Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	history_n	time_n	year_n	3,198	5	4.9573	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41341	The First part of the history of England extending to the conquest of so much of Britain as was subjected by the Romans : with an introductory preface to the whole / written in the year 1666.		1668 (1668)	Wing F978; ESTC R33319	73,974	104

marks of the greatness of an Estate for whosoever commands the Sea commands the Trade whosoever commands the Trade of the World commands the Riches of the World and consequently the World it self If with any other this being an Island in the midst of Trade betwixt the North and South East and West a temperate Clime upon the great waters of the World especially since relief may be received and sent with more certainty upon the invention of the Needle has manifest advantage Some men in certain Nations it must be confessed out of covetousness have in certain times abused the publique Revenue as did the Officers of the Greek Emperour Constantine when Mahomet besieged Constantinople Others out of envy to the glory of great and virtuous Commanders have puzzled business and obstructed necessaries as Hanno did to Hannibal in the course of his Victories against the Romans in Italy Others have been traiterous as was Bessus to Darius his Master in the time that Alexander invaded him And it did fall out to that Hanno the Ball was after toss'd upon African ground and consumed the envious obstructer his Family and Country to the Emperour who having try'd below his Imperial Dignity to ask money at the Doors of his Citizens for the necessary defence of him and them through a perverse and obstinate discontent at the former abuses though they had plenty within them that he was refused and so they perished together And to Bessus who depending on dealing with Alexander upon the ruine of his Prince of whom he had the greatest apprehensions did perish in the design And some heretofore out of arrogance and want of skill have endangered their Country But we must take great heed we be not too apt to think amiss of the actions of a Prince or his Officers which Men are too prone to complain of First because we cannot judge aright of them sithence they are at distance to most and secret to all the hearts of Kings are unsearchable Secondly We know not what they drive at for they rowe one way oft times and look another intending still the publique good Moreover they are but men and may have their failings and we ought to cover and not divulge much less expatiate on their Infirmities as we would not men should do so to us They have their hands full of business so that it is almost impossible but that deficiencies must be Adde to this that male contents do always magnifie the oversights of men in authority and vilifie their good deeds beyond a due proportion and by the reports they spread up and down do give a discolouring to their actions So that for this very reason we must always allow many grains and if it were as bad as it may be sometimes made which without all dispute it is not as all men have their failings so have they oft their poculiar periods wherein they commit them sometimes gaining ground by such stumbles and make the more wary men upon the benefit of their experience 11. THe gradations means and manner how the English Nation came to such a greatness is the subject of the History of England of which the following Book is the first part and this the Sum. At the discovery hereof by Julius Caesar it was divided into a multitude of petty governments exceeding weak for that reason and more liable to the Roman Conquests Under them it continued some hundreds of years in that time designed in the nature of a Treasury out of which they might draw men and wealth for the purposes of the Roman interests On their Exigencies in the Continent they left it weak and subject to all Invaders being disabled by the policies and practises of their late Masters for what they had most apprehensions of they did most carefully endeavour to extinguish which was the power and strength of them whom having subdued they had desire to keep under In this condition habituated also for several Ages to a Slavish temper of mind they were the more easily conquered by the Saxons invited in to assist them upon the fresh affliction of their Northern Neighbours Under them it continued a considerable time divided into seven Nations commonly called the Saxon Heptarchy being then in somewhat better plight to defend themselves than formerly because they were reduced to a fewer number of principalities and were in no subjection the Danish inroads and the consequence thereof for some too considerable time excepted After divers contentions and great fluctuations it all resolved at last into one Monarchy under a West Saxon Prince and then far more considerable While it remained thus the Church of Rome and sereral of the Nobility who had large possessions here from the Roman policy in granting large immunities to some who yeilded to them in their Conquests consequently great interest did frequently perplex the Nation with civil diffention and by that very means principally it became a prey to the Norman Conquerour The same causes remaining the effects did not differ under the succeeding Kings in somuch that those victorious Attempts and Conquests that were made in several places especially in France were frequently distracted and at last utterly extinguisht by our contentions at home In the time of Henry the 4th The policy upon which great men kept and increased their estates beyond a moderate and competent bulk by advantage of a Statute they had gained in the days of Edward the First impowring them to Entayle all was frustrated by an invention at Law which could not be effected before upon divers designs in Parliament the issue of this was a bane to great possessions and consequently to such powers and interests as did frequently mate the Kings and disturb the people of England Henry the 7th followed the blow acting several things levelled to the same purpose and with benefit to them that in those days did not generally think so for by this means they were taken off from inclinations to a common mischief to which they were provok'd by their passions and the urgings of vain and necessitous men and in the calamity whereof they themselves and their Families had the most deplorable shares The Church of Rome together with the Doctrine of Salvation had impress'd in the minds of men an opinion that what is once given to the Church is Sacrilege to take away by which means it likewise having divers other arts to increase they kept their estates and became very formidable to the Kings of England but being undertook by Henry the 8th he tore from them with great severity those large possessions which rendred them dangerous to his interests Queen Elizabeth his Daughter by a long and prudent reign did fix her self and marvellously improve the Interest of this Nation wrapt up inseparably with the truest of the Crown And now did begin to appear the fruits of the Mariners Compass not long before invented the Trade and shiping of the world leaving the calmer and and setling in our more active Seas