Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	law_n	parliament_n	repeal_v	2,928	5	12.0628	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47020	A continuation of the secret history of White-hall from the abdication of the late K. James in 1688 to the year 1696 writ at the request of a noble lord ... : the whole consisting of secret memoirs ... : published from the original papers : together with The tragical history of the Stuarts ... / by D. Jones ...	Jones, D. (David), fl. 1676-1720.	1697 (1697)	Wing J929; ESTC R34484	221,732	493

once more we have attempted it in five rencounters already and fail'd but in the sixth we shall prevail and so having gather'd some Force together he advanced towards Sterling where he gave Edward the II. who was then King of England such a Defeat as Scotland never gave the like to our Nation and so continued War with various Fortune with Edward the III. till at last Age and Leprosie brought him to his Grave But some time before his Death he got the Crown settled upon his Son David then a Child and for want of his having Issue upon Robert Stuart his Sister's Son and this by Act of Parliament and the Nobles sware to it accordingly His Son David of between eight and nine Years old inherited that which he had with so much Difficulty and Danger obtain'd and wisdom kept He was in his Minority govern'd by Thomas Randolf Earl of Murrey whose severity in punishing was no less dreaded than his Valour had been honoured but he soon after dying of Poyson and Edward Baliol the Son of John coming with a Fleet and being strengthned with the assistance of the English and some Robbers the Governor the Earl of Mar was put to the Rout so that Baliol makes himself King and David was glad to retire into France Amidst these Parties Edward the III. backing of Baliol Scotland was pitifully torn and the Bruces in a manner extinguished till Robert Stuart afterward King of Scotland with the Men of Argyle and his own Friends and Family began to renew the claim and brought the Matter into a War again which was carry'd on by Andrew Murray the Governor and afterward by himself so that David after nine Years Exile adventured to return where making frequent Incursions he did at length in the fourth year after his Return march into England and in the Bishoprick of Durham was routed and fled to an obscure Bridge shewed by the Inhabitants to this day where he was taken Prisoner by John Copeland and continued so for the space of eleven Years Soon after his Releasment and Return home he calls a Parliament wherein he enacted several Laws for the punishment of such as had fled from him at the Battle of Durham and more particularly levelling at Robert Stuart as being one of them who had been the Cause of that great Overthrow He got that Act passed in his Father's time whereby the Crown was appointed for want of Issue of his Body lawfully begotten to descend to the said Robert Stuart to be repeal'd and John Southerland Son to Jane his youngest Sister made Heir apparent in his stead and the Nobility swore to the observance of the said Law This made the Earl of Southerland so confident of the matter that he gave almost all his Lands away among his Friends and Acquaintance But alas he was wretchedly mistaken for his Son being afterwards one of those sent as Hostages into England for the security of the payment of King David's Ransom he died there of the Plague and Robert Stuart attain'd the King's Favour again and succeeded as Heir to the Crown being the first of the Name of the Stuarts that ever sway'd a Scepter But things did not go on so smoothly with Robert Stuart upon the Death of Southerland his Competitor first and of King David afterward but that he met with another Rub in his way from William Earl of Dowglas who when the Lords were assembled at Lithguo about the Succession came thither with a great Power and urged he ought to be preferr'd before Stuart as being descended from the Baliols and Cummins But finding at length that his own Friends and particularly the Earls of March and Murray his Brethren with the Lord Erskein who all three were in great power as being Governors one of Dunbritton another of Sterling and the third of Edinburg opposed him he thought it most advisable to desist from his Claim And so Robert Stuart was Crown'd at Scone on Lady-day in the Year 1370. being the 47th Year of his Age. But that Dowglas might be a little soothed up under his present Disappointment and kept from disturbing the common Tranquillity the King bestows Euphemia his eldest Daughter in Marriage upon him Whether it were thro' an advanced Age or Sloth we find he did but little since his Accession to the Crown but his Lieutenants and the English were perpetually in action during the course of his Reign which was according to Buchanan nineteen Years and four and twenty Days And tho' it's true we do not find his Death to have been violent or any ways accelerated by Grief of Heart but natural in an old age having lived seventy-four Years yet surely he laid the Foundation for the many Parricides Fratricides and other dreadful Calamities that befel his Posterity in a very great measure by preferring his Illegitimate Children by Elizabeth Moor his Concubine before those he had lawfully begotten on Euphemia Ross his Wife And the Case was briefly thus At the time of his attaining the Crown the foresaid Euphemia Daughter to Hugh Earl of Ross was his lawful Wife by whom he had two Sons Walter afterward created Earl of Atholl and David Earl of Strathern but before he was married he kept one Elizabeth Mure for so the Scotch write the Name as his Concubine and had by her three Sons John Earl of Carrick Robert Earl of Ment●ith and Fife and Alexander Earl of Buchan with several Daughters Now Queen Euphemia departed this Life three Years after her Husband became King who forthwith marry'd Elizabeth Mure his old Paramour either to legitimate the Children he had by her which it seems was the manner in those days or else for old acquaintance her Husband Gifford for you must know he had got her matched to cover her shame dying about the same time as the Queen had done This step drew on another and there was no stoping now but the Children formerly begotten on this Woman in Adultery must have the Crown entailed upon them by Parliament in prejudice to the other two who by any thing that appears in History were finer Gentlemen and fitter as they had a juster Claim to govern then either of these I know the Lord Viscount Tarbert in a late Pamphlet has taken upon him to vindicate the Legitimacy of Moor's Children against all the Authority of the Scotch Historians who lived at or near those times and ever since who could not be ignorant of so material a thing as this and to this end he Cites several Records It 's not my business to answer his allegations but I am sure the Records would never have named John that afterwards succeeded Tanquam haeres if he had been true and undoubted Heir And so I leave any one to judge if the Records do not thereby make much more against his Legitimacy than it does for it But right or wrong the Sluts Will must be gratified and so John succeeds his Father in the Scottish Kingdom but not by the

hereunto As for their part it should be their earnest desire and study to pretermit no occasion of perpetuating the Peace betwixt the two Neighbour Nations and that there was but one sure way to induce an amnesty of all past differences and to stifle the spring of them for ever by the Queen of England's Declaring by an Act of Parliament Confirmed by the Royal assent That their Queen was Heiress to the Kingdom of England next after her self and her Children if ever she had any And when the Ambassador had urged the equity and reasonableness of such a Law and how beneficial it would be to all Britain by many Arguments he added in the close That she being her nearest Kinswoman ought to be more intent and diligent than others in having such an Act made and that the Queen his Mistress did expect that Testimony of good will and respect from her To which the Queen of England made Answer to this purpose I wonder she hath forgot how that before her departure out of France that after much urging she promised that the League made at Leith should be Confirmed She having faithfully engaged it should be so as soon as e're she returned to her own Country I have continued she been put off with Words long enough now it is time if she had any regard to her Honour that her Actions should answer her Words To which the Ambassador replied That he was sent on that Embassy but a very few Da●●s after the Queens arrival before she had entred upon the Administration of any publick affairs that she had been hitherto taken up in treating of the Nobility many of whom she had never seen before who came from diverse parts to perform their duti●ull Salutations to her but that she was chiefly employ'd about settling the State of Religion which how troublesome and difficult a thing it is said he Your self well know Hence he proceeded to shew that his Mistress had had no vacant time at all before his departure neither had she yet called sit Men for her Council to Consult about various affairs especially since the Nobility who lived in the remotest parts of the North had not been yet able to attend her before his coming away with whose advice matters of s●ch publick moment could and ought to be transacted which words somewhat incensed Queen Elizabeth and said What need hath the Queen to make any Consultation about that which she hath obliged her self to under Hand and Seal he replyed I can give no other answer at present for I received no Command about it neither did our Q. expect that an account thereof would now be required of me and you may easily consider with your self what Just causes of delay she at present lies under and after some other Words the Queen returned to the main point and said I observe what you most insist upon in behalf of the Queen and in seconding the Requests of the Nobles you put me in mind That your Queen is descended from the Blood of the King 's of England and that I am bound to love her by a natural Obligation as being my near Kinswoman which I neither can nor will deny I have also made it evident to the whole World that in all my Actions I ne'er attempted any thing against the good and Tranquility of her self and her Kingdom those who are acquainted with my inward thoughts and inclinations are conscious that tho' I had just cause of offence given by her using my Arms and claiming a Title to my Kingdom yet I could hardly be perswaded but that these seeds of hatred came from others and not from her self However the case stands I hope she does not pretend to take away my Crown whilst I am alive nor hinder my Children if I have any to Succeed me in the Kingdom But if any Calamity should happen to me before as she shall never find that I have done any thing to prejudice the right she pretends to have to the Kingdom of England so I never thought my self obliged to make a disquisition into what that right is and I am of the same mind still and so shall leave it to those who are skillfull in the Law to determine As for your Queen she may expect this confidently of me that if her cause be just I shall not prejudice it in the least I call God to witness that next to my self I know none that I would prefer before her or if the matter come to a dispute that can exclude her Thou knowest said she who are the Competitors by what assistance or in hopes of what Force can such poor Creatures attempt such a mighty thing After some further discourse the Conclusion was short That it was a business of great weight and moment and that this was the first time she had entertained serious thoughts about it and therefore she had need of longer time to dispatch it Some Days after she sent for the Ambassador again and told him That she extreamly wondered why the Nobility should demand such a thing of her upon the first arrival of the Queen especially knowing that the causes of former offences were not yet taken away But continued she What pray do they require that I having been so much wronged should before any satisfaction received gratify her in so large a manner This demand is not far from a threat If they proceed on in this way let them know that I have Force at home and Friends abroad as well as they who will defend my just right To which he answered That he had shewn clearly at first how that the Nobility had insisted on this hopefull Medium of Concord partly out of Duty to their own Queen in a prospect to maintain her ●weal and increase her Dignity and partly out of a desire to contribute and settle publick Peace and Amity and that they dealt more plainly with her then with any other Prince In this Cause proceeds said he your known and experimented good will towards them and also upon the account of their own safety For they knew they must venture Life and Fortune if any body did oppose the right of the Queen or if any War did arise betwixt the Nations on that Account And therefore their desires did not seem unwarantable or unjust as tending to the cradicating the seeds of all Discords and the settling of a firm and solid Peace She rejoyned If I had Acted any thing that might diminish your Queens right then your demand might have been Just that what was amiss might be amended but this postulation is without an Example that I should wrap my self up in my Winding-Sheet while I am alive neither was the like asked before by any Prince however I take not the good intention of your Nobility amiss and the rather because it is an Evidence to me that they have a desire to promote the Interest and Honour of their Queen And I do put as great a value upon their