London there passed an Inquest of Twelve Knights of Middlesex sworn upon a Jury between the Abbot of Westminster and the City for certain Priviledges the Citizens of London claimed within Westminster where by the said Jury it was found before the Chief Baron of the Kings Exchequer that the Sheriffs of London at those days might lawfully enter into the Town of Westminster and all other Tenements that the Abbot had within Middlesex and unto the Gate of the said Abby and there to make Summons and distrain for lack of Appearance all and every Tenant of the said Abbot 'T is not now adays only that the Londone's stand so strong for their Priviledges whatsoever some may think of it as if out of stubbornness and opposition Their Fore-Fathers were like-minded and stood up couragiously in defence of their just Rights and Liberties against Arbitrary Encroachers above Four Hundred years ago Anno 1262. After this the former Complaint of the Aliens and others was declared before the King and his Lords in the Parliament at Westminster This is the Term Fabian gives it but whether on the same account as he did before when he expounded a Parliament by a Council of Lords in the 43d Year pag. I am not so certain as positively to determine Here the Chronicle tell us it was at last sentenced but by what means and Inducements is not there set down that the Barons should restore all such Goods as they and their Company had taken from all Persons before that day as well to Aliens as other men both Spiritual and Temporal and also that such Menial Servants as should be daily in the Kings House and about his Person should be such as the King would choose and admit himself But the dissenting Barons utterly rejected these Articles whereupon the Fire of Dissention was again kindled between the King and those his Lords In the 47th Year by procurement of the Barons we are told that the Commons of London chose unto their Mayor for that Year Thomas Fiz Thomas Robert Moumphere and Robert de Suffolk were Sheriffs and without Counsel of the Aldermen swore him at Guild-Hall upon Simon and Jude's day and made no presentment of him the morrow following to the King nor to the Barons of the Exchequer as had been the custom For which we may easily suppose the King was much discontented with the City Whereupon the King perceiving the City would take the Barons part having caused his Son to seise Windsor Castle by a Train early in a Morning a little before Christmas he rode thither from Westminster whither shortly after came also many of the Lords that were upon the King's party As fast likewise the Lords and Knights on the Earl of Leicester's side drew towards London so that on either part was much People assembled In the mean time some well disposed Mediators endeavouring a Concord between the King and his Lords it was finally agreed by both parties that all matters concerning the foresaid Articles of the Statutes and Ordinances made at Oxford and afterwards by the 12 Peers should be referred to the French King to judge which should be held and which not Upon this Agreement were Copies made of the said Statutes with Letters shewing the â—ffect of the former Agreement and sent unto Lewis the French King Over sails the King with his Sâ—n Edward and others of his Council on one side On the other were sent Sir Peter de Mountford and others as so many Sollicitors for their mutual Parties So that the Statutes were strongly argued before the French King by both sides In the end the French King Lewis calling before him both Parties on January the 24th and sitting in Judgment gave express Sentence that all and every of the said Statutes and Ordinances should be from that day forward utterly void and set at nought and all such Bonds and Promises that the King or any other had made for the maintenance of the same should be annulled and cancelled and the King and all others for any matter concerning those Statutes set at Liberty After this Sentence thus given the King returned into England and so to London February the 15th This King Lewis is named a Saint for that he was not I suppose so bad as other Princes too too commonly are or more probably for some deeds of his pleasing to the Popish Clergy as his sending to destroy the then accounted Heretical Albigenses his taking a Voyage once into the Holy Land and undertaking a second towards the same place at the Popes request For at that time the Holy War as 't is generally called was cried up in these Western parts of the World as a high piece of Devotion But whatever esteem Lewis had got in the World the Barons it seems continued not to have the same Veneration for him but were contrary wise much moved with his Sentence noting great Partiality in him thus to disannul all the foresaid Acts which were at first made in Parliament the King agreeing to them and had been variously confirmed by the Kings Grant his Oath and manifold Promises together with a solemn Curse denounced against such as would attempt in word and deed to break them It may be 't was the Fame of this King Lewis's Goodness that made the Barons consent to have him the Umpire as one concerned on neither party But what could be expected in the Case Could it be supposed that he a King would not favour his Brother King what he might rather than by confirming these Acts pretended so prejudicial to all Royal Prerogative give Example to his own Subjects to require the like at his hands or attempt to compel him thereto by force Had the Lords gotten an Umpire from among some disinterested Subjects of some other Land he perhaps would have adjusted the business wholly in their favour So hard had it been to have met with a just Arbitrator in the case who would not have declined to one or the other Party for fear nor favour King Henry having thus got a Verdict on his side and the Barons noting Partiality and therefore refusing to stand to the Judgment though the Chronicle intimates to us that they had promised assuredly to abide the French Kings Arbitration For King Lewis expresly excepting King John's Charter before granted the Barons persisted in defence of the Oxford Statutes as founded on that Charter What then remains but to commit all to the last Decision of the Sword and so the whole Arbitrement shall be cast more immediately into the hands of Providence Away from London go the Lords Westward into the Marches of Wales where drawing to them great Power they war upon the Lands and Castles of Sir Roger Mortimer to whose aid Edward the King's Son coming his People were distressed and he himself almost taken To redress these grievances a new Parliament was appointed at Oxford which Fabian says never came to effect Yet he mentions another Chronicle which affirms this Parliament
upon Summons the Barons had obtain'd their design but how would the change succeeding have been brought to pass so much to the Courts advantage and the other sides prejudice Where 's the politick Casuist that can here slit a haâ— between loyal and disloyal deeds Obedience and Disobedience the duty of subjection and open refâ—sal thereof According to an Agreement there made in the said Octaves a Parliament was held at Westminster where met as Fabian hath left upon Record the King with his Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of the Land to begin that Parliament Here was it enacted the King being present that he nor Edward his Son nor none of them should after that day grieve nor cause to be grieved the Earls of Leicester and Glocester the Barons Banerets or Knights the Citizens of London and Barons of the Five Ports nor any other Person oâ— Persons of high or low Degree that was upon thâ— Party of the said Earls for any matter of displeasure done against the King and his Son Edward 〈◊〉 any time before that day To uphold this the King 's Sworn before his Lords After that was shew'd and Read a Charter of Pardon concerning the said Cause and a confirmation of the Statutes of the Forrest with many other Acts and Statutes before granted by the King Here was an Act of Oblivion strong enough one would have thought to have indemnified the offending Parties but before the end of the Year we find the Tide quite turn'd through variance and difference arising between the Two Thiefs of the Barons Party and then the King's side prevailing Casheers what was done before Oaths held them not and another Parliament â—â—peals and disanuls the former Pardon So that the 〈◊〉 Pardon'd Offendors soon became the reputed Guilty Prisoners upon the old Scores Cancell'd and forgiv'n as was thought a little before The longest Sword will make and mar Laws at pleasure let people say what they will This Party's Might commonly bears down what the other Party calls his Right Edward the King's Son having likewise Sworn to perform the promises which the King had before made in Parliament was deliver'd at liberty and the other Pledg his Cozen upon assurance made â—â— abide in the King's Court and not depart without licence of the King and some of the Barons What care do the Barons seem here to have taken to â—â—rengthen and confirm their Party against any future â—â—â—erclaps How sollicitous do they appear to have â—een to prevent an after-Reckoning and all Tendenâ—ies thereunto Nay how conformable to them did the King and his Son shew themselves likewise â—herein Witness the many Instruments and Bonds â—ade by them for the performance of Covenants and Pactions before agreed on And yet all was soon destroy'd and brought to none effect One of the 〈◊〉 Chiefs helping Penelope-like to unravel the Web they had been so long a Weaving The Ordering the former Statutes made at Oxford which had hitherto so fast united them was the occasion of dissention between the Two Potent Earls â—â— Leicester and Glocester to the ruin of the Baron's Party the difference arose as Stow tells us betweeâ— them for that Leicester not only kept the King anâ— others as Prisoners but also took to himself the Revenues of the Kingdom which it seems should have been equally devided amongst them So that it waâ— the Golden-Apple that seems to have occasion'd thâ—â— so fatal Discord The King indeed and his Lords labour'd for an Union but it fell out well for the King's side and ill for the others that they succeeded not This happen'd between Easter and Whitsâ—â—tide In the Wâ—â—tsun-Week we hear of Edward thâ— King's Son secretly departing from the Court at Hereford without Licence and associating himself wiâ—â— the Earl of Glocester and other Lords at Chester froâ— whence he hasts to Glocester breaking the Bridges aâ— he went that he might not be follow'd till he had Assembled his Power The Earl of Leicester was toâ— wife not to guess at his Intent and therefore in all haâ— sends to his Son to Assemble his Forces Simon his Soâ— with his Forces Assembled draws towards Winchestâ—â— and was at first kept out by the Citizens because theâ— knew not whether he came as the King's Friend anâ— for that they had also receiv'd a Letter from Edwaâ—â— to that purport But it was not long e're the Ciâ—â— was yielded and then the Castle Besieged after thâ—â— the City had been spoil'd and many of the Jeâ—â— therein Inhabiting Slain They were so odious generally to the People that they should be sure to havâ— their share to the purpose in the publick Calamity if the Commons might have their Will The Papistâ— after all their discover'd Plots known Practices anâ— destructive Principles are not in a vast degree much more hateful to the generality of the English Nation in these Days than where the griping Jews in those Elderly Times At Kenelworth the Baron's Party receiv'd the first â—â—ow under this Simon where they were shamefully defeated by Edward and his Host and many Eminent Prisoners taken without the shedding of much Blood At Eâ—yshum in Worcestershire were the Barons discâ—mfited with such a total overthrow and the destruction of so many Men of Note on that side that â—is no wonder that their Interest among the People so visibly decay'd for the future and in time was fully lost Soon after this Victory the King and his Son Edward met by whose Authority the Prisoners then in hold were released and many others accus'd and put in for them Not long after was held a Parliament at Winchester where by Authority of the same the Statutes and Ordinances before made at Oxford were Repealed and all Bonds and Writings before made by the King or any other Cancell'd and Broken and all such as had favor'd the Barons disinherited A Rout indeed A Rout first to the Men that would have had the Laws have been kept and then a Rout to the Laws themselves to Parliament Acts and Statutes So destroy first of all the Protestant Men and Women the Subjects of Religion and then the Protestant Religion falls of course What could it at that time avail the defeated Party to plead a former Obedience to the Power then Regnant since the present Powers were otherwise resolv'd If the Parliament in Being will have Obedience paid to a former Parliament esteem'd Treason who dare gainsay it Little boots it the poor weak Beast to cry the Bunch in his Forehead is no Horn when the more powerful Lion says it is After these Parliament Transactions we hear of the King 's reâ—â—ming into his hands all grants before made and giveâ— to any Person After his Sons Victory the King calls not a Parliament at Westminster least possibly it might have been over aw'd by the City of London but assembling it at a place far enough distant and things having there been carried according to the Courts intent and desire now have at London Accordingly
mutually clashing in publick and what was ordain'd in one Parliament for the Commons good as was then pretended by an other repealed in favour of the other side former Laws Annull'd Pardons revok't Grants recall'd and new punishments inflicted for oâ—d offences And yet in an other Revolution within a very small space of time the last Parliaments Acts were casher'd and thrown out of doors to make room for the revival and Establishing the Elder Parliament Statutes Such changes were then Rung and so much contesting between Priviledge and Prerogative as if the differences were whâ—lly and altogether irreconcilable or at least made to seem so by some mens poliâ—ies the better to carry on their own more particular Intreagues And therefore when fair words were fear'd not likely to prevail Arms were prepar'd to force and there was danger oâ— hâ—ving Swords drawn Bows bended and Arrows shot for the promoting the designs on foot But of all Statutes Acts Ordinances Laws and Grants most memorable and observable is the Petition of the Commons and the Answer thereto given in the Parliament begun at Westminster April 25th in the second of this Kings Reign The Petition is to be seen among the Commons Petitions in Cottons Abridgment of the Records in the Tower so often mention'd and Printed 1657. pag. 169. Tit. 28. in these words That Answer reasonably may be given to all their Petitions now or hereafter to be moved and that Statutes be thereupon made before departure of every Parliament The Answer hereto runs thus such Bills as Remedy cannot otherwise be had but in Parliament reasonable Answer shall be thereto made before such Departure Now we are to understand that Petitions in the old are Bills according to the new Stile which in this Parliament were thus ordained to be produc'd at least for the Royal Assent if not to be passed formerly into Laws So that if the Houses were so minded by straining this grant to its utmost bounds though perhaps further than was design'd at the first 't was no hard matter for them to sit e'n as long in a manner as they pleas'd and the old King of late Memory his present Majesty's Royal Father may hereby very easily be vindicated from the Censures of those undutiful Subjects who pretend to blame his conduct and Arraign if not condemn his Judgment for passing the continuing Act in the Parliament of forty whereby he more plainly and immediately put the dissolution thereof out of his own hands whereas before he had been haply lyable to have been trickt out of it with greater affront to his Prerogative by the quirks that nimble wits would have been apt enough at that conjuncture to have started out of this Grant For what would not they have attempted in that posture of affairs who actually did so much afterwards by the noise of an Ordinance a term new to the vulgar but weil enough known though possibly never in that use and extent before to the Learned Lawyers who can easily inform the Questionist out of the Records in the Tower that in the thirty seventh of Edward the third they met with the name and nature in a demand of the Chancellors to the whole Estates whether they would have such things as they agreed on to be by way of Ordinance or of Statute and in the Answer thereto made by way of Ordinance with this reason then and there given that they might amend the same at their pleasure If we wonder at this grant which seems to trail after it such inconveniencies to the Regal Power as were before hinted or at least might be made an Inlet to pretences as prejudicial to the Royal Prerogative we are to understand that this was obtain'd in the Kings Nonage though not perhaps in times absolutely factious for I don't read but that things were carried then calmly and quietly enough But when the King came to full Age then we may observe that he or his bosome Favourites were not well pleased with this or other Grants that confined the Regal Power within stricter Boundaries than their own desires peâ—mitted them to like and therefore there was striving amain to remove the ancient Landmarks and the Court effected it at last for a short space but with so ill an event that the issue proved as fatal to the King himself as thâ—s counterplottings had been dâ—structive to many others before People hereupon may say what they think fit and pass their Verdicts as they please But can any blame that mans Will and Desire to disintangle himself from Fetters and Chains who thinks himself born free and so would fain live according to his own pleasure and good liking 'T is his Judgment rather that is to be quessioned when it suggests to him that he may command and ought to be obeyed in such things where no obedience was before due by nature or consent and the goodness of his Intellectuals are liable to be doubted of when they make him to fancy he may be absolute where known Laws and long continued Custom hath authoriz'd the contrary Such seems to have been Englands Case of old where the Subjects have oft put on Arms to prevent encroachments upon their dearly belov'd and many times deaâ—ly bought Liberties And such the Nations State under this King he being come to his full Age when several of the Barons headed by the Duke of Glocester his Uncle thought it their main interest and concern to speak high and look big with Armour on their backs and Swords by their sides though it subjected them to much obâ—â—quy and displeasure at Court and brought themselves and all theirs into much hazard and danger But this it seems they little thought of or as little valued That the Court highly resented the actings of such as indeavoured in Parliament time to bring some oâ— the Prime Favourites to Judgment â—or Crimes laid to their Charge is evident in that they had laid a Plot to invite the Principal Lords to a Supper in London and there murder them as such who crossed the King's coursâ—s But the present Lord Mayor utterly refused to do it though mov'd thereto saith my Author by the King himself and thereupon this design miscarried But then other Rodds were laid in Lavender and contrivancâ—s secretly carried on to intrap and suppress the Country Lords The King calls all the High Sheriffs of the Counties before him and demands what strength they could make for him against the Lords if there should be occasion But they answered that the Common People did so favour the Lords as believing them to be loyal and true to the King that it was not in their power to raise any great Force against them Then they were commanded to take care that no Knight nor Burgess should afterwards be chosen to any Parliament but those whom the King and Council should name whereto they replied It was an hard matter in those times of Jealousy and Suspicion to deprive the People of their ancient Liberties
held up their heads above ground is evident from the many supplies they had from London of Men Mony and Arms the frequent applications they made to her on all extremities and the constant endeavours they us'd to cultivate her friendship and preserve her affections But over these Transactions I shall choose rather to cast a vail of silence than industriously endeavour to lay open the bleeding wounds of the Nation in those days as being fully assur'd of the impossibility of guiding my pen so dextrously in delivering the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth as not to subject my self to censure nor incur the anger displeasure and indignation of any one Suffice it then to say that in the long Vacation of Parliaments under King Charles the first such seeds of discontent were sown in City as well as Country that upon the first opportunity they sprung up into bitter herbs and sour fruit and who tasted most thereof I think all the European world knows sufficiently by this time of day But if any in this age is so ignorant as to wonder how it was possible for the two Houses in forty one to bear up against the King without being dismis'd from Westminster by vertue of the Kings Prerogative the usual method of ancient times and the known practice of later days he is to know and understand that his late Majesty had formally pass'd away his grand Power of Prorogations Adjournments and Dissolutions by an Act of Parliament and so put the staff out of his own hands that he could never recover as long as he lived by force nor intreaty An act of Grace this was that is hardly to be parallel'd and yet perhaps it may be likâ—ned to the Statute made in the second of Richard the second of which I have made mention before against abrupt and untimely dismissions only that this is plainer worded and seems enlarged to a further extent Otherwise considering the use that might have been possibly made of the former it might have look't like the same book with additions new Printed in Octavo which before was bound up in decimo sexto Neither of these are to be found in our New Printed Statute books they pretending not to set down all the Antiquated Repeal'd or expir'd Statutes that ever were in being Therefore if any one desires to humour his curiosity he must apply himself to Cottons Abridgment of the Tower Records for the one and search after the other in some of those books that treat of the affairs of the late times Now the Observator in such a case tells us of Scobel and Husbands Collections Upon which so Authentick an Authority as some esteem it if we have recourse to Scobels Collections of the best Edition 't is ten thousand to one but we shall there find the Statute in this manner following Whereas great summs of mony must of necessity he speâ—dily advanced and provided for the relief of His Majesties Armâ— and People in the Northern parts of this Realm and for preventing the imminent danger tâ—â—s Kingdom is in and for supply of other His Majesties present and urgent occasions which cannot be so timely effected as is requisite without Credit for raising the said monies which credit cannot be obtained until such obstacles be first removed as are occasioned by fears jealoâ—sies and apprehensions of divers his Majesties Loyal Subjects that this present Parliament may be Adjourned Prorogued or Dissolved before Justice shall be duly executed upon Delinquents publick grievances redressed a firm Peace between the two Nations of England and Scotland concluded and before sufficient provision be made for the repayment of the said monies so to be raised All which the Commons in this present Parliament assembled having duly considered do therefore humbly beseech your most excellent Mâ—jâ—sty that it may be declared and Enacted And be it declared and enacted by the King our Sovereign Lord with the assent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That this present Parliament now Assembled shall not be dissolved unless it be by Act of Parliament to be passed for that purpose nor shall be at any time or times during the continuance thereof Prâ—râ—gued or Adjourned unless it be by Act of Parliament to be likewise passed for that purpose And that the House of Peers shall not at any time or times during this present Parliament be Adjourned unless it be by themselves or by their own Order And in like manner that the House of Commons shall not any time or times during this present Parliament be Adjourned unless it be by themselves or by their own order And that all and every thing and things whatsoever done or to be done for the Adjournment Proroguing oâ— Dissolving of this present Parliament contâ—â—ry to this Act shall be utterly void and of none effect This Act in Gâ—neral prov'd the destruction of that branch of the Royal Prâ—rogative which related to calling or dissolving Parliaments and that particular clause in the end that all and every thing and things whatsoever done or to be done for the Adjournment Proroguing or dissolving of this present Parliament contrary to this Act shall be utterly void and of none effect was we may believe from subsequent passages a Plea the wits of the age durst have ventur'd to have stood by against any attempts to discontinue disappoint or frustrate the meeting of the two Houses of Parliament if they had Spiâ—it and Courage enough to have own'd any thing of the Law So that upon a ground work so firm and a foundation so sure the Parliamentarians valued not all the subtile Arts and devices of their Enemies nor stood in â—ear of those Mercuâ—ial Engines Pen Ink and Papâ—r so they could bâ—t defend themselves against those Martial Arguments the bright-shining Sword and the thundring Cannon By vertue of this Clause we may conclude that after the House of Commons was violently depriv'd of many Members thereof the House of Lords wholly put down and that small remainder of a Parliament forc'd out of Doors by Oâ—iver and the Soldiers after two Protectors and several Assemblies that took on them the venerable Name of Parliaments and some of them too chosen by the People part of the Commons House nevertheless again got into power and being once more thrust out by the Army afterwards Recover'd possession and the whole House was in a fair likelyhood to have been fill'd up by the Re-admission of the secluded Members till they to make way for a greater turn did all that lay in the power of a single House to dissolve the Parliament which with us consists of the King and his two Houses Treating now of the late times and having drawn a vail over the Transactions in the last Wars wherein the City was more particularly concern'd though 't is well known that her power and Influence was very considerable in the many turns and changes through which the State
dearly belov'd Liberties when they might with greater ease and as effectually gently walk them down as a certain Person is said to have express'd it on a much later Occasion The City petition'd and address'd and she was follow'd by the Country She waited a while with patience and the secluded Members that were chosen in forty and from forty eight kept out of the house till fifty nine for almost twelve years space were restor'd in peace and quietness though under some few Obligations And so there was again the face of a House of Commons Being restor'd they dissolv'd themselves in a short time after to make way for another assâ—mbly call'd a Parliament though some thought in thâ—se times that the Parliament of Forty had been dissolv'd long before by his late Majesties death and so might haply think this a needless Ceremony It being most certain that that Parliament ow'd its beginning to the Kings Writ although its continuance was thought to depend on the continuing Act as long as the King liv'd Yet notwithstanding the House of Commons had actually dissolv'd themselves and it was become the receiv'd opinion that the Parliament of Forty was in Law dissolv'd before upon the old Kings death the next Assembly Stylo Communi Parliament would not barely stick to either of these ways but thought good likewise themselves by vertue of their Authority to declare that Parliament of Forty dissolv'd Whether or no they thought that the bare Act of a single house of Commons without King and Lords could not in Law be took for a formal Repeal of the former continuing Act made by King Lords and Commons joyntly and so rejected it as really insignificant in its self though made use of for the time and out of a Cautious foresight dreaded some ill consequences attending the receiv'd opinion of the long Parliaments being dissolv'd by the Kings death whether or no the continuing Act were formally repeal'd by as good Authority as made it lest thence in time no body knows when occasion might be taken to argue that if a Kings death repeals one unlimited Act it may likewise on the same ground vacate all by him made and so by affirming the same of all other Princes since the first William a foundation might be laid for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power when evil minded Pretenders are absolute enough to attempt it with hopes of Impunity I pretend not to determine For I remember my self to be a Relater of matters of Fact not a Reader of Law Cases Therefore I proceed to acquaint the Reader that that Assembly though call'd without the Kings Writ yet by his Majesty afterwards most Graciously own'd and acknowledg'd for a Parliament thought it fitting and convenient to declare and enact that the Parliament begun and holden at Westminster the third day of November in the sixteenth year of the Reign of the Late King Charles of blessed Memory is fully dissolved and determined They are the words of the Act to be seen in the Statute-book Cap. 1. 12 Car. 2. This was the Assembly that blessed us with his Majesties actual Restauration towards which there had been made so many steps a little before by the Loyal Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of the Land and the Worthy Citizens of this Honourable City Whose publick Reception and Triumphant Cavalcade through the City of London to White hill was very remarkable for the splendid appearance of the Citizens to conduct him the Gallantry shewn by them on so acceptable a Solemnity and the many demonstrations of joy and gladness they gave him worthy themselves and that glorious day which they had so long expected and contributed so much of their assistance to hasten For which I have a passage or two more to produce besides what hath been already brought For the first out of the supplement to Baker I quote his Majesties most Gracious Letter To his Trusty and well belov'd the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of the City of London wherein he Honourably acknowledges the publick and frequent Manifestations of their affections to him and the Encouragement and good Example â—hey gave the Nation to assert the Ancient Government and thereupon concludes with large Promises of Extraordinary kindness to this his Native City to the Renewal of their Charter Confirmation of all priviledges granted by his Predecessors and the adding of new favours to advance the Trade Wealth and Honour thereof The next is a Commemoration of the Cities Joyful Resentment of this Letter and the Kings Declaration enclos'd in it as it was was express'd by the Grateful Duty of the Common-Council who immediately upon the reading of them ordered a Present of Ten thousand Pounds to be made to His Majesty and a thousand pounds to each of his Brothers And likewise deputed several of the Aldermen and worthy Citizens to attend upon His Majesty from the City with a Presentment of their most Dutiful acknowledgments for his Clemency and Goodness towards them So desirous were they to give him the greatest demonstrations of their affection and Loyalty before his Return and Judiciously Wise as well as Loyal to set all parts of the Nation a good Example to imitate in a ready manifestation of their Duty and Allegiance to him after his Return Neither in this would they be behind hand with any of them all For the City of London as being the first the richest and most Honourable and the Seat of Kings for many ages might Judge it self oblig'd as the Supplementer insinuates in point of duty and Reputation to exceed all the rest in the Glory of their performances towards their Soveraign But whatever the Citizens did think of the Obligation on either side certain enough it is that the reiterated expressions of their Loyalty to the King were Honourable and Meritorious to the highest degree For to the splendor of their former Preparations at his first Reception and Triumphal Entrance they added the cost of a most magnificent Entertainment at Guild-hal for that very purpose richly beautified and adorned whither the King his two Brothers the Lords of the Privy Council the two Houses of Parliament and the chief Officers of State were conducted July the fifth 1660. in great Pomp by the Lord Mayor and the Grandees of the City and treated in a Royal manner with the choicest of Delicacies with excellent Musick and whatever else could be thought on or delightful for so Illustrious an Assembly As if the Citizens thought it not enough to entertain the King but for his sake were resolv'd to put themselves to the charge of gratifying others for their Loyalty Where 's now the Man can bring me a parallel hereto General Monk appear'd and London concur'd and then the House of Commons of the Parliament of forty is immediately reviv'd a face of the Ancient Government restor'd a new Parliamentary Assembly call'd the King sent for home to enjoy his Fathers Throne and most peaceably settled therein without the noise of War or
his Londoners and other Knights brought to the Enemy So difficult was it even to Caesar himself to Conquer Britain having been more than once foil'd by the Britains Caesar tells us of the Trynobants being the strongest of all those Cities by which understand London which submitted to him over whom he placed at their request one Mandubratius whose Father their chief Lord or Ruler Cassibellan had before Slain Be these two Histories the same or different yet either I believe will serve to make good my Assertion of Londons Power Fame and Esteem in those ancient Times Though Britain was hereby made Tributary yet I do not find that London lost it's Esteem For Tenancuis is said to be Buried here and also Cunobelinâ—s or Kymbeline his Son both King 's after Cassibellan In this Kymbeline's Days near about the Nineteenth Year of his Reign or Fourteenth according to Stow Our Blessed Saviour Christ Jesus was Born as is the Opinion of most Writers Henceforth therefore leaving off the Old way of accounting from the World's Creation I shall follow the Christian manner of Computation reckoning from the Birth of our Lord Christ which was in the Forty Second Year of Augustus's Empire as a surer and more certain way Except the Crowning of Arviragus in London I find but little mention of this Honourable City till the Reign of King Lucius who being esteemed by many the first Christian King in the World turn'd the Arch-flamins-See at London into an Arch-Bishoprick the Names of some of which Arch-Bishops we meet with â—ver and anon in Story as such who had a considerable Power in the Land About 226 London was of such Strength that Alectus with his Romans as Fabian relates being over-press'd by the Britains under the Leading of Asclepiodotus chose this City for his Refuge as being then it seems of greatest Security and he being afterwards slain Livius Gallus another Roman Leader manfully desended himself and his Romans in the same City then closely besieged by the Britains till in their entring he was slain near a River running thereby and thrown thereinto which occasioned it afterwards to be call'd Gallus or Wallus-Brook Some Memorial whereof we find remaining at this Day in the Street now standing where that River sometimes ran and known by the Name of Wall-brook After the Departure of the Romans out of this Land many Outrages being committed 〈◊〉 by the Picts and Scots in the Time of 〈…〉 Honorius we read of 〈…〉 by the Arch-Bishop 〈…〉 the Britains to consâ—lt of 〈…〉 many Miserie 's then haâ—ging â—ver 〈…〉 by reason of their Enemies Strength and 〈…〉 Inability to defend themselves as being 〈…〉 no certain Head The Result of which Meetâ—â—â— was to desire Aid of the King of Little Britain which they by Embassy obtain'd under the Conduct of his Brother Constantinus and after Victory by him gain'd over their Enemies Crown'd him King of the Land according to their Promise before made Here was a turn of Affairs effected by the Consult at London Another Change we find not long after through the Treachery of Vortiger and the Pict who slew Constantinus's Son Constantius then King and presented his Head to the aforenam'd Vortiger then at London Which City doubtless in those Days was of much Esteem and Regard and thereupon Vortiger who bare the Chief Rule in the Kingdom at that time though the other had the Name of King probably was much resident therein expecting it may be and waiting for the Performance of this Treasonable Act that he being on the Place might have the better Opportunity to caress the Chief of that Eminent City 'T is certain we find him afterwards endeavouring to cajole the People by the great Sorrow and Heaviness he made shew of for the Kings Death and by putting the accursed Traytors to Death for their Wicked Fact according to the Law of the Land Thus many Love the Treason well enough when successful who nevertheless hate the Traytors after their own Turns be serv'd This is that Vortiger so Infamous in the British Story for his own Vices as Incest with his own Daughter Adultery c. and the Vices of the Times under him For we read that Vice was then accounted of small or no Offence Leachery reigned amongst the Spiritualty and Temporalty Every one turned the Point of his Spear against the true and innocent Man and the Commons gave them all to Idleness and Drunkenness whence ensued Fighting Strife and much Envy After the King 's Exâ—mple the World runs a gadding is a Saying commonly too true As this Vortiger gain'd his Power by Treachery so he Reigned in a manner Precariously For he was so perplexed on the one side for fear of the Return of Constantinus's surviving Sons to claim the Kingdome and the Land on the other side so harrass'd by the In-rodes of the Picts and Scots that he was after a sort compell'd to send for the Heathen Saxons who came under their Leaders Hengist and Horsus to support him about Four Hundred and Fifty Years after Our Saviours Birth The coming in of these Strangers prov'd but as it were the beginning of Miseries For being once let in they soon began to Play their Reakes in the Land and never left till by introduceing more Colonies they had settled themselves and dispossessed the Britains of the best of the Country Neither was it any great wonder that the poor Commons endur'd such Miseries from these New-come Guests when as their Spiritual and Temporal Guides were so given up to all manner of Debauchery One of Hengist's Pranks we find to be his Treacherous slaying of the British Lords at Stonehenge on Salisbury Plains under pretence of a Treaty for Peace But the better to work out his own Ends he is said to have sav'd the King alive whom he knew to have become his Enemy in shew more out of Constraint for fear of his British Lords than for any Hatred towards him he having him sufficiently intangled in the Snares of his Daughter Rowens Beauty So common a thing is it for crafty subtle Men to serve their own Ends by working upon anothers Lusts through the Mediation of an handsome Face and Prostitute Body We read of the Saxon's having got London under their Rule but whether by their own Power or the King's Gift I find not clearly mention'd That he gave Kent and other Counties to Hengist is declar'd by the Historian It may be that he gave them also London to curb it for fear least the Citizens should joyn with Constantinus's Sons whose Return he much dreaded and assist them to regain their Fathers Kingdom Henceforward for some time we are not to expect to find London so Considerable in Power under the Saxon Heptarchy as it was before and after But when all the Seven were reduc'd into one Kingdome and the Affairs of the Land settled in a little more Peace and Quietness London began again more and more to Flourish and soon rose up to such an height
declare the Oath for some few small minute petty fancied Inconveniences invalid and of no binding force But be it by the Power of the Sword or by whatsoever Claim else Canutus held the Crown we nevertheless find him to have Govern'd the Land honourably after that he came to be sole King and it may be to the Content of many of his Subjects for 't was the Memory doubtless of his Repute that set and kept the Crown upon the Heads of both his Sons otherwise of themselves of little Worth or Value if compar'd with their Father One remarkable worthy Act of Canutus's is recorded amongst others viz. That in the Nineth Year of his Reign he call'd a Parliament so my Author terms it at Oxford where amongst other things it was enacted That Englishmen and Danes should hold the Laws of Edgar lately King In the Transactions of these Times we may believe the City of London had no small Share aâ— being probably at length pretty well pleas'd with the Father's Reign whereupon the Citizem mav be supposed to conduce at least in some measure to the settling his Sons on his Throne For Harold Harefoot is said by some to have dyed at London after a Three Years Reign and the other of Canutus's Sons Hardicanute was joyfullâ— Receiv'd and Crown'd at the same City In Edward the Confessor's days the Land being not much troubled with intestine Broils there happ'ned but little Occasion for trying London's Strength And thereupon I find no great mention of that Honourable City unless in a Passage or two as about Edward the Outlaw's dying therein and of the King 's being there some time before with his Councill when Earl Goodwin was charg'd to come to Court and render into the King's Hands all his Knights-Fees-that he and Harold his Son held in England The Effect whereof was the Outlawing of the foremention'd Goodwin for his Disobedience and departure out of the Land with his Sons by Authority of a Parliament call'd alittle after In this King's Reign also we hear at both Ears of the evil Manners among the Bishops the Chief of the Clergy of their Voluptuousness Gluttony Leachery Covetuousness Wordly Pomp c. as also of their Endeavours to excuse their Manners by answering that they were suitable to the Times A generall Corruption among Men of a Religious Habit being the Common Forerunners of great Turns and Changes in a Land as it fell out here soonafter this King's Decease This is the King to whom according to the Annalist Stow we are indebted for the Common Law gather'd out of the Laws and Ordinances of the Mercian's West Saxons Danes and Northumbers What Spirit was in the Men of those Times is â—n part manifested in the Message sent to Harola by the Inhabitants of Northumberland when he was â—ent thither by the King to do Correction upon those who had risen against his Brother Tostus their Duke for a cruell Act by him committed taking away what he had and chasing him out of â—he Country Continuing together in a considerable Body they gave him to understand that they were freely born and freely nourish'd and might suffer no cruelness of Dukes That they had learned of their Elders and Sovereigns to maintain Freedom or to suffer Death and to live in quietness under an easy Duke Upon which Message their Pardon was procur'd them of the King and another Duke assign'd Within less then a year after Edward the Confâ—ssâ—r's Death we read of the landing of Duke Wâ—llâ—â—m with his Normans at Hâ—stings in Sussâ—x who came with a strong Army to demand the Crown of Harold who had no Title but what he claim'd by the Power of his Sword and the Dukes Claim also went but upon a limping Foot As great as the Duke's Host was enough it seems by the Event to help to win a Crown we find London so Strong as to hold him out when he and his Army came thereto till he had given good Assurance that he and his People would pass through the City without tarrying which was also observed accordingly When Harold was utterly over-thrown by these Normans and so room made for the Title of Edgaâ— Atheling to take place we find the Londoners among the chief of those who were upon Associating themselves each to other to defend his Right to thâ— utmost of their Powers This Agreement indeeâ— was afterwards broken but by the making of it we are well enough assured that the Câ—tys Strengtâ— was then esteem'd very considerable Another Argument let me produce out of Stow'â— Annalls where it is recorded that Edwin anâ— Marcar both then Powerfull Earles the One â—â— Mercia the other of Northumberland after Harold Death came to London and solicited the Citizen to erect one of them to the Kingdom Though this their enterprise was frustrated yet doubtless it may prove Londons Power otherwise 't is hard to believe these two potent Earls would have applied themselves to the Citizens that they would chuse one of them for King and upon the Failure of their Design would have quietly departed without shewing some resentment had not the City been too strong easily to be dealt with or slightly to be anger'd with Safety and Security The other more rightful Heir was the Person pitch'd upon But the other Nobles of the Realm not powerfully assisting and Edward Atheling not being it seems of Ability sufficient to manage his own Concerns himself and undertake so great a Charge 't is no wonder that this Renowned City suffering it self to be born down the Stream with the Times submitted it Self with the rest of the Land to Duke William who made some pretence to a Title Whereas Harold could shew nothing for his but his Sword And therefore it may be 't is that we read not in antient Histories that I remember of this Citys assisting him to defend himself against Duke William's Power Here now is a great Change indeed The Power and Strength of the Kingdom turned from both the Britains and Saxons and devolved upon the Normans by means of this King William the Date of whose Reign begins reckoning immediately after Harold's Death October the Fourteenth Anno Christi 1066 according to Chronology In this King who himself by the General consent of Writers was basely Born is founded the Succession for higher they care not much to go who keep such a stir about our Princes inheriting according to their Birth-right Though if this be made the fixt unalterable Rule of Twenty Six Kings and Queens reigning Successively upon recourse to the History of their Reigns we shall meet with a dozen at least of them who cannot be denied but to have come to their Crowns with Flaws in their Titles Nay if we reckon in the Number such as may have been controverted upon that Account we may safely add the other Half dozen That from the general Rules there are many exceptions we learnt almost as soon as we went to our Grammar-School This King William is
commonly called the Conquerour in History which acquaints us That he came in with an Army and conquered Harold who is esteemed little less than an Vsurper But that from thence we should conclude him a Conquerour of the whole Land and look on it as a Nation totally subjected by Force of Arms it seems to me to lack a little better Proof than I have yet met with That King William after he was well fixt in the Government might reckon this Conquest amongst his other Titles and Claims whether by Harold's Oath the Pope's Gift the King's Testament and a little of Kindred I shall not deny For I have read that King Henry the Seventh had a mind to put in for this Title also but 't was after he had well and surely gained the main point Possession But upon perusal of the Histories about those Times it appears a little unlikely that this Duke William should get the Land into his own Power so wholly by Conquest as some would insinuate for secret intents possibly and purposes of their own Though Harold was Conquered by that one Battail yet I do not think the Land was For besides Londons Strength where William was forced to yield Conditions before he could pass through as afore the Earls of Mercia and Northumberland then of considerable Power are said to have withdrawn themselves and their People to that City without so much as being present at the Battel How also the Kentishmen enclosed Duke William and his Victorious Army and compelled him to grant them the continuance of their Old Laws and Customs is sufficiently manifested if only by the single Evidence of their Antient Law of Gavelkind yet continued amongst them If this be Conquest to be forced to yield Conditions What is it to be Conquered Wherefore we may better I believe from these premised Considerations conclude That the Chief of the Nation knowing him to be a Man of Strength and Ability and of great Fame chose rather to submit to him upon fitting reasonable Conditions than hazard the running into the Miseries of War by committing themselves to the Guidance of so young and weak an Head as Edgar Atheling That King William made a League with such as submitted and swore Fealty to him stands recorded in Stow's Annals True indeed after he was well fixt in the Throne he might not much mind his former promises but contrary to them might do many irregular Acts to strengthen himself as he thought and settle the Crown the surer upon his own Head Whereof we find mentioned in Story his endeavour to raise his Normans by introducing them into the chief Places in Church and State and impoverish the English by setting grievous Impositions and Taxes on them One we read of very considerable in the Nineteenth Year of his Reign when he made to be gathered Six Shillings of every Hide of Land which would rise high according to my Authors reckoning who says an Hide contains Five Yards a Yard Four Acres an Acre Forty Perch in length Four in bredth Eight of these Hides make a Knights-Fee or Ploughtill Forty Eight shillings upon Eightscore Acres was a great matter in those Days though it sounds but a small Sum with Us who have lived to hear of the Wealth of a New World brought into the Old One. To this may be added his Craft in inrolling his Baroâ—s Land their Knights-Fees Towns Number of Men and Cattle within the Realm in Dooms-day Book the better doubtless to know the Strength of the Land and be the more able to raise what Tâ—xes he pleased without being very easily deceived by concealments More instances of Arbitrary Power might possibly be observed which nevertheless are not deservedly esteemed Tokens and Markes of Conquest That great Persons in the height of their Grandeur often forget former Covenants and Promises is no such wonder it is so common so usual for some Men to promise more in half an hour when they conceive it for their present Advantage than others find performed in Seven Years If Arbitrary Acts of Rule are able to prove King William a Conquerour of this whole Land I do not know but many others may also be esteemed Conquerours who passed for good Ruling Kings in the days of their Power Though King William held the Englishmen so low that in his days there was almost no Englishman that bare an Office of Honour or Rule if Fabian may be credited for some others deny it as to some particulars This being certainly the too too common Effect of letting in a Forreign Power into a Land where those that were the Introducers of the Forreigners as Friends have hardly escaped Polyphemus's Courtesy of being devoured last Witness in this Land the introducing the Saxons by the Britains and the Normans upon them Yet the same Historian intimates that he somewhat favoured the City of London and granted to the Citizens the First Charter that ever they had written in the Saxon Tongue and sealed with Green Wax being expressed in Eight or Nine Lives This may be construed to be done either in gratitude to the City for giving place so easily to his Fortune or because he found the Citizens so pliable to his Will or rather in policy to have so considerable a Place the more at his Devotion and six it the stronger to his Interest So subtle a King as he was being in no wise ignorant I presume of the great Impression the Actions of the chief City in a Conntry usually makes upon the whole Nation So that though London changed Masters it changed not Fortune but notwithstanding it received damage by Fire which burnt a great part thereof and also of St. Pauls rather gained more Honour and esteem under the Normans Rule by becoming the Metropolis of the whole Nation and the Theatre wherein hath been acted some of the most considerable Passages that have since happened in this Land whether in Peace or War Most of our Parliaments many of the Bishop's Synods and Convocations the Kings usual Residence his Court his Council and Places of Judicature having been generally kept either in the Liberties of this City or not far distant from it at Westminster which being of a much later Date as is hinted before is nevertheless known to be a distinct City of different Rites and Customs and under another Government though the Buildings joyning both Cities in a manner together may occasion Forreigners to give the Common Appellation London to the Whole and we Natives also many times use the same General Term in private Discourse In St. Pauls in London was kept that Synod of the Clergy in William the First 's days which order'd many Bishop's Sees to be translated from small Villages and such obscure petty Places to the greater Cities For by this time the Policy of the Popes of Rome in diverse parts of Europe had introduc'd a distinct Government in the Church different from that of the State And so founded as it were one Empire within another
hiâ— Son in his Life-time besides Troubles Crosses and Vexation of Spirit For upon one Occasion oâ— other we find his Sons oft thwarting him anâ— some times warring upon him Famous were those days for the Contest betweeâ— the King and Thomas Beckâ—â— which brought Beckâ—â— to his end and the King to a severe Penance at thâ— last though he disowned the Fact and is noâ— plainly proved to have given any other consent tâ— it unless what may be deduced from a few angâ—â— Words uttered in his Passion The ground 〈◊〉 occasion of this Dissention between the King anâ— the Arch-Bishop is declared by the Chronicle 〈◊〉 have sprung from diverse Acts and Ordinancâ—â— which the King had procured at his Parliament 〈◊〉 Northampton to pass against the Liberties of 〈◊〉 Church which thereupon this lofty Prelate witâ— stood The Popâ—sh Clergy being then grown to thâ— height that crowned Heads were in a manner coâ—peâ—led for their own Security to veil Bonnet them and scarce durst so far presume as but endeavour to cross their Ambitious Designs They could be content by their Canons and Councels to encroach upon the Laity as they termed them but they poor Men by the Clergy's good Will must not be allowed to vindicate their Own Native Liberty from the Others unjust Usurpations This King Henry is said to have been Peerless in Chivalry in War and in Leachery This last is sufficiently notorious in his Love to the Fair Rosamond and further manifested in his deflowring as we read his Son Richard's intended Wife the French King's Daughter whom we are also told he would have Married could he have obtained a Divorce from his Queen And this he intended 't is said to have the more favour of the Frenchmen by their Aid the better to disinherit his Sons who among other things done to his Displeasure had warred upon him in Vindication of their abused and slighted Mother Three several Warnings I read of that he had to amend his Life but to little or no purpose Some of his Patience or else fear of the Imperious Clergy we find in his forbearance shewed to Heraclius Patriarch of Jerusalem who upon the King's Refusal to go into the Holy Land being discontented sharply rebuked him reflecting on him for the Death or Martyrdom as those Times were pleased to term it of Thomas Becket and upon Henry's further excusing the Voyage for fear of his Son's Rebellion in his Absence departed in great ire with these words in his Mouth saying That it was no wonder for of the Devil they come and to the Devil they shall Part of his Devotion we meet with in that Shift he found out to fulfil the Condion of building three Abbies in England enjoyned him by the Pope in the Dispensation granted him for the Voyage he hâ—d before solemnly vowed to take intâ— tâ—e Hâ—ly Land in Person Such was mucâ— of the Religion tâ—en of those Times eâ—â—ner tâ— bâ—ild 〈…〉 and the like so man◠〈◊〉 Castles or Fortrâ—ssâ—s as it were ready manâ—ed and victâ—alled at the Pâ—pâ—'s Service oâ— else to take upon them the Cross and away to th◠〈…〉 to fight for Christ'◠〈◊〉 as wert the cry Angliâ—e to subduâ— more Laâ—d to the Pâ—pe's Obedience A cunning crafty trick of the Pâ—pe's to send away packing such Princes whose Power they feared would grow too greâ—t at home that they might in the meaâ— time domineer over their Subjects Purses and Consciences and the better advance their own Worldly Pomp and Grandeur in their Absence For read not of any of the Popâ—s who went themselveâ— iâ— Persons They forsooth could not be spared fâ—om their Charge alâ—as their Preferment noâ— be absent from home out of care to the Feeding of then Flâ—â—k i. e. looking to their own Gain So that the serding Mâ—n while in their Bodies to the Hâ—ly Land was almost as beneficial a Project as long as it lasted as the â—reterce of Fetching their Souls out of â—â—â—gatory after their Death for a round Sum of 〈◊〉 and a set of Massâ—s The Triâ—k King Henry almost as Cunning though not as Fâ—rtunate as these subrle Priests fouâ—d out to fulfil the Condition enjoyned and which he put in Execution was First Putting Secular Cannons out of Waltham-House and setting Cannons Regular in their stead Secondly His thâ—â—stiâ—g the Mâ—rkâ— out of Amesbury-House and placing there another sort of Religious Persons which he had brought from beyond the Sea And for the Third His coursly renewing the Charter-House of Witham beside Salisbury The King having had so large Tryall and so much Knowledge of the City of London's Power did not very much I suppose at any time disoblige the Citizens Especially having such powerfull Enemies to deal with as the King of France abroad and at home the insulting incroaching Clergy and his own unnaturall refractory Sons though one saith that he nourished Strife amongâ—t his Children with all Diligence hoping thereby to live himself in the more rest But it seems that device avail'd him but little As we have but little reason to think that the City of London lost ground in Henry's days so under his Son and Successour King Richard we find that Foundation laid where upon was after erected that Famous and Free Way of Electing it's own yearly Governours wherein she now glories Like as William the First gave the Citizens their First Charter so this Noble Richard Cuer de Lyon was the King that ordain'd London to be ruld by Two Bailiffs whose Names were Henry of Cornhil and Richard Fitz Ryver as Fabian tells us in that worthy Chronicle which he compiled of the English and French Nation This Fabian being Sheriff of this City in Henry the Seventh's Days by that advantage may be presumed to have best known the Affairs of the City and seeming to write with a great deal of Integrity in this Relation I chiefly follow him and so intend as far as he reaches especially when I shall have occasion to Name any of the Bayliffs Mayors or Sheriffs through whose yearly Government in his Second Volume he deduces the History in form of Annals down to the beginning of King Henry the Eight's Reign In the Prolâ—gue to this Second Part he tells us That the City was antiently under the Rule oâ— Portgrieves which word Portgrieve signifies in Sax on the Guardian Ruler or Keeper of a Town Thâ—â— Book called Doomsday wherein were registred iâ— Saxon the Laws and Customs then used being lost â—â— he acquaints us also that the Remembrance oâ— those Rulers before this Richard's Days was losâ— and forgotten In the same Prologue likewise he hath left us a Copy of Verses written in praise oâ— the City wherein we are told That this City was never cast down as other Famous Ones have been that herein Divine Service was always continued in Religious Houses in such an Order that when one had done another began and that it was famed also for the Mayor and Sheriffs Noble House-keeping with much more which any
one that please may peruse at his leasure in the forecited Place We likewise find there declared the severaâ— Wards of the City as they stood in Fabian's Time together with the Parish-Churches and other Religious Houses within and without summed up to the Number of One Hundred Sixty Eight This King Richard in the Beginning of whose Reign we first hear of the Name of Bailiffs giveâ— to the Rulers of London having taken a Voyagâ— into the Holy-Land according to the Religion oâ— those Times and done his Devoir for the Recovery of it according to his Strength the Clergy-men had reason to esteem well of him to humour whose designs he had undertaken so chargeable 〈◊〉 Enterprize So accordingly we find that the Ecclesiastucks stuck as close to him as any of his Subjects in his Adversity For in his Return from the Holy War as 't was term'd Richard being Shipwrack't took and imprison'd by the Duke of Austria and long detain'd by the Emperour he was compell'd to redeem himself after a Year and three Month's Imprisonment at a large Ransom An hundred thousand Pounds were either presently paid or good Pledges left behind him to ascertain the full and true Payment A vast Sum in those days when Wheat was esteem'd at a high Price being sold at fifteen Shillings the Quarter as we find it in the fifth Year of King John's Reign about half a dozen Years after So that for this Ransom were sold the Ornaments of the Church Prelate's Rings and Crosses with the Vessels and Chalices of the Churches throughout the Land Wool of White Monks and Cannons and also twenty seven Shrines scrap't and spoil'd of the Gold and Silver laid on them in former Times No Priviledge of Church then regarded no Person spar'd A costly Voyage indeed it prov'd to the Land undertaken to satisfie the Clergy-men's Ambition and therefore they might well be content to bear much of the Charges and use their utmost Endeavours in the Imprison'd King's Vindication And so the Pope did as far as Curses would go to which was imputed those Mischiefs that befel the Duke of Austria and his Country a little after as the Effects of the Pope's Indignation The Power and Esteem of this City's Favour in those Times of the King's Captivity we need but remark out of Neubrigensis who acquaints us That when the Chancellour being then Bishop of Ely and Governour of the Land dreaded the Force of the opposite Lords who strove to suppress him for his Insolency and ill Government he retir'd to London and humbly intreated the Citizens not to be wanting to him in that point of time But they being not unmindful of his former Behaviour rather favour'd the other Party whereupon the proud haughty Prelate was compell'd to resign his Office which he had so ill manag'd and depart to the no small Benefit to the Land in those troublesome Times At London likewise was it that the Lords consulted together for the ordering the Land in the King's Absence which after the late ill Governour had been discarded and after an Oath of Fideliâ—y to the absent Prince was put into another's Hands When King Richard was delivered as soon as he landed at Sandwich we find him coming straightway to London as the fittest Place it seems to receive him and assist him So accordingly we read of his Reception there with all Joy and Honour in so splendid a Pomp that the German Nobles present beholding it affirm'd That if the Emperour had known of such Riches in England he would not have dimiss'd the Ransom'd King under an Intolâ—erabâ—e Price A little afteâ— we hear of his riding thence with a convenient â—â—râ—ngth to recover the Places that stood out 〈◊〉 him After this by a Councel of Lords call'd at Winchester having deprived his Brother John of his Honours and Lands for his Rebellion he took care to have himself crown'd King of England anew As if the Force of his former Coronation was impaired by his Imprisonment or else he thought by this politick Shift to take off all Obligations that might haply lie on him for any thing done before As indeed we quickly after read of a Resumption of all Patents Annuities Fees and other Grants mâ—de before his Voyage But then it 's affirmed to be done by the Authority of a Parliament call'd after his Coronation After these Passages two State-Informers are â—oted to have riâ—en up promising the King great Matters the Scenes of whose chief Acts were either laid or to have been laid at London One of them the Abbot of Cadonence warning the King of the Fraud of his Officers by vertue of a Warrant from him called divers Officers before him at London to yield to him their Accounts This Place was made choice of by him as the fittest it seems wherein to ingratiate himself with the common People by â—o plausible an Act as bringing offending Officers to conâ—igne Punishment But Death soon cut him off and so put an end to all his Designs The other Informer call'ed William with the Long Beard reported to be born in London of a sharp Wit having shew'd the King of the Outrage of the Rich who as he said in publick Payments spar'd their own and piâ—led the Poor and being upheld by him became the Patron and Defender of poor Men's Causes and stirred up the common People to a desire and love of Freedom and Liberty by blaming Rich Men's Excess and Insolence Hereupon he was followed with such numbers of People that being called before the King's Councel upon suspicion of a Conspiracy the Lords were fain with good words to dismiss him for the present for fear of the Multitude attending him and commanded certain to seize on him in the Absence of his numerous Abettors But those thus commanded mistaking the time and so failing in their intended Design he escaped and took Sanctuary in St. Mary Bow Church where his Strength quickly grew so great by the Access of the Multitude that he was not easily taken hold of nor without shedding of Blood However being at last taken after that the Heads and Rulers of the City had diminish'â— the People he with other his Adherents waâ— arraign'd before the Judges cast condemn'd anâ— hang'd very shortly after even the following daâ— saith the Chronicle so desirous were the rich anâ— great Men to have him out of the way as sooâ— as they could But as his Plea of Freedom was â—â— acceptable to the Commons in his Life-time thâ—â— he became a Terror to the Great so after 〈◊〉 Death he ceased not for a while to be a Dread 〈◊〉 many by reason of a Rumour raised and banded about among the Commons of his Innocencâ— and favourably received of the People even to 〈◊〉 approving of him as an holy Man and Martyr anâ— making Pilgrimages to the Place of his Execution to the no small trouble of those that had a hanâ— in his Death At last the Flame of this Devâ—tion was somewhat cool'd by the
Publishing somâ— Acts of his with other detestable Crimes laid tâ— his Charge whether true or false let them looâ— to it who industriously spread them abroad Yâ—â— it was not quite put out till the Arch-Bishop â—â— Canterbury upon whom among others a greâ—â— Crime was rais'd for procuring his Death haâ— accursed the Priest this William's Kinsman 〈◊〉 had openly divulged the Vertue the Chain wheâ—â—with William was bound in the time of his Imprâ—sonment had upon a Man sick of the Feaver This Instance sufficiently proves that the namâ— of Liberty sounds sweet and that such as prâ—mise to procure it shall have Admirers and Foâ—lowers enough But that also the Favour of thâ— Multitude is deceitful and for a Man to put 〈◊〉 his â—â—at to the People many times is the occasioâ— of losing his Head is evidently manifested by thâ— very same Example How small an Occasion is iâ— that sometimes raises a Man's Fame Yet you here find as petty small Matters soon likewise depress it That is no lasting Name that depends meerly upon Vulgar Breath To Defend the Poor and Needy and protect the Oppressed is a plausible Plea Yet it shall go hard but the Rich Oppressor will find one way or other to ruine that Man in his Goods and good Name if not as to his Life who undertakes so noble a Defence As this King Richard under whose Reign these two Informers rose up was Couragious and Valiant in his Life so a little before his Death an Act of his Magnanimity and Christian Forbearance was shewed by him in his freely forgiving and remitting the Person then in his Power that occasioned his Death after that he heard from the other's Confession that in that Deed he intended to avenge the Death of his Father and Brethren before slain by the King But yet the Man scaped not with his Life though forgiven by King Richard if that be true which is said of the Duke of Brabant that he after caused him to be taken flead quick and hanged After Richard's Decease his Brother John being then in Normandy seizes upon his Treasure and not long after procures himself to be crown'd King at Westminster though in prejudice to the Title of an Elder Brother's Son Whereto his Mother Eleanor is thought to have contributed not a little being possibly desirous rather to set the Crown upon her Son's Head under whom she might hope to have a greater Share in the Government than she could reasonably expect under her Grand-child then within Age where her Daughter-in-law the other 's Mother was likely to bear the greatest sway So that the ambitious Desire of Rule is not incident only to Men but invadâ— even the Hearts of the Female Sex Here thâ— Mother's Ambition raises up her Younger Son even to the Prejudice of her Eldest Son's Heir Though Women be born subject to Men yet it â—â— in a manner connatural to them to desire the Power of commanding them at their own will and pleasure Shew me the Land where the Scepter hatâ— not often bowed to the Dâ—staff and the Princâ— Power together with his heart been subject to â— câ—pricious Womans Humour When they creep in to Mens Hearts and lye in their Bosoms it is 〈◊〉 wonder that they dive into their Secrets and swaâ— their Councels So that the Affairs of the State often turn upon the Hinges of an Imperious Woman'â— Will. Under even the most Absolute Despotical Government of the Turks the Ottoman Power manâ— times lies in a Womans Breast and the Sultanaâ—â— do not seldome over-rule the Consults of the Divan Of which let the Ambitious Roxolana sometime Empress to Solyman the Magnificent sufficâ— for an Inâ—tance But what need we go so far when as neareâ— home our own Ears if not our Eyes may serve for Witnesses of this Truth Yet to the Glory oâ— England be it spoken this Land flourished in sucâ— Peace and Prosperity even to a Miracle undeâ— Queen Elizabeth and the Tranquility of her Reigâ— hath so Honourably Consecrated her Memory iâ— Fame's Temple that few of our English Monarchs ever equal'd her none that I know of all those who went off the Throne surpassed her The Happiness indeed of her Reign may possibly be imputed much to the Wisdom of her Conduct in suffering the Affairs of the Nation to be guided by thâ— Councels of Men Whereas under some of ouâ— Kings our Governours have had such a deal of Chamber-practice that the State hath been much â—t the Guidance of Women or else of such Effeâ—inate Persons as were quite degenerated from â—he Spirits and Courage of their Ancestors as â—ho by their Immoralities Luxury and Debauâ—heries had little left in them of Heroick and Masculine and were scarce fit for any thing else â—ut to be dub'd Knights of the Carpet But what ever was the Title and Means we â—nd John got into the Throne and by the aid â—e obtained of his Lords and Commons before â—â—e End of the Year to recover what was lost â— Normandy we may conclude it was not withâ—ut their Consents From Stow's Relation 't is â—â—ain enough that he was Elected at London â—fter that Hubert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had â—ade a Speech to that purport in the Presence â—f the Bishops Earls Barons and Others They 〈◊〉 may be preferring him a Man of Courage â—nd Spirit and so fitter to rule and govern the â—ealm before the Title of young Arthur then 〈◊〉 his Non-age though of the Elder House For seldom 't is that unusual Changes happen â—ithout some previous Preparatives to make way â—â—r them And if a Nation hath once fixt upon a â—ule to guide the Succession they do not presentâ—â— vary from it but upon urgent Occasion So find â—e in Kingdoms meerly and properly Elective â—â—ey commonly chuse the next Heir of the Blood 〈◊〉 less upon the Interposition of some notable Imâ—â—diment In Sweden that War-like Nation amidst the â—â—eatest Success of their Arms submitted themâ—â—â—ves to Gustavus Adolphus's Heir though a Child â—â—d of the Female Sex and when she grew up to Womans Estate they would willingly have coâ—tinued her their Queen would she but have Marâ—â—ed according to their Desires When that great Change happened in Denmâ—â—â— of late Years which turned it from an Elective 〈◊〉 an Hâ—redâ—tary Kingdom we may have heard it wâ—â— effected by the Policy of the present King whâ— made use of the Distractions of the Nation thâ—â— almost conquered by the Sweeds and that Scaâ—â—ing of Fame he had got by defending his Capitâ—â— City against their furious Assaults to encline thâ— pâ—â—ty Remainder of his Subjects to give way â—â— such an universal Change in the Constitution 〈◊〉 their Government So that whatever Towns or Câ—ties were afterwards reduced they must be coâ—tent to yield to the new-made Law as the establisâ—ed Decree of the Nation A hard thing it migâ—â— possibly appear to such who had no hand in thâ— making of that Ordinance and it may be woulâ— not very readily have given their
at 24 â— â— Quarter Scarcity of Corn in those days made this a considerable summ Dâ—arer we are told it would have been had not some been brought out of another Counâ—ry which made People flock to the City because 't was â—heaper there than in many Shires of England This is the year wherein the K. kept his high Court â—f Parliament at Oxford which of some Writers is named the mad Parliament because of many Acts there madâ— for Reformation of the State the prosecution of which prov'd in event the death and destruction of many Nobâ—â— Men by means of that famed strife then begun anâ— called at this day the Barons War True the accidental Consequences proved fatal to many But if unfortunate broils give to any Laws the denomination of evil I know not but in time some may grow so presumptuously bold as upon the like account prophanely to branâ— even the Christian Religion which we have been assured at first from the divine Oracles should prove thâ— occasion of much strife in the world and the Experience of these latter times confirm it plain enough to our Understandings Whether the forementioned Parliamenâ— justly and really deserves the opprobrious Title thâ—â— some have given it I shall very willingly submit to the Judgment of any experienc'd Reader who hath throughly perused weighed and considered the Equity Justice and reasonableness of the English Liberties and Priviledges contained in the grand Charter sealed and given to the Nation by K. John Father to this Hen. 3 d which was confirmed in this very same Oxford Parliament according to Matthew Paris as the chief thing then desired and insisted on by the Nobles and whereon were likewise grounded the other Acts and Ordinances then and there made by the King and his Lords For that the King his Brethren the Noblemen and Bâ—rons took their Oaths to see the same observed I appeal to Stow's Annals for proof That these Acts might be kept firm and stable we read of 12 Peers then chosen to whom Authority was given to correct all such as offended in breaking of these Ordinances and others by the said Peers to be devised and ordered touching and concerning the same matter and purpose It was not long after the end of this Parliament before strife and variance began to kindle between the King and the Earls of Leicester and Glocester by reason of such Officers as the Earls had removed and put others in their room Amongst which John Mansell of whom enough is mentioned above was discharged of his Office and Sir Hugh Bygot admitted for him Upon occasion of this difference beginning to arise between the King and his Barons we meet with an eminent Instance of the City's Power and esteem for when the Peers heard of the murmur at Court fearing that the King would be advised to alter his Promise to make their party the stronger they are said to have come about Maudlintide to the Guild-Hall at London where the Mayor Aldermen and Commonalty of the City were assembled to whom they shewed an Instrument or Writing at which hung many Labels with Seals as the King's Seal Edward his Son's Seal with many others of the Nobles of the Land wherein were contained the Articles ordained and made at Oxford willing as saith the Book the Mayor and Aldermen considering the said Acts were made to the Honour of God Fidelity to the King and profit of the Realm that they would also in upholding of the same set their common Seal of the City thereto After this Request the Mayor and Citizens at first indeed desired to be excused till they knew the Kings Pleasure but no excuse at that time being to be granted at last by the labour of the Lords and such solicitors as they had within the City the common Seal was put to the forementioned Writing and the Mayor with divers of the City sworn to maintain the same their Allegiance saved to the King with preservation of their Liberties and Franchises After this obtain'd we find the 12 Peers assembling day by day as if now they feared no colours the City being on their side and valued no ones Threats keeping their Councils and Courts for the Reformation of old grievances removing from the King divers of his Menial Servants and setting others in their places and moreover a Proclamation comes forth that none of the Kings Takers should take any thing within the City without the owners will except a small customary matter therein excepted upon which what the Kings Officers took was straight paid for within the City and Liberty of the same and so continued to be for a while Can any one then desire a better proof of the City's repute in those days Yet within few years following we shall meet with more Instances of her power in the History In the 42d year Sir Hugh Bygot with Rogâ—â— Turkelay and others kept his Court at St. Saviours and held there the Itinerary Pleas to the sore punishment â—â— many convicted offending Officers Though this Hugh Bygot was put in by the Peers to reform as may be supposed old grievances yet power seems to have made him also go astray or else corruption or to colloguâ— with another party Whereof the City in General waâ— like to have tasted deeply could he have had his Will some of the particular Citizens scaped him not for hâ— summoned the Citizens to the aforesaid Court for Toll taken on the further side of the Water And though it was answered that they were taken lawfully and they were ready to prove it in places and Court convenienâ— within the Precinct of their Liberty Yet notwithstanding he charged upon Inquest 12 Knights of Surry to enquire thereof who acquitted the Citizens and sheweâ— that the said Toll belonged to them of Right Afterwards coming to Guild-Hall he kept his Court anâ— Pleas there according to my Author without all order of Law and contrary to the Liberties of the City inflâ—cting new punishments on the Bakers and ordered many things at his Will This year the Citizens had opportunity of shewing their Respect to the Kings Brother Ricbard Earl â—â— Cornwall coming over from beyond Sea where he had been dealing in the affairs of the Empire unto London where he was joyfully received the City being richly hang'd with Silk and Arras In the 43d year John Gysours being Mayor and John Adrian and Robert Cornhill Sheriffs Fryday after Simon and Jude's day we hear of the reading in the Parliament kept at Westminster in presence of all the Lords and Commonalty at sundry times of all the Acts and Ordinances made at Oxford with other Articles added by the Peers After which reading we find all those very solemnly accursed that attempted in word or deed to break the said Acts or any of them The Form of the Curse which was most solemnly denounced against the Violaters and Infringers of Magna Charta is to be seen in Matthew of Paris and this here intimated was in probability
the City Market and have it two Pence in a Quarter within the Mayors Price and other Victuals after the â—ame rate And if he or any of his Officers would 〈◊〉 contrary to that Ordinance that then the Sheriffs â—hould make report to the Kings Council and withâ—â—and him in all that they might so that the King's â—eace were kept Here was Authority given to act â—gainst some commissionated by the King What folâ—y is it for every mean petty Officer to think to thwart â—â—is powerful City and hope to be too hard for her Citizens when their Liberties Priviledges and Franchises 〈◊〉 concerned This year silent murmurs passed up and down thâ— Land of War that was too too likely to ensue bâ—tween the King and his Lords in short process of time for the Bull of Dispensation before shewed in 〈◊〉 Realm But the mediation of good and wise men appeased and stilled those Emotions for a while that 〈◊〉 King agreed again to the maintenance of the aforesâ—â—â— Statutes and sent his Writs wherein the said Articlâ— were comprised into all the Shires of England givinâ— strict Commandment to all men to observe and keâ—â— the same and such other as were to them joined 〈◊〉 the discretion of some appointed to that end 〈◊〉 this again was shortly after revoked and denieâ— What Change in Councils what Uncertainty 〈◊〉 Fickleness of Mind was this Give and grant anâ— then recal What could be thought the end of 〈◊〉 variableness but Strife and Contention Hereupoâ— the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury a Star in that coâ—juncture of the first Magnitude in the English Firmâ—ment proves erratick For fearing what might eâ—sue like a cunning subtle worldly Politician 〈◊〉 makes an Errand to Rome and by License of boâ—â— Parties departs the Land and so keeps himself out 〈◊〉 the trouble was over He had been a main Instrument a few years ago in Cursing the Breakers of thâ— aforementioned Acts. Should he have sided with thâ— Kings Party he had openly contradicted his formeâ— Actions and in effect declared all his so solemn Cursâ—â— to signifie nought Had he sided with the Barons 〈◊〉 must have shewn himself an Assenter to their deeâ— partaken of all the Changes and Chances of War 〈◊〉 publickly slighted and contemned the Popes Dispensâ—â—tion A crime in those days of very dangerous Consequence to the offending Party Upon Midlent Sundâ—â— the Mayor and Commons being present at a Folk-Moâ—â— held at Paul's Cross before Sir Philip Basset and otheâ— of the Kings Council the Mayor was sworn to be â—rue to the King and his Heirs Kings Upon the morâ—ow at Guild-Hall every Alderman is said to have taken the same Oath in presence of the Mayor And so likewise upon the Sunday following we read that every Stripling of the Age of 12 Years and above was aâ—ew charged with the same Oath before his Alderman in his Ward Then according to my Author the Displeasure between the King and his Barons which a long while â—â—d been kept secret began to appear insomuch that diverse of them assembled in the Marches of Wales gathered unto them strong Power and sent a Letter â—nto the King under the Seal of Sir Roger Clyfford â—eseeching him to have in remembrance the Oath and manifold Promises that he had made for the observâ—ng of the Statutes made at Oxford with other Ordinances made to the Honour of God for Faith and Alâ—egiance to his Person Weal and Profit of all his Realm willing him further to withstand and defie all â—uch Persons as will be against the said Acts saving â—he Queen and her Children After this Letter thus â—ent and no Answer received we read of the said Baâ—ons going with Banners displayed against such as they â—new held against the Acts so often before mentioned The effect of their Fury at Hereford the Bishop and â—any of his Canons Aliens born soon felt to their great cost and damage Hence we hear of their going to other places where they supposed to find their Eneâ—ies keeping their course towards London this was the place it seems they desired so much to fix to â—heir Party bearing before them a Banner of the Kings Arms and encreasing with the access of much People as they held on in their Journey In this March as they found any that they knew to be against â—he Maintenance of the aforesaid Acts they imprisoned them and spoiled their Habitations were they Spiâ—â—tual or Temporal Men all the case to them at thâ— time In divers of the King's Castles they set in 〈◊〉 Persons as they pleased putting out such as were plâ—ced in by the King and gave to them an Oath thâ— they should be true and faithful to the King 〈◊〉 keep those Castles to his Use and to the Weal of 〈◊〉 Realm Here they seem to have outdid the Courtiâ—â— in their own way The Mayor Aldermen and â—thers of London were made of late to renew thâ— Oaths of Allegiance to the King and his Heirs as if 〈◊〉 weaken the Barons Party by a crafty sly insinuatiâ—â— that they went about to deprive the King and 〈◊〉 Heirs of their Right But as for those suggestions 〈◊〉 hold the Barons disappointing them by giving 〈◊〉 like Oaths to these of their own Party put into 〈◊〉 of publick Trust and thereby in effect declaring 〈◊〉 't was not against the King but against the ill Ministâ—â— of State about him whom they deemed the Authâ—â— of iil Advice that they thus took up Arms either 〈◊〉 remove them or deliver the King out of such 〈◊〉 mens hands About Midsummer when they drew near to Londâ—â— the Chronicle tells us that they sent a Letter unto 〈◊〉 Mayor and Aldermen under the Seal of Sir 〈◊〉 Mountfold willing to know of them whether thâ— would observe the Acts and Statutes made in the Pâ—â—liament called at Oxford or not or else would aid 〈◊〉 assist such persons as intended the breach of the saâ—â— and sent to them a Copy of the said Acts with a Pâ—â—viso that if any there specified were to the hurt of 〈◊〉 Realm or common-Weal of the same that they thâ— by discreet Persons of the Land should be altered 〈◊〉 amended See here the Influence the City had upâ—â— the Land the esteem the Barons had of London's 〈◊〉 and Authority and how desirous they were to 〈◊〉 it to their side and Interest The forementioned Copy was by the Mayor carried to the King then being at the Tower accompanied with his Queen his Brother Richard Edward his Son and others of his Council Then the King intending to know the Cities Mind asked the Mayor what he thought of those Acts and Ordinances who being refused time and leave to conâ—â—er with his Brethren the Aldermen and his Judgment demanded at that present season stands upon Record to have boldly answered the King that before-times he with his Brethren and the Commonalty of the City by his Commandment had been sworn to maintain all Acts made to the Honour of God to the Faith of the King
to have been there kept and that the King and his Lords parted thence all at Discord Besides the mutual Strength of People on either side The Barons had the Acts of Parliament made by the King Lords and Commons for of such I have elsewhere read these Assemblies were composed in those days to fight for which to observe the King and many others had been sworn besides a solemn Curse denounced against the Attempters to break them The King with his Party had the Popes Bull of Absolution the Sentence of the Council of Lords at Westminster and the Judgment given on the Kings side by Lewis the French King for their Incitement Such then being the cause contended for these being the mutual advantages to strengthen either side the difference is brought in the Spring into the Field to be decided All things in a manner thus tending to War the Barons drew towards London that 's their Place of Rendezvous where new Assurances by Writing indented was made between them and the Commonalty of the City without Consent of many of the Rulers thereof Whether they were swayed in their minds to the other side by Reasons they carried in their Pockets I find not or thinking they had most to lose they feared to be the greatest Sufferers if the chance of War should fall cross or else out of Envy and Emulation to the Commons who had already been entrusted with so much Power by the so often named Statutes and were in probability likely to get more if the Barons should prevail or at least keep what they had gotten Hence 't is plain that the Commons of the City were the men that stood by the Lords in defence of the Parliament Acts Many of the Rulers seem not to have appeared Wherefore the Commons as men enraged made to themselves Two Captains Thomas de Pywelden and Stephen Bukkerel whom they named Constables of the City At whose Commandment by tolling the great Bell of St. Pauls all the City should be ready in Arms to give Attendance upon the said Captains About the beginning of Lent the Constable of the Tower Sir Hugh Le Spencer came with a fair Company of men at Arms into the City and desired Assistance of the forenamed Constables who commanded the said Bell to be toll'd By means whereof the People shut their Shops and came out in Arms in great Multitudes who after Proclamation made that they should follow their Captains without knowledge what to do or whither to go followed them unto Thystleworth beyond Westminster and there spoiled the Manour of the King of the Romans Richard the King's Brother setting it on Fire and afterwards with great noise and cry returned unto London This Richard King of the Romans appears to have been a Mediator of Peace between the Two Parties but after this outrage what else could be expected but that he should become the Barons Enemy to the utmost of his Power Though 't is commonly seen that from War most come home by Weeping Cross yet there are still too too many found that desire to fish in troubled Waters Would any but such as were in Love with Blood and Wounds have counselled such a Fact as this in the midst of Civil broils thus to compel the only Mediator of Peace likely to prevail to become a man of War and which was worse an Enemy a powerful Enemy instead of a peaceable Friend In the time of these intestine Jarrs between Men of the same Country and Religion 't was much if the Jews should have escaped free who were strangers of different Rites and Customs and so odious to the Common People That they did not escape the enraged Multitudes Fury we find by mention made of Five Hundred of them said to be slain at one time in London on Palmsunday week The occasion is related to be for that a Jew would have forced a Christian to have given him more than Two Pence a Week for the use of Twenty Shillings This being the stinted Usury then permitted the Jews by the King's Grant According to which rate they might take iâ— any Summ lent greater or lesser A reasonable man would have thought this might have satisfied the greedy Minds of most ordinary griping Extortioners Eight Shillings Eight Pence by the Year in the Pound Forty three Pounds Six Shillings Eight Pence in the Hundred Usury unconscionable enough of any sense While the Land stood thus divided into Parties the Jews felt the Peoples rage in the City and the Country did not altogether scape tasting the miseries of Civil Wars King Henry by divers places came at length into Sussex with a strong Power whereof the Lords hearing made preparation to go towards him Accordingly in the end of April the Barons with many of the Citizens in the vaward departed from London taking their Journey towards the King and hearing he was at Lewes with a great power by common consent drawing up a Letter sent it in the name of all the Barons to the King But the Answers were so rough and in such a stile that it plainly shewed that the Sword could be the only decider of the Quarrel and final determiner of the Contest so much were their Minds exasperated each towards other though of the same Nation and Kindred The Barons well perceiving by these Answers that there was no other way but to decide the Quarrel by dint of Sword they went forward towards the King Wednesday May the 24th 1263. is the day that may be writ in Red Letters for the great quantity of Blood spilt thereon in the Battle fought at Lewes between the King and his Barons wherein by the Will of Providence the Victory sell to the Barons with such a total rout to the other Party that they took Prisoners the King his Brother his Son with many other Noble-Men to the number of Twenty five Barons and Banerets above Twenty Thousand being slain according to my Author's Account After this so compleat a Victory the other Prisoners being sent elsewhere the Barons kept the King his Brother and Son till they came to London This was the place wherein they had found Shelter and had had such considerable Assistance from the Londoners that there seemed a kind of Obligation lying on them and it implied somwhat of a Recompence due to the City there to shew the Trophies of their Victory Now we may easily conclude that the forenamed Statutes are to stand in full force even by the Kings Consent And so acccordingly we find a Grant made and an Agreement that if any were thought unreasonable they were to be corrected and amended by four Noble Men of the Realm Two of the Spiritualty and Two of the Temporalty And if the four accorded not the Earl of Anjou and the Duke of Brittain were to be Judges in the case To continue this accord the firmer the King's Son and his Brother were to remain the Barons Prisoners till it was compleated A Parliament was also appointed to be
the Citizens the pledges in the 〈◊〉 of London and the Four last mention'd to be 〈◊〉 in the Tower of Windsor were deliver'd The 〈◊〉 renam'd Stewards were also discharged and the 〈◊〉 chose of themselves for Mayor William Fiz 〈◊〉 and for Sheriffs Thomas de la Founde and Gregoâ—â— de Rokisâ—y as Fabiâ—n acquaints us For Levying of 〈◊〉 foresaid Fine were set as well Servants and Coveâ—â—nt-men as Housholders and many refus'd the Liberties of the City to be quit of that charge 〈◊〉 which we may give some part of a guess at the 〈◊〉 of the fine what a considerable summ◠〈…〉 marks was in those days before the â—â—dies were 〈◊〉 into Europe some hundreds of years This controversy with London being thus 〈◊〉 towards an end the King had leasure to mind 〈◊〉 suppressing the remains of the Baron's Party 〈◊〉 de Mountford upon certain conditions was 〈…〉 be at large in the Kings Court and so 〈◊〉 a Season But when the King was come to London suddenly departed to Winchelsea where he accompâ—nied with the Rovers of the Sea till after some 〈◊〉 taken he departed from them into France and 〈◊〉 himself into the Service of the French King So 〈◊〉 an end of the Potent Earl of Leycester's Family in Eâ—â—land This Powerful Earl bid fair for the Rule of 〈◊〉 whole Kingdom but had he reviv'd the Battail◠〈◊〉 a Conqueror how much further he 〈◊〉 have gone I may think but not positively 〈◊〉 mine Another Act of the Kings this year in order to 〈◊〉 total rooting out of the Barons remains was his â—â—ing a Seige to Kenelworth-Castle with a mighty 〈◊〉 but this prov'd a task not quickly at an end Now 〈◊〉 time comes to revenge old slights and neglects 〈◊〉 sides Strangers prepar'd to come over into Englâ—â—â— the Queen had also purchas'd a curse of the 〈◊〉 a womans aid to accurse all the Barons their 〈◊〉 and helpers Commissions were directed to 〈◊〉 Bishops of England to execute but they for fear 〈◊〉 the Barons are said to have deny'd and deferred 〈◊〉 Execution and Sentence of the said curse Wherefoâ—â— she made new labour to the Pope and had it granâ—â—â— that the said Bishops should be corrected for their diâ—â—bedience Whereupon Octobon the Pope's Legate 〈◊〉 Councel by him and the Clergy held this year at Paul's â—â—ch in London suspended those Bishops and sent 〈◊〉 to Rome to be absolv'd of the Pope A pretty 〈◊〉 to go nine Miles with Waltham's calf to Suck a 〈◊〉 In the 50th year about Christmas was Kenelworth 〈◊〉 yielded after near half a years Siege upon 〈◊〉 of life Limb Horse Armes and all things 〈◊〉 in the Castle to the defendants belonging and 〈◊〉 to carry them away and not to be disinherited 〈◊〉 is it any wonder that they had such 〈◊〉 granted them if that be true which Stow relates 〈◊〉 that at the King 's coming to besiege the Castle 〈◊〉 force was so great and those in the Castle so 〈◊〉 daunted at their Enemyes presence that they 〈◊〉 â—pen their Gates and never closed them day no◠〈◊〉 and come whoso would they came to their 〈◊〉 Thus you see the King found it no easy matter 〈◊〉 to suppress the remainders though he had 〈◊〉 power'd the heads of the Baron's party About 〈◊〉 were the Wardens of the five Ports reconcil'd to 〈◊〉 King by favour of Edward the King's Son Observe 〈◊〉 by the way his policy In his Father's time he 〈◊〉 to crush that power which might have 〈◊〉 him in his own Reign and having pretty well 〈◊〉 it he after seems a pretender to Popularity 〈◊〉 mediating with his Father in behalf of many that â—ddressed themselves to him for reconciliation It much â—ails to apply our selves to a fit Intercessor So have known a Stepmother when requested prevail with 〈◊〉 Father her Husband in her Son in Law 's behalf 〈◊〉 he himself could not The Conditions of this reconciliation of the Barons â—â—que Ports are not unworthy of the remark We 〈◊〉 that in Anno. 47. these Wardens of the five Ports 〈◊〉 the Sea with Ships that no Strangers should enter the Land to the King's Aid In 48 we are told 〈◊〉 they rob'd and spoild all men that they might 〈◊〉 sparing neither English Merchants nor others 〈◊〉 which preys as the Common Fame-went the 〈◊〉 of the Land had a good part In 49. we find 〈◊〉 Londoners alledging for themselves in mitigation 〈◊〉 the great Fine required of them that they had 〈◊〉 great part of their Substance by the Rovers of 〈◊〉 Sea among whom are named the Wardens of 〈◊〉 Cinque Ports And yet notwithstanding all these 〈◊〉 Harms done they are Recorded to have had all 〈◊〉 former Priviledges confirmed to them and 〈◊〉 was Granted That if any English-man or 〈◊〉 would Sue for Restitution of Goods by them 〈◊〉 taken or for the Death of any of their Friends â—â—fore Slain that all such Complaints should 〈◊〉 Sued in their Courts there to have their 〈◊〉 determin'd and not elsewhere What greaâ— Assurance could these Barons desire for their own â—â—curity They might well promise themselves impâ—nity when they were in such fair probability to 〈◊〉 their own Judges in their own Cause unless we 〈◊〉 suppose Juries were to be chosen elsewhere 〈◊〉 we might in good reason that the King would 〈◊〉 to such Terms of Accomodation had we it not upâ—â— Record that the common Fame at that Day ran 〈◊〉 the said Wardens of the Five Ports had then the Dâ—minion of the Sea Whereupon the King was after sort compell'd to follow their Pleasures When Man is to take an unpleasant Potion after he 〈◊〉 drunk up the greatest part thereof it not rarely haâ—pens that the Remains in the bottom are harder 〈◊〉 get down than was all the rest About the Feast of Philip and Jacob we hear of 〈◊〉 King's holding a Parliament at Northampton◠〈◊〉 which were confirm'd the old Franchises and Libertâ—â—â— by the King's Progenitors before Granted in the City â—f London with a new Grant for the Shire of Midâ—lesex 'T is good to make things as sure as we 〈…〉 this Parliament were likewise disinherited many Noble-men of the Land who before-time had taken the Barons Party For which cause they accompaâ—â—ed together Robbed in divers parts of the Land â—ook Lincoln and spoil'd it and after Ransomed many of the Rich Burgesses of the Town And taking the â—sle of Ely so strengthened it that they held it long 〈◊〉 Anno 51 At the choosing of the Mayor of London â— Controversie arose between the Rulers and Comâ—ons of the City Wherefore by advice of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen Sir Roger Leyborn a Courtier plain enough by his Actions related before with others â—ame to Guild-hall being Armed under their Gowns â—nd upon Fryday following Alhallon day called the Commons to the Election of the new Mayor How â—â—ee was this Election likely to be whither men came â—ecretly Armed to assist their Party Fabian tells us â—hat the best of
deluded though besides the affections and contrary to the inclination of the rest of the Nation could he but have prevailed upon the Londoners by threats or fair words to have sided with him But their opposition quite spoil'd the Game and kept the Duke off the Cushion a Duke stil so Tryumphant were they in Power Prudence and Loyalty Wherefore to satisfie his restless reven geful Spirit the Duke ceas'd not till he had got the old Major put out and a new one Elected the Aldermen depos'd and others set in their places So little did their late Complicance and humble Procession avail them while the Commonalty remain stiff firm and unshaken as well by the Dukes power and greatness as by his Threats and Menaces He had gain'd a great Ascendent over the weak Kings affections but yet for all that could not sway this Honourable City to his Interests and the Interest of his then prevalent Faction at Court The Citizens Loyalty is plainly shewn beyond denial in Couragiously adhering to the Juster claim and Title of the abus'd Nephew and preferring his Birthright before the Pretensions of his Uncle who Ruling the King and those about him thought also to have over-rul'd the City too Their Prudence is manifest in that they wisely chose to yield many things to the times for peace sake but when neck and all was in danger they would not budg a foot nor stir one step further to humour all the Dukes in Kent or Christendom Neither is their power less conspicuous who not only dar'd but did oppose this high minded Duke in the Days of his Visible Grandeur and prov'd a match by far too hard for him For in a short time comes the News of the Old Kings â—â—ing at the point of Death and presently we have the Londoners sending the chiefest and worthiest of their Citizens to the young Prince and his Mother then Resident not far from the City declaring their ready minds and good wills to accept him for their true and Lawful King upon â—is Grand-Fathers Decease beseeching him on the behalf of the Citizens and City of London that he would have the City Recommended to his good Grace submitting themselves only to â—is Rule and bowing to his Will and Pleasure â—nder his Dominion to serve in Word and Deed as being known to be so much at his Devotion as not only ready to spend their Goods and Eâ—â—ates for his sake but also to jeopard their lives â—n his behalf as Stow expresses it in John Philâ—â—ts Oration in the beginning of the life and Reign of King Richard the second who was thus â—o undeniably setled in the Throne of his Fore-â—athers by the Cities apparent interest and viâ—ible influence upon the Councels of the Nation in that great turn and change of affairs The Cities power seems plainly demonstrated give me therefore leave to bring one instance more of their wisdom caution and prudence in these dangerous because unsetled times before I pass â—n to other particulars The young King being â—hus entred upon the Government it was thought good by the King or those about him to have â—ome care taken to accommodate former differences especially such as had hapned between this potent Duke and the more powerful City Wherefore several persons of Eminency were speedily sent to London to salute the Citizens in the new King's name and acquaint them how the Duke in all things had submitted himself to the Kings will 't was time for 't is certain he had lost the day though not perhaps his high-tow'ring Ambition and that they should do so in like manner and then the King would endeavour a Reconciliation to the City's honour and advantage Fair words and large promises But the worthy Citizens were not Birds to be caught with chaff much less to be hamper'd in a Noose of their own making They were for no Resignations it seems at Discretion though to the dearest Friend alive They knew the King to be but young and weak to help them in such a troublesome business if they should so heedlesly desert their own Cause and put the staff out of their own hands by their own Consent They had enemies enough still they might think at Court as long as the Duke was there and his flattering favourites who might possibly over-rule at least if not over-aw the King to their prejudice should they render all they had at pleasure into his hand by their own voluntary Act and Deed when as they knew themselves well able to defend their liberties and properties in a legal way without hazarding them upon so intire a submission as was required without Reserve Wherefore upon consultation this Medium was at length found out that if the noble persons sent to them with that message would be bound to the Citizens that their submission should not redound to the temporal loss or bodily harm of any Citizen or prejudice of their City they would gladly obey the King's Commandment This those eminent persons of quality undertook by Oath and upon their Knighthood And so upon this surety away go the Citizens to Court and being soon brought before the King besought him as the Annalist words it to reform the peace betwixt the Duke and them affirming that they were ready in all things to submit themselves unto his will and pleasure not as though they confessed they had made any fault against the Duke consider this but as men that came at this time for the benefit of peace and honour as well to the King as the Duke to pacifie the hearts and mitigate the pleasure of both That this was their intent is evident enough from their own request before made to the King that he would vouchsafe to make a good and profitable end of this discord For that they fear'd not the Duke is most certain from the precedent passages and that they were all of a suddain fallen deeply in love with him and his party I can hardly believe No no They love the Nephew too well to dote upon the Uncle and may they always be so minded upon a good account The Citizens having thus prudently though we see not without great caution referr'd themselves to the King the Duke readily accepted of this form of peace as not hoping possibly for such an other opportunity nor expecting so honourable Conditions a second time if refus'd the first and upon his knees became Intercessor to the King to take the cause in hand under the form by the Londoners expressed and so a Reconciliation was made between these two contesting Parties the Duke with an Oath promising them his friendship for the future and in token thereof bestowing a kiss of peace upon each of them before the King at the same time Whereupon the Citizens return'd home with joy and gladness rejoycing that the Duke was brought to such humility who a little before had in great Pride demanded of them for his favour an hundred Hogsheads of Wine and an infinite number of precious
in this Case be by the advice and discretion of the Justices thereto assigned To mitigate it doubtless not inhance it at pleasure to ruin particular persons and annihilate the City's Liberties by pretending the loss of her Charter How respectful King Lords and Commons in Parliament assembl'd shew'd themselves to this honourable City hath been sufficiently declar'd prov'd and made manifest I presume already in the foregoing Relation Let us now call off our Meditations from this particular point and fix our thoughts upon an other Argument highly demonstrative of the City's power drawn from no less uncouth a Topick than tumults and disorders insurrections and Outrages of unruly people There having pass'd an Act of Parliament in the fourth of this King to impower him to Collect and Gather Poll money throughout the Land and many exactions thereupon and incivilities being committed by the new Collectors and other Officers some of the Courtiers having procur'd the Kings Commissions for a review and a more exact Collection under the notion of the Kings being cheated and defrauded through the unfaithfulness of his former Tax gatherers the Commons thought themselves so abus'd and oppress'd that in many places they took Counsel together to make resistance and in several Counties assembled themselves in great numbers to the no small disturbance of the Land Amongst these the Commons of Kent and Essex are reckon'd the greatest bodies gathered together under such heads as Wat Tyler Jack Straw and the like obscure Fellows These we find quickly coming to London where they soon obtain entrance notwithstanding the Mayors intended opposition and then quickly carry all before them behead whom they thought good do what they would burn great mens Palaces at their Pleasure the Gates of the Tower are set open to them the King rides to 'm in fear unarm'd and ill guarded at their sending for and grants them as large Charters as they desired none of his Courtiers daring to oppose or resist their Insolencies so that they seem to have had all things for a small season under their sole Power Direction and Command as remaining Masters of the Field without a stroak stricken by any opposite Party such a terrour did their numbers and boldness strike into mens minds at the first and so effectual was their success in getting within the Walls of London either through the joynt assistance of many Commons there inhabiting or else rather under the repute of having the whole City at their beck But when the first brunt was over and it was visible that the greatest best and most of the Citizens joyn'd not with the Country Commons to approve or abet them in their furious outrages and violences the tide was soon turn'd and deliverance brought both to the King and Court by the courage of this Loyal City The Mayor himself as their Head made the first open beginning was seconded by his Brethren the Aldermen and quickly followed by the worthy Citizens He being a man of great boldness by the Kings permission first arrested and afterwards grievously wounded one of the chiefest of the Rebells Jack Straw saith Fabian Wat Tyler saith Stow to the great encouragement of those about the King among whom this Arch Rebel receiv'd his death and daunting of the Rebellious Commons to which valiant Deed the City is indebted for Walworths Dagger some say inserted upon this Account in her Coat of Arms. After this Act away rides the Mayor with one Servant only the Annalist tell us into the City and crying out to the Citizens to come speedily to the Kings assistance raises a considerable strength who well arm'd under the leading of Sir Robert Knowles came in good time into the Field where the King was among the tumultuous Commons not so well attended but that the unexpected coming of the Mayor and the armed Citizens is expresly said to have caus'd rejoycing in the minds of the King and those few Knights and Esquires then about him and the Issue acquaints us with the great consequence hereof when we read of the Commons throwing down their weapons immediately falling also themselves upon the ground and beseeching pardon who but a little before gloried that they had the Kings life in their own power and so possibly might have continued boasting had not the Citizens thus rous'd up themselves to the Kings relief and timely dispers't these seditious Rioters in the midst of their insulting Pride That this was a piece of Loyalty as well as valour most timely and seasonably shewn is evident from the great influence what was but barely done at London though without London's consent had upon the Countrey For from the Annalist we are given to understand that there were the like Insurrections in Suffolk and Norfolk and in express words told that these overthrew House and Mannors of great Men and of Lawyers slew the Students of the Law c. according to the manner of them at London having for their Captain an ungracious Priest nam'd John Wraw who had been at London just before had seen what was done there and came thence with Instructions from Wat Tyler So that what 's done in the City is very likely to be imitated in the Countrey A disorderly Rout of people were got together round about and within the City and committed many unsufferable Outrages and several parts of the Country were resolv'd to follow the Fashion and do the like The Citizens courage quel'd these Tumultuous Commons in London and then they were quickly suppress'd we hear in other Places Then had the King reason to reward the Mayor and several Aldermen with the honour of Knighthood and other recompences and time to assemble an Army of his Loyal Friends and Subjects at London to guard him till the Principals of these dispersed Rebels were brought to condign Punishment by Law which was quickly done thanks to the worthy Londoners who had thus vigorously asserted the Kings Right defended his Royalty rescued his Person and regained him the exercise of his Kingly Power well near lost before through the Rebellion of his meaner Commons and cowardly Faintheartedness of his Courtiers Men it seems that could speak big at the Council-board and talk high upon the Bench under the shelter of the Kings Authority but when they were to come into the Field of War to fight for their Prince they prov'd meer Courtiers all words and no deeds The Citizens were the Men of valour They lay still the King was like to be undone and the Court ruin'd They appear'd to oppose the vaunting Enemies they fled before them and the King regain'd his own This one famous City the terror of her Enemies the joy of her Friends cooperates in the grand turns and changes of affairs in the Brittish world or else such attempts for the most part at least if not always prove vain fruitless and insignificant And where 's the wonder of this The whole City as a compact Body with Strength and Beauty fitly united may well be
esteemed most amiable and counted highly powerful since she is to be admired for the goodness and greatness under which comprehend the large Riches Power and Spirit of particular Citizens incorporated into Her For the first let me instance in the commendable diligence of her Mayor Adam Baume who upon a very great scarcity of Corn in the fifteenth of this King providently took care to have Corn brought to Lâ—â—don from forreign Parts to the relief of the whole Realm and add hereunto the Charity of the Aldermen who for the furtherance of so good a Work laid out each of them a sum of mony in those days very considerable to the same purpose and bestow'd the Corn thus procur'd in convenient places where the Poor might buy at an appointed price and such as had no ready mony upon Surety to pay the year following besides the common Act of the Mayor and Citizens in taking two thousand Marks out of the Orphans Chest in Guildhall for the same intent In Proof of the later viz. The Greatness Riches Power and Spirit of particular Citizens I challenge all the Cities in the world besides to shew me such another Example as that of John Philpot Citizen of London the Citizens Orator to this King in the beginning of his Reign who in the second year observing the young Kings inability the Nobles neglect and the oppressions of the poor Commons voluntarily hir'd Souldiers with his own mony rig'd out a Fleet at his own charge and hazarded his own Person to defend the Realm from Pirates Robbers and incursions of Enemies and therewith successfully took in a little time Mercer the Scot with all his Ships which he had before violently taken from Scarborow and fifteen Spanish Ships besides laden with much Riches which came to his Aid Can Rome her self shew me a like Parallel As for the Fabij they were a whole Family among the Patricians and Crassus himself a great Magistrate in the heigth of that Common-wealths Grandeur amidst Equals and Inferiors whereas this publick-spirited Person liv'd still a Subject under a limited Monarchy none of the greatest nor the strongest then in the World This noble Act some would have thought should have deserved great praise and commendation and so it had among the Common People but among the great Lords and Earls it met with Reproach and Detraction as being a manifest reproof of their carelesness and negligence and he himself was endanger'd thereby they speaking openly against it as done unlawfully without the Councel of the King and his Realm though his design could not be denyed to have been very honest in the general Had he suffered for that unpresidented Act because it was deficient in some formalities required by Law the Statesmen of the times therein instrumental without all peradventure had appeared as odious in the Eyes of the Commons as some of the chief Episcopal Clergy-men in a Protestant Country within the Memory of Man would have made themselves obnoxious to the Peoples Censure should they have publickly burnt Vindiciae Pietatis i. e. a Vindication of Godliness from the imputation of folly and fancy which I have heard intimated as if thought of because it wanted such an Imprimatur as the Law demanded and was writ possibly by an Author not altogether Episcopal in his declared Judgment But to pass on If such were the superemient and supererogating Acts of particular Citizens so many Ages ago to what an height of Wealth Greatness and splendor must we needs think the City to have arriv'd at this day some Centuries of years since that time If ten thousand Pounds was a Mayors Estate heretofore we may give a shrew'd guess at the Cities advancement and encrease in Riches since now that the same is made the limited sum for the Citizens to swear themselves not worth who desire to avoid the chargeable Honour and Honourable charge of the Shrievalry Nay to go a step or two further now adays we find her Sheriffs Revenue commonly reputed at double the value and others of her Citizens thought able to number their thousands by scores What if I had also added that some are esteem'd so wealthy as not to know an end of their Riches Certainly such if any must needs come under the denomination of men vastly rich in worldly goods So that this glorious and Triumphant City seems in many things able to vy with if not out-vy the Quondam Mistress of the World Rome her self She exceeds her in Antiquity as being founded in Fabian's Compute above four hundred years before her and hath this advantage of her now that whereas Rome is confest and acknowledged to be in the wane of her power and Greatness both as to her Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority London still continues on the rising hand Rome 't is visible hath suffer'd a considerable diminution as to her former extent and Jurisdiction in both capacities whether she be lookt upon as once head of the world or now pretended head of the Church but London plainly appears to be dayly getting ground both in Fame and Reputation as well as building And whereto she may come in time belongs to a Prophet not an Historian to declare She is already become the Fam'd Metropolis of this our little World and Rome was but Empress in a greater Neither was she anear so influential over the greatest part of that how much soever thereof she had under her Dominion as London is known to be at present over all ours Having thus shewn the influence this Honourable City had upon the Commons of this Land in Peace and amidst tumultuous disorders and the great respect both King and Nobles in Conjunction had for her I should now proceed to disengage my self of an obligation I presume lying on me from part of a promise before made to declare the esteem the Lords when singly consider'd had of her strength and power But before I pass on more immediately thereto I crave leave to observe the great variety and difference in Parliamentary transactions and proceedings under this King within the compass of whose Reign we find but two years on Record viz the nineteenth and twenty second wherein there was not a Parliament called and assembled in one place or other by his Authority sometimes oftner and so those Acts of Edward the third were exactly kept for eighteen years running wherein it is ordained and established that a Parliament shall be holden once every year and more often if need be which being omitted but one year in twenty one and not observed in the twenty second we may easily think it prov'd fatal to the unfortunate King that in the next Parliament he should be depos'd by his own Subjects and the Crown set upon anothers head And is it any wonder to see things so injurious and unjust sometimes done in National Assemblies when in a vein of contradiction they make Ordinances so diametrically opposite each to other as was done in this Kings time For we find parties
in choosing their representatives Then were the Judges consulted Men as my Author writes learned chiefly in one point that is without considâ—ring Truth or Falshood to please those in high places who gave several extrajudicial opinions in favour of the Prerogative upon some Queries propounded to them by one of which viz. Whether the King might not at his pleasure dissolve the Parliament and command the Lords and Commons to depart we may guess what Exceptions and Resentments were taken against the Commons Request in the Second of this King before mentioned that the Parliament should not be dismist before a reasonable Answer was given to all their Petitions After this was my Lord Mayor of London required to give an account how many able men he could raise in the City who answered that he thought they could make fifty thousand men at an hours warning But when he went about it in good earnest the Citizens cried out they would never fight against the Kings Friends and the Defenders of the Realm Then were there endeavours privily to apprehend the opposing Lords singly by themselves but this design was disappointed and the Lords were quickly up in Arms to defend themselves When these devices would not hold water by the interposition of Mediators it was ordered that the Lords should come to Westminster to the King upon a day appointed them some Persons of Quality and Credit taking Oaths on the Kings part that no fraud or deceit should be used whereupon the Lords prepared themselves to come up according to agreement but soon stopt their Journy upon notice given them of an Ambusment laid for them in the Mews which made the King ready almost to tax them of breach of Covenant till he was told the reason viz. the Ambusment laid for them and then to clear himself as Stow relates it sware he knew of no such thing He might possibly be as innocent as the Child unborn as to any particular knowledge of this matter but certainly his Courtiers were much to blame and very bold thus to act in direct opposition to the former Agreement for that there was such a treacherous piece oâ— Service intended the Annalist assures us but that any of the prime Engineers and designing Actors were punished for acting thus without the Kings more especial Warrant Knowledge or Commission I do not find When these tricks would not do then fair words and promises were come in fashion again to sooth up the angry Lords who at last were come to Westminster with a sufficient Guard of Attendants and in the upshot the speedy calling of a Parliament was concluded on where the Accusers and Accused might meet face to face But the favourite Lords durst not attend the consequence of such a Meeting and therefore the Duke of Ireland and the rest of the Faction left the Court to be out of the way and an Army was after raised to conduct the Duke up to Court with which he hasted as fast as he could towards London but was miserably overthrown at Radcoat Bridge in Oxfordshire by the contesting Lords and so eâ—ded all his glory and a few years after his life Upon this defeat the Lords thought they had matter enough to justifie their Arms with forty thousand men up come they to London and were there received the King then keeping his Christmas in the Tower to whom they shew the Letter he had sent to the aforesaid Duke to raise an Army for their destruction and the Letters the French King had written to him to come into France there to do acts to his own dishonour and the Kingdoms These things we may well conclude bred a great deal of ill blood between the King and his Lords and that their Pulses beat extraordinary high is plain from the peremptory message they sent the King when they understood his mind was alter'd as to keeping his promise before made to them That if he came not according to his word they would chuse another King who should hearken to the faithful Counsel of his Lords This 't is easie to be thought toucht the King to the quick but being not then strong enough to oppose he esteem'd it his safest and securest course to condescend to the Lords desires and order the calling of a Parliament A Parliament comes and then it wrought wonders In Stow we meet with a Story coincident with these times concerning the Londoners how that they understanding that the French King had got together a great Navy assembled an Army and set his purpose firmly to come into England trembling like Leverets fearful as Mice they sought starting holes to hide themselves in even as if the City had been ready to be taken and they that in times past brag'd they would blow all the French men out of England hearing a vain Rumour of the Enemies coming ran to the Walls brake down the houses adjoyning destroyed and laid them flat and did all things in great fear not one Frenchman having then set foot on Shipboard But there 's not one word of the Author whence this was extracted which we commonly find in the Margin in other Relations What ground now there was for this pannick fear I cannot devise or rather reason for the relating of such a heedless story looking more like a conjectural report than an historical relation as if the Writer himself had been frenchified or imposed upon by some French Translator who was desirous to render his Country mâ—n terrible to the English by the Pen of an English Historian since they have been so ill able to do it by their own Swords For that the English neither overmuch lov'd nor fear'd the French Nation is evident from the Histories of ancient times and thâ— occurrences of later days and from the Commons Address to the Purbâ—ck Alarum How then the Londoners should come to be affraid of them so all of a sudden is a Riddle to me 'T is certain enough of late years that when they were burnt out of house and home and had little more perhaps to lose besides their lives upon an Alarum of the French coming and Papists rising they were like inraged Bears robb'd of their young Ones much more ready to fall on than the others to set upon them so far were they from standing in fear of the whole power of France though it should have been united with all their Popish Friends Favourers and Pensioners in England And that they had little or no grounds for such fear in those elderly times the long train of Victories gain'd heretofore in France puts us out of doubt Besides methinks the Instances in this Story which the Writer sets down as Arguments of fear are rather proofs of a provident care and foresight For what else can the running to the Walls and breaking down the Houses adjoyning import but a design and resolution to stand upon their own Guard which is the property of Courage not of Cowardise That there were intentions suitable to men of valour
some persons of Quality were coming up to Westminster to the King which he and Sir Thomas Trivet privately sent away to London upon the discovery thereof That he was a sutable Tool to carry on great mens intreagues or at least thought fit enough to be made a Property to work upon why may we not conclude in that we find him elected at the latter part of the last Kings Reign and admitted at the Tower of London into the Mayoralty when the proud haughty Duke of Lancaster had got the other Mayor put out of his Office as not quick enough it seems to run along with that aspiring Dukes designs who aimed at that time to have put by his Nephew from the Throne and have intruded thereunto himself contrary to right reason and justice and the publick interest of the Nation Who knows likewise by whose influence and for what intents he was kept in the Office of Mayor for three years together in the seventh eighth and nineth of this King What a vast difference was there as to Principles and Practices between this man and the fam'd John Philpot his fellow Sheriff in the forty sixth of the precedent King The one prov'd as great a Patriot to his Country before in and after his Mayoralty as the other shew'd himself an ambitious Courtier under a Gold Chain in the City But what great wonder is this to see men once joyn Partners in an Office vastly differing each from other in their Judgments and Actions when raised to places of higher Dignity and Prâ—ferment I don't think but 't is easie enough to find an instance at present if there were any great occasion or necessity thereof 'T is said of this Sir Nicholas Brembar that if he had liv'd he had been created Duke of Troy or of London by the name of Troy What a pity 't was that he had not had a Patent ready sign'd and seal'd lying by him to have shrowded himself and all his old crimes under this new Dignity upon Occasion But this I Fancy would never have past upon that Parliament either Lords or Commons to have sheltred him from the Law of the Land though he had become really in act as well as desire and design a Peer of the Realm However this intention of his if truly related sufficiently shews us his Ambition to become a Titulado unless we shall venture upon a conjecture that some of the Courtiers sham'd upon him with the empty promise of this titulary honour when they wheadled him out of the directions they had before sent him for the better management of their designs which they were unwilling to let remain in his hands after they had made as much use of his Place and Power as opportunity would permit that they might not be produc'd as Evidences against them in a day of Tryal which they probably fear'd might one time or other come upon them and did it seems in this Parliament with a Vengeance For I will take the boldness to conclude that it was some other more skilful hand hid behind the Curtain that order'd the Scenes and manag'd the Machines though he was made the publick stalking horse to deceive the vulgar Herd the Skreen to shelter other mens heads from the violence of popular fury the open Actor in the face of the world the common Engine to set the Wheels of more politick mens contrivances a going though against Water Wind and Tide It being very unbecoming the Apes subtilty to put her own foot into the fire when she may make use of the Cats But if the Worshipful Sir Nicholas suffer'd himself thus impolitickly to be trapann'd whom had he to blame but himself if he were made at laâ—â— to pay so dear for his own folly and imprudence And that such is the ominous fate of less wary men who venture upon Actions not warranted by Law to serve a present turn and humour their own ambitious desires or other mens greatness is evidently demonstrable as in general from History and Experience so more particularly from an instance in Spain under one of the Philips of a certain Officer of that Kings who having by the Kings Order done an Act for which he was afterwards questioned and thrown into Prison and upon fair words and promises parted with the Kings Letter which he could have produc'd for his Warrant was soon after left in the lurch and suffer'd to fall a Sacrifice to his own imprudent Credulity and the Law of the Land Whether I have been exact as to all circumstances of the story I shall not positively affirm as not being fully sure but my Memory may deceive me in twelve or thirteen years space and being uncertain in what Book to look for it now or where I read it at first unless in some of the famous Fullers works perhaps in his holy or prophane State but as to the substance and truth hereof I dare aver it from Historical Relation and leave the Application to more Philosophical Logicians that I may press further forwards towards the mark the end intention and scope of this my present undertaking viz. To shew the respect and esteem several of the Nobles in particular had for this honourable City and their solicitous care for her welfare under this King Richard How that before the Parliament that wrought wonders was ended particular care was taken expresly to have the Citizens of London included in â— general Pardon to prevent doubtless new exactions upon old pretences hath been before related amongst the Commons requests as a sign of their good will and therefore now to be wav'd though it would not be impertinent in this Point to shew the Lords affection if that be a truth which is delivered by a modern Writer that in our Ancestors time most of the Members of the house of Commons thought it an honour to retain to some great Lord and to wear his blew Coat to make up his train and wait upon him from his own house to the Lords and make a Lane for him to enter thereto which argues how much the Lords did or might over-rule them in their frequent Petitions on the City's behalf But I shall pass over the consequence of this Conclusion as an Argument depending on the Readers Will and Choice which he may grant or deny at pleasure and produce an instance or two less dubitable and not left so much at discretion How hard a matter it hath generally prov'd to bring Offenders if great in Power Place and Authority to Justice is plain from History and Experience As evident likewise is it that the Offences to such imputed have been Exactions Extortions oppressions corrupt Abuses of the Law Illegal Principles Arbitrary Designs Unjust Actions and the like National Grievances ordinarily comprehended under the name 〈◊〉 ill Government dayly heapt up under weaâ— or negligent Princes by the exorbitant Power oâ— headstrong Favourites who through the excess of their Soveraign's kindness the easinesâ— of his Nature the mildness
Neither were indeed these latter proceedings attempted till after that by several tricks and devices as naming Sheriffs fit to serve turns and imposing such Representatives on the Borough Towns as would be byass'd to betray their Country besides a violent seizure of the Country Lords likely to oppose the Court had got a Parliament to their minds that would do their own business not the Nations and prefer the private gain of some few before the publick benefit of the whole Common-wealth What sort of Parliament this was and how fairly things were carried we may inform our selves out of Stow's Annals where we find it upon Record in the twenty first year of this King how that all of a suddain in the midst of a great calm and outward serenity the King caus'd the principals of the party thought most opposite to Court designes to be feiz'd on and imprison'd and among the rest his own Uncle as Chief so unsecure is Kindred and Alliance among Kings and Princes tells the Commons by Proclamation that their apprehension was founded on new Transgressions not old Crimes though these afterwards were the great offences laid to their charge procures their Indictment at Nottingham suborns several Nobles to impeach them in the next Parliament Assembles many Malefactors of the County of Chester in the nature of a Guard and then summons the Parliament Thither came the Nobles with an Armed Retinue for fear of the King such Knights are chosen Prolocutors as are described to be void of all manner of goodness as in whom nought was to be found but a natural Covetuousness unsatiable Ambition Intollerable Pride and Hatred of the truth and the Clergy upon pain of losing their Temporalties injoyn'd to chose them a Common Proctor who thereupon appointed Sir Henry Percy Steward of the Kings Houshold to assent in their Names to all things done in the Parliament How then things were likely to be ordered in the two Houses 't is no hard matter for us to guess especially when we remember that the Annalist tells us the Parliament House was compass'd about with four thousand of the Kings Archers who seem to have been ready prepar'd on all occasions for an Onset and once more particularly mistaking the noise usually made at the Parliament's Men coming out of the House for a Tumultous Broil and Contention with their Bows bent Arrows fitted and drawing they were upon the point of shooting to the terrour of all present till the Kings coming rectified their mistake and pacified them To tell of recalling of Pardons disannulling of Charters making void of Commissions revoking former Judgments impeaching arraigning condemning and actually punishing the opposite Party some with loss of Estates Lives and all others with forfeitures of all worldly Goods and perpetual irrevocable imprisonment I esteem a needless labour Suffice it therefore to remark how sollicitous the Court was at this juncture to render their own Party as Saints and the others as most guilty Criminals to take off the contesting Lords as disloyal Traytors and restore in the Eye of the Law the Reputation of Courtiers formerly condemn'd in the eleventh year of this King as if they had been the honestest and loyallest Subjects in the Nation and undo as much as in them lay what ever was then done in the Parliament that wrought wonders not withstanding that in many things they imitated that Assembly when they thought it for their peculiar advantage as in Lords Appellants Oaths to make all the Judgments Ordinances and Statutes unrepealable and Excommunication of the Breakers or Impugners of them but in others far out did it as in revoking all Pardons pleaded by the opposite Lords under the notion of being unlawfully made or so by the King granted unto them as not to be against himself and excusing those equally guilty of the same actions because look'd on at that time as useful Instruments in carrying on the Court Intreagues viz. suppressing the principal Assertors of Liberty and Property in passing a general Pardon with the Exception of fifty Persons not express'd by name whereby any one at pleasure might be made liable to censure as one of the Persons excepted if thought a Favourer of the contrary side and conserring the whole Power of the Parliament upon certain Lords and Commons fully to answer all Bills and wholly to determine all other matters mov'd in Parliament and not determined with all their Dependants as mischievous a President as Sylla's Proscription though 't is hoped not as practicable besides the prejudging and confining of Parliament Debates by the Judges Opinions That when Articles are propounded by the King to be handled in Parliament if other Articles be handled before those be first dâ—termined that it is Treason in them that do it Such being the Acts of this Assembly and the consequences of the Courts present success in taking off the Heads of the other Party who durst at every turn contest therewith in behalf of those freeborn English Twins Liberty and Property under which the Nation with silent murmurs languished and lamented when they so soon after the end of this Parliament at Shrewsbury and the Kings Progress into the West saw no less than seventeen Counties in East England indicted by the Kings command and as a grievous offence laid to their charge that they had been against him with the Duke of Glocester Earls of Arundel and Warwick the late Principals amongst the contesting Lords but now secur'd fast enough the two first under the undissolvable Bonds of Death the other under the Chains of a perpetual Imprisonment in the Isle of Man and several honourable Persons sent to induce the Lords Spiritual and Temporal to make a Submission by Writing seal'd with their own Hands acknowledging themselves Traytors to the King though they never offended him in Word or Deed Besides the compelling all the Religious Gentlemen and Commons to set their Seals to Blank-Charters that they might be oppress'd severally or all at once at pleasure some being made to pay a thousand Marks some a thousand Pounds And an Order issued out through every Shire in England that all Gentlemen and Men of Substance should be sworn firmly to maintain according to their power all the Statutes Articles and Constitutions ordained in the last Parliament We may easily conclude the Court thought the Citizens of London were not over much in love with these enslaving Statutes unaccustomed Oaths insnaring Blanks and inforc'd Submissions and suspected them ready enough upon occasion to oppose and withstand these manifest encroachments of Antinomian Prerogative upon the Liberty of the Subject and strive to strike off these Fetters and Shackles of Slavery upon the next opportunity before they were thorowly rivetted by Time and Prescription and therefore esteemed it their wisest Course to begin with them first by the usual Method of Indictments while they had the Reins of Government in their own hands and so consequently power enough to manage the Law as they themselves pleased to
Law to the Destruction of the Duke of Glâ—ucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick at Shrewscury For that the King against his Promise procured the Duke of Ireland sundry Rebells about Cheshire where diverse Murders by him were committed For that the King against his own Promise and Pardon at the Solemn Procession apprehended the Duke of Gloucester and sent him to Callice there to be choked and murdered beheading the Earle of Arundel and banishing the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Cobham For that the Kings Retinue and rout gathered out of Cheshire about the apprehension of those Nobles committed diverse Murders Rapes and other Fellonies besides refusing to pay for their Victuals For that the King condemned the Nobles aforesaid for divers rodes made within the Realm contrary to his open Proclamation For that the King doubly Fined Men for their Pardons For that the King to oppress his whole subjects procured in his last Parliament that the Power thereof was committed to certain Persons For that the King being sworn to Minister right did notwithstanding enact in the last Parliament that no mediation should be made for the Duke of Lancaster contrary to his said Oath For that the Crown of England being freed from the Pope and all other forraign Power the King notwithstanding procured the Popes Excommunication on such as brake the last Parliament in derogation of the Crown Statutes and Laws of the Realm For that the King banished the Duke of Lancaster for 10 years without any Cause as the same King openly affirmed For that the King unlawfully revoked the Letters Patents made to the said Duke of Lancaster in An. 21. For that the King contrary to the Laws and will of the Justices suffered Sheriffs to continue longer than one year and placed such therein as were unfit For that the King repayed not to his Subjects debts of them borrowed For that the King in the time of Truce and Peace exacted great Subsidies and wasted the same about frivilous matters For that the King refused to execute the Laws Saying that the Laws were in his Mouth and Breast For that the King by procuring by Statutes that he might be free as any of his Progenitors did under colour thereof subvert Laws according to his Will For that the King procured Knights of the Shires to be made to serve his own will For that the King enforced Sheriffs to be Sworn to execute all Commandemens under the Great Seal Privy Seal or Signet contrary to their accustomed Oaths For that the King to wrack mony from his Subjects procured 17 several Shires to submit themselves to his Grace whereby great sums of mony were Levied For that the King being Sworn to observe the Liberties of the Church notwithstanding at his Voyage into Ireland enforced diverse Religious Persons to give Horse Armour and Carts For that the Justices for their good Councel given to the King were with evil Countenance and threats rewarded For that the King of his own Will in passing into Ireland carried with him the Treasures Reliques and other Jewels of the Realm which were used safely to be kept in the Kings own Coffers from all hazard and for that the same King cancelled and razed sundry Records For that the King by writing to Forreign Princes and to his own Subjects is reputed universally a most variable and dissembling man For that the King would commonly say among the Nobles that all Subjects Lives Lands and Goods were in his hands without any forfeiture For that the King suffered his Subjects to be condemned by Marshal-Law contrary to his Oath and the Laws of the Realm For that the Subjects being only bound by their Allegiance were yet driven to take certain New Oaths for serving the folly of the King For that the King by his private Letters would charge the Ecclesiastical Ministers in any new Canonical matter to stay contrary to his Oath For that the King by force in his Parliament banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury without any good Ground For that the King by his last Will passed under the Great Seal and Privy Signet gave unto his Successors certain Money and Treasure upon Condition to perform all the Acts and Orders in the last Parliament which being ungodly and unlawful he meant as ungodlily to dy in For that the King in the 11th of his Reign in his Chappel in the Manour of Langley in the presence of the Duke of Lancaster and Yorke and others received the Sacrament of the Lords Body that he would never impeach the Duke of Gloucester his Uncle for any thing before done and yet to the Contrary procured him to be murdered For that the King most fraudulently and untruely against his own Oath Banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and wasted his Goods in which Article in private Conference between the said Arch Bishop the King in a manner prophesied and doubted that the like would happen of himself and thereupon shewed a special Token to the Arch Bishop That if he sent the same at any time that the Arch Bishop should look that the King would come to him These were the Imputations laid to his charge and that they were then thought true or at least not contradicted is self-Evident all seeming highly desirous of a Change and few dispos'd to espouse the depos'd Kings Cause and Interest so furious and violent was the Current of the Times as to bear away well nigh all before it That Parliament being so full of the new Kings Favourers and so empty of the old Kings true and cordial Friends that I remember to have read of but one viz. the Loyal Bishop of Carlisle who after a little Demur of a few dayes time upon a Motion made in Parliament about the disposal of King Richard stood up boldly and undauntedly for his old Lord and Master in the midst of his professed and declared Enemies and known Deserters His Speech as a rare Example of Fidelity giving us the very Quintessence of Loyalty I shall venture to set down out of Sir Richard Bakers Chronicle with the Consequents as follows My Lords The Matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein there are two Points chiefly to be considered The First whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne The Second whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say but the Head may bow it self down and may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by force And who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason For what Conquest without Arms And can a Subject take Arms
of the Secluded Members that procured a free and fuller meeting of the Lords and Commons and soon after the King was recall'd from his forced Exile to the open Exercise of his Royal Power and Authority over these his Three Nations and made his Publick Entrance in the greatest Calm of Peace and Tranquility imaginable Thanks to the Honourable City for concurring so unanimously to the Revival of the remaining part of the Old Parliament which brought forth so Miraculous Effects as to have an Injur'd and Exil'd Prince fully restor'd to his Throne and yet the Glory of the Action not tinctur'd with Blood Such was the Influence of Londons concurrence of Londons Power of Londons Prayers If then the many instances hitherto related being conjoyn'd rise not up to a demonstration as much Mathematical as the subject can bear I know not what will As for the truth of them I defie any one to disprove me who hath but the least grain of sence and reason in him and as much Historical knowledge as may amount to the sixtieth part of a scruple The particular reasons of the Cities Potency have been shewn and the general ground thereof is as plainly evident For how can it otherwise be but that a City endowed with such Royal Grants fortified with so many and so great Priviledges and exalted to the heighth of Grandeur by the vastness of her Trade multitude of her Merchants Wealth and Riches of her Inhabitants Spirit and Courage of her Citizens Stateliness of her Buildings Preheminances of her Antiquity Conveniency of her Scituation and Regular Order of her Government so Ennobled with the highest Courts of Judicature for the Law adorned with numerous Churches for the Gospel and frequented by Strangers from all parts of the habitable World the Receptacle of all Arts and Sciences the Haunt of the Commonalty the Delight of the Gentry the Habitation of the Nobility the Residence of the King and Glory of the whole Nation so pleasant to Admiration and so populous to a Wonder where many Scores if not Hundreds of Thousands can be Raised and Armed in a few Hours Warning How I say can it otherwise be but that such a City must needs highly influence over-rule and over-awe the Counsels of the Nation and turn the Inclinations of the People whithersoever she please For Nature generally uses the common ordinary means and methods and I do not see that the All-powerful God of Nature often diverts her Course or works Wonders and Miracles in every Age and Season Now that London is such a City I appeal to History and Experience for my Witnesses These are the Observations I had to make concerning the Glories of the City of London and the Influences she had upon the grand Concerns of the Nation in that great and famous Contest between the two Houses of Lancaster and York through the most considerable part whereof I have hitherto traced her Actions wherein finding her most triumphant amidst the great variety of the publick Transactions of these times I think it not much material to give so distinct a Relation of her private Affairs though among them I might likewise find many things most worthy of Remak as hastening apace towards the Conclusion of this Treatise that it may not swell into too great a bulk to the Reader 's Discouragement and the wearying out of his Patience I fear already almost tired Wherefore as to what concerns the private Troubles of the City the Tumults Riots and Insurrections sprung up out of her own Bowels in these perilous Times and happily supprest by the Power of her Majestrates and the accidental Casualties happening within her Liberties or else the many Benefits accruing to her by the Care and Vigilance of her chief Officers the good Rule and Order of her Government the strict Observation of her particular Ordinances and putting in Execution her Injunctions Or as to what relates to the external Augmentation of her Honour her Splendor and Renown by the Reparation of her Walls Renovation of her publick Structures founding and erecting of new Fabricks I pass them all over without a more particular mention sending the curious and inquisitive to the Chronicles Baker's especially who hath treated purposely of such remarkables in distinct Sections at the end of the Kings Lives as not so pertinent to my present design tho' in other Kings Reigns I may have here and there touch'd upon some such Remarks And shall direct the Reader with an Instance of the Courage of some bold spirited women of the City having hitherto entertain'd him with the Heroick and Illustrious Acts only of the other Sex The Relation I have out of Stow who places it in the Seventh of King Henry the Sixth Anno 1428. where after mention made of a Parliament Asiembled at Westminster that Year he gives it us in these words In this Parliament there was one Mrs. Stokes with divers other stout Women of London of good reckoning well Apparell'd came openly to the upper-house of Parliament and deliver'd Letters to the Duke of Gloucester and to the Arch-Bishops and to the other Lords there present containing matter of Rebuke and sharp reprehension of the Duke of Gloucester because he would not deliver his Wife Jaqueline out of her grievous Imprisonment being then held Prisoner by the Duke of Burgundy suffering her there to remain so unkindly and for his publick keeping by him another Adultress contrary to the Law of God and the honourable Estate of Matrimony Bold words and bold women For this Duke was then Lord Protector of the Realm and so confequently of great Power Place and Dignity therein But these were Londoners that durst be so couragious as to say to Princes Ye are Wicked and then the wonder is not altogether so great on one hand that they dar'd to reprehend the great ones of the Age and on the other that we still find such Heroical Spirits in the City since they spring from such a Race both by the Fathers side and the Mothers The Roman Historians celebrates the Memory of that Noble Matron who came into open Court and with so undaunted a spirit of boldness pleaded her own Cause to the great amazement of the Senate for the present that they made an Order to forbid the like for the future What Viragoes then were these English Matrons of London that in open Parliament durst reprove the Nobles to their faces and were not afraid to attempt to teach our Senators wisdome wherein they may seem to have out-did that fam'd Roman Matron in that what she did may be thought to have proceeded from self-love and self-defence whereas these with a greater Courage espous'd another Cause an excess of Charity and Humanity and instead of staying for an opportunity of defending their own Interest upon occasion or necessity durst voluntarily make an onset on the more powerful with sharp rebukes for neglecting the distressed and refusing to assist the poor weak and disconsolate So that the Royal
evil May-day when we read of the King 's pardoning the many hundreds Indicted for that day's Riot and Insurrection at the three Queens intercession upon Cardinal Woolsey's Advice and perchance in Complaisance to the City Not to mention that eminent Instance of the King's Charity Love and Affection to the City when in so great a scarcity of Bread therein that many died for meer want he freely and frankly sent thither out of his own Provisions 600 Quarters of Corn which serv'd for a very seasonable Supply till more could be brought from other Parts But as to the former I dare aver it from the consequence of the Contest between the City and the Cardinal in the 17th year of this King out of Stow and thence prove beyond denial how like her self the City always continued in opposing the Arbitrary Power and Exorbitances of over grown Favourites Commissions were sent forth by Order of the Council into every Shire to Levy the Sixth Part of every Man's Substance towards the King's passage into France but this was so vehemently oppos'd by the People as contrary to ancient Laws and Customs and not granted by the Paliament that the King thought good to deny that he ever knew of that Demand and by soothing Letters sent to London and elsewhere he requested only his Subjects Benevolence This was a Term more plausible than a set Demand and a fix'd Contribution and the Cardinal forsooth would needs undertake personally to induce the City's consent thereto and therefore sent for the Mayor the Almen and the most substantial Common-Councel-Men to Westminster thinking by fair Speeches good Words and large Promises to have overperswaded them To him indeed they lent their Ears but we don't find them over hasty to part with their Purses However they sent Deputies to him Four Aldermen and Twelve Commoners to return him their thanks and every Alderman assembles his Ward and makes a Motion for a Benevolence which was openly deny'd them by the Commonalty Then the Cardinal sends again for the Mayor and his Brethren who informs him what they had done Whereupon he would have examined them apart and demands a benevolence of them in the King's Name But for Answer was told by a City Councellor that the Motion was against an Act of Parliament which could not be disprov'd though it was in part gain-said Thereupon the Mayor resolutely denies to grant any thing so that upon his coming home to London all publick endeavours were laid by and it was declar'd that every man should come to the Cardinal and grant privily what he would This was so little grateful to the Citizens and upon the Mayor's endeavours to qualifie them by promising they should be gently treated and exhorting them to go when sent for they were so highly offended thereat that in their fury they would have had several expell'd the Common-Councel and so without further answer angrily departed home Whereby we may be well assur'd of the truth of Hall's Observation that though the Mayor and Aldermen had granted the Demand the Common-Councel would never have assented For we must know this was done at the Common-Councel call'd the next day after my Lord Mayor came from Court The Result therefore of all was in the Issue that the King openly protests in a great Council call'd at York-place now White-hall that his mind was never to ask any thing of his Commons that might sound to the breach of the Laws and so this Project was rejected and laid aside by order of the Kings Letter sent into all Counties For seeing that the City refused how was it possible to perswade the Country who look upon London as their principal Guide and Directress and so generally square their Actions by the Citizens Rule Doth not then this seem a clear Example of the Londoners constant fixedness to their old Principles of Liberty And if the Reader likewise please it may pass for an Instance of the Citizens disclaiming their Mayor's Resolves and the prevalency of the Commonalty over the Magistracy when resolute in their just opposition As an Overplus I shall cast in a Passage out of Baker's Chronicles where we find it upon Record under the Title of King Henry's Taxations how that when in the Fourteenth Year a Tenth Part of all Mens Substance was required by the Cardinal towards the Charges of the King's Wars and he would havâ— had every Man sworn to tell what he was worth The Londoners thinking this very hard they were thereupon excus'd for taking the Oath and allowed to bring in their Bills upon their Honesties from whence may be argued either the Strength Greatness and Power of this honourable City whom the Court nor the Cardinal durst not displease or the great respect then shewn her in regard of those many glorious Rays of Influence she sheds all over all the Land when the Word of a Citizen went as far and was as well accepted as another Man's Oath If such then was the Honour and Respect of the City heretofore what may we think it to be now that London hath since receiv'd so considerable an Addition and Augmentation in several respects by the happy concurrence of many more Circumstances to render it eternally famous Was this City able to hold a Contest with so grand a Favourite and potent a Courtier as Cardinal Woolsey and at last to come off with flying Colours to the vindicating her own Rights and the Liberties of all the Nation besides and the forcing King Henry in the strength of his Age as stout as he was to so great a Compliance as hath been hinted before 'T is plain then she was strong and her Citizens not destitute of Spirit Did the King as cruel as he was to others of his Subjects shew himself favourable to London 'T is evident he had great cause and reason so to do unless he was desirous to be tax'd with ungratitude so un-Prince-like a Crime For we may observe the Citizens were ready enough to please him in any thing wherein their All was not concerned and in that I never yet found them ever prone to humour the Follies of any King living Witness their readiness on all Occasions for the Honour of the King to appear in the most splendid Equipage on publick Solemnities Among which the most remarkable in my Opinion were the Coronation of Queen Ann Mother of the never to be forgotten Queen Elizabeth of blessed Memory with the Preparatives thereto the Celebrity of her Attendance by Water from Greenwich to the Tower and her honourable Conveyance from thence through the City amidst the great variety of pleasing Shews and delightful Objects to Westminster particulariz'd in Stow and the glorious appearance of the Citizens at the great Muster in St. Iames's-Park May the 8th Anno 31. to the Number of Fifteen Thousand in bright shining Armour with Coats of white Silk or Cloth and Chains of Gold where the Citizens strove in such sort to exceed each other in bravery of
may be the care taken in London to watch and guard the Gates upon the first discovery of the Gun-powder Treason and the great joy and rejoycing manifested therein soon after upon its further detection by filling the Streets with Bonfires and the Solemn Assemblies with publick praises and thanksgiving to the Almighty for the Kings happy Deliverance This Gunpowder Treason so to observe by the way was one of the seven particulars the Intelligencer tells us were sometime since set up in a Table in St. Martins Church at York under this Title Things never to be forgotten by Protestants The other six were The bloody Reign of Queen Mary The many Plots in Queen Elizabeths Reign The Massacre in Ireland in Forty one The horrid Murder of King Charles in One thousand Six hundred and Forty eight The burning of London in One thousand Six hundred and Sixty six And the horrid Popish-plot in One thousand Six hundred and Seventy eight An Inscription that some harmless well meaning persons would have been apt doubtless to have thought very honest in its self and deservedly written in Letters of Gold till an Order came to one of the Church Wardens to take it down or appear at the Spiritual Court to answer the Contempt For 't was above the ordinary Capacity of a Common lay-Protestant to apprehend any thing ill or offensive therein till such wits among the Clergy as had far more sagacious intellects perceived the drift and design thereof and judging it perhaps to be part of the Presbyterian Plot might think fit to have it thrown down that the Vulgar might be no more amus'd with the dreadful remembrance of such things But to return to the Cities Love and Loyalty to King James another remarkable proof thereof may be deduced from the double Guards set in all places about London the Precept issued out by the Lord Mayor to the Wards to raise the Train Bands and the unexpressible distraction of Mens minds upon a flying rumour suddenly spread about the City March 22d somewhat above four Months after the Powder Plot was discovered of the Kings being slain that morning at Oking some twenty Miles from London which occasioned great weeping and waiâ—ing and much lamentation in old and young rich and poor till in three or four hours time all these Clouds were happily dispers'd by better and more certain news brought of the Kings safety and his return to Whitehall thereupon the same afternoon where the peoples hearts were as much raised with joy as before they had been drowned in grief and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen went to congratulate his Majesty upon the assurance of his continued Health and Security Such were the expressions of the Cities affections let us now see the return of Kindness on the Kings part and his Princely acknowledgment of their singular love and loyalty to him Much doubtless of the Kings mind in this particular may be guessed at from the frequent Visits he made the City but I presume by no one Act of his better known than by his repaying the Citizens of London in the seventh of his Reign the Threescore thousand pounds they had lent Queen Elizabeth three years before her death An Act of the greatest Justice and Equity and whereby likewise he got more love saith the Chronicle than he paid mony This may pass both for an Example of the Kings Goodness and Prudence and an Instance of Londons Power and Esteem since his Majesty thought it good to be at such charges to oblige her For to pay their Predecessors Debts is so rare among Princes that many of them hardly ever pay their own Hitherto have I presented the Reader with variety of passages out of our English Chronicles to demonstrate the Glory Honour and Renown of the City of London and the Courage of her Citizens the Power of her Magistrates the Strength of the Commonalty and the undeniable Influence of the whole Corporation upon the rest of the Kingdom and have given him here and there the words and expressions of private men as so many illustrative Arguments on the Points Wherefore now I shall produce no less than what I account a Royal Testimony in confirmation of the many demonstrative Evidences already brought and that of no less a Prince than his present Majesties Royal Father King Charles the First and out of an Author so little partial to the City that the very name of Peter Heylin and the diligent perusal of Arch-Bishop Lauds Life by him writ may sufficiently convince an indifferent Reader that he was none of Londons greatest Favourers or Admirers since 't was look'd on as the Retreat and Receptacle of the Grandees of the Puritan faction as he is pleased to stile all those he thought contrary to that Party of Men he will needs call the Church of England A Proof therefore out of such an Adversary's mouth as Heylins seems a very convincing Argument when he himself is forced meerly by truth and matter of fact to confess and acknowledge the influence of London on all parts of the Kingdom in that passage where he intimates it to have been generally look't upon as the compass by which the lesser Towns and Corporations were wont to steer their course and to plead it's practice on all occasions What I conceive to be the Kings Testimony by that writer deliver'd is by him brought in as the reason of his Majesties preferring Laud to the Bishoprick of London viz. For that he was a Man of a more active Spirit than the former Bishop and so fitter to carry on the design of rendring the City conformable to that propos'd Model of Church Government which was intended for the whole Nation and therein therefore principally to be promoted because of the Influence it had by reason of it's wealth and trading on all parts of the Kingdom and that upon the correspondence and conformity thereof the welfare of the whole depended This Testimony doubtless is of great authority because proceeding from so Judicious a Prince and related by an Author not to be suppos'd over ready to write any thing in favour of this City to which he seems to have born a very great animosity because the Citizens would not be so thorough-pac'd Episcopal as his Reverend Doctorship would have had them to have been But now methinks it should be of greater prevalency than ever since that King Charles himself before he dyed out of his own experience knew much more of the Cities strength and Power than many of his Predecessors did for some ages before For 't is plain beyond denial dispute or contradiction out of the memory of Man and the everlasting Records of time that in the late Wars between him and his two Houses of Parliament 't was the Cities power and influence that rais'd them to that height of Grandeur which made them so formidable to all the Royal party Whereas without her help and assistance how little able they had been to have long subsisted or
the cries of the wounded in our streets A Miraculous effect of the Cities influence For what parts of the Land are so inconsiderate to oppose when London is engag'd and resolv'd Former Examples may teach them future wisdom These having been the necessary preparatives in sixty one on Saint Georges day April the 23. comes the Kings Coronation the fairest day except the Preceding in which he made his Cavalcade through London the Nation enjoy'd both before and after if the supplementers Observation be well grounded notwithstanding it began to Thunder and Lighten very smartly towards the end of Dinner time and soon after that another meeting of King Lords and Commons at Westminster whither the Kings Writs had Summoned them to make a New Parliament the former Assembly having been dissolv'd the December before by his Majesties Order and Command How acceptable the Actions of that Assembly were to City and Country hath been hinted before and the concurrence of the King when restor'd was not wanting to Authorize their proceedings yet this new Assembly notwithstanding thinking the manner of it's Assembling not to be drawn into Example and that therewas some defect as to the necessary point of Legality in the Statutes then made or at least desirous to remove all doubts fears and scruples about them would not let several of those Acts pass without being formally ratified and confirm'd anew by it's own Authority And therefore consequently not trusting to the receiv'd opinion of the dissolution of the Parliament of forty by the late Kings Death nor relying on the House of Commons Act to dissolve themselves in fifty nine nor the dissolution of the Lords and Commons in sixty another Declaration was made in the point in these word To the end that no Man bereafter may be misled into any seditious or unquiet demeanor out of an opinion that the Parliament begun and held at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and forty is yet in being which is undoubtedly dissolved and determined and so is hereby Declared and Adjudged to be fully Dissolved and Determined And it was further Enacted by the same Authority That if any Person or Persons at any time after the four and twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and one shall Malitiously and Advisedly by Writing Printing Preaching or other Speaking Express Publish Vtter Declare or affirm that the Parliament begun at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lâ—rd one thousand six hundred and forty is not yet dissolved or is not yet determined or that it ought to be in being or hath yet any continuance or Existence that then every such Person and Persons so as aforesaid offending shall incur the danger and penalty of a Premunire mentioned in a Statute made in the sixteenth year of the Reign of King Richard the second Thus then were all disputes upon this point effectually stil'd and suppress'd by this Authority and Command of King Lords and Commons and the greatness of the penalty incur'd by the person offending which amounts to no less than to be put out of the Kings Protection and have his Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels forfeited to the King and his Body Attach'd if to be found and brought before the King and his Council there to Answer the premises or that process be made against him by Praemunire facias and if return'd non est inventus than to be Outlaw'd Next I proceed to observe that 't was Petitioning and addressing that prepar'd the way for His Majesties Restauration and therefore doubtless the remembrance thereof should be always grateful and acceptable to the Loyal Such preparatories to great turns and changes being alwaies preferrable to the other rougher methods of drawn Swords and loaded Pistols which are the general effects of Civil Broils and Commotions while these are the rational results of Wisdom and Prudence With the King was that part of the English Clergy likewise restor'd which appropriates to it self the name of the Church of England A Term much gloried in by many as if none but themselves were the constitutive parts thereof and which some now adays pretend freer from Ambiguity than the more general Name of Protestants What we understand by that Term we know very well and are not asham'd thereof Yet by the way I don't think but 't is as lyable to exceptions where Cavils take place as the other title of Protestants so much of late turn'd into ridicule by some few pretenders to wit and sense above the vulgar For if by Church we understand barely an Assembly of Men met together in one place then doubtless without any incongruity it may be applied to many a civil meeting of Men together about their own private concerns If by Church we mean a society of Men conjoyn'd in Spiritual duties or the Ordinances of Divine Worship then I hope it will be no Solecism in common Speech to affirm many of the Dissenters meetings may reasonably lay claim to the Name And if a due Celebration of the Sacraments will make a Church why then may not the Denomination as well belong to some private Conventicles as to the publick Oratories If it should denote only the Association of many distinct Assemblies under the same Ecclesiastical Government what should hinder the Presbiterians from enjoying the Title in those places where they are allowed to exercise their power in Classical Provincial or National Synods Which Power they once exercis'd in England publickly within the Memory of Man But if the Law of the Land makes the difference and the established Government of the Country in Ecclesiastical affairs as with us in England then I am apt to beleive this Expression the Church of England is not without it's Ambiguities and may be a denomination comprehensive of Men of as many different modes and forms as some would fain have us think the word Protestant admits of Heretofore at the first planting of the Gospel in this Isle among the Britains we may call it the British Church When Austin the Monk came in bringing with him the Customs and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome and introduc'd them among the converted Saxons then we may term it the Romish Church When the Monks and Fryers like the Frogs in Egypt had over-spread the whole face of the Land then we may give it the Epithite of Monkish In succeeding Generations when Popery was arriv'd to its height we may name it the Popish Church In King Edward the sixth days it may properly be called Reformed Under the Marian Persecution 't was certainly Popish Queen Elizabeth brought back the Reformed Religion under an Episcopal Government and therefore I venture to give it the Name of the Reformed Episcopal Church A little before the late Wars when the Hierarchy was arriv'd at its highest pitch of Pomp and Grandeur by the Laudean principles and practises It was certainly