Chancery for other Benches I am not yet so well resolued of their Iurisdiction in that point And for my part I was neuer against Prohibitions of this nature nor the trew vse of them which is indeed to keepe euery Riuer within his owne banks and channels But when I saw the swelling and ouerflowing of Prohibitions in a farre greater abundance then euer before euery Court striuing to bring in most moulture to their owne Mill by multitudes of Causes which is a disease very naturall to all Courts and Iurisdictions in the world Then dealt I with this Cause and that at two seuerall times once in the middest of Winter and againe in the middest of the next following Summer At euery of which times I spent three whole daies in that labour And then after a large hearing I told them as Christ said concerning Mariage Ab initio non fuit sic For as God conteins the Sea within his owne bounds and marches as it is in the Psalmes So is it my office to make euery Court conteine himselfe within his own limits And therfore I gaue admonitions to both sides To the other Courts that they should be carefull hereafter euery of them to conteine themselues within the bounds of their owne Iurisdictions and to the Courts of Common Law that they should not bee so forward and prodigall in multiplying their Prohibitions Two cautions I willed them to obserue in graunting their Prohibitions First that they should be graunted in a right and lawfull forme And next that they should not grant them but vpon a iust and reasonable cause As to the forme it was That none should be graunted by any one particular Iudge or in time of Vacation or in any other place but openly in Court And to this the Iudges themselues gaue their willing assent And as to the Cause That they should not be granted vpon euery sleight furmise or information of the partie but alwayes that a due and graue examination should first precede Otherwise if Prohibitions should rashly and headily be granted then no man is the more secure of his owne though hee hath gotten a Sentence with him For as good haue no Law or Sentence as to haue no execution thereof A poore Minister with much labour and expense hauing exhausted his poore meanes and being forced to forbeare his studie and to become non resident from his flocke obtaines a Sentence and then when hee loookes to enioy the fruits thereof he is defrauded of all by a Prohibition according to the parable of Christ That night when hee thinkes himselfe most happy shall his soule be taken from him And so is he tortured like Tantalus who when he hath the Apple at his mouth and that he is gaping and opening his mouth to receiue it then must it be pulled from him by a Prohibition and he not suffered to taste thereof So as to conclude this point I put a difference betweene the trew vse of Prohibitions and the superabounding abuse thereof for as a thing which is good ought not therefore bee abused so ought not the lawfull vse of a good thing be forborne because of the abuse thereof NOw the second generall ground whereof I am to speake concernes the matter of Grieuances There are two speciall causes of the peoples presenting Grieuances to their King in time of Parliament First for that the King cannot at other times be so well informed of all the Grieuances of his people as in time of Parliament which is the representatiue body of the whole Realme Secondly the Parliament is the highest Court of Iustice and therefore the fittest place where diuers natures of Grieuances may haue their proper remedie by the establishment of good and wholsome Lawes But though my Speech was before directed to the whole Body of Parliament yet in this case I must addresse my Speech in speciall to you of the Lower House I am now then to recommend vnto your considerations the matter and manner of your handling and presenting of Grieuances As for the manner though I will not denie but that yee representing the Body of the people may as it were both opportunè and inopportunè I meane either in Parliament as a Body or out of Parliament as priuate men present your Grieuances vnto mee yet would I haue you to vse this caution in your behauiour in this point which is that your Grieuances be not as it were greedily sought out by you or taken vp in the streetes as one said thereby to shew a willingnesse that you would haue a shew made that there are many abuses in the gouernment and many causes of complaint but that according to your first institution ye should only meddle with such Grieuances as your selues doe know had neede of reformation or had informations thereof in your countreys for which you serue and not so to multiply them as might make it noised amongst the people that all things in the gouernment were amisse and out of frame For euen at the beginning of this very Session of Parliament the generall name of Grieuances being mentioned among you such a conceipt came in the heads of many that you had a desire to multiply and make a great muster of them as euery one exhibited what his particular spleene stirred him vnto Indeed there fell out an accident vpon this occasion for which I haue reason to thanke you of the Lower house I meane for your fire worke wherein I confesse you did Honour to me and right to your selues For hauing one afternoone found many Grieuances closely presented in papers and so all thrust vp in a sacke together rather like Pasquils then any lawfull Complaints farre against your owne Orders and diuers of them proceeding from grudging and murmuring spirits you vpon the hearing read two or three of the first lines of diuers of them were not content with a publique consent to condemne them and to discharge any further reading of them but you also made a publique bonefire of them In this I say you shewed your care and ielousie of my Honour and I sent you thankes for it by the Chancellour of the Exchequer a member of your owne House who by your appointment that same night acquainted me with your proceedings And by him also I promised at that time that you should heare more of my thankes for the same at the first occasion And now I tell you it my selfe that you may know how kindely I take your duetifull behauiour in this case But since this was a good effect of an euill cause I must not omit also to admonish you vpon the other part to take a course amongst your selues to preuent the like accident in all times hereafter otherwise the Lower house may become a place for Pasquils and at another time such Grieuances may be cast in amongst you as may conteine Treason or scandal against Me or my Posterity Therfore in this case looke ouer your ancient Orders follow them and suffer not hereafter
great Citie Queene of the World and as themselues confesse 1 Eusebius Oecumenius and Leo hold that by Babylon in 1. Pet. 5.13 Rome is meant as the Rhemists themselues confesse mystically Babylon cannot but be so full of all sorts of Intelligencies Besides all complainers as the Catholikes here are be naturally giuen to exaggerate their owne griefes and multiply thereupon So that it is no wonder that euen a iust Iudge sitting there should vpon wrong information giue an vnrighteous sentence as some of their owne partie doe not sticke to confesse That Pius Quintus was too rashly caried vpon wrong information to pronounce his thunder of Excommunication vpon the late Queene And it may be the like excuse shall hereafter be made for the two Breues which 2 See the Relation of the whole proceedings against the Traitours Garnet and his confederates Clemens Octauus sent to ENGLAND immediatly before her death for debarring me of the Crowne or any other that either would professe or any wayes tolerate the professours of our Religion contrary to his manifold vowes and protestations simul eodem tempore and as it were deliuered vno eodem spiritu to diuers of my ministers abroad professing such kindnesse and shewing such forwardnesse to aduance me to this Crowne The Catholikes opinion of the Brene Nay the most part of Catholikes here finding this Breue when it came to their handes to bee so farre against Diuinitie Policie or naturall sense were firmely perswaded that it was but a counterfeit Libell deuised in hatred of the Pope or at the farthest a thing hastily done vpon wrong information as was before said Of which opinion were not onely the simpler sort of Papists but euen some amongst them of best account both for learning and experience whereof the Archpriest himselfe was one But for soluing of this obiection the Pope himselfe hath taken new paines by sending foorth a second Breue onely for giuing faith and confirmation to the former That whereas before his sinne might haue beene thought to haue proceeded from rashnesse and mis-information he will now wilfully and willingly double the same whereof the Copy followeth The second Breue TO OVR BELOVED SONNES the English Catholikes Paulus P. P.V tus BEloued sonnes Salutation and Apostolicall Benediction It is reported vnto vs that there are found certaine amongst you who when as we haue sufficiently declared by our Letters dated the last yeere on the tenth of the Calends of October in the forme of a Breue that yee cannot with safe Conscience take the Oath which was then required of you and when as wee haue further straitly commanded you that by no meanes yee should take it yet there are some I say among you which dare now affirme that such Letters concerning the forbidding of the Oath were not written of our owne accord or of our owne proper will but rather for the respect and at the instigation of other men And for that cause the same men doe goe about to perswade you that our commands in the said Letters are not to be regarded Surely this newes did trouble vs and that so much the more because hauing had experience of your obedience most dearely beloued sonnes who to the end ye might obey this holy Sea haue godlily and valiantly contemned your riches wealth honour libertie yea and life it selfe wee should neuer haue suspected that the trewth of our Apostolike Letters could once be called into question among you that by this pretence ye might exempt your selues from our Commandements But we doe herein perceiue the subtiltie and craft of the enemie of mans saluation and we doe attribute this your backwardnesse rather to him then to your owne will And for this cause wee haue thought good to write the second time vnto you and to signifie vnto you againe That our Apostolike Letters dated the last yeere on the tenth of the Calends of October concerning the prohibition of the Oath were written not only vpon our proper motion and of our certaine knowledge but also after long and weightie deliberation vsed concerning all those things which are contained in them and that for that cause ye are bound fully to obserue them reiecting all interpretation perswading to the contrary And this is our meere pure and perfect will being alwayes carefull of your saluation and alwayes minding those things which are most profitable vnto you And we doe pray without ceasing that hee that hath appointed our lowlinesse to the keeping of the flocke of Christ would inlighten our thoughts and our counsels whom we doe also continually desire that he would increase in you our beloued Sonnes faith constancie and mutuall charitie and peace one to another All whom we doe most louingly blesse with all charitable affection Dated at Rome at Saint Markes vnder the Signet of the Fisherman the x. of the Calends of September 1607. the third yeere of our Popedome THE ANSWERE TO THE second BREVE NOw for this Breue I may iustly reflect his owne phrase vpon him in tearming it to be The craft of the Deuill For if the Deuill had studied a thousand yeeres for to finde out a mischiefe for our Catholikes heere hee hath found it in this that now when many Catholikes haue taken their Oath and some Priests also yea the Arch-priest himselfe without compunction or sticking they shall not now onely be bound to refuse the profession of their naturall Allegiance to their Soueraigne which might yet haue beene some way coloured vpon diuers scruples conceiued vpon the words of the Oath but they must now renounce and forsweare their profession of obedience alreadie sworne and so must as it were at the third instance forsweare their former two Oathes first closely sworne by their birth in their naturall Allegiance and next clearely confirmed by this Oath which doeth nothing but expresse the same so as no man can now holde the faith or procure the saluation of his soule in ENGLAND that must not abiure and renounce his borne and sworne Allegiance to his naturall Soueraigne And yet it is not sufficient to ratifie the last yeeres Breue by a new one come forth this yeere but that not onely euery yeere but euery moneth may produce a new monster the great and famous Writer of the Controuersies the late vn-Iesuited Cardinall Bellarmine must adde his talent to this good worke by blowing the bellowes of sedition and sharpening the spurre to rebellion by sending such a Letter of his to the Archpriest here as it is a wonder how passion and an ambitious desire of maintaining that Monarchie should charme the wits of so famously learned a man The Copy whereof here followeth TO THE VERY REVEREND Mr. GEORGE BLACKWELL ARCH-PRIEST of the ENGLISH ROBERT BELLARMINE Cardinall of the holy Church of Rome Greeting REuerend Sir and brother in CHRIST It is almost fourtie yeeres since we did see one the other but yet I haue neuer bene vnmindfull of our ancient acquaintance neither haue I
generall gouernment of the people here it doeth not follow it should be extinct no more then because the Latine tongue is not the Mother or Radicall Language of any Nation in the world at this time that therefore the English tongue should onely now be learned in this Kingdome which were to bring in Barbarisme My meaning therefore is not to preferre the Ciuill Law before the Common Law but onely that it should not be extinguished and yet so bounded I meane to such Courts and Causes as haue beene in ancient vse As the Ecclesiasticall Courts Court of Admiraltie Court of Requests and such like reseruing euer to the Common Law to meddle with the fundamentall Lawes of this Kingdome either concerning the Kings Prerogatiue or the possessions of Subiects in any questions either betweene the King and any of them or amongst themselues in the points of Meum tuum For it is trew that there is no Kingdome in the world not onely Scotland but not France nor Spaine nor any other Kingdome gouerned meerely by the Ciuill Law but euery one of them hath their owne municipall Lawes agreeable to their Customes as this Kingdome hath the Common Law Nay I am so farre from disallowing the Common Law as I protest that if it were in my hand to chuse a new Law for this Kingdome I would not onely preferre it before any other Nationall Law but euen before the very Iudiciall Law of Moyses and yet I speake no blasphemie in preferring it for conueniencie to this Kingdome and at this time to the very Law of God For God gouerned his selected people by these three Lawes Ceremoniall Morall and Iudiciall The Iudiciall being onely fit for a certaine people and a certaine time which could not serue for the general of all other people and times As for example If the Law of hanging for Theft were turned here to restitution of treble or quadruple as it was in the Law of Moyses what would become of all the middle Shires and all the Irishrie and Highlanders But the maine point is That if the fundamentall Lawes of any Kingdome should be altered who should discerne what is Meum tuum or how should a King gouerne It would be like the Gregorian Calender which destroyes the old and yet doeth this new trouble all the debts and Accompts of Traffiques and Merchandizes Nay by that accompt I can neuer tell mine owne aage for now is my Birth-day remooued by the space often dayes neerer me then it was before the change But vpon the other part though I haue in one point preferred our Common Law concerning our vse to the very Law of GOD yet in another respect I must say both our Law and all Lawes else are farre inferiour to that Iudiciall Law of GOD for no booke nor Law is perfect nor free from corruption except onely the booke and Law of GOD. And therefore I could wish some three things specially to be purged cleared in the Common Law but alwayes by the aduise of Parliament For the King with his Parliament here are absolute as I vnderstand in making or forming of any sort of Lawes First I could wish that it were written in our vulgar Language for now it is in an old mixt and corrupt Language onely vnderstood by Lawyers whereas euery Subiect ought to vnderstand the Law vnder which he liues For since it is our plea against the Papists that the language in GODS Seruice ought not to be in an vnknowne tongue according to the rule in the Law of Moyses That the Law should be written in the fringes of the Priests garment and should be publikely read in the eares of all the people so mee thinkes ought our Law to be made as plaine as can be to the people that the excuse of ignorance may be taken from them for conforming themselues thereunto Next our Common Law hath not a setled Text in all Cases being chiefly grounded either vpon old Customes or else vpon the Reports and Cases of Iudges which ye call Responsa Prudentum The like whereof is in all other Lawes for they are much ruled by Presidents saue onely in Denmarke and Norway where the letter of the Law resolues all doubts without any trouble to the Iudge But though it be trew that no Text of Law can be so certaine wherein the circumstances will not make a variation in the Case for in this aage mens wits increase so much by ciuilitie that the circumstances of euery particular case varies so much from the generall Text of Law as in the Ciuill Law it selfe there are therefore so many Doctors that cōment vpon the Text neuer a one almost agrees with another Otherwise there needed no Iudges but the bare letter of the Law Yet could I wish that some more certaintie were set downe in this case by Parliament for since the very Reports themselues are not alwayes so binding but that diuers times Iudges doe disclaime them and recede from the iudgment of their predecessors it were good that vpon a mature deliberation the exposition of the Law were set downe by Acte of Parliament and such reports therein confirmed as were thought fit to serue for Law in all times hereafter and so the people should not depend vpon the bare opinions of Iudges and vncertaine Reports And lastly there be in the Common Law diuers contrary Reports and Presidents and this corruption doeth likewise concerne the Statutes and Acts of Parliament in respect there are diuers crosse and cuffing Statutes and some so penned as they may be taken in diuers yea contrary sences And therefore would I wish both those Statutes and Reports aswell in the Parliament as Common Law to be once maturely reuiewed and reconciled And that not onely all contrarieties should be scraped out of our Bookes but euen that such penall Statutes as were made but for the vse of the time from breach whereof no man can be free which doe not now agree with the condition of this our time might likewise beleft out of our bookes which vnder a tyrannous or auaritious King could not be endured And this reformation might me thinkes bee made a worthy worke and well deserues a Parliament to be set of purpose for it I know now that being vpon this point of the Common Law you looke to heare my opinion concerning Prohibitions and I am not ignorant that I haue bene thought to be an enemie to all Prohibitions and an vtter stayer of them But I will shortly now informe you what hath bene my course in proceeding therein It is trew that in respect of diuers honorable Courts and Iurisdictions planted in this Kingdome I haue often wished that euery Court had his owne trew limit and iurisdiction clearely set downe and certainly knowne which if it be exceeded by any of them or that any of them encroch one vpon another then I grant that a Prohibition in that case is to goe out of the Kings Bench but chiefliest out of the
any petitions or Grieuances to be deliuered obscurely or in the darke but openly and auowedly in your Publique house and there to be presented to the Speaker And as to the matter of your Grieuances I wish you here now to vnderstand me rightly And because I see many writing and noting I will craue your pardons to holde you a little longer by speaking the more distinctly for feare of mistaking First then I am not to finde fault that you informe your selues of the particular iust Grieuances of the people Nay I must tell you ye can neither be iust nor faithfull to me or to your Countreys that trust and imploy you if you doe it not For true Plaints proceede not from the persons imployed but from the Body represented which is the people And it may very well bee that many Directions and Commissions iustly giuen forth by me may be abused in the Execution thereof vpon the people and yet I neuer to receiue information except it come by your meanes at such a time as this is as in the case of Stephen Procter But I would wish you to be carefull to auoide three things in the matter of Grieuances First that you doe not meddle with the maine points of Gouernment that is my craft tractent fabrilia sabri to meddle with that were to lesson me I am now an old King for sixe and thirtie yeeres haue I gouerned in Scotland personally and now haue I accomplished my appâ—enticeship of seuen yeeres heere and seuen yeeres is a great time for a Kings experience in Gouernment Therefore there would not bee too many Phormios to teach Hannibal I must not be taught my Office Secondly I would not haue you meddle with such ancient Rights of mine as I haue receiued from my Predecessors possessing them More Maiorum such things I would bee sorie should bee accounted for Grieuances All nouelties are dangerous as well in a politique as in a naturall Body And therefore I would be loth to be quarrelled in my ancient Rights and possessions for that were to iudge mee vnworthy of that which my Predecessors had and left me And lastly I pray you beware to exhibite for Grieuance any thing that is established by a setled Law and whereunto as you haue already had a proofe you know I will neuer giue a plausible answere For it is an vndutifull part in Subiects to presse their King wherein they know before-hand he will refuse them Now if any Law or Statute be not conuenient let it be amended by Parliament but in the meane time terme it not a Grieuance for to be grieued with the Law is to be grieued with the King who is sworne to bee the Patron and mainteiner thereof But as all men are flesh and may erre in the execution of Lawes So may ye iustly make a Grieuance of any abuse of the Law distinguishing wisely betweene the faults of the person and the thing it selfe As for example Complaints may be made vnto you of the high Commissioners If so be trie the abuse and spare not to complaine vpon it but say not there shall be no Commission For that were to abridge the power that is in me and I will plainely tell you That something I haue with my selfe resolued annent that point which I meane euer to keepe except I see other great cause which is That in regard the high Commission is oâ— so high a nature from which there is no appellation to any other Court I haue thought good to restraine it onely to the two Archbishops where before it was common amongst a great part of the Bishops in England This Law I haue set to my selfe and therefore you may be assured that I will neuer finde fault with any man nor thinke him the more Puritane that will complaine to me out of Parliament aswell as in Parliament of any error in execution thereof so that hee prooue it Otherwise it were but a calumnie Onely I would bee loath that any man should grieue at the Commission it selfe as I haue already said Yee haue heard I am sure of the paines I tooke both in the causes of the Admiralty and of the Prohibitions If any man therefore will bring me any iust complaints vpon any matters of so high a nature as this is yee may assure your selues that I will not spare my labour in hearing it In faith you neuer had a more painefull King or that will be readier in his person to determine causes that are fit for his hearing And when euer any of you shall make experience of me in this point ye may be sure neuer to want accesse nor ye shall neuer come wrong to me in or out of Parliament And now to conclude this purpose of Grieuances I haue one generall grieuance to commend vnto you and that in the behalfe of the Countreys from whence ye come And this is to pray you to beware that your Grieuances sauour not of particular mens thoughts but of the generall griefes rising out of the mindes of the people and not out of the humor of the propounder And therefore I would wish you to take heede carefully and consider of the partie that propounds the grieuance for ye may if ye list easily discerne whether it bee his owne passion or the peoples griefe that makes him to speake for many a man will in your house propound a Grieuance out of his owne humour because peraduenture he accounts highly of that matter and yet the countrey that imployes him may perhaps either be of a contrary minde or at least little care for it As for example I assure you I can very well smell betweene a Petition that mooues from a generall Grieuance or such a one as comes from the spleene of some particular person either against Ecclesiasticall gouernment in generall or the person of any one Noble man or Commissioner in particular ANd now the third point remaines to bee spoken of which is the cause of my calling of this Parliament And in this I haue done but as I vse to doe in all my life which is to leaue mine owne errand hindmost It may bee you did wonder that I did not speake vnto you publikely at the beginning of this Session of Parliament to tell you the cause of your calling as I did if I bee rightly remembred in euery Session before But the trewth is that because I call you at this time for my particular Errand I thought it fitter to bee opened vnto you by my Treasurer who is my publike and most principall Officer in matters of that nature then that I should doe it my selfe for I confesse I am lesse naturally eloquent and haue greater cause to distrust mine elocution in matters of this nature then in any other thing I haue made my Treasurer already to giue you a very cleere and trew accompt both of my hauing and expenses A fauour I confesse that Kings doe seldome bestow vpon their Subiects in making them so particularly
that must interprete but either cleare Law or solide reason But in Countreys where the formalitie of Law hath no place as in Denmarke which I may trewly report as hauing my selfe beene an eye-witnesse thereof all their State is gouerned onely by a written Law there is no Aduocate or Proctour admitted to plead onely the parties themselues plead their owne cause and then a man stands vp and reads the Law and there is an end for the very Law-booke it selfe is their onely Iudge Happy were all Kingdomes if they could be so But heere curious wits various conceits different actions and varietie of examples breed questions in Law And therefore when you heare the questions if they be plaine there is a plaine way in it selfe if they be such as are not plaine for mens inuentions dayly abound then are you to interprete according to common sense and draw a good and certaine Minor of naturall reason out of the Maior of direct Lawe and thereupon to make a right and trew Conclusion For though the Common Law be a mystery and skill best knowen vnto your selues yet if your interpretation be such as other men which haue Logicke and common sense vnderstand not the reason I will neuer trust such an Interpretation Remember also you are Iudges and not a Iudge and diuided into Benches which sheweth that what you doe that you should doe with aduice and deliberation not hastily and rashly before you well study the case and conferre together debating it duely not giuing single opinions per emendicata suffragia and so to giue your Iudgement as you will answer to God and me Now hauing spoken of your Office in generall I am next to come to the limits wherein you are to bound yourselues which likewise are three First Incroach not vpon the Prerogatiue of the Crowne If there fall out a question that concernes my Prerogatiue or mystery of State deale not with it till you consult with the King or his Councell or both for they are transcendent matters and must not be sliberely caried with ouer-rash wilfulnesse for so may you wound the King through the sides of a priuate person and this I commend vnto your speciall care as some of you of late haue done very well to blunt the sharpe edge and vaine popular humour of some Lawyers at the Barre that thinke they are not eloquent and bold spirited enough except they meddle with the Kings Prerogatiue But doe not you suffer this for certainely if this liberty be suffered the Kings Prerogatiue the Crowne and I shall bee as much wounded by their pleading as if you resolued what they disputed That which concernes the mysterie of the Kings power is not lawfull to be disputed for that is to wade into the weakenesse of Princes and to take away the mysticall reuerence that belongs vnto them that sit in the Throne of God Secondly That you keepe yourselues within your owne Benches not to inuade other Iurisdictions which is vnfit and an vnlawful thing In this I must inlarge my selfe Besides the Courts of Common Law there is the Court of Requests the Admiraltie Court the Court of the President and Councell of Walles the President and Councell of the North High Commission Courts euery Bishop in his owne Court These Courts ought to keepe their owne limits and boundes of their Commission and Instructions according to the ancient Presidents And like as I declare that my pleasure is that euery of these shall keepe their owne limits and boundes So the Courts of Common Lawe are not to encroach vpon them no more then it is my pleasure that they should encroach vpon the Common Law And this is a thing Regall and proper to a King to keepe euery Court within his owne bounds In Westminster Hall there are foure Courts Two that handle causes Ciuill which are the Common-pleas and the Exchequer Two that determine causes Criminall which are the Kings-Bench and the Starre-Chamber where now I sit The Common-Pleas is a part and branch of the Kings-Bench for it was first all one Court and then the Common-Pleas being extracted it was called Common-Pleas because it medled with the Pleas of Priuate persons and that which remained the Kings-Bench The other of the Courts for ciuill Causes is the Exchequer which was ordeined for the Kings Reuenew That is the principall Institution of that Court and ought to be their chiefe studie and as other things come orderly thither by occasion of the former they may be handled and Iustice there administred Keepe you therefore all in your owne bounds and for my part I desire you to giue me no more right in my priuate Prerogatiue then you giue to any Subiect and therein I will be acquiescent As for the absolute Prerogatiue of the Crowne that is no Subiect for the tongue of a Lawyer nor is lawfull to be disputed It is Athiesme and blasphemie to dispute what God can doe good Christians content themselues with his will reuealed in his word so it is presumption and high contempt in a Subiect to dispute what a King can doe or say that a King cannot doe this or that but rest in that which is the Kings reuealed will in his Law The Kings-Bench is the principall Court for criminall causes and in some respects it deales with Ciuill causes Then is there a Chancerie Court this is a Court of Equitie and hath power to deale likewise in Ciuill causes It is called the dispenser of the Kings Conscience following alwayes the intention of Law and Iustice not altering the Law not making that blacke which other Courts made white nor è conuerso But in this it exceeds other Courts mixing Mercie with Iustice where other Courts proceed onely according to the strict rules of Law And where the rigour of the Law in many cases will vndoe a Subiect there the Chancerie tempers the Law with equitie and so mixeth Mercy with Iustice as it preserues men from destruction And thus as before I told you is the Kings Throne established by Mercy and Iustice The Chancerie is vndependant of any other Court and is onely vnder the King There it is written Teste meipso from that Court there is no Appeale And as I am bound in my Conscience to maintaine euery Courts Iurisdiction so especially this and not suffer it to sustaine wrong yet so to maintaine it as to keepe it within the owne limits and free from corruption My Chancellour that now is I found him Keeper of the Seale the same place in substance although I gaue him the Stile of Chancellour and God hath kept him in it till now and I pray God he may hold it long and so I hope he will He will beare mee witnesse I neuer gaue him other warrant then to goe on in his Court according to Presidents warranted by Law in the time of the best gouerning Kings and most learned Chancellours These were the limits I gaue vnto him beyond the same limits he hath promised me he
will neuer goe And as he hath promised me to take no other Iurisdiction to himselfe so is it my promise euer to maintaine this Iurisdiction in that Court Therefore I speake this to vindicate that Court from misconceipt and contempt It is the duetie of Iudges to punish those that seeke to depraue the proceedings of any the Kings Courts and not to encourage them any way And I must confesse I thought it an odious and inept speach and it grieued me very much that it should be said in Westminster Hall that a Premunire lay against the Court of the Chancery and Officers there How can the King grant a Premunire against himselfe It was a foolish inept and presumptuous attempt and fitter for the time of some vnworthy King vnderstand mee aright I meane not the Chancerie should exceed his limite but on the other part the King onely is to correct it and none else And therefore I was greatly abused in that attempt For if any was wronged there the complaint should haue come to mee None of you but will confesse you haue a King of reasonable vnderstanding and willing to reforme why then should you spare to complaine to me that being the high way and not goe the other way and backe-way in contempt of our Authoritie And therefore sitting heere in a seat of Iudgement I declare and command that no man hereafter presume to sue a Premunire against the Chancery which I may the more easily doe because no Premunire can bee sued but at my Suit And I may iustly barre my selfe at mine owne pleasure As all inundations come with ouerflowing the bankes and neuer come without great inconuenience and are thought prodigious by Astrologers in things to come So is this ouerflowing the bankes of your Iurisdiction in it selfe inconuenient and may proue prodigious to the State Remember therefore that hereafter you keepe within your limits and Iurisdictions It is a speciall point of my Office to procure and command that amongst Courts there bee a concordance and musicall accord and it is your parts to obey and see this kept And as you are to obserue the ancient Lawes and customes of England so are you to keepe your selues within the bound of direct Law or Presidents and of those not euery snatched President carped now here now there as it were running by the way but such as haue neuer beene controuerted but by the contrary approued by common vsage in times of best Kings and by most learned Iudges The Starre-Chamber Court hath bene likewise shaken of late and the last yeere it had receiued a sore blow if it had not bene assisted and caried by a few voyces The very name of Starre-Chamber seemeth to procure a reuerence to the Court. I will not play the Criticke to descant on the name It hath a name from heauen a Starre placed in it and a Starre is a glorious creature and seated in a glorious place next vnto the Angels The Starre-Chamber is also glorious in substance for in the composition it is of foure sorts of persons The first two are Priuie Counsellours and Iudges the one by wisedome in matters of State the other by learning in matters of Law to direct and order all things both according to Law and State The other two sorts are Peeres of the Realme and Bishops The Peeres are there by reason of their greatnesse to giue authority to that Court The Bishops because of their learning in Diuinitie and the interest they haue in the good gouernment of the Church And so both the learning of both Diuine and humane Law and experience and practise in Gouernment are conioyned together in the proceedings of this Court There is no Kingdome but hath a Court of Equitie either by it selfe as is heere in England or else mixed and incorporate in their Office that are Iudges in the Law as it is in Scotland But the order of England is much more perfect where they are diuided And as in case of Equitie where the Law determines not clearely there the Chancerie doeth determine hauing Equitie belonging to it which doeth belong to no other Court So the Starre-Chamber hath that belonging to it which belongs to no other Court For in this Court Attempts are punishable where other Courts punish onely facts And also where the Law punisheth facts easily as in case of Riots or Combates there the Starre-Chamber punisheth in a higher degree And also all combinations of practises and conspiracies And if the King be dishonoured or contemned in his Prerogatiue it belongeth most properly to the Peeres and Iudges of this Court to punish it So then this Court being instituted for so great causes it is great reason it should haue great honour Remember now how I haue taught you brotherly loue one toward another For you know well that as you are Iudges you are all brethren and your Courts are sisters I pray you therefore labour to keepe that sweete harmonie which is amongst those sisters the Muses What greater miserie can there bee to the Law then contempt of the Law and what readier way to contempt then when questions come what shall bee determined in this Court and what in that Whereupon two euils doe arise The one that men come not now to Courts of iustice to heare matters of right pleaded and Decrees giuen accordingly but onely out of a curiositie to heare questions of the Iurisdictions of Courts disputed and to see the euent what Court is like to preuaile aboue the other And the other is that the Pleas are turned from Court to Court in an endlesse circular motion as vpon Ixions wheele And this was the reason why I found iust fault with that multitude of Prohibitions For when a poore Minister had with long labour and great expence of charge and time gotten a sentence for his Tithes then comes a Prohibition and turnes him round from Court to Court and so makes his cause immortall and endlesse for by this vncertaintie of Iurisdiction amongst Courts causes are scourged from Court to Court and this makes the fruit of Suits like Tantalus fruite still neere the Suiters lips but can neuer come to taste it And this in deed is a great delay of Iustice and makes causes endlesse Therefore the onely way to auoyd this is for you to keepe your owne bounds and nourish not the people in contempt of other Courts but teach them reuerence to Courts in your publique speaches both in your Benches and in your Circuits so shall you bring them to a reuerence both of GOD and of the King Keepe therefore your owne limits towards the King towards other Courts and towards other Lawes bounding your selues within your owne Law and make not new Law Remember as I said before that you are Iudges to declare and not to make Law For when you make a Decree neuer heard of before you are Law-giuers and not Lawtellers I haue laboured to gather some Articles like an Index expurgatorius of nouelties new
crept into the Law and I haue it ready to bee considered of Looke to Plowdens Cases and your old Responsa prudentum if you finde it not there then ab initio non fuit sic I must say with CHRIST Away with the new polygamie and maintaine the ancient Law pure and vndefiled as it was before TO the Auditory I haue but little to say yet that little will not bee ill bestowed to be said at this time Since I haue now renewed and confirmed my resolution to maintaine my Oath the Law and Iustice of the Land So doe I expect that you my Subiects doe submit your selues as you ought to the obseruance of that Law And as I haue diuided the two former parts of my Charge So will I diuide this your submission into three parts for orderly diuisions and methode cause things better to be remembred First in generall that you giue due reuerence to the Law and this generall diuides it selfe into three First not to sue but vpon iust cause Secondly beeing sued and Iudgement passed against you Acquiesce in the Iudgement and doe not tumultuate against it and take example from mee whom you haue heard here protest that when euer any Decree shall be giuen against me in my priuate right betweene me and a Subiect I will as humbly acquiesce as the meanest man in the Land Imitate me in this for in euery Plea there are two parties and Iudgement can be but for one and against the other so one must alwayes be displeased Thirdly doe not complaine and importune mee against Iudgements for I hold this Paradoxe to bee a good rule in Gouernment that it is better for a King to maintaine an vniust Decree then to question euery Decree and Iudgement after the giuing of a sentence for then Suites shall neuer haue end Therefore as you come gaping to the Law for Iustice so bee satisfied and contented when Iudgement is past against you and trouble not mee but if you finde briberie or corruption then come boldly but when I say boldly beware of comming to complaine except you bee very sure to prooue the iustice of your cause Otherwise looke for Lex Talionis to bee executed vpon you for your accusing of an vpright Iudge deserues double punishment in that you seeke to lay infamie vpon a worthy person of that reuerent calling And be not tild on with your own Lawyers tales that say the cause is iust for their owne gaine but beleeue the Iudges that haue no hire but of me Secondly in your Pleas presume not to meddle with things against the Kings Prerogatiue or Honour Some Gentlemen of late haue beene too bold this wayes If you vse it the Iudges will punish you and if they suffer it I must punish both them and you Plead not vpon new Puritanicall straines that make all things popular but keepe you within the ancient Limits of Pleas. Thirdly make not many changes from Court to Court for hee that changeth Courts shewes to mistrust the iustnesse of the cause Goe to the right place and the Court that is proper for your cause change not thence and submit your selues to the Iudgement giuen there Thus hauing finished the Charge to my selfe the Iudges and the Auditorie I am to craue your pardon if I haue forgotten any thing or beene inforced to breake my Methode for you must remember I come not hither with a written Sermon I haue no Bookes to reade it out of and a long speach manifold businesse and a little leasure may well pleade pardon for any fault of memorie and trewly I know not if I haue forgotten any thing or not And now haue I deliuered First my excuse why I came not till now Next the reasons why I came now Thirdly my charge and that to my selfe to you my Lords the Iudges and to the Auditory I haue also an ordinary charge that I vse to deliuer to the Iudges before my Councell when they goe their Circuits and seeing I am come to this place you shall haue that also and so I will make the old saying trew Combe seldome combesore I meane by my long deteining you at this time which will bee so much the more profitable in this Auditorie because a number of the Auditorie will be informed here who may relate it to their fellow Iustices in the countrey My Lords the Iudges you know very well that as you are Iudges with mee when you sit here so are you Iudges vnder mee and my Substitutes in the Circuits where you are Iudges Itinerant to doe Iustice to my people It is an ancient and laudable custome in this Kingdome that the Iudges goe thorow the Kingdome in Circuits easing the people thereby of great charges who must otherwise come from all the remote parts of the Kingdome to Westminster Hall for the finding out and punishing of offences past and preuenting the occasion or offences that may arise I can giue you no other charge in effect but onely to remember you againe of the same in substance which I deliuered to you this time Twelue-moneth First Remember that when you goe your Circuits you goe not onely to punish-and preuent offences but you are to take care for the good gouernment in generall of the parts where you trauell as well as to doe Iustice in particular betwixt party and party in causes criminall and ciuill You haue charges to giue to Iustices of peace that they doe their dueties when you are absent aswell as present Take an accompt of them and report their seruice to me at your returne As none of you will hold it sufficient to giue a charge except in taking the accompt you finde the fruit of it So I say to you it will not bee sufficient for you to heare my charge if at your returne you bring not an accompt to the haruest of my sowing which cannot be done in generall but in making to me a particular report what you haue done For a King hath two Offices First to direct things to be done Secondly to take an accompt how they are fulfilled for what is it the better for me to direct as an Angel if I take not accompt of your doings I know not whether misunderstanding or slacknesse bred this that I had no accompt but in generall of that I gaue you in particular in charge the last yeere Therefore I now charge you againe that at your next returne you repaire to my Chancellour and bring your accompts to him in writing of those things which in particular I haue giuen you in charge And then when I haue seene your accompts as occasion shall serue it may bee I will call for some of you to be informed of the state of that part of the countrey where your Circuit lay Of these two parts of your seruice I know the ordinary Legall part of Nisi prius is the more profitable to you But the other part of Iustice is more necessary for my seruice Therefore as CHRIST said to the
that Religion increaseth vnder mee GOD is my witnesse I speake nothing for vaine-glory but speake it againe My heart is grieued when I heare Recusants increase Therefore I wish you Iudges to take it to heart as I doe and preuent it as you can and make me knowen to my people as I am There are three sorts of Recusants The first are they that for themselues will bee no Recusants but their wiues and their families are and they themselues doe come to Church but once or twice in a yeere inforced by Law or for fashion sake These may be formall to the Law but more false to GOD then the other sort The second sort are they that are Recusants and haue their conscience misse-led and therefore refuse to come to Church but otherwise liue as peaceable Subiects The third sort are practising Recusants These force all their seruants to bee Recusants with them they will suffer none of their Tenants but they must bee Recusants and their neighbours if they liue by them in peace must be Recusants also These you may finde out as a foxe by the foule smell a great way round about his hole This is a high pride and presumption that they for whose soules I must answere to GOD and who enioy their liues and liberties vnder mee will not onely be Recusants themselues but infect and draw others after them As I haue said in Parliament house I can loue the person of a Papist being otherwise a good man and honestly bred neuer hauing knowen any other Religion but the person of an Apostate Papist I hate And surely for those Polypragmaticke Papists I would you would studie out some seuere punishment for them for they keepe not infection in their owne hearts onely but also infect others our good Subiects And that which I say for Recusants the same I say for Priests I confesse I am loath to hang a Priest onely for Religion sake and saying Masse but if he refuse the Oath of Alleagiance which let the Pope and all the deuils in Hell say what they will yet as you finde by my booke and by diuers others is meerely Ciuill those that so refuse the Oath and are Polypragmaticke Recusants I leaue them to the Law it is no persecution but good Iustice And those Priests also that out of my Grace and Mercy haue beene let goe out of prisons and banished vpon condition not to returne aske mee no questions touching these quit me of them and let mee not heare of them And to them I ioyne those that breake prison for such Priests as the prison will not hold it is a plaine signe nothing will hold them but a halter Such are no Martyrs that refuse to suffer for their conscience Paul notwithstanding the doores were open would not come foorth And Peter came not out of the prison till led by the Angel of God But these will goe forth though with the angel of the Diuell I haue giuen order to my Lord of Canterbury and my Lord of London for the distinction c. of the degrees of Priests and when I haue an accompt from them then will I giue you another charge concerning them Another thing that offendeth the Realme is abundance of Ale-houses and therefore to auoyd the giuing occasion of euill and to take away the root and punish the example of vice I would haue the infamous Ale houses pulled downe and a command to all Iustices of Peace that this be done I may complaine of Ale-houses for receipt of Stealers of my Deere but the countrey may complaine for stealing their horses oxen and sheepe for murder cutting of purses and such like offences for these are their haunts Deuouring beasts as Lyons and Beares will not bee where they haue no dennes nor couert So there would be no theeues if they had not their receipts and these Ale-houses as their dennes Another sort are a kinde of Alehouses which are houses of haunt and receipt for debaushed rogues and vagabonds and idle sturdie fellowes and these are not properly Ale-houses but base victuallers such as haue nothing else to liue by but keeping houses of receipt for such kinde of customers I haue discouered a strange packe of late That within tenne or twelue miles of London there are ten or twelue persons that liue in spight of mee going with Pistols and walking vp and downe from harbour to harbour killing my Deere and so shift from hold to hold that they cannot be apprehended For Rogues you haue many good Acts of Parliament Edward the sixt though hee were a child yet for this he in his time gaue better order then many Kings did in their aage You must take order for these Beggars and Rogues for they so swarme in euery place that a man cannot goe in the streetes nor in the high wayes norany where for them Looke to your houses of Correction and remember that in the chiefe Iustice Pophams time there was not a wandering begger to bee found in all Somersetshire being his natiue countrey Haue a care also to suppresse the building of Cottages vpon Commons which are as bad as Alehouses and the dwellers in them doe commonly steale Deere Conies sheepe oxen horses breake houses and doe all maner of villanies It is trew some ill Iustices make gaine of these base things take an accompt of the Iustices of Peace that they may know they doe these things against the will of the King I am likewise to commend vnto you a thing very necessarie High-wayes and Bridges because no Common-weale can bee without passage I protest that as my heart doeth ioy in the erection of Schooles and Hospitals which haue beene more in my time then in many aages of my predecessours so it grieues mee and it is wonderfull to see the decay of charitie in this how scant men are in contributing towards the amendment of High-wayes and Bridges Therefore take a care of this for that is done to day with a penie that will not bee done hereafter with an hundred pounds and that will be mended now in a day which hereafter will not be mended in a yeere and that in a yeere which will not bee done in our time as we may see by Pauls Steeple Another thing to be cared for is the new Buildings here about the Citie of London concerning which my Proclamations haue gone foorth and by the chiefe Iustice here and his Predecessor Popham it hath bene resolued to be a generall nusans to the whole Kingdome And this is that which is like the Spleene in the body which in measure as it ouergrowes the body wastes For is it possible but the Countrey must diminish if London doe so increase and all sorts of people doe come to London and where doeth this increase appeare not in the heart of the Citie but in the suburbes not giuing wealth or profit to the Citie but bringing miserie and surcharge both to Citie and Court causing dearth and scarsitie through the great prouision of
victuals and fewel that must be for such a multitude of people And these buildings serue likewise to harbour the worst sort of people as Alehouses and Cottages doe I remember that before Christmas was Twelue-moneth I made a Proclamation for this cause That all Gentlemen of qualitie should depart to their owne countreys and houses to maintaine Hospitalitie amongst their neighbours which was equiuocally taken by some as that it was meant onely for that Christmas But my will and meaning was and here I declare that my meaning was that it should alwayes continue One of the greatest causes of all Gentlemens desire that haue no calling or errand to dwell in London is apparently the pride of the women For if they bee wiues then their husbands and if they be maydes then their fathers must bring them vp to London because the new fashion is to bee had no where but in London and here if they be vnmarried they marre their marriages and if they be married they loose their reputations and rob their husbands purses It is the fashion of Italy especially of Naples which is one of the richest parts of it that all the Gentry dwell in the principall Townes and so the whole countrey is emptie Euen so now in England all the countrey is gotten into London so as with time England will onely be London and the whole countrey be left waste For as wee now doe imitate the French fashion in fashion of Clothes and Lackeys to follow euery man So haue wee got vp the Italian fashion in liuing miserably in our houses and dwelling all in the Citie but let vs in Gods Name leaue these idle forreine toyes and keepe the old fashion of England For it was wont to be the honour and reputation of the English Nobilitie and Gentry to liue in the countrey and keepe hospitalitie for which we were famous aboue all the countreys in the world which wee may the better doe hauing a soile abundantly fertile to liue in And now out of my owne mouth I declare vnto you which being in this place is equall to a Proclamation which I intend likewise shortly hereafter to haue publikely proclaimed that the Courtiers Citizens and Lawyers and those that belong vnto them and others as haue Pleas in Terme time are onely necessary persons to remaine about this Citie others must get them into the Countrey For beside the hauing of the countrey desolate when the Gentrie dwell thus in London diuers other mischiefes arise vpon it First if insurrections should fall out as was lately seene by the Leuellers gathering together what order can bee taken with it when the countrey is vnfurnished of Gentlemen to take order with it Next the poore want reliefe for fault of the Gentlemens hospitalitie at home Thirdly my seruice is neglected and the good gouernment of the countrey for lacke of the principall Gentlemens presence that should performe it And lastly the Gentlemen lose their owne thrift for lacke of their owne presence in seeing to their owne businesse at home Therefore as euery fish liues in his owne place some in the fresh some in the salt some in the mud so let euery one liue in his owne place some at Court some in the Citie some in the Countrey specially at Festiuall times as Christmas and Easter and the rest And for the decrease of new Buildings heere I would haue the builders restrained and committed to prison and if the builders cannot be found then the workemen to be imprisoned and not this onely but likewise the buildings to bee cast downe I meane such buildings as may be ouerthrowen without inconuenience and therefore that to be done by order and direction There may be many other abuses that I know not of take you care my Lords the Iudges of these and of all other for it is your part to looke vnto them I heare say robbery begins to abound more then heretofore and that some of you are too mercifull I pray you remember that mercy is the Kings not yours and you are to doe Iustice where trew cause is And take this for a rule of Policie That what vice most abounds in a Common-wealth that must be most seuerely punished for that is trew gouernment And now I will conclude my Speach with GOD as I began First that in all your behauiours aswell in your Circuits as in your Benches you giue due reuerence to GOD I meane let not the Church nor Church-men bee disgraced in your Charges nor Papists nor Puritanes countenanced Countenance and encourage the good Church-men and teach the people by your example to reuerence them for if they be good they are worthy of double honour for their Office sake if they be faultie it is not your place to admonish them they haue another Forum to answere to for their misbehauiour Next procure reuerence to the King and the Law enforme my people trewly of mee how zealous I am for Religion how I desire Law may bee maintained and flourish that euery Court should haue his owne Iurisdiction that euery Subiect should submit himselfe to Law So may you liue a happie people vnder a iust KING freely enioying the fruite of PEACE and IVSTICE as such a people should doe Now I confesse it is but a Tandem aliquando as they say in the Schooles that I am come hither Yet though this bee the first it shall not with the grace of GOD bee the last time of my comming now my choice is taken away for hauing once bene here a meaner occasion may bring mee againe And I hope I haue euer caried my selfe so and by GODS grace euer will as none will euer suspect that my comming here will be to any partiall end for I will euer bee carefull in point of Iustice to keepe my selfe vnspotted all the dayes of my life And vpon this my generall protestation I hope the world will know that I came hither this day to maintaine the Law and doe Iustice according to my Oath IMPRINTED AT LONDON BY ROBERT BARKER AND IOHN BILL PRINTERS TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTIE ANNO DOM. 1616. Cum Priuilegio