yet a greater difficulty to imagine that a Parliament holden in the first of Queen Mary which was not above 28. or 30. years after the Collegiate Statute was made should pass another Act in confirmation of this only on a presumptive evidence that there had been such a One made when reallyit never had been so in rerum naturâ and that this they did is very evident which making much to our purpose and likewise to the abrogating of the Act made in 3 H. 8. I shall take the pains of transcribing Whereas in the Parliament holden at London on the 15 th day of April in the 14 th year of the Reign of our late Soveraign King Henry the VIII th and from thence adjourned to Westminster the last day of July in the 15 th year of the Reign of the same King and there holden It was enacted That a certain grant by Letters Patents of incorporation made and granted by our said late King to the Physicians of London and all Clauses and Articles contained in the same Grant should be approved granted ratified and confirmed by the same Parliament For the consideration whereof be it Enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament That the said Statute or Act of Parliament with every Article and Clause therein contained shall from henceforth stand and continue still in full strength force and effect any Act Statute Law Custom or any other thing made had or used to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding 4. 'T is certain that this Act of Parliament hath been owned as such by all the grave Judges and Lawyers of this Land upon every Trial betwixt the Colledge and the Empiricks And though in Dr. Bonhams Case the Colledge was overthrown yet it was not for that the Judges question'd the legality of the Act of the 14 th and 15 th of H. 8. for the Lord Chief Justice Cook Justice Warburton and Justice Daniel of the Common Pleas Bench were so far from doubting the Authority of that Act that they plainly tell us in that very Case that the Censors had their Authority by Letters Patents Act of Parliament which are high matters of Record and in the 4 th of King James there was a recovery upon this Statute against one Gardener and in the 7 th of King Charles the First there was another recovery in the Common Pleas against one Butler and in the 8 th of the same Kings Reign a Writ of Error was brought in the King-Bench and there Judgment affirmed both Courts owning the Statute of the 14 th and 15 th of H. 8. where the Colledg Charter was confirmed and in 1651. there was another recovery in the Common Pleas upon the same Statute against Trigge And though Mr. H. tell us of one single Judge that would not admit of the Colledge Patent as established by Act of Parliament in the time of the late Usurper who could scarcely have affection for a Society of men established by Regal power of whom several had expressed so great Loyalty to their Soveraign yet very prudently he omits his reasons lest we should observe so much of partiality if not bribery in him that it might justly be suspected that Interest not Judgment obliged him to such an Opinion but allow Mr. H. what he desires from this instance doth he seriously think that this is as authentick as the Judgment of all the Judges of the Kings Bench and Common Pleas which I just now intimated and the High Court of Parliament in the First of Queen Mary I am apt to believe he cannot however if he doth I am sure he will scarcely perswade any other into such an opinion unless it be those of his own Association who would gladly have it so But to give the Gentleman all the advantage he can desire to his circumstantial Argument that there is not to be seen on the top or bottom of this Roll the Kings Royal Assent I make a question whether this will carry his Cause because the Kings Signature is sometimes endors'd on the back side of the Roll and if he did really put himself to the trouble of searching I wish he would have informed us whether he found this Roy le veult endors'd upon every single Roll of the other 13. Statutes made in the same Session for 't is a little odd to conceive that one poor single Statute in the same Session where 14 were passed and that not the first or last but the 5. in order should be solely question'd especially seeing Mr. Pulton in the preamble before those Statutes assures us that the King by the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons assembled had ordained made and enacted certain Statutes and Ordinances in manner and form following of which number this is One. Mr. H's second circumstance to prove that the Collegiate Patent was never established by Act of Parliament is this because he saith that it doth militate against the Spirit of an English Parliament the great Sanctuary of publick freedom To this I need return no other Answer but only desire Mr. H. to read over the foremention'd Statutes of 14 and 32 H. 8. and 1 Mar. and then tell me whether the Parliaments of England did not judge without any breach of Magna Charta that learned and experienc'd men were the fittest to pass a judgment of those brought up in their own profession and doubtless had Mr. H. understood the nature of humane Societies and the necessity of Laws for their government he would not have betrayed his weakness and ignorance so much as he hath done in this Argument In the same page he tells us that it might be an easie matter to impose upon a Printer a Copy of a Bill instead of a Statute especially about matters of Physick whose concerns in those dayes were but in few hands and the Professors very inconsiderable persons and that after it had been once printed for a Law how easie was it for the Lawyers unawares to accept it and Mr. Pulton to reprint it without further enquiry To these surmises I answer that Mr. H. would have done well to have told us the men that durst impose upon a Printer a Copy of a Bill instead of a Statute or given us an instance of a Printer that was ever so audacious or adventurous to do it if he cannot 't is strange that he should trouble the world with such idle and wild supposals that never had any better foundation than in an ill-contriv'd fiction which doubtless can never obtain greater credit with any judicious man seeing that all Bills which pass both Houses of Parliament are fairly engrossed and offer'd to the King to Sign which being done Copies of those Bills are taken out by the Clerk of the Parliament who diligently and faithfully examines them with the Printer by the original Records and then are the Copies of them committed to the Press Now by this conjecture of Mr. H. both the Clerk of the Parliament
substance of what all of them have hitherto said against the Colledge An Answer therefore to this may save us the trouble of writing any more upon this Subject nor need that Answer be prolix if we consider all their objections are reducible to these three following Questions 1. Whether the Colledge of Physicians be established by Act of Parliament 2. Whether the proceedings of the Colledge against Empiricks and unlicenced persons be oppressive 3. Whether Physicians educated in Universities and particularly the Colledge of Physicians in London have been the great hinderers of the Art of Physick and more especially that of Chymistry CHAP. I. FOr the clearing of the first you must know that in 3 H. 8. the King and Parliament taking into serious consideration the great injury that was done to his Liege people by a great multitude of ignorant persons as Smiths Weavers Women c. who boldly took upon them to practise the noble Science of Physick to the high displeasure of God great infamy of the Faculty and destruction of many of his Subjects as the Act more at large expresseth it was therefore by the Authority of that Parliament enacted That no person should practise Physick except he were first examined approved and admitted by the Bishop of London or Dean of Pauls calling to him or them four Doctors of Physick c. This Act continued in force till the 14 th and 15 th of the same Kings Reign at which time a Charter that had been granted in the 10 th year of the same by the intercession of Cardinal Woolsey and six eminent Physicians three of which belonged to the King 's own person wherein a perpetual Colledge of Physicians was erected and granted in London and within seven miles of the same with several priviledges therein specified was confirmed by Act of Parliament in which Act it was ordained established and enacted That the said Corporation of the said Commonalty and Fellowship of the Faculty of Physick aforesaid and all and every Grant and Article and other thing contained and specified in the said Letters Patents be approved granted ratified and confirmed in this present Parliament and clearly authorised and admitted by the same good lawful and available to the said Body Corporate and their Successors for ever in as ample and large manner as may be taken thought construed by the same Now if you please to compare this Act with the Colledge Charter which is part of the Act it self embodied in it you will find that all the priviledges therein contained were granted them Notwithstanding any precedent Statute Ordinance Act or proviso in any Act formerly made published or ordained to the contrary One of which priviledges were as the Patent expresseth it to have super-visum scrutinium correctionem gubernationem omnium singulorum dictae Civitatis Medicorum utentium Facultate Medicinae in eadem civitate ac aliorum Medicorum forinsecorum quorumcunque facultatem illam Medicinae aliquo modo frequentantium utentium infra eandem Civitatem suburbia ejusdem sive intra septem milliaria in circuitu ejusdem civitatis c. i. e. The oversight and search correction and government of all and every Physician of the said City practising Physick therein and of all others using the said Faculty of Physick within the said City or Suburbs thereof or within seven miles of the same And in another part of this Patent 't is so clear and evident that the sole power of Licensing Physicians doth belong to the Colledge that it plainly tells you in the following words Concessimus Praesidenti Collegio seu Communitati Successoribus suis quod Nemo in dictâ civitate aut yer 7. milliaria in circuitu ejusdem exerceat dictam facultatem nisi ad hoc per dictum Praesidentem Communitatem seu Successores ejus admissus sit per ejusdem Praesidentis Collegii literas Sigillo suo communi sigillatas sub poena centum solidorum pro quolibet mense i. e. We grant to the President and Colledge or Commonalty and their Successors that none shall practise Physick in London or within seven miles of the same unless he be first admitted by the said President and Colledge or their Successors and obtain their Licence signed with their common Seal in pain of forfeiting for every month five pounds Now let any judicious person compare these two passages with the Statute made in 3 H. 8. before-mentioned and I doubt not but he may be fully satisfied that the power which was granted to the Bishops by that Statute was now invested in the Colledge by the 14 th and 15 th of the same Kings Reign for 't is evident that the word Nemo in the Patent is a general Negative and excludes all from practising but such as have procur'd the Colledge Licence But notwithstanding this plain evidence Mr. Adrian Huyberts desires leave to produce certain circumstances as he terms them whereby it may appear questionable whether ever any such Law as that in the 14 th and 15 th of H. 8. was passed in due form the reason he urgeth being this that it doth not appear by any Record that the Royal Assent was given to it there being neither at top nor bottom of it to be seen Le Roy le veult the only Signature whereby any thing is known to be a Law To this I reply that I very much question whether ever Mr. H. took the pains to search the Records of the Tower if he did not as I have some reason inclining me to believe I must crave leave to tell him and that by more weighty circumstances than he hath produc'd to the contrary that the ipse dixit of his unanswerable Author will pass for an Oracle with none but the Empiricks for doubtless no rational man can imagine 1. That a Prince so sensible of the great mischief redounding to the Nation by this Mechanical Tribe and of the great felicity which might be obtained for the publick by establishing a Colledge of grave and learned Physicians who should admit none to the practice of that noble Science without their approbation should grant a Charter to them by the special request of persons so often employed about his Royal Person and so much interested in Him and yet should take no care of confirming this Patent by Act of Parliament when as our Adversaries confess it was offer'd to Him 2. 'T is as difficult to imagine that the same Colledge of Physicians in the same Kings Reign and that but 17. years after should have several other priviledges granted them by Act of Parliament as their not keeping watch or ward bearing offices c. and that by the name of the President of the Corporation of the Commonalty and Fellowship of the Science and Faculty of Physick in the City of London and the Commons of the Fellows of the same c. if they had not had their Charter confirm'd by the foremention'd Act. 3. 'T is
and the Printer or one at least of them must needs be impos'd upon as he terms it But how improbable this is let any one consider seeing the apparent danger that must needs ensue it being the custom of Parliament to print all their Acts after every Session that so all the subjects might understand their duty and the rule they have to steer their actions by and no doubt but there were some Judges in that Session in the House of Lords and Lawyers in the House of Commons who had the Copies of those Acts when printed by them and would soon have taken notice of an affront of so high a nature as this put upon the King and both Houses of Parliament and though I must confess that a Printer may commit an Erratum in the printing of an Act which occasions the Judges many times to search the Records of the Tower as being their only authentick evidence to decide a disputable case yet surely no president can ever be produc'd of a Bill that was printed for an Act and own'd for such by a Parliament in the same Kings Reign and confirmed by another about 28. years after and allowed as such in several Trials by the Judges of both Benches when in truth it was but a cheat impos'd upon them especially seeing it was an Act of that nature which was both publick and penal and might probably have trials upon it the Term after it was passed there being at that time so many Aggressors thereof And as for what Mr. H. tells us as to the state of Physick in those dayes that it was but in few hands and those inconsiderable persons 'T is manifestly false for 't is evident that there was then a great number of the predecessors of Mr. H's society swarming in the Nation which occasioned that Act to be made in 3 H. 8. as the preamble tells you but then we will grant him that they were persons as inconsiderable as the Coblers Weavers and Trumpeters of our own dayes that practise physick to as good purpose as the old Women Smiths and other Mechanicks then did who as that Act specifieth had no insight into physick nor into any other kind of learning some of them being so ignorant as they could not read a fair description of great part of the Empiricks of our time But if Mr. H. intended by this expression those that were the true Professors of physick in that age they were far from inconsiderable persons as witness Doctor Linacre Chambre de Victoria Halsewell Frances Yaxeley c. the first of which is particularly mention'd in the Chronicle of that Kings Reign amongst the great men of note of that time And as for what he saith of Mr. Pultons reprinting this Statute without further enquiry 'T is such a rude and uncharitable reflexion upon so industrious and worthy a person that 't is necessary to acquaint the world with what account that excellent Author hath given of his great faithfulness and industry in this undertaking his words are these with as great care and industry as I could use so many of the old Statutes heretofore printed in the English tongue and which are the foundation of proceedings both legal and judicial have been by me truly and sincerely examin'd by the original Records thereof and the residue with the Register of Writs being the most ancient book of the Law the old and new Natura Brevium the books of Entries the books of Years and Terms in the Law the best approved and printed books and by all such other circumstances as might best give probability of truth to the learned Now certainly Mr. H. if Mr. Pulton was willing to take such vast pains to examine the old Statutes by the Records of the Tower and the variety of books he here mentions that full satisfaction might be given to all inquisitive men he would not without further inquiry print a Bill for a Statute especially seeing that he might with much more ease satisfie himself and others of the truth of this Statute than of those old Satutes he mentions And though Mr. H. tells us that after this Bill as he calls it had been once printed for a Statute it was an easie matter for the Lawyers unawares to accept it To this I answer that if it were so easie for the Lawyers unawares to accept of a Bill for a Statute yet methinks the Parliaments of England should not so readily accept it nor yet the grave Judges and Serjeants of the Law whose proper study and employment is to search the Records of the Tower and Statutes of Parliament I confess I am therefore so charitable to think that he could not entertain such dishonourable thoughts of those so grave and judicious of that Faculty but must rather intend by that saucy expression the younger and less experienc'd Wits of the Law but then one would admire that they should not have been so happy in their discoveries for near 150 years as the Castle-Cole Philosophers of our age pretend to be and truly of all the discoveries they have made since they obtain'd Certificates of their abilities to practise physick and have converted that noble Art into a contemptible trade this may bear away the Bell it being indeed their true Corner-stone for erecting a new Colledge of Mountebanks and petty-Chapmen but when all is done I am apt to believe that this Gentleman and the rest of his society will find the Lawyers more wary men than they are aware of and truly it behoves them to be so when they are to deal with men of such reaching heads beyond all of their own faculty and have made greater discoveries in the Lawyers profession than any of them can pretend to though they could have studied the Law from the 15 of H. 8. to the 27 of C. 2. The third circumstance that gives Mr. H. cause to believe the forementioned Act to be no Statute is this that in 3 H. 8. there was a Statute that lodged the power of licensing persons in the hands of the Bishop of London or Dean of Pauls which as he saith p. 13. was never repealed by any succeeding Law To this I need return little other answer but only desire M. H. to peruse the abrogation of that Statute in 14 15 H. 8. compar'd with the latter part of the Letters Patent granted by King Henry in the 10 of his Reign and the First of Queen Mary 9. with those four circumstances mention'd p. 8 10 to which give me leave to add a fifth it being very pertinent to our present purpose and that is the Statute made in 32 H. 8. where the Chirurgeons of London were likewise made a Body Corporate and had the search oversight punishment and correction of offences committed against Barbery and Surgery Now let this Statute be compar'd with that made in 3 H. 8. and you will find that all Chirurgeons as well as Physicians were exempted by one and the same Statute from exercising their
Art except they were first examined approved and admitted by the Bishop of London or Dean of Pauls upon pain of forfeiting five pounds for every moneth Now is it probable that the King and Parliament should abrogate the latter part of this Act for the Chirurgeons and Barbers in London and that as far as I can observe unrequested and yet the former part of that very same Act should still remain in force against the Physicians when the reason of both was but one and the same which you may read in the beginning of that Act as follows for asmuch as the Science and cunning of Physick and Chirurgery is dayly within this Realm exercised by a great multitude of ignorant persons therefore it was enacted that no Physician or Chirurgeon should practise Physick or Chirurgery without the Bishops Licence c. Now I wish that Mr. H. would give us some instances of Chirurgeons since this Charter of theirs that have taken Licences of the Bishop or Dean of Pauls refusing obedience to their own Corporation and pleading the Act of 3 H. 8. which they may as justifiably and legally do as any that practise Physick by the Bishops Licences and refuse submission to Collegiate establishments but I am apt to believe he cannot and then I will leave it to the judgment of any sober man whether Mr. H. hath not more rudely treated the Faculty of Physick than any other profession allowing Chirurgeons and Barbers a greater priviledge than he would Physicians although a man would have thought that his having been bred an Apothecary should have taught him better manners towards his Masters but alas poor man he hath been so long vers'd in the Quacking profession that as far as I can learn by the character he hath given of himself 't is a Chronical distemper so that doubtless had he consulted the Lawyers about justifying his practice against the Colledge they would rather have advised him to plead prescription for his doing so than the abrogated Statute of 3 H. 8. I wish therefore that the good man would be so kind to himself as seriously to read over the Statutes I have mention'd and consider of the circumstances I have propos'd against his to prove that the Collegiate Charter is established by Act of Parliament and then I doubt not but he will leave discoursing so impertinently and like an Apothecary if not I know not what can better help him out of this dangerous malady of his than a dose of his own Coelestial Liquor which as he saith is suited to all palates and constitutions But to proceed and give the Gentleman all the scope I can let me tell him that in his beloved Statute though the power of licensing Physicians in London was invested in the Bishops hands yet that of examination was lodg'd in the Physicians else 't is difficult to give a satisfactory reason why the Bishop or Dean are obliged to call to him or them four Doctors of Physick unless it were upon the forementioned account which having been I conceive seldom or never observed of late 't is a question to me whether any of the Licences given without this material clause be current in Law if this beloved Act of his were now in full force and power seeing 't is plain that in Doctor Bonham's Case the Justices of the Common Pleas gave it against the Colledge for their not pursuing their power given them by the Statute And then 't is probable that Mr. H. and most of his Tribe might find it a greater trouble to obtain their Licences than yet they have done and would then as little approve of the Bishops as they do of the Physicians Statute for 't is not that they respect one more than the other they being as truly State-Fanaticks as any can be term'd Ecclesiastick ones but that they hope their Certificates may pass for examination a test they more hate than Physicians themselves But however it be I am sure it is scarce worth Mr. H's so zealous contending for this Act seeing that in all points it suits not with his apprehension that Certificates of the integrity of mens lives and good success in practice are the surest evidence of a mans learning and knowledge proper for his Faculty the Act well fore-seeing that the greatest number of Smiths old Women and Weavers might readily procure those testimonials of their ability to practise and therefore as the preamble of that Act tells us that forasmuch as to the Science of Physick there is required both great learning and ripe experience it hath made provision of a much better test of mens abilities in that profession viz. Such as have been educated in the same Faculty and by their great learning and experience have arrived to some perfection in that noble and honourable Art The fourth Circumstance Mr. H. hath mention'd to prove the Collegiate Statute not confirmed by Act of Parliament abounds with such manifest contradictions that it needeth not any other confutation but barely its reading over which the Reader may find in the 14 pag. of his book CHAP. II. SECT 1. The Second question was this Whether the proceedings of the Colledge against Empiricks and unlicensed persons be oppressive TO the clearing of this question I have done much already in proving that the Colledge hath been established by 3 Acts of Parliament own'd as such by all the grave Judges and Lawyers of the Kingdom and therefore acting by those Statute Laws that were made ratified and confirmed by England's Sovereigns and Parliaments 't is very rude if not audacious to term their proceedings according to these Laws oppression and persecution as Mr. H. hath done in the title of his book and in the first page thereof I shall therefore for the clearing of this Question and the full satisfaction of all ingenious and inquisitive persons give them a true and faithful account of the excellent government of this learned Society After that King Henry the VIII had constituted a Colledge of Physicians and granted them power of chusing a President Elects and Censors and invested them with power of making Statutes and Ordinances pro salubri gubernatione super-visu correctione Collegii omnium hominum eandem facultatem in dicta civitate seu per septem milliaria exercentium i. e. for the safe or wholsom government oversight and correction of the Colledge and of all men practising Physick in the said City or within seven miles of the same They accordingly made these following Statutes And first as to the Electors in the Colledge Who were by the Letters Patent in number six but by the Statute of the 14 15 H. 8. were encreased to eight which number have been ever since continued and by the by may afford us another argument of the legality of that Statute and have the sole power of choosing the President and succeeding Elects yet this power of theirs is so far from an arbitrary one that they are by Statutes of their own obliged
stubbornness and contumaciousness of our late diseases with their great and main alterations than the Chimerical Ternary of your unanswerable friends viz. the Pox Scurvy and Worms whereby many of his Majesties subjects have not only been deprived of the Cure of their distempers but sacrificed their lives to the forementioned detestable prescriptions 'T is therefore likewise to be hoped that our Soveraign Lord the King who hath been so great an Encourager of all liberal Arts and Sciences will imitate his Royal Predecessor King Henry the Eighth in confirming that Charter by Act of Parliament which out of his Royal bounty he hath lately bestowed upon his Colledge of Physicians whereby the mechanical successors of those old Empiricks exactly described and characterized in 3 H. 8. may be prevented for the future from trying experiments upon his Majesty's Subjects to the high displeasure of God great infamy of the Faculty and the grievous hurt damage and destruction of the Kings liege people c. Nay further 't is to be hoped that the Chancellors of our Universities with the grave Judges of our Land and all other persons of ingenuous or Academick educations will be exemplary in the encouragement of this no less famous than worthy Colledge that so the Laws already made and established by the Parliaments of England being diligently prosecuted by them may give some check to their Empirical pride and insolency as well as their bold invasion of this noble Art of Medicine whereby so many of the worthy Professors of it have met with no small discouragement I shall therefore crave leave to conclude this subject with what hath been no less ingeniously than judiciously observed by a very curious and inquisitive person viz. That if Physicians who are men of so clear judgments so unparallel'd for industry have no more respect or consideration than mean empty shallow pretenders we may have reason to fear that hereafter persons of so great abilities and liberal education will scorn to look towards a Faculty which though honourable in its own nature is so low and mean in the esteem of the world that every person who hath confidence to affirm he is a Physician although perfectly ignorant of the Rudiments of Physick shall yet have no less countenance from the publick than those gallant persons who after a long courtship have rendred Nature familiar are acquainted with the causes and Cure of diseases and who have so deserved of mankind that I cannot but marshal them next to those divine persons who also as these are often slighted and neglected although of them the world is not worthy FINIS POSTSCRIPT SInce the writing of the first part of my Book which relates to the establishment of the Colledge of Physicians by Law I understood that the Records of the Parliament in 14 and 15 H. 8. were to be seen at the Rolls Chappel which ingaged me to make a very diligent search into that Act and the rest which concerned the Colledge of Physicians where I found upon that Parliament Roll 36 Acts publick and private whereof 26 were signed at the bottom with Respons Regis le Roy le veult and ten others stitched to these on the same Roll without le Roy le veult But at the end of the Roll there is affixed a Commission granted by the King to Cardinal Woolsey to Prorogue and Adjourn the Parliament from Blackfryers to Westminster and there to continue and hold it immediately after which Commission we may find that upon the 13 day of August about six in the evening the King being present the House of Commons was sent for and Sir Thomas Moore their Speaker having made a very elegant and learned Speech he presented the King with a very large Subsidy given by the Commons as a Testimony of their great devotion to their Prince which being done and the Lord Chancellor having according to the usual custom privately conferr'd with his Majesty he commanded that all those Acts which were made in that present Parliament for the publick good should be recited and published Quibus ex ordine per initia recitatis lectis singulis publicavit Parliamento respons secundum Annotationes Regiae voluntatis Declarativas à dors script fact dictus reverendissimus dominus Legatus Cancellar exhortando admonendo nomine Regis omnes Dominos Communes supradictos ut diligenter ordinata Statuta pro bono publico in hoc Parliamento observarent ab aliis observari procurarent c. Now 't is evident that the Titles of all Bills that were agreed upon by both Houses were read in the Kings presence and received the Royal Assent though it was not ingrossed by the Clerk of the Parliament upon Ten of those Acts which are to be seen in the forementioned Roll which are but Transcripts of the Original Records and therefore as far as can be proved Roy le veult might be ingross'd at the top or bottom of these Ten as well as the other 26. in the Original Records But however 't is plain that the Form and Essence of a Statute Law doth not consist in the Clerk of the Parliaments engrossing the Royal Assent at the top or bottom of an Act that not being done until the Session is over but in the Clerk of the Crown 's pronouncing of it after he hath read the Title of each Act according to certain instructions given from the King Now the Clerk having in the audience of Lords and Commons pronounced aloud to every publick Bill le Roy le veult to every private Bill soit fait comme il est desire and to every publick Bill the King refuseth to pass le Roy se avisera 't was no difficulty for the Judges and Lawyers Lords and Commoners to know what Acts passed that Session and that this Act relating to Physicians did then pass by this Royal Assent seems very clear because as I before intimated in page 8. of my book a Parliament within 17 years after in the same Kings Reign owned the Colledge as a Body Corporate and gave them several priviledges which they maintain and enjoy to this day and about 28 or 30 years after another Parliament confirmed the 14 and 15 H. 8. with every Article and Clause therein contained as you may see more at large page 9 10. And that the giving the Royal Assent to these two Acts last mentioned in 32 H. 8. and 1 Q. M. might not be questioned you may see it thus ingross'd upon the top of the first Item alia quaedam Billa formam cujusdam Actus in se continens exhibita est suae Regiae Majestati in Parliamento praedicto cujus tenor sequitur in haec verba And then the whole Statute is recited And at the bottom you will find it thus engrossed Cui quidem Billae perlectae ad plenum intellectae per dictum Dominum nostrum Regem ex authoritate assensu Parliamenti praedicti sic respons est Soit fait comme il est desire And at the bottom of the second of the two last mentioned Statutes you will find it thus engross'd Cui quidem Billae perlectae ad plenum intellectae per dictam Dominam Reginam ex authoritate Parliamenti praedicti sic respons est le Reigne le veult Now 't is plain that these Sessions of Parliament were not so long distant from the former but that some that were in both Houses of Parliament in these two Sessions might be in that and therefore would not have own'd the forementioned for an Act if they had not heard the Royal Assent given to it But besides this Act of Parliament with some others of the Ten were ever owned as Acts of Parliament As for instance an Act that the Sir Clerks of Chancery might marry an Act concerning Cordwayners an Act of Tracing Hares an Act for the Clothiers in Suffolk an Act for the payment of Custome an Act for the Haven or Port of Southhampton all which with two or three private ones were passed by the same authority that the Physicians was and if that be invalid all the former are much more Nay further these Acts were publickly printed and bound up after that Session which hath been in use ever since Printing hath been common in England so that they may be found not only in the Rolls Chappel but in Mr. Pulton's Statute-book and in old Books that are bound up with Acts of Parliament that were made in particular Princes Reigns which may be seen at Mr. Millers in St. Paul's Church-yard But suppose that this Testimony were not sufficient I would desire Mr. H. to resolve me whether the forementioned Parliaments owning and declaring it as an Act and the Judges upon several Tryals giving their opinions for it and the receiving it as a Record into the Rolls Chappel be not evidence enough to prove this very Statute an Act of Parliament for I am credibly informed that a Record being brought into the Rolls Chappel and received as such by the Master of that Court who is termed sacrorum scriniorum Magister is so far from being question'd that it is a full and sufficient evidence in any Court