible that i have rais'd many enemies , by the freedom which i have taken with them ; yet methinks that caution and discretion which has with-held others more able , who look more at times and seasons than things , is little less than criminal ; at least , they deserve no praise , who will not make or enter a breach , till cover'd with crowds . sure i am , many lamented worthies have been condemn'd in form of law , and censur'd by the thoughtless higher and lower vulgar , because of the pusilanimity or treachery of others , or fatal lethargy of the times ; in short , have been thought fools and traytors , because they could not prophesie . yet , as your lordship has declin'd no danger , where the cause of your religion or country call'd , permit me , tho' not to aspire to the imitation , to profit by the example . many men above fears , are slaves to ambition or gain , perfect mercenaries , and fight for pay ; they think the world but a stage to scramble on , and he that gets most , tho' to the ruine of thousands , is with them the bravest man. if your lordship had been of this mind , your valour might have carv'd out a fortune enough to have bought a nation to your side . but that trust which his present majesty has repos'd in your lordship , is more valuable , than the indies given by unthinking multitudes or monarchs ; and i doubt not but your lordship will , in execution of so high an office , shew that bravery of nature , fidelity by principle , and skill both in civil and military affairs , from a long well-improv'd experience , as may sufficiently satisfie all reasonable men in the difference between the ministry of the last reign , and this. for my own part , since my early zeal for the service of your lordship and the publick , in truth , of the publick in your lordship , has entred me of your retinue , permit me the glory of declaring to the world , that i am ( my lord ) your lordship 's most obliged and devoted humble servant , will. atwood . preface . after those great and glorious things which his present majesty william iii. has done for this nation , had we not made his government our choice , as his protection was our refuge ; the ingratitude would have been as signal , as our deliverance has been , thro' his auspicious conduct . and whoever opposes this , may be thought to fight against those providences and predictions , which give as it were a sacred unction , and designation of his person , to the supremacy of power among us . yet how plainly soever this seems to have been design'd by heaven , i must own , that alone will not authorise endeavors to this end , unless it can be done without injustice to any : for otherwise we should make god the author of those sins of men , which have often been foretold . but in order to satisfie those who question what is their duty at this time , either for acting or acquiescing , i shall shew that we have been grateful without being unjust , and may chearfully act under the present government , in sure and certain hope that those great things which are already come to pass , according to plain predictions , are the happy omens and earnests , of greater yet to come , being equally promis'd . for which end i shall consider , 1. whether we may not , by comparing the following predictions , reasonably conclude , that as the crown of england has been destin'd for the late prince of orange , the better to qualifie him for the executing god's purposes for the benefit of mankind ; so it has been long since foretold ? 2. whether the people of england have not a rightful power to contribute towards their accomplishment ? 4. whether that power has not been duly exercis'd in the present assembly of lords and commons ? many , i know , despise prophesies , and laugh at the observers of those hand-writings from above ; and others , tho' they own that some beams of divine light had visited the dark ages of the world , before the sun of righteousness appeared , and that they were more frequent during its abode upon earth , and for the two or three first centuries after : yet they will have it , that ever since god has kept his foreknowledge to himself , without communicating any notices of it to mankind . be their opinions as it will , 't is not unlikely that many , who have been doubtful what course to steer in their endeavours for the publick , will attend to these divine admonitions . but that nostredamus , either thro' judicial astrology , or divine inspiration , or both , as himself professes , did foretel many things which have come to pass , must not be denied by any body who reads him ; as where he says , that the senate of london , that is , the parliament of england , or those of it who usurp'd its name , should put to death their king : that london should be burnt in thrice twenty and six , that is , sixty six ; and that the plague should not cease till the fire : where , according to what himself observes of some of his predictions , he limits the place , times , and prefixed terms , that men coming after may see and know , that those accidents have come to pass as he marked . what he says of the bastard of england's being half receiv'd , is not more obscure , or less verified . nor does there seem a greater veil upon what he says of the west's freeing england , where he in very lively characters represents the event of the first and second attempt there . and as we find those things to have fallen out accordingly , we have great ground to believe , that what he speaks of his native country france , was from a certain foresight . who can with-hold his belief from all those particulars in relation to it , which he speaks not in the least mysteriously ? or can any one doubt , but that this present juncture bodes it those ills which he threatens ? the fleet in the west , and the great appearance there , with his majesty's stupendious progress , not without cause , made the french king think danger approaching by blay . nor can it be a question , who is meant by the chief of the british isle , or the great a aemathien , who is to lead the english to glorious enterprises . can it be other than the celtique , that is , belgick prince , of trojan , that is , english blood , of a b german heart , c married to one of trojan blood , and in safe alliance with the spaniard ? i will not be positive , that a king's danger of drinking the juyce of orange , unless he yield to an accommodation , must necessarily be intended of the late king and this ; tho' i am very confident no time can be shewn when this could be so properly applied . i cannot but think , that nostredamus has foretold the fate of d james the second ; the e question for the kingdom between this prince and the reputed brother-in-law ; the carrying the babe into france , the father 's not being able to make good the title of his blood , and this sham's being the occasion of the late prince's accepting the crown . and who can doubt , but this king is that native of friezland ( as one part of a country may be taken for the whole , or other part of the whole ) to be cbosen here , upon another's having death given him drop by drop by the guards ? nor can it be denied , that j. 2. has received his deaths-wounds , or occasion of a lingring death , in a great measure , from his own guards . nor is the crown more plainly foretold to his majesty from an election , than it is to his royal consort by way of succession , which are both exactly fulfill'd in that happy partnership in dignity , while the regal power is kept entire to accompany the marital . in two particulars i have taken a liberty with nostredamus , which i cannot but think allowable . 1. where his words admit of different senses , if i have not left them in aequilibrio , equally applicable to either , i have determin'd them to that which best agrees with events : for if he has truly foretold any thing without ambiguity , we are to believe , that in others , he , or the spirit which dictated to him , intended what has fallen out , if the words will bear it . 2. whereas the stanzas of his predictions are scatter'd up and down , like so many sybilline leaves , i have gather'd and sorted them together , according to past occurrences , or that relation to the future which they seem to bear ; and certain it is , that god's holy spirit foresaw all things in their true order . i must own , that the like persons and actions may come upon the stage more than once ; wherefore of many , every body is left to his own conjecture ; but in others , the parallel is so exact between nostredamus his descriptions , and what has come to pass in the whole or in part , that where a connection of events seems to be pointed at , 't will be as difficult not to entertain warm expectations of the accomplishment of the whole , as to deny that part is fufilled : and many personal characters , tho' given in distant stanzas , have that mutual resemblance , that they look like several parts , or lineaments at least , of the same face , and may without blame be drawn together . grebner seems rather to give an account of what he had liv'd to see , than to foretel what lay in the womb of time : who can deny , but that he pointed at the misfortunes of charles the first , with the occasion of them , the generalship of the earl of essex , then of sir thomas fairfax ? and it is not improbable that the nullus coming next , might be nol. nor can it be a question but the late prince of orange , who by the mother's side is grandson to charles the first , and son-in-law to james the second , is that person of charles his lineage , who was to land upon the shore of his father's kingdom , with such forces as his present majesty had with him : and if this be admitted , i am sure his reign in his own right is foretold ; for the prophesie of that person says , regnum suum felicissimè administrabit ; and since grebner speaks of one to reign here after the knight and the nullus , it makes it highly probable , that he had a foreknowledge of the protectorship of oliver cromwel , who was commonly known by the name of nol. david pareus , one would think , had seen the person of the prince of orange in a divine dream , as he was thought to have seen the city of heidelburgh in flames three years before it hapned : nor is he singular in calling his hero a grecian king ; for nostredamus called his the aemathien : either resembling him to caesar , who conquer'd pompey in greece , in the aemathien , or pharsalian fields ; or else with respect to the future progress of his arms as far as pareus mentions . antonius torquatus , who wrote above two hundred years since , looks like an historian setting forth the great changes and occurrenrences in europe , during the two last centuries , and not obscurely to describe the present juncture of affairs : nor does his northern prince seem to he other than the english-belgick lion. 2d . as to the rightful power which this nation had to contribute towards the accomplishing of those prophecies , which mark the late prince of orange for king of england , not thinking it worth the while to refute the fond notion of an absolute a patriarchal power , descending down from adam to our kings , in an unaccountable way ; i shall take it for granted , that , as b grotius has it , the civitas is the common subject of power ; this , in the most restrain'd sense , is meant of the people of legal interests in the government , according to the first institution . yet if they are entitled to any fort of magistracy , they become part of his subjectum proprium , the proper or particular subject , or seat of power : wherefore i take his cives to be the same with pufendorf's quorum coitione & consensu primo civitas coaluit , aut qui in illorum locum successerunt , nempe patres familiâs , by whose conjunction and consent the civil society first came together , or they who succeeded in to their rooms , to wit , the fathérs of families . and the most sensible of them who deny this , as fighting against their fansied divine right of kingship , own , that the people have in many cases a right to design the person , if not to confer the power ; only these men will have it , that the extent of the power of a king , as king , is ascertained by god himself ; which i must needs say , i could never yet find prov'd with any colour . but to avoid a dispute needless here , since the question is not so much of the extent of power , as of the choice of persons ; whether any choice is allowable for us , must be determin'd by the fundamental or subsequent contract , either voluntary or impos'd by conquest ; and 't is this which must resolve us , whether the government shall continue elective , or hereditary to them that stand next in the course of nature , guided to a certain channel by the common law of descents , or limited only to the blood , with a liberty in the people to prefer which they think most fit , all circumstances considered . and if our constitution warrants the last , then we may cut the gordian knot , and never trouble our selves with difficulties about a demise , or cession from the government , or abdication of it ; for which way soever the throne is free from the last possessor , the people will be at liberty to set up the most deserving of the family , unless there be subsequent limitations by a contract yet in force , between prince and people , which being dissolv'd , no agreements take place but such as are among themselves : in which case , whatever ordinary rule they have set themselves , they may alter it upon weighty considerations : and that it is lawful for the people of england at this time to renounce their allegiance sworn to j. 2. and to prefer the most deserving of the blood , notwithstanding any oaths or recognitions taken , or made by them , i shall evince , not only from the equity of the law , and reservations necessarily imply'd in their submission to a king ; but from the very letter , explain'd by the practice of the kingdom , both before the reputed conquest , and since . 1. for the equity and reserved cases , i think it appears in the nature of the thing , that they for whose benefit the reservation is , must be the judges ; as in all cases of necessity , he who is warranted by the necessity , must judge for himself before he acts ; tho' whether he acts according to that warrant or no , may be referr'd to an higher examen : but where the last resort is , there must be the judgment ; which of necessary consequence , in these cases , must needs be by the people , the question being of their exercise of their original power ; and where they have by a general concurrence past the final sentence , in this case their voice is as the voice of god , and ought to be submitted to . for the direction of their judgment in such cases , they need not consult voluminous authors , but may receive sufficient light from those excellent papers ; the enquiry into the present state of affairs ; the grounds and measures of submission ; and , the brief justification of the prince of orange 's descent into england , and of the kingdom 's late recourse to arms. which i shall here only confirm by some authorities . the first , as being of most credit among them who raise the greatest dust , shall be bishop sanderson , of the obligation of an oath ; who shews several exceptions or conditions , which of common right are to be understood before an oath can oblige ; in which i shall not confine my self to the order in which he places them . 1. if god permit , because all things are subject to the divine providence and will ; nor is it in any man's power to provide against future accidents : wherefore he who did what lay in him to perform what he promis'd , has discharg'd his oath . 2. things remaining as they now are , whence he who swore to marry any woman , is not oblig'd , if he discovers that she is with child by another . these two exceptions sufficiently warrant submission to such government as god in his providence shall permit , notwithstanding oaths to a former king : and if he cease to treat his people as subjects , the obligation which was to a legal king determines , before his actual withdrawing from the government . 3. as far as we may ; as if one swear indefinitely to observe all statutes and customs of any community , he is not oblig'd to observe them farther than they are lawful and honest . 4. saving the power of a superior : whence if a son in his father's family swear to do a thing lawful in it self , but the father not knowing it , commands another thing , which hinders the doing that which is sworn ; he is not bound by his oath , because by the divine natural law he is bound to obey his father . and he who has sworn not to go out of his house , being cited to appear before a lawful judge , is bound to go out , notwithstanding his oath ; the reason is , because the act of one , ought not to prejudice the right of another . these two last instances , added to the consideration of a legal king , will qualifie the oath declaring it not lawful , upon any pretence whatsoever , to take arms against the king , and abhorring the traiterous position , of taking arms by his authority against his person , or against those that are commissioned by him . this i think i may say , with warrant from bishop sanderson , that no man is bound by this oath to act against law , under colour of the king's commission ; nor to permit such actions , if it be in his power to hinder them ; the common fundamental law being in this case the superior which he is to obey , and which is to explain and limit the sense of acts of parliament seeming to the contrary . to bishop sanderson , i may add grotius , who runs the prerogative of kings as far as any man in reason can : yet he allows of reserved cases , in which allegiance may be withdrawn , tho' there is no express letter of law for it : as , 1. where the people being yet free , command their future king by way of continuing precept . whether there be any such with us , can be no doubt to them who read the coronation oaths from time to time required and taken , upon elections of some kings , and the receiving others , by reason of prior elections , and stipulations with their predecessors . 2. if a king has abdicated or abandon'd his authority , or manifestly holds it as derelict , indeed , he says , he is not to be thought to have done this , who only manages his affairs negligently . but surely no man can think but the power of j. 2. is derelict . and he cites three cases , wherein even barelay , the most zealous asserter of kingly power , allows reservations to the people . 1. if the king treats his people with outragious cruelty . 2. if with an hostile mind he seek the destruction of his people . 3. if he alien his kingdom . this grotius denies to have any effect , and therefore will not admit among the reserved cases : but if no act which is ineffectual in law , will justifie the withdrawing allegiance , then none of the other instances will hold ; for to that purpose they are equally ineffectual : yet who doubts , but the king doing what in him lies to alien his kingdom , gives pretence for foreign usurpations , as king john did to the pope's ? and whoever goes to restore the authority of the see of rome here , be it only in spirituals ; endeavors to put the kingdom under another head than what our laws establish , and to that purpose aliens the dominion : nor can it be any great question , but the aliening any kingdom or country , part of the dominion of england , will fall under the same consideration ; which will bring the case of ireland up to this , where the protestants are disarm'd , and the power which was arm'd for the protection of the english there , is put into the hands of the native papists ; so that it is not likely to be restor'd to its settlement at home , or dependence upon england , without great expence of blood and treasure . even the author of jovian owns , that the king's law is his most authoritative command ; and he denies that the roman emperour had any right to enslave the whole people , by altering the constitution of the roman government , from a civil into a tyrannical dominion ; or from a government wherein the people had liberty and property , into such a government as the persian was , and the turkish now is , &c. tho' by the roman lex regia , which himself takes notice of , the people had transferred all their power to the emperor , yet we see the highest asserter of imperial power allows of reservations . if , says bishop bilson , a prince should go about to subject his kingdom to a foreign realm , or change the form of the common-wealth from imperie to tyranny , or neglect the laws establish'd by common consent of prince and people , to execute his own pleasure ; in these and other cases , which might be named , if the nobles and commons join together to defend their ancient and accustomed liberty , regiment , and laws , they may not well be accounted rebels . and soon after he speaks of a power for preserving the foundation , freedom , and form of their commonwealths , which they forepriz'd , when they first consented to have a king. where his meaning cannot be restrain'd to express provisions , excluding such as may be equitably intended . and , not to heap authorities , with this agrees the divine plato , who after he has affirm'd ; that the highest degrees of punishment belong to those who will misguide a ship , or prescribe a dangerous new way of physick , having brought in socrates asking whether magistrates ought not to be subject to the like laws , himself asks , what shall be determined , if we require all things to be done according to a certain form , and set over the laws themselves , one either chose by the suffrages of the people , or by lot , who slighting the laws , shall for the sake of lucre , or to gratifie his lust , not knowing what is fit , attempt to do things contrary to the institution : this man , both he and socrates condemn , as a greater criminal than those which he had mention'd , whose crime he aggravates , as 't is an acting against those laws , which thro' a long experience had been ordain'd by their counsel and industry , who had opportunely and duly weighed every thing , and had prevail'd upon the people to submit to them . 2d . to proceed to positive law , i shall shew how the contract between prince and people stood , and hath been taken , both before the reputed conquest , and since : where 't will appear , 1. that allegiance might and may in some cases be withdrawn , in the life-time of one who continued king until the occasion of such withdrawing , or judgment upon it . 2. that there was , and is , an establish'd judicature for this , without need of recurring to that equity , which the people are suppos'd to have reserv'd . 3. that there has been no absolute hereditary right to the crown of england , from the beginning of the monarchy ; but that the people have had a latitude for setting up whom of the blood they pleas'd , upon the determination of the interest of any particular person , except where there has been a settlement of the crown in force . 4. that they were lately restored to such latitude . 1. if the king , not observing his coronation-oath in the main , lose the name of king , then no man can say that allegiance continues : but that so it was before the reputed conquest , appears by the confessor's laws , where they declare the duty of the king. but the king , because he is vicar to the supreme king , is constituted to this end , that he should rule his earthly kingdom , and the people of god ; and above all , should reverence god's holy church , and defend it from injurious persons , and pluck from it wrong-doers , and destroy and wholly ruine them ; which unless he does , not so much as the name of king will remain in him , &c. hoveden shews how this was receiv'd by william 1. the king and his deputy ( or locum tenens in his absence ) is constituted to this end , &c. in substance as above : which unless he does , the true name of king will not remain in him . and , as the confessor's laws have it , ( in which there is some mistake in the transcriber of hoveden otherwise agreeing with them ) pope john witnesses , that he loses the name of king , who does not what belongs to a king : which is no evidence that this doctrine is deriv'd from the pope of rome : the pope only confirms the constitution , or gives his approbation of it , perhaps that the clergy of those times might raise no cavils from a supposed divine right . and to shew that this is not only for violating the rights of the church , the confessor's laws inform us , that pipin , and charles his son , not yet kings , but princes under the french king , foolishly wrote to the pope , asking him , if the kings of france ought to remain content with the bare name of king ? by whom it was answer'd , they are to be called kings , who watch over , defend , and rule god's church and his people , &c. hoveden's transcriber gives the same in substance ; but , thro' a miserable mistake in chronology , will have it , that the letter was wrote by pipin and his son to w. 1. lambart's version of st. edward's laws goes on to particulars , among others , that the king is to keep without diminution all the lands , honours , dignities , rights , and liberties of the crown ; that he is to do all things in his kingdom according to law , and by the judgment of the proceres , or barons of the realm ; and these things he is to swear before he is crown'd . by the coronation-oaths before the reputed conquest and since , all agreeing in substance , every king was to promise the people three things . 1. that god's church , and all the people in the kingdom , shall enjoy true a peace . 2. that he will forbid rapine , and all injustice , in all orders of men. 3. that he will promise and command justice and mercy in all judgments . and 't is observable , that bracton , who wrote in the time of h. 3. transcribes that very formulary , or rather abridgment of the oath , which was taken by the saxon kings . in bracton's time , 't is certain , the oath was more explicit , tho' reducible to those heads ; and 't is observable , that bracton says , the king is created and elected to this end , that he should do justice to all . where he manifestly shews the king's oath to be his part of a binding contract , it being an agreement with the people , while they had power to chuse . with bracton agrees fleta , and both inform us , that in their days there was no scruple in calling him a tyrant , and no king , who oppresses his people violatâ dominatione , as one has it ; or violentâ , as the other ; either the rule of government being violated , or with a violent government ; both of which are of the like import . the mirrour at least puts this contract out of dispute ; shewing the very institution of the monarchy , before a right was vested in any single family , or person : when forty princes , who had the supreme power here , chose from among them a king to reign over them , and govern the people of god , and to maintain the holy christian faith , and to defend their persons and goods in quiet , by the rules of right . and at the beginning they caused the king to swear , that he will maintain the holy christian faith with all his power , and will rule his people justly , without regard to any person , and shall be obedient to suffer right or justice , as well as others his subjects . and what that right and justice was in the last result , the confessor's laws explain , when they shew , that he may lose the name of king. these laws were not only receiv'd by william 1. and in the codex of the laws of h. 1. but were the laws which in the early contests which the barons had with their encroaching kings , they always urg'd to have maintain'd ; and that their sanction might not be question'd , the observance of them was made part of the coronation-oath , till some archbishops , careful only of their clerical rights , provided for no more of those laws than concerned them . by that oath which is upon record , and in ancient prints , the king is to swear to grant , keep , and confirm , among others , especially the laws , customs , and freedoms granted the clergy and people by the most glorious and holy king edward . and even after the king 's taking this oath , they were to be ask'd if they would consent to have him their king , and leige-lord ? which is the peoples part of the contract ; and thus the contract becomes mutual . to which purpose the learned sir henry spelman cites cujacius , the great civilian , to shew , that faith between a lord and vassal is reciprocal ; and gives an instance in the oath of one of our saxon kings , knute , for the proof of its being so here between king and subject . and with cujacius agrees the no less judicious civilian pufendorf . when , says he , the power is conferr'd upon a king , there is a mutual translation of right , and a reciprocal promise . if it be objected , that tho' this was at the beginning a contract with a free people , it ceas'd to be so from the time of the conquest : i answer ; 1. till there be a consent and agreement to some terms of governing and subjection , 't will be difficult , if possible , to prove any right in the conqueror , but what may be cast off as soon as there is an opportunity . 2. william 1. was not receiv'd as a conqueror , but upon a mutual contract , upon which old historians say , foedus pepigit , he made a league with the people ; which comes to the same thing with what the holy writ records of king david , that the people made a league with him . his coronation-oath was the same with that which was taken by his saxon predecessors , except that the circumstances of that time requir'd an additional clause for keeping an equal hand between english and french. 't is not to be doubted , but that the norman casuists inform'd him , that this related only to legal justice ; but that in matters of grace and favour , he was left at large . how much soever he might have strain'd in this or other matters , i am sure he was far from acting so arbitrarily as some have industriously represented him ; i will not say , on purpose to encourage such actions in other princes : and it is yet more certain , that whatever right either he or any body under him enjoy'd , came from the compact , not from the breach of faith. 3. if william 1. did gain the right of a conqueror , it was personal , and he never exacted this for his heirs , as appears not only by his declaration when he came to die , but by the fealty or oath of allegiance which he required in his laws . the king's oath is the real contract on his side ; and his accepting the government as a legal king , the virtual one ; and so it is vice versâ , in relation to the allegiance due from the subject . thus far the author of jovian is in the right ; as in the oath of allegiance the people swear nothing to the king , but what they are bound to perform unsworn ; so the king , in his coronation-oath , promises nothing to the people , but what in justice and equity he is bound ●o perform unsworn . upon which account i will yield to saravias , that in hereditary kingdoms the coronation-oath confers no new right ; and therefore there may be a king before his coronation : yet we must attend to grotius his rule , who rightly observes , that succession is only a continuance of that power which the predecessor had : so that if the first possessor comes into power qualified by express contract , this binds the successor , and he is to be thought to come in upon those terms . the description which samuel made of the exorbitant power of kings , was rather to terrifie them from pursuing their foolish demand , than to constitute such a prerogative as the king should use whom god would appoint to go in and out before them : which methinks is very manifest , in that the worst of kings that ever reigned among them , never challeng'd or assum'd those prerogatives ; nor did the people conceive themselves liable to those impositions , as appears by the application they made to rehoboam , on the death of solomon , that he would abate some of that rigour his father had exercis'd toward them ; the rash rejection of which , contrary to the advice of his wisest counsellors , cost him the greater part of his dominions ; and when rehoboam would by arms have reduc'd them to obedience , god would not suffer him , because he had been in the fault himself . one of the terms , as appears by the mirrour , was , that the king should suffer right , or justice , as well as his subjects : and st. edward's sword , called the curtein , carried before our kings at their coronations , was in the time of h. 3. a known emblem , and remembrancer of this : but surely whoever us'd that , or a judicial power in such cases as above , how much soever they continued their allegiance to the king's authority , could not be said to retain it to his person . 2. there was , and is an establish'd judicature for the great case in question , as is imply'd by st. edward's laws , which suppose some judge or judges in the case ; and , investing the proceres with the supreme judicature , with-holds not this from them . however , 't is certain , the parliament 9 r. 2. referr'd to a known statute , when they mind him of an ancient one not long before put in practice ; whereby , if the king , thro' a foolish obstinacy , contempt of his people , or perverse froward will , or any other irregular way , shall alienate himself from his people , and will not be govern'd and regulated by the rights of the kingdom , and the statutes and laudable ordinances made by the council of the lords , and the peers of the realm ; but shall headily in his mad counsels exercise his own arbitrary will ; from thenceforth it is lawful for them , with the common assent and consent of the people of the realm , to depose him from the throne , &c. this law is not now extant , but was not then deny'd ; and the reason why it is not to be found , is very evident , from the articles against this king some years after : in the 24th article they accuse him of causing the rolls and records concerning the state and government of his kingdom to be destroyed and rased , to the great prejudice of the people , and disherison of the crown of the said kingdom ; and this , as is credibly believ'd , in favour and support of his evil governance . the mirror tells us , that of right the king must have companions to hear and determine in parliament all writs and plaints of wrong done by the king , &c. and the learned hornius cites the speculum saxonicum , of the like name and nature with our mirror ; the author of which last , was of his own name : the saxon mirror , as he says , was wrote before the normans came hither . the justices , or private persons , says he out of the speculum , neither ought nor can dispute of the acts of kings ; yet the king has superiors in ruling the people , who ought to put a bridle to him : and , hornius says , the old saxon lawyers limit that maxim , the king has no peer , to wit , in exhibiting justice ; but in receiving justice , they say , he is the least in his kingdom . tho' bracton seems to restrain this rule to cases wherein the king is actor , in judicio suscipiendo si petat ; fleta , who takes it from him , seems to correct the copy , and has it si parcat , if he spare doing justice ; to which end , both affirm , that he was created and chosen king : and bracton himself shews elsewhere , that he means more , by the reason which he assigns why the king ought to be the least in receiving justice , lest his power should remain without bridle . this for certain he sufficiently explains , when he says , that no justices or private persons may dispute of the king's charters and acts ; but judgment must be given before the king himself ( which must be meant of the king in parliament , as appears by a petition in parliament 18 e. 1. where bracton's rule is received . ) but bracton says , he has god for his superior , also the law by which he is made king , also his court , that is to say , the earls and barons , for they are called comites , being as it were companions to the king ; and he who has a companion , has a master : therefore if the king act without bridle , they are bound to bridle him ; and bracton in one place says , in receiving justice , the king is compar'd to the least of his kingdom , without confining it to cases where he is actor . this puts a necessary limitation to that maxim , that the king can do no wrong ; that is , not to be adjudg'd so by judges commissaries , or commission'd judges , which the mirror uses in contradistinction to judges ordinary , sitting by an original power ; yet this does not in the least interfere with the judicial power of the high court of parliament ; and it may be a question , whether that maxim , as receiv'd in the courts of justice , is ever taken to reach farther than , either in relation to the remedies which private persons may there have against personal injuries from the king ; as where 't is said , the king cannot imprison any man , because no action of false imprisonment will lie against him ; or rather because of the ineffectualness in law of his tortious acts. but what the nation , or its great councils have thought of such acts , will appear by a long series of judgments , from time to time past and executed upon some of their kings . long before the reputed conquest , sigibert king of the west-saxons becoming intolerable by his insolent actions , was expell'd the kingdom ; and bromton shews , that this was done in a judicial manner , by the unanimous consent and deliberation of the peers and people ; that is , in the language of latter ages , by lords and commons in full parliament . and eighteen years after , alcred , king of the northanimbrians , that is , northumberland , and other adjacent counties , was banish'd , and divested of his soveraignty , by the counsel and consent of all his subjects . a five years after this , their king ethelred was driven from the throne and kingdom , for treacherously procuring the death of three of his great men , alwlf , cynwlf , and ecga . within fifteen years after this , the people having without example called back ethelred from exile , slew him without any allowable precedent , and set up in his stead osbald a nobleman , none of the royal stock ; and he not answering their expectation , they depos'd him in twenty eight days . twelve years after they deposed their king eardulf , and remain'd long without chusing any . sixty years after they depos'd their king osbrich , and chose ella , who still swerv'd from the ends of government . six years after they expell'd their king egbert . for sixty nine years the kings and their people agreed , without coming to any extremities ; but then they renounc'd the allegiance sworn to king edmund , and chose aulaf king of norway for their king. aulaf had not reigned six years , when they drove him away ; and tho' they receiv'd him again , they soon cast him off again , and swore allegiance to the english king edred : then they rejected him , and chose egric a dane , with whom their independent monarchy expir'd , and turn'd into the government of earls . i would not be thought to mention those numerous examples with the least approbation ; 't is certain , they argue great levity in rejecting , or folly in chusing . but if we are believ'd to receive many laws and customs from the germans , from whom we are more remotely deriv'd , much more may the english monarchy be thought to partake of the customs of the contiguous kingdoms which compose it ; and by this frequent practice the members of it were sufficiently prepar'd to understand that part of the compact , whereby the prince was oblig'd to suffer right as well as his subjects ; and that if he did not answer the ends for which he had been chosen , he was to lose the name of king. either these examples , or rather the continual engagements in war with foreigners , had such effect , that from this time , to the entrance of w. 1. excepting the case of king edwin , ( nephew to the english monarch edred ) who was driven out of the kingdom anno 957. i find nothing of the like nature : a king was but a more splendid general ; nor could he hope to maintain his dignity , but by hardy actions , and tender usage of his people : their extraordinary power had slept but for few years after the death of the reputed conqueror , till the time of king stephen , the third successor from w. 1. who after allegiance sworn to him , had it a while withdrawn for maud the empress ; but the people soon return'd to it again , rejecting her who was nighest in blood , because she denied them the benefit of st. edward's laws . this power of the people to be sure was rous'd by the extravagant proceedings of king john ; upon which the earls and barons of england , without the formality of summons from the king , give one another notice of meeting ; and after a long private debate , they agreed to wage war against him , and renounce his allegiance , if he would not confirm their liberties ; and agreed upon another meeting , for a peremptory demand ; declaring , that if he then refus'd them , they would compel him to satisfaction , by taking his castles : nor were they worse than their words , and their resolutions had for a while their desir'd effect , in obtaining a confirmation of their liberties ; but the pope soon absolv'd the king , and encourag'd him to the violation of them , till they stoutly casting off the authority both of king and pope , proceeded to the election of another king , lewis the dauphin of france : but the dauphin assuming a power not brook'd in the english government , upon the death of king john , they set up his son h. 3. and without any solemn deposing of lewis , compell'd him to renounce his pretensions . henry treading in his father's steps , had many unhappy contests with his barons ; and having call'd in numbers of foreigners , they sent him a solemn message , that unless he would remove those troublesom guests , they would all , by a common council of the whole realm , drive him and his wicked counsellors out of the kingdom , and would consider of making a new king. upon this both sides had recourse to arms , and neither valued the others judicial sentence ; but for certain the sentence threatned h. 3. was executed upon his grandson e. 2. who was formally depos'd in parliament for his misgovernment ; whose case , with his next successor's but one , r. 2. by what i have observ'd before , appear to have been no novelties in england . nor was it long before the like was again put in practice more than once : h. 6. being a weak misled prince , gave occasion to richard duke of york , whose line was put by , to cover his designs for restoring the elder family , with the pretence of redressing publick grievances : the crown he was so far from pretending to at first , that himself swore allegiance to h. 6. in a very particular manner : but having afterwards an advantage given , by the divisions of them who had driven him out of the land , he in a fortunate hour , with lucky omens , as was believ'd , challeng'd the crown as his right ; upon which there was an agreement ratified in parliament , that h. 6. should enjoy it during his life , and r. and his heirs after him . and tho' richard duke of york , and his son edward , afterwards e. 4. had sworn , that h. 6. should enjoy the royal dignity during life , without trouble from them , or either of them ; yet richard having been treacherously slain by the queen's army , immediately after the solemn pacification , edward , at the petition of some of the bishops and temporal lords , took upon him the charge of the kingdom , as forfeited to him by breach of the covenant establish'd in parliament . yet this gave him no sure settlement ; for the popularity of the earl of warwick drove him out of the kingdom , without striking a stroke for it : upon which h. 6. was again restor'd to his kingly power , and edward was in parliament declared a traytor to the country , and an vsurper of the realm , the settlement upon r. and his heirs revok'd , and the crown entail'd upon h. 6. and his heirs males , with remainders over , to secure against edward's coming to the crown : yet the death of the earl of warwick having in effect put an end to king henry's power , he was soon taken prisoner , and put to death , as his son had been before ; and then edward procures a confirmation in parliament , of the settlement , under which he enjoy'd the crown . thus as the power of the people , or great ones of interest with them , turn'd the scales from time to time ; so 't was their consent which fixt them at last , during the the life of e. 4. it may be said , that whatever the law or practice has been anciently , neither can now be of any moment , by reason of the oath requir'd by several statutes declaring it not lawful , upon any pretence whatsoever , to take arms against the king ; and abhorring the traiterous position , of taking arms by his authority against his person . and 2. the clause in the statute 12 car. 2. whereby it is declar'd , that by the undoubted and fundamental laws of this kingdom , neither the peers of this realm , nor the commons , nor both together , in parliament , or out of parliament , nor the people , collectively or representatively , nor any other persons whatsoever , had , have , hath , or ought to have , any coercive power over the persons of the kings of this realm . i shall not here insist , in answer to the first , on the necessity of a commission , and a king , continuing legal in the exercise , as well as possession of power ; nor the difference between the traiterous acts of single persons , and the revolt of a nation ; nor yet upon the authority of the common law , whereby a constable , or other officer chose by the people , may act without any authority from the king. and for the latter , as coertion is restrain'd to the person of the king , the declaring against that , is not contrary to the authorities for discharging allegiance by a judicial sentence , or otherwise , by vertue of equitable and supposed reservations ; provided a tender regard to the person be still observ'd : but if proceedings to free our selves from his authority , fall under this coertion , then i shall offer something which may remove both this and the other from being objections to what i have above shewn . to keep to what may equally reach to both authorities : i shall not urge here , that these statutes being barely declaratory , and enacting no law for the future , introduce none ; so that if the fundamental laws shall appear to be otherwise , the declarations do not supplant them : nor yet to insist upon a rule in the civil law , that the commonwealth is always a minor , and at liberty to renounce the obligations which it has entred into against its benefit , which is the supreme law. but i shall stop their mouths who object these statutes , and maintain , that according to what themselves receive for law , the parliaments which enacted these declarations , had no power so to do ; and then the law must stand as it did . for this let us first hear mr. sheringham , whose authority few of these men dispute . they that lay the first foundation of a commonwealth , have authority to make laws that cannot be alter'd by posterity , in matters that concern the rights both of king and people : for foundations cannot be remov'd , without the ruine and subversion of the whole building . wherefore , admit the acts had been duly made , according to him , they would be void , if the fundamental law were as i have shewn . however , i am sure i can irrefragably prove to them who will not have a nation sav'd without strict form of law , that the parliament which made those acts , had no power at the time of making them , being by the express words of a former statute repeal'd . the triennial act , 16 car. 1. provides in a way not easily to be defeated , not only for holding a parliament once within three years at least , but that all parliaments which shall be prorogu'd or adjourn'd , or so continued by prorogation or adjournment , until the tenth of september which shall be in the third year next after the last day of the last meeting and sitting of the foregoing parliament , shall be thenceforth clearly and absolutely dissolv'd . now , say i , that parliament which enacted these laws , had sat beyond that time ; ergo , &c. these were made in the parliament next after the convention which brought in the king , which they , i am sure , will not call a parliament : wherefore we must go back to the first long parliament , which , upon their own rule , rex est caput & finis parliamenti , was dissolv'd by the death of c. 1. anno 1648. notwithstanding the act for making it perpetual , which indeed by the words of it seems only to provide against any act of the king to the contrary , without their consent ; but by the death of the king that parliament lost the being which before it had , as it was under him when it was parliamentum nostrum , the parliament of charles the first , and so expired an. 1648. by act in law. and perhaps it s own breaking up in confusion before , was in law an adjournment sine die , working a dissolution ; by either of which that parliament was dissolv'd more than three years before the parliament which made the statute in question ; which parliament assembled an. 1661. and was ipso facto dissolv'd when it attempted to make those statutes , it having been continued by prorogation or adjournment beyond the tenth of september in the third year after the dissolution of the last parliament of charles the first , which was the next foregoing legal parliament , according to strict form ; for the parliament which brought in c. 2. anno 1660. was not summon'd by the king's writs ; consequently , the parliament 1661. having no power , after it had continued as above , whatever was the ancient law in this matter , remains as it did before those laws . if it be objected , that the necessity of the times had dispens'd with the letter of the triennial act , as to this particular : 1. they who would plead these statutes , cannot urge it , since they will not allow of greater necessity to authorize the maintaining and restoring the constitution : but surely however necessity might support other laws , it shall not such as alter the constitution , but every legal advantage shall be taken for restoring it . 2. the necessity was not absolute ; for the first parliament of charles the second might continue together as long as they could sit without prorogation or adjournment , and be good for a day at least , time enough to have repealed the former statute as to that part , and to qualifie themselves for a longer continuance . in short , they with whom our dispute is , are either for the unalterableness of fundamentals , according to which , what i have shewn remains , notwithstanding all efforts to the contrary ; or else , all of a sudden , they have a mighty zeal for the strict letter of the law , by which that parliament , which endeavour'd to alter the fundamental contract , was ipso facto dissolv'd before such attempt : however , since the question is not about a coercive power over kings , but barely concerning allegiance to them , whenever he who was king ceases to be so , either by the act of god , or the law , the obligation of allegiance necessarily determines , as the subject matter of it fails . but lest the liberty allow'd in extraordinary cases , be us'd as a cloak for maliciousness , i shall restrain it with the authority of the learned pufendorf . in contracts by which one is made subject to another , this has the right of judging what the subject is to perform , and has also a power conferr'd of compelling him to the performance , if he refuses ; which coercive power is by no means reciprocal . wherefore he who rules , cannot be called in question for breaking his contract , unless he either wholly abdicate the care of the government , or become of an hostile mind towards his people , or manifestly , with evil intention , depart from those rules of governing , upon the observance of which , as upon a condition , the subjects have suspended their allegiance : which is very easie for any one who governs always to shun , if he will but consider , that the highest of mortals are not free from the laws of humane chance . but that the judicial power of the people , so qualified as above , is not peculiar to england , might appear by the customs of most neighbouring nations : for denmark , swedeland , and norway , which had anciently three distinct negatives in the choice of a king , i shall refer to krantius , particularly in the remarkable story of their king erick , who was adopted son of the three kingdoms , anno 1411. he having provok'd his people , by the outrages of his officers and soldiers , he was oppos'd with force by one engelbert , a danish nobleman , transmitted down to posterity with the fair character of engaging in the publick cause , neither out of love of rule , nor greediness of gain , but meer compassion to an opprest people . this so generous an undertaking was so justly popular , that eric , not able to stem the tide , withdrew from denmark , the place of his usual residence , to swedeland : but engelbert's noble cause found so few opposers there also , that the king , as a pattern to j. 2. privately ran away , and recommended his nephew in his stead ; but they told him plainly , he was made king by adoption , and had no right to surrogate another : him ( there not being the inconsistency of a different religion between the head and members of the same body ) they would have receiv'd again upon terms ; but he refusing , the three kingdoms unanimously chose one of another family . for the authority of the people even in france , no longer since than the time of lewis 11. hottoman's francogallia gives a large proof . nor is the emperor of germany more exempt ; for the golden bull of c. 4. provides who shall sit as judge or high-steward , when he comes to be impeach'd : and by that , the palatine of the rhine has the like power with that which , matthew paris says , the earl of chester had here , as count palatine : nor is this in the empire founded meerly upon that bull ; for the bull it self says , sicut ex consuetudine introductum dicitur , " as 't is said to have been introduc'd by custom . and freherus gives an instance of this before that bull , in the case of king albert , whom they threatned to depose , for killing his leige-lord adolphus . with freherus agrees gunterus , in his octoviratus , who says , that the palatine of the rhine , major domo to the emperor , is by custom judge of the emperor himself , or rather in the highest matters declares the sentence of the electoral college : and he cites several authors to prove the like office or power to have been in divers kingdoms and principalities ; and names france , england , arragon , spain , denmark , poland , bohemia , &c. and for france , loyseau in effect shews this power to have belong'd to their maior du palais ; for he owns the power to have been greater than the roman praefect of the palace had ; and yet he cites the words of the emperor trajan , giving his praefect a naked sword , which he enjoyn'd him to use against him , if he misgoverned . and loyseau says , that this dangerous office was put down by the kings of the third line , that they might perpetuate the crown in their family . this office he supposes to have been split into the conestable's , chancellor's , treasurer's , and the grand maistre's du france , or count du palais , which he seems to resemble to an high steward with us . and i meet with an old english author , who affirms almost such a power as is above-mention'd , to have belonged to the high-conestable of england : his words are these . as god hath ordained magistrates to hear and determine private matters , and to punish their vices ; so also will he that the magistrates doings be call'd to account and reck'ning , and their vices corrected and punished , by the body of the whole congregation , or common-wealth : as it is manifest by the memory of the ancient office of high-constable of england , unto whose authority it pertained , not only to summon the king personally before the parliament , or other courts of justice , to answer and receive according to justice , but also , upon just occasion , to commit him to ward . 3. there has been no hereditary right to the crown of england by proximity of blood , from the fundamental contract ; but the people have had a latitude for the setting up whom of the blood they pleas'd , upon the determination of the interest of any particular person , except where there has been a settlement of the crown in force . the kingdom , i own , is founded in monarchy ; and so is poland , which yet is absolutely elective : nor is there any consequence , that the dissolution of the contract between the immediate prince and people , destroys the form of government ; for that depends upon a prior contract , which the people entred into among themselves : and , that by vertue of this , to avoid endless emulations , kings have generally , from the first erection of the english monarchy , been chosen out of the same family , appears beyond contradiction . i know some talk of a birthright and inheritance in the crown , which is not founded in the statutes , but on the original custom and constitution of the english government , which is an hereditary monarchy , according to proximity of blood. but i would desire all men of this opinion , impartially to weigh these following particulars . 1. there was very anciently an act made in a general convention of all england , in conventu pananglico , that their kings should be elected by the clergy , & senioribus populi , and the elders of the people ; that is , such as were members in their great councils , or witena gemots , assemblies of sage or wise men. this , tho it was long before the reputed conquest , yet was never repeal'd or cut off by the sword , nay , seems receiv'd with the confessor's laws , as included in them : which leads to another head. 2. the confessor's law receiv'd by william 1. and continued downward , as the noblest transcript of the common law , shews , that the kings of england are elected , and the end for which they are chosen by the people : after the same manner do the ancient historians and lawyers commonly express accessions to the throne , and seem industriously to mind kings of it , that , according to the caution given the jewish king , their hearts be not lifted up above their brethren . 3. according to the usage from before the reputed conquest downwards , the people are ask'd , whether they are content to have such a man king ? 4. the most absolute of the english monarchs never believ'd , that their children had a right to the crown , except the people consented that they should succeed ; as appears by king alfred's will , and the death-bed declaration of william 1. and therefore some of our kings , against whom there has been no pretence of better title in any particular person or family , when they stood upon good terms with their people , have often prevail'd with them , in their lives-time , to secure the succession to their eldest sons ; and h. 2. to prevent hazarding the succession , endanger'd himself , by getting his eldest son crown'd , himself living : but as the going no farther than the eldest , argues , that they look'd on that as a favour ; the pressing for a settlement on their issue in any manner , argues , that it was not look'd upon as a clear point of right without it . of later times settlements have been made in tail , which tho they were occasion'd by pretences to titles , are records against an hereditary monarchy . 5. the oaths of allegiance , required of all the subjects , were never extended to heirs , but were barely personal , till settlements of the crown were obtain'd upon the quarrels between the families of york and lancaster ; and tho' h. 4. obtain'd in parliament an oath to himself , the prince , and his issue , and to every one of his sons successively ; and in the time of h. 6. the bishops and temporal lords swore to be true to the heirs of r. duke of york ; yet perhaps no oath of allegiance to the king and his heirs can be shewn to have been requir'd of the subjects in general , till that 26 h. 8. according to the limitations of the statute 25. 6. even where the people had settled the crown , they seem'd to intend no more , than to give a preference before other pretenders ; not but that upon weighty reasons they might alter it , as appears by pollydore virgil , who was never thought to lie on the peoples side , whatever evidences for them he may have conceal'd or destroy'd ; whose words of h. 5 , to whom the crown had been limited by parliament , may be thus rendred . prince henry having buried his father , causes a council of nobles to be conven'd at westminster ; which while they , according to the custom of their ancestors , consulted about making a king , behold , on a sudden some of the nobility , of their own accord , swear allegiance to him ; which officious good-will was never known to have been shewn to any before he was declared king. 7. as the practice of the kingdom is an evidence of its right , numerous instances may be produc'd of choices , not only so called by the historians , but appearing so in their own natures ; wherein no regard has been had to proximity , but barely to blood. and i believe no man can shew me any more than two since the reputed conquest , of whom it can be affirm'd , with any semblance of truth , that they came in otherwise than upon election , express'd by the historians of the time , or imply'd , as they had no other title , or else a late settlement of the crown , either upon themselves immediately , or in remainder . the two upon which i will yield some colour , are r. 1. and e. 1. which singular instances will be so far from turning the stream of precedents , that unless the form or manner of recognising their rights as hereditary be produc'd , the presumption is strong , that the declarations of the conventions of those days , or the people's acquiescing upon the question , whether they would consent to the king in nomination , or both , made even their cases to be plain elections . and of these two instances , perhaps , one may be struck off ; for tho' walsingham says of e. 1. they recogniz'd him for their leige-lord , that does not necessarily imply a recognition from a title prior to their declaration ; for which way soever a king comes in duely , he becomes a liege-lord , and is so to be recogniz'd or acknowledg'd ; and that the title was not by this author suppos'd prior to the recognition , appears , in that he says , paterni honor is successorem ordinaverunt , they ordain'd or appointed him successor of his father's honour . and yet his father , to secure the succession to him , had soon after his birth issued out writs to all the sheriffs of england , requiring all persons above twelve years old to swear to be faithful to the son , with a salvo for the homage and fealty due to himself . indeed , of r. 1. the historian says , he was to be promoted to the kingdom by right of inheritance ; yet the very word promoted shews something that he was to be rais'd to , higher than that right alone would carry him ; which he fully expresses in the succession of e. 2. which , he says , was not so much by right of inheritance , as by the unanimous assent of the peers and great men. which shews , that ordinarily they , respectively , who stood next in blood , might look for the crown before another , till the people had by their choice determin'd against them . but this is farther observable of r. 1. that he was not called king here , but only duke of normandy , till he was crown'd ; which , next to the people's choice , was in great measure owing to his mother's diligence : for he being absent at the death of his father , his mother , who had been releas'd out of prison by his means , to secure the succession to him , went about with her court from city to city , and from castle to castle , and sent clergy-men , and others of reputation , with the people into the several counties , by whose industry she obtain'd oaths of allegiance to her son and her self , from the people in the county-courts , as it should seeem ; notwithstanding which , the archbishop charg'd him at his coronation , not to assume the royal dignity , unless he firmly resolv'd to perform what he had sworn : to which he answered , that by god's help he would faithfully observe his oath . and hoveden says , that he was crown'd by the counsel and assent of the archbishops , bishops , earls , barons , and a great number of milites , which word was then of a large extent . wherefore i submit it to consideration , whether these are any exceptions to the general rule , or are not at least such as confirm it . 8. the parliament 11 h. 7. declares , that it is against all laws , reason , and good conscience , that subjects should lose or forfeit for doing their true duty and service of allegiance to their prince , or sovereign lord for the time being ; that is , to the king de facto , as appears by the occasion of the law to encourage the service of h. 7. who had no title but from his subjects ; and there is a provision , that any act or acts , or other process of law to the contrary , shall be void : which being built upon the supposition , that according to the fundamental law , the people's choice gives sufficient title , perhaps is not vain and illusory , as the lord bacon would have it ; but argues strongly , that the parliament then thought the monarchy elective , at least with that restriction to the blood , which i yield . and if this be part of the fundamental contract , for which it bids very fair , then perhaps no body of any other stock may be king within this statute . to what i have offer'd on this head , the following are all the objections of seeming weight which have occurr'd to me . the maxim in law , that the king never dies ; or , to use the words of finch , the perpetuity which the law ascribes to him , having perpetual succession : and he never dies ; for in law it is called the demise of the king. to which i answer , 1. that neither that book , nor any authority there cited , is so ancient as the settlement of the crown above observ'd ; and that the death is but a demise or transferring the right immediately to a successor , may be owing to the settlement , but is no argument of any right otherwise . 2. even where there is an election , tho' never so long after the death of the predecessor , yet by way of relation , 't is as if there were a demise or translation of interest , without any interregnum , as it was resolved by all the judges 1 eliz. of which the words of lord dyer are , the king who is heir or successor , may write and begin his reign the same day that his progenitor or predecessor dies ; with which agrees the lord anderson . but that to many intents a king dies in his politick capacity , as well as natural , appears by the discontinuance of process in criminal causes , and such in civil as was not return'd in the life of the former king , till kept up by statute ; the determination of commissions , and the like . 't is urg'd , that the hereditary right contended for , has not been interrupted by the people's elections , so oft as it should seem by the breaches in the succession ; for that many who came in before them who stood next , were testamentary heirs of the appointment of the predecessor , which argues an inheritance in him that disposes . and dr. brady thinks he produces an example , where the election of the people was bound and limited by the nomination of the predecessor . but if he had duely weigh'd the presidents of this kind , he might have understood , that an election without a nomination had full effect , while a bare nomination had none ; and he might have learnt from grotius , that among the germans , from whom we descend , kingdoms did not use to pass by will , and that wills were but recommendations to people's choice , but not dispositions . i find it urg'd , that as anciently as the time of e. 3. the realm declar'd , that they would not consent to any thing in parliament , to the disherison of the king and his heirs , or the crown whereunto they were sworn . if any colour of evidence can be produc'd , that the subjects of england , so early as that , swore allegiance to the king and his heirs , this were to the purpose . indeed , i find , that before this , 24 e. 1. a foreign prince , the king of scotland , feudatory to the crown of england , did homage to the king and his heirs ; but the like not being exacted of the subjects of england till particular acts , whereby the crown was setled , it argues strongly , as indeed appears from the subject matter , that the homage paid by a foreign prince was due to none but the present king , and his successor to the kingdom , whoever was next of blood : and by parity of reason , the disherison of the king , and him , her , or them who succeeded to the crown , was all that could be referr'd to , when they urge the obligation of their oath to the king and his heirs , or the crown , which appears farther , not only from the old oath of allegiance , to which they must needs have reference , whereby they are bound to defend the rights of tbe crown ; but even from the matter then in question , which was not of the right of succession , but of a flower of the crown . bracton puts this out of dispute , when he tells us , that inheritance comes not from an heir , but an heir from inheritance ; and that inheritance is the succession to all the right which the predecessor had by any sort of acquisition . with bracton agrees the civil law , haeredis significatione omnis significari successores credendum est , etsi verbis non sunt expressi ; by heirs we are to believe all successors to be signified , altho' not exprest in words : and again , nihil est aliud haereditas quam successio in universum jus quod defunctus habuit ; inheritance is nothing else but succession to all the right which the deceased had . wherefore i cannot but wonder that so learned a man as sir p. p. should cite this to prove , that allegiance is due to the heirs and successors in a legal course of descent ; that is , as he explains , or receives it out of mr. prynne by proximity of succession in regard of line . nor is this learned man more fortunate in mentioning the salvo , which littleton tells us is to be taken to the oath of homage to a subject , salve la foy que jeo doy a nostre signior le roy ; where there is not a word of heirs ; but he tells us , that littleton cites glanvil , where the word heirs is ; whereas 't is the lord cook who makes the quotation , as he does of bracton , whose sense of the word heirs we have seen ; and littleton fully confirms it , by leaving out the word heirs , as a redundancy , allegiance being due to every one that becomes king , and to no other . but to put the extent of heirs to a king out of controversie , we have the resolution of all the judges in b. r. in the time of q. eliz. on my side . king r. 3. had granted certain priviledges to the burgesses of glocester , with a saving to himself and his heirs ; and it was agreed by all the justices , that altho' the words are , saving to himself and his heirs , it shall be taken for a perpetual saving , which shall go to his successors . this therefore they adjudg'd to reach the queen , who , 't is well known , was not heir to r. 3. the great objection is , that in the contests for the crown between the families of york and lancaster , each side pretended title by proximity of blood ; and as either prevail'd , their right was acknowledg'd to be according to god's law , man's law , and the law of nature . to which i answer : as appears in the very objection , this was apply'd to those who had no such right of proximity , as well as those who had ; and thus 't was to r. 3. as well as to e. 4. and even the election of h. 4. after the deposing and relinquishing of r. 2. with his own express consent , is by the same parliament that says so much of the title of e. 4. called an usurpation upon r. 2. wherefore if this record be any way leading to our judgments , no deposing or resignation , whatever be the inducement , can be of any force . whence 't is plain , that all these are but complements to the longest sword , however , they neither set aside former authorities , nor establish any right for the future , at least not more for the heirs of e. 4. than the parliament of r. 3. did for his heirs : yet whoever comes next by right of proximity , according to any settlement in being , i will not deny that they enjoy the crown according to god's law , man's law , and the law of nature ; for , as the great fortescue has it , all laws publish'd by men have their authority from god ; and upon which the author of jovian argues , and supposes all laws of men to be the laws and ordinances of god : yet who can say but these humane creatures , or ordinances of men , may be altered , as they were made ? and tho' it may seem strange to some , yet i may with great authority affirm , that when the people had determin'd the right on the side of r. 3. he was king as much according to god's law , as e. 4. for pufendorf holds , that where the question is , what degree , or what line is best , the declared will of the people determines the controversie ; since every one is presum'd to understand his own intention ; and the people that is now , is to be thought the same with that by which the order of succession was constituted . but let men argue as nicely as they please , for a right or sovereignty inseparable from the person of the next in blood , to the last lawful king ; let this fall upon j. 2. the reputed prince of wales , or any other person of unclouded birth and fame ; and let them argue upon the declaration 1 e. 4. that allegiance is there due by god's law , man's law , and the law of nature : certain it is , that the statute 11 h. 7. above-mention'd , was not only made in an age of greater light , but being a subsequent law , derogates from whatever is contrary in the former : by this last it is declared to be against all laws , that subjects should suffer for doing true duty and service of allegiance to the king de facto ; which is as much as if 't were exprest to be against god's law , man's law , and the law of nature : by the necessary consequence of which , allegiance is due to a king de facto according to all these laws : wherefore whoever denies allegiance to king william and queen mary , or maintains a contrary one to j. 2. offends against god's law , man's law , and the law of nature . nor , whatever some imagine , can the proviso at the end of this statute in the least impair its force , as to what i use it for . the proviso runs thus . provided always , that no person or persons shall take any benefit or advantage by this act , which shall hereafter decline from his or their said allegiance . where said allegiance , shews it to be meant of allegiance to the king de facto , whose service is called true duty ; and no man surely can think the meaning to be , that if after such service they turn to the other side , or become traytors to the present power , they shall suffer for the former service , as traytors against him that had the right , either during the reign of the king in being , which would be an unlikely owning the ejected power ; or hereafter , if that should come to be restor'd , which would be far from answering the apparent end of that clause which is to keep men in obedience to him who has the power of punishing the disobedient . wherefore the plain meaning must be , that no man who departs from his duty of allegiance to the present king , shall save himself by pleading , that he had been in arms , or had done him any signal service . in short , this was to be no corban , to answer for any following departure from duty . 4. i think i have , with due regard to all colourable objections , made it appear , that allegiance may in some cases be withdrawn from one who had been king , till the occasion of such withdrawing , or judgment upon it . and this i have done , not only from the equity and reserved cases necessarily implied , but from the express original and continuing contract between prince and people ; which , with the legal judicature impowred to determine concerning it , i have likewise shewn , and exemplified , by the custom of the kingdom , both before the reputed conquest , and since : and have occasionally proved , that tho' oaths of allegiance may reach to heirs according to special limitations , as was 26 hen. 8. yet in common intendment , by heirs of a king or crown no more is meant , than such as succeed to it according to the law positive , or implied : and that whoever comes to the crown upon either , allegiance is as much due to him by the law of god and nature , as it was to the nighest in blood : or , to use the words of bishop sanderson , dignity varies not with the change of persons : whence if any subject or soldier swear fidelity to his king or general , the oath is to be meant to be made unto them also who succeed to that dignity . and when the crown continues in the blood , this , especially by what i have above shewn , puts the obligation of allegiance to the king in being , out of controversie , unless it can be made appear , that the right of the former king remains ; or that there is some settlement of the crown yet in force , which ties it strictly to the next . i come now to prove , that the people of england are actually discharged from their oaths of allegiance to j. 2. and were lately restored to that latitude of choice which i have shewn to be their original right . the lords and commons having a judicial power in this matter , as hath been prov'd at large ; their exercise of this power in the nature of the thing determines the right , unless an appeal lies from them to some higher court in this nation . but that no power can legally question them , or any of them , in this matter , appears more particularly , in that there is no statute now in force , ( nor was since the death of car. 2. ) which makes it treason to conspire to depose a king , or actually to depose him . but this is of the nature of those common-law treasons , which are left to the judgment of parliament : and they who are the only judges of their own actions , have a pretty large liberty in them , especially according to them who would infer the absolute power of princes , from the supposition of no constituted judges of their actions . wherefore the defence of their proceedings might justly seem to be superseded , were it not for an ungovernable sort of men , who either cannot , or will not , judge according to the rules of right reasoning : but as they will hardly admit of any doctrine as true , for which they have not the decision of some father or council ; will believe no action , not proceeding from their imperious dictates , justifiable , even in cases of the utmost necessity , for the preservation of the true religion and just laws , for which they have no warrant from the examples of their forefathers , or opinions of men whose books have past with their allowance : which often drives me to the seeming pedantry of quotations , to confirm the most obvious considerations , to which my own thoughts led me . the either open , or more covert matters of fact , inducing the declaration of lords and commons , that j. 2. has broken the original contract , i need not now enquire into . all people must own , that 〈◊〉 , if they in the least attend to the constitution of our governme●● and how apparently he by his general dispensations usurp'd a legislative power , for the destruction of the protestant religion and civil rights ; which we were in a fair way of being dragoon'd out of by a standing army , by degrees to have been wholly under popish or complying officers : yet if there were no more than his leaving the kingdom , without making any provision for keeping up the justice of it , and going into france , a country from whence all mischiefs have of late years flow'd upon us and our religion ; who can deny , but this alone would have been enough to set him aside ? the going out of the realm , without appointing a custos , was anciently in our law a discontinuance of justice . and the lord hobart gives it as a maxim , cessa regnare si non vis judicare ; " cease to reign , if you will not judge , or maintain the course of justice . many , i know , upon these questions rather regard the civil law ; and that , i am sure , gives a home-thrust , in the case of deserting one's country , and going into such an one as france is to our nation , tho' it has been in too strict alliance with our kings . the digests say , a deserter has no right of being restor'd to his country : for he who left his country with an evil and treacherous mind , is to be held as an enemy , &c. but we are to take not only him for a deserter , who runs over to enemies in time of war , but also during a truce : or , who runs over to them with whom there is no amity , either after undertaking to be faithful to his country , or else undertaking to be faithful to the other : either of which senses the words will bear . 't is likely to be said , that this out of the civil law is improperly applied to the prince , who , according to that , is exempt from all laws . but i would desire such to read the rescript or law of theodosius and valentinian , wherein they thus declare : 't is an expression suitatable to the dignity of one that reigns , to profess himself bound by the laws . our own authority does so depend upon the authority of law. and in truth , for the governing power to submit to law , is greater than empire . and by the promulgation of this present edict , we make known to others , what we will not allow to our selves . that j. 2. had before his departure broken the fundamental laws , and that now he not only ceases to protect , but is in a kingdom which foments and strengthens a rebellion in ireland , part of the dominions belonging to the english crown , i think no body will deny . nor till they can answer what i have shewn of the mutual contract , continued down from the first erection of the monarchy here , ought they to deny , that he has thereby broken the original contract which bound the people to him , and him to them . what results from this breach , is now more particularly to be considered . that it is a discharge from all allegiance to him requir'd by any law , and confirm'd by any oaths , is evident , not only from the former authorities , but from the condition going along with such a mutual contract as i have prov'd to be with us between prince and people . or rather , to use the words of the learned pufendorf , the obligation is not so much dissolv'd , as broken off , by the perfidiousness of either party : for when one does not perform that which was agreed on , neither is the other bound to performance : for the prior heads of things to be perform'd in contracts , are in the subsequent by way of condition . as if it should be said , i will perform , if you perform first . this he more fully explains in another book , where he distinguishes between an obligation imperfectly mutual , as he supposes it to be between an absolute prince and his subjects ; and one perfectly mutual , as he takes it to be , where the people have conferr'd a power on any terms . of such obligations , he says , these , since they have a mutual respect to the things agreed on , and suppose mutual faith ; it is evident , that if one party violate the faith which he plighted , the other is no more bound . and therefore he is not perfidious who stands not to those contracts which the other has broken . for all the heads of one and the same contract , run into each other by way of condition , &c. and in that book of his , which is counted the standard of the law of nations , he asserts it to be lawful for subjects to oppose their prince by force ( which is a sufficient departure from allegiance ) if he goes about modum habendi potestatem immutare ; i. e. to change that manner in which he by the contract enjoys the power , from less to more absolute . and in his tract de interregnis , cited above , he allows of this ; if the king abdicate all care of the commonwealth , becomes of an hostile mind towards his subjects , or manifestly departs from those rules of governing , upon the observance of which , as upon a condition , the subjects have suspended their obedience . nor is the german author knichen less plain ; whose words are , if the magistrate have absolute and full majesty , due subjection ought by no means to be denied him , tho' he be impious : nor may another be substituted in his room , upon his being cast out . much less can a new form of government be introduc'd . but if he were constituted by the people under certain pacts and promises sworn to him by the people , and therefore is bound to certain rules of laws , and either to do or avoid things contain'd in those contracts , whether fundamental laws , or things particularly concerted , ( as for example , the emperor in our empire : ) they not being observ'd , but studiously , enormously , and obstinately violated ; the hopes of amendment , after many of the subjects prayers and admonitions , plainly vanishing ; he may rightfully be remov'd by the states and people , &c. the reason is , because he was promoted to the government by such agreement , and that sworn to , according to the laws of the agreement or contract : the nature of which consists in this , that if that party for whose sake or cause they are constituted , violate them , the other party of very right is freed from the observance of those things which are granted by such laws . nor does philip pareus come short of this , in his defence of his father david , where he speaks very particularly of the effect of the mutual compact . but notwithstanding the discharge from allegiance to j. 2. some will urge , that it continues to the person that stands next in blood. against which , i doubt not but i shall offer full evidence . for , 1. if , as i have shewn , the promise to the king himself be conditional , and his interest determines by his breach of the condition , be the condition precedent , in which case no interest is vested till performance ; or subsequent , in which the breach divests what before was settled ; what interest can the heir have in a conditional estate determined by breach of the condition ? and since it has been made appear that the heirs of a king with us , take not as purchasers by an o●●ginal contract , upon which there might be some pretence of an interest vested in them , independent on their father's title ; but they who can be said to have succeeded without an immediate choice , did it by vertue of subsequent settlements , entirely depending upon the original contract , continuing down to their immediate ancestors respectively ; if that contract be dissolv'd , what can support the settlement ? can the agreement for the benefit of a king and his posterity , be suppos'd to be other , than that if he govern them as king , performing the essentials of the contract on his part , he and his descendents shall enjoy the crown ? can it be imagin'd , that this was made for the separate benefit of the heir , without regard to the ancestor's performance ? or is it to be supposed in the nature of the thing , that the people would have made such a contract , whereby after being justly discharged from their allegiance to a king , and having acted pursuant thereto , they shall enable a successor to revenge his ancestor's quarrel ? this were such a contract as that which the lord clarendon assures us , if never so real , can never be suppos'd to be with the intention of the contracter . and grotius argues against a king's power of aliening his kingdom , from hence , that this is not to be prsum'd to have been the will of the people in conferring the power . and in another place he says , right is to be measur'd according to the will of him from whom the right arises . 2. the power of the king being , as fortescue has it , and the authorities above plainly evince , a populo effluxa , deriv'd from the people ; and the interest of j. 2. being determined , he yet living ; so that there can be no heir to him , or of his body ; what hinders the operation of the known rule in law , that where there is no remainder to take effect at the determination of the particular estate , it shall revert to the donor ? which in this case is manifestly the people . if it be said , that this rule shall not extend to the descent of the crown , which differs from common inheritances ; i dare say , no man can shew any difference , but what is more strong for the people's choice : for whereas common estates are for the benefit of them who have the present interest , the crown is a trust for the benefit of the people . 3. the ancient statute above-mentioned , of which the lords and commons mind r. 2. upon his male-administration , says , that upon putting the king from his throne , with the common assent and consent of the nation , for the causes there exprest , they may set upon the throne in his stead propinquiorem aliquem de stirpe regia ; some body of kin to the king , of the royal stock . if they were tied to the next , it certainly would have been proximum : besides , the word aliquem shews a latitude : and according to this , upon r. the second's being deposed , h. 4. claimed the crown , al 's descendit be ryght lyne of the blode comeynge fro the gude lord henry therde . but because this , without consideration of his merits in rescuing them from r. 2. entitled him to the crown no more than another of the blood ; therefore the lords and commons drew up an instrument purporting their election . 4. but admit , none of the foregoing arguments were enough to shew , that upon james the second's abdication , or at least losing his interest in the government , the people of england were restor'd to that liberty which they had before the settlement of the crown , which was in force till the original contract was broken by him ; yet , i conceive , the particular consideration of the state of the settlement , might afford sufficient argument . henry the fourth , fifth , and sixth , if we believe dr. brady , held the crown by usurpation : yet the earliest settlement of the crown farther than the first son , was in the time of h. 4. nor , as i shall shew , was the crown enjoy'd by j. 2. under better title than they had . h. 5. and 6. came in under an entail of the crown 7 h. 4. confirmed 8. the misgovernment of h. 6. having given occasion to richard duke of york , of the blood-royal and elder house , to assert the peoples rights , not his own ; henry and the duke , with the consent of the lords and commons , came to an agreement in parliament , that richard and his heirs should enjoy the crown after the death of henry . and tho' here the word heirs is mention'd without restraint , yet considering that it is the first time that ever the crown was settled so far , i know not whether it is not to be taken with gomezius his restriction , of an usufructuary or emphyteutical estate ; of the last of which , much of the same nature with the other , he says , if it did not use to be granted to more than the first , second , or third heirs , the mention of heirs simply , ought to be restrain'd to those only ; because the nature or quality of the thing granted , ought to be attended to . after the death of richard duke of york , his son edward the fourth , as i before observ'd , took the government upon him , as forfeited by breach of the covenant establish'd in parliament . however , h. 6. being set up again ten years after , gets that settlement by which e. 4. was to have benefit , to be revok'd , and the crown to be entail'd on his issue ; the remainder to the duke of clarence , younger son to the duke of york . afterwards e. 4. having success , revives the settlement 39 h. 6. only that he attaints h. 6. with others of his party . which attainder was remov'd 1 h. 7. and declar'd contrary to due allegiance , and all due order . and not only the attainder , but that act of parliament it self was revok'd . so that hitherto there had been no title in the heirs of richard duke of york , or of edward the fourth , but what was deriv'd under the settlement of henry 6. call'd an usurper , and edward the fourth's treason depriv'd him of the benefit even of that settlement . h. 7. indeed married the eldest daughter of e. 4. but before that marriage , having conquer'd rich. 3. he claim'd the crown : as his words in parliament were , tam per justum titulum haereditantiae , quàm per verum dei judicium , in tribuendo sibi victoriam de inimico suo ; as well by just title of inheritance , as by the true judgment of god , in giving him the victory over his enemy . if it be ask'd , how he could have a right of inheritance , when the daughter of e. 4. and his own mother were alive ? it seems in the judgment of that parliament , that e. 4. having acted contrary to his allegiance due to h. 6. he and his had lost the benefit of the settlement reviv'd by his successful treason ; and that this was lost , even before the revival was destroy'd by parliament . and then , tho' h. 7. could not come in without an election , yet he , as h. 4. before , might have a sort of inheritance ; according to a very witty author , who speaking of the kingdom of israel , says , concludere licet , regnum israelis , si stirpem spectas , haereditarium certè fuisse ; at sanè si personas , omnino electivum ; we may conclude , that the kingdom of israel , if you look at the stock , was certainly hereditary ; but if at the persons , altogether elective . be this as it will , the lords and commons so far regarded king henry's claim , that they not only receiv'd him for king , but it was enacted by the authority of the then parliament , that the crowns of the realms of england and france should rest in him and the heirs of his body lawfully coming , perpetually ; and in none other . when they had thus done , the commons requested the king to marry elizabeth daughter to e. 4. that by god's grace there might be issue of the stock of their kings . so that this was only to preserve the royal blood , not to give any new countenance or confirmation to his title . h. 8. enjoy'd the crown not as heir to his mother , but under the settlement upon h. 7. nor can it be said , that he was in by remitter , since that act under which his mother should have deriv'd , was repeal'd : and had it stood in force , yet it would not have made the title more sacred ; unless it can be shewn , that the mother had a title prior to the act of settlement 39 h. 6. the contrary to which appears by the former account from law and history . h. 8. procur'd several settlements of the crown , according as love or jealousie prevail'd in him . in the 25th of his reign 't was settled upon himself , and his heirs males of his body , lawfully begotten on queen anne , &c. declaring the marriage with queen katherin unlawful ; remainder to the lady elizabeth , remainder to his own right heirs . 26 h. 8. an oath was enjoyn'd for that purpose . 28 h. 8. the two former acts 25 & 26. are repeal'd , the illegitimation of mary daughter to queen katherine is confirmed ; the like declared of elizabeth daughter to queen anne ; and the crown entail'd upon his heirs males by queen jane , or any other wife ; remainder to heirs females by that queen , or any other lawful wife ; remainder to such person or persons , and according to such estates as he should appoint by letters patent , or by will. 35 the crown is settled subject to such conditions as the king should make , according to the power there given ; first , upon prince edward , and the heirs of his body : the remainder , in like manner , upon the ladies mary and elizabeth , and the heirs of their bodies successively , without taking off their illegitimations . and the same power is given of disposing by letters patent , or by will , as by the statute 28. for which a memorable reason is given in both acts ; lest if such heirs should fail , and no provision made in the king's life , who should rule and govern this realm ; for lack of such heirs , as in those acts is mention'd , that then this realm should be destitute of a lawful governour . e. 6. succeeded according to both those acts : after him , queen mary , by the last : who , at her coming to the crown , could not be look'd on as of the right line , because of the acts which illegitimated her : but in the first of her reign , the same parliament takes off her illegitimation , and repeals the acts 25 & 28 h. 8. and in this the parliament seems rather to provide for the honour of her descent , than ( as dr. brady would have it ) to declare the succession to be in inheritance by right of blood. whatever might be the secret intention , i am sure there is no such authoritative declaration : and the acts 28 & 35 h. 8. seem to say quite the contrary . 1 & 2 p. m. tho' there is no direct settlement , it is made treason to compass the deprivation or destruction of k. p. during the queen's life ; or of the queen , or of the heirs of her body lawfully begotten . queen elizabeth succeeded by vertue of the limitation 35 h. 8. and tho bastardiz'd by the statutes 28 h. 8. and 1 m. yet her first parliament declare , that she is rightly , lineally , and lawfully descended and come of the blood royal of this realm ; to whom , and the heirs of her body , the royal dignity , &c. are and shall be united : and enacts , that the statute 35 h. 8. shall be the law of the kingdom for ever . but the fee of the crown not having been dispos'd of , according to the power given by the statute 28 , and repeated 35 h. 8. and the 25 , whereby 't was limited in remainder to the heirs of h. 8. being repeal'd upon the deaths of e. 6. and the queens , mary and elizabeth without issue ; there remaining no heirs of the body of h. 8. in the judgment of two parliaments , the realm was destitute of a lawful governour . indeed , according to the act of recognition , 1 j. 1. the crown came to him , being lineally , rightfully , and lawfully descended of the body of the most excellent lady margaret , the eldest daughter of the most renowned king henry the seventh , and the high and noble princess queen elizabeth his wife , eldest daughter of king edward the fourth : the said lady margaret being eldest sister of king henry the eighth , father of the high and mighty princess of famous memory , elizabeth late queen of england . tho' this pompous pedigree , to avoid all objections , goes as high as e. 4. the derivation of title , as appears above , can be no higher than from the settlement 1 h. 7. nor does this act 1 j. make any additional provision ; but indeed seems to flatter the king into a belief , that there was no need of any ; telling him , that they made that recognition as the first-fruits of their loyalty and faith to him , and his royal progeny and posterity for ever . but neither then , or ever after , till that in this present parliament , did the people make any settlement of the crown , but it continued upon the same foot as it did 1 h. 7. when it was entirely an act of the people , under no obligation , but from their own wills. and if we should use sir robert filmer's authority , impossible it is in nature for men to give a law unto themselves , no more than it is to command a mans self in a matter depending of his own will. there can be no obligation which taketh state from the meer will of him that promises the same . wherefore , to apply this rule : since the people that is now , in common presumption is the same with that which first settled the succession , and so are bound only by an act of their own will ; they have yet as arbitrary a power in this matter , as sir robert and his followers contend that the prince has , whatever promises or agreements he has entred into . but not to lean upon such a broken reed ; nor yet to make those many inferences which this plain state of the settlements of the crown might afford ; three things i shall observe : 1. if the settlement made 1 h. 7. who was an usurper , according to the notion of dr. brady and his set of men , was of no force ; then , there being no remainders since limited by any act but what are spent , of necessity the people must have had power of chusing , or there could have been no lawful government since queen elizabeth's time , when was the last settlement , except what is now made . 2. the declarations of two parliaments , 28 and 35 h. 8. fully ballance the declaration 1 jac. 1. if they do not turn the scales ; considering , that the judges in the later times seem to have had less law or integrity than they had in h. the eighth's . i will not take upon me to determine which was the point of two that they might go upon . 1. that a government shall not pass by implication , or by reason of a dormant remainder . but there having been so many alterations since the settlement 1 h. 7. and the whole fee once disposed of , nor ever any express restitution of the settlement 1 h. 7. the people were not to think themselves obliged to a retrospect : 't is evident , at least , that they did not . or , 2. perhaps they might question , whether they were oblig'd to receive for kings the issue of foreign princes , since there was no means of being sufficiently inform'd of the circumstances of the birth , neither the common , or any statute-law affording any means of proving it , as appears by the statute 25 e. 3. which for the children of subjects only , born out of the king's allegiance , in cases wherein the bishop has conusance , allows of a certificate from the bishop of the place where the land in question lies , if the mother pass'd the seas by the king's license . but if our kings or queens should upon any occasion be in foreign parts , 't is to be presum'd , that they would have with them a retinue subject to our laws , who might attest the birth of their children , and be punish'd if they swear flalsly . wherefore , 25 e. 3. 't is declar'd to be the law of the crown , that the children of the kings of england , enfantz des roys , as the record has it , in whatever parts they be born , be able , and ought to bear the inheritance after the death of their ancestors . yet this is most likely to be meant of those private inheritances which any of the kings had , being no part of the demeasns of the crown ; since the inheritance of the crown was not mentioned , nor , as has been shewn , was it such as the king's children were absolutely entitled to in their order . the most common acceptation of children is of a man's immediate issue : as where land is given to a man and his children , who can think any remote descendants entitled to it ? nor could it extend farther in the settlement of a crown . 37 e. 3. c. 10. a sumptuary law was made , providing for the habits of men according to their ranks , and of their wives , and children , enfantz , as in the former statute of the same reign . now altho' this should extend to childrens children born in the same house , it could never take-in the children of daughters , forisfamiliated by marriage ; nay , nor those of such sons as were educated in a distinct calling from their parents . farther , the very statute of which the question is , cuts off the descendants from females out of the number of a king's children , when among other children not of the royal family , it makes a particular provision for henry son of john beaumond , who had been born beyond sea ; and yet henry was by the mothers side in the fourth degree from h. 3. for she was daughter to henry earl of lancaster , son of edmund , son to h. 3. had this henry been counted among the children of a king , 't is certain there had not been a special clause for him , among other children of subjects . nor does the civil law differ from ours in this matter ; for tho' under the name of children are comprehended not only those who are in our power , but all who are in their own , either of the female sex , or descending from females ; yet the daughter's children were always look'd on as out of the grandfather's family , according to the rule in civil law , transcribed by our bracton , they who are born of your daughter , are not in your power : and privileges derogating from publick vtility , were never thought to reach them , as a learned civilian has it . a daughter is the end of the family in which she was born , because the name of her father's family is not propagated by her . and cujacius makes this difference between liberi , and liberi sui ; sui , he says , is a legal name , the other natural : the former are only they who are in a man's power , or of his family ; and liberi , strictly taken , he will have to go no farther . but in truth , considering the purview of the statute which we are here upon , children in it seems to be restrain'd to sons and daughters , without taking in the descendants from either ; the occasion of the law being the births of several enfantz in foreign parts , which could be but sons or daughters to the immediate parents , whether kings or private persons . 4. but however , this may be enough for my purpose , that there is no colour of any settlement in force , but that 1 h. 7. and admitting that to have continued till j. 2. had broken the original contract , yet that being broken , the present assembly of lords and commons had full as much authority to declare for king william and queen mary , as the parliament 1 h. 7. had to settle the crown : for h. 7. could give them no power but what he had received immediately from them . nor is it material to say , he was crown'd first ; since , as i have shewn , the crown confers no power distinct from what is deriv'd either from an immediate or prior choice . 3d. the power having upon the dissolution of the contract between j. 2. and his former subjects , return'd to the people of legal interests in the government , according to the constitution , there can be no doubt with unbyass'd men , but this takes in them only who have right of being in person , or by representation , in those assemblies where is the highest exercise of the supreme power . but there are two extremes opposite the to late election made by such an assembly . the first is of them who would have all things go on in the same form as under a monarch , which was impossible ; and therefore the supreme law , the publick safety , must needs supply the want of form , nor can be justly controverted , till the lawfulness of the end is disprov'd : for all means necessary to such an end are allowable in nature , and by all laws . but if this should still be disputed , all their darling laws made by the long parliament , which met after that convention anno 1660. will fall to the ground , according to the strict application of the statute above-mentioned , 16 car. 1. nay , the attempt of repealing that statute , being in a parliament which had been actually dissolv'd before , by that very law which it went about to repeal , that form which was usual before , is , in default of king and officers , supplied by another provision , for the regular meeting of lords and commons . and what hinders , but the people had as much power to vary from the common form , when there was no king , and that form could not be observ'd , as when there was a king , and a possibility of having that form ? others suppose , the consequence of a dissolution of this contract to be a meer commonwealth , or absolute anarchy , wherein every body has an equal share in the government , not only landed men , and others with whom the ballance of the power has rested by the constitution , but copy-holders , servants , and the very foeces romuli , which would not only make a quiet election impracticable , but bring in a deplorable confusion . but this dilemma they think not to be answer'd : either the old form , as under a monarch , remains , or it does not : if it does , the late action of the lords and commons was irregular : if it does not , all the people are restor'd to their original rights , and all the laws which fetter'd them are gone . here we must distinguish upon the word form ; for if it be taken of the form of proceedings or administration , 't is no consequence that the form of government or constitution should fail , because we admit that the other does . mr. hobbs indeed holds , that when a monarch for himself and his children has left a kingdom , or renounces it , the subjects return to their absolute and natural liberty . whom the learned pufendorf thus answers . they who have once come together into a civil society , and subjected themselves to a king , since they have made that the seat of their fortunes , cannot be presum'd to have been so slothful , as to be willing to have their new civil society extinct , upon the death of a king , and to return to their natural state and anarchy , to the hazarding the safety now settled . wherefore when the power has not been conferr'd on a king by right of inheritance , or that he may dispose of the succession at pleasure , it is to be understood to be at least tacitly agreed among them , that presently upon the death of a king they shall meet together , and that in the place where the king fix'd his dwelling . nor can there well be wanting among any people some persons of eminence , who for a while may keep the others in order , and cause them as soon as may be to consult the publick good. the author of a late paper in relation to these times , has this passage , not to be neglected . all power is originally or fundamentally in the people , formally in the parliament , which is one corporation , made up of three constituent essentiating parts , king , lords , and commons ; so it was with us in england : when this corporation is broken , when any one essentiating part is lost or gone , there is a dissolution of the corporation , the formal seat of power , and that power devolves on the people : when it is impossible to have a parliament , the power returns to them with whom it was originally . is it possible to have a parliament ? it is not possible ; the government therefore is dissolv'd . hence he would argue a necessity of having a larger representative of the people , that the convention may be truly national . but had this ingenious person observ'd pufendorf's two distinct contracts , by the first of which a provision was made for a monarchy before any particular person was settled in the throne , he would have found no such necessity : but if immemorially the people of england have been represented as they were for this assembly , and no needful form or circumstance has been wanting to make the representation compleat , all men who impartially weigh the former proofs of elections not without a righful power , must needs think the last duely made . dr. brady indeed , with some few that led him the dance , and others that follow , will have the present representation of the commons of england to have been occasion'd by rebellion , 49 h. 3. but i must do him the honour to own him to be the first who would make the barons to have no personal right , but what depends upon a king in being ; for he allows none to have right of coming to parliament , but such only to whom the king has thought fit to direct writs of summons : yet , i dare say , no man of sense , who has read that controversie , believes him . but were his assertion true , it might be granted , that the barons would have no more personal right to be of any convention , upon the total absence or abdication of a king , than they would have of coming to parliament without his writ . yet since the right of the people in person or representation , is indubitable in such a case , what hinders the validity of the late choice , considering how many elections of kings we have had , and that never by the people diffusively since the first institution of the government ? and the representations agreed on ( tho' i take them to be earlier settled for cities and burrough , than for the freeholders in the counties ) yet have ever since their respective settlements been in the same manner as now ; at least , none have , since the first institution , ever come in their own persons , or been electors , but what are present , personally or representatively , and their own consent takes away all pretence of error . if it be said , that they ought to have been summon'd forty days before the assembly held ; that is only a privilege from the king , which they may wave , and have more than once consented to be represented upon less than forty days summons . mr. prynne gives several instances , as 49 h. 3. 4 e. 3. 1 h. 4. 28 eliz. and says , he omits other precedents of parliaments summon'd within forty days after the writs of summons bear date , upon extraordinary occasions of publick safety and concernment , which could not conveniently admit so long delay . and sir robert cotton , being a strict adherer to form , upon an emergency advis'd , that the writs should be antedated : which trick could make no real difference . to say , however , there ought to have been a summons from or in the name of a king in being , is absurd ; it being for the exercise of a lawful power , which , unless my authorities fail , the people had without a king , or even against the consent of one in being . besides , it appears , that such summons have not been essential to the great councils of the nation . tacitus shews , that the germans , from whom we descend , had theirs at certain days , unless when some extraordinary matter hapned . and by the confessor's laws , receiv'd by w. 1. and continu'd downwards by the coronation-oaths requir'd , to this very day , the general folcmot ought to be held annually , without any formal summons , upon may-day . and the statute 16 car. 1. which our rigid formallists must own to be in force , has wholly taken away the necessity of writs of summons from a king. the assembly of lords and commons held anno 1660. was summon'd by the keepers of the liberties of england , not by the king's writs ; yet when they came to act in conjunction with the king , they declare , enact , and adjudge , ( where the statute is manifestly declaratory of what was law before ) that the lords and commons then sitting , are and shall be the two houses of parliament , notwithstanding any want of the king 's writ or writs of summons , or any defect or alteration of or in any writ of summons , &c. tho' this seems parallel to the present case , yet in truth ours is the strongest : for the king then having been only king de jure , no authority could be receiv'd from him , nor could any act of his be regarded in law , thro' defect either of jurisdiction or proof , if not both : accordingly , as not only the reason of the thing , but the lord coke shews , a pardon from one barely king de jure , is of no force . besides , the keepers were an upstart power , imposing themselves upon the people without any formal consent , at least not so fully receiv'd to the publick administration as our present king was , who at the request of a very large representative of the people , pursu'd the late method of calling a more solemn assembly . if that anno 1660. had power , acting with the king , to declare it self a parliament ; why had not this , in defect of a king , to declare or chuse one ? sure i am , prudent antiquity regarded not so much the person calling , or the end for which a general council was call'd , as who were present ; that notice which they comply'd with , being always sufficiently formal . wherefore a general ecclesiastical council being summon'd in the reign of h. 1. by william archb. of canterb. thither , according to the known law of those times , the laity came : i cannot say , they sate there ; for the numbers were so great , as they commonly were at such assemblies before the free-holders agreed to representations , that happy was the man , whatever his quality , who could have a convenient standing . after the ecclesiastical matters were over in the council i now speak of , they fell upon secular : some they determin'd , some they adjourn'd , some the judges of the poll or voices could make nothing of , by reason of the great crowd and din. and when the king heard their determinations , and confirm'd them , they had full legal force . but had there been no warrant from former times , for the late manner of proceeding , the people of legal interests in the government having been restor'd to their original right , who can doubt , but they had an absolute power over forms ? that they were not call'd to a parliament , i hope will not be an objection , since the word is much less ancient than such assemblies : and since the cives , the common subject of the national power , have made their determination , this , according to that positive law which i have shewn above , ought to quiet the debate , and command a submission : and yet were there not positive law on their side , the equitable reservations before observ'd might be sufficient warrant . nor is the civil law wanting to enforce this matter . one barbarius , a run-away servant , not known to be so , got in favour with anthony at the time of the triumvirate , and by his means came to be praetor ; upon this a great question arose , whether what he did , or was done before him during his praetorship , were valid ? vlpian decides in the affirmative ; and hottoman upon that question says , " the suffrages of the people have the force of a law. the reasons given for the resolution , as they are in gotofred , who best reconciles the various readings , will greatly strengthen our case . he tells us , that tho' the question there is only concerning a servant , the reason of it reaches to emperors , and all secular and ecclesiastical dignities . the reasons why vlpian holds the acts of such good , are , 1. in regard of common utility , and the inconvenience it would be to those who had business before him , if it were otherwise . 2. from the power of the people to give a servant this honour . gotofred thinks , if this may be done with certain knowledge that he was a servant , much more if thro' mistake ; for if the people , who have the supreme power , may with certain knowledge , for the sake of the publick good , not only design a servant for praetor , but in this case , by a just election , take a servant away from his master ; how much more may it be done as in the case propounded , not to make a servant wholly a true praetor , not to take him from his master ; but only by a commodious interpretation , to have what is done by him , or with him , sustain'd ; and that so long the error of the people , and servitude of the person chosen , should not prejudice what is done ? gotofred goes yet further , and says , magistrates and judges constituted by tyrants , the manner of judgments being kept , and things done according to form of law , or transacted according to their wills , have been held good . and yet in this case the defect seems greater , being the power is collated by one inhabil , and so a substantial form is wanting : wherefore in this part there seems no difference between the inhability of the elector , or the elected . and if ever the common utility or publick good , might warrant actions out of the common course , certainly this could never have been pleaded more forcibly than in the case of this nation ; which , unless it had declared for king william and queen mary ( which they did in the most regular way that the nature of the thing would bear ) had in all likelihood , by french forces , by this time been reduc'd to the miserable condition of the poor protestants in ireland , who are by no means beholden to the nice observers of unnecessary , and impracticable forms . i cannot think that i have followed truth too nigh at the heels for my safety in the present government , which i take to be built upon this stable foundation ; and that protestant fondly flatters himself , who thinks to retain his religion and security upon any terms , at a return of the former , which some , who were instruments in setting up this , seem madly to contend for . but could men hope to find their private accounts in such a change , yet surely the dismal prospect of common calamities to ensue , should induce them to sacrifice such low ends to the interest of their religion and their country . i am not sensible that i have misrepresented any fact or authority , tho' i have not urg'd them with that strength which might have been by a better pen. perhaps what i have offer'd may give another notion of the succession , than what many have imbib'd , who will think i violate what is sacred . i have not urg'd the illegitimation of the children of e. 4. by richard the third's parliament , because , tho' he was a king de facto , if the character fix'd on him be true , he was a tyrant , as well as usurper upon the innocent prince e. 5. in whose name he first took the government upon him , and either terrified or cheated the people into a compliance with his pretences . tho' i have not the vanity to believe , that any thing of my own can weigh with them who have thought otherwise before ; especially if they have listed themselves on a side contrary to that , which no disadvantages can make me repent of : yet i cannot but hope , that the authorities which i have produc'd , will occasion some consideration , till they are either evaded , or disprov'd . and being all legal objections are answer'd , nor can any scruple of conscience be here pretended , without , much less against law ; what hinders , but that we should exert our utmost , in the service of that lawful government from which we receive protection , and may expect rewards for vertue , at least the defence of it , if we do not strengthen the hands of them who have hitherto made that the greatest crime ? wherefore , for us now to look back , after we have set our hands to the plough , would be not only to distrust that providence which has given such a wonderful encouragement to perseverance ; but were enough to tarnish all our actions with the imputation of making the publick interest a pretence for carrying on our own . 't is an happiness indeed when they are twisted and thrive together : but the cause is such as a man ought not to fear to die , nay , to starve for it . and how improsperous soever a man's endeavours for this may prove , yet it may be a comfort to have sown that seed which may grow up for the benefit of future ages . nor ought he to repine , because another man hath gilded over his name by what he has got by the ruine of his country , or may have insinuated himself again into opportunities to betray it : let it be enough for him , how much soever slighted and contemn'd while he lives , to embalm his memory , by a steadiness to truth , and the interest of his country , not to be shaken by cross accidents to himself , or the publick cause . let him still act uniformly , while others live in perpetual contradictions or varieties ; their actions and their principles thwarting themselves , or each other , or varying with the state-weathercocks . let them violate the laws , out of loyalty ; unchurch all protestant churches but their own , out of zeal against popery ; narrow the terms of communion , to spread the national religion ; confine all advantages to that communion , for the publick good ; make their king the head of a party , to strengthen his hands against his enemies ; deliver up charters , and retake them gelt of their noblest privileges , in performance of their oaths to preserve them ; fight against their king , and yet urge the obligation of oaths requiring an unalterable allegiance to his person ; assert that the power is inseparable from him , and yet may in his absence , without his consent , be transferr'd to a regent , not to be reassum'd when he should think fit to return ; grant that he has broken the contract , yet contend that he retains that power which he receiv'd from the contract ; or that , tho' the contract is broken , the throne is not vacant ; or , if it be vacant , yet an heir has a right ; and so it is vacant , and not vacant , at the same time : or that after one has broken a condition , upon which he took an estate to himself and his heirs in fee-simple or tail , another shall enjoy it as heir to him , and that in his life-time ; invite a deliverer , yet reject the deliverance . upon such principles as these , i find an eminent english prelate censur'd as a deserter of his church , for going about , according to his great learning , to justifie the oaths taken to the present government : and thus the cause of j. 2. is made the cause of the church of england . certain it is , whatever is now pretended , 't is more difficult to justifie the taking up , or promoting arms against a deliverer , than an oppressor . and if arms against the last were lawful , even with the prospect of involving thousands in the miseries of war ; much more are they , in defence of that power which has restor'd those liberties which the other invaded , and reassur'd the publick peace . and whoever first engag'd , and now draw back , not only brand themselves for traitors , but make it evident , that ambition , revenge , or some ungenerous design , animated their undertakings . and as i doubt not but they will meet with their due reward ; perhaps that success which nostredamus and others foretel to our present king , may go further with such men , to keep them to their duty , than the most demonstrative proofs of right , which they generally measure by the event . and as no cause or action is just in their eyes , which is not prosperous ; they , in the language of the poet , are always on the side of the gods : but few are in this point such philosophers as cato . remarkable predictions of nostredamus . nostredamus . gand & bruxelles marcheront contre anvers , senat de londres mettront a mort leur roy : le sel & vin luy seront a l' envers , pour eux avoir le regne au desarroy . le sang du juste a londres fera faute , bruslez par foudres de vingt trois les six : la dame antique cherra de place haute , de mesme secte plusieurs seront occis . le grande peste de cité maritime , ne cessera que mort ne soit vengée , du juste sang par prix damné ( fans crime , de la grand dame par feinte n'outragée . du regne anglois le digne dechasse , le conseiller par ire mis a feu , ses adherans iront si bas tracer , que le bastard sera demy receu . les deux malins de scorpion conjoincts le grand seigneur meurdry dedans sa salle , peste a l' eglise par le nouveau joinct , l' europe basse , & septentrionale . la saeur aisnée de l' isle britanniqne , quinze ans devant le frere aura naissance ; par son promise moyennant verifique , succedera au regne de balance . un prince anglois mars a son coeur du ciel , voudra pour suivre sa fortune prospere : des deux duelles l' un percera le fiel , hay de luy , bien aymé de sa mere. de l' aquilon les efforts seront grands , sur l' ocean sera la porte ouverte , le regne en l' isle sera reintegrand , tremblera londres par voile discoverte . l' occident libre les isles britanniques le recogneu passer le bas , puis haut , ne content triste rebel corss escotiques puis rebeller par plus & par nuict chaut . la stratagemé simulte sera rare la mort en voye rebelle par contrée : par le retour du voiage barbare exalteront la protestant entree . veut chaut , conseil , pleurs , timidité , de nuict assailly sans les arms : d' oppression grand calamité , l' epithalame converty pleurs & larmes . le chef de londres par regne l' americh l' isle d' escosse tempiera par gelée : roy reb. auront un si faux antechrist , que les mettra trestous dans la meslée . dedans les isles si horrible tumulte rien on n'orra qu'une bellique brigue , tant grand sera des predateurs l' insult , qu'on se viendra ranger a la grand ligue . la cité franche de liberté fait serve , des proffligez & resueurs fait asyle . le roy changé a eux non si proterue , de cent seront devenus plus de mille. norvege & dace , & l' isle britannique , par les unis freres seront vexees : le chef romain issu du sang gallique , et les copies aux forests repousees . prelat roial son baissant trop tiré , grand flux de sang sortira par sa bouche , le regne anglique par regne respire , long temps mort vif en tunis comme souche . trente de londres secret conjureront , contre leur roy , sur le pont l' enterprise : luy satellites la mort desgouteront . un roy esleu blond & natif de frize . le blond du nez forche viendra commetre , par le duel & chassera dehors : les exiles dedans fera remettre , aux lieux marins commettans les plus forts . celuy qui la principauté , tiendra par grande cruauté , a la fin verra grand phalange , par coup de feu tres dangereux . par accord pourroit faire mieux , autrement boira suc d' orange . un dubieux ne viendra loing du regne , la plus grand part le voudra soustenir , un capitole ne voudra point quil regne , sa grande chare ne pourra maintenir . regne en querelle aux fieres deuisé , prendre les armes & le nom britannique , tiltre anglican sera tard advise , surprins de nuit , mener a l' air gallique . le successeur vengera son beau-frere , occuper regne souz ombre de vengeance , occis obstacle son sang mort vitupere , long temps bretagne tiendra avec la france . de dueil mourra l' infelix profligé , celebrera son victrix l' hecatombe , pristine loy franc edict redigé , le mur & prince septiesme ibur au tombe . le gros mastin dé cité dechasfé , sera fasché de l' estrange alliance , apres aux champs avoir le cerf chassé , le loup & l' ours se donront defiance . le grand bretagne comprise d' angleterre , viendra par eaux si haut innonder , la ligue neve d' ausone fera guerre , que contre se viendront bander . de plus grand perte novelles rapportées , le raport fait le camp s'estonnera , bandes unies encontre revoltées , double phalange , grand abandonnera . la grand copie qui sera dechassée , dans un moment fera besoign au roy , la foy promise de loing ser fausée nud se verra en piteux desarroy . prest a combattre fera defection , chef adversaire obtiendra la victoire , l' arriere garde fera defension les defaillans morts au blanc terretoire . l' armée de mer devant cité tiendra , puis partira sans faire longue allée , citoyens grande proye en terre prendra , retourner classe reprendre grand emblée . la gent esclave par un heur martial , viendra en haut degré tant eslevée , changeront prince , naistra un provincial , passer la mer , copie aux monts levée . les exiles , par ire , haine intestine , feront au roy grand conjuration : secret mettront ennemis par la mine et les vieux siens , contre eux sedition . le lyon jeune le vieux surmontera , en champ bellique par singulier duelle , dans cage d' or les yeux luy creuera , deux playes une puis mourir mort cruelle . pres d' un grand pont de plaine spatieuse , le grand lyon par forces cesarées , fera abatre hors cité rigoureuse , par effroy partes luy seront reserrées . le grand neptune du profond de la mer , de sang punique & sang gaulois meslé : les isles a sang pour tardif ramer , plus luy nuira que l'occult mal celé . des condamnez sera faict un grand nombre , quand les monarques seront consiliez ; mais l'un d'eux viendra si mal encombre , que guere ensemble ne seront raliez . un jour seront d'amis les deux grands maistres , leur grand pouvoir se verra augmenté , la terre neuve sera en ses hauts estres , au sanguinaire le nombre raconté . romain pouvoir sera du tout abas , son grand voisin imiter les vestiges , occultes haines civiles , & debates retarderont aux boufons leur folies . apres viendra des extremes contrées , prince germain dessus throsne d' oré , la servitude & les eaux rencontrées , la dame serve son temps plus n'adoré . milan , ferrare , turin , & aquileye , capne , brundis , vexez par gent celtique , par le lion & phalange aquilée , quand rome aura le chef vieux britannique . le grand celtique entrera dedans rome , menant amas d'exilez & bannis , le grand pasteur mettra a mort tout homme , qui pour le coq estoient aux alpes unis . de sang trojen naistra coeur germanique , qui de viendra en si haute puissance , hors chassera gent estrange arabique , tornant l' eglise en pristine préeminence . l' an que saturne hors de servage , au franc terroir sera d' eau mondé . de sang troyen sera son mariage , et sera seur d' espagnols circondé . les second chef du regne dannemark , par ceux de frize & l' isle britannique , fera despendre plus de cent mille marc , vain expoicter voyage en italique . dresser copie pour monter a l' empire , du vatican le sang royal tiendra , flamens , anglois , espagne aspire , contre l' italie & france contendra . long temps sera sans estre habitée , ou siene & marne au tour vient arrousser , de la thamise & martiaux tentée , de ceus les gardes en cui dant repousser . bourdeaux , roüen , & la rochelle joints , tiendront autour la grand mer occeane , anglois-bretons , & les flamans conjoints , les chasseront jusque aupres de rouane . du plus profond de l' occident anglois , ou est le chef de l' isle britanique , entrera classe en gyronde par blois , par vin & sel feux cachez aux barriques . l' entrée de blaye par rochelle & l' anglois , passera outre le grand aemathien : non loing d' agen attendra le gaulois , secours narbonne deceu par entretien . l' aemathien passer monts pyreneés , en mars norbone ne fera resistance , par mer & terre fera si grand menée , cap n'ayant terre secure pour demeurance . le grand conflict qu'on apreste a nancy , l' aemathien dira tout je submets , l' isle britanne par sel en solcy , hem. mi. deuz . phi. long temps tiendra mets. la grand empire sera tost translaté en lieu petit qui bien tost viendra croistre , lieu bien infime d' exigue comté ou au milieu viendra poser son scepter . le grand empire sera par l' angleterre , le pempotam des ans plus de trois cens , grandes copies passer par mer & terre , les lusitains n'en seront pas contens . euge tamins , gironde & la rochelle , o sang trojen mort au port de la flesche : derrier le fleuve au fort mise l' eschelle , pointes feu , grand meurtre sur la bresche . romain pontife garde de t' aprocher , de la cité que deux fleuves arrouse : ton sang viendra aupres de la cracher , toy & les tiens quand fleurira la rose . regne gaulois tu seras bien changé en lieu estrange est translaté l' empire , en autres moeurs & lois seras rangé , roan & chartres te feront bien du pire . quand le plus grand emportera le prix , de nuremberg d' ausbourg , & ceux de basle : par agrippine chef de frankfort repris , traverseront par flandres jusqu'en gale. les long cheveux de la gaule celtique , accompagnez d' estranges nations , mettront captif l' agent aquitanique , pour succomber a leurs intentions . fleuve qu'esproune le nouveau nay celtique , sera en grande de l' empire discorde : le jeune prince par gent ecclesiastique , le sceptre osté corona de concorde . fleuve celtique changera de rivage , plus ne tiendra la cite d' agripine tout transmué ormis le viel language , saturn , leo , mars , cancer , en rapine . en grande regret sera la gent gauloise , coeur vain , leger croira temerité , pain , sel , ne vin , eau , venin ne cervoise , plus gran captif , faim , froid , necessité . des gens d' eglise sang sera espanché , comme de l' eau en si grande abondance , et d' un long-temps ne sera restranché , veve au clerc , ruyne & doleance . le roy voudra dan cité nefve entrer , par ennemis expugner l' on viendra : captif libere faulx dire & perpetrer , roy de hors estre , loin d' ennemis tiendra . pour ne vouloir consentir au devorce , qui puis apres sera cogneu indigne : le roy des isles sera chassé par force , mis a son lieu qui de roy n' aura signe . tant attendu ne reviendra jamais , dedans l' europe , en asie apparoistra : un de la ligue yssu du grand hermes , et sur tous roys des orients croistra . comme un cryphon viendra le roy d' europe , accompagne de ceux d' aquilon : de rouges & blancs conduira grand troppe , et iront contre le roy de babylon . nostredamus . brusles and gand ' gainst antwerp forces bring ; and london's senate put to death their king. the salt and wine not able to prevent that warlike kingdom 's universal rent . the blood o' th' just burnt london rues full sore , when to thrice twenty , you shall add six more . the ancient dame shall fall from her high place , and the like mischief others shall deface . from the sea-town the plague shall not retire , until the vengeance of that blood by fire . the just condemn'd on accusations feign'd , and the great dame by impious men profan'd . the worthy banish't from the english realm , anger shall burn in those that sit at helm . th' adherents shall become so tame , so griev'd , the bastard shall at least be half receiv'd . when the two scorpionists conjoin'd shall be , the great turk murder'd in his hall you 'll see . a king new-join'd the churches plague shall prove ; and europe low , t' a northern corner move . the eldest sister born to th' british throne , full fifteen years before a brother known : possest of the large promises of fate , takes the succession to the ballance-state . an english prince heav'n did with heart endue , shall come his prosp'rous fortune to pursue : who had his mother's love , altho his hate , i' th' second combate from him takes his fate . the efforts from the north shall mighty be , and the port open as they pass the sea : the kingdom in the isle again prevails ; and london trembles at discover'd sails . the west shall the britannick islands free : the recogniz'd from low takes high degree . scotch discontented pyrats shall rebell , in a hot night , when rains the waters swell . see a strange stratagem ! the rebel's death by contraries gives to their cause new breath : by barb'rous voyage back agen it spreads , the protestants at th' entry raise their heads . hot wind , cold counsels , weeping , panick-fear , assault by night in bed , no army near ; oppression great calamity do's raise : fears and alarms transform the bridal-days . the chief of london by americ reign , shall of a nipping scottish frost complain . king , reb. so false an antichrist shall have , as shall occasion victims for the grave . within the isles shall mighty tumults come , all musick yielding to the martial drum. th' assailants shall such a brisk on-set make , that all to the great league themselves betake . the city made a slave , of one so free , shall the assylum of the banish't be . the king would gladly change his froward mind , when he 100 shall 1000 find . norway and dacia , with the british shore , shall the united brothers vex full sore . the roman chief , proceeding from french blood , shall have his forces driven to the wood. the royal church-man bowing's head too low , a bloody torrent from his mouth shall flow . the english realm by ' nother realm respires ; from death in slavery , that , life , inspires . thirty on london-bridge seek the king's death ; the guards shall make him pine away his breath . this scene of things remov'd , a brown-hair'd king shall there be chose , who did from frtezland spring . the brown-hair'd coming with hawk-nose to fight , shall put his baffl'd enemy to flight ; the exiles to the land he shall restore , placing the stoutest of them next the shore . he who the principality shall hold , by cruelty indecent to be told , at last shall see a mighty army rang'd , and his condition into dang'rous chang'd . 't were better fairly to agree the thing , lest him to 's fate the juyce of orange bring . one dubious , not from far , shall come to reign ; the greater party shall his side sustain : this by the great one , tho' it be withstood , he can't maintain the title of his blood. a kingdom betwixt brothers in contest ; with whom the british arms and name should rest : the english title shall be late advis'd , into french air see one by night surpriz'd . the successor aveng'd of 's brother'n law , whom that pretence to take the crown did draw , the obstacle being slain , his blood shall slight ; britain shall long with treach'rous france unite . th' unhappy driv'n away , for grief shall die ; a woman celebrates the victory . the ancient law and edict freedom have , the wall and the sev'nth prince shall find a grave . the city the great mastiff forc'd to leave , shall at the wonderful alliance grieve ; tho' he has made the tim'rous hart to fly , the wolf and bear shall yet his pow'r defie . great britain as compris'd in england known , shall with an inundation be o're-flown ; the new ausonian league shall offer war , to all that to unite against it dare . while thro' the camp the mighty losses ring , the news shall terror to the soldiers bring : into revolt whole troops and squadrons run ; the great one leaves them , seeing he 's undone . the king shall find the want approaching near of all the forces which he did cashiere . the faith shall fail which long had promis't been ; forsaken and distrest he shall be seen . just upon fighting shall defection be ; the adverse chief obtains the victory : the rere-guard stand : death follows them that run : in the white territory this is done . the city shall the naval force obey , that shall return after a little stay . the citizens a prize at land shall gain ; the fleet for a new lading comes again . a land enslav'd shall in a martial hour see its self rais'd to high degree of pow'r ; their prince they 'll change , and a provincial mounts , passing the seas with forces rais'd near monts . exiles by hatred and intestine ire , against their king successfully conspire : the foes in secret carry on the mine , and his old friends help forward the design . the elder lion to the young shall yield , by single duel in the martial field ; he in a golden cage shall lose his eyes : two navies ; one shall cruel death surprize . near to the bridge , upon a spacious plain , the lion shall caesarian force maintain ; their pride without the city he 'll abate ; himself brought in with crouds within the gate . to the great neptune of the spacious sea , in whom french blood and punique faith agree , to try at last in blood the isles to drown ; more hurt than from the secret ill is known . of the condemn'd shall be a dismal sight , when in the same design monarchs unite . one shall be so incumbred in 's affairs , they shan't be able to be join'd in wars . one day the two grear masters shall combine , and find themselves advanc't in their design : the new land to its altitude shall rise , the number shall the bloody-one surprise . the roman pow'r shall kiss the lowly ground , and its great neighbour the like chance confound . secret debates , and civil discords , soon shall stop the follies of the poor buffoon . after a german prince does come from far , carried aloft upon a golden car , with servitude and waters in his way : the dame shall serve , and none her pow'r obey . millain , ferrare , turin , and aquilee , capne and brundis sorely vex't shall be , by th' eagle , lion , and the celtiques join'd , and a britannick head rome then shall find . the celtique hero with a great amass of banish't worthies into rome shall pass ; and the great pastor shall to death consign all nigh the alps , who with the cock shall join . from trojan blood shall come a german heart , who to so high degree of pow'r shall start , that the arabian strangers he shall chase , and to the church restore its pristine grace . the year that saturn's out of servitude , the free land shall be cover'd with a flood : with trojan blood in marr'age he 's ally'd , and shall be safe with spaniards on his side . the second chief of the rough danish soil , with those of frieze , and the bold british isle , shall cause 100 000 marks to be spent in a voyage into italy . the royal blood shall forces raise to gain th' expected empire of the vatican : flemings , and english , with the spaniard joyn'd , ' gainst italy and france shall be combin'd . long uninhabited shall be the place which sein and marne with watry arms embrace : assaulted by the tbames , and warriors bold ; their force not by the guard to be controll'd . burdeaux , roan , rochel , joyning all their force , upon the spacious ocean take their course : the english-britans and the flemings joyn'd , shall chase them up to roan as clouds with wind. from farthest westward of the english soil , where is the chief of the brave british isle , a fleet into the garonne comes by blay ; france to hide fire in barrels , shall essay . th' english shall pass by rochel into blay , the great aemathien leading them the way : not far from agen he the french shall meet , the help from narboun fails them by deceipt . th' aemathien o're the pyrenaeans goes , narboun in war dares not his way oppose : by sea and land he with such pow'r shall ride , the cap shall want a place where to abide . near nancy a most bloody conflict see ; th' aemathien says , all shall submit to me. the british isle by * salt and wine in doubt ; but mets shan't long be able to hold out . a quick translation of the empire see : in a small place the lofty seat shall be . a place inferior , of but mean account , into the middle shall its scepter mount . england of pow'r shall be the glorious seat , more than three hundred years continuing great : large forces thence shall pass through land and seas , to the disquiet of the portugees . thames , garone , rochel , all engag'd in war ; oh trojan-blood , your arrows fatal are ! the scaling-ladders shall the fortress reach ; fire on the bridge , and slaughter in the breach . roman high-priest ! take heed how you come nigh the city which two rivers do supply : the blood of you and yours shall freely flow there , in the season when the roses blow . great changes france betide in luckless hour , in a strange place shall be the seat of pow'r : quite diff'rent laws and manners it must take ; part of its mis'ry roan and chartres make . when the great monarch bears away the prize from those of ausburgh , and their firm allies , cologne the chief of frankfort shall retake : their way thro' flanders into france they 'll make . tall horse-men from the * celtique gall shall ride , with men of divers nations on their side : th' agent for † aquitain they will confine , to make him pliable to their design . the river which does the young celtique prove , shall in the empire mighty discord move . for the young prince the clergy shall declare ; he takes the scepter , and the crown shall wear . the celtique river shall new channel take , cologne its out-bound shall no longer make : except the ancient language , all is new ; saturn , mars , leo , cancer , spoils pursue . great disappointments shall the frenchmen find ; their vain light hearts puff't up with empty wind : salt , wine , and bread , water and beer shall fail ; the great one cold , and famish't in a gaol . the blood of churchmen shall be largely shed , and like a mighty river it shall spread : long shall it be before the slaughter ends : wo to the clerk ; ruine and grief attends . they 'd have the king by force his game retreive , his nephew since the citizens receive : the pris'ner now to talk and act is free ; the king without keeps far from th' enemy . the king o' th' isles shall be driv'n out by force , for not consenting unto a divorce , from what 's soon own'd unfitting to have been : one without mark of king in 's place is seen . such expectation never shall be known in europe rais'd : asia the sight shall own . one of the league , of the great hermes's line , in glory shall the eastern kings out-shine . the king of europe with the northern flow'r , shall like a gryphon come in mighty pow'r ; in red and white a num'rous force shall lead , all join'd against the babylonish head. grebner . per idem tempus rex quidam borealis ( nomine carolus ) mariam ex papistica religione sibi assumptam in matrimonium conjunxerit ex quo evadet regum infelicissimus . unde populus ejus , ipso abdicato , comitem quendam perantiquae familiae regno praeponet , qui tres annos , aut eo circiter durabit & hoc quoque remoto , equitem quendam bellicosum in ejus locum assumet qui paulo ampliùs regnabit . posthunc eliget nullum . interea unus è stirpe caroli in littore regni patris sui cum gallicis , suevicis , danicis , hollandicis , burgundicis , & germanicis , auxiliis stabit , omnes inimicos suos cruentissimo bello superabit , & postea regnum suum felicissimè administrabit , eritque carolo magno major . sum anglicus truculentus leo , modo rugens , fremens , & immane saeviens , animosus , faelix , & victoriosus contra omnes hostes ; patriae meae fideliter auxilio venio & praesidio , ac clementi meae reginae asporto pretiosum cimelion margaritam dictam , belgicas , & hispanicas dictiones , unde regina mea tempore vitae suae certo magnificè & gloriosè trumphat . terra jubila , jubila , canta , & exulta quod vidisti exoptatum diem ruinae & excidii antichristi , quod ductu & auspicio faelici anglorum , gallorum , danorum , germanicorum , scotorum , suecorum , praesidio dextrae numinis altipotentis fiet . europae labes & imbecilitas singulorum ejusdem regnorum , sedem mirabiliter struet quintae monarchiae , quae sub tempus exitii romani imperii ad terrorem totius mundi ex ruinis germaniae refulgebit . haec triennii spatio caetera europae regna aut vi praedomitabit aut belli metu ad societatem propellet , quo universalem ligam & unionem omnium protestantium efficiet . hoc vexillum de fratribus quoque uraniae principis , & eorum posteris illustrissimis intelligendum leones nostri audaces in primâ acie fremunt unde nobis potentia crescit , & gloria & fama augescit . grebner . to charles a northern king much woe 't will breed , to marry mary of the romish creed . the people casting off his luckless sway , shall of an ancient house an earl obey . three years , or thereabout , he them shall head : then shall a warlike knight come in his stead ; he something longer shall maintain his post ; after him , nol is chose to rule the rost . of charles his lineage there shall one arise , who with french , germans , swedes , danes , dutch , supplies , upon the shore of 's father's realm shall land , and conquer all who dare his arms withstand . with great prosperity he long shall reign , in glory ev'n surpassing charlemain . an english roaring lion am i found , my rage and courage with successes crown'd : for aid and safeguard to my country come : i to my queen bring a rich treasure home : holland and spain well call'd a precious stone , whence shall my queen enjoy a happy throne . rejoice , o earth ! proclaim a jubilee ; for you the fall of antichrist shall see : with happy conduct , in auspicious hour , the english , french , scotch , swedish , danish flow'r , shall cast her down by the almighty's pow'r . the europaean kingdoms in decay , the scene of a fifth-monarchy shall lay : which while the roman empire does decline , out of the german-ruins bright shall shine , and with its lustre terrifie the world , e're thrice the sun has thro' its houses whirl'd . this europe's kingdoms shall by force subdue , or drive to friendship , while they war eschue ; whence shall an universal league be made of all the protestants , for mutual aid . of th' orange family it shall be said , our belgick lions shall the armies head , and with undaunted courage terror spread . hence glory , pow'r , and an unrival'd fame , shall to all ages celebrate the name . david pareus . there shall arise out of the nation of the most illustrious lilies , having a long forehead , higb eye-brows , great eyes , and an eagle's nose : he shall gather a great army , and destroy all the tyrants of his kingdom , and slay all that fly and hide themselves in mountains and caves from his face : for righteousness shall be joined unto him , as the bridegoom to the bride : with them he shall wage war even unto the fortieth year , bringing into subjection the islanders , spaniards , and italians . rome and florence he shall destroy and burn with fire , so as salt may be sowed on that land. the greatest clergy-man , who hath invaded peter's seat , he shall put to death ; and in the same year obtain a double crown . at last going over the sea with a great army , he shall enter greece , and be named the king of the greeks : the turks and barbarians he shall subdue , making an edict , that every one shall die the death , that worshippeth not the crucified one : and none shall be found able to resist him , because an holy arm from the lord shall always be with him : and he shall possess the dominion of the earth . these things being done , he shall be called , the rest of holy christians , &c. david pareus , among prophecies printed anno 1682. one of long forehead , and of eye-brows high , an eagles rising nose , and a full eye , from the illustrious lillies shall arise , and his realms tyrants with his arms surprise . to mounts and caves they from his face shall fly , and many miserable wretches die : for righteousness he as a bride shall take , and to the forti'th year fam'd wars shall make . those of the islands , spain , and italy , subject unto his pow'r the world shall see : florence and rome with raging fire he 'll waste , and salt into the gaping furrows cast . the prelate that does peter's seat invade , to taste unwelcom death by him is made : and the same year a double crown he 'll gain , with a great army passing o're the main . greece he shall enter ; stil'd the grecian king ; turks and barbarians to subjection bring ; by a firm edict fixing death on all , that don't before the suff'ring saviour fall . none shall be found that can his force abide , because god's sacred arm strengthens his side . the empire of the earth by him possest , he shall be call'd , the holy christian's rest . ant. torquatus . galli cum hispanis pluries , longoque tempore pugnabunt . post turcae cum hispanis , quibus omnibus tandem hispani superiores erunt . omnia extrema visura passuraque est misella italia , sed praecipuè longobardi : bellicus furor omnia maligna in italiam effundet , plus italiae quàm caeteris provinciis astra minantur . apparebit namque fortissimus princeps à septentrione qui populos debellabit & urbes , & dominia , ac potentatus horribili cum terrore , saevissimisque & invictissimis bellis expugnabit , universos sibi subjiciet vi . aquarum diluvia nedum in italiâ , verum etiam & in aliis provinciis & locis exundabunt , ac humiliora operient loca , & civitates & castra submergentur . futurumque est mare piratis & classibus plenum , quo magno cum terrore civitates maritimas oppriment & spoliabunt . unde fleant expectantes , fleantque maximè romani imperii hostes . quot dominia mutabuntur , quotque illustres familiae antiquae dominia amittent , haud facile hoc narrari posset , & per maximè in italia continget . quot respublicae per vim & cum dolore , suos status & libertates amittent , & aliis dominis atque externis subjicientur ? florentia , luca , janua , venetiae , & aliae quoque respublicae praedicto fato erunt subjectae nec evadere poterunt , & quo tardiùs id fiet eo durius infelicius-que eveniet eis , & eo fato prementur . nam tam ardua diraque ; necnon saevissima bella inter gallos atque germanos & hispanos , ac inter eorum reges oritura sunt , inter quos angli italique miscebuntur & etiam turcae ad ea a christianis in auxilium vocabuntur . itaque tunc videbitur quod totus status orbis sit ruiturus , & omnes prae confusione rerum timebunt ultimam ruinam . multi contra romanum imperatorem & suos ferociter ferentur & ibunt . sed romanus imperator tantâ vi repente contra hostes suos praeter omnem spem & opinionem insurget , quòd contra omne judicium opprimet eos superabit ac vincet , & gallorum regem aut interficiet aut secundò capiet , tandem tamen gladio concidet , aut amisso regno , filiis calamitatibus oppressis , ducibusque suis interfectis vitam finiet , & tunc ultra gallorum laus sub aquilâ volabit , tunc galli infelices erunt . anglus quoque rex gallicis ruinis non longè dissimilia pertimescat infortunia . poterit ipsé cum suis adversam experiri fortunam & ingenti strage prosterni , quia tutum non est sed fatuum contra fata niti ; sapiens tamen dominabitur astris . finis . ant. torquatus . often and long spaniards and french shall fight ; then shall the turks yield to the spanish might . poor italy , but lombardy in chief , shall see and suffer various grounds of grief . all ills shall italy invade by wars , italy chiefly threatned by the stars : for from the north a prince of valour great shall people , cities , potentates defeat ; fierce , and invincible against his foes , subduing all who his success oppose . in italy , and other countries too , the waters towns and castles shall o'reflow : pyrats and navies shall the sea infest , and sea port towns be spoil'd , and sore opprest . a dismal prospect this to many shows , but most unto the roman empire's foes . 't were tedious to recount how many realms and ancient families ruine o'rewhelms ; how many commonwealths by force and fraud , out of their lives and liberties are aw'd , letting in cruel masters from abroad . florence and venice , many other states , shall subject be , nor can evade their fates : the longer 't is before they meet their doom , the fiercer will the mighty ruine come . french , germans , spaniards , with their several kings , engag'd in war , perpetrate bloody things : italians and the english have their share , and by the christians , turks invited are . many against the roman empire rise , fiercely assailing it and its allies . the emp'ror shall arise to sudden powr , and conquer all his foes in lucky hour , leaving belief and trembling hope behind , and the french king from him his fate shall find , b'ing slain , or twice a pris'ner ; but at last , he surely by the sword his death shall taste , his kingdom lost , progeny prest with woe , and all his captains meet an overthrow . then fortune , adverse to the frenchmen , brings their praise to crowch under the eagles wings . the king of england then may justly fear , the like calamities with france to bear : he and his party luckless chance may try , and with a mighty slaughter prostrate lie : for , madness 't is against the fates to rise ; and yet , the stars are govern'd by the wise . finis . advertisement . there are lately printed for timothy goodwin , at the maidenhead against st. dunstan 's church in fleet-street , these three books following . i. an enquiry into the power of dispensing with penal statutes . together with some animadversions upon a book writ by sir edward herbert , lord chief justice of the court of common-pleas , entituled , a short account of the authorities in law , upon which judgment was given in sir edward hales's case . ii. the power , jurisdiction , and priviledge of parliament ; and the antiquity of the house of commons asserted : occasioned by an information in the king's-bench , by the attorney-general , against the speaker of the house of commons . as also a discourse concerning the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the realm of england ; occasioned by the late commission in ecclesiastical causes . iii. a defence of the late lord rvssel's innocency , by way of answer or confutation of a libellous pamphlet , intituled , an antidote against poyson ; with two letters of the author of this book , upon the subject of his lordship's tryal . together with an argument in the great case concerning elections of members to parliament , between sir samuel barnardiston plaintiff , and sir william soames sheriff of suffolk , defendant , in the court of king's-bench , in an action upon the case , and afterwards by error sued in the exchequer-chamber . all three writ by sir robert atkyns , knight of the honourable order of the bath , and late one of the judges of the court of common-pleas . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a52522-e240 hi sunt qui trepidant & ad omnia fulgura pallent . vid. the lord delamere and sir ro. arkyns upon the lord russel's trial , and mr. hawles's remarks upon that and others , &c. — sed quid turba romae ? sequitur fortunam ut semper , & odit damnatos — notes for div a52522-e710 nostredamus natus anno 1503. denatus anno 1566. the edition here chiefly followed , anno 1568. vid. his preface to his son. cent. 9. 49. cent. 2. 51 , 53. vid. nostredamus his preface . cent. 3. 80. cent. 1● . 80. 82. 83. cent. 6. 43. 3. 9. 3. 49. 6. 34. cent. 5. 34. 9. 38. gazet , dec. 6. paris , dec. 8. orders are given for the fortifying with all possible diligence the town and citadel of blay on the garonne . a cent. 9. 38. 9. 64. 10. 7. b cent. 6. 2. c 5. 24. 5. 87. d cent. 6. 7. 10. 56. 5. 18. 5. 4. 4. 22. 4. 75. 1. 13. 1. 35. 2. 78. 2. 38. 5. 4. e 8. 58. 10. 26. a ms. in trinity-colledge library in cambridge , cited in the future history of europe , ed. an. 1650. and in the northern star. nolo , nolle , nullus . david pareus natus anno 1548. obiit heidelbergae anno 1622. postquam triennio ante per quietem vidisset totam urbem occulto incendio fumigantem , &c. hoffmanni lex . ant. torquatus de eversione europae , dedicated to matthias king of hungary , anno 1480. edit . anno 1552. a see this excellently well done by my learned friend mr. james tyrrel , in patriarcha non monarcha . b grot. l. 3. p. 52. summae potestatis subjectum commune est civitas . vid. schellium de jure imperii , p. 32. plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 definit eum qui judiciorum & magistratuum particeps sit . sam. puffend . de officio hominis & civis , p. 265. v. sacrosanct . regum majest . potestas designativa personae , & collativa potestatis . nullus interritus est reipublicae naturalis ut hominis . cicero de rep. of equitable reservations . vid. earl of clarenden's survey of the leviathan , p. 86. speaking of a contract whereby the absolute power of mens lives shall be submitted , &c. he is not bound by the command of his sovereign to execute any dangerous or dishonourable offices ; but in such cases men are not to resort so much to the words of the submission , as to the intention : which distinction surely may be as applicable to all that monstrous power which he gives his governour , to take away the lives and estates of his subjects , without any cause or reason , upon an imaginary contract , which if never so real , can never be suppos'd to be with the intention of the contractor in such cases . v. cocceium de principe , pag. 197. leges fundamentales regni vel imperii quae vel disertè pact ae sunt cum principe antequam imperium ineat , ut fit hodie cum imperatore ( quamvis non ad eum modum jura majestatis possideat quo olim principes ) & plerisque aliis in regnis vel sub ipso regimine a principe & populo vel ordinibus conduntur , ut est aurea bulla carol 4. & alia quaedam in imperio romano-germanico vel saltem tacitè reipublicae inesse videntur . sanderson de juramenti obligatione , p. 41. vid. stat. 13 car . 2. c. 1. vid. infra . v. grounds and measures of submission . salus populi suprema lex . vid. johannis a felde annotata ad grot. c. 3. & 4. grot. de jure belli & pacis , c. 3. p. 60. vid. pufendorf elementa juris prud . p. 256. nemo alteri potest quid efficaciter injungere per modum praecepti in quem nihil potestatis legitimae habet . grot. c. 4. p. 86. habet pro derelicto . vid. bellarmine how the pope hooks in temporals in ordine ad spiritualia . vid. leges s. edwardi . jovian , p. 280. ib. p. 192 , 193. jov. p. 87. vid. just . inst . tit . 2. quum lege regiâ quae de imperio ejus lata est populus ei & in eum omne imperium suum & potestatem concedat . vid. raevardum de juris ambiguitatibus . lib 4. c. 12. de jure publico . bilson of christian subjection , ed. 1586. p. 279. p. 280. platonis politicus , f. 299. ed. serrani . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . v. leges sancti edwardi , 17. de regis officio . nec nomen regis in eo constabit . vid. bracton , l. 2. c. 24. est enim corona regis facere justitiam & judicium & tenere pacem sine quibus corona consistere non potest nec tenere . hoveden , f. 604. rex atque vicarius ejus . nota , there was occasion for naming the deputy , by reason of the accession of normandy , requiring the king's absence sometimes . vid. the case of rehoboam , inf . in the quotation out of lord clarendon . lambert . qui vigilanter defendunt & regunt ecclesiam dei & populum ejus . barones majores & minores . vita aelfredi , f. 62. ego tria promitto populo christiano meisque subditis , &c. a nota , protection . bracton , lib. 3. c. 9. fleta , lib. 1. c. 17. mirror , p. 8. vid. seld. spicel . ad eadmerum f. 171. dissert . ad fletam , f. 519. hoved f. 608. leges h. 1. confirming st. edward's laws , cum illis emendationibus quibus pater meus emendavit consilio baronum suorum . vid. mat. par. f. 243. barones petierunt de rege johanne quasdam libertates & leges regis edwardi , f. 244. partim in carta regis henrici scripta sunt partimque ex legibus regis edwardi antiquis excerpta sunt . vid. rushw . 1. v. f. 200. coronation of c. 1. sir , says the archbishop , will you grant and keep , and by your oath confirm to the people of england , the laws and customs to them granted by the kings of england , your lawful and religious predecessors , namely , the laws , customs , and franchises granted to the clergy by the glorious king st. edward , your predecessor ? v. rot. claus . 1 r. 2. n. 44. magna carta ed. cum priv . anno 1558. juramentum regis quando coronatur . spelman's glos . tit . fidelitas , f. 271. sam. puf. de interregnis , p. 274. quando in regem confertur imperium est mutua juris translatio , seu reciproca promissio . vid. templum pacis , p. 767. deditio est pactus quo belle inferior majoris mali evitandi ergo potestati alterius sese submittit & in jura aliena transit dividi potest in simplicem sive purum quando quis mero victoris arbitrio sese submittit : & compositum sive conditionatum , quando alterius quidem potestati quis sese subjicit , sed sub conditionibus quibus aut singuli sibi consulunt , aut toti universitati . so textoris synopsis jurifgentium , p. 129. victoria vel pactione restricta est vel absoluta ; specie priori non plus juris victor acquirit , quam ei pacto fuit concessum . sim. dunelm . f. 195. hoved. f. 450. 2 sam. 5. 3. lord clarendon's survey of the leviathan , p. 109. & 148 , 149. aequo jure . vid. infr . vid. leges w. 1. de fide & obsequio erga regem . jovian , p. 244. vid. dr. stillingfl . irenicum , p. 132 , 133. saravia de imperii authoritate , f. 221. grotius de jure belli & pacis , p. 59. successio non est titulus imperii , sed veteris continuatio . lord clarendon's survey , p. 74. matth. paris , edit . lond. f. 563. comite cestriae gladium sancti edwardi , qui curtein dicitur , ante regem bajulante in signum quod comes est palatinus & regem si oberret habeat de jure potestatem cohibendi . knighton , f. 2683. meaning the case of e. 2. knighton , f. 1752. mirror , p. 9. hornii orbis imperans , p. 196. hornius , p. 196. fleta , lib. 1. cap. 17. bracton , lib. 3. c. 9. p. 107. ibid. bract. lib. 2. c. 16. p. 34. v. ryly , plac. parl. f. 20. fleta supra , superiores . so mirror , p. 9. ceux compagnions sont ore appelles comites , & in latine comitatus ; where he takes in all that come up to parliament from the counties . vid. mirror , p. 209. he there says , suitors are judges ordinaries ; and 274. speaks of counties , & les autres suitors , having jurisdiction in causes which the king cannot determine by himself , or by his judges . so judge crook's argument in hampden's c. p. 59. whatever is done to the hurt or wrong of the subjects , and against the laws of the land , the law imputeth that honour and justice to the king , whose throne is establish'd by justice , that it is not done by the king , but it is done by some unsound and unjust information , and therefore void , and not done by prerogative . chronica de mailros , f. 137. anno 756. bromton , f. 770. congregati sunt proceres & populus totius regni & eum providâ deliberatione a regno unanimi consensu omnium expellebant . chron. mailros , f. 138. anno 774. s. dunelm . 106. & 107. consilio & consensu omnium regiae & familiae ac principum destitutus societate exilio imperii mutavit majestatem . a ib. f. 108. anno 779. mailros , anno 794. f. 139. s. dunelm . f. 113. mailros . f. 141. anno 806. ibid. f. 143. anno 866. degenerem . ibid. 144. 872. f. 14● . 941. f. 148. 947. vid. mirror , & leges s. edw. vid. knighton , f. 2312. bromton , f. 1031. mat. par. ed. tig. f. 243. anno 1214. ib. f. 277 , 278. 288. mat. par. f. 373. walsingham , f. 107. rex dignitate regali abdicatur & filius substituitur . hollingshead , f. 637. ibid. f. 639 , 640. a crown over a branch of lights in the house of commons , and another from the top of dover-castle , falling about the same time . ibid. f. 657. 〈…〉 , ●661 . ●●●5 . 678. 693. stat. 13 car. 2. stat. 2. c. 1. stat. 13 & 14 car. 2. c. 3. so c. 4. 15 car. 2. c. 5. 12 car. 2. c. 30. vid. justin . pandec . l. 1. tit . 3. nulla juris ratio aut aequitatis benignitas patitur , ut quae salubriter pro utilitate hominum introducuntur , ea nos duriore interpretatione contra ipsorum commodum producamus ad severitatem . vid. rot parl. 39 h. 6. n 18. vid. cujacium , tom . 4. f. 154. resp . circumscripta in integrum restituitur perinde ac pupillus vel adolescens , &c. vid. cic. de legibus . salus populi suprema lex esto . inter leges 12 tabularum , of which tacitus says , accitis quae usquam egregia , compositae duodecim tabulae finis aequi juris . tacitus ed. plant. p. 90. sheringham of the king's supremacy , p. 41. 16 car. 1. nota , there was no attempt to repeal this till 16 car. 2. c. 1. brook tit . commission , n. 21. ibid. tit . officer , n. 25. vid. stat. 17 car. 1. every thing or things done or to be done , for the adjournment , proroguing , or dissolving of this parliament , contrary to this present act , shall be utterly void . anno 1647. vid. hist . of the civil wars , f. 207. q●●m aufertur 〈◊〉 juramenti , juramentum cessat ratione eventus ; qui c●sus est eorum qui juraverunt se obedituros domino aut principi alicui , qui postea cessat esse talis . amesius de juramento , lib 4. c. 22. sam. pufendorf de interregnis , p. 272. nota. omnem reipublic● cutam ab●●●averit . 〈◊〉 malo . 〈…〉 krantius , f. 188. anno 1460. hottoman . francogal . c. 23. de memorabili auctoritate concilii in regem ludovicum 11. mat. par. sup . f. 563. freherus de orig. palatinarum , f. 113 , 119 , 120. gunteri thulemarii octovirat . c. 18. ibid. p. 251. loyseau du droits des offices , ed. anno 1610. f. 409. ibid. f. 410. treatise of politick power , ed. anno 1556. vid. sam. pufendorf . dissertationes de interregnis , p. 267. post decretum circa formam regiminis novo pacto opus erit , quando constituuntur ille vel illi in quem vel in quos regimen caetûs confertur . jovian , p. 78. ib. preface . at calcuth , anno 789. spel. con. vol. 1. f. 291. deut. 17. v. 20. aelfredi test . append. ad ejus vitam , f. 195. et mecum tota nobilitas west-saxonicae gentis consentiunt , quod me opertet dimittere eos ita liberos , sicut in homine cogitatio ipsius consistit . camd. brit. f. 104. de w. 1. neminem anglici regni constituo h●redem , sed aterno conditori cujus sum , & in cujus manu sunt omnia , illud commendo : non enim tantum decus haereditario jure possedi , &c. v. leges w. 1. de fide , &c. statuimus etiam ut omnes liberi homines foedere & sacramento affirment , quod intra & extra regnum angliae willielmo regi domino suo fideles esse volunt , &c. leges s. edw. tit . greve . vid. juramentum homagii facti regi . prynne's signal loialty , p. 274. poll. virgil. l. 22. sub initio . nota , proceres may take in the nobiles minores . william 2. was elected during the life of his eldest brother , who was set aside by the english , against whom he had discovered ill-will , in spite of the normans . so h. 1. stephen was elected while maud the daughter of h. 1. was alive ; and h. 2. succeeded in her life-time , upon an agreement made with stephen , by the people's consent . r. 1. as within . king john crown'd in the life-time of his eldest brother's son , prince arthur : so was his son h. 3. in the life-time of elenor , prince arthur's sister . e. 1. as within . e. 2. elected . e. 3. set up by the people in his father's life-time , which the father took for a favour , r. 2. declared successor by parliament , in the life-time of his grandfather . h. 4. of the younger house , came in by the people's choice , upon their deposing r. 2. h. 5. & 6. son and grandson to h. 4. came in upon a settlement . e. 4. of the elder house , cam● in under an agreement made in parliament between his father , who liv'd not to have the benefit of it , and h. 6. his son. e. 5. was never crown'd . r. 3. who set him aside , was of the younger house . h. 7. who vanquish'd him , could have no right of proximity ; for the daughter of e. 4. and his own mother , were before him . all that came in since , enjoy'd the crown , either under the various settlements of h. 8. or that of h. 7. which took place again in j. 1. or from h. 6. at the highest . walsingham , f. 1. walsingham , ib. sir p. p. obligation of oaths , f. 295. walsingham , ypod neustriae , f. 45. walsingham , f. 68. bromton , f. 1155. so hoveden , f. 656. bromton , f. 1159. hoveden , f. 656. 11 h. 7. c. 1. lord bacon's hist . of h. 7. f. 145. object . 1. finch's description of the common-law french , ed. an. 1613. f. 20. b. & 21. a. the same made use of reflections upon our late and present proceeding , p. 10. answ . dyer , f , 165. anderson , f. 44. he has it , le successeur & le heir ; elsewhere 't is heir ou successeur . ib. f. 45. v. 1 e. 6. c. 7. v. 7. rep. f. 30. object . 2. brady's hist of the succession f. 8 , 9. answ . grotius de jure belli & pacis , lib. 1. p. 60. object . 3. vid. debates about deposing . answ . knighton , f. 2482. leges sancti edwardi . tit . greve . conjurati fratres ad defendendum regnum , &c. & honores illius omni fidelitare cum eo servare . so leges w. 1. tit . de fide & obsequio erga regem . quod willielmo domino suo fideles esse volunt & honores illius , &c. defendere . bracton , lib. 2. cap. 29. vid. sir p. p. as successors are heirs , so dr. brady tells us , gloss . f. 18. that prepossessor , one that possest the land before the present possessor , without any relation to blood or kindred , is ancestor in doomsday , and in the writ de morte antecessoris . sir p. p. obligation of oaths , f. 302. fol. 298. fol. 300. sir p. p. f. 297. littleton , tit . homage , sect . 85. popham's rep. f. 16. & 17. object . 4. rot. parl. 1 e. 4. answ . fortescue de laudibus legum angl. c. 3. jovian , p. 253. pufendorf de interregnis , p. 288. quod si dubitatur qui gradus aut quae linea sit , potior declarata voluntas populi finem liti imponet , &c. vid. 3 inst . f. 7. upon the stat. of treason , 25 e. 3. referring in the margin to this statute . this is to be understood of a king in possession of the crown and kingdom ; for if there be a king regnant in possession , altho he be rex de facto , and not de jure , yet he is seignior le roy within the purview of this stature ; and the other who hath the right , and is out of possession , is not within this act : nay , if treason be committed against a king de facto , and after the king de jure come to the crown , he shall punish the treason done to the king de facto ; and a pardon granted by a kind de jure , that is not also de facto , is void . 11 h. 7. c. 1. that the people of england were lately restor'd to a qualified choice . sanderson de obligatione juramenti , lect. 4. vid. sir robert atkins his excellent defence of the lord russel , f. 22 , 23. rastal's entries , tit . reattachment , f. 544. b. resum ' &c. quia extra regnum angliae progres . fecimus , nullo locum tenente nostrum sive custode regni relicto , & e. hobart . f. 155. ved . leges 12 tab. de magistrat . digest . lib. 49. tit . 15. de captivis & postliliminio . transfugae nullum postliminium est , nam qui malo consilio . & proditoris animo patriam reliquit , hostium numero habendus est , &c. transfuga autem non is solus accipiendus est , qui aut ad hostes aut in bello transfugit , sed ad eos cum quibus nulla amicitia est fide susceptâ transfugit . imp. theod. & valentin . caes . ad volusianum praefectum praetorio . digna vox est majestate regnantis , legibus ad ligatum se principem profiteri . adeo de auctoritate juris nostra pendet auctoritas : & reverâ majus imperio est submittere legibus principatum . et oraculo praesentis edicti , quod nobis licere non patimur aliis indicamus . pufendorf de officio hominis & civis , p. 201. pufend. elementa jurisprudentiae , p. 85. & 94. vid. puf. supr . de interregnis , p. 274. pufend. elementa jurisprud . p. 94. pufend. de jure gentium , p. 1105. v. grot. de jure belli & pacis , de summitatem habendi plenitudine , p. 62. dissertationes de interreg . p. 272. supra . rudolphi godofredi knichen opus polit . f. 1226. philippi parei vindicatio , p. 50 , & 51. vid. brook , tit . condition , n. 67. vid. lit. c. 5. estates sur condition . v. l. clarendon , cited above in the margin , his survey of the leviathan , p. 86. grot de jure belli & pacis , l. 1. c 3. p. 60. grot. sup . p. 64. fortescue . vid. 11 h. 6. f. 12. b. rolls abr. tit . remainder , f. 415. v. sup . knighton , f. 2683. nota , not proximum . rot. parl. 1 h. 4. n. 54. ib-n . 55. brady's hist of the succession , f. 25. vid. rot. parl. 8 h. 4. n. 60. gomezius de qualitatibus contractuum , f. 319. hottomanni com. de verbis juris usus-fructus est jus alienis rebus utendi fruendi , salvâ rerum substantiâ , emphyteusis . 13 e. 4. rot. parl. 1 h. 7. n , 16. h. 7. son to edmund earl of richmond , brother by mother's side to h. 6. rot. parl. 1 h. 7. vid. rot. parl. 1 h. 7. n. 16. supra . vindiciae contra tyrânnos , ed. amstelodami , p. 110. rot. parl. 1 h. 7. 25 h. 8. c. 22. 26 h. 8. c. 2. 28 h. 8. c. 7. vid. 28 h. 8. sup . & 35 h. 8. hist . of succession , f. 34. 1 & 2 p. m. c. 9. 1 eliz. c. 3. 1 jac. 1. c. 1. sir robert filmer's power of kings , f. 1. vid. pufend. de interregn . sup . p. 288 , 289. 25 e. 3. stat. 2. stat. 25 e. 3. sup . vid. 1. anderson , f. 60 , & 61. a devise to the wife , after her decease to the children . vid. wild's c. 6 rep. in shelley's c. 1 rep. f. 103. a gift to a man & semini suo , or prolibus suis , or liberis suis , or exitibus suis , or pueris suis de corpore . vid. sir james dalrimple's institutions of the laws of scotland , f. 52. vid. dugdale's bar. 2. vol. beaumont . just . inst . lib. 1. tit . 9. so bracton , lib. 1. cap. 9. greg. tholos . syntagma juris universi , f. 206. spiegelius , tit . liberi . non procedere in privilegiis quae generaliter publicae utilitati derogant . vid. antonii perezi inst . imperiales , p. 21. vid. cujac . ad tit . de verborum significatione , p. 147. & 230. that the people of england have duly exercis'd their power , in setling the government . object . answ . hobbs his leviathan . pufendorf de interregnis , p. 282. a letter to a friend , advising in this exttaordinary juncture , &c. vid. pufend , de interregnis , p. 267. sup . in marg. brady's first edit . p. 227. see this proved upon him , pref. to jus anglorum . prynne's animadversions on 4 inst . f. 10. vid. rushw . 1 vol. f. 470. 3 car. ● . tacit. de moribus german . coeunt nisi quid fortuitum & subitum certis diebus , &c. v. leges s. ed. tit . greve . in capite kal. maii. jus angl. c. 7. vid. sup . 12 car. 2. c. 1. 3 inst . f. 7. sup . in marg. anno 1127. vid. spelm. con. 2. vol. f. 1. de modo habendi synodos in angliâ primaevis temporibus . vid. jan. ang. fac . nov . and jus angl. flor. wigorn. f. 663. confluxerant quoque illuc magnae multitudines clericorum , laicorum , tam divitum , quam mediocrum & factus est conventus grandis & inestimabilis . quaedam determinata , quaedam dilata , quaedam propter nimium aestuantis turbae tumultum ab audientiâ judicantium profliga●a , &c. rex igitur cum inter haec londoniae moraretur auditis concilii gestis consensum praebuit & confirmavit statuta concilii a willielmo cant. &c. celebrati . vid. sup . hottom . illust . quaest . 17. gotofredus de electione magistratû inhabilis per errorem factâ , p. 6. gotofred sup . p. 23. sponte transacta . conclusion . letter to b. l. victrix causa diis placuit , sed victa catoni . notes for div a52522-e20220 cent. 9. 49. cent. 2. 51. cent. 2. 53. cent. 3. 80. last edit . 1682. cent. 1. 52. cent. 4. 96. cent. 3. 16. cent. 2. 68. taken out of the 12th . and added to the 7th . cent. 80. last ed. par plui . 82. 83. 〈◊〉 10. 66. cent. 2. 100. cent. 4. 16. 〈◊〉 6. 7. 〈◊〉 . 10. 56. cent. 4. 89. cent. 2. 67. prophesies at the end 5. cent. 6. 13. cent. 8. 58. cent. 10. 26. cent. 5. 18. cent. 5. 4. cent. 30. 70. cent. 4. 13. cent. 4. 22. cent. 4. 75. albion . cent. 10. 68. cent. 5. 26. cent. 1. 13. cent. 1. 35. cent. 1. 33. cent. 2. 78. cent. 2. 38. cent. 2. 89. cent. 3. 63. cent. 2. 87. cent. 5. 99. cent. 6. 28. cent. 5. 24. alias 74. cent 5. 87. cent. 6. 41. cent. 6. 12. cent. 6. 43. paris . cent. 3. 9. cent. 5. 34. last ed. blaye . cent. 9. 38. cent. 9. 64. cent. 10. 7. cent. 1. 32. cent. 1. 100. cent. 2. 61. vid. cent. 5. 34. cent. 2. 97. vid. cent. 6. 43. cent. 3. 49. cent. 5. 43. louis le grand . cent. 3. 83. cent. 6. 3. cent. 6. 4. cent. 7. 34. cent. 8. 98. cent. 9. 92. cent. 10. 22. cent. 10. 75. cent. 10. 86. cent. 9. 49. france . cent. 2. 51. anno 1666. st. paul ' s. other churches . cent. 2. 53. the plague not to cease till the fire . cent. 3. 80. ed. 1672. 82. monmouth . cent. 1. 52. j. 2. born under scorpio . q. the nativity of his brother of france . cent. 4. 96. the d. of cambridge , born 15 years after the princess of orange . england counted the ballance of europe . cent. 3. 16. the prince of orange english by his mother sister to j. 2. cent. 2. 68. viz. the liberties of the kingdom . added to the twelfth cent. stan. 80. from a prince becomes a king. ibid. 82. the second landing in the west . he being a romanist , calls it so . ibid. 83. a lively description of the state of our court. cent. 10. 66. the commentator renders this a reign of confusion . cent. 2. 100. all join in the association . cent. 4. 16. the king seeing the numbers encrease , would repent too late . cent. 6. 7. the united provinces vex denmark & england , or the governour there , of the romish religion , and french blood by his mother . cent. 10. 56. j. 2. of the order of the jesuits . another realm or government rescues england . vid. usher 's antiqu. brit. f. 〈◊〉 . citing merlin , gallica quem gignet , qui gazis regna replebit , oh dolor , oh gemitus ! fratris ab ense cadet . cent. 4. 89. luy mort desgouteront distillabunt ; shall occasion his death drop by drop . blonde is most commonly render'd fair , but may be taken for any complexion departing from black. cent. 2. 67. prophecies at the end 5. who in danger of drinking the juyce of orange ? cent. 6. 13. doubtful what title to take . the king can't justifie the babe . cent. 8. 58. the babe sent to france . cent. 10. 26. the occasion of taking the crown of england . cent. 5. 18. v. cent. 2. 63. speaking of france and germany , qui le grand mur , &c. j. 2. of scotland the seventh . cent. 3. 70. the mastiff an emblem of england . cent. 3 70. the landing of forces may answer this . ausonium , ausburg . cent. 4. 13. cent. 4. 42. the officers disbanded after the routing of monmouth . cent. 4. 75. albion , england . cent. 10. 68. viz. their liberties . forces sent to holland . cent. 5. 26. aux monts . cent. 1. 13. cent. 1. 35. english and begick lion. cent. 1. 33 cent. 2. 78. the king of england shall find his designs fatal to himself . cent , 2. 38. england and france . cent. 2. 89. england and france . as its state new . the king of france . cent. 3. 63. rome and france . cent. 2. 87. the prince of orange is of german extraction . the whore of babylon . cent. 5. 99. germans , english , dutch. cent. 6. 28. belgick . the pope . the french. cent. 5. 24. alias 74. the english reputed of trojan blood , and london has been called troinovant . cent. 5. 87. vid. partridge de anno 1688. the sun now deprest by saturn . cent. 6. 41. prince george , the dutch , and english . cent. 6. 12. cent. 6. 43. paris . cent. 3. 9. a sea-fight . english and flemings victorious over the french. cent. 5. 34. it must needs be thought , that this relates to the princes landing and stay in the west . cent. 9. 38. vid. pref. cent. 9. 64. the jesuit . cent. 10. 7. * france . cent. 1. 32. cent. 10. 100. cent. 2. 61. vid. cent. 5. 34. the english forces fatal to the french. cent. 2. 97. seems to relate to paris , vid. cent. 6. yet may agree with london . cent. 3. 49. cent. 3. 53. * holland . cent. 3. 83. part of france . is it a doubt who has been agent for the french. cent. 6. 3. the rhine . first the administration , then the crown . cent. 6. 4. cologne . vid. partridge of the conjunctions , an. 1688. cent. 7. 34. cent. 8. 98. cent. 9. 92. the prince , nephew to the k. as well as son-in-law . cent. 10. 22. aministrator first . cent. 10. 75. the ausburg league . cent. 10. 86. notes for div a52522-e31560 nota , abdicated . cited in the northern star , f. 25. notes for div a52522-e32340 nota , ireland has no crown . notes for div a52522-e32950 dedicated to matthias king of hungary , anno 1480. edit . anno 1552. pag. 7. 6. the emperor and king of spain of the same house . a true and exact history of the succession of the crown of england collected out of records, and the best historians, written for the information of such as have been deluded and seduced by the pamphlet, called, the brief history of the succession, &c., pretended to have been written for the satisfaction of the earl of h. brady, robert, 1627?-1700. 1681 approx. 195 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 25 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29176 wing b4195 estc r19500 12115506 ocm 12115506 54279 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29176) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 54279) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 759:24) a true and exact history of the succession of the crown of england collected out of records, and the best historians, written for the information of such as have been deluded and seduced by the pamphlet, called, the brief history of the succession, &c., pretended to have been written for the satisfaction of the earl of h. brady, robert, 1627?-1700. [2], 46 p. printed for cave pulleyn, london : 1681. errata: p. 46. includes bibliographical references. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng somers, john somers, -baron, 1651-1716. -brief history of the succession. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2007-05 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a true and exact history of the succession of the crown of england : collected out of records , and the best historians . written for the information of such as have been deluded and seduced by the pamphlet , called the brief history of the succession , &c. pretended to have been written for the satisfaction of the earl of h. london , printed for cave pulleyn , in the year mdclxxxi . a true and exact history of the svccession of the crown of england . in the year 1594. parsons the jesuit ; or , as a mr. camden says , he , cardinal allen , and sir francis inglefield , under the name of r. doleman , wrote a book entituled , a conference about the next succession to the crown of england , b divided into two parts . the first , pretended to have been the discourse of a civil lawyer , concerning succession by proximity of blood in general , contains , for the most part , in nine chapters , the very principles of sedition and rebellion ; proved and maintained , as is there also pretended , by examples and texts of holy scripture ; examples in france , spain , germany , england , and other nations . the english examples and instances , generally , are partially cited , or mis-applied , or not fully understood by the author ; and are matter of fact only . the second part is there said to be the speech of a temporal lawyer , about the particular titles of all such as might pretend , within england , or without , to the next succession after queen elizabeth : which , according to his account , were ten or eleven : yet this author says ( if any body will believe him ) that this treatise was wrote out of d singular affection and devotion to that excellent princess , and with special care of her safety . it was dedicated to the earl of essex , with design , after the queen of scots was taken off , e to baffle the title of king james , who was her immediate heir ; and either to fix it upon the earl , ( for whom he had made a title , ) or to promote a contention between the king and him about it , while by some means or other ( which was their main intention ) the infanta of spain , by a far-fetch'd title , might obtain the kingdom , and thereby advance their own purposes and religion . how justly this book is censured by the judicious camden , and branded with perfidiousness , and design to delude and abuse the people , raise tumults and seditions , the reader may see in the places cited in the margin . in the year 1648. as a preparative to the deposition and murther of king charles the first , there was published a pamphlet , and printed at london by robert ibbitson , under the title of several speeches , delivered at a conference concerning the power of f parliaments to proceed against their king for mis-government : and the heads in the title page , upon which these speeches are pretended to be made , are in number nine , and the very same , verbatim , with the titles of doleman's nine chapters in his first part of the conference touching the succession to the crown : and the matter and words of the speeches themselves , almost in all things , are the very same , except the transitions , connexions , and some few , not material passages , which are left out . from these conferences of doleman , which by crafty men were published by retail , in several pamphlets , speeches , declarations , pernicious deductions , &c. and from the nine speeches last mentioned , all the factions in the late times of rebellion , were furnished with arguments , reasons , examples and pretences for their seditious practices . and the suggestions of the act for the tryal of king charles the first , and the materials of the long speech bradshaw made , to declare the grounds of the sentence , and aggravate the things laid to his charge , by mis-applying both law and history , were borrowed from these books : as likewise was much of the most seditious part of milton's book , entituled , the defence for the people of england . also in the year 1655. at london , was printed an abstract of parsons his book , containing the substance , and often the words of it . the chapters being divided into several short sections , with titles to each of them ; this bears the name of a treatise concerning the broken succession of the crown of england . to what end it was at that time published i cannot guess , unless to set up a foreign title , or make way for oliver cromwell's kingship . and how lately there hath come forth a pamphlet , under the name of a brief history of the succession , collected out of the records , and most authentick historians ; for the satisfaction of the earl of h. much or the materials of this pamphlet , and most of the history contained in , it concerning the succession , are taken out of the jesuit's book , the speeches and abstract before mentioned ; but this author's industry leads him further than polydor virgil , who is mostly cited by his three predecessors ; and sometimes stowe and hollinshead . and for the making his work more plausible and passable , and more readily to be received by his ordinary readers , he takes very little notice of polydor ( who pointed him to his authors and places ) but cites william of malmsbury , henry of pluntington , simeon dunelm . ailredus , abbas rievallensis , brompton and others , ancient writers , in his saxon instances especially : whose words , if faithfully cited , would have been of no use to him ; for often , in the middle of the sentences , and of records he hath cited , he hath left out such words and matters as would have ruined the design or his history . a paralel of his words , with the true words of the authors from whence he had them , will be given at the latter end of this treatise . hence we proceed to the succession ; by a true history whereof , men will be able to judg what was the government , and how the crown hath hereditarily discended for many ages in this nation : and though history is so deficient , and the many rencòuntèrs , and invasions of one another's territories and bickerings between the petty kings and governors of the saxons in the time of the heptarchy , the succession cannot be well made out ; yet ( though not in all ) we may be able to make out a succession in the greatest and most illustrious kingdom of them ; which was that of the west-saxions . the saxon succession . egbert , who is commonly said to be the first saxon monarch , though he brought not the whole heptarchy under his power and government , succeeded brihtric . king of the west-saxons . the words of the saxon chronicle are these only ; a beorhtric cyning forthferd & ecgryht feng to west-seaxna rice . which words the translator thus renders , beorhtricus rex occidentalium obiit , egbryhtus occidentalium saxonum regnum capessit . and b florence of worcester , who strictly follows this chronicle , says , rex occidentalium saxonum brihtricus obiit & egbertus successit : that is , brihtric died , and egbert , king of the west-saxons , took the kingdom , or succeeded him . c simeon dunelmensis says , defuncto rege glorioso brihtrico occidentalis regni , suscepit post ipsius obitum regnum & impertum egbertus rex , qui ex regali illius gentis prosapia exortus diadema totius regni capiti imposuit . d william of malmsbury is more particular in this matter , and reports the jealousie brihtric had of egbert , quem solum regalis prosapiae superstitem , validissimum suis utilitatibus obicem metuebat , franciam fugandum curavit . who only of the royal line was left , and the greatest cheek to his design , he caused to fly into france . e nam & ipse brihtricus & caeteri infra inam reges licet naturalium splendore gloriantes , quippe qui de cerdicio originem traherent , non purum tamen linea regiae stirpis exorbitaverant . for though brihtric himself , and the rest of the kings since ina , boasting of their lineage , as drawing their origin from cerdic ; yet they did not a little exorbitate from the true royal line . the pedigree of egbert . f egbertus fuit filius ealmundi , ealmundus eafae , eafa eoppae , eoppa fuit filius ingildi : egbert was the son of ealmund , ealmund of eafa , eafa of eoppa , eoppa of ingild , g the only brother of ina , king of the west-saxons ; who left his kingdom , went to rome , lived a monastick life , and died childless . h ethelwolfe succeeded his father egbert in the kingdom of the west-saxons , and he gave to his other son aethelstan his conquests ; kent , east-sex , surrey and sussex ; of which he made him king. i malmsbury saith thus ; ethelwolphus west-saxonum regno contentus , caetera quae pater subjugaverat appendicia , aethelstano filio contradidit , qui quanto & que fine defecerit incertum . k ethelwolph by will divided his kingdom between his sons ethelbald and ethelbert . l to ethelbald he gave west-saxony ; to the other kent , &c. and by will gave the kingdom of west-saxony to his sons ethelred and elfred , after ethelbald's death , successively . ethelbald lived but five years , when ethelbert possessed the whole kingdom , vt justum èrat , says m asser , florence of worcester , and simeon dunelmensis . n ethelred , third son to ethelwolph , and brother to ethelbert , succeeded him in his father's kingdom , who reigned five or six years . o alfred , fourth and youngest son of ethelwolph , succeeded his brother ethelred . fratribus suis sccundarius fuit : he was a coadjutor , or assistant to his other brothers . asser . fol. 7. 50. to whom succeeded his son p edward , called the elder . to him succeeded his son q ethelstan , eadweard cyng forth ferd and aethelstan his sunn feng to rice . king edward died , ejusque filius aethelstanus capescit regnum : and his son aethelstan succeeded in the kingdom . these being the usual saxon and latin words by which the succession is expressed . r florence of worcester , and simeon of durham , both say , rex edwardus sen. ex hac vita transiens aethelstano filio regni gubernacula reliquit : king edward the elder dying , left the government of the kingdom to his son aethelstan . f malmsbury says thus in the history of edward the elder ; jussu patris in testamento aethelstanus in regem acclamatus est : by the command of his father , in his will , aethelstan was proclaimed king. by some aethelstan is affirmed to be a bastard , from the report of t william of malmsbury , in the book and chapters last cited : who tells us that one alfred , a man of u great insolence , and his faction , opposed aethelstan , upon pretence he was a bastard . occasio contradictionis ut serunt ( says the historian ) quod aethelstanus ex concubina natus csset : the occasion of contradiction was , that aethelstan was born of a concubine , as was reported . sed ipse praeter hanc notam si tamen vera est , nihil ignobile habens : but he had no other mark of ill upon him but this , if it were true . and telling the story how king edward the elder ( as it was reported ) stole a leap with a shepherd's daughter , by the help of his sometimes nurse ; of whom , it is fabled , he begat aethelstan ; he says he had it from x trite tales and songs ; and that he related it not to defend the truth of it , but because he would keep nothing from his readers . nor indeed is the story credible ; for the same author in the same y chapter reports , that his grandfather , famous king alfred , in his life-time wished him a prosperous reign , embracing him as a child of great hope , and excellent behaviour , and knighted him in his childhood ; putting on him a scarlet cloak , and girding him with a belt set with gems , and a saxon sword in a golden scabbard . this so wise and great a king as alfred was , would never have said and done to a bastard . z edmund his brother succeeded aethelstan in the kingdom . after him a edred , third brother to aethelstan , succeeded in the kingdom , and was consecrated king by odo arch bishop of canterbury . this was done in the nonage of king edmund's sons , when they were very young , and the nation under great difficulties . the saxon chronology says , eadred aetheling his brother feng to rice regnum ●apessit . florence of worcester , edredus proximus haeres fratris succedens regnum suscepit . b malmsbury , edredus tertius e filiis edwardi regnum suscepit . simeon dunelmensis , edredus frater edmundi in regnum successit . edwy c the son of edmund succeeded his uncle edred : he banished dunstan , turned out monks , and placed secular priests in monasteries ; and d was so displeasing to the mercians and northumbrians , that they rejected him , and chose his brother edgar ; who also succeeded edwy in the kingdom of the west-saxons . e eadwigus rex kal. octobris obiit , and edgar his brother feng to rice : edwy died on the first of october , and edgar his brother took the kingdom . flor wigorn. abomni anglorum populo electus regnum suscepit . f malmsbury , edgarus adolescentulus se decem annorum regnum adipiscit . edward his son , called the martyr , succeeded him ; filiumque suum g edwardum & regnt & morum haeredem reliquit : and left his son edward heir , as well of the kingdom , as of his vertues and endowments . but there happening a contest between him and this brother about the succession , h quidam regis silium edwardum , quidam illius fratrem eligerunt , ethelredum : quam ob causam archipresules dunstanus & oswaldus cum co-episcopis . abbatibus , ●uc●busque quamplurimis in unum convenerunt , & edwardum ut pater eius praeceperat eligerunt , electum consecrarunt , & in regem unxerunt : some elected edward , the king's son , some his brother ethelred : wherefore the arch-bishops , dunstan and oswald , with the bishops , abbots , and very many noble-men , being gathered together , elected edward , ( as his father had commanded ) consecrated and anointed him king. i this contest was managed , and set on foot by elfrida , second wife to edgar , and mother in law to edward . who k by her contrivance being murthered , was succeeded by his brother ethelred . feng ethelred aetheling his brother to rice : and ethelred aetheling his brother enjoyed or possessed the kingdom . the danes , ever since the beginning of king egbert , having by continued invasions , harassed , and grievously wasted and molested england , in the reign of king aelfred , by l pact and bargain between him and guthrum , enjoyed east-saxony , or essex , and the country of the east-angles , and a far greater part of this nation , as many think . and in this king ethelred's reign , swane , king of denmark , with a great army invaded , and made himself master of the whole nation ; forcing ethelred and his wife emmy , sister to richard , second duke of normandy , with their two sons , edward and alfred , into that country . but m ethelred had a former wife elgive , daughter of duke thored : by her he had many sons ; of whom edmond called ironside being the third , aethelstan and egbert dying without issue , by the n election of the londoners and west-saxons , succeeded his father in the kingdom . florence of worcester says , again , after the death of ethelred , the bishops , abbots , duces & quicque nobiles angliae met , and chose cnute the son of swane ; but the londoners , and that part of the nobility which was with them , by one consent made edmund king. after o several battels fought for the sovereignty of the kingdom between these two pretenders and their adherents , being weary on both sides , they were persuaded to part the kingdom between them ; which was done . but not long after edmund died at london : the arch-traytor p edric , after he had caused edmund's brother edwy to be murdered , advised cnute to kill his two sons also , edward and edmund . but he thinking it a great scandal and disgrace to him that they should be killed in england , sent them to his friend and confederate , the king of sweves , to be slain ; who not complying with his desire , sent them to solomon , king of hungary , to be preserved : where edmund died , and edward married agatha , daughter to henry the roman emperor : by whom he had edgar , aetheling , edmund , christiana , who all died without issue , and margaret , queen of scotland , whose daughter maud was married to henry the first . after the death of cnute , the londoners , as q ingulph of croyland , and r william of malmsbury do report , chose harold ; but the english had a mind to chuse edward the son of ethelred , or at least hardecnute the son of cnute by emme his wife , the widow of king ethelred , who was then in denmark ; and that he coming over , the kingdom was divided between them ; and taking possession of his share , returned into denmark : and that harold , in his absence , made himself master of the whole kingdom ; who s living only four years , after his death , both english add danes sent for hardecnute into denmark to succeed him . the author of the encomium of emme t says , cnute gave both this and his other kingdoms to his son harde-cnute , by emme . edward , u by the policy , power and industry , chiefly of earl goodwin , and livingus bishop of worcester , was made king at london , and was anointed king at winchester by the arch-bishops of canterbury and york , and almost all the bishops in england . he being in england at the time of the death of his half-brother harde-cnute x was in a great streight , not knowing what to do , and thinking to retire into normandy , as he was advised by the normans , applied y himself unto earl godwin , who minded him whose son he was , and of his right to the kingdom ; aud agreeing to marry his daughter edgith , and to other conditions propounded to him , being forced by necessity to consent thereto , godwin ( a council being immediately called ) by his reasons and rhetorick , made him king. gul. gemeticensis z saith , hardecnutus reliquit edwardum fratrem totius regni haeredem : harde-cunte left edward his brother heir of the whole kingdom . ailred , a abbot of rievalle , tells an idle tale in the life and miracles of edward the confessor ; that his father , king ethelred , being solicitous about a successor , though he had at that time two sons , edmund irorside and alfred ; yet in a great convention of bishops and noble men before him , and a great concourse of ordinary people , by the prescience and direction of god almighty , this edward was chosen king while he was in his mother 's womb. praebet electioni rex , consensu laeti praebent proceres sacramentum , & inasitato miraculo in ejus fidelitate jurarunt , qui utrum nasceretur ignorarunt . the king consents to the election , and the noble-men joyfully ; and by reason of an unusual miracle , swear fealty to him before they knew whether ever he would be born . he is the only author of this legend that i know of , and do think it a little too gross to be believed . edward the confessor designed his nephow , prince edward , the son of edmund ironside , for ins successor ; and in the thirteenth year of his reign , nine years before he died , sent for him out of hungary ; where he then was in banishment ; but in a short time after he died at london , b anno dom. 1057. clito edwardus regis eadmundi ferret lateris , filius , ut ei mandarat suus patruus rex edwardus de hungaria , quo multo anno in exilium missus fuerat angliam venit , decreverat enim rex illum post se regni haeredem constituere , sed ex quo venit parvo post tempore vita decessit londoniae . after the death of edward the confessor , harold c throno regio se intrusit : and as ailredus before cited hath it , d quidam edgarum adeling , cui regnum jure haereditario debebatur regem constituere moliuntur , sed quia puer tanto honore minus idoneus videbatur , haraldus comes de genere perditorum , cujus erat & mens astutior , & crumena faecundior , & miles copiosior sinistro omine regnum obtinuit : some endeavoured to make edward atheling king , to whom the kingdom belonged by hereditary right : but because he was a child , and seemed not fit for so great honour , earl hurold , a crafty traytor , being better furnished with money and soldiers , by sinister fater obtained the kingdom . to the same purpose henry of huntington says , quidam anglorum eadgar adeling permovere volebant in regem ; haraldus vero viribus & genere fretus regni diadema invasit : that is , some of the english would have had edgar atheling king ; but harold , being well furnished with forces , and assisted by his kindred , invaded the crown , f. 210. b. n. 10. from the various expressions of the antient writers of the saxon story , concerning the succession , an unwary reader would think the saxons agreed not in one rule of succession , or that they had no rule at all . but whoever considers with understanding what here is said , will find they had , and pursued a sure rule of succession ; which was either right of blood , or the nomination and appointment of the preceding king ( as we hinted before ) which nomination by the saxon kings mostly happened in the minority or nonage of their children , and that only b was thought and allowed cause sufficient for the father to prefer his brother's son before his own , or a bastard before his lawful issue . for by the subsequent instances it will plainly appear , that the saxons did in their subjection , owning of , and submission to their princes , acknowledge both proximity of blood , and nomination of their princes ; often both , sometimes only one of them ; but never followed any other rule . aethelwolph , the father of elfred , notwithstanding by proximity of blood his sons were his heirs , yet c bequeathed his kingdom successively to ethelbald his eldest , ethelredg his third , and aelfred his fourth ; having before given kent , surrey and sussex , &c. to his second son ethelbert : d yet he succeeded ethelbald in all his dominions , and ethelred and aelfred both succeeded him according to their father's will , e notwithstanding it is said ethelbert had two sons , athelm and aethelwald . this testament of ethelwolph f florence of worcester calls epistola haereditaria . edgar g filium faum edwardum & regni & morum hoeredem reliquit : left his son edward heir of his kingdom and endowments . archipresules dunstanus & oswaldus cum coepis . abbatibus & ducibus quamplurimis una convenerant , & edwardum ut pater ejus praeceperat , eligerunt , electum consecraverunt , & in regem unxerunt : the arch-bishops dunstan and oswald , with their fellow-bishop , abbats , and very many dukes , or prime men , chose edward , as his father had commanded , and consecrated and anointed him king. eligerunt here signifies no more than recognoverunt , they acknowledged , owned , submitted unto him as their king , as his father had commanded , and by will appointed . this king's command was stricter than a conge d'estire ; where the king nominated the person to be chosen bishop , and he is always accepted and owned by the chapter ; and yet they are said to chuse , though limited by the king's nomination . so in many corporations and bodies politick , in this and other nations , they have a person nominated to them ; and yet they are said to chuse him , though they can chuse no other . rex edwardus ( senior ex hac vita transiens , h filio aethelstano regni gubernacula reliquit : king edward the elder dying , left the government of the kingdom to his son aethelstan . i aethelstanus jussu patris in test amento in regem acclamatus , est : after , him , his brother edmund swayed the scepter . cui k edredus proximus heres fratri succedens regnum suscepit : to whom edred , the next heir , succceded his brother edmund , and undertook the government . what next heir could edred be his brother edmund . but a testamentary heir , when at that time he left two sons , edwy and edgar , both small children , and both were kings successively , after their uncle . concerning this testamentary heir it is said , viventis non est haeres ; for the testator might alter his will when he pleased . these testamentary heirs were either scripti , as when the testament was written by the testator : or nuncupati , as when it was written by another , and dedicated by the testator , or they were declared heirs only before many witnesses without writing ; and without doubt often it happened that our saxon kings did only call together the bishops and nobility , or such of them as they pleased , and declared their minds concerning their successor . cnutoni virorum dignissimo [ d ] pater swanus sceptrum commiit regale . swanus danorum rex angliam vi suo subjugandat imperio , moriens ejusdem regni cnutonem successorem constituit : swane , king of denmark , having subdued england by force ; dying , appointed cnute his successor in that kingdom . by emme , widow to king ethelred , whom he had married , and made his queen , he had harde-cnute his son : [ e ] to him his half-brother cnute gave all that had been any ways under his government . but harde-cnute being in denmark when his father died , whereof he had made him king , harold possessed himself of england . who was f ] cnute's son by a concubine , or a bastard son of a maid-servant brought into his concubine's chamber , and imposed on him by her . and for this reason elnoth arch-bishop of canterbury , refused to consecrate him king , and to deliver him the crown and scepter . harold being dead , g harde-cnute , so soon as he was consirmed and setled in this kingdom , called his half-brother edward by his mother emme ( afterward called the conseffor ) out of normandy , and caused . him ; to live with him ; who dying within two years , h edwardum totus regni reliquit baredem , left edwardum heir of the whole kingdom . he could be no other than a testamentary heir , there being heirs of the right line , both of saxon and danish blood , before him . rex edwardus i ] robertum archiepiscopum cantuariae legatun ad gulielmum comitem normaniae a latere suo direxit , illumque designatum sui regni successorem tam debito cognationis quam merito virtutis sui , archipresules relatu insinuavit . king edward sent robert , arch-bishop of canterbury , envoy to william , earl of normandy , to let him know he was appointed his successor in his kingdom , as well for that he was of his kindred , as for his great vertue . with ingulph agrees k william of poictou : and adds , the succession was given to him by edward , cum optimatum suorum assensu . harold l going to william , duke of normandy , to release his brother and nephew that were hostages with him for his father earl godwin's good behaviour towards king edward , he told harold that king edward had faithfully promised him , that if ever should be king , jus regni in illium iure bareditario post se transferret : that he would , after himself , transfer the hereditary right of the kingdom to him . yet m eadmer says , juxta quod edvardus ante mortem statuerat , in regnum ei successit haraldus : according as edward had appointed before his death , harold succeeded him in the kingdom . florence of worcester n says , haraldus quem rex ante suam decessionem regni successorem elegerat , a totius angliae primatibus ad regale culmen electhus est . simeon of durham o hath the same words . harold , whom the king had chosen his successor before his decease , was elected to the royal dignity by the chief men of england . here we see how the election was bound and limited by the nomination of the successor by the predecessor . these are the words of florence of worcester , and such as follow him . which notwithstanding , he certainly was a plain usurper according to p ingulph of croyland , and aifred abbas rieval . and henry of huntington before noted , the donation of edward being a meer pretence . from egbert the first saxon monarch , to ethelred the last saxon king , by right of blood , for the space of two hundred and sixteen years , we read not of many elections : and where we do meet them , they are bound and limited by proximity of blood , or nomination of the successor by the predecessor : and where the word election , or any thing in that sense is used , it signifies only a recognition and submission . the saxon expression concerning succession and the successor is always the same . feng to rice , variously turned by translators , regnum capessit in the saxon chronology , which renders it verbatim ; by others , successit , electus est , &c. he took possession of the kingdom , he succeeded , he was chosen , &c. the danish kings stayed not long here after swane had conquered the kingdom ; they all four reigned not much above twenty five years , their best title was the sword : notwithstanding , they either brought hither the custom of the predecessor naming or giving the kingdom to his successor , as probably it might have been practised in their own kingdoms ; or used it as they found it here practised by the saxon kings . the saxons were very weary of the danish government , and without doubt , very forward to set up a king of their own nation ; yet the donation of harde-cnute was as great a step for edward the consessor to the throne , as the power and policy of earl godwin and livingus the bishop of worcester . ingulph , secretary to william when duke of normandy , reports the donation of england to him very confidently , and as if in those times such gifts were not much questioned : anno eodem rex edward senio jam gravatus , cernens clisonis edwardi nuper defuncti filium edgarum regio so lio minus idoneum tarn corde quam corpore godwini que comitis multam malamque sobolem , quotidie super terram crescere , ad cognatum suum willielmum comitem normaniae animum apposuit , &c. eum sibi succedere in regnum angliae : voce stabili savivit : in the same year , king edward grown infirm witli age , perceiving edgar , the son of the late deceased edward aetheling , neither in mind or body fit for the government , nor to bear up against the growing power and malice of godwin's sons ; thought upon his cousin william , earl of normandy ; and by a firm declaration decreed he should succeed him in the kingdom . norman succession . from what hath been said , the pretences and causes of william , duke of normandy , his succeeding edward the confessor , and enjoying the crown of england , are very evident ; as also , are the same to his dukedom . q he was the only son of his father robert ; who going on pilgrimage to jerusalem , called together the noble-men of his dukedom , and brought his son william , though illegitimate , before them , and earnestly exacted of them , that in his stead they would chuse him their lord : who , though but a child , they forthwith , according to the decree of the duke , acknowledged him for their prince and lord , swearing fealty unto him . r robertum ergo archiepiscopum cum optimatibus suis duc atus accersivit , & illis velle se appetere jerosolimitanam pergrinationem manifestavit , exponens autem eis willielmus filium suum , quem unicum apud falesiam genuerat ab iis attentissime exigebat , ut hinc sibi loco sui dum eligerent , qui licet sub tenerrima detineretur oetati puerili juxta decretum ducis protinus cum prompta viracitate collaudavere principem & dominum , pangentes ti fidelitatem non violandis sacramentis . and r. hoveden affirms it to have been the custom in norway ( from whence the normans came ) for bastards to inherit , and that in his time it was so . f consuetudo regni norweiae est usque in hodiernum diem , quod is qui alicujus regis norweiae dignoscitur esse filius , licet sit spurius & de ancilla genitus , tantum sibi jus vendicat in regnum gentitus & ideo fiunt inter eos proelia indesinenter , donec unus eorum vincatur , & interficiatur . and so it happened between the curators of duke william in his nonage , and the pretenders as heirs to his grandfather of the dutchy of normandy . the same right of succession , as testamentary heir to his father , william rufus had to the crown of england . t metuens rex ne in regno tam diffuso repentina oriretur turbatio , epistolam de constituendo rege fecit lanfranco archiepiscopo suoque sigillo signatam tradidit gulielmo rufo silio suo , jubens ut in angliam transfretaret continuo . this was done a little before the conqueror's v death : and he did it for that his son william always stuck close to him , and had in every thing , according to the utmost of his power , been dutiful and obedient . x rufus brought his father's epistle , by which he had constituted him king of england , to lanfranc arch-bishop of canterbury : who , having read it , hasted with him to london , and consecrated him king in the old church of st. peter at westminster on the y 26th . of september , his father dying the 9th . of the same month , z willielmus willielmi filius , saith malmsbury , a patre ultima valetudine decumbente in successorem adoptatus est , accessit & favori ejus maximum rerum momentum , archiepiscopus lansrancus , eo quod eum nutrierat & militem fecerat : quo authore annitente , die sanctorum cosinae & damianae coronatus est . that is , william the son of willaim was by his father , in his last sickness , adopted his successor : but it was matter of great moment , and the greatest addition to his success , that arch-bishop lanfranc had educated him , and made him a a knight ; by whose authority and endeavour he was crowned on the day of cesina and damianus . florence of worcester , who only says that he was consecrated king at westminster by arch-bishop laufranc , hath noted , that not long atter his coronation there arose great discord and contention between the chief men of england : for part of the great and noble normans favoured king william , but it was the least ; and the other part of them favoured robert duke of normandy , which was the greatest . odo , who b mortally hated lanfranc , headed the duke's party , and lanfranc headed the king's ; who , with the king , c congregatio quantum ad presens poterat normanorum , sed tamen maxime anglorum , equestri & pedestri ( licet mediocri ) exercitu , &c. having raised such an army as he could of horse and foot of normans , but the grratest part english ; ( though but a mean one ) and by using the common bait of liberty , declaring he would relax the rigid laws , give free leave of hunting , &c. also by insinuating into roger earl of arundel and shrewsbury , the chief person for the duke , next unto odo bishop of baieux and earl of kent , brought him off to his party . by these means he brake the force of his enemies , and ever after ruled by an army . more of this story may be seen in eadmer . ord. vit. f. 666. &c. florence of worcester , and malmsbury , in the places before cited , who all lived at the time . here we see rufus claimed as testamentary heir , and by reason of that claim was advanced to the throne , by the assistance of lanfranc's and the bishops faction , who then swayed the people , and ruled by the help of an army ever after . whoever rightly considers this story , cannot call it an election . after the death of rufus , florence of worcester only says , that henry , his third brother succeeded him ; and that the day he was crowned by maurice bishop of london , he gave great liberties to the church and kingdom ; and commanded that king edward's laws should be observed , with such amendments as his father had amended them . and further says d that very many great men sent for duke robert over , and promised him the crown and kingdom : and coming , they did some of them adhere to him , and e others , dissembling their kindness and affection , stayed with king william until they had an opportunity of shewing it . but the bishops , the common soldiers and english ( stuck close to king henry ; by whose means he raised a very great army , and were ready to fight for him ; when they came to an agreement by the mediation of the wise men of both parties . eadmer tells us that most of the great men either did , or were ready to revolt from king henry ; but anselm arch-bishop of canterbury , who had given him great assistance in raising his army , upon great promises made , that all the church-affairs should be left to his direction and disposing , and that he would for ever after obey the decrees and commands of the pope , procured the great men to assemble ; and then so wheedled and cajoled them and their army , that he altered theit intentions : and it was from his fidelity and industry that henry lost not the kingdom . this king henry was a plain right down usurper , he had no pretence of donation , no testamentary right from his father ; and therefore , as a malmsbury shews us more particularly , he was advanced by a faction ; there being only five great men , robert fitz-haymon , richard de redvers , roger bigot , henry earl of warwick , and robert earl of mellent , his brother ; all normans that favoured him : and by the contrivance of henry earl of warwick he was elected king. all others sent privately to duke robert to come and be their king , or openly reproached henry . this was an excellent election made by a faction and an army , and perhaps with a bawling multitude after them ; and indeed , there could be no other election than such an one as this , for rufus was slain in new forest on the 2d . of august , being thursday ; and henry was crowned on the 5th . of august , being sunday : so that it was impossible for all that were or ought to be concerned in such an election , all the kingdom over to have notice , meet and dispatch that business in two days time . these historians lived at the very time these things were done . it is true he says in his own charter , b that he was crowned king by the common council of the barons of england . sciatis me misericordia dei , & communi concilio baronum regni angliae ejusdem regni regem coronatum esse . and he must say this , or nothing ; for no other pretence or title he could have ; and there never was any other usurper in his circumstances , but must say so , or some other thing , to make out a title . king stephen , in his charter of liberties , says , he was elected , a clero & populo . king john , in his charter of fees of the seal , affirmed himself right heir to the crown , when arthur duke of britain , and his sister eleanor , son and daughter to his elder brother jeffrey , were then living : and they were both vain affirmations , as will appear in their several stories . some later historians than these , as c matthew paris , who wrote above an hundred years after them . mat. westminster , and hen. de knighton , and brompton , who wrote at least two hundred and fifty years after them ; all say he was elected : but only knighton , amongst them all , tells us the most considerable reason why robert , his elder brother , was rejected , c robertus , says he , semper contrarius & adeo innaturalis extiterat baronibus regni angliae , quod plenario consensu & consilio totius communitatis regni imposuerunt ei illegitimitatem , quod non fuerat procreatus de legitimo thoro willielmi conquestoris , unde unanimi assensu suo ipsum refutaverunt , & pro rege omnino recusaverunt & hen. frem . in regem erexerunt . robert was always averse , and so harsh to the barons of england , that they , by full consent and advice , voted him illegitimate , because he was not begotten lawfully by william the conqueror ; and for that reason , by unanimous assent , they refused him , and set up henry his brother to be their king. from this passage of knighton , we see the community , or baronage of all england fixed the right of succession in the legitimate right of blood ; and therefore this king , his two elder brothers being dead without issue , desired to secure the succession unto his lawful issue by right of blood. to that end , d all freemen of england and normandy , of what order and dignity soever , and of whatsoever lord they held , or were fendataries to , were forced to do homage and swear fealty to his son william , then but twelve years old . and in the a twenty seventh of his reign , he caused all the great men of england ( after the death of his sons , william and richard ) to recognize maud the empress , his daughter , queen ; to whom the b only lawful succession was due from her grandfather , uncle and father that were kings ; and from her mother many generations . in the thirty first of king henry , c he and his daughter coming into england , at a great meeting of the nobility , or parliament , at northampton , those which before had sworn fealty renewed their oaths to her ; and those which had not done it before , then did it . paris tells us that the clergy , and great or noble men made conditions with henry ; who promised them what is before related : and in that gave them satisfaction . but as all usurpers ever did , so he changed his mind ; and his canting speech had no other effects than to enslave them : d ] for with a seared and cahterized conscience he had obtained the kingdom , and usurped upon his brother robert , who had manifest right ; e impudently violating the laws , and promises by which he had drawn in all men to serve him : and afterward , taking him prisoner , caused his eyes to be f pulled out , and kept him in prison g twenty four years , until he died . h king henry having thus provided for the security of his daughter maud , being asked in his sickness by robert duke of gloucester , and the noble men that then were with him , about a successor . filiae i omnem terram suam citra & ultra mate , legitima & perenni successione adjucavit : adjudged his daughter his lawful successor in all his territories . k radulphus de diceto , dean of saint paul's , who died , anno dom. 1210. says , that hath bigot , steward of the king's houshold made speed out of normandy ( where the king died ) into england , and made oath before the arch-bishop of canterbury , that king henry upon his death-bed , upon some differences which happened between him and his daughter the empress , did dis-inherit her , and made stephen earl of boloign his heir . whereupon william arch-bishop of canterbury giving too much credit to the words of the steward , consecratcd stephen earl of mortaigne king at westminster . if this story be true , he was testamentary heir , and had a testamentary right ; and in that right he was made king : but be this story true or false , his advancement to the throne was as followeth . notwithstanding , all the nobility , and amongst them , king stephen himself , had sworn fealty to maud the empress ; yet by the interest . of his brother l henry bishop of winchester , and the pope's legat ( without which he could have done nothing ) he was made king : he brought off roger bishop of salisbury , a great and powerful prelate ; also william de pout-arch , keeper of king henry's treasure , which was m 100000 l. in money . and by his own dexterity , the artifice of his brother , and roger bishop of salisbury , and the advantage of this money , he inclined the minds of the noble men much towards him , and to secure himself raised an army mostly of flemings and britains . at his n coronation were only three bishops , the arch-bishop of canterbury , the bishops of winchester and salisbury , no abbots , and few noble-men . i think this looks not like an election ; yet he in his charter of liberties , which he chiefly granted to the church , says , he was elected by the assent of the clergy and laity , and confirmed by the pope . afterwards , stephen using the bishops roughly , lost his brother henry's favour ; who , by his legantine power , b called a council of the clergy at winchester , to consult of the peace of the kingdom : where they conclude , that the right of chusing and ordaining kings chiefly belonged to them . and therefore , having first called upon god , they chose maud the empress queen , c ad cleri ius potissimum spectat principem eligere & ordinare , invocata itaque in auxilium divinitate , filiam regis , in angliae normanni aeque dominam eligimus , &c. but not long after , d being displeased with maud , he entred into a confederacy against her ; and , e as legat , called another council at westminister , in which was read the pope's bull in favour of stephen ; who was then advanced to the throne again . and the kingdom being wasted and destroyed with continual wars , f the arch-bishop , this legat and the bishops mediate a peace between stephen and henry duke of anjou , son to the empress : by which it was agreed , that stephen should adopt henry his son , who , after his death , should enjoy the crown , and stephen quietly to wear it during his life , &c. which agreement is most fully and clearly related by matthew of westminister : g rex stephanus omni horede viduatus praeter solummodo ducem henricum , recognovit in conventu episcoporum & aliorum de regno optimatum , quod dux henricus ; jus haereditarium in regnum angliae : habebat , & dux benigne concessit , ut rex stephanus tota vita sua suum regnum pacifice possideret . ita tamen confirmatum est , quod ipse rex & episcopi tunc praesentes cum caeteris regni optimatibus jurarent , quod dux henricus post mortem regis , si illum superviverct regnum sine aliqua contradictione obtineret : that is , king stephen not having an heir , except only duke henry , did acknowledge in an assembly of the bishops and other chief men of the kingdom , that duke henry had the hereditary right to the kingdom of england ; and the duke kindly granted that king stephen should , during his life , peaceably enjoy his kingdom . the agreement was so confirmed , that the king himself , and the bishops then present , with the rest of the best men of the kingdom sware , that duke henry , after the death of the king , if he should out-live him , should enjoy the kingdom without all contradiction . this accord afforded quiet and tranquillity both to henry and the nation , with certain confidence of enjoying the kingdom after the death of stephen ; which he did . but as to his right and title , it added nothing to that , it being hereditary : for he was acknowledged the true heir by his adversary stephen , in the presence of the bishops , and the best men of the kingdom : who all likewise acknowledged it by owning the accord , and swearing to observe it . on the h 24th . of october , the year following , king stephen died , and on the 19th . of december following , henry was crowned at westminster by theobald arch-bishop of canterbury . and maud the empress , being satisfied with the enthroning of her son , quitted her pretensions . king henry the second dying in france , july 7. 1189 , i his eldest son and heir , richard , was by walter arch-bishop of roven , girt with the sword of the dukedom of normandy , on the 20th . of the same month , in the presence of the bishops , earls and barons of normandy . and before his coming into england , k every free-man of the whole kingdom , by the command of his mother alienor , sware fealty to richard , king of england , son of king henry , as to their liege lord , against all men. afterwards , l coming to london , congregatis ibi archiepiscopis , episcopis , comitibus , baronibus , & copiosa militum multitudine in occursum ejus , quorum consilio & assensu ipse dux 3. nonas septembris , consecratus & coronatus est apud westmonasterium in regem angliae : a baldwino cantuariensi archiepiscopo , &c. the arch-bishops , bishops , earls , barons , and a copious multitude of knights met him : by whose advice and assent , the m duke was crowned king of england by baldwin arch-bishop of canterbury , many other bishops there named assisting . et omnibus fere abbatibus , & prioribus , & comitibus , & baronibus angliae astantibus . almost all the abbots , priors , earls and barons of england being spectators . ralph de diceto , then dean of st. paul's , london , who , in the vacancy of that church and bishoprick , n supplied the office of the bishop at king richard's coronation , hath this passage , comes itaque pictavorum richardus haereditario jure praemovendus in ragem , post tam cleri , quam populi solemnem & debitam electionem involutus est triplici sacramento , &c. therefore richard , earl of poictou , being by hereditary right to be made king , after the solemn and due election , as well of the clergy as the laity , sware to three things . o scilicet , quod opem impendet pro viribus , ut ecclesia dei populusque christianus veram pacem obtinent , quod interdicet omnibus rapacitatem , quod in judiciis equitatem praecipiet & misericordiam . that is to say , that he would use his utmost power , that the church of god , and christian people might enjoy true peace : that he would interdict rapine to all men : that he would command mercy and equity to be done in judgments . what can this solemn and due election signifie here ? what can it mean further , than that richard being king by hereditary right , was so owned and recognized by the clergy and laity ? john , in his brother richard's life-time , had a mind to be king ; and taking advantage or his absence in the holy land , and his imprisonment in germany , practised with the nobility and londoners to that purpose . the last sware faithful service to their lord , king richard , and to his heirs ; and if he should die without issue , vt reciperent comitem johannem fratrem richardi regis in regem & dominum . that they would receive earl john , the brother of king richard , for their king and lord : and swore fealty to him against all men , saving their fealty to his brother king richard. two years afterward , confederating with the king of france against his brother , and being assisted by him , he returned into england , and brought many strangers with him : and coming to london , demanded the kingdom of the arch-bishop of roven , who was then justiciary , and the other justiciaries of england , & fidelitates hominum angliae ; affirming the king of england , his brother , was dead . but not believing him , they and the other great men of the kingdom rejected him . then , swelling with fury , he fortified his castles and places of strength , and seized the crown-lands . many came in unto him ; but being deceived , they were punished according to their deserts . and for these and other q treasons committed the year following ; as combining with the king of france , and offering great sums of money to the emperor to keep king richard in prison , and making new r disturbances in the nation . ſ per commune consilium regni definitum est quod comes johannes dissaifiretur de omnibus tenementis suis in anglia . by the common council of the kingdom it was decreed he should be disseized of all he held of the king in england . and presently all his t castles were besieged and taken from him . yet for all this , the next year king richard v pardoned his brother john , and restored to him the earldom of moreton , or mortaigne , the honour of eye , and earldom of glocester , except the castles ; and for his other earldoms and lands , allowed him yearly eight thousand pounds of anjou-money . and in the last year of his reign , x cum rex de vita desperaret , divisit johanni fratri suo regnum angliae , & omnes alias terras suas , & fecit fieri praedicto johanni fidelitates ab illis qui aderant , & praecepit ut traderentur ei castella sua & tres partes thesauris sui . when the king despaired of life , he devised to his brother john the kingdom of england , and all other his lands , and made all present swear fealty to him , and commanded that his castles and three parts of his treasure should be delivered to him . richard being dead , y john stayed in normandy ( where , by walter arch-bishop of roven , he was girt with the sword of that dutchy , april 25. on st. mark 's day ) and sent hubert arch-bishop of canterbury , and the pope's legat , and william marshal earl of strigvil , into england , to keep the peace ; together with jeffrey fitz-peter , justitiary of england , and other barons of the kingdom . z qui fecerunt homines regni tam de civitatibus quem de burgis , & comites , & barones , & libere tenentes jurare fidelitatem & pacem johanni normannorum duci filii henrici regis , filii matildis imperatricis contra omnes homines . who made the a homagers of england , as well of cities as burroughs , and earls , barons , and free tenants , to swear fealty and peace to john duke of normandy , the son of king henry , the son of maud the empress , against all men. b notwithstanding this , all the bishops , earls and barons which had castles , manned , victualled and stored them with arms. but hubert the arch-bishops , william marshal and jeffrey fitz-peter , justiciary of england . met at northampton , and called before them those which they most doubted : david , brother to the king of scots ; richard earl of clare , ranulph earl of chester , william earl of tutesbury , and walran earl of warwick , roger constable of chester , william de mowbray , and many other earls and barons ; to whom they promised and engaged , that john duke of normandy should restore to every man his right , if they would keep faith and peace with him : c súb hac igitur conventione supradicti comites , &c. according to this agreement , the said earls and barons swore fealty and faithful service to john duke of normandy , against all men. this was done while he was in normandy . d on the 25th of may following , duke john crossed the seas from normandy into england , and the next day came to london ; and there were convened in expectation of him , hubert arch-bishop of canterbury , john arch-bishop of dublin , william bishop of london , gilbert of rochester , john of norwich , hugh of lincoln , eustace of ely , godfrid of winchester , henry of exeter , sefrid of chichester , jeffrey of coventry , savaric of bath , herbert of salisbury , philip of durham , roger of st. andrews in scotland , henry of landaff , bishops : robert earl of leicester , richard earl of glare , william of tutesbury , hamelin de warenn , william of salisbury , william de strigvil , walran of warwick , roger bigot ; william de arundell , ranulph de cestre , earls : and many barons . and then hubert arch-bishop of canterbury consecrated and crowned the said john duke of normandy , king of england , in the church of st. peter at westminster , on the 27th . of may , being ascension day . not one word here of any election by , but only a submission from the barons spiritual and temporal , to king john ; and a recognition that he was their king. and all this related by hoveden , in all probability an eye-witness of this translation . indeed matthew paris , who died anno dom. 1259. was then either unborn , or so young as not with judgment to take sufficient notice of this affair , relates it thus ; e congregatis in adventu ejus archiepiscopis , episcopis , comitibus & baronibus , atque aliis omnibus , qui ejus coronationi interesse debuerant ; archiepiscopus stans in medio omnium , dixit , audite universi , noverit discretio vestra , quod nullus proevia ratione alii succedere habet regnum , nisi ab universitate regni unanimiter invocata spiritus gratia electus , & secundum morum suorum eminentiam praeelectus , ad exemplum & fimilitudinis saul primi regis inuncti , quem praeposuit dominus populo suo , non regis filium , nec de regali stirpe procreatum , similiter post eum david jesse silium : hunc quia strenuum , & aptum dignitati regiae ; illum quia sanctum & humilem , ut sic qui cunctos in regno supereminet strenuitate , omnibus praefit , & potestate & regimine , verum si quis ex stirpe regis defuncti aliis prepolleret , pronius & promptius , in electionem ejus est consentiendum . haec idcirco diximus , pro inclyto comite johanne , qui praesens est , frater illustrissimi nameri richardi jam defuncti , qui haerede caruit ab eo egrediente , qui providus & strenuus & manifeste nobilis , quem nos , invocata spiritus sancti gratia , ratione tam meritorum , quom sanguinis regii , unanimiter elegimus universi , f nec ausi erant alii super his adhuc ambigere , scientes quod archiepiscopus sine causa , hoc non sic diffiniverat , verum comes johannes & omnes hoc acceptabant , ipsumque comitem in regem eligentes & assumentes exclamant , dicentes , vivat rex ; interrogatus autem postea archiepiscopus hubertus , quare haec dixisset , respondet ve praesagia mente conjecturare , & quibusdam oraculis edoctum & certificatum fuisse , quod ipse johannes regnum & coronam angliae foret aliquando corrupturus , & in magnam confusionem praecipitaturus , & , ne haberet liberas habenas hoc faciendi , ipsum electione , non successione haereditaria , elegi debere affirmabat . that is , the arch-bishops , bishops , earls and barons , and all others ( officers probably required to be there ) which ought to be present at his coronation meeting at london . the arch bishop standing in the middle of them , said , hear all of you , your discretion shall know , that no man hath right to succeed in the kingdom , unless , after seeking god , he be unanimously chosen by the university of the kingdom , ( that is , those that are here said to meet at london . ) and according to the eminency of his endowments , pre-elected , according the example and similitude of saul , the first anointed king , whom god set over his people ; not the son of a king , or of the royal line . likewise after him , david ; the son of jesse . this because stout and fit for royal dignity : the other because holy and humble . that so he which exceeded all men of the kingdom in strength or prowess , should be set over all in power and government . but if an of the progeny of the dead king did excell others , they ought more readily to consent to the election of him . these things we have therefore said in the behalf of the famous earl john , who is here present , the brother of our most illustrious dead king richard , that died without issue of his body ; who is provident , stout , and manifestly noble , whom we , having invoked the grace of the holy spirit , have all of us unanimously chosen . nor dare any others so much as doubt of these things , knowing the arch-bishop had not thus decreed this matter without cause . but earl john and all there acquiesced in what he had said ; and chusing or acknowledging , and receiving him for their king , shouted , saying , let the king live . but arch-bishop hubert being asked afterward , why he said these things ? answered , that he guessed , and was taught and ascertained by certain oracles , that john would bring the kingdom and crown into great confusion : and therefore , lest he might have too much liberty in doing it , he affirmed , he ought to come in by election , and not by hereditary succession : and so was crowned as before rehearsed . this learned doctrine and preachment of the arch-bishop asserts not any right of election in the convention of bishops , earls , barons , and others required to be at the coronation ; but by his own answer , when he was asked why he said these things , it clearly discovers a design only and artifice in the arch-bishop , to cause them to set up , and make john king : in which also he denies any such right of election . hoveden hath none of , nor doth mention this harangue ; and therefore it seems rather to be an invention of matthew paris , than a sermon of the arch-bishop . historians commonly make speeches for other men they write of brompton takes no notice of it ; all he says is , that g johannes lundoniam veniens in festo ascensionis domini , vi. kalend ▪ junii , anno dom. 1199. ab huberto contuariensi archiepiscopo in ecclesia b. petri westmonasterii inungitur & in regem angliae coronatur , assistente prelatorum , comitum , baronum , & aliorum nobilium multitudine infinita . john coming to london on ascension-day , the 27th of june , 1199. was anointed and crowned king of england by hubert arch-bishop of canterbury , in st. peter's church in westminster , an infinite multitude of bishops , earls , barons , and other noble men assisting him . not one word here , or in hovedon , or paris , of the ordinary people . and this doctrine of the arch-bishop concerning the election of kings , if meant according to the modern understanding of it , was then new ; for gervase , a monk of canterbury , in the year , 1122. speaking of the coronation of henry the first , says , it was manifest , and known almost to all men , than the kings of england were only obliged and bound to god for the possession of the kingdom , and to the church of canterbury for their coronation . h manifestum est autem & omnibus sere notur , reges angliae soli deo obligari , & teneri exipsius regni adeptione , & ecclesiae canturiensi ex coronatione . king john doth say in a i charter dated the first year of his reign , that he came to the crown , jure haereditario & mediante tam cleriquam populi unanimi consensu & favore : by right of inheritance , and by unanimous consent and favour , as well of the clergy as laity . this unanimous consent of the clergy and laity was rather their acknowledgment and submission than any thing , else : for , according to hoveden's relation of his coming to the crown , which is the most exact extant , they submitted and swore fealty to him against all men before he came into england some time before his coronation . nor could it be true that he had an hereditary right ; for arthur duke of britain , son and heir to his elder brother jeffrey , and his sister eleanor , was then living : unless ho had regard to the donation of his brother richard , and so esteemed himself a testamentary heir . after the death of king john , henry the third , his eldest son , and heir , by the assistance of the loyal barons , was crowned king , notwithstanding the barons which had made war against king john , when they were reduced to great streights , k called out of france , lewes , the king's son ; to whom l they , with the londoners , sware fealty , and advanced him to the throne , and adhered to him against their own prince ; m until by force they were reduced , and he driven out of the kingdom . this treasonable calling in of lewes some that are pertinacious in the fancy of election , will have it to be one . n indeed king henry the third at this time had no good hereditary title ; and therefore , johannes ex hac vita transmigravit , henricum primogenitum suum regni constituens haeredem . and this donation of his father , or his making him his heir , was his best title ; for until that eleanor , the daughter of his uncle jeffrey , died , in the twenty fifth year of his reign , he was not true heir by right of blood. obiit eleanora ( saith matthew paris ) filia galfridi comitis britanniae : in clausura diuturna carceris sub arcta custodia reservata , fol. 574. n. 40. 25 h. 3. anno dom. 1241. to henry the third succeeded his eldest son edward the first , though the lancastrians said his second son edmund , commonly called crouch-back , was the eldest , and laid aside for his deformity ; on whose person was originally founded the great contention between the two royal houses of york and lancaster . but that he was really the eldest there can be no pretence , however the lancastrians imposed upon the people . for edward was born o june 16. 1239. and edmund upon the p 16th . of january , 1245. being marcellus his day , six years after . edward , by that time he was a year old , was acknowledged the first-born of his father , his brother edmund not then born . q per idem tempus rex cives londinenses , & quinque portuum custodes , & multos alios fecit jurare fidelitatem , & ligantiam edwardo primogenito suo . in the letter from the loyal , to the rebellious barons , he is styled the first-born of king henry . r richardus dei gratia rex romanorum semper augustus , & edwardus illustris regis angliae primogenitus , &c. and very frequently matthew paris , who lived at this time , and was historiographer to his father , calls him his first-born . so that there can be no doubt in history that he was the eldest son ; for king henry the third had only these two sons , edward and edmund . after the death of edward the first , his son edward the second succeeded him ; and , as men of purely commonwealth-principles tell us , he degenerating from so great a father , the people grew weary of his irregular arbitrary government ; deposed him , and chose edward his son to reign in his stead . a plain argument , say they , of the peoples power in chusing their kings , aud of limiting and binding the succession . but whoever reads this story , will not find the ordinary people had much , if any thing to do in this matter , further than as they were excited to tumults and railing at the government , by many of the popular bishops and barons ; for they always have been , and ever will be , instruments of designing men against the government , if by remissness thereof , and easiness of governors , they be permitted . this king was deposed and murdered by a wicked confederacy and rebellion of many bishops and barons . and there is nothing to justifie this rebellion , deposition and murther , in which our anti-monarchical men instance so often as an example to be followed , but the meer doing of it : and if a fact be therefore lawful , only because it is done , we have no need of laws , lawyers , or officers of justice , to maintain , plead for , or defend it . the truth is , this king was not of so brisk a temper as his father , nor endowed with so much courage : he was more soft and easie , and used too great and unseasonable indulgence to such as he permitted to guide his affairs , and the affairs of the kingdom in his name . from hence many rebellious barons , under pretence of the f honour of god and holy church , the honour of the king and realm , made confederations to remove evil counsellors , reform the court , and to force the king to let them name all judges , the chancellor , treasurer , and other great officers in court , gascoigne , ireland and scotland . thomas duke of lancaster , one of those commissioners and ordainers , was always the head of these confederacies , t who pretended great affection to the king , to the common profit of the realm , and great care to see these ordinances , cited in the margin , maintained in all points , and many things amended in the king's houshold , court and realm . at length this great earl of lancaster v behaved himself very indecently towards the king , and used him with much scorn and contempt ; until at last , in the fifteenth of his reign , he and many of his confederates brake out into open rebellion , at burton upon trent ; and flying before the king's army northward , was , with many others , taken at burrough-bridge in york-shire : and being tried by his peers , was adjudged to be hanged , drawn and quartered : which sentence was pardoned by the king , and he was only beheaded . the like sentence had warren de insula , william toket , thomas maudut ; henry de bradborn , william fitz-william , and william cheyne , the lord roger clifford , the lord john de mounbray , the lord henry tyes , the lord bartholomew de badlesmere , & joscelin de invilla ; most of them barons . propter roberias & felonias & resistentiam quam fecerunt contra regem ad villam de burton , occidentes regis familiares , & regis transitum prohibentes , & partem villae praedictae comburentes , &c. for robberies and felonies , and the resistance they made against the king at the town of burton ; killing the king's friends and servants , and burning part of the town upon their retreat . the ordinances before-mentioned , in number forty one , were revoked , and the confederations and tumultuous barons and their actions consured , in a x parliament holden at york , 15 ed. 2. the ordinances were revoked upon examination of them before the prelates , earls , barons , ( amongst which were all the ordiners then alive ) and the commons of the realm : for that , by the things which were ordained , the king 's royal power was restrained in many things , against the due greatness of his seigniory royal , and contrary to the state of the crown . and also , for that in times past , by such ordinances and y provisions made by subjects over the power royal of the ancestors of the lord the king , troubles and wars came upon the realm , by which the nation was in danger . and it was accorded and established in the said parliament , by the lord the king , and by the said prelates , earls and barons , and all the commonalty of the realm at that parliament assembled ; that all those things by the ordiners ordained , and contained in the said ordinances from henceforth , for the time to come , should cease ; and lose their force , vertue and effect for euer . and that from hence forward , in no time , no manner of ordinances or provisions made by the subjects of the lord the king , or his heirs , by any power or commission whatsoever , over and upon the power royal of the said lord the king , or his heirs , or against the state of the crown , shall be of no value or force . but the things which shall be established for the estate of the king and his heirs , and for the estate of the realm and people , may be treated , accorded and established in parliament , by the king , and by the assent of the prelates , earls , barons , and communalty of the realm . roger de mortuo-mari , lord of wigmore , z submitted himself to the king , which much weakned the barons forces before the engagement at burton , and was sent to the tower of london ; from whence he made his escape after two years imprisonment , in the seventeenth of this king's reign , and went over sea to the king of france ; who at this time required the king of england to do him a homage for gascoygn and other territories he held of him in france . but he delaying to do it , and excusing himself by b messengers , who prevailed not , the king of france , with an c army , seized gascoign , and the county of pontheu : yet by the means of edmund of woodstock , the king's brother , and other english noble-men then in france , a truce was made with the king of france for a certain time , until a peace might be treated of . d the year following , the bishops of winchester and norwich , with john de britannia earl of richmond , were employed to that purpose : and after much desceptation about it , they received a form of peace from the king of france . and at length the e queen , by advice given by the bishops and great men to the king , was sent to her brother , the king of france , for making up , and confirmation of the peace . f and it was accorded , that king edward should give the prince , his son , the dutchy of aquitain and county of pontheu , that he should go over into france , and do homage for them ; which he did accordingly . but the prince being in france with his mother , she had no mind to return . g the king sent divers letters to his son edward , and his queen isabel ; expostulating the cause of their stay in france against his will , and the confederation they made there with roger mortimer , his enemy and rebel , and others . walsingham says , h some affirmed she stayed there against her will alii voro asserebant quod voluntarie propter nimiam familiaritatem tunc contractam inter reginam & rogerum de mortuo-mari si●● quo & aliis nobilibus de anglia profugatis nolluit dicta regina redire , & maxime in odium dispensatorum . but others affirmed she stayed voluntarily , by reason of the too great familiarity she had contracted with earl roger mortimer , i without whose advice she did nothing ; and without whom , and the other noble-men that had fled out of england , she would not return ; and especially for the hatred she bare towards the spencers ; proud , ambitious , haughty and covetous men , by whom the king was too much swayed in the management of his affairs ; which might give a dissatisfaction to the nobility , though not warrant their actions . the next k ] year , having married the prince ( not then fourteen years old ) to the earl of hanault's daughter , who furnished her with shipping , and two thousand seven hundred and fifty men , led by his brother john , she , with edmund earl of kent , and roger mortimer lord of wigmore , and many other great men who had sled out of england , landed at harwich ; to whom the earl marshal , the earl of leicester , and other barons and knights of those parts , and almost all the bishops , did adhere : and proceeding , her army daily increased ; so as at last she took her husband , the l king , prisoner , and put to death both the spencers ; the younger without m hearing or answering . ' the imprisoned king was carried and removed from place to place , but at last fixed at berkeley-castle in glocester shire , under the guard of thomas berkeley and john maltravers , who had allowed n an hundred shillings a day for his expences arid keeping . the queen never would see him during his imprisonment . o regina misit sibi indumenta delicata , & literas blandientes , sed tamen ipsum videre nolebat , fingens quod communitas regni non permisit . the queen sent him gay cloaths and flattering letters , but would not see him ; feigning the community of the kingdom would not permit her . he was p made prisoner , november 16. and the morrow after twelfth-day , all the nobility of the kingdom being summoned to parliament , met at london , and judged the king unit to rule , and for several reasons to be deposed ; and his son , prince edward to be chosen king. q convenit londoniis tota nobilitas regni citata per prius ad parliamentum tenendum ibidem in crastino epiphaniae , ubi cuncti censuerunt regem indignum diademate , & propter plures articulos deponendum , & edvardum filium ejus primogenitum in regem unanimiter eligendum , quod etiam consequenter factum est . of which transaction , when the queen had notice , she was full of grief outwardly ( ut for is apparuit ) saith walsingbam : but the prince , affected with this outward passion of his mother , as young as he was , would not accept of this title ( whether out of his own apprehension of things , or by grave and mature advice , which is most probable . ) et r juravit quod invito patre nunquam susciperet coronam regni : and swore , that without his father's consent , he would never take upon him the crown of the kingdom . whereupon , several ſ messengers being dispatched to the king , then prisoner at kenelworth-castle , who told him what had been done and concluded of , and diligently required him to resign his royal dignity and crown , and permit his son to reign in his stead . he was much disturbed with the message ; and said , since it could be no otherwise , he thanked them for chusing his first-born son ; making his resignation , and delivering up the royal ensigns , or tokens of sovereignty . this done , edward the third directs his writs to the sheriffs of the several counties , for preserving and keeping the peace ; with this preamble . rex t vicecom . ebor. salutem . quia dominus edwardus nuper rex angliae pater noster de communi consilio & assensu praelator . com. baron . & alior . magnat . necnon communitat . totius regni praedict . spontanea voluntate se amovit a regimine dicti regni volens & concedens quod nos tanquam ipsius primogenitus & haeres ipsius regni qubernationem & regimen assumemus , nosque ipsius patris nostri beneplacito in hac parte de consilio & avisamento praelator . com. baron . magnat . & comitat. praedict . annuentes gubernacula suscepimus dicti regni ; & side litates & homag . ipsorum praelator , & magnat . recepimus ut est moris . teste rege apud westmonas●erium , 29 jan. the king , to the sheriff of tork-shre , greeting . because edward , late king of england , our father , by common council and assent of prelates , earls , barons , and other great men , and also of the communities of the said kingdom , of his own free will , removed himself from the government of the said kingdom : willing and granting , that we , as his first-born , and heir of his kingdom , should take upon us the rule and government . and we yielding to the good pleasure of our father , by the counsel and advisement of the prelates . earls , barons , great men , and communities aforesaid , have taken upon us the government of the said kingdom , and received the fealties and homages of the said prelates and great men according to custom . witness , the king , at westminster , jan. 29. nine days after he was invested with kingship ; and not long after that king edward the second was murdered in berkeley-castle . any man , though but of an indifferent capacity , that seriously considers the story of this unfortunate prince , will easily perceive he was deposed by notorious rebellion , raised by factious bishops and tumultuous barons ; and not without great suspition of an intended vsurpation by thomas earl of lancaster : and may easily see through the contrivance of the queen and mortimer afterwards : and from thence cannot but judge it to have been a design of wicked popular barons , and not the action , much less the choice of the people . in the fourth of edward the third , roger mortimer , earl of march , was impeached in parliament for divers felonies and treasons ; for assuming to himself royal power , making dissention between king edward the second and his queen , and for murdering of him , and many other great treasons : and adjudged to be drawn and hanged , and was executed accordingly . and the earl marshal was commanded to do the execution ; and the mayor , aldermen and sheriffs of london , and constable of the tower , to guard and assist him . many of his accomplices had the same judgment . in the fiftieth of edward the third , the parliament do acknowledge richard the second to be very heir to the crown , as son to edward the black prince , very heir to the crown ; and petition the king ( his father being dead ) to make him prince of wales . who , after his grandfather's death , was immediately by all people , the v londoners especially , acknowledged , owned and addressed to as king ; and not long after x crowned with great solemnity . he lived continually in tumults , and by his great uncles his reign was made uneasie , and at length was deposed and murdered by a potent faction . the author of the brief history of succession , fol. 7. recommends to his readers the thirty three articles drawn up against richard the second , as well deserving to be read ; with hope and design , as easily may be guessed , to make them believe and think he was justly deposed and murdered . but mr. hollingshed , a moderate writer , who hath truly related these articles , and all the transactions of his deposition and murder , tells us , [ y ] that whatsoever writers do report , touching the state of the time and doings of this king , yet if he might boldly speak what he thought , he was a prince the most unthankfully used of his subjects of any one of whom ye shall lightly read : for , although ( through frailty of youth ) he demeaned himself more dissolutely than seemed convenient for his royal estate , and made choice of such counsellors as were not favoured of the people ; whereby he was the less favoured himself . yet in no king's days were the commons in greater wealth , if they could have perceived their happy state. neither in any other time were the nobles and gentlemen more cherished , nor church-men less wronged . but such was their ingratitude towards their bountiful and loving sovereign , that those whom he had chiefly advanced , were readiest to control him , for that they might not rule all things at their will , and remove from him such as they misliked , and place in their rooms whom they thought good ; and that rather by strong hand , than by gentle and courteous means : which stirred such malice betwixt him and them , the chief instruments in deposing this king were henry duke of lancaster , late earl of derby , and thomas arundel arch-bishop of canterbury : who assisted by others , reduced the unfortunate king to so great straits , as he was weary of his government . they having him in their power , kept him safe in the tower of london , until a parliament was called ; which was suddainly done , by directing writs in the king's a name to those who of right ought to be there . all things were prepared for the resignation of his crown against the time of the meeting of the parliament . he b was , by certain commissioners appointed by it , deposed ; or had rather a resignation of the crown extorted from him , though he seemed willing and forward to do it . and then the duke of lancaster claimed the crown in parliament , and challenged the realm , c al 's descendit be ryght lyne of the blode comeynge fro the gude lord henry therde . postquam quidem d vindicationem & clameum tam domini spirituales quam temporales , & omnes status ibidem praesentes , singillatim & communiter interrogati , quid de illa vindicatione & clameo sentiebant . iidem status cum toto populo absque quacunque difficultate vel mora , ut dux praefatus super eos regnaret , unanimitur consenserunt . after which claim and challenge , as well the lords spiritual as temporal , and all states there present being severally asked what they thought of that challenge and claim , the same states , with all the people , without difficulty or delay , consented the aforesaid duke should reign over him . and then shewing to the states the e signet of king richard , which he gave him , as token of his desire to have him succeed him ; the arch-bishop , taking him by the right hand , placed him in the throne . here we see the foundation of the parliament's consent that henry should be king , was a pretended right of blood , and the desire of king richard that it might be so . henry the fourth was son to john of gaunt , duke of lancaster , fourth son to edward the third , by blanch his wife , daughter and heir of henry duke of lancaster , son of henry earl of lancaster , brother and heir to thomas earl of lancaster , eldest son to edmund called crouch-back the first earl of lancaster , second son to king henry the third . upon f consideration had of this title it was conceived to be insufficient , and that it would pass for a blind and pretence only . and therefore king henry , upon the day of his coronation , caused to be proclaimed , that he claimed the kingdom of england ; first , by right of conquest . secondly , because king richard had resigned his estate , and designed him for his successor . and lastly , because he was of the blood-royal , and next heir male unto king richard . in this claim he takes no notice of any election by the people , nor doth own the least right in them to elect him ; but founds his title upon conquest , and proximity of male-blood , and donation of richard the second . henry the fourth , fifth and sixth held the crown by vsurpation , without much disturbance , until the thirty ninth year of henry the sixth ; b when richard duke of york put in his claim , as hein to philippa , daughter and heir to lionel , the third gotten son of king edward the third ; to whom the right , title dignity royal , and estate o the crowns of the realms of england , and of france , and of the lordship and land of ireland , of right , and law , and custom appertaineth and belongeth , before any issue of john of gaunt , the fourth gotten son of the same king edward . the lords spiritual and temporal , the question being put what they thought of the duke's claim , answer , that the matier was so high , and of such wyght , that it was not to any of the king's subjects to enter into communication thereof , without his high commandment , agreement and consent had thereto . the duke pressing for an answer , all the lords went unto the king , and opened the claim by the mouth of the chancellor of england ; and it pleased him to pray and command all the said lords , that they should search , as much as in them was , to find all such things as might be object , and leyde against the cleym and title of the due . whereupon , in the morning , october 18. the lords sent for the king's justices to defend his title , against the claim of the duke of york ; and in the king's name , streightly command them to find all objections as might he laid against the same , in fortifying of the king's title . who , on monday following , on the 20th of october , answered , that the matter was so high , and touched the king's high estate and regalio , which is above the law , and passed their learning : wherefore they durst not enter into any communication of the same , for that it permined to the lords of the king's blode , and th'apparage of this his londes and therefore besought all the lords to have then utterly excused . then the lords sent for all the king's serjeants and attorney , and gave them streight commandment in the king's name , that they sadladly and avisely shuld serch , and take all such things as might be best and strongest to be allegged for the king 's avail in objection , and defeating of the title , and cleym of the due . they answered , that if this matter passed the lerning of the justices , it must needs exceed their lerning : and also that they durst not enter into any communication in that matier : and prayed and besought all the lords to have them excused by geveing any avice or counsell therein . but the lords would not excuse them : and therefore , by the in advice and assistance it was concluded by all the lords , that the articles , following should be objected agenst the clayme and title of the duc. first , it is thought that the lords of this lond , must needs call to their remembrance the great oaths the which they have made to the king , the which may be leyd to the said duc of york ; and that the lords may not break their othes . item , it is thought also , that it is to be called to remembrance the great and notable acts of parliament of divers of the king's progonitors . the which acts be sufficient and reasonable to be leyd agene the title of the said due of york . the which acts be of much more authority than eny chronicle ; and also of authority to defete eny manner of title , made to eny person . item , it is thought , that there is to be leyd ayent the title divers inteyles made to the heires mules of henry the foureth , as for the crown of england , as it may appear by divers chronicles and parliaments . item , it is thought , to be allegged the title of the seid due , that the tyme that : king henry the fourth toke upon him the corone of england , he said he entered and toke upon him the corone as right inheritor to king henry the third , and not as a conqueror . to which articles the duke answered , first , that noe oath being the lawe of man , ought to be performed when the same leadeth to suppression of trueth and right , which is against the lawe of god. to the second and third , that in trouth there been noo such acts and tayles made by eny parliament heretofore , as it is furmised , but only in the h seventh yere of king hen. iv. a certain act and ordinance was made in a parliament by him called , wherein he made the reaums of englond and france , amongst other , to be unto him , and to the hetres of his body comeing , and to his four sons , and to the heires of their body comeing , in manner and fourme as it apperith in the same act. and if he might have obteyned and rejoysed the corones , &c. by title of inhaeritance , discenter , or succession , he neither needed or would have desired or made thaim to be granted to him in such wyse as be by the said act , which tacketh noo place , neither is of eny force or effect ayenst him that is right inhaeriter of the sayd corones , as it accordeth with gods lawe , and all natural lowes ; howe it be that all other acts and ordinances made in the seyd parliament ●●then , been good and sufficient ayenst all other persons . to the fourth that such seyeing of the king henry the fourth may in noe wise be true ; and that the contrary thereof , which is trouth , shall be largely enough shewed , approved and justified by sufficient autorite , and matter of record ; and over , that his seyd seying was onely to shadowe and cover fraudulently his seyd unrightwyse and violent vsurpation , and by that moyen to abuse disceyveably the people standing about him . upon consideration of this answer , and claim of the duke of york , it was concluded and agreed by all the lords , that his title could not be defeted ; and therefore for eschuying the great inconvenients that may ensue , a mean was found to save the kings honor and estate , and to appease the said due , if he would ; which was , that the king should enjoye the corone during life , the duke to be declared the true heir , and to possess it after his death &c. in the first article of this agreement , or accord , ( as 't is there called ) the title of the duke of york is set forth ; and the judgment of the parliament given , what then was , and before had been the foundation and ground of the succession to the crown of england , tint is , proximity of blood. the articles follow , so much of them as is pertinent to this matter . first , where the seyd richard due of yorke hath declared and opened , as above , his seyd title and cleyme in manner as followeth . that the right noble and worthy prince herry king of englond the third , had issue and leefully gate edward his first-begotten son , born at westminster the xv kalend of juyle , in the vigil of st. mart. & marcellian . the yere of our lord m.cc. xxxix . and edmund his second goten son , which was born on seint marcell . day , the yere of our lord m. cc. xlv . the which edward , after the death of the seyd king herry his fader , entituled and called king edward the first , had issue edward his first-begoten son , entituled and called after the decease of the seyd first edward his fader , king edward the second ; which had issue and leefully gate the ryght noble and honourable prynce edward the third , true and undoubted king of englond , and of france , and lord of ireland : which edward the third , true and undoubted king of englond , and of france , and lord of irelond , had issue and leefully gate edward his first begotten son , prynce of wales ; william hatfield , second begotten ; leonell ; third-begoten , duc of clarence ; john of gaunt , fourth-begotten , duc of lancaster ; edmund langley , fifth begoten , duc of yorke ; thomas woodstock , sixth-begoten , duc of gloucester ; and william wyndesore , the seventh-begotten . the seyd edward prynce of wales , which dyed in the lyfe of the seyd edward king , had issue and leefully gate richard , the which succeeded the same edward king , his grandfather , in royal dignity , entituled and called king richard the second , and dyed without issue . william hatfield , the second-goten son of the seyd edward king , dyed without issue . leonell , the third-goten son of the same king edward , had issue and leefully gate philippa his oonly daughter and heir , which by the sacrament of matrymony copled unto edmund mortimer erle of march , had issue and leefully bare rogier mortimer erle of march , her , son and heir : which rogier erle of march had issue and leefully gate edmund erle of marche , rogier mortymer , anne , and alianore ; which edmund , rogier , and alianore dyed without issue . and the seyd anne , under the sacrament of matrymony , copled unto richard erle of cambridge , the son of the seyd edmund langley , fifth-begoten son of the seyd king edward , as it is afore specified , had issue and leefully bare richard plantagenet , commonly called duc of yorke : the seyd john of gaunt , the fourth-goten son of the seyd king edward , and younger brother of the seyd leonell , had issue and leefully gate hen. erle of derby , which incontinent after the tyme that the seyd king richard resigned the corones of the seyd reaumes , and the seyd lordship of ireland , unrightwysely entered upon the same , then being on live edmund mortymer erle of marche , son to rogier mortymer erle of march , son and heir of the seyd phelippa , daughter and heir of the seyd sir leonell , the third son of the seyd king edward the third ; to the which edmund the ryght and title of the seyd corones and lordship by lawe and custome belonged . before we pass over these three usurpers , we must take notice of a passage in polydore virgil concerning henry v. in these words : princeps hen. facto patris funere , concilium principum ad westmonasterium convocandum curat , in quo dum de rege creando more , mojorum agitabatur , ecce tibi de repente aliquot principes ultro in ejvs verba jurare coeperunt . quod benevolentiae officium i nulli antea priusquam rex renantiatus esset , praestitum constat : adeo hen. ab ineunte aetate spem omnibus optimae indolis fecit . creatur itaque rex ad quintum iduum aprilis eo anno quo pater e vita excesserat , & quintus ejus nominis henricus dictus est . the k author of the brief history of succession thus renders this sentence : immediately upon the death of hen. iv. a parliament met at westminster , and there , according to the custom of the realm ; it was debated who should be king : but all men had entertained so good , thoughts of prince henry , that without staying till the whole assembly had declared him king , divers of them began to swear allegiance to him : a thing strange , and without president , as only occasioned by extraordinary opinion which was generally conceived of him before , and the certain title vested in him by m act of parliament . in his citation of the latin he leaves out these words which belong to this piece of story , and do declare the meaning of it : creatur itaque rex ad quintum iduum aprilis eo anno quo pater e vita excesserat , &c. he was crowned king on the fifth of the ides of april , the same year his father died . tho. walsingham who lived at this time , says , hen. iv. died mar. 20. 1413. and then , eodem anno coronatus londoniis henricus primogenitus regis henrici nuper defuncti quinto iduum aprilis , &c. the same year henry the first-born of king henry lately deceased , was crowned at london on the fifth of the ides or tenth of april . by which words of walsingham 't is evident he hath mistaken the meaning , and falsly translated the words of polydore ; for they ought to be englished in this manner . prince henry having buried his father , caused a council of the chief men of the nation to be called at westminster , in which they treat , or debate about crowning the king , according to the custom of his predecessors ; forthwith some of the great men began to swear as he dictated to them , which officious benevolence was performed to none before he was declared king ; such hope he had given from his childhood of an excellent disposition : therefore he was crowned king on the fifth of the ides of april , that year his father died , and was called henry the fifth . an intelligent man would wonder how the writer of the brief history , &c. should sqveeze his translation out of these latin words . but polydore , who , as i hinted before , was very unfit to write the english history , hath very oddly in latin express'd this relation , as he likewise hath done many other stories . his character take from sir hen. savile , in his epistle to queen elizabeth , before his edition of the old english writers after bede . polydorus ( saith he ) ut homo italus , & in rebus nostris hospes ( &c. quod caput est ) neque in republika versatus , nec magni alioqui vel judicii , vel ingenii , pauca ex multis delibans , & falfit plerumque pro veris amplexus , historiam nobis reliquit cum caetera mendosam tum exiliter sane & jejune conscriptam . polydor , as he was an italian , and a stranger in our affairs , and , which was the chief matter , not understanding our government and laws , nor otherwise of great wit or judgment , chusing a few things out of many , and oft-times taking false things for true , hath left us a very faulty history , slightly and pitifully written . after the reign of these three usurpers , and deposition of henry the sixth , in the n first of edward the fourth , the proceedings against richard the second are repealed , where 't is said , that henry earl of derby , afterwards henry the fourth , temerously ayenst ryghtwisnesse and justice , by force and arms , ayenst his faith and ligeance , rered werre at flynt in wales ayenst king richard the second , him tooke , and imprisoned in the tower of london , in great violence , and usurped and intruded upon the royall power , estate , dignity , &c. and not therewith satisfyed or content , but more grievous thing attempting , wickedly , of unnatural , unmanly , and cruel tyranny , the same king richard , king anointed , crowned and consecrated , and his liege and most soveraigne lord in earth , against gods lawe , mans ligeance , and oath of fidelity , with uttermost punicion , attormenting , murdered , and destroyed , with most vile , hainous , and lamentable death , &c. the commons being of this present parliament , having sufficient and evident knowledge of the said unryghtwyse usurpation and intrusion , by the said henry late earl of derby , upon the said crown of england ; knoweing also certainly , without doubt and ambiguity , the right and title of our said soveraigne lord thereunto true , and that by gods lawe , mans lawe , and the lawe of nature , he , and none other , is , and ought to be , their true , ryghtwyse , and natural liege , and soveraigne lord , and that he was in right from the death of the said noble and famous prince his father , very just king of the said realm of england , doe take , accept , and repute , and will for ever take , accept , and repute the said edward the fourth their soveraigne and liege lord , and him and his heirs to be kings of england , and none other , according to his said right and title . and that the same henry unryghtwysely , against lawe , conscience , and custome of the said realm of england , usurped upon the said crown and lordship ; and that he , and also henry late called king henry the fifth , his son , and henry late called king henry the sixth , his son , occupied the realm of england and lordship of ireland , and exercised the governance thereof , by unryghtwyse , intrusion , usurpation and no otherwise . that the amotion of henry , late called king henry the sixth , from the exercise , occupation , usurpation , intrusion , reign , and governance of the same realm and lordship , done by our soveraigne lord king edward the fourth , was and is rightwyse , lawfull , and according to the lawes and customes of the said realme , and soe ought to be taken , holden , reputed , and accepted . further , some if not all the grants made by henry earl of derby , called henry the fourth , the said henry his son , or the said henry called henry the sixth , or by authority of any pretenced parliament in any of their days , were reputed null and void . that the unrightwyse and unlawful usurpation and intrusion of the same henry upon the crown of england and lordship of ireland , was to the great and intolerable hurt , prejudice , and derogation of edmund mortimer earle of maroh , next heir of blood of the said king richard at the time of his death , and to the heirs of the said edmomd , and to the great and excessive damage unto the realm of england , and to the politick and peaceable governance thereof , by inward wars moved and grounded by occasion thereof . in the first of richard the third , the o three estates , after having much faulted the government , marriage , and person of edward the fourth , and affirmed , that the right and title of the issue of george duke of clarence was barred by his attainder , and extolling the parts , wisdom , and justice of richard his brother , declared him undoubted heir of richard duke of york , father to edward the fourth , very inhaeritor of the crown of england , and dignity royal , and as in right king of england p by way of inheritance ; and therefore having in his great prudent justice , princely courage , and excellent vertue , singular confidence , did by writing ( in all that in them lay ) chuse him their king and sovereign lord , to whom they knew of certain it apperteined to be so chosen , &c. and do further declare , that the right , title , and estate which king richard the third had to , and in the crown and royal dignity of the realm of england , with all things thereunto within the said realm , and without it , annexed and apperteining , was just and lawful , as grounded upon the laws of god and nature , and also upon the antient lawes and laudable customes of this said realm , as also taken and reputed by all such persons as were learned in the abovesaid laws and customs . and then they proceed , and say , yet nevertheless , forasmuch as it is considered that the most part of the people is not sufficiently q learned in the aforesaid laws and customs , whereby the truth and right in this behalf of likelyhood may be hid , and not clearly known to all the people , and thereupon put in doubt and question . and over this , how that the court of parliament is of such authority , and the people of this land of such a nature and disposition , as experience teacheth , that manifestation or declaration of any truth made by the three estates of this realm assembled in parliament , and by authority of the same , maketh before all other things most faithful and certain quieting of mens minds , and removeth the occasion of doubts and seditious language . therefore at the request and by the assent of the three estates of this realm , that is to say , the lords spiritual and temporal , and commons of this land , assembled in this present parliament , and by the authority of the same , be it pronounced , decreed , and declared . that our said sovereign lord the king was and is the very undoubted . king of this realm of england , with all things thereunto belonging , within the said realm , and without it , united , annexed , and apperteining , as well by right of consanguinity , and inhaeritance , as by lawful election , consecration , and coronation . haereditary right , and right of blood , was the ground of this establishment . henry the seventh having no haereditary title of his own , and being always r averse to take upon him the only true and undoubted title of his queen , eldest daughter and heir to edward the fourth , procured an act of parliament ſ that the inhaeritance of the crown of the realms of england and france , with all the preheminencies and dignities royal to the same apperteining , and the ligeances to the king belonging beyond the seas , &c. shall be , rest , remain , and abide in the most royal person of our most sovereign . lord henry the seventh , and in the heirs of his body lawfully coming , perpetually , and so to endure , and no otherwise . it may be noted from these words , that the inheritance of the crown should rest , remain , and abide , in the king , &c. that he designed not a declaration or recognition of his right , but rather an establishment of that possession he had gotten by the sword ; for not thinking this act a sufficient security for him , nor depending on this parliamentary title , he extended his pretences beyond this establishment , in at much as he procured it to be confirmed the year following by the bull of pope innocent the eighth , in which this statute , with his titles of couquest , and descent , are mentioned , and confirmed . * the bull says , that the kingdom of england belonged to him by undubitable right . non modo jure belli , ac notorio & indubitato proximo successions titulo , verum etiam omnium prelatorum ; procerum , magnatum nobilium totiusque ejusdem regni angliae plebis electione , et noto ac decreto statuto et ordinatione ipsius angliae regni trium statuum in ipsorum conventu parliamento nuncupato : that is , not only by the right of war , and the notorious and indubitable next * title of succession , but also by the election of all the prelates , and great men , and of the whole commonalty of the kingdom of england , and by a known and decreed statute and ordinance of the three estates of the same kingdom of england , their meeting called a parliament . and afterward in the thirteenth of his reign he got his bull renewed and the act confirmed again by † pope alexander the sixth , under pain of excommunication and curse to such as should upon any pretence whatsoever , disturb the peace of the nation , and create trouble against this title of henry the seventh . so that notwithstanding this act of parliament , which was cunningly penned to establish his possession he had obtained by the sword , he thought that , and the popes bulls of confirmation his best title , yet not omitting his own pretended indubitable next right of succession . henry the eighth , next heir to the crown by proximity of blood , as right heir to his mother elizabeth , daughter and right heir to edward the fourth , succeeded his father in his kingdom ; who in all extravagant acts concerning his queens and the succession , ever founded it in pretended legal proximity of blood , and lawful next heirs of blood according to the due course of inheritance ; the pretended want of which , was the only suggestion for passing these acts. in the twenty fifth of henry the eighth there was an act for the succession ; the preamble this . in their most humble wyse shewen unto your majesty your most humble and obedient subjects the lords spiritual and temporal and commons in this present parliament , &c. that since it is the natural inclination of every man to provide for the suerty both of his title and succession , although it touch his only private cause ; we therefore reckon our selves much more bounden to beseech and instant your i lighness to forsee and provide for the perfect suerty of both you , and your lawful succession , and heirs , upon which dependeth all our joy , and wealth , in whom also is united and knit the only meer * true inheritance , and title of this realm without any contradiction . and then mentions , that certain divisions arose upon ambiguities ; and doubts not perfectly declared from froward intents , to expound them contrary to the right legalty of the lawful succession , and posterity of the lawful kings and emperours of this land. after this confirming the divorce of queen katherine , as also the king's marriage with anne boleyn , the parliament entayles the crown upon him and his heirs male by her , and for want of such issue upon elizabeth their eldest daughter , and their heirs females according to the due course of inheritance . from whence it appears that the succession was founded upon inheritance , and the design of the act was that henry the eighth might have lawful issue to inherit the crown , that so all ambiguities , and doubts about the succession might be taken off . and all the kings subjects were bound under pain of misprision of treason to swear to observe the contents of this act. the act for succession , 28 hen. 8. c. 7. affirms there were many lawful impediments , unknown at the making of the act of succession , 25 hen. 8. c. 22. which since that time were confessed by the lady anno before themas archbishop of canterbury sitting judicially for the same : by reason of which impediments , the kings marriage with her was never good , nor consonant to the lawes ; and therefore q. elizabeth was declared illegitimate , and it was declared treason for any man to judge or believe the marriage between the king and the lady katherine , or anne , to be good , lawful , or of any effect . it was also in this act declared treason for any one to take , accept , name , or call any of the children born and procreate under those unlawful marriages , legitimate , or lawful children of the king. and therefore the crown was settled upon the king and his heirs males by his lawful queen jane ; and for want of such issue by her , upon his heirs males by any other lawsul wife ; and for want of heirs males , upon his heirs females by queen jane , or any other lawful wise . and for lack of lawful heirs of his body to be procreated and begotten as is limitted by this act , to such person and persons in possession and remainder , as should please the king ; and according to such estate , and after such manner , form , fashion , order , and condition , as shall be expressed , declared , named , and limitted by his letters parents , or by his last will. and then follows , and we your most humble and obedient subjects do faithfully promise to your majesty by one common assent , that after your decease , and for lack of heirs of your body lawfully begotten as is afore rehearsed , we , our heirs and successors , shall accept and take , love , dread , serve , and alonely obey , such person and persons males or females , as your majesty shall give your said imperial crown unto , by authority of this act , and to none other ; and wholly to stick to them as true and faithful subjects ought to do to their regal rulers , governours and supream heads . to provide for lawful heirs was the pretended ground of this act of succession ; not to exclude them , and to give the king a strange unheard of power to dispose of the crown . &c. the thirty fifth of henry the eighth , cap. 1. recites how the crown was entailed , 28. hen. 8. and what power was given to him to dispose of the crown . to the intent therefore that his majesty's disposition and mind therein might be openly declared , and manifestly known , his majesty designing a voyage beyond sea ; it was enacted by his highness , with the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal , and commons in parliament assembled , and by authority of the same , that in case it should happen , the king's majesty , and prince edward , heir apparent , to die without issue of their bodies lawfully begotten , so as there be no heirs male or female of either of their bodies to have and inherit the said imperial crown , that then it should be to his daughter mary , and her heirs lawfully to be begotten under such conditions as should be limited by the king's letters patents , or his last will : and for default of issue , to his daughter elizabeth upon the same conditions . but if no conditions were appointed , then the succession to each of them , one after another , abosolutely . and for want of heirs by his queen katherine , his lawful wife ; and for want of lawful issue or prince edward , his daughters mary and elizabeth , then the king to dispose of the crown at his only pleasure from time to time . all these acts of succession were made by the king's sollicitation , authority , command , or other procurement ; and were not other wife moved , contrived or offered to him . in the first of queen mary there is an act , declaring the queen's highness to have been born in most just and faithful matrimony ; and also repealing all acts of parliaments and sentence of divorce made or had to the contrary . the intention of this act was to declare the succession to be in inheritance by right of blood. in the first of elizabeth , the lords spiritual and temporal , and commons do declare and confess th t queen elizabeth , and in very deed , and of most meer right , ought to be , by the laws of god , and the laws and statutes of this realm , their most rightful and lawful sovereign queen : and that she was rightly , and lineally , and lawfully descended and come of the blood-royal of this realm of england ; in and to whose princely person , and the heirs of her body lawfully begotten after her , without all doubt , ambiguity , scruple or question , the imperial crown and dignity of this realm was rally and entirely vested . in this law ( whether it were true or not in her ) the right , lineal and lawful descent of queen elizabeth was the ground upon which she was declared to be by god's laws , and the laws and statutes of this realm , most rightful and lawful queen . and whatever she and her council secretly thought of her own personal title . yet upon the treaty or marriage with the duke of anjon , in the answer to the sixth article delivered by the french ambassador , it is declared , that the succession in her kingdoms was , and ought to be hereditary , according to nearness in blood. the words are liberi ex hoc matrimonio prognati in materna haereditate succedent in regnis , secundum jura & consuetudines regnorum , viz. primogenitus filius in coronam quam regina mater habet , & si nulli extabunt filii masculi , filioe si extabunt , viz , prima & sola maxima natu , &c. atque idem ut fiat in hoereditate paterna loequum est , & quomodo consuetudines locorum id ferent , intelligi parest . that is , the children begotten of this marriage shall succeed in the mothers inheritance in the kingdoms , according to the laws and customs of the kingdoms ; that is to say , the first born son shall enjoy the crown which the queen mother hath : and if there be no issue male , the daughters , if there be any , shall succeed that is to say , the eldest first , and alone , &c. and that it is just the succession should obtain after the same manner in the paternal inheritance , if the custom of the places would allow it . after the death of queen elizabeth , the act of recognition , made upon king james his coming to the crown , doth not take notice of the title raised by act of parliament to henry the seventh , and the heirs of his body : but declares a that he was lineally , rightfully and lawfully descended of the body of the most excellent lady margaret , eldest daughter of this most renowned king henry the seventh , and the high and noble prinress , queen elizabeth , his wife , eldest daughter of king edward the fourth . the said lady margaret being eldest sister of king henry the eighth , father of the high and mighty princess of famous memory , elizabeth , late queen of england : b in consideration whereof , the parliament doth acknowledge king james their only lawful and rightful leige lord and sovereign , c and further say , as being bound thereunto both by the laws of god and man , they do recognize and acknowledge d that immediately upon the dissolution and deceasy of elizabeth , late queen of england , the imperial crown of the realm of england , and all the kingdoms , dominions and rights belonging to the same , did by inherent birth-right , and lawful and undoubted succession , descend and come to his most excellent majesty , as being lineally , justly and lawfully next , and sole heir of the blood-royal of this realm , as it is afore said . and thereunto they do most humbly and faithfully submit and oblige themselves , their heirs and posterities for ever , until the last drop of their bloods be spent . what can be clearer than that the succession to the crown of england was always thought , judged , had , taken and reputed to be from nextness of blood , by the opinion of all sober men , by law and custom , by this , and other acts of parliament , and statutes before cited . this then being the true history and case of succession to the crown of england , and its being only founded upon proximity of blood , the author of the brief history of succession , &c. ought to have called it an history of vsurpations , seditions and rebellions . it was written and intended for a purpose he will not own ; that is , to shew , that in the english monarchy there is not right of succession ; but that parliaments or armies may set up whom they please . this , i confess , hath been practised in this nation ; and it was the main cause of the war between the families of tork and lancaster ; that proceeding from the right of the one patty , and possession of the other , and the contrarieties of acts of parliament was caused by the alternate victories of both . but the doing of a thing makes it not lawful : repeated wickedness , or the frequent repetition of wiekedness , gives no authority to any one to commit that wickedness , as the frequency of adulteries or robberies doth not justifie either of them . i think it 's no good argument to say , edward the second was deposed and murthered , therefore richard the second might be deposed and murthered ; or , that they were both deposed and murthered , therefore charles the first might be deposed and murthered ; or , because king charles the first was deposed and murthered , therefore king charles the second may be deposed and murthered . precedents are of force only in things lawful , obscure or dubious , but never , in things unjust . the depositions and murthers of edward the second and richard the second , the usurpations and unlawful actions of henry the fourth and richard the third , were in their own times condemned by all good men , even as the actions of that parliament began in 1641. in ours , which i suppose is the reason why the author of the pamphlet brings not them in as a precedent ; which would have served his turn better than all his other instances . but besides their impious instances , we ought to take notice of the expressions of these men of jesuitical principles . they call usurpation the election of the people ; a faction , the commonwealth ; the actions of a few they impute to all ; they call rebellion a just and judicial proceeding ; often and open perjury , an orderly revoking of a sentence ; god's secret judgment in permitting injustice to prevail , his owning and allowance thereof ; the inconsistency and present humour of the heedless multitude , ( who judge of things , not by reason or justice , but either by opinion , which commonly is partial ; or else by report , which is usually full of incertainties and errors , the most part doing because others do ; all easie to be drawn in to serve any wicked and ambitious men's attempts ) they call the presumed will and consent of the people : according to which ( say they ) the succession of the crown is to be directed . and by these arts they do very much impose upon their unwary readers . to this history of succession belongs the act of the thirteenth of elizabeth , cap. 1. intituled an act whereby certain offences are made treason ; which , as many great and learned persons think , was , upon the debate and making of it , intended and designed to declare a power in the queen and her successors for ever , by authority of parliament , to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity , to limit and bind the crown of england , and the descent , limitation , inheritance and government thereof . sir edward coke c says , many acts of parliament are hardly to be understood , unless the history of that time be joyned thereunto . this parliament met f april 2. 1571. 13 eliz. and was dissolved g may 29. following . this parliament , we see , was holden in the beginning of the year 1571. some years before , but most especially in the year1570 . immediately preceding , there had been many practices , and seditious and treasonable contrivances against queen elizabeth , by foreign , as well as domestick enemies : by the pope and king of spain , duke of guise in france , duke d'alva in the netherlands , the fugitive english , &c. abroad : and at home , frequent conspiracies to deliver the queen of scots out of prison , attempts upon the queen's person , the rebellion in the north by the earls of northumberland and westmerland , the match of the duke of norfolk with the queen of scots ; h her usurpation of the crown of england , with the title and arms thereof ; and the bull of pope pius the fifth , by which he declared her a heretick , &c. and impiously , and without any authority , other than papal tyranny ; deprived her of her title , dominions and kingdoms , and absolved all her subjects from their obedience and allegiance . all these , but i more particularly the pope's bull , and the conspiracy of norfolk , created much trouble in the mind of queen elizabeth : and she sent to the queen of scots , cecyl and sir walter mildmay , to consult with her by what means most conveniently the dissentions of scotland might be compounded , her self restored , and queen elizabeth , and her young son , safe and secure . amongst the propositions made to obtain these ends , these were two , k that the queen of scots should renounce her title and claim as long as queen elizabeth , and the children lawfully born of her body should live . that if the queen of scots should attempt any thing by her self , or any other , against queen elizabeth , she should , ipso facto , forfeit all her right and title she claimed to england . to which the deputies of the queen of scots lieutenants answered , that the title should be renounced as long as queen elizabeth lived : and that the queen of scots should be excluded from all right of succession in england if she attempted any thing against the queen of england ' s right , so as if the queen of england would be likewise bound in some equivalent penalty if she should attempt any thing against the queen of scots . there was no agreement upon these , and other propositions then made , because the scots-deputies thought thorn too hard and severe , and not to be assented unto without the greatest inconveniencies imaginable . and thence followed new designs and contrivances for the relief of the queen of scots , &c. the marriage of the duke of norfolk with the queen of scots was first propounded l by her great enemy , the regent murray ; and afterwards carried on by the earls of m arundel , northumberland , westmerland , sussex , pembroke and southampton , with many barons , and by the earl of leicester himself ; who , with his own hand n drew up articles which he sent to the queen of scots , in number six ; two whereof were , that she should do nothing which might be prejudicial to the queen of england , or to the children born of her , in the succession of the kingdom of england . that she should revoke her assignment of the kingdom of england to the duke of anjou . the occasion of this article was , o that murray had reported that the queen of scots had made over her title to england to the duke of anjou , and that her conveyance was confirmed at rome : which the queen utterly denied . and it was afterwards discovered to be an invention of murray's to alienate queen elizabeths mind from her . to obviate all these mischiefs and designs ; the queen and her private ministers , the earl of leicester , lord burleigh and sir francis walsingham thought fit to improve the insinuation and overture of a match p made by the queen mother of france , but not very vigorously pursued untill the year 1571. 13 eliz. and in the time of the sitting of the parliament of that year , though 't was not in that assembly or their journals taken notice of , it being * secretly managed by order of the queen , by her two then great confidents , the earl of leycester , and the lord burleigh , by the mediation of sir francis walsingham , then embassador in france . whether leycester meant honestly and seriously in this affair , i cannot determine ; † he made great professions that he did ; the then posture of affairs being represented to him by walsingham , in a letter dated from paris , may 14. 1571. in these words . my very good lord , the protestants here do so earnestly desire this match , and on the other side the papists do so earnestly seek to impeach the same , as it maketh me the more earnest in furthering of the same . besides , when i particularly consider her majesties estate both at home and abroad , so far forth as my poor eye-sight can discern ; and how she is beset with forreign peril , the execution whereof stayeth only upon the event of this match ; i do not see how she can stand if this matter break off . no particular respect ( as god is my witness ) moveth me to write thus earnestly , but only the regard i have to god's glory , and her majesties safety . your lordships to command , fr. walsingham . how necessary this match was at this time for the safety of the queen and nation , we have the opinion of this great statesman and minister ; with whom leycester and burleigh concurred in opinion , as appears by their several letters relating to these transactions . and since the french , in the sixth article delivered in by the french ambassador the thirteenth of april , 1571. propounded the succession to be secured to the issue of this marriage , according to the laws and customs of the realms ; to which queen elizabeth , according to the common opinion of the understanding men of those times , not having right by inheritance or proximity of blood , might think by this act of parliament ( that in effect doth grant the general surmise ) to make good her title , and by this way and means to notifie it to be according to the laws and customs of the realm . for the duke of anjou could not but have notice of the pretended defectiveness of her claim , though not mentioned in the treaty ; and therefore this might haply be done as much as could be to meet with and satisfie that objection , if it should be made , and that this might be a private , though none of the great considerations , of procuring and passing this act. he that will but observe these particulars of history , and will take the pains to compare them with this act , may easily perceive it was made as a provision against such things , pretences , and attempts , for the future , during queen elizabeths reign , as had then been done , used , and practised : it being then doubted whether the laws and statutes of this realm then in force , were sufficient for the preservation of the queens person . the title of the act is , an act whereby certain offences are made treason . and the bill in the commons * journal was called , a bill for treasons . the preamble upon the parliament-roll is , forasmuch as it is of some doubted whether the laws and statutes of this realm ; remaining at this present in force , are vailable and sufficient enough for the surety and preservation of the queens most royal person , in whom consisteth all the happiness and comfort of the whole state and subjects of the realm , which thing all dutiful , faithful , and loving subjects ought and will with all careful study and zeal consider , foresee , and provide for ; by the neglecting and passing over whereof with winking eyes , there might happen to grow the subversion and ruine of the quiet and most happy state and present government of this realm , which god defend . therefore * it was enacted , declared , and established , that if any person or persons whatsoever , within the realm or without , should compass , imagine , invent , devise or intend the death or destruction , or any bodily harm , tending to death , destruction , maym , or wounding of the person of queen elizabeth , or to deprive or depose her of or from the stile , honour , or kingly name , &c. or to levy war against her majestie within the realm or without , or to move or stir any forreigners or strangers with force to invade this realm ; or if any person of persons whatsoever shall maliciously and advisedly declare and publish , that queen elizabeth during her life is not or ought not to be queen of england , &c. or , that any other person or persons ought of right to be king or queen of the said realm : or , that shall maliciously and advisedly set forth and affirm , that queen elizabeth is an heretick , schismatick , tyrant , infidel , or vsurper : that then all and every such said offence and offences shall be taken , deemed , and declared , by the authority of this act and parliament , to be high treason . and be it also enacted by the authority aforesaid , that all and every person and persons , of what degree , condition , place , nation , or estate whatsoever they be , which shall at any time in the life of queen elizabeth , in any wi●e claim , pretendi utter , declare affirm or publish themselves , or any of them , or any other than queen elizabeth , to have right or title to have and enjoy the crown of england during or in her life-time , or shall usurp the same crown or royal style , title , and dignity , during or in her life-time ; or shall hold and affirm , that she had not right to hold and enjoy the said crown , or shall not ( after demand ) effectually acknowledge her to be in right , true and lawful queen : they and every of them so offending , shall be utterly disabled during their natural lives onely , to have or enjoy the crown or realm of england , or the style , title , or dignity thereof , at any time in succession , inheritance , or otherwise , after the decease of the queen , as if such person were naturally dead : any law , custom , pretence , or matter whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding . and be it further enacted , that if any person shall , during the queens majesties life maintain , hold and affirm any right in succession , inheritance , or possibility , in or to the crown or realm of england , or the rights thereof to be in any such claimer , pretender , vtterer , declarer , affirmer , vsurper , publisher , or not-acknowledger , shall be a high traytor , and suffer and forfeit as in cases of high treason . and for the confirmation and making good what had in this law been hitherto enacted , as much as might be , it was further enacted , that if any person should in any wise hold and affirm , or maintain , that the common laws of this realm not altered by parliament , ought not to direct the right of the crown of england ; or , that our sovereign lady queen elizabeth , with and by authority of the parliament of england , is not able to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to limit and bind the crown of this realm , and the descent , limitation , inheritance , and government thereof ; or , that this present statute , or any part thereof , or any other statute to be made by the authority of the parliament of england , with the royal assent of the queen , for limitting of the crown , or any statute , for recognizing the right of the said crown and realm to be justly and lawfully in the most royal person of the queen , is not , are not , or shall not , or ought not to be for ever of good and sufficient force and validity , to bind , limit , restrain , and govern all persons , their rights , and titles , that in any wise may or might claim any interest or possibility in or to the crown of england , in possession , remainder , inheritance , succession or otherwise howsoever : every such person so holding , affirming , or mainteining , during the life of the queens majesty , shall be judged a high traytor , &c. and every person so holding affirming and mainteining , after the decease of the queen , shall forfeit all his goods and chattels . this statute was a peculiar law made for the preservation of queen elizabeths person and title and this last enacting clause and paragraph was made to strengthen and confirm the former part of the statute , which was a provision and security against such pretences and practices as were ennumerated in the preceding historical account . and if we consider how much ( if not altogether ) her title to the crown depended upon statute-law , and how questionable her birth-right was generally reputed to be , no man can much wonder if for her own advantage and safety , she attributed more to an act of parliament than otherwise she would have done . she was necessitated to take this course , to establish her self against the pretences of the queen of scots , when her birth-right could not do it , it being very doubtful whether she was legitimate , considering the proceedings in the divorce of queen katherine , marriage of her mother , and her mothers confession * to archbishop cranmer , when the statute was made for the declaring the marriage null and void between henry the eighth and anne bolein , by which statute she was also solemnly bastardized . and although queen elizabeth , at the entrance upon her government was acknowledged to be * rightly , lineally , and lawfully descended from the blood royal of this realm , which if true , had been a sufficient title , she being then the only remaining issue of henry the eighth ; yet her right was recognized as depending upon the lawes and statutes of the realm , and by express mention of and reference to the thirty fifth of henry the eighth ; by which statute the crown was settled upon her , and the heirs of her body lawfully begotten ; in several places whereof , she is by the king her father , implicitly reputed and declared illegitimate , and the settlement in that act is made to her , as not being lawfully begotten , or having right to inherit . in the first of her reign before cited , when the crown was declared to be vested in her , and that declaration and recognition , as also the limitation and declaration of the succession of the imperial crown of this realm mentioned and conteined in the act of 35 hen. 8. were to stand , remain , and be the law of this land for ever . which notwithstanding , when mary queen of scots had claimed the crown by right of inheritance , and had spread abroad that title unto it , and also the title of the house of suffolk , and other titles were whispered up and down ; the act of 35 hen. 8. or this act of recognition , were not thought sufficient to secure the queen elizabeth . then was this act in the thirteenth of her reign made meerly either to create or strengthen her title , and not to exclude the queen of scots from the succession , unless she attempted any thing against her , or laid claim to the crown , which was also in its own nature a securing clause to queen elizabeth : but the great clause of security to queen elizabeth in this act , was that clause by which it was made treason for any man to affirm that she by authority of parliament could not make lawes and statutes to bind the succession of the crown , or that this act or other lawes to be made by the parliament of england by her royal assent , for limiting the crown and recognizing the right to be lawfully and justly in her person , is not , are not , or shall not , or ought not to be for ever , of good and sufficient force . this clause was levelled against the opinion , that the queen of scots had the best title ; which began to spread , and gain much credit , as well amongst the nobility as commons : by all which it is manifest , this whole act was but temporary ; and therefore we may note , with pulton , that it expired with queen elizabeth ; and it was no act of exclusion , but a law only to secure her person , and to make and confirm unto her a title , which without statute-law was in it self at least doubtful . and the new clause which was added , that it should be high treason , during her life , for any person to affirm , she by authority of parliament had not power to bind the crown , and succession thereof ; or , that the right of the crown and realm was not justly and lawfully , in her royal person ; cannot affect the title of a lawful successor by inheritance , nor be brought or made use of as a precedent to exclude him from , the succession . but it may be said , there is a great forfeiture inflicted upon every person holding and affirming , after her decease , that queen elizabeth and a parliament could not limit the succession , and fix the crown upon her own head. this clause could take no effect after her death , and therefore was added to preserve her memory from being defamed after her death , or slanderously charged with the hainous crime of vsurping the crown , which in must have been the inevitabble consequence of affirming she and her parliament could not limit the succession . for she valued much her credit and reputation , and would seem to maintain still , that he acted nothing against the queen of scots ; and therefore the law is made in general words , against every person or persons whatsoever , of what degree , place , nation , or condition whatsoever , that should affirm she was not in right true and lawful queen , or that should claim the crown , &c. in the point of succession she could never be brought expresly by name to exclude the queen of scots , or name any other successor , as is clear from these several passages in camden . dudley desirous by all means to oblige and obtain the favour of the queen of scots , accused the lord keeper bacon to the queen , that he had intermedled against the queen of scots in the matter of succession ; for which he lost the queens favour , and was with much ado at last restored to it again by the mediation of cecil , ‡ upon , which our author says , certainly the queen never heard any thing more unwillingly , than that the right of succession should be called in question or disputed . the same year queen elizabeth hearing of a match like to be between the queen of scots and henry lord darly , to prevent it , advertifed her , by her lieger randolph , that that marriage was generally so dishked by all the english , that she had prorogued the parliament to another time , against the minds of her council , left the estates of the realm being incensed , shou'd even for this cause enact somewhat against her right to the succession . which that it might not be done afterwards , she recommended leycester unto , her for a husband , whom chiefly for that reason she had created earl. in the year 1566 ▪ a parliament was called to meet on the first of november . they began to debate roundly about the succession ; and the earls of pembroke and leycester , and duke of norfolk , thought that an husband was to be imposed upon the queen or a successor publickly designed by act of parliament , even against her will. whereupon they were excluded the presence-chambcr , and denied access to the queen ; but they soon submitted themselves to her , and obtained pardon . yet the upper house did by the lord keeper bacon advise , move , and pray her to marry , and to appoint a successor , if she or her children should die without issue . but some in the lower house handled these things more tumultuously . bell and monson , great lawyers , dutton , paul , went worth , and others , who grated upon the queens authority too much , and amongst other things maintained , that kings were bound to design a successor . at last they offered her far greater subsidies than they were wont , upon condition that she would design a certain successor . she absolutely refused that extraordinary offer , and accepted an ordinary sum , commending their affection . the last day of the parliament she made a speech , and gave the busie men a smooth reprehension . * i find ( saith she ) that in this parliament dissimvlation hath walked up and down , masked under the vizor of liberty and svccession . some of your number there are that thought it liberty to dispute of the svccession , and that the establishment of the same is absolutely to be granted or denied . if i had granted it , these men had had their desire , and had triumphed over me ; but if i had denied it , they thought to have moved the hatred of my people against me , which my greatest enemies could never yet do : but their wisdom was unseasonable , and their counsels over-hasty , neither did they foresee the event : yet hereby i easily perceived who inclined toward me , and who were averse unto me , &c. upon this speech camden makes this remarque , * thus a woman's wisdom suppressed these commotions , every day so qualified them , shining clearer and clearer , that very few besides such as were seditious and fearful , were troubled about a successor . and certainly most men , whatever they pretend , have no more sense of publick matters , than what concerns their own private . to these testimonies of the queens aversion to pass a bill of exclusion of the q. of scots , may be added a very clear and convincing one out of the journal of the house of commons , in the fourteenth of her reign , after the passing this act , which is said so much to favour a bill of exclusion . mr. treasurer of the houshold , * sir francis knolles , from the queen , advised the house of commons to go forwards against the queen of scots with a second bill ; and that her majesty minded not by any implication or drawing of words , to have the scotish queen either inabled or disinabled to or from any manner of title to the crown of england ; and willed , that the bill be drawn and penned by her learned counsel , before the same be treated of in the house ; and that in the mean time of bringing in of that bill , the house enter not into any speeches or arguments of that matter . with the journal agrees a passage in the lord burleigh's letter * to sir francis walsingham the queens embassador in france , july 2. 1572. two days after the parliament was prorogued . now for our parliament , i cannot write patiently : all that we laboured for , and had with full consent brought to fashion , i mean , a law to make the scotish queen unable and unworthy of succession of the crown , was by her majesty neither assented to , nor rejected , but deferred until the feast of all saints . but what all other good and wise men may think thereof , you may guess . some here have , it seemeth , abused their favour about her majesty , to make her self her most enemy . god amend them . i will not write to you who were suspected . i am sorry for them ; and so would you also , if you thought the suspicion to be true . your assured loving friend , will. burleigh . this parliament did not meet again until the eighth of february , in the eighteenth year of the reign of queen elizabeth , unless there be any better authority than mr. pulton's , in his statutes , to make it appear that it did . and although there never was greater fear and danger of the introduction of popery and arbitrary power , by reason of the queen of scots religion , her pretences , and practices , and the expectation of great assistance from abroad and at home , than at this time , yet we find not those that were suspected to have advised the queen this great affair , to have been branded by publick vote , as betrayers of the queen , the protestant religion , and the kingdom of england , promoters of the scottish interest , and pensioners to scotland . this is a faithful relation of the succession . whether i have fairly or partially cited the records and histories i have used , any man ( if he please ) may inform himself . whether it be expedient , just , or lawful to go about to interrupt the lawful succession by birth-right , or to endeavour to break or vacate the laws and customs of the nation , by which it is established and governed , without any motion , sollicitation , procurement , or intention of the present true and lawful king by birth-right , for and upon the suggestions in the bill mentioned , i leave to the consideration of wiser men than my self . in smaller matters than this it was said , nolumus leges angliae mutare . a paralel or comparison between some citations in the author of the brief history of succession , &c. and the words of the authors themselves . author of the brief hist . fol. 1. in the margin . edwardum elegerunt , electum consecraverunt , & in regem unxerunt . sim. dunelm . an. 975. f. 160. fol. 3. in the margin . hic robertus semper contrarius & adeo innaturalis extiterat baronibus regni angliae quod plenario consensu & consilio totius comunitatis regni ipsum refutaverunt & pre rege omnino recusaverunt & henricum fratrem in regem erexerunt . hen. de knighton , c. 8. 2374. fol. 4. in the notes in the middle of the folio . in conventu episcoporium , & aliorum de regno optimatum , mat. westm . f. 246. an . 1153. fol. 4. in the margin . convenerunt interim die statuto ex mandato regis ad londoniam totius angliae episcopi , abbates , comites , barones , vice-comites , praepositi , aldermanni cum fidejussoribus , gervas , hen. 2 fol. 1412. and , fol. 4. in the body of his history , says , this was a parliament in which henry the second procured his son henry to he declared king , together with himself , by their consent . brief history , fol. 5. in the margin . post tam cleri quam populi solennem & debitam electionem , rad. de diceto , fol. 647. ibid. f. 5. in the body of the history . king john applies himself to the people for a more sure title [ d ] who being summoned together , chose him king. ibid. in the margin , [ d ] praelatorum comitum & aliorum nobilium infinita a multitudine , brompt . 1281. fol. 10. in the body of the history . please it your grace to understand the consideration , election and petition of the lords spiritual and temporal and commons , &c. cot. rec. fol. 709. this is all considerable which he cites out of this record . fol. 11. in the body of the history . in the 25th . year of henry the eighth , an act passed , wherein the parliament , in the preamble , say , they were bounden to provide for the perfect surety of the succession . they did not certainly reckon themselves bound to do a thing that was not in their power , stat. 25 h. 8. c. 22. sim. dunelm . anno 975. col . 160. n. 40. edwardum , ut pater suus praeceperat , elegerunt , electum , consecraverunt , & in regem unxerunt . hen. de knighton , col . 2374. c. 8. n. 10. iste robertus semper contrarius , & adeo innaturalis extiterat baronibus regni angliae quod plenario consensu & consilio totius comunitatis regni , imposuerunt ei illegitimitatem quod non fuerat procreatus de legitimo thoro willielmi conquestoris , unde unanimi assensu suo , ipsum refutaverunt & pro rege omnino recusaverunt & henricum fratrem ejus in regem erexerunt . mat. westm . f. 246. an . 1153. n. 10. rex stephanus omni haerede viduatus praeter solumodo henricum ducem recognovit , in conventu episcoporum & aliorum de regno optimatum . quod dux henricus jus haereditarium in regnum angliae habebat , & dux benigne concessit ut rex stephanus tota vita sua suum regnum pacifice possideret . chronica gervasii , col . 1412. lin . 4. convenerunt interim die statuto ex mandato regis ad londoniam totius angliae : episcopi , abbates , comites , barones , vice-comites , praepositi aldermani , cum fidejussoribus suis timentes valde omnes . quisque juxta conscientiam suam metuebat , nesciebunt enim , quid rex statuere decrevisset ipsa die henricum filium suum qui eadem septimana de normannia venerat militem fecit , statimque eum , stupentibus , cunctis & mirantibus , in regem ungi praecepit & coronari . not one word here , or in all this story of this author , of their declaring him king. rad. de diceto imagines historiarum , col . 647. n. 40. comes itaque pictavorum ricardus haereditario jure praemovendus in regem post tam cleri quam populi solempnem & debitam electionem , &c. chron. johan . brompt . col . 1281. n. 40 , 50. johannes ab huberto archiepiscopo cantuariensi in ecclesia b. petri westmonasterii inungitur et in regem angliae coronatur assistent prelatorum , comitum , baronum & aliorum nobilium infinita multitudine . exact abridgment of records in the tower , fol , 709 , 710 , 711 , &c. this is a very long record , and this is all considerable he cites out of it ; whereas the whole title of richard the third from parliament in this settlement is grounded upon his being ( as they pretended ) the only true , right and lawful heir . see what is noted of this record , and said concerning richard the third in this history . pult. stat. 25 h. 8. c. 22. the preamble . in their most humblewise shewn unto your majesty , your most humble and obedient subjects , the lords spiritual and temporal , and commons in this present parliament , &c. that since it is the natural inclination of every man to provide for the surety both of his title and succession , although it touch his only private cause ; we therefore reckon our selves much more bounden to beseech and instant your highness to foresee and provide for the perfit surety of both you and your most lawful succession and heirs , upon which dependeth all our joy and wealth ; in whom also is united and knit the only meer true inheritance and title of this realm , without contradiction . these are some of his many wilful mistakes : and indeed , there is scarce one instance in the pamphlet that is not either falsely cited , or falsely applied . finis . errata . page 5. line 8. for emmy , read emma , l. 15 r. quique . p. 6. l. 16. f. consensu , r consensum . l. 35. f. preditorum , r. proditorum . p. 8. l. 11. f. subjugandat , r. subjugavis . p. 9 , l. 11. f. aifred , r. ailred . l. 40. f. clisonis , r. clitonis p. 11. l. 11. f. congregatio , r. congregato . p. 13. l. 27. f. adjucavit , r. adjudicaviit . p. 17. l. 41. f. numeri , r , nostri . l. 49. f. praesagia , r. praesaga . p. 25. l. 25. f. him , r. them . p. 34. l. 42. in the margin , r. compleat ambassador , fol. 85 , 86 , 87. p. 36. l. 31. in the margin , r. rot. parl. 13 eliz. n. 1. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29176-e110 a in his eliz. f. 482. b title page . d in the epistle dedicatory . e ibid. f. 481 , 482 , 483. f this is the common cheat , to call the two houses , or a prevailing party in the two houses , or in one house , a parliament . so it was in the reign of edward ii. richard ii. and charles i. that rebellious , restless faction , that murthered them when they were prisoners , called themselves a parliament : when as nothing can constitute a parliament , but the king , lords spiritual and temporal , and commons , all in perfect freedom . a anno dom. 801. b anno eod . c anno dom. 802. d de cest . reg. fol. 8. a. n. 10. e ibidem . f chron. sax. anno dom. 854. flor. wigorn . 849. g gul. malm. fol. 7. a. n. 30. h chron. sax. flor. wigor . anno dom. 836 i fol. 20. a. n. 30. k malm fol. 72. a. n. 20. & b. n. 30 flor wig. an dom. 855. l chron. sax. an. dom 854. m fol. a. n. 40 . an. dom. 860. n flor. wigor . chron sax. 866. malm. fol. 22. b. n. 50. o ibid fol. 2● . a. n. 4● . chron. sax. an. dom. 871. flor wig. p ibid. anro dom 901. malm. fol. 25. n. 40. q chron. sax. an. dom. 925. r both in an. dom. 924. f lib. 2. cap 6. fol. 27. a. lin . 27. t lib. 1. c. 6. u ibid fol. 29. lin . 32. x ibid. n. 10. y ibid. fol. 27. l. 28. z chron sax. an. dom 941. flor. wig. sim. dunelm 940. a ibid. anno dom. 946. b fol. 30. a. n. 50. c chron. sax. flor. wig. an. dom. 955. d nothing of this story in the saxon chronology . e chron. sax. an. dom. 957. f fol. 30. b. n. 40. g chron. sax . an. dom. 575. flor. wigor . 975. sim. dunelm . 975. h ibidem . i malms . fol. 33. b. n. 40. k flor. wigor . an. dom. 978. sax. chron. an. dom. 973. l faed . aelsr . & guthr . c. 1. lanob . fol. 36. m aelfred . vit . appen . 7. fol. 210. n ingulph , fol. 507 , b. lin . 5. anno dom. 1016. o ibid. p ibid. anno dom. 1017. q fol. 509. 2. lin . 2. r lib. 2. c. 12. s flor. wigor . anno dom. 1040. t fol. 164. c. u flor. wigor . anno dom. 1042 , 1043. x malms . f. 450. n. 10 , 20. y gemet , lib. 6. c. 9. z ibidem . a col. 371. n. 30 , 40 , 50. b sim. dunelm . col. 189. n. 20. c ingulph , f. 511. b. n. 50. d de geneal . reg. angl. col. 366. n. 50. b vit. aelfred . fol. 9. lin . 4. sect . 9. c testam . aelfred . asser . f. 22. n. 20. d flor. wigor . anno dom. 860 , 86. e vit aelfred . f. 9. in not. f fol. 584. g flor. wigor . anno dom. 975. sim. dunelm . ibid. h sim. dunel , flor. wigorn. an. doth . 924. i malms . de gest . regn. l , 2. c. 6. f. 27. a. lin . 27. k flor. wigorn. an. dom. 946. enecomlum emmae , fol. 164. b. ibid. c . f ibid. 174. a. b. g cul genment . hb 6. c. 9. h ibidem . i ingulph histor . hine fol 512. b. n. 40. k fol 181. d these three last authors were living at that time l eadmer . f. 5. n. 10. m ibid. n. 40. n f. 632. andom . 1066 o anno dom. 1066. p fol. 511 , b. n. 50. q gul. gemet . lib. 5. c. 12. r ibid. f r. hoveden . f. 425. a. n.20 . t fragment . de gul. conquestore , f. 32. n. 30. ord. vit . f. 659. c.d. v ibid. n. 20 , 40. ord. vit . ut supra . x ibid. f. 663. b. y flor. wigor . f. 642. z degest . reg. f. 67. n. 20. paris , f. 14. n. 10. a it was then the custom for bishops to make knights septemb. 27. f. 642. 1088. b malms ut sup . lin . 49. c flor. wigor . ut supra . these english were stipcndiary soldiers , paris , f. 15. n. 10. fol. 650. lin . 9. f. w. died 19 hen. 1. d ibid. lin . 27. e ibid. lin . 41. fol. 59. n. 10 , 20 , 30. eadmer was anselm's chaplain at this time . a fol. 88. a. n. 20 , 40. flor. wigorn. f. 649. l. 27. b paris , anno dom. 1100.fol . 55. lin . 42. patis died , an. do. 1259. brompton , 1326. westminister , 1377. knighton , 1380. c c. 8. col. 2374. c c. 8. col. 2374. d malms . fol. 93. a. lin . 36. a ibid. fol. 99. a. n. 40. b ibid. c malms . s . 100. a. n. 40. d paris , f. 61. n. 50 , f. 62. n. 10 , 20. e iid. 61. lib. ult . 62 , lin . 1. &c. ibid. lin . 23. f ibid. 6. . n. 10. g ibid. f. 73. n. 20. h malms . hist . north. f. 100. b. n. 30. i vid. hic . f. 105. b. n. 40. omne reguum augl . simul & ducatum normaniae . k pitsius in that year , col. 505. n. 40 , 50. l malms . n. 10. m ibid. n. 40 , 50. n ibid. n. 20. ibid. 101. b. n. 10. b ibid. 105. b. n. 20 , 30 , 40. malmsbury , says he was present in this council . ibid. lin . 26. c ibid. f. 106. a. lin . 1,2,3 . d ibid. f. 107. n. 10,20,30,40 e ibid. f. 108 . a. n. 30 , 40 , 50. f gervas dorob . col. 1375. n. 10. paris , f. 86. n. 10. hoveden , f. 281. a. lin . 21. g fol. 246. n. 10. an. dom. 1153. this accord was made at wallingford , by the diligence , of arch-bishop theobald and bishops of the kingdom . h ibid. n. 30. anno. dom. 1154. i hoved. f. 372. b. 40,50 , f. 373 . a. lin . 7. k ibid. n. 50 & b. lin . 7. quod fidem portabit regi angliae richardo , regis hen. filio , &c. l ibid. f. 374. a. n. 10. m of normandy . n rad. de diceto , col. 647. n. 40 , 50. o ibidem . hoved. f. 398 . b. n. 30,40,50 , &c. 399. b. n. 40. an. dom. 1191. ibid. f. 41 2 . a.n . 40,50 . anno dom. 1193. ibid. 6. lin . 1. &c. q ibid. f. 417. b. n. 30. anno dom. 1194. r ibid. f. 418. a. n. 40. ſ ibid. b. lin . 6. t ibid. n. 20. v ibid. f. 428. a. n. 20. anno dom. 1195. 6. ric. x ibid. f. 449. b. lin . 37. y fol. 450. b. n. 10. king richard died , apr. 6. 1199. z ibid. n. 40. a homines regni could be no other , seeing fealty and homage was due only from such as held lands subject to that service . b ibid. n. 40. c ibid. n. 50. d ibid. f. 451. a. n. 10. king richard died , an. dom. 1199. e paris , f. 197. n. 20. f ibid. n. 30 , 40. note here successione haereditaria eligere , which can signifie nothing but to recognize , and acknowledge him king by hereditary succession g col. 1281. n. 40 , 50. h col. 1338. n. 30. i moderat feod . mag● . sigilli . paris , f. 289. n. 10. k ibid , 279. n , 20. l ibid. 282. n. 10. m ibid. 296. n. 40. 297. n. 30. 299. n. 20. n paris , f. 288. lin . 2. westmin . f. 276. n. 40. o paris , f. 488. n. 30 , 40. p ibid. f. 654. n. 20. q ibid. f. 527. n. 40. anno dom. 1240. r ibid. f. 994. n. 50. brief . history of succession , f. 6. f vid. preamble to the ordinantes made by an extorted commission to certain ordainers , dated mar. 16. 3 ed. 2 . but not executed until the fifth of his reign . ordinance , 13 , 14 , 16. rot. part . 5 ed. 2. tho. walsingham , f. 113. lin . 48. t vid. memoranda parliamenti , 9 ed. 2. apud lincoln . v walsingham f. 116. n. 20 , 30 , 40. x great stat. rol. ab hen. 3. ad 21 ed. 3. m. 31. bib. cott. claudius , d. 2. f. 232. a. y oxford provisions , 42 h. 3. z walsingham , f. 115. n. 40. a ibid. f. 119. n. 20. b ibid. f. 120. n. 20. c ibid. n. 40. d ibid. f. 121. n. 30. e ibid. n. 40. & cl. 20. ed. 3. m. 11. dors . f walsingham , ibid. n. 40. g cl. 19. ed. 2. m. 2. h f. 122 , n. 10. she was generally reported to be a vile woman ; cruel and unchast . i ibid. f. 125. lin . 49. k ibid f. 123. n. 20 , 30. l ibid. f. 125. n. 30. m ibid. n. 50. n cl. 1. ed. 3. part 1. m. 3. dors . o wals . f. 127. lin . 36. p ibid. n. 40. kinghton says , octabis epiphaniae , eight days after twelfth day . col. 25●9 . n. 50. q walsingham , f. 126. n. 20 , 30. ibid. lin . 39. r ibid. n. 40. ſ ibidem . t cl. 1. ed. 3. part. 1. m. 28. walsingham , f. 126. n. 50. note de consilio & avilamento , not ●lectione , &c. rot. parl. 4 ed. 3. n. 1. ibid. n. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. rot. parl. 50. ed. 3. n. 40. al. 50. v walsingham , fol. 193. n. 40. ibid. f. 195. n. 10. x third vol. of chron. f. 508. n. 50. walsingham , f. 358. n. 50. a ibid. f. 359. lin . 1. b rot. parl. 1. h. 4. n. 52. c ibid. n. 53. d ibid. n. 54. e ibid. suae voluntatis . f sir j. haward's life of hen. 4. p. 98. ibid. p. 99. b rot. parl. 39 h 6. n. 11. ibid. n. 12. ibidem . ibidem . ibidem . ibidem . ibidem . ibid. n. 13. ibid. n. 14. ibid. n. 15. h cap. 2. ibid. n. 17. ibid. n. 18. lib. 22. sub initio , fol. 433. n. 30. i edw. i. was in palestina when his father died , yet acknowledged k. before his return . k. john was acknowledged king before his coronation also . k fol. 7. the words are concilium principum convocandum curat . if this was a parliament , he must be king before be could call it . m he means the act of entail of the usurpation , 7 h. 4. c. 2. n rot. parl. n. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , &c. ibidem . ibidem . ibidem . ibidem . ibidem . o exact abridgment , fol. 712. in this abridgement the whole record of 1 r. 3. is printed . p ibid. fol. 713. ibidem . q ibid. f. 714. ibid. f. 717. election here signific nothing but recognition . r bacon's hist . f. 7. ſ rot. parl. 1 h. 7. * in cotton . 1. libr. cleopat . e. 3. * it is true , if 〈…〉 in right of his queen . and note , he prefers his title by conquest and succession , before that by ad of parliament . † ibidem . cap. 22. * 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 and h●ir of 〈◊〉 houses of york and lancaster . pult. stat. f. 628. 630. ibid. ● . 633 ibidem . ibis . f. 631. ibid. f. 632. ibidem . 1 mar. session . 2 . c . 1. eliz. c. 3 . a 1 jac. c. 1. b ibibem . c ibidem . d ibidem . c 4 instit . f 52. f pult. stat. g com. jo●●a . mar . 29 maii. fol. 39. sei camden's eliz. an. dom. 1568 , 1569 , 1570 , 1571. h ibid. fol. 171. i ibid. 149. k ibid. f. 1570. l ibid. f. 118. m ibid. f. 126 , 127. n ibid. f. 128. o ibid. f. 118. p ibid. f. 107. * compleat ambassador , queens letter , f. 66. burleigh's letter , f. 69. queens letter , f. 83. & qu. let. f. 106. † ib. f. 105 , 108. june 7. 1571. ibid. f. 96. * sabbati , 21 apr. 1571. fol. 18. b. * rast . stat. tit . treasons , n. 27 f. 5 54. a ibid. b. ibid. f. 554 b. ibidem . this clause was mainly intended against the pretended authority of the pope , by which he deposed her . * 28 h. 8. c. 7. pult. stat. * 1 eliz. c. 3. ibidem . ibidem . camd. eliz. f. 73. a. d. 1564. ‡ ibidem . ibid. fol. 75. jus successionis . ibid. fol. 83. ibid. & f. 84. ibidem . * ibid. f. 89. * ibidem . * mercur. 28 maii. 1572. fol. 53. * compleat ambassador , fol. 219. a treatise concerning the broken succession of the crown of england: inculcated, about the later end of the reign of queen elisabeth. not impertinent for the better compleating of the general information intended. parsons, robert, 1546-1610. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a91489 of text r203153 in the english short title catalog (thomason e481_2). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 271 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 84 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a91489 wing p574 thomason e481_2 estc r203153 99863215 99863215 115404 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a91489) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 115404) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 77:e482[2]) a treatise concerning the broken succession of the crown of england: inculcated, about the later end of the reign of queen elisabeth. not impertinent for the better compleating of the general information intended. parsons, robert, 1546-1610. 167, [1] p. [s.n.], london : printed anno dom. 1655. x3v refers to "this manuscript treatise .. coming from the hands of a popish priest, and comprehending the substance of what was written and published by father parson's the jesuit, under the name of doleman", i.e. robert parsons. annotation on thomason copy: "may. 30". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. a91489 r203153 (thomason e481_2). civilwar no a treatise concerning the broken succession of the crown of england:: inculcated, about the later end of the reign of queen elisabeth. not parsons, robert 1655 45385 11 0 0 0 0 0 2 b the rate of 2 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-04 jason colman sampled and proofread 2008-04 jason colman text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a treatise concerning the broken succession of the crown of england : inculcated , about the later end of the reign of queen elisabeth . not impertinent for the better compleating of the general information intended . london : printed anno dom. 1655. out of the preface . the purpose of the book . the purpose of this treatise is to prove , that the next successor of england must needs be very doubtful . the first part of the book . the civil lawyer declareth , that albeit the titles by succession were clear , yet that as things stand now in england , and other countries neer adjoyning , there may be a great doubt which of them shall prevail . the second part. the temporal lawyer sheweth that the titles and pretensions of all the ten or eleven families of the english blood royal , which remain at this day , are ambiguous and doubtful , according to the common laws of england . that succession by nearness of blood is not by law of nature , or divine ; but onely by humane and positive laws of every particular countrie , and consequently may be altered by the same . cap. i. such are not to be admitted , of whom no good is to be expected . the government is ordained for the benefit of the common-wealth ; therefore no reason or law , religion or wisdom in the world can admit such persons to the government of the same , by whom no good , but destruction may be expected ; as for example , by a natural fool , or one that were a turk , or moor in religion . other conditions , besides prioritie , are requisite , which are assigned by the common-wealth . ergò , some other conditions also must needs be requisite , besides the meer prioritie in blood ; and these conditions are not prescribed by anie law of nature or divine , but assigned and limited out by the authoritie of every particular countrie and common-wealth , to the which the prince is bound . to live in companie cometh of nature ; but the form thereof by the laws of everie countrie . the sociabilitie , or inclination to live together in companie , man with man ( whereof ensueth both citie and common-wealth , as aristotle gathereth ) and in like manner , government and jurisdiction of magistrates , which is necessarie for the maintaining of that societie , is of nature , and consequently of god , that is author of nature ; but the particular form or manner of this or that government , in this or that fashion , is not by law either natural or divine , but ordained by particular positive laws of everie countrie ; for if it were by the law of nature or divine , it should be all one in all countries , seeing god and nature is one to all . to live in company is natural to man , and the ground of all common wealths . all ground of realms and common-wealths dependeth of this point , as of their first principle , for that a common-wealth is nothing els but the good government of a multitude gathered together , to live in one : and therefore all old philosophers , law-makers , and wise men , that have treated of government or common-wealths , as plato , cicero , aristotle , &c. do make their entrance from this first principle , to wit , that man by nature is sociable , and inclined to live in companie , whereof do proceed first , all private houses , then villages , then towns , then cities , then kingdoms and common-wealths . 1. proof . inclination universal . in all nations , never so wilde or barbarous , we see by experience that by one way or other , they endeavor to live together , either in towns , caves , woods , tents , or other like manner , according to the custome of each countrie ; which universal instinct could never be but by impression of nature it self . 2. speech . the use of speech is given to man for this end and purpose , otherwise little available were it , if men should live alone , and converse with none . 3. imbecillitie and nakedness of man . man is born more infirm and naked , than all other creatures , not able to provide and defend himself , but by the help of others ; which is a token that he is born to live in company , both for his necessitie to be holpen by others , and also for his own commodious living , seeing no man of himself is sufficient for himself ; wherefore wittily said aristotle , that ho which flieth to live in societie , is either deus aut bellua ; a god , or a beast : for that either he doth it , because he hath no need of any , which is proper to god ; or else for that he will do good to none , and feeleth not that natural instinct , which man hath to live in conversation ; which is a sign rather of a beast , than of a man . 4. the use of justice and friendship . if man should not live in companie of others , justice and friendship should be utterly in vain ; justice , whose office is , to distribute to every one his own : and friendship , which is so necessary and equal , vt nec aquâ , saith cicero , nec igne , nec ipso sole pluribus in locis utamur quàm amicitiâ . 5. by the holie scripture . dixit quoque dominus deus , non est bonum hominem esse solum , faciamus ei adjutorium simile sibi . of which words is deduced , that as this first societie of our first parents was of god , and for so great purpose , the one to be holpen by th' other ; so all other societies , which grow of this first , stand upon the same ground of god's ordination , for the self same end of man's utilitie . government and superioritie is also of nature . 1. necessitie . without government , superioritie and jurisdiction of magistrates , the aforesaid societie can in no wise subsist : it followeth therefore that government is of nature , aswel as the societie it self . for except there be some order kept among men , to reward virtue , chasten vice , and relieve the afflicted , there is nothing to be hoped for , but horror and confusion ; for that one would devour and consume the other . 2. consent of nations . there was never yet nation found , among whom men living together had not some kind of magistrates or superiors to govern them ; which general consent , cicero calleth ipsius vocem naturae . 3. civil law . the civil law proveth also this point in the beginning of our digests , where the second title of the first book is , de originie juris & omnium magistratuum , of the beginning of the civil law , and of all magistrates ; which beginning is referred to the principle of natural instinct , and god's institution . 4. holie scripture . god concurreth also expresly with this instinct of nature , as when he saith to solomon , by me kings do reign ; and s. paul to the romans avoucheth , that authoritie is not but of god , and therefore he which resisteth authoritie , resisteth god . viz. authoritie in it self according to the first institution , as also lawfully laid upon any persons , but not wrongfully . particular form of government is not of god , or nature , but free to every country . so those two aforesaid points , to wit , the common-wealth , and government of the same , are of nature ; but the particular forms of government are left unto every nation and country to chuse , either democratia , aristocratia , or monarchia , according as they shall like best ; for if they were determined by god or nature , they should be all one in all nations ; which they are not : seeing we see that every nation almost hath her particular form , or manner of government : and the cause of these differences aristotle attributeth to the diversity of men's natures , customs , educations , and other such causes , that make them make choice of such , or such forms of government . diversitie of government in divers countries and times . and this difference of government is not in divers countries only , but also at divers times in one and the same countrie : for the romans first had kings , & after rejecting them for their evil government , they chose consuls annual , whose authoritie was limited by a multitude of senators , and these mens power by the tribunes of the people , and somtime dictators ; and finally , they came to be governed by emperors . the like may be said of many common-wealths both of asia and greece ; and at this day of europe . in italie , now divided into so many common-wealths , every one of them almost keepeth a different form of government : millan , as also burgundie , lorayne , bavire , gasconie , and brittanie the lesser , were once distinct kingdoms , now dukedoms . whole germanie , many yeers together a kingdom , now is divided into so many dukedoms , earldoms , and other titles of supreme princes . castile , arragon , portugal , barcelona , which were first earldoms only , and after dukedoms , and then kingdoms , are now all united under one monarch : boëme and polonia , dukedoms once , now kingdoms . france first a monarchie , under pharamond , clodion , merouye , childerick , and clodovaeus , was after divided into four kingdoms , to wit , one of paris , another of soissons , the third of orleans , and the fourth of metz : and afterwards made one monarchie again . england first a monarchie under the britaines , and then a province under the romans , and after divided into seven kingdoms at once under the saxons , and now a monarchie again under the english . the people of israël also were under divers manners of government , in divers times ; first under patriarchs , abraham , isaac , and jacob : then under captains , as moses , josue , &c. then under judges , as othoniel , acod , gedeon , &c. then under high priests , as hely and samuel : then under kings , as saul , david , &c. then under captains and high priests again , as zorobabel , judas , &c. until they were brought under the power of the romans . so as there can be no doubt , but that the common-wealth hath power to chuse their own fashion of government , as also to change it upon reasonable causes ; and god no doubt doth approve it . the common-wealth limiteth the governors authoritie . and as the common-wealth hath this authoritie to chuse and change her government , so hath she also to limit the same with laws and conditions : therefore the consuls of rome were but for one year , other officers and magistrates for more , as their common-wealth did allot them . the dukes of venice at this day are for their lives ; those of genoa for two years . the dukedoms of ferrata , urbin , and parma , are limited only to heirs male ; & for defect therof , to return to the sea of rome ; as florence , and mantua , for like defects to the empire . how a natural prince is to be understood . when men talk of a natural prince , and natural successor ; if it be understood of one that is born within the same realm or countrie , and so of our own natural blood , it hath some sence ; but if it be meant as though any prince had his particular government or interest to succeed by institution of nature , it is ridiculous ; for that nature giveth it not , as hath been declared , but the particular constitution of every common-wealth . of the form of monarchies and kingdoms in particular , and the different laws , whereby they are to be obtained , holden , and governed in divers countries . cap. ii. a monarchie the best government . aristotle , seneca , and plutarch do hold a kingdom to be the most perfect common-wealth among all other , and the very first . his antiquity . of all other it is the most ancient ; for we read that among the syrians , medes and persians , their first governors were kings . and when the children of israël did ask a king at the hands of samuel ( 1000. years before the coming of christ ) they alleged for one reason , that all nations round about them had kings for their governors ; and at the very same time the chiefest cities and common-wealths of greece , as the lacedemonians , athenians , corinthians , and others , were governed by kings . the romans also began with kings . it resembleth the government of god , and nature . this kind of government ( as do gather s. hierom and s. chrysostom ) resembleth most of all the government of god , that is but one : representeth the excellencie of one son , of one soul in the bodie : it is also most conformable unto nature , by example of the bees which do chuse unto themselves a king , and do live under a monarchie . st. peter's authoritie . subjecti estote omni humanae creaturae propter deum , sive regi quasi precellenti , sive ducibus ab eo missis , &c. saith s. peter , where he seemeth to signifie that a king's government is the best among all others ; seeing at this time when he wrote this epistle , the chief governor of the world was not called king , but emperor ; though indeed between the title of king and emperor there is little or no difference in substance , but only in name . utilities of a kingdom . this government , not only in it self , but also by his effects and utilitie , is the most excellent : for in the monarchie of one king there is more unitie , agreement , and conformity , and thereby also celerity commonly in dispatching of business , and in defending the common-wealth , than where many heads be : less passions also in one man , than in many . inconvenieneies of other governments , as of democratia . in democratia , especially where cunning men are admitted , such as were the orators in athens , and the tribunes in rome , who could move the waves , raise up the winds , and kindle the fire of the vulgar peoples affections , passions , and furies at their pleasure ; there is nothing but sedition , trouble , tumults , outrages , and injustice committed upon every little occasion : by which we see that of all common-wealths , these of popular government have soonest come to ruine ; as do witness not only the old examples of greece , asia , and africa , but also many cities in italie , who upon the fall of the roman empire , took up unto themselves popular governments , wherein they could never rest , until they came under the monarchie of one prince or other , as at this day they do remain . of aristocratia . for aristocratia , as it doth participate of monarchia and democratia , or rather tempereth them both : so hath it both good and evil in it ; but yet inclineth more to the evil , for the dis-union that commonly by mans infirmitie and malice is among those heads : for which cause the states of venice and genoa , which were wont to have simply this government of aristocratia , were inforced in the end to chuse dukes . the division and factions among the senators of carthage , was the cause why aid was not sent to hannibal their captain in italie after his so great and important victorie at canna ; which was the very cause of the saving of the romane empire , and the loss of their own . as also afterwards the emulations and discord of the romane senators in the affairs and contentions of marius and sylla ; and of pompey and caesar , was the occasion of all their destruction , and of their common-wealth with them . why helps are given to kings . therefore it appeareth that of all other governments monarchie is the best : but for that a king is a man as others be , and thereby not only subject to errors in judgment , but also to passionate affections in his will ; it was necessarie , that the common-wealth should assign him the best helps that might be for directing and rectifying both his will and judgment . lawes the first help , why given . the first help is the law , which aristotle saith , est mens quaedam nullo perturbata affectu : and in the same place addeth , that he which joyneth a law to govern with the prince , joyneth god to the prince ; but he that joyneth to the prince his affection to govern , joyneth a beast : so that a prince ruling by law , is more than a man , or a man deified ; and a prince ruling by affections , is less than a man , or a man brutified . in another place also the same philosopher saith , that a prince that ruleth hemself , and others , by his own appetite and affections , of all creatures is the worst , and of all beasts is the most furious and dangerous ; for that nothing is so outragious as injustice armed , and no armor is so strong , as wit and authority . councils the second help , why given . the monarchie of england tempered . the second help that common-wealths do assign to their kings and princes , be certain councils , as we see the parlament of england and france , the courts in spain , and diets in germanie , without which no matter of great moment can be concluded : and besides this commonly every king hath his privie council , whom he is bound to hear ; and this was done to temper somwhat the absolute form of a monarchie , whose danger is , by reason of his sole authoritie , to fall into tyrannie , as aristotle noteth . [ in the monarchie of england all the three forms of government do enter more or less ; in that there is one king or queen , it is a monarchie : in that it hath certain councils which must be heard , it participateth of aristocratia ; and in that the commonaltie have their voices and burgesses in parlament , it taketh part also of democratia . ] all which limitations come from the common-wealth , as having authoritie above their princes , for the good of the realm . restraint of kings among the romans . why kinglie government left in rome . this restraint hath been in all times and countries ; as for example , the romans that began with kings , gave their kings as great and absolute authoritie as ours have now adaies , but yet their next in blood succeeded them not of necessitie , but new kings were chosen partlie by the senate , and partlie by the people . so as of three * most excellent kings that ensued immediatelie after romulus , none were of the blood , nor yet romans born , but rather strangers chosen for their virtue and valor : so for the neglecting of their laws the senators slew romulus their first king , and cut him in pieces ; and for the same reason , expelled tarquinius superbus their last , and all his posteritie , and with them the name and government of kings , which was changed in the regiment of consuls . restraint of kings among the grecians . in greece , and namely among the lacedemonians , their kings authoritie was so restrained by certain officers of the people , called ephori ( which commonly were five in number ) as they were not only chastened by them , but also deprived , and somtimes put to death . restraint of kings in christendom . in germanie . the emperor can neither make war , nor exact any contribution of men , or money thereunto , but by the free leave and consent of all the states of the germane dyet or parlament ; and for his children or next in kinn , they have no action , interest , or pretence to succeed , but only by free election , if they shall be thought worthie : nay one of the chiefest points that the emperor must swear at his entrance is this , that he shall never go about to make the dignitie of the emperor peculiar or hereditarie to his familie , but leave it unto the seven electors , free in their power to chuse his successor , according to the law made by the pope gregory the fift , and the emperor charles the fourth , in this behalf . in polonia and bohemia . the kings of polonia and bohemia can neither do any thing of great moment , without the consent of certain principal men called palatines or castellans ; neither may their children of next blood succeed except they be chosen , as in the empire . in spain , france , and england . in spain , france , and england , the privileges of kings are far more eminent , both in the power and succession ; for their authoritie is much more absolute , and their next in blood do ordinarily succeed : for as touching authoritie , it seemeth that the kings of france and spain have greater than the king of england ; for that everie ordination of these two kings is law in it self , without further approbation of the common-wealth , which holdeth not in england , where no general law can be made without consent of parlament . but in the other point of succession , the restraint is far greater in those other two countries than in england . for in spain the next in blood cannot succeed be he never so lawfully discended , but by a new approbation of the nobilitie , bishops , and states of the realm , as it is expresly set down in the two ancient councils of toledo the fourth and fifth . nor can the king of spain's own son at this day be called prince , except he be first sworn by the said nobilitie and estates , as we have seen it practiced in the king philip's children . in france , women , neither any of their issue , though male , are admitted to succeed in the crown : and therefore was edward 3d. of england , though son and heir unto a daughter of france , which was left by her three brethren sole heir to king phillip * the fair her father , put by the crown ; as also was the king of navar at the same time , son and heir unto this womans eldest brothers daughter named lewis huttin ; notwithstanding all their allegations : and philip de valois , a brothers son of philip the fair's , preferred to it by general decree of the states of france , and by verdict of the whole parlament of paris . and albeit the law salica , by virtue whereof the french-men pretend to exclude the succession of women , be no very ancient law , as the french themselves do confess , and much less made by pharamond their first king ; yet do we see that it is sufficient to bind all princes and subjects of that realm to observe the same , and to alter the course of natural discent ; and that the king of navar only by virtue therof doth at this day pretend to be the next in succession to this goodlie crown , and to exclude both the infanta of spain , and the prince of lorrayn that now is , who are children of the last king's sisters . propinquitie of blood , not sufficient . by which we see , that it is not enough for a man to allege bare propinquitie of blood , thereby to prevail ; for that he may be excluded , or put back by divers other circumstances , and for sundry other reasons . kings lawfully possessed , may be deprived . yea , the common-wealth hath not only the authoritie to put back the next inheritors upon just considerations , but also to dispossess them that have been lawfully put in possession , if they keep not the laws ; as by examples of all nations it might be proved . and god for the most part hath wonderfully prospered the same . titles of princes once settled , not to be examined by private men . not that it be lawful to subjects for every mislike to band against their princes : nay if a prince be once settled in the crown and admitted by the common-wealth , every man is bound to settle his conscience to obey the same , * without examination of his title or interest , because god disposeth of kingdoms , and worketh his will in princes affairs . yielding too much to princes bringeth a tyrannie . but to make princes subject to no law or limitation at all , and to free them from all obligation unto the whole bodie whereof they are the heads , as though they had been created kings from the beginning of the world , or as though the common-wealth had been made for them , and not they for the common-wealth , were to bring all to such absolute tyrannie as no realm ever did or could suffer among civil people . the mean which is to be kept . the argument of the next chapter . so as all dutie , reverence , love , and obedience is to be yielded to the prince which the common-wealth hath once established : so yet retaineth still the common-wealth her authoritie not only to restrain him , if he be exorbitant , but also to chasten and remove him upon due and weightie considerations : and hath the same been done and practiced at manie times in most nations with right good success to the weal-publick . of kings lawfully chastised by their common-wealths for their misgovernment : and of the good and prosperous success that god commonly hath given to the same . cap. iii. examples . the ordination of god in the common-wealth of the jews , doth authorise the same doings in other common-wealths . for examples out of the scripture , though some man may chance to say , that the things recounted there of the jews , were not so much to be reputed for acts of the common-wealth , as for particular ordinances of god himself ; yet it doth make rather for , than against this purpose ; because other common-wealths may the sooner practice that wherein they have god his own authoritie and approbation . examples out of the jews . saul . first then saul , though he was elected by god to that royal throne , yet was he by his order slain by the philistians , for his disobedience , and not fulfilling the laws and limits prescribed unto him : and david was chosen in his room , which proved such a king , as he was a most perfect patern for all kings to follow ; and so lived , and so died , as never prince ( i think ) before him , nor perhaps after him so joyned together both valor and virtue , courage and humilitie , wisdom and pietie , government and devotion , nobilitie and religion . amon . amon was lawful king also , and that by natural discent and succession , for he was son and heir to king manasses ; yet he was slain by his own people , quia non ambulavit in via domini ; and josias was brought in his room ; of whom it is written , fecit quod erat rectum in conspectu domini , & non declinavit neque ad dextram neque ad sinistram . examples of the romans . romulus . romulus the first king of the romans , as hath been said before , having by little and little declined into tyrannie , was slain and cut in pieces by the senators ; and in his place was chosen numa pompilius , the notablest king that ever they had , who prescribed all their order of religion , and manner of sacrifices , imitating therein the ceremonies of the jews ; as tertullian and others do note ; began the building of the capitol ; and added the two months of january and february to the year . tarquinius superbus . the expulsion of tarquinius superbus their seventh and last king , for his evil government ; and the alteration thereby of the whole government by the establishing of consuls , had so prosperous a success , that whereas at the end of their king's government they had but fifteen miles territory without the citie ; it is known that when their consuls government ended , and was changed by julius caesar , their territory reached more than fifteen thousand miles in compass . julius caesar . when julius caesar upon particular ambition had broken all law both humane and divine , and taken all government into his own hands alone , he was in revenge thereof , slain , as the world knoweth , by senators in the senate-house ; and octavianus augustus preferred in his room , who proved afterwards the most famous emperor that ever was . nero. after nero 6th . emperor which succeeded lawfully his uncle claudius , and was afterward deposed and sentenced * to death by the senate for his wicked government ; albeit peace ensued not presently , yet within few months the whole empire fell upon vespasian , and his son titus , two of the best governors that those times ever saw . domitian . to cruel domitian , ( whose death the senate is thought in secret to have procured , being not able to perform it openly by justice ; for that he did presently by publick decree allow of the same , disanulled all his barbarous acts and pulled down every where his arms and memories ) did succeed five excellent good emperors ; to wit , nerva , whom the senate chose in his room , trajan , adrian , antonius pius , and marcus aurelius . heliogabalus . heliogabalus for his most beastlie life and foul actions , was deprived and put to death by the souldiers of rome , at the request and publick approbation of the senate and people ; who ordained in his detestation , that never emperor after him should be called more antoninus ( and so it was observed . ) and preferred to the empire in his room his cousen named alexander severus , who proved one of the most rarest princes for his valor and virtue , that ever the romane empire hath had . maxentius . maxentius was drowned in the river of tiber , and he , sirnamed afterward constantine the great , succeeded in the empire , and was the man that all men know , and the first emperor that publickly professed himself a christian , and planted our faith over all the world . constantine sixth , and irene . constantine the sixth , was for his evil government first deposed , * and his eyes put out by his own mother irene , who usurped the empire ; but being not able to rule it in such order as it was needful for so great a monarchie , she was deprived thereof by the sentence of leo . the third , and by consent of all the people and senate of rome ; and charles the great , king of france , and of germanie , was crowned emperor of the west , and so hath that succession remained unto this day , and many worthy men have succeeded therein , and infinite acts of jurisdiction have been exercised by this authoritie ; which were all unjust and tyrannical , if this change of the empire , and deposition of irene and her son for their evil government had not been lawful . examples out of france . childerick . 3d. childerick 3d. king of france , for his evil government and faineantise , was deposed by zacharie the pope , at the request of the whole nobilitie and clergie of france , who alleaged , that their oath to childrick was to honor , serve , obey , maintain , and defend him against all men ; as long as he was just , religious , valiant , clement , and would resist the enemies of the crown , punish the wicked , and conserve the good , and defend the christian faith ; which being not observed on his part , they ought not be bound to him any longer , nor would not be any longer his subjects : and so chose and crowned pepin in his place , whose posteritie reigned for many years after him , and were such noble kings as all the world can testifie . charles of lorrayne . charles of lorrayne , last of the race of pepin , for the evil satisfaction that the french nation had of him , was by the authoritie of the common-wealth put by the crown ; and hugo capetus preferred to it ; whose line hath remained and possessed it unto this day . examples out of spain . flaveo suintila . flavius suintila king of spain , was , both he and his posteritie put down and deprived , in the fourth council national of toledo , and one lissinando confirmed in his place . alonso , 11th . don alonso 11th . king of castile and leon , son to ferdinand the saint , for his evil government , and especially for tyrannie used towards two nephews of his , was deposed of his kingdom by a publick act of parliament in the town of valliodolid , after he had reigned 30 years ; and his own son , don sancho 4th . was crowned in his place ; who for his valiant acts was sirnamed elbravo , and it turned to great commoditie to the common-wealth . pedro . don pedro the cruel , son to alonso 12th . having reigned 18. years , was for his injurious government , dispossessed of his crown by king henry his bastard brother , whom the states of the country had called out of france , and crowned : and though pedro was restored again by the black prince of wales , yet god shewed to favor more henry , because he returned and deprived pedro the second time , and slew him in fight hand to hand ; and being set up in his place ( which his progenie hath enjoyed to this day ) he proved so excellent a king , as he was called el cavallero , and el delas mercees , the knightlie and bountiful king . don sancho , 2d . don sancho gapelo , lawful king of portugal , having reigned 34. years , was deprived for his defects in government by the universal consent of all portugal , and approbation of a general council at lyons , pope innocentius the fourth , being there present , who did authorise the said state of portugal , at their petition , to put in supreme government , don alonso , brother to the said sancho , who was earl of boulongne in picardie by the right of his wife : which among other great exploits , was the first that set portugal free from all subjection and homage to the kingdom of castile , which unto his time it had acknowledged . greece . michael calaphates , and nicephorus botoniates . michael calaphates , emperor of greece , for having troden the cross of christ under his feet , and being otherwise also a wicked man , was deprived : as was also the emperor nicephorus botoniates for his dissolute life , and preferring wicked men to authoritie . polonia . henry . 3d. in our dayes henry 3d. king of france , was deprived of the crown of polonia , ( wherof he had also been crowned king before ) by publick act of parliament , for his departing thence without license , and not returning at the day denounced by publick letters of peremptory commandment . suetia . henry . henry late king of suëtia , was put down and deprived by that common-wealth , and his brother made king in his place , whose son reigneth at this day , and is also king of polonia : and this fact was allowed by the emperor , the king of denmark , and all the princes of germanie , neer about that realm . denmark . cisterne . cisterne king of denmark , for his intollerable crueltie , was deprived and driven into banishment , together with his wife and three children ; and his uncle frederick prince of holsatia , was chosen king , whose progenie yet remaineth in the crown . england . king john . king john of england , for his evil government , and for having lost normandie , gasconie , guyenne , and all the rest which the crown of england had in france , made himself so odious and contemptible , as first he was both excommunicated and deposed by the pope at the sute of his own people ; and , to make his peace , was enforced to resign his crown in the hands of pandulfe the pope's legat ; and afterwards falling back again to his old defects , though by making his kingdom tributarie in perpetuum to the see of rome , he had made the pope of his side for a time ; the people notwithstanding did effectuate his deprivation the 18th . year of his reign , first at canterbury , and after at london ; and called lewis prince of france , son to phillip 2d . and father to saint lewis , and chose him for their king , and did swear him fealtie with general consent in london . anno 1216. but king john's death following presentlie after , made them turn their purposes , and accept of his son henry , before matters were fully established for lewis ; and this henry , which was 3d. of that name , proved a very worthie king ; and reigned 53. years , which is more than ever king in england did , leaving edward 1. his son heir , not inferior to himself in manhood and virtue . edward , 2d . but this edward 1. had a son edward 2d . who falling into the same or worse defects than king john had done , was after 19. years reign deposed also by act of parliament holden at london the year 1326. appointed to be called edward of carnarvam from that hour forward , and his bodie adjudged to perpetual prison , where at length his life was taken away from him in the castle of barkley : and his son edward 3d. was chosen in his place ; who either for valor , prowess , length of reign , acts of chivalrie , or the multitude of famous princes his children left behind him , was one of the noblest kings that ever england had . richard , 2d . richard the 2d . son to the black prince of wales , for having suffered himself to be misled by evil counsellers , to the great hurt and disquietness of the realm , was deposed also , after 22. years reign by a parliament holden at london the year , 1399. and condemned to perpetual prison in the castle of pomfret , where he was soon after put to death : and in his place was by free election chosen the noble knight , henry * duke of lancaster , who proved afterwards so notable a king , as the world knoweth . henry , 6th . henry 6th . after almost 40. years reign , was deposed , imprisoned , and put to death also , together with his son the prince of wales , by edward 4th . of the house of york : and this was confirmed by the * commons , and afterwards also by publick act of parliament , because the said henry did suffer himself to be over-ruled by the queen his wife , and had broken the articles of agreement made by the parlament between him and the duke of york , and solemnly sworn on both sides the 8th . of octob. 1459. ( though otherwise for his particular life he were a good man ) and king edward 4th . was put in place , who was one of the renownedest for martial acts and justice , that hath worn the english crown . richard , 3d. this man having left two sons , his brother richard duke of glocester put them to death , and being the next heir male , was authorised in the crown , but deposed again afterwards by the common-wealth , which called out of france , henry earle of richmond , who took from him both life and kingdom in the field , and was king himself by the name of henry 7. and no man , i suppose , will say , but that he was lawfully king also ; which yet cannot be , except the other might lawfully be deposed . if the said deprivations were unjust , the now pretences are unlawful . moreover is to be noted in all these mutations what good hath succeeded therein to the common-wealth ; which was unjust , and is void at this day , if the changes and deprivations of the former princes could not be made , and consequently none of these that do pretend the crown of england at this day , can have any title at all for that from those men they discend , who were put in place of the deprived . if kings established may be deprived , much sooner pretenders . and if this might be so in kings lawfully set in possession , then much more hath the said common-wealth power and authoritie to alter the succession of such as do pretend dignitie , if there be due reason and causes to the same . wherein consisteth principally the lawfulness of proceedings against princes , which in the former chapter is mentioned : what interest princes have in their subjects goods or lives ; how oaths do binde or may be broken by subjests towards princes ; and finally the difference between a good king and a tyrant . cap. iv. 1. objection against the assertions in the last chapter . but although by nature the common-wealth hath authoritie over the prince to chuse and appoint him at the beginning ; yet having once made him , and given up all their authoritie unto him , he is no more subject to their correction ; but remaineth absolute of himself . as every particular man hath authorised to make his master or prince of his inferior , but not afterwards to put him down again , howsoever he beareth himself towards him . 2. objection . when the children of israël , being under the government of the high priest , demanded a king of samuel ; he protesting unto them , well , quoth he , you will have a king , hearken then to this that i will say , hoc erit jus regis qui imperaturus est vobis ; he shall take away from you your children , both sons and daughters , your fields and vineyards , &c. and shall give them to his servants , and you shall cry unto god in that day from the face of this your king ; and god shall not hear you , for that you have demanded a king to govern over you . assertions of bellay . yea bellay , and some other that wrote in flatterie of princes in these our days , do not only affirm , that princes are lawless and subject to no accompt or correction whatsoever they do ; but also , that all goods , chattels , possessions , and whatsoever else commodities temporal of the common wealth , are properly the kings , and that their subjects have only the use thereof ; so as when the king will , he may take it from them by right . answer to bellay his first assertion . but for the first , that kings are subject to no law , is against the very institution of a common-wealth , which is to live together in justice and order : for if it holdeth so , insteed of kings and governors to defend us , we may set up publick murtherers , ravishers , theeves , and spoylers to devour us : then were all those kings before mentioned both of the jewes , gentiles , and christians , unlawfully deprived , and their successors unlawfully put up in their places ; and consequentlie all princes living at this day are intruders , and no lawful princes . answer to bellay his second assertion . of the second saying also , that all temporalities are properly the princes , and that subjects have only the use thereof , no less absurdities do follow : first it is against the very first principle and foundation of the civil law , which at the first entrance maketh this division of goods , that some are common by nature to all men , as the aër , the sea , &c. others are publick to all of one citie or countrie , but yet not common to all in general , as rivers , ports , &c. some are of the communitie of a citie or common-wealth , but yet not common to every particular person of that citie , as common rents , theaters , the publick hous , and the like : some are of none , nor properly of any man's goods , as churches and sacred things : and some are proper to particular men , as those which every man possesseth of his own . besides it overthroweth the whole nature of a common-wealth , maketh all subject to be but very slaves : for that slaves and bondmen in this do differ from freemen , that slaves have only the use of things without property or interest , and cannot acquire or get to themselves any dominion or true right in any thing , but it accreweth all to their master . lastly , if all goods be properly the king's , why was achab and jezabel so reprehended and punished by god , for taking away naboth's vineyard ? why do the kings of england , france and spain ask money of their subjects in parlament , and that termed by the names of subsidies , helps , benevolences , loans , prests , contributions , & c ? how have the parlament oftentimes denied them the same ? why are there judges appointed for matter of suits and pleas between the prince and the people ? why doth the canon law inhibit all princes upon pain of excommunication , to impose new impositions upon their people without great necessitie , and free consent of the givers ? nay , why be all princes at this day prohibited to alienate any thing of their own crown without consent of their people , if they be lords of all , and the people have interest in nothing ? answer to the allegations out of the prophet samuel . touching the words of samuel , they are not to allow or authorise injustice or wickedness in any king . but to threaten the jews with the disorders of kings , for that they rejected the moderate government of their high priests , and had demanded as a matter of more pomp and glorie to be ruled by kings , as other heathen nations about them were ; which did suffer great extortions and tyrannies of their said kings . for the principal points recorded to all princes throughout the whole course of scripture are , diligere judicium & justitiam , apprehendere disciplinam , & facere veritatem . and for not observing them , many princes have been punished by god himself . by what law princes are punished . now to know by what law the common-wealths do punish their kings ; it is by all law both divine and humane : divine , for that god doth approve that form , conditions , and limitations which every common-wealth doth chuse unto it self : humane , for that all law both natural , national , and positive doth teach us , that princes are subject to law and order . and it is not so of a common-wealth , as it is of a private man , because a private man's voice being but one , doth not make the prince wholly , as the common-wealth doth ; besides , having once given his voice , to make his prince , he remaineth subject and inferior to the same : but the whole bodie superior , who giving his authoritie up to the prince , doth not deprive her self of it , but may use it , when need shall require , for his own defence , for which he gave it . where one of the contractants breaketh , the other is no more bound . and then that power which the prince hath from the common-wealth , is in very truth but potestas vicaria or delegata , given with such restrictions , cautels , conditions , and oaths on both parts ( the prince and the common-wealth ) as if the same be not kept on either part , the other is not bound to observe his promise neither : and this is among the very rules of both the civil and canon law ; frustrà fidem sibi quis postulat servari ab eo , cui fidem à se praestitam servare recusat . and again , non abstringitur quis juramento ad implendum quod juravit , si ab aliâ parte non impletur cujus respectu praebuit juramentum . in things evil promised , oath bindeth not . moreover , where the fulfilling of our oath , doth contain any notable hurt , or inconvenience against religion , pietie , justice , honestie , or the weal-publick , or against the partie himself to whom it was made ; it is both lawful , honest , and convenient , to leave the performance thereof . as for example , in that herod commanded st. john baptists head to be cut off , which he did for his oaths sake to the daughter of herodias ; no man will deny but that the thing had been far better left unperformed , and the oath better broken than fulfilled ; according to another rule of the law , in malis promissis fidem non expedit observari . two principal cases when oaths hold not towards a prince . so in these two cases subjects oaths may be left unperformed towards the prince ; first , when the prince observeth not at all his promise made to the common-wealth at his admission : and then , when the performing of their oath should turn to the notable damage of the weal-publick . these two cases touched in the deprivation of childerick of france . these two cases were touched in the deposition of childerick , when the bishop of woitsburg , in the name of all the nobilitie and common-wealth of france , made this speech to zacharie the pope , truth it is that the french have sworn fidelitie to childerick , as to their natural king , but yet with condition that he on his part should also perform the points that are incident to his office ; as to defend the common-wealth , protect the church of christ , &c. which if he doth , the french are ready to continue their obedience and allegiance unto him ; but if he be apt for none of these things , and nothing else may be expected whilest he is king , but detriment to the state , ignominie to the nation , danger to christian religion , and destruction to the weal-publick ; then it is lawful for you , no doubt ( most holy father ) to deliver the french from this band of their oath , &c. the difference between a king and a tyrant . when a king declineth once from his dutie , he becometh a tyrant ; and as a good king's end and office is to make happie his common-wealth ; so the butt of a tyrant is to destroy the same : a king ruleth according to equitie , oath , conscience , justice , and law prescribed unto him ; and a tyrant is enemy to all these conditions : vt populo magistratus , ità magistratui praesunt leges , saith cicero , theodosius , and valentinianus , two worthie emperors ; digna vox est ( said they ) majestate regnantis legibus se alligatum fateri : but the tyrant caligula is justly detested , who said , memento mihi omnia , & in omnes licere . and the emperor trajan certainly is to be immortally commended , who delivering the sword to a praetor , or governor in rome , take this sword ( said he ) and if i do reign justly , use it for me ; and if not , then use it against me . which in effect and substance are the same words that our christian princes use at this day at their enterance when they promise to rule justly , and according to the laws of their country , and upon that condition take the oaths of their subjects obedience , protesting , that if they perform not this , that then their subjects are free , as before , from all allegeance . of the coronation of princes and manner of their admission to their authoritie , and the oaths which they do make in the same unto the common-wealth , for their good government . cap. v. since the people made the prince , it is likely he did it with conditions for his own good . forasmuch as not nature , but the election and consent of the people hath made the first princes from the beginning of the world ; it appeareth most certain and conform to all reason , that they were not admitted to that power and dignity without some conditions and promises also on their parts , for using it well ; because it is not likely that any people would ever put their lives , goods , and liberties in the hands of another , without some assurance of justice and equity : and hereof came to pass that both the romans and greecians prescribed to their kings those limits before mentioned . more religiously observed among christians , than other nations . and the more orderly the prince cometh to his crown , the more express and certain are their conditions between him and the people ; as on the other side , the more violent he getteth his authority ; as those ancient tyrants of assyria , nemrod and belus did , and at this day is done among the turks , the less conditions of just dealing may be expected : therefore among the christians this point of mutual oaths between prince and subjects , hath been much more established , made clear , and reduced to a more sacred and religious kinde of union , than before : for that the whole action hath been done by bishops and prelats , and the astipulation on both sides , hath passed and been regestred in sacred places , and with great solemnitie of religious ceremonies . the manner of admitting greek emperors . anastatius . the east , or greek emperors of constantinople ( after the empire was translated from rome thither by constantine the great , first christian emperor ) though their coming to the crown were nothing so orderly , as at this day it is used ; yet they were wont , above a thousand years agone , to have an oath exacted at their hands by the patriarch of constantinople . as of anastatius the first , writeth zonaras , antequam coronaretur , inquit , fidei confessionem scriptam , quâ polliceatur se in dogmatibus ecclesiasticis nihil esse novaturum , ab eo exegit patriarcha euphemius vir sanctus & orthodoxus . and divers other conditions also did he promise , before he could be crowned , as the taking away of some tributes , the giving of offices without money , and other like points appertainting to reformation and good government . michaël . of michael the first , writeth the same author in these words , michaël ubi diluxit , magnam ecclesiam ingressus , à patriarcha nicephoro imperatorio diademate est ornatus , postulato priùs scripto quo promitteret , se nulla ecclesiae instituta violaturum , neque christianorum sanguine manus contaminaturum . the latine emperors . otho . 1. in the west empire ( given to charles the great and his posteritie ) this point is yet more settled , and more inviolably kept : for albeit it went by succession for the most part at the beginning , yet were they never admitted to the same without this circumstance of swearing to conditions of righteous government : as otho 1. who being son and heir to emperor henry 1. duke of saxonie , sirnamed the faulkner , and named by him to the inheritance of the said crown of germanie , did nevertheless make his oath , and received his new approbation of the people : for the archbishop of moguntia ( chief primate of all germanie ) bringing him to the altar where he must swear , said these words unto the people , behold , i bring you here otho , chosen by god , and appointed out by his father henry our lord , and now made king by all the princes of this empire ; if this election please you , do you signifie the same by holding up your hands to heaven . which being done , he thereupon tooke the ornaments and ensigns of the empire , and put them upon the emperor , telling him the signification of each thing , and what it did binde him unto , and taking his promise to perform all . and after all , includeth the storie , rex perfusus oleo sancto , coronatur diademate aureo ab episcopis , & ab eisdem ad solium regale ducitur , & in eo collocatur . institution and manner of the emperor's creation , used at this day . in the year 996. pope grerory 5. in a synod holden in rome , did by the consent of otho 3. emperor and nephew unto this other otho , appoint this form of election for the time to come of the germane emperors , that he should be chosen by six princes of germanie ; three ecclesiastical , which are the archbishops of moguntia , colen , and trevires ; and three temporal , to wit , the duke of saxonie , the count palatine of the rhene , and the marquess of brandeburge : and when these six voices should happen to be equally divided , that then the duke of bohemia ( for then it was no kingdom ) should have place also to determine the election : which was approved by all the princes of germanie , and other christian princes and estates of the world . and sleydan writeth the manner and conditions of the said election to be these ▪ first of all , that after any man is chosen emperor , he is to be called only caesar , and the king of the romans , and not emperor until he be crowned ; and presently after his election , he sweareth these conditions , to defend the christian and catholick religion ; to defend the pope and church of rome , whose advocate he is ; to minister justice equally to all ; to follow peace , to keep all laws , rights and priviledges of the empire ; not to alienate or engage the possessions of the empire ; to condemne no man without hearing his cause , but to suffer the course of law to have his place ; in all and whatsoever he shall do otherwise , that it be void , and of no validitie at all . whereunto he sweareth first by his legates , and then giveth a coppie of his oath in writing to every one of the six electors , and after this goeth to the citie of aquis-gran to be crowned in the great church , where , about the middle of the mass , the archbishop of colen goeth unto him in the presence of all the people , and asketh whether he be ready to swear and promise to observe the catholick religion , defend the church , minister justice , protect the widdows and fatherless , and yield dutiful honor and obedience to the pope of rome . whereunto he answering , that he is ready to do all this ; the archbishop leadeth him to the high altar , where he sweareth in express all these articles ; which being done , the said archbishop turning himself to the princes of the empire and people there present , doth ask them , whether they be content to swear obedience and fealtie unto him , who answering , yea ; he is anointed by the said archbishop before the altar ; and then do come the other two archbishops of moguntia and treveris , and lead him into the vesterie , where certain deacons apparel him in his robes , and do set him in a chair , upon whom the archbishop of colen saith certain prayers , and then delivereth him a sword drawn , and putteth a ring upon his finger , and giveth him a scepter in his hand , and then all the three archbishops together do put on the crown upon his head , and leading him so crowned and apparelled unto the high altar again , he sweareth the second time , that he will do the part of a good christian and catholick emperor . which being ended , he is brought back and placed in the imperial seat and throne , where all the princes of the empire do swear obedience and faith unto him , beginning with the electors , and so to all the rest in order . and it is to be marked , that the emperor sweareth three times , once by his deputies , and twice by himself , before his subjects swear once unto him . the manner used in polonia . in polonia , which being first a dukedom , was made a kingdom about the year 1000 , the manner of the coronation of their kings , is in substance the same , as that of the emperor : for the archbishop of guesna , metropolitan of all polonia , declareth to the king before the high altar , the end and condition of his office and dignitie , unto what points he must swear , and what do signifie the sword , the ring , the scepter , and the crown : and the king's oath thereupon being taken , the marshal general of the whole kingdom , doth ask with a loud voice of all the nobilitie and people there present , whether they be content to submit themselves unto this king , or no ? who answering , yea ; the archbishop doth end the residue of the ceremonies , and doth place him in the royal throne , where all his subjects do homage unto him . the manner used in spain before the entring of the moors . sisinandus . when spain remained yet one general monarchie under the gothes , before the entring of the moors , sissinandus ( who had expelled king suintila for his cruel government ) in the fourth national council of toledo , holden the year 633. prayed with submission the prelats there gathered together , to determine that which should be needful for the maintaining both of religion and state : and so after matters of religion ▪ they first confirm the deposition of king suintila , together with his wife , brother , and children ; and then authorise the title of sissinandus : but yet with this insinuation ; we do require you that are our present king , and all other our princes that shall follow hereafter with the humilitie which is meek and moderate towards your subjects , and that you govern your people in justice and pietie , and that none of you do give sentence alone against any man in case of life and death , but with the consent of your publick council , and with those that be governors in matters of judgment : and against all kings that are to come , we do promulgate this sentence , that if any of them shall against the reverence of our laws ▪ exercise cruel authoritie with proud domination and kinglie pomp , following only their own concupisence in wickedness , that they are condemned by christ with the sentence of excommunication , and have their separation both from him and us to everlasting judgment . chintilla . sissinandus being dead , one chintilla was made king in his place ; under whom were gathered two other councils , the 5th . and 6th . of toledo , in which matters were determined about the succession to the crown , safetie of the prince , provision for his children , friends , officers , and favorites after his death , against such , as without the approbation of the common-wealth , did aspire to the same . and among other points a severe decree was made in the 6th . council , concerning the king's oath at his admission , that he should not be placed in the royal seat , until among other conditions he had promised by the sacrament of an oath , that he would suffer no man to break the catholick faith , &c. after the entring of the moors . don pelago . after the coming in of the moors , one don pelago , a yong prince of the royal blood of the gothes being fled among the rest to the mountains , was found and made king ; and having began the recovery of spain , by the getting of leön , left a certain law written in the gotish tongue touching the manner of making their king in spain , and how he must swear to their liberties and priviledges : whereof the first article saith , before all things it is established for a law , libertie , and priviledge of spain , that the king is to be placed by voices , and consent perpetually ; and this to the intent no evil king may enter without consent of the people , seeing they are to give to him that which with their blood and labors they have gained of the moors . for the fashion of making their kings in that old time , it remaineth still in substance at this day , but the manner thereof is somwhat altered ; for now the spanish kings be not crowned , but have another ceremonie for their admission equal to coronation , which is performed by the archbishop of toledo , primate of all spain . manner used in france . two manners thereof . in france have been two manners used of that action ; the one more antient hath endured 600. years , from clodoveus , ( that was christned , and anointed also and crowned at rheims by s. remigius ) unto the time of henry 1. and philip 1. his son , before the 12. peers of france were appointed to assist the coronation , which now is the chiefest part of that solemnitie . in the old fashion , as saith du haillan , the kings were lifted up and carried about upon a target by the chief subjects there present , according to the manner of the spaniards . but for the substance of the admission it was not much different from that which is now . the old manner . philip , 1. for example , the coronation of philip 1. henry 1. his father desiring for his old age to establish him in the crown before his death , did ask the consent and approbation both generally , and in particular of the nobility and people , for his admission : whom finding all willing , he brought him to rheims , where in the great church , the mass being began , upon the reading of the epistle , the archbishop turning about the prince , declared unto him what was the catholick faith , and asked him , whether he did beleeve it , and would defend it against all persons ; who affirming that he would , his oath was brought unto him , whereunto he must swear ; which he took , and holding his hands between the hands of the archbishop , read it with a loud voice , and signed it with his own hand : the substance of the oath was , that he would preserve unto the clergie all canonical priviledges , and all law and justice unto them ; as every king was bound to do ; and furthermore administer justice unto all people given him in charge . then the archbishop taking his cross , after he had shewed unto all the audience the authoritie that the archbishop of rheims had to anoint and crown the king of france , and asked license of king henry the father , il esleut philippe son fili pour & en roy de france ? which the popes legats , and the nobility , and people did approve , crying out three times , nous l'approvvons , nous le voalons , soit fait nôtre roy . institution of the newest manner . this manner was altered specially by * louysle jeune , who , leaving still the substance of the action , added thereunto divers external ceremonies of honor and majestie ; and amongst other ordeined the offices of twelve peers of france , six ecclesiastical , and six temporal ; who ever since have had the chiefest places and offices in this great action . first , the archbishop and duke of rheims anointeth and crowneth the king . the bishop and duke of laon , beareth the glass of sacred oyl . the bishop and duke of langres , the cross . the bishop and earle of beauvais , the mantle royal. the bishop and earle of koyon , the king's girdle . the bishop and earle of chaalons , the ring . the duke of burgundie , dean of the order , holdeth the crown . the duke of gasconie and guyenne , the first banner quartered . the duke of normandie , the second banner quartered . the earle of tholosa , the golden spurs . the earle of champanie , the banner royal , or standard of war . the earle of flanders , the sword royal. and this day the king is apparrelled three times , and in several sorts ; 1. as a priest ; 2. as a king , and a warrier ; 3. as a judge . philip , 2d . this day lewis , specially for the coronation of his son philip agustus , whom he caused also to be crowned in his dayes : in this coronation ( whereunto henry 2. of england , as duke of normandie , who held the crown , and one of his sons , as duke of gasconie , were present ) the king being summoned by the archbishop to keep all priviledges of the church , law and justice ; answered , i do promise and avow to every one of you , and to every church to you committed , that i will keep and maintain all canonical priviledges , law and justice due to every man , to the uttermost of my power , and by god's help shall defend you as a good king is bound to do in his realm . and then laying his hands upon the gospel , made his oath , in these words , au nom de jesus christ , re jure & promets au peuple chrestien à moy subject ces choses , &c. first that all my subjects be kept in the union of the church , and i will defend them from all excess , rapine , extortion , and iniquitie ; secondly , i will take order that in all judgments justice shall be kept with equitie and mercie , to the end that god of his mercy may conserve unto me with yo● my people , his holy grace and mercie ; thirdly , i shall endeavor as much as possibly shall lie in me , to chase and drive out of my realm , and all my dominions , all such as the church hath or shall declare for hereticks , as god shall help me and his holy gospels : then he kissed the gospels , and after te deum sung , and other particular prayers said by the archbishop , he was vested , and the ring , scepter , crown , &c. were put upon him , with declaration what they signified : after all that the archbishop and bishops did bless him ; and then by the said archbishop , and the other peers , was led unto the seat royal , where the crown was put upon his head , &c. france author of this manner of coronation . albeit the substance of the ceremonie of sacring and anointing kings be much elder than the christian kingdom of france ; yet is this particular and majestical manner of doing it by way of coronation , the most antient in france above all other kingdoms , round about : and it is probable that most of them have taken their forms of anointing and crowning from her , for the affinitie and likeness of the one to the other : as may be seen by that of germanie and polonia before recited ; by that of navarra , brought in by certain earles of champanie , according to the use of france ; and others : but among all , england seemeth to have taken it most particularly from them , not only for that divers english kings have come out of france , but also for that in very deed the thing it self is all one in both nations . the manner of admission in england . first , as the archbishop of rheims doth this ceremony in france , so in england the archbishop of canterbury ; and the first thing the said archbishop requireth at the king's hands , is about religion , church matters , and the clergie ; whereupon the king sweareth , and giveth up his oath in writing , which he laieth down with his own hands upon the altar : the words are these ; that he will , during his life , have reverence and honor unto almightie god , and to his catholick church , and unto his ministers , and that he will administer law and justice equally to all , and take away all unjust laws . which after he hath sworn , the archbishop turning about to the people , declareth what the king hath promised , and asketh , whether they be content to submit themselves unto this man as unto their king or no , under the conditions proposed ? whereunto having yielded , he put's upon him the royal ornaments , as the sword , the ring , the scepter , and crown ; and namely he giveth him the scepter of st. edward the confessor , and then addeth this exhortation , stand and hold thy place , and keep thy oath ; with a great commination on the behalf of almightie god , if he taketh the place , and breaketh his oath . henry , 4th . in the admission of henry 4. the people were demanded thrice , whether they were content to admit him for their king ? and the archbishop of canterbury having read unto them what this new king was bound by oath unto , he took the ring , wherewith to wedd him to the common-wealth , ( which wedding importeth a mutual obligation ) which was shewed to the people by the high constable , and then put upon the king's finger , who kissed the constable in sign of acceptance , &c. edward , 4th . edw. 6th . mary . elisab . in the admission of edward 4th . the peoples consent was asked at two several times very solemnly , notwithstanding that he had proved his title by succession before in parliament . and in the coronation of edward 6. queen mary , and queen elisabeth's , the peoples consent and their acceptation was not only demanded , but the princes corporal oath also taken upon the evangelists . what is due to only succession by birth , and what interest or right an heir apparent hath to the crown , before he be crowned or admitted by the common-wealth ; and how justly he may be put back , if he have not the other parts requisite also . cap. vi . belloy's assertions upon this matter . assertion , first . belloy's assertions about this matter are plain and gross flatteries , and opposite to all reason of state , and practise of the world . first he saith . that all families which enjoy kingdoms in the world were placed therein by god only , and that he alone can change the same . which indeed if he refer unto god's universal providence , it is true that all is from god either by his ordinance or permission ; but speaking of the next and immediate causes ; clear it is that men do also concur therein , and that god hath left them lawful authoritie so to do for the publick benefit . assertion , second . his second assertion is , that where such princes be once placed in government , and the law of succession by birth established , there the princes children , or next of kinn , do necessarily succeed , by only birth , without any new choice or approbation of the people , nobilitie , or clergie , or of the whole common-wealth together . assertion , third . whereunto he joyneth , that a king never dieth , for that whensoever , or howsoever , he ceaseth by any means to govern , then entereth the successor by birth , not as heir to the former , but as lawful governor of the realm , without any admission at all , having his authoritie only by the condition of his birth , and not by adoption or choice of any . assertion , fourth . the fourth which hath been touched before , is , that a prince once entered to government , and so placed , as hath been said , is under no law or restraint at all of his authoritie , but that himself only is the quiek and living law , and that no limitation can be given unto him by any power under heaven , except it be by his own will , and that no nation or common-wealth can appoint or prescribe how they will obey , or how their prince shall govern them ; but must leave his authoritie free from all bands of law ; and this either willingly , or by violence , is to be procured . assertion , fifth . the fifth , that albeit the heir apparent which is next by birth to any crown , should be never so impotent , or unfit to govern ; as if ( for examples sake ) he should be deprived of his senses , madd , furious , lunatick , a fool , or the like ; or that he should be known on the other side to be most malicious , wicked , vitious , or abhominable , or should degenerate into a very beast ; yea if it were known that he should go about to destroy the common-wealth , and drown the ship which he had to guide ; yet ( saith this man ) he must be sacred and holie unto us , and admitted without contradiction to his inheritance , which god and nature hath laid upon him , and his direction , restraint , or punishment must only be remitted to god alone , for that no man , or common-wealth , may reform , or restrain him . succession by birth , better than meer election . indeed succession is much to be preferred to election , for that , as hath been shewed before of the government of a monarchie in respect of other forms , succession hath commonly far fewer , and lesser inconveniences . reason , first . first , election is subject to great and continual dangers of ambition , emulation , division , sedition , and contention , which bring with them evident peril of universal destruction ; whereas by succession these occasions of strife are cut off . reason , second . besides , the prince is in present possession , knowing that his son , or next of kinn , is to be his heir , hath more care to leave the realm in good order . reason , third . succession also bringeth less mutations in the common-wealth ; for that the son following his father , doth commonly retain the same friends , counsellors , and servants ; pursueth the same actions and intentions , and for the most part with the same manner ; whereas he which entereth by election , being an alien , and never likely friend to his predecessor , doth alter and turn up-side-down all things . reason , fourth . fourthly , he that cometh by succession , having been much respected still for his title to the crown , bringeth with him less passions of hatred , emulation , anger , envie , or revenge against particular men , than he that entreth by election , who having been equal to others before his advancement , and holden contention with many , must needs have matter of quarrel with them ; which he will seek to revenge when he is in authoritie : and they on the other side will bear him less respect , and more unwillingly be under him . reason , fifth . whereunto may be added the preeminence and priviledge of premogeniture and ancestrie of birth so much respected and commanded by holy writ ; so that although jacob were ordained by god to inherit the benediction , yet would god have him to procure the said priviledge of eldership from esau his elder brother . wherein may also be noted , that yet this priviledg is not so inviolable , but that upon just causes it may be broken : and so in matters of state it was often practiced by god himself ; as when juda , the 4th tribe , and not ruben the first , was appointed to enjoy the scepter of the jews ; and when solomon tenth son of david was appointed to be his successor , not his first or second . election and succession do help one another . and so , where in succession , there are inconveniencies , as some be or may fall , the remedie is , first to assist the prince with directions , and wise counsel , if he be capable thereunto ; if not to remove him , and take in another of the same blood , in his place . and by this means election and succession do help and moderate one another , and remedie one anothers inconveniencies . answer to the first question propounded at the beginning . now to the first question made at the beginning of this chapter , what is due to succession or prioritie of blood alone ? great honor and respect is to be born unto the same , for that it is the principal condition that leadeth infallibly to the next succession of the crown ; if in the same person do concur also other necessary circumstances and conditions , which were appointed at the same time , and by the same authoritie that the law of succession was established . answer to the second . to the second , what interest an heir apparent hath to the crown before he be crowned ; if he have the conditions before required , he hath the same interest to the kingdom , which the king of the romans , or caesar hath to the germane empire after his election ; who yet is not emperor before he be crowned . or as in a contract of marriage there is betrothing made between the parties by words de futuro , and is not properly marriage , but espousal only ; and the wedding , made by words de praesenti , or by mutual present consent of both parties . so an heir apparent , before he be crowned and admitted , is but betrothed to the common ▪ wealth for the time to come ; and is married afterwards by present mutual consent and oaths of both parties . what respect is due to an heir apparent . wherefore the common-wealth in rigor of justice oweth no alleageance to the heir apparent ( though his predecessor be dead ) until he be crowned ; because indeed till then he is not their true king and sovereign ; els it were in vain to ask the realm again three times at their coronation , whether they will have such a king or no ? and in the old time they were accustomed to reckon the years of their reign only from the day of their coronation . but in the latter ages , for avoiding of tumults , and better keeping of order , it hath been ordained , that from the death of the former princes all matters of government shall pass in the name of his next successor . and for better accompt of years , that the beginning of his reign should be reckoned from the day of the death of his predecessor . a rare example of henry the fifth , who had fealtie done unto him before he was crowned . again , by that in all countries the subjects take their oaths only after the princes hath sworn , it appeareth that before they were not bound unto him by alleageance . and for the princes of england , it is expresly noted by english historiographers , that no allegeance is due unto them before they be crowned ; and that this priviledge happened only to henry the fifth , for his exceeding towardliness , and for the great affection of the people towards him ; to have homage done unto him before his coronation and oath taken . which , both polydore and stow do affirm never to have been offered before to any prince of england . admission is of more importance , and hath prevailed against right of succession . whence it is gathered , that the title of succession without the admission of the common-wealth , cannot make a lawful king : and that of the two , the second is of far more importance ; which may be proved by many examples : as of william rufus that succeeded the conqueror ; king henry the first his brother : king stephen's , king john's , and others , who by only admission of the realm , were kings against the order of succession . henry and edward the 4th . did found the best part , and most surest of their titles and the defence thereof , upon the election , consent , and good will of the people . and for this cause the most politick princes , that had any least suspicion of troubles about the title after their deaths , have caused their sons to be crowned in their own days . as hugh capetus robert his eldest son , and robert henry the first his second son , excluding his elder . henry also procured the same to philip the first his eldest son : and louys le gros unto two sons of his , first to philip , and after his death to louys the yonger : and this louys again unto philip 2. his son . the prince of spain is sworn alwaies and admitted by the realm during his father's reign . the same consideration also moved king david to crown his son solomon in his own days . and in england king henry 2. considering the alteration that the realm had made in admitting king stephen before him , against the order of lineal succession , and fearing that the like might happen also after him , caused his eldest son henry the third to be crowned in his life time ; so as england had two kings henry's living at one time with equal authoritie . how the next in succession by propinquitie of blood , hath oftentimes been put back by the common-wealth , and others further off admitted in their places , even in these kingdoms where succession prevaileth ; with many examples of the kingdoms of israël and spain . cap. vii . examples of the jews . saul . david elected to the prejudice of saul's sons . albeit god made saul a true and lawful king over the jews , and consequently also gave him all kinglie prerogatives ; whereof one principle is , to have his children succeed after him in the crown : yet he suffered not any of his generation to succeed him , but elected david , who was a stranger by birth , and no kinn at all to the deceased king , rejecting thereby from the crown , not only isboseth , saul's elder son , though followed for a time by abner capt. general of that nation , with eleven tribes ; but also jonathan his other son , who was so good a man , and so much praised in holy scripture . whereby it is evident that the fault of the father may prejudicate the son's right to the crown , albeit the son have no part in the fault . david . solomon , to the prejudice of adonias , and his brethren . david being placed in the crown by election , free consent , and admission of the people of israël ( though by motion and direction of god himself ) no man will deny , but that he had given him all kinglie priviledges and regalities , as among other the scripture testifieth that it was assured him by god , that his seed should reign after him ; yea , and that for ever : yet this was not performed to any of his elder sons , but only to solomon , his yonger and tenth son , who by the means and perswasions of queen bersabé his mother , and nathan the prophet , was chosen and made king by his father , to the prejudice of his elder , adonias , and the rest of his brethren : * whereby we are taught that these , and like determinations of the people , magistrates , and common-wealths , when their designments are to good ends , and for just respects and causes , are allowed also by god , and oftentimes are his own special drifts and dispensations , though they seem to come from man . jeroboam to the prejudice of roboam , solomon's son and heir . after solomon's death , rehoboam his son and heir coming to sichem , where all the people of israël were gathered , for his admission ; and having refused to yield to certain conditions for taking away of some hard and heavie impositions laid upon them by solomon his father , which the people had proposed unto him ; ten tribes of the twelve refused to admit him for their king , but chose one jeroboam his servant , a meer stranger , and of poor parentage , and god allowed thereof for the sins of solomon , leaving rehoboam over two tribes , and jeroboam over ten . god's dealing in his common-wealth , a president for all others . although we may say that in the jewish common-wealth god almightie did deal and dispose of things against the ordinary course of man's law , as best liked himself , whose will is more than law , and is to be limitted by no rule or law of man ; and therefore that these examples are not properly the act of a common-wealth , as our question demandeth ; yet are they well brought in , because they may give light to all the rest . for if god permitted and allowed this in his own common-wealth , that was to be the example and pattern of all others : no doubt but he approveth also the same in other realms , when just occasions are offered , either for his service , the good of the people and realm , or else for punishment of the sins and wickedness of some princes . examples of spain . four races of spanish kings . spain , since the expulsion of the romans , hath had three or four races of kings . the first is from the gothes , which began to reign about the year 416 , and endured by the space of 300. years , until spain was lost to the moors ; and to them the spaniard referreth all his old nobility . the second from don pelago , who after the invasion of the moors , was chosen king of austurias about the year 717. and his race continued adding kingdom to kingdom for the space of 300. years , until the year 1034. the third , from don sancho mayor , king of navarra , who having gotten into his power the earldoms of arragon and castilia , made them kingdoms , and divided them among his children ; and don fernando , his second son , king of castilia , sirnamed afterward the great , by marrying of the sister of don dermudo , king of leon and asturias , joyned all those kingdoms together ; and this race endured for 500. years , until the year 1549 ; when , for the fourth , the house of austria came in by marriage of the daughter and heir of don ferdinando , sirnamed the catholick ; which endureth until this day . the first race . for the first race , because it had express election joyned with succession , as by the councils of toledo it appeareth , it can yield no valuable examples for this place . the second race . don alonso , to the prejudice of don favila his children . in the second , though the law of succession by propinquitie of blood , was established ; yet many examples do testifie , that the next in blood was oftentimes put back by the common-wealth upon just causes . don pelago's son * being dead after two years reign only , none of his children , though he left divers , were admitted , ( because they were yong , and unable to govern ) but don alonso the catholick , his son in law , who for his valiant acts was sirnamed the great . don aurelio , and don silo , to the prejudice of don fruela and his children . to don alonso succeeded his son don fruela , who was first a noble king ; but for that he declined to tyrannie , and put to death wrongfully his own brother don vimerano , rarely beloved of the spaniards , he was himself put to death by them . and albeit he left two goodly lawful children , yet in hatred of the father , neither of them was admitted by the realm to succeed him ; but his cozen german don aurelio , brothers son to don alonso the catholick , who after six years reign dying without issue , a brother in law of his named don silo was admitted . don vermudo , to the prejudice of don alonso the chaste ; who nevertheless come's in again afterwards very happily . this don silo being also dead without issue , and the spaniards anger against don fruela being now wel asswaged , they admitted his aforesaid son don alonso the yonger , sirnamed the chaste ; though his reign for this time endured very little ; being put out by a bastard uncle of his don aluregado , with help of the moors ; who after six years reign dying also without issue , the matter came in deliberation again , whether don alonso the chaste , that lived hidden in a monasterie , should be admitted again , or rather his cozen german don vermudo , son to his uncle the prince vimerano , ( whom his father had slain ) the realm determined don * vermudo , though he were much farther off by propinquity of blood ; for that he was judged for the more valiant and able prince , than the other , who seemed to be made more acquainted with the life of monks , than of a king : neither do the historiographers of spain reprehend this fact of the realm . but king vermudo , after three years reign , being weary of a kingly life , and feeling some scruple of conscience that he had forsaken the life ecclesiastical , he resigned willingly the government unto his said cozen don alonso the chast , who after all his affliction , having been deprived four times , reigned yet 51. years , and proved the most valiant and excellent king that ever that nation had , both for his valor and other vertuous deeds ; and had great friendship with king charles the great of france , who lived in that time . don fruela , to the prejudice of don ordonio's children . don ordonio the second dying , left four sons and one daughter , and yet the state of spain displaced them all , and gave their kingdom to their uncle don fruela , second brother to their father ; and morales saith , that there appeareth no other reason hereof , but only for that these sons of the king deceased were yong , and not so apt to govern well the realm as their uncle was , [ and this notwithstanding that the said morales writeth , that at that time and before , the law of succession by propinquitie of blood , was so strongly confirmed , that the kingdom of spain was made an inheritance so intayled and tyed only to the next in blood as there was no possibility to alter the same . ] don alonso 4th . son to ordonio , to the prejudice of don fruela his children : and don ramiro , to the prejudice of the children of don alonso . and after a years reign , this king fruela being dead , and having left divers children at mans state , they were all put by the crown , and the eldest son of the aforesaid don ordonio the second , named don alonso the fourth , was chosen for king : who leaving afterward his kingdom , and betaking himself to a religious habit , offered to the common-wealth of spain his eldest son , named don ordonio , to be their king ; but they refused him , and took his brother , uncle to the yong prince , named don ramiro , who reigned 19. years , and was a most excellent king , and gained madrid from the moors . don sancho el gordo , to the prejudice of the yong son of ordonio the third . to ramiro the second , succeeded his elder son don ordonio the third , who after 7. years reign , albeit he left a son named , el enfante don vermudo , yet he was not admitted ; but his brother don sancho 1. sirnamed el gordo , uncle to the yong prince : and the reason of this alteration morales giveth , first that the said enfante was a little child , and not sufficient for government , and defence of the country . but yet after don sancho had reigned , and his son don ramiro the third , after him ; he was called and made king by the realm under the name of vermudo 2. who left after him don alonso 5. and he again his son don vermudo 3. who marrying his sister dona sancha ( that was his heir ) unto don ferinando , first earle and then king of castile , ( who was second son to don sancho * mayor king of navar ) he joyned by these means the kingdoms of leon and castile together , which were separated before : and so ended the line of don pelago , and entered the blood of navar . the third race . dona berenguela , to the prejudice of her elder sister dona blancha , and her son st. lewis of france . for the third race . prince lewis of france , who afterwards was king lewis 8. son to philip augustus having married dona blancha of spain , that was neece to king john of england by her mother-side ; [ upon these conditions on the part of king john , thereby to make peace with the french , that she should have for her dowry all those towns and countries which the said king philip had taken upon the english in normandie and gasconie ; and on the part of spain , that if the prince henry , ( only brother to the said lady blanch ) should die without issue , then she should succeed in the crown of spain ] got lewis 9. by her : and yet prince henry her brother dying without issue , both she and her son were put by , and excluded by the state of spain , against the evident right of succession , and propinquitie of blood ; and her yonger sister * dona berenguela was admitted . and the only reason they yielded thereof , was , not to admit strangers to the crown . don sancho el bravo , to the prejudice of his nephews don alonso , and hernando de la cerda . the prince of spain * don alonso , nephew to st. fernando , dying before the king his father , left two * sons , don alonso , and hernando de la cerda , whom the grand-father left commended to the realm , as lawful heirs apparent to the crown : yet for that one uncle of theirs , yonger brother to their father , named don sancho el * bravo was like to manage the matters of war better than they ; he was , by a general parlament , holden at segovia , 1276. made heir apparent of spain , and they put back , in their grand-father's time , and by his , and the realms consent . and this don sancho coming to the crown in the year 1284. the two princes were put in prison , but afterwards at the suit of philip 3. of france , their uncle , they were let out , and endued with certain lands , and also they remain unto this day : and of these do come the dukes of medina , celi , and all the rest of the house of cerda , which are of much nobilitie in spain at this time ; and king philip that reigneth , cometh of don sancho , the yonger brother . henry the bastard , and his race , to the prejudice of king petro , and his heirs . when don pedro the cruel , king of castile , was driven and his bastard brother henry 2. set up in his place , john of gant , duke of lancaster , having married dona constancia , the said king peter's daughter and heir , pretended by succession the said crown of castile , as indeed it appertained unto him ; but yet the state of spain denied it flatly , and defended it by arms , and prevailed against john of gand , as did also the race of henry the bastard against his lawful brother . and though in this third and principal discent of the kings of spain , when these changes happened , the matter of succession were most assuredly and perfectly established , yet no man will deny but that the kings of spain who hold by the latter titles at this day , be true and lawful kings . this king henry the bastard had a son named john the first , who succeeded him in the crown of spain , and married dona beatrix , daughter and heir of king ferdinando the first of portugal . but yet after the death of the said ferdinando , the states of portugal would never agree to admit the said juan for their king , for not subjecting themselves by that means to the castilians : and took rather a bastard brother of the said don ferdinando , named don juan , a youth of twenty years old ; whom they married afterward to the lady philippe , daughter of john of gand , by his first wife blancha , duchess and heir of lancaster , in whose right the kings of portugal and their discendents do pretend unto this day a certain interest to the house of lancaster . divers other examples out of the states of france , and england , for proof that the next in blood are somtimes put back from succession ; and how god hath approved the same with good success . cap. viii . though the crown of france never come to any stranger ; yet it changed twice in it self , and had three rancks . concerning the state of france , albeit since the entrance of their first king pharamond , they have never had any stranger come to wear their crown ; yet among themselves have they changed twice their whole lineage of kings , and have had three discents and races as well as the spaniards ; the first of pharamond , the second of pepin , and the third of capitus , which endureth unto this present . the first ranck . the first ranck shall be let pass , for that some perhaps may say that the common-wealth and law of succession was not then so well setled , as it hath been since , and also because it were too tedious to peruse all the three rancks , for the store that they may yield . examples of the second ranck . carloman against the law of succession , and the order of his father , parted equally the realm with his elder brother charles . pepin le bref , first king of the second race , left two sons , charles and carloman , and his states and kingdoms by succession unto the eldest ; charles the great . and albeit by that law of succession the whole kingdom of france appertained unto him alone ; yet the realm by his authoritie did part it equally between them two ; as gerard du haillan setteth down in these words , estant pepin decedé , les françois eslurent roy , charles & carloman ses fils , à la charge qu'ils partagerrient entr'evor egalement le roy . and the very same citeth belforest out of egenart , an ancient french writer . charlemayne preferred to his nephews against succession . after three years reign carloman dying , left many sons ; the elder whereof was named adalgise ; but belforest saith , that the lords ecclesiastical and temporal of france swore fidelitie and obedience to charles , without any respect or regard at all of the children of carloman , who yet by right of succession should have been preferred ; and paulus emilius a latine-writer saith , proceres regni ad carolum ultrà venientes , regem eum totius galliae salutârunt : whereby is shewed , that exclusion of the children of carloman was not by force or tyrannie , but by free deliberation of the realm . lewis 1. deposed charles le chauve , his fourth son admitted to the prejudice of his elder brothers . to charles the great succeeded lewis le debonnaire his only son ; who afterward , at the pursuit principally of his own three sons by his first wife , ( lothaire , pepin and lewis ) was deposed , and put into a monasterie . but coming afterward to reign again , his fourth son by his second wife , named , charles le chauve , succeeded him , against the right of succession due to his elder brother lothaire . louys 2. to the prejudice of his elder brethren ; and his bastards to the prejudice of his lawful sons . after charles le chauve came in louis le begue , his third son , the second beeing dead . and the eldest for his evil demeanure put by his succession . this lewis left by his wife adel trude daughter to king alfred of england , a little infant newly born ; and two bastard-sons of a concubine , louys * and carloman ; who , for that the nobles of france said , that they had need of a man to bee king , and not a childe , were , to the prejudice of the lawful successor , by the state chosen jointly for kings , and the whole realm was divided between them . and q. adeltrude with her childe fled into england , charles 4. to the prejudice of louys 5. and odo to the prejudice of charles 4. of these two bastards , carloman left a son , louis le faineant , which succeded unto him ; but for his slothful life and vicious behaviour was deprived , and made a monk in the abbey of st denis , where hee died . and in his place was chosen for king of france charles le * gros , emperor of rome , who likewise afterward was for his evil government by them deposed , and deprived not onely of the kingdom , but also of his empire , and was brought into such miserable penurie , as divers write hee perished for want . in his place was chosen odo earl of paris , and duke of angers , of whom came hugh capet . charles the simple to the prejudice of odo . but beeing soon wearie of this man's government , they deposed him as hee was absent in gasconie , and called charles * ( named afterward the simple ) out of england to paris , and restored him to the kingdom of france ; leaving onely to odo for recompence the state of aquitaine , with title of a duke . ralph 1. in the place of charles the simple . this charles through his simplicitie beeing allured to go to the castle of peronne in picardie , was made there prisoner , and forced to resign his kingdom unto ralph king of burgundie . and his queen algina , or ogen , daughter of king edward the elder , of england , fled with her little son lewis that shee had by him , into england unto her uncle k. adelstan . and charles through miserie died soon after , in the said castle of peronne . lewis d'outremer son to charles the simple established . but this ralph dying also three years after , the states of france called out of england lewis ( therefore named d'outremor ) , and crowned him ; and hee was a good king , and reigned 27 years . hugh capet to the prejudice of charles of lorrayne . louys d'outremer left two sons , lothaire , who succeeded him , and charles whom hee made duke of lorrayne : lothaire had a son named louys , who was king after him , but died without issue . and so the crown was to have gon by succession to his uncle charles . notwithstanding the states of france , for mislike they had of his person did put him by , and chose * hugo capetus earl of paris , who by approbation of the common-wealth was crowned , and his race endureth until this day . hugh capet his title not by usurpation . and all the french chronicles do justifie this title of hugo capetus against charles . nangis an ancient and diligent writer of the abbey of s. denis , defendeth it in these words : wee may not grant in any case that hugh capet may bee esteemed an invador or usurper of the crown of france , seeing the lords , prelates , princes and governors of the realm did call him to this dignitie , and chose him for their king and sovereign lord . upon which words belforest saith : for in very truth wee cannot by any other means defend the title of hugh capet from usurpation and felonie , then to justifie his coming to the crown by the consent and will of the common-wealth . a speech used by the ambassador sent from the states of france to charles of lorrayne , after his exclusion . here is to bee noted somwhat out of the speech , which the ambassador sent by the states of france , after their election of hugh capet , to charles of lorrayne , did use unto him as followeth : every man knoweth ( lord charles ) that the succession of the crown and realm of france , according to the ordinarie laws and rights of the same , belongeth unto you , and not unto hugh capet now our king ; but yet the very same laws which do give unto you this right of succession , do judg you also unworthie of the same , for that you have not endeavored hitherto to frame your life and manners according to the prescript of those laws , nor according to the use and custom of your countrey of france ; but rather have allied your self with the germane nation , our old enemies , and have acquainted your self with their vile and base manners . wherefore seeing you have forsaken and abandoned the ancient virtue , sweetness and amitie of the french , wee have also abandoned and left you ; and have chosen hugh capet for our king , and have put you back ; and this without any scruple or prejudice of our consciences at all ; esteeming it far better and more just to live under hugh capet the present possessor of the crown , with enjoying the antient use of our laws , customs , privileges and liberties , than under you , the inheritor by nearness of blood , in oppression , strange customs , and crueltie . for even as those which are to make a voiage in a ship upon a dangerous sea , do not so much repent , whether the pilot which is to guide the stern bee owner of the ship or no , but rather whether hee bee skilful , valiant , and like to bring them in safetie to their way's end , or to drown them among the waves : even so our principal care is , that wee have a good prince to lead and guide us happily in the way of civil and politick life , which is the end why princes were appointed . for that this man is fitter to bee our king . and so charles was excluded , and the frenchmen thought themselvs secure in conscience for doing the same ; which god also hath seemed to confirm with the succession and happie success of so many noble and most christian kings as have issued out of this line of hugo capetus unto this day . examples of the third rank . henry 1. to the prejudice of his elder brother robert . in this third line , robert , hugh ▪ capet his son , who succeeded him , had two sons , robert and henry ; whereof the younger was admitted , and robert put back ; partly becaus hee was but a simple man in respect of henry , and partly for that henry was greatly favored and assisted in this pretence by robert duke of normandie . lewis 6. like to bee dis-inherited for the hatred of his father k. philip 1. when philip 1. son to this henry was deceased , the people of france were so offended with his evil life and government , as that his son louis le gros was like to bee dis-inherited for his sake ; if som of his partie had not caused him to bee crowned in hast , and out of order at orleans , for preventing the matter . charles 8. for his father lewis xi . so the state of france had once determined , to put back charles ( afterwards the eight ) from his succession , for the hatred they bare to his father lewis the xi . if the said father had not died while the other was very young . examples of england . divers changes of races in england . for england , it hath had as great varietie and changes in the race of their kings , as any realm in the world . for first , after the britains it had the romans ; of whose , and their own blood , they had kings again of their own : after this they had them of the saxon and english blood ; and after them of the danes ; and then of the normans ; and after them again of the french ; and last of all , it seemeth to have returned to the britains again in k. henry 7. for that his father came of that race . examples before the conquest . egbert 1. before his nearer in blood . to pass over the ancient ranks of the british , roman and saxon races , until egbert king of the west-saxons , and almost of the rest of england besides ( who therefore is said to bee properly the first monarch of the saxon blood , and first commanded that realm to bee called england , as ever since hath been observed ) this man egbert beeing for his prowess in jealousie to his king britricus , was by him banished into france , where he lived a captain under the famous king pepin , till that britricus dying , hee returned into england ; where , though hee were not the next by propinquitie of blood , yet , as polydor saieth , omnium consensu rex creatur ; and proved the most excellent king that ever before the saxons had . adelstan , bastard-brother , to the prejudice of his his lawful edmond , and aldred . this egbert left a son , named elthelwolfe , or adelwulfe , or edolf , who succeeded him ; and had four sons , ethelbald , ethelbert , ethelred , and alfred ; who were all kings one after another ; and for the most part most excellent princes , specially alfred the last of all , whose acts bee wonderful : hee left a son as famous as himself , which was edward the elder : who dying , left two lawful sons , edmond and aldred , and one illegitimate , named adelstan ; which being esteemed to bee of more valor then the other two , was preferred to the crown before them ; and was a prince of worthie memorie . hee brought england into one perfit monarchie , having expelled utterly the danes , and quieted the welchmen : conquered scotland , and brought their k. constantine to do him homage . restored also luys d'outremer his nephew to the kingdom of france . aldred to the prejudice of his nephews edwin and edgar . this adelstan dying without issue , his lawful brother edmond was admitted , who left two sons edwin and edgar ; but for that they were yong , they were put back , and their uncle aldred preferred , who reigned with the good will and prais of all men . edgar to the prejudice of his elder brother edwin . aldred dying without issue , his elder nephew edwin was admitted to the crown ; but yet four years after hee was deposed again for his leud and vitious life , and his younger brother edgar admitted in his place , who was one of the rarest princes that the world had in his time . stow saith hee kept 3600 ships in this realm . canutus dane , to the prejudice of edmond and edward , englishmen . this edgar had by his first wife ( egilfred ) edward , called the martyr ; and by his second ( alfred ) etheldred : which alfred , to the end that her son might reign , caused edward to be slain ; and so etheldred came to the crown , though with much contradiction moved in hatred specially of the murther of his brother . this etheldred was driven out of this kingdom by sweno king of the danes , who possessed the realm ; and dying left a son , canutus ; with whom , etheldred returning after the death of sweno , made an agreement and division of the realm ; and so died , leaving his eldest * son edmund iron-side to succeed him ; who soon after dying also , left two sons , edmund and edward , but the whole realm to canutus , who pretended it to be his by a covenant made between iron-side and him , that the longest liver should have all : and so with the realm took the two children , and sent them over into swethland . and was admitted not only by the consent of the realm , but allowed also by the sea of rome . and he lived and proved an excellent good king , and after twenty years reign died much mourned by the englishmen . harald bastard , preferred to his lawful brother hardicanutus . this canutus left a base son , named harald , and a lawful one , named hardicanutus . but harald was by the more part of voices chosen before his lawful brother . hardicanutus preferred before his neerer in blood . after the death of harald , hardicarnutus was chosen , without any respect , either to edward the confessor & alured , sons to etheldred , that were in normandy ; or to edmond and edward , sons to his son iron-side , that were in sweathland , though in proximitie of blood they were before him . alured and edward the confessor , before edmond and edward , their eldest brother's sons . but this hardicanutus dying without issue , alured second son to etheldred by his second wife , against the priority both of his brother , and his nephews , that were in swethland , was called to be king ; but being murthered by the way by goodwin the earl of kent , his elder brother edward the confessor was admitted yet before edmond and edward sons to his elder brother iron-side ; and the said edward the confessor was a most excellent prince , and reigned in peace , almost twenty years . harald 2. to the prejudice of edgar . edward being dead without issue , the states made a great consultation , whom they should make king ; and first of all excluded him that was only next by propinquitie of blood , which was edgar , eldest son to edward the out-law , son to edmond iron-side , because he was a child , not able to govern the realm ; and harald , son to the earle goodwin by the daughter of canutus , was admitted . william duke of normandie , his title by election . but william duke of normandie pretended to be chosen before by * edward the confessor with the consent of the realm ; which , though no english authors do avow it cleerly , seemeth notwithstanding very probable : because the said william had at his entrance many in england that did favor his pretence ; and that , as gerard saith , at his coming to london he punished divers by name , for that they had broken their oaths and promises in that behalf : moreover , by alleging his title of election , he moved divers princes abroad to favor him in that action as in a just quarrel ; which it is not like they should have done , if he had pretended only a conquest , or his title of consanguinity , which could be of no importance in the world . among others , pope alexander 2. ( whose holiness was greatly esteemed in those dayes ) did send him his benediction , and a precious ring of gold , with a hallowed banner . st. anthoninus archbishop of florence commended his enterprise . but howsoever he got the victory , and god prospered his pretence , and hath confirmed his off-spring in the crown more than these five hundred years . examples after the conquest . william rufus and henry 1. to the prejudice of their elder brother robert . william the conqueror left three sons , robert , william and henry , and by his will the kingdom to william , named rufus , forsom particular displeasure against his elder son ; who being at his fathers death absent in the war of jerusalem , was put back , although the most part of the realm was inclined unto him ; and william rufus , by the persuasion of lanfrake archbishop of canterbury , was established in the crown : and hee dying without issue , his younger brother henry , against the right also of his elder brother robert , absent again in the war of jerusalem , did by fair promises to the people , and the help of henry newborow earl of warwick , and maurice bishop of london , get the crown ; wherein god did so prosper him , that his said brother robert coming afterwards to depose him of it , hee took him prisoner , and kept the crown . king stephen preferred to henry 2. his nearer in blood , and henry again to stephen his issue . this king henry left a daughter , which had of jeffrey plantagenet duke of anera a son named henry , whom henry his grandfather caused to bee declared heir apparent in his daies . but yet after his deceas , becaus prince henry was but a childe ; the state of england did choos stephen earl of boulongue , and son to adela , the conqueror's daughter , putting back both henry and his mother . but again for that this reign drew all england into factions and divisions ; the states in a parlament at wallingford made an agreement that stephen should bee lawful during his life onely , and that henry and his off spring should succeed him ; and prince william , king stephen's son , was deprived , and made onely earl of norfolke . king john to the prejudice of his nephew arthur . this henry 2 left richard , jeffrey and john : richard , sirnamed coeur de lyon , succeeded him ; and dying without issue , * john was admitted by the states , and arthur duke of britaine , son and heir to jeffrey , * excluded , who coming afterward to get the crown by war , was taken by his uncle john , who murthered him in prison . louys prince of france to the prejudice of king john , and king john's son afterward to the prejudice again of louys . but som years after , the barons and states of england misliking the government of this king john , rejected him again , and chose louys the prince of france to bee their king , and did swear fealtie to him in london : depriving also the young prince henry john's son , of 8 years old ; but upon the death of king john , that ensued shortly after , they recalled again that sentence , disannulled the oath and allegiance made unto louys prince of france , and admitted this henry * to the crown , who reigned 53 years . the princes of york and lancaster had their best titles of the autoritie of the common-wealth . from this henry 3. take their first begining the two branches of york and lancaster . in whose contentions the best of their titles did depend upon the autoritie of the common-wealth . for as the people were affected , and the greatest part prevailed , so were they confirmed or disannulled by parlament . and wee may not well affirm , but that when they are in possession , and confirmed therein by these parlaments , they are lawful kings , and that god concurreth with them ; for if wee should deny this point , wee should shake the states of most princes in the world at this day . the common-wealth may dispose of the crown for her own good . and so to conclude , as propinquitie of blood is a great preheminencie towards the atteining of the crown , so doth it not ever binde the common-wealth to yield thereunto , and to shut up her eies , or admit at hap-hazard , or of necessitie , any one that is next by succession ; but rather to take such an one , as may perform the dutie and charge committed . for that otherwise to admit him that is an enemie , or unfit , is but to destroy the common-wealth and him together . what are the principal points which a common-wealth ought to respect in admitting or excluding of any prince that pretendeth to succeed ; wherein is handled largely also of the diversitie of religions , and other such causes . cap. ix . seeing the common-wealth is to know and judg of the matter , no doubt but god doth allow of her judgment . hee who is to judg and give the sentence in the things , is also to judg of the caus ; for thereof is hee called judg : so , if the common-wealth hath power to admit or put back the prince or pretender to the crown , shee hath also autoritie to judg of the lawfulness of the causes , considering specially that it is in their own affair ; and and in a matter that depend's wholly upon them , for that no man is king or prince by institution of nature , but only by authoritie of the common-wealth . who can then affirm the contrary but that god doth allow for a just and sufficient cause in this behalf , the only will and judgment of the weal-publick it self ; supposing alwaies that a whole realm will never agree , by orderly way of judgement , to exclude the next heir in blood without a reasonable cause in the sight and censure . the pope is to obey the determination of the common-wealth , without further inquisition ; except it be in cases of injustice , and tyranny . and seeing that they only are the judges of this case , and are properly lords and owners of the whole business , we are to presume that what they determine is just and lawful , though at one time they should determine one thing , and the contrary at another ( as they did often in england , being led at different times by different motions ) and it is enough for every particular man to subject himself , and obey simply their determination , without further inquisition ; except he should see that open injustice were done therein , or god manifestly offended , and the realm endangered . open injustice ; if not the true common-wealth , but some faction of wicked men should offer to determine the matter without lawful authoritie . god offended , and the realm endangered ; where it is evident that he that is preferred will do what lieth in him to the prejudice both of god's glory , and of the common-wealth ; as if a turke , or some notorious wicked man and tyrant , should be offred to govern among christians . whence the reasons of admitting or receiving a prince , are to be taken . now to know the true causes and principal points , which ought to be chiefly regarded , as well by the common-wealth , as by every particular man in the furthering or hindering any prince ; we must return to the end wherefore government was appointed ; which is to defend , preserve , and benefit the common-wealth ; because from this consideration are to be deduced all other considerations for discerning a good or evil prince . for that whosoever is most likely to defend &c. his realm and subjects , he is most to be allowed and desired , as most conform to the end for which government was ordained . and on the contrary side , he that is least like to do this , deserveth least to be preferred : and this is the consideration that divers common-wealths had in putting back oftentimes children and impotent people ( though next in blood ) from succession . three chief points to be regarded in every prince . and here shall be fitly remembred what gerard recounteth of the king of france ; that in his coronation he is new apparrelled three times in one day ; once as a priest , and then as a judge , and last as a king armed ; thereby to signifie three things committed to his charge ; first religion , then justice , then manhood and chivalrie ; which division seemeth very good and fit , and to comprehend all that a weal-publick hath need of for her happie state and felicity both in soul and bodie , and for her end both supernatural and natural . and therefore these seem to be the three points which most are to be regarded in every prince . why it is here principally treated of religion . for the latter two , because they have been often had in consideration in the changes aforesaid ; and religion , whereof then scarce ever any question or doubt did fall in these actions , rarely or never : and because in these our dayes it is the principal difference and chiefest difficultie of all other ; and that also it is of it self the first and highest , and most necessarie point to be considered in the admission of a prince ; therefore it shall principally be treated of in this place . the felicitie of the soul , is the chiefest end appointed to every common-wealth . first we are to suppose , that the first and chiefest end that god and nature appointed to every common-wealth , was not so much the temporal felicitie of the body , as the everlasting of the soul : and consequently that all other things of this transitory life are ordained to serve and be directed to that higher end . and this was not only revealed to the jewes by holy scripture ; but also unto the gentiles and heathens by the instinct and light of nature it self . what end pagan philosophers and law-makers had in their doings . for there was never yet pagan philosopher that wrote of framing a good common-wealth , neither law-maker among them that left ordinances for the same purpose ; which besides the temporal end of directing things for the bodie , had not special care also of matters appertaining to the minde ; to wit , of nourishing and rewarding virtue ▪ and for restraining and punishing of vice and wickedness . institution of sacrifices by nature . examples of noah , and job . and nature did not only teach man that he should serve god ; but also how he should serve him : to wit , that the chiefest and supremest honor that could be done unto him in this life , was the honor of sacrifice and oblations ; which we see was practiced even in those first beginnings of the law of nature , before the levitical law . for so we read in genesis of noah , that he made an altar and offered sacrifices to god upon the same , of all the beasts and birds that he had in the ark , odoratúsque est dominus odorem suavitatis . and the like of job that was a gentile , and lived before moses , sanctificabat filios , consurgénsque diluculo offerebat holocausta per dies singulos . example of the indians . religion the chief end of a common-wealth and magistrates . among the indians also , where never any notice of moses law came , there was never any nation sound that acknowledged not some kind of god , and offered not some kinde of sacrifice unto him . and though both in distinguishing between false gods and the true god , and in the means of honoring him , they have fallen into most gross and infinite errors : as also the gentiles of europe , asia , and africa ; yet it is evident hereby that by god and nature the highest and chiefest end of a common-wealth is cultus dei . and consequently that the principal care and charge of a prince and magistrate even by nature it self , is to look thereunto . as among the antients , both jews and gentiles , their kings and chief magistrates , for many ages , were also princes ; and divers learned men do hold that the privilege and preeminence of primogeniture , consisted principally in this , that the eldest sons were priests . the same proved by authorities . nulla est gens , saith cicero , tam fera , nulla tam immanis , cujus mentem non imbuerit deorum colendorum religio . and plutarch writing against a certain atheist of his time , saith thus , if you travel far countries , you may chance to finde some cities without learning , without kings , without riches , without money ; but a citie without temples , and without gods and sacrifices , no man yet hath ever seen . and finally , aristotle having numbred divers things necessary to a common-wealth , addeth these words , quintum & primum . circa rem divinam cultus , quod sacerdotium sacrificiúmque vocant . the absurd atheism of our time in politicks . and therefore we see how false and impious is the opinion of divers atheists of our time , who affirm , that religion ought not to be so greatly respected in a prince , as though it were his chiefest care , or the matter of most importance in his government : false and impious opinion , specially among christians , who have so much the greater obligation to take to heart this matter of religion , by how much greater light and knowledge they have of god . and for this cause also in all the princes oaths taken at their admission ( as before hath been * recited ) the first and principal point of all other is about religion and maintenance thereof ; not only by themselves , but also by their lievtenants , &c. the oath given by the emperor justinian , to all his governors to take at their reception . and the civil law yieldeth a very solemn form of an oath which the emperor justinian was wont to give to all his governors , &c. of countries , &c. before they could be admitted to their charges : which is as followeth , juro per deum omnipotentem & filium ejus unigenitum dominum nostrum jesum christum & spiritum sanctum ; & per sanctam gloriosam dei genitricem & semper-virginem mariam , & per quatuor evangelia quae in manibus meos teneo , & per sanctos archangelos michaëlem & gabriëlem , puram conscientiam , germanúmque servitium me servaturum sacratissimis nostris dominis justiniano & theodosiae conjugi ejus , occasione traditae mihi ab eorum pietate administrationis . et quod communicator sum sanctissimae dei catholicae & apostolicae ecclesiae , & nullo modo vel tempore adversabor ei , nec alium quocunque permittam quantum possibilitatem habeam : et si verò non haec omnia servàvero , recipiam omnia incommoda hìc & in futuro seculo in terribili judicio magni domini dei & salvatoris nostris jesu christi , & habebo partem cum juda , & cum lepra geizi , & cum tremore cain , in & super poenis quae lege eorum pietatis continentur , ero subjectus . why princes should be endued with religion . this oath did all the governors of christian countries take in old time : by which oath , and the other oaths which emperors and kings did make themselves at their admission about this point ; we may see that it is their chiefest and highest end , and office , to assist their subjects to the attaining of their supernatural end , by knowing and serving god in this life ; for that otherwise god should draw no other fruit or commodity out of humane common-wealths , than of an assembly of brutish creatures . he that wanteth it , is guilty of high treason against god . and therefore whatsoever prince or magistrate doth not help his subjects to this end , omitteth the first and principal part of his charge , and committeth high treason against his lord and master , in whose place he is ; and consequently is not fit for that place and dignitie , though he should perform the other two parts of justice and valor never so well . lack of religion the chiefest cause and justest to exclude a prince . whereof it ensueth , that nothing in the world can so justly exclude an heir apparent from his succession , as want of religion ; nor any cause whatsoever justifie and clear the conscience of the common-wealth , or of particular men , that in this cause should resist his entrance , as if they judge him faultie in this point . if a marriage may be dissolved , much more a bare betrothing , such as is between an heir apparent and a common-wealth . st. paul determineth plainly , that if two gentiles married together in their gentilitie ( which none denieth to be true marriage , for so much as concerneth the civil contract ) and afterward the one of them being made a christian , the other would not live with his partie , or if he do , yet not without blaspheming of god , and tempting him to sin ; in this case he teacheth , that it is sufficient to break and dissolve utterly this heathen marriage ; and that the christian may marrie again ; and this only for the want of religion in the other party : which being so in actual marriage already made & consummate ; how much more may it serve to undo a bare betrothing , which is the case of a pretender only to a crown , as before hath been shewed . whether difference in religion be infidelitie . but some may say that st. paul speaketh of an infidel or heathen , that denieth christ plainly ; which is not the case of a christian prince , though he be somwhat different in religion . to which is answered , that supposing there is but one only religion that can be true among christians , as both reason and athanasius his creed doth plainly teach us ; and moreover seeing , that to me there can be no other faith or religion available for my salvation , than only that which i my self do believe , for that mine own conscience must testifie for me , or against me : certain it is , that unto me and my conscience he which in any point believeth otherwise than i do , and standeth wilfully in the same , is an infidel ; for that he believeth not that which in my faith and conscience is the only and sole truth , whereby he must be saved . and so long as i have this opinion of him , albeit his religion were never so true , i shall do against my conscience , and sin damnably in the sight of god , to prefer him to a charge , where he may draw many other to his own errors and perdition , wherein i do perswade my self that he remaineth . how he that doth against his conscience sinneth . and this point is founded upon that which st. paul saith against such christians , as being invited to the banquets of the gentiles , did eat the meats offered to idols , ( which themselves do judge to be unlawful to eat ) which he saith was a damnable sin ; not for that the thing in it self was unlawful , but for that they did judge it so , and yet did the contrary ; and the reason he yieldeth presently , quia non ex fide ; omne autem quod non est ex fide est peccatum : doing a thing ( though in it self indifferent ) against their own conscience , which must be their witness at the latter day . how dangerous a sin , to favor a pretender of a contrary religion . now to apply this to the matter of england , i affirm and hold , that for any man to give his help or consent towards the making of a king , whom he judgeth or believeth to be faultie in religion , how good or bad soever he be , or of what side soever the truth be , it is a most grievous and damnable sin . and is guilty of all the evils , miseries , and calamities which may ensue by his government , whether they do so or no ; because knowing in his belief that he is like or in disposition to bring all those evils : yet he doth further , or not resist him . how far it is also against wisdom and policie to prefer a prince of a contrary religion . moreover , besides the matter of conscience , it cannot in policie , but be great folly and over-sight for a man to promote to a kingdom , wherein himself must live , one of a contrary religion to himself : for let the bargains , agreements , and promises be never so great , yet seeing the prince once settled , must needs proceed according to the principles of his own religion : it followeth also that he must come quickly to break with the other partie : and so many jealousies , suspitions , accusations , &c. will light upon him , as not only he shall not be capable of such preferments , honors , and charges , which men may deserve and desire in their common-wealths ; but also he shall be in continual danger , and subject to a thousand molestations and injuries : and so , before he beware , will become to be accompted an enemy , or backward man : which to remedy , he must either dissemble deeply , and against his own conscience make shew to favor and set forward that which in his heart he doth detest ( which is the greatest calamity and miserie of all other ) or else to avoid this everlasting perdition , he must break with all the temporal commodities of this life , and leave the benefits which his country might yield him : and this is the ordinary end of all such men , how soft and sweet soëver the beginnings be . the conclusion of the whole speech . that the next heir after the queen , must needs be verie doubtful . and therefore to conclude all this speech , seeing there be so great inconveniencies and dangers , in respect both of god and man , body and soul , to advance to the crown a prince of contrary religion ; and considering that in england there is so great diversitie of religions , as the world knoweth , between these parties and factions that have to pretend or admit the next prince after her majestie that now is : calling to mind also the great libertie , scope , and authoritie which the common-wealth hath to determine , even against the clear right of succession : and laying finally before our eies the manifold and different acts of christian realms , before mentioned , in this affair . it appeareth ( as it was propounded in the beginning ) that it is a very doubtful case who shall be the next prince after the queen : and much more , if above all this it be proved also , ( as it shall be in the second book ) that among such as do or may pretend of the blood royal at this day , their true succession , and next propinquitie by birth is also incertain and disputable . finis . cap. i. books written 1. by one hales , sirnamed clubfoot , clerk of the hamp . in which the lord keeper bacon was thought to have a hand ; and sir william cecil a privitie . 2. in favor of the lady katharine gray , daughter of the lady frances , dutchess of suffolk , the daughter of marie , yonger daughter of henry 7. to prefer her before the scot discended of margaret the elder daughter . 3. because he was a stranger or alien ; therefore not to inherit by law . 4. henry 8. had authority given him by two parlaments of 28. and 36. to dispose of the succession by his last will ; and ordained , ( his own issue failing ) that the off-spring of mary should be preferred before that of margaret . 5. against this one morgan a divine of oxford ( with the advice of judge brown , as it was thought ) wrote , first to clear the queen of scots from her husbands death : 2 handled her title to our crown : 3 against the book of knox , of the monstrous government of women . 6. and john leisley , bishop of ross in scotland , confuteth the first point : 1 that the statute that beareth the inheritance of aliens ( made 25 edw. 3. ) is only to be understood of particular men's inheritance : 2 there is express exception of the king's children , and off-spring , in the statute : 3 the practice both before and since the conquest to the contrary . 7. the second : if henry 8. made such a testament , it could not hold in law ; but that he made it not , besides many probabilities , the testimonies of the lord paget , sir edw. montague , lord chief justice ; and william clark , who set the king's stamp to the writing , avowed before the council and parlament in queen maries time , that the testament was signed after the king was past sens and memory . 8. robert heghington , secretary to the earle of north . writeth in favor of the king of spain , as next heir to the house of lancaster . another writeth in the behalf of the dukes of parma , as next heir of portugal ; another for the infanta of spain as the heir of brittanie . cap. ii. of the succession of the crown from the conquest , unto edward the third's time . the issue of vvilliam the conquerer . william the conqueror had four sons , and five daughters . sons , 1. robert , duke of normandie : 2. richard died in his youth : 3. william rufus : 4. henry the first . daughters , 1. sicilie , a nun : 2. constantia , wife of alain fergant , duke of britanie : 3 , adela , or alice , wife of stephen , earle of bloys , &c. the other two died yong . robert , duke of normandie . robert of normandie , and his son william , were ruined by henry 1. robert pined away in the castle of cardiff ; william slain before alost in flanders , whereof he was earl , by an arrow . henry 1. of all the children of henry 1. mande first married to henry 5. emperor , had issue henry 2. by geoffrey plantagenet , duke of anjou , &c. her second husband ; he reigned after king stephen . the beginning of the house of britanie . constantia , the conquerors second daughter , had issue conan 2. le gros ; who had issue hoel , and bettha , wife of eudo earle of porrhet in normandie ( her father made her his heir on his death bed , disadvowing howel ) she had issue conan 3. he , constantia wife to geoffrey third son to henry 2. by whom she had arthur , whom king john his uncle put from the crown of england , and murthered . after which constantia married guy vicount of touars , a britan : and their issue have continued till this , in the infanta of spain , and the dutchess of savoy her sister ; whose mother was sister unto the last king of france . anna the heir of britanie , had by lewis the 12. of france , one daughter , claudia ; of whom and francis the first , came henry 2. whose daughter was mother to the infanta , &c. king stephen . adela , or alice , the conquerors third daughter , had issue stephen earle of bouloyne , chosen king after henry 1. before mande his daughter , because a woman ; and before her son henry 2. because he was but a child , and a degree further off from the conqueros , but especially by force and friends ; whereby he prevented also the duke of britain , son to his mothers eldest sister . he had two sons , who left no issue ; and mary , wife to the earle of flanders , whose right , if any , is discended to the spaniard . henry 2. his sons . henry 2. had issue by eleonora , the heir of aquitaine , william , who died yong . henry crowned in his fathers time , and died without issue : 3. richard coeur de lyon , who died without issue : 4. geoffrey who married constance the heir of britain , as aforesaid : 5. john , the king , who had issue henry the third . henry 2. his daughters . his daughters were , 1. eleonora married to alphonso 9. of castile : 2. to alexis the emperor : 3. to the duke of saxonie : 4. to the earle of tholouse . eleonora had henry of castile , who died without issue ; and blanche , married to lewis of france , of the race of valois , whose issue continueth : and berenguela married to the prince of leon ; whose son ferdinando , by the death of his uncle henry without issue was chosen king of castile , before saint lewis the son of blanche aforesaid , because a stranger . 16. the right which france had to aquitain , poictiers and normandie , came to them by the aforesaid blanche ; who was married thither , on condition to have for her dower all that john had lost in france , which was almost all hee had . henry 3. his issue . henry 3. had edward 1 ; hee edw. 2. hee edw. 3. and edmund crook-back earl or duke of lancaster ; whose heir , lady blanch , married john of gant the third son of edw. 3. from whom came the hous of lancaster . also beatrix married to john 2. duke of britain , from whom descended the infantas mother . that edward crook-back was not elder then edward 1. edward crook-back was not edw. 1. elder brother , and put by onely for his deformitie ; 2. hee was born 18 junii , 1245 ; and edward 16 junii , 1239. ( matth. west . who lived at the same time ; ) 2. hee was a wise prince , and much imploied by his father and brother in their wars ; 3. his father advanced him in england , and would have made him king of naples and sicilie ; 4. having the charge of the realm at his father's death , and his brother absent ; hee attempted no innovation ; nor hee , nor any of his children made any claim to the crown after that ; 5. if hee had been elder , the title of lancaster in john of gant his issue , whose mother was heir unto edmund , had been without contradiction ; nor could the house of york have had any pretence of right . the issue of edward crook-back . henry the second , earl of lancaster and grand-childe to the aforesaid edmund , was created duke of lancaster by edward 3. hee had but one childe , the ladie blanch , wife of john of gant , by whom hee became also duke of lancaster . his three sisters were matched , one to the lord maubery , of whom the howards of norfolk ; joane 2. mary married to the earl of northumberland ; from whom the now-earl : 3. eleonor , married to the earl of arundel , of whom the late earle descended . cap. iii. the succession from edward 3. the houses of lancaster and york . edward 3. his issue . edward the third had five sons ; 1. the black prince ( hee richard second , in whom his line ceased ) 2 lionel duke of clarence ; 3. john of gant , duke of lancaster by his wife blanche ; 4 edward of langley duke of york ; 5. thomas of woodstock duke of glocester . the title of the hous of york . lionel of clarence had one onely daughter and heir , philippe , married to edmund mortimer earl of march ; they roger ; hee anne mortimer , married to richard earl of cambridg , second son of edmund l. of york : his son richard , by the death of his uncle ( slain at agincourt ) came to bee duke of york ( his father of cambridg , beeing executed for a conspiracie against henry 5. ) and was the first of the hous of york that challenged the crown , and died in the quarrel : his son was edward the 4. the issue of the duke of glocester . thomas of woodstock had onely one childe , anne , married to the lord stafford ; whose issue came after , in regard of this marriage ( for thomas was earl of buckingham too ) to bee duke of buckingham , som of whose blood are yet in england . the issue of john of gant by his first wife . john of gant had three wives ; 1 , blanch the heir of lancaster aforesaid , by whom hee had henry 4. and philippe , married to john king of portingal ; from whom are lineally descended such as at this day claim interest in that crown ; and elisabeth , married to john holland duk of exceter ; whose grand-childe henry , left onely anne , married to sir thomas nevil knight , from whom the earl of westmerland is lineally descended . by his second wife . by his second , ladie constance , daughter of peter king of castile , hee had onely one daughter katharine , married to henry the third , king of castile ; of whom the king of spain that now is , is lineally desended . by his third wife . henry 7. his title . his third , katharine swinford , daughter to a knight of henault ; and attending on his wife blanch , hee used as his concubine in his wife constance's time , and begat of her three sons and one daughter ; and after married her to swinford an english knight ; who dead , and his wife constance also , hee married her , anno 1396 , and caused his said children by her to bee legitimated by parlament , anno 1397. henry 7. his title from lancaster . his sons were , 1. john duke of somerset ; 2. thomas duke of excester ; 3. henry bishop and cardinal of winchester : his daughter jane married to the earl of westmerland . the issues of all these were soon spent , except of john of somerset , who had two sons , john and edmund : john one onely daughter , margaret , married to edmund tidder earl of richmond , by whom hee had henry 7. edmund and his three sons all died in the quarrel of the hous of lancaster without issue . the line of clarence , and title of the earl of huntington . george duke of clarence , second brother of edw. 4. had issue edw. earl of warwick , put to death by henry 7. and margaret countess of salisbury , married to sir richard poole of wales , by whom hee had henry , arthur , geoffroy , and reynald ( after cardinal ) henry lo. of montague ( put to death , with his mother , by h. 8. ) had katharine married to the earl of huntington , they the now earl , &c. and wenefred married to sir tho. barrington . arthur , marie , married to sir john stanny ; and margaret to sir tho. fitzherbert . geoffrey , geoffrey poole ; hee arthur and geoffrey , which yet live in italie . henry 7. his issue . the title of scotland , and of the ladie arbella . henry 7. had by the eldest daughter of edw. 4. ( for of all the other three remaineth no issue ) besides hen. 8. margaret , first married to the k. of scots ; they james 5. who mary , mother to the now king . after married to the earl of anguis ; they margaret , married to the earl of lenox ; they henry married to the last queen , and murthered 1566. and charles married to elisa . ca4dish , by whom the ladie arbella . the title of the lord beacham , and his brother . marie the second daughter , first married to lewis 12. of france , without issue ; then to charles brandon duke of suffolk ; they francis , married to henry gray marquis dorset , after duke of suffolk , beheaded by q. mary ; they jane , married to dudley , ( both beheaded ) katharine , first married to the earl of pembroke ; and left by him to the earl of hartfort ( as themselves affirmed ) in the tower : from whom descendeth the lord beacham , and edward seymer his brother . the title of the hous of derbie . eleonor second daughter to ch. brandon and the queen of france , was married to henry clifford earl of cumberland : they had issue margaret , married to henry earl of derbie : who had issue the last and the now earl . cap. iv. the controversie between the houses of lancaster and york . the pretence of the hous of york . by richard duke of york , son of richard earl of cambridg aforesaid , &c. that considering hee had by descent joined in him the right aswell of lionel duke of clarence , second son to edw. 3. as of edward duke of york , the fourth son of edw. 3. hee was to bee preferred before the hous of lancaster , claiming onely from john of gant the third son of edward 3. richard 2. deposed . edward 3. in his old age for the love hee bare to the black prince , confirmed the succession by parlament to richard 2. his son ; and caused the rest of his sons to swear thereunto . richard 2. for his misgovernment was deposed by common consent , and henry 4. chosen in his place ; which himself and his issue possessed about 60 years . the question is , whether king richard were rightfully deposed or no . that a king may bee deposed on just causes . first that a king on just causes may bee deposed , is proved by reason : becaus the rule beeing given by the common-wealth , on condition of just government ; that much violated , the condition is broken , and the same common-wealth may take the forfeiture . this proved by the autoritie of all law-makers , philosophers , divines and governors of common-wealths ; and by example of divers depositions , which god himself hath blessed with good success . proved by reasons and examples of divinitie . an ill prince is an armed enemie , with his feet set on the realm's head ; whence hee cannot bee plucked but by force of arms , object . god may cut him off by sickness , or otherwise ; and therefore wee are to attend his good pleasure . answ. god alwaies bindeth not himself to work miracles , nor often with extraordinary means ; but hath left upon earth , unto men and common-wealths , power to do justice in his name upon offendors . examples hereof are ehud stirr'd up by god to kill eglon , king of the moabites by a stratageme , judg. 3. and the philistins to kill , david to persecute saul ; jeroboam to rebell against roboam the son of solomon , 2 reg. 11. & 12. jehu to depose joram and q. jezabel his mother , 4. reg. 9. the captains of jerusalem at the persuasion of jehoiada the high-priest , to conjure against q. athalia , whom they deposed , and joash chosen in her room , 4. reg. 11. all which hee might have removed without blood-shed , if hee would : but hee appointed men to work his will by these violent means , to deliver that common-wealth from oppression , and for the greater terror of all bad princes . allegations of the lancastrians that king richard 2. was justly deposed . just causes of deposing richard 2. were ; hee murthered his uncle the duke of glocester without form of law or process . hee put to death the earl of arundel , banished warwick , thomas arundel archbishop of canterbury , and henry duke of hereford and lancaster ( and after king ) whose goods and inheritance descending to the said henry from his father , hee wrongfully seized on . hee suffered the earl of oxford , his minion , to put away his wife , a goodly young ladie , daughter of isabell his father's sister , and to marrie another openly to her disgrace . and in the last ( evil ) parlament hee made , would needs have all absolute autoritie granted to 6 or 7 his favorites to determine of all matters . grieved with these exorbitant indignities , the more or better part of the realm called home by their letters henry 4. deposed richard 2. by act of parlament , by his own confession of unworthie government , and his voluntarie resignation of the crown to the said henry by publick instrument . all this without blood-shed : and in almost all this , edmund l. d. of york , ( the head of that familie , together with edward duke of aumale his eldest son , and richard earle of cambridge his yonger ( the grand-father of edward 4. ) assisted the said henry . that henry 4. had more right to succeed unto richard 2. than edmond mortimer heir of clarence ; much more any other . king richard 2. deposed , the question is , whether edmond mortimer then alive ( his father roger being slain in ireland a little before ) nephew removed of lionel duke of clarence ; or henry duke of lancaster , son of john of gant should have succeeded in right . for henry is alleged ; his being neerer to the former king by two degrees , and proximitie of blood ( though not of the elder line ) is to be , ( or hath been ) preferred in these cases . 2. his title came by a man , the others by a woman ( not so much favored by law nor reason . ) 3. the said edmond being offered the crown by richard earle of cambridge ( who had married his sister anne ) and other noblemen , at southampton ; he judged it against equitie , discovered the treason to henry the fifth , by whose command those noblemen were executed , 1415. thirty years after which ; richard duke of york , son of the aforesaid earle , and anne ( for edmond her brother died without issue ) set his title on foot . and whereas roger mortimer , father of this edmond was declared heir apparent by a parlament 1382 , that was done by richard 2. from the hatred he bore to john of gant , and his son henry ; ( rather than for the goodness of the others title : ) the cause whereof was , because immediately after the death of the black prince , divers learned and wise men held opinion , that john of gant , eldest son of edward 3. then living should rather succeed , than richard , jure propinquitatis . this made the old king edward 3. confirm the succession to richard 2. by parlament , and the oaths of his uncles , and made the yong king richard 2. hold first , and his son in jealousie , and hatred ever after , as distrusting the likelihoods of their title . declaration of the heir apparent in the princes life , being partial , no sure president . partial establishing of succession by parlament , is no extraordinary thing with princes , which yet most commonly have been to little purpose . so did richard 3. cause john de la pole , earle of lincoln , and son to his sister elisabeth , dutchess of suffolk , to be declared heir apparent ; thereby excluding his brother edward's four daughters , &c. so did henry 8. prefer the issue of his yonger sister , before that of his elder . so did edward 6. declare the lady jane gray , his cozen germain removed , to be his heir and successor ; excluding his own two sisters : such , say they , was the aforesaid declaration of roger mortimer by richard 2. to as little purpose , as from little equity . uncle preferred before the nephew divers times . contra . sect. 83. that john of gant should have in right succeeded his father , rather than richard himself , as neerer to his father , is proved by the course of divers kingdoms , where the uncle was preferred before the nephew . 1. in naples ( much about the same time ) robert before charles the son of martel his elder brother . 2. in spain , don sancho bravo before the children of prince don alonso de la cerda ( from whom the house of medina celi is discended ) by sentence of don alonso the wise , and of all the realm and nobility , anno 1276. 3. in the earldom of arthois , mande , before robert , son to her brother philip , by sentence of philip le bel of france , confirmed by the parlament of paris , and by his successor philippes de valois , whom he the said robert had much assisted in the recovery of france from the english . 4. in britanie , john breno earle of montfort , before jane countess of bloys , daughter and heir of guy his elder brother , by sentence of edward 3. and the state of england , who put him in possession of that dukedom . 5. in scotland , where albeit edward 1. of england gave sentence for john baliol , nephew to the elder daughter , excluding thereby robert bruse , son to the yonger ; yet that sentence was held to be unjust in scotland , and the crown restored to robert bruse his son , whose posterity holds it to this day . 6. the like whereof in naples , lewis prince of taranto , son to philip , prevailed before joan the neece of robert aforesaid , who was philip's elder brother ( though philip died before robert ) because he was a man , and a degree neerer to his grand-father than joan. 7. and in england it self , henry 1. preferred before william , son and heir of robert of normandie , his elder brother . and king john preferred before arthur , d. of britanie , the son and heir of his elder brother geoffrey , because he was neerer to richard his brother , then dead , than was arthur : which right of his the english inclined still to acknowledge and admit , and thereupon proclaimed him king ; notwithstanding that the french , and other forrein princes of stomach , opposed themselves against it . king john rightfully preferred before his brother arthur . against this last : king richard when he was to go to the holy land , caused his nephew arthur to be declared heir apparent to the crown , thereby shewing his title to be the better . answ . 1. it was not by act of parlament of england , for richard was in normandie , when he made it . 2. richard did it rather to repress the amhitious humor of john in his absence . 3. this declaration was never admitted in england , but renounced by consent of the nobility in his absence . 4. richard himself at his return disadvowed it , appointing john to be his successor , by his last will , and caused the nobles to swear fealtie unto him , as to his next in blood . the opinion of civil lawyers touching the right of the uncle and nephew . contra . sect. 83. this controversie divided all the lawyers in christendom ; baldus , oldratus , panormitanus , &c. for the nephew : bartolus , alexander , decius , alciatus , cujatius , &c. for the uncle : baldus himself at length concludeth , that seeing rigor of law runneth only with the uncle , being properly neerest in blood by one degree , and that only indulgence and custom permitteth the nephew to represent his father's place ; whensoëver the uncle is born before the nephew , and his elder brother dieth before his father ( as in the case of john of gant and richard 2. ) he may be preferred : for the elder brother cannot give or transmit that thing to his son , which is not in himself before his father die ; nor can his son represent what the father never had . the common-law dealeth not with the point of succession to the crown . touching the common law ; the right and interest to the crown is not expresly decided in it , nor is it a plea subject to the rules thereof , but superior , and more eminent ; nor are the maxims thereof alwayes of force in this , as in others . as in the case of dower , copercenars , and tenancie by the courtesie . no more ought they to be in this case of inheritance ; as by the former eight presidents hath been shewed . the common lawyers then refer this point of the crown to custom , nothing being in effect written by them touching it . only the best of our old ones favored that title of lancaster : and chancelor fortescue , and sir tho. thorope , chief baron of the exchequer in henry 6. his time , were much afflicted for it by the contrary faction . the princes of york often attainted . the princes of york forfeited their right by their conspiracies , and attainder thereupon ; as r. earle of cambridge , put to death therefore by the judgment of his peers , his elder brother , the duke of york , being one of the jury that condemned him . his son richard , duke of york , was also attainted of treason ( after many oaths to henry 6. sworn and broken by him ) and his son ed. 4. with the rest of his off-spring to the ninth degree , at a parlament at coventry , anno 1459. but the house of lancaster was never attainted of any such crime . the hous of york came to the crown by violence and crueltie . edward 4. entred by violence , wilfully murthering , besides divers of the nobilitie , henry 6. a good and holy king , and his son prince edward , dispossessing the hous that had held the crown about 60 years together ; in which time their title had been confirmed by many parlaments , oaths , approbations , and publick acts of the common-wealth , and the consent of all forreign nations . all which had been enough to have autorized a bad title . those of lancaster better princes than those of york . the 4 henries of the hous of lancaster were far more worthie princes , then the 4 princes of the houses of york ; as edw. 4. rich. 3. hen. 8. edw. 6. and if the affairs of any the former , especially the 3d , succeeded not , the chief caus thereof was the sedition , rebellion and troubles raised by those of york , and their contention against the princes of the houses of lancaster . the cruelty of the princes of york , one to the other . the princes of york have not been onely cruel to their enemies , but to themselvs too ; embrewing their hands in their own blood : then when they had ruined th'other , george duke of clarence conspired against edw. 4. his own brother ; with whom reconciled , edw. caused him afterwards to bee murthered at calis . rich. 3. murthered his two young nephews ; and henry 8. a great number of that hous , as edmund de la poole his cousin german ; henry duke of buckingham , his great ant 's son : extinguishing that , and ruining this familie . also henry courtney marquis of exceter , his own cousin german , the ladie margaret countess of salisbury , and daughter to george d. of clarence ; and her son the l. montague , &c. the kindness of the princes of lancaster . but the love , union , confidence , faithfulness , kindeness and loialtie of the princes of lancaster towards th'other was very notable , as in the 2 brothers of henry 4 ; and the 3 brothers of henry 5. and in five or six dukes of somerset , their near cosens ; which argueth both a marvellous confidence those princes had in that quarrel , and a great blessing of god unto the whole familie that agree'd so well . the successes of such noble houses as followed either partie . another blessing seemeth to bee bestowed on them ; that no antient great houses are remaining at this day in england , but such as chiefly took their parts ; as , arundel , oxford , northumberland , westmerland and shrewsbury : whereas the chief partakers of the other faction are all destroied ; as , mowbray duke of norfolk , de la poole duke of suffolk , th' earl of salisbury , th' earl of warwick , and many others . cap. iii. examination of the title of the hous of scotland . sect. 28. allegations for the k. of scots . 1. that hee is descended of the eldest daughter of henry 7. without bastardie , or other lawful impediment ; and therefore hath the right of prioritie . 2. the benefit would accrew unto the common-wealth , by the uniting of england and scotland , a point long sought for . 3. the establishing of true religion in england . hee is not of the hous of lancaster , but rather of york . hee is not descended truly of the hous of lancaster , becaus not of the ladie blanch , the true heir thereof : but of kathathine swinford , whose children were unlawfully begotten ; ( though afterwards legitimated by parlament ) so that his best title is by york , inferior to that of lancaster , and therefore is to com in after them of that hous . forrein birth not just impediment in succession to the crown of england . hee is forrein born , and therefore excluded by the laws of england from inheriting within the land . answ . 1. this assertion in an universal sens is fals ; for a stranger may purchase , and inherit by the right of his wife : 7 & 9 edw. 4. 11 & 14 henrie . 7. 2. the statute of 25 edw. 3. is to bee restrained unto proper inheritance onely : viz. that no person born out of the allegiance of england ( whose father and mother were not of the same allegiance at the time of his birth ) shall not demand inheritance within the same allegiance . 3. this statute toucheth not the crown , nor any , except express mention bee made thereof . 4. the crown cannot properly bee called an inheritance of allegiance , or within allegiance ; beeing held immediately from god . 5. the statute meaneth inheritance by descent onely ; but the crown is a thing incorporate , and therefore goeth as by succession . now if a prior , dean , &c. or other head incorparate , though an alien , may inherit or demand lands in england , notwithstanding the statute , much more may the inheritor to the crown . 6. express exception is made in the statues of enfants du roi ; which word cannot but include all the king's off-spring , and blood-roial . 7. king stephen and henry 2. born out of the realm , and of parents that were not of the allegiance of england when they were born , were yet admitted to the crown without contradiction : which argueth , that by the cours of the common law there was no such stop against aliens ; and that if the statute would have abridged the antient libertie in this case of succession , it would have made special mention there , which it doth not . the king of scots excluded by the last will of henry 8. henry 8. his will , whereby he excludeth the off-spring of margaret s. 4. which though somwhat infringed by the testimony of two or three . s 7. yet 't is plain it was his own will , because he commanded it to be drawn , written , and sealed , and never revoked it : besides it is subscribed by many witnesses , and inrolled in the chancery by his own command ; enough to make it good against the assertion of those few , who to please the time wherein they spake , ( in queen maries time ) might say and ghess the king was past memory when his stamp was put to it . now to make good what he did , two acts of parlaments , 28 , & 35. of his reign , gave him full authoritie to dispose of this point of succession , as he and his learned council should think best for the common-wealth . by a statute made in the 27th . of elisabeth . 27. elisah . a statute was made , that whosoever shall be convinced to conspire , attempt , or procure the queens death , or is privie , or accessary to the same , shall loose all right , title , pretence , claim , or action , that they , or their heirs have , or may have to the crown of england . now the late queen of scots being attainted and executed by the authoritie of the said parlament , and for breach of the said statute , 't is easie to determine what title her son hath , claiming only by her . the uniting of scotland with england , dangerous to the english , or like to be . 1. only the increase of subjects : but those rather to participate the commodities of england , than to impart any from scotland . 2. the natural hatred of that people unto us , and their ancient inclination to joyn with our enemies the french , and irish against us , are arguments of great mischiefs likely to ensue by that conjunction . 3. the scot must needs hold in jealousie so many englishmen , competitors of the blood royal , and therefore will fortifie himself against them by those forrein nations , of whom he is discended , with whom he is allyed , as the scots , french , danes , and uncivil irish , which will prove intolerable to the english . 4. the king , both for his own safety , and for the love he beareth to his own nation , will advance them , and plant them about him in chief places of credit ; which must needs breed emulations and controversies between them and the english : then must he of force secretly begin to favor and fortifie his own , to the incredible calamitie of the other , as canutus did his danes , and william the conqueror his normans , neither of them enemies to the english blood , nor evil kings , but careful of their own safeties ; for herein it is impossible to be neutral . 5. the romans with all their power and policie could never unite the hearts of england and scotland in peace , nor hold the scots and north-irish in obedience of any authority residing in england : what then are we to hope for of this king herein ? the religion of scotland unpleasing to our state . his religion is neither fit for our state , wherein archbishops , &c. and officers of cathedral churches are of much dignitie ; and there suppressed : nor will be pleasing to our nobilitie , to be subject to the exorbitant and popular authoritie of a few ordinary ministers ; which the king himself is there content to yield unto . and therefore it is likely , that few will be forward to entertain that king for the reforming of religion here , that hath no better order in his own at home . for the ladie arabella . for the ladie arabella , is alleged , her being an equal degree of discent with the king of scots : her being above him , in all hopes for herself , or benefit to the english , that can be expected in an english prince , and a prince born in england . against her . neither she , nor the scot are properly of the house of lancaster : and the title of lancaster is before the pretence of york , ut suprà . 2. the testament of king henry 8. barreth her as well as the scot . 3. her discent is not free from bastardie , for queen margaret soon after the death of her first husband married steward lord of annerdale , who was alive long after her marriage with anguis : and it is most certain also , that anguis had another wife alive when he married the said queen . all this confirmed by the lord william howard ( father to the now admiral ) sent into scotland by henry 8. of purpose to enquire thereof ; who reported it to king henry , queen mary , and divers others . for this cause king henry would have letted the marriage between anguis and his sister ; and chiefly caused him to exclude her issue . 4. she is a woman , and it were perhaps a great inconvenience , that three of the weak sex should succeed one the other . 5. all her kindred by her father is meer scotish . in england she hath none but by her mother , the candishes : a mean familie and kindred for a princess . cap. vi . examination of the title of the house of suffolk : being darby and hartford . sect. 29. 30. the earle of hartford's children , illegitimate . the children of the earle of hartford discending of ladie frances , the eldest daughter of charles brandon , are proved illigitimate . 1. because the ladie katharine gray their mother was lawful wife to the earle of pembroke , ( when they were born ) not separated from him by lawful authority , or for any just cause ; but abandoned by him , because her house was come into misery and disgrace . 2. it could never be lawfully proved that the said earle and ladie katharine were married , but only by their own assertions ; not sufficient in law : therefore was the marriage disannulled in the arches , by publick and definitive sentence of parker , archbishop of canterbury , not long after the birth of the said children . 3. when the marquess of dorset married their grandmother the ladie frances , he had another lawful wife , sister to h. fitz-allen , earle of arundel , whom he put away to obtain so great a marriage as was the lady frances : this bred much hate between the marquess and earle ever after : but the marquess favor with k. henry , deprived the other of all remedy . and therefore may their mother the lady katharine seem illegitimate too . bastardie in the issue of charles brandon . charles brandon had a wife alive , when he married the queen of france , by which wife he had issue the ladie powyse , wife of the lord powyse : and this wife of his lived some time after his marriage with the queen . darby's evasion . this wife ( say the friends of darby ) died before the birth of the lady eleonor the yonger daughter , their ancestor ; though after the birth of the lady francis , hartford's ancestor . hartford's confutation of the first bastardie . to the first bastardy of hartford , their friends affirm , that the contract between the lady katharine , and the earl of pembrook was dissolved lawfully , and judicially in the time of queen mary . hartford's evasion of the second bastardie , in the behalf of his second born , edward seymore . the lady katharine being found with child , affirmed the earle of hartford to be the father : hereupon he being sent for out of france ( where he was with sir n. throgmorton , and had got leave to travel into italie ) confessed it at his return ; and both of them affirmed they were man and wife : but because they could not prove it by witnesses , and for attempting such a matter with one of the blood royal without privitie , and license of the prince , they were both committed to the tower : where they used means to meet afterwards , and had the second son ed. seymore . now the first son may be ligitimate before god , yet illegitimate before men , and therefore incapable of succession . for the second , to be legitimate , whereas there wanteth nothing but witnesses , ( for the presence of minister is not absolutely necessary ) to justifie their marriages by law ; the queen herself , her counsel , and as many as had the examination of these parties , upon their first act , or child-birth , are witnesses unto them ; besides their resolution to continue man and wife protested before them and confirmed by this effect of their second carnal meeting in the tower . cap. vii . examination of the title of the houses of clarence and britanie . against the house of clarence in general . their claim is founded only upon the daughter of george duke of clarence , yonger brother of ed. 4. so that as long as any lawful issue remaineth of the daughters of the elder brother , no claim or pretence of theirs can be admitted . 2. if the pretence of lancast . be better than that of york ( as before it seemeth to be proved , s. 36. 38. 40. 42. &c. ) then holdeth not this of clarence , which is meerly of york . 3. the house of clarence hath been often attainted ; 1. in george himself . 2. in the countess of salisbury his daughter , and heir . 3. in the lord montague her son and heir : whereby their whole interests were cut off . for albeit since those attainders it hath been restored in blood , yet hath not that been sufficient to recover unto that house the ancient lands and titles of honor thereunto belonging : for they were forfeited to the crown , as is also to the next in blood unattainted , the prerogative of succeeding to the crown : unless special mention had been made thereof in their restauration . against the earle of huntington , in favor of the pooles . upon the attainder of the lord montague with his mother of salisbury , all such right as they had , or might had being cut off in them , fell upon geoffrey , brother of the said lord . 1. because he was not attainted . 2. he was a degree neerer unto the duke of clarence , ( and thereby hath the priviledge of an uncle before the neece , ( s. 34. 40. ) than the lady katharine . 3. he was a man , she a woman ( and neither of their fathers in possession of the thing pretended ) which priviledge of sex got the last king of spain the kingdom of portugal . 4. inconvenience of religion ; ( this point altered by the death of the last earle ) . first title of the infant ; as heir unto the house of britain , from william the conqueror . ( sect. 12. ) she is discended of the antient royal blood of england : from the eldest daughter of the conqueror , constance : whereof her friends infer two consequences . 1. when the conqueror's sons died without issue , or were made incapable of the crown ( as henry 1. seemed to be for the violence used to his elder brother robert , and his son william , sect. 11. ) then should the elder sister have entred before king stephen , who was born of alice or adela her yonger sister . the coming of a woman no bar to inher in england . though the salick law seemeth to exclude her from the crown of france ; yet from the inheritance of england , britanie , aquitayne , &c. coming to her by women , and falling ordinarily in women , nor that , nor other law excludeth her . second title of the infant by france , whereof she is heir general , from henry 2. she is lineally descended from eleonor the eldest daughter of henry 2. ( sect. 15. ) by whom she is heir general of france , and thereby of england ( sect. 15. ) for three reasons . 1. king john by the murther of his nephew arthur of britanie , forfeited all his states whatsoever : now this happened four years before his son henry 3. was born ; and therefore the crown by right should have come to the said eleonor his elder sister . 2. arthur being prisoner in the castle of roan , and suspecting that he should be murthered by his uncle john , nominated the lady blanche , daughter and heir to eleonor to be his heir ; which were it not good , yet when he and his sister was put to death , she and her mother were next of kinn unto them , for any more of england , ( s. 12. ) 3. john was actually deposed by the barons and states of the realm , 16 regni sui , and lewis of france the husband of blanche elected and admitted , with their whole consent : to whom they swore fealtie and obedience in london , for him and his heirs , and posteritie , 1217. giving him possession of london , and the tower , and many other important places . now ableit that they chose after his john's son henry 3 ; yet titles and interests to kingdoms once rightly gotten , never die , but remain ever for the posterity to set a foot : so came hugo capetus to the crown of france , odo earle of paris his ancester , being once elected , admitted , and sworn king , though after deposed , and charles the simple chosen . third title of the infanta , from henry 3. she is lineally discended of beatrix , daughter of henry 3. ( s. 17. ) now seeing that the posterity of both her brothers edward and edmond , ( the heads of the two houses of lancaster and york ) have oftentimes been attainted , and excluded from the succession by sundry acts of parliament , and at this day are at contention among themselves ; why may not the right of both houses , by composition , peace , and comprimise , at least , be passed over to their sisters issue ? objections against the infanta . 1. these her claims are very old and worn out . 2. her claims are but collateral by sisters . 3. she is a stranger , and alien born . 4. her religion is contrary to the state . answered by those that favor her title . antiquity hurteth not the goodness of titles to kingdoms ( when occasion is offered to advance them ) which commonly are never presumed to die , & nullum tempus occurrit regi . 2. collateral lines may lawfully be admitted to enter , when the direct either fail , or are to be excluded for other just respect . 3. the point of forrein birth is sufficiently answered before . ( sect. 50. ) 4. the impediment of other religion is not universal , nor admitted in the judgment of all men , but onely of such english as differ in religion from her : to the rest ( and those many ) it will rather bee a motive to favor then hinder her title . cap. viii . examination of the houses of spain and portugal . the dutchie of lancaster belong's to portugal . the king of spain is lineally descended from the two daughters of john of gant , by his two first wives : ( sect. 23 , 24. ) the former whereof , ( the ladie blanche ) beeing heir of the duchie ( sect. 19. ) when the posteritie of his issue male by her came to bee exstinct ( as it was in the children of h. 6. ) there is no reason , but the issue of his daughters ( those that claim by portugal ( sect. 23 ) should succeed ; at least in the inheritance of that duchie . the crown of england to john of somerset , son to john of gant. but for the right and title to the crown of england , which came by john of gant himself ( third son of edw. 3 : and eldest that lived when hee died ) john earl of somerset , though begotten out of matrimonie , yet afterwards legitimated ( sect. 25. ) his eldest son by katharine swinford was to inherit before the ladie philippe his sister , by the ladie blanche . the first reason of portugal against somerset . against which the favorites , of portugal allege divers reasons . 1. beeing born out of wedlock , and in adulterie , ( sect. 25. ) and continuing a bastard many years , hee could not bee made legitimate afterwards by parlament , to that effect of succession to the crown , before q. philippe of portugall , and her children born before his legitimation ; who thereby had vim acquisitam ( as the law saith ) which could not bee taken away by any posterior act of parlament , without consent of the parties interessed . second reason . john king of portugal married the ladie philippe , with condition to enjoy all prerogatives that at day were due unto her ; which was six or seven years before his legitimation . for don alonso and don edwardo , the two sons of the said john and philippe were born in the years 1390 , and 1391. and john of gant married katharine swinford , and legitimated her children in the years 1396 , & 1397. third reason . the marriage of john of gant with katharine swinford helpeth litle to better this legitimation ; ( which by the rules of the common and civil laws is but a bare deposition : ) for their children were spurii , begotten in plain adulterie , not in fornication onely ; and consequently the privilege that the law giveth to the subsequent mariage of the parties , by legitimating such children as are born in simple fornication ( where the parties are single ) cannot take place here ; nor can any legitimation equal , much less prefer the legitimated , before the lawful and legitimate by birth . the fourth reason alleged by the favorers of portugal against the issue of john of somerset . when henry 6. and his son were extinguished , and edw. 4. usurped the crown , there remained of the ladie philippe , alfonse the fift , king of portugal her nephew ; of john of somerset , margaret countess of richmond his neece . the question is , which of these two competitors of the hous of lancaster , and in equal degree from john of gant , and henry 6. should have succession by right immediately after the death of henry 6. alfonso ( say they ) for three reasons . first , hee was a man , and margaret but a woman ( though shee came of the man , and hee of the woman . ) 2. hee descended of the lawful and eldest daughter ; shee of the younger brother legitimated . 3. hee was of the whole blood to h. 6. and shee but of the half : in which regard hee was to bee preferred , at least , in all the interests of succession which were to bee had from henry 4. onely , and were never in his father john of gant , which were many ; as his right gotten by arms , upon the evil government of the former king ; his election by parlament , and coronation by the realm , &c. ( see for the rest sect. 35. 43. ) besides when king richard 2. was dead , hee was next in degree of propinquitie unto him of any man living ; as hath before been proved , sect. 36. cap. ix . the genealogie , and controversies of portugal . 76. the genealogie of portugal . emanuel had by one wife six children . 1. john 3. hee john , that died in his father's time ; hee sebastian , slain by the moors in barbarie . 2. isabel grandmother to the present king of spain . 3. beatrix , grandmother to the duke of savoy . 4. lewis , father of don antonio , lately deceased in england . 5. henry cardinal , and after king. 6. edw. father of mary duchess of parma , who hath two sons , ranuntius duke of parma , and edward a cardinal , and father of katharine , duchess of bragança yet living ; whose issue is , theodosius duke of bragança , edward , alexander and philippe , young princes of great exspectation . five pretenders unto the crown of portugal . sebastian beeing dead , henry son of emanuel succeeded ; who beeing old , unmarried , unlikely to have issue ; before him was debated the right of five pretenders to the succession of that crown ; vid. philippe of spain , philibert duke of savoy , the duke of parma ( his mother beeing then deceased ) don antonio , and the duchess of bragança : the three first by their deputies , the fourth ( anthonio ) by himself , and for himself ; the fift by her husband the duke and his learned council . of these , the duke of savoy was soon excluded , becaus his mother was younger sister to k. philip's mother , and himself younger then philippe . don antonio a bastard , and excluded . don antonio was also rejected and pronounced a bastard by the said king henry , for many reasons . 1. hee was taken to bee so all his father's life time , and that without question . 2. certain decrees coming out from rome , in the time of julius 3. against the promotion of bastards ; hee sued to the said pope to bee dispensed withall . 3 his father don lewis hath oftentimes testified by word and writing that hee was his bastard , and signified asmuch in his last will . 4. it is likely that if lewis had married his mother , who was base in birth , and of the jewish ( as som stories affirm ) hee would have made som of his friends and kindred acquainted therewith , as a matter so much important to them to know ; which hee never did : though the king avowed himself was present with him at his death . 5. if hee had been legitimate , why did hee not pretend the succession before the said king , next after the death of sebastian , beeing son to his elder brother , as well as was sebastian . 6. whereas hee had produced witnesses ( vid. his mother , sister , with her husband , and two others ) to prove , that his father before his death had married with his mother in secret : the said k. cardinal affirmed , that upon their examination hee had found they were suborned by anthonio : becaus they agreed not in their reports , and becaus som of them confessed they were suborned : whereupon hee hath caused them to be punished . if not , why not duke of lanc. seeing that in england wee hold the said don anthonio for true king of portugal , i see not how wee can deny his children their right , at least to the duchie of lancaster : whereof whosoëver is right heir of portugal , should bee rightest heir , ( sect. 70. ) . allegations to prove the duke of parm's right . that hee represented his mother , and shee her father , lo. edward , who , had hee been alive , had carried it from his elder sister elisa . k. philip's 2. mother : consequently his issue to bee preferred before hers . 2. against the duchess of bragança , that his mother was the elder sister , therefore hee who represented her person , was to bee preferred before her . for the duchess of bragança , and against the point of representation . shee was born and bred in portugal : philip and parma were forrein . 2. shee was nearer by a degree unto emanuel , and henry the cardinal , then the duke of parma . 3. against the representation urged by parma , that no representation was admitten in the succession to the crown of portugal ; but that every pretender was to bee taken and preferred according to the prerogatives onely of his person , as the next in propinquitie of blood , or the man before the woman , and the elder before the younger , if they bee in equal degree of propinquitie to the former kings . touching representations . ( contra sect. 40. ) the last king sebastian entred the crown by way of representation , not by propinquitie of blood , the cardinal beeing brother , and hee but nephew unto the former king john 3. ( sect. 82. ) answ. hee was of the right descendant line of k. john 3. and the cardinal but of the collateral ; and all law alloweth the right line to bee served and preferred before the collateral bee admitted : this was the caus of his coming to the crown , and not representation . allegations of king philip's right to portugal . seeing then that representation was not admitted , but every pretendor considered in his own person onely ( sect. 82. ) king philip beeing in equal degree of propinquitie of blood with the duchesses , alleged hee was to bee preferred before them both : becaus a man , and born before them . 2. the inheritance of portugal ( besides that it belonged to the crown of castile , of old evidently belonged to john , king of castile , by the marriage of beatrix , daughter and heir of ferdinand king of portugal : after whose death it was conferred by election of the people on john , m. of avis , bastard-brother of the foresaid ferdinand : & by him the said beatrix , and her posteritie wrongfully debarred and excluded . king philip his own carver in spain . when these contentions were at the hottest , died the k. cardinal , before he could decide them . whereupon the k. of spain taking his right to bee best ; and ( becaus a monarch , and under no temporal judg ) thinking hee was not bound to attend any other , or further judgment in the matter , but might by force put himself in possession of his own ( as hee took it , ) if otherwise hee might not have it ; hee entered upon portugal by force of arms , and at this day holdeth it peaceably . the end of the controversie . an objection in behalf of representation in the succession of england . representation taketh place in england : so as the children of the son , though women , shall ever bee preferred before those of the daughter , though men . therefore seeing the ladie philippes right to the dukedom of lancaster , and crown of england ( mentioned sect. 70 , 72 , &c. ) is to bee preferred according to the laws of england ; onely it followeth , that the right of succession pretended by the princes of portugal from the said ladie philippe , should bee determined onely by the laws of england , which admit of representation . answer to the former objection . the question is not here , by what law this pretence by portugal to the crown of england is to bee tried : but rather who is the true and next heir of john of portugal , and the ladie philippe , heir of lancaster : which once known , it little importeth by what law hee pretendeth his right unto england ; whether of portugal , or england : though to determine this first and chief point of the succession of portugal , the laws of portugal must needs bee the onely judges , and not those of england . cap. x. whether it bee better to live under a forrein or a home-born prince , a great monarch , or a little king . against forrein-government the opinion of law-makers . aristotle , in all the different forms of common-wealths which hee prescribeth in his 8 books of politicks , ever presupposeth , that the government shall bee by people of the self-same nation : the same also do presume all the law-makers therein mentioned ; as , minos , solon , lycurgus , numa pompilius , and the rest . of orators and writerr . demosthenes his famous invectives against philip of macedonia , that desired to encroach upon the state of greece ; and his orations against eschines , who was thought secretly to favor the pretences of the said forrein princes . the books of the italians , when they speak of their former subjection to the lombardes , germanes , french , and their present to the spaniard . the late writings of the french against the power of the hous of guise and lorrain , whom they hold for strangers . of nations by their proceedings and designs . the desperate and bloodie executions of divers nations , to th'end they might rid themselvs from stranger's dominion , are arguments of the very impression of nature herself in this matter : for examples whereof , see q. curtius , lib. 5. & 6. and the sicilians , who at one evensong-tide slew all the french within their iland , whom themselvs had called and invited thither not long before . and the english , who murthered all the danes at one time : and would have don as much for the normans , if themselvs had been strong enough , or the advers partie less vigilant . and the french in the time of charles the 7. when nothing could repress them from revolting every where against the english government , of which at length by hook and crook they wholly free'd themselvs . of holy scripture . the autoritie of holy scriptures is evident in this behalf ; deut. 17. 16. thou shalt make them king over thee whom the lord thy god shall choos out of the number of thy brethren : thou mai'st not set a stranger over thee , which is not of thy brethren . in the behalf of forrein government . this hatred of stranger's government , is but a vulgar aversion of passionate , or foolish men ; passionate by corruption of nature , whereby men are inclined to think evil of others ; especially their governors ; and the more the farther they are from us in kindred or acquaintance ; foolish , as those that weigh not the true reasons , causes , or effects of things ; but onely the outward shew , and popular apprehension , grounded for the most part in the imagination , or incitation of others , who endeavor onely to procure tumults . it importeth not what countrimam the prince bee , so his goverement bee good . all passion against stranger , or unto others laid aside , wee are onely to respect the fruits of good and profitable government ; the peace and proprietie of the subject : which what prince ( bee hee native or forreign ) soëver procureth us , is fittest for ours or any other government : for after a prince is established , the common subject hath no more conversation with him , nor receiveth further personal benefits of him , than of a meer stranger . then if hee govern ill , what is the subject the better by his beeing home-born . home-born princes and tyrants . as in the like case the children of israël said of rehoboam , quae nobis pars in david , vel quae haereditas in filio jesse ? 3 king. 12. 16. whom they abandoned , and chose jeroboam his servant , and a stranger . and what availed it the duke of glocester , tho. of woodstock , that hee lived under his nephew ric. 2. or the duke of clarence the right of his brother ( sect. 4. ) or the de la pooles , staffords , plantagenets , their beeing under their near kinsman henry 8. by whom they lost both their lives , possessions and kindred . many other examples might bee drawn from the romans , sicilians , spanish , english , &c. who have been much the wors for their home-born princes . opinion , and the beeing under several governors , make 's strangers , or no strangers . who bee strangers , and who not , dependeth much of the opinion and affection of each people , and nation the one towards the other : but chiefly their being under the same , or several governments . the hous of guise , and their kindred , were held for strangers in france ; yet came they but out of lorrain , a province bordering upon france ; and of the same nation , language , and manners ; onely under another prince . the florentines are hated and held strangers in siena , where they govern : albeit the one state bee not 30 miles from the other ; and both of one nation , language , and education . on the contrarie , the biscayns hold not the castillians for strangers ; nor the normans and britains the french ; nor the welsh the the english ; a different people , and of different language . three means of coming under forreign government . one nation may becom subject to another , either by conquest , as the welsh were to the english ; the english to the normans and danes , sicilia and naples to the spaniards , &c. or inheritance , as aquitaine and normandie to england ; the 17 provinces to spain ; britanie to france . or by mixt means of force and composition , as milan to spain ; ireland to england ; and portugal in our daies to spain . the condition of conquest , and the wisest conquerors . conquest is of these three the hardest for the subject , all standing at the will and humor of the conqueror , whom either anger , fear , or jealousie of his assurance may often drive to hold a hard hand over the conquered ; at least for a time , until his state be settled : yet have these ever ( at least the wisest ) dealt like physitians , who after a vehement purgation minister lenitives , and soft medicines , to calm and appease the good humors left , and to strengthen the whole bodie again , that it may hold out . commendation of the romane government , best to their forrein subjects . the carriage of the romans was so just , considerate , sweet , and modest towards all forrein nations they had conquered , that it allured divers nations to desire to be under them , and to be rid of their natural kings ; as the subjects of antiochus , and mithridates . other kings to gratifie their subjects , nominated the romane empire for their successor , as attalus of pergamus , and ptolomie of egypt , and others . their manner was to do most favors , and give most priviledges unto the most remote nations , they having the best ability to rebel against them : wherein this circumstance of being most strangers , most helped them . so are the french to the britans , &c. the like rule of police have all great monarchs used ever since . as in france the states of gasconie and guyen ( conquered from the english ) pay far less tribute to the king , than those of the isle of france it self . the britains which were old enemies , and came to the crown by marriage , pay much less than they . the normans somwhat more than either , because they lie somwhat neerer to paris ; yet less than the natural frenchmen . venetians to candia . the candians pay not the third part of the impositions ( unto the state of venice , whereto they are subject ) that do the natural subjects of venice , in italie : because it is an island a part , and standeth further off . spaniards to their subjects of italie . the subjects of naples , scicilie , and milan , pay not the aloavalla ; viz. the tenth penie of all that is bought and sold , and imposed upon the natural spaniards ; nor are they subject to the inquisition of spain ( especially not naples and milan ) nor doth any law , or edict made in spain hold in those countries , except it be allowed by the states thereof ; nor may any of their old priviledges be infringed , but by their own consents : nor are they charged with any part of the extraordinary subsidies , which the king requireth of spain . and of the low-countries . the flemings enjoyed great tranquility under the dominion of spain , before they revolted : having a governor of another nation over them : but his time being but short , he strove principally to get , and hold the peoples good will , thereby to be grateful to his king at his return home : and if he attempted ought against them , they complained by their chancellor residing for them in the spanish court ( for all forrein nations have their particular counsel there about the king ) and by his mediation , obtained many priviledges . now in the space of 28. ( in all which time they have been suffered to traffick freely into spain ) years of their revolt , there hath not a quarter so many been punished by order of justice , as conte lewis their natural prince caused to be executed in one day in bruxells , which were 500. nor had alva any thank of the king , for putting to death count egmont , and horne ; whereas in arragon , a neerer state , there were many heads chopt off upon a late insurrection . so that the circumstance of being strangers , and dwelling far off , doth them great pleasure , and giveth them many priviledges above the home-born , or neer limitting subjects . the states of italie better governed by their late vice-roys , than their former home-born princes . in italie , if you compare the number of the afflicted , and executed by justice , or otherwise , under their home-born kings , with that which hath been since , you shall finde twenty for one , especially of the nobilitie : the reason is , their kings were absolute , and acomptant to no man ; and being but men , and having their passions and emulations with the nobilitie , which they might satisfie without controule ; they pulled down and set up at pleasure , and oftentimes made but a jeast of noblemens lives and deaths . but viceroys have no authority , nor commission to touch principal persons lives , without relation given thereof to your king and council , and their order touching it . then knowing that after their three years government is ended , they must stay forty dayes as private men , under the succeeding governor , to answer their former proceedings against all that shall accuse them ; they take heed what they do , and whom they offend . the late kings of england extreamly cruel to their nobilitie . to come neerer home , and to omit those which in the time of wars , rebellions , and commotions ( occasions somwhat justifiable ) have been cut off , within the space of one five years of henry 4. there were executed in peace by justice , and the princes command , 2 dukes , 1 archbishop , 5 earles , the baron of kinderton , and four knights . within almost as little a space of ed. 4. his time , 2 dukes , 3 earles , 2 barons , 3 knights , and many other afterwards ( for this was but in the beginning of his reign ) but when all doubt of contention about succession ( which moved those two kings , the more excusably , to these cruelties ) was taken away , in henry 8. his time , were either cut off , or clean put down , 2 queens his wives , 3 cardinals , 3 dukes , 1 marquess , 2 earles , 2 countesses , 6 lords , 6 or 7 abbots , knights in great number , gentlemen infinite ; what spaniard could , or durst have done so much ? better to live under a great , than a little monarch . 1 he is best able to defend , and protect his subjects . 2 he hath ordinarily least need to pill , and pole them ; ( for a little king , though never so mean , will keep the state of a king , which his subjects must maintain ) 3 he hath more to bestow upon his subjects , for reward of virtue , or valor . a great prerogative unto every subject , to be born under one that hath much to give ; whereas he that is born in the cities of geneva , or genoa ( let him be of what abilitie , or worth soëver ) can hope for no more preferment than those common-wealths can give , which is all too little ; what then would it be , were there many worthie men born there at one time ? a forrein prince living among us without forrein forces . another manner of living under forrein princes , is when the prince cometh to dwel among us without forces ; as did king stephen and henry 2. who were natural frenchmen , and as king philip in queen maries time here in england ; and the last king of france in polonia ; so should his brother monsieur have done here if the marriage between him and the queen had gone forward . fit for our present state , and beneficial to any . no danger , nor inconvenience can justly be feared from such a king : the benefits are , 1 he subjecteth himself rather to the realm and nation , than they to him , and if he live , and marrie in england , both he and his children will quickly become english : 2 for his assurance , he must be inforced to cheerish the english , thereby to gain , and perpetuate to himself their good-will and friendship ; 3 he entereth with indifferent mind towards all men , having no kindred , or alliance within the land , to whom he is bound , nor enemie against whom he may be incensed ; so as only merit and demerit of each man must move him to favor or dis-favor , a great foundation of good and equal government . 4 he might be admitted upon such compositions and agreement , as both the realm should enjoy her antient liberties , and perhaps more ( for forrein princes upon such occasions of their preferment commonly yield to much more than the domestical ) and the home-born pretenders should remain with more security , than they can well hope for under an english competitor . a forrein prince , with forrein support . a third manner is , when the prince bringeth forces with him for his own assurance , and these either present ; as the danish kings , and after them the three first norman princes ( who either by the help of their first subjects already in england , or by others brought in by them afterwardes , wrought their evil ) or that his forces be so neer , as he may call them in when he listeth , and that without resistance , as may the scot , whom no sea divideth from us . insupportable to our , or any state whatsoever . all danger and inconveniences may justly be feared from such a king ; yea all the mischiefs , either of domestical or forrein governments . for those of a domestical prince are , pride , crueltie , partialitie , pursuing of factions , particular hatred , extraordinary advancing of his own kindred , extreme pinching and punishing of the subject , being sure of his own partie within the realm , by reason of his presence , and therefore the less respective of others . these vices such a forrein prince is the more subject too , than the domestical , as having both external counsel of a people that hate us , to incense him , and their external force to effect his and their designs . the mischiefs of forrein government are , tyrannie of the prince , the servitude of the people ; filling and planting the realm with strangers , and dividing among them the honors , dignities , riches , and preferment thereof . all which are incident ( in all probabilitie ) to the third kind of government , and to be feared in the succession of the king of scots , whose case is within the second branch thereof , and may hereafter be within the first . forrein princes affected by some countries . best romane emperors , strangers . where kings go by election , commonly they take strangers ( in the second kinde sect. 105. ) so did the lacedemonians and romans in their first monarchie ; and of late the polonians in the succession of their three last kings ; and the venecians by way of good policie , have made a perpetual law , that when they are to war , and must needs chuse a general , he be a stranger ; to wit , some prince of italie , who is out of their own states ; thereby to have him the more indifferent , and equal to them all . among the latter romans , their best , and most famous emperors were strangers , as trajan and adrian , spaniards : septimius severus , an african ; constantine , english : their worst romans , as caligula , nero , heliogabalus , commodus . forrein government : which best , which worst . this second then ▪ ( s. 105. ) is the best : in the first kinde , of being under forrein government , and as a province to be ruled by deputies , viceroy's , &c. as the states mentioned ( s. 19. ) and as all the provinces of the old roman's states were , all things considered ▪ and one taken with another , the commodities and securities are more , and the damages and danger less , than in the government of domestical princes : and all the mischiefs of forrein government are only incident to the third and last ( s. 105. ) other imputations to the other two proceeded , from the blindness and passion of the vulgar , and some private men most likely to be interessed therein . ( s. 91. ) an answer to the former objection ( s. 89. ) against forrein government . upon other occasions and humors , the vulgar will do as much against their own country-men and princes , as the sicilians did against the french , &c. ( s. 89. ) and often have , both in england and else where , when they have been offended , or that seditious heads have offered themselves to lead them into tumults . aristotle answered , ( s. 89. ) aristotle in his politicks never handled expresly this our question , and consequently weighed not the reasons on both sides , and so left it neither decided nor impugned ; and he that was alexander's master , the master of so many forrein countries , could not well condemn it . demosthenes answered , ( s. 88. ) demosthenes was well feed by the king of asia , to the end he should set athens , and other grecian cities at ods with philip . on the other side , if athens a popular government wherein the force of his tongue made him have greatest sway and authoritie , were to have come under a monarch , he should have been in like credit : as he fell out to be : for all the time that alexander lived , he continued in banishment . answer to the objection out of deut. ( s. 90. ) when the command was given in deut. no nation besides the jews had true religion among them ; the chiefest and highest think to be expected in the admission of any magistrate ; for that it concerneth the true and highest end of a common-wealth , and of all humane society : but christ's coming into the world took away this restraint : so that all christian nations are alike , for so much as belongeth unto government . cap. xi . examination of the likelihood of each pretender to the crown of england . whereby a pretender may soonest prevail . the prevailing , or not prevailing consisteth either in the religion of the pretender , or in the strength of his particular familie , friends and allies , both at home and abroad . every one will prefer a prince of his own religion . religion ( being at this day threefold , viz. protestancy , puritanism , and papistrie ) is likely to be of much respect in the advancement or depression of each pretender . and albeit in the entrance of king ed. 6. queen mary and her majestie , divers men of different religions , for other respects concurred together in those princes advancement , ( which many of them repented after at better leisure ) yet t is now likely to be otherwise . 1 because the titles of pretenders are now more doubtful . 2 men are become more resolute in matters of religion , and by long contending , the greater enemies . 3 ▪ men of a good conscience will hold it a point of little zeal at least , if not of atheism , to set their hands to the advancing of a prince of contrary religion to themselves . 4 men of discretion hold it to be against all rules of policie , to promote to a kingdom in which themselves must live , one of a contrary religion : for let what bargains , agreements , vain hopes , promises soever be made before hand ; yet the princes once settled , they are sure to be opprest by degrees : so that they must either dissemble , or suffer persecution . the likelihoods of the protestant partie . the protestant , that hath the power and authority of the state in his hands , is likely to do much ; especially if he can conceal for a time the decease of her majestie , until he may put his affairs in order : but this is held to be either impossible , or very hard ; so ardent are men's minds in such occasions , and so capable of new designments , impressions , and desires are all kinde of subjects upon such great changes . the most wealthy , and strong member of this bodie is the clergie , as bishops , &c. and their followers : the nobilitie and privie council are uncertain . the house of hertford was wont to be in their favor , but of late they are the more devoted to arabella , and the house of derby . privie council out of office during the vacancie of princes . though the authority of the privie council be supreme during the prince's life ; yet it is not so afterwards : nor have they any publick authority at all , but according to their several former callings of noblemen and gentlemen . then is every man free , until a new prince be established by the common-wealth , which establishment dependeth not upon the appointment or will of any few , or upon any man's proclaiming of himself ( for divers are like to do so ) but upon a general consent of the whole bodie of the realm . the strength and affection of the puritans . the puritans , whose profession seemeth to be the more perfect , are more generally favored throughout the realm , ( if not of papists ) than the protestant ; which make's even all those protestants , who are less interessed in ecclesiastical livings , or other preferments depending on the state , very much affected to them . their side is held to be the most ardent , quick , bold , resolute of any other : as those which have a great part of the best captains , and souldiers , and great towns ( where preachers have made the more impression in the artificers , and burgesses ) much devoted to them : nor want they probabilities of having the city of london , the tower , and most part of the navie much enclined to them : their forrein partie will be the reformed churches of france ( now not many ) and of the low ▪ countries . the earle of huntington was the lord beacham ( by reason of his marriage ) is most affected by them . the king of scots , if not a stranger ) would also be for his religion very plausible . the strength and affection of the papists . the papists , least in shew , because held under , yet are of small consideration in respect of their home and forrein partie . at home they are either recusants , or such as accommodate themselves , for wordlie respects , unto all external proceedings of the time and state ; of which sort are the most part of the countrie people , of whom the contrarie preachers are not so frequent . to them such as are discontented do easily joyn also , & omnes qui amaro animo sunt cum illis se conjungunt . 1 reg. 22. 2. as the most afflicted by the present state . besides , there is ever likely a certain natural compassion in most men towards those that suffer , and of compassion cometh affection , of affection desire to help . moreover the persecution against the papists hath much stirred them up to far more eager defence of their cause , and hath wrought a great impression in their hearts . their affection is thought indifferent towards any one , be he stranger or domestical , who is likest to restore their religion ; not much inclined to any one of the pretenders in particular : a point of great consequence , by reason of the incertainty , and likely to give them great sway , wheresoever they shall bend at that day . the forrein strength of the papists very great and important . the forrein helps are ( besides the exiled english , who have both friends and kindred at home ) the affections of forrein princes , & states favorers of their religion ; whose ports , towns , and provinces be near upon england round about ; and for such a time and purpose cannot want commoditie to give succor ; which thing weighed together with the known inclination that way of ireland , and the late declaration made by many of the scottish nobilitie and gentrie , to favor that cause , are arguments that this bodie is also great and strong , and likely to bear no small sway in the deciding of this countroversie . for , and against the king of scots . likelihoods of the scot , besides the prioritie of his title in vulgar opinion , are his youth , his being a king , his moderate nature , having shed little blood hitherto , his affection in religion to such as like thereof : on the other-side , the reasons of state before alleged against him , especially his alliance with the danes , and dependance of the scottish nation seem to weigh much with englishmen ( s. 53. ) for , and against the lady arabella . for arabella is alleged her being a yong ladie , and thereby fit to procure affections ; and that by her marriage she may joyn some other title with her own , and therby friends . against her , her being nothing at all allied with the nobilitie of england ; her title as doubtful as the rest , if not more ( s. 56. ) her religion can be no great motive either for , or against her : for by all likelihood it is as tender yet , green and flaxible , as is her age , and sex . the kindred and power of beacham and derbie . the lord beacham and earle of derbie have had their titles examined before , ( cap. 6. ) their difference in mean and kindred is great : for derbie far exceedeth the other in both : for the kindred of hertford are but few , his father being the first raiser of his house : but derbie hath , besides the stanleys ( which are many , and of good power ) the lords sturton , monteagle , morley , dacres of the north , the earle of cumberland , some of the arundels , poynes of glocester , and many others ; besides lancaster , cheshire , and north-wales ; which for the most part depend upon him . the likelihoods of the earle of huntington . the earle of huntington his alliance is not great ; in the last earl it was , the earle of leicester , and warwick , and sir philip sidney living ; besides he was like to have the whole power of london ( a matter of great importance and which advanced ed. 4. two several times ) by which means , and by all the forces and affection of the puritan , and much of the protestant , he was thought to be in great forwardness . but now these great pillers failing , no man can assure himself what the success of this earle or his issue will be . a short survey of all forrein pretenders . the infanta pretendent of the house of britain is a princess of rare parts , both for beautie , wisdom , and piety . the two yong princes of parma were imps of great expectation , and divers waies neer of kin to the spaniard ; as near to whom are the children of the duchess of bragança , who are all princes of rare virtue and valor ; and of singular affection to the english nation ; which divers of them , travelling portugal , have tasted . what the means of the spaniard is , all the world may see ; what his , or any of their success will be in this matter , no man can determine . that there will be wars about the succession . this affair will not be ended by any possibilitie moral without some war , at least wise , for some time at the beginning ; and that for divers reasons . the first reason . the matter cannot be disputed and determined during her majesties life without evident danger of her person , for many causes in the like case , and especially now , that she groweth to be old , and without hope of issue . the second reason . the declaration of an heir arparent now made , would move infinite humors and affections within the realm , and stir coals , and cast firebrands over all the kingdom ( perhaps further ) which now lie raked up and hidden in the embers . the third reason . the declaration , though it were now made by parlament or authoritie of her majestie , would not fully end the controversie : for albeit some pretenders that should be passed over or put back , would perhaps be silent for the present ; yet afterwards 't is certain they would both speak and spurn when occasion were offered . the fourth reason . this declaration would be dangerous to him were declared : for on the one side it would make her majestie very jealous of him ; on the other side , unite and arm all other pretenders , and their followers , against him : and of all recounted by our histories , to be declared in this manner none ( being not kings children ) ever came to reign . the fifth reason . the pretenders being so many , and their pretences so ambiguous as they be , it is to be thought , that none , or few will presently at the beginning abandon their hopes and titles , but prove at least what friends will stand to them , and how matters will go for , or against them ; especially seeing they may do it without danger of law , their rights and pretences being manifest : and for this first assay arms are necessary . the sixth reason . if any would in process of time forgo their titles ( as divers will at length , and many must , for one only can speed ) yet that they be not seased or oppressed on a suddain , and at first by the adverse partie , as the course is in such cases , t is likely each one will arm himself and friends at the beginning : for better conditions will be granted them being armed , than being naked ; and the more that stand together on their guard , the easier and sooner peace may they procure of him that prevaileth : for a displeasure is sooner pardoned to a multitude , or potent adversary , than to one , or a weak one . now the common peril of the not prevailers , knitting them together for their own defence , besides their own safegard , will be the ground of much securitie to him also that reigneth : they being not likely to conspire against him , because they are many , and by consequent not easily drawn to agree among themselve , whom to prefer , where he pulled down . no main battel , but rather a composition . this matter is not like to come easily to any great or main battel , but rather to be ended at length by some composition and general agraement : and that for this reason . the reason . the pretenders are many , and their power and friends lying in divers and different parts of the realm ; they will one fear the other , and seek to fortifie themselves where their strength lieth , especially towards the ports and seafide , for receiving of succor . therefore will they not much urge nor press one the other in the beginning , but every part attended rather to strengthen it self for the time . which of the pretenders are likeliest to bear it . there be two sorts of pretenders , the one forrein , the other english : of forrein , the infanta it likest to bear it , or some other by her title , laid upon him by her friends good-will . of domestical , the earle of hartford's second son . of forrein , the infanta , and why . 1 she is a woman , and may easilie joyn ( if her father will ) the titles of britanie and portugal together . 2 she is unmarried , and by her marriage may make some other composition , either at home or abroad , that may facilitate the matter . 3 she is a great princess , and fit for some great state ; and other princes of christendom would perhaps more willingly concur in such a composition of matters by her , and by casting all forrein titles on her , than that the king of spain should add this kingdom unto his monarchie : a thing which those princes his neighbors in reason of state , would not so well allow of . 4 some such moderation would take away much of the aversion of the english from forrein government : for hereby no subjection would be feared to any forrein realm , but rather divers benefits to the realm of england . ( s. 106. ) of domestical , the earle of hartford's second son , and why . he seemeth to be cleared of the bastardie that lieth nearest of all upon those children ; and therefore to be preferred before his elder brother ( s. 62. ) 2 he is unmarried , a point of no small moment for the joyning or fortifying of titles , and for making of compositions of peace and union with the opposite parties . 3 his religion is not 〈◊〉 , and consequently every partie may hope to draw him to their sides ; being free to follow what he shall think most expedient for his own advancement , without knot or obligation to follow other men's affections or judgements ; as he would be presumed to be , were he married , or much obliged to any other familie . finis . this manuscript treatise of broken successions of the crown of england , coming from the hands of a popish priest , and comprehending the substance of what was written and published by father parson 's the jesuit , under the name of doleman , for ends best known to themselves ; but justly suspected , to be no way for the freedom of the english nation , may give the greater occasion for the wisdom of latter times , to prevent those commotions towards confusion , as might seem to threaten a second part of that horrid design of the gun-power treason , novemb. 5. 1604. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a91489e-240 plato de repub. cic. de repub. arist. pol. pompon. mela. lib. 3. cap. 3. 4. tacit. l. 8. arist. l. 1. polit. c. 12. 3 , 4. theoph l. de plant. plutarch . cō de fortuna ; & l. de pietare in parentes . cic. lib. de ami citia . genes . 2. v. 18. job 10. v. 22. cic. lib. 1. de natura deorum . lib. 1. digest . tit. 2. prov. 8. rom. 13. aristotle lib. 2. polit. the jews . lib. gen. lib. exod. lib. job . lib. judg. lib. 1 reg. lib. machab. 1 reg 8. dionys . halic . lib. 5. cornel. tacit. lib 3. cie. lib. 1. offic. hierom. lib. 2. epist 12. chrysost. ho . 23. 1 pet. 2. tit. liv. l. 30. eutrop. l. 3. oros. l. 5. & 6. arist. l. 3. pol. cap. ult. lib. 3. pol. c. 12 lib. 1. pol. c. 2. arist. lib. 4. pol. cap. 10. tit. liv. lib. 1. dec. 1. * numa pompilius . tullius hostilius . tarquinus priscus . tit. liv. lib. 1. dec. 1. arist. lib. 2. pol. cap. 8. plut. in lycur . sleidan , lib. 8. anno 1532. blond decad. 2. l. 3. crant . l. c. 25. herbert . lib. 9. hist. polon. cromerus l. 3. hist polon. council plet . 4. c. 74. & council s. c. 3. anno 1340. * the fourth . anil . hist. france lib. 2. gerard du haillan . lib. 14. hist. france . franc. bellef . lib. 5. c. 1. anno 1327. gerard du haillan , lib. 13. hist. france . & anno 1317. & lib. 14 anno 1328. & lib. 3. del estat . de france . * in that he may lawfully command . halic . lib. 7. tertul. lib. de praescrip. . contra haeres . justin martyr . apol. tit. liv. lib. 1. dec. 1. eutrop. lib. 1. dyon . in caes. suet. in caes. * which was the first judicial sentence that ever the senate gave against emperors . corn . tac. lib. 20. & 21. egesip . lib. 5. eutrop. in vita caes. anno 124. aelius lamp . vita heliog . herod in vita seven . * wherby followed the change of the empire from the east to the west . bels . lib. 1. gerard . lib. 3. aemil . lib. 2. clem. baudin . en la chronique des roys de fran. anno 988. isid. in hist. hispan . estevan . de garibay . l. 13. de la hist. de espan . cap. 15. garibay . l. 14. cap. 40. 41. garibay . l. 4 de hist. portug . cap. 19. garib . in hist. de portug . lib. 34. c. 20 , & 21. glicas in annal. part 4. zon . annal. co . 3. invita mick . calaph . in liceus rep. polon. ad henricum valessum . p. 182. 184. gagneus , part 1. de rebus polon. poilin . lib. 32. hist de france anno 1568. sleydan . lib. 4. hist. an. 1532. munst . lib. 3. cosmogr. in descript. david . paulus jovius in viris illust. polid. hist. angl. lib. 15. anno 1212. anno 1216. anno 1216. polyd. lib. 18. hist. angl. anno 1326. polyd. lib. 20. hist. aug. 1399 * henry 4. polyd. lib. 23. hist. angl. * specially of london . anno 1487. du belay . apol. cath. part 2. paragr. 9. & apol pro reg. cap. 9. 1 reg. 8. 1. bellay apol. part 2. parag. 7 & apol. pro rege cap. 6. & 24. & 26. 1. 2. 1. 2. arist. lib. 1. pol. cap. 4. 5. 3. 3 reg. 28. cap. innovam . 10. de casibus , & cap. super quibusdam 26 §. de verborū . signif. in regulis utriusque juris . vide in finem sent . decret. reg. 75. 69. matth. 24. reg. 68. in fine 6. decret. aemil . l. 2. hist. france . belf. in vita child . gerard . lib. 3. plato . dial. 1. de repub. arist. lib. 2. pol. cap. 3. cic. lib 3. de legibus . cod. l. 1. tit. 14. §. digna . suet. cap. 23. in caligula . zon . tom. 2. in trajan . the occasion of the next chapter . zon . com . 3. annal. in vita anast . niceph. l. ib. cap. 29. evagr. l. 2. c. 3 zon tom. 3 in vita michaelis . anno 820. anno 940. witichindus gest . saxon. lib. 1. blend . decad. 2. lib. 3. crant . l. 4. c. 25 sleydan lib. 1. hist. anno 1519. ambros mor. lib. 11. cap. 17. hist. hisp. praef. ejusdem concilii . conc. tol. 4. cap. 74. cap. 74. conc. 5. c. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. & con. 6. cap. 16 , 17 , 18. conc. tol. 6. cap. 9. amb. morales lib. 13. cap. 2. lib. 3. de lib. estat . fol. 238. belf. hist. fran. lib. 3. c. 20. in vita phil. 1. memoures du fillet c. du sacre des roys . belf. l. 3. c. 20. * nephew to philip 1. anno 1179. belf. in vita augusti . estev . garibay lib. 22. c. 1. holinsh . in his chron. page 476 & 1005. stow in vira richard 2. in fine . 13. oct. 1359. stow in vita h. 6. pag. 709. written ( as it is thought ) in the favor of the king of navarra . bell. apol. bell. apol. cath. par . 2. §. 7. apol. cath. par . 1. §. 7. apol. pro . rege . c. 6. & . 34. apol. cath. par . 2. §. 7. et pro rege cap. 9. apol. pro . rege cap. 20. gen. 15. & 49. deut. 21. & 15 2 paral. 21. & 3. exod. 3. & 2. rom. 9. & 13. gen. 28. & 27. ger. du haillan lib. 3. de l'estat . p. 241. polyd. lib. 22. hist. angl. in vita henr. 5. stow in the beginning of the life of k. henry 5. sir tho. moor and stow. du hail . l. 6. h. anno 1001 anno 1032. anno 1061. anno 1131 anno 1180. 3 reg. 1. pol. & stow in vita hen. 2. anno 1170 2 reg. 2. & 22. 2 reg. 2. & 5. psal. 131. 2 paral. 6. 3 reg. 1. * which though it seemeth to be wrought by humane means and policy , yet was it principally by the special instinct of god himself . 3 reg. 12. ambr. morales l. 11. hist. c. 12. ambr. morales lib. 3. cap. 2. moral . lib. 37. cap. 42 , 43 , 44. garibay lib. 20 cap. 1. concil. tol. 5. cap. 5. concil. tol. 4. cap. 74. episc. tuyens lib. 1. hist. lud. de molin lib. du hared . * favila . amb. mor. l. 23 cap. 6. 9. & 10. sebast. . episc. salam . in hist. hisp. anno 768. moral . lib. 13. cap. 17. moral . cap. 21. * who was of the ecclesiastical order , having been made deacon . mor. cap. 21. & 29. anno 791. anno 924. mor. lib. ib. c. 1 anno 924. mor. l. 19. c. 20. anno 930. anno 954. mor. l. 16. c. 24. moral . lib. 17. cap. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. * suprà . anno 1201. garib . lib. 11. cap. 12. & 37. * married to the prince of leon , by whom he had fernando the st. of castile . gar. l. 13. c. 10. anno 1207. * sirnamed , de la cerda , for that he was born with a great gristle hair on his breast . * by blancha , st. lewis of france his daughter . * for his valor . anno 1276. anno 1284. garibay lib. 15 cap. 1. anno 1363. garibay lib. 15 cap. 22. & l. 34 cap. 39. 1 anno 419. 2 anno 751. 3 anno 988. ger. du hail . l. 3 anno 768. belf. lib. 2. c. 5. paulus aemil . hist. franc. an. 814. gerard lib. 5. an. 834. an. 840. an. 678. * louys the 3d and carloman the first . an. 881. an. 886. * nephew to charls le chauve . an. 88. * son to louys le begue . an. 927. son to charls le simple . * that sirname was given him when hee was a boy , for that hee was wont to snatch away his fellows caps from their heads . belf. lib. 3. cap. 1. anno 988. gerard . lib. 6. anno 988. gerard lib. 6. anno 1032 & 1037. gerard lib. 7. anno 1110. belf. lib. 4. cap. 1. & lib. 5. comineus in comment . l. 1. in vita lud. xi . polyd. lib. 4. hist. angl. in fine an. 802. 872. hee erected the universitie of oxford polyd. lib. 5. hist. angl. stone pag. 130 anno 924. polyd. l. 6. an. 946. an. 959. an. 978. by his first wife . * he had two more , and one daughter , wch died all without issue . by his second wife , imma , sister to rich. pake of normandie , she had edw. the confessor and alured , who at the coming of sweno , fled with their father into normandie . anno 1018. anno 1038. anno 1041. polid. lib. 8. anno 1066. anno 1066. * and the same testified by his last will . ger. du hail . l. 6 anno 1065. ger. chron. cassin lib. 3. cap. 34. anton. part . 2. chron. tit. 16. cap §. 2. polyd. in vita gal. conq. an. 1087. an. 1100. 1135. an. 1153. * called commonly , by the frenchmen jean sans terre . * together with two daughters of his . 1216. * henry 3. ger. lib. 3. de l'estat . p. 242. gen. 8. job . 1. geneb . lib. 1. cronal . de 1. aetate . gen. 25. & 29. deut. 21. 2 parel . 21. cic. l. 1. quaest. tuscul. & de natura deorum . lib. 1. plut. adversus colotem . arist. lib. 7. polit. cap. 8. * in the fourth chapt. an. 560. collat. 2. novel . constit . justin . 8. tit. 3. 1 cor. 7. dig. l. 23. tit. 1 lib. 8. & 10. act. 23. 1 cor. 8. 2 cor. 5. 1 pet. 3. rom. 4. 1 cor. 8. & 10. s. chryst . hom 36. in h. epist. orig. l. 10. theod. in hunc locum . notes for div a91489e-15810 1. 1. 2. ii. iii. iv. v. vi . notes for div a91489e-24750 answered ( s. 112 ) . answered ( s. 113 ) . answ . ( s. 111 ) answ ( s. 114. ) the mistaken recompense, or, the great damage and very many mischiefs and inconveniences which will inevitably happen to the king and his people by the taking away of the king's præemption and pourveyance or compositions for them by fabian phillipps, esquire. philipps, fabian, 1601-1690. 1664 approx. 250 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 68 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54689 wing p2011 estc r36674 15869289 ocm 15869289 104653 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54689) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 104653) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1154:16) the mistaken recompense, or, the great damage and very many mischiefs and inconveniences which will inevitably happen to the king and his people by the taking away of the king's præemption and pourveyance or compositions for them by fabian phillipps, esquire. philipps, fabian, 1601-1690. [24], 110 p. printed by r. hodgkinson, for the author, and are to be sold by henry brome ..., london : 1664. imperfect: some pages faded with loss of print. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng prerogative, royal -england -history -17th century. great britain -kings and rulers. 2004-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-09 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-10 john latta sampled and proofread 2004-10 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the mistaken recompence ; or the great damage and very many mischiefs and inconveniences which will inevitably happen to the king and his people , by the taking away of the king's praeemption and pourveyance , or compositions for them . by fabian philipps esquire . — sic maesta senectus praeteritiquè memor flebat metuensquè futuri lucan . lib. 3 , london , printed by r. hodgkinson for the author , and are to be sold by henry brome at the gun in ivy-lane , 1664. to the old-fashioned and true-hearted gentry , and others of the english nation , and all who are wel-wishers to the honour and happiness of it . the designe of these few sheets of paper in a second justification of the antiquity , legality , use , right , reason , and necessity of the kings pourveyance , or compositions for them , and a demonstration of the many great mischiefs and inconveniences which will unavoydably happen both to the king and his people by the taking of them away , which was the endeavours of a larger treatise , is not only to epitomize some part of what is therein already expressed , but to add many things which were before omitted , to the end that such as being imployed in the publique cares and concernments of the nation , & have very little or no spare time at all to converse with books , or that those who do preferre the interests of their vanities or avarice before such better company , may with no great trouble or labour , read that which is more at large to be seen in the former book : but to take off the opinion and objections lately made of some who would perswade themselves & others , that the compositions for the kings prae-emption and pourveyance either taken for the king , or served into his house in kind or money , or by allowances for them , were when they were paid or served , a great burden to the people , and none or very little profit to the king , by that time that the cozening of so many officers and servants in his household , and their appetites of spoyl and rapine by their selling the kings meat as well cooked and dressed as undressed , and of his bread , beer , and all manner of household provisions to the inhabitants & housekeepers in the parts adjacent were satisfyed , and other their purloyning and trimly varnished over pilfrings and disorders , which an unpaid army , and the most unruly camps of souldiers or military men are not often guilty of ; and the tricks and artifices of the pourveyors and managers of the houshold provisions which in queen elizabeths time made a kentish yeoman pleasantly demand of her , being in her progresse , when she was pleased to talk a little with him , and he perceived she was the queen , if it were she that did eat up all his poultry , which upon her second thoughts and examination , and proof made of the knavery of one of her pourveyors , procured him shortly after a legal and wel-deserved hanging . that too many of his majesties servants employed in the affairs of his houshold provisions ▪ are little better then theeves in an yearly pay or pension , ravening tartars , or neatly cozening banyans ; and that the jews , or the most nimble cut-purses , jugglers , or hocus-pocusses do not , if any thing at all , much out-do them . but that being said and imagined only , and not ever likely to be admitted into the virge of truth or evidence , will for the most part be proved to be meer suggestions contrived and cast abroad by the insinuations of some who do seek to preserve their own , as they deem it happiness , and increase of fortunes , by the ruine and miseries of multitudes , or such as will take up reports , as many gentlemen do tradesmens deceitfull wares upon trust , and will prove to be no otherwise then as the blind man in the gospel did in believing men to be walking trees , when that which made them seem to be that which they were not , was his own mistakings , and by those , and other ungrounded scandalls , do as much service to the king by it , as the devouring ingrossers do usually do unto the people , when they take away the more honest gains of the retailers , to create unto themselves a liberty of imposing what rates they please upon them , and may be easily enough convinced by a discreet and juditious examination of particulars , h●aring of parties accused , survey of the excellent orders and government of the royall houshold , ( which are so exact , and limiting every officer to their liveryes , or stinted proportions , as some antient and very able knowing officers of the houshold who do well deserve to be believed , have averred , and will be ready to assert that the orders of the kings house are so very watchfull , vigilant , and preventing of chea●s and cozenings , as without a● universal combination of all the servants of the kings house ▪ which is never likely to be accomplished it is impossible that there can be so much as a loaf or manchet cozened from the king ) and the daily care of the lord steward , white-staved officers , and of the green-cloth , although the yearly salaries and pensions be the same for the most part which were in the reign of king henry the seaventh , when the kings provisions were so near the th●n cheap market rates and prices , as they had not so much as an aspect of grievance , when ten thousand pounds was a good dowry for the kings daughter in marriage with the king of scotland , ten pounds per annum a good annuity for a kinsman to an earle , a penny was but reckoned to an earle of oxford by his wardrobe keepers for a pair of gloves for his own wearing , and the value of silver by the ounce was then but little more then half a crown , and but creeping up towards three shillings four pence the ounce : and nicholas west bishop of ely in the 23th year of the reign of king hen●y the eighth ▪ keeping yearly one hundred servants in his house , gave the gentlemen and better sort of them but 53 s. 4 d. and to the inferiour sort but 40 s. per annum , and the next year after that the ounce of silver was brought up to 3 s. 4 d. a fat ox was sold at london for six and twenty shillings , beef and pork for an half-penny a pound , and a half penny farthing a pound for veal and mutton , was by an act of parliament in that year understood to be a reasonable price , and with gain enough afforded ; and due consideration shall be had of the necessary differences which are to be observed betwixt the pensions , allowances and expences of many of the nobility and gentry of the best extraction and houses of the kingdome serving and attending in the kings house : those that stand before princes , and are to be clothed , as the holy book of god hath told us , with silk and soft raiments ; and those that are none of these , but do serve and take wages in houses and families of private men ; and that the majesty and honour of a king in the order and splendour of his house is not to be reduced to the pattern of private housekeepers , and the narrow and unbeseeming customes of their smaller estates and families . that the wast of honor and the more then ordinary fragments left in the kings house , as the remainders of the dyet provided for him and his servants for the food and sustenance of the poor , and such as will be glad of it , are but the requisites and appurtenances to the majesty and honor of a king , that sir richard weston afterwards earle of portland , and lord high treasurer of england , sir john wo●stenholme knight , sir william p●t● , and others , commissioned by king james to make a reiglement and espa●gne in his house-keeping , being men of known and great experience in the management of their own estates , could not then find any such things as have been since laid to the charge of the kings officers and servants in his house , that the pretensions not long after of better husbandry in the kings house by some niggardly contrivances , and serving some of the tables with half a goose instead of a whole , came to no more at the last then the obtaining of the pretenders self ends , and an annuity of 500l . per annum for th● lives of the pretender & his wife , and the longer liver of them , that the lord chamberlain of the kings housholds yearly fee of 100 l. the treasurer of the housholds yearly fee of 123l . — 14s . and the cofferers yearly fee of 100l . measured and proportioned to the antient and former cheapness and means of livelihood , would have even then been very deficient for the support of such persons of honor and quality , if they had not had at the same time some seldome falling expectations of other favours and rewards from a princely master , and a present liberal allowance for their tables , which although it doth now stand the king , by the enhance of his rates and prices , in a great deal more then it did formerly , yet unto those that received those allowances for their tables and dyet , it is no more then formerly : for if an estimate were taken how much it would cost the king to make and encrease the salaries and wages of his servants and officers of all ranks and sorts , which in all the several offices and places , and dependencies about the persons of the king and queen are above one thousand , all or most of whom did when the tables and diets were allowed , intercommune , one with another , and were with many also of their servants fed with the kings victuals , and houshold provisions , to be according unto the rates of wages & salaries , and as much as they are now taken and given in private families and all were to be paid in money , and nothing in dyet , the kings treasury , purse , or estate would soon be brought to understand , that such increased allowances , or other allowances , pensions , wages and salaries , which must according to the rise and enhance of all manner of things conducing to the support and livelihood of such servants be now necessarily paid and given over and above the antient fees and salaries , would arise and amount unto more then all the charge of the pourveyance or compositions for them , whether it were thirty and five thousand pounds a year , or fifty thousand pounds per annum , which was laid and charged upon the counties , or more then the king is unjustly supposed to be deceived or cheated by his servants , or those which do direct the affairs of his houshold ; when it cannot escape every private mans judgement and experience in house-keeping that he that doth give his servants forty shillings per annum salary , and as much more to be added unto it in certain fees and profits well known , and calculated to amount unto no more then another forty shillings per annum . doth give his servant but four pounds per annum in the totall , and is not at all cozened therein ; and that it would otherwise be no honour to the king , but a diminution of majesty , and a temptation or necessity enforced upon his servants to deceive him , if the serjeant of the ewrie and the serjeant of the bakehouse , to mention but a few of many , should have but their antient and bare salaries of 11 l. — 8 s. — 1 d. per annum , and want their antiently allowed avails and perquisites . that such short and now far too little wages and salaries to be given to the kings servants in their several honourable and worshipfull stations , would be unworthy for them to receive , and dishonorable for the king to give . and that the no inconsiderable summe of money which was yearly and usually saved by the venditions of the over-plus of the pourveyance or compositions for them , and imployed in the buying of linnen and utensils for the service of the house ; the now yearly allowances for diet to eight principall great officers and to seaven of the next principall officers , and what his majesty payeth yearly to others for board-wages , and what is enhanced and laid upon him by unreasonable rates and prices , now that his officers are constrained to buy with ready money , and to pay a barbarous interest and brocage to provide it , compared with what he now spends in his private allowances for his own and the queens diet , and some other few yet allowed tables , will make a most certain and lamentable demonstration , that the king and his honor were gainers by the pourveyance os compositions for them , and very great loosers by the taking of them away . and that he did meet with a very ill bargain by the exchange of his pourveyance or compositions for them , for a supposed recompence of fifty thousand pounds per annum intended him out of the moiety of the excise of ale , beer , perry , &c. but if the abuses committed by the servants and officers of the king within the house were so great , or any thing at all , as is pretended ( for as to the pourveyors , and those that act without dores , the law hath sufficiently provided ) they may certainly be rectified and brought under a reformation , without the abolishing or totall taking away of the right use of them , or that which cannot be spared , or by any means be abandoned , but may be dealt with , as we do by our wines , victuals , or apparel , which as necessaries of life are in their right use to be kept and reteyned , notwithstanding any misusage of them . or if the pourveyance or compositions for them were so much diverted from the use intended by them , yet that will not be any reason for the quitting of them without a due exchange or recompence , for that if they were all of them , ( as is meerly fained or fanci●d ) mispent or misimployed yet those that do mispend them , and they that have the benefit of them ( not that i would be an advocate to justifie the selling of the kings meat or houshold provisions unto any in the neighbourhood , or any accursed cheatings of the king , which i wish might be punished as felony ) are neither enemies or strangers to the nation , but the kings subjects and servants , and the children , friends and kinred of many of those which do contribute towards the pourveyance or compositions for them ; and that which is so misimployed , serves instead of some other largesses , allowances , or connivencies , which are usually in kings houses ; and whether well spent or mispent , being oblations and offerings of duty made by the people to their sovereign , are not to be denyed or retrenched , no more then the misbehaviour of the sons of ely , with which the almighty was so much offended , would have been any just cause of the children of israels forbearing to bring their offerings . it being no paradox , but certain enough that those seeming , but not reall grievances to the people , by the kings prae-emption and pourveyance , or compositions for them , have no other source or originall , then the rise and enhance of the markets , and all victualls and provisions , by which all the selling and richer part of the people are ten to one more gainers by the kings pourveyance or compositions for them then they can be loosers , and are better able to bear it ; and the poorer sort of the people were less grieved when it was not taken away , then they are now by the excise of ale , beer , &c. which comes in the place or pretended recompence of it , that the gentry and landlords of the lands in the nation , who by heating of those lands that were cold , drayning and drying of those that were wet and moist , watering of such as were dry and sandy , and planting of wood and fruit , have brought their lands to a greater increase and fertility , not yet come to its acme or just height , then the former ages , and a thousand years knowledge or practise of our forefathers , the inhabitants of this nation could before this last age or century wherein we are now ▪ ever reach or attain unto : and the landlords of houses , innes , taverns , shops , or stalls in london , who have now by the increase of tradesmen rather then trade raised their rents ten or twenty to one more then what they were one hundred years agoe , might in some measure or moderation have taken their advantages of the improvements of their lands , rents , houses , and shops , without such an overstretching their rents , as the tenants where they have no leases , but at will or from year to year in some counties of england should be enforced , as many have lately been to throw up and forsake their bargains ; and that all or any of that over-high racking the rents of lands and houses , or a supposed plenty of money , ( which in the time of the greatest enhance and rack of rents , rates , and prices which ever england did see or endure , is now so scarcely to be found , as the universality of the people do heavily complain of the want of it ) and the product or consequence of that evil in a like enhance of rates and prices by the freeholders and copyholders , who pay no rents , ( as farmers do ) and by the tenants of the king , queen , prince , or bishops , & some of the hospitable and well minded nobility and gentry , the tenants of the church and colledge lands , and of lands belonging to cities , corporations , companies , and hospitals , who have cheap and comfortable estates and bargains , and yet do all they can to imitate them , although they have no cause to do it , which would be much higher . if all the copihold estates in england and wales were at as great a rack of rent as the lands of the most of farmers . if all the privileges and rights of common estovers and turbary , modus decimandi , and exemption from the payment of tythes and tolls were abrogated . and if the king should keep the same rule and measure of high rating and racking of his revenues certain or casuall , as many landlords do ; or make our east-india merchants pay for their licence or priviledge of trading to the east-indies , all others being excluded for one and twenty years , a share or proportion amounting in the whole very near a million sterling money , as the dutch have made their east-india company to do , could not be the only proper or efficient causes of that long-strided and swift progresse , and increase of the rates and prices not only of victuals and all houshold provisions , but of all manner of commodities , apparel and necessaries either for use or ornament . so as we shall not conclude without premisses , or be thought to want a ground or foundation of an irrefragable truth , that lucifer the great merchant and furnisher of our sins and excess , and of the great and intollerable pride of all the degrees and ranks of men , women , children , and servants in the nation , as far beyond the former ages as a giant is to a pigmee , or pauls steeple in london when it was highest , to the pissing conduit ( as they call it ) in cheapside , and the avarice of the people to maintain it , together with the necessities attending their pride and vanities , have been no small part of the cause of it ; for otherwise it would have been some difficulty to find or give a reason why we should not in england , a kingdome , untill our late times of confusion , of the greatest peace and plenty in christendome , be able to afford victuals , and all manner of provisions for the belly and back as cheap as in france , where notwithstanding the heavy oppressions and burdens of the paysants , who do fare hard , and are ill clad ; and by reason of the frugality of most of the gentry , a partridge may be bought for ●our pence , and a gentleman and his horse at night be very well entertaind for four shillings : or as in spain , where a bando is yearly made by the corrigidores of every city and place ( which the civil law doth allow and direct , and our laws of england do as to victuals also intend ) setting yearly the rates and prices not only of all victuals and houshold provisions for the belly , and of fruit and apples , but of all commodities , as linnen and woollen cloth , silk , knives , ha●s , &c. where notwithstanding their continuall warres , and multitudes of heavy taxes to mainteyn them , there is a cheapness of victuals , and such an absence of deceit , as a child , or the most ignorant way as to measure , weight , and prices , buy and not be deceived . or as is in the same manner done at rome , naples , florence , milan , and most of the principalities of italy , not so freed from publick burdens as our more happy england is at this present ; which neither would nor could be there ever submitted unto and obeyed as it is , if the pride and necessities , or avarice of the landlords , and the pride of the tenants ( which the pragmatico's forbidding the pride and excess of apparel , do in spain very much eradicate ) were not less then ours , and their frugalities more ; and such restrictions and reglements thereby made to be the more tolerable and contenting . and those that do like it more then they should , and shall be content to imploy their times in the pursuit of vanities , and means to mainteyn it , and forsaking the old and good wayes , and seeking gain , do sacrifice unto their nets , and burn incense unto their drags , may have that said unto them which the apostle st. paul did ●n another case to the romans ; what fruit have the intollerable pride and excess of the nation , and the high racking of rents to mainteyn it , brought unto those that have taken pleasure in it . and they that have so much delighted in it , may now , if they please , or at one time or another , understand whether they will or no , that the overmuch raising and stretching of the rents of the lands and houses in england , since an excessive pride and folly of the people is come to be so much in fashion amongst us , have been no gain to the nobility and gentry , but will be a great loss and damage unto them by that time that the wastfull and prodigall part of them have bought and furnished their houshold provisions at the dear rates of their tenants and others , of whom they do buy them , and their apparel and other the merchandises of their follyes of the citizens and trades-men ; and not only therein bear the burthen of their own , but of the intollerable pride and gallantry of the citizens , tradesmen , mechanicks , artificers and their wives and children , and in all that they do buy of them , do contribute to the costly pearl , neck-laces , diamond lockets , and other jewels , satten and cloth of silver peticoats , plush gowns , embroderies , gold-lace , gorgets of threescore pounds a piece , and lace of twenty or forty pounds a yard , worn by the merchants , drapers , and mercers wives , and the silk-gowns , hoods , laces , and over-costly apparel of the mechanick and artificers wives in their desires and ambition to live like the nobility and gentry , when no man can tell they are any , or ought to be . that the enhance of all provisions of victuals brought to london out of the countries , hath made the country people pro●der then they should be , and the city wares and commodities dearer then otherwise they would be , and made the citizens , in the pursuit of pride and luxury , run out of their wits and estates to purchase it . that it was better in former times for the artificers and day-labourers , whose more moderate expences in their ●●veral conditions and qualities made them heretof●re with a fourth or fifth part of what they do now earn , greater gainers by their labours then now they are , and better for servants , whose far lesser wages then now , they will be contented with , did amount unto more , or as much as they do now gain , by reason of their former smaller expences in clothes and apparel . the tenants and farmers lived better when they plowed their landlords lands , mowed , reaped , and helped in with their harvests carried home their wood , and paid small rents , then they have or can do now that they are strained to the highest , those labours and services coming far short ( if they were at the now rates to be hired or paid for ) of the addition , which time and change of manners and customes have since made to their antient and unimproved rents . that the people of england , if there had been no other ground or reason for it , might well have afforded to have given the king so much as they were yearly charged with the pourveyance or compositions for them for an acquital of more then twenty years arrears of it by the act of oblivion . that if an estimate could be made of those millions or summes of money sterling , which the en●hanced prices and rates of victuals and houshold provisions did amount unto yearly since the 24th year of the reign of king henry the eighth , and what the rise of victuals and houshold provisions have come unto yearly since the pourveyance and compositions for them were laid down , and what it may more be stretched unto , if pride and price , not like castor and pollux , to bring our ship into the port , but to ruine it , should go on in that carreer it is now in , and private and particular interests more mighty and prevalent then all those imaginary monsters which hercules is sa●● to have subdued , and of a greater force then that devil and his heard called legion , which our blessed saviour did dislodge out of the man possessed with them , shall be ayders and abetters of it . there is no man that hath not bid defiance to his reason and understanding , but will acknowledge that the people of england had better give ten times or more the yearly rate or value of the pourveyancees or compositions for them then endure the impositions , which they have , or shall put one upon another whilest every man will seek to save himself and make his labour or commodity afford him as much as he can to recompence him for it . that the unreasonable rates and prices put upon all the kings occasions or services by land and sea , are and will be the cause of taxations and assessements in times of peace three to one more then formerly . and the levies of monies to hire souldiers , and raise and maintain mercinary armies , will amount unto and charge the publick ten or twenty to one or more than when by the help and ready ayds of tenures in capite and by knight service our gallant and well-armed nobility and gentry could upon any occasions of warre or distress either at home or abroad be sodainly summoned and made to appear from ireland as well as from all parts of england and wales . and so readily as king william rufus sitting at dinner in westminster hall , and hearing that mayne a town in normandy was much distressed by a sodain siege laid unto it by the french king , and resolving in the greatness of his mind not to turn his back towards it untill he had relieved it , could cause the wall to be broken down on the south side , and passing towards the sea coast , command his nobility and knights speedily to follow him . that the unparrallel'd pride of almost all rancks and degrees of the people not permitted in france , spain and other neighbour nations brings our forreign trade almost to nothing by the adulterating of our commodities , and making them false and slight , and causing the charges to be much more then formerly in the work and making of them , pay of our mariners and greater rates of victualling , so as we being not able to make our manufactures so cheap as other nations , and making them slight and false , our trade must of necessity more and more decay , and will never increase or be advanced , if the dutch were banished out of the world , or ordered to trade only in the bottom of the sea , and leave all the surface or top unto us ; the cheap diet and clothing of their common people , the neat and frugall diet , and the apparel of the burgers , and those that they call the gentry , giving them the advantage of under-selling us . for we may be sure that there will never be cheapness of victualls , or houshold provisions , or good trading , and truly called plentifull living , if citizens wives , and some of no higher a rank then sc●iveners , shall have their trains born up at funeralls , as if they were countesses , or baronesses , and give the world to understand by that nove●int universi , that pride hath made them run out of their wits , and may in a short time , after that rate make their husbands run out of their estates . and if taylors wives may , as they are not now ashamed to do , wear pearl neck-laces of 100 or 120l . price , and some of the greater sort of that now too overbusied profession , keep their coaches , and make their customers pay for it . a linnen draper being to buy an horse for his own use must have one at no lesse a price then forty pounds : the wife of a sales-man , or one that sells petticoats , wastcoats , or gowns , trimd , and made up in a seeming cheap , but a most deceitfull manner , for servants , or people of ordinary quality , can wear a neck-lace of forty pounds price : and some shoemakers wives do not think their husbands do go to the devil fast enough , if they do not so abuse the more honest intentions of their trade , as to make their wives learn to hold up their heads to shew their pearl neck-laces of forty or fifty pounds price , which is many times more then all the shoes in some of their husband shops are worth : every cook , every alehousekeeper , and the lowest and meanest sort of mechanicke and handicrafts men , and their wives , shall be permitted to vie in 〈◊〉 apparel , and manner of living with the nobility and gentry : a frock-porters little daughter shall go with her breasts and shoulders naked , white shoes , coif and pinner well laced , and all to be ribboned : and a day-labourers wife in the country , within the infectious breath of the pride of london , wear her taffata hoods gold and silver-lace , and a gorget not much below the yearly rent of the little tenement her husband is at night glad to rest his weary and durtied limbs in : and that there will be never any hope or possibility of any thin● ▪ but high rates and prices , vices and villanies , when th●● do so hugely ●ise and ●ncrease by reason of the pride of the nation , as the keeper of the bo●●om●●ss pit , and its everlasting burnings , may well rejoyce in the plentifull coming in of his harvest and merchandise ; and that if there were nothing of wickedness to be found in the heart of mankind , that most fertill seminary and seed-plot of it , and no other cause for it , the only excessive pride of the nation would by a necessity of providing maintenance for it , be a cause efficient and impulsive to make or foment all manner of wickedness , fraud , cheating and cozenidg , drive the wives and husbands to betray one another , servants their masters , children their parents , parents their children , and brothers and sisters to forego all naturall affection , care and honesty one towards another . that it is , and will be impossible by any trade or industry to mainteyn this nation in either peace or plenty , when all the men in it shall in their apparel , dyet and expences make it their business to live as the nobility and gentry do & most of the female sex ( servants not excepted ) shall not be contented themselves , or let their husbands live in any quiet , unless they may live like ladies and gentlewomen , and be the daughters of vanity and folly . that at paphus and ciprus the old and antient countries of venery as well as vanity , where their daughters do , ( as some authors have written , and travellers do report ) entertain strangers by prostitution of their bodies , to get dowries or portions for some mad husbands to marry them . and in all the luxuries and pride of rome , asia , tire and sidon , and all other the destroyed and ruined nations by it , there were some distinctions in apparel , dyet , and expences ; some servants distinguished by their habit , and not all masters or mistresses to be found amongst them . and that england being overchaged with a generation of too many proud , lazi● , and lavish people , is not ▪ nor ever will be able to maintain them without a sinfull necessity put upon the nation , as there is too much already , to cheat and oppress one another to support them in it . and should have more reason to believe then to doubt , that the honor of a prince is the honor of a people , and the people so much concerned in it , that it was wont to be a cura curarum , one of the greatest cares of the magistrates under kings and soveraign princes seculis retroactis in the old and long ago past ages of the word attested by the hoary heads of time & antiquity practised by a jus gentium , universal law of nations , rude and untaught indians not excepted , and continued to this day in many forreign parts , and most of the western nations , to give an especiall honor by gifts , enterteynments , and presents to embassdours , who in those particular employments were but the images and representations of foreign princes sent on embasses unto theirs : and that we ought to take it to be a duty incumbent upon us not to want , or be to seek for as much goodness as the old heathen persians were masters of when artabanus told themistocles the graecian embassadour that apud nos ea lex praestantissima qua● venerati regem tanquàm dei effigiem jubet , with us ▪ that law which commandeth reverence to the king as gods image , is accompted to be the most excellent . and therefore untill the wisdome of our parliaments shall by some sumptuary laws to be enacted , which may as easily be done , and put in execution , without any damage or loss unto trade , or his majesties customes , a● those that were made and enacted in the reigns of king edward the third , henry the eighth , and queen mary , unhappily repeald by king james , or those not long ago made and kept alive by our neighbours of france and spain , or lately ordained by the sage venetians : or by the swedes , those strangers to the sun , and inmates of snow and ice , after they were grown rich and proud by the spoil and plunder of the unfortunate germany , and a way may be found out to drive back , and reduce unto some order , as formerly the unchristian liberty of pride now in fashion amongst us , which is so horrid and ridiculous as might turn the weeping and laughing philosophers out of their humours , and make heraclitus laugh , and democritus weep ; together with the daily more and more growing and encreaeasing high rates of victuals and houshold provisions , which is , and will be the sad consequence of it . and is so fixt & pertinacious , as that the kings own example of plain and uncostly apparel , the care of the church and pulpits , the scourging & detestation of vice appearing in some of our plays and interludes , and the jeers and scoffs of some people as they meet with it in the streets , have not yet been able to bring or perswade too many of them into their wits again , the compass of their estates , and sobriety of their forefathers . we may wish and pray that all the common people were in the moderation of their apparel , quakers , as they are called ; that all our market-folk , tradesmen , artificers , and servants , as to the justness of their dealings , and buying and selling , were quakers , and that it may not be our sad , and never enough to be lamented experience ; that as doctor peter heylin well observed , the afflictions of the church of england in the martirdomes and persecutions of the protestants in the reign of queen mary , and the restoring afterward of many godly divines that fle● from it , brought 〈…〉 the genevian schismes and discipline 〈…〉 since almost undone and 〈…〉 which were heretofore purp●s●ly ●own and cherished to enervate and destroy ●ona●chy joyned with th●●ll manners and customes of some neighbour nations , may not likewise by some that might be better englishmen , and his majesties better subjects ▪ be more then should be endeavoured to be planted amongst us which being abundantly and sufficiently tri●d to be evill , did never , nor will ever attain unto the reason , right use goodness and perfection of our good old english customes , amongst which is , and ought to be more especially ranked the honor and support of the royall court of england , majesty , and honor of our king and soveraign : which the romans , who would not endure any common-wealth , competitors , nor think themselves to be in any condition of safety untill they had ruined and destroyed carthage , and those commonwealths of achaia , athens , and sparta , were so unwilling in the height of their glory , their senate , magistrates & republick should want , as the comminalty of rome did in a popular election , deny to make elius tubero , a most upright and just man , the nephew of l. paulus , and sisters sonne of the great and famous scipio africanus , to be a prat●r or lord chief justice , for that he being imployed by fabius maximus publicquely to feast or entertain in the name and at the charge of the people of rome , his uncle scipio africanus in the preparing and making ready the triclinia , or tables lectulos punicanos pellibus ●aedinis straverat , had covered the carthaginian beds whereon the guests were to sit or lye , with goat-skins ; & pro argenteis vasis samia exposuerat , and instead of silver vessels made use of earthen ; which due observance of a heathen republique , being under no obligation of any divine praecepts or examples to honour their governours or assembly of wise men , may teach us that are christians how very necessary it will be to take more care of the honour of our prince , then of any our own estimations or honors , which for a great part of them are , or have been derived from him or his most noble ancestors : and by so much the more for that the honor to be done unto him is every where to be found commanded , directed , exampled , and encouraged in and by those sacred registers , the holy scriptures , which are to conduct us through the red sea of the miseries and troubles of this life to that of a blessed and everlastingly happy in the heavenly jerusalem , in the way whereunto will be no small helpers and assistants , the rendring to caesar all his dues and rights , who is the protector of ours , a more exact and carefull observance of religion , laws of nature and nations , right , reason , our oathes of allegiance and supremacy , and the love and honour of our king and country , the n●w almost forsaken virtues of our ancestors , and the good old customes of england , which should not like some rustie pieces of old neglected arms be hung up in our halls , and now and then only talked of ; or like as if they were some race of wolves come again to inf●st us , or our profits , be hunted and persecuted , but recalled , revived , and practised ; in which , as a fidus achat●s , shall never be wanting the wel-wishes and endeavors of fabian philipps . by the laws and custome of england as well as of other nations where monarchy , or the right way and order of government hath any thing to do , the king hath a controll of markets , may regulate & order the price & rates of victuals & houshold provisions , and hinder it from being excessive : as likewise may the lords of manors in their leets , the sheriffs in their tournes , the justices of the kings bench , justices of peace , and justices of assize at the quarter-sessions and assizes by an authority derived from him . which when it was better observed then now , made the market rates about the fourth year of the reign of queen elizabeth to be , if any thing at all , but little different from her price , or those compositions for her houshold provisions , which by agreement made by the justices of peace of the severall counties , with the offficers of her house were to be furnished according as the counties were more or less distant from london , the place of her residence , and the profits which they received thereby in the improvement of their lands , and selling their commodities at greater rates unto others . and was the cause , besides the duty and obligation of it , that the kings praeemption which should not be denyed , as long as civility and good manners , and the fifth commandement shall continue or be in use amongst us . and the royall pourveyance , ( warranted by the lawes of god , nature , and nations , aswell as by the civil law , the universal and refined reason of the civilized part of the world , and the common law of this nation : ) having dwelt here amongst us above the age of methusaelah : and as retributions and gratitudes in signe of subjection , paid and allowed in other nations by the heathen and savages as well as christians , were not in the right use of them , untill our late times of rebellion and confusion taken to be either a grievance or burden unto the people . for that which ( besides the designes of the levelling party , and such as were the professed enemies of monarchy and majesty , and the ill impressions which they have cast into the minds of such who have too much believed them , ) hath made them to seem that which they are not . hath been the rack and enhaunce of the rents of lands by the nobility , gentry , and landlords . the increase of servants and labourers wages , and the high rates imposed by tenants and farmers upon victuals and houshold provisions which ( if it were not for the pursuit of pride and vanity , and the peoples racking of one another to maintain it , ) might be afforded cheaper then it was in the 4 th year of the reign of queen elizabeth . and as they are now raised to immoderate rates and prices do make a desert in our land of canaan , and a generall enhaunce of all things in the midst of a plenty ; wherein every one is sure to be a gainer or saver , but the king. who by the loss of his praeemption and pourveyance is made to be the only sufferer , and as to the market rates in a worse condition then any lord of a manor or clark of the market . to his damage , besides the loss of hono● in his house , and many other inconveniencies of more then one hundred thousand pounds per annum . which may appear by a true and exact calculation or estimate following . in 35 o. eliz. the difference between the market and the queens rates in the composition made for the pourveyance , ( the spices , and grocery-ware , excepted which doth now yearly cost the king three thousand pounds per annum ) was but twenty five thousand , twelve pounds four shillings eight p●nce . when the price of the oxen as they a●e now bought , is three to one , more than they were then , of the lambs eleaven to one , fat sheep four to one , chickens eleaven to one , wheat five to one . in yorkshire and some other remote countreys , the price of the oxen near four to one , and in suffolk , and other southern countries , course butter then at something less then two pence half-penny a pound , now six pence a pound . which difference betwixt the kings price and the market price but according to three to one , will after the rate of twenty five thousand pounds per annum , multiplyed three times over ; amount unto one hundred thousand pounds per annum , and make the kings loss to be as much , and the counties ( especially many of them which are neer adjacent to london ) so much and a great deal more , the gainers by selling to their fellow-subjects after those more then formerly enhaunced rates . and what wanted in those provisions or compositions served in by the counties ( for that did not reach to the defraying of all the charges in the house , ) as to dyet , and servants wages , and the buying of some utensils and necessary houshold-stuffe to be used in the affairs of the houshold . being supplyed by some yearly assignations and additions out of the royal revenue , and some of them by several acts of parliament : and king charles the martyr , after a putting down of more then a third part of the tables and dyets in the royal houshold , as they were in the reign of king james his father , and putting many of the servants unto board-wages , with some short and prejudicial allowances for their dyets ( ●hich lessened his charge as to the dyets , as much as thirty thousand pounds per annum , and was the cause of as much losse to the servants ) making his assignation , together with what the compositions for the pourveyance , did then amount unto ( which in the difference betwixt the kings price and market rates , at that time was estimated to be less then fifty thousand pounds per annum , ) to be one hundred and twenty thousand pounds for the defraying of the charges of his house-keeping . in which yearly charge of the houshold , the king allowing seventy thousand pounds per annum towards it . and the benefits by the compositions for the pourveyance , as to what the countries paid , ( and as to what the king saved by it , ) being reckoned but at fifty thousand pounds per annum , which is much too low . there will by the taking away of the prae-emption and pourveyance , or compositions for them be not only that fifty thousand pounds per annum , in damage and loss to the king , but a great addition of losses , and damage , as followeth , viz. for the carriages now , that the price is raised two in three and more then formerly incumbred . per ann . 3000 l. — 0 s. — 0 d. and when there shall be progresses , will at the least amount unto two thousand pound per ann . more 2000 l. — 0 s. — 0 d. the venditions , which were the over-plus , and what was not spent or used of the provisions of the countyes ; with the profit of hydes , and tallow , &c. & were usually sold towards the furnishing of other occasions of the house ; as for buying of linnen , and other necessaryes and utensils thereof per ann . — 12000 l. -0 s. -0 d. the profit and benefit of lean cattle , served in at small prizes , and heretofore fatted in the kings pastures at creslow in buckinghamshire ; the rent deducted . per ann . — 1000 l. -0 s. -0 d. and was wont besides to furnish for the stables as much hay as was worth . per ann . — 300 l. — 0 s. -0 d. and as many fatt cattle sold as yearly yielded . — 1000 l. -0 s. -0 d. the kings pastures and fatting grounds at tottenham-court in middlesex , and sayes-court in deptford in kent , yielding for the aforesaid uses more then the now rent which is reserved upon them . per ann . — 500 l. — 0 s. -0 d. allowances in satisfaction of diet now made unto eight great officers or principal men of the houshold for their tables and diet after the rate of four pounds per diem . being 1560 l. to every one of them , and the moyety or one half thereof reckoned at 730 l. and multiplyed by eight , amounting unto per annum . — 5800 l. — 0 s. — 0 d. allowances made unto 7 next principal officers of the house in recompence of their diet and tables after the rate of 30 s. per diem to each of them being 547 l. 10 s. 0 d. and but the moyety or one halfe thereof brought to accompt , which is — 273 l. 15 s. 0 d. and multiplyed by 7. amounts unto per annum . — 1915 l. — 5 s. — 0 d. ( besides many other allowances unto divers others of the houshold who had formerly three dishes of meat allowed them every day in the year not here reckoned . ) for board wages to many other officers and servants in the royal family , whose wages when there was diet in the court to suffice all the servants of it ▪ and reteyners unto it ; will fall farre short of what they will have a necessity aswell as reason to demand . per annum . — 6000 l. — 0 s. — 0 d. the compositions of the brewers of london and the adjacent villages , in lieu of a groat for every quarter of malt which they brewed , which was formerly paid , and is now remitted by reason of the excise . per annum . — 3500 l. — 0 s. — 0 d. the excise which the king pays for his own beer per ann . — 300 l. — 0 s. — 0 d. the 2 d. a piece every day to as many poor people at the gate , now given more then formerly , by reason of the fragments of the tables , put down , and other charities heretofore allowed them taken away per annum . — 140 l. — 0 s. — 0 d. the future and continual enhance of prices assisted by that accursed way of poundage of twelve pence in every pound for all that he buyes or payes for ; which he will be sure to pay for at the last , though others are constrained to abate and pay for it at the present . and his too often buying upon credit and paying for many things as much as an interest of 15 or 20 per cent . which put together may in the usual & annual expences of his houshold instead of the 50000 l. ( if so much ) were contributed by the pourveyance , amount unto little less then a half more then formerly laid out in most parts of his provision , and a th●●d part in the residue , he being now enforced to purchase the victuals and food for himself and his houshold , at a far greater rate then any of his subjects . — 20000 l. — 0 s. — 0 d. besides what may be added , for the tricks & pilferings of inferiour servants of the houshold , and their taking indirect courses , and advantages to make up , or recruit their losses and the damage which the king may susteyn by having such his servants metamorphosed and turned into hunger-starved ratts , which will be nibling and gnawing at every thing which they can come at ; and may be catched , but are not to be destroyed by drowning or poisoning . and the loss and diminution of the honour of the king in his royal houshold , which is , and ought to be inestimable , and as much beyond a valuation . as the honor of a sovereign prince , is , and ought to be above , and beyond that of the vulgar , or any private person , which may bring us to this conclusion that although fifty thousand pounds per annum were in the granting of a moyety of the excise to the king , his heirs or successors intended to be allowed for the pourveyance or compositions for them which did cost the kingdome yearly , and communibus annis , but twenty five thousand and twelve pounds , or thereabout , in the 35 year of the reign of queen elizabeth ; and in the third year of the reign of king james not much above forty thousand pounds per annum ; and in the reign of king charles the martyr , at the most but fifty thousand pounds per annum ; 〈◊〉 whether more or less , is not to be found in the receipt or yearly income of that revenue of the moyty of the excise . for that the totall of the clear yearly profit of the moyety of the excise , allowed unto the king for the exchange of his tenures in capite , and by knights service , and the pourveyance or compositions for them , doth not amount unto ( the charges of the collection deducted ) above one hundred and twenty thousand pounds per annum . is likely to be lesse by reason of an universall poverty of those which should pay it , making a large accompt of many desperate arrears , and of the farmers in many places letting it three or four times over to others under them , and so very much racking and oppressing of the people ; ( if but half of what is complained of be true ) as many private families do to avoid the gripes of the excise-men , and the knavery of the common brewers , set up brewhouses for their own occasions . and will be too little for the exchange or purchase only of such a principall flower and support of the crown , and an eminent part of the royall prerogative , as the tenures in capite and knight-service are , which in yearly revenue yielded him above one hundred thousand pounds per annum . and for that the power , might , and majesty of a king being unvaluable , is not to be ballanced by any thing which is not as much . so as the damages and losses susteyned by the want of the pourveyance or compositions for them , besides what shall be paid more then formerly for the charges of the stable , impressing of workmen for the kings occasions by the master● of the works , the king now paying every workman eighteen pence , or two shillings per diem , when it was before but twelve pence , and the charges more then formerly in the pourveyance for the navy , ship-timber , ammunition , and carriage thereof , &c. and many other losses not here enumerated , will be no less then the sum of one hundred seven thousand and fifteen pounds five shillings . and a too certain totall of that which is here valued and brought to accompt , besides the unvaluable honour and power of the king , loss and ruine of his servants , and what indirect courses may intice them unto . which needs not be doubted , when as by an exact and carefull accompt given unto the lords in parliament , in or about the third year of the reign of king james by sir robert banister knight , then one of the officers of his houshold , of what was yearly saved to the king by the compositions for the pourveyance over and above the yearly value of what it cost the countries ( when the rates were both in the country and city of london not by a third part , and in many things a half and more , so much heightned as now they are ; and a project of purchasing the pourveyance from the crown for fifty thousand pounds per annum was in agitation ) there appeared to have been yearly saved ▪ by the compositions and commissions for pourveyance the sum of thirty four thousand eight hundred forty six pounds ▪ ten shillings and six pence ; and in the office for the stable two thousand six hundred ninety and eight pounds ; which made a totall of thirty seven thousand five hundred forty and four pounds ten shillings and six pence ; and probably might be the reason that that unhappily after accomplished designe did then vanish into nothing . 1. nor will the yearly damage & losses of the people in the totall arrive unto a lesse , when they shall finde the moyety of the excise not amounting to one hundred and thirty thousand pounds per annum in the utmost extent and income of it , without deductions or defalcations to the officers imployed by his majesty therein to be doubled and made as much again upon them by the fraud and oppression of the brewers , little malt put into their beer , and ill boyling of it , and lesser measures sold by the inkeepers and alehouse-keepers : and yet the brewers being paid the excise of beer and ale by the housekeepers and retailers , as much as they do pay to the king , and a great deal more , by reason of the excise of three barrels of beer , and two of ale in every twenty , allowed them will not think it enough to cozen and abuse the people whose good and evil , and profit and loss is included in that of the kings , unless they do also by false gaugings concealed brewings , and other ill artifices , use all the wayes and means which they can , to make themselves great gainers by deceiving the king as well as the people , and will like too many of their fellow citizens , the great tax-improvers and advantage-catchers of the kingdom , be sure to be as little loosers by it as the fox would , if a monthly assessement should be set upon him for his subterranean boroughes and dark labirinths ; or the griping usurer , the biting broker , and the knavish informer would be if an yearly imposition or tax should be layd upon their ungodly and oppressive gains and imployments . 2. neither will the peoples loss & damage be lessened when there shall be a scarcity of food & provisions at the markets in regard that the kings officers and pourveyors for his houshold shall now be constrained to buy his houshold provisions in great quantities at the markets or shops in london , or in the counties adjacent , which were wont to be served in kind by the several counties of the kingdome . 3. and there shall be an enhaunce of prices and market-races , which since the acquittall or laying down of the pourveyance or compositions for it , are already about london and westminster found to be at the least two pence in a shilling more then it was before ; which being a sixth part , will when it shall be raised and made to be an ordinary rate through the adjacent counties to london and westminster make no inconsiderable burden or charge to the inhabitants , and a greater , if either all or some part of that more th●n formerly raised price , shall by necessity or imitation , and the vast and excessive pride of most sorts of people , diffuse and spread it self into all other parts of the kingdome , and a great deal more if those insana praetia , unreasonable rates , shall , as they are most likely , by the high rack of the rents of lands , servants , and laborers wages , and all manner of commodities which are sold , either for the belly or the back , or for necessity or pleasure , creep and climb higher and higher , untill pride and excess shall have made our heretofore more prudent and frugall england , by too many of her natives want of money , for want of wit , to be a bankrupt . which may well be suspected , when as experience , the mistress of fools , but the guide and direction of wiser people , hath assured us that the price extorted from the king will make the nobility pay the dearer ; and the rates which their example will enforce or entice the gentry to pay , will infect and prejudice the marketings of the common and buying part of the people ; as we have lately seen in the rates and prices of horses ; not by reason of any exportation or sca●city , manage or fitness for warre , or extraordinary swiftness for running or races ; but by the careers of prodigality , humour , affection , or fancy of too many of the nobility or gentry , mounted from ten or twelve pounds price for a horse for a man of worship within thirty years last past , to the ordinary rate of 20 , 30 , 40 , or 50 l. and sometimes 100 l. which hath unnecessarily drawn some hundred thousand pounds sterling out of the purses of such who are but small friends to their own estates , in bidding too much , and accustoming the sellers to demand or insist upon such excessive and reasonless rates and prices . 4. and by the want of progresses , when the king not having his pourveyance or compositions for them , and carriages as formerly , sha●l not be so able as he should , to make our pool of bethesda itinerant , and visit the severall parts of his dominions , either for his recreation , or the better survey and inspection of the government , and his peoples grievances , as king alfred , king edgar , and king henry the first , and all their successors , his majesties royall progenitors were wont to do , whereby to diffuse their comforts and graces , with which many a family , and many a town and corporation have been blessed and bettered ; and otherwise would not have had an opportunity to obteyn them . 5. when there shall be necessities and poverty put upon some hundreds of families , which were either his majesties servants , or in relation unto them ; and upon many an housekeeper in westminster , and the neighbourhood of the kings residence , who have had a great part of their subsistence by the influence of it . 6. and the peoples damage and losses shall likewise be heightned and increased by the many cravings and projects which the wanting or necessitous part of the kings court may trouble both him and his people withall . 7. or by the casting the king into importunate and irresistable necessities ; and forcing the lyon to hunt and range the fields and forrests , and prejudice the people more then otherwise he would in the quest and pursuit of what is but his own ; or to couch and lye down in his den , and resolve to lay his paw upon what are his own rights , and be less liberall in his favours . 8. or by denying him what is his own , be , for want of a lesser summe of money for defraying of necessaries , a cause of raising subsidies , or taxes , which cannot be so equally or justly charged , as to even , and make them to be no more then the summe of money demanded , and to be furnished . 9. and by compassing and encircling their sovereign with wants and pressures more then would otherwise be , if he had either his own , or a sufficient supply , make themselves the efficient causes of what they compleyn of ; and by being stubborn , stiffneck'd , unquiet , and disobedient , instead of duty and retributions to a gracious king for the daily blessing of peace , plenty , protection , pardons , and multitudes of favours , gifts , and grants , out-do the ungratefull israelites in murmuring with quails in our mouths ; not in the deserts of arabia ; but a more plentifull land then that which was said to flow with milk and honey . and a cause also of increasing their own taxes which are more many times the impositions by themselves upon themselves then impositions of their king , and rendring themselves thereby as much guilty of folly , as they that will not be diswaded from planting and sowing weeds and tares and will notwithstanding come weeping home from their expected better harvest , for that their carts are not pressed down with sheaves of corne and wheat , and their labour was but to fool themselves . all which and many more inconveniences losses and damages to the people by the kings want of the royall pourveyance or compositions for them , which was the smallest and least chargeable part of an yearly thankfulness and oblation which ever was given to a king by a people , would neither happen nor needs to be at all . if they would but remember the days of old , the kindness of the king and his royall progenitors , and the chearfully heretofore paid duties and retributions of their forefathers , and take it for some of their happiness that they are not by god almighties displeasure for their unthankfulness put in minde of their former miseries by any new adversities , or made to keep an yearly passeover with bitter herbs , and now that the royal revenue hath been so much impaired by a continual bounty unto many of themselves or their ancestors and their supplyes of it doe fall very short of what was expected or intended , and the fifty thousand pounds per annum intended as a recompence for the pourveyance or compositions for them proves to be not only not a recompence sufficient but a meer nullity , and if it had come up as high as it was supposed appears to be but a damage and a canker or gangreen eating up or taking away too much of the rest of the kings revenue . be sorry that it is so , and make haste to returne again those little oblations unto their king , when london , and 12. or more adjacent counties unto it do yearly gain 20 times more by the residence of himself and his courts of justice then they doe amount unto , and doe unto him in the easing of his burdens , as he and his royal progenitors have done unto them in any of the complained of burdens of them and their forefathers , by many times laying to sleep some good laws & constitutions , which though at the making thereof they were most just and rationall , would now by the rise of silver two to one more then formerly , & the change of times and customes , be very prejudiciall and burdensome unto them . as king henry the first did by no law or act of parliament , but his own good will and promise , calculated only for that present age or reign ; but since observed by all his successors , in the change of his rent provisions into rents of money ; many of which being now and ever since paid in small quit-rents , made that part of the people very great gainers , and that king and his heirs and successors to be loosers more then fifty thousand pounds per annum , or the greatest extent of the nations yearly charge for the royall pourveyance , or compositions for them did ever amount unto . and as the asise of bread , bear and ale in 51 h. tertii , which holds no proportion with the now assize or rules for bakers and brewers , but very much differs from it , and exceeds it , was not for many ages past , and in some plentifull years in our memory kept , when corn , wheat and malt did fall within the virge or direction of that act of parliament , or ordinance rather of the king , without an act of parliament . nor did hold those kind of trades to the assize made and appointed by king henry the 7 th . nor by any act of parliament or otherwise , restrain the shoemakers to the prices appointed by the statute of 25 ed. 3. ( repealed in the 5 th year of the reign of queen elizabeth ) when there was an allowed transportation of leather , and scarcely half so many cattle bred in england , and brought from ireland and scotland ; nor any leather at all imported from russia , as it is now in great quantities , when they do now by their own and the tanners knaveries , and enhaunces , take for a pair of shoes , which in the reign of king edward the 2 d. might be bought for the use of a good knight or gentleman , for a groat , and in yorkshire for some of the best gentry of that county in the reign of queen elizabeth but for little more ; where also a pair of shoes for a lady of a good extraction and quality , were in the begining of the reign of king james sold for sixteen pence ; and a pair of shoes for a man in the memory of middle aged men were made and sold in london for two shillings six pence , and eight groats a pair , no less then four shillings eight pence at the lowest , and many times five shillings and six pence , or six shillings a pair ; which ( as mr. richard ferrour hath judiciously and ingeniously observed ) doth yearly cheat and cozen the people , besides the inconveniences by ill wrought and half tanned leather , six or seaven hundred thousand pounds , or a million sterling per annum ; which might well have been spared , or better employed . and be as willing to ease his burdens and grievances , as queen elizabeth , that mirrour of women and princes , was in theirs , by the repealing of so much of the statute for limiting the wages of labourers in the 25 th year of the reign of king edward the third ( when churches , castles and abbies we●e wont to be built ) as concerned the wages of labou●ers that master masons , carpenters , and tylers should take but three pence a day , and others of that trade but two pence a day ; a tylers boy a peny per diem ; that none other should take above a penny for a days work ; for mowing five pence , for reaping of corn in the first week of august two pence , and in the second week , and unto the end of that moneth not above three pence : and by the making of an act of parliament that the wages of artificers and labourers , then six times more then they were at the time of the making of the said act of parliament in the 25 th year of the reign of king edward the third , should be yearly assessed by the justices of the peace , and magistrates in every county , city , and town corporate at their quarter-sessions , with respect unto the plenty and scarcity of the time , and other circumstances necessary to be considered ; for that ( as the praeamble thereof declared ) the wages and allowances limited and rated in former statutes , were in divers places too small , and not answerable to that time , respecting the advancement of the prices of all things belonging unto artificers and labourers ; that the law could not conveniently , without the great grief and burden of the poor labourers and hired men be put in execution , and to the end , that there might be a convenient proportion of wages in the times of scarcity and plenty . which was the cause that king james by an act of parliament made in the first year of his reign , upon compleynt , that their wages were not rated and proportioned , according to the plenty , necessity , and scarcity , and respect of the time , as was politiquely intended by the said queen elizabeth , did amongst other provisions , give a further power & authority to the justices of peace in every county at their quarter sessions , from time to time , to limit and regulate the wages and hire of labourers and artificers ( although their wages and hire were then much encreased , and are since very excessive , and immoderate ) which by an act of parliament made in the third year of the reign of king charles the martir , being continued untill the end of the first session of the then next parliament , is for want of continuance expired , and did repeal , as queen elizabeth , and other of our kings also did , many an act of parliament in regard of inconveniences or damages arising to the people or because they did not answer the expectations of the makers thereof . and may as little grudge the king his pourveyance , or compositions for them , though the richer part of the people , who are only contributory to the pourveyance or compositions for them , may by their own excessive raysing of all manner of prices of houshold provisions , and their unreasonable gains by it , seem to be something more then formerly burdened with it ; as they did the late king charles the martyr his indulgence to them , and dispensing with a decree made in the starre-chamber in the 11 th year of his reign , by the lords of his privy councel , and other the judges of that court , after consultation had with judge hutton and judge croke ( who were well known to be very great well-wishers to the peoples just and legall liberties ) and the other reverend judges and divers justices of the peace of the kingdom , confirmed by the kings letters patents under the great seal of england , which did forbid the vintners to dress any meat for their guests or strangers , and limited the inkeepers of london and westminster , and within ten miles distance thereof , unto six pence for a day and night for hey for a horse , now ●●shamefully and unconscionably raised by themselves unto eight pence ; and six pence for a peck of oats not measured by winchester measure , but the knavish peck of the ostlers ( to whom the dying horses might well bequeath their halters ) at the rate of eight groats a bushell , when they have many times bought them in the market at twelve pence a bushell , or less . and directed that that ordinance should continue in the county of middlesex , untill it should appear unto the justices of the kings bench , and in other counties and places to the justices of peace , that because of the increase of prices in the parts adjoyning , greater rates should be necessary to be permitted ; and that thereupon other rates should from time to time be set ; and being set , were commanded , and enjoyned to be strictly and duly observed , untill they by the like authority should be altered . and might be as little troubled at his pourveyance , as they were with his royal fathers remission , or not putting in execution the assise ( in imitation of one which was made in anno 12 h. 7. ) made in the reign of queen elizabeth , by the advice of the lord burghley , and other of the lords of her privy counsell ) of flesh , fish , poultry , butter , and most sorts of victuals , and houshold provisions ; as also of hey and provender : and another likewise set and made by the judges of the kings bench in or about the first year of his reign , by the advice of all the other judges of england , at the instance of mr noy his atturney-generall . which might perswade us to be something kind to our selves , and our posterity , in being kinder unto him ; for that the losses and damage to the king and his people without the addition of their losses by the taking away of the tenures in capite , are and will be so very great and evident ; and the loss of the king may by a necessity of their supplying of it , be in the end a means of doubling or trebling the losses of the people , and should therefore deterre us from any endeavours to eclipse our sun , and bereave our selves of the light and comfort of it ; and diswade us from the purchase of so many mischiefs and inconveniences as have already happened ; and are like to multiply upon us , by making our selves the most unhappy instruments of the dishonour of our king and country in the diminution of the accustomed grandeur and magnificence of his court and hospitality , wherein plenty and frugality , largess and providence , satiety and sobriety , honour and hospitality , were so excellently and rationally combined , and confederated , as the best of oeconomies ; and the greatest vigilance , daily care , and inspection in the most methodicall and best ordered house and family of england , or any other the kings dominions , consisting of 10 or 20 persons , or a lesser number ( a few being commonly the easiest governed ) could never arrive unto 〈◊〉 ●erfection of government , and good order of the kings houshold , consisting of a numerous retinue of above one thousand or twelve hundred persons , and many of them of the best extraction , and noblest houses of the kingdom , where besides the charge of his most pious and devout yearly maundy , or washing as many poor mens feet every year upon the thursday before easter as he is years old , & giving unto each of them a jowl of salmon , a poll of ling , 30 red herrings , and as many white , 4 six peny loavs of bread , cloth for a gown and a shirt , a pair of new shoes & stockings , a single penny , and a 20 shillings piece of gold : two pence a piece was given to poor people every day at the gate , besides the kings alms-dish every meal from of his table , and the fragments carefully gathered up from the many tables of his servants , put into an a●mes-basket , and daily distributed unto them by two officers , yearly kept in pay and pension for that purpose : six mess of meat , 240 gallons of beer , and as many of loaves of bread , with a liberal proportion of sack and claret as wast ; and entertainment for all comers for the kings honour , where were great yearly festivals , the lord stewards table completely , and more then ordinarily furnished during all the time of the sitting of the parliaments , to entertain such of the lords and commons as would come thither to dinner , and where when the nobility and persons of quality in the absence of parliaments , came either to attend the king , or petition him in any of their affaires , they were made the guests at some of the tables of his great officers , as well as those of meaner ranks were at the table of the lesser : and the chambers and galleries searched for 〈◊〉 strangers and fit persons as might deserve to be invi●ed to the tables and diet of his servants , to the end that any that were fitting to partake of his hospitality might not be omitted . embassadors which came sometimes two at once from severall forreign princes found themselves royally enterteyned for certain days out of the diet and provision of the kings house , ( and nothing of state or provision wanting at the same time in the kings own court or house ) and attended with as great or more plenty & solemnity , then many of their kings & princes had at home , & where no country gentleman or yeoman , which had contributed to the pourveyance but at one time of the year or other , had upon all occasions of business at the court , either with the king or his servants , a large part or share of what he had contributed . and was so gratefully and well accepted , as some have anciently , ( when gratitude and thankfull respects were more in fashion than now they are ) so highly esteemed the respects and favours of the kings servants and officers , when they had occasion of business to his court , as robert de arsic , a man of great note and eminency in the county of oxford , did give lands in newton by a fine levyed thereof unto one robert purcell , and his heirs ( who was then one of the porters at the gate of the kings house or court by inheritance , upon condition , that whensoever he and his heirs should come unto the court , the said robert purcell and his heirs , whilst they should be the kings porters , should attend their coming , come out of the gate to meet them ; and walk before them with his rod or staffe unto the kings hall , and at their return or going out of the gate , call for their horse or palfrey , and hold their stirrup whilst they got up or mounted : and if the said robert arsic or his heirs should send any messenger to the court , should as much as in them lay , and according to their ability , with their good word and well wishes , faithfully assist him : and was so unwilling to loose that service or duty as upon the refusall or omission thereof by the said robert purcell , he did in the 11 th year of the reign of king henry the 3. bring an assise or action against him for it : ( for as for our industrious speed setting forth in his history of england , that rhese ap gruffith prince of wales , coming out of wales as far as oxford , to treat of a peace with king richard the first , did take it in so high a scorn , and indignation that the king came not in person to meet him , as he returned home into his own country without saluting the king , though earl john the kings only brother had with much honour conducted him from the marches of wales thither , and that by that means the hopes of the expected peace vanished , and came unto nothing ) hath observed that the meanest from whom love or service is expected , will again expect regard . and therefore the care of our kings was not a little imployed in that way of imparting of their favours , and increasing and cherishing the love and good will of their people , when king henry the seventh , whose troubles and tosses of fortune before he came unto the crown , had together with his learning and princely education , made him a great master in policy , and good government , and one of the wisest kings that ever swaied the english scepter , did in his prudent orders concerning his court and houshold , and the state and magnificence which he desired to be observed therein , communicated unto me by my worthy and learned friend william dugdale esquire norroy , king at armes , out of an ancient manuscript , sometimes in the custody of charles de somerset knight , lord herbert and gower , chamberlain unto that king , amongst many other orders for the honour of the king and his house , ordain that if any straunger shall come from any noble-man or other , the gentilmen huysshers ought to sette him in suche place convenient within the kyngs chamber as is mete for hym by the discrecion of the chamberlain and huyssher , and to comaunde service for hym after his degree ; and the sayd huyssher ought to speke to the kings almoigner , kerver , and sewer , to reward hym from the kings board ; this is to say if the said straunger happen to come whan the kyng is at dynner . item , the gentilman huyssher , if there come any honourable personnes to the kyng at any other tyme , they ought to call with thaym the sayd personnes to the seller , pantry , and buttry , and there to commaund forth such brede , mete , and drynke , as by his discretion shall be thought metely for thaym ; and this in no wise not to be with sayd in noon of thies offices aforesayd , it is to the kings honor . item , that no gentilman huyssher bee so hardy to take any commaundement upon him , but that it may be with the kings honor , by hys discretion in these matiers to myspende the kings vitail , but where as it ought to be ; and if he doo , he is nat worthy to occupy that rowme , but for to abide the punishment of my lord chamberlain . item , a gentilman huyssher ought to commaund yeomen huysshers , and yeomen to fetche bred , ale , and wine at afternoon for lords and other gentilmen being in the kings chamber , whan the caas so● shall requyre . which and the like magnificences of hospitality in the houses and courts of our kings and princes , supported by the pourveyances without which the elder kings of england before the conquest , could not have been able to susteyn the charge of their great and yearly solemn festivals at christmas , easter and pentecost , when ex more & obsequii vinculo antiquissimo , as that great and learned antiquary sir henry spelman hath observed by duty and antient custome , the lords and barons of england did never fail to come to the kings palace ( where the magna concilia & wittena gemotes & conventus sapientum , now called parliaments , were at those times to be holden and kept ) cum ad curiam & personam ejus exornandum , tum ad consulendum de negotiis regni statuendumque prout fuerat necessarium & providere de rebus illis rex solebat corona redimitus & profastu regio se in omnibus exhibere , for the honor of the king and his court who then with his crown upon his head , and other princely habiliments , did use to shew himself unto the people and advise what was necessary to be done for the good of the kingdom . and was such an attendant upon the grandeur and honour of their monarchy , as it began with it , and continued here amongst us till the councill of some foolish and factious shrubs had by a fire kindled in our then unhappy kingdome , overturned our cedars of libanon , and made an accursed and wicked bramble their protector , and was so necessary to the government and authority of our kings , and the encrease and preservation of the love and obedience of the people , as we find it neither repined nor murmured at in the reign of king alfred , who being of an almost unimitable piety and prudence , and to whom this nation ows a gratefull memory for his division of the kingdom into shires and hundreds , and for many a politique constitution , did ( now almost 800 years ago ) keep a most princely and magnificent house , and a numerous company of servants ; gave enterteynment of diet and lodging to many of the sons of his nobility , who were therein trayned up to all manner of courtly and honourable exercises , had three cohorts or bands of life-guards , every cohort according to the ancient computation consisting , if they were horse of 132 , and of foot , of a great many more ; the first company attending in or about his court or house night and day for a moneth , and returning aftewards home to their own occasions , tarried there by the space of two moneths ; the second cohort doing likewise as the first , and the third as the second by their turns and courses , and had a good allowance of money and victualls in the house or court of the king , who had his ministros nobiles qui in curio regio vicissim commorabantur in pluribus ministrantes ministeriis , noble and great officers in his court , which attended in their courses , and took so much care also for them as in his last will and testament he gave cuilibet armigerorum suorum , to every one of his esquires 100 marks . or that king hardi canutus caused his tables to be spread four times every day , and plentiously furnished with cates , and commanded that his courtiers , servants , and guests should rather have superfluities then want any thing . that william rufus when he had built westminster hall 270 foot in length , and 74 in breadth , thought it not large enough for a dyning room . king richard the second kept a most royall christmas where was every day spent 26 or 28 oxen , 300 sheep , with fowl beyond number ; and to his houshold came every day to meat ten thousand people . as appeared by the messes told out from the kitchin unto three hundred servitors , and was able about two years before , when the times began to be troublesome , to give a guard of 4000 archers of cheshire with their bows bent , and their arrows hocked ready to shoot , bouche of court , to wit meat and drink , and wages of six pence a day then accompted a very great pay . or that king henry the 7 th . then whom the kingdom of england never had a more thrifty prince , did the morrow after twefthtyde in a great solemnity keep a feast in westminster hall , where he being set at a table of stone ( which remained untill the middle of our late rebellion ) accompanyed with the queen and many embassadours and other estates , 60 knights and esquires served 60 dishes to the kings mess , and as many to the queens ; and served the lord mayor of london at a table where he was set with 24 dishes of meat to his mess. and our succeeding kings understood to be so much for the good and welfare of the people , as king edward the sixth , that great blossome of prudence and piety , and all manner of princely virtues , when a surfeit of church lands and revenues , had like the coal carried into the eagles nest , reduced the royall revenues into a consumptive and languishing condition , had by the advice of his privy council suppressed ( but with no advantage to the revenue or curing the diseases of it , as it then , and hath since happened in many of those pretended rather then really effected dishonorable espargnes ; witness the putting down of fourteen tables at once by king charles the martyr , which gained in one year thirty thousand pounds to some few of his officers , who did advise him to do it ; but nothing at all for himself ) the tables formerly appointed for young lords , the masters of requests , and serjeants at armes , &c. he did not howsoever think fit to diminish or lessen any more of the royall hospitality . and king james when he had by an over-great bounty to his countrymen the craving scots , and their restless importunities , brought himself and revenue into many streights , and was contented to seek out wayes of sparing , did in the inquest and seeking to abate the charge of his housekeeping , in his letters to the lords of the councel , bearing date in november 1617. and pressing earnestly to have it done , to the end , that he might equall his charges to his revenue , direct them to abate superfluities in all things , and multitudes of unnecessary officers , and to do things so as they might agree with his honor ; but concluded that there were twenty wayes of abatement besides the house , if they be well looked into . which may give us a prospect , which a larger treatise of the antiquitie , legality , reason , duty , and necessity of prae-emption and pourveyance for the king , or compositions for his pourveyance , as they were used and taken for the provision of the kings houshold , the small charges and burden thereof to the people , and many great mischiefs and inconveniences which will inevitably follow the taking of them away , will more fully evidence how great a damage the king susteyneth by the want of them . how unbecoming the majesty and honor of a king and his many princely affairs and occasions it will be that the people should deny him that granted or continueth their profits in fairs and markets the benefit of prae-emption , which all princes as well christian as heathen do enjoy , and is but conformable to the tenor and meaning of the fifth commandement in the decalogue , and the honour due unto common parents and magistrates enjoyned thereby . how unsafe to the peoples consciences , when they do by their oathes of allegeance and supremacy swear to maintain and defend his regall rights and jurisdictions not to allow his prae-emption , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or forecheapum , and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the saxon times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying ante , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prendere , which is prae-emption , and was then ( as it hath been ever since ) so just and legall a part of the kings prerogative , as king ina , who reigned here in the year 720. did by a law prohibit , that fore fang , or captio obsoniorum in foris aut nundinis , non ab aliquo fit priusquam minister regis ea ceperit quae regi fuerint necessaria , the taking or buying of houshold provisions by others in fairs or markets before the kings minister or pourveyor should take those things which were necessary for the king. and was not then any novel constitution , or acquired right or praerogative , or without a divine pattern , but so inhaerent in monarchy , and kingly government , and so becoming the duty and gratitude of subjects , as we may find the vestigia , or tracs of it in the morning of the restored , not long before drowned and washt world , when joseph that great and happy minister of state under pharaoh king of egypt did by the help of that royal right of praeemption , keep the lean kine from eating up the fat , and save that kingdome , and many other neighbouring nations from an irresistible famine and ruine . and how contrary it will be unto the duty of subjects to refuse him their carts to convey his carriages , unless they may have two parts in three more then formerly , when the earl of rutland , and countess dowager of pembroke , and many other of the nobility have not only their pourveyances , but can have their tenants boon carts upon any of their occasions for nothing ; and every lord of a manor , or parson of a parish do seldom fail of as much or greater curtesies , or respects from their tenants , or parishioners , or that the kings harbingers should from some of the tribe of naball receive uncivill and churlish answers , that they are not to loose the advantage of six pence more which may be given by any other , or that his pourveyors should not have the benefit of praeemption , as one of them lately was refused in the buying of a salmon , or be wrangled with ; and have fowl taken out of their hands , as one lately did , and when he was told it was for the king , could say he cared not a turd for him , or that his officers should be exposed to the humours or incivilities of clowns , quakers , or disaffected persons . and that strangers who have commonly and usually seen forreign princes travailing in any parts of christendome out of their own territories and jurisdictions to be by a generall and never intermitted custome , honourably and respectfully received in all cities and places of note , and presented with wine fish , and other provisions ; such as the place and season of the year afforded , which even those commonwealths , states , and places of incivility , trade and selfishness , such as holland and hamborough do never omit , should see the king of englands servants and officers so little respected in their attendance upon him in his journeys , or progresses , as not to be trusted with a small hire of a cart , unless like some beggars in the streets , buying an halfpenny or a farthing worth of pottage at a cooks shop , they do first lay down or pay their money for it . and how ungrateful it will be ( if they were not subjects or obliged by the laws of god , nature and nations to an obedience reverence , retributions and oblations to their prince , to receive a daily and an hourly protection , and as many benefits and blessings as their almost alwayes craving necessities and importunities can get or obtain , or his munificent and ready heart and hand impart and bestow upon them . and yet be so barren in their retorns or thankfulness , as when there is not a family or kinred in england , but hath at one time or other been raised or enriched by the king or his royall progenitors , or tasted of their favours or mercies , and that those who did eat and partake of his pourveyance or compositions for them , and were maintained by them , were for the most part their sons and daughters , or some of their kinred or generations , to deny him that which was such an antient and unquestionable right , as all the judges of england did no longer agoe then the third year of the reign of king james , declare it to be a prerogative of the king at the common law , and was no less in the times of our saxon and british monarchs , and so much in use in the kingdom of ireland , as it doth yet retain the custome of pourveyance ad alendum proregis familiam , for the maintenance of the lord lieutenants house and family , as an antiquitus institutum , an antient constitution , & jus quoddam majestatis , a part of the right belonging unto the sovereign prince and his preheminence or kingly prerogative . and in their act of parliament lately made for the settlement of that tossed and turmoild kingdom , consented that the lord chief-justice of his majesties court of king-bench , the lord chief baron of the exchequer , and the master of the rolls , or any other of his majesties officers of that kingdom for the time being , shall and may have and receive such port-corn of the rectories , impropriations or appropriate tithes forfeited unto , or vested in his majesty , his heirs and successors , which have been formerly paid or reserved . the furnishing of carriages and ships for publick uses are in scotland justly numbred amongst those regalities which are annexed to the crown , and was by the consent of the estates there so called , allowed to conserve the dignity of that kingdome the borrough mealis , where quilibet burgensis debet domino regi pro burgagio quinque denarios annuatìm & dicuntur incorporari annexique fisco & patrimonio regis , every burgess is to pay five pence per annum for his mealis , which sir henry spelman interprets to be a farme appropriated to buy provisions in regiae mensae apparatum for the kings table or houshold , and are said to be incorporate and annexed to the patrimony of the king and his exchequer . and the right of pourveyance so little there esteemed to be a grievance , as in a parliament of their king james the 4 th holden in the year 1489. the lords spirituall and temporall , and other his lieges , did declare , that it was the kings property for the honourable sustentation of his house according to his estait and honour , quhilk may not be failized without great derogation of his noble estait , and that his true lieges suld above all singular and particular profit desire to preserve the noble estait of his excellence , like as it was in the time of his maist noble progenitors of gud mynd . and is conform unto that rule of reason which other nations doe measure their actions by ; for in france , as renatus choppinus , a learned french advocat , saith it is dominicum jus primitus sceptris addictum in necessarios regiae mensae aulaeque sumptus & honorificum ad suum imperii & inclitae decus majestatis conservandum , a part of the demeasnes belonging and annexed to the royall scepter , and appropriate to the necessary uses and provisions of the kings court , and houshold for the honor and conservation of the rights of majesty . our long agoe old and worthy ancestors , the stout hearted germans , did as tacitus sua sponte & ex more viritìm conferre principibus armenta vel fruges quae pro honore accepta necessitatibus subvenirent , man by man of their own accord customarily bring or send unto their princes herds of cattle , and some of the fruits of the earth as presents and oblations , which being taken for an honour due unto them , did much conduce unto the defraying of their charges or necessityes : the people of italy and the princes and nobility thereof did acknowledge them to be inter regalia amongst the regalities of the emperour , and the law of the empire , formerly of rome , now of germany , doth strongly assert the praestationes angariarum plaustrorum & navium , &c. pourveyance of cart-taking , and impresting of ships regi competere ratione excellent●ae ejus dignitatis quae regalia dicuntur , to belong unto the king by reason of the excellency of his dignity , et multa adjumentaei necessaria ut dominium intus & externè tueri valeat , and that many ayds and helps are necessary for a prince to defend his dominions at home as well as abroad . and is as much a custome of nations , as covering of the head , washing the hands , wearing of shoes , and retiring to rest or sleep in the night , & so usual as the barbarians , some of whom have not so much good nature as to diswade them from selling their children , like calves or cattle at a market , or the savage part of the heathen , who have not attained to so much of reason , as to perswade them the use of clothes and apparrel , are glad their kings and princes will accept of . and the inhabitants of that large empire of japan , who in many of their nationall customes and actions , do delight to be contrary to the people of europe , and most other nations , as to have their teeth black , when others doe desire to have them white ; doe mount their horses on the right side ; and not uncover their heads in saluting each other , but only unty some part of their shoes and sandals , and sit down when others do come to salute them , are notwithstanding unwilling to come behind other nations in the duty of pourveyance and honour of their prince , practised & allowed by many approved examples in the sacred volumes , where melchizedeck king of salem , the priest of the most high god , brought forth bread and wine to abraham , and his houshold servants in their little army upon their return from the rescue of the righteous lot , which was , saith the great grotius , a custome then in use amongst the neighbour nations : that of jesse the father of david , who being commanded by saul his king , when he was not in the army , but enjoyed the blessings of peace , to send david his son unto him , laded an asse with bread and a bottle of wine , and a kid , and sent them by david unto saul ; and not long after sending him into the army to visit his brethren , commanded him to take an ephah , and ten loaves , and carry them into the camp unto his brethren , and ten cheeses unto the captains of their thousand . the worst of women , the witch of endor made hast to kill her fat calfe , took flower , and kneaded it . baked unleavened bread , and caused saul and his servants to eat . the moabites who were davids subjects , after he was king , sent him gifts pro pace ac tutela , as gratifications for their peace and protection , and continued and paid it unto the kings of israel , untill after the reign of ahab king of israel , shobi machir , and barzillai in the midst of his afflictions by the rebellion of his son absolom , sent victualls and provisions to him and his army , the dutifull and honest-hearted araunah would rather give him his oxen to sacrifice , then take mony for them : the sunamitish woman would in honour and respect unto elisha the prophet , not only constrain him to eat bread , but advised her husband to make a little chamber in the wall , and set for him there a bed , a table , and a stool , and a candlestick , to the end that when he passed that way , he might turn in thither . the moabites having after the destruction of the kingdome of israel discontinued their pourveyance , were in the judgements denounced against them for their pride exhorted by the prophet isaiah to an obedience , and to send the lamb ( viz. that pourveyance ) to the ruler of the land , which was ezechiah king of juda , the lawfull heir of king david . and the children of israel and juda , after a return from a long and a sorrowfull captivity , could not when they bare burdens , and wrought with one hand , and held a weapon with the other , in their building and repair of jerusalem , forget the custome of pourveyance for the good nehemiah their righteous captain and governour . which might induce the people of england to cover their faces with shame , and blush through that thin-leafed mask of a recompence by the excise , supposed to be given in exchange thereof , when they can at the same time , whilest they denyed it to the king believe that the pensions and payments in universities , colleges , & innes of court & chancery , for the honor of their societies , and defraying of charges ordinary or extraordinary . the assistance or supports which the lord mayor of london , the companies or guilds of trades therein , the magistrates of every city , burrough , or corporation ; and church-wardens of every parish , do by permission of him and his laws exact and enforce for the credit or worship of their societies and their maintenance and affairs one under another , and one of another to be as legall as they are necessary . and the dignified clergie , as arch-bishops , bishops , arch-deacons , deans , prebends , and canons , many of whom do enjoy commendams , and prebends , and yearly receive pensions ( some of which were for superstitious uses ) synodals , procurations , money for proxies , cathedratica quarta's , episcopales corredies , or entertainment-money , penticostalia , waxscot , or cyrick sceat , which in some places was recompenced by the yearly tribute of hens , or some other houshold provisions ; and in many places do receive the long since abolished romescot , or peter-pence , and many other emoluments , and the inferiour part of the clergy their mortuaries yearly oblations , and many other profits and free-will offerings towards their hospitalityes and housekeeping . and many of the laity can think it reasonable by privileges of some religious-houses whereof their lands before they were granted unto them by the kings royall progenitors were parcell to pay in many places no tythes at all , and in as many or more do claim and receive the benefit of a modus decimandi , or paying a small rate or proportion for them ▪ and in their own leases and grants , not only in former ages , but lately find it to be most for their benefit , to reserve as a convenience for their housekeeping , as their ancestors or predecessors formerly did their duties of work in harvest , or payment of muttons and poultry , &c. and can retain their rights of patronage and advowsons , take and receive herriots , which were gratuitae donationes domino suo datas ratione dominii , & reverentiae , the gifts or remunerations of tenants to their lords in the reverence or respect which they do bear unto them , after the rate of 4 or 5 l a cow , many times the only remaining substance of a sorrowfull widow and fatherless children , when the price of an oxe was in the reign of king edward the first , and many years after but 5 s. or an eighth or tenth part of it . reliefs and chiefage , which cowell understands to be pecuniae annuò datae potentiori tutelae patrociniique gratiae ; and the tolls in fairs and markets , by his grants , or by prescription , or allowance ( which do in yearly profit twice or thrice over exceed the charge of the counties or cities of the kingdome towards the pourveyance or provision of the king and his houshold , and the owners of above three thousand and eight hundred impropriations which originally were designed for hospitality , can require and receive pensions , synodals , procurations , proxie-money , and waxscot money . and very many of the laity yearly demand and receive romescot , peter pence , or chimney-money of their tenants in some manors , amounting unto a considerable value , which notwithstanding that by the statute of 25 h. 8. ca. 21. it be forbidden under severe penalties to be paid any more to the popes use , have since either by ignorance of their tenants , or a custome of paying it to the lords of such manors , or their stewards or bayliffs , been collected or gathered to the use of the lords of those manors , & be very industrious in the enforcing the payment of street-gavel , which in the reign of king edward the first was claimed by the lord of the manour of cholmton in the county of sussex , for every tenants going out of the manor , or returning unto it : and in many or some of their manors do receive quit-rents of their tenants for bordland , or provisions of victuals for their houses ; drofland , for driving their cattle to fairs and markets ; berland , carrying provision of victuals upon the removall of the lord of the manor , or his steward ; potura drinklan , or scot ale , a contribution of tenants towards a potation drink , or an ale provided to entertain the lord or his steward ( those charges being now defrayed by the lords of the manors ) cart-silver , ward-penies , and hoke-tuesday mony ( for a liberty probably of giving their tenants or bond-men leave to celebrate that day wherein the english did every where slay the domineering gavel-corn , gavel-malt , rent-honey , oate-gavel , or rent oates , woodlede , for carrying home the lords wood ; hidage , or an arbitrary tax imposed upon every hide of their tenants lands , afterwards turned into an yearly payment ; gavel-foder , for litter , hay , and provender for his horses , paying of certain cows , or a rate for them , quae dari solebant pro capitibus utlagatorum , to redeem the forfeitu●e of outlaws ; gavel or rent-timber for the repair of the lords house ; gavel dung to carry his dung ; horse or foot average , carrying of the lords corn to markets and fairs ; or of his domestique utensils , smith-land , for doing the smiths work ; gavel-erth , for t●lling some part of the ground ; gavel rip , to help to reap their corn by one or more dayes ; gavel rod , to help to make so many pearches of hedge ; gavel swine , for feeding of swine in the lords woods ; carropera , to work with their carts or carriages : ale-silver in the city of london ; were gavel , in respect of wears and kiddles to catch fish , besides ( which some have not long ago valued in the sale of their manors ) many boons , presents , and new-years-gifts , and other retributions yearly given to landlords or lords of manors , in lieu of their pourveyance , who paying for it one to another , do receive and take fines incertain at farre greater rates then antiently they were , and many times so unreasonably as the king in his superiour courts of justice is many times enforced to regulate and reduce them to a moderation ; and can also receive many other small yearly payments paid by tenants in acknowledgement of favours or help received , or to be received ; and demand and receive quit-rents for common fines of some hundreds , and for fines pro non pulchre placitando , or pleading in their courts so fair as they ought , prohibited to be taken by several statutes made in the reigns of king henry the 3 d. and edward the third ; receive in some places , as in the counties of cumberland , westmerland , and some other northern counties a 20 penny fine ▪ and in wales a payment or oblation called mises , upon the death or change of every landlord ; and be at the same time unwilling , that the king should have any retributions or acknowledgements for one hundred to one favours and helps not seldome , but very often ; nor to some or a few particular men , but to very many , and the universality of all his subjects . be well contented that he should have no bette● a bargain to release their duties of tenures in capite , knight-service and pourveyance , which would have yielded and saved him at least two hundred thousand pounds per annum , besides the vast yearly charge of a great part of his guards , much whereof might be spared , if he had , as his royal progenitors had , the benefit , support , and accommodation of tenures in capite , and by knights-service , which were so greatly & very necessary in the honour and incidents thereof , to the exercise of a just and well regulated monarchy , and royall governments ; and more advantagious then the decaying and every day diminishing revenue of that moyety of the excise , which half or moiety from the time of the granting thereof , untill the last year , did yearly yield unto him but one hundred thousand and ten pounds , or thereabouts ; and for this last year but one hundred thirty and three thousand pounds sterling or thereabouts ; ( out of which , the salaries & allowan●● unto the commissioners , auditors , and surveyors , &c. and many other defalcations are to be deducted ) attended with the daily discontents of the common people , and as a fine and income for that so greatly prejudiciall and inconvenient bargain , release and abate unto the people more then a million and a half sterling mony due unto him for the arrears of the profits of his wardships and tenures in capite , and by knight-service ; and for the arrears of his pourveyance after the rate of thirty five thousand pounds per annum charges to the people , six hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling ; and if the charge thereof shall be deemed to amount unto fifty thousand pounds per annum ; may without any stretching of the accompt , be very justly reckoned to be no less then nine hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling . and take notwithstanding ( as his blessed father did , the profits of his wards after a tenth part of the true yearly value of the lands and his ayds to make his eldest son a knight , and to marry his eldest daughter , which the socage tenures are likewise obliged unto at a very low and easie proportion ) very many of his reliefs after the rate which the value and rent of lands were at four hundred years agoe , now that they exceed it fifteen or twenty times more in value then they were then ; his subsidies and fifteens secundum antiquam taxationem , after the old and long ago accustomed old rates with considerations and abatements to be made in respect of debts ▪ children , and weakness of estates , when as the rates in every parish , for the maintenance of the poor , mending of high-wayes , repairing the church , payment of tythes for pas●ure-groun●s , o● upon any other their parochiall duties , or occasions , are made and layd by the people themselves , and justices of peace by the pound rate , as they call it , and to the utmost yearly value , and improvement , or very near it . receive his first-fruits and tenths at great undervalues , prae-fines , post-fines , lycenses and pardons of alienation at less then a tenth . take no more for the fees of his seals in chancery , and the courts of kings bench and common pleas , then as they were in the reign of king edward the third , ( now that every peny which was then , is more in value then three ) and for the originall and judiciall writs in wales no more then they were in he 34 th year of the reign of king henry the eighth ; his fines upon formedons and reall actions , his customes inward and outward at gentle and undervalued rates , allowing the merchants notwithstanding a twelfth part of their wines , a fifth of all other commodities imported , and a tenth of all that is exported , most of which particulars , in his so daily accustomed and continued favours seperately and singly considered , would either out-goe , or come very near up unto the charges which the kingdom did yearly expend , and disburse for or towards the royall pourveyance : allow● three or four pounds in every pipe of wine for lekage : takes for his prisage of wines brought into london for his two pipes of wine one before , and another behind the mast in every ship of every freeman , being an housekeeper of that large and largely privileged city , but seven pounds ten shillings for every pipe of wine , which is seldome less worth , if it be sack , then thirty pound a pipe , or four and twenty pounds a pipe if it be claret . and give● b●lls of store to multitudes which have occasion to pass or repass ( which is not seldome ) into or out of the parts beyond the seas , for their trunks and other necessaries to be custome-free . allows and permits the dukes , marquesses and 〈◊〉 to enjoy their creation money towards the supportation of their honour ; and they as well as the rest of the nobility , and all or many of the gentry to enjoy great quantities of his crown lands , turned from small and easie old-fashion'd reserved rents upon leases for lives or years into estates of inheritance ; and very many liberties , as fishings , free-warrens , court-leets , court-barons , eschetes , felons , fugitives and outlaws goods , deodands , forfeitures , waiss estraies , fines & amerciaments , retorn and execution of writs ; and in some manors , a liberty of receiving to their own use fines for licenses of concord or agreement upon the making of conveyances , and post-fines upon fines leavied in the kings courts , profits of the year , day , and wast , and all fines , issues amerciaments ▪ returned , set or imposed upon any of their tenants in any of the kings courts , or by any justices of assize , or of the peace . with many other franchises , liberties and participations of his regality , which they do now enjoy tanquam reguli as little kings in their several estates and dominions , in many of them , more by claim and prescription , allowed by the favour and indulgence of the king and his royal progenitors and predecessors kings and queens of of this nation , unto them and their posterities , then by any any grants they can shew for it , very much exceeding in yearly profit and con●ent , the small charges which they have used to have been at for the pourveyance or provisions for the kings houshold . take his fee-farme rents which do amount unto above threescore thousand pounds per annum ; but according to their first and primitive small reservation , though the lands thereof be now improved , and raised in some a ten , and in others a twelve to one mo●e then they were then accompted to be either in the intentions of the donors or donees , and many other his fee-farmes of some casuall profits , and revenues granted to cities and corporations , which do now ten to one exceed what they were when they were first granted . grant and confirme to the vulgus or common people many great immunities and priviledges , as assart lands , and permit them to enjoy in his own lands and revenue large common of pasture , and common of estovers and turbary in his forrests and chaces ; and protect from oppression in that which are holden of their mesne lords , their copihold lands , customes and estates ; which being at first but temporarily permitted and allowed & patientia & charitate in quoddam jus transierunt ▪ are now by an accustomed and continued charity , taken to be a kind of tenant right and inheritance . grants and permits many charters of liberties , privileges and freedoms to the cities , boroughs and towns corporate of england and wales , and to the lord mayor and commonalty of london , all issues , fines , and amerciaments ret●rned and imposed upon them in any of the kings cours , freedome from payment of tolls and lastage in their way of an universall and diffused trade in all places of england : and for a small fee farme rent of fifty pounds per annum for the kings tolls at queen-hithe , billingsgate , and other places in the city of london , accepted in the reign of king henry the third , suffers them to have and receive in specie , or mony towards their own pourveyance , as much as would goe a good way in his . allows the tenants in antient demesn their exemptions from the payment of toll for their houshold provisions , which in the opinion of sir edward coke was at the first in regard of their helping to furnish the kings houshold provisions : and suffers the universities of oxford and cambridge , and the colleges and halls therein ; colleges of winchester and eaton , and the re●ients in the cinque ports , and rumney marsh , to enjoy a freedom from subsidies . who , together with all the people of england , may by the accompt of benefits received by , and from him , and his royall progenitors and predecessors , know better how to value them , if they had not received them ; and if he should but retire himself into himself , and withdraw his bounties from us . or take his customes and imposts inward and outward , reliefs , ayds , subsidies , fifteens , tenths , and first-fruits , profits of his seals , p●ae-fines , post-fines , licences , and pardons for alienation of lands , fines upon fo●medons and reall actions , at the full value and rate which the law will allow , and the rise of money might perswade him unto ; or take all occasions to invade or clip the peoples liberties and privileges , as they do his . or seise and take advantage of the forfeitures of our sufficiently misused fairs and markets , which without the many inconveniences of barrage , billets peages , or tolls taken at many places as they pass thither ; as the people of france , and our fashion makers are tormented with , do yield and save the people yearly in that which otherwise would be lost some hundred of thousands pounds per annum , or should withdraw his favours and countenance from the trade which our merchants have into forreign parts since the reign of queen mary , by the benefits and blessings of the leagues and alliances of him & his royall progenitors made with forreign princes , continued with a great yearly charge of embassadours ordinary and extraordinary sent and received , and render it to be no no more then it was in the beginning of the reign of queen elizabeth , when the difference of the gain of forreign trade and merchandize , betwixt the little which was then , and that which is now , by reason of the east-indie , turkie , muscovie , ligorne , and east-land trades , and our many flourishing american plantations would appear to be some millions sterling money in a year . and were notwithstanding never so gratefull to our king for it ▪ as the english merchants of calais were , whilst king edward the third caused the staple of wool to be kept there , who so ordered the matter , as the king spent nothing upon souldiers , in defence of the town , which was wont to cost him eight thousand pounds per annum ; and the mayor of that town could in anno ▪ 51 of the reign of that king , furnish the captain of the town upon any rode to be made with one hundred bill-men , and two hundred archers of merchants and their servants , without any wages . or if the peoples liberties , acquired by the munificence and indulgence of our kings since the making and confirming of our magna charta , in the ninth year of the reign of king henry the third , now 437 years ago , when they took it to be for their good as well as the kings , to give him a fifteenth part of all their moveables ( not by a conniving and unequall , but a more real and impartiall taxation , in recompence , and as a thankfull retribution for their liberties then granted and confirmed ) which are now as many again , or do farre ex●ed them , were bu● justly value● ▪ or if the benefits accrewed unto forreign merchants , or those of our own nation , by the char●a mercatoria , granted by king edward the first in the 31 year of his reign to the me●chants strangers , and confirmed by act of pa●liament in anno 27 ed. 3. for the releasing of an antient custome and duty to the kings of england , of permitting their officers and servants to take what the king pleased out of forreign commodities , and merchandize brought into england upon payment of such rates as he pleased , which amount unto no small yearly profit for an exchange and grant by the merchants strangers of three pence per pound ( now called the petit customes ) of all forreign merchandises imported , except wines ; for every sack of wool forty pence , for every 300 wolfels forty pence , and for every last of leather to be exported half a mark over and above the duties payable by denizens , were but rightly estimated . or the benefits which the subiects of england have had and received by the act of parliament made in anno 14 ed. 3. granting that all merchants , denizens and aliens may freely and safely come into the realme of england , which before they could not , or durst not adventure to do without speciall licence and safe conduct under the great , or some part of the seal of england , with their goods and merchandize , and safely tarry and return , paying the subsidies and customes reasonably due : together with the ease and benefit , but to the great loss and damage of the crown , which the merchants of england as well as those of forreign parts have by the loss of calais since queen maries time , and the remove of the staple from thence , whither all goods exported out of england were to be first brought , & a custome inward the second time paid , and for so much ( which may be believed to be the greatest part ) as was again from thence exported into other countries , the customes a third time paid , which made the customes and subsidies only for goods exported in the later end of the reign of king edward the third , and during the reigns of king richard the second , henry the fourth , henry the fifth , and the beginning of the reign of king henry the sixth , as appeareth by the records of the exchequer to amount unto threescore , or threescore and ten thousand pounds per annum , which according to the valuation of mony at this day , saith sir john davies , the ounce of silver being raised from twenty pence unto five shillings , would amount unto two hundred thousand pounds sterling per annum . and the difference betwixt the payment of customes and subsidies then paid three times over for one and the same thing , and the payment of it but once , as is now used , with many other great benefits beyond a valuation not here particularized . and consider how unworthy it would be for the natives and people of england , after many knights fees , and lands freely given and granted by the kings royall progenitors to their forefathers and their heirs , to be holden by knight-service and in capite ; of which , if the sixty thousand knights fees , and more reckoned by antient authors , should be no greater a number then ten thousand , and valued but at twenty pounds per annum , as they were reckoned in anno primo edwardi secundi , they would amount unto two hundred thousand pounds per annum ; and if but at three hundred pounds per annum , which is now the least ●mprovement , would amount unto three millions per annum , besides great quantities of other lands being twice or thrice as much more in the severall reigns of his majesties royall progenitors , freely granted and given unto othe●s of them and their heirs to be holden in socage , to endeavour to extinguish the right use of them , and forget their obligations to their prince and common parent , and his royall progenitors . and in too many of their actions and business cozen or beg all they can from him ; and in stead of saying domine quid retribuam , lord what shall i render unto thee for all thy benefits , make it the greatest of their care , imployment , and business , not only to take , but keep from him all they can , even at the same time when they had obteyned of him an unparralleld act of indempnity and oblivion , and to to forget all their evil designes and offences intended or committed against him and his blessed father , and to pardon and give them as much as fifteen or sixteen millions sterling in the arrears of his own revenue and two or three hundred millions sterling at least for the forfeiture of theirs . and might have remembred , how they promised him their lives and fortunes , and to be his tenants in corde ; and with what a princely and fatherly affection he told their representatives , that he was sorry to see so many of his good people come to see him at whitehall , and had no meat to feed or entertain them ; and how ashamed and unwilling they are in their ordinary and daily actions and affairs to come behind or be upon the score one to another in their reciprocations , retributions , and retorns of gratitudes , and take it to be a disparagement not to out-vie or undo one another therein : how willingly they can part with their money to their children at school , to make oblations , or presents to their school-masters at their intermissions or breaking up of school at christmas , easter , or whitsontyde ; a course newly invented by school-masters to better their allowances and incomes ; and chargeable enough to the parents , as may appear by the offerings at a christmas , made unto some capital school-masters , which have singly amounted unto five or six hundred pounds , which with the beds and furniture , and silver spoons to be brought thither by the boarders , and left behind them at their departure , do make as great or a greater charge to many parents , then what they were ever rated for the pourveyance : and how accustomed and willing an expence all people are desirous to put themselves unto pro honestate domus , for the good and content of any inne , tavern , or alehouse , to make them some recompence for but coming into those houses upon any occasion or necessity of business . and can notwithstanding so readily finde the way to that unchristian river of lethe and sinne of unthankfulness , which god and all good men do abhorre , and the most fierce and savage of the beasts of the field , & fowls of the ayr do scorn to be guilty of , and make it their business to desire the king to foregoe his pourveyance , and take a seeming recompence of fifty thousand pounds per annum for it of the moyty of the excise to be raised out of the moans and laments of the multitude , which are the labouring and poorer sort of the people , to free richer and better able from their heretofore small payments or contributions in cattle , and other provisions for the royall pourveyance , now that england enjoyeth a greater plenty then ever it did by some hundred thousand acres of fenne lands drained , many forests and chases deafforrested m●ny parks converted unto tillage or pasture , great quantities of other lands inclosed ; and as much or more of abby and religious lands retorned into lay-hands , fewer taxes and publique assessments by one to ten , then are in the kingdomes and dominions of spain , france , empire of germany , and other kingdomes and principalities of christendome , the republique of venice , and that corporation of kings , the states of holland , and the united provinces , greater improvements of lands and prices for the fruits of the earth , then former ages ever saw , or attained unto , ten to one more cattel , sheep , swine , and poultry fed and sold in england then formerly ; a freedome from the popes and romes former and many & daily heavy taxations , carrying away much of the revenues thereof , the universality of the people 10 or 20 times richer in moveables and household furniture then ever their forefathers were , every man of 10 or 20 l. land per annum , now having one , if not many pieces of plate in his house ( heretofore not to be found but in the houses of the nobility or persons of great quality ) many alehouse-keepers , a piece of plate , if not as many as his occasions call for , instead of black po●s ; every artizan a piece or more of plate ; and many of the richer sort of citizens , merchants , and retaylo●s , do take themselves to be disparaged & the sons of contempt , if they have not half ; and others almost all their table-service in silver plate , their dyning rooms , and lodging chambers , richly hung with tapestry of 30 , 40 , or 60 l. a suit , too many of their wives hung with pearl neck-laces , diamond lockets , and the most costly sort of jewels , and little tablets of their husbands pictures richly enameld or set in gold at the charge of 25 or 20 l. a piece , to hang at the outside of their hearts ; and some of the retailing part of them think they come to farre behind their betters , if they have not a kind of s●ate or carpets to spread within their chambers or apartments , or shall not be enough talked of or looked upon if they have not an indian foot-boy with a coller of silver about his neck to attend them ; and their delicacies and wantonness better attended then the afterwards destroyed and vagabond jews ever had , when the almighty sent his prophets to preach , and inveigh against their excessive pride and wickedness , a greater by many degrees more then heretofore increase of trade , untill our long and accursed rebellion spoyled it ; more money put by countrymen , and such as were not traders , to interest and usury ( which may shew how great an overplus many have beyond their necessary expences ) then former ages were acquainted with as much wood and timber sold in our late times of prodigality , as would have bought the fee-simple and inheritance of all or the greatest part of the lands of the kingdome , many rivers made navigable , and havens repaired , the loss of cattle , and damage by inundations and some unruly rivers prevented by several statutes o● commissions of sewers , depopulations prohibited , many an unjust title in concealed lands made good after sixty years quiet possession , interest for money lent , reduced to a lower rate then formerly ; and brocage forbidden , divers statutes restraining aliens not being den●zend to trade or keep shops , the bringing of silver bullion into england by our merchants encouraged , transportation of gold and silver prohibited , merchants of ireland and aliens ordained to employ their moneys received in england upon the commodities thereof , many great factories and trades erected and encouraged , the lands of wales greatly improved , and freedome , formerly denyed , had of trade and commerce with them ; the marches of wales secured from the incursions of the welch and the northern counties from those of the scots ; abundance of markets and fairs granted more then formerly ; great store of cattle brought in yearly from ireland and scotland ; and many a good and beneficiall law and act of parliament made to remedy the peoples grievances , and better enabling them to performe those very ancient and legall duties of pourveyances , or compositions for them . which may with us be understood to be the more reasonable , when the pourveyance or compositions for them in england , if they did yearly charge the people , or amount unto , as they did not , fifty or sixty five thousand pounds per annum , or thereabouts , did not yearly draw out of their pu●ses or estates so much as that which is yearly laid out in their buying of babies , hobby-horses , and toyes for their children to spoyl , as well as to play withall : or in the yearly charge of the counties in the amending of the high-wayes , treatments given to harvest folk , expences of an harvest goose or seed-cake , given to their plowmen ; and keeping a wake or parish feast every year , or the monies which the good women in every parish and county do gladly rid themselves of in their gossipings at the birth of their neighbours children , and many other most triviall , chearfull , and pleasing disbursements ; and nothing near so much as this last years excess in the wearing of perrukes or periwigs ; some at three pounds , others at five or ten pounds price , which clerks , and the smallest size of tradesmen and journymen , apprentices , ba●be●s , and vintners boys must of necessity have to hide their heads and little wit is . or in the womens long & needless trains , or unreasonable length of their gowns ( every lady or gentlewoman , or many ridiculous proud citizens wives being certainly not dutchesses or countesses , or allowed to have their trains carried up ) to shew the length of their vanities , and informe the common people , who do with abhorrence behold them how much better it would be to bestow that ten or twenty pounds per annum , so foolishly expended , upon the poor in charity and almes deeds , then to make their tails the beesoms or deputy-scavengers of the streets or places where they walk ; or the mony which hath been lately expended in altering or putting too many of the common people into the low crowned little hats or flat caps , to cover the folly of every absalom or inhabitant in a hideous bush of hair or periwig ; or their adorning them with as many ribbons , as the vanities they are guilty of : or in the yearly or never murmured at charges or expences of almost all sorts of people , as well in the countries as cities , in the exchanging or following of fashions , as if they were to make all the hast possible they could to purchase them , lest there should not be fools enough in the nation , or that the ridiculous french ape should not have enough to be of his livery or retinue . ▪ and as to the severall kinds of all those severall particulars , would make the foot of the accompt to be a great deal more then that of the pourveyance or compositions for them , which was so easie and petit , as in most of the counties of england it was many times not singly rated or assessed , but was joyned with some other assesse . and in kent , where ten or twenty times more being gained by the kings residence at westminster , more was paid then in any one county of england , was so little felt and regarded , as a tenant paying one hundred pounds rent per annum for his land , did not think it worth his care to reckon it to his landlord , and demand an allowance for it . the counties and places which did pay most towards the furnishing of the kings household provisions , being those which abound most with them , and were the greatest gainers by their neighbourhood to the constant residence of the king and his courts of justice : and those which were more remote , had but little charged upon them , as all the 13 shires of wales but three hundred sixty pounds per annum , herefordshire one hundred eighty pounds per annum , and that large county of york as big as three others , but four hundred ninty five pounds per annum . and may tell us how irrationall and uneven it will be for the people of england to rank with or above the care of their souls and religion , their endeavours to preserve their liberties , customes and privileges , some of which are hard and severe enough , as the forfeiture of the widows estates for life in their deceased husbands copyhold estates of inheritance for marrying a second husband , unless they shall come into the court baron of the lord of the manor riding upon a black ram , and acknowledge such a fault committed : or the custome of the manor of balshale in the county of warwick , where the lord of the manor was to divide the goods and personall estate of the deceased , with his wife and children : the custome of the manor of brails in the same county , not to marry their daughters , or to make their sons priests without licence of the lord of the manor : or of the manor of brede in the county of sussex , where the widows are not to be endowed , or have dower of any of the lands of their first husband , if they shall marry again . the custome of some manors that the copiholder shall not sell his lands unto a stranger , untill he shall have first offered it unto the next of kin , or neighbour ab oriente solis , dwelling on the east side of him , who giving as much as others would do for it , are to have it : or where the copiholder is to give his lord a certain summe of money towards his charges in the time of warre ; or to forfeit his land , if summoned unto the lords court , & doth wilfully make default : or that the lord or lady of the manor of coveny in the county of cambridge , should have for every fornication or adultery committed in the manor , a lecherwyte , or penalty of 5 s. and 2 d. for selling a hog without licence of the lord of that manor ; and five shillings for a licence for any one of the tenants daughters to be married . and yet do all they can to infringe and abolish those iust , ancient , and legall rights and privileges of the kings which should protect and defend them and theirs ; and being rationabilia & legitimè praescripta most reasonably and lawfully prescribed ought to be inviolabilia , quia nec divino juri nec legibus naturae , & gentium , sive municipalibus contradicunt , inviolable when they contradict not the laws of god , nature , and nations , and the laws of the land , as if all that is to be found in our laws , and reasonable customes should be only to protect the peoples rights and liberties , and the inferiour members of the body politique , and to diminish and abrogate that of the kings , the superiour more noble , and therefore the more to be respected ; or as if the power of a prince should be the better when it is weakest ; a blind or decrepit pennyless captain or generall more usefull for their warres then a sampson a david , or a solomon as full of riches as w●sdome , and a wooden sword more for that purpose then one of iron and steel , or that of goliah . how unjust as well as unreasonable it would be for the people of england , to rack and raise the rents and rates of their lands and commodities , & increase their own revenues and prices of victuals and houshold provisions , five or six to one more then it was when the compositions for the pourveyance was agreed upon in the third or fourth year of the reign of queen elizabeth , and lay the burden thereof only upon the king , make him to be as an amorite or stranger in our israel , and his own dominions , paying an enhaunced and oppressing rate and interest for food and provisions for himself and his houshold : and to receive his rents and other monies due unto him after the old rate , and buy at the new , take little more then four pence instead of a shilling in every summe which is paid him , and pay twelve pence for every groats worth which he hath occasion to buy , and drive or inforce him by buying all by the penny , and being left to the mercy of the sellers to such a prejudiciall necessity or custome as would certainly undoe and ruine all the nobility , gentry , clergy , tradesmen , mechanicks , and people of england , if they should but imitate him . and would without the help of our s●●taries or levellers , have ere now destroyed and ruined the two famous universities of oxford and cambridge , those great lights and fountains of learning in our nation , and have brought their towring colledges halls , and glorious buildings into their rubbidge , or little more then a story to talk of as travellers sometimes do of the heretofore university or publique school of stamford , if the act of parliament in 18 eliz , had not better provided for them , and ordained , that a third part of the rents of the lands belonging unto them , should be for ever reserved and paid in corn , malt , and other provisions at their election . or now to deny it him , when as if he or his father , or royall progenitors could have foreseen any dislike or complaining of such an ancient and unquestionable right of the crown , he or they might by a restraint of their bounties and indulgencies have made themselves not only savers , but gainers by it ; or reserved more then that in their multituds of grants and fee-farme rents . and did never as cromwell , that dissembling and devouring hiena or wolfe of the evening , dig or teare up by the roots as many of our laws and liberties as he could , upon a pretence of defending and protecting them , call our magna charta in the worst latin that ever brewer or englishman spake , magna fartae , imprison the lawyers that pleaded for the peoples liberties , and was so little sensible of their being tired or impoverished with taxes , as he could , when he was lieutenant generall of the army of reforming harpies , give some gentlemen of the county of bedford , who complained of their heavy burdens , and the poverty of that county , no better an answer or ease , then that he would never believe they were unable to pay taxes as long as they could whistle when they did drive their plows and carts . nor did after the horrid murder of his father , and his own exile and sufferings by an almost twenty years rebellion of the greatest part of his subjects , ( grown rich with the plunder and spoyl of those that adhaered unto him ; and having destroyed the sheep , can now as if they were innocent , appear in sheeps clothing , ) enforce those that rebelled against him and his royall father to compound , as king h. 3. did his rebellious people ( all but the unhappy robert ferrers earl of derby , the heirs of simon de mountfort earl of leicester , and some few others ) for their pardons or redemption of their forfeited lands , by his commission , or dictum de kenelworth , according to the nature of their several delinquencies , so as the greatest fines should not exceed five years , and the lowest not be less then two years of the then true yearly value of their lands and estates , neither as the late pretended parliament and oliverian tormentors of all that were good , did in a more severe manner , when they forfeited , and would not permit many of the loyall party at all to compound , and constrained the rest to compound for a supposed fighting against the king , when it was well known , that they did really fight , and suffer for him ; made them to pay great and excessive fines , some according to a third , and others a half of the full yearly value of their lands and estates ; and others in what arbitrary way they pleased for their personal estates , and moneyes due unto them : and after they had proceeded so farre in the ruining of them , and granted them a slender act of oblivion , choaked with a great many of provisos , did upon the loyall attempts of some of them , to recall their king and liberties , decimate , and make those also that had not therein offended their masterships of sin and rebellion , to pay and compound for a tenth of their estates , as if loyalty had been a sin , and like that of adam , the first inhabitant in the world , been to be punished in all the loyall party , and their generations , squeese their estates , or require any contributions , or summes of money of them more then of all the loyall party , towards the payment of many hundred thousand pounds sterling in arrear , to themselves and the souldiers which had been before imployed to ruine him , when after his most happy restauration , he was contented for the quiet and welfare of the nation to pay it out of his own revenues & the publick and generall contributions . nor did in his act of parliament for a generall pardon and indempnity insert any proviso for their good adhaering towards him and his royall crown and dignity ; or compel them as is usually done in cases of pardons for felony or manslaughter to find sureties for their better behaviour towards him and his people . but gave way unto his extraordinary mercy and compassion to a people who in the career of their sins , rebellion , and rapine , could not find the way to pity the sad condition of their souls , bodies , and estates , and in all that concerned the good and welfare of his people , was willing to imitate and remember that maxime of his blessed father the martyr , that the peoples liberties did strengthen the kings prerogative , and that the kings prerogative is to defend the peoples liberties ; and was lately heard to say , that he would not , if he might , be absolute , or not restrained in many things by the laws which he or his royall progenitors had made or granted , that the laws of england were the b●st laws in the world , that if the wisest men in the world had been appointed to make laws , they could have made no better ; and that if they had not been made , he would most willingly make the same again . how little would be gained to the people by denying him the pourveyance , or compositions for them , who hath a just , most antient , and legall right to those their small retributions , if he should restrain the bitings and oppression of their markets and merchandize , or by his removing his residence and courts of justice from westminster , make london and her twelve adjacent counties , viz. middlesex , kent , surrey , sussex , southampton , essex , hertford , bedford , cambridge , huntington , buckingham , and northamptonshires , to loose more then forty times as much every year by it : although he should not abate or bring down the rates of rents and provisions so low as king edward the sixth did intend to do , when to satisfie some of the discontented commons and people in armes and rebellion against him , he did undertake , that there should be an act of parliament in the next ensuing parliament , to lessen and reduce the rents of lands ( scarce half so high and unreasonable as now they are ) to what they had been forty years before . and how unequal it would be , that the people should by infringing of the lawes , and by the improvement and high rack of their lands and commodities , take advantage of their own doing of wrong unto others , and that the citizens of london , and the inhabitants of the twelve adjacent counties should desire his residence to be so near his chamber of london , and make him by the taking away of his pourveyance so great a looser by it ; when if like the sun in the firmament , he should diffuse and carry his light and heat to all the parts of his kingdom , and not make london and its neighbou●ing counties an east or west-indies , and the rest of the kingdome to be as a greenland , either by removing his courts and residence to worcester or ludlow towards wales , or to york , the people of london , and the neighbouring counties would as soon lament his absence and removall , as he would find the ease and benefit of it : as his royall father king charles the martyr did in the year 1640 , when he was at newcastle with his court and army in the borders of scotland , where the rate or price which he allowed at london for the provisions of his houshold , according to the compositions for the pourveyance , appeared to be so much above the market rates , as the people brought it in so plentifully , as he was enforced by his proclamation to forbid the bringing in of such an overplus . and may to their cost hereafter believe that they shal be as little gainers by that small yearly sum of mony , which they do but think they shall save by the not paying the compositions for the pourveyance , or by the kings acquitall of it , as they have been , or may be in his release of his tenures in capite , and by knights service ; when they dream of that which may be imagined to be a benefit ; but when they are waking , will never be found to be so , and will in the yearly expence or accidents of the better and richer part of the people in the charges of finding offices , defraying the fees of escheators and feodaries , many writs process , and suits in that which was the court of wards and liveries , and their payment of rents & compositions for wardships will not be enough to satisfie , or set against the very many great oppressions , mischiefs , and inconveniences which since the taking away of that court , and the tenures in capite and by knights service have fallen upon the orphans or fatherless children of that part of the people and their estates , when the wolves shall be made the keepers of the lambs , and every indigent or wastfull father in law shall be a guardian to those whose estates he makes it his business to spend and ruine , or to transferre upon his own children : and the charge and trouble of petitions at the councell board , or more tedious suits in chancery to be relieved against them ; the pay of more life-guards , or a small standing army ( to keep the people within the bounds of their duty , and secure good subjects from the mischief intended by the bad ) frequent musters of the trained bands more then formerly , and of an army to be hired upon an occasion of an invasion , or the transferring the sedem belli , or miseries of warre into an enemies country , much whereof would not have needed to be , if the tenures in capite , and by knight-service , those stronger towers and forts of our david , those horsemen and charriots of our israel ; and alwayes ready garrisons composed of the best and worthiest men of our nation ; not hirelings taken out of the vulgus , nor unlettered , unskilfull , and uncivilized , nor rude or debauched part of the people ; but of those who would fight tanquam pro aris & focis , as they and their worthy ancestors ever used to do , for the good and honour of their king and country , and the preservation of their own families , as being obliged unto it by the strongest tyes and obligations of law and gratitude , which ever were , or could be laid upon the fortunes estates , souls and bodies of men , that would have a care but of either of them . or to put in the ballance against the benefits which they had in the preservation of their woods , recording their discents and titles to their lands , and many a deed and evidence which would otherwise have been lost , or not easie to be found , and the help and ayd which their heirs in their infancies have never failed of in all their suits and concernments . and the seldome abuses of some naughty pourveyors , and the complaints thereby do not any thing neer amount unto the immense gains of the people , of some millions sterling per annum , in their vast improvements of their lands and estates by the rack and rise of rents enhaunce of servants and labourers wages , and all commodities in all parts of the kingdome before and since the reign of queen elizabeth , when the compositions for the pourveyance were made and agreed upon , may seem but a very small yearly retribution to the king or his royall progenitors for permitting so much as shall be reasonable of it : and the people of england might better allow him those small and legall advantages , which are , and will be as much for publique good as his own , then they do themselves in many of their own affairs one with another in many of their particular & private ends & advantages ; wherein the will and bequests o● the dead & their hospitalls , legacies , or gifts to charitable uses , are not , nor have been so well managed as they ought to be . as may be instanced in those multitudes of charitable legacies or gifts in lands , originally cut out and proportioned to the maintenance of certain numbers of poor , or for some particular uses , which by the increase and improvement of rents before and since the dissolution of the abbies , religious houses , and hospitals , did very much surmount the proportions which were at the first allowed , or intended for them . and with more reason and justice , then the city of london , and many of their guilds and fraternities do now enjoy divers lands which were given for lamps , and other superstitious uses , for which they compounded by order of the councell board with king edward the sixth for twenty thousand pounds , and more then that , which that and many other cities and towns do take and receive for tolls , which being many times only granted for years ; or upon some temporary occasions are since kept and retained as rights : besides many gifts and charitable uses since the dissolution of the abbies and religious houses , amounting to a very great yearly value , which by the improvement and rise of rents , beyond the proportion of the gifts , or the intention of the givers , have been either conveyed by j●yntures or leases to wives or children , or much of the overplus which came by the improvement , or concealed charitable uses , converted by the governours of many a city and town corporate , to the maintenance of themselves , the worship of the corporation , and many a comfortable feast and meeting for the pretended good of the 〈◊〉 people thereof , who are but seldome , if at all the better for it . some of which not to mention any of greater bulk or value , may appear in a few instances instead of a multitude of that kind , dispe●sed in the kingdom as two closes of land , or meadow ground lying in the parish of shoreditch in the county of middlesex , given by simon burton , citizen and merchant-taylor of london , in the year 1579. unto st. thomas hospital upon condition , that the governors of the said hospitall should yearly give unto 30 poor persons of the said parish , on the 21 , 22 , or 23 dayes of december for ever the summe of eight pence a piece . mr. william hanbury , citizen and white-baker of london , did by a surrender in the year 1595. give unto elizabeth spearing certain copihold lands in stebu●heath and ratcliffe in the said county , to pay the parson and church-wardens of the said parish for ever , to the use of the poor people there , two and fifty shillings yearly , which by consent of the parish , is by twelve pence every wednesday weekly bestowed upon the poor abroad . and mrs. alice hanbury widow by her will did in the same year give unto mr. george spearing a tenement in the said parish , wherein william bridges a taylor then dwelled , upon condition that the said george spearing , his heirs and assignes should yearly pay to the churchwardens of the said parish and their successors , to the use of the poor and impotent people , thirteen shillings and four pence . and that whether the king be enough recompenced , or not at all recompenced for his pourveyance , it would be none of the best bargains for the subjects of england , or their posterity , to exchange or take away so great and n●●●ssary a part of his prerogative , or support of majesty , as the pourveyance or compositions for them were , which in the parliament in the 4 th year of the reign of king james , were held to be such an inseperable adjunct of the crown , and imperiall dignity , as not to be aliened , and some few years after believed by that incomparable sir francis bacon , afterwards lord chancellor of england , to be a necessary support of the kings table , a good help , and justly due unto him : and the learned both in law and politiqu●s in other nations as well as our own , have told us that such sacra sacrorum ( is baldus ) and individua ( as cynus ) termeth them , which jurisconsultorum communi quodam decreto , by an uncontraverted opinion of all lawyers , nec cedi , nec distrahi , nec ulla ratione ababienari a summo principe posse , cannot ( as bodni saith ) be granted away , or released , no● by any manner of way alienated or withholden from the sovereign prince ; nec ulla quidem temporis diuturnitate praescribi posse , nor by any length of time prescribed against him ; and are therefore by besoldus cal-called imperii & majestatis jura & bona regno conjuncta incorporata , seu corona unit a quae princeps alienari nequit ; the rights of empire and majesty , and the goods and part of the crown so incorporate and united unto it , as the prince cannot alien them ; which to attempt would not be much different from the endeavours to restrain a prince by a law not to receive or demand any subsidies , oblations , civilities , or respects from his people ; which like a law against the word of god , or contra bonos more 's . would by the opinion of our no less judicious and learned hobart , bacon , and hutton , be voyd and of none effect , for the presents and good will of inferiours unto their superiours , ( not bribes to corrupt justice ) either for favours done or to be done , is one of the antient and most noble customes which mankind hath ever practised , and began so with the beginning or youth of the world , as we find the patriarch jacob sending with his sons to his then unknown son joseph , besides the mony which he gave them to buy corn in egypt , a present of the best fruits of the country , a little balm , and a little honey , spices and myrrhe , nuts and almonds . saul when he thought not of ever being a king , whilst he was busied in the enquiring for his fathers asses , did not think fit to goe unto samuel the man of god , who was then accompted honourable , unless he had a present to bring him . most of the people of the east brought presents unto their kings , as was seen in the splendour and greatness of solomon ; and sine quibus , as grotius saith , reges non adire solebant , did not without presents come a near their kings ; and was a custome long after not forgotten by the kings or wisemen coming out of the east to worship & adore our blessed saviour at his birth . the persians in their kings progresses , did munera offerre neque vilia vel exilia , neque nimis praetiosa & magnifica , bring him presents neither precious nor contemptible , from which etiam agricolae & opifices , workmen , and plowmen were not freed in bringing wine , oxen , sheep , fruits , and cheeses , and the first fruits of what the earth brought forth , quae non tributi , sed doni loco censebantur , which were not received or given as tributes , but as oblations and free gifts , which made the poor persian synetas , when he met with artaxerxes and his trayn in the way of his progress , rather then fail of something to offer , hasten to the river , and bring as much water as he could in his hands , and with a chearfull countenance , wishes , and prayers for the health of the king present it unto him . nor was not so altogether appropriate unto those eastern countries , where god spake first unto his people , and the sun of his righteousness did arise ; but was long agoe practised in england , where the custome was , as gervasius tilburi●nsis , who wrote in the reign of henry the second , and lived in the reign of king henry the first , informs us upon all addresses to the king qua●dam in rem & qua●dam in spem offerre , to present the king with some or other presents , either upon the granting of any thing , or the hopes which they had that he would do it afterwards : and so usually as there were oblata rolls or memorialls kept of it in the reign of king john , and some other the succeeding kings , and the queens , or their royall consorts , seldome escaped the tender of those gratitudes of aurum reginae , money or gold presented unto them , as well as unto their kings , and was a custome not infrequent in the saxon times , as appeareth by our doomsday book , the most exact and generall survey of all the kingdome , and so little afterwards neglected , as it was paid upon every pardon of life or member , and so carefully collected , as it was long after in the reign of king henry the third by an inquisition taken after the death of gilbert de sandford , who was by inheritance chamberlain to the queens of england , found that he had amongst many other fees and profits due unto him and his heirs , by reason of that office six pence per diem , allowed for a clark in the court of exchequer , to collect and gather the oblation or duty . neither can there be any reason given why the clergie , for whom god the ratio rationum incomprehensible wisedome and greatest perfection ordained so great a pourveyance for them in their tythes and oblations , should enjoy it , and his vice-gerent and protector of them be without it , the nobility , and many of the gentry , and laity not want it either in kind , or some other satisfaction for it , and all cities , corporations , guilds , and societies furnish out their grandeur and greatness derived only by reflection from that of the kings ▪ and he only be deprived of that which should maintain his hospitality , and was so usefull to all other king● and princes for the gaining of the affections of the people , et a concilier ( as l●i● de orleans saith ) l' amour de 〈◊〉 subject● quil● 〈◊〉 par le bouche & d' leurs le pe●ple au 〈◊〉 & les p●●ds a lateste pour affirmir le corps politique , et le l●er par ▪ une grac●●use voire necessaire correspondence ; and to procure the love of the people , who are taken by the mouth , and to fasten them unto the king , and the feet unto the head , strengthen the body politique , and unite all the parts thereof by a loving and necessary complyance , when he doth at the same time yearly pay and allow some thousands of pounds for the support and pourveyance of his councel in the marches of wales , and his judges and justices of the peace , and other officers in the kingdom for the administration of justice . or for us to think that when god in his government of his chosen people of israel , in that his most righteous theodratie , did command them not to delay the offerings of the first of their ripe fruit● and of their liquors , and of their oxen and their sheep , and ordained , that if a sheaf were forgotten in the time of harvest , they were not to goe again to fetch it ; and when they did beat their olive trees , they should not go ●ver it again ▪ and gathered their grapes , they should not gle●n them , for they should be for the ●tranger , the f●therless ▪ and the widow , he would now be well pleased with such an unworthy sparing and avarice of subjects , in withholding their oblations from his deputies , and disabling them from relieving the strangers , the fatherless , and the widows . and that the rates of his houshold provisions being much the same , or very near unto those which were agreed upon by the justices of peace of every county ( who cannot be understood to be any strangers to the rates and market prices of every county ) might not be now as cheap afforded as they were then , or when they were cheaper in the ●3 ▪ year of the reign of king henry the eighth , now not much above 130 years agoe , when 24 great b●eves were provided for a great and pompous serjeants feast at ely house in london , where the king , queen , and many of the nobility , the lord mayor and aldermen of london were present , ( such provisions being then probably at a greater price then ordinary , ) for 26 s. 8 d. a piece from the shambles , a carcase of an oxe at 24 a●● s. 10 d. a piece , one and fifty great veals at 4 s. 8 d. a piece , four and thirty porks at 3 s 8 d. a piece , ninety one pigs at 6 d. a piece . capons ten dozen at 20 d. a piece , kentish capons nine dozen and a half at 12 d. a piece , capons course nineteen dozen 6 d. a piece , cocks of gross seaven dozen & nine at 8 d. a piece , cocks course fourteen dozen and eight at 3 d. a piece , pullets the best at 2 d. ob . a piece , other pullets 2 d. pigeons thirty seaven dozen at 10 d. a dozen , and larks , three hundred and forty dozen at 5 d a dozen ; if the magistrates of england , who are trusted by the law with the assi●e and correction of the rates and prices of victuals and houshold provisions , and the punishment of ingrossers , forestallers , and regrators , did not sleep over their duty ; or too many of the justices of peace , and lords of leets did not finde it to be more for their own advantages to improve and raise their lands to the highest rack , rather then reduce those now exorbitant rates and prices into that order which the laws and statutes of england do intend they should be . there being no just cause to complain of our payments to the king for his pourveyance , or any other of his necessary affairs , when the cry and daily complaints of our want of money , is not so much by reason of our want of trade , as our want of wit , by mispending that which should regularly and orderly maintain us and our families ; and it is not our want of trade , but our too much trading in pride , excess , and superfluities , which hath brought the nation into that hectique feaver , and almost incurable consumption , which hath now seised upon the vitalls of it , and would be very evident , if a strict accompt and view were taken of what hath been needlesly and vitiously spent within these last twenty or thirty years more then formerly in apparrel , diet , wine , tobacco , jewels , coaches , new fashions ; greater portions given with daughters , then our forefathers could either have given or thought fitting ; increase of servants , artificers and labourers wages ; gaming by women as well as men , great interest and brocage paid for money , and buying upon trust to support their vanities ; and twenty millions sterling lately spent in the enterteynment of the devil , and a most horrid rebellion , and seeking for a liberty ; to loose all our own liberties , and may give us to understand , that if we had that money again , which was so foolishly mispended , those that could then lay it out , and now want it , might subscribe unto this undenyable truth , that there would be greater riches and less necessities seen in england , then in any other nation , and enough and more then enough to drive the trade thereof ; and that whilst the back and belly have vyed who should be most inordinate and profuse , the improvement of rents , wages , and commodit●●s , have been to no better a purpose then to improve our vices , and the nationa●l as well as particular miseries and damage , which are and will be the never ●a●ling concomitants and consequents of it : for no reason can be given why we should not as chearfully submit to any thing that tends to the support of the king and the honour 〈…〉 nation , as every citizen of london and man of trade will do to the furnishing of pageants or publick 〈◊〉 for the honor and reputation of their city or company , or as the universities sometime do in an entertainment of the king , or their chancellour , though they did at the same time contribute to the pourveyance ; or as the people of england did in the 5 th year of the reign of king edward the 6th , when the queen regent of scotland●n ●n her return out of france thither , desiring to take her journy through england was by the city of london presented at her fi●st coming with muttons , beefe , veals , poultry , wine , and all other sorts of provisions necessary for the entertainment of her , and her no small train , even to bread and f●well ; and when she departed to goe for scotland , was after great and princely entertainments by the king at whitchall conducted by the sheriffs of london , to whose care the king had committed it , as farre as waltham , and by all the sheriffs of all the counties through which she passed , untill she came unto the borders of scotland , her enterteynment being provided by the kings appointment at the charge of the counties . nor can it be for the honour of the english nation to come behind the jews , that stiffe necked and rebellious race of mankind in their kindness and returns unto their kings and princes , who notwithstanding that pedagoguy and hard hand of government , which the almighty in his eternall wisdome found necessary to put upon them in their releasing of servants , and letting their lands lye untilled every seaventh year , permitting their debtors and mortgagors or ven●ors in every jubile , or 50 year , to enjoy their lands and estates , and to be at liberty : their many and many times free-will and thanksgiving offerings , peace-offerings , sin-offerings , costly sacrifices , feasts unto the lord , and journeys to jerusalem , the offerings which were brought and prepared for the building of the tabernacle in such aboundance ( a readiness and zeal not now to be found amongst us , as formerly in the building of churches , or repair of the cathedral of st. paul ) as god directed moses by a proclamation to restrain them from bringing any more : and their males appearing three times in every year before the lord not empty handed and their very large offerings also at the dedication of the temple , when solomon their king invited them unto it , and their corban or money , often given to the treasury of it , could not forget their respects and duty to their kings in their presents or pourveyance for them and their houshold . when god would not suffer the majesty of kings , shining as the beams & reflections of his divine majesty upon the face of moses when he came down out of the mount from his conference with him to be abated or lessened , but shewed his care of it in the severe punishment of the gain-saying of corah , dathan , & abiram , and their saying that moses took too much upon him ; and is , and ever hath been so essentiall , & very necessary to the preservation of authority and government , and the subjects and people under it : as saul , when he had incurred the displeasure of god and his prophet samuel , desired him not to dishonour him before the people . and david , when he heard how shamefully his embassadours had been abused by the king of ammon , ordered them to stay at jericho untill their beards were grown out . the romans , who being at the first but bubulci and opiliones , a rude company o● shepheards & herdsmen , and were looked upon as such a base and rude rabble , as the sabines their neighbours scorned to marry , or be allyed with them , did afterwards in their growing greatness , ( which like a torrent arising from a small assembly of waters , did afterwards overrun and subdue the greatest part of the habitable world ; ) hold their consuls in such veneration , as they had ( as cicero saith ) magnum nomen , magnam speciem , magnam majestatem , as well as magn●m potestatem , as great an outward respect and veneration as they had authority , and were so jealous and watchfull over it , as their consul fabius would rather lay aside the honour due unto his father from a sonne ( of which that nation were extraordinary obse●vers ) then abate any thing of it , and commanded his aged father fabius , the renowned rescuer and preserver of rome , in a publique assembly to alight from his horse , and do him the honour due unto his present magistracy , which the good old man , though many of the people did at the present dislike it , did so approve of , as he alighted from his horse , and embracing his son , said , euge fili sapis , qui intelligis quibus imperes , & quam magnum magistratum susceperis , my good son , you have done wisely in understanding over whom you command , and how great a magistracy you have taken upon you . and our offa king of the mercians in an. dom. 760 , an ancestor of our sovereign , took such a care of the honour and rights due unto majesty , and to preserve it to his posterity , as he ordained , that even in times of peace , himself , and his successors in the crown , should as they passed through any city have trumpets sounded before them , to shew that the person of the king ( saith the leiger book of st. albans ) should breed both fear and honour in all , which did either see , or hear him . neither will it be any honour for christians to be out-done by the heathen in that or other their respects and observances to their kings , when the romans did not seldome at their publique charge erect costly statues , and memorialls of their g●atitude to their emperours , make chargeable sacrifices , ad aras & in aedibus honoris & virtutis , in their temples of honour and virtue , could yearly throw money into the deep lake or gulfe of curtius in rome , where they were like never to meet with it again pro voto & salute imperatoris , as offerings for the health and happiness of their emperou●s ; and all the city and senate , calendis januarii velut publico suo parenti imperatori strenas largiebant , did give new years-gifts to the emperour as their publick parent , & bring them into the capitol , though he was absent , and make their pensitationes , or composition for pourveyance for their emperours to be a canon unal●erable . or by the magnesians and smirnaeans , who upon a misfortune in warre hapned to seleucus king of syria , could make a league with each other , and cause it to be engraven in marble pillars , which to our dayes hath escaped the iron teeth of time , majestatem seleuci tueri & conservare , to preserve and defend the honor and majesty of seleucus , which was not their sovereign or prince , but their friend and ally . nor any thing to perswade us that our forefathers were not well advised , when in their care to preserve the honor of their king and country , they were troubled and angry in the reign of king h. 3. that at a publick feast in westminster-hall , the popes legate was placed at the kings table , in the place where the king should have sate , or when the baronage , or commonalty of england , did in a parliament holden at lincoln , in the reign of king edward the first by their letters to their then domineering demy-god the pope , who was averse unto it , stoutly assert their kings superiority over the kingdome of scotland , and refuse that he should send any commissioners to rome , to debate the matter before the pope in judgement , which would tend to the disherison of the crown of england , the kingly dignity , and prejudice of the liberties , customes , and laws of their forefathers , to the observation and defence of which they were ex debito prestiti juramenti astricti , bound by oath , and would not permit , tam insolita & praejudicialia , such unusuall and prejudiciall things to be done against the king , or by him if he should consent unto it . or when the pope intending to cite king edward the third to his court at rome , in anno 40 of his reign , to do homage to the see of rome for england and ireland , and to pay him the tribute granted by king john , the whole estates in parliament did by common consent declare unto the king , that if the pope should attempt any thing against him by process , or other matter , the king with all his subjects should with all their force resist him : and in anno 42 of king ed. 3. advised him to refuse an offer of peace made unto him by david le bruse king of scotland ( though the war●es and frequent incursions of that nation were alwayes sufficiently troublesome & chargeable ) so that he might enjoy to him in fee the whole realm of scotland , without any subjection , and declared that they could not assent unto any such peace , to the disherison of the king and his crown , and the great danger of themselves . or that william walworth he gallant mayor of london , whose fame for it will live as long as that city shall be extant , was to be blamed , when he could not endure the insolency of the rebel wat tyler in suffering a knight whom the king had sent to him to stand bare before him , but made his dagger in the midst of his rout and army teach his proud heart better manners . or richard earl of arundel●nd ●nd surrey did more then was necessary , when as he perceiving before hand the after accomplished wicked designe and ambition of john of gaunt duke of lancaster , and titular king of leon and castile , did before the downfall of that unhappy prince king richard the second , complain in parliament that he did sometimes go arme in arme with the king , and make his men wear the same colour of livery that the kings servants did . or that it was ill done by the parliament in the 14 th . year of the reign of that king , when they petitioned him , that the prerogative of him and his crown might be kept , and that all things done to the contrary might be redressed : or that the lords spirituall and temporal , and commons in parliament assembled in the 16 th year of the said kings reign , did not well understand the good of the kingdom , when upon a debate and consideration of the popes usurpation and incroachments upon the kings regalities , and his holiness provisions made for aliens and strangers by the benefices of the church of england , they did unanimously declare , that they and all the leige commons of the realm would stand with the king and his crown and regality in the cases aforesaid , and in all other cases attempted against him his crown and regality , in all points to live and to dye : or that our forefathers were not to be imitated in their stout assertions of the rights of their kings and their regalities , when in their zeal thereunto humphry duke of glocester , when the pope had wrote letters in the reign of king henry the sixth in derogation of the king & his regality , and the church-men durst not speak against them , he did throw his letters and missive into the fire and burn them . or that it can be well done by us to withhold from him that small retribution of pourveyance ( which is a duty established by a fourfold obligation , composed of a right or duty , a very antient custome backt by the laws of god , nature , and nations , the oaths of allegeance and supremacy , and a contract made and continued by the people to their kings , built upon the best and greatest of considerations , which the prophet david in the 15 th psalm , if it had not been ( as it is ) beneficiall to the people , but to some loss or damage , adviseth not to be broken ) and enforce him for want of it to give over his housekeeping ; and deprive him of that loadstone which might amongst many other of his daily graces and favours , attract and draw unto him the love and affections of his people , & the most iron & rusty hearted clowns ; or leave our trajan no wall for his ●erba parietaria , sweet smelling flower to grow upon . or that it can be any honour for our lords and ladies , who received their honour from the king and his progenitors , and were in the saxon times called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , lords and ladies from their hospitalities , and giving of bread , to see , and not seek or help to remedy the greatest dishonour which in the consequence of it was ever put upon the fountain of honour and a king of england , in solio , in his throne and full possession of his kingdome ; and so much the more and without an example , because it is not in the time of a rebellion , but a happy restauration , and in the time of peace , after an end or conclusion of an intestine and barbarous warre ; and so notorious as it hath been told in the streets of gath and askalon , and stirred up some unmannerly fancies and pictures made by some of our envious neighbours in reproach of it . or that there can be any reason that those that think it reason that the king should recompence them for their losses and damages susteyned in his service , in doing their duty unto him , should not be as willing to give him an ease in his losses by any agreement made with them , which proves to be prejudiciall , or a damage unto him : or that we may not give our selves in assurance , that the baronage of england , who in a parliament in the 20 th year of the reign of king henry the third , refused to consent to an act of parliament for the legitimation of such children as were bot● before marriage to parents afterwards married , and clapping their hands upon their swords , cryed una voce , with one voice , nolumus mutare leges angliae , we will never consent to change the laws of england , would now , if they were living , say more , and bewail the downfall of the honor of their king and country : and not only they , but all the then hospitable gentry and commonalty of england . lament to see so good and gracious a king allied to all the greatest houses , and princely families of christendome , by a discent farre beyond the most antient of them , and an extraction of blood equalling , if not surpassing the greatest of them , and as well deserving of his people , want the means to support a magnificence as high and illustrious as any of his royall progenitors , and not to be able for want of his pourveyance to give his servants diet or wages ; and that some of the principall of them , as the treasurer and comptroller , being sworn by the orders of the house , that all things in the kings house be guided to the kings most worship , and that they search the good old rule worshipfull and profitable of the kings court used before time , and them to keep , and better if they can ; should have so much cause as they have to weep , as the priests did at the destruction of the temple of jerusalem , and complaining that the beauty is departed from the kings house , his servants are become like harts that find no pasture , and they that did , feed plentifully are desolate in the streets . wonder what wild boar out of the forrest , or fox out of the wood have so destroyed and laid wast the vineyards and the gardens , the beds of spices , the roses of sharon , and the lilies of the vallies ; that some of our temples should be gloriously re-edified , and our zion repaired , and yet the glory of our solomon and his housekeeping not restored , but his servants ruined and their names , as to their pay and maintenance blotted out of the registers , that the winter should be past , the rain over and gone , the flowers appear on the earth , the time of the singing of the birds come , and the voyce of the turtle heard in our land ; and the state and magnificence of our solomon and his royall housekeeping , which would have heretofore astonished a queen of sheba , should be now most needlesly exchanged for a desolation , and bear all the marks upon it of a languishing honour . that the courts and palace of our most gracious king charles the second , by a mischance of quitting his rights of prae-emption and pourveyance , or compositions for them , should as to many of its attendants , have all the year turned into an ember week , and be about noon or dinner time , like the silence and want of company at midnight ; or a representation of the middle isle of the cathedrall of st. pauls in london , destitute of all its walkers or company but such as had nothing to buy their dinner withall ; which heretofore begot the reproachfull adage or saying usually cast upon such men of distress and necessity , that they dined with duke humphrey upon a traditional mistake , that the monument of humphrey duke of glocester was in the middle isle of st. pauls church in london , when it appears by the armes engraven therein to be a beuchamp earl of warwick . and that the king of england , scotland , france and ireland should be necessitated to make a small room in white hall , a place to eat his meat in , and be contented with ten dishes of meat for the first and second courses for him , and his royall consort at dinner , when most of the nobility have as much or more , and the richest part of the gentry , and most of the rich merchants and tradesmen of london do not think such a proportion in their ordinary way of diet to be more then sufficient . and might remember that the royall pourveyance is , and hath been as well due to a prince in his palace , as in the field or his tents , and more deserved by a prince in the time of peace , and protecting us in the blessings enjoyed by it , then it is , or can be in the time of warre , when every man is willing enough to offer it to a marching army , that doth but hope and endeavour to defend them . and that god was so displeased with the refusers of it , as he resolved , that an ammonite or moabite should never enter into his holy and blessed congregation , because they met not the children of israel with bread and water in the way when they came forth out of egypt . that it was reckoned as a crime upon the people of israel , that they shewed not kindness to the house of zerubbaal , namely gideon , according to all the goodness which he shewed unto israel . that it was not only solomons stately throne of ivory over-laid with the best gold , adorned with the images of golden lions , that supported it , nor the forty thousand stalles of horses for his chariots , and twelve thousand horsemen , and the tributes and presents sent from many of the nations round about him , but his royall pourveyance and provision for his houshold , the meat of his table , sitting of his servants , the manner of their sitting at meat ; and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel , which among many other necessary circumstances of state and emanations of power and majesty , joyned with the other parts of his regall magnificence , raised the wonder in the queen of sheba , and took away her spirits from her . that to overburden our head , or heap necessities upon him , may bring us within the blame and censure of the judicious bodin , a man not meanly learned in politiques , who decrying all unbecoming parsimonies in a king or his family , delivers his opinion , that sine majestatis ipsius contemptu fieri non potest ea res enim peregrinos ad principem aspernandum , & subditos ad deficiendum excitare consuevit , that to lessen the number of a kings servants , or attendants cannot be done without a contempt or diminution of majesty it self , which may cause strangers to despise him , and his own subjects to rebell against him . that our ancestors the germans did well understand what a benefit the common people had by the princes honour and reputation , when they were so zealous of it , and ipsa plerunque fama belli profligant , many times found it to be a cause of lessening or preventing warres . and st. hicrom was not mistaken when he concluded , that ubi honor non est , ibi contemptus , ubi contemptus , ibi frequens injuria , & ubi indignatio , ibi quies nulla ; where there is not honour there is contempt ▪ and where there is contempt there are injuries , and where anger and wrath are , there is no manner of quiet . that it must needs be a prognostick of a most certain ruine to the nation to be so addicted to our pride and vanities , as to take all we can from the head to bestow it upon the more ignoble and inferiour members : or to be so infatuated , and so farre fallen out with reason , as to believe that they can enjoy either health or safety , when the head hath that taken from it , which should procure it . that our ancestors who were so great observers of their duties in the payment of their tithes , as to take more then an ordinary care to give and bequeath at their deaths a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or symbolum animae , as a mortuary or compensation pro substracti●ne decim●rum person●lium ▪ nec non oblationum , for tithes and offerings ( the pourveyance for those which served at the alta● ) negligently or against their wills forgotten , & to such a value as their dextrarium ferro coopertum , best horse carrying the armes ( not escutcheons ) of its lords and master ; or if the party deceasing were no● of so great an estate , gave meliorem bovem , his best oxe , and with such a solemnity as those or the like mortuaries were led or driven before the corps when it was carried to be interred ; or if not given in specie , were sure to be redeemed with money ; of which thomas de bello campo earl of warwick , in anno 43 of the reign of king edward the third was so mindfull , as he did by his last will and testament , give to every church within his multitude of manours his best beast which should then be found , in satisfaction of his tithes forgotten to be paid , would ever have made it their business to withdraw or hinder their oblations and duty of pourveyance to god almighties vicegerent , the keeper of both tables , and the protector of them ; or rejoyce in the bargain which hath been made for the kings acquittal of it ; or by plowing over the roots or by the filthy smoke and vapours of some particular private ugly interests , have rejoyced in blasting and destroying that royall oak of hospitality , which like the mighty tree in nebuchadnezars vision reached unto heaven , and the sight thereof to the ends of all the earth , had fair leaves and much fruit , yielding meat for many ; under which the beasts of the field dwelt , and upon whose branches the f●wls of heaven had their habitation , to the end they might make their own fi●es , and wa●me themselves by the withered and dead boughs and branches thereof . or that the people of england , who were wont so much to reverence and love their kings , and to remember benefits and favours received from them , as to give lands and other hereditaments in pe●petuity to pray for the health of their kings , as amongst many others which may be instanced , ivo tallebois post decessum gulielmi anglorum regis donavit deo & sancto n●cholao pro animabus ipsius regis ac regine matildae uxoris ejus ad augmentum victus monachorum sanctae mariae de spalding decimam thelonei & salinarum de spalding , gave t●e tenth of his tolls and salt-pi●s to pray for the souls of william the conqueror and queen matilda his wife . mauserus biset , sewer to king henry the first , gave likewise in perpetual almes 22 acres of land , and half of a mar●e-pit , to pray for the souls of his lord king henry , and of him , and his wife . and as geffrey de clinto● did in the reign of king henry the third , and william de whaplode in or about the 27 th year of the reign of king henry the sixth , should be so willing to un-english themselves , and by a loathsome and ugly ingratitude , and for the saving & sparing of so inconsiderable an yearly charge , as their oblations in the royal pourveyance , or compositions for them amounted unto , make us to be every day more and more a by-word , reproch , and scorn to the nations round about us , and entail upon us those dishonors , mischiefs , inconveniences damages and accumulations of evils , which may sooner be foreseen and prevented then remedied . and to fasten it on , and be very sure not to fail of it , will be content so as with the rich man in the gospel , they may fare diliciously , live wantonly , and give entertainment to all their excesses of pride and vanity , to make themselves slaves to sin , and fool away their happiness : and if lazarus be after his death carried with angels into abrahams bosome , it shall never trouble them untill death , and the fate of mortality shall bring them to be at leisure to think better of it . can without any remorse of conscience , fear of hell , honor and welfare of their nation , care of heaven after ages or posterity , see the piety good old virtues customes and manners of england murdered , and do all that they can to extirp and destroy them root and branch . and whilst too many of our gentry can leave the jack-daws to be stewards of their formerly better employed stately well-built houses in the country , bring their wives and children to london , and make some little lodgings , or hou●es there to be their residence to learn what vices are most in fashion ; spend fifty or one hundred pounds at a time in a treatment or tavern at london , and be cheated and cozened an half or a third part in the reckoning , make a feast at their lodgings or houses enough to puzle lucullus , or vitellius , cooks or professors in the art of gluttony at three or five hundred pounds charges . have their oleo's haut gousts ambiges , costly gallimauphries , or hotch potches laid altogether in a dish , and that dish so big as the door must needs be taken off the hinges to make a stately passage to bring it in ; and after some hours spent in heightning and pleasing their appetites , and adoring bacchus their drunken diety , can let some of their mortgaged mannors and lands run about the streets by day and night , in coaches with dores and glass windows , and be at the yearly charges of maintaining a couple or more of coach-horses , as much fatted and pampered more then needs to be , as would provide more then a yoke or two of fat oxen to kill at christmas , when they shall be so good as to observe such christian festivals ; and instead of four or six proper serving men , as their old hospitable grand●ires had in constant pay or salary to attend , or fight for them , upon no tavern or alehouse ●ray , or quarrels , but just occasions , have only one or two foot-boyes dressed up like some ridiculous antiques to wait upon the coach , by getting up before or behind it . can see virtue and honestly only laid up in books and speculations , and be read as romances and things impracticable ; truth reason , and conscience greatly talked of and a part of almost every mans daily pretences , but used as vagabonds incertilaris without any habitations , and very little to be seen , but the names of them made use of ( as the gibeonites did their mouldy bread , old shoes and garments ) only for the people to cozen and cheat one another . trade , the great diana of our ephesus , by a strange abuse of it , come to be the greatest cheat , oppression and tyranny of the nation ; and gods providence vouched for their thriving by it ; the numbers of the poor and oppressed daily multiplyed , pri●e , knavery , cheating and complement , those termini convertibiles ( not mercy and truth ) kissing each other , and making a league to cozen and deceive all such as are not of their trim society . and whilst they are chanting to the sound of the viols , drinking wine in boules and stretching themselves upon their couches , can without any brotherly kindness or compassion behold the sighing of the poor and needy , the widows and the fatherless , the misery of multitudes and those that have none to help them , will not deal their bread to the hungry ▪ nor bring the poor which are cast out into their houses , will not cover the naked , but hide themselves from their own flesh ; will not undo the heavy burdens , nor let the oppressed go free . but do all that they can , not only to banish the kings hospitality , and his accustomed royalties and magnificence from his court and palaces ; and as if he and his servants were in a continual ●it of a fever , enforce them by withholding his pourveyance or compositions for them ( whilst they themselves do feast and revel in their own houses ) to a thinne and sparing diet ; and as to many of them , none at all , but to destroy the greatest and best part of the hospitality of the nation , which was wont to make those su●ves & potentes benificentiae nexus quibus seu compedibus animi illig●ntur , those gratefull ( as marsellaer very well observeth ) impressions of benefits , which do as it were charme and oblige the minds and affections of mankind : a custome so antient , as it was no stranger● to abraham , the friend of god , when he sitting in his tent dore in the plains of mamre , invited the three then unknown angels , and feasted them ; nor to the father of the excellent meek and humble rebecca , when as abrahams servant or embassadour was so well as he was enterteyned before it , was known from whence he came , and what his message was , and which the jews ever after were so unwilling to part with as the good nehemiah many ages after could in his then no great plenty or felicity , keep a great house , hospitality , and many tables , aswell for the heathen , as 150 of the jews and rulers , and hath been justly accompted to be such a religious duty , as st. paul allowed of the agapes love or neighbourly feasts , and exhorted the hebrews to let bro●therly love continue , and not to be forgetfull to entertain strangers ; for thereby some ( meaning their old father abraham ) have unawares entertained angels . and being the love and delight of the almighty that gave us all good things which we possesse , was also the treasury and keeper of the peoples love ; and as much as concerned peace , and good will unto men , a part of the blessed song of the angels at the birth of our redeemer ; and in our ancestors dayes was best of all supported by a generous and well ordered frugality , and by the old romans held to be so essential to government , as they spared no cost in their epulis , or caresses of the people ; and was for many ages past congeniall and connatural to the english nation , who are abundantly taken with it , and justly accompted to be such an handmaid to piety , as geffery earl of essex , and eustace his wife did in the reign of king henry the second grant to the nunnery of clarkenwell totam decimam totius victus & procurationis ( provisions saith the learned sir henry spelman ) illorum & domus suae & familiae suae , the tithe or tenths of all the victuals and provisions of their house and family . and maud of mandevill countesse of essex and hertford , in the beginning of the reign of king h. 3. confirming the said grant , doth it in more express words , viz. ubicunque fuerimus de panibus & potibus , & carnibus & etiam de piscibus , wheresoever they should be of bread , drink , fl●sh , and fish : and was such an effect of the magnificence & grandeur of the minds of the english nobility , as roger earl of warwick in the 23. year of the reign of king henry the first did grant unto richard the son of jvo his cook , afterwards taking the sirname of woodlow from their residence at woodlow in the county of warwick ( besides the mannor of woodlow with divers lands and priviledges thereunto belonging ; and a yard land in cotes in the county aforesaid , given by the said earle to him and his heirs ) the office of master cook in his kitchin to him and his heirs , which his father theretofore held with all fees of his kitchen belonging to the master cook both in liveries and horses , as the esquires of his houshold then had , of which alan the son of that richard being also in the said office in the house of william earl of warwick son of the said earl roger , who it seems could produce no charter in writing thereof , obtained a grant and confirmation of the said william earl of warwick of the said mannor , lands , and office , for which the said alan gave unto the earl ten shillings in money , twelve ge●se , and a fikin of wine ; and a late experience , ( if antiquity had been altogether silent ) of the benefits which do come by it , hath sufficiently declared unto us the no dull operation or impulse of it , in that since the happy restoration of king charles the second , and the kingly gove●nment , a gentleman high born , and of a great ●xtraction retiring into a country where some part of his estate doth lye , about one hundred miles from london , did by an housekeeping and hospitality becoming him , and his great ancestors so winne the hearts and love of the people , though they were of a different judgement and profession of religion , which usually bege●s more animosities and ill will then it should do , as he became their darling whilst he was with them , and their sorrow and cause of tolling their bells backwards , as a signe of some disaster , when he had occasion for a little while to leave them . and a gentleman , or faber fortun● suae , one that but lately had made his fortunes , in as remote a country from london , and of some new fangled opinions in religion distastfull enough to many in his neighbourhood , did only by a charity of giving unto some numbers of poor people of the place wherein he lived , beef and pottage at his door twice or thrice every week in the year , so gain the love of the people , as they that would not otherwise have shewed him any love or favour , did not deny him either of them . when as too many can lay aside and neglect the care of obliging and gaining the hearts and affections of their neighbours and tenants , and making any shift to furnish and provide the excess and sinfull superfluities both of the belly and the back , will not let the belly want it , nor the back be without it . and those that have no mind or will to pay or make the king any recompence for his pourveyance or compositions , can without any grudging see the pourveyance of the city of london , that queen that sitteth like the afterwards unhappy city of tire upon many waters covereth all our island , and her citizens by seeking to buy as cheap as they can , and to adulterate as much as they can , and sell as dear as they doe , all their wares & commodities , can make a costly enhance of all manner of houshold provisions , and extending their desires and attempts for that purpose to the remotest parts of the kingdome , do by ingrossings , combinations , and other unlawfull artifices of trade , bring the fatness of the flock , and the delicacies of sea and land to feed and furnish out the luxuries of her own inhabitants , and such as have a will to be infected with it , and make the whole island to be too little to maintain her vice and avarice , insomuch as salmons , which at monmouth , being above 100 miles distant from london , were wont to be sold there for ten groats a piece , are now before hand bespoke and bought up by some londoners , or their agents for ten shillings a piece , and the towns-men that did before e●joy a priviledge that all the salmons brought to that market should be first brought to the kings bord , and no forreigner suffered to buy any untill the town were first served , can now see themselves bereaved of their prae-emption as well as the king is , whose progenitors did at the first bestow it upon them . in lincolnshire , above 70 or 80 miles from london , do so ingross and precontract for all wild fowl , ducks and mallards , as the gentry of that country where they are bred , and should have some cheapness & plenty of them , are resolving to be petitioners to the justices of peace at the next quarter-sessions , that the heglers and men of london may not be suffered to raise the p●ices of their wild-fowl , nor carry them out of the count●y untill it be first served . and as if all were not enough to enrich themselves , and undo others , can upon any accident or occasion , or but a supposi●●on of things which may happen , make and dresse up their pretences and supposed causes of p●ices to be ra●sed and e●hanced , to the great oppression and burden of all that are to buy of them , and but upon a late likelihood of warres betwixt us and the netherland united belgick provinces , whilst we are masters of the seas , and not under any probability of having our seas disquieted , or trade interrupted , have so greatly before hand raised the rates and prices of sea-coal , sprats , salt , and the most part of transmarine commodities , as they that shall believe that those and many more of their exactions which they will put and enforce upon the people by reason of a probability of that warre , will without any just cause or reason for it in a short time amount unto more then six hundred thousand pounds , may well be understood neither to prejudice the truth , or their judgements in it . and if that , and such lately or more then ever practised courses shall not be enough to raise and swell the rates and prices of all sorts of provisions and commodities in london , and the counties within 100 miles or more of the circumference of it , the unreasonable and extorting reckonings and items of the cooks and vintne●s in london and westminster , and their suburbs , to their prodigall and unthriving guests who ( in a custome near of kin to madness or the biggest sorts of follies which other nations do never or so little use as they wonder at it ) do first eat their meat and delicacies , and leaving themselves afterwards to the curtesies , and as little co●science of the cooks and vintners , what they shall pay for it , will be sure to be a means to raise the rates and prices of victuals , and by their example impose it upon others , as high as the sharking of those that ask it , and the e●siness and carelessness of those that yield un●o it can lift it . and whilst they can pay their duties and rents of blackmail and cornage in many of the northern counties , which were at the first only yearly paid unto their landlords for their protection against the scottish incursions now not at all either feared or endured ; and there and in other places pay tithes though many times more in valuation then they were one hundred years agoe , three shillings four pence per annum for respits of suit of court , when there are not any courts kept for many years together , or not all ; and toll in many cities and corporations , which being granted for some few years for murage , or the repairing or building of the walls of some cities or towns , is , as is to be feared , yet continued and taken , though the walls being almost ruined , and in their rubbidge , do now only serve to build houses upon , can willingly take the benefit of their small quit-rents for mannopera and carropera precaria , and harvest work to some landlords who for many years have neither had corn nor hay to cut or carry ; and for other services anciently due unto the lords of leets and manors , which may now be believed to have been compounded for at easie and small rates , when as some of the tenants of the church revenue of canterbury , did pay but a penny per annum for that which was a rent of twenty eggs , now sold in london for a penny an egg ; and for hens and benerth , which was a service of the cart and plough but sixteen pence per annum ; and do yet notwithstanding as many services perhaps as were bought or compounded for by their quit-rents , though at the same time their lords , if they would truly execute the power intrusted unto them by the king and his laws , might in their court leets hinder and restrain their unreasonable and excessive rates and prices in the sale of victuals and houshold provisions ; pay the hundred penny , which is a peny given to the support of the bayliffs and officers of hundr●ds , though in many of them no hundred courts at all a●e kept , a scot or tax towards the maintenance of the sheriff and his officers , who by their many illegall courses and exactions , are not to seek the way to provide for themselves , ward-peny and brigbote for watching and warding , and amending of bridges , although they be yearly assessed in their parishes for the same things ; much of the romescot , or popish chimney-money , after the rate of a penny for every chimney , which when it was ancienly paid in england , notwithstanding some opinions that it amounted unto a far greater summe , was but 300 marks ) though by the statute of 1 eliz . it be forbidden . and for rode knights , or the service of being retained and and tied by their service or customes to attend their lord or his lady , or wife in their journeys , or to church , though many of them will notwithstanding for good will , and in hope of favours or benefits from their landlords , if they be justices of peace , deputy-lieutenants of the county , or of such eminence and power as to be able to do them good or harme , be offering those , or many other services , and glad when they are accepted . the merchants in london can pay scavage or shewage , which amounteth unto some hundred pounds per annum profit to the city of london , for leave to shew or expose their wares or merchand●zes to sale , though they do privately sell their wares and commodities in their dwelling-houses or ware-houses , and every petty tradesman and retailer hath , as a freeman of the city , as much liberty at all times to expose to sale in his shop , or in his house any commodities or wares belonging to his trade . the people of most parishes can pay ten times more to the poor then they did but forty years agoe , and willingly contribute ; ( and it is very well done to ease their ministers , who is but seldome troubled with a great benefice ) to the providing of surplices , church-bibles , and service-books , though the parsons or impropriators have the tithes and glebes , and can every where without any complaint or murmuring , allow and rest contented with the pigeon-houses of the lords of mannors , and of other private men , though they do yearly eat and devour as much wheat , barley , beans , peace and oat● of the neighbourhood , as the pourveyance or comp●sitions for it for the kings house , and provender for his horses , do yearly cha●ge the people . and whilst they can endure to pay more for their victuals , apparel , and necessaries , servants and artificers wages , and all that they have occasion to use through all the affai●s of humane life and occasions , only because they that demand it , will not , or say they cannot afford it cheaper , and be cheated and cozened yearly as much as will amount unto some hundred thousands of pounds sterling by false measures and weights , by the sleepiness and fellow feeling of the guilds or fraternities of companies of trades , & the carelesness and connivances of the clerks of the markets , will notwithstanding murmur and repine at every little oblation , payments , and duties to their king , be as unwilling as they can to be satisfied of the reason of it , but make hue and cry after them : and when as a lea●ned gentleman hath well observed , that the greatest care of good subjects and christians should be to fear god , and honor the king , do make it their business & best of their gains to cozen the king and the church , and when shame hath not yet so left the world , as to leave it without some little startling or blushing at the being known , or discovered to have cozened any body , will never at all be ashamed to have cozened the king all they can . which kind of publ●que villany the civil● law so detested , and desired to punish , as they reckoned but a debtor to the exchequer or emperors treasury , being farre more innocent then those that cozen or defraud it amongst the number of the most heynous offenders tanquam minxerit in patrios ●ineres , as one who had pisssed upon his fathers ( or countries ) ashes ; and as murderers or adulterers , denyed them the sanctuary if they sought it of the church . and when the kings royal progenitors have taken so much care to prevent the decay of tillage , as by the statute of 25 h. 8. cap. 13. to ordain that no man should keep more then two hundred sheep upon any land taken to farme ▪ and for the increase of tillage plenty , and cheapness of corn , did by the statute of 2 ed. 6. cap. 13. ordain that no tithes should be paid for wast or heath ground improved unto tillage , untill seaven years after the improvement , by the statute of 4 ▪ jac. cap. 11. made a provision for meadow and pasture , and the necessary maintenance of husbandry ▪ and tillage in the manors , lordships , and parishes of merden , alias mawerden , boddenham , wellington , sutton st. michael , sutton st. nicholas , marton upon lugg , and the parish of pipe in the county of hereford by the statute of 7 jac. cap. 11. that none should spoil corn and grain by untimely hawking : and by another statute in the same parliament , that se●-sands might in devonshire and cornwall be fetched from the sea to manure lands , paying reasonable duties for the passage through , or by other mens lands with boats and barges . and the assize of bread throughout the whole kingdome is by the statute and ordinance of 51 h. 8. to be yearly made and regulated by the baker of the kings house , do take all the care they can , that the bread for his houshold , and oats and provender for his horses may be at the dearest rates , and a great deal more then any of his subjects do pay . and although he and his royal progenitors and predecessors have made the best provisions they could for the breed of cattle , and cheapness of meat by the statute of 24 h. 8. cap. 9. forbidding the killing of weanling calves under the age of two years ; that a milch cow by the statute of 2 & 3 philip and mary should be kept for every sixty sheep , and a calf reared for every 120 sheep . by an act of parliament in 8 eliz. cap. 3. that no sheep should be transported : and by several acts of parliament , and otherwise , encouraged the drayning of huge quantities of fenne lands , and the imbanking of marshes and lands gained from the sea , and his now majesty hath of late to help the breeders and sellers of cattle in their reasonable prices thereof , prohibited by an act of parliament the bringing in of any cattle which were heretofore usually and yearly brought into england in great heards out of scotland and ireland , and doth yearly by his royal edicts and proclamations , as many of his noble progenitors , kings and queens of england , have usually done , enjoyned the strict observation of the lent , will notwithstanding for want of his pourveyance , or much of his houshold provisions , as they ought to be served in kind , constrain him to pay in ready money intollerable dear rates and prices , for that which his officers have occasion to buy for the provision of his household . who speed no better when they buy or provide his fish of those who might have had so much duty and honesty as to afford it cheaper , when his royall predecessors by the statutes of 13 e. 1. cap. 47. and 13 r. 2. cap. 19. ordained severe penalties upon those that do take and destroy salmons , lampries , or any other fish at unseasonable times , or destroy the spawn of fish. by the statute of 22 ed. 4. cap. 2. that salmons , herrings and e●les be duly packed . by the statute of 11 h. 7. cap. 23. that englishmen may import and bring into england fish taken by forreigners . by the statute of 2 ed. 6. cap. 6. that no officer of the admiral●y should exact any thing of them which travailed for fish. by the statute of 5 ellz. cap. 6. fishermen and mariners shall not be compelled to serve as souldiers upon the land , or upon the sea , but as mariners , except in case of enemies , or to subdue rebellions . by the statute of 13 eliz. cap. 10. allowed sea-fish and herring to be transported in english ships with cross sails without payment of customes . by the statute of 39 eliz. cap. 10. ordained aliens to pay for salted fish , and salted herrings to be brought by them into england , such customes as shall be imposed in forreign parts upon the salted fish and herrings brought thither by englishmen . and our now gracious soveraign mainteyns a great navy to assert and defend his dominion and his subjects sole right of fishing in the british seas , and hath of late in the midst of his own wants for the better encouragement of his people to seek their own good , and that which our british seas will plentifully afford them , given all his customes inward and outward for any the retorns to be made by the sale of fish in france , denmark , and the baltick seas for seaven years from the first entrance into the intended trade of fishing . and when the mayor of kingstone upon hull , or his officers can at the same time obteyn of them better penyworths , and according to the directions of the statute of 33 h. 8. cap. 33. have so good a pourveyance allowed them , as they can take of all fishermen priviledged for every last of herring xxd. for every hundred of salt fish iiii d. for every last of sprats viii d. of every person not priviledged , for every last of herring i● s. iiii . d. for every hundred of salt-fish iiii d. and for every last of sprats viii d. as they did before the making of the said statute . and when our laws which have their life and being from the king and his royall progenitors , have by the statutes of 3 and 4 ed. 6. cap. 22. and 2 and 3 philip and mary , cap. 5. provided , that the prices of butter and cheese be not enhaunced , nor any transported without licence . that the prices of ale and beer shall b●●he statute of 23 h. 8. be assessed at reasonable rates , and the barrels and kilderkins gauged . that spices and grocery ware shall by the statute of 1 jac. cap. 19. be garbled , and not mingled . that woods by the statute of 35 h , cap. 17. & 13 eliz. cap. 5. shall not be converted into tillage or pasture : and by the statutes of 7 ed. 6. cap. 7. & 47. cap. 14. that an assize shall be kept as to the measures only of coal , tallwood , bille●s , and faggots . and some of our princes have given by their charters many & great liberties & immunities to the companies of brewers and woodmongers . and king james did in or about the 11 th year of h●s r●ign upon his granting of some priviledges to the town and colleries of n●wcastle upon tyne , cause the host-men , or oast-men of newcastle to covenant to and with the king ( which they have seldome or never at all observed ) yearly to serve the city of london , and places adjacent with sea-coals winter and sommer , at less then 20 shi●lings a chaldron , and it was by the statute of 32 h. 8 cap. 8. ordained , that none do sell phesants or partriches unto any but unto the officers of the king ▪ queen , or princes houses , upon the forfeiture of 6 s. 8 d. for every phesant , and 4 s. 4 d. for every partrich ; and did by their charters , or allowances of prescription grant free-warren , and divers other franchises unto divers lords of manors ; yet matters must be so ordered , as the king , though he buy with ready mony , must be sure to pay dearer for his butter , cheese , coals , beer , ale , billet , tallwood , faggots , grocery-ware , rabbets , phesants and partriches , then any of his subjects . took away by the statute of 5 eliz. the severity of the statute of 25 ed. 3. enjoyning small wages to labourers and artificers , and ordained , that the justices in every county should by their discretion , according to the dearth or plenty of victuals , yearly at the sessions held at easte● , assesse how much every mason , carpenter , tyler , & other crafts men , workmen , and labourers , should have by the day or year , and limit proportions of wages , according to plenty or scarcity : and by an act of parliament made in the first year of the reign of king james , did amongst other things give a further power to the justices of every county to limit and regulate the wages and hire of labourers and artificers , according to plenty and scarcity , that act of parliament being since expired for want of continuance , yet the king in all his occasions and affairs for workmen and artificers shall be sure to pay them rates and wages at the highest . did by the statute of 23 ed. 3. cap. 6. provide , that butchers , fishmongers , brewers , bakers , poulterers , and other sellers of victuals , should sell them at reasonable prices , and be content with moderate gains . and by the statute of 13 r. 2. ca. 8. that all majors , bayliffs , stewards of franchises , and all others that have the order and survey of victualls in cities , boroughs , and market towns , where victuals shall be sold in the realm , should enquire of the same . and if any sell any victuals in other manner , he should pay the treble of the value which he so received to the party damnified , or in default thereof to any other that will pursue for the same . by the statute of 25 hen. 8. cap. 2. when but a year before beef and pork was by act of parliament ordained to be sold at an half penny the pound , and mutton and veal at an half penny farthing the pound , and less in counties and places that may sell it cheaper , and complaint was made in parliament that the prices of victuals were many times enhaunced and raised by the greedy avarice of the owners of such victuals , or by occasion of ingrossing and regrating the same more then upon any reasonable or just ground or cause , ordained that the prices of butter , cheese , capons , hens , chickens , and other victual● necessary for mans sustenance , should from time to time , as the case should require● , be set and taxed at reasonable prices how they should be sold in gross , or by retail , by the lord chancellor of england , lord treasurer , lord president of the kings most honourable privy councel , lord privy seal , lord steward , the chamberlain , and all other the lords of the kings councel , treasurer and comptroller of the kings most honourable house , chancellour of the dutchy of lancaster , the kings justices of either bench , the chancellor , chamberlains , under treasurer , and barons of the exchequer , or any seaven of them , whereof the lord chancellor , lord treasurer , lord president of the kings councel , or the lord privy seal to be one , and commanded the justices of peace , and lords of leets to take a care that the prices and rates of victuals be reasonable : yet the king must not have so much favour and kindness as the tinientes or magistrates in the canar●es , or other parts of the spanish dominions , who by reason of their power and authority in the correction and rating of the prices of victuals , can have their provisions freely , and of gift presented unto them , or at small and reasonable rates and prices : or as the lords of leets , the justices of assise , justices of peace , mayors , magistrates of cities and corporations might have theirs , if they would but put in execution the laws which are entrusted to their care and charges . nor can have any thing at reasonable rates , but is enforced to pay dearer for the provisions of his house then any of his subjects ; when as they that could receive his majesties very large and unexampled act of oblivion , can only afford him in their market rates , an act of oblivion for his protection and care of them , and for his many favours and helps in all their occasions and necessities , and for forgiving them many millions of monies sterling , or the value thereof ; and as unto too many of them are willing that our king and head should in the rates of his victuals and houshold provisions bear the burden of their follies and irregularities . of which the plenty or scarcity of money cannot be any principal or efficient cause , as may be verified by an instance or example lately happened in spain , where the calling down of money to the half value , to aswage the afflictions of a famine , was so farre ▪ from the hoped for effect of abating the prices of victuals , and houshold provisions , as they are now well assured , that the covetousness of the sellers and tricks of trade have added more to the heightning of those rates and prices then any want or abundance of mony . and it would therefore well become that part of the people of england , who by their intemperance and carelesness , as i● they were that nation which dwelt without care , against whom the prophet jeremy denounced gods heavy wrath and judgements , have brought and reduced themselves and their estates into a languishing and perishing condition , and turned their backs upon the honor of hospitality , to take into their more then ordinary consideration , that sir anthony brown , a privy councellor ●●to king henry eighth ▪ did not deviate either from truth or prudence ▪ when he said that others apprehension of the kings greatness ▪ did contribute as much to our welfare , as our welfare it self ▪ or sir john russel , a v●ry valiant as well as wise statesman , comptroler of the houshold of king henry the eighth , and afterwards earl of bedford , when he declared that the courts of princes , being those epitomes through which ●trangers look into kingdomes , should be royally set out with utensils , and with attendance , who might possess all comers with reverence there , and fear elsewhere . or that the learned and reverend sir james dier , lord chief justice of the court of common-pleas in the 25 th year of the reign of queen elizabeth committed an error , when in the sage and discreet rules left behind him in a manuscript for the preservation of the common-wealth , he advised that the prince should often appear unto his people in majesty , and that the courtiers should keep good houses . and if they will do no more , to do but as much as the beasts and birds being irrational creatures , do by their bodies natural , make it their greatest care to protect and preserve the head of our body politique , and the honor and dignity of it , and keep it above water . and now that by his gracious government , and return to us like the sun to dispel the cold and uncomfortableness which the winter of his absence had almost for ever fastned upon us . — cum fixa manet reverentia patrum . firmatur se●ium juris priscamquè resumunt canitiem leges . — when our parliaments , and our just and ancient laws are again restored . — claustrisque solutis . tristibus exsangu●s andent procedere leges . and released from their former affrights and terrors . not endeavour to abridge or endanger the hopes of our future happiness , by being to sparing unto him that was not so unto us . — jam captae vindex patriae ut sese pariter diffudit in omnia regni membra vigor vivusquè redit color urbibus aegris . and redeemed our happiness from its captivity . but rather imitate the clergie of the bishopricks of gloucester , chester , oxford , peterborough , and bristol , who in the fourth year of the reign of queen elizabeth , finding those bishopricks to be much impoverished by the earl of leicester , and some other , who in their vacancies had gotten away a great part of the revenues thereof , did by their benevolences for some years after enable the bishops thereof in some tolerable degree to maintain their hospitalities . and our long ago departed ancestors , who took it ill in the reign of king john , ( with whom they had so much and more then they should contended for their liberties ) that hubert arch-bishop of canterbury should keep a better house and feast at easter then the king. and that cardinal woolsey in the reign of king henry the eight should keep as great a state at court as the king , exercise as great an authority in the country for pourveyance as the king , and forbid pourveyance to be made in his own jurisdictions , which made an addition to the articles of high treason , or great misdemeanors charged upon him by the commons in parliament brought up to the house of peers by sir anthony fitz-herbert , afterward a learned judge of the court of common pleas . so that our king may not for want of his antient rights of pourveyance , or an allowance or compositions for them , the later of which as a means to make so unquestionable a right and priviledge of the crown of england to be alwayes gratefull and welcome to them , was fi●st designed , set on foot & contrived by sir david brook serjeant at law unto king henry the eighth , and lord chief baron of the exchequer in the reign of queen mary , and happily effected or brought to perfection in or about the 4 th year of the reign of queen elizabeth , be necessitated to retrench or lay down his royal housekeeping and hospitalities , or deprived of his means of charity and magnificence , which jacob almansor the learned arabian king , who lived in anno 654. and conquered spain , was in his swarthy dominions so carefull to preserve , as after that he had given audience unto suitors , which were some dayes in every week , he usually caused a publique cry to be made , that all of them , as well rich as poor , should stay and take their refections ; and to that end furnished tables for them with such abundance of provisions , as became the house of so mighty a king. and that if any forreign king or prince should as cecily sister to the king of sweden , and wife to the marquess of baden , did by a far & a long voyage come from the north into england to visit our queen elizabeth , and see the splendour of her court ( which as to her charity , splendour , and hospitality , though so over-sparing in other things , and so unwilling to draw monyes out of her subjects purses , as she lost the fair hopes and opportunity of regaining calais , which was so much desired by her ) was very plentifully and magnificent , and with the allowance of many more tables then have been in the times of her successors ) they may return into their country , as that princess did with a wonder at it , and not be constrained to say as was once said of the glory of the temple of jerusalem , who is left amongst you that saw this house in her first glory , and how do you see it now ; and that returning into the former good wayes , manners , and custome of england , we may not be damnati fat● populi , but , virtute renati . and that to that end we shall do well to leave ou● new and untrodded by-wayes of error , made by the raiser of taxes , and the filchers of the peoples liberties in the glory of anothers kingdome , now we have so wofully seen , felt , heard , and understood so very many mischiefs and inconveniences already happened , and if not speedily prevented , are like to be a great deal more , and hearken unto the voyce and dictates of the laws of god and nature , the laws of the land and nations , reason and gratitude , and let our posterity know that the honor of our king and country is dear unto us , and that whatever becomes of our own hospitalities , we shall never be willing to let the vesta● fire of the british and english hospitalities , although most of our own are either extinguished or sunk into the embers , go out , or be extinct in our king palaces , or to abjure or turn out of its course so great part of the genius of the nation , but that we shall continue the duties of praeemption and pourveyance , which are as old as the first generations of mankind , and as antient as the duty of reverence of children to their parents . dent fata recessum . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a54689-e170 accompts inter evidentia comitis oxon. stows survey of london . sieur colberts remonstrance of the benefit of the trade to be driven by the french in the east-indies . lessius de just. & jur. lib. 2. cap. 21. n. 148. cokes 4. part . institutes 12 ed. 4. c. 8. 25 h. 8. cap. 2. epist. rom. 6. speed hist. of england . heylin . hist. ecclesiae anglicanae domes reformatae . waler . max. lib. 8. cap. 5. & cicero in oratione pro muroena . notes for div a54689-e2460 gervasius tilburiensis . assisa panis & cervisiae , and a statute for punishing the breach thereof by pillory and tumbrell anno 51 h. 3. rot. fin. 11 e. 2. cokes 1. part . institutes 70 rot. parl . 25 ● ▪ 3. m. 56. inter recorda in recept . scaccarii inter fines de tempore h. 3. speed hist. of great britain . m. s. in custodia gulielmi dugdale . spelman annotat. ad concilia decreta & leges ecclesiastica 349. asser menevensis de gestis alfredi 19. & 23. henry huntingdon and william malmesbury de gestis regum angliae . speed history of england . stows survey of london . stows survey of london , & chronic . robert fabian — heylin history of the reformation of the church of england . scrinia ceciliana 198. & 199. spelman glossar . in voce forefang , & ll. inae ca. altero ante penult . somners glossar . ad brompton & alios veteres angliae historicos . genesis c. 41. sir francis moores reports 764. camden 2. part annalls of queen elizabeth . vide act of parliament or declaration touching the settlement of ireland . craig de feudis apud scotos dieg . 14. parliament james 1. c. 8. spelman glossar . in voce borrow mealis . 2 parliament king james the 4 th . choppinus de domainio regum franciae lib. 1.15 . tacitus de moribus germanorum . radenicus de gestis frederici lib. 2. ca. 5. besoldus de aerario principis & bullinger de vectigalibus . zecchius de principat . administrat . varenius de regno japan . genesis c. 14. grotius anonotat ad genesin . 1 sam. 17. 1 sam. 25. 1 sam. 25. 2 sam. 8. 1 chron. 21. 2 reg ▪ ca. 4. isaiah 16. v. 1. & grotius annot ad locum . nehemiah 4.17 . mr. stephens treatise of synodals & procurations somner glossar in appendice ad brompton & ali●s veteres historicos angliae ▪ skaeneus tit . de herezeldis in quon . attach . c. 15. alciat . lib. 1. parerg. c. 45. & spelman glossar . in voce heriotum & neostadius de feudis hollandicis . cowell interpret . verborum . mich. 4. e. 1. coram rege . somners treatise of gavelkind . cart. 17 h. 3. m. 6. in 2. parte dugdales monastic . anglic . rot. pat . 27 & 30 h. 6. ex antiquo codice m.s. de customes de london in bibliotheca cl. viri galfridi palmer milit. & baronetti attorn . generalis regis caroli secundi . coke comment . in artic . super chartas 542 543. act of parliament for subsidies in 3 & 4 car. primi . charles loyseau traictè des seigneuries . stows survey of london . 9 h. 3. sir john davies treatise of impositions . ad cur. tent . ibid. anno 5 & 8 e. 3. glos. in verb. usque ad hoc tempus c. servitium 18. q. 2. sir john heywards history of king edward the 6 th heylins history of the reformation of the church of england . stows survey of london . sir francis bacons letter to the duke of buckingham . baldus in proaemio seudorum & in consil. 274. lib. 3. cynus in l. si viva matre de bonis matern . bodin de repub . lib. 1. besoldus dissert . politic . juridic . de juribus majestatis , ca. 9. genesis c. 43. 1 reg. ca. 10. v. 15. & 25. grotius annotat . ad vet . testamentum . aelianus hist. variar . lib. 1. brissonius de regno persiae lib. 1. gervasius tilburiensis . 20 h. 3. lois d' orleans ouuertures de parlement ca. 8 exodus 22. v. 29. deut. 24. v. 19 , 20 , 21. stows survey of london . heylin ecclesia restaurata , or history of the reformation of the church of england . fol. 114. levit. ca. 1. v. 2 , 3. & levit. 2 , 3. & 25 exod. 21 , 22 , 23 , 29 deut. 15. & 16. 1 sam. 15. 2 sam. 10. plutarch apothegm . speed hist. of britain , & leiger book of st. albans . zonaras in 2 part . annal. suetonius in vita august . cassiodorus , lib. 6. epist. 7. & rosinus de antiquitat . rom. 54. selden ad marmora arundeliana mat. paris 549. walsingham hist. angl. 85. rot. parl. 40 e. 3. m. 78 , 9. rot. parl. 42 e. 3. m. 7. rot. parl. 17 r. 2. 16 r. 2. coke 1. part . 5. reports . 26 m. s. francisci junii fil . francisci junii in diatrib . de vocibus lord & lady . 20 h. 6. vide oath of the treasurer and comptroller of the kings house . cantic . 2. deut. 23. v. 4. judges 8. v. 35. 1 reg. 10. & 2 chron. ca. 9. bodin de repub . 6. tacitus de moribus germanorum , ca. 13 , & 14. hieron . epist. in ll. canuti 102. & dugdales warwickshire illustrated , 679. & 680. dugdales warwickshire illustrated , 317. dant . 4. ex veteri libro m. s. prioris de spalding in comitat. lincoln ▪ in bibliotheca antonii oldfeild baronetti . spelman glossar . 405. in voce marletum . dugdales warwickshire illustrated . pat. 27. & 30. h. 6. amos 1. v. 6. isaiah 58. v. 6 , 7. marsellaer de legatis . nehemiah 5.17 . hebrews 13. v. 1. & 2. selden hist. of tithes , 319 , 320. spelman glossar . in voce procuratio . selden hist. of tithes , 320. dugdales warwickshire illustr●ted 373. & ex ipso autograph . spelman glossar in voce mails . lambard itinerar . 212 spelman glossar . in voce scot. idem glossar in vocibus ward-peny & brigbote . spelman glossar . in voce romescot . voce● rode-knight spelman glossar . in vo● scavage . vzzonius de mandatis principum , cap. 7. §. 1. jeremy 49. v. 31. david lloid in vita antonii brown militis . idem in vita johannis russel militis idem in vita jacobi dier militis . claudian a● quarto consulat . honor ▪ claudian de bello getico● heylin hist. ecclesiae anglicanae reformatae . speed hist. of england . david lloid in vita davidis brook , militis . in the life of almansor , translated out of the arabick by robert ashley . j. c. heylin hist. ecclesiae anglicanae reformatae ▪ haggai● ▪ dan. 11. v. 20. the character of a papist in masquerade, supported by authority and experience in answer to the character of a popish successor / by roger l'estrange. l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. 1681 approx. 222 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 44 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a47819 wing l1215 estc r21234 12681776 ocm 12681776 65670 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47819) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 65670) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 360:14) the character of a papist in masquerade, supported by authority and experience in answer to the character of a popish successor / by roger l'estrange. l'estrange, roger, sir, 1616-1704. [2], 85 p. printed for h. brome ..., london : 1681. reproduction of original in harvard university libraries. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng settle, elkanah, 1648-1724. -character of a popish successour. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 rachel losh sampled and proofread 2005-01 rachel losh text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the character of a papist in masquerade ; supported by authority and experience . in answer to the character of a popish successor . by roger l'estrange . london , printed for h. brome at the signe of the gun in s. pauls church-yard . 1681. the character of a papist in masquerade . the character of a popish successor were an excellent piece in the kinde , if it had not too much sublimate in it ; for i have heard of some people , that , with only holding their noses over it , but one quarter of an hour , have run stark mad upon 't : and when this fume has once taken the brain , there 's nothing in the world , but the powder of experience , ( the remembrance of things past ) to set a man right again . the truth of it is , the authour has made the figure of his successour too frightful , and enormous ; sawcer-ey'd and cloven ●ooted ; and when he has painted the monster as black on the one side , as ink and words can make him ; he finishes his master-piece with a paradox , on the other ; ( fol. 4. ) by the supposal of a most excellent person , and yet making him the greater devil for his virtues . his fortitude ( he says ) makes him only the more daring in the cause of rome ; his justice makes it a point of conscience to deliver us up to the pope ; his temperance , in the government of his passions , makes him the more close and steady ; and his prudence crowns the work , by the assistance it gives him in the menage of his policies and conduct : and so he goes on . wbat booss it ( says he ) in a popish heir , to say , he 's the truest friend , the greatest of hero , s , the best of masters , the justest judge , or the honestest of men ? all meer treacherous quicksands for a people to repose the least glimpse of safety in , or build the least hopes upon . this is fairly push'd , i must confess , but 't is only a cast of his rhetorique : for every body knows , that all christian princes thus qualify'd , and under articles of treaty and agreement , keep touch , even with infidels ; nay , and infidels with christians . before i go any further , let me recommend to the reader , one remarque , as a thing worthy of his attention : he cuts all the way upon the successor , as presupposing him to be a papist , and consequently ` dangerous , and insufferable , by reason of that perswasion . and very magisterialy he gives us his own bare word for the dangers of that perswasion . why does he not rather tell us in express and particular terms , these and these are the principles of the church of rome ? and then make his inference , from those principles to the dangers that attend them ; and so leave the unbyass'd part of the world to judge of the congruity and proportion betwixt such causes and such effects ? for his dilating himself thus at random upon his character , and striking so point-blank at the rescinding of the succession , makes men apt to imagine , that his pique may be rather to the person , then the religion . it will behove me , in this place , to inform the reader , that i do not charge him for not producing the dangerous principles of the papists ; as if i thought there were no instances of that quality to be given : ( for i am better acquainted with their ecclesiastical politiques , then so . ) but the true intent of my quaere upon that objection , was to shew the authours prudence in reserving himself upon those particulars : for if he had said , behold ! th●se are the positions of the church of rome , and they are not to be endur'd in any government ; i should have ask'd him presently , how comes it then that you your self , under the colour of rooting out popery one way , are planting it another ; and erecting the very same pestilent positions that you condemn ▪ insomuch , that while you would be thought zealous to abolish the name of popery , you are no lesse zealous ▪ to establish the doctrine of it ; whereof , at leisure . the suddain bolting out of this phantôme from behinde the hanging , may so far serve a present turn , as to startle , and surprise the undiscerning vulgar : yet , when , upon second ▪ and recollected thoughts , this mormo shall come to be examin'd , and taken to pieces ; the very multitude themselves , that were affrighted at the apparition , will be asham'd of the imposture . the thing that i would say , is this ; that the truth is somewhat too much hyperboliz'd , in a declamatory torrent of words , and exuberance of phansy , without any one concluding and convincing period . if apollo had been of counsell with the authour , he would have advis'd him to the moderating of his character , as he does olaus magnus , in boccalini , to moderate the greatness of his northern eagles , that prey'd upon elephants ; as being a very extraordinary thing for a bird to trusse an elephant , and fly away with him . ( which is , perhaps , the more venial excess of the two . ) it is one of the greatest indignities that can be put upon the simplicity of a just truth , the dawbing of it with embrodery and flourish , and the over-doing of it . if little epictetus had been at his elbow , he would have minded him , that some things are in our our own power , and others are not so ; and that the subject matter of his discourse being wholly out of his cognizance , he might have done well to have left the business of the succession to the ordering of gods providence . this is a subject ( i know ) that whoever touches upon it , treads upon burning coals ; and there must be great caution , as well as innocence , to carry a man through this ordeal : for who shall dare to dispute the danger of a popish successor ? but so far am i from undertaking that province , that i 'le compound the matter with him beforehand ; and take all his suppositions of difficulties and hazzards in the case , for granted . but then i must distinguish betwixt the unhappy circumstance of being under the allegeance of a prince of that perswasion , who is actually in the possession and exercise of his power , and the remote possibility only of that danger ; and a possibility too of such a condition , as a thousand things may intervene , to prevent it : as the contingences of issue , survivorship , &c. and at the worst , this dismal apprehension amounts , at last , but to the contemplation of a prince of that communion , in a parenthesis , betwixt a predecessor , and a successor , of the reformed religion . not but that i am as much against the principles , and practises of the church of rome , wherein the church of england hath dep●rted from that communion , as any man living , that keeps himself within the compass of christian charity , humanity , and good manners . and so far , i shall heartily joyn with the compiler of the character , by a previous concession of the inconveniences ( as i have said already ) that may arrive , by reason of that religion . but then i must take this consideration along with me . that first ; there are many dreadfull dangers , which we cannot avoid , but by incurring greater . as the leaping of a garret-window , when the fire has taken the stair-case ; which is only a prudent election ( under a calamitous necessity ) of the less evil of the two. now the same action , which would have been a madness without that necessity , becomes an act of prudence , with it ; the great danger of the leap being warranted by the greater danger of the fire : and there must likewise precede a deliberation upon the difficulties both ways , to justifie the resolution : for otherwise at the best , a man does well but by chance . now it would have been fair play , in the character-writer , if he had candidly ballanc'd the matter , and told us , this is the danger one way , and that another . secondly , it happens , many times , that we have no other choice before us , but either to suffer the highest degree of misery , that can befall us in this world ; or else , to prostitute our souls , for the saving of our skins , and fortunes . now under such an exigent as this , let the prospect of things be never so terrible , we are to oppose , the duties of christians , of subjects , and of honest men , to all hazzards whatsoever ; and patiently to endure whatever we cannot , with conscience , and honour , either resist , or decline : according to the practise of the primitive martyrs , who witnessed their profession with their bloud , as christians ; and submitted , as loyal subjects , without resistance . so that we are not to govern our selves by a naked speculation of the perils that we are to encounter , and the means of avoiding them ; without enquiring into the consistency of those means with the measures of conscience and duty . but there is one main point yet behind ; which is in effect the very hinge of the controversie . and this is it . if there shall be any thing sound in this character of a popish successour , that shall either operate upon the legal constitution of the english monarchy , or reflect personally upon the honour , or justice of his majesty now in being ; the pretext of the succession will be look't upon only as a stalking-horse to countenance an approach to some further design : in which case , the question will not be any longer the religion of a successour , but the very right it self of kingly-power . and here i must expound my self once again ; that i speak only to the anonymus character of a popish successour , without the least reference to any publique , and authoritative debates , or counsels . and so i shall proceed , ( in the first place ) to the character of a papist in masquerade . the church of england , and the members of it , are beset with two sorts of papists ; the one , bare-fac'd , the other dress'd up in several shapes of disguise : and we pass for heretiques , on the one hand ; and papists in masquerade , on the other . by this opposite conjunction of two interests , ( which , ( however divided in name , and pretense ) are yet united against us in a common principle of contradiction and aversion : ) the church of england is both weaken'd , and defam'd ; the glory of the reformation blasted ; and the great support of the truly apostolical cause , vndermined . betwixt these two enemies , our persecuted church is crush'd almost to pieces ; and well-nigh brought to the agony of her last convulsions . and this calamity is not wrought so much by the bare-fac'd papists , that march publiquely under the popes banner , owning their cause , and making their attacks in view ; not so much by th●se , ( i say ) as by the papists in masquerade , that work under-ground , like moles ; and , fall in upon our quarters , under the semblance of friends , with our own word and colours . it has been a great part of the businesse of the presse , to set forth the bare-fac'd papist to the life , and to affect us with a just indignation for the principles of the jesuites : so that i shall not cloy the reader with redun●ances ; especially since the composer of the character has been pleas'd to harangue so copiously upon that subject : but rather apply my self to the counter-part of these jesuits ; and to obviate the practises of our false friends , as well as of our profess'd enemies . the kings witnesses have abundantly manifested to the world , the restless endeavours of rome , and its emissaryes , for the subversion of our religion , and government ; and how far they contributed to the rebellion of forty one ; and to the carrying of it forward thorough all the succeeding changes , and revolutions , even to the bringing of his sacred majesty to the scaffold . they have further also deposed to the contrivances of the same party , for the prosecuting of the same design upon the person of his sacred majesty that now is ; and upon our government and religion , as by law establish'd : and laid open to the world , both the method of their proceedings , by masquing themselves under the appearance of presbyterians , independents , quakers , millenaryes , and the like ; as also the very names of several of their missionaryes , that have been expresly employ'd upon the disposing of the people to tumult and sedition . this is so certain a truth , that it will not bear a dispute ; beside that it stands with reason too ; for they do all cover themselves under an alias ; and a presbyterian , an independent , &c. alias a papist , sounds every jot as well , as captain williams , alias captain bedloe . i am not willing to charge my paper , in a case so clear , and confess'd , with unnecessary instances : wherefore i shall content my self with only two out of many . ( the former out of ravillac redivivus ( pag. 41. ) if father brown the jesuit , ( says the author ) that preach'd so many years among the field-conven●iclers in scotland , had penn'd mitchel's justification of himself , upon his execution , for an attempt upon the person of the arch-bishop of st. andrews , it could not have savour'd stronger of the society of jesus , or become such an authour better then it doth . this same brown ●oasted upon his death-bed , at ingeston briggs , that he had preached as downright popery in the field conventicles , as ever he had preach'd in rome it self . the other instance is , of one faithfull commin , a dominican frier in the 9th . of q●een elizabeth ; who was a person generally reputed a zealous protestant , and much admir'd and follow'd by the people , for his seeming piety ; but more particularly , for inveighing in his pulpit against pius quintus then pope . he was accused upon oath ; before the queen and councill for an impostor , and a sower of sedition ; and arch bishop parker took his examination , ( foxes and fire-brands , pa. 7. ) commin insisting much upon his bitterness exprest against the pope , for his justification . he got out of england afterwards by a trick ; and , with one farewell sermon , 130 l. for a viaticum . not long after , he was clapt up at rome for reviling the pope , and the catholique church . but he pleaded for himself , that he had done his holiness , and the church considerable service ; for , by preaching against set-forms of prayer , and calling the english prayers , english masse , he put them upon the humour of extemporary prayer ; which took so much with the people , that they were come to hate the church of england as much as the church it self hated the mass. whereupon , the pope gave him a reward of two thousand duccats for his pains . the matter of fact is sufficiently clear'd , and the practise too notorious to be deny'd ; as to the influence that these papists have ( under the notion of dissenting protestants ) upon the unity of the church , and the peace of the state. but the craft ( as they say ) lyes in the catching of them : for the test of oaths will never do the business , as we have found by their swearing to so many contrary , and inconsistent purposes , and interests , throughout the whole course of our late troubles . so that we have no other way left that i can imagine , of knowing a disguised jesuit from one that calls himself a dissenting protestant , but by comparing their principles ; which would infinitely conduce to the credit , and advantage of the conscientious sort of the divided party . and without such a test of discrimination the project of uniting dissenters seems to be utterly impracticable ; unless to the extream hazzard of authorizing the most pernicious sort of popery , and incorporating a jesuitical leaven into our very constitution ; according to the method which mr. coleman himself had projected , as the most probable expedient for the introducing of popery into this kingdom . the removal of this difficulty will open a way to a general accomodation ; to the common security both of our religion , and government . and this is only to be done by applying the maxims of those that we suspect here for jesuits , to the standard of those detestable principles which we so much abominate in the church of rome . and where ever we find any party , of what denomination soever , that pretends either to erect an interest , or to support a claim , upon the same foundation ; it is but matter of common equity , to presume , and to conclude that party to be acted and directed by a jesuitical spirit . these positions i shall confront with a counter-part ; of which further in its proper place . but in my way to 't , i shall now pass to the character it self . the character , &c. it has been my fortune to be a subject and a native of that part of the world , where almost three years last past i have scarce heard any thing , but the continual noyse of poper● and plots ; with all the clamorous fears of a jealous kingdom about my ●ars : and truly , i must plainly confess , i am not so ill a common-wealths-ma● ▪ but that i am glad to see my country-men disturb'd in a cause , where religion , liberty , and property , are at stake . fol. 1. here●s the very bourdon already of that fatal remonstrance of the state of the kingdom , dec. 15. 42. and only a short paraphrase of the preface to it . god blesse us from the omen . the malicious d●signs of the popish party , the hazzard of religion and great prejudice and oppression of the laws of the kingdom , and just liberty of the people . exact collections pag. 2. that which follow'd upon this popular introduction did sufficiently evidence the design . you shall see now how pat this prologue runs another way ; mutatis mutandis . it has been my fortune ( let me say too ) to be a subject , and a native where the noise of popery and plots ; jealousies and fears ; and affrights about religion , liberty and property , as if all lay at stake ; brought a pious and a protestant prince to the block ; prostituted the honour , dignity , and revenue of the government , ecclesiastical and civil , to a band of seditious and sacrilegious usurpers . our temples were demolish'd ; our al●ars profan'd ; the priestly office invaded by mechaniques ; swarms of heresies , , and a scandalous schism , in exchange for purity and unity of religion . of a free-born people we became worse then turkish slaves ; our common-wealths-men were glad also to see us disturb'd ; and who but our pretended advocates , and patriots , to be our tyrants , and tormentors ? char. but if their jealousyes are just and their fears prophetique , in gods name let them talk . every man ought to be so far from silencing any reasonable murmurs , that 't is rather his duty to bear a part in a choire so vniversal . and if we s●e the great and wise-men of our nation , like true english patriots , struggling , and toyling to prevent our threatning calamities , let us take delight to behold them restless , and vneasie ; rolling about our troubled sea like porpoises against a tempest , to forewarn us of an approaching destruction . ibid. let them talk on ; ( says he ) just to the tune of forty two again . god forbid ( says mr. pym ) that we should dishearten our friends , who come to assist us . and this was , when ven and manwaring forc'd the passing of the bill of attainder in the lords house , by tumults , against the earl of strafford ; and his sacred majesty little better then besieg'd in his own palace , by the rabble . what a blessed harmony was there then among the porters , car-men , and well affected brethren in the lobbyes , crying out with one voice , no bishops ; no rotten peers ; no common-prayer ; while the great and wise men , in their generation were struggling , and toyling , to pack parties , contrive invectives against authority ; perplexing the multitude with scruples , enflaming of passions , and rolling about like state porpoises , not as a forewarning , but the foreboding of a tempest . char. but amids our evident danger , we see another sort of people dayly flattering and deluding us into a false and fatal security . and sure none are so little our friends , or indeed so void even of humanity it self , as those who would lull us asleep when ruine is in view . ibid. there are some indeed , that after open rebellions in scotland , horrid assassinates , anathema's denounc'd against his majesty , declarations point blank against his person and government ; with an indissoluble confederacy of brotherly union in our own bowels too , by virtue of that magical seal of reprobation , the diabolical covenant ; there are some i sa● , that after all these acts and demonstrations of violence , and conspiracy , will yet bear the world down that the believing of our eyes is the shamming of the plot ; and that there 's no fear at all of a storm from that quarter . as if a jesuitical practice or principle , were consecrated in the heart , or shape of a presbyterian . but ( says he ) since zeal and hypocrisie , naked truth , and artificial falshood , have oftentimes alike faces ; i cannot but think it the duty both of a christian , and an english-man , to unravel the treachery of those arguments which they raise to destroy us . but since zeal , and hypocrisie , &c. are so alike , that we have seen sacriledge , and heresy pass upon the people for reformation ; rebellion for loyalty ; perjury , blasphemy , and murth●r , for religion ; regicide for the way to make a glorious king , bondage for freedom , rapine for ●ropriety ; the king 's , the churches , and the peoples enemies , for their friends : what can a man do better then to unmask this white devil , and expose the cloven-foot of this angel of light to the view of the nation ? char. as first , ( says my authour ) why should we stand in fear of popery , when in the present temper of england 't is impossible for any successour whatever to introduce it . and first , ( say i too ) what fear of phanaticism , and a common-wealth , under the present settlement of episcopacy and kingly government ? char. and next , amids our groundless fears , ( says the anthor of the character , by way of supposal ) let us consider what that prince is that appears so dreadful a gorgon to england . a prince that upon all accounts has so signally ventur'd his life for his king and country ; a heroe of that faithfull , and matchless courage , and loyalty : a prince of that vnshaken honour and resolution , that his word has ever been known to be his oracle , and his friendship a bu●wark whereever he vouchsafes ●o place it ; with such an infinite mass of all the bravery and gallantry that can adorn a prince . why must the change of his religion destroy his humanity ; or the advance to a crown , render his word or honour lesse sacred ; or make him a tyrant to that very people whom he hath so often , and so chearfully defended ? why may there not be a popish king with all these accomplishments , that whatever his own private devotions shall be , yet shall publiquely maintain the protestant worship , with all the present constitution of government , vnalter'd ? and next , ( say i ) let us consider those covenanting , and republican spirits that appear so dreadfull to us ; a party that so signally ventur'd their lives ●or the king● authority in the two houses against his person in the field ; nay of that matchlesse courage and loyalty , that they hazzarded their souls , as well as their bodyes , to make him a glorious prince , by sending him to heaven before his time : a party of that unshaken honour , and resolution , that their words were oracles , their protestations , oaths , and covenants ever bearing a double and an equivocal meaning ; their friendship a bulwark , only the guns were turn'd upon all that ever trusted them : and of so great bravery , that they charged thorough heaven and hell ▪ without fear either of god or devil ; and trampled under foot all laws both divine and humane , for the accomplishing of their ends. 't is true , that of papal , they are become phanatical jesuits , and why should the change of their profession , now , destroy their nature ? or their word and honour be lesse sacred , if they get the power into their hands once again , then we have formerly found it ? they eas'd us of our laws , lives , liberties , and estates ; and why should they become tyrants now , that were so mercyfull to us before ? why may they not be such covenanters and common-wealths-men , as , whatever they be in private , will yet in publique maintain the monarchy , and episcopacy , unalter'd ? especially after that famous instance of their indulgence to his majesty at holdenby , when they kept him a prisoner , without allowing him the benefit so much as of a chaplain or a common-prayer-book . and now he proceeds . char. but alas ! what signifie all the great past actions of a princes life , when popery has at last got the ascendent ? all virtues must truckle to religion ; and how little an impression will all his recorded ●lorys leave behind them , when rome has once stampt him her proselyte ? but since unlikely things may come to passe , let us seriously examine how far the notion of such a popish successour consists with reason . ( fol. 2. ) alas , alas ! what are the good-old-cause-men the better for their crown and church-lands , sequestrations , plunders , decimations , directories , classical & congregational presbyterys , when monarchy and episcopacy have at last got the ascendent ? all virtues must truckle to religion ; as they did , when rebellion , sacriledge , oppression , and murther , were hallow'd and authorized in the pulpit , for the propagation of the gospel . but since unlikely things may come to pass , ●●t us see how far the notion of a phanatical popery consists with the discipline and government by law establish'd . char. ( fol. 2. ) if to maintain , and defend our religion 〈◊〉 any more then a name ; it is in possible for any man to act the true defensive part , without the offensive too : and he that would effectually uphold the protestant worship , peace and interest , is bound to suppress all those potent and dangerous enemies that would destroy them ; for all other defense is but disguise , and counterfeit . the states-men of forty one that defended the protestant religion with sword and cannon ; and our liberties , properties , and persons , at the same rate ; were extreamly well read in this offensive way of defence . and our authour is much in the right , that the way to uphold it , is to suppress those that would destroy it . that is to say , to suppresse those that enter into protestations , oaths , and covenants , against episcopacy , root and branch . all other defence ( as he says ) is but disguise and counterfeit . the remonstrants of forty two declar'd it to be far from their purpose to let loose the golden reins of discipline , and government in the church ; which was only a political cheat ; ( as it is here expounded ) for our churches were turn'd into stables , our clergy hunted like partridges in the mountains , our pulpits stuff'd with blasphemy , and blew aprons ; and in the conclusion , a hundred heresyes let loose among us , for one orthodox religion . char. fol. 2. if then the wisdom of several successive monarchs , with the whole nations vnanimous prudence , and indefatigable care for the protestant preservation , has determin'd that those papist priests who have sworn fealty to the see of rome , and taken orders in foreign seminarys , are the greatest seducers of the kings liege people , and the most notorious . incendiaries , and subverters of the protestant christianity and loyalty ; and for that cause their several laws declare them traytors ; by consequence , these are the potent and dangerous enemies , which in defense of the protestant cause , this popish king is oblig'd to suppress and punish ; and these the very laws he is bound to execute . fol. 2. as the wisdom of successive monarchs has provided for the protestant preservation , by necessary severitys against known priests and jesuits , on the one hand ; so have they likewise on the other hand , against separatists of another denomination , where we find the same principles couch'd under other names . and these are a kind of protestant jesuit . the pope deposes heretical princes ; the fanatique deposes popish ; and as ill manners produce good laws ; the lewd practises on both hands put the state upon provisions that look both ways . the schism here among us brake loose but once since the reformation . and what a deluge of hypocrisy , bloodshed , oppression , athiesm , and prophaneness flow'd in upon it ? but that we may not cavil upon the word protestant ; let the law expound it ; which does expressly provide for the securing of conforming protestants against the danger of dissenters . so that we have potent enemies ( it seems ) on both sides . now if a phanatique interest should get head , it is as improbable on this side , as it is on the other ; that they should agree to suppresse phanaticism , in favour of episcopacy , and put the laws in execution against themselves . or would they not rather 〈◊〉 us over again with plunders , imprisonments , vows , negative oaths , abjurations , as they did before ? char. and though perhaps , till the discovery of the late plot , for several ages , we have not seen that severity inflicted on popish priests , as the laws against them require : and why ? because the flourishing tranquillity of the english church under this king , and his fathers reign , render'd them so inconsiderable an adversary , that the natural tenderness of the protestant people of england not delighting in blood , did not think it worth their while , either to detect , or prosecute them ; and therefore has not made them the common marque of justice . fol. 2. 't is true , that , till the discovery of the late plot , the laws against priests and jesuits have not been put in execution to the utmost rigour . but he is much mistaken certainly in the reasons he gives for that lenity , and moderation . does he call it the tranquillity of the english church , &c. when for eighteen years together the very form , discipline , and members of it suffer'd a more then pagan persecution ? and then , does he make the popish party so inconsiderable , that was able to move such broyls and confusions ; ( which the kings wittnesses declare with one mouth to have been the work of the jesuits . ) and finally , to accomplish their devilish end in the bloud of the best of kings , and the most faithfull of subjects ; the ens●aring of the ●reest and the happyest of people ; and the total subversion of a most glorious church and state ? and we are now again at this instant upon the very steps of the preface to our late troubles , and in a fair way to that blessed condition of tranquillity , whereupon the penner of the character passes so notable a remarque . this was the tenderness ; and the protestant people he speaks of , were the instruments of our desolation . which ; ( as the oracles of our age , do abundantly enform us ) were only jesuits of another colour . it is worth a note , that still as the bare-fac'd papist has attaqu'd us one way , the papist in disguise falls to sapping and undermining of us another ; and both of them equally contributing to our destruction . char. but under the reign of an english papist , when the fraternity of religion shall encourage the pope to make his working emissaryes ten times more numerous ; when , if not the hope of publique patronage , yet at least their considence of private indulgence , connivence , and mercy , emboldens the missive obedience of his jesuitical instruments , whilst the very name of a popish monarch has the influence of the sun in aegypt , and dayly warms our mud into monsters ; till they are become our most threatning and most formidable enemyes . and if ever the protestant religion wanted a defender , t is then . if the word , honour , or coronation oath of a king be more then a name , 't is then , or never , he is oblig'd to uphold the protestant interest , and actually suppresse its most apparent and most notorious enimies . ibid. i do here make this publique profession to the world , that i have as little minde to be under the reign of an english papist , as any mortal ; and i would do all that i could justifie , as a christian , and an honest man , to avoid it . but since so it is , that i can no more chuse my governour then my father , and that i may as well renounce the one , upon the score of religion , as the other ; i am resolved to pay the duty of a subject to what prince soever almighty god , in his over-ruling providence , shall be pleas'd to set over me ; and , at the worst , patiently to suffer , where i cannot conscienciously obey . it is a remarkable chapter , that of the prophet jeremy , where god doth not only stile nebuchadnezzar ( the king of babylon ) his servant , but over and over inculcates obedience to him . hearken not you ( says the text , v. 9. & 10. ) to your prophets , nor to your diviners , nor to your dreamers , nor to your inchanters , nor to your sorcerers , which speak unto you , saying , you shall not serve the king of babylon ; for they prophesie a lye unto you : to remove you from your land , and that i should drive you out , and you should perist . and then , v. 15. i have not sent them , saith the lord , yet they prophesie a lye in my name , &c. now to proceed . i shall not dispute the consequences of his supposition , the one way , if he will but allow the same consequences to lye as fair for my purpose , the other . will not a scottish fraternity of papists endanger england , as well as a romish ? have they not already given proof of their conspiracy by their actions ? ( but i hope god will preserve his majesty from an axe , on the one hand , as well as from a dagger , on the other . ) and have not the kirk-iesuits their emissaries , as well as the society ? see the spirit of popery ( a book written with great judgement , sobriety , and caution ; and addressed to the english dissenters ) fol. 7. there was a project of a jesuitical nature , attempted by some of your principals , about four or five years ago , when some of your ministers , and others , caball'd together a●out reducing the presbyterians ( whether over england only , or over all the three nations , i do not well remember ) into the same sort of policy by which the jesuites are governed over all the world. the nation was to be divided into districts or provinces ; every district was to have its provincial ; and over all the provinces was to be appointed one general , to reside constantly ( as i remember ) in london ; and the first who was to have the honour of that office ( like the founder of the jesuites ) had been a soldier , and a great malefactor , and is also fit to be a general of an army , and presided in that consult . he is a gentleman whom you all know , and makes a great part of a late narrative , wherein the impudent narrator implicitely calls you the most sober and considerable protestants of the land. the provincials , in their several districts , were to take an account of the growth or decay of the party ; to note their friends and enemies ; to receive their contributions , and give an account of all to the general ; who was to supervise for the good of the whole . this account , with which i am confident i do not surprize some of you , was told me upon condition of secresie , by a very honest and peaceable , but rigid presbyterian minister , our countryman , who having got notice of the consult , brake it in the beginning , by telling the projectors how he abhorred it , and threateni●g to discover it , if they did not desist ; [ observe here , that this presbyterian minister , though a rigid one , refused to joyn in so jesuitical a project . ] he told me also , that he believed the project came first from the designed general , who intended by that means to raise his broken fortunes ; which , if he had accomplish'd ▪ he might easily have done . and to do his memory justice , he told me this story with very great in●●ignation ; the substance of which , as i shall answer for it to god at the day of judgment ) i have faithfully related ( to the best of my memory ) upon the faith of a christian man. now to 〈◊〉 his point ; will not the very name of a republican r●formation , which is at present become the theme of every pamphlet , warm our mud into monsters again ; and raise coblers and tinkers to colonels ; draymen , and thimble-makers to be kings judges ? wherefore now or never is his majesty oblig'd , if his word , honour , or coronation-oath be more then a name , ( if i may be pardon'd for speaking my authours words after him ) to uphold the protestant interest , which now lyes a bleeding in this cause of the church ; one branch of the coronation oath being as follows . i will preserve and maintain to you ( the bishops ) and the churches committed to your charge , all canonical priviledges , and due law and justice ; and i will be your protector and defender , to my power , by the assistance of god , as every good king in his kingdom , ●n right ought to protect and defend the bishops and churches under the●r government . then the king ariseth and is led to the communion table , where he makes a solemn oath , in sight of all the people , to observe the premises ; and laying his hand upon the book , saith , the oath . the things which i have before promised , i shall perform and keep : so help me god , and the contents of this book . char. but let us suppose we may have such a roman catholique king , as shall discountenance pope , and popery ; cherish protestantism , and effectually deterr and punish all those that shall endeavour to undermine and supplant it : and then let us examine what this king thus qualify'd must do . fol. 2. here is a supposition fairly propounded , in appearance ; but yet , without expounding himself upon the wor●d protestantism , there 's no coming to an issue upon 't . if he means by protestantism the opions of the outlyers that have leapt the pale , and which are rather phansies , then perswasions ; the law it self animadverts upon those people , as the underminers of our ecclesiastical establishment ; and his discountenancing of separatists will amount to no more then a legal discharge of his office. but if by protestantism he intends a practical conformity to the orders of the church , the law provides as well for the upholding of the one , as the suppressing of the other . and it would be a strange oversight for any prince that should mount the english throne under the disadvantages of that perswasion , to put his perogative upon the stretch of enacting , or abrogating laws , without the consent of his parliament . char. first then , in continuing the ecclesiastique jurisdiction , honours and preferments , in the hands of the protestant clergy ; he must confer his favours and smiles , on those very men , whom ( by the fundamentals of his own vncharitable perswasion , which dooms all that dy out of the bosom of the romish church , to a certain state of damnation ) he cordially believes , do preach and teach , and lead his subjects in the direct way to hell. and next , at the same time he must not only punish and persecute , but perhaps emprison and hang , those very only righteous men , whom from the bottom of his soul he believes can only open them the gates of paradice : whilest in so doing he cannot but accuse himself of coppying the old jewish cruelty . nay in one respect , he outgoes their crime ; for he acts that knowingly , which they committed ignorantly . for by the dictates of religion he must be convinc'd , that in effect he does little lesse then save a barabbas , and crucify a jesus . fol. 3. here is first , presented a dismal prospect of a popish successour , in the life of a protestant prince ; and the present government of that protestant prince troubled and distracted with clamours and jealousies , for fear of a popish one to come . if religion were really the business , they would rather blesse god for the peace and happiness they enjoy ; and wait his further pleasure with thankfullness , and resignation , then with murmuring , and distrust , to anticipate future evills , and prejudge providences to come . or if religion were all ; what 's the meaning of their hammering so much of late upon the subject of arbitrary power , and so many models and projects of a common wealth ; which were the very method of our late usurpers ? as to matter of arbitrary power ; the king has pass'd away so many concessions already for the gratifying of his subjects , that if he had it in his will , his majesty has not left it in his power to be guilty of that which is so ungratefully charg'd upon him . which makes it look liker a mockery , then an accusation . and then for the new-fangled device of a free common wealth , our republican agitators should do well to mind the people of england , of the blessed condition they were in under the pretended keepers of an liberties . the sound of freedom , and liberty brings the multitude like larks to the glasse , but not a word of the net. they say nothing of the standing army that must be kept afoot to support it ; nor of the bloudy taxes that must be rais'd to maintain those troops , and martial law to make good all those violences . why do they not tell them of their charters , franchises , priviledges , and tenures , which are all swallow'd up in that gulph of popular tyranny ? and so are all other advantageous dependences upon the crown . the body of the law must be new garbled , and a civil war , with all the miseries and contingences of it , must be the prologue to the opening of this tragical scene . and if the sedition fails of successe , they bring themselves into the state again of a conquer'd nation . and upon these terms it is at best , that they are to exchange a condition of peace , freedom and plenty , for ●eggery , bondage , and confusion . it was very well sayd of grotius upon the netherlanders delivering themselves from the 〈◊〉 of spain . we fought ( says he ) to save the tenth part of our estates ; and now that we have got the day , we have compounded 〈◊〉 th' other nine . here is a criminal , and a dangerous , but ( i hope ) an impracticable proposal set afoot ; but brought in , god knows , by head and shoulders , under the countenance of religion , and succession . it is possible there may be no more in it then a well-meaning mistake . but there must be an infinite . tenderness of conscience , and a most untainted loyalty to justify the authour . but to return to my character . as to the influence which a popish successour may have upon ecclesiastical matters , ( as in the character ) there needs no more to be sayd in 't then this ; that the king hath been gratiously pleased to offer the passing of any bill for securing the protestant religion ▪ without barring , or diverting the succession . and such expedients have been also fram'd to that effect , as have been by great authority judg'd competent for the obviating of that difficulty . as to the rest , i will not deny but that it is a hard thing for a prince to ●eize and persecute a people of his own religion , purely eo nomine for their being so : and it is very probable too that he will connive at men of that perswasion , in many cases , where the law directs a punishment . and what is there more in this the● what has been done already more or less from the date of the statutes themselves to this very day : and what is done by the government it self toward the non-conformists , at this instant ? where is the great hurt now ( upon this admittance ) in not punishing the papists ; so long as the protestants are not persecuted ? whereas the fanatical papists did not only in defiance both of law , and gospel , engross all offices , benefits and priviledges to themselves , but without mercy or distinction destroy'd the rest of their brethren . char. a very pretty chimaera ! which is as much as to make this popish king the greatest barbarian in the creation ; a barbarian that shall cherish and maintain the dissenters from truth , and punish and condemn the pillars of christianity , and proselites of heaven : which is no other then to speak him the basest of men , and little lesse then a monster . beside , at the same time that we suppose that king , that dares not uphold nor encourage his own religion , we render him the most deplorable of cowards ; a coward so abject , that he dares not be a champion even for his god. and how consistent this is with the glory of a crowned head , and what hope england has of such a successour , i leave all men of sense to judge . fol. 3. behold here 's the upshot of this high-flown paragraph . [ a popish prince that puts the laws in execution for the punishing of papists , and for the protecting and countenancing of protestants , is little less then the basest of monsters . ] how comes it then that the crown of france has not treated the protestant subjects there , as this picture-drawer pronounces , that a popish successour would treat his protestant subjects here ? the protestants have now and then been severely handled i know in france ; as the papists , upon some junctures have been in england ; and now of late worse then usual . all which has been influenc'd well by reasons of state , as by impulse of religion . but shall we pronounce the most christian king the greater monster , for his better usage of us ? if a potent aversion to us in matter of religion had transported the french king 's into so mortal a detestation of us to all other purposes , they would never have committed so many eminent charges both in councells and in arms , to the honour and trust of protestant officers and commanders . but the convenience and utility of the state preponderated against disagreements in religion . the barbarisms of the holy league were the results of a sanguinary faction as well in civil government , as religion . and one egg is not liker another then the league of these dissenting papists to the covenant of our jesuitical and dissenting pseudo-protestants . to come now to the reason and conscience of this elaborate padox . taking his position for granted , that a popish prince is bound by his religion , contrary to oaths and promises , honour and justice , the dictates of nature , the laws of nations , and the bonds of humane society ; contrary to all this ( i say ) and to his interest also ; to break faith with protestants ; and those protestants , his subjects too . he must be unman'd , as well as unchristian'd ; an excomunicate to humane nature , and excluded from all the benefits and offices of mankind . and yet , we are not without many instances , in the french league , and the scottish covenant , of an abandon'd perfidy even to this degree . it must be a strange digestion sure , that can put over all other impieties , and turn the violation of all that is sacred in nature into a meritorious virtue . char. besides what mismatch'd incongruous ingredients must go to make up this composition a king ! his hand and heart must be of no kin to one another : he must be so inhumane to those very darling jesuites , that , like mahomets pidgeon , infus'd and whisper'd all his heavenly dreams into his ears , that he must not only clip their wings , but fairly cage 'em too , even for the charming oracles they breath'd him : and at the same minute he must leave the wide and open ayr to those very ravens that daily croak abhorrence , and confusion to them , and all their holy dreams , and their false oracles . thus , whilest he acts quite contrary to all his inclinations , against the whole bent of his soul , what does he but publikely put in force those laws for the protestant service ; till in fine , for his nations peace he ruines his own , and is a whole scene of war within himself ? whilst his conscience accusing his sloth on one side , the pope on the other , rome's continuall bulls bellowing against him as an undutifull son of holy mother-church , a scandal to her glory , a traytor to her interest ; and a deserter of her cause ; one day accusing the lukewarmnesse of his religion ; another , the pusillanimity of his nature ; all roman-catholick princes deriding the feeblenesse of his spirit , and the tamenesse of his arm ; till , at long run , to spare a fagot in smithfield , he does little lesse then walk on hot irons himself . thus all the pleasure he relishes on a throne is but a kinde of good-fryday-entertainment : instead of royall festival , his rioting in all the luxury of his heart , to see rome's dagon worshipp'd ; rome's altars smoke ; rome's standard set up ; rome's enemies defeated , and his victorious mother-church triumphant ; his abject , and poor-spirited submission denyes himself the only thing he thirsts for : and whilst the principles he suck from rome do in effect , in the prophets . words , bid him rise , slay , and eat ; his fear , his unkingly , nay , unmanly fear makes him fast and starve . fol. 3. this passage is only the same thing over again , in a diversity of words and phrase . but it is well enough to answer the ends it was intended for ; the tickling of the phansy , and the moving of a popular passion , without one syllable of weight to strike the judgement . my reply upon the last paragraph shall serve for this too ; which i have not here recited , as requiring any answer ; but to shew what pains he has taken with the ornaments of his rhetorique , to supply the defect of argument . i cannot liken it to any thing better then the gaudy glittering vapour that children are used to phansy in a cloud . they 'l phansy lions , peacocks , in it , or what other figures they please ; but the first breath of ayre scatters the phantastique images , and resolves the whole into its original nothing . and just so it is with this character . there are many things in it finely enough sayd , to work upon a partial and an easy imagination ; and to mislead a body at first fight into an opinion that there may be something of weight and substance in it ; but upon a second thought it seems to be only a plausible strain of words , which the authour has as well colour'd yet , as the matter will bear . it serves however in english well enough for an incentive and appeal to the multitude : but if it should happen to be turn'd into french or latin , it would become as ill as office to the protestants abroad , as it is here to the government . for what could be of a more pernicious consequence , from an unknown and private pen , then for one of the reform'd communion to tell the french king , that if he suffers one protestant subject to live in his dominions , he is all those vile , impious , and abject things that the authour has here bundled up in the character of his popish successour . but for this popish successour of his , which is a figure that has no being in nature , but in his own brain ; what if i should match it now , in flesh and bloud ? but it must be then among the jesuite● successour of knox , and buchanan ; and the spawn of that king-killing race . there are mismatch'd ingredients in abundance , christ upon his tribunal , ( as they prophanely ascribe to their general assembly ) authorizing bloudshed , schism , and disobedience ; a treaty with the king at breda , and the murther of the brave m●ntrosse , both in a breath . were ever hand and heart lesse akin , then when they subscrib'd loyalty and obedience with the one , and at the same time meditated and resolved treason with the other ? then when they extirpated what they swore they would only reform ; and utterly destroy'd that freedom and property , which they pretended to preserve ? then when instead of advancing purtity of doctrine , and the kingdom of christ , they fill'd the pulpits with jugglers , that imposed upon the people the directions of their standing tables , or the close committee , as the dictates of the holy ghost ; and in place of the prophets words , rise , slay and eat , cry'd out , cursed be they that keep back their sword in this cause . you know the story of gods message unto ahab for letting benhadad go upon composition , stricklands thanksgiving sermon . nov. 5. 1643. de justice to the greatest , says herle before the commons , nov. 5. 1644. sauls sons are not spar'd ; no nor may agag , or benhaded , though themselves kings . zimri and cozbi ( through princes of the people , ) must be persu'd into their tents . this is the way to consecrate your selves to god. and what was the ground of all this fiercenesse ; but a popish king , ( though the glory of the reformation ) for want of a popish successour ? the kings counsels and resolutions are so engaged to the popish party ( they say ) for the suppression and extirpation of the true religion , that all hopes of peace and protection are excluded ; and it is fully intended to give satisfaction to the papists , by alteration of religion ; and to the cavaliers and other soldiers , by exposing the wealth of the good subjects , especially of this city of london , to be sack'd , plunder'd , and spoyl'd by them . and then again , his majesty endeavoured to keep off all jealousies and suspicions , by many fearfull oaths and imprecations , concerning his purpose of maintaining the protestant religion , &c. ib. pa. 665. this is enough to convince the world that the very sound of popery will do the businesse , as well without a ground , as with it : and whoever goes about to allarm the people upon this desperate point , had need give very good security for his allegeance . but if it should prove to be the work of some good-old-gaus●●●n , the very fact it self is not clearer then the designe . but however it is , the authour has endeavour'd to prevent any such conjeeture , by a complement upon the memory of the father , to make the better way to the venting of his spleen against the successor here in question . if there can be a son of that royal martyr charles the first ( says he ) a prince so truly pious , that his very enemies dare not asperse his memory or life , with the least blemish of irreligion ; a prince that seal'd the protestant faith with his bloud ; who in his deplorable fate , and ignominious death , bore so near a resemblance to that of the saviours of the world , that his sufferings can do no lesse then seat him at the right hand of heaven . if ( i say ) there can be a son of that royall protestant of that vncharitable faith , who by the very tenets of his religion dooms ( for deems i suppose ) all that die without the bosome of their church irreparably damned : then consequently he must barbarously tear up his fathers sacred monument , brand his blessed memory with the name of heretique ; and to compleat the horrid anathema , he most impiously execrates the very majesty that gave him being . fol. 11. the authour has wrought up this phansy to a high pitch , as well in respect of the father , as of the son ; and he has shew'd his skill in 't too , for the more he advances the reputation of the one , the more scope he has , upon the opposition , to depresse the esteem of the other . i would charitably believe that he means good faith in the honourable mention he makes of that venerable martyr : but yet there are some passages in this discourse that would make a man half suspect this flourish upon the last king to be intended as a blind , to give him opportunity of getting a fairer marque at this. for he●s here upon a subject where 't is a common thing to have the heart and the hand as far as heaven and earth asunder . witnesse the close of the declaration before-mentioned , pag. 666. we do here protest before the ever-living god , that the chief end of all our councels and resolutions , is to secure the persons , estates , and liberties of all that joyn with us , and to procure and establish the safety of religion , and fruition of our laws and libertyes , in this and all other his majesties dominions , without any intention or desire to hurt or injure his majesty , either in his person , or just power . let any man consider , that at this very time , they were destroying the church ; in arms against the king ; plundring and imprisoning those that would not joyn with them ; and lastly , that they order'd this declaration to be forthwith printed , and read in all churches and chappels in england and wales : calling heaven and earth to witnesse the integrity of their souls , under all these gross , and scandalous contradictions . now to the latter part of his paragraph , first , he lays down a false supposition , and then he raises out of it a most uncharitable consequence . for the very position that there is no salvation out of the church ; is qualifyed yet with an exception , in case of an invincible perswasion ; but if this be so lew'd a principle , in one religion , why is it not so in another ? there is not a fouler character in hell , then he has drawn here of a popish successor . and he founds it upon the irresistible impulses and dictates of the religion . which being admitted , involves every individual member of the church of rome , in the same condemnation . so that he himself damns all the papists , as well as he makes them damn all the protestants . so much for the son of that royal protestant , as he expresses it . but he says nothing all this while of the undutifull subjects of that blessed martyr : those that actually divided his sacred head from his body , and then glory'd in it as an acceptable sacrifice unto the lord. but was this prince so pious , does he say , that his very enemies dare not asperse his memory ? &c. what if i should shew him now ( to convince him of his mistake ) three or four of the fiercest sticklers we have for the phanatical interest , that have pass'd their approbation upon that execrable murther ? char. however ( says he ) if there be such a king in nature , as will not defend his own religion , because he dares not ; but sneaks upon a throne , and in obedience to his fear shrinks from the dictates of his conscience : if like jupiters logg , such a king can be ; and fate has ordain'd us for a popish prince ; pray heaven shroud the imperial lyon in this innocent lamb-skin . ( fol. 3. ) he does well enough to pray for jupiters logg , considering what havock the republican storks have made with us allready . but is it so base a things ( says he ) for a prince to shrink from the dictates of his conscience ? what if his majesty himself should make it a point of conscience not to entertein any project for the uniting , as they call it , of protestant dissenters ; in regard both of the publike peace , and the heretical opinions that must be indulg'd under that denomination ? would not the kings concessions in that point bring him within the equity of this successours character ? char. but i have heard ( says he ) a great many say , it cannot enter into their thoughts that a popish successour will ever take such an inhumane , and so unnatural a course to establish popery , it being so absolutely against the english constitution , that it can never be introduced with lesse then a deluge of bloud . surely his very glory should withhold him from so much cruelty , &c. fol. 5. the glory of a papist ! ( says he , in reply upon himself , ) a pretty aiery notion . how shall we ever expect that glory shall steer the action , of a popish successour , when there is not that thing so abject , that he shall refuse to do , or that shape or hypocrisie so scandalous , he shall not assume , when rome or rome's interest shall command ; nay , when his own petulant stubbornnesse shall but sway him ? as for example ; for one fit he shall come to the protestant church , and be a member of their communion , notwithstanding at the same time his face belies his heart , and in his soul he is a romanist . nay , he shall vary his disguises as often as an algerine his colours , and change his flag to conceal the pyrat . as for instance , another fit , for whole years together , he shall come neither to one church nor th' other , and participate of neither communion , till ignoble he plays the vnprincely , nay the unmanly hypocrite , so long , that he shelters himself under the face of an atheist to shroud a papist ; a visor more fit for a banditto then a prince . and this methinks is so wretched and despicable a disguise , that it looks like being asham'd of his god. fol. 5. if a popish successour will do any thing , though never so abject , he will comply then , and make his religion truckle to his interest : but how comes he to be so abject , and yielding in one line , and so stubborn in the next : if it be true that he will so scandalously play the hypocrite as to change his shape , and act any part for his advantage , which rome , or romes interest shall impose upon him ; what should hinder him from making himself a protestant to the law , though he continue a papist still in his heart ? and where 's the outcry then , against the popish successour ? if he will do this , the exception is remov'd ; for he 's no longer , in construction of law , a papist : and if he will not do it , he has great wrong done him in the character . the policy , or in truth the probability of his running from one communion to another , i must confesse i do not understand . for if he can dispense with shuffling and shifting ; his way would be to shift once for all into the shape of a protestant ; ( for that 's a turn would gain him his point ) and not to wander thus from one church to another , to no manner of purpose . upon the whole matter , the authour methinks might have treated the brother of his sovereign with a little more regard to the terms of decency , and respect , and kept himself to the cause , without betraying so great an animosity to the person . but having to do with a prince of his own creating , he thinks he may deal with him at what rate he pleases . char. besides , if glory could have any ascendant over a popish successor , one would think the word of a king , and the solemn protestations of majesty ought to be sacred and inviolable . but how many presidents have we in popish princes to convince us that their strongest engagements and promises , are lighter then the very breath that vtters them . as for examples sake , how did their saint mary of england promise the norfok and suffolk inhabitants the unmolested continuation of the protestant worship ; calling her god ( that god that saw the falsenesse of her heart ) to witnesse , that though her own perswasion was of the romish faith , yet she would content her self with the private exercise of her own devotion , and preserve the then protestant government , with all her subjects rights and priviledges , un-injur'd . vpon which , those poor , credulous , honest , deluded believers , on the security of such prevalent conjurations , led by the mistaken reverence they paid to a protesting majesty , laid their lives at her feet , and were the very men that in that contest of the succession plac'd her on a throne : but immediatly when her sovereign power was securely establish'd , and his pious holinesse had bid her safely pull the vizor off , no sooner did smithfield glow i' th piles of blazing hereticks ; but chronicles more particularly observe , that no people in her whole kingdom felt so signal marks of her vengeance , as those very men that raised her to the throne . her princely gratitude for their crowning her with a diadem , crown'd them with their martyrdoms . but since we have mentioned her princely gratitude , 't will not be amisse to recollect one instance more of so exemplary a virtue . in the dispute betwixt her 's and the lady jane grey's title to the crown , it was remarkable , that all the judges of england gave their vnanimous opinions for the lady jane's succession , except one of them only , that asserted the right of mary : but it so fell out , that this man proving a protestant ( notwithstanding of all the whole scarlet-robe he had been her only champion ) was so barbarously persecuted by her , that being first degraded , then imprison'd and tortur'd for his religion , the cruelty of his torments was so savage , that with his own hand he made himself a way to escape ' em . and well might the violence of his despair testifie his sufferings were intolerable , when he fled to so sad a refuge as self-murther , for deliverance . fol. 5. & 6. see how he confounds himself here in his way of reasoning : because q. mary was not so good as her word ; therefore no popish prince values himself upon his honour . 't is true , she brake her promise with norfolk , and suffolk ( as he reports it ) that gave her the first lift toward the crown : but it is more then he can justifie to make it a premeditate perfidy ; as he renders it . for it is the opinion of our best writers , that she was rather wrought upon , ex post facto , to that violation ; but a violation it was however ; and there 's no excuse for 't . and it was a mean ingratitude to the generous loyalty of those people , whom ( under favour ) she did not treat worse then others , but she did ill in not using them better . as to what concerns the matter of title , the lady mary , claiming to the crown upon a statute of 35. hen. 8. and edward the sixth , being prevail'd upon afterward in his death-sicknesse , contrary to the intent and direction of that statute , to transfer the succession , by will , to the lady jane grey , in favour of a faction that labour'd the disinheriting of the ladyes mary and elizabeth ; all the judges subscribed to the disinherison of the sisters , save only sr. james hales ; ( justice of the common pleas ) who refused , upon a conscience of the right , without any regard to the person of the lady mary . this same sr. james hales , for giving a charge afterward , derogatory to the supremacy of the pope , was commited to prison ; but received good words and fair usage , some time after . he fell however into a deep melancholly , and in the conclusion drown'd himself . but i see no warrantable authority for the report of his being put to the torture ; only the authour of the character finds it convenient to have it so , for the better grace of his story . but we need not trouble our selves to look so far back for instances of breach of faith ; this last age having made us famous for perjurious practises , beyond all that ever went before it . witness the whole tract of our late troubles . but now comes another objection of his own , with his reply upon it . char. suppose ( says he ) that the conservation of a nations peace , the dictates of a princes glory , and all the bonds of morality , cannot have any influence upon a popish successour ; yet why may there not be that prince , who in veneration of his coronation-oath , shall defend the protestant religion , notwithstanding all his private regret and inclinations to the contrary ? when , rather then incur the infamous brand of perjury , he shall ty himself to the performance of that which not the force of religion it self shall violate . and then , how can there be that infidel of a subject , after so solemn an oath , that shall not believe him ? why , truly , i am afraid there are a great many of those infidells , ( says he ) and some that will give smart reasons for their infidelity : for , if he keeps his oath , we must allow , that the only motive that prompts him to keep it , is some obligation that he believes is in an oath . but considering he is of a religion that can absolve subjects from their allegeance , to an heretical , excommunicated prince , nay depose him , and take his very crown away : why may it not much more release a king from his faith to an excommunicated , heretical people ; by so much as the tyes of vassals to monarchs are greater then those of monarchs to vassals . by the obligation of an oath , i presume he means the religious obligation of it ; because he speaks of that obligation from which the pope pretends a power to absolve him . now if this be his mind ; that obligation is not ( as he says ) the only motive to the keeping of his oath ; but there is a super-additional reason of state , and political contemplations , over and above . take that for granted once , that there 's no trusting to the oath of a roman catholique prince ; and ye cut the very ligaments of society , and commerce . there 's an end of all treatyes , and alliances ; amicable and mutual offices betwixt christian princes , and states : nay , in one word , erect but this maxim ; you turn europe into a shambles , and put christendom , without any more ado , into a state of war. for where there 's no trust , there can be no security : and then we know upon experience , that the outrages of jelousy , for the preventing of imaginary evills , are actually the most dreadfull of real ones themselves . this opinion makes us a scorn and a prey to infidels , and strips us of all that is divine , and reasonable in us , together . i am nor ignorant yet , either of the doctrine , or of the practice of several profligate wretches of the roman communion , in this impious particular . but they are such then as are wholly lost in brutality and blindnesse , and i neither do , nor can believe all papists to be equally susceptible of that unchristian impression . it is a position that may be made use of at a dead lift , to serve a political turn . and the trick will not passe neither , but upon some enthusiastique sick-headed zealot , that takes all his dreams for visions , and the vapours of his distemper for revelations . we have had of these romish dispensations and absolutions in abundance , among our own fanatical jesuites , and not only the doctrie asserted , but the duty also of abjuring our oaths of allegiance and canonical obedience inculcated , and press'd upon the pain of imprisonment , plunder and damnation . yet god forbid that the acts of the conclave of a close committee , and the determinations of an ignatian assembly of divines ( the true counter-part of the holy society ; ) the lord forbid ( i say ) that this cabal of audacious extravagants , that took upon them to discharge us from the obligations of the ten commandements , as well as of the laws of the land , should reflect a scandal upon the whole body of our communion , as if their warrant were a legitimation of perjury and rebellion , and the doctrine of king-killing , and violence , were the dictate of our profession . he touches a little lower upon the french kings breaking in upon flanders , contrary to his oath . [ all the motives ( says he ) that could provoke him to the breach of his oath , were only his ambition , a lust of being great , &c. fol. 6. ] so that he has now found out a popish prince , it seems , that sacrifices his conscience to his glory , though but a little before he made it the character of a popish successour to sacrifice his glory to his religion . now by the way , i look upon majesty as a sacred character , and not to be handled but with veneration : wherefore whether his assumption be true of false , i shall speak to it only as a supposition . he proceeds now to the ballancing of the matter . if ( says he ) a roman catholique can break an oath only for the pleasure of conquering , which he knows is doing ill ; shall not a popish prince in england have ten times more inclination to break an oath for the propagation of his own faith , which his conscience tells him is meritorious ? i answer , that the breaking of an oath , out of a lust of being great , is the crime properly of an ambitious prince , not of a popish : for he does not consult his religion , but only his glory , in the committing of it . and the same thirst of dominion , with the same degree of indifference , as to the businesse of right or wrong , in concurrence with the same advantages of power and opportunity , would have produced the very same essects in a prince of any other judgment . well , but he does an ill thing knowingly ; and so are most of the ill things that are done in the world , without any regard to the difference of protestant or papist . but then his application of this ill thing done to another prince of the same perswasion is only the cutting of one diamond with another ; and nothing at all to our case . but much more will a popish prince in england ( says he ) &c. — does it follow here that because a man would rather forswear himself to bring a good thing to pass , then a bad one , ( though we are to do no evill at all that good may come of it ) that therefore for the compassing of a good end a man will forswear himself ? neither have i ever as yer heard of the merit of propagating any religion , by perjury : or that the consciences of any sort of christians could justifie them in a crime which even infidels themselves by the meer instinct of nature have in extreme abhorrence . and he follows the point yet further . char. he has religion ( says he ) to drive the royal jehu on ; religion that from the beginning of the world , through all ags , has set all nations in a flame ; yet never confessed it self in the wrong . these are strange words to come from the mouth of a pretender to scruples , and a protestant advocate . his quarrel is not now so much to a popish , as to a religious successour . nor is it any longer popery , but religion it self , that he strikes at , as the dangerous and obstinate incendiary . nay and since religion was in the world , it was never otherwise he says . so that here is a very fair expedient hinted , for the good of christendom , to exterminate this spirit of discord ( religion ) from off the face of the earth . if he had said only the pretext of religion , he might have appeal'd , either to the clamour of his brethren , or to his own papers . for it is the pretext that both furnishes the fewel , and blows the coal : while religion lies burning in the furnace . char. beside ( says he ) how can a popish prince , in attempting to establish his own religion , believe he does his subjects an injustice , in that very thing in which he does god justice ; or think he injures them , when he does their souls right ? fol. 6. this pretense of doing god justice , and the souls of men right ; will entitle a prince , with a much more plausible colour , and a better grace , to the breaking in upon the territories and subjects of other princes and states , under countenance of the same design : for in that case , there 's no bar of an oath upon him ; whereas the same violence upon his own subjects renders him guilty of a manifest perjury . but what does he mean by an attempt to establish his own religion ? if it be by way of argument ; 't is well . but if he makes use of any compulsive act of authority , contrary to his oath , he stands accountable to god for breach of faith ; and does no justice to god in it neither , nor right to the souls of his people . for where 's the justice to god , in making use of his name to an imposture ? and in rendring him not only a witness , but in some sort , a party to a cheat ? and where 's the right to his peoples souls , in forcing them to the profession of a religion with their lipps , which they abhor in their hearts ? or , in fine , how can a popish prince so much as pretend , either to the one , or the other , against so clear a light , both of scripture and nature ? in short , either he is indispensably bound to do the thing , or at liberty whether he will do it or no : if the former , his oath must be either a nullity or a fraud ; and if the other , his antecedent obligation has determin'd that liberty . [ but religious phrenzy ( says he , fol. 7. ) leaves that eternal intoxication behind it , that where it commits all the cruelties in the world , 't is never sober after to be sorry for 't . ] how truly , and how severely is this said ? witness the impenitent ends and courses of all the kings murtherers , both dead and living . and now again [ thus ( says he ) whilst a popish king sets his whole kingdom in a combustion ; how little does he think he plays a second nero ? good conscienti-man , not he ; alas ! he does not tune his joys to the tyrannick nero's harp , but to david's milder and more sacred lyre ; whilst , in the height of his pious extasy , he sings te deum , at the conflagration . ib. ] turn but popish king here , into popish , phanatical faction , and what an admirable illustration is this of the brethrens exultations and thanksgivings , for the ruine of their sovereign , the holy church , and three kingdoms ? nay , and the florid humour goes on with him still . [ thus ( says he ) with an arbitrary , unbounded power , what does his licentious holy thirst of bloud do less , than make his kingdoms a larger slaughter-house , and his smithfield an original shambles ? thus the old moloch , once again revives , to feast and riot on his dear , human sacrifice : and whilst his fiery iron hands , crush the poor victim dead , the propagation of religion , and the glory of god ( as he calls it ) are the very trumpets that deafen all the feeble cryes of bloud , and drown the dying groans of what he murthers . ibid. ] can any man read this pathetical figure of tyranny and desolation , without turning the old moloch into the good-old-cavse ; and calling to mind the glorious sacrifices that were offer'd at white-hall-gate ; upon tower-hill ; cheap-side ; charing-cross ; and in a word , in all the quarters of his majesties dominions , to that mercyless and insatiable idol ? to say nothing of those whole-sale carnages , at edge-hill , newbury , marston-moor , navesby , &c. where the blood of loyal subjects , and true protestants , was spilt like water , and the priests of baal , all this while , with the propagation of religion , and the glory of god in their mouths , celebrating , in their pulpits and festivals , these barbarous triumphs . and yet again ; char. thus ( says he ) whilst the bonds of faith , vows , oaths and sacraments cannot hold a popish successor ; what is that in an imperial head , but what in a private man we punish with a jail and pillory ? whilst the perjur'd wretch stands the vniversal marque of infamy , and then is driven from all conversation , and like a monster hooted from light and day . ] pray'e correct the errata ' s of this passage , thus : for popish successor read jesuitical covenanter ; and for an imperial head read a committee of safety : and then ye have the mystery uncipher'd . [ but the pope ( he says ) and a royal hand , may do any thing ; there 's a crown in the case , to guild the deeds his royal engines act . ] this pope and royal hand should have been their general assembly ; and their ( pretended ) christ upon his throne ; and then gods cause , and according to the covenant hallows the sedition — et quod . turpe est cerdoni , volesos , brutosque decebit . one verse more would have expounded the whole business . ille crucem sceleris pretium , tulit , hic , diadema . char. they are still ( says he ) that adorable sovereign greatness we must kneel to , and obey . what if a little perjur'd villain has sworn a poor neighbour out of a cow or a cottage ! hang him , inconsiderable rogue ! his ears deserve a pillory . but to vow and covenant and forswear three kingdoms ovt of their liberties and lives ; that 's illustrious and heroique . there 's glory in great atchievments , and virtue in success . alas ! a vast imperial nimro● hunts for nobler spoils ; flyes at a whole nations property and inheritance . a game w●rthy a son of rome , and heir of paradise . and to lay the mighty scene of ruine secure , he makes his coronation-oath , and all his royal protestations ( those splendid baits of premeditated perjury ) the cover and skreen to the hidden fatal toyl , laid to ensnare a nation . fol. 7. never were those illustrious and he●oick vowers and covenanters , that for swore three kingdoms out of their liberties and lives , drawn so to the life ; and five hundred nimrods too upon the chase of our property and inheritance . and it was a game worthy of the sons of buchanan ; and ( if they may be their own godfathers ) the children of the lord too , under the cover of their ambiguous protestations ; and their holy league-bands of confederacy ; they c●nceal'd the snare of that premeditated perjnry , which was follow'd with so many dreadful judgments upon the nation . he prosecutes his subject with a reply to the objection , that ' its impossible for a popish successor to introduce popery into england . that the jesuits , had such a design ; & that the whole party believ'd it practicable , he evinces from the plot ; and the prospect of a presumptive popish heir , render'd them more confident of succeeding in it , fol. 7. and 8. and yet four or five lines further , he represents the difficulties of restoring popery into england to be almost insuperable : and so with just reflections upon the paris , and irish massacres ; villanies of gun-powder treasons , conflagratiens , and plots against kings and kingdoms . he finishes that paragraph . i shall easily agree here to all the ill that he says of the seditious and pragmatical papists , without disputing one syllable of it . and yet i think it very well worth our care , to distinguish betwixt zeal and clamour ; and not over-hastily to give credit to that sort of people , whose method it is ; first , to make papists odious ; and then to make the church of england popish . and this is not said neither to divert any man from a reasonable apprehension of the other danger . there never was a greater noise of popery , than in the prologue to the misfortunes of the late king. and what was the ground , or what the issue of it ? there was a conspiracy to undermine the government , and no way but that to put the people out of their wits , and out of their duties together ; and the project succeeded , to the actual subversion of the government . and when the zelots had possessed themselves of the quarry , they shar'd both publick and private revenues among themselves , and fell afterward to the cutting of one another's throats , for the booty ; without one word more of popery . in brief , to joyn in an out-cry against papists , with those that reckon episcopacy to be popery , is to assist our enemies toward the putting on of our own shackles . and it is gone so far too , that the libellers , and their dictators range them hand in hand already ; and you shall seldom see a blow made at the pope , without a lick at the bishops . but the project begins now to open . char. let us now rightly consider how far the first foundations of popery ( vix . arbitrary power ) may be laid in england . first , then , if a papist reign ; the judges , sheriffs , justices of the peace , and all the judiciary officers are of the king's creation : and as such , how far may the influence of preferment ; on baser constitutions , cull'd out for his purpose , prevail even to deprave the very throne of justice her self ; and make our judges use even our protestant laws themselves to open the first gate to slavery . we are just now upon a preliminary to the nineteen old propositions over again . for fear of an arbitrary power , the king was not to be trusted with the choice of his own officers . but no though taken for the securing of the government from popular tumults and insurrections ; in case of lodging that trust in any other hand . beside the putting of the king into an incapacity of providing for the justice , and security of the government . but he is so far however in the right ; that the perverting of that power may endanger the state. and for that consideration , it is a trust not to be parted with , lest it should once more be re-apply'd to the destruction of the king and people , as it was before . it is a certain truth , that a prince , by the abuse of his power may prove a tyrant . but it is as certain again , that there is not any form , or temperament of sovereignty imaginable , that is not lyable to the same possibility . for tyranny it self , is only the straining of the essential and necessary powers of government beyond their pitch . we have experimented the worst effects of usurpation , and corruption ; and of turning the equity of the law against the letter of it ; nay of setting up the laws themselves against the very authority that made them . and all this would never have done the work neither , if the faction had not supply'd the want of laws for their purpose in some cases , and superseded others that were against them , by an arbitrary device of votes , and ordinances . so that the hazard is nothing so great as he represents it , in the hand of a prince , for want of that power of enacting and repealing , which the faction possessed themselves of by an usurpation . but alas ! ( says he , pag. 8. ) the laws in corrupted iudges hands have been too often used as barbarously as the guests of procrustes , who had a bed for all travellers ; but then he either cut them shorter , or stretch'd them longer , to fit them to it , and is not this very charitably done now ; to imagine the worst things that either ever were or can be done ; of a prince , ( admitting my author's supposition ) whose empire , safety ; donions ; and the wel-fare of whose people , are all dependent upon his good behaviour , and justice ? so that he ventures his all on the one side , to get nothing on the other , here is the fansie of remote and uncertain difficulties , oppo'sd to our present security and well-being ! and after a capital sentence , pronounced with a formality of law , upon an imperial prince , as a traytor to the sovereignty of the people ; we are now opening the way to bring another prince to the scaffold . for that 's the scope of several virulent libels , both printed and written , that have at present , their free course without controll ? these are the incendiaries i speak of , and no other . [ well ( says he again ) but if the publick ministers of justice betray the liberty of the subject ; the subject may petition for a parliament to punish 'em for 't . but what if he will neither hear one , nor call the other ? who shall compel him ? ] this is a very artificial way of getting a shoot at the king through the duke ; and to intimate the exercise of an arbitrary power , by this manner of supposing it . it was by these very steps of accusing evil councellours ; crying out for justice against them ; and for a parliament to punish them ; that the faction mounted the government , and strip'd his majesty ; first of his friends ; then of his revenue ; next of his liberty ; and lastly of his life , and all this was actually done , for fear of no body knew what . ther 's no doubt ( says the character ) but hee 'l find sufficient assistance from the pope , english papists , and foreign princes ; beside the revenues of the crown . and then having but a prudent eye , and a tenacious hand to manage his exchequer ; we shall find hee 'l never call that people he shall never have need of , fol. 8. ] he supposes here an assistance for a prince in possession of his crown . but an assistance for what , unless in case of a rebellion ? or is it an assistance to enable him to live without parliaments ? as if foreign princes would be at that charge , to be never the better sor't . or if he means a military assistance toward the settling of him in the possession of an absolute power ; his interest undoubtedly will be much greater in the supporting of him as an heir , than in advancing him as a tyrant ; beside , that for one english man to serve him in such an unwarrantable design , he will have an hundred , in case of any unjust delusion , to stand by him in the defence or recovery of an nndoubted right . this is only the quitting of one pamphlet with another ; and to make use of that liberty my self which is allow'd to others . [ but all this while ( says he ) the pope is not absolute . there wants a standing army to crown the work : and he shall have it , for who shall hinder him ? nay , all his commanders shall be present qualifi'd , even by our protestant test , for the employment . ] we have not forgot the time when one standing army was raised for fear of another ; and between thirty and forty thousand men kept in pay for a matter of thirteen or fourteen years together , when the war was over , and not one enemy left in the field ; one king imprison'd , and another in banishment ; taxes multiply'd ; the people peel'd to the very bones ; and the persons and estates of free-born english men subjected to the most scandalous tyranny that ever was inflicted upon reasonable creatures . and what was the ground and foundation of this calamity ? the multitude were buzz'd in the head , that the king was popishly inclin'd , and govern'd by jesuitical councels ; nothing but papists about him , and two or three antichristian bishops ( a pack of tories , and tantvies ) and a mighty noise there was of german horse , and the bringing of an army up to town to awe the city , and the parliament : and the very fear alone of these shadows transported them into the uttermost extremities of rage and confusion . 't is true , there was no plot afoot then , as there is now ; but they made sufficient shift , without it , to do their own , and the kingdoms business . you shall now see the composition of his popish successor's standing-army . he shall have enough men of the blade out of one half of the gaming houses in town , to officer twice as many forces as he shall want : 't is true , they shall be men of no estates , nor princples , &c. ] he should e'en have gone on , when his hands were in , and quarter'd his new leveys in lambeth house , or pauls , as in the days of his forefathers . but is not this better yet , than spiriting away of apprentices from their masters ; decoying the poor wenches out of their bodkins and thimbles , and squeezing a rebellion out of the gospel ? we have seen an army of pretended saints , to the value of twenty or thirty thousand in a body ; and as many religions , as men : every article of the creed call'd in question ; and the lord's prayer exploded as a stinting of the spirit . this and a great deal more , and worse , is true , to the very letter . but forward [ and that this army may be more quietly rais'd ; how many honourable pretences may be found , fol. 9. ] very right . as the fetching of the king home to his parliament ; the delivering of him out of the hands of papists . the defence of his person , and just rights , in the maintenance of the true protestant religion ; and all this , in the stile of his majesties most humble , and obedient subjects . [ perhaps ( says he ) the greatest and most importunate preservation of the kingdom shall call for 't and then upon second thoughts , instead of defeating some foreign enemy , they are opportunuely ready to cut our throats at home ; if we do not submit , and give all that this king shall ask , bid . ] this ingenuous author has directly translated the true history of the rise and advance of the late rebellion , into a prophetical computation of the methods and proceedings which the world is to expect from a popish king. did not they seize those very arms that the king had provided for the relief of ireland ? and employ them against his majesties very person at edg-hil ? and were not those very troops that were raised , as they swore , for the defence of the city of london , quarter'd upon the citizens , to ruine , and enslave them . char. thus far ( says he ) we have given the pourtraicture of a popish king : and now , let us take a draught of his features in his minority ; that is , while he is only a popish heir apparent , i.d. after the preamble of an imaginary prince , elevated to the height of a generous and a glorious character ; with a supposal of a people too not unworthy of the blessing of such a sovereign ; and a smooth reproach in the end of it , to intimate how much he is beholden to them ; he advances as follows . char. now ( says he ) let suppose , after a long tranquility of this matchless monarchs r●ign , that the immediate heir to his crown , and a part of his bloud , by the sorceries of rome is canker'd into a papist . ] his meaning is easily suppos'd , by stabbing of the very paper , whenever he comes near him . [ and to pursue this land●hape , suppose we see this once happy flourishing kingdom ( so far as in all duty and reason bound ) concern'd for themselves , their heirs and their whole countries safety ; till with an honest , cautious , prudent fear they begin to inspect a kingdoms vniversal health ; till weighing all the symptoms of its state , they plainly descry those pestilential vapours fermenting , that may one day infect their ayre , and sicken their world , and see that rising eastern storm engendring , that will once bring in those more then egyptian locusts , that will not only fill their houses , and their temples , but devour their labours their harvests , and their vintages ] here 's a period for an apothecary . the inspectors ( i suppose ) of our body politick may be three or four of our anabaptistical protestant intelligencing vvater casters of the state. and these are the men that so plainly descry the pestilential vapours , he speaks of , which in effect are no other then the breath of their own lungs . but is it an eastern storm that they see engendring ? why then the wind is turn'd , i perceive , for the locusts of 40 and 43 came out of the north ; and did us all the mischiefs too , of his egyptian locusts . and now he has given us the state of our disorder ; he is so kind as to pr●scribe toward our relief , which is in a few words , that the nation [ like true patriots do anticipate their woes , with a present sense of the future miseries they foresee , fol. 9. ] which is as much as to say : vp. and be dring , now again char. vvhat is this popish heir in the eye of england , but perhaps the greatest , and only grievance of the nation ; the vniversal object of their hate and fear , and the subject of their clamours and curses ? ( methinks he might afford the kings brother a little better language ) at whose door , ly●their discontents and murmurs ; but 't is murmurs so violent , that they thrust in amongst their very prayers ( so did curse ye meroz ) and become almost a part of their devotions . ( the prophet davids curse is faln upon them , their prayer is turn'd into sin ) murmurs so bold , that they dare approach the very palace , nay throne and ear of majesty , fol. 10. ] here 's a large step advanc'd upon the king himself ; but you shall see him come closer by and by , [ whenever ( says he ▪ ) the people of england reflect on this heir as their king in reversion , they have reason to look upon him as no better than jupiter ' s stork amongst the froggs . yes , notwithstanding all his former glories and conquests , his whole stock of fame is so lost , and bury'd in his apostacy from the religion ; and conseqnently , the interest of these protestant kingdoms , that all his services are cancell'd , and his whole masse of glory corrupted , ibid. ] i find some people of opinion , that this king in reversion is of the same perswasion at this day ; that he was , when he acquir'd all those glories : but let that pass , and see now what 's the sum of all this flourish , but a labour'd piece of spiteful art , to render the brother of his sacred majesty as odious as the soulest character , and calumny can make him you shall fee presently that this venom against the duke will terminate in the king ; and that instead of a christian , and pious zeal for religion , the end of it is to inflame a desperate distemper in the state. it is , in short , a character of the worst of men , adapted to a suitable religion : and expos'd to the world , in an uncharitable account of things , which he cannot possibly foreknow . his next supposal is a rhetorical speculation ; and not without reflexions bold enough , upon the unchangeable affection of his majesty to his royal brother . what ( saith he ) can the consequence of this unhappy friendship be ; but that the very souls and loyalties of almost a whole kingdom are stagger'd at this fatal conjunction ; till i am afraid there are too many , who in detestation of that one gangreen'd branch of royalty can scarce forbear ( how undutifully soever ) to murmur and revile even at that imperial root that cherishes it ? ibid. ] what a strange usurpation is this , not only upon majesty , but human nature ; not to allow a prince the freedom of those affections which he can no more put off than his reasonable being ? but this is the loyalty of the old stamp , that still gives the sign with a hail master , and a kiss . but how comes this pamphlet to undertake for the sense of the whole kingdom ? it is not that he finds them so much dis-affected , but he endeavours to make them so ; by teaching and animating the sedition that he would be thought to fear . nay , so far is he from being afraid of the undutiful murmurs he seems to apprehend ; that it is scarce possible to do more toward the creating of them . and look now how he grows upon his majesty . [ those very knees ( says he ) that but now , would have bow'd into their very graves to serve him , grow daily and hourly so far from bending ( as they ought ) to a crown'd head , till they are almost as stubborn as their petitions and prayers have been ineffectual . ] what is this to say , but in his way of intimation to insinuate — what the reader will easily understand , though more than i am willing to express . char. thus ( says he ) whilst a popish heirs extravagant zeal for rome , makes him shake the very throne that upholds him , by working and encroaching on the affections of his majesty , for that protection and indulgence that gives birth and life to the heart-burnings of a nation ; what does he otherwise than in a manner stabb his king , his patron , and his friend , in his tenderest part , his loyal subjects hearts ? which certainly is little less than to play the more lingring sort of parricide ; a part so strangely unnatural , that even salvages would blush at , yet this religion , ncorrigible remorseless religion never shrinks at . folio 10. it is worth observing , that throughout this whole character of a popish successor , the author of it lays more load upon the heir than upon the religion ; for he treats the latter still in the terms of a fair and generous enemy ; but when he comes to the other , he shoots poyson'd arrows , parricide , gangreen'd , and the like , without any respect either to modesty or honour . and what is the whole tract indeed , but an artificial declamation , without so much as one ill thing in 't , bating the perswasion , that is either liable to a proof , or possible for him to know : and yet he does as boldly pronounce upon things to come , as if he had the book of fate in his pocket . he charges the successor here , with encroaching upon the kings affections . it was a little while agoe , only the invincible tenderness of his majesty ; but it is now turn'd into the working and insinuation of his brother : who stabbs the king ( says the character-writer ) in the hearts of his loyal subjects . but what if it should happen that the king should be here stabbed thorough the duke ? it was at this rate , that laud and strafford stabb'd the late king too . and what was the end on 't ; but that when the kings friends were remov'd , under the character of his enemies ; his sacred majesty left naked and defenceless , those hypocrites that had nothing in their mouths , but loyalty and religion ; those were the very men that stabb'd him themselves . this is the plain historical fact , without either amplifications or colours . but if you 'll see a figure upon the stretch ; observe his next fancy ; where he makes the duke a parricide for killing the king in the hearts of his people , by his applications and respects to his maiesty . and a parricide ( as he phrases it ) so strangely unnatural too , that even pagans would blush at it . is this jest or earnest now ? is it a pang of duty and conscience ? or is it not rather the luxuriancy of a high-flown thought ? how comes it to be so flagitious a crime , for one brother to love another , that humane nature must be startled at it ? or that a prince may not presume to venture upon the duties of christianity , natural affection , friendship , honour and humanity , for fear of being call'd to account for 't in a pamphlet ? well! but he tells us of the heart-burnings of the nation at this conjunction ; and for that reason , he expects , it seems , that his majesty shall relinquish his brother . but what if a man should ask him , first , how he knows this to be the sence of the nation ? secondly , what commission he has to tell the world so ? and thirdly , how he comes so positively to assert that it is so ; when it is clear , on the contrary that it is not so ? for the peoples quarrel is to the religion only , whereas the authors is principally to the duke . but let us give him these heart-burnings for granted ; and see how far a concession upon that point will carry us at last . first , the duke marches off ; and then the kings ministers back after him ; and then goes the militia : and so in course , the bishops , the revenue , &c. to the end of the chapter of forty eight : and all this , to gratify one longing after another , till , in the conclusion , another government turns up trump . plato redivivus has the whole scheme of the project ready cut and dry'd . this was the very method of our ruine ; and the name of religion led the way to 't . a covenanted , and , in his own words , an incorrigible , re●orseless religion . but why these heart-burnings , now the duke is out of the kingdom ? unless they would him out of the world too ? and that would not serve neither ; for so long as there is a service-book , a surplice , or a canonical habit in the kingdom , and this humour kept a foot , there shall never want popery to work upon . the next clause speaks the plainest english we have had yet . char. the nation in studying to prevent tyranny grew jealous of monarchy , and for fear of their moneys going the wrong way they will give none at all , but rather triumph in his majesty's greatest wants , even when his glory , nay possibly when his nearest safety calls for their assistance . fol. 11. this way of saying that they will not give money , ( which is more yet than he knows ) carries the force of an advice that they should not ; which is the thing that this passage manifestly intends and designs . so that is the rest of the nation were of his mind , the french king might have this kingdom for the asking ; for both king and people upon these terms are manifestly abandon'd as a sacrifice to this jealousie . toward the bottom of the same page he brings in a deliberation to this effect : this popish prince cannot either help his persuaasion or relinquish it ; nor is it a thing to be exacted from him that he should . the grievances of the kingdom may be his unhappiness and not his fault ; for he is onely passive , and lives to himself , without meddling to encourage or favour popery in the least . but how does it follow ( says he fol. 12. ) that if we do not plainly see him act , that he does not act . but how does it follow on the other side , say i , that he does act if no body can prove it ? it is the rule of christian charity in doubtful cases ever to judge the best , but the author of this character does not think fit to walk by this rule ; for first he casts with himself what is the worst that can happen , and then he improves the far-fetch'd possibility of that worst of events into a prediction , that certainly that thing shall come to pass . and then he considers how mean and wicked it is possible for flesh and bloud to be , and those vices and imperfections jumbled together are the ingredients that make up his character . char. but to the objection ( says he ) the grievance of a nation may be his unhappiness , and not his fault , &c. that is in short ; he cannot help it . very right . and so when this popish heir comes to the crown , and promotes the romish interest with all the severity , injustice and tyranny that religious cruelty can invent . his answer will be , he cannot help it ; or at least cannot withstand those irresistable motives that prompt him to their execution ; which is the same thing . will he have it then that our actions and our thoughts are bound up alike , under a determinate , and insuparable necessity , of our doing this or that , as well as of thinking so or so ? or will he call those motives , irresistible , that do only prompt , and invite us to the doing of any thing ? he has screwed up tyranny and injustice here , to the highest degree of cruelty and terrour . and now if this barbarous rigour be so inseparable from the genius of the religion ; how comes it that a french popish king should be better natur'd to his subjects of the reform'd religion , then he will allow an english popish king capable of being toward his protestant subjects . [ the same impulse of conscience ( he sayes ) that makes a man a roman catholique , will make him act like one , when opportunity serves . ibid. that 's very right ; but i cannot yet think that any party of men will pretend explicitely to authorize the putting of christians to death , purely upon a consideration of religion , and conscience , in order to the propagation of the gospel . and yet i know , the jesuits , of both churches have gone a great way towards it . cursed be he ( says case , in the late rebellion ) that witholdeth his sword from blo●d ; that spareth when god saith strike , &c. [ the papist ( he says ) is of a religion that makes humane merit the path of salvation : ] and so he passes into a very florid descant upon the abuses , in the church of rome , of this wonder-working merit . and our dissenting papists , in the late times , came not one jote behind them , in making it the dayly theme of the pulpit , to preach salvation to all that di'd in the cause . char. and then again , popery is a religion that does not go altogether in the old fashion apostolical way of preaching and praying , and teaching all nations , &c. but scourging , and racking , and broiling 'em into the fear of god. a religion that for its own propagation , will at any time authorize its champions to divest themselves of their humanity , and act worse than devils to be saints . these are dreadful cruelties ; but if this fierceness arise from any principle of rigour in the system of their faith , methinks they should treat all alike ; for if it be upon an impulse of conscience , it becomes a duty . the jesuits here in our covenant pers●cution were pretty good at this way of discipline too . there was no scou●ging , racking , and broiling , 't is true ; but there was plundering , sequestering , starving , imprisoning , poisoning in gaols , and refusing the holy communion to anti-covenanters upon their death bed . there was a general massacre propounded of all the cavaliers that had been in arms , which i am well assur'd was carried but by one voice in the negative . there were upward of a hundred sequester'd ministers crowded into a prison , where they knew there was a raging plague ; and , as i am credibly inform'd , there was not a thirtieth part of them came off alive . and for these diabolical actions the persecutors were enroll'd into the number of the saints . char. nay ( says he ) the very outrage of thefts , murthers , adulteries , and rebellions are nothing to the pious barbarities of a popish king. the murtherer and adulterer , may in time be reclaim'd by the precepts of morality , and the terrors of conscience . the thief , by the dread of a gallows , may become honest . nay , the greatest traitor , either by the fear of death or the apprehensions of hell may at last repent : but a papist on a throne has an unconsutable vindication for all his proceedings , challenges his commission , even from heaven , for all his cruelty he dares act ; and when all the inchantments of rome have touch'd his tongue with a coal from her altars , what do his enthusiasms make him believe , but that the most savage , and most hellish dooms his blinded zeal can pronounce , are the immediate oracles of god : fol. 13. ] if it had not been for popish king , papist , and rome , i should have taken this last paragraph for the picture of a kirk-conclave . for first , though there was theft , murther , and rebellion , abundantly in their proceedings ; yet so transcendent was the wickedness of their blasphemous bands and associations ; so horrid the forms of their calling the searcher of all hearts ; with hands lifted up to the most high god , &c. to witness the joyning of themselves in a holy covenant unto the lord ; ( which holy covenant was yet in the very first conception and intent of it , a premeditate complottery to destroy that in effect , which in terms they swore to defend ) all other sins ( i say ) were as nothing , in the ballance against this catilinary , and bloudy sacrament . and so remarkable was the reprobated impenitence that follow'd upon it , as if the devil himself had come in , to the signing and sealing of that religious mockery , both upon god and man ; and turn'd the hypocritical covenant into a magical contract . as for those that took it with good meaning , or perhaps out of weakness , and surprise ; ( though i my self was none of the number ) i make no doubt , but that god hath given to many of them a true sence of their mistake ; but for those that designingly , and frankly leagu'd themselves in that combination ; i am at a loss , even according to the largest allowances of christian charity , where to find three converts ; the living persisting still in the obligation of that oath ; and those that were taken off by the hand of justice , asserting it to the death . i bear my testimony , ( says kid , that was executed in scotland , as a rebel ; spirit of popery , fol. 7. to the solemn league and covenant , as it was profess'd and sworn in scotland , england and ireland , in 1643. &c. and again , ibid ) prelacy , as it is now establish'd by a pretended law , is destructive downrightly to the sworn covenants ; yea , not only prelacy , popery , malignancy , and heresie , but supremacy ; and every thing originally upon , and derivate from it . and further ( fol. 17. ) the three kingdoms are marry'd lands ; so i die in the faith of it , that there will be a resurrection of christs name , cause , and covenant . and so likewse king , that was executed in scotland too , ( id. fol. 42. ) i bear my witness & testimony to our covenants national , and solemn league betwixt the three kingdoms ; which sacred and solemn oath i believe cannot be dispensed with , nor loosed by any person , or party upon earth ; ( and fol. 43. ) i bear witness against the ancient christian prelacy , &c. and against all oaths and bonds contrary to our covena●t , and engagement , especially that oath of suprem●cy , &c. and so mitchel , weir , &c. see ravillac redivivus . they do all of them sing the same note . now take all together ; the deliberate wickedness of their first resolve upon the covenant ; their prophane and daring hypocrisie in the very frame , and wording of it ; the counterfeiting of gods authority for sacrilege , and rebellion in pursuance of it : and lastly , the maintaining and defending of all their impieties , to the last gasp. a man may defie all the story of the world , sacred and prophane , to shew any other party of men that we●e ever lost under so dreadful a der●liction . but yet there is something of a perverse bravery in renouncing it at last , and after all their ●ndignities put upon the g●d of truth , in making some conscience yet of keeping touch with the spirit of delusion . and now to finish the parallel betwixt our dissenting papists , and his jesuitcal : we have our enthusiasts too , that vent their dreams and vapours for oracles . but to shorten the matter ; bayli'es disswasive will abundantly satisfie the reader upon this subject . he passes from hence to a reply upon a supposition , [ that such laws may be made before-hand , as will make it impossible for a popish king to set up popery in england ] but that ( says he ) would be like hedging in the cuckow , &c. for who shall call this king to question for breaking these laws , if he has the power and will to do it ? this question ( fol. 13. ) might serve for a piece of an answer to a contradiction he puts upon himself , fol. 20. which we shall handle in course . if the law has put it out of his power ; there is no longer any place for the supposal of a power ; unless by foreign force , which would presently improve a private jealousy of religion into the publick rupture of a national quarrel , to the almost inevitable , and irreparable loss of his reputation , his friends , and his dominions together ▪ now the other way , in case of his being injuriously excluded , it would be forty times more easy for him to recover his pretensions from abroad , by a foreign assistance , in concurrence with such an english interest , as a generons compassion to his wrong , a respect for his person , and the justice of his title would certainly create him , than to erect an absolute power against the wills and hearts of his people : and contrary to all the measures of equity and prudence . and to do all this too , while he might live and reign easily and comfortably to himself and his subjects , within the limits of a legal administration . and if he can never expect to gain this point , by calling in auxillaries from beyond the seas : much less will he be able to do it , upon the bottom of his own interest , and within himself : for there must go a great many more hands than his own to such a work . and to say that he may do it , by his officers or ministers , by the force of gratifications , pensions , or the promises and hopes of preferment and advantage : that objection may be easily obviated : for it is a thing of clear and easy prospect : the forming of such a scheme of laws for securing the bounds of the government , as no man that has either a neck , or a fortune to lose , will dare to violate . but the bare power , if he had it , would signify nothing neither : unless the vvill as he says goes along with it . now if he may will he may nill too : so that he is left at liberty to make his election either of the one , or of the other , which has , in a great measure , discharg'd him of the pretended impulse of religion , and translated the exception from the papist to the person : founding the apprehension upon a pretended foresight of tyranny and double dealing , in that princes character ? which being a thing that is only to be seen with his spectacles , and a prognostick peculiar to his way of calculation , wee 'l go to the next . i will not deny ( says he ibid. ) but a popish king may be totally restrein'd from all power of introducing popery , by the force of such laws as may be made to tye up his hands : but then they must be such as must ruine his prerogative , and put the executive power of the laws into the hands of the people . ] this shift does not at all either weaken , or avoid my assertion , for the kings hands are sufficiently ty'd , in holding the hands of his ministers : and this may be done ( so far as is necessary for this purpose ) without any diminution to his royal dignity . if the transferring of the executive power to the people , that is to say deposing of him , would do the job , the character will shew us by and by , how that may be done , without need of new laws , and in spite of old ones . but what monarch ( says he ) will be so unnatural to his bloud : so ill a defender , and so weak a champion for the royal dignity he wears , as to sign and ratify such laws as shall entail that effeminancy , and that servility on a crown as shall render the imperial majesty of england but a pageant , a meer puppet upon a wire ? ] he does well to presume that a prince will not unking himself : but he would do better yet to keep himself clear from such propositions and principles as lead to that d●posing end. for whatsoever strikes at the crown , in a papist , falls , upon the rebound , on the royal authority in a protestant . ( but ( says he , ib. ) if no king will assent to make laws to do it this way , and no laws can do it t'other , all laws against popery , in case of a popish successor , are as i told you before , but building the hedge , &c ] this author seems to scrupulize more then needs upon the fear 〈◊〉 cramping the prerogative : for he himself will shew us by and by how to do that without a law , which he despairs of ever seeing done by one . if he had thought of what the king has lately parted with out of his prerogative , for the begeting of a plenary trust and confidence in his people , he would not have despair'd of any condescension from his majesty , for the securing of his subjects in their properties and religion , after so much more done for them already than that , which is here propounded , amounts to . he tells us ( fol. 14. ) of the danger of the pop●s supremacy ; and i must tell him , that within the kings dominions , the supremacy of the kirk is every jote as dangerous . wherefore let us look to our selves both ways ; as well against those papists that did murther the last king , as those other papists that are in the plot to destroy this. no doubt ( says he ) but the fire that burns the heretique law-makers , shall give their laws the same martyrdom . ] if they have power , 't is probable enough that they will : but their 's a great difference in the case , betwixt a prince and his own subjects , and the pope , and stranger hetiques : the one destroyes his enemies , the other , his friends : the pope is in one barque , the heaetiques in ●onother , and the one may sink , and the other swim ; now the king being in the same bottom with his people , if he runs the vessel upon a rock , they are all cast away together . ch●r . with this certain prospect , both of the ruine of their estates , lives and liberties , where lies the sin in the commons of england , to stand upon their guard against a popish successor ? aye , a gods name let them stand upon their gaurds , and use all expedients to keep out popery and tyranny ; provided still that we preserve the sacred succession in its right line , for that we are told , both king and people a●e obliged in conscience to defe●d and uphold . this clause has both more and less in it , than a body would imagine ; and a man hardly knows either how to meddle with it , or how to let it alone . he begins with the assumption of a thing certainly prov'd ; though without any colour , that i can find , of makeing it out to be so much as probable ; and barely possible , is the mos● that i can make on 't . nay , and it is not that neither , without imputing more of ranc●ur and implacable virulency of nature to his popish successor , than ever any man yet discovered , either before , ●r beside the author of this character . but however , upon that substratum , he takes up the quarrel ( as he would have it understood ) of the commons of england . where lies the sin ( says he ) in the commons of england , to stand upon their guard against a popish successor ] this is only a gin set for a woodcock , under the equivoque of the commons of england ; so that if a man speaks only to the multitude , and he applys it to the representative , there may be matter pickt out of it for an enformation ; why , who says there 's any sin in 't ? and then there 's guard and guard. people are said one way to be upon their guard with their swords in their hands ; and another way , with their eies in their heads . but i presume he speaks to the multitude ; and he speaks too in the stile of authority . let them stand upon their guard ( says he ) as if he were giving orders . he might as well have said , let them stand to their arms : and his expression ( of all expedients ) expounds it so , even allowing him to be his own interpreter ; for the business is to keep out popery and tyranny . and he makes it one expedient , ( fol. 2. ) and an essential one too , to act the offensive part as well as the defensive ; provided still ( says he ) that we preserve the sacred succession in its right line ; for that we are told , both king and people are oblig'd in conscience to defend and uphold . ] that same little word told , is a most emphatical mockery : and then , provided that the succession be secur'd , all other expedients are pronounced lawful . methinks he might have thought of a proviso too for the securing of the kings honour , dignity , person , government , and the peace of his dominions : which are , at the rate of his latitude of allowance , all of them equally concerned in the danger with the succession . he proceeds now to debate the matter of conscience : and if we find him as tender as he is zealous ; as good a christian on the subjects side , as on the patriots ; as careful to uphold the sacred character of majesty , as to prevent the excesses of tyranny ; and finally , as clear a casuist , as he is a powerful orator , there will be no contesting any further with him . char. first then ( saith he ) let us fancy we see this popish heir on his throne , and by all the most illegal and arbitrary means contrary to the whole frame and hinges of the english government , introducing popery with that zeal and vigour till his in●atuated● conscience has perverted the king into a tyrant . what a phancy of a phancy is here ! that for want of fact and argument is fain to have recourse to imaginations and dreams . and to what end is all this , but by disgusting of the people at the ways of providence , set them a hankering after state-wizzards again , and strange-gods , for the knowledge of things to come ? wherefore let me once again inculcate that of 27 jer. hearken not ye to your prophets , nor to your diviners , nor to your dreamers , ( which is the same with phansiers ) nor to your inchanters , nor to your sorcerers , which speak to you saying , you shall not serve the king of babylon . fo● they prophesie a ly unto you ; to remove you far from your land. let us , for the honour of our kind , either live and act and reason like men , or else down upon all four , and away into the woods and rocks , and hunt and growl'd and tear one another to pieces like beasts . but we 'll discourse the matter a little . well! the english are certainly the freest and the happiest people upon the face of the earth . ay ; but we shall be all slaves e're 't be long . when 's that ? when the popish heir comes to the crown . ay ; but when 's that again ? when the king is dead . well , but when is the king to dy ? nay , i cannot tell that . how long has the popish heir to live ? i cannot tell that neither . will the queen have any children ? nor that neither . how long will the queen live ? how should i know that ? will the king survive her or not ? i cannot tell . will he marry again if he does ? i cannot tell that neither . will he have any children if he marrys again ? who knows ? but what if the heir should not live to come to the crown ? but it may be he may though . and it may be he may not . ay , but i phansy that he will. well! but suppose he should come to the crown . what then ? why then he will set up popery and tyranny . not whether he can or no. why , how did queen mary ? she had the odds on her side ; for the papists were then , in a manner , as the protestants are now . and yet , coming in betwixt two protestants , popery , ye see , went off as it came on . but still there was a persecution . 't is true , there was ; but all princes are not alike . q. mary persecuted the protestants ; henry the fourth of france did not so . and it is as good an inference from the instance of henry iv. that the popish heir will not be a persecutor , as from that of queen mary that he will. but where the popes authority intervenes , both king and people are bound to obey . and yet you see that for all the power of the pope , and the covenant of the holy league to boot , the people of france , though roman catholiques , would not submit to the dis-possessing of a protestant successor ; neither did that generous prince , upon the reconciling of himself afterward to the church of rome , exercise any one act of tyranny over his protestant subjects ; which is enough said upon this point . well , but i phansy it will be popery and tyranny yet , for all this . well! but to go a little further with you , now suppose it should come to a down right persecution ? aye , but we must stand upon our guards to prevent it . that would be more than ever the primitive christians did under the ten persecutions : and we have not only their example , but their express doctrine against it . and we are never the better protestants for being the worse christians : so that here 's only phansy set up in opposition to religion , reason and experience . and that 's enough in all conscience too : for there needs no more then the flames of a distemper'd spleen to cause an earth-quake in the government : what are fears but phansies ? what are jealousies but phansies ? what original had they ? phansies again . and what was the consequence of them ? sum up the sins and the calamities of the worst of people , and of times ; those crimes and those miseries , were the effect of those phansies . they were hag-ridden and night-mar'd with goblins and apparitions ; and haunted in their beds with the images of those visions and illusions which they had taken down from the press and pulpit waking . the brave strafford was a sacrifice to the phansy of arbitrary power , and the venerable laud ; a victim to the phansy of popery . they phansy'd antichrist in the hierarchy ; the rags of the whore of babylon in a surplice ; popery in the common-prayer ; the sacrament of baptism they phansy'd little better than an exorcism ; the lords prayer well enough for a christian primer , a school-boy form that might do so so , till people came to be better gifted . when they had phansy'd the heads of these great men off their shoulders ; the bishops out of the house of peers ; they went on phansying still ; they phansy'd episcopacy out of the nation , and their scotish presbytery into it ; the clergy out of their living● ▪ the king himself and his loyal subjects out of their lives , liberties and estates ; the crowns , churches , and the peoples monies into their own ●ockets ; the house of peers into a cypher or nullity ; the house of commons into a secret committee ; the monarchy into a republick ; the laws into votes and ordinances ; their committe into a rump-assembly ; that rump into a protector , and that protector again into a committee of safety . and all this was done by the power of imagination , and a strong phansy of tyranny and popery . and why may not all this he phansy'd over again ? but pray let me phansy a little on the other side . let us phansy his majesty to survive his brother ; let us phansy an heir apparent either by her majesty in being , or by the providence of a second marriage ; or the successor to be a person of honour , conscience or prudence , whatever his religion be : and that in honour and conscience he will govern himself by the tyes of his word and his duty ; and that in prudence he will not venture upon a project so impracticable as an attempt of subverting the religion and government , when every mans neck shall lye at stake , that shall but dare to assist him in 't ; which might be sufficiently provided for by some previous act that ( saving the kings prerogative in the case ) might secure their not being pardon'd in that particular . we shall now counterpoise dangers to dangers . here is a present opposed to a future ; a certainty to a possibility ; a greater to a less ; and a protestant king to a papist . the present danger is the probable effect of these intoxicating methods to the people . if phansy was poyson to the multitude , under the late king ; the same phansy in a larger dose , and with less corrective to it , will be at least as strong a poyson to the people under this. if the fact on the one side be true ; the reason , on the other side is not to be deny'd . the dismal calamities that ensu'd upon it i have ●et forth already . now what is there in the future , to weight against the life of the king , the safety of the church , the law and the government , the peace of the kingdom ? there may possibly be a popish king ; and there may probably not . and that king may possibly have a will to change the government ; but probably not ; in respect of the very immorality of inclining to such a violation of his trust and word : but all most certainly not , in regard of so manifest an inability to bring it to pass . when i say a certainty , i mean only a natural train of events in the application of actives to passives ; which , in a high degree has taken place already : for the people are almost raving mad at the apprehensions of these stories ; the feaver encreases upon them ; and they grow every day hotter and lighter-headed than other . so that we are in forty times a greater danger of a sedition at hand , than of a popish successor at a distance . as to the ballance of a greater danger , and a less , we 'l e'en take the matter as they suppose it . a king upon the throne , that 's principled for arbitrary government and popery ; but so clogg'd and shackl'd with popular and protestant laws , that if he had never so great a mind to 't , there is not a subject in his dominions that would dare to serve him in his design . but , on the other hand , there 's no king at all , no church , no law , no government , no magna charta , no petition of right , no property , no liberty , &c. probatvm . beside that the phansy comes to no more in effect , than if the sky fall we shall catch larks . but once again yet . here 's a protestant prince expos'd for fear of a popish one . is the chimera of a future danger of more value to us then the conscience of an incumbant and indispensable duty ? shall we take pet at god almighties providence ; and not go to heaven at all , unless we may go our own way . shall we level a shot at the duke , at a distance ; if there be no coming at him but through the heart of our sovereign ? shall we actually break in upon the protestant profession , which stands or falls with the church of england , because the author of the character phansies the hazard of a popish religion in the moon ; and by the unavoidable consequence of a misgovernment under this apprehension , draws the very plague upon us that we pretend to fear : while we thus go on , exposing both our temporal and eternal peace for shadows , . the writer of the character had most rhetorically amplifi'd , in his calculations upon his popish successor ; but so oversiz'd the figure that when ever the people come to their wits again , they will look upon the story of garagantua , as not much the less credible of the two : for his dangers are all out of ken ; his thunder●s in the clouds ; and the multitude are all turn'd star-gazers , and gaping after ill-boding conjunctions , and malevolent influences , while with him in the fable , they are tumbling into a precipice as deep as hell , and take no notice of it . here is a danger suggested ; and such a means intimated for the prevention of it , as makes the remedy worse than the disease ; for the very expedient undermines the government . but first , a word of the dangers on the other side . there are several ways started for the disappointing of this inconvenience one by attainder , upon 23. & 13. of eliz. another , by a bill in parliament for diverting the succession . and some of the libellers fall down right upon a third proposal of the peoples preventing the succession , though without or against law. and fourthly , either to expel the successour , or to keep him out , in case of survivorship . to the first , of these ways i shall speak , when the point comes on . as to the second , which is matter of parliamentary cognizance , i reckon it my duty to acquiesce in the legal issue of their debates ; as an authority to which i have ever paid a duty , and a veneration . this only i shall take the freedom to say , that there is a vast difference betwixt their deliberations that purely regard the prospect and interest of both church and state , in what concerns the popish and protestant religion ; and the passionate excursions of private men on the wrong side of the parliament door● , that thrust themselves into the controversie rather out of envy to the person and fame of the successour , than to promote the more important cause of religion ; ( like men that crow'd into a church for company to pick a pocket ) and this to , without any respect to the king himself , in the person of his brother ; or to the measures of duty to the government . now as to the two last ways of proposal , which are eiher for prevention or exclusion ; i have this to say ; if there be danger from a popish successour , during his expectancy , within the kingdom ; the danger is infinitely greater , if he be driven out of it . for , first , ( as supposing it to be the peoples act ) there must be an illegal and popular violence to accomplish it ; and there 's the peace of the government broken already . beside , that the authours of that violence can never be secure , but by following it with more and greater . and this comes presently to be a natural transition from a murmur against the successour , to a tumult in the state : in which case , the king has only this choice before him , either to part with every thing for the asking , or to stand the shock or a rebellion . now take it either way ; here 's much a greater mischief incurr'd , than that we feared ; beside , a sanding-army , taxes , and oaths that follow in course ; and a new set of liberty-keepers , and major-generals to preserve the peace . i speak this in the contemplation of a violence without a lawful authority to back it ; which is the thing that some people have in prospect . this is the scene of things at home and abroad , we shall undoubtedly see the successours interest and reputation , e●creasing daily , in regard of his sufferings , his title , and his religion : having scotland to friend , over and above : and probably , ( as it is at present ) the place of his residence . but these are , as yet , all dormant interests , and not to be employ'd , till either his duty to his majesty , or justice to his own pretensions shall require their aid . take it the other way now : in the case of a pop●sh king , who is either kept out ( as i said before ) or d●iven out from the exercise of his right , by the tumultuary licence of the rabble ; an oath of abjuration in case of any fair opportunity for him to assert his claim with his sword in his hand , will be so far from engaging any man against him , that yielded contrary to his conscience to swallow it for the saving of his stake , that he will find no firmer friends to his cause and interest , than those men that are stimulated both by honour and revenge to the execution of their duties . for there is no hatred so fell and deadly , as that which has for the object of it the authors or contrivers of our damnation ; and the hazard is so much the greater , in regard of the difficulty to discover either the persons or the strength of their enemies . and whether that king makes any attempt or no , the nation must be at the charge , at least of a defensive war , and of impositions to maintain it . and this will be the inconvenience even in the bare prospect of the state of the nation without a blow striking . but from scotland at least , if not from ireland too , they must expect to be ply'd with continual alarms , till the insupportable expence of guarding the borders and the coasts ; shall make them as sick of their new patriots as ever they were of their old ones ; and force them at last ( or perhaps sooner than they are aware ) to render themselves and their spoil to their irresistible conjunction of so many powers , as will be then confederate to their destruction . and then comes in the popery in earnest , that was dreaded but in fancy before . when this new king shall by the proper act and forfeiture of a seduc'd and unforeseeing people , be deliver'd from the fetters of both honour and laws ; who brings in popery then , but they that discharg'd him from those sacred bonds by the solly and con●umacy of their own inconsiderate undertakings ? compare now the dangers of a popish king bounded by protestant laws , and ruling over a protestant people , where he may be as happy as an imperial crown , and the affections of his subjects , can make him . compare ( i say ) a popish king under these gracious and obliging circumstances , in the quiet administration of his government , with a prince that is forc'd to make his way with his sword for the recovery of his own , and is not onely prick'd on by the impulses of justice and vengeance , but animated by the pope himself , and provok'd by indignation to take the utmost advantage of that foolish forfeiture , ( the people themselves having cancell'd the bonds of authority and obedience . ) let any man compare these two cases , and then speak his opinion . there is one p●int yet behind , that goes further ( i think ) than any of the rest . if it be reasonable to believe ( as we are often told , and no mortal can deny it ) that our religion is an eye sore to the church of rome , and that this island would make a considerable addition to our victorious neighbours late conquests ; what way in the world could be propounded more to the advantage , both of the crown of france and the court of rome , than the bringing of matters to the issue here in question , when in the powerful and liberal assistances to this supposed king for the regaining of his own , the one and the other are but doing of their own business ? this prince in the mean while being led to the one by inclination , and overborn upon the other by necessity . here 's enough said to lay open the miserable effects of popular motions in matters of this high importance ; and so i shall pass forward , submitting what i have said upon this occasion to the judgment and determination of my superiours . the remainder of the last paragraph above cited is fully answered already , bate onely the clause that i am now about to proceed upon . char. whilest we are thus enslaved ( says he ) by a medly government , betwixt tyranny and usurpation , by establishing a papist on a throne , we are so far from preserving the crown , that is , the imperial dignity in a right line of succession , that we do not preserve it at all ; but on the contrary , extirpate and destroy it , whilst by enthroning a papist , we totally subvert and depose the very monarchy it self . and can it be the duty of either englishmen or christians , to have that zeal for a corrupted , leprous branch of royalty , that we must ruine both religion , government and majesty it self to support him ? it is a strange way this of shewing a mans honour for his prince , by blasting the very bloud of his brother ; or of expressing his love to monarchy , by treating majesty , tho but in reversion , at so course a rate . but it is upon a principle that may be supported by imperiousness and heat ; in regard that it will not bear the test of a modest debate ; and a corrupted , leprous branch of royalty is the dint of the argument . but what does he mean to confound civil power and religion thus , and impose upon the world a paradox , that for want of rightly dividing , endangers both ? government is matter of publique and external order ; and a divine provision for the peace , comfort and security of mankind : wherein all the several parts are bound up in one community , to attend the interest and conservation of the whole . whereas religion is the business of every individual apart , and only so far cognizable in a state , as it affects the civil power . what can be more gross than to talk of fighting for religion ? or to pretend to the maintaining of that by arms , that is not liable to violence ? did ever any man hear of a religion that was either shot or cut ? nor can there be any confederacy or association purely upon the score of religion , for how shall people agree to defend they know not what ? which is the very case when one man undertakes for the religion of another . if our religion be assaulted by argument , we may assert it by redargution : but when the opposition advances into any over act , the case is no longer religion , but political safety . beside that government is gods ordinance for the common benefit of human society , and of pagans , as well as of christians , without any regard to this or that religion : for bedies politique have no consciences ; but every particular indeed , stands or falls to his own master . i cannot but observe through what degrees the character has advanced the popish successor . first , from the possibility of a good man , and then from bad to worse ; till he has made him ( fol. 14. ) a corrupted , leprous branch of royalty ; and , at next word , a downright traitor , upon the statutes of 23 and 13 of queen eliz. and another of hen. 8. ( fol. 15. ) this matter being , ( as i am informed ) at present coram judice , i shall say no more to it than this , that there are two provisoes in the 5th of the queen , that make the case somewhat different from what he has stated it : as for instance : provided alway , that forasmuch as the queens majesty is otherwise sufficiently assured of the faith and loyalty of the temporal lords of her high court of parliament ; therefore this act , nor any thing therein contained , shall not extend to compel any temporal person , of or above the degree of a baron of this realm , to take or pronounce the oath abovesaid , ( viz. of supremacy ) nor to incur any penalty , limited by this act for not taking or refusing the same , &c. ii. provided also , that if any peer of this realm shall hereafter offend contrary to this act , or any branch or article thereof , that , in that and all such case and cases , they shall be try'd by their péers , in such manner and form as in other cases of treasons they have used to be tryed , and by no other means . it would be well if every man that presses , with this un-precedented rigour , upon the person here in question , would lay his hand upon his heart , and say , if the king has pardoned me te● thousand times more than this comes to , with what reason or conscience can i importune his majesty thus bitterly against his brother ? after all these clamours about a popish successor , i would fain know how it is possible for any man to be other than a papist , in our present condition of affairs . a church-of england-man is a papist to the dissenters ; a presbyterian and an independent so one to another ; a quaker to both ; and among the eight score several sects of heretiques and schismatiques that paget and others , have reckoned up since liberty of conscience came in fashion ; there are just so many sorts of papists among them , in the opinion of one sect or another . he has a paragraph ( fol. 15. ) where , under the people of england , he expounds himself to mean their representatives ; which is a point i am not to touch upon : only , i must confess , he has drawn the arrow to the head , in one expression in it . why should not they ( saith he ) the house of commons ) be as active and vigorous for their own royal inheritance , and sacred succession of power , as a king for his. what he means by this royal inheritance , and sacred succession of power , i shall remit to the consideration of the learned . ( bradshaw indeed pass'd a sentence upon the late king , as a traytor to the royalty of the people . ) but the strongest argument for himself that i find in the whole book , is five or six lines lower . if ever a papist m●unts this throne ( says he ) then all their murmurs , their petitions , protesting and associating-votes will be remembered to the purpose . now what can be a greater indignity to the justice and resolution of that illustrious body , than to imagine that so narrow a thought could any way influence the candour and solemnity of their debates ? he spends his sixteenth page upon instances out of hen. viii . to prove the succession of the english crown to be wholly subjected to the disposal , determinations and limitations of parliament . how far his assertion is right or wrong , i shall not concern my self . but however , as he has ordered the matter , it makes nothing at all for his purpose . the parliament ( he says ) 25 hen. 8. ) settled the crown upon the heirs of that kings body by queen ann ; and in the 28th . repealed that act , and entailed the succession upon the heirs of his body by queen jane ; mary and elizabeth being declared illegitimate . and in case he died without issue , then the parliament empowered him by the same act , to dispose of the succession by his own letters patents , or his last will. in the 35th year of his reign the parliament granted the succession to edward ; and for want of heirs of his body , to the lady mary , and the heirs of her body ; and for want of such heirs , to the lady elizabeth , under certain limitations and conditions contained in that act. from hence he infers , that a parliament may order and dispose of the succession . but whether they may , or not ; here 's little or nothing prov'd from these citations . first , under the ambiguity of the word parliament , he would have this thought to be the single act of the lords and commons , when the enacting authority of it was solely in the king. and yet he says expresly that henry 8. was so far from submitting to parliaments , that he would never have complemented them with a power that was not their due . if that power did belong to the parliament , what needed they the king's authority for the making of it good ; or to divest themselves of that power , by transferring it to the king , to dispose of the reversion , or remainder of the crown , by his will , or letters , patents , to such person as he pleas'd ? secondly , these statutes do not so properly transfer a right as declare and notifie the persons ; for the prevention of disputes , and competitions ; as appears by the preamble to that of the 28th . wherefore , we your most humble and obedient subjects , in this present parliament assembled , calling to our remembrance the great divisions which in times past have been in this realm ; by reason of several titles pretended to the imperial crown of this realm , which some times , and for the most part ensued , by occasion of ambiguity and doubts , then not so perfectly declared , but that men might upon froward intents expound them to every mans sinister appetite and affection , and posterity of the lawful kings and emperours of this realm ; whereof hath ensued great effusion and destruction of mans bloud , as well of a great number of the nobles , as of other the subjects , and especially inheritours in the same . and the greatest occasion thereof hath been , because no perfect and substantial provision by law hath been made within this realm of it self ; when doubts and questions have been moved and proponed of the certainty and legallty of the succession , and posterity of the crown , &c. now , so far is the intent of this act from diverting the succession , that the express end of it was the setting of it right , by the avoidance of a former settlement upon the nullity of the marriage . and afterward , 26th of the same king , cap. 2. the act here before mentioned is called , the act for the establishment of the succession of the heirs of the king's highness in the imperial crown of this realm . now there 's a great deal of difference betwixt translating the succession from the wrong to the right , and the diverting of it from the right to the wrong . thirdly , this change and disposition of settlement , tho it pass'd all the formalities of bill and debate , yet the first spring of it was from the certain knowledge of the kings pleasure to have it so , without which they durst never have ventur'd upon such a proposition . fourthly , matter of fact in this case is no proof of right , and especially a fact accompanied with so many circumstances of cross-capers and contradictions , as the pronouncing of the same persons to be both illegitimate and legitimate , &c. and a man cannot imagine , without a scandal to that grave and wise assembly , that the levity of those counsels , and that humour of swearing and counterswearing , could be any other than the caprice of their new head and governour . fifthly , with reverence to the utility and constitution of good and wholesom laws , it is not presently to cite a statute and say , there 's a precedent ; for those laws that are repugnant to the light of nature and common right , are n●llities in themselves . lastly , he brings instances here to prove , that a parliament may divert the succession ; but he shews withall , that there can be no security even in that exclusion , in shewing that what one parliament does , another may undo . so that we are now upon equal terms of security or hazard , either in the exclusion of the successor , or in the restraining of him . for if he be tied up by one parliament , another may set him at liberty ; and if he be excluded by one parliament , another may take him in again . but he that shapes his own premises , may cut out what conclusions he pleases . char. if then ( says he , which no man in his right wits can deny ) our religion , lives . and liberties , are onely held by a protestant tenure ; and the majesty of englfnd not onely by the force of his coronation oath , but by all the tyes whatever , ought to be the pillars and bulwark of the protestant faith ; and at the same time granting , that we have a popish prince to inherit the imperial crown of england ; he ought certainly in all justice as little to ascend this throne , as nebuchadnezzar ought to have kept his , when the immediate blast of heaven had made him so uncapable of ruling as a king , that he was only a companion fit for brutes and savages . fol. 17. it is true , that we hold the exercise of our religion by a protestant tenure , with a respect to a political union : but every man holds the religion it self that he ventures his soul upon ; not on the tenure of laws and constitutions humane , but on the tenure of the divine will and pleasure : providence having dealt so graciously with mankind , that , albeit in our bodies and estates , which are only corruptible , and temporary , we lye exposed to torments , persecutions , violence , and the iniquities of times and seasons ; our nobler part is yet exempt from the outrages , either of men or beasts ; and our faith , hope and charity , treasur'd up , where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt , and where thieves do not break through and steal . as for our lives and liberties ; we hold them by the common tenure of government ; the common right of men bound up in a civil society ; and under the protection of such and such laws and provisions , for the common benefit and security of the whole , and every part : and all this , clearly abstracted from this or that religion . in the cases of treasons , felonies , riots , false oaths , forgeries , scandals , and other misdemeanours , that endanger the publick peace ; i do not find that the law puts any difference betwixt criminals , because they are of several religions ; the protestant tenure of the king's judges signify'd no more in the eye of the law , than if they had been powder-plot jesuites . but to come now to his protestant tenure ; and to close with him upon it too . ( but as a supposal not to be supposed . ) if he means by this protestant tenure , the protestant religion of the church of england as established by law ; and that it is by this tenure , that we hold our religion , lives and libertiers ; it will concern us to support this tenure ; but in such manner yet , as the law directs : for to set up a tenure without a law , or to assert a tenure against a law , will not be for the credit of our authors pretensions . if he means the dissenting protestant tenure ; he removes the very basis of all our laws and sets up the title of the multiude against that of the government . and further ; this protestant tenure of his , cannot be understood barely of the doctrine of the church of england ; ( as in our nine and thirty articles ) for first , there are several points of them that are opposed and rejected by the men that value themselves upon this character ; and secondly , our laws fall not shorter in any thing perhaps , of so great importance , than in the point of competent provisions for the suppressing and punishing of heretical , and blasphemous doctrines . so that this protestant tenure must of necessity have a regard to the vniformity of worship , according to the forms , rights , and ceremonies by the law in that case provided : and in this sence i must confess that our lives , liberties , and the religion of the government ( tho' not directly , yet in a most rational consecution of dangerous probabilities ) lye all at stake . wherefore again and again i say ▪ let us joyn with our author in the maintaining of this protestant tenure . for tho' the intent of it be only to intimate a jelousy of popery to the multitude ; we shall yet find it , upon examination , to have a loyal aspect toward the government . here is an vniformity prescrib'd ; which is neither a new thing to us , nor an vnnecessary . not a new one ; for it has descended to us from the time of edward the sixth ; and it was the only expedient that queen elizabeth could find out , for the safety of her person , and dominions : that excellent queen elizabeth , ( as our author says , fol. 17 ) vnder whose long and gracious reign , england was so highly blessed . nay , and so sacred is the providence of order , that notwithstanding all the fulminations of the pope , and the numbers , as well as the dangerous practices , of the papists , on the one hand ; and the impetuous clamours and importunities of dissenting protestants on the other , charging both her self and her ministers with popish practices and designs . this steady queen did yet ( i say ) preserve her princely dignity , and the reputation of her people , both at home and abroad ▪ and at the same time , maintain her ground against two potent factions ; by standing firm to the rules , and methods of her ecclesiastical discipline , and it is remarkable , that the state has still been more or less at ease in measure , as that discipline has been either upheld , or relaxed . in forty and forty one this fence was thrown down ; and i need not say , after the overturning of that bank , what monsters were bred out of the mud , upon that innuundation . in the 14th . of his majesties reign , and after his blessed restauration , this uniformity was re-inforc'd ; and in the 16th . follow'd an act for supp●●ssing sedicious conventicles . and now you shall see how much it behoves us to stand by our protestant tenure , and how far our religion , lives , and liberties are concerned in so doing . the reformed , or protestant religion , both in doctrine and discipline , as it is settled by law ; is the protestant tenure here in question : and what party soever enterprizes upon the worship here establish'd , usui●ps upon this protestant tenure . it has been the wisdom of the government , from time to time to require an vniformity , in the manner and circumstances of our worship ; and upon what motives and apprehensions they were induced to observe those measures , will best appear from the acts themselves . to begin with the act of 1 ed. 6. it was intended for the gaining of an vniform , godly and quiet order . 35. eliz. there was a provision made for the preventing and avoiding such great inconveniences and perils as might happen , and grow by the wicked and dangerous practises of seditious sectaries , and disloyal persons , &c. where it was made penal so much as to be present at a conventicle . in the same year of the queen , there was an act against wicked and seditious persons , who termed themselves catholicks , and being indeed spies and intelligencers , not only for her majesties foreign enemies , but also for rebellious and trayterous subjects born within her highnesses realms and dominions ; and hiding their most detestable , and devilish purposes , under a fair pretext of liberty of conscience , do secretly wander and shift from place to place within this realm , to corrupt and s●ouce her sajesties subjects , and to stir them to sedition and rebellion , &c. 3 jac. an act for discovering and repressing popish recusants , 14 car. 2. the intent of this act was the settling the peace of the church and allaying the present distempers which the indisposition of time had contracted . many people in the late troubles having béen led into factions and schisms , to the great decay and scandal of the reformed religion of the chnrch of england , and to the hazzard of many souls . and lastly , 16 car. 2. an act for suppressing conventicles , providing for further and more spéedy remedies against the growing and dangerous practices of seditious sectaries , and other disloyal persons , who under pretence of tender consciences , do at their méeting contrive insurrections , as late experience hath shewed , & c.. from these citations we may collect both the intent and the necessity of an vniform worship , and upon what considerations these acts were made ; and it appears undenyably from those outrages that follow'd upon the peoples breaking loose from this restraint , that the lawmakers were not deceived in their foresight . nor could any other be expected , but a liberty of practice after a licence of profession , and that after a dissolution of the law there should be no longer any regard had to religion or manners . but what do we talk of religion in a tune ? the sounds of things and empty words , when they come once to be followed with flagitious actions and execrable effects ? was the venom of the covenant ever the less diabolical for the holy style of it ? will [ your majesty's most humble and obedient subjects ] attone for the robbing and the murdering of their soveraign ? christ and his truths is every jot as good a claim as a protestant tenure . and yet i 'le shew you here the contumacy of lucifer himself under that mask , and the very soul of their hands-up-lifting covenant ; which tho under the name of cargils covenant , is the old covenant still , onely a little rank with keeping . the last speech and testimony of will. gogor , one of the three desperate and incorrigible traytors executed at the grass market in edinburgh , march 11. 1681 , for disowning his sacred majesty's authority , and owning and adhering to these bloudy and murdering principles , contained in that execrable declaration at sanquhat , cargils traitorous covenant , and sacrilegious excommunicating of the king , by that arch traytor cargil , and avowing of themselves to be bound in conscience , and by their covenant , to murder the king , and all that serve under him ; being armed ( the time they were appreh●nded ) for that purpose . men and brethren , these are to shew you , that i am come here this day to lay down my life for owning christ and his truths ; and in so much as we are caluminiated and reproached by lying upon our names , and dreadful upbraiding of us , with saying , that we are not led by the scriptures ; and say , we have taken other rules to walk by : i take the great god to be witness against all and every one of them , that i take the word of god to be my rule , and i never designed any thing but honesty and faithfulness to christ ; and for owning of christ and the scriptures this day i am murder'd , for adhering to the born-down truths i am condemned to die ; and i also leave my testimony , and bear witness against all the apostate ministers this day , that have taken favour at the enemies hands , the onely thing they take away my life for is , because i disowned all those bloudy traytors not to be magistrates , which the word of god casts off , and we are bound in conscience and covenant to god , to disown all such as are enemies to god , and which they are avowed and open enemies to christ ; and they have made void my word , saith the lord. say what ye will devils , say wretches , say enemies , say what ye will , we are owning the truth of christ and his written word ; and condemn me in my judgment who will , i leave my bloud on one and all that say we are not led by the scripture ; i leave my bloud upon you again to be a witness against you , and a condemnation in the great day of judgment . i have no more to say , i think this may mitigate all your rage ; and so forth . i leave his enemies to his curse , to be unished into everlasting wrath for now and ever . amen . sic subscribitur will. gogor . methinks this specimen of an enthusiastick zeal should make men wary how they deal with these guilded pills after so damn'd an operation . and it is not to say , that this is the transport of a mad man ; but it is the effort of the very principle , and the whole strain of them that has been taken off by the hand of justice , ( not for treasonous words neither , but actual rebellions ) have so behaved themselves at the last cast , as if the whole schism were upon a vie who should damn bravest . these stories are no meal●tub shams ; death and damnation are past ●oolling . but how comes it that we that wear christ in our foreheads should carry antichrist in our hearts ? and under the name of christians walk so contrary both to the doctrine , and to the example of our suffering saviour ? as if the mere profession of the gospel did not onely make void the scope and precepts of it , but extinguish in us the very dictates of right nature ; and then as protestants under the pretended abomination of popery to set it up ; that is to say , upon impulse of religion to do in any sort whatsoever a manifest wrong . let the end be never so good , it must yet upon the score of conscience be warranted by lawful means , and with such a regard to prudence too , that the means we make use of toward a good end , may not be imployed to a bad one . one man wishes a reformation in the government , another skrews himself in under the same pretence , but to destroy it . it would be endless and nauseous to farce up a pamphlet with citations , in a case where the whole story of the world is so full of precedents . how came it that hen. 8 when he was suspected to be more than half a protestant , proceeded so quietly and without opposition , in declaring and limiting the succession ? and then that the lady elizabeth ( his daughter ) being a profess'd protestant and the major party of the people papists , came to the crown , without any considerable objection to her religion ? we do not find , notwithstanding the branded apostacy of jeroboam , that made israel to sin , that his people yet laid hold of any pretence to rebel against him . we do not read in the story of ethelbert king of kent , upon his being converted to christianity by angustin the monk , that his subjects , though pagans , ever took up arms against him for 't . nor that the pagan subjects of any of the other saxon kings in their heptarchy , opposed their sovereigns , for change of religion ; neither was there any persecution on the king's side , for matter of religion . bonos principes ( says tacit. hist. lib. 4. ) voto expetere debemus , &c. we are to pray to god for good kings , but to submit to them whatever they are . tertullian ( apolog. 30. ) christianus nullius est hostis , &c. the christian ( says he ) is no mans enemy , much less the emperors : for knowing that he governs by gods appointment , he cannot but love , reverence , honour and wish him well , with all that belong to him , and therefore we pay that veneration to him that belongs to him , as being next immediately under god ; what he has is from god , and god is only his superiour , &c. and so far were the primitive christians from opposing their superiours , that they would not allow so much as a dis-respectful word to be given them . there was no turning of princes in those days , a grazing with nebuchadnezzar among the beasts ; no calling of them gangreen'd , and corrupted , leprous branches of royalty . but the very apostles canons provided against those rude indecencies that reflect not only upon his popish successor , but upon all the crowned heads of christendom of that perswasion . quisquis imperatorem , &c. ( says the canon ) whosoever shall speak ill of the emperor , or of the magistrate , let him be punsh'd . if a clergy-man , depos'd ; if a lay-man , excommunicated . but what needs this recourse to the examples and judgments of antiquity for the clearing of christianity in a case where the common principles of human nature are sufficient to set us right ? first , there is the violation of a gospel-precept , in doing evil that good may come of it , as certainly the divesting of a prince of his right , in an unwarrantable way of doing it , is a very ill thing . i speak all this while to the character of a popish successor ; which pushes on the people , hand over head , to the end , without that regard to the means , which the cause , i think , does require : but after this , when a lawful authority intervenes , the state of the question is quite another thing ; for it is no longer religion , but policy that will be the subject then in consideration . secondly , the admittance of this position does in a complement to christianity , overthrow all religion , and puts all christians into a state of hostility : for there are some particulars , undoubtedly , of all perswasions that do firmly believe themselves to be in the right . and then consequently , every divided party is that to the other which a popish successor is to the author of the character . and at this rate christians are in the worst condition of all mortals , by making it a point of conscience to enter worry one another . to say nothing of the scandal they bring upon the gospel , by erecting this rigorous and sanguinary doctrine upon the foundations of meekness , charity and peace . and this position does not only confound the harmony that ought to be among the disciples of jesus christ ; but superinduces an utter subversion of the fundamentals of government and obedience . for to say that a prince of another faith may be deposed , or secluded for his religion , does not only authorize , but provoke a prince of another perswasion to render the same measure to his people ; and it absolves both the one and the other from the obligation of that mutual correspondence which is necessary betwixt them for the conservation of the community . nor is it all , that the maxim it self is pernicious , ( which many times is the ill hap of a fair intention ; ) but there is so gross a partiality in the conduct of this character , that a man must have a great deal more charity than appears in the author of it , to allow it so much as the possibility of a good meaning . here 's a clamour advanc'd in the name of the english protestants , against a popish successor . but upon what ground ? because it is a persecuting religion . well! and what religion is it in a successor that would please them ? the protestant religion . but the religion of the church protestants will not please the dissenting protestants ; and then , 't is impossible for the dissenting protestants to please one another ; and as impossible for a successor of any one religion to please them all . but now which of these protestant religions must he be of ? for there are a matter of two hundred divided sects that list themselves under that denomination . well! but if they be true protestants they 'll vnite against popery . yes , as the fellow united his ratts , he put them all into a tub together , and then they eat up one another . view them well , and you shall not find above three of four of them that have any consistence one with another . and which are they ? nay , that 's a secret. but if popery be so dreadful , because it is a persecuting religion ; why is not the writer of this character as sensible of 150 persecuting religions on the one side , as of one persecuting religion on the other ? god preserve the church of england , i say , from both . or if that bitter cup be our lot , the lord in his mercy grant that we may not add sedition to persecution . it were no ill embleme of the original of our late troubles , to phancy a man in a fright , and leaping from a painted lion upon a wall into a bed of vipers . and no better are the pragmatical part of the revolters from our communion , while in the mean time , thousands and thousands of the credulous and well meaning multitude are by them inveigled to their destruction . about the middle of the 17th page , the character-man is either laid down to take a nap , while some other less skilful hand supplys his place ; or else he writes on in his sleep . and it would have been well , if all the rest too had been no more than a dream . there is a finical marchpane spark here about the town , that takes a huge deal of pains to get himself suspected for the author of this book ; he makes me think of a little gentleman in a yellow coat , that would still be talking how rarely he plaid o' th' organ ; and this poor wretch phancied that he made all the musique , when it was his part only to draw the bellows . he has done some very pretty things , they say , upon touzer . but for this character , i dare venture to be his compurgator ; at least to the middle of the 17th page . but further i dare not undertake ; for the next two rages and a half , a man may trace them upon the hoof to the very ink-pot . his story of paris's mother , ( some body should have told him that it was hecuba ) that dream'd she was deliver'd of a fire-brand . his debate upon the parallel betwixt the dis-inheriting a private popish heir , and a popish successor . his proposal of the successors following curtius into the gulf ; the third-bare story of damocles's sword. and then his argumentum à fortiori : these fragments might possibly be the fruit of his own minerva . but now , toward the bottom of the 19th page we have the first hand again . char. but to sum up all ; ( says he ) if no reason must or shall prevail ; and that right or wrong a papist must succeed : when all the inseparable cruelties of pope and popery shall surround us ; suppose the worst that may be , that the dreadful approach of certain slavery , so opposite to the free-born genius of england , has exasperated them into a spirit of rebellion : what is it but the pestilential ayer of reigning popery , that bloats and swells them into that contagion ? and if this popish king summons all his thunder to punish them for 't , what can the greatest favourer of rome make more on 't , than that he warps them crooked , and then breaks them to pieces because they are not streight . [ just as he serves his popish successor ; he draws ye the picture of a tyrant , and then deposes him ] and what 's the whole sum of a revolting nation under a popish tyrant ? but using a violent cure to expel an universal poyson . fol. 19. this clause is only buchanan , janius . brutus , &c. translated into english , and for brevity sake , a fair hint toward a rebellion , and an apology for it , both in one . as who should say , if it must come to a popish successor the english genius would never brook it , and there 's no remedy but one , that is to say , a revolt ; which they may e'en thank themselves for . and then , up goes forty one again ● the factions dismount the government , set up for themselves , and so go on , plucking down him still that is uppermost till they come from reforming to levelling ; and there is an end on 't . i would he had not been so positive upon the free born genius of england ; for we have been inveigled actually into a slavery under cobblers , and tinkers . we that with so much indignation at present , oppose ourselves to the bare possibility of a royal successor . and that have sacrificed three kingdoms already to those degenerate fears . char. but here ( says he ) will some pretended , pious , objector say ; how shall we dare to revolt ? remember we are christians , and we must obey ; or at least yield a passive obedience to our king ; be his religion , principles , or government , never so tyrannique , he is still the lords anointed , and our native sovereign . i would ask ( says he ) what this lords anointed is . and who t is is our native sovereign . when instead of being free-subjects , pope and tyranny shall rule over us ; and we are made slaves , and papists ? that person is the lords anointed who by gods providence , and a legal succession of right to the crown , is the supreme magistrate ; whom , if we may cast off for popery and tyranny , we may depose at any time , by saying that 's the case : for 't is but saying so , to make it so . nay , and he goes further yet . for here 's a prince depos'd , for fear he should be so ; without any allowance for intervening contingences . or any limits to the extent of the prospect . so that 't is but the carrying on of our jealousies to future times , and without any more to do , dissolve the monarchy upon the self-same contemplation . it would be as pertinent a question now , what are those free subjects , as what is this lords anointed ? if by this freedom he would intimate an exemption from the law ; his free-subject is a palpable contradiction ▪ for in this case he makes the lords anointed the subject ; and his free subject the lords anointed . char. we are bound indeed ( says he ) by our oaths of allegiance to a constant loyalty to the king and his lawful successors . very right . by that oath we are bound to be his lawful successors loyal subjects ; but why his loyal slaves ? or how is an arbitrary , absolute popish tyrant any longer a lawful successor to a protestant established , and bounded government ? when lawfuly succeeding to this limited monarchy , he afterwards violently , unlawfully , and tyrannically overruns the due b●unds of power , dissolves the whole royal constitution of the three free-states of england , and the subjects petition of right ? whilst wholly abandoning those reins of government , which were his lawful birth-right , and making new ones of his own illegal creation , he makes us neither those free-born subjects we were , when we took that oath , nor himself that king we swore to be loyal to . what have we here but a jesuitical dispensation for the breaking of an oath , and slipping our necks out of the collar of our allegiance by a mental reservation ? first , we swear in this oath ( as in all others ) to the sense of the authority that imposes it . and can any body imagine that the government impos'd this test of allegeance upon the people , to leave them still at liberty to play fast and loose with reserves and qualifications of their own : and so to frustrate the main intent of the oath , by accommodating the exposition of it for the serving of a turn , or a faction ? the oath binds them to subjection ; and they absolve themselves of that subjection by giving it the name of slavery . and so every man is left at pleasure to take off his own shackles . but what if it were slavery it self ? the prince were to blame for straining his authority , but the subjects nevertheless criminal , on the other side for withdrawing their duty . he has found a loop-hole to evade this oath , by turning svbiects into slaves . but that will not do his business , without turning a lawful successor to a protestant establisht and bounded government into an arbitrary , absolute , popish tyrant . in which supposition he holds forth this doctrine to the people ; that in this case , there is a forfeiture of the government ; and that this is the very case which we have now before us ; wherein , contrary to law , reason and the fundamental essentials of all government , he does , as much as in him lyes , authorize and incite the multitude to a sedition . i answer , that the law is clearly against him ; for tho the prerogative is bounded , the duty of the subject is yet left unconditional , there being no law , nor so much as the colour of any , incase of the kings passing his legal limits , to absolve the people of their allegeance . and it is not the plea of provocation , or the exercise of a tyrannical power , that will save the subject from the sentence o● the law , in case of any disloyal act of assault or resistance . it is against reason likewise , that the inferiour shall overrule the superiour , and invert the last resort of decision and judgment from the prince to the subject . it is , lastly , destructive of government it self , to suppose such a reserve in a political constitution , as carries the last appreal to the people , which is the case in this proposition . the king as a trustee that abuses his power incurrs a forfeiture , ( as our author will have it ) of that trust ; and so all subordinate trustees may incurr the like forfeiture , till all communities are melted down again into the ridiculous conceit of the original soveraignty of the multitude , which is onely a chaos of anarchy and confusion . he is over again here with the royal constitution of the three free states of england ; which must be understood either of the lords spiritual , temporal , and commons ; or of the king , lords , and commons , reckoning his majesty to be one of the three estates . take it the former way , and instead of your majesty's loyal subjects the lords and commons in parliament , ( which was the style even of the last rebellion it self ) the petition should run t'other way , and say , the humble petition of charles the second , to your majesties the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons ●ssembled in parliament . now take it as accounting the king to be one of the three estates , that imaginary c●ordination leaves him at the mercy of the other two whensoever they please . the learned and the right reverened bishop of lincoln , in his discourse of popery , pag. 4. england ( says he ) is a monarchy , the crown imp●rial , and our kings supreme governours , and sole supreme governours of this realm , and all other their dominions , &c. in our oath of supremacy we swea● , that the king is the only supreme governour , supreme , so none ( not the pope ) above him ▪ and only supreme , so none coordinate or equal to him . the character brings in the subjects petition of right for a further countenance to his pretension ; but what noise soever it makes in the cars of the people , there is not one syllable in it that appears in his favour . and yet once again upon the presumptions ascresaid he grounds this assertion , that in such a case neither is he the same king that we swore to , nor we the same subjects that took the oath . if this be not rome against rome , and popery against popery , i know not what is . but at the worst it is but paraphrazing upon the oath of allegiance as they did upon the covenant . give me leave now to retort the argument . his popish success●r will be a tyrant , ( he says ) for it is a tyrannical religion . but after all the stress of ●rreverent language upon his r. h. he cannot charge any thing in the worldupon him , that looks that way , in his inclination . but yet here 's enough ( says he ) to conclude the reason and the necessity of his seclusion . the compiler of this character would take it ill now , on the other side , if a man should say that his very argument against the duke , holds as true against the author of the character . for that dominion is founded in grace , is the principle both for which , and by which he pretends to supplant the successor . now why may we not apprehend sedition from the one , as well as tyranny from the other ? nay and with more justice too ; considering that there is but a bare contemplation the one way , and the practice of an enflaming discourse over and above that contemplation , the other . char. but alas ! ( says he ) that bug-bear , passive obedeience , is a notion crept into the world , and most zealously , and perhaps as ignorantly defended . fol. 20. this period brings him well nigh to his journeys end : for , till now , he contented himself with only opposing the primitive practices , and the common principles of christianity , in justifying a violence , upon an impulse of religion : but the making of passive obedience only a bug-bear , and the defence of it an effect of ignorance , brings it home to the very person of our saviour , and to the doctrine that was delivered by those holy lips. so far ( says the learned prelate above mentioned , pag. 55. ) was st. paul from believing those popish rebellious principles , ( denying the superiority of the civil power ) and from dissoyalty or disobedience to that imperial ( tho' pagan ) power under which he lived ; that he publickly acknowledged , and humbly submitted to it . nor was he only in his own person obedient , and a loyal subject to the emperor , but ( writing to the romans ) he did , as an apostle of jesus chr●st , command them also to be loyal and obedient . let every soul ( every man ) be subject to the higher ( the supreme ) powers , &c. and then he adds , that they should render to them tribute , custom , fear , honour , and all their duties . by supreme power there , he means men possessing supreme power , and the supreme power , under which he and the romans then were , was nero , a most impious pagan , and persecutor of christ , and christians ; and yet every soulq within his empire , ( even peter as well as paul ) was ( by the law of god , and the gospel ) to be subject to him , to fear , honour , pay him tribute , and legally obey him . nay the same reverend prelate , ( pag. 54 ) in confirmation of this doctrine , cites the precept of our blessed saviour himself , as well as st. paul. our blessed saviour ( says he , whose vicar the pope pretends to be ) does himself pay tribute to caesar , ( tho' a pagan , and idolat●r ) leaving us an admirable , and most pious example of that obedience , and loyalty due , even to impious and pagan princes : n●r is this all ; for he further gives express command , that all should render to cesar the things which are cesars . he acknowledgeth the imperial rights of c●sar , of which his impiety and idolatry did not deprive him . our author said but just now , that passive obedience was no more then a bug-bear , and a doctrine groundless , and only slipt into the world as by the by. but he tells us now ( fol. 20. toward the bottom ) that in case of a vow'd allegiance to an absolute and arbitrary king , a passive obedience was due : but what 's this ( says he ) to a king of england ? with his leave i take it to be the same thing as to the peoples obedie●ce or submission ; tho' in respect of the assuming , and exercising that power , the case , on the kings side , is greatly differing , for the question is not whether the king does well or ill in forcing his authority beyond the due hounds , but whether the tyranny , on the one side , will justify an undutiful behaviour , on the other ? and the law it self will easily determine . this controversy . if the subject be ty'd up by the law to an allegiance unconditional , ( as aforesaid ) and without any exception , or qualification , to discharge him of that duty , in any cace whatsoever , the cause is clear against him . and this is enough said to shew , that under the masque of a zeal to crush one sort of popery , there is a design carryed on for the introducing of another . see now what he says of monarchy . monarchy ( says he fol. 21. ) can be acquir'd but by two ways . first , by the choice of the people , who frequently , in the beginning of the world , out of a natural desire of safety , for the securing of a peaceful community and conversation , chose a single person to be their head , as a proper , supream moderator in all differences that might arise to disquiet that community : thus were kings made for the people , and not the people for kings this principle of popular liberty , and placing the original of government in the people , is highly derogatory to the providence of god ; contrary to the express letter of the text , and destructive of the very being of human society , first , by implying mankind to be cast into the world unprovided for . secondly , it makes magistracy , which the apostle tells us ; ( rom. 13. 2. ) is the ordinance of god , to be of human institution , or at best , nature's second thought ; but in truth , an effect either of tumult or chance , according as men were led to 't either by choice or necessity . thirdly , in supposing power to be radically in the people , and the grant of it to be only an act of conveyance by common consent , and with a power of revocation , upon certain equitable conditions , either express'd or imply'd ; there goes no more than the peoples recalling of their power , to the dissolving of all commu●ities ; and humane society , at this rate , lyes at the mercy of the multitude . but how this revocation shall be notify'd , unless by way of advertisement in one of the true protestant-anabaptist-mercurys , i cannot imagine . but then consider again , that this grant and revocation must pass with a nemine contradicente ; nay , and a nemine absente too : for one single diss●●● , or the want of one single vote , spoils all ; and makes , void both the original grant , and all that was done subsequent upon it : for by reason of that defect , it is no longer the act of the people . it may put a man in admiration , to see what credit this phantastique and impracticable conceit has got in the world , if he does not observe the address in the application of it , and the use that is made of it . all violent motions of state ( we see ) are wrought and brought about by the favour and assistance of the people . and there can be no readier way in the world to make them sure , then either to calumniate , or otherwise to lay open the nakedness of the government , and to tell them that princes are only trustees for the peoples good ; the sovereignty in themselves ; and that if governours break their trust , the people may resume their power . when the multitude has once imbib'd this doctrine , the next work will be to set up for the recovery of their inheritance : and when it comes to that once , we need but look behind us to see the end on 't . our author has already admitted , ( upon this mistake of the fountain of power ) that the people may yet pass away their original right , without power of revocation . here indeed , ( says he , speaking of a concession of absolute power ) a passive obedience was due ; but what 's this to a king of england ? now though the doctrine of this passage ( fol. 20. ) seems to clash with an equity of resumption , reserved to the people in the last paragraph above-recited , ( fol. 21. ) i shall yet lay no hold of that implication , but turn the force of his own allowance against himself . if the peoples alienation of their power to a prince , without conditions , shall stand good against them ; so shall the alienation of their power also to a prince , under conditions , stand every jote as good , within the limits of those conditions . and where shall we find those conditions , but in the establish'd law , which marks out the bounds , both of king and people ? now if the law pronounces the king to be supream in all causes , and over all persons , &c. and yet with some limitations and restraints upon his prerogative : suppose he passes those terms , who shall judge him , but god if he be supream , and has no other power above him ? or if the people have reserved , in such a case , any controuling power to themselves , how comes it that the law takes no notice of it ; but on the contrary , makes the subjects accountable for any act of disobedience or violence to , or upon the person , or authority of the king , upon what pretence soever ? so that under the colour of opposing or preventing an arbitrary power ; the law is subverted ( here ) at a b●ow ; and a foundation laid of the most pernicious and shameful sort of tyranny . he says that kings were made for the people , and not people for the kings , which is well enough , if he means that kings were made for the government of the people , which is the great blessing of mankind ; and not people for the government of the king ; which turns society into confusion . but after all these words , to shew that government originally was not popular ; i shall add a few more , to prove the institution of it to be purely divine : which opinion , in truth , needs not any other support , than the authority of the holy scriptures . by me kings reign , &c. i have made the earth , the man , and the beasts that are upon the ground by my great power , and my outstretched arm , and have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me , jer. 27. 5. that which we now call kingly government was at first called paternel , and after that patriarchal , &c. and we find , by the powers they exercised ( as life and death , war and peace , &c. ) that their paternal power did then extend to all the acts of our regal power ; the objection is , could there be a king without a people ? which is all one with the supposal of a father without a son. but this does not at all conclude that adam had not both a regal and a paternal power , before he had either people or children , actually to govern , and exercise it upon : it being a thing so consonant also , to the methods of the divine wisdom , to supply him previously with all needful abilities and authorities for the discharge of his fatherly and governing office : the whole race of his posterity , lying open , even before they had any existency in nature , to the omniscience of god , with whom there is no past or futvre , but all things , always present . again , if adam did not bring his authority into the world with him , when did he receive his commission ? or , if he had none at all , how could he justifie the arbitrary rule he exercis'd over those people that were only his fellow subjects , under the same god , and without any subordinate ruler over them ? or if adam was vested with a right of exerting the power he exercis'd ; how came our authors imaginary multitude to chuse a governor of their own , in opposition to the appointment of providence ? or who absolved them from the bonds of their filial and primary duty and obedience ? what he says afterward of conquest , ( which he calls his other acquisition of monarchy ) serves only for an occasion to tell us , that our last norman conquest was little more than a composition : which is an error and nothing at all to the point here in hand , which refers only to the constitution , and settlement of the government , as now it stands , without any respect to the manner of acquiring it . but he is now drawing to a conclusion . char. if now at last , ( says he ) popery must and shall come in , ( as by law it cannot ) and consequently must be restored by arbitrary power . if a new monarchy , then a new conquest , and if a conquest , heaven forbid we should be subdu'd like less than english-men ; or be debar'd the common right of all nations , which is , to resist , and repel an invader , if we can , fol. 21. this is spoken upon the supposition of a popish successors coming to the crown , whom he calls an invader ; ( though qualifyed with a legal title ) and he incourages violence against him , tho' in this case the law pronounces him a king : and this resistance to be made like english-men too , that is to say english-men of the late stamp . so that there goes no more ( i perceive ) to the destruction of a lawful prince , but to say that he either is or will be this or tha● : and the king himself stands in as much danger , upon the admittance of this principle , as his royal brother . but before subjects proceed to these terms , which without a legal authority are criminal in any case whatsoever , malice it sel● will not deny , but that there ought to be an infallible certainty of the inconvenience : whereas ( as i have said before ) this is a case lyable to many disappointments ; the prospect of it remote , the expedient unwarrantable , and the danger it self at last not so mortal as it is represented . he supports his presumption upon this ground for granted , that a popish king must do whatsoever the pope will have him do , and subject his people to the tyranny as well as the religion of the church of rome . what does he say to the french kings pyramid then , and the vindication of himself and his people in divers other cases , from the insults of rome ; and to several other instances already given in this particular ? char. but to summ up all this ( says he ) i must say , the most vehement disputants against the peoples right of defending themselves , must at length ac●nowledge thus much , that whenever a papist king shall by tyranny establish the popes jurisdiction in england , undoubtedly in the eye of god he is guilty of a greater sin than that people can be , that with open arms oppose that tyranny . ; fol. 22. this is a clause of double consolation : first , to the author , that this popish king shall be damn'd the deeper of the two . and , secondly , to the people , that they shall go to the devil in good company . char. the very essence ( he says ) of a popish successor is the greatest plot upon england since the creation ; a plot of god himself to scourge a nation , and make three kingdoms miserable . this must be a very great plot , if it be the greatest plot that we have seen even in our days : a plot upon our laws , and it subverted them ; upon the church , and it destroyed it root and branch ; upon our estates , and it took them away by violence ; upon our liberties , and it enslav'd us ; upon our lives , and it was made death to do our duties . it was a plot that left us no other choice in many cases but death or damnation . if i had ask'd my revenues ( says the late king , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ sect . 24. ) my power of the militia , or any one of my kingdoms , it had been no wonder to have been denied in those things , where the evil policy of men forbids all restitution , lest they should confess an injurious usurpation . but to deny me the ghostly comfort of chaplains , seems a greater rigour and barbarity then is ever used by christians to the meanest prisoners , and greatest malefactors , whom , tho' the justice of the law , deprives of worldly comforts , yet the mercy of religion allows them the benefit of their clergy : as not aiming at once to destroy their body● , and to damn their souls . but my agony must not be reliev'd with the presence of any one good angel ; ( for such ●account a learned , godly and discreet divine● & such i would have all mine to be ; ) they that envy my being a king , are loth i should be a christian , while they seck to deprive me of all things else ; they are a●●a●d i should save my soul. has the author of the character heard of this un-christian barbarity toward a prince of the most exemplary goodness and piety ( one of them ) that ever liv'd : and how he was yet , after all this , murther'd on a scaffold , in the name , and under the pretended sovereignty of the people of england ? how has he then the hardness of heart to set up that regicidal principle afresh ; and to pronounce the government of a popish successor to be a greater plot upon england , than the execrable bloud-shed of that protestant prince ? and yet he carries it one step higher . a plot of god ( he calls it ) and at the same time lays the foundation of it in hell , and most heroically opposes it . from hence to the end both of the page and book , there 's only more variety of flourish to the same purpose . my pretending to answer this discourse , looks methink , as if a man should reply upon an alman●ck ( for several years to come ) it runs altogether upon phansys , suppositions , predict●ons , &c. and there 's no dis-proving of a prognostication ; nor hardly any reasoning against it ; but so far as it is calculated according to rules of art : and wheresoever i have found any thing that looks like a logical connexion , i have spoken to those passages what i thought convenient . but for the rest ; my business has been to encounter the drift of it , and to expound the danger of these present iealousies , by referring people to the miserable effects of the same jealousie in the late times . it is an easie thing for people to foretel calamities and judgments of their own contriving . there is not any man living that more passionately desires the ripping up of this dam●'d , hellish plot to the bottom , than my self ; but i must confess withal , that i am for suppressing the malice of pope●y , as well as the name ; and utterly against the damning of any position in a papist , that i practice my self . the best way to discover a jesuite , is by his principle ; for it is the doctrine , and not the order , or d●n●mination , that creates the danger . so that we are never the nearer for rocting out the one , unless we purge our selves also from the leagen of the other . which will be the o●ly safe way of faci●itating a comprehensive union of those conscientious dissent●rs that wish well to the king and his government . and in order to this discrimination , i shall give the reader here a taste of the harmony and agreement betwixt the jesuites of the society , and those of the covenant . that is to say , such other jesuites , as , under the cover of dissenting protestants take advantage of the credulity and weakness of the common people , toward the working of distempers in the nation . popish and jesuitical principles . dominion is founded in grace ; ( says the romish jesuite ) and upon that principle , deposes protestant princes . but the covenanting jesuite is even with him , and upon the same principle deposes popish princes : as knox and those of the congregation in scotland depos'd the queen regent ( cambden ' s eliz. an. 1559 ) penry told the lord president of wales , that without advancing the presbyterian discipline he could have no commission to rule there ; for having rejected christ , he was but the lieutenant of satan . and our character does pretty well too , in ranking a popish prince with nebuchadnezzar , fol. 17. the pope may deprive a king of his royal dignity for heresie , schism , &c. ( b. of lincoln's popish principles , pag. 20. ) and after excommunication ( says mariana ) in case of obstinacy , the people may take away his life . now says the covenanting jesuite ; all men as well magistrates , as inferiors , ought to be subject to the judgment of general assemblies ( see bishop bramhal pag. 501. ) ministers ( says buchanan de jur. reg. page 70. ) may excommunicate princes ; and when they have cast them into hell , they are not worthy to live any longer upon earth . pius quintus absolv'd the subjects of q. eliz. from all their oaths of allegiance to her for ever . and now ( says knox to england and scotland ) if princes be tyrants against god and his truth , their subjects are free from their oath of obedie●ce . and our jesuitical covenanters did the same thing too , with a penalty , in abolishing the oaths of supremacy and allegiance , and setting up their covenant . we command ( says the same pius quintus ) all the peers , people and subjects of england not to pay any obedieuce to the queen , her commands , or laws . and was not this the same thing that our covenanting jesuites did , in commanding upon pain of imprisonment , and sequestration , not to obey the kings proclamations , and in making it death without mercy for any man that had taken the cove●ant to go , without a pass into the kings quarters ? pope pavl 3d. interdicted all publick prayers for henry 8. or his adherents , after his denyal of the popes supremacy , to the whole nation . and did not our scottish jesuites the same thing in refusing to to pray for the mother of king james , when she was in her distress though the king desired it ? and did not our english covenanting jesuites make it malignancy and sequestration , to pray for the king in their churches ? if a clergy-man rebel against the king , it is no treason ▪ ( says em●nuel sa ) because clergy-men art not the kings subjects . the jesuits of the kirk told king james , that he was an incompetont iudge of matters in the pulpit , wich ought to be exempted from the iudgment and correction of princes . and the assembly brought off gibson and blake , for cursing and railing at the king in the pulpit , upon the same plea. and the late king had as little remedy for treason deliver'd in the pulpits here . the papal power ( says sciopptus ) is supream , and the pope has a right to direct and c●mpel , and a power of life and death . and did not our jesuits in the assembly , and the two houses practice the same usurpations in 1642 ? does not the kirk , in the cases of bloud , adultery , blasphemy , &c. take the pardoning-power out of the king's hand ? did not the scottish jesuits in 1638. prote●t against proclamations , make void acts of parliament , levy m●n , monies and arms , for the glory of god , and preservation of rel●gion ? kings declaration . pag. 415. do they not claim power to abrogate and abolish what statutes and ordinances they please , concerning ecclesiastical matters ? see bishop brambal , fol. 497. &c. and in short , in ordine ad spiritualia , take into their cognizance all matters whatsoever . snarez , approves of a subjects killing his prince in his own defence ; and much more , if it be in defence of the publique . buchanad seconds him , and would have him rewarded for it , as if he had kill'd a wolf or a bear. for ( says he , in his de jure regni ) the people are as much above the king , as he is above any one person . which our jesuits have translated into singulis major , vniversis minor. does not our assembly set up for infallible , as well as the pope . and have not our jesuites their pious frauds as well as those of the church of rome ; their dreams , visions and revelations ? where was there ever more equivocation , or mental reservation , then in their swearing to preserve the king , with a design to destroy him ? where did the pope himself ever take more upon him , as to the indicting of assemblies , abrogating acts of parliament , and in the exercise of all other the ensigns of royalty ? does not our assembly expect to be submitted to with as implicite a faith , and as blind an obedience as the pope himself ? we must ●●sign up our judgments ( says the church of rome ) our vvill , and our vnderstanding in a deferencé to our superiors . to which purpose ( as i find it in lysimachus n●canor page 48. ) andrew cant when he found he could give no reasons for subscribing the covenant , told his congregation at glascow , that they must deny learning and reason , and help christ at a lift : and told them further , upon the same occasion , that he was sent to them with a commission from christ to bid them subscribe the covenant , which was christs contract , and that he himself was come at a wooer to them for the bridegroom ; and called upon them to come to be hand-fasted by subscribing that contract : and told them plainly , that he would not leave the town till he had all their names that refused to subscribe ; and that he would complain on 't to his master . it would be endless to run out the parallel at length , so far as this argument would carry a man. but this will suffice , i hope , in some measure for a caution , that while we are running down of one sort of jesuites we do not incorporate our religion with another . the end. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a47819-e120 character . declarat . & prot. of lords and commons , to the kingdom , and the whole world . octob. 22. 1642. exact coll. pag. 664. restauranda, or, the necessity of publick repairs, by setling of a certain and royal yearly revenue for the king or the way to a well-being for the king and his people, proposed by the establishing of a fitting reveue for him, and enacting some necessary and wholesome laws for the people. philipps, fabian, 1601-1690. 1662 approx. 194 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 57 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54694 wing p2017 estc r7102 13506891 ocm 13506891 99831 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54694) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 99831) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 472:5) restauranda, or, the necessity of publick repairs, by setling of a certain and royal yearly revenue for the king or the way to a well-being for the king and his people, proposed by the establishing of a fitting reveue for him, and enacting some necessary and wholesome laws for the people. philipps, fabian, 1601-1690. [6], 107 p. printed by richard hodgkinson ..., and are to be sold by abel roper ..., london : 1662. dedication reads: regi et patriae versique honoris et felicitatis angliae cultoribus, hasce veluti materiarum sedes, dicat dedicatque fabianus philipps. attributed to fabian philipps. cf. nuc pre-1956. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng finance -england -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers. 2004-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-08 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-08 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion restauranda : or the necessity of publick repairs , by setling of a certain and royal yearly revenue for the king . or the way to a well-being for the king and his people , proposed by the establishing of a fitting revenue for him , and enacting some necessary and wholsome laws for the people . london , printed by richard hodgkinson , for the author , and are to be sold by abel roper , at the sign of the sun , over against saint dunstons church in fleetstreet , 1662. regi et patriae verisque honoris et felicitatis angliae cultoribus , hasce veluti materiarum sedes , dicat dedicatque fabianus philipps . the contents of the chapters . chap. i. revenues of the kings of england . pag. 6 chap. ii. supplies and additions to the royal revenues , and the many cares taken therein by parliaments and otherwise . p. 14 chap. iii. ruine and decay of the revenues . p. 30 chap. iv. the remedies . p. 58 some errata's or faults escaped the printer , which the reader is intreated to correct and amend in this manner . page 2 line 15 dele by , p. 7. l. 10 dele may , p. 27 l. 26. for their read the , p. 68. l. 14. interfere , had in principio , & dele , in fine , p. 69. l. 5. for and worser . or worse , and l. 29. for which r. and p. 58. for chap. l. r. chap. iv. p. 81. l. 23. dele that , p ▪ 83 l. 31. dele and and 〈◊〉 . restauranda , or the necessity of publick repairs , by the setling of a certain and royall yearly revenue for the king . or the way to a well-being for the king and his people proposed , by the establishing of a fitting revenue for him , and enacting some necessary and wholsome lawes for the people . a long course of time , & annosa vetustas , which weares out and subdues the most stubborne rocks and marbles , and crumbles into dust and ruin things of long duration , together with the necessities , cares and affairs , which do usually busie crowns and princes and their royall revenues in the protection and welfare of themselves and the people committed to their charge , may without the inconsiderate censures of those who think much of every ayde and contribution which they give towards the effecting or support of their own and their posterities happiness , be well supposed to be no small cause of wasting and lessening those royal supports or means which our kings of england have heretofore had to do it withall , and as streams running far from their springs and fountains without the help or company of other waters to augment or goe along with them , may be allowed more then a little to drie up or languish , and might silence the murmur and complaints of those who can be content to beg & get all they can from the king , and by too often by false pretences concealing the worth or value of what they ask of him , doe gain thereby ten times more then they seem to request , or he intends to give them , and making no scruple to deceive him , which our blessed saviour never taught them when he commanded to give to caesar that which was caesars , think it is kingly to be cozened , and that he can never give , or be deceived too much ; yet when he comes to demand any help or assistance from them , though it be but for a publick good and their own preservation , can crie out , burdens and oppressions , and as if he were some ocean , never to be drawn drie , or mountain never to be digged down or exhausted ; an elixir to transmute and enrich others without any wast or diminution of its self , or the sun in the firmament , which can enlighten , heat , and nourish all things and be never the worse for it , marvail how he can come to want ; and if they doe believe him to be in any necessity , are ready to lay the cause or blame of it upon his officers for taking more care of their own estates then his , and for a thriving way of arithmetick , by substracting from his to increase and multiply their own ; whilest many who have but lately tasted of his bounty , or whose fathers , grandfathers or ancestors have lest them goodly inheritances , which were either of the guift of the king or his progenitors ; or purchased and gained by beneficial offices and places or imployments under them , can look upon every subsidy , tax or assessment as a blast , or mildew of their corn , some plague or epidemicall disease , or a greater national calamity , and give them no better an aspect or entertainment then the children of israel did their egyptian tax-masters when they were commanded to make their tale of brick and gather the straw , though they never repine or grumble at the same time at ten times a greater sum to a merry-meeting or a feast , or spent in a horse-race , a thousand or five hundred pounds lost in a night at dice , three or four hundred pounds spent in a treatment or banquet , or the large or sinfull expensive vanities of themselves and their wives and children . and too many , who would be thought to be better subjects and patriots then others , can seem to hate a civil warre , shrink at the imagination of the miseries thereof , tremble at a forreign invasion free-quarter , plunder , and the outrage of souldiers ; complain of want of trade , or the guarding of the seas ; boast of the ancient honour and glory due unto their nation , and take a pleasure to recount it to their children , or read it in their histories , and not a few also who in our late twenty years rebellion , and the spoils and afflictions which attended it , could drive honester men then themselves into taxes and assessements , and think a million and a half in yearly assessements for some years together , besides a fifth part of their real estates , a twentieth of their personal , and many other of their depredations amounting to more then all the taxes and aydes put together , which for five hundred years last past were imposed by our kings and princes , to be little enough to sacrifice to a mistaken godliness , will notwithstanding doe as very little as they can to contribute any thing to the procuring and enjoying the blessings of peace and plenty , or avoyd the contrary . and do never so well esteem of their own policies , as when they can by pretences of debts , poverty , or charge of children , shift of necessary and publick duties , and by undervaluing of their own estates , or overvaluing others , make as smal an offering as they can to their oathes of allegiance and supremacy , and necessities of their prince and defender of their faith as well as their estates . and too too many whilst they cannot but acknowledge if scripture and the lawes of god and man may be their guide and directors , that he hath lately by gods mercy and a miracle redeemed them and their laws and liberties out of a slavery which stuck like a leprosie , and was like to be entailed upon them and their posterities , rescued religion , and gave them their lands and estates again which the just lawes of the land once called their birthright had forfeited unto him , can by an unheard and not easily to be believed ingratitude , after his act of oblivion and free-pardon , neither deserved nor purchased , and preferments bestowed upon them , fall into such an oblivion as nature abhorres , and humanity must needs blush at , and not offer any thing in a benevolence ordered by act of parliament instead of a tax or subsidie . and very many of those which did give any thing ( some loyal and right-hearted excepted ) having obtained of the king to give away the principallest flower of his crown , by releasing of his tenures in capite and by knights service , and promised him tenures in corde in part of satisfaction , would not be pleased to find the way afterwards to give him so much as the twentith part of their yearly vain and unnecessary expences towards the relieving of the publick and his private necessities . for the better information therefore of all such who are unwilling to part with a fancy , that the revenues of our kings of england are immense or largely sufficient for their occasions , and to dispose them to the duty which the laws of god and men have commandded and directed ; and evidence the reason and necessity which the king now hath to demand a supplement of his revenue , and for his good people of england not to deny it him , and that the decayes and ruins thereof have not been occasioned only by an heretofore ill-management of the finances , but by time , and an age of many ages , multiplicity of expences , indulgences to the people , and necessity of affirs and government , which exhausting the radicall heat and moysture , have so spent the spirits of the body politick , as they have brought it to that feinting , languishing and weak condition it is now in . it will not be inconvenient from the mountains and hills of time to look down into the valleys of the ages past and take a short view ( for a longer would better become the designe of a volume then what is here briefly to be represented ) of the revenues of our kings of england before and since the conquest . chap. i. revenues of the kings of england . in the prospect whereof it will be more then a conjecture , that those of the saxon race , before the norman invasion , had in their heptarchy ( except wales , and the barren and mountainous part of our britain , to which the distressed reliques of that nation had for shelter and safety retired ) the most part of the lands and revenues of the british kings ; that egbert king of the west saxons , and alured , and after them edgar sole monarch of albion and the saxon dominions , and his successors , having possessed themselves of all the other kings estates , could not probably be without very large demeasnes and revenues , and that not only they , but all the succeeding saxon kings have made the support of themselves regality , government , and affaires in and by the constant and certain revenues and profits of their lands in demeasne and service , which as a sacrum patrimonium and concomitant of the crown , may by the ancient charters of many of our kings before the conquest , the grant of the manor of malling in the county of sussex by egbert king of the west saxons , in an. dom. 838. distinction of crown lands and terra regis ( a great part of which were no other then what was since , and is now called antient demeasne ) mentioned and recorded in doomesday book , that liber censualis and grand register or survey of the lands of the kingdome precedented by the book or roll of winchester , made by king alfred or alured , a resumption of some of the crown lands in the reigns of king stephen , henry the second , and henry the third , and several of their successors the articles enquired of in the succeeding eyres , a judgment in 6 edw. 1. against the abbot of feversham for some of the crown lands which were aliened by king stephen . and the opinion of bracton , a judg in the later end of the reign of king henry the third lib. 2. de legibus & consuetudinibus regni angliae , that , est res quasisacra res fiscalis quae dari non potest , nec vendi , nec ad alium transferri a principe , vel a rege regnante , & quae faciunt ipsam coronam & communem utilitatem respiciunt , may be understood to be unalienable . and by the casuall and uncertain profits & revenues of the crown jure superioritatis , which to such as shall acquaint themselves with the saxon lawes , customes , and antiquities , will appear to be escheats and forfeitures , mines royall , herriots , reliefs upon the deaths of tenants in capite , and by knights service ( which in those more gratefull times amounted to very much ) the benefit of tolls and customes , manbote , blood●ite , with many other wita's and wera's capitis estimationes , mulcts , penalties , and fruits of the kingly prerogative , which then , and with wardships , liveries , profits of annum diem & vastum fines , assart lands , and fines for incroachments , purprestures , and divers other things in many kings reigns after the conquest were used to be exactly and carefully collected by the comites , or earles and governours of the shires or provinces who had the third penny , then accounted so much as to become an honourable allowance for their collecting it ; and the praepositi , shire reeves , and other officers of the crown , and in the courts of justice , as well great as small , and the iters and circuits of the justices : and that when the sinnes and miseries of our saxon ancestors had enriched william the conqueror , and entitled him to the directum dominium of all , and the utile dominium of the greatest part of the lands and possessions of england : and he had given away much of it to his great commanders , friends , allies & souldiers ( many of whom were not without their own patrimonies and great possessions in normandie and other transmarine parts ) and glutted them with the spoils and inheritance of the english ; and had to those large territories and demeasnes which he reserved to himself , and the terra regis and antient demeasnes of king edward the confessor , which he united to the crown a further increase by the no small estates and inheritances of some of his after unquiet great nobility , as edwin earl of york , ralph earl of suffolk , william fitz-osberne earl of hereford , edric surnamed the forrester howard le exul , waltheof earl of northumberland , and divers other of the english and normans . that which most concerned him and his successors in the reigns of william rufus and henry the first , the former of whom had his estate augmented by the temporalties and vacancies of bishopricks , abbies and priories , and the later by the attainders and great estates and inheritance of robert mowbray earle of northumberland , robert de belesme earle of arundell and shrowsbury , william earle of mortaigne and cornwall , ( both of them having much in demeasnes , and a great deal more in service for aydes in warre , holden of them , their coloni or glebae adscriptitii , socage tenants , which did most of their servile works without money , and paid them besides an annual rent in corn and other houshold provisions , ) was to quiet the ruined english , and by intermarriages of them and the normans and forreigners and other establishments , to assure what was gained to their posterities , the plenty and abundance whereof continuing through the reigns of king stephen and king henry the second , who greatly inlarged his dominions by the dutchy of aquitain , earldomes of aniou , main , poictou touraine , and other provinces and parts of france , the lands of henry de essex his standard-bearer by inheritance , forfeited for the treason of throwing it down and flying , and reporting that he was slain ; the earldome of lincoln ( earldomes being then and long after not without great possessions and revenues belonging to them : ) the lands of william peverell lord of nottingham ; conquest of ireland , and whole counties and provinces thereof comming to be the kings demeasnes and the forfeitures to richard the first of many of his nobility and others who had taken part with his brother john in his usurpation of the regall authority . all which with the escheats and forfeitures of the terra normanorum in england , upon the losse of normandy by king john unto the french , confiscated lands of a great part of the english nobility and gentry , after the misfortune of henry the third , in the unquietness of many of his barons and people , his better fortune in the battel of evesham , and subduing them in the forty ninth year of his reign , the accession to the crown of the earledoms of derby , leicester , salisbury , and the county palatine of chester , with the vast territories and estates which belonged unto them , and many other lesser escheats and forfeitures ; the forfeiture of roger bigod earl of norfolk and his earldome , and great possessions with divers other escheats and forfeitures , the principality of wales and the conquest of scotland in the reign of king edward the first , confiscating of the lands of inheritance ( for from the making of the statute de donis or entails in anno 13. of edward the first , untill anno 5 & 6 of edward the sixth , lands entailed were not forfeited for treason ) of thomas earl of lancaster , lincoln and derby ; humphrey de bohun earl of hereford and essex ; of the lords clifford , warrein , lisle , tutchet , cheney , mowbray , teyes , aldenham , badlesmere and gifford , and many other men of great note and eminencie to king edward the second , the lands of mortimer earl of march , edmund earl of kent , and the escheat of the great estate and inheritance of hastings earl of pembroke to king edward the third , with several other confiscations and forfeitures , and his conquest of a great part of france , the forfeitures of robert de vere duke of ireland , michael dela pooli earl of suffolk , of the duke of gloucester , earles of arundel and warwick , and divers other great inheritances to king r. 2. the marriage of john of grant fourth son to king ed. 3. to blanch the sole daughter and heir of henry duke of lancaster , earl of derby , leicester and lincoln , making that of lancaster to be as a principality or little kingdome , which by henry 4 , 5 , 6 , and 7th kings of england coming afterwards to attend the royal dignity , accompanied by the forfeitures of the dukes of exeter and albemarle , mowbray earl marshal , earles of kent , salisbury huntington , northumberland , stafford , march and worcester owen glendour ; lords , hastings , despencer , falconbridge , bardolph , and many others to king h. 4. and the lands of the earldome of oxford long detained by him , confiscation of the lands of the prior aliens , and all france conquered and in possession , and many other great estates coming to hen. 5. by the attainders of richard earl of cambridge , earl of northumberland , henry lord scroop ; the lands of widevill earl rivers , and divers other barons , the dukedomes of exeter and somerset , and earldome of devonshire , and many other lands and inheritances forfeited to king edward the fourth , the lands and estate of henry duke of buckingham , earl of stafford and northampton , and lord of brecknock and holderness , henry earl of richmond , and jasper earl of penbroke , with some other to king richard the third , accumulated by the great and princely inheritance of richard duke of york , and all the partakers of him and king edward the fourth his brother , with the lands and great inheritance of the countess of warwick , gained by king h. 7. his fortune at bosworth-field , and the marriage and inheritance , of the royal and principall heir of the white rose ; the confiscations of the lands of john duke of norfolk , earls of surrey , warwick , lincoln , lords lovel , welles , audley , and divers others , like many great rivers running into the ocean of the crown revenues , made its lands and estate to be as vast in demeasnes , and service , as they were princely and honourable . which being likewise abundantly enlarged by king hen. 8. by the unprosperous dissolution of the abbey and religious lands , which the envy of the laity in the reign of king h. 4. had ( over and above ( as they said ) what would serve for the remaning clergy ) computed to be sufficient and enough to maintain fifteen earles ( which after the rate of earls in those dayes and their grand revenues , could not be a little ) fifteen hundred knights , six thousand two hundred gentlemen , and an hundred hospitals , besides twenty thousand pounds per annum to be given to the king ( which was then more then one hundred thousand pounds per annum is now ) and were at their dissolution six hundred forty and five abbeys , priories and nunneries , ninety colledges , one hundred and ten hospitals , and two thousand three hundred seventy and four chanteries and free chappels , then valued at one hundred-eighty six thousand fifteen pounds eight shillings penny farthing per annum . and together with the forfeited lands and inheritance of empson and dudley , george lord rochford , edmond de la poole duke of suffolk , the duke of buckingham , earl of surrey lord dacres , and divers others and the confiscation of his two great favourites wolsey and cromwell , the former of which left him the stately palaces of hampton-court and whitehall , and the recontinuing of divers liberties withheld from the crown by the lords marchers of wales , made so great an accession and increase as the court of exchequer was not thought to be comprehensive enough for the care and governance thereof without the short-lived courts of the survay , and augmentation , and first-fruits erected by act of parliament for the separate management of the ecclesiasticall revenues . by the dissolution whereof shortly after , and not trusting the exchequer with the better care thereof , the regal revenues if mr. christopher vernon , a late antient and expert officer of that court hath not been mistaken , or miscast it , were not so little damnified as six hundred thousand pounds sterling ; or if plenty had not as it most commonly useth , introduced profusion , and carelesness , might otherwise have been saved . which with the lands and inheritance of the duke of somerset , and others attainted , added by king edward the sixth , the forfeitures of the duke of northumberland ; william parr marquess of northampton , john earl of warwick , sir thomas wyat and others to queen mary ; the lands of the duke of norffolk , philip earl of arrundel , the earls of westmerland , essex and southampton , sir john perrot , leonard dacres , and others in the reign of queen elizabeth , and hers as well as king edward the sixth's ill advised and unhappy clypping and lessening the lands and revenues of many bishopricks , deans and chapters ; forfeitures of the lord cobham & sir walter rawley , and of winter , grant , and other the gunpowder traytors ; the great revenues of the earles of tyrone and desmond , and other large confiscated escheats and forfeited estates in ireland , which came to king james ( for before his reign and the subduing of tyrone , that kingdome as to the publick was a greater charge then profit ) addition of scotland and all the appennages and lands of the royal brethren and princes of the blood of england in their several times and ages , falling into the regal revenues , would have made a plentifull support for the crown of england , if they had tarried ( as they did not ) one for another , and continued unwasted and unaliened . chap. ii. supplies and additions to the royall revenues , and the many cares taken therein by parliaments and otherwise . which could not be prevented by a thousand sixty one pounds and three half pence per diem revenue ex justis reditibus , which william the conqueror had in daily revenue , after his knights fees and his large gifts and rewards given to his friends and followers ( which in the now value of money and rates of provision would a great deal more then treble that summe ) as ordericus vitalis , who was born in his reign , and died in the beginning of the reign of king stephen , hath informed us exceptis muneribus regiis , & reatum redemptionibus aliisque multiplicibus negotiis quae regis aerarium quotidie aduagebant , besides , gifts , presents , confiscations , and other things which did daily increase his riches , nor by sixty thousand pounds sterling , 〈◊〉 by him in his treasury , his censas nemor●m , rents or profits of woods , escheats and incidents of tenures in capite and by knight service , hidage , danegeld , sponte oblata , for all grants or favours which passed from him , cambium regium , or benefit of exchanges , rating of the fees of the officers of his household to a certainty per diem , taking accounts upon oath for all his monies issued out or imprest for repair of his castles and houses , and fines for granting of priviledges and liberties , contributions to william rufus towards the building of westminster-hall , three shillings upon every hundred acres or hide of land in england to king hen. 1. and his providence in making every third year a survey of his woods and forrests , changing of the penalites of mutilation of members into pecuniary mulcts , turning of his rents which were formerly paid in corn and other houshold provisions , into money , and six pence overplus in every pound for any loss or abatement which might happen in the value of money , which being then by reason of his often absence and residence in normandy reckoned to be good husbandry , proved shortly afterwards by the change of times , & dearer rates of provision to be the contrary , and a great disadvantage to his successors ; one hundred thousand pounds in money , besides plate and jewels left by him in his treasury , and possest by king stephen , resumption of divers lands aliened from the royal revenue ; reforming of the exchequer by hen. 2. revoking of all grants of lands aliened from the crown , of the castles of clebury , wigmore and bridgnorth from 〈◊〉 mortimer , city of gloucester and lands belonging unto it from roger , fitz miles earl of hereford , castle of scarborough from william earl of albemarle , with many other lands , towns and castles ; and from william earl of mortain and warren , base son to king stephen , the castle of pemsey and city of norwich ; notwithstanding that himself had granted them to the said william earl of mortaign in his agreement with king stephen , alledging that they were of the demeasnes of the crown , and could not be alienated , calling of certain of his great ministers of estate to account , and imposing a tax of two pence upon every yoke of oxen in ireland , and two pence in the pound by act of parliament of every mans lands and goods in normandy , to be paid in the year 1166. and a penny in every pound to be paid for four years following , for the relief of the christians in the holy warre , enquiring by his justices itinerants , and articles in eyre in england of the rights of his crown and exchequer , taxing in the 32. year of his reign all his dominions in france , with the tenth of the revenues for that year of all , as well clergy as laity but such as went in person to the holy warre , the tenth of all their moveables , as well gold as silver , and the tenth of the moveables of two hundred of the richest men in london , and of one hundred in york , banishment of william de ipre earl of kent , with his countrymen and followers , when they grew to be a burden to the kingdome ; nine hundred thousand pounds in money besides plate and jewels inestimable left in the treasury to his son king richard the first , great summes of money gained by him by renewing charters and fines imposed upon sheriffs and accomptants , and such as had taken part with his brother john in his usurpations , the tenth of all moveables granted to him , and the city of london giving him a voluntary contribution towards his voyage into the holy land ; banishment of otho earl of york , the son of his . sister and all the bavarians ; a fourth part given him by parliament of all spirituall and temporall revenues , as much for moveables , and twenty shillings for every knights fee , resumption of many grants of lands and annuities , two shillings of every plough land taken for preparation of a journy to normandy ; examination of the accounts of his exchequer officers , five shillings laid upon every plough land for another forrain voyage , and a general survey made of his lands and profits . three shillings for every plough land granted by parliament to king john for his affairs in normandy , one hundred thousand pounds taxed upon the clergy towards his charges in ireland , a thirteenth of all spirituall and temporall mens goods , twenty six shillings eight pence for every knights fee two shillings upon every plough land , an ayde of twenty six shillings and eight pence of every knights fee towards his warres in wales , with escauge of such as held of him besides benevolences , escheats and americiaments ; twenty shillings of every knights see towards his charges in normandy , forty shillings at another time , and an ayde for the marriage of his sister isabel to the emperor frederick . the fifteenth part of every mans moveables to king henry the third for a confirmation of magna charta and charta foreste , fortieth part of every mans goods towards the payment of his debts , and a thirtieth part afterwards granted by act of parliament , much of his forrests and woods converted to errable land , his parks of woodstock and gillingham ploughed , many grants made in his minority revoked , his great officers as hubert de burgh earl of kent , chief justice of england , and others called to account , ranulph britton treasurer of his chamber fined in one thousand marks , a great summe of money given by the city of london to be made toll-free , every one that could dispend in land fifteen pound per annum ordered to be knighted or pay a fine ; great summes of money gained by composition with delinquents at seven years value of their lands by the dictū de kenilworth , his houshold charges lessened , a meaner port kept , less almes given , his jewels and the crown royal pawned , plate sold to pay his debts at no greater a value then the weight though the workmanship did cost as much , and the golden shrine of edward the confessor , forty shillings for every knights see twice assessed for his warres in gascony , great sums of money raised of the iewes , the banishment of the poictouins and his half-brothers who had made it too much of their business to beg what they could of the revenue , and by his own sometimes sitting in the exchequer to preserve it ; thirty two thousand pounds sterling received of leolin prince of wales propaee habenda , and a resumption of divers of the crown lands which had been aliened . nor by an inquiry in anno 4. of king ed. 1 , by act of parliament of the castles , buildings , lead and timber of the kings , his demeasnes , parks , woods , extent of manors , forrain parks and woods , pawnage , herbage , mills , fishings , freeholds , cottages , curtilages , customary tenants , patronages , perquisit●s of courts , liberties , customes and services ; a subsidie in anno 6. of his reign of the twentieth part of every mans goods towards the charges of his warres in wales , the statute of quo warranto in anno 18. to inquire and seise into the kings hands all liberties usurped ; a subside in anno 22. of his reign upon woolfels and hydes transported , a tenth of all goods , the eighth of the goods of the citizens and burgesses , a twelfth of the rest of the laity , and a moiety of the clergy ; in anno 25. and in anno 26. the ninth penny of the commons , the tenth penny of the clergy of the province of canterbury , and the fifth of york , taking away much monies from the priors aliens , payment by the clergy in anno 23 of all such summes of money which they had promised to pay to the pope towards the maintenance of the holy warres , and half a years value of their ecclesiasticall livings and promotions , abased monies , four hundred and twenty thousand pounds fifteen shillings and four pence raised from the jewes , and a farre greater summe afterwards , contribution of ships and ship-money by the maritime coasts and counties in case of danger and invasion , sixty five thousand marks of silver received for fines of some corrupt judges , and great summes of money likewise for forfeitures by an inquisition or commission of trail baston . a fifteenth of the clergy , and a twentieth of the temporalty to king edward the second , in anno primo of his reign , the moveables and personal estate of the knights templers in england , contribution of ships and ship-money by the maritime counties ; a fifteenth in anno 6. and the great and rich confiscated personall estates of the two spencers , father and son , and an ordinance made pro hospitio regis , concerning the regulation of his houshold . thirty thousand marks paid to king edward the third in anno 2. of his reign by robert bruce king of scots , to release his soveraignity to that kingdom ; a tenth of the clergy citizens and burgesses , and a fifteenth of others granted in anno 6. of his reign , aids of ships & ship-money by the sea-coasts ; and in an . 13. the tenth sheep of all the lords demeasnes except of their bound tenants ; the tenth fleece of wool , and the tenth lamb of their store to be paid in two years ; and that such of them or their peers as held by baronie , should give the tenth of their grain , wool and lamb , and of all their own demeasnes , and two thousand five hundred sacks of wool given by the commons anno 14. the ninth of the grain , wool , and lamb of the laity , to be paid in two years ; the ninth of the goods of the townsmen , and the fifteenth of such as dwelt in forrests and chases anno 17. forty shillings for every sack of wool over and above the old rate anno 18. a disme by the clergy of canterbury for three years , two fifteenths of the commons , and two dismes of the cities and towns to be levied in such wise as the last in an . 20. two fifteens to be paid in two years anno 21. two shillings upon every sack of wool , granted by the lords without the commons in anno 22. three fifteens to be paid in three years : all such treasure as was committed to churches throughout england for the holy warre , all the goods of the cluniacques , cistercians , and some other orders of monks , half the wools of the laity , and the whole of the clergy ; the jewels of the crown pawned , imprisonment of his treasurer , abasing some of his 〈◊〉 and ordaining some of his exchanges of money to be at london , canterbury and york , monies abated in weight and made to pass according to former value , and the profits which the forrain cardinals enjoyed in england during their lives , taken into his hands ; one hundred thousand pounds received for the ransome of john king of france , great sums of money for the ransoming of david king of scotland , philip afterwards duke of burgogne , jaques de bourbon , and many of the french nobility ; fifty shillings granted by parliament in anno 43. for every sack of wool for six years ( by which imposition only , as the trade of wools and cloathing then flourished , the king , as it was computed , might dispend one thousand marks per diem ) fifty thousand pounds by the laity , and as much by the clergy , granted him by the parliament in anno 45. to resume his right in france : a poll-money by act of parliament of four pence for every person of of the laity that took not almes , of every clergy-man beneficed twelve pence , and of every religious person four pence , in anno 50. and a resumption of divers of his crown lands . a subsidie in the first year of k. richard the second levied upon the great men , to spare the commons , poll-money of every person above fifteen years old , fines of seaventeen shires in anno 21. and causing them to pay great summes of money for aiding the duke of gloucester , and earles of arrundel and warwick ; the bohemians which pestered his court banished , and a resumption of divers of his crown lands . a tenth of the clergy , and a subsidie of twenty shillings upon every knights fee , twelve pence of every man and woman that could dispend twenty shillings per annum above reprises by their lands , and so proportionably according to their land revenues , twelve pence of every one whose goods were valued at twenty pounds , and proportionably to what it exceeded , gran-to king henry the fourth ; seven hundred thousand pounds found in king richard the second 's treasury , two fifteenths of the commons in the sixth year of his reign , a tenth and a half of the clergy , and of the commons two fifteenths in the ninth , a subsidie by the laity , and half a mark a piece of the stipendary priests and friars , in the tenth a subsidie to be levied through the realm , and in anno 11. a fifteenth , a resumption of many grants and annuities , regulation of his houshold , and banishment of the gascoigners and welsh , impoverishing him and the kingdom by petitions and suits . great summes of money given to king henry the fifth by the clergy , a subsidie by the clergy and laity , a double disme , and a fifteenth by the laity , and in the 9th year of his reign two tenths of the clergy , and a fifteenth of the laity , and another fifteenth in the same year , his crown royall and jewels pawned , and a resumption of divers lands and annuities granted to unworthy persons . to king henry the sixth in anno primo of his reign a subsidie of five nobles upon every sack of wool transported for three years , forty three shillings of every sack of wool carried out by merchant strangers , a subsidie of twelve pence in the pound of all merchandize imported or exported , 3. shillings upon every tonne of wine for three years granted by parliament , in 〈◊〉 3. a subsidie of three shillings upon every ton of 〈◊〉 and of all other merchandize twelve pence per pound , except woolfell and cloth or every benefice of ten marks per annum , ten of that parish to pay six shillings and eight pence , of every benefice of ten pounds per annum , ten parishioners to pay thirty shillings , and four pence , and so rateably for every benefice : and of the inhabitants of cities and boroughs every man worth twenty shillings above his housholdstuff , and his own and wives apparrel four pence , and upwards after that rate or proportion ; in anno 8. a disme and fifteenth of the laity . great summes of money raised by king edward the fourth by penal lawes and benevolences , resumption in the seventh year of his reign of all manner of gifts which he had given from the first day of his reign ; a subsidie in anno 8. of two fifteens and a half , and in anno 13. a subsidie . some taxes laid upon the people by king richard the third , and a resumption of all lands and estate granted to elizabeth grey queen of england . a subside to henry the seventh in an . 2. of his reign at a tenth of every mans goods towards the setting forth an army into britain anno 4. two fifteens of the laity , and two dismes of the clergy , poll-money , of every duke ten marks , every earle five pounds , every baron four pounds , every knight four marks , of every one worth forty shillings , twelve pence , of every one that took wages twelve pence , of every man above fifteen years old four pence ; anno 6. great benevolences , anno 11. a subsidie towards his warres in scotland , anno 〈◊〉 benevolences and great fines upon penal lawes , 〈◊〉 ●●ghteen hundred thousand pounds left in his treasury ▪ say the historians , but as the lo●d treasurer cecil earle of salisbury , informed king james four millions and a halfe . divers subsidies granted to king henry the eighth in anno 6. of his reign , and in anno 14. another subsidie upon goods , a years value for one year of all the clergies spiritual livings , a great summe of the laity in the parliameat following ; anno 25. a subsidie of four pence per pound in goods from twenty shillings to five pound , from five pounds , to ten pounds , eight pence , from ten pounds , to twenty pounds , sixteen pence , from twenty pounds and upwards , two shillings , of all strangers double , of all strangers not inhabitants four pence a head , of every one that had lands , fees , or annuities ▪ eight pence the pound , from twenty shillings to five pounds , and so doubled according as they did for goods by several proportions , and of the clergy three shillings in the pound ; great sums of money and treasure by the confiscation of cardinal wolsey : anno 26. tenths and first-fruits of the clergy formerly paid to the popes granted unto him ; an. 36. a benevolence ; an. 37. a subsidie of six shillings per pound of the clergy , two shillings eight pence of the goods of the laity , and four shilligs per pound of lands , tenths of all abby and religious lands reserved upon his grants , two hundred thousand pounds paid by the clergy of the provinces of york and canterbury to be excused from a praemunire , and the vast and inestimable treasure in money , plate , shrines , jewels , copes and rich moveables upon the spoil of the abbies and religious houses . an ayde given by parliament to king edward the sixth , in the 2d . year of his reign , of twelve pence per pound of the goods of his naturall subjects , two shillings per pound of strangers for three years , of every ewe kept in several pastures three pence , of every weather two pence , of every sheep kept in the commons three half pence , and eight pence per pound of every woollen cloth made for sale throughout england , anno 6. commissions given out for sale of church goods , an . 7. one subsidie and two fifteens granted by parliament , and the gain for some years made by the coynage of bullion sent from sweden and returned in merchandise . one subsidie of the laity given to queen mary in anno 2. of her reign , eight pence in the pound , from five pounds , to ten pounds , from ten pounds , to twenty pounds sixteen pence per pound , and of all strangers double . to queen elizabeth in anno primo , a subsidie and two fifteens of the clergy , and a tenth of the temporalty : anno 5. a subsidie of the clergy and two fifteens of the temporalty ; anno 8. a subsidie of the clergy , and a subsidie , fifteenth and tenth of the temporalty ; anno 13. a subsidie of the clergy , one subsidie , two fifteenths and a tenth of the temporalty , anno 18. a subsidie of the clergy , two fifteenths and tenths of the temporalty ; anno 23. the like , annis 27. & 29. the like ; anno 31. two subsidies of the clergy and three subsidies and six fifteens of the temporalty ; anno 39. three subsidies of the clergy and temporalty , and six fifteens of the temporalty ; an. 43. four subsidies of the clergy , and four subsidies and eight fifteens of the temporalty , the pawning of many of her jewels , and mortgaging divers of her lands . a subsidie of poundage and tonnage , wools ; woolfels and leather anno primo jac. two parts of recusants lands convicted ; in anno 3. four subsidies in the pound by the clergy , and three entire subsidies , and three fifteenths and tenths , and three hundred and fifty thousand pounds for subsidies unpaid to queen elizabeth ; anno 7. an ayd to make his son prince henry a knight ; anno 18. two subsidies of the laity and three of the crergy ; anno 21. three subsidies and three fifteens of the temporalty and some subsidies of the clergy . primo car. primi , three entire subsides by the spiritualty ; 3. car. five entire subsidies granted by the spiritualty , and as many by the temporalty ; great sums of money raised by ship-money , and by an act of parliament for poll-money , pawning all his jewels , and the benefit for some years of coynage , of two hundred thousand pounds of spanish bullion , and returning the value in english commodities . all which being great supplies and easements to the charges and burdens of our severall and successive kings and princes ( and were not without some charge in the collection ) would have been much greater if the people of england , keeping close to a long custome of not only getting all that they can from their kings and common parents , but returning as little as they could of their aydes or thanks unto them , would have permitted them to arrive to a just or true valuation , or any more then a small part of what they should be content to rate one another at , having by an act of parliament in 6. ed. 3. obtained of the king , that from henceforth all aydes should be taxed after the old manner ; and not otherwise ( the subsidies being most commonly rated but at two shillings eight pence in the pound for goods , and four shillings in the pound for lands , with consideration of debts and other diminishing circumstances ) and put in the ballance and compared with that which was given to the people , by the confirmations of divers kings and queens of letters patents and lands given therein , coronation pardons , the general pardons of 21 jac. those in the reign of queen elizabeth , and of some of our later kings and princes ( for in the reigns of many of the former , they were not so frequent , general , or usuall . ) the act of parliament of 21 jacobi regis , for debarring the kings title to concealed lands after sixty years possession , where nothing within that time had been answered or paid to the crown , or was in super , and the last all-surpassing act of indemnity and general pardon granted by king charles the second , would be farre surmounted by those and many other beneficiall acts of parliament , granted in every king and princes reign , of liberties and benefits to the people . and were not enough or sufficient to repair the decayes of the regal revenues , or keep them from a consumption occasioned by their vast charges of our kings as well in times of warre as peace , to keep their people in safety , peace and plenty , nor to cure the revenue of a hecticque fever of almost 500 years continuance , though some of our kings and princes took some parts of trade into their own hands to supply their necessities , as the wool by king ed. 1. tinne by ed. 3. that and corn by hen. 6. and beer transported by queen elizabeth , and notwithstanding the care and provision of divers parliaments to have the crown lands not alien'd or wasted and the care of the laws of england , that the grants of the king shall be void where he is deceived or not truly informed : the ordinance in the 21 of richard the second that whatsoever should come to the king by judgment , escheat , wardship , or any otherwayes , should not be given away : that of primo king h. 4. ca. 6. that in a petition to the king for lands , offices , or any gift the value thereof shall be mentioned , and of that also which they have had of the kings gift , or of other his pregenitors or predecessors before ; and in case it be not , their grants shall be void and repealed ; the ordinance of 21 r. 2. that the procurer of any gift should be punished , continued untill 7 h. 4. untill the king should be out of debt , under penalty of forfeiting the double value for moving or procuring any such suit : the statute of 4 of h. 4. cap. 4. that the king grant no lands or other commodities but to such as shall deserve them ; and if any make demand without desert he shall be punished by the councell , and not obtain his suit : in 11 hen. 4 , that petitions for any such grants delivered to the king be examined by his privy councell lest the kings wants should light upon the commons ; and in 2 h. 6. that all the profits by wards , marriages , reliefs , escheats , and forfeitures should be expended in helping to defray the charges of the kings houshold , an account of the kings revenue in 1. hen. 6. in england , ireland , wales and aquitaine , and of his charges and expences delivered into parliament by ralph lord cromwell lord treasurer of england , and the dukes of bedford and gloucester , and divers of the lords of the kings councell appointed to consider thereof ; the acts of parliament in 18 and 43 eliz. that the queen should be answered for the overplus , of the value of lands granted by her letters patents after the rate of threescore years purchase : the abating in several kings reigns the expences of houshold and of their retinue favourites gifts and rewards , and lessening of charges in warre by tenures in capite and knight service ; aydes to make their eldest sonnes knights ; and for the marriage of their eldest daughters , profit of annum diem & vastum , aides and assistances by grand and petit serjeanties , aurum reginae , or something presented to the queen in former kings reigns upon grants of lands or estate , licences to trade with prohibited merchandize , raising their customes , and sometimes farming out their ships , fines upon licences of alienation or pardons , espargne of the royall revenue by the marriages of the heirs of the nobility and gentry of great estates , and transplanting and inoculating of great and noble families and estates into one another , not only for their good and advancement , but the peace and welfare of the kingdome , and the checque which king james gave to suits and importunities at court after that he had given away too much of his english crown lands to his craving countreymen of scotland , publickly declaring what kind of suits or requests might be demanded of him , and what he would not grant ; his orders to have once in every quarter of a year certificates or accounts of moneys issued for his houshold , wardrobe , jewel-house , chamber , navie and stables , and his care and advice with his privie councel for supplies of his revenues and regulating his expences , for that the exitus was every year by affairs , troubles and cares of state , disturbances , and accidents often happening , a great deal more then the introitus , the disbursements farre exceeding the incomes , the ordinary receipts coming farre short of the ordinary disbursements , and the extraordinaries very much out-going the ordinaries . chap. iii. ruine and decay of the revenues . by reason of the great charges and expences which the kings of england were at through their severall generations , to protect and defend themselves and their people ( though some of them , as in all other conditions and sorts of men were sound to be less provident then others , and more easie to the flatteries of courtiers , or the necessities or importunities of favourites or followers , as king edward the second and king richard the second ) sixty thousand knights fees , or maintenance for them given away by william the conquerour of which the religious houses then , or in the near succeeding times , came to be possessed of 28115. the yearly value of which number of knights fees , if now they should be estimated but at ten thousand , and valued but at the rate of twenty pounds per annum , as they seemed to be at the making of the statute of 1 ed. 2. would be worth two hundred thousand pounds per annum , and if at three hundred pounds per annum , which is now the least of the improvement ( sir edward coke reckoning eight hundred , and others six hundred and eighty acres to a knights fee , and others at the least allowing a large proportion ) would make three millions per annum sterling , two hundred and eighty manors given to godfry bishop of constance , which he left to his nephew moubray , the isle of wight , earldome of devon , and honour of plimpton given by henry the first to richard de ripariis or rivers , earldome of gloucester to robert fitz henry ; great possessions given away by king stephen to purchase love and fidelity , the great estates in land which maud the empress was inforced to grant , and her son king henry the second afterwards to confirme to divers of the great men and nobility , as the earldom of oxford to awbrey de vere , earldome of arundel to william de albeney , earldome of hereford to miles of gloucester , and of essex to jeofrey magnauile to forsake the usurping king stephen , and the great charge which those twenty years warres expended ; the wars of king h. 2. in france , and with his own sons there and at home , and of seven and forty thousand three hundred thirty three pounds six shillings & eight pence expended and given towards the warres of the holy land , great somes of gold and silver sent to the pope , charges of the voyage or expedition which king richard the first made in person into asia and the holy land and his ransome ; the earldomes of mortaigne , cornwall , dorses , somerset , nottingham , derby and lancaster with all their great possessions being a great part of the crown revenues given to his brother john , and a great part of the remainder sold : the troubles of king john with his boisterous barons , the stanneries castles and honor of barkhamstead and county of cornwall granted by king hen. 3. to his brother richard his great warres and turmoils in the barons warres , which drove him to such wants and perplexities as he and his queen ( as matthew paris tells us were somtimes enforced to seek their daily and necessary sustenance from monasteries , charge of endeavoring at a great rate and price , though unsuccesfully to make his son edmond king of sicily , and furnishing his son edward afterwards king. e. 1. with an army to jerusalem , that of king ed. 1. in his wars against the scots , and subduing that kingdom , the raising and advancing the unhappy favorites , gaveston and the two spencers , father and son , by king edward the second , and his troubles , great expences of edward the third , in his conquering of france , the dukedom of cornwal , and earldoms of chester and flint , setled upon the black prince his son , and the eldest sons and heirs of the kings of england successively , preferring of lionel duke of clarence , and his many other sons , restoring of don pedro to the kingdom of castile , by the aid of the black prince , the earldom of salisbury , isle of man , castle and barony of denbigh , given to mountacute , and one thousand marks lands per annum besides , to him and his heirs for taking roger mortimer prisoner at nottingham castle , one thousand pounds per annum with the town and castle of cambridge , to william marquess of juliers and the heirs of his body , honor of wallingford and earldome of cornwall escheated , given to john of eltham his brother , the penalties and fines of labourers , artificers and servants in anno 36. of his reign given to the commons for three years to be distributed amongst them the maintaining and humoring of severall factions of the great nobility by king. richard the second his voyage into ireland , and after misfortunes , raising of john beaufort earl of somerset and john holland , his half-brother , to be earl of kent and duke of exeter ; dissentions and troubles in the reign of king henry the fourth , preferring another of the beauforts to be earl of dorset , and his establishment as well as he could in his own usurpations , chirk and chirk lands in wales given by king henry the fifth to edmond beaufort second son of john beaufort earl of somerset , the charge of his conquest of france , the seeking to preserve and keep it by henry the sixth , long and bloody factions and warres of york and lancaster , kendal , and other great possessions given to john de foix , a frenchman , in marriage with margaret the sister to william de la poole duke of suffolk , the earldome of shrowsbury to the high deserving talbot , the isles of guarnsay and jersey , and the castle of bristol to henry beauchamp duke of warwick , the charge of king edward the fourth in his getting the crown , the earldome of pembroke given by him to william lord herbert , the making of friends and parties by king r. 3. pacifying of interests by king. hen. 7. his gifts and grants to stanley . earl of derby , and the dying the white rose into the red , or uniting of them , the voyages and warres of king h. 8. in france , preferring of charles brandon to be duke of suffolk , seymour to be earl of hertford , ratcliffe earl of sussex , thomas manors earl of rutland , sir thomas bolein to be viscount rochford and earl of wiltshire ; his contest with the pope and other great princes , large and great quantities of religious and ecclesiasticall lands given away to divers of his nobility many of whom had been the former donors thereof , and to divers of the gentry to corroborate what he had done , bring them into a better liking of that action , and to be the more unwilling to leave those lands which he had given them , a remission of all debts without schedule or limitation in anno 21. of his reign , endowing six bishopricks and cathedrall churches , pensions for life to many which were turned out of their cloisters , a perpetuall maintenance to the professors of the greek and hebrew tongues , civill law , divinity and physick in both the universities , and to twelve poor knights at windsor ; the warres of king edward the sixth in scotland , creating of john dudley earl of warwick duke of northumberland , seymour duke of somerset , russell earl of bedford , st. john earl of wiltshire , rich , willoughby , paget , sheffeild , barons ; his giving away great quantities of ecclesiasticall and chantry lands , viscount mountague , lord howard of effingham , lord north advanced by queen mary , the subsidie of four shillings in the pound for lands , and two shillings for goods granted to king edward the sixth in the last year of his reign , remitted by her , and nine thousand two hundred pounds land per annum of the crown given away , paying at the same time twelve pound per cent . interest for twenty thousand pounds borrowed of the city of london , and the greater charges and expences of queen elizabeth , in protecting the neatherlands and united provinces , which cost her five hundred thirty four thousand pounds , and four hundred thousand pounds in succouring king h. 4. of france , besides what was disbursed for other protestant allies , guarding the back-door of scotland , relieving & guarding the young king , who was afterwards her successor , endeavouring to reduce ireland to its former obedience , which in a few years cost her , as the lord treasurer cecill earl of salisbury in the reign of king james informed the parliament , nineteen hundred twenty and four thousand pounds , and defending her self from the assaults and machinations of the pope , king of spain , and other catholick princes , advancing and enriching cecil l. burghley , sackvile l. buckhurst , charles blount lord mountjoy , knowles , wotton , sidney , carew , petre , compton , cheney , norris , and stanhop , to be barons ; and creating of the earls of essex , leicester , lincoln and warwick : remission of a subsidie granted to q. mary , farming of her customs to smyth but for thirteen thousand pounds per annum , afterwards to forty two thousand pounds , and raising them after that only to no more then fifty thousand pounds per annum , five hundred thousand pounds spent by king james in a totall subduing of ireland , three hundred and fifty thousand pounds paid for queen elizabeth's debts to the city of london , for which some of the crown lands were mortgaged , and for debts to the army , admiralty and wardrobe , and discharging the reckoning of brass money in ireland with the same sums in silver ; his vast expences by treaties and ambassadours , amounting in the seventh year of his reign unto five hundred thousand pounds , to keep us in our envied peace and plenty ; four hundred thousand pounds disbursed in relieving the dutch , besides what was spent in satisfying the greedy cravings of the scottish nation , preferring and raising of the duke of richmond , ramsey , earl of holderness , earls of carlisle , kelley , morton and dunbarre , howard earl of northampton , carr earl of somerset , herbert earl of montgomery , villers duke of buckingham , cranfeild earl of middlesex , cecill earl of salisbury , howard earl of suffolke , mountague earl of manchester , ley earl of marleborough , and digby earl of bristol . all which and many more which might be here enumerated , did not only as was usuall in the reigns of our former kings , by necessary bounties encouraging of virtue and valour , rewarding of merits and high deservings of ministers of state , and great atchievements of men of warre through a successiion of ages , accidents , occasions , and reasons of state , draw and derive their honours from those fountains of honour , but large revenues and lands many times likewise , to support and maintain their dignities , and sometimes upon the petitions of the commons in parliament , as to conferre upon john of gaunt duke of lancaster , the dukedome of acquitaine in the reign of king edward the third , to make john holland the kings half-brother earl of huntington in the reign of king richard the second , and to preferre and advance the lords john and humphrey , sons of king henry the fourth : and sometimes great pensions and annuities were given for life untill lands could be provided to support them , in reward of virtue and their services done or to be done for the good of the nation , and to continue them and their posterities as props and pillars of the royall throne in a gratefull acknowledgment of the favours received from it ; and besides those former rewards and ennoblishments , puts it at this day for creation money , paid to the dukes , marquesses and earls , to no less a charge then one thousand pounds per annum , by which the people were in all ages no loosers , when the honour strength and defence of the kingdome was maintained and increased by them , and themselves kept in peace and plenty , the manner of living in ancient and better times , being with little money and small rents , great services , by the thankfull and ready duty and affections of tenants to their benefactors and mesne lords , not only made them great in power , but enabled them to imitate their princes , as much as they could in great hospitalities , deeds of charity and almes , building and endowing of churches , abbies , priories and religious houses , and giving large inheritances to their servants , friends and followers pro homagio & servitio , and other dependances , common of estovers and of great quantities of lands to severall cities , towns and villages and in such a plentifull manner distributed and gave their lands , as if the lands in capite & by knight service , coppyhold lands & commons , which our king's nobility and gentry bestowed heretofore upon the inferiour sort of people , and what they dedicated to god by giving to churches , religious houses , colleges , churches and chappels , should be surveyed and measured , they would amount to no less then two parts in four of the lands of the kingdome . the quondam lethargie , sleepiness and unactivity of many of the officers of the exchequer who should be as the argus eyes to guard the royall revenue ; the indulgence heretofore , or neglect of some of her officers , and their not remembring that they were to be the kings and his treasurers remembrancers , respiting or nichiling of his debts upon feigned petitions , which can tell how to deceive the most carefull barons or judges of that court , when their soveraign suffered in the mean time very great damage for want of the money , the not duly estreating of all fines and amerciaments , corrupt compounding for such as were estreated by under officers at easie rates , granting to the city of london their fines and amerciaments , want of looking after , as they doe in other nations , the execution of those multitudes of penall lawes ( which otherwise will be to little purpose ) and assisting the collection of the kings legall profits arising thereby , the heretofore carelesness or corruption of some of our former kings officers , who for fees of favour enlarged their charters and grants to bodies politique , cities , towns and corporations , and to as many private persons as would petition for them , and decked them with the flowers of the kings crown which were not to be parted with so easily . so as what by grants or prescription which in many cases is but the incroachment or filchings of liberties and priviledges , concealed or not well looked after , covered and drawn into a property by a time beyond the memory of man upon a meer supposition , that there might possibly have been a loyal or good grant or commencement for them , every little manor of those multitudes of manors and franchises ( which the commons in a parliament of king edward the third complained off ) and proportions of lands in england ( many of which are called manors by supposed titles or reputation only ) as so many little seigniories , jurisdictions or royalities as they are improperly called , have courts , leet and baron and free warren , some of whom enjoy the honor and profit of the king in trying and executing felons , and many using all manner of inferiour justice upon the tenants , correction of the affize of bread and beer , have tolles , fairs , markets , fishings , waives , estraies , felons goods , and of persons outlawed , and waived , issues , fines and amerciaments , wrecks of sea , deodands , mortuaries , treasure , trove , and punishment of breach of the peace , &c. granted or claimed as belonged to them . the not having a clerk for the king besides the clerks of the assizes , to keep a roll of all fines amerciaments and profits due to the king in the iters or circuits , to estreat and certifie them into the exchequer , as was usual in the reigns of henry the third , edward the first , and the elder kings , and many of the justices of peace not duly certifying their recognizances . the letting the greenwax to farm with defalcations of such as the king shall grant away , which breeds no smal neglect in the payment or gathering of it , the not duly making or sending the originall roll of the chancery into the exchequer , the posting off many of the kings farms , and debts de anno in annum by some of the former clerks of the pipe , not holding the sheriff to a strict opposal , nor inforcing them to pay the monies levied of the kings before their discharge or departure out of the court , not drawing of debts down into the cedule pipae , being a more forcible process ; the heretofore stewards and bayliffs of manors belonging to the crown , not justly accompting in the exchequer as they ought , the not awarding ( as there shall be occasion ) commissions to worthy gentlemen of every county to enquire of the kings debts not levied , and of the sheriffs and other his officers ; false accomps , ordained by the statutes of 3 e. 1. c. 19. and 6 h. 4. cap. 3. neglect of the former clerks of the estreats , and many other abuses crept into evil customes by some officers or clerks of that court : and in anno 1641. discovered and published by mr. vernon ; the superfluous number and charge of many stewards , bayliffs and other officers imployed , which besides the many deceits used by some of them to the king , and exaction upon the people , did , as was informed , in their annuall fees paid and allowed by the king , yearly exceed three thousand pounds more then what they accompted for , the selling or granting away and dismembring many hundreds , wapentakes and liberties from the crown , and bodies of the counties , which the statutes of 2 and 14 ed. 3. doe prohibit to be aliened . the falshood of such as did formerly make kind and easie particulars to such as were to buy or have any of the kings lands given them ; knavery and abuse of under sheriffs , carelesnes and covetousness of the high sheriffs in appointing them , and not looking better to the performance of their own oathes as well as theirs . the not duly accompting for prizes taken at sea , and other maritime profits : the heretofore sleepiness or slugishness of justices of peace in all or most counties and cities , who being intrusted by the law to take care of the observation of some scores of statutes and acts of parliament would , though their eyes and ears might almost every day perswade them to a greater care of their oathes and the good of their country , too often suffer grosse and numberless offences to increase and multiply , and neither punish , molest or trouble them , or so much as give any information of them , and too many of the clerks of the peace , clerks of the market , and others , not duly recording or certifying their estreates . the customes which in all civilized nations , and even amongst the heathen are de jure gentium , to be paid to kings and princes , and by the laws of england and parliament assent , are due to the king who is the soveraign of the sea , keeps the keyes of his ports , gives safe conduct to forrein merchants to come hither , and by his power , friendship and treaties with his allies , neighbour , and other princes , obtains the like with many priviledges for his own merchants to goe and trade thither , prevents , with no small charges by his ambassadours , kept in their dominions all injuries , procures them right and justice , and in case of deniall forceth it , are now so daily cosened , and put up into other pockets , as notwithstanding all the care taken in the farming or collecting of them , though the people upon the retaile are sure to pay them to the full , the king as it is believed doth not receive above a third part thereof , by reason of the treachery and connivance of the former searchers or waiters , and the merchants defraying ( as they can sometimes confess ) the pompous charge of their city and country houses , wives and coaches , with their purloined customes ; and that the cosenning of the king in his excise yeilds them many times more then their merchandise , and their apprentices now not taken under three or four hundred pounds a peice , can live more like gentlemen then servants and purchase all kind of vanities , vice and pride with what they likewise filch and take from him and when the customes are let to farm though the farmers take them as they are capable of such kind of losses , can abuse their consciences , and perswade themselves that they do no wrong to the king , who is to have onely his farm or rent : and that howsoever the more they cozen him , the better they may be enabled to trade , and the more they trade the more may be his customes . the not improving of their lands & other revenues by raising of their rents and rates according to the rise of money and provisions which the subjects have exceedingly , and to their great advantage done in their own estates and revenues , and ten to one more then what was formerly . the heretofore demising and letting to farm very many of the kings manors and lands at the old ; and small rents for three lives , 21. 31. or 40. years in reversion , bespeaking a continuall wasting and weakening of his revenues before hand . discoveries of information of deceipts or wrong done to his revenues seldome made , and then not without an allowance or gratification ; craved of three parts in four or a great share to begiven to the discoverers or prosecutors . many mens pretending service to the king , but doing all they can to enrich themselves , and deceive and lessen him , and having by indulgence or cunning escapes from punishment , made vice look like virtue ; and their wickedness to be successfull ; or been brought off when not often catched by a gentle composition or some money or recompence given to a friend at court or conniver , are so habituated and used to cosen the king ; as notwithstanding the severity of our lawes if they were let loose , and not too many of them laid , as they are , to sleep , they doe as frequently continue their practise in it , as they dress themselves and put on their cloathes , and can as little forbear or live without them , insomuch as some having been known to have been men of an otherwise strict morality , life and conversation , and dealing very punctually and honestly with all men but the king , can no more resist an opportunity or temptation of cozening of him , then a child at a basket of cherries can forbear eating of them , or a cutpurse not to be nimble in a crowd . disuse of the duties of sheriffs and escheators , which by their then few conduit pipes , did better look after the collecting the kings revenues , and with less trouble and charge to the king and people , bring it into his cisterns , then those , who being under no oath or controll , are , as it is to be feared , by a too often respiting of the kings debts , or laying them to sleep for some years , untill they be grown antient , many times the occasion of their being drowned in a generall pardon , begged by courtiers , or made to be a new discovery , desperate or insolvent ; and by undertaking , more then they should doe , have to the greater charge of the king and his people disheartned and caused the more antient , more diligent , and powerfull officers of the exchequer for a great part of what belongs unto their offices to be ineffectuall . discontinuance of the lawes and customes for the collecting of the regall revenues , and the many excellent cares and orders of the exchequer , as good as any prince in the world can have or devise for the speedy and orderly getting in , issuing out , and accounting for the revenue . a succession and improvement of knavery in some whom our former kings trusted , occasioned or encouraged , by our warres abroad in france , after 4 edward the first , for then there was an endevour of an extenta maneriorum , and an enquiry after many of the rights and regalities ( which are not retorned or certified in chancery , nor any where else to be found , but by time and the troubles thereof are lost or carried away : and after the statute of quo warranto in 12 ed. 1. for then also the great care and good husbandry of our kings in preserving or improving their revenues was not laid aside , or by the troubles of king edward the second , and the irregularities of his favourites ; for much about that time there began to be a quitting of the former cares of the revenue , or by our successfull warres abroad in france by edward the third and henry the fifth , the unhappy quarrels of the york and lancastrian families for almost sixty years together , and the hatching or breeding of them in the unquiet and unfortunate reign of richard the second , or the short reign of hen. 7. who had not time enough to reduce things into their former channel , but was busie in gathering the treasure which he left to his son henry the eighth or being newly settled in his throne , did not think it safe or seasonable to make alterations or put them into their former or better order ; or the great increase of revenue as well as treasure in money , plate and jewels to henry the eight by the dissolution of the abbies and religious houses , or that the fragments not given away or disposed by him , employed the bounty and munificence of his successors edward the sixth and queen elizabeth during their severall reigns , and her many great cares and affairs of state otherwise busying her , or our halcion dayes , peace and plenty in the reign of king james , and a great part of the reign of king charles the martyr , and the hearkening to pretences , and erecting more offices to hinder the cheating and knavery of others , when as the proposers either by intending it at first , or easily learning to imitate or exceed them , did afterwards draw from the king and people more money then what their undertakings ever amounted unto , and proved to be as little for the kings good as sir simon harvey's design of reformation in the reign of king james , for the better ordering of the expences of his house , where after many dishonorable essayes and retrenchments , casting many of the kings servants into ruine and discontents , and serving some of the tables with half a goose instead of a whole one , he could at last , when he had gained a pension of five hundred pounds per annum for his own life and his wives , put up all his engines , and conclude with making every thing worse then it was before . and no better a husbandry then those that will feed and give wages to half a dozen shepheards to keep a score of sheep , and allow them the keeping of some of their own into the bargain , and make no better a totall at the years end , then the gardner which gives entertainment to a multitude of catterpillers in his garden , and thinks it is preserved by them , the waters being ever likely to come short , or but faintly when instead of fewer or greater pipes , which brought it better , there , shall be so many to divert or wast it in the way or passage to the royall uses . the necessity of intelligence , leagues and correspondency with neighbour and forraign princes and states , and the charges incident thereunto ( which cannot be thought to be small , when as that with the house of burgundy within the space of sixty years , betwixt the reign of king henry the sixth , and the later end of the reign of henry the eighth amounted to no less then six millions ) the more then formerly greater charges of sending and entertainment of ambassadours , princely gifts and presents to such as come hither , and the generall pardons at the end of severall parliaments granted by our kings and princes , and to the great advantage of the people of late petitioned for as a kind of custome and renumeration for some ayds or subsidies , which came not up most commonly to a moiety of what was in every parliament quitted and released to them . the granting away in all ages many of the royall rights and prerogatives to the people . and in a long course and series of time , like some aged parents in love to some of their children , or by the importunites , or designes , of others , giving away too much of their own revenues and estate , and bereaving themselves of that which is now thought too little for those who have gained it from them . restorations ( and many times by petitions of one or both houses of parliament ) of the lands and estates which came to the crown by attainders and forfeitures for treason ( their confiscations never amounting to the damage done by such attempts and rebellions , and the charge of suppressing them , and defending themselves and their people ) to reconcile the heirs , posteritie and allies of such as had been attainted and induce them to a better obedience and love of their country . the no small charges susteined heretofore , by granting yearly pensions or annuities to severall of the nobility to serve extraordinary , besides the ordinary duty of their tenures , with certain numbers of gens d' armes , and bowmen in times of warre , or upon necessity , the building and endowing of many colleges and halls in the universities , eaton and winchester schools , and endowing with great yearly revenues the famous hospitalls of bridewell and christ-church in london , and st. thomas in southwark , building and endowing a great part of the cathedrals in england , the castle and chappel of windsor , and palaces of sheene , woodstock , richmond ; repair of the tower of london , castle of dover , &c. charges for the honour of the king and kingdome in making and installment of knights of the garter , and the costly ceremonies thereof , and not seldome sending ambassadours with it to forraign princes , expences in making of knights of the bath ; and in the reign of our more antient kings for furres and rich vestments , in making knights bachelors . charge of the courts of justice and circuits , to preserve the peoples rights , properties and liberties , protect them from injuries , and punish the transgressors , now taking away yearly from the regal revenue fifteen or sixteen thousand pounds per ann . ( which in honester and cheaper times , was in the reign of henry the sixth as much as worshipfully defrayed , as the record saith , the expences of his then no small retinue and houshold ) with the greater charges now more then formerly in all other the necessaries and affairs belonging to the kingly office. a daily and almost hourly distribution and giving of royall favours and munificence , and necessity of much of it , when as that which amongst private men is accounted providence , thrift and good husbandry would be an unbecoming sparing in princes , and an avarice and temptation to oppress the people , and that which in others would be prodigality , or a wast and consumptions of their estates , and reckoned as a folly is in kings and princes , most necessary in their bounties and favours wherewith to satisfie and keep in quiet as well as they can multitudes of people , whose numberless passions , iniquities , ill humors , designs , necessities and interests are by the sword of justice in one hand : and the royal scepter of grace and benevolence in the other , to be kept in order by love , honor , obedience and loyalty , the best increasers , maintainers and preservers of publick peace and tranquility , which those who have suffered in the want of it but some daies , or moneths , or a year , or few years , or our last twenty years folly and miseries , may know how to esteem and value . a dayly or very often craving and petitioning of some or many of his subjects , and the largeness of a royal heart and hand like an over indulgent parent , taking a pleasure and content to divest himself to enrich and give them content . the vast difference betwixt the charges of navies and armies now more then formerly , when a hobler or dragoon horseman which was wont to be heretofore hired at three pence per diem , now hath no less then two shillings six pence , a footman eight pence , the pay of a troop of horse cannot be under four thousand pounds per annum , and of one hundred and eighty men in a garrison three thousand six hundred pounds per annum . the course of warre i● the later ages growing more and more tedious and chargeable , and so immense , as the dutch notwithstanding their sout gelt , or tax upon salt , their vectigal frumenti for corn grinded at their mills , the eighth part of the price of pears and apples , a seventh of all cattel sold to the butchers , an eighth for wood , a tax upon candles , and an ezcise upon all things eaten , drunk or worn ; upon law suits , servants wages , ships , coaches and carts ; a sixth penny upon all lease lands , assessments upon demeasne lands , gardens and planted grounds ; an eighth upon houses demised or let , hooft , gelt , being a dutch floren for every poll or head scoors●engelt , a like payment for chimney money , with many other great taxes ; besides their many profitable and succesfull depredations in the east and west indies , &c. great aides from france and england of men and money for many years during their warres ; great riches got by the greatest commerce of christendom , and ransacking sea and land for it , have been in sixty years warres with spain left very much in debt at the end of the warres . and are yet notwithstanding since the warres ended some millions of money in debt , and so much as they were for many years after , and are yet enforced to continue their excise , and most of their assessments and taxes upon the people , when the king of spain notwithstanding his vast dominions , twenty millions of duckets , which is above six millions of our sterling money , yearly revenues ; great exactions and impoverishing of his people by yearly taxes and assessments ; the golden mines of peru , mexico and potozi , and other inestimable treasures of the west indies , which p●●hero a spanish ambassadour in a brag or vie with the treasurie of venice , could say , had no bottom ; and having the sun for its lord treasurer , daily to generate and increase its gold ; hath yearly for many years yeilded the crown of spain by and out of the fifths , sometimes ten , and sometimes fifteen millions of gold , and so much as in the year 1638. two hundred and sixty millions of gold did by the records of the custome-house of sivill appear to have been in seventy four years then last past brought from the west indies into spain , and from potozi in nine years inclusivè from 1574. to 1585. one hundred and eleven millions of silver , hath notwithstanding with his wars with the dutch , and a warr of late years with france , chargeable bribes and intelligences , and a thirst after an universal monarchy , consumed that , and all that he could borrow besides from the bankers of genoa . and france with all her taxes and gabells , beggering and very much enslaving of her common people , hath in a warre of thirty years last past with the spaniards , fought it self almost off its legs , and into a consumption . which a long and late experience may forbid our wondring at , when as the late long pretending but no performing parliament could with the spoils of the kings and churches revenues , the estates of the nobility , gentry , and good people in england , scotland , and ireland , and more taxes and burdens imposed by them and oliver , their man of sin in twenty years , then our kings of england in five hundred years last past , all put together , had before laid upon them , could not leave their oliver when their sins , and his tricks , had made him to be their master , any more then three hundred thousand pounds sterling in cash and ready money : and that with that and such of the royall revenues as they left him , and those vast spoils , rapines , taxes , assessments , and pillage of all that were not as bad as himself and his predecessor common-wealth contrivers in the three kingdomes of england , ireland and scotland , which amounted unto above forty millions , he was not able in a few years wars with the dutch and spaniards to bring about his expences , & support the protection , as he called it , of the people with it , but died above three millions in debt , which the debts of our famous king edward the third , and henry the fifth , who conquered france , and the most of our indebted kings never amounted unto . when our english kings and princes having never received of the people by their aides and subsidies the twentieth penny towards their expences in the preservation , of them and the honor , peace , & plenty of the kingdom , could never do as the field marshals , stadt holders or generals in commonwealths have done , or as the late princes of orange , did for severall successions in holland and the united provinces receive great allowances and sallaries , keep and greatly improve and increase their own revenues , and make the publick bear and defray its vast charges , as well in warres , as the cares and defence of peace in the absence of it , but did bear and sustein the brunt of all that was not extraordinary , and the charge of many a warre abroad , and suppressing of insurrections and rebellions at home , out of their own estates and revenues , and made many a hard shift even to the pawning of their jewels , and mortgaging of their lands without an often calling to the people for subsidies or other aids or assistance to preserve them and their estates and posterities . nor took to themselves the liberty which many subjects doe to put into their accounts and bills of charges to their princes their damnum emergens , damage happening by any service done for him or their country , and many times their lucrum cessans , gain or improvement lost , though every mans particular in the defence of their king and country , is involved in the generall , & that the service was not altogether or immediately done or tendred to him , or for the preservation of him or his estate only and posterity , but as much if not more for their own concernments , and think themselves to be ill dealt with if they be not speedily and abundantly rewarded . to help on which consumption of the royal revenues , came also the great charges which king charles the first ( upon whom the decay of the royal revenues occasioned by the necessities and indulgences of his predecessors , at once falling might have made him crie out with king henry the third , as the monk of st. albans relates it , seducor undique mutilatus sum rex et abbreviatus ) was at in leagues and confederacies with forreign princes , maintaining armies in the palatinate and germany , aiding the kings of bohemia , denmark and sweden , engaging in a warre against spain , and sending a great fleet and army to invade him ; great expences in sending a navy and army to the isle of rhe , and two others to aid the rochellers , to furnish part of which ( for it amounted to a great deal more ) he sold at once at too easie rates to the city of london above twelve thousand pounds land per annum rent of assize , the payment of fifty thousand pounds per annum pensions aud annuities out of the exchequer , ( as it was industriously computed by that factious party of common woe contrivers ) to diverse of the scottish nation , many of whom did afterwards joyn with his enemies to ruine him ; the great and necessary yearly pensions and annuities paid to the king and queen of bohemia and their children ; charges of going with a great army to the borders of scotland against the covenanting scots , and maintaining another in england , with the payment of 120000l . principall money borrowed by his father of divers citizens of london with interest at 8. per cent . which with the many great cares , troubles , wants and necessities which compassed him in on every side , whilst his great virtues for want of necessary supplies of money and treasure were not able to support or bear him up against the storms of an hideous rebellion , escape the snares and pursuit of a rebellious party , or scour and cleanse that augaean stable which had ruined and weakned his revenues , made him a glorious martyr for the laws and liberties of england , and those that were the causers of it , the great examples of a divine justice overtaking them . and enforced him to leave his troubles to descend upon his son our most gratious soveraign charls the second ; with a small and despoyled revenue , which by its fluidness , and the gnawing and deflux of time was as to his crown lands brought almost to an exinanition , and his casuall and other receipts , bearing no more proportion to his expences and disbursements then a dwarfe or pigmey doth to a giant or poliphemus , could doe no less then bring the remainder , of that little which was left into a tabes and almost incurable consumption , when there is so great a difference betwixt the rates of provisions and livelyhood , and all manner of things bought or used in the beginning of the reign of queen elizabeth , and what is now paid for them , when he is at greater expences then any of his progenitors , and a less receiver , receives at the old rate , and buyes at the new , his demeasn lands ( besides his pastures at cresl●w in buckinghamshire , which were hertofore imployed for the keeping of some oxen for his household provisions , and his parks , and some adjacent grounds to his houses of residence ) and all his land and certain revenues are not above reprizes one hundred thousand pounds per annum , and two parts of three of that consisting in fee farm rents , which admit of no improvement , when his customes which should now amount to as much , or more then what they were in his late majesties reign , by the addition of an excise amounting to one hundred and forty thousand pounds per an . now yeilds not near so much as it did formerly ; the excise of ale and beer , ill collected , o● so chargeable in the gathering of it , as it yeilds little more then the half of what the parliament estimated and intended it to be ▪ great yearly revenues & inheritances in lands given to men of high deservings , both of him and the kingdom , all the confiscations of the late traitors of a great yearly value , with the benefit of the post-office , wine lycences , and many discoveries of personall estates due to the king given to his brother the duke of york to make him a princely revenue . when his ordinary expences doe so much exceed his ordinary receipts , and his extraordinaries are six or seven to one of his ordinaries , is sixteen hundred thousand pounds in debt , spends more then as much again in his houshold expences , as formerly now that his pourveyance is taken away , looseth two hundred and fifty thousand pounds per annum by the loss of his tenures and pourveyance , is at eighty thousand pounds per annum charge for the maintenance of the garrison of dunkirk , above five hundred thousand pounds per annum for the navy and land forces , hath to procure a publick quiet , paid many hundred thousand pounds of the arrears of the navy and army employed against himself , and left in arrears by his enemies must be ten times a giver , if he should grant every ones petition , to one that he shall be a gainer or receiver , discontents himself to content others , and forgetting that old rule and practice of the world , sibi proximus is enforced to provide for others and not for himself , and in the midst of his own necessities is to be the rewarder of virtue , and still , as well as he can , the raging waves of the multitude , is the asylum or refuge of all that are distressed , and bears or lessens their burdens out of his own revenues . and when neighbour princes are not usually without ambitions , and taking all opportunities to enlarge their power and dominions by the weaknesse of others , or to weaken and oppress any of their neighbours , and make advantages of their troubles and necessities , doe seldome want pretences of titles or revenging injuries done to them or their people by kings or their people , and can lay aside their sworn leagues and confederacies , as soon as their interest or designs shall invite them thereunto , when the french king hath by computation an ordinary yearly revenue of above twenty millions of crowns which makes above five millions sterling per annum , besides his extraordinaries , which by taxes and tallages in the late warres , being now by a habit and custome grown something easie and familiar to them , may be raised to vast yearly sums of money , and more then treble the ordinary , when the king of spain aboundeth in his revenues in his dominions in christendom , besides his extraordinary aids & assesments , and vast treasures and supplies from the west indies , which is a ready or rich pawn or credit for borrowing of monies upon all extraordinary emergencies , occasions , or necessities of state affairs . the city of venice with her territories hath above a million sterling per annum in her yearly income , besides extraordinaries , and a treasure of money enough to pay six kings ransomes , with jewels and plate unvaluable . and the dutch have one million and two hundred thousand pounds sterling per annum yearly , & ordinary revenue out of amsterdam , besides what they have yearly out of all other cities , towns and places , by their huge excises and assessments upon all the seven united provinces . and the king of england , who was wont to be arbiter totius europae , hold and keep the ballance of christendom even ; and if he do not , it cannot be either safe or well for his own kingdomes and people , and their trade and commerce , must pine and wither away , languish and groan under so great expences and necessities , whilest he is to preserve himself and people in peace , plenty and safety , and hath so little to doe it withall , when at home all men do seem to love and serve him , very many doe ask and get what they can from him , and too many deceive him . and as that prudent and great statesman , cecil earl of salisbury lord treasurer of england , observed to the parliament in the reign of king james , it is a certain rule , that all princes are poor and unsafe who are not rich and so potent as to defend themselves upon any sodain offence and invasion , or help their allies and neighbours . hath a small revenue to govern an unruly people , one part of them ready to runne mad with mistaken opinions in religion , and too many of the residue overgrown with vice and luxury ; a burden of burdens laid upon him , the burdens of his people , and the burdens of his ancestors by their bounties , expence and necessities , and are by so much greater or heavier then theirs , as his revenues are consideratis considerandis a great deal lesser . chap. i. the remedies . which a small or ordinary repair will not help , but requires new and more sollid and lasting foundations , endeavoured seriously , and attempted by king james about the seventh year of his reign by the advice of his parliament and privy council , but not then or any time since brought to perfection . and may in a legall and well pleasing way to the people without the unwelcome raising of the tenths of the abbie and religions lands to the present yearly value , which may be of dangerous consequence , and the tenths and first-fruits of the bishops and clergy of england , who have been over much pared already , or a resumption of the crown lands which unless it be of such wherein the king or his father have been grossely deceived : and the first money paid for the purchase upon an account of the mesne profits , and interest satisfied , will hugely disturb the interest and house-gods of too many of the nobility , gentry and rich men of the kingdome , and without any new or forreign devices or talliages , to raise monies , and fricasser , or tear in pieces the already too much impaired estates of a tax-bearing tired people , which that monarch of virtues and blessed martyr king charles the first did so abhorre , as he caused mr. selden & mr. oliver st. john to be imprisoned in the tower of london , & a bill to be exhibted in star-chamber against them and the earl of clare , and others , for having only in their custody , and divulging a manuscript , or writing of certain italian projects proposed to him by sir robert dudley a titulado duke in tuscanie , and with out the gawling , grating , and most commonly unsuccesfull way of projects , which if set up will be thrown down again by the after complaints and discontents of the people , or hunting and vexing them with informations or calling their lands and estates in question to the ruine of them and their families upon defective titles , or by monopolies or a trebling abuses by pretending to reform them ; or essayes of new wayes of profit framed or found out by such as designe more to themselves then for the good either of king or people , and either know not , or cannot , or will not , foresee the many evills and sad consequences which may as effects from causes , fatally and unavoidably follow such or the like attempts , which the necessities of kings , or want of competent revenues , may either put them or their servants and followers upon . be , as is humbly conceived , prevented by severall acts of parliament to be made upon the propositions , following which will not only encrease the kings revenues , but encourage and make the people very willing and well contented therewith , when as what they shall for the present loose thereby , shall at the same time by enacting of some good laws for them be abundantly repenced . by a generall inclosure of all wast lands & commons belonging to the kings , queens and princes revenues in england and wales , allotting equall and reasonable proportions for satisfaction of commoners , and by disafforrestation of some forrests and chases remote from london , or the kings ordinary residences , the imbanking and taking in of all lands , infra fluxum & refluxum maris high and low watermarks derelicted and forsaken by the sea , or brought thither by alluvion , and added to the firme land , and together with the lands and revenues now belonging to the crown of england never to be aliend , rent-charged , or leased more then for 21 years or three lives , which besides the addition of revenues and profit to the king , will very much adde to the livelyhood and industry of many of the people who will be maintained thereby , better the lands , and increase subsidies when there shall be occasion . and causing the like to be done by a generall inclosure of all that now lies wast , and in common , in particular , and private mens revenues in england , and wales , amounting to some millions of acres , will produce the like benefits to the owners and commoners , who in a gratefull acknowledgement thereof may out of their severall allotments , as freewill-offerings to their king , pay yearly three pence per acre to him and his heirs and successors . that banks or mount piete's be erected in several places of england and wales , as at london , york , durham , golchester , norwich ludlow , & denbigh , where mony may be lent , and pawns or securities taken , not exceeding the interest of twelve per cent . for a year , or proportionably for greater or lesser times , and that commissioners in the manner of a corporation or otherwise , may in every of those places be from time to time appointed by his majesty his heires and successors , to order and supervise the management thereof , for which his majesty his heires and successors , may out of the increase and profit of the said interest , receive and take forty shillings per cent , no one particular person being permitted to imploy or put into the said bank at interest above the sum of five hundred pounds ; and that no private or particular person , putting their monies into the said bank , shall have and receive above the sum of the current or usual interest in the kingdom , or any other gift or reward whatsoever , whereby the intollerable oppression of publick and private brokers those baptizati judaei and pawn-takers , which like wolves gnaw and devour the poor as sheep , when as driven to them by their necessities , they are inforced to come to them for succour , and give after the rate of fifty or sixty per cent , which the hate of jews to christians never arrived to , and a christian and protestant kingdome ought not to countenance . that by sumptuary lawes concerning apparrel to be worn by all degrees and orders of people , the excess thereof may be regulated and abated , with great penalties to the infringers thereof , which athens , sparta and rome being heathen common-wealths , and england heretofore by sundry good laws and statutes , unhappily repealed in anno 21 jac. spain by pragmatico's ; and france by a late reiglement have found to be an universall good : and the common-wealth of venice held it to be necessary , nè civium patrimonia nimia intemperantia abliguriantur ; to keep their citizens from wasting and spending their estates , being laws now more then ever wanting in england , when as that which wil quickly undo private or particular families , which by their universality do make a kingdome , is so frequent and every where almost to be found in a daily practise and pursuit of pride , and that cheating one another to maintain it , is the most of the peoples cares and consciences , every house almost as to the excess of their vanities , and expences beyond their estates , hath a mark anthony and cleopatra in it ; and too many men and women , though not so good or well able to bear it as king william rufus , doe think their clothes not costly enough ; many of the nobility and gentry have wasted and spent themselves almost quite out of themselves , and left themselves little more then their titles and pedigrees . the citizens doe all they can to our-doe them infolly ; the farmers , yeomanry and countrymen all they can to overtake them , and the servants to come as near as they can to their masters , ladies or mistresses : and they that first spend themselves to nothing , or very near it , are like to quit the race to those that come after ; and they which come last to the brink of ruining their fortunes , which will be probably the common and lower ranks of the people , are likely to learn by those that ruined themselves before them , to stay where they left , & be masters of the others estates . and that such as shall wear any habits or kinds of apparrel forbidden ; be rated in all publick assessments according to the estate and quality of such persons as are allowed to wear the like , that whosoever shall not be of the degree and quality to keep a coach , or live in the country not farre distant from the parish church and keepeth one , shall forfeit and pay 5. l. for every year in which he shall so keep it ; that the justices of peace in every country be the collectors of all the penalties concerning apparel , habits and keeping of coaches , and to have a ●ourth part of the forfeitures upon the receipt , conviction or recovery thereof : that the masters and mistresses of servants trangressing that act , shall out of the wages due to such servants pay and answer every of the penalties forfeited by the servants , not exceeding their said wages , and stop and detain the same , and for their care therein have and receive to their own use one third part in four to be divided of the said penalties ; and that the residue of all the said penalties ordained and forfeited by the said act , shall be collected and answered to the use of the king and his heirs and successors . whereby that grand improvement of all sins and wickedness , which hath now overspread the kingdome , that consumption of estates , and destruction of good manners ; and that high unparralleld and inordinate excess of apparel and pride , which being the canker of all honesty and virtue , ruined rome the conqueror and mistress of all the world , and , as histories have told us , never failed to undo many other kingdoms permitting or allowing it , which our ancestors and former inhabitants of england would have abhorred and blushed at , may be restrained , and those sinfull necessities and plenty of all manner of knaveries , dishonesties , cheatings , and villanies , to maintayne it , depressed and extinguished , which the book of god , danger of sinne , hell , and damnation , and all that can be said and done by the bishopps , ministers , preachers , and men of holy church , without the assistance of such sumptuary lawes , can never , as experience hath sufficiently told us , be able to beat downe , extirpate , or lessen . which the pretended loss of the kings customes by silkes , and other vanities imported , should not deterre him and his great councel from attempting , when the prevention of the great wast of gold and silver in making lace and habiliments for such as ought not to wear them , the vent of our cloth and other english manufactures in stead of them , suppressing of an universall pride and sinne , which the land groaning under , is not able to bear , the causing of a greater duty and obedience to superiors , which is now too much wanting , and the pacifying of gods wrath and judgments which are ready to fall upon the nation , for it will abundantly recompence . that seeing the excise of beer , ale , perry and sider greatly discontents and lies heavy upon the people and the management and way of gathering it , adds to their affliction , and makes them repine at the nobility and gentry upon a supposition , that to ease themselves of that which was surmised to be a burden by tenures in capite and by knight service , with the wardships and incidents thereof , they have contrived and raised the burden of more then one hundred thousand pounds per annum excise to be laid upon them , whereas the losses and damages of the nobility and gentry of england , ( besides what they may sometimes save in their own wardships , and by reason of lands holden of the king in capite and by knight service ) in the profit and honor of tenures holden of them by knight service , and of wardships and other incidents , and their just and legal superiorities and commands over their tenants , which will now be wanting : will if rightly estimated , amount to as much yearly dammage and inconveniencies as that one hundred thousand pounds per annum , or more , will come to by that excise , in which their expences may tell them they bear a share likewise with the common people , some of the knights and gentry loosing as much by the taking away of tenures in capite and by knight service , as two hundred pounds per annum communibus annis , and some of the nobility four or five hundred pounds per annum , and the least of what every of the nobility and gentry doe yearly loose thereby , will be more then any particular brewer or aleseller can be damnified , when as the beer and ale , and next buyer or expender , are sure enough to pay for that and many times more . that for the remedying of the great deceipts , and sophistications used by brewers of ale and beer , as their false gaugings and measures , not half or not enough boyling it , to spare fewel and fire , putting in broom , coriander-seed , wormwood , and many other newly devised and noxious ingredients instead of hops , or to make it taste the stronger , which may much endanger the lives and health of the people . and the abuses of merchants , wine-coopers and vintners in conjuring their wines as they call it , mingling it with stum , molosse or scum of sugar , perry , sider , lime , milk , whites of eggs , elder-berries , putting in raw flesh , and using so many adulterations and mixtures , as the taverns and places of retail doe too commonly , vent intoxicating and unwholsome drink by the name of wine , whereby the wine-coopers , whose trade was originally and properly only to make and amend vessels for wines , are now by a knowledge and taste of wines , pertaking of the merchants evil secrets and doings , and bringing some ease and conveniences to them by uttering and taking off their hands great quantities of wines upon long dayes and many moneths of payment given them , become as it were the merchants masters , and the only merchants and sellers of wine to the vintners and retailers ( which was formerly forbidden them ) after they have adulterated , unwholsomed , and almost poysoned them , to the distemper and breeding of sickness in the bodies of men , who for a little wine to warm and chear their hearts or stomachs , or entertain one another with mutuall refreshments , are by such ungodly tricks and devices to purchase to the merchants , wine-coopers and vintners filthy and wicked gain and lucre , many times enticed into the confines of death and their own destruction . and the many deceipts and abuses of bakers , whose weights of bread and honest gains of their trade is by the statutes of assisa , panis & cervisiae , in anno 51 of king henry the third , to be yearly regulated by the kings baker of his houshold , and the bread of his court , according to the several yearly rates and prices of corn , and their transgressions contrary thereunto by many other lawes to be severely punished , and the offendors put upon the pillory . which this last century or age by a non-execution of lawes have not been so happy to see . but the bakers are now so disused to these antient good laws and regulations , and so used to a custome and cunning of blinding the magistrates , or such officers as they entrust therewith or by evading , or diminishing their punishments , as they can by a custome or necessity of sinning , which their deluded consciences do perswade them to be lawfull and warrantable enough , make their bread 5 or 6 ounces too light , or short of the legal proportions nor assize , when corn is very dear , and a great deal to light when it is cheaper : and to add to their wickedness as if otherwise it would not be enough , are suspected to mingle chalk and lime amongst their meal , which makes the white bread , and do by combination with the vintners , inn-keepers and chandlers ( who are the belly-brokers to the poor ) make their white bread so little as to afford them 16. or 18. to the dozen : and if the mayor and sheriffs of london , or the magistrates of other cities or great towns doe sometimes goe about to trie and weigh their bread , and find any basket or small parcel of bread to be faulty ( which by the serjeants and under officers too often giving notice over night or before hand what day or way the scrutiny goes makes their care and diligence to be most commonly ineffectuall , or to little purpose , or may be easily prevented by some bread honestly made when all the rest doe want waight laid in their passage ) and seised and sent to prisons , the next dayes or weeks bread shall be sure to be made the lighter , to recompence the loss of the former . and lesser corporations being most commonly governed by retailing tradesmen , and such as have a fellow feeling of one anothers mysteries , or that which they suppose to be their callings , but are usually attended with fraud and cheatings , doe take no care at all to obstruct , discover , or punish one anothers knaveries ; by which the poor and their wives and children , whose daily hard labours can scarcely bring them to other diet then brown bread , and skummed cheese , and a cup of good beer when they can get it , are daily and very much oppressed , and their poverties made to encrease the riches of those who are so farre from relieving their miseries & hardships , as they are a great part of the cause and increase of it ; by which great and not to be endured villanies and knaveries , not seldome , but daily and very often practised in a kingdom , professing christ and christianity , by vintners , brewers , and bakers , in wine , beer and bread , the main supports of life and nourishment , ( which might have been suppressed if the stewards of courts leet , sheriffs in their turnes , and the grand jury men of every county twice a year impannelled and solemnly charged by the judges to look better to these & other generall abuses , not by a strange custom neglected & slept over their had oathes and duties ) those grand principles and fundamentall necessaries for food and sustenance are corrupted , abused , and unwholsomed , diseases and evils , and oftentimes death arising thereby secretly instilled and conveyed , and as it were forced into the bodies of the people , which may well call and crie for a reformation . as well as the great abuse of leather , which under colour of transporting calve skins , and obtaining licence to send thither a certain number of hides or skins of leather , doe ten times exceed the number ; and by multitudes of coaches more then formerly , false cocquets and connivance of searchers and officers in the ports , which should look better to it , there is ( notwithstanding great quantities of russia and other leather , & hides imported from forreign parts ) so great a scarcity and dearth of leather , as that which the shoemakers , not long agoe , were wont to pay but fifteen shillings , for they must now pay double as much , and that which they buy is ( by the knavery of the tanner , who to save the charge of bark , doth not permit it to lie in the tannepit half the time appointed by the law , and of the currier and the carelesness and worse of the lord mayor of london's officer who keeps the knife , as they call it , at leaden hall , and should seise all bad leather ) neither well tanned , good , or cheap ; by which villanies , deceipts , careless looking to the execution of good lawes , evils of transportation , and some of the nobilities and gentries profuse rates and prices given to their shoemakers the shoes which they wear , are come to the price of five shillings and six pence , and six shillings a pair ; and sober and more carefull men in the laying out of their money must now doe what they can , pay four shillings six pence or five shillings for a pair of neats leather shoes , for which within this twenty years was paid but two shillings eight pence ; and when they have come up to those strange prices , have their inner soles many times made with chill and soaking seal skins or horse hides ▪ and all the upper leather and under of their shoes so ill tanned , as it being scarcely separated or to be known from a raw hide , it lets in water like brown paper or bayes , and with a showre of rain , or a little wet shrivels and runs into wrinckles and an unhansomeness , and scarcely keeps out a little rain or dirt which breeds rheums , colds and diseases in the people who being islanders , and living in a country of so much rain and wet , which by some other nations living in drier countries , called the matella planetarum , piss-pot of the planets , cannot walk or live so healthfully as they doe in warmer countries , with wooden shoes or sandalls , which may be remedied as to the peoples better usage in their bread , beer , wine and shoes , the grand necessaries of life . 1. by a better execution of the laws already enacted , 2. by not altogether trusting tradesmen with the care thereof in corporations , who being either of the same trades , or others furnished with as evil artifices , are but bad overseers or suppressors of deceits in trade , by which they all now more then ever enrich themselves . 3. if the justices of peace in every county by as oath particularly to be framed for that purpose , which in a time of heeding no oathes , or an age of equivocation or putting false constructions or interpretations upon them , may be more then formerly needfull , were enjoyned better to look to lawes already made , or to be enacted for that end , and allowed upon the discovery or prosecution a fourth part of the forfeitures and penalties , which will help to put them in mind of their duty ; and to be like the athenian nomophylaces , more vigilant in the finding out , prosecution and conviction of any such transgressors . 4. that there be yearly appointed by the king , or the lord chancellor or the lord treasurer in his behalf , assayers or surveyors of the bread , beer , wine and leather made , or to be made or vented in every county and city , which as concerning ale and beer will be but the same with the ale-conners and tasters , which our antient lawes and customes thought necessary , and to have for his pains , discovery , prosecution , and conviction of offenders contrary to the laws made or to be provided , one part in four of the penalties , and to attend therein also , and observe the directions of the justices of peace therein . 5. that the wines according to the statutes be , as formerly , rated at a reasonable price set as well for the merchants as the vintners or retailers . 6. that no wine-cooper be upon a great penalty suffered to buy or sell wines , which can never be for the good of the people , when the devil or the conjurer having mingled and sophisticated what he bought pure from the merchant , shall have power to make it as bad as he will , and put it to sale when he hath done . 7. that every merchant and vintner doe as the victuallers and cooks are by statutes appointed for the keeping of lent , yearly enter into recognizances to the king not to corrupt or alter their wines , nor willingly or wittingly permit them to be adulterated or altered by the wine-coopers , but to sell them according to the lawfull measures , and observe and keep the rates and prices yearly to be set . 8. that every brewer and baker doe yearly enter into recognizances to make wholsome bread and beer and keep the assize . 9. that every tanner and currier doe the like as touching the well tanning and dressing of their leather : and that the officer which shall keep the knife at leaden hall in london do the like well and truly to execute the duty of his place . 10. that the vintners who by a late invention and ill use of glass bottles doe evade the rates of wines limited by a late act of parliament , and recompence the abatement of price by the falseness of their measures , may be ordered to use as formerly ; pint , quart , pottle and gallon , pots marked and allowed according to law. 11. that for the first offence every of the said tradesmen shall forfeit one hundred pounds , for the second two hundred pounds , and for the third be disfranchised and never more permitted to use that trade . 12. and that a conviction of any such offences may be pleaded in barre unto them in any action to be brought , commenced and prosecuted . to be delivered from which great and many deceipts and frauds , and every dayes often committed oppression , by a tyranny of the rich over the poor and needy , and to keep the wolves from their morning and evening preys , and rejoycing in the spoil of the widdows and fatherless , the hungry and necessitous , which by a cheating and blinding of their consciences , they will whether the laws of god and man will or no , suppose to be lawfull , because it is their trade , and the misteries of it , or because their fathers or their masters did it before them ; every one else doth it , and every man must live and make use of their time , labour , calling or opportunities . the people of this kingdom being so universally endamaged by the evils happening by them , and concerned , and like to be benefitted by the remedies , may ( as those of spain , florence , and other forreign countries , who in bearing some burdens and taxes laid upon them are many times rather gainers then losers by the benefit of a bands , or rule of rating butchers , and many other commodities to be bought or sold , so as children cannot be cozened . be very willing that their representatives in parliament shall consent . that upon every tun of wine , french , spanish and rhenish to be vented in england there be by the first buyer forty shillings per tunne paid to his majesty his heirs and successors , and accounted for half yearly in the court of exchequer . that instead of an excise upon ale , beer , perry and sider , every one that shall in a publick alehouse sell ale , beer , perry or sider , shall yearly pay to the king , his heirs and successors forty shillings per annum ; and every publick brewer twenty pounds per annum , and a further rate proportionable to the quantities of their brewings . and that to restore this antient monarchy , and heretofore famous and flourishing kingdome to its former honour , safety and defence , and an ease from the charge of mercenary armies and guards , and to prevent the great and many dangers and inconveniencies which may happen thereby , as also to fatherless children by guardianships and breaches of trust , his majesty and his heirs and successors , may have and enjoy his and their antient rights of tenures in capite and by knight service , and all mesne lords & their heirs their tenures by knight service , with all incidents thereunto belonging , allowing unto every one holding of the king by those tenures the liberty of being freed from the marriage of his heir , to be compounded for by yearly paying unto the king into the exchequer , or into the court of wards , next after his age of one and twenty years and livery sued forth , the sum of twenty pounds per annum rent for every knights fee which he shall hold , or proportionably according to the partes thereof . 1. that in the granting of wardships to the mother or next friends , according to the instructions of king james , with those reasonable cares and considerations of debts and younger children used by the court of wards and liveries , the marriages of the wards and rents of their lands during all the time of their minorities computed together , be never above one years improved value , which will be but the half of that which is now accompted to be a reasonable fine , and is frequently paid by many copihold tenants whose fines are certain . 2. that the archbishop of canterbury and bishop of durham , who by antient exemptions and priviledge are to have the wardships of tenants , holding of them by knight service in their minorities , though they hold other lands in capite and by knight service of the king may be ordained to doe the like favours . 3. that all that hold in capite and by knight service be according to their antient liberties and rights granted by the charter of king henry the first , freed ( as in reason they ought ) from all assessments of their demeasn lands touching warre . 4. that primer seisins be taken away of such kind of tenures , and no more paid . 5. that the lands holden in socage , or of any other mesne lords in case of minority of any in ward to the king , by reason of tenure in capite , or pour cause de gard , being taken into consideration only as to the fine , for the marriage may not be put under any rent or lease to be made by the court of wards , but freed , as they were frequently and antiently by writs sent to the escheators . 6. that the king in recompence thereof may have and receive of every duke or earl dying seized of any lands or hereditaments in capite and by knight service two hundred pounds , of every marquess , viscount and baron two hundred marks , and of every one that holdeth by a knights fee twenty pounds for a relief , or proportionably according to the quantity of the fee which he holdeth . 7. that incroachments and wast grounds holden in capite and by knight service , may be no cause of wardship , or paying any other duties incident to that tenure , if it shall upon the first proof and notice be relinquished . 8. that only escuage and service of warre ( except in the aforesaid cases of the archbishop of canterbury and bishop of durham ) and all other incidents ( except wardships ) due by their tenants which hold of them by knight service , be restored to mesne lords , and that the reliefs of five pounds for a whole knights fee , or proportionably according to the quantity of lands of that kind of fee holden , shall be after the death of every such tenant twenty pounds . 9. that to lessen the charges of escheators and juries for every single office or inquisition to be found or taken , after the death of every tenant in capite and by knight service , the time of petitioning within a moneth after the death of the ancestor , may be enlarged to three moneths , and the shire , town , city , or principall place of every county be appointed with certain dayes or times for the finding of offices , to the end that one and the same meeting , and one and the same jury , with one and the same charge , or by a contribution of all parties concerned , may give a dispatch thereunto . 10. that in case of neglecting to petition within three moneths after the death of the tenant in capite and by knight service , or otherwise concealing any wardships , or not suing out of livery , if upon information brought , issue joyned , and witnesses examined , or any time before hearing or tryall of the cause , the party offending or concerned shall pay the prosecutor his double costs , and satisfie the king the mesne rates , he shall be admitted to compound . 11. that the unnecessary bonds formerly taken in the court of wards at two shillings six pence , or three shillings charge upon suing out of every diem clausit extremum , or writ to find an office , obliging the prosecutor thereunto , may be no more taken , when as the time limited for petitioning to compound for wardships , and the danger of not doing of it will be engagement sufficient . 12. that grants leases and decrees of the court of wards may not ( to the great charge of the wards or others concerned therein ) be unnecessarily , as they have been , inrolled at length or otherwise , with the auditors of that court , when as the same was recorded before by other officers of that court to which the auditors may have a free access , and at any time take extracts out of them . 13. that a severe act of parliament be made against such as shall misuse or wast any wards estate , lands , woods and timber committed or granted to them , or any personal estate which belongeth unto them or shall not give the wards fit education , or shall disparage them in their marriages , or marry them without any competent portion , or shall not within a moneth after the death of such ward , or coming to his or her age of one and twenty years make a true accompt and payment unto the said ward or his or her heirs or executors , of all that shall be by them due and payable to him or them by reason of the said wardship , upon pain to pay to the use of the said ward , his or her heirs , executors or administrators , besides the said moneys due and payable to the use of the said ward double costs and damages expended or sustained therein . that all lands hereafter escheated and forfeited to his majesty ( in cases where there shall be no restoration to the next in discent or remainder ) be inseparable , and as a sacrum patrimonium annexed to the crown , never to be aliened , leased , or charged with any rent-charge or annuity further then for life or one and twenty years . that all corporations of trade , may besides fines and amerciaments to be imposed and taken to their own use , have also power to impose fines and amerciaments to the use of his majesty and his heirs and successors , and have no power to release or discharge any penalties , and issues forfeited to the king : and that the town clerks of cities and towns corporate , and clerks of every corporation or company of trade shall be bound by oath and recognizance to the king to certifie and estreat into the exchequer all fines , issues and amerciaments forfeited and lost , at two usuall terms in every year , that is to say , easter and michaelmas . that the by-lawes of every corporation and company of trade , and every city and town corporate which ought to be perused and approved by the lord chancellor of england and lord , chief justices of either benches , or justices of assize , or any three of them , and are not to be contrary to the lawes , may be according to the statute of 19 hen. 7. cap. 7. perused and allowed by them . that upon every bloodshed or breach of the peace , as by the civil law in forreign parts , and heretofore was anciently used in england by the common law thereof , a reasonable mulct or penalty be imposed to be gathered by the magistrates , as the drossaerts do in many places in holland , and be answered to the king , though the parties do agree or release and discharge one another . that all misericordia's which are now the only vestigia's , left of that antient custome and prerogative in cases of nonsuits , and pleas of non est factums not verified , may be put into certain reasonable penal sums , duly collected and answered to the king , his heirs and successors , which besides an annual and casual profit to his majesty , will quiet and lessen contentions , and bring a great ease to the people . that in cases of manslaughter there be before any pardon granted a reasonable satisfaction made according as it was heretofore practised in our lawes of england , both before and since the conquest , made to the wives and children of the deceased , or if none to the next of kindred , unless the parties concerned shall otherwise agree their recompence or satisfaction , and an estimatio capitis , or value of the party offending also paid to the king. that upon convictions of adulteries & fornication , as was antiently used , there be paid to the king a penalty proportionable to the offence ; and that in all tryals for manslaughter , murder or other crimes , that hard and unreasonable custom now and heretofore used in england , that witnesses may not be brought , heard , or examined against the king be abolished , and that all good and lawfull testimonies which may tend to the discovery of the fact , may be , as in other cases and tryals , heard and received . that there be in every circuit , as antiently , a clerk , besides the clerk of the assize , appointed to enter in a roll the fines imposed by the justices , and to make estreats thereof duly into the exchequer . that in all actions of trespass , or any other action , to be brought in the court of the kings bench at westminster , or by quo minus in the office of pleas in the court of the kings exchequer at westminster , or in the court of the marshalsea , or court of the virge of the kings palace at westminster , whereupon any declaration shall be in debt , there be upon the first process or writ such fines paid to the king , and in such manner as have been antiently and are now paid to the king upon actions of debt retornable in the court of common pleas at westminster : and that upon every such first writ the plaintiffs attorney doe in order thereunto indorse the just sum in debt , which he intendeth to declare upon . that every merchant or trader that shippeth any goods to be exported , or unlades any imported , shall under his hand attested , or if need be , upon his oath deliver unto his majesties farmers or customers a true note or cocquet of all such goods exported and imported , and the true contents and value thereof . and that whosoever shall wittingly or knowingly deceive his majesty , his heirs or successors therein , shall for the first offence forfeit five times the value , and for the second ten times the value , and for the third to be disfranchised , and never more permitted to trade : and that every conviction of any such offence shall if pleaded be a bar to them in any action to be brought , commenced and prosecuted by them . that once in every three years commissions be issued to carefull and worthy men in every county and city uninterressed , to enquire of all charitable uses , and the imployments and abuses thereof , and if need be to put a better order therein for the future : and that the arrears be also collected and paid , the one moity to his majesty , and the other to be imployed to the charitable uses . that commissions be likewise issued now ( more then formerly necessary by the dissolution of monasteries and religious houses , and the great disuse of hospitalities and almes deeds ) to enquire and certifie the number of poor requiring almes in every parish in every county and city , that all vagabond and wandring beggars be returned to the several parishes where they were born , and where it cannot may be reduced to some parishes in every county or city less troubled then others with poor , and more able to maintain them , that the church-wardens or governours of every parish ( as is usually done in holland , where by their excellent orders and care of their poor , very few are to be seen either wandring or miserable ) may upon poverty happening to any family , or the death of a father or mother of children , goe or send to their houses as the commissioners de aflictis at amsterdam usually do , lift up the broken hearted , and enquire what are their necessities , or what there is to maintain them , and accordingly make provision for them , by relieving the aged , sick , or impotent , providing work for such as are able , and putting out of children at fitting ages to be apprentices , or to service , or some other imployments , wherein we may well hope for those good effects which the like courses in france ▪ by the erecting of the hospitals de dieu , or other hospitals in or about paris have lately assured , that the encrease and decrease of the poor in every parish , and the collections and assessments for them , and legacies and charitable uses given to the poor be yearly certified to the clerk of the peace of every city & county at the quarter sessions to be holden after michaelmas , to be by him entred into fair books with calenders and tables fitted thereunto , & publickly read before the justices at the next quarter sessions after , to the end that the justices there assembled may duly consider thereof , and make such further orders and provisions , as shall be fitting and requisite : and that when the english captives at algier shall be released , and no more likely to be in that condition , the one pound per cent . granted by act of parliament for that purpose , or the like allowance and proportion for seven years to be allowed out of the custome-house may be imployed to relieve and make a stock for the poor of england : and in regard that such as sue at law in forma pauperis , notwithstanding all the cares which have been hitherto taken by the courts of justice in assigning them counsel and attornies , and ordering that no fees should be taken , they doe for want of money and those cares and diligences which are only purchased and procured by mony , many times , but tire themselves to no purpose , and after many years expence of time and labour in trudging to and fro , with their foul and tatered bundles and papers , wither away , & die in the hopes of that which for want of a due assistance and vigorous prosecution they could never bring to pass . that an utter-barrister or councellor at law , be once in every three years appointed by the lord chancellor or lord keeper of the great seal of england for the time being , and to continue for that time , and no longer , in the high courts of chancery and the courts of kings bench , exchequer and dutchy of lancaster , and a sergeant at law in the court of common-pleas to be for the like time nominated and appointed by the lord chief justice of the court of common-pleas for the time being , to be of councell & assistant for all rights and duties of men and women suing in forma pauperis , and as counsel to assist and help the poor of the respective places in the prosecution and recovery of all legacies and charitable uses given to them or penalties given or ordained by any statute to be had or levied for their use , or any parish collections and assessements withheld from them , for which they shall take no fees but in a reasonable manner upon the recovery thereof , or end of the said suits : and for their better encouragement may in all the courts of justice of this kingdom , according to their said several nominations and appointments , as well superior as inferior , have a prae audience in those & other causes next to the councel learned of the kings and queens of england , and the prince or heir apparent . that in every county and city there be a publick work-house to imploy the poor in the manufacture of woollen or linnen cloth , making fishing nets , or other manufacture ; and that for their better encouragement they may as they doe in holland , after a competent number of hours in every day imployed in the work of the publick , be allowed two hours in a day to work for their own advantage , notwithstanding that their lodgings , diet , and fitting apparrel be defrayed out of the publick ; and that the governours thereof may for their encouragement have the benefit and liberty of exportation and importation of any the said commodities without any custome to be paid for the same , upon the certificate of the next justice of peace of such county or city , upon the oath of every such governour , that the said quantities to be exported were made or wrought at the said publick workhouse , and upon the oath of such governour , that the commodities imported are to be imployed , and used only in the said publick workhouse . and that the kindred of poor living in any part of england and wales not taking almes , or overburdned with poverty , may be sought out and enforced to a reasonable contribution according to their abilities towards the maintenance , or providing for such poor and decayed as within the eighth degree are of their own blood and lynage ; and where it may be , put them into such a way of living as may exempt them from the fate of common servants , or people taking almes , or from being placed in common workhouses , that by such means and provisions to be made for the poor , which our acts of parliament , and the careless and many times purloyning collectors and overseers of the poor in severall parishes , have not yet performed . and that all nobility , gentlemen and others , excepting such whose constant and necessary attendance upon the persons of the king , queen or prince shall not permit the same , having an estate of lands of inheritance of the yearly value of one hundred pounds per annum , or more , above reprises and their houses of residence in any parish of england or wales not keeping their christmas in the said house or parish , shall at every of the said feasts pay unto the poor of the said parish the sum of forty shillings , or proportionably according to that rate of his or their lands lying or being in the said parish , besides their other payments to the poor collected and assessed in the said parish . that so the multitude of beggars in england may no more be a byword amongst other nations , that there may be no complaining in our streets , nor such dismall and sad spectacles , as the leprous , blind , lame and aged people and young children crying out for bread , and ready to starve for want of food or clothing , nor so many counterfeits or tricks to make an ill use of charities to uphold their lazy and ugly condition of life . that the clerks of the peace and assizes , and every justice of peace shall take their oathes not to release or discharge , or respite any fines , issues , recognizances and amerciaments forfeited & due to the king , but carefully and duly estreat and certifie them every half year into the exchequer in the terms of easter and st. michael , which the example of hengham a judge in the reign of king edward the first , who for reducing an amerciament or fine of thirteen shillings four pence , to six shillings eight pence , in favour and pitty of a poor man , was grievously fined , and ordered to provide at his own charge the great clock at westminster , may perswade them not to violate . that the ballance , and in and out of forraign trade may be observed and reduced into books , to be yearly brought into the exchequer , but not with blanks , fair seals , covers and labels , as they have used to be to little purpose . that the more to encourage merchants to an honest accompt and payment of their customes to the king , and to deal better with him , it may be enacted that where any ships of any merchants , and their goods and lading shall be taken in times of hostility with any other prince , so as it be not by the carelesness and neglect of the merchants in carrying prohibited goods , or the captain or owner of the ships in not making so good a defence , or not arming or providing themselves so well as they ought , the losses of such merchants and shipowners duely estimated and proved before the judges of the admiralty shall be refunded out of the next prizes which shall be taken from that nation , prince or enemy that took it , the accustomed allowances to the lord high admiral and others first deducted . that the wages of servants now trebled more then what it was twenty years agone , and of labourers and workmen very much increased by reason of the intollerable and unbecomming pride of clothes now in fashion amongst them by licence , and imitation of times of pride , disobedience , disorder and rebellion , and the folly of some of their masters and mistresses enjoyning them to wear clothes too high for them , may be limited and ordered to be as they were before these last twenty years , that every master or mistress that giveth more shall forfeit double the value to the king ; and that no servant who hath formerly served in any other place be received or taken into service without a certificate or testimony of their good behaviour from their maister or mistress where they last served , if they shall not appear to be unreasonable , or for malice , or any sinister ends to deny the same . that the tenths of all the fishing in the british or english seas by barks or busses , now beginning to be instituted , and taken into consideration , which in part was intended to be had by king edward the sixth upon the coasts of wales , ireland and baltimore , by building a fort or castle upon the streight to command ( as captain john smith relates in his discourse of the benefits of fishing in our english seas ) a tribute for fishing , and if industry fail not , is like ( if we but imitate the hollanders , who have hitherto enjoyed that which was none of their own , and enriched themselves by our carelesnes ) to grow up to a great , and not to be estimated national profit be paid and accompted for to the king and his heirs and successors , who may well deserve it , when as besides his soveraignty of the sea , and the guard and protection of them by his navie and shipping , he hath of late in the midst of his own wants and necessities for the better encouragement of his people to seek their own good , and that which our british seas will plentifully afford them , given all his customs inward and outward for any the returns to be made by the sale of fish in the baltick seas , denmark and france for seven years for the first entrance into the trade of fishing . that the rivers in england and wales not yet navigable , and fit to be made navigable , may by a publick purchase of the mills or wears standing upon them , and pulling down the wears & kiddels hindring it , attempted in the reigns of king henry the third and edward the third , by several statutes made for the taking of them away , be made navigable , and a reasonable toll or custome upon every vessell and fraight , paid to the king , his heirs and successors . that for the better support of our nobility , and the honours which they enjoy , and that as starres in our firmament , they may be able to attend the sun their soveraign , and not suffer such eclypses in their estates and revenues , as too many have lately done , that the lions which should guard the thrones of our kings , may not pine away or languish , and the stately columns and pillars thereof moulder into ruins and decay , and have small , or unbecoming estates , to maintain them in the splendor of their ancestors , and the royal revenue not to be troubled or lessened by suits or requests to supplie them , they may according to the intent and custome of the fewdall laws , and the locality which ought to be in earldoms and baronies , not be without some honorary possessions , which was so usual and frequent in england , as through the three first centuries after the conquest the lands belonging to earldomes and baronies were accompted to be parcels and members thereof , and the word honor so comprehensive as it conteined and comprised all the lands belonging thereunto , as well as the earldomes , baronies and title which did in sundry of of our former kings reigns grants pass and comprehend the land as well as the titles . and that according to that laudable and ever to be imitated example of thomas late earl of arundel and surrey , in obtaining an act of parliament in the third year of the reign of king charles the martyr for the annexing of divers baronies and lands to the castle and earldome of arundel , inseparable and unalienable in contemplation of the poverty and small estates of the then lord stafford , and some other of the antient english nobility wetherbeaten and wasted by the injuries of time or the luxuries , and carelesness of their ancestors . the dukes , marquesses , earls , viscounts , barons , and baronets of england , leaving some other lands to their own disposing , for the preferring of younger children , payment of debts , and supply of necessities , which accidents may cast upon them , may be ordered to settle & annex by like acts of parliament the capita baroniarum , and chief castles , manors and lands belonging to their earldomes , baronies or estates competent and sufficient to keep up and sustain the honour and dignity thereof from the gripes or defilements of poverty and adversities not to be aliened or separated from their earldomes , baronies or dignities as long as it shall please god to continue them . that the antient use of the exchequer be restored , and the kings revenues carefully collected and answered , and that the justices in eyre of the kings forrests and chases , on this side and beyond trent , clerkes of the market , and commissioners , and clerks of the commissioners of sewers do duely certifie into the exchequer all fines , issues , amerciaments imposed and forfeited . that upon all manufactures made beyond the seas , and all things to be imported tending to excess and luxury , as tobacco , silks , &c. there be an imposition more then ordinary , which the wisdom of neighbor nations have ever thought expedient , and was in the reign of king james the prudent advice in parliament of the lord treasurer salisbury . that in the deplorable cases of wreck at sea , the masters or owners of such ships , not being pirates or robbers ( whether there be any living thing remaining or not in the ship ) all and every part of the lading , tackle , and ship which shall be saved from the fury of the sea , or found on shore , notwithstanding any detestable custome to the contrary , may according to the ancient equitable laws of oleron be saved and preserved for the right owners coming within a year and a day to claim the same , and tendring such just charges and recompence , as by two of the next justices of peace not interessed , shall be found to be reasonable , for those that were instrumental in the preservation thereof , that so the inhumane and unchristian customes of too many who live upon the sea coasts , being in a shipwrack as pittiless and cruel as the winds and seas , taking away that which they left , and rejoycing in the disasters and miseries of those that are afflicted , may be abolished . that champerty and maintenance being now crept through the care and severity of all our former good laws and statutes made to prevent it , into such a general practice and profit , as in the confidence of dark contrivances , and the impossibility or difficulty of discovery of them . some of our gentlemen of the gyges ring or invisible estates , in a way which they have found out to live , aswell without a revenue , or other lawful means and professions as with them , can like nimrods , or mighty hunters , by shares gained in the driving of causes , support an idle gallantry by the spoil and oppression of others ; some women more wily then good can be agitators or retrivers of causes , not concerning them , for a part of the hoped for booty ; and many citizens and tradesmen do buy pretended titles and interests , and ingage and furnish money for no small parts to be had upon the success of suites in law ; and too many attornyes , sollicitors , and others , can make it the best of their employments to deal in gross and by whole sale , and will not as the law enjoyns them , make bills or tickets to their clyents of their just and allowed fees and disbursments . some good laws and powerful restrictions may be made to prevent or punish those grand abuses , and that if either the plaintiff or defendant in any action shall require it , an oath or oaths may be given at the tryal or hearing of such suites or causes , to any who may discover such champerties or maintenance ; and if any shall be found offending therein , either by disbursing of money , to have any share or part of the thing inquestion , on , or by any pre-contract , or other ingagement , the verdict may not be taken , nor judgement entered ; or if it shall be discovered and proved after the verdict taken and judgement entred , before the end of the term , wherein such judgement shall be entred ; the said judgement be by the judges of that court arrested or made void , and whether it be discovered and proved before judgement entred , or after the parties offending , as well those that committed the champerty and maintenance , as all their abettors may every one of them forfeit and pay to the king and his heirs and successors , the sum of one hundred pounds , and be imprisoned without bail or maineprise , untill they shall have paid the same , and also forfeit and pay to the party greived , his double costs and damage , together with the moyety , or half of the matter in question . that there be no pardon or reversal of any outlary , in civil aswell as criminal causes , or actions , without five marks first paid to the king in discharge of his contempt , and a charter of pardon , as was anciently used , first sued out under the great seal of england . that all sheriffs , under-sheriffs , and their deputies , do at the entrance or admission into their offices , take an oath not to imbrace any juror or juries , or for any fee or reward , or otherwise to nominate any , at the request either of the plaintiffs or defendants , or of any on their behalf ; and that they shall not make out , or deliver , or willingly or wittingly permit to be made in their names , any blanck warrant or precept to arrest any person without a writ under the seal of the court , wherein such action is laid or to be tryed , first had and delivered unto them ; and that no sheriff or under-sheriff , do crave allowance or respit for any debts of the kings , but upon just cause , that every juror , if the plaintiff or defendant , or their attorneys shall before they besworn require it , do also take an oath that he hath not received any instructions or evidence before hand from the plantiff or defendant , or their attornyes , or any on their behalf . that all english merchants trading into foreign parts , may be ordained to bring into england , at or in their return , a certain and reasonable quantity of bullion or coin of gold or silver , to be yearly certified and registred in the exchequer , and that such as shall be brought in , may not as it is now , be bought and registred in the name and for the use of the east indian company ; and that the east indian company to prevent any disguise , which may be made use of betwixt them and the merchants , may also be ordered yearly to register and certifie into the exchequer , all such gold and silver bullion or coin thereof as shall be imported by the said east indian company . that all foreign merchants , trading into england , or any the dominions thereof , be ordained to export at their returns english manufactures and commodities , to the value of what they imported , and not to make their returns in money , or by bills of exchange , as the jews in great numbers trading hither , are known now to do . and that all merchants alien , if they be not such as have houses and habitations here , or if they have , do at their first beginning to trade , enter into recognizances of great penalties in chancery , not to transport , or cause to be transported out of england , as was in part provided for by the statute of 2 h. 6. chap. 6. or returned by bills of exchange any more then the sum of five pounds for their necessary charges , upon pain of forseiting treble the value thereof . that the many more then formerly used deceipts , in the shearing , tentering , hot pressing , and false dying of our english clothes , which do much or more endamage our trade of cloathing , then the transportation of fullers earth , sheeps pelts with the wool upon them , or the clothes in the whites , may be by some good laws , restrained and suppressed ; and that the aulnage aswell of cloth as stuffs , may according to sundry acts of parliament and other provisions be better looked unto and put in execution . that the great and many deceipts , abuses , and adulterations now used in most or too many trades and manufactures , surpassing all the cheats and tricks of hocus pocus , or which the pillories , & the court of star chamber heretofore punished , ingrossings of commodities , or carrying them beyond the seas , on purpose to make a scarcity , and bring them in again at double or greater rates , unlawful confederacies to make the manufactures so slight or evil wrought , as they may the sooner be worn out ; or by a small price paid to the workmen , get the greater rate in the retail , bonds or securities enforced from workmen not to make or sell at that rate to any other ; combinations to inhaunce prices , and so many more ungodly artifices imployed , as tricks and trades , are now grown to be termes convertible , and the divels registers have not precedents enough for them , whereby not onely numberless & great oppressions are daily exercised upon the people , to the impoverishing of many of them , by those that like pikes in the fish ponds , do live only better then others , by devouring and undoing the smaller frye , and industriously imploy themselves therein , and at the same time cry out of injustice and oppression where it was not , and busied themselves about religion and gospel purity , when they never intended nor could not afford to practice it , whereby all our english trade and manufactures are disparaged and brought into a slight esteem , and made to be unsaleable , or at very low rates in the parts beyond the seas , and to give place to the commodities and manufactures of other nations more honestly made , and if not speedily remedied , will render all his majesties cares of reviving and promoting the english trade and merchandise of no avail , as long as that canker , or a principal cause of the decay and ruine of it shall be permitted , may by some good laws be restrained and suppressed . that the many good propositions heretofore made by mr. henry robinson and some others , concerning the regulation or bettering of the ways of trade and merchandise , may now after a committee of trade in the times of usurpation and confusion , sleeping too much over it , and doing nothing , whilst trade it self came to be almost ruined , be taken into a more serious consideration , and some good laws enacted in pursuance of them . that the manufacture of linnen cloth , the importation whereof from flanders and other foreign parts , expends the nation , little less then 100000 l , per annum , by reason that too many of our wives in england have exchanged their good housewisfery for gallantry , and spinning for spending , may be more incouraged in england by injoyning six acres in every hundred acres of errable land in england and wales , to be yearly sowed with hemp & flex , and that there be an aulnage of linnen cloth , as well as of stuffs and woollen cloth. that our laws be not ( as too many of them use to be ) still born , or expiring by that time they can be read or recorded , or starved at nurse ; but that some good laws may be made to prevent or cure their swouning or convulsion fits , and bring them up to the good ends or purposes , for which they were ordained , and put them in execution . that our paths being restored , we may rejoyce in our laws and constitutions , and abhor those wandring after dark lanthorns , or the ignis fatuus of newlights , which have lead us into many great miseries and confusions . that the excise of ale , beer , perry , and syder , and the charges affliction , and troubles , which it brings upon the people , which before our times of misery , would have brought death and ruine any private contriver ; and was at the first created by oliver and his impes to maintain a cursed rebellion , and set up a destroying and detestable anarchy , may be abolished , and taken away , and the nation restored to the freedom and quiet which they formerly enjoyed under this our ancicent and excellently composed monarchy . that his majesties ancient and just rights of royal pourveyances upon a due regulation of any evils or oppressions which may be proved to have been committed in the manner of taking of them , may be restored to his majesty , his heirs and successors , and that very great consumption of his estate , occasioned by an enhaunce , and trebling of the rates and prices of provision for his houshould , which hath laid heavy burdens upon his too small and overmuch impoverished revenues , multiplyed his wants and necessities , disturbed and disparaged the order and honor of his house , and produced very many great inconveniences worthy to be remedied by the parliament , and the care which they usnally take for the support of his imperial crown and dignity , may be cured . and when a long and generall observation and experience can tell every man , who is not a stranger to his own affairs , or of other men , how hard a thing it is for one that is behind hand to overcome his povertie and get before hand ; how impossible it will be for a private man to live out of debt , when his yearly and necessary expences and disbursements shall far surmount his receipts and revenues ; how necessary a treasury , banke , or overplus of money which is robur belli & fundamentum ac firmamentum pacis , is for a king in times of war , and its many chargeable occasions , and the power and reputation of it in times of peace to preserve it ; and that all kingdoms and people never were or could think themselves safe without it . that in order to publick good , and to consolidate the hoped for happiness of king and people , which the pretended parliaments of our late times of usurpation , busying themselves in laying burdens and taxes upon the people , for the maintenance of a war , and an arbitrary power , and tyranny , and the continuance of their miseries , could never find the way or leisure to establish . a royal and princely yearly revenue may be settled upon his majesty , his heirs and successors ; and to the end to make the plaister or the tent proportionable to the wound , and to the cure intended , and not make the repaires of his revenues to be insufficient or more chargeable and burdensome , by doing it by parcels or at several times , whereby it may ruine , before it can be repaired , or suddainly after ; and for the better satisfaction of some of the purchasers , who were the cause of their own and his majesties troubles and miseries , and of the kings loyal party who suffered with him in it ? the highest monethly assessement or tax which in our late times of confusion , was one hundred and twenty thousand pounds per mensem , may by assessement or subsidies , or some other way proportionable unto it for the next two years , if the parliament shall think fit , be assented unto , and yearly collected and paid into such hands as they shall appoint , and such part thereof not exceeding the sum of two hundred thousand pounds , be destributed by his majesty , to the suffering and loyal english who took armes for him or his royal father , and never deserted their loyalty ; or to their wives and children surviving them , as his majesty under his sign manual shall direct , and some other part of the said moneys , not exceeding the sum of one hundred thousand pounds arising out of the said assessements be imployed for satisfaction , without allowance for interest ( which should not be for wickedness or sinfull contracts ) of such wives and children of purchasers , or the purchasers of purchasers , which have yet received no satisfaction according to his majesties declarations , by the bishops , deanes , and chapters , or prebends , or out of his majesty or his royal mother the queens revenues , or which have not been purchasers by false debenturs ; and the other remaining undisposed moneys as aforesaid , of the said two years taxe , to be and remain to his majesty , his heirs and successors , as a sacred patrimony unalienable to be annexed , inseparably to the crown of england , not to be leased or rent charged , further then for one or two lives , or one and twenty years . that after the end of five years next ensuing , there be another monthly tax or subsidy of 120000 l. more for two whole years then next ensuing , to be raised as aforesaid , and disposed of by such as the parliament shall appoint for his majesties use , of which , if his majesty shall please , there may also be issued by warrant under his majesties sign manual , such moneys as his majesty shall think fitting , not exceeding the sum of two hundred thousand pounds , to be imployed for the further relief of such of the loyal suffering party in england for his majesty , or his late royal father , as his majesty shall appoint , and that the residue of the monys to be collected and raised by the said monethly tax or assessement for two whole years be , as soon as conveniently it may , laid out and disposed for the purchasing of an honorable revenue in land for the king & his successors unalienable as aforesaid , and to no other use or purpose , which they that could pay as much , and a great deal more to uphold a slavery , may be better contented to pay , to establish a redemption and freedom . and that after the end of three years next after the said two years , there be a like monethly tax gathered and collected for two whole years next ensuing , to be disposed of by such as the parliament shall appoint , for the buying of an honorable and princely revenue in lands of inheritance for the king and his heirs and successors , never to be aliend from the crown of england , other then as aforesaid . and although it may seem to be a great sum of mony in the total , to be raised out of the people , yet it being the more probable and easie way , and a great deal more necessary then what hath been done for worser ends and occasions , and being to be born by so many cities , towns , counties , and people as are to contribute thereunto in several yeers , and with several respirations , will the eby not onely free them from many of the like publike taxes and assessements hereafter , and save them in their purses and estates , as much or more then that will amount unto , by some good laws and provisions to be made for the freeing of them from many of the gripings and oppressions of one another , but entail our happiness and a greater then formerly freedom , quiet and safety upon themselves and their posterity . for there was , is , and ever will be , a necessity of power , strength , and riches to be in a king that intends either to protect or make happy himself and his people , as well as to have their love and affection ; and though david when he was in his private condition , could before he was king of israel rescue a lamb of his flock , slay a lyon and a bear , and with a sling and a peeble stone kill the dreadful goliah ; and that nathan the prophet ( no flatterer but a man of god ) had after he was a king , said unto him , the lord is with thee , and brought him a message from god , that his house , and kingdom , and throne should be established for ever , yet neither he , nor his subjects the men of judah and israel , could believe him or themselves to be in any condition of safety without his mighty men of war , militia , captaines of thousands , and captains over hundreds ; nor did son solomon after god had given him a large and understanding heart , and a portion of wisdom beyond that which ever was granted to mankind , with a promise likewise of riches and honor , suppose it to be any policy , to neglect his tributes and presents , the improvement and well ordering of his revenues , and putting an honorable order in his houshold , to build cities of store , and cities for his chariots , and cities for his horsemen , and a navy of ships in ezion geber , and send them to ophir to fetch gold. nor can it be certainly for the good and safety of the people to do by their earthly king , who untied the chains and fetters of their folly , restored them to their laws and liberties , and , as a balm of gilead , cured and healed the wounds of those that never could do it themselves . nor accord well with their gratitude , or the many protestations and promises which they made of sacrificing their lives and fortunes , and all that they had in order to his happiness . or with the repentance and satisfaction ( which makes repentance efficacious ) of those that were the causes of his twelve years misery and affliction , greater , longer , and sharper then any of his own hundred and eight royal progenitors ever endured , enough to have turned his youth into the gray hairs and infirmities of an old and decrepit age . to doe by him as they doe by their heavenly king , take , get , and receive all they can from him , but return as little as they may for it , or by the earth their common feeder and nourisher in their lifetimes , and the receiver and entertainer of them at their deaths , by making furrows on her back , and enforcing it to serve all their designs and business ; and for all her fruits and kindness , doe not so well by her as the heathen , who could sacrifice to tellus and ceres , but think they do enough , if in the moneths of april and may they shall be pleased to admire her beauty , and beat harvest well contented to fill their barns with her bounty . and will be as likely to be for their good , as for children to have their parents so poor and impotent , as not to be able to protect them , or for those that are to go a sea voyage , to have the ships ill or not at all victualled , or to adventure in a war or garrison , when the commander in chief , or the general , upon whose wisdom , valour , strength , and conduct the safety of all dependeth , shall be every day to seek for victuals to feed them or himself , ammunition or weapons to defend , and mony to pay them . unless they could be assured by no doubting oracle , that it would be for the good , honor , peace and plenty of the kingdom to have the head , faim , languish , & want its necessary support & food , and that the members in the body natural although never so warmely clad , or made much of , can thrive whilst the head is sick and infirme . or unless they would be as wise as the citizens of constantinople , who rather then they would impart any of their riches to their emperor for the most necessary defence of their city , estates , and religion , against the turk when their city was besieged by him , would reserve it for a prey to their enemies , and a perpetual slavery for themselves and their posterities , or as our late men of reformation , and murmerers at their own happiness , did in their complaints , and taking away ship-money , and exchanging it for more miseries then ever any of their ancestors endured , when afterwards they were enforced to call their slavery a happiness , and to pay and pray , and give god thanks for it . when as the great charge of government in times of peace , and the quietest imaginable , and the necessity of the peoples aids and taxes to support it may the better be believed , when augustus caesar , notwithstanding the enjoyment and full possession of the empire , or greatest part of the world , with the riches and spoils thereof laid up in the publike treasuries and their capitol , enough ( besides what julius caesar had in the civil wars consumed ) to make it the greatest that ever was together at one time above ground ; and his great frugality and care in managing his revenue , by keeping a book or memorials , as tacitus saith , wherein opes publica continebantur quantum civium sociorumque in armis quot classes regna provinciae tributa vectigalia & necessitates ac largitiones , and had as bodin saith , received immanem pecuniarum summam ex testamentis , great estates of inheritance from those very many that made him their heir , could not subsist without tributes and taxes , but though the bloody and expenceful bellona was laid to sleep , and there was nothing likely to disturb that happy and grateful calm of peace with which the world was then blessed found a necessity to tax all the world , and even joseph with mary the mother of the redeemer of it , must go up to bethlehem to be taxed and pay poll-mony , and for all that with all his care and providence in governing that empire , having spent two paternal patrimonies ceterasque hereditates in rempublicam , and much of his own estate upon the commonwealth , left but a small and inconsiderable revenue to his heir . and when as the king by his inestimable charges , great and daily expences for the protection and good of his people , and necessary maintenance of his royal dignity , is in a worse condition then any of his nobility or gentry , who may when their necessities enforce them strike sail if they please , and measure their expences by their estates . because he cannot defend himself without defending his people , must do like a prince , and live like a prince , and it cannot be for the good , safety , and honor of them that he should either live or do otherwise . but should rather believe as king james the fifth , in anno 1540. his majesties great grandfather did , when in a preamble to an act of parliament in scotland for the annexation of lands inseparable to the crown , he did declare , that it was understood and weill advisedly considered be the kingis grace , and the estates of his realm beand assembled in parlement , that the patrimony of his crown and revenues thereof beand angmented is the great weill and profit baith to the kingis grace and his leiges ; and that king james the sixth , his majesties grandfather , and his parliament of scotland in anno 1600. did not erre in the preamble of an act , of annexation of forefaulted lands and others to the crown , wherein they did declare , that it is clearly understand by the kings majesty and estates of the realm , that the augmentation of the patrimony and revenues of the crown , not onely serves for the forth setting and maintenance of his highness honor and royall estate , but alsorelieves greatly his subjects of divers charges and heavy burdings . and when after his coming to enjoy the crown of england , he did in his declaration in the year 1619. declaring what things he would be moved to grant to his servants and suitors by way of bounty , and what he would not signifie his desire not to cast himself and his posterity into these wants or straits which might drive them to lay burdens on the people . nor should the people of this nobler and better natured nation , who have in the times of monarchy been blest with a greater freedom then france , spain , holland , venice , or any christian or heathen people , or kingdom were ever owners of , be unwilling to imploy as much of their care and well wishes in setling the kings revenue , now so much weakened by age and kindness , and ruined for want of repairs , and being repaired , will be but to help to protect and defend themselves as they usually and commonly do in the repairing and building a new their owne houses , amending or making new their clothes when they perceive them to decay , or refreshing or bringing to heart again their lands which by doing them good have needed it . when as those who contrived and assented unto olivers instrument of government , as it was called , who was one of the greatest of villians and tyrants in the christian world , and not only murdered his king , but did all he could to destroy the bodies , estates , and souls of his good people , did more resemble antichrist then either pope or turke , highly deserve a burying place under the gallows , & all that ignomany could devise to lay upon him , and was of neither royal or noble birth or breeding , and could be well contented to allow him ten thousand horse & dragoons , & twenty thousand foot , and the navy to be maintained by a constant yearly revenue to be raised for that purpose , with the remainder of the kings , queens , and princes revenues , not disposed of ( except forests and chases , and the mannors thereunto belonging ) all the lands of delinquents in ireland , in the counties of dublin , kildare , clare and katerlaugh , the forfeited lands in scotland ( which were great and considerable ) the two parts of recusants lands in england , not compounded for , and all debts , fines , penalties , issues , and casual profits belonging to the keepers of the liberties of england , so miscalled , with two hundred thousand pounds per annum yearly revenue , for the administration of justice and charge of government , to be and remain to that minotaure or protector , so called , and his successors , and the framers of that which was called the petition and advice , could afterwards in the year 1656. by a fancied authority of parliament , not onely confirm unto him that revenue in land setled upon him , with the casual profits belonging to the crown of england , but intreat him to accept of ten hundred thousand pounds per annum , yearly revenue , to be raised upon the people without a land tax for the maintenance of the army and navy , with such other supplies , as should be needful to be raised from time to time by consent of parliament , and three hundred thousand pounds per annum in like manner to be raised for his support of the government . need not repine or think that , or a greater revenue to be too much for the highest born prince in christendom , and the heir of a succession of kings for more then one thousand years last past ; who could suffer their regal power and authority so to be bound with the cords of love to their people and the rules of right reason , as the sun in all his travails hath never yet beheld a people enjoying better or so good laws , and liberties , and less taxed or burdened with their princes occasions . and when as there is not any city or town corporate in england , but have received and enjoyed their charters and liberties from the king or his progenitors , not any of the nobility or gentry , but have had their honors , priviledges and dignities , and all or some of their lands and estates from them ; nor any kinred or family in england , which either by him or some of his famous progenitors , or the many josephs and mordecai's in every age advanced by them , have not mediately or immediately been preferred and advanced , and had all that they have or enjoy by their bounty and munificence , or had much kindness or royal favors shewed unto them , and like the lesser trees or shrubs in the forest , have comfortably grown up and been protected and shadowed by druinas royal oak , for which in the care of their own good and safty which are involved in his , they are as their forefathers were , more then ordinarily obliged by those eternal bonds of gratitude , which time or adversity should never be able to break or obliterate , to contribute all they can to his wellfare , and this our once most famous monarchy . that so our hercules may not want his club to defend himself and his people , that the cry of debts and people wanting their mony , being the worst of anguishes to a virtuous and generous mind , may no longer afflict him ; that the looking upon a small revenue may not dishearten him to take the accompts of it , and that a greater may , now our janus temple is shut , put him in mind to do as augustus caesar did when all the world was at quiet , keep an exact account of his revenues and expences . that he who hath builded up our wasts , and raised up the former desolations , may be at rest from his sorrows , and all the people in his dominions break forth into singing praises to the most high , which hath made him an instrument to do wonderful things , and like the dove sent out of noahs ark , to bring us the olive branch , which the deep and the rage of many waters had covered . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a54694-e390 §. 1. §. 2. §. 3. §. 4. §. 5. §. 6. §. 7. §. 8. §. 9. §. 10. §. 11. §. 12. §. 13. §. 14. § , 15. §. 16. §. 17. §. 18. §. 19. §. 20. §. 21. §. 22. §. 23. §. 25. §. 26. § , 27. § , 28. §. 1. §. 2. §. 3. §. 4. brewers . merchants , wine-coopers and vintners . bakers , §. 5. §. 6. §. 7. §. 8. §. 9. §. 10. § , 11. §. 12. §. 13. ▪ §. 14. ▪ § , 15. §. 16. §. 17. §. 18. §. 19. §. 20. §. 21. §. 22. §. 23. §. 24. §. 25. §. 26. §. 27. §. 28. §. 29. § , 30. § , 31. §. 32. §. 33. §. 34. §. 35. §. 36. §. 37. §. 38. severall speeches delivered at a conference concerning the power of parliament, to proeeed [sic] against their king for misgovernment. in which is stated: i. that government by blood is not by law of nature, or divine, but only by humane and positive laws of every particular common-wealth, and may upon just causes be altered. ii. the particular forme of monarchies and kingdomes, and the different laws whereby they are to be obtained, holden and governed ... iii. the great reverence and respect due to kings, ... iv. the lawfulnesse of proceeding against princes: ... v. the coronation of princes, ... vi. what is due to onely succession by birth, and what interest or right an heire apparent hath to the crown, ... vii. how the next in succession by propinquity of blood, have often times been put back by the common-wealth, ... viii. divers other examples out of the states of france and england, for proofe that the next in blood are sometimes put back from succession, ... ix. what are the principall points which a common-wealth ought to respect in admitting or excluding their king, wherein is handled largely also of the diversity of religions, and other such causes. 1648 approx. 329 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 41 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a91487 wing p573 thomason e521_1 estc r203152 99863214 99863214 115403 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a91487) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 115403) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 81:e521[1]) severall speeches delivered at a conference concerning the power of parliament, to proeeed [sic] against their king for misgovernment. in which is stated: i. that government by blood is not by law of nature, or divine, but only by humane and positive laws of every particular common-wealth, and may upon just causes be altered. ii. the particular forme of monarchies and kingdomes, and the different laws whereby they are to be obtained, holden and governed ... iii. the great reverence and respect due to kings, ... iv. the lawfulnesse of proceeding against princes: ... v. the coronation of princes, ... vi. what is due to onely succession by birth, and what interest or right an heire apparent hath to the crown, ... vii. how the next in succession by propinquity of blood, have often times been put back by the common-wealth, ... viii. divers other examples out of the states of france and england, for proofe that the next in blood are sometimes put back from succession, ... ix. what are the principall points which a common-wealth ought to respect in admitting or excluding their king, wherein is handled largely also of the diversity of religions, and other such causes. parsons, robert, 1546-1610, attributed name. [2], 70, 73-80 p. printed by robert ibbitson, dwelling in smithfield neere the queens-head-tavern, london : mdcxlviii. [1648] by william allen, sir francis englefield, and others. "robert persons [parsons], who is often credited with sole authorship of the work, probably played only a small part in its composition or revision"--halkett & laing (3rd ed.). "a republication of the first part of the conference about the next succession to the crown of england, written by r. parsons, under the name of dolman."--bm catalogue. annotation on thomason copy: "doleman"; the final 'i' in the imprint has been crossed out, and replaced with a "7"; "ffebr. 3". reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649 -early works to 1800. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-07 john latta sampled and proofread 2008-07 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion severall speeches delivered at a conference concerning the power of parliament , to proceed against their king for misgovernment . in which is stated : i. that government by blood is not by law of nature , or divine , but only by humane and positive laws of every particular common-wealth , and may upon just causes be altered . ii. the particular forme of monarchies and kingdomes , and the different laws whereby they are to be obtained , holden , and governed in divers countries , according as each common-wealth hath chosen and established . iii. the great reverence and respect due to kings , and yet how divers of them , have been lawfully chastised by their parliaments and common-wealths for their misgovernment , and of the good and prosperous successe that god commonly hath given to the same . iv. the lawfulnesse of proceeding against princes : what interest princes have in their subjects goods or lives : how oathes do binde , or may be broken by subjects towards their princes : and finally the difference between a good king and a tyrant . v. the coronation of princes , and manner of their admitting to their authority , & the other which they doe make in the same , unto the common-wealth for their good government . vi. what is due to onely succession by birth , and what interest or right an heire apparent hath to the crown , before he is crowned or admitted by the common-wealth , and how justly he may be put back , if he have not the parts requisite . vii . how the next in succession by propinquity of blood , have often times been put back by the common-wealth , and others further off admitted in their places , even in those kingdoms where succession prevaileth , with many examples of the kingdomes of israel , & spaine . viii . divers other examples out of the states of france and england , for proofe that the next in blood are sometimes put back from succession , and how god hath approved the same with good successe . ix . what are the principall points which a common-wealth ought to respect in admitting or excluding their king , wherein is handled largely also of the diversity of religions , and other such causes . london , printed by robert ibbitson , dwelling in smith field neere the queens-head-tavern . mdcxlviii . the first speech . the examples of a mad or furious heir apparent , or of one that were by education a turke or moor in religion , or by nature deprived of his wit or senses , do plainly prove that propinquity of birth or bloud alone , without other circumstances , is not sufficient to be preferred to a crown ; for that no reason or law , religion or wisedom in the world , can admit such persons to the government of the common-wealth by whom no good , but destruction may be expected to the same , seeing that government was ordeined for the benefit of the weal-publique , and not otherwise . and though some in these our dayes have affirmed the contrary , and published the same in writing for the defence , flattery , or advancement of the prince they favour , affirming that even a fool , mad or furious man , or otherwise so wicked as he would endeavour to destroy the common-wealth , were to be admitted to the seat royal , without further consideration , if he be next in bloud ; yet this is manifestly agaist all reason and conscience , and against the very first end and purpose of institution of common-wealths , and magistrates . hereof it doth ensue , that some other conditions also must needs be requisite , for coming to government by succession , besides the onely propinquity or priority in bloud , and that the conditions must be assigned and limited out by some higher authority than is that of the prince himselfe , who is bound and limited thereby , and yet it seemeth evident they are not prescribed by any law of nature or divine , for that then they should be both immutable and the selfe-same in all countries , ( as god and nature are one , and the same to all , without change ) where notwithstanding we see , that these conditions and circumstances of succeeding by birth , are divers or different in different countries , as also they are subject to changes according to the diversity of kingdomes , realmes , and people , whereby we are forced to conclude that every particular countrey and common-wealth hath prescribed these conditions to it selfe , and hath authority to do the same . for better proof whereof , it is first of all , to be supposed , that albeit sociability or inclination to live together in company , man with man , ( whereof ensueth both city and common-wealth , as aristotle gathereth in his first book of politiques ) be of nature , and consequently also of god , that is authour of nature : though government in like manner and jurisdiction of magistrates which do follow necessarily upon this living together , in company ; be also of nature , yet the particular forme or manner of this or that government , in this or that fashion , as to have many governours , few , or one , and those either kings , dukes , earles , or the like : or that they should have this or that authority more or lesse , for longer or shorter time , or be taken by succession or election , themselves and their children , or next in bloud : all these things ( i say ) are not by law either natural or divine , ( for then as hath been said , they should be all one in all countries and nations , seeing god and nature is one to all ) but they are ordained by particular positive lawes of every countrey . but now that sociability in mankinde , or inclination to live in company ; is by nature , and consequently ordained by god , for the common benefit of all , is an easie thing to prove : seeing that all ground of realmes and common-wealths dependeth of this point , as of their first principle , for that a common-wealth is nothing else but the good government , of a multitude gathered together , to live in one , and therefore all old philosophers , law-makers , and wise men , that have treated of government or common-wealths , as plat● in his ten most excellent bookes , which he wrote of this matter intituling them of the common-wealth , plato de repub . cicero de repub . arist. polit. and marcus cicero that famous councellour in other six books that he writ of the same matter , under the same title . and aristotle that perhaps excelleth them both , in eight bookes which is called his politiques , all these ( i say ) do make their entrance to treat of their common-wealth affaires , from this first principle , to wit , that man by nature is sociable , and inclined to live in company : whereof do proceed first , all private houses , then villages , then townes , then cities , then kingdomes , and common-wealths . this ground and principle then do they prove by divers evident reasons , as first , for that in all nations , never so wilde and barbarous , we see by experience that by one way or other , they endeavour to live together , either in cities , townes , villages , caves , woods , tents , or other like manner , according to the custome of each countrey , pompon , mela. lib. 3. cap. 3 , 4. tacit. lib. 8. which universal instinct could never be in all , but by impression of nature it selfe . secondly , they prove the same , by that the use of speech is given to man for this end and purpose ; for that little available were this priviledge of speaking , if men should live alone , and converse with none , arist. l. 1. pol. c. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. thirdly , not onely aristotle but theophrastus , also plutarch , and others do confirme the same , theoph. lib. de plaut . plutarch . com. de fortuna , & lib. de pietatem in parent . by the poor estate and condition , wherein man is borne , more infirme than any other creature , though by creation hee bee lord and governour of all the rest ; for whereas each other creature is borne in a certaine sort armed and defended in it selfe , as the bull with his hornes , the boar with his tuske , the bear and wolfe , with their teeth , the bird with her feathers against cold , and with her wings to flie away , the hart and hare with their swiftnesse , and the like , onely man is borne feeble and naked , not able to provide or defend himselfe in many yeares , but onely by the helpe of others , which is a token that he is borne to live in company , and to he holpen by others , and this not onely for his necessity and helpe at his beginning whiles he is in this imbecility , but also for his more comodious living in the rest of his dayes afterwards , seeing no man of himselfe is sufficient for himselfe , and he that liveth alone can have no benefit of others , or do any to others ; wherefore wittily said aristotle in the second chapter of his first book of politiques , that he which flieth to live in society is deus aut bellua , a god or a beast : for that either he doth it because he hath no need of any , which is proper to god , or else for that he will do good to none , and feeleth not that natural instinct , which man hath to live in conversation , which is a signe rather of a beast than of a man. cicero doth adde another reason for this purpose , to wit , the use of certain principal vertues given unto man , but principally justice and friendship , which should be utterly in vain , and to no utility , if man should not live in company of others , for seeing the office of justice is to distribute to every one his own : where no number is , there no distribution can be used , as also neither any act of friendship , which yet in the society of man is so necessary and usuall , saith this excellent man , vt nec aqua , nec igne , nic ipso sole pluribus in locis utamur , quàm amicitia , cicero lib. de amîcitiâ . that we use neither water nor fire nor the sun it selfe in more places or occasions than friendship . and to this effect , of using friendship , love and charity the one towards the other , do christian doctours also , and especially augustine in his book of friendship , reduce the institution of this natural instinct of living in company : aug. lib. de amicitia . which seemeth also to be confirmed by god himselfe in those words of genesis , dixit quoque dominus deus ; non est bonum hominem esse solum , faciamus ei adjutorium , simile sibi , gen. 2. 18. god said , it is not good that man should be alone , let us make unto him an helpe or assistant like unto himselfe , of which words is deduced , that as this first society of our first parents , was of god , and for so great purpose as here is set down , the one to be holpen by the other ; so all other societies in like manner which grow of this first , stand upon the same ground of god's ordination for the selfe same end of mans utility . and i have beene the longer in speaking of this naturall instinct to society , for that it is the first fountaine of all the rest , that ensueth in a common-wealth : for of this come , families , villages , townes , castles , cities and common-wealthes , all which aristotle , doth prove to be of nature , for that this first inclination to live to gether ( whereof all those other things do spring ) is of nature . out of this , is the second poynt before mentioned deduced , to wit , that government also , superiority , and jurisdiction of magistrates , is likewise of nature , for that it followeth of the former , and seeing that it is impossible for men to live together with help and commodity of the one , to the other , except there be some magistrate or other to keep order among them , without which order there is nothing els to be hoped for as job sayeth , but horrour and confusion , job . 10. v. 12. as for example , wheresoever a multitude is gathered tegether , if there bee not some to represse the insolent , to assist the impotent , reward the vertnous , chasten the outragious and minister some kind of justice and equality unto the inhabitants : their living together would be farre more hurtfull , then their living asunder , for that one would consume and devour the other , and so we see , that upon living together followeth of necessity some kind of jurisdiction in magistrats , and for that the former is of nature , the other also is of nature . all which is confirmed also by the consent and use of all nations throughout the world , which generall consent , cicero calleth , ipsius vocem naturae the voice of nature herselfe : cicero li. 1. de natura deorum , for there were never yet nation found either of ancient time or now in our dayes , by the discovery of the indies , or else where , among whom men living together , had not some kind of magistrate or superiour , to governe them , which evidently declareth that this point of magistrates is also of nature , and from god that created nature , which poynt our civill law doth prove in like manner in the very beginning of our digests , where the second title of the first booke is , de origine juris civilis & omnium magistratuum , lib. 1. digest , tit . 2. of the beginning of the civill law and of all magistrates which beginning is referred to this first principle , of naturall instinct and gods institution : and last of all , that god did concurre also expresly with this instinct of nature , our divines doe prove by cleare testimony of holy scripture , as when god saith to solomon , by me kings doe reigne , prov. 8. and paul to the romans avoucheth , that authority is not but of god , and therefore he which resisteth authority resisteth god , rom. 13. which is to bee understood of authority , power or jurisdiction in it selfe , according to the first institution , as also when it is lawfully laid upon any person , for otherwise when it is either wrongfully taken or unjustly used , it may be resisted in divers cases , for then it is not lawfull authority . these two points then are of nature , to wit , the common-wealth , and government of the same by magistrates , but what kinde of government each common-wealth will have , whether democratia , which is popular government by the people it selfe , as athens , thebes , and many other cities of greece had in old time , and as the cantons of switzers at this day have : or else aristocratia , which is the government of some certain chosen number of the best , as the romans many yeares were governed by consuls and senatours , and at this day the states of this countrey of holland do imitate the same : or else monarchia , which is the regiment of one ; and this again either of an emperour , king , duke , earle , or the like : these particular formes of government ( i say ) are not determined by god or nature , as the other two points before , ( for then they should be all one in all nations , as the other are , seeing god and nature are one to all ) but these particular formes are left unto every nation and countrey to chuse that forme of government , which they shall like best , and thinke most fit for the natures and conditions of their people , which aristotle proveth throughout all the second and fourth books of his politiques very largely laying down divers kindes of governments in his dayes , as namely in greece that of the milesians , lacedemonians , candians , and others , and shewing the causes of their differences , which he attributeth to the diversity of mens natures , customes , educations and other such causes that made them make choice of such or such forme of government . and this might be proved also by infinite other examples both of times past and present , and in all nations and countries both christian and otherwise , which have not had onely different fashions of governments the one from the other , but even among themselves at one time , one forme of government , and another at other times ; for the romans first had kings , and after rejecting them for their evil government , they chose consuls , which were two governours for every year , whose authority yet they limited by a multitude of senatours , which were of their counsel , and these mens power was restrained also by adding tribunes of the people , and sometimes dictatours , and finally they came to be governed last of all by emperours . the like might be said of carthage in africa , and many cities and common-wealthes of grece , which in divers seasons , and upon divers causes have taken different formes of government to themselves . the like we see in europe at this day , for in onely italie , what different formes of government have you ? naples hath a king for their soveraigne , roma the pope , and under him one senatour in place of so many as were wont to be in that common-wealth . venice and genua have senatours and dukes , but little authority have their dukes . florence , farara , mantua , parma , vrbin , and savoy , have their dukes onely without senatours , and their power is absolute . milan was once a kingdom but now a dukedom , the like is of burgundy , lorain , bavire , gasconie , and britaine the lesser , all which once had their distinct kings , and now have dukes for their supreme governours . the like may be said of all germany , that many yeares together had one king over all , which now is divided into so many duke ●omes , earldomes , and other like titles of supreme princes . but the contrary is of castile , aragon , portugal , barcelona , and other kingdomes this day in spain , which were first earldomes onely , and after dukedomes , and then kingdomes , and now again are all under one monarchy . the like is of bohemie and polonia , which were but dukedomes in old time , and now are kingdomes . the like may be said of france also after the expulsion of the romans , which was first a monarchy under pharamond their first king , and so continued for many yeares under clodion , meronys , childrik , and clodovaus , their first christened kings , but after they divided it into four kingdomes , to wit , one of paris , another of suessons , the third of orleans , and the fourth of metts , and so it continued for divers yeares , but yet afterwards they made it one monarchy again . england also was first a monarchy under the britaines , and then a province under the romans , and after that divided into seven kingdomes at once under the saxons , and now a monarchy again under the english , and all this by gods permission and approbation , who in token thereof , suffered his own peculiar people also of israel to be under divers manners of governments in divers times , as first under patriarchs , abraham , isaac , and jacob ; then under captaines , as moses , joshua , and the like ; then under judges , as othoniel , aiod , and gideon ; then under high priests , as heli and samuel ; then under kings , as saul , david , and the rest ; and then under captaines and high priests again , as zorobabel , judas , machabeus , and his brethren , untill the government was lastly taken from them , and they brought under the power of the romans , and forreigne kings appointed by them . so as of all this , there can be no doubt , but that the common-wealth hath power to chuse their own fashion of government , as also to change the same upon reasonable causes , as we see in all times and countries , and god no doubt approveth what the realme determineth in this point , for otherwise nothing could be certain , for that of these changes doth depend all that hath succeeded . in like manner , is it evident , that as the common-wealth hath this authority to chuse and change her government , so hath she also to limit the same with what lawes and conditions she pleaseth , whereof ensueth the great diversity of authority and power which each one of the former governments hath , as for example , the consuls of rome were but for one year , other officers and magistrates were for more or lesse time , as their common-wealth did a lot them . the dukes of venice at this day are for their lives ( except in certain cases wherein they may be deposed ) and those of genua onely for two yeares , and their power is very small and much limited , and their heires have no claime or pretence at all after them to that dignity , as the children and next of kin of other dukes of italy have , though in different sort also , for that the dukedomes of ferara , vrbin , and parma , are limited onely to heires male , and for defect thereof to return to the pope or sea of rome : florence , and mantua , for like defects are to returne to the empire , and do not passe to the heires female , or to the next of kin , as savoy and some others do . and now if we respect god and nature , as well might all these governments follow one law , as so different , for that neither god nor nature prescribeth any of these particular formes , but concurreth with any that the common-wealth it selfe appointeth , and so it is to be believed , that god and nature concurred as well with italy when it had but one prince , as now when it hath so many ; and the like with germany , and also with swizerland , which once was one common-wealth onely under the dukes and marquesses of austria , and now are divided into thirteen cantons or common-wealths under popular magistrates of their own , as hath been said ; so as when men talke of a natural prince or natural successour ( as many times i have heard the word used ) if it be understood of one that is borne in the same realme or countrey , and so of our own natural bloud , it hath some sense , though he may be both good or bad , ( and none hath been worse or more cruel many times than home-borne princes : ) but if it be meant as though any prince had his particular government or interest to succeed by institution of nattre , it is ridiculous , for that nature giveth it not as hath been declared , but the particular constitution of every common-wealth within it selfe . the second speech . first of all is to be considered , that of all other formes of government the monarchy of king in it selfe , appeareth to be the most excellent and perfect , and so do hold not onely aristotle in his fore-named bookes of politiques , and namely in his third ( with this onely condition that he governe by lawes ) but seneca also and plutarch in his morals , and namely in that special treatise wherein he discusseth , an sens sit respub , tracta●●da , whether an old man ought to take upon him the government of a common-wealth or no ; where he saith that , reg●um inter omnes respub . consummatissima & prima est , a kingdom is the most perfect common-wealth among all other , and the very first , that is to say , the most perfect , for that it hath most commodities and least inconveniences in it selfe of any other government , and it is the first of all other ; for that all people commonly made their choise at the beginning of this kinde of government , so as of all other it is most ancient ; for so we reade that among the syrians , medes , and persians ; their first governours were kings ; and when the children of israel did aske a king at the hands of samuel , 1 reg. 8. which was a thousand yeares before the coming of christ , they alledged for one reason , that all nations round about them had kings for their governours , and at the very same time , the chiefest cities and common wealths of greece , as the lacedemonians , athenians , corinthians , and others , whereof divers afterwards took other governments unto themselves , for the abuses in kingly government committed , at that time were governed by kings , as at large proveth dyanisius halicarnasseus , coruelius tacitus , cicero , and others . dyonis . hal. l. 5. cornel. tac. l. 3. cic. l. 1. offic. the romans also began with kings , as before i have noted , and the reason of this is , for that as our christian doctours doe gather , ( especially hierome and chrisostome , hierom. l. 2. epist . 12. chrisost . hom . 23. ) this kinde of government resembleth most of all the government of god , that is but one : it representeth the excellency of one sun that lightneth all the planets , of one soul in the body that governeth all the powers and members thereof , and finally they shew it also to be most conforme unto nature , by example of the bees which do choose unto themselves a king , and do live under a monarchy , as the most excellentest of all other governments , to which purpose also i have heard alleadged sometimes by divers those words of peter , subjecti estote omni humanae creaturae propter deum , sint regi quasi precellenti , sive ducibus ab co missis , &c. 1 pet. 2. be you subject to every humane creature for god's cause , whether it be to a king , as the most excellent , or to dukes sent by god for the punishment of evil men and praise of the good : cut of which words some do note two points , first , that as on the one side the apostle doth plainly teach , that the magistrates authority is from god by his first institution , in that he saith , we must be subject to them for god's cause ; so on the other side , he calleth it a humane creature , or a thing created by man , for that by man's free choice this particular forme of government ( as al other also ) is appointed in every common-wealth , and that by mans election and consent , the same is laid upon some particular man or woman , according to the lawes of every countrey , all which maketh it rightly to be called both a humane creature , and from god. the second point which divers do note out of these words , is , that peter calleth a king most excellent , which though it may be understood in respect of the dukes authority , whereof immediately there followeth mention ; yet may it seem also to be taken and verified of kingly authority in respect of all other governments , seeing that at this time when the apostle wrote this epistle , the chief governour of the world was not called king but emperour , and therefore seeing in such a time peter affirmeth the state of kingly government to be most excellent , it may seem he meant it absolutely , signifying thereby that this is the best kinde of government among all others , though to confesse the truth between the title of king and emperour there is little or no difference in substance , but onely in name , for that the authority is equal , every king is an emperour in his own kingdom . and finally the excellency of this government above all other , is not onely proved by the perfection thereof in it selfe , as for that it is most ancient , simple , and conforme unto nature , and most resembling the government of god himselfe , as hath been said , but by the effects also and utility that it bringeth unto the subjects , with farre lesse inconveniences than any other forme of government whatsoever if we compare them together ; for in the monarchy of one king , there is more unity , agreement and conformity , and thereby also celerity commonly in dispatching of businesses , and in defending the common-wealth , than where many heads be ; lesse passions also , in one man than in many ; as for example , in demecratia , where the common people do bear the chief sway , which is bellua multorum capitum , as cicero wisely said , that is , a beast of many heads . cicero l. 1. offic. democratis . there is nothing but sedition , trouble , tumults , outrages , and injustices committed upon every little occasion , especially where crafty and cunning men may be admitted to incense or asswage them with sugred words , such as were the oratours in athens , and other cities of greece , that had this government , and the tribunes of the people of rome , and other such popular and plausible men , who could move the waves , raise up the windes , and inkindle the fire of the vulgar peoples affections , passions or furies at their pleasure , by which we see that of all other common wealths , these of popular government , have soonest come to raine , which might be shewed not onely by old examples of greece , asia , and africa , but also of many cities of italy , as florence , bolonia , siena , pisa , arezzo , spoleto , perugio , padua , and others , which upon the fall or diminution of the roman empire ( under which they were before ) took unto themselves popular governments , wherein they were so tossed with continual sedition , mutinies , and banding of factions , as they could never have end thereof , untill after infinit murders , massacres , and inundation of bloud , they came in the end to be under the monarchy of some one prince or other , as at this day they remain : so that of all other governments this is the worst . the second forme , which is called oligarchia or aristocratia ( for that a few and those presumed to be the best , are joyned together in authority ) as it doth participate something of both the other governments , to wit , of monarchia and democratia , or rather tempereth them both : so hath it both good and evil in it , but yet inclineth more to the evil , for the dis-union that commonly by man's infirmity and malice is among those heads , for which cause the states before named of venice and genua , which were wont to have simply this government of aristocratia , in that their regiment was by certain chose senatours , were enforced in the end to chuse dukes also , as heads of their senates , for avoiding of dissention , and so they have at this day , though their authority be but small , as hath been said . we see also by the examples of carthage and rome , where government of aristocratia took place , that the division and factions among the senatours of carthage , was the cause why aid and succour was not sent to hannibal their captain in italy after his so great and important victory at cannas , which was the very cause of the saving of the roman empire , and the losse of their own : and also afterwards the emulations , discord , and dis union of the roman senatours among themselves in the affaires and contentions of marius and sylla , and of pompry and caesar , was the occasion of all their destruction , and of their common-wealth with them . tit. liv. l. 30. entrop l. 3. oros . l. 5. & 6. evident then it is , that of all other governments the monarchy is the best , and least subject to the inconveniences that other governments have , and if the prince that governeth alone , and hath supreme authority to himselfe , as he resembleth god in this point of sole government , so could he resemble him also , in wise , discreet , and just government , and in ruling without passion ; no doubt , but that nothing more excellent in the world could be desired for the perfect felicity of his subjects : but for that a king or prince is a man as others be , and thereby not onely subject to errours in judgement , but also to passionate affections in his will : for this cause , it was necessary that the common-wealth , as it gave him this great power over them , so it should assigne him also the best helpes that might be , for directing and rectifying both his will and judgement , and make him therein as like in government to god , whom he representeth , as man's frailty can reach unto . for this consideration they assigned to him first of all the assistance and direction of law , whereby to governe , which law aristotle saith , est meus quaelam nulle perturbata affectu , arist . l. 3. pol. c. ult . it is a certain minde disquieted with no disordinate affection , as mens mindes commonly be , for that when a law is made , for the most part , it is made upon due considlration and deliberation , and without perturbation of evil affections , as anger , envy , hatred , rashnesse , or the like passions , and it is referred to some good end and commodity of the common-wealth , which law being once made , remaineth so still without alteration or partial affection , being indifferent to all , and partial to none , but telleth one tale to every man ; and in this it resembleth the perfection as it were of god himselfe , for the which cause the said philosopher in the same place addeth a notable wise saying , to wit , that he which joyneth a law to governe with the prince , joyneth god to the prince , but be that joyneth to the prince his affection to governe , joyneth a beast . ar. l. 3. pol. c. 12. for that mens affections and concupiscences are common also to beasts : so that a prince ruling by law is more than a man , or a man deified , and a prince ruling by affections , is lesse than a man , or a man brutified . in another place also the same philosopher saith , that a prince that leaveth law and ruleth himselfe and others by his own appetite and affections , of all creatures is the worst , and of all beasts is the most furious and dangerous . arist . l. 1. pol. c. 2. for that nothing is so outragious , as injustice armed , and no armour is so strong , as wit and authority . whereof the first he hath in that he is a man , and the other in that he is a prince . for this cause then all common-wealths have prescribed lawes unto their princes , to govern thereby , as by a most excellent , certain and immutable rule ; to which sense cicero said , leges sunt inventae ut omnibus semper una & eadem voce loquerentur ; lawes were invented to the end they should speak in one and the selfe same sense to all men cic. l. 2. offic. for which very reason in like manner these lawes have been called by philosophers a rule or square , inflexible , and by aristotle in particular , a minde without passion , as hath been said , but the prophet david who was also a prince and king , seemeth to call it by the name of discipline , for that as discipline doth keep all the parts of a man or of a particular house in order , so law well ministred keepeth all the parts of a common-wealth in good order , and to shew how securely god exacteth this at all princes hands , he saith these words , and now learn ye kings and be instructed , ye that judge the world , serve god in fear , and rejoyce in him with trembling , imbrace ye discipline , least he enter into wrath , and so ye perish from the way of righteousnesse . psal . 2. which words being uttered by a prophet and king do contain divers points of much consideration for this purpose ; as first , that kings and princes are bound to learne law and discipline : and secondly , to observe the same with great humility and fear of gods wrath : and thirdly , that if they do not , they shall perish from the way of righteousnesse , as though the greatest plague of all to a prince were to lose the way of righteousnesse , law and reason in his government , and to give himselfe over to passion , and his own will , whereby they are sure to come to shipwracke : and thus much of the first helpe . the second helpe that common-wealths have given to their kings and princes , especially in later ages , hath been certain councels and councelours with whom to consult in matters of most importance , as we see the parliaments in england and france , the courts in spain , and diets in germany , without which no matter of great moment can be concluded ; and besides this , commonly every king hath his privy councel , whom he is bound to hear , and this was done to temper somewhat the absolute forme of a monarchy , whose danger is by reason of his sole authority to fall into tyranny , as aristotle wisely noteth in his fourth book of politiques , shewing the inconvenience or dangers of this government ; which is the cause that we have few or no simple monarchies now in the world , especially among christians , but all are mixt lightly with divers points of the other two formes of government also ; and namely in england all three do enter more or lesse ; for in that there is one king or queen , it is a monarchy ; in that it hath certain councels which must be heard : it participateth of aristocratia , and in that the commonalty have their voyces and burgesses in parliament , it taketh part also of democratia , or popular government , all which linitations of the princes absolute authority , as you see , do come from the common-wealth , as having authority above their princes for their restraint to the good of the realme . from like authority , and for like considerations have come the limitations of other kings and kingly power in all times and countries , from the beginning , both touching themselves and their posterity and successours , as briefly in this place i shall declare . and first of all , if we will consider the two most renowned and allowed states of all the world , i mean of the romans and grecians , we shall finde that both of them began with kings , but yet with farre different lawes and restraints about their authorities ; for in rome the kings that succeeded romulus their first founder , had as great and absolute authority as ours have now a dayes , but yet their children or next in bloud succeeded them not of necessity , but new kings were chosen partly by the senate , and partly by the people , as titus livius testifieth , livil . 1 dec . 1. so as of three most excellent kings that ensued immediatly after romulus , to wit , numa pompilius , tullius hostilius , and tarquinius priscus , none of them were of the bloud royal , nor of kin the one to the other , no nor yet romans borne , but chosen rather from among strangers , for their vertue and valour , and that by election of the senate and consent of the people . in grecce , and namely among the lacedemonians , which was the most eminent kingdom among others at that time , the succession of children after their fathers was more certain , but yet aristotle noteth , arist . l. 2. c. 8. pol. plutarch . in lycurg . their authority and power was so restrained by certain officers of the people named ephori ( which commonly were five in number ) as they were not onely checked and chastened by them , if occasion served , but also deprived and somtimes put to death ; for which cause the said philosopher did justly mislike this eminent jurisdiction of the ephori over their kings : but yet hereby we see what authority the common-wealth had in this case , and what their meaning was in making lawes , & restraining their kings power , to wit , thereby the more to binde them to do justice , which cicero in his offices uttereth in these words , justitiae fruendae causa apud majores nostros & in asia , & in europa bene morati reges olim sunt constiti , &c. at cum jus aquabile ab 〈◊〉 viro homines non consequerentur , inventae sunt leges . cic. l. 2. offic. good kings were appointed in old time among our ancestours in asia and europe , to the end thereby to obtain justice , but when men could not obtain equal justice at one mans hands , they invented lawes . the same reason yeildeth the same philosopher in another place , not onely of the first institution of kingdomes , but also of the change thereof again into other government , when these were abused . omnes antiquae gentes regibus quondam paruerunt , &c. cic. l. 3. de legibus . that is , all old nations did live under kingdomes at the beginning , which kinde of government first they gave unto the most just , and wisest men which they could finde , and also after for love of them , they gave the same to their posterity or next in kin , as now also it remaineth where kingly government is in use : but other countries which liked not that forme of government , and have shaken it off , have done it not that they will not be under any , but for that they will not be ever under one onely . thus far cicero , and speaketh this principally in defence of his own common-wealth i mean the roman : which had cast off that kinde of government , as before hath been said , for the offence they had taken against certain kings of theirs , and first of all , against romulus himselfe their first founder , for reigning at his pleasure without law , as titus livius testifieth , for which cause the senatours at length slew him , and cut him in small pieces . and afterwards they were greatly grieved at the entring of scrvius tullius their sixth king , for that he gat the crown by fraud and not by election of the senate , and special approbation of the people , as he should have done : but most of all they were exasperated by the proceeding of their seventh king named lucius tarquinius , sirnamed the proud , who for that he neglected the lawes of government prescribed to him by the common-wealth , as namely in that he consulted not with the senate in matters of great importance , and for that he made war and peace of his own head , and for for that he appointed to himselfe a guard , as though he had mistrusted the people , and for that he did use injustice to divers particular men , and suffered his children to be insolent , he was expelled with all his posterity , and the government of rome changed from a kingdom unto the regiment of consuls , after two hundred yeares that the other had endured . and thus much of those kingdomes of italy and greece : and if likewise we will look upon other kingdomes of europe , we shall see the very same , to wit , that every kingdom and countrey hath his particular lawes prescribed to their kings by the common wealth , both for their government , authority , and succession in the same : for if we behold the roman empire it selfe , as it is at this day annexed to the german electours , though it be first in dignity among christian princes , yet shall we see it so restrained by particular lawes , as the emperour can do much lesse in his state than other kings in theirs , for he can neither make war , nor exact any contribution of men , or money , thereunto , but by the free leave and consent of all the states of the german die● or parliament , and for his children or next in kin , they have no action , interest , or pretence at all to succeed in their fathers dignity , but onely by free election , if they shall be thought worthy nay , one of the chiefest points that the emperour must swear at his entrance , as sleydan writeth , sleydan l. 8. anno 1532. is this , that he shall never go about to make the dignity of the emperour peculiar or bereditary to his family , but leave it unto the seven electours free in their power , to chuse his successour , according to the law made by the pope ●regory the fifth , and the emperour charles the fourth in this behalfe . blond . dicad . 2. l. 3. crant . l. c. 25. the kingdomes of poloma and bohemia do go much after the same fashion , both for their restrant of power , and succession to their kings . for first touching their authority , they have great limitation , neither can they do any thing of great moment , without the consent of certain principal men called palatines or castellians , neither may their children or next of bloud succeed except they be chosen , as in the empire . herbert . l. 9. hist . pol. cromerus l. 3. hist . polon . in spain , france , and england , the priviledges of kings are farre more eminent in both these points , for that both their authority is much more absolute , and their next in bloud do ordinarily succeed , but yet in different manner ; for as touching authority , it seemeth that the kings of spain and france , have greater than the king of england , for that every ordination of these two kings is law in it selfe , without further approbation of the common-wealth , which holdeth not in england , where no general law can be made without consent of parliament ; but in the other point of succession , it appeareth that the restraint is farre greater in those other two countries than in england , for that in spain the next in bloud cannot succeed be he never so lawfully descended , but by a new approbation of the nobility , and states of the realme , as it is expresly set down in the two ancient councels of tolledo the fourth and fifth , concil . blet . 4. c. 74. & coneil . s . c. 3. in confirmation whereof we see at this day , that the king of spain's own son , cannot succeed nor be called prince , except he be first sworne by the said nobility and states in token of their new consent ; and so we have seen it practised in our dayes towards three or four of king philips children , which have succeeded the one after the other in the title of princes of spain , and at every change a new oath required at the subjects hands , for their admission to the said dignity , which is not used in the kings children of france or england . in france the world knoweth , how women are not admitted to succeed in the crown be they never so near in bloud , neither any of their issue , though it be male ; for which cause i doubt not but you remember how king edward the third of england , though he were son and heir unto a daughter of france , whose three brethren were kings , and left her sole heir to her father king philip the fourth sirnamed the fair , yet was he put by the crown , anne 1340. anil . hist . franc. l. 2. gerard. du haylan . l. 14. hist . franc. as also was the king of navar at the same time , who was son and heir unto this womans eldest brothers daughter , named lewis huttin king of france , ( which king of nav●r thereby seemed also to be before king edward of england ) but yet were they both put by it , and philip de vallois , a brothers son of philip the fair , was preferred to it , by general decree of the states of france , and by verdict of the whole parliament of paris , gathered about the same affaires . franc. belfor . l. 5. c. 1. anno 1327. neither did it avail , that the two kings aforesaid alleadged , that it was against reason and conscience , and custome of all nations , to exclude women , from the succession of the crown which appertained unto them by propinquity of bloud , seeing both nature and god hath made them capable of such succession every where , as it appeareth by example of all other nations , and in the old testament among the people of god it selfe , where we see women have been admitted , unto kingdomes by succession , but all this ( i say ) prevailed not , with the french as it did not also since for the admission of dona isabella eugenia clara , infanta of spain , unto the said crown of france , though by dissent of bloud there be no question of her next propinquity , for that she was the eldest childe of the king's eldest sister . the like exclusion was then made against the prince of lorain , though he was a man and nephew to the king , for that his title was by a woman , to wit , his mother , that was younger sister unto king henry of france . and albeit the law called salica by the french-men , by vertue whereof they pretend to exclude the succession of women , be no very ancient law , as the french themselves do confesse , and much lesse made by pharamond their first king , or in those ancient times as others without ground do affirme . gerard. du hail . l. 13. hist . fra●c . & anno 1317. & l. 14. anno 1328 & l. 3. de l'estat defrunce . yet do we see that it is sufficient , to binde all princes and subjects of that realme , to observe the same , and to alter the course of natural discent , and nearnesse of bloud , as we have seen , and that the king of navar and some others of his race by vertue of this onely law did pretend to be next in succession to this goodly crown , though in nearnesse of bloud they were farther off , by many degrees from king henry the third , than either the foresaid infanta of spain , or the prince of lorain , who were children of his own sisters , which point yet in england were great disorder , and would not be suffered , for that our lawes are otherwise , and who made these lawes , but the common-wealth it selfe . by all which we see that divers kingdomes , have divers lawes and customes in the matter of succession , and that it is not enough for a man to alleage bare propinquity of blood , thereby to prevaile , for that he may be excluded or put back by divers other circumstances , for sundry other reasons which afterward we shall discusse . yea , not onely in this point hath the common-wealth authority to put back the next inheritors upon lawfull considerations , but also to dispossesse them that have bin lawfully put in possession , if they fulfill not the lawes and conditions , by which and for which , their dignitie was given them . which point as it cannot serve for wicked men to be troublesome unto their governours , for their own interests or appetites , so yet when it is done upon just and urgent causes and by publique authority of the whole body the justice thereof is playne , not onely by the grounds and reasons before alleaged , but also by those examples of the romans and grecians already mentioned , who lawfully deposed their kings upon just considerations , and changed also their monarchie and kingly government , into other forme of regiment , and it might be proved also , by examples of all other nations , and this perhaps with a circumstance which every man considereth not , to wit , that god hath wonderfully concurred ( for the most part . ) with such juditiall acts of the common-wealth against their evill princes , not onely in prospering the same , but by giving them also commonly some notable successor in place of the deposed , thereby hath to justify the fact , and to remedy the fault of him that went before . i am far from the opinion of those people of our dayes , or of old , who make so little account of their duty towards princes , as be their title what it will , yet for every mislike of their owne they are ready to band against them wheresoever they thinke they may make their party good , inventing a thousand calumniations for their discredit without conscience or reason , whom in deed i do thinke to have little conscience or none at all but rather to be those whom the apostles peter and jude did speake of when they said . novit dominus iuiquos in diem judicii reservare , cruciandos , magis autem eos qui dominitionem contemnunt , audaces , sbi placentes , &c. 2 pet 2 10. j●de 8. god knoweth how to reserve the wicked unto the day of judgement , there to be tormented , but much more those which do contemne domination or government , and are bold and liking of themselves . nay further , i am of opinion , that whatsoever a princes title be , if once he be settled in the crown , and admitted by the common-wealth ( for of all other holds i esteem the tenure of a crown ) if so it may be termed ( the most irregular and exraordinary ) every man is bound to settle his conscience to obey the same , in all that lawfully he may command , and this without examination of his title or interest , for that god disposeth of kingdomes , and worketh his will in princes affaires , as he pleaseth , and this by extraordinary meanes oftentimes , so that if we should examine the titles at this day of all the princes in christendom by the ordinary rule of private mens rights , successions , or tenures , should finde so many knots and difficulties , as it were hard for any to make the same plain , but onely the supreme law of god's disposition , which can dispence in what he listeth . this is my opinion in this behalfe for true and quiet obedience , and yet on the other side , as farre off am i from the abject and wicked flattery of such as affirme princes to be subject to no law or limitation at all , either in authority , government , life , or succession , but as though by nature they had been created kings from the beginning of the world , or as though the common-wealth had been made for them , and not they for the common-wealth , or as though they had begotten or purchased , or given life to the weal-publique , and not that the weal-publique had exalted them , or given them their authority , honour , and dignity ; so these flatterers do free them for all obligation , duty , reverence , or respect unto the whole body , where of they are the heads ; nay , expresly they say and affirme , that all mens goods , bodies , and lives , are the princes at their pleasures to dispose of ; that they are under no law or account-giving whatsoever , that they succeed by nature and generation onely , and not by any authority , admission , or approbation of the common-wealth , and that consequently no merit or demerit of their perso is to be respected , nor any consideration of their na●ures or qualities , to wit , of capacity , disposition , or other personal circumstances , is to be had or admitted , and do they what they list , no authority is there under god to cha●ten them . all these absurd paradoxes have some men of our dayes uttered in flattery of princes , to defend a kings title with assertions and propositions , do destroy all law of reason , conscience , and common-wealth , and do bring all to such absolute tyranny as no realme ever did or could suffer among civil people , no not under the dominion of the turke himselfe at this day , where yet some proportion of equity is held between the prince and the people , both in government and succession , though nothing so much as in christian nations . to avoid these two extremes , as all the duty , reverence , love , and obedience before name● , is to be yeelded unto every prince which the common-wealth hath once established : so yet retaineth still the common-wealth her authority , not onely to restrain the same prince , if he be exor●itant , but also to chasten and remove him , upon due and weighty considerations , and that the same hath bin done and practised at many times in most nations , both christian and otherwise with right good successe , to the weal publick . the third speech . two points are now to be proved , first , that common-wealths have chastised sometimes lawfully their lawfull princes , though never so lawfully they were descended , or otherwise lawfully put in possession of their crown ; and secondly , that this hath faln out ever , or for the mo●● part , commodious to the weal publique , and that it may seem that god approved and prospered the same , by the good successe and successors that insued thereof . yet with this protestation , that nothing be taken out of my speech , against the sacred authority and due respect and obedience , that all men owe unto princes , both by gods law and nature , but only this shall serve to shew that as nothing under god is more honourable , amiable , profitable , or soveraigne , than a good prince : so nothing is more pestilent , or bringeth so generall destruction and desolation as an evill prince . and therefore as the whole body is of more authority th●n the only head , and may cure the head if it be out of tune , so may the weal-publique cure or purge their heads , if they infect the rest , seeing that a body civill may have divers heads , by succession , and is not bound ever to one , as a body naturall is , which body naturall , if it had the same ability that when it had an aking or sickly head , it could cut it off and take another , i doubt not , but it would so do , and that all men would confesse that it had authority sufficient and reason to doe , the same rather then all the other parts should perish or live in pain and continuall torment : but yet much more cleare is the matter that we have in hand for disburdening our selves of wicked princes , as now i shall begin to prove unto you . and for proofe of both the points joyntly , i might begin perhaps with some examples out of the scripture it selfe , but some man may chance to say , that these things recounted there of the jewes , were not so much to be reputed for acts of the common-wealth , as for particular ordinations of god himselfe , which yet is not any thing against me , but rather maketh much for our purpose . for that the matter is more authorized hereby , seeing that whatsoever god did ordaine or put in ●re in his common wealth , that may also be practised by other common-wealths , now having his authority and approbation for the same . wherefore ( said he ) though i do hasten to examples that are more neerer home , and more proper to the particular purpose whereof we treat , yet can i not omit to note some two or three out of the bible , that doe appertain to this purpose also , and these are the deprivation and putting to death of two wicked kings of judah , named saul and amon , 1 kin. 31. 4. king. 22. 44. ( though both of them were lawfully placed in that dignity ) and the bringing in of david and josia in their roomes , who were the two most excellent princes that ever that nation or any other ( i thinke ) have had to governe them . and first king saul though he were elected by god to that royal thron , yet was he slain by the philistims , by god's order as it was foretold him for his disobedience , and not fulfilling the law and limits prescribed unto him . amon was lawfull king also , and that by natural discent and succession , for he was son and heir to king manasses whom he succeeded , and yet was he slain by his own people , quia non ambulavit in via domini , for that he walked not in the way prescribed unto him by god : and unto these two kings so deprived god gave two successours , as i have named , the like whereof are not to be found in the whole ranke of kings for a thousand yeares together ; for of josias it is written , fecit quod crat rectum in conspectu domini , & non declinavit neque ad dextram neque ad sinistram . 2. paralip . 34. 5. he did that which was right in the sight of god , neither did he decline unto the right hand nor the left ; he reigned 31 yeares , 2. paralip . 35. and jeremias the prophet that lived in his time loved so extremely this good king , as he never ceased afterwards to lament his death , as the scripture saith , 2 chron. 34. & 35. chapters as for king david , it shall not be needfull to say any thing , how excellent a king he was , for as many learned men do note , he was a most perfect paterne for al kings that should follow in the world , not as king cyrus whom xenophon did paint out more according to his own imagination of a perfect king , that he wished , then to the truth of the story , but rather as one that passed farre in acts that which is written of him , and this not onely in matters of religion , piety , and devotion , but also of chivalry , valour , wisedom and policy ; neither is it true which nicholas maehiavel the florentine , n. mach. l. 2. c. 2. in tit. liv. and some others of his new unchristian school do affirme , for defacing of christian vertue , that religion and piety are le ts oftentimes to politique and wise government , and do break or weaken the high spirits of magnanimous men , to take in hand great enterprises for the common-wealth . aug. l●de gran. this ( i say ) is extreme false , for that as divines are wont to say ( and it is most true ) grace doth not destroy or corrupt , but perfect nature ; so so as he which by nature is valiant , wise , liberal , or politique , shall be the more , if also he be pious and religious : which we see evidently in king david , who notwithstanding all his piety , yet omitted he nothing appertaining to the state and government of a noble , wise , and politique prince : for first of al , he began with reformation of his own court and realm in matter of good lif and service of god , wherein he used the counsel and direction of god and of nathan the prophet , as also of abiathar and hiram the chief priests and of heman his wise councellour 1. par. 15. he reduced the whole clergy into 24. degrees , appointing 4000. singers with divers sorts of musical instruments , under asaph , heman , and other principal men that should be heads of the quire. psal . 22. & 25. he appointed all officers needfull both for his court , and also the common-wealth , with the armes of the crown , which was a lion , in remembrance of the lion which he had slain with his own hands , when he was a childe ; he ordained a mynt with a peculiar forme of money to be stamped : took order for distributing relief unto the poor , and other like acts of a prudent and pious prince . after all this he turned himselfe to his old exercise of warres , to which he was given from his child hood , being wonderfull valiant of his own person , as appeareth by the lion and bear that he slew with his own hands , and the courage wherewith he took upon him the combat with goliah ; and as he had shewed himselfe a great warriour and renowned captain many yeares in the service of saul against the philistims , and had gained many noble victories : so much more did he after he was king himselfe , for that he conquered not onely the philistims , but also the amorites , idumeans , moabites , with the kings and people of damasco and all syria , even unto the river euphates , and left all these countries peaceable to his successour , 2 reg. 8. and in three or four battailes wherein david himselfe was present , within the space of two or three yeares , almost a hundred thousand horse and foot slain by him , 8. paral . 18. and that himselfe flew in his dayes eight hundred with his own hands , 2 reg . 13. joseph . l. 7. antiqu . c. 10. and that he made by his example thirty and seven such captaines as each one of them was able to lead and governe a whole army , and yet among all these expences of warres had he care to lay up so much money and treasure as was sufficient for the building of that huge and wonderfull temple after him , which hee recommended to his son salomon , and amidst all this valour and courage of so warlike a king and captaine , had he so much humility as to humble himselfe to nathan the prophet when he came to rebuke him for his fault , and so much patience and charity as to pardon semci that reviled him , and threw stones at him in the high way as he went , and among so many and continuall businesses , both martiall and civill , and great affaires of the commonwealth , he had time to write so many psalmes as we see , and to sing prayses seven times a day to almighty god , and to feel that devotion at his death which we read of , and finally he so lived and so dyed , as never prince ( i thinke ) before him , nor perhaps after him , so joyned together both valour and vertue , courage and humility , wisdome and piety , government and devotion , nobility and religion . wherefore though i have been somewhat longer then i would in this example , yet hath it not been from the purpose to note somewhat in particular what two worthy kings were put up by god in place of two other by him deprived and deposed . and now , if we will leave the hebrews and returne to the 〈◊〉 of whom we spake before , we shall finde divers things notable in that state also , to the purpose we have in hand . for before romulus their first king having by little and little declined into tyranny , 〈◊〉 thine and cut in peeces by the senate . 〈◊〉 1. ( which at that time contained an hundred in number ) and in his place was chosen numa pompilius the notablest king that ever they had , wh● prescribed all their order of religion and manner of sacrifices , imitating therein and in divers other points , the rites and ceremonies of the jewes , as ter●ul● and other fathers does note , 〈…〉 contrahaeres , iustin . martyr apolog . hee began also the building of their capitol , added the two months of january and february to the yeare , and did other such notable things for that commonwealth . againe , when tarqui●ius the proud , their seventh and last king , was expelled by the senate , for his cruell government , and the whole manner of government changed , tit. liv . li. 1. doc . 1. eutrop , l. 1. wee see the successe was prosperous , so that not onely no hurt came thereby to the commonwealth , but exceeding much good , their government and increase of empire was prosperous under their consulls for many yeares in such sort , that whereas at the end of their kings government , they had but fifteen miles territory without their city , it is knowne , that when their consulls government ended , and was changed by julius caesar , their territory reached more then fifteen thousand miles in compasse , for that they had not only all europe under their dominion , but the principall parts also of asia and africa , so as this chastisement so justly laid upon their kings was profitable and beneficiall to their commonwealth . when julius caesar upon particular ambition had broken all law both humane and divine , and taken all government into his owne hands alone , he was in revenge hereof , slaine by senators in the senate-house : and octavianus augustus preferred in his room , who proved afterwards the most famous emperor that ever was . i might note here also how nero sixth emperour of rome which succeeded lawfully his unckle claudius in the empire , and being afterward deposed sentenced to death by the senate for his wicked government ( which was the first judiciall sentence that ever the senate gave against emperours ) albeit peace ensued not presently , but that galba , otho , and vitellius , three great captaines of the empire , made some little enterludes of tragicall killing of one the other , cornel , ta●it . lib. 20 & 21. egesp l. 5. yet within few months the whole empire by that meanes fell upon vespasian and his son titus , two of the best governours that those times ever saw . the like might be noted of the noble ranke of five excellent good emperors , to wit , 〈◊〉 , traian adrian , antonius pius , and marcus aurelius , that ensued in the empire by the just death of cruell domitian , europ . in viti caesa . which execution the senate is thought in secret to have procured , ( being not able to performe it openly by justice ) which was seen by that , that when the act was done , the senate did presently by publique decree allow of the some , and d●sanulled all his barbarous acts for his exceeding cruelty , and commanded his armes and memories to be p●lled downe every where , and chose for his successour , one cocc●nis norva , an italian , a man of excellent vertue , by whom they enjoyed not only the most prosperous time of his government , but of all those other foure before named that ensued him no lesse worthy then himselfe . not long after , the succession of these excellent good emperours that came to the crown by lawfull discent of blood , a youth named anto●inus heliogtholus son of the emperour antoninus caracalla , and nephew to the most famous and noble emperour septimius serverus that dyed in england . which youth as he was greatly loved and honoured a great while for so worthy a grandfather : so afterwards for his owne most beastly life and foule actions , an. dom. 124. he was deprived and put to death by the souldiers of rome , at the request and common desire both of the people and senate , when he had reigned six yeares , and yet was but twenty yeares of age , when hee was put downe , alius lap in vita heliog . and his death and deprivation was approved by publique act of the senate , who ordained also in his detestation , that never emperor after him should bee called more antoninus , and so it was observed , though no other name had ever been more gratefull before , to the world for the remembrance of the good emperors that had been so called . this man being chastized as is said , there was preferred to the empire in his room a goodly young man , of his next kindred , named alexander severus , son to mamonea which was sister to holiogabolus his mother , and being admitted by common consent , both of the senate , people , and army , herod . in vit . seven . he proved one of the most rarest princes for his valour and vertue , that ever the roman empire hath had , so as the worthinesse of severus seemed to recompence fully the wickednesse of heliogabolus . i might name divers other such examples , and among the rest that of maxentius , who being lawfully possessd of the empire in rome , as it seemed ( for that he was son to max●minianus the emperor that reigned with dioclesian ) yet for his tyrannous government , that was intolerable , it is supposed that the senate ( not being able to match him in open strength ) sent privily into england and france , to invite constantine to come , and do justice upon him , and so he did , and he being drowned in the river of tyber , constantine sirnamed afterward the great succeeded in the empire , and was the man that all men know , and the first emperor that publiquely professed himself a christian , and planted cur faith over all the world , and this of the roman empire . and if we will come lower down , and nearer home , we have yet another example , more remarkable perhaps than all the rest , which was the change of the empire from the east to the west , for the evil government of constantine the sixth , who was deposed first , and his eyes put out by his own mother irene , and the empire usurped by her , but being not able to rule it in such order as was needfull , for so great a monarchy ( though otherwise she were one of the rarest women for valour and wisdome that ever the world had ) she was deprived thereof by the sentence of leo the third , pope of rome , and by consent of all the people and senate of that city , and charles king of france and of germany ( surnamed afterward the great ) was crowned emperor of the west , an. 100. and so hath that succession remained unto this day , and many worthy men have succeeded therein , and infinite acts of jurisdiction have been exercised by this authority which were all unjust and tyrannicall , if this change of the empire , and deposition of irene and her son for their evill government had not been lawfull . it were to long to run over all other kingdomes , yet some i shall touch in such points as are most notorious . the two famous changes that have been made of the royall line in france , the first from the race of pharamond and clodoveus to the line of pepin , and the second from the race of pepin againe to the line of hugo capetus , that endureth unto this day , belfor l. 1. girard . l. 3. aemil. l. clem. baudi●●en la chronique des ros de france ▪ whereon are they founded , but upon the judiciall chastisement and deposition of two cruell princes , the first of childerie , the third lawfull king of france , who after ten yeares that he had reigned was deposed , by zachary the pope at the request of the whole nobility and clergy of france , or rather his deprivation was by them , and confirmed by the pope , to whom they alleadged this reason for their doing in that behalfe , as girard putteth it downe in both his french chronicles , i mean the large and the abbreviation , to wit , that their oath to childerie was to honour , serve , and obey , maintaine , and defend him against all men , as long as he was just , religious , valiant , clement , and would resist the enemies of the crowne , punish the wicked and conserve the good , and defend the christian faith . and for as much as these promises ( said they ) were conditionall , they ought not to hold or binde longer , then that they were reciprocally observed on both parts , which seeing they were not on the part of childerie , they would not be any longer his subject , and so desired zacharias to absolve them from their oaths , which he did , and by this meanes childerie was deposed and 〈◊〉 into a monastery , where he dyed , and in his place pepin was chosen and crowned king , whose posterity reigned for many years after him , and were such noble kings as all the world can testifie . and so continued the race of pepin in the royall throne for almost two hundred years together untill hugo capetus , hug. cap. per an . 988. who was put into the same throne by the same authority of the commonwealth , and charles of loraine last , of the race of pepin , for the evill satisfaction which the french nation had of him was put by it , and kept prisoner during his life in the castle of orleance . and thus much doe affirme all the french histories ; and doe attribute to these changes , the prosperity and greatnesse of their present kingdome and monarchy ; and thus much for france , where many other examples might be alleaged , as of king lewis the third , sirnamed faineant . for that he was unprofitable , and of charles sirnamed legros , that succeeded him both of them deposed by the states of france , and other the like , of whom i shall have occasion to speak afterwards to another purpose . but now if you please , let us step over the pireny mountains , and look into spayne , where there will not faile us , also divers examples both before the oppression of that realme by the moores , as also after , concil . tolet. 4. cap. 4. ambros . morac . l. 11. cap. 17. for that before , to wit , about the yeare of christ 630. we read of a lawfull king named flaveo suintila put downe and deprived , both he and his posterity in the fourth councell nationall of toledo , and one sissinando confirmed in his place , notwithstanding that suintila were at the beginning of his reigne a very good king , and much commended by isidorus archbishop of sivill , isidor , in hist . hispan , who yet in the said councell was the first man that subscribed to his deprivation . after the entrance of the moores also , when spaine was reduced againe to the order and government of spanish kings , we read estevan de garibay l. 13. de la hist . de espa . c. 15. that about the yeare of christ 1282. one don alonso , the eleventh of that name , king of castile and leon , succeeded his father fernando sirnamed the saint , and himselfe obtained the sirname of sabio and astrologo , that is to say , of wise and of an astrologer , for his excellent learning and peculiar skill in that art , as may well appeare by the astronomy tables that at this day goe under his name , which are the most perfect , and exact that ever were set forth , by judgement of the learned . this man , for his evill government and especially for tyranny used towards two nephews of his , as the spanish chronicler garavay writeth , was deposed of his kingdome by a publicke act of parliament in the towne of valiodolid , after he had reigned 30. yeares , and his owne sonne don sancho the fourth , was crowned in his place , who for his valiant acts , was sirnamed ●l bravo , and it turned to great commodity of the commonwealth . the same commonwealth of spaine some yeares after , to wit , about the yeare of christ , 1368. having to their king one don pedro , sirnamed the cruell , for his injurious proceeding with his subjects , though otherwise he were lawfully seased also of the crowne , as son and heire to king don alonso the twelfth , and had reigned among them 18. yeares , yet for his evill government they resolved to depose him , and so sent for a bastard brother of his , named henry that lived in france requesting him that he would come with some frenchmen to assist them in that act , and take the crowne upon himselfe , garibay l. 14. c. 40. 41 which he did , and by the helpe of the spaniards and french souldiers , he drave the said peter out of spaine , and himselfe was crowned . and albeit edward sirnamed the black prince of england , by order of his father king edward the third , restored once againe the said peter , yet was it not durable , for that henry having the favour of the spaniards returned againe , and deprived peter the second time , and slew him in fight hand to hand , which made shew of more particular favour of god in this behalfe to henry , and so he remayned king of spaine as doth also his pr●geny injoy the same unto this day , though by nature he was a bastard , that king peter left two daughters which were led away into england , and there married to great princes . and this king henry so put up in his place was called king henry the second of this name , and proved a most excellent king , and for his great nobility in conversation , and prowesse in chivalry , was called by excellency , el cavallero the kingly king , and for his exceeding benignity and liberality , was sirnamed also , el del merceedes , which is to say , the king that gave many gifts , or the liberall franck and bountifull king , which was a great change from the other sirnamed cruel , that king peter had before ; and so you see that alwayes i give you a good king in place of the bad deposed . in portugal also before i goe out of spaine , i will alleage you one example more , which is of don sancho the second , surnamed capelo , fourth king of portugal , lawfull sonne and heir unto don alanso surnamed el gardo , who was third king of portugal . this don sancho , after he had reigned 34. yeares was deprived for his defects in government by the universall consent of all portugal . garibay , lib. 4. de hist . portug . c. 19. and this his first deprivation from all kingly rule and authority ( leaving him only the bare name of king ) was approved by a generall councell in lyons , pope ●nnocentius the fourth being there present , who at the petition and instance of the whole realme of portugal by their embassadors the archbishop of braga , bishop of camibra , and divers of the nobility sent to lyons for that purpose , did authorize the said state of portugal to put in supream government , one don alonso brother to the said king don sarcho , who was at that time , earle of bullen in picardy , by right of his wife , and so the portugales did , and further also a little after they deprived their said king , and did drive him out of his realme into castilla , where he lived all the rest of his life in banishment , and dyed in toledo without ever returning , and this decree of the councell and pope at lyons , for authorizing of this fact , is yet extant in our common law , in the sixt book of decretal● now in print ▪ lib. 6. de cret . tit . 6. de supplenda . cap. grand . 1. and this king don alonso , the third which in this sort was put up against his brother was peaceably and prosperously king of portugal , all the dayes of his life , garibay in hist de portug . lib. 34. cap. 20. & 21. and he was a notable king , and among other great exployts , he was the first that set portugal free from all subjection dependence and homage to the kingdome of castile , which unto his time ●t ha● acknowledged , and he left for his successor his so●● , and heire , don dionysi●el fabricador , to wit , the great builder , for that he builded and founded above forty and foure great towns in portugal , and was a most rare prince , and his off-spring ruleth in portugal unto this day . infinite other examples could i alleage if i would examine the lives and discents of these and other kingdoms with their princes , and namely , if i would speak of the greek emperours , deprived for their evill government , not so much by popular mutiny ( which often hapned among them ) as by consent and grave deli●e●ation of the whole state and weal-publick , glicas in annal. part . 4. zon. annal. co . 3. in vita michael calapha , as michael calaphates , for that he had troden the crosse of christ under his feet , and was otherwise also a wicked man , as also the emperor nicephorus botoniates , for his dissolute life , and preferring wicked men to authority , and the like , whereof i might name many , but it would be too long . what should i name here , the deposition made of princes , in our dayes , by other common-wealths , as in polonia , of henry the third that was king of france ▪ and before that had been sworne king of polonia , of which crowne of polonia , he was deprived by publick act of parliament , for his departing thence without license , and not returning at his day by the said state appointed and denounced by publick letters of peremptory commandement , which are yet extant , in literis reip . polon . ad henr. valesium pag. 182. 184. vide gagneum part . 1. de rebus polon . in suetia . what should i name the deprivations of henry king of suetia , who being lawfull successor and lawfully in possession after his father , gustavus was yet put downe by that common-wealth and deprived , and his brother made king in his place who was in england , in the beginning of queen elizabeths reigne , whose sonne reigned king of polonia , polin . 1. 32. histor . de franc. an. 1568. and this fact was not only allowed of at home by all the states of that countrey , but also abroad , as namely of maximilian the emperor , and appointed also by the king of denmarke , and by all the princes of germany neer about that realme , who saw the reasonable causes which that common-wealth had to proceed as it did . and a little before that , the like was practised also in denmarke against cisternus their lawfull king if we respect his discent in blood , for he was sonne to king iohn that reigned afore him , and crowned in his fathers life , but yet afterwards for his intolerable cruelty , he was deprived and driven into banishment , together with his wife and three children , all which were disinherited , and his vncle frederick prince of holsatia , was chosen king , who●e progeny yet remaineth in the crowne , and the other , though he were married to the sister of charles the fifth last emperour of that name , and were of kin also to king henry the eight in england , yet could he never get to be restored , ●●●pessed his time miserably , partly in banishment , and partly in prison untill he died . sleydon . l. 4. hist . an. 1532. mu●st . lib. 3. cosmogra . in d●script . d●●i'e paulus iovius in viris illust . but it shall be best perhaps to end this narration with example out of england it selfe , for that no where 〈◊〉 have i read more markeable accidets , touching this point , then in england , and for brevity sake i shall touch only a few since the conquest , for that i will goe no higher though i might , as appereth by the example of king ed●in and others , neither will i begin to stand much upon the example of king iohn , though well also i might , so that by his cruell government he made himselfe both odious at home and contempt●ble abroad . after him king henry the third was admitted , and he proved a very worthy king after so cruell a one as had gone before him , and had been deposed ( which is a circumstance that you must alwayes note in this narration ) and hee reigned more yeares then ever king in england did before or after him , for he reigned full 53 years , and left his son and heire edward the first , not inferiour to himselfe in manhood and vertue , who reigned 34. yeares and left a son named edward the second , who falling into the same defects of government or worse , then king john his great grandfather had done , was after 1. yeares reigne deposed also by act of parliament holden at london the yeare 1326. polyd. l. 18. hist . anglicanae anno 1326. and his body adjudged to perpetuall prison , in which he was at that present in the castle of wallingford , whither divers both lords and knights of the parliament were sent unto him to denounce the sentence of the realme against him ▪ to wit , how they had deprived him , and chosen edward his son in his place , stow in the life of king edward the 2. for which act of choosing his son , he thanked them heartily and with many teares , acknowledged his owne unworthinesse , whereupon hee was degraded , his name of king first taken from him , and he appointed to be called edward of carnarvan from that houre forward . and then his crowne and ring were taken away , and the steward of his house brake the staffe of his office in his presence , and discharged his servants of their service , and all other people of their obedience or allegiance toward him : and towards his maintenance he had only a 100 marks a year allowed for his expences , and then was hee delivered also into the hands of certain particular keepers , who led him prisoner from thence by divers other places using him with extreme indignity in the way , untill at last they took his life from him in the castle of barkley , and his son edward the third reigned in his place , who if we respect either valour , prowesse , length of reigne , acts of chevalry , or the multitude of famous princes , his children left behind him , was one of the noblest kings that ever england had , chosen in the place of a very evill one . but what ●hall we say ? is this worthinesse which god giveth commonly to the successours at these changes , perpetuall or certaine by discent ? no truly ; nor the example of one princes punishment maketh another to beware , for the next successour after this noble edward which was king richard the second , though he were not his son , but his sons son , to wit , son and heire to the excellent and renowned black prince of wales , this richard ( i say ) forgetting the miserable end of his great grandfather for evill government , as also the felicity , and vertue of his father and grandfather for the contrary , suffered himselfe to be abused and misled by evill councellours , to the great hurt and disquietnesse of the realme . for which cause after he had reigned 22. yeares , he was deposed by act of parliament holden in london , the yeare of our lord 1399. and condemned to perpetuall prison in the castle of pomfret , polyd. l. 20. hist . aug. 1399. where he was soon after put to death also , and used as the other before had been , and in this mans place by free election was chosen for king the noble knight henry duke of lancaster , who proved afterwards a notable king , and was father to king henry the fifth , sirnamed commonly the alexander of england , for that as alexander the great conquered the most part of asia in the space of 9. or 10. yeares , so did this henry conquer france in lesse then the like time . i might reckon also this number of princes deposed for defect in government ( though otherwise he were no evill man in life ) this king henry the fourths nephew , i mean king henry the sixt , who after almost forty yeares reigne was deposed , imprisoned , and put to death , polyd. l. 23. ●istor . anglie . together with his sonne the prince of wales , by edward the fourth of the house of yorke , and the same was confirmed by the commons , and especially by the people 〈◊〉 london , and afterwards also by publicke act of parliament , in respect not only of the title which king edward pretended , but also and especially for that king henry did suffer himselfe to bee overruled by the queen his wife , and had broke the articles of agreement made by the parliament , between him and the duke of yorke , and solemnly sworne on both sides , the 8. of octob. in the yeare 1459. in punishment whereof and of his other negligent and evill government , ( though for his owne particular life he was a good man ) sentence was given against him , partly by force and partly by law , and king edward the fourth was put in his place , who was no evill king and all english men well know , but one of the renownedst for martiall acts and justice that hath worne the english crowne . but after this man againe , there fell another accident much more notorious , which was that richard duke of glocester , this king edwards yonger brother , did put to death his two nephews , this mans children , to wit , king edward the fifth and his little brother , and made himselfe king , and albeit he sinned grievously by taking upon him the. crown in this wicked manner yet when his nephews were once dead , he might in reason seem to be lawfull king , both in respect that he was the next male in blood after his said brother , as also for that by divers acts of parliament , both before and after the death of those infants , his title was authorised and made good , and yet no man wil say ( i think ) but that he was lawfully also deposed again afterward by the commonwealth , an. 1487. which called out of france , henry earle of richmond to chastise him , and to put him downe , and so he did , and tooke from him both life and kingdome in the field , and was king himselfe after him by the name of king henry the seventh , and no man i suppose , will say but that he was lawfully king also , which yet cannot be , except the other might lawfully be deposed ; i would have you consider in all these mutations , what men commonly have succeeded in the places of such as have been deposed , as namely in england , in the place of those five kings before named , that were deprived , to wit , john , edward the second , richard the second , henry the sixt , and richard the third , there have succeeded the three henries , to wit , the third , fourth , and seventh , and two edwards , the third and fourth , all most rare and valiant princes , who have done infinit important acts in their commonwealths , and among other , have raised many houses to nobility , put downe others , changed states both abroad and at home , distributed ecclesiasticall dignities altered the course of discent in the blood royall , and the like , all which was unjust , & is void at this day if the changes and deprivations of the former princes could not be made , and consequently none of these that doe pretend the crowne of england , at this day , can have any title at all , for that from those men they descend who were put up in place of the deprived . and this may be sufficient for proofe of these two principall points , that lawfull princes have oftentimes by their commonwealths been lawfully deposed , for misgovernment , and that god hath allowed and assisted the same , with good successe unto the weal-publique , and if this be so , or might be so , in kings lawfully set in possession , then much more hath the said commonwealth power and authority to alter the succession of such as doe but yet pretend to that dignity , if there be due reason and causes for the same . the fourth speech . truly sir i cannot deny , but the examples are many that this gentleman hath alleaged , and they seeme to prove sufficiently that which you affirmed , at the beginning , to wit , that the princes by you named were deprived , and put downe by their common-wealths for their evill government . and good successors commonly raised up in their places , and that the common-wealth had authority also to doe it i doe not greatly doubt , at leastwise , they did it , de facto , and now to call these facts in question , were to embroyle and turne up-side-down all the states of christendome , as you have well signified , but yet for that you have added this word lawfully so many times , in the course of your narration , i would you tooke the paines to tell us also , by what law , they did the same , seeing that belloy whom you have named before , and some other of his opinion doe affirme , belloy apolog . catholic . part . 2. paragraf . 9. & apol . pro rege . cap. 9. that albeit by nature the common-wealth have authority over the prince , to chuse and appoint him , at the beginning , as you have well proved out of aristotle and other wayes ; yet having once made him , and given up all their authority unto him , he is now no more subject to their correction , or restraint , but remaineth absolute of himselfe without respect to any , but onely to god alone , which they prove by the example of every particular man , that hath authority to make his master or prince , of his inferiour ; but not afterwards to put him downe againe , or to deprive him of the authority which he gave him , though he should not beare himselfe well and gratefully , but discourteous rather , and injuriously towards him that gave him first this authority . to which also they doe alleage the speech of the prophet samuel , in the first booke of the kings , where the people of israel demanded to have a king to governe over them , as other nations round about them had , and to leave the the government of thhe high priest under whom at that day they were . at which demand ▪ both god himself and samuel were grievously offended , and samuel by gods expresse order , protested unto them in this manner , 1. reg. 8. well ( quoth he ) you will have a king , hearken then to this that i will say , hoc erit ius regis , qui imperaturus est vobis , this shall be the right and power of the king that shall rule over you , to wit , he shall take from you your children both sons and daugh●ers , your fields and vinyards , your harvest also and ren●s , your servants , handmaids , and heards of cattie , and shall give them to his servants ▪ and you shall cry unto god in that day from the face of this your king , whom you have chosen , and god shall not hear you , for that you have demanded a king to govern you . out of all which discour●e and speech of the prophet , these men doe gather , that a king is nothing so restrained in his power , or limited to law , as you have affirmed ▪ but rather that his law is his own will , as by these words of the prophet may appear & much lesse may the common-wealth chastise or deprive him for exceeding the limits of law , or doing his will , seeing that here in this place god doth fore-tell , that princes oftentimes shall commit excesses and injuries ; and yet doth he not therefore will them to chasten or depose them for the same , but rather insinuate●h , that they must take it patitiently for their sinnes , and cry to god for remedy , and persevere therein , though he do not at the first hearken to them , or grant their redresse . the fifth speech . i confesse , that flatterers of princes in these our days , have not onely affirmed , that princes were lawlesse , and subject to no accompt , reason , or correction whatsoever they did , but also ( which is yet more absurd & pernicious to all common-wealths ) belloy apolog . part 2. p. 7. & apol pro rege c. 6. & 24. & 26. that all goods , chattels possessions , and whatsoever else commodities temporall of the common-wealth , are properly the kings , and that their subjests have onely the use thereof , without any propriety at all , so as when the king will , he may take it from them by right , without injustice or injury , which assertions do overthrow wholly the very nature and substance of a common ▪ wealth it self . for first , to say that a king is subject to no law or limitation at all , but may do what he will is against all that i have alleadged before of the very institution of a common-wealth , which was to live together in justice & order , and as i shewed out of cicero , speaking of the first kings , iustitiae fruendae causa bene morati reges olim sunt constituti . for enjoying of iustic● were kings appointed in old time that were of good life ; but if they be bound to no justice at all , but must be born and obeyed , be they never sowicked , then is this end and butt of the common wealth , and of all royal authority , utterly frustrate : then may we set up publike murderers , ravishers , theeves , and spoylers , to devour us , in stead of kings and governours to defend us ; for such indeed are kings that follow no law , but passion & sensuality & do commit injustice by their publike authority ; & then finally were all those kings beforementioned , both of the jewes , gentiles , and christians vnlawfully deprived , & their successors unlawfully put up in their places , & consequently all princes living in christianity at this day , who are deseended of them , are intruders , & no lawful princes . by the second saying also , that all temporallties are properly the princes , & that subjects have only the use therof , without any interest of their own , no lesse absurdities do follow , then of the former assertion : for that first ▪ it is against the very principle & foundation of our civill law , which at the first entrance , & begining , maketh this division of goods , that some are common by nature to all men , as the ayr , the sea , and the like ; other are publike to all of one city or country , but yet not common to all ingenerall , as rivers , ports , and other such : some are of the community of a city or common-wealth , but yet not common to every particular person of that city , as common rents , theators , the publike house , &c some are of none , nor properly of any mans goods , as churches and sacred things , and some are proper to particular men , as those which every man possesseth of his own , which divi●●on of iustiman the emperour , & his most learned lawyers is not good , if the prince bee lord proprietary of all : nay he that made this division , being emperour , did great injury also to himself , ●n assigning that to others , which by the opinion of belloy & his fellows , was properly & truly his own , in that he was emperour & lord of the world . besides all this , so absurd a saying is this , as it over●hroweth the whole nature of a common ▪ wealt● it self & waketh all subjects to be but very slaves . for that slaves & bondmen , as aristotle saith , in this do diffe● from free-men , that slaves have only the use of things without property or interest & cannot acquire or get to themselvs any dominion or true right in any thing for that whatsoever they do get , it accreweth to their master & not to themselvs , & for that the condition of an oxe or an asse is the very same in respect of a poor man that hath no slave : for that the oxe or asse g●t●eth nothing to himself , but only to his master , & can be lord of nothing of that for which he laboureth : for this cause , wittily also said arist●tle , that bos aut asinus pauperi agricolae proservo est , an oxe or an asse is to a poor husbandman in stead of a boudman , & so seeing that malignants will needs have the state & condition of all subjects to be like unto this , in respect of their prince , and that they have nothing in propriety , but only the use and that all dominion is properly the princes : what doth the other then make all subjects not only slaves , but also oxen and asses , and pecora campi . last of all , for i will not overload you with reasons in a matter so evident , if all subjects goods be properly the kings , why then was achab and iezabell king & queen of israel so repre●ended by elias , and so punished by god , for taking away nabothes vinyard ? seeing they took but that which was their own . nay , why wa● not naboth accused of iniquity , rebellion & treason , for that he did hot yeeld up pre●ently his vinyard , when his princes demanded the same , seeing it was not his , but theirs ? why doe the kings of england france and spain ask money of their subjects in parliaments , if they might take it as their own ? why are those contributions ●ermed ●y the name of subsidies , helps , benevolences , lones , &c. if all be due , and not voluntary of the subjects part ? how have parliaments oftentimes denyed to their princes such helps of money as they demanded ? why are their judges appointed to determine matter of suits & pleas between the prince and his subjects , if all be his , and the subject have nothing of his own ? and last of all , why doth the canon law so streightly inhibit all princes , upon pain of excommunication , to impose new impositions & taxes upon their people , without great consideration & necessity , & free consent of the givers , if all be the princes , & nothing of the subject ? nay , why be all princes generally at this day prohibited to alienate any thing of their own crown , without consent of their people , if they only be lords of all , and the people have interest in nothing . and hereby also we may gather what the prophet samuel meant , when he thretned the jews with the disorders of kings that should reign over them ; not that these disorders were lawfull or appertained to a righteous king , but that seeing they refused , ●o be under the moderate government of their high priests , and other governors which god had given them hitherto , & required to be ruled by kings , as other heathen nations of egipt , babilon , syria , & persia were , whose manner of government not only historiogr●phers , but phylosophers also , & aristotle among the rest doth note to have been very tyrannicall , arist . l. 5. pol. c. 11. joseph . l. 6. ant . c. 4. yet for that the jews would needs haue that government , as a matter of more pomp & glory , then that which hitherto they had had , samuel did first iusinuate to them , what extortion & wickednesse those heathen kings did use commonly over their people , in taking their children , servants wives , goods , & the like from them , & that many kings of israel should do the like , & take it for their right and soveraignty , & should oppose & tyranize over them , & inforce them to cry out to god for help , & they should not find remedy , for that so heddily they had demanded this change of government , which highly displeased almighty god. and this is the true meaning of that place , if it be well considered , and not to authorize hereby injustice or wickedness in any king seeing the principall point● recorded to all princes , and kings through all course of scripture , are diligere inducrum & justitiam , apprebendere disciplinam , & ●facere veritatem , that is to say to love judgement , and justice to admit discipline and to execu●e truth , and this is the instruction that god gave to the jewes in deutronomy deut. 17. 3. reg. 2. & 10 for their kings when they should have them , which god foretold many yeares before they had any , and this is the admonition that king david left unto , psal . the 2. his sonne and successour salomon , at his death , and by him to all other kiogs and princes , and for want of observing their points of judgement justice discipline , and truth , wee see not only achab , and iezabel before mentioned grievously punished but many other kings also by god himselfe , as achaz manasses ioachim , and the like which had not been justice on gods part so to punish them if it had been lawfull for them to use that manner of proceeding towards their people , as these good instructors of princes in out daies most fondly , and wickedly do affirme , and thus much for that place . but to the point by what law the common-wealthes , did punish their evill princes it is by all law divine and human ▪ divine for that god dath approve that form of government which every common-wealth doth chuse unto it selfe , as also the conditions , statutes und limitations which it selfe shall appoint unto her princes as largely before hath been declared . and by all human law also ; for that all law both naturall , nationall , and positive , doth teach us , that princes are subject to law and order , and that the common-wealth which gave them their authority for the commmon good of all may , also restraine or take the same way again , if they abuse it to the common evill . and whereas these men say , that like as if a private man should make his inferiour or equall to be his prince , he could not after restrain the same again , and so neither the common wealth having once delivered away her authority : i answer first that the comparison is not altogether like , for that a privat man though he give his voice to make a pr●nce , yet he being but one maketh not the prince wholly as the common wealth doth , and therefore no marvaile though it lie not in a perticular mans hand to unmake him again , besides this , a privat man having given his voice to make his prince remaineth subject and inferiour to the same , but the whole body though it be governed by the prince as by the head , yet is it not inferiour but superiour to the prince ; neither so giveth the common wealth her authority and power up to any prince , that she depriveth her self utterly of the same , when need shall require to use it for her defence for which she gave it . and finally which is the chiefest reason of all , and the very ground and foundation indeed of all kings authority among christians the power and authority which the prince hath from the common wealth is in very truth not absolute , but potestas vicaria or deligata , that is to say a power deligate , or power by commission from the common wealth , which is given with such restrictions cautels , and conditions yea , wi●h such plaine exceptions , promises and oathes of both parties , ( i meane between the king and common wealth at the day of his admission or coronation ) as if the same be not kept , but willfully broken , on either part , then is the other not bound to observe his promise neither , though never so solemnly made or sworn for that in all bargains , agreements and con●racts , where on part is bound mutually and reciprocally to the other , by oath , vow , or condition , there , if one side go from his promise , the other standeth not obliged to performe his : and this is so notorious by all law , both of nature and nations , and so conform to all reason and equity , that it is put among the very rules of both the civill and cannon law where it is said , frustra a fidem sibi quis postulat servari ab eo , cui sidem a se prestitam servare recusat . he doth in vaine require promise to be kept unto him at an other mans hands to whom he refuseth to performe that which himselfe promised and againe . non abstringitur quis ●uramento ad implendam quod juravit , si ab alia parte non impletur , cujus respectu praebuit juramentum . a man is not bound to performe that which by oath he pr●mised , if on the other part , that be not performed in respect whereof this oath was made : as for example , if two should sweare the one to assist the other upon the way in all respect● , & after falling upon enemies that were either kin or friends to the one of them , & he should take their part against his fellow ; cleer it is , that the other were not bound to keep his oath toward that party that hath so wickedly broken it unto him . nay , not only in this case , that is so evident & palpable by nature it self , but in many other also , it is both lawfull , honest , & convenient , to leave sometimes the performance of our oath ; as namely , when the fulfilling thereof should containe any notable hurt or inconvenience against religion , piety , justice , honesty , or the weal publike , or against the party himself to whom it was made , as if a man had sworn to restore a sword to a mad or furious man , wherewith it were likely he would destroy himself & others , and other like cases , which cicero putteth down in his first book of offices , & deduceth them from the very ground of nature and reason it self , & saith that it were contrary to the duty of a good or honest man , in such cases to perform his promise . our divines do also alledge the example of herod , that had sworn to the daughter of herod as to give her what she demanded , who demanding the head of st. john baptist , mat. 24 though herod were sory for the same ; yet saith the text , that for his oaths sake he commanded it to be performed , which yet no man will deny , but that it had been far better left unperformed & the oath better broken then fulfilled , according to another rule of the law , which saith , in malis promissis fidem non expedit observari , regul . 68. in fine 6. decret . it is not expedient to keep our promise in things evill promised . and finally to this purpose , to wit , to determine how many ways an oath may be lawfully broken or not kept , there is a whole title in the canon law , containing 36 chapters , wherein are set down many & divers most excellent & evident cases about the same , determined by gregory the 1. & other antient popes & doctors ; and in the second part of the decret . there is alledged this sentence out of isidorus , & established for law , in malis promissis rescinde fidem , in turpi voto muta decretum , impia enim promisso quae scelere impletur , that is , in evill promises perform not your word , in an unlawfull vow or oath change your determination , for it is an impious promise which cannot be fulfilled but with wickednesse , and the very same matter is handled in the question following , which is the fist , throughout 23 whole chapters together . so as nothing is more largly handled in our law , both civill & canon , then this matter of promises & oaths how & when & why , & in what cases they hold or bind ▪ and when no● . all which , to apply it now unto our matter of kings , that we have in hand , we are to understand that two evident cases are touched here , as you see , when a subjects oath or promise of obedience may be left unperformed towards his prince : the first when the prince observeth not at all his promise & oath made to the common-wealth , at his admission or coronation , & the other when it should turn to the notable dammage of the weal publike ( for whose only good the princes office was ordained & proved ▪ if the subject should keep & perform his oath & promise made unto his prince . and both these cases are touched in the deprivation of childerike the last k of france , of the first line of pharamond , for that as paulus , em●lus , belforest , g●rard , and other french stories do testifie , em●l . l. 2. hist fran belfor●n vita childe● girard lib 3. the bishop of wirtsburg , that in the name of all the nobility and common-wealth of france , made his speech to zachary the pope for his deposition , and for the election of pepin in his place , alledged these reasons , saying . truth it is , that the french have sworn fidelity unto ch●ldericke , as to their true & naturall king but yet with condition , that he on his part should also performe the points that are incident to his office , which are to defend the common-wealth , protect the church of christ resist the wicked advance the good & the like ; and it he doe this then the f●ench are ready to continue their obedience & allegeance unto him : but if he be apt for none of these things , neither fit , either for a captain in war , or for a head in peace ; and if nothing else may be expected while he is king , but detriment to the state , ignominy to the nation , danger to christ & religion , and destruction to the weal publike , then it is lawfull for you no doubt , most holy father , to deliver the french from this band of their oath , & to testifie that no promise can bind this nation in perticular , to that which may be hurtfull to all christendome ingenerall . thus far that bishop and his speech was allowed , and chelderick deposed , and pepin made king in his place . by this then you see the ground whereon dependeth the righteous and lawfull deposition and chastisement of wicked princes , viz. their fayling in their oath & promises , which they made at their first en●rance , that they would rule and govern justly , according to law , conscience , equity , and religion , wherein when they fayle , or wilfully decline , casting behind them all respect of obligation and duty , to the end for which they were made princes , and advanced in dignity above the rest ; then is the common wealth not only free from all oaths made of obedience or allegeance to such unworthy princes , but is bound moreover for saving the whole body , to resist , chasten , & remove such evill heads if she be able , for otherwise all would come to destruction , ruine , and publike desolation . and here now comes in all those considerations which old phylosophers , law-makers , & such others as have treated of common-wealths , are wont to lay down , of the difference & contrariety between a king & a tyrant , plat. dial . 1 de repub . arist. l. 2. pol. c. 5. for that a king ( as both plato & aristotle doth declare ) when once he declineth from his duty becommeth a tyrant , that is to say , of the best & most soveraign thing upon earth , the worst & most hurtful creature under heaven ; for that as the end & office of a king is to make happy his common-wealth , so the butt of a tyrant is to destroy the same . and finally the whole difference is reduced to the principal head that before i have mentioned , to wit , that a king ruleth according to equity , oath , conscience , justice , & law prescribed unto him ; & the other is enemy to all these conditions , there is a speciall book set forth of this matter , by one bartolus , father of civil law , where the matter is handled largly , as also how lawfull & commendable it is to resist any tyrant . he concludeth with cicero in his books de legibus , where he saith , ut populo magistratus ita magistratut presunt leges , cicero l. 3. dt legibus . a good prince or magistrate make●h his accompt , that as he is over the people , so laws are over him , and a tyrant the contrary . and greatly is commended the saying of theodosius & valentiman , two worthy emperors , recorded in our civil law , who said , digna vox est majestate regnantis , legibus se allegatum fateri . it is a speech worthy the majesty of him that reigneth , to confes that he is bound unto the laws , & the contrary , saying of the tyrant cajus caligna , is justly detested by all writers , who said unto one , as suetonus reporteth , memento mihi omnia & in omnes licere , remember that all things are lawful unto me & against all men without exception . the saying also of the famous emperor trajan deserveth immortal memory & commendation who when he delivered the sword to a pretor or governor of rome to do justice he added these words , take this sword , & if i do reign justly , use it for me , and if not , then use it against me , which in effect & substance , are the very same words , which our christian princes at this day do use at their entrance and coronations , when they promise & swear to rule justly ; & according to the laws , statutes , & ordinances of their country , & upon that condition do take the oathes of their subjects obedience , protesting there withal● , that if they perform not this , that then their subjects are free as before from all alegeance and then may the common wealth as also the very officers themselves of such a kiug use their sword against him , who gave it to them , for the publique good if need so ●equire , as trajan commanded . concerning oathes and promises made by princes at their first admission to government , for as much as not nature , but the election and consent of the people , had made their first princes from the beginniug of the world most certaine it appeared , and conforme to all reason that they were not preferred to this eminent power and dignity over others , without some condi●ions and promises made also on their parts , for using well t●is supreme authority given unto them : seeing it is not likely that any people would ever yeetd to put their lives , goodes and liberties in the hands of an other , without some promise and assurance of justice and equity to be us●d towards them , and hereof came to passe , that both the romans and grecians to their ancient kings prescribed laws and limites . and in every common wealth the more orderly the prince commeth to his crown , and dignity , the more expresse and certain have been ever these conditions and agreements between him and the p●●ple , as one the other side the more violeutly the prince getteth his authority or by tyranny and disorder , as those ancient and first tyrants of assiria to wit nem●ed belus and the like ▪ that by meere force and guile got rule over others , and the old king of egypt , and babilon , and those of the roman emperours that by violence of souldiers only got ●nto the royall seat , and all such as at this day do get by force to raine among to● the tur●es , among these ( i say ) it is no marvaile , though few conditions of just dealing may be expected , though i doubt not but get to their followers and advancers , these men also do ma●e large promises of good government , as the beginoing as all ambitions men are wont to do , though with little intention of performance . but in all good and well ordered common wealths where matters passe by reason , conscience wisdome and consultation , and especially since christian religion hath prevailed , and given perfection to that naturall light which morrall good men had b●fore in matters of government● since that time i say this ●oint of mutuall and reciprocall oathes between princes and subjects at the day of their coronation or admission ( for all are not crowned ) bave beene much more est●blished , made clear and put in vre . and this form of agreement and convention , between the commou wealth and their chtistian head or king , hath beene reduced to a most sacred and religious kind of union and concord then before for that the whole action hath b●eu●don by bishops and ecclesiasticall prelats , and the astipulation and promises made on both sides , have passed and beene given receaved and regestred with great reverence in sacred places , and with great solemnity of religious ceremonies , which before were not so much used , though all waies there were some . and therfore our examples at this time shall be only of christian common wealths , for that they are more peculiarly to our purpose . fir●● then to begin with the east or greeke emperours of constantinople as the most ancient among other , for that after the empire once translated from roome to constantinople , by our constontine the great and the first christian emperour that ever did publiquely shew himselfe for such , these greeke emperours were the most eminent princes of all christianity among whom i do find that albeit their ther comming to the crown were nothing so orderly for them pu● as at this day it is used , but many times the meanes thereof were turbulent and sedi●ious , yet find i ( as i say ) that above a thousand yeares one , they were wont to have anoth exacted at their hand , by rh●● pa●riark of constantinople , who was the chiefe prelate , for thus writeth zon●ras of the c●ronation of a●asta●ius the first , that succeeded zeno , obout the veare of 〈◊〉 5 4 amequam coronaretur , fidei confessionam script●m , quae ollic c●retur , se in dogmatibus ecclesiastic 〈◊〉 esse novatu u●● , ab eo exegi● patrlar● 〈…〉 vir sanctus & orthodoxus he 〈…〉 being a help and catholique mae●●equired of anast●tius ●l●cted emperour , before he was crowned a cou●●sion 〈…〉 should pro●ise to change or innovate nothing in matt●rs perteining t● the doctrine of the 〈◊〉 and the same ha●e nicepb●● 〈◊〉 and ot●ers . and not onely this but divers other conditions also doth the same author insinuate that this anaas●tius promised at his coronat on before he could be crowned , as among other things , the taking away of certaine tributes and impositions , the giving of offices without money and other like points , apperteining to reformation and good government . which he performed for a ti●e in the beginning of his government , but after fel● into the heresies of the eutichians , and banished this same good patriarch euphemius , that had crowned him , and he thrived thereafter for that he was slain by a thunder bot● from ●eaven , after he had reigned 27. yeares , and was accompted for a very wicked man , by all writers , for that he had broken ( as they said ) the conditions quas gravi juramento scriptis ●elato confirmasset . that is to say the conditions which he had avowed and confirmed with a grave oath . ●he like i read about 300. years after , recorded by the same author of the emperour michaell the first in these words . the grecian emperours oath , michaell ubi dilaxit magnam ecclesiam ingressus , a patriarcha nicephoro imperatorio diademate est ornatus post silato scripto , quo promilleret , se nulla eccleisa instituta violatu●um neque christianorum sanguine manus contaminaturum . zon. to● 3. in vita mich. an. 820. ●hich is michell new chosen emperour , came early in ●he morning into the great church of constantinople , and was crowned there with the emperial crown by the hands of nicephorus the patriarch , but yet so , as he was first required to swear and promise by writing , that he would never violate the ordinances of the church ▪ nor contaminat is hands with christian bloud , which in effect , is as much to say ▪ as that he should reign godly & justly & many other such examples might be alledged , but by this it is easie to see , what was the fashion of admitting & crowning those grecian emperours by their patriarks , in the name of all the common-wealth , which common-wel●h was not satisfied with an oath , except also it were set down in writi●g ▪ and if we passe to the latine & vvest empire which about this very time was restored by zachary the pope , & by the whole common-welth of rome & was given to cha●les the great & his posterity , we shall find that this point is more setled & more inviolably kept vet in this empire then in the other , for albeit , that this empire 〈◊〉 west went by succession for the most part at the begining , untill afterwards it was appointed by pope gregory the 5. to passe by the election of certaine princes in germany , that now enjoy that priviledge to be electors , yet shal we see alwayes , that they even before this constitution , when this dignity went by succession , were never admi●ted to the same , without this circumstance of swearing to conditions of righteous government : the forme & manner o which admission , for that i find it set down more perfectly , & perticulerly in the coronation of o●ho the i , then of any other emperor , & that by many authors , & that this otho was son & heyr unto the famous emperor of hen. 1. of that name , duke of saxony , surnamed the faulkner for the great delight ●e had in the flight of faulcons , saxo gram. l. 10. cranzio l. 3. metro c 12. for these causes i mean to begin with the coronation of this man before any other this otho then son to h. ● : though being his heir , & so named by h. himself to the inheritance of the said r●●wn of germany : yet was he not admitted thereunto untill he had made his oath & received his new approbation by the people , for so the story saith , that the archbishop of moguntia ( the chief prunate of all germany bringing him to the alter where he must swear , said these words unto the people : behold i bring you here otho , chosen by god , & appointed ou● by his father henry our lord , & now made king by all the princes of this empire , if this election please you , do you signifie the same by ho●●din● up your hands to heaven , whitich ndus gest . saxon lib. 1. and the● upon the said archbishop turned about to the alter , where lay all the ornaments & ensigns of the empire , as the sword with the girdle , the cloke with the bracelets , th● staf with the scepter , & diadem , every one whereo● the archbishop out up ●n the emperor , telling him the signification of every thing , what it did bind him un●o : as for example when he put the sword about him he said , accipe hunc gladium quo ejicias omnes christi adversari●s & ma●os christianos , authoritate divino per episcopos tibi tradita , w●t●chin . l. 2 , which is , take unto thee this sword wh●reby thou mayst cast out & drive away all the enemies of christ , whether they be barbarous infidels , or evill christians , & this by the authority of god delivered unto thee by us , and thus he ●id with all other ornaments & ensigns , telling the signification & obligation of every one , & taking the emperours promise to perform all . and after al , rex persusus olco sancto , co●onatur diademate aureo , ab episcopis , & ab eisdem ad soticitur & in eo colocatur . the king being annointed with holy oyle was crowned by the bishops , and by the same was brought to the royall seat and therein placed . this happened about the year of christ 940. and the ceremony is recounted in ore amply in this mans coronation , then in any other , both for that he was a very noble prince , and the very first of the germain nation , that was lawfully , and orderly preferred to the imperiall feat , after that it passed from the children of charles the great , and there be divers points worthy the noting in this example , and among other that albeit he were lawful king and emperour by succession , as also by appointment of his father : yet was he chosen and admitted againe by the princes and people , and that he swore to fulfill all those points and conditions , which the signification of the emperial ornaments did bind him unto . after this , about 60 yeares or more , pope gregory the 5. in a synod holden in rome , did by the consent of otho the 3. emp●ror & nephew unto this other oth● , appoint a certain form of election for the time to come of the german emperour that he should be chosen by six princes of germany , three eclesiasticall which are the arch-bishops of moguntia , colen , and trevires , and three temporall lords . blend . decad . 2 li. 3 crant . l. 4. cap. 25. duke of saxony , the county palatine of rhene , and the marques of brandeburg and when these 6 voices should happen to be equally devided , then that the duke of bohemia ( for then it was no kingdom ) should have place also to determin the election . all which was determined in the y●are of christ 996. in rome , and approved afterward by all the princes of germany , and allowed by all other christian princes , and states of the world , and so endureth unto this day . and among all other points , of this his coronation and his oath to be taken for his well government , was and is most exactly set downe , and recorded by many historiographers of that time , and since : but i shall alleadge them only out of iohn sleydan , as the most convenient authour for this our time and purpose . sleyd . l. 1. histor . an. 1519. first of all , after any man is chosen emperor , he is to be called only cesar and the king of the romans , and not emperour , untill he be crowned , and the conditions which he sweareth unto presently after his election , are to defend the christian and catholique religion , to defend the pope and church of rome , whose advocate he is , to minister iustice equally to all , to follow p●ace , to keepe and observe all lawes rights and priviledges of the empy●e , not to alienat or engage the possessions of the empyre , to condemn no man without hearing his cause , but to suffer the course of law to have his place , in all and whatsoever he shall doe otherwise , that it be void and of no validitie at all . vnto all these articles , he sweareth first by his legates , and then he giveth a copy of his oath in writing to every one of the six electors , and after this he goeth to the city of aquis-gran to be crowned in the great church , where about the middle of the masse , the arch bishop of colen goeth unto him in the presence of all the people , and asketh , whether he be ready to sweare and promise to observe the catholick religion , defend the church , minister , iustice , protect the widdows and fatherlesse , and yeald dutifull honour and obedience to the pope of rome , whereunto he answering that he is ready to do all this , the arch-bishop leadeth him to the high alter where he sweareth in expresse words , all these articles , which being done , the said arch-bishop turning himselfe to the princes of the empyre , and people there present , doth aske them , whether they be content to swear obedience and fealty unto him , who answering yea , he is annointed by the said arch-bishop before the alter , and then do come the other two arch-bishops of moguntia and treveris , and do lead him into the vestery , where certain deacons are ready to apparrel him in his robes , and do set him in a chayre , upon whom the arch-bishop of colen saith certain prayers , and then delivereth him a sword drawn , and putteth a ring upon his finger , and giveth him a scepter in his hand , and then all the three arch-bishops together , do put on the crown upon his head , and leading him so crowned and appareled u●to the high alter again ; he sweareth the second time , that he will do the part of a good christian and catholick emperor . which being ended , he is brought back and placed in the emperiall seat and throne , where all the princes of the empyre do sweare obedience and faith unto him , begining with the three arch-bishops , and continuing on with the three other electors , and so all the rest in order which is a notable and magesticall manner of admitting and authorizing of a prince as you see , and it is to be marked among other things , that the emperour sweareth three times , once by his depu●ies , & twice by himselfe , before his subjects sweare once unto him . and yet will malignants needs have subjects only bound to their princes , and the prince nothing at all bound to them againe . in polonia , which being first a dukedom was made a kingdom , about the same time that this forme of electing of the german emperour was prescribed ; the manner of coronation of their kings , is in substance the very same , that we have declared to be of the emperour . for first of all , the arch-bishop of gnesua metropolitan of all polonia , cometh to the king standing before the high alter and saith unto him these words . whereas you are right noble prince to receive at our hands this day who are ( though unworthily ) in place of christ for execution of this function , the sacred annointing nnd other ceremonies , ensignes , and ornaments appertaining to the kings of this land ; it shall be well that we admonish you in a few words , what the charge importeth which you are to take upon you , &c. alex gua guinterum polon . tom. 1. & oricho in chimer . fol. 9. and 106. thus he begineth ▪ and after this , he declareth unto him for what end he is made king , what the obligation of that place and dignity bindeth him unto , and unto what points he must sweare , what do signifie the sword , the ring , the sceptor , and the crown that he is to receive , and at the delivery of each of these things he maketh both a short exhortation unto him , and prayer unto god for him . and the kings oath in these words . promi●o coram deo & angelis ejus , i do promise and swea●e before god and his an●els , that i will do law and justice to all , and keepe the peace of christ his church , and the union of his catholick faith , and will do and cause to be done , du● and canonic●ll honour unto the bishops of ●his land , and to the rest of the clergy , and if ( which god forbid ) i should break my oath , i am content that the inhabitants of this kingdom , shall owe no duty or obedience unto me as god shall help me and gods holy gospels . bodin derep . l. 2. c. 9. after this oath made by the king , and received by the subjects , the lord martiall generall of the whole kingdom , doth aske with a loud voice of all the councellors , nobility , and people there present , whether they be content to submit themselves unto this king , or no , who answering yea : the arch bishop doth end the residue of the ceremonies , & doth place him in the royal throne , where all his subjects do homage unto him , and this for polonia . in spayne i do find , that the manner of admitting their kings was different , and not the same before and after the distruction thereof by the moores ; bu● yet that in both times their kings did swear in effect the self-same points which before have been mentioned in other kingdoms . for first , before the entring of the moores when spayne remained yet one generall monarchie , under the gothes , it is recorded in the four●h nationall councel of toled● , which was holden the year of our lord , 633. according to ambrosio morales , the most learned and diligent historiographer of spayne . amb. morales li. 11. c. 17. hist . hisp . praefat , ejusdem concilij . ( though others do appoint it some few years after ) in this councel ( i say ) it is said , that their new king s●ssinandus ( who had expelled suintila their former king for his evill government . ) this king sissinandus , i say coming into the said councel in the third yeare of his reigne ac●ompanied with a most magnificient number of nobles , that waited on him , did fall down prostrate upon the ground , before the arch-bishops , and bishops there gathered together , which were 70. in number , and desired them with teares to pray for him , and to determine in that councel , that which should be needfull and most convenient both for maintaining of gods religion , and also for upholding and prospering the whole common-wealth : whereupon those fathers after matters of religion and reformation of manners , which they handled in 73. chapters . in the end and last chapter , they come to handle matters of estate also . concil . tol. 4. c. 74. and first of all they do confirme the deposition of king suintila together with his wife , brother , and children , and all for his great wickednesse , which in the councel is recounted , and they do deprive them not onely of a little to the crown ; but also of all other goods , & possessions , moveables and immoveables , saving only that which the new kings mercy should bestow upon them , and in this councel was present and subscribed first of all others , ●sidorus arch-bishop of siuil , who writing his history of spayne dedicated the same unto this king sissinandus , ambros . maral . l. 11. cap. 17. and speaketh infinite good in the same , of the vertues of king suintila , that was now deposed and condemned in this said councel ; whereby it is to be presumed , that he had changed much his life afterward , & became so wicked a man , as here is reported . after this , the councel confirmeth the title of sissinandus , and maketh decrees for the defence thereof ; but yet insinuateth what points he was bound unto , and whereunto he had sworn when they said unto him , to quoque p●●aesentem 〈◊〉 ac juturos aelatum sequentium principes , &c. we do require you , that are our present king , and all other our princes that shall follow hereafter with the humility which is convenient , that you be meeke and moderate towards your subjects , and that you govern your people in justice and piety , and that none of you do give sentence alone against any man in cause of life and death ; but with the consent of your publike councell , and with those that be governours in matters of judgement . and against all kings that are to come , we do promulgate this sentence , that if any of them shall against the rever●nce of our lawes , exercise cruel authority with proud domination , and kingly pompe , only following their own concupiscence in wickednes , that they are condemned by christ with the sentence of excommunication , and have their separation both from him and us to everlasting judgement . but in the next two yeares after the end of this councel , king sissinandus being now dead and one chintilla made king in his place , there were other two councels gathered in toled● , the first whereof was but provinciall , and the second nationall , and they are named by the names of the fifth and sixt councels of toledo . ambros . moral . l. 11. cap. 23. & 24. in the which councells , according to the manner of the gothes ( who being once converted , from the arrian haere●ie , were very catholick and devout ever after , and governed themselves most , by their clergy ) and not only matters of religion were handled ; but also of state and of the common wealth , concil . 5. cap. 2 , 3 , 4. 5. & conc . 6. cap. 16. 17 , 18. especially about the succession to the crown , safety of the prince , provision for his children , friends , officers , and favorites after his death , and against such as without election or approbation of the common-wealth , did aspire to the same , all these points i say were determined in these councels and among other points a very s●vere decre● was made in the sixt councel , conc●rning the kings oath at his admission in these words . consonan une corde & ore promulgamus deo placituram sententiam . coucil . td. 6. c. 3. we do promulgate with one heart and mouth this sentence agreeable and pleasing unto god , and do decree the same with the consent and deliberation of the nobles and peeres of this realme , that whosoever in time to come shall be advanced to the honor and preferment of this kingdom , he shall not be placed in the royall seat , untill among other conditions he hath promised by the sacrament of an oath , that he will suffer no man to break the catholick faith , &c. by which words especially ( among other conditions ) is made evident , that those princes sweare not only to keepe the faith ; but also such other conditions of good government as were touched before in the fourth councel , and these things were determined while their king chintill● was present in tolledo , as ambrosio morales ●oteth . ambros . moral . lib. 1. cap. 23. the distruction of spayne . before the entrance of the moores , and before the dividing thereof into many kingdoms , which happened about ● hundreth yeares after this , to wit in the year of our saviour 713. and 714. but after the moores had gayned all spayne , and divided it between them , into divers kingdoms . ambros . moral . li. 13. c. 1. & 2 de la chron. de esp● yet god provided that within foure or five yeares the christians that were left and fled to the mountaines of asturias & biscay ▪ found a certain young prince named don pelayo of the ancient blood of the gotish kings , who was also fled thither , and miraculously saved from the enemies , whom they chose straight wayes to be their king , and he began presently the recovery of spayne , and was called first king of asturias , and afterward of leon , and after his successors got to be kings also of castilia , and then of toledo and then of aragon , barcelona , valentia , murcia , cartagena , 〈◊〉 , cortuba , granado , siuil , portugall , and nauarra , all which were different kingdoms at that time , so made by the moores . and all these kingdoms were gained againe , by little and little , in more then 700. yeares space , which were lost in lesse then two years , and they never came again indeed into one monarchy , as they were under don rod●igo their last king that lost the whole , untill the yeare of our lord 158● . when don philippe king of spayne re-united again unto that crown , the kingdom of portugall which was the last peece , that remayned seperated , and this was almost 900. yeares after spayne was first lost . but now to our purpose , the chronicler of spain , named ambrosio morales doth record in his chronicle a certain law , written in the gotish-tongue , & left since the time of this don pelay● the first king , after the universal distruction of spain , & the title of the law is this como se an delevantar reyen espùa , y como el ha de lurar los fueros , ambros . moral . l. 13. c. 2. that is to say , how men must make their king in spain , and now he must swear to the priviledges and liberties of that nation : & then he putteth the articles of the law , whereof the first saith thus . before all things it is establish●d for a law , liberty , and priviledge of spayne , that the king is to be placed by voices and consent perpetually , and this to the intent that no evill king may enter without consent of the people seeing they are to give to him , that which with their blood and labours they have gained of the moores lucas episcop . tuyens . in histor . hispan , loudou , de molin . lib. de hered . thus far goeth this first article , which is the more to be marked , for that divers and those most ancient spanish authors do say , that from this don pelayo , the succession of kings descended ever by propinquity of blood , and yet we see that election was ioyned there withall in expresse termes . the second part of the law containeth the manner of ceremonies used in those old dayes at the admission of their kings , which is expressed in these words , let the king be chosen aud admitted in the metropolitan city of this kingdome , or at least wise in some cathedrall church , and the night before he is exalted , let him watch all night in the church , and the next day let him here masse , & let him offer at masse a peece of scarlet , and some of his own money , and after let him communicate , and when they come to lift him up let him step upon a buckler or target and let the cheife and principall men there present hold the target , & so lifting him up let them & the people cry three times , as hard as they can , real , real , real . then let the king command some of his own money , to be cast among the people , to the quantitie of the hundr●d shillings , and to the end be may give all men to understand , that no man now is above him , let himselfe tye on his own sword in the form of a crosse , and let no knight or other man , beare a sword that day , but only the king. this was the ould fashion of making kings in spain , which in effect and substance remaineth still , though the manner thereof be somewhat altered , for that the spanish kings be not crowned , but have an other ceremony for their admission equall to coronation , which is performed by the arch-bishop of toled primat of all spain , as the other coronations before mentioned are by the arch-bishop of moguntia to the emperour , and by the arch-bishop of guesna to the king of polonia , and by the arch-bishop praga to the king of bohemia , and by the arch-bishop of praga to the king of portuga as was by the arch-bishop of canterbury to the king of england , and by the arch-bishop rhemes to the king of fraunce , of which realme of france we may not omit to say somewhat in particular , seeing it is so goodly a kingdome , and so neere to england , not only in cituation , but also in lawes manners and customes , and as the race of english kings have come from them in diverse manners , since the conquest , so may it be also supposed that the principall ceremonies and circumstances of this action of coronation , hath beene received in like manner from them . first then touching the act of cornation , and admission of the king of france , even as before i have said of spayne , so also in this kingdom do i find two manners of that action , the one more ancient which the french doe say hath indured in substance from their first christian king named clodoueus , unto this day , which is nigh twelve hundred yeares , for that clodouius was christened the yeare of our lord , 490. in the city of rhems by remigius , bishop of that city , and annointed also , and crowned king by the same bishop , which manner and order of anoynting , and coronation endured after for about six , hundred yeares , unto the time of henry the first , and king phillip the first his sonne , both kings of france . at what time ( which is about 500. yeares a gone ) both the chroniclers , and cosmographers of france do testifie , that there was a peculier booke in the library of the church of beuais , conteining the particuler order of this action belfor . l. 3. c. 20. thevet . cosmograph . univers . l. 15. c. 2. papir . masson . annal . l 3. pag 2. 15. which had endured from clodo●eus unto that time . which order , for so much as toucheth the solemnite of officers in the coronation and other like circumstances , was far different at that time , from that which is now , for that in those dayes there were no peers of france , appointed to assist the same coronation , which now are the chiefe , and the greatest part of that solemnitie . yea girard du hailan secretarie of france in his third booke of the affaires , and state of that kingdom sayth , that the ceremonies of crowning their ould kings were much after the fashon which i noted a little before , out of the law of dan pelay● first king of spaine , after the moores , for that they were lifted up and carried about upon a target by the chiefe subjects there present as the spaniards were . but as touching the principal point of that action which is the substance of admitting the king unto his royal authority , and oath by him made o● governing well and justly , and of the reciprocall oath of obedience made to him againe by his subjects , it was not much different from that which now is , as shall appeare by the coronation of the foresaid phillip the first , who was crowned in the life and presence of his father , king henry , after the fashion then used in the yeare of christ , 1059. and it was in manner following as nangis , and tillet , both authours of great authoritie among the french , do recount it , and francies belforest , out of them both repeateth the same at large , in these words following . francis belfor . hist . fran. lib. 3. c , 20. in vita philip 1. king henry the first of this name , seeing himselfe very ould and feeble , made an assembly of all the states of france in the city of paris , in the yeare of christ 1059. where bringing in his young sonne , and heire phil●p that was but 9. yeares of age , before them all , he said as followeth . the speach of the father . hetherto my deare freinds , and subjects , i have bin the head of your nobility and men at armes , but now by mine age and disposition of body , i doe well-perceive , that ere it be long i must be seperated from you● and therefore i d●sire you that if ever you have loved me , you shew it now in giving your consent and approbation that this my sonne may be admitted for your king , and apparaled with the royall ornaments of this crowne of france and that you will sweare fealtie unto him , and do him homage . thus said the king , and then having asked every one of the assistance in particuler for his consent apart and afterwards the whole assembly ingenerall , whether they would swear obedience to him or no , and finding all to promise with a good will he passed over the feast of the assention with great ioy in paris , and after went to rhemes with all the court and tryan , to celebrate the coronation upon the feast of whitsunday . thus far are the words of william de nangis alleadged in the story of france by balforest , and it is to be noted first how the king did r●quest the nobility and people to admit his sonne , and secondly how ●e did aske there consents , a part , for that these two points do evedently confirm that ▪ which i said at the begining , that only succession is not sufficient , but that coronation ever requireth a new consent , which also includeth a certain election or new approbation of the subjects . this is proved also most manifestly by the very order of coronation which ensueth in belforest , taken word for word out of tillet , in his treatise of recordes , in the chapter of ●nnointing the kings of france in these words . in the yeare of grace 1059. and 32. of the reign of king henry the first of this name of france , and in the 4● yeare of the seat and bishoprick of geruays , arch-bishop of rhemes , and in the 23 day of may being whitsunday , king philip the first was anointed by the said arch-bishop geruays in the great church of rhemes , before the alter of our lady , with the order and ceremony that ensueth . the masse being b●gun , when it came to the reading of the epistle , the said lord arch bishop turning about to philip the prince , that was there present , declared unto him what was the catholick faith , and asked him whether he did believe it , and whether he would defend it against all persons whatsoever , who affirming that he would , his oath was brought unto him ; whereunto he must sweare , which he took and read with a loud voice , and signed it with his own hand , and the words of the oath were these . i● phillippe parle grace de lieu prochain d●estre ordounè roy de france , promets au jour de mon sacrè devant dieu & ses sanctes , &c. that is in english , ( for i will not repeate all the oath in french , seeing it is somwhat long ) the oath of the king of france . i philip by the grace of god , neere to be ordained king of france , do promise in this day of my annointing , before almighty god , and all his saints , that i will conserve unto you that are ecclesiasticall prelates , all canonicall priviledges , and all law and iustice due unto every one of y●u , and i will defend you by the helpe of god so much as shall lye in my power , and as every king ought to do , and as by right and equity he is bound to defend every bishop and church to him committed within his realme ; and furthermore i shall administer justice unto all people given me in charge , and shall preserve unto them the defence of lawes and eqnity appertaining unto them , so far forth as shall lye in my authority , so god shall helpe me and his holy evangel●sts . this oath was read by the king , holding his handes between the hands of the arch-bishop of rhemes , and the bishop of syon and bisanson , legats of the pope standing by with a very great number of other bishops of the realme , and the said arc-bishop taking the crosse of rimigius in his hands , he shewed first unto all the audience , the anc●ent authority which the archbishops of rhems had even from the time of remigius that baptized there first christian king clodoveus , to annoint and crown the kings of france , which he said was confirmed unto them by priviledge of the pope hotmisday that lived in the yeare of christ 516. belfor . l. 3. cap. 20. and after also by pope victor , and this being done , he then ( by licence first asked of king henry the father there present ) did chuse philip for king. il esleut le dit philippe son sils , en , & pour roy de france , which is word for word , the arch-bishop chose the said philip king henries sonne , in and for king of france ; which the legates of the pope presently confirmed , and all the bishops , abbots , and clergy , with the nobility and people in their order , did the like ; crying out three times in these words . nous le apprououns , nous le v●ulons , soit fait nostre roy , that is , we approve his election , we will have him , let him be made our king , and presently was song , te deum laudamus in the quyar , and the rest of the ceremonies of annointing and coronation were done , according to the ancient order of this solemnity , used in the time of king philips predecessors kings of france . thus far do french stories recount the old and ancient manner of annointing and crowning their kings of france , which had endured as i have said , for almost 600. yeares , that is to say , from clodoueus unto king philip the first , who was crowned in france 7. yeares before our william conqueror ( who also was present at this coronation , and had the third place among the temporall princes as duke of normandy ) entred into england ; but after this time the manner and ceremonies was somwhat altered , and made more majesticall in outward show , and this especially by king lewis surnamed the young , nephew to the foresaid king philip , who leaving the substance of the action as it was before , caused divers externall additions of honour , and majesty , to be adjoyned thereunto especially for the coronation of his sonne phillip the second surnamed augustus , whom he caused , also to be crowned in his dayes , as his grand-father phillip had been , and as himselfe had been also in his fathers dayes . this man among other royal ceremonies ord●ined the offices of the twelve peers , of fraunce , 6 ecclesiasticall , and 6. temporall , who are they which ever since have had the cheifest places and offices in this great action , for that the foresaid arch-bishop of rhemes intituled also duke of rhemes , hath the first and highest place of all others , and 〈…〉 king. the bishop and duke of laon beareth the gl●sse of sacred 〈…〉 and duke of langres the crosse : the bishop and earl of 〈…〉 , the bishop and earle of noyon the kings girdle , and last of all , the bisho● and 〈◊〉 of chalons , doth carry the ring , and these are the 6 acclesiasticall peites of france with their offices in the coronation . the temporall peers are the duke of burgundie , deane of the order , who in this day of coronation holdeth the crowne the duke of gasconi● and guyene the first banner quartered , the duke of normandie , the second banner quartered , the earl of tholofa the golden spurres , the earl of champanie , the banner royall or standard of warr , and the earl of flanders the sword royall , so as there are 3 dukes and 3. earles one of both rankes of spirituall and temporall lords , and as gidard noteth the king is apparraled on this day 3 times , and in 3 , severall sortes , the first as a priest , the second as a king , warrier , the third as a judge , girard du haillan li. 3. de pestat . page 240. 242. and 258. and finally he saith , that this solemnitie of annointing and crowning the king of france , is the most magnificent , gorgious & majesticall thing that may be seen in the world , for which he referreth us not only to the particuler coronations of these two ancient king philips , the first and second , but also to the coronation of henry the second . but to say a word or two more of phillip augustus before i passe any further which happened in the year 1179. and in the 25. of the reigne of our king henry the 2. of england , who as the french stories say was present also at this coronation , and had his ranke among the peeres as duke of normandy , and held the kings crown in his hand , and one of his sonnes had his ranke also a duke of gasconie , and the form used in this coronation was the very same which is used at this day in the admission of the kings of france , in recounting whereof i will let passe al the particular ceremonies which are largely to be read in francis belforest , in the place before mentioned , and i will repaire onely the kings oath , which the said author recounteth in these words . the arch-bishop of rhemes being vested in his pontificall attire , and come to the alter to begin masse ( where the king also was upon a high seat placed ) he turned to him and said these words in th● name of all the cleargie and churches of france : sir , that which we require at your handes this day , is that you promise unto us that you will keep all canonicall priviledges law and justice , due to be kept and d●fend●d as a good king is bound to do in his realme , and to every bishop and church to him committed whereunto the king answered . i do promise and avow to every one of you and to every church to you committed , that i will keep and maintaine all canonicall priviledges law and justice due to every man to the uttermost of my power , and by gods helpe shall defend you as a good king is bound to doe ; in his realme . this being done the king did sweare and make his oath , laying his handes upon the gospell in these words following . au●nom de iesus christ , ie jure & promots aw peuple christi●n a may suject cos thoses , &c. which is in english : in the name of jesus christ i do sweare and promise to all christian people subject unto me these poiuts ensuing first to procure that all my subjects be kept in the union of the church , and i will defend them from all excesse , rapin extortion , and iniquitie , secondly i will take order that in all iudgments justice shall be kept , with equity and mercy , to the end that god of his mercy may conserve unto me with my people his holy grace and mercy . 3. i shall endeavour as much as possibly shall lie in me , to chuse and drive out all my realm and all my dominions , all such as the church hath or shall declare for heriticks as god shall help me and his holy gospells . thus sweareth the king , and then kisseth the gospells , and immediately is sung . te deum laudamus , and after that are said many particular prayers by the arch-bishop , and then is the king vested , and the ring , scepter crown and other kingly ornaments and ensignes are brought and put upon him , with declaration first what they signifie , and then particuler prayers are made to god , that their signification may be by the king fulfilled . and after all ended the arch-bishop with the bishops do blesse him , and say these words unto him . god which reigneth in heaven , and governeth all kingdoms blesse you , &c. be you stable and constant , and hold your place and right , from henceforth which here is committed and layd upon you by the authority of almighty god , and by this present tradition and delivery which we the bishops and other servants of god do make unto you of the same , and remember you in place convenient , to bear so much more respect and reverence unto the clergy , by how much nearer then other men you have seene them to approach to gods alter , to the end that jesus christ mediatour of god and man , may confirme & maintaine you by the clergy and people , in this your royall seat and throne ; who being lord of lords , and king of kings , make you raigne with him and his father , in the life and glory everlasting . thus saith the arch-bishop unto him , and after this he is led by him and the other peeres , unto the seat royall , where the crown is put upon his head , and many other large ceremonies used , which may be read in the author aforesaid , and are to long for this place . and yet have i bin the larger in this matter of france ; for that i do not think it to be improbable , which this author and others do note , to wit , that most nations round about have taken their particuler formes of anointing and crowning their kings , from this ancient custome of france , though the substance thereof , i meane of their sacring and anointing , be deduced from examples of far more antiquity , to wit , from the very first kings among the people of israel . 1. reg. 10. & 16. 2. reg. 2. whom god caused to be anointed by his priests and prophets , in token of his election , and as a singuler priviledge of honour and preheminence unto them whereof king david made so great accompt when he said to the souldier that had kissed saul his enemy in the war. 2. reg. 1. quaere non to ●uisti mittere manum tuam in christum domini , why diddest thou not feare to lay thy hands upon the anointed of god , and he put him to death for it notwithstanding saul had been long before deposed , and rejected by god , and that himselfe had lawfully borne armes against him for many dayes , so much was that ceremony of anointing estemed in those daies and so hath it been ever since among christian people also , for that kings hereby are made sacred , and doe not only participate with priests , but also with christ himselfe who hath his name of this circumstance of anointing as all the world knoweth . probable then i say it is , that albeit the substance of this ceremony of anointing king be much elder then the christian kingdom of france : yet is this particuler rule and maiesticall manner of doing the same by way of coronation , the most ancient in frauce aboue all other kingdomes round about , especially if it began with their first christian king clodovious not full 500. yeares after christ , as french authors doe hold . at what time also they recount a great miracle of holy oyle sent from heaven by an angell for anointing clodou●us , whereof they say they have still remaining for the anointing of their kings at rhemes , which point i will not stand to treat or discourse in this place , but rather will referr my reader to the foresaid chapter of francis belforest chronicler of france , belfo. l. 3. cap. 17. who alleadgeth divers writers of almost 500. year antiquitie that write of the same , but howsoever that be , very propable it seemeth that all the ceremonies of coronation in germany and polonia before receited ( which had their begining long after the reigne of clodoneus ) might be taken from thence , & so the affinity & likenesse of one to the other doth seeme to agree , and garibay also the chronicler of spaine , and nauarra , in his 22. booke estevan , garribay . lib. 22. c. 1. talking of this custome of annointing and crowning the kings of nauarra , saith , that this excellent custome began there ( i meane in nauara ) about 800. yeares past and was brought in by certain earls of champain of france named theobaldes who comming to attaine that crowne brought with them that reverent ceremony of anointing and crowning their kings , according to the use of the french , which custome endureth untill this day in that part of navarra that is , under the house of vandome , albeit in the other that is under the spaniards ( which is firr the greater it was left of in the year 1513. when fardinande surnamed the cathol que king of spaine entred thereupon , for the spanish kings are never anointed nor crowned but otherwise admitted by the common wealth . but among all other kingdomes it seemeth that england hath most particularly taken this custome , & ceremony from france , not only for the reason before alleadged that diverse of our english kings have come out of france , as william corquerour borne in normands , king steven soune to the earl of blois , and bolen , a french man , and king henry the second born likewise in france , and sonne to the earl of a●iou : but also for that in very deede the thing it selfe is all one in both nations , and albeit i have not seen any particuler book of this action in england , as in french there is : yet it is easie to gather by stories what is used in england about this affaire . for first of all , that the arch-bishop of ca●terbury did ordinarily doe this ceremony in england , as the arch-bishop of rhemes doth it in france , there is no doubt , and with the same solemnity and honour , according to the condition and state of our countrey and polidor virgill in his story polid. ib. 13 hist angile in vita henrici . noteth that pope alexander did interdict and suspend the arch-bishop of yorke with his two assistants the bishops of london and salisbury , for that in the absence of thomas becket arch-bishop of canterbury , and without his licence , they did crown king henry the seconds sonne , named also henry , at his fathers perswasion , and divers do attribute the unfortunate successe of the said king henry the younger that rebelled against his father , to this disorderly and violent coronation by his fathers appointment . secondly , that the first thing which the said arch-bishop requireth at the new kings hands at his coronation , is about religion , church matters and the clergie ( as in france we have seen ) it appeareth evedently by these words which the same arch-bishop thomas ( surnamed commonly the martyr ) remaining in banishment wrote to the same king henry the second which are these . memores sitis confessionis quam fecitis & posuistis super altare apud westmonasteriam de servanda ecclesiae liberiate , quando consecrati fuistis , & uncti in regem a pradecessore nostro thebaldo . invita d. thom. cantuar. apud surium in mense decembris . which is , do you call to your remembrance , the confession , which you made and laid upon the alter at westminster , for keeping and defending the liberty of the church when you were consecrated and anointed king by thebaldus our predecessour . by which words appeareth , that as the king of england was consecrated and anointed in those dayes by the arch-bishop of canterbury , so did he sweare and give up his oath also in writing , and for more solemnity and obligation , laid it down or rather offered it up with his owne hands upon the alter , so much as was required of him by the said arch-bishop and clergie , for the speciall safety of religion , and these ecclesiasticall liberties , which is the selfe same point that we have seene before , as well in the oath of the kings of france , as also of polonia and spaine , and of the emperours both grecian and german . the very like admonition in effect i finde made by another thomas arch-bishop of canterbury , to another king henry , to wit by thomas a●undell to king henry the fourth , when in a parliament holden at coventry , in the yeare 1404. the king was tempted by certain temporall men , to take away the temporalities from the clergie , whereunto when the said arch-bishop thomas had answered by divers reasons , at last turning to the king ●e besought him [ saith stow in vita henrici 4. to remember the oath which he voluntarily made , that he would honour and defend the church and ministers thereof , whereof 〈◊〉 desired him to permit and suffer the church to enjoy the priviledges and 〈…〉 of his prodecessours it did enjoy , and to fear that king which reig●eth 〈…〉 , & by whom all other kings do reigne , moreover he desired him to consider his promise also to all the realm , which was that he would preserve unto every man their wright and title , so far as in him lay . by which speech of the arch-bishop the king was so far moved , as he would heare no more of that bil of the laytie but said that he would leave the church in as good estate , or better then he found it , and so he did , but yet hereby we come to learne , what oath the kings of england do make at their coronations touching the church and clergie . the other conditions also of good government , are partly touched in the speech of the arch-bishop , holinosh in his cro. page 476. and 1005. and much more expresly set down in the king of englands oath , recorded by ancient writers , for that he sweareth as both holinshead and others do testifie , in their english stories , in these very words , to wit. that he will during his life , beare reverence and honour unto almightie god , and to his ca●holique church , and unto his ministers , and that he will administer law and justice equall to all , and take away all unjust lawes . which after he had sworne , laying his handes upon the gospells : then doth the arch-bishop [ turning about to the people ] declare what the king hath promised and sworne , and by the mouth of a harrald at armes asketh their consents , whether they be content to submit themselves unto this man as unto their king or no , under the conditions proposed , whereunto when they have yealded themselves , then begineth the arch-bishop to put upon him the regall ornaments , as the sword , the ring , the scepter , & crown , as before in the french coronation you have heard , and namely he giveth him the scepter of edward the confessor , and then he adeth also the same words of commission and exortation as the other doth , to wit , stand and hold thy place and keepe thy oath , and thereunto adjoyneth a great communication or treat , on the behalf of almighty god , if he should take upon him that dignity without firm purpose to observe the things which this day he hath sworn , and this is the summe of the english coronation , which you may read also by piece meale in iohn stow. stow in vita richardi 2 in fine , ( according as other things in that his brief collection are set down ) but especially you shall se it in the admissions as well of the said king henry the 4 now last mentioned , as also of k. edward the fourth , at their first entrances to the crown , for in the admission of k. henry , stow sheweth , how the people were demanded thrice whether they were content to admit him for their king , and that the arch-bishop of canturbury ( who was the same thomas arundell of whom we speak before ) did read unto them what this new king was bound by oath unto , and then he took the ring , wherewith he was to wed him to the common-wealth ( which wedding importeth as you know an oath and mutuall obligation on both sides in every marriage ) and the earle of northumberland high constable of england , for that day , was willing to shew the said ring to the people , that they might thereby se the band whereby the king was bound unto them . and then it was put upon his finger , and the king kissed the constable in signe of acceptance , fel on his knees also to prayer that he might observe his promise , and other like ceremonies , saith stow , were used , and this was done the 13 of octob. 1359. and therefore upon good reason might this same arch-bishop put him afterward in mind of this his oath as before i have shewed that he did . at the admission also of king edward the fourth . 1 the peoples consent was demanded very solemnly in iohns field by london , the 29 of febr. in the year 1460 notwithstanding that king edward had proved his title , by succession before in the parliament holden at westminster . and now this consent of the people being had , ( or he being thus elected at stowes words are ) he went the next day in procession at paules , and offered there , and after te deum being sung , he was with great royalty conveyed to westminster , and their in the hall set in the kings seate , with edwards scepter in his hand , and then the people were asked again if they would have him king , and they cryed yea , yea . and if any would take exception against these of king henry and king edward the 4 because they entred and began their reignes upon the deprivation of other kings then living , that are yet many living in england that have seene the severall coronations of king edward the 6 q. mary , q elizabeth , k. iames , k. charles , and can witnesse that at all and every of their coronations , the consent of the people and their acceptation of those princes is not only demanded by the publique cry of a harold at armes , which standeth on both the sides of the high scaffold , or stage whereon the prince is crowned , and the peoples answer expected , till they cry yea , yea : but also that the said princes gave there , their corporall oath upon the evangelists unto the bishop that crowned them , to uphold and maintaine faith aforenamed , with the liberties and priviledges of the church , as also to governe by justice and law as hath been said : which oaths no doubt have been sworn and taken most solemnly by all the kings and queenes of england , from the dayes of king edward the confessor at the least , and ●e that will see more points of these oaths set down in particuler let him read magna charta , and he will be satisfyed . by all which , and by infinite more that might be said and alleadged in this matter , and to this purpose , it is most evident , that this agreement , bargain , & contract between the king and his common-wealth , at his first admission , is as certain and firme ( notwithstanding any pretence or interest he hath or may have by succession ) as any contract or marriage in the world can be , when it is solemnized by words de praesenti [ as our law speaketh ] between parties espoused before by words de futuro , which is an act that expresseth this other most lively , and consequently i must needs affirme it , to be most absurd base and impious , that only succession of bloud , is the thing without further approbotion , which maketh a king , and that the peoples consent to him , that is next by birth , is nothing at all needfull , be he what he will , and that his admission , inuncti●n , or coronation is only a matter of externall ceremony , without any effect at all , for increase or confirmation of his right ; these ( i say ) are vnlearned , fond , and wicked assertions , in flattery of princes , to the manifest ruine of common-wealths and perverting of all law , order and reason . the sixt speech . concerning the interest of princes before their coronation , most of them have not failed to find as shamles flatterers , as themselves were either vaine or wicked princes , and for my part i am of opinion , that the propositions of belloy did rather hurt and hinder , then profit the prince ; for whom and in whose favour he writ them , is the king of navara , whom hereby be would have admitted to the crowne of france , without all consent or admission of the realm . but i for my part , as i doubt not greatly of his title by propinquity of bloud , according to the law salique ; so on the other side , am i of opinion , that these propositions of belloy in his behalf , that he should have entered by only title of birth , without condition consent or approbation of the realm , as also without oath , anointing , or coronation , yea of necessity , without restraint or obligation to fulfill any law , or to observe any priviledges to church , chapell , cleargy , or nobility , or to be checked by the whole realm , if he rule amisse : these things i say , are rather to torify , the people and set them more against his entrance , then to advance his title ; and therefore in my poore judgment , it was neither wisely written by the one , not politiquely permitted by the other . and to the end you may se what reason i have to give this censure , i shall here set down his own propositions , touching this matter as i find them in his own words . first then he avoucheth , that all families which enjoy kingdoms on the world were placed therein by god only , aud that he alone can chang the same , which if he referr unto gods universal providence , quae attingit à fine vsquae in finem fortiter , ●s the scripture saith , and without which a sparrow falleth not to the ground , as our saviour testyfieth , matt. 6. no man will deny but all is from god either by his ordinance or permission ; but if we talke ( as we do ) of the next and immediate causes of an empyres , princes , and of their changes ; cleere it is , that men also do and may concurre therein , and that god hath left them lawfull authority so to do , and to despose thereof , for the publique benifit , as largly before hath been declared , and consequently to say that god only doth these things , and leaveth nothing to mans judgment therein , is against all reason , use and experience of the world . the second proposition of belloy is , that where such princes be once placed in government , and the law of succession by birth established ; there the princes children or next of kin do necessarily succeed , by only birth without any new choice or approbation of the people , nobility , or clergy , or of the whole common-wealth together . apolog. cathol . part . 1. parag . 7. and to this assertion he joyneth an other as strange as this , which is , that a king never dyeth for that whensoever or howsoever he ceaseth by any meanes to governe , then entreth the successor , by birth not as heyre to the former , but as lawfull governour of the realm without any admission at all , having his authority only by the condition of his birth , and not by addoption or choice of any . apolog. pro rege . c. 6. & 34. which two propositions albeit they have been sufficiently refuted , by that which hath been spoken in the last two chapters going before , yet shall i now again convince more amply the untruth thereof . other two propositions he addeth , apolog. cathol . part . 2. parag . 7. & pro rege c. 9. that a prince once entred to government and so placed as hath been said , is under no law or restraint at all of his authority , but that himselfe only is the quick and living law , and that no limitation can be given unto him by any power under heaven except it be by his own will and that no nation or common-wealth can appoint or prescribe how they will obey or how their prince shall govern them , but must leave his authority free from all bands of law , and this either willingly or by violence , is to be procured . by which words it seemeth that he painteth out a perfect patterne of a tyrannicall government , which how it did further the king of navar i do not know . his other proposition is , apolog. pro rege cap. 20. that albeit the heire apparant which is next by birth to any crown , should be never so impotent , or unfit to govern , as if ( for examples sake ) he should be deprived of his sences , mad , furious , lunatique , a fool , or the like , or that he should be known on the other side to be most malicious , wicked , vitious or abominable , or should degenerate into a very beast , yea if it were known that he should goe about to destroy the common wealth , and drowne the ship which he had to guide , yet ( saith this man ) he must be sacred and holy unto us , and admitted without contradiction to his inheritance , which god and nature hath laid upon him , and his direction rèstraint or punishment must only be remited to god alone ; for that no man or common-wealth , may reforme or restrain him . which i doubt not will seeme unto you rather belly and base doctrine , then to come from the head of any learned or discreet man , that regardeth the end why common-wealths , and kingdoms , and all governments were ordained by god and nature , and not the flattering or adoring of any one miserable man that shall stand over them to destroy the whole . but now to the particuler matter that we are to treat , which is , what is to be attributed to this succession or propinquity of birth alone , i am of opinion , that albeit their want not reasons on both sides among learned men , what kind of providing governours to common-wealths is best , either by simple and free election only or by succession of birth : my opinion ( i say ) is , that succession is much to be preferred , not for that it wanteth all difficulties and inconveniences ( which all temporall things uppon earth have ) but like as before i have shewed of the particuler government of a monarchy in respect of other forms of regiment to wit , that is wanted not all , but had fewer inconveniences then their formes of regiment have so say i also of this , that albeit some inconveniences want not in succession yet are they commonly far lesse and fewer , then would follow by meere election which are subiect to great and continuall dangers of ambition , emulation , division , sedition , and contention , which do bring with them evident peril of universall destruction and disolation of the whole body , and this at every change of the prince , which change on the other side , is much assured by succ●ssion , for that great occasions of strife and contention are there by cut of . 2. and besides this , the prince who is in present possession knowing that his son or next of kin , is to be his heire , hath more care to leave the realme in good order , as we see that the husbandman hath to till and manure that ground , which is his owne , and to remaine to his posterity . 3. a third commodity also there is , for that lesse mutations and alterations are seen in the common-wealth , where succession prevaileth , for that the sonne following his father , doth commonly retaine the same friends , councellors , officers , and servants , which his father had before him : pursueth the same actions and intentions , with the same manner of proceeding for the most part ; whereas he that entereth by election , being an aliene to him that went before him , and never lightly his friend , doth change alter and turne upsidowne all things . 4. furthermore ( which may be also a fourth reason ) he that entereth by succession , for that he is either borne a prince , or hath been much respected still for his title to the crowne , bringeth with him lesse passions of hatred , emulation , anger , envie , or revenge against particuler men ( for that no man durst offend him ) then doth he which entereth by only election , for that he having bin a subject & equall to others before his advancement , and thereby holding contention with many , espetially at this election , must needs have matter of quarrell with many , which he will seeke easily to revenge when he is in authority , as one the other side also such as were his equals before will beare him lesse respect and more unwillingly be under him , then by birth he had been there soveraigne . 5. these and diverse other are the comodities of succession , whereunto we may also add the preheminence and priveledge of primogenitura , and auncetrie of birth so much respected and commended by holy writ , not only in men , but in all other creatures also , whose first borne were dedicated to god himselfe , and one notable example among other occurreth to my mind of the two sonnes of isack , of the which two albeit god hath ordained to chuse the younger before he was borne , as s. paul testifieth , and to reject the elder , that is to say , that iacob should inherite the benediction & not esau : yet would god have his yonger to procure the said priviledge of eldership from esau by divers means as first by bargain , and after by guile according to the storie we read in genes . 15 and 49. deut. 21. and 15. 2 paralip . 21 and 3 exod . 3. and 2. rom. 9. and 13 : genes . 28 and 27. out of which story two points may be pondered much to our purpose , first that primogenitura or eldership of birth ( as i have said ) was greatly respected by god , and according to that , all the disce●t● and successions of kings were commonly among that people , for that ordinarily the elder 〈◊〉 ever succeded his father in the crowne of iury. and the secon● p●int 〈…〉 god would shew even in this begining , that yet this priviledge was not so 〈◊〉 , but that upon just causes it might be broken , as it was by this his choyce of iacob the yonger and rejecting esau the elder , and many times after in matter of government the same was practised by god himselfe , as when iudah the fourth tribe and not ruben the 1 and eldest was apointed by god enioy the scepter and crown of the iewes , as also when king david died not in his first second or third sonne , but his tenth in order , to wit , solomon who was also the fourth that he had by bersabe , was appointed for his successor , genes . 29 and , 9. exod , 1. 2. reg. 5. 1. paral. 3. so that in very deed we have here both our two cases that were propounded in the begining , over ruled and determined by authority and example of holy writ it selfe , namely ; and 1 of all , that priority and propinquitie of blood in succession , is greatly to be honored regarded and preferred in all affairs of digni●ie and principallity , ( which is the second point ) are we not so absolutly and peremptorily bound thereunto alwaies , but that upon iust and urgent occasions that course may be altered and broken . which licence or liberty is indeed , the only ( or at least wise ) the most principall remedy for such inconveniences as before i shewed to be farr lesse and fewer then are wont to follow of bare election alone yet did i confesse also , that some did or might fall out , as namely , that the person who by sucession of blood is next , may be unable or un●it , or pernicious to governe , in which cases the remedy is ( as before hath been declared ) hitherto helpe and assist him by lawe directions and wise councells , if he be capable thereunto or else to remove him and take in another of the same blood royal ( though further of in degre or propinquity ) in his place . and this is and hath ben the custom & practice of all kingdoms and commonwealths from the begining , since succession hath ben established among them , and by this means we come to remedy the difficulties and inconveniences of both kinds of making our kings & princes , which are election , and succession ; for by succession we do remedy the inconveniences and dangers before mentioned of bare electiō , to wit , of strife , banding , ambition , & the like , and by this other mean of adding also election , consent , and approbation of the realme to succession ; we remedy the inconveniences of bare succession alone , which inconveniences are principally , that some un●pt impotent or evill prince may be offered some times to enter by , periority of blood ; whereof the realme may deliver it selfe , by this other meanes of not admitting him , so as election by succession , and succession again by election is salved , and the one made a preservative and treacle to the other , and this is the wisdom and high policy left by god and nature , to every common-wealth , for their own conservation and maintenance , and every man that is of reason and iudgment , and void of passion will not onely allow , but also highly commend the same . now then to answer in particular to the two questions . 1 what is to be attributed to succession alone , and secondly what interest a prince hath thereby to any crowne , before he be crowned or admitted by the common wealth . to the first i say , that to succession alone , or priority of blood only , great honour ▪ reverence , and ●espect ought to be borne , ●s before hath been declared , for that it is the principall circumstance and condition which leadeth us to the next succession of the crown infalibly , and without a strife : if his propinquity be cleare and evident , and that other nec●ssary circumstances and conditions do concur also in the same person ; which conditions were appointed and set down at the same time , and by the same authority that this law of succession was established , for that both the one and the other of these 2. poin●s , were ordained by the common-wealth , to wit , that the elder and first in blood , should succ●ed , and that he should be such a person as can and will govern to the publike weale of al. to the second question i answer , that an heyre apparent to a crown before his cor●nation and admission by the realm , if he have the conditions before required , hath the same interest to the kingdom , which the king of romans , or cesar hath to the germain empyre after his election and before he be crowned or to use a more familiar example to englishmen , as the mayor of london hath to the majoralty , after he is chosen , and before he be admitted , or have taken his oath . for as this man in rigour is not truly mayor , nor hath not his jurisdiction before his oath and admission , nor the other is properly emperour before he be crowned : so is not an heyre apparent , truly king though his predecessour be dead , and he next in succession , untill he be crowned or admitted to the common-wealth . another example is there in mariage also , whereby our matter is made more playn ; for in this contract go both the betrothing and actuall joyning together of the parties in wedlock , the first is done by words de futuro , or for the time to come , and is not properly mariage , but espousal only , the other is by words depresenti , that is , by mutual present consent given of both parties , and this second is only and properly true marriage , which two points are expresly represented in the state of an heyre apparent , and of a crowned king ; for that the heyre apparent by propinquity of blood , is only espoused or be●rothed to the common-wealth , for the time to come , and is married afterwards by present mutuall consent of both parties , in the contract and knitting up of the matter , as his coronation , by the oathes which either part maketh the one to take the other , and by putting on the ring and other , wedding garments before mentioned in their coronations , by all which the heyre apparent , ( which before was but espouse ) is made now the true king and husband of the common-wealth , which before he was not , by only succession ; but only a betrothed spouse or designed king. wherefore it followeth also , that the common-wealth oweth no allegeance or subjection unto the heyre apparent in rigour of justice , untill he be crowned or admitted , though his predecessour be dead , for that in very deed untill that time , he is not their true king and soveraign , though for better keeping of order and avoyding of tumul●● , all common-wealths lightly that have their princes by succession , have ordayned in these latter ages , that from the death of the former princes , all ma●ters of government shall passe in the name of his next successor ( if his succession be cleare ) and this ( as i say ) for avoyding of garboyles , and under supposall of confirmation and approbation afterward of the common-wealth , at his coronation ; for which cause also , and for better accompt of yeares , it was ordained that the begining of the successors reigne , should be reckoned from the day of the death of his predecessor , and not from the day of his coronation , as otherwise in rigour it ought to be , and as in old time it was accustomed to be as girard secretary and chronicler of france , doth wisely note , in his third book of the estate and affaires of france , girard die haillan l. 3. del . estate pag. 241. to wit , that kings in old time were wont to accompt the yeares of their reignes from the day only of their anointing and coronation . this point also that heyres apparent are not true kings untill their coronation : how just soever their title of succession otherwise be , and though their predecessours be dead ; it might be confirmed by many other arguments , but especially and above all others ; for that the realm is asked again three times at their coronation , whether they will have such a man to be king , or no , as before hath been shewed , which thing were in vain to ask if he were truly king , as belloy saith , before his coronation . again we see in all the formes and different manners of coronations , that after the prince hath sworn divers times to govern well and justly , then do the subjects take other oathes of obedience and allegiance , and not before , which argueth that before they were not bound unto him by allegiance , and as for the princes of england , it is expresly noted by english historiographers in their coronations . how that no aliegeance is due unto them before they be crowned , and that only it happened to henry the fifth , among all other kings , his predecessour to have this priviledg , and this for his exceeding towardlinesse , and for the great affection of the people towards him , that he had homage done unto him , before his coronation , and oath taken . whereof polidor writeth in these words : princeps heuricus facto patris funere , concilium principum apud westomansterium convocandum eurat , in quo dum de rege creando more maiorum agitabatur , esse tibi , conti●uo ●aliquot principes ultro in ejus verba mirare coeperunt , quod benevolentiae officium nulli antea priusquam rex renunciatus esset , praestitum constat , adeo henricus ab ineunte aetate sp●m omnibus optimae indolis fecit . polyd●r . virg . lib. 22. histor . angliae in vita henrici 5. which in english , is this prince henry , after he had finished his fathers funeralls , caused a parliament to be gathered at westminster , where whilst consultation was had , according to the ancient custome of england , about creating a new king ; behold certain of the nobility of their own free wils , began to swear obedience and loyalty unto him ; which demonstration of love and good will , is well known that it was never shewed to any prince before , until he was declared king : so great was the hope that men had of the towardlines of this p. henry , even from his tender age , and the very same thing expresseth iohn stow also in his chronicle in these words . to this noble prince by assent of the parliament , all the states of the realm after 3 dayes , offered to do fealty before he was crowned , or had solemnized his oath well and justly to governe the common-wealth , which offer before was never found to be made to any prince of england , stow in the begining of the life of k. henry 5. in whose narration as also in that of polidor it may be noted : that k. henry the 5. was not called king untill after his coronation , but only prince , though his father king henry the 4. had been dead now almost a moneth before . and secondly that the parliament consulted de rege creando more majorum ( as polidor his words are ) that is making of a new king according to the ancient custome of their ancestors , which argueth that he was not yet king , though his father were dead , nor that the manner of our old english ancestors , was to account him so before his admission . thirdly , that this demonstration of good will of the nobility to acknowledge him for king before his coronation , and oath selemuized well and justly to governe the realm , was very extraordinary and of meere good will. and last of all , that this was never done to any prince before k. henry the 5 , all which points do demonstrate , that it is the coronation and admission , that maketh a perfect and true king ; whatsoever the title by succession be otherwise , and that except the admission of the common-wealth be joyned to succession , it is not sufficient to make a lawfull king , and of the two , the second is of far more importance , to wit the consent and admission of the realm , then nearnesse of bloud by succession alone . this i might prove by many exampl●s in england it self , where admission hath prevailed against right of succession , as in wil. rufus that succeded the conquerour , and in k. henry the 1. his brother , in k. stephen , k. john and others , who by only admission of the realm were kings , against the order of succession , and very specially it may be seene , in the two examples before mentioned of the admission of the two kings henry and edward , both surnamed the 4. whose entrances to the crowne , if a man do well consider . he shall find that both of them , founded the best part and most surest of their titles , upon the election consent , and good will of the people . as in their last words to their friends in sr. tho. moore and stow. yea both of them at their dying daies having some remorse of conscience , ( as it seemed ) for they had caused so many men to dye for maintenance of their severall rights and titles , ●ad no better way to appease their own minds ; but by thinking that they were placed in that roome by the voice of the realm , and consequently might lawfully defend the same , and punish such as went about to deprive him . you shall find , if you looke into the doings of princes in all ages , that such kings as were most politique , and had any lest doubt or suspition of troubles about the title , after their deaths , have caused their sonnes to be crowned in their own dayes , trusting more to this , then to their title by succession , thongh they were never so lawfully and lineally discended . and of this i could alleadg you many examples out of divers countries but especially in france , since the last line of capetus came unto that crown ; for this did hugh capetus himself procure to be done , to robert his eldest sonne , in his owne daies , and the like did king robert procure for his younger son henry the 1. as girard holdeth , and excluded his elder onely by crowning henry in his owne daies : henry also did intreate the states of france , to admit and crown philip the 1. his eldest son , whilst himself reigned , an. 1131. and this mans son luys le cros , did the same also unto two sons of his : first to philip , and after his death to luys the younger , both which were crowned in their fathers life time and this luys again the younger which is the seaventh of that name ; for more assuring of his son named philip the second intreated the realm to admit and crown him also in his own dayes , with that great solemnity which in the former chapter hath ben declared . and for this very same cause of security , it is not to be doubted , but that alwaies the prince of spaine is sworn and admitted by the realm● , during his fathers reign . the same consideration also moved king david , 2 reg. 1. to crown his son salomon in his own daies . our king henry also the 2 of england , considering the alteration of that the realm had made in admitting k. stephen , polyd. & stow. in vita henrici 11. before him against the order of lineall succession by propi●quity of blood : and fearing that the like might happen also , after him , caused his eldest sonne named , likewise henry , to be crowned in his life time , so as england had two k. henries living at one time with equall authority , and this was done in the 16. year of his reign , and in the year of our lord 1170 but his device had no good successe ; for that k. henry the younger made war soone after upon k. henry the elder , and had both the kings of france and scotland and many nobles of england and normandy , to take his part ; for which cause it is thought that this thing hath never been put in practise again since that time in england , but yet hereby it is evident , what the opinion of the world was in those daies of the force of coronation , and admission of the common-wealth , and how little propinquity of bloud prevaileth without that . the seaventh speech . i should begin with the grecian kings , it were infinite that might be alleadged , and perhaps some man would say , they were over old , and far fetched examples , and cannot be presidents to us in these ages , and if i lay before you the examples of roman kings and emperours put in and out , against the law aed rights of succession ; the same men perhaps will answer , that it was by force , and injury of mutinons souldiers , whereunto that common-wealth was greatly subject . and if i sh●uld bring forth any presidents and examples of holy scripturs , some other might chance to reply , that this was by particuler priviledge , wherein god almighty would deale and dispose of things against the ordinary course of mans law , as best liked himselfe , whose will is more then law , and whose actions are right it selfe , for that he is lord of all , and to be limitted by no rule , or law of man , but yet that this is not properly the act of a common-welth . thus ( i say ) it may be , that some man would reply , and therefore having store enough of plain and evident matter , which hath no exception ; for that it hath happened in setled common-wealths , and those near home , where the law of succession is received and established , to wit , in spayne , france , and england , i shall retyre my selfe to them alone : but yet putting you in mind before i passe any further , that it is a matter much to be marked how god dealt in this point with the people of israel , at the begining , 1. règ. 8. after he had granted to them , that they should have the same government of kings , that other nations round about them had , whose kings did ordinarily reigne by succession , as ours do at this day , and as all the kings of the jewes did afterwards , and yet this notwithstanding , god at the beginning , at the very entrance of their first kings , would shew plainly that this law of succeeding of the one the other , by birth and propinquity of blood , though for the most part , it should prevaile ) yet that it was not so precisely necessary , but that upon just causes it might be altered . for proofe whereof , we are to consider , that albeit he made saul a true and lawfull king over the iewes , and consequent also gave him all kingly priviledges benefits and prerogatives belonging to that degree and state , whereof one principal ( as you know ) is to have his children succeed after him in the crowne : yet after his death god suffered not any one of his generation to succeed him , though he left behinde him many children and among others isboseth a prince of 40. yeares of age 2. reg. 1. and 21. whom abner the generall captain of that nation , with eleaven tribes followed for a time , as their lawfull lord and master by succession , untill god cheked them for it , and induced them to reiect him though heire apparent by discent , and to cleave to david newly elected king , who was a stranger by birth , and no king at all to the king deceased . and if you say here that this was for the sinne of saul . whom god had reiected i do confesse it , but yet this is nothing against our purpose , for that we pretend not that a prince that is next in blood can iustly be put back , except it be for his own defects , or those of his ancestors . and more over i would have you consider , that by this it is evident that the fault of the father may prejudicate the sonnes right to the crowne , albeit the sonne hath no part in the fault , as we may see in this example not only of ishboseth that was punished and deprived for the offence of saul his father ( notwithstanding he had been proclaimed king as hath been said ) but also of ionathus saules other sonne , who so good a man , and so much praised in holy scripture , and yet he being slaine in warr , and leaving a sonne named mephiboseth he was put back also , 2. reg. 5. though by nearenesse of blood he had great interest in the succession and much before david . but david being placed in the crowne by election , free consent , and admission of the people of israell , as the scripture plainly testifieth ( though by motion and direction of god himself . ) we must confesse , 2. reg. 2 , and 5. and no man i think will deny , but that he had given unto him therewith , all kingly priviledges prehemiences and regali●ies , even in the highest degree , as was conveniene to such a state , and among other , the scripture expresly nameth , that in particuler it was assured him by god , that his seed should reigne after him : yea and that for eve● , psal . 131. 2. paral. 6. but yet we do not find this to be performed to any of his elder sonnes as by order of succession it should seeme to appertain ) no nor to any of their of spring or discents , but only to solomon , which was his younger and tenth sonne , and the fourth only by barsabe . true it is , that the scripture recounteth how adonias davids elder sonne , that was of rare beauty & a very goodly young prince , seeing his father now very ould and impotent , and to lie on his death bed , and himselfe heire apparent by antiquitie of blood , after the death of absalon , his elder brother that was slain before , he had determined to have proclaimed himselfe heir apparent in ierusalem before his father died , 1. reg. 1. and for that purpose had ordained a great assembly and banquet , had called unto it both the high priest abiather , and diverse of the cleargie as also the generall captaine of all the army of israell named ioah , with other of the nobillity and with them all the rest of his bretheren , that were sonnes to king david , saving only solomon , togeather with many other princes and great men , both spirituall and temporall of that estate , and had prepared for them a great feast , meaning that very day to proclaime himselfe heire apparent to the crowne , and to be crowned , as indeed by succession of blood it appertained unto him : and this he attempted so much the rather , by councell of his friends , for that he saw the king his father very ould and impotent , and ready to die , and had taken no order at all for his successor , and moreover adonias had understood , how that bersabe solomons mother had some hope to have her sonne reigne after david , upon a certaine promise that david in his youth had made unto her thereof , as also she had in the speciall favour and friendship which nathan the prophet , and sadock the priest [ who could do much with the ould king david ] did beare unto her sonne solomon , aboue all the rest of his bretheren . hereupon ( i say ) these two that is to say , queene bersabee , and nathan the prophet , comming together to the old man , as he lay one his bed , and putting him in mind of his promise , and oath made to bersabee for the preferment of her son , and shewing besides how that adonias without his order and consent , had gathered an assembly to make himselfe king , even that very day ( which did put the old king in very great feare , and anger ) and further also telling him ( which pleased him wel ) quod oculi totius israel in eum ●espicerent , ut indicaret eis , quis sederet in solio suo post ipsum : 3. reg. 1. that is , that the eyes of all israel were upon him to see whom he would commend unto them , to sit in his seat after him , which was as much to say , as that the whole common-wealth referred it to his choise , which of his sonnes should reigne after him . vpon these reasons and perswasions ( i say ) the good ould king was content that they should take solomon out of hand , and put him upon the kings owne mule , and carry him about the streets of ierusalem , accompanied with his guard and court , and crying with sound of trumpets vivat rex salomon ; 3. reg 1. and that sadock the priest should anoint him , and after that he should be brought back , and placed in the royall throne in the palace , and so indeed he was , at what time king david himselfe being not able through impotencie , to rise out of his bed , did him honour and reverence from the place where he lay ; for so saith the scriptures adoravit rex in lectulo suo , king david adored his sonne salomon thus crowned , even from his bed , all which no doubt though it may seeme to have been wrought by humane meanes and policy , yet must we confesse that it was principally by the speciall instinct of god himselfe , as by the sequell and succes we see , so that hereby also we are taught , that these and like determinations of the people majestrates , and common wealths , about admitting or refusing of princes to reigne or not to reigne ever them , when their designements are to good ands , and for just respects and causes are allowed also by god , and oftentimes are his owne speciall drifts and dispositions , though they seeme to come from man. whereof no one thing can give a more evident proofe , then that which ensued afterward to prince roboam , the lawfull sonne , and heire of this king salamon , who after his fathers death comming to sichem where all the people of israel were gathered together , for his coronation , and admission , according to his right by succession , 3. reg. 12. for untill that time we see he was not accounted true king , though his father was dead , and this is to be noted , the people began to purpose unto him certain conditions , for taking away of some hard and heavy impositions , laid upon them by salomon his father , ( an evident president of the oath and conditions that princes do swear unto in these dayes at their coronation ) whereunto when roboam refused to yeald ten tribes of the twelve refused to admit him for their king , 3. reg 11. but chose rather one ieroboam robohams servant , that was a meere stranger and but of poore parentage , and made him there lawfull king and god allowed thereof as the scripture in expresse words doth testifie : and when roboam that tooke himselfe to be openly injured heereby , would by armes have pursued his title , and had gathered together an army of a hundred and foure-score thousand chosen souldiers ( as the scripture sayth ) 5 rig. 12. and 21. to punish these rebells as he calle them , and to reduce these 10. tribes to their due obedience of their naturall prince : god appeared unto one semejah a holy man , and bad him goe to the camp of roboam , and tell them plainly that he would not have them to fight against their brethren . that had chosen another king , but that every man should goe home to his house , and live quietly vnder the king , which each party had , and so they did , and this was the end of that tumult which god for the sins of salomon had permitted and allowed of . and thus much by the way i thought good to touch on t of holy scripture , concerning the iewish , common-wealth , even at the begining ; for that it may give light to all the rest which after i am to treate of ; for if god permitted and allowed this in his own common wealth , that was to he the example and patern of all others , that should ensue : no doubt but that he approveth also the same in other realms when just occasions are offered , either for his service , the good of the people and realm , or else for punishment of the sinnes and wickednesse of some princes , that the ordinary line of succession be altered . now then to passe on further , and to begin with the kingdoms of spayne , supposing ever this ground of gods ordinance , first i say , that spayne hath had 3. or 4. races or discents of kings , as france also and england have had , and the first race was from the gothe● , which began their raigne in spayne after the expulsion of the romans , about the year of christ 416. ambros . moral . lib. 11. c. 12 to whom the spaniard referreth all his old nobility as the frenchman doth to the german franckes , and the english to the saxons , which entred france and england in the very same age , that the other did spayne , and the race of gothish kings indured by the space of 300. yeares , untill spayne was lost unto the moores . the second race is from don pelayo that was chosen first king of asturias , and of the mountain countrey of spayne , after the distruction thereof by the moores , about the year of christ 717. ambros . moral . lib. 13. c. 2. which race continued and increased , and added ●●●gdom unto kingdom for the space of other 300 years , until the year of christ 1034. moral . lib. 13 c. 42 , 43 , 44. when don sancho mayor , king of navarra got unto his power , the earldom also of aragon and castiliae , and made them kingdoms , and divided them among his children , and to his second sonne , named don fernando , surnamed afterward the great , he gave not only the said earldom of castilia with title of kingdom , but by marriage also of the sister of don dermudo king of leon , and aust●rias , he joyned all those kingdoms together , that day forward the 3 race of the kings of navair to reign in castel and so indured for 500 years , until the year of christ 1540. when the house of austira entred to reign there , by mariage of the daughter & heire don ferdinando surnamed the catholick ; and this was the 4 race of spanish kings after the romans , which endureth until this day . and though in all these foure race● and ●anks of royall discents , divers examples might be alleadged for manifest proof of my purpose : ye● will not deale with their race , for that it is evident by the councell of tolido , ( which were holden in that very time ) that in those daies expresse election , was joyned with succession as by the deposition of k. suintila , and putting back of all his children : as also by the election and approbation of k. sifinando that was further of by succession , hath been insinuated before , and in the 5 councell of that age of toledo , it is decreed expresly in these words , si quis talia meditatus fuorit ( talking of pretending to be king , quem nec electio omnium perficet , nec gothicae gentis nobilitas ad hunc honoris apicom trahit , si consortio catholicorum privatus , & divino anathemat condemuatus . concil . tol. 5. c. 3. if any man shall imagine ( said these fathers ( or go about to aspire to the kingdom , whom the election and choice of all the realm , doth not make perfect , nor the nobility of the gotish nation , doth draw to the height of this dignity : let him be deprived of all catholique society , and damned by the c●rse of almighty god , by which words is insinuated , that not only the nobility , but of gotish bloud , or nearnes by succession was required for the making of their king , but much more the choice or admission of all the realm , wherein thi● councell putteth the perfection of his title . don pelayo died in the year of our lord 737. and left a son named don fauila , who was king after his father , and reigned 2. yeares only . after whose death , none of his children were admitted for king , though he left divers , as all writers do testifie . but as don lucas the bishop of tuy a very ancient authour writeth , aldefonsus catholicus ab universo populo gothorum eligitur , that is ( as the chronicler moralis doth translate in spanish ) don alonso surnamed the catholick , was chosen to be king by all voyces of the gotish nation . this don alonso was son in law to the former k. fauila , as morales saith , for that he had his daughter erm●nesenda in marriage , and he was preferred before the kings own sonnes , only for that they were young and unable to govern , as the said historiographer testifieth . and how well this fell out for the common-welth , and how excellent a king this don alonso proved , morales sheweth at large , from the 10. chapter of his 13. booke untill the 17. and sesastianus bishop of salamanca , that lived in the same time , writeth of his valiant acts he was surnamed the great ▪ s●●ast . episc . saelam in hist . hisp . to this famous don alonso , succeded his son don frucla the first of that name , vvho vvas noble king for 10 years space , and had divers excellent victories against the moores ; but aftervvard declining to tiranny : he became hatefull to the subjects , and for that he put to death vvrongfully his ovvn brother don vimerano prince of excellent parts and rarely beloved of the spaniards , he vvas himselfe put dovvn , and put to death by them in the year of christ 768. and albeit this king left 2. godly children behind him , vvhich vvere lavvfully begotten upon his queen dona munia , the one of them a son called don alonso , and the other a daughter called dona ximea : yet for the hatred conceived against their father , neither of them vvas admitted by the realm to succeed him ; but rather his ch●sen german , named don aurelio brothers son to don alonso the catholique , vvas preferred and reigned peacably 6 years , and then dying vvithout issue ; for this the hatred ●f the spaniards vva● not yet ended against the memory of k. eruela : they vvould not yet admit any of his generation ; but ra●her excluded th●m again the 2 time , and admitted a brother in lavv of his , named don silo that vvas married to her sister dona adosinda daughter to the foresaid noble k. catholique alonso . so that here vve seervvice the right heyres of k. don fruela for his evil government vvere put back but don silo being dead vvithout issue , as also don aurelio vvas before him , and the spaniards anger against k. ●ruca being novv vvel aslvvaged ; they admitted to the kingdom his foresaid son don alonso the yonger surnam●d aftervvard the chast , vvhom novv tvvice before put back as you have seen ; but novv they admitted him , though his reign at the first endured very little ; for that a bastard uncle of his , named don mauregate by help of the moores put him out , & reigned by force 6. years , & in the ending vvithout issue , the matter came in deliberation again , vvhether the k. don alonso the chast that yet lived , & had been hidden in monastary of galitia , during the time of he : yrant should returne again to govern , or rather that his cose●n german don vermudo , son to his uncle the prince , should be elected in his place . and the realm of spay●ed etermined the 2. that don vermulo though he vvere much further of . by propinquity of blood , & vvithin 〈…〉 also should be admitted . true it is , that after three yeare● reign , this 〈…〉 king v●rmudo being weary of kingly life , & feeling some scruple of conscience , that being deacon , he had forsaken the life ecclesiasticall , & maryed ( though by dispensation of the pope , as morales saith ) & entangled himself with the affairs of a kingdom moric . 28 & 29. an . 791. he resigned willingly the gouernment unto his said cozen don alonso the chast , & himself lived after a privat life for divers yeers ; but this don alonso who now the 4. time had been deprived of his succession , as you have seen , deceived the expectation of the spaniards that accounted him a monk , for he proved the most valiant & excellent king that ever that nation had both for his vertue , valour , victories against the moors , building of towns castles , churches monasteries , & other such works of christianity , as morales recounteth & he reigned after this his last admission 51 yeers , & had great friendship with k. charles the great of france , who lived in the same time with him . and this man among other most noble exploits so tamed the moores of his country , as during his days he never paid that cruel● & horrible tribute , which before and after was paid by the christians to the moors . mor. l. 13 c. 45. an . 842. which was 100 young maidens , & 50 sons of gentlem●n every yeer to be brought up in the religion of mahomet , among those infidell tyrants . and finally , this man after so much affliction came to be one of the most renowned princes of the world. after this don alonso who left no children , for that he would never marry , who lived all his life in chastity there succeeded to him by election his nephew named don ●anurs , son to the former said k. don vermudo the deacon , that gave this man the crown , of whose election morales writeth these words . muerto el rey don alonso el casto fue eligido por los perlados grandes del reyno , l rey don ramiro primero deste nombre , hyo del rey don vermudo el diacono , mor. c. 11. that is the k. don alonso the chaste being dead , there was chosen k. by the prelats & nobility of the realm don ramiro the first of this name , son of k vermudo the deacon who resigned his crown to don alonso and it is to be noted , th●t albeit this don ram●ro was next in bloud to the succession , after the death of his uncle don alonso without children , yet was hee chosen by the states as here it is said in expresse words . moreover it is to be noted ▪ that albeit this author ambrosio morales & other spanish writers do say , that in the time of this k ramiro , the law of succession by propinquity in blond was so revived , & strongly confirmed that as the kingdom of spain was made as majorasgo as he termeth it , which is , an inheritance so intailed and tyed only to the next bloud as there is no possibility ●o alter the same , and that from this time forward the king always caused his eldest son to be named king or prince & so ever to be sworn by the realm and nobility , yet shall we find this ordinance and succession oftentimes to have been broken upon severall considerations , as this author himself in that very chapter confesseth . as for example , after four discents from this man , which were don ordonio the 1. this mans son , and don alonso the 3. don garzia and don ordonio the second , all four kings by orderly succession , it hapned that in the yeer of christ 924. don ordonio the second dying , left four sons and one daughter lawfully begotten , and yet the state of spain displaced them all , and gave the kingdom to their uncle don fruela second brother to their father don ordonio , and morales saith , mor. l. 16. cap. 1. an . 924. ●hat there appeareth no other reason hereof , but only for that these sons of the king deceased were young , and not so apt to govern well the realm as their uncle was . but after a yeers reign ▪ this king fruela dyed also , & left divers children at mans estate , & then did the spaniards as much against them , as they had done for him before , against the children of his elder brother . for they put them all by the crown , and chose for their king don alonso the 4 ▪ which was eldest son to don ordonio the 2. be●ore named , that had been last king saving one , and this man also ( i mean don alonso the 4 , ) leaving afterward his kingdom , & betaking himself to a religious habit offered to the common●welth of spain his eldest son lawfully begotten , named don ordonio , to be their king , but they refused him , and tooke his brother ( i meane this kings brother ) & uncle to the young prince , named don ramiro , moral . lib. 19. cap. 20. an. 930. who reigned 19 yeers , & was a most excellent king & gained madrid from the moors , though noted of cruelty for imprisoning and pulling out the eyes afterward of this king don alonso the 4. and all his children & nephewes , for that hee would have left his habit , & returned to be king again . but this fact my au●hor morales excuseth , saying that it was requisit for pcace & safety of the realm ; so as here you see two manifest alterations of lineal succession together by order of the common-welth . furthermore , after this noble king don ramiro the 2. succeeded as heire apparent to the crown his elder son , don ordonio the 3. of his name , in the yeer of our savior 950. but this succession endured no longer then unto his own death , which was after 7 yeers , for then albeit he left a son named el enfante don vermudo , yet he was not admitted , but rather his brother , don sancho the first of his name , surnamed el gordo , who was uncle to the young prince , and the reason of this alteration morales giveth in these words , el succeder en el regno al hermano , fue por la racon ordinaria de ser el enfante , don vermudo nino y no bastante para ●l goviernoy difenca de la terra . mor. l. 16. c. 29. an. 950. which is the cause , why the kings brother , & not his son , succeeded in the crown , was for the ordinary reason ( so often before alledged ) for that the infant or young prince vermudo was a litle child , & not sufficient for government and defence of the country . truth it is , that after this don sancho had reigned , & his son & heir named don ramiro the 3. after him , for the space of 30. yeers in all , mor. l. 17. c. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. then was this youth don vermudo ( that is now put back ) called by the relm to the succession of the crown , & made king by the name of king vermudo the 2. who left after him don alonso the 5. & he again his son don vermudo the 3. who marying his sister dona sancha that was his heir ) unto don fernando , first earle ▪ & then king of castile ( who was second son to don sancho mayor , k ing of navarras before hath been said ) he j●yned by these means the kingdoms of leon & castile together , which were separate before , & so ended the line of don pelayo , first christ●n king of spain after the entrance of the moors , which had endured now 300. yeers & the bloud of navar entred as you see , & so continued therein untill the entrance of ●●ose of au●tria as before hath been said , which was almost 500. yeers together . and thus much i thought good to note out of the stories of spain , for this first discent of the spanish kings after the entrance of the moors ▪ neither mean i to passe much further , both for that it would be over long , as also for that mine author morales , who is the most diligent that hath written the chronicles of that nation , endeth here his story with king vermudo the 3. & last of the gotish bloud . notwithstanding , if i would go on further , there would not want divers evident examples also to the same purpose , which stephen garabay another chronicler of spain , doth touch in the continuation of this story , weereof for examples sake only i will name 2 or 3 among the rest . and first about the yeer of christ 1021. there was a marriage made by k ▪ iohn of england for dona blancha his neece , that is to say , the daughter of his sister dame el●nor , & of don alonso the 9. of that name , king & queen of spain , which blancha was to marry the prince of france , named luis , son & heir to k. philip ( surnamed augustus ) which luis was afterward k. of france by the name of luis the 8. & was father to luis the 9. surnamed the saint . car. lib. 11. c. 12. this lady blancha was neece as i have said unto k. iohn & to k. richard the ● . of england for that her mother lady elenor was their sister , & daughter to k. henry the 2. and k. iohn made this mariage , therby to make peace with the french , & was content to give for her dowry ( for that he could not tell how to recover them again ) all those townes & countries which the said k. phil. had taken upon the english , by this kings evill government in normandy & gascoyn ; and moreover promise was made , that if p. henry of spain ( that was the only brother to the said lady blanch ) should dye without issue ( as after he did ) then this lady should succeed in the crown of spain also ; but yet afterward the state of spain would not perform this , but rather admitted her younger sister dona berenguela , maryed to the prince of leon , and excluded both blanch & her son the king s , luis of france , against the evident right of succession & propinquity of bloud , & the only reason they yeelded hereof , was not to admit strangers to the crown , as garabay testifieth . this hapned then , & i do note by the way , that this dona berenguela second daughter of q. elenor , the english woman was maried ( as hath bin said ) to the prince of leon , & had by him don fernando the 3. of that name , k of castilia , surnamed also the saint , so as the two daughters of an english queen had two kings saints for their sons at one time , the elder of france , & the yonger of spain . after this again about 60 yeers the prince of spain named don alonso , surnamed de la cerda , for that he was borne with a great gristle haire on his breast , called cerda in spanish , which don alonso was nephew ●o the king fernando the saint , & marryed with the daughter of s. lewis k. of france , named also blancha as her grand mother was & had by her two sons called alonso & hernando de la cerda , as the prince their father was named , which father of theirs dying before the king , the grand father left them commended to the realm as lawful heire apparent to the crowne , yet for that a certain uncle of theirs named don sa●cho , younger brother to their father ; which don sancho was surnamed afterward el brav● , for his valour , and was a great warrier , and more like to manage wel the matters of war then they : he was made heir apparent of spain add hey putb●ck in their grandfa●hers time , and by his and the realms consent ( their father as i have said being dead ) and this was done at a generall parliament holden at segovia in the yeer 1276. and after this don sancho was made king in the yeer 1284 & the two princes put into prison ; but afterward at the suit of their uncle king philip the 3 of france , they were let out again , & endued with certain lands , & so they remain unto this day ; and of these do come the dukes of medina celi , & all the rest of the hou●e of cerda , which are of much nobility in spain at this time , & k. philip that reigneth cometh of don sancho the yonger brother . not long after this again when don pedro surnamed the cruel king of castile , was driven cut , & his bastard brother h ▪ 2. set up in his place , the duke of lancaster john of gant , gar. l. 15. c. 1. an . 1363. having maried dona constantia , the said king padroes daughter and heir , pretended by succession the said● crowne of castile , as indeed it appert●ined unto him ; but yet the state of spain denyed it flatly , and defended it by arms , & they prevailed against john of gant , as did also the race of h ▪ the b●stard against his lawfull brother , & the race of don sancho the uncle against his lawfull nephews , & that of dona berenguela against her elder sister , all which races do reign unto this day , & these three changes of the true line , hapned within two ages , and in the third and principall discent of the spanish kings , when this matter of suceession was most assuredly & perfectly established , & yet who will deny but that the kings of spain who hold by the latter titles at this day be true & lawfull kings . well , one example will i give you more out of the kingdom of portugal , & so will i make an end with there countries . this king henry the bastard last named 〈◊〉 spain had a son that succeeded him in the crown of spain , named iohn the 1 ▪ who marryed the daughter & he●r named dona beatrix , of k fernando the 1. of portugal , but yet after the death of the said k. fernando the states of portugall would never agree to admit him for their king for not subjecting themselvs by that means to the castilians & for that cause they rather took for their king a bastard brother of the said late k. don fernando , whose name was dondulan a youth of 20 yeers old , who had bin master of a military order in portugal named de avis , & so they excluded dona be●tr●x q. of cast l. that was their lawfull heire & chose this young man , & marryed him afterwards to the lady philip da●ghter of iohn of gaunt d. of lancaster , by h●s first wife blanch , duches & heir of lancaster , in whose right the kings of portugall & their discendents do pretend unto this day a certain interest to the house of lancaster . hereby we see what an ordinary matter in hath been in spain & portugall to alter the line of next succession upon any reasonable consideration which they imagned to be for their weal publike , and the like we shall find in france and england . the eighth speech . as concerning the state of france , although since the entrance of their first king pharaniond with his franks out of germany , which was about ●he yeere of christ 419. they have never had any stranger come to wear their crown , which they attribute to their law salike , that forbiddeth women to reign ; ye among themselves have they changed twise their whole race & linage of kings once in the entrance of k. pepin that put out the line of pharamond about the yeer 751. & again in the promotion of k. hugo capetus that put out the line of pepin , in the yeer 983. so as they have had 3 discents & races of kings as well as the spaniards ; the first of pharamond , the 2. of pepin and the 3. of capetus , which endureth to this present , if it be not altered now by the exclusion that divers pretend to make of the king of navar , and other princes of the bloud royall of the house of burbon . i will here set p●sse the first rank of all , of the french kings , for that some men say perhaps , that the common wealth and law of succession , was not so well setled in those days as it hath been afterward in time of k. pepin , charles the great , and their discendanta● as also for that it were in very deed over edious to examine and peruse all three ranks or kings in france , as you will say when you shall see what store i have to alledge out of the 2. rank only , which began with the exclusion and deposition of their lawfull king childerike the 3. and election of k. pepin , then surnamed le brefe , or the little , for his small stature ( though he were a gyant in deeds ) being made king of france , by meer election , in the yeer of christ , 751. after 22 kings that had reigned of the first line of pharamond for the space of more then 300 yeers , & being so famous & worthy a king as all the world knoweth reigned 18 yeers , and then left his states & kingdoms by succession unto his eldest son charles , surnamed afterward the great , for his famous & heroicall acts . and albeit the whole kingdom of france appertained unto him alone by the law of succession , his father being king , and hee his eldest son ; yet would the realm of france shew their authority in his admission which girard setteth down in these words estant pep●n decede , les francois esleurent , rois , charls & carlomon ses fils , ala charge , quils partageroient entre eux , egalement , le royaume , gir. du haillan , l. 3. an . 768. which is king pepin being dead , the brench-men chose for their kings his two sons , charles & carlomon , with condition , that they should part equally between them the realm . wherein is to be noted , not only the elect ▪ on of the common wealth , besi●es succession but also the heavy condition laid upon the heyre to part half of his kingdom with his younger brother , and the very same words hath eginard an ancient french writer , in the life of this charles the great , to wit , that the french state in a publike assembly , did chuse two princes to be their kings , with expresse condition to divide the realm equally , as francis belforest citeth his words , eginard belfor . l , 2. c. 5. after 3 yeers that these two brethren had reigned together k. carlomon the yonger dyed and left many sons , the elder whereof was named adalgise . but belforest saith , that the lords ecclesiasticall & temporall of france swore fidelity and obedience to charles , without any respect or regard at all of the child●en of carlomon , who yet by right of succession should have been preferred and paulus emilius a latine writer saith , proceres regni ad carolum ultroven entes regem tum totius galliae sulutarunt , pa●l . mil. hist . fr●nc . that is , the nobility of the realme coming of their own accord un●o charles , saluted him k. of all france whereby is shewed , that this exclusion of the children of carlomon was not by force or tyranny , but by free delibera●ion of the realm . after charles the great reigned by succession his only son lewis the first , surnamed de●onnaire of h●s courtesie , who entring to reig● in the yeer 817. with great applause of all men for the exceeding gratefull memory of his father , was yet afterward at the pur●uit principally of his own three sonnes , by his first wise ( which were lothair pepin , and lups ) deposed girard l. 1 an. 834. first in a chancell at lions , and then again at compeigne , and put into a monastery though afterward he came to reigne againe , an 840. and his fourth sonne by h●s second wife ( which sonne was named charles le ch●une , for that he was bald ) ●ucceeded him in the states of france , though after many battells against his brother lothair , to whom by succession the same apperteyned . after charles the bald ; succeeded lewis the second , surnamed le begue , for his stuttering , who was not eldest , but third son unto his father , an 878. for the second dyed before his father , & the eldest was put by his succes●ion for his cruell demeanure , this lewis also was like to have bin deprived by the states at his first entrance , for the hatred conceived against h●s father charles the ba●d , but that he calling a solemn p●rl . at compeigne as girard saith , gie l. 1. an . 879 he made the people , clergy , & nobility many fair promises to have their good wils . this lewis the stuttering left two bastard sons by a concubine , who were called lewis & carlomon , as also he left a litle infant newly born of his lawfull , fe , adeltrude daughter to k. alfred of england which infant was k. of france afterward , by name of charles the simple , albeit not immediatly after the death of his father , for that the nobles of france said , that they that they had need of a man to be king , & not a child , as girard reporteth & therefore the whole state of france , chose for their kings the two foresaid bastards , lewis the 3. & carlomon the first of that name , joyntly , & they were crowned most solemnly & divided the whole relm between them , in the yeer of christ 881. & q. adeltruds with her child true heir of france fled into england to her father , & there brought him up for d●vers yeers , in which time she saw 4 or 5 kings reigne in his place in france one after the other , for briefly thus it passed . of these two bastard kings , the elder named lewis reigned but 4 yeers , and dyed without issue ; the 2d . that is carlomon lived but one yeer after him , & left a son called also lewis the 5. & surnamed faineant , for his idle & slothfull life an , 886. for which as also for his vicious behaviour , & in perticular for taking out & marying a nun of the abby of baudour at chels by paris , he was deprived & made a monk in the abbey of s. denis where he dyed , & in his place was chosen k. of france , and crowned with great solemnity charles the 4. emperour of rome , srrnamed le gios , for that he was fat & corp●lent , he was nephew to charles the bald , before mentioned , & therfore the french stories say , that he came to the crown of france partly by succession & partly by election , girard l. 5. an 888. but for succession , we see that it was nothing worth , for so much as charles the simple the right heire was alive in england , whom it seemeth that the french men had quite forgotten , seeing that now they had not only excluded him three times already , but afterwards also againe when this grosse charls was for his cruel government by them deposed & deprived , not onely of the kingdom of france but also of his empire , which he had before he was king & was brought into such miserable penury , as divers write , that he perished or want ; & this time i say the states of france would not yet admit charles the simple ( though hitherto his simplicity did not appear , but he seemed a goodly prince ) but rather they chose for king one odo earl of paris & duke of angiers , & caused him to be crowned but yet after a few yeers , being weary of this mans government , and moved also somewhat with compassion towards the youth that was in england , they resolved to depose odo , and so they did while he was absent in gascony , and called charls the simple out of england to paris , and restored him to the kingdom of france , leaving only to odo for recompence the state of aquitain , with title of a duke : wherwith in fine , he contented himself , seeing that he could get no more , but yet his posterity by vertue of this election , pretended ever after a title to the crown of france and never left it of untill at length by hugo capetus they got it , for hugh descended of this king and duke odo . this k. charls , then surnamed the simple , and english womans son , being thus admitted to the crown of france , he took to wife an english woman named elgina or ogin , daughter of k. edward the elder , by whom he had a son named lewis , and himself being a simple man , was allured to go to the castle of ? eron in picardy , where he was made prisoner , and forced to resign his kingdom unto ralph k. of burg●ndy , an . 927. and soon after he dyed through misery in the same castle , & his q. ogin fled in●o england , where with her litl● son lewis unto her uncle k. adelstan , as q. adeltrude had done before with her son unto k. al●red , and one of the chief in this action for putting downe of the simple was count hugh surnamed the great , e. of paris , father unto hugo capetus , which after was king. but this new k ▪ ralph lived but 3 yeers after , and then the states of france considering the right title of lewis the lawfull child of k. charles the simple , which lewis was commonly called now in france by the name of d'outremer , that is beyond the sea , for that he had been brought up in england , the said states being also greatly and continually sollicited hereunto by the ambassadors of k. ad●lston of england , and by wil. d●ke of normandy , surnamed long speer , great grandfather to wil. the conquerour , who by the k. of england was gained also to be of the young princes part : for these considerations ( i say ) they resolved to call him inte france out of england , as his father had bin before him , and to admit & crown him king , and so they did , and he reigned 27 yeers , and was a good prince , and dyed peaceably in his bed the yeer of christ , 945. this k. lewis of d'outremer left two sons behind him , the eldest was called lothair the 1. who succeeded him in the crown of france , and the 2. was named charles whom he made duke of lorrain . luthaire dying left one onely son named lewis , as his grandfathee was , who was named k of france , by the name of lewis the 7. and dying without issue after two yeers that he had reigned , the crown was to haye gone by lineall succession unto his uncle charles duke of lorrain , second son to lewis d'o●tremer as is evident , but the states of france did put him by it for mislike they had of his person , and did chuse hugo capetus earl of paris , and so ended the second line of pepin and of charles the great , and entree the race of hugo capetus , which endureth untill this day , and the french stories do say that this surname capet was given to him when he was a boy , for that he was wont to snatch away his fellowes caps from their heads , whereof he was termed sna●ch●cap , which some do interpret to be an abodement that he should snatch also a crown from the true owners head in time as afteward we see it fell out , though yet he had it by election and approbation of the common wealth . and in this respect all the french chroniclers who otherwise are most earnest defenders of their law of suceession , do justifie this title of hugo capetus against charls , for which cause frances belforest doth alleadge the saying of w. naugus , an ancient & diligent chronicler of the abby of s. denis in france , who defendeth k. capetus in thes● words . we may not grant in any case that hugh capet may be esteemed an invador or usuroer of the crown of france , se 〈◊〉 the lords , prelats , princes , & governours of the realm did cail him to this dignity , and chose him for their king and soveraigne lord : upon which words belforest saith as followeth , i have laid before oon the words and censure of this good religious man , for that they seem to me to touch the quick ; for in very truth we cannot by any other meanes defend the title of hugh capet from usurpation and fellony then to justifie his coming to the crown by the cosent & will of the common wealth ; and in this i may well excuse me from inconstancy and contradiction to my self , that have so earnestly defended succession before ; for he that will consider how add what conditions i defended that , shall easily see also that i am not here contrary to the same . i think it not amisse also to put down here some part of the oration or speech which the ambassador that was sent at that time from the state of france unto charles of lorrain after their election of hugh capet , & charls exclusion , did use unto him in their names , which speech girard doth reconnt in these words , gir. l. 6. an . 988. every man knoweth ( lord charles ) that the sucaession ●o the crown and realme of france according to the ordinary lawes and rights of the same , belongeth unto you and not unto hugh capet now our king , but yet the very same laws which do give unto you this right of succession , do judg you also unworthy of the same , for that you have not endevored hitherto to frame your life and m●●ers according to the prescript of those laws , nor according to your use & custom of your country of france , but rather have allied your self with the german nation , ●ur old enemies and have acquainted your self with their vile & base manners , wher●ore seeing you have forsaken & abandoned the ancient vertue sweetnes & amity of the french , we have also abandoned & left you , & have chosen hngh capet for our king & have put you back , and this without any scruple or prejudice of our consciences at all , esteeming it far better & more just to live under hugh capet the present possessour of the crown , with enjoying the ancient use of our laws , customs , priviledges & liberties , then under you the inheritour by neernesse of bloud , in oppressing strange customs & cruelty . for even as those which are to make a voyage in a ship upon a dangerous sea , do not so much respect whether the pylot which is to guide the stern be owner of the ship or no , but rather whether he be skilfull , valiant , & like to bring them in safety to their ways end , or to drown them among the waves : even so our principall care is , that we have a good prince to lead and guide us happily in this way of civill & politike life , which is the end why princes were appointed , for that this man is fitter to be our king. this message did the states of france send to charles of lorrain in defence of their doings , & with this he lost his succession for ever , & afterwards his life also in prison & the frenchmen thought themselves secure in conscience , as you see , for doing the same , which god hath also since seemed to confirm with the succession & happy successe of so many noble and most christian kings as have issued out of this line of hugo capet us unto this day . and this spoken now of the second line of france , i take to be sufficient for proof of our purpose , without going any further , for that if we do but number these kings already named , that have reigned in this second race , from k. pepin downwards unto hugh capet ( which are about 17 or 18 kings in 238 yeeres ) we shall find that not some few , but the most part of them did both enter and enjoy their crowns and dignities contrary to the law of lineall discent , and of next succession by bloud . whereof also there would not want divers examples in the third and last discent , since hugo capitus his time , if we would passe further to examine the stories thereof . for not to go further down then to the very next discent after hugh , which was k. robert his son , girard affirmeth in his story , gir. l. 6 an 1232. that of his two sons which he had named robert & henry , robert the elder was put back , & his younger brother henry made k. of france , & reigned many yeers by the name of h. the 1. and this he saith hapned partly for that robert was but a simple man in respect of henry , and partly also for that h. was greatly favoured and assisted in this pretence by duke robert of normandy , father to our william the conqueror , and in recompence hereof this king henry afterward assisted the said william bastard son to robert , for the attaining of the dukedom of normandy , after the death of the said duke robert his father , notwithstanding that duke robert had two lawfull brothers alive at that time , whose names were manger archbishop of rone and william earl of argues in normandy , who pretended by success●ion to be preferred , gir. l. 6. an . 1032. and 1037. but the states of normandy at the request of duke robert when he went to the holy land ( in which journey he dyed ) as also for avoid●ng dissention & wars that otherwise might ensue , were content to exclude the uncles , and admit the bastard son , who was also assisted by the forces of the king of france , so as no scruple it seemed there was it those days , either to prefer k. hen. to the crown of france before his elder brother or d. william the bastard son to the duchy of normandy before his lawfull uncles upon such considerations , as those states may be presumed to have had for their doings . i read also that some yeers after , to wit , in the ye●r 1●10 when philip the 1. of france son and heyr to this k. henry was deceased , the people of france were so offended with his evill life and government , as divers were of opinion to dis-inherit his son lewis the 6. surnamed le gros , for his sake , and so was he like to have been indeed , as may appear by the chronicle of france , if some of his party had not caused him to be crowned in hast , and out of order in orleans for prevnting the matter . the like doth philip cominaeus in his story of k. lewis the 11d● clare , how that the state of france had once determined to have dis-inherited his son charles , named after the 8 & to pu● him back from his succession for their hatred to his father , if the said father had not dred while the other was very young a●● noted before also , that it hapned in k. hen. the 3 of england , w●o was once condemned by the barons to be dis-inherited for the fault of k iohn his father , & lewis the prof france chosen in his place but that the death of k. iohn did alter that course intended by the english nobi●ity , so as this mat●er is neither n●w nor unaccustomed in all sorraign countries , and now will i passe also a little to our english stories , to see whether the like may be found in them or no. and first of all , that the realm of england hath had as great variety , changes , & diversity in the races of their kings , as any one realm in the world it seemeth evident : for that first of all after the britains , it had romans for their governours for many yeer , & then of them , & their roman bloud , they had kings againe of their own , as appeareth by that valiant king aurelius ambrosius , who resisted so manfully & prudently the saxons for a time , after this they had kings of the saxon & english bloud & after them of the da●es , & ●hen of ●he normans and after them again of the french ; & last of all , it seemeth to have returned to the britains again , in k. h. 7. for that his father came of that race , and now you know there bee pretenders of divers nations , i mean both of scottish , spanish , and i alian bloud , so that england is li●e to perticipate with all their neighbors round about them & i for my part do feel my self much of the french opinion before alleadged , that so the ship be well and happily guided , i esteeme it not much important of what race or nation the pylot be but now to our purpose . i mean to passe over the first and ancient ranks of kings , as well of the brittish and roman , as also of the saxon races , un●ill k. egbert me 1 of this name , king of the west saxons , & almost of all the rest of england besides who therefore is said to be ●roperly the first monarch of the saxon bloud , and he that first of all commanded that realm to be called england , which ever since hath been observed . this man egbert being a young gentleman of a noble house in the west parts of england , was bad in jelousie by his k. britricus , who was the 16. k. from cordicius , first k. of the west saxons , as he was also the last of his bloud . and for that he suspected that this egbert for his great prowess might come in time to be chosen king , he banished him into france , where he lived divers yeers , & was a captain under the famous k. pepin , that was father to charl●s the great , & hearing afterwards that k. britricus was dead , he returned in●o england where polid●o saith , omnium confensu rex creatur , pol. hist. aug . l. 4. in sine , that he was created or chosen king by consent & voyce of all men , though yet he were not next propinquity of bloud royall , as is most evident , and yet he proved the most excellent king that ever the saxons had before , or perhaps after , & his election hapned in the yeer of christ 802. when k. pepin the first of that race reigned in france , so as this monarchy of egbert , and that of pepin began as it were together , and both of them came to their crowns by election of the people , as here you see . this king egbert or egbrich as others do write him , left a lawfull son behind him named ethelw●lfe , or ad●●ulte , or edolph , an . 829. ( for all is one ) who succeeded him in the kingdom , and was as worthy a man as his father , and this adeluulfe again had four lawfull sons , who all in their turns succeeded by just and lawfull order in the crown , to wit , ethelbald , ethelbert , ethelred , and alfred , for that none of the former three had any children and all the latter three were most excellent princes , especially alfred or alured , the last of all four , whose acts are wonderfull , an . 8●2 . and who among other his renowned guests , drove rollo that famous captain of the danes from the bo●ders of england , with all his company into france where he got the country or province named then neustria , and now normandy , and was the first duke of that province and nation , and from whom our william conquerour came afterwards in the 6. discent . this man also erected the university of oxford , being very learned himselfe , builded divers good monasteries and churches & dying left as famous a son behind himself , which was edward the first surnamed the senior or elder , anno 900. this king edward dying left two sons lawfully begotten of his wife edgina , the one named prince edmund , & the other e●●●ed , and a third illegitimate whose name was adelstan , whom he had by a concubine . but yet for that this man was esteemed to be of more valour then the other , he was preferred to the crown before the other two princes legitimate , an . 924 for so testifieth po●dor in these words , ad●●anus ex concubina edwardi filius rax a populo consalutatur atque ad kingstonum opidum more majorum ab ath●●lmo cautuariensi arel lepiscopo cor●natur . pol. l. 5. hist . ang . which is adelstan the son of k. edward by a concubine was made king by the people , and was crowned according to the old custome , by athelme archbishop of canterbury at the town of kingston . thus far polidor and stow addeth further these words . his coronation was celebrated in the market place upon a stage erected on high , that the king might better be seen of the multitude , he was a prince of worthy memory , valiant and wise in all his acts , and brought this land into one perfect monarchy , for the expelled utterly the danes , and quieted the welch men ; stow p. 136. an . 924. thus much stow of the snccesse of chusing this king bastard to reign , to whose acts might be added , that he conquered scotland , and brought constantine their king to doe him homage , and restored lewis d'outremer his sisters son to the kingdom of france , an . 940. this man dying without issue , his lawfull brother edmond put back before , was admitted to the crown who being of excellent expectation dyed after 6 yeers , and left two lawfull sons , but yet for that they were young , they were both put back by the realm , & their uncle e●dred was preferred before them , an 946. so saith palidor , genu●t edmondus ex egilda uxore edvinuus & edganum , qui cum etate pueri esse●● , post eldredum deinder regnarunt , pol l. 6. king edmond begat of his wife egilda two sons named edwin and edgar , who for that they were but children in yeers , were put back , and reigned afterward after their uncle eldred . the like saith stow , and yeeldeth the same reason in these words . eldred succeeded edmond his b●other , for that his sons edwin , and edgar were thought to young , to take so great a charge upon them . this eldred though he entred as you see against the right of the nephews , yet saith polidor and stow , that he had all mens good will , and was crowned , as his brother had been at kingston by odo archbishop of canterbury , and reigned 9 yeers with great good will and praise of all men . he dyed at last without issue , aud so his elder nephew edwin was admitted to the crown , but yet after 4 yeers he was deposed again for his lewd & vicious life , and his younger brother edgar admitted in his place , in the yeer of christ , 959. this king edgar that entred by deposition of his brother , was one of the rarest princes that the world had in his time , both for peace and war , justice , piety , and valour . stow saith he kept a navy of 3000. and 600 ships distributed in divers parts for defence of the realm . also that he built and restored 47 monasteries at his own charges , and did other many such acts . he was father to king edward the martyr , and grandfather to k. edward the confessor , though by two different wives , for by his first wife named egilfred , ●hee had edward after martyrized , and by his second wife alfred , he had etheldred father to edw. the confessour , and to the end that etholdred might reign , his mother alfred caused k. ed. the son of egilfred to be slain after king edgar her husband was dead . after this so shamefull murther of k. edw many good men of the realm were of opinion , not to admit the succession of etheldred his half brother , both in respect of the murther of k. ed. his elder brother committed for his sake ; as also for that he seemed a man not fit to govern , and of his opinion among others , was the holy man dunston archbishop of canterbury , as polidor saith , pol. l. 7. hist . ang. who at length in flat words denyed to consecrate him , but seeing the most part of the realm bent on etheldreds side , he foretold them that it would repent them after and that in this mans life the realm should be destroyed , as indeed it was and he ran away to normondy , and left sweno and his danes in possession of the realm , though afterward being dead , hee returned againe , and dyed in london . this etheldred had two wives , the first ethelgina an english woman , by whom he had prince edward surnamed iron-side for his great strength and valour , who succeeded his father in the crown of england for a yeer , and at his death left two sons , which after shall be named . and besides this , etheldred had by his first wife other two sons , edwin and adelston , and one daughter named edgina , all which were either slain by the danes , or dyed without issue . the second wife of etheldred was called emma , sister to richard duke of no●mondy , who was grandfather to william the conquerour , to wit father to duke robert , that was father to william , so as emma was great aunt to this william , and shee bare unto king atheldred two sons , the first edward , who was afterward named king edward the confessor , and alerud who was slain trayterously by the earl of kent . after the death also of king etheldred , queen emma was marryed to the dane king canutus the first of that name , surnamed the great , that was king of england after etheldred , and edmond ironside his son , and to him she bare a sonne , named hardicanutus , who reigned also in england before king edward the confessour . now then to come to our purpose , hee that will consider the passing of the crown of england , from the death of edmond iron-side , elder sonne of king etheldred , untill the possession thereof gotten by william duke of normandy , to wit , for the space of 50 yeers , shall easily see what authority the common-wealth hath in such affaires , to al●er titles of snccession , according as publique necessity or utility shall require : for thus briefly the matter passed . king e●●ldred seeing himself to weak for sweno the king of danes , that was entred the land , fled with his wife emma and her two children , edward and alerud unto her brother duke richard of normandy , and there remained untill the death of sweno . and he being dead etheldred returned into england , made a certain agreement and division of the realme , between him and canutus the son of sweno , and so dyed , leaving his eldest sonne edmond iron-side to succeed him , who soone after dying also , left the whole realm to the said canutus , and that by plain covenant as canutus pretended , that the longest liver should have all . whereupon the said canutus took the two children of king edmond iron-side , named edmond , and edward , and sent them over into swethland , which at that time was also subject unto him . and caused them to be brought up honourably , of which , two the elder named edmond dyed without issue , but edward was marryed , and had divers children . eth●ldred and his son edmond being dead , canutus the dane was admitted for king of england by the whole parl●ament , and consent of the realm , anno 1018. and crowned by alerud archbishop of canterbury ▪ as polidor saith , and he proved an excellent king , and went to rome , and was allowed by that see also . he did many works of charity , shewed himself a good christian , and very loving and kind to englishmen , marryed queene emma an english woman , and mother to king edward the confessour , and had by her a son named hardicanutus , and so dyed , and was much mourned by the english , after he had reigned twenty yeers , though his entrance and title was partly by force , and partly by election , as you have heard . after this canutus the first ▪ surnamed the great ( for that he was king joyntly both of england , norway , and denmark ) was dead , polidor saith , that all the states of the realm met together at oxford , ●o consult whom they should make king , and at last by the more part of voyces was chose , harald the first sonne of canutus by a concubine , king harald the bastatd . 1038. polid. l. 8. hist . ang. by which election we see injury was done to the line all succession of three parties . first , to the sons of king edmond iron-side that were in swethland . then to the princes edward and ajerud , sons to king etheldred , and brothers to iron-side that were in normondy , and thirdly to hardie mutus , son to canutus , by his lawfull wife emma , to whom it was also assured at her marriage ▪ that her issue should succeed if she had any by canutus . after the death of this harald who dyed in oxford where he was elected , within 3 yeers after his election , there came from denmark hardicanutus to claim the crown that his father & brother had possessed before him , of whose coming polidor saith , libentissimis animis accipitur communiqve omnium consensu rex dicitur , an . 1041. he was received with great good will of all , and by common content made king , & this was done by the states without any respect had of the succession of those princes in normondy & swethland , who by birth were before him . as hath been shewed , & this is the second breach after lineal , discent after elthred . but this hardicanutus being dead also , upon the sudden 〈◊〉 a certaine banket in lambeth by london without issue , within two yeers after his coronation , the states of the relm had de●ermined to chuse aludred for their king , who was yonger b●other to edw. & for that cause sent for him out of normondy , as polid , recounteth , & had made him k. without all doubt ( for that he was esteemed more stirring & valiant then his elder brother edw. ) had not e. goodwin of kent fearing the youngmans stomack raised a strong faction against him , & thereupon also caused him to be tray●eronsly murthered , as he passed through kent towards london , nor had the state here in any respect to antiquity of bloud , for that before alured were both 〈◊〉 own elder brother p. ed. ( who after him was chosen king , and before them both were edm ▪ & edw. the children of their elder brother , edmond iron 〈◊〉 and this the third breach of lineall discent . but this notwithstanding , alerud being slain , p. edw. was made king , tanta publica lat tia , saith polidor , vt certatim pro ejus faelici principatu , cuncti vota facerent ; that is , he was made king with such universall joy & contentment of all men , as every man contended who should pray and make most vows to god for his happy reign , and according to this was the successe , for he was a most excellent prince and almost miraculously he reigned with great peace , & void of all war at home & abroad for the space of almost 20 yeers after so infinit broyls as had beene before him , & ensued after him ; & yet his title by succession cannot be justified , as you see , for that his eldest brothers son was then alive , to wit , prince edw. surnamed the outlaw , who in this kings reign came into england , & brought his wife , & three lawfull children with him , to wit , edgar , margaret , and christian , but yet was not this good k. edw. so scrupulous , as to give over his kingdome to any of them , or to doubt of the right of his own title , which he had by election of the common-wealth against the order of succession . this k. edward being dead without issue , polidor saith that the states made a great consultation , whom they should make king , & first of all it seemeth they excluded him that was only next by propinquity in bloud , which was edgar aledin , son to the said prince edw. the outlaw now departed , and nephew to k. edmond i tonside & the reason of this exclusion is alleadged by pol. l. 8. in these words , is puer id aetatis nondum regno gubernando maturus erat , that is , he bein● a child of so small yeers was not ripe enough to govern the kingdom , and then he saith , that harald son of earl goodwin by a daughter of canutus the first proclaymed himself king , an . 10●● . & morover he addeth , nond spt cuit omninoid factum populo , qui plurimum spei in haraldi virtue habehat , itaque more majorum sacratus est , which is , this fact of harald displeased not at all the people of england , for that they had great hope in the vertue of this harald , & so was he annoin●ed & crowned according to the fashion of the ancient kings of england , by which words we may see that harald had also the approbation of the realm to be king , notwithstanding that little edgar was present , as hath been said ; so as this was the 4. breach of succession at this time . but in the mean space william duke of normandy pretended that he was chosen before by● k. edw. the confessour , & that the realm had given their consent thereunto , & that k. e. left the same testified in his last will & testament , an 1066. and albeit none of our english authors do avow the same cleerly , yet do many other forrain writers hold it , & it seemeth very probable , that some such thing had past both for that d. william had many in england that did favour his pretence at his entrance ; as also ( as girard in his french story saith ) that at his first comming to london he punished divers by name , for th●t they had broken their oaths and promises in that behalf , gir l. 6. ●n . 1065. and moreover it appeareth , that by alledging this title of election , he moved divers princes abroad to favour him in that action as in a just quarrel , which is not like they would have done . if he had pretended only a conquest , or his title of sanguinity , which could bee of no importance in the world for that effect , seeing it was no other but that his grandfather and king edwards mother were brother and sister , which could give him no pretence at all to the succession of the crowne , by blood , and yet we see that divers princes did assist him , and among others the french chronicles girard , so often named before writeth chron. cassin . l. ● . cap. ●4 . that alexander the second pope of rome , whose holinesse was so much esteemed in those daies as one constan●inus after , wrote a booke of his miracles being informed by duke william of the justnesse of his pretence , did send him his benediction and a pr●cious ring of ●od , with a hollowed banner , by which hee gett the victory , thus writeth girard in his french chronicles , and antonius archbishop of florence surnamed antoninus ●art . 2 chron. ●it . 16. cap. 5. s . 1. sainct , writing of this matter in his chronicles speaketh great good of vvilliam conqueror & commendeth his enterprise . but howsoever this was the victory we see he get , and god prospered his pretence , and hath confirmed his of-spring in the crown of england more then 500 yeares together so as now acc●unting from the death of king edmond i consider unto this man , we shall find ( as before i have said ) in lesse then 5● yeares , that 5. or 6 kings were made in eng●and one after another , by only authority and approbati●n of the ●ommon wealth contrary to the ordinary course of ineall succession by propinquity of blo●d and al this is before the conquest , but it we should passe any further down , we should find more e●amples then before , for first the two sonnes of the conquerour himselfe , that succeeded after him , to wit william rufus and henry the first , were they not both younger brothers to robert du●e of normandie , to wh●m the most part of the realme was inclined ( as polydor saith ) polyd. in vita gul. conq. to have given the kingdome presently after the conquerors death , as due to him by succession , notwithstanding that w●illiam for perticular displeasure against his elder sonne and had ordein●d the contrary in his testament . but that robert being absent in the war of hierusalem , the holy and learned man lanfranke as he was accompted then archbishop of canterbury being deceived with vain hope of william rufus an. 107 , good nature perswaded th●m the contr●ry , who was at that day of high estimation and authority in england and so might indu●e the realme to do what he liked . by like meanes gat henry his younger brother the same crown afterwards , to wit by fair pr●mises to the peop●e , and by help principally of henry newborow ●arle of warwick , that dealth with the nobility for him , and maurice bishop of london with the cleargie for that ans●lme arch bishop of can●erbury was in ba●nishment . besides this also it did greatly helpe his cause that his elder brother robert , ( to whom the crowne by reign appetteined ) was absent again this second time in the vvarre of ierusalem and so lost thereby his kingdome as before : henry having no ther title in the world unto it but by election and admission of the people , which yet he so desended afterwards against his said brother robert , that came to claim it by the sword , and god did so prosper him the● rein as he took his said elder brother prisoner , and so kept him for many yeares , untill he died in prison most pitifully . but this king henry dying , left daughter behind him named mawde or mathilde , which being married first to the emperour henry the fist he dyed wit●out issue , and then was shee married againe the second time to geffry pantage●t 〈◊〉 . of earle of anjow in france , to whom she bare a sonne named henry , which this king henry his grand father , caused to be declared for heire apparent to the crowne in his daies , bu● yet after his disceasse for that stephen earl of bollogne , born of adela daughter to william the conquerour , was thought by the state of england to be more 〈◊〉 to governe and to defend the land ( for that he was at mans age ) then was prince henry a child , or ma●de ●is mother , he was admitted and henry put backe , and this chiefly at the perswasion of henry bish●p of winche●●er brother to the said stephen , as also by the sollicitation of the abbot of glast●nbury and ●thers , who thought be like they might do the same , with good conscience for the good of the realm though the even● proved not so well . for that it drew all england into factions and divisions , for avoyding and ending whereof , the states ●●me years after , in a parliament at vval ingford made a agreement that stephen should be lawfull king during his life only , and that henry and his of-spring should succeed him , and that prince vvilliam king stephens sonne should be deprived of his succession to the crowne and made onely earle of norfolke , thus did the stat● dispose of the crown at that time which was in the yeare of christ , 1153. to ●his henry succeded by order his oldest sonne then living , named richard , and surnamed cordelton , for his valour , but after him againe his succession was broken . for that iohn king henries youngest sonne , 〈◊〉 youuger brother to richard whom his father the king had left so unprovided as in jest he was cal●ed by the french iean sens terre as if you wou●d say sir iohn lacke-land : this man i say , was after the death of his brother admitted and crowned by the states of england , and arthur duke of brittaine , sonne and heir to geffry that was elder brother to iohn was against the order of succession excluded . ●nd albeit this arthur did seeke , to remedy the matter , by warr , yet it seemed that god did more defend this election of the common wealth , then the right title of arthur by succession , for that arthur was over-come , and ta●en by king iohn though he had the king of franc● on his side , anb he died pitifully in prison , or rather as most authors do ho●d , he was put to death by king iohn his uncles own hands in the castle of roan , thereby to make the titl● of his succession more cleare ▪ which yet could not be , for that as well stow in his chtonicle , as also matthew of vvestminster and others before him , do write that geffry beside 〈◊〉 sonne left two daughters by the lady constance his wife , countesse and he●r of brit●ain , which by the law of england should have succeeded before iohn , but of this small accompt seemed to be made at that day . some yeares after when the barons and states of england mi●liked utterly the government and proceeding of this king iohn , they rejected him againe and chose lewis the prince of france to be thei● king 3216 and did swear fea●ty to him in london , as before hath bin said and they dep●i●●ed also the young prince henry his sonne that was at that time , but of 8 years old , but upon the death of his father king iohn that shorty ●fter insued , they recalled againe that sentence , and admitted this henry to the crown by the name of king henry the third and disanulled the a leageance made unto lewis prince of france and so king henry raigned for t●e 53 yeares afterward , the ●ongest reign as i think that any before or after ●im hath had in england . moreover you ●now from this king henry the third , d● take th●ir first beginning the two branches at yorke and l●ncastee wihch after fe●● to fo great contention about the crown : into which if we would enter , we should see plainely as before hath beene noted that the best of all their titles after their deposition of king richard the second depended of this authority of th● com●on-wealth fot that as the people were affected and the greater part prevailed ●o ●ere their titles either a lowed confirmed altered or disanulled by parliament , & yet may not we well affirm , but that either part when they were in possession and confirmed herein by these parliaments were lawfu●l kings and that god concurred with them as with true princes for government of the people , for if we should deny this point great incouveniences wou●d o●ow , and we should shake the states of most princes in the world at this day . and to conc●ude as one the one side pro●inquity of b●ood is a great ●reheminence towards the atteining of any crowne so doth it not ever bind the common wea●th to yeeld there-unto if weightier reasons shauld urge them to the contrary , neither is the common-wealth bound bound alwayes to shut her eyes , and to admit at ●p-hazard , or of necessity every one that is next by succession of b●oud as some fa●se●y and fondly a●●meth , but rather she is bound to consider well and maturely the person that i● to enter , whether he be ●ike to perform his duty and charge committeed or no , for th●t otherwise to admitt him that is an enimy or unfitis but to destroy the common wealth and him t●gether this is my opinion aud this seemeth to me to be conform , to al reason , aw● religion p●ery , wisdome , & po●●icy and to the use aud customs of all well governed common-wea●thes in the world neither do i meane to prejudice any any princes pretence or succession to any crown or dignity in the world , but rather do hold that he ought to enjoy his preheminence , but yet that he 〈◊〉 not pr●judicall thereby to the whole body which is ever 〈◊〉 be respected more then any one person whatsoever . the ninth speech . according to law , both civill and canon ( which is great reason ) it is a matter most certaine , that he who is judge and hath to give sentence in the thing it selfe , is also to judge of the cause , for thereof is he called judge , and if he have authority in the one , good reason he should also have power to discerne the other , so as , if we grant according to the forme and proofes , that the realme or common-wealth hath power to admit or put back the prince or pretender to the crowne , then must we also confesse that the same common wealth hath authority to judge of the lawfulnesse of the causes , and considering further that it is in their owne affaire , and in a matter that hath his whole beginning , continuance and subsistance from them alone , i meane from the common wealth , for that no man is king or prince by institution of nature , as before hath been declared , but every king and kings son , hath his dignity and preheminence above other men , by authority onely of the common wealth : god doth allow for a just and sufficient cause in this behalfe , the onely will and judgement of the weal publick it selfe , supposing alwayes ( as in reason we may ) that a whole realme will never agree by orderly way of judgement ( for of this onely i meane and not of any particular faction of private men against the heyre apparent ) to exclude or put back the next heyr in blood and succession without a reasonable cause , in their sight and censurre . and seeing that they only are to be judges of this case , we are to presume that what they determine , is just and lawfull for the time , and if at one time they should determine one thing , and the contrary at another ( as they did often in england during the contention between york and lancaster and in other like occasions ) what can a private man judge otherwise , but that they had different reasons and motions to leade them at different times , and they being properly lords and owners of the whole busines committed unto them , it is enough for every particular man to subject himselfe to that which his common wealth doth in this behalfe , and to obey simply without any further inquisition , except he should see that open injustice were done therin , or god manifesty offended , and the realme indangered . open injustice i call when not the true common wealth , but some faction of wicked men should offer to determine this matter , without lawfull authority of the realme committed to them , and i call manifest offence of god , and danger of the realme , when such a man is preferred to the crowne , as is evident that he wil do what lyeth in him to the prejudice of them both , i mean both of gods glory and the publick wealth : as for example , if a turk or moor or some other notorious wicked man , or tyrant should be offered by succession or otherwise to governe among christians , in which cases every man ( no doubt ) is bound to resist what hee can , for that the very end and intent for which all government was first ordeined , is herein manifestly impugned . from this consideration , of the weal publick , are to be reduced all other considerations of most importance , for discerning a good or evill prince . for that whosoever is most likely to defend , preserve , and benefit most his realme and subjects , he is most to be allowed and desired , as most conforme to the end for which government was ordained . and on the contrary side , he that is least like to do this , deserveth least to be preferred , and here doth enter also that consideration , which divers common wealths had in putting back oftentimes children and impotent people ( though otherwise next in blood ) from succession , and preferring more able men though further off by descent , for that they were more like to defend wel their realme and subjects then the others were . but to proceed more distinctly and more perspicuously in this matter , i would have you call to minde one point among others , out of girard the french author , girard lib. 3. de l' estat . pag. 242. to wit , that the king of france in his coronation is new apparalled three times in one day , once as a priest , and then as a judge , and last as a king armed . thereby to signifie three things committed to his charge , first religion , then justice , then manhood and chivalry , for the defence of the realme . this division seemeth to me very good and fit , and to comprehend all that a weal-publick hath need of , for her happy state and felicity , both in soule and body , and for her end , both supernaturall and naturall . for by the first which is religion , her subjects do attaine unto their end spirituall and supernaturall , which is the salvation of their soules , and by the second and third , which are justice and defence , they enjoy their felicity temporall , which is to live in peace among themselves , and safety from their enemies , for which cause it seemeth that these are the three points which most are to be regarded in every prince , that commeth to government , and much more in him that is not yet admitted thereunto , but offereth himselfe to the common wealth for the s●me pu●pose . and for that the latter two of these three points , which are justice and manhood , hath been often had in consideration , in the examples of changes before mentioned , and the first point which is religion , hath rarely or never at all been talked of , for that in former times the prince and the people were alwayes of one and the same religion , and scarce ever any question or doubt fell in that behalfe ( which yet in our dayes is the principall difference and chiefest difficulty of all other ) for these causes ( i say ) shall i accommodate my selfe to the circu●stance of the time , wherein wee live , and to the present case which is in question betwix● us about the succession of england , and leaving aside those other two considerations of justice and chivalry in a king , which are far lesse important then the other ( though yet so highly regarded by ancient common wealths ) i shall treate principally of religion , in this place , as of the first and highest , and most necessary point of all other , to bee considered in the admission of any prince , for the profit of his subjects : for that without this , he destroyeth all , and with this , albeit he should have defects in the other two points of justice and manhood , yet may it be holpen , or his defect or negligence may be supplyed much by others , as after i shall shew more in particular , but if he want feare of god , or care of religion , or be perversly perswaded therein , the domage of the weale publique is inestimable . first of all then , for better understanding of this point , we are to suppose , that the first chiefest , and highest end that god and nature appointed to every common-wealth , was not so much the temporall felicity of the body , as the supernaturall and everlasting of the soule , and this was not only revealed to the jewes by holy scripture , but also unto the gentiles and heathens by the instinct and light of nature it selfe . for by this light of naturall reason , the learned sort of them came to understand the immortallity of the soule , and that her felicity , perfection , and full contentment , which they called her finall end , and summum bonum , could not be in this life , not in any thing created under heaven , but must needs be in the life to come , and that by attaining to enjoy some infinite endlesse and immortall object , which could fully satisfie the appetite of our soule , and this could be no other then god , the maker of all himselfe . and that consequently all other things of this transitory life , and of this humane common-wealth , subject to mans eyes , are ordained to serve and be subordinate and directed to the other higher end , and that all mans actions in this world , are first of all , and in the highest degree , to be imployed to the recognising , serving , and honoring of this great lord that governeth the whole , as author and end of all . to this light i say , came the heathens even by the instinct and direction of nature , whereof ensued that there was never yet pagan philosopher that wrot of framing a good common-wealth as socrates , plato , plutarch , cicero , and others , neither lawmaker among them that left ordinances for the same purpose , as deucalion , minos , zaleucus , licurgus , solon , ion , numa , or the like , which besides the temporall end of directing things well for the body , had not especiall care also of matters appertaining to the minde , to wit , of nourishing , honoring , and rewarding of vertue , and for restraining and punishing of vice , and wickednesse , whereby is evident that their end and butt was to make their citizens good and vertuous , which was a higher end , then to have a bare consideration of temporall and bodily benefits only , as many great men of our daies ( though christians in name ) seeme to have , who pretend no higher end in their government then bodily wealth , and a certaine temporall kind of peace and justice , wh●ch divers beasts also do reach unto , in their congregations and common-wealths , as is to be seene among emets , and bees , cranes , lyons , and other such creatures , that by instinct of nature are sociable , and do live in company , and consequently also doe maintaine so much order and policy in their common-wealth , as is need●ull for their preservation and continuance . but na●ure taught man a far higher and more excellent end in his common-wealth , which was not only to provide for those bodily benefits that are common also to creatures without reason ; but much more for those of the minde , and above all for the serving of that high and supreme god , that is the beginning and end of all the rest . for whose service also they learned by the same instinct and institution of nature , that the chiefest and supremest honour that could be done unto him in this life by man , was the honour of sacrifice and obla●ions● , which we see was begun and practised even in those fi●st beginnings of the law of nature , before the leviticall law , and the particular formes of this same law , were prescribed by moses . for so we reade in genesis of noah , gen. 8. that he made an altar , and offered sacrifices to god upon the same , of all the beasts and birds that he had in the arke , odoratusque est dominus odorem suavitatis , and god received the smell of these sacrifices , as a sweet smell . which is to say , that god was highly pleased therewith : and the like we reade of job that was a gentile , and lived before moses , job 1. sanctificabat filios consurgensque diluculo offerebat holocausta per dies singulos . he did sanctifie his children , and rising early in the morning did offer for them holocastes or burnt sacrifices every day . this men used in those dayes , and this they were taught by law of nature , i meane both to honour god above all things , and to honour him by this particular way of sacrifices , which is proved also evidently by that which at this day is found and seene in the indians , where never any notice of moses law came , and yet no nation hath ever been found among them , that acknowledgeth not some kinde of god , and offereth not some kinde of sacrifice unto him . and albeit in the particular meanes of honouring this god , as also in distinguishing between false gods , and the true god ; these people of the indians have fallen into most grosse and infinite errours , as also the gentiles of europe , asia , and africa did , by the craft and subtlety of the divell , which abusing their ignorance , did thrust himselfe into the place of god , and derived and drew those sacrifices and supreame honours unto himselfe , which were due to god alone ; yet is it evident heereby ( and this is sufficient for our purpose ) that by god and nature , the highest and chiefest end of every common-wealth , is cultus dei , the service of god , and religion , and consequently that the principall care and charge of a prince , and magistrate even by nature is selfe , is , to looke thereunto , whereof all antiquity both among jewes and gentiles , were wont to have so great regard , as for many yeeres and ages their kings and chiefe magistrates were also priests : genebrard . l. 1 , chronol . de 1. aetate genes . 25. & 29. deut. 21. 2. paral. 21. and divers learned men doe hold , that the priviledge and preheminence of primo genitura , or the first borne children , so much esteemed in the law of nature , consisted principally in this , that the eldest sons were priests , and had the charge and dignity of this greatest action of all other upon earth , which some temporall magistrates so little regard now . and this respect and reverence towards religion was so greatly planted in the breasts of all nations by nature her selfe , as cicero pronounced , this generall sentence in his time . cicero li. 1. quest . tusc . & de natura deorum lib. 1. nulla est gens tam fera , nulla tam immanis , cujus mentem non imbuerit deorum colendorum religio . there is no nation so fierce or barbarous , whose mindes are not indued which some religion of worshipping gods. and plutarch writing against a certaine atheist of his time , saith thus : if you travel far countreys , you may chance to find some cities without learning , without kings , without riches , without money ; but a city without temples , and without gods and sacrifices , no man yet hath ever seene . plutarch adversus colotem . and finally aristotle in his politiques having numbred divers things necessary to a common-wealth , addeth these words . quintum & primum . circa rem divinam cultus , quod sacerdotium sacrificiumque vocant . aristo . l. 7. politi . c. 8. in the fi●t place ( which indeed ought to be the first of all other ) is necessary to a common-wealth , the honour and service due unto god , which men commonly doe comprehend by the words of priest-hood and sacrifice . all this i have alleaged to confute even by the principles of nature herself , the absurd opinions of divers atheists of our time , that will seeme to be great politicks , who affirme that religion ought not to be so greatly respected in a prince , or by the parliament , as though it were their chiefest care , or the matter of most importance in his government , which you see how false and impious it is , even among the gentiles themselves ; but much more among christians , who have so much the greater obligation to take to heart this matter of religion , by how much greater light and knowledge they have of god , and therefore wee see that in all the princes oathes which before you have heard recited to be made and taken by them at their admission and coronation , the first and principall point of all other , is about religion and maintainance thereof , and according to his oath also of supreame princes , not only to defend and maintaine religion by themselves in all their states ; but also their livetenants and under governours ; wee have in our civill law a very solemne forme of an oath which justinian the emperour , above a thousand and fifty yeeres agone , was wont to give to all his governours of countries , cities , and other places , before they could be admitted to their charges , and for that it is very effectuall , and that you may see thereby what care there was of this matter at that time ; and what manner of solemne and religious protestations , as also imprecations they did use therein , it shall not be amisse perhaps to repeate the same in his owne words , which are these following , the title in the civill law is , juramentum quod praestatur , iis qui administrationes accipiunt , the oath which is given to them that receive governments , and then the oath beginneth thus . collat. 2. novella constit justin . 8. tit . 3. juro per deum omnipotentem & filium ejus unigenitum dominum nostrum jesum christum & spiritum sanctum , & per sanctam gloriosam dei genitricem & semper virginem mariam , & per quatuor evangelia quae in manibus meis teneo , & per sanctos archangelos michaelem & gabrielem , puram conscientiam germanumque servitium me servaturum sacratissimis nostris dominis justiniano & theodosiae conjugiejus , occasione traditae mihi ab eorum pietate administrationis . et quod communicator sum sanctissimae dei catholicae & apostolicae ecclesiae , & nullo modo vel tempore adversaboret , nec alium quocunque permittam quantum possibilitatem habeam , & si vero non haec omnia servavero , recipiam omnia incommoda hic & in futuro seculo in terribili judicio magni domini dei & salvatoris nostri jesu christi , & habebo partem cum juda & cum lepra giezi , & cum tremore cain , insuper & paenis quae lege eorum pietatis continentur ero subjectus . which in english is thus ; i do sweare by almighty god , and by his holy son our lord jesus christ , and by the holy ghost , that i will keepe 〈◊〉 pure conscience , & perform true service unto the sacred persons of our lords & princes justinian and theodosia his wife , in all occasions of this government , by their benignity committed unto me . moreover i do sweare that i am communicant and member of the most holy catholique and apostolique church of god , and that i shall never at any time hereafter be contrary to the same , nor suffer any other to be , as much as shall lie in my possibility to let . and if i should breake this oath or not observe any point thereof , i am content to receiue any punishment both in this world , as also in the world to come , in that last and most terrible judgement of our great lord and saviour jesus christ , and to have my part with judas , as also with the leprosie of giezi , and with the feare and trembling of damned cain ; and besides all this i shall be subject to all punishments that are ordained in the lawes of their majesties , concerning this affaire . this oath did all the governours of christian countries take in old time , when christian emperors did flourish , and it hath remained for a law and president ever since to all posterity . and if we joyne this with the other oathes before set downe in the fifth chapter , which emperors and kings did make themselves ( unto their ecclesiasticall prelates , at their first admission ) about this point ; we should see nothing was so much respected in admission of a prince or governor ( nor ought to be ) a● religion , for that ( as i have said before ) this is the chiefest , greatest and highest end of every common-wealth , entended both by god and nature , to assist their subjects to the attaining of their supernaturall end , by honoring and serving god in this life , and by living vertuously , for that otherwise god should draw no other fruit or commodity out of humane common-wealths , then of an assembly of brutish creatures , manitained only and governed for to eate , drinke , and live in peace . but the end of man being far higher then this ; it followeth that whatsoever prince or mag●strate doth not attend with care to assist and helpe his subjects to this end , omitteth the first and principall part of his charge , and committeth high treason against his lord and master , in whose place he is , and consequently is not fit for that charge and dignity , though he should perform the other two parts never so well of temporall justice and valour in his person , which two other points do appertaine principally to the humane felicity and baser end of mans weale publick , and m●ch ●ore of a christian . hereof it insueth also that nothing in the world can so justly exclude an heire apparent from his succession , is want of religion , nor any cause whatsoever justifie and cleare the conscience of the common-wealth , or of particular , men , that in this case should resist his entrance , as if they judge him faulty in this point , which is the head of all the rest , and for which all the rest doe serve . i compare an heyre apparant unto a spouse , betrothed only and not yet marryed , to the common wealth . which espous●ll or betrothing , according to all law both divine and humane , may be broken and made voyd much easier and upon far lesser causes then an actuall perfect marrying may , of which our saviour himselfe said , matth. 14. quos deus conjunxit homo non separat . mar. 10. whom god hath joyned let no man seperate , and yet s. paul to the corinthians determineth plainely , 1. cor. 7. that if two gentiles marryed together in their gentility ( which none denyeth to be true marriage for so much as concerneth the civill contract ) and afterward the one of them being made a christian , the other will not live with him or her , or if he do , yet notwithout blaspheming of god and tempting him to sin : in this case ( i say ) the apostle teacheth , and out of him the canon law setteth it downe for a decree , lib. 4. decret . greg tit . 19. c. 7. that this is sufficient to breake and dissolve utterly this heathen marriage , although consummate between these two parties , and that the christian may marry againe , and this onely for the want of religion in the other party , which being so in actuall marriage already made and consummate , how much more may it serve to undoe a bare bethrothing , which is the case of a pretender onely to a crowne . but you may say perhaps , that st. paul speaketh of an infidel or heathen , that denyeth christ plainely , and with whom the other party cannot live , without danger of sin and losing his faith , which is not the case of a christian prince though he be somewhat different from me in religion , to which is answered , that supposing there is but one only religion that can be true among christians , as both reason and athanasius his creed ▪ doth plainely teach us : and moreover seeing , that to me there can be no other faith or religion availeable for my salvation then only that which i my selfe do beleeve , for that my owne conscience must testifie for me , or against me : act. 23. 1. cor. 8. 2. cor. 5. 1. pet. 3. certaine it is , that unto me and my conscience he which in any point beleeveth otherwise then i doe , and standeth wilfully in the same , is an infidell , for that he beleeveth not that which in my faith and conscience , is the onely and sole truth , whereby he must be saved . mat. 18. and if our saviour christ himselfe in his gospell , doth will certaine men to be held for heathens , not so much for difference in faith and religion , as for lack of humility & obedience to the church : how much more may i hold him so , that in my opinion is an enemy to the truth , and consequently so long as i have this opinion of him , albeit his religion were never so true , yet so long ( i say ) as i have this contrary perswasion of him , i shall doe against my conscience and sin damnably in the sight of god , to prefer him to a charge where he may draw many other to his owne error and perdition , wherein i doe perswade my selfe that he remaineth ? this doctrine ( which is common among all divines rom. 14 ) is founded upon that discourse of s , paul to the romans and corinthians , 1. cor. 1. & 10. against such christians as being invited to the banquets and tables of gentils and finding meats offered to idols ( which themselves doe judge to be unlawfull to eate ) did yet eate the same , both to the scandall of other infirme men there present , as also against their owne judgement and conscience , which the apostle saith , was a damnable sin , and this not for that the thing in it selfe was evill or unlawfull , as he sheweth , but for that they did judge it so , and yet did the contrary , qui discernit si manducaverit damnatus est , saith the apostle . he that discerneth or maketh a difference between this meat and others , as judging this to be unlawfull and yet eateth the same , he is damned , that is to say , he sinneth damnably or mortally . whereof the same apostle yeeldeth presently his reason , quia non ex fide , for that he eateth not according to his faith or beleefe , but rather contrary , for that he beleeveth it to be cruell and unlawfull , doth notwithstanding eate the same : and hereupon s. paul inferreth this universall proposition , omne autem quod non est ex fide peccatum est , all that is not of faith or according to a mans owne beleefe , is sin to him , for that it is against his owne conscience , judgement and beliefe , beleeving one thing , and doing another , s. chrysost . hom , 36. in hanc epistolam . orig. l. 10. theodor. in hunc locum . and seeing our owne conscience must be our witnes at the last day , to condemne or deliver us , as before i have said , he must needs sin grievously ( or damnably as the apostle here saith ) who committeth any thing against his owne conscience , though otherwise the thing were not onely indifferent , but very good also in it selfe , for that of the doers part there wanteth no malice or will to sin , seeing he doth that which he apprehendeth to be naught , though in it selfe it be not . and thus much now for matter of conscience : but if wee consider reason of state also , and worldly pollicy , it cannot be but great folly and oversight for a man of what religion soever he be , to promote to a kingdome in which himselfe must live , one of a contrary religion to himselfe ; for let the bargains and agreements be what they will , and faire promises and vaine hopes never so great , yet seeing the prince once made and setled , must needs proceed according to the principles of his owne religion , it followeth also that he must come quickly to break with the other party , though before he loved him never so well , ( which yet perhaps is very hard if not impossible for two of different religions to love sincerely ) but if it were so , yet so many jealousies , suspitions , accusations , calumniations & other aversions must needs light upon the party that is of different religion from the state and prince , under whom he liveth , as not onely he cannot be capable of such preferments , honours , charges , governments , and the like , which men may deserve and desire in their common wealths , but also he shall bee in continuall danger and subject to a thousand molestations and injuries , which are incident to the condition and state of him , that is not currant with the course of his prince and realme in matters of religion , and so before he beware , he commeth to be accounted an enemy or backward man , which to remedy he must either dissemble deeply , and against his owne conscience make shew to favour and set forward that which in his heart he doth detest ( which is the greatest calamity and misery of all other , though yet many times not sufficient to deliver him from suspicion ) or else to avoid this everlasting perdition , he must breake with all the temporall commodities of this life , and leave the benefits which his countrey and realme might yeeld him , and this is the ordinary end of all such men , how soft and sweet soever the beginnings be . 31. ian. 1647. imprimatur gilbert mabbot . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a91487-e7190 institut . imp . l 2. tit. 1. a discourse of monarchy more particularly of the imperial crowns of england, scotland, and ireland according to the ancient, common, and statute-laws of the same : with a close from the whole as it relates to the succession of his royal highness james duke of york. wilson, john, 1626-1696. 1684 approx. 257 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 144 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a66571 wing w2921 estc r27078 09638881 ocm 09638881 43884 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66571) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43884) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1346:21) a discourse of monarchy more particularly of the imperial crowns of england, scotland, and ireland according to the ancient, common, and statute-laws of the same : with a close from the whole as it relates to the succession of his royal highness james duke of york. wilson, john, 1626-1696. [12], 272 p. printed by m.c. for jos. hindmarsh, london : 1684. "epistle dedicatory" signed: john wilson. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng james -ii, -king of england, 1633-1701. monarchy. great britain -kings and rulers -succession. 2004-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 rachel losh sampled and proofread 2005-04 rachel losh text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discourse of monarchy , more particularly , of the imperial crowns of england , scotland , and ireland , according to the ancient , common , and statute-laws of the same . with a close from the whole , as it relates to the succession of his royal highness , james duke of york . deut. 4.32 . interroga de diebus antiquis qui fuerunt ante te , ex die quo creavit dominus hominem super terram , &c. london : printed by m. c. for jos. hindmarsh , bookseller to his royal highness , at the black bull in cornhil , 1684. to the most honorable james duke of ormond , &c. lord lieutenant of ireland . may it please your grace , it was a saying of the late earl of ossory ( lord deputy of ireland ( your son ) at what time he deliver'd up the sword of that kingdom to the lord lieutenant berkeley ) action is the life of government : common experience tells us , usefulness , is the end of action , and without which ( like a glass-eye to a body ) a man rather takes up a room , than becomes any way serviceable . the sense of this , put me on those thoughts , i herewith present your grace , and unto whom more fitly , than to a person , in the defence of which , few men sate longer at helm , or suffer'd more ; you , that hung not up your shield of faith , in the temple of despair , and never seem'd more worthy of the great place you now fill , than when farthest from it . nor am i in the so doing , without some prospect of advantage to my self ; in as much , as if the censuring age , shall handle me roughly on this account , under your great patronage , i shall fight in the shade . and now ( my lord ) i was just breaking off , when it came into my head , that i had , in some of our late pieces , found sir edward coke , often quoted , especially , to the defence of those notions , which had better slept in their forgotten embers ; and therefore i thought it not altogether forein to the matter , that i us'd the words of s. peter ( 2 pet. 3.16 . ) touching s. paul's epistles , in which ( saith he ) are some things , hard to be understood , which they that be unlearned , and unstable wrest , as also they do the other scriptures , to their own destruction : i have purposely made use of him in many places , as an high assertor of monarchy , and prerogative ; those that find him otherwise , — habeant secum , serventque — or let him lie indifferent , my argument depends not singly on him : which i humbly took leave to advert , and am , may it please your grace , your most obedient , obliged , humble servant , john wilson . the contents . sect. i. that monarchy , or the supreme dominion of one person , was primarily intended by god , when he created the world. that it is founded in nature . as consonant to the divine government . and of divine institution . acknowledg'd by heathens , as well as christians . 1 sect. ii. that adam held it by divine right . cain a monarch . by the kingdoms of the most ancient gentiles , not god's , but monarchs were denoted . that the origiginal of power came not from the people , by way of pact , or contract . the unreasonableness and ill consequence of the contrary . noah and his sons , kings . a family , an exemplary monarchy , in which the pater-familias had power of life , and death , by the right of primogeniture : examples of the exercise of it in judah , abraham , jephthah , brutus . vpon the increase of families they still continued under one head . esau. the four grand monarchies . ancients , and moderns universally receiv'd it , as precedent to all other governments . 12 sect. iii. that all governments have a natural tendency to monarchy . their several forms , and rotations . of aristocracy . democracy . tyranny , to be rather wisht , than either . examples , of athens , and rome ; the first consulate . their tribunes , several seditions . marius , and sylla . crassus , caesar , pompey . the two latter divide . caesar complemented to rome by the senate . the triumvirate , their proscriptions , and breach . no peace , till monarchy restor'd under augustus . the sense of those times touching this matter . 34 sect. iv. that the kingdom of the jews , was a supreme sovereign monarchy , in which their kings had the absolute power , of peace , and war , and were supreme , in ecclesiasticis . and an answer to that objection , that god gave them a king in his wrath . 62 sect. v. what is here intended by a supreme monarchy . the marks of sovereignty ; as , the power of making laws , and exemption from any coactive obedience to them . the power of peace , and war , &c. that the kingdoms of england , &c. are supreme imperial monarchies . those two marks of sovereignty , and seven others , prov'd to be no other than what has ever been , the undoubted right of the kings of england . the kings sovereignty by the common law. the like from the statute law. power in ecclesiasticks . and that they have justly used those titles of king , and emperor , and that from ancient times , and before the conquest . 67 sect. vi. that the king is none of the three estates ; in which , two preliminary objections are examin'd by reason ; and answered by the manner of the three estates applying to him . what the three estates are . to presume him one of them were to make him but a co-ordinate power . the king cannot be said to summon , or supplicate himself . how will the three estates be made out , before the commons came in ? with a short series during the saxons to the latter end of henry iii. in all which time they are not so much as nam'd as any constituent part of a parliament , and the time when probably they first came in , to be as they are at this day , one of the three estates . that the lords temporal were never doubted but to be an estate . four reasons offer'd , that the lords spiritual , are one other estate , distinct from the lords temporal , and one act of parliament , in point : with other authorities to prove the assertion . 181 sect. vii . admitting what has been before offer'd , wherein has our present king merited less than any of his royal ancestors ? with a short recapitulation of affairs , as they had been , and were at his majesties most happy restauration : and that he wanted not the means of a just resentment , had he design'd any . 181 sect. viii . that notwithstanding the hard law of the kingdom , the jews paid their kings , an entire obedience . two objections answered . the like , other nations to their kings . a third objection answered . the precept of obedience is without restriction ; examples upon it : nor is idolatry any ground to resist ; much less , things indifferent . the example from our saviour in instituting his last supper . least of all , is injury , with the practice of holy men of old , in like cases . and that if any ground were to be admitted , that , would never be wanting . 189 sect. ix . the arts of the late times in working the people from this obedience . it was to be done piece-meal . the kings necessities , answered with complaints . plots discovered ; fears and jealousies promoted . religion cants its part . leading men , some to make it law , others , gospel ; the examples of corah , &c. the same game playing over again : prognostications , &c. the ill consequence of such impressions . the examples of cade , tyler , and others . holy league in france ; solemn league and covenant , at home , &c. new trains to the old fuel . our saviours advice to his disciples touching the leven of the pharisees : what that , and they were , made applicable unto our selves . 210 sect. x. a close from the whole by way of enquiry , whether an exclusion of his royal highness the duke of york may be of more advantage or disadvantage . the advantage propos'd ; and whether an act for security of religion , may not be as safe , as a bill of exclusion . the moral impossibility of introducing the romish religion , tho the prince were of that persuasion . the reason why the kingdom follow'd the reformation under edw. vi. qu. mary . qu. elizabeth . that the case cannot be the same at this day . the crown of england , an ancient entail ; with the danger of innovations . objection , that such things have been done . so has a king been murder'd . more particularly answered , in edw. iv. qu. mary , and qu. eliz. all three excluded by parliament , yet came to the crown . no man changes , but in hopes of better . the advantages of continuing as we are . it is a bar to pretenders . the same , as to competitors . disorders avoided . no new family to be provivided for . the indignity of a repulse avoided . suppose scotland , and ireland be of another opinion ; the former of which has by parliament asserted the right of succession of that crown , notwithstanding any religion , &c. lastly , all occasions of jealousie taken away . objection , answer'd . disadvantages that have attended the laying by the right heir . examples from old rome ; and vsurpations at home . the revolt from rehoboam ; our loss of france . with a conclusion from the whole . more particularly , as it relates to his royal highness . 236 a discourse of monarchy , &c. section i. that monarchy , or the supreme dominion of one person , was primarily intended by god , when he created the world. that it is founded in nature . as consonant to the divine government . and of divine institution . acknowledg'd by heathens , as well as christians . government is of that absolute necessity ( if not to the being ) at least to the well-being of every thing , that without it , nec domus ulla , nec civitas , &c. nor house , nor city , nor nation , nor mankind , nor nature , nor the world it self could consist ; inasmuch as the stronger would devour the weaker , and the whole run back again to its first chaos : and therefore , the eternal wisdom , when he had created the world , and stockt it with living creatures according to their kinds , as if he had done nothing , while there yet wanted something more excellent to govern it , made man. sanctius his animal , mentisque capacius altae , deerat adhuc , & qui dominari in caetera possit ; natus homo est — a creature not only capable of it , and that he might the better go thro with it , furnish'd out accordingly , cognati retinebat semina coeli , but primarily design'd to it ; and , however last in act , yet first in projection ; for says the text , let us make man , &c. and god created man after his own likeness , &c. and blessed them , and said , increase and multiply , &c. and have dominion , &c. and over every thing that moveth upon the earth ; by which , what other can there be rationally understood , but the supreme sovereignty , or dominion of one : for , if god almighty had intended otherwise , how easie had it been , when he created our first parents , to have form'd a multitude , and given them a joynt commission , to have govern'd one another , or at least bade 'em gone together , and agree among themselves : but he foresaw it would not be , and therefore to avoid confusion , ( the inseparable companion of a multitude ) created but one , and erected an exemplary monarchy in him . neither will this less appear , if we consider that the very laws of nature lead us to a monarchy , natura commenta est regem , saith seneca , de clem. as among all irrational creatures , who having least of reason , are wholly govern'd by sense , we find some one that has a preheminence above the rest of its kind : and thus , birds have their eagle ; beasts their lion , and among them also every flock its vir gregis : : the fish of the sea their leviathan : a king over the children of pride , for so job calls him : and the shout of a king may be found among bees , — rege incolumi , mens omnibus una est ; amisso , rupere fidem — nor is it more founded in nature , than consonant to the divine government of god , and a lively image and representation of him , who as sole monarch ruleth and guideth all things : look up to heaven , and we find an hierarchy among angels ; and one star differ from another in glory ; yet , every of them paying this homage to the suns sovereignty , that they veil their faces , at his least appearance : take back again to earth , and this little world of man , has but one body , and all the members of this body , but one head , whereon depends the will , motion , and sense ; and the greater world , but one god : he ruleth over the angels , ( than whom he made man only inferior ) they over men , men over beasts , the soul over the body , man ( again ) over woman , and reason above affection : by which means , every good , commanding over what is less good by a certain combination of powers , all things are kept in their order : whereas , were there a duplex principium , of equal power ( as the ancients fabled ) the commands must be contrary , and consequently thereby either ruine one another , or at least by their continual jarring , disturb the harmony of the whole : and therefore it is observable , that albeit god , who comprehended the whole system at once , and unblotted nature , thro all her meanders ; and to every days work ( but that of the second ) said , and behold it was good , yet until he had put to his last finishing hand , i. e. made man , and giv'n him his commission , of having dominion , it is not said , and god saw all that he had made , and they were very good : and by that divine commission have kings ever since reign'd , there being no power but what is appointed of god , who according to the similitude of his heavenly kingdom hath given unto them , the scepters of their earthly principalities . nor need we go far for examples , we find it every where ; for such was abraham taken and acknowledged by the inhabitants when they call'd him principem dei ; and albeit heaven be the throne of god , yet we meet with another of his on this earth , his foot-stool ; for so we find it express'd , solomon sate on the throne of the lord , as king : and in like manner the queen of sheba , god set thee on his throne , to be king for the lord thy god : as also david is called his king , and his anointed , he giveth strength to his king , &c. and again , hath shewed mercy to his anointed . to which , if any man shall object , that this was spoken of a good king , a man after his own heart ; i answer , that not only josiah who also was a good king is called the anointed of the lord , but saul , a king whom god is said to have given in his anger , has this sacred title attributed to him , in eight places in the first book of samuel , and in two other in the second : and the same also , we find god giving to heathen emperors , thus saith the lord to his anointed cyrus ; to cyrus , whose hand i have holden to subdue nations before him . and ver . 4. i have surnamed thee tho thou hast not known me : howbeit tho he knew not his founder at first , it is not long e're we find him acknowledging him ; thus saith cyrus the king , all the kingdoms of the earth hath the lord god of heaven given me , &c. and he that gave the title of anointed to cyrus , gave the stile of his servant to nebuchadnezzar ( who yet had sack'd jerusalem , and led the people thereof into captivity ) when he calls him nebuchadnezzar , the king of babylon , my servant ; which also is but the same , wherewith he so often favours moses , joshua and david . neither is this truth , that kings derive their power from god , less acknowledg'd by the heathens , than us christians , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , kings are from jupiter , saith hesiod : and elsewere you find 'em stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , born of jove , and nourish'd by jove ; whereby god is made their procreant cause , as well as their conservant ; not as deriving their pedigree from jupiter , but their kingly honor : and what the poet ascribes to jupiter , the apostle gives to god , for ( saith he ) as certain of your own poets have said , we are also his off-spring . and what other does the psalmist's calling them gods import , than that they receive their authority from god , whose place they supply , and whose person they represent ? many also of the most ancient philosophers acknowledg the regal office to be a divine good , and the king as it were a god among men ; and that god had given him dominion ; as we have it at large in the power communicated by god to the prince , and the obedience required of the subject ; written by the most reverend the late lord primate of all ireland . in short , the psalmist is direct in this point , thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands : and therefore when s. peter calls government an ordinance of man , it is not that it was invented by men , but as proper to them , and ordained of god , for the good and conservation of human kind , and exercised by men , about the government of human society . section ii. that adam held it by divine right . cain a monarch . by the kingdoms of the most ancient gentiles , not god's , but monarchs were denoted . that the original of power came not from the people , by way of pact , or contract . the unreasonableness and ill consequence of the contrary . noah and his sons , kings . a family , an exemplary monarchy , in which the pater-familias had power of life , and death , by the right of primogeniture : examples of the exercise of it in judah , abraham , jephthah , brutus . vpon the increase of families they still continued under one head . esau. the four grand monarchies . ancients , and moderns universally receiv'd it , as precedent to all other governments . that god almighty was the first king , will not be deny'd ; and that adam was the next , appears by his commission ( as i have shewn before ) a large commission , and of as large extent , as having made him a mighty king , and universal monarch , and given him an unqestionable right to his kingdom , which was , all the inferior world , the earth , the sea , and all that therein were ; insomuch that it might not improperly be said of this matter , jupiter in coelis ; terras , regit unus adamus : divisum imperium cum jove , adamus habet . and now as all things were created in order , and that the infant world might not sit in darkness , nor their posterity want a light to guide and direct them , what wonder is it , that for the preservation of that order , god erected a dominion himself , and declar'd his vicegerent ? afterward , when the world began to enlarge , and men liv'd so long , that they begat a numerous posterity , cain with his own colony went into a strange land , and built a city , and called the name thereof , after his sons name , enoch ; which double act carries the character of a kingdom in it , and that he was as well the king , as father of the inhabitants : neither do the ancientest gentiles otherwise speak of those elder times , than with a clear supposition of monarchy . those kingdoms of saturn , jupiter , neptune , pluto , and the like , denoting as much , and that under those names , applied to distinct kingdoms , not gods , but the monarchs of land and sea , in the first times were understood . and so cicero , certum est , omnes antiquas gentes regibus paruisse . and with him agrees justin , principio rerum gentiumque imperium penes reges erat . but not a word all this while do we hear of the people , or that the original of government came from them by way of pact or contract ; for if the power of adam , upon his children , and his posterity , and so all mankind whatever depended not on any consent of his sons , or posterity , but wholly proceeded from god and nature , then certainly , the authority of kings is both natural and immediately divine , and not of any consent , or allowance of man , and consequently , the people had no more right to chuse their kings , than to chuse their fathers . besides , to examin it a little farther , if this power of paction , or contract , had been in the people , then it must lie in all the people , as an equal , common right , or in some particular part ; if in all of them , they would do well to shew how they came by it ; or if in any more peculiar part , by what authority were the rest excluded ; it being a maxim in law , quod nostrum est sine facto , vel defectu nostro amitti , vel in alium transferri non potest , whatever is mine , cannot be lost , or transferr'd unto another , without my own act , or defect . nor would it be less enquir'd , who were the persons suppos'd to have made the contract ? or whether all , without difference of sex , age , or condition , were admitted to drive the bargain ? and if so , wives and children were not sui juris , and consequently could not conclude others , nor themselves for any longer time , than during the disability : which once remov'd , they were free again : or if all were admitted , whether it were with an equal right to every one , or with some inequality ? was the servants interest ( if yet such a thing could be among equals ) equal with the masters ? and if not , who made the inequality ? or if equal , who could summon the rest ? or when met , regulate , preside , or moderate ? and thus new atlantis-men , run round the maze , not knowing how to disentangle themselves ; and like men in a mist , lose their way by seeking to find it . whereas on the other hand , if we should admit the thing , and that princes had no more right , than what the people shall think fit to entrust them withal , which also , they may enlarge , or restrain at pleasure : then what follows , but that their power is precarious , and ambulatory , and subject to be varied , according to the exigency of times , and occasions ; whereas the jus gladii , i. e. the sovereign power belongs to the king , by the ordinance of god , not the donation of the people : for he beareth the sword as the minister of god , from whom he receiv'd it , and not as the minister of the people , who had no right to give it , because they never had it themselves , and consequently , could not bestow it upon another , it being also another maxim in law , nemo potest plus juris in alium transferre , quam ipse habet , no man can give another , what he has not himself . and be this sufficient , to have been said , against that humor , that the original of government came from the people . but to proceed , and omitting those traditional kings , who are said to have reigned before the flood , and of whom xisuthur in whose time the flood came , is supposed to be no other than noah himself ; we have great reason to believe , that after the flood , the sole government was at first in noah , and that whatever property in several , or share of government in any part of the world afterwards , his sons had , they had it by his sole allotment , and authority , and transmitted the same to their posterity , merely on that account ; those words seeming to import as much , these are the families of the sons of noah in their generations , after their nations ; and by them were the nations divided in the earth after the flood . and so the son of sirach , in the division of the nations of the earth , he appointed a ruler over every people . besides , if we examin families , ( a family being in nature before a publick society ) we shall find them no other , than so many exemplary monarchies , wherein the paterfamilias , and the first-born after him , exercised all kind of government ecclesiastical and civil ( so noah curs'd cham , and bless'd shem and japhet ; abraham cast out hagar and ismael ) and had the power of life and death in the family . patris , in liberis est regia potestas ; the father has the authority of a king over his children : for the better understanding of which , it will be requisite ( e're i go further ) to shew what the paterfamilias truly was , and give some instances where he us'd this regal authority . as to the former , paterfamilias imports no more than familiae pater , the master , or good man of the house , who had the care of the estate , and ordering the family ; and so tully uses it : c. quintius , suarum rerum , paterfamilias , & prudens , & attentus : which in english , we would call , a discreet and careful manager of his estate . and in another place , bono patrifamilias , colendi , aedificandi , & ratiocinandi , quidam usus , opus est ; had need of some skill in plowing , building , and keeping accounts ; all which as yet , carry no more in it , than a bare care of the family . and to the second , that this paterfamilias had the power of life and death , pater vitae necisque potestatem habebat in filios : a father has the power of life and death over his children , saith the same tully ; not simply , and quatenus pater , or paterfamilias , which is the same , but by a regal authority annex'd to it , by the right of primogeniture , whereby the elder was by the law of nature , to rule and govern the younger , he being prior in donis , major in imperio : and so aristotle , parens , quod & amicus , & natu major est , praeficitur , quae species est regiae potestatis . in which sense , god speaking to cain of his younger brother abel , saith , sub te erit appetitus ejus , & tu dominaberis illi . subject to thee shall be his desire , and thou shalt rule over him : which made jacob so eager in supplanting his elder brother esau , of that birth-right ; and elisha alludes to it , when he pray'd elijah that a double portion of his spirit might be upon him , i. e. in comparison of the rest of the remaining prophets , among whom he had obtained the place of an elder brother , and to whom afterwards he became a father . the exercise of this regal authority is found every where ; and because examples give a quicker impression than arguments , take a few for the rest ; by this power , judah pass'd sentence upon thamar ; and abraham shew'd his readiness to sacrifice his son isaac ; which , had he done , and had not withal had a regal power in himself , which own'd no superior , less than him , that gave him the command , what justification for him had that command been , among a people , unto whom at that time , the god of abraham was altogether unknown . in like manner jephthah , who ( as 't is more than probable ) actually sacrific'd his daughter ; for the text says he did with her according to his vow , which was , if thou shalt deliver the children of ammon into my hands , whatsoever cometh forth of my house to meet me , when i return ( holocaustum offeram domino ) i will offer it up a burnt-offering , &c. and is the same word , which isaac uses to his father , behold the fire and the wood , but where is ( victima holocausti ) the sacrifice for a burnt-offering ? which is argument enough for me that her father sacrific'd her ; and that he did it by virtue of that regal power annex'd to him as father , and not of any power deriv'd to him from the people , when they made him their captain , will appear in this , that albeit such an officer had an absolute , and independent authority , when once elected , yet he was seldom chosen , but in times of imminent danger , which overpast , he retir'd to a private life again , as did gideon , after he had deliver'd israel from the midianites ; and that 's the reason why we find such chasms and vacancies between the cessation of one judg , and the election of another : and therefore , that samuel judged israel all his days was extraordinary ; and extraordinary examples neither make a rule , nor break one : so that in short , their judges were the same in effect with the roman dictator some centuries after , who was neither sovereign prince , nor magistrate , but simply commissionated , on some sudden occasion for the making of war , suppressing sedition , or the like , which ended , he was no more than a subject himself . neither can that of brutus the first consul , his beheading his two sons , be taken to be done by him as consul , but as having the regal power of life and death , within his family : for , besides that the consuls were as yet in their biggens , they never at any time afterward had any regal power , nor could they either make laws , peace , or war , or so much as whip a citizen ( but in time of war ) without leave of the people , whose subjects and servants they were , and might be imprison'd by the least of the tribunes of the people ; as was philippus the consul , by drusus the tribune , for that he interrupted him as he was speaking to the people : from all which i infer , that families ( who as i said ) were before publick societies , were under the absolute obedience of one , who had a regal power in him , and ruled as king over them : howbeit in after times , when fathers began to abuse that authority , it was thought fit to abridg them of it , and place it in the hands of the more publick father , the king ; a kingdom being no other than a great family , wherein the king hath a paternal power . but to proceed ; as the world increased , so did these families ; and being now extrafamiliated , became a part of the common-wealth , and for want of room at home , swarm'd abroad into larger families and septs , but under the obedience still of one common head thereof : so esau is called the father of edom , and the dukes descended from him , were heads of families , and esau their chief . hi duces edom habitantes in terra imperii sui , ipse esau est pater : and we read , that abraham when he pursued the four kings in the relief of his brothers son , and ally , lot , set out 318 ( expeditos vernaculos ) light harnessed men at arms , born in his own house : yet hitherto , these may be rather called reguli , than reges , as being princes of a narrow territory , and much of the same , with the kings we read of in the same chapter , or the 31 kings that were vanquish'd by joshua . but when in process of time kings began to encroach upon their neighbors , and that whatever it were they had already only shew'd them , how much more was wanting , then also were their kingdoms enlarged . and the first of this kind we read of was nimrod , whom bodin calls a lordly monarch , and the scripture a mighty hunter , not only in that he was a great king , or as he has it , an oppressor ; but rather , and the more probable , that he was the first that usurp'd on his neighbors rights , to enlarge his own dominions ; that path which he first discovered , his son ninus further laid open with his sword , and left it to his heirs , who held it , for above a thousand years ; from them , the same sword translated it to the medes and persians , and from them , to alexander by the same way ; and continued by by the same right , among his successors , till being crumbled by them into lesser morsels , ( yet still monarchs ) it became the fitter for the roman swallow , and at last an empire again , under octavius caesar ; that unwieldy lump of the roman republick , being but a concretion of heterogeneal parts , which ( like the toes of iron , and clay in nebuchadnezzar's image ) might stick together for a while , but never incorporate : but of this , more at large in proper place . nor were these four transcendent monarchies the only instances of monarchy , inasmuch as it hath gone out into all lands ; and there is neither speech nor language , where it has not been heard among ' em . the seythians , aethiopians , indians , aegyptians , armenians , bactrians , &c. nations famous in their ages , were all govern'd by monarchs ; and the jews when they demanded a king over them , that they also might be like all the nations , what other did they imply , but that all other nations ( for ought at least they had heard ) were govern'd by kings : the cappadocians vanquisht by the romans , had lost their king , and being persuaded by them to take a popular state , refus'd it , as declaring they could not live without a king. in short , where we meet the most ancient kingdoms mentioned , we hear not ( so much as a rat behind the hangings ) the least word of aristocracy , and as little of democracy : that all greece was anciently under kings , was never doubted , and till long after homer's time , aristocracy was never dreamt of : and when the roman democracy began , is but to ask the next school-boy , when the tarquins ended ; and therefore he that shall say of either of them , that ( in comparison ) they were more than of yesterday , may have it also said of himself , he knows nothing . but what need i run so far back , when there are so many examples before us , even at our own doors ; and therefore to pass the polonians , danes , moscovites , tartars , turks , abissines , moors , &c. yea , and the salvage people discover'd by the spaniard , and our selves in the indies , where all of them , as guided thereto , by the dictates of nature , liv'd under a monarchy : the english , scots , french , spaniard , irish , ( the first and last only excepted during the 12 years fever of a rebellion ) never knew other government than that of kings ; and therefore if we shall follow the advice of the prophet , state super vias antiquas & videte quaenam sit via recta , & vera , & ambulate in ea , stand upon the old paths , and consider which is the right and true way , and walk in it : custom and usage claims that reverence from us , as that we give monarchy the precedency of all other governments , not only in respect of its antiquity , beyond any other state , but as most universally receiv'd throughout the world , and consequently , allow that of aristotle ( otherwise no great friend to monarchy ) necesse est eam quae à prima maximeque divina cecidit , esse deterrimam . in short , the schools may dispute it , but time hath try'd it : other states may have curious frames but they are soon out of order ; but monarchy like a work of nature is well compos'd both to grow and continue . section iii. that all governments have a natural tendency to monarchy . their several forms , and rotations , of aristocracy . democracy . tyranny , to be rather wisht , than either . examples , of athens , and rome ; the first consulate . their tribunes , several seditions . marius , and sylla . crassus , caesar , pompey . the two latter divide . caesar complemented to rome by the senate . the triumvirate , their proscriptions , and breach . no peace , till monarchy restor'd under augustus . the sense of those times touching this matter . i have in the former sections endeavoured , and i hope satisfi'd my unbyass'd reader , that monarchy is of divine institution , and has been the most anciently receiv'd and exercis'd government throughout the world , even from the first of time : i come now to shew , that all other notions of government , of what kind soever , have a natural tendency to monarchy , and like massie bodies , retain a trepidation , and wavering , till they fix , and settle on the same centre , whence they were first moved : nor can this be more readily effected , than by examining them apart , by which means , and comparing one with another , we shall be the less apt to mistake . the common receiv'd forms of government , have been three , viz. monarchy , aristocracy , and democracy . if the sovereignty be in one only prince , 't is a monarchy : if all the people be interessed therein , as in one body , 't is a democracy , republick , or popular state : if but some part of the people , whether excelling in virtue , wisdom , riches , nobility , &c. have the sovereign command , as in one body , and so give laws to the rest , 't is an aristocracy , optimacy , or government of the better for t . now because , as says aristotle , degenerat regia potestas in tyrannidem , aristocratia , in oligarchiam , respublica , in democratiam , monarchy degenerates into tyranny ; aristocracy into oligarchy ; a common-wealth into democracy : which yet machiavel takes for the same ; and therefore says , democracy degenerates into anarchy , and that ( of course ) runs into monarchy ; it being but natural , that when the populace have toil'd , and moil'd , and even giddied themselves in the wild circle , that they even sit down , and rest themselves where they first sate out : and here it will not be amiss , to examin that sphere of government , which himself and others of that humor , have made to themselves : viz. that in the beginning of the world , men liv'd at large , as other creatures ; but when they began to multiply , they began also to come nearer together , and then , whether it were that the people ( as they would have it ) chose the strongest , or that he took it by force , came monarchy into the world : but afterward , when by frequent injuries , and rapines on each other , men began to consider how they might keep what they had , safely , how unjustly soever they had gotten it , then came in laws ; and from them , property ; and then , not the strongest , but the wisest had it ; and in memory of the father's virtue , his son continu'd it , and from thence , came hereditary monarchy : but his posterity , forgetting that patrum virtus , and living ( perhaps ) as if they thought the only character of a prince , was to exceed others in rapine and luxury , they fell by degrees , into the peoples hatred , and that made the prince afraid of them ; and that fear ( which creates an object , where it cannot really find it ) increasing , he began to study a revenge , oppressing some , disobliging others , until at last it insensibly altered into tyranny : and from thence came conspiracies ; not of the poorer , but the better sort , whose spirits not brooking it , they buzz'd notions into the peoples heads , and finding them pleas'd , laid hold of the opportunity , and heading the multitude , both took arms together , and thence came rebellion ; and having conquer'd that government , the mobile vulgus ( as virgil calls 'em ) ever desirous of a change , in hopes of battering their condition , and fond of any thing , but what they were last , submitted to those that rais'd 'em , and help'd 'em to conquer ; whereupon , superinducing new laws , they alter'd the government , and thence came aristocracy : but , as man being in honor abideth not , they , and such as follow'd them , least minding the specious advantages they propos'd to the people , e're they got them to rebel , and not contented with a civil equality , but blinded by ambition , and taking upon them , by excluding some of the best by degrees , to grasp the power into the hands of a few , and those , the least worthy , the government was again changed , and from an aristocracy , brought to an oligarchy ; so that the multitude weary of both , and ready for another change , resolv'd to restore neither , and concluded on a popular state wherein every man taking upon himself to have an equal right in the government , it insensibly lost it self in the mare mortuum of anarchy , and upon the whole matter , finding that in all this rotation , they had rather lighted on some new physician , than any remedy for the disease , they return'd to monarchy , and after all turns of the compass , came about and setled in the same point again . and thus , pigmalion like , men form an image to themselves , and then fall in love with 't : and tho the question be yet to be granted , that the sovereign power was ever in the people , yet it is sufficient to prove my argument , that all governments have a natural tendency to monarchy , and the reasons are obvious . for , if we consider aristocracy , besides that it will be hard to determin who are the most virtuous , wisest , richest , and most noble , or what shall be the true number of the commanders , by reason of the multiplicity of the pretenders ( for the more generous they are the more factious will they grow , their consultations be the more difficult , and sooner discover'd ) how will it be avoided , but that ( as in corporations ) the greatest part , i. e. most voices , will over-rule the sounder , and the better ; and the more men there be , the less effects will there be of virtue , and wisdom , when the best men shall be always vanquish'd in number , by the vicious , and the resolutions of the lesser , but sounder part , overwhelm'd with the gaggles of the factious , and ambitious : they are also in a continual distrust of one another , and fear of the people , whom for that reason , they dare neither train to arms , nor trust weapons in their hands : so that in effect , they have a kind of wolf by the ears , hold him in , then endanger biting ; let him go , then are torn in pieces . so then if the tyranny of one be pernicious , that of many must be much worse , yet neither so dangerous , as that of a multitude , where no one commands , and no one obeys , and to ask counsel of whom ( as in times of old they did ) what other were it than to seek wisdom of a mad man ? with whom , on all occasions , instead of argument , — faces & saxa volant , furor arma ministrat . whereas in difficulties they stagger to and fro , and are in dangers , confounded : and therefore , one would think , when the poet describ'd the chaos of old , that he carried somewhat more under it , and meant the common people , — rudis indigestaque moles ; nec quicquam nisi pondus iners ; congestaque eodem non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum ; obstabatque aliis , aliud — besides which , the end of all good government is to flourish in virtue , justice , valor , honor , &c. but the end of a popular state , is to banish all of them , as may be seen in athens , and rome ; that by advancing the most unworthy men to offices , and dignities , they may make room for themselves ; or at least ( as marius and pompey bought ) get money for their voices ; in which case , who can blame him for selling by retail , what he bought in gross ; more than he 'd condemn a woman , who having abandon'd her honor , makes the best of her trade : in short , what shall be said , when in most common-wealths of the ancients , instead of majesty , and justice , we find nothing but licentiousness , and impunity ? and how much it was improv'd for the better , in our late times , among our selves , i appeal to the yet calamitous remembrance of it , when every man did what was best his own eyes , and for the same reason also , there was no king in israel . and now , who would not rather wish a tyranny , than an aristocracy , or democracy ; for as many wise skilful pilots , hinder one another , in striving to govern the helm , so will many men , of what condition , wisdom , or virtue soever they may be , when every one shall seek to govern the common-wealth , according to the vain images of his own fancy , or abus'd imagination : in short , in the multitude of counsellors , there is wisdom , but the determinative part ; is better performed by one , who having digested their opinions , will the readier execute that , which the other would scarce resolve on , without contention ; it being the nature of ambition , rather to see all lost , than admit another , wiser than it self , or hazard the disrepute , of changing its opinion . but to proceed ; and here , not to weary my reader with the state of athens , under the thirty tyrants , or the lacedemonians under their ephori , who tho they carried the specious shew of restraining their kings , were indeed , a scourge , and plague to the people ; i shall only insist on the romans , whose infancy for about 250 years ( for so florus reckons it ) was under kings : and to the same purpose tacitus , urbem roman à principio , reges habuere : after this , upon expulsion of the tarquins , they set up two consuls , but not satisfied with this also , the people take arms , and leaving the city , declare they will not return , unless there be appointed some tribunes of the people , who might bridle the disorders of the consuls , and the wealthier sort ; and 't is granted : nor would this yet satisfie ; they must now know , what the law was , and to that end it must be written in twelve tables , for the doing of which , the consuls were laid by , and the decemviri created , with the power , quam modo consules , olim reges habuissent ; interim , cessare omnes magistratus alios , donec juxta leges creati fuerint ; but they ( as says the same author ) having made an agreement among themselves , and bound it with an oath , that no one should oppose another , but what was approv'd by one , should be approv'd by all ; that they would admit no other to be joyn'd to them , but hold an equal authority among themselves , maximamque partem rerum pro imperio , multa tyrannice agerent ; the people took arms again , and wholly destroy'd their power , ( and as saith florus , laid their persons in chains ) the third year from the time they were first set up ; and thereupon the consuls were again restor'd . add to this the several seditions of tiberius gracchus , slain by scipio nascica : that other of his brother caius , slain by the consul opimius : a third of appuleius saturninus , suppress'd by marius , and that other of livius drusus , by philippus the consul . as also the bloody outrages between marius , and cinna , against sylla , of which last ( not to excuse either of the former ) plutarch says , that he had slain 100000 men , 90 senators , 15 of consular dignity , and 2000 gentlemen : and touching marius , that of ovid may not improperly be applied , ausus & è media plebe sedere deus . yet all this will be little more than the beginnings of evil , if we consider that monster of three heads ; for so those times call'd it , viz. crassus , caesar , and pompey : the first was wealthy , even to a proverb , crasso divitior ; and yet , still gaping for more : the second was for bringing himself into estimation and authority ; and the latter , for keeping what he had already gotten ; all were alike greedy of power , and therefore no wonder if they so easily agreed for invading the common-wealth ; caesar takes upon him gaul ; crassus , asia ; and pompey , spain : this ( rope of sand ) held together for 10 years ; and such i call it ; for crassus being slain in parthia , and there wanting a third , to ballance the other two , they quickly broke asunder : pompey , begins to suspect caesar's wealth , and caesar casts an ill eye on pompey's new authority ; nec hic ferebat parem , nec ille superiorem : nefas ! sic de principatu laborabant , tanquam duos tanta imperii fortuna non caperet . the one brook'd not an equal , nor the other a superior : impossible ! they made such work who should be chief ; as if the fortune of so great an empire were too little for two . in short , they made such havock between them , that any one region of the world was too little to contain it ; and therefore it spread thro the whole ; for pompey having the ill fate of surviving his dignity , in the loss of his army at pharsalia , and to be as treacherously murdered , by his friend ptolomy , king of alexandria , to whom he had fled for succor , his sons took up the quarrel ; of whom , cnaeus ( the younger ) flying wounded from the battle of munda in spain , was pursued by caesar , and slain ; from which , sextus ( the elder ) escaping , and having gotten together 350 ships , he was ( after the death of caesar ) overthrown in a sea-fight near sicily ; whence flying into asia , he fell into anthony's hands , and was there slain : of which martial , pompeios juvenes asia , atque europa , sed ipsum terra tegit libyes ; si tamen ulla tegit : quid mirum toto si spargitur orbe ? jacere uno non poterat tanta ruina loco . and now , every thing following the good fortune of caesar , it was not said to the senate , and will ye be last to bring the conqueror home ? no , they prevented it , for besides the bringing his statues into their temples , inscribing a month of the year to him , &c. they met their enemy in the way , and having new studded the word imperator , welcom'd him in , with the supernumerary titles , of pater patriae , consul in decennium , dictator in perpetuum , sacrosanctus , & imperator . but ( o the uncertainty of human condition ! ) deprav'd natures are never reconcil'd ; and such , those his flatterers prov'd to him ; for upon a conspiracy of brutus , and cassius , and other senators , he was murder'd in the senate ; they not longer nevertheless surviving it themselves , than in the effects of that parricide , to have beheld that liberty lost , they had made such bustle to restore . and here again , rome found the want of a head ; for sextus pompeius having ( as i said before ) set up at sea , to recover what his father had lost by land , and failing in it ; octavius must be reveng'd of the murderers of caesar , who had adopted him ; antony , of them who had declar'd him an enemy ; and lepidus , ( whose only business , in hopes of wealth , was to fish in troubled waters ) comes in as fuel to a flame , and joyning with octavius and antony , they made a triumvirate ; and under the common pretences of revenging the murder of julius caesar , and setling the common-wealth , which was much out of order , had chief power and authority for five years , which expiring , they refus'd to resign , but held it other five , enacting , or reversing , what laws they pleas'd , and that , without the consent of the senate , or people ; and having divided one common-wealth into three monarchies , viz. africk , both the sardinia's , and sicily to octavius : all spain and gallia narbonensis , i. e. languedoc , daulphine , and provence , to lepidus ; and the rest of france of either side the alps , to antony ; the defence of rome , and italy , is left to lepidus , while the other two , advance against brutus and cassius , who ( by a mistake ) having lost the day , kill themselves : upon this , the conquerors return to rome , and exercising all cruelty whatever , without any regard of person , or condition , they proscribe and banish at pleasure : lepidus gave up his brother lucius paulus , to gratifie octavius : antony , his uncle l. caesar , to requite lepidus : and octavius , his friend cicero ( whose advice had given him the empire ) to appease inexorable antony , concerning the philippicks : and now , nothing but slaughter bestrid the streets , when besides the incredible number of roman knights and citizens kill'd in the broil , there were no less than 130 senators proscrib'd between them , and of whom those last mentioned , were three . and now one would think all had been at quiet , the common-wealth ( as i said before ) being divided into three monarchies , and antony married to the sister of octavius , yet all would not do ; for antony being gone for egypt , and sextus pompeius overthrown , octavius makes war on lepidus , whose softness and irresolution made him submit , with the loss of his share of the triumvirate ; and thence , to keep a war ( as he had never less than reason to suspect it ) from home , he follows antony , whose sensuality , and unpursutiveness lost him the sole empire of the world ; for octavius having overcome him and cleopatra , in the naval battle of actium , the morning and the evening of the roman state , made but one day , and the sovereignty once more coming into one hand , the temple of janus was now the third time clos'd : upon which , applying himself to preserve that peace he had so happily restor'd , he made severe laws to restrain those evils , a peaceable age is but too prone to run into ; in due sense of which , it was debated in senate , an quia condidisset imperium romulus vocaretur ; sed sanctius & reverentius visum est nomen augusti . and it may be observ'd , that from the expulsion of the roman kings to the reign of octavius augustus ( about 450 years ) there was seldom above 10 years , without some civil war , or some sedition ; whereas augustus kept the empire in peace for above 50 years , and so it continu'd after his death , till the pretorian bands began to chaffer for the empire , and others , to comply with them , gave an empire for an empire . and now e're i close the argument , it may not be amiss to recollect , what the historians , and poets , that speak of those times , thought of it . neque aliud discordantis reipublicae remedium , quam ut ab uno regeretur , saith tacitus : nor is florus , who wrote not long after him , in any thing short of him . gratulandum tamen in tanta perturbatione est , quod potissimum ad octavium caesarem summa rerum rediit ; qui sapientia sua , atque solertia perculsum undique & perturbatum , ordinavit imperii corpus . quod ita haud dubie nunquam coire & consentire potuisset , nisi unius praesidis nutu , quasi anima , & mente regeretur . we have this yet in so great a confusion , to be glad at , that the upshot of all came back to octavius caesar , rather than another ; who by his wisdom and policy , brought the shatter'd , and disorder'd body of the empire into frame again ; which without dispute had never met , and joyn'd together , had it not been actuated , by one chief ruler , as with a soul , and intelligence . and to the same purpose l. ampelius , ( who wrote before the division of the empire ) speaking of the several turns of the state of rome , and the uncertain condition of the people , donec exortis bellis civilibus , inter caesarem , & pompeium , & oppressa per vim libertate , sub unius caesaris potestatem redacta sunt omnia , until those civil wars between caesar and pompey began , and the publick liberty over-born by violence , all things were reduced under rhe obedience of one caesar. and what the much ancienter homer's sense of having many lords , was , we have every where , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . nec multos regnare bonum ; rex unicus esto . and the reason of it is clear . nulla fides regni sociis , omnisque potestas impatiens consortis erit . — and so another , — summo nil dulcius unum est stare loco , sociisque comes discordia regnis . from all which we may gather , that all governments , of what kind soever , have a natural tendency to monarchy , and ( like noah's dove ) find no rest , till they return to the same station , whence they first departed . it being impossible otherwise , but that ( as lines from the center ) the farther they run , the farther they must separate . section iv. that the kingdom of the jews , was a supreme sovereign monarchy , in which their kings had the absolute power , of peace , and war , and were supreme , in ecclesiasticis . and an answer to that objection , that god gave them a king in his wrath . i have hitherto , according to my method propos'd , discours'd of monarchy in general ; it remains now that i bring it down to some particulars : i 'll begin with the kingdom , god erected among the jews ( his own people ) and shew , that the monarchy among them , was supreme , and independent : and here we 'l take the case as we find it in samuel . samuel was become old , and his sons not walking in his ways , had distasted the people , who ask of him a king to judg them like all the nations ; samuel is displeas'd , but god commands him to hearken to them , howbeit to protest solemnly against them , and shew them the manner of the king , that was to reign over them , which he accordingly does , viz. he will take your sons , and appoint them for himself , for his chariots , and to be his horsemen , and some shall run before his chariots : he will take your fields , and your vineyards , and your oliveyards , even the best of them and give them to his servants , &c. a hard saying no doubt , whether we respect their persons , or their possessions , and yet he calls it jus regis qui imperaturus est vobis , thereby also implying , that such was the manner of all other nations . and when he wrote it in a book and laid it up before the lord , he calls it legem regni , the law of the kingdom ; and yet a king they must have , and had him , adding to that of samuel , this other , of their own desires , that he might have the absolute power of peace , and war ; and this appears within the very letter of their demands , viz. that he might judg them , which is the power of peace , and go out before them , and fight their battels , which is the power of war. and what authority he had in matters of the church may be seen in this , that solomon of himself thrust out abiathar ( the high-priest ) and appointed zadok in his room . and that even the horns of the altar were no sanctuary against him in case of treason , may be also seen in adonijah and joab ; and yet we cannot so much as gather , that god was offended with him for his so doing , or that his person was the less acceptable to him , by reason of those matters . to which if it be objected , that god gave them a king in his anger : i answer , moses having foretold the israelites , that when they came into the land , they would be asking a king , charges them to set him over them , whom god should choose ; which shews , that a popular election was utterly forbidden them : yet they , weary of such judges , as had succeeded moses , and whom god had raised to rule them as kings , demand a king , like all the nations , i. e. of a more absolute power , than those judges had : and therefore , not staying gods time , but taking upon them to be their own carvers , he is said to have given them a king in his wrath , in that they had not rejected samuel , but himself , who had appointed samuel . in acknowledgment of which , and as sensible of their error , they ever after accepted their kings by succession , unless only , when their prophets had anointed and ordained another , by gods special designation : nor do we find any one in holy writ , chosen king by the children of israel , but abimelech the bastard of gideon , and creature of the people , who also came in by conspiracy and murder : and ( as it seems probable ) jeroboam , who made israel to sin ; for they had sent to him ( at that time , a discontented fugitive , in egypt ) and he headed them , in a complaint of grievances to rehoboam , which occasion'd the revolt of the ten tribes ; both which yet , reigned as wickedly , as they entred unjustly , and perish'd miserably . section v. what is here intended by a supreme monarchy . the marks of sovereignty ; as , the power of making laws , and exemption from any coactive obedience to them . the power of peace , and war , &c. that the kingdoms of england , &c. are supreme imperial monarchies . those two marks of sovereignty , and seven others , prov'd to be no other than what has ever been , the undoubted right of the kings of england . the kings sovereignty by the common law. the like from the statute law. power in ecclesiasticks . and that they have justly used those titles of king , and emperor , and that from ancient times , and before the conquest . i have now brought my discourse whither i first design'd it , and therefore to avoid confusion , which ever attends the being too general , i shall first shew my reader , what i mean by a supreme imperial monarch , at this day ; and in the next place , prove the kings of england , &c. are such : and lastly , that however the emperors of the west and east , have so much striven about that great title of emperor , or basileus , that yet the kings of england ( as supreme within their dominions ) have also and justly from ancient ages used it , as no less proper to their own independent greatness . as to the first , the regal estate and dignity of a king is of two sorts , the one imperial and supreme , as england , france , spain , &c. who owing no service to the majesty of another , is his own master , and hath an absolute power in himself , no way subject to the controul of another : and of such a one speaks martial . qui rex est , regem ( maxime ) non habeat . the other , an homager , or feudatary , to another king , as his superior lord ; such as that of navar and portugal ( of old ) to castile ; granada , and leon , to aragon ; lombardy , sicily , naples , and bohemia , to the empire ; six parts of the saxon heptarchy , who acknowledged the seventh , anglorum rex primus ; and such was aella , king of sussex ; the kings of man and others , of whom i shall have occasion to speak hereafter . hereafter . the first of these is what i intend , and will be the better made out , if we cast our eyes a little on the marks of sovereignty , and then , consider wherein they differ from our own laws . and amongst others , we find these , 1. the power of making laws ; and so what our english translation calls , judah my law-giver , is in the vulgar latin , juda rex meus , judah my king : this power being one of the principal ends of regal authority , and was in kings , by the law of nature , long before municipal laws had any being , the people at that time being govern'd by a natural equity , which by the law of nature , all were bound to observe : and so the poet , — remo cum fratre , quirinus jura dabat populo — the like of king priam ; — jura vocatis more dabat populis . — and of augustus , — legesque tulit justissimus auctor . so cicero speaking of julius caesar ( as a law-giver ) saith thus , caesar , si ab eo quaereretur quid egisset in toga , leges se respondisset multas , & praeclaras tulisse ; though many yet received laws , at the will of their prince ; and thus , barbaris , pro legibus , semper imperia fuerunt : which word barbarous , at that time , carry'd no disgrace with it , but was apply'd to them , that spoke a strange language ; and so the hebrews called the egyptians ( of all other nations , the most civiliz'd , and learned ) for that they us'd the egyptian tongue , and not the hebrew , as we have it in the psalmist , when israel came out of egypt , and the house of jacob ( de gente barbaro ) from a people of strange language . and as they gave laws to others , so were they loosed from the force of them themselves , i. e. from all coactive obedience , or obligation , to any written , or positive law. thus m. antony , when press'd by his cleopatra , to call herod in question , answer'd , it was not fitting a king should give an account of what he did in his government , it being in effect , to be no king at all . and to the same purpose pliny , ereptum principi , illud in principatu beatissimum , quod non cogitur . another mark of sovereignty is the power of peace and war , and which , as bodin says , was never doubted to be in a king. in like manner to create and appoint magistrates , especially such , as are not under the command of others . the power of the last appeal . to confer honors . to pardon offenders . to appoint the value , weight , and stamp of his own coin , and make forein coin currant by proclamation . to receive liege homage of an inferior king. and bear those titles of sacred , and majesty , only proper to sovereign princes , apart from all others ; of which you may read at large in bodin . but i come to the second . that the kingdoms of england , &c. are a supreme imperial monarchy ; which will the better appear , when by examining those marks of sovereignty , we find no more in them , than what the laws of these realms have ever acknowledg'd , to be the undoubted right of our kings ; and that , whether we respect the common law , statute law , or their power , in ecclesiasticks . i 'll take my rise from the marks of sovereignty . 1. the power of making laws . the laws of most kingdoms ( saith the lord bacon ) have been like buildings of many pieces , patcht up from time to time , according to the occasion , without form or model ; and as to our own , that they are mixt as our language , of british , roman , saxon , danish , norman customs . edgar the saxon collected those of his time , and gave them the force of a fagot bound , which formerly were dispersed . the danes impos'd upon us their dane-law : and the third of that name before the conquest , ex immensa legum congerie quas britanni , romani , angli , daci condiderunt , optima quaeque selegit , & in unam coegit , quod vocari voluit legem communem . some of which bear his name to this day , as ordain'd by him : after him , william the conqueror ( whom polidor virgil calls our law-giver ) brought in somewhat of a new law , as may be seen in this , that tho he made but little or no alteration in the fundamentals , but formulis juris , he found here , yet , whether it were to honor his own language , or to shew some mark of conquest , he set forth his publick edicts in the norman tongue , and caused our laws to be written in the same : and likewise , his justiciaries , lawyers , and ministerial officers , being at that time all normans , it may be none of the least reasons why all our pleadings and entries were in that tongue , until altered by statute , that because of the great mischiefs that had hapned to divers by means of the said laws being written in the french tongue which they understood not , that therefore all pleas for the future , should be pleaded in the english tongue , and enrolled in the latin , and that we receiv'd our ancient tenures , from the normans , is obvious every where . and king john planted the english laws in ireland . but to come nearer home , and examin how our present constitutions agree with it ; nor are they other than what has been the practice of all former parliaments , wherein , both houses are so subordinate to the king in the making of laws , that neither of them singly , nor both of them together , can make any binding law without the kings concurrence ; they might in all times ( 't is true ) propose , advise or consent , or , to borrow a metaphor , spawn of themselves ; but in the royal consent only ( like the male touch ) lay the vis plastica , which gave the embrion life , and quicken'd it into laws ; and the reason of it is , because the legislative power resideth solely in the king , ut in subjecto proprio , and the consent of the lords and commons , is no sharing of that power ( which is indivisible ) but a requisite condition , to complete the kings power : for otherwise , all those bills that have pass'd both houses , and for want of the royal-assent , lie buried in oblivion , might as occasion serv'd , be rak'd from their forgotten embers , and set up for laws . which also further appears in the several forms of our kings giving their royal assent , as le roy voit , le roy est assensus , le roy advisera , &c. and makes good this point , that the power of making laws , resides in the king , and that he may , as he sees cause , either refuse or ratifie : and this the law of scotland calls , his majesties best , and most incommunicable prerogative . and as the legislative power resides in the king solely , so also , to him belongs it to interpret those laws : si disputatio oriatur , justiciarii non possunt eam interpretari , sed in dubiis & obscuris domini regis erit expectanda interpretatio , & voluntas ; cum ejus sit interpretari cujus est condere ( saith the lord ellesmer from bracton and britton ) his is the interpretation of the law , whose is the power of making the law. in his recurrendum ad regem justitiae fontem ; whence he is said to carry all the laws ( in scrinio pectoris sui ) in his breast . to give one instance for all , when king charles the first ( of happy memory ) had just given his royal assent , to the petition of right , he told the houses , that his meaning was to confirm all their liberties , as knowing , that according to their own protestations , they neither meant , nor could hurt his prerogative , &c. and on the last day of the session , before his royal assent to the bills , saying , he would tell them the cause , why he came so suddenly to end that session , he adds , tho i must avow that i own an account of my actions to none , but god : and again , charging both houses , with their profession , during the hammering that petition , that it was in no ways to trench upon his prerogative , saying , they had neither intention nor power to hurt it , he commands them all to take notice , that what he had spoken , was the true meaning of what he had granted , but especially ( adds his majesty ) you my lords the judges , for to you only , under me , belongs the interpretation of laws , for none of the houses of parliament , joynt , or separate ( what new doctrin soever may be raised ) have any power , either to make , or declare a law , without my consent . and as the king is the sole lawgiver , and interpreter of that law when given , so also is he exempt and free from the law , for as much as concerneth the coactive force of the law , as being the head of the law , and of the common-wealth , and consequently no man can give sentence of condemnation against him , if he do any thing against that law : for besides that every sentence must be given by a superior , upon his inferior : there must be some supreme , whereunto all are subject , but it self , to none ; because otherwise , the course of justice would go infinitely in a circle , every superior having his superior , without end , which cannot be : yet admitting it might ; the people cannot do it , for they have no power themselves ; or if they had , are his subjects : and a parliament cannot do it ; for besides that they are his subjects also , and not his peers , who shall try him ? for he is principium , caput , & finis parliamenti ; and it can neither begin , nor end , without his presence in person , or by representation ; and hence it is , that his death dissolves them . again , if the people may call him to account , the state is plainly democratical ; if the peers , it is aristocratical , if either , or both of them , 't is no way monarchical , which is directly contrary to the known laws of the land , for omnis sub rege , & ipse sub nullo , nisi tantum sub deo ; every man is in subjection to the king , and he , to none but god ; and so the oath of supremacy declares him the onely supreme governor of this realm , of which , more hereafter , when i come to speak of the statute-law ; and therefore if the king refuse to do right , seeing no writ can issue against him , there is a place for petition , and if that prevail not , satis ei erit ad poenam ( saith the same bracton ) quod dominum habeat ultorem . and with this agreeth that of horace , regum timendorum in proprios greges , reges in ipsos , imperium est jovis . and in this respect , a prince is not loosed from the law , for as much as concerneth the directive power of it , but having not the law , becomes a law to himself , as well knowing , — observantior aequi fit populus , nec ferre negat , cum viderit ipsum auctorem parere sibi — 2. as to the power of peace and war , it is the right of the king ( saith fitzherbert ) to defend his kingdom as well against the sea , as against enemies ; which implies , that it is his right to defend it against enemies ; and how can he do it without the right of his sword , when , if he should be oblig'd to pray in aid of others , perhaps they may be of another mind , or take up so much time in the debate that the kingdom may be lost ere they resolve what to do : and this i take to be one of the effects of con-si-de-ra-ti-on , in those matters , whose good or ill fortune solely depends on expedition , and secresie : for , dangers , ( as the lord bacon saith ) are better met half way , than by keeping too long a watch upon their approaches ; for if a man watch too long , 't is odds he will fall asleep . but to proceed ; sir edw. cooke says , no subject can levy war within the realm , without authority from the king , unto whom it only belongeth ; and that it was high-treason at the common law , before the statute de proditionibus : and in calvin's case , he makes it clear , that to make leagues , or denounce war , only belongs to the king , who without his subjects , may grant letters of safe conduct , and denization ; and that this high point of prerogative royal , cannot be conferred upon any other , it being a right of majesty , and among the badges of supreme power : and now one would think this were enough , and yet a late statute of this kingdom makes it yet clearer , it being thereby declared , that the sole supreme government , command , and disposition of the militia , and all forces by sea and land , and of all forces and places of strength is , and by the law of england ever were , the undoubted right of his majesty , and his royal predecessors , kings and queens of england ; and that both , or either of the houses of parliament cannot , nor ought to pretend to the same , nor can , nor lawfully may , raise or levy war , offensive , or defensive , against his majesty , his heirs and lawful successors , &c. all which is not introductive of a new law , but declaratory of the old , as may be further seen by the penning thereof . and now what can be added more , but the purse , without which , what 's the sword , but ( as the greek proverb has it ) a bow , without a bow-man ? for in as much as mony is the sinews of war , and peace ( firmamentum belli , ornamentum pacis ) they that hang the sword on one side , and the purse on the other , seem to me , to hazard both ; for neither can any sudden danger ( * of which the king was ever thought the judg ) be stav'd off , nor war carried on , nor the publick peace be long preserv'd , without it . and therefore on such occasions have parliaments advis'd and assisted the king in supplying his wants , without directing him ; it seeming hard , that he should have power to proclaim war , and not be able to maintain it ; and be bound to defend his subjects , but deny'd the means . qui dirimit medium , destruit finem . 3. as to the creation and appointing magistrates , and officers , especially such as are not under the command of others , this also resides solely in the king ; for , besides what i have said in the last paragraph , touching his sole power , in the ordering and disposing the militia , and all forces by sea , and places of strength by land , his is the appointing , all the great officers , and ministers of the realm , whether spiritual , or temporal ; the highest , immediately by himself ; the inferior , mediately by authority derived from him , and as it were , — de lumine , lumen . so the king appoints the lord commissioner and all other the grand ministers and officers of scotland ; and the lord lieutenant , lord deputy , lords justices and all other the grand ministers and officers of ireland , who also ( but in his kings name ) appoint under him , according to the extent of their respective commissions ; so the kings of england have , and may at this day by letters patents make a prorex , locum tenens , or guardian of the realm , before whom ( in their absence in remotis ) a parliament may be held : and such was edward duke of cornwal , 13 edw. 3. lionel duke of clarence , 21 edw. 3. john duke of bedford , 5 henry 5. and the test of the writ of summons shall be in the guardians name : or , by commission under the great seal , to certain lords of parliament , authorise them to hold a parliament , the king being then in the realm , but indisposed : and such was that 3 edw. 4. to william lord arch-bishop of york ; and that other 28 eliz. to john lord arch-bishop of canterbury and others , ad inchoandum , &c. & ad procedendum , &c. & ad faciendum omnia & singula , &c. nec non ad parliamentum adjournandum , & prorogandum , &c. and so are parliaments held in scotland , and ireland , before the lords commissioners , lord lieutenant , lord deputy , &c. of the respective kingdoms . 4. the power of the last appeal , i. e. from whose sentence , no appeal lies : the only person ( besides the kings of england ) that ever pretended to it here , was the pope ; tho yet , the first attempt ever made that way , was by anselme arch-bishop of canterbury , in the reign of king william rufus , but it took no effect : and the arch-bishop , concerning himself too much , touching the jurisdiction of the pope in england , the king told him , ad officium imperatoris spectat , &c. that it belong'd to the emperor to make whom he pleas'd pope , and that for the same reason , no arch-bishop , or bishop within his realm , should yield any subjection to the court , or pope of rome , and chiefly in this respect ( cum ipse omnes libertates haberet in regno suo , quas imperator vindicabat in imperio ) that he had the same prerogative in his kingdom , that the emperor claim'd in the empire : and when pope innocent the third , had against the declar'd will of king john , caused stephen langton to be elected arch-bishop of canterbury , and after that confirm'd him , and wrote to the king to receive him , the king returns , that he ( the pope ) had subverted the liberties of his crown , and that therefore he would prohibit all people going to rome , and from making appeals thither : which confirms my former instance , and that this power was always in the king , however for a time it might have happen'd to be neglected ; for otherwise , it had been a vain thing in him , to have expell'd the monks of canterbury as traytors ( which he actually did ) or to have imagin'd , that a bigotted , seditious clergy ( as at that time they were , and to be headed by that arch-bishop , at least no friend to the king , if not his enemy ) should be frighten'd with an empty bug bear , touching a matter whereof he had no cognisance , had he not been satisfi'd , it was in his power to do it ; as well as his father before him , had done it . and having thus occasionally nam'd him , let me ( with all submission ) offer this to the memory of that unfortunate prince ; that his designs , in order to the freeing the crown from forein usurpation , were mighty , and , that he came short , in what henry the eighth afterwards effected , was not , that he was less able , but his times worse : for considering the unsettled condition of those times , and at what disadvantages he came in , what wonder if he were oppress'd by a faction , when deserted by his subjects , who otherwise , had never suffer'd him to have made that crown ( to the defence of which , they had all sworn ) tributary , which , many years afterward , when the arrears of that tribute were demanded , was too late , tho effectually enough , declar'd in parliament , he could not do , nor they consent to the doing it . but to proceed : when after this the sea of rome , would be yet intermedling , it was by all the states of parliament , severally examin'd , and answering , each state , one by one , personally for it self , unanimously declar'd , that the pope's awarding any processes , or sentences of excommunication , &c. against any bishops , or other spiritual persons , for executing judgments , given in the kings courts , was clearly in derogation of the kings crown , and regality , used , and approved , of the time of all his progenitors , and which they would maintain as they were bound , by their liegance : and thereupon enacted , that the purchasing any bulls , from rome , or elsewhere , shall be a premunire : in which it is observable , that as the judges before that time , were for the most part , church-men , the laity being not yet come up to letters , or where they were , rari nantes in gurgite vasto , the lords temporal , and the commons of this parliament , were all romanists , and of what persuasion the lords spiritual ( and their assistants the then judges ) were , i leave to every man , the question at that time being not , matter of religion , but right of superiority : not the church , but court of rome : and so sir e. cooke speaking of the first article of the statute of 25 h. 8. concerning the prohibition of appeals to rome , saith , it is but declaratory of the ancient law of this realm : and ( in another place ) the same authority that the pope ever exercised in this kingdom by usurpation , was always in the king , de jure . with which also agrees the lord chief justice hobart , that whatsoever the pope did in this kingdom , even then when he was in his greatest height , and strength , was of no better force , in right , and justice , than at the first , when he was but simple bishop of rome , which was coram non judice , and so , jus non habenti , tuto non paretur . 5. the power of conferring honors ; on which account he may also enable a man to assign his surname , arms , and barony to another : for , as by the laws of england , all lands within the same , were originally derived from the crown , and holden of the king , either mediately , or immediately , as lord paramount , so also by the same laws were all degrees of nobility and honor derived from the king , as the fountain of honor. so h. 6. granted to h. beuchamp , ut esset primus & praecipuus comes angliae ; and that he should use the title of henricus praecomes totius angl , &c. ibid. 361. first earl of all england , &c. and to the name count , or earl , which was the most ancient name of dignity among the saxons , edw. 3. ang. greg. 11. created the title of duke , as distinct from that of earl ( for in elder times they were oft synonimous with us ) and created his eldest son ( the black prince ) then earl of chester , into the title of duke of cornwal , which he created into a dutchy : and about the 18th . of his reign , the most noble order of the garter . and in the 9th . of r. 2. robert de vere , earl of oxford , was created marquess of dublin . and h. 6. the 18th . of his reign , created john lord beaumont , viscount beaumont ; of which titles we find no mention in the magna charta , 9. h. 3. for they were not at that time in being . and to this yet further , the kings of england have , and may at this day create a county-palatine , which none but the emperor , or a supreme monarch may do : for whoever is owner thereof , hath in that county , jura regalia , as fully , as the king in palatio , — par curis , solo diademate dispar . so hugh lupus , nephew of king william the conqueror , was by him created earl of chester , and the county given him , tenendum sibi & haeredibus ita libere ad gladium sicut ipse rex tenebat angliam ad coronam ; by which general words he had jura regalia within the said county , and consequently a county-palatine without express words ; and by force thereof he created eight cheshire barons . so not long after his time was the county-palatine of durham raised . and in the 10th . of h. 1. the royal franchise of ely. in the 13th . of edw. 3. the county-palatine of pembroke . and in the 50th . year of his reign the county of lancaster was by him erected into a county-palatine , and by him given to his fourth son , john of gaunt , then duke of lancaster , for life : to which , if any one shall say , that it was de assensu praelatorum & procerum , sir edw. coke answers for me , that the king may make a county-palatine , by his letters patents , without parliament . add to this the three first counties-palatine created in ireland , by henry the second , viz. leinster , which he granted to earl strongbow , who had married the daughter and heir of m. morough , prince of leinster . 2. meath , to sir hugh lacy the elder . 3. ulster , to sir hugh lacy the younger , and had their barons under them , answerable to the barons created by h. lupus : of which before . of which you may read excellent learning , in the case of the county-palatine of wexford , reported by sir john davys , at that time attorney-general of ireland . as also the county-palatine of tipperary , formerly enjoy'd by the ancestors of his grace , james duke of ormond , &c. the present lord lieutenant of the same , and granted , restored , and confirm'd to him , by letters-patents at westminster , the 22. of april , in the 14th . of this king , and not long afterward , confirmed by act of parliament in ireland ; and whence also he bears it as a part of his titles , dominus regalitatum & libertatum comitatus palatini tipperarii . nor is this all , the kings of england have created kings within their own dominions , and for such has the world received them : so king henry the second , in the 13th . year after his coming into ireland , made his son john , king of ireland . and henry the third his son edward the first , lord of ireland , and well own'd the doing it , albeit until the 33 henry 8. they wrote but lords themselves ; for their dignity was merely royal , as having their justices , custodes , or lord lieutenants , and all things belonging to the royal estate and majesty of a king. and sir edw. cooke tells us he has seen a charter made in 20. h. 6. to henry beuchamp earl of warwick , whereby he was created king of the isle of wight , and ( as saith mr. selden ) crowned king of the same . 6. the power of pardoning , which is a royal act of grace , whereby the king , either before conviction , sentence , or attainder , or after , forgiveth any crime , punishment , execution , right , title , debt , or duty temporal , or ecclesiastical : on which account he may restore a man that has lost liberam legem , by being recreant : as also , all that is forfeited to him by attainder , &c. he may restore by his charter ; but if by the attainder the blood be corrupted , that must be restored by act of parliament ; of which , more at large in sir edw. cooke , titles , pardons , and restitutions . 7. to appoint the value , weight , and stamp of his coin ; and make forein coin currant by proclamation . as to the first , we need go no farther than the smallest piece , and that will tell us whose image and superscription it is , and therefore called the kings money ; and so king john brought the irish mony to the english standard : and as to the other , the same sir edw. coke tells us , that the king , by his absolute prerogative , may make any forein coin , lawful mony of england , at his pleasure , by his proclamation . and in another place , putting both together , he says , that lawful mony of england is of two sorts , viz. the english mony either of gold , or silver , coined by the kings authority , or forein coin , by proclamation made currant within this realm . 8. to receive liege homage of another inferior king or homager : and such was our henry the second to the old kings of ireland , who are stiled reges , & reguli ; and may more particularly appear in a grant of his to roderick king of connaught , that he should enjoy his territory , under a certain tribute , et quam diu ei fideliter serviet , ut sit rex sub eo paratus , ad servitium suum , sicut homo suus : and that oneale is sometime stiled rex , and sometime regulus , denotes the subject-kings of that country : and long before the conquest , edgar had eight reguli or inferior kings , homagers to him , who at one time row'd him on the river dee , himself guiding the helm , and afterwards , glorying to his nobility , that then every one of his successors might boast himself to be king of england , when he receiv'd the like honor from so many kings his attendants . so reignald lord or king of man ( cui etiam fas erat corona aurea coronari ) and those of ireland , did homage to our henry the third . and john baliol king of scotland , and david prince of wales , to edw. the first , and james the first , to henry the sixth , for the kingdom of scotland . so that liege-lord , is he that acknowledgeth no superior ; and a liegeman is he that oweth liegance to his liege-lord ; and so the word is frequently us'd in our statutes , viz. the kings liege-people : and if such a one shall be in open war , or rebellion , or joyn with a forein enemy against the king , he shall not be ransom'd , or proceeded with as an enemy , but as a traytor , because it is contra ligeantiam suam debitam , and so the indictment runs : such was the case of david prince of wales aforesaid , who had judgment of treason given against him , for levying war against edw. 1. for that his was within the homage and ligeance of the king. 9. lastly , to bear those titles , only proper to sovereign princes , apart from all others , as being indivisible , and incommunicable : and here ( not to insist on the words dei gratia , which are familiarly seen in the titles of the kings of europe , and princes of the empire , spiritual lords , both abroad , and at home , have of elder times frequently us'd it in their stiles , and in a summons to our parliaments , and writs , to assemble , or prorogue the convocation , the king gives it to the arch-bishops , as , rex &c. reverendissimo in christo patri , predilatoque , & fideli consiliario nostro , a. eadem gratia , archiepiscopo cant. &c. but in warrants , and commissions to them , it is generally omitted ; and never us'd by themselves , when they wrote to the pope , emperor , or a king ; but thus : a. licet indignus , &c. archiepiscopus , or episcopus b. &c. whereby the present use of it among our selves , is easily reconcil'd , in that they receive the attribute , not give it . the kings of england , are in the second , and third person , commonly stiled , by that abstract of majesty ; as , your majesty , his majesty ; which came into the kingdoms of christendom , from the use of it in the roman empire ; the word in it self , denoting all kind of special dignity , and , if as we should say in english , a greatness ; and to peruse our statutes , from magna charta , to our own time , the most usual expressions are , our lord the king , the king our sovereign lord , most excellent highness , royal majesty , noble grace , most excellent majesty , most royal majesty , dread sovereign lord , most gracious sovereign , and as we use it now , most excellent majesty , and sacred majesty , which are but the same attribute , in other words , and in their own nature , so unalienable from sovereignty , that they can by no process of time be prescrib'd against , or usurp'd upon : neither can it at all be call'd an usurpation , as if it were , proper only to god , unless we as well deny wisdom , power , clemency , or any other quality to be attributed to men , because those also , as all else , which is great , or good , are primarily in him . and so i have done with the marks of sovereignty , as they are generally receiv'd ; and now if there wanted any thing to the further proof of this sovereign imperial monarchy , there are yet , other regalities , and prerogatives , which the common laws of england have ever allowed , and never doubted , but to be inherent in their kings . and hence it is , that the king cannot be said to be a tenant , because he hath no superior but god almighty : and if the king and a common person joyn in a foundation , the king shall be the founder ; for the thing being entire , the kings prerogative shall be preferr'd . that he shall have the escheat of all lands whereof a person attaint of high treason was seiz'd , of whomsoever they were holden . that there is no occupant against the king , nor shall any one gain his land , by priority of entry ; for , nullum tempus occurrit regi , that half blood is no impediment to the descent of the lands of the crown ; as was seen in the case of queen mary , who was but of half blood to king edward 6. and queen elizabeth to both : for the quality of the person alters the descent . that the accession of the crown purges all attainders , as may be seen in the respective cases of henry 6. and henry 7. whose attainders , were no other than a present disability , which upon their assuming the royal dignity , were ipso facto void . that the word king imports his politick capacity , which is never in minority , and never dies , but extends to all his successors , as well kings , as queens . that he is king before coronation , for besides that the law suffers no interregnums , he holds it by inherent birth-right , the coronation being but a royal ornament , and outward solemnization of the descent ; and not unlike the publick celebration of matrimony , between a man and a woman , which adds nothing to the substance of the contract , but declares it to the world . that the ligeance of his subjects is absolute , and indefinite , and due to the natural person of the king , by the law of nature , which is immutable , and part of the law of the land , before any municipal , or judicial law ; and , that an act of parliament cannot bar the king of the service of his subject , which the indelible law of nature gave him , it being a part of the law of the land , by which , subjection is due to him . and therefore the statute , that no man , notwithstanding any non obstante , shall serve as sheriff , above one year , bars not the king from dispensing with it . and william lord la ware , altho disabled by act of parliament , was nevertheless called to parliament , was nevertheless called to parliament by queen elizabeth , by writ of summons , for she could not be barr'd of the service , and counsel of any of her subjects . add to this , that all restrictions upon his sovereign liberty , are void , and therefore publick notaries made by the emperor claiming to exercise their offices in england , were prohibited , as being against the dignity of a supreme king. and with this agrees the statute-law of scotland , made in the parliament of the 5th . of king james the third ; cap. 3. in short , when king john had subjected his crowns of england and ireland , to pope innocent the third , and had become his feodary , under the annual acknowledgment of one thousand marks to the pope , and his successors , and when afterwards the arrearages thereof were demanded , the parliament of that year answered , that no king can put himself or his realm in subjection , without their assent : and how far that assent reach'd , we have it in the 42 of edward the third , where , in full parliament , it was further declar'd , that they could not assent to any thing in parliament , that tended to the disinherison of the king , or his crown , whereunto they were sworn : which is no more , than what the statute that prescribes the oath of the kings justices has in it , viz. ye shall not counsel , nor assent to any thing that may turn him ( the king ) in damage , or disinherison ; by any manner , way , or colour . and to the same effect , are the several oaths of the lord chancellor , and lord treasurer ; you shall not know nor suffer the hurt , or disinheriting of the king , or that the rights of the crown be decreased , by any means , as far as you may lett it . in a word ( to omit many others ) all such things , whereof no subject can claim property , as treasure-trove , wreck , estrays , &c. belong to the king by his prerogative , which extends to all powers , and preheminences , which the law hath given the crown ; and is a principal part of the law of the land , and is called by bracton , libertas , & privilegium regis , both words signifying the same thing , i. e. the kings prerogative . and by britton , droit le roy , the kings right . and in the register , jus regium , which is the same ; and jus regium coronae , the royal right of the crown : and since it has not been wound up so high , as to endanger the strings , what reason is there to wish it let down so low , as to render it profanable by the people ? when the philistines return'd the ark of god which they had taken , the men of beth-shemesh must be prying into it ; and he that has a mind to know the effect of their curiosity , may read it in samuel , god slew one hundred and fifty thousand of them . but enough of the common-law ; we 'l in the next place consider , what the statute-law in further affirmance of the common-law , saith to this matter : and here , it cannot be thought ( saith sir edw. coke ) that a statute , made by the authority of the whole realm , will recite a thing against the truth . i 'll begin with that of richard 2. commonly call'd the statute of premunire , in which it is declared , that the crown of england hath been ever so free , that it is in no earthly subjection , but immediately subject to god , in all things touching the regality of the same crown , and to none other . in like manner the statute of h. 8. against appeals to rome , saith , that by divers sundry old authentick histories , and chronicles , it is manifestly declared , and expressed , that this realm of england is an empire , and so hath been accepted in the world , governed by one supreme head , and king , having the dignity and royal estate , of the imperial crown of the same , unto whom , a body politick , compact of all sorts and degrees of people , divided in terms , by names of spiritualty , and temporalty , have bounden , and owen to bear , next to god , a natural , and humble obedience . and near the middle of the said statute , it is further called the authority , and prerogative of the said imperial crown . and in the 25 of the same , it is called , the imperial crown , and royal authority , recognising no superior under god , but only your grace . and in the following chapter , besides the frequent use of the word imperial , the kings thereof are stiled , kings , and emperors of this realm . and in another of the same kings , it is called , the most royal estate of your imperial crown , of this realm ; and the same word imperial , made use of ten other times , in the same statute , to the same purpose . and with this agrees the statute of ireland , where in express words also , the kings of england are entituled , kings and emperors of the realm of england , and of the land of ireland ; and that too , five years , before the title of lord of ireland was altered into king : and by the act that so alter'd it , it is called the majesty , and state of a king imperial . and so in the first of qu. eliz. ( english ) in which the oath of supremacy was enacted , the crown of this realm is three times called imperial : and in the third chapter of the same year , as often . and in the 5th . of the same queen , ( that requires all ecclesiasticks , graduates in any university , or common-laws , officers of court , attorneys , every member of parliament , under the degree of a baron , to take the said oath of supremacy , before he enter the house , or such election to be deemed void ) calls it the dignity of the imperial crown . and the act of recognition of king james , uses the same expression of imperial , four times . and upon a like ground , of mere supremacy , was that act of scotland , before the union of the crowns , wherein 't is said , our sovereign lord , his full jurisdiction , and free empire , within this realm . ( scotland ) and the late oath , or test , prescribed to be taken by all persons in publick trust in that kingdom , declares the kings majesty the only supreme governor of that realm , over all persons , as well ecclesiastical as civil . and the act of acknowledging and asserting the right of succession in that kingdom , calls it the imperial crown of scotland . in all which matters i have been the more particular , that i might the better evince my reader , that this independent sovereignty , and supremacy of the kings of england , &c. has not been the opinion of any one time , but the general consent of all ; and that our kings , hold their crowns in chief , from god , and owe no precarious acknowledgments , to the courtesie of the people . nor is the kings immediate , personal , originary , inherent power , which he executes , or may execute ( authoritate regiâ supremâ ecclesiastica ) as king , and sovereign governor of the church of england , to be less consider'd , it being one of those flowers which make up his crown , and preserve it in verdure : and here , i question not but it will be granted , that the king is the supreme patron , of all the arch-bishopricks , and bishopricks of england , as being all founded by the kings of england , to hold christi baroniam ( excepting that of soder , in the isle of man , which was instituted by pope gregory the fourth , and may perhaps be the reason , why the bishop thereof , hath neither place , nor voice in the parliament of england ) and so , were at first donative , per traditionem annuli , & baculi pastoralis , by the delivery of a ring , and the pastoral staff , or crosier . and the bishop of rome persuading henry the first to make them elective , by their chapters , refused it ; but king john by his charter recognising the custom , and right of the crown , in former times , by the common consent of his barons , granted , that they should be eligible ; as least doubting , he had so far lockt up himself , as that he might not be receiv'd , to disapprove , or allow : for before that , i find , that when he had given a conge d' eslier to the monks of canterbury , to elect an arch-bishop , and pope innocent the third , notwithstanding the kings desires of promoting the bishop of norwich to it , ( whom also , they had elected ) had under a curse commanded them , to choose stephen langton , with which , for fear of excommunicacation they comply'd , the king banishes the monks as traytors , and writes to the pope , that he had subverted the liberties of his crown : by which it appears , that he lookt upon himself , as the supreme governor of the church of england , and that no arch-bishop , or bishop , could be put upon him , without his consent : and what advantage the kingdom got by this usurpation , may be gather'd from the effects , when , after a more than six years jurisdiction , the king depos'd , and a free crown put in vassalage , it only open'd a way to those future broils , between him , and his barons , which lasted all his time , and wanted no fuel to feed 'em , till towards the latter end of his son , men began to stand at gaze , and as infatuated , or startled at they knew not what , thought it more safety to look on , than lend a hand to master it : nor had they fully resolv'd what to do , until the pope having demanded homage of edw. 3. and the arrears of one thousand marks per ann . for the kingdoms of england , and ireland , ( which had been also demanded in the 3 of edw. 1. and in case of non-performance , threatned to make out process against the king and kingdom , then at last , the scales fell from their eyes , and as men got out of a dream , they began to consider what they had startled at , and as an argument of their recovered senses , the lords spiritual by themselves , the lords temporal by themselves , and the commons by themselves , unanimously resolv'd , and declar'd , that the king could not put himself , his realm , or his people in subjection , without their assent ; and albeit it might , it is ( as saith sir edw. coke ) contra legem & consuetudinem parliamenti , contrary to the order , and custom of parliament , because it is a disherison of the king , and his crown : after which , to avoid all further dispute , the manner and order of election of arch-bishops , and bishops , and all things relating thereunto , is setled by statute , viz. 1. negatively , that no one thereafter be presented , nominated , or commended to the sea of rome , for the dignity or office of any arch-bishop , or bishop within this realm , or any other the kings dominions . 2 , affirmatively , that at every avoidance of any arch-bishoprick or bishoprick ( as before ) the king our sovereign lord his heirs and successors , may grant to the dean and chapter of the cathedral churches where the sea of such arch-bishoprick , or bishoprick shall happen to be void , a license under the great seal , as of old time hath been accustomed to proceed to election of an arch-bishop , or bishop , of the sea so being void , with a letter missive , containing the name of the person which they shall elect or choose , by virtue of which , they elect the said person , &c. or in case of refusal incur the penalties of a premunire . so that upon the whole , the election ( in effect ) is but a matter of form , it is the kings meer grant which placeth , and the bishops consecration , which maketh a bishop : neither do the kings of this land use herein , any other , than such prerogatives , as forein nations have been accustomed unto . or otherwise , what made pope boniface , solicit the emperor honorius , to take order , that the bishops of rome , might be created , without ambitious seeking of the place . a needless petition , if so be the emperor had no right , in placing of bishops there . of which , there are several other instances , in a piece of mr. hookers , touching the kings power in the advancement of bishops . in short , if before that act of hen. 8. a bishop in england had been made a cardinal , the bishoprick became void , but the king should have nam'd the succsseor , because the bishoprick is of his patronage . and as to the arch-bishops , and bishops in ireland , the respective chapters ( of ancient time ) upon every avoidance , sued to the king in england , to go to the election of another , and upon certificate of such election made , and the royal assent obtain'd , a writ issued out of the chancery here , to the lord chief justice of ireland , or the lieutenant , rehearsing the whole matter , and commanding him to take fealty of the bishop , and restore him to his temporalties : but now the course is , that such writs are made in ireland , in the name of the king , who nominates the arch bishops and bishops there , as he doth in england , and then the chapter choose him whom the king names to them , and thereupon the writs are made of course . nor were the kings of england , even in those times , excluded , but still acknowledg'd to have power of dispensation , and other ecclesiastical acts. and therefore as he first gave bishopricks and abbeys , and afterward , granted the election to deans , and chapters , and covents ; so likewise might he grant dispensation to a bishop elect , to retain any of his dignities , or benefices in commendam : and to take two benefices ; and to a bastard , to be a priest : and where the statute 25 h. 8. c. 21. says , that all dispensations , &c. shall be granted in manner and form following , and not otherwise ; yet the king is not thereby restrain'd , but his power remains full , and perfect , as before , and he may still grant them as king ; for all acts of justice and grace flow from him : and on this account also , he can pardon any ecclesiastical offence ; as heresie ( for example ) is a cause merely spiritual , or ecclesiastical , and yet the king may pardon one convict of heresie . and as the king may dispense , or pardon , so also does that supreme power enable him to several other things relating to church-matters , which pertain not to another . he may found a church , hospital , or free chappel donative , and whether he specially exempt the same from ordinary jurisdiction , or not , his chancellor , and not the ordinary shall visit it : and he may by his charter license a subject to found such a church , or chappel , and to ordain that it shall be donative , and not presentable ; and to be visited by the founder , and not by the ordinary . and thus began donatives in england , whereof common persons were patrons . so he shall visit cathedral churches ( by commissioners ) sede vacante archiepiscopalii : he may also revoke before induction , by presenting another , for the church is not full against the king , till induction : and therefore if a bishop collates , and before induction dies , by which means the temporalties come into the kings hands , the king shall present to the avoidance , for the same reason . in short , he is the supreme ordinary , and on that account may take the resignation of a spiritual dignity . neither did the abbots and priors in edward the fourths time think him less , when they stile him supremus dominus noster edwardus 4. rex ; which agrees with the laws before the conquest in which the king is called vicarius summi regis , the vicar of the highest king. and albeit , ecclesiastical councils , consisting of church-men , did frame the laws , whereby the church affairs were ordered in ancient times , yet no canon , no not of any council , had the force of law , in the church , unless it were ratifi'd , and confirmed by the emperor , being christian : in like manner , our convocations ( that assemble not of themselves , but by the kings writ ) must have , both licence to make new canons , and the royal assent to allow them , before they can be put in execution ; and this , by the common law : for , before the statute 25 h. 8. c. 19. a disme ( i. e. the tenths of all spiritual livings , in ancient times paid to the pope ) granted by them , did not bind the clergy , before the royal assent . in a word , the king may make orders for the government of the clergy without parliament , and deprive the disobedient . and the act for suppressing seditious conventicles , has a saving to his majesties supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs . and so ( i hope ) i have clear'd this point , that the kingdom of england , &c. is a sovereign imperial monarchy , of which , the king is the only supreme governor , as well in all spiritual , or ecclesiastical things , or causes , as temporal . it remains now that i shew , that however the emperors of the west , and east have so much striven , about that great title of emperor , or basileus , that yet the kings of england ( as supreme within their dominions ) have also justly used it , and that from ancient ages , as no less proper to their own independent greatness . and here , amongst many others , we have edgar frequently in his charters , stiling himself , albionis , & anglorum basileus , king of britain , and the english. and in one of his , to oswald bishop of worcester , in the year 964. and of his reign the sixth , ego edgarus , anglorum basileus , omniumque regum , insularum , oceanique britanniam circumjacentis , cunctarumque nationum quae infra eam includuntur , imperator , & dominus , &c. i edgar king of the english , and of all the kings of the isles , and the ocean lying round britain ( i. e. england , scotland , and wales ) and of all the people therein , emperor , and supreme lord ; for , the word in this place , bears no less , as i have shewn it before , in the word , lord of ireland . wherein it is observable , that as long since as it is , that yet the king of england , or britain , was lord , and emperor of the british sea ; which agrees with that of one of his successors ( canutus ) when sitting in a chair , by the south shore , he used these words to the sea , tumeae ditionis es , & terra in qua sedeo , mea est ; thou art of my dominion ( or empire ) and the land whereon i sit , is mine ; as taking it clearly , that he was the supreme lord , and emperor of both : whence also , it is affirm'd by belknap ( one of the justices of the kings bench 5 r. 2. ) that the sea , is of the king ligeance , as of the crown of england . so that edward his son , in a charter to the abbey of ramsey , ego edwardus , totius albionis , dei moderante gubernatione , basileus ; i edward by the guidance , or assistance of god , king of britain . and edwine , in a charter of his to the abbey of crowland , is stiled , edwinus anglorum rex , & totius britanniae telluris , gubernator & rector ; edwine king of the english , and of all the british land , director , and governor . in like manner ethelred , in a charter of his to the church of canterbury , stiles himself angligenum , orcadarum , necne in gyro jacentium , monarchus , monarch ( or sole governor ) of the english , the isles of orkeney , and all that lie within that circuit : but subscribes it , ego aethelredus , anglorum induperator , &c. i ethelred emperor of the english. and besides what i said before of king william rufus , that said he had the same prerogatives in his kingdom , as the emperor claim'd in the empire , in a charter of his to the monastery of shaftsbury , he says , ego willielmus rex anglorum , anno ab incarnatione 1089. secundo anno mei imperii . i william king of the english , in the year of our lord 1089. and of my empire the second . and now having brought it thus far , i shall in the next place examin the unreasonableness of that new notion , that the king is one of the three estates , and doubt not but to prove the contrary , to any man but him , who will not be persuaded , tho you shall have persuaded him . section vi. that the king is none of the three estates ; in which , two preliminary objections are examin'd by reason ; and answered by the manner of the three estates applying to him . what the three estates are . to presume him one of them were to make him but a co-ordinate power . the king cannot be said to summon , or supplicate himself . how will the three estates be made out , before the commons came in ? with a short series during the saxons to the latter end of henry iii. in all which time they are not so much as nam'd as any constituent part of a parliament , and the time when probably they first came in , to be as they are at this day , one of the three estates . that the lords temporal were never doubted but to be an estate . four reasons offer'd , that the lords spiritual , are one other estate , distinct from the lords temporal , and one act of parliament , in point : with other authorities to prove the assertion . those that would have the king one of the three estates , say , that our government is a kind of mixt monarchy , inasmuch , as in our parliaments , the lower house ( as representing the commons ) bear a semblance of a democracy ; and the lords , of aristocracy : and others , that the king , lords , and commons ; who as assembled joyntly , to the end of legislation , as one corporation , ( and no otherwise ) are the law-giver . we 'll examin it by reason , which — neque decipitur , nec decipit usquam , and only commands belief , when all things else beg it . and here , to come as near the wind as i can , that i may the better get up with them ; admitting the semblance , but not granting the thing , what does this make for them , or serve to prove , that yet the government is not a free monarchy ? because the supreme authority ( as i said ere while ) resteth neither in the one house , or the other , either joyntly , or severally , but solely in the king , at whose pleasure they are assembled , and without whose royal assent , they can make no law , to oblige the subject . and therefore not denying bodin's distinction , of a lordly monarch , a royal monarch , and a tyrannical monarch , which relateth only to the power , and practice of the monarch ; yet the distinction of a supreme , and mixt monarchy , which designeth the manner of the government , is a contradiction in terminis ; because that government which extendeth it self to more than one , can never be a monarchy ; as is obvious to every one , that understandeth the word monarchy , and was never heard of in our land , till the men of our late times , instead of suppressing idolatry , &c. had fram'd a new idol of their own , and having made it as gay as they could , set it up , to be ador'd by the multitude , always prone to admire every thing , they least understand : and what must the consequence of it be ? but that the government , must be partly monarchical , partly aristocratical , and partly democratical , which are in themselves contrary , and to be governed , by contrary laws ; and if it be impossible to make any good , out of two extremes ( as monarchy , and democracy are ) what then shall be made of three , confounded among themselves ? or how can it be that sovereignty ( a thing indivisible ) can at one and the same time , be divided , between one prince , the nobility , and the people , in common , and not to be altogether , a state popular ; or at best a venetian republick , wherein albeit there be but one duke ( and he for life ) yet , his person being not invested with the supreme power of government , he is in effect , but — magni nominis umbra . and as to the other , that the king , lords , and commons as one corporation ( and no otherwise ) are the law-giver ; here , i take the king to be in a worse condition ; for , tho to the making of an act , the concurrence of both houses is necessary , yet of no effect , if the king disapprove : yet , the case of a mayor , aldermen , and burgesses ( or whatever other the stile of the corporation be ) is wholly different ; for they , meeting together ( by the princes grant ) in a kind of democratical common council , for the better government of the place where they reside , order every thing , by most voices , wherein the mayor himself , has but one , and is concluded by the greater number ; but the king , having no voice ( nor any one to represent him ) in the discussive part of any act , cannot be said to give his royal assent , as one of the corporation , but by his inherent legislative prerogative : and how improper the contrary is ; will further appear , in that a common-council , put what by-laws they please , upon the mayor , as long as they are not contrary to the law of the land , because he has no negative upon them . but in case of a sovereign , the first mark of it ( as i have shewn before ) is the power of making laws ; now , who should those subjects be , that should yield obedience to that law , if they also had the power to make laws ? or who should that prince be , that could give the law , being himself constrain'd to receive it of his subjects , unto whom also , he gave it ? a thing , not only incompatible , but even absurd , from every days practice and experience : for , do not the three estates of this kingdom upon the passing of all bills , address themselves to his majesty , in the most humble stile ? as that of the petition of right , humbly shew unto our sovereign lord the king , the lords spiritual , and temporal , and commons in parliament assembled , &c. so to king james , most dread , and most gracious sovereign , we your most loyal , and humble subjects , the lords , &c. so to queen elizabeth , most dread sovereign lady , &c. we your most humble , faithful , and obedient subjects , the lords , &c. so to queen mary , we your highness most loving , faithful , and obedient subjects , &c. do beseech your most excellent majesty , that it may be enacted , &c. so to h. 8. in their most humble wise , shewn to your most royal majesty , the lords , &c. and so to rich. 3. and backward , by the advice , and assent of the lords , &c. at the request of the commons . to edw. 4. by the advice and assent of his lords spiritual and temporal , and at the special request of his commons . to h. 6. by , &c. and at the special instance and request . to h. 5. the same . to h. 4. at the instance , and special request . to r. 2. the same . in edw. 3.'s time , these things underwritten at the request of the commons , be established , and enacted , by our lord the king , his prelates , earls , and barons ; so by the assent , and prayer of the great men , and the commons . and in edw. 1.'s time , at the request of the commonalty , by their petition , made before him , and his council in parliament ; as may be further seen in the statutes at large , till ye can go no further backward , than , the king commandeth : in which also , i have been the larger , that by the consent of all times , i might shew , that this is not after the manner of corporations , or the language of equals ; and shall be my first argument , why the king is none of the three estates . 2. this will further appear , if we shall consider , who these three estates are : and those , i take to be , the lords spiritual , viz. arch-bishops , and bishops , who sit in parliament by succession , in respect of their baronies , parcel of their bishopricks . 2. the lords temporal , as dukes , marquesses , earls , viscounts , barons , who sit there by reason of their dignities , which they hold by descent or creation ; and the third estate , the commons of the realm , viz. knights of shires , citizens of cities , and burgesses of burroughs , respectively elected , by force of the kings writ ; which three estates , sir edw. coke saith ) the french-men call , les estates , or l' assemble des estates : and philip de comines , ( speaking how the english grant subsidies ) convocatis ( saith he ) primis ordinibus , & assentiente populo ; the first , or chief estates , being call'd together , and the people assenting : and bodin ( who by his conference with the english embassador , for so himself confesseth ) wherever he speaks of the constitution of england , calls it the king , and the three estates of the realm : like which , the republick of the kingdom of poland , in the interregnum between the death of one king , and the election of another , is stiled , serenissimae reipublicae regni poloniae , &c. congregati ordines : the estates assembled : and such were the amplissimi ordines , among the romans ; viz. the senate , of whom the emperor was no part ; and signifies with us , the estates of people , among our selves , viz. the clergy , the nobility , and the commons , which , being duly assembled , we call , a parliament : and so sir henry spelman speaking of the word parliament , saith , it is , solenne colloquium , omnium ordinum regni , authoritate solius regis , ad consulendum , statuendumque de negotiis regni indictum . a parliament ( saith he ) is a solemn conference of all the estates of the kingdom , commanded together , by the sole authority of the king , to consult and order the affairs of the realm . from whence it must necessarily follow , that the king is none of them , but as the apostle says ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) as having the preheminence over them ; for , quicquid efficit tale , est magis tale , whatever is the cause of any thing , is greater than the thing caused . 3. to presume the king to be one of the three estates , were to make him but a co-ordinate power , and consequently , concludible by the other two ; for , par , in parem , non habet imperium , among equals there is no authority : whereas , the supreme title of king , is distinguish'd from others , in this , that it acknowledges no other superior : and bodin , speaking of a supreme monarch , saith , he is next to god , of whom he holdeth his scepter , and is bound to no man. and to the same purpose berkly , — regum cognata potentia coelo . whence it naturally follows , that this honor is not to be shar'd with another . 4. which is a negative instance . ( and one negative instance ( saith the lord bacon ) is of more force , to unfix a pretending rule , than two affirmative to establish it . ) if the king were one of the three estates , he should be summon'd by writ ; but because all writs issue in his name , it cannot be said , that he can summon himself , or supplicate himself , as both houses do him ; or not to have power to depart , without leave , i. e. of himself , seeing they have no power to assemble , determin , or depart , part , without the kings express commandment . 5. if the king were one of the three estates , then it follows of course , as undeniable , that before the commons became a third estate , and a constituent part of a parliament , as they are at this day , that the king must have been one estate , the lords spiritual a second , the lords temporal a third ; or otherwise there could not have been three estates : and , now the commons , since the writs for their election , being become another , what hinders , but that they make a fourth ? unless ( perhaps ) we deny the lords spiritual to have been one , and then , before the commons , there could be but two . to examin it a little : that great councils of kings , their nobles , wise men , and chief officers , were frequently held , of ancient time , there is hardly any thing more obvious ; but , whether the commonalty , scarce yet civiliz'd , or if so , for the most part , if not wholly , without literature , were any essential or constituent part , of those great councils , and government , might be a question at this day , if there were any sufficient ground , on which to raise it . convocavit david omnes principes israel , duces tribuum , & praepositos turmarum , qui ministrabant regi : tribunos quoque & centuriones , & qui praeerant substantiae regis ; filiosque suos , cum eunuchis ; & potentes , & robustissimos quosque in exercitu , jerusalem . david called together all the princes of israel , the leaders of the tribes , and the captains of the companies that served under him , and the captains over the thousands , and the captains over the hundreds , and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king ; and his sons , with the officers and mighty men , and valiant men , unto jerusalem . by which you see , of what persons , this great council consisted ; all , men of the first note , and not a word of the people . in like manner solomon , congregavit majores natu israel , & cunctos principes tribuum , & capita familiarum , de filiis israel , in jerusalem . he assembled the elders of israel , and all the rulers of the tribes , and the heads of the families , of the children of israel , to jerusalem : and here too , not a word of the people ; and yet , sir edw. coke calls them both parliaments ; and so no doubt but they were somewhat like it , or otherwise , so many succeeding centuries had never took pattern from them . not to run so far from home . what was our saxon witenage mote , micel synods , micel gemotes , or great councils , but so many assemblies of the wise men ; concerning whom , it is not to be presumed , but that they were of the first rate ; the lump of the people ( as i so lately toucht it ) being for many ages , before , and after , not bred to letters , and consequently , more apt for blows , than arguments , and readier to cut the knot in two , with their swords , than unty it with their tongues : and in all the saxon annals we find the principal , or chief wites , or wise men of the nation , the assembly of gods servants ( the clergy , then so called ) aldermen ( or earls ) great men , chiefest men , noblemen , the constituent parts of those great councils , but no commons to be found , or any that represented them . neither does sir edw. coke , in any authority of his , before the latter years of henry 3. prove any where , that the commons at that time , were any such part of those parliaments , for if they had , there is no question , but he would have nam'd them also ; as he doth those others , that made up those parliaments . rex eldredus , convocavit magnates , episcopos , proceres , & optimates , ad tractandum de publicis negotiis regni , king eldred ( saith he ) call'd together his earls , bishops , barons , and chief men ; but not a word again of the commonalty : and with this , agrees the learned mr. selden , where we have several other instances , to the same purpose , but not one word in any of them , touching the commons . and as the saxon great men , were only present ; in their great councils , so were only the norman barons , and their great men , in those of the conqueror : for , we often meet arch-bishops , bishops , earls , barons , but no where find the least mention of the commons : neither is it to be believ'd , that his new acquest , would yet suffer him , to trust a people , he had so lately conquer'd , or that he made to himself , other measures , than what he took from his sword. and as to william rufus his time , we find it the same ; for in the sixth year of his reign , there was a great council held at winchester ; and in the seventh , another at rockingham : and in the tenth , de statu regni acturus , episcopos , abbates , & quosque regni proceres in unum , praecepti sui sanctione egit . being to order some affairs of the realm , he commanded together the bishops , abbats , and all the nobility of the kingdom ; and yet all this while , not a word of the commons . in like manner , albeit in the first of henry 1. clerus angliae , & populus universus , &c. the clergy , and all the people were summon'd to westminster ; yet here the word populus , is used , as contradistinct , to the clergy , to which it is opposed ; and denotes not , any distinct state , or order , among secular men , or laicks ; but an order and estate of men , distinct , from the ecclesiasticks , or clergy ; these two words of clerus , and populus , being the two general states , or orders , into which all mankind is divided : and so he cites it , as quoted by sir will. dugdale , touching the coronation of king egbert , veniunt wintoniam , clerus & populus ; the clergy and people came to winchester . to which also mr. selden gives a great light , when of the same council he saith , ad commune concilium baronum meorum , is mentioned in it . or what means that other of the third of the same king , wherein they are call'd , primates utriusque ordinis , the chiefs of both orders , i. e. of the clergy , viz. the lords spiritual : and of laity , viz. the nobles , who are also called , principes regni , the chief , or head men of the kingdom ; of which also we have several instances , in that ( beloved physician 's ) ingenuious , learned answer to mr. petit. neither does it appear , that the great councils in king stephen's time , consisted of any other , than the clergy , and the nobility , there being not the least mention of the milites , or liberi homines , knights , or free-men , or that they acted in them . but from these usurpations , we come to hen. 2. who ( robert duke of normandy being dead ) came in upon a rightful title , from his grand-father , henry 1. and yet , the great council at clarendon , which was the 10th . of his reign , consisted only of arch-bishops , bishops , abbats , priors , earls , and chief men , of the kingdom ; and albeit mr. selden ( as himself from hoveden ) says , that clerus , and populus regni , the clergy , and people of the land , were then assembled , it appears not , that any other estate was meant by the word populus , than the lay nobles : for , at the great council of northampton ( which was the following year ) rex statuens celebrare solenne concilium , omnes qui tenebant de rege in capite , mandari fecit . the king having resolv'd to hold a great council , he summon'd thither , all those , that held of him , in capite , i. e. in chief . now to hold in chief of the king , is to hold of him immediately , and merely as king , and of his crown , as of a seigneury in gross , and in chief , above all other seigneuries , and not as of , or by means of some honor , castle , or mannor , belonging to the crown . and in the preceding leaf , mr. selden says , tenere de rege in capite , & habere possessiones sicut baroniam , are synonimies ; and , to hold in chief , and to have their possessions as baronies , was to have the right of sitting in councils , with the rest of the barons : concerning which , it does not yet appear , that the commonalty at that time , had any . from thence , and during the reign of king richard the first , and until the 15th . of k. john , we find it the same ; only at that time , the king being at rochel in france , commits the custody of england to the bishop of winchester , then chief justice , and writes to his barons , knights , and to all his feudataries , or vassals , thro england , that he had received the popes letters , touching the release of the interdict ( under which the kingdom then lay , and of which , i toucht before ) which he had sent to the said bishop ; and therefore requires them , as of whose kindness , and fidelity , he had full confidence , that according to what the said bishop should then say unto them , they would effectually give their advice , and aid : as in like manner , he writes to several other cities , and burroughs , thereby earnestly requiring them , that according to what the said bishop shall give them to understand , that they effectually apply themselves to give him a supply , towards the relaxation of the said interdict ; and thereby also promises them a re-payment with thanks : so , that he only borrows mony of them on that particular occasion , but does not in the least hint , or direct them to send their proxies , or representatives , to any great council to be then call'd : as we have it , and the history of that time , more at large , in the said answer to mr. petit. and now , having offer'd thus far to this matter , i shall go on with the reason of those times , which i take to be thus . william the conqueror having subdu'd england , began now to consider the way of securing it ; and to that purpose ( as it is in the proverb ) cut large thongs out of other mens hides ) and ( as a reward of the service done him ) granted a certain compass or circuit of land , unto such of his chief men , as had assisted him , in the acquisition , to them and their heirs , to dwell on , and exercise such jurisdiction therein , as he thought good to grant ; performing also such services , and paying him such yearly rent , as the grant required : they again parcell'd this land , to such other meaner men , as had follow'd them in the expedition , under such services , and rents , as they thought fit ; and by this means , as those great men became tenants to the king in chief , so the inferiors became tenants to them , who ( as superiors ) exercised a kind of little kingship over them : the king and his successors being supreme lords of the whole , and imposing from time to time , such laws , as by the advice , and assent of those his barons , were thought expedient , and unto which , consentire inferior quisque vis us est , in persona domini sui capitalis , prout hodie per procuratores comitatus , vel burgi , quos in parliamentis , knights and burgesses appellamus ; to which , every inferior ( saith he ) was presum'd to consent , in the person of his chief lord , from whom he held ; as at this day , by the representatives of counties , and burroughs in parliament , whom we call knights and burgesses : and certainly , there is no doubt to be made , but that if there had been any such privilege , of ancient time , belonging to the people , that the historians of those times would not have pass'd so material a thing in silence , especially considering how many of lesser account , are every where found among them . polidor virgil , would have the commons to have been brought into those great councils , in the 16th . of henry i. sir walter raleigh , about the 18th . of that king ; but sir henry spelman will not allow it ; his words are these , sine ut sodes dicam , collegisse me centenas ( reor ) conciliorum edictiones ( tenoresque ipsos plurimorum ) ab ingressu guilielmi 1. ad excessum hen. 3. existentium , nec in tanta multitudine , de plebe , uspiam reperisse aliquid , nil in his delituerit . give me leave ( saith he ) to speak frankly , i believe , i have collected an hundred acts of councils ( and the forms of most ) from the coming in of william the first , to the going off of henry the third ; nor in so great a number have i any where found any thing of the commonalty , nothing of it lies in them . and yet , it may be probable , that henry the third , toward the end of his long , but troublesome reign , brought them in , to counterpoise the factions of his seditious barons : for , tho at the making of the statutes of merton , there is not the least mention of the commons , yet in those at marleborough , they are thus named , the more discreet men of the realm , being called together , as well of the higher , as of the lower estate . and in the title of the statute of westminster the first , made in the third of edw. 1. ( who , as he was first of his name , after the conquest , so he was the first , that setled the law , and state , and freed this kingdom , from the wardship of the peers ) it is thus said , these be the acts of king edward , son to king henry , made at westminster , at his first parliament , &c. by his council , and by the assent of arch-bishops , bishops , abbots , priors , earls , barons , and all the commonalty of the realm , being thither summoned , &c. and so , that word parliament , which ( as sir henry spelman says ) in king john's time , nondum emicuit , was not yet got up , other than by the name of ( commune concilium regni ) the common-council of the kingdom , came in use , as it is now taken , and the commons , as they are at this day , an essential , and constituent part of the same , and a third estate . 6. that the lords temporal are one estate of the realm , was never doubted ; mr. selden begins his privilege of baronage with it : and when the commons came in to be another , i question not but i have fully prov'd ; and if now i shall make it appear , that the lords spiritual are one other estate of the realm , distinct and separate , from the lords temporal ( i hope ) i shall have gain'd my point , and that the king is not one of the three estates . in order to which , 1. the lords spiritual sit in parliament , by a different right , from the lords temporal , viz. by succession , in respect of their counties , or baronies , parcel of their bishopricks ; and the others , by reason of their dignities , which they hold , by descent , or creation . 2. they sit in parliament , in a different robe , and on a different side of the house , from the lords temporal , and are commanded thither by a different form in the writ , viz. in fide , & dilectione , &c. and the lords temporal , in fide & ligeancia , &c. 3. they have a convocation by themselves , consisting of an upper house , viz. arch-bishops , and bishops ; and a lower house , viz. the procuratores cleri , called together by the kings writ , and have the same privilege for themselves , their servants , and familiars , as other members of parliament ; and grant their subsidies apart , and distinct from the lay nobles ; as may be seen by the respective acts , by which they have been granted , as also , ratifi'd , and confirmed . 4. the general stile of all acts of parliament hath been such , that sometimes the ecclesiastical lords are respectively named , as arch-bishops , bishops , abbots , priors ; as well as the temporal lords : and sometimes , by the inclusive name , of the prelates ; and so to the 10th . of richard 2. where it is said , by the assent of the lords and commons : under which general words , of the lords , they seem at first to be included , as if they were but one estate with them ; were it not in the 13th . of the said king , again said , of the assent of the prelates , and lords temporal , and commons . and in another , of the 20th . by the assent of the prelates , lords , and commons ; and in the 14.15.16 . and 17. of the same king , by the assent of his parliament ; and , the parliament ; and none of them named apart : from which time , till the 4th . of henry 4. the word , prelates , was again continued , and then , thus altered , viz. by the assent of the lords spiritual , and temporal , and at the special instance , and request of the commons ; and in the fifth of the same king , by the advice and assent of his lords spiritual , and temporal , and at the request of the commons ; which so continued without any variation in substance , until the 18th . of henry 6. at what time it became , as we have it now , viz. by the advice and assent of the lords spiritual , and temporal , and the commons . besides , if the lords spiritual were not a third estate , what is the reason that at the making of the statute of praemunire , that the commons having declared , that they would stand to the king , in the defence of his liberties ; and praying , that all the lords , as well spiritual , as temporal severally , and all the estates of parliament , might be examined , how they thought of that matter . the lords temporal , being so demanded , answered every one by himself ; and in like manner , the lords spiritual , severally examin'd , answered by themselves : which affords me a double argument , 1. that by all the states of parliament there must be necessarily intended , more than two , if it were for no other reason , than mere propriety of speech . 2. that the king could not make up , that other , or third estate ; because , he is desired to examin all the states severally , which he could not do , if he had been one of them himself : so in the 40th . of edw. 3. ( which i should have named first ) when the king asks advice of his parliament , whether king john could have subjected the realm , as ( what in him lay ) he did , the prelates by themselves , the dukes , earls , and barons by themselves , and the commons by themselves , answered , that he could not . from which , nothing seems clearer to me , than that the lords spiritual , are one estate , distinct from the lords temporal ; or otherwise , what needed they have been examin'd , by those several names , of spiritual , and temporal , or as severally answer'd , by the same appellations . 5. and now , if yet there remain'd any doubt , we have one act of parliament , clear in point ; where , the question being , whether the making of bishops had been duly and orderly done , according to law , the statute says , which is much tending to the slander of all the state of the clergy , being one of the greatest states of this realm . and so , having found three estates , without the king , i think ( in good manners ) we ought to spare him . i have hitherto offered some reasons , nor without their authorities . i come now to somewhat more direct , if yet , those of the 40th . of edw. 3. the 16th . of rich. 2. and the 8th . of qu. eliz. last mentioned could be thought otherwise . i 'll begin with the statute of h. 8. where this kingdom is called an empire , governed by one supreme head , and king , unto whom a body politick compact of all sorts , and degrees of people , divideth in terms , and by names of spiritualty , and temporalty been bounden : and who can believe , that the authority of a parliament , should utter any thing in parables , or under double meanings , contrary to the common sense of the express words , or that there was ever intended , by the words , ( divided in terms , and by names of spiritualty and temporalty ) so many mere words , and no more ? however , to take off all doubt , sir edw. coke says , the high court of parliament consisteth of the kings majesty , sitting there , as in his royal politick capacity , and of the three estates of the realm , viz. the lords spiritual , the lords temporal , and the commons : and so cowel , the word parliament , in england , we use it for the assembly of the king , and the three estates , viz. the lords spiritual , lords temporal , and the commons . and , title statute , he saith it signifieth , a decree , or act of parliament , made by the prince , and the three estates ; unto whom ( as i said before ) they are subordinate , in the legislation , and of no power of themselves , but joyned to their figure , have the full strength of their places : which in short we may thus farther demonstrate , under the familiar instance of a dean , and chapter ; of whom , the dean is no part , but ( caput capituli ) the head of them . and now if any one shall demand , why this term of the three estates does not so frequently occur to us , of ancient time ; i answer , that before the commons were brought in , there was no thought of it ; and since that time , no dispute of it ; until of late , where many a worse twig was ( even learnedly ) made use of , to stilt , and bolster a ricketed cause· however , it is not too late , that the point is cleared now . and so we have it , in the act for unifermity of publick prayers , made the 14th . of this king , where the form of prayer , for the fifth of november , is thus entitled , a form of prayer , with thanksgiving , to be used yearly , on the fifth day of november , for the happy deliverance of the king , and the three estates of the realm , &c. and with this agrees the kingdom of scotland , of which , mr. cambden , in his history of britain , says , that their supreme court , is their parliament , which consisteth of three estates , the lords spiritual , the lords temporal , and the commons , for cities , and burghs : of which , the king is directus totius dominus . and so a parliament of that kingdom reckons them : it is ordained by the king , by consent , and deliverance , of the three estates . and the act of asserting the kings supremacy over all persons , and in all causes ecclesiastical ; and the late indictment , against argile ; and the acts , for the acknowledging , and asserting , the right of succession , to the imperial crown of scotland : and that other , for ratifying all former laws , for the security of the protestant religion , agree in point with it : nor is it strange they should , inasmuch , as neither their langue , nor their laws , especially , such as are criminal ( as may be seen , by comparing their regiam majestatem , with our glanvil , de legibus , written in henry the second's time ) much differ from ours : and the union of the two crowns , in the person of king james , is called , an union , or rather , a re-uniting of two mighty , famous , and ancient kingdoms , yet anciently , but one . and that the laws of ireland ( a distinct realm , or kingdom , from both ) say nothing of this matter , i take it to be , for the same reason , that the romans made no law against parricide , they never dreamt it . section vii . admitting what has been before offer'd , wherein has our present king merited less than any of his royal ancestors ? with a short recapitulation of affairs , as they had been , and were at his majesties most happy restauration : and that he wanted not the means of a just resentment , had he design'd any . i have hitherto shewn , that the crown of england , &c. is supreme , sovereign , and imperial ; nor will it be from the purpose now , to demand , wherein has our present king , less merited , than any of his regal ancestors , that it should appear less on his head , than theirs ; especially considering he is so far from not getting up to 'em , that ( his royal father only excepted ) he has out-gone them all in his own example ; albeit he wanted not the too many just occasions of having been otherwise . to recapitulate some few of them ; nor is it less than fit , to burn incense , where ill odors have been cast , or rais'd . to have seen ( then ) three famous kingdoms , that had so often acknowledg'd his princely progenitors , their undoubted heirs , ( like aesop's pots ) broken , against one another : to have examin'd the quarrel , of which ( whatever were the pretences ) nothing other was in the bottom , than to kill the heir , and divide the inheritance : to have beheld his glorious father , disarm'd by one party , and in that condition , left to the growing designs of another , and the merciless cruelty of both : to have consider'd him , not forsaken only , but ingratefully edg'd forward to his destruction , by those mushromes , whom his royal influence had fermented into somewhat : to have recollected his many messages , fruitless treaties , and that after all condescensions , nothing would content them , without the kingdom also : if there be yet room for a thought ; to have remember'd ( after the faith of both houses given him ) how he was brought to jerusalem to be crucifi'd by the jews : to have once more remembred , him , the fountain of all law , justice , and honor , publickly arraign'd , by the tail of the people , and that too , under the false detorted names of law , justice , and honor of the nation , nor without the fucus of their religion also , brought in , to sanctifie the ordinance : to have remember'd him ( i say ) traiterously sentenc'd by his own subjects , and as ignominiously ( even while the heads of the faction ( as the phrase of that time was ) were seeking god ) infesto regibus exemplo , securi percussum , and murder'd before his own palace ; kingly government abolish'd ; the name , stile , title , and test of the king , alter'd into , the keepers of the liberty of england , by authority of parliament : that notion of a parliament too , which by the same fatal blow , cut themselves off , also : let me not seem tedious , to have remembred himself , proscrib'd , and thereby , made high treason , to proclaim him king ; the oaths of allegiance , and supremacy damn'd ; the royal ensigns defac'd ; the coin alter'd ; the regal statue thrown down , and under that vacancy , engraven , exit tyrannus , regum ultimus , anno libertatis restitutae , primo : in short , to have remembred his helpless friends , either starving at home , or by not complying , necessitated into forein arms , and not the least number of them , so unfortunate , as to have surviv'd the ruines of their ( once ) families ; and lastly , the more unhappy himself , that could only look on and pity them . — quis talia fando , temperet ? — what private gentleman could have born it ? but perhaps you 'l say , he wanted the opportunity ; i think not : for if we consider him , as he was at that time , not only return'd from his fathers allies , but the same profest son of the church of england , he first went out , and in that , the darling of the people ; what particular person , or number of men , might he not have singled from the herd , as a just sacrifice to his fathers ashes , and his own revenge ; had he design'd any ? he had an army at his beck ; the navy regenerated ; all forts , and garrisons re-inforc'd with royalists ; the country return'd to its former allegiance ; and the city , crying out , yea , let him take all , since my lord the king is return'd to his own house in peace ? what ( i say ) might he not have done ? especially considering , that such as had been obnoxious , could not but expect , that the cloud must break , and be afraid , where it might fall , and consequently ready , each man to have given up his nearest relation , to save himself , — et quae sibi quisque timêre unius in miseri exitium convertere — can a mother forget her son ? or a son , such a father ? and yet , quanquam animo redit usque pater , tamen excutit omnem , rex melior — he so far forgot it , as to avoid the occasions of remembring it : nay , which of his enemies lookt up to him , and return'd empty ? was not the childrens bread thrown among them , while the helpless orphans scarce lickt up the crums ? and has not that fulness of bread , provok'd them into wantonness ? they have eat , drunk , and now rise up to play ; and 't is a shrewd sign they are idle , when nothing will serve them , but they must be sacrificing in a wilderness ; yet , what greater testimonies could there be , of an entire forgiveness ? and if so , this methinks should at last mind us , that as vapors rising from the earth , stay not long in the air , but fall on the same earth again , that we also , as truly sensible of the mercy , return him ( at least ) the grateful acknowledgments of an humble obedience . section viii . that notwithstanding the hard law of the kingdom , the jews paid their kings , an entire obedience . two objections answered . the like , other nations to their kings . a third objection answered . the precept of obedience is without restriction ; examples upon it : nor is idolatry any ground to resist ; much less , things indifferent . the example from our saviour in instituting his last supper . least of all , is injury , with the practice of holy men of old , in like cases . and that if any ground were to be admitted , that , would never be wanting . i gave an account before , of that hard law of the kingdom given to the jews , and yet we find not throughout the story , that they did in the least repine at it , but rather the contrary ; for when upon the constitution of saul , some children of belial , ( for so the text calls them ) had despis'd him , saying , how shall this man save us ? the people ( whose hearts god had toucht ) in the next chapter , ver . 12. say unto samuel , who is he that said , shall saul reign over us ? bring the men , that we may put them to death . and what value they put on their kings person , may be seen in this , that saul's armor-bearer , chose rather to kill himself , than perform that last ( if yet i may so call it ) charitable office , to his distressed master , then ready to fall into his enemies hands , and praying it ; neither would the people suffer david to go forth before them to battel ; for if we flee ( say they ) they will not be much concerned at it , neither if half of us die , will they care for us ; but thou art worth ten thousand of us . in short , he that was king among them , did whatever pleased him ; and whatever the king did , pleased all the people . and was not this a perfect love between a king and his people ? was there ever a more exact , or entire obedience ? an obedience , to be reckon'd for righteousness ? and yet , what new paths do we take to our selves ? when , if we would but examin holy writ , we might find that , every where directing us to our duty . as , 1. negatively ; in that we are commanded , not to think ill of the king ; curse not the king , no , not in thy thoughts : much less then , may we speak it , thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people . least of all , may we do him hurt : touch not mine anointed . 2. affirmatively , we are commanded to keep his commandments , and that in regard of the oath of god : neither may we give him any just cause of anger ; whoso provoketh him to it , sinneth against his own soul. to which , if any one shall say , they were kings themselves , that spake it , and 't were much they could say nothing in their own behalf : i answer , that besides that it has been ever receiv'd for holy writ , job , who wrote many centuries , before there was any king in israel , puts the question , is it fit ( saith he ) to say to a king , thou art wicked , or to princes , ye are ungodly ? the interrogation is affirmative , and after the manner of affirmative interrogations , concludes negatively , i. e. no , it is not fit ; for , says the same eccles. ( which is another of the same ) who may say unto him , what do'st thou ? to which also if it be yet objected , that this law was given to a peculiar people , and that no law ( but the law of nature , which is immutable ) obliges any , to whom it was not given : i answer ( as before ) besides that it is holy writ , what inconvenience is it , if we give the same credit to god almighty , we generally allow to other law-givers ? and the rather , in that god , is not the god of the jews only , but the gentiles also . that reverence , the jews paid their kings , by a written law , the ancient heathens took up from a mere impulse of nature ; and yet , what the manner of their kingdoms were ( in that the jews did but desire to be like all other nations ) you have had before . q. curtius tells us , that the persians had such a love to their king , that alexander could not persuade them , either for fear , or reward , to tell him whither their king had fled ; or reveal any of his intentions . in like manner , when xerxes fled from greece , in a small vessel , so full of men , that it was impossible for him to be sav'd , without throwing some over-board ; the nobility leapt into the sea , and by their example , others , till the ship was lightned , and the king preserv'd . and so boëmus aubanus , speaking of the aegyptian kings , saith , that they had so much love from their people , ut non solum sacerdotibus , sed etiam singulis aegyptiis , major regis , quam uxorum , filiorumque salutis , inesset cura , that not only the priests , but every one of them had a greater care of the kings safety , than of their wives , and children . and in another place , speaking of the tartars , albeit their king ( saith he ) upon his inauguration , tells them , oris mei sermo , gladius meus erit , my word 's my sword ; and that all things are in his power , and no man may dwell in any part of the land , but what is assign'd him by the king ; yet , nemini licet imperatoris ve●ba mutare , nemini latae ab illo sententiae qualicunque modo contraire ; no man may alter his decree , or in the least tittle dispute his commands . besides all which , the obsequious impiety of elder times , attributed the name of god to their emperors ; and whence ( perhaps ) it might be , that joseph swore , by the life of pharaoh ; — sceptrum , capitisque salutem testatur — and the romans , by the majesty and genius of the emperor : and the drinking his health , at publick feasts was decreed to augustus ; as we have it in peter ursinus his appendix , where also , he cites s. ambrose , speaking of the custom of his time , bibamus ( inquiunt ) pro salute imperatorum , & qui non biberit , sit reus in devotione : let us drink ( say they ) the emperors health , and let him be damn'd that refuses it ▪ in which the father taxes not the thing , but their ill of doing it . in the offering of all which , let me not be mistaken , as if i design'd to insinuate , that such a power as those kings i so lately mentioned , did exercise , might be practicable now , or any municipal law , alter'd ad libitum ; no , that were to justifie that arbitrary power , so often talkt of , and against which , our present king , hath so publickly declar'd ; the absolute , and unlimited sovereignty , which they have by the ordinance of god , having from time to time ( by their bounty ) been limited , and bounded in the ordinary exercise thereof , by such laws , and customs , as themselves have given the royal assent unto , and allowed ; so that in effect , it may be said , what have we , that we have not received ? upon which score it is , that a subject may maintain his right , and property , and have judgment against the king ; and in such cases , the judges are bound to right the party , according to law : and there are many things also , of which it is said , the king cannot do them , i. e. because he will not do them ( quia refragantur ordini ) as being contrary to the law , and order , establish'd in his realm : and therefore , neither can our kings , or ought they in common justice to be esteem'd , or thought the less , when they have scatter'd any flowers of their crown on their subjects , in asmuch as the root rests in the same place , and is as productive of more , when deserved . but suppose ( may some say ) the king be a wicked king , a tyrant , an idolater , or however else the licentiousness of an enrag'd rabble may render him , may not the subordinate magistrate , the nobility , or people , restrain , or remove him ? i answer , no ; for besides that the precepts of obedience to kings , are without restriction , and therefore extend to all kings , be they what they will ; if it be not lawful for me to judg another man's servant , how much less then , my own master , whose power over me is just , tho it may so happen , that he use it unjustly ? the israelites had a sharp bondage under the egyptians , and wanted not numbers to have made their party good : the land was filled with them , and pharaoh confesseth them , the more mighty ; yet they thought it better to quit the country , than rebel : nor was their condition much improv'd in babylon , and yet they are commanded to offer sacrifices , and pray for the life of the king , and of his sons ; and to seek the peace of the city where they were captives . samuel pronounced the rejection of saul ( whom also , david afterward spar'd ) yet neither incited the people to rebel against him : nebuchadnezzar , achab , manasses , were idolatrous kings ; and yet daniel , elias , and the holy men of those times , continu'd their obedience , and tamper'd not with others , to infringe theirs : what shall i add ? our saviour commands us to give unto caesar , the things that are caesars , and the apostle who exhorts , that , first of all , supplications , prayers , &c. be made for all men , forgets not more especially , kings , and all that are in authority : in short , the primitive christians resisted not their idolatrous persecutors , and yet contrary to the opinion of bellarmin , and buchanan , they wanted not numbers : vestra omnia implevimus , ( saith tertullian ) urbes , insulas , castella , municipia , conciliabula , castra ipsa , decurias , palatia , forum , senatum : cui bello non idonei , non prompti fuissemus , qui tam libenter trucidamur , si non apud disciplinam nostram magis occidi liceret , quam occidere ? we fill ( saith he ) the whole empire , your cities , princes houses , castles , corporations , councils , your very camps , courts of justice , palaces , market-places , senate ; with whom are we not able to make a war , who so willingly offer our selves to the slaughter ? did not our religion teach us , that ( in such cases ) it is better to be killed than kill . but instead of it , pray'd , that god would give them , vitam prolixam , imperium securum , domum tutam , exercitus fortes , senatum fidelem , populum probum , orbem quietum , & quaecunque hominis aut caesaris sunt vota . a long life , a secure empire , safe house , valiant forces , a faithful council , loyal people , quiet state ; and whatever were the desires of a man , or emperor : they preferr'd god , before julian's idolatry , yet , when he said , march , they obey'd him . and if idolatry be not ground for a subject to resist his prince , much less then may cases of lesser consequence , which touch not the foundation , but are only circumstantials : and of this kind , are all ( adiaphora ) things in themselves indifferent , whether to be made use of , or not made use of , however , coming to be commanded , by a lawful authority , the indifferency ceases , and every man is obliged in conscience to comply with the command , as especially in such cases , where he has made himself a party , by his representative ; and from which , if he might retract , by saying , it was not the sense he meant , why also might not the king , in some other case , say , he was mistaken , when he gave the royal assent ? for i do not find , that the subject here , shall be in a better condition , than the king. and then , make the consequence who will , which is as easily done , off-hand , as other matters , that require no study . and here i might instance several ceremonies , which , albeit they were first devised by man , for the more decent order in the church , and tho the keeping , or omitting them , is in it self , but a small thing , yet the wilful , and contemptuous transgression , and breaking of a common order , and discipline , is no small offence , against that rule of the apostle , let all things be done in a seemly and due order : and is no more of private interpretation , than is scripture , which ( like the law ) pronounceth nothing , but in the mouth of a judg. to speak once for all , our saviour who was an hebrew , amongst whom , the roman customs were not so altogether in use , gives us a remarkable example , in this matter , and i think no man will question his authority , — solem quis dicere falsum audeat ? he was ( i said before ) an hebrew , and yet , if we examin his converse among the romans , we shall find it generally , comporting to their manners . to pass the rest , that one of instituting his last supper , seems to me to carry no small force : the triclinium ( a bed , not unlike our couches without backs , but broader , on which the romans at their feasts , lay in a manner extended , on their sides , breasts , or elbows ) was not in use among the jews , that ever i yet met , or learn'd ; yet when our saviour was to keep the passover ( which the jews did , their loins girt , their shoes on their feet , their staves in their hands , and in hast ) the text says , discumbebat cum duodecim , which signifies the manner , how the romans used those beds ; and from whence s. john is said , to have leaned on his bosom : yet admitting , that he sate down , it is enough , to prove , that it was not the jewish custom , for they stood : besides , the form of the table seems to have been roman , viz. orbicular , or oval ( of which kind , we have several figures , in rosinus , lipsius , and others ) and the reason of it was , that every ghest might put his hand in the dish , without reaching over another : and this is further plain , by that answer of our saviour , to his disciples , asking him , who should betray him , qui intingit manum in paropside , &c. he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish , the same shall betray me : neither is it possible it could have been a long table , for then , how could our saviour ( as we have it in another evangelist ) have given him the sop ; in as much , as judas being the last of the twelve ( and perhaps for that reason also , carrying the bag ) must in all probability have sate lowest , and out of reach of the sop , as well as of the dish : from all which i infer , that if our saviour , who was no roman , conform'd himself to the customs of the roman empire , to which the jews , were at that time tributary , how much more then ought this be a sufficient ground to us , whereby to follow his example ; especially , in matters , otherwise indifferent , where they are not commanded ; it being but reasonable , that in standing weight , even a grain of authority should turn the scale . least of all then is injury any ground for a subject to oppose his prince ; inasmuch , as no man can be said to be injur'd by him , of whom , by the law of god , and man , he can take no revenge , without a greater injustice . s. peter was reproved by our saviour , for drawing his sword against authority , tho in defence of his master : s. paul checks himself for a bare slip of his tongue , against the high-priest : and look back into the old testament , those times also , hold no such custom , but rather the contrary : thus moses , and six hundred thousand footmen , besides children , and a mixt multitude , fled from pharaoh : david , in the head of an army , ( and those , if we consider the persons , desperate enough ) from saul : and elias , from jezabel , seven thousand men yet left in israel , that had not bow'd their knees unto baal : and as they fled , others supplicated : so jonathan , for david to saul : ebedmelech , for jeremiah , to zedechiah : and esther ( a queen ) for her nation , to ahasuerus . in short , if any cause should be admitted , for which subjects might resist , that cause , would never be wanting , against any prince ( let him reign never so justly ) whom the people shall call an idolater , or tyrant ; and how easie it will be , to conclude him one , or both , especially , where they that take upon them to give the sentence , shall make the case , i leave it to every man : impiety must be the ground to accuse him , and that , the common pretence , whereby to depose him ; as if a king , like a chinese god , might be whipt into a compliance , or if that will not do , thrown in the fire , and another set up in his room , during the same pleasure , or better behaviour . in a word , i spake erewhile of flight , and supplications , but they that are too stiff for the one , will rarely bend to the other , unless ( when they can do no more ) they appeal ( from the king , to alexander ) from himself , unto himself , as presuming , that private spirit which knows not how to deny , will yet so prevail on his publick capacity , that he will remit any thing . section ix . the arts of the late times in working the people from this obedience . it was to be done piece-meal . the kings necessities , answered with complaints . plots discovered ; fears and jealousies promoted . religion cants its part . leading men , some to make it law , others , gospel ; the examples of corah , &c. the same game playing over again : prognostications , &c. the ill consequence of such impressions . the examples of cade , tyler , and others . holy league in france ; solemn league and covenant , at home , &c. new trains to the old fuel . our saviours advice to his disciples touching the leven of the pharisees : what that , and they were , made applicable unto our selves . i have brought it thus far , that princes are to be obey'd , and yet , ere i close the argument , it will not be from the purpose , if we examin how the people were wrought from it in the late times , and of what ill consequence , the like impressions may be at present . wise men are safe , they have wit enough to keep within themselves ; but , 't is the mobile vulgus , the ignota capita , sine nomine turba , that only fall within my discourse . and truly , considering this kingdom in its self , — potens armis , atque ubere glebae , a land so considerable abroad , and fruitful at home , that virtue , and fortune , which ( according to florus ) seem'd to have contested about the raising of the roman empire , might have been truly said to have concenter'd here : and withal , considering the evils we have past , and the happy days we might enjoy , if we pleas'd our selves , it would confound astrologers , to observe such planets , such masculine planets , ascending , in conjunction , in the houses of their exaltation , and yet the kingdom , planet-struck . — pudet haec opprobria dici ; et dici potuisse , & non potuisse refelli . to examin it a little further , and the rather , for this , that by viewing the cards , by which the last game was play'd , we need not be once more cheated , unless we please our selves . that the people were so beset , is agreed of all hands : whither do rheumes , and humors resort , but to the weakest parts ? yet , this was not to be done all at once ; no , they were first to be prepar'd , and then so dispos'd , that they saw nothing but ( sub imagine lusca ) by a dull false light . to have askt the people about sixty years since , if they would have taken arms against their prince , that prince , whose ancestor had given them so much , they could not readily tell , what to ask more ; no doubt but they had startled at the question , and answer'd , as hazael to elisha , is thy servant a dead dog he should do this thing ? no , that was a gobbet too large for their throats ; but given bit , by bit , there was no danger of the swallow , were it never so raw . seldom appears the devil so ugly as the painters make him , that were enough to convince an atheist ; but when he offers himself as an angel of light , who would suffer him to shake off the dust of his feet on them ? and here , religion was a main instrument , but it must stay its time : no man serves up the last course , till the first , and second are over : the king was to be first reduc'd to necessity , to the end , that being forc'd to extraordinary means for supply , he might attract an odium : nor must he be supply'd , but from hand to mouth ; however , what he might want in that , he had it otherways , press'd down , and running over : complaints of grievances , treasure mis-spent , necessities contracted by mis-providence , remonstrances against favourites , not forgetting the old ingredients , of growth of popery , and arbitrary government : and if this was not the art of that time , my author has done them wrong , and that he is seldom guilty of . by this time the people were shod with the preparation of the work ; and now , the french are ready to land , and the old vault smells rank of powder again : the kingdom must be put into a posture of defence , and the militia into confiding hands ; fears and jealousies promoted ; bishops , and popish lords excluded ; the well-affected counties associated ; monies raised ; themselves perpetuated ; publick-faith set up ; the excise slurr'd on the people for repaying it ; and the holy covenant , to pin the basket : and one would think they had laid in well enough , and yet , besides the 11 millions ; which the plate , rings , bodkins , &c. within london , essex , and middlesex , besides other counties , amounted to , it is publickly declar'd , that if any papists , would bring in any considerable sums , upon the propositions , they should be received ; albeit they tax'd his majesty for raising an army , by the help of papists ; as their disciples , some years afterward , hired owen roe o neal , to raise the siege at london-derry in ireland , then beleaguer'd by his majesties forces ; not without suspicion , that they over-paid him his wages in a parting glass . and now 't is time that religion trump up , and justifie all they had already laid , or were to act for the future . a painful , gospel-ministry , must act its part , and s. ant'lins lectures , lead the way to the artillery-yard : in order to which , they beat down morality , that having swept the house of one tenant , it might be the readier for another . ye must not ( said they ) plant gospel-truths on legal foundations , or the rotten crab-stocks of carnal principles : who ever found fault with fresh herrings ? and shall we despise truth because 't is a novelty ? 't is a sign men have a mind to sleep , when they draw their curtains , and will have no more light come in : whereas , it is your work to enquire after further light : to call out , what of the night ? how much of the night of popery and darkness remains ? how near are we to the taking the possession ? and how long may we be kept off ere the scepter of the kingdom be advanced ? and is not this fine stuff ? and yet the pulpit-drums of that time beat no other march : and all this by scripture too ; nor ( as to themselves ) without reason : don't we give children hony and raisins , with their worm-seed ? and g●ld pills , for men of riper years ? did ever dog swallow a cork without butter ? or even a fool , angle , without hiding his hook in a bait ? no , no , the needle must be first in , and the thred follows of course . absalom had never gotten the people to him , had he not mask'd his rebellion , under a vow at hebron ; for the text says , they went in their simplicity , and knew not any thing . yet it was not to be expected , that religion alone should carry on the work , or that the same old drudg cloak , should still hold out rain , without a new lining : wisdom built her house on more pillars than one , and a mere foundation was too hazardous for their new jerusalem , without props and buttresses : and therefore , to prevent the question , do any of the scribes follow him ? there must be hinters , as well as holders-forth ; leading-men to countenance that for law , which their assembly had predetermin'd , should pass for gospel . corah and his companions , were of the tribe of levi ; dathan and abiram , of the tribe of reuben ; heads of families , men famous in the congregation ; clergy , and laity ; dissembled sanctity , to usurp'd authority : and that their quarrel was government , under the pretence of religion too , appears by what they said to moses , and aaron , ye take too much upon you , seeing all the congregation are holy , every one of them , and the lord is among them : wherefore then lift ye up your selves above the congregation of the lord ? so adoniah ( when his father david , the kingdom of the jews being not yet become hereditary , had caused solomon to be crowned king , while he yet lived ) the better to colour his pretence to it , took to him abiathar , the high-priest , and joab the captain of the host : and who would think it strange , that a short-sighted , sand-blind multitude , should scruple to follow , where such guides lead them ? i have hitherto with what briefness i could , accounted some slights of hand within our own memories ; and shall it be reckoned to our inadvertence , or folly , that they pass twice in the same age ? that the devil was once in the herd , we have authority enough ; but that he never should quit it , we hold no such prophesie . and yet methinks the game is playing over again , or else , what meaneth this bleeting of the sheep , and lowing of the oxen ? this talking with the people upon the wall , or making them believe , that they , that came into the world ( as cato into the theatre ) only to go out again , should yet be the saints that are to judg , and inherit it ? why must they that carry their souls in their eyes , and their brains in other mens heads , be once more buzz'd with laws , liberties , conscience , dissatisfaction ? or ( like larks ) dar'd to the net , with every thing ? prognostications , prophesies , prodigies , &c. which , albeit ( like mercenary soldiers ) they may be brought to fight on either side , yet every man superstitiously interprets them to his own advantage , and lets them speak no other language , than what his wishes , hope , or fear , put in their mouths : in short , we have had enough of the arts by which the people have been already impos'd on , nor will it be unworth the while , if we consider , of what ill consequence , such , or the like impressions , may further be to them ; inasmuch also , as those spiritual druggists , give out the commodity without garbling , and vend what they please among the rabble , for staple goods and warrantable . man , as he is a rational , so also is he a compound , gradual creature , the way to his reason , being by his sense , and appetite , which being disturb'd , or prepossess'd , how is it possible for him to take any thing aright , more than for him that is out in the premisses , not to be worse mistaken in the conclusion ; or , than that a bowl , deliver'd short , or narrow at hand , should ever come up with the block : some birds are whistled into the snare , others driven , and dotterils caught by imitation of such postures , as others put themselves into : argus had an hundred eyes , and yet was surpriz'd sleeping : the evil one in the gospel , sow'd tares , while the husbandman slept ; and what worse effects may not such impressions have upon the multitude , whose whole life is but one long slumber ; or at best , per pocula noctes ? and therefore considering them ( as the athenians in the acts ) ever spending their time in nothing else , but either to tell , or hear some new thing ; or , taking them , as they are , weak in judgment , but violent in will ; believing , as they affect , and presaging , as they believe ; how easie is it to make them serviceable , to any aspiring design , shall be cast before them ? and if so , how are they to be entrusted with themselves ? much less , to be lasht down-hill especially , if when we have any credit to the poet , we also allow him in the advice to phaeton , parce ( puer ) stimulis , & fortius utere loris , sponte suâ properant , labor est inhibere — for tho they would be quiet enough , if their drivers would let 'em , yet if once they get the bitt in their teeth , or find the reins lie loose on their necks , they grow wild , unruly , seditious , and no longer apt to be govern'd , or ruled ; and as another on the like occasion , — non audivere jugales imperium , & prono nec sat stetit orbita coelo . and therefore the psalmist , that reckons it among the prerogatives of god , to still the raging of the sea , subjoyns immediately , and the madness of the people . who would have thought , that jack cade ( alias ) captain mend-all in henry 6th.'s time ; jack straw , and wat tyler in richard 2.'s time , and their rabbles , could have done any mischief ? and yet , they put the kingdom into such a convulsion , that it required some time ere it recover'd its limbs . and here , i wonder any citizen of london can look upon the bloody dagger , in the dexter canton , of the city arms , and not remember the loyalty of sir william wallworth , then lord mayor of london , who with his own hand , knockt down wat tyler , in the kings presence , in smithfield , and and thereby dispers'd the rabble ; in memory of which action , that augmentation , was first given them . in like manner , that of thomas anello ( or massinello ) in naples , about 34 years since , where so inconsiderable a thing , as the gabel on a basket of fruit , or fish , rais'd the people into a rebellion of above 200000 men , in less than five days ; wherein ( ere it ended ) 't was odds , but the neapolitan courser , had ( for all the bridle , and saddle ) thrown his rider , had not the policy of that time , thought the acquest of a disputable crown , of less concern , than the setting up again a declining , but popular , emulous , not to say pretending family , and giving it once more , the opportunity of an estate , that was but too mighty in obligations already . add to this , the late assassination of de witt , and his brother , in holland , by a wild rabble , which also , had not been so easily quieted , were it not natural with the common people , enragedly to vent themselves on the stone that hurt them , and never regard the hand that threw it . and yet in all this there was no pretence of religion ; but it heightens the case when that shall be edg'd in , to blanch the design : and however the voice may be the voice of jacob , it seldom happens , but that the hands , are the hands of esau. what mischiefs , did the army of god , and the church ( for so they stil'd themselves ) in king john's time ? the holy league , in the time of henry 3. of france ; which , albeit himself entred into , for the extirpation of the hugono●s , yet it was not long ere it was turn'd upon him : john of leyden , and knipperdolin in germany : the sword of the lord , and gideon ( as it was then called ) under john knox , in scotland : and the solemn league and covenant in our own times ; the brands of which are it seems ) not so altogether extinguish'd , but that they , more than once , began to take fire again , tho the flame were prevented . and do we not find , that in all these , a demure , down look , and an uplifted eye , went more than half way , and a mistaken violence , the undisputable character , of a zeal to the cause ? how much therefore , have the people more need of a pendulum , than fly ; somewhat to moderate , not multiply the motion ? it being here , as with gossips tongues , much easier to raise the devil , than lay him . who ever put a sword into a mad-mans hand to keep the peace with ? or entrusted an ape to range in a glass-shop ? yet such , or worse must it be , where the people are the reformer , who never examin what they are doing , but how to run farthest , from what they were last . and if so , what mean these new trains , to the old fuel ? jealousies , murmurings , repinings , libels , licentious discourses , false news , half whispers , disputing , excusing , or cavilling upon directions ; sometimes praising the government , yet but slightly ( at most ) and that too , not without some pity of defects , and ill management — ay but — and a shrug — it were to be wish'd — but who can help it — we had — and may have again — however — a good man — 't is pity : and what 's all this , but the blowing one up , to break him , or lifting him from the ground , to be the surer of throwing him ? or , is it not what the psalmist speaks of , sagitta volans in die , &c. the arrow that flieth by day , and the pestilence , that walketh in darkness ; for tho it be not level'd at any particular mark , it cannot be , but that it must hit some body , as being shot among a crowd ; and so not improperly , in s. hieroms translation further rendred , by daemonium meridianum : and truly if the conventicles at this day ( as the preamble of the act for the preventing , and suppressing seditious conventicles , and sectaries , says ) did not under pretence of tender conscience , contrive insurrections , why might they not be contented with enjoying their private opinions within their own families , and any other number of persons , not exceeding four ? but alas ! alas ! religion is not the matter , but following , and parties : is it peace jehu ? what hast thou to do with peace ? get thee behind me : they carry ( 't is true ) peace in their mouths , but their hands , are making ready to battel . i 'll close this point with the double advice of our saviour to his disciples : beware of the leven ( i. e. the doctrin ) of the pharisees : for the better understanding of which it is requisite that we consider them as they were , that is , a sort of men of the strictest sect , of the jewish religion , appearing outwardly ( more than ordinarily ) righteous unto men , but within , full of hypocrisie , and iniquity : for , they did works , but to be seen of men : they shut up the kingdom of heaven , against others ; but , enter'd not themselves : they made long prayers ; but , under that pretence , devour'd widows houses : they tyth'd mint , annise , and cummin ; but , neglected the weightier matters of the law , &c. and therefore our saviour calls them eight times , in the same chapter , hypocrites ; and their doctrin , hypocrisie . besides ( as josephus says of them ) they were subtil , proud , scrupulous , such as were able , openly to practise against kings , and presumed to raise war against them , and among them : for , whereas all the jewish nation , had by oaths , oblig'd their fidelity to augustus , these men , to the number of 6000. and upwards , refus'd it . and truly the very word ( peruschim ) whence the name is derived , speaks little less ; for it comes from the hebrew verb , parasch , which in the conjugation piel , signifies to divide , or separate ; in which acceptation , they are by the greeks , called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. separatists . and by the well observing this , we shall be the better enabled , to follow that other , take heed that no man deceive you ; for many shall come in my name , and shall deceive many : for there shall arise false christs , and false prophets , &c. behold , i have foretold you : wherefore , if they shall say unto you behold he is in the desert , go not forth ; behold he is in the secret chambers , believe it not : what our saviour here said to his disciples , he said to all men , in them ; and therefore , to make it applicable to our selves : when any such prophet , or dreamer of dreams , shall offer us peace , in the wilderness of a multitude , and religion in the lurking holes , or covert of a conventicle , that voice had need continually sound in our ears , go not out ; and , believe it not , be as often redoubled ; for much better it is , that we leave the ark to shake , as it shall please god , than follow any unworthy hands , that may pretend ( even a call ) to support it . section x. a further enquiry , whether any exclusision of his royal highness the duke of york may be of more advantage or disadvantage . the advantage propos'd ; and whether an act for security of religion , be not as safe , as a bill of exclusion . the moral impossibility of introducing the romish religion , tho the prince were of that persuasion . the reason why the kingdom follow'd the reformation under edw. vi. qu. mary . qu. elizabeth . that the case cannot be the same at this day . the crown of england , an ancient entail ; with the danger of innovations . objection , that such things have been done . so has a king been murder'd . more particularly answered , in edw. iv. qu. mary , and qu. eliz. all three excluded by parliament , yet came to the crown . no man changes , but in hopes of better . the advantages of continuing as we are . it is a bar to pretenders . the same , as to competitors . disorders avoided . no new family to be provided for . the indignity of a repulse avoided . suppose scotland , and ireland be of another opinion ; the former of which has by parliament asserted the right of succession of that crown , notwithstanding any religion , &c. lastly , all occasions of jealousie taken away . objection , answer'd . disadvantages that have attended the laying by the right heir . examples from old rome ; and vsurpations at home . the revolt from rehoboam ; our loss of france . with a conclusion from the whole . more particularly , as it relates to his royal highness . i am fal'n upon an argument , of which , some may , i could not be content to do , but i must over-do ; and yet ( permissu superiorum ) i conceive , not : for besides that my design in it is plain , and honest , as only tending to the continuance of that peace , which , his exclusion , may probably endanger ; it is none of the non disserenda , nor is there ( that i know ) any law against it : and therefore , i shall ( without further apology ) put my self upon the favourable interpretation of my reader , as placing more assurance in the innocence of my own meaning , than the most reserv'd caution , or wariness of words . he that would hit the mark , must take his level before he part with his arrow ; and he that would not be cheated , had need see the scales try'd , as well as weigh the commodity : in like manner , he that will give a true judgment of this matter , must begin with the end , that by viewing the advantage , and disadvantage of either hand , his judgment , and election , may be the more clear , and the less apt to slide into error . we 'l take the case then as it has been of late , in relation to his royal highness the duke of york : the people were upon a pin , and nothing will satisfie them , but he must be excluded , the advantage propos'd by it , not a little plausible ; the security of the protestant religion : and very well ; depositum custodi , was the advice of s. paul to timothy , and 't is a good account of a steward , that he has lost nothing : but here the question will arise , whether the protestant religion , profess'd at this time , in this kingdom , may not be sufficiently secured against popery , albeit the right heir should happen to be of that persuasion himself . and ( with submission ) i conceive it may : for if such a person could be excluded , it must be done by act of parliament , and if so , where lies the difference , that an act of parliament , for the security of the now establish'd religion , against any popish successor , may not be of the same force as an act of parliament , for excluding him , in as much , as the authority is the same : to which , because i seem to hear some one , more than whispering , that in the one case , he will not have the opportunity , in the other he may : i answer , that it is morally impossible to introduce the romish religion into this kingdom , albeit the prince were of that persuasion : for tho the kingdom follow'd edw. 6. his reformation , and queen mary tackt them about to the church of rome ; and queen elizabeth bore up again for edw. 6. yet it will not be the same at this day ; for as to edw. 6. it was no great wonder that the kingdom follow'd his reformation ; for besides that , it was in the hurry of a change , henry 8. who , tho he forsook not the church , but court of rome , had yet shaken it out of its authority , and by dispersing the abby lands , among such as help'd him , put it out of a condition , of recovering suddenly : and now , religion being not the only question , who can tax the politicks of that time , for not standing to the pope , when by setting up that authority again , they must infallibly have hazarded , if not lost their new interests ? whereas by complying with the reformation , they were certain of keeping , what they had already , and in a fair way of getting more : and withal considering , there were several opinions , at that time boiling up , what mighty matter was it to bring them to cry , erravimus cum patribus nostris . and as to the kingdoms tacking again with queen mary , that also is not so much to be wonder'd at ; for considering , that under edw. 6. the harvest was as yet small , and the laborers many ; and those too not altogether knit , among themselves ; and that he liv'd not , long enough , to see the last stone laid ; and that the queen coming in , so near after her father , henry 8. found ribs , and planks enough of the old ship , left , to patch up another , for the present occasion , or till a better could be had : and the main obstacle , of securing the abby lands , in the hands of the temporalty , as they lay then , dispers'd among them , being first reconciled ; no wonder ( i say ) if the kingdom footed it to the queens measures , and that the note was chang'd , to super vias antiquas . in like manner , that the kingdom follow'd queen elizabeth , in the reformation , begun by her brother edw. 6. it is not so strange ; for considering also , how short a time queen mary reign'd ; and ( an inexcusable fault in musick ) that she began a note too high , and by that means was forc'd to run it up , even to cracking the strings ; and that the reformation had ( by that time ) gotten some face , and credit in the world ; and therefore , the violent persecution of it ( like winds to young trees ) not overthrowing it , had but fasten'd its roots ; and withal , that such as had gotten any church lands , knew not what another parliament might do , or what flaws ( in after times ) might be found in the former ; and that the probable way , of making all sure , was to order it so , that it should not be in the popes power , to hurt them , if he would ; neither here also was it a wonder , that the kingdom joyn'd with queen elizabeth , and alter'd the carol , to a canticum novum . but the case will not be the same at this day , for besides , that we have the authority of a church , confirm'd by several acts of parliament , even the people now , pronounce schibboleth without lisping . fox his martyrs , are not yet forgotten ; and tho the writ , de haeretico combruendo , be taken away , the crackling of the faggots still rattle in their ears : nor of less concern are the loaves , than the doctrin ; the land on which the faggots grew , than the faggots themselves : it is now 150 years since those abby lands were given out , and by this time , they are assimulated in succum & sanguinem ; and the fear of losing them , has begot more ill blood , than the first grant of them did good . i have heard of one impropriation , given back to the church , but the lands , remain much as they were , tho not altogether in the same hands ; they yield good rent , and many men are of vespasian's mind , that all gold , has the same scent . sell all thou hast , and give it the poor , lost our saviour a disciple ; and would be thought as hard a saying now : men are loath to part with their wedding garment , especially , where it may so happen , to be the best to their backs . add to this , the vast improvements made upon them in so many years , and the several exchanges , intanglements , and dispositions from hand to hand , that it would puzzle , even the church it self , to say , which were her sons coat ; from whence , i close this , that let the rabbies talk what they will , of venient romani , nay , till they lay the way half plain before them , it will be yet morally impossible for them , to take away , either our place , or nation , and much more to raise any superstructure of their own . besides , the crown of england , is an ancient old entail , the reversion , in him , by whom kings reign ; and is it not reasonable , that he were first consulted , before it be dockt ? or admitting it were to be done , how are we sure , that he that is to come after , shall always continue of the same opinion ? or how are we secure , he shall not be worse ? the spaniards have an excellent proverb , better is the evil we know , than the good we do not know . sana corpora difficile medicationes ferunt ( saith hippocrates ) 't is better to make alterations , in sick bodies , than sound : twigs , and saplings , may be easily bow'd , or remov'd ; but old grown trees , are not so safely ventur'd on : 't is the same in state : innovations and alterations , even in little things , are dangerous , for it seems to acquaint the people , with the sweetness of a change , and that there may be somewhat yet , still better , which ( like our philosophers of the stone ) they had undoubtedly hit , but that something in it , unluckily miscarried . but , may some say , have not such things been done before ? was not richard duke of york in henry 6. 's time declar'd by parliament , incapable of succession ? ( nay , after he had been declared , heir apparent ) and was not queen mary , and queen elizabeth , the same ? i grant it ; but 't is ill arguing à facto , ad jus . that because such things have been done , that therefore they may be done again . examples must be judged by laws , and not laws , by examples . we have in our own times seen , a king murder'd by his own subjects , and that too , under the specious pretences of religion , and law ; monarchy abolish'd ; allegiance made rebellion ; and iniquity , establish'd by a law : and is this an argument ( think ye ) that the same things , may be yet practis'd ? to give it a more particular answer ; they were declar'd incapable of succession : 't is true , but not upon any account of religion , but interest , as the affairs of those times then stood : but yet 't is as true , that edw. 4. son of richard duke of york recover'd the crown , notwithstanding the said declaration ; the only cause of the war , between the houses of york , and lancaster , proceeding from the right of one , and the possession of the other . in like manner queen mary , and queen elizabeth , were both declar'd by parliament , not inheritable , and excluded from all claim , or demand to the crown ; and yet they both successively reigned , notwithstanding the said temporary disability ; which ( it seems ) the accession of the crown , purg'd , as well as it has been said of an attainder ; and yet their different persuasions , diametrically opposite to each other . no man yet , ever chang'd his condition , but in hopes of bettering it : hath a nation chang'd their gods , which yet , are no gods ? ( saith jeremiah , upbraiding the ingratitude of the jews ) and therefore , a wise man begins from the end , and first considers , whether that be adequate , to the hazard he runs . touching the security of religion , i have already spoken ; and next to the glory of god on high , the chiefest end of man , is peace on earth . the end of war is triumph , and the end of triumph , peace : the clashing of the steel and flint , wears out one another , and brings forth nothing but fire : whereas , peace is the balm , that heals the wounds , and the cement , that fills up the breaches of war. how careful then ought we be , to avoid , even the beginnings of strife , which solomon aptly calls , the letting out of waters , and will of themselves , quickly wear the breach wider . upon which , it properly follows , that we weigh the advantages we have by continuing as we are , and the disadvantages , or inconveniencies , that have follow'd such exclusions . as to the former , 1. the continuance of a succession in one descent , and according to proximity of blood , is a bar to pretenders , and the ordinary occasions of mutiny , competition , and invasion , are thereby taken off : and to this purpose tacitus , minoris discriminis est principem nasci , quam sumi . it is less hazard , to have a prince born to hand , than to be forc'd to seek one ; because subjects more naturally submit to an undoubted , unquestionable title , and enemies will not be so ready , to be fishing in clear water . a third , never attempts the bone , till two are quarreling . 2. we secure our selves against those disorders , which such a breach opens an infallible entrance into , and gives ambition , and insolence , the reins at large , which seldom stop , but multiply themselves , and the whole state , into confusion ; when after all , the best seldom carries the day , but the violent takes it by force . of which we need no further for instance , than the ancient brahon tanistry , before hen. 2. his conquest of ireland . 3. it takes away the danger of having a new family to provide for : time was , the empire could have spread her wings ; but now , she has past so many hands , and been so deplum'd upon every change , that she has almost lost all her best feathers , and kept little to her self , but the despair , of getting them back again , 4. it avoids the indignity of a repulse . was ever prince yet content , to see another sit on his throne ? or did ever men reckon the sun the less , that it had suffer'd an eclipse ? no ; mankind naturally pities any thing in distress , and passionately croud to the recovering beams . in short , we picture time , drawing truth out of a pit ; and seldom find , majesty so sunk under water , but some , or other , have been ever buoying it up again . 5. there is a present union , and amity between these kingdoms of england , scotland , and ireland ; and who knows , whether they may be of the same opinion . as to ireland , it has been determin'd where it shall be bound , by an act of parliament , made in england ; howbeit there is a gulph between us : but as to scotland , the question was never yet put ; not that i speak , as if the kingdom of scotland , which never did , should now begin ) to give england law. no , nor will i believe it ever thought — however , were we at odds , — fas est , & ab hoste doceri . which was the better son , he that said he would not go , but went , or he that said he would go , but went not ? they have recogniz'd , and declar'd , that the kings of that realm ( deriving their royal power from god alone ) do succeed thereto , according to the proximity of blood. and that no difference in religion , nor any law , nor act of parliament , made , or to be made , can alter or divert , the right of succession , and lineal descent of that crown , to the nearest , and lawful heir , according to the degrees aforesaid . and that by writing , speaking , or any other way , to endeavour the alteration , diversion , suspension , or debarring the same ( by any subjects of that kingdom ) shall be high treason . so now , if it should happen , that the kingdom of england should be of a contrary opinion , must it not in all moral probability , open a gap to a new breach , and thereby hazard the rending asunder those two crowns in blood ; the uniting of which , were so wisely design'd by h. 7. and as happily took effect in king james , without blood ; and what must the consequence of it be , but that we once more fall to the old trade again . — furit omnis turba , suoque marte cadunt — and when ( perhaps ) it shall be said of the conqueror , as of alexander ( in his expedition against the parthian ) that he lost more by the war , than he got by the victory ; whereas prudence , in the adventure , looks at the return , and in the hazard , at the likelihood , and advantage , of the success . lastly , we hereby take off all occasions of jealousie ; to which , almost every thing serves for fuel , scarce any thing for physick ; it being but natural , that he must fear many , whom many fear , how groundlesly soever . but , may some say ; peace without safety is but a breathing , or bare truce , at best . how can that man sleep securely , over whose head , a drawn sword hangs by a single hair ? and who shall be judg of that ? the prince , whose safety depends on the love of his subjects , and never acts , but by his council ; or the multitude , who ( besides that number , and truth , are seldom of the same side ) never condsier what they do , or the true reason why it happen'd , to be so hung ? what causes that thunder in the clouds , but the cross encounter of fire and water , mutually tending to their centre of safety ? and while a people keep within their own circle , what danger is there of a prince's breaking in upon them : god had looked upon the earth , and pronounc'd it corrupt , before he sent a deluge among them , to cleanse it . in short , there is an old saying , divide , & impera ; and i think , another , no ways inferior , vis unita , fortior ; i am sure it is true in experience ; he that would pluck off a horses tail , must do it , hair by hair ; and he that would shake a faggot in pieces , must first pull out some considerable stick , or cut the band. i come now , to the disadvantages , or inconveniencies , that have attended the laying by the right heir . revolts , usurpation , and exclusion differ in term and sound , but are the same in effect , and ( which they hold in common ) never wanted their embroils : the revolt of the ten tribes from rehoboam was the fore-runner of the captivity ; for having drein'd and weaken'd themselves with intestine war , what wonder if ( like the frog , and mouse in the fable ) they became a prey to the next offerer ? the senate of rome excluded nero , but mist their aim ; for one part of the army set up galba ; another , otho against him ; a third , vitellius against otho ; a fourth , vespasian against vitellius ; still bickering , and beating one another to pieces , until vespasian brought all into one hand again . harold usurp'd on edgar atheling , and what was the effect of it ? but that it open'd william the conqueror a passage to the kingdom , and gave both encouragement , and success to the enterprise . in like manner those more prosperous usurpations of william rufus , and henry the first , upon their elder brother robert. king stephen , on maude the daughter of henry the first , and her son ( afterwards ) henry the second . king john , on his nephew arthur . henry the fourth on richard the second , and richard the third , on edward the fifth ; were they not founded in blood , and defended with more ? and therefore he that shall bring them in precedent , had as good save a ramble abroad , and instance , in o. cromwel at home . in short , the exclusion of our king edward the third , son and heir of isabella , daughter and heiress of france ( under pretence of a salique law ) occasioned the loss of their best men , and kingdom also : and did not we half lose it again , on the same account , by henry 4. his usurping on richard 2 ? it is true , henry 5. recovered it again , but his son henry 6. almost as soon lost it , by the civil broils between him , and richard duke of york , ( slain at wakefield ) which yet ended not , till his son edw. 4. had recovered the possession . and what fruit ( i pray ) did we reap of those wars ? or rather , were they not such , as of which the poet speaks ? bella geri placuit , nullos habitura triumphos ! how much better then is it , by learning from other mens harms , to keep the beaten road , with safety , than upon every new notion , to entangle our selves in those passes , wherein , so many before us , have lost their way . and especially , having the light of an act of parliament , directing and telling us , that the ambiguity of several titles , pretended to the crown , then not so perfectly declar'd , but that men might expound them to every ones sinister affection , and sense , contrary to the right legality of the succession , and posterity of the lawful kings , and emperors of this realm , had been the cause of that great effusion , and destruction of mans blood : and what can any man expect , but that the same cause will again produce the same effects ; and the like asterism , the like revolutions . to draw towards an end : it is the advice of our saviour , whatsoever ye would that men should do to you , do ye , even so to them , for this is the law , and the prophets . would any one ( think ye ) submit , to be brain'd by a billet , albeit in amends it were said to his heir , the like shall never be done to your self ? especially , when the same hand , that did the one , cannot promise , for any that shall come after it : to one , praying lycurgus , to settle a popular state in lacedaemon , that the basest might have the same authority , as the highest : begin ( quoth he ) to do it it , in thy own house , first : i know not of what spirit other men are , but if there be such a one to be found , let him throw the first stone . and yet who knows , but there may be somewhat more than we see ? is there no old grudg ? no — manet altâ mente repôstum ? no — spreti injuria ? is it all pure religion , and undefil'd : all dry , down-right conscience ? no biass ? no interest ? no self in the case ? 't is very well : judas made a charitable motion for the poor , yet it might have seem'd better , had he not carried the bag , tho he headed no party . in short : commines saith , he is to be esteemed a good prince , whose virtues are not over-ballanc'd by his vices : and the persians never condemn'd any man ( tho convicted ) till his former life , had been weigh'd by the same ballance , and found wanting . to apply it : i skill not to flatter , even the dead ; and yet a moral justice is due to the living : or , our saviour had never said , the laborer is worthy of his hire ; and solomon , withhold it not . is not his royal highness the son of that king , whom our late parliaments have so often declar'd a martyr ? and the onely brother ( and as yet , indisputable heir ) of this king , who hath forgiven so much , and ( to speak once for all ) crimes greater than every thing , but the mercy that forgave them ? and what could the world have design'd him more , than what the eepectation of his mighty birth must ( by course of nature ) have given him ? even the new phrase , acknowledges it ; the presumptive heir of three imperial crowns : and yet during the banishment of the royal family , who serv'd with more courage abroad ? and since their happy restauration , what private person made more honorable hazards at home ? when yet he had many things to fear , and nothing to desire , but the peace and honor of the kingdom : i need not far for instance , of what meets us every where : witness for all , that memorable 3. of june , 1665. in which great action ( with the loss of one single ship ) he destroy'd and took 18 of the dutch ships of war , whereof half , were the best they had ; and touching which , a late learned judg of the kingdom of ireland , thus epigrammatically accosted his majesty : ad regem , &c. subdidit arctoum tribus olim classibus aequor edgarus ? at vestrae pars quota laudis erit ! obsessum maris imperium , felicior armis , asseris , & batavas conteris ( ultor ) opes . euge ! triumphato da jura perennia ponto : jam scit cui domino pareat unda maris . and must he after all this be smother'd in his own perfumes ? must those glories he reapt from the enemy , serve him only as so many garlands to a destin'd sacrifice ? and because he has deserv'd too much , will nothing but an ostracism pay off his debentures ? let every man lay his hand on his breast , and once more make the case his own ; and then , i doubt not , but he will walk up to the thing he startled at , and by giving himself a distinct view of what ( before ) frighten'd , be the more easily persuaded into his senses , and shame his fear : and i press it the rather , in that his royal highness ( i have it from a noble hand , of too much honor to falsifie ) hath so often declar'd , that were it in his power to effect it , he would rather cut off his arm , than make the least alteration in the religion , or law of the kingdom , as it is now establish'd : and if truth be sacred with private men , how much more must it be with a prince ? when , whoever wounds it , to save himself , does but take a blow on his head , to save his hilt . to draw to an end ; has any man for companies sake been persuaded out of his way , what dishonor is it if he comply with the advice of the angel to hagar , return , and submit ; or that other of our saviour to the lawyer tempting him , go , and do thou likewise : and then he will the more unbiastly determin , whether religion , or monarchy , be the point in question , and what these murmurings against the heir mean , if they carry not under 'em , a design on the inheritance : for , let the pretences be what other they please , even the best virtues may be suspected , when they become ostentations ; and therefore , when men shall mask their conspiracies with the name of publick good ; pretend conscience , against duty ; love to their country , whereby to chalk a way to their own ambition ; zeal to religion , to cover their own wild-fire , they may ( i say ) be suspected , as made use of , rather to purchase a principality on earth , than the kingdom of heaven ; in as much as such courses , have been ever condemned , by the same religion they would pretend to defend . upon the whole matter : what the pretences of the late times ended in , we have most of us seen , and what influence they yet held on our own , we had ere this felt , had not god been more merciful , in the discovery of the late horrid association , and conspiracy , against the lives of his sacred majesty , and his royal brother : who would not swear they were of the same batch ? for they agreed in substance , however otherwise , they might differ in circumstance : both ( like sampson's foxes ) were set upon destruction , tho they drew the fire-brands a contrary way . those of 1641. did their work by degrees , nemo repente fuit turpissimus — one party , murder'd our late sovereign , as a king , before the other , murder'd him , as a man ; tho each yet , as deep in the guilt , as t'other ; for , qui vult media ad finem , vult etiam , & ipsum finem ; he that wills the means con●●ucing to the end , wills also the end it self : these of this present , have seen that error , and thus far repented it to his son , that they laid the ax to the root of the tree , and took up the advice of abishai to david ( when they had found saul sleeping . ) let me smite him even to the earth at once , and i will not smite him the second time : but , god has been once more seen in the mountain ; they are sunk in the pit they made , in the net which they hid , is their own foot taken : and therefore , to the numerous congratulations on this happy delivery , i 'll close all with that of barclay , vicimus o tandem non inaudita piorum vota deis ! nunc , alma salus , nunc , secula curat jupiter : omnis io superum domus ! omnis honores ara ferat ; nullaeque vacent a fronte coronae . which i have thus adventur'd to translate , as more agreeable to the present sense , than any useless dwelling on the letter : we have o'recome ! nor were our prayers in vain ; we 're once more safe ; and heav'n , proves heav'n again : your organ temples ! deck your altars round ! hallow the threshold ! let the posts be crown'd ! finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a66571-e1060 cicero de legibus , lib. 3. ovid metam . gen. 1.26 , 27 , 28. that it is founded in nature . virgil geo. as consonant to the divine government . and of divine institution . 1 chron : 29.23 . 2 chron. 9.8 . 1 sam. 2.10 . 2 sam. 22.51 . obj. sol. 1 lam. 4.20 . isa. 45.1 . jer. 25.9 . acknowledg'd by heathens as well as christians . hesiod . homer . acts 17.28 . psal. 82.6 . arch-bishop usher . psal. 8.6 . 1 pet. 2.13 . cain a monarch . seld. tit. hon. 4. the kingdoms of saturn , &c. monarchies . de legibus , l. 3. just. l. 1. that the original of power came not from the people . the irrationality of the contrary . co. 8. rep. 92. vide bishop sanderson's preface to the power of princes . the ill consequence of it . rom. 13.2 . dyer 256 co● 4. rep. 24. noah and his sons kings . seld. tit. hon. 5 , 6. gen. 10.32 . ecclus. 17.17 . a family an exemplary monarchy . gen. 9. gen. 21. aristot. pol. l. 1. c. 8. what the paterfamilias was . pro quintio . de repub. l. 5. his power of life and death . pro domo sua . gen. 49.1 . pol. l. 1. c. 8. gen. 4.7 . 2 kings 2. the exercise of it in judah . gen. 38. abraham . gen. 22. jephthah . judges 11. gen. 22. godw. jew . an●●q . c. 1. judges 8. brutus . monarchy , upon the increase of families . esau. gen. 36 , gen. 14. josh. 12. the assyrian monarchy . the persian . the grecian . the roman monarchy . all other ancient nations monarchies . bodin . selden's tit. hon. 10. and as universally received by the moderns . precedent to all other governments . arist. pol. l. 4 , lord baeon . the several forms of government . arist. pol. l. 3. c. 5. and their rotations . discourse on livy , deca . 1. aristocracy . democracy . virgil. ovid. metam . tyranny , to be rather wisht than either . examples in athens , &c. florus , l. 1. tacitus , l. 1. rome from the first consulate . florus , l. 1. c. 23. their tribunes . rosi● . antiq. l. 7. c. 19. lib. 1. c. 24. id. l : 3. c. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. several seditions . marius and sylla . in vita syllae . fastorum , l. 4. crassus , caesar , pompey . the two latter divide . flo. l. 4. c 4. ibid. cap. 8. lib. ● . ep. 75. caesar complemented to rome by the senate . god. rom. ant. 171. flo. l. 4. c. 7. the triumvirate . rofin . antiq. l. 7. c. 21. their proscriptions . rosin . antiq. l. 7. c. 21. and breach . no peace , until monarchy restor'd . florus , l. 4. c. 12. the sense of those times touching this matter . amp. in lib. memoriali , c. 28. lucan . statius . 1 sam. 8. throughout . 1 sam. 10.25 . 1 sam. 8.20 . 1 kings 2.27 . 1 kings 25.34 object . sol. deut. 17.15 . judges 9.18 . 1 kings 12.3 . inst. 4 343. seld. tit. hon. 24. marks of sovereignty : power of making laws . psal. 60.7 . virgil. livy . psal. 114.1 . and exemption from any coactive obedience to them . joseph . ant. l. 15. c. 14. panegyr . ad trajan . power of peace and war. de repub. 163. id. bodin , 182. that the kingdom of england is a supreme imperial monarchy . the kings power in making laws . in his resusc. fol. 153. ibid. 154. ibid. fol. 276 : sir e. coke's preface to his third report . sir jo. davys preface to his irish reports . 36 edw. iii. cap. 15. sir jo. davys preface to his irish reports . sir e. cooke , sur west . 2. inst. 4.243 . inst. 2.286 . indictment against the earl of areyle , 1681. the kings power in interpreting laws . cited by him in his postnaci . sir h. spelman's gloss , fol. 107. inst. 1.99 . inst. 2.168 . vide petition of right , and his majesties answer , 3 car. 1. vide stat. at large , fol. 1433. his being exempt from their coactive force . inst. 1.99 . ibid. 73. ibid. 110. inst. 4.28 . ibid. 46. ●ract . l. 1. c. 8. 1 jac. claudian . the kings absolute power of peace , and war. nat. brev. 113. ess. of delay . inst. 3.9 . 25 edw. 3.2 . 7 rep. 25. 13th . of this king , cap. 2. sir e. cooke , inst. 1.90 * subscribed to , by all the judges ( in the case of ship-money ) and by hatten , and crooke , tho they fell off afterward . sir will. dugdale's short view , fol. 42. inst. 1.161 . the kings power in appointing chief magistrates , and great ministers . smith de repub. ang. l. 2. inst. 2.26 . inst. 3.7 . the power of the last appeal . inst. 4.343 . ibid. 341. matth. paris , cited by sir j. davys , in his irish rep. 61. answer to petit. p. 88. ass. de clarend . 10 h. 2. c. 8. inst. 4.14 . 16 r. 2. c. 5. vide , the case of premunire , in sir john davys . inst. 4.341 . inst. 2.602 . sir h. hobart , fol. 146. the sole fountain of honor . inst. 4.126 . inst. 1.65 . inst. 4.363 . seld. tit. of honor , 621. ibid. 628. ibid. 630. inst. 1.69 . may create a palatinate . camb. britt . 464. seld. tit. hon. 530. inst. 4.211 . camb. britt . 600. plowd . 214. inst. 4.204 . in the margin . 9 jac. in scac. fol. 49. as also , seld. tit. hon. 693. stat. hibern . 14 car. 2. c. 20. have made a king and lord of ireland . seld. tit. hon. 38.41 . inst. 4.357 . inst. 1.83 . ibid. seld. 26. sir e. cooke 5 rep. 110. in foxley's case . inst. 3.233 . & 241. the king appoints the value , &c. of coin. sir j. davys , q. v. case de mixt moneys . stat. 25 edw. 3. cap. 2. sir j. davys in pref. 5. rep. 114. inst. 2.576 . inst. 1.207 . liege homage received by our kings . seld. tit. hon. 26. ibid. 29. ibid. 24 , 25.38 . inst. 3.11 . their burning those incommunicable titles of majesty , &c. tit. hon. 594. ibid. 92. further instances of the kings sovereignty by the common law. inst. 1.1 . inst. 2.68 . inst. 1.13 . ibid. 42. inst. 1.15 . 1 h. 7.4 . plowd . 238. inst. 4.352 . inst. 3 7. 7. rep. in calvin's case . ibidem . 23 h. 6. c. 8. 11. rep. of the lord de la ware. 13 edw. 3. inst. 4.342 . vide seld. tit. hon. 21. ann. reg. 14. ann. 40. ed. 3. inst. 4.13 . & 357. 18 edw. 3. inst. 4.88 . & 104. inst. 2.167 . inst. 1.90 . & 344. inst. 2.496 . bract. l. 1. britt . f. 27. regist. fol. 61. 1 sam. 6.19 . the like from the statute-law , and that the crown of england is imperial . inst. 4.343 . 16 r. 2. c. 5. vide article against woolsey . 21 h. 8. i●st . 4.89 . 24 h. 8. c. 12. 25 h. 8. c. 21. vide cap. 22. 88 h. 8. c. 7. vide cap. 16. stat. hibern . 28. h. 8. c. 2. stat. hibern . 33 h. 8. c. 1. 1 eliz. c. 1. and cap. 3. 5 eliz. c. 1. 1 jac. c. 1. stat. scotiae 5. jac. 3. c. 3. printed at edenburgh , 1681. the kings power in ecclesiasticks . sir h. hob. 143. inst. 1.94 . glanv . l. 1. c. 7. inst. 4.285 . inst. 1.134 . & 344. ann. reg. 17. math. paris , fol. 213. answ. to pet. fol. 88. 40 edw. 3. the act is not in the statutes at large , but you may find it , inst. 4.13 . ibid. 357. 25 h. 8. c. 2. this was set out by dr. bernard , in 16 1. in a book , entituled , clavi trabales , with the bishop of lincoln's preface to it , p. 82. inst. 4.357 . ibid. 359. regist. 294. fitz. n. bre● . printed in 1666. 411. 6 edw. 3.11 . 11 h. 4.68 . 11 h 4.60 . 11 h. 7.12 . sir hen. hob. fol. 146. inst. 3.238 . fitz. n.b. 662. inst. 1.344 . dyer , 348. ibid. 294. the same 3 car. 1 c. 4. inst. 4.342 . inter leges ed. c. 17. mr. hooker , of the kings power in matters of religion , cla. trab . 72. inst. 4.323 . cro. jac. 371. 22 car. 2. that the kings of england have justly used the titles of emperor , &c. and that from ancient ages . seld. tit. of honor , f. 17. sir edw. coke's preface to his fourth report . camb. brit. 189. ibid. seld. inst. 4.343 . ibidem . ibid , seld. 1 object . 1. object . 2. sol. 1. bodin , l. 2. ibid. bodin . sol. 2. the manner of the three estates applying to the king. 3 car. 1. 1 jac. 1. 1 eliz. 3. 1 mar. sess. 2. 28 h. 8. c. 7. 1 rich. 3. 3 edw. 4. 4 edw. 3. ●5 edw. 3. 1 edw. 1. stat de scat. 51 h. 3. what these three estates are . inst. 4.1 . inst. 1.110 . lib. 5.233 . de repub. l. 1. coll. fr. t●●ffe his speech to them , ●rom the duke of lorain , 1674. sir h. spelm. gloss. f. 449. 1 pet. 2.13 . to presume him such , were to make him but a co-ordinate power . bar. arg. l. 1. he cannot summon himself . novum organ . aphor. 46. where were these three estates , before the commons came in to be a third estate ? 1 chron. 28.1 . 2 chron. 5.2 . inst. 4.3 . answer to mr. petit. 19 , 20. sir h. spelm. gloss. 450. inst. 4 3. for so mr. selden takes the words , tit. hon. 580. ibid. 524. answer to petit. 44.46 . ibid. answ. 52. seld. tit. hen. 581. ibid. answer , 56 , 57 , 58. monast. ang. tit. hon. 581. pet. 61 , 62 , 63. tit. hon. 583. sir h. spelm. tit. baro. pet. 80. ad 99. sir h. spelm. gloss. 451. ibidem . the time when it is most probable they first came in . 20 h. 3. vide stat. 52 h. 3. gloss. 452. the lords temporal one great estate . the lords spiritual one other distinct estate from the lords temporal . inst. 4.1 . seld. tit. hon. 594. inst. 4.322 . 8 h. 6. c. 1. stat. 1 e. 1. stat. 13 e. 1 40 edw. 3. an act of parliament in point . 8 eliz. c. 1. express authorities to prove the king none of the three estates . inst. 4.1 . cowel interp. tit. parliam . tit. scotland , fol. 7 , 8. stat. of scotl. 3 jac. 1. c. 48. printed at edenb . 16. october , 1669. all printed at ●denbr . 1681. english stat. 1 jac. c. 1. inst. 4.351 . a short recapitulation of affairs , before his majesties return . part of the epitaph , of mary queen of scots . scobel's collection of acts , 1648. that he wanted not opportunities of resenting them , had he design'd it . virgil. strada . 1 sam. 10.26 . 1 chron. 10.5 . 2 sam. 18.3 . eccles. 8.3 . 2 sam. 3.36 . eccles. 10.20 . exod. 22.18 . psal. 105.25 . eccles. 8.2 . 〈◊〉 . 20.2 . 〈◊〉 . 1. sci. 1. job 36.18 . object . 2. sol. 2. rom. 3.29 . the like of other nations to their kings . herodot . l. 8. de morib●s gentium , l. 1. cap. 5. ibid. l. 2. c. 10. append. ad pet. ciacc . de triclinio , 327. object . 3. sol. 3. the precept of obedience is without restriction . exod. 1.9 , 10. ezra 6.10 . jer. 29.7 . 1 sam. 15.26 , 35. idolatry , no ground to resist . matth. 22.21 . 1 tim. 2.1 , 2. bellarm de po●t . l. 3. c. 9. buch. de j●re reg. p. 61. in apolog. much less , things indifferent . dyer , 23.148 . vide , preface to the liturgy , and touching ceremonies . the example of our saviour , in his instituting his last supper . deut. 12.11 . rosin . rom. antiq. l. 5. c. 27. lipsii saturn . lib. 1. c. 6. mat. 26.23 . john 13.26 . mat. 10 4. least of all , injury . john 18.11 . acts 25.5 . exod. 12.37 . 1 sam. 22.2 . 1 kings 19.18 . 1 sam. 19.4 . jer. 38.9 . esther 7.3 . if any ground were to be admitted , that would never be wanting . semido in his● . of china . 2 kings 8.13 . it was to be done piece-meal . the kings necessities to be supply'd with complaints . rushworth's coll. fol. 40.183.402.656 . plots discover'd , fears and jealousies promoted . sir will. dugd. short view , &c. from fol. 67. to fol. 124. octob. 6.1642 . religion cants its part . 2 sam. 15.11 . leading men , to make it law , and gospel . the examples of corah , &c. numb . 16.3 . 1 kings 1.19 . the same game playing over again . 2 kings 18 . 2● . prognostications , &c. hudibras . the ill consequence of such impressions . matth. 13.25 . acts 17.21 . ovid. met. barkeley , argen . l. 3. psal. 65.7 . the examples of jack cade , and others . 4 rich. 2. vide , the history , written by a noble neapolitan . holy league in france . comb. britt . 509. lord bacon ● essaya , 78. solemn league and covenant at home . new trains to the old fuel . psal. 90.6 . 22 car. ● . our saviours advice to his disciples . mark 8.15 . acts 26.5 . luke 18.11 , 12. mat. 23.27 . what the pharisees were . luke 12.1 . josephus antiq l. 17. c. 3. godw. jewish antiq. 40 , 41. mat 25.5.23 , 24 , 25 , 26. made applicable to our selves . the end , to be consider'd in all things . the advantage propos'd in excluding his royal highness . wherein is at act for security of religion less than a bill of exclusion . object . ●ol . the moral impossibility of introducing the romish religion , tho the prince were a romanist himself . the reason why the kingdom follow'd edw. 6's reformation . queen maries going back . s●at . 1.2 . ph. and mary , c. 8. queen eliz. return to it . that the case cannot be the same at this day . john 11.48 . the crown of england an old entail . aphorism : the danger of innovations . object . but such things have been done . sol. ●o has a king been murdered . more particularly answered in e. 4. qu. mary , and qu. eliz. all excluded by parliament , yet came to the crown . 28 h. 8. c. 7. no man changes but in hopes of better . jer. 2.11 . prov. 17.14 . the advantages of continuing as we are , pretenders , barr'd . annal. 1. disorders avoided . vide case of tanistry , in sir j. davis's irish reports , f. 29. no new family to be provided for . the indignity of a repulse , avoided . suppose scotland and ireland should be of another opinion . virgil. act of scotland , for asserting the succession of that crown , 1681. ovid met. all occasions of jealousie , taken off . object . sol. gen. 6.12 . disadvantages that have attended the laying by the right heir . revolt of the 10 tribes . at home . our loss of france . lucan . 25 h. 8.22 . matth. 7.12 . plutarch in vita lycur . john 12.6 . luke 10.7 . prov. 3.27 . lord chancellors speech to the parliament at oxon , 10. octob. 65. oliver jones esq second justice of his majesties chief place in ireland . gen. 16.9 . luke 10.37 . 1 sam. 26. ● . 〈◊〉 . l. 3. an ansvver to the first part of a certaine conference, concerning succession, published not long since vnder the name of r. dolman hayward, john, sir, 1564?-1627. 1603 approx. 301 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 89 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a02848 stc 12988 estc s103906 99839648 99839648 4088 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a02848) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 4088) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1105:07) an ansvver to the first part of a certaine conference, concerning succession, published not long since vnder the name of r. dolman hayward, john, sir, 1564?-1627. [168] p. imprinted [by eliot's court press, r. bradock, p. short, t. snodham, r. field, and j. harrison] for simon waterson, and cuthbert burbie, at london : 1603. dedication signed: io: hayvvard. a reply to: a conference about the next succession to the crowne of ingland. "eliot's court press pr[inted]. pia, bradock a-c, short d-g, snodham h-l, field m-p, and harrison q-v"--stc. signatures: a⁴ ² a-v⁴. the first leaf is blank except for signature-mark "a". quires d-g are paginated 17-48. some copies have slip-cancels on f2r line 5, i2v lines 24,25, and i4r line 16. reproduction of the original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng conference about the next succession to the crowne of ingland -controversial literature -early works to 1800. kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. 2004-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-03 rina kor sampled and proofread 2004-03 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an ansvver to the first part of a certaine conference , concerning svccession , pvblished not long since vnder the name of r. dolman . at london imprinted for simon waterson , and cuthbert burbie . 1603. to the kings most excellent maiestie . most loued , most dread , most absolute both borne and respected soueraigne , to offer excuse for that which i needed not to haue done , were secretly to confesse , that hauing the iudgement to discerne a fault , i wanted the will not to commit it . againe , to seeke out some coulers to make it more plausible , were to bring in question the sufficiencie thereof . therefore without further insinuation either for pardon or for acceptance , i here present vnto your maiestie this defence , both of the present authoritie of princes , and of succession according to proximitie of bloud : wherein is maintained , that the people haue no lawfull power , to remoue the one , or repell the other : in which two points i haue heretofore also declared my opinion , by publishing the tragicall euents which ensued the deposition of king richard , and vsurpation of king henrie the fourth . both these labours were vndertakē with particular respect , to your maiesties iust title of succession in this realme : and i make no doubt , but all true hearted englishmen wil alwaies be both ready and forward to defend the same , with expence of the dearest drops of their bloud . the lord vouchsafe to second your honorable entrance to the possession of this crowne , with a long & prosperous continuance ouer vs. your maiesties most humble and faithfull subiect . io : hayvvard . qui tibi nestoreum concessit pectus e● ora , nestoreos etiam concedat iupiter annos . to r. doleman . you will thinke it strange maister doleman , that hauing lien these many yeares in quiet harbour frō the tempest of mens tongues , you should now feele a storme to breake vpon you ; peraduenture you were perswaded ( as euery one suffereth himselfe to be beguiled with desire ) that this silence did growe , eyther vpon acceptance of your opinion , or from insufficiencie to oppose against it . i assure you neither ; but partly from contempt , and partly from feare . th● contempt proceeded from the manner of your writing , wherein you regarde not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : not how eyther truly or pertinently , but how largelye you do wright : endeauouring nothing else , but eyther to abuse weake iudgements , or to feede the humors of such discontented persons , as wante o● disgrace hath kept lower then they had set their swelling thoughts . the feare was occasioned by the nimble eare which lately was borne to the touche of this string : for which cause our english fugitiues did stand in some aduantage , in that they had free scope to publish whatsoeuer was agreeable to their pleasure ; knowing right well , that their bookes could not be suppressed , and might not be answered . it may be you will question , wherefore i haue not answered your second part : it is ready for you , but i haue not now thought fit to divulge the same ; partly because it hath beene dealt in by some others ; but principallie because i know not how conuenient it may seeme , to discusse such particulars , as with generall both liking and applause are now determined . i forbeare to expresse your true name ; i haue reserued that to my answere to some cast pamphlet which i expect you will cast forth against mee : and i make little doubt but to driue you in the end to such desperate extremitie , as ( with achitophell ) to sacrifice your selfe to your owne shame , because your mischieuous counsaile hath not bin embraced . an ansvvere to the first chapter ; whereof the title is this . that succession to gouernement by neerenesse of bloude is not by lawe of nature or deuine , but onely by humane and positiue lawes of euery particular common wealth : and consequently , that it may vpon iust causes , be altered by the same . here you beginne , that other conditions are requisite for comming to gouernement by succession , besides propinquitie or prioritie of bloude ; which conditions must be limited by some higher authoritie then that of the king , and yet are they prescribed by no law of nature or deuine . for otherwise , one that wanteth his wits or sences , or is a turke in religion , might succeed in gouernment ; which you affirme to be against al reason , law , religion , wisdom , cōsciēce , & against the first end of institutiō of cōmō wealths . and that byllay , who maintaineth the contrarie , doth it in fauour and flattery of some particular prince . what cōditiōs are requisit in succession besides priority of bloud , & by what authority they are to be limited , i w●l thē examin whē you shal propoūd : but for your reason of this assertiō , you must heaue other men thē billay out of credit , for reason , law , cōsciēce , & wisdom , before you cary it for cleare good . as for entire cōtrariety in religion , or differēce in some particular points therof , whether it be a sufficient cause of exclusion , or no , i wil refer my selfe to that place , where you do strain your strength about it . in disabilities to gouern , baldus a doth distinguish , whether it be naturall , or accidentall ; affirming , that in the first case it sufficeth to exclude , because he that is incapable of gouernmēt frō his birth , had neuer any right of successiō setled in him : in the other it doth not suffice ; because he that is once inuested in right of succession , cānot be depriued therof without his fault . many do follow this distinction ; io : igneus b doth limit it , to such dignities as are not absolute : but i●son c , angelus d & diuers others do indistinctly hold , that the eldest son of a king or other gouernor , although he be borne either ●urious , or a foole , or otherwise defectiue , cānot therfore be excluded frō his successiō . these affirm , that any end of institution of common wealths is , if not fully , yet better satisfied , by appointing a protector of the state ( as vpō diuers occasions it hath bin vsuall ) then by acknowledging another prince ; as wel for other respects , as for that by continuāce of succession in one discent , a faire & ordinary occasion is remoued , both of mutiny & inuasion . for enemies wil not readily attempt , & subiects do most willingly obey that prince , whose ancesters haue worn out those humors both of hatred & contempt which do commonly accompany new raised estates . i wil not confirm this last opinion , by the exāple of neptune the son of saturn ; who , althogh he was lame on both his legs , yet had the gouernment of the sea allotted to him : but i wil cōfirm it by the practise of athens & laced●mon , the two eyes of graecia , as leptines e & iustine f do aptly term thē . herodotu : g reporteth that whē alexandrides king of sparta left 2 , sons , cleomenes the eldest , distracted in wits , & dorieus the yongest , both of ability & inclination to all actions of honor , the lacedaemoniās acknoledged cleomenes for their king . agesilaus also the famous king of lacedaemon was lame , as plutarch & probus aemilius h do report . paul. orosius i saith , that the lacedaemonians did chose to haue their k. halt rather thē their kingdom . herodotus k also writeth that after the death of codrus king of athens , medon his eldest son , & neleus the next , did contend for the kingdom , because neleus would not giue place to medon , who was by reason of his lame legs , if not vnable , yet vnapt to gouerne . the matter being almost brought to the sentence of the sword , it was mediated between thē , that the cōtrouersie should be decided by the oracle of apollo-apollo was consulted ; by whose iudgement medon was declared king . iosephus l hath left recorded , that aristobulus & hircanus , after a long & cruel contētion for the kingdom of iury , made pompeie the iudge of that right which by arms they wer vnable to decide . hircanus alleaged that he was eldest brother ; aristobulus excepted , that hircanus was insufficient to gouern a realme . hereupon pompei gaue sentence , that aristobulus should giue ouer the kingdome which he did vsurp , & hircanus be restored to his estate . the like iudgement doth liuy m write , that annibal gaue for the kingdome of that country , which is now called sauoy restoring brancus vnto his right , from which he had beene by his younger brother expelled . and although pyrrus did appoint that sonne to succede , whose sworde had the best edge , yet was the eldest acknowledged , who bare the least reputation for valour . lisander moued the lacedaemonians to decree , that the most sufficient , & not alwais the next in bloud of the ligne of hercules , should be admitted to the kingdome ; yet plutarch n saith , that he found no man to second his aduise . i will adde an example of later times . ladislaus , a man more famous for the sanctitie of his life , then for his kingdom of hungary , left by his brother grisa two nep●ewes ; colomannus the elder , who was dwarfye , lame , crooke-backt , crab-faced , blunt and bleare-eyed , a stammerer , and ( which is more ) a priest : and almus the younger , a man free from iust exception . yet these respectes set aside , a dispensation was obteined from the pope , and colomannus , notwithstanding his deformities and defectes , was accepted by the people for king . girarde writeth , that the custome of the french was to honour their kings whatsoeuer they were , whether foolish or wise , able or weake : esteeming the name of king to be sacred , by whomsoeuer it should be borne . and therfore they supported in estate , not onely charles the simple , but charls the 6. also , who raigned many years in open distēperature & disturbance of minde . so you see , that the practise of many nations haue beene contrary to your conceipt : and that the interpreters of the ciuill and canon lawe ( good arbitrators of naturall equitie ) either beare against you , or stand for you onely when disabilitie is naturall : adding further , that if the excluded successor hath a sonne , before or after succession doth fall , free from any such defect , the right of the kingdome descendeth vnto him . this affirmeth baldus q , socinus r , cardinall alexander , and before them , andreas iserna . t because the inhabilitie of parents doth not preiudice the children , especially in regard of their naturall rightes u : neither is it any impediment wherefore they should not enioy either priuiledge or dignitie from the person of their grandfather . magis est ( saith vlpian x ) vt aui potius dignitas prosit , quam obsit casus patris . it is fitter that the son should receiue profit by the dignitie of his grandfather , then preiudice by his fathers chaunce . and this ( we may thinke ) is a reasonable respect , wherefore other interpreters haue not allowed their principall opinion , in repelling him who is disabled by birth . for if another be once possessed of his place , it will be hard for any of his children to attaine their right : wherevpon difunion , factions , warres may easily arise . it is inconuenient ( i grant ) to be gouerned by a king , who is defectiue in body or in minde : but it is a greater inconuenience , by making a breache in this high point of state , to open an entrance for all disorders , wherein ambition and insolencie may range at large . for as mischiefe is of that nature that it cannot stand , but by supportaunce of another euill , and so multiplieth in it selfe , till it come to the highest , and then doth ruine with the proper weight : so mindes once exceeding the boundes of obediēce , cease not to strengthen one bouldnesse by another , vntil they haue inuolued the whole state in confusiō . we find that gabriel the yongest brother of the house of saluse kept his eldest brother in close prisō , vsurped his estate , and gaue forth for satisfaction to the people , that hee was mad . i could report many like examples : but i shal haue occasion to speake more hereof in the further passage betwixt vs. after this you conclude three points . 1 that inclination to liue in companie is of nature . 2 that gouernement and iurisdiction of magistrates is also of nature . 3 that no one particulare forme of gouernement is naturall ; for then it should be the same in all countries , seeing god and nature is one to all . but before i ioyne with you , either in contradiction or consent , it shall not be amisse to declare briefly , what we vnderstand by the lawe of nature , and by what meanes it may best be knowne . god in the creation of man , imprinted certaine rules within his soule , to direct him in all the actions of his life : which rules , because we tooke them when wee tooke our beeing , are commonly called the primarie lawe of nature : of which sort the canons x accompt these precepts following . to worship god : to obey parents and gouernours , & therby to conserue common society : lawful coniunction of man & woman : succession of children : education of children : acquisition of things which pertaine to no man : equall libertie of all : to communicate commodities : to repell force : to hurt no man : and generally , to do to another as he would be done vnto : which is the sum and substance of the second table of the decalogue . and this lawe thom. aquine y affirmeth to be much depraued by the fall of man ; and afterwards more , by errour , euill custome , pertinacie , and other corrupters of the mind : and yet doth it yeeld vs so large light , that saint paule z did esteeme it sufficient to condemne the gentiles , who had no other law written . out of these precepts are formed certaine customes , generally obserued in all parts of the world : which , because they were not from the beginning , but brought in afterward , some as a consequence or collection , others as a practise or execution of the first naturall precepts , are called the secondarie lawe of nature , and by many also the law of nations . gaius , ' saith : that which naturall reason doth constitute among all men , is obserued by all alike , and termed the lawe of nations : and the same is called by iustinian a ; the lawe of nature . cicero b likewise saith : the consent of al nations is to be esteemed the lawe of nature . but this is to be takē , not as though al natiōs haue at any time obserued one vsage alike : it is not necessary faith baldus c , that the word al● should cary so large a sēce : neither hath it euer bin brought into knoledge what customes all nations haue held in vse . and it is most certain , that ther is not one point or precept of the law of nature , but , by reasō , partly of the weaknes , partly of the corruption , which the fal of adam fasten in his posteritie , some people haue at all times , either neglected or els depraued : some being so dull as they could not perceiue , others so malicious as they would denie , that which nature did lay before them . yea , such is either the weakenesse or wilfulnesse of our iudgement , that they who are not onely admitted but admired for wise men , doe many times disagree in determining what is most agreeable to nature : much lesse may we either expect or imagine , that al natiōs , so differēt , so distāt , neuer so much as now , and yet not now fully discouered , should iūpe in one iudgemēt for vniform obseruatiō of any custome : neither is that no natural right , as zenophon d noteth , which many dayly doe transgresse . and therefore donellus e did vniustly reiect the discription which gaius gaue of the law of nations , by taking the word al in the amplest sence . s. ambrose f and s. hierome g did in this sort declare it ; that we are to take that for a decree of natiōs , which successiuely and at times hath beene obserued by all . but as for any one time , as it is to be iudged the decree or custome of a whole citty , which hath passed by consent of the most part , although al haue not allowed , and some perhaps haue opposed against it h ; so is it to be esteemed the lawe of nations , the common lawe of the whole world , which most nations in the world are found to imbrace . and because gouernment was not from the beginning , but induced as a consequēce of the primary precept of nature ; to maintaine humane societie : therefore whensoeuer wee speake of naturall gouernment , we are intended to meane the secondary lawe of nature , which is the receiued custōe , successiuely of al , & alwaies of most nations in the world . out of this we may gather , that three rules doe chiefly lead vs to the knowledg of this law . the first is that which cicero i in the like case giueth : to appeale vnto sēce : because there is no man but by the light of nature , hath some sence of that which nature doth allowe . s. augustine k saith , i know not by what inward conscience we feele these things : and likewise tertullian l : nature hath tainted all euill eyther with feare or with shame . wherto agreeth that which s. ambrose saith : although they deny it , they cannot but shew some tokens of shame . herupō the authors of the ciuill lawe n do reiect that for vniust , which is not demaunded without shew of shame . for , as cassiodorus o writeth ; god hath giuē●l men such a sence of iustice , that they who know not the lawes , cannot but acknowledge the reason of truth . but because this light of nature , in many men is exceeding dimme ; the next rule is to obserue what hath bin allowed by those who are of greatest both wisedome and integrity , in whom nature doth shew her selfe most cleere . for as aristotle saith ;? ; that is probable which prooued men do approue . among these , the first place pertaineth vnto them , who by inspiration of god , haue compiled the books of holy scripture : to whom as attendants we may adioyne the anciēt counsailes & fathers of the church . the next place is to be giuē to the authors of the ciuill lawe ; whose iudgement hath bin these many hundred yeers , admired by many , approoued by all , and is at this daie accepted for lawe , almost in all states of the christiā common wealth . to these also we may adioyne , as attendants , their interpreters of most approued note . the third place is due to philosophers , historiographers , orators and the like ; who haue not vnprofitably endeauoured to free nature of two cloudes , wherewith shee is often ouercast : grosse ignorance , and subtill errour . but because naturall reason , as alciate p affirmeth , doth sometimes varie , according to the capacitie of particulare men ; euen as the sunne , beeing in it selfe alwaies the same , giueth neither heate nor light to all alike : the third rule followeth , to obserue the common vse of all nations , which cicero q calleth ; the voice of nature : because as aristotle r hath written , it is not done by chance which euery where is done . plato s saith , this shall be the proofe hereof , that no man doth otherwise speake : and likewise baldus t , i dare not disalow that which the world alloweth . and in this cōmon lawe or custome of the world , three circumstancies are to be considered : antiquitie , continuance , and generalitie . now then your first position is so cleerelie true , that you doe but guild gould in labouring to prooue it : for man is not onely sociable by nature , but ( as aristotle u affirmeth ) more sociable then any other liuing creature . these notorious pointes , the more we prooue , the more we obscure . your second is also true , for as tullie saith x without empire , neither house , nor citty , nor nation , nor mankinde can stand , nor the nature of all things , nor in a word , the world it selfe . whereto agreeth that of aristotle y : gouernment is both necessary and also profitable . but whereas you bring in proofe hereof , that there was neuer people founde , either in auncient time , or of late discouerie , which had not some magistrate to gouerne them , neither is it necessarie , and yet false . it is not necessarie to haue so large a consent of nations , as i haue declared before : and it is false that in all times and nations there haue beene magistrates . after the deluge , magistrates were not knowne vntil kings did arise , as hereafter it shall appeare . the iewes were often without either magistrates or gouernement : whereupon in certaine places of the booke of iudges z it is thus written : in those dayes there was no king in israell , but what seemed right to euery man that did hee . sometimes democraticall gouernement doth drawe to a pure anarchie ; and so doth the interregnum of electiue principalities . leo aser reporteth , that in guzala , a countrie of africke , the people haue neither king nor forme of gouernement ; but vpon dayes of mart , they elect a captaine to secure their trafficke . the same authour deliuereth , that the inhabitantes of the mountaine magnan , vpon the frontiers of fez , haue noe forme of common wealth , but doe stay trauailers ( vnpartiall iudges ) to decide their controuersies . leo himselfe was arrested to bee their iudge , and when hee had spent many dayes in determining their debates , hee was in the end presented with hennes , ducks , geese and other of their countrie commodities , which serued onelie to discharge his host . and if this your reason should bee of force then were not sociabilitie naturall , because many men haue made choise to liue alone . but how thē , wil you say , is nature immutable ? it is in abstracto , but it is not in subiecto . or thus : in it selfe it is not chāged : in vs , by reasō of our imperfectiōs , it is . or els more plainely , it is not changed , but it is trāsgrested . but nature , you say , is alike to al. not so , good sir : because all are not apt alike to receiue her : euen as the sun beames doe not reflect alike vpon a cleane and cleare glasse , and vpon a glasse that is either filthy or course : and in many , not onely men , but nations , euill custome hath driuen nature out of place , and setteth vp it selfe in steade of nature z . your third conclusion , that no particulare forme of gouernement is naturall , doth not finde so easie acceptaunce . your onely proofe is , that if it were otherwise , there should be one forme of gouernement in all nations ; because god and nature is one to all . but this reason i haue encountred before : and yet you take paines to puffe it vp with many waste words ; howe the romanes changed gouernment ; how in italie there is , a pope , a king and many dukes ; how millaine , burgundie , loraine , bavier , gascoint , and britaine the lesse were changed from kingdomes to dukedomes ; howe germanie was once vnder one king , and is now deuided among dukes , earles , and other supreme princes ; how castile , aragone , portugall , barcelona and other countries in spaine , were first earldomes , then dukedomes , then seuerall kingdomes , and now are vnited into one ; how b●eme and polonia were once dukedomes , and now are kingdomes ; how fraunce was first one kingdome , then deuided into fower , and lastly reduced into one . how england was first a monarchie , vnder the britaines , then a prouince vnder the romaines , after that diuided into seauen kingdomes , and lastly reduced into one ; how the people of israell were first vnder patriarkes , abraham , isaac , and iacob , then vnder captains , then vnder iudges , thē vnder high priests , then vnder kings , and then vnder captaines and high priests againe . i will not followe you in euery by way whereinto your errours doe leade ( for who would haue aduentured to affirme , that the childrē of israell were vnder abraham and isaac ; and that the britaine 's at the first were vnder one king , whereas caesar reporteth that hee found fower kings in that country which is now called kent ) but i will onely insist vpon the principall point ; in regard whereof , all this bundell of wordes is like a blowne bladder , full of winde , but of no weight . for first you doe but trifle vpon tearmes , in putting a difference betweene kings , dukes , and earles , which holde their state with soueraigne power . wee speake not of the names , but of the gouernement of princes . supreme rulers may differ in name ; they may change name also , either by long vse , or vpon occasion : and yet in gouernment neither differ nor change . secondly , it is a more vaine ieast to put a difference ( in this regarde ) beweene a great territorie and a small . if a kingdome bee enlarged or streight●ed in limites , the gouernement is not thereby changed : if many kingdomes bee vnited into one ; if one bee diuided into many ; the nature of gouernment is no more altered , then is the tenure of lande , either when partition is made , or when many partes accrewe into one . the knot of doubt is , whether it bee not naturall , that one state , bee it great or small , should rather bee commaunded by one person , howsoeuer intitled , then by many . and if wee descende into true discourse , wee shall finde , that the verie sinewes of gouernment doe consist , in commaunding and in obeying . but obedience can not bee performed , where the commaundementes are , eyther repugnant or vncertaine : neither can these inconueniences bee any waies auoided , but by vnion of the authoritie which doth commaunde . this vnion is of two sortes ; first , when one commaundeth ; secondly , when many doe knit in one power and will. the first vnion is naturall ; the seconde is by meane of amitie , which is the onely bande of this collectiue bodie : and the moe they are who ioyne in gouernment , the lesse naturall is their vnion , and the more subiect to dissipation . for as tacitus saith ', : aequalitie and amitie are scarce compatible . naturall reason teacheth vs , that all multitude beginneth from one , and the auncient philosophers haue helde , that from vnitie all thinges doe proceede , and are againe resolued into the same . of which opinion laertius a reporteth that musaeus of athens was authour , who liued long before homer : but afterwardes it was renewed by pythagoras , as plutarch b alexander c , and laertius d doe write : who added thereunto , that vnitie is the originall of good , and dualitie of euill : and of this opinion saint hierome e was also , whose sentence is repeated in the canonicall decrees f but vnder the title and name of saint ambrose . hereupon homer doth oftentimes call good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and applyeth the terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to affliction and trouble . hereupon galen g also writeth , that the best in euerye kinde is one . plato produceth all thinges from one h ; measureth all thinges by one i ; and reduceth all thinges into one k . the whole worlde is nothinge but a greate state ; a state is no other then a greate familie ; and a familie no other then a greate bodye . as one god ruleth the worlde , one maister the familie , as all the members of one bodye receiue both sence and motion from one heade , which is the seate and tower both of the vnderstanding and of the will : so it seemeth no lesse naturall , that one state should be gouerned by one commaunder . the first of these arguments was vsed by soliman , lord of the turkes l . who hauing strangled sultane mustapha his sonne , because at his returne out of persit , he was receiued by the soldiers with great demonstrations of ioy ; hee caused the dead bodie to be cast forthe before the armie , and appointed one to crye ; there is but one god in heauen , and one sultane vpon earth . the second was vsed by agesilaus , to one that moued the spartans for a popular gouernment ; goe first ( saide hee ) and stablish a popular gouernment within your owne doores . to the third tacitus m did allude , when hee saide : the body of one empire seemeth best to be gouerned by the soule of one man. in the heauens there is but one sunne ; which serinus n also applyeth vnto gouernement , in affirming , that if wee set vp two sunnes , we are like to set all in combustion . many sociable creatures haue for one company , one principall either gouernour or guide ; which al authors take for a natural demonstration of the gouernment of one . and if you require herein the testimonie of men , you shall not finde almost any that writeth vpon this subiect , but hee doth , if not alleage , yet allow that of homer : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one lord , one king. plutarch declareth both his owne iudgement concerning this point , and also the consent of others , in affirming o that all men did acknowledge , that the gouernment of a king is the most excellēt benefit that god hath giuen vnto men . callimachus saith , p that kings proceede from god : homer affirmeth , q that they are cherished by god . your selfe doe shew r out of aristotle , seneca , plutarch , s. hierome , s. chrysost●me and s. peter , that monarchie is the most excellent and perfect gouernement , most resembling the gouernement of god , and most agreeable vnto nature . but what doe you meane to acknowledge all this , and yet to denie that monarchie is naturall ? doe you take it to be aboue nature ? or how els is it most excellent and perfect ? how is it most agreeable to nature , and yet not naturall ? can any action be most agreeable to iustice , and yet not iust ? i know not by what strategeme , or cunning cranck of the schools , you can be made agreeable to your selfe . but now if we consider the generall custome of al people , we shall find that all the ancient nations in whom the laws of nature were least corrupt , had no other gouernment : as the assyrians , medes , persians , parthians , indians , scythians , sirians , phoeniciās , arabiās , aegyptians , africans , numidiās , mauritaniās , britās , celtes , gaules , latines , hetruscanes , siciliās , atheniās , lacaedemoniās , corinthiās , achaeās , sicyonians , candiās , & in one word , all . tullie saith s : it is certaine , that al anciēt nations were vnder kings : with which opinion salust t consenteth ; & iustine also , where he saith u ; the ēpire of natiōs at the first was in the hands of kings . and whē the people of israel desired a king , they alleged that al other nations were gouerned by kings x . the athenians were the first ( as plinie affirmeth ) who set vp the gouernment of many , whose exāple certaine other towns of greece did follow , rather blinded by ābitiō , thē led by iudgemēt . amōg these , if the highest authority were in the least part of the citisens , it was called aristocracy ; if in the most or in all , it was termed democracy ; wherin you confesse x that neither they did nor could any long time continue ; but after many tumults , seditions , mutinies , outrages , iniusticies , banding of factions , and inundations of bloud , they were in the end either dissolued or vanquished , and reduced againe vnder gouernement of one . the state of rome began vnder kings ; it atteined the highest pitch both of glory and greatnes vnder emperors : in the middle time , wherin it neuer inioyed x. yeeres together free frō sedition , polybius saith that is was mixed ; the consulls represēting a monarchie , the senate , an aristocracie , & the cōmon people a democracy : which opinion was likewise embraced by dionysius halicarnasseus , cicero , cantarine and others . but many do hold that the state of rome at that time was populare : which seemeth to be confirmed by the famous lawier & coūsailer vlpian , where he saith y that the people did grāt al their power & authority to the prince . whatsoeuer it was in shew , in very deede it was alwayes gouerned by some one principall man. liuie wrighteth of scipio z , that vnder his shadow the city was protected , & that his looks were in stead of lawes : & likewise of papirius cursor ,' ; that he sustained the romane affaires . so said thucidides , that athens was in appearance populare , but aristides was the true monarch thereof : & plutarch a also affirmeth , that pelopidas and epaminondas were no lesse then lords of the populare state of thebes : but after the death of these mē , both the states of athens and thebes floated in tumults , as the same authour obserueth b , like a ship in a tempest without a pilot . so did peter sodarine gonsalonier of florence giue forth , that the title of popularity was vsed as a maske , to shadow the tyrāny of laurence medices : but florence did neuer so florish both in honor , wealth , and quiet , as vnder that tyranny . also in actions of weight , in great dangers and necessities the romans had recourse to one absolute and supreme commāder , which liuie calleth c the highest refuge ; whose authority as the romans did most reuerētly respect , so was it many times fearefull to their enemies . of the first , liuie saith d ; the dictators edict was alwayes obserued as an oracle : of the second e , so soone as a dictator was created , such a terror came vpon the enemies , that they departed presently from the walles . likewise in cases of extremity the lacedaemonians had their high gouernour whom they called harmostes ; the thessalonians had their archos ; and the mytilenians also their great aezymnetes . lastly , tacitus reporteth f that certaine wise men discoursing of the life of augustus after his death , affirmed rightly , that ther was no other meane to appease the discordes of the state , but by reducing it vnder the gouernement of one . let vs now take a view of our present age . in al asia , from whence tullie saith , g ciuility did first spread into other parts of the world , no gouernment is in vse but by a monarch , as appeareth by the tartarians , turks , persians , indians , chinans & cataians : no other gouernmēt is found to be foūded in al the cuntries of affrick : in america also and all the west parts of the world , no other is yet discouered : in europe only , vpō eyther declining or chāg of the empire , a few towns in germany & italy did reuiue againe the gouernment of many : som are alredy returned to a monarchy , and the residue in their time will do the like , euen as all others haue done which haue bene before them . what then shal we say of this so ancient , so continuall , so generall consent of all nations ? what can we say , but cōclude with tertullian . these testimonies , the more true , the more simple ; the more simple , the more common ; the more common , the more natu●all ; the more naturall , the more deuine . but because ambition is a most firy affection , and carieth men blindfold into headlong hopes , wherby many do aspire to beare rule , neither they good , nor with any good either means or end ; the custome or lawe of nations hath by two reines endeauored to keep in this raging desire : by succession & by election . and yet againe , because election is most often , if not alwaies , entangled with many inconueniences ; as first , for that the outragies during the vacancy , are many & great ; euery one that is either grieued or in wāt , assuming free power both for reuēge & spoile . secondly , for that the bouldest winneth the garlād more often then the best ; because the fauour of the people doth alwayes tast more of affection then of iudgement . thirdly , for that they who do not leaue their state to their posterity , wil dissipate the domain and worke out of it either profit or friends ; for so we see that the empire of germanie is pluckt bare of her fairest feathers . fourthly , for that occasions of war are hereby ministred ; & that , either whē one taketh his repulse for indignity ; vpō which ground frauncis the first , king of fraūce , could neuer be driuē out of practise against charles the 5. emperor ; or els whē by means of factiōs many are elected , as it happened in almaine when lewes of bauier , and albert of austria were elected emperors , wherupon eight yeers warre betweene them did ensue ; and as it often happened in the empire of rome , when one emperour was chosen by the senate , and another by the soldiers , and sometimes by euery legion one ; whereby such fiers were kindled , as could not bee quenched without much bloude . for these warres are most cruelly executed ; because the quarrell leaueth no middle state inter summum & praecipitium ; betweene the highest honour and the deadliest downefall . for these and diuers other respectes , it hath bin obserued , at most times in all nations , and at all times in most , that the roialtie hath passed by succession , according to propinquitie of bloud . we read that ptolomie , who after the death of alexander the great seazed vpon aegypt , and part also of arabia and of africk , left that state to his youngest sonne : but trogus saide , and out of him iustine i , that it was against the lawe of nations , and that vpon this occasion one of them did worke the death of the other . and therefore when afterward ptolomie surnamed physcon , at the importunitie of his wife cleopatra , would haue preferred his youngest son to the succession of his kingdom , iustine saith k , that the people opposed themselues against it ; but pausanias l more probably affirmeth , that they reuersed his order after his death . the same course was held in italy by the hetruscanes , latines , and those albanes from whome the romanes tooke their originall . liuie m writeth that procas king of the albanes appointed numitor to succeede in his estate , but amulius his yonger brother did vsurpe it by force : hereupon dionysius halicarnasseus n saith ; that amulius held the kingdome against right , because it appertained to his elder brother . among the graecians , during the space of six hundred yeares , wherein they were gouerned by kings , we finde but timondas and pittacus who were elected , the one of corinth , the other of negropont ; the residue held their states by order of successiō , as thucidides affirmeth , encoūtring therein the opinion of aristotle . liuy writeth o , that perseus king of macedon said , that by the order of nature , the law of nations , and the ancient custome of macedony , the eldest sonne was to succeede in the kingdome . diodorus siculus p , and iustine q doe report , that by this custom alexander succeeded his father amyntas , before his yonger brother phillippe . herodotus declareth that the same order was obserued amōg the troianes ; affirming , that after the death of priamus , the kingdom was not to deuolue vnto alexāder , because hector was before him in years . the same also doth appeare by that which virgil writeth : praeterea sceptrum ilione , quod gesserat olim , maxima natarum priami . the scepter vvhich ilione , vvhen she the state did stay , the first daughter of priamus , vvith royall hand did svvay . out of which place seruius maurus doth collect , that women also did vse to gouerne . but more plainely this custome of the troianes doth appeare , by that which messala coruinus t writeth , that troius had two sonnes , ilus and assaracus ; and that ilus by priuiledge of his age succeeded in the kingdome . the persians also , who for a long time held the reines of all the nations neere vnto them , had the same order of succession , as zenophon u witnesseth ; which is also confirmed by two famous histories ; one between artaxerxes & cyrus , wherof plutarch x maketh mention , the other between artabazanes & xerxes , reported by herodotus y & iustine z ; wherin artabazanes alleaged , that it was a custome among all men , that the eldest son should first succeed . agathocles , & out of him athenaeus do write , that the persians had a golden water ( for so they terme it ) whereof it was capital for any man to drinke , but only the king and his eldest son . whither this water were drawen out of the riuer euleus , which inuironeth the tower susis , & the temple of diana , wherof pliny a writeth , that only the kings of persia did drink ; or whether out of choaspis , whose waters herodotus doth report to haue bin boiled , & caried after the king in siluer vessels ; or whether both these were one riuer , i will neither determine nor discourse . in siria , which is called assiria ( as herodotus , writeth ) & also phoenicia , palestina , & mesopotamia , as appeareth by pliny b eusebius c & diuers other , the same custome is proued by that which iustine d , & l. florus doe write , that demetrius , hauing bin deliuered by his brother antiochus , king of siria , for an hostage to the romanes , & hearing of the death of antiochus , declared to the senat in open assēbly , that as by the law of nations he had giuen place to his elder brother , so by the same law , the right of succession was then cast vpon him . the parthians , who being thrice attempted by the romans , in the time of their chiefest both discipline and strength , were able to beare themselues victorious , did alwaies acknowledge for their king , the next of the bloud of their first king arsaces e . among the germaines also , who were of force to defeate fiue consulare armies of the romanes , tacitus f affirmeth that the eldest sonne did intirely succeede , onely the horses did fall to the most valiant . and that this was likewise the custome of the iewes , it is euidēt by the whole history of their kings , especially where it is said g , that ioram succeeded iosaphat ; & the reason added , because he was the eldest . i should but burne day ( as the saying is ) in running further vpon particulars . herodotus h doth aduow it to be a general custome among al men , that the first in birth is next in succession . certaine ages after him s. hierome i said , that a kingdom is due vnto the eldest . in late ages our selues may see , that the tartars turks , persians , & all the asiaticks haue no other form of cōstituting their kings . no other is folowed in all the countries of africk . in the west indies no other is yet discouered ; insomuch as when frances pizaire , in the conquest of peru , had slain atibalippa the king therof , the people brake into shew , some of ioy , all of contentmēt ; because he had made his way to the kingdom , by murthering of his elder brother . in europe it is not long since all the monarchies were successiue . when the empire of almaine was made electiue , it became in short time so either troblesom or base , that diuers princes refused to accept it : of late it hath bin setled in one family , but hath as yet litle increased either in dignity or in power . the people of denmarke , sweden , hungary , and b●eme , doe chalenge to themselues a right of election , but they accept their king by propinquitie of bloud . so they did in polonia , vntill the line of iagello was worne out , and then they elected for king , henry duke of aniou in france : since which time , they haue alwaies in the change of their kings , exposed their state to faire danger of ruine . vpon this both generall and continuall custome baldus k saith , that kingdomes are successiue by the law of nations ; affirming further , l that alwayes it hath beene , & alwayes it shall bee , that the first borne succeedeth in a kingdome : wherein he is either followed or accompanied with open crie of al the choise interpreters of both lawes ; as namely the glossographer , iohan. andreas , hostiensis , collect. pet. anchoranus , antonius , imola , card. florentinus , abb. panormitanus m , oldradus n , albericus o , angelus p , felinus q , paul. castrensis r , alexander s , barbatius t , franc. curtius u , guido pape x , card. alexander y , philip . francus z , iason a , philippus decius , carol . ruinis c , anto. corsetta d , ripa e , calderine f , alciate g , and manie other of somewhat more ordinarie name . who all with full voice do agree , that in kingdomes and other dignities , which cannot bee either valued or diuided but they are dismembred , the eldest son doth entirely succeed . and this manie of them do call the law of all nations , deriued from the order of nature , and from the institution of god ; and confirmed by the canon , ciuil and other positiue lawes . for the succession of children , is one of the primarie precepts of nature h : whereby his mortalitie is in some sort repaired , & his continuance perpetuated by his posteritie . but among al the children , nature seemeth to preferre the first borne , by imprinting in the mind of parents the greatest loue and inclination towards them , as diuers of the authors before alleaged do affirm ; & as it may appeare by that of the prophet zacharie i , and they shall lamēt ouer him as men vse to lament in the death of their first borne : and likewise by that which is said of dauid , that he would not grieue his sonne ammon , for that he loued him , because he was his first borne . hereupon lyra l , and before him saint augustin and saint chrysostome n do affirme that the last plague of the egyptians , which was the death of their first borne , was the most sharpe and heauie vnto them . for nothing ( saith saint augustin o ) is more deare then the first borne . aristotle , plinie p , aeltane q , and tzetzes do write , that the same affection is also found in certaine beasts . s and to this purpose is that which herodotus r reporteth , t , that when the lacedaemanians had receiued an oracle , that they should take for kings the two sonnes of aristodemus and aegina , but giue most honor vnto the eldest , and they were ignorant which was eldest , because the mother and the nurse refused to declare it ; they obserued which of the children the mother did wash and feed first , and thereby found out that eristhenes was the eldest . lucian u citeth the loue of the first borne , as growne into a prouerbe . gregorie nazianzene saith x , that all men haue a sense thereof . saint ambrose y writeth , that in this respect god called the people of israel his first borne z , for that they were , not most ancient , but best beloued . lastly s. chrysostome affirmeth that the first borne were to be esteemed more honorable then the rest . and this naturall precedence both in honour and in fauour , seemeth to be expressely ratified by god ; first where he said vnto cain , of his brother abel b , his desires shall be subiect vnto thee , and thou shalt haue dominion ouer him : according to which institution , whē iacob had bought his brothers right of birth , isaak blessed him in these words c bee lord ouer thy brethren , and let the sonnes of thy mother bow before thee : secondly , where he forbiddeth the father to disinherit the first sonne of his double portion ; because by right of birth it is his due d : thirdly , where he maketh choise of the first borne to be sanctified to himselfe . and whereas god hath often preferred the youngest , as abel , isaac , iacob , iuda , phares , ephraim , moses , dauid , salomon , and others ; it was no other then that which christ f said , that manie that were last should be first : and that which saint paul hath deliuered g , that god hath chosen the weak , and base , and contemptible things of this world , least any flesh should glorie in his sight . so hath herodotus written h how artabanus the persian , in complaining maner did confesse , that god delighted to depresse those things that were high . but if the first borne die before succession fall ; or if being possessed of the kingdom , he die without issue ; his right of birth deuolueth vnto the next in bloud : and if he dieth in like maner , then vnto the third , and so likewise to the rest in order . this is affirmed by albericus i ; and may be confirmed by that which baldus saith k , that succession hath reference to the time of death , and respecteth the prioritie which is then extant l . and againe m , he is not said the first borne in lawe , who dyeth before the fee openeth , but he who at that time is eldest in life . and this opinion is embraced by alciate ; because as celsus saith o ; primus is dicitur ante quē nemo sit , he is first who hath none before him . iaco. a retinus , cinus , albericus and baldus doe forme this case p : there is a custome , that the first borne of the first mariage shoulde succeede in a baronnie ; a certaine baron had three wiues ; by the first he had no children , by the other two manie ; the first sonne of the second mariage shall succeede : because ( as the glossographer there saith ) the second mariage in regarde of the thirde is accompted first . baldus p dooth extende it further ; that if hee hath a sonne by the first mariage ; and hee refuse the baronie , the first sonne by the second mariage shall succeede in his right : and so hee saith it was determined in the kingdome of apulia , when lewes the kings eldest sonne was professed a friar . and this decision is allowed by alexander q , oldradus r , and antonius corsetta s : and is prooued by plaine text of the canon law , both where the second borne is called first borne , whē the first borne hath giuen place t ; and also where he is called the onlie sonne u , whose brother is dead y . but because it is a notorius custome that the neerest in bloud doth succeede , although perhaps remoued in degree , i wil labour no more to loade it with proofe : for who wil proclaime that the sunne doth shine ? but if we should now graunt vnto you ( which is a greater curtesie , then with modesty you can require ) that no particular forme of gouernement is naturall : what will you conclude thereof ? what inference can you hereupon enforce ? that there is no doubt but the people haue power to choose and to chaunge the fashion of gouernment , and to limitte the same vvith vvhat conditions they please . what sir ? can you finde no thirde ? but that either one forme of gouernment is naturall , or that the people must alwaies retaine such libertie of power ? haue they no power to relinquish their power ? is there no possibilitie that they may loose it ? whether are you so ignorant to thinke as you speake , or so deceitfull to speake otherwise then you thinke . there is no authoritie which the people hath in matters of state , but it may bee either bound or streightned by three meanes . the first is by cession or graunt : for so the romans by the law of royaltie y yeelded all their authoritie in gouernment to the prince . of this lawe vlpian z maketh mention ; and bodin a reporteth that it is yet extant in rome grauen in stone . so the people of cyrene ; of pergame and of bithynia , did submit themselues to the empire of the romanes . so the tartarians commit absolute power both ouer their liues and their liuings to euerie one of their emperours : & so haue our people manie times cōmitted to their king the authoritie of the parliament either generallie , or els for some particular case . for it is held as a rule , that any man may relinquish the authoritie which he hath to his owne benefit & fauour b . neither is he againe at pleasure to be admitted to that , which once hee did thinke fit to renounce c . and as a priuate man may altogether abādon his free estate , and subiect himselfe to seruile condition d , so may a multitude passe away both their authoritie and their libertie by publike consent . the second is by prescription and custome , which is of strength in all parts of the world , least matters should alwaies float in vncertaintie , and controuersies remaine immortall e . and that this authoritie of the people may be excluded by prescription , it is euident by this one reason , which may be as one in a third place of arithmeticke , in standing for a hundred . euerie thing may be prescribed , wherein prescription is not prohibited f : but there is no lawe which prohibiteth prescription in this case ; and therefore it followeth that it is permitted . and generallie , custome doth not only interpret law g , but correcteth it , and supplieth where there is no lawe h : in somuch as the common lawe of england , as well in publick as priuate controuersies , is no other ( a fewe maximes excepted ) but the common custome of the realme . baldus saith i , that custome doth lead succession in principalities , which martinus k aduiseth to fixe in memorie , because of the often change of princes : and the particular custome of euerie nation is at this day , the most vsuall and assured law betweene the prince and the people . and this doe th● emperours honorius and arcadius l , in these wordes cōmand punctuallie to be obserued : mos namque retinendus est fidelissimae vetustatis : the custome of faithful antiquitie must be retained : which place is to this sense ballanced by pau. gastrensis , frane . aretinus , and phil. corneus ; who termeth it a morall text . the like whereto is found also in the canon lawe , k : and noted by the glossographer l , archidiaeonus m , romanus n , and cepola . neither were the fathers of the nicene councel of other opinion , who thus decreed : let auncient customes stand in strength p : whereto also agreeth that old verse of ennius , o moribus antiquis res stat romana virisque : customes and men of oldest sort ; the romane state do best support : which is cited by saint austin q ; and esteemed by cicero r both for breuitie and truth , as an oracle . to the same sense periander of corinth said s , that old lawes and new meates were fittest for vse : which saying phauorinus in gellius did in this manner a little vary : liue after the passed manner , speake after the present t . hereto also pertaineth that edict of the censors mentioned by suetonius , & aul. gellius x : those things which are beside the custome and fashion of our elders , are neither pleasing , nor to be adiudged right y . of this point i shall haue occasion more particularlie hereafter to write . the third meanes whereby the people may loose their authoritie , is by way of conquest . for howsoeuer saint augustine z , and after him alciate a , doe disallowe ambition of enlarging empire ; and tearme warres vpon this cause great theeueries b : whereupon lucane , and his vncle seneca d , called alexander the great , a great robber of the world e , yet there is no doubte but the sentence of victorie , especiallie if the war was vndertakē vpon good cause ( as the conqueror being made his own arbitrator wil hardlie acknowledge the contrarie ) is a iust title of acquisition f ; reducing the vanquished , their priuileges , liberties and whole estate , vnder the discretion of him that is victorious . caesar sayth ; he geueth all that denieth right g : which sentence is approoued by couaruuias h ; affirming , that the victor maketh all which his sword tou●heth to be his owne . so sayth baldus i , that he doth his pleasure vpon the vanquished : and againe caesar in the speech of ariouistus ; it is the law of armes , that the victorious should commād those whom they haue subdued , euen as they please . clemens alexandrinus saith , the goods of enemies are taken away by right of warre . isocrates hath written , that the lacedaemonians did by title of victorie in this sort maintaine their right . we hold this land giuen by the posteritie of hercules , confirmed by the oracle of delphos , the inhabitantes thereof being ouercome by warre . which was not much vnlike that which iephte captaine of israell expostulated with the ammonites . are not those things thine which chamos thy god hath possessed ? but whatsoeuer the lord our god hath conquered , pertaineth vnto vs. yea , god doth expressely giue to the people of israel , the cities which they should subdue ; some into ful possession , others into seruitude & subiection : by which title iacob also had giuen to ioseph his partage among his brethrē , euen the land which he had taken frō the amorites with his sword and with his bow . it was vsuall to the romans , and as appian saith q , iust , to retaine principall or direct dominion , in al thinges which they brought vnder the sway of their sworde . brissonius r hath collected certaine examples of the forme of yeelding vnto the romans , whereby al prophane & sacred , al humane and diuine matters were submitted vnto them . seeing therefore that the people may so many wayes loose both their power and their right in affaires of state , is not your ignorance aduenturous so generallie to affirme , that if no one forme of gouerment bee naturall , there is no doubt but the people haue power both to alter and limit the same , as they please ? can no lawe , no custome , no conquest restraine them ? your pen doth range , and your iudgement rage beyond al compasse and course of reason . you should haue said , that there is no doubt , but if by al or any of these meanes , the right both of succession and gouernment be setled in one familie , according to propinquitie and prioritie of bloud , the people may neither take away nor varie the same : and if they doe , they commit iniustice , they violate the law of nations , whereby they expose themselues , not onlie to the infamie and hate of al men , but to the reuenge of those who wil attempt vppon them . for it is not onlie lawfull but honourable , for any people , either to right or reuenge the breach of this lawe ; against them which contemne it , as monsters ; against them who knowe it not , as beasts . saint augustine saith s ; if a citie vppon earth should decree some great mischiefes to be done , by the decree of mankind it is to be destroied . and as in the state of one countrey any man may accuse vpon a publicke crime , so in the state of the world , any people may prosecute a common offence : for as there is a ciuill band among all the people of one nation ; so is there a natural knot among al men in the world . you close your conclusion with this conceit , that the word naturall prince , or naturall successor , is to be vnderstood of one , who is borne within the same realme , and that it is ridiculous to take it , as though anie prince had natural interest to succeed . but what construction wil you then make of that which herodian deliuereth s , in the speech of commodus the sonne of marcus ? now hath fortune giuen me vnto you for prince in his stead , not drawen into the state , such as they were , who were before me ; nor as one that glorieth in the purchase of the empire ▪ for i onlie am borne vnto you and brought vp in the court , neuer swathed in priuate cloathes , but so soone as i was borne the imperiall purpure did receiue me , and the sun beheld me at once , both a man and a prince . consider these things , t and honour your prince by right , who is not giuen , but borne vnto you . girard goeth further in writing of charles the simple , that he was king before he was born . say therefore againe , that it is ridiculous to take the word natural prince , for one that hath right of succession inherent in him by birth ; and i wil say that this mirth wil better beseeine a natural indeede , then any man that is wise . but let vs now consider the further passage of your discourse ; both how you are able to fortifie this foundation , and what building it is able to beare . to the second chapter , which is intituled , of the particular forme of monarchies and kingdomes , and the different lawes whereby they are to bee obtained , holden and gouerned in diuers countries , according as each common wealth hath chosen and established . in this chapter you spend much speech in praising a monarchie , and preferring it before the gouernment of manie ; which you doe to no other end , but to insinuate your selfe either into credit , or aduantage to drawe it downe ▪ euen as ioab presented amasa with a kind kisse , to winne thereby opportunitie to stab him a . for in the end b you fetch about , that because a prince is subiect , as other men , not onely to errours in iudgement , but also to passionate affections , in his will ; it was necessarie , that as the common wealth hath giuen that great power vnto him , so it should assigne him helpes for managing the same . and that a prince receiueth his authoritie from the people , you proue a little before c , for that saint peter tearmeth kings humane creatures , which you interpret to bee , a thing created by man ; because by mans free choise , both this forme of gouernment is erected , and the same also laide vpon some particular person . i know not in what sort to deale with you , concerning this interpretation . shall i labour to impugne it by arguments ? why , there is no man that wanteth not either iudgement or sinceritie , but vpon both the naturall and vsuall sense of the words , hee will presently acknowledge it to bee false . shall i go about either to laugh , or to raile you from your errour , as cicero in the like case perswaded to doe ? but this would bee agreeable neither to the stayednesse of our yeeres , nor the grauitie of our professions . i am now aduised what to doe ; i will appeale , as machetes did before philip of macedon , from your selfe asleepe , to your selfe awake ; from your selfe distempered by affection , to your selfe returned to sobrietie of sense . do you thinke then in true earnest , that a humane creature is a thing created by man , or rather that euery man is a humane creature ? is a brutish creature to be taken for a thing created by a beast ? spirituall , angelicall , or anie other adiunct vnto creature , what reference hath it to the authour of creation ? and if it were so , then should al creatures be called diuine , because they were created by god , to whom onely it is proper to create ; and in this verie point , saint paul saith , that all authoritie is the ordinance and institution of god. neither needeth it to trouble vs that saint peter should so generally inioine vs to be obedient to all men , no more then it troubled the apostles , when christ commanded them to preach to all creatures d ; according to which commission , saint paul did testifie , that the gospell had beene preached to euerie creature vnder heauen : but saint peter doth specifie his generall speech , and restraine his meaning to kings and gouernours ; in which sense saint ambrose citeth this place , as it followeth : bee subiect to your lords , vvhether it bee to the king , as to the most excellent , &c. this interpretatiō not only not relieuing you , but discouering very plainly either the weaknesse or corruption of your iudgement , it resteth vpon your bare word , that kings haue receiued their first authoritie from the people ; which although i could denie , with as great both countenance & facilitie , as you affirme , yet will i further charge vpon you with strength of proofe . presently after the inundation of the world , we find no mention of politike gouernement , but onely of oeconomical , according as men were sorted in families : for so moses hath written g , that of the progenie of iapheth , the iles of the gentiles were deuided after their families . the first , who established gouernment ouer manie families , was nimrod the sonne of cush , accounted by saint chrysostome h the first king : which authoritie hee did not obtaine by fauour and election of anie people , but by plaine purchase of his power . heereupon moses calleth him a mightie hunter i , which is a forme of speech among the hebrues , whereby they signifie a spoiler or oppresser . and this doth also appeare by the etymologie of his name ; for nimrod signifieth a rebell , a transgressour , and as some interpret it , a terrible lord : and names were not imposed in auncient times by chance or at aduenture , as plato k , one of natures chiefe secretaries , and among the latin writers aul. gellius l doe affirme . many hold opiniō , that this nimrod was the same , whom the grecians cal ninus : which seemeth to be confirmed by that which moses saith m , that hee did build the citie of niniue . of this ninus , iustine writeth n that he was the first who held that which hee did subdue ; others , satisfied with victorie , aspired not to beare rule . nimrod foūded the empire of the assyrians , which continued by succession in his posterity , vntil it was violently drawn frō sardanapalus to the medes . from them also cyrus by subuersion of astyages did transport it to the persians ; and from them againe the grecians did wrest it by conquest . after the death of alexander , his captaines without any consent of the people , made partition of the empire among them ; whose successors were afterwards subdued by the armies and armes of rome . and this empire , beeing the greatest that euer the earth did beare , was in the end also violentlie distracted , by diuers seueral either conquests or reuolts . leo after writeth , that it is not a hundred yeares , since the people of gaoga in africk had neither king nor lord , vntill one hauing obserued the greatnesse and maiestie of the king of tombute , did enterprise to attaine soueraigntie aboue them ; which by violence he effected , and left the same to his posteritie . and because i will not bee tedious in running through particulars , giue you an instance of anie one people , which hath not diuers times receiued , both prince and gouernment by absolute constraint , et phillidasolus habeto ; and i will yeeld to all that you affirme . but failing herein , you shall bee enforced to confesse , that in manie , yea in most , if not in all countries , the people haue receiued libertie , either from the graunt or permission of the victorious prince , and not the prince authoritie from the vanquished people . what helpes nowe doe you imagine , that the people haue assigned to their prince ? the first , you affirme to be the direction of lawes . but it is euident , that in the first heroicall ages , the people were not gouerned by anie positiue lawe , but their kings did both iudge and commaund , by their word , by their will , by their absolute power ; and , as pomponius saith * , omnia manu a reg●bus gubernabantur : kings gouerned all things : without either restraint or direction , but onely of the lawe of nature . the first lawe was promulged by moses ; but this was so long before the lawes of other nations , that iosephus writeth * , it was more ancient then their gods : affirming also , that the word law is not found in homer , or in orpheus , or in anie writer of like antiquitie . of this law of nature homer maketh mention in these words : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : and they who keepe the lawes which god hath prescribed . and againe , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vnciuill and vniust is he , and wanting priuate state , who holdeth not all ciuill war in horror and in hate . and of the iustice of kings he writeth in this maner . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in which verses chrysostome affirmeth q by the iudgment of alexander , that homer hath delineated the perfect image of a king : but that hee maketh mention of anie positiue lawes , i doe rather doubt then assuredlie denie . for kings in auncient times did giue iudgment in person , not out of any formalitie in lawe , but onlie according to naturall equitie . virgil saith r : hoc priami gestamen erat cumiura vocatis more daret populis . this was the robe which priamus did alwaies vse to weare , when he the people to him called , their causes for to heare . which he doth also affirme of aeneas s , dido t and of alcestes u . the like doth herodotus report * of midas king of phrygia , who consecrated his tribunall to apollo : and the like also dooth plutarch x of diuers kings of macedonia : philarchus affirmeth in athenaeus , that the kings of persia had palme trees and vines of goulde , vnder which they did sit to heare causes . but because it grew both troublesome & tedious , for al the people to receiue their right from one man y ; lawes were inuented , as cicero saith , and officers also appointed to execute the same . another original of lawes was thus occasioned : when anie people were subdued by armes , lawes were laid like logs vpon their necks , to keepe them in more sure subiection : which both because it is not doubtful , and to auoid prolixitie , i will manifest onlie by our owne example . when the romans had reduced the best part of this iland into the forme of a prouince ; as they permitted libertie of lawe to no other countrie vnder their obedience , so here also they planted the practise of their lawes : and for this purpose they sent ouer manie professors , and among others papinian , the most famous both for knowledge and integritie , of all the authors of the ciuill lawe . againe , when the saxons had forced this realme , and parted it into seauen kingdomes , they erected so manie settes of law ; of which onelie two were of continuance , the mercian lawe ; and the west saxon law . after these the danes became victorious ; and by these newe lordes new lawes were also imposed , which bare the name of dane-lawe . out of these three lawes , partlie moderated , partlie supplied , king edward the confessor composed that bodie of lawe , which afterwardes was called saint edwards lawes . lastly , the normans brought the land vnder their power ; by whom saint edwards lawes were abrogated , and not onlie new lawes , but newe language brought into vse ; in somuch as all pleas were formed in french ; and in the same tongue children were taught the principles of grammar . these causes wee find of the beginning of lawes ; but that they were assigned by the people for assistance and direction to their kinges , you bring neither argument , nor authoritie for proofe ; it is a part of the drosse of your owne deuise . the second helpe , which you affirme that common wealthes haue assigned to their kings , is by parliaments and priuie councelles . but parliaments in al places haue bin erected by kings ; as the parliament of paris and of montpellier in fraunce , by philip the faire ; the parliament in england by henrie the first ; who in the sixteenth yeare of his raigne a , called a councell of all the states of his realme at salisburie , which our historiographers do take for the first parliament in england ; affirming that the kings , before that time , did neuer call the common people to counsell . after this the priuie councell at the instance of the archbishop of canterburie , was also established ; and since that time , the counsellors of state haue alwaies bin placed by election of the prince . and that it was so likewise in auncient times , it appeareth by tha● which homer writeth : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first hee established a councell of honorable old men : and likewise by virgill . — gaudet regno troianus acestes . indicitque foru , et patribus dat iura vocatis : acestes of the troiane bloud in kingdome doth delight , he sets a court , and councell cals , & giues ech man his right . i will passe ouer your course , foggio , drowsie conceite , that there are few or none simple monarchies in the world , ( for it would tire : any ●to toyle after your impertinent errours ) and wil now rip vp your packet of examples , whereby you indeuour to shew , that the power of kings hath bin brideled by their subiects . but what do you infer hereby ? what can you inforce ? will you rake ouer al histories for examples of rebellion , and then argue , a facto ad ius ; that euerie thing is lawful which you finde to haue bin done ? iustinian sayth : non exemplis , sed legibus iudicandum * : we must iudge facts by lawe , and not lawe by facts , or by examples : which alciate and deciane do terme a golden lawe ; because there is no action either so impious or absurd , which may not bee paralleled by examples . will you prooue it lawful to vse fleshlie familiaritie with the sister , with the mother in law , with the natural mother ? you haue the example of cambyses for the first , caracalla for the second , dionysius and nero for the third . the iewes vppon whom god had setled his choise , did at times ( beside many other enormities ) erect male stewes . of the two nations , whose examples you vse , the romans and the lacedaemonians , the first did the like vnder diuers emperours , as lampridius writeth ; and in more auncient times allowed also parricide of children d : the other would sort themselues by fifteene and twentie families together , and hold both wiues and goods in common . i omit the vnnatural customes of diuers other nations ; and will now declare , how in straining a fewe examples to countenance your conceit , you are constrained to beare your selfe no lesse cunning in concealing truthes , then bold in auouching things which are , not only vncertaine , but plainely false . it is true which you write , that the kings of sparta , by the institution of lycurgus , were obedient to the officers called ephori ; but these were titular kings , hauing no other power but a single voice among the senators : and because all affaires were caried by consent of the people , the estate was then esteemed popular . afterwards theopompus , by pretence of an oracle , drew this authoritie from the people , to a senate of thirtie ; whereby the gouernment did change into an aristocracie ; & yet the naked name of kings was retained . by this shuffling of rule the lacedaemonians were continually tossed with tempests of sedition , ceasing not to wade in their owne bloud ( as before you haue acknowledged ) vntill in the end they were brought into subiection ; first , by the macedonians ; afterward by the achaeans ; and lastly by the romans . i will not say now what reason haue we ? but what a shame is it for vs , to open our cares to these vtopicall state-writers ? who being mellowed in idlenesse , & hauing neither knowledge nor interest in matters of gouernment , make new models vpon disproportioned ioints , borrowed from nations most different in rule . you affirme by the testimonie of liuie , that for offence taken against romulus , because hee raigned at pleasure , and not by law , the senators did cut him in peeces : in which short assertion many base vntruths are included , beneath the degree of anie vile word . liuie writeth that he sorted the people into order , and gouerned them by lawes e , and that hee was also both aduised and valiant in the field ; euen such a one as homer describeth : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both a good king , and couragious commander . concerning his end , liuie writeth , that in taking muster of his armie , a thicke tempest did arise , after which he was neuer seene ; wherein he is seconded by solinus , eutropius and the rest : only liuie addeth , that there was a rumor , but verie obscure , without any certaine either authour or ground ; i will adde also without probabilitie , that he was torne in peeces . for howe probable is it , that such a fact , in the open view of his armie , could bee verie obscure ? how probable is it also , that the people would first teare him in peeces for his iniustice , and then worship him for a god ? further , with what either confidence or conceit doe you alleage this report of liuie , for his opiniō ? i find your fetch ; you apprehend euerie thing which may , if not confirm , yet countenance that doctrine , which lately you haue drawne out of cerberus denne ; that it is lawfull to contriue the death of kings . that the people were grieued against seruius tullius for raigning without election : it is a meere fantasie , a dreame , a deuise . liuie faith f , that hee was declared king with such a consent , as no man had bin before him . that tarquinius neglected the lawes of gouernment prescribed to him by the common wealth , it is an ougly vntruth . liuie saith , that he brake the auncient manner of kings before him : but for lawes pomponius affirmeth g , that at that time the romans had no lawes but from their kings , and that sextus papirius reduced them into one volume , which was called the ciuill law of papirius h , and that when the people expelled their kings , they abrogated their lawes also , and remained twentie yeares without any law . lastly you adde , that the romans did expell their kings , and erect consuls in their steed : but you suppresse that which followed , which i hold for a common consequence of the like disorder : first , that for this cause , they were presently almost ouerwhelmed with warres : secondly , that in this state , they neuer enjoyed long time free from sedition : lastly , that as tacitus saith , i there was no meanes to appease these tumults , but by returning to a monarchie againe . all this i write , rather to manifest the maner of your dealing , then that i hold it much regardable what romans did . your examples of our present age i will wrap vp in these few words . all nations , very few excepted , do consent in this forme of gouernment ; first , to bee vnder one prince ; secondly , to accept him by succession , according to propinquitie of bloud : in other circumstances , either for in augurating their prince , or for the maner of managing and executing his gouernment , not two nations in the world in all points do agree . and yet is not this diuersitie raised , by any lawes which the people doe prescribe vnto their prince , as you doe most grossely , yea peeuishly , yea maliciously affirme ; but by the particular lawes and customes of euerie nation , in which the consent of the prince , either secret or expresse , sometimes onely is sufficient , alwayes principally doth concur . vpon this diuersitie of customes you conclude , that it sufficeth not to alleage bare propinquitie of bloud . what ? not where that custom is established ? as i haue declared it to bee in most nations of the world ? doth difference of customes make all custom void ? doth diuersitie of custome in some circumstances take away the principall custome of succession by bloud ? this cleaueth together no surer then sand ; you loose both labour and credit in obtruding vnto vs these weake and loose arguments , without either force of reason or forme of art. your instance of the lawe salicke in france , doth offer occasion to enter into a large fielde , wherein i could plainlie prooue , that there was neuer anie such lawe made to bind the discent of the crowne of fraunce ; and that it hath bin the custome in most parts of the world , not to exclude women from succession in state : in so much as beda k and before him eusebius l , and plinie m do● write , that certaine people were gouerned onlie by princes of that sex . but because this is a matter both of long discourse , and not proper to our purpose , i wil conteine my selfe within this obseruation ; that the exclusion of king edward the third from the crowne of fraunce , vppon this pretence , was the cause of the effusion of their brauest bloud , and of the spoile , wast , and conquest of all that realme . i acknowedge that the english haue lost the possession of that conquest ; and that was by meanes of domestical warres , for excluding the neerest in bloud from the crowne ; into which vnquiet quarrell , you doe now endeuour againe to imbarke vs. yet no man can assure that the miseries of fraunce for this cause are at an end . rammes recoile to strike harder : we are gone rather backe then away : i will not presage , but anie man may coniecture , that our minds and our meanes will not alwaies want the fauour of time . after all this you proceede a degree further : that it is lawfull vpon iust considerations , not only to put backe the next inheritour of the crowne , but also to remoue him who is in full possession thereof . and y● is plaine ( you say ) not onely by the grounds before by you alleaged , but also by example of the romans & graecians : & because god hath commonlie concurred in such iudiciall actions of the state ; not onely in prospering them , but in giuing them also some notable successour . and yet you protest you are far from their opinion , who vpon euerie mislike are readie to band against their prince ; and that you esteem the tenure of a crown , if once it be setled , the most irregular , whereto euery man is bound to settle his conscience , without examination of title or interest ; but onely by the supreme law of gods disposition , who can dispence in what he listeth : and that notwithstanding you are as farre , from the abiect flatterie of billaie and others ; who affirme , that princes are subiect to no law or limitation at al , and that they succeed by nature and birth onely , and not by admission of the people ; and that there is no authoritie vnder god to chasten them . these you call absurd paradoxes ; and herewith you settle your self to shewe in the next chapter , what good successe hath insued the deposition of princes . concerning your protestation , wee may say vnto you as isaac said to his sonne iacob n . the voice is iacobs voice , but the hands are the hands of esau : you speake faire , and therewith also well ; but the maine drift of your discourse , is nothing else but a tempestuous doctrine of rebellion and disorder : you being therein like the boatman , who looketh one waie and pulleth another ; or rather like the image of ianus , which looked two contrarie waies at once . it is a rule in lawe ; that a protestation contrarie to a mans act , will not serue to relieue him o : onlie this shal serue to conuince you , either of false or of forgetful dealing , when we come to that place where in flat words you maintaine the contrarie . concerning the querele which you lay against billaie ; as i haue not seene what he hath written , so wil i not interpose betweene him and you . i neuer heard of christian prince who challenged infinite authoritie without limitation of any law , either natural or diuine . but where you terme it an absurd paradoxe , that the people should not haue power to chasten their prince , and vpon iust considerations to remoue him ; i am content to ioine with you vppon the issue . and first i note the maner of your dealing , in that you haue omitted to expresse what these iust considerations may be . for seeing there hath bin no king , who is not noted of some defects ; and againe , no tyrant , who hath not manie commendable partes ( as plutarch writeth p that dionysius excelled most princes in diuers pointes of iustice and vertue ) it is a matter of dangerous consequence , to leaue these considerations vndetermined and at large . but who seeth not , that you do it out of pollicie , that you may vpon euerie particular occasion , declare such causes to be sufficient as you please ? how then doe you proue , that vpon anie cause , the people haue power to dispossesse their prince ? this is plaine ( you say ) not onlie by the groundes before by you alleaged , but also by example of y● romans & graecians . the grounds by you alleaged , are two . one in your first chapter , that because no one forme of gouernment is natural , the people haue power both to choose , and to change , and to limit it as they please . the other ground is in this chapter ; that because there are diuers lawes and customes in matters of principalitie , it sufficeth not to alleage bare propinquitie of bloud . why ; but had you no text of scripture , no father of the church to alleage ? no lawe ? no reason ? no better example ? no surer grounde ? it is more then this which you bring against your selfe , in citing out of saint peter q ; the lord knoweth to reserue the vniust vnto the daie of iudgement ; and especiallie them that despise gouernment , and speake euill of those that are in dignitie . and out of saint iude r : likewise these dreamers despise gouernment , and speake euill of them that are in authoritie . besides also , you haue alleaged out of saint s paule : let euerie soule be subiect vnto the higher power ; for there is no power but of god : whosoeuer therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god ; and they that resist shall receiue to themselues iudgment . and likewise out of s. peter : t submit your selues to euerie humane creature , whether it be to the king , or vnto gouernors ; for so is the will of god. to which places we maie likewise ad that , which s. paule did write vnto titus u : put them in remembrance that they be obedient to the principalities & powers . and writing to timothy * he exhorteth vs also to praie for them , that we may leade vnder them a peaceable life . but perhaps you wil say , that the apostles did not meane this of wicked princes . trifler : the apostles spake generallie of al : saint . peter x maketh expresse mention of euil lords . and what princes haue euer bin more either irreligious or tyrannical , then caligula , tiberius , nero , the infamie of their ages , vnder whose empire the apostles did both liue and write . bellarmine the great master of controuersies perceiuing this to be vnanswerablie true , did in another sort rather cut then vntie the knot : affirming y that at that time it was necessarie to admonish the christians to performe obedience to their kings , least the preaching of the gospel might otherwise be hindred : which is as if in direct tearmes he should haue saide . sir kings : whilest our heads were vnder your girdle , we were content to curry fauour , by preaching obediēce vnto the people : but now we haue got the wind of you ; we must plainlie tel you , that you hold your crownes at their curtesie and fauour ; and haue no power in effect , but as lieutenants general . i know you wil make a sower face at this ; it will go very much against your stomackes ; but there is no remedie , you must take it down ; they are your good lords ; they may dispossesse you . prophane bellarmine : is christian religion a meere policie ? doth it applie it selfe onlie to the present ? doth it turne alwaies with the time ? may the principal professors thereof say , as an infidel moore did , whē he violated the faith which he had giuen vnto christians ? we haue no bone in our tongues that we cannot turne them which way we please . wee seee plainlie that you say so : and it is as plaine , that it was far from the true meaning of the apostles . s. iude z writeth sharpelie against those , who had mens per●ons in admiration because of aduvntage . s. paul also saith * : goe i about to please men ? if i should please men , i were not then the seruant of christ. i wil giue you an example of another time . nabuchadnezzar king of assyria , wasted al palestina ; tooke hierusalem ; slew the king ; burnt the temple ; tooke away the holy vessels and treasure : the residue he permitted to the crueltie and spoile of his vnmerciful soldiers ; who defiled al places with rape , ruine and bloud . after the glut of this butcherie , the people which remained , he led captiue into chaldaea , and there commaunded , that whosoeuer refused to worship his golden image , should be cast into a firie furnace . what crueltie , what impietie is comparable to this ? and yet the prophets ieremiah a and baruch b did write to those captiue iewes , to praie for the prosperitie and life of him , and of baltazar his sonne , that their daies might be vpon earth as the daies of heauen : and ezechiel c both blameth and threatneth zedechia , for his disloialtie in reuolting from nabuchadnezzar , whose homager and tributarie he was . what answere wil you make to this example ? i am wiselie busied to cast forth this question ; what answere can you make , which your owne knowledg will not conuince ? many other places there are in holy scripture , whereby not onely our actions are tied to obedience ; he that doth presumptuously against the ruler of the people shal die d : but also our words , thou shalt not speake euill against the ruler of the people e ; yea , our secret thoughts : detract not from the king , no not in thy thought ; for the foules of the aire shall carie thy voice f . the reason hereof is not obscure : because princes are the immediat ministers of god g ; & therefore he called nabuchadnezzar , his seruant h ; & promised him also hire & wages for the seruice which he did i . and the prophet esay k calleth cyrus , a prophane & heathen king , the lords annointed . for , as salomon saith l , the harts of kings are in the hands of the lord : & he stirreth vp the spirit , euen of wicked princes to do his wil m : & ( as iehoshaphat said to his rulers n ) they execute not the will of man , but of the lord. in regard hereof dauid calleth thē gods o ; whereof plato also had some sense , when he said p , a king is in steed of god . and if they do abuse their power , they are not to be iudged by their subiects , as being both inferiour and naked of authoritie , because all iurisdiction within their realme is deriued from thē , which their presence only doth silence & suspend : but god reserueth them to the ●orest trial : horribly and sodainly ( saith the wise man q ) will the lord appeare vnto thē , and a hard iudgment shal they haue . you iesuits do yeeld a blindfold obediēce to your superiours , not once examining either what hee is , or what he doth commād : & although the pope should swarue frō iustice , yet by the canons r , men are bound to performe obedience vnto him , and god only may iudge his doings : and may a king , the lords lieutenant , the lords annointed in the view of his subiects , nay , by the hands of his subiects , bee cast out of state ? may he , as was actaeon , be chased and wooried by his own hounds ? wil you make him of worse conditiō , then the lord of a manor ? then a parish priest ? then a poore schoolemaster , who cannot be remoued by those that are vnder their authoritie and charge ? the law of god cōmandeth that the child should die , for anie contumely done vnto the parents . but what if the father be a robber ? if a murtherer ? if for all excesse of villanies odious & execrable both to god and man ? surely hee deserueth the highest degree of punishment ; & yet must not the son lift vp his hand against him : for , as quintilian saith s , no offence is so great , as to be punished by parricide . but our country is dearer to vs then our selues : & the prince is the father of our country u : whose authoritie , as baldus noteth * , is greater then of parents : and therfore he must not be violated , how impious , how imperious soeuer he be . if hee commaundeth those things that are lawfull , we must manifest our obedience by readie performing . if he inioine vs those actions that are euill ; we must shew our subiection by patient enduring . it is god only who seateth kings in their state ; it is he only who may remoue them . the lord wil set a wise king ouer the people which he loueth , as himselfe doth testifie x . and againe , for the sins of the land the kings are changed y . as therefore wee endure with patience vnseasonable weather , vnfruitful yeares , & other like punishments of god ; so must wee tolerate the imperfections of princes , and quietly expect either reformation , or els a change . this was the doctrine of the ancient christians , euen against their most mortall persecuters . tertullian saith z , for what warre are we not both seruiceable and readie , although vnequall in number , who doe so willingly endure to be slaine ? neither want we strength of number : but god forbid , that religion should be maintained with humane fire . from him also saint cyprian , a most studious reader of tertullian , as saint hierome * noteth , in like maner writeth a : although our people bee exceeding copious , yet it doth not reuenge it selfe against violence : it suffreth . saint augustin saith b : it is a generall paction of humane societie to obey kings . which sentence is assumed into the body of the canon law c . in a word , the current of the ancient fathers is in this point concurrent ; insomuch as among thē all there is not one found , not anie one ; one is a small number ; and yet i say confidently againe , there is not anie one , who hath let fall so loose a speech , as may be strained to a contrarie sense : how then are you of late become , both so actiue & resolute to cut in sunder the reines of obedience , the verie sinewes of gouernment & order ? whence had benedetto palmto , a iesuite , his warrant , to incite william parrie to vndertake the parricide of our queene ? whence did annibal codretto , another iesuite , assure him , that the true church made no question , but that the fact was lawfull ? whence did guignard , a iesuite , terme the butcherie of henry late king of fraunce , an heroicall act , and a gift of the holy ghost ? whence did he write of the king , who now there raigneth : if without armes he cannot be deposed , let men take armes against him ; if by warre it cannot be accomplished , let him bee murthered ? whence did ambrose verade , rector of the colledge of the iesuits in paris , animate barriers ( as he confessed ) to sheath his knife in the kings breast ; assuring him by the liuing god , that he could not execute anie act more meritorious ? whence did the commenter vpon the epitome of confessions , otherwise the seuenth booke of decretals , commend all the iesuits in these termes d , they set vpon tyrants , they pull the cockle out of the lords field ? it is a rule in nature , that one contrarie is manifested by the other . let vs compare then your boisterous doctrine with that of the apostles , and ancient fathers of the church , and we shall find that the one is like the rough spirit , which hurled the heard of swine headlong into the sea ; the other like the stil & soft spirit which talked with elias f . neither was the diuel euer able , vntil in late declining times , to possesse the hearts of christians with these cursed opinions , which doe euermore beget a world of murthers , rapes , ruines & desolations . for tel me , what if the prince , whom you perswade the people they haue power to depose , be able to make & maintaine his partie , as k. iohn and king henry the third did against their barons ? what if other princes , whom it doth concerne , as wel in honor , to see the law of nations obserued , as also in policie , to breake those proceedings which may form precedents against themselues , do adioin to the side ? what if whilest the prince and the people are ( as was the frog and the mouse ) in the heate of their encounter , some other potentate play the kite with them both ; as the turke did with the hungarians ? is it not then a fine peece of policie which you doe plotte ? or is it not a grosse errour to raise these daungers , and to leaue the defence to possibilities doubtfull . goe too , sirs , goe too , there is no christian country , which hath not by your deuises ben wrapped in warres . you haue set the empire on swim with bloud : your fires in france are not ye : extinguished : in polonia & all those large countries , extending from the north to the east , you haue caused of late more battels to be fought , then had ben in 500 yeers before . your practises haue heeretofore preuailed against vs : of late yeers you haue busied your selues in no one thing more , then how to set other christian princes on our necks ; stirring vp such store of enemies against vs , as , like the grashoppers of egipt , g might fill our houses , and couer our whole land , and make more doubt of roome then of resistance . our owne people also you haue prouoked to vnnaturall attempts : you haue exposed our country as a pray , to them that will either inuade or betray it ; supposing belike that you play christs part well , when you may say as christ did , h thinke not that i came to send peace , i came not to send peace but a sword . but when by the power & prouidēce of god , all these attempts haue rather shewen what good hearts you beare towards vs , then done vs any great harme ; when in all these practises you haue missed the mark , now you do take another ●ime : now hauing no hope by extremitie of armes , you indeuour to execute your mallice by giuing dangerous aduise : now you goe about to entangle vs with titles , which is the greatest miserie that can ●all vpon a state . you pretend faire shewes of libertie & of power , sed timeo danaos & don● ferentes : wee cannot but suspect the courtesies of our enemies : the power which you giue vs will pull vs downe ; the libertie whereof you speake will fetter vs in bondage . when themistocles came to the persian court , artab●nus captaine of the guard , knowing that hee would vse no ceremonie to their king , kept him out of presence , and said vnto him : you grecians esteeme vs barbarous , for honouring our kings , but we persians esteeme it the greatest honour to vs that can be . the like answere will we frame vnto you : you iesuits account it a bondage to be obedient vnto kings ; but wee christians account it the greatest meanes for our continuance both free and safe . to the third chapter , which is intitledof the great reuerence and respect due to kings , and yet how diuers of them , haue ben lawfully chastised by their common wealthes for their misgouernment , & of the good & prosperous successe that god commonly hath giuen to the same , and much more to the putting back of an vnworthie pretender . that princes may bee chastised by their subiects , your proofes are two : one is drawen from certaine examples ; the other from the good successe and successors which vsuallie haue followed . surely it cannot be but that you stand in a strong conceite , either of the authoritie of your woord , or simplicitie of our iudgement ; otherwise you could not bee perswaded , by these slender threds to draw any man to your opinion . of the force of examples i haue spoken before ; there is no villanie so vile which vvanteth example . and yet most of the examples which you doe bring , are either false , or else impertinent . for there haue beene diuers states , wherein one hath borne the name & title of king , without power of maiestie . as the romanes in the time of their consulate estate , had alwaies a priest , whom they entitled king , whose office consisted in certaine ceremonies & sacrifices , which in former times could not be performed but by their kings . likewise the lacedaemonians , after licurgus had formed their gouernment retained two kings , who had no greater stroke in matters of state , then a single voice as other senators . such were in caesars time many pettie kings of gaule , who ( as ambiorix king of leige confessed ) were subiect to their nobilitie , & iusticeable by them . such are now the emperours of almaine ; because the puissance & maiestie of the empire pertaineth to the states , who are sworne to the empire it selfe , and not to the person of the emperour . such are also the dukes of venice , the soueraignetie of vvhich state is setled in the gentlemen . in these and such like gouernments , the prince is not soueraigne , but subiect to that part of the common wealth , which retaineth the royaltie and maiestie of state , whether it be the nobilitie , or common people : and therefore your examples drawen from them is nothing to our purpose . concerning successe , it cannot bee strange vnto you , that by the secret , yet iust iudgement of god , diuers , euill actions are carried with apparance of good successe the prophet dauid said , a that his treadings had almost slipt , by seeing the wicked to flourish in prosperitie : the prophet ieremiah b seemed also to stagger vpon this point & it hath alwaies ben a dangerous stone in the way of the godly , whereat manie haue stumbled , and some fallen . besides , it ordinarily happeneth that good princes succeede tyrants ; partly because they are so indeede , as being instructed to a better mannage of gouernment , both by the miserable life of their predecessors , and by the o●gly infamie which remaineth after their death : partly because by meanes of the comparison they both seeme , and are reported to bee farre better then they are . heerevpon lampridius saith of alexander seuerus : c i may also say , that alexander was a good prince by feare ▪ for that heltogab●lus his predecessor was both an euill prince , and also massacred and slaine . seing therefore the reason is so manifest , wherefore good princes should succeede tyrants , is it not rashnesse ? is it not impudencie ? is it not impietie for vs to wade with vncleane feete into gods secret counsells , vnknowne to the angells , and to iustifie vpon this euent the paricide of any prince ? for my part , i know not whether you shew your selfe more presumptuous in entering into this obseruation , or in pursuing it more idle and impure . i will passe ouer your protestation of respect and obedience due vnto princes : protest what you please , wee will take you for no other then a vile ●inde of vermine , which , if it bee permitted to creepe into the bowels of any state , will gnaw the hart strings thereof in sunder . this you manifest by the course comparison which presently you annexe , that as a naturall body hath authoritie , to cure the head if it be out of tune , and reason to cut it off oftentimes , if it were able to take another ; so a body politick hath power to cure or cut off the head , if it be vnsound . but what either will or power hath any part of the body in it selfe ? what either sence for the one , or motion for the other , which proceedeth not altogether from the head ? where is the reason seated which you attribute to the body , both in iudging and curing the infirmities of the head ? certaine it is , that in your cutting cure you deale like a foolish phisition , who finding a body halfe taken and benummed with a palsie , cutteth off that part to cure the other , and so make sure to destroy both . you suppose belike that to enter into greater perills , is the onely remedie of present dangers . i omit to presse many points of this comparison against you , because comparisons do serue rather to illustrate then inforce : and i know not what assertion you might not easely make good , if such sencelesse prating might goe for proofe . i come now to your particular examples , wherof the first is of king saule ; whom you affirme to be depriued and put to death for his disobedience . saule depriued and put to death ? i neuer heard that any of his subiects did euer lift vp one thought against him . dreamer , you will say , hee was slaine by the philistimes : good ; but who depriued him ; it was god ( you say ) who did depriue him ? you must pardon vs if vpon the sodaine wee doe not conceiue the misterie of your meaning : your vvords of depriuation and putting to death , doe rather import a iudiciall proceeding against him , thē that god deliuered him to be vanquished , by his enemies in the field . but vvhat is this to dispossessing by subiects ? yes , you say , because vvhat soeuer god hath put in vre in his common vvealth , may be practised by others . why , but then also good princes may be deposed by their subiects ; because god deliuered iosiah to be slaine by the aegiptians . you firebrands of strife , you trumpets of sedition , you red horses vvhose sitters haue taken peace from the earth , d how impudently doe you abuse the scriptures ? how doe you defile them vvith your filchie fingers ? it is most certaine that dauid knew , both because samuel tould him , and because he had the spirit of prophesie , that god had reiected saul , and designed him to be king in his place : yet his doctrine was alwaies , not to touch the lords anoin●ed , wherto his actions vvere also answerable . for vvhen saul did most violently persecute him , he defended himselfe no otherwise then by flight . during this pursuit , saul fell twice in to his power ; once he dyd not onely spare but protect him , and rebuke the pretorian soldiers for their negligent vvatch : the other time his hart did smite him , for that he had cut away the lappe of his garment . lastly , he caused the messenger to be slaine , vvho vpon request , and for pittie , had furthered ( as he said ) the death of that sacred king. wee haue a precept of obedience , vvhich is the mould vvherein vvee ought to fashion our actions . god onely is superiour to princes ; vvho vseth many instruments in the execution of his iustice , but his aucthoritie he hath committed vnto none . your second example is of king amon , vvho vvas slaine ( as you vvright ) by his owne people ; because he vvalked not in the vvayes of the lord. this is somewhat indeed if it be true ; let vs turne to the text . f amon was xxii . yeeres ould when he began to reigne &c. and he did euill in the sight of the lord &c. and his seruants conspired against him , & slew him in his house , and the people smote all those who conspired against king amon , and made iosiah his sonne king in his stead . but this is very different from that which you report . amon was slaine by his seruants , and not by the people ; who were so far from working , that they seuerely reuenged his death . and although amon was euill , yet the scripture laieth not his euill for the motiue whervpon his seruants slue him . the diuell himselfe in alleaging the scripture , vsed more honestie & sinceritie ( if i may so terme it ) then you : for he cited the very vvords , vvresting them onely to a crooked sence : but you change the vvords of the scripture ; you counterfeit gods coine , you corrupt the recordes vvhich he hath left vs. i vvill now shake of all respect of ciuilitie towards you , and tell you in flat and open termes ; that as one part of your assertion is true , that good kings succeeded saul and amon ; so the other part , that either they vvere , or in right could haue bene depriued and put to death by their subiects , it is a sacrilegious , a logger-headed lye . of your example of romulus i haue spoken before . i haue declared also how the romanes , presently after the expelling of their kings , & for that cause , were almost ouerwhelmed with the weight of warre ; being beaten home to the very gates of their citie . and had not chocles by a miracle of manhood susteined the shock of the enemies , whilest a bridge was broken behind him , the towne had bene entred and their state ruined . and wheras you attribute the inlargement of the empire , which happened many ages after , to this expelling of their kings , you might as well haue saide , that the rebellion against king iohn was the cause of the victories which wee haue since had in france . i haue before declared , that the state of the romanes vnder their consulls , was popular , rather in shew , then in deede : this shew began also to end , when by the law valeria , l. sylla was established dictator for foure and twentie yeares . after this , the empire did mightely encrease , vntil the reigne of traian● ; at which time all authors agree that it was most large ; and yet far short of your wandring suruey , not halfe fifteene thousand miles in compasse . in your example of caesar , i neuer saw more vntruthes crowded together in fewer words : you say he brake all lawes , both humane and deuine : that is one ; his greatest enemies did giue of him a most honorable testimonie . you say he tooke all gouernment into his hands alone : that is two ; the people by the law seruia elected him perpetual dictator . you make his death to be an act of the state : that is three ; for they who slew him , were both declared & pursued by decree of the state for publicke enemies ; of whom , not any one , either died a naturall death , or liued three yeeres after ; it was further decreed , that the court where he was slaine should be stopped vp , that the ides of march should be called parricidium ; & that the senate should neuer be assembled vpon that day . you say that augustus was preferred in his place : that is foure ; and all within the compasse of sixe lines . augustus was neuer chosen dictator ; suetonius writeth g that hee entreated the people vpon his knee , not to charge him with that office . but augustus , antonius and lepidus did first knit in armes by the name of triumuiri , to reuenge the death of iulius caesar ; whervpon a long cruell and doubtfull warre was set vp , which continued the space of xx . yeers ; first , betweene these three , and the murtherers of caesar ; then , betweene lepidus , and the other two ; lastly betweene augustus & antonius : and this was the sweet successe of the murther of caesar. augustus , after his victorie was made perpetuall tribune , as suetonius hath written h dio. saith , i that he was freed from the power of the lawes ; as pompeie also had beene before him . tacitus addeth , k that the people hauing their hearts broken with broiles , permitted him to rise into rule , and to draw by degrees the whole authoritie of the state into his handes . and so it seemeth that the royall law was not yet established , l by which the people gaue ouer their power in gouernment : wherevpon some make good the sentence which the senate gaue against nere ; because the soueraigntie was not then by any expresse act setled in the emperour . but where you bring the succession of vespasian as a good successe of this sentence against nero , it is a vvilde and witlesse vntruth . galba succeeded next after nero ; who was slaine in a sedition raised by otho . otho againe was ouercome in field by vitellius ; whervpon hee slue himselfe . lastly , vitellius was ouerthrowne and slaine by the captaines of vespasian ; who was the fourth emperour after nero. these intestine warres , these open battailes fought to the full , this slaughter of emperours , which you terme interludes , vvere the immediate successe after the death of nero. you furies of hell , whose voices are lightening and thunder , vvhose breathing is nothing but sword , fire , rages and rebellions : the encountring of armies , the butcherie of millions of men , the massacre of princes , you accompt enterludes : these are your pleasures ; these your recreations . i hope all christian common vvealthes vvill beare an eye ouer your inclination , and keepe out both your persons and perswasions , from turning their state into an open stage for the acting of these enterludes . you continue your base bouldnesse in affirming , that the senate procured the death of domitian ; that they requested the soldiers to kil heliogabalus ; that they inuited constantine to come & doe iustice vpon maxentius : this broken kinde of disguising is familiar vnto you , to make such violencies as haue often preuailed against excellēt princes , to seeme to be the act of the vvhole state . and vvheras you bring the succession of alexander seuerus for a good successe of the murther of heliogabalus , being the rarest prince ( you say ) that euer the romanes had ; you might haue alleaged any author in proofe thereof better then herodian , vvho vvriteth of him in this manner . m alexander did beare the name and ensignes of the empire ; but the administration of affaires & gouernment of the state did rest vpon wemen . and further he vvriteth that by his slacknesse and cowardice , the romane armie vvas defeated by the persians ; & finally , that for his vvant of courage , he vvas slaine by his owne soldiers . by this vve may see that you goe blindfold ; being so far from caring , that many times you scarce know vvhat you vvright . your markable example ( as you terme it ) of the change o● the empire , frō the west to the east ; frō cōstantin the sixt , to charles king of france , doth mark out nothing more vnto vs , then your foūdred iudgemēt . the questiō is not what one forren prince may do against another , but what subiects may do against their soueraign : this is the point of cōtrouersie , heete you must cloase ; and not trauerse about in discourses impertinent . the change of the kingdome of france from childeric to pepin , your owne authour girard n affirmeth to be , both an ambitious & fraudulēt vsurpation , wherin pepin vsed the reuerēce of religiō as a mantle to couer his impietie & rebelliō . the matters which he obiected against childeric were two ; first , his insufficiēcie , the ordinarie pretence of most rebellions ; but girard , o saith , that the auncient custome of the french was , to loue & honor their kings , whether sufficient or vnable , worthie or weake ; & that the name of king vvas esteemed sacred , by whomsoeuer it was borne . secondly he obiected , that his subiects were condicionally sworne vnto him ; & this also girard writeth to be a forced and cautelous interpretation , violently streining the words of their oath to his aduantage : and in deede , if the oath of the people had ben conditionall , vvhat needed they to procure a dispensation for the same ? this vvas the first act ( saith he ) wherby the popes tooke occasion to set in their foot of authoritie , for transporting of kingdoms from one race to another : which growing to strength , hath filled all christian countries with confusion and tumult . likewise the change of that kingdome from the line of pepin to the line of capet , vvas a meere violence & intrusion , & so vvas it acknowledged by eudes earle of paris , the first of that family vvho did vsurp : & for that cause he was constreined after two yeares reigne , to quit the crowne , & to giue place vnto charles the lawfull heire . and vvhen robert , brother vnto eudes , did enter into armes to recouer that vvhich his brother once held , he vvas beaten downe and slaine by the faithfull subiects of king charles . hugh , the sonne of robert nourished this ambition : but hugh capet his sonne vvith better both opportunitie & successe , but no better right , did accomplish the enterprise . for girard q calleth him an vsurper , & charles duke of lorrane the true heire to the crowne . between these two ( as in all vsurpations it is vsuall ) vvar vvas raised ; but by the vnsearchable iudgement of god the duke of lorraine vvas cast to the ground . and there is little doubt , but , if he had preuailed , lorraine had bene at this day a member of the crowne of france . the like answer may be giuen to your example of suintilla : & this beside ; that the kingdom of the gothes in spaine , vvas not then setled in succession , & chiefly during the reigne of victeric , gundemir , sisebuth , suintilla , sicenand , cinthilla , and tulca . the historie of alphonso , another of your examples , standeth thus . alphonso had a sonne called ferdinand , who died during the life of his father , & left two yong sons behinde him . after the death of ferdinand , his yonger brother sancho practised with d. lope diaz de haro lord of biscay , to procure him to be aduanced to the successiō of the kingdom , before his nephewes . d. lope vndertoke the deuise ; & drawing some other of the nobilitie to the partie , they so wrought with the king , that in an assembly of the states at segouia , sancho was declared successor , & the childrē of ferdinand appointed to be kept in prison . but sancho , either impatiēt to linger in expectatiō , or suspicious that his father grew inclinable towards his nephewes , made league with mahomed mir , king of granado , a moore ; by whose ayde , & by the nobilitie of his faction , he caused him selfe to be declared king . heerevpon , alphonso was enforced to craue assistance of iacob aben ioseph king of maroco , who before had bene an enemie to alphōso : but vpon detestatiō of this vnnatural rebelliō , he sent forces to him , protesting notwithstāding that so soone as the war should be ended , he wold become his enemie againe . so alphonso by help , partly of the marocco moores , & partly of his subiects which remained loyall , maintained against his sonne both his title & state during his lyfe , but not without extremitie of bloudshed ; & opportunitie for the moores , being assistāt to both parties , to make themselues more strong within the countries of spaine . for this cause alphonso disinherited his sonne by his testament , and cast a cruell cursse vpon him & his posteritie : & afterward it vvas ordeined in an assembly of the states holden at tero , that the childrē of the elder brother deceased , should be preferred before their vnckle . how then will you verifie your two points by this historie ? first , that alphonso vvas depriued by a publick act of parlament : secondly , that it turned to the great cōmoditie of the state . it is not a milliō of masses that are sufficiēt to satisfie for all your deceitful & malicious vntruthes . i meruaile how the rebellion of absolon , against king dauid his father escaped you : oh ; it wanted successe ; & you could not so easily disguise the report . you write that the common wealth of spaine , resoluing to depose d. pedro the cruell , sent for his brother henry out of france , & required him to bring a strength of frenchmen with him : but hereby you make it plain , that the common wealth was not fully agreed . the truth is , that this was a dangerous deuisiō of the state , between two concurrents ; some holding for henry , & some for pedro. henry obtained forren asistance by the french , pedro by the english . in the meane time , whilst peter was throwen out of state by the forces of france , & after that henry by the armes of england ; & againe peter deiected both from dignitie and life by his brother henry ; the poore country became a spectacle for one of your enterludes . your example of don sancho capello king of portugal , containeth many intollerable vntruthes . for neither was he depriued of his dignitie , neither did the pope & counsell of lions giue either authoritie or consent that he should be depriued ; neither was he driuen out of his realme into castilla ; neither died he in banishmēt ; neither was alphonso his brother king during his life . these fiue vntruths you huddle into one heape . the counsaile of lions wholy opposed against the deposing of don sancho , notwithstanding many disabilities were obiected against him : in regard wherof they gaue directiō , that alphonso his brother should be regent of the realme ; as in that case it is both vsuall & fit . but sancho taking this to dislike , did seeke aide of the king of castile ; & in that pursuite ended his life without issue : wherby the right of succession deuolued to alphonso . to your examples of greeke emperours , i will answer by your words ; which are ; r that for the most part they came not orderly to the crowne , but many times the meanes thereof were tribulent and seditious . the deposing of henry king of polonia , i acknowledge to be both true & iust ; i haue nothing to except against it . when the crowne of france did discend vnto him , he forsooke polonia , & refused to return again to that swaggering gouernment , wherevpon they did depose him . giue vs the like case , & you shal be allowed the like proceeding ; but you esteeme your examples by tale & not by touch : being not much vnlike a certaine mad fellow in athens , who imagined euery ship which was brought into the hauen to be his : for vvhatsoeuer you finde of a king deposed , you lay claime vnto it , as both lawfully done , and pertayning to your purpose , whereas one of these doth alwaies faile . concerning your two examples , one of sueden , and the other of denmarke , i shall haue occasion to speake hereaf●er . the nobility of those countries pretēd , that their kings are not soueraigne , but that the power in highest matters of state pertaineth vnto them . if it bee thus , the examples are not appliable to the question , if it be otherwise , then the princes had wrong . wee are come now to our domesticall examples ; the first whereof is that of king iohn , who was deposed by the pope , you say , at the suite of his owne people . all this people was the archbishop of cant. the bish . of london , and the bish . of ely ; at whose cōplaint , the pope did write to phillip king of france , that hee should expell king iohn out of his realme . if not conscience , if not ordinarie honestie , pure shame should haue drawen you to another forme of writing . hee was also depriued ( you say ) afterwards by his barons . heauy beast ; call you this a depriuation ? the commons were neuer called to consent ; the clergie were so opposite to those that stoode in armes against king iohn , that they procured excommunication against them : first generally ; then by name ; lastly , lewes the french kings sonne was also included : of the nobilitie , which is onely the third state of the realme , i make no doubt but some reserued themselues to bee guided by successe ; others , and namely the earles of warren , arundell , chester , penbrooke , ferrers , salisburie , and diuers barons did openly adhere vnto king iohn ; you may as well call any other rebellion a depriuation , as affirme that the rest either did or might depriue him . and whereas you bring in king henry the third , as a most worthie successour after this depriuation ; i will derogate nothing from his worthinesse : but there was neuer king in england , who without concurrent in the title of the crowne , did draw more bloud out of the sides of his subiects . your second example is of king edward the second , whom many of our histories report to bee of a good and courteous nature and not vnlearned ; imputing his defectes rather to fortune , then either to counsell or carriage of his affaires . his deposition was a violent furie , led by a vvife , both cruell & vnchast ; & can with no better countenance of right be iustified , then may his lamentable both indignities and death , vvhich therupon did ensue . and although the nobilitie , by submitting thēselues to the gouerment of his sonne , did breake those occasions of wars which doe vsually rise vpon such disorders , yet did not the hand of god forget to pursue reuenge . for albeit king edward his son enioyed both a long & prosperous raign , yet his next successor king richard the second , vvas in the like violent manner imprisoned depriued & put to death . i will prosecute the successiue reuenge which heereof also ensued , being a strange matter , & worthie to be rung into the eares of all ages . king henry the fourth , by whom king richard was deposed , did exercise the chiefest acts of his raigne , in executing those who conspired with him against king richard. his son had his vertue well seconded by felicity ; during whose raigne by meanes of the wars in france , the humour against him was otherwise imployed & spent : but his next successor king henry the sixth was in the very like manner depriued , & together with his yong son edward imprisoned and put to death by king edward the fourth . this edward died not without suspiciō of poison ; & after his death , his two sons were in like maner disinherited , imprisoned & murthered by their cruell vnkle , the duke of glocester : who being both a tyrant and vsurper , was iustly encountred and slaine , by king henry the seauenth , in the field . so infallible is the law of iustice in reuenging cruelties and wrongs , not alwaies obseruing the presence of times wherein they are done , but often calling them into reckoning ; whē the offenders retaine least memorie of them . likewise the deposition of king richard the second was a tempestuous rage , neither led nor restrained by any rules of reason or of state ; not sodainely raised and at once , but by very cunning and artificiall degrees . but examine his actions vvithout distempred iudgement , & you will not condemne him to be exceeding either insufficient or euill weigh the imputations that were obiected against him , and you shall find nothing either of any truth or of great moment . hollingshead writeth , that he was most vnthankfully vsed by his subiects ; for although , through the frailtie of his youth , he demeaned himselfe more dissolutely , then was agreeable to the royaltie of his estate , yet in no kings daies , the commons were in greater wealth , the nobilitie more honoured , and the clergie lesse wronged : vvho notwithstanding in the euill guided strength of their will tooke head against him , to their owne headlong destruction afterward : partly during the raign of king henry , his next successor , whose greatest atchiuements were against his owne people ; but more especially in succeeding times , whē vpon occasiō of this disorder , more english bloud was spent , thē was in all the forren wars which had ben since the cōquest . three causes are commonly insinuated by you , for which a king may be deposed ; tyranny , insufficiencie , & impietie : but what prince could hold his state , what people their quiet assured , if this your doctrine should take place ? how many good princes doth enuie brand with one of these markes ? what action of state can be so ordred , that either blind ignorance or set mallice wil not easely straine to one of these heads ? euery execution of iustice , euery demand of tribute or supply shall be claimed tyrannie : euery infortunate euent shall be exclaimed insufficiencie : euery kind of religion shall by them of another sect , be proclaimed impietie . so dangerous it is to permit this high power to a heedlesse and headlesse multitude , who measure things , not by reason and iustice , but either by opinion , which commonly is partiall ; or else by report , which vsually is full of vncertainties and errors : the most part doing because others doe ; all easie to become slauish to any mans ambitious attempt . so dangerous it is to open our eares to euery foolish phaetō , who vndertaking to guid the chariot of the sun will soone cast the whole earth into combustion . you proceede that king henry the sixth was also deposed for defectes in gouernment . let vs yeeld a little to you , that you may bee deceiued ; a little that you may be carried by your affections ; how can you excuse these open vntruthes , wherein it cannot bee but the diuell hath a finger ? you cannot bee ignorant , that the onely cause which drevv the familie of yorke into armes against king henry , vvas the title which they had vnto the crowne : by vertue whereof , it vvas first enacted , that richard duke of yorke should succeed king henry , after his death : but for that hee made vnseasonable attempts , he was declared by parlament incapable of succession , and afterwards slaine at the battaile of wakefield . then edward his sonne , prosecuting the enterprise , & hauing vanquished king henry at the battaile of s. albons , obtained possession of the state , caused king henrye to be deposed , and himselfe to be proclaimed & crowned king . afterward he vvas chased out of the realme , and by act of parlament both depriued and disabled from the crowne . lastly he returned againe , and depriued king henrye both from gouernment & from life . it is true , that some defects vvere obiected against king henry ; but this was to estrāge the harts of the peple frō him . the main cause of the war did proceed , frō the right of the one partie , & possessiō of the other : the contrarietie of the acts of parlament vvas caused , by the alternatiue victories of them both . your last example is of king richard the third , of vvhom you vvright ; first , that although he sinned in murthering his nephewes , yet after their death hee vvas lawfull king : secondly , that he was deposed by the common wealth , who called out of france henry earle of richmond , to put him downe , philosophers say that dreames doe commonly arise , by a reflection of the phantasie vpon some subiect , wherof we haue meditated the daie before . it may be y● your drowsie conceit vvas here cast into a dreame , of that vvheron it had dozed in all this chapter : or at the best , that you are like vnto those , vvho haue so often tould a lie , that they perswade themselues it is true . king edward the fourth left other children besides those that were murthered ; the duke of clarence also , vvho vvas elder brother to king richard , lest issue in life ; all vvhich had precedence of right before him . and as for the second point , tell mee i pray you , by vvhat parlament vvas king richard deposed ? vvher did the states assemble ? vvhen did they send for the earle of richmond to put him down ? by what decree ? by vvhat messengers ? ther is no answer to be made , but one ; and that is , to confesse ingenuously , that you say vntrue ; & that it is your vsuall manner of deceiuing , to impute the act of a few vnto all ; & to make euerie euent of armes , to be a iudicial proceeding of the common wealth . for it is manifest , that the earle of richmond had his first strēgth from the king of france ; & that after his discent into england , more by halfe , both of the nobilitie & common people did stand for king richard , then stirre against him . you adioyne for a speciall consideration , that most excellent princes succeeded these vvhom you affirme to be deposed . i vvill nor extenuate the excellencie of any prince ; but i hould it more vvorthie to be considered , that these disorders spent england a sea of bloud . in the ende you conclude , that all these depriuations of princes vvere lawfull . nay ; by your fauour ; if you sweat out your braines , you shall neuer euince , that a fact is lawfull beecause it is done . yes ( you say ) for othervvise two great inconueniences vvould follow ; one , that the actes of those that vvere put in their place , should be voide and vniust : the other , that none vvho now pretend to these crownes , could haue any tytle , ●or that they descend from them , vvho succeeded those that were depriued . you deserue now to be basted with words vvell stiped in vineger and salt : but i will be more charitable vnto you , and leaue bad speaches to black mouthes . for the first , the possession of the crowne purgeth all defects , and maketh good the actes of him that is in authoritie , although he vvanteth both capacitie and right . and this doth vlpian expressely determine t vpon respect ( as he saith ) to the common good . for the other point , the successors of an vsurper , by course and compasse of time , may prescribe a right ; if they vvho haue receiued wrong , discontinue both pursuit and claime . p●normitane saith : u successor in dignitate potest praescribere , non abstante vitio sui praedecessor is : a successor in dignitie may prescribe , notwithstāding the fault of his predecessor : otherwise , causes of vvar should be immortall , and titles perpetually remaine vncertaine . now then for summarie collection of all that you haue saide ▪ your protestations are good ; your proofes light and loose ; your conclusions both dangerous & false . the first doth sauour of god ; the second of man ; the third of the diuell . to the fourth chapter which beareth tytle . wherein consisteth principally the lawfulnesse of proceeding against princes , which in the former chapter is mencioned , what interest princes haue in their subiects goods or liues ; how oathes doe binde or may bee broken , of subiects towards their princes ; and finally the difference betweene a good king and a tyrant . heere you cloase with billaye vpon two points ; first , vvhether a king is subiect to any law ; secondly , whether all temporalities are in proprietie the kings : but because these questions doe little perteine to our principall controuersie , i vvill not make any stay vpon them ; it suffiseth that vve may say vvith seneca a omnia rex imperio possidet , singuli domino : the king hath empire , euery man his particular proprietie in all things . after this , you proceede further to make good , that the princes before mencioned vvere lawfully deposed ; and that by all law ; both diuine and humane , naturall , nationall and positiue . your cause is so badd , that you haue need to set a bould countenance vpon it . but what deuine lawes doe you alleage ? you haue largely beefore declared ( you saye ) that god doth approoue the forme of gouernmēt vvhich euery common wealth doth choose , as also the conditions and statutes which it doth appoint vnto her prince . i must now take you for a naturall lyer , when you wil not forbeare to bely your selfe : you neuer proued any such matter ; & the contrary is euident , that sometimes entire gouernments ; often , customes & statutes of state ; & very commonly accidentall actiōs , are so vnnaturall & vniust , that ( otherwise then for a punishment and curse ) wee cannot say that god doth approue thē . we haue often heard that the church cannot erre in matters of faith ; but that in matter of gouerment a cōmon wealth cannot erre , it was neuer ( i assure my selfe ) published before . but let vs suppose ( supposall is free ) that god alloweth that forme of gouernment which euery common wealth doth choose : doth it therfore follow that by all deuine lawes princes may be deposed by their subiects ? these broken peeces will neuer bee squared to forme strong argument . but wherefore doe not you produce the deuine canons of scripture ? surely , they abhorre to speake one word in your behalfe : yea , they doe giue expresse sentence against you , as i haue shewed before . well let this passe among your least escapes , in making god either the author or aider of rebelliō : you alledge no other humane law , but that princes are subiect vnto law and order . i vvill not denie but ther is a duty for princes to performe : but how proue you that their subiects haue power to depose them if they faile ? in this manner . as the common vvealth gaue them their authoritie for the common good , so it may also take the same away , if they abbuse it . but i haue manifested before c , both that the people may so graunt away their authoritie that they cannot resume●t ; & also that few princes in y● world hold their state by graunt of the people . i will neuer heereafter esteeme a mans valure by his voice : your braue boast of all lawes , diuine , humane , naturall , nationall and positiue , is disolued into smoake : you busie your selfe as the poets wright of morpheus , in presenting shadowes to men a sleepe . but the chiefest reason ( you say ) the very ground and foundation of all . soft : what reason ? what ground ? if you haue alreadie made proofe by all lawes , humane and deuine , naturall , nationall and positiue , what better reason ? what surer ground will you bring ? tush : these interruptions . the chiefest reason ( you say ) the very ground and foundation of all is , that the common wealth is superiour to the prince ; and that the authoritie which the prince hath , is not absolute , but by the way of mandate and commission from the common wealth . this is that which i expected all this time : you haue hetherto approached by stealing steps , you are now come cloase to the wall , do but mount into credit and the fort is your owne . you affirmed at the first , that princes might be deposed for disabilitie ; then , for misgouernmen● ; now , vpon pleasure and at will. for they who haue giuen authoritie by cōmission , doe alwaies retaine more then they graunt ; d & are not excluded either frō commanding or iudging , by way of preuention , concurrence , or evocation ; euen in those cases which they haue giuen in charge e : the reason is declared by vlpian f . because hee to whom iurisdiction is committed representeth his person who gaue commission , and not his owne . herevpon alexander g , panormitane h , innocentius , and felinus i doe affirme , that they may cast their commissioners out of power when they please , because as paulus saith k ; a man can iudge no longer , when he forbiddeth who gaue authoritie . further , all states take denomination from that part wherin the supreme power is setled ; as if it bee in one prince , it is called a monarchie ; if in many of highest ranck , then it is an aristocracie ; if in the people , then a democracie . whervpon it followeth ; if the people are superiour to the prince , if the prince hath no power but by commission from them , that then all estates are populare : for we are not so much to respect who doth execute this high power of state , as from whō immediately it is deriued . hereto let vs ad that which you haue said in another place l ; that in populare gouernments there is nothing but sedition , trouble , tumults , outragies & iniustices vpon euery light occasiō ; & thē we shall perceiue ; first , that you want the art of a wise deceiuer , not to be entangled in your tale ; secondly , that this is meere poison , which the diuell hath dropt out of your pen , to infect christian coūtries with disobedience & disorder . in a word , to the contrary of this your impudent vntruth , our laws do acknowledge supreme authority in the prince within the realme & dominions of england m , neither can subiects beare thēselues either superior or equall to their soueraigne ; or attempt violence either against his persō or estate , but as well the ciuill law n , as the particulare lawes & customes of all countries do adiudge it high & hainous treasō . i will speake now without passion ; what reason haue we , to accept your idle talk for a kind of authority , against the iudgement & lawes of most nations in the world ? you proceede that the power of a prince is giuen to him by the common wealth , with such conditions & exceptions , as if the same be not kept , the people stand free . that the prince receiueth his power vnder plain conditiōs , you go about to proue afterward : now you hold on , that in all mutual contracts , if one side recede from promise , the other remaineth not obliged ▪ & this you proue by two rules of the law . the first is o ; he doth in vaine require promise to be kept of another man , to whom he refuseth to performe that which he promised : the other is p a man is not bound to performe his oath , if on the other part , that be not performed , in respect whereof he did sweare . poore fellow , had you ben as conuersant in the light of law , and cleere course of iustice , as you are in the smoake & dust of some corner of a colledge , you wold neuer haue concluded so generally so confidētly vpō any of the rules of law , which are subiect , for the most part , vnto many exceptions . alexander q & felinus r doe assigne fiue fallencies vnto these rules : socinus s giueth the cootrarie rule : to him that breaketh his faith or oath , faith ought to bee kept ; & thē restraineth it with seauē limitations . but all affirme , that in those offices which are mutuall between any persōs , by the law of nature or of god ; as between the father & the child , the husband & the wife , the master & the seruant , the prince and the subiect ; although the same be further assured by promise or by oath , the breach of duty in the one , is no discharge vnto the other . and therfore if the father performeth not his duty towards his children , they are not thereby acquitted both of the obedience & care , which god & nature exacteth of them ; howsoeuer solon in his lawes discharged children from nourishing their parents , if they did not traine them in some trade , wherby they might acquire their liuing . much lesse are subiects exempted from obedience , if the prince either erre or be defectiue in gouernment : because the like respect is not due vnto parents as vnto princes ( as i haue somewhat touched before ) insomuch as a sonne that beareth authoritie , hath right both to commaūd and compell the father . t this was declared among the romanes , by that which plutarch u , liuie x , valerius y , and gellius a , doe report of q. fabius : to whome , being consull , when fabius maximus his father , who had bene consull the yeare before , did approch sitting vpon his horse , the sonne commanded him by a sergeant to allight : the father not onely obeyed , but highly commended both the courage and iudgement of his sonne , in maintaining the maiestie which he did beare , and in preferring a publicke both dutie and authoritie beefore priuate . vpon those examples paulus the lawier did wright , z that publick discipline was in higher estimation among the romane parents , then the loue of children . after an impertinēt discourse , that vpon diuers cōsiderations an oath ought not to be performed ; you annex another cause wherefore subiects may withdraw their alleageāce ; & that is , when it should turne to the notable dammage of the common wealth and both these you affirme to be touched , in the depriuation of childeric king of france . but i regard not what was touched in the depriuation of childeric ; i haue answered to that in the chapter next before ; i require either arguments or authoritie of more tough temper . well then let vs turne back the leafe , and there we shall finde a rule of the law ( because by rules onely you will beat down rule ) a in euill promises it is not expedient to keepe faith : which is also confirmed by a sentence of isidorus : b in euill promises , break your word ; in a dishonest oath change your purpose . well fare your vvits , good soule ; doe you accompt the promise of obedience euill ? not so ( i suppose you will say ) but it turneth to be euill vvhen it turneth to the notable detrimēt of the commō wealth . it is one of your peculiar guifts , the further you goe , the more impious you declare your selfe . for if you take the word euill in noe higher sence then for detriment and damage , it would follow vpon your rule , that a man vvere no further tyed to his promise , then the performance thereof were aduantageable vnto him . you vvould inforce also , that if the father doth dissipate his patrimoniall estate , and runne a course to ruine his familie , the children and the wife may thervpon disauow their duties . but if vvee take a true touch of this point , we shall finde , that the vices of any prince are not sufficient of themselues to ouerthrow a state , except therevpon rebellions be raised , vvhich vvill draw all things into confusion . for there is no prince , vvhich either hath liued , or can almost be imagined to liue , in so little sence of humanitie , but generally he both fauoureth and maintaineth some order of iustice ; onely against particuler persons , some of them haue violently bene carried by the tempest of their passion , vvhereby notwithstanding the inordinate desires of one man , can not possibly reach to the ruine of all . so saith suetonius , c that vnder domitian the prouinces vvere vvell gouerned , onely certaine priuate men at rome , felt the euill of his crueltie and other vices . but vvhen the people doe breake into tumult , then all course of iustice is stopped ; then is either assistance made , or resistance vveakned for forren inuasion ; then is euery one raysed into hope vvho cannot flye but vvith other mennes feathers ; then , as vvhen a fierce horse hath cast his rider , the reines are loosed to those insolencies , vvhich a dissolute people , nothing restrained either by honestie or feare doe vsually commit . for as it is the nature of men , vvhen they come out of one extremitie vvherin they haue bene houlden by force , to runne vvith a swift course into another , vvithout staying in the middest ; so the people breaking out of tyrannie , if they bee not helde back , vvill runne headlong into vnbrideled libertie ; and the harder they vvere kept vnder beefore , the more insolently vvill they then insult . i obserue that saint paul alleageth two reasons vvherefore vve should be obedient euen to vvicked and cruell princes : one is for conscience sake , beecause they are the ministers of god d , and in their royaltie doe beare his image : another , for the safetie , and tranquillitie of our selues ; that wee may lead vnder them a quiet and peaceable lyfe e . wherevpon the prophet ieremiah also exhorted the iewes , to ●eeke the peace of the cittie vvhether they should be transported , because in the peace therof their quiet should consist : for by obedience , a few particulars remaine in daunger ; by rebellion , all ; by obedience , vve can be vnder the tyrannie but of one ; by rebellion , vve are exposed to the rapine and crueltie of many ; by the one nothing , by the other all things are permitted . vpon this ground saint augustine saide ; g it is a generall couenant of humane societie to obey kings ; and likewise saint ambrose h it is a great and speciall point of doctrine whereby christians are taught to be subiect vnto higher powers . three vvaies a cruell prince may vvork violence against his subiects ; vpon their goods ; vpon their persons ; and vpon their consciences , by commaunding them to commit that which is euil . of the first , saint ambrose saith : i if the emperour demaundeth tribute , wee doe not deny him ; if he desireth fieldes , let him take them if he please : i doe not giue them to the emperour ; but therewith also i doe not deny them . of the second , tertullian vvrighteth k as i haue alleaged him before : for vvhat vvar are vvee vnseruiceable or vnfit , although vnequall in number , vvho doe so vvillingly suffer death : yea , he vvas so farre from iudgeing it lawfull to resist , that he thought it scarce allowable to flye . in the third case , not your rule of law , but the rule of the apostles taketh place , it is better to obey god then man : l vvhereby the subiect is not bound to yeeld obedience . but how ? hee is not bound to obey by doeing , but by suffering hee is : he is not bound to obey in doing that onely vvhich is euill ; but he is not thereby freed from doing any other thing which is lawfully commanded . s. augustine saith m : iulian was an infidell emperour , an apostata ; an idolater ; christian soldiers did serue this infidell emperour ; when hee would haue them worship idols , and offer frankencense vnto them , th●y preferred god before him : but when hee saide ; bring foorth the armie , march against such a nation ; they did presently obey . all this seemeth to bee confirmed by god himselfe , who after hee had forevvarned the people of israell by the mouth of samuell , what heauie , what open iniustice they should endure vnder some of their kings , hee concludeth in these words : and yee shall cry out in that day because of your king , and the lord will not heare you . as if hee had said : you shall grudge at this burthen , you shall grone vnder it ; but you shall not haue power , either to shrinke from it , or to shake it off . surely , if you had been aduised , you would priuily haue blowen your blasphemies into the eares of those ideots , who adore you for the great penitentiaries of the sea of rome , & esteeme your idle imaginations as the articles of their faith : & not so publikely haue poured forth your self into these paradoxes , both impious & absurd ; not so boisterously haue stepped , like hercules furens , vpon the opē stage of the world , to denoūce depriuation against all princes . you would not thus confidently haue opposed your hot headed assertiō against al the ancient fathers of the church . you would not thus ignorantly haue troubled the waters of true humane wisdom , by corrupting the sence of the ciuell laws : you would not thus profanely haue abused the scriptures in maintaining rebellion , as coniurers doe in inuocating the diuell . for first , you are thereby discouered to be , neither religious , modest , nor wise : secondly , you haue runne your selfe into the compasse of a canon , in the councell of chalcedon . q wherein it is thus decreed against you : if clerkes shall be found to be contriuers of conspiracies , or raisers of factions , let them be degraded . after this you declare , who is a tyrant ; and that is a king , ( you say ) if once he doth decline from his dutie : which is a large description , and fit to set all christian countries on floate with bloud . comines saith , that he is to be esteemed a good king , whose vertues are not ouerballanced by vice . i omit your thicke error in putting no difference betweene a magistrate and a king , with many other of like qualitie , and do come now to a principall point of your strength : that christian princes at this day are admitted vpon conditions , and likewise with protestations , that if they do not performe the same , their subiects are free from all alleageance . this you will prooue by the particular oathes of all princes , if the ouerrunning of your tongue may haue the ful course without encounter . to the fifth chapter , which is entitled : of the coronation of princes , and maner of admitting to their authoritie , and the oathes which they do make in the same vnto the common wealth , for their good gouernment . first i will preface ; that no prince is soueraigne , who acknowledgeth himselfe either subiect or accomptable to any but to god ; euen as marcus aurelius said : that magistrates were iudges of priuate men , and the prince of magistrates , and god of the prince . in regard of this immediate subiection , princes are most especially obliged to the lawes of god and of nature : for r baldus , s alexander , t speculator , u all interpreters , w the lawe it selfe , do affirme , that princes are more strictly bound to these lawes , * then any of their subiectes . whereof x dionysius the tyrant had some sence , when he sayd vnto his mother : that he was able to dispence with the lawes of syracusa , but against the lawes of nature he had no power . if therefore a prince doth professe , that he will beare himselfe regardfull o● the accomplishment of these lawes , he doth not condition or restraine himselfe , but maketh an honorable promise of indeuour , to discharge his dutie ; being tyed thereby to no s●anter scope then he was before . the reason hereof is : y quia expressio eius quod tacitè inest , nihil operatur : the expressing of that which is secretly vnderstood , worketh nothing . againe , when the promise is not annexed to the authoritie , but voluntarily and freely made by the prince , his estate is not thereby made conditionall . for the interpreters of the ciuill lawe do consent in this rule : z pacta conuenta quae contractibus non insunt , non formant actionem : couenants which are not inherent in contracts , do not forme an action . * and therefore although by all lawes , both of conscience and state , a prince is bound to performe his promise ; because ( as the maister of sentences saith ) god himself will stand obliged to his word : yet is not the authoritie , but the person of the prince hereby affected ; the person is both tyed and touched in honour , the authoritie ceasseth not , if performances do faile . of this sort was that which you report of traian , who in deliuering the sword to his gouernors , would say : if i raigne iustly , then vse it for me ; if otherwise , then vse it against me : but where you adde , that these are the very same words in effect , which princes do vse at their coronations , ( pardon me , for it is fit i should be mooued ) you will find it to bee a very base 〈◊〉 lye . of this nature was that also which the same traian did , ( to encourage his subiects to do the like ) in taking an oath to obserue the lawes : which pliny the younger did account so strange , as the like before had not bene seene . but afterward , theodoric did follow that fact ; whereupon cassiodorus saith : ecce , traiani nostri clarum seculis reparamus exemplum ; iurat vobis per quem iuratis : we repaire the famous example of traian ; he sweareth to you by whome you sweare . so when king henry the fifth was accepted for successour to the crowne of fraunce , he made promise , to maintaine the parliament in the liberties thereof . and likewise diuers princes do giue their faith , to mainetaine the priuiledges of the church , and not to change the lawes of the realme : which oath is interpreted by * baldus , a panormitane , and b alexander , to extend no further then when the lawes shall be both profitable and iust : because iustice and the common benefit of subiects , is the principal point , both of the oath and dutie of a prince , whereto all other clauses must be referred . and now to your examples . first , because in all the ranke of the hebrew kings , you cannot find either condition or oath ; not : in the auncient empires and kingdomes of the world ; not vsually in the ●lourishing time of the romaine state , both vnder heathen and christian emperors ; because these times are too pure for your purpose , you fumble foorth a dull coniecture : that forsomuch as the first kings were elected by the people , it is like that they did it vpon conditions and assurances for themselues . that the first kings receiued not their authoritie from the people , i haue manifested before c : and yet your inference hereupon is no other , then if you should sue in some court for a legacie , alleadging nothing for your intent , but that it is like the testator shold leaue you something ; in which case it is like ( i suppose ) that your plea wold be answered with a silent scorne . after a few loose speeches , which no man would stoupe to gather together , you bring in the example of anastasius the first emperour of constantinople ; of whom the patriarch euphemius required before his coronation , a confessiō of the faith in writing , wherin he should promise to innouate nothing . and further , he promised to take away certaine oppressions , and to giue offices without mony . let vs take things as they are , and not speake vpon idle imagination , but agreeable to sence : what either condition or restraint do you find in these words ? condition they do not forme , because in case of failance they do not make the authoritie void : neither do they make restraint , because they containe no point , whereunto the lawe of god did not restraine him . all this he was bound to performe without an oath ; and if he were a thousand times sworne , he was no more but bound to perform it : euē as if a father should giue his word to cloath and feede his child ; or the husband to loue his wife ; or any man to discharge that dutie , which god and nature doth require . it is true , that anastasius was both a wicked man , and iustly punished by god for the breach of his faith ; but his subiects did neuer challenge to be free therefore from their alleageance . the same aunswere may be giuen to the promise , which michael the first gaue to nicephorus the patriarch : that he would not violate the ordinances of the church , nor embrue his hands with innocent bloud ; especially if you take the word ordinances for matters necessarie to be beleeued : but if you take it in a larger sence , then haue i also declared in the beginning of this chapter , how farre the promise doth extend . your next example is of the empire of almaine ; from whence all that you obiect , doth fall within this circle . after the death of charles the great , the empire was held by right of succession , vntill his line was determined in conrade the first . after whose death it became came electiue : first in henry duke of saxony , then in otho his son ; and afterwards in the rest : from whom notwithstanding no other promise was wrested , but the discharge of that dutie , which they were enformed , or rather threatned , that god wold seuerely exact at their hands . but ( as in all electiue states it vsually hapneth ) at euery new change and choise , the emperor was deplumed of some of his feathers , vntill in the end he was made naked of authoritie , the princes hauing drawne all power to themselues . so by degrees the empire was changed from a monarchie to a pure aristocracie ; the emperour bearing the title thereof , but the maiestie and puissance remaining in the states . during which weaknesse of the emperour , some points were added to his oath , which seemed to derogate from the soueraigntie of his estate . but what is this to those princes , who haue retained their dignitie , without any diminution , either of authoritie , or of honour . the like may be said of polonia , which not many hundred yeares since was erected into a kingdome : and although the states did challenge therein a right of election , yet did it alwaies passe according to propinquitie of bloud , and was esteemed a soueraigne monarchie ; vntill after the death of casimire the great , when lodonicus his nephew king of hungarie , rather greedie then desirous to be king also of polonia , did much abase the maiestie thereof . yet falling a●terward into the line of iagello , who maried one of the daughters of lodowicke , it recouered the auncient both dignitie and strength . but when that line also failed in sigismond augustus , the last male of that familie , the states elected henry duke of anjowe for their king , with this clause irritant ; that if hee did violate any point of his oath , the people should owe him no alleageance . but whereas you report this as the vsuall oath of the kinges of polonia , you deserue to heare the plainest tearme of vntruth . in the kingdome of spaine you distinguish two times : one , before the conquest thereof by the moores ; the other , after it was recouered againe by the christians . i acknowledge a difference in these two times ; for that in the one , the right of the kingdome was electiue ; in the other , it hath alwaies remained successiue : insomuch as d peter belluga , a diligent writer of the rights of arragon , doth affirme , that the people haue no power in election of the king , * except in case the line should faile . concerning the matter in controuersie , you affirme , that the kings did sweare the same points in effect , which before haue bene mentioned . this wee must take vpon your forfeited faith , for you alleadge no forme of oath ; onely you write , that the fourth nationall councell of c toledo , with all humilitie conuenient did require , that the present king , and all other that should follow , would be meeke and moderate towardes their subiects , and gouerne them with iustice , and not giue sentence in causes capitall without assistance : declaring further , that if any of them should exercise cruell and proude authoritie , 〈◊〉 they were condemned by christ , with the sentence of excommunication , and separated to euerlasting iudgement . but what pang hath possessed your dreaming braines , to tearme this by a marginall note , conditions of raigning in spaine ? being no other then a reuerent and graue admonition of the dutie of a king , with a feareful declaration of the iudgment of god against wicked princes . and that which was afterward decreed in the sixt councell of toledo : that the king should sweare , not to suffer any man to breake the catholike faith , because it is a principall point of his dutie , his estate was not thereby made conditionall . the rest of this passage you fill vppe with froath of the antiquated lawe of don pelayo , prescribing a forme of inaugurating the kinges of spaine ; whereof there is not one point , either now in vse , or pertaining to the purpose . so miserable is your case , that you can write nothing therein , but that which is either impertinent or vntrue . for fraunce , your first example is taken from the coronation of philip the first : wherein you note , that king henrie his father requested the people to sweare obedience to his sonne ; inferring thereby , that a coronation requireth a new consent , which includeth a certaine election of the subiects . but this is so light , that the least breath is sufficient to disperse it . philip was crowned king during the life of his father : which action , as it was not ordinarie , so was it of such both difficultie and weight , that it could not be effected without assemblie and consent of the states . the oath which he made , is in this forme extant in the librarie of rheimes : i do promise before god and his saints , that i will conserue to euery one committed vnto me canonicall priuiledge , & due law & iustice , and wil defend thē , by the helpe of god , so much as shall lye in my power , as a king by right ought to do within his realme , to euery bishop , and to the church cōmitted to him : and further , to the people cōmitted to my charge , i wil grant by my authority the dispensatiō of laws according to right . ad to this a more anciēt form of the oth of those kings , which it seemeth you haue not seene : i sweare in the name of god almighty , & promise , to gouerne well & duly the subiects cōmitted to my charge , & to do with all my power , iudgement , iustice and mercy . ad also the oath which you alleage of philip the 2. surnamed augustus : to maintaine all canonicall priuileges , law & iustice due to euery mā , to the vttermost of his power ; to defēd his subiects as a good king is bound to do ; to procure that they be kept in the vniō of the church ; to defend thē frō al excesse , rapine , extortion & iniquity ; to take order that iustice be kept with equity & mercy ; & to endeuor to expell heretiks . what doth all this rise vnto , but a princely promise to discharge honorably and truly those points of duty , which the laws of god did lay vpō thē ? what other cōditions or restraints are imposed ? what other cōtract is hereby made ? where are the protestations which in the end of the last chap. you promised to shew , that if the prince do faile in his promise , the subiects are free frō their allegeāce ? what clause do you find sounding to that sense ? but you litle regard any thing that you say ; you easily remēber to forget your word . wel thē , we must put these your vaine speeches into the reckning of mony accōpted , but not receiued : and seeing you cannot shew vs , that the kings of france and of spaine are tied to any condition , whereto the law of god doth not bind thē , i will not vary frō the iudgemēt of ordradus f in affirming thē to be absolute kings . i haue pressed this point the rather in this place , because you write , that most neighbour nations haue takē the forme of annointing & crowning their kings , from the anciēt custome of france ; although the substāce be deduced from the first kings of the hebrews , as appeareth by the annointing of king saule : whereof dauid ( you say ) made great accompt , notwithstanding that saule had bene reiected by god , and that himselfe had lawfully borne armes against him . out atheist ; you would be dawbed with dung , & haue the most vile filth of your stewes cast in your face . did dauid beare armes against his annointed king ? did he euer lift vp his eye-lids against him ? did he euer so much as defend himselfe otherwise then by flight ? it is certaine that shemei did not halfe so cruelly either curse or reuile this holy man , who did so much both by speech and action detest this fact , that he would rather haue endured ten thousand deaths , then to haue defiled his soule with so damnable a thought . what then shall we say vnto you , who to set vp sedition and tumult , abuse all diuine & humane wrightings , in whatsoeuer you beleeue will aduance your purpose ? who spend some speech of respect vnto kings for allurement onely , to draw vs more deepe into your deceit ? shall we giue any further eare to your doctrine , both blasphemous and bloudy ? we will heare you to the end ; and i deceiue my selfe , but your owne tale shall , in any moderate iudgement , condemne the authoritie of your opinions for euer . let vs come then to your last example ( which is neither the last nor the least whereat you leuell . ) and that is of england , which of all other kingdomes ( you say ) hath most particularly taken this ceremony of sacring and annointing from france . well , let the ceremonie be taken from whence you please : if the oath be no other then you do specifie , to obserue peace , honour and reuerence , vnto almighty god , to his church and to the ministers of the same , to administer law and iustice equally to all ; to abrogate euill lawes and customes , and maintaine good ( which was the oath of king richard the first ; the like whereto was that of king iohn , altered only in the first branch : to loue and defend the catholicke church : ) if the oath be no other i say , i do not see what other answer you need to expect , but that it is onely a free royall promise , to discharge that duty which god doth impose . and this is plainely declared by the speech which you alleage , of thomas arundell archbishop of canterbury , to king henry the fourth ; remember ( saith he ) the oath which voluntarily you made : voluntarily he sayd , and not necessarily : it was voluntary in oath , but necessary in duty . that which you report also that thomas becket did write vnto king henry the second , importeth nothing else but an acknowledgement of duty : remember ( said he ) the confession which you made . i cannot omit your description of the manner of the coronation in england . first ( you say ) the king i● sworne ; then the archbishop declareth to the people what he hath sworne , and demaundeth if they be content to submit themselues vnto him vnder those conditions : whereunto they consenting , he putteth on the royall ornaments ; and then addeth the words of commission : stand and hold thy place , and keepe thy oath . and thus you haue hammered out a formall election , supposing that you draw together the peeces of falshood so close , that no man can perceiue the seame . the truth is , that king henry the fourth being not the nearest in bloud to the inheritance of the crowne , did countenance his violence with the election of the people ; not at his coronation , but in a parliament that was holden before . and therefore you do impudently abuse vs ; first , in ioyning them together as one act ; secondly , by falsifying diuerse points in both ; lastly , by insinuating that the same order was obserued by other kings . the points which you falsifie are these : the interrogation of the archbishop to the people : the absurd straining of these words , stand , hold thy place , to be a commission : the alleaging also out of stow , 1. that the archbishop did reade vnto the people , what the king was bound vnto by oath ; 2. that the earle of northumberland did shew a ring vnto the people , that they might thereby see the band whereby the king was bound vnto them ; 3. that the king did pray , that he might obserue his promise . in which composition of conceits , you shew how actiue you are in counterfaiting any thing , that may make to your purpose ; perswading your selfe , that it is no fraud vnto god , to deceiue the world in a lye for aduantage . king edward the fourth also ( because his right was litigious , & another was in possession of the crowne ) strengthened , or rather countenanced his title with the approbation of the people . but where you write , that at the coronation of king edward the sixth , queene mary , and queene elizabeth , the consent and acceptation of the people was demanded : first , we haue no cause to credite any thing that you say ; then , although it be true , yet not being done in parliament , it addeth no right vnto the prince ; but is only a formality , a circumstance only of ceremony and order . hereupon you conclude , that a king hath his authority , by agreement and contract betweene him & the people : insinuating thereby that he looseth the same , if he either violate or neglect his word . the contrary opinion , that only succession of bloud maketh a king , & that the cōsent of the people is nothing necessary , you affirme to be absurd , base and impious , an vnlearned , fond and wicked assertion ; in flattery of princes , to the manifest ruine of common-wealths , and peruerting of all law , order and reason . i did alwayes foresee that your impostumed stomacke would belch forth some loathsome matter . but whosoeuer shall compare this confident conclusion with the proofes that you haue made , he will rather iudge you mad then vnwise . this bold blast , vpon grounds that are both foolish and false , bewrayeth rather want then weaknesse of wits . i am ashamed i should offer any further speech in so euident a truth : but since i haue vndertaken to combate an herisie , since the matter is of so great consequence & import , i purpose once againe to giue you a gorge . learne then , heauy-headed cloisterer , vnable to mannage these mysteries of state : learne of me , i say ; for i owe this duty to all christians : the prophets , the apostles , christ himselfe hath taught vs , to be obedient to princes , though both tyrants and infidels . this ought to stand with vs for a thousand reasons to submit our selues to such kings , as it pleaseth god to send vnto vs ; without either iudging or examining their qualities . their hearts are in gods hand ; they do his seruice , sometimes in preseruing , sometimes in punishing vs : they execute his iudgement both wayes , in the same measure which he doth prescribe . if they abuse any part of their power , we do not excuse , we do not extenuate it ; we do not exempt them from their punishment : let them looke vnto it , let them assuredly expect , that god will dart his vengeance against thē with a most stiffe and dreadfull arme . in the meane season , we must not oppose our selues , otherwise then by humble sutes and prayers : acknowledging , that those euils are alwayes iust for vs to suffer , which are many times vniust for them to do . if we do otherwise ; if we breake into tumult and disorder , we resemble those giants of whom the poets write ; who making offer to scale the skies , and to pul iupiter out of his throne , were ouerwhelmed in a moment with the mountaines which they had heaped together . beleeue it , cloisterer ; or aske any man who is both honest and wise , and he will tell you : it is a rule in reason , a triall in experience , an authority confirmed by the best , that rebellion produceth more horrible effects , then either the tyranny or insufficiency of any prince . to the sixth chapter , whereof the title is : what is due to onely succession by birth ; and what interest or right an heire apparant hath to the crowne , before he is crowned or admitted by the commonwealth ; and how iustly he may be put backe , if he hath not the partes requisite . yov begin ( after your manner ) with a carreir against billay ; but because both i haue not seene what he hath written , and dare not credite what you report , i will not set in foote betweene you . in breaking from this , you preferre succession of princes before free election , as well for other respects , as for the preeminence of auncetrie in birth , which is so much priuiledged in the scripture : and yet not made so inuiolable ( you say ) but vpon iust causes it might be inuerted ; as it appeareth by the examples of iacob , iuda and salomon . and this libertie you hold to be the principall remedie for such inconueniences as do ensue of the course of succession ; as if the next in birth be vnable or pernicious to gouerne : in which cases , if he be not capable of directions and counsels , you affirme that the remedie is to remoue him . and so you make succession and election , the one to be a preseruatiue to the other ; supposing , that the difficulculties of both are taken away : first , if ordinarily succession taketh place ; then , if vpon occasion we giue allowance to election . for the prerogatiue of birth , as also for the speciall choice which god hath often made of the yongest , i will remit my selfe to that which i haue written before g . at once : in those particular actions which god hath either done , or by expresse oracle commaunded , contrarie to the generall lawes which he hath giuen vs ; as in the robberie of the aegyptians , the extirpation of the amalekites , the insurrection of iehu , and such like ; we are bound to the law , and not to the example . god hath giuen vs a naturall law , to preferre the first borne ; he hath often made choice of the yongest , because he commonly worketh greatest effects , by meanes not onely weake , but extraordinary ; as it appeareth by the birth of isaak . but that these speciall elections of god are not proposed for imitation to vs , hereby it is euident ; because they haue bene for the most part , without defect in the one , or demerite in the other . and especially in this example of iacob and esau ; saint paule sayth h that it was not grounded vpon their workes , but vppon the will and pleasure of god ; for before they had done good or euill , before they were borne , god sayd : i the eldest shall serue the youngest . which if we might imitate , the priuiledge of birth were giuen in vaine . for your deuice in ioyning election to succession , whereby one of them should remedie the difficulties of the other , it is a meere vtopicall conceipt : what else shall i tearme it ? an imposture of state , a dreame , an illusion , fit only to surprise the iudgement of the weake and ignorant multitude . these toyes are alwaies hatched by the discoursiue sort of men , rather then the actiue ; being matters more in imagination then in vse : and herein two respects do principally oppose against you . the first is , for that in most nations of the world , the people haue lost all power of election ; and succession is firmely setled in one discent , as before i haue declared k the second is , for that more fierie factions are hereby kindled , then where succession or election are meere without mixture . for where one claimeth the crowne by succession , and another possesseth it by title of election ; there , not a disunion onely of the people , not a diuision in armes , but a cruel throat-cutting , a most immortall and mercilesse butcherie doth vsually ensue . it is somwhat inconuenient ( i grant ) to be gouerned by a prince either impotent or euill ; but it is a greater inconuenience , by making a breach into this high point of state , to open a way to all manner of ambitions , periuries , cruelties and spoile : whereto the nature of the common-people would giue a great furtherance , who being weake in wisedome , violent in will ; soone wearie of quiet , alwaies desirous of chaunge , and most especially in matters of state , are easily made seruiceable to any mans aspiring desires . this i haue manifested before l , by the examples of king edward and king richard , both surnamed the second : who were not insupportable either in nature or in rule ; & yet the people more vpon wantonnes then for any want , did take an vnbridled course against them . and thus is your high pollicie nothing else but a deepe deceipt ; thus whilest you striue with the wings of your wit to mount aboue the cloudes of other mens conceipt , you sinke into a sea of absurdities and errors . after this , you determine two questions ; the first is , what respect is to be attributed to propinquitie of bloud onely . whereto you answer , that it is the principall circumstance which leadeth vs to the next succession of the crowne , if other circumstances and conditions doe concurre , which were appointed at the same time , when the lawe of succession was established . assuredly you can neuer shewe either when , or by whome , this lawe of succession was first instituted , except perhappes by some nimrod , when hee had brought the necke of a people vnder his sword : at which time , what conditions hee would set downe to bee required from his successour , any ordinarie iudgement may coniecture at ease . well , since you set vs to seeke for proofe of this , to that which you haue written before , i will also send you backe to the same place m for your answer . the second question is , what interest a prince hath to his kingdome , before he be crowned . this you resolue by certaine comparisons ; and first you write , that it is the same which the germaine emperour hath before his coronation . but that is so large , that some emperours haue neuer bene crowned ; others haue deferred it for many yeares ; among which n crantzius writeth , that otho the first receiued the crowne of the empire , in the eight and twentieth yeare of his raigne . and yet is not this comparison full to the question propounded ; because in electiue states there is not held one perpetuall continuance of royaltie , as is in those that are successiue . and o panormitane saith , that an argument a similibus is not good , if any difference can bee assigned . much more vnfitly doe you affirme , that it is no greater then a maior of london hath in his office , before hee hath taken his oath : for it is odiously absurd , to compare the authoritie of an absolute prince by succession , to the authoritie of an officer , both electiue and also subiect . but it is the example of mariage ( you say ) whereby this matter is made more plaine : for as in this contract there is an espousall , by promise of a future act , and a perfect mariage by yeelding present consent ; the first is , when both parties doe mutually promise that they will ; the second , that they do take one the other for husband and wife : so an heire apparant , by propinquitie of bloud is espoused onely to the commonwealth , and maried afterward at his coronation , by oathes of either partie , and by putting on the ring , and other wedding garments . but how were kings maried in former ages ? how are they now maried in those countries , where they haue neither ring , nor wedding garment , nor also any oath ? what ? is euery office and degree which is taken with ceremonie , to be esteemed likewise a mariage ? or if you will haue coronation onely to bee a mariage , what else can it resemble , but the publike celebration of matrimonie betweene man and woman ? which addeth nothing to the substance of contract , but onely manifesteth it to the world . these pitifull proofes , naked of authoritie , emptie of sence , deserue rather to be excused then answered : i will helpe therefore in some sort to excuse them . they are the best that your starued both cause and conceipt can possibly affoord : and you haue also some fellowes in your folly . heliogabalus did solemnely ioyne the statues of the sunne and of the moone in mariage together . nero was maried to a man , and tooke also a man to his wife . the venetians doe yearely vpon ascention day , by a ring and other ceremonies , contract mariage with the sea . but now in earnest ; men do dye whensoeuer it pleaseth god to call them : but it is a maxime in the common law of england : rex nunquam moritur ; the king is alwaies actually in life . in fraunce also the same custome hath bene obserued ; and for more assurance it was expresly enacted vnder p charles the fifth : that after the death of any king , his eldest sonne should incontinently succeede . for which cause the parliamēt court of paris doth accompanie the funeral obsequies of those that haue bene their kings , not in mourning attire , but in scarlet ; the true ensigne of the neuer-dying maiestie of the crowne . in regard of this certaine and incontinent succession , the q glossographer vpon the decrees noteth : that the sonne of a king , may be called king during the life of his father , as wanting nothing but administration : wherein he is followed with great applause by r baldus , s panormitane , t iason , u carol. ruinus , w andreas iserna , martinus , card. alexander , x albericus , y fed. barbatius , z philip decius , & ant. corsetta , a fra. luca , b matthe , afflict . and the same also doth sernius note out of c virgil , where he saith of ascanius : regemque requirunt , his father aeneas being yet aliue . but so soone as the king departeth out of life , the royaltie is presently transferred to the next successor , according to the lawes and customes of our realme . all writs go foorth in his name ; all course of iustice is exercised , all offices are held by his authoritie ; all states , all persons , are bound to beare to him alleageance : not vnder supposall of approbation when hee shall be crowned , according to your dull and drowsie coniecture , but as being the true soueraigne king of the realme . he that knoweth not this , may ( in regard of the affaires of our state ) ioyne himself to s. anthony , in glorying in his ignorance , & professing that he knoweth nothing . queene mary raigned three mon●ths before she was crowned , in which space the duke of northumberland and others were condemned and executed for treason : for treason i say , which they had committed , before she was proclaimed queene . king edward the first was in palestina , when his father dyed ; in which his absence , the nobilitie and prelates of the realme assembled at london , and did acknowledge him for their king . in his returne homeward , he did homage to the french king , for the lands which he held of him in france . he also repressed certaine rebels of gascoine ; amongst whom , gasco of bierne , appealed to the court of the king of fraunce : where king edward had iudgement , that gasco had committed treason d ; and therupon he was deliuered to the pleasure of king edward . and this hapned before his coronation , which was a yeare and nine mon●ths after he began to raigne . king henry the sixth was crowned in the eighth yeare of his raigne ; and in the meane space , not onely his subiectes did both professe and beare alleageance , but the king of scottes also did sweare homage vnto him . what neede i giue any more either instance or argument , in that which is the cleare lawe , the vncontroulled custome of the realme ? against which notwithstanding your weather-beatē forehead doth not blush to oppose a blind opinion , that heires apparant are not true kings , although their titles be iust , and their predecessors dead . this you labour to prooue by a few drye coniectures , but especially and aboue all others ( you say ) because the realme is asked three times at euery coronation , whether they will haue such a man to be their king or no. first , wee haue good reason to require better proofe of this question then your bare word : secondly , although we admit it to be true , yet seeing the aunswer is not made by the estates of the realme assembled in parliament , but by a confused concurse ( necessarie officers excepted ) of all sorts both of age and sexe , it is for ceremonie only , & not of force , either to giue or to increase any right . another of your arguments is , for that the prince doth first sweare to gouerne well and iustly , before the subiects take their oath of alleageance ; which argueth , that before they were not bound . and further you affirme , that it happened onely to king henry the fifth , among his predecessors , to haue fealtie done vnto him , before hee was crowned , and had taken his oath . i confesse indeed , that polydore and st●w haue written so ; but you might easily haue found that they write not true ; the one of them being a meere straunger in our state ; the other a man more to be commended for indeuour then for art . king iohn being in normandie when his brother dyed , sent into england hubert archbishop of canterburie , vvilliam marshall earle of strigvile , and geoffrie fitzpeter lord chiefe ●ustice , who assembled the states of the realme at northhampton , and tooke of them an oath of obedience to the new king . also king c henry the third caused the citizens of london , the guardians of the cinque-ports , and diuers others , to sweare fealtie to prince edward his sonne ; who being in palestina when his father died , the nobilitie and prelates of the realme assembled in the new temple at london , and did acknowledge him for their king . and in like manner , king edward the third tooke an oath of all the nobilitie of the realme , of faith after his death to richard prince of wales : and so did king henry the first , for his daughter mawde , and her yong sonne henry . after the death of king henry the fifth , that subiects did often sweare alleageance , before the coronation and oath of the king , you had neither countenance nor conscience to deny : but it was neither of these two which did restraine you ; it proceeded onely from the force of truth , which will manifest it selfe whatsoeuer art we vse to disguise it . for otherwise , what countenance , what conscience had you to affirme , that it is expresly noted by our english historiographers : that no alleageance is due vnto kings , before they bee crowned ? who are these historiographers ? where doe they so write ? you that search euery dustie corner of your braines , for a fewe ragged reasons to vphold your heresie , should not either haue mentioned , or omitted such pregnant proofes : for in that you affirme , and do not expresse them , you condemne your selfe by your owne silence . if you meane that which you alleadge out of polydore and stowe : that an oath of fealtie was neuer made before coronation , vntill the time of king henry the fifth ; it is neither true , nor to any such sence . if you meane that of polydore in tearming henry the fift , prince and not king , before he was crowned ; in writing also , that the states did consult in parliament , f of creating a new king after the custome of their auncestors : it is a sleepie ieast , to straine euery word in such an author to proprietie of speech . you might better haue cited , what certaine cities in fraunce not long since alledged for themselues : that because they had not reputed henry the fourth for their king , because they had not professed alleageance vnto him , they were not to be adiudged rebels : whereupon notwithstanding the chiefest lawyers of our age did resolue , that forasmuch as they were originall subiects , euen subiects by birth ; they were rebels in bearing armes against their king , although they had neuer professed alleageance . and this is so euidently the lawe of the realme , that it is presumption in vs both ; in you , to assay by your shallow sophistrie to obscure or impugne ; in me , to indeuour by authorities and arguments to manifest or defend the same . but the admission of the people ( you say ) hath often preuailed against right of succession . so haue pyrates against merchants ; so haue murtherers and theeues against true meaning trauellers . and this disloyalty of the people hath moued diuerse kings to cause their sonnes to be crowned during their owne liues ; because the vnsetled state of succeeding kings doth giue oportunitie to bouldest attempts ; and not as you dreame , because admission is of more importance then succession . i will examine your examples in the chapters following . in the meane time where you write , that king henry and king edward , both called the fourth , had no better way to appease their minds at the time of their death , but by founding their title vpon consent of the people ; the authors g which you cite do plainely charge you with vnexcuseable vntruth . king edward neuer made question of his right : king henry did , as some other authors report h ; but applied no such deceiptfull comfort : this false skinne would not then serue to couer his wound . to the seuenth chapter , which beareth title : how the next in succession by propinquity of bloud , haue oftentimes bin put backe by the commonwealth , & others further off admitted in their places , euen in those kingdoms where succession preuaileth ; with many examples of the kingdome of israel and spaine . here you present your selfe very pensiue to your audience , as though you had so ouer-strained your wits with store of examples of the next in succession not admitted to the state , that you had cracked the creadite of them for euer . but you are worthy of blame , either for endangering or troubling your selfe in matters of so small aduantage . i haue shewed before , that exāples suffice not to make any proofe ; and yet herein doth consist the greatest shew of your strength . it is dangerous for men to be gouerned by examples though good , except they can assure themselues of the same concurrence of reasons , not onely in generall , but in particularities ; of the same direction also and cariage in counsell ; and lastly , of the same fauourable fortune : but in actions which are euill , the imitation is commonly worse then the example . your puffie discourse then is a heape of words without any waight ; you make mountaines , not of mole-hils , but of moates ; long haruest for a small deale , not of corne , but of cockle ; and ( as one sayd at the shearing of hogges ) great crie for a little , and that not very fine wooll . yea , but of necessitie something you must say : yea , but this something is no more then nothing . you suppose , that either your opinion will be accepted , more for authority of your person , then waight of your proofes ; or else that any words will slide easily into the minds of those , who are lulled in the humour of the same inclination ; because partialitie will not suffer men to discerne truth , being easily beguiled in things they desire . besides , whatsoeuer countenance you cary , that all your examples are free from exception , yet if you had cast out those which are impertinent , or vniust , or else vntrue , you could not haue beene ouer-charged with the rest . your first example , that none of the children of saule did succeede him in the crowne , is altogether impertinent : because by particular and expresse appointment of god i , the kingdome was broken from his posteritie . we acknowledge that god is the onely superiour iudge of supreme kings , hauing absolute both right and power , to dispose and transpose their estates as he please . neither must we examine his actions by any course of law , because his will is aboue all law . he hath enioyned the people to be obedient to their kings ; he hath not made them equall in authoritie to himselfe . and whereas out of this example you deduce , that the fault of the father may preiudicate the sonnes right , although he had no part in the fault ; to speake moderately of you , your iudgement is either deceitfull or weake . god in his high iustice , doth punish indeed the sinnes of parents vpon their posterity k : but for the ordinary course of humane iustice , he hath giuen a law , that the sonne shall not beare the iniquity of the father l : the equity wherof is regularly followed , both by the ciuill m and canon n law ; and by the interpretors of them both o your second example is of king salomon , who succeeded in the state of dauid his father , notwithstanding he was his yongest sonne . but this example in many respects falleth not within the compasse of your case . first , because he was not appointed successor by the people : we speake not what the king and the people may do to direct succession , but what the people may do alone . secondly , for that the kingdome was not then stablished in succession . lastly , for that the action was led by two prophets , dauid and nathan , according to the expresse choise and direction of god p : whereby it is no rule for ordinary right . here many points do challenge you of indiscretion at the least . you write that dauid made a promise to bathsheba in his youth , that salomon should succeed in his estate : but if you had considered at what yeares salomon began to raigne , you should haue found , that dauid could not make any such promise , but he must be a youth about threescore yeares of age . you write also , that dauid adored his sonne salomon from his bed : but the words wherewith dauid worshipped were these q : blessed be the lord god of israel , who hath made one to sit on my throne this day , euen in my sight : whereby it is euident , that dauid adored god and not his son . this i note rather for obseruation of the loosenesse of your iudgement , then for any thing it maketh to the purpose . you are so accustomed to vntruths , that you fall into them , without either aduantage or end . the like answer may be giuen to your example of rehoboam ; because god declared his sentence therein by two prophets , ahijah r and shemaiah s . but for that the ten tribes reuolted from rehoboam , vpō discontentment at his rough answer , and with dispite against dauid and his house , and not in obedience to gods decree , we cannot excuse them from offence , for which it turned to their destructiō . for hereupon , first they were separated both from the place & maner of the true worship of god ; thē , there arose vnappeasable war , betweene them & the tribe of iudah ; then , insolencies following disorders , they were neuer long time free from conspiracies , diuisions and tumults : by which meanes being drained both of wealth and inhabitants , and reduced to a naked weaknesse , they were lastly caried captiue into diuerse farre countries , and strangers were sent to inhabite their cities . i must here also obserue a few of your interpretations , wherein your boldnesse is not limited with any bounds . it is to be noted ( you say ) that before rehoboam went to shechem to be admitted by the people , he was not accompted true king. i desire therefore that you would satisfie vs in these places following . before rehoboam went to shechem , the scripture saith , that salomon died , and was buried , and rehoboam his sonne raigned in his stead t . againe , after the defection of the ten tribes it is sayd , that in the cities of iudah rehoboam did raigne still , u implying thereby , that in the other cities he raigned before . againe , they are sayd to haue rebelled against the house of dauid w . and lastly , rehoboam raised all the strength of iudah and beniamin , to bring the kingdome againe vnto him x . further you write , that ten tribes refused to admit rehoboam ; but the scripture saith that they rebelled y . what ? did god only allow hereof after it was done ? did he only permit the people to do it ? the scripture testifieth that it was his decree , that it was his deed , and that he declared his will by ahijah the prophet z , during the life of salomon , and for his sins . but these speciall warrants do not constitute a law ; they serue onely to make good the particular actions for which they are directed , and not to iustifie another the like . lastly , s. paule saith , that all things happened to the iewes in figure ; vpon which place diuerse expositors haue noted , that the state of the iewes was a figure of the church of christ : but that it was an example and patterne of all other states that should ensue , it shall be ranged among your cast conceipts . i refer me now to the iudgement of any man , who taketh not pleasure to beguile himselfe , whether you do not by art & trumpery manifestly abuse vs ; partly by incapacitie , & partly by deceipt , either corrupting or confounding whatsoeuer you take in hand . your humor both discontented and vnquiet , hath armed your mind with bloudy desires , which haue edged you on to put fewell to those slames , which you shold endeuour to quench , though it were with your bloud . i will not stand vpon the particular examples of spaine , as well for that the matter is both tedious and to litle purpose ; as also for that we haue small conformitie with the customes of that nation . onely thus much in generall : we acknowledge that in auncient times the kingdome of spaine was electiue , and therfore your examples drawne from thence are nothing pertinent . the examples of later times , are both few and vniust , caried onely by faction and by force ; as garabay & testifieth of your example of aurelio , and as by the example of d. sancho el brauo i haue declared before a . but you accompt faction to be the common-wealth , and violence iustice , when it may make to the furtherance of your affaires . the historie of d. berenguela i will briefly report , rather for the respect which guided the castilians , then that i allow it for right which they did . henry had two sisters , donna blanch the eldest , maried to lewes the eight king of fraunce ; and berenguela the yongest , maried to alphonso king of leon. henry dying without issue , the castilians feared , if they should submit themselues vnto blanch , that their state , being lesse then the state of fraunce , would be made a member thereof , and gouerned as a prouince , and not as a kingdome . and therefore they did rather chuse to professe allegeāce to the lady berenguela ; by which meanes , the kingdome of leon was afterwards annexed vnto castile , to the great encrease , both of dignitie and assurance to them both . i haue followed herein your owne authors , not being ignorant that others of better name do write , that berenguela was the eldest sister , as i shall haue occasiō hereafter to declare : but for the present let it be as you please ; and let vs weigh our owne wisdomes , not only in straining , but in forging titles , to incurre those mischiefes , which the castilians reiected , a lawfull title to auoid . and this was also one of the motiues of the reuolt of portugale , which is your last example ; although it had also ( as garabay b writeth ) a concurrence of right . for ferdinand king of portugale , by his procurators , the bishop of ebora and others , did both contract and solemnize espousals with elianor , daughter of peter king of aragon . but being entred into war with henry king of castile , & finding himself at some disaduātage , he forsooke the king of arragōs daughter , & cōtracted himself to elianor , daughter to the king of castile , vpō very beneficiall conditions for his state . afterward , falling into fancy with one of his subiects , named elianor telles de meneses , wife to a noble man called lorenzo vasques de acun̄a , he tooke her as his wife , and enforced her husband to auoid the realme ; & had by her one only daughter , named beatrix , who was ioyned in mariage to iohn king of castile . after the death of the king of portugale her father , the king of castile in the right of his wife , laid claime to that realme , & was accordingly acknowledged by the chiefe of the nobility and prelats ; and in particular , by d. iohn maister of auis , her fathers base brother , who was then the most forward man in her fauour . but afterwards falling into quarrell , and hauing slaine the count de oren , he stirred the people against the queene , & cōpelled her to quit the city . and after diuerse outrages and murthers , committed vpon the bishop of lisbone , an abbesse , and many others , hee was first made gouernour of portugall ; and then proceeding further , in an assembly of his partie gathered at coimbra , he was made king. garrabay writeth , c that the chiefest obiection against beatrix was , because her mother was not king ferdinands lawfull wife . and i beleeue you also , that they had a reflexe , not to loose the dignitie of their kingdome ( as now they haue done ) and be made subiect to the cruell both auarice and ambition of a more potent state . to the eighth chapter , which is entituled , of diuers other examples out of the states of france and england , for proofe , that the next in bloud are sometimes put backe from succession , and how god hath approued the same with good successe . your examples of france ( to which nation wee are more neare both in scituation and lawes ) i will runne ouer with a swift course . of the chaunge which twice hath happened in the whole race of the kings of france , i haue spoken before : d you seeme also either to threaten or presage the third chaunge , from the king who now raigneth , and other princes of the house of burbon . it was your desire , you applyed your endeuour , with all the power and perswasions you could make . you knit diuers of the nobilitie in a trecherous league against him ; you incensed the people ; you drew in forren forces to theyr assistance : by which meanes , the realme fell daily into chaunge of distresse , the men of armes making all things lawfull to their lust . the good did feare , the euill expect ; no place was free , eyther from the rage or suspition of tumult ; fewe to bee trusted , none assured , all things in commixtion ; the wisest too weake , the strongest too simple , to auoyde the storme which brake vpon them : the people ioyning to their miserable condition many complaints , that they had bene abused by you , in whose directions they founde nothing but obstinacie and rashnesse , two daungerous humours to leade a great enterprise . at the last , when lamentable experience had made that knowne vnto them , which they had no capacitie by reason to foresee , they expelled as well your company as counsell out of the realme ; and so the firebrands which you had kindled , were broken vpon your owne heads ; hauing opportunitie by your iust banishment to enter into conscience , both of the weakenesse and wrong of your aduice . the partition of the realme of france between charles the great , and carlomon his younger brother , and also the vniting thereof againe in charles , after the death of carloman , depended vpon the disposition of pepin their father , and not vpon the election of the people . girard saith , that e pepin hauing disposed all things in his new realme which hee thought necessarie for the suretie thereof , hee disposed his estate ; leauing the realme of noion to his sonne charles ; and to carloman his other sonne , that of soissons , & that by the death of carloman , both his place and his power did accrue vnto charles . in this manner , the first of a family , who hath attained a kingdome , hath ordinarilye directed the succession thereof . the contention betweene lewis le debonaire and his sonnes , according to your owne author girard , f proceeded and succeeded after this manner . certaine lords of france taking discontentment at the immoderate fauours , which the king shewed toward berard his great chamberlaine , conspired against him ; and for their greater both countenance and strength , drew his owne sonnes to bee of their faction . but lewis brake this broile , more by foresight then by force ; and doing execution vpon the principall offenders , pardoned his sonnes . yet they , interpreting this lenitie to slacknes of courage , rebelled againe , gathered a greater strength , & drew pope gregorie the fourth to bee a complice of their vnnaturall impietie : whereby it appeareth ( saith girard ) that they are either foolish or mischieuous , who wil affirm , that euery thing is good which the popes haue done . afterward they tooke their father , vnder colour of good faith , and sent him prisoner to tortone , & then at compeigne assembled a parliament , composed of their owne confederates , wherin they made him a monke , & brought his estate into diuision & share . it is easie to coniecture ( saith the same girard ) what miserable conditions the realme then endured ; all lawes were subuerted , all things exposed to the rage of the sworde , the whole realme in combustion , and the people extreamely discontented at this barbarous impietie . in the ende lewes , by the aide of his faithfull seruants was taken out of prison , and restored to his kingdome ; and his sonnes acknowledging their faulte , were receiued by him both to pardon and fauour . his sonne pepin being dead , he diuided his realme among his other three sonnes , charles , lewes , and lothaire ; but lewes rebelled againe , and was again receiued to mercie : lastly , hee stirred a great part of germanie to reuolt , with griefe whereof the good olde man his father died . after his death , lewes and lothaire , vpon disdaine at the great portion which their father had assigned to their brother charles , raised warre against him . the battaile was giuen , wherein charles remained victorious , reducing them both vnder such conditions , as hee thought conuenient to impose . loe heere one of your plaine and euident examples , which is so free from all exception . but mindes corruptly inclined , holde nothing vnlawfull , nothing vnreasonable , which agreeth with their passion . loys le begue , succeded after charles , not as you affirme , by authoritie of the states , but ( as in france at that time it was not vnusuall ) by appointment of his father . and wheras you write , that loys at his first entrance had like to haue bin depriued by the states , but that calling a parlament , he made thē many faire promises to haue their good will ; it is a very idle vntruth , as appeareth by the author whō you auouch . at his death , he left his wife great with childe , who afterward was called charles the simple . but before he had accomplished the age of 12. yeares , there stept vp in his place , first loys and carloman his bastard brothers ; then charles surnamed le gros ; and after him odo earle of paris . then charles the right heire attained the crowne ; and then againe were raised against him , first robert , earle of angiers ; and afterward ralph king of burgūdie . but where you attribute these mutations to the authoritie of the states , girard saith , that they were by faction & vsurpation of such , who frō the weaknes of their prince , did make aduantage to their owne ambition ; affirming plainly , that betweene the death of loys le begue , & charles the simple , not one of them who held the crowne of the realme was lawfull king g , noting further , that the first two races of kings , were full of cruel parricides & murthers ; & that in those times the realme was oftē trauelled with tempests of seditiō . of the vsurpation of hugh capet i haue spoken before : girard writeth , h that althogh he sought many shadowes of right , yet his best title was by force , which is the cōmō right of first vsurpers . and wheras you write , that henry the first was preferred to the crowne of france before robert his elder brother : first , it was not by appointment of the states , but of their father ; secondly , girard maketh the matter doubtfull , affirming , that some said he was the younger brother ; lastly , it set vp a dangerous and doubtfull warre betweene them . further , where you write , that william being a bastarde , succeeded robert his father in the duchie of normandie , notwithstanding the saide robert left two brothers in life , it was at that time a custome in france , that bastards did succeed , euen as lawfull children . thierry bastard of clouis , had for his partage the kingdome of austrasie , now called lorraine . sigisbert bastard of king dagobert the first , parted with clouis the twelfth , his lawfull brother . loys and carloman bastards of king loys le begue , raigned after their father . but in the third race of the kings of france , a law was made , that bastards should not succeed in the crowne ; and yet other bastards of great houses were stil aduowed , the french being then of the same opinion with peleus in euripides . k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . oftentimes many bastardes excell those that are lawfully borne : which is verified by hercules , alexander the great , romulus , timotheus , themistocles , homer , demosthenes , brutus , bion , bartolus , gratian , peter lombard , peter comesior , io. andreas , and diuers other of most flourishing name . your examples of lewes the 6. and lewes the 11. are not worth a word in answere . in the beginning of their raigne , you affirme that they had like to haue beene disinherited by the state , for the offences of their father . you beare a minde charged with thoughtes vaine , busie and bolde , without any restreint either of honestie or of discretion . for how else could you here also affirme , that king henry the third of england , was condemned by his barons to be disinherited , for the fault of his father ? it is vsuall with you in all your reports , either plainely to breake beyond the boundes of all truth , or grossely , ( for i cannot now say artificially ) to disguise it , with many false and deceiueable termes . but to conclude for the state of france , which is also to exclude whatsoeuer you haue said ; vnder the raigne of charles the fift , l for the better establishment of this right , and for cutting of those calamities which accompanie vsurpatiō , there was a lawe made , that after the death of any king , the eldest sonne should incontinently succeede . we are now come to our english examples , of which you might haue omitted those of the saxon kings ; as well for that there could be no setled forme of gouernment in those tumultuous times , as also for that our histories of that age are very imperfect , not leading vs in the circumstances , either of the maner or occasion of particular actions : they declare in grosse what things were done , without further opening , either how or wherefore . but both these doe make for your aduantage : for who seeth not , that your exāples are chiefly bred in tempestuous times ; and the obscuritie of histories will serue for a shadowe to darken your deceit . well , let vs take both the times and histories as they are . how will you maintaine that egbert was not next successour to briticus by propinquitie of blood ? briticus left no children , and egbert was descended of the blood royall , as polydore affirmeth , m william malmesbury n saith , that he was the only man aliue of the royall blood , being descended of inegild , the brother of king ina. how then is it true which you say , that britricus was the last of the roial descēt ? and if it had beene so indeede , the right of election should then haue bene in the state . and thus you stumble at euery step , you entangle your selfe without truth or ende . you snatch at the words of polydore , where he saith ; he is created king by consent of all : which doe imply no other sense , but that which a little after he saith ; that he was saluted king by all . so we finde also , that the like improper speech was vsed at the coronatiō of philip the second , king of france , whereby the archbishop of reimes did challenge power in the right of his sea , to make election of the king . that adelstane was illegitimate , you follow polydore , a man of no great either industrie or iudgement . william malmesbury o accounted egwina the mother of adelstane , to be the first wife of king edward his father : he termeth her also a noble woman , contrary to that which polydore fableth . henry huntington , roger houeden and others , write no otherwise of him , but as of one that was lawfully borne . and in that you english these words of polydore , rex dicitur ; rex a populo salutatur ; hee was made king by the people : in that you affirme also , that for the opinion of his valure hee was preferred before his brethren which were lawfully borne , whome you acknowledge to be men of most excellent both expectation and proofe ; you doe plainly shewe , that vse hath made you too open in straining of truth . eldred did first take vpon him but as protector , because of the minoritie of the sonnes of edmund his elder brother ; and afterward entred into ful possession of the crowne . but that his nephewes were put backe by the realme , it is your owne idle inuention ; it was no more the act of the realme , then was the vsurpation of king richard the third . that edwin was deposed from his estate , it is inexcusably vntrue . polydore p writeth , that the northumbrians and mercians not fully setled in subiection , made a reuolt . malmesburie q saith , that hee was maimed of a great part of his kingdome , by the stroke of which iniurie he ended his life . and whereas you write in commendation of king edgar his next successor , that he kept a nauie of 6600. shippes for defence of the realme , you discouer your defectiue iudgement in embracing such reports for true . in that you say , that many good men of the realme were of opinion , not to admit the succession of etheldred after the death of his brother , i dare confidently affirme , that you doe not only tel , but make an vntruth ; hauing no author either to excuse or countenance the same . in that you write also , that betweene the death of edmund ironside , and the raigne of william conquerour , it did plainly appeare what interest the common-wealth hath to alter titles of succession ; it doth plainly appeare , that both your reason and your conscience is become slauish to your violent desire . for what either libertie or power had the common-wealth vnder the barbarous rage and oppression of the danes ? when canutus had spread the winges of his fortune ouer the whole realme , none hauing either heart or power to oppose against him , what choise was then left vnto the people ? what roome for right ? what man not banished from sobrietie of sence woulde euer haue saide , that hee was admitted king by the whole parliament and consent of the realme ? it is true , that after he had both violently and vniustly obtained full possession of the realme , slaine the brother of edmund ironside , and conueied his children into sueden , he assembled the nobilitie , and caused himselfe to be crowned king : but neither the forme nor name of a parliament was then knowne in englande ; and if coronation were sufficient to make a title , no king should be accounted to vsurpe . of harold the first , the naturall sonne of canutus , our histories doe verie differently report . saxo grammaticus writeth , that he was neuer king , but that he died before his father . henry of huntington reporteth , that he was appointed but as regent for his brother hardicanutus . others write , that apprehending the opportunitie of his brothers absence , he inuaded northumberland and mercia , by force of the danes who were in englande , wherevpon the realme was diuided , one part holding for harolde , and another for hardicanutus , who was in denmarke . but because hee delayed to come into england , they all fell , rather not to denie then to acknowledge harold for their king . take now which of these reports you please , for all do serue to your purpose alike . hardicanutus after the death of harold , came out of denmarke into englande : and the people hauing their courages broken with bondage , were easie to entertaine the strongest pretender . but after his death , diuers of the nobilitie , especially godwine earle of kent , rising into hope to shake off theyr shoulders the importable yoake of the danes , aduaunced edwarde the sonne of etheldred to the crowne , as being the next of the race of the saxon kings , though not in blood , yet at hand ; for edward the outlawe his elder brother , was then in hungarie : and feare being the only knot that had fastened the people to the danish kings , that once vntied , they all scattered from them , like so many birdes whose cage had bene broken . edward being dead , harold the sonne of godwine vsurped the kingdome : for as malmesburie saith ; r by extorted faith frō the nobilitie he fastned vpon the crowne a forceable gripe : henry huntington also , and out of him polydore doe write , that vpon confidence of his power he inuaded the crowne s : which vsurpation gaue both encouragement and successe to the enterprise of the normanes . this short passage of historie you doe defile with so many vntruthes , that it seemeth you haue as naturall a gift to falsifie , as to eate , drinke , or sleepe . but where you write that william the conqueror formed any title by cōsent of the realme , you grow into the degree of ridiculous . we finde that he pretended the institution of king edward , which had neither probabilitie norforce ; and that he was nearer to him in blood , then harold the vsurper : but that hee euer pretended the election of the people , it is your own clowted cōceit . for whē he had rowted the english armie in the field , when hee had sacked their townes , harried their villages , slain much people , and bent his sworde against the brests of the rest , what free election could they then make ? your selfe acknowlede also in another place , t that hee came to the crowne by dinte of sworde ; and at his death his owne conscience constrained him to confesse , that hee tooke it without right u . and in that the pope and the french king fauoured his enterprise , it is not materiall , this was not the first iniustice which they haue assisted . neither was it the popes hallowed banner ( as you affirme ) but the bowe and the arrowe , the only weapon of aduantage long time after to this nation , whereby hee did obtaine the victorie . one helpe hee had also within the realme , for that king edward had aduanced diuers normans , to high place both of dignitie and charge ; who gaue vnto him muche secret both incouragement and assistance in his attempt . and thus in all these turbulent times , you are so farre from finding fiue or sixe , that you are short of any one , who was made king by free authoritie of the people . king william rufus made no other title to the crowne , but the testament of his father : for often vse hath confirmed it for lawe , that a victor may freely dispose of the succession of that state , which hee hath obtained by the purchase of his sword . * the conquerer disinherited his eldest son robert , for that , knitting with philip king of france , he inuaded , wasted and spoiled normandie , and ioyned in open battell against his father , wherein the father was vnhorsed and wounded , and brought to a desperate distresse of his life . herevpon he cast forth a cruel curse against his sonne , which he could neuer be entreated to reuoke : in so much as vpō his death-bed he said of him w , that it was a miserable countrey which should bee subiect to his dominion , for that he was a proud and foolish knaue , & to be long scourged with cruell fortune . and wheras you write that at the time of his fathers death he was absent in the warre of hierusalem , it is a very negligent vntruth . but it is an idle vntruth that you write , that henry the first had no other title to the crowne , but the election of the people . he neuer was elected by the people ; he neuer pretended any such title . nubrigensis x & after him polydore y do report , that he laid his title , because he was borne after his father was king . malmesburie z saith ; henry , the youngest sonne of william the great , being an infant , according to the desires and wishes of all men was excellently brought vp , & because he alone of all the sonnes of william , was princely borne , and the kingdome seemed to appertaine vnto him . he was borne in england in the third yeare after his father entred into it . and this was the like controuersie to that which herodotus a reporteth , to haue happened betweene the sonnes of darius , the sonne of hystaspis , king of persia , when hee prepared an expedition against the grecians and aegyptians : because by the lawes of persia , the king might not enter into enterprise of armes , before he had declared his successor . darius had three children before he was king , by his first wife , the daughter of gobris : and after he attained the kingdome he had other foure , by atossa , the daughter of cyrus . artabazanes was eldest of the first sort ; xerxes of the second . artabazanes alledged , that he was eldest of all the kings children ; and that it was the custome amongst all men , that the eldest should enioy the principalitie . xerxes alledged , that he was begotten of atossa , the daughter of that king , by whose puissance the persians had gained , not onely libertie , but also power . before darius had giuen sentence , demaratus the sonne of aristo , cast out of his kingdome of sparta , came vnto xerxes , and aduised him to alledge further , that he was the eldest sonne of darius after he was king : and that it was the custome of sparta , that if any man had children in priuate estate , and afterward an other sonne when he was king , this last sonne should be his successor : vpon which ground darius pronounced in the behalfe of xerxes . the same historie is reported by iustine b , and touched also by plutarch c , although they differ , both from herodotus , and one frō the other in some points of circumstance . hereto also agreeth that which iosephus writeth d , in reprehending king herod , for excluding alexander and aristobulus his sonnes , and appointing antipater , borne to him in priuate estate , to succeed in his kingdome . many great lawiers haue subscribed their opinions to this kinde of title ; and namely pet. cynus , baldus , albericus , raph. fulgosius e , rebuffus f ; and anto. corsetta g deliuereth it for a common opinion . but with this exception , if the kingdome be acquired by any other title then by succession , according to proximitie in bloud : for in this case , because the dignitie is inherent in the stocke , the eldest sonne shall succeede , although he were borne before his father was king h . and therefore plutarch writeth i that after the kingdome of persia was setled in succession , when darius the king had foure sonnes , artaxerxes the eldest , cyrus the next , and two other ; parysatis his wife hauing a desire that cyrus should succeede in the kingdome , pressed in his behalfe the same reason wherewith xerxes had preuailed before : affirming , that shee had brought forth artaxerxes to darius , when hee was a priuate man ; but cyrus , when he was a king . yet plutarch writeth , that the reason which shee vsed was nothing probable ; and that the eldest was designed to be king. howsoeuer the right stoode betweene robert duke of normandie , and his younger brothers , the facte did not stande eyther with the quiet or safetie of the realme . for , during the raigne of vvilliam rufus , it was often infested vpon this quarell , both with forren armes and ciuill seditions ; which possessed all places with disorder , and many also with fire , rapine and bloud , the principall effects of a li●entious warre . these mischiefes not onely continued but encreased in the raigne of king henry , vntill robert the eldest brother was taken prisoner in the fielde , which put a period to all his attempts . so dangerous it is vpon any pretence to put bye the next in succession to the crowne . this henry the first left but one daughter , and by her a young sonne named henry , to whom hee appoynted the succession of the realme : and tooke an oath of all the bishops , and likewise of the nobilitie , to remaine faithfull vnto them after his decease . yet you write , that because stephen , sonne of adela , sister to king henry , was thought by the states more fit to gouerne , he was by them admitted to the crowne . in which assertion , you cannot be deceiued , you do not erre ; but your passion doth pull you from your owne knowledge and iudgement . polydore writeth , k that hee possessed the kingdome contrary to his oath , for which cause the mindes of all men were exceedingly mooued : some did abhorre and detest the impietie ; others , and those very fewe , vnmindefull of periurie , did more boldely then honestly allowe it , and followed his part . further he saith , l that he was crowned at westminster , in an assembly of those noble men who were his friendes . nubrigensis affirmeth , that m violating his oath hee inuaded the kingdome . william malmesburie , who liued in king stephens time , saith n ; that he was the first of all lay men , next the king of scots , who had made oath to the empresse mawde ; and that he was crowned , o three bishops being present ( of whom one was his brother ) no abbot , and a very fewe of the nobilitie . henry huntington , who liued also in the same time , saith p ; that by force and impudencie tempting god , he inuaded the crowne . afterward he reporteth q , that being desirous to haue his sonne eustace crowned king with him , the bishops withstood it , vpon commaundement from the pope : because hee tooke vpō him the kingdom against his oath r , roger houeden writeth s , that he inuaded the crowne in manner of a tempest . this is the report of those writers who came nearest , both to the time and truth of this action : whom other authors do likewise follow . polydore t , and after him hollingshead do write , that he tooke vpon him the crowne , u partly vpon confidence in the power of theobald his brother , earle of blois ; and partly by the aid of hen. his other brother bishop of winchester . walsinghame addeth w , that hugh bigot , who had bene king henries steward , tooke an oath before the archbishoppe of canterburie , that king henry at his death appointed stephen to be his successour . wherevpon the archbishop and a fewe others were ouer-lightly ledde , like men blinded with securitie , and of little foresight : neuer considering of daungers , vntill the meanes of remedie were past . you write that they thought they might haue d●ne this with a good conscience , for the good of the realme . but what good conscience could they haue in defiling their faith ? such consciences you endeuour to frame in all men , to breake an oathe with as great facilitie , as a squirrell can cracke a nut. what good also did ensue vnto the realme ? the nobilitie were set into factions ; the common people into diuision and disorder : and as in warres where discipline is at large , there insolencies are infinite ; so in this confusion of the state , there was no action which tended not to the ruine thereof ; the liues and goods of men remaining in continuall pillage . polydore saith x : matrons were violated , virgins rauished , churches spoiled , townes and villages rased , much cattle destroied , innumerable men slaine . into this miserable face of extremities the realme did fall ; & into the same againe you striue to reduce it . but you say , that for the ending of these mischiefes , the states in a parliament at wallingford made an agreement , that stephen should be king during his life , and that henry and his offspring should succeede after his death . a man would thinke you had a mint of fables ; there is no historie which you handle , but you defile it with apish vntruthes . all our histories agree , that king stephen , vnable to range things into better forme , did adopt henry to be his successor . the second huntington faith y , that this agreement was mediated , by the archb. of cant. and the bishop of winchester , who repented him of the furtherance he gaue to the aduancement of king stephen , when he sawe what miseries did therevpon ensue . the like doth houeden report z : and holingshead & setteth downe the forme of the charter o● agreement betweene them ; whereby it is euident , that it was a transaction betweene them two , and no compulsorie act or authoritie of the state. i denie not but some authors affirme , that the king assembled the nobilitie , but neyther were they the states of the realme , neither were they assembled to any other ende , but to sweare fealtie vnto henry , sauing the kings honour so long as hee should liue . after the death of king richard the first , you affirme that the succession was againe broken ; for that iohn , brother to king richard , was admitted by the states , and arthur duke of britaine , sonne to geoffrye , elder brother vnto iohn , was against the ordinarie course of succession excluded . well sir , i arrest your worde ; remember this i pray you , for i will put you in minde thereof in an other place . that which here you affirme to be against the ordinarie course of succession , you bring in an other place for proofe , that the vncle hath right before the nephewe . you do wildely wauer in varietie of opinion , speaking flatte contraries , according as the ague of your passion is eyther in fitte or intermission . the historie of king iohn standeth thus . king richard the first dying without issue , left behinde him a brother named iohn , and a nephewe called arthur , sonne of geoffrye , who was elder brother vnto iohn . this arthur was appointed by king richard to succeede in his estate , as polydore writeth a . nubrigensis saith , that he should haue bene established by consent of the nobilitie , if the britaine 's had not bene so foolishly , eyther suspitious or fonde , that when king richard sent for him , they refused to commit him into his vncles hands . but after the death of king richard , his brother iohn seized vpon his treasure in normandie , came ouer into england , and in an assembly onely of the nobilitie , was crowned king . of these , many he wonne with such liberall protestations and promises , as men carelesse of their word are wont to bestowe : others were abused by the perswasions of hubert archbishop of canterburie , and a fewe others ( saith polydore b ) not well aduised . nic. triuet saith c , that iohn pretended for his title , not the election of the people , but propinquitie of bloud d , and the testament of king richard. the same also is affirmed by walsingham e . and this is the question betweene the vncle and the nephewe , of which i shall haue occasion to speake hereafter . but polydore saith f , that diuers noble men did account this to be a fraudulent iniustice , and therevpon did ominate those euils which afterward did ensue . and when the archbishop was charged , that vnder colour of reason , partly subborned , and partly weake , he had bene the occasion of all those mischiefes . polydore g saith , that he was both grieued and ashamed at nothing more ; rog. wenden affirmeth , that he excused himselfe , that he did it vpon oracles , and by the gift of prophesie . king iohn hauing locked himselfe into the saddle of state , made one wrong which he had done , to be the cause of a greater wrong ; by murthering his nephew , arthur , duke of britane , whose inheritāce he did vniustly vsurpe . for this fact the french king depriued him of all the landes which he helde in fee of the crowne of france , & prosecuted the sentence to effect . after this , as men are easily imboldened against an vsurper , when once he declineth eyther in reputation or in state , diuers of the nobilitie , especially they of the north , confederated against him : but being neither able to endure his warre , nor willing to repose trust in his peace , they cōtracted with lewis the french kings sonne , to take vpon him to be their king . and so it often happeneth in ciuill contentions , that they who are weakest , do runne with a naturall rashnesse to call in a third . lewes being arriued vpon the coast of kent , the nobilitie of that faction h , came and sware alleageance vnto him . the londoners also , many vpon an ordinarie desire to haue new kings , others for feare , and ●ome for company , ioyned to the reuolt . hereof a lamentable presence of all miseries did arise , whereby as well the libertie as the dignitie of the realme , were brought to a neare and narrowe iumpe . the poore people , naked both of helpe and hope , stood at the curtesie and pleasure of the men of armes ; the libertie of warre making all things lawfull to the furie of the strongest . the nobilitie , feeling much , and fearing more the insolencie of the french natiō , who ( as vicount melin a noble mā of france confessed at his death ) had sworne the extirpation of all the noble bloud in the realme , began to deuise , how they might returne into the alleageance of king iohn : in so much as a litle before his death , letters were b●ought vnto him from certaine of his barons , to the number of fortie , who desired to be receiued againe into his peace . but after his death , which happily did happen within fiue moneths after the arriuall of the french , both their hatred and their feare being at an ende , they were all as readie to cast out lewes , as they had bene rash to call him in . this history you corrupt with verie many odious vntruthes , which are more harsh to a well tuned eare , then the crashing of teeth , or the grating of copper . as namely in affirming , that arthur was excluded , and iohn crowned king by the states of the realme ; that god did more defend this act of the common-wealth , then the iust title of arthur ; that by the same states , king iohn was reiected , prince hēry his sonne depriued , and lewes of france chosen to be king ; that the same states recalled their sentence against prince henry , disanulling their oathe and alleageance made vnto lewes . a shamelesse tongue , gouerned by a deceitfull minde , can easily call , faction , the common wealth ; rebellion , a iust and iudiciall proceeding ; open an often periurie , an orderly reuoking of a sentence ; gods secret iudgement in permitting iniustice to preuaile , a plain defence and allowance thereof . of the diuision of the houses of lancastar and yorke , it is but little that you write , whereto i haue fully answered before : you do wisely to giue a light touch to this example , it is so hotte that it will scalde your throate . king henry the fourth , more caried by cursed ambition , then either by necessitie or right , laide an vniust gripe vpon the realme , which afterward he did beautifie with the counterfeit titles of conquest and election . so violent are the desires of princes to imbrace streined titles , by whiche they may disturbe the states of other ; not remembring , that right may be troaden downe , but not troaden out ; hauing her secret both meanes to support , and seasons to reuiue her . for although the lawfull successor did warily strike saile to the tempest , because neither the time running , nor the opportunitie present ( which are the guiders of actions ) did consent as then to enter into enterprise . yet so soone as one heare of occasion was offered , his progenie did set vp a most doubtfull warre , wherein thirteene battailes were executed by english-men only , and aboue fourescore princes of the royall blood slaine . loe now the smiling successe of these vsurpations ; loe what a deare purchase of repentance they did cause ! were it not that passion doth blind men , not only in desire but in hope , they might suffice to make vs aduised , to keepe rather the knowne & beaten way with safetie , then vpon euery giddie and brainlesse warrant to engulphe our selues in those passages , wherein so many haue perished before vs. it belongeth to wise men to auoide mischies ; and it is the reward of fooles to lament them . goe too then , conclude if you please that the people are not bound to admit him to the crowne , who is the next successor by propinquitie of blood ; but rather to weigh , whether it is like that hee will performe his charge , or no. conclude this ( i say ) to be your opinion ; and that it seemeth to you to be conforme to all reason , lawe , religion , pietie , wisedome and policie , and to the custome of all common wealthes in the world : and i wil assuredly conclude against you , that you prate without either warrant or weight . to the ninth chapter , which beareth title , vvhat are the principall points which a common-wealth ought to respect in admitting or excluding any prince , wherein is handled largely also , of the diuersitie of religions , and other such causes . in this passage you handle what cause is sufficient , either to keepe in , or to cast the next in blood out of state . in which question you determine , that god doth allowe for a iust and sufficient cause , the will & iudgement of the people . your reason is , for that they are the iudge of the thing it selfe , and therefore they are the iudge also of the cause . your antecedent you proue ; first , for that it is in their owne affaire ; secondly , for that it is in a matter that hath his whole beginning , continuance and substance from them alone . your cōsequence you proue by a whole lump of lawe , in alleaging the entire bodie of the ciuil and canon lawe , assisted also with great reason . diogenes said of a certain tumbler , that he neuer sawe man take more paines to breake his necke . in like sort we may say of you ; it is hard to finde a man that hath more busied his wittes , to ouerthrow the opiniō of his wisedome . for the first proofe of your antecedēt , is not only of no force for you , but strong against you ; because no man is a competent iudge in his owne cause ; no man can bee both partie and iudge : whereto i wil adde , that no inferiour hath iurisdiction ouer the superiour , much lesse the subiect against the soueraigne . your second proofe , that all the power of a king hath dependency vpon the people , i haue sufficiently encountred before h . and if your consequence were true , that whosoeuer is iudge of a thing , is iudg also without controwlment of the cause ; if this were as agreeable to all lawes as you make countenance , then were all iudgements arbitrarie ; then could no appeale be enterposed , for giuing sentence without iust cause ; then were it false which panormitane writeth l , that a false cause expressed in a sentence maketh it voide . what shall i say ? what doe you thinke ? doe you think that these fat drops of a greasie brain , can bring the tenure of a crown to the wil of the people ? what are you who endeuour thus boldly to abuse both our iudgement & conscience ? are you religious ? are you of ciuil either nature or education , who vnder the name of ciuilian do open the way to all maner of deceits , periuries , tumults & treasons ? what are you ? for you shewe your selfe more prophane then infidels ; more barbarous then caniballs , tartarians , moores & mammelucks ; who though they beare themselues in nothing more then hatred and cōtempt , yet do they both loue & honor their kings . i see what you are , the very true follower of the anabaptists in garmanie , who openly professed , that they must ruinate the state of kings . and who can assure vs ( for your corrupt dealing make all suspitions credible ) that you doe not also follow them both in desire and hope , to imbrace the monarchy of the whole world . the difference betweene you is this : they pretended reuelation for their warrant : you worke by deceitfull shewe of reason , by falsly either alleaging , or wresting , or corrupting both humane and diuine authoritie . in what miserable condition should princes liue , if their slate depended vpon the pleasure of the people , in whom company taketh away shame , and euery man may laie the fault on his fellow ? how could they commaund ? who would obey ? what could they safely either doe or omit ? who knowes a people , that knoweth not , that suddain opinion maketh them hope , which if it be not presently answered , they fall into hate ? choosing and refusing , erecting and ouerthrowing , as euery winde of passion doth puffe . what staiednesse in their will or desire ? which hauing so many circles of imagination , can neuer be enclosed in one point . and whereas you write , that god alwaies approueth the will and iudgement of the people , as being properly the iudge of the whole businesse ; and that euery particular man must simply submit himselfe therevnto , without further inquisition , although at diuers times they determine contraries , ( as they did betweene the houses of lancaster and yorke ) because we must presume that they were ledde by different respects . you seeme not obscurely to erect thereby another priuiledged power vppon earth ; which cannot erre , which doth not deceiue . but it may be some honest minded man will say , that howsoeuer you write , your meaning was otherwise ; you write also afterward , that in two cases euery priuate man is bounde to resist the iudgement of the whole people , to the vttermost extent of his abilitie . well then , let vs take you for a man , whose sayings disagree , both from your meaning , and betweene themselues : let vs consider what are your two exceptions . the first is when the matter is carried , not by way of orderly iudgement , but by particular faction of priuate men , who will make offer to determine the cause , without authoritie of the realme committed vnto them . but this exception is so large , that it deuoureth the whole rule : for in actions of this qualitie , the originall is alwaies by faction ▪ the accomplishment by force , or at least by feare , howsoeuer they are sometimes countenanced with authoritie of the state . so sylla , hauing brought his legions within the walles of rome , obteined the lawe valeria to be published , whereby he was created dictator for 24. yeares : by meanes of which force , cicero affirmeth m that it was no lawe . likewise lawrence medices , hauing an armie within florence , caused , or rather constrained the citizens to elect him duke . when henry the fourth was chosen king , ho held fortie thousand men in armes . and this is most euident by your owne example , of foure contrary actes of parliament which at diuers times were made , during the contention betweene the families of lancastar and yorke , not vpon different reasons , as with little reason you affirme , but vpon different successe of either side . in matters of this moment , the orderly course of proceeding is onely by parliament . the parliament must bee summoned by the kings vvrit , and no act thereof hath life , but by expresse consent of the king. if this forme had alvvayes beene obserued , neyther our kinges should haue beene deposed , nor the next successours excluded , nor the title of the crowne entangled , to the inestimable both weakning & waste of all the realme . your second exceptiō is , when such a man is preferred to the crowne , by whō god is manifestly offended , & the realme preiudiced or endangered : in which case ( you say ) euery man , with a free and vntrowled conscience , may resist what he can . it was euen here i looked for you . your broyling spirits do nothing else but fling firebrands , & heape on wood , to set kingdomes in combustiō . what rebellion , what reuolt hath euer bin made , but vnder some of these pretenses ? what princes actions , either by malicious or ignorant interpretation , may not easily be drawen to one of these heades ? you are a nursery of war in the common-wealth : a seminary of schisme & diuisiō in the church : in sum , all your actions , all your thoughts are barbarous & bloody . you write much of right & iustice , but you measure the right & iustice of a cause , by the aduantage of your owne affaires . you speak as hauing a tender touch of the glorie of god ; but you stretch out your throate with high wordes of contradiction against him . you make shew of care to pre●erue the state , but you are like the iuy , which ●eemeth outwardly both to imbrace and adorne the wall , whereinto inwardly it doth both eate & vndermine . for what meanes either more readie or forceable to ouerthrow a state , then faction and intestine quarels ? and what other milke doe you yeelde ? what are your opinions ? what your exhortations ? but either to set , or to holde vp sedition and bloodshead ? saint paule teacheth vs not to resist higher powers n , although both cruel and prophane ; you teach vs to resist them what we can : the apostle is followed of al the auntient fathers of the church ; you are followed of those only who follow the anabaptists . for my part , i had rather erre with the apostle in this opposition , then holde truth with you . but i will speake more moderately in a subiect of such nature ; i wil not say thē that i had rather erre , but that i shall lesse feare to erre in not resisting with the apostle , thē in resisting with you . new councels are alwaies more plausible then safe . after you haue plaide the suffenus with your selfe , in setting the garland vpon your owne head , and making your imaginarie audience to applaude your opinion , as worshipfully wise , you proceede to declare what ought chiefly ●o be regarded , in furthering or hindering any prince towards the crowne . three points ( you say ) are to bee required in euerie prince , religion , chiualrie and iustice ; and putting aside the two last , as both handled by others , and of least importance , you assume onely to treate of religion ; wherein , eyther errour or want doth bring inestimable damage to any state . you drawe along discourse , that the highest end of euery common-wealth , is the seruice & worship of god ; and consequently , that the care of religion is the principall charge which pertaineth to a king. and therfore you conclude , that whatsoeuer prince doth not assist his subiects to attaine this ende , omitteth the chief part of his charge , & committeth high treason against his lord , and is not fit to holde that dignitie , though he performe the other two partes neuer so well . and that no cause can to iustly cleare the conscience , whether of the people , or of particular men , in resisting the entrance of any prince , as if they iudge him faultie in religion . this is neither nothing , nor all which you say . in electiue states , the people ought not to admit any man for king , who is eyther colde or corrupt in religion ; but if they haue admitted such a one with soueraigne authoritie , they haue no power at pleasure to remoue him . in successiue kingdomes wherein the people haue no right of election , it is not lawfull for priuate men vpon this cause to offer to impeach , either the entrāce or cōtinuance of that king , which the lawes of the state do present vnto them : not only because it is forbidden of god ( for that is the least part of your regard ) but because disorderly disturbance of a setled forme in gouernment , traineth after it more both impieties and dangers , then hath euer ensued the imperfections of a king . i will come more close to the point in controuersie , and dispell these foggie reasons which stand betweene your eye and the truth . there are two principall parts of the lawe of god ; the one morall or natural , which containeth three points ; sobrietie in our selues , iustice towards others , and generally also reuerence and pietie towards god : the other is supernaturall ; which containeth the true faith of the mysteries of our saluation , and the speciall kind of worship that god doth require . the first , god hath deliuered by the ministrie of nature to all men ; the second he doth partly reueale , & partly enspire to whō he please : and therefore although most nations haue in some sort obserued the one , yet haue they not only erred , but failed in the other . during the time of the lawe , this peculiar worship of god was appropriate only to the people of israel , in a corner kingdome of the world : the flourishing empires of the assirians , medes , persians , aegyptiās , graecians , syrians and romans , eyther knew it not , or held it in contempt . the israelites were almost alwaies in subiection vnder these both heathen & tyrannicall gouernments ; & yet god by his prophets enioyned them obedience ; affirming , that the hearts of kings were in his hands ; & that they were , the officers of his iustice , the executioners of his decrees . in the time of grace , the true mysteries both of worship and beliefe , were imparted also to other nations ; but the ordinarie meanes to propagate the same , was neither by policie , nor by power . when s. peter offered prouident counsell ( as hee thought ) vnto christ , aduising him to haue care of himselfe , and not to go to hierusalem , where the iewes sought to put him to death , christ did sharply reproue him for it o : when he did drawe his sword , and therwith also drew bloud in defence of christ , hee heard this sentence ; p they that take the sworde shall perish with the sworde . christ armed his apostles onely with firie tongues q ; by force whereof they maintained the fielde , against all the stratagems and strength in the world . and when princes did , not onely reiect but persecute their doctrine ; they taught their subiects obedience vnto them r , they did both encounter and ouercome them , not by resisting , but by persisting and enduring . this course seemeth straunge to the discourse of of reason , to plant religion vnder the obedience of kings , not only carelesse therof , but cruell against it : but when we consider that the iewes did commonly forsake god in prosperitie , and seeke him in distresse ; that the church of christ was more pure , more zealous , more entire , i might also say more populous , when shee trauelled with the storme in her face , then when the winde was eyther prosperous or calme ; that as s. augustine saith , want or weakenesse of faith is vsually chastised with the scourges of tribulatiōs ; we may learne thereby no further to examine , but to admire and embrace the vnsearchable wisedome and will of god. seeing therefore that this is appointed the ordinarie meanes , both to establish and encrease religiō , may we aduenture to exchange it with humane deuices ? is it the seruants dutie eyther to contradict or dispute the maisters commaundement ? is there any more readie way to proue an heretike , then in being a curious questionist with god ? is hee bounde to yeelde to any man a reason of his will ? it is more then presumption , it is plaine rebelliō to oppose our reason against his order , against his decree . it standeth also vpon common rules : that which is contrary to the nature of a thing doth not helpe to strengthen , but to destroy it : it is foolish to adde externall stay , to that which is sufficient to support it selfe : it is sencelesse to attempt that by force , which no force is able to effect : that which hath a proper rule , must not be directed by any other . and this was both the profession and practise of the auntient fathers of the church , as i haue declared before t ; wherto i wil here adde that which s. ambrose saith u : let euery man beare it patiently , if it be not extorted frō the emperor , which he would be loath the emperor should extort frō him . and least they might be interpreted not to mean obedience , as wel to succession as to present power , they alledge that which the captiue iewes of babilon did wright , to the tributarie iewes which were at ierusalem w ; to pray for the life not onely of nabuchodonosor , the king of babilon , but also of baltasar his sonne , the next successor to his estate . but in latter times , innocentius hath taught , and is also seconded by castrensis x , that loue is a iust cause to moue armes for matters of religion ; vnder which pretence , diuers men haue pursued their owne priuate purposes & end●s . guicciardine wrighteth y , that firdinand who was called the catholicke , did couer al his couetous and ambitious desires , with the honest and holy veile of religion : the like dooth iouius reporte z of charles the fifth emperour . paulus aemilius & wrighteth thus of all : euery man professeth his war to be holy ; euery man termeth his enemies impious , sanctity & piety is in euery mans mouth , but in aduise and in action nothing lesse . the cōtention is for worldly right , take away that , and you shall finde no cause of war. now they pretend piety to euery mischiefe : the name of holy warrefare , ( most miserable ) is applied vnto armes . hereupon such cru●ll calamities haue ensued in most partes of europe , & ●specially in germanie and france , with so little furtherance to that cause , for whose supportance force was offred , that all the chiefe wrighters of our age are now reduced to the former opinion ; affirming with arnobius a that religion is of power sufficient for it selfe : with tertulian also b hactantius c , cassiodorus d iosephus e , s. barnard f , and others , that it must be perswaded and not enforced . they of your society , as they tooke their originall from a souldier , so they are the onely atheologians whose heades entertaine no other obiect but the tumult of realmes ; whose doctrine is nothing but confusion and bloodshed ; whose perswasions were neuer followed , but they haue made way for all miseries and mischiefes to range in , to come forward , to thriue , to preuaile . you haue alwayes bin like a winter sunne , strong enough to raise vapours , but vnable to dispell them . for most cowardly companions may set vp striefe ; but it is maintained with the hazard , and ended with the ruine , alwayes of the worthiest , and sometimes of all . the summe is this . so long as we expresse pure pietie , both in our doctrine and in our doings ; all will goe well ; but when we make a mixture of deuine and humane both wisedome and power ; when we preach policie : when we make a common trade of treason ; when we put no difference betweene conscience and conceite ; we must needes ouerthrow , either religion or our selues . now i will answere the reasons of your assertion . first you say , that if princes doe not assist their subiects in the honour and seruice of god in this life , god should drawe no other fruite or commodity from humane societies , then of an assembly of brutish creatures . but this reason is not onely weake , as it may appeare by that which hath beene saide , but also brutish , and ( which is worse ) prophane . for what fruite , what commoditie doeth god drawe from societies of men ? is not his glory perfect in it selfe ? can we adde any thing to the excellencie thereof ? hath he any neede of our broken worship ? god is an absolute beeing , both comprehending , and exceeding all perfections : an infinite being , and therefore his sufficiencies neither can be encreased , neither doe depend vpon any , but onely of himselfe . he was from eternity without any world , ●nd a thousand worldes more cannot any deale encrease his felicity and glory : he did create the world , not to perticipate any thing thereof , but to communicate from himselfe vnto it . heereupon iob saith g . what profit is it to god if thou be iust ? what aduantage is it to him if thy wayes bee cleane ? surelie we must be better enformed of the soundnesse of your iudgement , before we dare depend vppon the authority of your worde . you put vs in minde that you compared an heire apparant to a spouse , betroathed onely and not maried to the common wealth . i remember it well ; but i did not take you for such a widower of wit , that you could thinke it worthy to be repeated . and yet that which herevpon you deduce out of s. paul maketh altogether against you . s. paul saith h , that if a brother hath an infidell to wife , if the consent to abide with him , he may not put her away : and likewise if a woman hath an infidell husband : but if the infidell doeth depart , then the christian is free . now if you will needes make a marriage betweene a king and his subiects , you might heereupon conclude , that if an infidell king will houlde his state , the people may not dispossesse him . and whereas you affirme , that all they who differ in any point of religion , and stand wilfully in the same , are infidelles the one to the other , you shew both a violence and weakenesse of minde . for obstinate error in certaine articles of ●aith , and not in the whole state and substance thereof , doth make an hereticke , but not an infidell . and although the canon lawe dooth in some case dissolue mariage betweene a christian and an infidell i ; yet doth it not permit the like betweene a true christian and an heretick k . and panormitane l in his doubting manner denyeth , that the church hath power to authorize diuorce in case of heresie . so that allowing your compa●ison for good , yet in case of infidelitie , s. paule ; in case of heresie , the cannon lawe is altogether against you . you adde , that albeit the religion which a man professeth be neuer so true , yet whosoeuer hath a contrary perswasion thereof , he shall sinne damnably in the sight of god , to preferre that man to a charge , wherein he may drawe others to his opinion . but i will omit this streine , and yet rather as impertinent then true . for there are few nations in the world , wherein the people haue right to prefer any man to be king : & that which you alleage out of s. paule m for your proofe , is very different from the case which you do forme . the apostle speaketh when an action is of it selfe indifferent , but a weake conscience iudgeth it euill ; being also euill by circumstance , in offending others : you speake where an action is good in it selfe , but an erronious conscience iudgeth it euill . i allowe , that a good action contrarie to conscience is vnprofitable ; but that it is alwayes a damnable sinne i dare not affirme . i dare not affirme that the romane armie did damnably sinne , in defering the empire to iouinian ; who excusing himselfe , ( as zona●as wrighteth ) because being a christian he could not command a pagane armie , they did notwithstanding confirme him emperour , by which means they did afterward embrace the christian faith . the like doth orosius report , that valentinian , being discharged by iulian from being tribune , because he was a christian , by consent of the souldiers was created augustus . i rather take it to be a damnable sinne , which zonaras o wrighteth of the bulgarians , in taking armes against their king , because he was conuerted to christian religion ; albeit they did according to their conscience . it were a deflowring of time to diue into the depth of this question ; because it appe●teineth to electiue states , and not vnto vs. but where you wright , without eyther authoritie or proofe , that to assist , or not to resist the aduancement or gouernment of any king , whom we iudge faultie in religion , is a most damnable sinne , of what side soeuer the truth be ; you breath out most filthy and vnsauorie smoake ; you lift vp your voice into high blasts of blasphemie , against the most high . god hath taught by the apostle s. paule p , that whosoeuer resist the higher powers ( which at that time were infidels ) receiue vnto themselues damnation ; you teach , that whosoeuer doth not in the like case resist , doth damnably offend . were not the spirit of diuision , otherwise called the deuill seated in your soule , you would not thus openly oppose the setlings of your rotten braine , against the expresse and direct sentence of god. what ? is it a damnable sinne to doe euery man right ? is it damnable to giue caesar that which is his due q ? to giue tribute , honor , feare , to whom they appertaine r ? the apostle saith , that christians by resisting the power of infidell rulers , do acquire vnto themselues damnation s : and shall wee yeelde credit vnto you , that turkes , moores , infidels , should damnablye sinne , eyther in admitting or enduring the authoritie of a christian prince ? how vilie doe you value the iudgements of men ? at how lowe rate doe you prize both your conscience and credit ? i could rise into riot of wordes vpon you , were it not that i respect what is seemlye , rather for mee to speake then for you to heare . certainely , if we had receiued no such commaundement from god , the regarde of the quiet of humane societies is sufficient to ouer-whelme your hereticall assertion : for seeing there are many different professions of religion , not onely in the world , but almost in euery nation of the world : seeing also ( as philo saith t ) euery man , eyther by vse or instruction iudgeth his owne religion best : what suretie could any prince , what safetie could any people enioy , if your firie opinion should take place ? what assurance can there be of life or of state , where the sworde beareth swaye vpon such occasions , & that guided by hands both tumultuous and fierce . and seeing among many religions there can be but one truth , if all men should be obstinatelie bent against the gouernment of any , who in their iudgement is faultie in religion ; what likelyhood can we eyther conceiue or coniecture , but that many errours would soone preuaile against the onely trueth . and therefore it is farre more moderate and safe , to vse the ordinarie meanes both of maintaining and propagating the trueth , and to commit the successe thereof vnto god ; and ( as iosephus aduiseth ) not to offer eyther contumelie or violence against any religion , least we prouoake thereby the professors thereof to doe the like against our . your last reason is drawne from policie and consideration of state ; because a king will neyther trust nor fauour , much lesse aduance him , that is not of the same religion with himselfe : but to the contrarie , hee shall bee subiect to all molestations , iniuries and other auersions , which are incident to those who are not currant with the present course of affaires . oh sirre ; this is the helene for which you contend ; you concurre in opinion with those athenians of whome alexander demanded deuine honours ; not so obstinately to defend heauen , as to loose the benefit of the earth . this is the marke whereat you aime , this is the compasse whereby you sayle ; as diuers flowers doe open and cloase , according to the motion of the same ; so according to the variation hereof , you extend or restraine your plyant conscience as you please . but the apostle teacheth vs to be obedient to higher powers , for conscience sake u , and not for anye priuate respect . besides , all princes are not of that disposition whereof you speake . suida wrighteth of one , who changing religion to please his king , was therefore adiudged to loose his head ; one being appointed to crye at the time of his execution ; hee that keepeth not faith with god , what sound conscience can hee beare towards men ? the protestants in france are not altogether cast eyther out of fauoure or out of charge : and manie romane catholickes in england , doe enioye their full part , of all the plentie and pleasures that the realme can affoord . lastly , what haue you to doe with reasons of state ? this is the eagles feather which consumeth your deuotiō . your office is to meditate , to pray , to instruct mē in pure deuotion , to settle their soules in piety & in peace . but do you containe yourselues within these limmits ? nothing lesse . you take vpon you the pollicie of state ; yoù ●end & deface the reputation of kings ; you make your selues both iudges & moderators of all their actions , allowing them to flie no further then you giue them wings . you dispose not onely their affaires , but their crownes at your pleasure ; you hunt them , not to couert , but to death . you contriue wa●s to compasse your designes ; you traine vp your followers in the high mistery of treason ; you cast into euery realme the apple of striefe : your doctrine is to no other vse but as drummes , fifes , and trumpets to incense fury . to these endes , you wrest scriptures , you corrupt histories , you counterfeit reasōs , you corrupt all truth ( pardon my plainenes i pray you , i haue not atteined to your dexterity in disguising matters with smooth termes ) you are obstinate to hazard rather all dangers , then to be cut of from one point of your purpose . you acknowledge no religion but your will , no law but your power : all lies , treacheries and fraudes do change their nature , and become both lawfull and laudable actions when they beare for the aduantage of your affaires . but this is directed to deuotion , ( you will say ) and as you terme it , ordine ad deum , for a holy and religious end . away then with your deuotion , and so we shall be rid of your dangerous deceit . away i say with your deuotion ; or else we will conclude of you as liuie did of anniball : nihil veri , nihil sancti , nullus deûm metus nullum iusiuradum , nulla religio . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a02848-e270 a in c. 1. tit . de success . feud . b in quaest●an rex franc ae r●c●gn s●at ●uperiorem . c in ●●emo . d. d● l●g 1. d in ●●ū praetor . § non autem . d. de iudi. e a pud aristor . thetor . 3. ca. 10. f lib. 5. g in cerpsychore h in eius vita . i lib. 3. ca. 2. k vbi . 5. l antiqu. 14. ca. 1 m lib. 1.2 . belli iu●●ci . allobroges . n in lisan●i . mich●el riccius . lib. 1. de l c. st●●e de france . q cons. 389. lib. 2. r cons 4● . lib. 3. in. c. 1. tit . an mu●us vel imperfectus . t in c. vlt. tit . ● pif . vel ab . u l. 3. d●le interdic . & rel . l. 2. c●de libert . & co● . lib ●diui fratres . d. de iur . patr l quaeritur d. de bo lib. panor . cons. 85. lib. 1. io. annd. in c. significasti de so . comp . x in l. vii . in fi . de senat . x c●ius naturale . dist . 3 y 1.2 . q. 94. d. 2. z rom . cap. 2. & 3. ' quod naturali● ratio inter omnes homine● constituit , id apud omnes peraeque custoditur vocaturque ius gentium . l. ix . d. de iust . & iur . a iust . de ter . deni . §. singulorum . b in re consensio omn. ū gentium , lex naturae putanda est . i. tuscal . c in l 1. c. de testam . d 4. socrat. e in com . in . 6. f ad ephes . 4. g tit. h c. ● . de decret . ab ord . fac . l. 32. de legi . i ad q. fratrem . prouocandū ad sensus . k interiori nescio qua conscientia i●aec sentimus . de vtti . cred . l omn● malum aut timore aut pudor natura perfu●it . in apol . lice possin : negare , non possunt tamen non crubesc . 1 c. 3. de offic 14. n l. 3. si auro . d. de vsur . l. 8. d. quib . mo . pi . sold. 15. de cond . l. 14. d. de nup. o 7. var. 16. ;? topic . prin . p 5. consil . 38. q ipsius vocem naturae de natur . deot . r 15. prob . 3. s 8. de legib . t 4. consil . 496. u 1. polit . x sine imperio n●c d●mus vlla , nec ciuita● , nec gen , neel ominem vniu●t sum genus state , n●c re●um natura om●● nec ipse den . que m●●dus potest . ● . de legib . y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. polit . ca. 3. z ca. 17. ver . 6. & ca. vlt in si . z l. si quis post . humos . d. de lib. et posth . ', arduvm semper codem loci potcutiam & cōcordiam esse . iiiii . annal . a in pr●ncipt● lib. d● v●tis ●ententi●que philosophorum . b lib. de dogmatis philosophorū . c in successionibus philosophorum . d lib. 8. de vi●is & sententiis philosophorum . e lib. 1. contra iouinian . f c. nuptiae . 32. di . 1. g lib. 6. de sanit . tuend . h in timaeo . i in philebo . k in epinomide . l anno. 1552. m vnum imperii corpus vnius animo regendum videtur . 1. annal . n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in enagora . p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . r in cap. 1. s certū est omnos antiqua● gentes regibus paruisse . 3. de legib . t in caulin . u principio tersū , gentium nationumque imperium p●nes r●ges crat . lib. 1. x 1. reg . 8.5 . x in ca. 2. y vtpote cum lege re●●a quae denu●crio cius lara est , populus e● & in eum omne sur●m im : cusuin & pot . statem consera l 1. d. de c●●st pr●ne . z sub vmbra cius vrbem terratum d●minam latere , ●●us nutus ●ro decretis patrum , pro iustis populi ●sse . lib ●0 . ,' nemo erat quo magis innixa res romana , qu m●in papirio cutsore c●tatet . lib. ● . a in●pelopid . b in pericle , c trepidi patres ad summum au●ilium decurrunt dictatorem dici placuit . lib 6. d dictatoris edictum pro numine semper obseruatum . lib. 6. e tantus erat dictatoris terror apud hostes , vt co creato statim a manibus discesserint . lib. co . f ve recte prudentes quidam de vita augusti post mortem eius inter se conferentes , dix●runt , non aliud discordantis patriae remedium suisse , quam si ab vno regeretur . ann . 1. g in epist. 1. ad q. fratreu● . in apolog . i lib. 16. k lib. 39. l lib. 1. m lib. 1. n lib. 1. o belli macedonici . lib. 10. p lib. 16. q lib. 7. in euterpe . aeneid . 1. t lib ad oc●au . august . u in cytopaed . x in artaxerxe . y in polyhimnia . z lib. 2. a lib. 6. ca. 28. lib. 7. b lib. 5. ca. 12. c de praeparar . euang . lib. 10. d lib. 34. lib. 46. e iustin. lib. 14. & 41. f de morib . ger. g 2. chron. ca. 21. h in polyhimnia . i in epist ad onagrium , & in gen . 49. k cons. 275. vol. 2. l l. ex hoc iure d. de iust & iuro . semper fuit , & semper erit . &c. m in c. licet . de voto . n cons. 94. & 274. o in prooem . d. §. discipuli . p cons. 287. q in c. prudentiā de offic . de leg . r in l maximum . c. de lib. praeter . & cons. 179 li. 1. s cons. 25. lib. 5. t cons. 2. u con. 67. x deci. 476. & con . 60. y in c. 1. tit de his qui feud . da. poss . & in c. qualite● . tit . si de feu . su cont . inter do . z in ●ub de test . lib. ● . & inc . grandi . de sup . ●cque prael . a in l. 1. d. de const . prin . & in l. n●mo . de leg . 1. cons. 225. ●● 289. c cons. 25. lib. 1 d tract . de pu● . & excel . regia q. 9. e in ● quart . ad l. falcid . f cons. 9. tit de feud g in l. obuenire . d. de verb. fig. h cius natural . dist . 1. i z●ch . 12.10 . 2. reg. 13.21 . l in exod. cap. 11 in term . de septem plagis n in gen. hom . 51 o vbi ● . p de h●sto . anim●● . lib 6. cap. 1● . q lib. 11. cap 40 s histor. chilia . 4. cap 126. r de it otu animal lib. 3. & lib. 15. cap. 13. t in arato . u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in dia logo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . y lib. 2 de cain & abel . cap. 2. z exod. 4. homil 5 aduersus iudaeos . b gen 47. c gen. 27.19 . d deut. 1.17 . exod. 13.2 . & 22.19 . & 34. 19 leuit. 27.26 . num 1.13 & 8.16 & 18.15 . n●hem . 10.36 . ●zech . 44.30 . : luk 2.23 . f matth. 19.30 . & 20.16 . marc. 10.31 . luc. 13.10 . g 1. cor. 1. circa si . h lib. 7. i in preoem d. § discipuli et in l. donationes . c. de d●n . inter vir . & ●x . k in l 2. c. de iur . emphyt . l per l. ex facto . ● pen. d. ad treb. m cons. 275. lib. 2. in l. proximus . d. de ●e●b . sig . o l. ●x d●obus . d. de vu●g . & pu● . p in l. si quis priorit §. talem . d. de secund . p ibid. q in addit . bar. l. 1. c. qui habebat d. de bo . poss . ● nt . tab & in disp●t . in cip . sigism ●nd . r cons. 92. s in t. act de pot . & excell . reg . q. 10. & q. 74. t in c. quaeritur . §. item opponitur 22. q. 2. u vnigeni●us . y c nam & ego . dever . fig. y lex regia . z l. 1. de const . princ . a de rep . lib. 1. b l. si st●its & ib. bar. & bald d. de dam. infect . c l. si q●●s iusiarandum . c. de reb . cr●d . d inst. de iur . person . e l. 1. de vsucap . f l. vlt. c. de praesc . long . temp . i. sicut c. de praesc . 30. ann . g l. si de interpretatione . d. de ll. h l. omnes populi . de iust . & sur . l. sed & ca. d. de legib . i e. 1. de feud . k c. 1. de ali . feud . l l. testaments omnia . c. de test . k c ridiculum 12 di . l in c quanto de transl . , ral . m in c domino . 50. di . n in l. ●ive●o d. de sol . mat. p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . o in tract . de imper q de ciuit . d● . lib. 2. cap. 21. r lib. 3. de repub . s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . t viue moribus praelentibus , loquere verbis praesentibus . lib. de clar . thetor . x lib. 15. c. 11. & lib. 1. cap. 10. y quae praeter consuetudinem & morem maiorum fiu●t , neque placen● , neque iecta videntur . z 4. de ciuit . a 5. cons. 132. b grandia latrocinia . lib. 10. d 1. de benesie . e orbis terratū praedo . f l. postliminium d. de captiu . g arma tenenti omnia dat qui iusta negar . h reg. peccatum p. ● . §. 9. i in rub . c. de la. ii . vt qui vicissent , iis quos vicissent , quemadmodu● velint imperarent . ●irom . 1. archid. iudic. 11.23 . & 24. deut. 20. gen 48 , 12. q 1. ciu. r 4. de form . s v. de ciuit . inst. de pob . iud . s herod . lib. 1. t ture principem ●olite , non datū , sed ●atum . lib. 1 del ●e●ate de france . notes for div a02848-e8030 a 2 sam. 10. b fol. 21. c pag. 17. 1. pet. 2. plutarch . in probl . rom. 13. d marc. 16. col. 1.23 . ad auxentib . g gen. 10.5 h hom. in gen. i gen. 10.9 . k in cratylo . l ●oct . attic. 9. cap. 4. m gen. 10. n ninus primus dicrut bello parta retinuisse , cum priores contenti victoria ▪ imperio abstinuissent . iust. 1. * l. 2. de orig . iur . * contra appianum . q lib. 2. de regno . r aeneid , ● . s aeneid . 3. t aeneid . 1. u aeneid . 5. * lib. ● . x in apopht , y at cum ius aequabile ab ●no viro homines non consequerentur , inuentae sunt leges . offic. 2. a ann. 1116. * l. 13. c. de sen. & interloc . om . iud . 5. cons. 33. & 6 50. 3.100 . 3. reg. 14. & 15 d gell. lib. 5. ca. 19. e iura dedit . f tanto consensu quanto haud qui●quam alius ante rex est declaratus . g i●● . 2. d. de orig●●r . h i●s ci●●le ●apirianum . i nullum esse discordantis patrie remedium , quam vt ab vno rege●etur . annal● k in act. cap. 8. l lib. 2. cap. i. m lib. 6. cap. 29. & 30. n gen. 27.22 o protestatio aetui contraria non releuat . p in dionys. q 2. ca. 2.10 . r ver . 8. s rom. ● 3. t 1. ca. 2 ver . 13 u tit. 3.1 . * 1. tim. 2.2 . x 1. pet. 2.18 . y in tract . de . exemp . clericorum . z ver . 16. * galat. 1.10 . a ca. 29.7 . b ca. 1.11 . c ca. 17. d deut. 17.12 . e exod. 22.28 . act. 23.5 . f eccles. 10.20 . g rom. 13. h ierem. 25.9 . i ezech. 29.18 . k cap. 25. l prou. 21.1 . m 2. chron. 36.22 . n 2. chron. 19.8 . o psal. 82. p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in polit . q sap. 6. r extrauag . vnā sanctam . de maio , & obed , s in declam . cic. offic . lib. 1 u pater patriae . * in l. senium . c. qui test . fa. poss . x 2. chron. 1. y prou 28.2 . 2. chron. 28.6 . z apolog. 37. * de sacr . ec . tert. a ad demet. b ●actum societatis humanae generale regibus obedire . confes. lib. 2. c dist. 8. c. qu● contra . d tyrannos aggred untur , lolium ab agro dominico ●u●llunt . matt. 8. f 1. reg. 19. g exod. 10. h math. 10.34 . notes for div a02848-e11640 a psal. 73. b ca. 12 1. c in alexand. d apoc. 6.4 . psa . 105.1 . reg 24. f 4 reg . 21. g in augusto , genu nixus dictaturam deprecatus est , h in august . i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 53. k in proam . l lex regia . m lib. 6. n lib. 1. de l'sta●e de france . o ibidem . girard . fo 52. q fo● 58. de l'state . r cap. 5 pa. 8● in richard , 2. t in ● barbarius . d. de offic . praesid . u in ● . cu●a pastoralis de ●u●epation . notes for div a02848-e14060 a de benefic . lib. 7. c ● . 5 . c cap. 1. d c. dudum . de praeb . lib 6. e l. iudicium soluitur . d. de iudic . f l. solet . de iurisd . g in l. vlt. de iurisd . h in c. pastoral●s de off . ord . i in c. cum ecclesiarum . co . k in d. l. iudicium . l cap ●2 . m 1. el. 1. n l. j. d. ad . l. iul. maiest . o frustra sidem sibi quis postulat seruari ab eo , cui sidē a se praestitam seruare recusat . p non obstringitur quis ad implendum quod iurauit si ab alia parte non inpletur , cuius respectu praebuit iuramentum . q in l. cum proponas . c. de pact . r in c. peruenit 2 de iureiur . s in tract fallen reg 199. t l. ille a quo & ● . seq . ad treb. u in apopht . x lib. 24. y lib. 2. ca. 1. a lib. 2 ca. 2. z l. postliminium . filius d. da capit , et postlim . a c. in mali● . d● reg . iur . in 6. b 22. q. 4.4 . c. 5 c in domit . d rom. 13. e 1. tim. 2.2 . ierem. 29.7 g generale quippe pactum est humanae succietatis , regibus obedi●e . confess . lib. 2. h magnum est et speciale documentū &c. ad auxentium i ad auxentiū k apol. l act. 4. m in psalm . 1. sam. s. q c. coniurationū xj q j. notes for div a02848-e15230 r in l. 2. d. de seruit . & aqua s cons. 216. t de legib . u in l. vlt. c. si contra in s . w c. sunt quidam . 25. q. 1. * nunc . x plutarch . in problem . graec. y l. iij. d. de leg . j. dec. in reg . 77. n. 10. z in l. iurisgentium . * quinimo . * in l. claris l. de fideis . a in c. pro●llor●i de praebend . b cons. 220. lib. 6. & cons. 122. & 125. lib. 4. c in cap. 1. d in spec . tit . 14. * veniamus n. 10. c an. 633. cap. 74. f cons. 69. notes for div a02848-e16520 g cap. 1. h rom. 9.13 . i gen 25.23 . k cap. j. l cap. 3. m cap j. n metrop . l. 3. cap. 20. o in prooem . decret . p about the yeare , ●375 . q in c. v●t . 24 q. 1. r in l quesitā . d. de leg . j. s in c● tanta qui fil suat legit . t con● . 1●2 . l. 2 u cons ● 2. li. 1 w in c. 1 tit . quis dicat . dux . x ind. pa●●● . c. de re●●cad . y in rep ●ab . de ca. po & prop. z cons. 262. & in tra●t de po . & excel . reg . ● 25 a in tra●t de privil 〈◊〉 . par . 1. ca. 109. b in tract . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c amend . 9. d walsingh . in e. 1. c anno reg . 23. f de nouo rege creando more maiorum . g sir tho. moore , and stow. h holingshead . notes for div a02848-e17770 i 2. reg 15. & 16. 2 reg. 2. & 5. k exod. 20.5 . l ezech. 18.20 . ierem. 31.29 . deut. 24.16 . 2. chron. 25.2 . m l. siquis sno . § legi● c●de in o●f . test● generali . d●●e rit . nup. l. siliā . d. de senator . l. adoptiuum . d. de in ius voc . n dist. 56. per tot . o gl . et dd●b . et in c. vel non est de temp . ord . p 1 chron. 22.8.9 . q 3. reg. 2.48 . r 3. reg. 11.31 . s 3. reg. 12.24 . t 3. reg. 11.43 . u 3. reg. 12.17 . w 3. reg. 12.19 . x 3. reg. 12.21 . y 3. reg. 12.19 . z 3. reg. 11.31 . & pa. 414. a cap. 3. b lib. 34. pa 833. c pa. 841. notes for div a02848-e18970 d cap. ● . e lib. 1. de l'estate . fol 43. f de l'estate . g di l'estate . lib. 1. pa. 5● . h li. ● . fol. 60. b. fol. 63. a k in andromache . l 1375. m lib 4. circa sin . n de gest . ang. lib. 1. ca. 2. o lib. 2. ca. 5. p lib. 6. q lib. 2 ca. 8. r extoria a principibus fide arripuit diadema . s viribus & genere fretus regni diadema inuasit . t in part . 2. ca. 2. pa 12. u lib. vit will. conq . * cin. & bartol . in l. imperialis . c. de nupt . w lib. vitj . will. conq . x lib. 1. cap 3. y in henr. 1. sol . 181. z in henr. 1. lib. 5. & quod solus omnium filiorum willielminatus est regie , & ei regnum videretur competere . a in polyhim●n b lib. 2. c lib. de fraacrna beneuolentia . d antiq. lib. 16 cap 3. e in l. imperialis . § illud . c de nupt . f in l. si lenatus c. de dignit . lib. 12. g in tract . de pot . & excell . reg §. 16. h pet. iac. in arb . success . reg franc. 10. rai . in cap. praeterea . tit . de prohis seud . ali & in tract . nobil quest . 10. iac. a s. georg. in tract . seud . d. benedic . in rep . c. rainuitius . n. 200. de testam . i in arraxerxe . k lib. 12. in prin . l ibidem . m sacramenti praeuaricator regnum in vasit . n in hist. ●●uel lib. 1. sol . 101. a. o tribus episcopis praesentibus , nullis abbatibus , paucissimis optimatibus . p lib. 8 pa 221. vigore & impudentia ●retus . q pa. 221. r quia regnum contra iusiu . randum p●aeripuisse videbatur . s pa. 275. quasi tempestas inuasit . t in prine li. 12 u in steph. w hypodig . pa. , 8. x lib. 12. pa. 107. y pa 228. z fol. 281.2 . & pa. 62. a lib. 15. in prin . b lib. 15 pa. 262. c in prologo . d iure propinquitatis . e hypodig . po . 50. f lib. 15. pa. 263. g pa , 269. h walsing . hypodigm● . pa. 56. notes for div a02848-e22870 h ca. 1. l in e per tuas . qui fil . sunt legit . m lib. de legibus . n rom. 13. o math. 16.25 . p math. 26.52 . q act. 2.3 . r rom. 13. 1. pet. 2. contra petihanum . t ca. ● . u epist. 54. w hierem. 29. baruch . 1 x in rep . l. 5 de iust . y lib. 12. z lib. 30. & paul. aem. 6.7.8 a adu . ge . 3.4 . b apolo . c inst. 20.21 . d 2. var. 27. et . lib. 10 epi. 26. e de vi. su . f cant . ser. g 22.5 . h 1. cor. 7. i c. iudaei . 28. q. 1. c. quanto . de diuor . k d. c. quāto c. gaudemus de diuort . l inc. ex parte . 2. de conuer . coniug . m rom. 14. 1. cor. 8. o to . 3. p rom. 15. q math. 22 17. mar. 12.17 . luc. 20.25 . r rom. 13 7 s rom. 13.2 t de legat . u rom. 13.5 the secret history of the four last monarchs of great-britain, viz. james i, charles i, charles ii, james ii to which is added an appendix containing the later reign of james the second, from the time of his abdication of england, to this present novemb. 1693 : being an account of his transactions in ireland and france, with a more particular respect to the inhabitants of great-britain. 1693 approx. 309 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 90 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a35246 wing c7347 estc r31345 11926876 ocm 11926876 51050 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a35246) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 51050) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1001:10) the secret history of the four last monarchs of great-britain, viz. james i, charles i, charles ii, james ii to which is added an appendix containing the later reign of james the second, from the time of his abdication of england, to this present novemb. 1693 : being an account of his transactions in ireland and france, with a more particular respect to the inhabitants of great-britain. r. b., 1632?-1725? [8], 171 p. [s.n.], london printed : 1693. attributed to nathaniel crouch by wing. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -history -stuarts, 1603-1714. great britain -kings and rulers -biography. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-11 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-02 tcp staff (oxford) sampled and proofread 2002-02 tcp staff (oxford) text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-03 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the secret history , of the four last monarchs of great-britain : viz. iames i. charles i. charles ii. iames ii. to which is added , an appendix , containing the later reign of iames the second , from the time o● his abdication of england , to this present novemb. 1693. being an account of his transactions in ireland , and france : with a more particular respect to the inhabitants of great-britain . london , printed in the year 1693. the preface . though it hath pleased god to reserve the art of reading men's thoughts to himself ; yet as the fruit tells the name of the tree , so do the outward works of men , so far as their cogitations are acted , give us , whereof to guess at the rest : n● man can long continue masqu●d in a counterfeit behaviour ; the things that are forced for pretences , having no gr●und to tru●h , cannot long dissemble their own nature . and tho' we ought not rashly to rake into the ashes of the dead ( much less of deceased princes , ) and express either their personal miscarriages or their failures in managem●nt of the government ; yet , no doubt , but the making them publick , may sometim●s contribute not a little to the general good. it is one of the encomiums , given to suetonius , that he made publick to the world , the vices and miscarriages of the twelve caesars , with the same freedom with which they were by them committed . and there is no question , but one of his chiefest reasons for so doing , was this , because he would not deceive posterity ; and all agree , that he was contemp●rary with the three last . so that the enormities of domitian could not but be fresh in his memory , when he wrote his life ; and th●re might be several persons living , as might have the same particular affection for domician , as there are now adorers of our late monarchs : for which reason , there is a wary caution among some people , that truth is not always to be spoken . which perhaps may be som●tim●● true ; but , as the case stands with th●se sheets , not at all to be taken notice of : the pa●ns of this short history , being as well to vindicate , as to inform , and written in opp●sition to one of the french king 's most scandalous libe●s , and bi●ter invectives against our present soveraign ; entituled , the true portraicture of william henry of nassaw , &c. now , to have made a particular answ●r to all the extravagancies and impertinent flams of a malicious libeller would have been a fending and proving altogether fruitless . it was therefore thought the more concise way , to bring our late monarchs reign upon the stage ; and then let all the world judge of the furberies and tyranny of those times , and the integrity , sincerity , and sweetness of their present majesties reign ; since by comparing them , the most wilfully blind may be convinced , how infinitely happy we are under their present majesties ●overnment , beyond what we were in the late r●ign ; which were but a very considerable matter ( if any thing ) below the french tyranny , and considering the unparallel'd virtue , that are so resplendent in our gracious soveraigns , we may● with all the reason in the vvorld , assure our selves o● a lasting peace ; and as much happiness under them now , as we had troubles and confusions under the former for their religion , integrity and moderation ( which must always be in conjunction , with princes that are truly patries patriae ) are as n●torious to the vvorld ( so that their greatest enemies cannot deny them ) as were the atheism , and furious bigottism of the former reigns ; vices much of the same pernicious consequences to a kingdom , if the latter be not the more dangerous , since the greatest villanies that ever were perpetrated in the world , have been masqued with seeming zeal for religion . but since there are not a few , wh● , tho' they seem to decry the tyrannies of the t●wo late kings , yet approve of much the same actions of two that preceded them , ( one of whom , some men have vainly , if not blasphemously , compared to the king of king ; ) not considering that they laid the foundations of that tyranny , which the others brought to so great a perfection . as to the former of them , viz. k. james the i● it will easily appear from this following history , what great steps he made towards tyranny : it is certain , that the reason he gave for setting up episcapacy in scotland , was , that he might have so many friends to rely upon in parliament , i. e. that by th●m , as the dead weight , he might the better carry on his designs there . and herein his politicks did not deceive him ; for by their means , he and his succ●ssors found it no hard m●tter to reduce that kingdom to as great slavery , as any in europe h●th groaned under of late years . how great a pr●ficient he was in the art of dissimulation , or king-craft , i shall only insert one instance of it here , which i omitted in the history ; especially , because i think it may not be ungrateful to the reader , viz. that after his return from denmark to scotland , seeming mightily satisfied with the care the kirk-party had taken to preserve the kingdom in peace , during his absence ; he was pleas'd to express himself thus , in a general assembly , that he blest god , that he was born at sike a time of the gospel , and to be king of sike ● kirk , the purest kirk in the world : the kirk of geneva , ( says he , ) keeps yuel and pasche : what have they from the word of god for that ? and for our neighbour kirk of england , what is their service , but an ill-said mai● in english ? and concluded with the solemnest promises , to maintain and preserve the kirk ; when ( in the mean while ) he was taking all underhand methods to supplant it , as he did a few years after . and as to his successor , tho' a kalender'd s. yet after all the lying insinuations of self-designing , and — ridden persons of that prince's singular religion , that very act of instituting plays and sports on the lord's day , is no extraordinary proof of it . the learned sir walter rawleigh , in the close of the preface to his most admirable history , adviseth the reader to take heed , how he follows truth too close at the heels , lest it strike out his t●eth : i h●pe these relations begins with a distance of time , not so far ●ff , that the foot-steps of truth are worn out , nor yet so near , as the foot-steps of it need to be feared . and so irresistable is the f●rce of truth , and the divine providence so great , that however all possible diligence may have been used to carry things in secret , and to act by colourable pretences ( men often acting like tumblers that are squint eyed , looking one way , and aiming another ) yet in these our days , god hath brought great things to light discovering many secret and close contrivances , many private consultations , and hidden designs , which otherwise probably neither we nor our posterity should have ever known . i conclude this my preface , without the r●marks of a learned spaniard on history in general . satis est historiae , si sit vera ; quae ut reliqua habet omnia . siveritatem non habet obtinere nomen non potest . the secret history . of king iames i. time , which puts a period to all things under the sun , began now to shea●● the sword of war , that had been long disputing the controversie , which religion and policy ( that princes mix together ) had for many years so fiercely maintained : the w●●ring out of that old , but glorious , and most happy piece of soveraignty , queen elizabeth , bating the spa●ish violence , and ending with the irish rebellion , and submission of the great earl of tyrone ; as if the old genius of iron-handed war , and a new one crowned , with a palm of peace , had taken possession of the english nation ; iames the sixth , king of scotland , was proclaimed king of england . for though princes that find here a mortal felicity , love not the noise of a successor , in their life time , yet they are willing ( for the peace of their people ) to have one , when they can hear no more of it . that which this blessed queen could not endure from others , she was pleased to express her self , and bequeath in her last will , as a legacy to this , then happy na●ion . he was thirty years of age when he came to the crown . how dangerous the passage had been from his v●ry infancy to his middle age , is not only written in may histories , but the untam●d and untractable spirits of many of that nation , are a sufficient witness and record . the wise queen found many petty titles , but none of that power , any other hand that should have reacht for the crown , might have caught a cloud of confusion ; and those support●rs and props , that held up her greatness ( loth to submit to equals ) made scaffolds to his triumphs . in the prosecution of w●at i shall remark , relating to this king● i shall avoid all unnecessary severity , and observe mo●e duty and respect than may possibly be thought due by posterity , to the person of a prince , that ( after so exact a pattern as queen elizabeth left him ) did , by debauching parliaments , and so often breaking his word , so far irritate , no less than impoverish the subject , as his son was forced to give concession to one rend●red indissolvable but by their own will : a mischief never could have befallen england , had king iames left them in the same blessed serene temper he found them , at the death of the queen . the news of which was brought him first by cary , after earl of monmouth ; who , not able to satisfie such a concourse of doub●s and questions● as far more resolute natures than his do o●ten muster up on less occas●ons , the king stood as in a maze , being more affected through the fear of opposition , than pleased with the present report , till , by a lamer post , he was adver●ised of his being joy●ully proclaimed in london , by the lord mayor and aldermen ; and of the unquestioned recep●ion his title , in all places , met with no less than that the hopes of some , and fe●rs of the major part , assisted by the prudent carriage of the treasurer , and ranting protestations of the earl of northumberland ( that in all places vapoured he would bring him in by the sword ) had stopped their mouths , that desired he might be obliged to articles : amongst these truly noble , heroick , and publick spirits , was sir walter rawleigh , the lord cobham , sir iohn fortescue &c. who were all af●erwards ruined by the king ; and the noble sir walter most barbarously c●t o●f . this prince held his thoughts so intent upon ease and pleasure , that , to a●oid any interruption , likely to impede any part of the felicity he had possessed his imagination with , from the union of these crowns , and to fit an example for his neighbours imitation , whom he desired to bring into the like resolution , he cast himself , as it were , blindfold into a peace with spain , far more destructive to england than a war. king iames , throughout his whole reign , contenting himself with the humble thought of being a terror to his own people , not valluing that himself or nation should make any considerable figure among forreign princes . at his first coming , he was long detained from westminster by a plague , looked upon as the greatest , till exceeded in that which broke out after his death ; taken by the ill boding english for a presage of worse days than they had already seen : the good government of queen elizabeth not being in probability likely to bear the charges ( without falling into some destructive commotion ) of two such expensive princes succession , without having one more popular to intervene . after the peace , of too much concernment to his catholick majesty , to afford him leisure to imagine , much less to insert so rugged an article as the performance of any promise our king had ●ade ●efore his reception , in case the papists did not oppose ( which i have found registred by many , and so high as amounted to a toleration at least , if not an establishing of popery ; he then observed in prudence it could not be conceded by this new king , having so many of his subjects protestants for one of the romish profession ; and being b●sides no more zealous than other princes , that make use of a religion only for a fence to immure their persons and prerogatives ; but ●steem it a meer accident where reason of state drives on a bargain without it . these neglects of the kings of spain and england ; the first remaining as careless of his faith , as the other did of the performance of his word , put the roman c●tholicks , for the present , into so great a despair● that led them into that damned conspira●y , called the gun powder treason ; the account of which , in general , is so well known , that i need not here ●nlarge , only give some hints concerning it , which is not common to be met with . the french ambassador , then resident at court , affirming to some persons of quality , his intimates , that the first intimation of the powder t●eason came from his master , who received it from the jesui●s of his faction , to the end he might share in our ruines : the kingdom of england being , in the pope's own judgment , ( at that time ) too great an addition to that of spain ; where , though it was first coined ( some say during the days of queen elizabeth ● ) yet the priests that undertook the promoting of it , sought to render it the most beneficial they could to their respective patrons . and here i cannot omit , that after this happy discovery , his majesty sent an agent on purpose to cougratulate king iames's great preservation : a flattery so palpable , as the pope could not refrain laughing in the face of cardinal d' ossat , when he first told it him ; nor he forbear to inform his king of it , as may be found in his printed letters ; it being notorious , that at king iames's first assumption to the throne of england , none sought his destruction more cordi●lly than the spaniard , till a continued tract of experience had fully acquai●ted him with his temper . nor was our king himself backward in ●omenting this inuocent opinion amongst his neighbours , but did , as soon as he could possibly , by neglecting the royal ships , and casting cont●mpt upon all formerly in military imployment ( the wings● nails , and teeth of this nation ) to testifie to the world he meant to spoil no people of their honour , lands , felicity , goods , or laws , but only those all princes celebrated for wisdom and gallantry think themselves tied in nature to preserve ; by which he entailed misery upon his succ●ssion ; and , without the more mercy of god , eternal slavery to , &c. for , by penning up the english valonr , and opening the fountain of honour with a succession of neglect cast upon the nobility and commons in their representatives , by denying them their reasonable demands , or deluding them after the royal assent given , by going contrary to what was enacted ; these practises put him upon such low shifts , that he at last having rendered himself uncapable of trust , did send to have the money given by the parliament , deposited into the hands of commissioners ; out of which he did , notwithstanding after ●orce it , according as his impertinent expenses demanded supplies . nor was he more steady , faithful , or just in his compacts with foreign princes , who , in a small time became so well acquainted with his complexion , that his promise did not incite them either to hope or fear , or raise in any of them the passions of love or hatred . and this is one of the reasons th●n given , why the most christian king did so far indulge his pr●serva●ion , as to advertise him of t●● former conspiracy , lest he should exchange herb iohn for col●quintida . another , but in my opinion a very w●●k one ( for what obligation can restrain a prince , that ●ees an advantage before him ) was the f●vours received ●rom hence , ●uring the l●ag●e ? but the most probable , was the advantage spain was likely to make of it , first , by reason he had an army then ready in fland●rs to land in the huge mist , so black a cloud must needs have caused over the nation . nor could his holiness him●elf look upon our ruine with any affection , england being of too great a consequence to ●all under any other jurisdiction save her own . to conclude , whosoever reveal●d this conspiracy , it cost the king of france his life , not only by questioning the truth of his conversion , but did raise so a high suspicion of the immense treasure , and mighty army , he had with no less industry than secresie gotten together ( not one living owning to this day the knowledg of his design ) in the hearts of spain and r●me , as they procured his death : his freedom to the king of great britain rendring this silence the more suspected . now , to take off the subjects eyes from observing the great indulgency used by king iames , in behalf of the papists , a qu●●rel was revived ( now ●lmost asleep , because it h●d long escaped persecution , the bellows of schism ) with a people stiled puritans , who meeting no nearer a definition than the name of all the conscientious men in the nation shared the contempt . since under that general term were comprehended not only those as did oppose the discipline and ceremonies of the church , but such as out of meer honesty refrain●d the vices of the times , were branded by this title ; weaved o● such a fashion , as it became a covering to the wicked , and no better than a fools coat to men truly conscientious . neither was any charged with it , though in the best relation , thought competent for preferment in church or common-weal , which made the wicked glory in their impiety , and such as had not an extraordinary measure of grace , asham●d of any outward profession of sanctity . court sermons were fraught with bitter invectives against th●se people , whom they seated in a class far nearer the con●ines of hell than papists , yet the wisest durst not define them . to avoid the imputation of puritanism ( a greater rub in the way to preferment than vice ) our divines● for the generality , did sacrifice more time to bacchus than minerva ; and being excellent company , drew the most ingenious laiety into a like excess : and , for their ordinary studies , they were school-points and p●ssionate expressions , as more conversant with the fri●rs than the fathers , scorning in their ordinary di●course at luther and calvin , but especially at the last ; so as a certain bishop of this stamp , thank'd god he never ( tho' a good po●t himself ) had read a line in him or chaucer . the same used this simile at c●urt , that our religion , like the ki●gs-arms stood b●etween two beasts , the puritan and papist . nor did the notorious debauchery of the episcopal clergy add a little to the rent of the church , much augmented by the scottish propensity to pr●sbitery , though the chiefest promoters of it in their doctrine and example were the lecturers , vicars , and parsons of inconsiderable worth and livings , being the readier to oppose authority , as having little to loose , becoming , by this means , the darlings of the rabble . nor did the suddain translation of bishops , from less to greater sees give time to visit sufficiently their respective charges ; being more intent upon the receipt of such taxer , as a long abused custom had estated them in , than upon reformation . i have been the more punctual , because from the pulpit came all our future miseries , god not being served there as he ought . the court sermons informing the king he might , as christ's vicegerent , command all ; and that the people , if they denied him supplement , or inquired after the disposure of it , were presumptuous peepers into the sacred ark of the state , not to be done but under the severest curse , though it appeared likely to fall , through the falshood or folly of those at the helm . but on the contrary , the other qualified preachers did sulminate against non-residency , prophanation of the lords day , connivance at popery , persecutio● of gods people ● now , by this time the nation grew feeble , and over-opprest with impositions , monopolies , aids , privy seals , concealments , pretermitted customs , &c. besides all ●orfeitures on penal statutes , with a ●●lcituee of tricks more to cheat the english subject ( the most , if not all , unheard of in queen elizabeth's days ) which were spent upon the scots , by whom nothing was unasked , and to whom nothing was denied ; who , for want of honest traffick , did extract gold out of the faults of the english , whose pardons they begged and sold at intollerable rat●● ; murder it self not being excepted ; nay , i dare boldly say , one man might more safely have killed another , than a raskal deer ; but if a stag had been known to have miscarried , and the author fled , a proclamation , with the description of the party , had been presently penned by the attorney general , and the penalty of his majesties high displeasure ( by which was understood the english inquisition , the star-chamber ) threatned against all that did abet , comfort , or relieve him . thus satyrical , or if you please tragical , was this sylvian prince , against deer-killers , and indulgent to man-slayers . this star chamber was a den to arbitrary justice , where the keeper for the time being , two bishops , two judges , and as many wise lords , and great officers sate , as thought fit to come ; the most of whom , though unable to render a reason for their censure , did , every wednesday and friday , in term-time , concur like so many canibals , to tear such as refused to worship the minion , or to yield to the pretended royal prerogative . nor did they scape who were any way satyrical , a thing not to be avoided by the lovers of truth ; corruption being as common as execution , with which it seldom went other than hand in hand . the palpable partiality that descended from the king to the scots , did estate the whole love of the english upon his son henry ; whom they engaged , by so much expectation , as it may be doubted , whether it ever lay in the power of any prince , meerly hum●ne , to bring so much felicity unto a nation , as they d●d all his life propose to themselves at the death of king iames. the government of this young princes house , was with much discretion , modesty , sobriety , and ( which was looked upon as too great an upbraiding , the contrary proceedings of his father ) in an high reverence to piety , not swearing himself , nor keeping any that did : through which he came to be advanced , beyond an ordinary measure in the affections of the city ; to whom he was not only plausible in his carriage , but very just in payments , so far as his credit out-reached the king 's both in the exchange and the church ; in which the son could not take so much felicity , as the father did discontent , to find all the worth he imagined in himself wholly lost in the hopes the people had of this young gentleman ; from whence kings may be concluded far more unhappy than ordinary men ; for tho' whilst children are young , they may afford them safety , yet when arrive at that age , which used to bring comfort to other parents , they produce only jealousie and fear : for if deformed , foolish , or vitious , they offend the natural disposition of a father , who cannot but desire his issue perfect ; if they prove otherwise , and be excellent , that of a prince , because his reign must needs be thought dim and tedious who hath such a spark to succeed him as this henry , which , in all mens judgments , appeared more illustrious than his old father . thus are kings found as remote from felicity with children , as from safety without : and , as the last of these considerations have tempted some to acknowledge the issue of strangers . if the positive assertions of some , as well as common fame does not out-strip truth , king iames was by fear led into great and strange extreams ( finding his son henry , not only averse to any popish match , but saluted by the puritans , as one prefigured in the apocalyps for rome's destruction ) insinuating , as if the prince was not kindly dealt by : ● should quite have omitted this conjecture , and left it wholly to the decision of the great tribunal , was it not certain , that his father did dread him ; and that the king , though he would not deny him any thing he plainly desired , yet it appeared rather the result of fear and outward complyance , than love and natural affection , this king 's extravagant anti-suppers was a vanity not heard of in fore-fathers time , or ever practised since ; and for ought i have read , unpractised by the most luxurious tyrants : the manner of which was , to have the board covered at the first entrance of the guest with dishes seven foot high , filled with the choicest viands sea or land could afford , and all this once seen , and having seasted the eyes of the invited , was in a manner thrown away , and fresh set on to the same height : an attendance on the king eat at one of these suppers a whole pye valued at ten pounds sterling , being composed of ambersgreece musk , &c. as no other reason seemed to appear in this kings choice but handsomness ; so the love the king shewed wa● as amorously conveyed , as if he had mistaken their sex , and thought them ladies ; which somers●t and buckingham did labour to resemble , in the es●eminateness of their dressings ; though in wanton look● , and wanton gestures , they exceeded any part of woman-kind , nor was his love , or what else the world will please to call it , carried on with a discression sufficient to cover a less scandalous behaviour ; for the king kissing them after so lascivious a mode in publick , and upon the theatre ( as it were ) of the world , prompted many to imagine things done in the tiring-house , that exceed my expression , no less than they do my experience . now , as to the poysoning business of sir thomas overbury ; on which account king iames made so many dreadful imprecations upon himself and posterity , not to spare any that were found guilty , but how he f●iled the relation will inform . the earl of montg●mery declining in his favour with king iames , mr. r. carr , a very handsome gentleman , and well bred , appear'd upon the stage ; who chose for his chief companion sir thomas overbury , a gentleman of excellent parts , but very proud and haughty . now was carr knighted , and overbury's pride rose with the others honours ; then was the strife between the two great statesmen , salisbury and suffolk , who should most indear themselves with this great favourites creature overbury , but he with a kind of scorn neglected both their friendships . northampton finding himself neglected by so mean a spark ( as he thought ) follow'd balaam's counsel , by sending a moabitish woman unto him , in which he made use of one coppinger , a gentleman who had spent a fair estate , and to supply his necessities , was turned a kind of procurer , or what the present town calls a cock bawd. this meabitish woman was a daughter of the earl of suffolk and wife to the young earl of essex . this train took , and the first private meeting was at coppinger's house : this privacy in their stollen pleasure , made coppinger a friend to northampton and suffolk , though but a servant to viscount rochester , for so was carr now made . overbury was that iohn baptist that reproved the lord for that sin of using the lady , and abusing the young earl ; he would often call her strumpet , and her mother and brothers bawds , &c. then to satisfie overbury , and blot out the name of sin , his ●ove led him into a more desperate way , by a resolution to marry another man's wife ; against this then did overbury exclaim much louder : on which a council was held to concert about the best means to be rid of him . the plot then was , he must be sent a leidger ambassador into france ; which by obeying , they should be rid of so great an eye-sore ; by disobeying , he incurred the displeasure of his prince , ● c●ntempt that he could not expect less than imprisonment for , and by that means be sequ●stred from his friends . and thus far i do believe the earl of somerse● ( for so was he now made ) was consenting ; this stratagem took , and overbury might truly say , ( video meliora deteriora sequar ) for he indeed made the worst choice , it could not be thought but such an imployment was much better to him to have accepted , than to be confined to a loa●hsome prison . having him now fast in prison , herodias , by pleasing her herod , must also ask , and have his life ; for , perscelus ad scele●● , tuti●r est via ; to that end they preferred emposides to be servant to sir gervase elway's , then lieutenant of the tower , and a very wise , religious gentleman , he was so ignorant of the pl●t , as he never dreamt of any such matter , until one day ( as it should seem ) weston being told e●●ays did know wherefore he was preferred unto him to wait on overbury ; he a●ked the lieutenant whether he should now do i● , elways replied , what ? weston at that being somewhat abashed , which elways quickly apprehended , replied , no , not yet ; for he did believe there was something known to weston ; instantly he hasted away ( being a little before dinner ) and went into his study , and weston being come , he exa●i●ed him the meaning of that question ; at last , between fair means and threatning , perswaded him to con●ess the ●ruth ; then elways , as he well could , laid before weston the horridness of the fact , the torments of hell , &c. at last made him so sensible , that he gave the lieutenant humble thanks , for that he had been instrumental in saving his soul , by putting him off from so soul intentions , and faithfully promised never to be concerned in so foul at act , and for a long time as faithfully performed . the lieutenant ordered weston to bring him such things as were sent to give overbury , which he accordingly did ; the lieutenant ever gave them to doggs and catts , some of which died presently , others lingred some time . during this time , the earl continued sending to visit overbury , wheedling him with an assurance that he did not forget his release : at last , the countess growing impatient , sent for weston , reviling him , saying , he was a treacherous villain , on which he promised her fidelity to the future ; yet the countess would not trust him alone any more , but joined one franklin to him , a greater villain than himself . some time after these two villains had carried overbury the tarts , they went to his chamber , and found him in great torment , with contention between strength of nature , and working of the poyson , and they fearing nature would have gotten the better , and that it might come upon the judgment of physicians that foul play had been offered him , they immediately stifled him between two pillows , and so ended his miserable life , with the assurance of the conspirators , that he dyed by poyson , none thinking otherwise but the two murtherers . now this grand obstacle being removed , the adulterous marriage must be brought about ; and for the more easie effecting of it , they did ( without much trouble ) make the king a party in this bawdy business , and the bishops likewise must be principal actors in bringing this bawdery to a marriage , of whom bilson , bishop of winchester was chief ; for which the king knighted his son. the bishops had many meetings , in which there wanted no bribes from the lord and lady to h●ve this nullity brought to pass , wherein the discourse would have better befitted the mouths of bawds and ruffians than grave divines . arch-bishop abbot opposed and protested against all their proceedings : for which the king held him in disgrace to his dying day . to make up the full measure of bawdry , and to justifie the nullity ; a search must be made into the lady , to find whether there had been a penetration , and a jury of grave matrons were found fit for that purpose ; who , with their spectacles ground to lessen , not to make the letter larger , after their inspection into the premises , gave verdict , she was intacta virgo , which was thought very strange , for the world took notice , that her way was very common , before ever somerset trod in it ; besides they two having lived so long in adultery together . the plot was contrived thus , the lady of essex , pretending modesty , makes humble suit to the bawdy bishops ( who were all concerned in this stratagem ) that she might come vailed into the court , which they all readily granted : one mrs. turner was dressed in the countesses cloaths ; and at that time too young to be other than virgo intacta . now is the nullity pronounced , and the marriage with somerset speedily solemnized , but sweet meat must have sowr s●wce : for not long after , thrumbal , agent at bruxels , had ( by one reeve , an apothecaries prentice in london , that was come there on some occasions ) gotten hold of this poysoning business , on which he presently wrote to secretary wynwood , that he had business of great consequence to discover , but would not send i● therefore desired license to come over ; which after some time the king granted ; and now had they good testimony by the apothecary , who revealed weston , mrs. turner , and francklin , to be the principal agents ; yet , it being the time of the king's progress , nothing was done in it till his return . secretary wynwood having been affronted , and much abused by somerset , in his secretaryship , does now carry himself in a kind of braving way against him , being struck in with the faction of viller's who was now the risi●g sun , and king iames's darling favourites . king iames being returned from his summers progress , returns to windsor , from thence to hampton-court , then to white-hall , and sho●tly after to royston , to begin his winter journey . and now begins the game to be plaid , in which the earl , and countess of somerset must be losers ; the lord chief justice coke , and secretary wynwood , the managers against them . the day the king went from vvhite-hall to theobald's , and so to royston , he sent for all the judges , ( his lords and servants encircling him ) where kneeling down in the midst , he spoke to them as followeth . my lords , the iudges , it is lately come to my hearing , that you have now in examinati●n a business of po●soning , lord ! in what a most miserable conditi●n shall this kingdom be ( the only famous nation for hospitality in the world ) if our tables should become such a s●are , as none could e●t without da●ger of life ; and the italian custom be introduced among us : therefore , my lords , i charge you , as you will answer it at the great and dreadful day of iudgment , that you will examine it strictly , without f●v●●● , affection , or partiality ; and if you shall spare any that are found guilty of this crime , god's curse light on you , and your posterity : and if i spare any , god's curse light on me , and my posterity for ever . but how this dreadful thunder curse or imprecation was performed , the following account will shew . the king goes to ro●ston , accompanied with the earl of s●merset ; the next day the earl being to go to london , went to kiss the king's hand , who hanged about his neck , slabberi●g his cheeks , saying , when shall i see you again ? on my soul , i shall neithe● eat nor sleep until you come again : the earl told him in about three days : for god's sake let me , said the king , shall i , shall i ? then lolled about his neck , slabbering his cheeks as formerly ; the earl was scarcely in his coach , when the king used these very words , i shall never see his face more . let the reader judge whether this motto of qui nescit dissimilare , nescit regnare , was not as well performed in this passage , as his beati pacifici , in the whole course of his life . but before somerset's approach to london , his countess was apprehended ; at his arrival , himself . now are in hold , the earl , his countess , sir thomas monson , mrs. turner , weston , and franklin , with some others of less note ; the three last named were immediately arraigned , tryed , and executed . the next that came on the stage was the countess , and sir t. monson , but the king being informed that the latter would discover some secrets of prince henry's death , and other court intreagues , he immediately dispatched an order to coke to stop prosecution : and now for the last act enters somerset himself on the stage , about whom many s●ratagems were used , and the king was put in great fear before they could get him fro● the tower to westminster , to take his tryal ; but it was at last affected by a stratagem of sir george moor , lieutenant of the tower , but yet ( for fear he should flie out into some strange discovery against the king ) he had two servants placed on each side of him , with a cloak on their arms , giving them a peremptory order , if that somerset did any way stie out on the king. they should instantly hoodwink him with that cloak , and take him violen●ly from the bar : but the earl finding himself thus over-reached , recollected a better temper , and went on calmly in his tryal , where he held the company till seven at night : but whoever h●d seen the king 's res●less motion all that day , sending to every boat he see landing at greenwich-bridge , cursing all that came without tydings , would have easily judged all was not right , and there had been some grounds of his fears of somerset's boldness : but , at last , one brings him word he was condemned , and the passages , all was quiet . and there were other strong inducements to believe som●rset knew , that ( by him ) he desired none other should be partaker of , and that all was not peace within , in the peace●maker hims●lf ; for he ever cour●ed somerset to his dying day , and gave him four thousand pounds , per annum , for fee farm rents , after he was condemned , and the king kept correspondence weekly with him by letters , to his death . some are of opinion that his countess and he would both have suffered , had it not been for an unhappy expression of chief justice coke , who , in a vain glorious sp●ech , to shew his vigilancy , enters into a rapture , as he sate on the bench , saying , god knows what become of that sweet bab● , prince henry ; but i know somewhat . and surely , in se●rching the cabinets , he lighted on some papers , that spoke plain in that which was ever whispered ; which had he gone on in a gentle way , would have fall'n in of themselves , not to have been prevented ; but this solly of hit tongue stopt the breath of the discovery of that so foul a murther . and now begins villers , the new favorite to reign , without any controulment ; now he rises in honour as well as pride , being broken out of the modest bounds that formerly had impailed him , to the high-way of pride and scorn , turning out , and putting in all he pleased . first , he gets the lord-admiral turned out , and himself made lord high admiral . next , he procured the seal to be taken from egerton , lord ●eeper , and procures the place for bacon , who was to pay him a large pension out of it ; heath , attorney general , paid a pension ; bargrave dean , paid a pension ; with multitudes of other● : fo●herhy made bishop of salisbury , paid down 3500 l. for his bishoprick . there were books of rates on all offices , bishopricks , deaneries in england , that could tell you what fines , what pensions ; all which went to maintain his numerous beggarly kindred , which otherwise it had been almost impossible to have maintained them with three kingdoms revenue . then must these women kindred be married to earls , and earls eldest sons , barons , or chief gentlemen of greatest est●tes ; insomuch that the very female kindred were so numerous , as sufficient to have peopled any plantation : nay , the very kitchin-wenches were married to knights eldest sons . proposals being made for a match with the infanta of spain , and some progress being made therein , it was resolved , that sir john digby , by commission under the great seal , was authorized to treat and conclude the marriage ; and because the matter of religion was in chief debate , those qualified articles that were brought out of spain , were sent back● signed with the king's hand . they were to this effect . that the pope's dispensation be first obtained by the meer act of the king of spain . that the children of this marriage be not constrained to be brought up protestants , nor their titles to the crown prejudiced in case they prove catholicks . that the infanta's family may be catholicks , and shall have places appointed for their divine service , according to the vse of the church of rome , and that the iesuits , and other ecclesiasticks and priests may walk in their proper habits . that she shall have a competent number of iesuits , priests and chaplains ; and a confessor always attending her , one whereof shall have power to govern the family in religious matters . the people of england having in memory the intended cruelty of 88. and hating the popish religion , generally hated this match , and loathed the thoughts of having the romish priests to walk about the streets in their habits , and would have bought it off at the dearest rate ; and , what they durst , oppos'd it by speeches , counsels , wishes , prayers ; but if any one speak louder than his fellows , he was soon put to silence , disgraced , and crossed in court preferments . the roman catholicks desired the match above measure , hoping for a toleration , yea , a total restauration of their religion : for , besides the publick articles , these following private ones , in favour of the roman catholicks , were subsrcribed and sworn to by the king ; they were in substance as followeth , i. that particul●r laws made against roman catholicks , as likewise general laws , under which , all are equally comprised , if so be they are such which are repugnant to the romish religion , shall not hereafter on any account , or means , be put in execution against them . ii. that no other laws shall hereafter be made anew , against the said roman catholicks ; but that there shall be a perpetual toleration of the roman catholick religion . iii. that we , and the prince of wales , will interpose our authority , and will do as much as in us shall lie , that the parliament shall approve , corfirm , and ratifie , all and singular articles , in favour of the roman catholicks . and that hereafter we will not consent that the said parliament should ever at any time enact , or write any other new laws agaonst roman catholicks . the great concessions of king iames , towards the roman catholicks , brought great swarms of priests and jesuits into england , who were busie in drawing the people from the protestant religion : and a titular bishop of calcedon , privately came to london , to exercise episcopal jurisdiction over the roman catholicks of this kingdom . 't is said that the king had now so much confidence of the match , as to say openly in the cour● that now all the devils in hell could not break it . the spaniards , the better to cover their designs , ordered that the infanta should be stiled the princess of england ; and she was kept no longer in her virgin retirements . the spanish match having been long in treaty , and it being suspected now , that the spaniard did juggle with the states in this , as they formerly did in a match with that brave prince henry . whether the king suspected any such matter , or any whimsie came into the brains of the great favourite and prince , to imitate the old stories of the knights errand ; but agreed it was ( it should seem ) that the prince must go himself very privately into spain , with his favourite buckingham , under the borrowed names of iack and tom smith ; and they had the ports laid so , that none should follow them to give any notice to the french court , through which they must pass . and now many lords , and other servants , flock over , that he might appear the prince of great britain . many treaties were , so●etimes hope , sometimes fear , sometimes great assurance , then all dasht again . at last , after many heats and cools , the prince wrote a letter to his father , of a desperate despair , not only of not enjoying his lady , but of never more rerurning . now the folly of this voyage began to appear , many smiling at the follies , that were concerned in it ; and however the king was a cunning dissembler , and shewed much outward sorrow , as he did for prince henry's death ; yet the court believed little grief came near his heart ; for that secret hatred he had of late bore to buckingham ( as being satiated with him , ) and his adorning the rising sun , made it generally thought that he would not value the losing his son , so that buckingham might be lost also : yet buckingham had so much awe over the king , that he durst not make shew to affect any other . one great reason of the king 's hating of buckingham was , a large information that he privately received from one inniosa , an extraordinary ambassador from spain , of buckingham's design on his person , whether by poyson , pistol , dagger , &c. he could not tell . buckingham being fully satisfied on several accounts of the great hatred the king now bore unto him . he turned as great a hater of the king ; and though the king had more power to revenge , he had less courage . and however , the world did believe the king's inclinations was out of a religious ground that he might not revenge ; yet it was no other but a cowardly disposition , that durst not adventure . but altho the king lost his opportunity on buckingham , yet the black plaister and powder did shew , buckingham lost not his on the king ; and that it was no fiction , but a reality , that padro macestria had formerly told the king. and now the prince returns from spain , and all the fault of the match not succeeding is laid on bristol , who was ambassador there . and buckingham , from an accused man in the former parliament , came to be the darling of this parliament . and in the banquetting-house , before both houses of parliament , does buckingham give an account at large of his spanish voyage ; and to every full point ( as a further a●testation ) he saith , how say you , sir ? to which the prince answered , i , yea , or yes . bristol having some friends that sent advice of all into spain . he immediately posts into england , makes buckingham's relation and accusation wholly false and scandalous , and becomes a great favourite to king iames. i shall now bring the secret story of this king's life to an end . he now goes his last hunting journey ( i mean the last of the year , as well as his life ) which he ever ended in lent , and was seised on by an extraordinary tertian ague ; yet 't was not the ague , as himself confessed to many of his servants ; one of which c●ying , courage sir , this is but a small fit , the next will be none at all : at which he most earnestly looked , and said , ah! it is not the ague afflicteth me ; but the black plaister and powder given me , and laid to my stomach . nor was it fair dealing , if he had fair play ( which himself suspected , often saying to the earl of montgomery , whom he trusted above all men , in his sickness , for god's sake look i ●ave fair play ) to bring in an emperick to apply any medicines , whilst those physicians appointed to attend him , were at dinner ; nor could any but buckingham answer it with less than his life . buckingham visiting the king just as he was at the point of death● who mournfully fix● his eyes on him , as who would have said , you are the man that has ruined me . it were worth the knowledge what his confessions was , or what other expressions he made of himself , or any other , but that was only known to the dead arch-bishop abbot , and the then living bishop williams . and the lord-keeper ; and it was thought , williams had blabbed something which incensed the king's anger , and buckingham's hatred , so much against him , that the loss of his place could not be explatory sufficient , but his utter ruine must be determined . now have we brought this king ( who stiled himself the king of peace , and put on mortality the 27 th , of march ) to rest in all peace : we shall conclude his remarks , with an appendix , sh●●ing the particulars of a great man● millions of good english money , even to an almost incredible sum , this king expended on his fruitless emb●ssies , b — ng favourites , beggarly scots , ant-suppers , masqueradoes , and other buffoons , even to a far greater sum than his predecessor ( queen elizabeth of happy memory , expended in all her wars in ireland , and with spain , &c. during her forty four years reign . king iames's letter to pope clement . most holy father , having understood by several reports , how diligent the rivals of our condition have been , that the sword of your authority should he unsheathed against us , and with what constancy your prudence hath hitherto refused it , we could do no less than return thanks for such a good turn received , especially upon so fair an occasion , when the bearer of these , a scotch man , by nation , but a roman , by adoption , was returning unto your dominion ; we recommend him to your holiness ( to whom , for his good parts , you have been already beneficial ) that you would attentively bear him in those things which he shall deliver in our name : and because we know there is no better remedy against the calumnies of ill willers ( who by commemorating our injuries done to catholicks , procure envy to us , and thanks to themselves ) then that some of our countrey-men , zealous of the truth , though differing from the religiin which we have sucked from our infancy , should have an h●nourable occasion of making their abode in the court of rome , from whom your holiness may be certainly insormed of the state of our affairs . in this regard , we recommend to you the bishop of vazion ; who , as he d●th impute whatsoever increase of his condition to your holyness alone ; so we are earnest suitors , that for our sake especially , the h●nour of the cardinals cap may be added to his former advantages . by this means the calumny of our enemies will cease , when such are present with you , who may be able to assert the truth of our doing . we do not desire any of our actions should be concealed from just arbitrators ; for though we have been bred up in the truth of that religion which we now profess , yet we have always determined , that there is nothing better and safer than piously , and without ostentation , to endeavour the promoting of those things which really belong to the glo●y of god's name , and laying aside the goads of envy , and applying the warmth and fomentation of charity , diligently to consider what belongeth not to the empty name of religion , but to the holy symbol of true piety . but because we have discoursed more at large of these things , with the bearer hereof , a man not vnl●arned , and indifferently well conversant in our affairs , we have thought best to be no more tedious by a long letter . from holy rood , septemb. 24. 1599. your holiness's most dutiful son , james rex . this letter was conveyed by edward drummond , the lawyer , whom the king sent to the pope , the duke of tuskany , the duke of savoy , and other princes and cardinals . first , you shall most respectively salute , in our nam● , the pope , and those other prin●es and cardinals , and having delivered our letters of credence shall signifie . that we exceedingly desire to reserve with them the measure of love and good vvill , which is fitting to remove not only all suspicion , but any thing that may be the cause of suspicion . that altho we persist in the religion which we sucked from our i●fancy , yet we are not so void of charity , but to think well of all christians , if so be they continue in their duty first towards god , and then towards the magistrate , whose s●bjects they are . that we never exercised any cruel●y against the catholicks , for their religion . and because it doth very much concern us , that we may be able to assert the truth , by our friends and subjects , with the same diligence that slanderers lye ; therefore you shall endeavour to the utmost to perswade the pope , a● well at our entreaty , as for the desire of th●se m●st illustrious princes , whom in our letters we have solicited on our behalf , to make the bishop of vazion cardinal , wherein if you be successful , as so●n as we shall be certified thereof , we will proceed further . you must be cautious not to proceed any farther in this business● either with the pope , or th● most illustrious cardinals , ●●less there be a certain hope of our wished event . the secret history of king charles i. the misfortunes of this monarch , son to king iames , with the uncouth , dismal , and unexpressable calamities that happened thereupon , was in a great measure caused by the imprudent commissions , and voluntary omissions of king iames : as it may justly be said , he , like adam , by bringing the crown into so great a necessity , through profuse prodigality , became the original of his sons fall ; who was , in a manner compell'd to stretch out his hands towards such gatherings and taxes as were contrary to law ; by which he fell from the paradice of a prince , to wit , the hearts of his people , though th● best politicians ex●ant , might miscarry in their calculation of a civil-war , immediately to follow , upon the death of queen elizabeth , in vindication of the numerous titles and opinions then current : yet the beggarly rabble attending king iames , not only at his first coming out of scotland , but through his whole reign ( like a fluent spring ) found still c●ossing the river tweed , did so far justifie the former conjecture , as it was only thought mistaken in relation to time . the fi●st thing this king did , after the performing his father's funeral rights , was the consummating the marri●ge with● henrietta maria , a daughter of f●ance , whom he had formerly seen in his journey , through that countrey into spain . the king then call'd a parliament , who met the 11th . of iune following ; to whom he represented , in a short speech . the urgent necessity of raising a subsidy , to ●a●ry on the vvar with spain . but the parliament presented first their two petitions , concerning reas●ns of religion , and complaint of their suff●rings ; which points had been offered to his father , king iames : in both which they at present received sati●faction . upon which the king obtained two subsidies to be paid by protestants , and four by papist laiety , and three from the clergy . on the 11th . of iuly , 1629. the parliament was adjourned ●ill august the 1st ; when the king declared to them the necessity of setting for●h a fleet , for the recovery of the palatinate : the lord treasurer ins●anced the several sums of money king iames died indebted to the city of london ; this occasioned very warm debates in the house of commons , who alleadged , that evil councils guided the king's designs : that the treasury was misimployed : that it would be necessary to petition the king for honester and abler council● : tha● it was not usual to grant subsidies upon su●sidies in one parliament , and no grievances redressed ; with many other of the like nature . and being incensed against the duke of buckingham , they began to think of divesting him ●f his office , and to require an account of the publick money , &c. to prevent which● the king dissolved the parliament . and now the king 's put upon taking up money upon loan , of such persons as were thought of ability to lend . to whom letters were issued out in the king's name to ex●ite them to it . but this not answering , the king summons a parliament to si● , feb. 6. and being me● , they ●ell immediately ●pon debate of the publick grievances , much the same as the former . then the house of commons were very busie in searching the signet office , for the original of a le●ter , under the signet , written to the mayor of york , for reprieving divers priests and jesuits . this was reported by pim , chair-man to the committee for religion ; but the king immediately demanded a supply for the english and irish forces . this was highly resented by the commons , and several sharp speeches were made in the house . but notwi●h●●anding , the commons a● last voted three subsidies , and three fifteen● ; and the bill shall be brought in as soon as the grievances , which were represented , were redressed . but the king observing they did not make the has●e he expect●d , sends a sharp message to them , complains against their grievances , and justifies the duke of buckingham . the commons in answer , present an high remonstrance , and justifie themselves . to which the king sends them answer , by finch , their speaker , that if they did not pass the bill of subsidy , by the end of the week following , it would enforce him to take other resolutions , &c. before the commons sent an answer , they petitioned his majesty , that he would be pleased to remove from all places of trust and authority , all such persons as were either recusants , or suspected to be such . and the commons then drew up another declaration of grievances , against the duke of buckingham , who being thereat incensed , dissolved the parliament , the very next day , iune 15. 1626. then the king's cabal council resolved on several ways for advancing the king's revenue : first , levying of customs , and imposts on all merchandize . privy seals were issued out , and benevolences proposed ; and , at length , a commission for a general loan was resolved on : but the assessment of the loan was generally opposed ; whereupon , the people of the lower rank were ordered to appear in the military-yard , next st. martins in the fields , before the lieutenant of the tower , to be listed for soldiers ; it being then thought necessary , for the better security of the liberty of the subject , that those which refused to assist with their purses , should be forced to serve in their persons : others of bette● quality were committed prisoners to the fleet , marshalsea , gate-house , &c. and among others , sir i. elliot , who petitioned his majesty , and repeated many precedents , that all manner of taxes , in former kings reigns , were never levied , but by consent of parliament : however , he was committed , and sir p. hayman , was forced to serve the king in the palatinate . dr. sybthorp and maynwaring , two court preac●ers , about this time , preached up the necessity and duty of the loan ; one of them asserting , that the prince had power to direct his council , and make laws himself . the other affirmed , that the king 's royal command , in imposing of laws and taxes , though without cons●nt in parliament , did oblige the subjects conscience , upon pain of eternal damnation . which position was entertained with such great a●plause a● court , that abbot was suspended his archi●piscopal sea , for refusing to license the sermon wherein it was contained . in 1627● ( being the third year of the king's reign ) the exchequer being very low ; and several late enterprises having miscarried , a parliament was called , and on the 27th . of march they a●sembled ; and the king , and lord k●epers , in two speeches , earnestly pressed them to consider of some speedy w●y for supplying his majesties necessities . the first thing taken into co●sid●ration by the commons was the grievances of the kingdom : and the fir●t thing insisted on , was the case of those gentlme●n for refusing the loan ; and who , notwithstanding their habeas corpus , were rem●nded to prison ; and it was resolved , in the house , nemine contradicente , that no man ought to be b●strained by the king or privy-council , without some cause of the commitment . secondly , that the w●it of habeas corpus ought to be granted to every man upon request , that is restrained , on which he ought to be bayled , if cause of commitment be not decla●ed . then the parliament petitioned against popish recusants ; to which the king gave them a satisfactory answer . af●●r which , five subsidies were granted to the king , which gave him so great satisfaction , that he sent them word , he would deny them nothing of their liberties which any of his predecess●rs had granted : whereupon , the commons f●ll upon the memorable petition of right . and when it was pr●sented , the answer the king gave to it , was not judged satisfactory by the commons● and therefore upon their petition , the king gave them this short , but full answer , let it be done according to your desire . which answer mightily pleased both houses . and his majesty for further satisfaction , suffered the commission for loan and excise to be cancelled , and received abbot and williams into his favour again ; so th●t all discontents on every side seemed to be banished . in 1628. ( the fourth year of the king's reign ) the parliament drew up a remonstrance against buckingham , bishop neal , and laud , which they presented to the king , with the bill of subsidies ; his majesty told them , that he expected not such a return for his favourable answer to the petition of right ; and as for the grievances , he would take time to consider . an information being likewise exhibited against the duke in the star-chamber . the king , by his express will and pleasure , ordered that it should be taken off the file , and the king resolving to hold up the duke , adj●urned the parliament to the 20 th . of october following . but soon after , the duke was summoned to answer at a higher tribunal , by the means of one felton , a lieutenant , who stabbed him to the heart with a dagger . the parliament were further adjourned to ianuary 20. in which time the merchants refusing to pay custom , had their goods seized : complaints thereof being made to the parliament , the king requires them to pass the promis'd bill for tunnage and poundage ; but the commons answered , that god's cause was to be preferred before the king 's ; and that they would therefore , in the first place , consult about religion : one committee being for religion , and another for civil matters . at the last , was a complaint about the customs , and the farmers of the customs were challenged . but the king vindicated them ; and the parliament being upon proceeding against them as delinquents , the king adjourned them till the 10 th . of march. the commons enraged thereat , blamed their speaker for admitting the mes●age , and ordered sir i. elliot to draw up their remonstrance ; which was in very high terms , about tunnage and poundage , &c. the substance was as followeth , i. vvhosoever shall indeavour to introduce popery , arminiauism , or other than orthodox opinion , shall be reputed a capital enemy to the kingdom . ii. vvhosoever shall counsel the taking of tunnage and poundage , or shall yield voluntary , or pay the same , without being granted by parliament , shall be deemed a betrayer of , and enemy to the liberties of england . these things were so much disliked by the king , that he sent the usher of the black rod to dissolve them , who was not admitted in : whereupon , the king with his guard of pensioners , were resolv'd to force their entrance ; which the commons having notice of it , they suddenly went out of the house . and this was the end of that parliament . some , considering that neither this nor the two former parliaments complied with the humour of the king , or ministers of state , advised the king never to call another : and to that end , the famous book of protects was published , and addrest to the king , proposing some methods to prevent the impertinency of parliaments ( as he calls them ) from time to time , by the example of lewis xi . of france ; who , pretending that the commons did encroach too much on the nobility and clergy , dissolv'd it ; and never after suffered the people freely to elect their representatives . in the year 1634. the design of ship-money was first set on foot ; and attorney general no● being consulted about , he pretends , out of some musty records , to find an ancient president of raising a tax on the nation , by the authority of the king alone , for setting out a navy in case of danger ; which was thereupon put in execution , though no● without great discontent , both among the clergy and laiety . discontents in scotland likewise began to increase , and a book was printed and published , charging the king with indirect proceedings , and having a tendency to the rtmish belief . and now , to blow up these scotch sparks to a flame , c. richeli● sent over his chaplain , and another gentleman , to heighten their differences . and some time a●ter , viz. the latter end of the year , 1653. great differences arose about church-matters in england , chiefly occasioned by a. b. laud's strict enjoyning many new ceremonies , not formerly insisted on , and now vehemently opposed , by those called puritans , to whom adhered many of the episcopal party . several gentlemen of quality had refused to pay the ship-money ; and among the rest , esquire hambden of bucks ; upon which the king refers the whole business to the twelve judges , in michdelmas term , 1636. ten of whom gave their judgments against hambden ; but hutton and cook refused it . the king , 1637. issuing out a proclamation in scotland , commanding the use of the liturgy , surplice , altar , &c. there occasioned great disorders and tumults among the common people , who , sometime after , with the gen●ry , entred into a solemn league and covenant , to preserve the religion then profest . the covenant , the scots were resolved to maintain , and to that purpose , they sent privately for general lesley , and other great officers from beyond sea , providing themselves likewise with arms , &c. after this , they elect commissioners for the general assembly , whom they cite to move the arch bishops and bishops to appear there , as guilty persons , which being refused , the people present a bill of complaint against them , to the presbitery at edenburg : who accordingly warned them to appear at the next general assembly . at their meeting , the bishops sent in a protestation against their assembly ; which the covenanters thought not fit to read ; and soon after , they abolished episcopacy , and then prepared for a war. on which , the king prepares an army against them ; with which , anno. 1639. he marches in person into the north ; but , by the mediation of some persons , a trea●ise of peace was begun , but soon broken off . the king therefore confiders how to make provisions for men and money ; and calling a secret cabinet council , consisting only of lau● , strafford , and hamilton , it was concluded , that for the king●s supply , a parliament must be called in england , and another in ireland . the scots fore-seeing the storm , prepared for their own defence , making treaties in swede● , denmark , holland , and poland : and the jesuits , who are never ●dle , endeavoured to foment . in the year 1640. and the sixteenth of the kings reign , a parliament was called , in which the king pr●sses the●●or a speedy supply , to suppress ( what he calls ) the violences of the scots ; bu● this parliament not complying with the kings desire , were , by the advice of the iuncto , dissolved , having only sate twenty two days . laud , by his violent proceedings against those called puritans , and by his strict enjoyning of old , un-observed ceremonies , which by many were thought popish , procured to himself much hatred from the generality of people ; that upon may 9. 1640. a paper was fixt on the royal exchange , inciting the prentices to go and sack his house at lambeth , the monday a●ter ; but the arch-bishop had notice of their design , and provided accordingly ; that at the time when they came , endeavouring to enter his house , they were repulsed . the king calls a select juncto to consult about the scots , where the earl of strafford delivered his mind , in such terms , as afterwards proved his ruine . war against them was resolved on , and money was to be procured one way or other : the city was invited to lend , but absolutely re●used : some of the gentry contributed indifferent freely : so that with their assistance the army was compleated , the king himself being generalissimo , marches his army into the north , where was some action , in which the scots had the better . a treaty is then set on foot , and at last concluded ; the chief conditions for the calling a parliament in england , who accordingly met , nov. 3. 1640. and the king , in his speech , tells them , that the scotish troubles were the cause of their meeting● and therefore requires them to consider of the most expedient means for c●sting them out ; and desired a supply from them for maintaining of his army . the commons began with the voting down all monopolies ; and all such members as had any benefit by them , were voted out of the house : they then voted down ship-money , with the opinion of the judges thereupon , to be illegal ; and a charge of high treason was ordered to be drawn up against eight of them , and they begun with the keeper finch , decemb. 11. alderman pennington , and some hundreds of citizens , presented a petition , subscribed by 15000 hands , against church discipline and ceremonies ; and then the commons voted , that the clergy in a convocation have no power to make canons or laws without parliaments ; and that the canons are against the fundamental laws of the realm , the king's prerogative , and the property of the subject , the right of parliaments ; and tend to fa●tion and sedition . in pursuance hereof , a charge was ordered to be drawn up against arch-bishop laud , and others , and after voted guilty of high treason , and sent to the tower. the sc●ts likewise preferred a charge against the arch-bishop , and the earl of strafford , requiring justice against them both , as the great incendiaries and disturbers both of church and st●te . on monday , march 25. 1640. the earl of s●rafford's tryal began in westmin●ter hall , the king , queen , and prince , being present ; and the commons being there likewise as a committee , at the managing their accusation ; the chief of whom was pym. the earl made a long defence , but the commons were resolved to prosecute him to death , and to proceed against him by bill of attainder , which they proceeded to dispatch . and upon the 25th . of ap●il , they passed the bill , and a few days after the lords did likewise . the bill being finished , and the king willing to save the earl , may 21. makes a speech to both houses in the earl's behalf , and so dismissed them to their great discontent : which was propagated so far , that may 23. we●e 1000. citizens , most of them armed , came thronging to westminster , crying out for justice against the earl of strafford . on sunday following the king consulted the judges , and several bishops . m●nday , may 10. the king gives commission to several lords to pass two bills● one the bill of attainder against strafford ; the other , for continuing the parliament , during the pleasure of both houses . the next day the king writes a let●er to the house , to excuse his not signing strafford's execution . but the commons would not be satisfied until the bill was signed . the fall of this great m●n , startled many other officers of state , and occasioned the resigning their places . august 6. both the english and scot●h armi●s were disbanded and four days after , the king went towards scotland , and was entertained with great demonstrations of affection by that nation , and conferred several places of honour and power upon divers of them : he confirm'd likewise the treaty between the two nations , by act of parliament . octob. 23. 1641. the horrid and notorious massacre and re●●llion broke out in ireland . at which time the irish , to dishearten the english from any resistance , asserted , that the queen was with their a m● , that the king would come amongst them also an● assist them ; that they did but maintain his c●use agai●st the puritans ; that they had the king's comm●ssi●n for what they did . whether these assertions w●re true or false● we shall not pretend to determine , but leave it to the readers own sen●iments● only we beg le●ve to incert here , by way of parenthesis , a letter sent to the pop● , by order of charles the ii. when he had taken the c●ven●nt , and was professing the presbyterian religion in scotland ; it was carried thither , and pressed forward by one dallie an irish priest , and confessor to the then queen ●f portugal , under the title of propositions and motives for , and on the behalf of the most i●vincible king of great britain , france , and ireland , to pope innocent the x. in the year of jubilee , 1650. which dallie , taking france in his way , spake with the queen mother , and received her directions for the better management of the affair . most blessed father , our agent , at present residing at rome , with all humility , shews your holiness , that the principal cause and occasion of that regicide : tyranically perpetrated upon the person of charles the first , father of the aforesaid charles the second , by his rebels , and cruel subjects ( the like whereof was never heard of ●rom the beginning of the world , not only among civil nations , but even among the most barbarous themselves ) have been the graces , favours , and concessions , so often and so many ways extended to the catholick religion , and the asserters and professors thereof , in the kingdom both of england and ireland . the truth of which appears in that the aforesaid charles the first gave authority to the marquiss of ormond , by several commissions , for the establishing and perfecting all conditions with the confederate catholicks of the kingdom of ireland , of sufficient security for the catholick faith. furthermore , the said charles the first , fearing lest the said ormond ( being an heretick ) should not satisfie the said confederates in all things , he sent thither the marquiss of worcester , a man truly and wholly catholick , with a more ample commission ; in which commission , the said marquiss of vvorcester , had f●ll authority of concluding a peace with the said confederate catholicks , and of giving them conditions altogether satisfactory , as well concerning liberty of religion , as also as to other injuries that had been done unto them ; which the said marquiss of vvorcester , making with them an ab●olute peace , did abu●dantly fulfil . further , this appeareth in that the said charles the first , even in england it self , did by commissions set the catholicks , namely , the said marquiss of vvorcester , sir arthur ashton , and many others . over his armies ; and made them governours of cities , castles , and strong holds , notwithstanding the clamour of the people against it ; and which was not a slight motive of the regicide committed upon him , whe●eby it appears , that although the said king charles the first dyed not a catholick , yet he died for them . again ( most blessed father ! ) the same agent most humbly ●epresents , that the present king charles ii. the true and undoubted heir of the fores●id charles i. and of all his kingdoms ( to whom the said kingdoms belong of right , according to that of christ , give to caesar the thing , that are caesars ) while his father yet lived , was known to have good and true inclinations to the cath●lick faith , following which , and going on in his fathers steps , he did not only r●commend it to the marquiss of ormond , but gave it him in express command to satisfie in all things the confederate ca●holicks in ireland , namely , that he shou●d grant them the ●ree exercise of their religion ; that he should abrogate the penal laws made against them ; and that he should restore to the said ●atholicks , whether laicks or ecclesi●sticks , their lands , estates , possessions , or what other rights did at any time belong unto them , and by the said laws had been unjustly taken away . in obedience to which commands , the said marquiss , in the name , and by the authority of the said two kings , namely , charles the first , and second , made and concluded a firm peace , with the said confederate catholicks : by the conclusion of which peace , the said present king● and all his dominions , hath involved himself with the catholicks in an irreconcileable war against the parliamentar●an regicides of england , whose blood therefore , the said cruel tyran●s insatiably thirst after , as they did after his fathers . the said agent further offers to your holiness , that the inhumane regicides do wickedly usurp to themselves in the dominions aforementioned , all the authority of the king ; do most cruelly persecute all the catholicks both in england and ireland , p●rtly by condemning them to banishment ; partly by putting them into prisons , and otherwise corporally punishing them ; and lastly , by putting them to death , a witness of the truth hereof , is that great slaughter made by cromwel in the taking of the two cities of droghedah and vvex●o●d , and other places , where all the catholicks , without distinction of either sex or age , were slaughtered ; witness hereof , also the raging persecution and death of catholicks in england ; by all which , and by their parliamentarian decrees themselves , and their covenant with god ( as they call it ) it is evident , even beyond the clearness of the light of the shining sun. that these tyrannical regicides do ultimately intend and put forth all their power for the utter destruction of all catholicks , and to ●xtirpate by the root , and wholly to extinguish the catholick faith throughout the world , openly asserting and boasting with great glory , that these things being once finished in those dominions , they will then invade france , and after that run through germany , italy , and all europe , throwing down kings and monarchs , whose very titles are most odious and abhorrent unto them : briefly , they have no other thing in their aim than these two , namely , the extirpation of the catholick religion , and the destruction of monarchy . to which wicked machination of theirs , forasmuch as it could never have any the least hopes , that either the king or his father should at any time in the least assent , they have put the one to death , and the other to exile : and these rebels now , with a ne●arious boldness , have lately called themselves a common-wealth . to meet with and prevent the infernal endeavours of such rebels , our agent most humbly offers to your holiness , the following propositions . 1. that your holiness would make an annual supply out of your own treasury , unto the said charles the second , of considerable sums of money , suitable to the maintaining the war against those rebels , against god , the church , and monarchy . 2. that you would cause and compel the whole beneficed clergy in the world , of whatsoever dignity , degree , state and conditions soever , to contribute the third or the fourth part of all their fruits , rents , revenues , or emoluments , to the said war , as being universal and catholick . and that the said contribution may be paid every three months , or otherwise , as shall seem most expedient to your holyness . 3. that by your apostolick nuncio's , your holyness would most ins●antly endeavour , with all princes , common-wealths , and catholick states , that the said princes , common-wealths , and states , may be admonished in the bowels of jesus christ , and induced to enter into , and conclude an universal peace , and that they will unitedly supply the said king. and that they will by no means acknowledge the said regicides and tyrants for a common-wealth or state ; nor enter into , or have any commerce with them . 4. that by the said nuncio's , or any other way , all , and every the monarchs of all europe may be timely admonished , and made sensible in this cause ; wherein , beside the detriment of the faith , their own proper interest is concerned : the foresaid tyrants being sworn enemies to all monarchy , as they themselves do openly assert , both by word and writing ; and to that end , both in germany , spain , france , poland ● &c. and in the very dominions of the great turk , they have raised dangerous insurrections ; being raised , they foment them , and to that purpose , they supply the charge , and make large contributions to it . 5. that yo●r holyness would command , under pain of excommunication , ipso facto , all and singular catholicks , that neither they , nor an● of them , directly nor indirectly , by land or by sea , do serve them in arms , or assist them by any counsel , or to help , to favour or supply them any way , under whatsoever pretext . holy father ! the premised remedies are timely to be applied , by which the catholick faith , now exposed to extream and eminent hazzard , may be conserved , and infinite number of catholicks may be preserved from destruction , monarchy may be established , and the most invincible king of great britain restor'd to his rights : all which things will bear your holyness to heaven with their praises , whom god long conserve in safety , &c. the propositions and motives abovesaid ( if occasion be ) our agent will more largely set forth , viva voce . this letter , as it seems to clear a great portion of doubts and suspitions of charles the second's integrity to the prot●stant religion ; so it is a shrewd argument , that all that glistered in this king and his father , was not gold. but i must beg the readers pardon for this long digression . the lords justices sent sir h. spotswood from dublin , to the king then in scotland , with an account of all that happened . he dispatched sir. i. stuart , with in●tructions to the lords of the privy council in ireland . he applied himself to the parliament of scotland ( as being near ) for their assistance . and an express was sent to the parliament of england . the king being returned out of scotland , december 2 d. summoned both houses together , and tells them ; that he had staid in scotland longer than he expected , yet not fruitlessly ; for he had given full satisfaction to the nation ; but cannot chuse but take notice of , and wonder at the unexpected distractions he finds at home ; and then commends to them the state of ireland . after which , the commons ordered a select committee to draw up a petition and remonstrance to the king. the one was against bishops , and oppressures in church government ; and for punishing the authors of it . and the other contained all the miscarriages and misfortunes , since the beginning of the king's reign . not long after happened the tumults of the london apprentices at whitehall , and westminster . december 28. the king sends a message to the lords , that he would raise ten thousand voluntiers for ireland , provided the commons would pay them . some time after , the king upon information , that the lord kimbolton , and five of the house of commons , viz. hollis , sir a. has●erig , mr. pym , hambden , and stroud , had correspondence with the scots , and countenanced the late city tumults ; he thereupon ordered their trunks , studies and chambers to be sealed up , and their persons seized ; the former of which was done , but they having timely notice , they went aside : upon which , the commons , the same day , voted high against these actions of the king. hereupon the king charges kimbolton , and the five members , with several articles , and ●cquaints both houses , that he did intend to prosecute them for high treason , and required that their persons might be secured : and the next day , the king , attend●d with his guard of pensioners , and some hundreds of gentleman , went to the house of commons ; and the guard staying without , the king with the palsgrave , entred the house ; at whose entrance , the speaker rises out of the chair ; a●d the king sitting down therein , views the houses●round , and perceives the birds he aimed at were flown ; whereupon he tells them , that he came to look for those five members , whom he had accused of high treason , and was r●solved to have them , where ever he found them ; and expected to have them sent to him as soon as they should come to the house ; but would not have them think , that this act of his was any violation of parliament . this act of the king was highly resented by the house , that the next day , ianuary 5. the commons voted it a breach of priviledge : and it it was said in the city , that the king intended violence against the house of commons , and came thither with force to murther several members , and used threatning speeches against the parliament . the next day the londoners came thronging to westminster with petitions , envying bitterly against some of the peers ; but especially the bishops , as the authors of all these disturbances : upon which they were so affrighted , that twelve bishops absented themselves from the house of lords , drawing up a protestation against all laws , orders , votes , resolutions , and determinations , as in themselves null , and of none effect , which had passed , or should pass , during their absence . presently after which , at a conference between both houses , it was agreed , that this protestation of the twelve bishops did extend to the deep intrenching on the fundamental priviledges , and being of parliaments : and , in a short time , they were accused of high treason , seised , and brought on their knees at the lord's bar : ten of whom were comitted to the tower ; and the other two● in regard of their age , to the black●rod . and now such numbers of ordinary people , daily gathered about westminster and white-hall , that the king ( fearing their intentions ) thought fit to withdraw to hampton-court . the next day , the five members were triumphantly guarded to westminster by a great number of citizens and sea-men , with hundreds of boats and barques . about this time the parliament had notice , that the lord digby , and coll. lunsford , were raising troops of horse at kingston , where the country magazine was lodged : whereupon they order , that the country sheriffs , justices of the peace , and the trained bands , shall take care to secure the countries and their magazines . lunsford was seised , and sent to the tower , but digby escaped beyond sea. the king removed to royston , and ianuary 20. he sends a message to the parliament , proposing the securi●y of his own rights and prerogative ; and as to matter of their grievances , he would equal , or exc●ed the most indulgent princes in compliance with them . after this , the house of commons importune the king to put the militia and command of the tower in●o their hands , as the only available means , for the removal of their fears and jealousies . but the king not willing to comply with their desire , signified to them , that he thought the militia to be lawfully subject to no command but his own ; and therefore would not let it go out of his hands , it being derived to him from his ancestors , by the fundamental laws of the kingdom . the king b●ing now at hampton●c●urt , sent for the earl of essex a●d holland , and other memb●rs of both houses , that were his domesticks , but they refused to come . in the mean time , mr. pym , at a confer●nce , complaining of the general s●ocking of papists into i●el●nd , affirmed , that since the lieutenant had orde●ed a stop upon the ports , against all irish papists , many of the chi●f commanders now at the h●●d of the r●bels , had been licensed to pass thither by the king 's immediate warrant . the king was highly● offended at this speech , which he signified to th● house , w●o , in their answ●r to his message● justifie mr. pym's words to be the sence of the house● and that they had yet in safe custody , the lord delvin , sir g. hamilton , collonel butler , and mr. nettervil : to which the king replys , that the afore-mentioned persons had their passages granted before he knew of the parliaments order of restraint ; therefore expected their declaration for his vindication from that odious calumny of conniving , or under-hand favouring that horrid rebellion . but the king's desire proved fruitless ; for they next moved to have sir i. byron tnrned out from being lieutenant of the tower ; and , at their nomination , sir i. coniers succeeded . they then proceed to name fit persons sor trust of the militia of the several counties , particularly that for the defence of the city of london , the parliament , the tower , to be commanded by major general skipton . the king had deferred his answer to their petition , for settling the mi●itia of the counties , according to the nomination , till his return from dover , where he took leave of his wife and daughter , and so returned to greenwich ; where he being arrived , sends his answer to the petition about the militia ; that he was willing to divest himself of the power of the county militia for a limited time , but not of london , and other cities and corporations . this answer did not in the least satisfie ; so that the breach growing every day wider , the king declined these parts , and the parliament , and moved to theobald's . about the beginning of march , he receives a petition from the parliament ; wherein they require the militia more fervently than before ; affirming , that in ease of denial , the eminent dangers would c●nstrain them to dispose of it by the authority of parliament ; desiring also , that he wnuld make his abode near london , and the parliament , for the better carrying on of affairs , and preventing the peoples jealousies and fears . all which being refused , they presently o●der , that the nation be put into a posture of defence , in such a way as was agreed upon by parliament , and a committee to prepare a publick declaration from these heads . 1. the just causes of the fears and jealousies given to the parliament● ; at the same time clearing themselves from any jealousies conceived against himself . 2. to consider of all matters arising from his majesties message , and what was fit to be done . and now began our troubles , and all the miseries of a civil war : the parliament every day entertaining new jealousies and suspitions of the king's actions ; they now proceed on a sudden , to make great preparations both by sea and land : and the earl of northumberland , admiral of england , is commanded to rig the kings ships , and fit them for sea : and likewise all masters and owners of ships were perswaded to do the like . the beacons were prepared , sea-marks set up , and extraordinary postings up and down with pacquets : all sad prognosticks of the calamities ensuing . august 22. 1642. the king comes to nottingham , and there erects his standard : to which , some numbers resorted , but ●ar shot of what was expected . and three days after , the king sends a message to the parliament , to propose a treaty , which was accepted , but quickly broke off again . the war being now begun , the new raised soldiers committed many outrages upon the country people , which both king and parliament , upon complaint , began to rectifie . the king himself was now generalissimo over his own , and the earl of essex for the parliament : the king's forces received the first repulse at hull , by sir i. hotham , and sir i. meldram , and the king takes up his quarters at shrewsbury : portsmouth was next surrendered to the parliament ; and presently after , sir i. biron takes worcester for the king. in september , the two princes palatines ; rupert and maurice arrived in england , who were presently entertained , and put into command by the king. this uncivil civil-war was carried on in general with all the ruines and desolations immaginable , wherein all bonds of religion , alliance , and friendship were utterly destroyed : wherein fathers and children , kindred and acquaintances , became unnatural enemies to each other . in which miserable condition this nation continued for near four years , viz. from august the 22. 1642. ( the time the king set up his standrrd at nottingham ) to may the 6. 1646. ( the time when the king , quitting all hopes , put himself into the protection of the scotch army at newark . ) during this process of time , several m●ssag●s past , divers treaties set on foot , and other overtures of accommodation , but all came to no effect . the war in england being now ( a●ter so much bloodshed and ●uine ) brought to some end , the parliament were at leisure to dispute with the scots , concerning the keeping of the king ; who , f●aring least fairfax should fall upon them , and compel them to deliver him up , retreated further no●thwa●d● , towards new-castle , the parliament sent an invitation to the prince of wales , to come to ●ondon , with promise of honour and safety ; but he did not think fi● to venture . the king sends from new-cas●le to the army , about a treaty ; and the house of commons vote , that the kings person should be d●manded of the scots , and that their whole army return home , upon recei●● of part of th●ir arrears , the rest to be sent after them . and a committee is appointed to treat with the scotch commissioners , about drawing up propositions to be sent to the king ; wherein much time was spent in wrangling , whilst the english deny the scots to have any right in the disposal of the king of england ; and the scots as stifly alledged , he was their king , as much as of the english ; and they had as good right to dispose of the king in england , as the english could challenge in scotland : but at last they agreed on sixteen general propositions , which were presented to the king at new-castle , iuly 27. 1646. but these propositions were such that the king did not think fit to comply withal . the scots general assembly sent a remonstrance to the king , desiring him to settle matters in england , according to the covenants , &c. but all this did not do ; and therefore the scots , who had hi●herto so sharply disputed about the disposal of the kings person , are content , upon the receipt of two hundred thousand pounds to depart home , and leave the king in the power of the parliament , who voted him to holmby-house , and sent their commissioners to receive him from the scots at new-castle ; to whom feb. 8. 1646. he was accordingly delivered ; and the scots returned home . some petitions from essex , and other places , are presented to the parliament , inveighing against the proceedings of the army , which much vexed the soldiers , who sharply apologize for themselves . and now the army , to the great terror of the parliament , march towards london , and came as far as st. alban's , notwi●hstanding a message from both houses , not to come within twenty five miles of the city ; which the general excused , saying , that he army was come thither before they received the parliaments desire : and here he obtains a months pay. the parliament then drew up propositions of peace to be sent to the king at hampton-court ; the same in substance with those offered at new castle , and had the like effect . the business of episcopacy being always the main objection , which the parliament were resolved to abolish : and the king preferring that before all other respects , would rather loose all , than consent thereunto . the scots commissioners send a letter , novemb. 6. 1647. to the speaker of the house of commons , a●d require , that the king may be admitted to a personal treaty ; or at least , that he should not be carried from hampton-court violently , but that commissioners of both parliaments may ●reely pass to and from him to treat for the settlement of the kingdom , after which , divers mes●ages past between the king and the parliament , and several conferrences were set on foot , particularly that of henderson's ; but they proving ●ruitless , the parliament , with most of the officers of the army that joyned with them , brought the king to a tryal , by a judicature of their own setting up , which proved his ruine . the secret history of king charles ii. when charles the second was restored to the thrones of england , scotland , and iroland , never any monarch in the world came to the possession of so large a dominion with more advantages to have done good sor himself , to his subjects at home , and to his allies abroad : the people all experienced in ma●tial discipline , as having but newly sheathed the sword of civil war , and foreign conquest ; so that their valour was dreaded abroad , where-ever he should have menaced an enlargement of his territories : besides all this , he had the love of his subjects , equal , if not superior , to any prince that ever reigned before him : and he had the affection of his parliament to the highest degree . but after all this , he was no sooner settled in his throne , but through the influence of evil counsellors , upon a disposition naturally vitious , and easily corrupted with esseminate pleasures ; he abandoned himself to all manner of softness , and voluptuous enjoyments , and harbouring in his ●osome the worst of vices , base ingratitude , betra●ed himself , that he might betray his people ; for where the constitution of a nation is such , that the laws of the land are the measures both of the soveraign's commands , and the obedience of the subjects ; whereby it is provided , that as the one is not to invade , what by concessions and stipul●tions is granted to the ruler , so the other is not to deprive them of their lawful and determined rights and liberties : there the prince who strives to subvert the fundamental laws of the society is the traytor and the rebel , and not the people , who endeavour to preserve and defend their own . nor must we ascribe the miscarriages of his reign altogether to the remissness of his nature , but to a principle of revenge , which his mother had infused into him , not so much for the loss of her h●sband , but out of her inbred malice to the protestant religion , which no where flourished in that splendor , as in england , fostered and cherished by the vow'd enemy of this nation , his brother , the duke of york , who had been openly heard to declare in his bed-chamber at st. iames's , that he was resolved to be revenged upon the english nation for the death of his father ; and what an ascendant this brother had over over him , the whole kingdom has felt by sad and woful experience : for indeed the king had all along an affection for him ; so entire , and baneful to the nation , that he could only be said to reign , while his brother ruled . with all these royal vertues , and imbred and fomented animosisies , to render him at his return a gracious soveraign to this kingdom , let us trace him from his cradle to find out those princely endowments , which invisibly encreasing with him as he grew in years , dazzled in such a manner the eyes of do●ing politicians of that age , to recal him against that known and vulgar maxim of common prudence . — regnabit sanguine multo ad reg●um quisquis unit ●b eilio● when he was but very young , he had a very strange and unaccountable fondness to a wooden bi●let , without which in his arms he would never go abroad , nor lie down in his bed : from which the more observing sort of people gathered , that when he came to years of maturity , either oppres●ors and blockheads would be his greatest favourites ; or else , that when he came to reign , he would either be like iupiter's log , for every body to deride and contemn ; or that he would rather chuse to command his people with a club , than rule them with a scepter . and indeed , they that made the first and last conjectures , found in due time they were not altogether in the wrong . for the throne was no sooner empty by the death of his father , before he could be permitted to s●at himself in it , but he gave the world a plain discovery what sort of people they were ; who , when he came to reign , were most likely to have the principal room in his favour and trust , and by whose assistance he was in hopes to tyrannize o●er his e●glish and scotch ● subject● , particularly those of the latter . for when the parliament of scotland sent for him ; as he was then cruising about guernsey , to treat about receiving him to be their king , he would not so much as transact with them , till he had first sent into ireland , to assure himself , whether those rebels , who had murthered no less than two hundred thousand protestants , were in a condition or no for him to cast himself upon their assistance . but those hopes failing , in regard they were in a fair way to be subdued themselves , he was at length inclined to entertain the overture made him by the scots . and yet even then was his mind so full fraught with the thoughts of despotical dominion , and purposes of introducing popery in●o his territories ; that had it not been for the prince of orange , he would never have complyed with the terms which the scots had ordered to propose , though no other than what were necessary for the security of the lives , liberties , laws , and religion of his people . and how he employed his wooden ●illet afterwards , may easily be understood by his many acts of barbarous tyranny` over those poor people . this prince began early in hypocrisie , and breach of promise : for the confirmation of which , to be a certain truth , there needs no more than to lay the foundation of the proof upon his own words , and solemn engagements . for in the king's letter to the speaker of the house of commons , just before his restauration , he has these words : we assure you upon our● royal word , that none of our predecessors have had a greater esteem for parliaments than we have , as well in our judgment , as from our obligation . we do believe them to be so vital a part of the constitution of the kingdom , and so necessary for the government of it , that we well know , neither prince nor people can be in any tollerable degree happy without them ; and therefore you may be confident , that we shall always look upon their counsels as the best we can receive , aud shall be as tender of their peiviledges , and as careful to preserve and protect them , as of that which is most near to our self , and most necessary for our own preservation . this in part demonstrates his prevarication with man. now for his prevarication with heaven , we must produce another paragraph of the same letter , wherein he uses these flattering expressions● if you desire the advancement and propagation of the protestant religion , we have , by our constant profession of it , given sufficient testimony to the world , that neither the unkindness of those of the same faith towards us , no● the civilities and obligations from those of a contrary profession , could in the least startle us , or make us swerve from it ; and nothing can be proposed to manifest our zeal and affection for it , to which we will not readily assent . and we hope , in due time , our self to propose something to you for the propagation of it , that will satisfie the world , that we have always made it ●oth our care and study , and have enou●h observed , what is most like to bring disadvantage to it . now , as for his veneration of parliaments , or his zeal for the reformed , or truly any religion , the succeeding transactions of his reign , which are to be related , will plainly make it appear how far those words were from his heart , when dictated by his lips. to shew that this prince was a great lover of comedies and enterludes , and could act his part with e're a moon or lacy of them all , there is a story must not be omitted , which may serve to light us into the occasion , how he came to gain the addition of pious : otherwise , as it is impossible for us to give any account why virgil so often gives the epithet of pious to his hero ae●eas , after he had so dishonourably cheated , and broke his faith with queen dido ; so it is as little to be expected , that we should afford a reason why charles the second should be so universally dignified with the name of pious , after such a prank of hypocrisie as we are going to relate . this story is this . while he lay at breda , daily expecting the english navy for his transportation ; the dissenting party fearing the worst , thought it but reasonable to send a select number of most eminent divines , to wait upan his majesty in holland , in order to get the most advantageous promises from him they could for the liberty of their consciences . of the number of these divines , mr. case was one , who , with the rest of his brethren , coming where the king lay , and desiring to be admitted into the king's presence , were carried up into the chamber next ( or very near ) the king's closet , but told withal , that the king was busie at his devotions , and that till he had done they must be contented to stay . being thus left alone ( by contrivance no doubt ) and hearing a sound of groaning piet● , such was the curiosity of mr case , that he would needs go and lay his ear to the closet door : but heavens ! how was the good old man ravish'd , to hear the pious ejaculations that fell from the king's lips. — lord , since thou art pleas'd to restore me to the throne of my ancestors , grant me a heart constant in the exercise and protection of thy true protestant religion . — never may i seek the oppression of those , who out of his tender●ess of their consciences , are not free to conform to outwar● and indifferent ceremonies . with a great deal more of the same cant ; which mr. case having over-heard , full of joy and transport returning to his brethren , with hands and eyes to heaven up-lifted , fell a congratulating the happiness of three nations , over which the lord had now placed a saint of paradice for their prince . after which , the king coming out of the closet , the deluded ministers were to prostitute themselves at his feet ; and then it was that the king gave them those promises of his favour and indulgence , which how well he after performed , they felt to their sorrow . soon after he arrived into england , where he was received with all the pomp , splendor , and joy that a nation could express ; but then , as if he had left all his piety behind him in holland , care was taken against the very first night , that his sacred was to lie at white-hall , to have the lady castlemain seduced from her loyalty to her husband , and enticed into the a●ms of the happily restored prin●e . thus , from the first hour of his arrival into these kingdoms , he sat himself too much by his own p●rswasion and influence , to withdraw both men and women from the laws of nature and morality , and to pollute and infect the people with debauchery and wickedness . he that ought to have shown like the north-star in the firmament of royalty , to direct his subjects in the paths of vertue , was the sovereign igni● fatuus to misguide them into all the snares of ruine and perdition : execrable oathes were the chief court-acknowledgments of a deity , fornications and adulteri●● the principal tests of the peoples loyalty and obedience . certain it is , that the kingdom was never in a better posture for the king to work upon it , than at the time of his return into england : for such were the contests for superiori●y , among those who had taken upon them the government , after the death of oliver ; such the confusions and disorders that from thence arose , that no body could probably see where would be the end of the general distraction , unless it were by reducing all things to their primitive condition , under a prince whose title was so fair to the crown : for which all parties were the more inflamed , by the king 's reiterated oathes , promises and decla●ations to those of the church of england , to maintain the protestant religion ; to the dissenters , that he would indulge their tender consciences with all the liberty they could rationally desire . and so in●atuated they were with these ingratiating wheedles , that should all that knew him beyond-sea , both at colen and in flanders , have spoken their discoveries with the voices of angels , nay , should the letter which he wrote with his own hand in the year sixty two , to the pope , have been shewn them in capital letters , they would have been all looked upon but as fictious , and inventions to obstruct the happiness of the nation . the king was not ignorant , that ( in order to bring his intended designs about ) he was furnished already with a stock of g●ntl●men . who being forced to share the misfortunes of his exiles , and consequently no less imbitteted against those whom they looked upon as their oppressors , he had moulded many of them to his own religion and interest , by corrupting them in their banishment with them ; insomuch , that a certain gentleman offered to prove , one day in the pensionary house of commons , that of all t●e p●r●ons ( yet persons of all ranks and qualities ) who sojourned with the king abroad , there were scarce any then alive , except prince rupert , lord m. and mr. h. coventry , who had not been prevailed upon by his majesty to — nor could , their being restored to their ●states at his return , separate them from their master's interest ; for that , besides the future expectations , with which the king continually fed them , they had bound themselves by all the oaths and promises that could be expected from them , to assist and co-operate with him in all his d●signs , though they were dispensed with from appearing bare-fac'd . so soon therefore as the parliament that gave him admittance into the the kingdom was dissolved , the king call another , the first of his own calling ; and so ordered the matter , that the greatest part of the masked revolters got in among the real protestants : by which means , all things went trim and trixy on the king's side● they restored him the milltia , which the long parliament took from his father● they sacrificed the treasure of the nation to his profuseness and prodigality : they offered up the righ●s and liberties of the people , by advancing ●is pr●rogative ; and what was most conducing to the king's p. designs , they made him by private instructions , those penal statutes which divided the two prevailing protestant parties , and set them together by the ears , by arming one party of the protestants against the rest ; such a darl-advantage to the papists , and upon the obtaining of which , he set so high a value , that neither the necessity of his a●●airs at any time afterwards , nor the application and interposure of several parliaments for removing the grounds of our differences and animosities , by an indulgence to be past into law , could prevail upon him to forego the advantages he had got of keeping the protestants at mutual enemy one with another , and making them useful to his own designs . nor was this all , but that he might carry on his popish designs the more sa●ely and covertly , under the cursed masque of hypocrisie , he procured the passing of an act in his pensionary parliament , 1662. whereby it was made forfeiture of estate , and imprisonment , for any to say , the king was a papist , or an introducer to p●pery . nevertheless , notwithstanding he was thus become a protestant by the law of the la●d , to repeat how he exerted the power given him by the parliament , how he persecuted and prosecuted the protestant nonconformists throughout the kingdom ; how he caused to be excommunicated , imprisoned , and harrased , when not a papist in the three kingdoms was so much as troubled or mole●ted , is a thing that would be altogether needless , as being so well known to the world. i had almost forgot another great kindness which the parliament did him , which was at the private instance of the king , to abrogate the trienial act , by which the sitting of a parliament once in three years , was infallibly secured to the kingdom . so well did this monarch know where the shoe pinched him ; and so crafty was he to take his advantage from the delirium and frens●e , the nation was in upon his restoration , to obtain the repealing of the principal laws , by which his wrigling into arbitrary government would have often been curbed and restrained . but whether it were that the prodigall zeal of those members began to cool , conscious , perhaps that they had already opened too large a gap to tyrannous invasion upon the liberties of the people , which they had so treacherously laid at the king's mercy ; or whether it were that the king resolved to quicken his to arbitrary rule , to the end he might see popery flourish in his own days ; certain it is , that the next attempt was to make parliaments themselves the ministers and instruments of his own popish ambition , and our slavery . in order hereunto , he falls a buying and purchasing at certain and annual rates , the vote of the members , at what time the greatness of the number of those that stood ready for sale ( as well as their indigencies and lusts ) made the price , at which they were to be bought so much the easier . now , being thus hired by his majesty , with their own free offerings of the nations money : how many bills did they pass into acts for ensl●ving and ruining a third part of the kingdom , under the notion of phanaticks and dissenters ? and all this , in graritude of their sallaries , and to accomplish the will and pleasure of their lord and master , the king , whose bought and purchas'd vassals and slaves they were ? all this while , what can we say or think other , but that the purchaser as well as the sellers were guilty of betraying the people , who had intrusted them ? and then to make a president by law for tyranny , these hirelings empowered the justices of the peace to disleize men of their estates , without being convicted and found guilty by legal juries , of the transgressions whereof they stood accused : by which they not only overthrew all the commons , and stature law of the land , but they subverted and altered the fundamental constitution , in making english men liable to be turned at the arbitrary pleasure of the king. and as an addi●ion to this , those mercinary members , by the orders and directions of their most pious and protestant pay-master the king , past another law , which was styled , the act for corporations ; by which men of principles and integrity were debarred all offices of magistracy in cities and corporate towns ; the woful effects of which , the kingdom , not long after , both saw and felt , in the surrender of charters , and betraying of franchises , by persons upon whom the government of ●he corporations came to be delivered by vertue of that act , which excluded so many honest , able , and vertuous men , the persons whom the king for his by-ends , nominated for fit and loyal men , would never have risen above the offices of scavengers , headboroughs , or constables at the highest . to this , as mainly contributed to the king's design of enslaving us , we may subjoyn their passing an act , whereby they did bo●h limit and confine those that were to present petitions to the king , not to exceed ten persons . let the matter to be represented be ne're so important , or the grievance to be redress'd never so illegal or oppressive , yet it was made no less than a riot , if above ten persons address'd themselves to the king to crave the b●nefit of the law : a trouble which the king c●re●ully provided against , knowing how many la●s he had to break , and how burthensome and oppressive he must be to the people , b●fore ●e could compleat the fabrick of slavery and ●●p●ry , which he was erecting . nor was this all , for the king being conscious ●f his own sa●●ing , and finding that through his own 〈◊〉 , and the importunities of his consuming mis●es , he could not depend on any defini●e su●m for accomplishing his promises to his holy father , the pope , and his trusty confederate the french king , got two bills prepared , and carried into the house , the passing of which , had compleated the nations misery , and made him absolute . the one was , to empower his majesty upon extraordinary occasions ( of which he would not have failed to have been the judge as often as he pleased ) to raise money without a parliament : and the other was , for settling an vniversal excise upon the crown . the passing either of which , the king well knew would have been soon enabled him to have govern'd by basha's and ianizaries , and redeem'd him from having any further need of parliaments . but what the king had so finely projected to enslave the nation , and obtain whatever he had a mind to , prov'd the ground of their disappointment , and the occasion o● the nations escape from the snare that was laid for it : for the mercenary members fore-seeing , that the passing these bills would have put an end to these pensions , by rendring them useless for the time to come , consulting their gain , and preferring it above what the court called their loyalty , fell in with the honest party , and so became assistant in throwing out the bills . however , piou● aeneas finding the nation grew sensible of his covert intentions , and encroachments upon their laws and liberties , and desparing of getting any more acts passed in parliament , toward the promoting his desings , resolved to husband the laws he had already obtain'd , as much as he could , to the ruin of the n●tion ; and where they failed of being serviceable to his ends , to betake himself to other methods and means : and therefore , besides the daily impoverishing , confining , and destroying of infinite numbers of honest and peaceable people : under pretence of executing the laws , he made it his business to invent new projects to tear up the rights and liberties of the people , by ways and means which had not the least shadow of a law to countenance them . having made this fair progress towards the enslaving both the souls and bodies of his own subjects at home , let us take a view of his zeal to the protestant religion abroad . and first for the protestants of france : when monsieur rohan came into england to acquaint his pious majesty with the resolutions taken at paris to persecute , and if possible , to root out the reformed in france , and proposed overtures to the king , as would have been greatly for his glory and interest , yet no way contrary to the allegiance of that poor people , he remitted the monsieur to his brother , the d. of york , who not only inform'd the french ambassador of the gentleman's errand , but placed him behind the hangings , to hear what monsieur rohan had to represent and propose to him . which , although the ambassador to could not but abhor in the two ●rothers , and was asham'd of in himself , yet he could do no less than inform his master of what he had seen and heard . upon which , the poor gentleman , on his return out of england , was so narrowly watched , that being apprehended upon the borders of switzerland , he was carried back to paris , and there broken upon the wheel . nor did it satisfie ●he king and his dear brother the duke , to have thus betray'd , as well as abandoned the protestants in france ; but with the utmost malice that popery could inspire into them , they sought the destruction of the seven uni●ed provinces , upon no other account , but their being protestant states , and for giving shelter to those who being persecuted by himself and his confederate ( the french tyrant ) for their religion , fled thither for protection and safety : for knowing what in due time they intended to bring upon the protestants at home , they thought it most requisite to destroy those protestant states in the first place , that there might remain no sanctuary for their persecuted sub●ects : and indeed , abaring this , and one more ground of their quarrel with those state● ; never was a war undertaken upon more ●rivilous pretences , than those two which the king engaged in against the seven provinces , in the year 1667. and 1672. nor can any thing justifie the discretion and wisdom of the wars , had they not been undertaken meerly in subserviency to the promoting popery and slavery ; seeing , that upon all other grounds that reason and prudence can suggest , it was the interest of england , as still it is , to preserve the government of holland entire . nor can we have a true account of the grounds , upon which the two monarchs of england and france agreed the war against holland , in the year 1672. than by the representation which the french ambassador made of it both at rome and vienna . for tho' his publick declaration pretended no more , but that it was to seek reparation for the diminution of his glory ; yet the account he gave to the pope of his masters , and consequently of our protestant mon●rch , his first confederate , undertaking that war , was , that he did it in order to the extirpation of heresie : and in the same manner they sought to justifie the piety of that enterprize to his imperial majesty , by alledging , that the hollanders were a people that had forsaken god ● and were hereticks , and that all good christians were bound to associate and unite for their extirpation . upon which account it seems , our king and the duke thought fit to exchange the appellation of of g●od protestants for that of good christians . however , from hence it was plain , what sort of good christians they were , since it was evident , that their uniting with france in that war , was to des●roy the p●otestant dutch hereticks . these being the real grounds and motives that induced the king of england to begin that impolitick war ag●inst the dutch , in the year 1665. whatever was openly and publickly pretended . how strangely was the parliament deluded and blinded by the king's oaths , and protestations of his zeal for the protestant religion ? what sums of the subjects money they gave this monarch , to defray the expences of that nnnecessary and baneful war , is too well known ; and yet after all , saving one brisk engagement ill manag'd , tho' with some los● to the dutch , at length no fleet was set out , and the choicest of their royal navy either burnt , or taken in harbour to save charges . and though the french at leng●h joyn'd themselves in assistance with the dutch against us , yet , by the credit he had with the queen-mother , he so far imposed upon , that upon assurance , which no m●n of prudence and foresight would have believed , that the dutch would have no fleet at sea that year , he forbore to make ready , and so incurred that ignominious disgrace at chatham : the like , to which the english never suffered since they claim'd the dominion of the sea. and now we come to the best act that ever he did in his life , had he pursued it ; which shewed how happy a prince he might have been , had he been ever faithful to his own , and the interests of his people , and that religion which he outwardly profest . for upon conclusion of that peace , having leisure to look about him , and to observe how the french had in the year 1667. taken their opportunity , and while we were embroyled and weakned by the late war , had in violation of all the most sacred and solemn oaths and treaties , invaded , and taken a great part of the spanish netherlands , which had always been considered as the natural frontier o● england ; the king then prompted more by his own fears , then out of any kindness he had for the nation , judg'd it necessary to interpose , before the flames that consumed next neighbour should throw the sparks over the water . thereupon he sent sir william temple , then his resident at brussels , to propose a nearer alliance with the hollanders , and to take joynt measures against the french ; which proposals of sir william temple's being entertained with all compliance by the dutch , within five days after two several treaties were concluded between the king and the states : the one a defensive , and stricter leag●e than before , between the two nations ; and the other a joynt and reciprocal engagement to oppose the conquest of fland●rs , and ●o procure , either by way of meditation , or by ●orce of arms , a speedy peace between france and spain , upon the t●rms therein mentioned : and because sweeden came into the same treaty , within a very little while after , ●rom the three parties concern'd and engag'd , it was called the tripple league . in pursuance of which , the treaty of ●ix la chapelle was also forc'd upon the french , and in some measure upon the spaniards , who were unwilling to part with so great a part of their country by a solemn treaty . the king of france thus stopped in his career by the tripple league , and by the peace of aix la chapelle , soon after concluded , tho' for a while he dissembled his dissatisfaction , yet resolved to untye the tripple league , whatsoever it cost him , and therefore set his counsels to work , to try all the ways he could possibly think on , in order to compass his sad design . to which purpose ( and as it 's generally thought , that which a●●ected it ) the dutchess of orleance was sent over to dover ; where , if common fame say true , several chamber secrets were performed . this treaty was for a long time , a work of darkness , and lay long concealed , till the king of france , to the end the king of england being truly set forth in his colours , out of a despair of ever being trusted , or forgiven by his people hereafter , might be push'd to go on bare faced , and follow his steps in government , most treacherously and unking like , cau●ed it to be printed at paris ; though upon complaint , made at the french court , and the author ( though he had his instructions from colbert ) to humour the king , committed to the bastile for a short time , and then let out again . however , the book being printed , some few copies lit into safe hands ; from whence take the substance of the mystery of iniquity as followeth : after that monsieur de croisy , the french embassador at london , had laid before the eyes of the king of england , all the grounds which his majesty had of complaint against holland , &c. he told him , that the time was come to revenge himself of a nation that had so little respect for kings , and that the occasion was never more favourable , seeing many of the ●rinces of germany were already entred into the league ; and that the king of france was powerful enough to be able to promise to his allies , in the issue of that war for satisfaction , both as to their honour and interests , whereby he prevailed with that prince to enter into secret alliance with france . and for his greater assurance , and the more to confirm him , henrietta , dutchess of orleance , went for england , and proposed to her brother , in the name of the most christian king. that he would assure him an abs●lute authority over his parliament , and ●ull power to establish the catho●ick religion in his kingdoms o● england , scotland and ireland : but withal she told him , that to compass this before all things else , i● would b● necessary to abate the pride and power of the dutch , and to reduce them to the sole province o● holland ; and that by this means the king of england sh●●ld ha●e zeal●nd ●or a retreat , in case of necessity , and that the rest of the law-countries should remain to the king of france , if he could render himself master of it . this is the sum of that famous leage , concluded at d●v●r , framed and entred into on purpose , for the subjuga●ion of these three nations to popery and sl●very . soon ●fter this , the emperor o● germany , the duke of l●rrain , and several other g●rman princes , desired to be admitted into the tripple league , but it was absolutely refused them . nay , so soon as the two cons●derate monarc●s ha● thus made a shift to cut the gordian knot , the now pitiful , but formerly vaunted tripp●e leagu● , was trampled under foot , turned into ridi●ni● and less valu●d than a ballad : insomuch , that to talk of admi●ting others into the tripple league , was appr●hended in print as a kind of fi●●● of speech , comm●nly called a bull. and this i● is plain , th●t the t●i●ple lea●ue was 〈…〉 to the ends of the french king , to ruine the dutch , and to bring the three kingdoms of england , scotland , and ireland , under the yokes of ar●itrary power , and roman catholick idolatry , after a total abolition of the name of parliaments , and subversion of the fundamental laws , gratias tibi piissime atque invictissime rex , carole secunde . and that he might not as much as in him lay , meet with after rubs , mr. h. c. was dispatched into sweeden , to dissolve the tripple league in that kingdom ; which he did so effectually , by co-operating with the french ministers in that court , that the swede , a●ter it came to rupture , never assis●ed to any purpose , ●r prosecuted the ●nds of the said alliance , only by arming hims●lf at the expence of the league ; first under a disguised mediation , acted the french interest , and at last threw off his vizard , and drew his sword on the french side in the quarre● . and at home , when the project repined , and grew hopeful , the lord-keeper was discharged from his office , and both he , the duke of orm●nd , prin●e rupert , and secretary trevor , were discarded out of the committee for forreign affairs , as being too honest to comply with the intreagues th●n on foot. the exchequer for some years b●fore , by the b●it of more than ordinary gain , h●d de●●y'd in the greatest part of the most wea●thy goldsmiths , and they the rest of the money'd pe●ple of the n●tion , by the due payment of interest , till the king was run in debt , upon what account no bod● knew , above two millions st●rling , which served for one of the pretences in the lord-keep●rs speech , at the opening of t●e parliamen● , to demand and obtain a grant of the fore-men●ioned supplies , and might plentifully have sufficed to dis-engage the king with peace , and any tolerable good husbandry : but as if it had been perfidious to have applied them to any of the purp●ses declared , instead of payment , it was privately resolv●d upon to shat up the exchequer , lest any p●rt of the money should have been legally exp●nded , but that all might be appropriated to the holy war in prospect , and those f●r more pious uses to which the ●ing had dedicated it . this affair was carried on with ●●l the secresie imaginable , lest the unseasonble venting of it should ●ave spoiled the wit and m●lice of the design : so that all on a sudden , u●● the first of ia●uary , 1671. to the great astonishment , ruin and despair of so many interest pe●sons , and to the terror of the whole nation , by so arbitrary a fact , the proclamation issued forth in the midst of the confluence of so many vast aids , and so great a revenue , whereby the crown published it self bankrupt , made prize of the subject , and broke all faith and contract at home , in order to the breaking of both abroad with more advantage . what was this but a robbery committed upon the people , under the bond and security of the royal faith ? by which , many hundreds were as really impoverished and undone , as if he had violently broken into their houses , and taken their money out of their coffers : nay , that would have look●d generous and great , whereas the other was base and sneaking : only it seem'd more agreeable to his majesty's temper , to rob his subjects by a t●ick , than to plunder them by direct and open force . there remained nothing now , but that the king , after this famous ●xploit upon his own subj●cts , should manifest his impartiality to foreig●ers , and assert the justice of his intended quarrel with the h●llanders . thereupon , the dispute about the flag , upon occasion of the fansan yatch , was started a fresh , and a great noise was made of infamous libels , horrid pictures , pillars set up , and medals coined , to the infinite dishonour of his majesty's pe●son , his crown and dignity , though not one of the libels or pictures could be produced ; and as for the pillars , they never had any being , but in the imagination of those that made it their business to raise jealousies between the two nations . 't is true , there was a medal coin'd , which might have been spared ; but so soon as it was known in holland , that exceptions were tak●● as it , the stamp was broken to p●eces . some time after , the french king seeing the english ( after the affair of sir r. h. on the smirna fleet ) engaged past all retrea● , comes in with his fleet , not to fight , but only to sound our seas , to spy our ports , to learn our building , to learn our way of fighting , and to consume ours , ●and preserve his own navy : for no sooner had the duke of york , as the design was laid , su●●ered himself to be shamefully surprized ; but the vice-admiral , ● the earl o● sandwich was sacrificed , and the rest of the e●glish fleet so torn ●nd mangled , that the english honour was laid not in the dust , bu● in the mud , while his royal highness did all that was expect●d from him , and monsieur d' estre●s , who commanded the french , did all that he was sent for . there was three other several engagem●nts o● ours with the dutch the next summer . but while nothing was tenable at land against the f●ench , so it seem'd , that to the english every thing was impregnable at sea , which was not to be ar●ri●●ted to the want of courage , or conduct o● the then commanders , but rather to the unlucky conju●ction of the engi●sh to the french , like the disasters that happen to men , by being in ●ll company . in the mean time the hopes of the spanish and sm●rna fleet being vanished , the slender allowance from the french , not sufficing to defray farther charges , and the ordinary revenue of his majesty , with all the former aids , being in less than one years time exhausted , the parliament , with the king 's most gracious leave was permitted to si● again at the time appointed . at what time , at the king 's and the lord-keepers usual daubing way , the war was first communicated to them , and the causes , the necessity , and danger so well pointed out , that upon the king 's earnest suit , the commons , though in a war begun without their advice , readily vo●ed no less than one million , two hundred and fifty thousand pounds steoling , though they would not say it was ●or the war , but for the king 's extraordinary occasions . and now the king , having got the money into his h●nds , a new project was set on ●oo● , to set up an army in ●ngland , for the introducing of slavery and poper● , under the pretence of landing in holland , which was raised with all the expedition imaginable . over which was coll. fitz ge●ald , an irish papist , made major-general , so were the greatest number of the captains , and ot●er officers of the same stamp . and because that pretence was soon blown over , it was afterwards still continued on foot , und●r the more plausible colour of a war wi●h france . but after all these cunning contrivances , to do with them what he pleased ; whereas before the● h●d power to a●semble every three years , by an enacted law : and no le●s frankly they surrendred the power of the militia into his hands ; of both which acts , being done in haste , they had leisure enough af●erwards to repent . but notwithstanding all the great kindness of this parliament , and their more than extraordinary liberality to the king , of several millio●s of the peoples money , which was with the same profusion , wasted upon his pleasures , and the carrying on his designs for the introducing of popery and french , not a penty hardly to the good of the nation , while ●h● s●amen were sed with a bit and a knock ; and the merchants that supplied the stores of the navy were cheated of their money , and never paid to this day ; with what scorn and contempt he ●sed them , and how far from that esteem and veneration he profes●ed to have for them , while he was wheedling for his restauration , is apparent to all the kingdom . 't is true , the king continued them till all men of impartial knowledge and judgment thought them dissolved by law ; and ●ill that they were dissolv'd by himself , the 25th . of ianuary , 1678. not that they sat so long , but were discontinued , and contemptuously spared from meeting to meeting , many times by the in●imated orde●s , and to promote the designs of the french king , and ●ever suffered them to sir , but when the king was in extre●m necessity of money . among the rest o● those proroga●ions , there was one , at a time when the greatest urgency in affairs , the grea●est danger that threatned the e●glish nation , required their sittlng , when they were diving into the bottom of the popish plot , and endeav●uring to bring to condign punishment the chief instruments , which the king had made use o●●o comp●ss his arbitrary and popish design : very remarkable is the actions of the preceding night , which was follow'd by the morning prorogations ; the relation of which is so gross , that we think to draw a curtain over it , lest common fame should lead us into an error in any particular . however , this is certain , that prince rupert the next morning , understanding what resolutions were taken , pressed the king with all the vehemency imaginable , that argument and reason could enforce ; but at the same time the duke of york stuck close to his pro●her , telling him , that his cousin rav'd , &c. so that the duke that advised for the ruine of the nation was believed ; but the pri●ce that spoke his mind freely for the good of the kingdom was dismisled for a mad-man . so well did the king act his part , that when his well-meaning counsellors lent their assisting hands , to prevent the consequences of french and popish dictates , they were mistaken in the man , and gave their wholsome advice to him that was not ●ound to take it . during this sessions of parliament , many foul things came to light ; for while the king had raised an army , and pr●ssed the parliament for money to maintain them , under pretence of making a war with france , which was the earnest desire of all the protestant p●rt of the kingdom . the parliamen● were ●ully informed , that while the king boasted of the allia●ces which he had made for the preservation of flanders , and the protestant religion , both at home and abroad . he was secr●tly entred into treati●s and alli●nc●s at the same time with the french king ; and mr. garroway of the house of commons had gotten a copy of the private tre●ty between the king of england , and the french king , at the same inst●nt that the secretary and the others of the court par●y cried out a war ; i●somuch that several that were then in the house of commons began to blush when they saw the cheat so palpably discerned . it was farther discovered , that a great favoueite of the dukes had been sent over into france , under a pretence o● expostulating , and requiring satisfaction for the injuries which the english had received from the french ; but in reality to carry the project of articles for the peace , and to the set●le and confirm all things fas● about the money that was to come from france , and to agree the methods for shamming the con●ederates , about their expected alliances . they found themselves cheated of all the pole bill money , which they had given so little a while before , upon the assurance of a war intended against france ● the greatest part of which they perceiv'd was immediately , tho appropriated to the french war only , converted to other uses , as the paying of old debts , so that very little was left for paying any necessaries bought , or to be bought , towards the pretended war with france . nor were they ignorant of the real design for which the king had raised his army , and what care the king and his brother took , that there should be no other officers in that army , than what were fit for the work in hand , which was to introduce popery and french government by main force . the greater part being downright papists , or else such as resolved so to be upon the first in●imation . the duke recommending all such as he knew ●it for the turn , and no less than an hundred commissions were signed to irish papists to raise forces , no●withstanding the act , by which means both the land and naval forces were in safe hands . and to compleat the work , hardly a judge , justice of the peace , or any officer in england , but what was of the dukes promotion . nor were they ignorant of the private negotiations of the , duke , carried on by the kings connivance with the pope , and cardinal norfolk , who had undertaken to raise money from the church , sufficient to supply the king's wants till the work werd done , in case the parliament should smoke their design , and refuse to give any more . nor was the parliament ignoran● what great rejoicing there was in rome it self , to hear in what a posture his majesty was , and how well provided of an army and money to begin the business . the parliament also understood , while they were labouring the war with france , and to resist ●he growth of popery and arbitrary power , that the king underthand assisted the french with m●n and ammunition of all sorts ; and soon after that , a c●ssation was concluded , both at nimeguen and paris . that the king had got some money from france for that job ; by which the french king was now sure to hold all his conquests ●bro●d which had england been real to the co●●ed●rates , might have been easily wrested out of his hands . but it seems it was not so mu●h money as our king expected , which made him angry ; so that he began to threaten , that if the f●ench king did not perform his promise of 300000 l. annuity for three years , he would undo all tha● he had done against the next parliament . but the french king derided those vain threat● , menacing in his turn , that if the king of england would not be content with his t●rms , and do and say to the parliament according to his directions , he would discover both him and hi● correspondents in betrayi●g the n●tion , and discover all his secret con●rivances against the kingdom , as afterwards he published the dover treaty at paris , which was the reason , that a●ter ●h●t his maiesty of england never durst disoblige the french mouns●●eur , but became a perfect slave to his interest : a bondage he never needed to have undeagone , had he been but half as sincere to his english parliament : but to them he was never true , with them he always broke his faith and royal word . so that now all things running on the papistical side , to their hearts desire , what with the popish soldiers , popish officers , popish councils , popish priests and jesuits , swarming about the town and country , and france at leisure to help them , who had helped him to be more a conqueror by the peace , than he could have expected by a war. the duke of york was for the king 's pulling off his vizard , and for setting up alamode of france according to what had been so often debated at w●ite-hall , and st. iame●'s . but while the king and his brother were thus riding post to ruine the laws and religion of the kingdom , the discovery of the popish plot by dr. oats , broke all their measures for a time , by laying open their secret contrivances for the introducing of popery and arbitrary government● this plot was no sooner made known to the king , but he imparts it to the duke ; not the knowledge of the plot , ●or that he knew before , but the news of the plots being discovered . upon which they set themselves , with all the care they could , to stop the further progress of the discovery . to which purpose , the duke gives notice of it to his trusty secretary coleman , and the priests and jesuits in the sav●y ; by which means , what popery and persons were to be concealed and conveyed away , was carefully look'd after . all this while , by this seasonable detection of the king and his brother to the priests and jesuits , oates himself narrowly escaped being massacred . oates finding himself thus betrayed , and abandoned by the king , applies himself to sir edmundbury godfrey , with a scheme of the plot fairly drawn up , by that means to be introduced before the council , to have the business there unfolded , which , with much ado , was done , and oates sent for to be examined at white-hall , where he managed himself with that courage , that tho he were brow-beaten , and opposed most strenuously ; tho there were many that studied by all the ways and means imaginable to dash and confound him , yet it was impossible ; he stood as firm as a rock , and gave such pregnant reasons for what he said , that the council , how unwilling soever to meddle , or stir in his behalf , yet at last were constrained , by the clearness of the evidence , to grant warrants for the seisure of several priests that night , who were taken and sent to prison . upon this followed the assassination and murther of sir edmundbury godfrey , perpetrated by the countenance and contrivance , nay , express command of the duke : for proof of which , a little opening of the cause and occasion , and a short relation of the effects , consequences , and events which ensued upon it , will both enlighten us to the truth of matters , and confirm our belief , who were the authors of , and acc●ssors to it . for , as has been already said , that gentleman had received an information upon oath , from dr , oates , about a plot against our laws , lives , and religian ; but finding something in the deposition that reflected upon mr. coleman , with whom he had an intimate acquaintance ; he thereupon took an opportunity to let him understand what information he had received , and to tell him , that the only way to justifie his own innocency , was , to contribute all his endeavours and assistance to prevent so bloody a design : but coleman , instead of denying the truth of those things which sir edmund related , or offering his endeavours to obstruct the progress of it , or to defeat the success of that plot , not only acknowledged , that there was a conspiracy against our laws , liberties , and religion , but it was advanced so far , and seconded by persons of that quality in the nation and figure in the government , there was no possibility to give a lett or dis●ppointment to it . and more particularly , he told him , that the king was a promoter himself of the design of overthrowing the protestant religion , and altering the government : which coleman calling to mind , after his being committed to new-gate , and considering , that by that means sir edmund was enabled to co●e in a second witness against him . he therefore ordered it so , as not only to get the duke acquain●ed with his own danger , but that his highness and others , whom he had mentioned in his conversation with sir edmund , were in the same predicament , and would certainly be brought upon the stage . to which he received this answer from the duke , that he should not be apprehensive of any danger from sir e●mund , in regard there would be a way found out to prevent his hurting of coleman , or any body else . now , that he was thereupon most barbarously murthered , is a thing too well known ; and then who were concerned , the circumstances make it plain . first , the circumstance of the place , viz. s●merset-house , leading to the savoy , in some of the apartments of which said house , the murthered body was also concealed for several days . the next circumstance was , the guarding of the ga●e and avenues of the palace so strictly all that time , and denying the people their wonted liberty of access ●o the house , and passage through ; which could not have been done , but by the king's authority . nor would some great ladies have adventured to have gone and viewed the body while it lay there concealed , by which they involved them●elves in the guilt of the crime , but that they knew they could hardly be called to an account for it , considering by whose connivance and command the fact was committed . nay , some severe cens●res were passed on the account , and others which were charged with that murther , were protected from justice . add to this , that when we consider the motives ; that urged the necessity of this murther , which was coleman's having acknowledged to sir edmund , that the king , as well as the duke , was in that part of the conspiracy , to alter the government , and overturn our religion : and no body , at that time , was more ●●rry for the detection of the plot than the king ; neither did any body labour afterwards to ba●●le the belief of it more than he did . nor had he any thing in the world to excuse himself for so doing , but that he was concerned in that part of the popish plot which related to the overthrow of the religion and laws of the nation , and the destruction of the chief and most zea'ous protestants of the kingdom , as was sufficiently acknowledged by coleman , not only to sir edmundbury go●frey , but to the committ●e of p●rli●ment that examined him at newgate : which was so plain , that nothing influenced those gentlemen to conceal ●hat part of his confession in their r●por● to the house , but their pity and compassion ●o th● king , which would not permit them to expose him so black ; tho it was as certain , that they frequently imported their knowledge to their friends . no● did it a lit●le add to confirm the truth of what is here related . that emislari●s should be s●nt from the court to deal under-hand with the coroner and the jury , to have gotten a verdict of felo de se ● but the proofs of his being murthered were so apparent ; such as his neck being broke , and the cleanness of his sho●s , that nothing could corrupt the jury from bringing it in otherwise than it was . under these distresses did the king and duke labour , terribly afraid of the approaching parliament , for the sake of their popish minions and instruments , whose utmost care and industry could not prevent it● but that several of coleman's letters and papers were found , which detected the negotiations of the king and duke , ( for all the world can never separate them , by maintaining that the duke durst ever have transacted such treasons abroad , being then no more than another subject , without his brother's consent ) so that they were in an extraordinary quandary , whether the parliament should sit or not : but the king 's extream necessity for money prevailed upon him to let them sit : besides that , the king who had all along acted under his protestant mask , was sensible that the kingdom would have cry'd out shame● had he put off the parliament at such a conjuncture of combu●tion and distraction as that was . but when the parliament met , according to the usual wont , how many stories and shams was there endeavoured to be put upon them ? for in the interval of the session , notwithstanding that the parliament had giv●n him money to disband the new-raised army , he , to try an experiment how the nation would brook his wrigling i●to that arbitrary power which he aimed at all along , had spent the money upon his other occasions , and kept up the army still . nevertheless , to excuse the fraud which he had put upon the disgusted n●tion , he tells the parliament , that he had been obliged ●o keep up his troops , to keep his neighbours from absolute despair ; and that he had b●en sollicit●d from abroad , not to disband them . now , was ever such a story told by a prince , and vouched in the face of the nation by a bred lawyer , viz. his chancellor , to justifie the breach of a law of the three esta●es of the kingdom , as soon as made ; and then to ●●im the parliament off , with christendom , and the worlds commending us for the breaking our own laws , to patch up a peace , which tended to nothing but the ruine of those for whom it was made . the sum of which was , in short , that the king , to serve his own arbitrary ends , had run himself into an inconvenience , by defrauding the nation ; however , the parliament was to be contented with it , and to pay for it to boot ; that is , to pay double for the keeping up a popish army to secure the protestant religion . but the parliament taking little notice of these fine stories , fell to the main business , which was , to sound the depth of the plot. upon examination of which , notwithstanding that many papers of great importance had , with a more than ordinary industry been conveyed away ; ●et , by those that were sound , so much appeared that the house vo●●d it to be a damnable plot , to root up and des●●●y the religion and government of the kingdom ; and privately got the lord chief justice scroggs to sign warrants for the apprehending the popish lords , which was done accordingly . an● for their further security , they prepared a bill for putting the nation into a posture of defence , and for raising the mi●i●ia throu● hour the kingdom , to be in a●ms for so many days , which passed both houses without ●ny difficulty ; but the king , out of his zeal to the protestant religion , refused to pass it . and then it was , that the parliament found too late the complement which they had pas●ed upon him , in returning him the power of the militia , which he made use of keeping up standing armies for their destruction , but refused for the security of the nation . this therefore not prevailing , they began to provide against papists sitting in either house ; and ●ram'd a bill , with a test to be taken by every member of both houses , ● or else to losse th●ir seat. this , though his protestant majesty did not openly oppose himself , yet after a close consul●ation held at st. iames's , he ordered all his instruments in the lords house to wit●stand the passing of it there● which , though ●hey could not effect , yet they prevailed so far , that they got a proviso in it ●or the d. of york , whereby they did him the kindness as to declare him a papist to all the world. after this , the parliament proceeded to the impeach●ng of such persons as they had found to be d●epest in the contrivance of all our mischiefs ; but , that his majesty lookt upon 't as a business that so ●early concerned his own honour , that , like his father , when the duke o● b●ckingham was accused of poysoning iames i he would not end●re the parliament , in such a iehu-like chase after the popish conspirators , but foot ba●●ed them again with a prorogation for several months . so careful was his pro●estant majesty to sti●e as much as in him lay , and to prevent the prosecution of an in●ernal plot , which he knew was so deeply laid , like the axe of popary , to the root of all his protestant dominions . nor was this all , for so soon as he had dismissed the parliament , and had secured his accomplices , he took all the care imaginable to discredit oates and bedlow's evidence . forty one was again inculc●ted into all the ignorant pa●es about the town , and merry ● andrew ( roger ) had his pension out of the gazette , coutinued to ridicule the plot , which he did in a most leud and shameless manner ; and money given to set up a new divinity academy in a publick coffee-house , to act the protestant whore of babylon , and give about his revelation cup to the raw inferior clergy , and instract them in be●●er doctrine than ever they learnt in the university . nor did he stop at the endeavouring to discredit the testimonies of those witnesses , but sent his head emissa●ies to corrupt them to a denial , and retracting what they had discovered ; and when that would not do , kn●x and lane were sub-armed to accuse oates of buggery , thereby to have taken him . add to this , his dissolving of this enquiring parliament , at the solicitation of the duke ; and the extraordinary diligence of his protestant majesty to get the next parliament fit for his turn , which was suddenly to be called , to stop the mouths of the people . to which purpose , all the money that could possibly be spared out of the exchequer , was issued out to divers persons , to manage the elections all ov●r the kingdom , under the old notion of secre● service ; in one article 1500 l. in another 2000 l. and the guineas flew about the country far and near to the corporations , to hire places , and get fit men , the heads of the counties and corporations were sent for , and told what men would be serviceable and acceptable to the king● and particularly the gentlemen of e●sex were sent to , by the chief justice scroggs , and cau●ions that they should not chuse mildmay whatever they did . and new charters were obtained for some corporations , with new priviledges , and sent them down to be hung out at the windows , to animate the people to chuse such men as they were directed . what more could have been done by a protestant prince , to destroy his protestant subjects , and advance the roman catholick cause ? when this parliament sate , the king pursued his old method of speaking with his lips what was farthest from his heart , and being in the house of lords , he there tells both houses a plausible story , how he had consented to the exclusion of the popish lords from their seats in parliament , to the execution of several criminals , both upon the score of the plo● , and the murder of sir edmundbury godfrey ; but above all , how he had commanded his brother to absent himself from him , because he would not leave the most malicious men room to say , he had not removed all causes which could be pretended to influence him to popish counsels . in all which there was not one word of truth , as to the motives that engaged him to do what he did . for as to the exclusion of the popish lords , he knew it was what he could not avoid , unless he would have absolutely thrown off his protestant mask , which he was sensible it was not seasonable for him so to do . as for the jesuits that were hanged for the plot , he pleased himself as well as the people , by sacrificing a few inconsiderable miscreants to his own revenge , for ungrate●ully plotting against his life , who had all along been so faithful to their cause ; and indeed it was but ●ust they should dye like knaves and traytors , who ●ad been such fools to mistrust so true a protestant prince . as to the murther of sir edmundbury godfrey , what could he have done less , except he would have expos●d himself to the clamour of the whole nation . that would have been the greatest folly in the world , for a prince that loved to sleep in a whole skin , as he did , for the preservation of three or four rascals , convicted of a bloody murther , to have sacrificed his honour and his safety to publick●scandal and resentment . and then as for the removal of his dear brother , it was done after a long and deep consultation , upon these considerations . first , that the duke being out of the way , might stop the ●arther examination of the plot , in relation to himself , and thereby one of the chi●f conspirators be preserved safe . and secondly , for a shew that the king was such an enemy to popery and popish counsels , that he would not suffer so much as the breath of a brother near him , for fear o● infection . for in these gracious protestant acts lay all his hopes of making the parliament give credit to his words , and getting money from them , at a time when the french king most treacherously failed him . notwithstanding these things , the parliament , not being to be deluded by all those seeming acts of protestant grace , took little notice of those g●●dy trappings of the kings discourse , but fell briskly to work upon the plot , and the murther of sir edmundbury godfrey ● to which purpose they made choice of a secret committee to pursue that business , and laid all other considerations aside , but those of securing the nation against popery and arbitrary government ; in order whereunto , they began to think of bringing the lords and others in the tower to their tryals : and upon a report of their committee , of the duke of york's letters , wherein it appeared what great joy had been conceived at rome , for the dukes conversion , even to draw tears from his holynesses eyes , with several other papers , discovering much of the court intreague ; with rome . they voted the hopes of his coming to the crown , to be one of the chief causes of the popish plot ; and ordered a bill to disinable him to inherit the imperial crown of the realm . these proceedings were of so high a nature , and so directly tending to the overthrow of that structure , which the king and the duke had been so long erecting , that it was thought requisite to treat them wi●h all the art and subtilty imaginable , which produced two of the greatest master pieces that ever were acted by the conspirators ever since their first designing popery and french tyranny . the first was , to blind and couzen the house of commons , by seeming to shew an utter dislike of all former councils that had brought the nation to the condition it was in . in pursuance of which , the old council was dissolved , and the greatast sticklers against the plot , and for the protestant religion , chosen in their room : to the end that if any miscarriages happened , they might be all laid to their charge ; or th●t miscarriages might receive a more candid interpretation , as being done by such good men against whose fidelity the nation had no exception . the next device was , to turn the whole plot , and the odium of it , upon the protestants , under the notion of presbyterian and phanaticks ; which is so well known needs no repeating , but in the midst of th●se court intrigues to run down the plot , the house of commons went on vigorously bo●● against the plot , and popish delinquents ; which grated so hard upon the popish party , and was such an obstruction to their designs , that the king compassionating their grievances more than those of his protestant subje as , give way to the dissolution of the parliament ; yet , with promise of another to meet towards the latter end of the year , under pretence of frequent parliaments ; but in reality , to try if he could get another fitter for his turn . ane now the king having laid aside the parliament , and freed his instruments ●rom the terror of it , was so far from not permitting himself to be influenced by popish counsellors , that he began to play the old game , and first of all the popular protestant lords of the council were by degrees decently laid aside , and the duke was sent for home . the lord shaftsbury , for opposing it , was severely reprimanded in council , with a wonder , how any person that sate at that board , durst so bolply affront his royol highness ? for the face of affairs was changed , and the king was now swimming in his own element again . only it was strange , that he was no more concerned to see the strain of the whole kingdom run against him . for notwithstanding all his industry to have brought in his band of pensioners again , it was found , the new chosen parliament , which was by this tim● ready to sir , was likely to prove wo●se for his turn than any of the former , which made him have recourse to his old shifts of proroguing , which was done by proclamation , to gain a little time for the acquitting of sir ge●rge wakeman . so kind was his protestant majesty to help out his desponding friends at a dead lift , in order to the sha● plot , which he was afterwards designing . for now the parliament being cut off , he was at leisure to advise with his popish instruments , who were no less sedulous to give their advice to the utmost that their active brains● could reach . by this sedulity it was , that the meal tub anti-plot was contrived and hatched : only tools were wan●ing to manage and carry on the treach●rous design . therefore , not knowing where else to find miscrea●ts fit for such diabolical enterprises , all the goals about the town were raked for needy profligates . it will be needless to give h●stery of that which has been so sufficiently discovered for an abominable imposture . the miscarriage of this blessed design , caused a second prorogation of the parliament , upon hopes of 200000 l. from france , which was dexterously prevented by the duke of buckingham ; which the king so ill resented , that his attorney general had orders in council to indict him of buggery , with a design to have taken away his life , and repair the french disapointment , by the confiscation of his estate , had the project taken . never so much villany in contrivance ; never so much money ill spent , and never worse luck . the like success happened in that damned sham plot intrigue between fitz harris , nell wall , with the french dutchess , &c. nor must it be omitted a● an argument of his ma●esties great zeal for the protest●●● re●igion , that when one s●rgeant , a priest● made a discovery of the popish plot from h●lland , w●ich he caused to be transmitted to the court , with an intention to have discovered s●veral others● he was first bribed off , and then sent fór into england , slightly and slily examined , had his pardon given him , and sent back with five pound a week to say no more● nor was it a thing less astonishing to the nation , to see the parliament prorogued from time to time , to less than seven time● , before permitted to si● , on purpose to get time for the popish duke to settle the protestant religion in scotland ; and to the end , the conspirators might get heart and footing again , and retrieve their losses in england ; and in this interval it was , that mess●ngers were sent to their friends at rome , and others their associates , for money to strike while the iron was hot , in regard that scotland by this time was secured , and all things in such a forwardness , that now or never was the time ; but the pope had such an ill opinion of our sovereigns fidelity , that he slipt his neck out of the collar● and in imitation of him , the rest excused themselves upon the score of their poverty . thus missi●g money from rome , and the rest of their popish associates ; and the king of france refusing to part with any more cash , there was no way but one , at a forc'd put , which was to let ●he parliament sit , and to make them more willing to give money to undo the nation . the king , in a framed speech , told them , of the wonderful advantagious alliances for the kingdoms good he had made with foreign princes , and particularly with holland ; and how necessary it was to preserve tang●er , which had already run him in debt . upon which considerations , the burthen of his song was● m●re money . but the parliament incensed at the frequent pr●r●gations , fell upon considerations more profi●able for the kingdom , such as were the bringing to condign punishment the obstructers of their sitting : the impeachment of north for drawing the proclamation against petitioning , and three of the judges for dismissing the grand jury , before whom the duke was indicted of recusancy , before they could make their presen●ments ; the prosecution of the popish plot , and the examination of the meal tub sham ; all which they looked upon to be of greater moment than the kings arguments for his want. for it was well known , that by his per●idious dealings abroad , he had so impared his credit with all the foreign princes , to whom he sent , that they slighted his applications , as one upon whose word they could never rely . and as for the preservation of tangier , there was nothing less in his thoughts . a fine credit for a prince , and an excellent character to recommend him to po●terity , that he had no other than his own sinister ends upon the grand council of his kingdom ; nor no other way to work them to those ends , unless by forging untruths , to make him accessary to the betraying of the people that had entrusted them . the parliament therefore bent all their cares to secure the kingdom from popery ; concluding that the d●kes aposta●izing from his religion , was the sole evil under which the nations in a more particular manner gro●med● and consequently that he was to be disinherited . but the king being resolved not to forsake his brother , whatever became of the kingdom , took such a high resentment against these honest and just proc●edings of the houses , that after he had sacrificed the lord stafford to his hopes of obtaining money , upon the dukes u●dertaking to furnish him , he dissolved this parliament too , with promise of another at oxford , to sweeten the bitter pill which he had made the nation to swallow . in the mean time , all the care imaginable wa● taken to bring the protestant plot to perfection ; preparative to which , judges were selected , with dispositions , thoughts , and minds as scarlet as their gowns . and the choice of sheriffs was wrested , by force from the people , that they might pick out juries without conscience or honesty . a plot contrived by perfidiousness and treachery , beyo●d the parallel of history . a plot with parisian massacre in the belly of it , designing no less an innundation of innocent protestant blood , under the colour and forms of justice ; and yet , who but he , who in his last wheedling speech , to pick the nations pocket , had promised to consent to any laws against popery . and the better to carry on this damned design , what a crew of devils , in the shape of men , a regiment of miscre●nts , in whom all the transgressions of the law and morality were mustered together ? i say , what a band of such ca●tiffs were rendezvouzed , and with that money which parliaments give to promote the security of the kingdom , caressed and pampered even to excess , for the destruction of the innocent ? and all this , at the expence of him that bore the stile and character of our gracious sovereign . for full proofs of which , there needs no more than to look into the tryal of fitz harris himself ; therefore , to recite the particulars of a design already so well known , and publickly exposed to all the world , would be a repetition altogether needless . this however was observable , that we were come to the height of tyberius's reign ; when informers , and false accusers , a sort of men found out for the ruine of the publick ; and for the punishment of which , no laws can be too severe , were encouraged and courted with rewards . nullus a p●na ●●minum cessari● dies ; dicreta accusa●o●ibius pra●●●●● premia ; nemine delatorum sides abrogata ; omne c●imen pro capitali receptum , etiam paucorum simpliciumque verborum . no day passed without some punishment inflicted ; great rewards given to informers , no informer but what was beli●v'd ; all crimes were adjudged capital , tho' meerly a few idle words . such a harmony there was between these times , and pernicious reign of that master in cruelty and dissimulation , tiberius . but the roguery being discovered , while fitz haris thought to have put everard upon this dilemma , either to hang , or fix the libel upon others , he came to run himself into the noose . lord ! into what an agony it put the king , the duke his dear brother , and their then jugling instruments ; that the king , who a little before was so overjoyed with the acco●nt of the contrivance , which was given him at whitehall , that he could hardly contain himself from displaying the raptures of his soul , was now so highly incensed against fitz harris , that he was heard to say , that he should die if there were no more men in england . but his confession to the recorder , sir george treby , so enraged his employers , that he was presently lockt up in the tower , out of the reach of all men , but the lie●t● to damn him for spoiling so good a design : but above all things , there was such a dread amongst the conspirators , lest the parliament should come to the knowledge of the depth of the design , that their resolute insisting to have the cognizance of the crime within their own jurisdiction , was the occasion of the sudden dissolution . after which , a chief justice was exalted , on purpose to hang fitz-harris out of the way , to prevent his farther discovery ; for no sooner was the parliament dissolved , but fitz-harris was hanged ; and by that means , many a mystery of iniquity concealed . the dissolution of this , and the forgoing parliament , was justified by a declaration in the king's name , which being published with all the severity and reproach that could be cast upon those worthy patriots , verified the report of what the king had been heard to say , that he would make the name of parliaments to be forgotten in england . however , the parliament being blown up , and the king running away in a pretended pannick fear from oxford , to colour the ensuing projects of plotting and subordination ; no sooner was he settled again at london , and fitz-harris hang'd , to the great joy of those th●t adored him before , but the gazette was cram'd with addresses from all parts of the nation , to thank the king for his expressions and promises to govern by law , which was no more than his duty : but those addresses were only signed by the unthinking , loose , and rascally part of the people , who were not sensible of the mischief which was thereby intended , which was to make the nation out of love with parliaments , thereby to unhinge the government , and to introduce tyranny and arbitrary power : and that the addressors were only the c●●●ile of the kingdom , with only a tool of quality at the head of them , the con well k●ew . some time a●●●● , fitz-●●●●●● was executed , a paper was published , in the name of his re●●●●tion , which his wi●● hearing ●r●ed 〈…〉 and viewing ●● , ●●ked 〈…〉 those were her h●●bands papers 〈…〉 her , they were : to whic● 〈…〉 band w● : d●●●ed , for t●●t she 〈◊〉 all th●● 〈◊〉 to be false . however , upon the gro●●d-work of this re●●ntation , a committee of subordination w●s●●ected ; by whose directions , tu●bervil , dugdale , and all the irish evidence , who had been most conversant with the earl of shaftsbury , upon the account of the irish plot , together with one booth , by whom a full detection of the whole villany has since ●een made , with a full disclosure of all the artifices made use of , to have corrupted the integrity of that honest gentleman , captain wilkinson . and all those varlets were now lis●ed and received into pay , by the said committee of subornation , and a swearing school being set up according to the directions of the committee , they receive every one their distinct cues and lessons , to con and get by heart , against occasion should serve , by the settlement of the committee , which was approved , as was every thing else they did , by his protestant majesty . colledge's tryal is too well known to be here repeated , but after ages will observe how he was removed from london , where he had been acquitted , to another remote countrey , where his prosecutors were assured of his destruction , by deluded ignorance and partial knavery ; how he was accused and testified against by nab●●h's ●vidence , the scandal and reproach of all mankind , whose memories stink upon the e●rt● , and would soon be forgotten , but that their names are made use of to transmit the infamy of their employer● to posterity . all the severi●es used at his tryal were● palpable demonstrations of that innocent man's being determined to destruction right or wrong , on purpose to lay the foundation of farther butcheries ; so that being f●e●hed by this success , the next attempt of the king's justice was upon the ●arl of shaftsbury , for the same pre●ended treason for which colledge had suffered . and here posterity will make the same observations and conclu●ion● in general , as in col●●dge's case : but more particularly will after ages easily conclude from hence , that it was not for any contrivance of his lordship , but by a project of court and popish revenge , to destroy a person , who by his courage , wisdom , and good intelligence , had opposed and defeated so many of their designs , against the religion and welfare of the nation : for that this plot upon his lordship was so early communicated to rome , and other foreign parts . that it was talked of at paris , and in flanders , sometime before his lordship was imprisoned in england . they will observe the injustice done his lordship , in refusing to let him see or know the persons that deposed against him , which was not denied either to coleman or the jesuits ; and which being so contrary to law , was a plain demonstration , that either the witnesses were not thought of credit sufficient to support the confinement of so great a peer ; or else , that it was not convenient to trust the general course of their lives to be scrutined too soon . the motives that induced the court to begin with this great and eminent peer , will be easily discernable to su●ceeding ages : for to what man of sense and reason is it not apparent , that it was the policy of the court , that their revenge against this earl should not be adjourned , till they had tryed the credit of their witnesses , upon other considerable persons , for fear , lest by his lordships industry and abilities , he should not only have detected and exposed the whole intrigue , but have broken the engine , by which the two brothers thought to have made themselves absolute lords of the religion , laws , and liberties of the kingdom . for which reason it was thought best to assault him by way of surprise , and to hurry him to prison , upon a pretended conspiracy , which people would be astonished at , but not have time ●● unravel . for the king and his brother were assured , that the convicting of the earl of sha●ts●ury , upon a charge of levying war , and conspiring to seize his person , would be a kind of moral proof against every other person , whom they had a mind to accuse of the same crime . since people would be easily persuaded , that a person of his prudence and c●nduct , would not easily embark himself in such a dangerous en●erprise , without a proportionable number of persons , who by their power , quality and interest , might be supposed to be able to carry it on : so that all the noblemen and gentlemen of england , that ever had any converse or acquaintance with the earl , supposing them to be persons obnoxious to the court , were involved in his ruine . but it will remain an eternal monument of reproach upon r. subordination , that after all the industry of the court , and their obs●quious instruments : after all their layi●g their heads together , to form cohering and probable proofs of the charge intended to be laid against him , after an illegal trick devised to have tryed him within their own jurisdiction on the verge ; which was so contrary to law , that it was exploded by their own bene placito lambskin men ; that at length he was acquitted by a grand jury , the most substantial for estates , integrity , and soundness of judgment , that had been returned for many years in the city , to the never dying praise of the two sheriffs , mr. pilkinton and mr. shu●e . a disappointment , which so ince●sed the king , and his dear brother , that they resolved to make an istington village o● the chief metropolis of the whole nation ; and what they could not do by fire , to effect by wresting from them their franchises and priviledges , ●ar more ancient than the descent of those that wrested them for a time out of their hands : for this reason the attorney general was ordered to b●ing a quo warranto against the city charter , under the pretence of their petitioning for the sitting of the parliament ; a thing so far from being a crime , that it was the undoubted right of the nation . and yet such was the awe which the antiquity and legality of the charter had upon the judge , that the fountain of justice was forced to shift his chief justice , till he could fix upon one that durst to adventure to pronounce sentence against it : which , as it was the greatest invasion that could be against the ancient and fundamental constitution of the kingdom ; so it plainly laid open the king`s pious intentions of governing by law ; which , according to the new interpretation of the court , was the downright subverting of all that was most sacred and valuable in the nation , to the end the king might have it in his power to violate the electing of a parliam●nt , and nominate and obtrude upon all persons of the kingdom , his own slaves and creatures , papists and traytors to their country ; so by reducing one of the most ancient corporations , and levelling it with one of the meanest villages in the kingdom , that he might command the mayor and sheriffs , and , by their means , the juries of the city , on purpose to have the lives of all his protestant subjects at his mercy . and that this was his end , was apparent by the consequences ; for when once the king , by the overthrow of the charter , had made sure of his own sheriffs and juries ; heavens ! how were the laws of god , and the kingdom wrested by misinterpretation ? how were the precepts even of morality it self , transversed ? the wi●nesses for the king caressed and countenanced in their known subordination ? the testimonies for their pretended criminals brow-beaten , and all the arguments of law and rea●on urged by the most learned council of the nation , over-ruled by hectoring and swaggering judges , to take away the lives of the l. russel , col. sidney , armstrong , and several others , meerly to gratifie the rage of popish revenge . such were the violences of the court at that time , in defiance of justice , as if all fear of giving account to future parliaments , had been thrown off , or that they never intended to be troubled with them more , till they had framed the nation into such a posture , as to chuse such members as would not only forgive such villanies , but go sharers with them in the spoil of the kingdom . but then followed the barbarous and horrid murther of the earl of essex , which how far it could be laid to the king's charge , we shall not here pretend to determine , tho it seem somewhat strange , that the king could find no other morning to accompany his brother to the tower , but that very morning that the earl was murthered , will , no doubt very much augment the suspition of future ages ; and it will be as odly looked upon , that when letters and proposals were sent to some great persons near the king , that if his majesty would but grant a pardon to two or three men that shyuld be named , when the favour was granted , the whole mystery of the contrivance should be discovered , and the contrivers and actors be particularly derected ; such a proposal should be slighted and neglected . now , after all these tricks and stratagems of the king , to introduce tyranny and slavery , to stifle the popish plot , by throwing it upon his protestant subjects ; after such an obstinate and stedfast conjunction with the sworn enemy of the nation , the french king , for the subversion of our laws , liberties , and religion ; after so many slights and contempts to put upon the grand council of the kingdom , which he never assembled , but to empty and drain the purses of the nation . but to shut the door against all objections that can be made in his behalf , there is one proof yet remaining behind , which must be an undeniable convincement to all the world , of the truth of what has been hitherto said , as standing still recorded under his own hand , if the original of the instructions be extant , and that is the following memorial of his ambassador to the king of poland , in the year , 1667. most illustrious prince , the king , my master , has commanded me to let your majesty know the resolutions he has taken in all points , to concur with the mos● christian king , in giving your majesty all possible assistance for the establishing your majesty's title in such ●ays as your majesty shall think most effectual for the s●curing your crown and dig●i●y , and further hon●ur of your queen and royal issue , the king , my master , being truly sens●ble of t●e great misfortune● of those p●inces whose pow●r must be bou●ded , and reason regulated by the fantastick humour of their subjects . till prince ; can be ●reed from these inconveniencies , the king , my master , sees no possibl● prospect of establishing the roman catholick religion . if thi● be not enough to discover his inclinations , and the whole drift of his intriguing reign , there can be nothing sharp enough to penetrate the stupid and beso●ted bigortry of those that stand in his justification , but notwithstanding the willful blindness of such people , it is to be hoped , that other men , less byassed , and having the same just pretences to common understanding , have a greater value for their reason , than to forfeit it to prejudice , and an interest now exploded by all the sober part of the world : and having once disintangled their judgments from the incumbrances of iure divino nonsense , they will then find , that the whole course of his reign was no more than what this memorial discovers ; and that the frequent breaches of his word and promises , both to his parliaments and people , were but the effects of the religion he professed , and owned in his ambassadors memorial , one of the chief principles of which it is , not to keep faith with hereticks ; and by which he was obliged to be more faithful to the king of poland , than the king of heaven . hence it was , that notwithstanding his declaration at breda , design'd and penn'd to obtrude a seeming appearance of truth , and specious face of integrity upon the nation ; after he came to be restored and settled , we found our selves deceiv'd in all that we expected from the faith and credit of his royal word . to which we may subjoin that other famous declaration , upon shutting up the exchequer : wherein , tho his sacred word and royal faith , were , in plain and emphatical terms , laid to pledge for repayment ; yet the events in the ruine and impoverishing of so many families , did no way consist with his gracious and solemn promises , as for the covenant , whatever the oath were , it matters not here to dispute ; but they who were witnesses of his taking it , observed , that if ever he seemed sincere in what he did , it was in binding his soul by that so●emn oath ; and yet he not only openly and avowedly broke it , but c●used it to be burnt in all the three nations , by the hands of the common-hang-man . where can we find a more matchless piece of dissimulation , than in his signing that declaration in scotland , which he published under the title of , a declaration of the king's majesty , to his subjects of the kingdom of scotland , england and ireland . charles the ii. having long trifled with the papists , his beloved friends , and indeed had so carried himself , that neither papist nor protestant could tell what to make of him , yet the papists resolved they would be no longer dallied with by him : and therefore , so soon as he had made all things ready for his brother's exaltation ; after he had prevented his exclusion from the thr●ne , and put all the power of his dominions into his hands , to give way for him that truly reigned , while he but only wore the name of king , he was struck with an appoplexy , as it was given out , ( for let the true ●ause be what it will , a prince always dies of some disease or other in the physicians catalogue ) but such were the circumstances of his death , that men began to discover their suspitions freely to the world , before he was cold . however it were , certain it is , that he was absolved from all his sins , by his great friend john huddleston ; and that the priests gave him extream vnction . at what time , one of his relations forcing his way into the room , and seeing them at it , could not forbear saying , that now they had oyl`d and greas'd his boots , they had made him fit for his journey . and this is yet more remarkable , that all the while he lay upon his death-bed , he never spoke to his brother , to put him in mind of preserving the laws and religion of his people : but only recommended to him the charitable care of his two c●ncubines , portsmouth , and poor nelly , nor was it a small aggravation of the general suspition , to find him hurried to his grave , with such ●n vngrateful secrecy , in the dead of the night , as if they had feared the arresting of his corps for debt , not so much as the mean pomp of the blue-coat b●yst , s●ng him to heaven . insomuch , that he was hurried , by his brother , whom he had so highly obliged , with far less decency then was perrmitted for the funeral of his father , by his capital enemies that had beheaded him . but that perhaps might be so ordered by providence , to signi●ie that he was not worth the publick lamentation of the people , whose religion and liberties he had been always designing to subvert . the secret history of king iames ii. to him succeeded iames the ii. not more pernitiously desining , but more eagerly bent in the chase of national ruine and destruction . he came into england full freighted with his mothers religion , and her malice to the people of the nation ; but wore at first the same vizard mask of protestantism which his brother did . but tho he were fitter for the business they both designed , yet he understood not how to manage it so well ; so that had he been the elder brother , we may undoubtedly presume to say , he would have been much sooner thrown out of the saddle , greatly to the saving both the honour and treasure of the nation , and the life of many a worthy gentleman , and true lover of his country . 't is well known , and a thing confirmed by two letters yet to be seen , wherein one of the kings own chaplains , then upon the spot when it was done , impar●s and laments it to a bishop . that the duke of york , while he was yet but very young , made a solemn renunciation of the protestant religi●n , and was reconciled to the church of rome , while he sojourned with his mother in france , in hopes ( by the assistance of the papists ) to have defeated his elde● brother of his right of inheritance , tho he had all the indulgence imaginable to conceal his convulsion , where it might be for his private advantage , and the general good of the cause . and so ea●ly was this ambition of his to supplant his elder brother , that when ●he scots were treating with the exil'd king , to restore him to the throne of scotland , that he was at that very time practising with such as remained faithful to the king's title here , that they would renounce his elder brother , and chuse him for their sovereign . and for that reaso● it was that the duke forsook him at bruxels , and withdrew into holland ; so that the king was necessitated , not only to command him upon his allegiance to return , but was constrained to send the duke of ormond , and some other pesons of quality , as well to threaten as persuade him , before he would go back . and as he was an early traytor to his brother ' so he did no less treacherously attempt the disowning of his first wife . for finding her extraordinary chastity to be such , that he could not be admitted to her bed , but upon the lawful score of matrimony , he was at last married to her , but so very privately , that only the king , and some very few friends were privy to it : after which , perceiving that his brother's restauration was fully determined in england , under pretence that it would be more for his own , and the honour and interest of his brother , to marry with some great princess , that would both enrich and strengthen them by the largeness of her dowry , and the graatness of her relations , he would have taken an occasion from the privacy of the nuptials , to deny her being his wife` and disavow all contracts and ceremonies of marriage between them : but the king detesting so much buseness , as being himself a witness of the marriage , would not suffer the lady to be so heinously abused ; but constrained him , after great reluctancy , to declare it publickly to all the world a happy providence for england , which by that ' conjunction blest us with two p●otestant princ●sses , matchless in virtue and prety , and all those other graces that adorn their sex ; to the eldest of which we are beholden ●or our deliverance from an inundation of slavery and popery , under the auspicious condu●● o● a sovereign , truly meriting the noble and ancient titles of king of men , and shepherd of the people , and the yet more dignified addition of defender of the faith. and from the youngest of which we have already the earnest of a hopeful issue to guard us from the like invasions . such is the provision of providence , that many times it happens , the most venemous creatures carry about them the particular antidote against thier own poysons . certain it is , that the duke of york , would never have pulled off his protestant vizard , nor have declared himself of the roman communion so soon , had he not been thereto necessitated by a stratagem of the king his brother ; for the papists having a long time waited for the accomplishment of the king's oathes and promises for restoring their religion ; and having annually contributed large sums of money towards the effecting of it , at length grew impatiently sullen . and would advance no more , unless the king , or the duke , would openly declare themselves for popery : which the king thinking no way seasonable for him to do , and not being able by all his arguments and importunities to prevail with his brother to do it , he ( at length ) bethought himself of this project , which was , to get the queen to write a letter , intimating her intention to withdraw into a monastery ; which letter was to be left upon her closet-table , that her priests , as it was concerted before-hand , might there seize it , and seeing the contents of it , carry it forthwith to the duke . upon which , the duke being jealous left the king , upon the queens relinquishing her husband , might be induced to marry again , and thereby deprive him of the hopes of succeeding , than which there was nothing which he thirsted after more , upon obtaining a previous assurance , that in case he declared himself a papist , she would not withdraw , immediately pulled o●f his mask , and renounced communion with the church of england . being thus quit of his fears from the king , his next work was to did himself of all his jealousies of the duke of monmouth . to which purpose he lay day and night at the king , to require him to turn roman catholick . which the king out of his tenderness to the romish cause , as well as to gratifie his brother , undertook to do , and accordingly sent him into france , with an express command to reconcile himself to the church o● rome : however , the duke of monmouth , out of an aversion to ●he fopperies of that religion , failed in his performance ; which so incense● the duke of york , that from that time ●orward he studied all the ways imaginable to bring him to destruction , in the mean time , having by his publickly decl●ring himself a papist , engaged all those of the same religion , to his person and interest , he resolved to drive on iehu like , and to promote the catholick cause , with all the vigour and swiftness he was able , and to make the utmost use of his brothers good intentions . and such was his bigottry to the romish church , that according to the principles of that religion , he stuck at nothing per fas & nefa● , to bring about his popish designs . i shall not here dila●e upon his secret negoti●tions at rome , his correspondencies with foreign priests and jesuites , or his private intrigues with the french king , which have been all sufficiently exposed already in print ; as for tha● whatever has been already said of the king , is also to be said of him in general , while he was duke , in regard they both drew in the same yoak , for the ruine of the nation . for this is as certain as the rest , that he had a most eager desire to rule , and rule dispotically , which was the reason he was frequently heard to say . he had rather reign one month as the king of france , than twenty years as his brother the king of england did . and besides , it was as plain , that he had a mortal autipathy against the protestant religion , and more particularly against the professors of it in england ; but more especially the dissenters , upon the score of revenging his fathers death . an imbittered hatred , which he derived from his mother , who mortally malliced england upon the same account , and which he acknowledged in his bed-chamber , at st. iames's , where he openly declared , that he was resolved to be revenged upon the english nation ●or his fathers death . which if those unthinking people , who are so eager to have him agai● , would but consider , they would not be so forward for his return . for it is in vain for the church of england ● men , of what degree soever , to think that their refusing to swear allegiance to king vvilliam and queen mary , would excuse them from that universal revenge which he would take upon the nation , were it ever again in his power . only here was the difference between the two brothers , that the king thought to ruine his enemy by main force , and the fair hand of victory ; but the duke hoping to kill two birds with one stone , made it his business , at the same time , to ruine the enemy by force , and his own country by treachery . thus when he had engaged his brother in the first holy dutch war , of the extirpa●ion of hereticks , he permits the english , at ●irst , to exercise all the bravery of their skill and cou●age , to a great probability of success ; but then falls asleep in the height of his conduct , to the end , the dutch ( for want of orders ) might have ●n opportunity to wrest the victory out of the hands of the english , on purpose to keep the bal●●nce of destruction on both sides even . thus he ●●rmitted himself to be surpriz'd at soul-bay , knowing there were eno●gh to maul the enemy , but not enough to preserve those that sought on our ride . so that the dutch may be said to be well ●hrashed , and the e●glish to be well sacrificed . and as a farther demonstration o● his per●idious soul ; when he found the contest would be too tedious between two nations so well matched , it was the dukes contrivance , to suborn and bribe two indigen● and desperate vil●ains , to go over and fire the 〈◊〉 ship● , as they lay in their ●arbours , ●nd when he had done that● it was the same treachery , that with a sham story lulled his ●rother ●●l●ep , and pr●cured the firing of our ships at ●●●●ham . the burning of london was such a mar●hless piece , as could not have entered into the breast of any but a bejesuited herostratus , in hopes to purchase the infamous immortality of a popish saintship , by reducing to ashes , the graetest bulwark and magazine of the protestant religion in europe . rome was set on fire by nero , to have re-built it again more glorious● and that he might have space enough for one of the most sumptuous pallaces so designed , under the sun ; thereby to have made the mistress of the earth , the wonder of the world : but london was fired , not only to destroy the wealth and habitations of the city , never to have risen more , but with an intention to extirpate the inhabitants themselves to boot , and to have turned the venerable and spacious pile into a depopulated wilderness , by a general massacre of the people , under the consternation of the spreading flames . the standing s●reets provided and furnished with incendiaries , with fresh materials to revive and restore the weary con●●●gration , and when taken in the act , res●ued out of the hands of those that seized them , and sent to st. iames's , to be there secured from the rage of the mul●itude , and then dismissed without persecution . an excellent way to have made all sure , by mixing the blood of the inhabitants with the ashes of their dwellings , the only cement which the papists believed would fasten and bind the fabrick of the romish church ; and what greater piece of persidy could there be , than while the duke was riding about the streets , under pretence of assisting to quench the fire , that his guards were , at the same time , employed to prevent the people from rem●ving their goods ; and his palace made the refu●e of such as were taken in the very ●act of cheris●ing and fomenting the flames ! this the committee of parliament trac'd so far , that it cost the life of the poor gentleman that gave the information of these things , to the chair man of the committee , to prevent any further discovery , and secure the d. from the danger of his life . coleman's crying out , there was no faith in man , was a most undeniable testimony of the treachery of his master , notwithstanding all the faithful service he had done him ; and was it not a magnanimous and generous act of a prince , to betray , as he did , to the gallows , not only his most trusty servant , but his fellow partner in the conspiracy ? more inhumane still was the barbarous murder , actually contriv'd , and brought to perfection , by the encourag'd instruments of the duke . for he it was that sent word to coleman , to bid him ●ake no care , for that sir edmundbury godfrey should be remov'd out of the way , and at the same time took the like care that his servant coleman should follow him : for it was detection that he feared , and the d●ke well knew that the dead could never tell tales . the particulars of the murder , and how far the circumstances of it reached the d●ke , are too fresh in memory ●o be here inserted ; and dis●ensation for deeds of the blackest hew , were so easily obtai●ed , that it was no wonder the duke so little boggled at a single murder , to conceal the designs of general mas●acres , wherein he was engag'd . in pursuance of which , he was no les● industrious to bring the presbyterians , and all the dissenting protestants , within the snare of his sham-plot , in order to the destruction of thousands of innocent persons . this , dangerfield discovered to the world , and his information taken upon oath , before sir william roberts , and sir william poultney , are extant ; wherein he gives an accoun● of his being introduced several times , into the duke of york's prefence . partic●larly , that being once among the rest , admitted to the duke of york ' ; closet at white-hall , he kissed his hand upon his knees : a●d then being taken up by the duke , he gave him a little book , containing the whole scheme of the presbyterian plot , for which the duke thank'd him , as also for his diligence to the catholick cause , and wishing good success to his undertakings ; added these words : that the presbyterian plot was a thing of most mighty consequence ; and i do not question , but the effects of it will answer our expectation ; especially , in the northern parts , where i am well assured , the major part of the gentry a●e my friends , and have given sufficient demonstrations to me , as also of their intentions to prosecute this prescyterian plot , for they are no strangers to the design . at the same time , he ordered dangerfield to be very careful of what he communicated to the persons who were to be witnesses in that new plot , lest he should be caught in the subordination , and so bring a terrible odium upon the catholicks , and make himself uncapable of any further service . then for encouragement in the prosecution of the sham plot , the duke promised , that he would take care that money should not be wanting , and ordered him , with all the expedition the thing would allow , to make a discovery to the king. at the same time , the duke also made divers vows , and bitte● execrations to stand by him in the thing , and engaged upon his honour , to be his rewarder ; and , in earnest , give him twenty guineas , with his own hand ; and telling him withal , what a great reputation he had gained among the catholicks , and that in a short time he should see the catholick religion flourish in these kingdoms ; with a great deal more to the same purpose . of the truth of which , among many others , there could not be a more convincing proof , than the bitter enmity which the duke bore to dangerfield after his discovery ; and the severe usage which he received from iefferies , the duke`s creature , and the rhadamantine dispenser of his revenges . in scotland he rul`d , or rather reign`d , though in his brother's life-time , with a more arbitrary and lawless controul . and there it was that he breath`d for●h his venome against the protestants , utter●d his tyrannous maximes with more ●reedom , and exercised his tyranny with a more boundle●s and exorbi●ant extravagance . for there it was , that he first undertook to exercise the power of soveraign rule , re●using to take the oath of high commissioner , which the law of the coun●r● required , as here he had d●nied to take the ●est ; and to shew how he intended to govern england , when it came to his turn , there it was , that in the hearing of persons of great credit , he had this worthy apothegm , that tho` in england the lawyers ruled the court , yet in scotland he would rule the lawyers . there is was that he positively denied to give the parliament any security for the preservation of their religion , in case he succeeded to the crown . and being told of the terms that the king had offered to the parliament of england , tho` much harder and more dishonourable than any which they required , he replied , that the king never intended any such limitations should pass ; nor did he offer them , but when he knew they would not be accepted . and farther , to demonstrate his imbitter`d hatred of the protes●ants , and with what rage and fury he intended to prosecure them , he told several members of the parliament , when they were endeavouring to get some bills to pass for the security of their religion , in case of a popish successor , that whatever they intended , or prepared against the papists , should light upon others . which , tho` it stopt him from taking the advantage of any new bills , yet he was so just to his word , in behalf of the papists , that he pour`d all the rigour of the penal laws against the papists , upon the protestants in that kingdom , under the name of dissenters , whom he persecuted with that insatiable violence , as if according to his own expression , he had fully concluded , that it would never be well with scotland , till all the south-side of ferth were made a hunting field . for indeed that was the true intent and drift of all his envenom`d prosecutions of those people , as well in england , as in scotland , in hopes by so severe an exasperation , they would have broken out into open rebellion , and so have given him a fair opportunity to have rooted them from the earth by the sword : which was evident from another saying of his ; for that having one day given his opinion of sober dissenters , and setting them forth , as he thought , in their colours , he concluded , that if he might have his vvish , he would have them all turn rebels , and betake themselves to arms. which , tho` it shewed his good will yet whether it were so prudently spoken by a person that had so little , either of courage or conduct as himself , is a question , unless he thought he cou'd subdue them with the spiritual weapons of the popes excommunications and curses : nor did he at the same time remember that the heavy oppressions of the spanish inquisition , tore from the dominions of the spaniard all the seven united provinces , notwithstanding all that d` a●va , parma , and spinola could do , tho●gh their military fame far exceeded his . thus we have seen the extent of his christianity ; which we find cooped up within the narrow bounds of popery . nów for his morality , which if it signalize it self in my virtue that celebrates a great and glorious prince , it must be in those two , of justice and mercy , which god appropriates most nearly to himself , as the brightest ornaments of his divinity : but whether the duke were either just or merciful to the e. of argyle will be the question● this gentleman was one of the most ancient , and one of the most eminent noble-men in scotland , and a person of extraordinary endowments , and , as such a one had ●erved the king with his parts , his person , and estate , beyond what most men of any degree in the nation , either had done , or were able to p●rform ; but because he would not so far comply with , and oblige the duke , as to fall in with his councils , for the establishment of popery , and yield himself an instrument to carry on his designs of popery and arbitrary power , his head must be brought to the block , the antient honour of his family must be attainted , and his ample fortunes be confiscated . to which purpose , a certain test being fram`d for all the nobility and gentry of scotland to take , not excepting all others who were capable of any office or employment in the kingdom , easie enough for the papists to swallow , as being calculated for their peculiar advantage ; but difficult for the protestants , as being tha● which strangely confused and intangled their consciences . however , the earl was not so scrupulous neither , to avoid all occasions possible of incurring his highness's displeasure , but offered to take it , with this proviso that he might declare in what sence he was willing to be sworn . accordingly he did draw up an explanation of his own meaning ; and tho` he were allow`d to take the oath according to that explanation , which was also conformable to an expl●nation , which themselves were forced to make for the satisfaction of the greatest p●rt of the ki●gdom , that was dissatisfied in the oath , as well as the earl ; nay , tho` his lordship did take it according to his own allowed interpretation , which was so far accepted , that he was admitted to take his place in the council ; yet upon a caprico of the duke`s justice , the matter was call`d in question again ; but then such a horrid treasons were pick`d out of the earl`s interpretation , that he was arraign'd , and condemn'd to lose his head ; and execution had been certainly done , had he not made his escape in his sister 's habi● , but a ●ew hours before the express arrived from england ● with orders for his immediate execution● nevertheless , his whole estate was seiz`d , he was divested of all his titles and dignities ; and contrary to the custom of the kingdom , his coat of arms was despitefully torn at the publick market cross of e●inburgh , and his person hunted af●er in all places , whether they thought he might be withdrawn , even as far as hamburgh . and yet aft●r all the scrutinies which sober men have made , the chiefest of the sc●ts lawyers , that were of unbiassed principles , could never find any thing in the earl●s interpretation , but wha● his indispensible duty obliged him to , both as a christian , a subject of scotland , and a privy-co●nsellor to the king. but the d. was resolved to destroy him right or wrong : and therefore being told wha● the e. of argyle had said or done , which could 〈◊〉 made a crime by the ●aw of the land , his highn●ss , out of the gr●●t aff●ction which he bo●e ●o so true a protesta●t peer , was pleas'd to reply ; but may it not be wrested to treason ? which was such an incouragement , that when his mind was once understood , he wanted not instruments that labour'd day and night to make the question subservient to the d.'s impatient thrist of revenge , and their own advantage ; or else it might be to signalize his resolution to over●rule the lawyers in scotland , had they denied their submission to his good will and pleasure . by the same justice it was that blackwood was condemn`d , upon a pretence of having entertain'd upon his ground certain persons , who were reported , and said to have be●n at bothwell-bridge ● a●d this , although there had been no notice given of their bei●g criminals , or any ways offenders ; nor any proclamations were issued out against them , by which blackwood could be obliged to take cognizance of the circumstances they lay und●r ; and that which aggravated the i●justice was this , that the gentleman suffered after a general act of indemnity granted , and that it was after the council themselves had for four years pass'd them by , that either ●he pe●sons whom he had reliev'd came to be accus'd , or he to be prosecuted upon this account . and by the same justice it was , that mr. robert bailzie , of ierismond , was hanged , and quartered for a crime , of which he had been impeached and tryed bef●re the council , and fined six thousand pounds sterling . and all this his highness did by over-ruling the lawyers of scotland , by which means he had made the judges and jury as malicious against the protestants , and is revengeful against the asserters of the liber●ies of seotland , as himself . such exorbitancies of injustice and arbitrary power , that his brother could never have e●dured in a subject , had they not been a●●ed all along with his knowledge and consent . otherwise , had not the king been strangely infatuated , to beli●ve , that whatever his brother d●d , was for the advancemen● of that cause , to which he was so well effected himself , he could never have been so un-apprehensive of the danger he was in , from a brother so actually in a conspiracy against his life : for which reason he was , by the e. of shaftsbury , said , to be a prince , n●t to be paralell`d in hist●ry . for certainly , b●sides the early tryal which the king had of his ambition beyond sea , he h●d a fair warning of the hasty advances which he made to his throne in a s●ort time after his marriage to the queen : for no sooner was it discovered , the queen was unlikely ●o have any issue by the king , but he and his part● made proclam●tion of it to the world , and that he was the certain heir . he takes his seat in parliament , as prince of wales , with his guards about him : he assumes the princes lodgings at white-hall , his guards upon the same place , without any intermission between him and the king ; so that the king was in his hands and power every night . all offices and preferments are bestowed upon him , and at his disposition , not a bishop made without him . after this , he changes his religion to make a party , and such a party , that his brother must besure to die , and be made away` to make room for him . and for the undeniable proof of all this , a● length the plot breaks out , headed by the duke , his interest vnd design . plain it was , that where-ever he came , he endeavour'd to remove all obstacles to his intended designs out of the way . and therefore , some there are who attribute the extremity of the duke`s rigour towards the earl of argyle , to the great authority which the earl had in some part of the high-lands , and the awe which he had over the papi●ts , as being lord justiciary in those parts , and his being able upon any occ●sion to check and bridle the marq. of huntly , now duke of gourdon , f●●m attempting the dist●rbance of the publick peace , or the prejudice of the protestants . however , this is observable , that notwitstanding the height of severity , which was extended to him , there was as much favour shewn the lord macdonald ; whose invading the shire of argyle with an armed force , meerly because he was required by the said earl , as being given him for what he did ; though when the council sent a herald to him , to require him to di●band his forces , he caused his coat to be torn from his back , and sent him back to edinburgh with all the marks , both of contempt of themselves , and disgrace to the publick officer . but his religion was sufficient to attone at that time for his treason . and now the duke , having a standing army of five thousand foot , and five hundred horse in scotland , at his devotion , as well as in england , and the parliament , the main object of his hatred , and his fear ; being dissolved , back he returns into england ; where , under the shelter of his brother`s authority , he began in a short time to exert his tyrannous disposition , and play the same unjust and arbitrary pranks , as he had done in scotland ; and because it was not seasonable yet to make use of armed forces , he set his westminster-hall red-coats , like pioneers before a marching army , to level the way for popery and arbitrary controul , to march in over the ruined estates , and murder'd bodies of their opposers . the iudges were his slaves , the iuries at his be●k ; nothing could withstand him ; the law it self grows lawless , and iefferies ridden , pl●ys the debaushee , like himself . justice , or something in her likeness , swaggers , hectors , whips , imprisons , fines , draws , hangs and qu●rters● and beheads all that come near her , under the duke's displeasure . alderman pilkington , the late honourable lord mayor , for standing up for the rights and liberties of the city , and for refusing to pack a jury to take away the earl of shaftsbury's life , is prosecuted upon a scandalu● magnatum , at the sui● of the duke , convicted and condemned in a verdict of an hundred thousand pounds . and sir patience wa●d , for offering to confront the ●uborn'd witnesses , is indicted of perjury , for which , he w●s forced to fly to vtretcht , to avoid the infamy of the pillory ; though in all his dealings so well known to be a person of that justice and integrity , that for all the hopes of the duke , he would not have told an untruth . sir samuel bernardiston , for two or three treacherously intercepted letters to his friends in the countrey , fin'd ten thousand pounds , which he was not suffer●d to discharge by quarterly payments , but the esta●e seized by the duke's sollicitors , to the end he might have an opportunity to be the more prodigal in the wake o● it . but this hunting after the lives , as well as the estates of others , was more intollerable , and that be the prostituted testimony of sub●rn'd i●ish ● rogues and vagabonds ; and when that would not take the desired effect , by the ●orced evidence of persons , ensnared and shackled under the terrors of death , till the drudgery of swearing was over . men so fond of life , that they bought the uncertain prolongation of a wicked mortality , at the unhollowed price of certain and immortal infamy . and therefore , not knowing how to die , when they knew not how to live , accounted it a more gainful happiness to quit the pardon of heaven's tribunal for the broad seal of england . by this means fell the vertuous lord russell , a sacrifice to the bill of ●xclusion , and the duke's reveege ; and yet of that integri●y to his country , and untainted course of life , of whom never any spoke evil , but those that knew no evil in him ; only because he was one of those who sought to exclude the duke from the hopes of tyranny and oppression , the duke was resolv'd to exclude him from the earth . but then comes the murther of the earl of essex , for that it was a most barbarous and inhumane murther , committed by bravo`s , and bloody ruffians , set on , hired , and encouraged by potent malice and cruelty , the preguant circumstances , no less corroborated by testimonies , wanting only the confirmation of legal judicature , has been already so clearly made out , that there is no place left for a hesitating belief . a truth so conspicuous , as stands in defiance of the ridiculing pen of r. l` estrange , to sham it over with the buffoonry of his bantering acquirements , i● cannot be imagined , but that so black a deed of darkness , was carried on by the contriv●rs , with all the secresie that could ●e studied , by humane wit. but never yet was humane wit so circumspective , but that the most conceal'd of villanies have been detected , by s●range and little accidents , which all the foresight of humane sagacity could never prevent . more especially , after such a curious inq●isition , and so much labour and industry , pursuing the cry of this innocent noble-man's blood. both the circumstances and depositions , besides the declarations of others , ready to depose , are made publick at large to the world , and therefore to omit the long-since sifted , ●nd winnoed contradictions of the witnesses , that were made use of , to prove the earl a felo de se , there are three things since discovered , that carry a strong conviction with them , of another sort of murder , in the new deposition of dorothy smith , detecting the motives , the author and contriver , the resolution taken to murder a noble protestant earl , the manner concluded , and the joy of those infatuated bigots , when the deed was penetrated ; and all this over-heard by the maid , at the meeting of one lovet , and several other persons , privy to the plot , in the house of one holmes , whom she then served , a trusty papist , seated in a by-corner of the town , and where they thoughi themselves , for that reason , in the greatest safety in the world. this meeting was nine days before the earl's de●th , where after they had vomitted out their malice against the earl , in the opprobrious terms of villany and dog , and laden him with curses , it was said , that he knew so much of their designs , and was so very averse to their interest , that unless he were taken off , they should never carry them on . inducements , which , as they had carried off sir edmundbury godfrey before , might be as easily admitted for the destruction of a more considerable obstacle ; more especially harboured in the breasts of men , that make it p●culiar propagate their religion by blood and massacre . therefore , to remove this great obstruction out of the way , their gr●at oracle , the duke of york , was consulted ; who , after some meditations , was for poysoning the earl : but his highness being told , that manner of death would not look well : there was another ; who proposed to his highness , that he might be stabbed ; but that not being approved of neither , at length his highness concluded , and ordered his throat should be cut , and promised to be there when it was done . to all which , there needs no other comment , but that the earl's throat was cut soon after , and that the duke was in the tower , separated from the king● and close by the earl's lodging , when the murder was committed . after this , the maid goes on , and deposes , that three days after , the same persons met in the same house , and declared , that the cutting the earl's throat was concluded on , but that it was to be given out , that he had done it ●imself , and that if any should deny it , they would take them up , and punish them for it . all which being spoken , as a thing contriv'd before the fact was done , and verified in every particular after it was committed , are circumstances that would hardly be wrestled with before impa●tial judges , at an old-baily sessions ; where it would be also considered , that the terrible prosecution of braddon , for making enquiry into the murder , came all ●rom white-hall , under the management of court-injustice and corruption . but lastly , the maid swears , that the same day the earl died , the same pesons met again at h●r masters house , and fell a caparing about the room for ioy ; at which time one of them striking her master upon the back , cry'd , the feat was done ; upon which , holmes demanding , whether the earl's throat was cut , the other answered , yes , and added withal , that he could not but laugh to think how like a fool the earl look'd , when they came to cut his throat : whereupon holmes asking whether his highness was there , the other replied , yes . with which agreed the informations of several soldiers , that about a quarter of an hour before the earl's death was discovered , observed the duke to separate from the king ; at what time he beckned to two persons , who coming to him , he se●t them to the earl's lodging , from whence they returned smiling , in less than a quarter of an hour , and told him the business was done , as one of them more particularly declared ; for which particular knowledge of his , he was afterward sent out of the world. nor was the informa●ion of the woman less to be heeded , who in●orms , that as she was walking , a little before the earls death , before the chamber window , she heard a very great trampling and bustling in the earl`s chamber , saw three or four heads move close together , and heard a loud and doleful cry of murder . and whereas floyd , the sentin●l denied at braddon`s tryal , the letting of any men into the earl●s lodgings before his death , yet af●erwards with great remorse of conscience , he confessed that he did let in two or three men by the special order of hawl●y , the warder . it will be an un-accountable thing to posterity , that the e. of s. should so readily part with his money to holland , suspected to be one of the bloody rus●ians , when● ever he went or sent for it , though a prof●●igate , at the same time convicted in newgate for robbery upon the high-way . it will also seem as strange , that webster , an under bayliff of st. katherines , and an indigent ale draper , should of a sudden be master of five hundred pounds , at such an unlucky nick of time , as immediately after the earl`s murder . but i forbear to enlarge any further upon a theme already ●o labouriously discussed , and publick to the world. only this is to be added , that it might seem strange , that after the murder was done , such care should be taken , and such strict command given for the conveying the news to the old-baily , till we hear to what end it was done , by the king`s counsel snapping so quickly at it , as if they had had their lesson before , and improving it with all their eloquence , to the destruction of the lord russell . nor is it unlikely , that iefferies might be either privy to the design in some measure at that time , or else be more fully acquain●ed with it in order to b●addon`s tryal . more especially , if it be true , which is confidently reported , that his lordship being at some publick place , where he took an occasion to speak largely , in praise of the deceased king , when he had done however , ( said he ) whispering a gentlem●n in the ear , had he liv`d six months longer , we had been all hang`d , notwithstanding my encomiums . the discovery of which alteration of the king , by a severe expression which dro●t from his lips upon reading a letter from a lord , who eat his last meal with the duke , and wrote the same on his death bed , as it seems to be confirmed by this saying of iefferies , so it was by many concluded to be the occasion of hastning the king`s death . concerning which , the opinions of the world are various , and some severe , and bearing hard enough upon his successor : but in regard it is a mystery , as the embrio of conj●cture , which is only to be matur`d in the womb of time , and to be midwiv`d into the world by future discovery , we leave it to higher scrutiny . the justice of heaven , perhaps not minding a present revenge of his death , who had not only prevented the prosecution of noble and innocent essex`s blood , but so severely punished the industrious enquiry after it , only this is further to be mark`d , that the irish papists could for some time before , fix upon the utmost period of his reign , and the duke was sent for in haste out of scotland , without any apparent reason for it ; besides that the king's permission was obtain'd with some difficulty . however , by the violent and tremendous death of his ●rot●er , he at length arrived at the long long wished ●●r heaven of his ambitious desires ; and beholds himself mounted upon the pinicle of ro●alty , only that his fall might be more conspicuous . he was no sooner proclaimed , but he decl●red his religion openly to his privy council ; however , he began with a mild and caressing declaration , which he afterwards broke in every line of it : a meer trap , baited with indulgence to tender consciences , on purpose to catch the dissenting mice , to deliver them , when caught , into the paws of his ravenous popish cats ; but no sooner was he crown`d ; but as if his coronation-oath , and all his promises so lately made , had been no more ●han so many pills of opium , and believing himself environed with power , sufficient to maintain his tyranny and opr●ssion , he invades property , by expulsion of the right owners ; tramples upon the laws by his pretended prerogative of suspending power , and goes about to pull down the stately structure of the protestant religion , by the suspension of one , and imprisoning and arraigning at his criminal bar , no less than seven of the most eminent fathers of the english church . and by a strange alteration of the face of government , treason over-rules the law , and traytors impeached , are fetch'd out of jayl , to sit triumphantly domineering at the helm of state ; and iefferies , the daniel , that in some measure might be said to be taken out of the lyons dens , for the cruelty of his nature , is advanced in open hostility to justice , to wage war with the fundamental constitutions of the kingdom , a mean spirit , insulting over his inferiors , but a spaniel to his superiors : who , though he knew himself no more than a tool in the hand of a popish artificer ; the shadow of grandieur ; lofty under contempt , and domineering only in publick ; yet having pawn'd his soul for the hopes of an embroidered purse , rather than decoil to goodness , careers on in mischief , and as if his robes had not been scarlet enough , dies them deep in innocent blood , and becomes his master's vassal , to en●lave the nation . such counsellors as these hurried on the new crowned king with such a rapidness , to accomplish the great work of introducing tyranny and popery , to which his own fears of leaving the papists worse than he found them , as furiously carried him , that he threw his brother into his grave , as if he had not had leisure to bury him , or as if he had deem'd him not worth a funeral , whom he thought not worth a longer life : unless perhaps he thought the hypocrisie of pompous obsequies , would have but provoked his brother`s injur`d manes , with which , as common fame had spread it , he was already too much pestred . i will not here dispute the truth of apparitions , nor insist upon the vulgar censures about the town upon the priests , for not detaining him in the half-way-prison , but singing him out of purgatory , to make his brother melancholy , by facing him several times , and giving him an astonishing st●oke upon the back , as he was going down a pair of stai●s in white-hall ; yet this may be asserted , that guilt accompanied with terror , forms tho●e apparitions in the mind , which work the same effect , and obtain the same belief , when once divulg'd among the credulous , as if they were real : however it were , it shewed he thought himself but little beholding to him for living so long , and consequently no way oblig'd to retaliate a succession so late in the year , with so much loss of time . and now the first influences of his tyranny and fury against the protestants , flew into scotland , where , whatever indulgence he shewed in england , he issued forth a dreadful proclamation against the dissenters , under the notion of enemies to the king and government , and destroyers of the british monarchy ; sufficient to have given a more early alarm to the dissenters in england , had they not been ●ul●ed asleep by the softness of a present repose , and the charms of their decoy-duke penn , the effect rather of their simplicity than their policy . but the first act of his revenge in england , brake forth u●on dr. oates : he could not forget the doctor 's detec●ion of his conspiracies against the kingdom . and because he could not ●ind ou● a way to hang him , his chief-justice iefferies found out a punishment to gratifie his royal fury , worse than death it self , and till then unknown among ch●istians , in im●tation of the roman ●●stuarium , by whi●h the roman soldiers were often drubb'd to death ; or if they escap'd , sent into perpetual banishment : as the doctor was first of all scourged by the common executioner , beyond all precedent . and then condemn'd to perpetual imprisonment . a sentence of void of all christian compassion , that only a iefferies could have invented . a goodly sight to see protestant judges condemning a protestant , and the de●ector of a most horrid popish plot , upon the evidence of known papists , and some of them nearly related to the executed traytors , and this for per●ury too , upon the testimony of witnesses already ●alsified . as if justice were a thing that never had been naturaliz'd in heaven , but only depended upon the will of the prince , a kind of tool to ●e used by his bene-placito slaves , at his or their discretion , or the grand poppet of the world , to be shewed in various dres●es and disguises , as the force of judicature required● but as for dangerfield , he had been once ●is darling , frequently admitted to kiss his hand , while he was in conspiracy with him to suck the blood of the innocent . but there was no attonement for his revolting , and revealing the hidden mystery of iniquity . therefore he must dance the same dance that oates had done ; only the king did the world this small piece of justice to throw away an inconsiderable roman cathotlick , to satisfie the general discontent upon his being murder'd . in the next place he calls a parliament , and renews his a●●urances and promises to preserve the government , both in church and state , as by law establish'd ; and vows to hazza●d his own person , as he had formerly done in d●fence of the just liberties and properties of the nation . but still the burden of his song was , more money . which the parliament , willing to engage him , if possible , by all the testimonies of their duty and loyalty , or at least to sh●w that nothing should ●e wanting on their part , readily granted . and in regard that a●gyle was said to be landed , under the notion of a rebel in scotland , they declare● their resolutions to ●●an● by , and assist him , wi●● their lives and for●●●es , ag●inst all his en●mies w●a●ever . no less quick were they to gratif●e , than he to make th●●e promises which he n●v●r intended to perform . and indeed , under the const●rnation the king was then in , upon the landing of arg●le in scotland , and the duke of monmouth in engla●d both at the same tim● , p●●haps the parliament might have bound him u●●o what conditions they pleased , had they no 〈◊〉 their opportunity . but those two storms b●●● fortun●tely blown over , the one by ill co●du●● , the other by the treachery of pretended friendship , and both argyle and the duke of monmou●h safe in their graves , the king was so pu●● up with a petty victory over a few club-men , and so wrapt up with a conceit , that he had now conquer'd the whole nation , that af●er he had got as much as he thought he could in m●desty desire , or they part withal , unless they saw great●r occasions than they did ; which neverthel●ss were no small sums in the heat of their obliging generosity at the commencement of a reign , he turn`d them off , after he had sold them two or three inconsiderable acts for all their money . and now being freed from any further thoughts of parliam●nts , believing himself impregnable● he resolves to be reveng`d upon the western people for siding with his capital en●my , monmouth ; an● to that purpo●e , send● down his ex●cutioner in o●dinary , iefferies , not to decimate according to the heathen way of mercy , but with the b●●o● 〈◊〉 his cruelties , to sweep the country before 〈◊〉 and to depopulate , instead of punishment . at what time , acquaintance , or relation of any that● sell in the field , with a slender circumstance tack`d to either , was a crime sufficient for the extirpacion of the family . and young and old were hangd , in clusters , as if the chief justice had design●d to raise the price of hal●ers ; besides the great number of those that upon the bare suspicion were transported beyond sea , and there sold ●or ●laves , an● the purchase-money given away to satisfie the hunger of needy papists . after ag●s will read with astonishment , the barbarous usage of those poor people , of which , among many instances , this one may seem sufficient , whereby to take the dimensions of all the rest : that when the sist●r of the two hewlands hung upon the chief iustic●`s coach , imploring mercy on the behalf o●●er brothers ; the merciless judge , to make her let go , c●●sed his c●ach-man to cut her hands and ●●●gers with the lash of his whip : nor would he ●ll●w the respite of the execution but for two days , though the sister wi●h tears in her eyes , offered a hundred pound for so small a fav●ur . a●d whoever sheltered any of those sorlorn cre●tures , were hurried to the sl●ught●r-house with the same in●xorable ou●r●ge , without any consideration of either age or sex ; witn●ss the execution of the lady lisle at winchester . as for argy'e and the duke , tho' they might die pi●ied , yet could they not be said to be unjustly put to death , in regard they had d●clared open ●ostili●y , and therefore it was no more than they were to expect upon ill success . however , since they were betray'd into the victor's hands , before any great harm was done , the crime was not so great that nothing but a mass●cre could atone for it ; more esecially considering what great advantage the king made of these rebellions . for it gave him a fair oppertunity ●o encrease the numebr of his standing-forces , under pretence , that the militia was not to be depended upon , and of the reputation he had lost of being so miserably unprovided against so wretched an attempt as monmouth's was . for which reason he was resolv'd to be better provided henceforward for the security of the nation ; and to croud in his popish officers into commands , under the notion of persons of loyalty , and therefore such whose persons he was neither to expose to disgrace by a removal , nor himself to suffer the want of : cautions and wary of removing his popish commanders , but minding not at all to remove the fears and jelousies of the nation . however his plausible promises , and this important nccessity of augmenting his standing forces , were urg'd upon the parliament , as undeniable reasons for more mony. so great a confidence the king had either in the awe which he had upon the parliament , or that they were so blind that they could not see through his cobweb pretenc●s . but he soon found that he was deceived in his expectations , and therefore perceiving his gilded hooks could not take , they were decently dismiss'd after ten days si●ting , with a prorogation from october till february ens●ing . but it seems king iames was so confidently assur'd , that the bands of friendship and alliance between him and the french king were so indissoluble , that wha●ever assistance the parliament deny`d him in england , he should not sail of from his dear friend and confederate in france ; that the parliament being call`d for no other intent or purpose than to betray the nation , by furnishing the king to accomplish his designs of popery and arbitrary government ; when they refused to be subservient to those wicked designs , and thought it more honourable to be true to the nation whom they represented , than serviceable to the encroachment of his tyranny , he laid them aside , as things no longer useful for him . and therefore like a man cased with their just demial of his demands , he resolves the utter subversion of english parliaments , the only remora`s of his ungodly projects , by compleating the disfranchising of all the cities and corporations throughout the nation , so fairly begun in his brother`s reign , to make way for the introduction of a french parliament , that should at once have surrender`d all the ancient liberty of the kingdom , and the whole power of the government into his hands . and this to terrifie men into flavish complyance , with his tyrannical will and pleasure , the names of all such persons , as out of honour and conscience , refused to co●operate with his popish ministers towards the publick ruin of liberty and religion , and prostitute their own and the freedoms of their posterity to his arbitrary subiection , were threatned to be return`d up to the attorney-general , to the end of their persons and estates might be undone by illegal prosecutions . in the next place , to set himself paramoumt above all the controul of law , out of a vain opinion that kings are accountable to none but god ; a set of judges are pickt out to overturn the very fundamentals of humane society , and annihilate the very ends of goveroment . this the king knew must be done by judges that had abandoned all ●igh opinon of god and nature , and had quitted all sence of conscience and true honour ; and had wholly given up their judgments to the foolish enticements of ambition and flattery : and when he had found out such , it was easie for him to say , with ●is grandfather of the same name , let me make what iudges i please , and i will easily have what i please to be law , no wonder then these judges having instruments drawn up by brent , which pass'd the great seal to indemnifie them for whatever they did or said illegally , affirm`d it to the king for law , that the king was an independent prince . that the laws of the kingdom , were the kings laws . that the kings of england might dispence with all laws , that regarded penalties and punishments , as oft as necessity required . that they were iudges and arbitrators who have power to iudge of the necessity which may induce them to make use of these dispensations . and lastly , that the king of england could not ronounce a prerogative annexed to the crown . by vertue of which concessions and opinions of the judges , all the laws in england made in the reigns of our four several princes for the security of the natinn against popery and arbitrary government , were rendered of no effect . by vertue of these concessions , arundel of warder , was made lord privy seal , alibon a judge , and castlemain was sent with great pomp an embassador to rome , to be there contemn`d and dispis`d by his holiness , for the bad name which his master had among all the princes of europe , and the ill opinion the pope himself had of him . by vertue of these concessions it was , that the greatest part of the kingdom`s military safety and defence , was put into the hands of persons incapable to be intrusted with them by the express laws of the kingdom ; and that the execution of the ancient laws and statutes of the realm against divers sorts of treasons and other hainous crimes was stopt . by vertue of these concessions , sir e● . hale`s wa● made lieutenant of the tower , to terrifie the city with his morter-pieces , and level his great guns to the destruction of the metropolis of the kingdom , when the word should be given him . by vertue of these concessions it was , that peters was made a privy counsellor , to outbrave the arch-bishop r● canterbury and the bishop of london : that he had his four provincial bishops , and that the priests and jesuites swarm`d in all parts of the kingdom , built themselves convents , hired mass-houses , made open profession of their foppish religion in the chief city of the nation , and in several of the great cities and towns of the kingdom , and publickly ridicul`d the scripture in their pulpits . all which transgressions of all the laws of the land both civil and ecclesiastick , are so fully represented in the memorial of the protestants to their highnesses the prince and princess of orange , that they cannot be more fully , nor more sensibly repeated . but the inundation stopt not here , it was to be a general deluge , or nothing at all . to which purpose , all obstructions , that oppos`d the torrent , were to be level`d or remov`d out of the way ; for effecting of which , there could be no engine thought sufficient , but that of the ecclesiastical commission , so arbitrary in its original , that it had nothing but the pillars of the prerogative to support it ; and mana`d with that arbitrary fury by iefferies , that he look`d like a monstrous titan warring against the heaven of law and justice . for he had no way to carry illegality with a high hand , but by arrogant domineering , and surely incivility , while he had nothing to offer to any person , that offer●d law to him , but sic volo , sic iubeo . to tell a peer of england and the bishop o● london so much his superior , only that he sate upon the throne of his commission , he that was not to be mentioned with the bishop in the same day , was such a foul piece of exe●berance of his guild-hall eloquence , which only could have dropt from the lips of insulting barbarism . all that can be said for him is this , that as many men commit absurdities when loaden with wine , this was one of his extravagancies in his drink of honour . and indeed , after he had tasted of that potent charm , the whole course of his behaviour seemed , to be a meer intoxication , which made him afterwards make use of the same receipt to drown both his life and his dishonour together . however , the suspending this noble peer and ●ishop , contrary to all pretence of law , for re●using to ●bey the kings unjust and illegal command , was no such advantage to the king 's caus● , that he had so much reason to ●hank the chancellor , or peters either , for putting him upon committing a greater a●t of injustice , to justifie a less . the bishop was too w●ll , and ●oo generally beloved among all the professors of pr●testantism , for the papists to put such an affront upon ●o eminent a father of the pro●estant church , for them not to refent it ; even , the more prudent papist● thought it a proceeding too harsh and unreasonable , and the more moderate look'd upon it as too base and unworthy , so that the hot-spurs of the king's council were losers on every side . and besides , it was such a stabbing contradiction to the king's speech in council upon his brother's death , that since it had pleased god he should succeed so good and gracious a prince as his dear brother , he was resolved to ●ollow his example , more especially in that of clemency and tenderness to his people . that the barbarous suspending this bishop was one of royal word . which though he had falsified already in his severity to oates and dangerfield , yet the person of a peer and bishop , and a star of the first magnitude in the church of england rendered much more conspicuous . but the king was under a necessity ; he had declared one thing to the protestants , but he had bound himself to do another for the papists . if he falsified with the protestants , the papists could absolve him ; if he proved unfaith●ul to the papists , they would never forgive him . and in this dilemma he resolved to ●ollow the maxim of his profession , not to keep fai●h with hereticks . neither were the steps he made , the steps of state●convenience , now and then upon an exigency ; but all in a huddle , out of his zeal , to make large steps , for fear , he should die and leave the papists worse than he found them . these severe proceedings against the bishop of london , werd the violation of that part of his declaration , wherein he promised the preservation of the ecclesiastical government , as established by law. but the barbarous usage of the gentlemen of both maudlin colledges , was an unsanctified breach of another part of his declaration , wherein he no less solemnly engaged to maintain the protestants in all their properties and possessions as well of church as abby-lands , as of all other their properties whatsoever . notwithstanding all which , how he turned these gentlemen out of their legal freehol●s by the arbitrary power of his high commission , how he violated the constitutions of the deceased founders , and with what an embittered rage and fury he rated them like dogs , when they lay prostrate at his feet , more like a pagan tyrant , than a christian king , is notoriously known ; and all this , to make a popish seminary of one of the most noble and best colledges in the university and this peters looked upon as one of his great master-pieces , as appears by a letter of his written to the french king's confessor , father la chese , wherein he had the vauntidg expression , i bave gained a great point , in perswading the king to place our fathers in magdalen colledge in oxford , where they will be able to tutor the young schollars in the catholick religion , nor was it thought sufficient to turn the proprietors out of their freeholds , but under pretence of disobedience to the king's commands , they were also made uncapable of any eccles●●tical preferment , or of the exercise of holy orders , and deprived of all those other ways and means of livelyhood , for which their education had qualified them . which as it was a piece of inhumanity without parallel , so it was a plain demonstration of the main drift and design of the king and his popish furies , first to draw the protestant clergy into the snare of disobedience , and then under pretence of obstinacy and stubborness , totally to suppress and silence them . and yet after all this , for the king so publickly to give himself the lie , by proclaiming to all the world , as he did , such a notorious untruth , as that he had never invaded the property of any man since his coming to the crown , was such a piece of dissimulation , that oliver cromwell himself , with all the irreligion laid to his charge , was never guilty of . unless his father confessor designed it for a miracle to be recorded among popish wonders , that he who had done nothing else from the beginning of his reign , but invaded the liberties and properties of his subjects should be so confident as to deny it . but whatever , through the frailty of his memory , he had till then forgot , he was resolved , it seems , for the future , to make amends for his omission . to which purpose he was now provided with such a gun-powder-plot , that had it taken effect , would , ere a few months had gone about , have blown up all the properties of the whole clergy of england , without exception of any person that had ei●her honour or conscience , and the greatest part of the bishopricks and livings of england would have been pronounced void , to make way for sa●dals and shaved crowns . this was that cunning declaration for liberty of conscience , whereby he undertook to dispense with the laws , by the sole vertue of his prerogative . an attempt wherein his brother had miscarried , being forced to surreeder up , and cancel the illegal contrivance he had prepared for a tryal . but king iames pu●●ed up with the great exploits he had in person performed upon hounslow-heath , and the glorious shew his army made there , rendezvouzed at the same time in the same place , to add terror to his commands , resolved to make all opposition to bow the knee to baal . in pursuance of those resolutions , he orders his declaration to be printed , requires the bishops to cause it to be destributed through all their diocesses , and to take care that it should be read in all the churches and chappels throughout the nation . upon this the bishops petition the king , setting forth the illegality , and the ill consequences of it to the whole nation , both in church and state ; and beg the king not to insist upon the reading it . this so in●ensed peters and the rest of the furious hotspurs , and oonsequently provoked the king to that degree , that the court-lawyers are presently consulted , who adjudge the petition tumultuary and libellous ; and thereupon the archbishop of canterbury , together with the bishop of asaph , ely , chichester , bath and wells , peterborough , and bristol , are first sent to the tower , and then arraigned and tryed for mutiners against the king's popish government , being charged with an information for publishing a seditious , pernitious , and scandalous libel . but notwithstanding all that the king's council , and the c. j. wright , and alibone the papist could do , judge holloway , and judge powel , to the eternal praise , stuck so close to their protestant principles , aud so strongly oppos'd the king's dispensing power , for which they were turn'd out the next day , that the bishops were acquitted , to the general joy and satisfaction of the whole nation ; and particularly the soldiers upon hounslow-heath , whose shouts and acclamations upon the news of their acquital , were so harsh and unpleasant in the king's ear , that ●rom thence forward , he began to wish he had more irish , and fewer english in his army . but notwithstanding this fatal blow , the most undanted high commissioners drove on furiously , sending forth their mandates to the chancellors , arch-deacons , &c. of the several diocesses , to send them an ex●ct account of all such ministers as had refused to read the declaration . and there is no question to be made , but tha● the severity of that imperious court would in a short time have swept the kingdom clear of all the protestant clergy , had not indulgent heaven put a stop to their impetuous career . that which follows is so romantick , that it looks more like a novel , than a story fit to gain credit , hardly carrying so much probability with it , as the fable of bacchus , cu● out of iupiter's thigh ; and which looks more romantick than all the rest : that the king himself should believe● and urge it for an argument to delude the world , that he who had suffered so much for conscience sake , could not be capable of so great a villany to the prejudice of his children ; and in ●orcing the same argument yet further , by saying , that it was his principle , to do as he would be done by , therefore would rather dye a thousand deaths , than do ●he least wrong to his children . when the world was convinced , that he could not have suffered such an affront to have been put upon him , but for the very reason he alledged ; and that , as for his doing as he would be done by , it was apparent by all his actions , that he could not speak those words from his heart , without some mental expositions reserved to himself . certainly therefore , since it was for the preservation of the roman catholick religion , that the contrivance was set on foot , it argues , that his conscience was under the most dreadful subjection to his popish confessors , or that his zeal was no less strangely govern'd by an imperious woman , that for the sake of popery , he should consent to a conspiracy against his own flesh and blood. he would not endure to be excluded from the succession , but that he would exclude his own daughters from the succession , and yet tells us , ●tis his principle , to do as he would be done by , as if he thought the way to make us credit a story of his son , were to tell an untruth of himself . the world , that grows wiser every day than another : will never be made believe , that a person debilitated by the unfortunate effects of the exasperated revenge of an injured bed , and meeting with a consort no less infirm , by whom he never had before any child , but what dropt into the grave as soon as born , not having any substantial rafters for life to build upon , should so seasonably nick it , to be both the parents of a sound off-spring for the preservation of popery . she , who ought to have taken all advantages , to have had publick and undeniable testimonies of her glory , to be the mother of a prince , so providentially sent from heaven , to support and establish the roman catholick faith , in a revolted kingdom , would never have been so reserv`d , and shy of exposing the symptoms of her pregnance , but only to a few that were privy to the imposture . but omitting the manif●ld circumstances , sufficiently already c●nv●ss●d , to detect the pious fraud , and the chyrum of affidavits to cover the chea● , all brought upon the publick stage , by dire constraint on the one side , and immodest bigotry on the other ; the unhappy occasion of revealing the a●cana of generation to every turn-spi● , and serving only to enflame the desires of wanton youth : omitting , i say , the circumstances , there are others , no less remarkable of another nature , as the sending castlemain to rome , among other things , ●o impart this affair to his holiness , and to know whether the apostolick sea would stand by the pretended prince , in case the peop● should dispu●e his title . and this seems to be co●fi●m●d by the coming over of count dada , in the quality of the pope's nu●cio , just as the force was contriving , and the pope's being afterwards god-father to the child . in the next place , about the time that the conception was pretended , father peters was taken into the privy-council , to give the report all the favour imaginable at the board , to prevent the being of it contestee , or if it were to satisfie all manner of doubts , and so incite the lords to make such orders , as the case required , which had not been so proper for the king , or the rest of the popish lords , who knew not so well what to insist upon . another thing was , that the child was no sooner born , but it was translated to richmond , lest the pretended mother should have been put to the trouble of a forced fondness ; which , had the child continued with her , would have prov'd a part so irksom , and so ill for her to act , that notice would have been taken of it . nor was it less observable , that at the same time the bishops were lock'd up safe , that they might ●e out of the way of being call'd for witnesses , whose impartiality otherwise would have been desiring more satisfaction to their consciences , than the depth of the mystery required . to which may be added , that at the first , the king himself , who had most reason to know , did not seem to give credit to the thing , or at least , was very doubtful of it ; and therefore , when the news was first brought him , as one that rather wished it true , than thought it to bè real ; he made answer to the messenger , if 't were so , it was very odd , till finding , that the lady of loretto would take bribes , and had espoused the blessed design , he was bound to believe , that his mother-in law`s prayers , and the diamond bodkin had prevailed ; and that his royal consort had been impregnated by an apparition , like the mother of damaratus , king of sparta . however , it was looked upon all over eu●●pe , as a very low and mean condescention of a sover●ign prince , hedge-sparrow like , to hatch the cucko`s-egg , and own the suppositious issue of another man ; which they , who pre●end to make the best excuse for , seem willing to believe , proceeded more from fear than conscience , in re●●rd , that being privy to the many conspiracies of the priests and jesuits against his brother`s life , it possessed him with such a dread of their popish mercy , that he yielded to whatever they desired , for his own preservation . on the other side , the priests and jesuits were so terribly afraid of a revolution after his death ; that by the power of his imperious queen , and their own importunities , they hurried him on to all those impolitick exorbitances , that hastned both their own and his ruin. for now the nation , no longer able to brook such a deluge of illegal oppressions , and the whole body of the nobility and gentry of the kingdom , observing such a general desolation impending upon their religion , lives and fort●nes , apply themselves to their highnesses the princess and prince of orange , as the only cherubims on earth , under whose wings they could retire for safety and protection . who no sooner , with a generosity becoming a true defender of the protestant faith , appeared in their defence , but consternation seized king iames , and all his raving counsellors . upon the first news of the heroick prince's preparations , he takes off the bishop of london's suspension , restores the city●charter , with all those other franchises which had been so tempestuously ravished from other corporations , and returns the ejected gentleman of both universities to the freeholds which he had wrested out of their hands . but yet to shew how firm he was in his resolutions to resume the same despotick power again , had his success once answered his expectations ; after he had ordered the bishop of winchester to put in the fellows of maudlin colledge , he no soone● heard of the prince's being put back by storm , with some small loss , which was heightned out of policy in holland , but he recalled his orders to the bishop , sent for him to london , and stopt the re-admission of the fellows , till he heard the prince was again embarked , and prosperously bending his course for england . so soon as he heard the prince was landed , he summons his affidavit lords and ladies about him , in hopes to have sworn his pretended son into the succession , in case of any miscarriage of his own person , which he never intended to indanger . after that he flew to salisbury , believing the terror of his name would have gain`d him present victory● but not meeting the good fortune he expected , all that he did there , was to discourage his soldiers with his pusilla●imo●s fears and frights upon every little alarm of a post-boy : so that although he had good counsel given him , to horse all his foot , displace all the collonels , and advance the other officers gradually , and fall upon the enemy while they were ●et labouring under the inconveniencies of the sea , and before their numbers increased , he rejected it , unless he might keep his teagues about him , and expose the english to the usual dangers of s●oad-bea●ers . which , together with their ununwillingness to engage the deliverers of their country , so aliena●ed their hearts from him , that they deserted him by troops and regiments . despo●ding at this , and more terrified with a little bleeding at the nose , than he had been with all the innocent blood which he had caused to be spilt , ●e returns back to london ; and having sent his queen and her babe be●ore , which was sufficient warning for dada , peters , and the rest , to provide for themselves , he withdrew from the city ; but being taken , rifled , and seized by the country people , near feversham , before they knew him , he was brought back to white-hall , where , having his choice given him to stay in england , or to go beyond sea , he rather chose by a voluntary departure , to ab●icate the realm . to which he was advis`d by his council , that assured him , the distractions of the kingdom would make way for his return in a little time ; which god forbid . and thus , to the surprize of all men , came to pass a revolution so sudden , so great , and unexpected , that history cannot parallel . it seem`d a laybyrinth of providence , to which the belov`d of heaven william henry only had the clue ; while prudence and fortitude were the araidnes that gave him their assistance to subdue the minotaur that devoured our religion and liberties . two conspicuous examples at once of heaven`s indignation , and the almighty●s favour ; the one pursuing to his downfal , an apostate from god , and an oppressor of his people , and exposing him among unbelieving b●g-trotters upon the lingring death-bed of his gasping glory , the fettered vassal of the once fawning confederate . the other prospering with miracles of success , the generous redeemer of the true reformed religion , from the devouring jaws of that double headed monster , popery and slavery : by whose auspicious conduct , two late languishing kingdoms , groaning under the heavy weight of misery and tyranny , enjoy a jubilee of peace and tranquility , and freed from the d●ily fears of mas●acre and destruction in the fair way to recover their pristine glory , have now no more to do , but to repay their praises to heaven , and their due acknowledgments to them that have approv'd themselves the truly indulging father and mother of their country : a prince , the wonder of his age ; a princess , the miracle of her sex ; in whom all virtues , as in their proper centre meet , rendring the nation happy in two in one , as the whole world is blest in three in one ; and upon whom , next under heaven , depend ●he hopes of all that cordially desire the welfare , and prosperity of christendom . here ends the secret history of the four last monarchs of great-britain . an appendix , containing the secret history of king iames the ii. since his abdication of england , continued to this present november , 1692 / 3. being an account of his transactions in ireland and france . with a more particular respect to the inhabitants of great-brittain . when one looks back , and reflects upon the continued conduct of our late monarch , both before , and after his accession to the crown , and the dismal consequences thereof to these three kingdoms , and at last to himself ; i cannot but regret the fate of those princes , that abondon their true interest , reason , conscience , and honour to iesuitick councils , and enslave themselves to a party , justly abominated by the better part of the romish church it self , for their gross encroachments upon religion , morality , and all that 's sacred among men. when i look back to the many tragedies , acted by that fraternity , both in this , and the last age , scarce a kingdom , or state in europe , where their villanies have not come up to the utmost reach of depraved nature . when i call to mind the horrid desolations , murders and wars , they have been instrumental of , in the most remote parts of the world ; witness some millions of souls in iapan , and other parts of asia , sacrific`d not many years ago , to their ambition and intrigues , under the notion of propagating the catholick faith ; i say , when i consider all these things , i am the less surprized with the dismal effects of their councils in england , since the same fate attends them every where . but i must confess , that among all the martyrs to lo●ala`s principles , the late king iames is the subject of admiration : to see a prince imposed upon by these jealous bigots , to trample upon the religion and liberties of his people , contrary to the fundamental laws , and the most solemn promises and oaths , under the false mask of piety and zeal to the catholick faith , and at length to find him seduced to abandon his kingdoms , and thereby an absolute necessity put upon the representatives of the people , to fill up his throne , vacated by his own fault , is a subject that naturally displays the vanity of humane greatness . and i may add , that the unaccountable doctrine of passive obedience , as it was the source of a great many mischiefs among our selves ; so what has b●●allen th●● king , may be partly imputed to it ; for the b●●●●ing . that without controul he might do what he pleased , encouraged him to take such ●easures as have brought upon him all his misfortunes . soon after , the late king iames's abdicating of england , and retiring to france , it was judged by him , and his doubly deputy fyrconnel , the ●ittest time to put the long contrived designs of sub●erting the protestant religion , and i●troducing popery into full execution in the kingdom of irel●nd , ( ●otwi●hstanding the ill success the like attempt had met with in england ) upon which , in december , 1689 , there was a mo●ion made in cou●cil for disarming all the pr●testants of that kingdom that had any arms left them ; which being known , and most concluding , that as soon as their ●rms were taken ( there being then a hot discourse of a general mass●cre ) 't was only to leave them more naked , and exposed , so as that it might have its full effects more easily , and with less opposition upon them , which alarm'd the protestants so , that many thousands came flocking over , to avoid that fatal stroke . now were the few protestants , who liv`d disperst , left to shift for themselves . in the mean time , the lord tyrconnel ( who still had the sword undemanded , and undisposed of to any other ) issues new commissions , not only to the roman catholicks , who had some estates , bnt to all , who were willing to stand up for the cause , that were men of broken fortunes , and worse fame , that could influence the rabble , and raise companies , only with this salvo , that they should maintain them for three months , at their own cost and charges , and then they should have their commissions given them ; by which it was adjudged , in regard there was but little money in the treasury , they should be fitted for service against king iames should come , or send them money ; or , that if the deputy found an army ready to land out of england , what money was there would be little enough to bear his charges , and furnish him with necessaries on his flight . but these commissions ( or rather encouragements ) being very many ; for every one that could get about sixty kearns , or country fellows , to joyn with them , and own him as their captain , immediately strutted , and looked very big , and was honoured by the name of captain ; so that it was nothing strange to have 20 or 30 companies in a county , and these the noted vagabonds , and cow-stealers ; so that presently the captains ( many of which had not three cows of their own ) had several hundreds of cattle driven into nookes and by-corners ; and all that were branded were sure to go to pot , in regard the horn ( as they called it ) spoke english : the rest were sent into other remote counties , to the officers there , and those again sent there stolen cattle in exchange for the other ( which was done to elude a proclamation from the lord-deputy , on the many and daily complaints he received on the account of the stolen cattle ) requiring all officers , as well as others , to be aiding and assisting to recover the stolen cattle , and to punish the offenders , which passed for currant : for it was well if a protestant could go safe to the next g●rrison , who sometimes would be so civil ( especially if a sum of money were given his men , to assist in the search ) as to send eight or ten miles , but besure the cattle must be far enough from the place searched : and sometimes , when 30 or 40 far bullocks came to be made a prey , that about a third or fourth part mu●t be laid aside for the pott ; the rest , for a bribe of 5 or 6 l , would be got by some of the soldiers , who would swear lustily they were forced to promise much to the spy ; yet no sooner ( on the delivery of the greater part of the cattle , and the money received ) but besure in a night or two , the cattle were again stolen . thus the merry drovers ( as they called themselves ) valued not to joyn , about 60 or 80 , or an 100 in one party , and force away what cattle they had a mind to : so that sometimes an hundred sheep would scarce seed the drivers , and their families , and friends ; and a purchase of an hundred was only fit to be divided among them and their crew , into lors and parts . and now these new raised forces were almost half armed out of the stores , the rest were pretty well fitted for pikes , made in the country ; and the priests and fryars , commanded ( on obedience to the holy see ) that no person whatsoever should appear at mass without his long skeene , and half-pike , which accordingly was performed ; and one person , who had not ore foot of land , but what he farmed from an english gentleman , had 12 dozen of each made for himself and tenants ; an account whereof was sent to the government , but no notice taken . and now it was thought fit , that these new raised forces should betake themselves to garrisons , which was s●ddainly done . and not only were the king's garrisons , forts and castles , well stored with them , but in many gentlemen's houses that were any thing , ( or whose owners were ●udged disaffected to them ) we●e likewise filled with their numbers , and the proprieters , or possessors turned out , and the provision seized ( and as it was an extraordinary favour to get off any goods , that were of any value ) or pretence that they were for the king`s use , and that he would make sa●isfaction , when , how , and in what manner he thought fit , and that was not the least thing done by his command . now was it plain , that this army was not design'd to fight with butter-flies , and that the lives of all the protestants that stayed , were in apparent danger . on which , an humble requ●st was made to one or two persons of greatest quality and station , to stand up for the ●rotestant religion , and english interest . but others , through a mistaken zeal for loyalty , or judging the scattered and dispersed protestants , too weak to withstand their shock ( much less to disarm the party design`d ) `twas there●ore declined , and judged unfit to attempt , as they proposed , seizing the sword , lord deputy and dublin . now tyrconnel , having by king iames's expr●ss command , disarm'd the protestants in g●neral , throughout ireland ; the irish cut-throats , sons , and grand-sons of the massaker of forty one , being armed in their room ; the act of settlement broken throughout ireland , the irish clergy having re assumed their bishopricks and livings , committing great abuses on the protestant clergy , ( as has been already hinted at ) advice came to dublin of king iames`s being landed at kinsale , and that he was on his way for the city : at this prince● first arrive● in ireland , to ingroriate● himself with the protestants , and to ●eget an opinion of his great clemency among the people , he very graciously condescended to grant a general pardon to the inhabitants of the town of bandon , amusing them with an assurance of an absolute ind●mnity ●or their transgressions ; but soon after he remitted them to the severity of the law , and exposed them ●o a tryal for their lives , upon which they were ●ll found guilty of high-treason ; and no otther consequence could rationally be expected , when both judges and jury were composed of inex●●rable papists : and , in the mean time , this mighty crime was no more than that the inhabitants of the place observing th●ir neighbours to be openly robbed and pi●aged , and from clandestine thievery , to proceed to violent depradation , they ●hought it prudent to shut their gates , and avoid plunder by a necessary defence , and self-prese●vation . this was the first e●●ay of the gracious indulgence of a popish king to his protestant subjects . this was a plain specimen of what is to be expected from him , who will mortgage his reason to the humour of his priests . soon after this , king iames , to ing●atiote himself with the people of england , sends over a specious paper , which was privately disperst by his friends in london , under the title of king iames his declaration to all his loving subjects in the kingdom of england , which was in substance as followeth although the many calumnies , and dismal st●ries , by which our enemies have endeavou●ed to render vt and our government odious to the world , do now appear to have been advanced b● them , not only without any grou●d , but against their own certain knowledge , as is ●vident by their not daring to attempt th●se charges to the wo●ld , which we cannot but hope , hath opened the eyes of our good subjects , to see how they have been imposed upon by des●●ging men , who , to promote their own ambiti●us ends , care ●●t what slav●r●●h●● reduce our kingdom● to . that since hi● ar●i●al in ireland , the defence of his p●otestant subjects ( as he calls them ) the●r religion , privilodges and properties , is especially his care , with the recovery of his own rights . and to this end , he ha● preferred such of them , of whose loyalty and affection he is satisfied , to places , both of the highest honour and trust about his person , as well as in his army . that by granting his royal p●otection in ireland , to such , whose minds were shaken by the arts of his rebellious subjects , has dispelled their apprehensions , and e●●ectually secur`d them against the attempts , even of their private enemies . and then adds , his ears have been alwas open to their just complaints . and so far has his royal mercy been extended to those that were in arms against him ; that he has actually pardoned several hundreds of them , and most notorious criminals are swept in an easie con●inement . then he goes on with his wonted professions of kindness to the protestant religion , church of england , and protestant dissenters , &c. it seems , king iames continues in his wonted road , of taking wrong measures , both of persons and actions , which has been the occasion of all his misfortunes , when he talks of his enemies th●● have rendred him and his government odious to the world ; he mistakes himself , if he means those worthy patriots , that being weary of his insupportable encroachments upon the religions , and civil liberties of these nations , did lend a hand , to deliver themselves , and fellow-subjects , ●rom a ruin that seemed almost inevitable . the reading those lines , wherein he makes great pretensions of defending the protestant subjects in ireland , puts me in mind of the parallel , so exact●● observed betwixt the french king , and kin● iames , in all their conduct , and particularly in both there way of asserting the calm methods , used by them tow●●ds their protestant subjects . when that common enemy of the christian part of europe . ( as a late pope was pleased to call him ) had out-done ●ll the neroes , and iulians of old , in the art of persecution , and had rendered himself abominated to the world , by the cruelties committed by his dragoon missionaries upon those very people that had done him the best offices , and preserved the crown upon his head in his minority ; yet at the very same time , lewis the x●v . and his ministers have had the impud●nce to affirm , that no other methods were used to convert those poor victims , but those of a fair perswasion and calmness . just so , king iames , that he may follow as near his corps as possible , having , since his arrival in ireland , abandoned the protestants of that country , to the merciless rage of an enemy irreconcileable , from both a principle of religion , and civil interest ; who , within his view , have laid desolate whole counties , and acted barbarities , proper only to themselves , and their french confederates , and by which , they forced away a great many thousands from their country , at the point of starving , having sav'd nothing of their fortunes from so universal a calamity . yet , notwithstanding all this appears in the face of the sun , king iames , that he may nor come short of his patron , boldly affirms , that the religion , priviledges and prop●rties of his protestant subjects ( as he names the● ) are his chie●est care , over and above ; and so much for the declarations . it is a matter , not unworthy the observation , how dexterously the government in ireland could prevaricate in their dealings with the poor enslaved protestants ; for upon any apprehensions of succours , arriving from england , or other pre●ext to fleece and squeeze them ; an information was presently given , how numerous the protestants were , and what danger may rise from thence ; and then they were forthwith con●ined , and hurried away to prison , and their houses and goods exposed to the rapine of the irish and french. at another time , when it might be sub●evient to their designs , to lessen the number , and under-value the strength of the protestants , then they give out , that their number was but small , and their interest inconsiderable . and this is very remarkable in a late passage at the city of lymerick , where the cabal of the papists projecting to get the churches there into their hands , represented to the king and council , that the protestants in that place were so very few , that there was no need to assign them any more than one church for their meeting , if at any time an information was given to the government of any money , plate , or other things valuable in the hands of a protestant , though guarded by the solemnity of a protec●ion , this was soon seconded by the suspition of some plot against the government ; and immediately a party was sent to seize their persons , to search , and plunder th●ir houses ; and so , after the infliction o● all sorts of misery and distress , they are admitted to liberty , under the caution of bonds for good behaviour ; but nothing left to s●●●●in them , or to prevent the calami●ous assaults of poverty and famine . at another time , they proceed with more jesuitical fierceness ; for having in their eye a concealed purchase of money , or good moveables , in the hands of a protestant , immediately an order was secretly granted , to seize the persons , and secure their goods ; and then , to amuse the world with an opinion of their justice and lenity , a proclamation was contrived with a plausible promise of indemnity to all protestants under their protection , and an invitation to all men to rest secure under the benignity of it . but in the mean time , the matter is so ordered● that the proclamation shall not be published , or delivered into the sheriffs hands , or other officers , tho` antidated before the issuing such order , till a certain advertisement be received● that the order is executed , and the work done . what a miserable an unexpected oppression is it , that the poor subjects shall be compelled to par● with their goods and merchandize , for a contemptib●e lump of brass and pewter ? yet such hath been the const●nt proceeding of the late king towards his subject● in ireland ; whose goods and commodities he rather seized than bought , and becoming the grand merchant of the kingdom , he was the general ingross●r of all trade , which he vends and expo●ts to his dear correspondent in france : bargaining with the owner at such a rate , as the buyer is pleased to make , a●d discharging his contract in bills of copper , pewter , and brass , which can in no way avail the poor seller , or support him in the circulation of his trade . i will only present the reader with one instance , ( among innumerabl● others ) and give him an aut●en●ick account of what goods were taken up in dublin at one time ●or the king's use ( i. e. ) were seized by armed force , and a price set upon them at the pleasure o● the taker . seized in the city of dublin , for the king`s use , feb. 6 th . 1689. of t●n●ed hides , 18771. of raw hides , 14687. of st●nes of wooll , 61105. of tun● of tallaw , 389. of stones of butter , 40. the like methods were put execution in all parts of the country , seizing and carrying away what the protestants had , in order to be sent after the former . after the king had made brass-money currant in ireland , it was at first pretended to pass only in payment between man and man , in their daily commerce and dealings , and in publick payment in debts to the exchequer . but soon after , the irish beginning to consider , that they were generally indebted to the english , and that this might be a fit season , and a lucky opportunity to get their debts easily , and cheaply discharged . a proclamation was published , enjoyning and requiring , that copper and brass money should p●s● as current money , within the realm of ireland , in the payment of bills , bonds● deb●s by record , mortgages , and all other payments whatsoever . by which knack , many a poor protestant was fobb'd out of his right , and compelled to take an heap of trash for debt . one of the most emine●t silver● smiths of dublin , having sold all his plate to a papist , who promised to pay him his price ( agreed upon ) in silver and gold ; but no faith being to be kept with hereticks , the goldsmith was compelled to take brass and copper . and soon after this , the late king put forth his savoury and fruitful proclamation , to make brass money pass in satisfaction of all debts , signed at dublin-castle , feb. 4 th . 1689. but i challenge all histories and records of nations , to parallel the late shameful usage of the poor protest●n●s prisoners in g●llway , upon whom was placed so odious a cheat , so unman-like a sham , th●t posterity will hardly be induced to believe it ; and i must implore the charity of the present age , nor to look it as a fable ; but it is ●o certain , and so sad a truth , that i defie the subtility and impudence of a jusuite , to gain say , or contradict . there was a stipulation made some time ago , between king iames , and the french tyrant , to exchange some regiments of auxillaries , and about 5000 men being accordingly sent from france , and landed in ireland , the late king ordered the like number of irish to be forthwith embarked , and transported into france , among whom , the regiment of collonel rob. fielding was appointed to be one ; but before he could get his regiment on board , a great number of the men run away , according to their natural and usual custom ; so that he became mightily puzzled what shift to make to recruit his regiment , whereupon this expedient was found out . there was in galloway about 120 english prisoners , who had endured the misery of close confinement , cold , hunger , and daily expectation of violent death , for above 14 months for pretended treason . to them coll. fielding applyed himself , promising , that for every one that would raise ●ight men , and deliver them to him to recruit his regiment , such should not only have their immediate liberty , but an absolute pardon ; and to that purpose he produced the l●te king's warrant ●or a general pardon . the poor gen●lemen overjoyed wi●h the security of their lives , and the prospect of their liberties , consented readily ; and in a short time , about 14 of the prisoners ( with extraordinary pains and charge● ) brought in the number demanded , and delivered them to the conduct of the collonel ; whom , with his men● was no sooner shipp'd off , but an order was sent from the late king , to seize upon those deluded gentlemen , and to recommit them to their former prison , on pretence , that fielding`s contract with them , was not done with his allowance : the great turk would blush to be charged with such an action , and the very heath●n would abhor it ! an action , fit only for the monsieur of france , and such princes as are influenced by his ex●mple . the french had not been two days in dublin , when they murdered two or three protestant clo●thiers , in a part of the city , called comb , for that ●reat crime of protecting their wives from being made prostitutes to the french ; of which inhumane act , no notice was ever taken by the late king , or his government , more than if two dogs had been shot . about the same time , some of them took a country-maid , that came to market with her father , and defloured her in the open street at noon-day . a motion was made in council , that the city of dublin should be fired , the protestants being first shut up in the churches and ho●pitals ; and then , if they lost the day at the boyne ● to set fire to all : whereupon the irish papists , traders in the city , and those of the army , that either themselves , relations , or friends , own'd houses in it , apply'd themselves to their king , and told him , they should suffer in that expedition , as well as the protestants , and that they would not draw a sword in his defence , unless all thoughts of burning the city were set aside ; and declared , that as soon as they saw or heard of any appearance of fire , they would fly from his service , and submit to king william's ; mercy ; of which , now they had a good experiment . the world is very sensible , that `t is the common ambition o● degraded princes , how just soever dethroned , to endeavour their own restauration . there is a chance in a crown , and `t is an extraordinary resignation that can quit the p●etences to titles so great , though never so deservingly forfie●ed . we do not therefore at all wonder at the irish and french army , prepared for king iames`s intended descent , and invasion of england last year , nor the early naval preparations of the french on that occasion . such expedition on so important an attempt , carried some little face of glory in it . his very enemies could not deny , but such an enterprize had been an ambition , well push'd ; and had he suceeded , he mighty fairly have written himself iames the conqueror . but as bold and gallant atchievements in the u●iversal standard of honour , carry a great name ; and which true greatness possibly , has no occasion to be ashamed ●f . nevertheless , there may be those poorer designs ; that instead of being either great or glorious , perhaps may carry the vilest , and most abject face , that a much less character then king iames ought to blush at . as for example , the followi●g commission . iames , by the grace of god , of england , scotland , and ireland , king● defender of the fai●h , &c. to our trusty , and well-belovd , capt. patrick lambe●t . know ye , that we reposing special trust in the approv`d fidelity and va●our , hav● asn●●ed , constituted and appointed you , commander of the good frigate , called , the providence , and further , we give you full power and authority to enter into any port or river of the kingdoms of england , scotland , and ireland , or any territories thereunto belonging , and either there , or at sea , to take , and apprehend ; and in case of any opposition or resistance , to sink , burn , or otherways , destroy all ships and vessels , together , with their goods , loading , and merchandises belonging to the inhabitants of england , scotland , and ireland , or either of them , together with the ships goods , and merchandizes of the states of the united provinces , or their subjects , and to bring and send up all such ships and goods , as they shall take in some port of france , and to procure the same to be adjudged , lawful prize in the next court of admiralty , established by our dear brother , the most christian king. and the tenths , and other dues a●ising out of the said prizes are to be paid to thomas stratford , or in his absence to iean nimport , of brest , or to such other persons as shall have authority from us to receive the same . signed , melsort . given at our court , at the castle of st. germans , feb. 22. 1691 / 2. here you find , instead of a more warrantable ambition of recovering three kingdoms , he poorly descends to grant his commissions to privateers to rifle , and spoil all the subjects of england , scotland , and ireland , indifferently to burn , sink , and fire their vessels , &c. and all this without respect of persons , interests or religion . the severest ro●anists , or most violent iacobi●e , ( without exception ) is to be swept in the common doom . so that instead of pretending all his former promised impurity and tenderness to the people of england , or instead of bravely grappling at his royal rival in the imperial seat , he vilely assumes little less than a common pyrat , authorizes the depredations of the e●glish merchants , even by the very hands of english men. this last poor spirited meanness must either plainly tell us , that he has utterly renounced all hopes of recovery of his kingdoms , and so under that despair , he resolves to play at a small game , rather than stand out , ( which indeed is the best title i can give it ) and consequently ( like the famous dyonisius , sumed pedagogue ) when he can scourge kingdoms no longer , he prepares his lesser rods for a more tyrannick lash ; or else , that forgetting that he ever was a monarch , and therefore blushing at nothing , though never so unprincely , he contents himself with being under-secretary to the french king , whilest the little iames is b●t a subscription to the great lewis . the french king deputes him as his emanuensis , to copy commissions for him ; and the contented receiver of that high favour , is paid to officiate in the trust. it was remarkt of him , that at his first departure from england , upon his transport from feversham , he uttered this expression . that he had rather be a captain of light horse , under the french king , than reign king of england , udder the l●sh and countroul of parliaments . a captain of a troop of horse is no over-high post : but truly , of the two , 't is much the more honourable , than the granting of such commissions . but indeed , all these tend to the aggradizing of the french king ; the poorer the subjects of england , the stronger the grand lewis ; his inviolable zeal and fidelity , therefore to the most christinn ( so titled ) nero , supercedes all other considerations , and ( fas aut nesas ) right or wrong , honourably or infamous , nothing comes amiss that carries the least shadow of service to that darling idol . one thing is very remarkable in the ianus faces of king iames's pre●ences . this very commission found on board a prize , taken on the west of england the last summer , was dated at st. germans , the 22 th of febr. 1691 / 2 ; . which ( pray observe ) bearing date before his intended invasion ; impowers this privateer to enter into any port or river of england , scotland , or ireland ; and commit all those hostilities of fireing , sinking , burning , & ● . a●l tr●ders , vessels whatever , at the same time that this declaration , prepared for his reception in england , intimated all the affection and tenderness imaginable to the interests , property , and what not , of his subjects of england , viz. that he was coming only to recover his own right , establish and restore their laws and liberties ; and yet , at the same time he gave out commissions to wast●e , ruin , and destroy the most innocent traders of the kingdom , possibly no way● interested in the titles , and disputes of princes , in parties or causes ; but on the contrary , only endeavouring a peaceable acquisition of their bread , by their honest commerce and industry . to conclude , from all this prince's actions , in the whole series of his life , it is no difficult matter to make a judgment of what we may justly expect from him , if ever divine judgment , as the reward of our ingratitude for so great a deliverance , should permit us to fall again under the heavy yoke of a popish prince , whom we have so justly and happily thrown off . king iames is of a religion , that has , infamous council , decreed , that no faith is to be kept with hereticks , much less with subjects , that he looks upon us as so many and will not miss to treat them as such , when-ever they give him the opportunity of doing it . for his greatest admirers do not run to the heighth of idolatry , to imagine him so much angel , as nor● to take all methods to revenge such an affront , and secure himself at our cost , from such treatment for the future . the apprehensions of which resentment● would strike such a terror in mens mind , that nothing would be capable to divert them offering up all for an attonement ; and popery and slavery will be thought a good bargain , if they can but save the●r lives . then we might lament our miseries , when it would be out of our power to help them ; for a prince of orange is not always ready to rescue us , with so vast expence , and hazard of his person . and i must say , if ever our madness should hurry us thus far , we should become rather the objects of laughter , than of pity : in short , if there be any of the prostant perswasion , so strangely infa●uated , as but to wish his return , i shall entertain them with no other answer , but the recommending to the● the ninth of ezra , v. 13 , 14. and after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds , and for our great trespass , seeing that thou our god hast punished us less than our iniqui●ies deserve , and hast given us such a deliverance as this : should we again break thy commandments , and j●●n in affinity with the people of these abominations ; wouldst not thou be angry with us , till thou hadst consumed us , so that there should be no remnant , nor escaping . finis . the life and reign of king richard the second by a person of quality. howard, robert, sir, 1626-1698. 1681 approx. 428 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 125 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44656 wing h3001 estc r6502 13506019 ocm 13506019 99794 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44656) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 99794) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 791:5) the life and reign of king richard the second by a person of quality. howard, robert, sir, 1626-1698. [8], 240 p. printed for m.l. and l.c. and sold by langly curtis ..., london : 1681. attributed to robert howard. cf. wing. reproduction of original in duke university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng richard -ii, -king of england, 1367-1400. great britain -history -richard ii, 1377-1399. great britain -kings and rulers -biography. 2005-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-05 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2005-05 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the life and reign of king richard the second . by a person of quality . london : printed for m. l. and l. c. and sold by langly curtis on ludgate-hill . 1681. to the readers . gentlemen , you are here presented with the life and reign of a prince whose misfortunes render his story perhaps as remarkable as any in our english annals . concerning which i shall only assure you , that the compiler ( for he as little affects , as deserves the title of an author ) has made it his business truly to set down naked matters of fact as he finds them related by the best authors , without obtruding his own fancies or dreams under the notion of history . which that it may more evidently appear , he thinks fit to give you an account of two of the authors whom he hath principally followed ; because one of them living in that very time , and the other either then , or not long after , they may rationally be supposed to have the most certain knowledge of those transactions . the first is henricus knighton , whose work de eventibus angliae , in latin , is printed amongst divers other ancient histories in that large and accurate collection , intituled , historiae anglicanae scriptores decem : first brought into publick light from authentick manuscripts , by those two learned antiquaries , sir roger twysden knight and baronet , and the famous john selden esquire , ( who both prefixt their epistles thereunto . ) nor was that miraculous treasury of all solid learning , the most reverend usher primate of armaugh , wanting in advising and promoting that edition . the great selden in his preface , fol. 46. tells us , that this knighton was a canon of the abbey of leicester , and that he flourisht in the time of this king richard the second , the most part of whose reign he wrote , deducing his history from william the conquerour , until within four years before the deposition of the said king richard , viz. to the year 1395. at which time we may suppose that author was himself snatcht away by death , or disabled by some disease , for else he would not so abruptly have discontinued his book . which conjecture is confirmed by what sir roger twysden in his epistle tells us , that in the manuscript in the renowned cotton's library , ( which he conceives to be the very autographon , or original hand-writing of the author , and from which the same was exactly printed ) there is in the first page an inscription , intituled , lamentum compilatoris , the compilers complaint , beginning thus ; sum caecus factus subitâ caligine tactus . blind i am grown , with sudden darkness struck . and thus concluding : me deus allisit , cum vult sanare , valebit . in domino semper stat quod relevabitur aeger . smitten i am by god , who when he please can help me , and alone cure each disease . — and so much for knighton . the other is thomas walsingham , a benedictine monk belonging to the abbey of s. albans ; who for ought appears might likewise live in king richard's days , for he is said to have flourisht , that is , to be grown famous by his labours , about the year 1440. and leland gives this character of him , in historiis colligendis studiosus atque diligens , ●hat he was a person very studious and diligent in collecting or compiling of histories . his history ( herein made use of ) begins , an. dom. 1273 , and ends anno 1432. to these cheifly is the present work indebted , and in most material passages , they are cited , and their very words strictly translated , yet still not omitting to consult other the most credible historians that have wrote of those times . and as for the process touching the deposition of king richard , the articles against him , &c. the same are punctually translated from the words of the record , as the same ( examined and attested ) are printed in the said volum called , hist. anglicanae scriptores decem , from col. 2743. to col. 2762. some of the principal contents . king richard so entertain'd by the city at his coming to the crown , that he was call'd the londoners king. pag. 3 alice price , her insolence and banishment . 5 a parliament tell the king his demeasns were sufficient to maintain his court and carry on his wars . 5 philpots brave exploits at sea. 6 a rare example of fidelity in a spaniard . 8 an odd scotch charm against the plague . 12 a very severe poll-bill granted . 14 the relation of wat tylers rebellion , which thereupon ensued . 15 the kings charter of freedom to the bondmen and pardon . 18 his revocation thereof . 27 scroop lord chancellor , turn'd out for refusing to seal an unlawful grant. 32 articles against wicliff , and a brief account of his life . 34 the vniversity of oxfords testimonial of his piety and learning . 44 we do not find christ ever converted a priest. 47 the first pretended act against the true professors of religion . — complain'd of as surreptitious , and repeal'd . 47 notable railing letters between the cardinals . 51 the bishop of norwich's croisado against schismaticks , the indulgences and cheats thereof , and his ill success at last . 59. sharp messages between king richard and his parliament . a copy of the impeachment of michael pole. 81 fourteen lords appointed by parliament to inspect past management of affairs and redress grievances . 87 the king commands sheriffs to return such as he should name to serve in parliament , the sheriffs answer , the people would hold their antient customs of free choice . 97 questions to the judges , and their answers . 99 the shrewd repartee of sir huge de lyn a natural , to king richard. 105 the lords in arms treat with the king , are promised redress in parliament . 107 the duke of ireland routed . 110 the answer of the governour of calice , when commanded by the king to deliver it up to the french to whom he had sold it . 111 the articles against the duke of ireland , the lord chief justice , &c. 115 the lord chief justice tresilian hang'd at tyburn , the other judges banisht . 135 the king not to pardon murder . 141 the kings severities to the londoners . 146 an interview between k. r. and the french k. 154 the duke of gloucester surpriz'd and basely murder'd . 159 the earl of arundel beheaded 161 all bay-trees wither , and the current of a river dry'd up . 166 a combate appointed between the duke of hereford and norfolk , and they both banisht . 167 the duke of lancaster lands in england . 182 king richard surrenders his person . 190 the record of his resignation and deposition 192 the articles against him . 201 touching the manner of his death . 239 the life and reign of king richard the second . king richard the second was born at burdeaux in france , in the year 1366. his father was that renowned hero edward , commonly called the black prince , eldest son of the great and victorious king , edward the third , his mother joan daughter of the earl of kent , for her exquisite beauty , styled , the fair maid of kent . and if he were so unhappy , as not altogether to inherit his grandfathers prudence , and his fathers spirit and conduct , yet it cannot be denied but he retained something of his mothers handsomness , being celebrated for the goodliest personage , and most amiable countenance of any king that had been before him since the conquest . his father , after he had filled both france and spain with terrible trophies of his valour , ( having taken the king of the former prisoner , and in the latter generously by his arms restored peter king of castile and leon , when injuriously driven out of those realms by the arragonians and french ) was in the forty sixth year of his age , snatcht away by death ( some say hastened by poyson ) during the life of his father king edward ; who having then three other sons still surviving , viz. john of gaunt duke of lancaster ; edmund of langley afterwards earl of cambridge , and duke of york ; and thomas of woodstock , afterwards duke of gloucester : for preventing any quarrels after his own decease , and all pretensions which any of them might make to the crown , to the prejudice of his grandchild , ( this our prince richard , to whom as son of the eldest brother it was adjudged to belong : ) he resolves to see his right declared and settled in parliament ; creating likewise the said richard first earl of chester and cornwall , and then prince of wales ; and taking an oath of all the lords of the realm to accept him for their king as his lawful heir , when ever himself should expire . being thus put into the immediate prospect of a crown , the over-burdensom glory came too fast ▪ upon his tender head , for king edward having over-liv'd his fortune , and the better part of himself , his conquests abroad being daily ravisht back , and alice price his concubine shamefully ruling both him and most affairs at home , oppressed with grief and age , ( though some say much more debilitated by the caresses of that petulant strumpet ) resign'd his last breath at richmond , the one and twentieth of june , anno dom. 1377 , in the sixty fourth year of his age , having reigned fifty years , four months , and odd days . upon the first notice of his death , the city of london sent deputies to prince richard , ( who with the princess his mother lay then at kingstone ) to acknowledge him their lawfull sovereign , and request that he would please to honour them with his presence and nearer residence : which message was kindly received , and the young king soon after came to his palace at westminster , and on the sixteenth day of july was solemnly crowned ; the citizens sparing no cost to express their loyalty and zealous affection to his person , both in his passage through the town , and at his coronation ; as by several triumphant arches , conduits running with wine , and all other demonstrations of a transporting joy ; insomuch that by some of the nobility he was ironically caled the londoner's king. his tender age ( being at his grandfathers death but eleven years old ) required some protector , or chief managers of publick affairs , but to whom to commit so weighty a trust , is the difficulty : if to one , ambition joyned with power , may tempt to vsurpation ; nor wanted they a precedent at home , whilst they remembred how king john justled out his nephew prince arthur . if to several , then it might be feared , that different private interests , factions , and by-ends , ( from which scarce any of the grandees were free ) might intangle or retard their proceedings , so as to obstruct their acting unanimously and chearfully for the publick weal : at last hoping to please all pretenders , and considering that from a multitude of councellors most safety might be expected ; they intrusted first the kings three vncles ; but lancaster , whether discontented to have any partners , or that he cared not much to intermeddle , because he had contracted both the enmity of the clergy , and the dissatisfaction of the londoners : or whether having a pretence to the crown of castile , by the marriage of constance daughter of the before-mentioned king peter , that he might better pursue his claim thereunto , warily withdrawing himself from that charge ; several other lords both spiritual and temporal were added , till at last being found too many , the same was conferr'd wholly upon the earl of warwick , who discharged the office with good satisfaction . the scotch and french promising themselves advantages from the kings minority , began to make attempts upon his territories , almost before he was in possession of the crown . the first surprized the castle of berwick , the second the isle of wight , and burnt and pillag'd several towns and villages on the coasts , but were both quickly repuls'd and beaten out again . about two months after the coronation , a parliament is called , which sate from michaelmas to s. andrew's day , and banished alice price , king edward's mistress ; for that whereas formerly being complained of as a grievance in parliament , she had sworn never to come again into the kings court or presence , ( which the king had likewise confirmed with his oath ) yet after the death of the black prince , she had returned and misgovern'd the king , presuming to fit in judicial courts , and by her presence and influence to wrest justice , and in his sickness flattered him with hopes of life , so that he neglected making provision for his soul , till he was quite speechless , whilst she in the mean time purloyned away the choicest things in the palace , and stole even the very rings off his fingers , and then ( like a right harlot ) left him gasping for life , and unable to speak one word , in the company only of one poor priest. my author says , when she came now to be questioned , she had with money corrupted many of the lords , and all the lawyers of england , who did not only secretly but publickly plead and use all their interest in her behalf ; yet she was so vigorously prosecuted by the knights in parliament , that being by her own mouth convicted , she was banisht the land , and all her estate moveable and immoveable , forfeited to the exchequer ; from whence by the late kings favour , or rather dotage , it had unduly been obtain'd . there was also by this parliament given to the king two tenths of the clergy , and two fifteenths of the temporalty , to be paid the same year ; but on this condition , viz. that the king for the future should not burden them with more requests of that kind , to draw away his subjects money , but would live on his demeasns , and continue his war ; for that ( as it was there answer'd ) his proper royal revenues were sufficient both to maintain his court , and carry on his wars , if the same were but manag'd by fit and trusty ministers : and therefore it was agreed , that this money so given , should as it was raised , be deposited in the hands of two citizens of london , william waller , and john philpot , who were to see it bestow'd for the defence of the realm . [ 1378. ] this john philpot was an alderman of london , a person of no less courage than prudence , as appears by the following exploit : sometime after the parliament broke up , and the money collected ; the duke of lancaster ( to whom nothing almost could be denied ) was very importunate to have the same delivered to his dispose , promising therewith to free the nation from all invasions and pyracies , wherewith it was lamentably infested , and to perform other very advantageous services for the publick : whereupon he obtained an order for the same , notwithstanding the proviso in the act , so impossible it is de facto to bind up the hands of power : but though some naval preparations were made , yet little was effected to repel or prevent those injuries and depredations , which the nation suffered by sea from the french on the one side , and the scottish pickaroons on the other ; so that by the common neglect of securing the coasts , and scowring the seas , our merchants durst not traffick abroad for fear of pyrates , who hovered in every corner , but especially of one mercer , a bold and potent scottish rover , who having drawn together a considerable fleet of french , scots and spaniards , daily committed insufferable outrages , spoiling all they met : hereupon the said alderman philpot first complained of these grievances to the kings council , humbly remonstrating the damages sustained , and imploring redress ; but receiving from them only fair promises , and no relief , full of grief and disdain , to see his country-men thus devoured by those insolent water-vermin ; he at length provided , victualled , and man'd forth at his own proper costs and charges , a competent fleet of tall ships , himself in person , putting forth with them to sea , where he soon encountred the pyrates , took the said mercer , destroyed his ships , and recovered most of the prizes formerly taken , with fifteen spanish bottoms well fraught with riches , besides many french and scottish ships , and so return'd with triumph and the general acclamations of the people : but envy is always the attendant of extraordinary vertue , instead of thanks or reward , several of the nobles from whom he seemed to have snatcht by this his fortunate attempt , the glory of that service , which their country justly , though in vain expected from them , passed harsh censures on his forwardness ; and particularly the earl of stafford called him in question at the council-table , for presuming ( being but a private man ) for to levy arms , and equip a fleet without authority : but philpot with a prudent gallantry , composed of an undaunted innocency , and an humble merit , gave such a justifiable account of the act , as satisfied the board , or at least silenc'd his accusers : for thus in particular to that lord , he is said to have answered , i would have your honour undoubtedly know , that i did not adventure my money , my person , and my men to the dangers of the sea , and hazards of war , with any design to rob your lordship , and your collegues , of the glory of chivalry , or fame of military atchievements and gain it to my self . but condoling the losses of my fellow citizens , and misery of my country which by your sloth from a most noble kingdom , giving laws to all her neighbours , is sunk into so deplored a state as to ly open to the insolencies and pillagings of the vilest of nations and men , whilst yet not one of you lent a hand her defence , i freely exposed my self and mine for her deliverance , and the publick safety , to which the earl had nothing to reply . about the same time , viz. in the second year of the king , there happened a fray which ( not so much for the importance of the quarrel , as a rare example of fidelity and honesty attending it ) i cannot but relate ; though even the thing it self in those ignorantly zealous times , wanted not its ill influence on the publick , and the monkish historians cry out about it as tragically , as if heaven and earth were ingag'd , all christianity at stake , and the pillars of religion in danger . the business thus ; two valiant squires , robert haule , and john schakel , in the late wars in spain under prince edward , chanc'd to take the count de dena , a spanish don of great quality and estate , who was fairly by the law of arms adjudg'd their prisoner , and brought into england , where he left his eldest son with them as a pledge , whilst he went home to raise his ransome , the son swearing to continue with them till it came ; but the father being got into spain , never regarded to send the money , but in little time dies , whereby the honour and estate devolves to the young hostage ; which being understood by king edward , ( for in his days happened this first part of the story ) both he and prince edward's son , were very importunate with these two gentlemen , to release the spanish cavaleir , which they desired either in favour to the duke of lancaster , who thought by the help of this nobleman to faciliate his pretentions to the crown of castile , or else with an intent to match him to mathilda relict of the lord courtney , the kings sister ; but no matter what their design was , the squires were so far from parting with him , that they would not discover where he was , and so were sent to the tower , whence making their escape they took sanctuary in westminster abbey , and there continued , till now the duke of lancaster resolved to ferret them out , to which purpose fifty men at arms were sent thither , who entring the sanctuary , put a trick upon john schakel , and soon got him out and hurried him to the tower ; but as for haule , he was more strongly ensconc'd in the church amongst the monks , and at mass , however thither they went , and after a little expostulation why he would so refractorily disobey the kings command , when even majesty had condescended to a request ? they tell him , he must go with them , which he peremtorily refuses , and draws a short sword and makes at them ; whereupon they resolve to force him away , who still making resistance , was at last knockt on the head amongst them which our author calls crown'd with martyrdom : the monks would fain have rescued him , but drust not , because they saw the souldiers too strong for them , however the archbishop of canterbury presently thundred out an excommunication against these violaters of the sanctuary and all their abettors , the king and his mother , and his uncle lancaster only excepted ; and the bishop of london did the like for several days together , but about a year after by the mediation of divers grave and venerable persons , the matter was composed on these terms ; that the said schakel , who was so sent to the tower , should discover and deliver up the said count de dena , aud so be set at liberty , upon consideration , that the king should settle upon him lands , to the value of an hundred marks per annum , and pay him down five hundred marks ready money , in lieu of the expected ransom , and also that his majesty for satisfaction to the church , should at his proper charges erect a chauntry of five priests for ever , to pray for the soul of him whom his officers had so slain , though one would have thought dying , in their opinion , a martyr , he might have had no great need of such everlasting orisons . but still the more surprizing intrigue of the tragedy is behind , when schakel came to produce his captive , he shew'd them his man that waited on him ; for the brave spaniard had that regard to his word which he had passed , that he scorn'd to discover himself without his leave , but on the contrary had all along both in the sanctuary , and in the tower , faithfully and submissively serv'd him in disguise , neglecting both his quality and interest , when they stood in competition with his honour ; a piece of gallantry and generous honesty , scarce to be parallel'd in story . about the feast of s. luke , a parliament was held at glocester , with an intent as was thought to have alipp'd the wings of the towering church-men , but finding their interest too strong , nothing of that kind was offered , but for the kings further supply , it was granted , that he should have of the merchants for every sack of wool exported , a mark , and for every twenty shillings of wares or merchandizes whatsoever imported from beyound the seas , six pence , to be paid by the buyer . [ 1379. ] the next year another parliament was called at london , where the priviledges of the sanctuary at westminster were regulated ; for whereas before great numbers of persons when they were got in debt , would shelter themselves , and waste in revelling and debauchery their revenues , which could not be touched for their just debts , to the grievous prejudice of their creditors ; it was now ordained , that if upon proclamation made , they should not surrender themselves , them their goods should be sold and their lands extended , where-ever found , till their debts satisfied . there was also a new tax granted , but because the commons were already much impoverisht , it was laid only on the nobility , gentry , and clergy , by way of poll ; viz. dukes and archbishops , ten marks apiece ; every earl , bishop , and mitred abbot , six marks , besides each abbot to pay forty pence per head for all his monks ; and so justices , sheriffs , knights , esquires , rectors , vicars , and even down to simple chaplains , every one his allotment . this summer there was a most dreadful pestilence in england , especially in the northern parts , insomuch that whole families were swept away . nay towns and villages left without inhabitants : during the heat of which calamity , the scots took their advantage to enter the land , and committed great spoils in small parties , but durst not stay for fear of the infection , and yet ( as our author relates ) they had got a wonderful preservative against it : for asking some english , the reason of so great a mortality amongst them , and being told it came by the grace of god , they therefore every morning with great solemnity used this charm , or ( if any body will call it so ) prayer — god and saint mango , saint roman , and saint andrew , shield us this day from god's grace , and the foul death that english men die upon . [ 1380. ] the next year in jan. the parliament was again assembled at london , and continued till march , wherein to avoid unnecessary charge it was agreed , that the tutelage of the king , should be committed but to one , and by unanimous consent , thomas beuchamp , earl of warwick , was pitch'd upon for the man , an honourable allowance being assign'd to him out of the royal exchequer for his pains and care therein to be taken ; but the young king though a minor as to the publick affairs , thought himself of age sufficient at least to conduct himself in his private and personal concerns ; for though for want of ripening experience ; his wisdom had not time to bud , yet his will was grown to full strength : being already plunged in the gulf of pleasure , and vanities of youth , he set himself to promote such as most pleased him with flatteries , rather than such as were truly qualified to serve him with solid council and able conduct ; whence arose three fatal mischiefs : for first , his affairs were indiscreetly managed , and without success , by reason unfit ministers were imploy'd about them , secondly , debauchery was increased , first , in the court , and next throughout the kingdom ; for many of the young nobility , observing the secret favours and distastes of the king , studying in all things to gratifie his pleasure , gave up themselves to dissolute and dishonourable courses ; which ill precedents descended like an infection amongst the gentry and commonalty ; for vice always finds too many followers , even when it hath no incouragers , but much more doth it increase , when flusht with great examples , and made the scale or perferment . and lastly the king by thus misplaceing his favours impaired the veneration due to majesty , became cheap in the eyes of his subjects , and less respected , for it is almost as dangerous to a prince to have evil and despised favourites and adherents , as to be evil or despicable himself . in this parliament was granted a tenth from the clergy and a fifteenth from the laiety , but on condition , that from thence , which was march 1380. to michaelmas 1381. there should be no more parliaments ; that is , no more money rais'd . this summer the king and council sent a strong army to assist the duke of bretaigne , under the command of his unckle thomas of woodstock , sir thomas peircy , &c. who landing at calice , forced their passage through the body of france , leading their troops to and fro , and laying the countrey waste at their pleasure , without any resistance , till they came to the borders of bretaign , where they were joyfully received , but the very terror of their march , had disposed the french to an accomodation , so that they made peace with the duke of bretaign , whereupon our army without any other advantages , but those of renown and glory returned home . notwithstanding it was agreed in the last parliament to the contrary , yet by the too great prevalency of some counsellors , a parliament against the will and consent of almost all the great men of the land , was this same year about the feast of s. martin , ( which is novemb. 10th ) conven'd at northampton , a place most unfit for such an assembly , as well for that it was winter , and scarce any fewel for firing there to be procured ; as also because it afforded not lodgings enow to entertain those that should have resorted thither : but perhaps so much the more fit for the design of the small politicians ; for here they got past a very severe tax , or poll bill . whereby every priest , secular or religious , was to pay a noble , and every nun as much , and every man and woman , married or unmarried , being of the age of sixteen years , twelve pence , ( beggars onely excepted ) the paying whereof was esteem'd very grievous by the people , especially of the poorer sort . and that which aggravated their misery , was , that when it came into the exchequer , it was so handled by those imploied about it , that it amounted not to so much as some former taxes , which were given in less proportion : whereupon some of the kings ministers complained that it had not been duly collected ; and one john legg , and three of his associates , obtained a commission to inspect and review the levy , bargaining to give the king a great sum of money for the same : but indeed on that pretence committing horrible oppressions , exactions , and insolencies in divers parts , especially in kent , norfolk , and the adjacent counties . hence immediately after , viz. in the spring of the year 1381 , arose one of the most formidable and mischievous insurrections that had been heard of almost in any age ; the old bellum servile of the romans was acted in england , but with greater impudence and mischief ; the slaves are in arms , and the very dregs of the people will be lords and masters . the true causes or occasions of this unexpected confusion are very differently related , some monkish historians ( followed , blindfold by some later authors ) out of hatred to wickliffe and his tenets , ( which now began to be much disseminated , and of which we shall by and by give a further account ) attributed it chiefly to his doctrine : for 't is an ordinary thing to proclaim all evils , concurring with any attempts of reformation in religion , to be proper fruits thereof ; as the heathens of old imputed all their calamities to the then new and rising sect of the christians : but as we find nothing in that good mans real positions ( for several of his works are yet extant ) to foment such a lewd rebellion ; so neither do the more impartial authors of that age lay it at his door : though 't is agreed , one ball a factious clergy●man was an incendiary of that combustion , which seems in its original ascribable to the natural desire of liberty , and pride of humane nature , impatient of superiority , since the villains or bondmen were chief in the tumult ; and partly to the heavy taxes and insolencies of the collectors , and especially of these new farmers of the subsidy , or commissioners , which exasperated the common people into a mutiny . but whatever were the provocations , dismal were the effects , and might have prov'd fatal to the utter ruine of the kingdom , had not the providence of god wonderfully prevented it . nor is it less disputable where the uproar began , some say in essex , some in kent ; for the flame w●s so suddenly spread into divers places , that they could scarce tell where the fire broke forth , and who first headed them , is also uncertain ; some speak of one thomas a baker of fobhyngges ; others of walter tyler at deptford in kent , to be the ringleader : but the most received tradition is thus . that one of the said collectors of poll-money , coming to the house of the said tyler ( so called from his trade ) and requiring of his wife to pay for a daughter of hers , whom she affirmed was not of age to pay , the rude fellow told her , he would presently see whether she were so or not , and forceably turn'd up her coats , whereupon the mother made such an out-cry , that her husband being at work hard by , heard her , and came running with his lathing staff in his hand , wherewith he beat out the collectors brains , and knowing that for the same he must be hang'd , endeavoured to secure himself by greater crimes , drawing together the rabble , and incensing them , ( who of themselves were but too ready ) unto a rebellion : thus multitudes flockt together , broke open the goal at maidstone , where the before-mentioned ball the priest was then a prisoner , who having gain'd his liberty , marched along with them ; and they growing still more numerous , ( some write an hundred thousand strong ) came to blackheath , where he made a seditious preachment to them , taking for his text or theme the old proverb ; when adam delv'd , and eve span , who was then a gentleman ? from thence telling them , that by descent from adam , all men were of one condition ; that the laws of the realm were injurious to christian liberty , and unjust by making such difference of mens estates , preferring some to be peers and potentates , with great authority and large possessions , whereby they took advantage of the humble plyable condition of others , to keep them in slavery , hardly affording them sustenance ; whereas there ought to be an equal sharing of all things , and that in common , &c. this doctrine was extreamly pleasing to these raggamuffins , who animated thus with multitudes , and holding correspondence with others as mad as themselves in other counties , they arrested all strangers that they met with , making them swear to be true to king richard , and to the commons , and never to own any king that should be called john : which they did out of spight to the duke of lancaster , against whom they had an implacable malice . they likewise beheaded all lawyers they could catch , saying , till they were rooted out , the land would never enjoy free liberty . at black-heath they sent for the king to hear their grievances , but the archbishop of canterbury and the lord treasurer , disswaded him from venturing his royal person amongst them , which being understood by the commons , they were thereupon more enraged against those two , calling them traytors ; and to be revenged immediately march towards london ; in southwark they discharge all prisoners , and when the mayor of london would have pull'd up the draw-bridge , and shut the gates against them , the rabble of the city would not suffer him , so that all that night they came in and out at their pleasure , being the more favoured , because hitherto they spoiled no man , but honestly paid for all they had , saying , they came not as robbers , but to bring malefactors to justice . the king to prevent mischief , sent them word to meet him at mile-end , where he would hear their complaints , and part of them accordingly went thither , where the king gave them a c●arter under the great seal of england , that thenceforth all the men of england should be free , and discharged from the tenour of villenage , and all bondage of that kind . the tenour of which charter of manumission , as it was given to them , and within few days sent into several counties , was as follows . richard , by the grace of god king of england and france , and lord of ireland , to all his bailiffs and faithfull subjects to whom these presents shall come , greeting , know yee , that of our special grace , we have manumiss'd or set free all and singular our liege subjects , and other of the county of e. and them and every of them from all bondage do release and acquit by these presents . and also we pardon to our said liege-men and subjects , all manner of felonies , treasons , transgressions , and extortions , by them or any of them , in any manner whatsoever done or committed ; and also all and every outlawry or outlawries , if any be or shall be published against them , or any of them , for or by occasion of the premisses ; and do thereof to them and every of them grant our highest peace : in witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent : witness our self at london , the fifteenth of june , in the fourth year of our reign . upon this concession , most of the essex-men that met at mile-end went home ; but while this was doing , others that staid behind in london , enter'd the , tower , and dragg'd out thence hen. earl of derby the duke of lancaster's son , and but a youth ; simon of sudbury , archbishop of canterbury ▪ and chancellor of england ; robert hales prior of the hospital , and treasurer of england ; he the before-mentioned john legg , and and john a minorite , being a crony of lancaster's and 3 others , all which 7 last they forthwith beheaded , carrying their heads on poles , as in triumph : and now being heated with both wine and blood , they march to the savoy , and burn the duke of lancaster's stately palace , ( the best house in england ) with all its rich furniture to ashes , breaking in pieces all his plate and jewels of inestimable value , and flinging them into the thames , and when one of their fellows was spy'd to thrust a piece of plate into his bosom , they presently flung it and him into the fire to be destroy'd together ▪ saying , they came not like thieves to enrich themselves . but of liquors they were not so scrupulous ; for two and thirty of them being got ito the dukes wine-cellar , tippled so long till the rafters of the house on fire , fell down , and stopt the passage , that they could not get out , but were heard to cry seven days after , and so perished . from the savoy they came back to the temple , and burnt the lawyers lodgings , books , papers , and all records they could meet with : the house of s. john's by smithfield , they set fire to , so that it burnt seven days ; nor had they any regard to churches ▪ but forc'd out such as fled thither for sanctuary , and beheaded them , for they used no other manner of execution to high or low . that night wearied with spoil , and generally drunk , they lay sleeping like swine in the open streets and under the walls : and the next day being routed together again , the king with a small guard coming to smithfield , offered a pardon to all such as yet after all these outrages would cease from the like for the future , and go quickly home . whereupon wat tyler declared , that he was for peace very willingly , provided it were on such terms as he should approve of : therefore to understand what he would have , one sir john newton is sent to invite and desire ( for so they were glad in that juncture of affairs to compliment his sawciness ) wat to come and treat thereof with the king ; and when the knight urged him to make haste , he answered with some indignation ; if thou art in such haste , go back to thy master the king ; i 'le come when i see mine own time . however he soon followed him on horse back , but slowly for the greater state , and being come near the king , the same knight was commanded to go to him , and receive and bring back his proposals . tyler offended , because this messenger came to him mounted , told him it became him to alight from his horse in his presence ; and therewith drew out his dagger to strike him : but the king to pacifie him , made him alight . the demands which tyler made , besides a general enfranchisement of the bond men , ( which the king had already granted ) were , that all warrens , parks , and chases , should be made common and free to all , so that as well the poor as the rich , should have liberty to fish , fowl , and hunt in all places throughout the kingdom , with several other the like extravagant demands : in which tyler behaved himself so insolently , that the kings attendants could not but represent to his majesty that it was insufferable , and the before celebrated john philpot , according to his usual courage , told the king , that if his majesty would but command his lieutenant ; viz. the mayor to arrest the traytor , he would lose his life if it were not happily accomplisht ; whereupon the king was prevailed with to give such a command , or rather leave to william walworth , then mayor of london , who waiting an opportunity , and observing tyler to play with his dagger , tossing it from hand to hand , as if he meant some mischief , and that at last ( to what intent is not known , whether out of rudeness , or design ) he laid one of his hands upon the kings bridle , fearing the ruffian might attempt his royal person , instantly executed his arrest , by giving him a blow on his head with a dagger ; which was seconded with philpot's sword and anothers in his body , so that immediately he fell down dead on the ground : when the rabble saw this , they began furiously to cry out , o our captain is slain , our captain is murdered : let 's revenge the death of our captain , &c. but the king with a courage and ingenuity beyond any thing could be expected from his years , ( for he was not yet above fifteen ) clapt spurs to his horse and rod to the head of them , crying aloud , what mean you my men ? or what do you do ? will you shoot your king ? you shall have no cause to grieve for the death of that traytor and ribauld ; i that am the king , will be your captain and your leader : follow me into the field , and you shall have whatever you will ? upon which words , amaz'd , and not certainly resolv'd either of one anothers minds , nor indeed each man of his own , they followed awhile , till sir richard knolls , with a thousand armed men raised in the mean time by the mayor , came upon them out of the city , at whose approach ( being now headless , and all in confusion ) they were so terrifi'd , that they forthwith flung down what arms they had , and begg'd for mercy ; which the king granted , and withal gave them a charter of freedom in form as before recited ; but proclaim'd , that no citizen should have any correspondence with any of them , nor suffer them to come within the liberties : and so this dreadful rout from the height of insolence was in a moment scattered and reduced to the depth of misery and fear , sneaking back by stealth into the country : many in their passage slain or perishing for want , and multitudes of them soon after executed . for this good service , the king upon the place conferr'd the honour of knighthood upon the said john walworth mayor , and john philpot , as likewise on nichol. brembre , john land , and nicholas twyford , citizens of london . and in memory of so honourable an exploit , perform'd by the mayor , the dagger hath ( 't is said ) ever since that time been added in the city-arms , which before bore only the cross. but though things were thus appeas'd at london , there was still no less hurley-burley in several counties : at st. albans they committed many out-rages , and cancell'd the ancient charter of the abbot and monks . in suffolk there were swarm'd together fifty thousand villains , under the conduct of one john straw , a lewd priest , who beheaded sir john cavendish , lord chief justice of england , and ●et his head on the pillory in s. edmundsbury . the like commotions also there were at the same time in norfolk , cambridge-shire , and the isle of ely , at the instigation of one littester , a dyer , who called himself king of the commons , and forc'd several lords , and persons of quality to be sworn to them , and ride along with them to countenance their proceedings ; but these were for the most part subdu'd and dispers'd , by the active valour of hugh spenser bishop of norwich , who gathering an army together , set upon the rebels with incredible fury , pursuing them from place to place , and giving no quarter to any of them . it is to be noted , that these rebels in several shires held correspondence , and their leaders sent abroad their epistles of advice , and encouragement ; some of which ( as they were afterwards taken and own'd ) i shall insert , for the readers diversion : that he may admire the style of these popular orators , and observe what strength of perswasion there was in non-sense . a letter of john ball to the comnons in essex . iohn sheep sometime s. mary priest of york , and now of colchester , greeteth well john nameless , and john the miller and john charter , and biddeth them beware of guil in borough , and stand together in gods name , and biddeth piers plowman go to his werk , and chastise well hob the robber , and take with you john trewman , and all his fellows , and no mo . john the miller hath yground small , small , small : the kings son of heven shall pay for all . beware , or ye be wo ; know your frende fro your foe , have ynough , and say no , and do well and better , and flee sinne , and seek peace , and hold you therein : and so biddeth john trewman , and all his fellows . another . iohn ball gretyth you wele all , and doth you to understand , he hath rungen the bell ; now ryght . and●myght , wyll and skyll , god spede every yee dele . now is time , lady help to ihesu the sone , and thid sone to his fadur , to make a gode end , in the name of the trinity , of that is begun : amen , amen , pur charite , amen . another . iohn bell s. mary prist gretes wele all manner men , and byddes them in the name of the trinity , fadur and son and holy ghost , stond manlyche togedyr in trewthe , and helps trewthe , and trewthe shall helpe yowe : now regneth pride in prise , and covetous is hold wise ; and lechery without en shame , and glotony without en blame . envie regneth with treason , and slouthe is take in grete sesone . god do bote , for now is the time . amen , in esex , southfolc , aud northfolc . jack the millers epistle . jakk mylner asket help to turn his mylne aright . he hath grounden small , small , the kings son of heven he shall pay for all . look thy mylne do a right , with the four sailes , and the post stand in stedfastnesse . with right and with might , with skill and with will , lat might help right , and skill go before will , and right before might ▪ than goeth our mylne aright . and if might go before right , and will before skill than is our mylne mysadyght , jack the carter's jakk carter pryes yow all , that yee make a gode end of that yee have begunnen , and doth wele , and ay bettur and bettur , for at the even men heryth the day : for if the end be wele than is all we le . lat peres the plowman my brother duele at home , and dyght us corn , and i will so with yow , and help that yee may so dyght your mete and your drynk , that yee none fayle . lokke that hobb robbyoure be wele chastised for lesing of your grace , for yee have grete nede to take god with yow in all yowr dedes , for now is time to beware . jack trewman's scroll . jakk trewman doth yow to understand , that falseness and gile havith regned to long , and trewth hath been sett under a lokke , and falsneth and gile regneth in everylk flokke . no man may come trewth to , both syng si dedero , speke , spend , and speed quoth john of bathon , and therefore sinn fareth as wilde flode , trew love is a way that was so gode , and clerks for welth worth hem wo. god do bote , for nowze is time . the storm being thus happily over-blown , the rebels suddenly master'd , and a competent force raised to secure the peace of the kingdom , it was quickly thought fit to revenge such an affront , and bring the delinquents to justice . in order to which , the king as soon as he could do it with safety to himself and the publick , revokes his former charters of manumission and pardon , by a proclamation under his great seal , in these terms . richard , by the grace of god , king of england and france , and lord of ireland ; to all to whom these presents shall come , greeting : although in the late detestable disturbance , horribly made by divers of our liege people and subjects rising up against our peace , certain letters patent of ours were made at the importunate instance of the rebels , containing , that we have freed all our leige people , common subjects , and others of the several counties of our realm of england , and them , and every of them discharged and acquitted from all bondage and service . and also , that we have pardoned them all manner of insurrections by them against us made , and all manner of treasons , felonies , transgressions , and extortions , by them or any of them committed . as also , all outlawries publisht against them , or any of them , on those occasions ; or that we have granted to them and every of them our firm peace : and that our will was , that our said liege people and subjects should be free to buy and sell in all cities , burroughs , towns , markets , and other places within the kingdom of england ; and that no acre of land which holds in bondage or villenage , should be accounted higher than at four pence ; and if any were before held for less , that it should not be raised for the future . yet for that such our letters did issue without mature deliberation , and unduly , we well weighing , that the grant of the said letters , doth manifestly tend to the very great prejudice of us and our crown , and to the disinherison as well of us , and the prelates and nobility of our said realms , as of the holy anglicane church , and also the the damage and incommodity of the commonwealth . therefore by the advice of our council , we have revoked , made void , and do utterly annul the said letters , and whatever hath been done or follow'd thereupon , willing that none of what state or condition soever he be , shall any way have or reap , or enjoy any liberty or benefit whatsoever , of or by the said letters . for we will , and 't is our intention , by the advice of our sound council , for the future , to impart such grace and favour to all and singular , although they have grievously forfeited their allegiance , as shall be well-pleasing and profitable to our realm , and with which our faithful subjects may reasonably hold themselves contented . and this we do notifie to all persons concern'd , by these presents , commanding the same to be proclaimed in all cities and towns , villages , &c. and further we strictly require and command , that all and singular as well free as bond-men , shall without any contradiction , murmuring , resistance or difficulty , do and perform the works , customs , and services , which to us or any other their lords they ought to do , and which before the said disturbance were used to be done , without lessening or delaying the same . and that they do not presume to require , pretend , or claim any other liberties or priviledges , than what they reasonably had before the said tumults . and that all such as have any of our said letters of manumission and pardon in their custody , shall immediately bring and restore the same to us and our council to be cancelled , upon the faith and allegiance in which to us they are bound , and upon pain of forfeiting all that to us they can forfeit for the future . in testimony whereof ▪ we have caused these our letters to be made patent . witness our self at chelmsford , the second day of july , in the fifth year of our reign . by this revocation , all pretensions of pleading a pardon being cut off , procedings were next made against the principal offenders , several of them being convicted before the mayor , and beheaded , as john straw , john kickby , alane tradder , and john sterling , which last boasted that he was the man that slew the archbishop . also sir robert tresilian chief justice , was impowr'd by special commission , to judge others of the rebels , before whom in sundry places , above fifteen hundred were found guilty , and put to death ; and amongst them the before mentioned incendiary ball the priest , who being taken at coventry , was brought before the king at s. alban● , and the●e drawn , hang'd and quartered . during these uproars , the duke of lancaster , ( very happily for the preservation of his person , against whom the commons had so great a spite ) was gone into the north against the scots , but having tidings of the insurrection , thought fit to clap up a truce for two years , which he got ratified upon oath some days before the scots had any notice of the troubles in england ; but conceiving himself in danger , for the general ( though false ) report was , that the king to pacifie the rebels had consented to abandon him to their pleasure , when ever they could seize him , and having receiceived some affronts in that distress from the earl of northumberland , he desired of the scots a safe conduct , and to reside for a time amongst them , who honourably entertain'd him , till he was sent for by the king , and then a new cause of grudge hapned between him and the earl of northumberland , for in his return he was denied passage through the town of barwick , by the captain sir matthew redman , by vertue of a command from the said earl lord warden of the marches , not to suffer any from scotland to enter the same , which indeed the king had specially ordered , forgetting the dukes being then in that kingdom . however this bred such an animosity in the duke against the earl , that being come home , he charged him with several things , which the earl as stoutly answered , and great numbers of armed men followed each of them , but the king taking their differences into his own ha●ds , workt a reconciliation . about all-hallontide , began a parliament , but had not accomplisht any thing of moment before they were adjourn'd till after christmas , by reason of the arrival of the new queen , sister of wyncelaus king of bohemia , and elected emperor : an alliance of some honour , but little profit to the realm , she being followed with a multitude of insatiate bohemians ; who by the kings facility , drain'd abundance of wealth out of the kingdom . it was observed , that as soon as ever she set foot on shore at dover , an horrible storm arose at sea , which so tossed the ships in the harbour , that the same which her majesty came in , was immediately dasht to pieces ; which some then lookt upon as ominous , presaging tempests of state to follow her . [ 1382. ] the nuptial solemnities , which were very splendid and costly , being over , the parliament meets again , to begin the new year , in which several wholsom laws were ordain'd ; as to admit merchant-strangers freely to sell their merchandizes here , to regulate excesses in in the apparel of inferiour people , to settle the price of wines , and many other matters . but , what ( saith our author thomas walsingham , condemning such practices ) signifie acts of parliaments , when after they are made , they take no effect , or are nothing regarded , for the king with his privy council , took upon them to alter or wholly se● aside all things , that by general consent had in parliament been established . of the truth whereof , there were too many unhappy instances , as amongst the rest , in this very parliament , upon the request of the lords and commons , sir. r. scroop was by the king appointed lord chancellor as being a person of known judgment , learning , and inflexible integrity ; but within few months he was turn'd out of that office , ( which he had laudably and prudently administred ) meerly because to do the king faithful service he had displeased some of his unworthy m●nors : the relation of which , i shall set down in walsinghams own words . edmund mortimer , earl of march , and several other lords , being lately dead , certain greedy and ambitious knights and squires , and others of inferior rank , that were servants to the king , had begged of him grants of divers lands and lordships , lately belonging to the deceased , that they might have the profits thereof , for so long time as the king by the custom of the realm , was to hold them in his hands ; which the king , not minding the value , nor considering any reason they had to desire , or merit to deserve , such revenues , presently consents to , ordering them to the chancellor to have their grants confirm'd under the great seal ; but the prudent and honest chancellor , who zealously desired the prosperity of the kingdom , and just profit of the king , absolutely refused to do it ; telling them , the king was much in debt , and 't was most necessary he should reserve such contingencies to himself , therewith in part to satisfy his creditors ; and that since they well knew such the kings urgent occasions , they could be no good subjects to his majesty , that consulting their own advantages more than his service , and preferring private lucre before publick necessities , should go about to circumvent , and further impoverish him , by such prejudicial requests , from which they should do well to desist , and be content with his majesties former largesses , which were sufficient for them . nettled with this repulse , these courtiers resort back to the king , grievously complaining of the chancellors obstinacy , that he contemned his majesties command , and that it concerned his majesty suddenly , and with due severity , to chastise such an affronted disobedience ; for otherwise the royal authority would become contemptible to all his people , and his command be accounted of no value , &c. the young king therefore more regarding the false suggestions of these self-designing flatterers , than the faithful allegations and advice of his chancellor , sends in his fury messengers to demand the seal of him , but the chancellor would deliver it to no hands but the kings . to whom having surrendered it , he was pleased to retain it for many days in his own custody , sealing grants therewith himself , &c. till at length the keeping of it was conferr'd on braibrook bishop of london . to this last mentioned parliament , john wickliff exhibited a certain complaint , or articles , chiefly against the abuses of monks , fryars , &c. an abstract of the substance whereof is as follows . 1. article , that all persons of what kind , order , sect , or singular religion soever , made or instituted by men , may freely without any let or punishment , leave the same at their pleasure , and are only bound stably to hold the rule of jesus christ , taken and given by him and his apostles , and far more profitable than such new religions founded by sinful men . 2. art. that those things which men have unreasonably and wrongfully condemned ; as , that the king cannot take away the goods of prelates , monks , &c. misbehaving themselves , or the like ; may be vindicated and asserted , and the contrary errour condemning them exposed : for that nothing ought to be condemned , unless it savour of errour or unrighteousness against gods law. 3. art. that both tythes and offerings be given , paid , and received , with and to the same intent only , as by gods law they ought ; that is , that what is more than sufficient to serve the priests , &c. with necessaries , be given to the poor : and that if they be abused to luxury or covetousness , then they may lawfully be taken away . 4. art. that christs doctrine , and the belief touching the sacrament plainly delivered by him and his apostles , be openly taught in churches , and the contrary teaching and false belief , brought up by cursed hypocrites and worldy priests , exploded . wickliff's preferring these articles ( which he at large confirmed both by authorities and reason ) stirred up fresh hatred against him in the ecclesiasticks , and procured him much trouble . wherefore because all papists so furiously condemn him to this day as a wicked heretick , and we justly own him as one of the first and most eminent authors of the reformation in doctrine , by his painful writing and preaching , his tenets being generally the same * with those professed at this day by the protestant churches , bating some few errours intermixt , which are as less material , so likewise more excusable , considering the ignorance and blindness of the age he lived in . and since his story , is one of the remarkables of this king richard's reign , it will not be impertinent briefly to relate the same . wickliff is said to be descended of an ancient family in the north , but the exact year of his birth we do not find recorded ; he was educated in merton colledge in oxford , became first divinity reader in that famous university , and afterwards rector of lutterworth in leicester shire : touching his parts , his contemporary henry de knyghton , cannon of leicester , ( and by consequence none of his friends ) does yet give this honorable character , that he was the most eminent doctor of divinity of those times , second to none in philosophy , incomparable for school learning , and transcending most both in subtilty of science , and profoundness of wit. these great abilities enabled him quickly to discover the falsity of the doctrines , and the cheat of the practices then in vogue in the church : for in his studies , he had run through the whole course of the school-men ; and amongst them was a professed follower of occham , by reading whose works , and others that lived about the same time , or not long before , such as bradwardine , marsilius , gulielmus de sancto amore , abelardus , armachanus , and the learned grosthead bishop of lincoln : god gave him grace to see the truth of his gospel , and by seeing it , to loath superstition and popery . by occham and marsilius he was informed of the popes intrusions and usurpations upon kings , their crowns and dignities . of gul. de s. amore and armachanus , he learned the sundry abuses of the monks and fryars in upholding this usurped power . by abelard and others , he got a prospect of the right faith touching the sacrament of the lords supper . by bradwardine he was instructed in the nature of a true sole justifying faith , against merit-mongers , and pardoners , pelagians , &c. finally by perusing grosthead's works ( in which he seemed to be most conversant ) he descryed the pope to be antichrist , by hindring the preaching of the gospel , and placing unfit men in the church , only to support his own tyranny . and being thus enlightned , his zeal to truth would not suffer him to conceal his candle under a bushel : and therefore those that assign'd his being depriv'd of a benefice in oxford , to be the occasion of first spreading his opinions , and would attribute all to resentment and revenge , speak either rashly or maliciously , no such provocation being so much as mentioned by authors of best credit , to occasion his preaching against the corruptious of the times ; nor is it likely that he would have so inveighed against clergy-covetousness and pride , if they could have retorted on him any such cause of his discontent ; or how can we but imagine , that if he had affected any such small business as the headship of canterbury colledge , the duke of lancaster ( who was his great patron ) could have helpt him to it . for indeed the fame of his learning , his unwearied diligence in preaching and writing , together with his pious exemplary life , procured him many disciples amongst the people , and several favorers of the first rank : the rather , for that he justly opposed the ambition and avarice of the clergy , a theme no less grateful than necessary ; for the temporal states-men already found it to be an insufferable grievance , though they wanted skill or courage to abate it . king edward the third ( though a great doter on ecclesiasticks ) is supposed not to have been his enemy ; and 't is certain the pious duke of lancaster , ( so our author knyghton always calls him ) and several of the nobles were much his friends , and protectors against the rage of the prelates ; for wickliff being in king edward's days cited to answer before the arch-bishop of canterbury , the bishop of london , and others in pauls , the said duke , and sir henry piercy lord marshal , were pleased to attend him thither , and would needs have him sit in presence of the court , alleaging he had much to answer , and therefore needed convenient ease ; which favor the bishop of london refusing to grant , hard words arose between the temporal and spiritual lords ; insomuch that the duke threatned he would pull down the pride of all the bishops of england : and by reason of their contest , wickliff for the present got off , and little was done against him . but in the beginning of king richards reign , the pope sent a bull to the university of oxford , upbraiding them with suffering and countenancing wickliff and his doctrine , and charging them on pain of being deprived of all their priviledges and indulgences , that they should no longer tolerate the same . but the heads of the university were so well satisfied with wickliffe's integrity , that they were at a stand whether they should receive the said bull , or reject it with contempt : however the pope plyed both the king and the arch-bishop , and bishop of london , with several other letters and bulls to the same effect ; so that at last , wickliff was again conven'd before them ; but on the day assign'd for his examination , sir lewis clifford came into their court , and in the name of the princess joan , the kings mother , peremptorily commanded them to proceed no further in that affair ; with which being terrified , they desisted their prosecution , and once more he got out of their clutches . but now by reason of the before-mentioned articles offered to the king and parliament , the bishops soon after summoned him again before them , but whether he appeared or not , is uncertain : however they proceeded against the opinions and conclusions following , as his , which as they are related by the historians of those times , i shall recite ; some of them being branded as heresies , others only as errors ; viz. heresie i. that the substance of bread or wine remains after consecration in the sacrament of the altar . heresie ii. that accidents do not remain without a subject after consecration in the same sacrament . heresie iii. that christ is not in the sacrament of the altar identically , truly and really in his proper corporal person . heresie iv. that if a bishop or priest whilest he is in mortal sin , should ordain , consecrate , or baptise , it would be nothing available . [ note , this is falsly charged , wickliffe's words whence this is wrested , are in his book . de veritate scriptu●arum , p. 138. nisi ●hristianu , &c. un●ess the christian priest be united unto christ by grace , christ cannot be his saviour , neither can he speak the sacramental words without lying ; licet pro●●●t c●pacibu , though yet they are profitable to fit receivers . which last clause they spightfully omit . ] heresie v. that if a man be duly contrite , all outward confession is superfluous and to him unprofitable . heresie vi. that he hath obstinately asserted , that it is not founded in the gospel , that christ ordained the mass. heresie vii . that god ought to obey the devil . [ this position the devil himself would scarce dare to utter , much less this godly man ▪ who on the quite contrary in his comment on the psalms p. 112 saith , the devil is clepid god's angel : for he may do nothing but at gods suffering , and serveth god in tormenting sinful men , 't is true in his book against the fryars , cap. 28 he complains of their blasphemy , in accusing the holy scriptures of falshood , which , says he , is to put falsness upon god himself , who is the author thereof , and yet they would have in believe what they themselves say is true . alas ( saith he ) who may suffer this blasphemy , that christ in whom is all treasure of wit , wisdom , and truth , could not , or would not say true words , and sentence , but yet sinful fools have true manner of speaking , contrary to the speech of our lord jesu christ , for if this be sinful fools , yea divels of hell , been wiser & t●uer than jesu christ. from these words , or some such argument ab ab●urdo , against them , that which he proves to be their wicked consequence they make his d●ctrin , just as if one should charge david with asserting , there is no god , leaving out , the fool hath said in his heart . heresie viii . that if the pope be a wicked man , and consequently a member of the devil , then he has no power given him over faithful christians by any , unless perhaps by caesar. heresie ix . that after vrban the sixth , [ pope at that time ] none ought to be chosen pope , but we ought to live after the manner of the greeks , under our own laws . errors . * 1. that no prelate ought to excommunicate any , unless first he know such person to be excommunicated of god. 2. that if any shall otherwise excommunicate , he thereby becomes an heretick , or excommunicated person himself . 3. that a prelate excommunicating a clerk that has appeal'd to the king and council of the kingdom , is thereby a traytor to god , the king , and kingdom . 4. that those who forbear to preach , or hear the word of god , or the gospel , for the excommunication of men , are excommunicated , and at the day of judgment shall be accounted traytors to god. * 5. that 't is contrary to the scriptures , that persons ecclesiastical should have temporal possessions . 6. that 't is lawful to any deacon , or presbyter , to preach the word of god , without authority from the pope , or any catholick bishop . * 7. that none , whilst in mortal sin , is to be accounted a bishop or prelate . 8. that temporal lords may at their pleasure take away temporal goods from the church habitually offending . 9. that tythes are pure alms , and parishioners may for the sins of their curates detain the same , and confer them at their pleasure upon others . 10. that special prayers applyed by prelates or religious persons to one particular person , do not more profit him , than general prayers , all things else being equal . 11. that any one entring into any private religion , is thereby rendred more unapt , and incapable of observing the commandments of god. 12. that holy men , that instituted private orders of religion , whether of mendicants , or such as are indowed with possessions , did sin in so doing . 13. that those called religious , living in private orders of religion , are not of the christian religion . 14. that fryars mendicant , are bound to live by the labor of their hands and not to get their living by begging . 15. that fryars begging after their sermons , do thereby incurr the crime of simony , and all that bestow alms on them are excommunicate , as well the giver as receiver . about these positions the bishops first met at oxford ( where they had taken such impression , that riggs the vice-chancellor , and many others had imbraced them ) and after that at the gray-fryars london , on the seventeenth of may , 1382. on which day after dinner , about two a clock , just as they were going to proceed in this business , happened a wonderful and terrible earthquake throughout all england ; whereupon divers of the suffragans being affrighted , would have desisted , but the arch-bishop otherwise interpreting the omen , they went on , and at last solemnly condemned all the said propositions , there being present eight bishops , nineteen monks and fryars , fourteen doctors of law , and six batchellors of divinity . however mr. wickliff himself ( whether because they could not find him : or that they were afraid to meddle with him ) or rather because they were much distracted by reason of the feuds between two popes then in being at once , escaped their malice ; and in the year 1385. dyed peaceably in his bed , having been doctor of divinity above thirty years , and of such industry and learning , that he translated the whole bible into engglish ; one copy whereof written with his own hand , lately was , and i suppose still is extant in saint john's colledge in oxford : he lived in a time , when the fryars orders by their manifold disorders were become exceeding odious , and the popes jurisdiction by provisions , reservations , and collations very intollerable , which made way for those excellent statute laws about this time enacted , of premunice , against provisors , and the abuses of begging fryars ; which so bridled and restrained the popes rampant usurpations , that he could but little prevail here in england , during the reign of king edward the third , and king richard the second : towards making of which laws , wickliffe's doctrine struck a great stroak , he maintaining very learnedly and stoutly , the kings jurisdiction , crown , and dignity , against papal and all kind of encroachments , by the laws , civil , cannon , and common , of which last especially he made great use , and was well skill'd therein . but for full satisfaction concerning this famous man , i shall here add , the testimonial of the university given in his behalf , after his death , as follows , viz. to all & singular the children of our holy mother the church , to whom these presents shall come , the vice-chancellor of the vniversity of oxford , with the whole congregation of the masters , wish perpetual health in the lord : forasmuch as it is not commonly seen , ●hat the acts and monuments of valiant men , nor the praise and merits of good men , should be pass'd over and hidden with perpetual silence , but that true report and fame should continually spread abroad the same in strange and far distant places ; both in testimony thereof , and for the example of others . forasmuch also as the provident discretion of mans nature hath devised this defence against slander , that when ever witnesses by word of mouth cannot be present , the pen by writing may supply the same . therefore the special good will and care which we bare unto john wickliff , sometime child of this our vniversity , and professor of divinity , moving and exciting our minds ( as his manners and conditions required no less ) with one mind , voice , and testimony , we do witness all his conditions and doings throughout his whole life , to have been most sincere and commendable ; whose honest manners , good disposition , profoundness of learning , and most redolent fame , we desire the more earnestly to be notified to , and celebrated by all the faithful , for that we understand , the maturity and ripeness of his conversation , his diligent labors and travels tend much to the praise of god , the help and safeguard of others , and the profit of truth . wherefore we signify unto you by these presents , that his conversation ( even from his youth upwards , unto the time of his death ) was so praise-worthy and honest , that never at any time was there any note or spot of suspicion noised of him , but in his answering , reading , preaching , and determining , he behaved himself laudably , and as a stout champion of the faith , vanquishing by the force of the scriptures , all such who by their wilful beggary , blasphemed and slandered christ's religion : neither was this said doctor convict of any heresie , or burned by our prelates [ note his bones were not yet , but long after ordered to be taken up and burnt by the council of constance ] after his burial : for god forbid tha● our prelates should have condemned a man of such honesty 〈◊〉 an heretick , who amongst all the rest of the vniversity had written in logick , philosophy , divinity , morality , and the speculative art beyond comparison , the knowledg of all which things we desire to testifie , that the fame and renown of this said doctor may be more evident , and had in repute amongst those into whose hands these present letters testimonial shall come . in witness whereof we have caused these our letters testimonial , to be sealed with our common seal , dated at oxford , in our congregation house , the 15. of october , in the year of our lord , 1406. about the same time , several of wickliffs followers , as nicholas of hartford , john aston , john purney , and other priests , were much troubled for the same and the like opinions ; among the rest our author henry de knyghton , tells us ; that on palm sunday , he heard one at leicester preaching these horrible heresies and errors ( in his opinion ) following , viz. that to blabber with the lipps , and multiply words in prayer signified nothing . that to give money for celebrating of masses would not avail any body , unless he led a good life . that christ never commanded any body to begg . that no man is bound to give almes to any that has better cl●athes and outward accomodation : than himself . that none is truly a prelate , nor capable of a bishoprick , unless he be a teacher and preacher . that money got by confessions is accursed , and as well the giver as receiver excommunicate . that preachers carrying about baggs and scripps , are false teachers , since christ in his gospel commands the contrary , and the true disciples of christ never practised it . that for those to begg , who are able to work is condemned by the law civil , and no where approved by the law evangelical . that christ converted many of divers states and conditions to the faith ; but we do not find in the holy scripture that ever he converted a priest. these opinions spreading so fast , and the bishops perceiving that yet they had not sufficient authority by any law , or statute of this realm , to proceed unto death or imprisonment , against any for matters of religion , they therefore solicited the king for the power of the temporal sword , who overcome with their importunity , or perhaps incited by hopes of some subsidy to be given him by the clergy was content to give his assent to an ordinance , bearing the name of an act , made in the parliament holden at westminster , anno quint. r. 2. ca. 5. in these words . item , forasmuch as it is openly known , that there be divers evil persons within the realm , going from country to country , and from town to town , in certain habits under dissimulation of great holiness ; and without the license of the ordinaries of the places , or other sufficient authority , preaching daily , not only in churches and church-yards , but also in markets , fairs , and open places , where a great congregation of people is , divers sermons containing heresies , and notorious errors , to the great emblemishing of christian faith , and destruction of thr laws , and of the estate of holy church , to the great peril of the souls of the people , and of all the realm of england , as more plainly is found , and sufficiently proved before the reverend father in god the archbishop of canterbury , and the bishops , and other prelates , masters of divinity , and doctors of the canon , and of civil law , and a great part of the clergy of the said realm , specially assembled for this great cause ; which persons do also preach divers matters of slaunder , to ingender , discord , and dissention betwixt divers estates of the said realm , as well spiritual as temporal , in exciting of the people to the great peril of all the realm , which preachers cited or summoned before the ordinaries of the places , there to answer to that whereof they be impeached , they will not obey their summons and commands , nor care not for their monitions , nor censures of the holy church , but expresly despise them . and moreover by their subtil and ingenious words do draw the people to hear their sermons , and do maintain them in their errors by strong hand , and by great routs . it is ordained and assented in this present parliament , that the kings commissions be made , and directed to the sheriffs , and other ministers of our sovereign lord the king , or other sufficient persons learned , and according to the certifications of the prelates thereof , to be made in the chancery from time to time , to arrest all such preachers , and also their fauters , maintainers , and abetters , and to hold them in arrest and strong prison , till they will justifie to them according to the law and reason of holy church . and the king willeth and commandeth , that the chancellor make such commissions at all times , that he by the prelates , or any of them shall be certified , and thereof required as is aforesaid . this was the first pretence of statute against the true professors of religion , and indeed was no act of parliament duly made , but onely by the king and the clergy , for at michaelm . following , in the sixth year of the king , a parliament being assembled complain'd thereof , and having recited the same — add — the which was never agreed nor granted by the commons ; but whatsoever was moved therein , was without their assent ; and therefore prayen the commons , that the said statute be disannulled , for it is not in any wise their meaning , that either themselves or such as shall succeed them , shall be further justified , or bound by the prelates , than were their ancestors in former times . whereunto it is answered , il plaist au roy , the king is pleased . yet though the supposed law of the fifth were hereby so repealed , and the fraud thereof discovered , the prelates ordered matters so , that this act of repeal was never published , nor since printed in the statute book with the rest of the acts of that parliament , as mr. fox in his acts and monuments well observes . the year 1383 was famous for a warlike expedition undertaken by the english clergie , called a croisado , or going forth to fight the lords battels ( as they pretended ) under the banner of the cross. the occasion thus : after the death of pope gregory the eleventh , which happened in the year of our lord 1378 , one bartholomew bishop of barri in apulia , by the undue acts hereafter mentioned got into the chair , by the name of vrban the sixth ; who as he entered by force , so he proceeded with so much pride and insolence , that most of the cardinals forsook him , and retiring to avignion in france , chose one robert bishop of cibbo in his stead , who took upon him the style of pope clement . now to destroy him , and all that own'd and took part with him , was the meritorious design . and that the reader may the better perceive the nature of the quarrel , and what mighty reason people had to venture their lives , and murder their neighbours , for this vrbans interest , i shall insert a copy of the cardinals letter to him , as walsingham recites it . the bishops , presbyters , and deacons , by divine merit cardinals , during the vacancy of the apostolical see , to bartholomew late archbishop of barri , wish the spirit of founder counsel . the sanctity and purity of the catholick faith , and the wholsom devotion of christian people , the clear profession of the whole ecclesiastick state , and salvation of all the faithful , do require , that those things which may occasion a scandal unto our faith , the subversion of the worshippers of christ , the weakning of the state of the church , and the evident danger of souls , should be openly notified to all , declared amongst the people , and according to the doctrine of the gospel preached upon the house-tops , lest by indiscreet silence those be left in error who might be reclaimed , and they to whose office it belongs should lie under the reprehension of the prophet , saying , thy prophets and preachers shall prophesie unto thee things false and foolish , and shall not lay open thine iniquity , that they might provoke thee to penance . whereas therefore the apostolick seat being empty by the death of pope gregory xi , of pious memory , who in march last departed this life ; we for the election of another pope , acc●rding to law and custom , had assembled our selves in the conclave , for that purpose assign'd , in the apostolical palace , the people of rome gathered together by the sound of a bell and in hosti●e manner , surrounding the place , almost filling the palace both without and within , did with vehement terror threaten , that unless without any delay , we choose a roman , or italian , they would presently cut us into bits : and so there being no due space afforded , wherein we might deliberate of a fit person ; they against our will and intention , suddenly and abruptly by violence and bodily fear , compelling us to choose an italian , we thereupon meerly to avoid the otherwise inevitable peril of death , as at the same time we openly declared amongst our selves , did think fit to nominate thee for pope , not doubting but thou to whom as well as to all the clergy , and people , that accursed violence was well known ) hadst had so much conscience , as in no sort to accept of the same . but thou forgetful of thine own salvation , laying aside all pure conscience , and being otherwise ambitious , wast so far inflamed with the ardor of worldly honour , upon the presentation of that election ( though extorted also by fear , and against the canonical sanctions , from those who carried it from us into the ●ity ) that thou to the greatest scandal of the christian clergy and people and to the pernicious example of others in such cases , didst consent to the said election , though the same in law were absolutely null and void , and also out of fear ( as we well hope ) didst suffer thy self to be inthron'd in the city , and crown'd de facto , and so hast taken upon thee the name of pope , who by the holy and wise fathers , and by right and law , are rather and deservedly to be called , an accursed apostate , antichrist , and the invader , and destroyer of all christianity . since therefore such thy wicked intrusion into the papacy is now divulged throughout the world , grown notorious , and cannot any longer be hid , as being done just before easter , when from all parts of christendom there were multitudes of people at rome ; and whereas many errors have already began to creep abroad , and the consciences of the faithful to be intangled ; and that thou being long expected , & charitably admonished in secret , regardest not to amend thy folly , but rather dost desire to draw the whole clergy and people into a precipice , and preferring the empty transitory glory of the world , before the salvation of thine own , and other christians souls , obstinately endeavourest to hold the popedom by tyranny , into which thou didst not enter by the door ; we therefore not being able with safe consciences any longer to dissemble the premisses , laying forth the same , and giving notice thereof to thee and all faithful christians , though the same be already notorious to thy self , and almost all the clergy and people , do publish and denounce thee accursed and ( as having intruded into the papacy without any canonical election ) an invader of all christianity , since thou dreadest not to invade the very head of christianity it self , and such a destroyer , as seekest by thy tyrannical vsurpation , to cause almost all the sacraments to fail , and the universal people of christ to run astray on precipices , as wanting a true shepherd ; exhorting nevertheless , and intreating by the bowels of mercy , of our lord jesus christ , whose spouse the church , thou hast not blu●ht to commit a rape upon ; that thou wouldest think of the end , to which fulness of days is hastening thee ▪ that thou wouldest direct the eyes of thy mind to god and a pure conscience ; and that thou wouldest quit , and leave empty and free , that most holy seat of s. peter , which without title thou dost occupy ; and that thou wouldst lay aside the papal ensigns and ornaments , and without delay abstain from the administration of any the spirituals or temporals of the papacy and roman church , and study to satisfie god and the church to thy utmost power , by the fruits of true repentance ; which if thou shalt perform , thou mayst deserve to obtain the grace of god , and the applauses of the world , and the praises of the clergie and people , and a remission of those sharp penalties by the canon laws inflicted , and to be with all diligence inflicted upon thee ; but otherwise art sure deservedly to incur the indignation of almighty god , and of s. peter and paul , and all other saints ; and we will invoke divine and human counsel with the spouse of christ , and of all christians , whose mother without doubt is in this behalf violated ; and shall use all other remedies granted by the canonical sanctions hitherto , that before thou hast so resigned , thou mayst have no hope of mercy . but vrbanus ( whom some that were fond of a quibble were wont to call turbanus , because he was the disturber of christendom ) would neither be wheedled nor hector'd out of the popedom , and therefore he gets together the bishops that still took his part , and makes divers of them cardinals , who soon returned a thundering answer to this epistle of the schismatical cardinals and bishops , ( for so they called them that disown'd vrban ; ) which ( to shew the meek spirits of the men , and how notably they argue ) i shall presume so far on the readers patience , as here likewise to insert . vve the vniversal faithful of christ , honour'd with this sacred character , founded so upon the firm rock of truth , that the lord upholding and watering the root of our holy faith , by no whirlwinds of heretical or schismatical persuasion , we can be extirpated or overthrown ; to john bishop of praenest , william with the title of s. stephen in the celian mount , &c. not ( as you call your selves ) cardinals by divine mercy of the holy roman church , but accursed and most ravenous wolves , invaders of the whole flock of christ , and most subtil foxes , desiring to lay waste the vineyard of the lord of hosts , send not greeting but grief , not joy but sorrow , and that you may be cloathed with confusion as with a garment . the insipid tenour of your letters , which by the devils instigation you rashly have sent throughout all the provinces of christendom , hath wounded our hearts , and all that is within us , not by startling our faith , but with a godly compassion for so horrid a scandal as lately is raised in the holy church of god ; but wo unto you by whom these scandals come , for the face of our mother the church is made pale , pale with unspeakable trouble , for the error of your wickedness ( the like not heard of for many ages ) who would be esteemed zealous of the laws , when in truth you are sacrilegious , though scon she is rendered ruddy again with modest blushes , seeing by your ill deeds all the borders of christianity to be inflamed . o detestable and unhappy ambition of yours , which endeavours to rend our lords seamless coat , and part that which suffers no division , but rather rejoyceth in unity . wicked servants , out of your own mouths you shall be judged , by your letters , you have declared the manner of the election of the pope by you lately celebrated , alledging that an unruly multitude of armed people beset the conclave , terribly and mortally threatning you , unless you should choose an italian or roman , but not limiting any certain person whom they would force you to elect . 't is therefore manifest , as to the person , that you do grant he was freely , and not by compulsion , chosen ; and so we firmly do and will hold , that the election by you then made was rightfully and canonically celebrated ; and to him so elected , enthron'd , and crown'd , as head of the holy church , peters successor , and vicar of christ on earth , we do faithfully adhere , and promise humbly to obey his admonitions , words , and acts , as becomes true and faithful catholicks ; not taking a damnable example from your pernicious rebellion , and sacrilegious and heretical stubber●ness . and furthermore , we detest your folly , and baseness of your pretence ; for how should sear invade you , who are placed in the ●ore front of the churches troops ▪ as champions and defenders of the ortho●ox faith , and we●●ing ●n your head● the red caps , ensigns of ecclesiastical liberty , for a token that you 〈…〉 to strive for righteousness and justice even to death ? now i say , could the dread of death make you depart from righteousness ? or how were you that call your selves pillars of the church become so weak and feeble , as not to be able to uphold the building from tumbling on your heads ? was there any sampson there ? no alas , he died long since . but to excuse your selves in your sins , you will perhaps say , that peter the rock of faith , and after christ the prime foundation of the church , was so affrighted at the words of a poor servant-maid , as to deny christ himself , and that too with an oath , of whose infirmity you are partakers and followers . oye generation of vipers , ye crafty serpents nourished with poison , if ye taste the bitter herb , taste also that which is sweet and wholsom ; and after this damnable denial of the head , return with peter to confession . we truly build upon the rock , whilest your abominable obstinacy makes you consorts of a traytor , whose iniquity relies on lead , sands , and rubbish . nor let your foolish blindness and blind foolishness imagine , that those words in your letters , which seem to carry a shew of piety and zeal for the house of god , shall move us and persuade us in any thing to consent with you ; for we most evidently perceive , that those words are fall of the leaven of the pharisees , of which christ in the gospel admonisheth his disciples to beware . and by your leaving rome , and naming another place for perpetrating your wicked designs , you clearly shew us that you have left the true head of the church , and are become members of the devil , and gone out into the desart with judas the traytor , where fitly with an haltar you may be ready to hang your selves ; that that of the prophet may be verified of you , — let their habitation be desolate , and let none be left to dwell in their tents . as also it is written further of each of you , — let his days be few , and his bishoprick let another take . furthermore , you do but blacken the clear f●●me of the count of fundi , ( a town in italy , whose ●arl harbour'd the cardinals ) when you so load him with your commendations throughout christendom ; since as the poet saith , idem est laudari à turpibus & ob turpia , to be prais'd by bad men is all one as to be prais'd for bad things . consider therefore , o count ! that whereas heretofore thou wast unknown in divers christian countries , which thou thoughtest an unhappiness ; now thou hast gain'd not a name but shame throughout the world , for inviting to thy self the enemies of christ , the breakers of the churches unity , and the disturbers of the peace and tranquillity of all christendom , and cherishing their detestable perfidiousness ; so that thou seemest to have built an asylum against christ and all catholick people . arise therefore , o count ! throw these mice out of thy budget , chase these serpents from thy tabernacle , and shake these coals of brimstone out of thy bosom , lest they bring thee to everlasting burnings ; so shalt thou obtain the grace of god , the blessings of all christians , and the commendation of all the world , and shalt merit to escape the divine vengeance . dated at rome , &c. both parties being thus hot , and christendom divided between two popes at once , each damning the other for a schismatick and villain ; france , flanders , scotland , and several other countries joyn'd with pope clement ; insomuch that the french king proclaim'd throughout all his realm , that none should own or obey vrban on pain of being beheaded , and all his goods forfeited to the kings use . but by means of vrban's complemental letters to king richard and the parliament , and his honouring our bishop of london with a cardinals cap , england was altogether at his devotion ; for in the second year of king richard an act was made , declaring him to be lawful pope , and that the livings of all cardinals and others that were rebels to him , should be seized into the kings hands , and the king to be answered of the profits thereof ; and that whosoever within this realm should procure or obtain any provision or other instrument from any other pope than the same vrban , should be out of the kings protection . and this year 1382 , the said vrban sent over his bull to henry spencer bishop of norwich ( a young bold prelate ) to raise a croisado , that is , to levy forces who should be all mark'd with the cross , as engag'd in an holy war , to fight with and subdue his enemy the said clement , the anti-pope , and all his followers and favourers , whom thereby he did excommunicate and depose from all honours , and forbid any conversation with them living , and burial of their bodies when dead , &c. in which bull were ( amongst other things ) granted the powers and privileges following . 1. that the said bishop of norwich may use the sword against the anti-pope and all his adherents , favourers , and counsellors , and with violence put them to death . 2. that he hath full power to inquire of all and singular such schismaticks , and put them in prison , and to confiscate all their goods moveable and immoveable . 3. that he hath power and authority to deprive all laymen that are such schismaticks , of all manner of secular offices whatsoever , and to give their offices to other fit and convenient persons . 4. to deprive all such schismatick clerks , and bestow their benefices either with or without cure , their dignities , parsonages , or offices to other persons more meet for the same , having power over lay-persons that are exempt , clerks both secular and regular , yea though they be fryars mendicants . 5. that he may dispense with any dignified or beneficed clerks , so that they may be absent from their cures or benefices , under the ●tandard of the cross , without leave of any of their prelates , and yet take and receive the entire profits , as though personally resident . 6. there is granted to all that pass the seas in this cause , either at their own expences , or at the expences of any others , full remission of all their sins , and besides as large priviledges as to any that pay their money , or go to fight for the holy land. 7. that all such as shall with their proper goods and substance give sufficient stipend to able souldiers at the discretion of the aforesaid bishop mustred , or by any other his deputy , although themselves be not personally engaged , yet shall they have the like remission and indulgence , as they which in person go to the expedition . 8. that all they shall be partakers of this remission , who shall give any part of their goods to the said bishop , to fight against the said schismaticks . 9. that if any shall chance to die in the journey , or be kill'd , that are souldiers under the said standard of the cross , they shall fully and wholly receive the said grace , and shall be partakers of the aforesaid forgiveness and indulgence . 10. the said bishop hath power to excommunicate , suspend , and interdict all persons whatsoever that shall be rebellious , or disturbers of him in the execution of the powers and authority hereby committed unto him , of whatsoever dignity or condition they be , whether kings , queens , emperors , or of any other quality ecclesiastical or temporal . lastly , that he may compel and inforce any religious persons whatsoever , to go in this expedition , and send them over sea , if he think good so to do , and this although they be professors of the fryars mendicants . being thus furnisht the bishop to spread his authority , and the more effectually carry on the work , publisht the ordinances following . 1. it is ordained for the honour , the establishment of holy church , and the salvation of the realm , that sufficient preachers be sent into all the country , to declare and publish the croisado , and the right estate of holy church , and of our most holy father pope urban , whom god ( of his benign grace ) pity and redress , according to his good pleasure . 2. that to every such preacher or confessor throughout england , there shall be joyned a clerk , who shall receive and register the names of all such as shall offer their persons to this holy war ; and also all money that shall be given , over whom the said confessors shall be controllers . 3. that no woman shall presume to go this voyage without special licence from the bishop of norwich under his seal . 4. that no man by the way shall rob , or by any kind of extortion take the goods of any till they come upon the enemies , where they may do it by right of war , on pain of losing all share in the said pardon . 5. that the said preachers shall press the people to say prayers and make processions for the safety of the church , and the prosperity of this v●rage . 6. that all curates on pain of excommunication shall encourage , and by all means they can ( especially in confession ) press and engage their ●arishioners , as well poor as rich , to come into and contribute to this pious expedition , so much for the good of the church , and advantage of their own souls . 7. that every one that will go in person for the absolution , shall before such absolution be given him , swear to come to the said bishop or his deputy , and make his indentures touching the time that he purposes to serve in the croisado . 8. that if any will find a man , that is , hire another to go in his name , and upon his costs and charges , that he must either provide and able sufficient souldier that shall nor refuse the service , or else allow so much for his pay to the bishop , and let him provide one himself . 9. that every one that sends such a souldier in his own stead , shall enroll in the bishops registry both his own and his souldiers name before he takes absolution , otherwise to lose all benefit of the pardon . the form of the absolution to be given to all that should serve in or contribute to this croisado . by apostolical authority to me in this behalf committed , we do absolve thee from all thy sins confessed with thy mouth , and for which thou art contrite in heart , and of which thou wouldst be confessed , it they did occur to thy memory ; and do grant unto thee full forgiveness of all thy sins , and the retribution of the just , and we do promise thee an increase of eternal life . and we do also grant to thee as many privileges as are granted to those that go to the aid of the holy land. and furthermore we do impart to thee the suffrages and advantages of the prayers and good works of the whole catholick church . the business being thus published with all the zeal and art of the clergy , the bishop thereupon collected an innumerable and incredible summe of money , besides abundance of plate both gold and silver , jewels , rings , dishes , spoons , bracelets , ( they are all our authors own words , who lived at that time ) necklaces , and other ornaments , especially of ladies and others of the female sex ; for 't was said , one lady gave an hundred pounds , and so others some more some less , and many even beyond their ability as was believed , so fond were they to obtain the imaginary benefit of absolution for themselves or their friends ; ( for by this they might not onely save their own souls , but free whom they pleas'd that were dead from pains of purgatory , or ensure the salvation of any child or relation living . ) and so all the secret treasure of the kingdom , that was in the custody of these foolish weaker vessels was endanger'd , for otherwise they were not to be absolved , if they did not contribute to their power and ability . many men went in person at their own charge , others that were old , or weak , or timorous , sent souldiers and bore their expences . for the bishop had got most admirable indulgences both for the quick and dead , and could absolve & à poena & à culpa , as well from the guilt or offence , as from all punishment due for sin . and 't was said , that some of his commissioners did assert that at their commands angels would descend from heaven , and snatch souls from out of the pains of purgatory , and without delay carry them to rights into heaven . whilest the warlike bishop was making these preparations comes a parliament , where it was debated , whether it where safe to hazard so considerable a strength of the kingdom , in such an impertinent quarrel , and under the conduct of a rash unexperienced priest ; those that were for it , besides the interest of religion urg'd reason of state that now was the time for the king to recover his right in france , and weaken the french king , when he lay under pope urban's curse , for siding with pope clement , during which he could expect no success on his armes . thus for some time very doubtfull it was which way the parliament would incline ; but at last upon hearing that antiphone sung , — ecce crucem domini , fugite partes adversae , — behold the cross of our lord , fly ye adversaries , they where as with a charm brought over to decree in favour of the expedition , assigning the fifteenth given in the last parliament , to be imployed herein . and now the project went on more vigorously then ever , insomuch saith walsingham , that in all this spacious kingdom there was scarce one person to be found , that did not either ●ffer his person , or bestow part of his goods for promoting the same . about the middle o● may , the bishop was ready to put to sea with his army lying in kent waiting for a wind , the king ( whether designing quite to forbid the voyage , or thinking the bishop had got too much money , and willing to thare with him or what other reason i know not ) sent him a writ to come back and speak with his majesty and know his pleasure ; but the proud prelate mistrusting the worse , was so intent upon the affair of his lord and master the pope , that he had no leisure to obey his king and therefore to avoid any stops , presently hastned over to calice , leaving his army to follow him , which being arriv'd , he set up the standard of the cross , and besiges graveling , and takes it and several other places , using great cruelties , and destroying all they could master : for as the episcopal generall was a person rash and daring , and inflam'd with mad zeal , so his soulders confiding in their absolutions , adventur'd upon the greatest dangers without fear , esteeming , says walsingham , it glory to overcome , but gain to die in this cause ▪ where they thought themselves sure to go directly to heaven , and to enjoy so much the greater bliss the more they butcher'd of the schismaticks : but these first fervours were quckly cool'd by hard service , and having in vain laid siege to ypres , they are at last forc'd to quit it , being all in confusion amongst themselves , and in great want of provisions ; whence they come back to graveling , and therein are besieg'd by the french king with a powerfull army ; in which distress our bishop wrote to king richard , that if ever he intended to try his fortune against the french king , now was the time , or at least that he should send some forces to give him battle , and force him to abandon the siege : king richard was then at daintry in northamptonsheire , and on the receipt of this news being at supper , instantly arose from table , and in mighty rage and fury took horse , riding post with such speed , that he came to sant albans at midnight , where having borrowed the abbots guelding ( which walsingham a monk of that abbey complains he never restor'd ) he hastned to westminster , making shew as if he would never rest till he had routed the french king and all his host , but being somewhat weary with riding , at westminster , he went to bed , and having taken council of his pillow , was nothing so fierce next morning , but resolv'd to lay aside the thoughts of going himself , and to send some body else : to which purpose , the duke of lancaster was nominated , but so tedious in making preparations , that the bishop in the mean time was glad to leave graveling , having first dismantled and destroyed it , and so return'd home to england , after a vast treasure dissipated , and many thousand lives lost , and more souls cheated , with as little glory , as he set forth with mighty expectation , the success of his armes being suitable to the ridiculous occasion of them . and what was yet worse for the haughty prelate , soon after his coming home in a parliament , held at london , about alhallontide , all his temporalities were seized into the kings hands , for his contempt in disobeying the kings writ , when his majesty sent to him to come back just as he was putting to sea on this piece of ecclesiastical knight-errantry , and he refused to come as aforesaid . in this parliament also was granted to the king half a fifteenth by the laity , and half a tenth by the clergy . in the year 1384 , a truce was made with france , and the duke of lancaster and his brother thomas of woodstock entred scotland with a mighty army , but the scots wholly declining to fight , and many of the english being destroyed with want and cold weather , they return'd , making very small advantages by that expensive expedition . soon after which , an irish carmelite fryer made a discovery in writing to the king of a design the duke of lancaster had to destroy his majesty and usurp the crown ; but the king advising about the same only with certain young favourites , the duke obtained notice of the charge , and cleared , or seemed to clear himself so much to the kings satisfaction , that the poor fryer was committed to custody ; and 't is said , on the evening before the hearing should have been , was most cruely murdered . whose information , if real , shews what a● opportunity the king slipt of preventing his after misfortune , and that some times it proves even more dangerous to discover treasons , than to act them , which yet should discourage no good subject from the discharge of his duty . but possibly this whole accusation , or the relation of such a thing might be a contrivance of the duke's enemies , to render him suspected to the king and odious to the people ; for it 't is certain they entred not many months after into a formal-design against his life : the occasion whereof i do not find mentioned by authors , but only that the king by the instigation of his young cabal-council had conceiv'd displeasure against him ; and that they had conspired to take away the said duke's life . in order whereunto certain crimes were suggested , appellors prepared , and t was agreed that he should be suddenly arrested , and brought before the lord chief justice trysilian , who had boldly untertaken to pronounce sentence upon him according to the quality of the matters to be objected ( though by law he could not be tryed but by his ( peers ) and so execution should immediately have followed . but the duke being fore warn'd of these contrivances , hastned to his castle of pomfret , and there stood upon his guard : and the king's mother considering the dangers that would ensue such a rupture , took great pains by riding ( notwithstanding her age and corpulency ) to and fro between the king and him , to pacifie each side , and at last brought them to such a reconcilement , that all appearance of displeasure on the one part , and distrust on the other , was for that time removed . about the feast of s. martin was held a parliament at london , wherein the earl of nothumberland was condemn'd for the loss of the castle of barwick surprised by the scots , through the treachery of one that he had put in there as his deputy : but the king after judgment was pleased to pardon him , who went forthwith down and retook the said castle . in the year 1385 the french made great preparations for the invading of england , and to facilitate the attempt by a diversion , ●end the admiral of france with a considerable force into scotland , the common back-door at which they were wont to infest us : of which king richard having notice , raises a mighty army , and by speedy marches pierces into the heart of scotland , and reduc'd their chief city edenburgh into ashes as a bonfire , to give the whole kingdom notice of his arrival , and challenge them to battel : but they declined it , and victuals growing very scarce , the king thought fit to return homewards , the rather for that the scots in the mean time had entred nothumberland , and besieg'd carlile ; but hearing of the kings approach , fled back into scotland . during this expedition , the lord john holland the kings brother by the mother side , near york , killed the eldest son of the earl of stafford , for which he fled , and the king was so highly incensed , that he caused all his goods to be confiscated ; the king's mother interceded for him , but could not be heard , and resented the denial so heavily , that soon after she died . at a parliament the latter end of this year the laity granted the king one fifteenth and an half upon condition that the clergy would give a tenth and an half , who took this articulating of the commons in grievous dudgeon , protesting , that the laity should not charge them ; and the archbishop of canterbury was so hot , as to declare , he would rather venture his head in this cause , than that the holy church of england should thus truckle : whereupon the commons and many of the temporal lords began to bid battel to the clergies temporalities , saying , they were grown to that excess of pride , that it would be a work of piety and charity , to clip their wings , and reduce them to an humility suitable to their profession . the clergy at this were not a little alarm'd , and to prevent the worst , make a voluntary offer of a tenth to the king , and so the dispute is rock'd to sleep . also during this parliament , the king conferred several honours , creating his uncle thomas of woodstock ( who before was earl of buckingham ) duke of gloucester , and his other uncle edmund of langley ( before the earl of cambridge ) duke of york : with whom too he prefer'd his pernicious favorites , as robert de vere earl of oxford , to be marquess of dublin in ireland , ( the first man within the realm that was enobled with that title ; and sir michael de la pole ( the son of a merchant in london ) was made earl of suffolk , and lord chancelor of england . but these last grew in hatred faster then they did in honour ; the ancient nobility disdainfully resenting their undeserved ( as they deemed ) advancement . nor were the people better satisfied , but grumbled heavily , for they durst not speak out against these court ear-wigs , as seducers of the king , and occasion of all misadministrations of affairs . in this parliament likewise , the duke of lancaster desired leave of the king lords and commons , to go into spain to recover that kingdom belonging to him in the right of his wife ; which was granted , and forty thousand marks promised him for his aid therein ; and accordingly on easter-day he came to take his leave of their majesties : the king commanding that he should be styled king of spain , presented him with a crown of gold , as the quen did ano●her to her sister : a great number of the youthfull nobility and gentry attended the duke in this voyage , who having matcht one of his daughters to the king of portugal , with joynt forces invaded castile , and took many strong towns ; but at last on a treaty it was agreed , that the king of spains eldest son should marry katherine another of the dukes daughters , and the duke receive two hund●red thousand nobles in hand , and the s●m of ten thousand marks yearly , during the lives of him and his dutchess , and in consideration thereof all claims should cease . walsingham tells us the duke had such favour from the pope , as to be arm'd for the recovery of this kingdom , with a grant of remission of sins , to all that should adventure with him , or aid him with money towards the voyage : and had got as as large indulgences as the bishop of norwich lately had as aforesaid ; but he well observes , that the frequency of granting such pardons and relaxations , had now rendered them vile and contemptible to the people , so that there was scarce any body regarded them , or would give two pence to this last croisad● , though they were so extravagantly fond of the former ; whence is taught this lesson , that a cheat though never so religious is not to be plaid over twice in one age. the year 1386 ●illed england with great consternations and frequent a●arms , by means of an invasion threatned by the french , who had prepared above twelve hundred sail of ships , and a mighty army on that design , which lay ●overing on the coasts , daily waiting an opportunity to pass the channel ; and the better to secure their men at their first landing in england , they had framed a wonderful wall of wood , three miles in length , of great thickness and twenty foot high , with which they would have inclosed their camp , but it happned , that the lord beauchamp captain of calice , took three of their ships laden with part of the said inclosure , which king richard caused to be set up about whinchelsea , for securing that town ; and also he took another ship full of guns , gunpowder , and other instruments of war : with which losses , and especialy by the adversness of the winds , which from the beginning of august to alhallontide , stood full in their teeth , so that their ships could not come out , and their victuals and provisions , by lying all that time , being spent , they were discouraged from prosecuting the enterprize , and nothing was effected . and now king richard every day more and more entring upon the confines of his destiny , as if he had not done enough in making his minion marquess of dublin , creates him duke of ireland , and would ( says walsingham ) had fortune favor'd his wishes , have gone on to make him a king ; so strangely was he bewitch'd to him , and so excessively he doted on him ; non sina nota ( utfertur ) fami iaritatis obscoenae , which i forbear to english out of respect to royal majesty , as being willing to think it a fulsom imagination of that monk that writes it , rather than charge an english prince with such a detestable suspicion : but this undeserved honour , together with the exorbitancies of michael ae pole , and other publick miscarriages had made no small impressions on the minds of many of the peers of the land , as well as the commons . on monday the morrow after the feast of s jerom , the king held a parliament at westminister , which ended on the feast of s. andrew ; the proceedings whereof henry knyghton ( who lived at that very time ) relates as follows : [ p. 2680. ] the king ( saith he ) for the most part staid lingering at eltham whilest the parliament sate ; the nobles therefore of the realm , and the commons with joynt assent , sent this message to the king ; that the chancelor and treasurer ought to be removed from their offices , because they were not for the good of the king and kingdom , and because also they had such matters to treat of with michael de pole , as could not be treated of whilest he remain'd in the office of chancellor . the king hereat incensed , return'd his command , that they should mention no more those things , but that they should proceed to the business of parliament , aud hasten to a conclusion ; adding , that he would not for them , or at their instance , remove the meanest scullion boy in his kitchin out of his place . for the chancelor in the name of the king , had desired of the commons four fifteenths to be paid in one year , and as many tenths from the clergy ; alledging that the king was so much in debt , that he could not otherwise be freed from his debts and other burdens lying upon him , as well upon the account of war , as of his houshold and other charges ; but they by joynt assent of lords and commons , returned this answer to the king ; that they neiher could , nor by any means would proceed in any business of parliament nor dispatch somuch as the least article , till the king should come and shew himself in his own person amongst them , and remove the said michael de pole from his office . upon which the king sent back this command to them , that they should order forty knights of the most substantial and wisest of the commons to come unto him , and declare the votes of all the rest . but then were they more afraid , every man for his own safety : for a secret rumor had privately come to their ears , that the death of these forty was design'd by treachery . for it was said , as appeared afterwards unto them , that as these should be going to speak with the king , a multitude of armed men should set upon and murther them : or that being invited to a feast by the king , some armed ruffians should rush in upon them and kill them , or that they should be murther'd in an instant in their lodgings in london . but nieolas de exon mayor of that city refusing , and by no meanes consenting to so great a wickedness the villany was deferr'd , and the cursed contrivance by degrees brought to light . making use therefore of wholsom advice , they by common consent of the whole parliament , sent the lord thomas of woodstock , duke of glocester , and thomas de arundel bishop of ely , to the king at eltham , that they should on the behalf of the lords and commons of his parliament , salute him , and deliver their votes or desires to him , under such a form or sense of words . sir king ! the prelates lords , and whole people of the commons in parliament , with most humble submission recommend themselves to the most excellent [ the word is wanting in our author ] of your royal dignity , wishing you a successful course of honour , and invincible against the power of your enemies , and the most firm band of peace and hearty love towards your subjects , as well for the increase of your owu good and advantage , in respect of god and the salvation of your soul , as for the unspeakable comfort of all the people which you govern . on whose behalf we intimate these things anto you . that we have it [ settled , granted , or confirmed ] by ancient constitution , by a custom laudable and approved , and which none can gain-say or contradict , that the king can assemble the lords , nobles and commons of the kingdom once a year unto his parliament , as the highest court of the realm , in which all equity ought to shine bright without any scrup●e or spot , clear as the sun when ascending to the meridian ; where as well poor as rich may find a never failing shelter for their refreshment , by restoring tranquility and peace , and removing all kind of injuries , where publick grievances or errors are to be redress'd ; where , with the most prudent councill , the state and goverment of the kingdom is to be treated of : that the king and nations foes within , and their enemies abroad , may be discovered , and repulsed by such means as most conveniently and honourably it may be done ; and also with wholsom deliberation therein to fore see and order how the necessary burdens of the king and kingdom may with most ease ( the publick want ●onsidered ) be supplied : and they conceive also that since they are to support publick charges incumbent , they should have the supervisal too how and by whom their goods and fortunes are expended . they say moreover , that this is their priviledge by ancient constitusion , that if the king wilfully estrange himself fram his parliament , no infirmisy or necessary cause disabling him but obstinately by his ungovernable will , shall withdrow himself , and be absent from them the time of forty days ▪ as not regarding the vexation of his people 〈◊〉 nor their grievous expences ; that then from that time it shall be or is lawfull for all and every of them , without any damage from the king , to go home , and every one return into his own country . and now , you for a longer time have absented your self , and for what cause they know not , have refus'd to come amonst them . to this , the king. now do we plainly discover , that our people and the commons intend to resist , and are endeavouring to make insurrections against us ; and in such case nothing seems better to us , than to [ call in ] our kinsman the king of france , and from him to ask advice and aid ; nay even to submit our self to him , rather than to truckle to our own subjects . to which they answered thus . this council is not sase for you , but rather tends to inevitable destruction ; for the king of france is your capital enemy , and the much greatest adversary to your kingdom , and if be should once get footing on your land , would sooner endeavour to dispoil you of it , to invade your kingdom , and to drive you from your throne , than in the lest to lend you his assisting hand , if at any time ( which god forbid ) you should stand in need thereof : rather therefore recall to your memory how your grandfather king edward the third , and in like manner your father , a prince of the same name and renown , with sweat and hazards during their whole lives , through innumerable labors indefatigably contended for the conquest of the kingdom of france , which by hereditary right appertained to them , and after them to you by succession . remember , how many of the nobles , what innumerable troops of the commons of england , as well as those of france lost their lives , and underwent the peril of death in that quarrel : remember the inestimable treasures the people of england freely parted with for the maintanance of that war. and yet what is more to be lamented , they have in your time sustained so many taxes for the support of your wars , as that now they are reduced to such incredible poverty , that they can neither pay their rents for their livings , nor assist their king , nor afford themselves even the necessaries of life . thus the royal power is impoverished , and an unhappy condition brought upon all great men and nobles of the kingdom , as well as the commons weakned and undone ; for a king cannot be poor that has a rich people nor that king be rich whose subjects are poor . nor do these ills redound alone to the king , but to all the nobility and great men , every one in his rank and degree . and all this is brought to pass by the evil ministers of the king , who have ill-governed both king and kingdom to this day ; and unless we do quickly set our helping hands to the work and raise the healing prop , the kingdom of england , will in less time then we think of , be miserably subverted . but there is yet one part more of our message remaining on the behalf of your people to be imparted to you , that we have an ancient constitution , and it was not many ages since experimented ; it grieves us that we must mention it , that if the king through any evil council whatever , or through a weak obstinacy or contempt of his people , a perverse froward will or irregular course , shall alienate himself from his people , and refuse to govern by the laws and statutes of the realm , by the laudable ordinances and and faithful advice , if he shall throw himself headlong into wild designs , and stubbornly exercise his own singular arbitrary will ; that from that time it shall be lawful for his people by their full and free assent and consent , to depose that king from his throne , and to establish some other of the royal stock upon the same in his stead . which grievous and unhappy dissention , that it may never spring up amongst your people ; that your people by no such lamentable divisions ( pleasing only to your enemies ) may ever through your evil counsellors be subvered . that this kingdom so honourable , and above all the nations in the world , from your fathers days hitherto , most famious in war , may not now in your time ( through the distractions of ill goverment ) he miserably laid waste : that the title and inscription of these miseries may never be placed as a scandalous mark upon your reign and this unhappy age. recal we beseech you , your royal mind from such foolish and pernicious councils ; and whatsoever they are that suggest such matters to you , do not only not hearken to them , but totaly remove them from you : for in a time of danger it will be found , that they can no ways effectual serve you &c. by these and such kind of speeches , the king laying aside his anger , was reduced to a better temper , and being pacified , promised , that after three days he would come to the parliament , and with mature advice willingly acquiesce to their petitions . the king then came as he had promised , and john de fortham bishop of durham was removed from the office of treasurer , and the bishop of hereford made treasurer : the lord michael de pole earl of suffolk was with much disgrace turn'd out of the office of chancelor , and thomas de arundel bishop of ely by consent of parliament put in his stead . and sometime afterward the said michael de pole was impeached of several high crimes and misdeme●●ors by the commons , as follows . the impeachment or articles made by the commons in full parliament against michael de pole earl of suffolk , late chancellor of england , in the term of s. michael , in the tenth year of the king ; and the judgment upon them following , from point to point . imprimis , that the said earl being chancellor , and sworn to act for the just profit of the king , hath purchased of our lord the king , lands , tenements , and rents to a great value , as appears by the record-rolls of the chancery : and against his oath , not regarding the great necessity of the king and realm , being chancellor at the time of such purchase made , did cause the said lands and tenements to be extended at a much smaller value than really they were worth by the year , and thereby deceiv'd the king. and for that he purchased the said lands when he was chancellor , against his oath , the king shall have the said lands again intirely , and the said earl shall make fine and ransom to the king , with all profits received since the purchase . 2. item , whereas nine lords were assigned by the last parliament , to view and examine the estate of the king and realm , and to deliver their advice how the same might be improved , amended , and put into better order & governance , and thereupon such examination to be delivered to the king as well by word of mouth , as in writing : the said late chancellor did say in full parliament , that the said advice and ordinance should be put in due execution ; which yet was not done , and that by the default of him who was the principal officer . to this article and the third , and the seventh , the said earl shall answer , if he have any thing to say against the same in special . 3. item , whereas a tax was granted by the commons in the last parliament , to be laid out in a certain form demanded by the commons , and assented to by the king and lords , and not otherwise ; yet the moneys thence arising , were expended in another manner : so that the sea was not guarded as it was ordered to have been ; whence many mischiefs already have happen'd , and more are like to ensue to the realm ; and all this by the default of the said late chancellor . 4. item , whereas the tydeman of limbergh having to him and his heirs of the gift of the king's grandfather fifty pounds per annum , out of the customs of kingstone upon hull , which the said tydeman forfeited to the king ; and also the payment of the said fifty pounds per annum was discontinued for five and thirty years and upwards : the said chancellor knowing the premisses , purchased to him and his heirs of the said tydeman the said fifty pounds per annum , and prevailed with the king to confirm the said purchase , whereas the king ought to have had the whole profit . for this purchase the said earl was adjudged to fine and ranson , and the said fifty pounds to go to the king and his heirs , with the mannor of flax●●ete , and ten marks of rent which were exchang'd , &c. with the issues , &c. 5. whereas the high master of s. antony is a schismatick , and for that cause the king ought to have the profits which appertain to him in england ; the said late chancellor , who ought to advance and procure the profit of the king , took to farm the said profits of the king at twenty marks per annum , and so got to his own use above a thousand marks . and afterwards when the said master in england which now is , ought to have had the possession and livery of the said profits , he could not obtain the same , till he and two persons with him became bound by recognizance in chancery , of three thousand pounds , to pay yearly to the said chancellor , and his son john one hundred pounds for the term of their two lives . for which it is adjudged , that the king shall have all the profits belonging to the said s. anthony's at the time of the purchase ; and that for the recognizance so made , the said earl shall be awarded to prison , and fined and ransom'd at the pleasure of the king. 6. item , that in the time of the lat● chancellor there were granted and mad● divers charters and patents of pardo● for murders , treasons , felonies , &c. against the laws : and before the commencement of this present parliament , there was made and sealed a charter of certain franchises granted to the castle of dover , in disinherison of the crown , and to the subversion of the pleas and courts of the king , and of his laws . the king awards that those charters be repealed . 7. whereas by an ordinance made in the last parliament , that ten thousand marks should be raised for the relief of the city of gaunt ; by the default of the said late chancellor , the said city of gaunt was lost , and also a thousand marks of the said money . vpon all which articles the commons demand the judgment of parliament . walsingham tells us , that all these articles were so fully proved , that de pole could not deny them ; insomuch that when he stood upon his answer , and had nothing to say for himself , the king blushing for him , shook his head , and said , alas ! alas , michael , see what thou hast done ! and when the king desired a supply , the commons answered , that he did not need the tallage of his subjects , who might so easily furnish himself of so great a sum of money , from him who was his just debtor . but at last , upon his majesties yielding to have him turn'd out of the chancellorship , and admitting the articles , ( which he was very unwilling to suffer ) they freely gave him half a tenth , and half a fifteenth ; only providing , that it might be necessarily expended : to which purpose it was to be deposited in the hands of the earl of arundel , who was then going to sea with a fleet , to secure the coasts . they likewise gave the king on every pipe of wine imported or exported , three shillings ; and on every twenty shillings worth of all sorts of merchandize foreign or domestick , brought in or carried out , one shilling ; wool , hides , and pelts , onely excepted . and also at the king's instance granted , that the heirs of charles de bloys should for thirty thousand marks be permitted to sell bretaigne in france to the french , and that robert de vere the new duke of ireland , the kings most dangerous favourite , should have the said thirty thousand marks , ( a prodigious sum of money in those days ) wholly to his own use ; provided he would be gone before next easter into ireland , and there make use of it to recover the dominions that the king hath given him in that kingdom : so passionately did both lords and commons desire his absence , that they would rather want so much treasure , than have him here to seduce and infatuate the king. as for michael pole , he was committed to windsor-castle . furthermore , the parliament observing that by the covetousness of the king's ministers , the publick revenue was vainly consumed , the king insufferably defrauded and abused , the common people of the realm by continual and grievous burdens miserably impoverished , the rents and profits of the nobles and great men much impaired , and their poor tenants in many places forc'd to abandon their husbandry , and leave their farms empty and desolate : and yet still by all these things the kings officers only becoming unmeasurably rich ; they therefore chose fourteen lords of the realm , and gave them leave and power to inquire into , treat of , and determine all affairs , causes , and complaints arising from the death of king edward the third , to that present time : as also of the king's expences and his ministers , and all other matters whatsoever happening within the time to them assigned ; and caused the said lords so chosen to be sworn on the holy evangelists , well and truly to regulate all burdens and other affairs incumbent on the king and kingdom , and to do justice to every one requiring the same , according to the grace and understanding given them by god. and also the king took an oath to stand to their ordination , and to encourage them in their actings , and not to revoke any article of their power , but to confirm and hold good and stable whatsoever the said counsellors should do or order during such time ; of whom six , with the three officers of the king appointed by consent of parliament , viz. the chancellor , the treasurer , and the lord privy seal , should at any time make a quorum . and it was also ordained by act of parliament , that if any one should advise the king to make any revocation of their power , though the king should not revoke it , yet the person probably convicted only of such ill counsel , should for the same forfeit all his lands and goods ; and if he attempt it a second time , be drawn and hang'd as a traytor . whereupon the king issued forth his commission under the great seal of england , confirming the said lords in such power , in the words following ; translated from the original french. richard , king , &c. to all those to whom these letters shall come to be seen or heard , greeting . we being duly conscious of the grievous complaints of the lords and commons of our realm in this present parliament assembled , that our profits and rents , and the revenues of our realm , by private and insufficient council , and the ill-governance as well of certain our late great officers , as of divers other persons being near our person , are so much consumed , wasted , embeziled , given away , granted , and aliened , destroyed , and evilly disposed of and expended ; that we are so much impoverished and stript of treasure and means , and the substance of our crown so diminished and destroyed , that we are neither able to sustain honourably as we ought the state of our houshold , nor maintain and manage those wars wherewith our realm is environ'd , without great and outragious oppressions and charges on our people greater than they can bear : and also that the good laws , statutes , and customs of our said realm , to which we are bound by oath , and obliged to maintain , are not , nor have been duly observed nor executed , nor full justice or right done to our said people ; but many disinherisons and other most great mischiefs and and damages have happened , as well to vs , as to our people and whole realm . now we , for the honour of god , and for the good of vs and our realm , and for the quiet and relief of our people , willing against the said mischiefs to establish a good and meet remedy , as we have already of our free will , at the request of the lords and commons ordained and assigned such persons for our great officers , that is to say , our chancellor , treasurer , and keeper of our privy seal , as we esteem good , faithful , and sufficient for the honour and profit of vs and our said realm ; so also of our real authority , certain knowledge , good pleasure , and free will , and by the advice and assent of the prelates , lords , and commons in full parliament , in aid of the good governance of our realm , and the well and due execution of our laws , & for the relief in time of that miserable condition under which both we and our subjects have long labour'd ▪ having full confidence in the good advice , sense , and discretion of the most honourable fathers in god , william archbishop of canterbury , alexander archibishop of york : our most dear vncles , edmund duke of york , and thomas duke of gloucester ; the honourable fathers in god , william bishop of winchester , thomas bishop of exeter , and nicholas abbot of waltham ; our beloved and faithful richard earl of arundel , john lord cobham , richard le scroop , and john devereux , have ordained , assigned , and deputed , and do ordain , assigne , and depute them to be of our great and continual council , for one whole year next after the date hereof , to survey and examine together with our said great officers , as well the estate , condition , and government of our whole realm , and of all our officers and ministers of whatever estate , degree , or condition they be , within our houshold or without ; and to inquire and take information by all such ways as they shall think meet , of all rents , revenues , and profits belonging to us , or which are du● and ought to appertain to us either within the realm or without : and of all gifts , grants , alienations , and confirmations by vs made , of any lands , tenements , rents , annuities , profits , revenues , wards , marriages , escheats , forfeitures , franchises , liberties , voidances of archbishopricks , bishopricks , abbeys , priories , farms of houses , possessions of aliens , &c. and also of all revenues and profits , as well of our said realm , as of our lands , lordships , cities , villages , and other possessions beyond the sea ; and of the benefices and possessions , and other revenues of all that are in rebellion against the pope : and of the carrying moneys out of the realm by the collectors of the pope , or the procurators of cardinals , lumbards , or other persons ; and likewise of the profits of our customs , and all subsidies granted to vs by the clergy and laity , since the day of our coronation , to that time : and of all fees , wages , and rewards of our officers and ministers great and small , and of annuities and other rewards granted , and gifts made to any persons in fee or term of life , or in any other manner : and of lands , tenements , rents , revenues , and forfeitures , bargained or sold to the prejudice and damage of our crown : and also touching the jewels and goods which were our grandfathers at the time of his death , and of charters and general pardon ; and how general payments have been levied and expended ; how garrisons and forts have been maintained : and of all defaults and misprisions as well in our houshold , as in our courts , and all other places of our realm : and by what persons our revenues and the substance of our crown have been withdrawn or diminished , or the common law interrupted or delayed , or any other damage that hath happened to vs. giving , and by these presents granting , of our authority , and by the advice and assent of our said subjects , unto our said counsellors , or any six of them , and to our great officers aforesaid , full power and authority , general and special , to enter our palace and houshold , and to call before them all our officers , and to command all rolls , records , and other minuments and evidences ; and all defaults , wastes , and excesses found in our said houshold , and in other courts and places ; and all deceits , extortions , oppressions , damages , and grievances whatsoever , that are to the prejudice , damage , and distress of vs and our crown , and the estate of our said realm in general , ( though not herein particularly expressed or specified ) to amend , correct , repair , redress , reform , and put into good and due order and establishment : and also to hear and receive the complaints of all our liege people , as well for vs and themselves , against our said officers and counsellors : and all oppressions , wrongs , and injuries , which cannot so well be amended and determined in the courts of the common law : and to discuss and finally determine all the matters aforesaid , and full execution thereof to award , as to them shall seem most meet , for the honour and profits of vs & our estate , and the redintegration of the rights and profits of our crown , and the better governance of the peace and laws of our kingdom , and the relief of our said people . in which proceedings , if difference of opinion happen amongst our said counsellors , the same shall be concluded by majority of votes . and we command and charge all prelates , dukes , earls , barons , sheriffs , the treasurer , and controller , and all other officers of our houshold , justices de banco , and other officers , ministers , and liege subjects whatsoever , that to our said counsellors and officers in manner aforesaid , they be obedient , aiding . and assisting . in witness whereof , &c. given under our great seal the 19th day of november . but notwithstanding all these provisions , no sooner was the parliament dissolv'd , but the king look'd upon all they had done to be dissolved likewise ; or at least de facto he esteem'd as nothing all their complaints against de pole , the duke of ireland , the archbishop of york , and the rest ; for he soon received them into greater favour and confidence ( if it might be ) than ever before : who being full of revenge themselves , were not wanting to blow their poyson into his royal breast ; for thus their fatal whispers and suggestions are exprest by trussel , in his continuation of daniel's history of england , fol. 9. — these triumvirs ( saith he ) incensed the king against the nobles that were best deserving , partly upon disgraces desertfully done unto them ; partly upon malicious emulation to see others so generally belov'd , ( except of the king ) and themselves so contemptible . and that their private spleen might carry some shew of publick respect , they suggested to the king , he was but half , yea , not half a king : for ( said they ) if we respect matters of state , you bear the sword , but they sway it ; you have the shew , but they have the authority of a prince ; using your name as a colourable pretext to their proceedings , and your person as a cypher to make their number the greater by the addition thereof , without which they could be nothing ; neither are you any thing more by being so placed . look to the duty of your subjects , and you shall finde it is at their devotion : for you cannot command nor demand , but with such limitations and exceptions as they please to propose . and for your private actions , your bounty ( the most to be celebrated vertue in a prince ) is restrained , your expences measured , and your affections confined , to frown or favour , as they shall please to prescribe you . what ward is so much under government of his guardian ? wherein will , or can they more abridge you , except they should take from you the place , as they have done the power of a prince ? &c. thus these scycophants whisper'd their venomous suggestions to exasperate the king against his best subjects , whose youth and weakness rendred him too much disposed for such impressions , and framed his conscious mind to a full but needless fear . he was much incensed at the removal of his chancellor and treasurer out of their offices , and that the duke of ireland ( rather than part with whom he would hazard all ) must go out of the realm ; supposing it a restraint to his regal authority , not to have absolute power in all things , to give and forgive at his pleasure . now when these private incendiaries perceived the king's humour once sharpned , they so ply'd him with plausible perswasions , that ( though naturally he was not of any cruel disposition ) yet they drew him into many violent and indirect courses , partly through negligence to search out the truth , partly through delight to be flattered , and a vain resolute humour to support those beyond reason , whom he had advanced without merit . in the beginning of march , 1387. the earls of arundel and nottingham ( pursuant to the order of the late parliament ) put to sea with a fleet , which they manag'd with such courage and conduct , that before midsummer-day ( besides other famous exploits ) they had taken about one hundred and sixty french ships richly laden : but the court-ear-wigs , the duke of ireland , and the rest , enviously misrepresented all their services unto the king , whispering , that they had onely undone a few merchants , which it would have been more for our honour and interest to have let alone ; so that at their return , instead of respect and thanks , the king ( whose equal unhappiness it was to grace undeserving men , and disgrace the deserving ) lookt upon them but ill ; and the duke of ireland would not look upon them at all : whereupon the earls in discontent retir'd from court to their own country-houses . and still more to exasperate both nobles and people , the said duke of ireland would now needs be divorced from his wife philippa ( grand-daughter to king edward the third , by his daughter isabel and the arch-duke of austria ) a lady of sufficient beauty , and irreproachable vertue ; and in her stead preferred to his bed one lancerona , a mean bohemian that waited on the queen , daughter ( some say ) of a vintner , or ( as others will have it ) of a joyner . the king took no notice of this affront offered to his cousin-german , but the duke of gloucester her uncle . resented it highly , and waited for an opportunity to revenge it ; which the other well perceived , and was resolved to strike first . easter was now come and past , the time limitted by parliament for the duke of ireland's being gone ; but he ( though so largely hired to it as aforesaid ) cared not for that voyage ; onely to wheadle the people , the king went down with him into wales , on pretence of seeing him take shipping , but in truth , that being there remote , they might more securely consult how to circumvent and destroy the duke of gloucester , the earls of arundel , warwick , derby , nottingham , and other faithful subjects of the kingdom : for there were with the king , michael de la pole , tresylian the chief justice , and many others that were conscious of their own deserts , and feared to be brought to justice , as well as the said duke of ireland , and therefore readily conspired with him against the lords . having thus laid their plot , and agreed the manner of putting it in execution , back comes the king to nottingham , and as if ireland's voyage had been quite forgot , brings him and the rest of the cabal with him . thither they summon divers citizens of london , the sheriffs of the several counties , and all the judges of england . the londoners , because several of them having lately confessed themselves guilty of treason , had been pardoned by the king , were call'd ; that in return of that favour , they might accuse the lords of such crimes as the king with his counsellors in wales and contrived against them . the sheriffs were advised with , what forces they could raise for the kings service against the barons ; and also commanded , that they should not permit any to be returned as knights of the shire , or burgesses for the next parliament , but such as the king and his council should direct , or nominate : to which the sheriffs reply'd , that the commons generally favoured the said lords , so that it was not in their power to raise an army in this case ; and as for parliament-men , the people would hold their ancient customs , which require that they be freely chosen by the commons : nor could the same be hindered . these answers were not very agreeable to the court-designes . but the judges were more compliant ; for not onely tresylian the chief justice had about the same time indicted two thousand persons at coventry , and he and john blake an apprentice of the law , perused and approved under their seals , the indictment against the lords ; but also the better to colour proceedings with a form of law , several questions were propounded to them touching the late act of parliament , giving the fourteen lords power to inspect and punish miscarriages of the kings ministers as aforesaid : to the end ( as * modern author observes ) that what the duke of ireland and the rest thought fit , might pass for law out of the judges mouths ; the questions being so fram'd and propos'd , as it was easier to understand what the king would have to be law , than what in truth was so . for it seems they proceeded against their consciences , in that several of them , and particularly belknapp chief justice of the common pleas , did ( as knyghton , col. 2694. assures us ) very earnestly refuse to signe the resolutions , till ireland and de pole forced him to it , by threatning him to kill him if he refused : whereupon having put to his seal , he burst forth into these words before them , — now want i nothing but a ship , or a nimble horse , or an halter to bring me to that death i deserve : if i had not done this , i should have been kill'd by your hands ; and now i have gratified the kings pleasure and yours in doing it , i have well deserv'd to die for treason against the nobles of the land. — which last words were like to have prov'd fatally prophetick ; for not long after in the next parliament he was indeed condemned to die , though not executed for the same . some authors say , that all the judges of england , ( except william skipwith absent by reason of sickness ) joyn'd in answering these questions ; which seems probable , because they were afterwards all question'd and punish'd for the same : yet in the record there are but five named ; possibly the others might consent , though only these set their seals to it . the questions so proposed to the judges , and their answers , were as follow : be it remembered , that on the 25th day of august , in the 11th year of the reign of king richard the second , at the castle of nottingham , before our said lord the king , robert tresylian chief justice of england , and robert belknappe chief justice of the common bench of our said lord the king , john holt , roger fulthorp , and william de burgh , knights , justices , and associates of the said rob. belknappe , and john de lokton the kings serjeant at law , in the presence of the lords and other witnesses under written , were personally required by our said lord the king , on the faith and allegiance wherein to him the said king they are bound , to answer faithfully unto certain questions here-under specified , and to them then and there truly recited , and upon the same to declare the law according to their discretion ; viz. 1. imprimis , it was demanded of them , whether that new statute and ordination , and commission , made and published in the last parliament held at westminster , be not derogatory to the royalty and prerogative of our said lord the king ? to which they unanimously answered , that the same are derogatory thereunto , especially because they were against his will. 2. quaery of them , how those are to be punished who procured that statute and commission ? to which they unanimously answered , that they were to be punished with death , except the king would pardon them . 3. quaery of them , how those are to be punished who moved the king to consent to the making of the said statute ? whereunto they answered with one accord , that they ought to lose their lives , unless his majesty would pardon them . 4. it was askt them , what punishment they deserved who compell'd , streightned , or necessitated the king to consent to the making of the said statute and commission ? to which they all answered , that they ought to suffer as traytors . 5. quaery of them , how those are to be punished who hindered the king from exercising those things which appertain to his royalty and prerogative ? to which question they unanimously answered , that they are to be punished as traytors . 6. quaery of them , whether after in a parliament assembled , the affairs of the kingdom , and the cause of calling that parliament , are by the kings command declared , and certain articles limited by the king , upon which the lords and commons in that parliament ought to proceed ; if yet the said lords and commons will proceed altogether upon other articles and affairs , and not at all upon those limited and proposed to them by the king , until the king shall have first answered them upon the articles and matters so by them started and express'd , although the kings command be to the contrary ; whether in such case the king ought not to have the governance of the parliament , and effectually over-rule them , so as that they ought to proceed first on the matters proposed by the king : or , whether on the contrary , the lords and commons ought first to have the kings answer upon their proposals before they proceeded further ? to which question they answered unanimously , that the king in that behalf his the governance , and may appoint what shall be first handled , and so gradually what next in all matters to be treated of in parliament , even to the end of the parliament : and if any act contrary to the kings pleasure made known therein , they are to be punisht as traytors . 7. quaery of them , whether the king when ever he pleases can dissolve the parliament , and command the lords and commons to depart from thence , or not . to which they unanimously answered , that he can ; and if any one shall then proceed in parliament against the kings will , he is to be punisht as a traytor . 8. quaery of them , since the king can when ever he pleases remove any of his judges and officers , and justifie or punish them for their offences ; whether the lords and cemmons can without the will of the king impeach in parliament any of the said judges or officers for any of their offences . to which they unanimously answered , that they cannot ; and if any one should do so , he is to be punisht as a traytor . 9. quaery of them , how he is to be punisht who moved in parliament , that the statute should be sent for , whereby edward the second ( the kings great grandfather ) was proceeded against and deposed in parliament ; by means of sending for and imposing which statute , the said late statute , ordination , and commission , were devised and brought forth in parliament . to which they answered , that as well he that so moved , as he who by pretence of that motion carried the said statute to the parliament , are traytors and criminals to be punished with death . 10. it was demanded of them , whether the judgment given in the last parliament held at westminster , against michael de pole earl of suffolk , was erroneous and revocable , or not . to which question they unanimously answered , that if that judgment were now to be given , they would not give it ; because it seems to them , that the said judgment is revocable , as being erroneous in every part of it . in testimony of all which , the judges and serjeant aforesaid , to these presents have put their scals , in the presence of the reverend lords , alexander archbishop of york , robert archbishop of dublin , john bishop of durham , thomas bishop of chichester , and john bishop of bangor , robert duke of ireland , michael earl of suffolk , john rypon clerk , and john blake esquire : given the place , day , month , and year aforesaid . but though they had thus resolv'd the law to their minds , there was a greater difficulty how to arm themselves with power enough for execution . in order to which , they privately sent abroad to levy men , but found them come in very slowly , because the lords were generally beloved , and these favourites of the king equally hated . nor could they manage their designs with such secrecy , but the lords had notice ; whereupon , to take off all ill impressions made against them in the kings mind , his uncle the duke of gloucester ( chief of the lords against whom the courtiers had combin'd ) voluntarily before the bishop of london , and many nobles of the realm , did make oath , that he had never imagined any thing to the prejudice of the king , but had studied and performed to his power , what tended to the kings honour and advantage , and what also was well pleasing to him ; except only that he could not kindly regard the duke of ireland , whom the king immoderately lov'd , and who had dishonoured one that was not only a near relation of him the said duke of gloucester , but also of the king 's , which it was fit should be reveng'd , &c. with the contents of which oath , the bishop acquainted the king , who seem'd inclinable to credit the same ; till michael de pole began to exasperate him against the duke : to whom the bishop smartly reply'd , — be silent , sir , it becomes not you to talk , who stand condemned in parliament , and are now alive only by the kings grace and favour . which so offended the king , that he commanded the bishop out of his presence , bidding him be gon home to his church ; who at his return inform'd the duke what had pass'd , and how much the king was sway'd by those wicked councellors : so that it was high time for him to provide for his own safety , and obviate that destruction which was prepared for him . hereupon the duke of gloucester , with the earls of arundel , warwick , and derby , ( who were all designed to the same condemnation , if not prevented ) advising together , resolve to stand upon their guard , and treat with the king concerning the premisses , and that favour which he afforded to them , who were traytors both to him and the publick , and the imminent hazard of the kingdom thence arising . the king endeavoured to have surprized them singly , before they had united their retinues , but failed therein ; so that with a very considerable force they assembled together at haryngey-park . the king was just then preparing ( as it was said ) for a journey to canterbury , to pay , as was pretended , his devotions at the shrine of s. thomas becket , but indeed from thence to have pass'd into france , and delivered up to the french king calice , and several other important places , which by the fatal counsel of his pernicious flatterers , he had sold unto that king. but this news of the lords being in arms , diverted that voyage , and put king richard into great confusion , not knowing what measures to take : some of those about him were for reconciling the lords with fair promises ; others were for raising the londoners , and what other forces could be procured , and fighting them ; of which opinion especially was the bishop of york : but this the more prudent disapproved , alledging the dishonour and damage would accrue to the king if worsted . whilst these wise men could not agree what course to take , there was a fool stumbled on an expression , which if duly considered , might have done the king more service than all their debates : this was a certain knight called hugh de lynne , who had been bred in the wars , but by an accident lost his understanding , and now as a natural was maintained by the charity of several of the nobles and retainers to the court : the king meeting him during these consultations , and being willing to divert himself by hearing his foolish discourse , askt him jocularly , what he should do with the lords that were assembled together in the before-mentioned park . to which the said hugh very melancholy answered , — march forth , sir ! and let us fall upon them , and kill every mothers son of them : which being done , by god's eye you will gallantly have destroyed all the faithful subjects you have in your kingdom . in the mean time , mediators for peace posting to and fro between the king and the lords ; it was at last by their intercession concluded , that the lords should come before the king at westminster , and receive the kings answer to their grievances : the bishop of ely and divers other persons of honour and credit , giving their oaths on the kings behalf , that no treachery or ill practice should be used , but that they might come and go with safety ; and if any were designed , that they would admonish them of it . a caution that in the event proved not unnecessary : for on the day they should appear , they had intelligence that there was an ambuscade laid for them about the mews ; whereupon they delayed their coming ; and the king ( who had waited an hour or two for them beyond the time appointed ) enquiring the reason , was told by the said bishop of ely , that it was because he did not keep his word , for there was secretly planted above a thousand armed men to cut them off in their passage . the king seemed much offended at this treachery , and swore that he was not privy to it , and therefore commanded the sheriffs of london to search the mews ; and if they found any persons assembled there for such a purpose , to kill them . but in truth , the contrivance was not there , but in a place at westminster , where sir thomas trivet and sir nicholas bramber had to this intent got together great numbers of their faction in arms , whom upon this discovery they dismist , and retired into london . and now the king promising again safe conduct to the lords , they soon after arrived in his royal presence , whom they found in westminster-hall in his robes of state , and with his crown on his head , and scepter in his hand ; to whom they presented themselves on their knees ; and the bishop of ely lord chancellor on the kings behalf made a speech , blaming them for their raising forces , and demanding the cause ; withal , recommending the kings goodness , who chose thus graciously to treat with them , rather than to chastise them by arms ; which he told them his majesty wanted not power easily to have done . to this the lords answered , that they had assembled together for the good of the king and kingdom , and to remove traytors from the king : naming particularly robert de vere duke of ireland , alexander nevil archbishop of york , michael de pole earl of suffolk , robert tresylian the false chief justice , and nicholas bramber the false knight of london ; whom they averr'd to be traitors , and ( flinging down their gloves ) that they were ready to prove them to be such by battle ; [ a manner of tryal not unusual in those times . ] to which the king himself answered , that it shall not be determined in that manner , but in the next parliament , which we appoint to be the morrow after the purification of the blessed virgin next ; where both parties coming , should have justice done according to law : and in the mean time all of them to be in the kings protection , without injuring one another . — and so after some friendly discourse , and drinking with the king , they departed thence . and two days after , the king ( the more to appease the lords , and satisfie the people ) caused proclamation to be made in london , seeming in excuse of the duke of gloucester and his associates , but indeed to amuse them , and preserve his dear favourites from threatned violence ; the tenour whereof was to this effect . richard , king , &c. we hereby make known to all our liege and faithful subjects throughout our whole kingdom of england , that whereas tho. duke of gloucester , rich. earl of arundel , tho. earl of warwick , have been by certain persons who little understood the truth of affairs , defamed as traytors to vs and our kingdom ; we therefore having as becomes us , with the highest deliberation and greatest diligence weigh'd the cause of such scandal , and most diligently to our utmost power , searching to the bottom for the truth , with the assistance of our council , do not finde any thing done or acted by them worthy of the blot of suspicion , much less any scruple of evidence of their being guilty : whereupon we have decreed to declare the said defamation to be false , unjust , wicked , and wholy void of all truth : and we do testifie the said duke and earls to be worthy of good fame , and innocent , and not so much as suspected of any crime ; and as much as in us lies , and as we are able , we will approve and maintain them so to be , and do take them hence-forwards into our special protection . farthermore , we are willing to make known to all persons by these presents , who are their defamers ; viz. alexander archbishop of york , robert duke of ireland , michael earl of suffolk , robert tresylyen our chief justice , and nicholas brembre of london , kt. whom also we take into our protection , that they may answer whatever shall be objected against them in our next parliament , commanding that none on any pretence whatsoever , shall either to them , or the forenamed lords , openly or secretly , offer any kind of disturbance , grievance , or obedience , till such prefixt time of our parliament . but for all these fair words , the popular lords knowing the kings mutability , and as well the influence those his ill counsellors had over him , as their malice and perfidiousness , thought it the safest course not to separate themselves , but with a vigilant eye to observe the motions of affairs . the duke of ireland and the rest accused , did not appear with the king at this meeting , and 't was their wisest course to be absent ; for 't is believ'd the kings presence would scarce have been able to protect them : nor had they any mind to hazard themselves on the justice of the next parliament ; but rather resolv'd , if they could , to secure themselves by arms. to which purpose the duke of ireland was all this while raising of men in cheshire and wales , either by the kings commission or connivance ; and that it was more than the latter , may justly be suspected , because when he had made considerable levies , the king commanded thomas molineux , a man of great courage and conduct , constable of the castle of chester , to accompany and safe conduct the said duke with all the forces he could make , to his majesties presence . the adverse lords being advertis'd of these preparations , and that they were upon their march , beset the ways by which the duke should pass to london , resolving to encounter him before he should have encreas'd his power , and countenanc'd his actions with the name and presence of the king. accordingly henry earl of derby , son of the duke of laneaster , met them at a place called babbelak● near burf●rd in oxfordshire ; whom the duke no sooner saw , but contrary to the resolution of most of those that were with him , he prepared for flight ; however molineux prevailed with him to joyn battel ; but scarce ten ounces of blood was lost on both sides , before the duke ( who had been so good at raising quarrels , shew'd himself as bad at stinting them , and ) set spurs to his h●rse , and forsook the field ; whereby all his men being disheartened , and sir thomas molineux slain , the earl of derby obtain'd a cheap , but intire victory , allay'd with nothing but the escape of ireland ; who having mounted a fleet nag , and being to pass a river , cast away both gauntlet and sword to be the lighter , and so swam over , and got first into holland ; where finding but cold entertainment , he went to vtrecht ; and after two or three years rambling up and down as a fugitive , died at lov●●n in brabant . though his war-horse and armour being found on the brink of the river , raised a general report that he was drown'd ; which probably might facilitate his escape . amongst his baggage was taken a very considerable sum of gold , and ( what was of greater value ) the kings letters , ordering his present repair to london , and promising to live and die with him against all opposers . but this disaster thunder-struck the whole cabal ; the earl of suffolk in disguise flies to calice , where his own brother being governour of the castle , refused to harbour him without the consent of the lord william beauchamp governour of the town , who return'd him back as a prisoner into england to the king : but the king not onely let him go at large , but sent for over , and for some time committed the said beauchamp for such his honest diligence : the rather , 't is supposed , because he had formerly , for the kings interest , thwarted his pleasure : for on the late bargains and private intrigues with france , king richard having as aforesaid , sold calice to the french king , sent a knight with letters under his privy-signet , commanding beauchamp to deliver up the town to him , and one sir john golofre with other letters to the french king : but he knowing the vast importance of the place , and believing the king imposed upon by wicked councel , resolutely answered , that the custody and government of the town was committed to him in the presence and by the authority of the king and the nobles of the realm openly and publickly , and he would not surrender it in hugger-mugger , nor part with his command but in their presence . and also he took golofre's letters to the french king from him , and privately transmitted them to the duke of gloucester . for which affronts fronts the king waited an opportunity to be reveng'd , and had proceeded 't is thought more severely , but that the said beauchamp was a person extreamly beloved , and the king was not at present in a condition to use rigours ; and so by the mediation of friends he was quickly discharg'd . the rest of the hated faction , as the archbishop of york , justice tresylian , and others , ran every man like coneys to their covert , and were not to be heard of : nay the king betook himself to the tower of london , and there made provision for his winter-quarters ; all his designes being frustrated , first by rashness in taking arms , and afterwards by cowardise in using them . and to adde to his confusion , about the same time an envoy from the french king was taken with letters , whereby the french king licens'd king richard , the duke of ireland , and some others , with attendants to such a number , to come into boloign , where he would be ready to receive them with great pomp , and from them receive the possession of calice , and other strong holds ; for which he had ( says walsingham , fol. 332. ) already paid king richard. the lords therefore perceiving such considerable territories ready to be lost abroad , as well as extravagancies practised at home , hasten'd their march first to s. albans , and next to london , where with an army of forty thousand men , they arrived on s. stephen's day ; the citizens furnishing them with victuals ; and whether more out of fear or love. i cannot say , offered to let them into the city ; but they chose rather to quarter in the suburbs ▪ pro●●sting not to depart without personal conference with the king , which at last he granted ; permitting them first to search the tower , to prevent any surprize . the duke and earls then waited upon him , and after a few cold complements laid before him , the confederacy against their lives at nottingham , his letters to the duke of ireland , contrary to his royal word , together with his dishonourable treaty to deliver up calice to the french king , &c. the king heard them at first with silence and patience , and afterwards with a dejected countenance , and not without some tears , seemed to acknowledge that he could neither deny or justifie what they complain'd of ; and certainly the stomachs of the lords must needs more relent to those luke-warm drops , than they would to his greatest violence . so agreed it was , that he would meet them next day at westminster , there to treat of these and other necessary affairs of the realm . but no sooner were they gone , but some abusers of the royal ear suggested , that his going thither would be neither honourable nor safe , but bring both his person into present danger and contempt , and occasion a future abridgment of his authority : whereupon the kings mind turned , and began to retract his promise . this heated the lords so much , that being flusht with opportunity and power , they sent him peremptory word , that if he did thus faulter with them , and would not appear to consult the good of the realm , they would take other measures : intimating no less than the election of another . this so work'd upon the king , that he was pleased to meet them , and to consent ( though not without some reluctancy ) that several of his minions should be banisht the court ; as nevil archbishop of york , the bishop of durham , friar rushok the kings confessor , and bishop of chichester ; ( but both he and york had already shewed them a fair pair of heels : ) the lords souch , harmyworth , burnel , and beamont ; and several knights , as sir alberick vere , sir balwyne bereford , sir john worth , sir thomas clifford , sir john lovel , &c. together with certain ladies , quae non tantum inutiles , sed infames ; who were ( saith walsingham ) not only unnecessary , useless , and unprofitable at court , but likewise scandalous and infamous : and these were the lady mowen , the lady de molyng , and the lady ponyngs , wife to the said sir john worth ; who all were obliged to appear next parliament . there were likewise actually taken into custody , sir simon burley , sir thomas trivet , sir nicholas brember , and divers other knights ; clifford , lincoln , and motford , clerks ; john beauchamp de holt the kings steward , or privy-purse , nicholas lake dean of the chappel , and john blake barrister at law , who were all disposed in several castles . after candlemas , 1388 , the parliament began at london , ( though the king used many means to dash or defer the same : ) the lords came attended with sufficient strength to suppress any rebelli●n , or tumult that might happen ; and contin●●d their sitting till whitsuntide , to the great fear of some , hope of others , and expectation of all : part of their first work was for several days to summon the duke of ireland , the archbishop of york , michael de pole earl of suffolk , tresylian the chief-justice , and sir nicholas brember citizen of london , to answer to the treasons wherewith they stood charged : but none of them appearing , they were all out-law'd , and their lands and goods forfeited and seized into the kings hands , with a provision by common consent in parliament that they should never be pardon'd or permitted to appear again in england . the appeal or charge exhibited against them in parliament tho' long , is yet remarkable ; and not being extant in english , i shall so far presume on the reader 's patience , as to insert it , translated from the original , as we find it in knyghton de eventibus angliae , col. 2713. as follows , viz. to our most excellent and redoubted lord the king , and his council , in this present parliament , do shew tho. duke of glocester , constable of england , henry earl of derby , richard earl of arundel and surry , thomas earl of warwick , and tho. earl marshal ; that whereas they the said duke and earls , as loyal subjects of our lord the king , for the profit of the king and realm , on the fourteenth day of november last past , at waltham-cross in the county of hertford , did before the most reverend fathers in god william bishop of winch●ster , thomas bishop of ely , late chancellour of england , john waltham . then lord privy seal , john lord cobham , the lords richard le scrope , and john denross , then commissioners of our lord the king , ordain'd and made in the last parliament , appeal [ accuse or charge ] alexander archbishop of york , robert de vere duke of ireland , michael de pole earl of suffok , robert tresylian the false justice , and nicholas brember the false knight of london , of several high treasons by them committed against the king and his realm , and did offer to prosecute and maintain the same , and sufficient sureties to find , praying the said lords to certifie the same to their said soveraign lord ; which the same day the said commissioners did accordingly certifie to the king at westminster , where most of the said persons so appealed being present , were fully informed and certified of such appeal . and whereas shortly after , by the assent of the king and his council , the said thomas duke of glocester , &c. coming to westminster , in presence of the king , and of his council there , for the profit of the king and his realm , did again appeal the said arch-bishop of york , and other false traytors , his companions , appealed of high treasons by them committed against the king and his realm , as traytors and enemies to the king and realm , in affirmance of their former appeal , offering to pursue and maintain it as aforesaid . which appeal our lord the king did accept , and thereupon assigned a day to the said parties at his first parliament which should be holden on the morrow after candlemass next insuing , then to have & receive full justice upon the said appeal ; and in the mean time took into his safe and most special protection the said parties , with all their people , goods and chattels , and caused the same to be then proclaimed and published . and whereas also on monday next after the day of the nativity of our lord christ next after , the said duke of gloucester , &c. in the presence of the king , in the tower of london , as loyal subjects of the king and his realm , did appeal the said archbishop of york , &c. as false traytors , &c. whereupon the king assign'd them a day in the next parliament to pursue and declare their appeal , and by the advice of his council did cause proclamation to be made in all the counties of england , by writs under his great seal , that all the said persons so appealed , should be at the said parliament to answer thereunto . which appeal the said duke of gloucester , &c. the appealors , are now ready to pursue , maintain , and declare , and do by these presents , as loyal subjects of our lord the king , for the profit of the king and realm , appeal the said archbishop , &c. of high treasons by them committed against our lord the king and his realm , as traytors and enemies of both king and kingdom ; which treasons are declared , and fully specified in certain schedules hereunto annexed : and they do pray that the said persons appealed may be called , and right and justice done in this present parliament . imprimis , thomas duke of gloucester constable of england , henry earl of derby , &c. do appeal and say , that alexander archbishop of york , robert de vere duke of ireland , and michael de la pole earl of suffolk , false traytors to the king and realm , seeing the tender age of our said lord the king , and the innocency of his royal person , have by many false contrivances , by them without loyalty or good faith imagined and suggested , endeavoured wholly to ingross his majesties affection , and to make him intirely give faith and credence to what they should say , though never so pernicious to himself and his realm , and to hate his loyal lords and people , by whom he would more faithfully have been served ; encroaching and assuming to themselves a power to the endefranchising our lord the king of his soveraignty , and imparing his royal prerogative and dignity , making him so far obey them , that he hath been sworn to be govern'd and counsel'd only by them ; by means of which oath , and the power they have so trayterously usurped , great inconveniencies , mischiefs , and destructions , have hapned , as by the subsequent articles will appear . 2. item , whereas the king is not bound to make any oath to any of his subjects , but on the day of his c●ronation , or for the common profit of him and his realm , the said bishop . duke , and earl , false traytors to the king and realm , have made him swear and assent to them , that he will maintain and defend them , and live and die with them . and so whereas the king ought to be of a free condition above any other in his realm , they have brought him more into servitude and bondage , against his honour , estate , and royalty , contrary to their allegiance , and as traytors unto him . 3. item , the said traytors , by the assent and councel of robert tresylian the false justice , and nicholas brember the false knight of london , by their false covin would not at all suffer the great persons of the realm , nor the good subjects of the king , to speak to , or approach the king , to give him wholsome advice , nor the king to speak to them , unless in the presence and hearing of them the said duke of ireland , &c. or two of them , at their will and pleasure , or about such things as they thought fit , to the great disgrace of the nobles and good counsellors of the king , and to the preventing of their good will and service towards the king , thereby encroaching to themselves the royal power , and a lordship and , soveraignty over the person of the king , to the great dishonour and peril of the king , his crown and realm . 4. item , the said archbishop , &c. by such their false devices and pernicious councels , have diverted the king from shewing due countenance to his great lords , and liege people , so that they could not be answered in their suits and rights , without the leave of them the said archbishop , &c. thereby putting the king besides his devoir , contrary to his oath , contriving to alienate the heart of our lord the king from his people , that they might engross amongst themselves only the government of the realm ; whereby they have caused our lord the king , without the assent of the realm , or any desert in them , to have given away by their abetment many lordships , castles , towns , and mannors , as well annexed to his crown , as others : as particularly the land of ireland and okam , with the forest and lands which did belong to the lord dandelegh , and great quantities of other lands , to the said duke of ireland , and divers others , whereby they unworthily are vastly inriched , but the king rendred , poor , and unable to sustain and defray the charges of the government , unless by impositions , heavy taxes and tributes laid upon his people , to the disinherison of his crown , and the destruction of the realm . 5. item , by such encroachment of the said archbishop , &c. and by the counsel of that false justicer tresylian , and brember the false knight of london , they have caused our lord the king to have given away divers mannors , lands , tenements , offices , and bailywicks , to divers other persons their creatures , and such as they could confide in , and to others , of whom they have taken great gifts by way of brokage for that purpose , and to stand by them in their false suits and ill purposes , to the great prejudice of the king and realm , such as sir robert mansel clerk , john blake , thomas vsk , and divers others . 6. item , the said duke , &c. encroaching to themselves the royal power , have caused the king to give very great gifts of gold and silver , as well of his proper goods and jewels , as of the goods and treasure of the realm ; as tenths , fifteens , and other taxes granted by divers parliaments to be expended for the defence and safeguard of the kingdom , which yet to the value of one hundred thousand marks have been lavisht away upon the said duke of ireland , and others . and though many good ordinances and laws have been made in parliament , as well for maintaining and carrying on of wars , as for the defence of the realm ; yet they have been by them disturbed and defeated , to the great dishonour and damage of the king and realm . 7. item , by such encroachment , and the great gifts and brokages taken by the said duke of ireland , &c. it came to pass that divers unfit and insufficient persons were preferred to , and intrusted with the keeping and government of divers garrisons , castles , and countries involved in war , as in guyen and elsewhere , both beyond and on this side the sea ; whereby the said strong-holds have been lost , the countries wasted , and the people , faithful subjects to the king , destroyed , and great seigniories newly rendred into the hands and possessions of enemies , without the assent of the realm , as the marches of scotland , &c. to the disinherison of the kings crown , and the great loss of the kingdom , as in harpeden and craddock , and divers others . 8. by the same means , the said archbishop and his fellow-traytors have caused divers people to be disturbed and deprived of right , and the common law of england , and put to intolerable delays , losses and costs ; and the statutes and judgments which rightfully for necessary causes have been made and given in parliament , have been reversed and annull'd by the procurement of the said malefactors and traytors ; and all this because of the great gifts and brokages by them received of parties , to the grand mischief of the king and realm . 9. item , the said archbishop and other traytors have caused and counselled our lord the king to grant charters of pardon of horrible felonies and treasons , as well against the state of the king , as of the person injured and prosecuting ; which thing is against the king , and the oath of the king. 10. item , whereas the said seignories of the land of ireland are , and time out of mind have been parcel of the crown of england , and the people of ireland , liege subjects to our lord the king , and his royal progenitors kings of england , who in all their charters , writs , letters patents , and in their seals , have for the augmentation of their renown and royalty , been intituled , lords of ireland ; yet the said archbishop , &c. as false traytors , by their said encroachment , have caused and counselled our lord the king as much as in him lies , to have granted and fully assented and accorded , that the said robert de vere duke of ireland , should be made king of ireland . and to compleat such their ill purpose , have advised and excited our said lord the king to send his letters to our holy father the pope , to grant , ratifie , and confirm this their trayterous designe , without the privity or assent of his realm of england , and of the said land of ireland , to the dividing the liegance of the king between his realm of england , and the said land of ireland ; in diminution of his majesties honourable stile , and open disinherison of the crown of england , and full destruction of the lawful liege subjects of our lord the king , and of the said land of ireland . 11. item , whereas by the great charter , and other good laws and vsages of the realm of england , no man is to be taken , nor any prisoner put to death , without the due process of law ; the said nicholas brember the false knight of london , did take by night , certain prisoners , to the number of 22 , out of the gaol of newgate , some of them being indicted and appealed of felony , and some approvers in cases of felony , and some on suspition of felony , and carried them out of london into kent , to a place called foulhoke ; and there encroaching on the royal power , and in defiance of the said laws , as a traytor to the king , did without any process of law , cause them all to be beheaded , except one who was appealed of felony by an approver , whom he set at large the same time . 12. item , the aforesaid archbishop and other traytors have in small causes taken great gifts in the name of the king , of divers parties , to maintain and abet them in their suits and quarrels , and sometimes have play'd the ambo-dexters , and taken money of both sides . 13. item , whereas divers of the great lords , loyal subjects to the king , in divers parliaments , seeing the dangers , and apprehending the destruction threatning the king and realm , by means of the mischiefs of these malefactors , have moved to have good governance under the king , to avoid the said perils ; the forenamed archbishop and other traytors by their encroachment and fatal influences have so ordered matters , that the king has not onely been deaf to all such perswasions , but also has commanded some of those that moved it , to depart from his council , and to speak no more of such matters ; nor touching the good governance of the king and kingdom , on pain of death , to the great prejudice of the king and kingdom . 14. item , whereas in the last parliament , all the lords and other sages there assembled , seeing the loss and destruction of the king and realm , and the perils and mischiefs aforesaid : and that the king was departed from the council of the realm , and wholly abandon'd himself to the counsels of the said malefactors and traytors : by means whereof the french king had ships , and a royal power on the sea , ready to have arrived in england ; and the said realm , and the very language of england to destroy : and yet no provision was made , or good governance taken for the safety of the king , nor of the realm . finding no other remedy , did remonstrate to the king very fully , how he was ill-advised , and affairs most perniciously manag'd by the aforesaid traytors and malefactors , declaring to him their wicked conditions ; and most humbly beseeching him for the safety of himself , and of all his realm , & avoiding the said impending dangers , to forsake and turn these traytors from his presence and company , and no longer to conduct himself after their evil counsel ; but to hearken to the sage , loyal , and discreet persons of his realm . whereupon the said archbishop and other traytors , to defeat this wholsom advice of the parliament , by their false counsel did then cause the king to command the mayor of london suddenly to levy a great power of the people of that city , to attaque and put to death all the said lords and commons , except such as were of their cabal : at the execution of which villany , the said great malefactors and traytors should be present and parties , to the scandal and great disservice of the king and his realm . 15. item , when the said archbishop and other traytors perceived that the said mayor and good people of london had openly refused in the presence of the king , to accomplish such their treachery and lewd purposes , touching the murder of the saids lords and commons : they then by such their trayterous encroachment falsly advised the king , and so far prevailed , that our lord the king did absent himself from his parliament for many days , and did certifie them , that he would never approach the said parliament , nor commune with the said lords and commons touching the affairs of the realm , for any danger , loss , or mischief that might happen to him or his realm , unless he were first assured by the said lords and commons , that they would not say or act any thing in that parliament against any of the said malefactors , save only in the process which was began against michael de la pole : all which was to the great disservice of the king and of his realm , and contrary to the ancient ordinance and liberties of parliament . 16. item , the said lords and commons of the realm , after they found the kings will by the malignant counsel and excitement of the said arch-bishop and other traytors to be such , that he would not suffer any thing to be commenced , prosecuted , or done , against the said malefactors and traytors ; were pleased to acquiesce , and not proceed therein any further against his pleasure . and afterwards in the said parliament , taking the advice and counsel of all the lords , judges , and other sage commons of the said parliament , how the estate of the king and his royalty might best be preserved from the perils and mischiefs aforesaid , could not find any apter expedient , than to ordain , that twelve of the loyal and sage lords of the land should be of council to the king for one year then next ensuing : and that there should be made during that time , a 〈◊〉 and commission , whereby they should hav● 〈◊〉 and sufficient power to order matters for 〈◊〉 government of the king , and of the realm , and what appertained to the king , as well on this side as beyond the seas ; and to repel , repair , and redress what ever should have been ill done against the estate , honour , and profit of the king and kingdom , and to do divers other things necessary for the king and realm , as in the commission thereupon issued , and remaining of record in chancery , is contained . and that no person should presume to counsel the king , or any way move him against the said ordinance and statute , on pain of forfeiting for the first offence , all their goods and chattels ; and pain of death for the second : such expedient and ordinance to be made , if it would so please the king , and not otherwise . to which ordinance or statute , all the judges of the land agreed , and gave their consent unto , and advice for the same , as well in presence of the king , as of the lords . and also , our lord the king did fully give his assent to the same ; and thereupon the said ordinance , statute , and commission , were made and accorded unto by the assent of the king , and of the said lords and judges , and other sages and commons assembled in that parliament , for the saf●●y of the king , his royalty and realm . and yet after the end of the said parliament , the aforesaid tr●y●●rs and malefactor , by such their evil 〈◊〉 . falsly and trayterously did inform the king , that 〈…〉 statute , and commission were made in derogation of his royalty ; and that all those who procured or advised the making thereof , or counselled the king to assent thereunto , were worthy of death as traytors to the king. 17. item , that after this the said traytors , the archbishop , &c. caused the king to assemble a council of certain of the lord-justices and others , without the assent or presence of the said lords of the great council , to whom they made many demands , and very much suspicious , touching divers matters whereby the king , the lords , and the common-people have been involved in most grievous trouble , the whole realm disquieted , and the hearts of many withdrawn from the king , saving their allegiance . 18. item , to accomplish their said high-treasons ; the said traytors , the archbishop , &c. caused the king to go with some of them throughout the midst of his realm , and to make the lords , knights , esquires , and other good people , as well in cities and boroughs , as in other places , to come before him , and there to become bound , by some obligations , others by their oaths , to our said lord the king , to be with him against all people , and to accomplish the purpose of the king , which at that time was to accomplish the will and purposes of the said malefactors and traytors , drawn in thereunto by their false contrivances , flatteries , and deceits : which securities and oaths were made against the good laws and vsages of the land , and contrary to the oath of the king , to the great dishonour of the king and kingdom : by means of which oaths so inforced , the whole realm was embroil'd in great murmurs and trouble by the said traytors , and in danger to have suffered divers important mischiefs . 19. item , to inforce their purposes , the said traytors caused the king to absent himself in the furthest parts of this realm , to the intent that the lords appointed by the said ordination , statute , and commission , might not confer and advise with him touching the affairs of the realm : to the interruption and hindrance of the purport and effect of the said statute and commission , and great prejudice of the king and realm . 20. item , the said malefactors and traytors , after they had estranged both the person and good will of the king from the said lords so commissioned , and that he esteem'd them traytors and enemies , and that they had obtain'd the opinions of the judges suited to their wicked purposes , did agree and design , that several of the said lords , and also divers loyal commons , should be first arrested , and then indicted in london and in middlesex , and by false inquests attainted of certain treasons falsly imagined against them , and so put to shameful death : to which purpose they had procured an evil and false person of their conspiracy , called thomas vsk , to be vnder-sheriff , by whose means the said false inquests were to be taken , and the wicked design accomplished by colour of law. and for the more compleat effecting thereof , they caused the king to send his letters of credence by john rypon a false clerk , and one of their cr●w , directed to the mayor of london , that he should seize the said duke of gloucester , and others therein named , to be indicted for certain treasons , in such manner as the said nicholas brember the false knight , and john blake , who were thereof fully informed , should direct : by vertue of which letters of credence , brember and blake carried to the mayor the said false indictment , commanding him on behalf of the king , that to his power he should promote the same . and also they ordered , that a strong watch should be set to seize my lord duke of lancaster upon his first arrival . 21. item , the said traytors having trayterously informed the king , that he should believe that the said ordination , statute , and commission , were made in derogation of his royalty and prerogative ; did further perswade him , that the same was made with an intention to degrade , and finally to depose our lord the king : and perceiving that thereby he lookt upon his loyal lords as traytors and enemies , they yet further advised him , that by all means possible , as well by the power of his own liege people , as by the force of his enemies , the french and others , he should destroy and put to death the said lords and others that assented to the making of the said ordinance , and that the same might be done so privily that none should know of it till it was done . 22. item , in order to these treasons , by their counsels , they caused the king to send letters to his enemy the french king , some by nicholas southwell groom of his chamber , and others by other persons of base condition , as well aliens as denizons , requiring and praying the said french king , that he would with all his power and counsel aid and assist our lord the king , to destroy and put to death the said lords and others , whom they had so falsly represented as traytors , to the great disturbance of the whole realm . 23. item , that usurping to themselves royal power , they caused the king to promise the french king by his letters patents and messages , for such his assistance to accomplish the said treason and murder , to give and surrender to the said french king the town and castle of calice , and divers other forts and places ; as brest , chirburgh , and others , &c. to the great dishonour , trouble , and prejudice of the realm . 24. item , that after this trayterous contrivance , it was agreed between our lord the king and the french king , by the instigation and influence of these traytors , that a parley or interview should be had in the marches of calice , and a truce of five years between the realms of england and france : at which interview , by treachery , the said lords and others whom the king took for traytors , attending him thither , should there by treachery be slain . in order to which , they procured several letters of safe conduct from the said french king , for the said duke of ireland's going into france , to accomplish this ill purpose and treason ; which letters are ready to be shewn . 25. item , that the said brember , by the assent and counsel of the said other traytors , did come into london , and without the assent or knowledge of the king , did cause all the companies of the city to be sworn to hold and perform divers matters , as they are contained in the said oath , which is of record in chancery : and amongst other things , that they should hold with and maintain the will and purpose of the king to their power , against all that are or shall be rebels , or contrary to his person , or royal pleasure : and that they should be ready to destroy all those which do or shall purpose treason against our said lord the king , in any manner ; and be ready with their mayor to resist during life , all such traytors , &c. at which time the king , by the mis-information of the said evil-doers and traytors , and by the false answers of the justices , did firmly hold the said lords and others , who assented to the making of the said ordinances , statute , and commission , to be rebels , traytors , and enemies unto him : by all which , the said traytors endeavoured to stir up the said people of london to destroy the said lords and other loyal subjects . 26. item , the said brember and other traytors to the king and realm , usurping to themselves royal power , did of their own authority , without any warrant from the king or his great council , cause proclamation to be made through the city of london , that none of the liege subjects of our lord the king , should sustain , comfort , or aid , richard earl of arundel and surrey , ( one of the lords of the kings great council , during the said commission ; ) nor sell him any armour , victuals , or other necessaries , on pain of being preceeded against as rebels ; carrying about and shewing a patent of the kings , but of another tenor , the better to compass such their false proclamation . 27. item , they also caused it to be cryed and proclaimed in the said city of london , that no person should be so hardy as to presume to speak any ill , or utter any word or expression against them the said malefactors and traytors , or any of them , on pain of forfeiting all they had ; which was an encroachment on the royal power . 8. item , the said archbishop , chief justice , and other traytors , caused the king to command his council to make certain persons throughout england sheriffs , who were named [ or recommended ] to him by them the said traytors , with an intent to get such persons as they should name returned for knights of the shire to serve in parliament ; and to keep out from thence gentlemen good and loyal , against the good laws and customs of the land. 29. item , the said traytors during the time that the king had so taken both parties into his protection as aforesaid , did falsly counsel and prevail with the king to command by his letters divers knights and squires , sheriffs , and other ministers of several counties , to levy men and assemble all their power to joyn with the said duke of ireland , against the said three lords now appealing , suddenly to make war upon and destroy them . 30. item , during the time of the same protection , they caused the king by his royal letters , to signifie to the said duke of ireland , not onely that he and others were appelled of treason as aforesaid ; but also that he should have sufficient power to guard him , and come with him to the king. and afterwards caused him to write again to the said duke of ireland , that he should take the field with all the forces he could assemble ; and that the king would meet him with all his troops , and would expose and venture his royal person : and that the king was in great peril for himself and his realm , unless succor'd and aided by the said duke : and that the said duke should shew and declare to all the people assembled with him , that the king would bear and pay all debts and costs of the said duke of ireland , and all that joyn'd with him . by vertue of which letters , and the evil and trayterous instigation as well of the said duke , as of his adherents and other traytors , the said duke of ireland did actually levy and assemble great numbers of men at arms , and archers , as well of the counties of lancaster , cheshire , and wales , as of other places of the realm , in warlike manner , to destroy and put to death the said lords , who had consented to the making the said ordinance , act of parliament , and commission , in defence of the king and realm . 31. item , that having thus trayterously levied forces , the said duke marched with them through the midst of england , and usurping the royal power , did cause the kings banner to be displayed before him , contrary to the estate of the king , and of his crown . in which march the said duke and his accomplices were by the grace of god disturbed , and prevented from their evil purposes . 32. item , that the said duke of ireland , by the counsel and abetment of the rest of the fore-named traytors , encroaching to himself the royal power , without the usual commission of the king , or other sufficient warrant , did make himself justice of chester , by him and his deputies to hold there all manner of pleas of the crown , and thereupon to give judgment , and award execution : and also caused divers original and judicial writs to be sealed with the great seal of the king in that behalf used : and thereby compelled a great part of the people of those counties to joyn with him , or otherwise put some of them to grievous and tormenting death , imprisoned others , and seized the lands of others , &c. and all this to make war , and destroy the said lords , and other loyal subjects of the king , and against the defence of the realm . 33. item , that the said traytors have caused the king to grant great retinues to divers people , and give them badges and ensigns otherwise than ever was used in the time of any of his progenitors ; and this with design to gain greater power to accomplish their treasons . 34. item , fully to compleat all such their before-mentioned and other treasons , and to make the king wholly confide in , and relie upon them and their councels , they caused the king to call before him divers justices and people of the law , that is to say , robert tresylian , robert belknap , john care , john holt , reger fulthorp , william burgh , six justices , john lockton serjeant at law , and john blake : of whom he did by the contrivance of the said traytors demand , whether the before-mentioned act of parliament and commission were made in derogation of his royalty and prerogative , or not ? and several other questions ; to which they answered in manner and form before set forth , &c. these were the articles exhibited ; but the prime delinquents , as the duke of ireland , the archbishop of york , and the earl of suffolk , were fled , and the rest absconded : the chief justice tresylian having disguis'd himself , lay hid at an apothecaries house near the gate going into the old-palace at westminster . but on wednesday the 11th calends of march , being discovered by his servant , he was taken and brought by the duke of glocester to the parliament , who immediately awarded execution against him ; so that he was the same day drawn from the tower through the midst of the city of london to tyburn , and there hang'd : that judgment having formerly been pass'd upon him , when ever he could be found , in the same parliament . the very next day they met with sir nicholas brember , whom the king had often before preferred to be mayor of london , against the will of the citizens , and who had been the occasion of many oppressions and seditions in that city : it was reported of him , that whilst he was in power , he had caused a common hatchet to be made , wherewith to cut off the heads of all that opposed his exorbitant doings , and caused a list to be made of a vast number of the citizens names whom he designed for destruction , of whom he had procured eight thousand five hundred and upwards to be already indicted ; but was now before he could bring to pass such his malicious bloody purpose , himself beheaded with the very same instrument ; the king interceding for him with the parliament , that he might not be hang'd . this gentleman if he had lived was to have been made duke of troy , meaning thereby london , which anciently was said to have sometimes been called by that name . shortly after vske the under sheriff of london , and the before-mentioned john blake the lawyer , were likewise drawn from the tower to tyburn , and there hang'd and beheaded , and the head of the said vske placed upon newgate . in the beginning of may , sir simon de burlee was condemned for high-treason ; but the king dispensing with his drawing and hanging , he was beheaded on tower-hill . this person by his ill practises had in few years increas'd his small patrimony of 20 marks , to an estate of above three thousand marks per annum ; and was grown to that excess of pride , that at a christmass he would give liveries to a great number of knights and squires of the court , and others , bestowing therein sometimes an hundred and forty , or an hundred and sixty , nay sometimes two hundred and twenty broad cloaths , and these of great price , as being embroidered with gold , and some of scarlet . about the same time sir john beauehamp was condemned to be drawn , hang'd , and quarter'd ; but by the kings mercy , he had only his head sever'd from his body on tower-hill . the same punishment was inflicted on sir john berneys , a knight belonging to the court condemned for treason and sedition ; but sir john salisbury was drawn from the tower , and hang'd at tyburn . and now the judges are brought to judgment , which in the beginning of the parliament were taken into custody ; viz. sir robert belknappe , sir john care , sir john holte , sir roger de fulthorp , sir william de burgh , and john locton serjeant at law , who were all condemn'd to be drawn , hanged , and quartered : but by the mediation of the queen , the archbishop of canterbury , and other bishops , the king by the consent of the lords , against whom they had offended , pardon'd the sentence of death : but they were out-law'd and banisht for ever into ireland , two and two to be kept in a place , limited within certain bounds , which if they should presume to go out of , they were immediately to be executed on their former judgment . and for their maintenance were allowed out of the kings exchequer , as follows ; viz. to fulthorp 40 l. per annum , to burgh 40 marks , to belknappe 30 l. to holt 40 marks , and to care and locton 20 l. per annum apiece . this being done , a general pardon is pass'd for all treasons and seditions whatsoever , and an oath ( saith walsingham ) exacted not only of all the inhabitants of the land , but of the king too , to stand to the regulation of the lords , ( meaning , as i conceive , those so commissioned and authorized for one years space by king and parliament as aforesaid : ) and then the parliament broke up in the month of july . after whitsontide the earl of arundel again puts to sea , and burns-sinks , and takes fourscore french ships ; and likewise seizes the isles of ree and oleroon ( the latter famous for the laws marine , there said to be compos'd and agreed upon ) with the city of rochel and divers other places . about the same time the scots entred england as far as newcastle , in which young peircy , son of the earl of northumberland , and for his valour and fury in arms , surnamed hot-spur , being them ingarrison'd , he with a small party fought with them , and with his own hand slew w. douglass their commander in chief ; but being at last over-powr'd by the coming in of the earl of dunbar , was himself taken prisoner , though at the same time he set free his countrey : for he had first so weakned them by the destruction of their men , that they durst not stay longer , but in hast and disorder retreated into scotland . after harvest a parliament was again held at cambridge , in which many wholsome laws pass'd ; as against beggars , riding arm'd , giving liveries to excessive retinues : touching labourers , and apparel suitable to peoples ranks : and especially , that none should go out of the realm to the pope to procure the grant of any benefices in england without the kings leave , on penalty of being put out of the kings protection . also a tax was granted to the king , being a tenth of the clergy , and a fifteenth of the laity . in the year 1389 , a grievous discord happen'd at oxford between the welsh and the northern scholars , wherein several were slain , and further mischief threatned ; but by the mediation of the duke of glocester , the broil was composed , and divers of the welshmen dismiss'd the vniversity . in may the king held a great council at westminster , and on holy-road-day , being led by the advice of certain whisperers , entred suddenly into the council-chamber , and taking his seat , demanded , how old they took him to be ? being answered , somewhat upwards of one and twenty years : then ( replyed he ) i am of full age , and capable to manage my inheritance my self ; for sure 't is unjust that i should be in a worse condition than any other in my kingdom ; for every heir after the death of his ancestor , comes to his estate , and takes it into his own hand at one and twenty years of age . this the lords perhaps might be unwilling to grant , but more unable and afraid to deny : and therefore the king went on with his speech ; — 't is well known , that for many years i have lived under your tutelage and governance , and for the pains therein we thank you ; but now having attained to our legal age , we are resolved to be no longer in ward , but to take into our hands the government of our realm , and to appoint such officers and ministers as we think fit , and remove others at our pleasure . accordingly he forthwith commanded the bishop of york , then lord chancellour , to resign the seal ; which being done , the king put it up in his bosom and went away , but soon after returned , and gave it to william of wickham bishop of winchester , making him lord chancellor : he likewise turn'd out the bishop of hereford from the office of treasurer , and put in another in his room ; and chang'd several other chief ministers of state , partly to shew his authority , partly to satisfie his displeasure ; as particularly he suspended his vncle the duke of glocester , and the earl of warwick and others from his privy council , and admitted others in their stead , that humour'd him more , but honour'd him less . the earl of arundel likewise was removed from the admiralty of the sea , wherewith he had been entrusted by the parliament , and the same given to the earl of huntington . soon after this , certain detractors circumventing the king , had so far prevail'd , as to make him believe , that the duke of glocester was contriving some designs against him : but upon the dukes examination , the falshood and malice of those reports did appear ; and the king blusht to consider his own credulity against so near and eminent a relation ; yet though some of the spreaders thereof were there present when the duke would have questioned them for the same , the king charged him , as he lov'd him , not to stir farther in the matter . this summer the king being at his mannor of sheen , in july , on a sudden there appeared such innumerable swarms of gnats , that all the air was darkned with them , who skirmisht and fought one with another , till the slain fell down in heaps , and being swept together with brooms , amounted to the quantity of many bushels-full , and the rest who seem'd to come off , and were reckoned about a third part of the whole , flew away ; which was by many esteem'd as an ill-boding prodigy . about the same time the disciples of wickliff ( in those days called lollards ) being very numerous , their presbyters took upon them after the manner of bishops , to confer holy orders , asserting , that every priest had as much power of binding and loosing , and administring other ecclesiastical functims , as the pope himself either had , or could bestow : and though the prelates had notice hereof , yet out of negligence , or rather fear , they did not much concern themselves to suppress them ; save only the stout bishop of norwich , who swore , that if any of that sect should presume to preach in his diocess , he would either burn or behead them . in november , the duke of lan●aster after three years absence return'd into england from spain , having matcht his daughter to the king of castile's son. and the king of england having summon'd a council at reading , the said duke understanding that his majesty had conceived displeasure against divers great lords , to prevent the mischiefs that might thereby arise , immediately after his arrival , posted thither ; by whose good offices the king's resentments were diverted , and matters for the present pacified . in the year 1390 , ( being the 13 year of king richard's reign ) on munday after the feast of st. hillary , a parliament was called at london , wherein amongst other things it was enacted , that the king should not extend his pardon to any persons convicted of murder , and a penalty awarded against any that should importune the king thereunto ; viz. that if it were a duke or archbishop , he should forfeit to the king 100 l. if an earl or bishop , 100 marks , &c. there was also granted to the king 40s . of every sack of wool , of which 10s . to go to the kings present occasions , and the other 30s . to be reserv'd in the hands of commissioners appointed by parliament , not to be expended unless necessity of war required . about st. james●yde , henry earl of derby , eldest son to the duke of lancaster , with a choice company of a thousand knights and squires , and their servants , went into prussia , where they signalized themselves by several brave and valorous actions ; and return'd again with honour in april following . in the year 1391 , the french courted king richard very earnestly to a treaty of peace ; and in order thereunto , desired that there might be an amicable interview of the two kings neer calice : to which king richard seem'd inclinable ; and that he might appear more splendid on such an occasion , sent to most of the abbeys to furnish him with the best horses they had : amongst whom the abbot of s. albans sent him one , which ( walsingham tells us ) was worth four and twenty marks , no small price in those days ; and yet not content , he demanded 50 marks besides in money : likewise from most of the cities and burroughs of england , he got divers considerable sums to equip him for this voyage . but about the same time , by order of the king and council , there was a proclamation set forth , requiring all those that had any benefices in england , and were then beyond the seas , as in the roman court , ( it being a thing not infrequent in those days , for the pope to gratifie his favourites and followers with the best preferments , though perhaps never in england in their lives ) immediately to repair into england , to live upon such their benefices , and not suck away the treasure of the realm , by expending their revenues in other nations , on pain of forfeiting all their said benefices . this , together with the late statute of provisors and praemunire , and the overture of a peace like to advance with the french king , ( who at that time joyned with the antipape , benedict the 13th ) much troubled pope boniface the 9th : ( for now , and for neer the space of forty years together , there were two popes in being at once , each cursing the other ; and part of christendom acknowledging one , and part his adversary . ) therefore the said boniface ( whom the english own'd for their ghostly father ) forthwith sent a nuncio to king richard , with great complements to commend his devotion , and that of his predecessors towards holy church , but withal to complain of these invasions ( as he was pleased to call them ) of the ecclesiastical liberties ; and to urge him as well to repeal the said laws , as by no means to make peace with the french king , unless he would disown and no longer assist the anti-pope , &c. the king received the nuncio kindly , and heard his tale , but for answer put him off to the meeting of the parliament , which was in november , and then the business was bandied about ; and though the king and duke of lancaster seem'd willing to gratifie the pope , the commons would by no means consent that people should go to rome to acquire any benefices in england ; only that they might not seem too much to slight his holiness , they yielded that it might be suffered , but not without the kings license , and no longer than till the next parliament . but though they held their pope to hard meat , they were not wanting in expressing their kindness to their king , giving him a half-tenth , and an half-fifteenth ; which they offered to make whole ones , on condition the king would next summer make an expedition against the scots . anno 1392. the duke of lancaster is sent over into france , and most magnificently entertain'd by the french king : but instead of a peace , brought back only a truce for a year ; to the intent , saith walsingham , that during that time , the collected wisdom of england might consider whether it were more expedient to conclude a final peace , or prosecute the war. about this time , a certain matron in london having one onely daughter , had instructed her to cele●rate the mass , and built an altar with all its furniture in a private room , and there for many days caused her to accouter herself in priestly habit , and officiate ; onely when she came to the words of the sacrament , she prostrated herself , and durst not consecrate ; but rising again , would go on with the rest of the mass to the end , her mother helping her and encouraging her devotion . but at last a neighbouring gossip whom she had call'd to this private mass , discovering her practice , the bishop of london heard of it , and being much grieved ( as he had reason , to see his trade usurp'd by the other sex ) call'd her before him , and made her shew her crown shaven exactly like a priest , before all the people , and caused both her and her mother to do penance . the duke of guelderland , a most active prince , and related to king richard , sent him a letter full of great complements , ( but in one expression too profane ) stirring him up to war and military actions becoming his royal dignity , and particularly dehorting him from the designed dishonourable amity with france : the tenor whereof , was as followeth . magnificent prince ! both your innate generosity , and the prudent counsels of your ministers will we conceive effectually provide , that all your hereditary rights , which by your birth render your royal majesty great and glorious , may by the foresight of your deep wisdom be preserved inviolable ; and that if any unjust force does invade or offer to diminish them , your kingly industry will valiantly defend the same with the shield of military prowess : and since we have the honour to be related to your royal person by affinity , god himself cannot hinder , but that we will ever be ready to assist you in defending such your rights with two thousand launces , when and as oft-soever as you shall be disposed to engage in a war : nor ought you to decline the same to your prejudice , for any words or promises that may be made you , from the restless subtilty of the french. 't is certain , most serene prince , your fame is spread throughout the world : nor is it doubted , but for your great plenty of wool , and innumerable other commodities ( without which neither the east or south can subsist ) all kingdoms daily salute you with their treasures ; so that god himself has conferr'd upon you wealth an hundred fold more in comparison , than on other kings . besides the tried valour of your people , and the sharpness of their victorious bowes , have so far advanced the fame of your magnanimous nation , above any of the west , that terror and dread cannot but invade your adversaries ; for evermore to this day , as oft as the gallant english have fought the french , so oft have they carried victory with them from the field . let not therefore , most potent prince ! the heart of the lion slumber longer against nature in pusillanimity : but vouchsafe to apply that matchless strength which nature has conferr'd upon you , to warlike actions , in defence of your commonwealth , the maintenance of your hereditary rights , the encrease of your merit , and perpetuating the renown of so incomparable great and magnanimous a king. walsingham says , that this prince came also in person into england , to perswade the king against making peace either with the french or scots , and that he was very honourably entertain'd . but it seems his motion was not much regarded , for the time was spun out in further truces , and nothing done . and now the citizens of london fall into the kings grievous displeasure , the causes whereof are said to be two : the first , their not only denying to lend the king a thousand pounds ( which he desired ) themselves ; but also affronting a certain lombard , who was willing to accommodate him : and abusing him ( some authors say , they beat and half kill'd him ) for his forwardness . the other an accident which hapning just in the neck of this , seem'd , or perhaps was made a far greater offence than otherwise it need have been reputed , viz. a baker carrying his bread along the street , one of the bishop of salisbury's servants took a loaf out of his basket ; which the baker demanded to be restored , but the bishop's man instead thereof broke his head ; for which injury the people would have seized him , but he fled into his masters house : thither the constable came , and peaceably desired he might be surrendred up to justice . but the bishop's servants shut the gates , and made resistance . this more exasperated the people , ( who though sometimes they may be deceived b● fi●●sses and craft , are yet generally shrewd guessers at right and wrong in matters of fact , and 〈◊〉 of common life ) insomuch , that many threatned to fire their way , and began to use violence . of which the mayor and chief officers having notice , they immediately repaired thither , and by their presence and authority , suppressed the multitude , and preserved the kings peace ; so that hitherto the harm was but small : and all this combustion might easily have been quenched and forgot , had not the bishop ( whose ill-govern'd servant was the beginner and cause of all the broil ) kindled the fuel afresh : and 't is said , he the rather stirr'd in it , out of an old grudge which he had against the citizens , because they were generally lookt upon to be favourers of wickliffs doctrine . but whatever the motive was , a loud complaint was made by him and other prelates to the king , affirming , that if upon every paultry pretence the citizens should be suffered thus to affront the bishops without chastisement , they would endanger not only the dignity , but the liberty of the whole church . the king was so incens'd hereat , ( being prepared by former provocations ) that he was once resolv'd to have raised an army , and utterly destroyed the city , and made spoil thereof . but being perswaded by more moderate councils , he only sent for the mayor and two sheriffs , and four and twenty aldermen , and four and twenty others of the ablest citizens , to his court then held at nottingham , where the said tumult and divers other offences were laid to their charge ; as that they had forfeited their obligations formerly given to the king , &c. they at first resolv'd to justifie their innocency , and faithfully engaged to stand by one another : but it seems there was falshood in fellowship , and as it often happens in such cases , some timorous persons hoping to curry favour , impeach'd the rest , who again recriminated upon them , and so all were liable to be undone , and therefore left themselves wholly to the kings mercy , who committed the mayor to windsor castle , and the rest to several other places of confinement , seizes the liberties of the city into his own hands , and annuls all their priviledges , commands there should be no more any major be chosen , but that he would himself appoint one who should be called keeper of the city ; and accordingly did qualifie one sir edward dalyngrygge , ( other authors call him balerygge ) with that title , who being thought too favourable to the citizens , was quickly removed , and sir baldwin radington , a person of a rougher temper put in his place ; and also the terms and courts of justice , were removed to york . in the mean time , the duke of glocester and others were not wanting to intercede with the king on behalf of the londoners , of whom the principal , on sunday next after the assumption of s. mary , waited on him at windsor , and submitted to him , themselves and their fortunes : with which he seemed somewhat well pacified , and on the wednesday following came towards london , being met from the city with four hundred men on horse-back , clad all in one livery , an innumerable multitude on foot , a solemn procession of the clergy , and five hundred boys in surplices : the fronts of the houses adorned with tapestry and pictures , the conduits freely running wine , &c. besides , they presented the king with a crown of gold of great value , and another of the same metal to the queen ; together with a picture of the trinity worth 800 l. and several other great gifts : and so they obtained their priviledges restored and confirmed to them , the election of a mayor , and all things as before : and having been at all this charge , doubted not but to be quiet and free from further fine or penalty . but herein they were deceived ; for notwithstanding all their presents , the king yet upon such submission before made , demanded and forced them to pay after all this , ten thousand pounds , or else they must have ventured the effects of his new displeasure . the duke of glocester having been furnisht with money to raise an army , for an expedition into ireland , ( of which the king had lately created him duke ) when his troops were now just ready to march , and all things prepared , was on a sudden without any cause recall'd , and the voyage countermanded , to the great detriment as well of england as ireland : for upon the report of his coming , almost all the petty irish kings had advised one with another , and resolved to submit themselves to the english. the year 1393 , a parliament at winchester gave the king half a tenth for the clergy , and half a fifteenth for the laiety , towards the expences of the dukes of lancaster and glocester , who were going into france , to treat of a peace between the two crowns . the french king sometime before had lost his senses , but was now pretty well recovered , yet at this time narrowly escaped with his life , from the treachery of the duke his brother , who over-greedily aspired to the crown . for the king and several other persons of quality dancing a rural mask , to make themselves appear more like those savages which they were to represent , had got on strait garments close to their bodies , cover'd over with t●we , which was fixt on with rosin and pitch to make it stick the faster : now when they were busie in the midst of their dance by torch-light , a villain suborn'd by the duke , clapt a flambeau amongst them , as if done by accident , whereby in an instant the tow and other combustibles took fire ; but a lady seeing the danger , snatcht away the king before the flames seiz'd him , whilst four of the other maskers , notwithstanding all the help imaginable was used , were immediately burnt to death . in england the lord tho. pierey is made the king's steward , and sir william scroop chamberlain , a person ( saith our author ) than whom , in all mankind , there could not be found one more wicked or cruel . the year following , 1394 , was chiefly remarkable for funerals . first the dutchess of lancaster daughter to the king of castile , was snatcht away ; then the countess of derby her daughter-in-law ; next queen anne her self , whose obsequies were magnificently and at vast expences celebrated by the king ; and soon after died isabella dutchess of york : nor was death onely content to triumph over the ladies , but also mowed down the noble sir john hawkwood , a knight whose valour had rendred him famous in many foreign nations , and no less dear to his own . about august iss●ed a proclamation throughout england , that all the irish should forthwith return home , and wait the kings coming thither at lady-day next following , on pain of death . and indeed it was but time to send them packing ; for such multitudes were come over in hopes of gain , that they had left the english pale in ireland almost quite desolate : so that the natural wilde irish not yet conquer'd , taking thereby an advantage , destroy'd or pillaged the few subjects the king of england had remaining there , at their pleasure . and whereas king edward the third , when he settled his courts of justice , &c. in that country , received from thence to his exchequer thirty thousand pounds per annum ; the same by reason of the want of inhabitants , was not only lost , but on the contrary , the king forc'd to be out of pocket thirty thousand marks every year in the necessary defence of his territories there . effectually to redress which , the king in person about michaelmas sail'd into ireland , attended with the duke of glocester , the earls of march , nottingham , rutland , &c. the irish unable to cope with so great a force , endeavoured onely to weary him with alarms , ambuscades , and skirmishes ; but at last , divers of their petty princes were glad to submit to king richard ; of whom some he kept as hostages for security , others he dismist upon parole . and for the better settlement of affairs , assembled a parliament for ireland at dublin , and continued in that kingdom till after easter . in the mean time , anno 1395 , the duke of york , guardian of england during the kings absence , called a parliament at london , eight days after twelfth-tide ; unto which was sent from ireland the duke of gloucester , who so zealously represented the kings necessities , by reason of the vast expence he had been at in this necessary and no less advantageous than honourable expedition into ireland ; that the clergy were content to present his majesty with a tenth , and the commonalty with a fifteenth : but not without a protestation first made , that they were not bound to grant the same de stricto jure , but did it purely out of their affection to their king. the lollards ( so call'd , as tritemius says , from walter lollard a german , who flourisht about the year 1315. or as others think from lolium , signifying darnel or tares ; for being followers and disciples of wickeliff , the clergy , and especially the monks and fryars , were not wanting to brand them with ill names , and reputed them as the tares sown by the evil one in the field of gods church ; ) did about this time publickly affix on the doors of s. paul's church , accusations of the clergy , charging them with sundry abominations , and also divers conclusions touching ecclesiastical persons , and the sacraments of the church . at which the bishops were much disturb'd , and according to their usual method , instead of clearing themselves , and confuting their adversaries by scripture or reason , endeavoured to silence them by club-law , dispatching away the archbishop of york , and bishop of london , into ireland to the king , intreating him to hasten his return , to succour faith and holy church , that were both like to be undone by the hereticks , who were contriving how to take away the possessions of the whole church , and overthrow all the canonical sanctions . upon this news , back comes the king from ireland , and takes several of the chief favourites of the lollards to task , threatning most terribly if they shew'd them any countenance for the future . but the hereticks were not the onely afflicters of the clergy at this time ; but birds of their own nests began to pluck their feathers too : for william archbishop of canterbury got a bull from the pope , impowering him to levy throughout all the diocesses of his province , four pence in the pound of all ecclesiastical goods and revenues , as well of those exempt , as not exempt ; and this without so much as pretending any true or lawful cause for the same . however , the execution of this bull being committed unto the archbishop of york , and the bishop of london , though many of the inferiour clergy grumbled not a little , and complained thereof as unreasonable , yet they were generally forced to submit unto it . anno domini 1396 , the duke of lancaster , to whom the king had given the dutchy of aquitain , and who had been at inestimable charges in those parts , to conciliate to himself the affections of the inhabitants ; no sooner had obtained the same , but he was suddenly recall'd from thence by the kings command . to which , though it seemed no less hard than unexpected , the duke paid a punctual obedience , and was received if not with love , yet at least with a shew of honour by the king ; from whom having obtain'd license to depart the court , he hastened to lincoln , and there to the admiration of all the world , ( by reason of the disparity of their qualities ) was married to katherine swinford , who for divers years before had been his mistress . this year also the pope wrote to the king , intreating him to assist the prelates of the church in the cause of god , and of him the said king and his kingdom , against the lollards , whom he declared to be traytors not onely to the church , but likewise to the king ; and therefore did most earnestly press him , that whomsoever the bishops should declare to be hereticks , he would forthwith condemn by his royal authority . but it seems the king was too busie otherwise to attend his holiness's commands , and to do his prelates drudgery in butchering of hereticks ; for he was making mighty preparations for a voyage , not of war , but of galiantry , into france ; where by agreement , the two kings were to have a personal conference . in order to which , king richard passes over to calice , and the french king came down to arde ; between which two towns was the place appointed for their interview , and m●gnificent tents erected for their entertainment . but first they interchangeably took an oath , truly and religiously to observe the sacred laws of amity at this congress , and that neither by themselves or any of their subjects , friends , allies , or any other to their privity , or with their allowance , there should be contrived or practised any hostility , surprize , damage , or disturbance by the one party to the other . and for further security , the space between the two royal tents was guarded on either side with knights armed , and drawn swords in their hands ; four hundred english on the one hand , and four hundred french on the other . the twenty seventh of october the two kings met , four french dukes waiting on the king of england , and five english noblemen , viz. the dukes of lancaster and gloucester , and the earls of derby , rutland , and northumberland , attending the french king. after an enterchange of complements between their majesties , it was first by mutual consent order'd , that a chappel at both their equal charge should in the place of their interview be erected , which should be called , the chappel of our lady of peace : and on saturday the feast of s. simon and jude , on further treaty , it was accorded , that there should be a cessation of arms between the two crowns for the term of thirty years ; and that king richard should espouse isabel the french kings daughter , then not above eight years old . on sunday the two kings dined together in king richard's tent , and on the munday the french king brought thither the young lady , who was entrusted to the tuition of the dutchesses of lancaster and gloucester , and other english ladies , who conveyed her with a glorious retinue to calice . and soon after the two kings in a most amicable manner took their leaves of each other . walsingham tells us , that besides the presents made by king richard to the french king and his nobles , amounting to the value of ten thousand marks and upwards , he spent in this amorous voyage above three hundred thousand marks . and trussel relates , that the duke of gloucester was not a little offended both with the match and the truce , alledging , that it was more meet to be in arms than amity with the french , who being inferiour to the english in courage , did ever over-reach them in craft , and being too weak for war , did oft-times prevail and get advantages by treaties of peace . that the french lady ( being but a child ) was a very unfit match for king richard , as well by reason of the disparity of their years , as for that he had no issue by his first wife , and was not like to have any by this , unless perhaps in his old age. but these arguments not prevailing , the londoners however took the confidence to petition the king ; that seeing there was peace with france , he would release them of the subsidy , granted in the last parliament , towards maintaining the wars against that crown . this suit being by them so importunately followed , as much perplexed the king , untill at length the duke of lancaster assured them , that the procuring this peace , had spent and lost the king three hundred thousand pounds , wherewith they were pacified , though 't is probable not very well pleased . the king being returned safe into england with his baby-bride , though not without the loss of his tents , and a great part of his ri●h furniture cast away by a tempest in crossing the channel : the earl of s. paul was soon after sent by the french king to complement the young queen , who having understood how earnestly glocester had inveigh'd against this french alliance , was ( 't is said ) an eminent instrument in contriving and occasioning the destruction of that duke ; advising the king , that he was too dangerous a subject to be suffered , and that it concern'd his majesty both in honour to revenge the disgr●ces which he had by him formerly received , and in policy to prevent the dangers which he had cause to fear . hereupon the king grows jealous of the duke , and as that passion is restless , and apt to be fed with the slightest imaginations , so he began to pry more narrowly into his deportment , watch his words , and interpret both them and his actions to the worst , framing to himself many vain apprehensions and needless disquiets . to which another accident not a little contributed ; viz. the king having been paid the money lent the duke of britain upon brest , redelivered the town , and thereupon the english souldiers that were there in garrison , were sent home ; who at a feast which the king kept at westminster , coming in great numbers into the hall : as soon as the king had dined , the duke of glocester askt him , if he observed those men that stood in such troops in the hall ? yes , marry ( said the king ) who were they ? they were ( said the duke ) those souldiers , who by your surrendring up of brest , are sent home , and must now either steal or starve . and so went on to tax the king of an unadvised deed , with words much mere unadvised : insomuch , that the king in great anger replyed , — why , vncle ! do you think me either a merchant , or a fo●l , to sell my lands ? by s. john baptist , no ; but could i refuse to render the town , when i was tendred the money lent upon it ? and certainly it shews either great weakness in the duke , if brest were but a mortgage , and he did not know it ; or much injustice if knowing it , he would yet have had the king to detain it against manifest equity . upon th●s and the before-mentioned provocations , there was ●●dled in the king such a displeasure against the 〈◊〉 as could never afterwards be quench'd but by ●his blood. and first he would often complain to the dukes of lancaster and york , of the duke of glocesters perverseness in actions and crosness in speech ; who endeavoured to excuse him , and pacifie his majesty ; alledging , that their brother indeed was more vehement than they could commend , but they durst assure his majesty , that his heart was dutiful and faithful ; and that such his vehemency proceeded from a zealous regard lest his majesty and his kingdom should suffer either in honour or revenue , and therefore his majesty had no cause either to fear , or be offended with him . the king herewith seem'd to be satisfied ; but however , the said two dukes not knowing how far they might be involv'd in that displeasure which they still perceived he retain'd against their brother , thought fit , for avoiding the worst , to retire from court , thereby giving the duke of glocester's enemies the greater opportunities to incense the king against him . nor was it long before this black swelling cloud of royal indigna●● b●rst forth into actual thunder . but first , in the year 1397 , a parliament being summon'd at london , the duke of lancaster caused the issue he had before marriage begot on katherine swynford to be legitimated ; and at the same time was granted to the king half a tenth by the clergy . s●●n after which , king richard , contrary to the oath he had fo●merly taken , recall'd the judges from ireland , whom by his consent , the nobles in the other parliament had for their dem●●its ba●isht . and certain idle reports being spread , that he was , or was like to be chosen emperour : the king thereupon began to take upon him a greater port and magnificence than ever before : to maintain which , he fleec'd the common people , and borrowed almost of every body great sums of money ; so that there was no prelate , city , or citizen of estate in the whole kingdom , but furnisht the king out of their stock . and now the duke of glocester being retired to his house at plashey in essex , the king , with the earl of nottingham lord marshal , and the earl of huntington , one day on a sudden rode thitherwards , but left the earl marshal with a selected troop in ambuscade in the forest , whilst the king and his retinue rode directly to the dukes house , who with all dutiful respect , and heartily welcome , receives and entertains them : which treat being over , the king desires the duke to accompany him towards london , who with a very small company waited on him accordingly ; but being come into the forest , on a sudden the king clapt spurs to his horse , and the duke was stopt by the earl marshal , and by violence hurried to the thames , there blindfolded , and against his will shipt , and carried to calice , ( then an english garrison ) where he was kept close prisoner , till afterwards privately put to death . the next day the king invites the earl of warwick to dinner , and shew'd him very good countenance ; but upon his return caused him ●o be arrested and sent to prison . at the same time the ear of arundel was apprehended , and the lord cobham , and sir john ch●ney sent to the tower. these strange proceedings alarm'd the whole nation , therefore to quiet the people , a proclamation is issued , setting forth that these noblemen were seized not for any of their old offences , but for n●w crimes which should be discovered , and fairly proceeded against in the next parliament . accordingly soon after he caused them to be indicted , suborning ( saith walsingham ) appealers to accuse them in parliament at nottingham , viz. the earl of rutland , the earl marshal , the earl of kent , &c. in the mean time the king draws out a great power of armed-men , [ multos malefactores , our author calls them ] from cheshire and wales , whom he kept about him as a guard for his person . about the octaves of the feast of the virgin maries nativity , a parliament began at london , whereof one sir john bushy was speaker , and sir william bagot , and sir henry green , chief sticklers , persons of whom the historians give this character , that they were proud , ignorant , covetous , and withal ambitious : to which might be added , that they were most notable flatterers too , if it be true that bushy in all his speeches did not attribute to the king , titles of honour due and accustomed ; but such as were fitter for the majesty of almighty god , than for any earthly prince . by the importunity of these men and others , all the charters of pardon formerly granted by the king , were called into question ; the king protesting they were drawn from him against his consent : the clergy first gave their opinion , but somewhat sparingly , that they thought then they might be revocable ; and the temporal lords shewed themselves of the same opinion , but the judges and lawyers opposed it , how it was carried according to the king's inclination , and all the said pardons vacated and annull'd . having thus remov'd all obstacles , they next fall roundly to work , only the prelates pretending a scrupulosity , that they might not be present at judgments of blood , chose sir henry peircy their procurator , and departed the house . first , thomas archbishop of canterbury was accused for executing the commission against michael de pole , for which his temporalities were seiz'd , his lands and goods forfeited , and he himself adjudged to perpetual banishment , and to depart the realm within six weeks . in whose place the king caused to be preferred his treasurer roger de walden , who , because ( saith our author ) he presum'd to ascend to the bed of his living father ; ( that is , to take the archbishoprick whilst the said thomas surviv'd ) was two years afterwards turn'd ou● by the authority of the pope . sir r. bak●r tells us , that when this archbishop was first accused of treason , he offered to make his defence , but sir john bushy besought the king , that he might not be admitted to answer , lest by his great wit and cunning , he might lead men away to believe him . if all their proceedings were like this , we may easily guess at the justice of the rest . in the next place , they proceeded to judgment against the earl of arundel , who in vain pleaded the benefit of his pardon , for he was notwitstanding sentenc'd to be drawn , hang'd and quartered , which was mitigated by the king into to the favour of beheading . the earl when called to answer , condemn'd , and at his death betrayed not the least symptoms either of guilt or fear ; but observing the earls of nottingham and kent ; ( of whom the first was his son-in-law , the second his nephew ) to be bery busie at his execution : he calmly said to them , — truly it might have beseemed you at least rather to have been absent ; but the time will come ere-long , that as many shall marvel at your misfortune , as they do now at mine . this earl was wonderfully belov'd by the comons ; and walsingam affirms , that the king was afterwards haunted with an imagination of his ghost , not being able to close his eyes , but strait he fancied arundel stood before him : and the more to disturb him , a miracle was reported , that his head of it self was grown to his body : which was asserted with so much confidence , that the king caused his tomb to be opened , to disprove the fiction ; and understanding that still the people went on pilgrimage thither as to the shrine of a saint , or martyr , caused the augustin fryars in london , amongst whom he was buried , to take down his scutcheons , and abscond his grave , by laying a new pavement over it . the lord thomas beauchamp earl of warwick , upon his arraignment , did not carry himself with so much courage and gallantry , but confess'd with tears he had been a traytor in joyning with the duke of glocester , and other lords formerly acting against the kings pleasure : therfore thogh condemned to die , the king remitted that punishment , and only ordered him to perpetual imprisonment in the isle of man. the lord cobham was also banisht , though there was no new matter against him : but only that he had been appointed by parliament , to be one of the commissioners of inspection before mentioned , in the tenth year of his reign . as for the duke of glocester , having so great an interest in the affections of the people , it was not thought safe to bring him to a publick tryal , but concluded with more policy than justice , to put him to death secretly , without either conviction or examination : and therefore being a close prisoner as aforesaid at callice , he was by certain ruffians ordered thereunto by nottingam earl marshal , suddenly one night strangled or stifled to death between two feather beds . thus fell this great , and ( for ought we find in writers of those times ) good prince , the son of one , and vncle of another king , and so beloved of the people , that with him ( saith walsingham ) the general hope and comfort of the commonalty of the land expired . and now the king caused the parliament to be ajourn'd till after christmas , and then to sit again at shrewsbury . where in the beginning of the year 1398 , they met accordingly ; and the king by the interest he had made amongst them , caused not only all the proceedings of the parliament in the tenth year of his reign , to be condemned and annulled ; but also obtained a concession from them , that after the present parliament should break up , it s whole power should yet be conferred upon and remain in certain persons by them particularly named , or any seven or eight of them . who by vertue of such power granted , did afterwards proceed to act and determine many things concerning the publick state of the nation , and properly the work of a parliament , to the great prejudice of the realm . and to six himself more firm with friends , or illustrate his triumphs over those he thought his enemies : the king about this time was most liberal in conferring of honours , creating no less than five new dukes , of whom one was the earl of derby , made duke of hereford ; and an other the earl of nottingham , ( probably for his good service in dispatching the duke of glocester ) raised to the title of duke of norfolk ; one dutchess , one marquess , and four earls : amongst whom he made a distribution of a great part of the lands of the duke of glocester , and of the earls of arundel and warwick ; imagining by this double bounty of honour and estate to support it , to have tyed them with a double obligation of duty and affection : not considering that hired friends for the most part are seldom either satisfied or sure ; but rather like some ravens that naturalists tell of in arabia , which being full-gorg'd , have very sweet tuneable notes ; but empty , scriech most horribly . furthermore , to gratifie the cheshire-men , who had chieflly assisted him and his late favorites , he qualified that county with the name ▪ and dignity of a principality , and added to the rest of his own titles , that of prince of chester . a general pardon was also granted for all offences to all the kings subjects , but clogg'd with a strange clause of exception , exempting fifty persons in number , from the benefit thereof , whose names were not expressed , but left to the kings own knowledge and pleasure ; to the end , that if any of the nobility should happen any way to displease , he might nominate him or them to be of the number excepted , and so still keep them within his danger . by which reservation the general pardon became no pardon at all , since no man in england could assure himself that he was included in it . lastly , to corroborate and add the greater esteem to the acts and proceedings of this parliament , king richard purchased the popes bulls containing grievous censures and curses on all that should presume to break or oppose them : which were solemly published at pauls cross , and other places throughout england . all things succeeding thus suitable to the kings pleasure ; the heads of the party that opposed his will , having lost their heads : the nobles afraid , and the commons unable to express their resentments , any otherwise than in sighs , or whisper'd murmurs and complaints : his officers of state , his laws , nay his very parliament , all modell'd to his designs , he could not but sing requiems to his soul , and look upon himself in a condition altogether happy and secure . when yet to shew that there is still an over-ruling providence that can blast all projects , though never so subtlely laid , if not sounded on equity , and carried on with justice : a monarch paramount , who confoundeth the councils of princes , and is terrible to the kings of the earth ; when once they become disobedient unto , and forgetful of him : behold on a sudden , all his affairs by unexpected means and unlikely instruments , are embroil'd more than ever , and this great prince left so destitute of power , or friends , as to be forced , without striking one stroke , to surrender his crown ; and ( which was yet more greivous to a generous mind ) acknowledge himself both unworthy and unfit to wear it any longer . this wonderful catastrophe has since been thought to have been fore-shewn by some prodigious tokens , that happened about this time : as that in this year 1398 , when almost throughout all england , all the bay-trees withered , and afterwards beyond all expectation , grew green again . and another perhaps more remarkable , on new-years day following , when a very deep river running between the villages of suelleston and ha●●wod near bedford , on a sudden stopt its course , and divided it self , so as that for three miles space the channel remain'd dry . but waving such uncertain presages , if we consider the several steps that led to this grand mutation : the first both in order of time , and influence , may be reckon'd that of the banishment of the duke of hereford , son of the duke of lancaster : this was occasioned by means of a quarrel between him and moubray duke of norfolk , but what the grounds were of that quarrel , is somewhat differently reported by authors , for though all agree , 't was about certain words spoken to the kings dishonour , yet of what nature those words were , is not so certainly related . but the best , that is , most probable account thereof , that i can meet with , is as follows . the duke of hereford , either disdaining the undes●rved favours and advancement of some persons about the king , or disliking that his sovereign should be abused , and his countrey opprest by such ill instruments ; or perhaps to shew his owm skill and sufficiency in the art of government , happened one day in familiar conference with the duke of norfolk ; to complain , that the king too much undervalued the princes of the blood , and much discouraged the rest of the ancient nobility from intermedling in publick affairs : that instead of using their able advice and service , he was engrossed by a few vpstart favourites of base birth , and baser qualities ; having no sufficiency either for council in peace , or courage in war : and whose dishonest conditions had deservedly contracted an odium and contempt of the whole realm ; whereby the honour of the kings person was much obscured , the safety of his estate endanger'd , and the dignity of the english nation not a little impaired : and that it was high time , that the king should provide some redress herein . and all this ●e protested he mention'd not out of a picque to ary perticular person , but out of compassion for so publick grievance , and zealous duty to his soveraign . and therefore desired the said duke , that he being one of the kings cabinet-council , would be pleased to discover unto his majesty , these enormities and dangers , that by removing the one , he might happily prevent the other . to these , or some such discourses , the duke of norfolk seemed much to adhere , assuring hereford , that in these apprehensions he had but copied his own thoughts , and seemed not only to approve of what he said , but promised to improve his interest towards a regulation of the matters complained of . and perhaps had the words been afterwards by him but as faithfully related , and by the king as candidly taken , as they were freely and 〈◊〉 intended , many mischiefs might have been avoided . but on the contrary , they were maliciously mis-recited , and much mis-construed : for the duke of norfolk had formerly sided with the lords , yet it seems preferment had taken him off , and he was now become wholly addicted to humour the king : and therefore to s●rue himself yet further into favour , acquaints him with these complaints of the duke of hereford , but so exaggreated , and intermixt with reflective additions , that the king was highly incensed , and calling hereford before him , charged him therewith , who denying a great part thereof , and n●rfolk as stoutly asserting it , the former challenged the latter to the combate , who readily accepted thereof , which at last the king allows , assigning coventry the place , and august following for the time of decision . and though it be not much material to our history , yet to gratify the vulgar readers curiosity , it will perhaps be no unwelcome digression , to relate the formality of the intended duel , between these two puissant peers . on the day therefore appointed , each of them attended with a splendid and numerous retinue , appears : the duke of albem●rl● was pro tempore , made high constable ; and the duke of surry , high marshal : who came to the lists honourably attended with rich liveries ; suitable to their greatness , each of their servants carrying tipstaves for clearing the field . where , first the duke of hereford as challenger , mounted on a white courser , in caparisons of green and blew velvet , embroidered thick with swans and antilopes , armed cap-a-pe , with his sword drawn , approached the lists : of whom the marshal demanding who he was ! received this answer , — i am henry of lancaster , duke of hereford , that am come hither to do my devoir , against thomas moubray , duke of norfolk : as a false traytor to god , the king , the realm , and me . and then taking his oath , that his qurrel was true and just , desired liberty to enter the lists , which being granted , he put up his sword , pull'd down his beaver , sign'd himself on the fore-head with the cross , took his spear , and passing the barriers , dismounted , and sat down in a chair of green velvet , placed in a travers of green and blew velvet , at one end of the lists . then king richard enters the field with great pomp , accompanied with the earl of s. paul , who came out of france on purpose to be a spectator of the combat , and attended with most of the nobles of england , and a guard of ten thousand men in arms , to prevent any sudden tumult , or disorders . his majesty being seated in a chair of state : one of the kings at arms made proclamation , that none but such as were appointed to marshall the field , should touch any part of the lists , upon pain of death . which ended , another herald cryeth , — behold , here henry of lancaster , duke of hereford appellant , who is entred into the royal lists , to do his devoir against thomas moubray , duke of norfolk : upon pain of being counted false and re●reant . immediatly upon this , appeared the duke of norfolk bravely mounted , his horse barbed with crimson-velvet , embroydered with lions of silver , and mulberry trees proper , and having taken a like oath before the constable and marshal , that his quarrel was right and just , entred the field ; crying aloud , god aid the right ; and then lighted from his horse , placing himself in a chair of crimson velvet opposite to hereford , at the other end of the lists , the marshal viewed their spears , to see that they were of equal length , and carried the one himself to the duke of hereford , and sent the other by a knight , to the duke of norfolk . this done , proclamation was made , to mount , and address themselves to the combat . upon which the dukes instantly mount their horses , closed their beavers , casting their spears into their rest , when the trumpet sounded , and the duke of hereford put his horse forward , but before norfolk stirred , the king cast down his warder , and the heralds cryed , stay ! stay ! then the king causing the spears to be taken from them , they returned to their chairs , whilst he retired to council , to debate what was fit to be done in so weighty a cause : where after two hours debate , their doom was agreed upon without fighting , and one sir john bouray , by the kings command , after silence proclaim'd , read their sentence , which was thus : that forasmuch as the dukes appellant , and defendant , had honourably appeared in the list royal , and were not only ready but forward to entertain the combat , therefore it being an affair of great consequence , for avoiding the effusion of christian blood , the king by the advice of his council had decreed : that henry duke of hereford , should within 15 days depart the realm ; not to return within the space of ten years , on pain of death : without the kings special licence ; and after a second proclamation , sentence of banishment was also read against the duke of norfolk , but with these several aggravations . first that the same was for life ; secondly , that the cause thereof was expressed to be , for having urtered seditious words , whereof he could not produce any proof ; and thirdly , it was added as part of his further punishment , that the ●ing should receive the revenues of his lands until he were satisfied , all such sums of money , as the said duke had taken out of the king's coffers , on pretence of paying the garrison of callice . and further it was proclaimed , that no person from thenceforth should presume to petition , or intercede with the king , in the behalf of either of these dukes , to alter this sentence , on pain of his majesties high displeasure : which being so declared , the king called them both before him , and took of them a solemn oath , that they should never converse together beyond the seas , nor willingly come into each other's company . the duke of norfolk soon after , in great grief and trouble of mind , departed into germany , and from thence to venice , where in a short time he died with sorrow , leaving this cautionary lesson to all courtiers , that greatness abused by whispering untruths , draweth , if discovered , certainty of destruction . and observable it is , that his banishment was pronunced on the very day twelve month , on which the duke of glocester , had by his order been murdered at calice , so just is the divine nemesis : not only in revenging ill actions , but causing the punishment to be attended with such circumstances as may make the world take notice of it . the duke of hereford took his leave of the king , at eltham , behaving himself so respectfully , that his majesty was there pleased to declare , he would abate 4 years of his exilement : yet could not that pacify the murmurs of the people , who could not be perswaded that there was any cause for his being banisht at all . exclaiming that it was against the law of arms , the custome of the realm , and all justice ; that he should be exil'd , who had so honourably offered to mantain his appeal according to the law of the field . he directed his course from england to paris , where he was nobly received by the french king , and found such favour in that court : that he was offered in marriage , the only daughter of the duke of berry : the said kings uncle . but king richard having notice thereof , used means to stop the prosecution of that treaty . he had not been gone many months , but his father , the duke of lancaster , pays nature her debt ; his death perhaps being hastened by those impressions of grief , which this disgrace of his son might occasion on his spirits . the character given this duke by historians , speaks him a man well advised and wary , an approver of safe councils with reason , rather than fortunate exploits with hazzard : one that was neither negligent , nor ambitiously tender of glory , and therefore deported himself towards the king his nephew , in terms honourable and respective enough for a moderate prince , and yet not so plausible as an uncollected greatness , and the depravity of the court might desire , whereby little happened unto him extraordinary : either in prejudice or preferment . by his death , the dutchy of lancaster , did lineally descend to his eldest son , the said duke of hereford . but ( as the nature of man is very prone to hate those whom he hath injured ) the king forthwith seizes all the lands and goods of the deceased duke , endeavoured to perpetuate the banishment of the young duke , and revoked the letters patent he had granted and consented unto , for enabling the said dukes attornies to sue out his ouster le main and livery of those lands , which during his exile , should descend to him , his homage being formerly concluded upon to be respited at a reasonable fine . and all this without any crime alleadged ( that we can hear of ) against the father , whereby he should have forfeited his estate : or new provocation given by the son , whereby a cloud might arise for his being deprived of it . this severity could not but enrage the duke , who was already sufficiently discontented at his banishment , nor were the people sparing to exclaim ( where they durst ) against these proceedings as unjust , and thence to contract , first , a pity , and afterwards an high esteem for this exil'd noble-man , who though not the immediate heir presumptive to the crown , ( for edmund mortimer , earl of march , was therein before him , the right having by parliament ( the common arbitrator in that case in those daies , ) been formerly declared to be in his father , as being son of phillipa , the daughter of lionel , the third son of king edward the third , whereas , the late duke of lancaster , was but the fourth son of that king. ) yet being so near it , and thus exasperated , they thought he might step over that obstacle . si jus violandum regni causâ violandum est . they knew him to be an active prince , and of great courage ; and therefore generally fixt their eyes on him , as the man that must be their deliverer from those grievances and pressures , under which they lay gasping . and indeed their condition could not but be very uneasie , for the king having got rid of two of his uncles , viz. glocester and lancaster , ( one murdred , the other naturally deceased ) and the third , which was york , either in disdain for the indignity offered to his nephew hereford , or in distrust of his own safety , being retired with his son , the duke of albemarle , to his house at langley , look't upon himself as absolutely hors de page , free from any controul , with which their unwelcome gravity was wont somtimes to check his irregular appetite ; and therefore now took a greater liberty than before , to disoblige and harass his people . for thus we find the condition of those times described . that the king abandoned himself to sloth , and lay plunged in the soft , but destructive charms of pleasure ; by whose example the nobility too much gave themselves up to ease and luxury ; whereby cowardice and effeminacy crept in , and shipwrack was made both of manhood and reputation . the chief affairs of state had long been bias'd by private respects , which made the nation decline as well in riches as honour : and all things being out of due motion , the common-weal seem'd not so much by degrees , as with a main course , and at once precipating into inevitable ruine . the northern parts by frequent losses , almost consumed by the scots , who had taken several important posts , and defaced all the countrey with slaughter , and devastations towards the south , the merchant ships were daily surprized by the french , who likewise frequently pillaged the sea-coasts : and of the kings hereditary dominions in france , many strong holds were lost by negligence , or sold by ill advise and treachery . forces sometimes were often pretended to be sent over for their defence , but so scatteringly , at such unseasonable times , so ill accommodated , or under such indiscreet conduct , that they were occasions rather of loss , than help . affairs were managed by such as neither nature had design'd , nor education prepared , nor experience qualified for politicians ; but corrupt or ignorant ministers by flatteries and base arts swai'd in the kings affections , and disposed of all things at their pleasure , keeping him as it were beseiged from any better advise . the profits and revenues of the crown ; nay , the whole kingdome was let to farm , the king making himself only ● landlord , and challenging no greater priviledge by his reign , than a dissolute and uncontroled life . great sums of money , were by new-found and unwonted means every day rather extorted from , than voluntarily granted by the subject , whereof no advantage accrew'd to the kingdom , only private pleasures were maintain'd at an extravagant rate , and unworthy favourites advanced . to these , the king was so excessively liberal , that he was forced to borrow , begg , and extort in many places , to supply this vain lavish humour , undoing many without cause , to inrich a few without desert . over and above the tenths , and fifteenths , and such usual taxes , which were many times gathered double in one year , strange impositions were devised and put in practise , sometimes exacting 12d . per poll , of every subject , 6s . 8d . of every priest , and religious person : great sums drawn from the people under the favourable term of benevolence , and so much borrowed upon privy-seals , that no man of ability could escape his loan , though very seldom any repayment was made . and to add to all former burdens this present year , 1399. he charged 17 whole counties with taking part against him heretofore with the duke of glocester , and the rest of the lords , and threatned with armed force , to spoil and destroy them as publick enemies . and having thus affrighted them , sent certain commissioners , bishops , and lords temporal , to all the said several shires , to let them know his heavy displeasue : and that without due acknowledgment of the offence , and submission to his mercy , he could not receive them into his grace and favour : whereby they were prevailed upon , to own themselves traytors under their hands and seals . which was no sooner obtained , but they were compell'd to pay insupportable sums of money , for the redemption of their lives and estates , and procuring their peace , whereby they were all so impoverisht , that few were able to subsist , none at present to resist . and yet further to make conscience it self accessary to slavery : new oaths were imposed , not warranted by any law , and the people constrained to seal blank charters , and obligations , and deliver them to the kings use , wherein whatsoever he pleased might afterwads be inserted . the king bearing so heavy an hand over his people , 't is no wonder if they bear an hard heart towards him ; who being shallow in judgment , and not able to cover his vices , but with a cloak of seeming terrible and powerful , became first hated , and afterwards contemptible , and drove many of his subjects to an inclination to revolt , as resolved rather to run the hazzard of a speedy ruine by rebellion , than to perish by such a lingring death of slavery . in order hereunto , there had been some overtures very privately made by letters to the duke of hereford , importuning his speedy return into england : remonstrating , that as well for the publick good of the realm , as for their own particular safeties they should be forced to use force for their deliverance from these intollerable oppressions , and therefore solliciting him to be pleased , but to make the head , and they would furnish the body , with an able army , and not only help him in bare wishes and advice , but would joyn hearts and hands to adventure their lives and fortunes in his quarrel , which was also their own , so that the danger should be common to all , the glory only his . the duke entertained these adresses with great wariness , and such moderation : that he seem'd rather worthy of a kingdom , than desirous of it . but to whet him to an edge , and settle his resolutions for the enterprize , there wanted not an apt and politick instrument . this was thomas arundel , late archbishop of canterbury , who being with the other bishops in the parliament , when his brother the earl of arundel , together with the earl of warwick , &c. were called into question , because clergy-men by the canons are commanded , not to be present at any judgment of blood : he and the rest of that order , departed the house . upon which occasion being absent , not only his brother was condemned for high treason , and executed , as you have heard , but he himself banish't the realm , his goods seized as forfeit , and his archbishoprick conferr'd on another . this prelate after this disaster , did with divers of his confederates , by several ways , and in strange disguises , come to paris , and in the house of one clomigey , where the duke had taken lodgings , had frequent conferences with his grace touching the affairs of england ; their debates you may imagine , were managed with the strictest secrecy . and i have alwaies been of opinion , that it better becomes a romance , than a serious history , for the author to forge set speeches on such occasions : wherin , though he may please , he does but deceive the reader , for how suitable soever he may contrive them , yet 't is forty to one but the parties themselves , might make use of very different topicks ; without guessing therefore at their word , let it suffice to say , their consultations terminated in a result , that the duke should adventure himself over into england , and try his fortune , upon the first convenient opportunity ; which soon presented it self the most invitingly that could be imagined . the earl of march , appointed by the king to be his lieutenant in ireland , exposing his person too adventurously , was slain by the wild irish , which so exasperated king richard , that he resolved in person to revenge his death . in order to which he raised a great army , but not without grievous charge to his subjects , and about whitsontide , set forwards , accompanied with the dukes of albemarle , and exeter , divers of the nobles , and many mitred prelates , amongst whom , was the abbot of westminster , a chief favourite ; and taking with him , not only the sons of the duke of glocester , and hereford , ( whom he pretended to instruct by that expedition in the rudiments of war : but indeed secured them as hostages , to prevent any attempts , that might be made in his absence by their relations , of whom he was most apprehensive . ) but also all his treasure , jewels , plate , and royal robes : as if he had design'd , ( as in the event it effectually prov'd ) to have taken a final leave of his kingdom , and dignity here in enland . besides these general discontents of the people , occasioned by the former ill-conduct , and oppressions of corrupt ministers of state , he just upon his departure , stumbled upon another error in politicks ; for being at bristol , it was suggested to him ; that henry piercy , earl of northumberland , with others his partisans , intended some disloyal attempt , and therefore did not tender their service in this expedition : whereupon by a pursevant , he commanded the said earl with all the forces he could raise forthwith to repair to him : whereunto , the earl by a letter returned an excuse , instead of compliance , intreating his majesty to consider , how little necessary it would be for the irish service , and indeed dangerous to the whole realm , to draw men from such remote places , in regard those rebels were neither so many , nor so mighty , but that the king had already sufficient forces , to reduce them to obedience ; and to disfurnish the northern parts of their strength , would but give an opportunity to the scots , to invade us . and therefore begg'd his majesty , that he would be pleased in such a juncture , to excuse him from attending . this answer the king interprets as an affront , to his authority , and in an unadvised heat , proclaims the earl , and all that should take his part , traytors : and orders all their lands , and goods to be seiz'd to his use. the earl resenting this disgrace , and forced ( as it were by necessity ) does then in earnest make good the original information , by standing upon his guard : or rather in a posture of open hostility . in the mean time the king pursues his voyage for ireland , whose arrival fortune courted with some treacherous smiles ; for the petty irish kings terrified with the fame of his power , and not daring to trust each other in a joynt defence , endeavoured rather singly to make each one the best bargain for himself , by being the first that should submit to the disproportionate force of the invader . but these triumphs cost king richard dear in the sequel ; for whilst he is thus engaged , and absent from his discontented kingdom of england , the duke of lancaster thinks it the only proper time to put in execution what he and others his confederates had been consulting of : wherefore dispatching some of his trusty emissaries over to acquaint his friends , and provide arms and all necessaries for his arrival ; he addresses himself to the french king with a complement , that he intended to pay a visit to his kinsman john duke of britain , and therefore desired his majesties royal letters of safe conduct ; which being granted , he there very privately levied a few souldiers , with whom , hiring three ships of the duke of britain , he put to sea for england , accompanied with the forementioned arundel archbishop of canterbury , tho. heir to richard late earl of arundel , the lord cobham , sir thomas erpington , and sir thomas ramstone knights , john norbury , robert waterton , and francis coynt esquires , having not in all above twenty lances , and his whole retinue besides consisting not of above sixty persons ; so that 't is hard to judge which was the greatest wonder , that he durst attempt , or that he did succeed in the conquest of a kingdom , with so inconsiderable a company . but his confidence was not so much in the people he brought with him , as in the strength he should find here , relying altogether on the favour and assistance of the people of the realm , whom he knew to be generally male-contented , and eager to change their present governours for any that would but promise them a melioration of their condition for the future . yet being wary not to push things on beyound possibility of a retreat ; as he did not presently land , but lay cruising up and down , sometimes appearing on one coast , and sometimes on another ; that he might the better discover how the inclinations of the people stood , and what forces were ready either to receive or resist him , till at last being satisfied therein , he put on shore without any opposition about the biginning of june , at ravenspurre in yorkshire ; so did he not then make any pretensions to the crown , but gave out very solemnly , that he came only to regain possession of the dutchy of lancaster , and the rest of his lawful inheritance , which all the nation knew was wrongfully detained from him , and so were the more ready to pity and favour him in a cause notoriously just , and against which there was no objection . his arrival was no sooner known , but there repaired to him the lords , willoughby , ross , darcy , and beaumout , and shorly after at doncaster , the earl of northumberland , and his son sir henry piercy , with the earl of westmorland , and great numbers of the gentry and common people . intelligence hereof being soon conveied to the duke of york , the kings eldest uncle , and with whom during his absence he had intrusted the governance of the realm : he calls together the bishop of chichester lord chancellor , scroop earl of wiltshire lord treasurer , sir john bushy , sir henry green , sir william bagot , and sir john russel , chief favourites of the kings privy council , to consult what was to be done in this exigency of affairs . amongst whom , whether designedly by some , or ignorantly by others , i cannot say ; but i am sure by all perniciously for king richards interest ; it was concluded to abandon london , and appoint the rendezvous for levying forces against the duke at s. albans . but when the people out of sundry counties were drawn thither to be mustered , they declared , they would not act any thing to the prejudice of the said duke , who they affirmed was unjustly expelled his country , and unlawfully kept from his inheritance . this refusal of the commons to serve , being looked upon as a very ill omen to the kings cause ; the earl of wiltshire , sir john bushy , sir william bagot , and sir henry green , forsook the duke of york , and fled to bristol , intending to pass the seas into ireland to the king : and time it was , ( especially for them ) to take their heels , for these four were those that were said to have taken of the king his kingdom to farm , and on that account and other greivances and oppressions , which they had occasioned , were become so odious to the people , that their very presence turned away many of the subjects hearts from their soveraign , it being the displeasure against them , rather than any disatisfaction to the kings person , that caused this general revolt . the duke of york seeing their flight , and the humour of the generality favouring lancaster , and loath to run the adventure of an improbable resistance , gave over the cause , and thereupou the rest of the counsellors either openly declared for the said duke , or secretly held correspondence with hm , resolving to swim with the general torrent , in hopes of greater safety thereby , than by stemming that impetuous tide which bore down all before it . for never did snow-ball encrease so fast by rolling , as the duke of lancaster's forces were augmented by his march , so that they were quickly grown sixty thousand strong , and he resolving to ●ollow the channel whilst the current was fierce , hastned with his troops to london , that possessing himself thereof , being the chief place within the kingdom for strength and store , he might best there make the seat of war , and be easiest accommodated both with provision and ammunition in his whole march no opposition was seen , no hostility shewn , but all along gentlemen of the best quality out of affection or fear , or hope of reward resorted to his tents ; and where ever he stayed rich presents were mad him , and his army supplyed with necessaries even to superfluity , and particularly at london he was received with triumphant pageants and shews , solemn processions of the clergy , and loud acclamations of the people . but he was more regardful of his affairs than to stay long there , and therefore having fix'd the citizens firm to his interest , and knowing all the danger that could threaten him , must be from king richard's return out of ireland . to obviate that , and overtake the fugitive favourites , who were fled to bristol , he with speedy marches pursued them thither : where finding the castle fortified against him , he assaults it so briskly , that in four daies time he forc'd it to a surrender , and taking therein the earl of wiltshire lord treasurer , sir john bushy , and sir henry green , he the very next day sacrificed them to the importunate rage of the incensed people , causing them all three to be beheaded . but as for sir william bagot , he was got to chester , and from thence shifting over into ireland , alone , escaped the present vengeance ; this execution , if it had not been just , must yet be accounted politick ; for partly because it was so grateful to the people , and partly because it excluded all hope of the kings pardon ; it became a great ingagement to all the dukes followers , to adhere more firmly to him for the future . the duke had now been six weeks in england , and the whole land in effect had submitted to him ; during all which time , there was no news of king richard , whether it were that by reason of contrary winds he had no intelligence , as some write ; or that on the first advice , he slighted it , according to the humour of some weak spirits ; who contemn dangers remote , but are astonished at them , when they approach too nigh ; however , at last upon certain news , in what an hazardous condition his affairs stood , he caused the sons of the dukes of glocester , and lancaster , to be imprisoned in trim castle , and determined forthwith for england ; but the duke of aumerle his principal counsellor , perswaded him to stay till all his preparations were ready : which fatal council it was king richard's ill destiny to follow , yet presently sent over the earl of salisbury to raise him an army in wales and cheshire against his own coming , which he solemnly promised should be withing six days at furthest . the earl imployed his pains so well that he had soon gotten together forty thousand men ; but the six days and more being elaps'd , and the king not appearing , made them murmur and suspect he was dead , or come to some disaster : but the earl perswaded them to have patience some few days longer , which being likwise expired , and no tidings of him , they then in discontent broke up and retired to their respective homes . at length , eighteen days after he had sent away the earl , the king took shipping attended with aumerl , exeter , surry , the bishop of london , exeter , and carlile , and others of the nobility , and landed in wales , having about him a competent number of cheshire men : but when he understood that the other forces he expected to joyn with him were baulk'd and disbanded : that most of his fortresses from scotland to bristol , had surrendred to lancaster ; that the londoners espoused his interest ; that the greatest number of the nobility and commons almost in general took part with him ; and especially that his principal councellors had lost their heads at bristol , he was so far from retaining the magnanimity of a king , that he almost left off to be a man , and totally abandoned himself to despair . perplext in uncertainties , either where to stay , or whither to stir , destitute both of knowledge and resolution in himself for such amazing difficulties , and obnoxious to weak , wavering , and unfaithful counsels from others ; some advised him to march further into the land , before those forces he had fell from him , alledging that fortune seconds valour : that in all places he should find some , who out of duty or affection , or for hire , would follow his standard , which was illustrated with majesty , and guarded with right : others perswaded him to go back into ireland , or over to his father-in-law of france , and thence to return when the paroxism was a little over , and himself better strengthned . but the king unacquainted with marshal affairs , rejected both counsels , and taking a middle course ( which always in extreams of that kind is the worst ) resolved to stay in wales to attend to what head this humour would rise . his souldiers endeavourd to encourage him to venture a battel , vowing they would live and die with him ; but this could not at all raise his drooping spirits , but in the night he stole away from his army , and with the dukes of exeter and surry , the bishop of carlile , sir stephen scroop , and half a score more , retired to the castle of conway , where the earl of worcester steward of his majesties houshold , seeing his masters affairs in that desperate state , or to revenge the proclaiming of his brother the earl of northumberland traytor ( as before was mentioned at the kings going for ireland ) did openly in the hall before all the kings servants break his white staff of office , and forthwith repaired to the duke of lancaster ; and the rest of the royal retinue by his example scattered and shifted every one for himself . such court-flies and treacherous attendants being but like crows to a dead carcass , who flock to it , not to defend it , but to devour it ; for no sooner have they pickt off the flesh to the bones , and find no more sustenance , but they are upon the wing to be gone . the duke of lancaster upon advice of king richards arrival out of ireland , left the duke of york ( who was now joyned with him ) at bristol , and marched in the head of his troops to glocester , then to ross , afterwards to hereford , ( where repaired to him the bishop of that see , and sir edmund mortimer ) on the sunday following he went to leymster , and there the lord carleton came to him , from thence he went to ludlow , and the next day to shrewsbury , and thither came to him sir robert and sir john leigh , and other persons of quality , being sent from chester to offer him their service ; as also the lord scales and the lord bardolph out of ireland . from shrewsbury he repaired to chester , where he dispatcht an express into ireland , to fetch over his son and heir , and likewise the duke of glocester's son and heir ; both whom king richard had left in custody there : but it seems their keepers durst no longer detain them after lancaster commanded them thence , for his son soon after arrived here , but the other young gentleman was unfortunately cast away at sea. about this time , the king seeing himself so beset and straitned , that he could neither resist , nor escape , desired a conference with the archbishop of canterbury , and the earl of northumberland , from whose negotiation he could certainly hope for little good , since the one he had formerly banisht , and proclaimed the other a traytor ; however they upon safe conduct coming to him , declared , that if it might please his majesty to promise that a parliament should be assembled , and in the same justice done , and the duke of lancaster and his followers receive a general pardon , since what they had done was for the publick weal of the realm ; the duke would be ready to cast himself at his feet , and as an humble subject obey him in all dutiful services . but the king whether perceiving that all this was but complement , and thinking more to oblige them by an early voluntary offer of what he saw he must be forc'd to part with ; or whether confounded in himself he grew weary of wearing a crown , that he was not able to support ; required only that himself and eight more whom he would name , might have an honourable allowance , with assurance of a private quiet life , and then he would resign the crown ; which was readily condescended unto , and the king also desiring to speak with the duke , was removed to flint castle . soon after the duke arriving there with his army , the archbishop of canterbury , the duke of aumerle , and the earl of worcester , were sent before to the king , who spying them from the walls where he stood , went down to meet them , and observing that they did their accustomed reverence to him upon their knees , courteously took them up , and had some private discourse with the archbishop . after a small space , the duke of lancaster himself all arm'd , approached the castle , and being within the first gate , he there reposed himself , till the king attended with the bishop of carlile , the earl of salisbury , and sir stephen scroop , who bore the sword before him , came forth and sate down in a place prepared for him . as soon as the duke saw his majesty , he came toward him bowing his knee , and advancing forward , did so a second , and a third time , and then the king took him by the hand and lift him up , saying , — dear cousin , thou art welcome ; the duke humbly thanking him , answered , — my soveraign lord and king , the cause of my coming at this present is ( your honour saved ) to have restitution of my person , my land and inheritance . to which the king replyed , — dear cousin , i am ready to accomplish your will , so that you may enjoy all that is yours without exception . after this coming forth of the castle , the king called for wine , and having drank , they mounted and rod to chester , and so by several stages , he was carried directly and with great expedition to london , and lodged on pretence of state , but in truth for better security , in the tower ; having not in all that journey changed his apparel , but wore only one sute , and that but an ordinary one , whereas he was wont to be extraordinary profuse in his cloaths , having one coat valued at thirty thousand marks . the king yielded himself the thirtieth day of august , being but the seven and fortieth day after the dukes arrival in england , so that he might well assume caesars motto , veni , vidi , vici : for considering his marches from holderness in the north up to london , and from thence to bristol , and so into wales , and back again to chester ; a man can scarce travel over so much ground in the space that he conquered it : nay so indulgent was fortune to him , that all the kings jewels and treasure ( amounting as a late author asserts , to seven hundred thousand pounds ) with his horses and baggage fell into his hands . the king being thus safely lodg'd in the tower , the duke of lancaster ( but in king richards name ) caused writs to be issued forth for summoning and choosing a parliament to be held at westminster on the last day of september following . and in the mean time consults with his nearest kindred and friends how to steer his proceedings , so as to bring his affairs by prudence to a lucky end , which had hitherto even beyond his hopes been favoured by fortune . in order to which , the duke of york , who but a little before had been governour of the realm for the king , but now his the said lancasters great director , must be his best oracle , who after divers debates proposed it as very expedient , that king richard should both voluntarily resign , and also be solemnly deposed by the estates of the realm ; for otherwise resignation would be imputed only to his fear : and deprivation only to their force , whereof the one is always apt to move pity , and the other stir up envy : but if both concur , and his desire be combined with his deserts , being willing to forsake that which he is adjudged worthy to forfeit , then it will appear that he is neither expelled his kingdom by meer constraint , nor leave it without just cause . this advice was generally approved , and accordingly pursued ; a solemn renunciation being tendred unto the king , and by him signed on michaelmas day then next following , being the day before the parliament was to meet . the words order , and ceremony whereof , and of the articles exhibited against him , and his deposition thereupon following in parliament , appear in the records thereof remaining in the tower , authentick and attested copies wherefore are printed in the book , intituled , historiae anglicanae scriptores decem ; beginning col. 2743. from whence the same are word for word translated , as follow . the roll of parliament summoned and holden at westminster , in the feast of s. fide the virgin , in the first year of the reign of king henry the fourth , after the conquest , membrane the 20th . the record and process of the renunciation of king richard the second , after the conquest , and likewise the acceptance of the same renunciation , with the deposition of the same king richard afterwards ensuing . be it remembred , that on munday the feast of s. michael the archangel , in the three and twentieth year of the reign of king richard the second , the lords spiritual and temporal , and other persons of note ; that is to say , the lord richard le scroop archbishop of york , john bishop of hereford , henry earl of northumberland , and ralph earl of westmor land ; the lord hugh le burnel , thomas lord de berkley prior of canterbury and abbot of westminster , william thyrning knight , and john markham justices ; thomas stow and john burbache doctors of laws , thomas de erpingham , and thomas gray , knights , william de feryby , and dionisius lapham , publick notaries , first deputed to the act under written , by the assent and advice of several of the lords spiritual and temporal , and of the judges and others skilful , as well in the civil and canon law , as in the law of the realm , assembled at westminster in the usual place of council ; did about nine of the clock come to the presence of the said king , being within the tower of london : and it being recited before the said king , by the said earl of northumberland , in the behalf of all the rest before named , so as aforesaid joyned with him ; how the said king heretofore at coneway in north-vvales , being at liberty , did promise unto the lord thomas archbishop of canterbury , and the earl of northumberland , that he would yield up and renounce the crown of england and france and his regal majesty , for causes of his inability and insufficiency there by the said king himself confessed , and that in the best manner and form as the same could be done , as councel learned should best order . the said king before the said lords and others above named , hereunto benignly answering , that he would with effect accomplish , what before in that behalf he had promised . but desired to have some discourse with his cousins , henry duke of lancaster , and the said lord arch-bishop of canterbury , before he fulfilled such his promise . afterwards the same day after dinner , the said king much affecting the coming of the said duke of lancaster , and having long waited for him ; at last the said duke of lancaster , the lords , and others above named , and also the said archbishop of canterbury , did come to the presence of the said king in the tower aforesaid ; the lords de roos , de willougby , and de abergeny , and very many others being then there present ; and after the said king had had discourse with the said duke of lancaster and archbishop , exhibiting a merry countenance here and there amongst them to part thereof , as appeared to those that stood round about ; at last the said king calling to him all that were there present , did publickly say before them , that he was ready to make the renunciation ; and to renounce and recede , according to the promise by him made , as aforesaid . and so forthwith , although , as was said unto him , he might have made some deputy to have served as the organ of his voice , for avoiding so tedious a labour as the reading of the said cession and renunciation , reduced by others into a schedule of parchment . yet the said king , very willingly as appeared , and with a pleasant countenance , holding the said schedule in his hand , said , that he himself would read it , and distinctly read the same through : and also did absolve all his leige people , and renounce , and recede , and swear , and other things did say and pronounce in reading , and did subscribe it with his own hand , as is more fully contained in the said schedule ; the tenor whereof is such . the resignation of richard ii. in the name of god , amen . i richard by the grace of god , king of england and france , and lord of ireland , do absolve the archbishops , bishops , and other prelates of churches secular or regular , of whatsoever dignity , degree , state , or condition they be ; the dukes , marquesses , earls , barons , vassals , and valvasors , and all and every my leige people whatsoever , ecclesiasticks or seculars , of all the said kingdoms and dominions , by what name soever they are known ; from the oath of fealty and homage , and other oaths whatsoever to be made , and from all bond or tie of legiance , royalty , and dominion , whereby they have been or are obliged or otherwise in any manner bound unto me . and i do free , release , and acquit them and their heirs and successors for ever , from the said oaths and other obligations whatsoever . and i do dismiss them free , unloosen , quit and in full immunity , as far as relates to my person , to every effect of law which may follow from the pr●mises , or any of them . and i do purely of my own accord simply and absolutely in and by the best manner , way and form that may be , in these writings , renounce and totally resign all kingly dignity and majesty , and the crown and dominion and power of the said kingdoms and dominions , and all other my dominions and possessions , or any way belonging or appertaining unto me , by what name soever they may be reckon'd up within the aforesaid kingdoms , or elsewhere ; and all right and colour of right and title , possession and dominion , which at any time i have had , now have , or by any means shall have in or to the same , or any of them , with their universal rights and appurtenances , or any dependences however , on them or any of them : and also the rule and government of the said kingdoms and dominions , and their administration , and all manner of meer and mixt empire and jurisdiction to me in the said kingdoms belonging , or that may be belonging ; and to the name of king , and the honour , regality , and celsitude royal , purely , voluntarily , simply , and absolutely by the best manner , way and form that the same can be done in these writings , i do renounce , and them do totally resign , and in deed and in word dismiss and quit the same , and from them do recede for ever . saving to my successors kings of england , the rights to them or any of them belonging , or that shall any way belong , in the said kingdoms and dominions , and all other the premises for ever . and i do confess , acknowledge , repute , and truely and out of certain knowledge , do judge my self to have been and to be utterly insufficient and unuseful for the rule and government of the said kingdoms and dominions , with all their appurtenances : and that for my notorious demerits i deserve to be deposed ; and i do swear upon these holy gospels of god , by me corporally touched , that i will never act contrary to the said resignation , renunciation , dismission , and cession ; nor any way oppose the same in deed or in word , by my self or any other or others : nor will as much as in melies , permit the same publickly or privately to be contraried or opposed : but the said renunciation , resignation , dismission and cession , will for ever esteem , ratified , and well-pleasing , and firmly hold and observe the same in the whole and in every part ; so god me help and these holy gospels of god. i the before named king richard do here subscribe my self with my own hand . and presently to the said renunciation , and cession , the said king added by word of mouth , that if it lay in his power , the said duke of lancaster should succeed him in his kingdom . but because ( as he said , ) this did not depend on his pleasure , he did request the said archbishop of york and bishop of hereford , ( whom he for that time had constituted his procurators , to declare , and imitate such his cession and renunciation to the states of the kingdom , ) that they would be pleased to signify to the people , his will and intention in that behalf . and in token of such his will and intention , did then and there , openly pluck off the golden ring of his signet , from his own finger , and put it upon the finger of the said duke of lancaster , desiring as he affirmed , that the same might be made known to all the states of the kingdom . which being done , taking their leaves on both sides they all went out of the said tower , to return to their lodgings . but on the morrow , viz. tuesday the feast of s. jereme , in the great hall at westminster , in the place honourably prepared for holding the parliament , the said arch-bishops of canterbury , and york , and the duke of lancaster , and other dukes , and lords , as well spiritual as temporal , whose names are under written , and the commons of the said kingdom , assembled in a great multitude in parliament , being present , and the said duke of lancaster , being seated in a place , due to his quality , and the chair of state [ or royal throne , ] being solemnly adorn'd with cloth of gold , but then empty , without any body presiding therein ; the above named archbishop of york , in the name of himself , and of the said bishop of hereford , according to the order of the said king , did publickly declare the cession , and renunciation , to have been so made by him as aforesaid , with the subscription of his royal hand , and delivery of his signet . and the said cession , and renunciation , did there cause to be ready by another , first in latin , and then in english. immediately after which , it was demanded of the estates and people their present , ( to wit , first of the archbishop of canterbury , to whom by reason of the dignity , and prerogative of his metropolitan church of canterbury , it belongs in this behalf , to have the first voice amongst the rest of the prelates , and nobles of the realm , ) whether for their interest and the utility of the kingdom , they would be pleased to admit such renunciation , and cession . and the said states , and people , judging from the causes by the said king himself , in his renunciation , and cession aforesaid , signified , that the same was very expedient , did each man singly by himself , and in common with the people , unanimously admit the said cession , and renunciation . after which admission , it was then and there publickly declared , that besides such cession , and renunciation , so as aforesaid admitted , it would be very expedient and profitable to the kingdom , for the removing of all scruples , and taking away sinister suspitions , that very many crimes , and defects by the said king , ( about the ill governance of his kingdom ) very often committed , reduced into writing by way of articles , by reason of which ( as himself affirmed in the cession , by him made ) he was deservedly to be deposed , should be publickly read , and declared to the people . and so the greatest part of the said articles were then and there read through . the tenour of all which articles is such . [ but yet in the roll before the articles , there are first these words , ] here followeth the form of the oath , used and accustomed to be taken by the kings of england at their coronation : which the archbishop of canterbury hath used to require and receive from the said kings , as in the book of the pontifical archbishops , and bishops , more fully is contained . which oath , richard the second , after the conquest of england , did take at his coronation : and the same was administred by the archbishop of canterbury , and the very same oath , the king afterwards repeated , as in the rolls of the chancery , may more fully be found of record . thou shall keep to the church of god , and people , intire peace and concord in god , according to thy power . the king shall answer , i will keep them . thou shalt in all thy judgements cause to be done , equal and right justice , and discretion , in mercy , and in truth , according to thy power . — he shall answer , i will do so . thou dost grant the just laws and customes , as shall be held , and dost promise the same shall by thee be protected , and for the honour of god corroborated , quas vulgus elegerit , which the people shall chuse , to the utmost of thy power . — he shall answer , i do so grant and promise . to the aforesaid questions , such others are added as shall be just , and all things being so pronounced the king by his own oath on the altar , before all the assembly , confirms and promises , that he will 〈◊〉 and observe the same . [ then follow ] the objections or articles against the king , touching his deposition . imprimis , it is objected against king richard , that whereas by reason of his ill government , viz. his giving away the goods and possessions belonging to his crown , and that to persons unworthy , and his indiscreet squandering the same away otherwise , adn to that end , imposing without cause collections and other grievous burthens on his people , more than they were able to bear , and also innumerable other evils by his assent and command perpetrated , there were by the whole parliament certain prelates , and others , temporal lords , elected and assigned , who might with all their power , and at their own charges , faithfully labour about the just government of the realm . yet the king causing a conventicle to be held by him , with his accomplices , the said lords , as well spiritual , as temporal , so occupied about the safety and profit of the kingdom , did propose to impeach of high treason ; and did violently draw the judges of the kingdom , for fear of death , and corporal tortures , to such his wicked purpose , most vigorously striving to destroy the said lords . ii. item , the said king lately at shr●wsbury , caused several , and the greater part of the judges , to come before him and his favourites privatly in a chamber , and by menaces , and various terrors , as such affrightments as might fall even upon men of constant resolutions , did induce , cause , and compel them , severally to answer certain questions there propounded , on the behalf of the king ; concerning the laws of his kingdom , besides , and against their will , and otherwise than they would have answered , had they been at liberty , and unforced . by colour of which answers , the said king purposed to have proceeded afterwards , to the destruction of thomas duke of glocester , and the earls of arundel , and vvarwick , and other lords , against whose deeds and behaviour the said king was much incensed , chiefly because they desired the said king to be under good guidance ; but providence withstanding it , by the resistance and power of the said lords , the king was not able to bring such his design to effect . iii. item , when the lords temporal defending themselves , had withstood his malice and fraud , and the said king had prefix'd a day for holding his parliament to do them , and other inhabitants of the realm , justice in that behalf , and the said temporal lords , were quietly and peaceably gone home , and at rest in their houses , in hope and confidence of the said parliament , the king secretly sent the duke of ireland with his letters and standard towards chester , and there gathered multitudes in arms ; and caused them to rise against the said lords , the nobles of the kingdom , and servants of the state , publickly erecting his standard , against the peace which he had sworn to keep . from whence slaughters of men , captivities , dissentions , and other infinite mischiefs , did ensue throughout the whole kingdom , by which act he became guilty of perjury . iv. item , although the said king had in full parliament , and by the assent thereof , pardoned the said duke of glocester , and earls of arundel , and warwick , and all their assistants , and others , all offences , and had for many years shown signs of peace and love , to the said duke and earls , and to the rest appeared with a pleasant and benign countenance , yet the said king always , and continually bearing gall in his heart , did at last , taking an opportunity , cause the said duke of glocester , the uncle of him the said king , and also the son of edward late king of england , of happy memory , and constable of england , then humbly going to meet the said king , in solemn procession ; and the said earls of arundel , and w●●●ick , to be taken and arrested ; and him the said duke out of the kingdom of england , to the town of callice did cause to be led , and there imprisoned ; and under the custody of the earl of nottingham , ( and of the appellors of the said duke , ) detained , and without answer , or any lawful process whatsoever , did inhumanely , and cruelly cause to be suffocated , strangled , and murdered . and the earl of arundel though he pleaded as well the general pardon , as a pardon afterwards to him specially granted , and desired justice to be done him , yet in his parliament , encompassed with armed men , and innumerable archers of the people by him gathered to that purpose by pressing , did damnably cause to be beheaded . and the earl of warwick , and lord cobham , did commit to perpetual imprisonment : wickedly and against justice , and the laws of his kingdom and his express oath , confiscating their lands and tenements , as well fee-simple , as fee-tail , from them and their heirs , and giving the same to their appellors . v. item , at the same time , that the king in his parliament , caused the duke of glocester , and earls of arundel , and warwick , to be adjudged ; that he might more freely exercise his cruelty upon them , and accomplish his injurious will in other matters , he gathered to himself a great multitude of malefactors of the county of chester , of whom some passing with the king through the kingdom , as well within the kings pallace , as without , did cruelly kill the liege subjects of the kingdom , and some they beat and wounded , and did plunder the goods of the people , and refuse to pay for their victuals , and did ravish and violate their wives , and other women ; and though their were grievous complaints , of such their excesses brought to the hearing of the said king ; yet the said king did not regard to cause justice to be done , or any remedy thereupon● , but did favour the said troops in such their evil doings , trusting in them and their guard , against all others of his kingdom ; for which cause , the faithful people of his kingdom , had great matter of commotion , and indignation . vi. item , although the said king by his writs , caused proclamation to be made throughout the whole kingdom , that he had caused his uncle the duke of glocester , and the earls of arundel and warwick , to be taken and arrested , not for any assemblings or troopings by them , formerly made within the kingdom of england , but for very many extortions , oppressions , and other things by them afterwards done , and perpetrated , against his royalty , and kingly majesty ; and that it was not his intention , that any of the family of the said duke , and earls , or of their followers at the time of such assembling , and trooping , should for that occasion be molested , or aggrieved ; yet the said king at last , in his parliament , did not impeach the said lords for extortions , oppressions , or any such matters , but for the assemblings , and troopings aforesaid , did adjudge them to death , and very many of the family of the said lords , and others , who were following them at the time of such their assembling , and trooping , he did , for fear of death ; force to make fine and ransom , as traytors , or rebels , to the great destruction of a great number of his people . and so he did subtily , fraudulently , and maliciously , deceive the said lords , and their familiars , and the people of his kingdom . vii . item , after very many of those persons so making fine and ransom , had obtained of the king , his letters patent of full pardon in the premises , they could not reap any commodity by such letters of pardon , till they had made new fine , and ransoms , for saving of their life , whereby very many were impoverished ; which was a great derogation and dishonour to the name and state of a king. viii . item , in the last parliament , held at shrewsbury , the said king purposing to oppress his people , subtily procured and caused it to be granted , that the power of the parliament by the consent of the states of his kingdom , shall remain in certain persons , to determine ( after the dissolution of the parliament , ) certain petitions in the said parliament exhibited , but then not dispatched . by colour of which grant , the persons so deputed , proceeded to other things generally touching that parliament . and this with the will of the king ; in derogation of the state of parliament , & the great dammage of the whole kingdom , and pernitious example . and that they might seem to have some colour and authority , for such their doings , the king called the parliament rolls to be altered and blotted at his pleasure , against the effect of the said grant. ix . item , notwithstanding the said king in his coronation had sworn , that in all his judgments , he would cause to be done equal and right justice , and discretion , in mercy and truth , according to his power ; yet the said king rigorously without all mercy did ( amongst other things ) ordain , under grievous penalties , that none should sue for any favour , or intercede with the said king , for henry duke of lancaster , being banished , whereby the said king did act against the bond of charity , rashly violating his oath aforesaid . x. item , although the crown of the kingdom of england , and the rights of the said crown , and that kingdom it self , have in all time past been so free , that our lord the pope , nor any other without the kingdom , ought to concern himself about the same ; yet the aforesaid king , for the corroboration of such his erroneous statutes , did make supplication to our lord the pope , that he would confirm the statutes ordained his last parliament , whereupon our lord the king obtained the apostolick letters , in which grievous censures are denounced against any that should presume in any thing to act contrary to the said statutes ; all which are well known to tend against the crown , and royal dignity , and against the statutes and liberties of the said kingdom . xi . item , although the lord henry now duke of lancaster , by the kings command had preferred his bill touching the state and honour of the king , against the duke of norfolk , and the same had duely prosecuted ; so that according to the kings order , he had exhibited himself in all points prepared for the combate . and the said king had declared , that the said duke of lancaster had honourably performed his devoir , as much as in him lay , and this by a decree publickly proclaimed before all the people assembled at the said combate : yet the said king without any legal reason whatsoever , did cause and command the said duke to be banisht for ten years , against all justice , and laws and customs of his kingdom , and the law of war in that behalf , thereby damnably incurring perjury . xii . item , after the said king had graciously granted by his letters patents , to the lord henry now duke of lancaster , that in his absence whilst he was banisht , his general attorneys might prosecute for livery to him to be made of all manner of inheritances or successions belonging unto him , and that his homage should be respited , paying a certain reasonable fine ; he injuriously did revoke the said letters patent against the laws of the land , thereby incurring the crime of perjury . xiii . item , notwithstanding that it was enacted , that every year the officers of the king with his justices and others of the kings council , should choose sheriffs for all the counties of england , and name them to our lord the king , according as to their discretion and conscience should seem expedient , for the good and utility of the kingdom ; the said king hath caused persons to be made sheriffs , not so nominated or elected , but other according to the capricio's of his pleasure , sometimes his favourites or creatures , and sometimes such as he knew would not oppose his humour , for his own and others private advantage , to the great grievance of his people , and against the laws of his kingdom , thereby notoriously incurring perjury . xiv . item , at such time as the aforesaid king requested and had of very many lords and others of his kingdom , divers sums of money by way of loan , to be paid again at a certain term , notwithstanding the said king faithfully promised by his several letters patent to the several persons of whom he borrowed the said moneys , that at the term limited as aforesaid , he would repay the same , yet he did not fulfill such his promise , nor are they yet satisfied the said moneys , whereby such creditors are much agrieved , and not only they , but many others of the kingdom repute the king unfaithfull . xv. item , whereas the king of england by the revenue of his kingdom , and the patrimony belonging to his crown , is able to live honestly , without the oppression of his people , as long as the kingdom is not burthen'd with the charge of wars ; yet the said king in a manner for his whole time during the truces between the kingdom of england and its adversaries , hath not only given away a great , yea indeed the greatest part of his said patrimony , and this to unworthy persons : but also hath further imposed on his subjects so many burdens of monies granted , as it were every year of his reign , that thereby he hath extreamly and too excessively oppressed his people , to the impoverishment of his kingdom ; not converting the goods so levied to the commodity and profit of the kingdom of england , but prodigally squandering it away for the ostentation of his name , and in pomp and vain-glory : whilst great sums of money are owing in his kingdom for the victuals of his houshould , and other things bought , though he hath abounded with riches and treasures more than any of his progenitors . xvi . item , the said king not willing to keep or protect the just laws and customs of his kingdom , but according to his arbitrary will , to do whatsoever should occur to his desires , sometimes and very often , when the laws of his kingdom have been expounded and declared to him by the judges and others of his council ; and that they have desired that he would do justice according to those laws , hath expresly and with an angry and haughty countenance , said , that his laws were in his mouth , and sometimes , that they were in his breast : and that he himself alone could make and change the laws of his kingdom . and being seduced with that opinion , did not suffer justice to be done to very many of his leige people , but by threats and terrors hath forced very many to cease from the prosecution of common justice . xvii . item , that after certain statutes had been made in parliament , which always bind , till they are specially revok'd by the authority of another parliament . the said king desiring to enjoy such liberty that no such statutes should so bind him , but that he might do and execute his pleasure , subtily procured a petition to be preferred in his parliament on the behalf of the commonalty of his kingdom , and to be granted to him in general , that he might be as free as any of his progenitors were before him : by colour of which petition and concession the said king hath very often commanded very many things to be done against such statutes unrepealed ; acting therein expresly and knowingly against his oath taken in his coronation as aforesaid . xviii . item , although it was enacted and ordained , that no sheriff should hold his office above one year together , but that three years should pass , before he should be again admitted to that office : the said king richard sometimes for his own single commodity , and sometimes at the instance of others , for their advantage , hath permitted and caused certain sheriffs to stand and remain continually in their offices , sometimes two , sometimes three years , against the tenor and effect of the statute aforesaid , thereby incurring perjury ; and this is notorious , publick , and generally ill spoken of . xix . item , although by the statute● and custom of his realm in the calling together of every parliament , his people in several countries of the kingdom , ought to be free in choosing and deputing two knights to be present in such parliament for each respective county , and to declare their grievances , and to prosecute such remedies thereupon , as to them shall seem expedient . yet the aforesaid king , that in his parliaments he might be able more freely to accomplish the effects of his head-strong will , did very often direct his command to his sheriffs , that they should cause to come to his parliaments as knights of the shire , certain persons by the said king named ; which knights being his favourites he might lead , as often as he has done , sometimes by various menaces and terrors , and sometimes by gifts , to consent to those things as were prejudicial to the kingdom , and exceeding burthensom to the people ; and especially to grant to the said king a subsidy on wooll for the term of his life , and another subsidy for certain years , thereby too grievously oppressed his people . xx. item , the said king that he might more freely fulfil and follow in every thing his own arbitrary will , did unlawfully cause and command , that the sheriffs throughout his whole realm , besides their ancient accustomed oath , should swear that they would obey his commands , as often as they should be directed to them , under his great and privy seal , and also his letters under his signet . and that in case the said sheriffs could come to know that any within their bailiwicks of whatsoever condition they were , had publickly or secretly said or spoken any ill , that might tend to the disgrace or scandal of his royal person , they should arrest and imprison them ; there safely to be kept till they should receive command from the king to the contrary , as may be found in the record ; which fact may probably tend to the destruction of many of the liege people to the said kingdom . xxi . item , the said king striving to trample under foot his people , and subtily to acquire their goods to himself , that he might abound in superfluous riches , did cause the people of seventeen counties of the realm to submit themselves to the king as traitors , by letters under their seals : by colour whereof he got mighty sums of money to be granted him by the clergy and people of those counties , for obtaining his royal good will and favour ; and though to please the people , the king had caused those obligatory letters to be restored , yet the procurators of the people having full power granted them to oblige themselves and their heirs to the said king ; he the said king caused them under their seals to be bound to him in the name of the said people , and so deceived his people , and subtily extorted from them their goods . xxii . item , although the said king in his cor●nation had sworn to keep the liberties granted to the arglicane church , yet the said king by reason of his voyage into ireland , did by his letters command very many religious persons , viz. abbots and priors of his kingdom , strictly requiring , that some of them should send to him certain horses , and some of them not only horses , but also waggons and carriages for his said voyage , or in lieu thereof great sums of money in the said letters expressed : by which manner of writing he forced many of such religious out of fear to fulfil his will and command , whereby they were heavily impoverisht and opprest in manifest derogation of ecclesiastical liberty ; by which pretext the said king richard did incur perjury . xxiii . item , in most of the great royal councils , when the lords of the realm , the judges and others , being charg'd that they would faithfully council the king in matters relating to his state , and that of his kingdom : the said lords , justices , and others , very often in giving counsel according to their best discretion , have been by the king suddenly and so fiercely chidden and reproved , that they have not dared to speak the truth , in giving their advice for the state of the king and kingdom . xxiv . item , the treasures , crowns , reliques , and other jewels , viz. the goods of the kingdom , which time out of mind have been reposited in the treasury of the kingdom , for the honour of the king , and preservation of his kingdom , against any sudden event or exigency ; the said king going out of his kingdom into ireland , did take away , and caused the same to be carried with him , without the consent of the states of the kingdom whereby this kingdom had been vastly impoverisht , if god by the retaking of the said goods against the said kings will , had not otherwise provided . and furthermore the said king did cause the rolls of records touching the state and government of his kingdom uo be destroyed and rased , to the great prejudice of his people and disinheriting the crown of the said kingdom : and all this , as 't is probably believed , in favour and support of his evil governance . xxv . item , the said king was wont as it were perpetually to be so variable and dissembling in his words and writings , and so contrary to himself and especially in writing to the pope , and to kings , and other lords out of the kingdom , and within it , and also to others his subjects , that no man living that knew his conditions could or would confide in him ; nay , he was reputed so unfaithful and unconstant , that it became scandalous not only to his own person , but also to the whole kingdom , and especially amongst foreigners of all the world that came to know the same . xxvi . item , although the land and tenements , the goods and chattels of every freeman by the laws of the realm used from all time heretofore , ought not to be taken from him unless they be forfeited : yet the said king purposing and longing to weaken such laws , in the pretence of very many lords and others of the commonalty of the kingdom , hath frequently said and affirmed — that the life of every one of his svbjects , and his lands , tenements , goods , and chattels , are his ( the said kings ) at his will and pleasure , without any forfeiture ; which is utterly against the laws and customs of the kingdom aforesaid . xxvii . item , although it was fnacted and ordained , and is hitherto confirmed , that no freeman shall be taken , &c. nor any way destroyed ; and that the king shall not pass , nor send any to pass upon him , but by the lawful judgment of his peers , or by the law of the land : yet by the will , command and order of the said king , very many of his liege people being maliciously accused for having publickly or secretly said something that might tend to the disyraise , scandal , or disgrace of the person of the said king , have been taken and imprisoned , and brought before the constable and marshal of england in the court military , in which court the said liege people being accused would not be admitted to make any other answer , than that they were no way guilty , and would justifie the same and defend themselves by their bodies , and not otherwise ; notwithstanding their appellors were young men , stout and lusty , and those so accused , antient , and impotent , maim'd or infirm ; whereby not only destruction of the lords and grandees of the kingdom , but also of all and singular persons of the commonalty of the same may probably ensue : since therefore the said king hath wilfully acted contrary to such a statute of his kingdom , 't is not to be doubted but he hath thereby incurred the crime of perjury . xxviii . item , although the people of the realm of england , by vertue of their leigeance are fully enough bound to their king , and the said king by the laws and customs of his kingdom , is enabled to correct and punish his people if in any kind they transgress ; yet the said king desiring to trample on , and too much oppress his people , that he might the more freely execute and follow the humour of his foolish and unlawful will , by his letters to all the counties of his kingdom , did injoyn and command , that all his subjects , as well spiritual as temp●ral , should make certain oaths in general which were too grievous to them , and which might probably cause the final destruction of his people ; and that they should confirm such their oaths under their letters and seals . to which royal command , the people of his kingdom did submit and pay obedience that they might not incur his indignation or displeasure , and also for fear of death . xxix . item , when parties contending in the ecclesiastical court in causes meerly ecclesiastical and spiritual , had endeavoured to obtain from the chancellor of england , prohibitions to hinder the lawful process in the said courts ; and the said chancellor had justly refused to grant the same , yet the said king by letters under his signet , has frequently prohibited the ecclesiastical judges to proceed in such causes , thereby evilly infringing the liberties of the c●urch in the grand charter approved , to the conservation whereof he was sworn , and damnably incurring perjury , and the sentence of excommunication ▪ against such violators thereof , by the holy fathers pronou●ced . xxx . item , the said king without any reasonable or lawful cause whatsoever , or any other process of law , did in his parliament , encompass'd in warlike manner by armed men , adjudge thomas of arundel , lord archbishop of canterbury , primate of all england , his spiritual father , absenting himself by the treacherous counsell of the said king , to banishment against the laws of his kingdom , so by him sworn to , as aforesaid . xxxi . item , by inspection of the testament of the said king ; sealed with the great and privy seal , and also with his signet , among other things there is contained this clause or article . — item , we will that the residue of our gold ( the true debts of our house-hold , chamber , and wardrobe being paid , for payment whereof we bequeath twenty thousand marks , reserving to our executors , five or six thousand marks : which wee will by them to be expended towards the more plentiful maintainance of the lepers , and chaplains , to celebrate before them , by us founded at westminster , and b●rmondeseye ) shall remain to our successor , provided alwaies that he approve ratify and confirm , and hold , and cause to be holden , and firmly observed , all and singular , the statutes , ordinances , and judgments , made , given , and render'd in our parliament , begun at westminster , the 17th day of the month september , in the one and twentieth year of our reign , and in the same parliament , continued at shrewsbury , and there holden , and also , all the ordinances , judgments , and establishments , the 16th day of september , in the 22th year of our reign , at coventry , and afterwards at westminster , the 18th day of march , in the year aforesaid , by the authority of the said parliament . and likewise all other ordinances , and judgments , which shall hereafter happen to be made by authority of the said parliament : but otherwise , if our said successor shall refuse to do the premises . ( which we do not believe ) then we will that thomas duke of surry , edward duke d' auamale , john duke of exeter , and william le scrope , earl of wiltshire , ( paying first the debts of our houshould , our chamber , and our ward●obe , and reserving five or six thousand marks , as abovesaid , ) shall have and hold all the said residue above mentioned , for to support and defend the said statutes , establishments , ordinances , and judgments , to their utmost power , even unto death , if it be necessary ; upon all which , and every part , we do hereby charge and burden their consciences as they will answer in the day of judgment . by which article it may evidently enough appear : that the said king did obstinately strive to maintain and desend those statutes , and ordinances , which are erroneous and unjust , and repugnant to all law and reason . and this not only during his life , but after his death too , neither regarding the peril of his own soul , nor yet the utter destruction of his said kingdom , or leige people . xxxii . item , in the 11th year of the said king richard , he the said king in the chappel of his mannor of langley , in the presence of the dukes of lancaster , and york , and very many other lords , desiring ( as it hath appeared ) that is uncle the duke of glocester , then there present , should fully confide in the good will of him the said king , did voluntarily and of his own accord , swear before the venerable sacrament of the lords body , there placed upon the altar , that thenceforwards he would never endammage , trouble , or grieve him , the said duke of glocester , for any of his deeds which are said to have been committed against the person of him the said king ; but did cheerfully and totally forgive him all his offence if any were . yet afterwards , notwithstanding such oath , the said king did horribly and cruelly cause the said duke to be murdered , for such the before pretended offences , thereby incurring the guilt of damnable perjury . xxxiii , item , after one of the knigots of the shires , of the said kingdom , having a voice in parliament , had impeached the said lord thomas , arch-bishop of canterbury , upon certain defaults , committed against the kings majesty , as was untruely suggested : and the said archbishop , presently then and there offered himself ready to answer the matters charged upon him ; and desired that he might be thereunto admitted by the king , not doubting as he said , but he shall be able , sufficiently to shew his innocence ; yet the said king , contriving by all the ways and means he could , to oppress the said bishop of canterbury , and ruin his estate , ( as the event of the matter has declared ) speaking graciously , and with a cheerfull countenance of the said archbishop , from his royal seat , did advise and very earnestly request him , that at that time , he would hold his peace , and expect a better and more fit time to make his defence ; which day being passed , the said king from day to day , for five days or more , did fraudulently and treacherously deceive the said archbishop , counselling him , and perswading him , that he would not come to the parliament , but wait at home without any fear , because , as the said king faithfully did promise him , there should not in his absence any loss or prejudice be done or happen to him . notwithstanding all which , the said king in his parliament aforesaid , did in the mean time adjudge the said archbishop to be banished , during the kings pleasure , though absent , and never any way called to answer , and without any resaonable cause whatsoever ; and also voluntarily against the laws of the kingdom , and all justice confiscated all his goods , whereby he likewise became guilty of perjury . but furthermore , the said king being willing to palliate his malice and subtilty , by flattering discourses which he oft-times had with the said arch-bishop , did endeavour to clear himself of such injury done , and make as if it were the doings of others ; insomuch that the arch-bishop discoursing with the king , and with the duke of n●rfolk and other lords , and great men of the kingdom , and happening to say by way of lamenting his own condition , that he was not the first that had suffered banishment , nor should he be the last ; for he thought in a short time the duke of norfolk , and other lords would follow him , and confidently a●erred to the king , that all the rigour of these proceedings , would finally be returned back on his own head. to which the said king as astonished incontinently replied , that he verily thought it might so happen , and that he himself might and indeed ought to be expell'd his kingdom by his leige people . and further the king said , that if the same should happen , he would convey himself to the same place , where the said archbishop should be . and that the archbishop might the rather credit his words , he shewed him a certain great jewel , [ m●nile , a brooch or tablet , ] curiously formed , underneath the skirt of his outward ●estment . intimating for certain to the said archbishop , that when ever he should send that jewel for a token , he would not delay to come thither , where the said arch-bishop should be resident : and that the said arch-bishop might more confide in him ; the said king sent to him , advising him , that he should privately send all his jewels , and other things of value , belonging to his chappel , unto him the said king ; for the safe keeping thereof , lest by colour of the before mentioned judgment , any one should wrongfully seize the same . which under the greatest confidence in the world being done , the said king caused him to reposite the said goods in certain coffers : and the said coffers to be locked up , and sealed by one of the archbishops clerks , and keeping the said coffers by him , returned the keys thereof by the said clerk to the archbishop . yet afterwards unknown to the said archbishop , caused the said coffers to be broken open , and disposed of the goods therein , at his will and pleasure . furthermore the said king faithfully promised the said archbishop , that if he would but repair to the port of hampton , in order to go out of the realm , he would at least by the intercession of the queen , get him recalled . and if it should happen , that he the said archbishop should go out of the realm , he should without fail return into england , before easter next following nor should in any kind lose his archbishoprick : and this he faithfully promised , swearing upon the cross of the late martyr s. thomas , archbishop of canterbury , by him the said king , corporally touched ; all which promises notwithstanding , the said king forced the said archbishop to depart the realm : and forthwith transmitted special letters to the apostolical see , to have him translated . and so , and by other frauds , and deceitful tricks of the said king , the said archbishop being a well-meaning believing man , was subtily circumvented . and because it seemed to all the estates of the realm , being asked their judgments thereupon , as well severally as jointly , that these causes of crimes and defaults were sufficient and notorious to depose the said king ; considering also his own confession of his insufficiency and other things contained in his said renunciation and cession , openly delivered , all the said states did unanimously consent , that ex abundanti , that they should proceed unto a deposition of the said king ; for the great security , and tranquillity of the people , and benefit of the kingdom . whereupon the said states and commons unanimously constituted , and publickly deputed certain commissioners , viz. the bishop of s asaph , the abbot of glassenbury , the earl of glocester , the lord berkley , sir thomas erpyngham , and sir shomas grey , knights , and william thirnyng , one of the justices , to pass such sentence of deposition ; and to depose the said king richard , from all kingly dignity , majesty , and honour , on the behalf and in the name , and by the authority of all the said states , as in like cases , from the antient custom of the said kingdom had been observed . and forthwith the said commissioners taking upon themselves , the burthen of the said commission , and sitting on a tribunal before the said royal chair of state , having first had some debate of the matter , did on the behalf and in the name , and by the authority aforesaid , pass the said sentence of deposition , being reduced into writing , and caused such their sentence to be read and recited by the said bishop ef s. asaph , their collegue , by the will and command of the rest of the said commissioners : in these words . in the name of god , amen : we john bishop of asaph , john abbot of glassenbury , thomas earl of glocester , thomas lord berkley , thomas de erpingham , and thomas gray , knights , and william thirnyng justice , commissioners specially deputed to the matters under written , by the peers and lords spiritual and temporal of the kingdom of england , and the commons of the said kingdom ; representing all estates ( or conditions ) of the said realm , sitting in tribunal , and having considered the multiplyed perjuries , cruelty , and very many other crimes of the said richard , touching his government conmitted and perpetrated in his kingdomes and dominions aforesaid , during the time of his governance ; and before the said states openly and publickly propounded , exhibited , and recited ; which have been and are so publick , notorious , manifest , and scandalous , that they could not nor can be concealed with denial or excuse . and considering likewise the confession of the said richard , acknowledging and reputing , and truly , and of his own certain knowledge , judging himself to have been and to be utterly insufficient and unmeet for the rule and government of the said kingdoms and dominions , and their appurtenances , and for such his notorious demerits , worthy to be deposed , as by him the said richard , was before declared , and by his will and command , published before the said states , and made known and exposed to them in the vulgar tongue , having already had diligent deliberation upon these things and all others , transacted in this affair before the said states and us : we do on the behalf and in the name , and by the authority to us in this matter committed , ex abundanti , and for caution pronounce , decree and declare him the said richard , to have been , and to be unfit , unable , and utterly in sufficient for , and unworthy of , the rule and government of the said kingdoms , and the dominion , and rights , and appurtenances of the same , and for any by reason of the premisses , to be deservedly deposed of , and from all royal dignity and honour , if any thing of such dignity and honour were yet remaining in him . and with the same caution we do depose him by this our deffinitive sentence in writing ; expresly forbiding all and singular the lords , archbishops , bishops , and prelates , dukes , marquesses , earls , barons , knights , vassals , and valvassors , and other subjects , and leige people of tbe said kingdoms and dominion , and other places to the said kingdoms and dominion belonging , that henceforth none of them shall any way obey or regard the said richard , as king or lord of the said kingdom and dominion . furthermore the said states willing that nothing should be wanting which might be of value , or ought to be required touching the premisses , being severally interrogated thereupon , did constitute the same persons that were before nominated commissioners , to be their procurators , joyntly and severally to resign and give back to the said king richard , the homage and fealty to him before made , and to intimate to him , if it should be requisite , all the premises , touching such his deposition and renunciation . and then presently , as soon as it appeared by the premises , and the occasion of them , that the crown of england , with its appurtenances was vacant , the aforesaid henry duke of lancaster rising up from his place , and standing so erected as he might conveniently be seen by the people , and humbly fortifying himself with the sign of the cross on his forehead , and on his breast , having also first called upon the name of christ , did claim the said kingdom so vacant as aforesaid , with its crown and all its members and appurtenances ; in this form of words in his mother tongue . in the name of fader , son , and holy gost , i henry of lancaster , chalenge this rewine of yndlonde , and the croun with all the members , and the appurtenances , al 's i that am descendit , be right line of the blode , comyng fro the gude lord king henry therde , and thorghe that right that god of eis grace hath sent mee , with helpe of my kyn , and of my frendes to recover it ; the which rewme was in poynt to be ondone for defaut of governance , and undoyng of the gude lawes . after which claim and challenge , as well the lords spiritual as temporal , and all the states 〈◊〉 present , being severally and joyntly interrogated , what they thought of that claim ? the said 〈◊〉 with the whole people without any difficulty or delay , did unanimo●sly consent , that the said duke should reign over them . and forthwith , as the said king shewed to the states of the kingdom , the signet of king richard , delivered to him as a token of his will , that he should succeed him as aforesaid , the said archbishop taking the said king henry by the right hand , led him to the royal chair of state : and after the said king kneeling down before it , had prayed a little while , the said archbishop of canterbury , assisted by the archbishop of york , did place the said king , and cause him to sit in the said royal seat ; all the people wonderfully shouting for joy , and by and by the said archbishop of canterbury , having with much ado , procured silence from the over joy'd multitude , made a short discourse , or oration in these words . vir dominabitur populo , a man shall reign over my people , 1 sam. 9. 17. these are the words of the king of kings speaking to samuel , and teaching him how a person should be qualified to rule , since the people desired to have a king given . and not unfitly may they be said of our lord the king whom we behold this day , and if we but intimately consider these words , they afford us matter of great consolation ; for god does not threaten us as he did formerly his people by isaiah , saying , isa. 3. i will make children to rule over them ; but according to his compassion , who in his wrath remembreth mercy , he hath visited his people , and now no more children ( as heretofore ) shall lord it over them . for the lord saith to them , a man shall rule : of the late rulers of this kingdom , or any of them , one might have fitly said that of the apostle , cor. 13. i spake as a child , i understood as a child , i thought as a child . the apostle repeats it thrice , as a child , i spake , i understood and thought . as to speech 't is certain that a child is unconstant in speaking , he easily speaks true , and as easily false , is 〈◊〉 inwards to promise , but what he promi●●● pres●ntly forgets . now these are things very 〈◊〉 and dangerous in a king ; nor is it possible that any realm shall stand long in happiness where these conditions bear sway . but from such mischiefs a kingdom is freed , whese scepter is sway'dly a man ; for it belongs to a man to s●t a watch before his tongue ; and such is our present happiness , over whom not a child , but a man is set , and such an one , as i hope we may say of him that in eccles 9 blessed is the man that hath not erred with his tongue , th●n saith the apostle , i understood as a child : now a child 〈◊〉 nothing but flatteries and pleasing things , and understands only bawbles and 〈◊〉 , and loves not 〈◊〉 that argues according 〈…〉 hates him beyond all 〈…〉 amongst us truth 〈…〉 under foot , so that none durst 〈◊〉 ; and therefore 't is plain and appar●●● enough , that he that th●n reign'd understood as a child . for a man is not addi●●● to such things , but understands wisdom , so that by the grace of god it may be said of him , 〈◊〉 is written eccles. 9. blessed is the man that abideth in wisdom . for as a child is delighted in vanity , so a man has regard to truth and wisd●m : truth therefore shall enter and vanity depart , which has done so much mischi●f in our nation ; for now a man shall rule , who seeks after truth , and not vanity or flattery . thirdly , it is said , i thought as a child , for a child thinks and studies only how to have his humour , and do things according to his own will , and not according to reason : therefor● when a child reigns , there only self-will reigns , and reason is banisht , and constancy is put to flight , and great danger ensues ; from which danger w● are d●l●ver●d ; for a man shall rule over us , to wit , one that speaks not like a child , but thus , as one that has the perfection of reason — i come not to do my own will , but the will of him that sent me ; to wit , of god : and th●r●fore of such a man we will say not only that he will abide in wisdom , but also that as a man , not a child , he will meditate on the circumspection of god ; that is , he will every way d●l●gently observe that gods will not his own be done , and so in the stead of a child wantoning in fo●lish stubborn humors , a man shall r●ign , and such a man , that it shall be said of him , — a king shall reign in wisdom , and he sh●ll e●●ente judgment and do justice in the earth . which harrangue being ended the said lord king henry to appease the minds of his subjects , did then and there utter these words . sirs , i thank god and ȝowe spiritual and temporel , and all the astates of the lond , and do ȝowe to wyte , it es noght my will that no man thynke that be way of conquest i wold disherit any man of his heritage , franches , or other ryghts that hym aght to have , no put hym out of that that he has , and has had by the gude laws and customs of the rewme : except those persons that has ben agan the gude purpose and the commune profit of the rewme . and forthwith considering , that by the former vacancy of the royal throne , by the cession and depos●●ion aforesaid , all power of justices , sheriffs , and other officers , throughout the kingdom was ceased , therefore to the end , that there might be ●●●failure nor delay in the administration of justice , to the grievance of the people , he caused principal officers and justices to be made and sworn to him with the usual oaths . and it was immediately proclaimed by the kings command , that on monday next , after the said feast of s. michael , a parliament should be held , and celebrated . and that on the monday following that , that is to say on the feast of s. edward , should be the coronation of the said king at westminster , and that all those that could claim any service in the said coronation , should come to the white hall , of the palace before the steward , constable , and marshall of england , on saturday next , before the day of the said parliament , to make their just demands in that behalf , and receive right therein . but as for the shortning the day assigned to the parliament , there was a protestation made by the king , that it was not his intent that thereby any prejudice should be brought upon the states of his kingdom ; nor that the same for the future should be drawn into example : but that such abbreviation of time was only made for the benefit and profit of the kingdom , and especially to save the labour and expences of several of his people , and that the grievances of the people might be the sooner remedied . after which the king arising from his royal throne , and beholding the people with a cheerful and benign countenance , retired himself from thence , all the people rejoycing . and the same day in the white-hall aforesaid , made a solemn feast to the nobles and gentry there in a vast multitude assembled . and afterwards , viz. on wednesday next following , the before named procurators so deputed as aforesaid , did according as they were commanded , repair into the presence of the said la●e king richard being within the tower aforesaid , and the said sir william thirnyng the justice , for himself and his companions and fellow-pro●urators , in the name of all the states and people aforesaid , did notifie and fully declare unto the said richard , their admission of his said renunciation , and the manner , cause and form of such sentence of deposition , and presently did resign and give back to the said late king richard the horiage and 〈◊〉 formerly to him made as aforesaid : with these words . the words which william ●●●nyng spake to monsire richard late king of england at the tower of london in his chamber , on wednesday next after the feast of s. micha●l the archangel , were as follow : sire , it is wele know to ȝow , that ther was a parlement somon'd of all the states of the reaume for to be at 〈◊〉 and to begin on the tuesday in the morn of the fest of s. mi●h●el the archangel , that was ȝesterday ; 〈…〉 of the which summons all 〈…〉 of this lond were there 〈◊〉 the which states 〈◊〉 made 〈…〉 persones that ben conten 〈…〉 now , her 〈◊〉 , and 〈…〉 autorite and power , and charged hem for to say the words that we shall say to ȝow in her name , and on their behalve ; that is to wytten , the bishop of saint assa for ersbishoppes and bishoppes , the abbot of glastenbury for abbots and priours , and all other men of holy chirche , seculers and rewelers the eearle of 〈◊〉 ▪ for dukes and erls , the lord of berkley , for barons and laue●ettes , 〈◊〉 thomas 〈◊〉 chamberleyn for 〈◊〉 bachilers and commons of this lond be south ; sir thomas grey for all the bachilers and commons by north , and my f●lawe johan markham , and me for to come with hem for all thes states , and so , svre , these words and the doing that we shall say to ȝowe , is not onlych our wordes , but the wordes and the d●yngs of all the states of this lond , and our charge and in her name . and he answered and said , that he myste wele that we wold noght say but as we were charged . sire , ȝe remember ȝowe wele that on moneday in the 〈◊〉 of sein● m●ch●● the archan●gel 〈◊〉 in this chamber , and in 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 and of lordship , 〈…〉 and wyrship that longed thereto , and assoiled all ȝour leiges of her ligeance and obeisance that longed to ȝowe uppe the fourme that is contened in the same renunciation and cession , whiche ȝe redde ȝour self by ȝour mouth , and affermed it by ȝour othe , and by ȝour own writing . upon whiche ȝe made & ordeined ȝour procurators the ersbishop of york and the bishop of hereford , for to notifie and declare in ȝour name thes renunciation and cession at westmynstre to all the states , and all the people that was there gadyr'd , betause of the summons aforesaid , the which thus don yesterday by thes lords ȝour procurators , & we le herde and understouden thes renunciation and cession ware plenelich and frelich accepted , and fullish agreed by all the states and people foresaid . and over this , sire , at the instance of all thes states & people , ther ware certain articles of defautes in ȝour governance redde there and tho we le herd & pleine●ich understo●den to all the states foresaid , hem thoght hem so trewe , and so notorie and knowen , that by tho causes , and by mo other , as thei sayd , and 〈◊〉 consideration to ȝour own 〈…〉 ȝour own renunciation and cession , that ȝe were not worthy , no sufficient ne able for to governe , for ȝour owne demerites , as it is more pleinerlich contened therein , hem thoght that wos resonable and cause for to depose ȝowe , and her commissaries that they made and ordein'd , as it is of record that declared and decreed and adjudged ȝowe for to be deposed and pryved , and indede deposed ȝowe and pryved ȝowe of the astate of king , and of the lordship conteined in the renunciation and cession forsayd , and of all the dignite and wyrshipp , and of all the administration that longed thereto . and we procurators to all thes states and people forsayd os we be charged by hem , and by her auctorite gyffen us , and in her name ȝelde ȝow uppe for all the states and people , forsayd homage leige , and feaute , and all leigeance , and all other bondes , charges , and services that long therto , and that non of all thes states and people fro thys tyme forward ne bere ȝowe feyth , ne de ȝowe obeisance os to that king. and he answered and seyd , that he loked not ther after , but he sayde , that after all this he hoped that is cosyn wolde be goode lord to hym . thus far the record word for word translated out of the latine and french , and the english re●●ted in the old words , and obsolete spelling as it ●ands in the rolls remaining in the tower , the some being attested to have been examined and so●nd to ●gree the●●with . thus 〈◊〉 the series of 〈◊〉 we have 〈…〉 this 〈◊〉 happy prince through all the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 , and s●e● ho● by over-straining at too absolute a power , he fatally came to be depri●ed of his 〈◊〉 unquestioned domin●on , so that on a sudden he was abandoned , despised , and reduced to the condition of a private man , a state so much worse than that of death , as it s●ffered him to 〈◊〉 his honour , and remain only a monument of his own ignominy , and the iri●mphs of his successor . yet this 〈…〉 not very long , for there 〈…〉 many steps between the prison ▪ and the 〈◊〉 of princes . though in truth his fate 〈◊〉 have been 〈◊〉 by the vai● attempts of pretended friends to restore him , rather than by any 〈…〉 of these that had dispossessed 〈◊〉 . for at first after his deposition , he was carried to ●●eds castle in ken● , and there kept under 〈…〉 as a prisoner , but not in any very close con●inement , nos yet without prince● ▪ 〈◊〉 in some proportion to his 〈…〉 . on monday , the 20th of september , 1●9● . was the said king richard's resignation ; on the next 〈◊〉 he was deposed by the parliament , and henry 〈◊〉 ▪ the said claim to the crown , and actually began his reign as king. on the 6th of october a parliament meets , that was summoned by him in his own name , and on monday the 13th of the same october , he was crowned , being the same day of the month on which in the very last year he received sentence of banishment . the better to establish his new assumed throne , he began with acts of clemency , as hoping to purchase new friends , or at least extinguish old exmit●es ; the dukes of 〈◊〉 and exe●er , the earl of sali●bury , and the lord morley ( all priv●●●● to the late king richard ) he freely pardon'd ; ye● could not this unexpected favour ( at which the common people not a little 〈◊〉 , as being they thought undeserv'd ) restrain these very noblemen from hazarding their own lives , and his too , for whose sake they pretended to venture them , in attempting fresh 〈◊〉 . for before king henry had reigned two years , they , with several others , enter'd into a confederacy ( first hatcht , 't is said , by the abb●t of westminster ) to destroy him , by surprising him at a t●urnament , or martial exercise , that they appointed to be held at oxford , and to which they had solemnly in●ited him , and then to re-establish richard. a plet , which whether it were more justly or imprudently design'd , more wonderfully discovered at first , or more strangely quash'd at last , o● prov'd more fatal to the undertakers , or to the said late deposed king richard , we must refer to the reader 's censure : for in short so it was , t●at the duke of aameric riding towards oxford 〈◊〉 joyn the rest of his associates at their pretend●● 〈◊〉 , calling by the way on his father the du●● 〈◊〉 york , and having in his bosom an indenture , containing the heads of the conspiracy mutually sign'd and seal'd by the principal agents therein ; the old duke happening to spy it as they sat at dinner , ask'd what it was ? and the son in some disorder answering , that it no way concerned him , the father swore by st. george that he would see it , and pluck'd it from him ; by which perceiving their plot , he upbraided his son , and told him , he would presently acquaint king henry . but aumerle got out of the house , and rode with such speed , that he got to windsor ( where the court then was ) before his father , and begging the king's pardon , first of all discover'd the whole intrigue himself . the king provides for his own safety , retires to london , and the conspirators perceiving the business had taken air , prompted on by despair , betook themselves to arms ; and having with them one maudlin a priest , that very much resembled king richard , they attired him in royal robes , and gave out , that he was king richard , escaped out of prison . by which fiction they drew together a considerable army and such as might have shockt king henry's scarce-well-setled crown , had not fortune ( always his friend ) scattered them in a moment by the most unexpected accident in the world. for their troops being encamped near cicester , and the duke of surrey , and the earl of salisbury , taking their quarters within the town at one end , and the duke of exeter , and the earl of glocester , in another : the bayliff of the town ( i am sorry his name is not recorded , for a stout brave fellow no doubt he was , that durst attack such mighty peers , that had so numerous an army within a mile or two of the town ) understanding that they were in rebellion against the king , gathering a company of townsmen in the night , assaulted the inn where surrey and salisbury lay , who after a long defence , being in danger of being taken , a priest of their party set divers houses in the town on fire , hoping thereby to divert the assailants from prosecuting the lords , to save their houses . but this enflam'd them the more , & so hotly they pursued the skirmish , that they slew the said two noblemen , and cut off their heads . in the mean time from the other inn , exeter fled to his camp , intending to bring the whole army to rescue his friends : but the soldiers having heard a clamour , and seeing the town on fire , imagined king henry had been come with all his forces and so in a pannick fear fled and dispersed themselves ; and the said duke of exeter having skulk'd up and down for some time , was taken and beheaded at plashey in essex ; the very place where by his council and contrivance the duke of glocester had been apprehended , and sent away to cal●ce to be murdered . though king richard being all this while a prisoner , cannot be supposed to have much hand in this insurrection , yet being undertaken for his sake , it might possibly hasten his end. he was now remov'd from leeds to pom●ract castle , and as we know not the certain time of his death , so likewise is the manner of it variously reported . some write ; that he was every day serv'd in with abundance of costly dishes , but not suffered to touch or tast one of them , and so perished with famine ; but such barbarous unnatural cruelty seems wholly fabulous . others relate , that king henry having at table been ove●heard to say with a sigh — have i never a friend that will rid me of him whose life will br●ed destruction to me , and disquiet to the realm ? one sir ●ierce exton taking this for a warrant , goes down to ●ontefract , and first commanded his 〈…〉 to take the essay of his meat as formerly 〈◊〉 at which richard being offended , and being told 〈◊〉 was by k. henry's order , said to his squire , the devil take henry of lancaster & thee together ; upon which sir pierce entered the chamber with eight armed men , which king richard perceiving , wrung the bill out of the hands of the for most , and slew four of them , but was at last himself knock'd down by sir pierce with a pole-axe : which relation likewise seems a little romantick . walsingham tells us , that after the defeat of his friends , the duke of exeter , &c. finding all hopes of his restoration destroyed , he fell into such a sullen melanch●ly that he would tast no food , and so voluntarily starved himself . but which way soever he came by his end , king henry it seems was willing to let all the world know he was dead , for his body , embalm'd and covered with lead , all save the 〈◊〉 , was br●ught to london , where for three days together it was exposed at paul's to publick view , and then buried in the church of predicant friars at langley in buckinghamshire ; but afterwards by king henry the fifth removed to westminster , and there honourably e●tombed . yet some scottish historians affirm ; that he escaped out of prison , and led a 〈◊〉 and virtuous life in that kingdom for divers years , and lies buried ( as they say ) in the black friers at sterling . so different i● the 〈◊〉 of fame touching this unhappy prince's exit out of the world , who lived therein about 3● years , and rei●n●d 22 years and 3 months . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a44656-e2170 * see doctor james of oxford , his apology for wickliff , shewing his conformity with the new church of england , printed an. 1608. * [ that is only for offences against gods law. ] * [ this is wrested to a worse sense than wickliff intended . ] * [ this is the same calumny with the fourth heresie . ] * sir w. ch. p. 247. knyghton , col. 2701. knyghton , col. 2698. englands grievance discovered, in relation to the coal-trade with the map of the river of tine, and situation of the town and corporation of newcastle : the tyrannical oppression of those magistrates, their charters and grants, the several tryals, depositions, and judgements obtained against them : with a breviate of several statutes proving repugnant to their actings : with proposals for reducing the excessive rates of coals for the future, and the rise of their grants, appearing in this book / by ralph gardiner ... gardiner, ralph, b. 1625. 1655 approx. 436 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 111 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a42371 wing g230 estc r3695 12268641 ocm 12268641 58145 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a42371) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 58145) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 628:1) englands grievance discovered, in relation to the coal-trade with the map of the river of tine, and situation of the town and corporation of newcastle : the tyrannical oppression of those magistrates, their charters and grants, the several tryals, depositions, and judgements obtained against them : with a breviate of several statutes proving repugnant to their actings : with proposals for reducing the excessive rates of coals for the future, and the rise of their grants, appearing in this book / by ralph gardiner ... gardiner, ralph, b. 1625. [8], 211 p. : ill., folded map, ports. printed for r. ibbitson ..., and p. stent ..., london : 1655. includes bibliographical references. errata: p. 211. "the table" [i.e. index]: p. 205-211. page 175 stained in filmed copy. pages 164-185 photographed from bodleian library copy and inserted at end. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng coal trade -england. queens -great britain -portraits. newcastle upon tyne (england) -history. great britain -kings and rulers -portraits. 2007-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-01 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2007-02 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion englands grievance discovered , in relation to the coal-trade : with the map of the river of tine , and situation of the town and corporation of newcastle . the tyrannical oppression of those magistrates , their charters and grants ; the several tryals , depositions , and judgements obtained against them ; with a breviate of several statutes proving repugnant to their actings ; with proposals for reducing the excessive rates of coals for the future ; and the rise of their grants , appearing in this book . by ralph gardiner of chriton in the county of northumberland , gent. london printed for r. ibbitson , in smith-field , and p. stent at the white horse in giltspur street , without new-gate , 1655. for his highness oliver lord protector of the commonwealth of england , scotland , and ireland , &c. may it please your highness , the nation finding your fatherly care over them , in the well ordering and governing according to the laws , statutes , and customs , endeavoring peace , causing justice and law to be equally administred , have cause , and do bless god for the same . upon serions consideration whereof , i shall not dare or presume to use arguments to induce your highnes to lend an ear to hear the nations grievance , or what may be presented for its good ; but do humbly present herein , some collections of records , taken out of most judicatures , concerning the abuse of the coal-trade , the burrough and corporation of newcastle upon tine , its charters , evidences and depositions , proving thereby general wrongs , and insupportable burdens , viz. first , forcing people to lose their lives , others to swear against themselves , others to cut purses in their courts for gain , and all to themselves ; illegal and false arrests , and imprisonments , refusers of bail , and disobeyers of habeas corpuses ; great and usual impositions and arbitrary fines ; contemners of your law , judges , jurors , and witnesses in their own causes ; converting all fines , felons goods , and wrecks , to their own use ; destroyers of that famous river of tine , forcing ships and boats to sink , and imprisoning those that dare to succor them ; ingrossers of all coals , and other commodities , into their own hands , from the inheritors , by patent , with other irresistable oppressions , like to the spanish inqusition , and practice of the high commission , and star-chamber , being put in execution at this day in that town by command of the magistrates and other their officers . and what they cannot do by force of their charter amongst themselves , against any private person opposing , then by combination ruin them at law , by their delatory plea , and out-pursing them , to the high dishonor of god , and your highness , and tending to the peoples undoing . humbly beseeches , for the glory of god , the fame of your law , the contentment of the free people of england , the preservation of trade and navigation , and increase of your publique revenue , ii. that no confirmation bee of that towre of newcastle upon tines charters , or usurped powers , but that a speedy remedy be had , either by quo wa●ranto or otherwise , and their magistrates may suffer according to their offences . iii. that no arrests be made in that town , except by process from above , or under forty shillings , by reason they understand not the law , and commonly their judges will master reason . iv. that commissioners of sewers in northumberland , and county of durham , be forthwith impowred for the preservation of that river , otherwise it will be quite choaked up , and thereby no coals to be got but at excessive rates . v. that an ad quod damnum be granted for a market at shields , which will prevent the loss of many a poor souls life for the future . vi. or that a revival of that never to be forgotten statute 11. ri. 2. cap. 7. for a free trade to all , which voided all monopolies and charters , as being the greatest grievance in a commonwealth , &c. it will not onely make this your nation equivalent with venice , holland , and other free rich states , in riches , but preserve timber , and reduce coals under 20 s. the chalder all the year at london , but also augment to your publique revenue above 40000. l. per an . in that very port of the river of tine . vii . that your royal protection be granted to such who prosecute a cause in behalf of your highness , from the hand of violence , during the time of their prosecution . that the clause in the 21. k. james , chap. 3. viz. for all informations upon penal statutes to be prosecuted in the respective counties , be voyd , by reason the judges , alias sheriffs , are the offenders , and no right can be got against them ; the honorable judges of both benches hands being tyed up , for want of an appeal , obstructed by the aforesaid statute . viii . if their charters and illegal privileges be confirmed , undoubtedly it will sacrifice the peace of your nation , lessen your interest with the free-born , weaken your power , loose the bonds of a quiet government , extirpate the pure laws , and advance disorder and confusion ; it being humbly conceived , this happy change of government voids their charters , ( they being no laws , but meerly prerogatives ) to englands comfort . ix . that sheriffs and their substitutes may be liable to the punishment of perjury for breach of their oath in denying bail to such as are capable , for not returning writ● of habeas corpus , and other their false returns , as others in other natures . x. and that a law be created for death to such that shall commit perjury , forgery , or accept of bribery . xi . all which are laid at your highness and councils feet , to do as god shall direct , for the relief of the oppressed . ever subscribing my self a servant to your highness and the publique , ralph gardiner . to the reader . courteous reader , i set not out the map of the river of tine for ships to steer their course by ; but for a demonstration to such judges as may be appointed regulators of the great abuses done thereunto : nor the effigies in my book for other corporations to act the like by ; but that the irregular proceedings therein , and cruelty of this corporation of newcastle , may the plainer appear , not onely to his highness , and council , parlament , admiral , army , judges , gentry , but also to the commonalty of the nation , that they may expel out of their thoughts such tyranny as is there enacted by charter-law , being nothing more of my labours and pains than what i am bound in duty and conscience for the relief of the oppressed , resolving with gods assistance to continue so doing , to the uttermost of my power . probably i may have omitted some circumstances relating , yet am i confident nothing comprehended but the naked truth , and what omissions are in this , in my next will appear ( if i miscarry not by an unknown hand . ) i doubt not but some person may answer this i● print , or require further satisfaction therein , i am ready to receive the one , and declare the other ; but well i know , the truth hereof cannot be disproved ; such may ( if they please ) whose natural dialect is detraction apt to stain and sting with calumny and slander , sooner than make a just defence to joyn issue upon , to stand and fall by ( as i am by this ) challenging any to brand me with the least of injustice i ever did them , being ready with my fortune to make good what i prosecute . the thing i aim at , is a right understanding between the free and unfree men of england ; a perfect love , every one injoying their own , and to be governed under our known and wholesome laws , as also an obedience thereunto , and not by a hidden prerogative , alias charters . it being a wonder there dare be such presumption in this corporation , to exercise such insolencies , which were the greatest obstructors of our nations liberties , by garisoning that town . the mayor , aldermen and recorder , with the burgesses and others , against the free-born of england , which prohibited all trade from the 9th . day of january , 1642. to the 14th . of november 1644 ▪ in that port , which caused coals to be four pound the chaldron , and salt four pound the weigh , the poor inhabitants forced to flie the country , others to quarter all armies upon free quarter , heavy taxes to them all , both english , scots and garisons . plundered of all they had , land lying waste , coal-pits drowned , salt-works broken down , hay and corn burnt , town pulled down , mens wives carried away by the unsatiable scots , and abused . all being occasioned by that corporations disaffection . and yet to tyrannize , as is hereafter mentioned , i appeal to god and the world. ralph gardner , charter-law with its practice discovered ▪ chap. i. newcastle upon tynes patron . king john surnamed without land raigned 17 yeres and 7 monethes ▪ died ●9 dai● of october ▪ 121● . was buried att worcester in the 51. yere of his age ▪ ( a ) king john who usurped the crown of england , was ( only for formalities sake ) sworn by a bishop , who being demanded the reason why he did so , said , that by the gift of prophecy , certified , that at some time king john would take the crown and realm of england , and bring all to ruin and confusion , he pretending the king his brother was dead in the time of his being absent beyond sea ; being the first author of charters ( for gain ) and people like himself , for lucre of gain sold their birth-right , to become bodies corporate , and oppressors of the free-born people of england : for before charters were , all the free-holders of england were free to make laws for the good of the nation ; but corporations being subordinate to such laws as he by his prerogative gave them , being repugnant to the known fundamental laws of england . in the first year of his reign dreadful tempestuous weathers by rains , that the grounds were so spoiled , that whereas corn was sold for one shilling the boule , in king henry the seconds daies , then cost 13 shillings the boule ; also an abundance of fish found dead upon the land by the corruption of the waters , no hay could be mowed , and hale as big as hens eggs . ( b ) he was an usurper , a tyrant , a bloody person , a murderer , a perjured person , a covetous person , a demolisher of famous towns with fire , and a seller of englands supremacy to the pope * , whose reign was oppressive , and end shame . for further satisfaction i refer you to his true history , i shall onely give a brief of some passages in his reign . he made a law that all jews that would not turn christians should pay a certain great sum of money or be imprisoned , and when they did turn , they they should have their money again , a young merchant paid 60 l. to continue a jew , and after turned to be a christian , then he demanded his money from the king , but he being unwilling to part with money , demanded what reason he had to turn , and sent for his father and mother to dis-swade him and to perswade him to change again to be a jew . ( c ) he gave command that all the jews in england and wales to be forthwith imprisoned , men , women , and children , by reason they turned so fast to be of his religion , and then seized on all their riches to satisfie his covetous disposition , and such as would not confess where their money was , pulled out their teeth and eies , and then took the thirteenth part of all estates moveable , to war against the earls of marsh , who desired him to forbear , but he would not , for which they dispossessed him of all his lands in france , &c. he having little love , to his wife izabel the queen , was divorced , pretending she was too near of k●n to him , and so took another . ( d ) he murthered duke arthur earl of brittan his eldest brothers son , being heir to the crown , in the castle of roan in france , and chased william de branes out of england , and caused his wife and children to be starved to death in winsor castle . he dis-inherited many of the nobility without judgement of the law , and put to death ramp earl of chester for reproving him for lying with his brothers wife , and reproached others of his nobles , telling them how often he had defiled their beds , and defloured their daughters . ( e ) he granted to the city of london their charter , and letters pattents to chuse their mayor yeerly in the tenth year , 1210 , who governs well , &c. ( f ) he removed the exchequer from london to northampton , and got a great army to go against the king of scots , but the king of scots met him and did him homage , and gave him his two daughters as pledges , and eleven thousand scotch marks , and upon his return took homage of the free-holders of england , and sware them to his allegiance , all above 11 years of age . ( g ) he made oath to be obedient to the pope of rome by name innocentius , to randolphe his b●ll , who went with his nobles to dover where he met with the said popes bull , and there resigned the crown with the realm of england and ireland into the popes hand , see his oath in chap. 59. ( b ) : upon which the bishops who he had banished , returned to england by leave from the pope . king john met them and fell flat upon his face on the ground , and asked them forgiveness , melting bitterly into tears , &c. ( h ) he grants the very next year after his power was given to the pope , unto the town of newcastle upon tyne , letters pattents to be a corporation , and to hold the said town in fee-farm at the rent of 100 l. per annum , as by the said recited letters pattents in the second chapter more at large appears an. 1213. ( surely this charter is not good by law , &c. ) ( i ) he was the cause of firing the chief town in northumberland called morpeth , and caused many more towns in england and wales to be burnt . the barons of england being armed , demanded of him the laws and liberties granted by king edward the confessor , vulgarly called st. edward , he desired respite till easter , and gave sureties to perform them . ( k ) he met with the barons of england in running meadow , between winsor and stains upon the 16 of june , granted under his hand to them the liberties of england , without any difficulty , and the whole realm was sworn thereunto : and soon after subtlely and privately sends to the pope and other nations for armies to make void those charters and liberties granted to the barons , and to subdue england , and promised them great rewards , forty thousand souldiers that were to have norfolk and suffolk to conquer england for king john were all cast away on the sea. the pope sends in great strength , who landed at dover , and destroyed many towns by fire ; and with the sword slew many thousands of people , the pope excommunicating the barons particularly by their names , great subversion and dissolution thereupon fell , laying all hedges and ditches level , tormenting the barons , with their wives , &c. ( l ) the barons were necessitated to send for lewis , son to the king of france , for to come with an army to joyn with them to conquer king john , whose cruelties were intollerable , which was done , and king john overthrown , and forced to flee towards lin ; being poysoned by a monk at swinsted ( the reason he gave was , that if he had lived half a year longer , a half penny loaf would cost 20 s. ) he died , and was buried at worcester , and king henry the third , son to king john of nine years of age , was crowned at glocester , &c. ( m ) the reason of king john his granting charters in england , and making corporations , was for that he had but little land , to raise great rents from them , and to assist him with strength by out-voting the knights of ( m ) the shires , as is hereafter exprest ; for all free-holders of england that had forty shillings a yeer , met two times a yeer at sessions meadows neer rockingham castle in northampton-shire , and there made such laws as the nation was governed by , and confirmed by the king. ( n ) king john resolving to have monies and aid of men to go to normandy to conquer them , could not conveniently motion it , by reason of the numerousnesse of the free-holders , but made a speech to them , that he had contrived a very ●it and convenient way for the making laws for the good of the whole nation , which was , that by reason he conceived it a great trouble , for all them to come so far for that purpose , onely to make laws , that they would chuse two knights of every shire and county in england and wales , and give to them the full power of the nation , and then the said knights to come and fit with him in parliament at westminster , and also to allow them four shillings a day , out of the county stock , which more plainly appears in the statute of 35. hen. 8. ch. 11. knights to have 4 s. per diem , and burgesses 2 s. per diem . ( o ) king john when he had got the hundred and four knights in parliament , they having the full power of the nation from the free-holders , immediately required from them great subsidies , and armies to go for normandy , to recover such lands as he had lost . ( p ) the knights answered , they onely were intrusted to make laws , and not to taxe the free-holders , who had intrusted them , and not to raise armies , and that by so doing , they could not discharge the trust reposed in them . ( q ) the king finding his expectation frustrated , having nothing doubted , but to have wrought his design on so small a number ( mastered his passion , and not long after acquainted the knights , that he was sorry for the great burden which lay upon them for making laws , being for a publick , and that they were too few in number , and that he had found out a way how to ease them , and bring in a great revenew to free the nation from impositions . ( r ) which was , that he resolved to incorporate all the great towns in england and wales , and depute magistrates to govern as his lieutenants , and every corporation should hold their town in fee-farm from him and his heirs at a certain rent , some more , others lesse , according to the quality , &c. ( s ) also that every corporation should chuse two burgesses to ●it , and vote with them in parliament , they knowing the state of every county , and the burgesses of the corporation ( by which means the burgesses being more in number then the knights might out-vote them , and vote for him ) the knights medled not therein at all , but were out-voted by these vassals and tenants to the king , they granting to him what ever he demanded , or else must forfeit their charters : and he granted to them what ever they demanded &c. ( t ) the free-holders of england were represented in parliament by their knights in their election ; and if the burgesses were free-holders , then represented in the same knights . ( v ) but if the burgesses were no free-holders , then no power in england to make laws , or to ●it in parliament to out-vote the true representative , which are the knights , especially representing no body further then the will of the king , who was onely to confirm laws , but not to make them . king john had four considerations in making great towns corporations : 1 to assume ● prerogative . 2 to raise vast sums of mony. 3 to divide the nation . 4 to enslave bodies corporate by being his vassals and slaves . charters are no laws , and nothing is binding that is not lawful , no laws are made but by parliament , read stat. 2. edw. 3. 8. chap. ii. newcastles first charter . ( a ) king john by his letters pattents dated the day of in the fourteenth yeer of his reign , and in the yeer of our lord , 1213. granted , demised , and confirmed to the honest men of the newcastle upon tyne , and to their heirs , his town of newcastle upon tyne , with all the appurtenances , to fee-farm , for one hundred pounds , to be ●endred to the said king and his heirs , at his exchequer ( to wit ) at the feast of ea●ter fifty pounds , and at the feast of st. michael other fifty pounds , saving to the said king the rents , prizes , and assizes in the port of the said town . further he grants to them , and confirmeth one hundred and ten shillings and six pence of rent , which they have by the gift of the said king in the said town , of escheats , to be divided and assigned to them , who lost their rents by occasion of a ditch or trench , and of the new work made under the castle towards the river or water , so that thereof they might have the more , that lost the more , and they that lost the lesse , should have the lesse . he also granted to them , for him and his heirs , that in nothing they should be answerable to the sheriffe , nor to the constable , for those things which belong to them , as the said charter testifieth . wherefore he willeth and firmly commandeth , that the said men , and their heirs may have and hold the same town with its appurtenances to fee-farm , for the said hundred pounds yeerly to be paid , as is aforesaid , well , and in peace , freely , quietly , and intirely , with all liberties and free customes , which they were wont to have in the time of king henry the 2. father of the said king john as by the said letters pattents appeareth . the said king john was the cause of burning morpeth the chief town in northumberland , and many more towns in wales , because of the enmity between him and the family of the bruces , who originally were planted in wales . wherefore the said charter made by the said king john to the said honest men of newcastle upon tyne , cannot be valid in law , because in the fourteenth year of his reign , he subjected himself to be a vassal to the pope of rome , as is aforesaid , and for many other reasons mentioned in the said charter it self , considered in themselves . in this charter of king john that he grants to the honest men of newcastle upon tyne , he mentions not the port of the river of tyne , from sparhawk at tinmouth-bar upon the sea , to hadwyn streams above newburn in northumberland ; neither is there so much as one syllable , whereby the said king grants to them the two third parts of the said river , or any of the fishing between the said places , &c. chap. iii. ( a ) king henry the third being earnestly supplicated by the good men of newcastle to confirm king johns charter , which was done upon the second day of july in the year of our lord , 1234. the said king henry did not inlarge their jurisdiction at all , but onely grants them the charter in the very same words as king john had in his charter granted . ( b ) king henry the third by his letters pattents under the great seal of england dated at westminster the first day of december in the three and twentieth year of his reign , upon the good men of newcastles supplication , thought it fit to give them licence to dig coals , and stones , in the common soil of that town , without the walls thereof , in the place called castle-field , and the frith ; and from thence to draw and convert them unto their own profit , in aid of their said fee-farm rent of a 100 ● . per annum , and the same as often as it should seem good unto them ; the same to endure during his pleasure , which said letters pattents were granted upon payment of twenty shillings into the hamper , nothing more was given , neither lands , &c. but only to work the coals , during pleasure , for their own use . ( c ) king henry the third , was petitioned again by the same honest men , for so they were called by king johns charters ( probi homines : ) that his majesty would be graciously pleased to give them all the stone and coals in a place called the frith adjoyning to the former , the better to enable them to pay their fee-farm rent , which also was granted , paying forty shillings per annum into the hamper upon the eleventh of may , in the one and thirtieth yeer of his reign . all which coals and stones , have , do , and will amount to many thousands of pounds , yet no land above the said coals , was granted unto them . chap. iv. ( a ) king edward the first , in the nineteenth yeer of his reign , was supplicated by the good men of newcastle , to grant them a sum of money , and a licence for the building of a wall round the town ( on which wall one of the mayors of newcastle was hanged ) as by the record of the registery appears , that two third parts of the river of tyne from sparhawk to beadwyn shelves were in this kings hands . and for such lords as held any fishings on the south-side of the said river of tyne , which went to the mid-stream , they were meer intruders of one sixt part more then was their own , for whereas they were to have had but one third part , they claimed half . ( b ) and that this king gave licence to build a wall about the town of newcastle , and gave mony towards this wall , which was not bestowed . ( c ) and that divers purpreslures were then incroached upon , by the good men of the town of newcastle , upon the moat of the newcastle built by william rufus adjoyning thereunto . and to the end that the then sheriffe of northumberland might present these incroachments into the chancery , whereby to discover their unjust dealing and intrusion upon the said moat of the said castle , they the said good men gave to him the said sheriffe a gift or bribe of ten marks that he might not vex them , as by the said record more at large appears , &c. chap. v. the said king edward the third , by his letters pattents dated at westminster , the tenth day of may in the one and thirtieth yeer of his reign confirms all former charters , with an addition of his own , that he for himself , and his heirs , granted , demised , and confirmed unto his honest men of the town of the newcastle upon tyne , his town of newcastle before called manchester , with all its appurtenances for a hundred pound per annum to be paid to the said king , and his heirs , &c. which he the said king confirms to the said men , and burgesses , and to their heirs for ever . and because on the behalf of the said burgesses of the said town , it was humbly supplicated to the said king , that whereas the said moore and lands called castle-fields , and castle-moor on the north-side of the said town of newcastle , from a certain place called ingler dike , &c. as the same are butted and bounded , &c. even to the said town of newcastle , are the lands and soil of the said town of newcastle belonging to the same , beyond memory ; with all profits coming of the said lands , moor , and soil , as by an inquisition thereof taken , and returned into the chancery appeareth . and albeit the said burgesses , and their predecessors from the time they have had the said town to farm , they have held the said moor and land , as though it were appertaining to the said town , and have alwayes hitherto peaceably , and quietly had , and reaped all the profits coming of the said moor and lands , yet the said burgesses ( now they are turned from honest men , to burgesses , the next will be to — ) for that there is no mention made of the said moor and lands ( albeit they be of the appurtenances of the said town ) do fear that they may be impeached afterwards , and for that the said town , as well by reason of the last pestilence at that time , as by the hazards of wars , and divers other adversities , was so impoverished , and destitute of men , that the profits of the said town sufficed not for the payment of the said farm ( as they then pretended . ) the said king being willing to provide for their indempnity in that behalf , and for him , and his heirs granted , that they and their heirs might have and hold the same moor and soil , as if it were appertaining to the said town , with all profits out of the same , &c. and that they the said burgesses , and their heirs in the said moor and lands , may dig , and may have coal , slai● , and st●ne there ; and from thence may draw them , and may make their profit of the said coals , slait , and stones ▪ and other profits coming out of the said moor and lands , in aid of the payment of their said fee-farm , without impeachment , &c. as by the said letters pattents ( made by the king himself , and his council , and by the fine of forty shillings paid in the hamper ) more at large appeareth . by these last mentioned letters pattents the burgesses of newcastle , can challenge no title in the said castle-moor and castle-field , because the said letters pattents are contrary in themselves . this is the first claim the said burgesses lay to the castle-moor , being a quantity of eight hundred and fifty acres of ground , besides pasture for all their kine , and coals for all their fuel , which are gotten upon the said castle-moor . chap. vi. king richard the second , by his charter dated the ninth day of april in the first year of his reign , 1378. confirms all the former charters , and grants to the town of newcastle the same priviledge as granted before in diging of coals , slait , and stone in castle-field , and castle-moor , but doth not grant the ( land ) onely the coals , slait and stone , for the towns best advantage . chap. vii . king henry the fourth , being humbly petitioned by the burgesses of newcastle , that his highnesse would be graciously pleased , to divide the town and corporation from the county of northumberland , and to grant them a sheriffe , with more liberties and immunities which was granted , that the corporation of newcastle shall be a distinct county of it self dis-joyned from the county of northumberland , and not to meddle in the said new county as by the charter more at large appears upon record in the tower of london , 7. ed. 6. 10. 1. mary . 3. this was a preparative for the town of gates-head , &c. chap. viii . ( a ) queen elizabeth obtained a lease from the late bishop of durham , dated the 26. of april in the 24. year of her reign , 1582. of all the whole mannors of gates-head and wickham , and all the coal-pits , and coal-mines within the said mannors of gates-head and wickham aforesaid , and in all the common wasts , and parks belonging to the said mannors at the rent of ninety pounds , per annum , or thereabouts , for ninety nine yeers , which the earle of leicester procured from the said queen , and sold , or gave the same to sutton of the charter-house , who for twelve thousand pounds , as is reported , sold the same to the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , * but when he understood the yearly value , which was worth at least fifty thousand pounds per annum , attested by doctor cradock , sometimes arch-deacon of northumberland deceased , this lease being called the grand lease , was granted to sir william readal , and others for the use of the mayor and burgesses , and free honest men , and expires the 26. of april , which shall be in the year of our lord , 1681. as appears in the 11. chap. ( i ) 7. edw. 6. 10. chap. ix . ( a ) queen elizabeth requires the great arrear of two pence per chaldron , which was granted to king henry the fifth , as custome by the parliament , as appears by that statute , chapter the tenth , ninth yeer , which was neglected to be paid unto the crown by the mayor and burgesses for many yeers together , insomuch as they were not able to pay the same , but humbly beseeched those arrears may be forgiven , by reason of their inability : and to grant them a charter to incorporate a new fraternity or brother-hood to be called free * host-men , for the selling and vending of all coals to shipping . and in consideration thereof , they would pay to her majesty , and her successors twelve pence for every chalder , exported from thenceforth to the free people of this nation . the queen conceiving that twelve pence upon every chalder would be better for the future , and well paid , would rise to a greater revenew then the two pence so long in arrear could endamage , which was granted upon condition specified in that grant , remaining in the exchequer , with many seals to it ; that they should sell all coals to masters of ships ; at this day the fitters reckon with the masters for so much a chalder , as eleven shillings for so many as is conceived to be aboard the ship , and then he goeth with the master to reckon , which the said masters payes the one shilling per chalder custome , being allowed in his hand , the master conceives he doth not pay it further then being left in his hand by the fitter ; but if the masters will look upon that lease , they will find they are to have the best coals for ten shillings , and the worst for nine shillings the chaldron at most , and now they pay eleven shillings , by which means the one shilling per chaldron is paid by the master , and not by the host man , and so falls upon the whole nations back . i refer you further to the lease , for if the master buy dear , he must needs sell dear . ( b ) by the same fallacy they wronged the king of his customes , 9. hen. 5. 10. which plainly appears in that statute , if you please to read it , the same , they have to cheat the queen and her successors for the twelve pence per chaldron . chap. x. ( a ) queen elizabeth being humbly intreated by the mayor , and burgesses of newcastle , that her majesty would be graciously pleased to grant them a charter of liberties concerning sea-jurisdiction , and of admiralty in that port ( to wit ) between sparhawk in the sea , and hadwyn streams , being fourteen miles in length , for the advance of the estate of that town , which also was granted as follows . ( b ) the queen by her letters pattents dated the thirtieth day of august in the one and thirtieth year of her reign , touching the office of the high admiralty of the river of tyne , and port of newcastle , grants the reversion to the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , by reason it was granted under the great seal of england , bearing date the fifth of february 1522. unto charles lord howard of effingham , amongst other things , in his said pattent in the office of lord high admiral of england , &c. for life , who out-lived the queen , and dyed 26. january in the sixteenth year of king james , the mayor and burgesses pretending they had right thereunto from king henry the sixth , which if they had , was extinguished upon the queens grant to the high admiral , &c. and by this grant of hers to newcastle , she onely grants what is in her to grant , which is onely the reversion after the surrender , forfeiture , or death of the aforesaid lord high admiral , but she dying before the lord high admiral , it is conceived her grant is void . and it was never since confirmed by any other to the said mayor and burgesses ; for king james upon the 28 of june in the sixteenth year of his reign , two dayes after the lord high admiral died . the commission or letters pattents of the admiralty of england was conferred upon the duke of buckingham , so that newcastle by this change hath but a slender pretence of right to the admiralty of that part of newcastle . ( c ) the said corporation humbly beseecheth her grace , to increase , inrich , inlarge , and establish ( as much as in her lay ) their authorities and jurisdiction in sea-businesses , with larger priviledges , exemptions , liberties , and immunities , and those being called by various names , to establish into a certain body , and reduce and create the name of the incorporation , upon which petition , the queen made the town and corporation of newcastle a free town , in these words . ( d ) that the burgesses and inhabitants of the said town from henceforward for ever , shal be one body corporated , or body politick , in substance , fact , and name , by name of a mayor and burgesses . and that by that name , they may have perpetual succession . and persons able in law , capable to have , purchase , receive , and possesse , lands , * tenements , liberties , jurisdictions , franchises , and hereditaments of what kind , nature , or form soever they shall be , to them and their successors in fee and perpetuity . and to assign them over by the name aforesaid . and by the same name to implead or sue , and be sued , answer , or to be answered , defend , or be defended in any court of record . ( e ) and to have a common seal for their causes and businesses , and to break and change the same at their pleasure . ( f ) likewise , she confirms by the said charter to the said mayor and burgesses , and their succesors , that they onely of the said town with its members and appurtenances , and also that they may have all the same customes , liberties , priviledges , franchises , immunities , exemptions , q●ittances and jurisdictions , how many , and how much soever hath been granted by former kings , by what name or names soever , or by what pretence they have or do enjoy , or claim the same . to have and to hold , and to be holden of the said queen in fee-farm , &c. ( g ) also grants by the said charter unto the mayor and burgesses and their successors , full authority , power , and faculty of mittigamus , constituting , ordaining , making , and establishing from time to time such laws , * institute judgements , ordinances and constitutions according to their sound discretion , being good , wholesome , and necessary for the publick good and weal , and common profit , and good rule of the said town . ( h ) the mayor and burgesses , have power hereby to inflict punishments , pains , penalties , and imprisonments * of bodies , ( and by fines , or amerciaments , may levy , and have to them , and their successors without calumny or impeachment ) requiring all persons to yeeld obedience to such laws , &c. provided those laws , ordinances , institutions , and such like customes , be not repugnant to the laws and statutes of england . ( i ) also that the grants , which the said town of newcastle , and the circuits , precincts , and jurisdictions thereof , to stand as well in breadth , as length , as well by land , as by water , as was accustomed before the memory of man , as they were wont to extend themselves , and in the river of tyne , from a place called sparhawk in the sea , to headwin streams , seven miles above newcastle-bridge . and to pull down all walls , hedges , and blocks offensive , &c. ( k ) and further , by the said letters pattents , the queen doth grant unto the said mayor and burgesses upon the surrender of the same , letters pattents of the same high admiral of england , by death , forfeiture , surrender , or other means , to become void for ever . and may have and hold within the said town one court of admiralty of record , every munday throughout the year . in which court , the mayor , or recorder to be one : and to begin upon the vacancy of the said office , to hold by plaint in the same court to be levied , all , and all manner of pleas , suits , plaints , and demands . for which debts , contracts , covenants , trespasses and deceits , matters , and offences whatsoever to the said court of admiralty belonging , and to hold court of pleas according to the laws and customes of the said court of admiralty of england , and other legal wayes and means , whereby the truth may the better be known with power of any temporall constraint * or mulct , or any other pain according to the laws and customes , of the said late queens court of admiralty of england , to be compelled , or to do , and administer judgement , the order of law being kept . ( l ) and likewise she ordains justices of the peace , to conserve the peace in the said town and port for the putting in execution the statutes and ordinances made at wstminster in the eighteenth yeer of king edward the third concerning forestalling of merchandizes upon the water , or upon the sea. and the thirteenth of edward the first , the five and fortieth of edward the third ; the thirteenth of richard the second , and seventh of henry the fourth , and henry the sixth , the four and thirtieth of henry the eighth , and the fifth and sixth of edward the sixth statutes at westminster , against regrators , fore-stallers , and ingrocers , to enquire after such offenders against the laws and statutes aforesaid , to hear and determine such like indictments and punishments . ( m ) that the sergeant at mace , all juries , pannels , inquisitions , attatchments , precepts , mandates , warrants , judgements , sentences , processes , or other things whatsoever to do , for the dispatching thereof . ( n ) the queen gives further power unto the mayor , to choose all officers in the said court whatsoever , to remove , and expell them as they shall see cause , according to law and equity . ( o ) that the mayor , recorder , and aldermen , three , or more of them , whereof the mayor , or recorder to be one of them , may have for every acknowledgement of al and singular such like pleas , plaints , suits , and demands of debts , and other sea-businesses and offences , and also disseizing of all wrecks * at sea or port , happening , and of the death , drowning and viewing of all dead bodies of what persons soever , which in the said town and port howsoever slain or drowned , or to be slain , drowned , or murthered , or brought to death by any other means . ( p ) also the custody and conservation of the statutes , the wreck at sea , and of the office of coronors * in the third and fourth year of king edward the first , and to punish delinquents according to law. ( q ) the mayor of the same town for ever , hath hereby power to receive acknowledgements for any cause whatsoever in the admiralty court determinable , and to record and enrole the said recognizance , to release , cancel , lessen , and qualifie at their pleasure according to law. also to demand execution according to the manner of the said high court of the admiralty of england . ( r ) the said queen doth give and grant by the said letters pattents unto the said mayor and burgesses , and their successors , all , and singular fines , redemptions , issues , amerciaments , forfeitures , perquisites , and profits whatsoever appearing , happening , coming , assessed , imposed , or taxed , or then after to be upon any by the aforesaid court for their own proper use and behoof , without any account to the said queen , or her heirs to be levied so soon as ever it shall be adjudged by them , without any unquietnesse , vexation , or trouble of the said queen , her heirs and successors , justices , or other ministers , or subjects whatsoever . ( s ) also to have all manner of such like goods and chattels , weiffs , wrecks * of the sea , goods floating or swimming upon the water , and driven to the shoar * sunk to the bottom , and goods due to more by proportion , treasure found , felons of themselves , deodands , and other casnalties , as well upon as by the sea or shoars , and maritine parts , as upon or by the fresh water , howsoever , whensoever , or wheresoever , or in what manner appearing , happening , or coming , which to the admiralty of england doth belong . ( t ) and all royal fishes , sturgeons * whales , porpoyses , dolphins , rigoseres , and grampeses . ( v ) that the said queen willed , that the mayor , recorder and aldermen for the time being , three or more of them , whereof the mayor or recorder to be one , from time to time ever hereafter , to be justices at the goal delivery , and to deliver out of prison in the same , committed to the same goal for what cause soever . ( w ) that they may erect gallows within the liberty of the said town , for felons , murtherers and other malefactors whatsoever within the town or port , and to commit them to the goal , till they be from thence delivered by due course of law. see chap. 53. ( a. ) ( y ) all which of her special favour , she grants without fine into the hamper . dated at westminster the 30. of august , in the 31. year of her reign . it is conceived this is voyd , by reason granted without any consideration into the hamper . chap. xi . a brief of the privileges contained in the charter of liberties granted by queen elizabeth to the mayor and burgesses of the town of the newcastle upon tyne , the 22th . of march. in the 42th . year of her reign . as followeth . the twelve companies of newcastle be as follow . cordwinders butchers . taylors , fullers drapers mercers . skinners . corn-merchants tanners . sadlers . bakers . smiths . i finde not brewers nor carpenters . ( a ) that the town of newcastle is an antient town , and that they have had laws , jurisdictions , &c. and that the said town hath suffered no smal loss by reason of divers differences , &c. fol. 1. concerning the manner of loading and unloading sea-coals at the same town , fo . 2. whereupon the said mayor and burgesses humbly petitioned the said late queen for the better maintenance and government of the said town , that she would vouchsafe to amplifie her munificence and favor towards the said town , fo . 2. ( b ) the said queen for her and her successors , grants to the said mayor and burgesses and to their successors , that they only of the said town with its members , shal have and enjoy all the customs , liberties &c. which were granted to their successors by several charters , fo . 3. which the honest men of the newcastle upon tyne , &c. by pretence of what corporation soever they held and injoyed , fo . 4 , 5. to have , hold , and enjoy the said town , and all customs , &c. fo . 5. to the said mayor and burgesses and their successors , to their use for ever , to be holden in fee farm ; rendring the antient fee farm of 100 li. at michaelmas onely , fo . 6. and that they may have all such liberties , customs , &c. without the let of any one , &c. fo . 7. ( c ) the said queen granteth , that the mayor , ten aldermen , and sheriff of the said town , &c. and other four and twenty of the more discreet and honester burgesses of the said town , &c. may chuse the mayor and other officers of the said town within five daies after the choyse and oath taken by the mayor , fo 7 , 8. which said mayor and the other twenty four burgesses , in all thirty six , shall be at all times then after , the common councel of the said town ; fo . 9. and shall have power in making laws , &c. fo . 10 for the good government of the said town , &c. fo . 11. and for the good government of the markets and fairs within the said town and limits thereof , &c. and for the declaration by what means the ministers , officers and artificers of the said town , and their factors servants and apprentices in their trades , &c. fo . 12. and also for their better preservation , letting and setting of their lands , tenements , &c. and that the mayor and common council of the said town or the greater part of them , whereof we will the mayor and six aldermen , thirteen being , seven to be &c. as often as they shall make such laws , &c. and such pains , punishments , penalties or imprisonment of bodies or by fines , &c. fo . 14. upon all delinquents contrary to such laws , &c. as shall be necessary for keeping , fo 15. of the said laws , &c. and to have and retain the said fines , &c. to their own use , &c. fo . 16. so that the same laws , &c. be not repugnant to the laws of the kingdom of england * , fo . 17. ( d ) and further the said late q. granteth , that the election of the mayor , recorder , aldermen , common-council and all other officers and ministers to be chosen , &c. shall in every year be upon monday next after michaelmas day fo . 18. honest men and burgesses of the twelve societies , lawfully chosen in the accustomed place , to wit drapers , mercers , &c. fo . 19. and that they name and present two honest men of every mystery , &c. being twenty four in number , being sworn that they or the greatest part of them shall chuse and name the mayor , fo . 21. the 22 , 23 , 24 25 , 26 , 27. leaves are concerning the chusing of the mayor , the sheriff , of two coroners , one clerk of the chamber , who shall administer an oath to the marriners and masters of ships at the port of newcastle ; and in the same manner , and the same day yearly may name eight other burgesses , &c. fo . 28. to be chamberlains of the same town , and one sword-bearer before the mayor , and eight fo . 29. serjeants of the mace , and one recorder fo . 31. and there shal be twenty four electors for one year fo . 31 , 32. new election of aldermen , dying or being deposed , fo . 33. and the alderman newly chosen shall be alderman during life , fo . 34. officers chosen by the mayor under their common seal shall be admitted to their places , fo . 35 , 36 , 37. to fine such as refuse to hold their places upon election , fo . 38. the said fine not to exceed 200 marks , fo . 39 , 40. 41. the like for the sheriff . fo . 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46. or if any officer ( save the recorder ) die within the year then to chuse another , fo . 47 , 48 , 49. and if the recorder die within one year next after his election , or be removed from , or leave his office , &c. then to chuse another fit person learned in the laws , albeit not a burgess in his place , &c. fo . 49 , 50 , 51. and if the mayor of the said town be deposed , removed , or die , then to chuse another within twenty daies , &c. fo . 51 , 52. the like for the sheriff , &c. fo . 53 , 54. william jennison named first mayor , fo . 55 , 56. john savel one of the barons of the exchequer , first and modern recorder , fo . 57. william selby , &c. and nine others are made the first and modern aldermen , fo . 58. james clavering appointed first , and the modern sheriff , &c. fo . 59. the said william jennison mayor , and thirty five persons more are appointed to be the first and mordern common-council-men , &c. fo . 60 , 61. matthew chapman , and rowland tempest are appointed to be first , and the modern coroners , &c. fo . 62. george dent appointed first clerk of the chamber , fo . 62. francis burrel and seven others , appointed to be the first and the modern chamberlains of the said town , fo . 63. george still appointed sword-bearer , fo . 63 george selby and seven other persons appointed to be the 〈◊〉 serjeants at mace , &c. fo . 63. the said queen grants to the said mayor and burgesses and their successors for ever , that they may hold one court of record in guilde-hall , before the mayor upon monday in every week through the year , except in the weeks of christmas , easter , and penticost , &c. fo . 65. and another court upon wednesdaies and fridaies in every week throughout the year , except in the several weeks aforesaid ; and all pleas of debts , covenants , deteiner , trespasses , &c. fo . 66 , 67. and pleas of court of pipowder , &c. fo . 68. and courts of the upper-bench , justices of the bench , and justices of assize before the said mayor , fo . 69 , 70. and that the mayor and burgesses in the court ▪ to be holden before the mayor , and in the court to be holden before the sheriff and their successors , in all and singular suits , &c. may attatch the parties defendents in the same suits , &c. fo . 71. in their lands and goods , and commit them to their prison called newgate , &c. fo . 72 , 73. the mayor , the ten aldermen and recorder of the said town for ever , to be joyntly and severally keepers of the peace , &c. within the said town , &c. and to chastise and punish malefactors , &c. fo . 73 , 74 , 75 , 76. and further , that they the 12 , 11 , 10 , 9 , 8 , 7 , 6 , 5 , 4 , or 3 of them , whereof the mayor to be one , be justices of the said late queen , her heirs and successors , to enquire upon oath , &c. fo . 76. of all murders , &c. forestallers * , regrators , &c. and of all other matters whatsoever done or committed , &c. fo . 77 , 78 , 79. so that the keepers of the peace in northumberland and durham do not enter for any matter of peace , &c. to be ended and determined in the said town of newcastle , f. 80. ( f ) the queen grants to the said mayor and burgesses and their successors , that they may as often as need shall require impose , &c. fines * , penalties , taxations , customs , &c. for the publick use of the mayor and burgesses of the said town , to be kept in their common chamber , and to be expended for their publick use , fo . 81. or by their officers from time to time to be levied , such as before time were lawfully taxed and imposed , &c. and that the said mayor , &c. may use all the means they can to levy and gather the same , fo . 82. ( g ) the queens pleasure further was , that the mayor● recorder , and aldermen of the said town , or five , or more of them , whereof the mayor to be one , be justices for gaol deliveries , &c. fo . 83. and that the coronors * of the said town shall deliver all juries , inquisitions , pannel attatchments , &c. and make return of them to the mayor , &c. in all their gaol deliveries , &c. fo . 84. and do execute the precepts of the mayor , &c. in such manner as any sheriffe of england was accustomed to do at the gaol deliveries for their several counties ; and that the said mayor , recorder , and aldermen may fo . 85. erect gallows within the liberties of the said town to hang felons , &c. and that the said mayor , recorder , and aldermen , or five , or more of them may take and arrest what felons , theeves and malefactors soever , within the town and port of newcastle , and port aforesaid , or the precinct , or liberties of them , are found , &c. and may bring them to prison there fo . 86. ( h ) the said queen gives licence to william reddel , and to six others , and to what subjects or subject whatsoever , of the said late queen her heirs and successors , assign or assigns , tenants , or farmers , fo . 87. of the mannor of gatesside , and wickham with their appurtenances in the county of durham , by vertue of a lease to the said queen made ( amongst others ) by richard late bishop of durham by his indenture dated the 26 of april in the 24 year of her reign , 1582. for ninety nine years from the making thereof ; and that the said assign or assigns , tenants , farmers , fo . 88. of the premises so demised , and their survivors . the said mannors or lordships of gates-side and wickham , with their appurtenances may grant and assign to the said mayor and burgesses , and to their successors for the residue of the years then to come ; and to the mayor and burgesses of the said town , and to their successors , that the said manners , and lordships of gatesside , fo . 89. and wickham aforesaid , with their appurtenances may have and hold , during the residue of the years then to come , the said queen for her , her heirs and successors , gave special licence , notwithstanding the statute of mortmain * or any other statute , &c. fo . 90. ( i ) the queen pardoneth and releaseth to the said mayor , and burgesses , and to their successors , and to every subject and subjects whatsoever , &c. all , and all manner of pains , penalties , forfeitures , and sums of money , and all other charges whatsoever to the said queen , or to any her progenitors , fo . 91. theretofore forfeited by vertue of an act of parliament of king henry the fifth at westminster in the ninth year of his reign , onely published for the assurement of keels by parliament commissioners assigned , or by pretence of another act of parliament begun at westminster in the one and twentieth year of king henry the eighth , fo . 92. intituled an act concerning newcastle , and the port there , for the loading or unloading of any merchants goods within this kingdome , or elsewhere to be sold from any ship or ships , or other vessels , in , or at any place or places within the port and river of tyne , between sparhawk , fo . 93. and hadwyn streams , but only at the said town of newcastle , and not elsewhere , under pains and forfeitures in the said act contained and specified . and by vertue of another act of parliament at westminster aforesaid the three and twentieth of january in the first yeer of the late queen elizabeth , intituled an act limitting the times of exposing upon land-merchandizes from parts beyond the seas , and concerning customes and sweet-wines , and there it was enacted ( amongst others , for , and concerning fo . 94. the loading or unloading in , or from any ship , or other vessel , any goods , wares , or merchandizes against the said act , &c. or to the late queen , due , and forfeited by vertue of the said acts , and all the goods , and chattels , lands , and tenements of the said mayor and burgesses , &c. being the foresaid penalties and forfeitures , &c. fo . 95. now followeth the charter of the free hoast-men of newcastle . ( k ) moreover the q. grants to the said mayor , & burgesses , and to every subject & subjects of hers , her heirs & successors , inhabitants & burgesses of the said town commonly called hoast-men in every season fitting , and hours accustomed , the customes and subsidies , and other profits to the said queen her heirs and successors due to be paid , and to the customers , and fo . 96. collectors of the said queen and successors agreeing thereupon to be charged or discharged , shipped or unshipped , pit-coals , grind-stones , rub-stones , and whet-stones near newcastle , &c. such ship , vessel , &c. was of such a capacity , or for any other reasonable cause , that they could not fitly apply to newcastle , that then in such case , the mayor and burgesses of the said town , as their servants , &c. fo . 97. might and may load and unload such ship and ships , vessel , and vessels with coals and stones abovesaid , in their port between sparhawk and newcastle , being distant by estimation not above seven miles . and further the queen willeth , fo . 98. and commandeth the said mayor and burgesses , &c. and their successors , and every subject and subjects of her , her heirs and successors , inhabitants of the said town called hoastmen , that they the same ships being of such a capacity that they cannot fitly sail to the town of newcastle , to charge , and discharge themselves of coals and stones , fo . 99. so nigh newcastle as conveniently may be done without fraud , &c. and that under the pain of one hundred shillings to be levied for the queens use , her heirs and successors , to be forfeited for every ship or vessel so charged or discharged , contrary to the true intention mentioned in the said letters pattents , and for that the queen willeth that the mayor , burgesses and inhabitants of the said town , &c. fo . 100. being burgesses , may serve the queen and her successors with more commendable service , and may furnish the queen , &c. with mariners more cheerfully in our greatest wars , as we have heard they have done in times past ; and for that the said town hath been a faithfull fortresse and defence , fighting against the rebels in times past , and hath behaved it self most dutifully to us , and to our progenitors , &c. fo . 101. resisting the said rebels . the queen therefore giveth and granteth to the mayor , burgesses , and their successors all the felons , goods , unto themselves , and of fugitives convicted and attainted , and of out-lawed persons , &c. fo . 102. ( l ) and whereas the town of the newcastle upon tyne , is a town of merchants , a mart , or market of great fame , and stuffed with a multitude of merchants dwelling therein , and of others , as well home-bred thither flowing , and there expecting their trade of merchanting , and thereupon it is necessary to order and establish a certain order within the said town , fo . 103. and the speedy recovery of debts to merchants , &c. due according to the statute of acton burnel , &c. the queen granteth , fo . 104. to the mayor and burgesses , and their successors , that the mayor for the time , for ever thereafter shall have power , together with the clerk to that end ordained , to take recognizances according to the form of the statute of acton burnel , and of the statute of merchandize made in parliament in the time of king edward the first , and that there shall be a clerk in the same town , which shall be called the clerk of the queen , her heirs and successors , to take recognizances of debts , according to the said statute , fo . 105. the queen appoints william jackson gentleman to be her first , and then modern clerk for taking recognizances of debts within the said town , to enjoy the same during his life , and after his death the mayor and burgesses , &c. fo . 106. are impowred to prefer to the said office , fo . 107. another of the burgesses of the said town to be the queens clerk ( as before ) and to continue so long as it should please the mayor , &c. fo . 108. and shall have a seal in two peeces for sealing the said recognizances , and the mayor to have the custody of the greater peece , and the clerk , fo . 109. shall have the custody of the lesser peece of the said seal , &c. so that if a merchant , or any other shall be made a debtor , he may come before the mayor and clerk of recognizances , and before them acknowledge his debt , and day of payment , fo . 110. and the said mayor and clerk may do and dispatch all other things which by the statute aforesaid are requisite , &c. fo . 111. the said clerk is to have such wages , fees , rewards , and emoluments for the execution of the said office , as any other mayor of any other town or city in england , &c. fo . 112. lawfully , and of right hath or receiveth , &c. fo . 113. ( m ) the queen granteth by the said charter to the mayor , and burgesses and to their successors , and to the inhabitants of the said town , that they be quiet and discharged , fo . 113. of toles , passages , poundage , murage , chimage , paunage , lastage , stallage , carriage , picage , tronage , hidage and wharsage for their goods and merchandizes , as well by land as by sea , as well in fares as in markets , and all secular customs over the queens lands , on this side and beyond the seas , &c. fo . 114. the queen further granteth to the said mayor , burgesses and their successors , that they shall have for their publick use all and singular such like toles , and all other customs , toles , profits , and advantages in fares and markets , holden and to be holden within the said town , and any other times whatsoever by themselves , fo . 115. to be levied and gathered , and to be expended to , and for the use of the said mayor and burgesses , and their successors , &c. and the said queen forbiddeth that any man disturb them , &c. fo . 116. ( n ) the said queen also grants to the said mayor and burgesses and their successors , that no merchant stranger * , from the liberty of the said town of newcastle , may sell to any merchant stranger , any their merchandizes within the said town ( except victuals , and besides in markets and fares , to be holden within the said town and limits thereof ) nor such merchant stranger may buy any merchandizes ( except and besides as it before excepted , ) fo . 117. of any merchant stranger within the same town and liberty thereof other than in gross , upon pain and forfeiture * of those merchandizes to be had and levied for the publick use of the said mayor and burgesses , fo . 118. the queen moreover granteth that the said mayor and burgesses and their successors , * fo . 118. may have hold , &c. all such like liberties , customs , franchises , &c. and all other the premises , &c. to the said mayor and burgesses granted and confirmed , as is before expressed , and that they may injoy and use them for ever fully , freely , &c. without impeachment , molestation , &c. fo . 119. further the queen pardoneth and releaseth to the said mayor and burgesses and to their successors , all and all manner of actions , suits , impeachments by writ of quo warranto * to be brought or executed against the said mayor , fo . 120. and burgesses and their successors , by the said late queen &c. or by any of her officers by reason of any franchize , liberty , &c. by the said mayor and burgesses , or their predecessors , within the said town and limits thereof , before times challenged or usurped , and that the said mayor and burgesses shall be quit and altogether discharged for ever , fo . 121. the queen further granteth that every person or persons who for ever hereafter shall be admitted to be burgesses , &c. shall be admitted by the mayor and burgesses , &c. or by the greater part of them , fo . 122. ( o ) moreover the queen ( often considering in her mind of how much availe it is to the commonwealth of england , to have youth well educated and instructed from their tender years , &c. fo . 123. ordaineth and granteth , that within the said town of newcastle and the liberties thereof , that there be erected , and for ever there be one free grammer-schoole , which shall be called the free grammer-school of queen elizabeth in newcastle , and shall consist of one master and schollars to be instructed in the same , and that they the master and schollars of the same school , fo . 124. for ever hereafter shal be one body corporate in law , fact , and name , by the name of the master , and schollars of the free grammer-school of queen elizabeth in newcastle upon tyne , &c. and by that name may have perpetual succession , and shall be in perpetuall times to come , fo . 125. persons able and capable in the law , of having , purchasing , &c. lands , tenements , &c. to them and their successors in fee simple , or for term of years , so they exceed not the yearly value of 40 li. and so they be not holden of the said queen her heirs and successors in chief , nor by knights service , &c. f. 126 , 127 , 128. and that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle and their successors or the greater part of them , &c. fo . 129. shal have power to make an honest , learned and discreet man to be the first and modern usher in that school , there to continue during the good pleasure of the mayor and burgesses , &c. fo . 130. and if it happen the master and usher to die or leave the said school &c. fo . 131. then they may chuse other men to be master and usher , &c. fo . 132 , 133. ( p ) and whereas the mayor and burgesses of newcastle more deeply considering and weighing the effect of divers letters pattents , &c. and whereas the said town is an ancient town , and the mayor and burgesses of the same , time out of mind fo . 133. of man , they have had a certain guild or fraternity , commonly called hoast-men * , for the discharging and better disposing of sea-coals , and pit-coals , grind-stones , rub-stones , and whetstones , in and upon the river and port of tyne , which guild or fraternity is granted or established by none of the said letters pattents : whereupon the said mayor and burgesses have humbly supplicated the said queen , that in supply of the said defects , that we would exhibit our liberality and favor , fo . 134. and that we would vouchsafe to make , reduce , and create the said guild into a body corporate and politick , &c. the said queen therefore ordaineth , fo . 135. appointeth , and granteth , that william jennison the elder , and 44 persons more , commonly called the hoast-men of the said town of newcastle upon tyne , and brethren of the said fraternity , and all others which now are or hereafter shall be elected , admitted , &c. into the said guild or fraternity , of the said hoast-men of newcastle upon tyne , f. 136 , 137. hereafter , & shal be one body corporate and politick in law , fact and name by the name of the governor , and stewards , and brethren of the fraternity of the hoast-men in the town of newcastle upon tyne . &c. one body corporate and politick , really and at full , for us , our heirs and successors we do erect , make , ordain and creat , &c. and that by the same name they may , and shall have a perpetual succession , and are , and shall be in perpetual times to come , persons able , and in law capable to have , purchase , receive , and possess , fo . 138. lands , tenements , liberties , &c. to them and their successors in perpetuity * and otherwaies , and to give , grant , demise , &c. the same lands , tenements , and hereditaments , and to do all other things by the name aforesaid , and that by the same name they may plead or be impleaded , &c. in what court soever . &c. fo . 139 , 140. ( q ) and that the said governor , and stewards , and brethren of the hoast-men of the town fo . 140. of newcastle aforesaid , and their successors that seal at their pleasure , may break , alter , and make , as to them shall seem good . and the queen appointeth that there be and shal be for ever hereafter of the number of the hoast-men , &c. which yearly upon the fourth of jan. fo . 141. shall be chosen , &c. by the said brethren of that fraternity , &c. to be governor , &c. and likewise there shall be for ever hereafter two honest and discreet men of the said number of hoast-men , &c. fo , 142. who shall be the said fourth of january chosen by the said governor , steward , and brethren of the said fraternity , &c. and that the queens will in the premises may have a more excellent effect , she fo . 143. assigneth , nameth , and createth william jennison the elder to be the first and modern governor , &c. fo . 144. moreover she hath assigned , named , constituted and appointed francis anderson , and john barker to be the first and modern stewards of that fraternity , &c , fo . 145 , 146 , 147 , 148 , 149. ( r ) the queen further grants to the said governor , stewards and brethren of the said fraternity of hoast-men , &c. and to their successors fo . 149. that the said governor , stewards , and brethren , &c. and their successors , &c. shall have in every fit time for ever hereafter full power of meeting in their guild-hall , or in any other place convenient within the said town , and there to constitute , make , fo . 150. such laws * , institutes , &c. which to the said governor , stewards , and brethren , &c. good , wholesome , profitable &c. according as they shall think good , for the good rule and government of the governor , stewards and brethren of the said fraternity , and for declaration by what means and order they fo . 151. and their factors , servants , and apprentices in their office and businesses concerning the said fraternity they shall have carry and use , &c. and that the governor , stewards , and brethren of that fraternity , &c. as often as they grant , make , ordain , or establish such laws , institutes , inform fo . 152. and they may impose such pains , penalties ‖ , punishments , and imprisonments * of body , or by fines , &c. upon all delinquents against such laws , ( s ) institutes , &c. as to them shall be thought necessary and requisite , and as to them shall be thought best for the observation of the said laws , ordinances , &c. fo . 153. and the said fines and amerciaments at their discretions they may levy , have , and retain to them and their successors to the use of the governor , stewards , and brethren aforesaid , without calumny , &c. all which , and singular laws , ordinances , &c. the said late queen willeth to be observed ; so that the said laws , ordinances , fo . 154 , &c. be not repugnant to the laws or statutes of the kingdom of england . and further the queen granteth to the said governor , stewards , and brethren , &c. and to their successors , that for ever hereafter they and their successors , &c. fo . 155. may have and shall have full power from time to time at their pleasure to chuse , name and ordain other inhabitants , and burgesses of the said town , &c. to be and shall be brethren of the said fraternity , &c. who , so elected , nominated and sworn , shall be named , and be brethren of that fraternity . moreover fo . 156. the said queen grants licence , power , and authority to the said governor , stewards , and brethren , &c. and to their successors , that they for the time being and their successors and every of them for ever hereafter may and shall quietly and peaceably , have , hold , use , and enjoy all such liberties , privileges , &c. fo . 157. concerning the loading , and unloading , shipping , or unshipping of stone-coals , pit-coals * , grind-stones , rub-stones , and whetstones , ( t ) and that they may for ever hereafter load and unload , ship and unship , in or out of any ships or vessels , pit-coals , and stones aforesaid , within the said river and port of tyne , in any place or places as to them shall be expedient fo . 158. between the said town of newcastle , &c. and the aforesaid place in the aforesaid river , called the sparhawke , so nigh to the said town of newcastle , &c. as conveniently may be done , according to the true intention of these letters pattents , as the men and brethren of the said fraternity at any time have used and accustomed , notwithstanding the statute of king hen. 8. the 3. of novemb , in the 21. year of his reign , and from thence adjourned to westminster holden published 1559. intituled , an act concerning newcastle , and the port and &c. to the same belonging , or any other act &c. notwithstanding : and the said queen also willeth , &c. for that express mention &c. witness the queen at westminster the 22 of march , in the 13 year of her reign . fo . 160. what a world of profits is given from the crown which ought to maintain it , and would have so filled the coffers as that there had been little need of sesments , &c. having read some works of those late famous expositors of the law , i drew two or three heads out as observations for the knowledge of those who know them not , written by way of explanation of our known laws , as being a law used time out of mind , or by prescription . the law of nature is , that which god infused into the heart of man for his preservation and direction , and that the law of england is grounded upon six principle points ; the law of reason , the law of god , divers customs of this land , of divers principles and maxims , divers particular customs , and of divers statutes made in parliament . the fundamentall lawes of england are so excellent that they are the birth-right , and the most antient and best inheritance that the free people of england have , for by them , they enjoy not onely their inheritance and goods in peace and quietness , but their lives and dear country in peace and safety . cooks preface to the sixth replication , and on littleton l. 2. c. 12. sect . 213. sometime it is called right , sometime common right , and sometimes communis justitia ; and it is the same law which william the conqueror found in england , the laws which he sware to observe , were bonae &c. approbatae antiquae regni legis . charter-law being so repugnant to the above written , and so destructive to the weal of the people , that never any writer ever writ of them , nor ever any parliament enacted their publication , knowing they were no other then prerogative , and dyes with the donor . and it is an infallible rule , where no law is published , there cannot be any transgression , or obedience required . the corporation of newcastle hath but two supporters to stand and fall by , first , prescription , secondly , custom . as to prescription a quo warrante will avoid that upon a legall tryal , it being understood that charters are void by reason of the change of government , if not , yet by breach of charter , exceeding their power , being nothing else then a fallacy . and as to plead custom , they have no right , nor never in possession of what they claim , customary right is good law , but custom without right , is but an old error , and ought to be removed ; drunkenness and swearing is customary , is it fit it should stand because of its custom ? kings were before corporations , and could have better justified themselves for a continuance , than corporations , by reason they might plead hereditary , or electary , conquerors or customary , yet being found a grievance was taken and removed for their arbitrary actings , why then must their power stand , that is no law ? if it were justice to execute those two judges , empson and dudly , for onely putting a statute law in execution not repealed , which is above charters , being grievous to the people ; it were nothing more to execute justice upon such who acts the same without any law. king john who was a murderer , yet commanded a murderer to be taken from the altar , and sent to the slaughter , here was justice . why do not our just judges send such like from the charter to the slaughter ? if strafford lost his life for acting oppressively by an arbitrary power , why not others for the same ? chap. xii . king james his charters and orders . mars , puer , alecto , virgo , vulpes , leo , nullus . iam●s king of england scotland and ireland ●● ( a ) king james in the second year of his reign , being humbly supplicated by the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , that he would be graciously pleased to confirm all their antient grants and charters , and to give them further powers , especially of the river of tyne , the king confirms their charters , but grants nothing new , onely alters the election of their officers , and prescribes them new oathes to be administred to the said officers in their elections , which charter is in the chappel of rolls . ( b ) also the king and his council grants them the confirmancy of the river of tyne , by giving nine articles upon the 29. of january 1613. and joyned in the said order . the bishop of durham and other justices of peace of the county of durham and northumberland , with the six aldermen of the said town of newcastle : but three years after being weary of partners , the mayor , aldermen and a jury of the burgesses , exhibited a great complaint to the king and council at white-hall , of the great decay of that river occasioned by the said commissioners , through their neglect , and breach of trust . which complaint , begat this following reference from the council table , and further power to add to the former , see chap. 34. ( c. ) 35. ( a. b ) 28. ( a p ) ( c ) whereas upon complaint of the decay of the river of tyne , and of the daily abuses done and committed to the prejudice of the same . certain articles were granted on the 29 of january 1613. and commanded to be put in execution for the remedy of such abuses . and for as much as a jury of newcastle-men have by their petition to this board grievously complained those articles were wholly neglected by the mayor and six aldermen of the same town , and the bishop of durham and justices of peace , all which were joynt commissioners for the preservation of that river ; the river decaying so fast , that in short time it would be dord and wrecked up with sand , &c. if not order soon taken therein . the council ordered sir ralph winwood , sir julius caesar , and sir daniel dun one of the judges of the admiralty , with the assistance of the trinity masters of london , to draw up thirteen articles more to be joyned with the former nine . and by special order of his majesties council at white-hall was given and commanded that all the said two and twenty articles be put in execution for the conservation and preservation of the river of tyne by the commissioners hereafter named . or else to forfit all the towns liberties into the kings hands . see chap. 13. ( d ) and though the commissioners formerly appointed for the execution of the former articles , are persons of place and quality , and otherwise well deserving of the publick . yet for as much as contrary to the trust reposed in them they have altogether neglected their duty therein , whereof further notice may be taken as occasion shall require . it is thought expedient that these persons following be named and authorized commissioners for the due performance and execution , as well of the said former articles , bearing date the 29. of january 1613. as of those now devised and published , with the joynt consent and good liking of the aldermen of the town of newcastle , and others attending their lordships in that behalf , for the safety and conservancy of that river . ( e ) the names of the commissioners at newcastle for the river of tyne . the mayor william warmouth timothy draper cudb . bewick . tho. wynn leo. car robert leger john stubs . robert chamberlain . john holbourn hen. johnson edw. french tho. ewbanck george wallis ralph cox john eaden john butler . ( f ) 29 january , 1613. 1 that the owners of every salt-work on either side of the said river of tyne built and to be built , do within six months build up their wharfs and keyes sufficiently above a full sea-mark in height of the water to be appointed by the mayor and six aldermen , to the end , neither coals nor rubbish do fall off into the river . 2 that all wharfs and keys in all parts of the river of tyne , be damn'd and back'd with earth , and not with ballast . 3 that no ballast be cast at shields by any vessel which loadeth either with coals or salt , or other commodities , nor any ballast wharfes to be built there , or used for that purpose . see chap. 19. ( h ) 24. ( e ) 18. ( a ) 4 that all salt-pan owners shall carry away their pan rubbish from off their keyes or wharfs every forty dayes that none fall into the river . 5 that no ballast be cast but upon sufficient ballast wharfs , built , and to be built above a high-water mark , and to be allowed by the mayor and six aldermen in any part of the river . see chap , 49. ( g ) 6 that the surveyors , unladers , and casters of ballast , according to their offices and duties , shal every week cause all the ballast which falls off the ballast shores into the river , to be taken up again , and cast upon the ballast wharfs . and to take care that the ships have a good sayl to lye between the ship and shore , that none of the ballast fall between into the river . see chap. 49. ( g ) 14. ( b ) 34 , 35. 7 that no coals nor stones be digged within sixty yards on a streight line from a full sea-mark in any part of the river , to the end none fall in . 8 that some strict and severe punishment be inflicted by the mayor and six aldermen upon any such master of ship or keels as shall presume to cast any ballast upon any insufficient shores , or into the river . see chap. 49. ( e ) 39. 14 ( c ) 9 that there shall be no wyers , dams , or other stoppage , or casting of ballast in or neer the said river , or creeks running into the said river of tyne , or within eight miles of the town of newcastle , but such as shall be allowed by the mayor and six aldermen of the said town ▪ such shores being sufficiently wharfed . see chap. 34. thirteen articles more granted , feb. 14. 1616. 10 that no lighters , boats , or keels with ballast be suffered to go up and down the river of tyne in any night tyde , to prevent the keel mens casting ballast in to the river , they often using so to do , being more easie , and lesse labour to cast it into the river than upon the top of the ballast shores , which spoyls the river , the commissioners are to take care herein to see the putting hereof in execution and to punish offenders . see chap 49. ( e ) 11 that strangers shall be appointed every week to cleanse the streets in newcastle of their ashes and other rubbish , to prevent the rain from washing the same into the river thorough loadbourn . 12 that all the gates on the town key be locked up every night except one or two to stand open for the masters and sea-men to go too and fro to their ships , which will prevent servants casting ashes , and other rubbish into the river . and that those two gates be constantly watched all night long . see chap. 49. ( e ) chap. 14. ( b ) 13 that all servants dwelling with any the inhabitants residing or inhabiting in the town of gates-head , and sand-gate , and the close in newcastle , be sworn every year , not to cast any rubbish into the river . see chap. 49. ( e ) . 14 whereas there hath been an ancient custome in newcastle that every master of any ship , who is known to cast any ballast at sea , between souter and hartly , or within fourteen fathom water of the haven , to the hurt of the said river , was brought into the town chamber ; and there in the presence of the people , had a knife put into his hand , was constrained to cut a purse with monies in it , as who should say he had offended in as high a degree , as if he cut a purse from the person of a man , whereby he might be so ashamed that he should never offend again therein ; and others by his example were terrified from trespassing in the like kind , that now in the time of so general wrongs done to the river , and the great number of ships which comes into that haven , this ancient custome be revived , and put in execution . see stat. 8. eliz. 4. see chap. 39. ( a ) 15 that whereas much ballast falls off into the river of tyne , between the ships and the ballast shores , in casting of it out of the ship to the great hurt of the same , the commissioners are to set every winter season , the poor keel-men and shewel-men on work to cast into keels such ballast and sand fallen into the river , and then to cast it on the shores or wharf again . 16 that some trusty truly substantial men , burgesses of newcastle be appointed to view the river every week , and to make oath for the abuses and wrongs done unto the * same , two to be masters of the trinity-house of that town , they to have no coals , nor mines , nor ballast shores , and to be appointed by the commissioners . see chap. 39. ( 35. ) 17 that every owner of ground * adjoyning on that river be ordered to sence the same grounds to prevent the banks from falling and washing into the river , with the great floods flashes , and rains , to the great annoyance thereof , see chap. 49. ( e ) 18 that the commissioners , namely , the mayor , and others named before , do give unto the masters , skippers of keels , a commission to be a company for the ordering such their brother-hood , and for them to punish such as cast ballast into the river , or doth other wrong , out of their keels , they having been a company formerly , consisting of one hundred and sixty , which was for the good of the river ; that the two great pools of water , lying on the back of a ballast-shore , be forthwith filled up , to prevent undermining of the shore , to the hazard of the river , if the wall , and ballast fall down . 19 that all the ballast shores in the river of tyne be constantly kept in good repair * otherwise a hundred thousand tuns of ballast will fall into the river to the destruction thereof . see chap. 34. * 20 that no ship or vessel be suffered to load at shields , or any road-stead in the river , but as neer the town of newcastle as can be , for when they load in remote places , the wrongs cannot be so soon seen . see chap. 19. ( h ) 24. ( e ) ( 21 ) that the commissioners do take good bonds from the owners of such shores as shall be built to lay coals on for ships , and shall take view of such places as shall not do hurt to the said river * either by casting ballast on them indirectly , or to suffer them to go to decay after there is no use made of them , and to keep the ballast from washing into the river . see chap 13. 34 , 35. these were present in council that granted these articles ? lord archbishop of canterbury lord chancellor , lord treasurer , lord steward , lord arrundel , lord chamberlain , lord admiral , earle buckingham , lord bishop of ely , lord zouch , lord carew , mr. comptroler , mr. vice-chamberlain , mr. sec. windwood , mr. secretary lake , mr. chancellor exchequer , mr. of the rolls . mr. attorney general . all these articles are broke except the fifth for cutting purses , and the ninth article in stopping up the two pools , &c. read the following order , &c. the council table ordered that leonard car , and cuthbard beuwick two of the commissioners which attend this businesse , be allowed their charges , for their pains and attendance , and likewise this board might be the better assured , with what care and diligence these directions are pursued , that the commissioners do every quarter certifie of the proceedings herein , that further order might be taken upon any defect that might happen , and as shall be found expedient . chap. xiii . an order to seize all newcastles liberties , &c. upon an order now taken concerning the river of tyne , and divers articles , conceived fit by the board for the preventing of such disorders , and abuses as are done , and committed to the detriment of the said river . it is thought fit , and so ordered for the better observancy of the said articles ; and the more carefull endeavors of the mayor and aldermen of the town of newcastle , for the reformation and amendment of such things as are hurtfull and prejudicial to so famous a river , which have been slighted and neglected beyond that which any way may be reasonably thought of , in a matter of so great importance . that upon the first just complaint renewed to this board in that kind , his majesties attorney general be hereby authorised without further question , or warrant , to direct some course for the seizing of all the liberties of that town into the kings hand ; of which their lordships pleasure and resolution , is that such aldermen and others of that town , as are now here attending that businesse , were by the board required hereby to take notice . given at our court at white-hall this 16 of february , 1616. see chap. 19 ( a ) 24 ( a ) 25 ( a ) 26 ( a ) 28 ( a ) 34 ( a ) 35 ( a , b. ) there were these present in council . lord archbishop of canterbury , lord chamberlain , lord arrundel , lord vic. wallingford , lord steward , lord bishop of ely , lord zouch , mr. comptroler , mr. vic. chamberlain , mr. sec. windwood , mr. sec. lake , mr. chan. excheq . master of the rols , mr. attorney general . it is conceived a writ of seizure lyes in this case , by reason of the many grievous complaints exhibited for their exorbitant abuses committed against the weal of the nation in that river in the spoyl thereof as appears , * and in not putting all those articles in execution for preservation thereof . &c. in michael●as 1643. in the presence of mr. justice snape , steward of the liberties of st. katherines london , the lord chief justice st. john did direct to seize st. katherines liberties for not yeelding obedience to a writ of the common bench , executed in st. katherines , and the attorney that gave the advice was committed ( a good president . ) chap. xiv . a return by the commissioners of newcastle in the due execution of their power , &c. ( a ) the commissioners for conservancy of the river of tyne at newcastle , returns their quarterly account of their diligent care in the due execution of the two and twenty articles afore-mentioned unto the council table , by mr. leon. car , and mr. buewick , with order to petition the council for a● explananation upon some of the said two and twenty articles , and for further power for the preservation of the said river , especially upon the one and twentieth article , to whom the bonds should be made ; it was ordered to the mayor for the time being , &c. ( b ) also prayed resolution , who should repair and mantain the ballast shoars and coal-wharf , as is exprest in the nineteenth article , ordered that as well the owner as the tenant be bound to such reparation during the time use was made thereof , and onely the owners afterwards . ( they also humbly craved their resolutions of the sixth article , and twelfth article , who should be at the charge of cleansing the river of the ballast , and pay the watchmen , &c. it is ordered that the town-chamber defray both the one , and the other , by reason they receive the profits of the river , &c. see chap. 12. ( 6 ) chap. 34. 39. 49. ( c ) they also prayed the resolution of the eighth article for the punishing of masters of ships ; it was ordered that the commissioners should take bond , * with sufficient sureties to appear before the council to answer their contempt , and to such as refuse to give bond , then the commissioners to commit them to prison till they give sureties to answer at london , &c. see chap. 41. ( c ) ordered that the commissioners shall have power for ordering the wharf , and new shoars in every place in that river , after they are once erected , as well for the strengthning as backing of them with ballast , as with other earth . see chap. 18. ( f ) ( e ) that the commissioners , there at least , shall subscribe every ticket , and the mayor * for the carrying up of every keel of ballast from the ships at shields to newcastle ballast shoars , for the more faithfull execution of that service . see chap. 49. ( g. ) * ( f ) ordered that the commissioners shall have power to order and determine of such rewards as shall be given to every wherry-man , or fisher-man * or other that shall truly present any offence or offenders against any of the articles prescribed , to be taken out of such fines , mu●cts , and amerciaments , as shall be imposed upon any the delinquents against the said articles . see chap. 39. ( a ) * ( g ) ordered that the commissioners shall have power to cause the ballast already become noysome , or in any part of the river , or like to do hurt , from the land to be removed to a new wharf , or fit place . see chap. 34. ( a ) 35. ( a. b. ) chap. xv. king james on the 14. of april , in the seventeenth year of his reign grants unto alexander stevenson esq ; and his assigns for fifty years the whole castle of newcastle , with all appurtenances thereunto any way belonging , at the rent of forty shillings per annum , except the prison , wherein is kept the sons of belial , it being the county prison for northumberland ; the said mr. stevenson dyed , and left mr. auditor darel his executor ; and left him that lease , it being all he was like to have towards the payment of the said mr. stevensons debts , which was due to the said executor and others , amounting in the principal to two thousand & five hundred pound , besides damages , which amounted to as much more , who is kept from his right by the instigation of the mayor and burgesses , upon an inquisition taken the 18. of august , in the 18. year of king james , at newcastle ; it was found to be in stevenson , and now in his executors , the said stevenson dyed in october , 1640. they claiming a right from one widow langston , relict to one john laugston groom , porter , &c. but that title the law will quickly decide upon a legal trial , but the county of northumberland hath the reversion , who is kept from having a free passage to the assizes , by the mayor and burgesses , who shuts up the gates which is the right passage , and at such gates which be open , the people of northumberland coming to do their service at the assizes holden for that county in that castle , are arrested and cast into prison by newcastle , where none can bail them , but burgesses of newcastle , and often thereby such people have their cause overthrown , by such restainment . in easter term , in the 18. year of king james , sir henry yelverton kt : attorny general , exhibited an information against the mayor and burgesses concerning the premises above mentioned , where all plainly appears , amongst other things of the town , not to belong to them &c. chap. xvi . ( a ) in or about the eighteenth year of king james an information was exhibited in the star chamber by the attorny general , against the mayor and burgesses of newcastle by the name of host-men , for that they having the preemption of coals from the inheritors in northumberland , and county of durham by their charter of free hoast-men 42 queen eliz. * they having the sale of all coals , who force ships to take bad coals , or will not load them , with unmarketable coals : being brought for london , prove much to the damage of the people which grief begot great suits between the merchants and masters of ships , to their disquieting and high charge , upon which this information was brought against the said hoast-men for selling of bad and unmerchantable coals , and much slate amongst them , for which they were all fined , some 100 li. a peece , some more , others less , being found guilty ; and ordered to do so no more , but it is proved they continue the same to this day . see chap. 43. ( a ) chap. xvii . ( a ) king james upon the 28 of january in the 16 year of his reign grants the admiralty of all england , &c. to the duke of buckingham , it being surrendred by the lord high admiral , so that the title of newcastle by vertue of the chrater of the 31 year of queen elizabeths reign is conceived of little force . see ch . 10. ( b ) chap. xviii . king charles . the high and mighty monarch charles by the grace of god king of great brittaine france and ireland p. stent ex●udit ( a ) sir robert heath , lord cheif justice of the common pleas was building a ballast wharf or shoar on his own land at shields adjoyning upon the river of tyne , seven miles from newcastle ; but the commissioners of newcastle , the mayor and aldermen with others , obstructed the building thereof , pretending it would spoil the river ; but the lord cheif justice well knowing it to the contrary by the advice of most of the antient trinity masters of london , & other experienced traders thither , went on with the building thereof , upon which in the year 1632. the said mayor and other commissioners exhibited a complaint to the king and council against the same at whitehal , complaining that if any ballast shoars or wharfs were built at shields , it would much spoil the river and hinder trade and navigation , at which there was a legal tryal , it appeared to the contrary , the king and council upon the 13th . day of july , 1632. ordered that sir robert heaths ballast shoar should bee built . ( d ) in february next the commissioners of newcastle complained again upon the same business , by pleading some new matter in their petition , and the reference they obtained on their petition , was ordered by the king and council this 13th . of february 1632. that sir heath's ballast-shoar should be built . the commissioners aforesaid put in the third petition , not doubting but that by such new matter they should prevent the building of the said shoar . ordered by the king and council , the 27 feb. 1632. that sir heath's ballast-shoar , wharf , or key a building , shall be built go forward , and be quite finished . see ch . 13. ( a ) 19 ( a ) 20 ( g ) 34 ( a. b ) . chap. xix . the mayor and burgesses exhibited another great complaint to the king and council , wherein nine severall absurdities appeared , by capt. crosier , and especially against sir rob. heaths shoar , &c. at the court at greenwich the 1. of june , 1634. king charls . lord arch. bish . canterbury lord keeper . lord arch bishop of york . lord treasurer lord privy-seal lord duke of lenox lord marquis hambleton lord chamberlain earl of dorset earl of bridgewater lord vi. wimbleton lord newbrough mr. treasurer mr. comptroler mr. vice-chamberlain mr. secretary winwood mr. secretary cook. upon consideration this day had at the board , his majesty being present in council , of a complaint made by the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , against the ballast-shoars , lately built by the said sir robert heath at shields upon the river of tyne , pretending the same to be a great prejudice of the shipping and navigation , and to the annoyance and damage of the said river , the care & consideration thereof was by his majesty especially intrusted unto them , ( e ) and upon hearing the allegation on both sides , with their learned council in the law , it was thought fit and ordered , that the said shoar should be finished and backed with ballast to make it fit for the salt works , which for his majesties service are begun , and intended to be performed . ( g ) in the first place that the sea-men should have liberty freely to cast their ballast there ( h ) without interruption , if they find convenient , none being compelled to it , or hindred from it . that neither those of the town of newcastle , nor free hoast-men ( i ) ( which sel all coals ) do hinder the same indirectly by denying , or unnecessary denying to carry down coals in keels or lighters to the ships which shall cast their ballast at that shoar , to the end , this shoar which may be for the safety and incouragement of navigation and shiping , may be so used , as the same may neither be prejudiciall to the town in diverting or withdrawing of trade , nor to his majesty in his customs or duty , nor hurtful to the said river . his majesty will refer the ordering hereof to himself , as wel in the particulars aforesaid , as in all other things thereunto appertaining , in such sort as both the town and seamen , shall find his majesties regall care over them , sic subscripsit ex. majest . see 12 , chap. 3. 18. ( d. f ) 23 , ( a ) 42. ( e ) it is conceived orders are no laws , and the latter order which contradicts the former , voids it ; so by this of king charls , voids king james's for the power of the river , in chap. 12. ( i ) chap. xx. jarrow slike , &c. ( a ) on the 4th . of december 1634. certain lands and wasts were discovered to the late kings commissioners , at the commissionhouse in fleetstreet , as belonging to the crown concealed , especially a parcel of land or waste in the river of tyne , called jarrow slike at south-shields in the county of durham , which the water at a full sea covers every tyde , and is by estimation 300 acres , a fit and convenient place for ships to cast ballast at , for many years to come , without any prejudice to the river , and great furtherance of trade , see chap. 56. chap. 34. ( a. b ) the mayor and burgesses of newcastle hearing thereof put in their claim to the said commissioners , and alleadged that all that ground belonged to them , with all other grounds to a low-water mark , from the full sea mark on both sides the river from a place called sparhawke in the sea , to headwin-streams , which is seven miles above newcastle , being fourteen miles in length granted to them and their heirs for ever , from king john by charter , and confirmed by his successors ; and therefore beseeched time to make it so appear . ( there being no such thing granted , could never make it appear . ) along time was given them , but nothing appeared as truth of any such grant , and two years after , upon the first day of july , 1637. they instead of wearying out the commissioners and gentlemen that discovered the same , was called to make good their claim , then they became petitioners to the kings commissioners , that they would be pleased to sell that parcel of wast ground called jarrow-slike to them , and to admit them to purchase the same , for which they would give two hundred pounds , by reason it lay more convenient for them , then any else , but they would give no more money for it . see chap. 18. ( a. b ) see chap. 2. upon which , one mr. thomas talbot , and mr. richard allen of london gave four hundred pound and got it . the king upon the 27 of november 1637. by his letters pattents under the great seal of england , confirmed the same jarrow-slike , and waste ground upon the said talbot and allen , and their heirs for ever , they paying in to the exchequor five pound per annum , as a fee-farm rent , which said ground is in contest between the said gentlemen , and sir henry vane . if this ground to a full sea-mark were really the corporation of newcastles . it would have so appeared in the charter granted by king john , and also they then might have made good their claim , and not to have become petitioners to purchase the thing which was their own before even as they do in this , so in other things . ) also if all ground be theirs from a full sea-mark , why were they tenants to the late dean and chapters of durham , of certain ballast shores built to the low water-mark , on which all ballast is cast . and if all ground were newcastles from a full sea-mark , why should mr. bonner , &c. buy the lady gibs ground , and build a ballast-shoar to a low water-mark , and wrong the town of their right . and why should not gates-head , and both the shields which are built to a low water-mark , pay newcastle rent , &c. see chap. 18. ( b ) 34. ( a. b. ) chap. xxi . ( a ) king charles in august in the 13. year of his reign created a new corporation of free hoast-men in newcastle ( called in english coale-engrossers ) and grants a lease to sir tho. tempest knight , with others for the selling of all coals , exported out of the river of tyne , and to receive eleven shillings , and four pence per chaldron custome , and twelve shillings from all strangers which shall be transported over sea , and to have two pence per chaldron towards their charge , and power , to seize of all coals sold by the owners of such coals sold ; in which lease , it is ordered , that if masters of ships have not their due measure at one and twenty bouls to the chaldron , then upon information given , the one half of such coals and keels to be forfeited to such master , and the measures to be looked after by sworn commissioners , and that this lease ( monopoly ) to continue for one and twenty years from january then last past , and that nothing be done or acted by pretence or colour of this lease to the prejudice of the king. see chap. 11. ( p ) 8. ( a ) see stat. 21. king james 3. see chap. 46. ( b. ) if any such prejudice the people , the king is also prejudiced here , the people cannot sell their own coals , &c. which is a prejudice . see his oath chap. 59. ( a. ) chap. xxii . ( a ) king charles in june following in the fourteenth year of his reign , incorporates another company of coal buyers , namely mr. tho. horth , and other masters of ships , to buy all coals exported out of the ports of sunderland , the river of tyne , newcastle , blith , and barwick , paying to the king one shilling per chaldron custome , and to sell them again to the city of london , not exceeding seventeen shillings the chaldron in the summer , and nineteen shillings the chaldron all the winter , provided they had a free market , and a just measure at newcastle , &c. which they were debarred of by reason of the foregoing lease granted to sir thomas tempest . see chap. 11. ( p ) chap. xxiii . ( a ) king charles in july following , grants another pattent to mr. sands with others , for the farming of the customes of one shilling aforesaid upon every chaldron , at the yearly rent of ten thousand pounds , by this you may see no small quantity issues out , &c. see chap. 11. ( b ) but there are some other gentlemen which hath this benefitial lease at present , namely sir john trevor , with others , who payes ( as i hear ) one thousand four hundred pound per annum , ( having some yeers yet to come in the pattent ) i wish the poor had it after them at the rent of five thousand pounds per annum . and it is the judgment of wise men , that those gentlemen are wanting of many hundreds of pounds per annum , which might be made as well as the former , &c. chap. xxiv . die jovis octob. 8. 1646. by the committee of lords and commons for the admiralty , and cinque ports &c. whereas the committee hath been petitioned by barbery hilton window , on the behalf of her self , and divers masters of ships , trading to newcastle , whose names are here subscribed to the said petition , that the petitioners may receive the benefit of loading and unloading at the ballast-wharf , erected at shields , about seven miles from newcastle , as tending to the good and preservation of shipping , &c. for that by reason , the river is wrecked up with sands , and sunk ships , that ships of great burdens cannot passe up without hazard and danger of losing , which liberty as by their petition is set forth , they enjoyed for sixteen yeers past untill of late the mayor and commonalty of newcastle have enforced them to come up to their own shoars . now for as much as this matter , as it is represented unto the committee , may tend much to the security of ships , the advancement of navigation , and encouragement of trade , ( e ) it is ordered therefore , that the petitioners shall be at liberty to load and unload at the shields as is desired , and directed , untill other order in that behalf be given . and if the magistrates of newcastle , and such others as is therein concerned , shall hereafter desire to offer reasons to the contrary , this committee will be ready to hear them , and to do therein , what shall stand with justice . see chap. 19. ( g , h , i ) warwick , alex. bence , salsbury , jo. roll , esq . bence , ed. prideaux , giles green. it is conceived this order voids king james orders for preservation of the river in the two and twenty articles , and confirms king charles , &c. see chap. 19. chap. xxv . at the council for trade at white-hall , septem . 26. 1651. ( a ) in pursuance of a reference of the council of state of the 8. of feb. 1650. to take into consideration the petition of some captains and masters of ships , with others trading to newcastle , with a paper of their grievances annexed to the same , setting forth . &c. see 12. chap. the 19. and 24. ch. ( b ) that in case of any disaster to ships after extremity of weather , or otherwise , though in great distresse . see chap. 29. ( c ) 30. ( a , d , s ) 33. ( a ) ( c ) are debarred to take the assistance and help of any other neighbouring ship-wrights , and carpenters of their own hired servants , who they have entertained in their ships for their ship-carpenters . see chap. 36. ( a ) 38. ( c. ) ( d ) but are constrained either to carry their ships to newcastle , or to remain there in perril , till one be sent for , or procured from newcastle , who will not come upon reasonable tearms . see chap. 30. ( b ) 38. ( a , b. ) ( e ) complaining also that the town will not suffer them according to ancient liberties and customes , to heave , and cast out ballast at convenient and sufficient shoars where they may do it without endangering their ships . see chap. 29. ( c ) 30. ( a ) 32. ( d ) 35. ( b ) 41. ( a ) 43. ( d ) 44 ( a. ) ( f ) nor to load , nor unload , where they may with safety perfom it . notwithstanding some orders heretofore to that end obtained from the late king , and from the parliament , but are most injuriously forced to carry up their ships to newcastle through most dangerous parts of the river by reason of sands , shelves , and divers * sunk ships in the way , with other particulars to the like purpose . ( h ) the council having taken the said papers into consideration , and it appearing that the said town of newcastle , however , they justifie not the hindring of any master to make use of his own hired ship-carpenter , coming along with him in the said ship , do notwithstanding justifie the hindring of any other ship-carpenter to work or assist him , if not a free-man of their town , and do claim the sole imployment of their own free ship-wrights within the whole port of the said town . see ch . 12. ( i ) 29. ( c ) 31. ( a ) 34. ( c ) 32. ( c. b ) 35. ( a. b ) 38. ( a ) 49. ( a ) 50. ( c ) . ( i ) as also do justifie the sole erection , keeping and heaving of all the ballast-shoars within the said port , ( k ) and the hindring any person to load or unload at any place of the said port , save at the said town , or as near it as conveniently may be . ( l ) this council having further received the depositions and examinations of several marriners and masters of ships belonging to the town of newcastle , and others also of the town of ipswich ; and having also advised with some masters of ships , antient and experienced traders sent and chosen by the trinity-house of london , with some others , do after full debate had , and hearing at divers meetings the reasons on both sides alleadged , offer , see ch . 33. ( a ) 38. ( a. b ) 56. ( a ) ( m ) that the said practice of the said town of newcastle , in debarring masters of ships to make use , within the river of tyne of what ship-carpenters they please , or find fittest for their own conveniency , and in constraining them to use onely the free ship-wrights of the said town of newcastle , is very prejudicial to trade and navigation , see ch . 33. ( a ) 38. ( a. b. c ) ( n ) that it hath appeared to this council , notwithstanding any thing to the contrary alleadged , &c. that through the winds , rains , and other casualties washing down the ballast of those that are called the town of newcastles shoars , having been a great newsance and prejudice to the river , and in the higher parts thereof . see ch . 34. ( c ) 35 ( a. b ) ( o ) and that the practice of the said town of newcastle in constraining the said masters of ships to come up the river and to heave out their ballast at the town shoars only , ( p ) and hindering them to load coals and discharge their ballast where they may with safety perform it , as well to the road-stead it self , as to their shipping ; is a damage and inconveniency to trade and navigation . see ch . 34 ▪ ( c ) 44. ( a ) 41. ( a ) 44. ( e ) 32. ( d ) 43. ( d ) 29. ( c ) 31. ( a ) ( q ) to hinder any ships to buy or take in at any place of the said port , bread and beer , for their own spending and victualling , is also a very great hinderance to trade and navigation . see chap. 48. ( a ) 49. ( c. d. g. ) 50. ( a ) 51. ( b ) 44. ( e ) 29. ( a ) ( r ) that notwithstanding for the better regulating such farther liberties as shall be granted , in the granting of the said provisions , building of ballast-shoars , defraying the charge , and for the preservation of the river for the future , be intrusted into faithful , able mens hands to see the same put in execution , as to the wisdom of the parliament shall be thought fit , &c. john johnson , clerk. pro tempore . chap. xxvi . a judgement at the common-law obtained against newcastle , &c. ( a ) thomas cliff a ship-carpenter , who hath been very instrumental in saving many ships from sinking , and at easie rates , for his working upon a ship in the same river of tyne in the year 1646. had got a ship off the rocks with the help of his servants , and other work-men , for which the mayor and burgesses of newcastle sent down sergeants with other burgesses to the town of north-shields , which is in the county of northumberland , to bring the said cliff and servants to their prison , in which service the said sergeants killed his wife , brake his daughters arm , and ●ed his servants to prison * , as you may read , chap 36. and then sued the said cliff by an english bill in the exchequer , and held him in suit five years and upwards , the suit being commenced in the name of the mayor and burgesses of newcastle complainants , against tho. cliff defendant , the merchants and burgesses of that corporation came in as witnesses in their own cause , as you may find upon record in the exchequer , where they were examined , in the year 1649. janu. 27 , by vertue of a commission , &c. also they were cross examined , &c. which said suit was transferred to the common law , and to be tryed at york assizes in hillary 1651. the verdict went for the defendant cliff , which said judgement expresses that the mayor and burgesses ought to be severely fined , &c. for their unjust claim in that port of the river of tyne , and shall pay 30 l. costs , &c. which said bill is in the office of pleas in lincolns-inn , &c. see chap. 19. ( c ) 24. ( a ) 25. ( a ) 54. 28. chap. xxvii . to the supream authority , the parlament of the commonwealth of england . the humble petition of ralph gardner of northumberland , gent. in behalf of himself and many others , whose desires are thereunto annexed . &c. sheweth , ( a ) that many great complaints of grievances and oppressions presented to the council of state , in the year 1650. in writings by many captains and masters of ships , with others , against the magistrates of newcastle upon tyne in relation to trade and navigation . the council of state , by order transferred the same to be examined by the council for trade , and after a long debate at several times , divers witnesses were sworn , and counsel had on both sides . the council for trade drew up a report thereupon , to present to the parliament , conducing much to the good of trade and navigation , which said report hath lyen dorment ever since , to the great detriment of the commonwealth in the excessive prizes of coales and otherwise . your petitioner humbly prays , that those reports and papers may be called for , and reviewed , and these annexed desires inserted , to do therein as to your wisedoms and justice shall seem meet . and as in duty bound shall pray , &c. ralph gardner . henry ogle , 29 sept. 1653. gardners desires to the parliament . ( b ) that north-shields be made a market town , it being seven miles from newcastle , and twelve miles from any market in the same county , which would relieve the garrison of tinmouth castle , the inhabitants which be thousands , the great confluence of people resorting thither , the great fleets of ships daily riding there would further them to make many more voyages in the year , save boats and mens lives , which are often in danger of being cast away in stormy weather * , also by which means the people would be releived with provisions during the time the river is frozen , and half in half cheaper than from the second hand , besides the lost of a daies labour , and great charge to the poor in going by water in boat-hire , and save the life of many a man and beast from falling into coal-pits , which lies open after the coals wrought out , being covered with snow , &c. see chap. 29. ( a ) 48. ( a ) 49. ( b ) 50. ( a ) 51. ( a ) ( c ) that the mayor and burgesses may no more imprison poor artificers onely for working upon their trades in or about the river , see chap. 36. ( a ) 38. ( a. c ) ( d ) that they may not cast men into prison for saving of ships from sinking , nor keep men in prison till they give them bond never to work upon their trade again . see ch . 33. ( a ) 36. ( a ) 38. ( a ) ( e ) that they may not force all goods brought in by sea for the salt and coal-works use , at and near the shields , to be carryed up to newcastle where there is no use for the same . see ch . 50. ( f ) that the coal owners of northumberland and county of durham may have free liberty to sell their own coals to ships , and not to be inslaved by the free hoast-men of the town of newcastle . ( g ) that any person may have liberty to build ships and vessels in the river of tyne , without the molestation of the magistrates of the town of newcastle , for the increase of trade and navigation . ( h ) that no masters of ships may be imprisoned for refusing to swear against themselves , according to the practice of the star-chamber , it being a great discouragement to trade , and disquieting of the spirits of many consciencious persons , &c. see chap. 39. ( a ) 49. ( i ) that all unreasonable and arbitrary fines may be mittigated as shall be agreeable to justice and equity . see ch . 41. 42. ( a ) ( k ) that no more ships may be compelled up the dangerous river seven miles , whereas they need to go but one mile : never any coals being to be had at newcastle , which would save many ships from sinking , and cause them to make upwards of three voyages in the year more than they do , which would cause two or three hundred thousand chaldron of coals more to be sould , and the excessive prices to fall under twenty shillings the chalder all the year , see ch . 29. ( c ) 32. ( c ) 31. ( a ) ( l ) that the trust of the river of tyne be put into faithfull commissioners hands , the mayor , and aldermen , and commissioners of newcastle having betrayed the trust reposed in them for conservancy thereof , that whereas within in this twenty years above twenty ships of the burden two hundred tuns rid a float in most roadsteads in the said river , now not above four of the same burden at low water . see chap. 12. ( ● ) 34 , ( c ) . 35. ( a , b ) ( m ) that their charters granted to their corporation may be called in , and viewed , and other grants and orders granted by king james , and what is found offensive to the commonwealth may be repealed , as it now stands , proves destructive to the peoples right . septem . 29. 1653. all which are presented to your honours to do therein as god shall direct you for the good of his people . ralph gardner . tuesday october ● . 1653. ( n ) the petition of ralph gardener of northumberland gentleman , in the behalf of himself , and many others , whose humble desires are thereunto annexed , being this day read , the committee conceives it proper for the committee for trade , and therefore do recommend the same to their consideration . anthony rous. at the committee for trade and corporations , sitting at whitehall , octob. 18. 1653. ( o ) whereas a petition hath been exhibited to this committee by the said ralph gardner of northumberland gentleman , in the behalf of himself , and many others , complaining of several grievances , they sustain by the corporation of the town of newcastle ; it is ordered , that the said petition , and complaint be taken into consideration by this committee on tuesday the 15. of november next , whereof the mayor and corporation of newcastle aforesaid , are to have convenient notice . samuel warner . ( p ) the mayor and burgesses of newcastle petitioned the committee beseeching their honours for a copy of the petition and paper exhibited , and to grant them fourteen dayes time longer , to make their defence , which their honors granted , but ordered their agents to attend the 15. day of novem. to hear the witnesses on the commonwealths behalf , examined , and to receive what further should be brought in by way of charge against the corporation , by reason a great trial was had before their honours , with the late farmers of the customes , which took up all that day , the eighteenth day was appointed for newcastles businesse , on which day most of the witnesses were examined upon this following charge , and proved it in presence of the corporations agent , and when they were all dismist and gone , the agent desired further time , and the witnesses to be crosse examined , to which the honourable committee replied , that further time they would not give in a matter of so high concernment , and it was too late to crosse examine the witnesses , he not desiring it when they were there , and he present , but granted him a copy of the charge . chap. xxviii . the heads of the charge exhibited by ralph gardner of northumberland gent. to the committee for trade and corporations , against the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , 1653. ( a ) that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle upon tyne , have , and do imprison artificers , only for their working upon their lawfull trades . ( see stat. 1 , 1301. ) ( b ) that they do force masters of ships to cut purses , in their open court for gain to themselves , and imprisons them if they refuse . see stat. 8. eliz. 4. ( c ) that they force all masters of ships to swear against themselves , and notwithstanding they have swore the truth , others are called in to swear against them , which is for a fines sake , which profit accrues to the mayor , burgesses and witnesse for their own use . ( d ) that they do impose arbitrary fines so excessively , that without payment is committed to prison , which said masters are there detained till the said fine bee paid . ( e ) that they have robbed people in their open markets and in passing through the town , of their goods , alledging foreign bought , and foreign sold , all people not being free of that town are reputed foreigners . ( f ) that they have imprisoned men for saving ships fom sinking , and detains them till compound , whose poor wives , and children are ready to starve , also keeps them in prison till they enter into bond never to work upon their trades again . ( g ) that they of that corporation have taken an oath amongst themselves not to work with , nor imploy any un-freemen , but to suppresse all such from working in that corporation , or the whole river of tyne . ( h ) that they do imprison poor masters of ships for letting their ships from sinking , and denies bayl . ( i ) that they seize of all such goods as any poor master doth save when their ships are sinking , which is all the poor master hath left in the world to relieve his wife and family , and poor sea-men . ( k ) that when any ship is sinking , though seven miles from newcastle , none must help to save her , but newcastle-men must be sent for , who comes at leasure , besides having his demands which is excessive . ( l ) that they ingrosse all merchandize , and other dead victual , and provision which comes in by sea , and then forces the countries to give them their own rates for what they want . ( m ) they will not suffer any provisions to be bought at shields , or any market to be there , notwithstanding people are often drowned in going and returning from newcastle markets , and also many are ready to starve in the winter season by reason the river is then frozen up , and so become innavigable . ( n ) that they by ingrossing all corn into their hands have kept it to so excessive rates , that the poor could not buy it , but have been constrained to eat beasts-blood , baked instead of bread . ( o ) that by such hoarding up the corn , and the people not able to buy the same being so dear , many country people were necessitated to eat dogs and cats , and to kill their poor little coal-horses for food . ( p ) they have hoarded up so much corn , and keeping it for such excessive gain , that in the very time of scarcity and misery amongst the people many have been found starved to death in holes , hundred bouls of corn were cast into the river , being spoyld with the rats , and rot , the very swine could not eat it . ( q ) that they will not suffer any of the coal owners in any of the two counties to sell their own coals , but the owners must either sel their coals to the free hoast-men , at what price they please , and then all ships must give them their own price , or get none , which makes coals so dear . ( r ) that no ship shall be loaden with coals , &c. that will not do what the mayor and burgesses commands them , by going up the river seven miles with ballast to their great losse of time , and hurt of their ships . ( s ) that ships have been often ten or fourteen daies in sailing up and down the river onely to discharge their ballast , they for the most part taking in their loading at shields . see chap. 32. ( c ) ( t ) that other ships which have taken in their loading at shields , with coals and salt have made their voyage to london and back , before such ships which were so compelled to newcastle , could get ready , and ordinarily is the cause of their loss of three voyages in the year , by such compulsions . see chap. 32. ( d ) ( u ) that they force all ships with materials brought in by sea for the absolute use of the salt-works and coal-works , at and near shields , to be carryed to newcastle , and laid out upon their key , though they have no use for the same , and the customs being already paid , and officers at shields attending ; often the boats that fetches them sinks in returning to shields . see chap. 50. ( c ) ( w ) that ships have often sunk in returning empty from newcastle to shields , there being nothing to be had at newcastle , and such ships are onely to take in salt or coals at shields : no salt to be got elsewhere , but at shields in that river , and thereabouts . see chap. 29 , 30 , 32. ( x ) that they will not tollerate any seaman , though never so able a pilot to guide a strangers ship into the river , over tinmouth-bar , though he be in never so great distress , but a free-man must be sent for from newcastle , there being but two at shields , by means whereof the ship is often ready to be lost before any can get seven miles up , and seven miles back again . see ch . 32. ( a ) ( y ) that they force all ships , though never so long , great , or weak , to sail up the river , to cast out their ballast upon their shoars , for the gain of eight pence for every tun a ship carries , which is an arbitrary imposition ; see chap. 32. ( b. c ) it formerly being but four pence . and one ship with another carrys an 100 tun every voyage , &c. see ch . 29. ( c ) ( a b ) that they force masters of ships to pay for eighty tun , when indeed they have but forty tun , and so oppress the poor masters , whereby the price of coals must needs be enhanst : see cha . 44. ( a ) ( a f ) that they have spoiled the river with their ballast shoars , by ships sinking in sailing up the river , and returning back , their ballast-shoars being so full , and heavy , and hilly , that every showre of rain , and storm of wind doth blow and wash down the ballast into the river , besides the weight in pressing down the walls t● the great prejudice of the commonwealth ; by the obstruction of the river , and endangering of shipping . see chap. 34. ( a ) 35. ( a. b ) ( a. g ) that by the negligence of the commissioners for the river , above three thousand tuns of ballast have fallen into the river in one nights time . see ch . 34 ( c ) . none taken up , &c. ( a. h ) that within this twenty years , where twenty ships of a certain burden could have rid afloat in most road-steads in the river at a low water mark , now not above four ships can ride afloat , &c. see chap. 35. ( b ) ( a. i ) that ships have made twelve voyages in the year , within this 20 years , when they had liberty to cast their ballast at shields , and now they make but four or five voyages only , being obstructed by the mayor & burgesses of newcastle , in compelling the ships up the river , seven miles , to cast out their ballast upon their own shoars , &c. see chap. 32 ( d ) ( a. k. ) that they will not suffer any ballast-shoars to be built at or near the sheilds , by reason the owners of the ground wil not sel it to them , notwithstanding there are convenient places for shoars for above this hundred years to come , without any prejudice to the river , and to the great advantage of the commonwealth , see chap. 29. ( c ) ( a. l. ) that they do hinder the stock of the publick revenue above forty thousand pounds per an . in customs , decla●● . see chap. 45. ( b. e. f. ) 32. ( d ) ( a. m ) that they do hinder a trade all the winter season , by reason neither ships nor boats can pass up the river , which is often frozen below the ballast-shoars , called the bill-point , and half down the river , it never freezeth lower . see ch . 35. ( b ) ( a. n ) that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle have combined and made new ordinances amongst themselves , that what free hoast-men or filler of coals , shall sell any coals to such ship-masters as shall cast any ballast at shields , and not upon their own ballast shoars , shall forfi● and pay 20 l. a time , or lie in prison till the same be paid . see ch , 43. ( d ) 30. ( d ) ( a. o ) that all such coals as shall be sold , and not being free of that corporation shall be confiscated for the corporations use . see 21. chap. ( a ) ( some say if what is here alledged be nothing but the truth it were pity , but they should receive judgement according to their respective offences , but if it appear otherwise , it were pity , but the evidence upon oath , with my self , should receive the same judgement . ) ( a. p ) that the mayor and burgesses by having betrayed the trust reposed in them by king james , in the two and twenty articles for the preservation of the river of tyne , have forfeited all that corporations liberties into the states hand , by the exorbitant abuses committed , and neglect in not putting them in execution . see chap. 13. ( a ) 34. ( c ) ( a. q ) all which said charge was proved upon oath before the council at white-hall , 1650. and the committee for trade and corporations at white-hall in november 1653. and order was given that mr. thomas skinner be desired to draw up an act for a free trade in that port and river of tyne , to present to the parliament . see cha. 54. ( which act was intended . ) whether it be consonant to religion or reason , that these things so perpetrated aforesaid , against the good of a commonwealth should be neglected , and in not being timely regulated , i refer to better judgements . ralph gardner . ( a. r. ) mr. mark shafto , mr. ralph jennison , mr. robert ellison , mr. tho. bonner , the recorder and aldermen of newcastle , with mr. john rushworth , one maddison , and one michael bonner , with many more of the burgesses , appeared at white-hall on the 29. of november , being the day appointed for the town to plead to the charge , they having had the copy of the charge , where the full committee was met , and many parliament-men more , where the petition , the charge , & the desires were read , to the foregoing gentlemen . ( a. s. ) the corporation , agents and aldermen humbly begged ten weeks longer time , by reason they were not ready , nor prepared to answer the charge , for it struck at all that was neer and dear unto them * . and hoped the town would not be surprised , and that they did conceive mr. gardner had sent down that order to affront the town , by reason it was dropt at the mayors door by a boy ; and that there was a paper printed by mr. gardner which was as full of lyes , as words , which did conclude them , and dishearten their witnesses , also that the scots having tumbled their records , could not draw up an answer in so short a time . ( a. t. ) in answer to the town , it was humbly moved , their honours would give no longer time , by reason it was the day set , and agreed upon , that they of the corporation should plead , and that it was no new matter insisted upon , but what was debated at that board two years before , the records and judgement given against newcastle being in their honors custody , and that they were as wel able to plead then , as at any other time , and if there were any new matter it should be withdrawn , and was willing to joyn issue upon the former judgement granted two years before , at the same board . the towns agents altogether refused that , and hoped their honours would not insist upon the former judgement , but to give them longer time , they not being ready to plead to the said charge , nor came prepared upon the earnest solicitation of the towns agents : the committee told them , that if they would deal clearly and candidly with them , as to give in writing under their hands such an answer to the charge as they would stand and fall by , then they would give them their own time , if not , then they would record that fair motion , and that they must plead by reason they appeared , and entred upon a plea , and their work was very short , for all that they had to do , was to plead guilty , or not guilty ; if guilty , then to make it good by what law they did such things as was laid to their charge , ( and if not guilty , then it was left to mr. gardner to prove his charge , ( who indeed had proved all sufficiently ) and therefore would give no more day , what ever , then the 13 of december , and mr. gardner left free to bring in what more he had to charge them with ; upon the 12 day of december , the parliament was dismissed . but the honourable committee met in white-hall , and drew up another report , and signed the same against the corporation of newcastle , and would have presented the same to his highnesse the lord protector . but i conceived to give a narrative was better , though it be large , yet such things as are pertinent , might be sooner collected being put together , and more satisfactory to all hands , then lying in several courts distractedly , not doubting , but thereby to reap the fruits according to my labour , i not in the least dispairing , and am satisfied with the change , desiring god to go along with him in all his highnesse undertakes . chap. xxix . depositions . ships upon sands ; others sinking , others sunk ; boats , and provisions cast away , and people drowned , &c. and others cast into prison for saving ships from sinking . all done at newcastle , by order of those magistrates , * all wreck being given them by charter . andronicus * the tyrant , and also an heathen king , being overcome with a reluctancy of heart , seeing the miserable condition poor merchants and sea-men were in after ship-wrack , ( and should receive so bad a reward from people , whom they came to for help or shelter ) by having their goods seized on , their throats cut , and no relief afforded by those that got all the sea had cast up for succour , they never taking any pains for the same ; made a law , whosoever took a bit of wreck for their own use should be put to death , but that all should be preserved for a time , or the worth , for the right owner , and if not looked after by the owner , then for such , as were sufferers by shipwrack for the future , and the people paid for their pains in saving of it . for which law they were cannonized . let not tyrants and heathens out-strip us in mercy and justice . this law we want . ( a ) mary hume ▪ upon her oath said , that all ships and boats , are compelled by the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , to sail up the river to their ballast-shoars and town , with all manner of victuals which are brought into that river , and will not suffer any market to be at shields which is seven miles from them , and twelve miles from any other market town in the same county , and that they compel all people to their markets . * by which means , the hath known many ‖ ships and boats cast away , in the said river by stormy weather . ( read stat. 27. edw. 1. * ) see chap. 49. ( b ) * ) chap. 10. ( s ) ‖ 31. ( a ) ( b ) she the said mary further affirms , that she hath known many people drowned , and boats cast away in stormy weather in that river , and provisions . and that in or about the year 1650. one william rea of shields was drowned in coming from newcastle market . also a young gentleman , son to mr. snape minister in northumberland , was drowned in that river , both which , were found and buried at shields , but no coroner * viewed their dead bodies , which she hath heard should have been done by newcastles coroner , being tyed to it by charter . see chap. 10. ( o , p ) also william grays mother in law , of north-shields , in going to ma●ke● was cast away , &c. mary hume . ( c ) j●hn mallen master of a ship , upon his oath said , that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , do deny to load any ships , nor suffer any others to load them with coals , who refuse to sail up that dangerous river seven miles to cast out ballast upon their shoars , which compulsions causeth the losse of many ships * and vessels in that river amongst sands , shelves , and sunk ships , it being meerly for the gain of eight pence per tun of ballast . see chap. 31. ( a , b ) 32. ( b ) * ( d ) that he this deponent was in company with one mr. james beats , of alborough , who was master of a new ship , being compelled to sail up the river to cast out his ballast upon their unlawful ballast-shoars . and in returning to shields to take in her loading of coals , in the middle of the river his ship sunk , and none durst help to save her for fear of being imprisoned , as others were for the like , nor to weigh her up again . see chap. 30. ( a ) ( e ) the free-men came and required a greater summe * to weigh her up , then she was worth ; so the poor master was forced to leave her upon small termes . but soon after , they got her up , and set her to sea for their own use , which the said master beats might have done the like , if those of newcastle would have tollerated the un-freemen to work , who were as well able to perform that service . see chap. 30. ( f ) 36. ( a ) * stat. 2. ed. 6. 15. * all wreck is given to them . see chap. 10. 8. john mallen , thomas heislewood . chap. xxx . ( a ) thomas gosnal master , affirms , that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , by compelling all ships up that dangerous river of tyne seven miles , is the cause of the losse of many ships ; and that mr. cason lost his ship upon the bill-point which sunk , but by weighing her up again , it cost him near two hundred and fifty pound . all which might have been saved , if ships could be tollerated to cast ballast at shields . see chap. 25. ( b ) chap. 10. ( s ) 32. ( c. e. ) thomas gosnal . ( b ) edmund tye of ipswich , senior , upon his oath said , that being with his ship laden with coals , riding at anchor at shields with the fleet of ships ready to put forth to sea , his ship sunk by a sad disaster to his undoing , being most of it his own , and in the time of sinking , procured help to save what goods he could , for relief of himself , and sea-men , who had saved to the value of one hundred and fifty pound , and sent them on shoar to shields in the county of northumberland . * the mayor and burgesses of newcastle ( c ) sent down their officers , and seized of all his goods , and sent them to newcastle , and carried him , this deponent , to their prison , and kept him above six months , because his ship sunk . the goods and ship were worth about eleven hundred and fifty pound , and would detain him in prison till he did weigh up the said ship , who had not wherewithall to relieve himself , exod. 22. 21. notwithstanding they were certified so much under the bayliffs hands and town-seal of ipswich , and had continued him longer , if he had not procured a habeas corpus for his removal to london . see chap. 25. ( b ) 10. ( s ) stat. 3. edw. 1. 15. 34. 14. rich. 2. 9. 23. hen. 6. 10. edmund tye. ( d ) thomas heislewood of london , master of a ship , upon his oath said , having taken in his ships loading of coals in the river of tyne , was putting forth to sea with the fleet , but by a storm was cast a shoar neer tinmouth-bar , and in great danger of their lives which were on board of the the said ship , and was constrained to cast his coals into the sea , and thereby got his ship to shields , where she lay like a wreck , the water having free passage in and out . ( e ) he this deponent got on shoar , and repaired to one collier a free carpenter of newcastle , desiring him to mend his ship , and for hastes sake , he would procure thirty or forty of his neighbors , masters of ships carpenters to help him , but the said free carpenter replied , that he had taken an * oath in newcastle with their company , neither to work with any unfree carpenter , nor to set any on work , by which means , he this deponent was constrained to patch up his ship with his single carpenter , and adventure to london to get her upon the stock , where he , and his company were in great hazard of their lives , and losse of the ship . see chap. 10. ( s ) see stat. 19. hen. 7. 7. ( 2 edw. 6. 15. * ) tho. heislwood . ( f ) henry harrison master , upon his oath said , that his ship was laden with corn , coming in at tinmouth-bar , lost her rudder or steerer of his ship ; he this deponent desired another of a free-man of newcastle , who would not furnish him under forty shillings , * but this deponent got a good one of an un-freeman , one thomas cliffe of shields carpenter . see chap. 29. e. 36. ( a ) henry harrison . chap. xxxi . ( a ) michael bonner of newcastle , merchant , and water-sergeant in janu. 1649. being examined upon oath * at gates-head by vertue of a commission in a cause depending in the exchequer between the mayor and burgesses complanants , and thomas cliffe defendant , said , that a ship called the adventure of ipswich which was sunk in the year 1646. ( mr. thomas casen being master ) one other ship called the providence of london ( humphrey harrison of london being master , ) which sunck in the year 1649. one other ship called the refuge of ipswich , sunck in october 1649. ( mr. edmund tye being master . ) another ship called the henrietta maria , sunck in the year 1644. all which ships were weighed out of the river of tyne , at the sole charge of the mayor and burgesses of newcastle michael bonner . some calls this deposition perjury , * but i refer it to the judgement of the reader that reads the following deposition , which proves that most of the abovesaid ships lye sunck , and did three yeers after the deposition . see stat. 5. eliz. 9. * ( b ) cap. george . phillips of london , upon his oath said , that there lyes several ships sunck in the river of tyne between sparhawk and heborn steath , namely the adventure * of london ; humphrey harrison of sunderland late master , sunck in , or about the year 1649. one other ship called the refuge of ipswich sunck in october 1649. at shields , ( edmund tye the late master . ) one other ship called the henrietta maria sunck in the river , in , or about 1644. and one other in the south road , late belonging to mr. bulman . and also one other ship belonging to a scotch-man , lyes sunck neer unto the low lights . and that the chiefe cause of ships sinking in that river is , by being compelled by the mayor and burgesses of newcastle to sail up that dangerous river to cast ballast upon their unlawful ballast shoars , for the gain of eight pence for every tun so cast out . george phillips , and tho. hesilwood proves the like . chap. xxxii . ( a ) gawen pots affirms , that no strangers ship whatever , though she be in never such great distresse and sinking , must be pylotted into the river by any other sea-man , then a freeman of newcastle : in the intrim one is sent for ( being sixteen miles forward and backward ) often , either she is lost , or driven by storm away . many others proved the like . ( b ) jeremiah law , master of a ship , upon his oath , 1650. said , that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , compelling all ships up the river to their ballast-shoars amongst the dangerous sands ▪ shelves , and sunck ships , is the cause of much harm and losse of many ships , and losse of many voyages in the year ; besides losse to the state , and spoyl of the river , it onely being done for the lucre of eight pence for every tun of ballast to some private persons , which brings them in many thousands of pounds in the year , and that there are many sunck ships in the river , between sparhawk and hebourn steath . see chap. 29. ( c ) jeremiah low , mr. phillips , mr. hesilwood , prove the like . ( c ) john mallen master of a ship , upon his oath said , that by the mayor and burgesses compelling ships up the river to their ballast-shoars with their ballast , was the cause of mr. tye , and mr. worses two ships running on the sands neer jarrow , where they were both in great danger of being lost . mr. yaxleys ship in a condition of sinking , but three unfree carpenters being ready , saved her , mr. john willy in the like condition . cap. george phillips was fourteen dayes in getting up and down to shields , by which means much damage is done to their ships , and losse of several voyages , and trade is obstructed . capt. george phillips , mr. hesilwood , mr. cason , mr. mors , mr. yaxly , and mr. willey , prove the like . ( d ) mr. keeble , master of a ship , proves , that himself , with many other masters of ships , namely mr. wright , &c. have made twelve voyages in the year when they cast ballast at shields within these twenty yeers , and doubts not but by gods blessing to make as many again , if the ships be allowed to cast ballast there , which may be done without hurt to the river , and more safety to ships , and a great revenew to the publick . whereas now , being compelled up to newcastle shoars , which hath spoyled the river , they cannot make above four , five , or six voyages in the year at most , which is many thousand pounds per annum losse to the state in custome . keeble . ( e ) henry robinson upon his oath said , that being compelled by the mayor and burgesses up the river to their ballast-shoars , his ship set upon a sand , and broke her k●elson , to his great damage , and losse of voyage . and that mr. cason his ship , set upon the point of the bill , and overset , which cost him two hundred and forty pound the recovering of her again , besides the losse of voyage . thomas gosnal proves the like . chap. xxxiii . ( a ) thomas cliffe upon his oath said , that in april 1646 arthur lyme master of a ship , being in the river of tyne , his ship in great distresse and danger of sinking , obtained the present help of three ship carpenters which were ready at hand to save his ship from sinking . and because they were not free-men , the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , sent down several carpenters belonging to newcastle , to force them from work , and carried them away to prison , with the said master for setting them on work , no tryall at law was had , or other offence committed . tho. cliffe . chap. xxxiv . ( a ) bigs upon his oath said , that all the ground * on both sides of the river of tyne to a full sea-mark , is the right of the town of newcastle , and belongs onely to the mayor and burgesses , all the way from sparhawk to headwin streams . and that he knoweth the same by reason he hath seen often the water-sergeant of newcastle ( by name charles mitford ) arrest men , both masters and others . this deposition was taken in behalf of newcastle at gates-head in jan. 1649. in the suit between the town and cliffe , and remains in the exchequer . bigs . some calls this also perjury , but it is left to the judgement of the reader in reading the next deposition . see chap. 18. ( d. f. ) stat. 5. eliz. 9. * ( b ) william gibson of newcastle merchant , in jan. 1649. at gates-head upon his oath said , that the ground on both sides of the river of tyne , from sparhawk to headwin streams from a low water-mark , was not belonging to the town , nor mayor and burgesses of newcastle , but to the respective owners in each county adjoyning on the river . and that he knew the same by reason of former trials , and so adjudged . and that the town had only the arresting upon the water , but not upon the land . see chap. 20. william gibson . ( c ) thomas horth of london merchant upon his oath said , that he had known the river of tyne above five and twenty yeers . and that by reason of the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , compelling all ships with ballast , to sail up the river seven miles to unload their ballast , and out of keels upon their own shoars , by ballast and other rubbish falling in , hath spoyled three parts of the river , * whereas within this twenty yeers , twenty ships of the burden of two hundred tuns a peece , could have rid a float in most road-steads in that river . ‖ and now not above four or five at a low water-mark , by reason they have so little ground , that it is so over full and hilly with the ballast , that the winds and rains , every time doth wash and blow great quantities off into the river ; and that in one night , the shoar called the bill-ballast key , brake down , and at least three thousand tun of ballast , sand , gravel , and stones , fell down into the river , * and they never knew any taken up , * neither will the mayor and burgesses suffer the owners of grounds adjoyning to the river to a low water mark , to build any wharfs , keyes , or ballast-shoars , though more convenient then any are , and would serve for many years without any prejudice to the river , to unlade all ballast at ; neither will they the said owners , sell their grounds to the said magistrates to be inslaved , by which means the river is spoyled . see stat. 34. hen. 8 , 9. * 30. ed. 1. ‖ see chap. 12. ( 6 ) 14. ) b. ) thomas horth , george philips , and tho. hasilwood , proves the like . chap. xxxv . ( a ) george philips captain , master of a ship of london upon his oath said , that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle is the cause of hindring a trade for coals , salt , &c. the greatest part of the winter season , to the great impoverishing of the two counties , northumberland and durbam , out of which all coals , salt , &c. comes ( none being to be had , nor ever was in newcastle ) by reason the foresaid mayor and burgesses having the pre-emption , and will not let the right inheritors sell their own coals to any ships ; ( b ) nor suffer any of the owners to build ballast-shoars upon their own land , except they wil sel it them . many of which places neer unto the shields , is far more convenient then any of those unlawful shoars belonging to themselves , at , or neer newcastle in the highest part of the river , which hath so much spoyled the said river , especially a place called the pace-sand , that it is the spoyl of many ships in sayling up and down to cast out ballast , and to take in coals . ( c ) that it must be a good neap tyde , that there is above ten foot and a half at high water . and most ships draw twelve foot . also where there hath lately been ten foot at low water in a place called the bill , there is not now above eight foot , occasioned by the sand and ballast falling off the towns ballast-shoars . ( d ) and that the river in the winter is often frozen , below the towns ballast-shoars , at the bill ( but never lower ) that no ships can get up to unlade their ballast , and take in coals , salt , &c. all salt being made at shields , where the river is never frozen , but all ships restrained from casting ballast there , though there be more convenient places , and would serve all ships to cast their ballast for above fourscore years without any hurt to the river or shipping . ( f ) and cause them to make more voyages in the year . john mors , walter keeble , james shrive , thomas hesilwood , rob. swallow , geo. hill , john keeble , henry harrison . and many other masters of ships , proves the like . ( b ) thomas hosilwood of london , master of a ship upon his oath said , that all the ballast-shoars above the bill-reach , have been the spoyl and ruine of the river of tyne , and doth beleeve that if no care be taken speedily therein , there will be no navigable river , to the utter impoverishing of those counties . and a great prejudice of the whole nation , the greatest part of navigation in that river being spoyled , as appears in most road-steads in the said river of tyne , what with the ballast falling in , and ships sunck , that when as within these twenty years , twenty ships of the burden of two hundred tuns could have rid afloat at low water . at st. lawrence road-stead , now not above three ships of the same burthen ; at the hands and dents hole road-steeds , where twenty ships of the same burthen , now not above eight can ride afloat . at st. anthonies , where twenty of the same burthen , now , not above three can ride afloat . at the bill road-stead , where twenty of the same burthen might have rid , now not above six . at the north road-stead , where twenty ships of the same burthen could have rid a float , now not above four . and at the south road-stead where twelve ships of the same burthen could have rid a float at low water , now not above three can ride . ( b ) and that within these few years when ships did cast ballast at shields without the molestation of the mayor and burgesses , ships made ten or twelve voyages in the yeer , whereas now , they can make but four or five voyages . see stat. 34. hen. 8 , 9. 23. hen. 8. 5. tho. hasilwood , rob. yaxley , geo. philips , walter keeble and hen. harrison , with many more masters of ships , prove the like . chap. xxxvi . a john hall. b ann wallice . c thomas rutter , d ann cliff. e free carpenter . f cliffs man. ( a ) henry harrison master of a ship upon his oath said , that in april 1646. a ship sailing into tinmouth haven , by storm was cast upon the rock near tinmouth castle . the master got a shoar with all expedition , and obtained the present help of an antient ship-carpenter , by name thomas cliff of north-shields with three of his men to save the said ship from perishing , which ship had been quite lost , if the said master should have run to newcastle to have agreed with the free carpenters , whose excessive rates * and demands , often surmounts the value of the ship in distress ; and their tediousness in coming and going that distance , that often the ships in distress are quite lost . ( b ) the said cliff and his men saved the ship and got her off , and brought her to the lower end of the north shields , and laid her upon the sands to mend her . where the three carpenters were at work . and ann the wife of thomas cliff , and ann wallice his daughter standing ( to see their servants work ) near unto the ship . ( c ) the mayor and burgesses of newcastle sent thomas rutter and john hall , two sergeants , with thomas otway , richard tederick and other free carpenters of newcastle to sheilds , to seize upon all the aforesaid work-men for daring to save any ship from sinking in that river , with command to carry them to prison . ( d ) the two women seeing their servants trailing away , railed against their evil practices , for which thomas rutter with a club , by several blows upon ann cliffs body and head knockt her down to the ground ; the other sergeant john hall , by several blows with a rule or trunchion broke ann wallice her arme , and then perceiving souldiers coming from tynmouth castle , both the said sergeants fled to newcastle , where they were protected from the hand of justice . ( e ) the said ann cliff was taken up , carried home , got to bed , and in few weeks dyed * thereon . for which the said rutter was indited , and found by the jury guilty , yet did not suffer . the said woman required her friends , as they would answer it at the last day , they should require her blood at the hands of rutter , he being her death . the poor men kept in prison * , and cliff kept in suit at law for his working by newcastle , and his men , and they forced to give bond never to work again . see chap. 25. ( b ) 29 ( e ) 30. ( f ) 1 edw. 6. 12. * . henry harrison , thomas cliff , and elianor lounsdale , all prove the like . chap. xxxvii . ( a ) thomas salkield gent. upon his oath said , that he being at shields in the county of northumberland , upon the two and twentieth day of may , 1653. saw a great number of men belonging to newcastle , with swords drawn , and pistols cockt , who invironed a gentleman , who was peaceably in his house , and shot at some of the said gentlemans servants , and beat his wife , and much blood was spilt , they pretending they came by warrant , and produced a warrant from the mayor , mr. william dawson , mr. john butler sheriff of newcastle , to take him and carry him away to prison under pretence of debt ; but the sea-men got ashoar , sell upon the said newcastle-men , wounded and disarmed them , and relieved the said gentleman . see stat. 2 edw. 3. 3. 4. ric. 2. 37. hen. 6. tho. salkield , lettice hume , mary hume , and many others , prove the same . ( b ) thomas salkeild , gent. upon his oath said , he knew a gentleman cast into newcastle prison upon a bare arrest in august 1652. and laid actions upwards of nine hundred pounds , where twenty pound could not bee recovered . and kept him lockt up in a prison from all comforts in a tower above 36 foot high , being forced to evacuate in the same room he lay , and eat his meat , by reason he was locked from the house of casement . ( c ) he offered good bayl , free-men of newcastle , who were accepted and entered in the book , and two daies after raced out again , and he still kept there . he desired to be admitted to defend his own cause in their court , but they refused it . ( d ) desired to go with a keeper to counsel , which was also denied : his friends and servants often not admitted to come to him . ( e ) proffered good bond to be a true prisoner , to the end he might have the benefit of the fresh aire , for preservation of his health , but at the goalers house , which the sheriff granted at the first , but presently after refused , saying , that the mayor , aldermen , and himself had a meeting , and resolved he should have no liberty , being an enemy against their privileges . ( g ) the said gentleman offered them that what any could recover against him by law , they should have it without law. ( h ) constrained to drink the goalors beer , not fit for mens bodies . ( i ) no tryall ever against him ; they disobeyed two or three habeas corpusses , which the sheriff received , and his fee , and was proffered to have their charges born , but never returned them . ( k ) refused substantial bond to appear at london before the judges , and after five months imprisonment , he brake prison in february following . ( l ) and he further affirms , that upon the third of february 1652. one john cuthberison being imprisoned upon an action of 5 l. debt , but no tryal ever had against him for the same , was upon this gentlemans getting away , cast into the dungeon by the command of the magistrates of newcastle , where they laid setters of iron upon him , to force a confession from him whether he did not help the said gentleman out ; where he lay upon the cold earth , without either bed , straw , or any other thing to keep him warm , or firing ; and fed him onely with bread and water , and fused comfort able subsistance to be brought unto him . ( m ) the poor man being not worth , in the whole world , forty shillings , and two children a begging , and himself kept in prison after this impression , begging for food . ( n ) and that he was certainly informed , that some of the officers of newcastle had counterfeited a letter , and set the gentlemans name to it , and read it to the said prisoner , thereby perswading him to confess he helped him out of prison . see stat. 23. hen. 6. 10. 1 edw. 1. 15. see chap. 41. thomas salkeild . hornes mirror saith , it is an abuse that prisoners be charged with irons before they be attainted , cap. 8. sect. 1. 2 edw. 3. 10. 1 edw. 3. 10. bracton saith , to lay a man in chains is against the law , for a prison is to keep , not to punish . and it is commanded by the law , that neither felon nor trespassor be punished nor tormented in prison , fo . 11. 17. fleta saith , it is lawful for sheriffs to keep prisoners in prison , but not to punish them , but keep them . &c. 33 hen. 1. p. inst . 54. see chap. 41. ( a ) chap. xxxviii . ( a ) ralph tayler publick notary and steward to the carpenters of newcastle , upon his oath at gateshead in january 1649. said , that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle did sue * , imprison * , and fine * robert johnson , alexander hearon , and william portice of the town of gateshead , john hubbert of south-shields , and john readhead , only for working upon ships in the river of tyne , being carpenters , and made them to pay their fines , imposed upon them by the mayor and burgesses . see stat. 2. edw. 3. 6. 28. edw. 3. 3 * . 9. hen. 3. 29 * . 43. eliz. 2 * . ralph tayler , and mich. bonner prove the like . ( b ) michael bonner merchant and water-sergeant of newcastle , at the same time upon his oath said , that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , arrested and imprisoned , and set a fine upon one john hardcastle a carpenter , for working upon a ship in the river of tyne , he not being a freeman of that corporation , and made him enter into a bond of 100 l. in may 1648. never to work upon his trade again , and made him pay his fine . michael bonner . ( c ) john hall upon his oath said , that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle did arrest , imprison , fined , sued , and forced bonds from one richard tayler , henry atcheson , and robert lambert , smiths , whose wives and families inhabits at north-sheilds in the county of northumberland , and thomas brocket , of gateshead in the county of durham , smith , for no other offence than for working upon their lawfull trades where they dwell ; tayler and brocket stood out suit ; atcheson entered into bond , never to work upon his trade to the ships on the river , and lambert kept in prison till almost starved * , his wife and six smal children begging for food . see stat. 9. hen. 3 : 29 * . 43 eliz. 2. john hall. ( d ) ralph bowes of newcastle late burgess , but disfranchized , upon his oath said , in january . 1649. that formerly he had seen an antient writing belonging to the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , purporting that it was unlawful for any tradesmen to work or live in any port adjoyning to the river of tyne , but onely at the town aforesaid , and that the mayor and burgesses have had the punishing of all such as did work . as also the correction thereof in that port , &c. ralph bowes . it is pitty this gentleman is not restored to his freedom again for this his great discovery . surely this said writing was made by the corporation themselves , it was so conscienciously drawn , it having so little regard to the weal of the publick . chap. xxxix . d. the mayor and witnesses . c. the master swearing . a. the master cutting a purse . b. the clarks telling the mony . to swear against themselves . to be imprisoned . to cut a purse . to pay a fine . are four punishments for one offence . ( a ) thomas hasilwood of london master of a ship upon his oath said , that all masters of ships , which sayleth into to the river of tyne for coals , salt , &c. the mayor and burgesses of newcastle compels them to * swear against themselves , whether they did not cast ballast at sea between sowter and hartly , or within fourteen fathom water , to the hurt of the said river of tyne . and when the said master hath sworn the truth , that he did not , then a poor drunken fisher-man , or other , is called into the town-chamber , and maketh oath that the master did cast ballast , when in truth he did not , he having part of the fine for the same . ( b ) then the masters oath is invalid and laid aside , * and forthwith is commanded to pay a fine of five pounds , or else to cut a purse , which hangs up in the town-chamber , with sand and money in it , and so much as is therein , he must pay , or is sent to prison , and there to lye till he doth pay it . see ch. 14. ( f ) * 12. 5. 17. k. charles ( 19. hen. 7. 7. ) tho. hasilwood , john lockwood , and sam. james masters of ships , proves the like . read these statutes . ( c ) thomas bradford of lyn affirms , that in , or about the year 1652. the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , compelled one richard nes●ing master of a ship to cut a purse * hanging up in the town chamber with monies in it , and paid money for so doing . see chap. 12. ( 5 ) stat. 8. eliz. 4. * tho. bradford . ( d ) in spain if any person do inform against another , let the suggestion be what it will , and the information never so false , the party informed against , is sent to prison , and there kept till he do confess that it is truth , and thereupon is lead to the stake and executed . ( e ) the heathen kings , when they condemn a person to dye for any offence , first sends him a pair of scales , and a weight . if the malefactor sends him so much gold as the weight weigheth , is saved , otherwise not . ( f ) the star-chamber practice was to put a man to his oath to betray himself , and confesse as much as he pleased , and then other witnesses were brought in against him , as that of the lord bucan , and the warden of the fleet upon a complaint made against the warden in the star-chamber , &c. stat. 17. charol . chap. xl. ( a ) iohn harrison of london upon his oath said , that all masters of ships belonging to the coal trade at newcastle , are compelled to swear how many coals and chaldrons they have aboard their ships at newcastle when they are loaden , which is impossible to swear , by reason they buy their coals by weight ; and often the masters occasions draws them aside , so are not then aboard when the coals are shipped , but trusts to his , or their mates . and often the coal-boat hath much water which weighs heavy . also great store of slates , and other rubbish : and often the ships are loaden in the night , so that this oath is a great vexation to their spirits , and disquieting thereof , and conceives that never a time a master swears but he is perjured , and often deceived by the keels-men in the nayles . cap. james greenway , proves the like . ( b ) the oath , ex officio . no man is bound by the law of god , or laws of the land of england to betray himself , in criminalibus , licet in contractibus , not in criminal offences , but in contracts and bargains , it may be whether he did make the contract or bargain in question , but never used to a malefactor , for if witnesses do not come in against him , he is cleared by law , and not put to his oath to accuse himself . ( c ) many are constrained to take an oath , de rebus ignotis , to answer to they know not to what , but gods command is , swear not at all . ( d ) query , whether it be lawful for one to swear being forced ? ( e ) the answer , magistrates may impose an oath , with these three limitations ; first , if the thing be weighty . secondly , if otherwise it cannot be known . thirdly , if it be not a snare to catch a mans self , or trick to make him accuse himself . secondly , magistrates should be very wary how they inforce or constrain men to swear , because they often thereby add fuel unto the fire of gods wrath , by making men forswear themselves ; and therefore it were better to loose the thing in question , than hazzard the loss of a brothers soul , by making him perjure himself . paul would rather chuse never to eat flesh , than to offend his weak brother . ( g ) if yee believe him when he swears , why not upon a solemn protestation ? it should be considered , whether such as is to be put to his oath , fears god ; then he dares no more lye than forswear himself : and if he fear not god , how will he fear to forswear himself ? ( h ) the practice in newcastle is worse , for notwithstanding a man is put to his oath against himself , it will not stand , but another is called in to swear point blanck against what he had sworn . chap. xli . ( a ) william ling master of a ship of ipswich upon his oath said , that henry truelove master of a ship with himself , did cast their ballast at sheilds upon a sufficient shoar , without any harm to the river , for which ( b ) the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , arrested them both , and detained them , till they did pay ten pounds fine for this offence , as they called it . ( c ) he this deponent , with mr. truelove tendered sufficient bail , freemen * , to answer the great council , or the common law for any thing that they had done . this they could not deny by their power . p. 17. n. 7. ( d ) but the mayor and aldermen sharply reproved the bonds-men for daring to offer themselves as bail . and told to him this deponent , and mr. truelove , that for a great council there was none : and for the common law , that they had within themselves , and needed not to yeeld to any other court : and that to prison they should go , and lye and rot , till they had paid the fine , p. 17. n. 7. and then cast them both into their stinking common goal , where onely a wall parted them and such as had the plague , where they lay in that sad and miserable condition in hazard of their lives . ( g ) and was forced to pay the said ten pounds , and all charges , besides the loss of their voyage , which amounted to above 80 li. to their owners . ( h ) * there was no tryal at law , nor any other offence committed , but they could get no right , by reason they were to have the fines , and being judges , jurors and witnesses in their own court , and for their own benefits . see stat. 11. r. 29 ( a ) see ch . 18. ( c ) 23. hen. 6. 10. see ch . 37. ( d ) 28. edw. 3. 3. ( f ) 1. rich. 2. 13. 99. ( g ) 1. ed. 3. 15. ( c ) william ling , and henry truelove , swears the like . ( b ) joseph priestly , with john walker the minister of jarrow , and twelve more upon a tryal at durham assizes , between the dean and chapters plaintiffs , against thomas talbot , and richard allen , gent. concerning the right of jarrow * slike , which by verdict was given to the defendants , upon their oathes said , that they knew jarrow slike by estimation three hundred acres , where a wall was building to have it a ballast-shoar for the good of ships and river , 22 feb. 1638. by ling , and truelove . and that the ballast which was cast thereon , was cast without any prejudice to the river , and there lay safe and sad , and that neither the wind could ever blow it off , nor the rain , nor waves could wash it into the river . see chap. 34. ( a. d. ) * joseph priestly , john walker . how long will yee give wrong judgement , to accept the persons of the ungodly ? psa . 82. 2. chap. xlii . ( a ) captain robert wyard of london upon his oath said , that he with his ship being in the river of tyne at newcastle , in novemb. 1649. where one of his ships company ( it seems ) did cast two or three straw mats out of one of his ships port-holes , yet to this deponents unknowledge , which could do no harm to the river , by reason of its swiming to sea * , but one edward green , and one wilkinson , two free-men of newcastle , standing a quarter of a mile from the ship upon the land , made oath at newcastle , that this deponent cast out ballast into the river , to the prejudice thereof . ( b ) whereupon the mayor and burgesses of newcastle seized him , and fined him twenty pounds ‖ for the same , and constrained him to pay ten pound of it , and ten pound to green , and eight pounds to wilkinson , and twenty four pounds more the suit cost him , being fined by them , for saying they were forsworn , to say he cast ballast into the river , when he neither did , nor was out of his cabin when the mats were cast in . * robert wyard . ( c ) and further saith , that the mayor and burgesses were plaintiffs , judges , jurors and witnesses in this cause of their own fines . see chap. 11. ( e ) stat. 5. eliz. 9. if these men be fined so high for so small an offence , and that igorantly ? what must those men that have offended arrogantly and knowingly a thousand times more ? thomas peach , master of the ann speedwel of ipswich , who by storm was cast upon the rocks near tinmouth castle , and for casting his ballast over-board to save his ship , was fined by the mayor and burgesses . mr. james talbot , for his men sweeping the bins of his ship where there could not lye above one shovel full of ballast , was fined five pounds , and laid it down ; some they took , and some they returned to him again . chap. xliii . ( a ) nicholas pye of london creup , upon his oath said , that mr. thomas partridge of gateshead master , being loaded at newcastle by thomas read , fitter , with bad and unmerchantable coals , which he had sold for good coals to mr. clark of london , and m. o●ridge , m. godfrey , m. harrison , and others at the rate of 31 l. the score , but proving so bad , that he was threatned to be sued by the said gentlemen that bought them , and was constrained to compound for the same , and lost 6 li. in every score . and that he hath known much bad coals , which the freemen of newcastle forceth masters of ships to take , to the great loss on all hands : nicholas pye. pray look into the tenth year of king james , what punishment hath been for the same formerly . the said thomas read did give 20 li. as part of satisfaction to the said m. tho. partridge the master , and in consideration of his great wrong , &c. ( b ) captain gregory butler , captain of a man of war for the parliament , upon his oath said , that in april 1650. he this deponent wanting some ballast for his ships use , being at shields , required a master of a ship of yarmouth , to cast his ballast into his ship for the states use , which the said master did with much care , and no prejudice to the river . ( c ) for which the mayor and burgesses of newcastle refused to suffer any coals to be laid on board of his ship , till he paid 5 li. fine for this contempt ▪ and forced him to pay a fine , and to pay eight pence for every tun of ballast ( besides ) computing it to 48 tun , and then , and not before , he could get any coals see chap. 44. gregory b●●ler . thomas partridge master affirms , that mr. alderman samuel rawling forced him to pay for 80 tun● of ballast , when he carryed but 42 tun. every freeman pays six pence the tun , and un-freeman pays eight pence , there is no warrant to demand any such sum . t●omas partridge . ( d ) richard leaver of ipswich , master of a ship upon his oath said , that for his casting out ballast at shields upon a more convenient shoar than any was at newcastle , and without any hurt to the river , went to newcastle to the coal-fitter to be laden , but could get none , by reason of a combination of the free hoast-men who had made a new ordinance * amongst themselves in the free hoast-mens court , that who should dare to sell a coal to any such master of a ship , as did not cast ballast upon the town shoars should forfeit twenty pound a time . ( e ) upon which this deponent waited above ten dayes and could not get coals for money , but at last prevailed with one of the fitters of coals at newcastle by promising him to save him harmlesse , and he would load him , which was done . for which the said mayor and burgesses cast the said fitter into prison , where he lay till a fine of five pound was paid for his ransome , with other charges , which he this deponent was forced to pay , besides losse of his voyage ; this was without any triall at law , &c. ( see 19. hen. 7. 7. * ) 28. ed 3. 3. rich. leaver . chap. xliv . ( a ) rich . leaver of ipswich master of a ship , upon his oath said , that for the only gain and advantage of some aldermen and a few other private persons of the town of newcastle , no masters of ships can be tollerated to cast ballast in any part , but at their ballast-shoars , which is unlawful and very prejudicial to the river and trade . and must often pay for eighty tun of ballast * when indeed there is but forty to be paid for . ( b ) and do hinder all coals from being sold to any ship which do cast ballast at shields upon as sufficient shoars , and better than the other , both for the good of the river , and lesse hurt to ships , and more voyages made in the year . ( c ) also that the mayor and burgesses do prohibit all the coal-owners in both counties of northumberland and durham for selling their own coals , it tending to the said owners utter undoing , and the cause of many voyages lost in the year , to the great prejudice of the poor , and much losse to the state. ( d ) and that there is more convenient places to build ballast-shoars , which will last for hundreds of years without hurt to the river , at , and neer shields , then where they are at present . see chap. 43. see the following deposition . richard leaver . cap. butler , samuel james , cap. philips , and jeremiah low , proves the like . ( e ) thomas cartwright of lyn merchant , upon his oath said , that by reason all coals are ingrossed and sold by the free-men , the mayor and burgesses of newcastle onely , tends to the great impoverishment of the coal-owners of the two counties , where all the coals are . ( f ) also that it is the cause of the high and excessive rates of coals at london and sea-coasts , and losse to the masters several voyages in the year . ( g ) and to the state likewise in customes of the three shillings per chalder . ( h ) and that he hath known many ships denied to be laden with coals , only for casting ballast at shields to their extraordinary losse , which is the cause of coals being sold the dearer , they staying so long for them . ( i ) and that the said mayor and burgesses being the sole cause hereof , and likewise engrosse all provisions coming in by sea ; and sets their own rates thereon , and takes excessive * towl , one peck of every grain of corn. see stat. 22. hen. 8. 8. * . see chap. 44. ( c ) ( a. ) tho. cartwright , mr. symonds , and wil. reavely proves the like . 1 the pre-emption of tyn , soap , salt , cards , &c. was adjudged grievous , and why not coals , which is of as great use , nay more , as appears by ordinance of parliament , 1640. ( a ) also they were damned by the judgement of the sage judges in sergeants-inn upon a conference then had before that parliament began , as being repugnant to the law. 2 and why a monopoly of coals more upon the owners , then on any thing else in england ? and more of them to be inslaved then any other people of england ? i appeal to god , the whole world , as also to the coal-engrossers themselves whether it be just ? &c. chap. xlv . ( a ) december 1653. a charge was exhibited to the committee for inspections , and advance of customes against mr. george dawson collector of the customes of newcastle , the contents being as follows , viz. ( b ) that the state hath been , and is much wronged in their customes in that port , by reason some of the said customers , are traders , merchants , &c. and many ships vexatiously troubled without just cause , onely by reason they buy not their coals from them , and ordinarily give coals for reparation custome-free . as also a second charge exhibited to the commissioners of customes , not doubting but to receive justice at either place , here follows the deposition , viz. ( c ) jonas cudworth of newcastle upon tyne draper , upon his oath * in december last , said , that mr. george dawson of newcastle , collector of the customes in the same port , did exercise the trade of a free-host-man * in the year 1651. and imployed for his fitter one tho. read , who loaded several vessels with coals , and cleared them in the name of the said mr. dawson . ( d ) and in the year aforesaid , one john grip master of a hoy belonging to hamborough , was laden with coals by the said thomas read ; and information being by this deponent to the survey or of the said port , by name mr. meriton , that the said grip had shipped a great quantity of coals more then he had cleared for , and paid the duty of customes . the said mr. meriton had acquainted the said george dawson herewith . after which notwithstanding , information was made , and seizure also should have been made . he the said george dawson did admit of a post entry of a small quantity of the said coals , and after cocket granted , and did not unload the said vessel to discover the fraud & seize the same . ( e ) this deponent further said , that about the same time , the said george dawson did unload another vessel belonging to peter hofman of dantzick to his great damage before any cocket granted ; and refused to let any entry be made , though offered before full loading . and for reparation thereof , he gave to the said master four chalder of coals custome free . and the said master , george dawson , had , and hath parts of ships , * and trades over sea with coals . ( see stat. 3. hen. 7 7. * ) 14. rich. 2. 10. jonas cudworth . ( f ) these are humbly , to certifie , that david lindiman master of a ship called the fortune of statin , did load his ship with coals in the said port of newcastle upon tyne , and cleared in the custome-house for threescore and twelve chalder of coals . and that jonas cudworth of this town came and told me , that the state was wronged of custome for forty chaldron of coals in that ship , and gave the names of the masters of keels or boats that laid the coals aboard , and requested they might be sworn , which was done , and the information found true . the said mr. lindiman did pay for forty chalder of coals , more then he had entred for in the custome-house , which custome amounted to fifty and odde pounds . all which i humbly conceive the state had been defrauded * of , if the said jonas cudworth had not informed thereof . see stat. 11. hen. 6. 15. tho. meriton surveyor . newcastle upon tyne 23. of march. 1643. it is the old proverb , foul birds bewrayes their own nest . if one ship could cheat the state so much as fifty odd pounds custome , what do hundreds of ships do ? see chap. 46. ( b. ) chap. xlvi . ( a ) george philips of london master and captain of a ship upon his oath said , that for his casting ballast at shields upon as sufficient ballast-shoars as any can be , could not obtain his loading of coals , for doing thereof , being denied by the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , and lay five weeks for the same , and at last obtained favor from one major tolburst , and mr. readnal , to furnish him with keels or lighters , to fetch such coals as he could procure . and when he had loaded his ship , mr. george dawson collector of the custome-house , and * officer of the corporation of newcastle , sometimes mayor , alderman , justice of peace , and merchant , and mr. george blackstone cheque of the custome-house , issued out a warrant under the town-seal and custome-house-seal , to seize his ship and coals upon the 19. of april 1651. which warrant is extant amongst the records at white-hall . see stat. 3. hen. 7. 7. * 11. hen. 6. 15. george philips . ( b ) coales the chalder at newcastle , doth cost the masters of ships ten shillings the chalder newcastle measure , and one shilling custome , ordained by queen elizabeth . for all coals carried beyond sea by any english man , pays by the chalder for coals and custome , eleven shillings four pence , as by an act of parliament of the 28. of march , 1651. appears . for all coals carried by any stranger , payes the chalder double , being for custome per chalder , two and twenty shillings eight pence , and argiere duties , &c. in all six and twenty shillings and ten pence custome , besides the price of coals and fraught . for all coals at the market in every port two shillings per chalder excise towards building of frigots . and for all coals sold by the tun one shilling per tun. and for all scotch coals two shillings six pence per tun. ( c ) and yet notwithstanding these impositions , coals might be sold for twenty shillings the chalder all the year long at london , with greater gain to the masters and seamen , if ballast-shoars , were at , or neer the shields . ( d ) provisions for the relief of the multitude of shipping above nine hundred sail , and the inhabitants there . ( e ) coals to be bought from the first hand , then there might be as many more voyages in the year , as now they make . ( f ) the masters of ships desires onely their due measure , and then they would not regard the odd chalder given to the score ; all which they are debarred of most unjustly , for commonly where ships takes in at newcastle one hundred thirty six chalder of coals , and expects to make at london two hundred and seventeen , or else loseth , besides having bad coals a long voyage , there are computed three hundred and twenty coal keels alias lighters , and every keel accounts to have carried every year eight hundred chalder of coals to ships , then judge how many thousand london . chalder is carried away . see chap. 23. john wrenham , robert re●x . chap. xlvii . people robbed in the open market , and others , onely passing through newcastle . a , c , e. three newcastle-men . b. isabel orde . d. john williamson . ( a ) elizabeth lumsdel , upon her oath saith , that one john williamsons wife and servants , having bought forty pounds worth of tobacco ( who dwelt at braughton in the county of cumberland ) which said tobacco , all duties of excise , custome or toul were paid , and carrying the same through newcastle towards carliste-market , one mr. huntley , and mr. stranguage merchants , made * a seizure of the said tobacco and horses , by order from the magistrates , pretending it were foreign bought , and foreign sold , * and therefore confiscate to their use . the poor people petitioned sir arthur heisterigge for the same , who interceded hard with them for the restauration thereof , but it was refused , yet they fearing sir arthurs displeasure , sold the tobacco for thirty pound , and restored to the poor owner but fifteen pounds thereof . ( b ) this deponent further affirms upon her oath , that about the same time one isabel , wife to henry orde sitting in open market selling a role of tobacco , who had paid all duties , the said mr. huntley , and mr. stranguage made * seizure by strong hand of the said tobacco from the poor woman , and would not acquaint them with the reason , whereupon in passion she called them robbing rascals , for which they sued her poor husband in their own court , and put him to great expences ; she this deponent , with the said isabel , hard petitioned judge thorp for her tobacco , who sent for the two merchants , and demanded the reason of their taking away the poor womans tobacco in the open market , who produced a warrant from the mayor , who likewise was sent for , by name mr. william dawson , the judge demanded of him , by what power he durst rob people in the market , who replyed , foreign bought , and foreign sold , my lord ; but command was given by the said judge to restore the same , but after departure it was not ; then the judge granted a warrant for restoring the same upon his going away , and when it was shewed the mayor , he snatched it , and put it up into his pocket , and would not restore the said tobacco ▪ but sleighted the said warrant . see stat. * 3. ed. 1. 24. ●1 . ric. 2. 7 , 27. ed. 1. 5. 6. ed. 6. 9. see chap. 49. 51. eliz. lumsdel . chap. xlviii . ( a ) lettice hume , upon her oath said , that no victual or other provisions coming in by sea for the relief of northumberland or county of durham is permitted to be sold at shields , but all is compelled to newcastle by the magistrates , and there ingrossed after three market dayes , tuesday , saturday , and tuesday , and payes double tole , * in and out , & pays double rates for the same , and that she hath often known boats , and provisions cast away , and peoples lives in going and returning from shields to newcastle in stormy weather too and from the market , namely , one william re● , with others in the year 1650. at the same time , and before , nor never any coronor sate upon any of the dead bodies , nor young mr. snape , &c. and that greater rates are given for provisions being bought up by the towns-men , then might be had at the first hand . see chap. 11. ( h ) 44. ( i ) 49. ( c ) * stat. 3. ed. 1 , 20. 23. ed. 3. 6. * mary hume , lettice hume proves the like . ( b ) mr. richard blewet , brother to commissary blewet affirms , that in , or about the year 1649. rye was at sixteen shillings the bowl in newcastle , none to be got for the poor , but from the merchant who had bought it all up , that the poor being in great want , sir arthur haslerigge caused the said commissary to lay out a thousand pounds of the publick stock upon rye , from the first ships that came , and to sell it for the relief of the poor , four shillings under the market , which was done . ( b ) the merchants of newcastle , proffered to his said brother , the market price for all the corn he had bought , which was sixteen shillings the bowl , when they saw the said commissary sell for eleven shillings per bowl to the poor , and the commissary was a great gainer at eleven shillings , and paid as much as the merchant . ( c ) and by reason the said commissary did refuse , some of them threatned , if ten thousand pounds would break his back in suit for daring to sell corn in their town , he not being a free-man , it should . this information i had from mr. blewet , who will make it good upon his oath , when called , and from mr. nich. ogle . they will neither doe good , nor suffer good to be done ; much like the dog in a manger . see stat. 5. 6. edw. 6. 14. 23. edw. 3. 6. 2. edw. 6. 15. 5. eliz. 12. chap. xlix . ( a ) william reavely of lyn , master of a ship upon his oath said , that by reason of the ships not casting ballast at shields , above four if not five voyages are lost in the year compleat . ( b ) that all provisions brought in by sea , are compelled up to newcastle ; and there ingrossed into the free-mens hands , people often going to market have lost their lives ; and many starved to death in the two counties , which cannot get to newcastle market in the winter season , by reason of the great storms of snows , and the river frozen , and no market allowed for the countries relief at shields , where many thousand of passengers , sea-men , and inhabitants are , being twelve miles from any market in the fame county . ( c ) that he this deponent , and ships company , hath often been constrained to go to sea without bread or beer , none being to be got at shields on a sudden , and have drunk water for above five daies , which hath so weakened his men , that they were in great danger of their lives . and that from newcastle , they often send down dead beer , and the casks but half or three parts full , from the brewers of the said town ; and bread wanting above two pence weight in the shilling , and not looked after by the magistrates . ( d ) that they the said mayor and burgesses of newcastle aforesaid , did ruin one mr. johnson , and mr. hilton for brewing at shields for the relief of the ships . and that they rooked from him this deponent twelve barrels of beer , which he brought from lyn for the relief of the poor at shields , and made it confiscate ; arrested him , and cast him into prison , sued him , and made him enter into sixty pound bond never to bring in any more . also kept a bag of hops which was sent to a friend in northumberland , and that he hath known them often do the like to others , they being judges , jurors , and witnesses in their own cause . ( e ) that they take excessive tole * , above a peck of corn of every grain brought to be sold by vessels , besides all other duties . ( f ) that the said magistrates force men to swear against themselves * , and will not tollerate any gentleman to build ballast-shoars upon their own land . ( g ) and that he this deponent hath seen ballast warrants signed by one of the magistrates * , only for keels to carry up ballast from shields , and hath seen the keel-men cast it into the river in the south road , to the rivers great damages * and often dirt cast into the river by servants brought out of the gates when no watchmen were kept . see ch . 39. ( a ) 12. 4 , 14. ( c ) 47. ( b ) 51. see sta. 27. ed. 1. * 51. hen. 3. 15 * . 11. hen. 7. 4 * . 5. 6. ed. 6. 9 * . 3. ed. 1. 20 * . 17. k. char. * william reavely . ( g ) hugh farrow of lyn , master of a ship upon his oath said , that he and his ships company having lyen so long at shields for a fair wind with the fleet , that when they had spent all their provisions , at no time could obtain any from shields , by reason obstructed by the magistrates . and having sent up his boat and some of his men for some at newcastle , the wind came fair , and on a sudden the ships all set sail to sea ; so that he this deponent must loose the protection of the fleet , and hazard himself to the mercy of the enemy , or must leave his men and boat behind , which the latter he did , and was constrained to drink stinking water for four daies , for want of beer , which might be conveniently got at shields . and he was in greater danger of loosing his ship for want of his men . hen. farrow . chap. l. ( a ) io : gardener of london upon her oath said , that within this seven and twenty years or thereabouts , she knew the usual practice of the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , was to ingross all provisions into their hands , as corn , &c. and have kept it * in their corn-lofts ‖ till so dear , and at such high and excessive rates that most people could not buy it . and that the people of northumberland , and county of durham , being in great want for bread , that many were constrained to let their beasts blood , and made cakes thereof to eat instead of bread , and in the spring time many of those beasts dyed being over-blooded . ( b ) other poor people killed their coal-horses for food , some eating d●gs , and cats , and starved : many starved to death * , sixteen or seventeen dead in a hole together ; and yet at the same time many hundred bowles of corn cast into the river being * rotten , and mouldy , and eaten with rats ; and some of those people boasting , they hoped to see the day a bowle of corns price should buy a silk gown . this was not in the time of war. and the countries might have had plenty , if it had not been ingrossed by them . see stat. 5. eliz 12. * 23. ed. 3 6 * . jo. garnerer . major will. burton late member of parlament , tho. hesilwood , and wil reavely , proves the like . ( b ) richard tayler upon his oath said , that the mayor and burgesses of newcastle do compel all iron and other necessaries , which comes in by sea for the salt-pans and colliers use , at and near shields to be carried up to newcastle , and unladen upon their town-key at the charge of the owner , and to pay toule , and the same vessels forced to sail back to shields empty , and often such vessels sinks by the way ; and their own vessels must be hired at their own rates to carry it back again to shields , being some times fourteen daies in getting down thither , though present use be for the same , and divers times cast away . so that ships utterly refuse to bring such commodities , to be put to such unnecessary and needless trouble and charge ; and this is done constantly , notwithstanding all duties are paid . and the ship or vessel comes onely for salt at shields where it is made , and not to newcastle , where they have no business , see sta. 21. hen. 8. 18. rich. tayler . will. reavely . ( c ) it were less damage to the commonwealth for allowing seamen for their encouragements 5 l. custom-free of goods , then thus to be abused by meer pretences of l●ss of custom , especially by such who wrongs the customs . see ch . 45. ( f ) chap. li. ( a ) alexander symonds of lin merchant , upon his oath said , that all commodities , as well dead vict●all , as other merchandize are compelled up to newcastle which comes in by sea ; and ther , by the mayor and burgesses , are ingrossed and bought up by them ; nothing to be landed elsewhere but at newcastle , notwithstanding all ships do lye at shields , and passengers ; and often in stormy weather , and river frozen , none can pass too and fro for any relief from thence , and none to be had elsewhere . and if there be any it is seized on by them of newcastle , and confiscate to their own use . namely beer from one will. reavely and divers others , see chap. 11. ( n ) 47. ( a ) 49. ( d ) 50. ( a ) alexander symonds , and thomas cartwright , depose the like . ( b ) captain james greenaway of london affirms , that his ship was at shields , in company with a fleet of loaden ships , where they all had lyen a long time for a fair wind , and had often spent their provisions . on a sudden the wind came fair , and the whole fleet set sail for london . he this deponent having spent all his bread , could get but two dozen at both shields , yet was necessitated to set to sea with the fleet , otherwise had lost their protection , if staid till he sent to newcastle for bread . ( b ) the whole fleet being at sea , the wind came cross , being a violent storm , that it was five daies before they could get so high as scarborough , some twenty leagues from newcastle , and then the storm ceased : and he this deponent got ashoar to scarborough for bread , when the wind coming fair the fleet sailed out of sight , so he lost their protection and company . ( g ) he getting aboard , and sailing after them , was taken by a dunkirk man of war , lost his ship , goods , and money ; his ●hip being worth 800 l. goods 200 l. and money 400 l. all which might have been saved , if bread , beer and provisions had been admitted to be sold at shields . onely are hindered by the tyrannicall power of the mayor and burgesses of newcastle . james greenaway . ( h ) john h●ulden , upon his oath said , that in or about the year 1648. a master of a ship was arrested and imprisoned onely for selling of a little corn to commissary west , by the mayor of newcastle , he alleaging the town was not served . but sir ar●bur hazlerigge caused the mayor to release the said master ; and demanded by what power , law , or right they ought to imprison any man for selling his own commodity in the market or key ; and told mr. ledger then mayor , if he did not release him the souldiers should . john holden . chap. liii . many poor women imprisoned , and hanged for witches . a. hangman . b. belman . c. two sergeants . d. witch-finder taking his money for his work . ( a ) ioh. wheeler of london , upon his oath said , that in or about the years 1649. & 1650. being at newcastle , heard that the magistrates had sent two of their sergeants , namely thomas s●evel , and cuthbert nicholson into scotland to agree with a scotch-man , who pretended knowledge to finde out witches by pricking them with pins , to come to newcastle where he should try such who should be brought to him , and to have twenty shillings a peece for all he could condemn as witches , and free passage thither and back again . ( b ) when the sergeants had brought the said witch-finder on horse-back to town ; the magistrates sent their bell-man through the town , ringing his bell , and crying , all people that would bring in any complaint against any woman for a witch , they should be sent for and tryed by the person appointed . ( c ) thirty women were brought into the town-hall , and stript , and then openly had pins thrust into their bodies , and most of them was found guilty * , near twenty seven of them by him and set aside . ( d ) the said reputed witch-finder acquainted lieutenant colonel hobson that he knew women , whether they were witches or no by their looks , and when the said person was searching of a personable , and good like woma● , the said colonel replyed and said , surely this woman is none , and need not be tried , but the scotch-man said she was , for the town said she was , and therefore he would try her ; and presently in sight of all the people laid her body naked to the waste , with her cloaths over her head , by which fright and shame , all her blood contracted into one part of her body , and then he ran a pin into her thigh , and then suddenly let her coats fall , and then demanded whether she had nothing of his in her body but did not bleed , but she being amazed replied little , then he put his hand up her coa●s , and pulled out the pin and set her aside as a guilty person , and child of the devil , and fell to try others whom he made guilty . ( e ) lieutenant colonel hobson perceiving the alteration of the foresaid woman , by her blood settling in her right parts , caused that woman to be brought again , and her cloathes pulled up to her thigh , and required the scot to run the pin into the same place , and then it gushed out of blood , and the said scot cleared her , and said she was not a child of the devil . ( f ) so soon as he had done , and received his wages , he went into northumberland to try women there , where he got of some three pound a peece . but henry ogle esq a late member of parlament laid hold on him , and required bond of him to answer the sessions , but he got away for scotland , and it was conceived if he had staid he would have made most of the women in the north witches , for mony . ( g ) the names of the prisoners that were to be executed , being kept in prison till the assizes , and then condemned by the jury being burgesses were , matthew bulmer , eliz. anderson , jane hunter , mary pots , alice hume , elianor rogerson , margaret muffet , margaret maddison , eliz. brown , margaret brown , jane copeland , ann watson , elianor henderson , elizabeth dobson , and katherine coultor . these poor souls never confessed any thing , but pleaded innocence ; and one of them by name margaret brown beseeched god that some remarkable sign might be seen at the time of their execution , to evidence their innocency , and as soon as ever she was turned off the ladder , her blood gushed out upon the people to admiration of the beholders . john wheeler , elianor lumsdel , and bartholomew h●dshon , proves the like . ( h ) the said witch-finder was laid hold on in scotland , cast into prison , indicted , arraigned and condemned for such like villanie exercised in scotland . and upon the gallows he confessed he had been the death of above two hundred and twenty women in england and scotland , for the gain of twenty shillings a peece , and beseeched forgiveness . and was executed . ( i ) the judgement nor execution is not in question , nor questioned , being ordinary ; but onely it being desired to know by what law the magistrates of newcastle could send into another nation for a mercinary person to try women for witches , and a bell-man to cry for them to be brought in , and twenty shillings a peece given him to condemn them ? ( k ) queery , and by what law men are hired to give evidence to take away peoples lives , and the convicted estates to come to the jurors , being extraordinary ? the lord protector , commands all judges , justices and witnesses to appear to execute justice , and give evidence gratis . queen elizabeth by her charter grants to the mayor and burgesses , all fines and fellons goods in that town and liberties , zech. 11. 5. see chap. 58. ( c. d. ) chap. lv. a. robert sharp . b. a●● biulestone . ( a ) iohn wil●is of ipswich upon his oath said , that he this deponent was in newcastle six months ago , and there he saw one ann biulestone drove through the streets by an officer of the same corporation , holding a rope in his hand , the other end fastned to an engine called the branks , which is like a crown , it being of iron , which was musled * over the head and face , with a great gap or tongue of iron forced into her mouth , which forced the blood out . and that is the punishment which the magistrates do inflict upon chiding , and scoulding women , and that he hath often seen the like done to others . ( b ) he this deponent further affirms , that he hath seen men drove up and down the streets , with a great tub or barrel opened in the sides with a hole in one end , to put through their heads , and so cover their shoulders and bodies down to the small of their legs , and then close the same called the new fashioned cloak , and so make them march to the view of all beholders ; and this is their punishment for drunkards , or the like . ( c ) this deponent further testifies , that the merchants and shoe-makers of the said corporation , will not take any apprentice under ten years servitude , and knoweth many bound for the same terme , and cannot obtain freedome without . 5. eliz. 4. these are such practices as are not granted by their charter law , and are repugnant to the known laws of england . ( d ) drunkards are to pay a fine of five shillings to the poor , to be paid within one week , or be set in the stocks six hours , for the second offence , to be bound to the good b●haviour , 1 k. james 9. 21. 7. ( e ) scoulds are to be duckt over head and ears into the water in a ducking-stool . ( f ) and apprentices are to serve but seven years 5. eliz. 4. i was certainly informed by persons of worth , that the punishments above , are but gentle admonitions to what they knew was acted by two magistrates of newcastle , one for killing a poor work-man of his own , and being questioned for it , and condemned , compounded with king james for it , paying to a scotch lord his weight in gold and silver , every seven years or thereabouts , &c. the other magistrate found a poor man cutting a few horse-sticks in his wood , for which offence , he bound him to a tree , and whipt him to death , related by william wall vintner in gates-side , tho. watson scrivenor on sandhill , and ralph watson late minister in northumberland . chap. lvi . ( a ) five and twenty years ago , upon the trial with the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , and sir robert * heath the judgement of the most ancient and experienced masters of the trinity-house in london , were required in answer to the town of newcastles objections , as is upon record in the trinity-house . ( b ) newcastles saith , if ballast-shoars be suffered to be built at , or near the shields * it would hinder the towns trade , and ●ndanger the river of tyne . neither can any ballast-shoars be built at shields below a ful sea-mark , or in any part of the river by any but newcastle , by reason all that ground to a full sea-mark on both sides the river , is the towns by charter from sparhawk to headwin streams , fourteen miles in length . see chap. 20. ( a ) 19 ( e. g ) ( c ) answer , to the first , it will not hinder the town of trade , but advantage the whole nation , especially that town , by reason double trade will be drove thereby , and cause coals to be cheaper at half rates then now they are at , and the river better preserved . ( d ) secondly , it will better the river , for inning of void and waste grounds and flats in rivers causeth the streams to be more strong , and run more swift , which thereby will soowr and cleanse the channel , and consequently gain more water to the river , preserve the banks from falling into it , help navigation , for the deeper the water , the more navigable , the lesse danger , and more safety for ships . see chap. 19. ( h ) * ( e ) it is also answered by others , if the ground to a full sea-mark be theirs ; then why should they proffer to king charles * two hundred pound for jarrow-slike , 1637. all which the water covers , and is within a full sea-mark . see 20. chap. ( c. d. ) ( f ) also why should thomas bonner the alderman , buy sir henry gibs his ballast-shoar to a low water-mark at jarrow for his use from the town ( were it theirs before ? ) ( g ) and why should mr. gibson * swear none of that ground which they claim to a full sea-mark is theirs ? see 34. chap. ( b. ) ( h ) in the treasury at westminister those ancient records , will quickly decide the controversie , making it appear , that the one third part of the river on the south-side belongs to the gentry of the country of durham , and all grounds to a low water-mark ; and the like on the north-side to the gentry of northumberland , and the other third part free for ships and vessels to sail too and fro , for the relief of the inhabitants . see chap. 34. ( a ) ( * ) ( b ) see chap. 4. ( * ) ( i ) it is too much , that the corporation should be lords of both the sea , and all the land. and it is too little , the commoners in both counties , should have neither sea nor land , being born to all alike . a quo warranto would know by what power they claim one shilling for every ballast bill , one shilling for every salt bill , three pence for every chalder of coals , two pence for every weigh of salt , and eight pence the tun for all ballast , and i am confidently perswaded ( k ) would void them all , for they are neither customary , nor warrantable by law , ( so unlawful ; ) as for other duties , as tunage and poundage , customes , lightage , otherwise called beaconage , boyage , for maintaining of peers , and ancoridge with tole , it will hardly be questioned , except abused , let them complain that are agrieved &c. see stat. 30. edw. 1. 1301. instead of a mayor in that , and such like corporations , a king cattelus spirit to govern , were better , who hanged up all oppressors of the poor , for an example , whereby he reigned twenty yeers in peace : also a lud , who made good laws , and took away all usages that were bad , and reigned long in peace and plenty . chap. liv. his excellencie , o liuer cromwell , generall of all the forces of england scotland , & ireland , chancelour of the vniversity of oxford , lord protector of england . scotland and ireland . rg . fecit . peter stent ex● : 1653. an act for a free-trade in the river of tyne for coals , salt , &c. ( a ) whereas trade and commerce is become now more than formerly the interest of this nation ; and it is therefore the duty , as well as the wisdome of this parliament , to secure and advance the same : and in order thereunto , and for other great ends of honour and safety to increase the shipping , and incourage navigation . and and whereas a great part of the stock , and wealth of this nation lyes in the well husbanding and managing of those home commodities of coals and salt , milstones , glasse , the chief trade whereof is exercised upon the river of tyne . and in the county of northumberland and durham . ( b ) and whereas the parliament hath been informed of great exorbitances done and committed , by the town and corporation of newcastle upon pretence and colour of powers , priviledges , and franchises granted to the said corporation , whereby it appears , ( c ) that the free and quick trade of those staple commodities , hath been much obstructed , the river made dangerous , and in many places almost un-navigable , and encrease of shipping , so considerable a nurcery of martiners greatly ruined , and navigation too much discouraged ; for remedy herein . ( d ) be it enacted , declared , and ordained by this present parliament , and by the authority thereof , that all former powers , priviledges , and grants made , and granted to the town and corporation of newcastle , or to any other person or persons whatsoever for the conservancy of the river of tyne , be , and are hereby repealed , made void , and null , and the committee of the admiralty by authority of parliament , or any five of them , be , and are hereby authorized and required to nominate and appoint fit and able persons , as well of the counties of northumberland and durham , seacoast , and port of london , as of the town and corporation of newcastle , to have the charge of , and to be conservators of the river of tyne , and to invest , and impower the said persons , with all priviledges and power necessary , to enable them for the better , and more effectual carrying on , and performance of the said service . ( e ) and the said commissioners are hereby further impowred , and enable from time to time , to give , and prescribe unto the said conservators , rules , and instructions for to observe and pursue , and to require obedience thereunto , and to receive and examine complaints , and to hear witnesses upon oath ( which oath they the commissioners or any three of them are hereby enabled to administer ) and to punish offenders by reasonable fine , and punishment by imprisonment , and to displace , and to remove conservators upon just and reasonable cause , and to lessen , or adde to their number as they shall see cause , and to direct and order all other matters requisite , and necessary for the conservancy of so famous and commodious a river , and for preventing of all such damages , mischiefs , and newsances as may hurt or ruine the same , and to settle a stipend upon the said conservators , and to direct the same , and other necessaries , and incident charges to be allowed , and issue out of the profits of the said river . ( f ) and be it further enacted and ordained that sufficient and well fenced ballast shoars , keys , and steaths be built and erected either at shields , or such other convenient place , as the said conservators , or the major part of them shall think fitting ; and the said conservators are authorized and required to use and direct all good wayes and means according to such powers and directions as they shall from time to time receive from the said commissioners of the admiralty to prevent and remedy all damages that may happen by losse of ships , and mens lives at sea , by casting their ballast over-board , or into the river , at unseasonable times , or unfitting places , or from the ballast-shoars , being carelesly kept through great winds , rains , or other casualties washing down the ballast , and that from henceforth , no masters of any ships , or other vessels , be constrained to go up the river , and to heave out their ballast at the shoars belonging to the town of newcastle , or be hindred to load coals , or discharge their ballast , where they may with most conveniency and safety perform it , as well to the road-steads it self , as to their shipping . ( g ) and further , that all masters of ships , trading to the said river of tyne , have hereby liberty and power to make use within the said river of what ship-carpenter , or ship-wright , or other artificers or persons they please , and find fittest for their own conveniency in times of distresse and necessity . ( h ) and of what able sea-men they shall think fit for pilots . ( i ) and have hereby liberty to buy , or take in at any place of the said port of river , bread , and beer , and other necessaries for their own spending and victualling . ( k ) and that all goods and provisions which come in by sea , for the use of the salt-works , colleries , and other buildings , at , or near the shields , may be delivered at the shields , course being taken for paying and satisfying all duties payable for the said goods and provisions . ( l ) and all persons , who are willing , are hereby encouraged , and have liberty to build ships and vessels on the said river , for the encrease of trade and navigation . ( m ) and that all this be done without any fine , imprisonment , confiscation , or other molestation of any person , vessell , or goods , for , or in reference to any of the princes , any law , usage , practice , custome , priviledge , grant , charter , or other pretence whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding ; provided alwayes , ( n ) and it is hereby enacted , that no ship , or vessell whatsoever , that shall bring in any kind of merchandize or grain for the proper use of the town of newcastle , usually coming to the said town of newcastle , and places adjacent beyond , shall deliver , or land the same , or any part thereof , at any other place within the said harbour or port , but at the said town , or as near to it as formerly have been accustomed . ( o ) and to the end so useful a commodity at that of sea-coal , wherein the poor of this commonwealth are so principally concerned , may come cheaper to the market ; and that coal-owners may not be in a worse condition then the rest of the free people of this nation . be it enacted and ordained , that the said coal-owners in the respective counties adjacent to that river , may , and have hereby liberty to let leases of their coal-pits , and to sell their coals to whom they please , as well to ships , as else-where for benefit of the publick , though they be not free of that corporation of newcastle , due course being taken for securing , paying , and satisfying to the state all duties payable thereupon . and be it further enacted , that north-shields in the county of northumberland be made a market-town two dayes in the week to be holden , or munday and thursday , for the relief of the country , the garrison of tynmouth castle , the great confluence of people , and fleets of ships , and that the commissioners of the great seal , be hereby authorized to issue out such powers as are requisite , and usually done to other markets in the commonwealth . this is the copy of what was to have passed after debate , if the late parliament , had continued , &c. appointed to be drawn up by order . having given a short relation of the sad events by charters , and acted by subjects , i shall now trouble your eye and ear to her what kings have done to these poor northern people formerly . therefore now deliverance is expected , &c. leaving it to the judgement of the reader to judge whether it be not time , &c. viz. the danes laid claim to the crown of england , the kings laid claim to the peoples lives ; and corporations to their estates , ( what was free ? ) judge what reason england hath to submit to those illegal charter-laws , invented by a prerogative , whose usurpation was not to be owned , as by the sequell appears ; king harrold who assumed the crown of england to himself , lead an army to battell in sussex , where william the conqueror , bastard earl of normandy met him , having the assistance of the earl of flanders , by reason he was promised a good part of england if he conquered it , at which place king harrold was killed , and sixty seven thousand nine hundred seventy four english-men , in the year 1060. at which time he consumed many towns , subduing where ever he came , except kent , who contracted to hold their land in gavel-kind , all england else being over-come by this said stranger , &c. when the normans ruled england , the laws were in that tongue , but they being extinguished , we find the benefit of our laws in our own tongue , and doubts not but to be restored to our ancient right ; for so long as monarchs were rulers , monopolies were in force , but now such power being thrown out of doors , and being become a civill free state under the government of our own free-born ; chosen , according to the command of god , as deut. 17. 14 , 15. by which monopolizers dare not assume to petition for a revival of such their illegal grants , being found to be the greatest of evills in a commonwealth . all kings were sworn that justice should neither be bought nor sold , nor any hindred from it ; to ordain good laws , and withstand all rapines , and false judgements . charters are no other than commissions , impowring persons uncapable of the laws , to be judges and justices in every respective corporation , which charter and commission is sold , and the members thereof are judges in their own causes . so justice is both bought , and sold , besides breach of oath , neither can a foreigner obtain any right , if it be against the said corporation , so that it is right in these judges judgement to do wrong . i shall give you a short relation of the miseries , the county of northumberland hath tasted of to this day from william the conqueror , and what little need there is newcastle should so tyrannize over them , &c. william the conqueror having killed many , and destroyed the land , and brought under his subjection , the people , caused such who did oppose his forces , at ely , to have their legs and hands cut off , and their eyes put out , and then gave liberally to all his norman race , earldoms , baronies , bishopricks honours , mannors , dignities , and farms , all being got by the sword ; upon his divisions , &c. the earle of flanders sent to know what part he should have for assisting him , who sent him word nothing at all , by reason all was but little enough for himself ; then he gave to his son robert cuming the earldome of northumberland , who in possessing of it , acted such cruelty with his army , which came against malcolm king of the scots . the said robert built the castle called the newcastle upon the river of tyne in the county of northumberland , about which was built the town called newcastle , the town taking its name from the newcastle , and not the castle from the town , the said northumberland being so oppressed , that they fell upon robert son to the conqueror , killed him , and his whole army ; upon which william the conqueror sent another army , who had command to kill both men , women , and children , who did it , and wasted the whole county , that for nine yeers there was not any food to be got : and such who had hid themselves in coal-pits , and other places , were constrained to eat dogs and cats , dead horses , and mens flesh , and many of them starved to death , all which nine years time not any ground tilled . northumberland being recruted , and most shamefully abused by the bishop of durham , who killed levisus , was killed by them , for which william the conqueror sent down odo , with an army , who totally laid northumberland to waste , cut off the heads of all the people after they had dismembred them . little of confession or repentance was by king john , as was by william the conqueror , for he upon his arrest at the suit of death , confessed he had committed many outrages , and won england by the sword , and not by inheritance , and was heartily sorry for the wrongs he had done , and required his body to be buried at cain in normandy , when he was dead , they would not affoard him a burial-place till such time as one of his relation was constrained to purchase so much ground , but soon after they defaced his tomb , took up his bones , and brake them , and cast them away . in the fifteenth year of king richard the second , the scots burnt all the towns of northumberland , and the north , as far as york , except rippon , who redeemed themselves with a sum of mony . in the sixth year of king edward the third , 1332. a great battel was fought between the english and the scots near barwick , where was killed eight earls , fifteen hundred horse , and thirty five thousand foot. in the thirteenth year of king edward the third , 1339. an inundation of water surmounted the wall of newcastle , and broke down six pearches in length and drowned one hundred and sixty persons neer the wark knowl . in the year 1345. william douglas lead into northumberland above thirty thousand scots , and fired many towns , but was overcome by a stratagem with bishop ogle . the next year 1346. king david , king of the scots , entred northumberland with a great army , and fought at nevils-crosse , where he was overthrown , himself taken prisoner by one copland of northumberland , who had five hundred pound per annum given to him , and to his heirs for ever . in king richard the seconds dayes 1379. the scots entred england , and killed all men , women and children in the north parts notwithstanding the plague was sorely amongst them . 1383. the scots entred england , and lead all the people away prisoners that were in northumberland , and laid that county to waste . 1384. they entred again , and did the like . 1389. the scots again invaded england , where a great battel was fought at o●terborn in northumberland , where they were over-thrown , and eleven hundred killed , and thirty thousand put to flight ) who upon their flight killed men , women , and sucking babes , and filled houses with people , two hundred in a house , and then shut the doors , and fired the houses . 1399. king richard the second , caused seventeen counties to be indicted , pretending they were all against him ; with the duke of glocester , arundel , and warwick , and commanded them all to give it under their hands , and seals , that they were traytors , though indeed they never were : and then he makes them pay some a thousand pound , some more , some lesse . king henry the fourth ; great fights were between doughlas and piercy in the north. and in the years 1639. and 1643. and 1648. it being well known to all , the misery they brought upon the north , and heavy impositions both upon the north and south parts , as appears in the close of the epistle to the reader , &c. it is no small mercy that we now live so in peace , here being none of those bloody times , and our ancestors would willingly have enjoyed this mercy , and we hunger after blood which they wallowed in , what bloody minded men are these ? i wish them in better minds , and to be contented with that which in former times could not be obtained . many have admired the poverty of northumberland , as well they may , for what with the bloody tyrants , the scots on the north of that poor county , and oppressive corporation of newcastle on the south thereof , bounded in with the high-lands on the west , and the sea on the east , that it can get nothing but stroaks , and worried out of what they have , and not being tollerated to make use of their own , and cold blasts from the sea ; but it would be otherwise if such gentlemen might be re-imbursed for such sums of money as they would expend to vend coals out of hartly , blithe , and bedlington rivers , which be convenient places to vend them at , after some charge , which would be done , by having either their money again , or custome free , for some years to re-imburse them , which would not onely make that poor county as rich as any is , but reduce the excessive rates of coals and salt , and bring in many thousands per annum into the publick revenew , &c. enable the people to be serviceable , and abundantly increase trade and navigation , as also there being as good coals as possibly can be burnt , which now lyes , &c. and others not knowing their right is stript of it . but if one thing they look after , which is to examine some records , they may perceive what is their rights , and which was , especially in a book lodged in the exchequor , made in the year 1080. it being called domus dei , or dooms day , being a perfect survey of all the lands in england , the rent , value , quantity &c. by which william the conqueror taxed the whole nation , and it goeth by the name of the role of winton , being ordered to be kept in winchester , and recites the earldomes , hundreds , tythings , woods , parks , and farms , in every territory and precinct , with plowlands , meadows , marshes , acres , &c. what tenements , and tenants , then the corporation of newcastle , might be as glad to keep what is their own , as they are to take from others , &c. chap. lvii . the reason of my collecting these few statutes is , to shew how they are intrenched upon by an illegal charter , and pressing upon a remedy shal , cite poulton , which is , that seeing we have all received , and allow it for truth , that the ignorance of the law , doth excuse none of offence ; and also that the law doth help the watchful , and not the sloathful man. therefore it behoveth each person first to seek the knowledge of those laws , under which he doth live , and whereby he is to receive benefit , or to sustain peril , and next with all industry to frame his obedience unto them , or humbly to submit himself to the censure of them . and though we find by experience that some men by the sluggishnesse of their natures , others by the carelesnesse of their own welfares ; and a third sort wholly given over to pleasures and vanities do little respect to know , and lesse to obey our criminal and capital laws , being things of great moment & importance , and therefore do oftentimes taste the smart of them , and repent of their follies when it is too late . many there be that by reading , desires to conceive them , others for increase of their knowledge , others in their actions , to be directed by them ; therefore to content such as knoweth not as yet , these heads that they may know what they condemn , and do tend to the breach of the peace of the realm , and to the dislike of all the good members thereof ; and what punishments she hath imposed upon the transgressors therein , and by whom , and in what manner to be inflicted especially upon murder , robbery , riots , forgery , perjury , extortion , and oppression , in any of which cases , any person maketh it his own cause , and doth in a sort take it to be done to himself , and ought to reduce the transgressor ; nay his highnesse by his oath , and all people else are bound to punish them as being transgressors of his laws and disquieters of the peace , therefore ought to be rooted out , as the husbandman the thistle from the good corn , and the gardner his nettles from his sweet flowers , wherefore seeing a guilty person in any of the offences aforesaid is persecuted in deed , or consent by all , wishing well to the weal-publick , or their own private estate . it is requisite that good men which eschew to offend for the love of vertue , and evill men , which fear to offend for the dread of punishment , should both know those laws , which they are to make use of , and the penalties which be threatned to the infringers thereof , to the intent the good man having a will to stand , may trust to his feet , remain firm , and continue his integrity , and the evill man beginning to stagger , may bend his endeavour to stay and slide no further ( this labour ) being to the intent that the well-meaning man being made the better , and he or they that before were lewdly disposed , the lesse hurtful , may all at the last meet and joyn in seeking and ●urtherance of that peace which will be comfortable to the lord protector , and nation , and pleasing both to god and man. these laws are preservers of the peace , and layes heavy punishments , upon the withstanders , or deniers thereof they are his highnesse privy councellors incessantly , respecting the preservation of his person , and dignity ; they be as his gentlemen pentioners attending daily his presence to do him all honor and service , being as the yeomen of his guard , waiting day and night to protect him , for his protecting the nation and them , and from all forcible assaults , and other perils . also they be as his great and goodly ships , which hath purchased freedome on the seas , and now lyes hovering up and down as his castles , and strong forts of defence as wel as they which stand upon the land , wherewith he doth prevent foreign hostility , represse inward tumults , & so keep himself and the people in peace and safety : likewise as his judges , justices , sheriffs , constables , and other officers , watching every hour and moment , in all shires and counties , places , and corners of the nation , to represse outrages , and to maintain peace . to maintain these laws , every good member hath the like benefit as himself hath , for in fear of them , every person doth enjoy his life and limbs in peace , and is defended from the bloody-minded murderer , and man-queller , and the rage of the furious quarreller and fighter , and in fear of them , the house-keeper resteth in peace with his wife and family under his own roof , the terror hereof doth often restrain godlesse people from committing perjuries , frauds , and deceits , and impudent and shamelesse men to wrest from others by bribery , extortion or oppression . and divers there be who neither by the laws of god , of nature , or reason , will be bridled and reduced to vertue , yet by the penalties , and fear of our capital and criminal laws , do yeeld to be curbed . and we should now observe with what care our forefathers had from one age to another , and what ordinances they established in parliament , that several penal , criminal and capital laws and statutes , should be read , or proclaimed in churches , in fairs , in markets , at the general assizes , and quarter-sessions of every county , at leets and law-dayes , and in every inns of court , and chancery , and how the same is continued and put in practice , to the intent that the same laws , and the penalties thereof , should be heard , learned , known , and understood by all sorts of persons , willing to perceive , and apprehend the same . charter-law is not so , but like the foul spirit in the air , still ranging , never at rest , nor will let others take any , never seen , but heard in every corner , striking at the pure law , to advance it self , it forces people to a kind of an order in a town , and the whole nation to a disorder . the chiefest reason , why i give a recital of the penal-laws , is , that the ignorant may see how well they are provided for , and not to be left blind , and only being instructed by the extortioner himself , what they must pay for fees , &c. ( but that they may know themselves ) and to remedy themselves when offended , for such oppressors would discover no more , for safety of their purses , or bodies , then care was taken formerly for others souls , when it was ordained that the bibles should be in latine , and not in english , as appears by statute the 34. of henry 8. several persons restrained from reading the bible in english , &c. to keep them in ignorance , &c. chap. lviii . the oath of an attorney at law. ( a ) you shall do no falshood , nor consent to any to be done in the court , and if you know of any to be done , you shall give knowledge thereof unto my lord chief justice , or other his brethren , that it may be reformed ; you shall delay no man for lucre or malice ; you shall increase no fees , but shall be contented with the old fees , accustomed ; you shall plead no foreign plea , nor suffer no foreign suits unlawfully , to hurt any man , but such as shall stand with order of the law , and your conscience ; you shall seal all such proses as you shall sue out of the court with the seal thereof , and so the kings majesty , and my lord chief justice discharge for the same ; yee shall not wittingly , nor willingly sue , nor procure to be sued any false suits , nor give aid , nor consent to the same , in pain to be expulsed from the court for ever . and furthermore ; you shall use your self in the office of an attorney within the court according to your learning and discretion . so help you god. see stat. 3. k. james 7. the oath of an vnder-sheriffe , bayliffe of franchises , deputies , and clerks of sheriffes , and vnder-sheriffes . stat. 27. eliz. 12. ( b ) i ( a. b. ) shall not use or exercise the office of under-sheriffe corruptly during the time , i shall remain therein . neither shall or will except ; rejoyce , or take by any colour , means , or device whatsoever . or consent to the taking of any manner of fee or reward of any manner of person or persons for the impanielling or returning of any inquest jury , or tales in any court of record , for the queen * or between party and party above two shillings , or the value thereof , or such fees as are allowed and appointed for the same by the lawes and statutes of this realm . but will according to my power , truly and indifferently with convenient speed , impanel all jurors , and return all such writ or writs * , touching the same , as shall appertain to be done by my duty or office during the time i shall remain in the said office , so help me gd , and by the contents of this book . the reason i write these oaths is , that perjury may the better appear to be punished in officers as well as others . the oath of a jury . ( c ) you shall truly enquire , and due presentment make , of all such things as you are charged withall , on the lord protectors behalf , the lord protectors council , your own , and your fellows , you shall well and truly keep , and in all other things the truth present . so help you god , &c. the oath of those that give evidence to a jury upon an indictment . ( d ) the evidence you shall give to the enquest upon this bill , shall be the truth , the whole truth , and nothing but the truth ; and you shall not let so to do for malice , hatred or evil will ; nor for meed , dread , favor , or affection . so help you god , and the holy contents of this book . chap. lix . king charls his oath at his coronation , with his hand upon the bible at the altar . ( a ) sir , will you grant and keep , and by your oath confirm to the people of england their lawes and customs to them granted by the kings of england , your lawfull and religious predecessors , and namely , the laws , customes and franchizes granted to the clergy and to the people by the king st. edward your predecessor , according , and conformable to the laws of god , and profession of the gospel established in this kingdom , and agreeing to the prerogatives of the kings thereof , and to the antient customs of this realm ? respons . i grant , and promise to keep . sir , will you keep peace and agreement intirely according to your power , both to god , the holy church , the clergy , and the people ? respons . i will keep it . sir , will you to your power , cause law , justice and mercy , in discretion and truth , to be executed in all your judgements ? respon . i will. sir , will you grant to hold and keep the laws , and rightfull customs * , which the commonalty of your kingdom have , and to defend and uphold them to the honor of god , so much as in you lieth ? respons . i grant and promise so to do , and shall observe and keep . so god me help and the contents of this book . king johns oath and fealty to the pope innocentius , an. dom. 1213. ( b ) john by the grace of god , king of england , france and ireland , from this hour forward shall be faithful to god * and to st. peter , and to the church of rome , and to my lord pope innocentius and to his successors lawfully entering , i shall not be in word and deed , in consent or counsel , that they should loose life or member , or be apprehended in evill manner ; their loss if i may know it , i shall impeach and stay so far as i shall be able , or else so shortly as i can , i shall signifie unto them and declare the same unto you the councill , which they shall commit unto me , by themselves , their messengers , and their letters ; i shall keep secretly and not utter to any man to their hurt to my knowledge , the patrimony of st. peter , and especially the kingdom of england and ireland . and i shall endeavor my self to defend against all men to my power . so help me god , and the holy evangelist , amen . see his reassignation of the liberties after this oath to the barons of the liberties of england in ch . 1. ( k ) chap. lx. the oath of a mayor of a corporation . ( a ) you shall swear that you well and truly shall serve the keepers of the liberties of england by authority of parliament , and the commonwealth in the office of a mayor , and as mayor of this town and borough of newcastle , for and during the space of one whole year now next coming ; and you shall minister equal justice as well to the poor as rich * , to the best of your cunning , wit and power , and you shall procure such things to be done as may honestly and justly be to the profit and commodity of the corporation of this town . and also shall indeavor your self to the utmost of your power to see all heresies , treasons , fellonies , and all other trespasses , misdemeanors * , and offences whatsoever to be committed * within this town and borough , during the time of your office to be repressed , reformed and amended * , and the offenders duly punished according to the law * . and finally , you shall support , uphold and maintain the commonwealth , within this town prescribed , customs , rights , liberties , jurisdictions , franchizes , compositions and all lawful ordinances of this town and borough * . and as concerning all other things appertaining to your office , you shall therein faithfully , and uprightly behave your selfe for the most quietness * , benefit , worship , honesty , and credit of this town , and of the inhabitants thereof . so help you god. the oath of burgesses of corporation . ( b ) you shall swear that you well and truly shall serve the keepers of the liberties of england by authority of parliament , and the inhabitants of this town , and borough of this town , as one of the burgesses of this town , and shall minister equall justice to poor and rich , after the best of your cunning , wit , and power . and also shall well and truly observe , perform , fulfill and keep all such good orders , rules and compositions as are or shall be made , ordered , or established by the common-council of this town , for the good government thereof , in all things to you appertaining . and you shall not utter or disclose any counsel , or secret thing , or matter touching the fellowship or corporation of this town , whereby any prejudice , loss , hinderance , or slander , shall or may arise , grow or be to the same corporation : but you shall in things belonging to the fellowship or corporation of this town , faithfully , honestly * , and indifferently behave your self for the most benefit , and honesty of this town and the inhabitants thereof . so help you god. the same oath is for the aldermen . where the stars are in the lines there will appear breaches . chap. lxi . the oath of a sheriff . ( a ) you shall swear that you shall well and truly serve the keepers of the liberties of england by authority of parliament in the office of a sheriff of the county of n. and do the keepers of the liberties of england profits in all that belongeth you to do by way of your office , as far forth as you may or can . yee shall truely keep the keepers , &c. and all that belongeth to them . ye shall not assent to decrease , to lessen , nor to concealment , of any of their rights or franchizes , and whensoever yee shall have knowledge that their rights be concealed or withdrawn , be it in lands , rents , franchizes , or suits , or any other thing ; ye shall do your true power to make them be restored to them again ; and if ye may not do it , ye shall certifie them thereof , such as you know for certain will say unto them , ye shall not respect their debts for any gift or favour , when ye may raise them without grievance to the debtor . ye shall truly and righteously treat the people of your sheriffwick , and do right well to poor as to rich , in all that belongs to your office. ye shall do no wrong to any man for any gift or other behest , or promise of goods , for favour nor hate , ye shall disturb no mans right , ye shall acquit at the exchequer all those of whom ye shall any thing receive of the keepers , &c. debts ; ye shall nothing take whereby the keepers &c. may loose , or that right may be letten or disturbed , or the keepers , &c. debt delaid . ye shall truly receive , and truly serve the keepers , &c. writs as far forth as it shall be in your cunning ; ye shall not have to be your under-sheriff , any of the sheriffs clerks of the last years passed ; ye shall take no bayliff into your service but such as you will answer for ; ye shall make each of your bailiffs make such oath as you make your self in that that belongeth to their occupation ; ye shall receive no writs by you nor any of yours unsealed , nor any sealed under the seal of any justice , save of justices of eyre , or justices assigned in the same shire , where you be sheriff in , or other justices having power or authority to make any writs unto you by the law of the land. you shall make your bayliffs of the true and sufficient men in the country ; ye shall be dwelling in your own proper person within your bayliwick for the time ; you shall be in the same office except you shall be licenced by the keepers , &c. you shall not let your sheriffwick , nor any bayliwick thereof to farm to any man ; ye shall truly set and return reasonable and due luses of them that be within your bayliwick after their estate and behavior , and make your pannel your self of such persons as be most meet , most sufficient , and not suspect nor procured , as it is ordained in the statute , and over this in eschewing and restraining of the robberies , manslaughters , and other manifold grievous offences , that be done daily by such as name themselves souldiers , and by other vagrants , by which increase in multitude and number , so that the good people may not safely ride nor go to do such things as they have to do , to their intollerable hurt and hinderance ; ye shall truly and effectually with all diligence possible , to your power execute the statute of winchester for vaggabonds . all these things ye shall well and truly observe and keep . so help you god. it is the judgement of learned councel , that sheriffs may be indicted for perjury by wilful neglect of their duty , as other persons wilfully or procuringly perjures themselves , &c. king hen. 3. king henry the 3. was crouned at the age of 9 yeres the 28 october 1216 he raigned 56 yeres and 20 dai●s . dyed the 16 of nouember 1272 tyeth buried at westminster . none to be condemned but by the judgement of the law. sstat . ninth year of his reign , chap. 29. in parliament , enacts , that no free-man shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseazed of his free-hold , liberties ; or free customs , or pass upon him or condemn him but by lawful judgement of his equals , or by the law of the land ; we will not sell to no man , we will not defer to any man either justice or right . reg. fo . 186. coke pla. 456. dyer fo . 104. coke lib. 5. fo . 64. lib. 10. fo . 74. lib. 11. fo . 99. stat. 2. edw. 3. 8. 5. edw. 3. 9. 14. edw. 3. 14. 28. edw. 3. 3. 11. rich. 2. 10. 3. carol. pet. of right . see ch . 38. ( a. c. ) bakers and brewers , faulty , to be punished . stat. 51. year of his reign 1266 enacts , that if any baker or brewer be convict , because he hath not observed the assize of bread , and ale , for the first , second and third time he shall be amerced according to his offence , but if he amend not , then to suffer punishment of body , the baker to the pillory , and brewer to the tumbrel , which shall not be remitted for gold nor silver ; and impowres ale cunners in every town , &c. every baker to set his own mark on his bread. see ch . 49. ( c ) king hen. 4. henry the 4. borne at bollingbroke in the countie of lincolne . began his raigne the 26. of september . 1399. raigned 13. yeares & 6. moneths & died in a● : d : 1413. of the age of 46. yeares . buried at canterbury justice shall be done in england . stat. first year of his reign chapter the first , enacts the confirmation of the liberties of england , and all statutes not repealed , peace shall be maintained , and justice shall be done to all men . sheriffes shall not let their county to farm. stat. the fourth year of his reign chapter the fifth , enacted that every sheriff in england shall abide in proper person within his bayliwick for the time he shall be such officer ; and that he shall not let his bayliwick to farm to any man for the time that he occupieth such office , and that the said sheriffe be sworn from time to time to do the same in special , amongst other articles comprized in the oath of sheriffs . stat. 23. hen. 6. 10. king henry the fifth . henry the 5. began his raigne . the 20. of march. was croun●d at westminster . the 9 of aprill ▪ 1413. he raigned 9 yeares . 2. months . died in the caste● of boyes nere paris the 13 of aug●st 1422. buried at westminster . coals to pay two pence per chaldron custome , and keels to be measured . ( a ) stat. the ninth year of his reign , chap. 9. 10. it was enacted the king should have two pence of every chalder of coals of unfranchized men , in the river and port at newcastle upon tyne , as customes ; and for the better knowledge of such customes , ordains that all keels or boats , which carried coals to ships should be of the just burden of twenty chaldron of coals , notwithstanding this act , the newcastle men made the keels to carry some two , and some three and twenty to wrong the king of his customes , which great cheat was proved in parliament , where they enacted to prevent such like , for the future that sworn commissioners should mark all keels and other vessels carrying coals to ships upon pain of forfeiture , of keel and coals . see chap. 9. ( a ) 11. chap. ( 1 ) king henry the sixth . henry the 6 of the age of 8 moneths began his raigne . 〈◊〉 of september . 1422 crowned at westminster . the 6 of nouember 1429 afterward crowned at paris 7 september 14●● . raigned 38 yeares 6 moneths 4 dayes buried at winsore . punishments of customers for not clearing ships . ( a ) stat. the eleventh year of his reign , chap. 15. enacted , that for as much as the customers and controlers in the kings ports , do not write any warrants in discharge of merchants of their merchandizes by them shewed , and duely customed , transported , or imported , the same customers , and controlers do imbezel the kings customes , & the merchants be greatly hindred , because that the warrants might plainly shew , and declare their due custome when they be often and unduly impeached in the kings exchequor in consideration of the said deceits , it was enacted that the said customers , and controlers shall write , and deliver sufficient warrants sealed with the seal of their office , to that end ordained , to the said merchants not anything to begiven for the same , but their due custome ; and that in case any customer or controler do the contrary , then the merchant may have an action by vertue of this ordinance to pursue every customer or controler that doth the contrary in every court of record , and being thereof attainted shall forfeit to the king for every default ten pounds , and to the merchant grieved that sueth , five pound . 11. hen. 6. 15. ) see chap. 45. ( e. ) the great danger occasioned by small riots . ( b ) in the 37. year of his reign , began such riots , routs , and unlawful assemblies , that it produced a worse effect then in king richard the seconds daye● , which was occasioned between a yeoman of the guard , and a serving-man of the earle of warwick , which so far increased , not being timely prevented , that it proved the root of many a woful tragedy ; brought to death the duke of york , who was proclaimed successor to the crown , the king , prince edward his son , all , or most of the peers of the land destroyed by sidings , and at least six and thirty thousand of the common people cut off at one battel at toughton in yorkshire , the king , queen , and prince put to flight to barwick . see richard the second , what was done . see chapter 37. ( a. ) 3. hen. 6. see rich. 2. ( e. ) sheriffs fees , none of his officers shall be returned upon inquests , letting to bayl , &c. ( c ) stat. 23. hen. the sixth , chapter 10. the king considering the great-perjury , extortion , and oppression , which be , and have been in his realm by his sheriffes , under-sheriffs , and their clerks , coroners , stewards of franchizes , bayliffs , and keepers of prisons , and other officers in divers counties of this realm , have ordained by the authority aforesaid in eschewing of all such perjury , extortion , and oppression ; and that because the sheriffe of every county , is a great and necessary officer in the commonwealth , and used as a special instrument to the furtherance of justice in all suits pursued at the common-law , and his service is imployed in the beginning , prosecuting , and ending of the most of them , therefore as the law hath alwayes had a special regard of him , and foreseen that he shall be a man of wisdome , of worth , of credit , countenance and ability ( this is not william fenwick of north-riding in northumberland , for he derogates from them all ) and that he shall be allowed a convenient stipend , and sallary for his pains in most cases ; so doth she carry a vigilent and watchful eye upon him , and his inferiour officers , or substitutes , knowing what grievous oppressions might ensue , if she should leave a man of his authority , and necessary imployment at liberty , to dive at his pleasure into other mens purse , and to take what he would ( as william fenwick doth ) therefore she hath restrained him , his under-sheriff , bayliffe of franchizes , and other bayliffes ( most of which are forsworn ) within certain lists , and assigned them what they shall take for arrests , attachments , mainprizes , letting to bail , and serving of executions , which if any of them do exceed , he shall forfeit forty pound a time , and shall be adjudged an extortioner , in which said statute it is enacted , that no sheriffe , under-sheriffe , or any bayliffe , by occasion , or under colour of his office shall take any other thing by themselves , or any other person to their use , or to their profit of any person by any of them arrested or attached , nor of any other for them , for the omitting of any arrest or attachment to be made by their bodies , or of any person by any of them by force or colour of their office , arrested or attached for fine , fee , mainprize , letting to bail , or for shewing any ease or favour to any such person so arrested for their reward or profit , but such as follows ; the sheriffe twenty pence ; the bayliffe , which maketh the ☜ arrest or attachment four pence , the gaoler if the prisoner be committed to his ward four pence ; for making of a return or paniel , and for the copy of a paniel four pence ; no bond to be made by them under colour of their office , but onely to themselves , for the appearance of any prisoner at the day prescribed , and what bond is otherwise is void ; and he shall take no more for making such obligation , warrant , or precept by him to be made but four pence ; and all sheriffes , under-sheriffes , clerks , bayliffes , gaolers , coroners , stewards , bayliffes of franchizes , or any other officer or ministers , which doth contrary to the aforesaid ordinances in any point of the same , shall lose to the party in this behalf endamaged or grieved , his treble damages , and shall forfeit forty pounds , at every time that any do the contrary in any point of the same , whereof the king shall have the one half , to be imployed only to the use of his house , and the other to the party that will sue for the same , by bill , plaint , &c. i shall lay open the excessive fees extorted by the sheriffs of northumberland against the law , viz. return a tales 6 s. for allowance of a pony 9 s. 2 d. for allowance of a writ , false judgement 16 s. 6 d. upon execution granting out 15 s. and all upon the defendant after execution 1 l. 11 s. 6 d. for breaking open an original proces 2 s. 6 d. for the warrant thereof 6 d. bayliffs for the arrest from the plaintiff 1 s. from the party arrested 1 s. 8 d. to file bayl above and taking the declaration 8 s. this is costly law. this justice is both bought and sold , &c. a bill of indictment before a judge would reduce these , &c. the form of an indictment for sheriffs . ( d ) london ss . the juros for the lord protector of the commonwealth of england , scotland , and ireland , &c. upon their oaths , do present , that john butler of london sheriffe , the 20. day of august in the year of our lord god , 1652. being then sheriffe , and keeper of the prison of the newgate in london the day and year aforesaid , did by force or colour of his said office , as sheriffe and keeper of the said prison , unlawfully and extortionously exact and take of one john cuthberton , then and there being arrested and imprisoned in the said prison under the custody of the said sheriff , at the suit of john roe , the sum of six shillings and eight pence , for the fee of the said sheriffe , and keeper , for the custody of the said john in the said prison from the 20. day of the month of may in the year aforesaid , untill the 20. day of august then next following , to the great damage of the said john , and to the evill example of others in the like case offending , and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided , and against the publick peace . see cha. 58. ( c ) ( d ) ( b ) stat. 23. hen. 8. 3. king henry the seventh . henry the 7. began his raig●e the 22. of june 1485. and was crowned at westminster the 30 of octob : hee raigned 25. years and 8. monthes . and died the 22. of april . lieth buried at westminster . stat. three of henry the seventh chapter 1. * it is enacted if any coroner be remisse , and maketh not inquisition upon the view of the body dead , and certifie not according to his office , it is ordained that he shall for every default forfeit five pounds . see chapter 10. ( o. p. ) chap. 48. ●9 . 49. weights and measures , &c. stat. 11. hen. 7. chap 4. for as much as many grievances have been set forth unto this present parlament of the great fraud and deceit in measures & weights , for remedy whereof it is ordained and enacted , that to the knights and citizens of every shire and city , assembled in this present parlament , barons of the five ports , and certain burgesses of burrough towns , ere they depart from this present parlament be delivered one of every weight and measure which now is made of brass for the good of the subject , according to the kings standard of his exchequer of weights and measures , and that they shall cause all common weights and measures to be as abovesaid , and all such as prove defective then such weights and measures , shall be broken and burnt , and the party pay twenty shillings , and be set in the pillory ; the quarter of corn to be eight bushels raised and struck , and fourteen pound to the stone of wool , &c. and water measure to be five pecks on ship-board , according to the standard . &c. see chap. 49 , ( c ) no ordinance to be made by corporations , &c. by act of parlament 19. hen. 7. 7. that masters , wardens and people of guilds , fraternities and of other companies corporate , oftentimes by coulor of rule and governance to them granted by charter , and letters pattents , made amongst themselves many unlawfull and unwarrantable ordinances , as well in prizes of wages as other things , for their own singular profit , and to the common hurt and damage of the people , be it enacted , and it is hereby enacted , that no such master , wardens , nor companies * , make nor use any ordinance , in disheritance , nor diminition of the prerogative of the king , nor of others * , nor against the common profit of the people , nor none other ordinance of charge , except it were first discust , used , and proved by good advice of the justices of peace , or the chief governors of cities , and before them entred upon record , and that upon pain to loose and forfeit the force and effect of all the articles in their said letters pattents , and charters contained concerning the same , and over that to pay ten pounds to the king for every ordinance that any of them made or used to the contrary ; the same ordinance to in●ure at the kings pleasure , which act was then expired , and since the expiration of the same , many ordinances have been made by many private bodies within divers cities , towns , and burroughs , contrary to the kings prerogative , his laws , and the common weal of his subjects . be it therefore enacted that no masters , wardens and fellowship of crafts or mysteries , nor of any rulers of guilds or fraternities * , take upon them to make any acts or ordinances , nor to execute any by them heretofore made in dishertion or diminition of the prerogative of the king , nor of other , nor against the common profit of the people , except the said acts and ordinances be examined and approved by the chancellor , treasurer of england , or chief justices of either benches , or three of them , or before both the justices of assizes in their circuit in the shire where such acts or ordinances be made , upon pain of forfeiture of forty pounds for every time they doe to the contrary ; and over that it is enacted that none of the same bodies corporate take upon them to make any acts or ordinances to restrain * any person or persons to sue to the king or any of his courts for due remedy to be had in their causes , nor put , nor execute any penalty or punishment upon any of them for any such suit to be made , upon pain of forfeiture of forty pounds for every time that they do to the contrary , see chap. 39. ( a ) 30. ( d ) 43. ( d ) and chap. 10. ( g ) . this statute will prove offensive to the free hoast-men , and the charter of the admiralty , if well prosecuted , and pay them for all the wrongs done . king henry the eighth . henry the 8 was borne at grenwich entred his raigne being 18 yeares of age the 22. of aprill 1509. was crouned at westminster the 25. of june following . he raigned 37. yeares and 9 months died the 28. of june . buried at winsor . ( a ) sstat . 21. hen. 8. ch . 18. in the vacancy of the sea of durham , cardinal wolsey being dead , and no knights nor burgesses in parlament for durham and northumberland , then the mayor and burgesses of newcastle , knowing there could be no opposition , petitioned the king and parlament , for that whereas the mayor , burgesses , and commonalty of that town having been faithfull subjects and held in fee , from his progenitors , that town , port and haven of the river of tine thereunto belonging , and of all ground * , which the water covered within the said river of tine from the month of the said river called sparhawke , and to headwin streams , in their demean as of fee in right of the crown , and that all merchandizes , carryed by any ship or vessell into that port , or carried out , used to be discharged and loaden only at that town , by which means the customs , subsidies and tole , were received there for his majesties use 500 l. per annum . and that by reason of those liberties and franchizes that town hath been well replenished , and maintained , and able to furnish his majesty with four hundred marriners for the war , and by reason of several great personages as well spiritual as temporal , having lands adjoyning to the said river , have loaden and unloaden ships with several merchandizes and paid no customs , to the utter undoing of the town , and the great dishertion of your highness , and minishment to your customs , and that divers weyers and fish-gates were erected in the said river , by means whereof great sand-beds and gravel heaps be grown and cast up in the said river , that within few years to come , no ship of good burthen or weight * shall be able to come up to the town , to the inestimable hurt of the countries thereunto adjoyning , and to the damage of your realm * , especially to all persons needing sea-coals , which be onely conveyed from the said port , and no where else to be shipped or had but there . in consideration whereof , may it please your majestie out of your bounden grace , with the assent of your lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons in parlament , to enact , ordain and establish , that from henceforth any merchant or merchants , or any other person or persons , shall not ship , load , or unload any merchandize or other wares of goods to be sold here between the said place called sparhawke and headwin streams ( being fourteen miles in length ) but onely at newcastle , upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods and wares and merchandizes to the king. and for the mayor and burgesses to pull down all weires goares and engins , which was granted by the said statute ; provided alwaies , this act be not prejudicial to any person or persons being the kings subjects , for building shipping , loading or unloading any salt or fish within the said river and port , or to any of them ; or to any other persons repairing to the said port with ships and merchandizes , for selling or buying of any merchandizes or wares needful for victualing and amending of the said ships * , at the time of their being in the said port , this act or any thing comprised in the same notwithstanding . see ch . 50. ( c ) a table of fees for customs , toles , &c. in towns. ( b ) stat. 22. hen. 8. ch . 8. be it enacted that every city , borough , and town corporate , their officer shall set up , or cause a table in open place , of and for the certainty of all such and every duty , of every such custom , tole , and duty , or sum of money , of such wares and merchandizes to be demanded or required , as above rehearsed , shall and may plainly appear to be declared , to the intent that nothing be exacted otherwise than in old time hath been used and accustomed , upon pain of each city five pound , and every corporation forty shillings for every month that the said table shall fail to be set up , the moyety to the king , and the other to the party that wil sue for the same by writ , bil , plaint , or information , in which the defendant shall have no assoyn , wager of law , nor protection of law allowed , see chap. 44. ( e ) a commission of sewers , &c. ( c ) stat. 23. hen. 8. chap. 5. the king considering the absolute necessity of granting a general act for commissioners of sewers to be directed in all parts of his realm for the advancing of the commonwealth , and commodity of this his realm . and likewise considering the daily great damages and losses which have happened in many parts of the nation , in the decay and spoil of rivers , to the inestimable damages of the commonwealth which do daily increase , for remedy whereof it is enacted , that there be commissioners of suers , and other premises directed in all parts from time to time , where and when need shall require to such substantial and indifferent persons as shall be named by the lord chancellor , and lord treasurer of england , and the two chief justices for the time being , or by three of them , whereof the lord chancellor to be one . the commissioners to be residing in the respective countie , where the commission is directed ( which said commissioners will preserve the said river ) having power given them , to constitute and ordain laws , ordinances , and decrees , and to repeal , reform , and amend as need shall require , any defects . also to pull down any newsances , incroachments , or the like , erected in the said rivers , and to cause buildings of wharfs , for the good of the same , and power to rate and tax any person whatsoever towards the charge for the good of the said rivers , or having spoyled the same , to seize his or their lands , tenements , goods , and chattels for the said taxes , and to dispose of the same by sail , lease , or otherwise , six commissioners being present , and every commissioner is to have four shillings a day when they ●it , and the clerk two shillings a day out of the taxes ; i refer the rest of this power to the relation of these statutes following . 3. edward 6. 9. 13. eliz. 9. see 34. chap. ( c ) 35. ( a. b. ) an attaint against a jury . ( d ) stat. 23. hen. 8. chap. 3. the law having first used all good devices to cause sheriffs , under-sheriffs , bayliffs of liberties , coroners , and all others authorized to return and impannel juries , to be indifferent , and to return the said jurors , and juries without all partiallity , and that they shall be no furtherers , maintainers , nor assisters to perjury , subordination or embracery , and also having provided , that all those jurors , which be so returned upon inquests , and to try inquests , and to try issues between party and party , may again one by one be sifted , tryed , and examined , whether they standing unsworn be indifferent , or not , she doth then expect from those jurors veridictum a true tale , that is to say a true verdict , or presentment of such things as be given them in charge according to their evidence ; but if the same jurors will decline from truth , and make a false presentment contrary to their evidence * then it is not to be tearmed veredictum but perjurium , and it will be returned to them as maledictum , for by the common-law they being attainted by the verdict of four and twenty other jurors shall receive a cursed and villanous judgement therefore , viz. the said jurors shall lose the freedom of the law , their wives and children shall be thrust out of their houses , their houses shall be pulled down to the ground , their orchards and gardens shall be subplanted , their trees shall be digged up by the roots , their meadows shall be eyred up , all their goods and chattels , which they have at the time of the attaint brought , or at any time after , shall be forfeited to the king , the king shall have all the profit of their forfeited lands during their lives , and they shall be committed to perpetuall prison , which judgement was devised , and many years put in execution to the intent it might be known how much the common-law did detest and punish wilfull perjury , and falshood in those who she trusted in place of justice , and from whom she accounted to receive truth . see poulton perjury ( 16 ) see chap. 58. ( b. c. d. ) stat. 23. hen. 6. 10. ( d. ) to prevent spoyl in rivers by ballast . ( c ) stat. 34. hen. 8. 9. the king for the good and preservation of rivers , enacted that what person or persons do cast or unlade any ballast , rubbish , gravel , or other wreck out of any ship , crayer , or other vessels , being within any haven-road , channel , or river to any port , town , or other city or borough within this realm , but onely upon the land above the full sea-mark upon pain of forfitude of five pound a time , the one half to the king , the other to the party discovering , that will sue for the same by bill , plaint , or otherwise , no wager of law , admitted or any essoyn or protection allowed . this is a legal course , but newcastle acts not hereby , as you may see in chap. 34. ( c ) 35. ( a. b. ) 12. chap. ( 6. ) 14. ( b. ) king edward the first . sheriffes punished for refusing bail. ( a ) stat. 3. ed. 1. 15. king edward the first , for as much as sheriffs and others , which have taken and kept in prison persons detected of felony and incontinent , have let out by plevyn such as were not replevisable , and kept in persons such as were replevisable , because they would win of the one party , and grieve the other , it is ordained , that if any sheriffe , or any other , which hath the keeping of prisons , let any go at large by surety , that is not replevisable , and thereof be attainted , he shall lose his fee and office for ever : and if the under-sheriffe , constable or bayliff of such who have fees for keeping of prisons do it contrary to the will of his lord , or any other bayliffe being not of fee , they shall have three years imprisonment , and make fine at the kings pleasure : and if any man withhold a prisoner replevisable after that they have offered sufficient surety , he shall pay a grievous amerciament to the king ; and if he take any reward for the deliverance of such , he shall pay it double to the prisoner , and also shall pay a grievous amerciament to the king , see stat. 27. edw. 1. 3. stat. 3. hen. 7. 2. the first and second philip and mary 13. see 30. chap. ( b ) 37. chap. ( a. ) 41. chap. ( a. ) extortion in officers . ( b ) stat. 3. ed. 1. 26. the king ordains that none of his officers shall commit extortion , neither sheriffe , nor other , shall take reward to do his office , but shall be paid of that which they take of the king , and he that so doth shall pay or yeeld two times as much , and shall be punished at the kings pleasure . see stat. 23. hen. 6. 10. outragious tole . ( c ) stat. 3. edw. 1. 30. the king ordains that such who takes outragious tole contrary to the common custome of the realm in market-towns , by the lord , then the franchizes of the said market to be seized into the kings hand , and if it be in the kings town , which is let in the farm , the franchizes to be seized in the kings hand ; and if it be done by a bayliffe , without consent of his lord he shall restore double , and shall have forty dayes imprisonment ; touching citizens , and burgesses to whom the king granted murrage to inclose their towns * which takes such murrage otherwise then it was granted unto them , and thereof be attainted , it is provided that they shall lose their charter or grant for ever , and shall be grievously amerced unto the king. ( see 44 , edw. 3. fo . 20. ) 43. edw. 3. fol. 29. ( fit . n. b. fo . 94. ) see 11. chap. ( h. ) 44. ( i. ) 49. ( c ) 48. ( a. ) persons attached out of their liberty . ( d ) stat. 3. ed. 1. 34. for as much as great men , and the bayliffs , and others , the kings officers onely excepted , unto whom special authority is given , which at the complaint of some , are by their own authority attached , others passing through their jurisdictions , with their goods , compelling them to answer afore them , * upon contract , covenants , and trespasses , out of their jurisdiction , where indeed they hold nothing of them , or within their franchizes where their power is , in prejudice of the king and his crown , and to the damage of the people , it is provided that none from henceforth so do , and if any do he shall pay to him , that by his occasion shall be attached his damage double , and shall be grievously amerced to the king. 3. ed. 1. 16. see chap. 30. ( b. ) the penalties for procuring writs . ( e ) stat. 13. edw. 1. 36. for as much as lords of courts , and others that keeps courts , and stewards , intending to grieve their inferiors , where they have no lawful means so to do , procures others to move matters against them , and to put in sureties and other pledges , or to purchase writs , and at the suit of such plaintiffes compels them to follow the county , hundred , wapentake , and other like courts untill they have made fine with them at their will ; it is ordained that it shall not be so used hereafter ; and if any be attached upon such false complaints , he shall replevy his distresse so taken , and shall cause the matter to be brought afore the justice before whom , if the sheriff , bayliff , or other lord after that the party distrained hath framed his complaint , will advow the distresse lawful , by reason of such complaints made unto them ; and it be replied that such complaints were moved maliciously against the party by the solicitation , or procurement of the sheriff , or other bayliff , or lord , the same replication shall be admitted , and if they be convicted hereupon , they shall make fine to the king , and treble damages to the party grieved . see stat. 8. eliz. 2. no tax to be levied but by parliament , &c. ( f ) stat. 25. edw. 1. 6. be it enacted that none shall be charged by any charge or imposition , nor be compelled to contribute to any tax , talledge , aid , or other like charge , not set by common consent in parliament . a writ called , ad quoddamum to purchase fairs , markets , &c. ( g ) stat. 27. ed. 1. 1299. the king ordains that if any person , or persons having a mind to obtain any liberties , fairs , markets , or the like , may have this writ out of chancery , called ad quoddamum , if the inquest passe for them , they shall have it , for remembrance of which thing , there is an indenture made , and divided into three parts , whereof one part remains in the chancery , another in the exchequor , and the third in the wardrop , regist . fo. 247. fitz. n. b , fo . 221. rast . pla. fo . 25. 32. see chap. 48. ( a. b. ) 44. ( i. ) 49. ( a. g ) 50. ( a ) 29. ( a ) 47. ( a ) 51. ( a ) 50. ( c ) and chap. 11. ( i. k. ) this writ called a quo warranto , will dash any charter a peeces exceeded . ( h ) stat. 30. ed. 1. 1301. the king and his parliament , provided well for the weal of the nation against any indirect course prosecuted under colour of charter , grants ; &c. either by not putting in execution what is granted to corporations , or exceeding their powers , ordains this writ , whereby all men may have right , if they look after it , viz. the king to the sheriff , greeting , summon by good summons , &c. that they be before us at &c. in out next coming in to the county aforesaid , or before our iustices of assize , when they shall come into those parts , to shew by what warrant they claim such liberties , and hold a view of frank pledge in their mannor of &c. or by what warrant they have to hold tholonium ( tollis ) for them and their heirs , and by what warrant they do such wrongs , &c. this writ , is like twenty of the violentest mastiffs , upon a small bear , tearing her all in peeces , they being unmuzled , there is a great want of such bayting . ( i ) doctor lamb , who was killed by a rude multitude in london , and soon after buried , but by reason a coroner did not view his dead body &c. this writ was brought by attorney general noy , who voided their charter , and they were fined many thousand pounds , and paid , &c. ( k ) london-derry , onely for exceeding their power in their charter , were served the very like , &c. this writ would do the like to newcastle , if acted , for exceeding their powers , and not burying mr. snapes son , one gray , and william rea , who were drowned in that river , as they are tyed to do by charter . see chap. 10. ( o. p. ) and see chap. 29. ( a ) 48. ( b ) 49. ( y ) no distresse without warrant . ( l ) stat. 34 ed. 1 , 2. the king ordains that no officer of his , or his heirs shall take any corn , cattle , or any other goods whatever , from any person , without the good will and assent of the party to whom the goods belonged . see chap. 47. ( a ) 30. ( b ) king edward the second . king edward the 2. surnamed carnaruen was crouned att westminster at the 22. yere of his age the 24. of febru 1308. he raigned 19 yere . 6 monethes was deposed the 25 of iani●arius 1326. he was slayne in the castle of barkley in the 43 yere of his age . breaking of prisons . ( a ) stat. 1. ed. 2. 1307. by the common-law of england , if a man had been imprisoned , and broke the prison , he should have been hanged , for what cause soever he had been imprisoned , yea although it had been but for trespass , which great enormity was redressed by this statute of 1 edw. 2. intituled , de frangentibus pris●nam , the words where be these , touching prisoners breaking of prison , our lord the king doth will and command , that none which from henceforth do break prison , shall have judgement of life and member , for the breaking of prison onely , except the cause for the which he was taken and imprisoned doth require such judgement , if he should have been convicted thereof according to the law and custom of the realm , though in times past it hath been otherwise used , and therefore it is to be considered , who is a prisoner , and what is breaking of prison according to the meaning of the aforesaid statute , every person who is under arrest for felony , is a prisoner as well being out of the goal , as within , so that if he be but in the stocks in the street , or out of the stocks in the possession of any that hath arrested him , and doth make an escape , that is a breaking of prison in the prisoner , for imprisonment is none other but a restraint of liberty . rast . pla . fo . 247. 340. kil : fo . 87. dyer fo . 99. fitz. coron . 134. bro. coron . 79. unsufficient sheriffs . ( b ) stat. 9. edw. 2. 1315. the king receiving great complaints from the great men and people in parliament , throughout the whole realm ; perceived great damage done to him , and great oppression and disheritances to his people , by reason of unsufficient sheriffs and bailiffs , the king resolved to prevent such evil oppressions and disheritances by the assent of his prelates , barons , &c. enacted that the sheriffs shall have sufficient land within the same shire , to answer the king and his people , and to attend his office , and if any sheriffs or hundreders be unsufficient shall be removed * , and others more convenient put in their place , that none shall farm his land. that writs sent to the sheriffs shall be executed by the hundreders sworn and known , they to be such — as have land to answer and not by others so that the people may know to whom to sue such execution saving always the returns of the writs , to them that have them or ought to have them , the king by his prerogative shall have the wreck of the sea. ( c ) stat. 17. edw. 2. 11. it is enacted that the king shall have the wreck of the sea throughout the realm , whales , and great sturgion taken in the sea , or elsewhere within the realm , except in certain places privileged by the king. see stat. 3. edw. 1. 4. rast . pla . fo . 611. co. lib. fo . 106 , 108. 1. hen. 7. fo . 23. 11. hen. 4. fo . 16. 9. hen. 7. fo . 20. 35. hen. 6. fo . 27. see ch . 10. ( s ) 30. ( a ) 29. ( d ) 30. ( c ) the king shall have all felons goods . ( d ) stat. 17. ed. 2. 17. be it enacted the king shall have the goods of all felons attainted and fugitives wheresoever they be found , and if they have free-hold , then it shall be forthwith taken into the kings hands , and the king shall have all profits of the same by one year and one day , and the land shall be wasted and destroyed , the houses , woods and gardens , and all manner of things belonging to the same , excepting men of certain places privileged by the king therefore ; and after he hath had the year and the day , and the waste ; then the land shall be restored to the chief lord of the same fee , unless that he fine before with the king for the year and the day , and the waste : nevertheless it is used in the county of glocester by custom that after one year and a day , the lands and tenements of fellons shall revert , and be restored to the next heir to whom it ought to have discended , if the fellony had not been done . and in kent , the custome is gavel kind ▪ the father to the bow , and the son to the plow ; all heirs male shall divide their inheritance , and likewise women ; but women shall not make partition with men , and a woman after the death of her husband shall be endowed of the moiety , and if she commit fornication in her widowhood , or take an husband after shall loose her dower , fitz : n. b. fo . 144. regist . fo . 165. v. n. b. fo . 99. v. n. b. fo . 5. see chap. 10. ( s ) 53. ( a ) king edward the third . eduard the 3. borne at wins●r ▪ was crowned at westminster the 2. of feb : 1327. being 15. yeares olde raigned . 50. yeares 4 months 24 dais . dyed the 21 of june 1377 lyeth buired in west . enquiry of goalor● which shall procure prisoners to become appealers . ( a ) stat. 1. edw. 3. 7. be it enacted for the eschewing the damages and destruction that often doth happen by sheriffs , goalors , and keepers of prisons , within franchizes , and without , which have pained their prisoners , and by such evill means compel and procure them to become appealers , and to appeal harmless and guiltless people , to the intent to have ransom of such appealed person for fear of imprisonment or other cause , the justices of the one bench and of the other , and justices of assizes and goal delivery , shall by force of this statute enquire of such compulsive punishments , and procurements , and hear the complaints of all them that will complain in such cases by bill , and shall hear and determine such plaints , as well at the suit of the party , as at the kings suit. stat. 13. edw. 1. 12. 14. ed. 3. 10. rast . pl. fo . 56. none to ride armed except . &c. ( b ) stat. 2. edw. 3. 3. be it enacted that none shall ride or go armed but such as are the kings servants , or being licenced , nor his officers to do their office by force of arms , nor bring any force in an affray of the peace ; neither to be armed by day not night in any place upon pain of forfeiture of their arms , and imprisonment during the pleasure of the king , all officers whatever is required to put this act in force , see ch . 37. ( a ) ( c ) 2. edw. 3. 6. 2. ed. 4. 5. every justice of peace upon his discretion may bind to the peace or good behavior such as are common barrators , a common barrator is he which is either a common moover and stirrer up or maintainer of suits in law in any courts of record , or else of quarrels or parts in the country ; as if any court of record , county court , hundred , or other inferior courts , any person by fraud and malice under colour of law shall themselves maintain , or stir up others unto multiplicity of unjust and feigned suits , or informations upon penal laws , or shall maliciously purchase a speciall supplicavit of the peace , to force the other party to yeeld to him composition , all such as are barrators in the countrey , and these are three sorts . first , disturbers of the peace * , such are either common qua●rellers or fighters in their own cause , or common moovers or maintainers of quarrels and affraies between others . secondly , common takers or detainers by force or subtlety of the possessions of houses , lands or goods , which have been in question or controversie . thirdly , inventers , and sowers of false reports where● by di●cords ariseth , or may arise between neighbors ; yea , if one be communis seminator litium he is a barrator , or if any man of himself be communis oppresor vicinorum , a common oppressor of , or wrangler with his neighbors either by unjust or wrangling suits , or other oppressions or deceits , he is a barrator , or if one communis pacis perturbater calumniator & mal● factor , he is a barrator , but all such persons must be common barrators , not in one or two , but in many causes . see lamb. 79. co. 8. 36. co. l. 338. co. 8. 36. cromp. 257. c● . 8. 37. ( d ) stat. 2. edw. 3. 8. it is accorded and established , that it shall not be commanded by the great seal , nor the little seal , to disturb or delay common right , and though such commandements do come , the justices shall not therefore leave to do right in any point , stat. 9. hen. 3. 29. 5. ed. 3. 9. 14. edw. 3. 14. gold and silver prohibited , &c. ( e ) stat. 9. edw. 3. 1. no person shall carry gold or silver out of the realm without the kings license , who so doth , shall forfeit all such as is carrying , with ship , &c. stat. 5. rich. 2. 2. stat. 2. hen. 6. 6. 19. hen. 7. 5. rates on victuals . ( f ) sat. 23. edw. 3. 6. the king ordains all persons whatever which sels any kind of victuals , shall be bound to sell their victual at a reasonable rate or price , having respect to the price , that such victuall be sold at , in the places adjoyning , so that the seller may have a moderate gain and not excessive * , and if the seller do sell otherwise , shall pay double back , the mayor and bayliffs of the city , market-towns , and other corporate towns , and the ports of the sea , shall have power to enquire of all offenders in the same . and to levy the said pain ( upon themselves ) for their use who sueth for the same , and in case the mayor and bayliffs be negligent in putting in execution any of the premises , and thereof be convicted , before justices assigned , then the said mayor and bayliffs shall be compelled by the said justices to pay the treble of the things so sold to the party damnified , and also shall be grievously punished by the king , 23. edw. 3. 4. see chap. 50. ( a ) 44. ( e ) 48. ( a ) 51. ( a ) 29. ( a ) none to be condemned without his answer . &c. ( g ) stat. 28. edw. 3. 3. the king ordains that no man of what estate or condition he be , shall be put out of his land nor tenements , nor taken , nor imprisoned , nor dis-inherited , nor put to death without being brought to answer by due process of law. stat. 9. hen. 3. 29. 5. edw. 3. 9. 25. ed. 3. 4. see chap. 10. ( x ) 38. ( c ) 41. ( a ) 43. ( d ) 38. ( a ) penalty of a mayor , sheriff and aldermen for not redressing grievances . ( h ) stat. 28. edw. 3. 10. because of the errors , defaults , and misprisions , which be notoriously used in cities , boroughs and corporations for default of good governance , of the mayor , sheriff and aldermen , cannot be inquired nor found by people of the same town ; it is ordained and established that the said mayor , sheriffs , and aldermen , which have the governance of the said town or city , shall cause to be redressed and corrected , the defaults , errors , and misprisions above named , and the same duly punish from time to time , upon a certain pain , that is to say , at the first default a thousand marks to the king. the second default two thousand marks ; and at the third default , that the franchizes and liberties of the said town be taken into the kings hand , it shall be enquired of by foraign inquests of foraign counties , namely , the city of london , but all other cities , boroughs and corporations to be tryed by forain inquests in the same town , which may be done by the punishment of judges thereunto assigned by inquest or indictment , and called to answer the same out of their town , which fine is to be leavyed by attachment , and distress , and by exigent if need be , upon any land or tenements out of their town , belonging to any of them . king edward the sixth . edward borne at ham●o●● court at the age of 9 yeares began his ▪ raigne the 31 of janu●●●46 crowned at wes●m . the 2● of februa ▪ folowing he raigned 6 yeares 5 monthes died the 6 of julie buried at westminster murder , &c. ( a ) stat. 1. edw. 6. 12. it is murder to strike with either blunt or sharp weapon , if the party dye within a year and a day ▪ and the blows given upon malice , neither shall clergy be allowed . see chap. 36. ( a. ) victuallers , and handicrafts-men . ( b ) stat. 2. edw. 6. 15. for as much as artificers handicrafts men , and labourers have made confederacies , and mutually sworn , not onely that they should sell their victuals at a certain rate , and not to meddle with one anothers work , and finish that which others have begun , but also to appoint how much work they shall do in the day ; and what hours , and times they shall work , contrary to the laws and statutes of this realm , and to the hurt and great impoverishment of the kings subjects ; for reformation whereof , the king ordains , that if any victuallers or artificers aforesaid , shall at any time combine , conspire , or make any oaths that they shall not sell their victuals at certain prices , or that artificers shall not work , but as abovesaid , being convicted , shall pay in six dayes ten pounds to the king , or twenty dayes imprisonment , and fed onely with bread and water , if he have not sufficient to pay the said fine ; for the second offence the pillory , or twenty pound ; and for the third offence , shal forfeit forty pounds , or else be set in the pillory , and lose one of his ears , and shall be taken as an infamous man , and his sayings , and oath not to be credited in matter of judgement ; and if any such conspiracy , c●venant , or promise be had , or made by any society , brother-hood , or company of craft-mystery , or occupation of the mysteries afore-mentioned with the presence or consent of the most of them , that then immediately upon such act of conspiracy covenant , or promise , had , or made , over and besides the particular punishment before in this act appointed for the offender , their corporation shal be dissolved , to all intents , constructions , and purposes ; and that none do presume to hinder any free-mason , rough mason , carpenter , bricklayer , plasterer , joyner , ha●d-hewer , sawyer , tyler , pavier , glasier , lymebu●ner , brick-maker , tyle-maker , plummer , or laborer born in this realm , or made denison , to work in the said crafts in any city , borough , or town corporate , with any person or persons that will retain him , albeit the said persons so retained , or any of them do not inhabit , or live in the said town , &c. nor be free of the same city , &c. any statute , law , ordinance , or other thing to the contrary , upon forfeiture of five pound a time , half to the king , and half to the party suing , to be recovered by bill , &c. no wager of law , or protection allowed , &c. see chap. 29. ( e ) 30. ( f. ) 36. ( a. ) robbing within a market of a fair , booth , tent , &c. ( c ) stat. 5. 6 ed. 6. 14. be it enacted that no person or persons which shall happen to be found guilty after the laws of this realm of , and for robbing any person or persons in any booth or tent , in any fair or market , the owner , his wife , children , or servant then being within the same booth , or tent , shall not be admitted the benefit of his , or their clergy , but excluded thereof , and suffer death without consideration , whether the said persons within , shall be sleeping , or waking . see chap. 47. ( b ) 49. ( d ) 51. ( a ) 11. ( n. ) fore-stalling , regrators , ingr●cers . ( d ) stat. 5. 6. edw. 6. 14. the law being so good against these offenders , that i shall give poultons exposition thereof , viz. they deserve to be reckoned amongst the number of oppressors of the common good , and publick weal of the nation , for they do endeavour to enrich themselves , by the impoverishing of others , and respect not how many loses , so they may gain . they have been exclaimed of , and condemned in parliament from one generation to another , as appears by many statutes , at least fourteen statutes , especially fore-stallers , as apppears by 34 ed. 1. when it was ordained , that no forestaller should be suffered to dwell in any town , for he is a manifest oppressor of the poor , and deceiver of the rich , a publick enemy of the country , a canker , a moth , and a gnawing worm that daily wasteth the commonwealth . and the name , and act of a forestaller was so odious , that it was moved in parliament to enact that a forestaller should be bated out of the town where he dwelt , by dogs , and whipped forth with whips ( newcastle would have been empty ) and by this statute it declareth who are offenders , and what punishment to be inflicted . that whatsoever person or persons , shall buy , or cause to be bought any merchandize , victual , or other thing coming by land , or water , towards any fair or market to be sold in the same , or coming towards any city , port , or haven , creek , or road of this nation , from any part beyond the seas to be sold . or make any bargain , contract , or promise for the having or buying of the same , or any part of the same , so coming as aforesaid , before the same merchandize , victual , or other things shall be in the market , fair , city , port , haven , creek , or road , ready to be sold ; or shall make any motion by word , letter , message , or otherwise to any person or persons for the inhansing of the price , or dear selling of any of the other things above mentioned ; or else disswade , move , or stir any person coming to the market , or fair to forbear to bring any of the things above mentioned to any fair , or market , city , port , &c. to be sold as aforesaid , shall be adjudged a fore-staller , 13. eliz. excepts oyls , sugars , spices , currans , or other foreign victuals brought from beyond the sea , fish , and salt only excepted . a regrator defined , what person or persons shall by any means regrate , obtain , or get into his , or their hands or possessions in any fair or market within this nation to be sold , any dead victual whatsoever brought thither for that purpose , and do sell the same again in any fair or market holden , or kept in the same places , or within any market or fair within four miles thereof , shall be reputed and taken for a regrator , or regrators . an engrosser is , he , or they which shall engrosse , or get into his , or their hands by buying , contracting by promise taking , other then by demise , grant , or lease of land , or tythe any corn growing in the fields , or any other corn or grain , butter , cheese , fish , or other dead victuals whatsoever within the nation , to the intent to sell the same again , shall be reputed and taken an unlawful engrosser , or engrossers . if any person or persons shall offend in any of the things before recited , and being thereof duly convicted or attainted thereof by the laws of this nation , for the first offence shall suffer two months imprisonment without bayl or mainprize , and forfeit the value of the goods ; for the second offence six months imprisonment , without bayl or mainprize , and lose double the value of the goods ; and upon conviction of the third offence shall be set in the pillory where he dwels in the same town , and lose all the goods he , or they have , which was to their own use , and be committed to prison during the kings pleasure , it is but mutatis , mutandis . every justices of every county , is to enquire and determine of the offences in their quarter-sessions upon inquisition , presentment , bill , or information , exhibited , and proved by two witnesses , the one half of the fine to the king , the other to the party discoverer . what justice can be expected or had in newcastle , the may●rs , justices and burgesses being the offenders , judges , ( p ) ●●rors in their own causes , and must be tryed in the same ●●unty ( t ) themselves to have the fines , as by charter appears 〈◊〉 see stat. 21. k. james , 4. ( t ) see 10. chap. ( l ) ( p ) chap. 10. ( r ) ( * ) see stat. 5. eliz. 12. the town of gates-head , and all liberties given to newcastle , &c. ( e ) stat. 7. edw. 6. 10. there being bishop of durham elected , nor any member of parliament for that county , which the mayor and burgesses of newcastle perceiving , petitioned the king , that the town of gates-head in the county of durham , adjoyning to their corporation , only the river of tyne , between , being populous , and without government , and often committing many outrages in their town , and then got over the water into the town of gates-head unpunished , and that often they cast rubbish into the river , and also that the bridge went to decay very much , which belonged to that town , humbly beseeching that his majesty would be graciously pleased to incorporate that town with them under their government , with all its members , and salt-meadows , and park , and that it may be quite taken from the county of durham , and all the people therein to become subordinate to their laws . be it enacted that the whole town of gates-head , with the salt-meadows , the whole water , and bridge , with all the liberties thereunto belonging , except the common , which shall still remain to the inhabitants , be incorporated with newcastle , and dis-joyned from the county of durham , as newcastle was from northumberland by charter . king richard the second . richard the 2. borne at burdeaux sonne to edward prince of wales , begann his raigne the 21 of iune an o : dni 1377. he raiḡed 22. yeares , was deposed : & died the 14. of february 1399. first buried at langley in hartf●dshire , & afterwardes of westmister . a free trade in all england . ( a ) stat. 11. richard 2. 7. and the 14. richard 2. 9. be it enacted that all merchants , aliens , and denisons , and all other , and every of them , of what estate or condition they b● which will buy , or sell corn , wine , averdepoize , flesh , fish , and all other victual , or other merchandizes , and all other things vendible , from whencesoever they come , in whatsoever place they please , be it city , borough , town , port of the sea , fair , market , or other place within this realm , within franchizes , or without , may freely , or without disturbance sell the same to whom they please , as well to foreigners , as to denizons , except to the enemies of the king , and of his realm . and if any disturbance be done to any such merchant , &c. upon his sail of the same in any of the places aforesaid , the mayor and bayliffs of such fanchizes shall make remedy , but if they do not , and being thereof convicted , the franchizes shall be taken into the kings hand , and the party grieving shall make to the merchant grieved , double damages . and if such disturbance be out of the franchized towns , then the steward or bayliffe of such lord , who is lord of the mannor , shall give right , or pay double damages , the party offending shall be imprisoned for one whole year , and that none such shall be disturbed , but shall freely buy and sell for his own use , or to the kings , &c. except that the merchant , aliens , shall carry no wines out of the realm , as it is contained in their charters . and that the said things be holden , kept , and performed in every city , borough , town , port of the sea , or any other place notwithstanding any charter of franchize to them granted to the contrary , nor usage , custome , nor judgement , given upon their charters , usages , nor customes which they may alleage , which charters , usages , and customes , the said king , the grand-fathers , the prelates , earls , barons , and great men , and commons in parliament aforesaid holds , these said charters , &c. of no force , and as being things , granted , used , and accustomed to the damage of the king , the prelates , earls , barons , and great men of his realm , and great oppression of the commons , saving to the king , and to other the customes due of the said merchandizes . and the chancellor , treasurer , and justices , assigned to hold the pleas of the king in places where they come , shall enquire of such disturbances and grievances , and do punishment according as is before ordained . and by a statute made the 25. edw. 3. 2. it was ordained and established , that the said statutes made in the ninth year chapter 1. in all points and articles contained in the same should be holden , kept , and maintained , &c. and if any charter , letters pattents , proclamations , or commandements , usage , allowance , or judgement were made to the contrary , the same should be utterly repealed , avoyded , and holden for none . and that it is free for any whatever , that brings any provisions whatever , to sell the same , or other merchandizes , by grosse or retail , either in the city of london , or any other port , city , borough , or town-corporate in england , without challenge , or impeachment , and to sell them freely to any that will buy the same , notwithstanding any grant whatever to the contrary notwithstanding , any franchize , custome used , since such franchizes , and customes , usages , be in common prejudice to the king , and all people , &c. and that no mayor , bayliff , catch-pole , minister , nor other shall meddle in the sail of any manner of victuals vendible , brought to the places aforesaid . and all men that will sue , may have a writ out of the chancery to attach him by his body that offends herein , as a disturber of the common profit , &c. the king seeing cleerly if the said statutes were duly put in execution , would much extend to the profits and wealth of the whole nation , do ordain , and establish , by assent of the prelates , dukes , earls , barons , great men , nobles , and commons in this present parliament assembled , that the said statutes , shall be firmly holden , kept , maintained , and fully executed in all points and articles of the same , notwithstanding any ordinance , statute , charter , letters pattents , franchizes , proclamations , commandements , usage , allowance , or judgement be made or used to the contrary , it shall be utterly repealed , avoyded , and holden for none . this statute was obtained by a petition ( worth reading ) from all the nobles and commons of england , as you may read in the ninth of edward the third , chapter the first , it laying open the great grievance of the whole nation in parliament , of provisions , and other merchandizes , being engrossed into private hands , and restraining all others from trading , but themselves , &c. see chap. 29. ( c ) 30. ( d ) 32. ( d ) 35. ( a ) 38. ( a ) 51. ( b. c. ) this statute revived , would make england as happy as venice , for riches , &c. merchant-strangers shall be well used . ( b ) stat. 14. rich. 2. 9. be it enacted that merchant-strangers , repairing into the realm of england , shall be well and courteously , and rightfully intreated , and governed in the said realm , to the intent that they shall have the courage to repair into the same . see chap. 30. ( b ) 41. ( a. ) the duke of venice by tollerating a free trade , all the nobility and gentry trades in merchandizings , which doth so improve his revenew , that it maintains his wars without other impositions , he being able to wage war with the most potentest prince that is , &c. no customers to be traders , nor to have parts of ships . ( c ) stat. 14. rich. 2. 10. the king ordains that no customers , nor controlers have any ships of their own , nor meddle with the fraught of ships , and to eschew as well the damage of the king , of his customes , as the losse of the merchants repairing to the port , as well aliens as denizons ; and that no customer , controler , searcher , waiter , or finder have any such office for terme of life , but onely as long as shall please the king , notwithstanding any pattent or grant to any to the contrary , but such pattents or grants be repealed , and of no force , nor value . stat. 17. rich. 2. see chap. ( 35 ) statute of mortmain . ( d ) stat. 15. rich. 2. 5. be it enacted what mayors bayliffs , and commons of cities , boroughs , and other towns which have perpetual commonalty , and others which have officers , that from henceforth they shall not purchase to them , and their commons any lands , &c. nor no religious , or other person what ever he be * , do buy or sell , or under colour of gift or terme , or any other manner of title , any lands , tenements , upon pain of forfeiture of the same , whereby the said lands , and tenements , might have come to mortmain . riots , routs , &c. ( e ) the 4. year , king rich. 2. riots , routs , and unlawfull assemblies , have been so many times pernicious , and fatal enemies to the peace and tranquility of the nation , that it did shake the foundation and form of state-government , as that of a collector of a subsidy at dartford in kent in his dayes , in requiring but a groat of a taylor and his wife , grew to such a head of discontentment , and not being timely queld , became such a rebellion , that it put the king in great hazard of his life , the burning of the city of london , the nobles and gentry , with the learned of the law beheaded , and others in hazard of their lives and families overthrown , and the records of law burnt . wat. tyler was captain . see hen. 6. ( b ) see chap. 37. ( a. ) queen mary . maria nata grenouici in febru : 1505 incipit regnare 6 iuli 1553 regnauit 5 annos et 4 mensis obyt annos nata 45 et 9 mensis the town of gates-head taken from newcastle . ( a ) stat. 1. mary chap. 3. so soon as bishop tunstall was created bishop of durham , laid open to the queen and parliament the illegallity of gates-heads being taken from the county of durham , and incorporated with newcastle , and how surreptitiously they got it past by act of parliament , and humbly beseeched that the town and liberties of gates-head might be restored to the county of durham again , which could not well be done without that statute of the 7. edw. 6. 10. were repealed ; after a great debate in parliament , it was found onely a covetous disposition in the corporation of newcastle to require that from king edward the sixth , and in no wayes for the good of any , in any particular sense , who enacted that the statute of the seventh of edward the sixth , chapter the tenth , should be repealed , and of no force to all intents and purposes , and the town of gates-head should be free from the corporation of newcastle , &c. see chap. 7. and chap. 8. sweet queen . queen elizabeth . the most excellent princes elizabeth . queene of englande , france , and ireland . defender of the faith &c. she raigned 44 yeares , died the 24 of march , 1602 aged 69 , 6 monthes : and lieth buried at westminster compton holland 〈◊〉 how long apprentices should serve . ( a ) stat. 5. eliz. 4. be it enacted that all apprentices in every corporate town through england , shall serve after the custome and order of london , the full term of seven years at least , so as the terme and years of such apprentices do not expire or determine before such apprentices be of the age of four and twenty years at least ; and if an apprentice be mis-used by the non-conformity of the master , then the next officer upon complaint shall bind the master to answer the sessions , and the cause appearing , the bench may discharge the apprentice from his master . see chap. 55. ( c. ) the punishment of perjury , &c. ( b ) stat. 5. eliz. 9. be it enacted that if any person or persons at any time shall unlawfully and corruptly procure any witnesse or witnesses by letters , rewards , or any other promises to commit any wilful and corrupt perjury in any matter or cause whatsoever now depending , or which hereafter shall depend in suit or variance , by any writ , action , bill , complaint , or information upon any matter or cause whatever , and being thereof convicted , shall forfeit forty pound ; and if he have not so much , then to be imprisoned for half a yeer , without bail or mainprize , and to stand in the pillory one hour in a market day in the open market , and never to be received as a witnesse in any courts of record , and if judgement be given upon his testimony , it shall be void , and the party grieved have his damages . and if any person shall wilfully perjure himself by committing wilfull perjury by his deposition in any courts , or being examined ad perpetuam rei memoriam , for which offence he shal forfeit twenty pound , and imprisonment for six months without bail or mainprize , and never to be as a witnesse in any court , and that the oath shall be void , and party grieved to recover his damages ; and if he be not able to pay his fine , then to be set in the pillory having both his ears nayled thereunto , and never to be credited again in any court , the one half of the fine to the queen , and the other to the party grieved , that will sue for the same , by bill of indictment , &c. wherein there shall be no wager of law , &c. and all witnesses are required upon summons to appear , to give evidence , reasonable charges allowed , and upon default to forfeit ten pound , and all the damages sustained to be recovered in any court of record , by action , bill , &c. no wager of law &c. see stat. 21. k. james 28. made perpetual . see chap. 31. ( a ) 34. ( a. b ) 42. ( a. ) fore-stallers of corn , &c. ( c ) stat. 5. eliz. 12. be it enacted that no person , or persons shall buy any corn , out of open fair or market to sell again , unlesse such persons shall have special and express words in a licence , that he or they may so do , upon pain of the forfeiture of five pounds for so doing , which forfeiture to come to the queen the one half , and the other half to the party that will sue for the same by bill , &c. see stat. 5. 6. ed. 6. 14. see chap. 50. ( a ) 51. ( c. ) arrestings in other mens names , and delayes , &c. ( d ) stat. 8. eliz. 2. be it enacted by this present parliament that if any person or persons shall by any means cause , or procure any other person to be arrested or attached at the suit , or in the name of any person where indeed no such person is known , or without the assent , consent , or agreement of such persons , at whose suit , or in whose name such arrest or attachment is , or shall be so had and procured ; that then every such person and persons , that shall so cause or procure any such arrest , or attachment of any other person to be had or made for vexation or trouble , and shall thereof be convicted or lawfully accused by indictment , presentment , or by the testimony of two sufficient witnesses or more , or other due proof , shall for every such offence by him or them committed , done , or procured , have , and suffer imprisonment of his or their body six months without bail or mainprize , and before a deliverance out of prison , shall pay unto the party so arrested or attached treble the costs , and charges , damages , and expences that he or they shall be put unto by reason or occasion of such arrest or attachment so had , and shall also forfeit and pay unto such person , or persons , in whose name , or at whose suit , he , or they shall so procure such arrest or attachment to be had or made , if then there be any such person known , the summe of ten pounds for every such offence ; and that all such persons damnified thereby shall 〈◊〉 their remedy in any court of record by bill , plaint , or action of debt , for all damages , &c. wherein there shall not be any essoyn , protection , or wager of law allowed the defendant . see stat. 13. ed. 1. 36. the penalty of cutting of purses ( e ) stat. 8. eliz. 4. whereas there are a certain people of a fraternity or brother-hood , that puts in practice that art or mystery of cutting of purses , and that do combine secretly to spoyl the true subjects of this realm ; be it therefore enacted , that whosoever be found guilty of taking away monies , &c. in such sort from any person or persons , shall not have the benefit of clergy . see chap. 12. ( 5 ) 39. ( a. ) sheriffs fees for executing executions , &c. ( f ) stat. 29. eliz. 4. be it enacted by this present parliament , that it shall not be lawful for any sheriff , or bayliff of franchizes , or liberties , or any of the officers , or deputies , nor any of them , by colour or reason of their , or either of their office , or offices , to have , receive , or take of any person whatever directly , or indirectly , for the serving , and executing of any extent , or execution upon the body , lands , goods , or chattels of any person , or persons whatsoever , more , or other consideration , or recompence than as in this present act shall be limited and appointed , which shall be lawful to be had , received , and taken , that is to say , twelve pence of , and for every twenty shillings where the summe exceedeth not one hundred pounds ; and six pence of , and for every twenty shillings being over and above the said summe of one hundred pounds , that he or they shall levie , or extend , and deliver in execution , or take the bodie in execution for , by vertue and force of such extent , or execution whatsoever , upon pain and penalty , that all and every sheriff , &c. that do the contrary , shall lose and forfeit to the party grieved , his treble damages , and shall forfeit forty pound for every time so offending , the half thereof to the queen , and the other to the party suing , by bill , plaint , action , or information , wherein no essoyn , wager of law , or protection shall be allowed . this statute not to extend to any city , or town corporate . the poor to be set on work . ( g ) stat. 43. eliz. 2. be it enacted by this present parliament , and the authority thereof , that all poor be set on work by the church-wardens or overseers , and such as will not work , being able , shall be sent to the house of correction . see chap. 38. ( a. c. ) sheriffes punishable for false arrests , &c. ( h ) stat. 43. eliz. 6. for the avoyding many suits commenced , according to the due course of the laws of this realm , to the intollerable vexation and charge of her highnesse subjects ; be it enacted by authority of this parliament , if any sheriff , or other person , having authority , or taking upon him to break writs , or make any warrant for the summoning of any person upon any writ , processe , suit , or for arrest , or attaching of any person or persons by his , or their body , or goods to appear in any of her majesties courts at westminster , or elsewhere , not having before , that originall writ or processes warranting the same , that then upon complaint made to the justices of assize of the county where the same offence shall be committed , or to the judges of the court , out of which the process issued , not only the party that made such warrant , but all those that were the procurers thereof , shall be sent for before the said judges or justices by attachment , or otherwise , as the same judges or justices shall think good , and allow of , and be examined thereof upon their oaths ; and if the same offence be confessed by the same offenders , or proved by sufficient witnesses to the satisfaction of the same judges or justices , that then the same judges or justices that shall so examine the same , shall forthwith by force of this act commit every of the same to the gaole , and there shall remain , without bayl or mainprize , untill such time as they amongst them have fully satisfied , and paid unto the party grieved , by such warrant not onely the summe of ten pounds , but also all costs and damages , as the same judges or justices shall set down , that the same party hath sustained thereby , and withall twenty pound a peece for their offence to her majesty 21. king james chap. 16. 3. king charles chap. 4. dyer , fo . 244. king james . ( a ) upon the seventh day of may in the first year of k. james a proclamation was proclaimed throughout london , for to cease all exactions , all monopolies , and all protections whatever , that was against the common good , and that hindred mens suits at law also forbidding oppression . stabbing or thrusting . ( b ) stat. 1. king james 8. it is enacted that if any person or persons shall stab or thrust any person or persons , that hath not then any weapon drawn , or that hath not then first stricken the party , which shall so stab or thrust , so as the person or persons so stabbed or thrust , shall thereof dye within the space of six months then next following , although it cannot be proved that the same was done of malice fore-thought ; yet the party so offending , & being thereof convict by the verdict of twelve men , confession , or otherwise according to the laws of this realm , shall be excluded from the benefit of his , or their clergy , and shall suffer death as in case of wilfull murder . stat. homicide ( 24. ) attornies abuses remedied , &c. ( c ) stat. 3. king james chap. 7. be it enacted for redresse of sundry abuses committed by attornies , and solicitors , by charging their clients with excessive fees , and other unnecessary demands to the great prejudice of the sergeant and councellor at law , who is greatly slandered , and to work the private gain of such attornies , and solicitors , the client is often extraordinarily delayed ; be it enacted that for the future , that no attorny , solicitor , or servant to any shall be allowed from his clyent or master , of , or for any ▪ fee given to any serjeant or councellor at law , or of , or for any summe or summes of mony given for copies to any clerk or clerks or officers , in any court of record at westminster , unlesse he have a ticket subscribed with the hand and name of the same serjeant , counsellor , clerk , or clerks , or officers aforesaid , testifying how much he hath received for his fee , or paid , or given for copies , and at what time , and how often ; and that all attornies and solicitors shall give a true bill unto their masters or clyents , or their assigns , of all other charges concerning their suits , which they have for them , subscribed , with their own hand and name , before such time , as they , or any of them shall charge their clyents with any of the same fees or charges ; and that if any attorney , or solicitor do , or shal willingly delay his clyents suits to work his own gain , or demand by his bill any other summe of mony , or allowance upon his account of any monies which he hath not laid out , or disbursed , that in every such case the party grieved shall have his action against such attorney or solicitor , and shall recover therein costs and treble damage ; and the said attorney or solicitor shall be discharged from thenceforth from being an attorney or solicitor any more . see chap. 58. ( a ) all monopolies and dispensations , with penal laws shall be void . ( d ) stat. 21. k. james chap. 3. for as much as your most excellent majestie , in your royal judgement , and of your blessed disposition to the weal and quiet of your subjects , did in the year of our lord god , 1610. publish in print to the whole realm , and to all posterity , that all grants , and monopolies , and of the benefit of any penal laws , or of poor to dispence with the law , or to compound for the forfeiture , are contrary to your majesties laws , with your majesties declaration , which is truly consonant and agreeable to the ancient and fundamental laws of this your realm ; and whereas your majesty was further gratiously pleased , expresly to command , that no suitor should presume to move your majestie for matters of that nature ; yet neverthelesse upon mis-information , and untrue pretences of publick good , many such grants have been unduly obtained and unlawfully put in execution , to the great grievance , and inconvenience of your majesties subjects , contrary to the laws of this your realm , and contrary to your majesties royal and blessed intention so published as aforesaid ; for avoiding whereof , and preventing the like for the time to come ; may it please your most excellent majestie at the humble suit of the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons in this present parliament assembled , that it may be declared , and enacted ; and be it declared and enacted by authority of this present parliament , that all monopolies , and all commissions , grants , licences , charters , and letters pattents heretofore made , or granted to any person or persons , bodies politick , or corporate whatsoever , of , or for the sole buying , selling , making , working , or using of any thing within this realm , or of any other monopolies , or of power , liberty or faculty to dispence with any other , to give licence or toleration to do , use , or exercise any thing against the tenure , or purport of any law or statute , or to give , or make any warrant for any such dispensation , licence , or toleration to be had or made , &c. and all proclamations , inhibitions , restraints , warrants of assistance , and all other matters or things whatsoever , any way tending to the instituting , erecting , strengthning , furthering , or countenancing of the same , or any of them are contrary to the laws of this realm , and so are , and shall be utterly void , and of none effect , and in no wayes to be put in use or execution , &c. be it further enacted , &c. that all person and persons bodies politick and corporate whatsoever , which now are , or hereafter shall be , shall stand , and be dis-abled and uncapable to have , use , exercise or put in eure any monopoly , or any such commission , grant , licence , charter , letters pattents , proclamations , inhibition , restraint , warrant of assistance , or other matter or thing tending as aforesaid , or any liberty , power , or faculty grounded , or pretended to be grounded upon them , or any of them . the party grieved by pretext of any monopoly , &c. shall recover his or their treble damages , and double costs , &c. and he that delayeth an action grounded upon statute , incurs a premunire , which is exprest in the 16. rich. 2. 5. shall be put out of the kings protection , and their lands and tenements , goods , and chattels forfeit to our lord the king , and their bodies to be attached to answer the king , &c. ( charters granted to corporations saved ) letters pattents to use new manufactures saved . ) grants confirmed by acts of parliament saved . ) warrants granted to justices saved . ) letters pattents that concern printing , salt-peter , gun-powder , great ordnance shot , or offices saved . ) nor shall this statute extend to void commssions for allum-mines , nor to the licences of keeping taverns , making glasse , transportation of calves-skins , nor for making smalt , nor for melting iron evre , with sea-coal , &c. provided also , and be it enacted , that this act or any declaration , proviso , penalty , forfeiture , or other thing before mentioned , shall not extend , or be prejudicial to any use , custome , prescription , franchize , freedome , jurisdiction , immunity , liberty , or priviledge heretofore claimed , used , or enjoyed by the governours , and stewards , and brethren of the fellowship of the hoast-men of the town of newcastle upon tyne , or by the ancient fellow-ship , guild , or fraternity commonly called hoast-men , for , or concerning the selling , carrying , lading , disposing , shipping , venting , or trading of , or for any sea-coals , stone-coals , or pit-coals , forth , or out of the haven , and river of tyne , or to a grant made by the said governor , and stewards , and brethren of the fellowship of the said hoast-men to the late queen elizabeth , * of any duty or summes of money to be paid for , * or in respect of any such coals , as aforesaid . here the reader may see that all these excepted , except to the justices , are allowed to be monopolies , and this last the greatest that ever was . see chap. 11. chap. 8. ( a ) chap. 21. ( a ) parliament 1640. informations upon penal statutes shall be prosecuted in the counties where the offences are committed . ( e ) stat. 21. k. james chap. 3. be it enacted that all informations upon p●nal statutes shall be prosecuted in the counties where the offences were committed , &c. upon default of proving that the offence was committed in the same county , the defendant shall be found not guilty , &c. the informer shall make oath , that the offence was committed in the same county , where the suit is commenced , &c. the defendant in an information upon a penal statute may plead the general issue , that they are not guilty , &c. certain offences there be excepted , but may be tried elswhere , &c. this statute was made in favour and ease of the people from coming to london , but it is the worst statute that ever was made , and much in favour of the offender , for the offender in corporations and sheriffs , are judges , and jurors in their own cases , and the informer cast into prison , when the judges are coming to assizes , &c. so the judges cannot come to the knowledge of such offences , and the offenders not punished . if that clause of the statute were repealed ( which tyes all informations to be tryed only , and to be prosecuted in the same county , and this put in , that any may as well prosecute at westminster , as elsewhere would bring into the publick revenew above a hundred thousand pound per annum . limitations of certain actions for avoiding suits in law. ( f ) stat. 21. k. james , chap. 16. be it enacted , that all actions upon the case ( other then for slander ) actions for account , actions for treaspass , debt , detriment , and replevi for goods or chattel , and the said action of trespass , quare clausum fregit , within six years next after the cause of such action , and not after . action of trespass of assault , battery , wounding , imprisonment , or any of them within four years next after the cause of such action , or suit , and not after . and actions upon the case for words within two years next after the words spoken , and not after . that no person do enter into any lands , but within twenty years next after his right or title , which shall hereafter first descend or accrue to the same , and in default thereof such persons so not entring , and their heirs , shall be utterly excluded and dis-abled from such entry after to be made , &c. provided that if any person or persons be at the time of such cause of action given or accrued , fallen or come within the age of one and twenty yeers seme covert , non compos mentis , imprisoned , or be beyond the seas , that then such person or persons shall be at liberty to bring the same actions , so as they take the same within such time as are before limited after their coming to , or being of full age , discovert , of sound memory , at large , and returned from beyond the sea , as other persons having no such impediments should be done , stat. 20. hen. 3. 8. 3. ed. 1. 38. 32. hen. 8. 2. 1. m. 5. the punishment of drunkards . ( g ) stat. 21. k. james 7. &c. for preventing of that loathsome sin of drunkennesse , enacted that for every time any was drunk , should within one week after conviction by the oath of one witnesse pay five shillings to the church wardens of the parish for the use of the poor , and for want thereof in monies , to be set in the stocks six hours ; and for the second offence to be bound to the good behaviour . ( see chap. 55. ( b. ) the ale-house keeper , which doth not sell by a full measure of a quart shall , &c. and that shall keep any person , tipling above one hour , shall forfeit ten shillings , and all brewers that shall deliver beer , to houses unlicenced , shall pay six shillings eight pence for every barrel , &c. king charles . the petition of right . ( a ) stat. 3 year of k. charles upon the second day of march 1627. the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons assembled in parliament read the petition unto the king , the effect thereof was , that his majesty would declare and grant in open parliament , that none might be compelled to make or yeeld any gift , loan , or benevolence , tax , or such like charge , without common consent by act of parliament . that none be compelled to make answer , or take such oath , or to give attendance , or be confined , molested or disquieted for refusal of that . nor free-men be imprisoned or detained , it being the right and liberty of the subject , according to the laws and statutes of england , and to declare your royal will and pleasure , which the king did in these words ( soit droit fait come est desire ) let right be done as is desired ) see 28. chap. 30. ( b ) 38. ( c ) 41. ( a ) 51. ( c ) 43. ( d. ) the star-chamber and high-commission courts voted down . ( b ) act. 17. king charles , the parliament dissolved the high-commission , and star-chamber courts , with the president , and councel of the north , to the end to abandon all arbitrary pressures , conceiving them to be the greatest of evils , the proceedings , censures , and decrease of those courts , have by experience been found to be an intolerable burden to the people , and the means to introduce an arbitrary power and government , being contrary to the laws and liberties of the land , &c. all which courts and proceedings shall sease after the first of august , 1641. being absolutely dissolved and taken away , &c. but it further enacted and declared , that neither his majesty nor councel have , nor ought to have any jurisdiction , power or authority by english bill , petition , articles , libel , or any other arbitrary way whatsoever , to examine , or draw into question , determine , or dispose of the lands , tenements , hereditaments , goods , or chattels of any of the subjects of this kingdome , but that the same ought to be tried and determined in the ordinary courts of justice , and by the ordinary course of the law , &c. and that from henceforth , no court , councel , or place of judicature , shall be erected , ordained , constituted , or appointed within this realm of england , &c. which shall have , use , or exercise the same , or the like * jurisdiction , as is or hath been used , practised in the said court of star-chamber . and be it enacted , that if any who ever they be , shall put in practice any of the courts above named practices , shall for such offence forfeit five hundred pound for the first offence to the party grieved , one thousand for the second offence ; and for the third offence , shall be from thenceforth incapable ipso facto , to bear office , and disabled to make any gift , grant , conveyance , &c. of any of his lands , &c. nor to have any benefit of them , &c. and shall pay to the party grieved treble damages , to be recovered , &c. in any court of record at westminster , by action of debt , bill , ●laint , or information , wherein no essoyn , protection , wager of law , ayd , prayer , priviledge , injunction , or order of restraint shall be in any wise prayed , granted , or allowed , nor any more then one imparlence , &c. it will do the masters of ships no harm to get five hundred pounds for every oath they are forced to swear against themselves , to cut purses , to be imprisoned without judgement of the law , arbitrarily fined , &c. all being done by the magistrates of newcastle , &c. see chap. 29. chap. 26. the parliament . monopolies voted down , &c. ( a ) 1640. the parliament were then so zealous for the nations weal , that seeing what heavy yokes of bondage the people sat under by monopolies , they fell to work on them , and voted down , the pattents of tyn , soap , lether , salt , &c. as being infringers of the common right of the free-born , and the pre-emption of coals would have been the like , if any publick spirit had appeared and presented that grand grievance , which more concerns the life of man then any of the other , but i hope god will do it in due time . see stat. 21. king james 3. see chap. 44. ( e. ) all trade prohibited to newcastle upon tyne , &c. ( b ) 9. jan. 1642. ordained that all trade to newcastle upon tyne for coals , salt , &c. be prohibited upon pain of forfeiture , and confiscation of ship and goods , by reason that town is conceived to be the principal inlet of all foreign aid and forces for strengthning themselves against the parliament , tending to the destruction of the laws and liberties of england . an ordinance for a low price of coals , &c. ( c ) feb. and june 42. and 43. two ordinances were made for setting a rate upon coals at london , being so scarce , and enhansed to such a great rate , that all the poor were in a very sad condition . propositions to reduce newcastle , &c. ( d ) 5. june 1643. an ordinance for reducing newcastle to the obedience of the parliament , being garrisoned and kept by papists , and other ill-affected persons , whereby the whole land suffers for want of coals , so absolutely necessary to the maintenance and support of life , which falls heavy upon the meaner sort . upon the 20. of june the lord mayor , and court of aldermen , and common councel of the city of london , met at guild-hall , and undertook the reducing of that town of newcastle from their malignancy upon the propositions of parliament , whereby they were to be repaid , both principle and use of all charges , out of the gentlemens estates of northumberland , and county of durham ( it was summa injuria that these gentlemen should be destroyed for the offence and wickednesse of that corporation , who never yet suffered for the same , &c. ) ordinances of parliament . ( e ) 12. may 1643. ordained that there be a free and open trade in the ports of sunderland in the county of durham , and blithe in the county of northumberland , to relieve the poor inhabitants thereabouts by reason of the rapines , and spoyls those enemies of newcastle have brought upon them in those two counties , they all being in great want and extremity . ( f ) 14. novem. 1644. ordained that a free and open trade be had to newcastle for coals , salt , &c. that corporation being won by the sword with the scots , &c. these are breviated in the epistle to the reader , &c. notwithstanding all these sad events which that corporation brought upon the people in those northern counties , but the mayor and burgesses , most of which were the transgressors not in the least sorry , but still doth with the highest hand of arrogancy , and pride tyrannize over the people in those counties , not admitting them to improve their estates , but casts them into prison , &c. the oppressed cryes for relief , and could never be heard . ( g ) 17. june , 1649. and act of parliament passed for sail of kings lands , and queens , &c. by vertue whereof was surveyed in lands , mils , and tenements to the value of two thousand pounds per annum , and returned to worcester house , i leave the rest to the examiner , &c. the particulars , i have &c. ( h ) 〈◊〉 1650. an act of parliament constituting a councel for regulating of trade throughout england , &c. and were to sit at white-hall , where there was a legal trial had against newcastle , and were overthrown , as by the report which was drawn up by the said councel to be reported to the parliament , as appears , &c. ( i ) anno 1653. the parliament impowred a committee for regulating of trade and corporations through england , &c. when more charge was brought in against the evill practice of the said corporation , appears , &c. all that is desired is a free trade in the river of tyne , according to the purport and true meaning of that stat. 11 rich. 2. 7. the taking away what is bad in that corporations charter , the river preserved , and men from being imprisoned without judgement of law. now to give some reasons against this arbitrary power . as sir walter raleigh , being to give a character of henry the eighth , prefaceth his description with this introduction , if all the pictures and patterns of a merciless prince were lost in the world , they might all again be painted to the life out of the story of that king. so having given the world an account of the most unchristian , illegal , oppressive practices of the magistrates of newcastle upon the people of this nation , whose either neighborhood , or calling , or condition of life , necessitate them to an intercourse with them , either by way of traffique or any other way , though forced into that port and harbor , by distress of weather , tempest or any other accident incident to those that go down to the seas in ships , and occupie their businesses in the waters ; reflecting on their actions , i may safely say of them as that noble knight did of that king , if all the pictures and patterns of a cruell and merciless people were utterly lost in the world , they might be all painted to the life out of this narrative , setting out the illegal oppressions , arbitrary exactions , barbarous murthers practised and committed by the magistrates of newcastle , both on their neighbors , and the free people of this nation . there are two rules or canons in scripture upon which all the commandements of the second table ( and consequently , all the duty of man to his neighbor ) do depend . the first is , quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris , what thou wouldst not have another do unto thee , that thou oughtest not do unto another . this rule well observed prevents all injury and wrong : for while a man frames his own actions towards his neighbor , according to that pattern which in his own breast he shapes to his neighbor to perform unto himself , hee will do no injury , because he would receive no injury ; and this is the ground of that command or precept of our saviour , thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self . the second rule is , whatsoever yee would that men should do unto you , even do yee unto them , mat. 7. 12. and this rule stirs us up to all beneficence , and doing good to our neighbor : for as to prevent injuring another man , a man should aske himself , would i that another man should do to me , as i am about to do unto him ? and so , love to himself will prevent hatred to another ; so to confer favors , and to do good unto another , a man should aske himself , would i require this boon , this favor , this good turn from another , if i stood in need of it as my neighbor doth , and i were in his condition ? and would the granting , or doing this favor , be most acceptable to me , and lay an eternal obligation upon me ? hence love to a mans self , will kindle his bowels of compassion to his brother , and will dispose him willingly to do that good unto another , which , if occasion served , he would willingly receive from another . these men of newcastle regulate themselves in all their actions here charged upon them , and fully proved by oath of men of undoubted integrity , neither by the one rule nor by the other ; for they do not onely do those injuries and wrongs which they would not take , but they deny those favors which they would , if occasion served , willingly receive ; nay , they do not onely deny to do those favors themselves , which not onely by the law of christian charity , but even by the dictate of nature , and common humanity they are bound to perform , but they binder and deter those that would do them , and violently prosecute , fine and imprison those who have releived them , and without their present help , had ship-wracked in the very haven , and perished under the expectation of a delayed assistance . i shall not accuse all incorporations as established monopolies , but certainly , the corporation of newcastle , as it is managed by those men , is of all monopolies the most oppressive , and consequently the most odi●us monopolie , rendred so by those injurious , destructive , illegal privileges , which against all law of god and man , they have made and indulged to themselves , and accordingly are rigorously practised by them : but that their monstrous practices may more clearly appear to all the world , what hath been scattered and divided by necessary interweaving of proofs , and depositions , statutes and laws , and other supplements , i shall here contract into a narrow compass , and present them brevi quasi tabellâ , unto the view of the world . their tyranny and oppression may be reduced to these heads . first , false imprisonments without any tryal of law , or offence committed ; ( pag. 72. 89. 58. 76. 84. 87. 93. 85. 103. 59. 81. 106. 90. ) when the chief priest and elders of the jews desired festus on their information barely to pass sentence upon st. paul ( though a heathen judge ) he returns them this answer , it is not the manner of the romans to deliver any man to die , before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face , and have licence to answer for himself , act. 25. 16. on the unjustice , and unreasonableness of this course doth nicodemus oppose the chief priests and pharisee● in the behalf of christ , doth our law ( saith he ) judge any man before it hear him , and know what he hath done , john 7. 51. ( p. 163. g. ) this way of proceeding in judicatory is most repugnant both to the law of nature , as you see in the romans law , and also to the law of god , which positively determines , one witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity , or any sin that he sinneth , at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established , deut. 19. 15. and if god would not have any man to be condemned in any judicatory by the testimony of one witness , but by the joynt attestation of two or three at least , as is evident by this text of scripture , and by many concurrent places of divine writ , as numb . 35. 30. deut. 17. 6. mat. 18. 16. john 8. 17. heb. 10. 28. 2 cor. 13. 1. how much less would god approve of such tyrannical proceedings to condemn a man without any witness at all , or ever permitting the person accused to take up an apology or just defence for himself . secondly , forcing men to swear against themselves , ( pag. 60. 72. 86. 87. 88. 91. 92. 103. ) how highly were the hearts of this nation inflamed ? what indignation did they conceive against the practices both of the star chamber , and high commission , heretofore ( pag. 87. ) as laying an unsupportable yoak upon the necks of the people by the tender of the oath ex officio ? hath all the nation freed themselves from this bondage by a good law , so that elsewhere no man is compelled to testifie against himselfe , or where other witnesses fail ; inforced to accuse himself ? and must they onely that come under the jurisdiction of the magistrates of newcastle remain inslaved under the same bondage ? is this tyranny lawful at newcastle , that is exploded and cast off every where else ? nay , that which infinitely heightens their oppression and wickedness , is this , that those reasons which were alleged to justifie this practice , ( pag. 188 88. 87. 86. 103. ) both in the star chamber , and high commission , have no place of pretension here . there the zeal of justice , to let no sin go unpunished ; and the glory of god , in the sinners confession , and accusing of himself , as joshua abjured achan , my son , give i pray thee glory to the lord god of israel , and make confession unto him ; and tell me now what thou hast done , hide it not from me , josh . 7. 19. was alleged as an instance to justifie their proceedings , where otherwise the offender could not be discovered , either by evidence of the fact , or testimony of witnesses . but here by an oath they compel men to reveal the secrets of their hearts to rise up in judgement against themselves , for no other end , but by their own confession , to make them guilty , and then invade their fortunes . first , they make themselves masters of their consciences , ( pag. 86. 107. 99. ) and by that make themselves masters of their estates . covetousness , and not zeal of justice , or gods glory , is the principle from whence they act . thirdly . imposing fines arbitrarily ( p. 23. ( ● ) 31. ( r ) 44. 60. 84. 87. 90. 91. 93. 117. 24. 109. 110 92. 16. ) and then no wonder if they be excessive , exceeding both the merrit of the crime pretended , or the ability of the offender . how great a temptation is it to justice , to be severe and ridged in its sentence , when the punishment of the offendor is the inriching of them that passe the sentence ? ( nay the judges themselves are the grand offenders and goe unpunished , ( p. 77. 78. 79 ) and so it is here at newcastle . ( p. 81. ( q ) p. 91. ( c ) p. 90. ( h ) p. 103. ( d ) p. 110. ) one reason that induced some sages of the law to affirme that the latter kings of england had evested themselves of their power to sit personally in their courts of justice , and deligated it to , and invested the judges of the respective benches therewith , was , because in imposing of fines the king was both a judge and party interested , not only as the fountain of justice to be administred unto the people , but as the person into whose exchequers and treasury , the laws of england paid their fines . but the magistrates of newcastle injoy those privileges , which were thought unbeseeming the kings of england . they are both judges and parties . they estimate the offence , and receive the fine , and then how frequently covetousnesse and self-interest , sit on the bench in the place of justice , ( p. 35. ) the world may easily judge ; as appeares in the case of lewis frost , and unjust judge bonner , hee having two pence halfpenny of all ballast , and the other catchpole bonner to arrest the refusers . fourthly . obstructing all indeavours for grant of a market at north-sheilds , six miles from newcastle , and in another county , and 12 miles from any other market in the same county , and then robbing people of their commodities , in their own markets , and seizing on goods carried through their town , alledging forraigne bought and forraigne sold . markets were for conveniences , and not for ingrossing all provisions and peoples lives ( p. 87. ) fifthly , for imprisoning poor artificers ( p. 84. 85. 80. ) for working in their own trades , at the town of sheilds , though in another county , and detaining them untill they enter into bond never to work there again , which is to engage themselves to abandon and renounce that calling wherein they were brought up , to expose themselves , their wives and children to want and beggery , or else to turn vagabons , ( p. 181. ) and desert the place of their habitations , being by these mens tyranny , necessitated to leave their callings or their dwellings ; what sad fate hangs over the poor inhabitants of this town , to be deprived of the common privileges of english men , shall i say ? nay despoyled of the common privileges of mankind , in the sweat of their browes to eat their own bread , genesis 3. 19. and to yeild obedience to that precept of st. paul. let him labour , working with his hands the thing that is good , that hee may have to give to him that needeth , ephesians 4. 28. or that of the same apostle 1. thes : 4. 11. and 2. thes . 3. 10 , 11 , 12. the character of newcastle , or rather indeed the usurped power of the magistrates there , supercedes the commandements of god , let every man , saith st. paul , abide in the same calling wherein hee is called , 1. cor. 7. 20. if hee doth , say the magistrates of newcastle , hee shall not abide in sheilds , nor in the neighbourhood of our corporation : as if they were a limbe of the beast ; so that no man may work , ( p. 72. 165. ) or buy , or sell , save hee that hath their mark . revel . 13. 17. that is , unlesse hee be a member of that freedome , which ingrosseth so much freedome to themselves , that they leave no freedome at all to their poor neighbours . ( p. 104. ) sixtly , ( p. 69. 70. 76. ( a ) 84. 85. 73. ) imprisoning all that are not free of their corporation that shall indeavour to save ships in distresse , from perishing in the river , and when they are sunk for want of help , seizing the goods of the masters , & also imprisoning their persons ( 72 ) many months . let the world , wheresoever it is most savage , most barbarous , shew such an instance of such an aggregation of injustice , oppression and cruelty as this , and ( as wee say , let them carry their coals ) if not to save life bee to kill , and if not to doe good when an opportunity is offered unto us , is to doe evill , as in our saviours doctrine certainly it is , mark 3. 4. then not to save a ship ( p. 165. ) i and perhaps the mariners and passengers lives too ( 72 ) when they have an opportunity , nay when they are earnestly intreated , and their help implored , is in gods accompt all one as if they had sunk the ship and drowned the men , ( p. 80. ) hee that doeth not prevent a mischeif when it is in his power to doe it , is in gods accompt the contriver and the author of it ; but that which is the great aggravation of their oppression in this kind , and heightneth it beyond any parallell is , they deny all help to ships in distresse ( p. 71. ) that so making ship-wrack ( p. 18. 19. 70. 71. 72. 81. 73. 75. 84. ) that which in this is usually alleged to take off from the horridnesse of their tyranny is ( viz. ) that they must send for help from newcastle , signifies nothing , newcastle being 7 miles from that harbour of sheilds . whilst the grasse grows the steed starves , as the proverb tells us , and while help is expected the ship is lost . if these men could command the wind and seas , not to rage and swell , but be hushed into a calme , and the river kept from friezing ( p. 59. 78. 102. 105. 72. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. ) untill they sent down help from newcastle , their reply might be admitted ; but since the wind , sea and ice , are not controllable by their charter , what abominable tyranny : what savage inhumanity , is it to deny ships in distresse , such help as is at hand , to preserve themselves ? cases of necessity make voyd proprieties , that which without the case of necessity is theft ; in the case of necessity is not theft . men doe not dispise a theif , if hee steale to satisfy his soul when hee is hungry , proverb : 6. 30. and the law saith , when thou comest into thy neigbours vineyard , thou maist eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure , deut : 23. 24. in case of extreame necessity , that all things are common , is the joynt opinion of all divines . this is the law of nature , and therefore not to be over-ruled by any positive law , of any kingdome or common-wealth ; for in these cases of extream necessity , the person in this condition , taking that which is anothers , is not guilty of theft , for jure suo uti●ur , as the casuists determine , hee doth but make use of his own right ; nor doth it come under the definition of theft , which is , taking away that which is another mans , without his consent : for as necessity alters the property , and makes it his own , so while he makes use of his own right , the other tenetur consentire , is bound to give his consent , and to acquiesce in the others injoyment of it . and therefore in all positive laws whereby property is distinguished , there is none of them , which hold in case of extream necessity : and shall extream necessity entitle a man to a part of another mans reall possession , by which there is damnum emergens , some dammage or diminution of the goods and possession of the owner , and yet free the invador from all imputation of injustice or usurpation ? and shal not a poor master of a ship in case of extream necessity , ( p. 72. 71. 102. 73. 69. 74. ) dispence with the privileges , and charter of newcastle , which at most , can be but lucrum cessans , a suspension of their privileges and gaine● ; and make use of such helps for his preservation as providence affords , without running the danger of sending for , and waiting the help from newcastle ; without the ruine of those that save him ? shall not extream necessity , which is an apology for all the world , bee his just apology , to plead his excuse in this case , and free him and his helpers from the tyranny and persecution of the magistrates ? 3. the prophet isaiah , tels us of some magistrates that were companions of theeves , isaiah 1. 23. ezekiel tels us of others , that were like evening wolves , ravening for their prey , ezekiel 22. 27. and zephany , of others , that were , like roaring lyons zeph : 3. 3. if any man doubt , whether these characters of oppressive magistrates , be applicable to these of newcastle , i shall say no more to them , than our saviour did to nathaniel in an other case , come and see . joh. 1. 46. seventhly . prohibiting gentlemen and others in the counties both of northumberland and durham , to sell their coals to ships to be transported to london , compelling all owners of colleries , to sell their coals to themselves first , if any shall presume to sell their coals immediately to the ships , without taking them in the way , they seize upon such coals , upon pretence that the owners of the coals are not free of their corporation , ( pag. 20. 94. 92. 93. 95. 96. 97. 45. 78. 76. 75. 37. 190 162. d. ) and if this be not a monopoly , of as high a nature , and producing as ill effects , and those of as large extent , as any , that ( to the great content and satisfaction of the nation ) hath b●en abolished , let the * world judge . a welch pedigree , doth not descend by more steps and degrees , than the propriety of their coals is varied , while it is derived from the owner of the collery , unto him that at last buyes the commodity to spend it , as well trades as others . the owners of colleries , must first sell the coals to the magistrates of newcastle , the magistrates to the masters of ships , the master of ships to the woodmongers or wharfingers , and they to those that spend them : every change of the propriety adding to , and enhancing the price of the coals , thus interchangeably bought and sold ; which course , as it picks some money out of the purses of every man that buys coals , besides bad * coals being therby vented , so it grinds the faces of the poor , who in these latter years , by reason mainly of this monopolizing of them , have found it as hard a matter to fortifie themselves against cold , as against hunger , ( p. 104. ) whereas , if the owners of every collery had free liberty to sell ( p. 118. ) his coals to ships immediately , tinmouth haven would afford two hundred thousand chaldrons of coals in the year more than now are vented , which would reduce the late exorbitant excessive rates of coals in the city of london ( p. 60. 75. ) to under twenty shillings a chalder all the year , winter as well as summer , and bring into the common treasury above forty thousand pounds per annum , ( p. 57. 94. 96. ) some owners of coal-pits will rather let their pits be fired , like those at benwell , and consume , than let their coals to the magistrates of newcastle . if the coal-owners in each county from whence all coals come should be as refractory to the magistrates in denying their coals , as the magistrates are to the masters ( pag. 97. 93. 92. ) few or none would be brought to london , or any revenue raised . eighthly , forcing all ships up the river six miles , amongst dangerous sands , shelves , and the bulks of sunk ships ( p. 69 , 70 , 71. 72 , 78 , 93 ) that so they may cast out their ballast upon their shoars , and all for the greediness of receiving eight pence for every tun of ballast , which hath occasioned the spoil and loss of many ships , to the utter undoing of the masters and owners of the ships , and the destruction of the lives of many poor seaman , and mariners , whose blood will be required at their hands who put them on those dangers in which they perished . besides their choaking up the most part of that river , by forcing the ballast up their sandy hils near the said town of newcastle , many thousand tuns whereof is blown and washed down into that river , ( pag. 78. ) they will neither preserve the river , nor let doctor swinbourn vice admiral for the county of durham doe it , who hath fined some of the magistrates hundreds of pounds for damages , &c. lastly , countenancing their officers in their oppressions , nay , in their very murthers , as in the case of thomas r●tter with others , who having forfeited their lives to justice for killing ann the wise of th●mas cliff of north-shields , was by their power and favor rescued from that death , which they justly deserved ( p. 80. ) god would not suffer his altar to be a sanctuary to a wilful murtherer , neither would king john their patron , ( pag. 34. ) if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him , thou shalt take him from mine altar , that he may die , exo. 21. 14. the law of england d●fines what murther is , pa. 165. blood defileth the land , and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein , but by the blood of him that shed it , numb . 35. 33. when therefore god shall make inquisition , they that staid him that offered ●iolence to the blood of his n●ighbor , and should have gone to the pit , prov. 20. 17. will be found to communicate in this murder , and involved in the same guilt with him that committed it , but the good god be merciful to them that have not approved or consented to this wickedness ; for though our eyes did see this blood , yet our hands did not shed it ; and therefore let every one that would wash his hands clean from that blood , pray , as god prescribed , be merciful , o lord , unto thy people israel , whom thou hast redeemed , and lay not innocent blood unto thy people israels charge , deut. 21. 7 , 8. thus have i given you a short view of the tyrannical oppressive practices of the magistrates of newcastle , whose sin receives no smal aggravation from their office and calling , in that they are magistrates , whom god hath furnished with authority to that end , that they might prevent and redress injuries done by others , and execute wrath upon evill doers , rom. 13. so that in their oppressions , they sin against the very end of their calling , they transform the very image of gods power and justice , which they sustain , into the image of gods enemy , satan , whom herein they resemble , and become after a sort wickednesses in high places , as the devils are ; for amongst them , as much as any where , is that of solomon verified , i saw under the sun the place of judgement , that wickedness was there , and the place of righteousness , that iniquity was there , eccles . 3. 16. and although attempts hitherto , and all indeavors for redress of these oppressive courses , have proved abortive and fruitless , no man compassionating the people with saul , so much as to aske , what ayleth this people that they weep , 1 sam. 11. 5. no , after many addresses , petitions , remonstrances , and sutes at law , being stifled by the instigation of corrupt persons then in power , and obstructed by the mutability and changes , we have too just reason to complain with solomon , behold the tears of such as were oppressed , and they had no comforters , and on the sides of their oppressors there was power , but they , the oppressed , had no comforter , eccles . 4. 1. yet at this time we are not without good hopes , but that the cries of the poor and the oppressed will enter into the ears and hearts of this present power , that they will be as a hiding place from the winde , and a covert from the tempest , as rivers of waters in a dry place , as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land , isa . 32. 2. but if our hopes now fail us , we must sit down and sigh-out that of solomon , if thou seest the oppression of the poor , and violent perverting of judgement and justice in a province , marvail not at the matter , for hee that is higher than the highest regardeth , and there he higher than they , eccles . 5. 8. the table . a atcheson page . 85 arresting in others names page . 76 arresting out of a liberty , page . 154 arresting by false writs , page . 181 attorny page . 127 , 182 admiralty river , page . 15 , 17 , 45 , 115 aldermen page . 22 , 136 articles for the river , page . 37 to 41 army at batlet page . 118 armed men disarmed , page . 161 artificers page . 167 , 84 , 165 acton burnel page . 27 andronicus page . 69 attaint against a jury , page . 150 ad quod damnum page . 155 act for free trade , page . 114 , 170 alehouses page . 187 b bounders of newcastle , page . 8. 9 , 11 , 16 bigs page . 76 bowes page . 85 bonner page . 51 , 73 , 84 beets page . 71 buckingham page . 15 bishop and justice page . 36 bribery page . 10 ballast , page . 40 , 43 , 44 , 73 , 77 , 79 , 87 , 89 , 103 , 116 , 151 , 74 , 92 , 93 , 48 , 49 , 53 , 78 , 94. bonds , page . 43 , 84 , 85 , 103 , bayl denied , page . 82 , 89 , 153 , 140 bread and water fed , page . 83 bread nor beer at shields , page . 102 , 57 , 106 , 117. beasts blood page . 104 blewet page . 135 bidleston page . 110 burgesses page . 29 , 130 bayliffs oath page . 127 belman page . 107 barrator page . 161 butler page . 92 bradford page . 87 bracton page . 84 c charters , page . 7 , 8 , 10 , 11 , 17 , 20 , 30 , 52 , 111 , 117 , 118 , 119 , 154 , 156 , 126 , 171 , 43. corporation page . 113 , 170 corroner , page . 18 , 22 , 24 , 7 , 101 , 144 , 156 customs on coals , page . 98 , 26 , 34 , 75 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97. court page . 23 conservators peace . page . 23 and river page . 37 commissioners river , page . 43 , 115 , 37 combination page . 72 , 73 , 93 coals , page . 97 , 8 , 9 , 45 , 25 , 190 , 119 , 58 , 78 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 117 , 52 , 182 , 138 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 16 , 95 , 185 , 20 , 24 , 29 , 31 , 70 , 71. conspiracies in art. page . 165 cartwright page . 94 cudworth page . 93 customers page . 139 , 173 twelve companies page . 20 councils names , page . 41 , 42 , 49 , 55 crosier page . 48 cliffs trial page . 57 , 76 , 81 committee page . 61 carpenters page . 84 castle of darrel page . 44 commission sewers page . 149 condemned by law page . 134 confiscations , page . 117 , 105 , 28 , 99 , 102 corn page . 101 , 104 cason page . 75 , 71 d dudly and empson page . 34 drowning , page . 59 , 70 , 101 , 102 , 112 dogs and cats eaten , page . 104 , 120 debts page . 27 duties on coals page . 97 distress page . 156 damage to ships page . 75 drunkenness , page . 34 , 111 , 187 deanes claim page . 119 duke venice page . 173 dawson page . 95 , 97 , 100 darrel page . 44 e k. edw. 1. page . 153 edw. 2. page . 157 edw. 3. page . 160 edw. 6. page . 164 q. elizab. page . 12 , 13 , 14 , 16 , 20 , 117 extortion , page . 115 , 123 , 153 , 180 evidence page . 128 , 109 expositions page . 123 executions page . 180 f fleta page . 83 , 84 forestallers , page . 17 , 166 , 179 , 104 fines , page . 16 , 18 , 19 , 23 , 31 , 60 , 84 , 87 , 81 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 117. 163. fishermen page . 44 felons , page . 23 , 24 , 110 , 159 fees by corporation page . 149 fenwick page . 141 farrow page . 103 feefarm page . 7 , 10 , 11 fish royal page . 19 g gates lockt page . 39 grounds fenced , page . 40 , 51 , 76 , 112 , 113 gardiners page . 59 , 62 , 104 goods page . 60 , 117 grenaway page . 105 gateshead page . 169 , 175 gold and silver , page . 162 green page . 91 grievances to be redressed , page . 163 gallows page . 19 , 24 gaolers page . 160 grammer school page . 29 governor page . 39 government page . 34 gosnal page . 71 h k. hen. 3. charter page . 8 , 13 hoast-mens charter , page . 13 , 25 , 26 , 30 , 49 , 52 , 92 , 93 horth page . 52 , 77 k. hen. 4. page . 12 l. haward page . 14 sir heath page . 48 , 112 hilton page . 53 , 102 hanging page . 24 , 106 heads cut off page . 121 heathens practice page . 87 hume page . 70 , 101 sir hasterigge , page . 100 , 101 , 106 hesilwood page . 72 , 79 , 86 harrison page . 80 , 88 hall page . 85 habeas corpus page . 83 horn page . 84 k. herrold battle page . 118 k. hen. 3. page . 134 k. hen. 4. page . 136 k. hen. 5. page . 137 k. hen. 6. page . 139 k. hen. 7. page . 144 k. hen. 8. page . 147 i k. john , page . 1 , 3 , 129 , 34 , 7 , 2 , 6 k. james page . 35 , 34 indictments page . 81 , 186 , 143 imprisoning , page . 16 , 31 , 76 , 82 , 84 justices , page . 17 , 19 , 23 , 24 , 119 , 136 , 161 judges and jurors , page . 18 , 90 , 103 , 110 , 106 , 117 ingrossers , page . 17 , 101 , 104 , 105 166. jarrow page . 50 , 57 , 90 , 119 jury page . 128 , 151 information of penal statutes page . 186 , 168 k keelef-men page . 40 , 98 , 138 katherines liberties page . 42 kents land page . 119 keeble page . 75 kings oath page . 119 , 128 l limitation of actions , page . 187 laws , page . 17 , 31 , 33 , 82 , 90 , 109 , 111 , 119 , 123 , 134 , 16 , 21 liberties forfeited , page . 42 , 118 163 lamb page . 156 lease grand collery page . 24 lever page . 93 low page . 74 lines page . 76 lambert page . 85 lyng page . 89 lumsdall page . 99 lands purchase , page . 174 , 15 , 11 , 30 letters counterfeited page . 88 m morpeth burnt page . 4 mayor chosen , page . 21 , 23 , 36 , 113 , 163 , 130 , 82 mortmain page . 24 , 174 murder , page . 34 , 80 , 170 , 165 markets , page . 21 , 27 , 59 , 70 , 99 , 101 , 102 , 105 , 106 , 118 , 155 , 166. merchants page . 117 mariners page . 26 mallen page . 71 , 75 mors● page . 75 midford page . 76 mirriton page . 96 measures , coals page . 78 miseries page . 120 q. mary page . 175 n newcastle , page . 15 , 20 , 62 , 67 , 112 , 115 , 116 , 138 , 121 northumberland , page . 120 , 122 , 123 navigation page . 115 normans page . 119 o oliver lord protector , page . 114 officers , page . 18 , 22 , 27 , 30 , 36 , 81 , 153 , 163 out-lawed page . 22 oath , page . 22 , 36 , 39 , 72 , 86 , 88 , 91 , 119 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 141 , 165. ordinances page . 145 , 190 orde wife page . 96 objections page . 112 p parlament page . 5 , 53 , 81 punishments page . 16 , 43 , 58 petition right page . 188 pleading , page . 30 , 27 , 62 , 67 , 115 penalties page . 31 , 28 profits page . 33 purse cutting page . 87 , 180 prisons , page . 23 , 59 , 72 , 83 , 87 , 93 , 155 peach page . 91 prisoners page . 160 , 84 pots page . 74 pilots page . 117 phillips page . 74 , 78 , 97 perjury page . 73 , 76 , 87 , 178 pye page . 92 poor page . 181 provision , page . 59 , 94 , 102 , 103 prentice page . 111 , 177 pardon page . 29 prerogative page . 118 pope page . 129 q quo warranto , page . 29 , 34 , 113 , 156 r k. rich. 2. page . 12 , 170 ryots page . 174 , 82 , 140 regrators page . 17 , 166 rates page . 81 , 99 , 101 , 162 robbing page . 167 recorder page . 22 recognizans page . 27 river , page . 78 , 102 , 105 , 36 , 43 , 58 , 93 , 149 , 50 56 , 60 , 74 , 75 , 77 , 79. 103 , 112 rewards page . 44 read page . 101 , 92 reavely page . 102 revenue page . 75 , 93 , 94 readhead page . 84 rawling page . 92 rebels . page . 26 s sheriff , page . 12. 23. 137. 141. 143. 153. 158. 180. sneing , page . 16. 45. 46. 92. 100. 102 seele page . 16. 27. 31. 162 sparhawke page . 17. 147 school page . 29 steward page . 31 servants page . 103 ships unload , page . 31. 40. 57. 60. 117. 106. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 80. 92. 103. 104. 134. 102. star-chamber page . 45 , 87 , 188 ship-carpenters page . 117. 58 strafford page . 35 sands patent page . 53 spanish inquisition page . 87 straw-mat page . 91 seamen custom free page . 105 symonds page . 105 scoulds page . 111 stock commonwealth , page . 115 salt works page . 117 scots burning people page . 122 s●lkeild page . 82 sergeants page . 107 srabbing page . 182 survey page . 191 t talbot page . 91 toule , page . 28. 94. 101. 103 , 104. 149. 153 trades , page . 21. 51. 75. 78. 112● 115. 167. 170. 173 tyrants law page . 70 tye page . 72 tickets page . 44 taylor page . 84 , 104 trinity house london , page . 112 tyn page . 94 tobacco page . 99 thorp judge page . 100 table of fees page . 149 tax only by parlament , page . 155 tempest patent page . 52 v victuals , page . 77. 105. 162. 165. 28 voyages lost , page . 74. 75. 93 94. 97. 104 voyages gained , page . 75 , 79. 93. 98 usher page . 29 usurped power pardoned , page . 29 w wall page . 9 wreck , page . 18. 19. 70. 71. 72. 159 work-men page . 181 , 84 wages page . 81. 73 watching page . 43. 103 willy page . 75 , 110 witchfinder page . 109 wheeler page . 107 wyard page . 92 warrants , page . 103. 82. 97. 156 william conquerer page . 119 water page . 102. 103 west page . 106 williamson page . 99 weights and measures page . 102 y yaxly page . 74 yelverton page . 55 errata . page 9. ( a ) line 7. for shelves , r. streams . p. 36. ( b ) l. 2. for confirmancy , r. conservancy . p. 75. ( c ) l. 4. for worses , r. mo●se . p. 117. ( m ) l. 3. for princes , r. premises . p. 197. l. 12 for evested , r. divested . p. 73. ( f ) l. 7. read for 6. s. 8. d. finis . the river of tyne leading from the sea on the east , to newcastle on the west , beeing bounded in on both sides , by the county of northumberland on the north , & the county durham on the south . london printed & sould by peter stent at the white horse in giltspurr street , betwix newgate and pye corner . a. towne shore b. st ridalls shore● c. ballast shore d. bill shore e. pace sand f south road sand g north road sand h iarro sand i iarro middle around k iarro slike l. dirtwi● sand m coble deane n 〈◊〉 sand o another balla●t shore p bill sand notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a42371-e720 * see chap. 49. ( b ) 11 year ▪ 1211. 13 year ▪ s 1212. ☞ 14 year , 1213 ▪ 15 year . 16 year . 17 year . ☜ * it is conceived , that this le●se is void , by reason the corporation forfeite● it being garrisoned against the parliament , &c. * chap. 21. this statute of 2 edw 3 8 will void this charter by reason it is against right . newcastles petition . * newcastle incorporated . to purchase lands . see stat. 15. rich. 2. 5. to sue , and be sued by one name . see ed. 3 6. confirms all former liberties . * making laws see stat. 19. heu . 7. 7. * to punish offenders . see stat. 9. hen. 3. 29. commanding obedience . sparhawk and headwyn streams their libert ies . entrance to the office of high admiralty . keeping courts . punishment . * see stat. 28. edw. 3. 3. laws of england executed . fore-staling . see cap. 50. a. 49 , 5 , 48. a. officers to do their duty . see cap. 36. c. d see chap. 30. b chap. 29. d. all acknowlegements wreck , &c. view of dead bodies , murthering , drowning wreck . coronors . * see ch . 48. a. 29. 49. a. to fine and qualifie . see stat. 25. edw. 1 5. all fines for their own use is given . see c. 42. a 41. a. * to have all profits and wrecks . * see c. 30. a 29. d sta. 17. ed. 2. 11 to have all felons goods , &c. see c. 53. a * sta. 17. ed. 2. 16. royal fishes . sta. 17. ed. 2. 11 justices of goal delivery , gallows and to hang them . observ . choyce of the mayor and other officers . power to make laws for themselves not repugnant to the laws , of england . castlemore is without the limits . to punish offenders against such laws . * see sta. 19. hen. 7. 7. election of the mayor , sheriff , and other officers at what time . the port belongs to the castle , and not to the town . oath to master of ships . officers for life to fine refusers of offices . the recorder no burgess . every officers name . from the 18. leaf to the 65 leaf concerning the officers of newcastle . to hold courts of record . see chap. 42. c. conservators of the peace chap. 37. chap. 36. to enquire of all misdemeanors to the law forestallers , regrators , &c. * see st. 5 , 6. ed. 6. 15. reasonable taxation of fines &c. for the towns use . * see st. 25. ed. 2. 6. gaol-deliveries and coronors , &c. see sta. 3 h. 7. 1 town moor is without their liberties , only liberty to get coals . they have no other liberties b●t within the walls of the town . quere , what interest they have in the port , for it extends seven miles above , and seven miles below the town of newcastle which is further then their right of inheritance reacheth . q. eliz her lease of the manor of gat. & wick . made to w. reddel , & others in trust for the mayor & burgesses of newcastle for the time being see stat 7. ed. 6. 10. * the copy concerning the sta. of mo●t● . wh●ther the lease be good or not . 15. ric. 2 , 5. see this act at the rolls , whether there be such a penalty or not ? because the same is a private act 100. shillings for every ship or vessel . all felons goods granted . halam a rebel they took in the 29. year of k. hen. 8 he sided with sir th. moor to maintain the popish religion , this was here great service . the queen & her heirs , and successors are to have their clark of recognizances . the mayor to have a seal . see chap. 46. a the town of newcastle discharged of toles , &c. profits of toles of markets and fares in newcastle and liberties to be levied for the use of the mayor . they may take but pay no ●oles . * see 3 ed. 1. 20. chap. 29. 48 , 49. merchant strangers selling and buying of merchandizes at newcastle . * see. sta. rich. 2. 7. 14 rich. 2. 9. 5. 6. edw. 6. 9. see cha . 51. a. * see ch . 49. d cha . 51. a. a general confirmation of all liberties , &c. * see st. 30. ed. 1 a discharge of all former actions to bee brought against them by writ of quo warranto . it doth not clear since . burgesses to be admitted by the mayor and burgesses . a new free grammer-school to be erected and called by the name of qu. eliz. her free grammer school . * see sta. 21. jacobi cap. 3. mayor and burgesses petition , having been an antient fraternity commonly called hoast-men , for the discharging and better disposing of sea-coals , &c. that they may be incorporated in one body . the queen ordaineth them so to be , names 45 to be the guild or body corporate . this is called a monopoly , in the stat. of the 21. k. jam. c 3. enables them to become purchasers in perpetuity . * see stat 15. rich. 2. 5. 7. ed. 1. to make a seal and break it at pleasure . see chap. 46 a to have a governor . power to make laws in their guild , as be pure , wholesome , good , and profitable for the good government of the said company . * see 19 hen. 7. 7 ‖ see stat. 25. ed. 1. 5. to impose penalties by fine or imprisonment upon the offendor . * see 28 edw. 3. 3. and to have al fines for the companys use . see cha . 43. d. such laws to be observed , if they be not repugnant to the known laws of england . see st. 19. hen. 7 7. they to have all the loading or reloading of coals ▪ &c. in that port , in any part of the port notwithstanding the statute of the 21. hen. 8. c. 18. see sta. 21 , ja. 3. a monopoly . it is conceived this charter could not repeal that statute . see chapters 19 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 28 , 34. ( a. b ) 35 ( a. b ) see sta. 23. hen. 85. ☜ these articles are all void , notwithstanding it is all the power they can claim . it is conceived this lease i● void both by law , &c. * oppression . * mr. fuller . * andronicus or the unfort●●nate polititio●● ▪ if all masters should be thus tyed to buy all things of them , judge of the consequence . * it could do no harm to the river , other than endanger the choaking of the fish . ‖ yet the 10 l. did not cleanse the river thereof . * 1 tim. 6. 10. * coal-ingrossers . * it was time . notes for div a42371-e28150 this wil break the n●ck of all charters in england , that be unjust , &c. * this is the grant of is per ch●ldr●n , that they make the nation pay , &c. notes for div a42371-e34820 it would not be amiss for the honest burgesses to protest against the dishonest , to the end , the innocent may not suffer for the ●●cent ; their oath is not to uphold such act●●gs . ☞ ☜ ☜ pag. 70 , 99 , 101 , 102 , 104 , 106 , 155 , 166. ☜ * wh●ch now as the case stands the city is cheated in buying of slats as well as coals p. 45. erōologia anglorum. or, an help to english history containing a succession of all the kings of england, and the english-saxons, the kings and princes of wales, the kings and lords of man, and the isle of wight. as also of all the arch-bishops, bishops, dukes, marquesses, and earles, within the said dominions. in three tables. by robert hall, gent. peter heylyn, 1600-1662. 1641 approx. 494 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 189 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a43536 wing h1713 estc r216457 99828188 99828188 32615 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a43536) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 32615) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1948:15) erōologia anglorum. or, an help to english history containing a succession of all the kings of england, and the english-saxons, the kings and princes of wales, the kings and lords of man, and the isle of wight. as also of all the arch-bishops, bishops, dukes, marquesses, and earles, within the said dominions. in three tables. by robert hall, gent. peter heylyn, 1600-1662. [6], 379, [1] p. : ill., port. by t. and r. cotes, for henry seile, and are to be sold at his shop in fleet-street, over against saint dunstans-church, london : 1641. robert hall is a pseudonym for peter heylyn. first word of title is in greek characters. each table has separate dated title page; second table has two parts, each with separate dated title page. imperfect; leaves k7-k12 lacking. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng nobility -great britain -early works to 1800. great britain -kings and rulers -succession -early works to 1800. 2002-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-11 rina kor sampled and proofread 2002-11 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ηρωολογια anglorvm . or , an help to english history . containing a succession of all the kings of england , and the english-saxons , the kings and princes of wales , the kings and lords of man , and the isle of wight . as also of all the arch bishops , bishops , dukes , marquesses , and earles , within the said dominions . in three tables . by robert hall , gent. london , by t. and r. cotes , for henry seile , and are to be sold at his shop in fleet-streete , over against saint dunstans-church . 1641. to the most excellent prince , charles , prince of wales , heire-apparent to the monarchy of great britaine , &c. most illustrious sir , i doubt not your closet already abounds ▪ and is daily replenished , with volumes of english history , as those mirrours , in whose reflections your royall ancestors , you may best discover theirs , and direct your owne actions . i therefore humbly addresse this piece to your highnesse , not as a booke , but as an index , which cannot offer the pompe of● a volume ▪ yet may yeeld the profit of a manuall . the work is posthumus , bereav'd both of the author and protection ; and had it not desired to live under the patronage of so clement a prince , was willing to dye in the cradle , rather then be expos'd to theadventures of a distempered age. i referre its merits to the judgement of the publique ( to whose use it affords it selfe , ) but humbly begges , that being an orphan , its fatherlesse condition may finde succour and countenance from the splendour of your goodnesse , under which it hath beene first brought ●orth into the world . vouchsafe ● therefore ( great prince ) to cast a gracious eye on this deserted●object , and the poore oblation of your most humbly devoted servant and subject henry seile . a generall preface , touching the use of these three catalogues or tables . having a purpose to peruse our english histories , and those of forraine nations which had any intercourse or commerce with the affaires either of this realme or church of england : i found it no small trouble to me , to know the names of those , whose actions i encountred within the said perusall . for whereas commonly great persons are not called by the names of their families , but of their dignities : it was a matter of no meane difficulty to finde out , what and who they were , who were presented to us by their dignities , as well ecclesiasticall as temporall . upon this ground , to save me from that troublesome inquirie for the time to come ; i set my selfe to draw up a complete and perfect catalogue of all the persons of chiefe ranke in this realme of england , from earles inclusively and upwards ; so farre as any light of story , and warrantable ascent , would direct and guide me . and having formed it in that frame and order , as hereafter followeth , found manifestly that that paines it cost me , was not ill bestowed ; because of that great ease it did me , being once composed . for then no sooner did i meete in any story , with any , either prince or prelate , of , or in this nation ; but i could forthwith turne unto him : and by computing of the times , finde out exactly who he was . and yet me thought it was not perfect , till i had added to the same all those soveraigne princes , which have borne rule in all or any part hereof : the names and actions of the which occurre , as well in our owne chronicles , as forraine stories . that done , i thought it not amisse , to note and adde , according as i met it in my course of reading , what kings and prelates of this nation have beene ennobled in the church with the stile of saints : as also what great offices any of the arch-bishops , bishops , dukes , marquesses , and earles , had severally borne in the civill state. by doing which , as i received great ease and benefit , as before is said ; so i was easily intreated to let all such partake thereof , who thinke it may be either profitable or usefull to them : and for that cause have suffered it to come abroad , that they that will , may take the benefit of my poore endeavours . and this i have the ra●her beene intreated to , to satisfie the mindes of those ( if any thing will satisfie them ) that either are the enemies of regall or episcopall power . for whereas some conc●ive that kings were instituted by the people , on ●ight perhaps of such confusions as had beene noted and observed in a popular government : these following catalogues will make it evident and apparent , that in this countrey there was never any other government then that of kings either in any part thereof , or the whole together . and whereas it is factiously given out by others , that the episcopall authority and regiment in and of the church , is not the proper and peculiar government of the same , but violently obtruded on it by the power of man : the tables of episcopall succession will make it evident , that the said forme of government , is of as long a standing as the church it selfe ; religion and episcopall jurisdiction being brought into this land together . lastly , if any such there be , as have beene formerly , that would crie downe nobility , and that precedencie and power which som● men have above the rest , they may here see , that from the first setling of this monarchie in the norman race , that kings of england have advanced to place and dignity , whom they thought most fit ; and did it sans controule of inferiour people . and so they did no question in the saxons times , and those before them : of which if we have no such cleare and evident succession , as in the rest of later ages ; it is because their digties , and honorarie titles were rather personall then hereditary . now in these catalogues , i shall begin , as reason is , with that of kings , from the first entrance of the romans to this present time : to which i shall adjoyne the kings and princes of wales , as also the kings and lords of man , and the isle of wight● : assigning unto every one his time , according to the computation of our best historians . the catalogue of the bishops i shall bring along , from the first planting of religion here , amongst the saxons ; since which we have a cleare and undeniable succession in the holy hierarchy : the former times , under the empire of the britons , having transmitted to our hands onely some fragments of antiquity , by which we may perceive that the episcopall government was here received together with the faith it selfe ; but cannot gather from the same a constant and continued succession of the persons governing . then for the third catalogue that of the nobility , we have continued that from the first entrance of the normans to this present day ; that at one view a man may see the quality and antiquity of those noble families , which are now both an honour and an ornament to this flourishing kingdome . i shall not neede say more in this generall preface , having prefixed particular prefaces to each severall catalogue , to which i rather shall referre the reader , then detaine him here . the first table , or , a catalogve of all the kings which have reigned in england , since the first entrance of the romans . as also of the kings and princes of wales , the kings and lord of man , and the isle of wight , together with the princes and lords of powys . . printed at london . 1641. the preface to the catalogve of the kings of england . the realme of england is th●t southerne and more flourishing part of the isle of britaine : that which was civi●ized by the romans , and made a province of their empire ; when as the northe●ne parts thereof , were ●ither neglected or not conquered . when it was under the command of the roma● emperours , it wanted not its proper and peculiar kings , over the chiefest and most principall of their tribes and nations : it being the custome of that empire , as ▪ tacitus hath truely noted , habere servitutis instrumenta etiam reges . of these inferiour tributary kings , those which were in their severall times of more power then others , may probably be thought to have assum'd unto themselves the stile and title of kings of the britons : even as in after times , during the heptarchy of the saxons , those which gave law unto the rest , did call themselves , and were accounted the kings or monarchs of the english. but those inferiour petite kings , being , in tract of time worne out , and almost all the south reduced under the immediate command of the roman empire : either the emperours themselves , or such of their lieutenants as did here usurpe the regall state , were stiled kings of britaine , till constantine the great united it inseparably to the roman diadem : and in him ended the first line of the kings of britaine , according to the british story . the second line of kings , beares da●e from the departure of the romans : who being called from hence to looke unto their empire in the continent , le●t their possessions here unto the ●ury of the scots and picts , who dwelling in the northerne and unconquered parts ▪ attempted to subdue the southerne . for the repressing of whose rage the britons chose themselves a king out of armo●ica , ( now called bretag●e ) being extracted from the old british bloud , which had not long before beene planted in that region , by the roman emperours . whose li4e continued here not long , till they were dispossessed both of crowne and countrey , by the saxons , a german people , called in by vortiger to oppose the scots and other nations of the north. who having by degrees subdued all that which formerly had beene conquered by the romans ( the countrey beyond severne excepted onely ) divided it amongst themselves into seven kingdomes ; which finally being all brought under by the west-saxon kings , did at last settle , and continues in the name of england . a kingdome , though of small extent , compared unto the greater countries of france , spaine ▪ and germany , yet of so high esteeme abroad ▪ that it may challenge an equality with either of them , and in some kinde hath had preced●ncie before them . for to the honour of this realme , as well before as since it had the name of england , we may say thus much . it was the first kingdome which received the faith of christ , which was here planted , as it is affirmed by gildas upon certaine knowledge , toward the latter end of tiberius empire . tempore ut scimus summo , tiberii cae●aris , as his owne words are : which by computing of the times , will fall to be five yeares before saint peter came to rome ; and but five yeares after the death of our redeemer . it shewed unto the world the first christia● king , whose name was lucius : and gave unto the church her first christian emperour , even the famous constantine here borne ; by whose example and incouragement the saith was generally received over all the empire , and all the temples of the idols , either demolished or forsaken . it also was the first christian kingdome , out of which the jewes , those bitter and most obstinate enemies of the crosse of christ , were universally expulsed ; and our of which the insolent and usurped supremacie of the popes of rome , was first ejected , after they had a long time domineered in the church of christ. the one of these performed by king edward the first ; the other by king henry the eighth . not to say any thing in this place of their warres and victories in france , spaine , scotland , the netherlands , the isle of cyprus and the holy land . in these regards , the kings of england , as they are a● absolute , so they are as sacred , as of any countrey whatsoever what ever things are proper unto supreme majesty , scepters , and crownes , ●he purple ro●e , the glo●e , or golden ball and vnction , have beene as long theirs , as any others . the foure first are by leland , a ●●●ous antiquarie , ascribed unto king a●thur , who did begin his reigne anno 506. which was as soon● as they were ordinarily in use with the roman emperours . and thi● doth leland justifie , out of an ancient seale of the said king arthurs kept in his time , as an especiall monument in the abbie of westminster : as for their vnction , or annointing , it appeares by the old roman pr●vinciall , and the ancient practise , that of all the kings of christendome , there were none anciently annointed but the two emperours of the east and west ; the kings of france , england , sicilie , and hier●salem . by reason of which vnction or annointing ( besides what is united or annexed to the crowne imp●riall of this realme ) it was declared term. hilarii . 33. edward 3. that the kings of england were capaces jurisdictionis spiritualis , capable of spirituall or ecclesiasticall jurisdiction . as after in the reigne of king henry the eighth , it was declared rather then enacted , that the kings highnesse was the supreme head of the church of england , and that he had authority to reforme all errours , heresies , and abuses in the same . 26. henry 8. cap. 1. which title or supreme head , though used by king edward 6. in a●l his ●eigne , and by queene mary for awhile ; was changed by queene elizabeth into that of supreme governour : and it is now reckoned as a part of the stile of the kings of england , that they are supreme governo●rs in all their dominions and countries , over all persons , in all causes , as well ecclesiasticall as temporall . now as the kings of england are absolute at home ; so are they no lesse honoured and esteemed abroad : the emperour being accounted filius major ecclesiae , the eldest sonne of the church ; the king of france , filius minor , or the second sonne ; and the king of england , filius tertius & adop●ivus , the third and the adopted sonne . in generall councels , the king of france took place at the emperours right hand ; the king of england on his left , and the king of scots having precedencie next before castile . and whereas since the time of charles the fifth , the kings of spaine have challenged the precedencie of all christian princes : yet in the time of king henry 7. pope iulius gave it to the english before the spaniard . nay lest the kings of england might fall short in any thing wherein their neighbour princes glory , they also have an adjunct or peculiar title annexed unto the stile imperiall . for where the king of france is stiled christianissimus , most christian ; and the king of spaine , catholi●us , or the catholick king : the king of england hath the title of defensor fidei , o● the defender of the faith. a title not so much conferred on king henry 8. by the popes of rome , as confirmed unto him . for in a charter of king richard 2. unto the university of oxford , the same stile occurres : for which and other proofes hereof consult the epistle dedicatory before doctor craca●●horp against the arch-bishop of spalato ; and sir isa●c wake , in his rex platonicus . but now we goe unto the kings . south-britaine or england , the kings thereof , according to the british story , from i. caesar unto constantine .   1 cassibelan .   2 theomantius .   3 cymbeline .   4 guiderius . a. ch     45 5 arviragus , called pr●●●sag●● by hector b●●●ius . 73 6 marius . 125 7 coilus . 180 8 lucius , the first christned king of brit●ine and the world ; who dying without children , left the 〈◊〉 emperours his heire . 207 9 severus emperour of rome . 211 10 bassianus sonne of severus . 218 11 carausius a noble briton . 225 12 alectus . 232 13 aesclepiodorus . 262 14 coilus . ii. 289 15 helena daughter of coilus , and constantius emp. of rome .   16 constantine , sonne of helena and constantius : who added , or unite● his estate in britaine , unto the monarchy of rome . south-britaine or england , the kings thereof , from the departure of the romans , unto the setling of the saxons . a. ch.     431 1 constantine of ar●orica or little britaine . 443 2 constantius sonne of constantine . 446 3 vortiger earle of th● gevisses , who called in the saxons . 464 4 vo●●imer , 〈…〉 471 5 vortiger ( againe ) 481 6 aurelius ambrosiu●●●●cond sonne of 〈◊〉 . 500 7 u●er pend●●gon 〈◊〉 son of const. 506 8 arth●r , son of vter ●●●dragon . 542 9 constantine ii. next cousin of arthur . 546 10 conan . 576 11 vorhpor . 580 12 malgo. 586 13 careticus . 613 14 cadwan . 635 15 cadwallan . 678 16 cadwalladar . after whose death ( the saxons having totally subdued all the countrey on this side the severne ) ●he british princes were no longer called kings of britaine , but kings of wales : of wh●m more hereafter . the kingdome and kings of kent . the saxons being called in by vortiger to resist the scots , and other people of the north , did by degrees expulse the britons : and having totally subdued the countrey , erected in the same seven kingdomes . of these the ancientest was that of kent , confined within that county onely : the kings these that follow . a. ch.     455 1 hengist the first king of 〈◊〉 488 2 eske or osca . 512 3 octa. 532 4 immerick . 561 5 ethelbert s. the first christned king , the founder of s. pauls in london . 617 6 edbald . 641 7 ercombert . 665 8 egbert . 673 9 lotharius . 686 10 edrick . 693 11 wightred . 726 12 egbert . ii. 749 13 ethelbert . ii. 759 14 alricus . 794 15 ethelbert . iii. sirnamed pren. 797 16 cuthred . 805 17 baldred , who in the yeare 827. lost both his life and kingdome unto egbert king of the west-saxons . the kingdome and kings of the south-saxons . the kingdome of the south-saxons was begun by ella , a noble captaine of that people . it contained the two counties of sussex and survey , which were thence denominated : the first so called quasi south sex , the countrey of the south-saxons : the second q●asi south rey , as lying on the south of the river t●amise . this kingdome lasted but a while , and had onely these foure kings that follow . viz. a. ch.     488 1 ella the first king of the so●th-saxo●s . 514 2 cissa .   3 ethelwolf or edilwach the first christned king of the south-saxons .   4 berthun and authun two brothers both joyntly reigning , and both joyntly vanquished by crad●all king of the west-saxons . the kingdome and kings of the west-saxons . the third in order of these kingdomes , and that which did in fine prevaile over all the rest , was that of the west-saxons . it contained in it the counties of cornwall , devon , dorset , sommerset , wiltes , southampton , and berks : the kings these . a. ch.     522 1 cerdicus the first king. 17. 539 2 kinricus . 29. 565 3 celingus or che●line . 10. 595 4 cel●icus . 5. 600 5 ceolwolf . 614 6 kingil the first christned king. 646 7 kenewalchin . 31. 677 8 sigebertus . 1. 678 9 es●win . 2. 680 10 centwin . 7. 687 11 s. cedwalla . 3. 690 12 ina 35. who first gave th● peter-pence to the church of rome . 725 13 ethelard . 14. 739 14 cuthbert . 16. 755 15 sigebert . ii. 1. 756 16 kinulphus . 31. 787 17 bithrick . 13. 800 18 egbert , of whom see more in the saxon monarchs . the kingdome and kings of the east-saxons . the kingdome of east-saxons is the fourth in order , of the heptarchie ; begunne in anno 527. some five yeares after that of the w●st-saxons . it comprehended the counties of essex , midlesex , and part of hertfordshire ; the kings these that follow . a. ch.     527 1 erchenwme . 587 2 sledda . 596 3 s. seber , tthe first christned king of the east saxons ; and first founder of s. peters in westminster .   4 seward and sigebert . 623 5 sigebert the little .   6 sigebert . iii. 661 7 swithelme . 664 8 sighere . 664 9 s. sebba .   10 sigherd .   11 seofride . 701 12 offa. 709 13 selred . 747 14 suthred , subdued by eg●ert king of the west-saxons , and his kingdome made a member of that rising empire . the kingdome and kings of the east-angles . next to the kingdome of the east-saxons , was that of the east-angles ; containing in it the counties of norfolke , suffolke , and cambridge shire , with the isle of ely : and had these kings following . a. ch.     575 1 uffa , the first king. 582 2 titullus . 593 3 redwald the first christned king. 624 4 erpenwald . 636 5 s. sigebert . 638 6 egric . 642 7 anna. 654 8 ethelbe●t . 656 9 edelwald . 664 10 alduffe . 683 11 elsewolfe . 714 12 beorne . 714 13 s. etheldred . 749 14 ethelbert . ii. who died anno 793. 870 15 s. edmund . after whose slaughter by the danes , and that his kingdome had beene long wasted by that people ; it was at last united to the west-saxons , by king edw the elder . the kingdome and kings of the north-humbers . the kingdome of the north humbers , or northumberland , was the fifth in course of time , of the saxon hepta●chy ; it was divided into two parts or provinces , the one of which was called bernicia ; the other d●ira : of which the former called bernicia , was founded by one ida , anno 547. the other by one ella , his fellow and companion in armes , anno 559. this last contained the whole countries from the north of humber to the twede , viz. the counties of yorke , durham , lancaster , westmorland , cumberland , and northumberland : the other all that part of scotland , which lieth betweene the river twede , and the frith of edenbourg ; which was as farre as ever the romans had gone before them . those kings of either , which were more powerfull then the other , were honoured with the name of kings of the north humbers , and are marshalled thus . a. ch.     547 1 ella and ida.   2 adda and elappea .   3 theodwald ,   4 frethulfe .   5 theodorick . 589 6 ethelrick . 593 7 ethel●ride . 617 8 edwine the first christned king. 633 9 osrick . 634 10 s. oswald . 643 11 oswy , who having subdued oswin● king of deira , was the first absolute king of all northumberland . 671 12 egfride . 686 13 s. alfride . 705 14 osred . 716 15 kenred . 718 16 osrick . ii. 729 17 ceolnulph . 738 18 egbert . 758 19 oswulph . 759 20 edilwald . 765 21 alured . 774 22 ethelred . 778 23 al●wald . 789 24 osred . ii. 794 25 etheldred . ii. after whose death this kingdome much molested by the danes , became a province of the west-sax●●s . the kingdome and kings of mercia . the last and greatest of the seven kingdomes of the saxons , was that of mercia , so called , for that being seared in the middle of the whole countrey , it was a march or border unto all the rest which abutted on it . it comprehended the counties of gl●●cester , hereford , worcester , warwick , leicester , rutland , northampton , lincoln , bedford , nottingham , b●ckingham , oxford , darby , stafford , shropshire , cheshire , and that other part of hertfordshire , which was not under the kingdome of the east-saxons . by reason of this great extent of empire , ●hey were a long time very powerfull , and over-awed their neighbour princes : till at the last the fatall period being come , it fell into the armes of the west-saxons , after it enjoyed these twenty kings which hereafter follow . a. ch.     582 1 cridda the first king of mercia 593 2 wibba . 614 3 cheorl . 626 4 penda . 656 5 peada , the first christned king. 659 6 wulfher● . 675 7 ethelred . 704 8 kenred . 709 9 chelred . 716 10 ethelbald . 758 11 offa. 796 12 egfride . 797 13 kenwolf . 819 14 kenelm . 820 15 ceolwolf . 811 16 bernulf . 824 17 ludecan . 826 18 withlafe . 839 19 berthulf . 85● 20 burdred . after whose death this kingdome having beene shrewdly shaken in a great battell fought near burford , comit. oxo● . wherein king ethelbal● was vanquished , and his whole strength broken by cuthbert , or cuthred , king of the west-saxons , then his tributary : and after no lesse shrewdly shaken by the valiant egbert , became a province of that empire . the monarchs of the english-saxons . the saxons , though they were divided into the seven kingdomes before named , were for the most part subject unto one alone ; who was entituled r●x gentis anglorum , or king of the english nation : those which were stronger then the rest , giving the law unto them in their severall turnes , till in the end they all became incorporated into the empire of the west-saxons . which monarchs , who they were , and of whence entituled , is next in order shewne . a. ch.     455 1 hengist king of kent . 481 2 ella king of the south-saxons . 495 3 cerdick king of the west-saxons . 534 4 kenrick king of the west-saxons . 561 5 cheuline , or celingus , king of the west-saxons . 562 6 ethelbert king of kent . 616 7 redwald king of the east-angles . 617 8 edwin king of northumberland . 634 9 oswald king of northumberland . 643 10 oswy king of northumberland . 659 11 wulfhere king of m●rci● . 675 12 ethelred king of mercia . 704 13 kenred king of mercia . 709 14 chelred king of mercia . 716 15 ethelbald king of mercia . 758 16 offa king of mercia . 794 17 egfride king of mercia . 796 18 kenwolf king of mercia . 800 19 egbert the son●e of al●mond , king of the west-saxons , the first and absolute monarch of the whole heptarchy : who having vanquished all , or most of th● sax●n kings , and added their estates unto his owne , commanded the whole countrey to be called by the name of england . the kings wh●reof , after th● count●●y was so named , are these that follow . the kings of england of the saxon race . a. ch.     800 1 egbert the 18 king of the west-saxons , the 19 monarch of the english , and first king of england . 37. 837 2 s. ethelwolf 20. 857 3 edelbald . 858 4 edelbert . 5. 863 5 edelfride . 9. 873 6 s. alured , who totally reduced the saxons under one monarchy , and founded the university of oxford . 23. 900 7 edward the elder . 24. 924 8 athelstane . 16. 940 9 edmund . 6. 946 10 eadred who stiled himselfe king of great britaine . 955 11 edwin . 4. 959 12 s. edgar . 16. 975 13 edward the younger . 3. 678 14 ethelred . 1016 15 edmund ironside . the danish race . 1017 16 canutus king of dan●mark . 20. 1037 17 harald harfager . 4. 1041 18 hardie cnute . 4. the saxons repossessed . 1045 19 s. edward who founded and endowed the church of westminster , and was the first that cured the disease called the kings-evill , leaving the same hereditary to his successors . 1066 20 harald the sonne of godwin usurped the crowne , and shortly lost both it and his life to boote , to william duke of n●rmandy . the norman race . 1067 21 william duke of normandy , sirnamed the conquerour . 22. 1089 22 william rufus . 13. 1102 23 henry beauclerk . 35. 1136 24 stephen e. of bloys . 19. the saxon line restored . 1155 25 henry ii. descended by his grandmother , from the bloud royall of the saxons . 34. 1189 26 richard coeur de lyon. 1● . 1201 27 john. 17. 1218 28 henry . iii. 56. 1274 29 edward . i. 34. 1308 30 edward . ii. 19. 1327 31 edward . iii. 50. 1377 32 richard. ii. the line of lancaster . 1399 33 henry . iv. 15. 1414 34 henry . v. 9. 1423 35 henry . vi. 38. the line of yorke . 1461 36 edward . iv. 23. 1483 37 edward . v. 1483 38 richard. iii. 3. the families united . 1486 39 henry . vii . 23. 1508 40 henry . viii . 39. 1547 41 edward . vi. 6. 1553 42 queene mary . 5. 1558 43 queene elizabeth . 45. the union of the kingdomes . 1602 44 james king of scots , reassumed the title of great-britaine . 1625 45 charles by the grace of god , king of great britaine , france , and ireland ; the 63. king in descent from the west-saxon cerdick , the 64. monarch of the english , and 45. king of england in descent from egbert : whom god long preserve . kings of wales . the britons being outed of their countrey by the conquering saxons , retired themselves beyond the severn , and therein fortified themselves ; which countrey thereupon came to bee called wales , and the people walsh , or welch men . not that the word walsh , signified in the saxon language , a foreiner or alien , as it is ●conceived ( for how could they be called aliens in their native countrey ? ) but wales , and wallish , for galles and gallish , by changing g into w , according to the custome of the saxons . the britons being descended of the gaules , kept their old name still ; though somewhat altered in the letter , as before is said : and to this day the french doe call the prince of wales , by the name of le prince de galles . at first their cheifes were honoured with the title of kings of wales , a●d are these that follow . a. ch.     690 1 idwallo . 30. 720 2 roderick . 35. 755 3 conan . 63. 818 4 mervyn . 25. 843 5 roderick sirnamed the great , who divided wales betweene his three sonnes , allotti●g unto each his partthe countrey being divided into north-w●les , south-wales , and powys-land which had their severall lords and princes , as hereafter followeth . the principality and princes of south-wales . south wa●es , in the division of the countrey amongst the sonnes of roderick mawr , ●ell unto cadel the second sonne . it contained all that quantity and tract of ground , which now we call the counties of glamorgan , pembroke , carmarthen , cardigan , and part of brecknock : which being the richer and more fruitfull part of wales , and lying most open to invasion , both by sea and land , was soonest brought under the command of the kings of england . the principall seat of the princes of it , was dyn●sar , or dynevor castle , not farre from carmarthen , who thence were called by their subjects , the kings of dynevor ; and whilest they stood upon their owne legges , were these that follow . a. ch.     877 1 cadell second sonne of roderick .   2 howell . 907 3 howell dha . 948 4 owen .   5 ●neas .   6 theodore mawr . 1077 7 rhese . i. 1093 8 gryffith . i.   9 rhese . ii.   10 gryffith . ii. in whom ended the line of the princes of south-wales , his countrey being conquered by the english , and his two sonnes meredith and cynerick taken by king henry the second , who caused their eyes to be put out . after which time south-wales was reckoned as a part of the realme of england . the principality and princes of north-wales . north-wales in the division of the kingdome of wales , fell to the share of amarawd , the eldest sonne of roderick mawr , the last king thereof ; with a superior●ty of power over both the rest , who were but homagers to this . it contained in it all that territory which now doth comprehend the counties of merioneth , de●bigh , flint , carna●von , and the is●e of anglesey , which being the more mountainous parts ; and consequently of more difficult accesse then the others were , as they did longest keepe their liberties , so doe they still preserve their language from the incursions of the english ▪ abers●aw in the isle of anglesey was the princes seate , who were hence sometimes called the kings of abersraw , and were these ensuing . a. ch.     8077 1 amarawd eldest sonne of roderick . 913 2 idwallo . 3 merick .   4 joanes . 1067 5 conan . 1099 6 gryffith 1120 7 owen . 1178 8 david . i. 1194 9 llewellen . i. 1240 10 david . ii. 1246 11 llewellen . ii. the last of the princes of wales of the british bloud , of whom , and the conclusion of his race , see the following catalogue . the kings and princes of it , according to the history of wales . in the history of wales , writ by humphrey lloyd , the kings and princes of wales are reckoned differently from that succession of them before laied downe . the reason of which difference may be that he reciteth there the predominant princes , such as gave law unto the rest , whether of north-wales , south-wales , or of powys-land : even as wee see was done before , in summing up the monarchs of the english saxons , out of the severall kingdoms in that heptarchie . now for his catalogue of the welch , both kings and princes , he recites them thus . a ch.     688 1 ivor . 720 2 roderick mo●wino● . 755 3 conan tindaethwy . 820 4 mervyn urich . 843 5 roderick mawr . 877 6 amarawdh . 913 7 edward voel . 940 8 howel dha . 948 9 jevaf , and jago . 982 10 howel ap jevaf . 984 11 cadwallan ap jevaf . 986 12 meredith ap owen . 992 13 edwal ap meiric . 1003 14 aedan ap blegored . 1015 15 lhewellen ap sit●ylt . 1021 16 jago ap edwall . 1037 17 gryffith ap llewellen . 1061 18 blethyn , and rhywallon . 1073 19 trahaern ap caradoc . 1078 20 gry●●ith ap conan . 1137 21 owen gwineth . 1169 22 david ap owen . 1194 23 llewellen ap jorweth . 1240 24 david ap llewellen . 1246 25 llewellen ap gryffith , the last prince of wales of the british race , who lost his life and principality to king edward the first , anno 1282. after whose death , the king perceiving that the welch had no affection to be ruled by strangers ; sent for his queene then great with child , to come unto him to carnarvon , and hearing that shee was delivered of a sonne , called the welch lords together , and proffered them a prince to beare rule amongst them , of their owne nation , one who spake no word of english , and such a one whose life no man could tax . to such a prince when they had all sworn to yeeld obedience , he named his new-borne sonne unto them , and made him their prince , since when the eldest sonnes of england have commonly beene created princes of wales . the princes of it , of the bloud royall of england . wales thus brought under the obedience of the kings of england , hath since beene commonly the honourary title and possession of their eldest sonnes . not that they challenge it , as of due belonging to them ; but take it from their fathers as of speciall grace , by solemne creation and investure , tenendum sibi & haeredibus suis regibus augliae , to hold to them and their heires kings of england : our kings not being willing to deprive themselves of such a power of gratifying and obliging their eldest sonnes , as they saw occasion . edward 2. who had been summoned by his father unto the parliament by the name of prince of wales , and earle of chester : summoned his eldest sonne ( king edward 3. ) by no other name then earle of chester and flint . edward 3. first used the ceremony of creation , by letters patents , and investiture , which hath since continued : and for the want of which , edward 6. queene mary and queen elizabeth however in their severall turnes , they have beene called princes and princesses of wales , were not truely such . those which were so created , either by parliamentary writ or especiall charter , are these that follow . a. ch.       1 edward of carnarvon eldest sonne of king edward the first . 1344 2 edward the black prince , eldest son of king edward the third . 1377 3 richard of burdeaux , eldest sonne unto the black prince . 1399 4 henry of monmouth , eldest sonne of king henry the fourth . 1454 5 edward of westminster , onely son of king henry the sixth . 1472 6 edward of westminster , eldest son of king edward the fourth . 1483 7 edward earle of salisbury , eldest sonne of king richard the third . 1492 8 arthur , the eldest sonne of king henry the seventh . 1506 9 henry duke of yorke second sonne to king henry the seventh , after k. henry the eighth . 1610 10 henry , eldest sonne of king iames the first monarch of great britaine . 1616 11 charles duke of yorke ▪ second sonne of king iames , now the second monarch of great britaine . princes and lords of powys-land . powys-land is the third part of wales , but the least of all , containing onely the whole county of montgomery , and part of radnor , brecknock , denbigh , and shropshire . the chiefe seate hereof was matravall , in montgomery shire , from whence the princes of it would be called the kings of matravall . it was bestowed by roderick mawr , in his division of wales , on mervyn his youngest son ▪ and did continue in his line a long time together : but much afflicted and dismembred by the princes of northwales , who cast a greedy eye upon it . the first prince of it was called mervyn , but we have no good constat of his successors : the last that held it all entire , was meredith ap blethin , who divided it betweene his two sonnes , madoc , and gryffith , of the which madoc died at winchester , anno 1160. and gryffith was by henry the first of england created lord powys , the residue of powys-land which pertained to madoc , depending still upon the fortune of north-wales . the lords of powys . a. ch.       1 gryffith ap meredith .   2 owen cynelioc .   3 gwenwynnin .   4 gryffith ap gwenwynnin   5 owen ap gryffith . 6 john charleton , one of the bed-chamber to king edward the second , married h●wys daughter of owen ap gryffith . 1353 7 john charleton , lord powys . 1360 8 john charleton , lord powys . 1374 9 john charleton , lord powys . 1401 10 edward charleton , lord powys . 1420 11 henry grey , nephew of edward lord powys by his daughter iane created earle of tanquerville by king h. 5.   12 richard gray lord powys .   13 john gray lord powys .   14 john gray lord powys .   15 edward gray , the last lord powys of the race of mervyn , sonne of roderick king of wales . 1629 16 william herbert of red-castle , sonne of edward , second sonne of william herbert earle of pembroke , created lord powys , 5. car. apr. 2. now living 1641. kings and lords of man. the isle of man is situate so equally betweene england and ireland , that once it was a controversie unto the which it appertained ; but was in fine adjudged to england , in that some venemous wormes brought hither , did not furthwith die : which kinde of creatures the nature of the irish soyle will by no meanes brooke . it was once subject unto the crowne and kingdome of northumberland , but from them taken by the danes , norwegians , and other people of the north , in their irruptions on these parts : who having mastered it , ordained therein a pe●it king of their owne nation ; who thus succeeded one another . a. ch.   kings of man. 1065 1 godred the sonne of syrrie . 1066 2 fingall sonne of godred . 1066 3 godred the sonne of harald . 1082 4 lagman eldest sonne of godred . 1089 5 dopnald sonne of tade . 1098 6 magnus king of norway . 1102 7 olave third sonne of godred . 1144 8 godred sonne of olave . 1187 9 reginald , base sonne of godred . 1226 10 olave the lawfull sonne of godred . 1237 11 herald sonne of olave . 1249 12 raignald . ii. brother of harald . 1252 13 magnus . ii. brother of raignald . 1266 14 magnus king of man being deceased without issue , alexander third king of the scots , partly by conquest , and par●ly by money paied to the norwegians , brought this and all the rest of the westerne isles under his obedience . after this time , it was sometimes dependant on the crowne of scotland , and sometimes on england , according as their fortunes varied : till in the end , it was regained finally from the scots , by william montacute earle of salisbury ( who was descended from the ancient kings of man ) and by him after sold to the lord scrope , on whose attainder it fell unto the crowne of england , and changed lords as followeth . kings and lords of man , of english bloud . a. ch.     1340 1 william earle of sal●sbury . k. 1395 2 william lord scrope . k. 1399 3 henry earle of northumberland lord. 1403 4 william lord stanley , lord of man.   5 john lord stanley , lord of man.   6 thomas lord stanley , lord of man.   7 thomas lord stanley , lord of man , created earle of darbie by k. henry 7. 1503 8 thomas stanley earle of darby , lord of man. 1521 9 edward stanley earle of darby , lord of man : 1572 10 henry stanley earle of darby , lord of man. 1593 11 ferdinando stanley earle of darby , lord of man. 1604 12 william stanley now earle of darby , and lord of man. 1640. lords and kings . the isle of wight abutting on the coast of hampshire , was taken from the english by william fitz-osborne , earle of hereford , in the time of william duke of normandy , and king of england : who thereupon became the first lord therof . after whose death & the proscription of his sonne roger , it fell unto the crowne , and was by henry the second bestowed upon the family of the ryvers , earles of devon. on the extinction of which line , it fell againe unto the crowne , in the time of king edward the first ; and in the same hath since continued : giving the title onely of one king , and one lord to two potent subjects . now for the lords and king , they are these here following . a. ch.       1 william fitz-osborne , earle of hereford . 1072 2 roger de breteville , earle of hereford .   3 richard de ryvers , earle of devon.   4 baldwin de ryvers , earle of devon. 1154 5 richard de ryvers , earle of devon . 1161 6 baldwin de ryvers , earle of devon . 7 richard de ryvers , earle of devon.   8 william de ryvers , earle of devon. 1216 9 baldwin de ryvers , earle of devon. 1245 10 baldwin de ryvers , earle of devon. 1261 11 isabell , sister to earle baldwin , and wife to william de fortibu● , surrendred up her interest in this iland , to king edward the first . 1445 12 henry beauchamp , earle of warwick , anno 23. of henry 6. was crowned king of the isle of wight , and shortly after made duke of warwick . 1466 13 richard lord wideville earle ryvers , made by king edward 4. lord of the wight . the second table , or , a catalogve of all the bishops which have governed in the church of england , and vvales , since the conversion of the saxons . together with the honourary offices which they , or any of them have enjoyed in the civill government . divided into two parts . printed at london . 1641. the preface to the ensuing catalogue of arch-bishops , and bishops . the ●aith of christ being here planted as ●aith gilda● , tempore summo tiberii caesaris , towards the latter end of tiberius caesar , was as it seemes , concealed and hidden ●ill the time of lucius : who publikely making profession of it , procured three archiepiscopall seates to be erected at yorke , caer-leon upon vsk , and london for the north , west , and southerne parts ; and suffragan bishops to be allotted and assigned unto each of them . of these and their successors wee have little constat , onely some foot-steps in some places , whereby we may discerne the ruine of religion which had beene made here by the saxons . but when the saxons were converted to the christian faith , they grew more zealous of the same , then formerly they had beene a verse from it : and gave it suddenly a generall and unanimous admittance . which being done , that part of england which was then in their possession , was divided into the two provinces of cante●bury and yorke : the ancient britons or the welsh continuing for a long time after under the rule and government of their owne arch-bishop ; but in the ●nd were a●so brought to yeeld obedience to the see of canterbury . the church thus brought into a settled forme and order , became forthwith of such esteeme at home , that they have long time beene accounted peeres of the realme , and are by writ summoned unto all parliaments , as are the temporall barons ; and of such reputation and fame abroad , that the arch-bishops of both provinces were adjudged to be legatinati : the arch-bishop of canterbury having a superintendencie over all the irish bishops ; as he of yorke , had a direct primacie over those of the church of scotland . and in the councell held at constance , what time the fathers there assembled , were for the better dispatch of businesse , divided into severall nations : the english nation , anglicana natio , was reckoned amongst the chiefest . at this time since this church was manumitted from the pope , it may be warrantably said to bee the most exact and perfect of the reformation : keeping a constant & continued succession in the holy hierarchy , and consequently also in all holy orders ; and whatsoever else is necessary , either in doctrine , government , or ceremony , unto the constitution of an apostolicall and orthodax church . as for the method which we meane to use in this following catalogue , it is briefely this : we will begin first with the province and see of canterbury , and those particular sufragan bishops which owe obedience thereunto , which we will marshall in the order of the alphabet , those of wales included . for howsoever they had once the honour to have an arch-bishop of their owne , yet being now reputed members of the province of canterbury ; we will dispose of them accordingly . that done , we will proceed unto the province and see of yorke , and those few bishopricks , which are now remaining of the same : which as the rest before , we will also take along , according to the order of the alphabet . and this we take to be the easiest order for the reader : that of the antiquity of the sees , being very intricate and perplext , and that of the antiquity or consecration of the men themselves , both changeable and uncertaine . for if we went according to the way of precedencie which is now in use , established by act of parliament 31. h. 8. c. 10. we should dispose them in this manner : viz. first the two arch-bishops of canterbury and yorke , next the three bishops of london , dunelm , winchester , and last of all the residue of the prelates according to the seniority of their consecrations . this is the order of precedencie which is now in use , which yet is no new order in regard of london and winton , who anciently had place before the rest , in all assemblies of the clergy : but this being changeable and uncertaine , as before was said , we shall make use rather of the other . now in each see and diocese we will keep this course : first we will shew you the antiquity and ordination of each , together with the foundation of their cathedrall churches ; what counties each of them containeth , what priviledges anciently they enjoyed , and still claime to have ; how many parishes there be in every diocese , by what arch-deacons they are governed , what is the tenth of the whole clergie in every diocese , and how much in the kings bookes is every bishoprick . we shall observe also , what and how many of the prelates have beene extract from honourable houses , whose names shall be distinguished by a little afterisme thus * , as also how many of them have beene canonized and accounted saints , who and how many of them have beene made cardinals in the church of rome , what honourable offices have beene borne by any of them in the civill state . in the performance of the which s. shall stand for saint , and card for cardinall : l. ch. shall signifie l. chancellour ; l. k. lord keeper ; l. tr. lord treasurer ; l. pr. lord president , ch. j. chiefe justice . m. ro. master of the rolls , and ch. ox. chancellour of oxford , as ch. ca. of cambridge . by which it will appeare most plainely what a perpetuall seminary this our church hath beene , of able and of learned men , not onely for discharge of ecclesiasticall , but even temporall businesse . which being premised once for all , we now proceede unto our catalogue : beginning with the province and see of canterbury , and following in the order before proposed . the first part of the catalogve of bishops , containing the svccession of the arch-bishops and bishops of the province of canterbvry , printed at london . 1641 ▪ canterburie and the arch-bishops of it . the see of canter . was first founded with the plantation of religion the amongst english : austin the monk , who first did preach the gospel to the one ▪ being the first arch-bishop of the other . the chaire hereof originally fixt in the city of canterbury ; which being once the regall city of the kings of kent , wa● by king ethelbert , on his conversion , bestowed on austin the arch-bishop , and on his successors for ever . the cathedrall , having beene a church before in the brit●ns time , was by the same arch-bishop austin repaired , and consecrated , and dedicated to the name of christ , which it still retaines ; though a long time together it was called saint thomas , in honour of saint thomas becke● who was therein slaine . the present fabricke was begun by arch-bishop lanfranc , and william corboyl ; and by degrees made perfect by their successo●●●● . take canterbury as the seate of the metropolitan ▪ and it hath under it 21. suffragan bishops , of the which 17. are in england , and 4. in wales . but take it as the seate of a diocesan , and it containeth onely some part of kent to the number of 257. parishes ( the residue being in the diocese of rochester ; ) together with some few particular parishes dispersed here and there in severall dioceses : it being an ancient priviledge of this see , that wheresoever the arch-bishops had either manors or advowsons , the place forthwith became exempted from the ordinary , and was reputed of the diocese of canterbury . the other priviledges of this see , are that the arch-bishop is accounted prima●e and metropolitan of all england , and is the first peere of the realme : having precedencie of all dukes , not being of the royall bloud , and all the great officers of the state. he hath the title of grace offered him in common speech ▪ and writes himselfe divina providentia , where other bishops onely use , divina permissione . the coronation of the king hath anciently belonged unto him : it being also formerly resolved that wheresoever the court was , the king and queene were speciales & domestici parochian● domini archiepiscopi , the proper and domesticall pariihioners of the arch bishop of canterbury . it also did belong unto him in former times , to take unto himselfe the offerings made at the holy altar by the king and queene , wheresoever the court was , if he were present at the same ; and to appoint the lent preachers : but these time hath altered , and the king otherwise disposed of . abroad in generall councels he had place at the popes right foote : at home , this royall priviledge , that those which held lands of him , were liable for wardsh●p to him , and to compound with him for the same , though they hold other lands in cheife of our lord the king. and for the more increase of his power and honour , it was enacted 25 h. 8. c. 21. that all licenses and dispensations ( not repugnant to the law of god ) which heretofore were sued for in the court of rome , should be hereafter granted by the arch-bishop of canterbury and his successours : as also in the 1. eliz. c. 2. that by the advise of the metropolitan , or ecclesiasticall commissioners , the queenes majesty may ordaine and publish such ri●es and ceremonies , as may bee most for the advancement of gods glory , the edifying of his church , and the due reveren●e of christs holy sacraments . to come at last to the arch-bishops , this diocese hath only one arch-deacon , which is he of canterbury ▪ the clergies tenth comes to 651. li. 18. s. 2. d. q. and the arch-bishoprick it selfe is valued in the kings books , at the sum of 2816. li. 17. s. 9. d. q. i onely adde in generall , that this see hath yeelded to the church 16. saints ; to the church of rome 9. cardinals ; to the civill state of england 11. lord chancellours , one lord treasurer , one lord chiefe justice ; and to the university of oxford 9. chancellours . the particulars follow . arch-bishops of canterbury . a. ch.     596 1 s. augustinus . 611 2 s. laurentius . 619 3 s. melitus . 624 4 s. justus . 634 5 s. honorius ▪ 655 6 s. adeodatus , or deus dedit . vacavit sedes annos 4. 668 7 s. theodorus . 692 8 s. brithwaldus . 731 9 tatwinus . 736 10 nothelmus . 742 11 cuthbertus . 759 12 bregwinus . 764 13 lambertus . 793 14 athelmardus . 807 15 wulfredus . 832 16 theogildus .   17 celnothus . 871 18 atheldredus . 889 19 plegmundus . 915 20 athelmus . 924 21 wulfelmus , lord chancellour ▪ 934 22 s. odo . 961 23 s. dunstan , lord treasurer . 988 24 ethelga●us . 989 25 siricius . 993 26 alfricus . 1006 27 s. elphegus . 1013 28 livingus , alias leovingus . 1020 29 agelnothus . 1038 30 s. ead●inus . 1050 31 robertus gemiticen●is . 1052 32 stigandus . 1070 33 s. lanfrancus . vacavit sedes annos 4. 1093 34 s. anselm . 1114 35 rodulphus . 1122 36 william corboyl . 1138 37 theobaldus . 1162 38 s. thomas becket l. chancel . 1171 39 richardus monachus . 1184 40 baldwinus . 1191 41 reginaldns . 1193 42 hubert walter , l. chancel . and l. ch. justice . 1206 43 stephen langton , cardinall . 1229 44 richard wethershed . 1234 45 s. edmund , chancel . of oxford . 1244 46 boniface of savoy . * 1272 47 robert kilwarby , card. 1278 48 john peckham . 1294 49 robert winchel●ey , chan. oxford 1313 50 walter raynolds . 1327 51 simon mepeham . 1333 52 jo. stratford , l. chancel . 1348 53 thomas bradwardin . 1349 54 simon is●ippe . 1366 55 sim. langham , card. l. chan. 1367 56 william witles●y . 1375 57 simon sudbury , l. chancel . 1381 58 william courtney . chan. ox. * 1396 59 thomas arundel , l. chan. * 1414 60 henry chicheley , card. 1243 61 john stafford , card. * 1452 62 jo. kemp. card. l. chancel . 1454 63 thomas bourchier , card. lord chan. and chan. of oxford . * 1486 64 john morton , the like . 150● 65 henry deane . 1504 66 w. warham , l. ch. and ch. ox. 1533 67 thomas cranmer . 1555 68 reginald pole , car. and chan. ox. 1559 69 matthew parker . 1575 70 edmund grindall . 1583 71 jo. whi●gift . 1604 72 richard bancroft , chan. oxford . 1610 73 george abbot . 1633 74 william laud , chan. of the university of oxford , now being . 1641. saint asaph and the bishops there . the bishoprick of saint asaph is exceeding ancient ; first founded by one kentigern a scot , and there bishop of glasco , about the yeere 560. the cathedrall there first built by him , upon the banks of the river elwy : whence it is called by the welsh , llan-elwy ; the bishop in the ancient latine elwensis , or elguensis ; by us saint asaph , from saint asaph an holy man , whom kentigern returning into scotland , left here his successor . it seems 〈◊〉 stood not long , or not long in credit ; there being a great hiatus in the succession of the bishops : none to be found betweene this s. asaph , and geofrie of monmouth , who was here bishop in the latter end of king stephens raigne . and which is more , henry of huntington in his recitall of the welsh bishopricks reckoneth onely three , saint davids , bangor , and landaffe : which may be probably imputed to the frequent watres in this bordering countrey ( for it is ●eated in the county of flint , not farre from chester : ) which made it an unquie● seate for religious persons . this bishoprick , being at the best , not very rich , was made much poorer in the time of bishop parfew , who lived in the daies of king edward 6. for where the bishop had before five episcopall houses , there is none now left but saint asaphs onely , the ●●st together with the lands to them belonging , by him made away , and aliened from the church for ev●r : besides , that keeping an house above his meanes , he was faine to let the residue of his lands into tedious leases , not yet expired . this ●●ocese containeth in it no one whole county , but part of denbigh , flint , montgomery , merioneth , and some townes in shropsh : wherein are to the number of 121 parishes , most of the which are in the immediate patronage of the bishop . it hath but one arch-deaconry ▪ called of saint asaph , which is united to the bishoprick , for the better susten●ation of it . the tenth of the clergy commeth to 186. li. 19. s. 7. d. ob q. and for the bishoprick it selfe , it is valued in the kings bookes , at the summe of 187. li. 11. s. 6. d. bishops of saint asaph . a. ch.     560 1 kentigern .   2 s. asaph .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1151 3 geofry of monmouth .   4 adam . 1186 5 reinerus . 1220 6 abraham . 1235 7 howel ap ednevet . * 1248 8 anian . 1268 9 anian . ii. 1293 10 llewellen de bromfeild . 1319 11 david ap blethin . 12 ephraim .   13 henricus .   14 john trevaur . 1357 15 llewellen ap madoc . 1373 16 william de stridlington . 1382 17 lawrence child . 1390 18 alexander bach. 1395 19 john trevaur . ii. 1411 20 robertus . 1493 21 john lowe , tr . to rochester . 1444 22 reginald peacock , transl . to chich. 1450 23 thomas . 1484 24 richard redman , tr . to exeter . 1503 25 david ap owen . 1513 26 edm. birkhead . 1519 27 henry standish . 1535 28 william barlow , tr . to s. davids . 1536 29 robert parfew , tr . to hereford . 1555 30 thomas goldwell . 1559 31 richard davies , tr . to s. david● . 1561 32 thomas davies . 1573 33 thomas hughes . 1595 34 william morgan . 1604 35 richard parry . 1622 36 john hanmer . 1629 37 john owen , now bishop of saint asaph . 1641. bangor , and the bishops there . bangor , another of the bishopricks of wales , is of ancient standing ; but by whom founded , not yet knowne . the cathedrall there is dedicated by the name of s. daniel , who was bishop here about the yeare 516. which being cruelly defaced by that wretched rebell owen glendowr , was afterward repaired by henry deane , who was once here bishop . the ruine of this bishoprick , came in the time of bishop bulkeley , who not content to alienate and let out the lands ; made a sale also of the bels : and going to the sea-shoare to see them shipped , in his returne was smitten with a sudden blindnesse . this diocese containeth in it the entire county of carnarvon , wherein bangor standeth , and the whole isle of anglesey ; together with parts of denbigh , merioneth , and mountgomery , and in them to the number of 107 parishes , whereof 36. impropriated . it hath moreover in it , three arch deaconries , viz. of bangor , a●glesey , and merioneth , one of the which is added to the bishoprick , for support thereof . the bishoprick is valued in the kings bookes , 131. li. 16. s. 4. d. and answereth for the clergies tenth , 151. li. 14. s. 3. d. q. bishops of bangor . a. ch.     516 1 s. daniel .     ✚ ✚ ✚   1 hernaeus , translated to ely ▪ 1120 2 david . 1139 3 mauritius .   4 gulielmus .   5 guido , alias guianus . 1195 6 albanus . 1197 7 robertus de salopia ▪ 1215 8 caducan . 1236 9 howel .   10 richardus . 1267 11 anianus . 1306 12 caducan . ii. 1306 13 cryffith . 1320 14 ludovicus . 1334 15 matthaeus . 1358 16 thom. de ringsted , 1367 17 gervasius de castro . 1370 18 howell . ii. 1374 19 john gilbert , tr . to s. davids ▪ 1376 20 john cloven●is .   21 john swaffam . 1400 22 richard young , tr . to rochester .   23 ludovicus . ii. 1408 24 benedict nicols , tr . to s. david ▪ 1418 25 william barrow , tr . to ca●lile .   26 nicolaus . 1436 27 thomas cheriton . 1448 28 john stanbery , tr . to hereford .   29 jacobus . 1464 30 thomas ednam . 1496 31 henry deane , tr . to salisbury . 1500 32 thomas pigot . 1504 33 joh. penvy , tr . to carlile . 1505 34 thomas skeving●on . 1534 35 john capon . tr . to salisbury . 1539 36 john bird , tr . to chester . 1541 37 arthur bulkeley . 1555 38 william glynn . 1559 39 rowland merick . 1566 40 nicolas robinson . 1585 41 hugh bellott , tr . to chester . 1595 42 richard vaughon , tr . to chester . 1595 43 henry rowlands . 1616 44 lewys bayly . 1632 45 david dolbin . 1633 46 edward gryffith . 1637 47 william roberts , sub-almoner , now bishop of bangor . 1641. bath and welles , and the bishops of it . the diocese of bath and welles , although it hath a double name , is one single bishoprick . the bishops seate originally at welles , where it still continues , and in respect whereof this church is called in some writers , fontanensis ecclesia . the stile of bath came in but upon the by . the church of welles first built by ina , king of the west-saxons , anno 704. and by him dedicated to saint andrew : after endowed by kenu●●e , an other king of the same people , anno 766. and finally made a bishops see in the time of edward the elder , anno 905. the first that bore that title being adelmus , before abbat of ●lastenbury . the present church , in place where that of ina had stood before , was built most part of it by bishop robert , the eighteenth bishop of this see ; but finished and perfected by bishop ioceline , sirnamed de welles . iohannes de villula , the sixteenth bishop having bought the towne of bath of king henry the first for 500. markes , transferred his ●eate unto that city , 1088. hence grew a jarre betweene the monks of bath and canons of welles , about the election of the bishop . at last the difference was thus composed by that bishop robert , whom before i spake of , that from thence forward the bishop should be denominated from both places , and that precedencie in the stile should be given to bath ; that in the vacancie of the see , a certaine number of delegates from both churches should elect their prelate , who being elected , should bee installed in them both ; both of them to be reckoned as the bishops chapter , and all his grants and patents confirmed in both . and so it stood untill the reigne of king h. 8. what time the monastery of bath having beene dissolved , there passed an act of parliament for the deane and ●hapter of welles , to make one sole chapter for the bishop : anno 35. h. 8. c. 15. but to proceed , this diocese hath yeelded to the church of rome , one card. and to the civill state of england , sixe lord chancellours , five lord treasurers , one lord privie s●ale , one lord president of wales , one principall secretary of estate . the diocese containeth in it the whole county of somerset , and in that 388. parishes , whereof 160. are impropriate . it hath moreover three arch-deaconries of bath , welles , and taunton ; is valued in the kings bookes , at 533. li. 1. s. 3. d. and answereth for the clergies tenth , 353. li. 18. s. ob . q. bishops of welles . a. ch.     905 1 adelmus , translated to cant.   2 wulfelmus , translated to cant.   3 elphegus .   4 wulfelmus . ii. 955 5 brithelmus . 973 6 kinewardus . 985 7 sigarus . 995 8 alwinus .   9 burwoldus . 1002 10 leoningus , translated to cant.   11 ethelwinus .   12 brithwinus .   13 merewith . 1031 14 dudoco , alias bodeca . 1059 15 giso . bishops of bath and welles . 1088 16 johannes de villula . 1123 17 godefridus , l. chancel . 1136 18 robertus lewensis . 1174 19 reginald fitz-joceline translated to cant. 1192 20 savaricus , who removed the see to glastonbury . 1205 21 joceline de welles . 1224 22 rogerus . 1247 23 gul. button , l. chan. and treas ▪ 1264 24 walt. giffard , transl . to york● . 1267 25 gul. button . ii. 1274 26 rob. burnell , l. chan. and l. t● . 1292 27 gul. de marchia , l. treas . 1302 28 walt. haselshaw . 1310 29 joh. ●roken●●ord , l. treas . 1329 30 radulphus de salopia . 1336 31 joh. barne● , transl . to ely. 1366 32 joh. harewell . 1386 33 walt. ski●law , transl . to durham . 1388 34 radulph erghum . 1401 35 henry bowet , transl . to yorke . 1408 36 nic. bubwith . 1425 37 joh. stafford , l. chan. and treas . transl . to cant. * 1443 38 thomas beckington . 1465 39 robert de stillington , l. pr. seale , and afterward l. chan. 1491 40 rich. fox , transl . to durham . 1495 41 oliver king principall secretary . 1505 42 adrian de castello , card. 1518 43 tho. wolsey , changed this see for durham , l. chan. 1523 44 john clarke , master of the rolls . 1541 45 william knight . 1549 46 william barlowe . 1554 47 gilbert bourne , lord president of wales . 1559 48 gilbert barkely . 1584 49 thomas godwin . 1592 50 john still . 1608 51 james montagu . 1616 52 arthur lake . 1626 53 william laud , trans . to london . 1628 54 leonard mawe . 1630 55 walter curle , trans . to winton . 1632 56 william piers , now bishop there . 1641. bristol , and the bishops thereof . the bishoprick of bristol is of new erection , first ●ounded by king henry 8. who having had the spoile of the monasteries , and religious houses , was pleased to refund some of it backe againe upon the church , for the incouragement of learning , and increase of piety . for this end he procured an act of parliament , for the erecting of new bishopricks by his letters patents , 31. h. 8. c. 9. and did accordingly erect sixe new bishops sees , viz. at bristol , oxford , westminster , gloucester , peterburgh , and chester . according to the tenor of which act , he did immediately erect sixe new bishopricks on the foundations of such ancient mo●asteri●s , as 〈◊〉 ●hought fittest for that purpose , and most convenient of honour , in regard of their situation : wherein he failed not any where so much as in this of bristol , the diocese thereof being very much distant from the see ; a●que alio sub sole 〈◊〉 now for this bishoprick , the seate thereof is bristol , as before i said , one of the fairest cities in the realme of england ▪ and a just county in it selfe . the cathedrall church is dedicated by the name of saint austins , founded by robert fitz-harding sonne to a king of danemarke , once a citizen here ; and by him stored with canons regular . anno 1148. but this foundation being dissolved , king h. 8. made it a bishops see , and placed therein a deane , and sixe prebendaries , as it still continueth . for 32. yeeres together in qu ▪ eliz. time it had never a bishop , but all that while was held in commendam by the bishops of gloucester : the patrimony of the church being in the interim much wasted . the diocese hereof containeth , besides the city of bristol , the whole county of dorset ( belonging heretofore to the see of salisbury : ) and therein 236. parishes , of which 64. impropriated . it hath onely one arch-deacon , which is he of dorset ; is valued in the kinges bookes , 383. li. 8. s. 4. d. and answereth for the tenth of the' clergy , 353. li. 18. s. ob . q. bishops of bristol . a. ch.     1542 1 paul bush. 1554 2 john hoiiman , died 1558.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1589 3 richard fletcher , translated to london . 1593.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1603 4 john thornbourgh , translated to worcester ▪ 1617 5 nicolas fel●on , translated to ely. 1619 6 jo. serchfeild . 1622 7 robert wright , translated to lichfeild . 1632 8 george cooke , translated to hereford ▪ 1636 9 robert skinner , now bishop there . 1641. chichester , and the bishops thereof . the see of chichester , was anciently in the isle of selsey , not farre from thence : first planted there by wilfrid arch-bishop of yorke , who being banished his countrey by egfride king of the nort●umbers , did preach the gospel to the south-saxons . to him did edilwach , the south-saxon king assigne this iland for his seate ; and after cedwall king of the west-saxons , having wonne this kingdome , built in the same a monastery , which he made the bishops see. here it continued till the time of bishop s●ig●●d , who first ▪ removed the see to chichester , the principall city of these parts ; first built by cissa the second king of the south-saxons , and by him called cissan-ceaster . the cathedrall church was anciently dedicated to saint peter ; new built by radulph the third bishop here , after the see removed by stigand : which being almost all consumed by a raging fire , was afterwards rebuilt and beautified by siffridus the second . but to proceede , this see hath yeelded to the church two saints , to the realme three lord chancellours , to the court two almoners , one chancellour to the university of oxford : and anciently the bishops here were confessours to the queenes of england , ( for which they have to shew an ancient charter ) and had allowance for the same . this diocese containeth the county of sussex , and in the same 250. parishes ; whereof 112 , impropriated . it hath moreover two arch-deacons , viz. of chichester , and lewys ; is valued in the kings bookes , at 677. li. 1. s. 3. d and answereth for a tenth of the whole clergy . 287. li. 2. s. ob . q. bishops of selsey . a. ch.       1 wilfride . 711 2 eadbertus .   3 eolla ▪ 733 4 sigelmus . alla● sigfridus .   5 alubrith .   6 osa , vel bosa .   7 gi●elherus .   8 to●a .   9 wigthun .   10 ethelulfus .   11 beornegus .   12 coenrede . 131 13 gutheard ▪ 960 14 alfredus ▪ 970 15 eadhelmus . 980 16 ethelgarus . 988 17 ordbright .   18 elmar . 1019 19 ethelricus . 1038 20 grinke●ellur . 1047 21 heca . 1057 22 agelricus , after whose death the bishops see and chaire was removed to chichester ; and from henceforth they were entituled by the name of bishops of chichester . a. ch.     1070 23 stigandus .   24 gulie●mus .   25 radulphus . 1125 26 seffridus .   27 hilarius . 1174 28 john de greenford . 1187 29 s●ffridus . ii. 1199 30 simon de welles ▪ 1209 31 nicolas de aquila . 1215 32 richard poore , tr . to salisbury . 1217 33 radulph de warham . 1223 34 radulph de nevill , l. chan. * 1245 35 s. richard sirnamed de la wich . 1253 36 john clipping . 1261 37 s●ephen de berkstede . 1288 38 s. gilbert de scon. leofardo .   39 john de langton , l. chan.   40 robert stratford , l. chan. 1362 41 gul. de lenn . 1369 42 gul. reade . 1385 43 thomas rushooke .   44 richard mitford , translated to sarum . 1395 45 robert waldby . 1396 46 robert reade . 1417 47 stephen patrington . 1418 48 henry ware. 1422 49 john kempe , transl . to london . 1423 50 thomas poldon , translated to worcester . 1428 51 john rickingale . 1430 52 simon sidenham .   53 richard praty , chancellour of oxford . 1445 54 adam molius , clerke of the counsell . 1450 55 reginald peacock . 1458 56 john arundell . 1477 57 edward story . 1504 58 richard fitz-james , translated to london . 1508 59 robert sherborn . 1536 60 richard sampson , translated to lichfeild . 1543 61 george day . 1551 62 john scory , after of hereford . 1557 63 john christopherson . 1559 64 william barlowe . 1570 65 richard cur●eys . 1585 66 thomas bickley . 1596 67 anth. watson , bishop almoner . 1605 68 lancelor andrewes , tr . to ely. 1609 69 sam. harsenet , tr . to norwich . 1619 70 george charleton . 1628 71 richard montagu , tr . to norwich . 1638 72 brian duppa , now bishop and tutor to the prince his highnesse . coventry and lichfeild , and the bishops thereof . thhe bishoprick of coventry ▪ and lichfeild is like that of bath and welles ; a double name , a single diocese . the bishops see originally at lichfeild , from thence removed to chester , and from both ●o covent●y . hence is it that the bishops are called sometimes cestre●ses , sometimes lichfeildenses , sometimes coventrienses , and now of late , bishops of coventry and lichfeild . for in the yeere 1088. being that very yeere wherein the see of welles was removed to bath ; robert de limesey did remove this see ●o coventry ▪ hugo novant , the sixth from him brought it backe to lichfeild , not without great opposition of the monkes of coventry : and in the end , the difference finally was composed by bishop savensby , much after the same manner , as before at welles . for here it was agreed on that the bishop should be denominated from both places , and that precedencie in the stile episcopall , should be given to coventry : that they should choose their bishop ●lternatim , in their severall turnes ; that they should both make one chapter unto the bishop , in which the prior of coventry should be the principall man. and so it stood till that the priory of coventry being dissolved by king henry 8. ( the stile or title of the bishop continuing as before it did ) there passed an act of parliament 33. h. 8. c. 29 to make the deane and chapter of lichfeild the sole chapter for the bishop . the cathedrall church here first built by oswy king of the mercians , about the yeere 556. who gave unto the bishops many faire possessions . but that old church being taken downe by roger de clinton , the 36. bishop of this diocese , that which now standeth was built by him in place thereof , anno 1148. and dedicated to the virgin mary and saint chad. in following times , and almost in the infancie thereof , the revenues of it were so faire , that lichfeild was thought fit to be the see of an arch-bishop . and one it had , no more , his name adulfus , anno 783. the bishops of winton , hereford , sidnacester , dorchester , ( which two now make lincoln ) and those of elmham and of dunwich ( both which now make norwich ) being appointed to him for his suffragans . but with him and king offa who procured it , this great title died . and now it is content to be a bishoprick , the diocese whereof containeth the whole counties of darby , and stafford , together with a good part of warwickshire and shropshire . in these are comprehended 557. parishes , of which 250. are impropriate : for better government whereof , it hath foure arch-deaconries , viz. of stafford , darby , coventry , and shrewsbury . it is valued in the kings bookes , 559. li. 18. s. 2. d. ob . q. and for the clergies tenth , it commeth unto 590. li. 16. s. 11. d. q. and finally hath yeelded to the church three s. to the realme one chancellour , and three lord treasurers ; to wales three presidents , one chancellour to the university of cambridge , and to the court one master of the wardrobe . arch-bishops and bishops of lichfeild . a. ch.     656 1 dwina .   2 cellach .   3 trumher .   4 jarumanus . 669 5 saint chad , or cedda , tr . to york . 672 6 winfridus . 672 7 s. sexulfus . 692 8 headda , alias eatheadus . 721 9 aldwinus . 733 10 witta .   11 hemel . 764 12 cuthfridus .   13 berthunnus . 785 14 higbertus . 793 15 aldulphus the arch-bishop●   16 humbertus .   17 merewinus .   18 higbertus . ii.   19 ethelwaldus . 857 20 humbertus . ii. 864 21 kinebertus . 872 22 s. cymbertus●   23 tunbright .   24 ella . 928 25 alfgar . 26 kinsey .   27 winsey .   28 elphegus .   29 godwinus .   30 leofgarus .   31 brithmarus . 1039 32 wolfius l. chancell . 1054 33 leofwine . 1067 34 petrus , who removed the see to chester . bishops of coventry and lichfeild . 1088 35 robert de limesey , removed the see to coventry . 1117 36 robert peccham . 1119 37 roger de clinton . * 1149 38 walter durdent . 1161 39 richard peche . 1182 40 gerardus la pucelle . 1186 41 hugo novant . 1191 42 galfridus de muschamp . 1210 43 walter grey , translated to worcester . 1215 44 william de cornhull . 1220 45 alexander de savensby . 1240 46 hugh de pateshul , lord treasurer 1245 47 roger de we●●ham . 1257 48 roger de longespee . 1295 49 walter de langton , lord treasurer 1322 50 roger de 〈…〉 , master of the wardrope , and lord treasurer . 1360 51 robert stretton . 1385 52 walter skirlaw , transl . to welles . 1396 53 richard scrope , tr . to yorke . * 1399 54 john burghill . 1415 55 john ketterich . 1419 56 jacobus carie. 1420 57 gul. heyworth . 1447 58 gul. boothe . 1452 59 nicolas close , chancellour of cambridge . 1453 60 reginald butler . 1459 61 john hales . 1492 62 gul. smith , tr . to lincoln . 1496 63 john arundel , tr . to exeter . 1503 64 geofry blythe , l. pre● . of wales . 1524 65 roland lee , l. pres. of wales . 1543 66 richard sampson , l. president of wales . 1555 67 radulph bayne . 1559 68 thomas bentham . 1578 69 gul. overton . 1609 70 george abbot , tr . to london . 1610 71 richard neile , tr . to lincoln . 1614 72 john overall , tr . to norwich . 1618 73 thomas morton , tr . to durham . 1632 74 robert wright , now bishop of coventry and lichfeild . 1641. saint davids , & the arch-bishops and bishops of it . saint davids now the seate of a suffragan bishop , was once a metropolitans s●e in the brit●sh church , and long time the supreme ordinary of the wel●h . in the first planting of the gospel in king lucius time , wee shewed that there were three arch-bishops seates appointed , viz. at london , york , and of caer-leon upon vsk. that of caer-leon upon vsk was , in the time of arthur , king of the britons , translat●d further off from the saxons furie , to a place called men●w , ( menevia is the latine name ) but since , in memory of david the arch-bishop who so translated it , by us called saint davids . from the first name it is , these bishops use to stile themselves , menevenses . when austin the monk first entred england , the metropolitan of saint davids had th●n remaining under his jurisdiction seven suffragan bishops ; all which gave meeting to the said austin and his associates , for the composing of some differences which were between the old and the new-come christians : viz. the bishop of worces●er ( wicctor●m ) llandaff , bang●r , hereford , llan-elwy , or saint as●p● llan-badern , ( called in latin paternensis a place in card●gan shire , the last is called in latin morganensis , which possibly might have his seate in margan of glamorgan shire , a place still so called . of these , llan badern , and this morganensis are quite extinct , and have long so beene ; hereford and worcester a long time reckoned as english bishopricks , and so none left unto the metropolitan of s. davids , but llandaff , bangor , & s. asaphs now for these bishops of saint davids , we finde that 26. of them retained the title of arch-bishops : the last whereof was sampson , who in a time of pestilence transferd the archiepiscopall pall , & with the same the archiepiscopall dignity to dole in bretagne , yet his successours , though they lost the name , reserved the power of an arch-bishop : nor did the residue of the welch bishops receive their consecration from any other hand then his ; till in the time of h. 1. bernard the 46. bishop of this see was forced to submit himselfe to the church of canterbury . for the cathedrall here , it had beene oft spoyled and ruined by the danes , norwegians , and other pirats : as standing neare the sea , in the extreme corner of pembroke shire . that which we now see is the worke of bishop peter , ( he was the 48. bishop of this diocese ) and by him dedicated by the name of saint andrew , and saint david ; though now saint andrew be left out , and david onely beares the name . this see hath had the greatest number of bishops of any in england , 91. in all : and amongst them the church hath had one saint , the realme of england three lo●d treasurers , one lord privie seale ; the un●versity of oxford one chancellour , and the queene another . the dioce●e containeth the whole counties of pembroke , cardigan , carmarthen , radnor , brecknocke , and some small parts of monmouth hereford , mountgomery , and glamorganshires . in which great quantity of ground there are no more then 308. parishes , whereof 120. are impropriate . for the more easie government of which here are foure arch-deacons , viz. of cardigan , carmarthen , brecknock , and saint davids . finally , it is valued in the kings bookes , at 457. li. 1. s. 10. d. ob . q. the clergies tenth amounting unto 336. li. 14. s. 10. d. arch-bishops of s. davids . a. ch.     519 1 s. davids .   2 eliud .   3 theliaus .   4 ke●ea .   5 morvael .   6 harnurier .   7 elvaeth .   8 gurnell .   9 llendiwith .   10 gornwi●t .   11 gorgan .   12 eynean .   13 cledanc .   14 eludgeth .   15 eldunen .   16 elvaoth .   17 maels●with .   18 madeve .   19 catulus .   20 silvay .   21 nanus .   22 sathveny .   23 doythwell .   24 asser. 906 25 athvael .   26 sampson , the last arch-bishop of the welch . bishops of s. davids , with archiepiscopall power .   27 ruclinns .   28 lyworch .   29 nergu .   30 sulhyder . 942 31 eneuris . 944 32 morgeneu .   33 rhoderick . 961 34 nathan .   35 jevan .   36 argustell .   37 morgenveth . 998 38 ervyn ▪ 1038 39 caermeryn ▪ 1055 40 joseph .   41 blethud ▪ 1070 42 su'gheym . 1076 43 abraham . 1088 44 rithmark .   45 wilfridus , alias griffry . 1115 46 bernardus , chancellour to qu. adeliza , who first submitted himselfe and church to the see of cant. bishops of s. davids suffragans to the see of cant. 1148 47 david fitz-gerald . 1176 48 petrus .   49 galfridus . 1198 50 silvester giraldus . 1215 51 jorwerth . vacat sedes per an. 9. 1228 52 alselmus . 1247 53 thomas wallensis . 1255 54 thomas carren . 1280 55 tho. beck . l. treas . 1293 56 david de s. edmundo . 1320 57 david martyn . 1328 58 henry gower . 1347 59 john thursby , tr . to worc. 1349 60 reginald brian . tr . to werc . 1353 61 thomas fastolf . 1361 62 adam hough●on , chanc. of ox. 1369 63 john gilbert , l. treas . vacat sedes an. 4. 1401 64 guido de mona , l. treas . 1409 65 henry chicheley , tr . to cant. 1414 66 john ketterich , tr . to lichf . 1415 67 stephen patrington , tr . to chich. 1417 68 benedict nicols . 1424 69 thomas rodburne . 1435 70 gul. lindwood , l. pr. seale . 1446 71 john. lang●on , chanc. of cambr. 1447 72 john delabere .   73 robert tully . 1482 74 richard martin . 1483 75 thomas langton tr . to sarum . 1485 76 hugh pavy . 1503 77 john morgan , alias young. 1504 78 roger sherborne , tr . to chich. 1509 79 edward vaughan . 1523 80 richard rawlins . 1536 81 william barlow , tr . to welles . 1549 82 robert farrar . 1554 83 henry morgan . 1559 84 thomas young , tr . to yorke . 1561 85 richard davies . 1567 86 marmaduke . midleton . vacat sedes annos . 4. 1594 87 anthony rudd . 1615 88 richard milborne , tr . to carlile . 16●1 89 william laud , tr . to welles . 1627 90 theoph. feild . tr . to hereford . 1635 91 roger mainwaring , now bishop of s. davids . 1641. ely , and the bishops of it . the church of ely , anciently was a monastery : first built by ethelreda wife to egfride , king of the northumbers , and by her planted with religious virgins , whereof she made her selfe the abbesse . but her plantation being supplanted by the danes , and the church quite ruined , ethelwold bishop of winchester did againe rebuild it , and furnished it with monkes good store : to whom king edg●r , and the succeeding kings gave such ample priviledges , and faire possessions , that it did seeme to equall any church in england . richard the eleventh abbat having a minde to quit himselfe of the bishop of lincoln , within whose diocese it stood ; dealt with king henry the first , both with purse and tater noster , to turne the abby into a cath●drall . and though the king assented to it , and that the businesse was transacted with the bishop of lincoln , ( who had three manors of this abby , viz. spaldwick , biggleswad , and bockden , in exchange for his jurisdiction ▪ ) yet richard lived not to possesse it , leaving the benefit of his industry and ambition to be enjoyed by another man , which was one hervey , bishop of bang●r . as for the church now standing , it is the worke of severall bishops : the west parts being with great charge repaired by bishop rid●ll or new built rather ; as were the quire and lanterne by bishop norwold , which afterwards were fully finished by bishop fordham . the whole church dedicated to s. ethelred . ely thus made a bishoprick , however fortified with great priviledges , ( for in the isle of ely the bishops had all rights of a county palatine ) and that it was endowed with so great possessions , as hardly any better in the realme of england , hath yet beene subject to those changes which time hath wrought . for many of the palatine rights were taken off , or much restrained by the act of parliament , touching restoring to the crowne the antient 〈◊〉 , 27. h. 8. c. 25. in the which act it was enacted , that ( instead thereof ) the bishop of ely , and his temporall steward for the isle of ely , should from thence forth be iustices of the peace in the said iland . however ely may be still reputed amongst the first bishopricks of the second ranke ▪ and may rejoyce it selfe in this ▪ that it yeelded to this realme its many great officers as any other in the kingdome . for it hath given the 〈◊〉 no lesse then 〈◊〉 lord chancellours , seven lord treasurers , one lord privie seale , one chancellour o● the university of oxford , one of the exchequer , two masters of the rolls subesides two saints unto the church , two cardinals to the church of rome , and to the english court three almoners . the dioce●e hereof containeth onely cambridgeshire , and the isle of ely ▪ in which there are 141. parishes ▪ whereof 75 impropriate . it hath but one arch-deacon , which is he of ely ▪ is valued in the kings bookes , 2134. li. 18. s. 5. d. ob . q. the clergies tenth amounting to the summe of 384. li. 14. s. 9. d. q. bishops of ely. a. ch.     1109 1 hervey , bishop of bangor . 1133 2 nigellus , lord treasurer . 1174 3 galfridus rydall . 1189 4 gul. longchamp , l. chan. 1198 5 eustachius , l. chan. 1219 6 s. john de fontibus , l. treas . 1225 7 galfredus de burgo . 1229 8 hugh norwold . 1255 9 gul. de kilkenny , l. chan. 1257 10 s. hugh balsam . 1286 11 joh. de kirby , l. treas . 1290 12 gul. de luda . 1299 13 radul●e walpoole . 1302 14 rob. orford . 1310 15 joh. de keeton . 1316 16 joh. hotham . ch. of the exch. l. chan. and ● . treas . 1336 17 simon montacute . * 1344 18 tho. lyde . 1361 19 sim. langham , l. chan. and tr . to cant. 1366 20 joh. barnet , l. tr. 1375 21 tho. arundel , l. chan. transl . to yorke . * 1388 22 joh. fordham . 1425 23 phil. morgan , l. pr. seale . 1435 24 lewis of luxembourg , card. * 1443 25 tho. bourchier , card. translated to cant. * 1454 26 wil. grey , l. treas . * 1478 27 joh. morton , master of the rolls . l. chan. 1486 28 joh. alcock , master of the rolls . 1501 29 rich redman . 1506 30 james stanley . * 1515 31 nicolas west . 1534 32 tho. goodrich , l. chan. 1554 33 tho. thirlby . 1559 34 rich. cox , alm. chan. oxford . vacat sedes , annos 20. 1599 35 martin heton . 1609 36 lancel . andrewes , alm. transl . to wint. 1618 37 nicolas felton . 1627 38 joh. buckeridge . 1631 39 francis white , bishop almonor . 1638 40 mat●hew wrenn , deane of the chappell , now bishop of ely 1641. exeter , and the bishops there . the diocese of exeter containeth that in it , which was once two bishopricks . for at the first planting of the church in these westerne parts , it was thought convenient to erect two bishops sees , the one for cornwall at s. germans ; the other for devonsh ▪ at cridington , now kirton , a small village . but that of cornwall , being annexed to cridington , about the yeere 1032. both were , not long after , removed to exeter , the most noted city of these parts , where it still continueth . now for the church of exeter it was once a monastery , founded by king athelstane , and by him dedicated unto saint peter . edward the confessour , removing all the monkes from hence to westminster , which he had newly founded and endowed , made it the bishops see for devonsh and cornewall , then united . the church as now it standeth doth owe it selfe to severall patrons ; the quire to bishop warlwast , the body of the church to bishop quivil , the side isles to grandison : that which is now our ladies chappell , being a remn●nt of the old fabrick . the patrimony thereof once very large , was wasted and destroyed by bishop voisie : who being made bishop here by king henry 8. ●ate out the residue of his raigne , and all k. edwards , and some part of queene maries also . for whereas at his comming hither , he found the church possessed of 22. goodly manors , and 14. mansion houses richly furnished : he left not above seven or eight of the worst manors , and those let out in long leases ▪ and charged with pensions ; and not above two houses , both bare and naked , of which see bishop godwins catalogue , and powels history of wales . this diocefe hath yeelded to the realme of england , three lord chancellours , two lord treasurers , one lord president of wales ; and to the university of oxford , one chancellour . it containeth in it the two counties of devon , and cornwall , and in them 604 parish churches , whereof 239. are impropriate ; for government whereof it hath foure arch-deacons , viz. of cornwall , exeter , barnestable , and tawton . the bishoprick was once valued at 1566. li. 14. s. 6. d. but since the diminution , or destruction rather , made by bishop voisie ; it is now valued at 500. l. just . the clergies tenth here very high , or mounting to the sum of 1240. li. 15. s. 2. d. ob . now for the mar●halling of the bishops of this once divided diocese , we will present you with those of devonshire and cornwall , columne-wise , one against the other , according to their time and order , untill wee meere them both in the church of exeter . bishops of devonsh . a. ch.     905 1   eadulphus . 906 2 putta . 910 3 eadulfus . ii. 932 4 ethelgarus . 942 5 algarus . 952 6 alfwoldus . 972 7 alfwolfus . 981 8 sidemannus 990 9 alfredus . 999 10 alfwoldus ii. 1014 11 eadnothus . 1032 12 liningus , who after the death of burwoldus bishop of cornwall , procured that bishoprick to bee annexed unto his owne : which was no sooner done , but that his next successour removed both to exeter ; since when the bishops have beene called cornwall . 905 1 athelstan .   2 conanus .   3 ruidocus .   4 aldredus .   5 britwinus .   6 athelstā . ii   7 wolfi .   8 woronus .   9 wolocus .   10 stidio .   11 aldredus .   12 burwoldus , the last bishop of cornwall . bishops of exeter . a. ch.     1049 1 leofricus , who removed the see to exeter . 1079 2 osbernus . 1107 3 william warlewast . 1122 4 robert chichester . 1150 5 robert warlewast . 1159 6 bartholm . iscanus . 1186 7 johannes . 1191 8 henry marshall . * 1206 9 simon de apulia . 1224 10 gul. brewer . 1245 11 richard blondy . 1257 12 walter bronescomb . 1280 13 peter quivill . 1293 14 thomas button . 1307 15 walter stapleton , l. treas . 1326 16 james barkeley . * 1327 17 john grandison . * 1370 18 thomas brentinsham . l. treas . 1395 19 edm. stafford , l. chan. * 1419 20 john ketterich . 1419 21 john carie. 1420 22 edm. lacy. 1455 23 george nevill , l. chan. and chan. of oxford , tr . to yorke . * 1466 24 john boothe . 1477 25 peter courtney , tr . to winton . * 1486 26 richard foxe , tr . to weles . 1492 27 oliver king , tr . to welles . 1495 28 richard redman . 1501 29 john arundell . 1504 30 hugh oldham . 1519 31 john voysie , l. pres. of walles . 1551 32 miles goverdale . 1556 33 james turberville . 1560 34 gul. alley . 1570 35 gul. bradbridge . 1579 36 john woolton . 1594 37 gervase babington . 1598 38 gul. cotton . 1621 39 valentine cary. 1627 40 joseph hall , now bishop of exeter ▪ 1641 ▪ glocester , and the bishops there . glocester was anciently the seate of a british bishop , whose stile sometimes occurres in the subscriptions of synodicall acts , by the name of cluviensis ; this towne being formerly called clevid , as camden noteth . and i remember that i have seene in the palace of glocester , the name of ✚ ✚ ✚ said to bee bishop there in the britons time . but whether it were so or not ; or whether glocester were a bishoprick in those dayes of old , is not materiall to our purpose . for that which was , was brought to nothing by the saxons , and when they entertained the faith of christ , it was first under the authority of the bishops of lichfeild , as afterwards of those of worcester . but in these later dayes it was dismembred from that diocese , and by king henry 8. made a bishops see , what time the rest of new erection were by him founded , as we have spoke before , when we were in bristol . now for the indowment of this bishopricke by him erected , ( besides a chapter of a deane , and sixe prebendaries by him so founded ) he assigned over all , or most of the lands , unto the ancient monasteries here , once belonging : which being first built by aldred , arch-bishop of yorke , and bishop of worcester , and afterwards repaired by hanley , farley , mo●went , herton , trowcester , and sebroke , severall abbats here , became in fine to be , what it still continueth , one of the fairest fabricks in the realme of england . the diocese containing onely glocester shire , hath in it 267. parishes , whereof 125 are impropriations ; and one archdeacon , being called of glocester . valued it is in the kings bookes , 315. li. 17. s. 2. d. according to the estimate thereof at the first foundation : though in two vacancies which it had in queene eliz. time , much of the lands were taken from it ; ( for which see what was said before in the case of ely. ) and for a tenth of all , the clergie pay unto the king 358. l. 15. s. bishops of glocester . a. ch.     1541 1 john wakeman , last abbat ● tewkesbury . 1550 2 john hooper . 1555 3 james brookes . vacat sedes ann. 3. 1562 4 kichard cheinie . vacat sedes ann. 3. 1581 5 john bullingham . 1598 6 godfr goldsbourgh . 1604 7 thomas ravys , tr . to london . 1607 8 henry parry , tr . to worcest . 1611 9 giles tomson . 1612 10 miles smith . 1624 11 godfr . goodman , now bishop there ▪ 1641. hereford , and the bishops there . hereford also was of old one of the bishopricks erected in the britons time ; first under the metropolitan of caer-leon upon vske , of saint davids afterwards , and when these parts were conquered by the saxon kings , it came to be a member of the province of canterbury . the cathedrall church here founded first by milfride , one of the noblemen of this county in honor of ethelbert , king of the east angles treacherously made away by the queene of mercia , his intended mother in law . that which now standeth , oweth the most part of it selfe to bishop reinelm ; and what he lived not to performe , was finished by his successours , as they had either meanes or opportunity . the diocese hereof containeth the county of hereford , and part of shrop-shire ; wherein it hath 313. parish churches , of which 166. are impropriations : and for the government hereof , hath two arch-deacons , viz. of hereford and salop. it hath afforded to the church one saint , to the state two chancellours , and three lord treasurers , one deputy to the realme of ireland , two chancellours to the university of oxford , and one unto the queenes of england . finally , it is valued in the kings bookes , 768. li. 10. s. 6. d. ob . q. the tenth of the clergy comming unto 340. li. 2. s. 2. d. ob . bishops of hereford . a. ch.     680 1 putta .   2 tirtellus .   3 torteras :   4 wastoldus . 740 5 cuthbertus .   6 podda .   7 ecc● .   8 cedda . 857 9 alber●us .   10 esna . 885 11 celmund .   12 utellus .   13 wulfehard .   14 benna .   15 edulfus .   16 cuthwolfus .   17 mucellus .   18 deorlaf .   19 cunemond .   20 edg●r .   21 tidhelm .   22 wulfehelm .   23 alfricus .   24 athulfus .   25 athelstan . 1055 26 leovegard . vacat sedes ann. 4. 1060 27 walterus . 1079 28 robert losinga .   29 gerrardus , tr . to yorke . 1107 30 reinelmus chan. to the queene . 1115 31 galfredus de cliva . 1120 32 richardus . 1131 33 robert de betun . 1149 34 gilbert foliot , tr . to london . 1162 35 robert de melun . 1174 36 robert foliot ▪ 1186 37 gul. de vere , * 1200 38 egidius de bruse . * 1216 39 hugh de mapenore . 1219 40 hugh foliot . 1234 41 radulph de maydestone . 1239 42 peter de egueblanc . 1268 43 john breton , the geat lawyer . 1275 44 s. thomas canterupe , chan. of oxford , and l. chan. 1282 45 richard swinfeild . 1317 46 adam de orlton , l. treas . transl . to worcest . 1327 47 thomas carlton , deputy of ireland , and l. treas . 1344 48 john trilleck . 1361 49 lud. charlton . 1369 50 gul. courtney , tr . to london . * 1376 51 john gilbert , l. treas . tr . to s. davids . 1389 52 john tre●●ant . 1405 53 robert mascall . 1417 54 edm. lacy , tr . to exeter . 1420 55 tho. polton , tr . to chichest . 1422 56 tho. spofford . 1448 57 rich. beauchamp , tr . to sarum . * 1450 58 reginald butler . * 1453 59 john stanbery . 1574 60 tho. milling . 1492 61 edm. audley , tr . to sarum . * 1502 62 adrian de castello , tr . to welles . 1504 63 rich. mayo , chan. of oxford . 1516 64 charles boothe . 1535 65 edward foxe . 1539 66 john skipp . 1553 67 john harley . 1554 68 robert per●ewe . 1559 69 john scorie . 1585 70 herbert westfaling . 1602 71 robert bennet ,   72 francis godwin . 1633 73 augustin lindsell . 1634 74 matthew wrenn . 1635 75 theophilus feild . 1636 76 geo. cooke , now bishop . 1639. llandaff , and the bishops there . llandaff is one of the most ancient bishops sees either in england or wales ; and claimeth a direct succession from the arch-bishops of caerleon upon vske , as unto the bishopricke ; though for the metropolitan dignity it bee content to let s. davids have what is left thereof . the first bishop here , of whom is any good record , is s. dubritius , consecrate bishop of this places by lupus and germanus , what time they came hither out of france , for the extirpation of the pelagian heresie . the church here dedicated to s. thelians , the next successour to s. dubritius ; founded upon the river taffi , and thence called llandaff ; llan , in the welch tongue , signifying a church ; a church very well endowed by the munificence and piety of great persons in those times : so well , that as it is affirmed by bishop godwin , were it possessed now of the tenth part onely of what once it had , it might be reckoned one of the richest churches in all christendome . the ruine of it came in the time of bishop dunstan , alias kitchin , who thereupon is called fundi nostri calamitas by bishop godwin ; the diocese containeth onely part of glamorganshire , and part of momnouthshire , though the most of each : and in those parts , 177. parishes , whereof 98. impropriations : and for them one arch-deacon , which is called of llandaff . the bishopricke is valued in the kings bookes , 154. li. 14. s. 1. d. the clergy paying for their tenth , somewhat neere that summe , viz. 155. li. 5. s. 4. d. it is to be observed , or may be if it please the reader , that neither here , nor at saint davids , there is any deane , nor never was in any of the times before us : the bishop being head of the severall chapters ; and in his absence the arch-deacon here , as is the chanter at s. davids . bishops of llandaff . a. ch.       1 s. dubritius . 522 2 s. telian , alias eliud .   3 s. oudoceus .   4 ubilwinus .   5 ardanus .   6 elgistil .   7 lunapejus .   8 comegern .   9 argwistill .   10 garvan .   11 guodloin .   12 edilbinus .   13 grecielus .   14 berthgwen .   15 trychan .   16 elvogus .   17 catgwaret .   18 cerenhit . 19 nobis .   20 gulfridus .   21 nudd .   22 cimelianc .   23 libian .   24 marcluith .   25 pater . 982 26 gogwan . 993 27 bledri . 1022 28 joseph . 1056 29 herewaldus . 1107 30 urbanus . vacat sedes annos . 6. 1139 31 uhtred . 1148 32 galfridus . 1153 33 nicolas ap gurgant . 1183 34 gul. de salso marisco .   35 henricus . 1219 36 gulielmus . 1229 37 elias de radnor . 1244 38 gul. de burgo . 1253 39 john la ware. 1256 40 gul. de radner . 1265 41 gul. de brews . * vacat sedes annos 9. 1296 42 john monumeteus . 1323 43 john eglescliffe . 1347 44 john pascall . 1362 45 roger cradoc . 1383 46 thomas rushooke , translated to chichester . 1385 47 gul. de bottlesham , translated to rochester . 1389 48 edm. bromfeld . 1391 49 tidemannus , translated to worcester . 1395 50 andrew barret .   51 john burghill , translated to lichfeild . 1399 52 thomas peverell , translated to worcester . 1408 53 john zouch . * 1423 54 john wells . 1441 55 nicolas ashby . 1458 56 john hunden .   57 john smith . 1478 58 john marshall .   59 john ingleby . 1504 60 miles salley . 1516 61 george athequa . 1537 62 robert holgate , translated to yorke . 1545 63 anthony kitchin. vacat sedes , annos 3 ▪ 1566 64 hugh jones . 1575 65 gul. blethin . 1591 66 gervase babington , translated to oxford . 1595 67 william morgan , tr . the bible into welch . 1601 68 francis godwin , tr . to hereford . 1618 69 george carleton , tr . to chich. 1619 70 thoph . feild , tr . to s. davids . 1628 71 john murrey , bishop of kilfanore in ireland . 1639 72 morgan owen , now bishop there 1641. lincoln , and the bishops there . the bishopricke of lincoln , like that of exeter , was once two dioceses : the bishops of the which had their severall seates , the one at dorchester now a private village , seven miles from oxford ; the other at sianacester , not farre from gainsburgh , ( as camden thinkes ) in the county of lincoln , the ruines of the which are now invisible . but sidnacester being in little time united unto dorchester ; the bishops see was not long after removed to lincoln : and that by reason of a canon made about that time , viz. an. 1075. by which all bishops were enjoyned to live in the most famous and conspicuous place within their dioceses . which was the cause , why many of our bishops did about this time remove their sees ; as we have seene already , and shall see hereafter . for the cathedrall church here , it s of no more standing then the removall of the bishops see to this place from dorchester ; that which was once here founded by paulinus , arch-bishop of yorke , having beene long before this time quite ruined . but when remigius translated hither the episcopall chaire , hee also built this church for receipt thereof . which being not long after defaced by fire , was for the most part repaired and beautified by bishop alexander , one of his successours : but brought unto that state in which now it is , by hugh of burgundy , and certaine other of the bishops the church is dedicated to the virgin mary , and all-saints . as for the diocese , it is the greatest still for jurisdiction , and was once one of the greatest for revenue in all the kingdom . but for the jurisdiction , that hath been shortned , though at severall times : the bishoprick of ely being taken out of it by king henry the first , as those of peterburgh , and oxford , by king henry 8. yet still it is the largest diocese in all the ki●gdome ; containing the whole counties of lincoln , leicester , huntingdon , bedford , buckingham , and part of herefordshire . in which great quantity of ground , there are 1255. parishes , whereof 577. are impropriations ; for government of which under the diocesan there are sixe arch-deacons , viz. of lincoln , leicester , bedford , buckingham , stow , & huntingdon . the clergies tenth is answerable unto this great extent of jurisdictiō , being no lesse then 1751. li. 14. s. 6. d. the bishoprick being valued at 894. li. 10. s. 1. d. ob . in the k. bookes . now for the dignity of this seate , wee will adde but this , that it hath yeelded to the church three saints , and to rome one cardinall ; unto the realme of england sixe lord chancellours , and one lord treasurer , and one lord keeper ; foure chancellours to the university of oxford , two to cambridge ; and that the b●shops here , were heretofore vice ● chancellours to the see of canterbury . which being thus premised , i shall proceede in ordering the bishops here , as i did at exeter . bishops of sidnacester . a. ch.     678 1 eadhedus .   2 ethelwinus .   3 edgar .   4 kinelbertus , 733 5 alwigh . 751 6 eadulfus . 764 7 ceolulfus . 787 8 eadulfus , ii. after whose death this church being a long time vacan● , was joyned to dorchester . bishops of dorchester . 635 1 birinus . 650 2 agilbertus .   ✚ ✚ ✚ 737 3 tota . 764 4 edbertus .   5 werenbertus . 768 6 unwora . 816 7 rethunus . 851 8 aldredus . 873 9 ceolredus .   10 halardus .   ✚ ✚ ✚ 905 11 ceolulfus . 12 leo●winus , who first united the see of sidnacester , unto that of dorchester . 960 13 ailnothus .   14 ascwinus .   15 alshelmus .   16 eadnothus . 1016 17 eadhericus . 1034 18 eadnothus . ii. 1052 19 ulfus normannus . 1053 20 wulfinus , after whose death remigius his successour removed the bishops see to lincoln , who from hence forward are to be entituled bishops of lincoln . 1070 21 remigius de feschamp s. 1092 22 robert bloet . l. chan. 1123 23 alexander , l. chan. 1147 24 robert de chesney . vacat sedes , annos 17. 1183 25 walter de constantiis , l. chan. 1186 26 s. hugh . 1203 27 gul. blesensis . vacat , annos 3. 1209 28 hugo wallis , l. chan. 1235 29 robert grosthead . 1254 30 henry lexington . 1258 31 benedict de gravesend . 1280 32 oliver sutton . 1300 33 john aldbery . 1319 34 thomas beake . 1320 35 henry burwesh , l. treas . * 1341 36 thomas le beck . 1351 37 john sinwell . 1363 38 john bokingham . 1397 39 henry beauford . * 1405 40 phil. de repingdon , card. ch ox. 1420 41 richard flemming ▪ 1431 42 gul. grey . 1436 43 gul. alnwick . 1450 44 marm. lumley , chan. camb. 1452 45 john chadworth . 1471 46 thomas rotheram , lord chancel . and ch. cambr. 1480 47 john russell , lord chan. and chan. oxford . vacat annos 5. 1495 48 gul. smith , chan. oxford . 1412 49 thomas wolsey almoner , trransl . to yorke . 1414 50 gul. atwater . 1521 51 john longland , chan. oxford . 1547 52 henry holbech . 1552 53 john tayler . 1553 54 john white . 1557 55 thomas watson . 1559 56 nicolas bullingham . 1570 57 thomas cowper , tr . to winton . 1584 58 will. wickham , tr . to winton . 1594 59 will. chadderton . 1608 60 will. barlowe . 1613 61 rich. neyle , tr . to durham . 1617 62 geo. monteine , tr . to london . 1921 63 john williams , l. keeper , now bishop of lincoln . 1641. london , and the bishops there . london was heretofore the principall of the three arch-bishopricks amongst the britons , and by pope gregory was intended to have beene so too amongst the english : but that saint austin whom hee sent to convert the saxons , liking of canterbury well , resolved to set his staffe up there , without going further . this had before beene prophecied by merlin , that dignitas londoniae adornaret doroberniam , and was now accomplished . what , and how many were the arch-bishops here , we have no good constat . sixteene are named by bishop godwin , but with no great confidence : but howsoever doe not come within my compasse , who have confined my selfe to the saxons time , in the first infancie of whose conversion , this city was designed for a bishops see. the cathed , church built also in those early dayes by ethelbert , the first christian king of all the english ; but afterwards much beautified and enlarged by er●enwald , the fourth bishop . which church of theirs being 500. yeeres after destroyed by fire : that which now stands was built in the place thereof , by mauritiu● , richardus his successour , and certaine others of the bishops ; a great part of it at their owne charge , the residue by a generall contribution over all the kingdome . and when it was defaced by fire in the late queenes time , an. 1561. the qu. forthwith directed her letters to the major of london , willing him ( as iohn stowe , the city chronicler reports it ) to take order for speedy repairing of the same : which was done accordingly . the bishop of this diocese hath precedencie before all bishops of the realme , next the two archbishops , together with the dignity and place of deane , unto the metropolitan see of canterbu●y . the nature of which office is , not onely to preside over the rest of the bishops at synodicall meetings , in case the metropolitan be absent : but to receive his mandats , for assembling synods , and other businesse of the church ; and having so received them , to intimate the tenour and effect thereof to the suffragan prelates . examples of the which see in the acts and monuments . and for this diocese it selfe , it containeth in it the two counties of middlesex , and essex , with that part of hertfordshire , which is not in the diocese of lincoln : wherein are reckoned 623. parishes , and of th●m 189. impropriated : for government whereof there are five arch-deacons , viz. of lo●don , middlesex , essex , colchester , and saint al●ans . valued it is in the kings bookes 1119. li. 8. s. 4. d. the clergies tenth amounting to the summe of 821. li 15. s. 1. d. finally , th●s see hath yeelded to the church three saints , to the state nine lord chancellours , sixe lord treasurers , one chancellour of the exchequer , two masters of the rolls , besides foure almoners to the court , and two chancellours to the university of oxford ; whose names occurre amongst these following . bishops of london . 606 1 s. melitus , tr . to cant.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 654 2 ceadda . 666 3 wina . 665 4 s. erkonwald . 685 5 waldherus .   6 ingualdus .   7 egwolfus .   8 wighed .   9 eadbright .   10 edgarus .   11 kenwalchus .   12 eadbaldus .   13 hecbertus . 801 14 osmundus , alias oswinus . 833 15 ethelnorthus .   16 ceolbertus .   17 renulfus , alias ceonulfus .   18 suithulfus . 851 19 eadslanus . 860 20 wulfius .   21 ethelwardus .   22 elitan . 898 23 theodredus .   24 walstanus .   25 brithelmus . 958 26 dunstanus , s. tr . to c●nt . 962 27 alfstanus .   28 wulfstanus .   29 alhumus .   30 alwy .   31 elfwardus . 1044 32 robert normannus . 1050 33 gul. normannus . 1070 34 hugo de orevalle . 1087 35 mauritius , l. chan. 1108 36 richard de beaumis . 1128 37 gilbertus . vacat sedes , annos 7. 1140 38 robert de sigillo . 1151 39 richard beaumis . ii 1161 40 gilbert foliot . 1189 41 richard nigellus , l. trea● . 1199 42 gul. de s. maria. 1222 43 eustatius de falcon bridge . chan of the exchequer , and l. treas . * 1229 44 roger nigor . 1244 45 fulco basser . * 1259 46 henry de wingham . , l. treas . 1261 47 richard talbot . 1263 48 henry de sandwich . 1274 49 john de chisul . l. chan. and l. treas . 1280 50 richard de gravesend . 1305 51 radulf de baldock , l. chan. 1313 52 gilbert segrave . 1317 53 richard newport . 13●8 54 stephen gravesend . 1338 55 richard bentworth , l. chan. 1339 56 radulf straford . 1355 57 nicol. northbrooke . 1361 58 sim. sudbury , tr . to cant. 1375 59 gul. courtney , chan. ox. transl . to cant. * 1381 60 rob braybroke . 1404 61 roger walden , l. treas . 1406 62 nicolas bubweth , master of rolls , and l. treas . 1407 63 richard giffard . 1421 64 john kemp. l. chan tr . to cant. 1426 65 cul. grey , tr . to lincoln . 1431 66 robert fitz-hugh . * 1435 67 robert gilbert . 1449 68 thomas kemp. 1489 69 richard hill. 1497 70 thomas savage . 1500 71 will. warham , l. chan. transl . to cant. 1505 72 william barnes . 1506 73 richard fitz-james . 1522 74 cutbert tunstall , tr . to durham . 1530 75 john stokesley . 1540 76 edm. bonner , displa . by k. edw. 6. 1549 77 nicolas ridley , displaced by qu. mary , and bonner restored againe , 1553. 1559 78 edm. grindall , tr . to yorke . 1570 79 edwin sandis , tr . to yorke . 1576 80 john elmer , bishop almoner . 1594 81 richard fletcher , bishop almoner 1597 82 richard bancroft , tr . to cant. 1604 83 richard vaughan . 1607 84 thomas ravis . 1609 85 george abbot , tr . to cant. 1611 86 john king. 16●1 87 george monteine , bishop almoner . 1628 88 will. laud. ch. oxford , transl . to cant. 1633 89 william juxon , bishop of london , and l. treas . 1641. norwich , and the bishops there . the diocese of norwich , like those of exeter and lincoln , was once two bishopricks : the one of suffolk , whose seate was dunwich on the sea shoare ; the other of norfolk , whose see was at north-elmham , now a poore village not farre from repeham . the bishop of the first was felix a burgundian , who first converted the east-angles . the third from him was bisus , who finding himselfe , by reason of his age , too weake for so great a burden , divided his diocese into two , making north elmham the episcopall seate for that part of the whole which we now call norfolke . both of them lay long dead in the times of the danish furie : that of north-elmham after an hundred yeeres desolation , ●eviving onely ; the other laid to rest for ever . north elmham thus possessed of the whole jurisdiction , could not hold it long : the bishops see being removed to thelford first by herfastus ; as afterwards from thence to norwich by herebert losinga . there it hath since continued till these very times , though nothing else continue of it but the see alone . for all the lands thereto belonging were taken from it by king henry the 8. those which did formerly appertaine unto the monastery of saint bennets in the holme ( by that king dissolved ) being assigned unto it by exchange . for which consult ▪ the statute , 32. h. 8. 47. in the which statute it is said that the lands given in recompence were of a greater yeerely value then those taken from it . so that the bishop , as it seemes , got in revenue ▪ then , though he lost in priviledge . for whereas the bishops here had the fi●st f●uits of all the benefices within the diocese , by an ancient custome : that was united to the crowne by act of parliament , 26. h. 8. c. 3. now for the church of norwich , it was founded first by him who first remo●ed hither the bishops see , even by herebertus losinga ; and by him dedicated to the blessed trinity : which being much defaced by fire , ( which was it seemes , a common calamity of all the churches of those times ) was afterwards repaired by iohn of oxford , the third after him ; and once againe being fire-touched , by bishop midleton , who brought it to that state in which now it stands . this see hath yeelded to the church two saints , to the realme five chancellours , one lord treasurer , and one lord chiefe justice , one bishop almoner to the court , and to the king one principall secretary of state. the diocese containeth in the two counties of norfolke and suffolke , 1121. parish churches , whereof 385. impropriate : for better ordering of the which it hath foure arch-deacons , viz. of norwich , norfolke , suffolke , and sudbury . finally , this bishoprick is valued in the kings bookes , 899. li. 18. s 7. d. ob . the tenth of the whole clergy amounting to the summe of 1117. li. 13. s. ob . now for the line of norwich it is thus drawne downe . bishops of the east-angles . a. ch.     630 1 s. felix . 647 2 thomas diaconus . 652 3 bregilfus . 665 4 bisus , by whom this diocese was divided into those of elmham . 1 bedwinus . 2 northbertus . 3 headulacus . 734 4 eadilfredus . 5 lanserthus . 6 athelwolfus . 7 alcarus . 8 sibba . 9 alherdus . 10 s. humbertus , after whose death , both sees lay vacant for the space of 100. yeeres . dunwich . 1 acca . 2 astwolfus . 3 eadfarthus . 4 cuthwinus . 5 aldberthus . 6 aglafius . 7 hardulfus . 8 aelphunus . 9 thedfridus . 10 wer●undus . 11 wilredus . the last bishop of dunwich . 955 11 astulphus , bishop of both sees .   12 alfridus .   13 theodredus .   14 athelstan .   15 algarus . 16 alwinus .   17 alfricus . 1038 18 alifrejus .   19 stigandus , tr . to winton . 1043 20 grinketell . 1047 21 ethelmar .   22 herfastus , who removed the see to the●ford , l. chan.   23 gul. galsagus , l. chan. after whose death the bishops see was removed to norwich , and his successours thence intituled bishops of norwich . 1088 24 herebert losinga , l. chan. 1120 25 everardus . 1151 26 gul. turbus . 1177 27 john oxford . 1200 28 john g●ey , l. chiefe justice . vacat annos . 7. 1222 29 pandulphus . 1226 30 tho. de blundevi●le . 1236 31 radulphus . vacat annos ▪ 3. 1239 32 gul. ralegh , tr . to winton . 1244 33 walter de sufeild . 1253 34 simon de wantam ▪ 1268 35 roger de skerwing . 1278 36 gul. middleton . 1288 37 radul . walpoole , translated to ely. 1299 38 john salmon , l. chan. 1325 39 robert baldock , lord chancellour . 1325 40 william ayermyn , lord keeper , and l. treas . 1337 41 ant de beck .   42 gul. bateman . 1354 43 tho. percy . * 1370 44 henry spencer . 1408 45 alexander . 1413 46 richard courtney . * 1416 47 john wakering . 1426 48 gulielmus alnwick , translated to lincoln . 1436 49 tho. browne . 1445 50 walter hart. 1472 51 james goldwell , principall secretary . 1499 52 tho. jan. 1500 53 richard nix . 1536 54 gul. rugg , alias reppes . 1550 55 thomas thirleby , translated to ely. 1554 56 john hopton . 1560 57 john parkhurst . 1575 58 edm. freke , translated to worcester . 1584 59 edm. scambler . 1594 60 gul. redman . 1602 61 john jegon . 1618 62 john overall . 1619 63 sam. harsnet , tr ▪ to . yorke . 1628 64 fr. white , almoner , tr . to ely. 1632 65 richard corbet . 1635 66 matthew wrenn , deane of the chappell , tr . to ely. 1638 67 richard montague , bishop of norwich , died 1641. oxford , and the bishops there . the bishoprick of oxford is of new erection , first founded by king henry 8. and by him endowed out of the lands belonging to the late dissolved monasteries of abingdon and osney . it was before a part of the dio●ese of lincoln : and being now made a bishoprick , had first the abbey church of osney ( being some halfe a mile from oxford ) for its cathedrall , anno 1541. from whence it was removed to oxford about five yeeres after . that which is now the cathedrall , was anciently dedicated to saint frideswide : but being by king henry made the bishops see , was entituled christ-church : the chapter there consisting of a deane and eight prebendaries by him also founded , part of the lands which had been purchased or procured by cardinall wolsey for the indowment of his colledge , being allotted thereunto . this bishoprick was founded then , an. 1541. and from that time , unto the yeere , 1603. when doctor bridges was made bishop , are 63 , yeeres onely , or there abouts : of which it was kept vacant above 40 yeeres even almost all the long raigne of queene eliz●beth ; to the impoverishing of the church , before well endowed . the diocese containeth onely the county of oxford , and therein 195 ▪ parish churches , of which 88. are impropriated . it hath but one arch-deacon , which is he of oxford ; is valued in the kings bookes , 354. li. 16. s. 4. d. ob . the clergies tenth comming unto 255. li. 8. s. bishops of oxford . a. ch.     1541 1 robert king , last abbat of osney . vacat ann. 10. 1567 2 hugh curwyn . vacat ann. 20. 1589 3 john underhill . vacat ann. 11. 1603 4 john bridges . 1619 5 john howson , tr . to durhum . 1628 6 richard corbet , tr . to norwich . 1632 7 john bancroft , died bishop of oxford , anno 1640. peterburgh , and the bishops there . the bishoprick of peterburgh is of new erection , and taken also out of lincoln , as oxford was . the cathedrall church was anciently a monastery , the place or towne of old called medeshamstede ; but on the building of the abby-church , founded by wol●her king of the mercians , anno 633. and by him dedicated to saint peter , it gained the name of peterburgh . this church by him thus built , was after ruined by the danes , and againe built and beautified by ethetwoldus bishop of winton , anno 960 ▪ or there abouts : upon whose mediation it was exceedingly liberally endowed by edgar then king of england ; adulph then chancellour to that king , giving unto it also his whole estate . thus it continued in a flourishing and faire estate , untill king henry dissolved it ▪ and having so dissolved it , did by his letters patents make it a bishops see , and founded also here a chapter consisting of a deane and sixe prebendaries . the diocese hereto allotted , containeth the two counties of northhampton , ( in the which peterburgh standeth ) and rutland : and in them both 293. parishes , whereof 91. are impropriate . it hath but one arch-deacon , which is entituled of northhampton : is valued in the kings bookes 414. li. 19. s. 11. d. the clergy paying for their tenth , 520. li. 16. s. 8. d. bishops of peterburgh . a. ch.     1541 1 john chamber , the last abhat of peterburgh . 1557 2 david poole . 1560 3 edm. scamber , tr . to norwich . 1584 4 richard howland . 1600 5 thomas dove . 1630 6 gul. pie●s , tr . to welles . 1632 7 augustine lindsell , tr . to heref. 1634 8 john dee of chichester . 1638 9 john towers , dean of peterburgh , now bishop here . 1639. rochester , and the bishops there . the bishoprick of rochester , is the most ancient next to canterbury , of all in england : a bishops see being here erected by that s. austin , who first did preach the gospel unto the saxons , anno 606. which was about ten yeeres after his entrance into england . the cathedrall church here , first ●rected by ethelbert king of kent , when it was first made a bishops see ; and by him dedicated to saint andrew : which growing ruinous and dedicated , was afterwards repaired by gundulp●us , one of the bishops of the same , about the yeere 1080. this bishoprick was anciently , and a long time together , in the immediate patronage of the arch-bishop of cauterbury ; who did dispose thereof as to them seemed best ; and so continued , till under the pretence of free and capitular elections , the popes had brought all churches into their owne hands . however after this , the bishops of rochester owed more then ordinary obedience to their metropolitan : and in all solemne pompes were commonly their crosse-bearers . the diocese hereof is the least in england , containing onely a small part of kent , and therein not above 98. parishes , of which 36. impropriate : for ordering of which jurisdiction , there needed not but one arch-deacon , which is he of rochester . nor is the valuation much , either of the bishoprick , or of the clergy : the one being in the kings bookes , 358 li. 3. s. ● . d. q. the other paying for their tenth , the least of any of the english , viz. 222. li. 14. 6 d. ob . q. and yet this little see hath yeelded to this realme , one chancellour , one lord keeper of the great seale , and one lord ▪ treasurer , and to the church of rome , one cardinall . the bishop of this church writes himselfe roffensis . bishops of rochester . a. ch.     606 1 justus , tr . to canterbury . 622 2 romanus . 631 3 paulinus , arch-bishop of yorke . 644 4 ithamar . 656 5 damianus . 669 6 putta . 676 7 quichelmus . 681 8 gebmundus . 693 9 tobias . 717 10 adulfus . 741 11 duina . 747 12 eardulfus .   13 diora .   14 weremundus . 800 15 beornmod .   16 tadnoth .   17 bedenoth .   18 godwinus . 19 cutherwolf .   20 swithulsus .   21 bu●ricus .   22 cheolmund .   23 chireserth .   24 burrhicus .   25 alfanus . 984 26 godwinus . ii.   27 godwinus . iii. 1058 28 siwardus . 1075 29 arnostus . 1077 30 gundulphus . 1108 31 radulphus , tr . to cant. 1115 32 barnulphus . s. 1125 33 johannes . 1137 34 ascelir●●s . 1147 35 walterus . 1183 36 gualeranus . 1185 37 gilbertus glanvill . 1214 38 benedictus . 1227 39 henry de samford . 1238 40 richard de wendover . 1251 41 laurent . de s. martino . 1274 42 walt. de merton , l. chan. 1278 43 john de bradfeild . 1283 44 tho. de inglethorp . 1291 45 tho. de wuldham . 1319 46 haimo de heath . 1352 47 john de shepey , l. treas . 1361 48 gul. de witlesey , tr . to worcest . 1363 49 tho. trilley . 1372 50 tho. brinton . 1389 51 gul. de bottlesham . 1400 52 joh. de bottlesham . 1404 53 richard young. 1419 54 john kemp , tr . to chichester . 1422 55 john langdon . 1434 56 tho. browne , tr . to norwich . 1436 57 gul. de welles . 1443 58 john lowe . 1467 59 tho. rotheram , tr . to lincoln . 1471 60 john alcock , l. k. tr . to worcester . 1476 61 john russell , tr . to lincoln . 1480 62 edm. audley , tr . to here●ord . * 1492 63 tho. savage , tr . to london . 1496 64 rich. fitz-james , tr . to chic●ester . 1504 65 john fisher , cardinall . 1536 66 john hilsey . 1539 67 nic. heath , almoner , tr . to worc. 1544 68 henry holbech , tr . to lincoln . 1547 69 nic. ridley , tr . to london . 1550 70 jo. poyner , tr . to winton . 1551 71 john scory , tr . to chichester . 1554 72 maurice griff●n . 1559 73 edm. gheast , tr . to sarum . 1571 74 edm. freake , tr . to norwich . 1576 75 john piers , almoner , tr . to sarum . 1578 76 jo. young. 1605 77 gul. barlowe , tr . to lincoln . 1608 78 rich. neyle , tr . to lichfeild . 1611 79 john buckeridge , tr . to ely. 1627 80 walt. curle , tr . to welles . 1630 81 john bowle , now bishop , 1637. 1637 82 john warner , deane of lichfeild . now bishop of rochester , 1641. salisbury , and the bishops there . the bishoprick of salisbury succeeded in the rights of two severall dioceses , whereof the one had its cathedrall or chiese see at sherborn , in the county of dorset ; the other at wilton , once the chiefe towne of wiltshire , but since the growth of salisbury very much decayed . of these the ancienter was sherborn , whose diocese extended once over all those countries , which are now subject to the jurisdiction of sal●●bury , bristol , welles , and exeter . but welles and exeter being made peculiar dioceses , anno 905. as we there have shewed , another was erected the same time at wilton also . which when it had continued under nine bishops , and no more , was then againe united unto sherborne ; and both together presently removed to salisbury , as being the chiefe city of these parts , and consequently more fit for a bishops see. and yet it stayed not long there neither , being removed againe in little time , unto a more convenient place . for by herm●nn●● it was fixed upon the hill , in that old fortified towne , now called old salisbury : which being found by soone experience to be no proper seate for a bishops dwelling ; the see was presently brought lower , and with it the towne . herm●nnus who removed the see from sherborne , did first begin the church at old sarum ( for so some latine writers call it ) which osmund , his successor finished . rich. sirnamed poore , the fourth-from osmund , removed the see into the valley , and first began that church which wee now see standing : which being finished in the yeere ▪ 1258. by bishop bridport , was ded cated to the honour of the blessed virgin. thus was the see of sherborne removed to salisbury , where it hath ever since continued in great fame and lustre . as for the priviledges of this church , the bishops anciently did claime to be praecentors to their metropolitan , and of more late dues to bee chancellours of the most noble order of the ga●ter . which office being instituted by king edward 4. and by him vested in the person of rich. beauchamp of sarum , and his successors in that see : was after in the new starutes made by henry 8. left solely to the kings disposing , either to clergy-man or lay-man , as to them seemed best . nor hath it beene enjoyed by any clergy-man since that time , though in the yeere 16●8 . it was much laboured for by bishop cot●o● . this diocese containeth in it the counties of berks , and wiltes , ( for that of dorset was dismembred from it by king henry 8. and laied to bristol , ) and in them two , 544. parish churches , of which 109. are impropriations . it hath moreover three arch-leacons , viz. of salisbury , berks , and wilts ; is valued in the kings bookes , 1367. li. 11. s. 8. d. the clergy paying for their tenth , 901. li. 8. s. 1. d. finally , this see hath yeelded to the church one saint , and to rome two cardinals , unto the realme of england , one lord cheife justice , three lord chancellours , two lord treasurers , as many masters of the rolls ; two chancellours t● the university of oxford , and one to cambridge . the bishops of this see , we will marshall thus . bishops of sherborne . a. ch.     705 1 adhelmus . 709 2 fordhere . 738 3 herewaldus .   4 ethelwaldus .   5 denesrith .   6 wilbertus . 817 7 easthanus . 868 8 eadmundus . 872 9 eheleage .   10 alfy .   11 asserius , sirnamed menevensis . 883 12 swithelmus , alias sigelmus .   13 ethelwaldus , ii. after whose death this diocese was divided into many parts , those of welles , cridington , and saint germans , ( both which now make exe●er ) being taken out of it , anno 905. by plegmundus arch-bishop of canterbury . at which time also there was another see erected for these parts at wilton , whose seate was sometimes there , and sometimes also at ramsbury , and sunning . bishops of sherborn . wilton . a. ch.     905 14 werstanus . 918 15 ethel●aldus .   16 sigelmus . ii. 934 17 alfredus . 940 18 wulfeinus . 958 19 alfwoldus . 978 20 ethelricus .   21 ethelsius .   22 brithwinus . 1009 23 elmerus .   24 brinwin .   25 elfwoldus , after whose death hermannus , who had be fore beene bishop of wilton , and resigned that church , because the monkes of malmesbury would not give him leave to remove his see episco pall unto their abby ; was made bishop of sherborne : and having joyned both sees together , did shortly after remove both to salisbury : of which himselfe , and his successors were afterwards entituled bishops of wilton 905 1 ethelstanus .   2 odo . 934 3 osulphus . 970 4 alsstanus . 981 5 alfgarus .   6 siricus , tr . to cant. 989 7 alfricus , tr . to cant. 998 8 brithwoldus . 1045 9 hermannus , the last bishop of wilton . bishops of salisbury .   26 hermannus , the 26 bishop of this diocese , and first that had his see at sarum . 27 s osmundus , l. chan. 1107 28 rogerus , l. chiefe justice , lord chan. and l. treas . 1139 29 jocelinus . vacat sedes ann. 4. 1189 30 hubertus walter , tr . to cant. 1193 31 herebertus pauper . 1●17 32 richard poore . 1229 33 robert bingham . 1247 34 gul. eboracensis . 1256 35 egidius de bird-port . 1263 36 walter de la w●le . 1274 37 robert de wike-hampton . 1284 38 walter scammell . 1287 39 henry de braundston . 1289 40 gul. de la corner . 1291 41 nicolas longespee . * 1298 42 simon de gandavo . 1315 43 roger de mortivall . 1329 44 robert wivill . 1375 45 radulph erghum , tr . to welles . 1388 46 john waltam , master of the rolls , and l. treas . 1395 47 richard metford . 1407 48 nicolas bubwith , tr . to welles . 1408 49 rob. hallam , card. chan. oxford . 1417 50 john chaundler . 1427 51 robert nevill . * 1438 52 will. aiscoth , clerk of the coun. 1450 53 richard beauchamp , first chan. of the g. * 1482 54 lionell widdeville , chancel . oxford . * 1485 55 tho. langton , tr . to winton . 1493 56 john blythe , master of the rolls , chan. of cambridge . 1500 57 henry deane , tr . to cant. 1502 58 edmund audley . * 1524 59 laurence campejus , card. 1535 60 nicolas shaxton . 1539 61 john salcot , alias capon . 1559 63 john juell . 1571 64 edm. gheast , bishop almoner . 1578 65 john piers bishop almoner , tr . to yorke . vacat ann. 3. 1591 66 john coldwell . vacat ann. 2. 1598 67 henry cotton . 1615 68 robert abbot . 1618 69 martin fotherby . 1620 70 robert tonson . 1621 71 john davenant , died bishop of salisbury . 1641. westminser bishops , deans , and abbats . the bishoprick of westminster , as it related to the saxons , was of late erection ; and being so erected was of small continuance : but anciently in the britons time , the church there was the see for the arch-bishop of london . for whereas some had found in some record , that the arch-bishops see was planted in the church of saint peter in cornhill : certaine it is , that that was a mistake for saint peters in thorney . now thorney is the ancient name of that , which is since called westminster : and being an ancient saxon name , was farre more likely to be meant by the first reporter , then that of cornehill , which is meerely moderne . but this arch-bishoprick being brought to nothing by the saxons , sebert the first christned king of essex , erected here a church , where the former was , and dedicated it unto saint peter , as was that before , which standing westward of saint pauls , was by the common people commonly called westminster . this temple of king seberts , being in tract of time growne ruinous , and almost de●erted , edward the confessour againe rebuilt , and liberally endowed , and stored with monkes , by him removed hither from exeter . after king henry 3. taking downe the fabrick of the confessour , erected it as now it standeth ; save that the abbats much enlarged it towards the west , and that king henry 7. built that most goodly chappell at the east end thereof . the abbats here had archiepiscopall jurisdiction within their liberties , and had the keeping of the regalia , and a chiefe service in the coronation of the kings of england , and place in parliament : in all which rights , save that of parliament , the deanes now succeed them for when this monastery ( which at the suppression was valued at 3977. li. ) was dissolved by king henry 8. first he erected here a deanrie , anno 1539. then added to the deane a bishop , anno 1541. thi●leby the bishop , having delapidated all the patrimo ny to his see allotted ; and robbed s. peter to pay paul , as the saying is , was removed to norwich , and so the bishoprick determined ; having continued nine yeeres onely : and middlesex , which was the diocese thereof , was restored to london . queene mary afterwards brought in an abbat , and her foundation being dissolved by queene elizabeth , the made it a collegiate church , consisting of a deane and 12. prebendaries , as it still continues . the bishop , deanes , and abbat of westminster . a ch.     1539 1 gul. benson , the last abbat , and first deane . 1541 2 thomas thirleby , the one , and onely bishop of westminster , tr . to norwich . 1550. 3 richard coxe deane , after bishop of ely. 1553 4 hugh weston deane . 1556 5 john fechnam abbat . 1560 6 gul. bill deane . 1561 7 gabriel goodman . 1601 8 lancelo● andrewes , after bishop of chichester , &c. 1605 9 richard neyle , after bishop of rochester , &c. 1610 10 george monteine , after bishop of lincoln , &c. 1617 11 robert tonsou , after bishop of sarum . 1620 12 john williams , lord keeper bishop of lincoln , and deane of westminster . 1641. winchester , and the bishops there . the bishoprick of winchester ( wintoniensis in the latine ) is of good antiquity ; and never changed the see since the first foundation , as all the rest have done in the south-west parts . the city once the regal seat of the west saxon kings . the cathedrall church first founded and endowed by kingil , or kinegilsus , the first christian k. of west-sax : who gave unto it all the land within seven miles of winchester . kinelwalchin , son unto this kingil , went forwards with his fathers fabricke , ratified his donation , and added to it amongst other things , the manors of alresford , downten , and worthy . the church now standing was begun by bishop walkelin , the worke pursued by his successors , but yet not finished till the time of william de wickham , who built the greatest part of the west end thereof . the chappels on the east end beyond the quire , had their severall founders . the whole church dedicated first unto saint amphibalus , then to saint peter , after unto saint swithin , once bishop here ; and last of all unto the blessed trinity , as it still continues . the bishops here are chancellours to the see of canterbury , and prelates of the most noble order of saint george , called the garter : which office was first vested in them by king edward 3. at the first foundation of that order , and hath continued to them even since . they were reputed anciently to be earles of southampton ; and are so stiled in the new statutes of the garter , made by henry 8. but that now otherwise disposed of . finally what for priviledge , and what for large possessions it was prized so high , that henry of bloys , ( he was the brother of king stephen ) once bishop here , had got a faculty from the pope , to make it an arch bishops see ▪ seven of the suffragans of cante●bury , being allotted thereunto . and william de edington , one of the bishops of this church , being elected unto cante●bury , re●used it , saying , though canterbury had the highest rack , yet winchester had the deep●st manger . the diocese hereof contained of old , the counties of s●rrey , and sou●hampton , and the isle of wight : to which was added in qu. elizabeths time , the islles of iarsey , garnsey , sack , and alderney , once members of the bishoprick of constance in norma●dy . of these the english isle and counties containe 362. parishes , of which , 131. impropriate : the isle of iarsey , 121. and garnsey with the other two , as many more . for government of the english part there are two arch-deachns , the one of winchester ; and the other of surrey : iar●●y is governed by a deane or commissary , according to the manner of the english church ; and garnsey with the isles appendant , follow the fashions of geneva . the bishoprick was anciently valued in the kings books , 3885 li. 3. s. 3. d. ob . q. now at , 2793. li. 4. s. 2. d. qa. q. lesse by a thousand pounds then before it was : which plainely sheweth that there hath beene a great abatement of the old revenue ; the tenth of the clergy amounteth unto , 846. li. 12. d. finally , this see hath yeelded to the church seven saints , and to rome , two cardinals ; to england , one lord chiefe justice , sixe lord chancellours , two lord treasurers , one lord privie seale , one chancellour of the university of oxford , another of the exchequer , and 21. prelates of the garter , whose names are to be found among●t these following . bishops of winton . a. ch.       1 wina .   2 eleutherius . 673 3 s. headda . 704 4 daniel . 744 5 humfridus . 756 6 kinchardus .   7 hathelmardus , tr . to cant.   8 egbardus .   9 dudda .   10 kinebertus .   11 alhmundus .   12 wighthenius .   13 herefridus . 834 14 edmundus . 15 helmstanus . 837 16 s. swithinus . l. chan. 863 17 adhferthus . 871 18 dumbertus . 879 19 denewulfus .   20 s. athelmus , alias bertulfus , 905 21 s. frithstanus . 931 22 brinstanus . 946 23 elpheus calvus .   24 elssinus , alias alf●us . 958 25 brithelmus . 963 26 s. ethelwoldus . 984 27 s. elphegus . 1006 28 kenulphus . 1008 29 s. brithwoldus . 1015 30 elsmus . 1038 31 alwinus . 1043 32 stigandus , tr . to cant. 1070 33 walkelinus . vacat sedes , annos 10. 1107 34 gul. giffard . 1129 35 henricus blesensis . * vacat sedes , annos 3. 1174 36 richard toclivius . 1189 37 godfr . de lucy . 1204 38 petr. de rupibus , l. ch. justice . 1243 39 gul. de ralegh . 1249 40 ethelmarus . vacat sedes , annos 4. 1265 41 john oxon. 1268 42 nicolas eliensis . 1280 43 john de pontisara . 1304 44 henry woodlock . 1316 45 john sandal , chan. of the exch. l. chan. and l. treas . 1320 46 reginald asserius . 1323 47 john stratford , l. chan. l. treas . tr . to cant. 1333 48 adam de orlton . 1345 49 gul. de edingdon , l. treas . and the first prelate of the garter . 1365 50 will. de wickham , l. chan. 1405 51 henry beaufort , card. l. ch. * 1447 52 will. de waniflete , l. ch. 1486 53 peter courtney . * 1493 54 tho. langton . 1502 55 rich. foxe , l. privie seale . 1530 56 tho. wolsey , card. l. chan. 1534 57 stephen gardiner , displaced , 1549. 1550 58 john poynet , who being removed , bishop gardiner was restored , 1553. and made l. ch. 1556 59 john white . 1560 60 robert horne . 1580 61 john watson . 1584 62 thomas cowper . 1595 63 will. wickham . 1595 64 will. daye . 1596 65 tho. bilson . 1617 66 james montagu , deane of the chap. 1618 67 lancel . andrewes , deane of the chap. 1628 68 rich. neyle , tr . to yorke . 1632 69 walt. curle , now bishop of winton , prelate of the garter , and bishop almoner , 1641. worcester , and the bishops there . the bishoprick of worcester , ( wigorniensis in the latine ) was founded by etheldred , king of the mercians , anno 679. and taken out of the diocese of lichfeild , of which first it was . the cathedrall church here , by him also built ; but afterwards repaired , or new built rather by severall bishops of this see. oswald the eighteenth bishop here did first undertake it , and casting out the married priests , first brought in the monkes , anno 96● . but his foundation being ruined by the danes , the church was brought to that perfection wherein now it standeth , by bishop wulstan , about the yeere 1030. since when it ha●h enjoyed a flourishing and faire estate : and ( which is very rare ) can hardly make complaint of any vacancie : save that on the exauctoration of bishop heath , it was assigned over in commendam to master hooper then bishop of gloucester . but it held not long . this diocese containeth in it the county of worce●ter , and part of warwickshire : and therein ●41 . parishes , of which 71. impropriate ▪ for these there is but one arch-deacon , which is called of worcester . valued it is in the kings bookes , 1049. li. 17. s. 3. d. ob . q the clergy paying for their tenth , 228. li. in point of honour it may pleade thus much , that in the flourishing times of the see of canterbury , the bishops here were the peculiar chaplaines of the metropolitans : and by their office to say masse in all assemblies of the clergy , wherein he was present . as also that it hath yeelded to the church foure saints ; five chancellours to the realme of england , and one to normandy ; lord treasurers three , one chancellour to the queen then being ; one l. president of wales , and one vice-president : whom , with the residue of the bishops , take here in order . bishops of worcester . a. ch.     679 1 boselus , first bishop of w●rcest .   2 ostforus . 693 3 s. egwinus . 714 4 wilfridus . 717 5 milredus .   6 weremundus . 778 7 tilherus . 781 8 eathoredus . 799 9 denebertus . 822 10 eadbertus . 844 11 alwinus . 872 12 werefridus . 911 13 wilfreth . 915 14 ethelhunus . 922 15 wilfreth . ii. 929 16 kinewoldus .   17 s. dunstanus , tr . to london . 950 18 s. oswaldus . 971 19 adulfus .   20 wulfstanus .   21 leossius . 1033 22 britteagus . 1038 23 livingus . 1049 24 aldredus . 1060 25 s. wulfstanus . 1097 26 sampson . 1115 27 theolphus . 1125 28 simon , chan. to qu. 〈◊〉 .   29 aluredus .   30 john pagham .   31 rogerus . 1181 32 baldwinus , tr . to cant. 1189 33 gul. de northale . 1191 34 robertus .   35 henricus . 1196 36 john de constantiis . 1200 37 maugerus . 1212 38 walt. grey , l. ch. tr . to yorke . 1216 39 silvester . 1218 40 gul. de bloys . 1237 41 walt. de cantilupe . * 1268 42 nich. de ely , l. chan. translated to wint. 1269 43 godsr . giffard , l. chan. 1302 44 gul. de gainsburgh . 1308 45 walt. reynold , l. chan. and l. treas . tr . to cant. 1313 46 walt. maydestone . 1317 47 thomas cobbam . 1327 48 adam de orlton , tr . to wint. 1333 49 simon de montacute . * 1337 50 tho. hennyhall . 1342 51 wulstan de brandford . 1349 52 joh. thursby , l. ch. tr . to yorke . 1352 53 reginald brian . 1362 54 joh barnet , l. treas . tr . to welles . 1363 55 gul. wittlesey , tr . to cant. 1368 56 gul. de lynne . 1375 57 henry de wakefeild , l. treas . 1395 58 tideman de winchcomb . 1401 59 rich. clifford , tr . to london . 1407 60 tho. peve●ell . 1419 61 phil. morgan , chan. of normandy , tr . to ely. 1426 62 tho. polton . 1435 63 tho. bourchier . , tr . to ely. * 1443 64 john carpenter . 1476 65 john alcock , l. chan. tr . to ely. 1487 66 robert morton . 1497 67 john gigles . 14●9 68 silvester gigles . 1521 69 juliu● de medices , after pope cle●ent the 8. * 1522 70 hieron . de nugutiis , an italian . 1535 71 hugh la●●mer . 1539 72 john bell. 1543 73 nico● ▪ heath , displaced by king edward 6. and the see put over in 〈◊〉 to master hooper bishop of glocester , but restored after by queene mary , 〈…〉 l. pres . of wales , tr . to yorke . 1554 74 richard pates . 1599 75 nich. bullingham . 1576 76 john whi●gift , vice-president of wales , for sir h. sidney , transl . to canterbu●y . 1584 77 edm. freake . 1593 78 rich. fletcher , tr . to london . 1596 79 tho. bilson , tr . to winton . 1597 80 gervase babington . 1610 81 henry parry . 1617 82 john thornborough , now bishop of worcester . 1641. the second part of the catalogve of bishops , containing the svccession of the arch-bishops and bishops of the province of yorke . printed at london . 1641. yorke , and the arch-bishops there . yorke is the ancientest metropolitan see at this time in england , so made at the first generall admittance of the gospel in the time of luctus ; the first arch-bishop by him here established , named sampson , and he who held out last in the britons time , being called tadiacus . we have a constat onely of two more , viz ▪ taurinus , and pyrannus : of all the rest no name , or memory to be found amongst our writers . on the conversion of the saxons , this see was by pope gregory designed to its former honour : which not long after took e●●ect , when as paulinus was made arch-bishop of yo●ke , anno 622. in which designment of the said pope gregory , the metropolitan of yorke , was to have as many suffragan bishops , as he of london ( for there the see was to be placed by pope gregories order ) to either of them twelve apeece , which if they ever were erected in this northerne province , were certainly of meane estate , not able to support the honour ; and consequently , swallowed up by the greater churches of yorke and durham : which two were onely left here a long time together untill carlile first was made a bishopricke by k. henry the first ; as chester afterwards by k. henry 8. but that which was the greatest addition to the province of yorke , was the direct and metropolitan jurisdiction which it claimed and had over all the bishops of scotland , who did from hence receive their con●ecration , and swore canonicall obedience unto this see. in this regard , and that it was conceived that by pope gregories institution , he of the two arch-bishops which was first confirmed , should have precedencie over the other : there grew a great contention there abouts , betweene them , and much recourse was made to the court of rome . at last it was determined in favour of the see of canterbury : yet so that still it might he lawfull to the arch-bishop of yorke to write himselfe prim●te of england ; as the other taking to himselfe the stile of primate of all england , as it still continueth . the next misfortune which besell the see and metropolitan of yorke , was that the bishops of scotland did in fine withdraw themselves from his obedience , and had arch-bishops of their owne . this hapned whilest george nevill was arch-bishop here , who was advanced unto this see , an. 1466. not above ninescore yeeres agoe : and then upon pretence , that in consideration of the many and most deadly warres betweene both realmes , the metropolitan of yorke could beare no fatherly affection to his sonnes of scotland . however the archbishop still retaines his●wonted place , having precedencie before all dukes , not being of the royall bloud ; as also before all the great officers of state , except the lord chancellour . for the cathedrall church of yorke , it was first built , or begun rather , by king edwyn , king of the north-humbers , anno 627. but finished by king oswald who succeeded him , and dedicated to saint peter . but this of their foundation being destroyed by fire , and by the fury of the danes , at the first entrance of the normans : that which now standeth was erected in the place thereof by arch-bishop thomas ( the 25. of this see ; ) and after , by degrees , adorned and beautified by his successors . the diocese hereto belonging , containeth in it the two counties of yorke and nottingham : and in them both 581 parishes , of which 336. are impropriations . for government whereof , it hath foure arch-deacons , viz. of yorke , cleveland , east-riding , and nottingham . this bishoprick was at the first rated in the kings bookes , 2035. li. 14. s. 6. d. but now , since the great diminution made by king henry 8. 1609. li. 19. s. 2. d. and for the clergy of the same , their tenth amounteth unto 1113. li. 17. s. 9. d. ob . q. to draw unto an end , this see hath yeelded to the church eight saints , to the church of rome three ca●dinals , unto the realme of england twelve ll. chancellours , and two ll. treasurers , and to the north of england two lord presidents . the bishops write themselves in latine , eboraunses , of eborum , and are these that follow . arch-bishops of yorke . a. ch.     622 1 s. paulinus , died 644. vacat annos 20. 666 2 cedda .   3 wilfridus .   4 s. bosa . 687 5 s. john of beverley . 718 6 s. wilfridus . ii. 731 7 s. egber●us . 767 8 adelbertus . 781 9 eanbaldus . 797 10 eanbaldus . ii.   11 wolsius . 832 12 wimundus . 854 13 wil●erus . 897 14 ethelbaldus .   15 lodewardus .   16 wulf●tanus . 955 17 oskitellus . 972 18 athelwaldus . 972 19 s. oswaldus . 993 20 aldulphus . 1003 21 wulfstanus . ii. 1023 22 alfricus . 1050 23 kinsius . 1061 24 aldredus . 1070 25 thomas . i. 1101 26 girardus . 1109 27 thomas . ii. 1119 28 thurstan . 1141 29 henry murdac . 1153 30 s. gulielmus . 1154 31 rogerus . vacat sedes annos 10. 1191 32 geofr . plantagenet , l. c●an . * vacat sedes annos 4. 1217 33 walter grey , l. chan. 1256 34 s. s●wa●u● . 1258 35 ●od●●ey ●e kinton . 1265 36 walter ●iffard , l. chan. 1279 37 gul. wickwane . 1285 38 john romanus . 1288 39 henry de newark . 1299 40 tho. corbridge . 1305 41 gul. de greenfeild , l. chan. 1317 42 gul. de melton , l. ch. & l. treas . 1342 43 gul. zouche , l. treas . * 1352 44 john thursby , l. chan. 1373 45 alexander nevill . 1388 46 tho arundel . l. chan. tr . to cant. * 1396 47 robert waldby . 1397 48 richard scrope . * 1406 49 henry bowet . 1425 50 john kemp , l. chan. tr . to cant. 1453 51 gul. boothe . 1466 52 george nevill , l. chan. * 1477 53 lawrence boothe 1480 54 thomas rotheram , l. chan. 1501 55 thomas savage . 1508 56 christopher bambridge , card. 1515 57 thomas wolsey , card. l. chan. 1531 58 edward lee. 1544 59 robert holgate , lord pres. of the north. 1553 60 nicolas heath , l. chan. 1560 61 tho. young , l. pres. of the north. 1570 62 edm. grindall . tr . to cant. 1576 63 edwyn sandys . 1588 64 john piers. 1594 65 matthew hutton . 1606 66 tobias matthewes . 1627 67 george monteine . 1628 68 sam. harsnet . 1631 69 richard neyle , who died octob. 31. 1640. carlile , and the bishops there . the most of that which doth now make the diocese of carl●●e , was in the infancie of the english church , as i conceive it , part of the diocese of whit herne , or casa candida , in the province of galloway : now reckoned as a part of scotland , but then a parcell of the kingdome of the north-humbers . but when the scots had mastred all those countries beyond tweede and solway , the towne of carlile , with the county of cumberland , in the which it standeth , were severed from that diocese : carlile , with 15. miles about it being bestowed upon s. cutbert , bishop of lindisfarne , by egfride , king of the north-humbers , anno 679 ; the residue of the countty submitting to the jurisdiction of the arch-deacon of richmond , then being subordinate the see of yorke . thus it contin●ed till the yeere 1133. what time a bishops see was here first established : and by that meanes , another suffragan bishop ●dded to that metropolitan . the cathedrall church he●e had beene founded not long before , by walter , deputy of these parts for king william rufus ; and by him dedicated to the honour of the blessed virgin but finished and endowed by king henry the first , out of that wealth which the said walter had amassed for that very purpose , by the perswasion of athulphus or athelwolfus , whom aft●rwards hee made the first bishop there . the diocese containes the county of westmorland , and most part of cumberland ; and therein onely 93. parishes , but those ( as all the northerne are ) exceeding large ; and of them 18. are impropriate . arch-deacon here was never any , the jurisdiction being claimed by him of richmo●d , as anciently to him belonging . the bishoprick is valued in the kings bookes 530 li. 4. s. 11. d. ob . the clergies tenth amounting onely unto 161. li. 1 s. 7. d. ob . and yet this little see , and so farre remote , hath yeelde● to this kingdome one chancellour , and two ll. treasurers , besides three chancellours unto the university of cambridge . bishops of carlile . a. ch.     1133 1 athelwolsus , or athelwardus .   2 bernardus died anno 1186. vacat sedes ann. 32. 1218 3 hugo . 1223 4 walt. mau-clerke , l. treas . 1247 5 silvester de everdon , l. chan. 1255 6 tho. vipont . * 1258 7 rob. chause . 1280 8 rad de ireton . 1288 9 john de halton . 1318 10 john de rosse . 1332 11 john de kirkby . 1353 12 gilbert de welton . 1363 13 tho. de appleby . 1396 14 robert reade . 1397 15 tho. merkes . 1400 16 gul. strickland . 1419 17 roger whelpdale . 1423 18 will. barrowe . 1430 19 marm. lumley , l. ch and ch. ca. * 1450 20 nith . close , tr . to lich. 1452 21 gul. percy , chan. of camb. * 1362 22 john kingscore . 1464 23 richard scrope . * 1468 24 edw. storey ch. of camb. 1478 25 rich. dunelmensis . 1496 26 gul. sever , tr . to durham . 1503 27 roger leibourne . 1504 28 john penny. 1520 29 john kite . 1537 30 robert aldrich . 1356 31 owen ogilthorpe . 1561 32 john best . 1570 33 rich. barnes , tr . to durham . 1577 34 john mey . 1598 35 henry robinson . 1616 36 robert snowdon . 1620 37 rich. milborne . 1624 38 rich. senhouse . 1628 39 francis white , tr . to norwich . 1629 40 barnabas potter , now bishop of carlile . 1641. chester , and the bishops there . the bishoprick of chester , as it is here to be considered , is of new erection , one of those founded by king henry 8. whereof we spake before when we were in bristol . anci●ntly it was in the diocese of lichfeild , one of the bishops of which church , removing his see hither , anno 1075. as to the more remarkable and noted place ; occasioned that his successours many times were called bishops of chester . but being severed from that diocese by king henry 8. it was erected into an episcopall see , made up of the revenue and jurisdiction of the two arch-deaconries of richmond and chester : of which the first had jurisdiction over richmondshire , and part of cumberland ; the other over lanca-shire and chest-shire . it was at first ●oundation ordained to be of the province of canterbury ; and that in the letters patents of the ●oundation of the same ▪ 33. h. 8. but the king taking into minde , as well the long distance of the same from the see of canterbury , as also that the arch bishop of canterbury had a sufficient number of suffragans before , whereas the arch-bishop of yorke had but onely two : did in the ianuary following , by act of parliament , annex the same for ever to the province of yorke . 33. h. 8. c. 31. the cathedrall church here was once a monastery , founded by leofricus , once an officiary count , in these parts ; and by him dedicated to saint wereberg : but repaired , beautified , endowed , and stored with monkes by h●gh , sirnamed lupus , the first earle of chester . these monkes being ejected by king hen●● 8. he brought into their place a deane and prebendaries : and made it of a monastery , a see episcopall : whose diocese containeth , in the counties before remembred , 256 ▪ parishes , of which 101. are impropriations . the bishoprick is valued in the kings bookes , 42● . li. 1. s. 8. d. and for a tenth unto the crowne , the clergy pay the yeerely summe of 435. s. 12. the bishops of chester . a. ch.     1541 1 john bird , removed hither from bangor . 1556 2 john cotes . 1556 3 cuthbert scott . 1561 4 william downeham . 1579 5 william chadderton , tr . to lincoln . 1595 6 hugh biller . 1597 7 ri●h . vaughan , tr . to london . 1604 8 george lloyde . 1616 9 tho. morton , tr . to lichfeild . 1618 10 john bridgeman , now bishop of chester . 1641. durham , and the bishops there . the bishops see now fixed in durham , was first placed in lind●●arne , a little iland on the sea-coast of northumberland : and there placed by the first bishops of this northerne region , because of the primacie and solitude thereof , which made it thought more fit and proper for devotion . but both the bishop and his monkes being driven from thence , by the mercilesse furie of the danes , ( who here raged extremely ) about the yeere of christ , 800. they wandred up and downe from place to place for 200. yeeres , not finding any place where they might repose themselves in safety , till in the end they sate them downe in durham , anno 990. or there abouts , where it hath ever since continued . the church here dedicated to saint cuthbert , the 6. bishop of lindisfarne , a man of speciall renowne for piety ; whose reliques the said bishops carried up and downe with them in all their wandrings : till at the last they were deposited in this church , as in a place of rest and safety . the founder of it , that aldwinus , by whom the see was fi●st here setled . but his foundation being taken downe by william de carileso , about the first entrance of the nor●ans : that which now standeth was begun by him in the place thereof ; and finished by ranulphus flambard , his next successour . somewhat hath since beene added to it by bishop fernham , and thomas weiscomb pri●ur h●reof , about the yeere 1242. nor did saint cu●hbert onely give name unto the church , but also unto all that countrey , which now we call the bishopricke of durham , and anciently was called saint cuthberts patrimony . for upon 〈◊〉 , and his successours in that see , was all the countrey betweene tois and tine , conferred by alfred king of england : which his donation was confirmed , and in part increased by his successours , edward , athelstan , and c●ute the dane . so fortified it was with priviledges , and royall grants , that at the comming in of the norman conquerer , the bishop was reputed for a county palatine : and did engrave upon his seal an armed chivalier , holding a naked sword in one hand , and in the other the bishops armes . nay it was once adjudged in law , that the bishop was to have all forfeitures & escheates within the liberties , ut rex habet extra , as the king of england had without . but these immunities and priviledges were in part impaired by the statute of king henry 8. 27. h. 8. c. 25. and altogether with the lands and whole rights thereof , conferred upon the crowne by act of parliament , in the last yeere of the ●aigne of king edward 6. but in the second parliam . of qu. maries reigne , that act was totally repealed , and a reviver made of the said late dissolved bishop● ▪ and all the royalties therof , 1. mar. c. 6. as for the ecclesiasticall jurisdiction , the diocese thereof containeth the county of northumberland , and that which properly and distinctly is entituled the bishopricke of durham : each of the which hath an arch-deacon of its owne ; in both , 135. parishes , whereof 87. impropriate : the clergy of the which pay for their tenth unto the crowne , 385. li. 5. s. 6. d. ob . the bishopricke being valued in the first fruit office , 1821. li. 1. s. 5. d. qa . the bishops of this church doe write them selves in latine dunelmenses ; of which five have beene dignified with the name of saints ; one with the patriarchate of hierusalem , and one with the title of a cardinall in the church of rome . there have been also of them , one lord chiefe justice , five ll. chancellours , three ll. treasurers , one principall secretary of estate , one chancellour of the university of oxford , and two masters of the rolls . which wee will now lay downe in order , even the whole succession , beginning with those who had their see and habitation in the isle of lindisfarne . bishops of lindisfarne . a. ch.     637 1 s. ardanus . 651 2 s. finanus . 661 3 colmannus . 664 4 tuda . 665 5 s. ea●a . 684 6 s. cuthbertus . 687 7 s. eadbertus . 698 8 egbertus . 721 9 ethelwoldus . 738 10 kenulfus . 781 11 higbaldus . 802 12 egbertus . ii 819 13 egfridus . 845 14 eanbertus . 854 15 eardulfus .   16 cuthardus . 915 17 tilredus . 927 18 witherdus . 944 19 uhtredus .   20 sexhelmus .   21 aldredus . 968 22 alfius , alias elfinus . 990 23 aldwinus , who first setled the see at durham , from whence both hee and his successors have beene ●●●led bishops of durham . 1020 24 eadmundus . 1048 25 eadredus . 1049 26 elgelricus .   27 egelwinus . 1071 28 walcher , earle of northu●b . 1080 29 gul. de carileso , l. ch. justice vacat sedes annos 4. 1099 30 ranulfus flamhard , l. treas . 1128 31 galfredus rufus , l. chan. 1143 32 gul. de s. barbara . 1154 33 hugh pudsey , e. of northomb . * 1197 34 philip de pictavia . 1217 35 rich. de marisco . 1228 36 rich. poore . 1241 37 nich. de fernham . 1250 38 walt. de kirkham . 1260 39 rob. stitchell . 1274 40 rob. de insula . 1283 41 ant. beck , patriark of hierusalem . 1311 42 rich. kellowe . 1317 43 ludowick beaumont . * 1333 44 rich. de bury , l. ch and l. treas . 1345 45 tho. hatfeild , princ . secretary . 1381 46 john fordham , l. tr. tr . to ●●ly . 1388 47 walt. ski●lawe . 1406 48 tho. langley , card. l. ch. 1438 49 rob. nevill . * 1457 50 lawrence boothe , l. chan. 1476 51 gul. dudley . * 1383 52 john sherwood . 1494 53 rich. foxe , tr . to winton . 1502 54 gul. sevier , chan. of oxford . 1507 55 chr. bambridge , master of the rolls tr . to yorke . 1508 56 tho. ruthall . 1523 57 tho. wolsey , then 〈…〉 of yorke . 1530 58 cuthbert tunstall 〈…〉 rolls . 1360 59 james pilking 1577 60 rich. 〈…〉 vacat sedes annos 2. 1589 61 ma●●h . hu●●on , tr . to yorke . 1594 62 tobias matthew , tr . to yorke . 1606 63 gul. james . 1617 64 rich. neyle , tr . to winton . 1628 65 john howson . 1632 66 tho. morton , now bishop of durham . anno 1641. hexam , and the bishops there . the bishoprick of hexam , hagul●●ad , or hextold , was founded in the infancie of the saxon church . the seate thereof called by the old la●ines axel●dunum , by be●a hagulstadiensis ; by us now hexam : the first who had the name of bishop there being s. eata , the fifth bishop of lindisfarne . ten bishops it enjoyed successively , and then by reason of the spoyle and ravin of the danes , it discontinued : the jurisdiction of it being added to the see of yorke from this time forwards , hexamshire was held to be a fee of that arch-bishoprick , and had reputation of a county palatine : but taken from that see by k. h. 8. ( of which consult the statute , 37. h. 8. c. 16 ) and by authority of parliament united to the county of northumb. now for the bishops of this hexam , they are these that follow . a. ch.     655 1 s. eata , bishop of lindisfarne . 685 2 s. john of beverley , tr . to yorke . 709 3 s. acca . 734 4 frithebertus . 769 5 alhmundus .   6 tilherus . 789 7 ethelbertus . 787 8 heandredus . 809 9 eanbertus .   10 tidferthus , the last bish ▪ of hexam . man , and the bishops there . touching the isle of man , we have spoke already in our first table . the bishoprick here of was first erected by pope gregory , of that name the fourth , and for its diocese had this isle , and all the hebrides , or westerne ilands a●ent scotland . the bishop hath his seate in russin , or casletowne , as now we call it ; and in the latine is entituled sodo●ensis but wh●n this isle was made a member of the english empire , the westerne isles withdrew themselves from the obedience of their bishop , and had a bishop of their own , whom they entitle also sodorensis , but commonly , bishop of the isles . the patronage of the bishoprick , was given together with the iland , by k. h. 4. unto the stanleys , who still keep it : and on the vacancie thereof they nominate their designed bishop unto the king , who having given his royall assent , dismisseth him to the arch-bishop of yorke for his consecration . this is perhaps the reason why the bish. of man , is no lord of parliament , because not at the kings disposing : none having suffrage in that house , but those that hold immediately of the king himselfe ; nor is it reason that they should . whether the bishop of this isle was anciently a su●●ragan to the see of yorke , i can hardly say . i finde ordered in the act of parliament , 33. h. 8. c. 31. wherein the bishoprick of chester was made a member of that province ; that that of man should be reputed of it also : which may perhaps perswade one , that it was otherwise before . the diocese hereof containeth onely 17 parishes , of the which five are market townes ; the rest villages , the people of them all , being very conformable unto the rites and ceremonies of the church of england . now for the bishops of this see , i can meete with few : and therefore . shall desire those who are more conversant in the businesse of this isle , to supply this want , and make a perfect catalogue of the bishops of man , out of the fragments here ensuing . bishops of man.   ✚ ✚ ✚ a. ch.     michael , bishop of man. 1203 nicolas . 1217 reginald . 1257 richard , bishop of man , dedicated the church of s. maries in russin .   ✚ ✚ ✚   he●●● mann , who died , anno 1556 ,   john merick .   george lloyd , removed to chester , an.   1604.   forster .   parry , now bishop of man , 1641. the third table , or , a catalogve of all the dukes , marquesses , and earles , which have been in england since the first entrance of the normans . together with the honourary offices which they , or any of 〈◊〉 have enjoyed in their severall times . the preface to the ensuing catalogne of dukes , marquesses , and earles . the kings of england as they are the fountaine of all authority and jurisdiction in their owne dominions : so are they the foun●aine also of all civill honour ; which they dispose of and dispence , as to them seemes best . king● have so much of god in them , whose deputies they are on earth , as many times where they finde merit and desert , to raise the poore out of the dust , that they may set them with the princes , even with the princes of their people . now for their honourary attributes , which by our kings have beene conferred upon their subjects ; the ancientest are those of earle and baron : the kings of england , of the norman race , not giving unto any the stile of duke , untill that edw. the third , created his sonne edward the black prince , duke of cornwall , anno 1336. as for the title of marquesse , that was made honourary by king richard the second , who first created his great favourite , robert de vere , then earle of oxford , marquesse of dublyn : as afterwards he made his cosen german , iohn de bausort , one of the sonnes of iohn of gaunt , by katherine swinfort , then earle of somerset , the first marquesse dorset . but that of earles hath beene as ancient in this kingdome , as the line of normandy . william the conqu●r●r advancing many to that honour at his first en●●ance on this state , both to reward them for their service , and oblige them to him . of which ranke were the earles of arund●ll , chester , cornwall , kent , oxford , with some others , anno 1067. being the next yeere after he attained the kingdome . which with the other earles of ancient creation , were commonly endowed de tertio denario placitorum comitatus , with the third penny of the pleas of that county wherof they were earles the other two parts being accompted by the sheriffe ( the vice-comes ) into the ▪ exchequer , for the kings use . and though we mean to go no lower in our following catalogue , then the stile of earle ; yet by the way we may take notice , that viscount here became an honourary title in the time of k. h. 6. who in the 18. of his raigne advanced sir iohn beaum●nt unto that honour , and gave him place above all barons , as richard 2. gave his new marquesses precedencie before all earles . now at the ennobling of deserving persons into these high dignities , it is , and hath beene of later times the custome of the kings of england , to give unto them some set pension for the support of their estate : which is now generally brought unto this proportion , that viscounts have a fee of 20. markes , earles of 20. li. marquesses of 40. markes , and dukes of 40. li. assigned unto them , out of some part or other of the kings revenues . which bounty i observe not to have beene used in the creation of a ba●on , excepting onely that it pleased his sacred majesty now being , when hee created the righ● honourable montjoy blount ( now earle of newport ) l. montjoy of thurleston , in the county of darby , to give unto him and his heires , a fee of 20. markes per annum ▪ which i note here , by reason of the singularity and rarenesse of it . nor have the kings of england beene ●●customed to frame new honourary titles , for the advancement of those men which are dear unto them : but to preferre them before others of the same honourary ranke and order ▪ henry the sixth bearing especiall affection unto henry beauchamp , earle of warwick , first made him the prime earle of england , or praecomes angliae . and when he after made him duke of warwick , hee ordered him to have precedencie , next after the duke of norfolke , and before the duke of buckingham . the ●ame king henry making his halfe-brother edmund of h●dham , earle of richmond , gave him the place above all earles , and next of all unto the dukes . thus did king iames of blessed memory conferre upon the earle of n●●tingham , ( on his surrendry of the place and office of lord admirall ) the seniority and precedencie of the mowbraies , ( out of which house he was extracted ) during the life of the said earle . and thus his sacred majesty now being , when he created the right honourable the vis●ount walling ford , earle of banbury , gave him precedencie before all earles , created since his majesties happy comming to the crowne . and in the patent of creation of the right honourable the lord montjoy , 3. can there was a clause of precedencie inserted , before all the barons of that yeere , by which hee forthwith had the place both of the lord craven , and the lord falconbridge , though created before him . so absolute a power have our english monarchs in the dispensing of their honours , and ma●shalling those persons whom they have advanced to these high dignities . as for the female sex , they have no reason to complaine that they have beene neglected or omitted in the distributing of these honourary rewards and dignities : some of them having had the happinesse to taste the bounty of the prince in the highest honours . for thus the lady margaret d● brotherton , daughter of thomas of brotherton , earle of norfolke , was by king richard the second , made dutchesse of norfolke , anno 1398. and thus the lady anne bullen , daughter of thomas earle of wil●s , was by king henry 8 made marchionesse of pembroke , anno 1532 ▪ as was the lady margaret , daughter of georg● d. of clarence , created countesse of salisbury by the same king henry ; anno 1514 ▪ thus also the lady elizabeth finch , being by king iames created viscountesse m●idstone , was by our gracious sove●a●gne lord now being , created countesse of winchelsey , anno 1628. the dignity entailed on the heires males of her body hegotten . and finally , thus was the lady elizabeth richardson , wife of sir thomas richardson lord chiefe justice , created baronesse cramont , by his majesty now re●gning not to say any thing of the lady mary fane baronesse despencer , or of the lady margaret lennard , ba●onesse dacres of the south ; being restitutions rather then creations . now for the method which i am to use in this following catalogue , it shall be after the most naturall of the alphabet ; as being of most ease and speediest use in finding what we have a minde to looke for . and in the same i shall lay downe the just successions of and in each severall title , ( premising first a brief description of the plac● denominating ) together with the yeere of christs nativity , wherein each severall duke , earle , or marquesse either succeeded in the place , or was advanced unto the same . i also shall report in briefe , on what pretext of bloud such and such men attained those honours which they have enjoyed ; if any neernesse or descent of bloud was pretended by them : and where a family breakes off , and a new comes in , that i have marked with a few crosses thus . ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ i have observed also who and how many of each title have managed any of the great and honourary offices in the common-wealth : as those of lord high steward , lord high chamberlaine , lord ●●●●table , lord admirall , lord chancellour , lord treasurer , lord chiefe justice , or lord privie seale ; together with the lord steward , and lord chamberlaine of hi● majesties houshold , and the ll. presidents of yorke and wales , and chancellours or either o● the universities . such of them as have had the honour to be admitted into the order of the garter , i have noted with this littl●●sterisme * . and all this i have done 〈…〉 much brevity as was possible ▪ 〈◊〉 nothing in this place but a nomenc●●tor ▪ a 〈◊〉 and naked catalogue of names and ho●ours , for the more easie understanding of o●r english history , which was the matter which first moved me to compose 〈◊〉 tables . as for the order of precedencie of the men themselves , that are thus dignified and advanced , as now they stand ; that is to be accounted from and by the seniority of their creations in their severall series : save that a course was tooke in parliament , 31. h. 8. c. 10. for placing those above the rest , which were entrusted with the greatest offices of state and court. as , viz. that of the lord chancellour , or lord keeper , lord treasurer , lord president , lord privie seale , lord constable , lord high chamberlaine , lord admirall , lord marshall , together with the lord steward , and lord chamberlaine of his majesties houshold . which manner of precedencie being it is personall , as unto the men , and hath no reference to their place and titl●● , 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 with the times , according as they 〈…〉 and favour with their 〈◊〉 and soveraign● . but for the places which have given 〈◊〉 and title to dukes , marquesses , or earles ; and for the men that have beene honoured with those titles , they are th●se that follow : taking along such lords , and viscounts , as have , ●eene dignified with and by the selfe-same titles , and no more but those . saint albans . s. albans is the fairest and the goodliest town in the county of hertford . it arose out of the ruines of old verulamium , a towne more strong and ancient ●arre , ( as being the strongest fort of all the britaines , in the time of caesar ) though not hai●e so beautifull . it took both name , original , & grandour , from alban , once a citizen of verulamium : who suffering martyrdome for the faith of christ , during the persecution of dioc●●●ian ; had first a faire church built in memoriall of him , in that very place : or if you will , ecclesia mirandi operis , atque ejus martyrio condigna , in the authors language . ( bedae hist. lib. 1. c. 7 ) . but this church and towne of verulam being both destroyed , in those fierce warres , which were betweene the saxons and the britains , offa the great and puissant k. of the mercians , built not farre off from the old seate , a monastery to the honour of saint alban ; endowed it with a great revenue , and many goodly priviledges , as well ecclesiasticall as temporall . this in short time , improved the monastery into a towne : the abbat in regard of his great possession● , and jurisdiction correspondent , drawing no ordinary con●●●ence of all sorts of people , pope adrian , borne at a●bats-langley , about five miles off , added this honour to the place , that as saint alban was the first martyr of the engllsh nation : so should the abbat have precedencie of all english abbats . this house was valued at the suppression , at 2510. li. 6. s. 1. d. per annum ▪ and was surrendred into the hands of sir thomas pope , doctor petre , and master cavendish , for the use of k. h. 8. decemb. 5. anno 1639. the abby church being a stately and magnificent fabrick is le●t standing still ▪ townesmen purchasing the same at the price of 400. li. and turning it into a parish church , as it now remaines . for the great battels fought about this towne , and in the very streets thereof , between the two contending houses of york and lancaster ; i leave you to the common chronicles . the persons which it hath ennobled , are these that follow . viscounts and earles . 1620 1 francis bacon , l. verulam , and l. chan. of england , created visc. s. albans , jan. 18. 1628 2 rich. de burgh , e. of clan-ricard in the kingd . of irel ▪ creat . e. of s. albans , aug. 23 1636 3 vlike de burgh , e of s. albans , and clan-ricard , now living . 1641. anglesey . anglesey is an iland of north-wales , situate over against carna●vonshire , from which it is divided by a narrow straight : called in the latines mona , by the britains mon ; but being conquered by the english , obtained the name of anglesey , as one would say , the iland of the english-men . it is exceeding fruitfull both in corne and cattell , from whence the welch are liberally stored with both : and therefore it is said proverbially , mon mam cymbri , that anglesey is the mother of wales . it was the ancient seate of the druides , and brought with no small difficulty under the command of the romans , by iulius agricola ▪ the people fighting here , ut pro aris & focis , for their religion and their gods . it containeth in it 74. parishes , the principall wherof is named beau●arish , being at this time the head towne of ●he shire : and aberfraw , now an obscure and ●omely place , but anciently the royall seate ●f the kings of north-wales . the persons which it hath given title to are onely these . earles of anglesey . ●624 1 ch●●stop . villiers , brother of geo. d. of buck. created f. of angles . sept. 24. ●630 2 charles villiers , now living . 1641. arundell is the name of an ancient towne and castle in the county of sussex , pleasantly seated neare the river of arun : whence it was called arundale , or a●untina va●●●● , in some latine authors . the castle of great fame and strength ; but farre more famous for the lords and earles therof , then the strength or beauty . a place in this farre different from the rest of england : the title of the earle of arundell , being annexed unto the castle , honour , and signeurie of arundell ; and going along with the possession of the same : as was adjudged in that great controversie , between sir iohn fitz-alan , being in possession of the castle , against iohn-mowbray● . of norfolke , being the right heire in the nearest degree . the earles here of in regard that by ancient charter they had had the ●ertium denarium , or the second penny of the plees of sussex ; and that they sometimes had their residence and abode in chichester , as the chiefe city of that county : are in some old charters ●alled earles of sussex ; and in some others , earles of chichester . that which was theirs most properly , hath stayed longest by them ▪ and is of late increased by the addition of th● titles and dignities of the baronies of fitz-alan , clun , oswaldstree , and mal●raver● with divers other lands , tenements , and here ditaments , annexed unto the title , name , an● dignity o● earle of arundell , by speciall act 〈◊〉 parliam . an. 3. car. r. the noble personage which have borne this title , are these that fol●low . earles of arundell . 1067 1 rog. montgomery . 1091 2 hugh de montgomery . 1098 3 rob. de montgomery , devested of this honour , an. 1102.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚   4 william de albeney . 1189 5 will. de albeney . 1196 6 will. de albeney . 1199 7 will. de albeney . 1224 8 hugh de albeney , died 1243.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1289 9 rich. fitz-alan , descended of the lady isabell , sister of hugh de albeney . 1301 10 edm. fitz-alan . 1326 11 rich. fitz-alan . * 1375 12 rich. fitz-alan , l. tr. & l. adm. 1397 13 tho. fitz-alan , l. tr. died 1416. * 1434 14 john fitz-alan , l. mal●ravers . * 1439 15 will. fitz-alan . * 1487 16 tho. fitz-alan . 1524 17 will. fitz-alan . * 1543 18 henry fitz-alan , ch. of oxford . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1579 19 philip howard , son of tho. d. of norfolk , & the la. mary fitz-alan . 1604 20 tho. howard , now e. of arund . and surry , and e. marshall of engl. anno 1641. avmerle , or a●bemarle , is the name of a small town and territory in the dukedome of normandy . it belonged heretofore to stephen , the sonne of odo , des●●nded from the earles of champagne : whom william the conquerer made earle of albema●le , as being the sonne of his halfe sister by the mothers side ; and gave unto him for the further maintenance of his estate , the territory of holder●●sse in yorkeshire . this title hee enjoyed , and left the same to his posterity , who enjoyed it also . and when his issue failed , the kings of england honoured others with it ; though they had long since lost their estate in normandy : the dukes and earles whereof , take thus in order . dukes and earles of aumerle . 1095 1 stephen , sonne of odo , earle of bloys . 1128 2 will. le gros.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1182 3 will. de magnaville , e. of essex . hawys daught . of will. le gros.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1191 4 will. de fortibus . 1196 5 will. de fortibus . 1244 6 will. de fortibus . 1258 7 tho. de fortibus .     ✚ ✚ ✚   8 tho. of woodstock , d. of gloc. *     ✚ ✚ ✚   ✚ ✚ ✚ 1378 9 edw. plantagenet , d. l. adm. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1412 10 tho. d. of clarence , e. *     ✚ ✚ ✚   11 rich. beauchamp , e. of warwick , created earle of aumerle , by king henry . 6. banbury is a towne in oxfordshire , the second both for wealth and beauty in all that county : most famous in our common chronicles , for the great battell there-by fought betweene the two great houses of lancaster and yorke : in which the victory fell to the eare of warwick , then chie●e of the lancastrian party , who forthwith tooke king edward prisoner ( of that name the fourth ) now forlorne and hopelesse . it was not long since much wasted by a devouring fire , but very well repaired and beautified ; and still is as it hath beene anciently , cas●o conficiendo notissimum , as camden notes it , a towne much famed for the best and most delicate sort of cheeses . it never had but one earle , and he 1626 1 william , l. knollys , visc. wallingford , created e of banbury , aug. 18. and died , anno 1631. bathe , is the fairest , and the principall city in all somersetshire , seated in a very low plaine , and round about environed with hils very high and steepe : from whence come many rivulets and fresh-water springs , to the great commodity of the people . but that which brings most wealth unto the place , are not the waters from without , but those waters which are within ; sending up from them much thinne vapours , and a strong sent withall ; which springs are very medicinable unto many maladies . three of these springs there are in all , the waters of the which being received in large and fitting receptacles for the publick use ; they call the kings bath , the crosse bath , and the hot bath . from bathing in these waters , it was called the bath ; and thence batho●ia in the latine : unlesse perhaps you rather thinke that bathing tooke its hint from hence ; and that this place tooke name from badon , or mons bado●icus , not far off , as certainely caer badon , the old britain● called it . the greeks and latines gave it names according to the nature and condition of the waters , or the baths there being : it being called by ptolomee , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hot waters ; by an●oninus , ●quae solis the waters of the sunne , on ●he selfe same reason . of the ●aire church here we have spoke already in our description of the bishoprick : which being ruined amongst other monasteries in the time of k. h. 8. hath of late times beene , as it were reedified , but certainely repaired , and beautified , and made 〈◊〉 for use , by the great costs of bishop montague , a late bishop there . earle it had none untill the time of h. 7. since it hath had divers ; whose names and times we now present you . earles of bathe . 1486 1 philibert de chandew .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1536 2 john bourchier , lord fitz-wa●in , created e. of bathe , by h. 8. july . 10. 1539 3 john bourchier . 1561 4 william bourchier .   5 edward bourchier . 1638 6 henry bourchier , now e. of bathe , anno 1641. bedford is one of those three counties which anciently were possessed by the cattieuc●lani ▪ the countrey indifferently well provided of all necessaries , both for foode and fewell . it taketh denomination from the chiefe town thereof , called bedford , or in the old saxon , bedanford , i.e. beds , or innes at the ford. a towne conveniently seated on both sides of a river which runneth through it ; well built , and populous , as having in it no lesse then five churches . but the chiefe commendations which it hath , is for the antiquity and strength thereof ; as being a towne of no small note and consequence , anno 572. when as cuthwulf the saxon vanquished the britain● in the open feild , and became master of the countrey . the castle here being counted very strong , and almost impregnable , brought no small mischeife to the place , being a peece much aimed at by all those in the former times , which either pretended to the crown , or bate armes against it . but all the fortifications being demolished in the reigne of k. h. 3. the people have since lived in quiet : and the chiefe reputation of it now consisteth in this , that it hath given the title of dukes and earles to these persons following , being in their severall ages dukes and earles of bedford . 1365 1 ingelram de cow●y , e. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1414 2 john , son of henry 4. l. adm. const. and regent of fr. d. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1470 3 george nevill , d     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1485 4 jasp. de hatfeild , e. of pembroke , halfe brother to king h. 6. d. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1549 5 john l. russell , l. pr. and l. adm. created e of bedford by edw. 6. * 1554 6 francis russell . 1585 7 edward russell . 1628 8 francis russell , now earle , 1641. berkley is the name of a noble and an ancient family , dispersed in many places of this kingdome . they tooke this name from berkley cas●●● ▪ situate neare the severne bankes in the county o● gloucester , of which they were made barons by king h. 2. whereas before that time they were called fitz-harding ; as being descended from one robert fitz-harding of the bloud 〈◊〉 of the danes . which robert fitz-harding by the name of robertus f●●ius ha●dingi 〈◊〉 reg●● dacae , is joyned as a co-founder with 〈◊〉 h 2 of the cathedrall church of bristoll , ( but then a monastery onely ) as doth appeare by an inscription over the gate of the said church . william l. berkley of this house , being descended from the mowbraies , who amongst other titles were earles of nottingham , was in the yeere 1482. created visc. berkley by king richard 3. afterwards earle of nottingham , and earle marshall by king h. 7. and finally , created marqu . berkley by the same king h. a●no 1509. but dying without issue all those titles ended with him : that of the lord berkley still continuing in the line collaterall . visc. and marqu . berkley . 1509 1 will. l. berkley , created viscount berkley , by king r. 3. was created marqu . berkley by k. h. 7. mort sans issue . berkshire was anciently in the saxon times called berro●schire : which name the learned antiquary master camden out of asserius menevensis deriveth from berroc , a certaine forrest , where grew good store of box , to which the people used in the time of danger to retire themselves . i lieth conveniently all along the bankes of the river of thames , which serves them well for the conveyance of their corne , fewell , and other commodities to the city of london : and containeth in it 140. parishes , of the which 12. are market townes ; the chiefe , reading , and abington . but that which gives most lustre to it , is the royall palace and castle of windsore , the principall seate and residence of the most honourable order of the garter : and indeed the most magnificent mansion of the kings of england . camden in his description of this county doth conclude it thus . thus much of barksh ▪ which ( as yet ) hath given the title of earle to no man. and true it was when he so said it . but since it hath bestowed that title on these : earles of berks. 1620 1 francis l. morrys , crea . e of berkshire , jan. 28. mort sans issue masle .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1625 2. tho. howard , visc. andover , created e. of berksh . feb. 7. now living . anno 1641. bridgewater . bridgewater , but more properly and in the old records burgh-walter , that is , walters burgh , so called of walter de duaco , who came in with the normans , & had faire lands given him in these parts by the conquerour ; is a town of somerset-shire . a great and populous town it is , descending by the chaworths to the dutchy of lancaster : and was by hen. 8. the heire of the lancastrian family , adorned with the tlitle of earledome ; which hee bestowed on sir henry d●wbeney , son of that giles dawbeney , who came in with king hen. 7. from britaine in france ; and was by him made his l. chamberlaine , and knight of the garter . which henry dying without issue , this title lying long a sleep , was afterward awakened in another family , ordeined to be a seminary for the earles of bridgewater . a. ch.     1538 1 h●nry l. d●wbeney created earle of bridgewater . 30. h. 8.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1617 2 iohn egerton visc. brackly , created ● . of bridgewater , may 15 l. president of wal●s now living , anno 1641. bristol . bristol the third in ranke of the cities of england , is situate on the rivers of f●ome and avon , not far off from the entrance of the severne into the oc●an . in that regard it stands commodiously for trade and trafick , the ships with full sayle comming up into the bosome of the city ; and verily the cityzens there are wealthy merchants , and trade into the most part of the world with good faith and fortune . part of it stands in somersetsh . and part in gloc●ster shire , though they account themselves of neither : being a county in it selfe incorporate , and independent upon any other than its own officers . a town exceeding populous , and exceeding cleanly : there being sinks and sewers made under ground , for the conveyance of all filth and nastinesse , which by them passeth into the rivers . the castle of it once was a place of strength , and in it k. stephen was kept a prisoner by maud the empresse : but now not able to defend it selfe from the ruines of time . churches it hath in it , and thereto adjoyning , to the number of 18 , or thereabouts , whereof the fairest and most memorable , next to the cathedrall ( of which we have already spoken in our description of the bishoprick , is s. ma●ies of radcliffe , without the wals , esteemed to be the fairest parish church in england , yet however it hath long been a town of fame ; it is not full an hundred yeares , since it was made a bishops see : but lesse since it became a title of nobility ; viz. not till king iames conferred the honour of earle of bristol , on 1622 iohn l. digby of sherborne , cr . e. of bristol , sept. 15. iac 20. now living 1641. bvckingham . bvckingham is another of the three counties , which were once the seate of the cat●ieuchlani : and is supposed to take that name from bucken , that is , beech-trees , with which the countrey is well stored . it is generally a very rich and plentifull soyle , equally good for corne , and grazing , and lieth al along on the banke of the thames , confronting bark-shire . it conteines in it , 185 parishes , eleven of the which are market townes ; and amongst them the chiefe in name is buckingham , the head town of the county . a town of no great note , when it was at the best ; but more considerable heretofore , than at the present ; being once fortified with a castle , now hardly to bee found in the very ruines , as also with a rampire and certaine sconces , built for defence thereof against the danes , now more invisible than the castle . the greatest honour it can chalenge , is that it hath given titles of the highest honour , to many a brave and worthy personage , as well of the bloud royall as of other families : who by the kings of england have been hence denominated . dukes , marq. and earles of buckingham .   1 walter giffard , e.   2 walter giffard .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1164 3 richard strongbow earle of pembroke .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1377 4 thom. of woodstock , d. of glouc. l constab●e . * 1397 5 humfrey plantagene● ; died 1400.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1444 6 humfrey stafford , d.l. constable , descended from a daughter of thom of woodstock . * 1460 7 henry stafford d.l. consta. * 1468 8 edw. stafford d.l. consta. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1616 9 george visc . villiers , or earle of buck. 14 iac. ian. 5. marq. buck. iac. 17. ian. 10. and finally d. of buck. 21. iac. may , 1623. lord admirall and ch. camb. * 162● 10 geo. villiers , now duke , 1641. bvllingbroke . bvlling broke is an antient town in lincolnshire , heretofore belonging to the lacies e. of lincolne : and by the marriage with alice daughter and heire of hen. lacy e. of lincolne , to thomas e. of lancaster ; this with the residue of the lands of lincolne , became united and incorporated with those of lancaster . the greatest fame thereof ; was for a castle built there by william of romara , e. of lincoln : but much more famous in succeeding times , in that it was the birth place of k. h. 4. surnamed ( according to the fashion of that age ) of bullingbroke . ) it hath beene almost eversince his time , one of the honours ( as we call it ) of the crown of england : but never made an honorarie title unto any family , untill k iames conferred it on sr. oliver s. iohns who possibly might affect to bee thence denominated , as fetching his descent from the lad●e margaret beauchamp , grand-mother to king henry the 7. the heire of the lancastrian family . earle of bullingbroke . 1624 1 oliver l. s. iohn of bletho , created e. of bullingbroke , iac. 22. dec. 28. nowliving , 1641. cambridge . cambridge-shire was once part of the pos●essions of the old iceni , and takes that name from cambridge the chiefe town thereof ; and that derived either from the old town called camb●ritum , which antoninus mentions in this tract , or else , as other have conceived , from a bridge built on the river cam , on whose banks it ●tandeth . a town that hath beene long since dedicated unto learning : here being a publique schoole erected an. 630 or thereabouts , by sebert king of the east angles , and that ad morem cantuariorum , as it is in beda . but schooles and studies being overthrown by the danish fury , it lay long forlorne and discontinued , till it beganne to flourish under the calmer times of the normans government , that is to say , about the middle of the reign of k. h. the first , the 3 k ▪ of the norman kings . nor was it long before , that of a famous schoole , or schola illustris , as we phrase it now , it did become as famous an vniversity : robert de remington affirming , that in the reigne of edward the 1 it was made an vniversity such as oxford is , by the court of rome . there are now 16 colleges and hals endowed , replenished with such store of students , that unlesse it be in her sister oxford , the like are not found in all europe . but we must leave this speculation of it as an academy ; and look upon it next as a title of honour : in which consideration we shall find it no lesse fortunate , than we did before , in these earles of cambridge .   1 william de meschines , son to randolph e of chester .     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1342 2 iohn de ✚ hainal● uncle to qu. philip , wife of edw. 3.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1349 3 william marq ▪ of iuliers .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1362 4 edm. of langley d. of york . * 1401 5 edw. plantagenet d. of york . * 1414 6 rich. de conisburgh , 2 son of edm. of langley .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1619 7 iames marq. hamilton cr . earle of cambridge , 17. iac. iun. 15. lord steward . * 1625 8 iames marq. hamilton , master of the horse , and now e. of cambridge , 1641 * carlile . carlile is the principall city in the county of cumb●rland , situate in the furthest part of the kingdome toward scotland , on the westerne marches : fortified with a citadel and sundry bulwarks for a defence against the scots , as standing in a place of most advantage for the securing of that border . it flourishedheretofore in the time of the romans , and was by them called lugu-vallum , as standing on the trench , or vallum picticum , the picts wall , as our stories call it ; made by the romans to defend their province from the picts and scots . so that it seemes of old to have been the boundary betweene the nations : though the northumbers after , in the saxon times , enlarged their empire to the banks of dunb●itton fryth . from whence , or when it fi●st was called carl●le , our authors say not ; but by that name , and in the latin by ca●l●olum , it h●th long been known . the danes consumed it into ashes , and it lay unrepaired in rubbish , til the time of willi●m rufus , who rebuilt it . since which by the accession of the episcopall see , erected there by h. the first , who succeeded rufus ; it came to be of wealth and cre●it : and hath given the title of an earldome to two severall families , wh●ch being of a different quality , have in as different times beene earles of carlile . earles of carlile . 1321 1 andrew de harcla .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1622 2 iames hay , visc. doncaster , created e. of carlile , 18. iac. sept. 17 ▪ 1636 3 iames hay now e. of carl●le , 1641. carnarvon . carnarvon is a shire of north-wales , butting upon the irish seas , and pa●ted f●om the isle of anglesey by a streit , or fretum . a mountainous and rocky countrey : but the defects thereof are plentifully supplyed by the isle adjoyning . it tooke name from carnarvon , the chiefe town there of : heretofore very strongly wailed , and for●ified with a faire castle . edward the 2. k. of england was here borne ; and hence according to the custome of those times , entituled edward of carnarvon . for the occasion of it i refer you to the common chronicles . the princes of wales had in this place their chancery and exchequet for all north-wales : which was no small improvement to it . earle it had never any till the present age , in which our soveraigne lord now reigning conferred that title on 1628 1 rob. l. dormer of wing ▪ created e. of carnarvon 4. car. aug. 2. now living , anno 164● . chester . chester is the principall city of cheshire , antiently part of the cornavii . the country not so plentifull in corne , as in fish and cattell ; but fruitfull in no one thing more than the production of ancient gentry ; of which it can still shew more antient families than any one county in the kingdome . the city built in form of a quadrant , fouresquare , is enclosed with a wall that taketh up more than 2 miles in compasse , and hath 11 parishes ; the houses being very faire , and well built , and having all along in the chief streets before the doors , a kind of galleri● ; through which a man may walk dry from one end to the other . seated it is upon the river of dee , on which , to shew his splendor and magnificen●e , k. edgar was once rowed by 7 petie ●ings of the scots and britans , to the great joy of the beholders . the earles hereof were anciently accounted palatines . william the conquerour giving this earldome to hugh lupus , a noble norman ; to be holden as fre●ly by his sword , as the king himselfe held england by his own . and though it be now , and hath long beene incorporated into the patrimony regall ; yet it still holds the rights and privileges of a county palatine : and hath for the administration thereof , a chamberlaine , a iustice for the common● plees of the crown , two barons of the exchequer , a sheriffe , an eschetour and other officers ; to the great case of all the countryin expedition of their businesse . the palatines hereof , before it came into the crown , are these here following , earles of chester . 1067 1 hugh sirnamed lupus . 1103 2 richard son of hugh .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1120 3 randolph de meschines . 1129 4 randolph de gernoniis . 1153 5 hugh kivilioc , son of randolph . 1181 6 randol . blondeville son of hugh .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1233 7 iohn le scot , sonne to the lady maud eldest sister of randolph .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1245 8 edw. eldest son of k ▪ h. 3.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1255 9 simon de montford , earle of leicester , after whose death chesler was laid unto the crowne ; and hath beene since united to the principality of wales : so that who list to see the residue of the earles of chester , shall find them in the former catalogue of the princes of wales , which have beene of the royall bloud of england . chesterfeild . chesterfield is a town of darbysh . commonly called chester●eild in scardale . a towne , which by the ruines of it doth seem to be of good antiquity ; and therefore likely to have had some more ancient name , which seemes to be now buried in those ruines ; or by continuance of time , quite worne out and lost . it glorieth much of being made a free burrough , in the time of k. iohn ; and for the battaile fought hard by between k. henry the 3 , and his rebellious barons , in which rob. de ferrers , earle of darby , being taken prisoner , lost his estate and dignity , though not his life . but that in which it hath most cause to glory , is that from an ordinary market town , it is become the seate of an earldome , the stile and title of earle of chesterfeild , being conferred by our dread soveraigne now being , upon 1628 1. philip lord stanhop of shelford , or earle of chesterfeild . 4 car. aug. 4 and is now living , anno 1640. clare & clarence . clare is an ancient town on the edge of suffolk , where it joyneth to essex , seated not far off from the banks of the river stoure by which the counties are divided . a town that hath not any thing whereof to boast ( the castle and the collegiall church being both in rubbish ) but that it gave both name and title unto that noble family , si●named de clare ; who in their times were earles of hartford , clare and gloucester . but the male issue of these clares being failed , lio●el the 3 sonne of k. edw. the 3. ( having married the sole daughter and heire of william de burgh , e. of vlster in ireland , begotten on the body of elizabeth , one of the sisters and coheires of gilbert de clare , who died anno 1291 , the last e. of clare and glocester of that name ) was made duke of clarence ; the termination of the title , being only changed , not the place denominating . and from the change thus made ( which i note only by the way ) the second king of armes is surnamed clarentieux ; as apperteining formerly to the dukes of clarence : whom with the earles preceding and succeeding , take in order thus ; dukes and earles of clarence . 1139 1 gilbert e. of clare . 1152 2 roger de clare . 1174 3 richard de clare , after whose death , this title lay long drowned in that of gloucester .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1362 4 lionel , d. of clarence , 2 son to k. edw. the 3.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1411 5 tho. d. of clarence , 2 son to k. h. the 4. l. admirall .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1461 6 geo. d. of clarence , brother to k. edw. the 4 ▪ l constable .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1624 7 iohn hollys lord houghton , cr . e. of clare , com. suffolk , 22. iac. nov. 2. 1638 8 iohn hollys now earle of clare , 1641. cleveland . cleveland , is a wapon-take or hundred in the northriding of york-shire , taking that name as camden tels us , of the steepe banks which we call clyffes , which run all along the side thereof , and at the foot of which the countrey spreadeth into a plaine ful of fertile fields . it seemeth to be a place of a faire extent , as being one of those 3 arch-deaconries into which the whole county is divided ; and doth give the title of an earle , to 1625 1 thomas l. wentworth created e. of cleveland , 1 car. feb. 7. who doth still enjoy it , an. 1641. cornwall . cornwall is the most western part of england , and takes denomination from the shape and fashion of it , being like an horne ; which the old britans called kern , as now the welch call the countrey kernaw . the people of it are a remainder generally of the antient britans ; whose language , for much of it , they do still retaine : although by intermixture of the saxons , not easie to be understood by the welch themselves . the countrey very mountainous , as wales is also ; and therefore of the lesse accesse to the conquering saxons : but the sea-costs well beautified with goodly townes , able to set to sea , a good fleet of shippes . and for the mountaines , they doe recompence their defects without , by their abundant wealth within ; as being very full of mines of tinne , which yeelds great profit to the countrey , and furnisheth ▪ most parts of christendome with that commodity . the earles of cornwall heretofore gave great immunities and liberties to those that laboured in these mines ; and when this earldome fell again unto the crown , edw. the 3 erected a l. warden of the stannaries , to have the government thereof . and at that time of its reverting to the crown , the l. k. edw. gave it to his son , surnamed the black prince ; since the which time , the eldest sons of the kings of england , whether it be by birth , or by the death of their elder brothers , are ipso facto dukes of cornwall , without any creation , and are at age to sue their livery , how young soever . whom with their predecessors we shall marshall thus , dukes , and earles of cornwall .   1 robert of morton , e of cornwal . 1087 2 wil. de morton .     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1140 3 reginald fitz-harry , base son unto k. hen. the first .     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚   4 iohn second son of k. h. the 2. 1227 5 rich. plantagenet , 2 son of k. iohn k. of the romans . 1272 6 edw. plantagenet , son of rich.     ✚ ✚ ✚   7 piers gaveston .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1336 8 iohn of eltham , 2 son of edw. 2. 1336 9 edw. the black prince . 1357 10 rich of burdea●x eldest son of the black prince . * 1399 11 hen. of monmouth , eldest son of h. the 4. * 1422 12 h of windsore , eld . son of h. 5. * 1453 13 edwof west . eld . son of h. 6. * 1470 14 edwof west . eld . son of ●dw . 4. * 1483 15 edw. of west eld . son of rich. 3. * 1487 16 arthur eld . son of k. h. 7. * 1503 17 hen. 2 son of k. h. 7. * 1537 18 edw. eld ▪ son of k h 8. * 1602 19 hen eld son of k iomes . * 1612 20 char 2 son of k ▪ iames. * 1630 21 charles eld . son of our dread sover●●●n● now being , an. 1641. * coventry . coventry is a faire and goodly city , within the limits of warw●ck shire , but now within the county of warwi●k ; heretofore called so from the convent , by which and the translating of the see epi●copal● from lichf●ild hither , it grew exceeding rich and wealthy . and though it now hath neither convent , nor episcopall see ( more than in ruine and in title ) it still continues its old wealth ; being the best city of mart and trade in all these parts ; commodiously built and seated , and more than ordinarily frequented for an inland towne . it belonged once unto the ●arles of chester , and afterward by many meane conveyances to iohn of eltham earle of cornwall ; and so this place became annexed unto that earldome . nor lost it any thing , but rather gained much by that annexation : henry the 6. laying unto it certaine the adjacent villages : and making it with them a county corporate , cleerely distinct from that of warwick . it is now one of the honourary titles of the duke of buckingham , george marquesse of buckingham , being created duke of bukingham , and earle of coven●y , by letters patents bearing date in may , 21 iac. and for the remnant of his life he , and since him , his son enjoyed both the title of dukes of buckingham , and earles of coventry . 1623 1 georges villiers , marquesse of buckingham . 1628 2 george villiers , now duke of buckingham , and earle of coventry , 1641. cvmberland . cvmberland is the furthest country of england , on the northwest side , antiently part of the brigantes . it is called cumbria in the latine , and cumbrorum ●erra ▪ as being inhabited by the true and naturall britans , ( who in their own language are cald kymri ) when as the residue of these northern parts had yeelded to the conquering saxon. a countrey , for the situation of it , neither unpleasant nor unprofitable ; the valleis yeelding corne sufficiently , the mountaines breeding great flocks of sheep , the meeres replenished with all kind of wild foule , and the adjoyning sea affording a variety of excellent fish . it conteineth in it not above 58 parish churches , but very many chappels of ease , as big and large as any parish . of these there are 9 market townes , whereof the chiefe ( next carlile ) for dispatch of busines , is that of perith , wherein they hold their sessions and assises . late was it ere this county became an earldome : viz. when as k. h. the 8. bestowed the stile and dignity of earle of cumberland , upon henry lord clyfford , whose issue still continue earles of cumberland . 1525 1 henry l clifford created earle of cumber . 17 of k. h. 8. iun. 18. * 1542 2 henry clifford . 1569 3 george clifford . 1605 4 francis clifford . 1640 5 henry clifford , now earle of cumberland , 1641. danby . danby is an ancient castle in the hundred or wapontake of cleveland , in the north-riding of york-shire , seated neare to a large parke , and a goodly chase of the same name . it belonged anciently unto the l. latimer , and was sold with other lands belonging to that family unto ralph nevill earle of westmerland , who forth with gave the same to his son sir george nevil , whom k. h. the 6. not long after summoned to the parliament by the name of lord latimer . his issue male failing in qu elizabeths times , and the estate being divided betweene his two daughters and coheires , this castle with the lands adjoyning fell unto the share of his daughter mary , who being married to sir iohn danvers of wil●sh . was by him mother of s hen. danvers , created by k. iames l. danvers of dan●eser , and by our sovereigne now being the first e of danby . 1629 1 henry l. danvers of dantesey , cr . e. of danby , feb. 7. 10 car. now living , anno 1641. darby . darbyshire is a part of the coritani , and tooke that name of darby , the chief town thereof . a town conveniently seated on the river of derwent , beautified with five parish churches , a goodly stone bridg , and a large market-place : and no lesse famous for good ale , than banbury for cakes and che●se . finally , the town is well traded , and of good resort ; and is the usuall place of holding sessions and assisses for all the county . the countrey of the east and south parts well manured and fruitfull ; yeelding a very spacious and pleasing prospect , both out of tutbury castle , and that of boulsover . the west part ▪ which they call the peak , is not so pleasing to the eye , though possible as profitable to the purse ; being rich in iron , lead , and coales , which it yeelds abundantly ; and grazing multitudes of sheep on the mountaine tops . it containes in it 106 parish churches , of the which 8 be market●towns ; the chiefe thereof being darby , as before is said : the catalogue of whose earls now followeth . earles of darby . 1199 1 william de ferrars . 1247 2 wil. de ferrars . 1254 3 wil. de ferrars . 4 robert de ferrars .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1131 5 edm ▪ of lancaster , 2 sonne to king henry the 3. after which time , this title was continued in the house of lancaster . 1338 6 henry of lancaster son of henry earle of lancaster , cr . earle of darby in his fathers life , 11. edw. 3. * 1386 7 henry of bullingbroke sonne of iohn of gaunt , duke of lancaster , cr . earle of darby in his fathers life , 9 ric. 2. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1485 8 thomas lord stanley , cr . earle of darby by king henry the 7. l. constable . * 1503 9 tho. stanley . 1521 10 edward stanley . * 1572 11 henry stanley . * 1593 12 ferdin . stanley . 1594 13 william stanl●● , earle of darby , 1641. * denbigh . denbigh-shire is one of the shires of northwales , heretofore appertaining to the ordevices . the countrey very mounteinous , and as barren generally ; though by the paines and industry of the husband-man , it be made in some parts very fruitfull . the chiefe towne denbigh is well seated on the banks of the river istrad , which from thence runneth into the cluyd , the fairest river of this countrey . a town well peopled and inhabited , especially since it became the head of the county ; which was not till the 27 of hen. the 8. what time the five new shires were added to the rest in wales , of which this was one . but before that it was the head town of the barony of denbigh , being conceived to be one of the goodliest territories in all england , as having more gentlemen holding thereof in fee , and by service , than any other . lords it hath had good store , and of severall families ; but none of them a parliamentary peere ( in reference hereunto ) till these later times . of late it hath given title both of lord and earle to two severall families ; viz. to these lords and earles of denbigh . 1564 1 rob. dudley , created b. of denbigh , & e. of leicester , eliz. 6. sept. 29.   ✚ ✚ ✚ 1622 2 william visc. feilding , created earle of denbigh , 20. iac. sept. 14 master of the wardrobe , and now living , 1641. devonshire . devonshire is the most western countrey of all england , excepting cornwall , together with the which it made up the possession of the old danmon i. it is called devi●an by the cornish britans , that is , the country of low-valleies , because the people dwel for the most part beneath in vales . from thence the saxons had their devenshire ; and the latin●s borrow their devonia a countrey harborous on either side with commodious havens , enriched with inexhaustable mines of tinne , beautified with fresh and pleasant meadows , shaded again in other parts with greater store of woods , and very well replenished with towns and villages ; whereof it reckoneth in the whole 394 parishes , and therein 37 market townes of good note and trade . the countrey of it selfe not so fit for corne , but that the toyle and travaile of the plou●●●an supplies that defect , and addes unto it both by cost and industry what it wants by nature . earles it hath had of severall families ; of which the rivers and the courtneys held the title long : as now the cavendishes may doe , who have possession of it in the third generation . but how long any of them held it , and who they were that interloped , wee shall best see , by looking over the particular names and families of the earles of devonshire .   1 ric. de rivers or riparis . 1106 2 baldwin de rivers . 1154 3 ric. de rivers . 1161 4 baldw. de rivers .   5 rich. de rivers .   6 wil. de rivers . 1216 7 baldw. de rivers . 1245 8 baldw. de rivers .     ✚ ✚ ✚   9 wil. de fortibus , husband of isabel , sister of the last baldw.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1335 10 hugh courtney , next heire of isabel de fortibus . 1340 11 hugh courtney . 1378 12 edw. courtney . 1418 13 hugh courtney . 1421 14 tho. courtney . 1461 15 hen. courtney .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1469 16 humfrey l. stafford of southwick , made e. of devon. by k. edw. the 4.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1469 17 iohn courtney , slaine at tewksbury . 1487 18 edw. courtney . * 1509 19 wil. courtney . 1525 20 henry courtney , marquesse of exeter . * 1553 21 edw. courtney , died 1556.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1603 22 charles blount lord montjoy , created e. of devon , by k. iames.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1618 23 wil. lord cavendish of hardwick created e , of devonshire , 10 iac. aug. 20. 24 wil. cavendish .   25 wil. cavendish , now e. of devonshire , 1641. dorset . the county of dorset , abbutteth upon that of devonshire , having the sea up on the south , and somersetshire upon the north. it was inhabited hertofore by the durotriges , and was all the land they did inhabit . the aire good , and of an healthfull constitution ; the soyle fat and rich in many places , and where in that it is defective ; it yelds good store of woods and pasture . the country generally very pleasant in her situation , as being no lesse beholding to the inner land rivers , than the bordering ocean ; the one yeelding merchandise from far , the other the commodity of conveyance to most parts thereof ; and both of them good store of fish . it conteines in it 248 parishes , and in them 18 market-townes , the chiefe of which in name is dorcester , as that which doth denominate the whole country , and tooke that name it selfe from the durotriges , whom before i spake of ; unlesse you rather think that it comes from dur●ium , which ptolomy placeth in this tract . a towne not famous for much els , than that it hath long been , and doth still continue the honorary title of these noble personages , which have beene severally marquesses and earles of dorset .   1 osmund de sees , e.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1397 2 iohn beaufort , marquesse , lord admirall . *   3 thomas beaufort , earle duke of exeter , lord chancellor and l. adm. * 1444 4 edmund beaufort earle and marquesse . * 1454 5 hen. beaufort , marq. 1462 6 edm. beaufort , marq.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1474 7 tho. grey , marq. * 1494 8 tho. grey , marq. * 1530 9 hen. grey , marq. d. of suff. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1603 10 tho. s●ckvill l. buckhurst , created e. of dorset . 10. iac. march 13 l. tres. and chanc. of oxf. * 1608 11 rob. sackvill 1609 12 rich. sackvill . 1625 13 edw. sackvill , now e. and lord chamberlain unto the queen 1641. dover . dover , is a well knowne and famous town , both for the haven and the castle , for the security and renown of which and the convenient si●uation of it over against france ; it hath long beene accounted one of the cinque ports . seated it is in the very south-east point of kent , from whence a man may easily discerne the coast of f●ance as being but 34 miles distant . the ●own stands in the bottom between the clyffes , very warme and safe ; the castle mounted up aloft , both to comand and to defend it a place indeed of such impregnable strength , and so great importance , that philip king of france , when l●wys his son being called in hither by the factious barons against their soveraigne l. king iohn , had gotten many townes and forts , but yet could not get the mastery of this peece , despised all , saying , verily my son hath not one foot of land in england , if he be not master of dover castle . it now gives title of an earle to 1627 3 henry cary , visc. rochfort , created e of dover 3 car. mart. 8 , and is now living , 1641. essex . essex was anciently perteining to the east saxons , and made a chiefe part of their kingdome ; hence it took the name . before it did belong to the tr●nobantes . a countrey large in compasse , fruitfull of corne and other sorts of graine , plentifull in saffron wel wooded and wel watred also ; & that not only by the sea , and the river of thams , which washeth all one side thereof , but with faire , and fresh , and fishful rivers , which do afford no smal commodity unto it . the greatest want it hath is of sweet fresh aire ; those parts thereof which lye along upon the thames , ( which they call the hundreds ) being very aguish and unhealthy . this county conteineth in it 415 parish churches , whereof 21 are market townes , of which colchester is farre the richest , fairest and best traded . yet in regard it standeth in the extremity of all the countrey , the sessions and assisses are held most commonly at chelmesford , which is almost in the middle of it . but it is time to leave the countrey , and come unto the earles of essex .   1 geofrey de mandeville .   2 geofrey de mand. 1166 3 wil. de mand. 1199 4 geof . fitz-piers , l. ch. iustice. 1213 5 geof . de mand. 1216 6 wil. de mand.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1228 7 humfrey de bohun , e of hereford who married maud , sister and heire of wil. de mand. 1234 8 humf. de bohun , l. con.   9 humf. de bohun , l.c. 1298 10 humf. de bohun , l.c. 1322 11 iohn de bohun , l.c. 1336 12 humf. de bohun . 1361 13 humf. de boh. l.c. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1461 14 h visc. bourchier , l. ch. & l. t. * 1483 15 hen. visc. bourchier , *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1539 16 tho. l. cromwell . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1543 17 w.l. parre , marq. of northamp . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1572 18 walt. d'evreux , l ferrars , descended by the bourchiers from the bohuns . * 1576 19 rob. d'evreux , master of the horse b. marsh ▪ and ch. of cam. * 1604 20 rob. d'evreux , now e. of essex , 1641. exeter . exeter is now the chiefe city of devonshire as heretofore of the danmonii , by ptolomy called isca , and so by antonine , but that the copies are mistaken , in which , instead of isca danmoniorum , we read isca dunmoriorum . a faire and goodly town it is , seated upon the easterne banke of the river ex , from whence it had the name of excester . in circuit it conteines within the wals about a mile and a halfe , besides the suburbs which every way stretch out to a great length ; and in that circuit there are numbred 15 parish churches , besides the cathedrall . the whole enviro●ed with deep ditches , and very strong wals having many towrs therin very well disposed , and yet the animosity of the inhabitants is a greater strength unto it , than the wals or ditch●s ; whereof they have given notable proofe , in these later times . but for that i refer you to the common chronicles ; and now present you with the dukes , marq. and earles of exeter . 1389 1 iohn holland , e of huntingdon , made d. of exeter by k. rich. 2. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1416 2 tho. beaufort , e of dorser , l ch. and adm. made d. of exeter by k. h. the 5.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1444 3 iohn holland , d.l. adm. * 1474 4 hen. holland , d.l. adm.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1525 5 hen. courtney , e. of devonsh . cr . marq. of exeter by k. h ▪ the 8. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1605 6 tho cecill l. burleigh , cr . e. of exeter , 3 iac. may 4. * 1623 7 wil cecill , 1639. * 1640 8 david cecill , now e. of exeter ▪ 1641. flint . f●intshire , is one of the old shires of northwales , and though augmented somewhat by k. h. the 8. what time the march-ground was appropriated unto severall shires ( for which see 37. h. c. 26. ) yet it is still the lest of all , as not containing above 2● parishes , and of them only one market town . the countrey not so mounteinous as the rest of wales ; exceedingly well furnished both with corne for men , and grasse for cattell ; of which it hath good store for number , though for bulke but litle . it tooke denomination from the castle of flint , begun by h. 2 , but finished by k. edw 1 , for a goodfence against the welch . this country hath been always held to bee an appendant on that of chester , and doth ad gladium cestriae pertinere , as the old books ●ay : but both united now unto the principality of wales . edward of windsore eldest son of k. edw. 2 was summoned by his father to the parliament by the name of e. of chester , and flint ; since which it hath continued as a title in the princes of wales ; and there you shall be sure to find who were earles of flint . glocester . glocester●shire , antiently was part of the possessions of the dobuni . a fruitful and a pleasant countrey , being honoured with a full course of the river of severne , and the originall or fountaine of the river of thames . that part thereof which is beyond the se●erne is overspread with woods ; all which included in one name , make the forrest of deane . that part that butteth upon oxfordshire , is swelled up with hils , called the cotswold hils ; but these even covered , as it were with sheep , which yeelds a wooll of notable finenes●e , hardly inferiour to the best of england . between those two is seated a most fruitfull vale , fruitfull to admiration , of all kindes of graine , and heretofore of vine● and vineyards ; the want of which is now supplied by a drink made of apples , called syder , which here they make in great abundance . in this so fruitfull vale stands the city of glocester , denominating all the countrey ; and taking name from the old glevum , herein placed by antonine ; for gleaucester the saxons stiled it . a fine and neate city i assure you t is , daintily seated on the severne ; with a large keye or wharse on the bankes thereof , very commodious to the merchandise and trade of the place ▪ the streets are generally faire , and the town well built . and which addes no smal lustre to it , richard the 3 , once duke hereof , by laying unto it two of the adjacent hundreds made it a county of it selfe ; calling it the county of the city of glocester . a city finally it is , as worthy to denominate so rich a countrey , as is the countrey to give title to those eminent persons , that in their severall times and ages , have been the dukes and earles of glocester . 1100 1 rob. base son of k. h. 1. e. 1147 2 william .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1188 3 iohn sans terre , son to k ▪ h. the 2 who married isabel , daughter and coheire of wil. e. of gloce.     ✚ ✚ ✚   4 geof . de mandeville e. of essex , 2. husband of isabel.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1216 5 abmeric de evreux , son of mabell , another coheire of e. wil.     ✚ ✚ ✚   6 gilbert the clare , son of amice another of the coheires . 1230 7 rich. de clare . 1262 8 gilb. de clare , who married ioane of acres , daughter to k. edw. 1.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1297 9 ralph . de monte hermer , 2 husband of ioane of acres .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1314 10 gilb. de clare , son of gilb. and ioane .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1337 11 hugh l. audley , married isabell sister and coheire of gilb.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1347 12 tho. of woodstock , d. of gloc. & l. constable . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1398 13 tho. l. spencer , grand son of eleanor coheire of gilb e.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1414 14 humf. son to k. h. 4. d *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1461 15 rich. plantagenet brother to k. edw. 4 l ▪ adm. and const. d. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1640 16 henry 3 son of our dread soveraigne l. k. charles ; declared by his royall father d. of gloces . and so now entituled , an. 164● but not yet created . hartford . hartford-shire is another of those countries , which formerly were inhabited by the cattreuch●ani . a country , as it is described by camden , rich in corne fields pastures , meadowes , woods , groves , and cleere riverets ; and which for ancient townes may compare with any of its neighbours ; there being no one shire in england , that can shew more places of antiquity , in so small a compasse . it conteines in it but 120 parishes , and of them 18 are market townes . the shire-towne , which doth also give denomination unto all the country is hertford , seated on the banke of the river lea , by beda called herudford , which some interpret the red ford , and others some the ford of herts . a towne not much frequented , nor greatly inhabited , as overtopped by ware , which enjoyeth the through-fare ; and by s. albans , which enjoyeth the trade of all the countrey . the greatest commendation of it is in the antiquity ; and that it hath been longest ● title of honour , of any other in this country : the family of the clares and seymours having been long enobled with the stile of earles of hartford . 1139 1 gilbert de clare . 1152 2 rog. de clare . 1174 3 rich. de clare .   4 gilb. de clare . 1230 5 rich. de clare . 1262 6 gilb. de clare . 1314 7 gilb. de clare .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1537 8 edw. seymour , visc. beauchamp , created earle of hartford , by king henry the 8 , after d. of somerset , died 1551. * 1558 9 edw. seymour . 1621 10 wil. seymour , now e. of he●●ford 1641. hereford . hereford-shire , was in times past inhabited by the silures . a countrey , which besides that it is right pleasant , is for yeelding of corne , and feeding of cattell , in all places most fruitfull , and therewith passing well furnished with all things necessary for mans life ; insomuch that it would scorne to come hehind any one county in england , the people using it for a byword , that for three w.w.w. that is , wheat , wooll , and water , it yeeldeth to no shire in all the kingdome . the name is taketh from hereford , the chief town thereof , which rose out of the ruines of old ariconium , here placed by antonine ; the tract and foot-steps of which name , it doth still retaine . the town is seated very pleasantly upon the banks of the river wye , in the middle of most flourishing meadowes , and no lesse plentifull corne fields : and for defence thereof , had once a strong and stately castle , which now time hath ruined . the normans became masters of the place , assoone almost as they had made their entrance into england , and unto them the castle oweth its original ; and 2 yeares after the said conquest , it was made an earldom , and hath since given the title of dukes , earles , and viscounts . 1068 1 wil fitz-osborn . e. of heref. 1072 2 rog. de breteville .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1141 3 miles de glocest. l. co● .   4 rog. l. co. 1154 5 w●lter l. co.   6 henry l. c.   7 makel , l. c.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1199 8 henry de bohun , grand-child of marg. daughter of , ● . miles , l.c. 1220 9 humf de bohun , l.c. 1275 10 hum. de bohun , l.c. 1298 11 hum. de bohun , l.c. 1322 12 iohn de bohun , l.c. 1336 13 hum. de bohun , l.c. 1361 14 hum. de bohun , l.c. died 1372. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1397 15 hen. of bullingbrooke , d. of hereford , married mary daug . and coheire of e. hum. after the extinction of his line , the staffords did sometimes use the stile of hereford . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1547 16 walt. d'evreux , visc. descended by the bourchiers from the boh. * 1558 17 walt. d'evreux , visc. e. of essex . * 1576 18 rob. d'evreux , visc. e of essex . * 1604 19 rob. d'evreux , now visc. heref ▪ and e. of essex , 1641. holdernesse . holdernesse is the name of a large promontory or head-land , in the east-riding of york-shire , lying on the south-east of the river of hull : p●olomy seems to call it ocellum , a certaine monk cavam deiram , or the hollow country of the dei●ians ; expressing in those words the new name of holdernesse . william the conquerour gave this territory to stephen the son of od● of champaig●e lord of aumerie , in normandy ; whose issue did continue lords hereof , whiles any issue of that house continued . but that line being extinct in aveline , first wife of edmund earle of lancaster , the earldome of aub●rmarle , and the honour of holdernesse were seised into the kings hands , for default of heires . it hath lien dormant since , till these later days ; in which k. iames ▪ bestowed this title , on 1620 1 iohn ramsey , visc. hadi●gton in scotland , cr . e. of holdernesse and bar. of kingston upon thames , 18 iac. dec. 30. mort sans issue . holland . holland is one of the 3 parts of lincol●sh ▪ situate on the south-west co●ner of it , in the fennes and marishes . the ground surrounded much with waters , heretofore yeelded very small store of graine , but great plenty of grasse , and plentifully furnished ●oth with fish and fowle . but now upon the dreyning of this fenny country , they begi● to plough it , and sowe the same 〈◊〉 ploughed with rape-seed , which yeelds a very great increase , and is become a rich ●ommo●ity . the town of most antiq●ity is crowland , heretofore famous for the abby , valued at the supression at 1217 l. 5 s. 11 d. per annum . that of most trade and note is boston ; a fine town indeed , and very famous for the lan●erne , which is a very excellent sea-mark , and a land-mark too . and this with all , is to be noted of this country , that howsoever one can hardly ●●nd a stone in it ( such is the softnesse of the soyle ) yet you shall no where finde more beautyfull churches , all built of square and polished stone . it now giveth title of an e. to 1624 1 hen. rich ▪ l. ke●sington , cr . e. of holland , 22 iac. apr. 3 , now living and chan. of cam. 1641. hvntingdon . hvntingdon-shire was heretofore inhabited by the iceni . a country generally good for corne and tillage ; and towards the east , where it adjoyneth on the fennes , as rich in pasturage : elsewhere it is as pleasant , though not so profitable , by reason of the rising hils , and fine shady groves . it hath been heretofore well beset with woods , and was indeed a forest till the time of king henry the second , in the beginning of whose reigne , disforested . in this regard , the forest yeelding speciall opportunity , and delight for hunters , the chiefe town of it had the name of hunter downe , we now call it huntingod● , with very little variation . the towne commodiously seated upon the northern bank of the river ouse , rising unto the no●th on the ascent of an hill : adorned with foure parish churches , and had a little a●bey once , founded by maud the emper. and eustace lovelos● : the ruines of the which , and of a far●e more ancient castle , built by king edward the older , anno 917 ▪ are yet to be seene . this county con●●ineth in it five other market townes , besides the shire-towne , and 79 parishes in the whole : and did become an earldome presently on the norman conquest , as it hath ever since continued in these earles of huntingdon . ●068 1 waltheof .     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1075 2 simon de senlys ; married maud the daughter of waltheof .     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚   3 david pr. of scotland , 2 husband of maud. 1138 4 henry sonne of david king of scots .     ✚ ✚ ✚   5 simon de s. lyz.     ✚ ✚ 1152 6 malcolm king of scots , sonne of hen.   7 wil. after k. of scots . 1174 8 simon de s. lys , e. 1190 9 david 3 son of henry . 1219 10 iohn le scot son of david ,     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1337 11 wil. de clinton .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1377 12 guiscard d●angolesme . ✚     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1388 13 iohn holland , l. high chamb. 1400. 1416 14 iohn holland , d. of exet. ✚ 1447 15 hen. hol. d ▪ of exon.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1474 16 tho. grey , marq. dorset ▪     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1479 17 wil. herb.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1529 18 george lord hastings , created earle of huntingdon by king h. the 8. 1544 19 fr. hastings . ✚ 1560 20 hen. hastings . ✚ 1595 21 geo. hastings .   22 henry hastings , now earle ▪ 1639. kendall . kendall , is the name of a town in westm●rland , called also cand●le , and kirk by candals , as being seated in a dale neere the river can. the town built in the manner of a crosse , two long and broad streets crossing one another ; a town of great resort & trade , especially for woollen cloaths , which they make there in great abundance , and thence vent through all parts of england . this town hath been an antient barony , descending from the talboyses , to the breoses or bruces ; by them unto the rosses of wark , some of whose line a●tained the title of ● . rosse of kendal , so to distinguish them from the lord roos of hamlake ; and so at last unto the parres , to one of which it gave the title of baron of kendall , as it hath done before of e. to others , of more note and eminency ; which are these that follow ,   1 iohn d. of bedford , 3 son unot k. h. 4 , regent of france , and e. of kendall . ✚     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚   2 iohn d. of ●omerset , e. of kend. ✚     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1446 3 iohn de foix , cr . e. of kend. by k. h. 6 , since which , those of that family do write themselves ●●rles of longueville and kendall .   ✚ ✚ ✚ 1539 4 william parre knight , created lord parre of kendall , 30 henry the 8. march 9 ( created after earle of ex. by king henry the 8. and marques●e of northampton by king edward the 6 the rights and interests of which house are now devolved unto the he●berts , earles of pem●roke , descending from the lady anne , sister and heire of the said lord parre . kent . kent , in latine ca●●um , so called as being seated in the canton or corner of the kingdome , is a very rich and pleasant countrey , lying between the t●ames and the narrow seas . a contrey very good for corne , and fit for pasturage , according to the severall plots and parts thereof ; and wondrous full of fruitfull and well-ordered orchards , from whence the city of london is supplied with most sort of fruit . the villages and towns stand exceeding thick , bei●g in all 398 parishes , besid●s lesser hamlets , which make up the two diocesses of canterbury and rochester . it hath also divers safe roades , and sure harbours for ships ; and those exceeding well defended with forts and castles . caesar , when he arrived in k●nt , found here 4 kings ▪ ( for so they cal'd the chiefes of the principall families ) and gives this testimony of the people , that they were the most courteous , and civill of all the britan● . in the declining of whose empire , vor●iger gave this countrey unto the saxons , who being heathens , when the rest of the i●●e were christians , gave an occasion to the proverb of kent and christ●ndome . at that time it was made a kingdome ; as in the entrance of the normans it was made an earldom , and so it hath continued in the p●rsons of these earles of kent . 1067 1 odo b of b●ieux , halfe brother to the conq. l. ch. iust. & l. tr.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1141 2 wil. of ypre● .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1227 3 hub de burgh ▪ l. ch iust.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1321 4 edm. of wood stock , son to k. e. 1. 1330 5 edm. plantag . 1333 6 iohn plantag .     ✚ ✚ ✚   7 tho hol. married the la. ioane , of kent , daugh . of edm. of wood. ✚ 1360 8 tho. holland . 1397 9 tho. hol. d. of surrey . ✚ 1400 10 edm. hol. l. adm.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1461 11 wil. nevill l. falconbridge .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1464 12 edm. grey , l rut●yn . l. tr. cr . e. of kent by k. edw. 4.   13 geo. grey . 1506 14 rich. grey died 1523. 1571 15 reginald grey . 1572 16 henry grey . 1613 17 charles grey .   18 hen. gr●y . 1639 19 anthony grey , clerk , parson of ●urbage in the county of leicester , grand-child of anthony , 3 son of george grey e. of kent , now living , an●o 1641. kingston . kingston , is the name of a well known and eminent town in the east riding of york-shire , which standing on the mouth of the river hull , where it doth fall into the humber , is better known amongst us by the name of hull . a town indeed of no antiquity , being first built by edward the ● , who liking the situation of the place , compounded for it with the abbot of meaux , ( to whom it formerly belonged ) and there built the town , and caused it to be called kingston . it rose up in a little time to great reputation ; so that for faire and sumptuous buildi●gs , strong blockhouses , well furnished ships & wealth of trade , it is become the most remarkable town for merchandise in these parts of eng. michael de la pole , the first e. of suffolk of that family , being son of wil. d● la pole , a rich merchant here ▪ obtained great priviledges for the place , whi●h his successors as they grew in favour , did i●crease and multiply : and in the dayes of h. 6 ●il . e. marq. and d of suffolk , procured it to bee made a county incorporate , as our lawyers phrase it . of late dayes of a county it became the earldome , of 1628 1 rob. pierrepont , visc. newark , cr . e. of kingston upon hull , 4. car. iuly 25 , who is now living , ann● 1641. lancaster . lancashi●e , or the county palatine of lancaster , was heretofore a part of the brigants ; and lieth upon the irish●ea ●ea ▪ to the north of ch●shire . the ground accounted not so fert●le as in other places , fitter for oates and such leane corne , than wheate or barley . and yet it is observed with all , that in t●ose parts thereof , in which the husbandman is not wanting to it , in cost and labour , that there it yeldeth corne in a very good measure . the ayre ther●of may seem to be very healthfull ; and one would easily co●jecture so by the complexion of the people , which ar● faire and beautifull . and yet the country is not much inhabited , as in the n●ighbouring shires ▪ about them : there being in so large a quantity of ground , as this shire con●aines , not above 36 ▪ parishes though indeed many chappel● of ease , equall to p●rishes elsewhere for multitudes of people . it takes name from the town of lancas●e● , or more truly l●ncaster , seated upon the banks of the river l●nc , whence it had the name ; the saxons adding ceaster ( as in other places ) for the ●ermination . the town not very well peopled , nor much frequented ; and yet of that authority and credit , that it gives name to all the county , and hath obteined this priviledge from k. edw. the 3 , that the sessions and assises should be held in no other place . what lords and governours it had in the former times , we regard not here . the first time it became an earldome , was when k. h. 3 , conferred that title on his 2 son edm. and it was destin●te to greatnesse in the first foundation ; there being layed unto it at the ve●y first , besides this county , the whole con●iscated estates of the e●rles of leices●er and darby , and the b●rony of monmouth . and into this by marriages accrewed in time , the great estates of wil. de fortibus , e. of a●merl● and lord of holdernesse , 〈◊〉 , and other goodly lands in frances ; the earldome of lincoln , and good part of that of salisbury , the lorships of ogmore and kidwelly in wales , which were once the chaworths . iohn of ga●nt a d●d hereunto the castles and honours of hertford , and thickhill , and his son b●lling broke a moyetie of the lands of ●ohun ▪ being ● of here●ord , essex , and northampton : so that it was the greatest patrimony ( as i verily thinke ) of any subject prince in christendome . lancaster finally was made a county palatine by k ▪ edward the 3 , and hath been hounoured with the●e dukes and earles of lancaster . 1267 1 edm. ●lantagenet , 2 son of k hen. the 3 , e. of lanc. 1295 2 tho. plantagenet . 1324 3 hen. planta . 1345 4 hen. planta . first d ▪ of l.   ✚ ✚ ✚ 1361 5 iohn of gaunt son of k. edw. the 3 married the la. blanch daughter of h. d. of lanch : ●399 ● hen. of bullingbroke , son of iohn of gaunt , after k. of eng. by whom this county palatine , and all the lands and honors belonging and incorporate into the dutchy of lancaster , were brought unto the crown of eng. though governed as an estate apart , then by its proper officers , as it continued til the time of k. edw. the 4 , who did appropriate it to the crown , and dissolved the former government thereof , to which it was restored again by k. h. 7 , and so still remaineth under the guidance of the chancellor , and other officers of the same . leicester . leicester-shire is a part of the coritani , and ●ooke that name from leicester the chiefe town thereof ; a town indifferent large , and of a reasonable handsom building , and as wel●raded as most inland towns that want ( as this ) the benefit of a navigable river . it had once a very faire collegiate church within it , & a faire abbey close unto 〈◊〉 , and a strong castle therewithall ; but all these the iniquity and inju●y ●f time hath ruined . only the hospitall , of all the antient edifices ; stands still undefaced . as for the countrey hence denominated , it beares corne good pl●nty , but is bare of woods ; the want of which is well supplyed with pit-coale , with which the north part of the country doth store al the rest . it cō●eineth in the whole 200 parishes , and of them 12 are market towns ; the biggest , as in bulke being leicester , so in title too ; as that which hath beene honored even before the ●onquest , with the stile and reputation of an earldome ; and hath continued it till now in the names and families of these earles of leicester . 1057 1 algar the saxon.   2 edwyn died 1071.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1103 3 rob. de bellomont . 1118 4 rob. de bellomont . 1167 5 rob. de beaumont l. s●ew . 1190 6 rob. de beaum. l. high stew.     ✚ ✚ ✚   7 simon de montf . married amicia , sister and coheire to the last e. ro. e. of lei. and l high stew. 1239 8 simon de mont. l. high st●w .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1267 9 edm. e. of lanc. l. high stew. 1295 10 ●ho . e. of lanc. l. high st●w . 1324 11 hen. ● . of lanc. l. high stew. 1345 12 hen. d. of lanc. l. high stew. ✚     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1360 13 wil of bavaria , e. of heinalt married the la. maud of lanc.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1361 14 io. of gaunt , d. of lan. l. stew. ✚ 1399 15 hen. d. of lanc. l. high stew. ✚     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1564 16 rob. dudley , l. denbigh , l. s. and of the house to q. e. died , 1588. ✚ 1618 17 rob sidney , vise . li●le , descended of a sister of the last rob. e. of leicest . was by k. iames cr . e. of leic. aug. 2.   18 robert sidney now earle of leices . ambassadour extraordinary with the k of france , anno 1641. lincoln . lincoln-shire antiently belonged to the core●ani . a very large and spacious countrey , extending almost 60 miles in length , and some 30 in breadth ; within which compasse are included 630 ▪ parish churches , and of them 30 market towns. it is accounted very kindly ground for the yeeld of corn , and feeding of cattell , and furnished in the lower part thereof with good store of fowle , which from hence are conveied to london in great abundance . it takes name from the principall city , by ptolomy and antonin● , called lindum ; and after by the saxons lind●colline , either because it stands on so high an hill ( from the latine collis ) or that it had been formerly some roman colony . a town of great renown and strength in the times of the britans , and in the normans time ( as saith william of malmesbury ) it was one of the best peopled cities of england ; a place of merchandise and traffick for al commers , both by sea and land ; insomuch that 〈◊〉 then bishop of dorc●s●er , thought fitting to translate hither his episcopall see . from this opinion it then had , first began the proverb , that lincoln was , london is , &c. the bishops of lincoln what and how they were , we have seen already . we will now look a while on the ea●les of lincoln . ●140 1 wil. de romara , e. of lincoln .     ✚ ✚ ✚   2 gilb. de gaunt . 1216 3 gilb. de gaunt .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1218 4 randal de meschines , e. of che. whose grand-father , halfe brother unto wil. de romara , by the mothers side .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1232 5 iohn ●acy descended by his mother from e. randall . 1251 6 henry de lacy , whose daughter alice was married unto tho. e. of lancaster , and settled all her lands upon that family .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1354 7 hen. d. of lanc ▪ * ●361 8 iohn of gaunt d. of lanc. * 1399 9 hen. of bullingbroke d. of lanc. after k. of eng.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1467 10 ●ohn de la pole , son and heire of iohn d. of suffolke .     ✚ ✚ ✚ ●525 11 henry brandon son and heire of charl●s d. of suffolk .   ✚ ✚ ✚ 1572 12 edward fenys , lord clinton , lord admirall , created earle of lincolne , by queen elizabeth . 1585 13 hen. fenys . 1616 14 tho. fenys . 1618 15 theophilus fenys . now earle of lincoln , 1641. lindsey . lindsey is one of the 3 parts of lincolnshire , ( the other 2 being holland , which we spake of lately , and kesteven , not yet become an honourary title , as the others are . it conteineth all the northerne parts thereof , from the river witham unto humber , and from the ocean to the trent . happy above the rest , not in bignesse only ; but that in this part stands the city of lincoln , the chiefe denominator of the county , which being the antienly called lindum ( as before i said ) gave to this part the name of lindsey , for by that name of lindsey , it is now the earldome of 1626 1 robert bertu , lord willoughby of eresby , and lord great chamberlaine of england , created e. of lindsey , 2 car. novemb. 29 , now living , 1641 , manchester . manchester is a good town of lancashire , situate on the hithermost part thereof , where it joyneth to the county of darby . a town of very great antiquity , known to the emperour antonine , by the name of manc●nium ; part of which name it still retaines . and still it carrieth a good accompt , and far excels the towns lying round about it , both for the beautifull shew it carrieth , and the resort unto it of the neighboring people , and which allures them thither , the great trade of cloathing , manchester co●tons being famous in all drapers shops . it is remarkable also in those parts for the large market place , for a faire church , and for the colledge : which last being founded first by the lord de la ware , was afterwards refounded or confirmed by qu. eliz. consisting fo a warden and certaine fellows , which notwithstanding , it is y●t more famous , in being made the honorary title of 1625 1 henry montague , vise . mandevi cr . e. of manch . ● car. f●● . 7 , b●ing then l president of the councel , now l. privy seale , anno 1641. march . march is a name of different nature , from the rest before , as being neither towne nor county . vnder that name of march or of marches rather , our ancestors did comprehend those ba●able grounds between wales and eng. for governance whereof , and the repressing of the insolencies of either side , there were certaine lords and potent men , whose lands lay nearest to these parts , which were called lords marchers , who had great power and jurisdiction in their severall quarters . amongst these were the mortimers of wigmore , men of great authority , who after were advanced above the rest , and made earles of march. and it continued in that family , untill it fell by marriage to the house of york ; and so by edw. the 4 , to the crown of eng. nor was it long before the authority of the lords marchers was extinguished quite , by the uniting of wales to e● . & either making new shires of the said march ground , ( such as are monmouth , brecknoch , radnor , denbigh and montgomcry ) or laying it unto the old , for which consult the act of parliament 27 h. 8. cap. 26. however the title of e. of march is revived again ; only translated from the house of mortimer , to that of stewart ; out of which houses have been successively , these earles of march. 1327 1 rog. l. mortimer of wigmore . * 1354 2 roger morti. 1359 3 edm. morti. 1381 4 rog. morti. 1399 5 edm. morti.     ✚ ✚ ✚   6 edw. plantagenet , son of rich. d. of york , and after k. of eng. of that name the 4.   7 edw. eldest son of k. edw. 4. ●     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1619 8 esme steward l. aubigny , created e. of march 17 iac. iun ▪ 7. after d. of lennox . * 1624 9 iames d. of lennox and earle of march , anno 1641. * marlebvrgh . marleburgh is a town in the north-east part of wilt-shire , seated not far off from the head of the river kenet : which runneth thence to hung●rford , and newbury , and so by reading into the thames . the towne called antiently cunetio in antonino's itinerarium , as the river was : but by the normans , in whose time this town revived ( out of the ruines of the old ) it was called marleburgh , as being seated in a chaulky soyle , which in some places still we call by the name of marle . a town stretched out from east to west , upon the pendant of an hill , and had a castle once belonging unto iohn , sirnamed sans t●rre , who afterwards was k. of england which is still famous in our law books , for a parliament there held , 52. h. 3 , in which were made the ●tatutes ( from hence called ) of marleburgh , right necessary for the peace and tranquility of the people , as is affirmed in the preamble unto the same . our soveraigne at his coronation made it yet more notable , in making it th● honour , as it was the neighbour of 1625 1 iames l. ley , l. tr. cr . e. of marleburgh , 1 car. feb 7. 1628 2 henry ley.   3 iames ley , now e. of marleburgh , anno 1641. marshall . the title of e. ma●shall is different from the rest of england , all of the which ( the title of earle rivers excepted only ) are locall , or denominated from some place ; this only personall : the residue being only honorary , this honorary and officiary , both together . antiently they that had this office were only marshals of the kings house , according as the same is now discharged by the knights marshall . but in succeeding times it grew to be a place of great power , and honour ; as it still continueth . at first they had the title of l. marshall only . rich. the 2 was the first , who by letters pa●ents advanced them to the dignity of earles marshals , and with all gave them power to beare a staf●e of gold , enammeled black at both ends , with the kings armes on the upper end , and their own armes on the lower ; whereas before that time , the marsh●ls ; had no other than a wooden staffe , as other the great officers have at court. before this time , they were l. ma●shals only , as before i said . for howsoever the title of e. marshall and comes marescallus , doth many times occurre in our antient histories . yet i conceive that it was only given them then by the cour●esie or curiality of england , because the office in those dayes was vested in the person of none but earles ; as by the like mistake or courtesie , we find the title of comes seneschallus , and comes constabularius in some old records . the manour of hamsted marshall in the county of berkshire , was held of old by grand sergianty of the kings of england ; conditioned that the grantees should for ever be the k. marshals , according as the offices of steward , constable , and lord high chamberlaine , in those times were granted . what the authority and jurisdiction is of this great officer , we regard not here , it being our undertaking only to lay down the names of those ( as many at lest as i have met with in my reading ) which in their severall times have borne the title of lords and earles marshall . 1135 1 gilbert de clare , l. marshal , created e of pembrok by k. stephen . anno 1139. 1149 2 richard de clare , sirnamed strongbow , e. of pemb. and l. marsh. died anno 1176. 1176 3 iohn , sirnam●d marshall , fr●m this office , which was conferred on him by k. h. 2 ▪ upon the death of rich. e. of pemb. 4 william marshall , l. marshall , the grand-child of the former iohn , who having married isabel daug . and heire of ric. strongbow , was cr . e ▪ of pemb. by k. io. an. 1201 1219 5 william marshall , the younger , e. of pemb. 1231 6 rich ▪ marsh. e. of pemb. 1234 7 gilb marsh. e. of pemb. 1242 8 wal. marsh. e. of pemb. 1245 9 anselm . marsh. e. of pemb. 1245 10 roge● bigot , e. of norfolk , l. marshall , in right of maud his mother , one of the sisters and heires of the 5 last marshals . 1269 11 roger bigot earle of norfolke , whose estate being confiscated to the crown , came after his decease to the k. hands . 1307 12 robert de clyfford , made lord marshall by k. edw. 2 , duran●e benep●acito .   13 nicolas de seagrave . 1315 14 thomas de brotherton earle of norfolk , was in the 9. of edw. 2. made l. marsh. 1388 15 margaret , daughter and heire of thom. de brotherton , is often honored with the title of la. marsh. and was afterwards cr . dutch. of norf.   16 wil. de montacute .   17 tho. beauchamp .   18 edmund mortimer , did severally and successively discharge the office of l. marsh. but whether as deputies for the la. marga. ●●ndum planè constat . 1377 19 henry lord percy , l. marsh. at the coronation of k rich. 2.     earles marshall . 1383 20 tho. l. mowbray , ● . of notingh . nephew unto the lady marg. by her daughter eliz. was made the first e. marsh. by k. rich. 2 , and was after d. of norfolk . 1398 21 tho. holland , e. of kent and d. of surrey , was made e. marsh , upon the banishment of the d. of norfolk . 1399 22 tho. l. m●wb ▪ e. of noting . did on his fathers death ( at venice ) assume the title of e ▪ marsh. but the office was exercised by   23 ralp . nevill e. of westmerland , made l. m of en. by k. h. 4. for terme of life , in the beginning of his r●igne . 1412 24 iohn l. mowb. brother of tho. e. m. was by k h 5. restored unto the title of e. of notingham , and e. m and by k. h. 6. to that of norfolk . 1432 25 iohn l. mowb. d. of norf. e. mar.   26 iohn l. mo. d. of nor. & e. m.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1476 27 ric. d. of york , 2 son of k. edw. 4 , was by his father cr . d. of n. and ● . marsh. and after married anne daughter and heire of the last mow. d of norfolk . 1483 28 iohn l. how. descended from the l. tho. mow. first d. of norf. cr . d. of norf. and e. marsh. by k. rich. 3. 1486 29 wil. l. berkley , e. of notingham descended from another daughter of the said first d. of norfolk cr . e. marsh. by k. h. 7. and marq. barkeley . 1497 30 hen. d. of york , the 2 son of k. hen 7. cr . e. m. by his father , & was after k. of eng. 1509 31 tho. how. earle of surrey , son of ioh. l. how. d. of norfolk , was by k h. 8. cr . first e. m and afterwards restored to the duk. of norfolk . 1546 32 tho. how. d. of norfolk , and e. marsh. attainted an. 1546. 1547 33 edw. seymour , d. of somerset , and l. protector of k ▪ edw. the 6 , was in the said kings time cr . e. marshall . 1553 34 tho. d. of norfolk and e marsh. restored unto his bloud and honours , by q. mary . 1554 35 thomas howard d. of nor. and e. marsh. beheaded , 1571. 1572 36 geo talbot , e of shrewsbury & e. m. died anno 1590. 1597 37 rob. d'evreux e. of essex , and e. mar. died anno 1601.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1603 37 edw. somerset , e. of worcester executed the office of earl marshall at the coronation of k. iames , after which time the office was a long time executed by commission . 1621 38 thomas howard , earle of arundell and surrey , ( grand son of thomas , duke of norfolk , by his son philip earle of arundell ) was by king iames created earle marshall , as hee still continueth , anno 1641. middlesex . middlesex is a part of the trinobantes , lying upon the banks of the river t●ames . a coun●y not so large as others , but far more remarkable , for sumptuous houses , wel-built villages , a fertile soyle , and temperate aire ; and which addeth most unto it , for the great cities of london and westminster , which are seated in it , and for the constant residence of the court , the receptacle and aboade of the kings of eng. who have made this county happy above others with their royall mansions . whitehall , and hampton court , somerset house and s. iames , still in the possession of the crown ; enfeild , and hanworth , aliened now , have either been the chiefe aboades , or retiring places of our kings and princes . in which regard , the kings of eng. antiently ( as camden notes it ) vouchsafed the title of middlesex unto none , neither d. marq. e. nor b. although , i know not by what popular error , the citizens of london reckoned the l. major elect , for e. of middlesex . which whatsoever ground it had , hath none now to stand on , that title being not long since bestowed on 1622 1 lionel l. cranfeild . l. tr. of eng. cr . e. of middlesex , 20 iac. sep. 17. & now alive , anno 1641. monmovth . monmouth-shire is the neerest shire of wales , though it desires rather to be accounted a part of england , and is indeed included in the circuit of the english iudges . it lieth upon the north of the river sev●n , there where it groweth into a sea ; the east parts full of grasse and woods , the west somewhat hilly , and stony withall ; yet not unprofitable to the husbandman , if he be not wanting to himselfe . it takes name from the chiefe town monmouth , and that from being seated on the mouth of the river mu●ow , there where it shootes into the wye . it was the barony once of iohn l. of monmouth , on whose attaindure it was setled in the house of lancas●er ; from whom it after did receive great priviledges and immunities , which they still enjoy . henry the fift , son unto king henry the fourth ( the first of the lancastrian family ) was in this place borne , ( which shewes that noble family so highly prized it , to make it their dwelling ) and was from hence called henry of monmouth . that one particular enough , to renown the place ; and therefore we shall adde no more . it is b●longing still to the house of lancaster , as to the possession , being dependant on the dutchy ; and not much aliened from it as unto the title : the caries , which derive themselves from lancaster , by the line of somerset , being now honoured with the title of earles of monmouth . 1625 1 robert lord cary of leppington , created e. of monmouth , ● car ▪ feb. 7. 1639 2 robert cary now earle of monmouth , now living , anno 1641 , montacvte . montacute is the name of a very antient & illustrious family , so called from montacute , a sharp ●ill in the south parts of somerset● shire , between evill and martok . the place called biscopeston by the saxons , but by the e. of moriton brother by the mothers side to william the conquerour ( who built a castle on the top of it ) it was called montacute . it afterwards gave name to that noble family ( as before i said ) who being lords hereof came after to be earles of salisbury ▪ and since in other families ( but descending from them ) hath been the honorary stile and appellation of these marq. lords & visc. montacute . 1461 1 iohn nevill , grandchild of thom. mont●cute , e. of salis cr . l. mon. 1 edw. 44. and after marq. monta. anno 1470.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1504 2 hen. pole , great granchild . of rich , nevill , the elder brother of the said iohn l. mont.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1553 3 antho. brown descen . from the la. lucy , daugh ▪ of ioh. mar. mont. cr . visc. mont. 1 ma● . sept. 2. 1592 4 anth. brown visc. monta.   5 anth. brow. now living , an. 1641. montgomery . montgomery-shire is one of the new shires of wales , taken out of the march-grounds by k. h. 8. anno 27 ; of his reigne , so called ●rom the town and castle of montgomery , & that from roger de montgomery a noble norman , earle of shrewsbury , who winning much ●and herabouts from the welch , first built it to secure his conqu . it standeth not for from the banks of the river severne , upon the rising of a rock ; from whence it hath a very free prospect into a pleasant plaine that lyeth beneath it . the family of the herberts is very much diffused , and of great authority in this country ▪ out of which family 1605 philip herbert 2 son of hen. earle of pembrok , was cr e. of montgomery 3 iac. may 4 , and is now also e. of pembrok and l. cham. an. 1641. movlgrave . moulgrave is an antient castle in the north riding of york-shire , situate neare unto the sea , and not far from whitbay . first built it was by peter de mouley , ( or de malo lacu , in the latine ) in the time of rich. 1 , and being in his eye , a very beautifull pile , was by him called moult-grace , but being a greivous yoke to the neighbour inhabitants , was by them called moult-grave , by which name , and no other , now the world takes notice of it . it continued in his line for seven generations , and all of them called peters too : and then the issue male failing , it passed through severall families by the heires generall , and now belong●th to the sheffeilds ; out of which house 1625 1 edm. l. sheffeild l. president of the north , was cr . e. of moulgrave , 1 car. feb. 7 , and is still alive , anno 1641. newcastle . new-castle is the hithermost town of all northumberland , and the chiefe of the north ; seated upon the further banke of the river tine , which is there so deep , and well fenced withall , that it giveth a very safe station to the tallest ships . it standeth on the declining of a very steep hill , adorned with 4 churches , fortified with strong wals , & beautified with goodly buildings . a town of very great resort , especially by reason of the trade of sea cole , which is conveyed hence to all parts of the kingdome , and many other parts of christendome . it rose out of the ruines of old gabrosentum : and had this new name from a castle built by robert son of wil. the conq. and thriving by the benefit and entercourse of trade , became at length of such reputation , that by k. h. 6. it was made a county incorporate , as we use to say ; and finally thought worthy to give the honour of an e to 1623 1 ludowick d. of lennox and e. of richmond , cr . e. of newcastle , 2 iac. in may.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1627 2 wil. cavendish , visc. mansfield , cr e ▪ of newcastle , 3 car mar. 7. now gover. and gent. of the bedchamber of the prince his high . a. 1641 , newport . newport is the chiefe town of the isle of wight , called in times past medena , afterwards novus burgus de meden , and by us now , newport . a town well seated and much frequented , and withall populous in it selfe ; which most ariseth from the benefit of a little haven capable of vessels of the smaller burden , which com● up to the very key . for government within , it hath a major and burgesses , being made a corporation by k. ia●es , and for a further lustre to it , in the world abroad , it pleased our soveraigne l. k. charles , to create 162● montjoy blount , lord montjoy , e. of newport , 3 car. aug. 3 , who is now master of the ordnance , and of the counsell for warre , ann● 1641. norfolk . norfolk is the greatest county of eng. next to yorksh. but far 〈◊〉 populous than that ; as comprehending in the whole 660 parish churches , of which 27 are market towns . it antiently was a part of the iceni , and next the northern part of the kingdome of the east-angles , from whence it had the name of northfolk , as hath the southern people of it , the name of southfolk . the soyle according to the variety of places is of different nature ; in some fat , rank , and full of moysture ; in others very light and sandy : yet so that one contributing unto the other , and the sea giving help to both , it is very plentifull country for corne , sheep , and fish . the people notably industrious both for plough and manufactures ; insomuch that one shall hardly see a begger throughout all the countrey : and yet ( which makes the merveile much the greater ) they are notable wranglers , well versed and studied in the quirks of law , and consequently create more work for the assises , than almost all the circuit else . but then it is observed withall , that this disposition hath brought some reputation with it , as furnishing the courts of ius●ice with many an eminent man in the laws of eng. and yeelding generally the best breed of lawyers . it is observed , by a great antiquary of this kingd . that in this county are ●oo families of antient gentry , which never were attainted of high treason , which if it be true , the gentry of norfolk have had better fortune than the dukes and earles . 1070 1 ralph . de ware , e. of norf.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1137 2 hugh bigot . 1177 3 rog. bigot .   4 hugh bigot . 1125 5 rog. bigot . 1270 6 rog. bigot .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1312 7 tho. de brotherton , first son of k. edw. 1 , e , of norf. 1398 8 marga. daugh . of tho. of brotherton , duch. of norf.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1398 9 tho. l. mowbray son of the lad. marg. d. of norf. * 1427 10 iohn mowb. * 1434 11 iohn mowbray . * 14●1 12 iohn mowbray . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1475 13 rich. d. of york , & norf. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1483 14 iohn l. how. descended from the lad. margaret daugh . of tho. 1 d. of norf. died 1486. * 1512 15 tho. how. l. tr. and adm. * 1524 16 tho. how. l. tr. * 1554 17 tho. how. last d. of norf. died 1572. northampton . the county of northampton , is situate almost in the very mid●le and heart of eng. a champion countrey for the most part , exceeding populous , and ●o replenished with townes and churches , ( being in all 326 , whereof 10 are markets ) that in some places there are 20 or 30 steeples to be seen at once . the soyle exceeding fertile both for tillage and pasture , maintaining numerous flocks of sheep , and herds of cattell ; but somewhat destitute of woods . it takes name from north●●pton , the chiefe towne thereof , seated upon the river nen ; which antiently called a●fona , but corruptly antona , bestowed this name upon the town , being indeed built on the northern bank . a town which for the beauty and circuit of it , may be well ranked with many cities of the kingdome : and heretofore so safe and sure by reason of the strong wals , ( from whence there is a goodly prospect into all the county ) & a strong castle , now demolished ; that once the students of cambridge had a purpose to remove their vniversity unto it . this strength however made it obnoxious to some disadvantage , as being a place much aimed at in our civill wars , and many a battaile fought about it , yet never were the times so turbulent ▪ or the place so dangerous , but that there were some persons of superior ranke , who did affect the name , and enjoy the title of earles and marq. of northampton .   1 walt. e. of huntingdon .     ✚ ✚ ✚   2 simon de senlis married maud daugh . of waltheof . 1153 3 simon de senlis .   4 sim d● senlis .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1337 5 wil. de bohun . 1360 6 humf. de boh. who being after e. of hereford , added this title 10 that house , from whom it came unto the staff. d. of buck.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1547 7 wil. l. parre , marq.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1693 ● hen. how. brother of tho. la●t d. of norf. l. pr. seale     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1618 9 wil. l. compton , cr ▪ e. of northa . 16 iac. aug. 2. l. pres of wa. 1630 10 spencer compton , now e. 1641 , northumberland is a more contracted name now , than in former times . heretofore it included all the countries on the north of humber , possessed of old by the b●igan●●s , and the ottadini , now only the extreame a●d most northerne part , betwixt the rivers of tine and twede , all which the oltadini once inhabited . the aire exceeding sharp and piercing , as being often visited with boystrous winds , hard frosts , and tedious snows ; to remedy which it yeelds abundance of sea-coale for fuell , and at very cheap rates . the soyle in generall neither fertile for corn or pasturage , as being for the most part exceeding rough and very hard to be manured , only in some parts towards the sea , by the late industry of the ploughman , and benefit of sea-weed , wherewith they do improve their ground , it is become indifferent fruitfull . the countrey meanly populous , and but ill inhabited , partly by reason of the barrennesse of the country , as before is said , and partly for the bad neighbourhood of the scots , as commonly it is in march-lands or frontier countreyes . in this regard , it had almost as many castles for defence of themselves ▪ as is parish churches for the service of god , there being 26 of the one , and but 46 of the other ; but then withall the p●●●shes were and are exceeding large , and have many chappels of ease perteining to thē , which inconvenienc● of the soyle & seat may possibly have beene the reason why the possession of it held not long in any family ( although the title and possession of it had been given to many ) untill the percyes : who not without some interruption too , have continued long . by reason of which intermixture of severall families ; it hath given to those families the severall titles of duke , and earles of northumberland . 1065 1 morcar . e. of northumb.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1071 2 gospatrick .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1072 3 waltheof . e. of huntingd.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1076 4 walcher bish of durham .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1086 5 rob. de mowb. devested 1095.     ✚ ✚ ✚   6 hen pr. of scotl.   7 william k of scots .     ✚ ✚ ✚   8 hugh . pudsey b. of durham .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1377 9 hen. per. l. const. 1414 10 hen , percy . 1455 11 hen. percy . 1461 12 hen. percy .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1465 13 iohn nevill , l. monta. cr . e. of northumb. by k , edw. 4 , who after 6 yeares resigned it to the said hen. percy .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1489 14 hen. percy . 15 hen. percy died 1537.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1551 16 iohn dudley e. of warwick , and l. adm. d. of northumb.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1557 17 tho. percy , e. of northumb. 1574 18 hen. percy . 1585 19 hen. percy . 1633 20 algernon percy , now e. of nort. and l. adm. 1641. norwich . norwich is the chiefe city of norfolk , and took that name as did the county , from the northern situation of it . it standeth upon the river of yare , which runs thence to yarmouth , lying out in length a mile and an half ; not above halfe so much in breadth , and in that space conteineth about 30 parishes ; well walled about with many a turret , and 12 gates for entrance . a city which for faire buildings , and resort of people , the painefull industry of the common ●ort , the great humanity of the richer , and the firme loyalty of all , in seditious times , may justly be accounted the 3 of england . amongst the buildings those of speciall note ( next unto their churches ) are the 2 palaces of the d. of norfolk , and earles of surrey . and for the wealth and opulence , which it now enjoyeth , it standeth much indebted to the net●erlanders , who flying from the d. of alva , and the inquisition , brought with them the making of baies and sayes and other manufactures ; whereby the poore are set on work , and the rich grow pursie . a place that hath been honored long with a see episcopall , but neve● made a title of civill honour , till 1626 edw. l. denny of walthan was cr . e. of norwich , a car. aug. 24. mort sans issue masle . nottingham . nottinghamsh ▪ antiently was a part of the coritani , well watred with the river of trent , and many other pleasant streames . the people generally divide it into the sand , and the clay ; that being the e. part , taking up the forrest of sherwood , famous for rob. hood , and his companions , this being the south , and eastern part , more fruitfull , and more fit for corne ; and throughout well furnished both with wood and coale . it conteineth in it 168 parishes , of which the chiefe , and that from whence the shire takes name is nottingham . a town well seated on the trent , though very high up on an hill which overlookes it : for buildings , and faire streets , and a spatious market place , not giving way to many cities . but that which gave the greatest ornament unto it , was indeed the ca●●le , a royall and magnificent building , which for strength , statelinesse , and command of prospect , may justly challenge the precedency of the best in eng. of mortime●s hole there , who was hence haled to his executiō , and of the long imprisonment which david k. of scots here suffred , the people are as good as a common chronicle , and intermixe too , not afew fables with the truth of story . but that which we have good record for , without fraud or fiction , is that it hath af●orded in successive ages , these lords and earles of nottingham .   1 wil. peverell , l. of the honour of nottingham .   2 wil. peverell , l.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1141 3 rob. de ferrers , married margar. daughter of wil. peverell .     ✚ ✚ ✚   4 iohn , after k. of eng.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1377 5 iohn l. mowbray . 1382 6 tho. mow. e. mar. after d. of nor. 1400 7 tho. mow. e. m. and d. n. 1405 8 iohn mow. e. m. and d n. * 1432 9 iohn mow. e. m. and d. n. * 1461 10 iohn mow. e. m and d. n. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1475 11 rich. d. of york , 2 son of k edw. 4 married the la. anne , sole child of iohn d of norf. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1483 12 wil. l. berkley descended from the l isab. daugh . of tho. 1 d. of nor. & e. of nott. 1597 13 charles l. how. of e●●ing . & l. adm. de●cended by the house of nor. from the mow.   14 charles how. now e. of nottin . anno 1641. oxford . oxford-shire is a part of the dobuni , situated north-ward of the thames , which parteth it all along from berkshire . a plentifull and fruitfull countrey , wherein the plaines are garnished with cornefields and meadows , the hils well covered with woods and the downes with sheep , and wanting in no kind of pleasure , which either hawke or hound can afford a gentleman . it conteines in it , being no great circuit , 270 parish churches , and 10 market townes , the chiefe of which in name and beauty , giving denomination to the county , is the famous city and vniversity of oxford . a faire and goodly city , both for site and building ; whether one look on the magnificence of the publique structures , or the compacted uniformity of private houses . and sure it may be said without immodesty and heard without dislike or envy , that for the statelinesse of the schooles and publique library ; the bravery and beauty of particular colledges , all built of faire and polished stone ; the liberall endowments of those houses , and notable incouragements of industry and learning in the salary of the professors in most arts and sciences ; it is not to be parallelled in the christian world : and for the number of her studens , and the well ordering of those students by good laws and ordinances , not to be equalled by any but her sister cambridge . from whence it had the name of oxford , is adhuc sub judice : whether of vadum isidos , the ford of ouse or isis , on whose banks it stands , and so called ousford ; or vada boum , the ford of oxen ( as the greeks had their bosphori in former times ) i determine not . suffice it that this name is very antient , and that it antiently hath beene an vniversity or seat of learning ; in which respect , it hath co-evity with that of paris , if not priority above it , as being refounded by k. alf●ed , anno 806 , after it had been overborne a while by the danish fury . colledges it conteine●h in all 18. hals for students 6 , and about 13 paris● churches . it is moreover a see 〈◊〉 and it hath withall received no small honour from the noble 〈◊〉 of the veres , who now for 20 generations 〈◊〉 been earles of oxford . 1067 1 edgar atheling .     ✚ ✚ ✚   2 aubrey de ver● , l. high chamb. 1146 3 aubrey de vere , l. high ch. 1214 4 rob. de vere , l. high ch. 1233 5 hugh de vere , l. high ch. 1263 6 rob. de vere , l. high ch. 1295 7 rob de vere , l. high ch. 1331 8 iohn de vere , l. high ch. 1358 9 tho. de vere ▪ l high ch. 1310 10 rob. de vere , d. of ireland . 1393 11 aubrey de vere . 1400 12 rich. de vere . * 1415 13 iohn de vere . 1462 14 iohn de vere , l. high ch. * 1512 15 iohn de vere , l. high ch. 1526 16 iohn de vere . * 1539 17 iohn de vere , l. high ch. 1562 18 edw de vere ▪ l. high ch. 1604 19 hen. de vere , l. high ch. 1624 20 rob. de vere . 1632 21 aubrey de vere , now earle of oxon , 1641 ▪ pembroke . pembrok-shire was inhabited of old by the dimetae , a countrey quite surrounded by the sea , save where it joyneth unto cardigan and carmarthen shires : a countrey plentiful in corne and cattell , not destitute of pit-coale ; and which is far above the rest ( as giraldus tels us ) considering that it is so neare to ireland , of a temperate and wholesome aire . it conteines in it 140 parish churches , and 5 markets ; that which is most of note being milford , renowned for its safe and capacious haven . but that from which it takes denomination , is the town of pembrok , seated upon a forked arme of milford haven , and in the best part of all the countrey . a town consisting principally of one long street on a long narrow point of rock ; and hath within the wals there of , two churches . the earles hereof in former times were county palatines , and passed al things that concerned that county under the seale of the earldom . and it continued so untill the reigne of h. 8. when as wales was reduced to england , and the authority of the great lords there , dissolved by parliament . since which the earles of pembrok have been meerely titular , as of other places , and of each sort were these in their severall ages , the marq. and earles of pembrok . 1139 1 gilb. de calre . 1149 2 r●c . de clare , sirnamed strongbow .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1199 3 wil. mar. married isabel , daughter and heire of rich strongbow . 1219 4 wil. marsh and l. chiefe iustice. 1231 5 ric. marsh. 1234 6 gilb. marsh. 1242 7 walt. marsh. 1245 8 anselm marsh.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1247 9 william de valence halfe brother to king henry the 3 whose wife was daughter of a sister of ans. marshall . 1296 10 aymer de valence .     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1341 11 lawrence hastings , who married the lady isabell de valence . 1348 12 iohn hastings . * 1373 13 iohn hastings .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1414 14 humf. d. of glocester .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1447 15 wil. de la pole ; d of suff.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1452 16 iasp. of hatfeild half brother to k. h. 6 , after d. of bedf. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1468 17 wil herbert . * 1469 18 wil. herbert .   ✚ ✚ ✚ 1479 19 edw. prince of wales , son of k. edw. 4.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1532 20 anne bolen , marchionesse . of pemb. wife of k. h. 8.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1551 21 wil. herb. l. steward , crea . e. of pemb. by k. edw. 6. * 1570 22 hen. herbert . * 1601 23 wil. herb. l. steward and chan. of oxon. * 1630 24 philip herb. now e. of pembrok and montgom . and l. chamberlaine , 1641. * peterbvrgh . of peterburgh , as it is an epi●copall see , we have spoke already and have not much to adde of it , as it hath the title of an earldom . it standeth in the very nooke or angle of northampton-shire , where formerly had been a gulfe or whirle poole of exceeding depth : but made firme ground by wolpher k. of the mercians , when with great paines and diligence , he laid the foundation of the church . a town , but for the church , of no great note , as standing out of the way for trade and traffick , and seated in no plausible place , whether one look to health or pleasure . yet by occasion of the abbey in the former times , and now by reason of the bishop there ; it drawes resort of people for dispatch of businesse , hath a large marketplace , a faire parish church , and 2 handsome streets . of late unto the ecclesiasticall relation of it is joyned an honourary , it pleasing he kings majesty that now is , to create 1627 iohn l. mordant , e. of peterburgh , 3 car. march. 9. who now enjoyes that title , anno 1641. portland . portland , was once a little island , but now adjoyneth to the mainland of dorset-shire , lieth full against the good town of weymouth , and seemes to take th●s name from port , a noble saxon , who about the yeare 703 infested and annoyed these coasts , and made here his station . it is not above 7 miles in compasse , and very scatteringly inhavited ; but plentifull enough of corne , and good for pastures . on the east side it hath a church on the north a castle , which seems to guard the entrance of weymouth haven . but however it was in former times , it is now remarkable , it gave and gives the stile of earle , 1632 1 richard lord weston , l. high t● created earle of portland , feb. 15. 8 car. 1635 2 hier. weston now e. of portland , anno 1641. richmond . richmond-shire is no county of it selfe , but a part of york-shire lying towards the north-west , with rugged rocks and swelling mountaines , whose sides in some places beare good grasse , the bottomes underneath not being unfruitfull ; and in the hils themselves are found good mines of lead and pit-coale . the chiefe town of the whole is richmond , of a small circuit in the wals , but by reason of the suburbs lying out in length , very well peopled and frequented . a town first built by alane e. of bretagne , the first e. here , after the entrance of the normans , who fenced it with a wall and a most strong castle , the better to assure these parts against the english , and having finished the same according to his own content , gave it the name of richmount , as a place equally participating of strength and beauty . it standeth on the banks of the river of swale , which with a mighty noise runneth underneath it : a river reputed very sacred by antient english , for that in it , paul●nus the first archb. of ●orke baptized in one day above 100●0 men , besides women and children . the earles of bretagne for a long time together continued in the title and possession of this cou●trey : since it hath been bestowed upon other families , who in their severall times have been adorned with the stile of dukes and earles of richmond .   1 alan the red , e. of bretagne . 1093 2 alan the black , e. of breta .   3 steph. e. of bret. 1104 4 alan e. of bret. 1166 5 conan d. of bret.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1170 6 geof . plantag ▪ son of k. h. 2 , married const. daught . of conan . 1186 7 arthur , the son of geof .     ✚ ✚ 1201 8 guido , visc. of touars , 2 husband of constance .     ✚ ✚ ✚   9 randolph of chester , 2 husband of constance .     ✚ ✚ ✚   10 peter of dreux , d. of bret.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1241 11 pet. of savoy unckle to qu. eleon . wife of h. 3.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1268 12 iohn de dreux , d. of bret. 1305 13 iohn de dreux , d. of bret.   14 iohn de bret. e. of richm. 1334 15 iohn de dreux , d. of bret.   16 iohn de montf . d. of richm.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1341 17 iohn of gaunt , after d. of lanc.     ✚ ✚ ✚   18 iohn de montf . sirnamed the valiant , d. of bret. and e. of rich.     ✚ ✚ ✚   19 ralph nevill , e. of westm. cr . e. of rich for term of life . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1425 20 iohn d. of bedford . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1452 21 edm. of haddam , halfe brother to k. h ▪ 6.   22 hen. e. of rich. after k. of eng.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1525 23 hen. fitz-roy base son of h. 8. d. of rich. and somerset , l. adm. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1613 24 lodow. d. of lennox , crea . e. of richm. 11 iac. oct. 9. and after d. of rich. 1623 , may , l. stew. rivers . the title of earle rivers is of different nature from all the rest of england , those being locall ( that of e. marsh. excepted ) and this nominall : those taking their denomination from some speciall place , and this from an illustrious family . the antient name was redve●s , or de ripariis , thence it came to rivers . at first they were but barons of plimpton in the county of devon ; after they came to bee earles of devonsh . which title 8 of them enjoyed successively , and then the masculine issue failing , the name and patrimony both were lost amongst the females or heires generall . from some of these , as i conjecture , came s. rich. woddeville , whom first k. h. 6. advanced unto the honourable title of l rivers , and after edw. 4. marrying his daughter , advanced him higher , and made him e. rivers . which title ending in the 3 e. of this name and family , was since again revived in the honourable houses of darcy and savage , this last deriving a descent hereto by the line of worcester , & huntington , from one of the daught . and coheires of the first e. rivers , whom and his successors take in order , thus 1466 1 rich woodville , l. tr. and l. con. father of qu. eliz. wife of edw. 4 1469 2 ant. wood. 1483 3 rich. wood.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1626 4 tho. l. darcy visc. colch . cr . e. ●●vers . 2 car. nov. 4. 1639 5 iohn savage , son of tho. visc : sav. and eliz. his wife , eldest daught . and one of the coheires of tho. e. riv. by vertue of a speciall entaile in the said creation , succeeded him in the titles of earle rivers , and visc. colchester , is now living , 1641. rvtland . rvtland , for quantity , is the least country of eng. for quality not inferior to the very best , as being a pleasant and fruitfull countrey , especially about the vale of catmosse . the earth thereof is generally very red of colour , so red that even the fleeces of the ●heep are coloured with it ; in which regard it had the name of rudland ▪ the saxons calling that rud , which we now call red , as we retaine the use of ruddy still , in the selfe-same sence . heretofore it was reckoned for a part of northampton-sh . not made a county till of late ; and now again is laid unto northampton-sh ▪ the better to make up a diocesse for the see of peterburgh . it contineth in it but 48 parish churches in the whole ; the chiefe of which are vppingham and oakham , two small market towns , of which the last is the shire town for the assises , sessions , and all publique businesses . yet small and little though it be , can shew the seats and titles of 4 parliamentary barons ; and besides that hath honored many a noble person with the name and title of earles of rutland . 1390 1 edw. planta . eldest son of edm. of langley d. of york . *     ✚ ✚ ✚   2 edm. plantage . 2 son of rich. d. of york .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1525 3 tho. mannours , l. roos descended by the la anne his mother from the said rich d. of york , cr . e. of rutland by k. h. 8. * 1543 4 hen. man. * 1563 5 edw. man. * 1586 6 iohn mann . 1587 7 rog. man. 1612 8 franc. man. 1632 9 geor. man. 1641 41 iohn man. now earle of rutland , 1641. salisbvry . salisbury is the chiefe city of wil●sh . antiently called sorbio●unum , which name it held untill the entrance of the saxons , who gave new names and laws to all parts of eng. ●t was at first seated high upon an hill , as being a place designed for strength and war , yet honored for a while with a bishops see , and a faire cathedrall . but the bishops and the clergy finding no good quarter amongst the souldiers , which were there in garrison , and being destitute of water on so dry an hill ; about the time of rich. 1 , began to leave it , and plant themselves down lower by the water side . being once setled there , and raising a new minster for gods publike service , the people also followed after , and left old sarum to it self , which in short space became so totally deserted , that now the ruines of it are hardly visible . but for new salisbury , that grew up presently into great renown , plea●antly seated on the river , which watreth every street thereof , and for the populousnesse of the place , plenty of provision , a spacious market place , and a faire townhall , is esteemed to be the second city of all this tract . and which addes no small lustre to it , a place that hath been very fortunate in those eminent persons , on whom the kings of england have bestowed the title of earles of salisbury .   1 patrick d'evreux . 1168 2 wil. d'ev.     ✚ ✚ ✚   3 wil. long-espee , base son of k. h : 2 who married ella , daughter of wil. d● ev. 1225 4 wil. long-espee .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1333 5 wil. de montacute . * 1343 6 wil. de mont. 1396 7 iohn de mont. 1400 8 tho. de mont. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1428 9 rich. nevill , who married eleanor daughter of th. mont. l. ch. * 1460 10 rich. nevill , e. of warwick . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1472 11 geo. d. of clarence , who married isab. daugh . of rich. e. of war. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1477 12 edw. eldest son of k. rich. 3. and anne , the 2 daugh . of rich. nev.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1514 13 marg. daugh . of geo. d. of clar. cr . countesse of salis● . by k. h. 8.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1605 14 rob. cecil , visc , cranborn , cr . e. of salisb. 3 iac. may 4 , l. tr. * 1612 15 wil. cecil now e. of salisbury , and captain of the pensioners , 1641. * shrewsbvry . shrewsbury is the principall town in shropshire , called by our ancestors the saxons scrobbesbyrig , for that it was of old a very thicket of shrobs . a place that rose out of the ruines of old vriconium , seated not far off ; but grew not into any great request till the norman conquest . the town stands nea●ly on a hill , and is almost incompassed round by the river severn : that part thereof which is not fenced by the river , being fortified with a very strong castle built by roger de montgomery , the first e. hereof . a faire and goodly town it is , well traded and frequented by all sorts of people both welch & eng. by reason of the trade of cloth , and other merchandise ; this being the common mart or empory between wales & eng. it standeth in the very midst or center , as it were , of the whole county , which generally is inferiour unto none about it , for delight and plenty ; and for the number of townes and castles ' standing exceeding thick on every side ( as having formerly been a frontier-country ) very far above them . it belonged antiently to the cornavii , and presently on the norman conquest , was bestowed on roger de montgom . whom before i spake of , who and his successors , and since them the honorable family of the talbots , enjoyed the stile and title of earles of shrewsbury . 1067 1 rog. de montgomery . 1093 2 hugh de montg . 1098 3 rob. de montg .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1442 4 iohn talbot marsh. of france , cr . e. of shrewsbury by k. h. 6. * 1453 5 iohn talbot , l. tr. * 1460 6 iohn talbot . 1473 7 geo. talbot . * 1541 8 francis talbot . * 1559 9 geo talbot . * 1590 10 gilb. talbot . * 1616 11 edw. talbot . 1618 12 geor. talbot . 1630 13 iohn talbot , now e. of shrewsbury , 1641. somerset . somersetsh . antiently was inhabited by the belga . a country of a fertile soyle , hoth for corne and pasture , exceeding populous ●as comprehending in the whole 385 parish churches , whereof 33 are market towns ) & furnished also with commodious havens for trade and traffick . a country howsoever pleasant in the summer season ; yet in the winter time so deep & miery , that it is scarce passable ; from whence the people have a proverb , that it is bad for the rider , but good for the abider . yet in some parts the●eof , those specially which are towards wiltsh . it is both hilly and stony ; but in the bowels of those hils , particularly in those of mendip , they find rich veines of lead , to the great enriching of the country , and benefit to all the kingd . it took this name from somerton , once the most famous and considerable in all the county , now a small market town of no note nor credit , but for a faire of cattell which is kept there yearely ; in which respect ass●rius calls it , comitatum somertunensem , or somertonsh . but by the name of somerset it is now best known , and by that name hath given the honorary title of dukes , and earles to   1 wil. de de mohun , e.     ✚ ✚ ✚   2 wil. long-espee , e. of salisb. and somerlet .     ✚ ✚ ✚   3 reginald de mohun .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1396 4 iohn beaufort eldest son of iohn of gaunt by his 3 wife , e. 1409 5 henry beauf. 1419 6 iohn beauf. d. of somer . 1442 7 edm beauf. e. and d. 1454 8 hen. beauf. d. 1462 9 edm. beauf.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1499 10 edm. 3 son of k. h. 7.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1525 11 hen. fitz-roy , base son of k. h. 8. d. of somer . & rich.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1546 12 edw. seym , l. pro. of k. e. 6. d.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1614 13 rob. carre , visc. rochester , cr . e of somer . 12 iac. now living , 1641. sovthampton . southampton is the 2 town of hamp-shire , in bignesse and circuit , but not inferiour to the first for wealth and riches . a towne commodiously seated on an arme of the sea , and capable of ships of burden to the very keie ; the opportunity whereof hath made it very faire and populous , as having in it 5 churches for gods publique service , fenced with strong wals and a double ditch , and to secure the haven with a right strong castle , which now time hath ruined . it standeth on the banks of the river of anton , ( which rising about andover , runs here into the sea ) from whence it had the name of southampton and by that name hath given denomination to the whole countrey , though generally it be called hamp-shire . a country rich in all commodities , both of sea and land , and in the upper parts thereof , those which are farthest from the sea , of a very pure and excellent aire . it conteines in it 253 parishes , many of which have chappels of ease as big as parish ▪ besids those in the isle of wight , which is reckoned for a part of hantshire . to return back unto the town , which though it bee within the county , yet is a county in it self ( for which it stands beholding to k. h. 6. ) and both before and since hath been counted worthy to be the highest honourary title of dukes , and earles to 1067 1 beauvois of hampton , that famous soldier so much talked of .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1●27 2 william fitz-williams , lord adm. *   ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1547 3 thomas wriothe●●ey , lord chancellour , created earle of south . by k. edw. 6. * 1550 4 henry wriothesley . 1581 5 henry wriothesley . * 1624 6 thomas wriothesley now earle , 1641. stafford . staffordsh . apperteined antiently to the cornubii , a potent people in these parts , which afterwards by beda , were called angli mediteranei , or the midland englishmen . a countrey on the north part full of hils , and woods ; on the south , stored with coales and mines of iron ; and in the middle part where it is watred with the trent , bravely adorned with meadows , & faire fields of corn . it conteineth in it 120 villages with parish churches , the city , or episcopal see of lichfeild , & 12 other market towns , of which the chief is staff. on the river of owe ; the head town of the shire , which from thence taketh name . a town exceedingly beholding to the barons of staf. who were once lords hereof and were hence denominated : who both procured it to be made a burrough , with ample priviledges , by k. iohn , and also fenced it with a wall , save where it was secured by a large poole of water on the east and north. and on the other side , the town by way of thankfull retribution , honored that noble family with the stile of e. who were from hence entituled in their severall ages , earles , & lords and visc. of stafford . 1353 1 ralph stafford , e. * 1372 2 hugh staff. 1383 3 tho. staff.   4 wil. staff.   5 edm. staff. * 1403 6 hen. staff , d. of bucking . * 1444 7 hum. staff e. 1460 8 hen. staff. d. of buck. * 1486 9 edw. staff. d. of buck. * 1521 10 hen. staff. l.   11 edw. staff. l.   12 hen. staff. l. who dying an. 1639 the family of the staffords died also with him , and is quite extinguished . 1640 13 wil. how. knight of the bath , 2 son of tho. e. of arundel and surrey , having to wife a sister of the last l. staff. was by his majesty now being cr . visc. staff. in nov. 1640 , and is now living , anno 1641. stamford . stamford is the hithermost town of lincoln-sh . seated upon the river w●lland , by which it is there parted from northampton-sh . it standeth in that part thereof , which is called kesteven , of which it is the principall town a town well peopled and of great resort , conteining about 7 parish churches . but that wh●ch gives it most renown , is that upon some quarrell and contention between the southern and northern men in the vniversity of oxford , the scholle●s in the reign of king edw. 3 removed hither , and here held publiqueschooles of al sorts of learning . nor did they leave the place , or return again , untill they were commanded so to do by the kings proclamation , and thereupon it was ordeined in the vniversity , that the ●chollers in the taking of their degrees , should make oath , not to reade publiquely at stamford , to the prejudice of oxford . neverthelesse the town still flourished in trade and merchandise , and doth now give the title of an earle to 1628 hen. l. grey of groby , cr e. of stamf. 3 car. march. 26 , now living . anno 1641. strafford . strafford , or strasforth is the name of a wapontake , or hundred , in the west-riding of york-shire , and lieth on the south therof , where it abutteth on the counties of nottingham and darby . a territory of a large extent , conceived to be almost as big , as the whole county of rutland , and in it comprehending the good towns of sheafeld , rotheram , doncaster , and the honour of tickhil , besides many smaller villages and hamlets . the antient family of the wentworths , out of which cometh the earle of cleveland , have long flourished here , and have their seate at wentworth-wood house , and many a faire and large possession in this wapontake . in which consideration , it was selected purposely for the highest title of 1639 tho. visc wentworth , l. newmerch and ●versley , and l. deputy of ireland , cr . e. of stafford and baron of raby , with great solemnity at whitehall , 15 car. ian 12 , and shortly after l. lieut. of ireland . svffolk was antiently part of the iceni , and afterwards together with cambridg-sh . and norfolk , made up the kingdome of the east angles , of which this being the southerne part gave to the count. and the people both the name of southfolk . a very large and spacious countrey , conteining 575 parish . chur. of the which 28 are market townes , with many a safe and capacious haven . of those the most remarkable towards the sea , is ipswich , a very faire and spacious town , well peopled and well traded too : adorned with 14 churches for the service of god , & many a faire ▪ and goodly edifice for private use . that of most credit in the island is bury , or s. edmundsbury , heretofore famous for the abbey , valued at the suppression at 2336l . 16 s. per ann . a fine neat town , and much inhabited by the gentry , who resort thither from all parts of the countrey . as for the coun. it selfe it sheweth in every place most rich & goodly fields of corne , with grounds as battaille and rich for the feeding of cattell , wherof there is good plenty out of question , as may appeare by the great store of cheese here made and vented to the great commodity of the inhabitants , not only into all parts of eng. but spain , france and germany . long time it was , before the title of suffolk was conferred on any . but when the gapp was opened once , it hath been severally conferred on several families , who as they stood in grace and favour with their princes , attained the titles of dukes , marq. and earles of suffolk . 1335 1 rob. de vsford , e. * 1369 2 wil ▪ de vsford . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1385 3 mich. de la pole , l. ch. 1389 4 mich. de la pole. 1414 5 mich. de la pole.   6 wil. de la pole , first e. after mar. & at last d. of suff. * 1450 7 iohn de la pole , d. * 1491 8 edm. de la pole , e. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1513 9 char. brandon , d. of suff. l. great master . * 1545 10 hen. brandon .     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1551 11 hen. grey , marq ▪ dorset , married frances daugh . of ch. brandon , and was d. of suff. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1603 12 tho. l. how. of walden , cr . e. of suff. 1 iac. iuly 21 , l. tr. and ch. of camb * 13 theo. how. e. of suff. and l. warden of the cinque ports . * 1640 14 iames l. how. now e. 1641. svnderland . svnderland is a demy-island in the north-east part of the bishoprick of durham , over against the mouth of the river of were ; which being pulled a sunder from the land , by the force of the sea , hath the name of sunderland a place of no great note or reputation , till it was made the title of 1627 emanuel lord scrope of bolton and lord president of the north , created earle of sunderland , 3 car. iun. 19. mort sans issue . svrrey . svrrey and sussex antiently were inhabited by the regni , and afterwards made up the kingdome of the south-saxons . this lieth on the south of the river thames , whence it had the name ; the saxons calling that rea , which we call a river : and so from sutbrea , came the name of surrey . a countrey on the outward parts thereof very rich and fruitfull , especially on that side which is towards the thames , where it yeelds plenty both of corne and grasse ; but in the middle part , somewhat hard and barren . from whence the people use to say , that their countrey is like a course peece of cloth , with a fine list . and yet the middle parts thereof what they want in riches , they supply with pleasures , as being famous for good aire , and well stored with parks ; the downes affording excellent opportunity aswell for horse-races , as hunting . a country finally it is of no great quantity . and ye● conteines 140 parishes ( of the which 8 are market townes ) and amongst them the royall mansions of richmond , otelands and non●-such . the chiefe town of the whole is guilford , a fine neat town , seated on the declining of an hill toward the river mole , consisting of 3 parish churches ; which notwithstanding never gave title unto any , of lord , earle of higher . but that defect hath beene supplied by the whole body of the county , in the name of surrey , with which our kings have dignified these dukes and earles .   1 wil. de warren , e. 1088 2 wil. de war. 1138 3 wil. de war.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1148 4 wil. de blois son of k. steph. first husband of isa. de war.   ✚ ✚ ✚ 1164 5 hameline planta . base son of geo. e. of anjou , and halfe brother to k. h. 3 , 2 husband of isa. de war. 1202 6 wil , plantag . 1240 7 iohn plantag . 1305 8 iohn plantag . died 1347.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1347 9 rich. fitz-alan , e. if arund ▪ son of alice , sister and heire of ioh. plantag . 1375 10 rich. fitz-alan , l. tr.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1398 11 tho. holland , e. of kent , and d. of surrey . *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1461 12 iohn l. mowb. son of iohn lord mow. d. of nor. aft . d. of norf. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1475 13 rich. 2 son of k. edw. the 4 , d of york , and norf. & e. of sur. *     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1483 14 tho. how. l. tr. aft . d. of norf. * 1514 15 tho. how. l. tr. & d. of nor. * 1554 16 tho. how. e. marshall and d. of norf died 1572. * 1604 17 tho. how. grand●son of tho. d. of norf. now e. of arund . and sur. and e. marsh , 1641. * svssex . svssex is th● other part of the old possessions of the regnians after that of the south-saxons , from whom it took the name of suths●x . a country that lyeth all along the ocean in a goodly length , extending east and west above 60 miles ; and yet for all so long a coast hath very few havens , the shore being full of rocks and shelves , and the wind impetuous . the northerne parts towards kent & surrey are well shaded with woods , as was all the country heretofore , untill the iron works consumed them . the souther●e parts which are towards the sea , lying upon a chalke or marle , yeeld co●e abundantly ; with a delightfull intermixture of groves and meadows . it conteines in it to the number of 312 parishes , of which 18 are market towns . and amongst these the chief of note is chichester , of which we need say nothing here ▪ having spoke of it its proper place , amongst the bishopricks . it now rests only that i giv● you a compendious catalogue of the earles of sussex .   ● wil. de albeney , e. of arundell . 1178 2 wil. de alb. 1191 3 wil. de alb. 1199 4 wil. de alb. 1224 5 hugh de alb.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1243 6 iohn plantag . e. of surrey . 1305 7 iohn plantag . e. of sur.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1529 8 rob. radclyffe , vis● . fitz-walter , cr . e. of sussex by k. h. 8. 1542 9 hen. rad. ✚ 1559 10 tho. rad. l. ch. ✚ 1583 11 hen. rad. ✚ 1593 12 rob. rad. ✚ 1630 13 edw. rad. now e. of sussex , 〈◊〉 1641. thanet . thanet is a little island in the north-east of kent , environed on 3 parts by the sea , & towards the west , severed from the main-land of kent , by the river of stoure , which is here called yenlade . an island by solinus called athanatos , in some copies thanatos ; from whence the saxons had their thanet , famous as in other things , so in these particulars , that it was here the sax. landed when they came first for britani ; and that s. austin the monk here landed also , when he brought the gospel to the saxons . the whole about 8. m. in . leng . and 4 in brea . was reckoned then to hold about 600 families : and is now very populous for the bignesse , and very plentiful withall of all commodities necessary , but of cor● especially . the people generally are a kind of amphibii , and get their livings both by sea and land , being well skilled according to the year , aswel in stearing of a ship at sea , as holding of the plough at land ▪ & in both courses notably industrious . such is the isle of tha●et , which was to late times made the title of an earldome , in the persons of 1628 1 nico. l. tufton . cr . e. of thanet , 4. car. aug. 5.   2 iohn tuf . e. of thanet now living anno , 1641. totnes . totnes is a town in the southwest of devonshire , situate on the banks of the river of dert , about 6 miles from its influxe into the sea. an antient little town it is , and standeth on the fall of an hill , lying east and west . it hath a major for the chiefe magi●trate , and so hath had ever since the time of k. iohn ; and being a burrough town withall , hath a vote in parliament . the greatest reputation which it had in the former times , was that it gave the title of an arch-deacon , to one of 4 arch-deacons of the diocesse of exeter , who is hence called arch-deacon of totnes , and by that name george carew , d●ctor in divinity ( after deane of windsore , &c. ) subscribes the acts of convocation , a●●● 1536. which possibly may be the reason , why 162● george l. carew of clopton , son of the said george , desired , as hee enjoyed , the title of e. of totnes , unto the which he was advanced , 1 car. feb. mort ●a●●s issue . warwick . warwickshire heretofore was part of the cornavii , a country which for aire and soyle , wants nothing for the profit or pleasure of man. it is divided into two parts by the river . avon , that on the south side being cald the feldon , which yeelds good store of corn , and grasse , and makes a lovely prospect from the neighbouring hils ; that on the north being called the woodland , from the great plenty of woods which grew here formerly , but now grown thin enough by the making of iron . it conteineth in it 158 parishes and market towns ; of which the chief 〈◊〉 one exclude coventry as a county of it selfe ) is that of warwick , called by the romans antiently praesidium , from the garrison there , which name it still retaines in a different language . a town adorned with very faire houses , a strong and well compact stone bridge on the river avon , and two goodly churches : but the chief beauty of it heretofore , as now , is a most stately and magnificent castle ; which as it was of late repaired at the great cost and charges of sir fulk grevill , the late l. broks , who therein dwelt ; so was it anti●ntly the seat and abiding place of the dukes and earles of warwick . 1067 1 hen. de newburgh , e. 1123 2 rog. de new. 1153 3 wil. de new. 1183 4 waleran de new. 1200 5 hen. de new. 1233 6 tho. de new.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1242 7 iohn marsh. first husb . of margery sister and heire of tho. de new. 1243 8 iohn de plessetis , 2 husband of the said margery .     ✚ ✚ ✚   9 wale . de new. uncle and heire of the said margery .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1262 10 wil. mauduit , son of alice sister & heire of waleran .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1268 ●1 wil. beauchamp , son of the la. isa ▪ sister and heire of wil. maud. 1291 12 guido beauch . 1315 13 tho. beau. e. marsh. ✚ 1369 14 tho. beau. ✚ 1401 15 rich. beau. regent of fr. ✚ 1439 16 hen. beau. d. of warw.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1446 17 rich. nevill , who married anne , sister of hen. d. of warw.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1471 18 geo. d. of clarence , who married anne , daughter of rich. nevill , e. of warw. 1478 19 edw. plantag . son of george d. of clarence .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1547 20 iohn dudley , visc , lis. descended from the lady margaret , daughter of rich. beauchamp , e. of warw. ✚ 1562 21 amb. dudley .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1618 22 robert l rich of leeze , created earle of warwick , 16 iac. aug. 2.   23 rob. rich , now living , 1641. westmorland . westmorland was a part of the possessions of the old brigantes , and lyeth on the west of york●sh . from whence and from the mores , as they call them here ( that is , those barren heathy grounds , which are not tractable for corn ) it was named west-more-land . the ayre accounted sharp and piercing ; the soyle in most parts barren and unprofitable ; yet in the vales , which are neither large nor man● , indifferently fruitfull . so that the greatest profit and commodity , which here the people make unto themselves , is by the benefit and trade of cloathing . it containes in it only 26 parishes , which plainly shews that either the countrey is not very populous , or that the parishes are exceeding large , as ge●erally indeed they are , in these northerne parts ; 4 of those 26 are market towns , the chiefe of which next kendale ( which wee ●pake of formerly ) is called appleby , and passeth for the shire town or head of the countie . the viponts antiently , and by them the ●lyffords were the hereditary sherifs hereof ; which notwithstanding ▪ it pleased k. r. 2 , to adde unto the titles of the nevils of raby , the higher and more eminent stile of earles of westmorland . 1398 1 ralph nevill , l ▪ of raby , e. marsh. 1425 2 ralph nevill . 1484 3 ralph nevill .   4 ralph nevill . ✚ 1523 5 hen. nevill . 1564 6 charles nevill .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1624 7 francis fane , eldest son of mary la. despencer , descended from the nevils e. of westmorland , cr . e. of westmorland , 22 iac. dec. 29. 1628 8 mild may fane , now e. of westmorland , 1641. wiltshire . wiltsh , belonging to the relgae in the former times , took this new name from wilton , once the chief town of it ; like as it of the river willy , on the which it standeth . a region which as it breeds a race of hardy men , who in old time , with those of devonsh . & cornwal , chalenged the seconding of the main battaille in our eng. armies ; so is it very plentifull and fruitfull , and withall very pleasant and delightsome . the middle parts thereof , which they call the plaines , are most scant of corne ; but those plaines being large and spacious , & reaching round about to the horizon , do feed innumerable flocks of sheep , which bring as great commodity to the inhabitants by their fleece & wool , and the most gainefull trad of cloathing , as other parts that are more fertile . it contei●eth in it 304 parish ▪ & is traded in 19 market towns ; the chiefe and fairest are salisbury and marlborough , which before we spake of . wilton was formerly the principall , & here●ofore a bishops see , honored with the residence of 9 severall bishops : but by translating of the see of salisbury , and carrying thi●her therewithal the throughfare into the west countrey , which before was here , it fel by little and little to decay , and is now hardly worth the reputation of a poor market town , yet still it gives denomination to the country : as that the stile and honor to these earles of wiltshire . 1397 1 wil. l. scrope l. tr. ✚     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1458 2 iam. butler , e. of ormod , & l. t. ✚     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1470 3 iohn stafford 2. son on humf. d of buck. ✚ 1473 4 edw. staff. died , 1499. 1510 5 hen staff. 2 son of hen. d. of buck.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1529 6 tho. bollen , visc. rochf . father of the la. anne bollen .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1550 7 wil. pawlet , cr . after mar. of winchester , anno 5. edw. 6. 1571 8 iohn paw . 1576 9 wil. paw . 1598 10 wil. paw . 1628 11 iohn paw . now marq. of winche . and e. of wiltsh . anno 164● . winchelsey . winchelsey is a sea town in the east part of sussex , where it adjoyneth upon kent , accounted by a general error to be open of the cinq ports ; whereas indeed it is no cinq port , but a member of them , as ●hi● and feversham , and others are . a towne in former times of great strength and beauty , inclosed with strong wals , and a well placed rampier , for the defence thereof against forreign force : but the sea-shrinking from it by little and litle , brought the town by the like degrees into great decay , though still it beare the shew of a handsome town , and hath a blockhouse for defence raised by h. ● . but what it lost i● wealth , it hath got in honour , being advanced unto the reputation of an earld . in the names and persons of 1628 1 eliz. finch . visc. maidstone , cr , c. of winchel . 4. car. iuly 11. 1634 2 hen. finch , son of the said eliz. 1639 3 henneage finch , e. of winchelsey now living , 1641. winchester . winch . is the chief city of h●●psh . & heretofore the seat royal of the west-saxon k. by antonine and p●olomy called venta belgarum ; and then accounted the prime city of all the belgae , out of which venta , adding ceaster to it , ( according to their wonted manner ) the saxons hammered their vent-ceaster , and we our winchester . in these our dayes , it is indifferently wel peopled , and frequented , commodiou●ly seated in a valley betweene high steep hils , by which it is de●ended from cold and wind . it lyeth daintily on the banks of a pleasant river , str●tching somewhat in length from east to west , and conteineth about a mile and a halfe within the wals , besides ▪ the suburbs ; but much within the wals is desolate and altogether unbuilt . many things certainly thereare which may conduce unto the reputation of it , especially a beautifull and large cathedrall , a goodly and capacious palace for the bishops dwelling , which they call wolvescy house ; a strong and gallant castle bravely mounted upon an hill , with brave command on all the countrey ; a pretty neat colledge neare the wals , built and endowed by wil. of wickham , for a seminary to his other in oxford ; and not far off a very faire hospitall , which they call sain● crosses . and yet lest all this might not raise it high enough , our english monarchs have thought fit to dignifie these following persons with the stile and title of marq. and earles of winchester . 1207 1 sa●r de quincy , e. 1220 2 rog. de qum . died 1264.     ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ 1322 3 hugh despencer , 1326.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1472 4 lewys de bruges .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1551 5 wil. pawler , e. of wiltsh . and l. tr. cr . marq. of winch. by k. edw. 6. 1571 6 iohn paw . 1576 7 wil. paw . 1598 8 wil. paw . 1528 9 iohn paw . now marq. of winchest . and e. of wiltsh . anno 1641. worcestersh . is a part of the cornavii , once a great nation in these parts . a coun. of an aire so temperate , and a soyle so fortunate , that it gives place to none about her , for health and plenty . abundant certeinly it is in all kinds of fruits , and of peares especially ; wherewith , besides the use they have of them for the table , they make a bastard kind of wine , which they here call pirry , which they both sell and drink in great abundance . salt-pits it also hath in some parts thereof , and about powyck , and many places else good store of cherries : and every where well watred with delicious rivers , which afford great variety of fish . a country of no great extent for length and compasse , as not conteining above 152 parish churches , and amongst them 10 market towns . of these the principall is worcester , and gives denomination to the whole . a city delectably seated on the banks of severne ( which runneth quite through the county from north to south ) ever which it hath a faire bridg with a tower upon it : and thence arising with a gentle ascent , affordeth to the upper parts , a very goodly prospect in the vale beneath . a city every way considerable , whether you looke upon it in the situation , or in the number of its churches , or the faire neat houses , or finally on the inhabitants , which are both numerous and wealthy , by reason of their trade of cloathing , which doth there flourish very much . of the cathed ▪ here we have spoke before , and of the castle we shall now say nothing , as having nothing left of it but the name and ruines . all we shall adde is a briefe nomenclature of the earles of worcester . 1144 1 wal●ran . de beaumont .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1397 2 tho. percy , l. adm.     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1420 3 rich. bea●champ .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1450 4 iohn tiptoft , l. tr. and l. con. 1471 5 edw. tiptoft .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1514 6 char. somer . l. ch. cr . e. of worcester by k. h. 8. ✚ 1526 7 hen. som. l. herb.   8 wil. somerset . 1589 9 edw. som. master of the house , & l. privy s●ale . ✚ 1627 10 hen. som. now living , anno 1641. york . york-shire is past all peradventure the greatest county in england , conteining 70 miles in length from north to south , and 80 miles in bredth from west to east ; the circuit being above 300. in this great quantity of ground , are not above 563 parish churches , w●ich is no great number , but then withall there are great plenty of chappels of ease , equall for bignesse and resort of people , to any parish . elsewhere . the soyle is generally fruitfull in a very good measure . if that one part therof by stony and barren ground ; another is as fertile and as richly adorned with corne and pasturage : if here you find it naked and destitute of woods ▪ in other places you shal find it shadowed with most spacious forrests : if it be somwhere moorish , mirie and unpleasant ; elsewhere it is as beauteous and delightsome as the eye can wish . it is divided ordinarily into 3 parts , which according to the quarters of the world are called east-riding , west-riding , and north-riding ; richmondsh . ●omming in to make up the 4 , which is a part of york-sh . as before was said . the whole was antiently possessed by the brigantes , who were diffused all over those northerne parts , beyond the trent ; and for their capitall city had eboracum , seated upon the river vre which we now call ouse ) in the westriding of this county ; and by a later saxon name is now called york . this is the 2 city of all eng. both for fame and greatnesse ; a pleasant large and stately place , well fortified & beautifully adorned , as well with private as publike edifices , and rich and populous withall ; seated ( as e●st was said ) on the river ouse , which cutteth it , as it were , in twaine ; both parts being joyned together with a faire stone bridge , consisting of high and mighty arches . a city of great fame in the roman times , and of as eminent reputation in all ages since ; and in the severall turnes and changes , which have befallen this kingdome under the saxons , danes and normans , hath still preserved i●s antient lustre . adorned it was with an archiepiscopall see in the times of the britans ; nor stooped it lower when the saxons●eceived ●eceived the faith. rich. 2. laying unto it a little territory on the westside therof , made it a county of it selfe , in which the archbishops of york enjoy the rights of palatines . and for a further lustre to it , h. ● . ap . pointed here a councell for the governance of the northern parts , consisting of a l. pre. certaine councellors , a secretary and other officers . and yet in none of these hath york been more fortunate , than that it adorned so many princes of the imperiall line of germany and bloud royall of england , with the stile and attribute of dukes and earls of york . 1190 1 otho of baveria e. of york .     ✚ ✚ ✚ 1385 2 edm. of langley 5 son of k. edw. 3 e. of camb ▪ and d. of york . ✚ 1401 3 edw. planta . son of edm. of lang. e. of rutl. and d. of york . ✚ 1426 4 rich. planta . nephew of edm. of lang. by his son rich. e. of cam. d. of york . ✚ 1474 5 rich. of shrews . 2 son of k. edw. 4. d. of york . ✚ 1495 6 hen. 2 son of k. h. 7. after k. of e● . 1604 7 char. 2 son of k. iames , now the 2 monarch of gr. brit. ✚ 1633 8 iames , 2 son of k. charles , declared d. of york , by his royall father , and so instituted , but not yet created . finis . choice observations of all the kings of england from the saxons to the death of king charles the first collected out of the best latine and english writers, who have treated of that argument / by edward leigh ... leigh, edward, 1602-1671. 1661 approx. 405 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 121 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-08 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a50052 wing l987 estc r11454 12425741 ocm 12425741 61841 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a50052) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 61841) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 944:21) choice observations of all the kings of england from the saxons to the death of king charles the first collected out of the best latine and english writers, who have treated of that argument / by edward leigh ... leigh, edward, 1602-1671. [16], 221, [3] p. printed for joseph cranford ..., london : 1661. reproduction of original in bodleian library. index: p. [1]-[3] at end. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -kings and rulers. 2004-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-05 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2004-05 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion choice observations of all the kings of england from the saxons to the death of king charles the first . collected out of the best latine and english vvriters , who have treated of that argument . by edvvard leigh esquire , and master of arts of magdalen hall in oxford . london , printed for ioseph cranford , at the sign of the gun in st. pauls church-yard . 1661. to his sacred majesty charles the second , king of great-b●ittain , france and ireland . most gracious soveraigne ; i hope this dedication of these my collections concerning all the kings of england to your sacred majesty , from the first of them ( of whom there is any thing credible in story ) to the decease of your royall father , will not be interpreted either a fruit of ambition or over-bold presumption . i have had the honour formerly to dedicate books to very eminent societies and persons , but never to any so signally eminent and publike a person as your majesty . and should not have taken the confidence to have begun now , but that ( in regard of the argument i treat of ) i thought there was an obligation upon me ; and that of right such a work was to be presented onely to him , who is the just and unquestionable successour to all those kings i here mention . i finde it usuall with those who either wrote chronicles in generall , or the reigns of some particular princes , to inscribe the name of the king or prince then living to their works . i wish my observations were as choice , as the subject is sutable . since cadwallader , the last king of the britains , there was none born prince of great-britain but your majesty . hactenus anglorum nulli was therefore the motto on the medals made in memory of your birth-day the 29th of may 1630 , with three laurels upon them betokening three kingdoms . may your raign be as prosperous and happy , as your birth was glorious and * illustrious ; your deliverance by sea at your entrance into scotland , and your escape by land at worcester-fight , and after in england ; and your happy restitution to your kingdom , was wonderfull and conspicuous . kings have their regal titles and ornaments . to the kings of spain from the time of alphonsus king of castile , about 800 years agoe , for expelling the arians , was given the title of catholike , as michael ritius a neapolitan writeth . to the french king the title of most christian from the time of philip the emperour , about 400 years since , as recordeth nicol , gillius . to our king henry the 8th of england for his book of the sacraments against luther , pope leo the 10th gave the title , defender of the faith a , which his successors have since enjoyed , though in another sense than it was first intended . henry the 5th reigning amongst us , his subjects gave him the title of b grace . under henry the saint , the 6th , excellent was added to grace : under henry the 8th the acclamation of majesty began ; a little after excellent majesty , most excellent , and at last sacred majesty , which now is generally used . c kings are crowned , enthronized , and anointed ; the crown was a sign of a military dominion ; the throne of sedentary or judiciall ; the oyl of religious and sacred power . a king by vertue of his kingly office hath two things to perform ; 1. to govern , 2. to defend . his governing also divideth it self into two branches ; first , to direct , secondly , to recompence . he directeth , by appointing what shall be done and forborn of all his subjects in his jurisdiction . he recompenceth or requiteth , by punishing those which disobey the laws , with such punishments as himself thinketh good to appoint , and to signifie to them in his penalties by which he ratifieth his laws ; and by rewarding those which keep the laws , with such rewards as he seeth fit to specifie in his statutes , and in generall , by making them partakers of the wealth , peace , quietness and happiness of his government . he defendeth his subjects against the hostility of open enemies , and the injuries of their fellow-subjects . it was an excellent speech of henry the great , king of france , your grand-father by the mothers side ; when i was born there were a thousand other souls more born , what have i done for god more than they ? learned king iames your grand-father by the father , in his book dedicated to prince henry , would have him to remember , that he differed not in stuff , but in use , from the rest of the people ; and that by gods ordinance . kings as well as others are bound to read the scriptures , deut. 17. 18 , 19 , 20. and some think that book of the kings and chronicles especially worthy their diligent perusall : others would have them study well the 101 psalm . next the scriptures , ecclesiasticall history is to be preferred ; some highly commend polybius as usefull for kings to read ; and causabon dedicating it to henry the 4th king of france , much magnifieth that book , and likewise the reading of history in generall . the chronicles and annals of their own predecessors , surely must needs be both delightfull and profitable for them . your majesty may observe many things in them well worthy imitation : in learned and valiant alfred , how thriftily he spent his time , how he encouraged learning and learned men ; in little edgar , great canutus ; william the conquerour ; the many worthy henries and * edwards ; your own wise grand-father and father of happy memory . yet in the whole series of the kings and queens of england ( as others have made severall parallels of some of our english kings ) i have not found a fitter parallel in every respect for your majesty than queen elizabeth . i will not speak of her skill in the modern languages , and how she often answered embassadors her self , nor how gracious and gentle a princess she was to her very enemies ; wherein your majesty is not unlike to her. what troubles and hazards did she undergo , before she came to the crown ? with what joyfull and generall acclamations was she received into this metropolis ? i need not apply this to your majesty , it s sufficiently obvious to every vulgar capacity how you agree herein . after her coronation , being presented with a bible , as she passed by the little conduit in cheapside , she received the same with both her hands , and kissing it said ; that it had ever been her chief delight , and should be the rule by which she meant to frame her government . your majesty in your entring into the city , at the presentment of the bible to you by the reverend london ministers , used this speech , worthy to be written in gold ; i thank you for this book above all other gifts , and assure you , i shall make it my first care to set up gods worship and service ; this is the book must guide us all ; and i will make it the rule of my life and reign . queen elizabeth was a couragious and stout spirited princess . in 88 , when the spaniard was coming , she went to the army at tilbury-camp , riding with a truncheon or baston in her hand to the severall companies , and by her presence and speech encouraged both commanders and souldiers , saying to them as i have heard ; if her brother philip came , she would give fire to the first piece against him : i might alledge the testimony of your greatest enemy , in confirmation of your majesties valour at worcester-battle . kings bear a double image of god , as they are men and as they are magistrates . the scripture saith ; those which rule over men should be just , ruling in the fear of god. one a saith ; they should labour to be more religious and pious toward god than ordinary persons , because of the great need they have of his illumination in their counsels , of his conduct in their enterprises , of his force in their executions , and of his provident care in their various occurrents , dangers & difficulties . the kings seat was so set in the temple , that all might see him there , ezek. 46. 10. 2 chron. 6. 12 , 13. 2 king. 11. 14. & 23. 3. that by his example the devotion of his people might be stirred up . god having done such great things both abroad and at home for your majesty , expecteth great things from you . i shall humbly implore the almighty , that he would so guide you in all your wayes , that you may make his interest your great interest , by reforming what is amiss in court and kingdom , by promoting his pure worship , encouraging the power of godliness , and all such as walk according to scripture-rule , are peaceable , and hold the fundamentals ; by discountenancing atheisme , errour , and profaneness , the fruits of abused peace and prosperity , altering the old speech for the better , — exeat aula qui vult esse pius ; into impius . so shall white-hall answer its name , and your majesty approve your self to be , what your father desired , charles the good , which is the earnest prayer of your majesties most humbly devoted and loyall subject edward leigh to the curteous and candid reader . reader : i here present thee with choice observations of all the kings of england . i suppose the subject will not be unpleasing to an englishman , if the work be answerable to the title . i have excerped my materials out of the best latine writers ; the monks ( to whom we are especially beholding for the history of our kings of england ) and chiefest english chroniclers and annalists , and such as have written of a few , or any one of our english princes . bedes historia gentis anglorum , set out by wheelock , of whom petavius in his history of the world , lib. 8. cap. 4. saith thus , bede made his brittain famous with no lesse godlinesse and learning than history , who even unto the year 735 hath concluded the christian beginnings of that nation . rerum anglicarum scriptores post bedam praecipui , in latine in folio , set out by sr henry savill , containing the history of gulielmus malmesburiensis , henry huntington , roger hoveden and others . anglica , normannica , hibernica , cambrica , a veteribus scripta , in latine also in folio , put out by camden . matthew paris his works , set out by dr watts , who is a faithfull historian , and hath written the reigns of the first seven kings after the conquest . of the english chroniclers , speed , martin , and baker seem to be the best . voluminous hollingshead , stow and how are not much esteemed by the learned . sr john hayward hath written well of the three norman kings , and edward the sixth , he hath written briefly also of henry the eourth . godwin of henry the eighth , edward the sixth , and queen mary , and also of the bishops of england , in latine and english. sr robert cotton of henry the third , habington of edward the fourth , sr thomas more of richard the third , both in latine and english , and buck , my lord bacon excellently of henry the seventh , my lord herbert of henry the eighth , camden annals of queen elizabeth , and dr heylin ( as is said ) of king charles the first . history is both pleasing and profitable , especially the memorable things of all our own kings and governours , who have for so many years raigned amongst us . examples of superiours especially are very prevalent , which of the rulers believed in him * one a saith , if king edward the sixth had lived a little longer , his only example had bred such a race of worthy learned gentlemen , as this realm never yet did afford . here are examples of all sorts , good and bad , to be followed and eschewed . some loose , vain , and licentious ; others learned , wise , valiant , minding the publick welfare of the nation . the pope could but little prevaile here in england , during the raign of king edward the third , and richard the second . henry the eighth cast him out then , when he had too great power and command over other princes . as he cast out the pope , so did his children edward * the sixth , and queen elizabeth cast out popery out of england , and so freed us from his spirituall bondage , as the other did from his temporall may their memory be therefore still precious amongst us , as the reformation we enjoy chiefly by their means , is a singular blessing . let him be accounted our english josias , and her our english deborah , on whom those verses were made , spains rod , romes ruine , netherlands relief : earths joy , englands gem , worlds wonder , natures chief . prince henry likewise , eldest son to king james , was a virtuous and hopefull prince , had he not been taken away in the flower of his youth , he would ( its thought ) have much opposed the pope and spaniard . i have read somewhere of him , that he would not swear , no , not at his sports and recreation ; and being demanded the reason t●ereof , he said , they were not of that weight , as to draw an oath from him . i hope therefore this nation , having had such worthy princes , and not being ignorant of the slavery they formerly indured , when the pope called england his ass , will never be so foolish , as to turn back again into egypt . as long as mr foxe his martyrology is so common to be read , eighty eight , and the fifth of november are so fresh in our remembrance , let us valew the losse of rome here amongst us , no more than that emperour honorius did , of whom zonaras a writes , that he had a hen called roma , and it being told him rome was last , he was troubled , and said , she was here even now , yea said the other , the hen is here , but the city is lost , he was then well pleased . our countriman beda hath prophetically expounded that roman s. p. q. r. of our englishmen travelling to rome , stul●us populus quaerit roman . though perhaps in some b cases , one may go too far from rome ; yet since some of our bishops formerly have written well against antichrist , and others have made the pope to be antichrist ; and since also the iesuites are still busie amongst us , i wish there may be no unwarrantable compliance either with the romish doctrine or rites . thomas lever ( who preached before king edward the sixth , and escaped the fury of queen maries dayes ) is commended by bullinger , in his epistle to hooper . he was the first setled constant preacher at the temple , c father lever , for so by my father and others , i alwayes heard him stiled . mr gatakers discourse apologeticall against lilie . i have two sermons of his , preached in the same year at pauls 1550 , one in pauls church , the other at the cross , st thomas chaloner was ordinary embassadour from queen elizabeth into spain almost four years , ubi ( saith camden ) de republica ang●icana instauranda terso & erudito carmine quinque libros composuit , dum ut ille dixit , hieme in furno aestate in horreo degeret ; which is thus englished by one darcie , who first ( after a fashion ) translated camden into english , though it be better rendred since . st tho. chaloner wrote a book whilst he was in spain , which he entitled , hieme in furno aestate in horreo , not so jolly an inscription , as that libell intituled , the arraignment of persecution , &c. printed for bartholmew bang-priest , and are to be sold at his shop in tolleration-street , at the sign of the subjects liberty , right opposite to persecution court , 1645. i remember i have heard a story of a valiant man , that thus answered one inquiring after his name and lodging : my name is dangerfiel'd , i lye at the sign of the sword and buckler , over against the bleeding-heart , in gunpowder allie : but too much of this . i hope this book with the other already out , will give some light to the knowledge both of the kings and kingdome of england , in confidence whereof , i rest thy hearty well-wisher edward leigh . choice observations of all the kings of england , from the saxons , to the death of king charles i. chap. i. england was five times plagued by other nations : first , by the romans : then by the scots and picts : thirdly , by the saxons : fourthly , by the danes : fifthly , by the normans . the nation of the saxons was generally most warlike and martiall . they gave unto those saxons their first original , who now inhabite the dukedome of saxony . they left very few cities , towns , villages , rivers , woods , fields , hils or dales in brittain , which they gave not new names unto . as the name of oxford , or oxenford , on the river of thames , after the town of like name in germany , situated on the river of oder . our hereford near unto wales , after her●ord in westphalia . and so in like manner may be said of stafford , swinford , bradford , norden , newarke , bentham , oxenbridge , buchurst , sconethorp , holt , mansfield , swinefield , hamsteed , radcliffe , rosendale , and many more . after that these nations had now gotten sure sooting in the possession of brittain , they divided it into seven kingdoms , and established an heptarchy ; in which notwithstanding the prince which had the greatest power , was called king of the english nation : so that in this very heptarchy there was alwayes monarchy . the saxon government is usually divided into the heptarchy , monarchy . in the heptarchy are these seven petty kingdomes : 1. kent . 2. sussex . 3. east sax. 4. east angles . 5. mercia . 6. northumberland . 7. west sax. in kent with hengist the first invader , seventeen or eighteen are said to raign . south sax from ello to adhamus had about ten kings , of which adlewolf was first christened . east sax from er●hwin to swithred had thirteen kings , whereof sigby the third was first baptized . the east angles had fourteen kings . mercia twenty kings . christianity was first received by penda , that founded peterborough , as ethebald did the monastery of crowland , and ossa of st. albans . northumberland about twenty foure kings . west saxon nineteen kings . chap. ii. hengist . vvhen he first arrived in england , he was a goodly young gentleman , under the age of thirty yeares , and of an excellent wit : he was brought up in the service of the emperour valentinian the third , and last of that name . verstegan . he deserveth to be reputed the first monarch of the english nation . non minus acer ingenio , quam alacer in praelio . malmesburiensis de gestis regum anglorum . he sailed out of holland into brittain ; he built the castle of leiden in holland . the saxons had only the isle of thanet first given them , where they first landed . hengist after obtained of king vortiger , the property of so much ground , as he could enclose with a buls hide : which cutting into thongs , he there built the castle called thong-castle , by sittingbourine in kent . why our first progenitors hengist and horsa took their names of an horse ( for both their names in the saxon tongue do signifie an horse ) surely i know not , unless it were for a fore-token of their warlick prowess , according to that verse of virgil. bello armantur equi , bella haec armenta minantur . l. 3. aineid . hengist and horsus , brittains harmes , their ens●gnes signing both their names , the saxon horse their armes , brave warriours hither came . slatyers palae-albion ode 7. p. 157. krantzius in hist. saxon. l. 2. telleth us , that the saxon-princes in germany before they became christians , gave a black horse for their escutcheon ; but being baptized , a white horse ; with reference haply to rev. 6. 2. the saxons to the number of nine thousand , came in certain long vessels they called keeles , with their leaders , two brothers , hengist and horsa , nobly descended ; whose ensign , as it was an usuall and honourable device of antiquity , alluding to their names , their banner being a white or silver horse , in a field gules ; arms which the noblest families of saxons , and others thence descended , have born . they were not all one people , but consisted of three severall nations , viz. the angles , the iutes , and the saxons ; but they were all the inhabitants of some part , or other of denmarke . ays●u . he raigned thirty four yeares . chap. iii. ella . the first king of the south-saxons , and second monarch of the english men . he raigned six yeares . cherdik . the first king of the west-saxons , and third monarch of the english men . he raigned twenty one yeares . kenrik . the second king of the west-saxons , and fourth of the english men . he raigned twenty six yeares cheuline . the third king of the west-saxons , and fifth monarch of the english men . he raigned thirty one yeares . ethelbert . the fifth and first christian king of kent , and the sixth monarch of the english men . he was eminent for first receiving the christian faith , brought from rome by austin , and for converting ●ebert king of the east-angles to christianity , and assisting him in building st. pauls in london , and st. peters in westminster . that the christian religion was here in brittain before the coming of austin the monk , may be proved out of beda , who maketh mention of brittish bishops , but nameth none of them . hist. ang. l. 2. c. 2 eusibius in vità constantini l. 3. c. 18. saith that this country was christian three hundred yeares before . mr saller in his rights of the kingdome , saith , the first times of christian religion here , were much higher then austin the father , who might have been great grandfather to austin the monk. he brought the lawes of his country into their own mother-tongue , and left nothing unattempted , which might advance the glorious gospel of christ. he built st. augustines , a goodly church in canterbury . he built also st. pauls church in london : and st. andrews in rochester . he died in the three and twentieth year of his monarchy , and the fifty sixth of his kingdome of kent . redwald . the third king of the east-angles , and seventh monarch of the english men . of this redwald cambden reporteth out of bede , that he was baptized ; and that ( to make sure , as he thought , of the right way of worship ) he had in the same temple one altar for christian religion , and another for sacrifice to devils . he raigned eight yeares , and was king of the east-angles thirty one . edwine . the great king of northumberland , and the eighth sole monarch of the english men . he was slain in battell by penda and cadwallo the seventh year of his monarchy , the seventeenth of his kingdome . he lived fourty eight yeares . oswald . king of northumberland , and the ninth monarch of the english men . he was a religiou● king , and took such care for the co●version and salvation of his subject● , that he sent into scotland for aid , and a christian bishop to instruct his northumbrians in the gospel of truth . mira fuit in homine sanctitas , mirum pietatis studium , nulli unquam malum pro malo reddidit , sed christi regis summi exemplum imitatus , ijs etiam bene precabatur , beneque voleba● , à quib●●s accepisset injurias . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 4. p. 82. he left the name to oswalster in shropshire . of this oswald ( as also of stephan king of hungary ) it is storied , that their right hands though dead , never putrified , because they had been much exercised in almes-deeds . bed. hist. angl. l. 3. c. 6. bonsinius . quis suit alcides ? quis caesar julius , aut quit magnus alexander ? alcides se superasse fertur , alexander mundum , sed julius hostem . se simul osuualdus , & mundum vicit , & hostem . he died in the 23. year of his monarchy , and the 56. of his kingdome of kent . oswy . king of northumberland , and the tenth monarch of the english men . he was brother to edwin and oswald . he founded the cathedrall church in litchfield , for a bishops see. upon an occasion oswin humble ● himself before the holyman adrian , who upon sight thereof wept , and gave this reason of his weeping , i know this king will not live long ; and this reason of his reason , for i never before this saw an humble king. he lived fifty seven yeares , and raigned the space of twenty ei●ht yeares . wulphere . the sixth king of the mercians , and the eleventh monarch of the engl●●● men . he becoming a ●hristian destroyed all those tem●les , wherein his heathen gods had been worshipped , converting them all into christian churches , and religious monasteries . he raigned king over the mercians seventeen yeares , and monarch of the english fuily four . ethelred . the seventh king of mercia , and twelfth monarch of the english. a modest prince , which loved better to preserve then to encrease his power by arms. he raigned above thirty yeares . kenred . the eighth king of mercia , and the thirteenth monarch of the english men . he raigned in peace four yeares ; then weary of government , and desirous of contemplation , be sought a more private and religious life ; and thereupon appointing ●helred his cosen-germane to rule in his place , in the fifth year of his raign , abandoned his kingdome and country , and departed to rome , and in a monastery in that city was made monk. chelred . the ninth king of the mercians , and the fourteenth monarch of the english. he had got as great reputation of military valour , as any prince of his time , if he had not died so soon . he raigned only seven yeares . ethelbald . the tenth king of the mercians , and the fifteentth monarch of the english. a peaceable prince , but was over amorous . boniface the archbishop of mentz , an englishman by nation , sent an epistle to him . this is one passage in it . quapropter , ●●li charissime , paeniteat te & memora quam turpe sit , ut tu , qui multis gentihus dono d●● dominaris , al injuriam ejus sis libidinis servus . the epistle is full of good counsell to be seen in malmesbury . he ruled forty two yeares . offa. the eleventh king of the mercians , and the sixteenth monarch of the english men . he was a warlike prince , and for the most part fortunate . he built a church in warwickeshire , where the adjoyning town from it and him , beareth the name off-church , and caused a great ditch to be made , large and deep from sea to sea , betwixt his kingdome and wales , whereby he might the better defend his country from the incursions of the welsh men . and this ditch is to be seen in many places as yet , and is called offas ditch at this day . lords history of wales . the ditch began at the river dee by bassing-werke , between che●ter and ruthlan , and ran along the hils sides to the south-sea a little from bristow , reaching above a hundreth miles in length . id. the description of wales . he first gave the peter-pence to rome , and was himself at the length shorne a monk. he raigned thirty nine yeares . egfrid . the twelfth king of the mercians , and the seventeenth monarch of the english. he re-establisht the priviledges and liberties of all the churches which his father had supprest . he raigned only four moneths ; he was taken away by sudden death in the hundreth fourty first day after his fathers decease . kenwolfe . the thirteenth king of the mercians , and the eighteenth monarch of the english men . at home he was an example of piety , peace , justice , and religion : abroad temperate , humble , and courteous , without vain ostentation , or ambitious conceits . in warres he was stout and victorious ; in peace studious to enrich his subjects : he carried himself so at all times , that envy could not touch him with her tongue . bede dedicateth his ecclesiasticall history to him . he raigned twenty two yeares . chap. iv. of the saxons that reigned sole kings of this island . 1. egbert raigned thirty seven years . 2. ethelwulf ( the son of egbert ) twenty years . 3. ethelbald ( the eldest son of ethelwulf ) five years . 4. ethelbert ( the second son of ethelwulf five years . 5. ethelred ( the third son of ethelwulf ) five years . 6. alfred ( the youngest son of ethelwulf ) five years . 7. edward ( sirnamed the elder ) twenty three years . 8. aethelstane ( the eldest son of edward ) sixteen years . 9. edmund ( the second son of edward ) six years . 10. edred ( the youngest son of edward ) nine years . 11. edwin ( the elder son of edmund ) four years . 12. edgar ( the younger son of edmund ) sixteen years . 13. edward : ( the elder son of edgar ) forty years . 14. ethelred ( the younger son of edgar ) thirty seven years . 15. edmund ( the son of ethelred ) in whose time the danes possessed the greatest part of england . egbert . the eighteenth king of the west-saxons , the nineteenth , but first sole and absolute monarch of the english men . upon report of the death of britic , he with great speed returned out of france , where ( during the time of his abode ) he had served with good commendation in the warres , under charles the great ; by meanes whereof ( his reputation encreasing among his own country-men ) he was thought worthy of the government , before he obtained it . he first gave this kingdom the name of england . he ordained by publick edict , that the heptarchy possessed by the saxons , should be called thence forward the land of the english , whence the latines took also their name anglia , and the french that d' angleterre . there were three hundred years from king egbert unto william the conquerour . he raigned over the west-saxons thirty six years and seven moneths , and monarch of the whole island seventeen . ethelwulfe . the nineteenth king of the west-saxons , and the twentieth monarch of the english men . he being once himself nuzled in that order , was alwayes good and devout to religious orders . he was so well learned and so devout , that the clerks of the church of winchester did choose him in his youth to be their bishop , which function he took upon him , and was bishop of winchester for seven years before he was king. the history of cambria by lhoyd , augmented by doctor powell p. 32. a monk , a deacon , and a bishop , yet elected king , because they could not finde a fitter person for the crown . necessitate cogente factus est rex , roger hoveden . he ordained that tythes and church-lands should be free from all taxes and regall services . ethelwolphus rex omnium historicorum consensu & fide praestantissimus , nec pietatis magis quàm rerumoptimé gestarum laude celebri● & illustris . anti sanderus dialogo secundo . polyd. virgil in the fifth book of his english history saith of king alfred : atqui neotum inprimis monas●icae professionis virum sanctissimum , ob eximiam eruditionem , miro amore complexus est , quo hortante , oxonij gymnasium instituit , proposita mercede omnibus . his second son by his queen iudith , daughter of charles the bald emperour , king of france , neote , was much addicted to learning , and was one of the first divinity readers in the university of oxford . he was interred in the county of huntington , at a place then called arnulphsbury , and afterwards in regard of his interment st. neots , and now st. needes . this king was famous for having four sons , who all of them were kings of this land successively . he raigned twenty years , one moneth , and nine dayes . ethelbald . the twentieth king of the west-saxons , and the twenty first monarch of the english men . he took iudith his stepmother to be his wife ; this prodigious incest was soone punished by his untimely death . he raigned five years . ethelbert . the one and twentieth king of the west-saxons , and the two and twentieth monarch of the english men . the first christned prince of all the saxon nation . omnium anglo-saxonum regum christi nominis primus hospes . twini comment . de rebus brittanicis . his name signifieth nobly-conceited or advised , or of noble conceit or advisement . verstegan . he raigned over the kentish-south , and east-saxons ten years , and was monarch of the whole only five . ethelred . the two and twentieth king of the west-saxons , and the twenty third monarch of the english men . great was the valour of this king ; for in his short time of raign , as malmesbury and other writers record , he fought no less than nine set battels against the danes in one year , in most of them victorious . at wintburne in darset-shire there is this epitaph written on his tomb. in hoc loro quiescit corpus s. ethelredi regis west-saxonum martyris , qui anno domini dccclxxii . xxiii . aprilis per manus danorum pag●norum occu●●uit . he raigned in great trouble five years , saith malmesbury . chap. v. alfred , aelfred , or alvred . the twenty third king of the west-saxons , and twenty fourth monarch of the english men . he was the first annointed king of england , as glorious for his most excellent laws , transcendent justice and civil government , as for his martiall exploits , victories , and for his incomparable piety and extraordinary bounty to the clergy and learned men . of his great memory when he was young , vide asserium de aelfredi rebus gestis . he was accounted a good grammarian , rhetorician , philosopher , musician , and poet. his raign began with troubles and warres , in defence of the land which the pagan danes intended to destroy ; and though his powers were small , yet was he forced into the field within one moneth after his coronation . he fought no less than forty six bloudy battels ( saith spelman ) with the danes by land and sea , for his countries liberties . vir in bell● per omnia strenuissimus . asserius . he was once brought to that extremity , that he was forced to leave his companies , and lurk in somerset-shire marshes . the solitary place of his most residency , was an island inclosed with two rivers thane and parret , at their meetings in the county of somerset , commonly called edeling se● , where he in very poor attire disguised , was entertained into a cow-heards service , where on a time as he sate by the fire in trimming of his bow and sha●ts , a cake of dough baking on the hearth before him , chanced to burn ; the cowheardess coming in , and seeing him minde his bow more than his bread , in a great ●ury cast away both his bow and arrowes , and checking him said , thou fellow dost thou see the bread burn before thy face , and wilt not turn it , and yet art thou glad to eat it before it be half baked ? of the naturall dayes twenty four hours , eight he allotted for devotion and contemplation , eight for refection and recreation , and the eight remaining for matters of the commonwealth . iulius caesar having spent the whole day in the field about his military affairs , divided the night also for three severall uses , one part for his sleep , a second for the commonwealth and publike business , the third for his studies . peacham . he translated gregories pastorals , b●les history , and boethius de consolatione philosophiae into the saxon tongue , and began to do the like with davids psalmes . in divinis libris & sacra lectione tam assiduus erat , quod davidicum psalterium , vel aliquem alium librum aedisic●●torium in sinu suo semper ferret ; & viros literatissim●s de terris exteris ad se accersens , aliquandiu in palatio suo secum pro sacris literis addiscendis retentos , demum diversis praelatiis & dignitatibus premoveret . ingulphi historia p. 870. vide plura ibid. & p. 871. he restored the decayed university of oxford , by fixing therein a colledge , ( now bearing the name of vniversity-colledge ) and annexed ample maintenance unto it . he divided his kingdome into shires , hundreds and tithings , for the better ordering and administring of justice , and for the abandoning of theeves , which had formerly encreased by the meanes of long warres ; whereby notwithstanding the multitude of souldiers continually imployed , it is reported that a virgin * might travell alone in his dayes through all his dominions , without any violence offered ; and that bracelets of gold were hanged in the high wayes , and no man so hardy as to take them away . william the first so well provided for execution of justice upon offenders , that a young maiden well charged with gold , might travell in any part of the realm , without any offer of injury unto her . hayw. he permitted none in office in court , or elsewhere , unless he were learned , which incited his nobles to the earnest pursuit of learned arts , and to train up their children in good letters . he caused all former lawes to be surveyed , and made choice of the best , which he translated into the english tongue . he begins his lawes with a religious majesty , loquutus est dominus ad mosem hos sermones , &c. and cites all the decalogue . abbot ethelred gives this encomium of his lawes , leges christianissimas & scripsit , & promulgavit , in quibus fides ejus & devotio in deum , sollicitudo in subditos , misericordia in pauperes , justitia circa omnes cunctis legenti●us patet . he had so great a love to learning , that he made a law , that all freemen of the kingdome , possessing two hides of land , should bring up their sons in learning , till they were fifteen years of age at least , that so they might be trained to know god , to be men of understanding , and to live happily . he bestowed the sixth part of his riches and rents , upon the poor strangers of the countrey , and sent every year little less to forraign churches without the realm . dalechamps christian hospitality . c. 3. he was very learned , a quality rare in his time ; and as solomon , alexander the great , iulius caesar , augustus , and our charlemagne , ( saith andre du chesne ) he joyned learning and valour , and was clement , liberall , pious and devout , and adorned with all royall vertues and endowments . i may in some respects compare him with almansor , the learned and victorious king that conquered spain . he was at fifteen years so skilfull in the seven liberall sciences , that they who were the most learned in them , spake of them in his presence with much fear and bashfulness ; for at every other word he corrected the imperfections which proceeded out of their ignorance . at the five and twentieth year of his age , he spake eleven languages , reading and writing them as perfectly as the very naturals themselves . he divided the dayes of the week after this manner . the friday for matters of his religion , in which he was very devout . the saturday for matters of justice . the sunday for matters of warre . the munday for the government of his kingdomes . the tuesday and wednesday for his recreations and private affairs . and the thursday for matters of learning . he chastised theeves so severely , that none durst take any thing from other , neither in city , nor in countrey ; as well in deserts , as in peopled place● . and in so great awe they were of him , that if any one had lost ought in the street , or market-place , none durst meddle therewith , otherwise than to leave it at the next shop , and cause it to be cryed , till the owner were found , to whom it was to be restored . none ever ●ought for alms or succour at his hands , whether he were moor , christian , or jew , that went away unrelieved . he was worthily called the conquerour , being never overcome . he won eighty six battels by sea and by land ; and took five kings , subdued three parts of the world , asia , africke , and europe . his life and death by ashley . alfred's arms are to be seen in the publike hall of university-colledge in oxford . the archdeacon of huntington speaking of the continuall travail he had during his raign , relates these verses of him . nobilitas innata tibi probitatis honorem , armipotens aelfrede dedit , probitasque laborem ; perpetuumque labor nomen , cui mixta dolori gaudia semper erant , spes semper mixta timori . si modo victor eras , ad crastina bella pavebas , si modo victus eras , ad crastin● bella parabas : cui ve●tes sudore jugi , cui ●●eca cruore tincla jugi , qu●●ntum s●t onus regnare , probarunt . non fuit immensi quisquam per climata mundi , cui tot in adversis vel respirare liceret , nec tamen aut ferro contritus , poncre ferrum , aut gladio potuit vitae finisse labores . iam post transactos vitae , regnique dolores christus ei sit vera quies , sceptrumque perenne . he raigned twenty seven years say some ; twenty eight saith powell , the writer of his life . ingulphus saith he died in the twenty ninth year of his raign . chap. vi. edward the elder . the twenty fourth king of the west-saxons , and twenty fifth monarch of the english men . fuit edwardus forma eximia , ac per omnes aetatis gradus decentissima . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 6. before the conquest of the normans , there were in england three edwards , 1. this edward the elder ; 2. edward the martyr ; 3. edward the confessor . we have had more kings of england of this name , than of any other ; nine in all , three before the conquest , and six after it . verstegans etymology of our saxon proper names . henry , the name of seven emperours of germany ; eight kings of england , four kings of france , four kings of castile . phillips his new world of english words . he was heir apparent to his father alfreds valour and vertues , as well as to his crown . some say he was the great iustinian of our nation . our laws being suppressed by the danish kings , were revived and reinforced in the time of edward the confessor ; whence they had the name of edward the confessors laws . he raigned in great warres and honour the space of twenty four years . so henricus huntingdoniensis saith , paternum regnum tenuit 24. annis . ethelstan or adelstan . the twenty fifth king of the west saxons , and the twenty sixth monarch of the english men . he was crowned at that kingly town kingston . in regia villa , in regem levatur . rog. de hoveden . he began his kingdome with war , and ended in peace and tranquillity . he was the worthiest prince ( saith lhoyd ) of saxon bloud , that ever raigned . being seduced by the bad counsell , and false suggestions of one of his favourites , he banished his brother edwin unjustly , commanding him to be sent to sea , with only one servant , and in a boat without oar or sail , wherein he perished . his cup-bearer after in his service upon festivall , stumbled with the one foot , and recovering himself with the other , pleasantly said , you see how one brother helpeth another ; upon which speech , the king with grief and touch of heart , called to mind the death of his innocent brother , occasioned by his wicked counsell , and forthwith commanded execution to be done on him the procurer ; and himself was ever after more tender and carefull toward his other brethren . leyland in his new years gift to king henry the eighth , reckons him amongst other learned men of the kings progenitors . the chiefest of his works for the service of god , and good of his subjects , was the translation of the bible into the saxon tongue , ( which was then the mother-tongue of the land ) out of the hebrew . of this work leyland also speaks in the work before-mentioned . his laws are mentioned by lambard in his saxon laws . he raigned in great honour the space of fifteen years , and odd moneths . edmund . the twenty sixth king of the west saxons , and twenty seventh monarch of the english men . the good laws he made are extant in saxon and latine , by the industry of mr william lambard . he had by his queen elgina two sons , edwin and edgarus , sirnamed pacificus , which both raigned after him . by him were expelled the danes , scots , normans , and all forraign enemies out of the land. he raigned six years and a half . at his mannor of puclekerkes in the county of glocester , whilest he interposed himself between his sewer and one leof , to part a fray , he was with a thrust through the body wounded to death , when he had prosperously raigned the space of five years and seven moneths . rogerus de hoveden annal part 1. malmesbury l. 2. c. 7. and others , say this leof was a thief , which the king espying at a festivall , he pulled him by the hair , and cast him to the ground ; but he drawing out his weapon , stabbed the king. vide polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 6. edred . the twenty seventh king of the west saxons , and twenty eighth monarch of the english men . he suffered his body to be chastised at the will and direction of dunstan abbot of glassenbury ; unto whose custody he also committed the greatest part of his treasure and richest jewels , to be lockt in his chests , and under the keys of this monastery , where it remained , till the king fell sick of his last sickness ; at which time it was demanded , but never restored ; for dunstan being on his journey with the same to the king , a voice from heaven spake unto him , and said , behold king edred is now departed in peace ; at the hearing of which words , his horse immediately fell down and died ▪ whereupon he returned again to his monastery ; and though he lost his horse , yet was he recompenced thereby with the gain of the kings treasure and jewels . he raigned in great honour nine years and odd moneths . edwin or edwy . the twenty eighth king of the west saxons , and twenty ninth monarch of the english men . he was but thirteen years old when he began to raign . he was nephew to edred . he favoured not the monkes , which made them write so scandalously of him . he thrust them out of malmesbury and glassenbury , placing married priests in their room ; and banished dunstan their great champion into flanders . the true causes of his banishing him , ejecting the monkes , and seizing their lands and treasures , was , that dunstan had so bewitched edmund , edward , aethelstan , and aedred his predecessours , with the love of monkery , as they not only took violently from married priests their livings , to erect monasteries , but also lavishly wasted much of their own royall treasures , lands , and revenues upon them , which they should rather have imployed in resisting the common enemies of god and their countrey , the danes . ioscelin the author of antiq. brit. bishop godwin , speed , and others conceive , that the true cause why the mercians and northumbrians , ( and those only , not the rest of his subjects and kingdome ) rejected him , and set up his brother edgar , ( whose vices were more exorbitant in some degrees than edwins ) was the malice of dunstan and odo ( the pillars and oracles of the monkish clergy ) who stirred up the mercians , and seditious rebellious northumbrians against him , to set up edgar in his stead , who was totally devoted to them and dunstan , by whose counsels he was afterwards wholly guided , and built no less than forty seven new monasteries for the monks ; besides all those he repaired , intending to build three more had he lived , to make them fifty compleat . he raigned but four years . chap. vii . edgar . the thirtieth monarch of the english men . the raign of this king is said to have been altogether in a calm tranquillity , and therefore he was sirnamed pacificus , the peaceable . his vertues were many , and vices not a few ; the one gloriously augmented , and the other fairly excused , by those monkish writers , unto whose professions he was most favourable . tunc ordo monasticus jamjudum lapsus p●acipuè caput erexit . malmesb. l. 2. c. 8. he unravelling the web his brother had weaved , recalled dunstan out of banishment , and made him archbishop of canterbury . his summer progresses , and yearly chief pastimes , were the sayling round abou● this whole isle of albion , guarded with his grand navy of four thousand sail at the least , parted into four equall parts , of petty navies , each being of a thousand ships . dee's brittish monarchy , p. 56 , 57. he calls him there that saxonicall alexander . see more there ; and p. 55 , 58 , 59 , 60. he appointed the prince of north wales to bring him yearly three hundred skins of wolves , for a tribute , which continued for three years space , but in the fourth was not a wolf to be found ; and so the tribute ceased . upon the river dee he had seven petty kings to row his barge , to shew his greatness . he was very lascivious . leges apprimè utiles tulit , quas vetustas in oblivionem fermè adduxit . of his laws , vide lambardum de pris●is anglorum legibus . it is sure enough there have not been more famous men , than some of no great stature , as the instance of king pipin in the french history , and this king in our own , will make manifest . in the time that the saxons had this realm in subjection , he had subdued all the other kings saxons , and made them his tributaries . on a time he had t●all all with him at dinner ; and after it was shewed him , that rynaud king of scots had said , that he wondered how it should happen , that he and other kings , that were tall and great personages , would suffer themselves to be subdued by so little a body , as edgar was ; edgar dissembled , and answered nothing , but faining to go on hunting , took with him the scottish king in his company , and purposely withdrew him from them that were with him , causing by a secret servant , two swords to be conveyed into a place in the forrest , by him appointed . as soon as he came thither , he took the one sword , and delivered the other to rynaud , bidding him to prove his strength , and to essay whether his deeds would ratifie his words . turpe est enim regi in convivio esse dicaculum , nec esse in praelio promptulum . whereat the scottish king being abashed , beholding the noble conrage of edg●r , with an horrible fear confessed his errour , desiring pardon , which he ( with most humble submission ) at the last obtained . for his excellent vertues and prosperou● raign , he was called honor & deliciae anglorum . malmesbury . or as ingulphus ter meth him , honor & rosa regum . in his time all ecclesiasticall orders flourished ; learned and vertuous men were highly esteemed ; all civil and forrign warres ceased ; and he was called the king of albion , being no less powerfull by sea , than by land. mexia's treasury of time . vol. 2. l. 7. c. 1. he was angliciorbis flos & decus , n●●n minus mem●rabilis ●●nglis , quam cyrus persis ; romulus romanis : alexander macedonibus ; arsaces parthis ▪ carolus magnus francis ; as malmesbury , abbot ethelred , florentius wigorniensis , simeon dunelmensis , henry huntingdon , matthew westminster , r●ger de hoveden , and others record of him . immediately after his death , res & spes anglorum retro sublapsae sunt , totius regni status est per●urbatus ; & post tempus laetitiae quod illius tempore vigebat pacified , caepit tribulatio undique advenire ; as malmesbury , wigorniensis , hoveden , simeon dunelmensis , and bromton observe . such an incomparable loss was the death of so just , pious , and prudent a king to the whole nation , qui 〈◊〉 viti● , pos●e● 〈◊〉 virtutibus delevi● , when most others do quite contrary . he raigned sixteen yeares and two moneths , in great tranquillity and honour , and died in the 37th year of his age . after edgar's death , the danes so plagued this realm , that there was nothing setled in it , either in church or state , till finally they obtained the kingdome . the danes raigned in england 25. years . but speed saith they molested england for two hundred eighteen years . see ayscu his declaration of the first inhabitants of this island . the danes by strength caused husbandmen to ear and sow the land , and to do all other vile labour that belonged unto husbandry ; and the dane held his wise at pleasure , with daughter and servant . when the husbandman came home , he should scantly have of his own , as his servants had ; so that the dane had all at his commandement , and did eat and drink his fill of the best , when the owner had scant his fill of the worst . besides this the common people were so oppressed by them , that for fear and dread they called them in every such house as they had rule of , l●rd dane . but in process of time , after the danes were voided the land , this word lord dane was in derision and despight of the danes , turned by english men into a name of reproach , called lurdane , which yet is not forgotten ; for if one english man will rebuke another , he will say , thou art but a lurdane . grafton . edward , sirnamed the martyr . the thirty first monarch of the english men . he began his raign at twelve years of age . adolescens summae sanctitatis & frugi , ea modestia regnare caepit , ut omnibus charissimus esse● , quippe qui paternas virtutes gnaviter imitabatur . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 6. the end of this young king was lamentable , being stabbed ( by his stepmothers treachery ) when he was drinking a cup of wine on horseback , when he in kindness came to visit her ; through which wound fainting and falling from his horse , he was dragged to death by his foot intangled in the stirrop . he raigned three years , and six ( some say eight ) moneths . chap. viii . ethelred . fox calls him egelred or elred . the two and thirtieth monarch of the english men . he was a man neither for ward in action nor fortunate in proceedings , and therefore , commonly called the unready . he defiled the font at his baptism with his ordure ; whereupon dunstan being troubled in his mind , by the lord ( said he ) and his blessed mother , this childe shall prove a sloathfull person . he was half brother to king edward , who was treacherously murdered , and so much lamented his brothers murder , ( saith malmesbury l. 2. c. 10. ) being then but a childe of ten years old , and so detested it , that his mother elfrida falling therewith in a rage , took wax candles ( having nothing else at hand ) wherewith she scourged him so sore ( well near till he swouned ) that after the same he could never abide any wax candles to but● befor him . of his laws vide lambardum de priscis anglorum legibus . the danes grew upon him so fiercely , that he was forced to purchase his peace from them , with great summes of money , to the undoing of his poor kingdome . to put a period to this insufferable vass●lage , a bloudy massacre was executed upon them , by the kings secret commission on st brices day ; but such bruitish courses never find a wished close . he most unfortunately raigned thirty seven years and nine dayes . edmund , sirnamed ironside . the thirty third monarch of the english men , and the third son to ethelred . he was of personage tall ; for courage , hardy ; strong of limmes , and well could endure the travels of warre ; whence some conceive that sirname was given him ; not for that he used to go alwayes in armour , as some would have it . he fought with cnute a royall single du●ll , first on horseback , then on ●oot , in the isle of olerenge , or olney ( near glocester ) in the midst of severn , in the view of both their armies , with extraordinary courage , and equall success , till they were both quite tired , but neither of them vanquished . at last upon cnu●es motion they began to parly in a friendly manner , and divided the realm between them ; edmund enjoying that part which lay coasted upon france , and canutus entred upon the rest . but ironside enjoyed not long his part ; for duke edrick a very compound of treasons , contrived the end of renowned edmund , who being retired to a place for natures necessity , he thrust from under the draught a sharp spear into his body ; and having thus murthered him , he cut off his head , presenting it to canutus , with this ●awning salutation , all hail ▪ thou now sole monarch of england , for her● behold the head of thy co-partner , which for thy sake i have adventured to cut off . canutus though ambitious enough of soveraignty , yet abhorring in his heart so detestable a murther , and knowing that he who was faithless to his naturall soveraign , would never be faithfull to him a stranger ; commanded his head to be divided from his shoulders , and placed upon the highest gate in london . mors hujus principis sanè miserabilis fuit , tum quod florem ejus aetatis rapuerit , tum quod totum regnum in praeceps dederit . his raign continued only seven moneths , in which time he fought seven or eight battels , in defence of his countrey , people , and their liberties . by his untimely death , the saxon●monarchy ●monarchy was devolved to the danes . chap. ix . the danes monarchs . canutus . the first danish king raigning in england , and the thirty fourth monarch of the english men . he is more truly called cnute , cui ex magnitudine rerum gestarum magni nomen accessit . krantzii hist. daniae l. 4. a valiant and prudent prince . this invader of ironside's kingdome ( the better to secure his empire against prince alfred and edward , edmunds brothers ) married emma his queen . after this marriage , to establish his monarchy over england , he endeavoured by all means to reconcile the english to him . 1. by advancing some of the english nobility to places of honour and trust . 2. by granting to the english equall rights and priviledges with his danes , in consessu , in consilio , in praelio , and advancing them both alike . 3. by favouring and inriching the english clergy , and church-men , and manifesting extraordinary piety , devotion , bounty , in repairing , building , endowing monasteries and churches throughout the realm . 4. by easing them of his danish forces . 5. by ratifying all their former good old fundamentall laws , rights , liberties , priviledges , which they used , enjoyed under their saxon kings , by enacting other good wholsome laws , repealing all unjust laws , and redressing all exactions and grievances . a company of flatterers which extolled his greatness and power to be unmatchable , he caused to place him in a chair , where the sea ebbs and flowes at south-hampton , that by the disobedience of the tide , that would not stop at his command , but presumed to dash his royall garments , they might learn how low man is at the highest , and not to applaud his fortune , but fear his fall . he acknowledged god alone to be king of this great element , because the sea is his , and he made it . the flatterers of alexander the great , made him believe that he was the son of iupiter ; but being one day sore hurt , and seeing the blood gush out of his wounds , what think you of this ? ( said he unto them ) is not this blood of a lively red hew , and meerly humane ? he was the greatest prince of power that ever before him raigned over the english people . england , denmarke , norway , ( some adde also part of sweden ) together with scotland , were wholly subject unto him . filiam suam imperatori romano cum ineffabilibus divitiis maritavit . hunting . hist. l. 6. in a parliament at oxford he made good laws , whereof these were some that concern religion . first , for the celebration of divine service , it was ordained , that all ceremonies tending to the increase of reverence and devotion , should be used as need required . secondly , that upon the sabbath day , all publick fairs , markets , synods , huntings , and all secular actions , should be forborn , unless some urgent necessity should require it . thirdly , that every christian should thrice in the year receive the blessed sacrament of the lords supper . fourthly , that a married woman convict of adultery , should have her nose and ears cut off . krantzius much extols him as the most famous of the kings of denmarke . he was a just prince in all , saving his tyranny against the two young princes , the sons of edmond . the lustre of this new erected monarchy , had no sooner displayed its beams in canutus , but like an unthrifty taper it began to glimmer in harold , and absolutely expired in hard knute , who dying issueless , the current of royalty ran back again into the channell of the saxon bloud , which flowed in the veins● of edward , sirnamed the con●essor . philpot's preface to his villare cantianum . after he had in great glory reigned about nineteen years , he deceased at shafiesbury in the county of dorset , and was buried in the church of the old monastery at winchester , where queen emma made her abode ever after . harold . the second danish king raigning in england , and the thirty fifth monarch of the land. he was called hare-foot , by reason of his swiftness . canutus had him by a concubine , a shoomakers daughter . this base son of cnute , dispossessed his legitimate son harde-cnute of the crown of england , contrary to cnutes will and contract ; banished and spoiled queen emma of her treasure and jewels ; oppressed the people with taxes ; and was soon cut off by death , without any issue . he was an oppresser of his people , and vitious . he raigned four years and four moneths . he was neither in warres so hardy , nor in government so prosperous , as his father canutus before him had been . harde-canute . the third danish king that raigned in england , and the thirty sixth monarch of the english men . for his noble courage he was called harde-canutus . ( the first great prince of the house of burgundy , was philip , sirnamed the hardy . ) his recalling his mother emma , and half brother edward , and entertaining them respectively , deserves commendation . his epicurism left an ill custome to all posterity . four times a day his table must be covered , to invite men to intemperancy ; through which at a marriage , he is thought to have choaked himself at lambeth , most rejoycing to be rid of him ; in memory whereof hock-tide , a feast of scorning or triumphing , was a long time continued after . the english men learned of him their excessive gormandizing , and unmeasurable filling of themselves with meates and drinkes . at the death of this king , died all rule of the danes in this land , after they had miserably afflicted the kingdome for the space of two hundred and forty yeares , though in regall government , but only six and twenty , under these three last kings . he raigned two yeares , lacking ten dayes . the danes ruled in this land almost thirty yeares , and raged ( without all rule ) about three hundred and fifty . lamberts perambulation of kent . chap. x. edward the confessor . the son of king ethelred , the thirty seventh monarch of the english men . he was born at islip near unto oxford , and tenderly educated by queen emma his mother , and after his fathers death , for safety sent into france . he was the last king of the saxon race . such was the opinion conceived of his holiness of life , as that shortly after his decease , he was canonized amongst the saints , and named edward the confessour . to gain the more love of his subjects at his first entrance , he remitted the taxe of forty thousand pounds , yearly gathered by the name of dane-gilt , so grevous to the commons . fertur edwardus confessor ( teste ingulpho ) cùm se daemonem vidisse , super dcervo daingeldi exultantem protestatus esset , aspectunique exhorruisset ; collecium illico restitui juss●sse , & retento ne iota uno , feram exactionem perpetuum relaxasse . spelmanni glossarium danegaldi redditio propter pyratas primitus statuta est . hoved. dnnal . pars posrerior ▪ p. 603. vide plura ibid. he collected the laws of his predecessors into a body , for the administration of justice , which some say are the ground of our common-law , though the pleading be altered , since the norman conquest . he found the realm governed by three different laws ; the west-saxon law ; the mereian law ; and the dane law. out of these three lawes , partly moderated , and partly supplied , he composed one body of law , commonly called st edwards laws , which were of so great equity , that when they were abrogated by the conquerour , and the crown fell into controversie between maud the empress , and king stephen , the people alwayes inclined to favour that part , who put them in fairest hope of restitution of those laws . and afterwards in many civil dissensions , the greatest demand of the people appeareth to have been the restitution of king edwards laws . these laws are partly ecclesiasticall ; partly civill . lambard de priseis anglorum legibus , mentions leges boni regis edwardi , quas gulielmus bastardus postea confirmavit . in these laws it is observable ; 1. that all capitall , corporall , pecuniaty punishments ; fines for criminall offence● ▪ 〈◊〉 all reliefs , services , and duties to the king , are reduced to a certainty , not le●t arbitrary to the king , his justices , or other officers , for the subjects greater liberty , ease and security . 2. that they protect , preserve the possessions , priviledges , persons of the church and clergy , from all invasion , injury , violence , and disturbance . the raign of this king was very peaceable . he first used the broad seal . his wife was named editha , the vertuous daughter of an infamous father , earl godwin . sicut spina rosam , genuit godwinus editham . his unnaturall dealing with his good mother emma , and vertuous wife editha , in whose breast there was a school of all liberall sciences , saith william malmesbury , cannot be excused . for upon a poor surmise of incontinency , with alwin bishop of winchester , his mother in his presence was put to the * ordalium , to pass blindfolded between nine glowing coulters , which she did without hurt . his refusing carnall copulation with his queen , either out of a vowed virginity , as most historians conclude ; or out of a detestation of earl godwins trayterous race , quod rex religiosus de genere proditoris , haeredes , qui sibi succederent , corrupto semine regio , noluerit p●●r●ari , as ingulphus , matthew westminster , and others record ; whereby he exposed the kingdome for a prey , to the ambitious pretenders aspiring after it . the king after this craved mercy and pardon from his mother , for the infamy and injury done unto her , for which he was disciplined and whipped by his mother , and all the bishops there present . the first curing the kings evil , is referred to him , and thence to have continued to his successors . solebat rex edwardus divinitus solo tactu sanare strumosos , hoc est , strumam patientes . est enim srruma morbus , quem itali scrophula● vulgo vocant , à scrophis , quae ea mala scabie afflictantur . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 8. struma gutturis vitium , quod nonnulli scrophulam dicunt , solo tactu in quam plurimis sanasse dicitur . lil. ang. reg. chronicon . he raigned twenty three years , and six moneths , and died in the painted chamber at westminster . he built st peters church in westminster , and was there buried . in hoc rege linea regum angliae defecit , quae à cerdicio primo westsaxonum rege , ex anglis , quingentis & septuaginta uno annis , non legitur interrupta , praeter paucos danos , qui peccatis exigentibus gentis anglorum , aliquandiu regnaverunt . harold . the second of that name , the thirty eighth monarch of the english men . son of earl goodwin , a man of excellent parts , and approved valour . he driven by tempest into normandy , was affianced to adelizi , the dukes fifth daughter . he covenanted with the duke to make him successor to edward , in the kingdome of england . mr. fox's acts and monuments vol. 1. mr. cambden in his brittannia ; holinshed ; sir iohn hayward ; sir richard baker incline to this opinion , that harold by his might , power , craft , policy , usurped and invaded the crown without any right , against his oath . after edwards death , the duke sent to him to put him in mind of his covenant and oath ; but harold replied , that this oath being constrained , did no way binde . the duke william landing in sussex , to cut off all occasion of return , he fired his own fleet , and upon the shore erected a fortress , to be if need were a retiring place for his souldiers . harold and he fighting seven miles from hastings in sussex , harold was slain , and his army vanquished . his overthrow was a just punishment of god upon him , for his perjury . he raigned but nine moneths , and nine dayes . in him was compleated the period of the saxons empire in brittain , after they had continued from their first erected kingdome by hengis● in kent , the space of six hundred and ten years , without any interruption , saving the small inter-raigns of three danish kings . the normans were a mi●● people of norvegians , suevians , and danes . that province in france was then called neustria , and now normandy , of the name norman , given unto them , because they came out of the north parts . the normans laboured by all means to supplant the english , and to plant their own language amongst us ; and for that purpose , they both gave us the lawes , and all manner of pastimes , in the french tongue ; as he that will peruse the laws of the conquerour , and consider the terms of hawking , hunting , tenice , dice-play , and other disports , shall easily perceive . lamb's perambulation of kent . chap. xi . william the first , sirnamed the conqueror . robert duke of normandy , the sixth in descent from rollo , riding through falais a town in normandy , espied certain young persons dancing near the way . and as he stayed to view a while the manner of their disport , he fixed his eye especially upon a certain damsell named arlotte ; of mean birth , a skinners daughter , who there danced among the rest . the frame and comely carriage of her body ; the naturall beauty and graces of her countenance ; the simplicity of her rurall both behaviour and attire , pleased him so well , that the same night he procured her to be brought to his lodging , where he begat of her a son , who afterward was named william . the english afterwards adding an aspiration to her name , ( according to the naturall manner of their pronouncing ) termed every unchast woman , harlot . he seized the crown of england , not as conquered , but by pretence of gift or adoption , aided and confirmed by nearness of bloud ; and so the saxon laws formerly in force , could not but continue ; and such of them as are now abrogated , were not at all abrogated by his conquest ; but either by the parliaments , or ordinances of his time , and of his successours ; or else by non-usage , or contrary custome . mr. seldens review of his history of tythes , c. 8. see more there . he never made the least pretence , claim , or title to the crown and realm of england , only as an absolute conquerour of the nation ; but meerly by title , as their true and lawfull king , by designation , adoption , and cognation , seconded with the nobles , prelates , clergy , and peoples unanimous election . and although it be true , that this duke ejected harold , and got actuall possession of the throne and kingdome from him by the sword ; as did au●elius ambrosius ; and others before ; and king henry the fourth ; edward the fourth ; and henry the seventh ; yet that neither did , nor could make him a king by conquest only , no more than these other princes ; seeing the end of this warre was not against the whole english nation , the greatest part whereof abetted his interest ; but only against the unjust usurper and intruder , king harold , and his adherents . although the laws of this kingdome , and of all other civill states at this day , exclude bastards ( without a subsequent legitimation ) from inheritance ; yet by the laws of norway , a princes son gotten on a concubine bond or free , was equally inheritable , as any other born in wedlock ; which was i believe no small reason , why he stood at first so much for the laws of norway to have been generally received in this kingdome . and some stories also say , that arlet , or arlee , ( as she is sometimes written ) was to him a good while vice uxor is . if she were so his concubine ( between whom and a wife , the old imperialists make no other difference but honour and dignity ; and by them also some kind of inheritance is allowed to such bastards , as are naturales liberi , that is gotten on concubines ) it was much more reasonable that her son should be reputed as legitimate , than that the son of every single woman , bond or free , whether concubine or no , should be so , as those of norway allow . mr. seldens review of his history of tythes . first landing at pems●y in sussex , he fell down , stumbling as he came out of his ship. o dux angliam tenes ( said one of his knights ) rex futurus , ( so matthew paris ) and espying that he had brought up sand and earth in his hand , added , yea and you have taken livery and seisin of the conutrey . seldens titles of honour in 4. to p. 34. when he had landed his forces , he fortified a piece of ground with strong trenches , and caused all his ships to be set on fire , leaving to his souldiers no hope to save themselves , but only by victory . after this he published the causes of his coming in arms ; to challenge the kingdome of england , given to him by his cousin king edward , the last lawfull possessor at that time thereof . and to revenge the death of his cousin alfred , brother to the same king edward , cruelly and deceitfully slain by earl goodwin , and his adherents . in the battell between king harold and him , at the last hareld was struck with an arrow through the left eye into his brains , of which wound he presently died . he was buried by his mother at walsham cross , within the monastery which he had founded . ibi gulielmus perblandé ac perbenigné locutus , simulque magnifica pollicitus , ab omnibus , quanquam non pari alacritate , diem festum celebrantibus , rex declaratur . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 9. where this battell was fought , the conquerour after founded battail-abbey . he was crowned at westminster , by aldred archbishop of yorke , anno dom. 1066. his strength was such , that few men could draw his bow ; and being about fifty of his age , when he subdued this kingdome , it seems by his continuall actions , he felt not the weight of years upon him , till his last year . he enclosed new-forrest in hamshire , for which he dispeopled villages and towns , about the space of thirty miles , to make a desert for beasts of chase ; in which place afterward two of his sons , richard and william , ended their lives ; richard by a fall from his horse ; and william by the stroke of an arrow . the kings great delight in hunting was made the pretence of this forrest ; but the true end was rather to make a free place of footing for his normans , and other friends out of france , in case any great revolt should be made . one herlowin a nobleman in normandy , married his mother arlotte , and had by her a son named hugh lupus , to whom he gave the earldome of chester , to hold of him as freely by his sword , as himself held england by his crown ; by vertue of which cran● , the said hugh ordained under him four barons ; such an honour , as no subject before or since , ever enjoyed the like . because conspiracies are commonly contrived in the night , he commanded that in all towns and villages , a bell should be rung in the evening , at eight of the clock , called curfu-bell ; and that in every house they should then put forth their fire and lights , and go to bed ; which custome of ringing a bell at that hour , in many places is still observed . william the first , whom pride , craft , profit swayd , did england , but his conscience first invade . dr. holiday his survey of the world . book 9. by the counsell of stigand archbishop of canterbury ; and of eglesme abbot of st. augustines , ( who at that time were chief governers of kent ) as the king was riding towards dover , at swanescombe , two miles from graveseud , the kentish men came towards him armed ; and bearing boughs in ther hands , as if it had been a moving wood , they enclosed him upon the sudden , and with a firm countenance , but words well tempered with modesty and res●ect , they demanded of him the use of their ancient liberties and laws ; that in other matters they would yeeld obedience to him ; that without this they desired not to live . the king yeelded to them for the present ; knowing right well , that the generall customes and laws of the residue of the realm , would in short time overflow these particular places . so pledges being given on both sides , they conducted him to rochester , and yeelded the county of kent , and the castle of dover into his power . he took the review and account of all the towns and land in england . this book was called the roll of winton , because it was kept in the city of winchester . by the english it was called doomes-day book ; either by reason of the generality thereof ; or else corruptly instead of domus dei book , because it was layed in the church of winchester , in a place called domus dei. according to this roll taxations were imposed ; sometimes two shillings , and sometimes six shillings upon every hide of land , ( a hide containing twenty acres ) besides ordinary provision for his house . vide seldeni analecta anglobrit , l. 2. c. 4. & spelmanni glossarium , p. 352. he was too covetous . sola est do qua merito culpetur pecuniae cupiditas , quam undecunque captatis occasionibus , nihil unquam pensi habuit , quin corroderet , faceret , diceret nonnulla , & pene omnia , tanta majestate indigniora , ubi spes nummi effulsisset . malmesb. de wilielmo primo . l. 3. he would often swear by gods resurrection , and his brightness . talia per resurrectionem , & splendor●● dei pronuncians , quod solere● ex industria talia sacramenta facere , quae ipso habitu oris terrificum quiddam auditorum memibus insonarent . malmesb. de wilielmo primo . he bare such reverence to lanfrancke , archbishop of canterbury , that he seemed to stand at his directions . malmesbury l. 4. de wilielmo secundo , saith , diu dubitavit mundus , quo tandem vergeret , quo se inclinaret indoles ejus . inter initia vivente lanfranco archiepiscopo ab omni crimine abhorrebat , ut unicum fore regum speculum speraretur . quo defuncto aliquandiu varium se praestitit aequali lance vitiorum atque virtutum . he respected aldred archbishop of york , by whom he had been crowned king of england , as his father . at a time upon the repulse of a certain suit , the archbishop brake forth into discontentment , expostulated sharply against the king , and in a humorous heat offered to depart . but the king stayed him , fell down at his feet , desired pardon , and promised satisfaction in the best manner ▪ that he could . the nobility which were present , put the archbishop in minde , that he should cause the king to arise ; nay ( answered the archbishop ) let him alone ; let him still abide at st. peters feet . so with much ado he was appeased , and entreated to accept his suit . by reason of sickness he kept his chamber a long time ; whereat the french king scoffing , said , the king of england lyeth long in childbed . which when it was reported unto king william , he answered , when i am churched , there shall be a thousand lights in france , ( alluding to the lights that women used to bear , when they were churched ) and that he performed within few dayes after , wasting the french frontiers with fire and sword . malmesb. de wilielmo primo . l. 4. some of the earls conspiring against him ; he perceiving his estate to be now brought into no small danger , and loath to put all upon the hazard and fortune of a battell , against men so well provided , and with desperation armed , as a man perplexed , entred into consultation with l●nfrancke , then archbishop of canterbury , what course were now best for him to take , for the appeasing of these so great and dangerous troubles . by whose advice he came to a parl with the english nobility , where after much reasoning and debating of the matter , a peace was at length concluded and agreed upon ; so that the english men laying down their arms , the conquerour in the presence of the archbishop lanfrancke , and others , took a solemn oath upon the holy evangelists , and all the reliques of the churches of st. albans , from thence forth to observe and keep the good and ancient laws of the realm , which the noble kings of england his predecessors had before made and ordained ; but especially those of st. edwar● , of all others supposed to be most equall and indifferent , for the gene●all good of the people . he courteously received , and honourably maintained edgar etheling in his court , allowing him a pound weight of silver every day to spend ; a rare example of a victorious conqueror , shewed upon a man so unconstant , ( who twice had broken his oath of fidelity ) and dangerous to be so near unto his person , being as he was , a competitor of his crown . during all his raign , either the sword was not put up into the scabbard ; or if it were , the hand was alwayes upon the hilt , ready to draw it . so unwilling on the one part were the english men to bear the yoke ; and so haughty on the other part were the norman conquerors , that to be called an english man , was in their eyes a great concumely ; insomuch as it made some of the more light-conceited of the english , to seek to better their esteem , by imitating the normans both in apparrell and language ; which among the graver sort bred the proverb , that jack would be a gentleman , if he could speak french. he favoured learned men , and drew out of italy , lanfrancke , anselme , durand , trahern , and divers others famous at that time , for learning and piety . 't is better with william hunter , than with william the conqueror . 't is better to have a name in the book of martyrs , than in the book of chronicles . mr. nortons life of mr. iohn cotton . perceiving his own defects in some points for want of learning , he did exhort his children oftentimes to learning with this saying , an unlearned prince is a crowned ass ; which speech took great impression in his son henry . this is one speciall honour attributed unto him , that from him we begin the computation of our kings of england . from the normans , bearing of armes began amongst us . ab eo posteriores series regum inchoavere , perinde acsi de integro ille regnum ipsum institu●isset , regesque qui se●uti sunt , usi similiter sunt , ut nunc utuntur , insignibus regiis , quae dedisset . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 9. nostrates , priusquam in angliam penetrasset wilielmus primus , hunc armorum cultum à normannis videntur accepisse . spelmanni aspilegia . p. 40. vide etiam p. 44. he ended his life upon the ninth day of september , full both of honour and of age , when he had raigned twenty years , eight moneths , and sixteen dayes , in the threescore and fourth year of his age . his dead body was not only abandoned , but left almost naked upon the ground . being conveyed from roan ( where he died ) to cane , one fitz arthur denied the king buriall in the abbey-church , ( as ground which was wrongfully taken by the king from his father ) till he had a hundred pounds paid him for it . mr. ienkyn in his exposition of the epistle of iude , vers . 4. p. 351. saith , of our twenty five monarchs since the conquest , thirteen ( taking in three who are thought to be poysoned ) are said to have had violent and untimely deaths . chap. xii . k. william the second , sirnamed rufus ; or the red. king william the first took to wife matilde , daughter to baldwin , earl of flanders , a man for his wisdome and power , both reverenced and feared even of kings ; but because she was his cousin-germane , he was for his marriage excommunicate by his own uncle mauger , archbishop of roan . hereupon he sued to pope victor , and obtained of him a dispensation ; and afterwards so wrought , that by a provinciall counsell his uncle mauger ▪ was deprived of his dignity . this king had by his wife four sons , robert , richard , william and henry . robert his eldest son , sirnamed courtcuise * , by reason of the shortness of his thighs , succeeded him in the duchy of normandy . he was a man of exceeding honourable courage and spirit , for which cause he was so esteemed by the christian princes , in the great warre against the saracens , that when they had subdued the city and territory of hierusalem , they offered the kingdome thereof first unto him . the king of england to whom the schola salernitana was dedicated , was this robert , eldest son of the duke of normandy , which begins thus , anglorum regi scribit ▪ schola tota salerni ; and it seems to be written , when this robert returned out of palestina into apulia ; and by reason of a fistula from his poysoned wound , he had consulted with the school of salerne concerning it , and preserving his health . neither doth that hinder that this book is written to the king of england ; ( but robert never raigned here ) for the kingdome of right belonged to him , which his younger brother william rufus possessed in his absence , and for recovering of that he warred with his brother , but was overcome by him . richard had raised the good expectation of many , as well by his comely countenance and behaviour , as by his lively and generous spirit . but he died young by misadventure , as he was hunting within the new-forrest , before he had made experiment of his worth . he was buried at winchester , with this inscription , hic jacet richardus , filius wilielmi senioris , berniae dux . to henry the king gave at the time of his death , five thousand pounds out of his treasure ; but gave him neither dignity nor lands , foretelling that he should enjoy the honour of both his brothers in time , and far excell them both in dominion and power . he succeeded his brother william in the kingdome of england , and wrested normandy out of the possession of robert. when william the first drew near his end , he commended the kingdome of england to his second son william , with many blessings , admonitions , and prayers for his prosperous success . he dispatched him unto england , with letters under his own seal , to lan●rancke then archbishop of canterbury , whose authority was great with the clergy , and people of the realm . it was conjectured by some , that the king was guided in this choice , no less by his judgment , then by his affection , because he esteemed the fierce disposition of his son william , more fit to govern a people not well setled in subjection , then the flexible and mild nature of his eldest son robert. cambden * saith he was berest of the kingdome of england , because he was born before his father was king. milles gives two reasons , why the conquerour preferred his younger son unto the kingdome , before his eldest . partly for his disloyalty and disobedience ; and partly doubting lest through the facility of his nature , he should give occasion unto the english men , to take heart unto them , and to rebell against him ; whereas william his younger brother was a man of more rough and harsh nature , and therefore fitter ( as his father thought ) to bear rule and command over a warlike and new conquered people . sir iohn hayward in the life of william the second , discusseth that controversie , whether kings may prefer younger sons , and quite disinherit elder sons of the kingdome , and resolves it negatively . the glossographer upon the decrees noteth , that the son of a king may be called king during the life of his father , as wanting nothing but administration . a little before his fathers death william journeyed toward england , and quickly arrived at the port called whitesand , where he received the first report of his fathers death . hereupon with all speed he posted to lanfrancke , delivered his fathers letters , and forthwith was declared king ; and not long after was crowned at westminster . his hair was deeply yellow ; by reason whereof he was called rufus , say polyd. virgil , and others . he doubted of some points of religion then professed , namely , of praying to saints , worshipping of reliques , and such like . he endeavoured to abate the tumorous greatness of the clergy at that time , and attributed not so much to the see of rome , as divers kings before him had done . he restrained his subjects from going to rome , and withheld the annuall payment of peter-pence , and was often heard to say , that they follow not the trace of st. peter ; they greedily gape after gifts and rewards , they retain not his power , whose piety ▪ they do not imitate . albeit he promised to the english , whilest his first fears and jealousies continued , that they should enjoy free liberty of hunting ; yet did he afterwards so severely restrain it , that the penalty for killing a deer was death . during lanfranckes life , he so lived , that he might have been a mirrour of princes ; though afterwards he gave himself to sensuall lust and covetousness . matthew paris condemns him much . it is reported , that when his chamberlain upon a certain morning , brought him a new pair of hose , the king demanded what they cost ; and the chamberlain answered , three shillings ; hereat the king grew impatient , and said , what heavy beast ? dost thou take these to be convenient hose for a king ? away beggar , and bring me other of a better price . then the chamberlain departed , and brought a far worse pair of hose , ( for a better could not at that time be found ) and told the king that they cost a mark . the king not only allowed them for fine enough , but commended them also as exceeding fit . he walled the city of london , and built the great hall at westminster , which is two hundred seventy foot in length , and seventy four foot in breadth . he set forth a proclamation , that none should go out of the realm without his license , by which he drew much money from many . from thence the custome or law of ne exeas regno , seems to have taken its beginning . his usuall oath was by st. lukes face . malmesb. coming to imbarque at dartmouth , the mariners told him the weather was rough , and there was no passing without imminent danger . tush , said he , set forward , i never yet heard of king that was drowned . answerable to that of iulius caesar , which enforced a poor pilot in the like case to launch forth , and in the rage of the storm comforted him with saying , caesarem & caesaris fortunam ve●is . charles the fifth , in the battell of tunis , when he was advised by the marquess of guasto to retire his person , when the great ordnance began to play , said , marquess , thou never heardst that an emperour was slain with a great shot . sir walter tyrell aiming at the deer ( where the king was hunting , within the new-forrest ) with an arrow ; and looseing his bow , either too carelesly at the deer , or too steadily at the king , saith polydore virgil , struck him therewith full upon the brest . the king having so received the wound , gave forth a heavy groan , and presently fell down dead . so much of the arrow as was without his body , was found broken , whether with his hand , or by his fall , it is not certainly known . he raigned in great variety of opinion with his subjects , ( some applauding his vertues , others aggravating his vices ) twelve yeares , eleven moneths , wanting eight dayes , and was at his death forty and three years old . sir iohn hayward in his life . p. 219. chap. xiii . king henry the first , sirnamed beauclerke . he apprehending the opportunity of duke roberts absence , did forthwith seize upon the treasure of the king , and thereby also upon his state , and so was crowned at westminster , by maurice bishop of london , because anselme archbishop of canterbury was then in exile . for his learning he was called beauclerke , fair clerk , or fine scholar , brought up in the study of the liberall arts at cambridge . he was sirnamed leo justitiae in all stories ; one of the most noble princes that ever raigned in this realm . sir thomas eliots governour . cambden urgeth this against him , as if his ▪ justice was by the common people deemed cruelty . cambd. rem . he was excellent in wit , eloquent in speech , and fortunate in battell , and for these three , he had three notable vices ; covetousness , cruelty and lechery . stowes chron. by his example , the young nobility of the realm , began to affect a praise for learning : insomuch as at a certain interview , between the king and pope innocent the second , the sons of robert earl of mellent , maintained open disputations against divers cardinals and chaplains of the pope . sir iohn hayward . to purchase the favour of the clergy , he called anselme out of exile , and restored him both to the dignity and revenues of the see of canterbury . he committed radulph ( alias ranulph ) bishop of durham to prison , who had been both author and agent to king william , in most of his distrustfull actions against the clergy . to make the clergy the more assured , the king renounced the right which his ancestours used in giving investitures , and acknowledged the same to appertain to the pope . the clergy did much favour him , by reason of his liberall leave , either to erect , or to enlarge , or else to enrich religious buildings . for to these works the king was so ready to give , not only way , but encouragement and help , that in no princes time , they did more within this realm either flourish or encrease . sir iohn hayward numbers twenty five religious buildings , either done , or helped forward , or permitted and allowed by the king. this king being born in england , and the queen of english bloud-royall , raised the depressed english nation again unto honour and credit . he restored them to the use of fire and candle , after eight of the clock at night , which his father had most straitly forbidden . he being a wise prince , and well knowing that an empire gotten by force , could no longer remain , then that force continued , sent into scotland , and took to wife maud , the daughter of queen margaret , sister to edgar etheling , ( who was now dead , and left no issue ) whereby this maud was the heir of the saxon line ; and in her brought back again to us the ancient english blood-royall , before it had descended beyond one generation from the conquerour , in whose line it continueth unto this day . she was adorned with all royall vertues , principally with piety and humility . these verses were made in her commendation . prospera non laetam fecere , nec aspera tristem , aspera risus ei , prospera terror erant . non decor effecit fragilem , non sceptra superbam , sola potens humilis , sola pudica decens . she being married against her will , seeing she must violate the vow of her virginity , she cursed her of-spring , if any came of her ; which was not altogether vain saith polyd. virgil , in regard they were all afterward drowned . he reduced normandy to england . he built therein many castles , and planted garrisons , and with no less wisdome assured that state , then with valour he had won it . he brought with him his brother robert into england , and committed him to safe custody in the castle of cardiffe . he striving to escape , was taken again , committed to close prison , his eyes put out , and a sure guard set upon him . thus he remained in desolate darkness , neither reverenced by any for his former greatness , nor pitied for his present distress . thus he continued about twenty seven years , in a life far more grievous then death , even untill the year before the death of king henry . so long was he a suitor in wooing of death . so long did the one brother overlive his good fortune , the other his good nature and disposition ; esteeming it a fair favour , that the uttermost extremity was not inflicted . he gave his daughter maud the empress , in second marriage to the earl of anjou , and his sister elix ( as some chronicles call her ) to steven , earl of bloys . thence sprang the loss of this kingdome to maud , during her life , by being so far out of the land in another countrey , when she should have accepted it here . therof sprang the perjuries of steven king of england , enticed to a kingdome through the commodity of his near place . and thence came the civill miseries to the people , who through the incertainty of a governour , were in field and arms one against another . his daughter maud , as well as that lacedemonian lady lampedo , whom pliny maketh mention of , was a kings daughter * , a kings wife , and a kings mother . daughter of this henry the first , king of england ; wife of henry the fourth , emperour of germany ; and mother to henry the second , king of england . concerning which matter , there is this distick engraven on her tomb. magna ortu , majórque viro , sed maxima partu , hîc jacet henrici filia , sponsa , parens . the daughter , wife , the mother eke , of henry lieth here ; much blest by birth , by marriage more , but most by issue dear . he was a great administrer of justice , and the first that ordained that theeves should be hanged . he ordained that counterfeiters of money , should lose both their eyes , and be deprived of their privy parts , he took away the deceit which had been occasioned by variety of measures , and made measure by the length of his own arm , which hath been commonly used ever since , by the name of a yard . he is yet alive in his laws . see his laws in lambard de priscis anglorum legibus . his expences were chiefly in his warres , and his many and great fortifications in normandy . his buildings were the abbey of reading , the castle of warwicke , of bristoll , the mannour of woodstocke , and the great inclosure of that park , with a stone wall seven miles about . there was a singular and most remarkable example of gods justice upon his children . for when the king both by force , crast , and cruelty , had dispossest , over-reacht , and lastly made blind , and destroyed his elder brother , duke of normandy , to make his own sons lords of his land ; god cast them all , male and female , nephews and neeces ( maud excepted ) into the bottome of the sea , with above a hundred and fifty others that attended them , whereof a great many were noble , and of the king dearly beloved . evasit unus & ille agrestis , qui tota nocte malo supernatans , mane totius tragediae actum expressit . malmesb. de henrico primo . l. 5. vide polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 11. p. 191. nulla unquam navis fuit angl●ae tantae miseriae , nulla toto orbi tam patulae famae . his usuall oath was by our lords death ; and so was queen elizabeths . he first instituted the form of the high-court of parliament , as now it is in use . the first parliament was held at salisbury , upon the nineteenth day of april , in the sixteenth year of his raign . see lamberts archeion . p. 240 , 241 , 242 , 243. when matilde his daughter was given in marriage , to henry the fifth emperour , he took three shillings of every hide of land throughout the realm : which being followed by succeeding kings , did grow to a custome of receiving aid , whensoever they gave their daughters in marriage . about this time the marriage of priests was forbidden in england ; but the king for money permitted them to retain their wives , and in the end set an imposition in that respect upon every church throughout the realm . it availed not any man to say , that he had no purpose to keep a wife ; he must pay for a faculty to keep a wife , if he would . quymund his chaplain ( observing that unworthy men for the most part were advanced to the best dignities of the church ) as he celebrated divine service before him , and was to read these words out of st iames 5. 17. ( it rained not upon the earth three years and six moneths ) he did read it thus , ( it rained not upon the earth one , one years , and five , one , moneths . ) the king observed this reading , and afterwards rebuked his chaplain for it . but quymund answered , that he did it of purpose , because such readers were soonest preferred by the king. the king smiled , and in short time after preferred him to the government of st. frideswides in oxford . he died in the sixty seventh year of his age , when he had raigned thirty five years , and four moneths , wanting one day . he was buried at reading , which he had founded . in him ended the line of the norman kings , as concerning their heirs males , after whom came in the french men , by the title of the heirs generall . chap. xiv . king stephen . vir solertis ingenii , & militaris artis peritissimus . polyd. virg. he was of a comely stature ; of a good complexion ; and of body strong ; very skilfull in martiall affairs , gentle , courteous , and exceeding bountifull ; not noted for any speciall vice , but that upon an ambitious desire to raign , he brake his oath which he had made with maud the empress . he was a most worthy souldier , and wanted nothing to have made him an excellent king , but a just title . and therefore hee was driven ( perforce ) to defend his usurped authority by the sword , which must needs procure him the hatred of many . he was crowned at westminster upon saint ▪ stephens day , in presence of but three bishops , few of the nobility , and not one abbot , by william archbishop of canterbury , with great solemnity . having his sword continually out , and so many defections and rebellions against him , he never put any great man to death . of roger bishop of salisbury in this kings raign , it is reported , that he was so pressed with the miseries of a long imprisonment , vt vivere nol●●erit , mori nesci●rit , that live he would not , die he could not . in his dayes flourished divers famous learned men , but especially historiographers , viz. william of malmesbury , henry huntington , simon of durham , gessrey of munmouth , and others . though his raign were rough and tempestuous , by reason of his perpetuall debates and contests with maud the empress , and her son , concerning the title ; yet were there more religious convents erected in his time , then either before or after . although he had continuall warres , yet he required few or no tributes from the people . he raigned almost nineteen years , lived forty nine , and was buried in the abbey of feversham in kent , which he had founded . the normans thus expiring , give way to the dynasty of the plantagenets . before the division of the houses of yorke and lancaster , there run on evenly in an unquestionable line , eight kings in this manner . 1. henry the second . 2. richard the first . 3. iohn . 4. henry the third . 5. edward the first . 6. edward the second . 7. edward the third . 8. richard the second . henry the second . the first king of this island , sirnamed plantagenet , from plantagenista , so called ( as some say ) for wearing a slip or stalk of broom in his cap or hat , toward his latter dayes , in penance and contrition for his past sins . he undertook to go to the holy sepulchre , in the poor and despised habit of a broom-man , and to signifie himself so , bore a broom-stalk in his cap. others say it was because he scourged himself with the stalks of broom , which grew upon the plains , where once the holy city stood . bucks preface to his great plantagenet . henry duke of anjou by his father geffery plantagenet , succeeded stephen in the kingdome of england by agreement , whom he preceded by right , as being son and heir of maud , sole daughter and heir of king henry the first , and was crowned at westminster , by theobald archbishop of canterbury , and was a greater prince then any of his ancestors . he was sirnamed court-mantle , because he was the first that brought short cloaks out of anjou into england . he was wise and learned . he never ware glove , except he bare a hawk on his fist ; and never sate but at his meat ; and delighted in hawking , hunting , riding , and in all honest exercises . our english chronicles do blame him , for refusing to take the protection and defence of the distressed christians in ierusalem , offered unto him by heraclins the patriark ; the troubles that befell him at home , are ascribed to that cause . in his time there were eleven hundred and fifteen castles in england . he caused them to be demolished . he first kept lions , and made of the arms of normandy , viz. the two leopards ; and of the single lion aquitain , one coat so arms for england , as it is yet worn . he associated his son henry in the government ; an act without example in this kingdome . the young king shewed shortly after , that a crown was no state to be made over in trust . at the feast of his solemnity , the king to honour his son , would needs carry up the first dish to his table . roger archbishop of yorke standing by , and saying merrily ▪ to the new king , gaude , optime filio non est enim alter in toto orbe princeps , qui talem habeat in mensa administrum . what an honour is this to you , to have such a waiter at your table ! why ( saith he ) what great matter is it for him that was but the son of a duke , to do service to me , that am the son of a king and queen ? which the old king hearing , began to repent him , now it was too late , of that he had done . he loved women too much , especially one rosamond , the fair daughter of walter lord clifford . this his concubine was a very beautifull young lady , of unparalleld wit. he usually termed her the rose of the world ; his rose . the true etymology of her name is rosemouth , and seemeth to have been given , in regard of her sweetness or colour of the lips ; or it may have been in recommendation of sweetness , and eloquence of speech . king henry had made for her a labyrinth at woodstoc● , so that no man or woman might come to her , but he that was instructed by the king , or such as were right secret with him . it was commonly said , that at last queen elenor came to her by a clew of thread , or silk , and so dealt with her , that she lived not long after . but when she was dead , she was buried at godstow , in an house of nunnes beside oxford . in whose epitaph , a latin poet not understanding the true etymology of the name , makes mund ▪ which here is mouth , to be mundus , and so calls her the rose of the world . hic jacet in tumba , rosa mundi , non rosa munda ; non redolet , sedolet , quae redolere solet . being much incensed against thomas becket , archbishop of canterbury , he once cried out , me miserum , non possum in meo regno pacem cum uno sacerdote habere ? nec quisquam meorum omnium est , qui me hac molestia liberare velit . which words were so interpreted by some , that it occasioned his death . stapleton a jesuit put forth a book , entituled tres thomae ; st. thomas the apostle , thomas of becket , and sir thomas more . he canonizeth the two last , and writes far more of them , then of the first . for the death of thomas becket archbishop of canterbury , he was scourged with rods by the monks of canterbury , and had eighty lashes . geffery archbishop of yorke , and base son to king henry the second , used proudly to protest by his faith , and the royalty of the king his father . to whom one said , you may sometimes , sir , as well remember what was the honesty of your mother . petrus blesensis was archdeacon of bath under him . there was a very strange presage of his death , by a meer or pool in normandy ; for all the fishes therein leapt forth on land in the night time , and fought together with such a dreadfull noise , that men came in great numbers to behold the wonder , and not one fish could be found alive in the pool . other strange accidents are also reported . when he died , there were found in his coffers , nine hundred thousand pounds , besides plate and jewels . his youngest son was called iohn lackland , because he had no land assigned him in his fathers time . titles he lacked none ; for his father had made him earl of cornwall , dorset , sommerset , nottingham , derby , and lancaster . he raigned thirty four yeares , seven moneths , and five dayes . chap. xv. richard the first . he was for his valour sirnamed coeur de lion , or the lions heart . hugh nevill a gentleman of noble linage , one of king richards speciall familiars , is recorded to have slain a lion in the holy land , driving first an arrow into his brest , and then running him through with his sword. whereupon this hexameter was made . viribus hugonis vires periere leonis . the strength of hugh a lion slew . which atchievment belike was transferred from the man to the master , and the story applied to the king , by name of king richard , coeur de lion. but this is only weevers opinion . he was crowned at westminster , by baldwin archbishop of canterbury . he being at dinner in his hall of westminster , hearing the french king besieged vernoy●e , he swore that he would never turn his face , till he had fought with him , if he did abide , and caused the wall to be broken before him , and so passed to normandy ; and receiving his brother iohn to mercy , raised the siege ; for the french king fled as soon as he heard of kings richards coming . a prince of a most haughty mind , and full of resolution , born for the weal of christendome , the honour of england , and the terrour of infidels . with the beams of his victories atchieved in cypres and syria , he made our countrey of england most famous , and renowned through the world . he had trained up in his court a rymer or minstrell , called blondell de neste , who being so long without the sight of his lord , his life seemed wearisome to him . it was known that he came back from the holy land , but none could tell in what countrey he arrived . whereupon this blondell resolving to make search for him in many countries , but he would hear some news of him ; after expence of divers dayes in travell , he came to a town ( by good hap ) near to the castle where his master king richard was kept . of his host he demanded to whom the castle appertained , and the host told him it belonged to the duke of austria . then he enquired whether any prisoner was there detained or no , for alwayes he made such secret questionings , wheresoever he came ; and the host answered , that there was one only prisoner , but he knew not what he was , and yet he had been detained there more then the space of a year . when blondell heard this , he used such meanes , that he became acquainted with them of the castle , as minstrels do easily win acquaintance any where ; but see the king he could not , neither understand that it was he . one day he sate directly before a window of the castle , where king richard was kept prisoner , and began to sing a song in french , which king richard and blondell had sometime composed together . when king richard heard the song , he knew it was blondell that sung it ; and when blondell paused at half of the song , the king entreated him to sing the rest . thus blondell won knowledge of the king his master , and returning home into england , made the barons of the countrey acquainted where the king was . whereas before his time , the city of london was governed by portgraves , he granted them to be governed by two sheriffs and a maior , as now it is . iohn the kings brother making an incursion up to beauvois , where the bishop being also an earl of the royall bloud , and the eleventh peer of france , valiantly fighting , was taken in the skirmish , armed at all points , and bravely mounted ; on whose behalf the pope ( upon the bishops humble suit , pleading the clergies immunity ) wrote somewhat earnestly to king richard , to set his very dear son , for so he called the bishop , at liberty . the king in a kind of pleasant earnestness , caused the habergeon and curaces of the bishop , to be presented to the pope , with this question , vide an tunica filii tui sit an non . whereupon the pope replied , that he was neither his son , nor the son of the church ; and therefore should be ransomed at the kings will , because he was rather judged to be a servitor of mars , then a souldier of christ. in his time were those famous out-laws , called robin-hood and little iohn . he was wounded in the arm , by an arrow shot at him out of a cross-bow , by peter bisile , of which wound he died within four dayes after . chap. xvi . king iohn . whose raign had it not fallen in the time of so turbulent a pope , so ambitious neighbour-princes , so disloyall subjects , nor his story into the hands of exasperated writers , he had appeared a king of as great renown , as misfortunes . his overhasty undertakings brought in those broyls of the barons wars . before this kings time we seek in vain for any great councel . he first as may be gathered ( though darkly by the record ) used their councels and assents in the sixth year of his raign . he had by his wife ▪ isabel a son henry , who succeeded him in the kingdome . in his voyage towards ireland , as he was in his journey in the borders of wales , there was one taken and brought before him , who had killed a priest. the officer desired to understand the kings pleasure , what he would have done to him . let him go ( saith the king ) for he hath slain mine enemy . seeing one cut up a very fat stag in his presence , ( said he ) how easily and happily hath this creature lived , yet he never heard mass. mr. * fox seems to approve of this speech , as deriding the mass ; though others say it was an atheisticall speech . in his raign the citizens of london first obtained of the king , to choose yearly a maior . in whose time also the bridge of london was first builded of stone , which before was of wood . most writers testifie , that he was poysoned by a monk of swinsted-abbey in lincolnshire , who to poyson him , wittingly and willingly poysoned himself . * he died in the year of his age fifty and one , and after he had raigned seventeen years , six moneths , and twenty seven dayes . he lieth buried at worcester-colledge , in the quire there . king henry the third . he was happy in his uncle , the earl of pembroke , the guide of his infancy ; and no less for thirty years , whilest de burgo the last servant of his fathers against the french , both in normandy and england , with bigot earl of norfolke , and others of like gravity and experience did manage the affairs . the author of the troublesome life and raign of king henry the third . he was of a middle stature . robustus viribus , sed praeceps in factis . matthew paris . he was crowned at glocester , by peter bishop of winchester , and iosceline bishop of bath , in the presence of walo the popes legate , octob. 28. 1216. and after peace concluded with the barons , by stephen langton archbishop of canterbury , at westminster , on whitsunday an . 1219. in his raign the popes authority in england was at the highest . he heard three masses a day . in a solemn conference between him and st. lewis , king of france , the only devout kings of that age ▪ when the french king said he had rather hear sermons then masses ; our king replied , that he had rather see his loving friend , ( meaning christs reall presence in the sacraments ) then to hear never so much good of him , by others in sermons . he had a son by elenor his wife , whom he named edward , for the memory of edward the confessor , who raigned a little before that the normans vanquished england . at whose birth appeared a star of great magnitude , for some dayes before the sun rising , which moved swiftly , one while making a shew of fire , another while leaving smoak behind it ; by which prodigy ( saith polydore virgil ) the future amplitude of edward the father , and the smalness and vanity of his son which he begat afterwards , was declared as it were by an oracle . he had another son edmund crouchbacke , so called , not because he was crooked or deformed , but because he wore the cross upon his back , or on his buckler , which he wore constantly at his back , to shew that he had vowed to go to ierusalem , to recover the holy sepulchre . in the year 41 of his raign , the king held a parliament at oxford , which was called insanum parliamentum , that is to say , the mad parliament . for in this parliament were made many acts against the kings prerogative and pleasure , for the reformation of the state of the land , which after turned to the confusion and hurt of the land , and the death and destruction of many noble men ; so that by occasion thereof , began that hatefull strife , called at this day the barons war , whereof ensued much trouble and mischief . he was pressed by his nobles , bishops ▪ and others , to pass the great charter , in the ninth year of his raign . his son edward the first in the twenty fifth of his raign , confirmed the great charter . the great charter of england passed from this king , for which the english men had no less striven , than the trojans for their helena . lambard saith , he may call that great charter of the liberties of england , the first letters of manumission of the people of this realm , out of the norman servitude . matthew paris the learned monk of saint : albans lived in his time , and was highly esteemed by him . et cum esset cum ipso continue in mensa , in palatio , & in thalamo , qui haec scripsit , direxit scribentis calamum satis diligenter & amicahiliter . in another place he speaks of his bold reproving the king. verstegan sayes the sidneys are of a french extraction ; that they came over into england in henry the thirds dayes . arms as honourary dignities and generous distinctions between family and family , and person and person , have been undoubtedly born from his time ; since which there is sufficient proof of them ; and though long before that many families might be rich , potent and noble , yet some of them either had no arms , as many yet in ireland have not , or else kept no constant coat , but gave sometimes their paternall , otherwhiles their maternall or aadopted coats . mr. waterhouse his discourse of arms and armory . he raigned fifty six yeares and twenty dayes , the longest number of years that ever any king of england raigned . chap. xvii . king edward the first . he was absent in the holy land when his father died . at his first coming to the holy land , he rescued the great city of acon , from being surrendred to the sultan , after which , out of envy to his valour , one anzazim a desperate saracen , who had often been employed to him from their generall , being one time , upon pretence of some secret message , admitted alone into his chamber , with a poysoned knife gave him three wounds in the body , two in the arm , and one in the armpit , which had been mortall , if out of unspeakable love , the lady elenor his wife had not suckt out the poison of his wounds with her mouth , and licked them with her tongue , and thereby effected a cure , which otherwise had been incurable . so soveraign a medicine ( saith speed ) is a womans tongue annointed with the vertue of loving affection . leaving garrisons in fit places for defence of the countrey , he with his wife elenor takes his journey homewards , and first passing by sicilie , was there most kindly received by charles king of that island , where he first heard of his fathers death ; which he took more heavily far , then he had taken the death of his young son henry , whereof he had heard a little before ; at which when king charles marvelled , he answered that other sons might be had , but another father could never be had . he was protected by the divine hand from his childhood being young , and playing one time at chess with a friend , in the midst of his game , without any apparent occasion , he removed himself from the place where he sate , when suddenly there fell from the roof of the house a great stone , which if he had stayed in the place but never so little , had beaten out his brains . the like is recorded of luther , that as he was sitting in a certain place upon his stool , a great stone there was in the vault over his head where he sate ; which being stayed miraculously so long as he was sitting , as soon as he was up , immediately fell upon the place where he sate , able to have crushed him in pieces . fox martyrolog . having prepared a great fleet of ships for a journey into flanders , and being at winchelsey where the ships were to meet , it happened that riding about the harbour , his horse frighted with the noise of a wind-mill , which the wind drove violently about , scrambled up and leapt over the mud-wall of the town , so as neither the king nor horse was to be seen , but every one judged the king could not choose but be thrown and killed ; yet such was the divine providence over him , that the horse lighted upon his feet , and the king keeping the saddle returned safe . he was crowned at westminster , together with his wife queen elenor , by robert kilwarthy , archbishop of canterbury . he ingeniously surprized the welch into subjection , proffering them such a prince as should be 1. the son of a king. 2. born in their own countrey . 3. whom none could taxe for any fault . the welch accepted the conditions , and the king tendered them his son edward , an infant , newly born in the castle of carnarva● . wales was united to the crown of england in the eleventh year of his raign ; who thereupon established the government thereof according to the lawes of england . a wise , a just , and fortunate prince , who in regard of his princely vertues deserveth to be ranged among the principall and best kings that ever were . a right noble and worthy prince , to whom god proportioned a most princely presence and personage , a right worthy seat to entertain so heroicall a mind . for he not only in regard of fortitude and wisdome , but also for a beautifull and personall presence was in all points answerable to the height of royall majesty , whom fortune also in the very prime and flower of his age , inured to many a warre , and exercised in most dangerous troubles of the state , whilest she framed and fitted him for the empire of brittain : which he being once crowned king , managed and governed in such wise , that having subdued the welch and vanquished the scots , he may justly be counted the second ornament of great brittain . no realm but did resound first edwards praise , no praise was ever won with more deserts . and no deserts ( though great ) could counterpoise much less out-balance his heroick parts . mars taught him arms , the muses taught him arts , whereby so great he grew , that might there be a love on earth , that earthly love was he . sir francis huberts history of edward the second . in the long warres he had with robert king of scotland , having by triall found how greatly his presence advantaged the success of his affairs , and how he was ever victorious in any enterprise he undertook in his own person , when he died , he bound his son by solemn oath , that being dead he should cause his body to be boiled , untill the flesh fell from the bones , which he should cause to be interred , and carefully keeping the bones , ever carry them about him , whensoever he should happen to have warres with the scots , as if destiny had fatally annexed the victory unto his limmes . mountaigne his essayes . l. 1. c. 3. baliol king of scotland came to newcastle upon tine , where king edward then lay ; and there with many of his nobles , swears fealty , and doth homage to him , as his soveraign lord. afterward there grew a great dissention between him and the king , and the two nations , which consumed much christian bloud , and continued almost three hundred years . king edward entered scotland with a great army , king baliol was taken prisoner . the marble chair in which the kings of scotland used to be crowned , was also brought thence to westminster , and placed there amongst the monuments , where it still continues . ni fallat fatum , scoti quocunque locatum invenient lapidem , regnare tenentur ibidem . except old sawes do fain , and wizards wits be blind , the scots in place shall raign , where they this stone shall find . of his warres with the scotch , and his victories over them , see aysc● his history of the warres , treaties , marriages , and other occurrents between england and scotland , from king william the conquerour , untill the union of them both in king iames. in his twelfth year the justices itinerants began . in his time iohn baliol king of scots , builded baliol-colledge in oxford . walter merton lord chancellour of england , and after bishop of rochester , founded merton-colledge in oxford . one made this epitaph of him . dum viguit , rex , & valuit tua magna potestas frau● latuit , pax magna fuit , regnavit honestas . he raigned thirty four yeares , seven moneths , one and twenty dayes , and lived sixty eight years , and twenty dayes . edward the second . he degenerated wholly from his fathers vertues , and esteemed not the good advertisements and precepts which he gave him before his death . he granted the charter to london , to elect yearly one of the city at their own pleasure to be their maior . he was the first of the king of englands children which bore the title and quality of the prince of wales . since whose time , the eldest sons of the kings of england were called princes of wales , as the eldest sons of the kings of fran●e are called dolphins , and of spain , infants . he was called edward of carnarvan ; for the welch men after leolines death , were earnest with the king for a prince of their own countrymen ; the king told them they should have a prince there born that could speak no english , which they being contented with , he named his infant son ; ( who was born there ) the queen being brought to carnarvan . he divided wales incorporated into england , into shires and hundreds . his great affection to pierce gaveston , and spenser his favourites , was a means of stirring up the barons against him . it is thy sad disaster which i sing carnarvan ▪ edward ; second of that name , thy minions pride , thy states ill managing , thy peers revolt , the sequell of the same ; thy life , thy death i sing , thy sin , thy shame ; and how thou wert deprived of thy crown , in highest fortunes , cast by fortune down . sir francis huberts history of edward the second . nine kings had raigned since the conquest here , whom i succeeded in a rightfull line , my father ( all domestick tumults clear ) did warre , and win in fruitfull palestine . this northern sun even to the east did shine . the french were fearfull hearing but his name , french , scots , and turks aeternized his fame . he married isabel , daughter to king philip , sirnamed le bean the fair , and heir to france , all her brothers being dead without issue . gourney most barbarously caused the miserable king to sit on a mole-hill , whilest the barber shaved him , and to take cold water out of a ditch to wash him withall , which the patient king seeing , told them , that in despight of them he would have warm water at his barbing , and there withall shed abundance of tears . being deposed from his kingdome through the crafty complotting and practising of his wife , he was made away in b●rkley-castle in glocestershire , by the wicked subtilty of the bishop of hereford , who wrote unto his keepers these few words without points between them , edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est ; that by reason of the divers sense and construction , both they might commit the murder , and he also cleanly excuse himself . cambdens britannia in glocestershire . vide gatakeri adversaria . miscel , c. 16. never was the fallacy of pointings , or ambiguity of phrase more mischievously used to the destruction of a king , or the defence of the contrivers , then in this hainous parricide . to shed king edwards bloud refuse to fear i count it good . where the comma or pause being put after nolite , bid them not to make him away , but after timere insinuates a plain encouragement to the fact . the sphinx who is said to be the author of this ambiguous riddle , sent by the lord mortimer , was adam de tarleton , who utterly denied any such intention , when the murderers for their own justification , produced the writing it self under queen isabels seal , and the seals of the other conspirators . to which effect came letters from the court written by tarleton , at the queens command , in such a cloudy , and ambiguous sort , that divers wayes , one might them understand by pointing them ; that if they should be scann'd , he and his letters might be free from blame , and they delinquents , that abus'd the same . the words were these : ( kill edward do not feare 't is good ) which being comma'd diversly as pleas'd the reader , double sense may bear . o art ! thou art the earths chief treasury but being imploy'd to practise villany , what monstrous births from thy fair womb do spring , so grammar here is made to kill a king. sir francis huberts history of edward the second . there was such a terrible famine in his reign , that horse , dogs , yea men and children were stolen for food , and ( which is horrible to think ) the theeves newly brought into the gaol , were torn in pieces , and eaten presently half alive by such as had been longer there . there was in the castle of nottingham , ( and at this day is ) a certain secret way or mine cut through a rock , upon which the said castle is built , an issue whereof openeth toward the river of trent , which runs under it , and the other venteth it self far within upon the surface , and is ( at this present ) called mortimers hole ; through this the young king edward the third well armed and strongly seconded , was conducted with drawn swords , by some of his trusty and sworn servants up to the queens chamber , whose door ( so fearless is blinde affection ) was unshut , and with her was mortimer ( the kings master as the rumour spread him ) ready to go to bed , whom with the slaughter of a knight and one or two that resisted , they laid hold upon . this was not reputed a slender enterprise , in regard that in mortimers retinue were not fewer ( they say ) then one hundred and fourscore knights , besides esquires and gentlemen . he was after hanged at tyburn . k. edward the second favoured learning , as by the erection of orial-colledge in oxford , and st. maries hall , which were of his foundation , it may well be gathered . he was stifled in his bed , and a red hot iron thrust up into his fundament . he lived forty three years , and raigned nineteen . edward the third . he was upon his fathers resignation proclaimed king of england . he was not fifteen years old when he began to raign . he was of an exceeding comely personage , of a pregnant wit , courteous , gentle , of great temperance . if we respect either valour , prowess , length of raign , acts of chivalry , or the multitude of famous princes his children left behind him , he was one of the noblest kings that ever england had . dolemans conference touching succession to the crown . part . 1. c. 3. cambden in his britannia in northumberland calls him our hector . he was the greatest scourge to the nation of scotland of any king of england either before or after him . ayscu . he saith there also , that if this king had a while longer pursued the conquest of scotland , he had easily brought the same under his soveraignty ; and that he esteemed ( in regard of the difficulty of holding long his possessions within the french dominions ) the realm of scotland a more convenient and fit member of the crown of england , then the one half of france , how farre soever exceeding the other in wealth and magnificence . he brought cloathing first into this island , transporting some families of artificers from gaunt hither . upon the grievances of his people pestered with the doublings of lawyers , he commanded that pleas should from thenceforth be made in english , not in french. he placed richard his grandchild , and next heir apparent , in his solemn feast at christmas , at his table next unto himself , above all his uncles , being the sons of that king , and men much renowned for their prowess and vertue . judge d●dridges epist. dedicat. to the principality of wales . the law of magna charta was about a dozen severall times confirmed by this king , during the years of his raign . in the fiftieth year of edward the third , all the lords appeared in parliament in person , and not one by proxy . at which parliament , as appears in the parliament-roll , so many excellent things were done , as it was called bonum parliamentum , the good parliament . he disposed of ecclesiasticall dignities , received homage and fealty from his prelates , who writ that so much admired letter to the pope , for the liberties of the english church , cui pro tunc papa aut cardinales rationabiliter respondere nescicbant . walsing . an . 1343. the house of valois triumphantly raigned in france ever since the raign of edward the third , at which time it was then but an earldome , and descended from a second brother , was of meer purpose by the french advanced to the throne , under pretences of the ●alique law , made by pharamond , only to suppress the immediate right and title of king edward the third , who was descended of the french kings eldest daughter and heir ; whereby he justly claimed the crown of france , though that very law made king edwards title the stronger ( as himself truly pleaded ) he being the male , albeit his right descended by the female . rex sum regnorum bina rati●ne duorum , anglorum regno sum rex ego jure paterno , matris jure quidem francorum nuncupor idem , hinc est armorum variatio facta meorum . the date of this title of france was in the year 1337 , the which enlgand holds to this day , and our kings the realm in effect , saith iohn de serres . at the great battell of cressy in france , the commanders about the prince sent to king edward to come up with his power to aid them , the king asked the messenger , whether his son were slain or hurt , the messenger answered no , but he was like to be overlaid : well then said the king , return , and tell them who sent you , that so long at my son is alive , they send no more to me whatever happen , for i will that the honour of the day be his . and so at last the english obtained the greatest victory they ever yet had against the french. there were there found the dead bodies of eleven great princes , and of barons , knights and men of arms , above one thousand and five hundred , of the commons above thirty thousand . not one man of honour or note slain upon the english side . king edward after the battell aftectionately embracing and kissing his victorious son , said ; fair son , god send you good perseverance to so prosperous beg innings , you have nobly acquit your self , and are well worthy to have the governance of a kingdome entrusted to you for your valour . sir eustace rihamant in the encounter at calis-gate , ( between sir walter manny and the lord charney ) met with king edward , ( who disguising himself in common armour , served under the banner of sir walter manny ) and fought so stoutly with him , that he stroke the king twice down on his knees , but in the end the king took him prisoner , and then he yeelded his sword to the king , but knowing what he was , said thus , sir knight , i yeeld me as your prisoner : upon which cause , the king came after supper to him , and with a merry countenance , said thus to the knight : ( sir eustace ) you are the knight in the world that i have seen most valiant , either in assault of enemies , or defence of himself . i never ●ound knight that gave so much ado , body to body , as ye have done this day , whe●efore i give you the prize above all the knights of my court , by right sentence , and herewithall the king being bare-headed ( having a chaplet of fine pearls that he ware on his head ) took the same chaplet from off his head , being fair , goodly and rich , and said to the knight : i give you this chaplet for the best doer in arms in this journey past , of either party , and i desire you to bear it this year for the love of me . i know well , you be fresh and amorous , and oftentimes are among doubty knights and fair ladies , yet say wheresoever ye come , that the king of england did give it you : and i quite your prison and ransome , depart to morrow if it please you : whereupon the knight did not only wear the same chaplet , in remembrance of so gracious a benevolence of so worthy a prince , but also did bear after in his arms three chaplets garnished of pearls . fern his glory of generosity . p. 210 , 211. mr. wren in his monarchy asserted p. 125. saith , the successes of the english in france alwayes followed the person of the prince : with us edward the third , and henry the fifth wise and valiant princes gaining , richard the second and henry the sixth weak princes losing ; with them iohn and charles the sixth men of no ability losing , charles the fifth and charles the seventh brave princes recovering . edward the black prince of wales ( who so long governed our countrey of guienne , a man whose conditions and fortune were accompanied with many notable parts of worth and magnanimity ) having been grievously offended by the limosins , though he by main force took and entered their city , could by no means be appeased , nor by the wailfull out-cries of all sorts of people , ( as of men , women , and children ) be moved to any pitty , they prostrating themselves to the common slaughter , crying for mercy , and humbly submitting themselves at his feet , untill such time as in triumphant manner passing through their city , he perceived three french gentlemen , who alone with an incredible and undaunted boldness gainstood the enraged violence , and made head against the fury of his victorious ▪ army . the consideration and respect of so notable a vertue , did first abate the dint of his wrath , and from these three began he to relent , and shew mercy to all the other inhabitants of the town . michael lord of montaigne his essayes . l. 1. c. 1. having had great victories against the french , and other neighbouring nations , he instituted the order of the garter , and consecrated it to st. george . he appointed a garter to be the ensign of this order , wrought richly with gold and precious stones which should circle the leg beneath the knee , and on it to have these words apparently discerned , honi soit qui mal y ●ense . shame to him which evil thinks . the number of these knights , are twenty six , whereof the king himself is the chief . these knights wear the ensign of saint george ( fighting with a dragon ) fastened to a rich chain or collar which weighed and was worth eighty pounds of english money . see montaigne his essayes . l. 2. c. 7. of the words of honour . about this time the famous dr. iohn wicklef , a man of sharp wit , profound learning , and of great judgement , did in the university of oxford publickly maintain sundry propositions and dogmaticall points against the church of rome . his followers were in the phrase of those dark dayes , called lollards , whereas in truth they endeavoured to extirpate all pernicious weeds which through time , sloath , and fraud , had crept into the field of gods church . such was this kings courtesie & friendly behaviour toward the two captive kings of france and scotland , while they remained together in england , as that hereby he won their love and favour for ever after , as appeared by their repair hither to visit the king and queen , and to recreate and solace themselves in their company . thus it came to pass , that their captivity here , turned more to their own advantage , and the peaceable enjoying of their estates after the same , then if it had never hapned unto them . mr. thomas may wrote his victorious raign in verse in seven books . he raigned almost one and fifty yeares , and lived about sixty five , who of all the kings of the realm ( saith mr. f●x ) unto henry the eight , was the greatest bridler of the popes usurped power , whereby iohn wicklef was maintained with aid sufficient . chap. xviii . richard the second . he descended from four edwards , of which the first three were succeeding kings ; the fourth prince of wales sirnamed the black prince , who dying before his father edward the third , did not attain the crown . the civil warres of england by sir ▪ francis b●ondi an italian . he was crowned in the eleventh year of his age , and sufficiently shewed the miserable condition of such states as are governed by an infant king. he was the goodliest personage of all the kings that had been since the conquest . the beautifull picture of a king sighing , crowned in a chair of estate , at the upper end of the quire in st. peters at westminster , is said to be of him , which witnesseth how goodly a creature he was il● outward lineaments . speed. he had nothing worthy his great fortunes but his great birth . when he had with full hand bestowed upon sim●●● montford earl of leicester , all the benefits he could , yea and given his own sister i● marriage , he raised a most dangerous war , and spoiled shamefully a great part of england , under pretence of restoring the commonwealth and maintaining liberty : neither left he any thing undone , to bring , the king under , to change the state & of a m●●●rchy to bring in an oligarchy . but in the 〈◊〉 , after that fortune had for a good while favourably smiled upon him , he was slain at evesh●m in worcestershire , with many other of the barons his complices , by the prowess of prince edward . 〈…〉 〈…〉 although the kingdome endured great crosses in the affairs of state under this king , yet some have thought , that it found as great a blessing in matters of religion , which in those dayes took so deep root in this our land by the preaching of iohn wickliffe , that the branches thereof did spread themselves even over the seas . speeds chronicle . he was the onely son of that famous cheiftain , the black prince of wales : ( a renowned son of a renowned father ) but ( as a plant transplanted into a savage soyl ) in degree and disposition wholly degenerate , retained a tincture of the light inconstancy of his mother , and the luxuriousness of his great grandfather , edward the second , and running his course , came to his end . he had in his court a thousand persons in ordinary allowance of diet , three hundred servitors in his kitchin , above three hundred ladies chamberers , and landerers . his apparel was sumptuous , and so was it generally in his time : he had one coat of gold and stone valued at thirty thousand marks . one interview with the french king at ards , when his wife isabel was delivered unto him , cost three hundred thousand mark● . queen anne his wife , daughter to the emperour charles the fourth , first taught english women the manner of sitting on horseback , which now is used : whereas before-time , they rode very unseemly astride , like as men do . the civil wars in england , had their beginning from his bad government , henry the fourth did first commence them , and henry the fifth suspended them , but they again brake forth under henry the sixth . wat tyler the master of the kentish rebels , was slain with a dagger by william walworth mayor of london , close by the kings side , in the kings defence , who was therefore knighted , and the city since giveth for arms the dagger . he was first deposed , then slain . men are easily emboldened ( saith guicciardine c. 3. of his history of italy ) against a prince that is fallen into contempt . the most current report at that time went , that he was princely served every day at the table with abundance of costly meats , according to the order prescribed by parliament , but was not suffered to taste or touch any one of them , and so perished of famine . mr. fox saith he was at pamfret castle famished to death . sir pierce of extone at last killed him , though he with an axe wrested out of one of their hands , first killed four of those which came with him to murther him . at the point of his death he groaned forth these words . my great grandfather king edward the second was in this manner deposed , imprisoned and murthered : by which means my grandfather king edward the third obtained possession of the crown ; and now is the punishment of that injury powred upon his next successor . well this is right for me to suffer , but not for you to do ; your king for a time may joy at my death , and enjoy his desire ; but let him qualifie his pleasures with the expectation of the like justice : for god who measureth all our actions by the malice of our minds , will not suffer this violence unrevenged . he lived three and thirty years , raigned two and twenty and three moneths . thus far the plantagenets , have continued in an unquestionable right line ; now follows the division of the houses of lancaster & york , three of each succeeding in their order . of lancaster , henry the fourth sirnamed bulling brook . henry the fifth of monmouth . henry the sixth of windsor . of yorke three others succeeded upon a better title . 1. edward the fourth . 2. edward the fifth . 3. richard the third . henry the fourth . he was son to iohn of gaunt duke of lancaster , from the loyn● of whom the greatest number of the kings of england , spain & portugall , since his time , as also several other persons of eminent dignity are descended . mr. dugdal●s history of st. pauls cathedrall . he was annointed with an oyl which a certain religious man gave unto henry the first duke of lancaster ( grandfather to the king by the mothers side ) when he served in the wars of king edward the third , beyond the seas ; together with this prophesie , that the kings which should be annointed therewith , should be the champions of the church . there was a great contest then between the white and red rose , the houses of yorke and lancaster . the red rose prevailed now , he being the first renowned king of the house of lancaster . he first studied a popular party as needing all to support his titles . there was in his raign a parliament held at coventry , called parliamentum indoctorum , the lack-learning parliament , either for the unlearnedness of the persons , or for their malice to learned men during the time of this kings raign execution by fire was first put in practice within this realm , for controversies in points of religion . he shed the bloud of gods saints , and raigned neither long nor h●p●ily . mr. fox●aith ●aith his time was full of trouble , bloud and misery . he was the first of the kings of england ( saith he ) that put out his hand to the shedding of the bloud of the saints , since the conquest . humphrey his son was by his brother king henry the fifth created duke of glocester , he was protector of the kingdome of england for twenty five years in the time of king henry the sixth . he was a man , who nobly deserved of the commonwealth and of learning , as being himself very learned , and a magnificent patron and benefactor of the university of oxford , where he had been educated , and was generally called the good duke . speed. this duke humphrey purchased a wonderfull number of books , in all sciences , whereof he freely gave to a library in oxford , a hundred and twenty nine fair volumes . bales conclusion to leylands new years gift to king henry the eight . one saith , all the henries of the house of lancaster ( even to henry the seventh ) were most eminent for great vertues . henry the fourth for his behaviour and courtesie . henry the fifth for his valour and magnanimity . henry the sixth for his justice and piety . the renowned prince king henry the fifth during the life of his father , was noted to be fierce and of wanton courage . one of his servants whom he favoured , was for felony by him committed , arraigned at the kings bench , whereof the prince being advertised , and incensed by light persons about him , in furious rage came hastily to the barre where his servant stood as prisoner , and commanded him to be ungived and set at liberty . william gascoigne the chief justice of the kings bench , exhorted the prince to be ordered according to the ancient laws of the realm , or if he would have him saved from the rigour of the laws , that he should obtain if he might of the king his father his gracious pardon , whereby no law or justice should be impeached . with which answer the prince being more inflamed , endeavoured himself to take away his servant . the judge considering the perillous example and inconvenience that might thereby ensue , with a valiant courage and spirit commanded the prince upon his allegiance to leave the prisoner , and to depart his way : with which commandement the prince being set all in a fury , in a terrible manner came up to the place of judgement , some thinking that he would have slain the judge , or have done him some hurt , but the judge sitting still without moving , declaring the majesty of the kings place of judgement , and with an assured bold countenance , spake thus to the prince : sir remember your self , i keep here the place of the king your soveraign lord and father , to whom you owe double obeysance , wherefore in his name i charge you desist from your wilfulness and unlawfull enterprise , and from henceforth give good example to those which after shall be your proper subjects 〈◊〉 and now for your contempt and disobedience , go you to the prison of the kings bench , whereto i commit you , and remaine you there prisoner , untill the pleasure of the king your father be further known . with which wordes being abashed , and also wondering at the marvellous gravity of that worshipfull justice , the prince laying his weapon apart , doing reverence , departed , and went to the kings bench as he was commanded , whereat his servants disdaining , came and shewed to the king all the whole affair . he a while studying , after , as a man all ravished with gladness , holding his hands and eyes towards heaven cried out with a loud voice : o mercifull god how much am i bound to thy infinite goodness , ●ff●ecially , for that thou hast given me a iudge who feareth not to minister justice , and also a sin , who can suffer semblably ; and obey justice . sir thomas eliot in his governour , saith , here a man may behold three persons worthy memory : first a judge , who being a subject , feared not to execute justice on the eldest son of his soveraign lord , and by order of nature his successor . also a prince , son and heir of the king in the midst of his folly , more considered his evil example , and the judges conscience in justice , then his own estate , and wilfull appetito . thirdly a noble king , and wise father , who contrary to the custome of parents , rejoyced to see his son and the heir of his crown , to be for his disobedience by his subject corrected . the oath ex officio ( it should rather be called in officiosum ) was brought into the church under him . the prelates requiring it to discover those which that age esteemed hereticks , and especially , those which they called lollards , which master fox in his acts and monuments calls a bloudy law. in his admonition to his son at his death , he said , of english men , so long as they have wealth and riches , so long shalt thou have obeysance , but when they be poor , they are alwayes ready to make insurrection at every motion . all the time of his sickness , his will was to have his crown set upon his bolster by him , and one of his fits being so strong upon him , that all men thought him directly dead ; the prince coming in , took away the crown : when suddenly the king recovering his senses , missed his crown ; and asking for it , was told , the prince had taken it : whereupon the prince being called , came back with the crown , and kneeling down , said : sir to all our judgements , and to all our griefs , you seemed directly dead , and therefore i took the crown as being my right : but seeing to all our comforts you live , i here deliver it much more joyfully then i took it , and pray god you may long live to wear it your self . in his time were the two famous poets chaucer and gower . none of the sons of henry the fourth did degenerate : a thing not usuall in so large a family . henry the fifth died gloriously in the pursuit of his conquests , the duke of clarence valiantly fighting , and though of a naturall death and glocester of a violent , yet died they not with less fame then did the others . biondi his history of the civil warres of england , l. 5. in henry the sixth . the duke of bedfords death is to be numbred among the chiefest causes of the loss of france . he was a prudent prince , of long experience in arms and government , obeyed by his own , feared by his enemies . id. ibid. fourth henry was by some blind bard foretold , that he should never die , till he had seen ierusalem : fourth henry will be old , ierusalem for him shall be unseen : no , he shall see it , when he least doth ween . he swouns at prayers , and by religious men is straight convey'd unto ierusalem . sir francis huberts history of edward the second . the like prophesie we read of pope sylvester the second , to whom being inquisitive for the time and place where he should die , it was answered that he should die in ierusalem , who then saying mass in a chappell ( called likewise ierusalem . ) perceived his end there to be near , and died . in this kings time guild-hall in london was built . gower being very gracious with him , carried the name of the only poet in his time . he and chaucer were knights . the king died in ierusalem-chamber in minster in the year of his age forty six . he raigned thirteen years and a half , wanting five dayes . fourteen years say others . chap. xix . henry the fifth . he was just , wise , magnanimous , valiant . to this noble prince ( by an assent of the parliament ) all the estates of the realm after three dayes , offered to do fealty before he was crowned , or had solemnized his oath , well and justly to govern the commonweal , which offer before , was never found to be made to any prince of england . stowes chron. his young years were spent in literature in the academy of oxford , where in queens-colledge he was a student under the tuition of his uncle henry beauford , chancellour of that university . when he came to be king , he made thomas rodban a famous astronomer in those dayes , bishop of st. davids , and iohn carpenter a learned divine , bishop of worcester , having known them both , whilest he lived in the university . the civil wars of england by sir francis biondi . presently after his coronation he called before him all his old companions , who had been disorderly with him , strictly charging them , not to presume to come within ten miles of his court , untill such time as they had given good proof of their amendment in manners , and left any of them should pretend want of maintenance to be any cause of their taking ill courses , he gave to every one of them a competent means whereby to subsist , and in stead of them he received the gravest men into his familiarity , in whom he conceived there was the greatest prudence to take counsell , and faith to give it , that he might be helped by their counsels , admonitions , and prudence . he kept his lent in the castle of kenelworth , and whilest he lay there , messengers came to him from the dolphin of france named charles , with a present of paris-balls for him to play withall , but the king wrote to him , that he should shortly send to him london-balls , with which he would throw down paris walls . and to make good his promise he raised a great army , and hastened to france , and landed at caen in normandy . charles the sixth then king of france raised also a mighty army , and sent a king of arms to defie him . king henry desirous to know the numbers of the french , sent forth captain game for discovery ; who brought word that there were of them enough to kill , and enough to take , and enough to run away . the french were so confident of victory , that they sent to king henry to know what ransome he would give ; but he obtained a great victory over them . he was sirnamed commonly the alexander of england , because as alexander the great conquered the most part of asia in the space of nine or ten years , so did this henry conquer france in less then the like time . the second ornament of the english nation . by force of arms and military prowess maugre the french , he conquered france , and brought charles the sixth king of france to that extremity , that after a sort he surrendred up his crown unto him . fuit statura corporis quae justam excederet , corpore gracili , membris aequalibus ac validis , facie decorâ , collo oblongo , artis militaris peritissimus ; ac ejus gloriâ illustrissimus . polyd. virg. ang. hist. 22. within the term of five or six years , he brought the better part of france under his obedience . avaunt proud rome and brag not of thy men , nor thy aetheriall caesars wars declare : cease peerless plutarch with thy sacred pen , the worlds arch-monarchs aptly to compare , reason doth urge , and this alleadge i dare , that englands homer pourtrayd hath his war , which doth excell the worthiest caesars star. william herberts prophesie of cadwallader . he was of marvellous great strength , and passing swift in running , insomuch that he with two other of his lords without hound , bow , or other engine , would take a wild buck or doe in a large park . he ordained the king of heralds over the english , which is called garter . never lived english king with more true glory , nor ever died any in a more unseasonable time , nor more lamented . it was said of him , that he had something in him of caesar , which alexander the great had not , that he would not be drunk , and something of alexander the great , which caesar had not , that he would not be flattered . the king being certified of his son henries birth , gave god thanks , for sending him a son , which might succeed in his crown and scepter . but when he heard reported the place of his nativity , he said unto the lord fitz hugh his trusty chamberlain these words : my lord , i henry born at monmouth , shall reign a while , and much get , and henry born at windsor , shall long raign , and all lose : but as god will , so be it . the burthen of those wars lay upon the english mens shoulders , who were at that time rich and mighty , and had a wise , goodly , and valiant king called henry , accompanied with sage , hardy , and expert captains , viz. the earl of salisbury , talbot , and others . when god meant to withdraw his goodness from the english men , this wise king died at bois de vincennes , and his son who proved but a simple man , was crowned king of france and england , and at paris . phil. de commines . the duke of bedford , third son to king , henry the fourth , regent for the english in france fourteen years , having crowned his master henry the sixth in paris , died , leaving behind him an honourable witness , even from his enemies , that he was a brave commander , a true patriot , and a faithfull servant to his lord and brother henry the fifth , and to his son henry the sixth . he was regent of france , duke of bedford , alanson , and an●●u , earl of main , richmond , and kendall , and constable of england . king henry died in france in the ninth year of his raign 1422. he left to succeed him his only child prince henry , about as many moneths old as his father had raigned years . henry the sixth . he was proclaimed king when he was about eight moneths old , his mother brought him to the parliament in london in her bosome . he was crowned on the ninth year of his age . his infancy was mightily supported , by the notable valour and policy of his two uncles , humphrey duke of glocester , and iohn duke of bedford , to the one was committed the protection of his person and kingdome , to the other the managing of the war continued in france . he was a very simple man , and almost an innocent . philde commines . l. 3. c. 7. he was of a seemly stature , of a slender body , and of a beautifull face : in whose best of fortune it was never to prossess more then the name of a king. what prophet could have picked out of mars and saturn , the manifold mishaps which befell that prince of blessed memory , king henry the sixth , sometimes sleeping in a port of honour , sometime floting in the surges of mishap , sometime possessing forraign crowns , sometimes spoiled and deprived of his own , sometime a prince , sometime a prisoner , sometime in plight to give succour to the miserable , sometime a fugitive among the desperate ? howards defensative against the poyson of supposed prophesies . c. 14. history shews us not an example of a prince , who in so many vicissitudes , never met with one fully to his advantage . he was four times taken prisoner , and in the end despoiled both of his kingdome and life . he was crowned king of france in nostre dame in paris , receiving the homage and fealty of all the nobility of france present , and all the citizens and inhabitants of that city , and the places adjacent . he was so continent , that at christide having a shew of young women presented to him bare breasted , he immediately departed with these words ; fie , fie , fie for shame , forsooth you be too blame . he willingly pardoned many great offences . a ruffian striking him on the face , he only said , forsooth you are too blame to strike me your annointed king. he was never observed dejected upon the report of any sad accident : but entertained all afflictions as sent from the almighty , and absolutely resigned his will to that of heaven . he founded eaton-school and kings colledge , the chappell of which last shewed the magnificence that the whole should have been of , had their sounder raigned to have finished them himself . at towton about four miles from yorke , the armies of edward the fourth and king henry the sixth met , where was fought the greatest battell our stories mention in all these civil wars , where both the armies consisted of above a hundred thousand men , and all of our own nation . one day when he was washing his hands at a great feast , and cast his eye upon his son henry , then a young youth , he said , this is the lad , that shall possess quietly that we now strive for . this shewed a very propheticall spirit to have been in king henry , that could so long before foretell a thing so unlikely to happen . for this was he that was afterward king henry the seventh , before whom at that time there were many lives in being , of both the houses of yorke and lancaster ; so some : but my lord howard in his defensative against the poyson of supposed prophesies c. 4. seems not wholly to ascribe it to that . king henry the seventh after laboured his canonization with the pope ; but that succeeded not : for however the world was assured of his * piety , there was much question of his government . so habington a papist in his history of king edward the fourth . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 24. p. 532. saith thus , sed morte post statim obita , id officium praestare nequivit . cambden in his britannia in surrey saith it was pope iulius , and that the reason why this took no effect was the popes covetousness , who demanded too great a summe of money for a kings canonization , as they term it , so that he might seem ready to grant those kind of honours not for the princes holiness sake , but for gold . sir francis bacon in his history of henry the seventh relates it thus , about this time the king became suitor to pope iulius the second , to canonize king henry the sixth for a saint ; the rather in respect of that his famous prediction of the kings own assumption to the crown . the pope referred the matter ( as the manner is ) to certain cardinals , to take the verification of his holy acts and miracles ; but it died under the reference . the generall opinion was , that pope iulius was too dear , and that the king would not come to his rates . but it is more probable , that the pope ( who was extreamly jealous of the dignity of the see of rome , and of the acts thereof ) knowing that king henry the sixth was reputed in the world abroad but for a simple man , was afraid it would but diminish the estimation of that kind of honour , if there were not a distance kept between innocents and saints . william alnwicke bishop of lincoln was his confessor . dr. litchfield in his raign preached 3083 sermons . never any came to be king so soon after his birth , nor left to be king so long before his death ; for he came to be king at eight moneths old , and he left to be king twelve years before his death . holy king henry , as they call him , was crowned in paris : yet he lost all on that side before he was a man , as i remember , or soon after , and before his unhappy death he lost this land also , which loss of both came by striving for both . richard duke of glocester killed him , that thereby edward the fourth his brother might be freed from all hostile fear . so polyd. virg. and others . he successively ruled this land the space of thirty eight years , six moneths , and four dayes . edward the fourth . he came unto the kingdome , not by power or justice , but by the peoples inclination . biondi . he raigned thirty eight yeares , six moneths , and odde dayes , and after his redemption of the crown , six moneths . he lived two and fifty years , having by his wife one only so● , called edward , prince of wales . he was the goodliest gentleman ( saith commines l. 4. c. 10. ) that ever i set mine eye on ; and l. 3. c. 5. the beautifullest prince that lived in his time ; but after he grew gross and corpulent , giving himself wholly to pleasures . he was a fortunate prince in the field : for he wan at least nine great battels , fighting himself on foot in every one of them . phil. de com. in his hist. book l. 3. c. 4. and 6. p. 188. saith , that king edward himself told me , that in all battels that he wan , so soon as he had obtained victory , he used to mount on horseback , and cry to save the people , and kill the nobles : for of them few or none escaped . id. l. 3. c. 5. in his fourth book c. 10. he speaks of an interview between king edward and lewis the eleventh king of france ; the french king after some discourse , said pleasantly , that he should come to paris to solace himself there with the ladies , and that he would give him the cardinall of bourbon for his confessor , who would easily assoil him of sin , if any were committed . the king of england took great pleasure in this talk , and answered with a merry countenance : for he knew the cardinall to be a good fellow . never lived prince whom adversity did more harden to action ; and prosperity more soften to voluptuousness . so improvident was his memory , that he forgat the greatest injuries , and resumed the archbishop of yorke into favour , not bearing so much as a watchfull eye over a reconciled enemy . the so fatall division between the house of yorke and lancaster , with him in a manner had both their birth and growth . i sing the civil wars , tumultuous broils , and bloudy factions of a mighty land : whose people haughty , proud with forraign spoils , upon themselves turn back their conquering hand ; whilest kin their kin , brother the brother foils , like ensigns all against like ensigns band ; bowes against bowes , the crown against the crown , whilest all pretending right , all right 's thrown down . our english luean , daniel of the civil wars . the first fortnight of his raign was died , i will not say stained , with the bloud of walter walker a grocer , who keeping shop at the sign of the crown in cheapside , said , he would make his son heir to the crown : a bold jest broke in an evil time : yet do i not side with them , who taxe the king of severity in this execution ; unless i could clear this man from being particularly factious for the house of lancaster ; or know that those words were uttered in innocent mirth , without any scorn to king edwards title . and however perhaps the extraordinary punishment of such saucy language , was not then unnecessary to beget authority , and make men cautious to dispute the descent of princes , when the question was so nice , and arguments not improbable on either side . habingtons history of edward the fourth . speed saith his words intended no treason , ( the grocer not once dreaming to touch king edwards title ) yet the time being when the crown lay at stake , the law made them his death . he hearing of a certain prophesie , that g. should dispossess his children of the crown , was consenting to his death ; interpreting g. to be george duke of clarence , which fell out to be glocester , to whose tyranny he left them by this ungodly means . he vanquished in nine battels , himself being present . the scene of his fortune had more changes then any king of england yet , except his competitor . lust was reputed his bosome-sin ; god severely punisht him in his sons , who were both dispossest of their kingdome and their lives , by their unnaturall uncle : there being so much appearance of right by their fathers incontinency ; that even an act of parliament was made to bastardize them . he was the first of our kings since the conquest that married his subject . his usuall oath was by gods blessed lady . he sate on the kings bench in open court three dayes together , in michaelmas term , anno 〈◊〉 of his raign , to understand how his laws were executed . have we not seen the late king of england , edward the fourth of that name , heir of the house of yorke , utterly destroy the house of lancaster , under the which both his father and he had lived many yeares ? farther , the said king edward having done homage to king henry the sixth , being of the house of lancaster , did he not afterward hold him prisoner many years in the tower of london , the chief city of the realm , where in the end he was put to death ? phil. de commines . hist. l. 5. c. 18. he saith that their king lewis the eleventh of france , in wisdome and sense far surmounted king edward . lib. 6. c. 2. and l. 5. c. 13. he saith of lewis , undoubtedly he was one of the wisest and subtilest princes that lived in his time . that very day wherein an honourable peace was concluded between edward the fourth and king lewis the eleventh , upon subscribed articles ; it chanced a white dove , as commines writes , to repose her self upon king edwards pavilion , whereupon though many gathered an argument , yet since she sate not equally between both the kings , i like much better of a gascoines observation , who having been present at the sight , reported unto philipde commines , as himself records , that the dove repaired to king edwards tent , only to this intent , to refresh and prune her self after a great rain , because the sun was warmest there . howards defensative c. 24. richard nevill earl of warwicke was a man of an undaunted courage , but wavering and untrusty , the very tennice-ball in some sort , of fortune ; who although he were no king , was above kings , as who deposed king henry the sixth , ( a most bountifull price to him ) from his royall dignity , placed edward the fourth in the royall throne , and afterwards put him down too ; restored henry the sixth again to the kingdome , enwrapped england within the most wofull and lamentable flames of civill war , which himself at the length hardly quenched with his own bloud . in his spirit , birth , marriage and revenue , he was mighty : which raised his thoughts above proportion . the greatest and busiest subject our later age hath brought forth . that make-king warwick having the english crown pinn'd on his sleeve , to place where he thought best , who set up princes , and did pull them down , how did he toyl the land with his unrest ? how did his sword rip up his mothers brests : whose greatness , and his popularity , wrought both his own , and others tragedy . sir francis huberts history of edward the second . cecil dutchess of yorke , his mother lived in henry the sevenths raign , and died at her castle of barkhamsted , being of extream years ; who had lived to see three princes of her body crowned , and four murthered . he being near his death , told his friends , that if he could as well have foreseen things , as now to his pain he proved them , he would never have worn the courtesie of mens knees , with the loss of so many heads . he raigned two and twenty yeares , one moneth , and five dayes . edward the fifth . he was scarce eleven years old when his father died , and succeeded him in the kingdome , but not in the crown ; for he was proclaimed king , but never crowned : and indeed it may not so properly be called the raign of edward the fifth , as the tyranny of richard the third . he hearing that his uncle had left the name of protector , and taken upon him the title of king , and was with full consenting of the lords to be crowned within a few dayes following , with the same crown and in the like estate as had been provided for his solemnity ; the dejected innocent sighed and said , alass , i would my vncle would let me enjoy my life yet , though i lose both my kingdome and crown . he and his brother richard were murthered in the tower. t●win brethren in their deaths ; what had they done ? o , richard sees a fault that they were in ; it is not actuall , but a mortall one , they princes were , 't was their original sin . why should so sweet a pair of princes lack , their innocents-day in th' english almanack . aleyns history of henry the seventh . richard the third . he was king in fact only , but tyrant both in title and regiment . he was ill featured of limmes , crook-backed ; hard favoured of visage , malicious , wrathfull , envious . it is for truth reported , that the dutchess his mother had so much ado in her travail , that she could not be delivered of him uncut : and that he came into the world with the feet forward , and ( as the same runneth ) also not untoothed , whether men of hatred , report above the truth , or else that nature changed her course in his beginning , which in the course of his life committed many things unnaturally . buck ( that writes his raign ) writes favourably of him , but the chroniclers generally condemn him . he was brother to king edward the fourth ; and having most wickedly murthered his nephews , usurped the kingdome by the name of king richard the third : and after two years lost both it and his life in a pitched field . he slew with his own hands king henry the sixth , being prisoner in the tower , as men constantly said , and that without commandement or knowledge of king edward the fourth , who undoubtedly if he had intended his death , would have appointed that butcherly office to some other then his own brother . he slew also that kings son in the presence of edward the fourth . was the contriver of the death of the duke of clarence his brother . he bare a white bore for his cognisance . the lord lovell , sir richard ratcliffe , and sir william catesby were chief rulers under him : of the which persons was made a seditious rime , and fastened upon the cross in cheapside , and other places of the city . it was this , the cat , the rat , and lovell the dog , rule all england under a hog . for which one colingborne was executed . a prince who deserved to be ranked among the worst men , and the best kings . yet sir francis bacon in his history of henry the seventh saith , that his good laws were but the brocage of an usurper , thereby to win the hearts of the people , as being conscious to himself that the true obligations of soveraignty in him failed . he put to death hastings . a greater judgement of god then this upon hastings , i have never observed in any story . for the self same day that the earl riners , grey , and others , were ( without triall of law , or ostence given ) by hastings advice executed at ponfret : i say hastings himself in the same day , and ( as i take it ) in the same hour , in the same lawless manner , had his head stricken off in the tower of london . he had little quiet after the murther of his two nephews in the tower of london . sir iohn beaumont hath well described bosworth-field in verse . the night before he was slain , he dreamed that he saw divers images of devils , which pulled and haled him , not suffering him to take any rest , the which vision stroke him into such a troubled mind , that he began to doubt what after came to pass . charles the ninth king of france , after the massacre in paris , and divers other cities , ( wherein were slaughtered about thirty thousand ) never saw good day , but his eyes rolled often , uncertainly in the day with fear and suspition ; and his sleep was usually interrupted in the night with dismall dreams and apparitions . he being near his end , vomited out bloud pittifully by all the conduits of his body , as a just judgement for him that barbarously shed it , throughout all the provinces of the realm . he raigned two yeares , two moneths , and one day . chap. xix . henry the seventh . the fourteen plantagenets thus expiring with richard the third , five tudors take their turns in this manner . henry the seventh . henry the eighth . edward the sixth . queen mary . queen elizabeth . they are called tudors , because henry the fifth his widow being a french woman , married owen tudor , from whom henry the seventh did lineally descend . in this nation , how hath the crown walked , ( even since christs birth ) from britains to saxons , danes , normans , plantagenets , tudors , stuarts . mrs shawes tomb-stone . this king pretended a six-fold title to the crown : by conquest , military election of souldiers in the fields near bosworth , by parliament , by birth , by donation , and marriage . he did never stand upon his marriage with the right heir as the foundation of his right unto the crown ; for he knew well enough , that if that had been his best and only title , though it might make the power good unto his children , yet while she was living , he must hold the crown in her right , not in his own , and if she died before him , it was lost . because he was crowned in the field with king richards crown , found in an hawthorn-bush , he bare the hawthorn-bush with the crown in it . he was crowned the thirtieth day of october in the year of our lord 1485 , by thomas bourehier archbishop of canterbury and cardinall . at which day , he did institute for the better security of his person , a band of fifty archers under a captain to attend him , by the name of yeomen of his guard ; and yet that it might be thought to be rather a matter of dignity , after the imitation of that he had known abroad , then any matter of diffidence appropriate to his own case ; he made it to be understood for an ordinance not temporary , but to hold in succession for ever after . through whose care , vigilancy , policy , and forecasting wisdome for times to come , the state and commonwealth of england hath to this day stood established and invincible . camdens britannia in surrey . a politick prince he was , if ever there were any , who by the engine of his wisdome , beat down and overturned as many strong oppositions both before and after he wore the crown , as ever king of england did . whose worthy renown like the sun in the midst of his sphere , shineth , and ever shall shine in mens remembrance ! what incomparable circumspection was in him alwayes found , that notwithstanding his long absence out of this realm , the disturbance of the same by sundry seditions among the nobility , civil warres and battels , wherein infinite people were slain , yet by his most excellent wit , he in few years , not only brought this realm in good order and under due obedience , revived the laws , advanced justice , refurnished his dominions , and repaired his mannours , but also with such circumspection treated with other princes and realms , of leagues , of alliance , and amities , that during the most part of his raign , he was little or nothing disquieted with war hostile or martiall business . and yet all other princes either feared him or had him in fatherly reverence . he could never endure any mediation in rewarding his servants , and therein exceeding wise : for whatsoever himself gave , he himself received back the thanks and the love ; on the contrary , in whatsoever he grieved his subjects , he wisely put it off on those , that he found fit ministers for such actions . by his happy marriage ( being next heir to the house of lancaster ) with elizabeth daughter and heir to edward the fourth of the house of yorke , the white and red roses were conjoyned . sir francis bacon saith of iohn morton archbishop of canterbury , chancellor of england and cardinal . he deserveth a most happy memory in that he was the principall means of joyning the two roses . from the twenty eighth year of henry the sixth unto the fifteenth of henry the seventh , the civil war between lancaster and y●●ke continued , wherein , as they reckoned , there were thirteen fields fought , three kings of england , one prince of wales , twelve dukes , one m●rquesse , eighteen earles , with one vicount and twenty three barons , besides knights and gentlemen lost their lives . cambd. brit. in warwickeshire . * the king ( in honour of the brittish race , of which himself was ) named his first son arthur , according to the name of that ancient worthy king of the brittains ; in whose acts there is truth enough to make him famous , besides that which is fabulous . king arthur fought twelve battels with the saxons and overthrew them . hollinsh . arthurus belliger illis temporibus dux militum & regum brittanniae contra saxones invictissimè pugnabat , duodecies dux belli fuit , duodecies victor bellatorum . hunting . hist. l. 2. that arthur was one of the nine worthies . there were three jewes , ioshua , david , iudas maccabaeus ; three gentiles , hector of troy , alexander the great , and iulius caesar ; three christians , arthur of britain , charlemain of france , and godfrey of bullen . arthur ursum significat , quasi ursinum diceres . burhillus in ms. the prince arthur died before his father , and lieth buried in the quire of the cathedrall church at worcester . after was born to the king at greenwich the lord henry his second son , which was created duke of yorke , and after prince of wales , who succeeded his father in governance of this realm , by the name of henry the eighth . his time did excell for good common-wealths laws ; so as he may justly be celebrated for the best law-giver to this nation , after king edward the first . for his laws ( who so marks them well ) are deep , and not vulgar : not made upon the spur of a particular occasion for the present ; but out of providence of the future , to make the estate of his people still more and more happy ; after the manner of the legislators in ancient and heroicall times . the tax ( called benevolence ) was devised by edward the fourth , for which he sustained much envy . it was abolished by richard the third by act of parliament , to ingratiate himself with the people ; and it was revived by this king , but with consent of parliament , for so it was not in the time of king edward the fourth . it is observed as a rule in politicks , * that dominium sequitur terram , those that are the greatest proprietaries , have the chief power , as in turkie , because none there holds any land but during his life ; therefore the great turk hath such unlimited power , and so the barons were able ( they say ) to ma●e war with their prince , because the land was most in their and their tenants possession . henry the seventh therefore being raised by the nobles , conceiving , that those which exalted him might cast him down , did abate their power , and made statutes against retainers . but henry the eighth demolishing the abbies , distributed the lands among the people , and so they again gained great power by that meanes . he made a composition with philip , father to the emperour charles the fifth , being here in england , that he should deliver into his hands , the duke of suffolke , his mortall enemy , who was fled out of england , and saved himself in the low countries , alwayes provided that the king should attempt nothing against the dukes life ; which promise notwithstanding , being ner his end , he expresly by will and testament commanded his succeeding son , that immediately after his decease , he should cause him to be put to death . montaigne his essayes . l. 1. c. 7. there scarce passed any parliament in this time , without a law against riot and retainers , the king having an eye to might and multitude . the king was on a time entertained by the earl of oxford ( that was his principall servant , both for war and peace ) nobly and sumptuously , at his castle at henninghom . at the kings going away , the earls servants stood ( in a seemly manner ) in their livery coats , with cognizances , ranged on both sides , and made the king a lane. the king called the earl to him , and said ; my lord , i have heard much of your hospitality , but i see it is greater then the speech . these handsome gentlemen and yeomen , which i see on both sides of me , are sure your meniall servants . the earl smiled , and said ; it may please your grace , that were not for mine ease . they are most of them my retainers , they are come to do me service at such time as this , and chiefly to see your grace . the king started a little , and said ; by my faith ( my lord ) i thanke you for my good chear , but i may not endure to have my lawes broken in my sight . my atturney must speake with you . the earl after compounded for a thousand marks . his disposition to crush treasure out of his subjects purses , by forfeitures upon penall lawes , proved the blot of his time . when among many articles exhibited by the irish against the earl of kildare , the last was : all ireland cannot rule this earl. then ( quoth the king ) shall this earl rule all ireland ; and shortly after he made him deputy thereof . iames the fourth king of scotland married with the lady margaret , the kings eldest daughter . during the treaty , it is reported , that the king remitted the matter to his counsell . and that some of the table in the freedome of counsellors ( the king being present ) did put the case ; that if god should take the kings two sons without issue , that then the kingdome of england would fall to the king of scotland , which might prejudice the monarchy of england . whereunto the king himself replied ; that if that should be , scotland would be but an accession to england , and not england to scotland , for that the greater would draw the less : and that it was a safer union for england , then that of france . this was the ninth time , that since the conquest , the scottish kings have married with the english nation . ayscu . he left at his death most of it in secret places , under his own key and keeping , at richmond , the summe of near eighteen hundred thousand pounds sterling ; a huge mass of money , even for these times . his son henry the eight by his pleasures , by unprofitable wars exhausted all that treasure in a few of the first years of his raign . he died at his palace at richmond which himself had built , having lived two and fifty years , and raigned three and twenty years , and eight moneths . he died , and in memoriall of his name , built that fair chappell , where he now takes rest ; a rich foundation of a curious frame , the fairest monument lest unsupprest , passing all temples of the gorgeous east : o strew his hearse with roses red & white , for he both stemmes did in one unite . stor●rs wolseius aspirans . henry the eighth . seven is a number fatall from the heavens . but eight king henry passing all the sevens . storers wolseius aspirans . of personage he was tall and mighty , and in his latter years somewhat gross , in wit and memory excellent , such majesty and humanity as was comely in such a prince . cui natura fortunaque supra regium nomen , incomparabilis formae & maxime praestantis ingenii accumulata dona contulerunt : nemo enim è tota anglica juventute , vel staturae dignitate , vel venustate oris , vel nervorum firmitate regem aequavit . paul. jov. britanniae descript . huic erat à teneris annis ars bellica cordis ut reliquas dotes , condignas principe tanto , corporis atque animi non sit memor are necesse . quod fortis , clemens , humeris quod & alitor ibat omnibus , egregia facie vultuque decoro . oclandi anglorum praelia . it hath been observed by historians , of tiberius emperour of rome ; of mahomet the great , emperour of the turks ; and of henry the eight , king of england ; that there was no security in their love , but that such as were highest in their favour , were nearest to ruine . he brought unto the block two queens two noble ladies , one cardinall declared ; of dukes , marquesses , earls , and the sons of earls , no fewer then twelve ; lords and knights eighteen of abbots and priors thirteen ; monks , and religious persons , about seventy seven , and many more of both religions , to a very great number . dr. heylins ecclesia restaurata . that is a tart expression of sir walter rauleigh in his preface to his history of the world . if all the pictures and patterns of a merciless prince were lost in the world , they might all again be painted to life out of the story of this king. how many wives did he cut off , and cast off , as his fancy and affection changed . when he was ready to give accompt to god for the abun●ance of bloud already spilt , and knew he was no longer able to live , he imprisoned the duke of norfolk the father , signed a warrant for the execution of the earl of surrey his son , within nine dayes after he himself expired . unto a stately great outlandish dame , a messenger from our king henry came ( henry of famous memory the eight . ) to treat with her in matter of great weight ; as namely , how the king did seek her marriage , because of her great vertue and go●d carriage . she ( that had heard the king lov'd change of pasture ) repli'd , i humbly thank the king , your master , and would , ( such love his same in me hath bred ) my body venter so , but not my head . sir iohn harringtons epigrams . maximilian the emperour was retained by him as his souldier . he not only wore the cross of st. george , but received his pay duely , viz. a hundred crowns per diem . l. herbert in hen. the 8 ths life . sub rege anglorum magnus meret induperator , germanique truces , duro gens strenua bello . oclandi anglorum praelia . the raign of this king continued with great nobleness and fame the space of thirty eight years . during whose time and raign was great alteration of things , as well to the civil state of the realm , as especially to the state ecclesiasticall , and matters to the church appertaining . for by him was exiled and abolished out of the realm , the usurped power of the bishop of rome , idolatry and superstition somewhat repressed , images defaced , abbeys and monasteries pulled down , sects of religion rooted out , scriptures reduced to the knowledge of the vulgar tongues , and the state of the church and religion redressed . fox his acts and monuments , vol. 2. p. 63. see b. bedells examinat . of wadsworths motives c. 10. he was much addicted to the reading of thomas aquinas , and was therefore ( as some think ) called by luther thomisticus , acerrimus ingeniorum aestimator . had. jun. epist. d. dilso . he wrote a volume against luther in defence of pardons , the papacy , and the supposed seven sacraments . of this work the original is yet remaining in the vatican at rome , and with his own hand , thus inscrib'd ; anglorum rex henricus leoni 10. mittit hoc opus & fidei testem & amicitiae whereupon saith sleidan , pontifex honorisicum regi cognomen tribuit , defensorem appellans ecclesiae , which is the same with defender of the faith . this title was given him about the twelfth year of his raign . vide polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 27. p. 664. his fool coming unto the court , and finding the king transported with an unusuall joy , boldly asked him the cause thereof , to whom the king answered , it was because the pope honoured him with a stile more eminent then any of his ancestors ; good harry ( quoth he ) let thou and i defend one another , and let the faith alone to defend it self . fisher was not the author of king henry his book against luther ( as sanders * and bellarmine will have it ) nor sir thomas more ( as others say ) though i doubt not but they might both revise it by the kings favour , and where it was needfull also interpose their judgement . many thought that was compiled by sir thomas more , some by the bishop of rochester , and others ( not without cause ) suspected it to be the work of some other great scholar . godwins annals of england . the pope excommunicating him , he fell off from the pope . luther in an epistle to the king saith thus , verum etiam quód fide dignis testibue didici , libellum sub majestatis tuae nomine in me editum , non esse regis angliae , ut videri volebant subdoli sophistae , qui majestatis tuae titulo abusi , non senserunt quantum sibi ipsis periculum in regia ignominia pararent : praesertim illud monstrum , & publicum odium dei & hominum cardinalis eboracensis , pestis illa regni tui . the king in his answer to this epistle affirms it to be his . iam quantumvi● te fingas credere , editum à me libellum , non esse meum , sed meo nomine subornatum à sophistis subdolis , tamen & meum esse multi majori fide digni , quàm sunt tuâ illi fide digni testes cognoscunt : & ego quanto tibi minus placet , tanto magis libenter agnosco . he caused to be put into the liturgy , ab episcopi romani tyrannide & detestandis enormitatibius , libera nos domine , heroica animi magnitudine imbelles pontificum bullas , & instatas execrationibus buccas despicatui habuit . renigerus de pii quinti & gregorii decimi tertii romanorum pontificum furoribus . he thrust out the popes supremacy , that he might be revenged of the pope , who would not allow of his divorce from his first wife , but he continued much of the popish religion , and made six articles called a whip with six strings , which were the death of many godly men , being perswaded thereto by bishop gardiner . there is a story of one , who seeing then both papists hanged for traytors , because they opposed the kings supremacy , and protestants burned for hereticks , in regard they denied the six articles , cried out , what religion is there here in england ? whereupon one asked him , what religion he was of ; he answered , he was of the kings religion . nor was that boysterous king so much to blame in dissolving materiall temples or houses ( rather abused then consecrated to superstition ) as he was , after this reformation ( if so it may be called ) in destroying so many living temples of god , which sought not the dissolution of his kingdome , nor any other reformation of him and his people , save only the clearing and purifying of their hearts and brests , ( which had been consecrated unto gods service ) from the infection of romish superstition and idolatry . dr. iacksons commentary on the creed , l. 11. c. 38. he was counted the common umpire of christendome . he exceeded all his progenitors in setting up sumptuous houses . he confirmed christ-church in oxford , and erected trinity-colledge in cambridge . the professors of the hebrew and greek tongues were first instituted by him in both the universities . sit rich. bakers chron. in running at tilt and such exercises , he overcame the rest . cum lectissimi equites cataphracti in lud●cro spectaculo infestis hastis concurrerent , tanta arte id bellici vigoris munus implebat , ut ei proposita victoribus pr●mia integra populi judicio , saepissimé deferrentur . paul. jov. brit. descript . he could not only sing his part , but of himself compose a service of four five and six parts . eras. in farrag . in epist. * finding fault with the disagreement of preachers , he would often say , some are too stiffe in their old mumpsimus , and others too busie and curious in their new sumpsimus . king ine out of his devotion to the see of rome , enjoyned every one of his subjects , that possessed in his house of any one kind of goods to the value of nineteen penes , to pay yearly upon lammas day , one peny to the pope , which at first was contributed under the name of the kings alms , but afterwards was paid by the name of peter-pence . the pope of rome had out of every chimney of england , ireland , and scotland , wales , and cornwall , a penny a year , for five hundred years together . omnis qui habet triginta denariatas vivae pecuniae in domo sua de proprio suo anglorum lege dabit denarium sancti petri. hoved. annal . pars posterior . p. 603. king henry first forbad this to be paid to the pope . there preached one before him whose sermon the king liked not , as there was reason ; the king willed sir thomas more then being lord chancellor , to give the preacher thanks worthy such a sermon . he being a man of a pleasant wit , spake aloud to the preacher , that the king might hear , and said , the kings majesty thanketh you for your notable sermon : which when the king heard , he called sir thomas to him , and said , what mean you my lord to give such thanks in our name ? if it like you , quoth he , there be some things notable evil . it is a note worthy to be remembred , that thursday hath been a fatall day to king henry the eight , and all his posterity ; for himself died on thursday the twenty eighth of ianuary ; king edward on thursday the sixth of iuly ; queen mary on thursday the seventeenth of november ; and queen elizabeth on thursday the twenty fourth of march. after dr. collets sermon preached to him , and long communication with him by occasion thereof , he dismissed him with these words , lot every one have his doctor as he liketh , this shall be my doctor . being necessitous , he was offered by the house of commons in a parliament toward his latter end , all the lands and houses of the two famous universities , to be confiscated to his exchequer , by a most mechanick prostitution of the learning , the honour , and the piety of the nation : but he told them not without a just scorn , that he had too much of a scholar in him , to destroy two such universities as the world had not the like . his purpose was ( if he had lived ) to have made a perfect reformation of religion saith mr. fox in his second volume of his acts and monuments o● the church . p. 647. and he gives there two reasons of his opinion . but the secret working ( saith he ) of gods holy providence , which disposeth all things after his own wisdome and purpose , thought it good rather by taking the king away , to reserve the accomplishment of this reformation of his church to the peaceable time of his son edward , and elizabeth his daughter , whose hands were yet undefiled with any bloud , and life unspotted with any violence or cruelty . cardinal woolsey , and after him archbishop cranmer were in great favour with him , sir thomas moor and the lord cromwell were also highly esteemed by him . francis king of france after the death of king henry the eight , was much disposed to melancholy , whether for that he being some years the younger , was by his death admonished of the like approaching fate . they were also of so conspiring a similitude of disposition and nature , that you shall hardly find the like between any two princes of whatever different times . he celebrated the funerals of king henry in the cathedrall at paris , though excommunicated by the pope . many learned men lived in his dayes , iohn collet dean of pauls , and founder of the school there ; william lilly the first schoolmaster of pauls school , after it was erected ; thomas linacer or rather linaker , a learned physician , and well seen in the tongues ; richard pace a good linguist ; iohn fisher bishop of rochester ; sir thomas more an excellent scholar ; iohn frith and william tindall , robert barnes martyrs ; robert wakefield a good linguist ; sir thomas eliot ; edward lee archbishop of yorke ; iohn leland a great antiquary ; william grocin very expert in greek and latine ; hugh latimer bishop and martyr , who hath put out an elegant oration in latine , thus entituled , hugonis latimeri anglicani pontificis oratio , apud totum ecclesiasticum conventum , antequam consultatio publica iniretur , de regni statu per evangelium reformando , regni invictissimi regis henrici 8● , 6● anno vigessimo octavo habita ; where he speaks of many things fit then to be reformed ; and well concludes , si nihil est emendandum in communi , saltem emendemus nos ipsos singuli . he raigned thirty seven years , and nine moneths , and died in the six and fiftieth year of his life , leaving behind him three children , edward , mary , and elizabeth , all which also raigned after him . edward the sixth . next after the death of king henry , succeeded king edward his son , being of the age of nine years . a prince although but tender in years , yet for his sage and mature ripeness in wit and all princely ornaments , as i see but few to whom he may not be equall , so again i see not many to whom he may not justly be preferred . fox ▪ his acts & monuments of the church . vol. 2. p. 65 2. he fitly compares him there to good iosias . favour and love ( saith he ) of religion was in him from his childhood ; such an organ given of god to the church of england he was , as england had never better . id. ib. all king henries issue for themselves in their severall kinds , were princes of eminent vertue . as henry the eighth with solomon was blame-worthy for women , so he left but one son and two daughters . solomon had rehoboam , a fool and unfortunate : his daughters but obscure , and both of them subjects . but henry was more happy in edward his son , another iosiah ; and his sisters both soveraignes of an imperiall crown . speed. lever compares him to iosiah in severall respects . he was born at hampton-court , on the twelfth day of october anno 1537 , being the only surviving son of king henry the eight , by iane his third wife , daughter to sir iohn seymer knight . it hath been commonly reported , and no less generally believed , that prince edward being come unto the birth , and there wanting naturall strength to be delivered , his mothers body was ripped open , to give him a passage into the world , and that she died of the incision in a short time after . whence this epitaph was made upon her . phoenix jana jacet , nato phoenice : dolendum saecula phaenices nulla tulisse duos . alluding to the crest of her father , a phenix in flames within a crown . yet dr. heylin in his ecclesia restaurata saith , there are many reasons to evince the contrary , that he was not so born . the other was not more poetically then truely written , he being , considering his years , an admirable president for all ages , of piety , learning , clemency , magnanimity , wisdome and care in governing his people . as iulius caesar in the midst of his greatest actions , wrote an exact and curious commentary of his notable enterprises by arms : so king edward during all the time of his raign , but most especially towards the end , kept a most judicious journall of all the most principall passages of the affairs of his estate . inclytus edvardus formatus ab ubere matris confestim doctis à praeceptoribus artes ingenuas omnes didicit , qui graeca latinis adjungens studio , paucis profecerat annis , ut foret inferior nulli quem terra britanna protulerat , claro magnorum ex stemmate regum . nullus adaequari posset , si flexilis ●tas in puero egresso nondum tria lustra duosque annos , ingenii aut praecox spectetur acumen : quantum ad doctrinas virtutesque attinet almas ille erat europae phoenix , quem funere acerbo , ( ut flos vere novo viridanti carpitur horto ) sustulit ante diem , mors immatura britannis , invidet haec terris pietatem & jura colentes . oclandi anglorum praelia . in his childhood , being about to take down something , which seemed to be above his reach , one of his fellowes offered him a bossed plated bible to stand upon , and heighten him for taking that which he desired . but he perceiving it to be a bible , with holy indignation resused it , and sharply reproved him that made the offer . a strong assurance of that dear esteem and veneration , in which he held that sacred book in his riper years . dr. heylins history of edward the sixth . he hath this observation in his diary , the originall of which is in the hands of sir thomas cotton . at the sixth year of my age , i was brought up in learning by dr. coxe , who was after my almner , and john cheek master of arts , two well learned men , who sought to bring me up in learning of tongues , of the scripture , of philosophy , and all liberall sciences . also john belmain french man , did teach me the french tongue . he was annointed king at westminster , by thomas cranmer archbishop of canterbury , being of the age of nine years . a prince of great devotion , constancy of mind , * love of the truth , and incredibly studious . godwins annals of england . he knew all the principall ports in england , scotland , ireland , france , and other countries not far distant , how they lay , when the tide served , what vessels of burden they could receive , and what winds served for entrance . he reformed religion . he caused images and all monuments of idolatry to be destroyed , and a great bible in english to be set up in every church . he was in body beautifull , of a sweet aspect , and specially in his eyes , which seemed to have a starry liveliness and lustre in them . he would answer embassadors sometime upon the suddain , either in french or latin. he could call all gentlemen of account through his kingdome by their names . when ioan butcher ( a blasphemous heretick ) was to be burned ; all the counsell could not procure him to set his hand to the warrant . wherefore they employed thomas cranmer archbishop of canterbury , to deal privily with him for his subscription . but the king remained firm both in reason and resolution , affirming , that he would not drive her headlong to the devil : but because hereticks for the most part have a strain of madness , he thought it best to apply her with some corporall chastisements , which with respite of time might happily reduce her to good order . the archbishop was violent both by perswasions and entreaties , and when with meer importunity he had prevailed , the king in subscribing his name , said , that he would lay all the charge thereof upon the archbishop before god. not many years passed , but this archbishop also felt the smart of the fire , and it may be , that by his importunity for bloud , he did offend , for a good thing is not good , if it be immoderately desired . a miller who had been busie in rebellion against the king , knowing the danger , willed his man to take the name of the master , if any enquired after him . sir anthony kingston provost martiall came to the mill , and calling for the master , the man in his name presented himself , who strait commanded him to the gallows ; the servant then seeing the danger of death , confessed he was not the master , but the man. well , said the knight , thou canst never do thy master better service , then to hang for him , and thereupon trusted him up in the next tree the lord protector in his dayes marcht with a powerfull army into scotland , to demand their queen mary in marriage to our king , according their promises . the scots refusing to do it , were beaten by the english in musleborough fight . one demanding of a scotch lord taken prisoner , now sir , how do you like our kings marriage with your queen ? i alwayes ( quoth he ) did like the marriage , but i do not like the wooing , that you should fetch a bride with fire and sword . the kings uncles , edward-duke of somerset , protector of his person , realms and dominions , and thomas lord seymour baron of ●udley the younger , high admirall of england , were both beheaded . strife between their wives about place and precedency , caused the death of their husbands , and the death of the young king followed speedily after . sir thomas seymour admirall , and the younger brother , married the queen dowager , whose hap it was of all the rest to survive her husband . she contested with her sister in law for priority of place : both were privately encouraged ; neither would give way to the other . the one claimed it as she had been once queen , the other challenged it as she was the present wife of the protector . the wives set their husbands at oddes , and their enemies took hold of this advantage . the admirall was shortly questioned for treason , by consent of his brother condemned in parliament , and lost his head . in the same moneth was the protector committed to the tower by the lords of the counsell , and after beheaded . in this kings dayes , when bonner was kept in prison , reverend ridley having his bishoprick of london , would ●ever go to dinner at fulham , without the company of bonners mother and sister ; the former alwayes sitting in a chair at the upper end of the table . these guests were as constant as bread and salt to the board , no meal could be made without them . he died in the seventh year of his princely government , in the sixth of iuly , anno 1553. some write that he was poysoned . the death of this prince was lamented of all the godly within europe , for the graces given unto him of god , as well of nature , as of erudition and godliness , passed the measure that accustomably is used to be given to other princes in their greatest perfection , and yet exceeded he not sixteen years of age . knoxe his ecclesiasticall hist. of scotland . l. 1. p. 97. i wonder that doctor heylin in his epistle before his ecclesia restaurata should say therefore , whose death i cannot reckon for an infelicity to the church of england . cardan made this epitaph of him . flete nefas magnum sed toto flebitis orbe mortales ; vester corruit omnis honos . nam regum decus & juvenum flos ; spesque bonorum deliciae saecli , & gloria gentis erat . dignus apollineis lachrymis , &c. it is to this day a question both how this king died , and where he was ●●ried . queen iane . the lady iane gray , whom king edward had declared for his next successour , was eldest daughter of henry lord gray , duke of suffolke , her mother was the lady france's daughter ; and in fine , one of the co-heirs of charles brandon , the late duke of suffolke , by mary his wife , queen dowager to lewis the twelfth of france , and youngest daughter of king henry the seventh , grandfather to king edward now deceased . she spake the latin and greek tongues , with as sweet a fluency , as if they had been naturall , and native to her ; exactly skilled in the liberall sciences , and perfectly well studied both kinds of philosophy . she was most zealously affected to the true protestant religion , then by law established . she was urged by her near friends to accept of the crown . her raign was but nine dayes : her life not twice so many years , as she raigned dayes . ascham , ann● maria schurman , master fox , and others , speak of her rare accomplishments . queen mary . it is a question much agitated , of the rule of women , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an licita ? bodius on ephes. 5. 22. dislikes it . bodin de republica l. 6. c. 5. & method . hist. c. 6. much opposeth it . he lames us for suffering queen mary and queen elizabeth to raign , and saith , we violated therein not only the law of god , but the law of nature and nations . knoxe also writes against it . danaeus a french man in his book de h●mine c. 33. saith , it is lawfull . he quotes a●● . 8. 27. 1 king. 10. and commends the raign of zen●b●ia queen of the arabians , a●d elizabeth queen of england , and ioan queen of navarr , as happy and lasting . there is a choice manuscript in arch. in oxford library stiled , a dutifull defence of the lawfull regiment of women , written by my lord howard . the suffolk men first resorted to her , promising her their aid and help , so that she would not attempt the alteration of religion established by her brother , which she agreed unto , but broke her promise , and that diocess tasted the sharpest persecution under her raign . so well inclined was she of her self , that had not the zeal of her religion , and the authority of church men overswayed her own disposition , the flames of their consuming fires had not mounted so high . she was crowned by steven gardiner bishop of winchester , the archbishops of canterbury and yorke being then prisoners in the tower. within the compasse of less then four years continuance , there died for the testimoniall of their conscience in this case , two hundred seventy and seven persons , without regard of degree , sex , or age . in the heat of whose flames were consumed five bishops , one and twenty divines , eight gentlemen , eighty four artificers , one hundred husbandmen , servants , and labourers , twenty six wives , twenty widdowes , nine virgins , two boyes , and two infants . there being consultation at the counsel-board what to do with the lady elizabeth , gardiner said , my lords , we have but all th● while been 〈◊〉 ripping off the leaves , and now and then lopped a branch ; but till such time as we strike at the root of heresie ( meaning the lady elizabeth ) nothing to , purpose can be effected . god forbid ( replied the spaniards ) that our king and master should once conceive a thought to consent unto such a mischief . they thence solicited the king on her behalf , and he favoured her , and set her free at last . the worst that can be said of her , is this , that she was ill principled , and the best , that she acted according to her principles . judge morgan who in her raign gave sentence of death against the lady iane gray , presently after her death fell mad , and in his ravings continually cried , take away the lady jane from me , and in that horrour shortly ended his life . she was learned . ludovicus vives a spaniard was sometimes her teacher . he came to england with queen kahterine her mother . she lost calais , which had been a long time before in the possession of the engllish ; and said if she were opened , they would find that next her heart : pray it was that a paltry town should lye where christ should should have lain . at the loss of calai when a proud french man tauntingly demanded , when will ye fetch calais again ? an english captain gravely answered , qu●ndo peccata vestra erunt nostris g●●vior● , when your sins shall weigh down ours . the lord cor●●s governour of picardy under the french king said , that he would be content to lie in hell seven years , so he might win calais from the english. the keeping of it indeed was chargeable to the english , but yet it was very advantagious to them . while they kept it they had a door open into france upon all occasions , and therefore it is commonly said , that they carried the keyes of france at their girdles . of all since the conquest her raign was the shortest , only excepting that of richard the tyrant , but much more bloudy then was his . she raigned five years , and four moneths , wanting two dayes only . she lieth buried in westminster without any monument or remembrance at all . queen elizabeth . she was born at greenwich on the seventh of september 15●3 . her father was henry the eighth king of england , her mother anne bulloin , whose love to the pure religion cost her her life . amabat regina puram veràmque religionem , & haec illi res odium , nox necem peperit . adolphi à dans vita elizabethae . the archbishop cranmer her godfather was every where chary and tender over her , as one that at the font had took charge upon him to see her educated in all vertue and piety . what prince was ever more sage in her counsell , or more solemn in her government , or more advised in her favours and f●owns ? dr. gaudens eccles. anglie . suspiria l. 4. c. 22. before the age of seventeen years she was skilled in latine , french , italian , and in the greek indifferent well . neither did she neglect musick , both singing and playing on instruments very sweetly and artificially , for so much as became a prince . with roger ascham who governed her studies , she read over melancthons common places , cicero entire , a great part of livies history ▪ some select orations of isocrates ( whereof two she translated into latine ) sophocles tragedies , and the new testament in greeke , by which means she both furnished her speech with elegant language , and her mind with wholsome precepts , referring her learning rather to practice and conversation , then ostentation and pomp , yet was she in a manner for learning a miracle among the princes of her age . in one and the same day she answered three embassadors of great princes , the one in latine , the other in french , and the third in italian . i have seen a book ( which is in sion-colledge ) wherein divers sentences were turned out of english into latine and italian , and some translated out of french by queen elizabeth , and written with her own hand , in the life time of her father , and sent to her brother prince edward for a new years gift , she being at that time not above thirteen years of age . abraham hartwell in his regina literata written in verse , speaks of queen elizabeths coming and doings at cambridge . she was honourably received in kings colledge , where she lay during her continuance there . at the breaking up of the divinity act there , she made within st. maries church a notable oration in latine , beginning thus , etsi faeminilis iste 〈◊〉 us pudor , &c. see dr. heylins ecclesia restaurata . p. 163 , 164. vide hadriani juni● epist. elizabethae angliae reginae inter epistolas suas . p. 544. she was of personage tall , of hair and complexion fair , and therewith well favoured , but high nosed , of limbs and feature neat , and which added to the lustre of those exteriour graces , of stately and majestick com●ortment . she was crowned in st. peters church in westminster , by dr. oglethorp bishop of carlisle , according to the order of the roman pontificall . there was great speech of a match between her and a french mounsieur the duke of alencon , of which he had great hopes , being ignorant ( as bernardine mendoza wrote from london to the prince of parma ) reginam singulis annis sponsam esse , nunquam vero nuptam , that the queen was every year a spouse , but never married . the silencing and ejection of ministers in her dayes , reformation being newly begun , and the enemies to it many , the friends and those that faithfully engaged few : was looked upon by the godly prudent of that age , as very unseasonable , because of the scarcity of preachers at that time . beams of former light. c. 7. she had so great a command over her appetite , that her brother edward usually called her by no other name , but his sweet sister temperance* . she was so far from pressing her subjects with impositions , that when the parliament once offered her a great summe of money , she refused a great part thereof , giving them thanks , and adding withall , that the money was as sure in her subjects co●●ers as her own . a prince above her sexe of a manly courage and high conceit , who lively resembled as well the royall qualities of her grandfather , as she did his princely presence and countenance , the worlds love and joy of brittain . a virgin for the space of fourty four years so ruled the royall scepter , as that her subjects loved her , enemies feared her , and every one with admiration honoured her . she was about seventy years old when she died . a most gracious and excellent prince , worthy of superlative praise for her most wise and politick government of the commonwealth , and for her heroick vertues far above that sexe . in queen elizabeth , besides her sexe , there was nothing woman-like or weak . sclater . yet s●nders calleth her lupam anglicanam ; rhiston leaenam nostram , omnes athalias , maachas , jezabeles , herodiades superantem . the very heathen and mahumetans , the persians and idolaters , the aethiopians and muscovites do name her with reverence . balsac in his second book of letters , letter 1. to my lord cecil saith , even he that excommunicated her , spake of herwith honour . some think my lord of essex his death , and the long concealing of the message he sent to her , when discovered , occasioned a deep melancholy first , and after her death . osborn in his miscellanies saith , no act of hers was registred so contrary to the grain of her own people , as the death of the earl. others say , the death of the queen of scots . in her time the pure interest of england was the protection of protestants , and war with spain . for her mercifull returning home certain italians , which were taken prisoners in the eighty eight invasion , she was termed saint elizabeth by some at venice . one told the lord carleton being there embassadour , that although he were a papist , yet he would never pray to any other saint , but the saint elizabeth . mr. trap on ezra●c . 1. my lord howard in his manuscript in oxford library ( a learned piece worthy to be published ) stiled , a dutifull defence of the lawfull regiment of women , dedicated to queen elizabeth , quotes divers papists commending her . in his defensative against the poyson of supposed prophesies , c. 16. he saith thus , when divers ( upon greater scrupulosity then cause ) went about to disswade her majesty ( lying then at richmond ) from looking on the comet which appeared last ; with a courage answerable to the greatness of her state , she caused the window to be set open , and cast out this word , jacta est alea , the dice are thrown . affirming that her stedfast hope and confidence was too firmly planted in the providence of god , to be blasted , or affirighted with those beames , which either had a ground in nature whereupon to rise , or at least no warrant out of scripture to pretend the mi●haps of princes . she equalled the best of her predecessors , and in learned endowments excelled them all . a wise man that was an eye witness of many of her actions , and of those which succeeded her , many times hath said , that a courtier might make a better meal of one good looke from her , then of a good gift from some other king. the parliament having been a moneth , queen elizabeth sent for mr. popham , the speaker of the house , and asked him , what past since they sate ? he answered , iust twenty eight dayes . much might be said of her prosperity . 1. she was advanced to the regall throne , from a private and adverse fortune . the more happy was her government , because it ensued upon the stormy times of queen mary . she came as a fresh spring after a sharp winter , and brought the ship of england from a troublous and tempestuous sea , to a safe and quiet harbour . though the author of ierusalem and babel saith , she profest her self a catholick during the raign of her sister , and speaks of the duke of feria's letter to king philip yet to be seen ; wherein is certified that the queen had given him such assurance of her belief , and in particular concerning the point of reall presence , that for his part he could not believe , she intended any great alteration in religion ; yet i suppose he wrongs her therein , as he doth dr. reynolds likewise , in saying , that he framed that combate which he published between himself and mr. hart , at his own pleasure . anti-sanderus in his second dialogue saith thus , non solum nobilium potentissimos , sed & episcopos omnes , à quorum aliquo juxta priscam angliae consuetudinem ungi & coronari debuit , factio pontificia sic abripuerat , ut cam , quod lutherano dogmate tingi crederetur , solennitatibus illis usitatis decorare ad tempus procacissimè recusaverint . vide plura ibid. p. 179. tot magnatibus in anglia tempore reginae mariae deficientibus , animosè perstitere elizabetha postea regina , & johanna graia . voet. sel. theol. disputat . part . 3. her time produced a world of refined wits and excellent spirits , who honoured poesie with their pens and practice , edua●d earl of oxford , the lord 〈…〉 h●nry lord pa●et , our phaenix the no le s● ph●●●ip sidney , mr. edward dyer , mr. e●m●nd spenser , mr. samuel daniel , with sundry others . peach●ms compleat gentleman . c. 10. those were the ablest , and most accomplished , that were tutored by both fortunes . such was with us , king henry the seventh ; and with the french , lewis the twelfth , the former of which excelled in prudence , the other in justice during the raign of her brother , her estate was most prosperous and flourishing ; during the raign of her sister , very tempestuous and full of hazard . 2. she was indeed the queen of hearts , beloved by her subjects at home , and honoured by forraign princes . she came to the crown with the love of her subjects , and while she possessed it , they continued their love to her . she was received very lovingly by the city of london the day before her coronation , as appeared by the assembly , prayers , wishes , welcomings , cryes , and all other signs , which argue a wonderfull earnest love of most obedient subjects toward their soveraign . in her short progresses what flocking would there be of all sorts of people to see her ? and what hearty acclamations would they utter to her , god save the queen elizabeth . it is a sign of a happy raign , ( saith iohn de serres in henry the fourth ) when the subject rejoyceth to see his king. she would usually reply , god bless you my people all . her speech to the children of christs hospitall as she rode through fleet-street was , we are orphans all , let me enjoy your prayers , and you shall be sure of my assistance . engl. elizab. p. 186. in her speech to her last parliament the third of november 1601 , she hath this passage . to be a king , and wear a crown , is a thing more glorious to them that see it , then it is pleasant to them that bear it . though you have had and may have many mightier and wiser princes sitting in this seat , yet you never had nor shall have any that will love you better . see more there . she had an extraordinary majesty of aspect , joyned with a sweetness , a most happy and constant healthfulness of body . illud sane non indignum memoratu , quod tota vitae tempore valuit pancraticè . adolphi à dans vita elizabethae . she was , and was so reputed by strangers of all the princes of her time , the most exact observer ( both for action and ceremony ) of true regall deportment and magnificence . she was pious and constant in religion . she was very frequent in the reading of the scriptures , and writings of the fathers , especially of st. augustine . she composed certain prayers her self upon emergent occasions . whensoever she named god , though it were in common discourse , she would for the most part adde the title of maker , saying , god my maker , and compose both her eyes and countenance to a submisness and reverence . although she found the romish religion confirmed in her sisters dayes , by act of parliament , and established by all strong and potent meanes that could be devised , and that all those which had any authority , or bare office in the state , had subscribed to it ; yet because she saw it was not agreeable to the word of god , nor to the primitive purity , nor to her own conscience , she did with a great deal of courage , and with the assistance of very few ▪ persons , quite expell , and abolish it . within the compass of one year , she did so establish and settle all matters belonging to the church , as she departed not one hairs breadth from them , to the end of her life . in the years of her life she went beyond all her predecessors since the conquest , and in the length of her raign , she exceeded all but only two , henry the third , and edward the third . there was almost no memorable act in christendome , for the space of forty years of her time , wherein she had not some part of princely deserving . levers history of the defenders of the catholick faith . rare , in all ages , hath been the raign of a woman : more rare the felicity of a woman , in her raign : but most rare , a permanency and lasting , joyned with that felicity . a great french lady ( mother to the duke of guise ) said , that elizabeth of england was the most glorious and happy woman , that ever swayed scepter . her days are not to be passed over slightly , without one touch upon that string which so many years sounded so sweetly in our ears , without one sigh breathed forth in her sacred memory . she was wonderfully preserved from twenty conspiracies at home ; and forraign invasions . she was happy in the abilities of her servants , many grave counsellors , and martiall commanders . the coyn was pure in her dayes , and religion was in great purity . she was admirable in expressing her mind both by speech and writing : and if collection could be made of her apophthegmes and extemporall orations , it would certainly excell any thing extant in that kind . king henry the fourth of france in a letter to mounsieur de rosny , duke of sully , commends her in imitation of her father henry the eight , she did admit none about her for pensioners , privy-chamber-men , squires of the body , carvers , cup-bearers , sewers , but persons of stature , strength , and birth . her guard , ushers , porters , and all attending below stairs , were of no less extraordinary size , than activity for shooting , throwing the barre , weight , wrestling . elizabeth was tempered to inherit her grandsires wisdome , and her fathers spirit . dr. holiday his survey of the world , book eighth . paulet marquess of winchester , and lord treasurer , having served then four princes in a various and changeable season , that time nor any age hath yeelded the like president ; this man being noted to grow high in her favour ( as his place and experience required ) was questioned by an intimate friend of his , how he stood up for thirty years together amidst the changes and raigns of so many chancellours , and great personages ? why ( quoth the marquess ) ortus sum ex salice , non ex quercu , i was made of the pliable willow , not of the stubborn oak . sir robert nauntons fragm . reg. her clemency also was singular . though she was harshly used by sir henry beningfield , when she was prisoner at woodstocke , yet when she came to the possession of the crown , she never proceeded further , then to discharge him of the court , which many thought was the thing that pleased him best . at whose departure from her presence , she used only these words , god forgive you that is past , and we do , and if we have any prisoner whom we will have hardly handled , and straightly kept , then we will send for you . whilest she was in her vigorous years , if at any time she were moved to declare her successour , she would make answer , that she would never endure to see her winding sheet before her eyes . she behaved her self so warily , as not to come within the danger of the laws , for acting any thing in opposition unto that religion which was then established . concerning which there goes a story , that when a popish priest had urged her very earnestly to declare her judgement touching the presence of christ in the blessed sacrament ; she very cautelously resolved the point in these following verses : 't was god the word that spake it , he took the bread and brake it , and what the word did make it , that i believe and take it . but all this caution notwithstanding , her aversness from the church of rome , was known sufficiently not to be altered while she lived . dr. heylins history of queen elizabeth . at her entrance to her raign , she sent to her agent in the court of spain , to represent unto king philip the second , the dear remembrance which she kept of those many humanities received from him in the time of her troubles . yet afterward , some of our own and some forraign w●iters taxe her of too much unkindness toward king philp , to whom she had been so much obliged . the ground of his invasion in eighty eight , was the divers indignities he received from queen elizabeth , though ever since the death of queen mary , he forbore to do any thing that might displease her . during his abode in england , he had done her such signall and high savours , as to preserve her head from the scaffold , to have her allowance enlarged , to divert her sister from a design she had to send her beyond sea to be a 〈◊〉 , and at his departure from england , he desired not to carry with him but one ring of a hundred pound price . he shewed no small love also in comprehending the su●rend●y of calais to the english , in his treaty of peace with france . the queen assisted don antonio the bastard against him , about the title of portugall , fomented his own naturall subjects against him , in the revolt of the confederate provinces , so far as to send a governour of her own amongst them . she gave commissions to rob him in the indies . she intercepted some of his treasure in her own seas going to flanders , and wronged some of the hans towns , who were under his protection . these with sundry incitements more , caused philip to prepare this powerfull fleet , to be quit with her at once for all scores . howels history of naples . but it may be said in her defence , that th●e king of spain did stir up the irish against her , and did also encourage such traytors , as conspired against her in england . sir francis drake ( who was captain of the iudith with sir iohn hawkins , in the voyage of guiny 1567 ) received together with him considerable dammage and injuries from the spaniard , in the port of st iohn d' vll●a of the west indies , contrary to promise and agreement with him , and therefore what he did against the spaniards , was to repair himself . at the beginning of the netherlanders troubles , she imparted unto the king of spain sincere advice , not to hold a heavy hand over that people , which he rejected and contemned . her majesty nevertheless gave not over her honourable resolution , which was , if it were possible , to reduce and reconcile those countryes unto the obedience of the king of spain ; if not , yet to preserve them from alienating themselves to a forraign lord : and so continued to mediate unto the king for some just and honourable capitulations of grace and accord . which course she held untill the death of the duke of anjou , at which time the enemy pressing them , the united provinces were received into her majesties protection : which was after the king of spain had discovered himself an unplacable lord to them : and also a professed enemy unto her majesty , having already actually invaded ireland , and designed also the invasion and conquest of england . gabriel powell his refutation of an epistle apologetically written by a puritan papist , to perswade the permission of the promiscuous use and profession of all sects and heresies . c. 9. p. 98. trading was much promoted in her time . by her intercession the turk gave way to the english trading in turkie , whence the company of turkish merchants . the great duke of russia also much respected her , and the english for her sake . england was much adorned with building in her time . plures & nobilium & privatorum villae , elegantia , laxitate , & cultu conspicuae , jam passim in anglia surgere caep●runt , quàm alio quovis seculo , magno sanè regni ornamento , verùm hospitalis gloriae detrimento . camd. annal. she was very sparing in bestowing honours , for in twelve years she made but four barons . she made westminster abbey ( famous for the coronation and sepulture of our kings of england , and for the keeping of the insignia regalia ) a collegiate church , where there is a dean , twelve prebends , a schoolmaster and usher , forty scholars called kings scholars , ( out of which some are chosen yearly to both universities ) servants , choristers , and twelve almes-men ; as camden in his annals shews . being near her end , she declared iames king of scotland to be her successor , so camden and du chesne , and iohnston in his historia britannica . sir francis walsingham her secretary died poor ; he left only one daughter which married sir philip sidney , and after the earl of essex . when she was near death , whitgift archbishop of canterbury came to her , and spoke much of the redemption of mankind , of the resurrection of the body , and immortality of the soul ; to whom she answered with great tranquility and constancy , that she desired to be soon dissolved , and to be with christ. she having setled her dominions in peace , died in the year 1602 , the twenty fourth of march , the sixty ninth of her age , and of her raign the forty fourth . chap. xx. iames the first king of great brittain . the tudors breathing out their last in excellent elizabeth , stuarts take their turn by an unquestionable title . 1. iames the first of england , but sixth of scotland . 2. charles the first of england . it may seem * wonderfull , that there was no commotion at all upon the queens decease , that he came to the crown here so peaceably , without any opposition . he caused himself to be stiled king of great brittain , to prevent difference between the two nations , one of which else would have preferred england in his title , and the other scotland . the name of brittain continued to be the name generally of the whole island , but more specially of the parts of england and wales , ever since before the invasion of the romans . king alfred was entituled , governour of the christians of all brittain . king edgar was stiled monarch of all brittain ; king henry the second was entituled king of all brittain . king iohn had his coyn stamped with this inscription , iohannes rex britonum . walter sirnamed banguho ( according as his father was ) returning into scotland , fought valiantly for his king , against the islands , rebels , and the savages of scotland . in recompence of his extraordinary vertue , he was made great provost and treasurer of the houshold royall , which the scots signifie by the name of stuart or steward . he so faithfully discharged the trust reposed in him , without the least reproach or wasting of the kings moneys , that the sirname of stuart was imposed on him , and given also to his posterity . this was the original of the illustrious family of stuart . from this walter descended that robert steward , who was after in right of his wife king of scotland , since which time there have been successively nine soveraigns of that name in scotand . margaret eldest daughter of king henry the seventh , and elizabeth his queen , was twice married in scotland , first to king iames the fourth , then to archibald douglas earl of angis ; her son by the king was king iames the fifth , our king iames his mothers father , her daughter by the earl was margaret countess of lennox , our king iames his fathers mother . david bruse king of scotland being dead without issue of his body , robert steward his sisters son , by the generall consent of all the estates , was crowned king of scotland , in the year of our lord 1370. this family hath ever since born the crown of scotland , even unto this day . king iames united both the kingdomes of england and scotland , and testified this conjunction in the money that was coined , both silver and gold with these words , quae deus conjuxit , nemo separet , and also , tueatur unita deus . the twenty shillings pieces had this inscription , faciam eos in gentem unam ; other golden coines had these words , henricus rosas , regna iacobus . he was born in the palace of edinborough on the nineteenth of iuly , anno 1566 , and solemnly crowned king of the scots on the same day of the moneth , anno 1567 , and joyfully received to the crown of england on the fourteenth of march 1602. he had a great dexterity in discovering an imposture , and a marvellous sagacity to discuss natural things . he detected the forgery of richard haydock a physitian , pretending to preach at night in his sleep , who acknowledged his forgery to the king. it was his custome to discourse during meals with one or more divines , concerning some point of controversie in philosophy . there was a conference or disputation at hampton court before him . some of our divines taxe dr. barlow dean of chester , for a partial penman of that conference . see mr. ley his discourse of disputat . concerning matters of religion , c. 4. p. 46. besides the relieving by pensions all the poorer sort , he hath honoured more martial men , than all the kings of england have done for this hundred years . had his apothegmes or wise speeches ( and also queen elizabeths ) been collected by a skilfull hand , i suppose they would have been very usefull to the publick . there is one that hath written a book in latine of favourites , where i think my lord car the earle of somerset , & the duke of buckingham are reckoned for the english favourites , the later of which was in great favour both with the father , and son , king iames , and king charles . vossius in his preface to his book de arte grammatica ( if i forget not ) much commends king iames. isaac causabone that famous schollar , was much respected and encouraged by him . he was both a wise and learned prince of disposition merciful and gracious , a great seeker of peace , according to that motto which he ever used , beati pacifici . in the stile of the court he went for great britains solomon ; nor is it any excursion beyond the precincts of verity to say , that neither britain nor any other kingdome whatsoever , could ever since solomons dayes glory in a king ( for recondite learning and abstruse knowledge ) so near a match to solomon as he , mr. rushworths historicall collections . 23. iacobi . p. 161. he was compared to solomon in severall respects , by bishop williams in his funerall sermon on 1 king. 11. 41 , 42 , 43. archbishop spotswood saith , he was the solomon of this age , admired for his knowledge of all manner of learning . hist. of scotland . l. 7. his works shew his great learning , especially his * basilicon doron , or kingly gift . it cannot be said , how well it was accepted in england , and what admiration it raised in all mens hearts of him , and of his piety and wisdome . certain it is , that all the discourses which came forth that time , for maintaining his right to the crown of england , prevailed nothing so much as did that treatise . spotsw . hist. of the church of scotland . l. 6. iustinians institutes , caesars commentaries , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , are prized for their authors , as well as matter . he had such a promptness in expr●ssing his mind , that his extemporall s●eeches were little inferiour to his premeditated writings . his invention was as quick as his first thoughts , and his words as ready as his invention . i' advouois franchement de n' avoir iamais veu prince dont la sincerité , la prudence & l' equaunimité meritast plus de gloire & de louanges . que l' ayant tonsiours trouné d' un courage urayement royal & tout genereux & d' un esprit plus intelligent , plus vif , plus penetrant & plus judicieux que nul de son conseil , i' avois aussi tonsiours passionnement desiré de terminer & conclurre avec luy les affaires & non avec eux . memoires de mounsier de rosny . duc de sully . tom. 2. p. 141. he was a good poet. a very good horseman . he had such a fashion in riding , that it could not so properly be said he rid , as that his horse carried him , for he made but little use of his bridle , and would say , a horse never stumbled , but when he was reined . he was a great lover of quiet , and much given to hunting , and to his book , and wholly fixt in warring by writings with the church . bentivoglio his history of flanders part 3. l. 8. see his relation of the united provinces of flanders c. 3. in his apparrell and civill garb , he seemed naturally to affect a majestick carelesness , in his pecuniary dispensations to his favourites , he was excessive liberall . king iames being invited in a hunting journey , to dine with sir thomas i. of barkshire , turning short at the corner of a common , happened near to a countryman , sitting by the heels in the stocks , who cryed hosanna unto his majesty , which invited him to ask the reason of his restraint ? sir thomas said , it was for stealing a goose from the common . the fellow replyed , i beseech your majesty be judge who is the greater thief , i for stealing geese from the common , or his worship for robbing the common from the geese ? by my sale sir ( said the king to sir thomas ) i 'le not dine to day on your dishes , till you restore the common for the poor to feed their flocks . which was forthwith granted to them , and the witty fellow set free . he spake broad in the scottish tone and dialect . sir kenelme digby ( in his discourse touching the cure of wounds by the powder of sympathy ) saith , he had a strange antipathy to a naked sword , of which he there ascribes the cause . he alleadged this reason to an english divine , wherefore the scottish church was never troubled with heresie ; for if ( said he ) it sprang up in a purish , there was an eldership ito● suppress it ; if it had escaped them , the presbytery was ready to crush it ; if the presbytery should be negligent , than the synod would oppose●it ; if it had not been by them suppressed , the generall assembly would take strict order concerning it . philip de mornay lord of plessis often complained , that the king of england was too much taken up with some petty differences amongst his own , but was not carefull enough to heal the deep wounds and breaches which were in the church . yet his sending certain select and worthy divines to the synod of dort , to compose the unhappy differences then in the law countries , and his causing the bible to be translated into english by judicious divines , and set forth more exactly than formerly it had been done , were noble works . he had two sons , prince henry , and king charles , and one daughter that lived , the lady elizabeth queen of bohemia . the order of knight baronets was instituted by him , they must be gentlemen of three descents , and should be worth a thousand pounds per annum , the number to be installed was not to exceed two hundred . i may for his learning , and respect to the learned , his eloquence , and his profound questions at meals , compare him to charles the great , of whom eginhardus de vita & gestis caroli magni . inter caenandum aut aliquod acroamia , aut lectorem audiebat . legebantur ei historiae , & antiquorum regum gesta . delectabatur & libris s. augustini , pr●cipuè iis quos de civitate dei inscripsit . erat eloquentia copiosiu & exuberans , poterátque , quicquid vellet apertissimè exprimere . artes liberales studio sissimè coluit , earúmque doctores plurimum veneratus , magnis afficiebat honoribus . vide plura ibid. the moneth of november is memorable , for the seventeenth 1558 , the initiation of queen elizabeth , in which the purity of the gospel brake forth ; and fifth in king iames his raign , in which the treachery of the gospels enemies brake out . dr. heylin in his historia quinqu-articularis c. 22. saith , it was an usuall practice with him in the whole course of his government , to ballance one extream by the other , countenancing the papists against the puritan * , and the puritan sometimes against the papist , that betwixt both , the true religion and professors of it might be kept in safety . but in the epistle of his book to his son , he shews what he means by puritan . he died at theohalds in the year 1625 , the twenty seventh of march , the fifty ninth year of his age , having raigned over all great brittain twenty two years compleat . charles the first , the second monarch of great brittain . he was born november the nineteenth , anno dom. 16●0 , at dun-fermling in scotland . he was the third son of iames the sixth king of the scots , and of anne his wife , daughter of frederick the second , and sister of christian the fourth , kings of denmarke . he was comely of person , very active , temperate , chaste , mercifull . he was thought to be the best mark-man , and the most comely manager of a great horse , of any one in all the three kingdomes . of his lawfull descent to his crown and kingdomes , from all the kings of this nation , see flemings royall progeny . he was crowned on the second of february at westminster , in the year 1626 , by dr. abbot archbishop of canterbury . he was rather slow than fluent in his words , as well by grace , as a naturall imperfection ; yet he was pithy , pathetick , and sententiou in his expressions . what the brittains lost to the saxons , they to the danes , and the norman got from both , was his birth-right , besides the kingdomes of scotland and ireland , and principality of wales , additions to the normans conquest . shortly after his coronation he was married to the lady henrietta maria , younger daughter to henry the fourth king of france , by whom he had seven children , four sons , and three daughters . he improved himself much by his travels , and was generally liked in spain . when he was there , archee the fool came boldly to king iames , as he found him once in a good humour , and told him that he was come to change caps with him . why , said the king ? marry , sayes archee , because thou hast sent the prince into spain , from whence he is never like to return . but said the king , what wilt thou say when thou seest him come back again ? marry , sayes archee , i will then take off the fools cap which i put upon thy head , for sending him thither , and put it on the king of spains , for letting him return . at which words , it is reported , that the king became exceeding pensive , never before so much apprehending the danger of that adventure , as then and afterward he did . for his being a papist , though it be charged by some of his enemies , yet i suppose there is little ground for it , as his manifesto at the beginning of the english and scotch presbytery shews . therefore mr. baxter in his key for catholicks c. 45. hath vindicated him from this aspersion . his own letters to the queen taken at naseby * , and his counsell to the duke of glocester , to obey the queen his mother in all , but what related to religion , sufficiently confute this calumny . in the year 1618 , king iames published a declaration , tolerating sports on the lords day . it was so much disliked , as it was soon after called in . it was after revived and ratified by king charles . l'estrange saith , there was not any one royall edict , during all king charles his raign , resented with equall regret . it was his custome in his youth , for refreshing his mind , and the confirming of his health , almost every week to hunt the harts and does . in the three summer moneths he hunted the males , being fat and pleasant to eat ; in the like space of time he hunted the females . there was one robert par of shropshire , aged 152 , who lived in the raign of ten kings , and being brought up to london by the procurement of the earl of arundell , died here , and lyes buried in westminster abbey . constat ▪ quot generationes carolingorum johannes de temporibus trisecli-senex superavit : & ille nuper anglus sub ▪ edoardo 4. natus , sub carolo denatus qui novem vel decem regibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fuit . hornii dissertatio de aetate mundi c. 6. never was there in this isle a scene of justice more magnificent reared for any subject , than that for the earl of strafford . scaffolds were erected on either side of westminster hall , there the commons sate uncovered , and in the midst of the lower ascent the peers ; behind , but raised above them , there was placed a chair and cloth of state for the king , on either side whereof was a close gallery for the king , queen , and prince to be private , sutable to the ancient mode . which triall of his , if we consider all things , the high nature of the charge against him , the pompous circumstances , and stately manner of the triall it self , the time that it lasted , and lastly , of what moment and consequence the success of it must prove , i may safely say , that no subject in england , and probably in europe , ever had the like . mr. may his history of the parliament of england l. 1. c. 8. see more there . sir thomas roe was chancellor of the most noble order of the garter , and of king charles his privy councel , and severall years embassador to the great mogor , great turk , king of sweden , and lastly , to the princes of the protestant union in germany . iohn de montreul a parisian , was he , that thinking thereby to do some good office to the king of england , negotiated that he might be put into the hands of the scots . this unfortunate prince ( of whom he hath since given this testimony , that he never saw a man of greater spirit and more vertue ) delighted often to discourse with him , and expressed a great deal of affection to him . i learned from a friend of mine , to whom he told it himself , that he made use of a secret , which the king of england had taught him in the long conferences which they sometimes had together . 't was a certain powder , very rare , which being cast on the paper , made that which was before-hand written there with a white liquor , to appear , which without that , was wholly imperceptible . his majesty had a fine stroke with his pen , which he practised at all times of leasure . by which means he became master of a pure and elegant stile , as both his intercepted letters , and those to mr. henderson at newcastle in the point of episcopacy , and his book entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the pourtraiture of his sacred majesty in his solitudes and sufferings , do most clearly evidence . which book is put into latine by dr earle . at king iames his funerall , he attended the herse , as the chiefest mourner ▪ an action laudable , and deserving better interpretation than some make of it . he shewed great patience in his sufferings . it argued a charitable temper in him , in pardoning his enemies when he died , and praying for them , and charging the prince his eldest son to pardon them also . he was the hundred and tenth monarch of that line , that swayed the scepter of scotland successively . bishop bramhall his answer to militiere his epistle . his works are all in two volumes , reliquiae carolinae , and bibliotheca carolina . the arsenals , store-houses , and ship-docks erected by him , are so magnificent and universally usefull , that they are become a principall pillar of the nations support , so far as they relate to the navall defence of it , and affords variety of imployment , by the manufacture of cordage , as also by the car●ening and building of ships . the latter end of his life ( by reason of the civil broyls ) was troublesome and painfull , as the book stiled iter carolinum shews . lewis the thirteenth , the last king of france , spoke ofttimes of the troubles of great brittain in his sickness , and once he was over heard to say , that it was a just judgement , because his brother of england would have assisted his subjects once against him . mr. howels corollary to the life of lewis the thirteenth . in his march after essex to the west , it happened that one of his carriages brake in a long narrow lane , which they were to pass , and gave his majesty a stop , at a time of a great showr of rain , which fell upon him . some of his courtiers and others which were near about him , offered to hew him out a way through the hedges with their swords , that he might get shelter in some of the villages adjoyning , but he resolved not to forsake his canon upon any occasion : at which when some about him seemed to admire & marvel at the patience which he shewed in that extremity , his majesty lifting up his hat made answer , that as god had given him affliction to exercise his patience , so he had given him patience to ●ear his afflictions . mr. fords panegyrick on king charles the first . let his conference with the marquess of worcester , the papers which passed betwixt his majesty and master henderson , and those others with the ministers in the isle of weight , testifie how great a master he was of reason , how well read in the fathers , the councels ecclesiasticall history , and the customes of the church in all ages . id. ib. he made an admirable anagram of himself , the day before his death , carolus rex ; cras ero lux . id. ib. his death ( saith the author of the additions to bakers chronicle ) was strange and unparalleld . we may read ( saith he ) of many kings who came to violent ends , but never any that was so formally and solemnly first tryed for his life , and then judicially executed in publick by his own subjects . mr. love in his vindication of the london-ministers , against price his clerico-classicum , pag. 36. gives good reasons against putting the king to death , and saith , he was the first protestant king in the world , so put to death by his own subjects . pag. 55. he saith , he could produce multitudes of protestant divines , against the cutting off the head of our king in particular , as the ministers beyond the seas , the ministers of scotland , the ministers of essex and lancashire , and of many other places of the kingdome , besides the london ministers , who unanimously declared their abhorrency of that horrid fact , of taking away the life of the king. pag. 59. he saith , that there is no president in all the scripture , that the sanhedrim of the jewes , or rulers of israel , did ever judicially arraign and put to death any of the kings of judah , or israel , though many of them were most gross idolaters , and tyrannous princes , who shed much innocent blood , and o●pressed the people sundry wayes . this notwithstanding , another divine of our own hath presumed to publish a defence of the sentence passed upon the late king. he quotes gen. 9. 6. exod. 21. 12. lev. 24. 17. numb . 35. 30 , 31 , 33. prov. 28. 17. and mat. 26. 52. to prove the lawfulness of it . that private person which sheddeth mans bloud wilfully , by man , that is , by the * magistrate ( whose power is here stablished , saith ainsworth , for killing all wilfull murtherers ) shall his bloud be shed . and this ( saith ainsworth there ) accordeth with the law , numb . 35. 29 , 30. but private men may not use the sword , mat. 26. 52. rom. 13. 4. i have read that place matth. 26. 52. strongly urged by some , against subjects taking up arms against their princes , but never this way before . these scriptures ( though he think them of so express a tenour , of such a pregnant import ) i conceive make little for the purpose he alleadgeth them . when i consider with my self how many of note this divine hath written against , and what paradoxall ( if not heterodoxall ) tenets he hath often laboured to maintain , sometimes against the determinations of a parliament rightly so called , i wonder at that passage of his near the conclusion of his novice-presbyter instructed . the great knower of hearts , and searcher of the reins , in whose presence i write , knoweth , that if himself would be pleased to discharge me of the service of contradicting and opposing men , and dispose of me in a way of retirement , were it never so private and obscure , where i might only contest with my own weakness and errors , he should give me one of the first-born desires of my soul in the things of this life , into my bosome . he may do well to weigh those places , exod. 22. 28. 1 sam. 26. 9. prov. 24. 21. eccles. 10. 20. the greek word for king , notes him that is the stay or foundation of the people . he is called 1 pet. 2. 13. the supreme , or superiour . the greek word signifies one that hath above others , in matter of authority and supremacy . the generals commission , the covenant , the parliaments declarations and engagements both to the king and scots , were for the preservation of the kings person . even mr. goodwin in his anticavallierism● , and mr. burroughs in his lord of hosts , though they justified the warre ; yet they shewed their dislike of any injury to the kings person . i may justly vindicate the parliament of england , from having any hand in this abominable action . nunquam in te peccavit britannia tua , sed nec in parentem : sola colluvies illa de formis nefariorum t●nebrionum haec cuncta execranda procudit . d. creyghtoni dedic●t . hist. concilii tridentini . some object , that every monarch hath his power from the consent of the whole body ▪ therefore the whole body hath a power above the power of the monarch ; and to this purpose they alleadge that maxime , * quicquid efficit tale est magis tale , ( all government ( they say ) is for the good of the governed ; and salus populi suprema lex . ) that maxime even in naturall causes is subject to divers restrictions , and it holds not in this particular ; the guardian is for his sake that is under age , yet he hath power over him . of the right interpretation of the other maxime , salus populi suprema lex , see dr. sanderson de obligat . consc. praelect . 9 , & 10. not that prince which is most potent over his subjects , but that prince which is most potent in his subjects , is truly potent , witness that incomparable princess of happy memory , queen elizabeth . it was also our king charles his own golden maxime , the peoples liberty strengthens the kings prerogative , and the kings prerogative is to defend the peoples liberty . let us leave the doctrine of king-killing to mariana the iesuite to defend , and the perpetration of such a horrid act , to ravilliac , and such monsters of men . of marianas doctrine , and of the iesuites opinion of the lawfulness of deposing princes that are hereticall , see in dr. taylors collection of polemicall and morall discourses , his sermon preached upon the fifth of november on luke 9. 54. i shall close up all with davids patheticall speech , 2 sam. 1. 20. tell it not in gath ; publish it not in the streets of askelo● : lest the daughters of the philistims rejoyce , lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph . as i have severall times in the parliament , so i thought sit here , to give in my testimony against that unsound opinion , and abominable practice . had i been sooner freed out of the kings-head in the strand , ( where i with many other worthy secluded members , were confined for not going along with the rest of the house , in their intended evill designe , ) i had published a treatise against king-killing , ( which i had formerly composed ) before that fatall stroake . finis . errata . page a line 15. read hervord . p. 3. l. 22. ethelbald . p. 4. margin , histoire d' angleterre . p. 9 l. penult . & ult . r. aidan & p. 10. l. 4. p. 9. l. 9. r. oswalstre . p. 16. marg . l. 10. r. nami illi argentei . & l. 11. r. pontificius quaestor . l. 11 , & 12. dele qui publicé bonas artes profiterentur , quô multi doctrina clari confluérunt , docendi gratta . p. 20. marg . dele vid asser , &c. p. 29. l. 9. r. sica . p. 28. l. penult . r. upon a. p. 34. l. e 30. r. this . l 31. r. all . p. 44. marg . l. 20 , 21. r. ipse suae . p. 51. l. 4. r. he refused . p. 61. l. 36. r. cotraderet . p. 68. marg . l. 20. dele non . p. 73. marg . l. 1. r. plerisqué . p. 81 l. 15. r. one , one , one , &c. p. 85. l. 29. r. of . p. 90. l. 21. r. cyrus . p. 95. marg . l. ult . r. loquentem . p. 106. marg . l. 8. r. episcopus . p. 116. m. l. 11. r. polyd. p. 111. l. 14. r. civilis . p. 129. l. 6. r. westminster . an alphabeticall table , expressing or pointing to the chief things contained in this treatise . a alfred his severall names page 20 the first annointed king of england , ibid. his vertues , p. 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 arthur king and prince , p. 154 , 155 b bastards many of them famous , p. 56 benevolence by whom that tax was devised , p. 156 black prince a valiant person why so called , p. 113 , 115 bush : why henry the 7th bore the hawthorn-bush with the crown in it , p. 151 c canutus , p. 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 magna charta often confirmed , p. 111 city of london gives the dagger for its arms , and why , p. 100 d danes long molested england , p. 37 , 38 , 47 e edgar , p. 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 edward the elder , p. 27 more kings of england of that name than of any other name , p. 27 edward the confessor , p. 48 , 49 , 50 , 51. edward the first , p. 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 edward the second , p. 104 , to 109 edward the third , p. 109 , to 117 edward the fourth , p. 136 , to 146 edward the fifth , p. 146 , 147 edward the sixth , from p. 170 , to 178 egbert , p. 15 , 16 england five times plagued by other nations , p. 14 called so first by ethelbald , p. 11 , & 18 ethelbert , p. 7 , & 18 ethelred , p. 10 , 18 , 19 ethelwolfe , p. 16 , 17 ethelston , p. 28 g the order of the garter instituted by king edward the third , p. 115 , 116 the king of heralds called garter , ordained by henry the fifth , p. 132 guild-hall in london in what kings raign erected , p. 128 h l. hastings a speciall judgment on him , p. 149 harlos , whence , p. 55 hengist , why so called , the first monarch of the english , p. 4 , 5 the heptarchy of the saxons , p. 2 , 3 henry the first , p. 73 , to 81 henry the second , p. 84 , to 86 henry the third , p. 94 , to 98 henry the fourth , p. 122 , to 129 henry the fifth , p. 129 , to 134 henry the sixth , 134 , to 139 henry the seventh , p. 150 , to 160 henry the eighth , p. 160 , to 170 humble king rare , p. 10 humphrey duke of glocester , learned himself and was a great benefactor to the vniversity of oxford , p. 123 i queen jane , p. 178 , 179 jests , witty and merry speeches , p. 21 , 29 , 35 , 81 , 92 , 158 , 163 , 165 , 166 , 167 , 175 , 176 , 185 , 188 , 207 , 211 king john , p. 93 , 94 ironside , why so called , p. 40 a stout judge , p. 124 , 125 , 126 k kings-evil when first cured in england , p. 51 king of heralds ordained by whom , p. 132 l laws , the best made in the time of richard the second and henry the seventh , p. 148 , 155 , 956 m queen mary , p. 179 , to 183 murder punished remarkably , p. 149 , 150 n neote , me of the first divinity-readers in oxford , p. 17 normans what , p. 53. we re-received our laws and names of sports from them , ib. p. 54 o offa first gave the peter-pence to rome , p. 12 offas church , aud offas ditch . ib. oswald , p. 9 oswy , ib. p. 9 , 10 p parliament , the first in the raign of edward the third , p. 111 parliamentum bonum , ib. parliamentum indoctorum , p. 122. insanum parliamentum , p. 96 plantagenet , whence , p. 84 q vertuous queens , p. 98 , 178 , 179 , 183 , to 200 r richard the first , p. 89. 90 , 91 , 92 richard the second , p. 117 , to 122 richard the third , p. 146 , to 150 rosamand what it signifies , p. 86 , 87 the comely riding of women when it began in england , p. 120 s saxons a warlike people , p. 12. they gave names to many cities , towns , rivers , woods , fields in engl. ib. why saxon princes had their name from a horse , and gave a horse for their escucheon , p. 4 , 5 schola salernitana , dedicated to robert son to william the conqueror , p. 67 , 68 stephen , p. 82 , 83 stuart , whence , p. 200 t thong castle , why so called , p. 4 tudors why so called , p. 150 , 151 v great victory of the english over the french , p 112 , 113 university colledge in oxford , founded by king alfred , p. 22. there are his armes in the hall , p. 25 w earle of warwick , a person of great power in edward the fourths reign . p. 200 women , whether the rule of women be lawfull , p 179 william the first , p. 54 , to 66 william the second , p. 66 , to 73 wolves how destroyed in england , p. 34. wicklef in the reign of edw. the third , p. 116 y yeomen of the guard instituted by henry the seventh , p. 151 finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a50052-e110 beda to king ceolwolph . speed his history of greatbrittain to king iames. howe his annals , or continuation of stow and bacons henry the 7th to your father when prince . * it was illustrious both in respect of the bright star which then appeared at high-noon in the presence and sight of all , ( see stella meridiana ) & also in respect of your near alliance to the greatest ●rinces of christendom . doway notes on iosh. 3. 8. a see dr basire of sacriledge . b montacu●ii antidiatribae ad diat . 1. bulengeri . c hookers ecclesiasticall policy . l. 8. it is by divers charters granted to the church of westminster , to be locus coronationis regis , & repositorium regalium . liber regalis . the sword presents the princes power , the crown their glory . b. bilson in his sermon before k. iames at his coronation . see the 〈◊〉 of worcester 〈◊〉 sermon at the coronation . king iames comm●ndeth caesar above all pro●●e writers , both for the sweet slowing of th● style , and the worthiness of the maner it self . * henry the first , the fifth , the seventh , the eighth . edward the first , the third , the sixth , especially , who first began our happy reformation in religion . at the coronation of king ioash , the high-priest delivered him the testimony , not only that he might know and do it himself , but take care ( as much as lie in him ) that it might be known and observed by the people . dr hardy his apostolicall lyturgy revived , on 2 king. 11. 12. read the scriptures diligently , and with an humble spirit , and in it observe what is plain , and believe & live accordingly . dr ier. taylors letter to a person newly converted to the church . 2 sam. 23. 3. a molinier in his essay●● . all that we beg at the hands of our superiors , is a liberty to worship god according to his word , that we may have no thing imposed upon us , but what we may be directed in our compliance with , by the rule of scripture ; we desire that men may not command where god is silent . the examinat . of dr heylins history of the reformar . of the church of england . those of the presbyterian judgement , that out of a reall tenderness cannot comply in all particulars , will beyond doubt receive from his majesty such savour and indulgence , as may abundantly suffice to their relief . mr l'estrange his holy cheat. p. 78. of the 2d edition . notes for div a50052-e1660 see mr wheare de method● legendi historias , pag. 52. daniel doth very well so far as he goes , he is continued by trussell . historia est testis temporum , lux veritatis , vita memoriae , magistra vitae , nuncia vetustatis , cicero l. 2. de oratore * regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis . a aschams schoolemaster , l. 1. p. 20. * it was a very pious care , and of singular example in so young a prince , to intend & endeavour the reformation of religion , and the church within his realms . for which even at this day we have cause to acknowledge the good providence of almighty god in ●aising him up to become so blessed an instrument of his glory and our good . bp sandersons episcopacy not prejudicial to regall power . in the time of king edward there was more i suppose , than what one calls it , a wambling toward the genevah discipline ; but neither very earnest , nor very popular . a annal tom● 〈◊〉 . p. 33. b whereas the papists unjustly charge the protestant churches with schism for departing from their communion : it could not but be a great scandall to them , to confirm them in that their uncharitable opinion of us , if we should utterly condemn any thing as unlawfull , because it had been used in the times of popery , or abused by the papists . b. sanders . epise . not prejudiciall to regall power . c as father gilpin , and father latimer . annal. rerum anglicarum parte prima . p. 101 , 102. mr lyfords conscience informed touching our late thanksgivings . notes for div a50052-e3180 fox his acts and monumen● vol. 1. cambd brit. engl●sh saxons . saxons e●oient tous extreme●ent belli queux & comme es●rit zosine , l● plus vaillants & renommez de tous les germanis , en grandeur de courage , en forces de ●●●ps , & en patience au ●ravail histoire d● angleterre par andre da chesne . l. 6. p. 1●6 . verstigans antiq 〈◊〉 tamen in 〈…〉 dominium , & hexa●ch● ab 〈◊〉 anglorum 〈◊〉 primordiis 〈…〉 dictum ) co●rcebantur . sold. analect . anglo●bris . l. 2. ● ▪ 4. notes for div a50052-e4040 the first king of kent became the first monarch of the english men . cam●● . b●it english saxons . histoire 〈◊〉 ang●●t re lar 〈◊〉 ●●ches●e . l 6. p. 1● . 〈◊〉 brit english saxons . hengist signifieth ● stoned horse . equus bellicosorum saxoniae principum antiquissimum insigne , pugna●it●●is , celeretatis , & immoderati impetus symbolum . spelmanni aspilogia . notes for div a50052-e4750 c●aulini spectatissimum in praeli●s robar annales ad invidiam esserunt , quippe qui fuis anglis stupori , brittonibus odio , ●trisque exitio . mal●esburiensis de gest is anglorum . l. 1. c. 2. polydor virgil. ang. hist. l. 4 p. 80. relates the manner of the battell . oswaldus fide quam ferro instruct●or . h●jus regis laudes historia bedae panegyrico prosequitur stylo . malmesburiensis de gestin regum anglorum . l 1. c. 3. vide plura ibid. inclytus ille & plurimis animi virtutibus ( aa pietate pr●esertim in deum ) princeps merito celeberrimus , osuualdus , cum northumbrorum regno anno salutis 634 fuisset potitus . god w. de pra●sul . angl. beda . wulpherus , ne spem civium falleret , edulò satagere , magnis & animi & corporis viribus utilem se principem ostentare ; denique christianitatenst vix in regno suo palpitantem , & per fratrem initiatam favore suo enixissime suvit . maimesburiensis de gestis regum anglorum l ● . c. 4. ethelredus animi religione , quam pugnandi exercitatione celebrtor ▪ malm. de gestis regum angl. l. 1. c. 4. quipietate in deum , probitat● in patriam perinsignis , magna morum sinceritate vitam cucurrit , quintoque anno regni romam ire pergeus , reliquum temporis illic rel●giosè complevit . malmes . de gestis regum angl. l. 1. c. 4. celredus immatura morte miscrabilis ; siquidem non ultra octo annos regno satisfaciens liceselda conditus est . malmes . de gestis regum ang. l. 1. c. 4. lib. 1. c. 4. or elfrid . kenul●hus magnus vir & virtutibus famam supergredicus , nihil quod livor digne carperet unquam admisit , domi religiosus , in bello victoriosus vir , cujus meritò laudes ●itentur in altum , quamdiu aeq nus arbiter in angliâ invenietur ; laudandue tum regni sublimitas , tum mentis humilitate , qua cuisuit amplissime , malmesb. de gest is reg. angl. l. 1. c. 4. notes for div a50052-e7210 anglorum reges , postquam in monarchiam septem regna coaluerunt , egbertus . aethelwalphus . aethelbaldus . aethelb●●us . aetheltedus . alfredus , edvardus sen , aethelstanus , edmundus . edredus . edwinus . edgarus . edwardus martyr . ethelredus . edmundus . ferrcum l●tus . canutus . haroldus . harde-canutus . edwardus confessor . haroldus , boxhornij metamorphosis anglorum . regnavit inde egbertus , cò autem faeliciue quod alcuinum viderit , omni ( quae aetas illa tulerit ) literatum genere doctissimum cu●us quidem operain parisicus● academia instituenda carolus magnus usus est . seldeni analect . anglobrit l. 2. c. 2. egbertus conscendit thronum avitum omnibus ante se regibus meritò praeserendus . mulm . de rebus gestis angl. 〈◊〉 l. 1. c. 2. thirty seven saith mr. foxe . anno dom. 837 ethelwulphus ( quem quidam athulphumvocant ) filius egberthi regnum sortitus regnavit viginti annis , & quinque mensibus , natura leuis , & quisub quiete degere , quam multis provincijs imperitare mallet . malmesb , de gestis regum anglorum l. 2. c. 2. omnis anglia hoc tempore istuc vectigal pietatis & religionis causa , romano pontifici pendit domesticatim collatum , & nominum illi argentei vocantur vulgo denarij divi petri , quos pontifici quaestor exigit qui publicò bonas artes prositerentur , quô multi doctrina clari constuxerunt , docend● gratia . nos hanc olim quaesturam aliquot per annos gessimus , ejusque muner● obeundi causa , primum iu angliam venimus . polyd. virg. aug. hist. l. 4. quis facile crediderit aethelwulfum regem decimam partem non solùm bonorum & facultatum , sed & mansionum praediorumque totius ecclesiae contulisset spelm. epist. dedicat. ad lib. de concil . st. needes in huntingtonshire why so called . ethelbald ethelbert and ethelred successively raigned , and dying left the kingdome distracted by continuall conflicts with the danes ; and alfred having faithfully served his brothers , as viceroy in each of their severall raigns , survived , and in the twenty second year of his age succeeded in his kingdome . powells life of alfred . anno dom. 857 duo silij ethelwulphi regnum paternum partientes , ethelbaldus in west-saxonia , ethelbertus in cant●a regnaverunt . ethelbaldus ignavus & perfidus patris ejus thorum polluit , in conjugium judith n●ver●ae post ●ar●ntis obi●●m devolutus ; sed post quinquennium eo defuncto , & schireburniae co●dito , totum regnum ad alterum derivatum est malmesb. de gestis regum angl. l. 2. c. 3. primus ille , nodum cantii , praeter northumbriam totius angliae rex , sacro font● ab augustino monacho anglorum , ut a●unt apostolo , tinctus . seldenjanus anglorum . regnum paternum obtinuit ●odem numero , annorum quo fratres miserabili prorsus & dolenda sorte , ut immatura omnes occumberent morte , nisi quod tantis matis obstrepentibus regij pueri magis optarem honestum exitum quam acerbum imperium , malm. de gestis regum angl l. 2. c. 3. six saith a●dre du chesne . notes for div a50052-e9230 alfridus , qui & ae●fredus , & alvredus de bellavit danos , & unicus sui sae●ust maecenas fuit . lelandi●omment ●omment in cygn●am cantionem . insignem hunc regem saxo-nes passim , & ipsus semet , aelfredum nominant , nonnulli alfre●um & ●lfridum : recentiores ( litera [ f ] ●u [ v ] consonantem versa ) alvredum . filius erat regis ethelwulplhi pihntissimi , ●atu certè minimus , è virtute autem & rebus gestis , magnus ab ●●horibus appellatus pu●rum adhuc à patre romam delegatum , leo pap●●0 . prophetico velut ductus ●piritu in anglorum futurum aliq tando regem ●●xit , dum●tres sui fratres omnes , qui paterno priùs fruebantur diademate , superstites 〈◊〉 , ● & insolumes reg●are capit anno christi 872. des●it anno 901. cum annos 28 v●l 29 reg●minis tenuisset gubernaculum , multas interea utriusque fortunae expertus vi●●ssitudines . spelm. de concil . p. 378. hic octarum saxo●●corum 〈◊〉 , in dei servitto vigilantissimus , & in exequendis jud●●ii● erat discretissimus . hoved. annal pars prior . erat rex ille in exequendis judiciis , sicut in caeteris al●is omnibus rebus discretissimus indagator ▪ asserius men●vensis . vide asserium de alfredi rebus g●●tis . nec verò des●erunt dulcissimi jovis● mercurii bene positorum influxus ; nec musae ( rex enim . faelix seculum verè philosophabatur ) ne●leg●● inter arma 〈◊〉 . sel●en● analect . anglo brit . l. 2. c. 5. vide asserium menevensem de aelfredi rebus gestis . p. 9. and also paulu● orosius his history . vide malm. de gestis reg. angl. l. 2. c. 4. to furnish i● with able scholars , he drew thither out of france grimbald and scotus , and out of wales asser , ( who 〈◊〉 his life ) whose lectures he honoured often with his own presence . quin & provincialibus graudem amorem studtiorunt in●u●it , hos praemiis , illos injuriis hortando ; neminem illiteratum ad quamlibet curiae dignitatem aspirare perinittens . malmesh de gestis regum auglorum , l. 2. c. 4. aluredu● à decalogo suas leges piè auspicatur vide lanibardum de priscis ●nglorum legibus . dum gesta ejus commemoro militaria , miror unquam cum cogitasse civilia . dum civilium ejus intueor molestiarum cumulos ; miror utique quod in aciem prodiit . dum verò religio●em , pietatem , & ardorem rerum c●lestium contemplatus sum , vixisse monachus visus est & regularis ; hoc solo infaelix , quòd inter gentes barbares sub faedissimo literarum deliquio . f●loruit & interiit circiter an . dom. 900 spelmanni glossarium vid● ejus epist. dedicat. ad lib. de consil. his epitaph . anno dominicae incarnationis 872 , elfredus filius ethel● wulphi junior regnum accepit , & 28. & semis annos laboriosissime , & fortissime ●enuit . malmesb. l. 2. c. 4 some say above 29. years . so rog. de hoveden annal part 1. notes for div a50052-e10720 dictus senior , eo quod post illum plures ejusdem nominis regnaverunt , quorum omnium ipse primus erat . literarum scientia multum inferior patre , sed regni potestate incomparabiliter gloriosior . malmesb. de gestis reg. ang. l. 2 c. 5. idem ferè habet ingulphus . edwardus , cognomento senior , literarum cultu patre inferior , sed dignitate , potentia pariter & gloria superior . nam multo latius , quam pater fines regni , sui dilatavi● . rog. de hoveden . annal. part . 1. p. 421-● 23. saith malmesb. 24. polyd virg. 34. saith roger de hoveden . malmesb. de gestis regum ang. l. 1. c. 6. a young english gentleman in a sally forth at ostend had one of his arms shot off with a canon , which taking up he brought back with him into the town unto the chyrurgion , and coming into his lodging , shewed it , saying , behold the arm which but at dinner did help its fellow . this he did , and endured without the least fainting , or so much as reposing upon 〈◊〉 bed . dr. dillingham veres commentaries in the contin●ation of the siege of ostend . 16. years saith malmesbury . tenuit regnum anuis 6. & semis . malmesb. l. 2. c 6. see milles his catalogue of honour , and mr. prynne his seasonable , legall , and hystoricall vindication of the fundamentall liberties , rights , and laws of england . p. 106. anno dominicae incar●ationis 946. edredus tertius ex filiis edwardi regnum suscipiens , rexit annis 9 , & dimidio . malmesb. l. 2. c. 7. anno dominic●e incar●ationis 955. ed●inus regno potitus tenuit annis quatuor , petulans adoles●ens , & qui speciositate corporis i● libidinibus abuteretur . malmesb. de gestis reg. ang. l 2. c. 7. ea tempestate facies monachorum saeda & miserabi●is ●rat . caeterum longè horret nostra memoria , quam immanis fu●rit in reliqua caenobia . & propter aetatis lubricum , & propter pellicis consilium , qua● tenerum jugiter obside●at animum malmesb. de gestis reg. ang. l. 2. vide plura ibid. & polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 6. notes for div a50052-e12520 he was sirnamed etheling , after the signification of the saxon speech , outlaw , because he was a banished man in the former time of his life , through the cruelty of the danes . laci●s nobility . although in his younger dayes he was subject to many vices , and committed some in urious tyrannicall acts , recorded by malmesbury , fox , speed , and others ; yet repenting of these his youthfull , lustfull vices , he proved such a just and prudent king , that our historians of elder and later ages , give large encomiums of his justice , prudence , vertues , and politick government , worthy perpetuall memory and imitation . mr. ●ryn's seasonable , legall , and historicall vindication of the fundamentall liberties , rights . laws of england , p. 126 , 127 vir & animi virtute , & corporis ro●ore longè princeps . polyd. virg. ang ▪ hist. l. 6. malmesb. l. 2. c. 8. id. ibid. polyd virg. ang hist. l. ● . dr. barwick's life of b. morton . licet , ut fertur , staturae fuerit . & corpulentiae perexilis ; tantas vires in illo corpusculo dignatio naturae incluserat , ut ultro ad congrediendum lacesceret quemcunque audacem nosset ; hoc maxime timeus ne 〈◊〉 tali colludio timeretur . malmesb . de gest is regum anglorum . l. 2. c. 8. vide plura ibid. malcome ● king of sco●s hearing of a conspiracy plotted to murther him , whereof one was author , he dissembled the knowing of it , till being abroad one day a hunting , he took the fellow apart from the company , and being alone , said unto him , here is now a fit time and place to do that manfully , which you have intended to do treacherously . draw your weapon ▪ and if you kill me , none being present , you can incur no danger . with which speech of the king , the fellow was so daunted , that presently he 〈◊〉 down at his feet , confessed his fault , humbly asked forgiveness , and being granted him , was ever after serviceable and faithfull to him . sir baker's chronicle of the kings of england in william the 2d sir elyo●'s govern●ur , out of malmesb. in h●norem christi ejusque divini nominis cultum , quadragin●a caen●bia ve á fundamen●is ●x●ruxit , vel pa●um sarta t●cta 〈…〉 de reb . brit. 〈…〉 pacificus , ●a●ria & monosticae disci●li●● propugnator ard●n ●ssim●s qui sem●t ●●●achorum caet●● , reg●nem 〈◊〉 ●●alium pras●●●t guber●●●res s●elm . d● concil p 489. 〈…〉 aunorum 16. regnim adipis ●●ns c●dem num●ro 〈…〉 de gestis reg. aug. l. 2. c. 8. the three conquests of england by the saxons , danes , and normans , proceeded from the sins of the princes , or of the people , or both . mexia's treasury of time . vol. 2. l 7. c. 1● . dani populationibus , ●caelibus & incen●iis miseram anglianm multos per annos adeo affl●x●runt , ut clades 〈◊〉 romanis , scotis , ●ictis , & sax●nibus jam an●ca , postea● ; deinde à normannis huic insulae illatae , si aerumnis & calamita ibus quibus isti p●triam hanc nostram affecerunt conferantur , quasi ludus quidam & tragadia scenica poss●●t aestimari . nam bellum nobiscum gesserunt temporis long inquitate diuturnum , omni crudelitatis genere immanissimum , & belli ge●endi ratione difficilimum . godw. de praesul ang. comment . p. 67. vide plura ibid. & p ●9 . vide reg de hoved. part 1. p●●t 2. see verst●g●● of our names of contempt . p. 33● the danes used when the english drank , to stab them , or cut their throats ; to avoid which villany , the party then drinking requested ▪ some of the next fitters to be his surety or pledge , whilest he paid nature her due , and hence have we our s●all custome of pledging one another . infestabant illius maxime imperium clericos inter & monachos de sacerdo ●um celibatu schismata , seldeni analect . anglobrit . l. 2. c. 6. died in the 16●● year of his age . tribus annis & dimidio potesta●e ●otitus est . malmesb de gest●s reg ang l 2. c. ● . notes for div a50052-e13990 cùm infans primum s●cro admotus esset fonti , alimon●ae excremento baptisterium ( unde constantinum etiam pessimum imperatorem ●opronymum dictum fuisse scribunt ) faede● inquinavit ; exclamavit exinde subito danstans , per sanctam mariam pu●r●iste ignavu● homo ●rit . seldeni analect . anglob●it . l. 2. c. 6. vide malmesb. de gest●● reg. aug. l. 2. c. 10. & hunting . hist. l. 5. ejus vitae cursus saev●s , in principio , miser in medio , turpis in exitu asseritur . malm. l. 2. c. 10. ea nox par●ulo temporis momento vetustam danorum dominationem , diuque majorum virtute elaboratum finivit imperium . sed neque id postera nostris fortuna restituit . ita anglia dominandi ju●●ignavia perd●tum scelere recuperavit . saxo-grammat . hist. dan l. 10. krantzi● hist. d n. l. 4. magni roboris & animo & corpore , & pr●pter hoc ferreum ●atus nuncupatus malmesb. de gestis reg aug. l. 2 c. 10. pal●d vi●g . ang hist. l 7. vide malmesb. de gestis reg. ang. l. 2. c. 10. & polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 7. p. 132. polyd. virg. ang hist. l. 7. some say one year , and a few moneths . notes for div a50052-e14780 vide polyd. virg. hist. ang. l. 8. p. 135. scians omnes habitantes or●em , vanam & frivola● regum esse potentiam . hunting . hist. l. 6. erat dominus totius daciae , totius angliae , totius norwagiae , simul & scotiae . hunting . hist. l 6. ea fuit optimi regis diligentia , ut optimis legibus patriam , cives , milites , intra honestatis praescriptum contineret . tulit legem de singulis rebus , omni●q●e praevi●it quae ab optimo legum latore sunt providenda . et quum inter alia homicidio quoque paenam decreviss●t , accidit ut ipsae 〈◊〉 , is praevaricator , occiso milite inve●iretur . qu●mqu factum majesta●is reverentia ●u●ripot ●isset , militari se animadversiou● substravit . kran●●zii hist ▪ dani● l. 4. vide plura ibid. leges canuti poste●●ati tam gratae fuerunt sibiqu●●am satutares angl● semper dux●runt , ut ad eas sirmite● observandas sub nomine edward● regis ( non quod ill●● st●tu●rit , sed quod observaverit ) principes reg●o inaugur●●dos solio sepius , obstrinxerint juramento . seldeni anal●ct . anglobrit l. 2 c. 6. ex malmes● . l 2. c. 11. nou refero confessoris has leges ad certum regni cjus anuum aliquem , quod non ab eo institutas c●ns●o●●sed ex antecossorum suoru● legth●s ( praesertim regis canuti ▪ ut animadvertit malm●sburius ) ducta plerunqu● essent & promulga●a . innuit hoc idem ipsarum titulus in quo decitur , iucipiunt lege● s. edward● regis , quas in anglia 〈◊〉 . id est observavit non quas tulit , hoc est instituit . spelman . de concil . p 625 l. ●ide lambardum de priscis anglorum legibus . quo nemo damcorum regum ( tam e●si piura alii victor t is illustraverint ) splendidi●r fuit . equidem sanctitate ac fortitudine inst●●ctiss●mus , non minus religionem quam r●gnum proferre curae h●huit . cra●zii hist. daniae . l 4. some say twenty . st 〈◊〉 . malme●b . dani ( ut patria pace loquar ) s●ecandis certatim calicibus assueti saxo-gram . hic tributum inex●rabile & importabile angliae imposuit , ut classiariis su●● pers ingulas naves viginti marcas ex pollicit● pensitaret . malm. l. 2 c , 12. notes for div a50052-e16330 edwardus cognomento , ob p●etatem confessor . selden . ianus ang. it was imposed by his father , and payed for forty years continuance , cut of the lands of all , except only the clergy . danegeldum s●u danageldum ▪ ●d est , tributum danicum dicebatur . selden . mar● clausum . ●●● c. 11. vid plura . ● ibid. a treatise of union of the two realms of england and scotland ▪ c. ● . * e●ymon ipsius habe primum nominis op 〈◊〉 privativa est particula d●el pars sonat , totum , expers quasi criminis . purgationis autem sive ordalii g●●us duplex , i●ncum & aqu●um . dupl●●i etiam forma ign●●● , ●●simul●tus cum quis criminis aut nuda man●● s●rrum gestabat , aut pedibua m●dus ig●i●o● ve●●●res premebit . distinguebant porro juxta ferr● magnitudinem , quod si uni●s esset pondo , simplex ; si trium , triplex ordalium nominabant . seld. analect auglebrit . l 2. c. 8. vide ejus janum anglorum . l 2. p 253 , 254 , 255 , 256. vedesis glossarium annexum legibus henrici primi apud lamba● lu● de pr●s●●● anglorum legibus . see dr. hackwels apology of gods p●●vidence in the government of the world . l. 4. c. 2. sect. 5 against the ordeal laws . sr iohn hayward alleadgeth two other causes , impotency of nature , and suspicion against her . ediderat à ●undamentis ba●dicam seu ecclesia● s. petri westmonasterii , supra modum saeculi augustissim●m ; qua nostratibus etiam exemplum dedit condendi ecclesias in formam crucis christi passioualis , id est , productiore radio inferiori . spelm. de concil p. ●36 . matth. paris . hist. ang. p. 2. earl godwin father to king harold , having procured the untimely death of alfred brother to king edward the confessor , denied is continually with solemn oathes ; and especially once when he dined with the king. at what time occasion being offered to speak of that matter , he took a piec● of broad , and prayed to god that the same might be his last , if he were any way consenting or privy thereto ; and so eating the bread , was choaked therewith , and died there in the kings presence . henry hunting hist. l. 6. ingulphus hist. ang. 153. polyd. virg ang. hist the archers of the normans send forth their arrows on every side as thick as hail ; which kind of fight , as it was unto the engl●sh m●n strange , so it was unto them no less terrible . milles. walsingham history is called hypodigma neustriae . ayscis . haec gen● á dacia oriunda , ferox statim tanto reg●o potita mores optimos , leges sanctissimas divina humanaque vertere , ac denique genus ipsum a●g●icum perdere conata est . polyd. virg. aug. hist. proaem . in l. 9. notes for div a50052-e18140 erat sapiens , sed astutus ; locuples , sed cupidus ; gloriosas , sed famae deditus ; eras humilis , deo servientibus ; durus , sibi resist●ntibus . huntington . hist. l 6. alu●● non habebat gallia , qui talis praelicaretur eques & arma tus . spectaculum erat delectabile simul ac terribile , eum cernere fr●ua moderantem , ense decorum , clypeo sulgentem , & galea teloque minitantem . gesta gulielmi ducis normannorum à gulielmo●●ctaviensi ●●ctaviensi lexoviorum archidiacono . mr. pryns seasonable , legall , and historicall vindication of the fundamentall liberties , rights , laws of england , p. 382 , 383. see more there . see sir iohn hayward in the life of king william the first , p. ●9 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ▪ and master bacons first part of his historicall discourse of the uniformity of the government of england , c. 44 , 45 , 46 ▪ 55 , 56 , and carpenters geog. l. 2. c. 14. p. 238. versteg●ns antiquities , c. 6. p. 171 , 172. it was a generall custome at that time in france , that bastards did succeed , even in dignities of highest condi●ion , no otherwise than children lawfully begotten . sir iohn hayward in the life of william the first , p. 4 5. he hath seven examples there of bastards lawfull succession it is probable ( saith the same hayward ) that this u●e was grounded upon often experience , that bastards ( as begotten in the highest heat and strength of affection , have many times been men of excellent proof , both in courage , and in understanding . ●his was verified in hercules , alexander the great , romulus , 〈◊〉 , king arthur ; in homer , demosthenes , bartholus , gratian , 〈…〉 peter comestor . see peacham ▪ compleat gentleman c. 1. p 9. 〈…〉 al●cubi le●●sse , pris●os septentrionales populos etiam spurios 〈◊〉 in succession●m ; nec ill●us igitur tituli , gloriosum angliae subactorem 〈◊〉 normann●m pu●●●●sse videtur , qui epistolam ( ut alias plur●s ) ad alanum brittaniae min●ris comitem , sic orditur ego wilielmus cog●n●m●nto bastardus . henrici spelmanni glossarium . vide polyd. virg. aug. hist. l. 8. sir iohn hayward in the life of william the first , reports this jest somewhat otherwise , though he agree in the substance . the arrow was first brought into this land by the normans . hollinshed and sir iohn hayward in william the first . as long bows were the weapons with which this king conquered england ; so they were the weapons with which england under after-kings conquered france ; as if it were not enough for us to beat them , unless we did beat them with their own weapons . sir richard baker . subjectis humilis apparebat & facilis , inexorabilis erat rebellibus . matth. paris hist. ang. daniels history . vide henrici spelmanni glossarium . p ▪ 287. curfu , aliter corerfu , à gal. couvrir , tege re ; feu ignis latine , ignitagium . spelmanni glossartum . vt ferociam populi ad otiumper-ducere● , omnibus 〈◊〉 ademit , statuit que ut quisque pater familias vesperi ▪ circiter horam octavam , post meridiem , tecto ciueribus igne , dormitum tret ; & ad ad signum vicat●m dari voluit , per campanas , it quot etiam nunc servatur , & normannice vulgo dicitur , coverfu . polyd. virg. ang. hist l. 9. lamberts archeion . p. 24. monumentum totius britranniae , non dico antiquissimum , sed absque controversia augustissimum , duobus magnis voluminibus , angliae descriptionem continens . aliàs liber judiciarius ; aliàs censuali● angliae ; aliàs angliae noticia , & lustratio ; interdum rotulus regis & ( à similitudine antiquioris ) rotulus wintoniae , & liber wintoniae nuncupatum spelmanni glossarium . vide plura ibid. & 〈◊〉 praefat . ad eadmeri historiam . sir iohn hayward in his life . p. 23. & ●14 . sir iohn hayward . cardinal perron the learned french man , was a fat corpulent man , and had a great belly . a french lady to quip him , said thus to him , mouasieur qua●d vous vous accoucherez ? to whom he replyed , quand vou● s●ras sage femme . speed. silent l●gos inter arma . lambards ar●●tion ▪ verstegans antiq. c. 6. p. 182. pueritiam a●● spem regui literis municbat , subinde patre quoque audiento jactare proverbium solitus ; rex illiteratus , asinus coronatus . malmesb . de henrico primo . l 5. one and twenty years and one moneth saith fox . seventy four saith polyd . virgil. qua enim conditio sortis humanae non moneat ad pictatem , cùm auditum su●rit regem istum qui tantae potentiae in vitâ suâ extitit , ut in tota anglia , in tota normannia , in tota cinomanensi patria , ne●o contra imperium ejus manum movere auderet . mox ut in terram spiritum exhalaturus , positus est , ab omni homine , sicut accepimus , uno solo duntaxat serviente excepto , derelictum cadaver ejus sine omni pompa per sequanam na●cella delatum , & cum scpeliri deberet , ipsam terram sepulturae illius à quodam rustico calumniatam , qui eam hereditario jure reclamans , conquestus est illam sibi jam olim ab codem injuria fuisse ablatam . e●dmeri historia novorum . vi●● ma●mesb . & polyd. virg. de wilielmo primo . notes for div a50052-e21150 * or courthos● , of his short hose , or br●eches . or courtois , of his courteous behaviour . sir iobn haywards lives of the three norman kings of england , p. 125. & 222. see renasus morean in his prol●gomena to his learned animadversions , by which he hath illustrated that work . vossius de philosophia . c. 12. joannes de me●iolano medicus nomine ●oll●gii scholae salernitanae conscrip●i librum cui titulus schola salernitana . id ibid. by a fall from his horse . de●raudaverat gulielmus pater robertum regno angliae , partim non oblitus ejus in se impietatis & contumaciae , partim veritus , si ille id obtineret , ne ejus facilitas qua praeditus erat , ad defectionem paratiores non redderet anglos , quos ipse laeserat ; quapropter rem tutiore loco fore putàvit , si rufo , cujus jampridem morum pariter acerbitatem atque immanitatem naturae cognitam habucrat , committeretur . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 10. sir iohn hayward . * brittarnia in glocester-shire . see more there of him . he seems to have followed the example of iacob , who gave to his younger son ioseph the land which he had taken with his sword and his bow. besides in the rebellion of his son robert , this son stood firmly for him , and in his quarrell hazarded his life . sir richard baker . robert was then absent in germany . incomparabilis proculdubio nostro tempore princeps ; si non ●um magnitudo patris obru●re● , nec ejus juventutem fata praecipitassent , ne per 〈◊〉 maturiorem aboleret ●rrores ●centia potestatis , & impetus juvenili contractos malmesb . de wilielmo secundo . l. 4. he is therefore ill spoken of by clergy men . he claimed the investitute of prelates to be his right . he forbad appeals to rome . malmesb. vnum adificium & ipsum per maximum domum in londoniâ i●c●pit , & perfecit , non parcens expensis dummodo liberalitatis suae magnificentiam exhiberet . malmesb. daniels history . malmesb. veterum plerique traditur transsossum fuisse regem sagitta , quam in ferarum vivario , quod novam forestam dicimus , jactu infoelici collimara● gualterus tyrellus , gallus , idque est receptissimum . scd accuratius multo quam caeteri , singularia omnia , quae miseram regis caedem & tyrelli jactum fatalem attinent , narrat ordericus vitalis in hist. eccles l. 10. p. 783. seldeni notae ad eadmerum . vide malmesb , de wilielmo secundo . l 4. notes for div a50052-e22880 henricus ob singularem , quae pro regio fuit nomine , eruditionem belloclericus dictus . seldeni ianu●● anglorum . vide ejus dissert . ad c. ● . henricus rex urbanitate , comitate , affabilitate , lenitate , justitia , & fortitudine , omnes sui temporis principes anteire putabatur . huc etiam acces sit , quod o● ni literarum genere cantabridgiae , lutetiaeque instructus à pueritia ita profecit , ●ut wilielmus ejus pater eum episcopali mu●●ri aptum censuerit . qui doct●nae praesidio & saluberrim●s multas leges ipse condidit , & papales technas saepe offecit , & ca●●è vitavit , ut si●cam opportunitatem , quam henricus octavus nactus fuisset , & papalem jurisdictionem exterminasset , & praefractum , ac à papa concitatum in se clerum , in officio tenuisset . josc●lini antiq. brit. p. 124. infans cum omnium votis conspirantibus educatus egregie , qui solus omnium filiorum wilielmi natus esset regi● , & ●i regnum videretur competere . itaque tyrocinium rudimentorum in scholis egi● liberalibus , & literarum mella adeo avidus medullis indidit , ut nihil postea bellorum tumultus , nulli curarum mot●s eas excutere illustri animo possent . malmesb . de henrico primo . l. 5. nocturnas faces , quas primus gulielmus vetuerat , restituit , quippe cui jam firmato regno minus formida●das . seldeni ianus anglorum . l 2. none of our kings married with scotland but he . flemings stemma sacrum . habitus est crudelis praes●r●im propter robe●tum germanum fratrem , quem in carcero sinem vitae facere coegit . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 11. stubb● his discovery of a gaping gulf whereinto england is like to be swallowed , by another french marriage . he shews there also in henry the second , richard the first , king iohn , henry the third , edward the second , richard the second , the inconveniences to this nation , by their marriages with the french. hinc cognoscere licet , pri●s aethiopem posse mutare pellem , uti dicitur , quàm qui terram incolunt galliam , valde multum diligere anglos . polyd. virg. ang hist. l. 23. p. 483. it was said of charles earl of valois , that he was the son of a king , brother to a king , uncle to a king , father to a king , and yet no king. * cambdens brittannia in barkshire . mi●ses . henrico adscribunt nonnulli legem , quam curtoise d' angleterre dicunt i. c. ti . hac vir suscepta prole co●jugis demortuae baered●s sruitur , in humanis dum ●g●rit . seldeni ianus anglorum . l. 2. hayward . the antiquity of a yard . ●anicls hist●ry , and hayward . sir walter rawleigh his preface to his history of the world . see sir iohn hayward in the life of king henry the first p. 267 , 2●8 , 269 , 270. prudentum congressus in anglia vocatur & magna comitia . mutuato denium à gallis parliamentorum nomine quae ante henricum perraro scribit polydorus l. 11. habita . seldeni ianus anglorum . l. 2. a hide of land contains 20. acres , saith hayward in the life of william the first . p. 99. a 100. acres saith lambert . notes for div a50052-e24860 daniels history . the famous family of plantagenets , which stored the crown of england well nigh the space of four hundred years ; from whence have issued one emperour , fifteen kings , and ten queens , twelve princes , twenty four dukes , and sixty earls , took its name of a ●lant . fern. glor. generos . galfredus plantaginett● , cujus absque dubio à plantagine herba , quemadmodum elim ap●d romanos multarum nobilssimorum 〈◊〉 ab herbis & frugibus deductum ●omen est , matildam henrici primi anglorum regis ; filiam , viduam duxit in uxorem . henricus secundus in regiam familiam nobilissimum illud plantaginettarum cognomen insinuavit . hoc mirum in modum postea prolis numerositate incrcvit ; a leo ut exea gente quatuordecim reges ▪ quanquam desultoria quadam successionis lege aliquando , con●inuata tamen seric , regnum administrarunt . t wini comment , de rebus britanuicis . prince douè de plusicurs vertus vrayement digne , d' un roy●mais aussi suict à quelques vices encores plus indignes d' un prince● hrestein . histoire d' angleterre par andre du chesne . l. 12. fox . p 228. col. 2. hollinsh . in k. stephen . cambd. britannia in northumberland . at pater henricus haec audiens , ingenti affectus dolore , antistiti submissa voce ait , paenitets inquam , paenitet extulisse hominem . polyd. virg. montaigne in his second book of essayes ▪ c ▪ 8. commends the emperour charles the fifth , for resigning his means , his greatness , and kingdome to his son , at what time he found his former undaunted resolution to decay , and force to conduct his affairs to droop in himself , together with the glory he had thereby acquired . robert , son to hugh capet , was crowned king in his fathers life time , of whom it is sajd , he was a son without frowardness , a companion without jealousie , a king without ambition . du serres history of france . verstegans etymology of our saxon proper names . poysoned her , as was thought . verstegan ubisupra . gualterus mappaeus de nugis curialium . polyd. virg. ang hist. hollinsh polyd. virg. dan hist. notes for div a50052-e26790 statura corporis fuit justa , lata & bonesta facie , in qua multum gratiae , gravitatuque incrat ; sed quò pulchrior corpore , hoc animi altitudine praestantior , undo non immeritò cognomen invenit , qui cor leonis vocatus est . polyd. virg. ang hist l. 14. illud innuere videtur richardum inter angliae reges primum usum fuisse leonino gestamine , quod ei prae caeteris cognomen inderetur . cor leonis à pictura● clypei ( ni vana conjectura ) derivatum . nam é clypeis & armaturis nomina saepe acceperunt tum antiqui , tum recentiores . spelman●i aspilogia . p 46 , 47. weevers ancient funerall-monuments . cambdens brittannia in oxfordshire . id. ib. in barkshire . histoire d' angleterre par andre du chesne . l. 1● . theater of honour . book 5. c. 1● sheriffs and maiors of london first ordained . alluding to that gen. 37. 33. hollinsh . and speeds chron. notes for div a50052-e27700 speed. c●ttoni posthuma . powell on lhoyds history of wales . p. 261. out of matthew paris . hist. d'angleterre par andre du chesne l. 12. * acts and mo. vol. 1. fox . foxes acts and mon vol. 1. there are various reports of his death . see hollinsh . chron. * eighteen years , five moneths , and four dayes , saith matthew paris . one writes that he was poysoned at swinsted with a dish of pears . others there in a cup of wine . some , that he died at newarke of the flux . a fourth , by the distemperature of peaches eaten in his fit of an ague . browns britannias pastorals . contigit aliquando s. ludovicum francorum regem cum eo super hoc conferentem dicere quod non semper missis , sed frequentius sermonibus audiendis esse vacandum . cui faceta urbanitate respondens , ait , se malle amicum suum saepius videre , quam de●● oquentem , licet bona dicentem aud●re . matth. paris , & walsingh . gration . hollinsh . magna charta . lambards archeion . id. ib. matth. paris . hist. ang. hen. 3. p. 945. p. 783. there will be little reason to be over-confident in matters of pedigree and arms , much beyond 400 years . ●d . ibid. matth. paris . cooke 2d part of instit. c. 11. notes for div a50052-e29140 the names of the first richard , the first edward were as terrible to infidels , as william to the saxons , and as much renowned among all christian princes . sir francis w●rtly his characters . rodericus toletanus l. 1. breaks forth into this exclamation ; quid igitur hujus mulieris fide rarius audiri ! quid mirabilius esse potest , ut uxoris lingua fide & dilectione maritali peruncta , vencua à dilecto marito expulerit quae electo medico trahi non valuerunt : & quod plurima exquistiáque non effecerunt medicamenta , una uxoris pietas explevit . iactura filiorum facilis est , cùm quotidie multiplicentur ; pareutum verò mors irremediabilis est , quia nequeunt restaurari . chronica● thomae . walsingham . mr. fullers good thoughts in worst times . occasion . meditat. 9. see dr. pow●is preface to the history of wales , and his notes on ●hoyds history of wales , p. 376 , 377 , and judge dederidges principality of wales , p. 4 , 5 , 6. cambdens britannia in yorkeshire . ●aletudine usus est satis presp●ra , animo magno ; cui cunque enim rei operam dabat , eam facil● imbi●●bat , prudentia summa , religionis studiosissimus , insolentiae sacerdotum inimicus acerrimus , quam ex opibus cum primis prosicisci putabat● quam ob●rem legem ad manumortuam perpetuasse fertur , at ita corum luxurie● coerc●retur . polyd. v●rg . ang hist l. 18. cambdens britannia in cumberland . fuit prudens in gerendis negotiis , ab adolescentia armorum ded●us exercitio , quo in diversts regionibus eam famam militiae acquifierat , quà totius orbis christiani sui temporis principes singulariter transcendebat . elegantis erat formae , staturae procer●e , qua humero & supra communi populo prae●minebat . chronica thom●● walsingham . he was called edward long-shank● . ne vestigium majestatis regia● desid●rii ullum apud populum remaneret , sedem lap●deam in qua insidentes reges coronari salebant , ex scotia deferendam londinum curavit , quae eti●am nunc ad westmonast ●rium servatur . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 1● initio sui principatus , cisi ad lenitatem suaptò natura pr●pensus ●rat , quorundam tamen suorum consiltariorum co●rcitus monitis , ut bonam indolem ostentaret , gravitatem , probitatem , ●nodestiam praes●●crre caepit : veri●n baud omnino potuit ita coerceri , quin brevi tempore petulantiam ac vanitatem sensim quidem primò & occultè velut juvenili errore complexus suerit , &c. polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 18. sir. thomas more . cu● isabella r●gina oxoni● esset , una cum 〈◊〉 , magno exercitu stipa●● episcopas concionem habuit , in qua themate assumpto dolet mihi caput , o●●endere conatus est , caput insanum , nec adhibitis opportunis remediis convalesce●s corpori dominari non debere . godw. de praesul . a●g . vide plura ibid. speed. queen isabel , being to repass from zeland into england with an army , in favour of her son against her husband , had utterly been cast away , had she come unto the port intended , being there expected by her enemies : but fortune , against her will , brought her to another place , where she safely landed . montaigne his essayes . l. 1. c. 33. polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 19. p. 382. commends her . speed. hollinsh . quo genere moriis edwardus interierit , non facile constat : fama exit in vulgus , illum dum ventrem purgaret , fuisse veru transfixum per clu●es . polyd virg. ang hist l. 18. fuerat nempè rex iste inter ●mnes reges orbis & principes gloriosus , benignus , clemens , & magnificus , belliger suit insignis & fortunatus , qui de cunctis congressibus in terr● & in mari , semper triumphali gloria victoriam reportavit . walsingh hist. ang. edwardus tertius regnum saelicissimum & rebus maximis à se gestis gloriofissimum ad annum secundum supra quinquagesimum produ●it . godw. de praesul . ang. comment p. 119. huic regi absque caeteris naturae ornamentis , cum primis formae dignitas suffragabatur , ingenium providum , perspicax ac mite , nihilporr● non sapienter , non con●ideratè agebat , & homo permodestus & frugi , illos summè diligebat , honoribusque ornabat ac amplificabat , qui probitate , modestia , atque vitae innocentia allos antecederent . militaris disciplinae apprimè sc●ens fuit , ut res ab co gestae testimonio sunt . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 19. il gaigna deux memorables batailles en france , prist la ville de calais , & deux grands roys prisonniers , & rendit son nom redoutable à tous ses voisins , histoire d'angleterre par du chesne . floruere faelicia arma edovardi tertii regis , qui de iohanne gallorum rege capto , speciocissimè triumphavit . ab hoc edovardo garcitenii equestris ordinis ceremoniam institutam ferunt . pauli iovii britanniae descriptio . hic est ille edovardus qui caletum urbem in continenti galliae , plures menses obsessum atque expugnatum , philipp● galliae regi abhinc ducentis ser nè annis ademit . id. ib. speed. id. ib. it was confirmed by thirty parliaments in the succession of eight kings . this was the first parliament we read of . sir edward cooks 4th part of institutes . stow. he quartered the arms of france with england . speed. gersey and gernsey parcels of normandy , belong to the king of england . pro●ssards chron. c. 130. da● . hist. speed. iohn de serres . the king of bohemia was there slain , whose plume of ostridge feathers won then by the black prince , hath ever since been the cognizance of the ●rinces of wales . his eldest son sirnamed the black prince the mirrour of chivalry , not for his colour , but dreaded in battels . he at the battell of c●essy which bare two thirds of 8500 men , fought with little less then 90000 , and not many years after , being fewer by three fourths . the welch his enemies , in the battell of poicticrs he took king iohn of france prisoner , invironed by all the princes & nobility of that kingdome . a young prince twice a conquerour , having vanquished his enemy , both by valour and courtesie . 〈◊〉 serres french hist o● iohn king of france . lho●d in his history of ●●ales calls him the 〈◊〉 of chivalry of all europe , a prince ( saith he ) of such excellent demeanour , so valiant , wise and politick in his doings , that a perfect representation of knighthood appeared most live●● in his person . se● more there . p. 384 , 385. in the year 1●49 . 〈◊〉 instituit garterium ordinem , cui ●auius deinde accessit honor , 〈◊〉 maximos quosque reges non pen●tuc●rit in id ventre collegium . ●olyd . vng. hist. l. 19. vide plura ibi● & 〈◊〉 hist. belg. 〈◊〉 24. p. 285 , 286. notes for div a50052-e33950 in richardo fuit forme gratia , animus non vilis , quem consociorum perversitas improbitas , insulsitas , extiuxit● fuit item summa infelicitas , qui in talent cal●●itatem in● cidit ut in maximi beneficii perten● accepe●it , abdicare se imperio , pro quo , ●ortaies soleant 〈◊〉 omnia pro●icere . polyd virg. ang. hist. l 21. he may be compared to lewis the tenth of france , called hu●● , which signifies mutiny , because of his ●arbulent disposition . this montford gave the king 〈◊〉 dan. hist. f●l . 172. cambd. brit 〈◊〉 worcestershire . mr. bacons uniform government of england , part 2. c. 1. sir iohn arundel had two and fifty new suits of apparel of cloath ● gold or tissue hollinsh . chron. in rich. the second . daniels third book of civil wars . ●ambd . bri●annia in sur●ey . bellum baroni●um . haywards life and raign of henry the fourth . haywards life and raign of k. henry the fourth . inter flores regia dignitas penes rosam est . apud anglos regia rosa rubra stirpis eboracensis , alba lancast●ensis . spelm. aspilogia . speed. trussels life and raign of richard the second . humfridus filius henrici quarit , s●ater henrici quinti , patruus henrici sexti regum angliae , excoluit tum juvenis , tum etiam senex virtutem ut qui maximo . hinc clarus domi militiaeque & bonis omnibus gratiss●mus . amavit praeter caetera politas literas , quibus etiam impendio invigilavit . vidi ego libellum de rebus astronomicis ab eo non infaeliciter scriptum mecaenas ille quidem doctorum omnium , quos illis temporibus , vel anglia , vel gail●a , vel italia protulii . testes exemplaria antiquissima quidem illa numero 1296 , quae academiae ad isidis vi●um ▪ fitae inchoata ibidem longè pulcherrim● operis bibliotheca liberaliter contulit . lel. comment in cygn . cant. vide ejus l. 3. de vtris illustribus . he took delight to lie lurking in high wayes , to steal from himself : for observing the times that his tenants were to bring home his rents , he would set upon them , yea sometimes to the danger of his life ; making them make good in their accounts as much as had been stolen from them : neither could they defraud him ; for he himself knew best how much they had lost . and if they chanced to hurt or evil treat him , he liked them the better . sir francis biondi of the civil warres of england . the prince impatient of contradiction , and who was naturally given to blows , insomuch as he would disguise himself to seek occasion for them , gave the judge such a cuffe on the ear , as would have stunned any one who had been less resolute then he : but the judge neither frighted with the blow , nor losing his former gravity , said unto him , that the injury done unto him sitting on that seat , was an offence done unto the king , to whom , and to whose laws , he the prince was doubly obliged ; as a subject , and as a son , sir francis biondi of the civil warres of england . p. 102 , 103. sir francis biondi of the civil wars of england . sir richard bakers chronicle . grasion . hollinsh . notes for div a50052-e36660 quod benevolentiae officium nulli antea priusquam rex renunciatus esset , praestitum constat : adeo henricus ab incu●ta aetate ; spem omnibus optinae indolis fecit . polyd . virg. ang. hist. speed. hic vir , hic fuit , qui à primo docuit honores , ut est in proverbio , debere mutare mores , &c. polyd virg ib. dolem . confer , touching success . part . 1. c. 3. he was so devout and serviceable to the pope and his chaplains , that he was called of many the prince of priests . fox his acts and monum . v. l. 1. cambd. britannia in monmouthshire . speed. v. debatur deorum hominiemque consensus & conspiratio esse in anglicam fortnnam : cùm ecce subitò in pejus omnia labi , cunctàque retrò ferri . henricus , ille regum , flos ; illud belli fulmen , & suorum delicium , in medio victoriae cursu , fatis ostensus tantùm , moritur ; infante regni bellìque haerede relicto . forstneri omissorum libe● ad l. 1. annal taciti . constantius chlorus father unto the emperour constantine the great , having commanded , that all such christians , as would not ado●● his gods , should depart from his service : did nevertheless is banish all tho●e that denied their faith , and retained the others in his service and favour ; where●● he gave this reason , that those who had so little conscience as to be false unto their god , could not be true to him . treasury of time● . l 9 c. 6. hollinsh . as henry the fifth prophesieth here of his son henry , so henry the sixth , afterward prophesied likewise of his son henry . matth. paris hist. ang henr. 1. p 62. mentions also a prophesie of william the conquerour concerning his son henry the first . aequanimis esto sili , & comfortare in domino pacifi●è susti●e , ut fratres tui majores te praecedant , tu autem tempore tuo honorem totum , quem adquisivi , habebis , & fratribus tuis divitiis & potcstate praec●lles . dux bedfordiae , vir tam pace optimus , quam bello for tissimus polyd. virg. ang. hist. l 23. vide plura ibid. bacons uniform government of england . part . 2. c. 13. he lived thirry six years . his innocency gave him holiness . sir francis bacon . habingtons history of edw. the fourth . cambd. brit. in yorkeshire . biondi . trussells continuat . of dan-hist . erat henricus vir miti , simplicìque ingenio , qui pacem bello , qui requietem solicitudini , qui honestum utili , 〈…〉 curis anteponebat , & quodemum nihil castius , nibil probius , nihil sanctius : in eo pudor , modestia , integritas , patientia summa , qui humanos casus , aerum●as omnia id genus vitae tormenta perinde aequo animo ferebat , ac si ipsius culpa contracta essent ; continebat se , ut facilè quibus praecrat contincret , non inhiabat opes , firtebat honores , at animae tantum saluti studebat , qua sola sapienter quidem bona , ejùsque amissione mala metiebatur ac desiniebat . polyd. virg. ang. hist c. 23 p. 492. in weighty matters his affirmation was forsooth and forsooth . fuit henricus animo liberali , qui bonarum artium studia mirabatur , & e●s diligebat , in quibus eas esse videret : quare suos ipse quoque juvit , ut doctrina crudirentur : condidit euim scholam magnificam ad hetonam pagum proximum vindesoram , in quo collocavit collegium sacerdotum pucrorùmque magno numero , qui ibi n●●rirentur , docerentque grammaticam gratuito . idem cantabridgiae autor fuit collegiircgii , quod bodie ita disciplinarum eultu floret , ut facile omnium collegiorum sit● princeps . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 24. p. 532. daniels eighth book of civil warres . his propheticall speech . caeterùm illud infortunium apud vulgus predigio creditur esse demonstratum : quandoquidem ferunt , cùm ipse henricus paulò antè in senatu ornatus regio habitu consideret , subitò coronam è capite in terram cecidisse . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 23. ob pictatem vir babitus sanctissimus , ob inertiam tamen inter pessi●nos reges numerandus , nam galliam à patresubactam amisit turpiter , ac postea deinde angliae etiam regno excidit . godw. de praesul . angl. * philip the third king of spain was wholly addicted to exercises of piety , alwayes fingering his beads ; he sympathized much in nature with this king , but was not so unfortunate : for he preserved what his father left him , whereas henry the sixth lost france where he had been crowned king in his cradle . howel his history of naples . gulielmus alnwick episcopus lincolniensis homo propter doctrinam & morum sanctitatem tant celebris , ut priscorum regum sanctissimus henricus sextus in confessionem cum sibi asciverit . godw. de praes . ang. stubbs his discourse against q eliz. french match . hollinsh . fuit edwardus corpore proce●o , ac eminents , quippe qui inter omnes ex●ellcret statura , honesta facie , laetis oculis , patenti pectore , ingenio acri , animo magno , memoria tenacissima . polyd. virg. lib 2. c. 8. he shews that an interview between two great princes for treaty of their affairs , hurteth more then profiteth . habingtons hist. of edw. the fourth . the title and claim of the house of lancaster was but faigned . see lamberts perambul . of kent . alexander the great sayling on a time in tygris with divers princes , and great lords , it chanced , his royall diadem fell from his head into the river , where being in danger to be lost , a sailer that could swim , cast himself into the water , and notwithstanding the fierceness of that stream , adventured his life , to save his soveraigns diadem : and having recovered it , and not being able to bring it in his hand , being of necessity to use both hands to save his life , he held it in his teeth : but being to work ▪ ●nd strive against the stream , he pu● it upon his head ; and so , with much perill of life , recovered the ship , and presented the emperour with his diadem . this loyall and brave adventure of his , was most bountifully and princely rewarded ; and moreover he had leave , and time given him , to dispose , and bestow his reward to whom he would ; but was judged to forfeir that head upon which he had presumed to put the ensign of majesty . the justice of the sentence is agreeable to the grounds of true policy , which in no case can admit a subject to make himself a soveraign , no not for an hour . crashams rates of the popes custome-house . c. 13. mr. fox saith he meant by those words , his own house . that whip-king , as some termed him . cambd. brit. in warwickeshire . habington . yet henry of bullenbrook son to iohn of gaunt was more powerfull . see dr. heylins animadversions on the church-hist . of brittain . l. 4. p. 78 , 79. sir francis bacons hist. of k. henry the 7th . he is by generall consent numbered amongst the kings , and named edward the fifth , although he never wore the crown , nor took any oath , nor exercised any authority . the crown is but a ceremony , to make the king known to his people . sir thomas mores hist. of k. richard the third . cambd. brit. in glocestershire . speed. cambd. brit. in dors●tshire . sir walter rauleighs preface to his history of the world . is u●us fuit ex percussoribus edovardi principis sexti henrici●ilii ●ilii qui demum pari est affectus caede . ita hastingius suo ad extremum periculo didicit , illam naturae legem secundum evangelicum verbum , omnia quae vultis , ut vobis faciant homines , sic & vos facite illis , impunè violari non posse polyd virg ang hist. l. 25. verum id credo , non fu●t somnium , sed conscientia scelerum , conscientia , inquam , cò gravior , quò culpa major , &c. polyd. virg. aug. hist. lib. 25. pag. 562. iohn du scrres hist. of france . he and q. mary raigned the shortest while of any since the conquest . see psal. 55. 23. notes for div a50052-e42200 primus omnium angliae regum stip●tore● corporis ▪ habere caepit , quod à francis principibus sumpsisse fertur● polyd. virg. the kings guard when first instituted . sir franck bacons hist. of henry the 7th . speed. hollinsh . chron. vide polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 26 p. 616. sir walter rauleighs preface to his history of the world . sir thomas eliots governour . henricus noster septimus , cùm omnes regni rectè administrandi artes calleret , sic his ornamentis instructus venit , ut cum pacem exulantem exul , extorremque extorris concomitatus esset , reducem quoque redux apportaret . twin . com. de reb brit. he was a wise man and an excellent king. sir francis bacons epist. dedicat . to his hist. he cals him in his hist this salomon of england , not only for his actions , but wisdome . sir walter rauleighs preface to his hist. the story of england from the uniting of the roses to the uniting of the kingdomes is a space of time , which in my judgement contains more variety of rare events , then in like number of successions ever was known in an hereditary kingdome . sir francis bacons advancement of learning . l. 2. c. 7. see more there . there have died in england in these civil warres , since my remembrance , above fourscore person , of the bloud royall . phil. dem comin . l 1. c. 2. p. 22. quae exsurrexere factiones magnae romanam rempublicam pe●sum dedere . duae quadraetae p rempublicam illam ●vertere , patritia , & plebeia factio . duae hic turbarunt grandes r. rosae duae , quae in unam arctissimè mixtae , per ipsam veram mixtionem commixtae sanguinis , placarunt omnia . albericus gentilis de unione regnorum isput . 2 it happened that there was fallen in communication of the story of ioseph , how his master potiphars wife , would have pulled him to her bed , and he ●led away . now master maior quoth the king , you are a tall strong man on the one side , and a cunning doctor on the other , what would you have done if you had not been joseph , but in josephs stead . by my troth ( quoth he ) and it like your grace , i cannot tell what i would have done , but i can tell what i should have done . the king replied , he answered well . sir thomas mores dialogue . l. 1. * sir francis bacons hist of henry the 7th . tempore fami geratissimi istius arthuri , de quo tam incredibilia narrantur à nostris , ut ●a●sa intermixta , veris fidem derogantia , meritissima laude defraudarint v●rum hand dubie insignem & aeterna memoria dignissimum . godw. de praesul . ang. hic est arthurus de quo brittonum nugae bodieque delirant : dignus plane quem non fallaces som●iarent fabulae , sed veraces praedicarent historiae , quippe qui labantem patriam diu sustinuerit , infractasque civi●m mentes ad bellum acuerit . malme●b . de gestis regum anglorum l. 1. c. 1. regem illum inclitissimum arthurum legimus duos ●●racones in suis armis portasse . pater suus vter , qui pen-dragon vocabatur , habuit magnum corpus & longum , cum capite multum parvo ad fimilitudinem draconis , qua de cause pen-dragon , i. e. caput draconi● vocabatur . et sic dictus rex arthur portavit arma paterna , propter habitudinem corporis patris sui assumpta . bissaei notae in upto●um . vide twini comment . de rebus ` britannicis . p. 124 , 125 , 161. sir francis bacons hist. of henry the seventh . id. ib. * by some antimonarchicall writers , whom i will not undertake to justifie . sir francis bacons hist. of henry the seventh . nulli regum antca cúm in● numerato tum in moventibus rebus major venerat haereditas . polyd. vi●g . hist. l. 28. de hen●ico 8● . anno dom. 1509. he overthrew sir william kingstone both horse and man before three queens . herberts hist. of henry the 8th . having a desire to marry within degrees unlawfull , he set his learned men on work to prove it lawfull , and again after a while ( being cloy'd and desiring change ) set them again on work to prove the former marriage unlawfull . he never spared m●n in his anger , nor woman in his lust . sir naunton's frag. regal . in q. e. accuratè vacábat literis , vacabat animi gratia musicae , legebat studiosè libros divi thomae aquinatis , & hoc agebat hortatu volsaei , qui totus erat thomisticus . polyd. virg. ang. hist. l. 27. mr. seldens titles of honour . part . 1. c. 4. titulus iste cothurnus est , & cuilibet pedi , cuilibet fidei aptari potest , non minus papae qui ●edit , quàm vestrae . didoclav . praefat . ad altare damascenum . * lib. 1. de schismate anglicano . my lord herberts life of henry the 8th neque romanam ecclesiam ab anglia expulisset henricum , nisi prior clemens henricus à romana ejecisset ecclesia . barclasi vind . p●o regibus advers r. bellarm. sanderus de schism ate anglicano l. 1. dii bo●i ! quomodo hic vivunt gentes ? lever saith he did more then any prince in christendome before him ever did , the pope being then so great . lever in his history of the defender of the catholick faith , speaks much of the suppressing of abbeys . and iura cleric . 3. more . see the preface to sir h. spelmans book de non temerand●● ecclesi● * an old priest ●lwayes read mumpsimus demine for sumpsimus : whereof when he was admonished , he said , that he had now used mumpsimus thirty years , and would not leave his old mumpsimus for their new sumpsimus . pacaeus de fructu qui ex doctrina percipitur . cum ab iuae tempore ad hanc ( inquit sleidanus comment . l. 9. ) atatem usque britannia romanis episcopis eam pecuniam dependisset , henricus ( scilicet 8. ) omnium primus inhibuit eam amplius persolvi . selden . analect . anglo . brit . l. 2. c. 4. vide spelman . de consil. p. 312 , 374. stowes chron. in the life and raign of q. eliz. he prepared the way to reformation , as his own power and profit was concerned in it . he excluded the popes authority , and caused himself to be declared supreme head of the church of ireland . lever in his history of the defenders of the catholick faith , compares him with frederick barbarossa the emperour of germany . sir walter rauleighs preface to his hist. of the world . he spake french perfectly , could declaim in latin ex tempore and that without any sticking or stammering ; he understood greek , spanish , and italian ▪ a flowing kind of eloquence he had , yet grave and polite , such as became a prince , alwayes measuring his words by the thing he spake of . dr. hackwels apology of gods providence in the government of the world . l. 1. c. 11. sect. 12. see more there . a piis atque eruditis praeceptoribus d. coxo . & johanne checo graecis latinisque literis institutus , tum sa●a religione ad praescriptam divini verbi normam imbutus aetatem longe suam doctrinae virtuteque superavit . anglicanam ecclesiam rudem adhuc & informem tam accuratè sincera religious perpolivit , omnesque faces pontificias expurgavit , ut à piis omnib●● alter josias merito dictus fit . josc . antiq. brit. magno miraculo humanarum rerum tanti ingenii & tantae expectationis p●●r educabatur , &c. hier card. de edv. 6. rege . dr. cox was ● utor also to q eliz. who recalled him from beyond seas , restored him to many church-dignities , and appointed him to preach , that day she went to her first parliament . engl. eliz. * had he lived , he would no doubt have made a full reformation of those foul corruptions that remained , and yet remain to this day , and would have reduced all the churches in his dominio●s , unto the primitive and apostolicall order and discipline , as bucer in his book de regno christi written to him earnestly desired . whetenhall of the abuse , now in question in the church of christ. haywards life and raign of edward the sixth . of all the papists in his raign , there was not one man lost his life . to the godly there was no danger , unless it were by wealth and prosperity . fox his act. and mon. a. d. 11●0 . speed. vide humfredum de nobilitate . l. 2. p. 232 , 233. fox martyr . vol. 3. p. 431. ipse rex ●●orum or efid o nuditus , aut sitiosorum immannati ex positus , imma●●rè ( morbo an veneno incertum ) praeripitur ; incredibili ob eximias supra aetatem virtutes desiderio apud populum relicto . apparatus ad cambd●●i annales . queen mary caused ●et to be beheaded . she was married to philip the second king of spain , who was long , but well proportioned . some of her coin was called philip and mary . speed. non natura sed pontificiorum arte ferox . id. ib. lever compares her to the queen mother of france , katherine de medicis . the suffering in her dayes did more settle and enlarge the bounds of the gospel , then all the preaching did in king edward the sixth his raign . dr. ames . mr. baco●● uniform government of england . part . 2 c. 34. whose raign was polluted with the bloud of so many martyrs , unfortunate by the frequent insurrections , and made inglorious by the loss of calais . nullus toto terrarum orbe angulus est , quo non percrebuit admirabilis tua , praeter invictam animositatem & pictatem cruditio , tam latinè disertae , ut exterorum regum legati , docti inprimis homines , velut attoniti obstupescant , & quasi haerente in faucibus voce obinutes●●nt , re auditâ had. jun. epist. mariae angliae reginae . two hundred and eleven years . it was lost in less then eight dayes . it was 〈◊〉 won by edward the third , being the eleventh king from william the conque●our , and lost by her the eleventh from edward . capto summa celeritate cal●to , ( quem portum galliae portam a●p●llare consueverant angliae reges : quo quamdiu potirentur , tamdiu g●stare se ● cingulo claves galliae dictitahant ) quicquid gallis creptum ducentos per annos angli f●li●iter obtinuer ant incontinenti paucorum dierum spatio , galliae regno restituere , atque ad veteres terminos intra occanum se recipere coacti sunt . stradae de bello belgic . dec. 1. l. 1. though many persecutions have lasted longer , yet none since di●●●esians time ●age● so terribly . dr. heylius eccles restaur . see more there . dr hackwel● apol. of gods providence in the government of the world . l. 4. c 11. sect. 12. se● more there ▪ vide cambde ni etiam a●arat ad annales . the or●tion is in h●k●nsh . chron. ●●de saviii ▪ orat. corom reg●na el●z . oxon. ●habi●a . stradae de bello belgic . decas 2. l. 1. p. 11. vide parkerum de politcia ecclesiast . christi . l. 2. c. 38. there was between these two princes ● concurrence and sympathy in their natures and affections ; together with the celestiall bond ( conformity in religion ) which made them one , and friends ; for the king ever called her his sweetest and dearest sister . sir robert nauntons fragmenta reg. cambdens britannia in surrey . c●mb . brit. in wil●shire . gainsfords glory of england . l. ● . c. 2. 〈◊〉 bi●dulphs travels . p. 25 , 26. her name filed the christian , turkish , persian , american , indian parts . purchas p●●grimage . 1. l. 3. c. 1. sect. 1. see ibid. c. 3. sect. 3. if she were a catholick , she might be accounted the mirrour of the world , saith a secular priest. meteranus rer. belg. hist. l. 23. much commends her . that great elizabeth of england , nurse of god , church , god hath established her seat with justice and goodness , hath made her the terrour of all enemies of christ , and the beauty of europe . ●olynes of the civil wars of france . bacons uniform government of england . part . 2. c. 34. she wrote then tanquam ovis , as a sheep to the slaughter . he was a bold preacher who afterwards told her , she was now tanquam indomita juvenca . this was mr. de●ring . they presenting to her the bible in english at the little conduit in cheap●ide , she answered , i thank the city for this gift above all the rest , it is a book which i will often and often read over . she delighted much in the love of her people . what gentle language would she use to them ? what cordiall prayers would she make for them ? speeds chron. surely , surely , a prince so high in the favour of god , and so mighty with men , so blessed with dayes , and prosperous in her raign , so beloved at home , and so dread abroad , so absolute for blessings , and so admired for government , was never seen in england . william leighs queen elizabeth paraleld , second sermon . he paralels he there in her princely vertues with david , ioshua , and hezekiah . 1. with david in her afflictions to build the church . first serm ● . 2. with ioshua in her puis●●nce , to p●otect the church . second sermon . 3. with hezekiah in her piety , to reform the church . third sermon . her motto was semper eadem it plutarch were alive to write lives by paralels , it would trouble him both for vertue and fortune , to find for her a paralel amongst women . sir francis bacon the lord chancellour elsmere . she was the happy instrment of god to promote the protestant religion in all parts . may his history of the parliament of england . l. 1. c. 1. see more there . robert cecil , robert dudley earl of leicester , the lord howard , adm●ral● , walsingham . what famous captains were generall ●norris , captain williams , morgan , the noble earl of essex , and others in land af●airs ? who more renowned than captain drake , frobisher , hawkins , candish , with the ●est in sea travails ? sir philip sidney was her great favourite . sir richard bakers chron. bishop iewel was the glory of her raign for learning . grafton in q. mary . cette vivacité d' esprit , fermetè de jugement , generuse resolution aux baute● enterprises , esquelles excelloit vostre royale & loyale soeur là brave elizabeth d' angleterre . memoires de sully . multa regis phi●●pi secundi indignationem s●●m 〈◊〉 adversus 〈◊〉 reginam , tant● quidem 〈◊〉 sensu , ●uanto pro benefi●●is proque vi●a i●sa , quam et bis ●●tque dedisse rev rex affirmab●t , dum conspirationum insimulatam è ●arcere , capitalique judicio liberaverat pro b●s aliis que prom●ritis alias super alias accepisse se indesinenter inju●ias agnoscebat . viderat statim ab initio principem orangium . as belgarum populos , consilio , pecunia , milite , ad defectionem ab illa concitato● ▪ i●di●rum provincias à draco à conditio , ab aliis ejus emissarlis v●xatas ac direptas ● regiam pecuniam interversam ▪ ac naves in anglia r●t●●tas : ●lencon●am sp●ruptiarum ia angliam allectum , atque inde in belgium ad capiendam brabantiae coronam instructum . stradae de bello belgico decas 2. l. 9. vide cambde●●l annales . see purchas pilgrim part 3 , 4 c. 9 ●ct . ● . reginam ●um vixit ut sororem diligentissimè observavit . anglosque pariter caeteros eximi● dilexit . camd. annal. an uncharitable jesuit in a scandalous libell , spread abroad and published some years after q. elizabeths death , saith , that she died without sense or feeling of gods mercies , and that she wished she might after her death hang a while in the air , to see what striving there would be for her king●dome . camd. eliz. transl . preface . notes for div a50052-e54880 * ita repugnante n●●ine , scotiae rex angliae possessionem 〈◊〉 , prim●●sque intra omnem annalium memoriam britanniae totam insulam uno imperio complexus est . groti hist. belg. one that writes ruinorum conspiratio , saith , quinqus reges ex honoratissima . s●uartorum familia , etiam eodem omnes praenomine , continu●●aserie invicem succedentes , in ips● aetatis ant flore , aut vigore extinctos acceperant : relictis semper regni haeredibus pueris aut impuneribus , qui per atatem gerendis rebus non sufficerent . favins theater of honour . l. 5. c. ● . see dr. heylins geog. of the brittish isle . see mr. wentworths book before quoted . this margaret was grandmother to king iames , by his father and mother . grotii ●ist . belg. see osborn● miscellanies of es●ayes , paradoxes . p. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9. dr. reynolds at its first coming out , being shewed it , read it over , and bought it , saying , he was concerned and wronged in it . sir walter rauleigh his hist. of the world , part . 1. l. 5. c. 6. sect. 2. see more there . vide idaeam rosae sive de jacobi ( regis ) virtutibus ●●arrationem . quis hodie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vere amans , non optet ex animo , magnae britanniae magnum illuns regem , ob eximias doctrina● dotes quibus tanti neminis majesta●i sempiternam famam circumfudit , in universals reformatarum ecclesiarum concilio , ad modum magni illius constantini , episcopis & pastoribus , non modo ad externi ordinio conservationem , ve●ùm etiam ad controversiarum , quae hodieagiantur definitionem , aliquando pra●sidere . gers. buc. dissert ▪ de gubernat . eccles. p. 115. * liber à rege ad fillum conscriptus , in quo optimus princeps omnibus ●umcris absolutua elegantissimè depingitur . ●acre . ibtle est , quot homi●um animos & studis inde sibi conciliarit , & quartum sui expectationem cum admiratione apud omnes concitarit . camdeni annal. rerum anglie part 4. p. 171. s●●vent je l' oioi plaindre , que s. m. d' angleterre trop arreste a quelques petites dissensiones entre les siens , ● ' avoitpas asses de soin de la guerison de plus profondes playes qui sont en l' eglise . la vie de m. du plessis l. 2. the 29 of may is famous for our present kings birth and return to london . * see mr. gatakers vindication of the annotat. of ier. 10. 20. against lilly. p. 75. of a feavor . his birth . being about the age of twenty five years . god so loosed his tongue at his triall . that he spoke without the least stammering or hesitation . sir franck wortley his character dr. gaud●n in his eccles. aug. suspiria . l. 3. c. 22. saith , he was stedfast and able in his judgement against popery . * letter 20. to the queen , speaking of religion , he saith , it is no thank to me to trust thee in any thing else but in this , which is the only thing of difference in opinion betwixt 〈◊〉 . see m. gatakers apologeticall discourse aginst lillie . harvei excreit . 64. de generat . animal . he as well as the countess of desmond ( so much spoken of for her great age ) is said to have lived in the raign of edward the fourth . h. l'estrange . the history of the french academy p. 220. id. ib p. 221. boxhornius in his metamorphosis anglorum , hath collected apophthegmata carolina . 1. theologica . 2. moralia . 3. politica . the author of the character of him mentions his severall vertues . king iames his works are all in one volume in folio , both in latine and english. mr. philpots kent surveyed and illustrated . see m. s. ●ords loyall ●ubjects indignation for his r●vall s●vera●gn● d●col 〈◊〉 . primus reformatus à reformatis , & à suis subjectis . salmaqi ad militorum responsio . d. cornelius burgess preached against it on amos 5. 13. dr. gauden protested also against it . i have heard that four french divines , bochart , amyraut , vincent , and de la●gly , have written against the kings death , of which some i have seen . the princess of tureine , daillé , gachens , and grelin●court , have also written against it . * effundi volo ejus sanguinem per magistratum scilicet volo in cum animadverti , & eum capito plecti lege talionis . mercer . vide paul. fag . col . lat . translat . in loc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vide grotium de jure belli & pacis l. 1. c. 3 , 4. & cameronem ad rom. c. 13. v. 3. imperii sinis unicus populi utilitas . jun. brut. vind . contra tyranui . * quod asseverant cum à quo aliquis constituitur esse superiorem constituto , verum duntaxat est in ea constitutione , cujus effectus perpetuò pender à voluntate constituentis , non etiam in e● quae ab initio est voluntatis , postea vero effectum habet necessitatis . grotius de jure belli & pacis l. 1. c. 3. vide plura ibid.