the Woolsacks and the Queen 's Learned Council on the outside of the Woolsacks next the Earls The Masters of the Chancery sate two of the same side and two on the other side next the Bishops The Clerk of the Parliament and the Clerk of the Crown sate on the lower Woolsack and had a Table before them And the Clerk of the Parliament had his Clerks under him who kneeled behind the Woolsack and wrote thereon All those Peers as appears by the Journal of the Upper House A. 8. Regin Eliz. the 2. day of Feb. being Wednesday which follows after in its due place who are before mentioned had their Mantles Hoods and Surcoats being of Crimson Velvet or of Scarlet furred with Meniver their Arms put out on the right side and the Duke of Norfolk had four Bars of Meniver The Marquess of Winchester and the Earls three And the Viscounts and the Barons two Henry Earl of Southampton and the Lord Dacres of the North were as I conceive at this time both under Age and in ward to her Majesty and if they were present as many times such were admitted upon such Solemn days as these then doubtless they did either stand besides the upper part of the rail at the higher end of the Parliament House or else were admitted to kneel at the upper end of the said House near the Chair of State for no Peer is called to sit as a Member of that great Council or to have his free voice until he have accomplished his full Age unless by the special grace of the Prince and that very rarely unless they be near upon the Age of twenty at the least The Sons and Heirs apparent of Peers that sit in the House stand on ordinary days without the upper Rail These Animadversions being thus premised touching the places and Robes of the Peers now follows the coming up of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons into the Upper House which being not found in the Original Journal Book of the same I have suppli'd with some additions out of the Original Journal Book of the House of Commons A. primo Regin Eliz. and with it the Speech of Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper at large out of a Copy thereof I had by me The Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons remained sitting in their own House till notice was brought them by ..... according to the Ancient Custom and usage that her Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the residue were set in the Upper House expecting their repair thither whereupon they went up immediately unto the said House and being set in as many as conveniently could and standing below the Rail or Bar at the nether end of the said House Sir Nicolas Bacon Lord Keeper after he had first privately in the presence of them all conferred with her Majesty went and stood behind the Cloth of Estate on the right hand and there spake as followeth viz. MY Lords and Masters all The Queen 's most excellent Majesty our Natural and most Gracious Sovereign Lady having as you know Summoned hither her High Court of Parliament hath commanded me to open and declare the chief Causes and Considerations that moved her Highness thereunto And here my Lords I wish not without great cause there were in me ability to do it in such order and sort as is beseeming for her Majesties honour and the understanding of this presence and as the great weightiness and worthiness of the Matter doth require it to be done The remembrance whereof and the number of my imperfections to the well performing of it doth indeed plainly to speak breed in me such Fear and Dread that as from a man abashed and well nigh astonied you are to hear all that I shall say therein True it is that some Comfort and Encouragement I take through the hope I have conceived by that I have seen and heard of your gentle sufferance by others whereof I look upon equal cause equally with others to be partaker and the rather for that I am sure good will shall not want in me to do my uttermost And also because I mean to occupie as small a time as the greatness of such a cause will suffer thinking that to be the meetest Medicine to cure your tedious hearing and mine imperfect and disordered speaking Summarily to say the immediate cause of this Summons and Assembly be Consultations Advice and Contentation For although divers things that are to be done here in Parliament might by means be reformed without Parliament yet the Queen's Majesty seeking in her Consultation of importance Contentation by assent and surety by Advice and therein reposing her self not a little in your Fidelities Wisdoms and Discretions meaneth not at this time to make any Resolutions in any matter of weight before it shall be by you sufficiently and fully debated examined and considered Now the Matters and causes whereupon you are to Consult are chiefly and principally three points Of those the first is of well making of Laws for the according and uniting of these people of the Realm into an uniform order of Religion to the Honour and Glory of God the establishing of the Church and Tranquillity of the Realm The second for the Reforming and removing of all Enormities and Mischiefs that might hurt or hinder the Civil Orders and Policies of this Realm the third and last is advisedly and deeply to weigh and consider the Estate and Condition of this Realm and the Losses and Decays that have happened of late to the Imperial Crown thereof and therefore to advise the best remedies to supply and relieve the same For the first the Queen's Majesty having God before her Eyes and being neither unmindful of Precepts and Divine Councils meaneth and intendeth in this Conference first and chiesly there should be sought the advancement of God's honour and Glory as the sure and infallible foundation whereupon the Policies of every good Common-Wealth are to be erected and knit and as the straight line whereby it is wholly to be directed and governed and as the chief Pillar and Buttress wherewith it is continually to be sustained and maintained And like as the well and perfect doing of this cannot but make good success in all the rest so the remiss and loose dealing in this cannot but make the rest full of imperfections and doubtfulness which must needs bring with them continual Change and alteration things much to be eschewed in all good Governances and most of all in matters of Faith and Religion which of their natures be and ought to be most Stable Wherefore her Highness willeth and most earnestly requireth you all first and principally for the Duty you bear unto God whose cause this is and then for the Service you owe to her Majesty and your Country whose Weal it concerneth universally and for the Love you ought to bear to your selves whom it toucheth one by one particularly That in this Consultation you with
and Duty and as the contrary doing in the first were Monstrous in nature so surely the contrary doing in the second were Monstrous in reason Now her Majesty having this Authority in her as Head of the Politick Body of this Realm and therewith being credibly informed of your approved Fidelity wisdom and discretion and of the long experience that you have had in Parliament matters thinketh that if her Highness should assent to your Desire it would be prejudicial to her Majesty and the Common-wealth of the Realm Besides also for as much as you have been chosen and enabled to this Office and place according to an Ancient and Laudable Order by so many wise sage and discreet Knights and Burgesses to whose Judgment and opinion her Highness thinketh it meet and convenient for her to have great regard and to give much credit and saith that for that respect also her Majesty may not conveniently grant your Petition Again your self seeking in humble and reverent manner your own discharge and disablement have indeed by well comely modest and orderly doing thereof given no small cause whereby you are to be enabled and therefore her Majesty upon these respects and divers others doth now presently admit this Election and presentation made of you nothing at all doubting but that you will with such diligence faithfulness and circumspection use and Exercise your Office as thereby the good hope and expectation that her Majesty hath received of you by that she hath heard of others already shall be by that her self shall see and hear not only confirmed but also increased and augmented And so as her Highness's Loving Subjects of her Common's House shall neither have just cause to repent their Election her Majesty her admission nor you your self the assumption and taking upon you this Charge Unto which Speech of the Lord Keepers Sir Thomas Gargrave humbly submitting himself to the undergoing of the Charge and service imposed on him made a discreet and submissive answer in which he expressed the great blessedness now accrewed to the Realm and all conditions therein by her Majesties attaining the Crown being a Princess so Richly endued with Piety Wisdom Mercy Justice and tender Care of her people's good and safety and with all other gifts of mind and body requisite for the Government of so great a Kingdom Then he proceeded to many hearty Prayers and feeling Expressions of the good success of the Parliament and for the uniting of their Councils in one Issue and to the repairing of the many losses and preventing of many dangers now imminent over the Realm And lastly he came according to the usual Form first to desire Liberty of access for the House of Commons to the Queen's Majesties presence upon all Urgent and Necessary Occasions Secondly that if in any thing himself should mistake or misreport or over-slip that which should be committed unto him to declare that it might without prejudice to the House be better declared and that his unwilling Miscarriage therein might be pardoned Thirdly that they might have Liberty and freedom of Speech in whatsoever they Treated of or had occasion to propound and debate in the House The fourth and last that all the Members of the House with their Servants and necessary Attendants might be exempted from all manner of Arrests and Suits during the continuance of the Parliament and the usual space both before the beginning and after the ending thereof as in former times hath always been accustomed To which Speech of the said Speaker the Lord Keeper without any long pausing repli'd again in manner and form following MR. Speaker the Queen's Majesty hath heard and doth very well understand your wise and discreet Oration full of good meaning good Will and good Matter the Effect whereof as I take it may be divided into three parts of those the first containeth the commendation of the Queen's Highness The Second certain good wishes and desires of yours very honorable profitable and Commodious for the Realm to be followed and put into Execution The third divers Petitions concerning the Exercises of your Office and the Liberties and Priviledges of the Commons House For the first the Queen's Majesty giveth you most hearty thanks as for a good Exhortation made to her Highness to become such a one as you have commended her for but not acknowledging those vertues to be in her Highness Marry confessing that such as she hath be God's graces And therewithal her Highness wisheth as she trusteth you all do that for England's sake there were as many vertues in her as would serve for the good Government of this her Realm committed to her Royal Charge and desireth you all with her to give God dayly thanks for those which she hath and to make humble Petition to grant such increase of the rest as to his divine Providence shall be thought for his honour most Meet For the Second her Maiesty trusteth and verily believeth that those good wishes and desires of yours are so deeply graven and perfectly imprinted in the hearts of the hearers that the good success and sequel that should come thereof will evidently declare that you have not in vain spoken them nor they negligently heard them For the third and last you have divided into four Petitions The first for your access to the Queen's Highness and her Nobles for your reports and conference The Second that you be born with in any thing if you should in any of your reports be mistaken or overslipped and that without prejudice to the House it be better declared The Third Liberty of Speech for well debating of Matters propounded The Fourth and last that all the Members of the House and their Servants may have the same freedom from all manner of Suits as before time they used to have To these Petitions the Queen's Majesty hath commanded me to say unto you that her Highness is right well contented to grant them unto you as largely as amply and as liberally as ever they were granted by any her Noble Progenitors and to confirm the same with as great an Authority Marry with these Conditions and cautions first that your access be void of importunity and for matters Needful and in time Convenient For the Second that your Diligence and Carefulness be such Mr. Speaker that the defaults in that part be as rare as may be whereof her Majesty doubteth little For the Third which is for Liberty of Speech therewith her Highness is right well contented but so as they be neither unmindful or uncareful of their Duties Reverence and Obedience to their Sovereign For the last great heed would be taken that no evil disposed person seek of purpose that priviledge for the only defrauding of his Creditors and for the maintenance of injuries and wrongs These Admonitions being well remembred her Majesty thinketh all the said Liberties and Priviledges well granted To come to an end only this I have to put you in mind of that in the sorting of
deal both safely and honourably as well for your Self as for your State For thereby it seemeth that neither shall she nor any for her hereafter dare deal to do harm but also all Foreign Princes and Nations will think much Honour of such your merciful proceedings And lastly whereas she hath fallen into your hands from the violence of others and so as a Bird followed by a Hawk seeketh succour at your Majesties Feet your Highness thinketh your Self bound in Honour for that she is your Sister and a Queen Born not to proceed further only to her disablement counting it a strong work for your Safety These be the Reasons which in part may move your Majesty to take this Course as we do conceive All which notwithstanding if it it might please your most Excellent Majesty to suffer your poor and faithful Subjects to enter deeply upon good search of this Cause and by way of reply to make Answer with proceeding by just proofs for your Majesties Safety we doubt not but with your Highness favourable acceptation all that which hitherto hath been uttered is rather a Declaration of that most Mild and Gracious Nature of Yours than any assurance for your Person and State at all Reasons Answering the former Arguments May it therefore please your Majesty WHereas it is said that it standeth to very good purpose to proceed only in disabling the Scottish Queen for any Claim or Title to the Crown we take it by your Majesties Favour that such and especially disabling of the Scottish Queen is in effect a special Confirmation of a Right that she should have had Quia privatio praesupponit habitum And further we do take it for a known truth that by the Laws and Statutes in this Land now in Force she is already disabled and therefore it is to small purpose rem actam agere And for Answer unto the premisses we say further that neither shall this weaken others that are evil minded but rather strengthen them in their mischief and make them desperate where there is no other remedy And a Firebrand once kindled and finding apt matter to work upon will hardly be quenched without a great hazard Touching the grievous pains laid upon those that shall deal those will be little feared by the wicked whom hope of gain maketh more bold than such pains do appall Besides Nature given to this Nation and all others that are under the Moon maketh men often-times stir without cause and as Plato saith Naturales sunt conversiones rerum pub Yet they that heretofore have born Armour as Traytors not fearing the Law then in force which did as much restrain them as this or any Law to be made can be able being desperate will fear no Laws especially such an instrument living by whom all attempts are to be wrought Force overthroweth Justice till the Cause of all mischief which is the hoped help be clean taken away And where it is said that the making of a Law for her disabling emboldneth much your Subjects to deal against her We Answer that no new Law needeth to encourage good and Loyal Subjects against such a Person who hath broken all the Laws of God and nature and is worthy to be out of your Majesties Protection because she seeketh still the disturbance of this noble State and using often her own phrase threatneth that she will stir Coals Touching a new Law to be made against her if she should attempt any evil hereafter the experience of her former life is such that no Law hath any force with her that is fully minded to take her advantage upon any apt occasion offered And to threaten her with Death if she should seem to make an escape hereafter is such advice that she nothing feareth for besides that she was told at Lough-Leaven there was no way but Death with her if she would not take her Imprisonment quietly and live without seeking Liberty she notwithstanding adventured her self with a young Fellow very dishonourably to get away in a Boat And now since her coming into England she hath wrought divers wayes to make an Escape and imployed the heads of the chiefest Estates of your own disloyal Subjects for that purpose Therefore menacing and but threatning words of Law shall not keep her back from her malicious intent to subvert your Majesty and to give a push for the Crown come of her what will And likely it is that she may escape as well as be taken for she neither wanteth Wit nor Cunning to make her way And we have learned in matters of great hazard to be well advised and to take always that Order which may be the best Now there will want no Traytors to be always ready to bring this her device about and to do what they can for her Liberty And such as will not deal in small matters will adventure deep for a Kingdom because the reward is great when the service is done But your Majesty hath regard unto your Honour as much as to your Safety and thinketh that in taking this Course all Princes will speak well of your Highness May it please your Majesty We your good Subjects do well like of so honourable a meaning but we would be loth to see that when you have such regard of Honour you do thereby lose your State and so your Life Honour and all For if it should fall out that the Scottish Queen escaped your hands which Christ for his Mercies sake forbid all good Princes would think great want of Judgment and foresight First in your Majesty next in your Councel last of all in all the whole Nation and such a grief it would be to your Majesty and Subjects and to all other good Christian Princes throughout Europe as none could be greater Again such a matter of Comfort and Triumph it would be to the Adversaries that they would account her escape a miraculous work of God and that your Majesty had no power though will to keep her safe And when that day should come Wo be to all true Christians universally for upon her do depend the chiefest Enemies of Religion and to this Kingdom May it please you therefore most Gracious Queen to be well advised and to take sound Counsel when it is given knowing this for a certain truth that evil foreseen and advisedly looked unto doth ever the less harm But still your Majesty considering the great troubles that she hath had and forgetting or not greatly esteeming what troubles she hath brought unto your Realm doth by a merciful respect of your most Gracious Nature rather bend to do good to her than to seek Safeguard for your Self And seeing here your Sister though unnatural and also a Queen by Birth although not worthy of Life cannot but rather hazard your own self than deal with her according to her deserts This your Majesties nature being thus known it behoveth all your good Subjects most Gracious Soveraign to call and cry to God for his Heavenly
needful to put you in remembrance that this Honourable Assembly are Assembled and come together here in this place for three special Causes of most weighty and great importance The first and principal is to make and abrogate such Laws as may be most for the preservation of our noble Soveraign The second ..... The third is to make or abrogate such Laws as may be to the chiefest surety safe-keeping and enrichment of this noble Realm of England So that I do think that the part of a faithful-hearted Subject is to do his endeavour to remove all Stumbling-Blocks out of the way that may impair or any manner of way hinder these good and Godly Causes of this our coming together I was never of Parliament but the last and the last Session at both which times I saw the Liberty of free Speech the which is the only Salve to heal all the Sores of this Common-Wealth so much and so many ways infringed and so many abuses offered to this Honourable Council as hath much grieved me even of very Conscience and love to my Prince and State Wherefore to avoid the like I do think it expedient to open the Commodities that grow to the Prince and whole State by free Speech used in this place at the least so much as my simple Wit can gather of it the which is very little in respect of that that wise Heads can say therein and so it is of the more force First All matters that concern Gods Honour through free Speech shall be propagated here and set forward and all things that do hinder it removed repulsed and taken away Next there is nothing commodious profitable or any way beneficial for the Prince or State but faithful and loving Subjects will offer it in this place Thirdly All things discommodious perillous or hurtful to the Prince or State shall be prevented even so much as seemeth good to our merciful God to put into our minds the which no doubt shall be sufficient if we do earnestly call upon him and fear him for Solomon saith The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom Wisdom saith he breatheth Life into her Children receiveth them that seek her and will go beside them in the way of Righteousness so that our minds shall be directed to all good needful and necessary things if we call upon God with faithful hearts Fourthly If the Envious do offer any thing hurtful or perillous to the Prince or State in this place what incommodity doth grow thereby Verily I think none nay will you have me to say my simple opinion therein much good cometh thereof how forsooth for by the darkness of the Night the brightness of the Sun sheweth more excellent and clear and how can truth appear and conquer until falsehood and all subtilties that should shadow and darken it be found out for it is offered in this place a piece of fine Needle-work unto them that are most skilful therein for there cannot be a false stitch God aiding us but will be found out Fifthly This good cometh thereof a wicked purpose may the easier be prevented when it is known Sixthly An evil man can do the less harm when it is known Seventhly Sometime it happeneth that a good man will in this place for Argument sake prefer an evil cause both for that he would have a doubtful truth to be opened and manifested and also the evil prevented so that to this point I conclude that in this House which is termed a place of free Speech there is nothing so necessary for the preservation of the Prince and State as free Speech and without it is a scorn and mockery to call it a Parliament House for in truth it is none but a very School of Flattery and Dissimulation and so a fit place to serve the Devil and his Angels in and not to glorify God and benefit the Common-Wealth Now to the impediments thereof which by Gods Grace and my little Experience I will utter plainly and faithfully I will use the words of Elcha Behold I am as the new Wine which hath no vent and bursteth the new Vessels in funder therefore I will speak that I may have a vent I will open my Lips and make Answer I will regard no manner of Person no man will I spare for if I should go about to please men I know not how soon my Maker will take me away my Text is vehement the which by Gods sufferance I mean to observe hoping therewith to offend none for that of very Justice none ought to be offended for seeking to do good and saying of the truth Amongst other M r Speaker Two things do great hurt in this place of the which I do mean to speak the one is a rumour which runneth about the House and this it is take heed what you do the Queens Majesty liketh not such a matter whosoever prefereth it she will be offended with him or the contrary her Majesty liketh of such a matter whosoever speaketh against it she will be much offended with him The other sometimes a Message is brought into the House either of Commanding or Inhibiting very injurious to the freedom of Speech and Consultation I would to God M r Speaker that these two were Buried in Hell I mean rumours and Messages for wicked undoubtedly they are the reason is the Devil was the first Author of them from whom proceedeth nothing but wickedness now I will set down reasons to prove them wicked First If we be in hand with any thing for the advancement of Gods Glory were it not wicked to say the Queen liketh not of it or Commanded that we shall not deal in it greatly were these Speeches to her Majesties dishonour and an hard opinion were it M r Speaker that these things should enter into her Majesties thought much more wicked and unnatural were it that her Majesty should like or Command any thing against God or hurtful to her self and the State The Lord grant this thing may be far from her Majesties Heart Here this may be objected that if the Queens Majesty should have intelligence of any thing perillous or beneficial to her Majesties Person or the State would you not have her Majesty give knowledge thereof in this House whereby her peril may be prevented and her benefit provided for God forbid then were her Majesty in worse case than any of her Subjects And in the beginning of our Speech I shewed it to be a special Cause of our Assembly but my intent is that nothing should be done to Gods dishonour to her Majesties peril or the peril of the State And therefore I will shew the inconveniences that grow of these two First If we follow not the Princes mind Solomon saith the Kings displeasure is a Messenger of Death This is a terrible thing to weak nature for who is able to abide the fierce Countenance of his Prince but if we will discharge our Consciences and be true to God and Prince and
but within the several Forests which to execute in their own persons could not be done through the distances of the Countries and through the great charges that would follow in expences if men of their calling should be driven to travel once every third year to keep their sittings in so many several places by means whereof the Justice Seats were greatly delayed and seldom holden whereby the Offenders either by general Pardons comeing between or by the Death of the Parties did escape unpunished to that he said all these defects were sufficiently holpen by Laws heretofore provided In the time of King Henry the Eighth it was Enacted that both the Justices of the Forests on this side Trent and the Justices of the Forests beyond Trent might make in every Forest a Deputy that should have in all things like Authority to themselves and therefore seeing they had and usually had made Deputies men of less degree than they are and most commonly inhabiting the Countries where the Forests do lie there was no necessity that the Justices in their own Persons should ride but those his Substitutes might very well perform the service with a small charge and so there appeared no cause for that respect to make this Law for it might be supplied otherwise sufficiently For the second he said that whereas by this new Law the Justice should have power to open the Swainmote Books at his pleasure and to convent before him the Offenders at such time and place as he thought good the same must needs prove a very chargeable matter to the Subjects for men being compellable only to appear and answer in the County where the Forest lyeth and where for the most part they abide and there to receive their Trial if now they shall be driven to appear and answer in any place and at any time where and when the Justices shall appoint them it may easily be seen how far greater charge this will breed to the Subject both in travel expence and loss of time than heretofore hath been used chargeable besides it would be to such as should happen to be impannelled upon Juries for trial of offences if they should be driven to come out of the Forests to appear before the Justice in any place which he shall assign contrary to the antient Laws heretofore Ordained for such causes For the third he said that if the Justice sending for the Swainmote Books and opening them should proceed to the punishment of the Offenders according to such Presentments as he should find there that might prove very dangerous to the Subject and especially to such as dwell within or near any Forests for those Presentments being made by the Oath of the Keepers do as often proceed upon suspition and upon malice as upon any good or sufficient ground and then if they be so peremptory to the Offenders as some men think they are or if the tryal be not very indifferent which taken out of the Country may be doubted it is easily seen how perilous that will be to the Subject for either the party shall be forced to submit himself to the discretion of the Justice or else abide such Tryal as he shall not be able to endure Besides whereas the Queen most graciously doth use to grant often-times general Pardons by Act of Parliament whereby the Subjects of the Land are discharged of far greater offences than these such as might happen to offend this way or to be brought in Question for the same should never be partakers of that grace which all other Subjects do enjoy but by yearly vexation be in danger of trouble and charge almost without hope to be released although the offences be as often-times they are very small and slenderly proved whereas now the Justice cannot by the Law keep his Seat but once in three years and if a Pardon come in the mean time all those offences are discharged Touching the last and fourth point he said in making of Laws one principal and special care is to be taken that nothing pass in dark words but that it may be clear and evidence to the understanding of the Makers thereby to know to what they bind themselves and their Posterity the contrary whereof was to be doubted in this Bill as it was penned wherein Authority should be given to the Justices of the Forests to proceed in the Execution of punishment and other matters not only according to the Laws but also according to the Customs Usages and Ordinances of the Forests which latter words are very obscure and therefore dangerous to pass in that form for what the Laws of the Forests are such as be established by Authority of Parliament are evident and open to all men and every Subject is bound to take knowledge of them but what the Customs Usages and Ordinances of the Forest be and how far these words may extend is very doubtful and uncertain the same being only known to Officers and Ministers of Forests and are so far from the common knowledge of other men as few or none that are Learned in the Laws of the Realm have any understanding in them so as if any Subject of the Land should be Impeached for an offence committed in the Forests he shall not be able to receive advice by Councel in the Law for his reasonable defence and therefore under those general words to bind the Subject to those things that neither they do nor may easily get knowledge of The House of Commons do think it a matter very inconvenient and do also think that the Forest Laws already established by Parliament are strict enough and being put in due Execution may suffice without any further addition to increase the burthen of them To these Objections the Earl of Sussex a wise man of good understanding in Forest matters being Justice of the Forests on this side Trent said for Answer in effect as followeth To the first confessing that by Authority of Parliament the Justices of the Forests might appoint their Deputies said nevertheless that those also could not hold their sittings without great charge and their doings shall not be so obeyed nor esteemed as the Acts and Proceedings of the Justices themselves and therefore thought this Law necessary To the second third and fourth he said that there was no meaning by the Lords that past the Bill to bring upon the Subjects any of those inconveniences that were noted by the House of Commons howsoever the Bill might be penned contrary to their intentions and yet he thought that the words were misconceived and drawn to a harder sense than there was cause Nevertheless he said the Lords could be well contented that the House of Commons should reform such things in the Bill touching those points as they should find convenient so as the same were done with good consideration and upon sufficient cause whereof they doubted not This being the substance of the Conference it was the next day reported by one of the Committees to the
Post Meridiem In the Afternoon the Bill for Butlerage and Prisage of Wines was read the second time and upon the Question and Division of the House dashed Three Bills were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which one was the Bill for taking away the benefit of Clergy from persons Convict of Rape and Burglary M r Doctor Vaughan and Mr. Doctor Barkley brought word from the Lords that their Lordships do desire to have Conference with some of this House presently The Bill for restitution in Blood of the Heirs of the Lord Stourton was twice read which said Bill was doubtless at this time but once read or at least it stood but for the first reading and was entred through negligence for it had its second reading on Monday the 12 th day of this instant March and was thereupon committed and had lastly its third reading upon Tuesday the 13 th day of the same Month and so passed the House with which also agreeth a certain written Memorial or Copy of the Carriage of this business between the two Houses in respect that it occasioned much dispute betwixt them as see more at large on Wednesday the 14 th day of the foresaid March ensuing Two Bills lastly of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the Hospital of S t Crosse was read three times and passed the House On Monday the 12 th day of March Two Bills of no great moment had each of them their third reading of which the first being the Bill for the Lord Viscount Bindon upon the Question passed the House Mr. Captain of the Guard declaring her Majesties ..... but what should here follow is wholly omitted through the great negligence of Fulk Onslow Esquire at this time Clerk of the House of Commons in the Original Journal-Book thereof although there were one whole blank page left under the foresaid words to have inserted such matter as ought here to have followed of which the want will be the less in respect that I had very happily by me a written draught or memorial of the very business here omitted as I have had in many other places in the transcribing of the Journals of her Majesties Reign for this business was no other than a Declaration of her Majesties Goodness and Clemency in restoring this day unto the House and to his own Liberty Peter Wentworth Esquire who had been Committed to Prison on Thursday the 9 th day of February in the beginning of this Session of Parliament which said Declaration or Discourse doth now in its due place follow the first man that spake being Christopher Hatton Esquire Captain of the Guard Mr. Captain of the Guard did first shortly declare and make report unto the House that whereas a Member of the same had the first day of this Session which was the 8 th day of February last past uttered in a prepared Speech divers offensive matters touching her Majesty and had for the same been sent Prisoner to the Tower by the House yet that her Majesty was now graciously pleased to remit her just occasioned displeasure for the said offence and to refer the enlargement of the party to the House which was most thankfully accepted by the same upon the said report And thereupon Sir Walter Mildmay Knight Chancellor of the Exchequer spake as followeth That by this whole Action and by her Majesties dealing in this cause we had just occasion to consider These three things 1. Her Majesties good and clement nature 2. Her respect to us 3. And our Duty towards her Touching the first that Soveraign Princes placed by God are to be honoured with all humble and dutiful reverence both in word and deed especially if they be good and vertuous such as our most gracious Soveraign is a Princess that hath governed this Realm so many years so quietly so justly and providently which being true as no man can deny then see how great an offence this was to reprove so good and gracious a Queen so unjustly and that to be done not by any common person abroad but by a Member of this House and not in any private or secret place but openly in this most honourable Assembly of the Parliament being the Highest Court and Councel of the Realm And thereby see also her most gracious and good nature that so mercifully and so easily can remit so great an offence a thing rarely found in Princes of so great Estate that use commonly to think themselves touched in honour if they should pass over smaller injuries so lightly the greater is her Majesties Commendation and the more are we bound to thank God for her Secondly We may see what gracious respect her Majesty had to us that notwithstanding the just cause that was given her to punish severely so great'an offence yet the favour that she had conceived towards us proceeding from the just tryal of our dutiful affections towards her had so qualified her displeasure as she was contented for our sakes to pardon the whole and that so freely as she would not at any time think of it again for those were her words a marvellous grace towards us and never hereafter on our parts to be forgotten the rather for that the same proceeded meerly from her self thereby preventing the Suit which we in all humbleness might have made unto her Thirdly that for so gracious a dealing it was our bounden Duties to yield unto her Majesty our most humble and hearty thanks and to beseech Almighty God to enlarge her days as the only stay of our felicity and not only so but to learn also by this Example how to behave our selves hereafter and not under the pretence of liberty to forget our bounden duty to so gracious a Queen true it is that nothing can be well concluded in a Councel where there is not allowed in debating of Causes brought in deliberation Liberty and Freedom of Speech otherwise if in Consultation men be either interrupted or terrified so as they cannot nor dare not speak their Opinions freely like as that Councel cannot but be reputed for a servife Councel even so all the Proceedings therein shall be rather to satisfie the wills of a few than to determine that which shall be just and reasonable But herein we may not forget to put a difference between liberty of Speech and licentious Speech for by the one men deliver their Opinions freely and with this caution that all be spoken pertinently modestly reverently and discreetly the other contrariwise uttereth all impertinently rashly arrogantly and irreverently without respect of person time or place and though freedom of Speech hath always been used in this great Councel of Parliament and is a thing most necessary to be preserved amongst us yet the same was never nor ought to be extended so far as though a man in this House may speak what and of whom he list The contrary whereof both in our own days and
ancient Orders and usage of this High Court and not for that he said he would shew them only to be discovered to her Majesty it was resolved That he should be committed to the Serjeants Ward till the matter shall be further considered of by this House the day being then very far spent Vide concerning this matter on Friday the 18 th day Wednesday the 23. day and on Thursday the 24 th day of this instant December following On Friday the 18 th day of December the Bill touching Appeals out of the Ecclesiastical Court was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Treasurer the Master of the Requests Mr. Doctor Hammond Mr. Sands Mr. Cromwell Mr. Doctor Cousin Mr. Barker Mr. Flower Mr. Wolley Mr. Beale and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Treasurer who with the rest was appointed to meet this Afternoon in the Exchequer-Chamber The Bill also for the restitution in blood of the Lord Thomas Howard had this day its first reading and the Bill for confirmation of Letters Patents made unto Walter Rawleigh Esquire was upon the third reading after many Arguments and a Proviso added unto it passed upon the Question Sir Christopher Hatton Knight her Majesties Vicechamberlain declared unto the House That her Majesty having heard of the great and dutiful care of this House in devising and providing of Laws for the preservation of her Majesties Royal Person doth accept the same in most humble loving and thankful part and having thereupon inquired of the manner and parts of the same Laws doth both very well like and allow of the same and is also of her own most loving and merciful disposition pleased that all persons barred or disabled by force of the same Law as it now is shall be first called to answer and be heard what they can say in excuse of themselves before they shall be prejudiced in their pretended Right or Titles And also that her Majesty will take away the Proviso in that Law by which any of these Subjects which have taken the Oath of Association might any way hereafter by any possibility be touched in conscience And then made a motion that a convenient Committee of the wise and grave Members of this House might be appointed to consider of the said former Bill already ingrossed and so then to devise another to be conceived according to the purport of her Majesties Pleasure in that behalf so as before is signified Whereupon it was then resolved that all the former Committees and M r George Ireland now added unto them should meet together for that purpose this Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber And further the said M r Vice-Chamberlain also declared unto this House that her Majesty having been made privy unto the mis-behaviour of Mr. Doctor Parry yesterday shewed in this House and of the order of this House taken therein with him for the same her Highness doth not only deem him to have given just cause of offence unto this House in the same his misdemeanor but also doth very well allow of the grave discretion of this House in forbearing for the time to use any sharp course of Correction against him for his said offence in respect that he had said he reserved his reasons to be imparted to her Majesty only which as he had discovered unto some of the Lords of the Council by her Highnesses appointment and that partly to the satisfaction of her Majesty so her Highness did think that upon his humble submission unto this House with a dutiful acknowledgment of his fault this House would the rather dispense with him therein Which done M r Doctor Parry was called to the Bar where humbly acknowledging his fault upon his knees it was told him by M r Speaker after he had put him in remembrance of the manner of his offence that it might be the House would nevertheless deal favourably with him if they should see such cause upon his unfeigned and earnest confession and repentance of his fault and his humble submission unto the House with good and dutiful endeavour of amendment hereafter And then kneeling upon his knee in very humble manner affirmed directly that he had very undutifully misbehaved himself and had rashly and unadvisedly uttered those Speeches he used and was with all his heart very sorry for it alledging withal that he had never been of this House before this Session and so could not so well know the Orders of the House as he should do and that he would not willingly offend this House nor any man in it and so humbly prayed their good favour towards him Whereupon being sequestred again out of the House it was after some Arguments and Speeches had resolved That upon that his said acknowledgment of his fault and his humble submission he should be received into this House again as a Member of the same and take his place as before so that he would afterwards use himself in good sort as he ought to do And thereupon being called again to the Bar and there kneeling upon his knee and directly reiterating his former confession of his fault and also his former humble submission protesting further that if ever after he should give any just cause of offence again to this House or any Member thereof he would then never after crave any more favour of them Whereupon M r Speaker declared the good pleasure of this House in remitting his said offence by receiving him again into them with condition and hope of his better behaviour hereafter Which as he prosessed and promised to perform accordingly so did he in very good dutiful sort give most humble thanks unto God and to her Majesty and also unto this whole House and every Member of the same for their good courteous and favourable dealing towards him in this behalf Vide February the 18 th and February the 24 th postea On Saturday the 19 th day of December four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill touching the keeping of the great Sessions of the Peace and the Assizes for the Town of Caernarvon to be kept in the Town of Caernarvon was read the third time And the third being the Bi for restitution in blood of the Lord Thomas Howard had this day its second and third reading And three Bills thereupon were at this time sent up to the Lords by M r Treasurer and others which had not been delivered because their Lordships were risen and departed before their coming Vide on December the 14 th last past when two of them had been sent up A Motion was made in the House that their Lordships might be sent unto to know the reason of the new manner of indorsing their Bills For whereas in former times all Bills sent down from the Lords to the House of Commons were ever indorsed in the lower part of the same Bills contrary to the said accustomed use the Bills which were lately sent down from their Lordships
said Motion or any other tending to the safety of her Majesties Person may be very well delivered and remembred to the Committees in the great Cause by any member of the House M r Dennis Hollis offereth a Bill to this House in the behalf of the Curriers of London Whereupon M r Speaker put the House in remembrance of her Majesties pleasure before signified unto this house to forbear the making of new Laws and to spend the time in the great Causes for which this Parliament was specially summoned yet because in the mean time of dealing in the said great Cause in Committee or otherwise there should be nothing to occupy the House withal it is thought good at such times to have some Bills read in the House reserving always due regard and place to the said great Cause And thereupon the said Bill was read accordingly The Bill touching the Curriers was read the first time The Bill also for limitation of time touching Writs of Error growing by fraud had its first reading M r Chadley one of the Knights returned for the County of Devon offereth a Bill to this House touching Cloth-making within the said County out of Cities Market Towns and Corporate Towns Whereupon the said Bill was then read accordingly The Bill touching Clothiers in the County of Devon had its first reading Edmund Moore of Shoreditch in the County of Middlesex Tallow-chandler and John Turner of the same Butcher being both of them in the Serjeants Custody for presuming to come into this House sitting the House and being no Members of the same it is upon opinion that they did it of ignorance and meer simplicity and not of any pretended purpose and also upon their humble submission of themselves unto this House and like humble request and Petition of Pardon for the same Agreed by this House that they shall be discharged and set at Liberty taking first the Oath of Supremacy openly in this House which they so then did and afterward departed On Munday the 7 th day of November The Bill touching Fines and Recoveries levied before the Justices of the Common Pleas whereunto any of the said Justices are parties was read the first time Sir William Herbert being returned into this House Knight for the County of Monmouth offereth a Bill into this House for the relief of certain Orphans within the said County of Monmouth and prayeth that the same Bill may be read which was so then read accordingly The Bill for relief of certain Orphans in the County of Monmouth had its first reading M r Bulkely offereth a Bill unto this House touching Clothes made in this Realm to be shipped and transported over the Seas and prayeth the same may be read which was thereupon so done accordingly The Bill touching Clothes made to be transported over the Seas had its first reading Sir Robert Jermin likewise offereth another Bill touching Clothiers and Cloth-making in the Counties of Suffolk and Essex and prayeth the reading thereof which in no wise he would have moved if the House should have been any ways occupied in the great Cause the speedy course and proceeding whereof he most earnestly desireth and prayeth The Bill touching Clothiers and Clothes made in the Counties of Suffolk and Essex was read the first time M r Vice-Chamberlain shewed that the Committees in the great Cause did meet according to the Commission therein of this House unto them and that then also they did appoint another Meeting therein to be this Afternoon and shewed withal That some of the Committees of this House being of the Privy Council do understand that the Lords will not in this great and weighty Cause any way deal or meddle amongst themselves nor in any other matter besides until they shall have first heard therein from this House for Conference to be prayed with them by this House and therefore moved That now whilst their Lordships do yet sit the Privy Council with some few others of this House be presently sent to their Lordships to move for Conference and to know their Lordships pleasure for the time and place of Meeting Whereupon for that purpose it was ordered That all the Privy Council being of this House Sir Henry Gate M r Sollicitor and Sir William Moore should presently repair to their Lordships to the higher House who did so accordingly It should seem that in the mean time after the going up of M r Treasurer and the rest and before their return from the Lords these matters following were handled viz. The Bill touching Orford-Haven was read the second time and thereupon committed unto Sir Robert Jermin Sir John Higham Sir Henry Cobham M r Cromwell M r Layer and all others that were Committees in the same Cause the last Parliament to meet to morrow in the Afternoon in the Middle Temple Hall at three of the Clock After sundry Speeches to the Bill touching Inrollments upon the second reading thereof and being then reserved to convenient time and this present time falling out to be convenient for that purpose it is upon the question both for the committing and ingrossing quite dashed and rejected The Bill touching Curriers had its second reading M r Treasurer and the residue of the Committees being returned from the Lords as it should seem much about the time that the House had finished the disputing and reading of the foresaid Bills he shewed that he and the residue have according to the Appointment of this House moved the Lords for Conference touching the said great Cause which their Lordships did very well like of and have appointed that the former Committees of this House in the said Cause do meet this Afternoon in the Parliament-Chamber with such Committee of their Lordships as their Lordships for that purpose do appoint which he saith he thinketh to be twenty or thereabouts And so thereupon were the Names of the said Committees of this House read and they required to give their Attendances therein at the said time and place accordingly On Tuesday the 8 th day of November M r Doctor Turner shewed unto this House That he is fully perswaded that her Majesties safety cannot be sufficiently provided for by the speedy cutting off of the Queen of Scots unless some good means withal be had for the rooting out of Papistry either by making of some good new Laws for that purpose or else by the good and due Execution of the Laws already in force which as he greatly wisheth and referreth to the grave consideration of this House so concluding in his own Conscience that no Papist can be a good Subject he did offer a Bill to this House containing as he thinketh some convenient form of matter tending to the effect of his Motion and prayeth the same may be read Whereupon M r Speaker finding the Title of the said Bill to purport the Safety of her Majesties Person putteth the House in remembrance that by their own appointment and direction that matter was referred to certain Committees
of Proclamations appointed on Wednesday the 12 th day of this instant February foregoing upon Fines at the Common Law sheweth that they have met and conferred upon the said Bill and having in some parts amended the same offer another Bill containing the same Amendments Mr. Vice-Chamberlain one of the Committees in the Cause between Mr. Puleston and Mr. Aylmer sheweth that he and others of the Committees have had Conference together and heard both Parties and the Councel also of the said Mr. Aylmer at large and so reciting amongst many of the circumstances delivered unto them touching the said matter some of the causes moving the said Mr. Aylmer to cause the said Mr. Puleston to be served with a Subpoena to appear in the Star-Chamber doth in the end shew that he and the residue of the said Committees were of opinion that the said Mr. Aylmer had committed a contempt unto this House in prejudice of the Liberties and Priviledges of the same House which as for his part he wished should not escape unpunished in some sort so giving very good commendations of the said M r Aylmer for his humble and dutiful behaviour before the said Committees in the whole course of his dealing with them in the said cause and shewing withal that he had to his great charge attended now a long time upon the said Committees for their report to this House in the said matter and had withal ignorantly and yet not without the privity and advice of some learned in the Laws proceeded to the causing of the serving of the said Subpoena as he was informed without offence to this House or Liberties of the same he might acknowledging his fault and upon his humble submission to be made to this House and craving pardon for his said contempt be set at liberty and discharged paying the Serjeants Fees of this House And afterwards upon sundry other Speeches and Arguments the whole House agreeing and resolving directly that the said M r Aylmer had committed the said contempt and some also moving to inflict some other further punishment upon him over and besides such his submission to be so made that he might not only bear the Charges of the said Mr. Puleston sustained touching the said matter of contempt but also surcease any further proceeding at all against the said M r Puleston by reason of serving the said Subpoena but should if he would take out another Subpoena after this Session of Parliament ended against the said Mr. Puleston the next Term and some others again being of a contrary opinion moved that the said M r Aylmer should neither pay the said Mr. Puleston his Charges nor yet surcease his proceeding against him upon the said Subpoena already served because the said Mr. Puleston had already voluntarily without the privity of this House and also since the time of his grief and complaint unto this House exhibited put in his Answer to the Bill in the said Court of Star-Chamber against him and the said Answer also being offered forth unto this House and read by the Clerk it appeared manifestly that the said Mr. Puleston had voluntarily put in his said Answer to the said Bill and so was at Issue in that he pleaded to the said Bill Not guilty It was upon the question resolved and Ordered by this House that M r Aylmer should not only be at his liberty to proceed in his said Suit without offence to this House but should also upon his humble submission to be made to this House be discharged of his said contempt paying his Fees to the Serjeant of this House And then it was thought good the said M r Aylmer might be called in and heard what he could say for himself in the matter and the said M r Puleston being sequestred he was brought presently to the Bar and charged by M r Speaker with the said contempt who humbly shewed that if it were a contempt it was done by him simply and ignorantly and no way arrogantly and without all peril of contempt to this House as his Councel had informed him and therefore humbly submitting himself craved their pardon and thereupon being sequestred the House again it was after sundry other Speeches upon another question resolved that the said M r Aylmer should likewise upon his said humble submission be discharged of his said contempt paying only the Serjeants Fees Which done the said M r Aylmer was brought in again by the Serjeant and M r Speaker pronouncing unto him the said Judgment of this House both for his Licence to prosecute his said Suit in the Star-Chamber and also for his liberty and discharge of the said contempt the said M r Aylmer yielding unto this honourable House his most humble thanks departed and went his way Vide concerning this business upon Wednesday the 12 th day and on Monday the 17 th day of this instant February foregoing M r Vice Chamberlain shewed that he and others the Committees in the Bill concerning Purveyors have met and also have had Conference together with some of her Majesties Officers of the Green-Cloth and according to the Commission of this House And surther that they have in some parts amended the said Bill and also added a Proviso thereunto such as they think fit both for her Majesties Service and also for the better passage of the Bill and relief of the Subject And prayeth the same Amendments and Proviso may be read Which said Amendments and Proviso were thereupon twice read accordingly Which done there followed sundry Speeches upon the same Amendments and Proviso And so for that time it was left at large without any further course or question to ingrossing or any thing else the time being far spent and the House ready to rise The Bill touching Quo titulo ingressus est was delivered to Sir Edward Hobby one of the Committees in the same The Bill concerning common Inns and Victualling-Houses was delivered to Mr. Prat one of the Committees in the same Bill And the Bill touching multiplicity of Suits and the excessive number of Attorneys was delivered to Mr. Heydon one of the Committees in the same Bill On Thursday the 20 th day of February Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for relief of Thomas Haselrigg Esquire was upon the second reading committed unto Sir Richard Knightley Sir Henry Knyvet Mr. Recorder of London and others who were appointed to meet upon Monday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Star-Chamber The Committee in the Bill touching Informers and Informations is deferred unto Saturday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon at the former place of meeting Mr. Vice-Chamberlain one of the Committees in the Bill touching Informers and Informations upon penal Statutes sheweth that he and such other of the Committees as were met together yesterday in the Afternoon had conferred together upon the same Bill and then had amended it in some parts
day last immediately foregoing Mr. Tanfeild speaking next held that a person Outlawed might be a Burgess of the House Wherein he made a difference where exception to the Burgess grew upon matter before the Election and where after If the exception grew after then a Burgess Elected must not be one of the House If exception be taken to this Election and this Outlawry alledged to disable him the Statute of 23 Hen. 6. cap. 15. will disable most of this House for they ought not to be Burgesses now if this be not a good Election Thence it follows that the party Elected is to have his priviledge And though the Common Law doth disable the party yet the priviledge of the House being urged that prevaileth over the Law Then said Mr. Speaker I desire that I may be heard a word not that I have any Voice or assent to give though I am of the House but because I am a Servant to the House and have somewhat to speak It appertaineth to my duty and place which I desire to have leave to utter for my Speech shall not tend to meddle to decide the Question but only to inform the House of my knowledge and to do that duty which I think belongeth to my self The Questions delivered by the Committees were these two First Whether Mr. Fitzherbert were any Member of the House And secondly If he were whether to have the priviledge It hath been my manner ever since my first practice to observe strange learning especially such as appertaineth to the Law as in this of the priviledge of this House therefore I will inform what I have learned First this Writ of priviledge must go from the Body of this House made by me and I to send it into the Chancery and the Lord Keeper is to direct it Now before we make such a Writ let us know whether by Law we may make it or whether it will be good for the Cause or no. For my own part my hand shall not sign it unless my heart may assent unto it And though we make such a Writ if it be not warrantable by Law and the proceeding of this House the Lord Keeper will and must refuse it No man shall stand more for the priviledge of this House than I will and what is the priviledge of this House is meet should be observed To the matter first there hath been inforc't her Majesties Commandment I obey any Commandment of her Majesties knowing them to be Great and Reverend as far as any body But I do not take it that we have received any such Commandment for her Majesties Commandment by the Lord Steward was to every man that stood Outlawed We have no such Command Now whether a Man Outlawed may be a Burgess I hold it no question but that a Man Outlawed Attainted or Excommunicated or not lawfully Elected if he be returned out of all doubt is a lawful Burgess This is proved by Book Authority and express Statutes as that of 11 H. 4. Cap. 1. a. a Knight untryed returned shall lose his Wages therefore allowed by the Statute to be a Knight though untruly returned and the penalty is only to lose his Wages Another Authority is in 8 H. 8. Cap. 10. And if we go to examine persons Elected to Parliament we shall then dissolve all Parliaments and call in question all former Laws made by reason there were not lawful and able Law-Makers If it appeareth once unto us by Record that such a Man is Burgess we must believe the Record and make no question of it For if such matters shall be examinable by us then must we try it by witness from the place where the fact was and so shall those a great way hence be driven by witness to prove whether we be lawful Burgesses or no which will be very inconvenient But matters of Record such as appear unto us to be recorded these are to be examined by us for the Record is to be seen So that for priviledge I would grant it if it were Sedente Parliamento eundo redeundo or manendo to every Member of this House But the Cause with Mr. Fitzherbert being that after his Election and before his Return he is Arrested and in Execution by a Capias after Judgment whether this Man be to be priviledged or no. I will but speak what I think and what I have learned and I have good precedents for In this Cause he is not to have priviledge For the question is whether the Sheriff be to take notice of this Nomination or not before he is returned unto him Elected And I think not for it appeareth not unto the Sheriff before he is returned whether he be Elected or not So this Nomination is not a thing whereof he is tyed to take notice In Ferris and Tenures Case in 38 H. 8. fol. 60. You may see this Case Thomas Thorp 31 H. 6. was chosen Speaker of the Parliament and after his Election and before the Parliament upon a Suit betwixt the Duke of York and him Thorp was taken in Arrest and put in Execution Hereupon he put up his Petition to the House of Parliament to have the priviledge Upon the resolution of both Houses it was yielded he could not have the priviledge of the House This was also in H. 6. time and in 2 Ed. 4. fol. 8. I think the opinion there of Danby is referred to this Cause And because Mr. Fitzherbert stood Outlawed upon Judgment a matter that is recorded it were meet the whole cause were brought before us that we might the better judge upon it And I think this course best standing with the gravity of this House before that we made out any Writ to grant a Habeas Corpus cum causa returnable in Chancery and the Sheriff to appear the whole matter being transmitted out of the Chancery hither we to judge upon the whole Record as it shall appear And upon this Writ granted the Sheriff bringing up the party it shall be no escape in the Sheriff nor the party shall not lose his Action of Debt though he be delivered This Course was well liked and the Motion agreed unto by the greater part of the House Vide Mar. 1. antea Mar. 17. post Apr. 5. Thus far out of the before-mentioned Anonymous Journal touching the aforesaid Question how far an Outlawed Man might be a Member of the House The which and the further proceeding therein being by the Speaker interposing himself for this time reconciled and upon the matter agreed upon there followed the agitation of the great business touching the danger of the Realm and supply to be given to her Majesty which had been before treated of by two select Committees of either House as may fully appear by the Report of that which was done at the said Committee made this day unto the House by Sir Robert Cecill who had been one of them Which being very exactly set down in the Original Journal-Book it self of
to the said Bill and sent it down to this House this House would thereupon then further do as shall appertain Mr. Robert Penruddock one of the Burgesses returned for the Borough of Milton for her Majesties Affairs and also for his own business is licensed by Mr. Speaker to depart home Three Bills lastly had each of them one reading of which the last concerning the over-length of broad-Cloth was read the third time and passed upon the Question On Monday the second day of April the Bill concerning Woollen-Cloths called Devonshire Kersies or Dozens was upon the second reading committed unto the Knights and Burgesses of Devon Mr. Serjeant Harris Mr. George Moore and others and the Bill was delivered unto Sir Thomas Dennis one of the same Committees who with the rest were appointed to meet at two of the Clock this Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber Six Bills were sent up to the Lords by Mr. Treasurer and others of which the first was the Act for Confirmation of the Subsidies granted by the Clergy and another touching the Lands of Sir Francis Englefield Knight Attainted of High Treason the residue being of no great moment Sir William Brunker one of the Committees in the Bill concerning Spinnersand Weavers who had been appointed on Monday the 26 th day of March last past shewed that the Committees had met and upon Conference amongst them thought good to make a new Bill And so bringing in both the old Bill and the new prayed the reading of the said new Bill The Bill for Explanation of a branch of a Statute made in the twenty third year of the Queens Majesties Reign Intituled An Act to retain the Queens Majesties Subjects in their due obedience with some Amendments to the same had its first reading Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill against counterfeiting of Counsellors hands c. was read the third time and dashed upon the Question The Bill for relief of maimed Souldiers and Mariners was twice read and committed unto all the Privy-Council the Knights and Burgesses of London the Burgesses of York and others who were appointed to meet this Afternoon at two of the Clock in this House Nota That certain Members of the House were appointed to draw a Bill for the relief of maimed Souldiers and Mariners on Monday the 12 th day of March foregoing which Bill being so drawn was upon Saturday the 24 th day of the said March upon the second reading referred to certain Committees and was lately upon Wednesday the 28 th day of the same Month upon the Motion of Sir Robert Cecil one of the said Committees withdrawn out of the House and no further proceeded in and thereupon the aforesaid new Bill preferred this day and twice read M r Serjeant Owen and Mr. Doctor Carey do bring from the Lords the Bill for restraining of Popish Recusants to some certain places of a boad lately passed this House with some Amendments shewing that the Lords liking very well of the said Amendments have inserted those Amendments into the said Bill accordingly And that their Lorships have further thought good to add unto the said Bill a Proviso for Explanation of the Branch of the said Bill which concerneth the matter only of abjuration have passed the said Proviso and affiled the same to the said Bill and sent it down to this House to be also passed here if this House shall so think meet On Tuesday the third day of April the Bill concerning Spinners and Weavers was twice read and committed to the former Committees who had been appointed on Monday the 26 th day of March foregoing and Mr. Wroth and the Burgesses of York and Norwich were added unto them Sir Thomas Denis one of the Committees in the Bill concerning Devonshire Kerseys and Dozens appointed yesterday shewed the meeting of the Committees and that they have in some few things amended the Bill praying the reading of the said Amendments which being thereupon twice read the Bill upon the question was ordered to be ingrossed The Bill concerning Brewers was upon the second reading committed unto Sir Edward Dymock M r Stevenson the Knights and Burgesses for London M r Wroth M r Peak and the Burgesses for Oxon Cambridge Sandwich and Newcastle Under-line who were appointed to meet at two of the Clock this Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber The Return of the Habeas Corpus cum Causa made by the Sheriff of the County of Darby for M r Thomas Fitzherbert Which short remembrance of this excellent Precedent how far on Outlawed man may be a Burgess of the Parliament is all that is found in the Original Journal-Book it self of the House of Commons And therefore because there was much debate concerning it this day as had been on divers other days foregoing viz. on Thursday the first day Friday the 2 d day Saturday the 17 th day and on Friday the 30 th day of March last past have caused it to be transcribed at large out of the often before-recited Anonymous Journal in manner and form following The House was informed that the Lord Keeper had sent the Record of Fitzherbert's Execution hither to the House The Chancery men who brought it were called into the House to the Bar and were appointed to read it ut Clerici And the House appointed the Writ sent out of Chancery to be annexed unto the Record The words of the Writ were Tibi praecipimus quòd capias corpus Tho. Fitzherbert quocunque c. Dat. apud Westm. 7 o die Martii 35 Eliz. The Sheriffs Return Deliberatum fuit hoc Breve 15. die Martii super c. sed ante adventum istius Brevis scilicet 3 o Februarii 35 Eliz. captus fuit Thomas Fitzherbert c. M r Dalton said The Return of the Writ being made unto another Court and the Record it self being in another Court we cannot be Judges of the matter nor enlarge the party And as for the Return methinks it therefore insufficient because it was not returned into this Court And I see not how we can be Judges of the Return For the number of voices in this Cause is not to be judged for Law whether it be a good Return or not for that which is Law will notwithstanding rest for Law for all our Voices Therefore I think that priviledge quae est privatio Legis in this Case could not be granted M r Brograve said As to the matter of priviledge the Cause to me is very doubtful because priviledges in these Causes are very rare and so the matter resteth in doubt This Court for its Dignity and highness hath priviledge as all other Courts have And as it is above all other Courts so it hath priviledge above all other Courts and as it hath priviledge and Jurisdiction too so hath it also Coercion and Compulsion otherwise the Jurisdiction is nothing in a Court if it hath no Coercion Therefore it seemeth unto me
Anno Dom. 1601. which was the last Parliament of her Majesties Reign a greater viz. of four Subsidies and eight Fifteenths and Tenths was again yielded unto whence it is plain that whatsoever is once granted by the Subject may often be raised but seldom falleth THE JOURNAL OF THE House of COMMONS A Journal of the House of Commons in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 39 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1597. which began there on Monday the 24 th Day of October and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Thursday the 9 th Day of February Anno 40 Reginae ejusdem THIS present Journal of the House of Commons is not only abundantly stored with many and sundry Passages touching the Orders Use and Priviledge of the House it self but containeth in it excellent matter touching the publick affairs of Church and State in which also her Majesty was most graciously pleased to give the said House free Liberty to reform some abuses of the first and to search into the dangers of the latter And that this said Journal might be the more exact and copious in some few places the defects thereof are supplied out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House and out of a certain imperfect and fragmentary Journal of the House of Commons The ninth Parliament of our Soveraign Lady Elizabeth by the Grace of God of England France and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith c. begun at Westminster upon Monday being the 24 th day of October in the thirty ninth year of her Majesties Reign Upon which day many of the Knights of the Shires Citizens of Cities Burgesses of Boroughs and Barons of Ports did make their appearance at Westminster being returned into the same Parliament for the same Shires Cities Boroughs and Ports before the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham Lord Steward of her Majesties most honourable Household And did then and there in the Room commonly called the Court of Requests take the Oath of Supremacy seven or eight at a time being Enacted by and contained in the Statute de an 1 Reginae Eliz. Cap. 1. before the said Lord Steward and before Sir William Knolles Knight Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold Sir John Fortescue Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sir Robert Cecill Principal Secretary his Lordships Deputies And thereupon the said Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons entring into their own House and expecting her Majesties further Pleasure her Highness then being in her Royal Seat in the Higher House of Parliament the said Commons were commanded to come before her Highness and being there Assembled the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Egerton Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England delivered unto the said Commons the Causes of her Majesties Calling of this Parliament and so in the end willed them to repair again into the said House of Commons and there to make choice of their Speaker according to the former laudable usage and custom of the same House in that Case accustomed and willed them to present him unto her Majesty upon the Thursday next following Which done the said Commons presently repaired unto their own House and there being Assembled and sitting some space of time very silent at last the Right Honourable Sir William Knolls one of her Highness most Honourable Privy Council and Comptroller of her Majesties Household stood up and spake to the effect following Necessity constraineth me to break off this silence and to give others cause for speech According to the usual Custom we are to chuse our Speaker and though I am least able and therefore unfit to speak in this place yet better I deem it to discover my own Imperfections than that her most sacred Majesties Commandment to me delivered should not be fulfilled or your Expectation of this first days work by all our silences to be in any sort frustrate First therefore I think it very expedient to remember the Excellent and Learned Speech of that good man my Lord Keeper at which all of us or the most part of us at the least were present who very wisely shewed the Cause of calling this Honourable Assembly shewing unto us that it is partly for the reforming those Laws which be amiss partly quite to repeal others partly to augment those that be good and partly to Enact new Laws both for the Honour and profit of her Majesty and for the benefit of the Common-wealth And in conclusion wished us to depart from whence we came and there to chuse our Speaker who ought to be the Mouth of us all and to whom we might commit such weighty affairs as in this place should be debated amongst us For unfit it is if we have occasion to go unto the Sacred presence of her Majesty to go either confusedly without order or unorderly without Judgment Now because that knowledge doth rest in certainty I will with the more speed set afoot this motion deliver my opinion unto you who is most fit for this place being a member of this House and those good abilities which I know to be in him here he made a little pause and the House hawked and spat and after silence made he proceeded unto this place of dignity and calling in my opinion here he stayed a little M r Serjeant Yelverton looking upon him is the fittest man to be preferred after which words M r Yelverton blushed and put off his Hat and after sate bare-headed for I am assured that he is yea and I dare avow it I know him to be a man wise and learned secret and circumspect Religious and faithful no way disable but every way able to supply this place Wherefore in my Judgment I deem him though I will not say best worthy amongst us yet sufficient enough to supply this place and herein if any man think I err I wish him to deliver his mind as freely as I have done if not that we all join together in giving general consent and approbation to this motion So that the whole House cried I I I let him be And then Master Comptroller made a low reverence and sat down and after a little pause and silence M r Serjeant Yelverton rose up and after a very humble reverence made spake in effect thus much WHence your unexpected choice of me to be your Mouth or Speaker should proceed I am utterly ignorant If from my merits strange it were that so few deserts should purchase suddenly so great an Honour Nor from my ability doth this your choice proceed for well known it is to a great number in this place now assembled that my Estate is nothing correspondent for the maintenance of this dignity For my Father dying left me a younger Brother and nothing to me but my bare Annuity Then growing to mans estate and some small practice of the Law I took a Wise by whom I have had many Children the keeping of us all being a great impoverishing to my Estate and the daily living of us
all humbleness singleness and pureness of mind confirm your selves together using your whole endeavour and diligence by Laws and Ordinances to Establish that which by your Learning and Wisdom shall be thought most Meet for the well performing of this godly purpose and this without respect of Honour Rule or Soveraignty Profit Pleasure or Ease or of any thing that might touch any Person in estimation or opinion of Wit Learning or Knowledge and without all regard of other manner of Affection And therewith That you will also in this your Assembly and Conference clearly forbear and as a great enemy to good Council fly from all manner of Contentions Reasonings and Disputations and all Sophistical Captious and frivolous Arguments and Quiddities meeter for ostentation of Wit than Consultation of weighty Matters comelier for Scholars than Counsellors more beseeming for Schools than for Parliament Houses Besides that commonly they be great causes of much expence of time and breed few good Resolutions And like as in Council all contention should be eschewed even so by Council provision should be made that no Contentions Contumelious nor opprobrious words as Heretick Schismatick Papist and such like names being Nurses of such Seditious Factions and Sects be used but may be banished out of mens Mouths as the Causers continuers and encreasers of Displeasure Hate and Malice and as utter Enemies to all Concord and Unity the very Marks that you are now come to Shoot at Again as in proceedings herein great and wary Consideration is to be had That nothing be advised or done which any way in continuance of time were likely to breed or nourish any kind of Idolatry or Superstition so on the other side heed is to be taken that by no Licentious or loose handling any manner of Occasion be given whereby any contempt or irreverent behaviour towards God and Godly things or any spice of irreligion might creep in or be conceived The examples of fearful punishments that have followed these four Extremities I mean Idolatry Superstition Contempt and Irreligion in all Ages and times are more in number than I can declare and better known than I can make recital to you of And yet are they not so many or better known than by the continual budding benefits and blessings of God to those that have forsaken those extremities and embraced their Contraries And for your better encouraging to run this right and strait course although that which is said ought to suffice thereto I think I may affirm that the good King Hezekiah had no greater desire to amend what was amiss in his time nor the Noble Queen Hester a better heart to overthrow the Mighty Enemies to God's Elect than our Sovereign Lady and Mistress hath to do that may be just and acceptable in God's sight Thus forced to this by our Duties to God feared thereto by his punishments provoked by his benefits drawn by your love to your Country and your selves encouraged by so Princely a Patroness Let us in God's name go about this work endeavouring our selves with all diligence as I have before said to make such Laws as may tend to the honour and Glory of God to the Establishment of his Church and to the Tranquillity of the Realm For the Second There is to be considered what things by private men devised be practised and put in ure in this Realm contrary or hurtful to the Common-Wealth of the same for which no Laws be yet provided and whether the Laws before this time made be sufficient to redress the Enormities they were meant to remove and whether any Laws made but for a time be meet to be continued for ever or for a Season Besides whether any Laws be too severe or too sharp or too soft and too gentle To be short you are to consider all other imperfections of Laws made and all wants of Laws to be made and thereupon to provide the meetest Remedies respecting the Nature and Quality of the disorder and offence the inclination and disposition of the people and of the manner of the time For the Third and last a Marvellous matter I cannot see how a good true Englishman can enter into the consideration of it but it must breed in his breast two contrary effects Comfort I mean and discomfort joy and sadness for on the one part how can a man calling to his remembrance that God of his divine Power and Ordinance hath brought the Imperial Crown of this Realm to a Princess that so Nobly diligently willingly and carefully doth by the advice of all the Estates of the Realm seek all the ways and means that may be to Reform all disorders and things that be amiss to continue and make firm that that is good to detect and discourage those that be dishonest and evil to execute Justice in all points to all persons and at all times without rigour and extremity and to use Clemency without Indulgence and fond Pity A Princess I say that is not nor ever meaneth to be so Wedded in her own will and Fantasie that for the satisfaction thereof she would do any thing that was likely to bring any servitude or Bondage to her people or give any just occasion to them of any Inward Grudge whereby any Tumult or stirs might arise as hath done of late days things most pernicious and Pestilent to the Common-Wealth A Princess that never meaneth or intendeth for any private affection to advance the Cause or Quarrel with any Foreign Prince or Potentate to the destruction of her Subjects to the loss of any of her Dominions or to the impoverishing of her Realm A Princess to whom nothing what Nothing no no worldly thing under the Sun is so dear as the hearty Love and good will of her Nobles and Subjects and to whom nothing is so Odible as that they might cause or by any means procure the contrary How can I say a man remember this wonderful benefit but of necessity he must needs heartily rejoyce and give God thanks for the same But my Lords the handling of the Princely vertues of this Noble Princess the cause of our rejoycing of purpose I pretermit partly because I ever supposed it not altogether meet for this presence but chiefly for that it requireth a perfect and Excellent Orator in whom both Art and Nature Concurs and not to me a man in whom both fails Marry I wish in my heart an Apt person might oft have meet presence and just occasion to handle this matter as the weightiness of the Cause requireth But as the Causes of our Rejoycing for such respects be thanks be to God both many and great so for the causes of our sadness and discomfort they be neither few nor little But here upon great cause as a man perplexed and amazed I stay not knowing what is best to be done very Ioth I am to utter that which is much unpleasant for me to speak and as uncomfortable for you to hear but because sores and
wounds be hardly cured except they be well opened and searched therefore constrained of necessity I see I must trouble you with these sad matters What man that either Loveth his Sovereign his Country or himself that thinketh of and weigheth the great decays and losses of Honour Strength and Treasure yea and the peril that hath happen'd to this Imperial Crown of late time but must needs inwardly and earnestly bewail the same Could there have happen'd to this Imperial Crown a greater loss in Honour Strength and Treasure than to lose that piece I mean Callis which was in the beginning so Nobly won and hath so long time so Honorably and Politickly in all Ages and times and against all attempts both Foreign and near both of Forces and Treasons been defended and kept Did not the keeping of this breed Fear to our greatest Enemies and made our faint friends the more assured and lother to break yea hath not the winning and keeping of this bred throughout Europe an honorable opinion and report of our English Nation Again what one thing so much preserved and guarded our Merchants their Trasfick and entercourses or hath been so great a help for the well uttering of our chief Commodities or what so much as this hath kept a great part of our Sea-coasts from spoiling and Robbing To be short the loss of this is much greater than I am able to utter and as yet as I suppose is able to be understood by any and yet my Lords if this were the whole loss then might men have some hope in time to come to recover that that in time hath been thus suddenly and strangely lost But when a man looketh further and considereth the Marvellous decays and wast of the Revenue of the Crown the inestimable consumption of the Treasure levied both of the Crown and of the Subject the Exceeding loss of Munition and Artillery the great loss of divers valiant Gentlemen of very good Service the incredible sum of Moneys owing at this present and in honour due to be paid and the biting interest that is to be answered for the forbearance of this Debt therewith remembring the Strength and Mightiness of the Enemy and his Confederates and how ready he is upon every Occasion upon every side and in every time to Annoy you And how the time most Meet for that purpose draweth on at hand again if a man consider the Huge and most Wonderful charge newly grown to the Crown more than ever hath heretofore been Wont and now of necessity to be continued as first the maintenance of Garison in certain places on the Sea-coasts as Portsmounth with new Munition and Artillery besides the new increased Charge for the continual maintenance of the English Navy to be ever in readiness against all evil happs the strongest Wall and defence that can be against the Enemies of this Island And further also the new Augmentation or Charge for the maintenance of a Garison at Barwick and the Frontiers Northward Indeed I must confess that in those matters mine understanding is but small and mine experience and time to Learn less But in mine opinion this doth exceed the Ancient yearly Revenue of the Crown Besides that double so much is of Necessity to be presently spent about the fortifying of those places in Buildings When I say a man remembreth and considereth these things it maketh him so far from hope of Recovery of that that is lost without some aid or Contribution of the Subject that he will Judge all to be little enough to make and prepare good defence for that that is left Here perchance a Question would be asked and yet I do Marvel to hear a Question made of so plain a Matter what should be the cause of this if it were asked thus I mean to answer that I think no man so blind but seeth it no man so deaf but heareth it nor no man so ignorant but understandeth it Marry withal I think there is no man so hard hearted in thinking of it but for the restoring of it would adventure Lands Limbs yea the Life But now to the remedies wherein only this I have to say That as the well looking to the whole universally is the only sure preservation of every one particularly so seemeth it of all congruence and reason meet that every one particularly by all ways and means readily and gladly according to his power should concur and joyn to relieve and assist the whole universally Neither can I see things standing as they do how any that loveth his Country or hath wit to foresee his own surety can be withdrawn from this Is there any think you so Mad that having a Range of houses in peril of fire would not gladly pluck down part to have the rest preserved and saved Doth not the wise Merchant in every adventure of danger give part to have the rest assured These causes well compared small difference shall be found And for all this a strange matter and scarce Credible with how deaf an Ear and how hardly the Queen's Majesty may endure to hear of any device that may be burthenous to her Subjects I partly do understand and divers others partly perceive Is not the cause Marvellous Pityful that the Necessity and Need of this Ragged and Torn State by Misgovernance should by force so bridle and restrain the noble Nature of such a Princess that she is not able to show such Liberality and Bountifulness to her Servants and Subjects as her heart and Inclination disposeth her Highness unto What a grief and Torment this is to a Noble Mind What a grief surely such a grief as but to a Noble Mind who feels it it cannot be understood But for the more plain declaration of her highness's disposition in this matter her Highness hath commanded me to say unto you even from her own Mouth that were it not for the preservation of your selves and the surety of the State her Highness would sooner have adventured her Life which our Lord long preserve than she would have adventured to trouble her Loving Subjects with any offensive matter or that should be burthenous or displeasant unto them And for the further Notifying of her Highness's mind herein she hath commanded me to say unto you That albeit you your selves see that this is not matter of will no matter of displeasure no private Cause of her own which in times past have been sufficient for Prince's Pretences the more Pity but a matter for the universal Weal of this Realm the defence of our Country the preservation of every man his house and Family particularly yet her Majestie 's Will and Pleasure is that nothing shall be demanded or required of her Loving Subjects but that which they of their own free wills and Liberalities be well contented readily and gladly frankly and freely to offer so great is the trust that she reposeth in them and the love and affection that her Highness beareth towards them nothing at all doubting
having given it a second reading did notwithstanding that it had passed the House of Commons refer it to divers Committees there named who did it seems add divers Provisoes thereunto containing the substance of a new Bill to be annexed to the old Bill and which with it made but one Act or Statute and had its first reading on Wednesday the 15. day and its second reading on Thursday the 16. day of the same Month and on Saturday the 18. day thereof Also both the old Bill sent up from the House of Commons and the Provisoes and Amendments annexed unto it in nature of a new Bill were tertia vice lect and passed the Lords notwithstanding the malitious opposition of divers Popish Bishops although this Bill did upon the matter declare no more than the Antient Kings of this Realm had always aimed at which said new Provisoes and Amendments being in the nature of a new Bill were the same day sent down to the House of Commons with their old Bill where the said Provisoes and Alterations added by the Lords had their first reading on Monday the 20. day their second on Tuesday the 21. day and their third on Wednesday the 22. day of the aforesaid March preceding and the said old Bill touching the Supremacy with those new provisions and alterations annexed to it and now passed also by the House of Commons were the same Forenoon returned up again unto their Lordships with a new Proviso added by the said Commons thereunto which said new Proviso was then read also prima secunda tertia vice and passed in the Upper House But whether the many new Additions and Alterations in this foregoing Bill had made some confusion in it or that the House of Commons disliked that their Bill formerly passed with them had received so much reformation in the Upper House or for what other cause I know not most certain it is that they had no desire the said former Bill should be made a perpetual Law by her Majesties Royal Assent and thereupon they framed a new Bill to the like purpose in which I suppose they included also the substance of all the Additions Provisoes and Amendments which the Lords had annexed to their former Bill which had its first reading in the House of Commons as appears by the Original Journal Book of the same House fol. 207. a. on Monday the 19. day of this Instant April being thus intituled much differing from the title thereof here annexed or after added before the Printed Statute viz. The Bill to avoid the usurped power claimed by any Foreign Potentate in this Realm and for the Oath to be taken by spiritual and temporal Officers After which it had its second reading on Wednesday the 12. day and its third reading on Thursday the 13. day of the same Month where also it is entred with this new title viz. The Bill for restoring the spiritual Jurisdiction to the Imperial Crown of the Realm and abolishing Foreign Power And in the inner Margent of the said Journal Book fol. 203. a. over against the beginning of the said title is written Judicium Assent which sheweth that upon the said third reading it passed the House after which on the next day following being Friday it was with three other Bills sent up to the Lords And on Saturday the 15. day of the said April it was read prima vice in the Upper House And on Monday the 17. day thereof next ensuing it was read there secunda vice and thereupon committed to divers Peers as the former Bill in this great and important cause had been before referr'd to Committees on Monday the 13 th day of March preceding although it had been sent up from the Commons and had passed their House in such manner and form as the present Bill had been passed by them And as to that said former Bill so to this also as it is easie to be gathered did the Lords Committees make some addition although but of one new Proviso which was read prima secunda vice on Tuesday the 25 th day of this Instant April after which both the Bill it self and that new Proviso had their third reading and passed the Upper House on Wednesday the 26 th day of the same Month and the said Bill with the said new Proviso written in Parchment were at the same time sent down to the House of Commons by Serjeant Weston and the Queens Attorney where the said new Proviso added by the Lords was passed and the Bill returned again from them unto their Lordships on Friday the 28 th day of this Instant April with another new Proviso added by them although through the great negligence of ..... Scymour Esq now Clerk of the same House there be no mention at all of the sending down of the said Proviso passing it or adding of the new Proviso but only of the returning the same to the Lords Apr. 27. in the Original Journal Book of the same House To 〈◊〉 new Proviso also it should seem the 〈◊〉 gave three readings this present day and so passed it And it is probable that it happened only through the error of Francis Spilman Esq Clerk of the Upper House that the said Proviso is set down to have been read only tertia vice this Instant Saturday the 29 th day of April The Bill also limiting the times for laying on Land Merchandizes from beyond the Sea and touching the Custom of Sweet Wines and the Bill for the continuance of certain Statutes were each of them read prima vice The Bill touching Hexham and Hexhamshire in the County of Northumberland and the Bill whereby the use or practice of Inchantments Witchcrafts and Sorceries is made Felony were each of them read secunda vice Three Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first Bill set down in the Original Journal Book to have been brought up as aforesaid is thus intituled viz. An Act for Uniformity of Common-Prayer and Service in the Church and the Administration of the Sacraments conclus which doubtless was so entred through the negligence of Francis Spilman Esq at this time Clerk of the Upper House For it is plain that no such Bill was remaining at this time in the House of Commons and that only two other Bills the one to annex to the Crown certain Religious Houses c. and the other touching the Garbling of Feathers c. were sent up by Mr. Vicechamberlain as is there set down fol. 213. a. which two Bills are also set down in the Original Journal Book of the Upper House For this Bill touching the Unity of Service in the Church c. was passed in the House of Commons upon the third reading on Thursday the 20 th of this Instant April foregoing as appears by the Original Journal Book of the same fol. 210. a. and was from thence sent up to the Lords on Tuesday the 25 th day and was read prima vice
words be impugned or gainsaid for seeing all men have thus at leisure and with liberty upon the making of these Laws frankly declared their opinions and knowledges likewise as learned men so the Laws being made and past her Majesty doubteth nothing but that they will like good humble and obedient Subjects willingly and humbly submit themselves to the Law as to Life And the rather also because that no Man in the obeying of Laws made at this Sessions being of the greatest moment should thereby be forced any otherways to do than either himself hath by Law already done or else others have before this time done whom both for wisdom vertue and learning it shall not be unseeming to any man here be it spoken without offence to follow and take Example of And thus much for the first part For the second part which concerneth your liberality and benevolence her Majesty hath commanded me to say unto you that your wise and grave Consideration had and used in the granting of a present aid and relief towards the relieving and discharging of the present charge wherewith the Realm at the time of her coming to the Crown was and yet is charged is by her Highness taken in thankful part and so is the restitution of the continual Revenue as some Supplement towards the maintenance of the continual charge of late time grown to the Crown as you have heard and of necessity to be continued as well for the surety of you all as for the Confirmation of the whole Estate And here my Lords and Masters all I take it to be my duty to do you to understand of certain noble and princely observations and considerations had by her Highness of these your doings much surely to all your Comforts whereof one is in that she forgetteth not that these grants be made not by Subjects that have been a long time free from all manner of Taxes Loans and Subsidies and so well able to bear this burthen but by Subjects much to her grief when she thinketh of it that have been well nigh continually charged with these things to the universal impoverishing of the whole Realm and no wayes to the strengthning amending or honouring of the same but rather to the weakning decaying and dishonouring of the same whereby it is evident yea too evident if it pleased God otherwise that these supplies are to be born not of your superfluities but rather of your necessities Marry of necessity also to withstand a greater necessity which otherwise might touch you and yours in surety The second Observation is your readiness and willingness in granting whereof her Majesty maketh a very great account perceiving thereby that neither warm words nor yet earnest nor long perswasions used amongst you have drawn you to this but that the same hath rather been by you willingly readily and frankly offered than by any of the means above remembred and that these your grants have altogether proceeded from the benevolent minds and hearty affections that you bear to your Soveraign Lady and Country which benevolence and affection her Majesty accepteth and taketh for the greatest benefit and most precious Jewel that a Subject can present to his Soveraign and to be short in this matter if Bis dat qui citò dat be a true saying you deserve great Commendation for your small staying hereunto Also her Highness addeth a third that is a generality and consent of their Grant knowing with what difficulty and diversity of Opinions in some times past these things have been brought to pass It is a certain and infallible ground that every good thing the greater it is the better it is Now this unanimity in consenting being as undoubtedly it is a good thing hath not her Majesty trow you good cause to rejoice in the universality thereof yes surely and thanks you therefore accordingly To make an end of this part her Highness hath specially commanded me to say unto you that when she calleth to remembrance what you have granted who hath granted and the form of granting she finds her self earnestly disposed if your Sureties and the State would so suffer as freely to remit these Grants as you did gladly grant them And where in times past long and vehement Orations and perswasions have been in these Cases used to such as occupied your places for the great diligence and careful circumspection to be had for the true levying of that which hath been granted for that the common numbers respect altogether themselves as private men and not themselves as members of the whole body whereby against all reason and right the Realm hath been often defrauded of the greatest part of the benevolence granted This notwithstanding her Highness hath willed me herein to use few words and only for t his respect lest else those which have shewed such liberality and benevolence in granting might seem to be suspected by her either of fidelity or diligence in levying whereof she thinketh her self assured and thereupon reposing her trust she doubteth nothing but by your good service these things shall be as truly answered as they have been freely granted and that this faithful trust thus reposed by her Highness in your true service shall serve her to better purpose than any words that could be spoken by me on her Majesties behalf And besides she thinketh which is much to be noted surely that it were better to adventure the loss of a great part of that she taketh her self assured of than your benevolent minds I mean by speaking one word too much Now to the third and last which containeth the Queen's Majesties pleasure for the well Executing of Laws Here my Lords and Masters all remembring your Wisdoms and Fidelities albeit that it be not much needful to put you in mind to how small purpose good Laws serve being not daily and diligently executed yet because the ancient Order hath been that somewhat at this time should be said for your remembrance in these matters therefore it is thought meet that I should trouble you with a few words I am sure you all judge if a man would be very diligent to provide Torches to guide him in his going by night and yet would be negligent in lighting any of them when he goeth in the dark he should show a notable piece of folly much like to a man that seeketh to cleanse his Garden and grounds from Weeds and Briers he carefully provideth many sharp Tools and Instruments for that purpose and when he hath so done layeth them fair up in a House without occupying of them and is it not great fondness trow you for men to use their endeavours to make good Laws to govern mens doings and to weed out those that be evil in the Common-Wealth and thereupon to bind them fair in Books and to lay them up without seeing to the Execution of those Laws Yes surely Wherefore ye see that as there hath been used by you great wisdom and discretion in devising of some so it
is very necessary that like diligence and pains be taken by you and others to see the good Execution of all the effect of which charge consisteth principally in three points The first is Conservation of the Queens Peace The second in Administration of Justice between Subject and Subject And the Third in the observation of one uniform Order in Religion according to the Laws now Established For the first ye are to foresee all manner of Frays Forces Riots and Routs and the discovering and repealing in time of all manner of Conspiracies Confederacies and Conventicles and in this part also you are to provide for the swift and speedy appeasing of all manner of Tumults stirs and uproars if any happen and for the diligent searching out and severe punishment of all manner of Felonies Burglaries and all other like Enormities Matters as you know against the Queen's Majesties Peace Crown and Dignity for the well doing whereof two things are chiefly to be eschewed The one is sloathfulness the other is uncarefulness for how can Justice banish these Enormities where her Ministers be so sloathful that they will never creep out of their Doors to any Courts Sessions or Assizes for the due Administration thereof except they be drawn thereunto with some matters of their own nor cannot endure to have their Ears troubled with the hearing of Controversies of their Neighbours for the good appeasing of the same or how can the uncareful man that maketh no account of any of the common causes of his Country but respecteth only his private matters and Commodities become a just and diligent searcher out follower and Corrector of Felonies Murders and such like common Enemies to the Common-Wealth And yet true it is that such careless and sloathful men do daily colour and cloak these their faults with the title of Quietness Coveting to be counted good and quiet men where indeed they seek only ease profit and pleasure to themselves and that to be sustained and born by other mens cares and labours as Drones do amongst Bees But if every man should do so who seeth not but things would shortly come to ruine in default of Order for they may easily judge that it is madness to seek the conservation of any particular Member and to suffer the whole body to decay but being well served by some mens opinions as they care for none so should none care for them or else that better were in mine opinion they should be used by men as Drones be used by Bees And thus much for the first part For the second you are to provide that all Embracers Maintainers and Champerties which be utter Enemies to the due Execution of Justice between Subject and Subject be neither committed by any of you nor as near as you can be suffered to be committed by any other A very behoveful matter to be both carefully and earnestly looked unto as the root and seed of all Justice and especially if any of these faults light upon any person that hath Authority or Rule in the Country or hath any office of Justice to execute among the people Is it not trow you a monstrous disguising to have a Justicer a maintainer to have him that should by his Oath and Duty set forth Justice and right against his Oath and Duty to offer injury and wrong to have him that is specially chosen amongst a number by the Prince to appease all Brablings and Controversies to be a sower and maintainer of strife and Sedition amongst them seeking his reputation and opinion by leading and swaying of Juries according to his Will acquitting some for Gain Enditing others for Malice bearing with him as his Servant over-throwing the other as his Enemy procuring all Questmongers to be of his Livery or otherwise in his danger that his winks frowning and countenance may direct all Inquests Surely surely it is true that these be they that be subverters and perverters of all Laws and Orders yea that make daily the Laws that of their own nature be good to become Instruments of mischief These indeed be they of whom such Examples would be made and the founders and maintainers of all enormities and these be those whom if you cannot reform for their greatness yet ought you to complain of their villanies and thus much for the due Administration of Justice And as to the third which is the Observation of the uniform Order in Religion you are to endeavour your selves to the best of your powers and understandings drawing together in one line all points to further set forth and maintain the same which by great and deliberate advice here in Parliament hath been established And here great Observations and watch should be had of the withdrawers and hinderers thereof and especially of those that subtilly by indirect means seek to procure the contrary Amongst these I mean to comprehend as well those that be too swift as those that be too slow those I say that go before the Laws or beyond the Laws as those that will not follow for good Government cannot be where Obedience faileth and both these alike break the Rule of Obedience And these be those who in likelyhood should be beginners and maintainers and upholders of all Factions and Sects the very Mothers and Nurses to all Seditions and Tumults which necessarily bring forth destruction and depopulation of these therefore great heed would be taken and upon these being found sharp and severe Correction according to the Order of Laws should be imposed and that in the beginning without respect of persons as upon the greatest adversaries that can be to Unity and Concord without which no Common-Wealth can long endure and stand whereupon you know all our standing and falling wholly consisteth and the surety of our Sovereign Also a matter most marvellous that Laws whereby men possess all that they have and their lives also should not be able to direct mens actions so as thereby all Factions and Sects founded for the most part either upon Will or upon the Glory of mens Wits and Inventions should not sufficiently be repressed Now for the handsome bridling of the factions of men I see not that a better way can be taken than is used by the Horse-Master who provideth for the good Government of his Horse Bit or Brakes according to the tenderness or hardness of his Mouth whereunto he addeth a certain and well-taught hand And like as it is very well to be allowed that none other Bit or Brake should be provided for these Factious Folks than by the Laws be forced so were it meet that any of that kind be it never so sharp should not be omitted if the cause so requireth and this would be executed by a certain and well-taught hand for it cannot be but the winking or withdrawing from medling in this matter or the remiss or loose handling thereof must of necessity over-throw in time the whole fruits of all your Labours and put your selves your Country and the Queens
passing but paused a while to see if any Member of the House would speak unto it which at this day is commonly most used upon the third reading of a Bill and whether any of the said House spake unto the said Bill or no doth not appear But the Speaker holding the Bill in his hand made the Question for the passing of it in this sort viz. As many as are of the mind that the Bill shall pass say Yea which being Answered accordingly by the House or the greatest part of them the Bill passed and so he delivered it again unto the Clerk who because the Bill was Originally begun and first passed in the House of Commons wrote within the said Bill on the top of it towards the right hand these words viz. Soit baille aux Seigneurs The House was Adjourned until Thursday next because the Morrow following being Ash-Wednesday there was a Sermon to be Preached at the Court before the Queen at which as it should seem the greatest part of the House desired to be present On Thursday February the 9 th the Bill for Melcomb Regis in the County of Dorset to be fortified was read the first time And the Bill also to restore the Supremacy of the Church of England to the Crown of the Realm was read the first time and committed to M r Cooke as he is there termed and elsewhere Sir Anthony Cooke and as is very probable also to some others not named For it may be here noted that in the first Journals of her Majesties time the title of M r only is ordinarily given to Knights M r Sollicitor and M r Martin brought from the Lords the Bill for the Queens Title to the Crown which was delivered in such order and manner as was the Bill for the Restitution of Tenths and First-Fruits on Monday the sixth day of this Instant February foregoing Friday 10 Feb. the Bill for one Subsidy and two Fifteens and Tenths was read the third time and past M r Speaker declared the Queens Majesties Answer to the Message which was read to the House by M r Mason to the great honour of the Queen and the contentation of this House which is all that is contained in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons touching this great business of their Petition preferred to her Majesty to induce her to marry and therefore it shall not be amiss to leave some larger memorial thereof for this business having been first propounded and resolved on in the said House on Saturday the 4 th day of this instant February foregoing and preferred to her Majesty as it should seem on the Monday following in the Afternoon was not answered by her Majesty until this Morning and was then also read in the said House as appeareth by the foregoing imperfect mentioning thereof And I am the rather induced to conceive that her Majesty gave not her Answer until this Morning to the said Petition of the Commons from a Copy of the said Answer which I have by me written by Alexander Evesham which said Answer out of the said Copy in which it is referred to this instant 10 th day of February with the title and subscription thereof do now in the next place follow verbatim Friday 10 th of Feb. 1558. c. The Answer of the Queens Highness to the Petition propounded unto her by the Lower House concerning her Marriage AS I have good cause so do I give you all my hearty thanks for the good Zeal and loving Care you seem to have as well towards me as to the whole Estate of your Country Your Petition I perceive consisteth of three parts and my Answer to the same shall depend of two And to the first part I may say unto you that from my Years of Understanding sith I first had consideration of my self to be born a Servant of Almighty God I happily chose this kind of life in the which I yet live which I assure you for mine own part hath hitherto best contented my self and I trust hath been most acceptable unto God from the which if either Ambition of high Estate offered to me in Marriage by the pleasure and appointment of my Prince whereof I have some Record in this presence as you our Treasurer well know or if eschewing the danger of mine Enemies or the avoiding of the peril of Death whose Messenger or rather a continual Watchman the Princes indignation was no little time daily before mine Eyes by whose means although I know or justly may suspect yet I will not now utter or if the whole cause were in my Sister her self I will not now burthen her therewith because I will not charge the Dead if any of these I say could have drawn or disswaded me from this kind of life I had not now remained in this Estate wherein you see me But so constant have I always continued in this determination although my Youth and words may seem to some hardly to agree together yet is it most true that at this day I stand free from any other meaning that either I have had in times past or have at this present with which Trade of Life I am so throughly acquainted that I trust God who hath hitherto therein preserved and led me by the hand will not of his goodness suffer me to go alone For the other part the manner of your Petition I do well like and take it in good part because it is simple and containeth no limitation of place or person if it had been otherwise I must needs have misliked it very much and thought it in you a very great presumption being unfitting and altogether unmeet for you to require them that may command or those to appoint whose parts are to desire or such to bind and limit whose Duties are to obey or to take upon you to draw my Love to your liking or to frame my will to your fantasie For a Guerdon constrained and gift freely given can never agree together Nevertheless if any of you be in suspect whensoever it may please God to incline my heart to another kind of Life you may very well assure your selves my meaning is not to determine any thing wherewith the Realm may or shall have just cause to be discontented And therefore put that clean out of your heads For I assure you what Credit my assurance may have with you I cannot tell but what Credit it shall deserve to have the sequel shall declare I will never in that matter conclude any thing that shall be prejudicial to the Realm For the well good and safety whereof I will never shun to spend my Life and whomsoever my chance shall be to light upon I trust he shall be such as shall be as careful for the Realm as you I will not say as my self because I cannot so certainly determine of any other but by my desire he shall be such as shall be as careful for the preservation of the Realm and you
accepteth your Liberality And thirdly For the Executing of the Laws Here my Lords and Masters although I cannot declare or open it unto you as her Majesty hath Commanded me and therefore willingly would hold my Tongue if I might which for that I cannot be so excused say unto you as followeth not doubting of her Highness Clemency in bearing with me herein First Her Majesty considereth how wisely you have done for the abolishing of the Romish Power the Common Enemy of this Realm remembring your care for the defence of the same Realm your respects for the maintenance of Victual the banishment of Vagabonds and relief of the Poor with other And therefore alloweth your worthy Proceedings herein Secondly Your Liberality and Benevolence wherein your wise Considerations towards her Charges is by her Majesty taken in thankful part and I take it to be my Duty to put you in remembrance that although this Subsidy is made and to be born by Subjects not daily accustomed thereunto but that at her first entrance she had the like and that the grant thereof is more liberal than afore hath been accustomed and that it is of your necessity yet it is to withstand a greater necessity that for fault thereof would else have ensued and therefore that penny is well spent that saveth a groat which also hath been granted neither with perswasions threats nor sharp words which afore this time hath been accustomed but by one general consent of you all wherein appeareth your good wills and benevolent minds you bear to her Majesty which zeal she most accepteth and as she hath cause thanketh you Again by her Majesties Commandment she remembring by whom why and to whom this was granted doth think as freely as you have granted the most part whereof hath been accepted and lest those that have so freely offered should not be so ready towards the gathering thinketh it much better to lose the sum granted than to lose your benevolent minds Thirdly To the Execution of Laws I have little to say although the whole substance consisteth therein because I did in the beginning of this Parliament declare my Opinion in that matter and therefore as now you have to your Charges taken pains in making good Laws so put to your helps to see these and all other Executed for as it is infallible that a thing done unconstrained is much better than when they be constrained thereunto even so her Majesty willeth you to look well without more words to the Execution lest her Grace should be driven to do as she doth in her Ecclesiastical Laws make Commissions to inquire whether they be done or no whereby she shall know those Justices and Officers who have done their Duty and are to be used in service of Justice whereof her Majesty desireth to have many and again she shall understand who are to be barred from the like rooms and the penal Statutes to be on them Executed after this gentle warning which inquiry I know is like to fall on me as well as another Howbeit if Justice be not Executed I shall be glad to see this Order taken Notwithstanding her Majesty hopeth that this her admonition shall not need for that you see Laws without Execution be as a Torch unlighted or Body without a Soul therefore look well to the Executing Here endeth the three things which her Majesty commanded me to say unto you Besides this her Majesty hath to Answer your Petitions and as to the first in which you desire her Royal Assent to such matters as you have agreed upon to that she saith how at this present she is come for that purpose And for your other Petitions to accept in good part as well your service as the travails and doings of the nether House this Parliament and to that she Answereth how that she doth not only accept them in good part but also thanketh both you and them for the same And touching your request before this made unto her for her Marriage and Succession because it is of such importance whereby I doubted my own opening thereof and therefore desire her Majesty that her meaning might be written which she hath done and delivered to me to be read as followeth SInce there can be no duer Debt than Princes words which I would observe therefore I Answer to the same thus it is The two Petitions which you made unto me do contain two things my Marriage and Succession after me For the first If I had let slip too much time or if my strength had been decayed you might the better have spoke therein or if any think I never meant to try that Life they be deceived but if I may hereafter bend my mind thereunto the rather for fulfilling your request I shall be therewith very well content For the second the greatness thereof maketh me to say and pray that I may linger here in this Vale of Misery for your Comfort wherein I have witness of my Study and Travail for your Surety And I cannot with Nunc dimittis end my Life without I see some foundation of your Surety after my Grave Stone These foregoing Speeches being thus transcribed out of the very Autograph or Original Memorial of them as aforesaid now follows the form and manner of her Majesties Royal Assent to such Acts as passed Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper Commanded the Clerk of the Crown to read the Acts whereupon M r Thomas Powle as Joint-Patentee and in the absence of M r Martin Clerk of the Crown stood up before the little Table set before the Wooll-sacks and after Obeysance made began to read the Titles of the same as followeth An Act for the Assurance of the Queens Majesties Royal Power over all States and Subjects within her Dominions Then Francis Spilman Esq Clerk of the Upper House standing up after Obeysance made read her Majesties Answer in these words viz. La Roigne le veult And then both the Clerk of the Crown and the Clerk of the Upper House made Obeysance together Thomas Powle Esq Clerk of the Crown standing up did read the Title of the Bill of Subsidy and then Francis Spilman Esq Clerk of the Upper House standing up likewise did read the Queens Majesties Answer in manner and form following viz. La Roigne remercye ses loyaulx subjects accept leur benevolence ainsi le veult The said Clerk having read the Queens Acceptance and thanks for the Subsidy given as aforesaid did then upon the reading of the Title of her Majesties Pardon by the Clerk of the Crown as aforesaid pronounce in these French words following the thanks of the Lords and Commons for the same Les Prelats Seigneurs Communes en ce present Parliament Assembles au nom de touts vous autres subjects remercient tres humblement vostre Majestye prient à Dieu que ils vous donne en santè bonne vie longue The Bills of Subsidy and Pardon being passed then were the Titles of the publick Acts
you And I shall pray as I am bound to God for your long and prosperous Reign over us Then her Majesty called the Lord Keeper and Commanded him to Answer him which he did as followeth M r Speaker The Queens Majesty hath heard your humble Petitions and request made unto her the effect whereof she gathereth to stand in two points first for access to her person and secondly for good interpretation of your meaning and also larger Declaration thereof if need be For the former her Highness as her Noble Progenitors have done is well contented that in convenient time and for convenient Causes in convenient place and without importunity for that these parts now touched have not been afore this time so well handled as she trusteth now it shall be which considered as free access she granteth you as any other hath had For the second point because no man at all times may do so well but sometimes things may be uttered which may be mispoken for which cause in that time also you shall have her intreatable but she thinketh your circumspection to be such as she shall not therein need And so ended Now a word or two to remember you here present of both the Houses first this it is that I would advise you in this your proceeding to prefer the most weighty matters first and not trouble your selves with small matters and of no weight and therein also that all be done to understand the truth and to avoid all superfluous matters and losing or driving away of time Secondly It is profitable that you my Lords and all others that be here consider that long time requireth great expences and therefore wish you to make Expedition the rather to avoid the same And yet not meaning such Expedition that any thing needful to be done should be lightly passed over and not substantially done and seen unto but only I mean that you should settle your selves wholly to mighty matters and those which be necessary and to spare superfluous things and which needeth not And this is the sum I have to say Then the Speaker and the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons having made their low Reverence towards her Majesty departed to their own House and the Queen after the Lord Keeper had by her Majesties Commandment continued the Parliament unto the Morrow following returned into her Privy-Chamber and there shifted her and then repaired to her Barge and so to the Court Hactenus ex Memoriali praefato On Thursday the third day of October were three Bills read of which the last being the Bill for the better Execution of certain Statutes and for the reformation of certain disorders used in the Law was read primâ vice tunc commissa Archiepiscopo Cantuarien Duci Norfolciae Comiti Mareschall Angliae Comiti Salopiae Comiti Wigorniae Comiti Leicester Episcopo Dunelmen Episcopo Elien Episcopo Carliolen Domino Cobham Domino Grey de Wilton Domino Haistings Domino Primario Justiciario Banci Regis Domino Primario Baroni Scaccarii Scrvienti Carus Nota That this days passages are wholly transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House as are also the greatest part of the days following although the whole proceedings of Wednesday foregoing were inserted out of the before-mentioned Anonymous memorial touching the Speakers presentment and allowance which I had by me Nota also That the former Bill touching the better Execution of certain Statutes c. was not only committed upon the first reading which is not usual till after the second but committed also to the Judges being but Assistants of the Upper House and to the Queens Serjeant being but a meer Attendant upon the same jointly with the Lords the only proper and undoubted Members of that Great Council which is a matter to be observed because of later days neither the said Assistants nor Attendant are ever appointed joint Committees with the Lords as here but only Commanded by the House to attend upon the Committee and there to give such advice as shall be required from them which is no greater respect yielded them at a Committee than in the House it self sitting the Parliament and were they still admitted to be Committees as they usually were in all these first Parliaments of the Queen yet could no inconvenience ensue thereby because at a Committee things are only prepared and made ready for the House in which and no where else they ought to be concluded and expedited And Nota lastly That the Parliament was this day continued to Saturday the 5 th day of October ensuing but whether by the Lord Keeper who as it seems at this time fell sick of the Gout or by the Lord Treasurer who for a while afterwards was appointed by the Queens Commission to continue it according to the usual form and course in such case used doth not appear in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House but is omitted through the negligence of Francis Spilman Esq now Clerk of the same House On Saturday the 5 th day of October to which day the Parliament had been last continued two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the taking away Clergy in certain Cases was read secundâ vice commissa Archiepiscopo Eboracen Duci Norf. Comiti Huntington Comiti Leicester Vice-Comiti Mountague Episcopo London Episcopo Dunelmen Episcopo Lincoln Domino Clinton Domino Morley Domino Wentworth Domino Willoughby Domino North Domino Hunsdon the two Chief Justices and the Chief Baron Nota That the Judges being meer Assistants and no Members of the Upper House were here also made joint Committees with the Lords which hath never been admitted of in later times These two Bills were read the Lord Keeper by reason of his being sick of the Gout abstaining this day and a good while aster from the Upper House and therefore William Lord Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England was Authorized by verbal Commission from the Queen to supply his place and accordingly continued the Parliament unto Monday next being the 7 th day of October the form and manner whereof although the President be very rare and of great use is only entred very briefly in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in these words following Hodie dictus Thesaurarius ex Mandato Dominae Reginae eò quod Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli Podagrae Morbo laboraret continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Lunae proxim horâ consuetâ Nota That here the Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England did supply the Lord Keepers place in the Upper House without any Authority given him by Commission under the great Seal which in like Cases is usual and therefore it is most probable that her Majesty did by word of Mouth give him this Commandment or Commission either in private or in the presence of some other Lords of the Upper House which although it
but rather superior and more indifferent than any other Law For by our Common Law although there be for the Prince provided many Princely Prerogatives and Royalties yet it is not such as the Prince can take money or other things or do as he will at his own pleasure without order but quietly to suffer his Subjects to enjoy their own without wrongful oppression wherein other Princes by their Liberty do take as pleaseth them Aristotle saith That the Life of the Prince is the Maintenance of the Laws and that it is better to be governed by a good Prince than by good Laws and so your Majesty as a good Prince is not given to Tyranny contrary to your Laws but have and do pardon divers of your Subjects offending against the Laws As now for Example of your special Grace you have granted a general Pardon either without our seeking or looking for whereby it is the better welcom Again your Majesty hath not attempted to make Laws contrary to Order but orderly have called this Parliament who perceived certain wants and thereunto have put their helping hand and for help of evil manners good Laws are brought forth of the which we beseech your Excellent Majesty so many as you shall allow to inspire with the breath of your Majesties Power whereby they may be quickned which now want Life and so be made Laws Furthermore concerning Payments to be made to the Prince it is as to deliver the same to Gods Ministers who are appointed always for our defence wherefore your humble Subjects do offer a Subsidy to be put into your Majesties Treasure which although it be but as a Mite or a Farthing yet is the good will of them to be reputed as the poor Widows was in the Gospel wherein I must not omit to do that which never Speaker did before viz. to desire your Majesty not to regard this simple offer of ours but therein to accept our good will wherein your Highness hath prevented me in taking in the best part our good will and required us to retain in our hands part of our gift and accounting it to be in our Purses as in your own and so is our Duty besides the Policy thereof it being for our own Defence and also honesty for that we have received many benefits by your Majesty for he that doth a good turn deserveth the praise and not he which afterwards goeth about to reward or doth reward the same Also giving most hearty thanks to God for that your Highness hath signified your pleasure of your inclination to Marriage which afore you were not given unto which is done for our safeguard that when God shall call you you shall leave of your own Body to succeed you which was the greatest promise that God made to David and the greatest request that Abraham desired of God when God promised him exceeding great reward Who said Lord what wilt thou give me when I go Childless and he that is the Steward of mine House is mine Heir Therefore God grant us that as your Majesty hath defended the Faith of Abraham you may have the like desire of Issue with you And for that purpose that you would shortly imbrace the holy State of Matrimony to have one when and with whom God shall appoint and best like your Majesty and so the Issue of your own Body by your Example Rule over our Posterity and that we may obtain this let us give our most humble thanks to God for his manifold benefits bestowed upon us and pray for the Reign of your Majesties Issue after your long desired Government and so ended and did his Obeysance Then the Lord Keeper after the Queen had called him and told him her mind Answered to M r Speaker and said M r Speaker The Queen hath heard and understood your Wise and Eloquent Oration whereby principally I gather four things First Disabling your self Secondly Concerning Governance The third touching the Subsidy And lastly In giving thanks which also was intermingled very wisely in all parts of your Oration And for the first In disabling your self you have therein contrarily bewrayed your own ableness For the second Concerning Governance as well by Succession as Election of Religion and Policy in which Discourse you have dealt well I therefore leave it and mean to speak only a few words as to your last word Policy Politick Orders be Rules of all good Acts and touching those that you have made to the over-throwing of good Laws they deserve reproof as well as the others deserve praise in which like case you err in bringing her Majesties Prerogative in Question and for that thing wherein she meant not to hurt any of your Liberties And again the grant of her Letters Patents in Question is not a little marvail for that therein you find fault which is now no new devised thing but such as afore this time hath been used and put in practice howbeit her Majesties nature is mild and full of Clemency so that she is loth herein to be austere and therefore though at this time she suffer you all to depart quietly unto your Countries for your Amendment yet as it is needful so she hopeth that the Offenders will hereafter use themselves well Again touching the good Laws which you have taken great pains in making if they be not Executed they be not only as Rods without Hands to execute them or as Torches without Light but also breed great contempt therefore look well to the Execution for if it be not done the fault is in some of us which she putteth orderly in trust to see it done For the third point concerning the presentment of the Subsidy her Majesty biddeth me say that when the Lords Spiritual and Temporal granted it unto her so she trusteth you will be as careful in gathering of it which I and others be witness how very unwilling and loth she was to take but to avoid further inconvenience And lastly Concerning knowledge of benefits and giving of thanks which you have well declared be many yet one in comparison above all yea a fruit above all other and whereby you may enjoy all the other which is her Marriage whereof she hath put you in good hope Further I have to put you in remembrance of three things the first is that where now you acknowledge benefits and as you have cause to give thanks so secondly that you be not unmindful hereafter to do the like And thirdly that in all your doings hereafter you show your selves that all these benefits be had in remembrance and not forgotten for that it should be a thing against reason in humane Creatures specially therefore now it behoveth you all as you have acknowledged benefits and for them given thanks in the first point so that you see the other two observed And then her Majesty will not fail likewise thankfully to accept the same and so ended Thus far out of the before-mentioned Memorial touching the Passages and
comfortable words and commanded the Parliament to be dissolved Nota That this business had many and long Agitations in the House of Commons who were especially violent in that latter branch of it touching the Declaration of a Successor as see more at large on Monday the 25 th day of November foregoing and lastly I have thought good to give a short touch that all the foregoing passages of this Afternoon touching her Majesties Presence Royal Assent Speech and Dissolving the Parliament were thus Orderly set down in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons and have here received little Alterations THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS The Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Lords in the Parliament holden at Westminster An. 13 Reg. Eliz. A. D. 1571 which began there on Monday the 2 d day of April and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Tuesday the 29 th day of May ensuing THIS Journal of the Upper House continuing about the space of two Months was very carelesly entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House by the Clerk thereof who as it seems was Anthony Mason Esq succeeding about this time in the said Office of Clerk of the Upper House unto Francis Spilman Esq who had formerly supplied that place But yet by means of a Copious Journal I had by me of the Passages of the House of Commons in this Parliament taken by some Anonymous Member thereof and also of some Copies I had of the Speeches of Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper at the beginning and conclusion of this said Parliament this ensuing Journal is much enlarged And therefore to avoid confusion whatsoever is here inserted out of the said private Journal is particularly distinguished from that which is taken out of the above-mentioned Journal-Book of the Upper House by some Animadversions or Expression thereof both before and after the inserting of it Neither doth the Original Journal-Book it self of the Upper House want some matter of variety besides the ordinary Reading Committing and passing of Bills in respect that Sir Robert Catlyn Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench was appointed by her Majesties Commission under the Great Seal to supply the Lord Keepers place upon occasion of his sickness during some part of this said Parliament in the first entry whereof is set down out of the foresaid Anonymous Journal of the House of Commons her Majesties coming to the Upper House with the Order and manner of it the substance also of which is found though somewhat more briefly set down in the Original Journal-Book of the same House On Monday the second day of April the Parliament beginning according to the Writs of Summons sent forth her Majesty about eleven of the Clock came towards Westminster in the antient accustomed most honourable Passage having first riding before her the Gentlemen Sworn to attend her Person the Batchellors Knights after them the Knights of the Bath then the Barons of the Exchequer and Judges of either Bench with the Master of the Rolls her Majesties Attorney General and Sollicitor General whom followed in Order the Bishops and after them the Earls then the Archbishop of Canterbury The Hat of Maintenance was Carried by the Marquess of Northampton and the Sword by the Earl of Sussex The place of the Lord Steward for that day was supplied by the Lord Clinton Lord Admiral of England the Lord Great Chamberlain was the Earl of Oxenford And the Earl Marshal by Deputation from the Duke of Norfolk was the Earl of Worcester Her Majesty sate in her Coach in her Imperial Robes and a Wreath or Coronet of Gold set with rich Pearl and Stones over her Head her Coach drawn by two Palfries covered with Crimson Velvet drawn out imbossed and imbroidered very richly Next after her Chariot followed the Earl of Leicester in respect of his Office of the Master of the Horse leading her Majesties spare Horse And then forty seven Ladies and Women of Honour The Guard in their rich Coats going on every side of them The Trumpeters before the first sounding and the Heralds riding and keeping their rooms and places Orderly In Westminster Church the Bishop of Lincoln Preached before her Majesty whose Sermon-being done her Majesty came from the Church the Lords all on foot in order as afore and over her Head a rich Canopy was carried all the way She being entred into the Upper House of Parliament and there sate in Princely and seemly sort under a high and rich Cloth of Estate her Robe was supported by the Earl of Oxenford the Earl of Sussex kneeling holding the Sword on the left hand and the Earl of Huntingdon holding the Hat of Estate and the Lords all in their Rooms on each side of the Chamber that is to say the Lords Spiritual on the right hand and the Lords Temporal on the left Nota That whereas the presence of these Lords ought here according to the usual course to have been inserted out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House it must of necessity be omitted in respect that through the great negligence of Anthony Mason Esq at this time as it should seem Clerk of the said House there are none of the said Lords noted to have been present yet it may be probably guessed who they were by those who attended on Wednesday of this instant April ensuing Quod vide The Judges and her Learned Councel being at the Woollsacks in the midst of the Chamber and at her Highness Feet at each side of her kneeling one of the Grooms or Gentlemen of the Chamber their Faces towards her the Knights Citizens and Burgesses all standing below the Bar her Majesty then stood up in her Regal Seat and with a Princely Grace and singular good Countenance after a long stay spake a few words to this effect or thus Mr right Loving Lords and you our right faithful and Obedient Subjects we in the name of God for his Service and for the safety of this State are now here Assembled to his Glory I hope and pray that it may be to your Comfort and the common quiet of our yours and all ours for ever And then looking on the right side of her towards Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England standing a little beside the Cloth of Estate and somewhat back and lower from the same she willed him to shew the cause of the Parliament who thereupon spake as followeth THE Queens most Excellent Majesty our most Dread and Gracious Soveraign hath Commanded me to declare unto you the Causes of your Calling and Assembly at this time which I mean to do as briefly as I can led thereunto as one very loth to be tedious to her Majesty and also because to wise men and well-disposed as I judge you be a few words do suffice The Causes be chiefly two The one to establish or dissolve Laws as best shall serve for the Governance of the Realm
The other so to consider of the Crown and State as it may be best preserved in time of Peace and best defended in the time of War according to the Honour due unto it And because in all Councils and Conferences first and chiefly there should be sought the Advancement of Gods Honor and Glory as the sure and infallible Foundation whereupon the Policy of every good Publick Weal is to be Erected and built and as the streight line whereby it is principally to be directed and governed and as the chief Pillar and Buttress wherewith it is continually to be sustained and maintained Therefore for the well-performing of the former touching Laws you are to consider first whether the Ecclesiastical Laws concerning the Discipline of the Church be sufficient or no and if any want shall be found to supply the same and thereof the greatest care ought to depend upon my Lords the Bishops to whom the Execution thereof especially pertains and to whom the imperfections of the same be best known And as to the Temporal Laws you are to Examine whether any of them already made be too sharp or too sore or over-burthenous to the Subject or whether any of them be too loose or too soft and so over-perillous to the State For like as the former may put in danger many an Innocent without cause particularly so the second may put in peril both the Nocent and Innocent and the whole State universally You are also to examine the want and superfluity of Laws you are to look whether there be too many Laws for any thing which breedeth so many doubts that the Subject sometimes is to seek how to observe them and the Councellor how to give advice concerning them Now the second which concerns a sufficient provision for the Crown and State herein you are to call to remembrance how the Crown of this Realm hath been many ways charged extraordinarily of late not possibly to be born by the ordinary Revenues of the same and therefore of necessity to be relieved otherwise as heretofore it hath commonly and necessarily been For like as the ordinary charge hath been always born by ordinary Revenues so the extraordinary charge hath always been sustained by an extraordinary relief This to those that be of understanding is known not only to be proper to Kingdoms and Empires but also is hath been and ever will be a necessary peculiar pertaining to all Common-Wealths and private States of men from the highest to the lowest the rules of reason hath ordained it so to be But here I rest greatly perplexed whether I ought to open and remember unto you such reasons as may be easily produced to move you thankfully and readily to grant this extraordinary relief or no I know the Queens Majesty conceiveth so great hope of your prudent foreseeing what is to be done and of your good wills and readiness to perform that which by Prudence you foresec that few or no perswasions at all are needful for the bringing this to pass Nevertheless because by the antient order heretofore used it is my Office and Duty somewhat to say in this Case and likewise all men also that be present neither understand alike nor remember alike Therefore I mean with your favour and patience to trouble you with a few words touching this point True it is that there be two things that ought vehemently to move us frankly bountifully and readily to deal in this matter The former is the great benefits that we have received the second is the necessity of the Cause If we should forget the former we are to be charged as most ungrate and unthankful and the forgetfulness of the second doth charge us as uncareful of our own Livings and Liberties and of our Lives the former moveth by Reason and the second urgeth by Necessity And here to begin with the former albeit that the benefits that the Realm hath received by Gods Grace and the Queens Majesties Goodness both for the number and greatness are such as may be more easily marvelled at than worthily weighed and considered Yet mean I to remember briefly three of them whereof the first and chief is restoring and setting at Liberty Gods holy Word amongst us the greatest and most precious Treasure that can be in this World for that either doth or should benefit us in the best degree to wit our Minds and Souls and look how much our Souls excel our Bodies so much must needs the benefits of our Souls excel the benefits of our Bodies whereby also as by a necessary consequent we are delivered and made free from the Bondage of the Roman Tyranny therefore this is to be thought of us the most principal benefit The second is the inestimable benefit of Peace during the time of ten whole years together and more and what is Peace is it not the richest and most wished for Ornament that pertains to any publick Weal Is not Peace the mark and end that all good Governments direct their actions unto Nay is there any benefit be it never so great that a man may take the whole Commodity of without the benefit of Peace Is there any so little Commodity but through Peace a man may have the full fruition of it By this we generally and joyfully possess all and without this generally and joyfully we possess nothing A man that would sufficiently consider all the Commodities of Peace ought to call to remembrance all the miseries of War for in reason it seems as great a benefit in being delivered of the one as in the possessing of the other Yet if there were nothing the common and lamentable Calamities and Miseries of our Neighbours round about us for want of Peace may give us to understand what blessedness we be in that possess it There be that never acknowledge benefits to their value whilst they possess them but when they be taken from them and so find their want marry such be not worthy of them Now is it possible trow you that this blessed benefit of Peace could have been from time to time thus long conserved and conferred upon us had not the mind affection and love that our Soveraign bears towards us her Subjects bred such care over us in her Breast as for the well bringing of this to pass she hath for born no care of Mind no travel of Body nor expence of her Treasure nor sale of her Lands no adventuring of her Credit either at home or abroad a plain and manifest Argument how dear and pretious the safety and quiet of us her Subjects be to her Majesty And can there be a greater perswasion to move us to our power to tender the like The third is the great benefit of Clemency and Mercy I pray you hath it been seen or read that any Prince of this Realm during whole ten years Reign and more hath had his hands so clean from Blood If no offence were her Majesties Wisdom in Governing was the more to be wondred
Merchants the Controversies which have ensued by this means amongst them and the subtile means whereby the Statute was procured without the consent of the Major or Commons by such as were put in Trust. M r Alford said that he might not speak of the Prerogative aptly for that he was not Learned in the Law but made some remembrance of what he had there seen concerning the Act of Parliament for Southampton where it appeareth that without an Act of Parliament her Majesties Letters Patents were not sufficient and therefore he prayed convenient consideration might be and that the same if it should so seem good to the House might be conjoined to the former and other Bill c. Then spake M r Cleere Sir Francis Knolles Sir Nicholas Arnold Sir Henry Norris and M r Christopher Yelverton of Grays-Inn severally to the said Bill whose Speeches being somewhat imperfectly and uncertainly set down in the before-mentioned Anonymous Journal are therefore omitted although from them and the residue foregoing the effect of this Bill may be Collected to have been for the Dissolution of certain Companies of Merchants in Bristol whom her Majesty had Incorporated by her Letters Patents and authorized them to Trade to certain places by which it was pretended that the publick and free trading of others was restrained and at last upon the Motion of M r Fleetwood That the Bill being of great weight might be further considered of by the House and the Committees be appointed at some other time it was thereupon Ordered that they should be appointed on the day following which was done accordingly Then was read the Bill for coming to Service but what reading it was appeareth not by the aforesaid Anonymous Journal nor by the Original Journal Book it self in which this said Bill is not at all mentioned but it should seem that it was the second reading because divers Speeches ensued thereupon which in respect that they concern a matter of so great moment are therefore transcribed out of the Anonymous Journal in manner and form following M r Snagg shewed at large the inconveniencies of the old Law for coming to Service for said he by the former Law it was Enacted that the Service shall not be said or Sacrament ministred in other sort than in the Book of Common-Prayer is prescribed he shewed how differently the same was used in many places from the prescribed Rule as where no part of those Prayers were observed but a Sermon and some such other Prayers only as the Minister shall think good in place thereof whereupon have great divisions discords and dislikes grown amongst and between great numbers And since it is Law that in this sort Service shall be used and that whosoever shall be at any other form of Service shall incur the penalty prescribed and that the Ministers neither do nor will do herein as they should and as is by the Law prescribed and commanded he thought the proceedings in this kind should occasion a Dilemma in mischief for by this Law if he come not he shall lose twelve pence and if he come and be present and the Service be not said according to the prescribed Rule of the Book he shall lose a hundred Marks M r Aglionby Burgess of the Town of Warwick moved the Law might be without exception or priviledge for any Gentlemen in their private Oratories this did he prove to be fit out of Plato his Laws and Cicero both prescribing for the observation of the Law an equality between the Prince and the poor Man not giving scope to the one above the other Also he remembred the Authority of Lactantius Firmianus making this only difference betwixt Man and Beast that all men do know and acknowledge that there is a God and in this respect there should be no difference between Man and Man Withall he said the more noble the Man the more good his Example may do He therefore concluded that for so much of the Law so the same might be general he was of good liking that it should pass But for the other matter concerning the receiving of the Communion he argued that it was not convenient to inforce Consciences And to that purpose he shewed the Authority of D rs which he vouched without quoting the place or sentence He said also that it was the Opinion of Fathers and Learned Men of this Land and therefore wished they might be consulted with Finally he concluded that bonae Leges è malis moribus proveniunt but no good Laws may make a good man fit to receive that great Ministry of God above This whole Speech he tempered with such discretion as in such Case was seemly And whatsoever he spake he spake the same under Correction M r Strickland standing up first prayed he might be excused for that he was to speak on a sudden and unprovided For the first He approved what M r Aglionby had said For the second he said he could not be of that mind and he vouched out of Esdras that the Church yea the Consciences of men were by the Prophet restrained withal he said Conscience might be free but not to disturb the common quiet He shewed the practice and doings of the Pope the banishment of the Arrians c. That the word of the Prince for lack of Law must not be tied The Israelites he said were constrained to eat the Pass-over And finally he concluded that it was no straitning of their Consciences but a Charge or loss of their Goods if they could not vouchsafe to be as they should be good men and true Christians M r Dalton reasoned to this effect that there could ensue no inconvenience by those two Laws which were intended to be contrary his reason was except the Service be according to the Law no man is bound to stay there no more than if he be bound to come and hear Service if there be no Service he is to forfeit his Bond. For Answer to M r Aglionby he said the matters of Conscience did not concern the Law-makers neither were they to regard the error curiosity or stiff-neckedness of the evil ignorant or froward persons For be it they did proceed orderly to the discharge of their own Consciences in making the Law let them care for the rest whom it behoveth He was of mind that Gentlemen should not be excepted for the causes aforesaid but he wished provision might be made for such as be imprisoned or cannot come for fear of Arrests He wished also that the Law might have continuance but till the end of the next Parliament These foregoing Speeches being thus transcribed out of that often before-cited Anonymous Journal more particularly mentioned at the beginning of this present Journal and two other Speeches of M r Fleetwood and M r Popham of no great moment being omitted now follows some part of the next days passages out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons On Thursday the 12 th day of April M r Comptroller upon
all times it is to be prevented Where it is said the like hath not been seen and a Miracle made of it as if there were never former Presidents ever seen of the like or ever heard of before It is no longer since than in Queen Maries time when to the Parliament it was suggested that the Congregations in the City of London Assembled did use this kind of Prayer to God either to convert her or confound her Whereupon it was Enacted that every person who so and in such sort had prayed or who so after should pray should be taken for a Traytor The Case of Bennet Smith is not so strange nor so long since but it may be remembred his transgression was not such nor so to be adjudged at the time of the offence perpetrated as it was afterwards yet by Authority of Parliament the offence precedent was from the old nature altered and he who before at the time of the offence until the making of the Law was not to be priviledged but by his Clergy was now by an Act made after by Judgment Executed And since in the Case of a private man as was this of Bennet Smith such consideration and such good discretion was used who can imagine it to be odious Nay who is it that would not the like or greater care to be had of a Prince and especially of so good and virtuous a Prince as she for whom our Conference is now But yet we are charged with partial affection unsetled minds and doubleness Whether this Speech now be an offence to the House he earnestly craved the Judgment of the House For that it might seem by the Gentlemans earnestness who spake that some one his Friend whom he was bent to serve would be touched Whereupon for his own part he eft-soons protested he had no certain resolution with himself of any title but was to be satisfied with the consent of that Assembly howsoever adding further if his Motions might so sort as they were liked he offered this Proviso to be added That if any such person who had made any such claim shall disclaim and renounce all Title during her Highness Life the same person c. to be then restored to the old Estate M r Comptroller after some Declaration of grief perceiving the matter grow to heat as verily the greatest number of the House were more than moved with the vehemency of M r Goodiers Speech and that men were disposed to talk at large of matters contrary or repugnant to the Bill moved that it might be severed because the first part came in and was exhibited to that House by her Majesties Learned Councel the other was but the advice of a private man which advice though it justly deserved Commendation yet was it not in his fancy to be joined with that which came in other sort M r Snagg argued to this effect that in making of Laws plainness of Speech should be used all intrapments to be shunned and avoided And here he moved why the Statute of Edw. 3. whereby it is Enacted that all such who shall endeavour compass or imagine the Death of the King c. should be Traytors c. should not be said sufficient reaching as far and comprehending as much as this latter advice For the regard of the time past he said he could have no good liking thereof and what was practised in Queen Maries time under Correction he took to be no Charitable President concerning the Authority of the Parliament he did conclude nothing but said it was a prevention Sir Francis Knolles shewed that he could not utterly dislike the conjoining of the Additions sith that they rise all of one ground and that they both are good and charitable whereof he acknowledged her Highness to have Intelligence and the cause already to have been in Conference by her Councel And for the word hath he saith it contained no such absurdity but with good zeal it might be maintained And therefore such vehemency and sharpness of Speech he said was more than requisite yea more than convenient And as for the obscurity he said of men that would mean well it could not be misconstrued and to stay or prevent devices past he thought it but honest Policy which being otherwise used in a Princes case is not to be disliked He remembred her Highness unwillingness to punish such offences and therefore though the Law be sharp yet such is her Mildness that if any have offended for so much as may concern her person surely he thought it would not be Executed and her Clemency tempered with Authority could never grow to Cruelty wherein what his Conscience was he thought not fit to make further shew thereof but simply and plainly he would deal herein not meaning to treat in such sort as if he thought to deserve thanks or any thing of her Majesty for what he did he did it also as mindful of his own safety Another then spake whose name is not expressed in the aforesaid Anonymous Journal shewing the weight of the matter which was then in hand to rest as well on the general safety of the Subjects as on the preservation of her Majesties Person and therefore he could not but approve the effect of the whole both in Bill and Addition albeit for the pains in the Bill he was somewhat variant from that which was there offered and in the understanding of some words he was doubtful as for the word compassing he made some question of this bodily hurt he had no perfect Intelligence since the hurt of body may grow by grief of mind and grief of mind perhaps by small cause He also said that saving in the Statute of 27 H. 8. he hath not read it But further he said that he that would not allow her for lawful Queen in his conceit should also be called a Traitor but for the speaking of those most slanderous words of Heretick Infidel Schismatick he would not any man to be for the first offence taken as a Traytor for that the not acknowledging of the Supremacy being a far greater offence is but the pain of Praemunire And therefore except the same offence also might be made Treason he could not like thereof But if it should so seem to them good that it should be as he indeed wished then was he well pleased to put them both to one Predicament And for the word Heretick he said that the Papists all of force must be forced to say her Majesty is one or that they themselves must be content to carry the name and to be noted Nomine as they are ' re veritate Hereticks which name they willingly will not bear He further said that with the rest of those words of slander he thought it might do well to insert the name Papist That if any man should say her Majesty to be an Infidel Papist or Heretick c. to be a Traytor for that some say there are in these days that do not spare to say
mischief it may be to me and inconvenient also to utter the same I will not speak thereof but dutifully neither do I see any thing that is amiss at this present what was done a hundred years since I may safely tell and thus it was A Duke of this Realm wrote his Letters to a City which I know to this effect whereby he did signify that a Parliament was to be Summoned in short time and that for great causes he was to crave aid of all his Friends and reckoning them amongst the rest he wished them of four under-nominated to chuse two the Letter under the Dukes Seal is still preserved but hear you the Answer he was written to with due humbleness that they were prohibited by Law they might chuse none of them I will venture a little nearer In Queen Maries time a Council of this Realm not the Queens Privy-Council did write to a Town to chuse a Bishops Brother and a great Bishops Brother it was indeed whom they assured to be a good Catholick man and willed them to chuse to the like of him some other fit man The Council was Answered with Law And if all Towns in England had done the like in their Choice the Crown had not been so wronged and the Realm so robbed with such ease at that Parliament and truth banished as it was what hath been may be there is no impossibility It will be said I mistake it is not meant but that Towns shall be at liberty to chuse whom they list I say that Liberty is the loss of Liberty for when by Law they may do what they will they may not well deny what shall be required It is too truly said Rogando cogit qui rogat potentior And I have known one that to avoid a great mans displeasure that dwelt near him that was desirous as he knew to buy his Land did upon small occasion bind himself not to alienate his Land from his true Heirs this being known I mean that he was bound as aforesaid the great man was contented to let him keep his own quietly which otherwise he would not have done Surely Law is the only Fortress of the inferior sort of People and contrary to the Law the greater sort will not desire or expect anything Though now at this present God be praised we need not to fear the greatness of any man Justice is so well administred Yet hereafter whatsoever hath been we may fear either for maintenance of Faction or maintenance of Mischief Again I say it may be what heretofore was possibly again may be We stand and have stood of late upon the notorious manifestation of the Authority of Parliament except withal you keep the ancient usage of the same and withal endeavour the freedom thereof in effect you do nothing if I guess aright It is further said that in some Towns there are not men of discretion fit they be not the wiser said the Gentleman that spoke before for being Burgesses I can never be perswaded but that either the Lord whose the Town is be the Town never so little or the Steward if it be the Queens or some good Gentleman of the Country adjoinant will either assign them who know the Town and can be content to be free among them and to serve by their appointment for their Country and for them or else for some reasonable Fee such as be of their Learned Councel and who know them and the Country will deal for them I mean it not so strictly that those who should be chosen should of necessity be dwellers in the Town but to be either of the Town or towards the Town Borderers and near Neighbours at the least and to this effect I would the Bill were framed I stand too long hereon and abundance of matter occasioneth confusion this is all It was meant at the first and first Constitution of Parliament that men of every quarter and of all sorts should come to this Court that they should be freely chosen This in every Age hitherto hath seemed best to alter without cause is not convenient to give every Town liberty may offer in time inconvenience None so fit for every Country as those who know the same To chuse of their own it is a Liberty to lose their Liberty I think it a bad Commodity call it as you please by such kind of release in easing men of their Wealths or of some good part of their Living beshrow our Charity And in like sort and in like reason it seems to me this Law is inferred out of the Preface of the same For thus it is penned Forasmuch as some Towns are decayed and have not of their own therefore let every Town do what they list Of a particular Proposition to make a general conclusion it is against our Rules and nothing as saith the Philosopher is more absurd than non causam pro causà Some Towns cannot send fit men it standeth very strongly if you seek to help let the Plaister be fit for the sore let not the Salve be stretched too far lest the whole and sound flesh by the broad spreading of the Salve do either smart fret or fester The Medicine which healeth the sick man may be poyson for the whole and sound man All Citizens and Burgesses should not be thought alike and yet all provided for as there is due cause let there be therefore convenient consideration how to heal how to hurt And I could wish according to the weight of the matter it might be rather staid on than thus abruptly over-ruled and while we fly Scylla we fall not into Charybdis while we say that Boroughs cannot send to this High Court so fit men as be convenient that by altering the ancient usage which is the only Warrant and sole stay of freedom in Parliament it may happily be said we have no Parliament now within this Realm nor Liberty at all for any such here to be holden M r Bell in Answer of this did collect the substance of what had been said and in a long Discourse shewed that it was necessary all places should be provided for and not Boroughs only being but one of the Members of the Common-Wealth and that some of them have neither Wealth to provide fit men nor themselves any in any sort convenient He thought not amiss if in respect of those manifest wants convenient supply should be but without the Warrant of Parliament such alteration might not be He then thought it not amiss to be advised And for the objection of the danger which may ensue by reason of the Letters of Noblemen he could not he said but think it convenient to prevent the same and therefore wished that there might be the penalty of forty pound upon every Borough that should make such Election at the Nomination of any Nobleman M r Alford reasoned to this effect That above all things necessary care ought to be for the chusing and having of fit men to supply the place
mention of any further proceeding in this Bill but it doth plainly appear by the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons that this Bill having had its second reading as aforesaid was now at the last after the preceeding Arguments were ended Committed by M r Treasurer and others whose names are all omitted in the Original Journal-Book On Friday the 20 th day of April the Bill for the Assizes to be kept at Worcester was read the first time The Bill also for impannelling of Juries was read the second time and rejected upon the Question These two Bills being thus transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons the greatest part of the residue of this days passages do here next follow out of that often already cited Anonymous Journal in which there is one Bill touching Caps which is not at all mentioned in the Original Journal-Book it self aforesaid set down in manner and form following viz. A Bill for Caps was read the second time and ruled that the same should be ingrossed This Bill as is aforesaid is not at all found to be set down in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons but that next ensuing is there mentioned and the Arguments also touching the Liberty of the House are there generally remembred which with the said Bill do here at large follow with some small alteration only out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal in manner and form following The Bill for such as be fled beyond the Seas without Licence or shall not return within a certain number of Dayes after their Licences expired to lose their Lands and Goods and to avoid Covenous Gifts was read the second time and not then effectually spoken unto by any man M r Wentworth very orderly in many words remembred the Speech of Sir Humphrey Gilbert delivered some days before He proved his Speech without naming him to be an injury to the House he noted his disposition to flatter and fawn on the Prince comparing him to the Cameleon which can change himself into all colours saving white even so said he this reporter can change himself to all fashions but honesty he shewed further the great wrong done to one of the House by a misreport made to the Queen meaning M r Bell he shewed his Speech to tend to no other end than to inculcate fear into those which should be sree he requested care for the credit of the House and for the maintenance of free Speech the only means of ordinary proceedings and to preserve the Liberties of the House to reprove Lyers inveighing greatly out of the Scriptures and otherwise against Liers As this of David Thou O Lord shalt destroy Lyers c. M r Treasurer signified his desire to have all things well saying he could not enter into Judgment of any but he said it was convenient ill Speeches should be avoided and the good meaning of all men to be taken without wresting or misreporting and the meaning of all men to be shewed in good sort without unseemly words M r Speaker endeavoured an Agreement and unity in the House making signification that the Queens Majesty had in plain words declared unto him that she had good Intelligence of the orderly proceeding among us whereof she had as good liking as ever she had of any Parliament since she came unto the Crown and wished we should give her no other cause than to continue the same and added further her Majesties pleasure to be to take Order for Licences wherein she had been careful and more careful would be M r Carleton with a very good Zeal and orderly shew of Obedience made signification how that a Member of the House was detained from them meaning M r Strickland by whose Commandment or for what cause he knew not But for as much as he was not now a private man but to supply the room person and place of a multitude specially chosen and therefore sent he thought that neither in regard of the Country which was not to be wronged nor for the Liberty of the House which was not to be infringed we should permit him to be detained from us But whatsoever the intendment of this offence might be that he should be sent for to the Bar of that House there to be heard and there to Answer M r Treasurer in some case gave Advertisement to be wary in our proceedings and neither to venture further than our assured Warrant might stretch nor to hazard our good opinion with her Majesty on any doubtful cause Withal he wished us not to think worse than there was cause For the man quoth he that is meant is neither detained nor misused but on considerations is required to expect the Queens pleasure upon certain special points wherein he said he durst to assure that the man should neither have cause to dislike or complain since so much favour was meant unto him as he reasonably could wish He further said that he was in no sort stayed for any word or speech by him in that place offered but for the exhibiting of a Bill into the House against the Prerogative of the Queen which was not to be tolerated Nevertheless the construction of him was rather to have erred in his zeal and Bill offered than maliciously to have meant any thing contrary to the Dignity Royal. And lastly He concluded that oft it had been seen that Speeches have been examined and considered of Sir Nicholas Arnold with some vehemency moved that care might be had for the liberty of the House he was inforced he said rather to utter and so to run into danger of offence of others than to be offended with himself M r Comptroller replied to the effect M r Treasurer had before spoken M r Cleere told how the Prerogative is not disputable and that the safety of the Queen is the safety of the Subjects He added how that for matter of Divinity every man was for his instruction to repair to his Ordinary being a private man where he utterly forgot the place he spake in and the person who was meant for that place required and permitted free speech with authority and the person was not himself a private man but a publick by whom even the Ordinary himself was to be directed He concluded that for as much as the cause was not known he therefore would the House should stay M r Yelverton said he was to be sent for arguing in this sort First he said the President was perillous and though in this happy time of lenity among so good and honourable Personages under so gracious a Prince nothing of extremity or injury was to be feared yet the times might be altered and what now is permitted hereafter might be construed as of Duty and enforced even on this ground of the present permission He further said that all matters not Treason or too much to the Derogation of the Imperial Crown were tolerable there where all things came to be considered of and where
an Error to stand The said Speech therefore of the Lord Keeper pronounced by her Majesties Commandment was as followeth viz. THE Queens Majesty our most Dread and Gracious Soveraign Lady hath given me Commandment to declare unto you the Causes of the Summons of this Assembly for a Parliament to be holden here at this time wherein albeit I mean to imploy my whole endeavour to the uttermost of my power and understanding yet I must needs confess that neither shall you have it done as the Majesty of this presence neither as the gravity of the Cause requireth it to be done And yet the often Experience that I have divers and sundry times had of the Queens Majesties great benignity and gentleness in bearing with and well accepting the doings of those that to her Service put their good wills and diligences And besides all the proof of your Patience in the like matter hath so much encouraged me that as I trust it shall be done although not cunningly nor eloquently yet plainly and truly so as it may be well understood and easily born away and therewith also as briefly as the greatness of such a matter will suffer True it is the original and principal cause is that things there propounded may be orderly and diligently debated deeply considered and thereupon wisely concluded And to the end also that those Conclusions so made the rather for such an universal Consent as in Parliament is used remain firm and stable Now the matters that are in this Parliament to be proved do consist altogether in two parts The former is in matters of Religion for the better maintenance of Gods Honour and Glory The second in matters of Policy for the more perfect upholding and establishing of the Queens Majesties Royal Estate and the preservation of the Common-Weal committed to her Charge The Causes of Religion are again to be divided into two that is into matters of Doctrine and Discipline The thing of Policy I mean also to part into other two that is into matter concerning the good Government of the Subjects at home and into causes of defence against the Enemy abroad And thus by this Process you see you are as indeed you ought First To consider in this your Assembly of Gods cause which faithfully sincerely and diligently done like as it cannot but bring success to all the rest so likewise lukewarm deceitful and double-dealing therein cannot but breed nourish and bring forth Factions Divisions Seditions c. to the great peril and danger of all the rest And the greater that the personages be in Authority and Dignity that thus deal the greater of necessity must be the danger of the Common-Weal And because Gods Law and Doctrine being the first Law and branch must light upon our selves that ought to take the benefit of it as first and chiefly upon Ministers of this Doctrine either for not preaching and teaching by word and example of life so purely and reverently as they might or else not so diligently as they were bound And secondly upon us for not hearing it so desirously or else hearing it and forgetting it or not following it so effectually as we should Thirdly For that many of us of the Laity do not yield and give that estimation countenance and credit to the Ministers of his Doctrine which of right they ought to have and that many greatly hurt the setting forth of it For this one thing may be holden firm by the Rules of good Government that all Officers both Spiritual and Temporal that have Governance during the time of their Offices ought to be preserved in Credit and Estimation For how can any thing be well set forth by them that want Credit Marry for my part let the time of their Offices last as their doings do deserve Fourthly Because the want of the number of Ministers that ought to be and be not and for the insufficiency of those that be for diverse respects But therein the Queens Highness doubteth nothing but all that which the difficulty of time in so great a scarcity of men meet to be Ministers will suffer to be done shall by my Lords the Bishops be done in this behalf and that as speedily diligently and carefully as can be And if any person admitted or to be admitted to this Ministry shall hereafter either of Arrogancy or Ignorance show any strange Doctrine contrary or varying from that which by common consent of the Realm is published to the breach of Unity that he by those to whom it appertaineth sharply and speedily be reformed all favour and fear set apart Thus much for Doctrine You are most earnestly also to think and consider of the Discipline of the Church as one of the strong Pillars of Religion which doubtless at this time hath two great lacks The first the imperfection of Laws for the countenance of it which hath grown either by reason that sundry of the Ordinances made for that purpose be disused or otherwise have not their force or else for that most of the Laws that remain be such as for their softness few men make account of The second imperfection is the slothfulness corruption and fearfulness of the Ecclesiastical Ministers and Officers in the due Execution of those Laws that be good and yet continue True and too true it is that hereby at this present two great Enormities daily grow The former that men of wealth and power given to be evil may in their Countries live what dissolute and licentious life they list and both Temporally and Spiritually offend daily in all the branches of Simony the very Canker of the Church without feeling of this Discipline The second That many of the laudable Rites and Ceremonies of the Church or pertaining to the Ministers of the same agreed upon by common consent the very Ornaments of our Religion are very ill kept or at least have lost a great part of their Estimation And here through the many faults for want of Discipline to remember you of one particular matter of great moment How cometh it to pass that the common people in the Country universally come so seldom to Common-Prayer and Divine Service and when they do come be many times so vainly occupied there or at least do not there as they should do but for want of this Discipline And yet to the help of this there was at the last Parliament a Law made but hitherto no man no no man or very few hath seen it Executed as plainly to speak Laws for the furtherance of this Discipline unexecuted be Rods for Correction without Hands It cannot be denied but as Superstition is every way to be abhorred for fear of Idolatry so certainly the loss of this Discipline is always to be avoided lest else contempt that necessarily must follow may cause Irreligion to creep faster in than a man would think For of all other it is the most pestilent and pernicious thing never suffered nor allowed in anyCommon-Weal nay not amongst the
Heathens that were most barbarous But here it may be said the mischief appeareth where is the remedy and that it were better not opened in such a presence than opened without the remedy both devised and declared In mine opinion the remedies may easily be devised all the difficulty is in the well Executing of them As first if the chief Parsonages of this Realm both in Town and Country would give good Example it cannot be but it would be much to the remedying of a great part of this mischief Secondly The dividing every one of the Dioceses according to their greatness into Deaneries as I know commonly they be and the committing of the Deaneries to men well chosen as I think commonly they be not and then the keeping of certain ordinary Courts at their prescript times for the well Executing of those Laws of Discipline as they ought to be with a sure controulment of those inferior Ministers by the Bishop or his Chancellor not biennially or triennially but every year twice or thrice which use of necessity without very great difficulty may do much in very short time to the reformation of this the chief Officers Ecclesiastical all being very well and the Laws themselves being first made sufficient and perfect which in this Parliament may very well be brought to pass And because the proceedings of matters in Discipline and Doctrine do chiefly concern my Lords the Bishops both for their understanding and Ecclesiastical Function therefore the Queens Highness looketh that they being called together here in Parliament should take the chiefest care to confer and consult of these matters And if in their Conference they found it behooful to have any Temporal Acts made for the amending and reforming of any of these lacks that then they will exhibit it here in Parliament to be considered upon and so Gladius Gladium juvabit as before time hath been used foreseeing always that all Laws and Ordinances for this matter of Doctrine and Discipline be uniform and so one sort throughout the whole Realm And thus much concerning Religion being the first part Now to the second that is matters of Policy And herein first for the good Government of the Subjects at home the lacks and defaults whereof as in Discipline so in this stand altogether in the imperfection of Laws or else the fearfulness slothfulness and corruption of Temporal Officers that ought to see the due Execution of them For the help of the former you are to Examine whether any Laws already made are too sharp or too sore and so over-burthensom for the Subject or whether any of them are too loose or too soft and so over-dangerous to the State for like as the former may put in danger many an Innocent particularly so the second may put in danger both the nocent and innocent and the whole State universally You are also further to Examine the want and superfluity of Laws and whether crafty Covetousness and Malice have devised any means to defraud Laws already made or how to do any injuries for which there is no Law that hath his being to reform it or whether the Common-Weal and State of this Realm by reason of any imperfection or cause is like to fall to any danger or peril for the greater the danger is the greater would the care and consideration be for the remedy of it You are also to Examine whether there are too many Laws for any one thing which breedeth so many doubts that the Subject is sometimes to seek how to observe them and the Chancellor how to give advice concerning them As to the second imperfection which is the want of the due Execution of Laws because I cannot perceive but all the rest and all Laws made and to be made is but a vain matter therefore I have thought oft with my self what might be the best remedy if not to make all Laws perfectly Executed for that I can hardly hope of yet to make them in much better Case than now they be And when I had considered all things I could find no help but this The first by having great care in the choice of those Officers that have the Execution of Laws The second to do as much as may be for the banishing of sloth corruption and fears from them A third way there is which I leave to your judgments this it is there should be a triennial or biennial Visitation in this nature made of all the Temporal Officers and Ministers that by virtue of their Office have in charge to see the Execution of Laws By this I mean that the Queens Majesty should make choice every second or third year of certain expert and approved persons to whom Commission should be granted to try out and examine by all ways and means the offences of all such as have not seen to the due Execution of the Laws according to the offices and charges committed to them by the Prince And the offences so found and certified to be sharply punished without remission or redemption Of effect much like this and to the like end was the Visitation of the Church first devised whereof in the beginning of it came great good doubtless and reason I see none but the like good ought to follow upon like Visitation made amongst Temporal Officers And the old Commission of Oyer tended somewhat to this end I doubt certainly if the Laws and Statutes of this Realm should not indifferently uprightly and diligently be put in Execution as my trust is they shall especially in the great and open Courts of this Realm then my burthen I confess is equal with the greatest and yet for my part I would gladly every year hear of and yield to such a Comptroller Now to the last and greatest which is the defence against the Foreign Enemy abroad and his Confederates brought up and bred amongst us our selves because these matters be by reason now chiefly in hand and that the dealings of the outward Enemy be matters that go to the whole and that this presence you know representeth the whole Therefore in all congruity it seemeth reason that all we for and in the name of the whole consider carefully of this cause and give present assistance for the help of it And to the end you may be more able to give good Counsel and advice therein it hath been thought meet I should summarily and shortly make you privy of these proceedings which shall be the better understood if I begin at the root as I intend This it is The Queens Majesty at her coming to the Crown finding this her Realm in a ragged and torn State and yet in Wars with a mighty Enemy the Chief Fortress of the same lost to the Realms great dishonour and weakning her Frontier Towns not sufficiently fortified the Revenue of the Crown greatly spoiled the Treasure of the Realm not only wasted but the Realm also greatly indebted The Land of Ireland much out of order The Staple and Store of all kind
of Munition for the Realms defence marvellously consumed The Navy and Sea matters nothing in the State they now be was forced to give Ear to a Peace with some other Conditions than else it is like her Highness would have come to to the end that these dangerous defaults might be in the time of Peace sufficiently for the security of the Realm provided for Whereupon indeed her Highness Peace being concluded entred into the reforming and supplying of most of all those great lacks and for the well-doing of them hath not forborn to take any care or pains neither hath she sticked for the compassing of this both to spend her own Treasure to sell her own Lands to prove her own Credit at home and abroad to the uttermost and all this for our Sureties and quiet Here want the Causes why the Queens Highness sent her Forces to lie in assisting the Admiral and others against the Guises and a Declaration of the great charges that grew thereby Thus have you heard the sum of those Proceedings whereby it is plain and evident that as our most Dear and Gracious Soveraign Lady hath for the preservation of common quiet and for our own Surety against the common Enemy for born no care or travel in the devising no more hath she charge or expence in the performing I may safely affirm it because I am well able to prove it that the Charges of the managing of these Affairs and that that hath been done since the Queens Majesty came to the Crown in supplying the dangers aforementioned amount to as much as two of the greatest Subsidies that I can remember a matter not possibly to be born for that which is past nor to be continued for that which is to come by the ordinary Revenue of the Crown and yet of necessity to be done except all which God forbid should run to ruine If when any part of the natural body happeneth to be in danger the head and every part hasteth to the relief what would then be done trow ye when peril is offered that the Head should take the whole care and bear the whole burthen and all the Members remain uncareful and uncharged therewith How light a burthen it is when it is born of many is understood of us all But hereof I make a stay because there is no doubt your good wills and towardness upon these Considerations be such as this last Speech of mine needeth not and so doubtless the Queens Highness taketh it And yet your Wisdoms well know that the Office of this place which I occupy craveth thus much to be said at my hands and for that purpose chiefly could I trust you take it and not for any necessity to draw them by perswasion that otherwise of their own disposition be forward enough The Declarations of the Proceedings being uttered I do assure my self to suffice to men of your understanding and inclination For how can a man think that any is so void of reason that he would not gladly offer any aid against a Foreign Enemy that he were able to make for the safety of his own Country his Soveraign himself his Wife and Children especially when by reason it is plain that the Queens Majesty hath already and daily doth imploy her own Treasure yea and her Lands and Credit not in any Glorious Triumphs superfluous and sumptuous Buildings of delight vain and chargable Embassages neither in any other matters of will and pleasure I mean no Expence to be noted in a Prince of thirteen Years Reign but as far as man can judge in the Service of her Realm and necessary defence for her people and for the annoyance of the Enemy Yet hath it been seen ere this that Princes Wills Pleasures and Delights have been followed in Expences as necessities And now God be thanked the doings have been such since the Queens Highness Reign that to the indifferent man it will be probable and plain that the relieving of the Realms necessity is become the Princes Delight a good Change God continue it a marvellous good Example for us to follow and yet it is scant credible how long it was and in the end with what difficulty the Queens Majesty came to agree that this Example should be followed by us in being content that this Parliament should be Summoned that it might be moved that the Realm might contribute to the Realms defence with such difficulty indeed that if any other way could have been devised her Honour and Realms Surety saved this had never been attempted So loth she is to any offensive matter by burthen or charge that if any other way could have been devised this had not been and so from her own Mouth she Commanded me to say unto you Oh what a grief it is to a Prince trow you when he findeth such want that he is not able so to consider of the Service of his Servants and Subjects this dangerous and necessary Service as their deserts do crave knowing that most commonly the very life and heart of the Servant and Souldier which so often offereth himself to the Cannon the Pike the Fire is either over-thrown or set up as regard is had of his perils Except there be some odd men as they call them of that perfection that virtue and well-doing is their mark and not reward who hold for firm that Recti facti merces est fecisse tantum but Rara avis in terris c. Yea those are so rare as counsel cannot be given that Princes Service should hang on the help of such hope and yet these be the perfectest and best but the World is not served by such To give good words is a good thing but often used albeit never so cunningly without Deeds or Service is reputed but as Wind and is indeed dare verba Marry power serving not then it deserveth great Commendations for it is as much as can be done for ultra posse non est esse But hereof thinketh little the greatest number But to a Prince who thinketh thus much and daily thinketh and feeleth of it what a tormenting trouble is such a want think ye These wants when they happen would be ought to be most holpen But here I have troubled you further than I meant or perchance needed If I have so done I pray you apply it to the best as I meant it and so there must needs come good of it And thus no further to trouble you but to make an end You have heard First the causes of this Assembly Secondly What I think meet to be remembred Thirdly What for the Governance of the Subject at home and what hath been done for the defence of the Enemy abroad your Offices and Duties to be careful to consider of these matters which I have the rather summarily remembred than effectually discoursed upon The former pertaineth to my Office as a Remembrancer The second to you as Executors of these remembrances And because you of the Nether House cannot
did forbid that his Traiterous Son Absolom should be slain and when he was killed effeminately he bewailed the same to the discouraging of his People but he was sharply rebuked by Ioab his Councellor saying Thou hast shamed this day the faces of thy Servants which have saved thy life and the life of thy Sons c. Thou lovest those that hate thee and thou shewest this day that thou passest not for thy Captains and thy Servants And now I perceive if Absolom had lived and all we had been slain it would have pleased thee well What inconvenience was like to follow unto David by this doing and what other good direction may be taken out of this History well considered for brevities sake we leave to the Consideration of wise Princes and Governours When David was so much moved with these words that he was contented to take another course which turned both to the Comfort of his Subjects and his own benefit the application needeth not If David were moved thus to do to the Comfort of his own Subjects only and the abashing of his own private Rebels how much more have we to desire God to move the Queens Majesty by the Execution of this Lady to glad the hearts of all true Christians in Europe and to abash and damp the minds of all the Enemies of God and Friends of Antichrist Obj. It may be objected that thus to proceed is not Honourable for the Queens Majesty Respons The shadow of Honour as may evidently appear deceived upon like occasion both King Saul in sparing Agag King of Amaleck and King Achab in receiving to his Mercy King Benhadad as it is in the Example in the second Reason mentioned who did pretend great honour in saving a King and thought dishonour in the contrary that one King should kill another but mans Judgment and Gods in such cases are far diverse for indeed Execution of Justice upon any person whatsoever is and ever hath been accounted honourable Ioshua a worthy Prince and Governour put to Death at one time five Kings and that as might appear rudely causing his Souldiers to set their Feet on their Necks and slay them and willed them to be stout and not to fear to do it Ioshua 10. We find also in the Scriptures that in this Zeal of Justice two wicked Queens Iesabel and Athaliah both inferior in mischief to this late Queen have been by Gods Magistrates Executed and the same Execution commended in Scripture Obj. It may be further objected that the Queens Majesty in so doing should exceed the limits and bounds of Mercy and Clemency Resp. Indeed a Prince should be merciful but he should be just also It is said Misericordia veritas custodiunt Regem but in the next Chapter it followeth Qui sequitur justitiam misericordiam inveniet vit am Pro. 20. The Prince in Government must be like unto him who is not only amiable by Mercy but terrible also by Justice and therefore is called Misericors Justus Dominus Mercy oftentimes sheweth it self in the Image of Justice Yea and Justice in Scriptures is by God called Mercy Psal. 136. Who smote Egypt with their first-born for his mercy endureth for ever In that Psalm the smiting of Egypt with terrible Plagues the destruction of Pharaoh the killing of great and mighty Kings are called the merciful works of God as indeed they were but mercy towards the People of God and not towards the Enemies of God and of his People Therefore as the Queens Majesty indeed is merciful so we most humbly desire her that she will open her Mercy towards Gods People and her good Subjects in dispatching those Enemies that seek the confusion of Gods cause amongst us and of this noble Realm It may also be said that to spare one Person being an Enemy a Stranger a professed Member of Antichrist and Convicted of so many hainous Crimes with the evident peril of so many thousands of Bodies and Souls of good and faithful Subjects may justly be termed Crudelis misericordia Petiliano objiciente Deum non delectari humano Sanguine Respondet Legimus multos à famulo Dei Moise Misericorditer interfectos Nunquid crudelis effect us est cùm de monte descendens tot Millia juberet occidi August contra literas Petiliani li. 2. c. 86. Saul Jehosaphat Reges fuerunt populi Dei dum misericordiam iis quos Deus oderat praestiterunt Dei offensam in opere pietatis incurrerunt E contrario Phinehas filiique Levi gratiam Dei humanâ caede suorum parricidio meruerunt Hierom. The same Hierom de Origine animae saith the like Sparing of evil persons is misericors inobedientia S t Augustine also saith Sicuti est misericordia puniens est etiam crudelitas parcens Object But happily it may be that some do discredit these reasons by the persons when they cannot by the matter and will put in her Majesties mind that we in perswading her respect our own danger and fear of peril coming to us and not right and true judgment Yea and that it may appear very unseemly and worthy sharp reproof in a Bishop to excite a Prince to Cruelty and Blood contrary to her merciful inclination Resp. As touching the first branch Surely we see not any great continuance of danger likely to come unto us more than to all good Subjects while this State standeth and the State cannot lightly alter without the certain peril both of our Prince and Country Now if our danger be joined with the danger of our Gracious Soveraign and natural Country we see not how we can be accompted godly Bishops or faithful Subjects if in common peril we should not cry and give warning Or on the other side how they can be thought to have true hearts towards God and towards their Prince and Country that will mislike with us for so doing and seek thereby to discredit us As touching the second branch God forbid that we should be instruments to incense a merciful Prince to Cruelty and Bloodiness neither can we think well of them or judge that they have true meaning hearts that in the Minister of God and Officer do term justice and right punishment by the name ofBloodiness and Cruelty God I trust in time shall open her Majesties Eyes to see and espy their cruel purposes under the Cloak of extolling mercy When the Prince or Magistrate is slack in punishing the sinful and wicked the Bishop and Preacher is bound in Conscience before God to exhort him to more diligent and severe dealing therein lest the Blood both of Prince and People be required at his hands 3. Reg. 20. May the Prophet be accounted cruel to incite Achab to Bloodiness which so sharply rebuked him for his Clemency shewed towards Benhadad May Samuel be justly named cruel because in like case he reproved Saul for sparing the life of King Agag and killed the said Agag with his own hands in the sight of the Prince
her Majesty for the Duke having had his Tryal by them of that House their consent and liking in the matter is thereby sufficiently manifested already M r Attorney and M r Sollicitor declared unto this House from the Lords that their Lordships do desire that those Committees which were appointed to meet with them this Afternoon may have Authority from this House to make Choice of a number of themselves to Accompany the Lords unto the Queens Majesty for the reporting and maintaining of such reasons as upon their said Conference shall be first propounded and yielded amongst them touching the great cause This Court was Adjourned until Wednesday next and upon sundry Motions it was resolved that all such of this House as shall think good to exhibit or prefer any reasons or causes to enforce the matter of the Dukes Execution may in the mean time of the next Session deliver them in writing to M r Speaker at their Choices and pleasures to the end that this Court may further proceed to the manner and order of sig nifying the same Petition to her Majesty accordingly On Wednesday the 28 th day of May It was signified unto this House by M r Speaker that the Queens Majesties pleasure was that all they of this House being of the Committees in the great Cause and appointed by them out of themselves to come to her Highness Presence shall all attend at the Court this present day at eight of the Clock in the Forenoon for the same purpose accordingly which Message was so delivered unto M r Speaker now in the House by one of this House sent unto him from M r Treasurer But to what end or purpose the said M r Treasurer with other Members of the House were appointed to attend upon her Majesty doth not appear or can at all be gathered by the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons but it was doubtless to agitate and treat of the great business touching the Scottish Queen and it is very probable that the Members of the said House did at this time offer up their Petition and Reasons to her Majesty for the speedy Execution of the said Queen all which I have thought good to insert in this place out of a written Copy thereof I had by me although they are there falsly referred to the Parliament foregoing which was in An. 13 Regin Eliz. as were also other reasons there contained which are referred unto Monday the 19 th day of this instant May foregoing An humble Pētition to her Majesty and the Reasons gathered out of the Civil Law by certain appointed by Authority in Parliament to prove that it standeth not only with Justice but also with the Queens Majesties Honour and Safety to proceed Criminally against the pretended Scottish Queen WE your Majesties most humble and faithful Subjects Assembled in Parliament for preservation of your Royal Person and Estate do highly acknowledge the great goodness of God that hath Chosen and appointed such a Soveraign to Reign over us as never Subjects by any Record ever had a better and therefore our hearty Prayers are daily and ever shall be to Almighty God long to preserve your most Excellent Majesty in all and most perfect Felicity that ever Creature had or might have upon Earth And whereas the highest and chiefest States are ever more envied of all such as be the worst and greatest disturbers of Gods Monarchy and his Anointed Jurisdiction we cannot but with a care of mind and force of our Bodies seek to redress what soever shall be thought hurtful to your Majesties safe quietness and most blessed Government A Queen of late time and yet through her own Acts now justly no Queen a nigh Kinswoman of your Majesties and yet a very unnatural Sister Lady Mary Steward late Queen of Scots being driven through violence and force of others to take Harbour in your Majesties Realm for the Safeguard of her Life hath not only had your Majesties most Gracious Protection but also was saved within her own Realm by your Majesties Authority from Execution of Death for her most horrible and unnatural doings there known throughout Europe to her perpetual infamy and shame for ever And albeit upon her first coming your Highness might both by Law and Justice have dealt with her judicially for her attempts made by writing and otherwise against the Crown and Dignity and to the Disherison of your most Royal Person for ever Yet your Majesty in Consideration of her long dangerous troubles in her own Realm and in hope that such great Adversities would have been good Lessons for her Amendment hereafter hath not used her in any such manner as she hath deserved But rather forgetting or forgiving after a sort her former doings hath dealt with her like a good and natural Sister All which notwithstanding this unnatural Lady being born out of kind as it should seem hath altogether forgotten God and all goodness abusing her self as it appeareth most Treasonably against your Majesties Person and State and seeking and devising by all means possible not only to deprive your Majesty of all Earthly Dignities and Livings but also of your natural Life which thing is found by evident Proofs and by the Judges of your Realm declared to be most horrible and most wicked Treason that ever was wrought against any Prince For which her doings her Majesty minding to touch her in Honour esteemeth her a Person unworthy of any hope or Title Preheminence or Dignity within this your Land and therefore not seeking to deal with her according to her desert is only contented to have her disabled as a person not capable of Princely Honour And thus your Majesty using this course thinketh it the meetest way to establish your self and to quiet your Dominions hereafter taking away hereby the hope of such as do depend upon the pretended Title and weakning the whole strength of that Faction And for further assurance of your Majesties quietness your Highness doth not mislike to have grievous pains of High Treason laid upon all such as shall attempt and maintain her pretended Title by any manner of way Thus as evil men shall be kept back from intermedling in the maintenance of a Title so may your Majesties true and faithful Subjects be much emboldened to deal against this pretended Queen and her Adherents when your Subjects shall see a Law set down for your avail and your Enemies shall want Forces and wax weak thereby and your true Subjects greatly hardened for all offences Moreover if the said pretended Queen shall hereafter make any attempt of Treason the Law so to run that she shall suffer pains of Death without further trouble of Parliament And if any shall enterprise to deliver her out of Prison after her disablement either in your Majesties Life or after the same to be Convicted immediately of High Treason and her self assenting thereunto to be likewise adjudged as a Traitor in Law In all which proceedings your Majesty thinketh to
general and free Pardon was returned conclus This day also in the Afternoon the Queens Majesty with divers Lords Spiritual and Temporal were present in the Upper House of which the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of the House of Commons having notice repaired thither with Robert Bell their Speaker who carried up with him the Bill of one Subsidy and two Fifteenths and Tenths and was placed at the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said Upper House But both this manner of his coming up or what was else spoken or done this Afternoon in the said House is wholly omitted in the Journal-Book of the same through the great negligence of Anthony Mason Esquire at this time Clerk thereof and therefore the repairing up of the said Speaker with the residue of the Members of the House of Commons is Collected out of the Original Journal-Book of the same House and the substance of the said Speakers Speech with the Lord Keepers Answer at large are both supplied out of a Copy of the said Lord Keepers Speech which I had by me The Speaker standing close to the Rail or Bar in the-lower end of the Upper House as is aforesaid and after his humble Reverence made delivered his Oration to her Majesty to the effect following First He spoke touching sundry kinds of Government which had been in this Kingdom and so drew his Discourse to the present time Then he made a large enumeration of her Majesties many Vertues and of the many benefits which the Kingdom received by her Gracious Government After which he proceeded humbly to Petition her Majesty to make the Kingdom further happy in her Marriage that so they might hope for a continuing Succession of those benefits in her Posterity To which having added a compendious relation of such Acts as had passed the House of Commons he concluded with the Presentation of the Bill of Subsidy in their names unto her Majesty After which the Lord Keeper by her Majesties Commandment Answered as solloweth viz. M r Speaker The Queens Majesty our most Dread and Gracious Soveraign Lady hath heard and doth very well understand your Oration full of good will and matter The sum thereof may be reduced into five parts whereof the first containeth a Discourse of sundry kinds of Government from the beginning until this time The second the Commendations of her Majesties Vertues and of her great and gracious Government from the beginning with a remembrance of her Highness bountiful benefits The third concerneth the humble and earnest Petition moving her Majesty to Marry The fourth is a Declaration of Laws past in the Lower House with an humble Suit for her Highness Royal Assent to be given unto the same The fifth and last concerning a Presentation of a Subsidy granted in this Session As concerning the first which containeth the Discourse of sundry kinds of Government I see not that this time and place doth require any Answer to be given unto it other than this that you M r Speaker are much to be Commended for your diligent Collecting and also for the apt comparing of the last part of the same And as to the second which concerneth the Commendations of her Majesties great Vertue and good Government with the remembrance of the manifold benefits that you have received at her Majesties Hand her Highness hath Commanded me to say unto you that she wisheth of God with all her Heart that all those Royal Vertues and principal parts together with the great gifts of gracious Government that you make mention of were so perfectly planted in her as best might serve to the maintenance of Gods Glory from whom her Majesty confesseth all goodness to proceed and best also might serve for the good Governance of you her good loving and obedient Subjects and withal prayeth you with her and for her to give God hearty thanks for those Vertues and Graces that it hath pleased him to bless her withal and also to pray for the continuance of them with such increase as shall best like his Divine Majesty And besides this I may and dare certainly affirm unto you by her Majesties own Mouth that if the Vertues of all the Princes in Europe were united within her Highness Breast she should gladly imploy the same to the best of her Power about the good Governance of you that be so good and loving unto her so great is her Highness good will and inward affection toward you Again true it is that these your loving and reverend conceivings of the Vertuous and Gracious Government of your Soveraign is taking by her Majesty in very thankful part as a special and peculiar property pertaining to faithful and loving Subjects neither will her Highness admit of any occasion that may move you to conceive otherwise than you have neither do I think that any man can devise any more ready or any more strong perswasion to move a Princely nature to be such towards her Subjects as they can wish than by such good reverend and loving conception and conceiving remembred by you To conclude as touching this point I am to affirm unto you from her Majesty that she taketh your Proceedings in the Parliament both in the midst and also in the ending so graciously and in so thankful part that if both parts and nature did concur in me abundantly to make me Eloquent as neither of them do yet I am sure I were not able to set forth this point according to her Highness desire or to the worthiness of it And for the more manifest Declaration of this and of the great good liking her Majesty hath conceived of you that be of this Parliament her Highness meaneth not to determine the same but to Prorogue it until the next Winter And as both Cognizance and Recognizance of benefits her Majesties Pleasure is that I should declare unto you that there is none of these benefits received by you but she wisheth them trebble in number and quadruple in greatness and goodness And further her Highness thinketh that the faithful recognizing of benefits received is one of the greatest satisfactions that a Subject can make to his Soveraign for them And as to the third which concerneth your humble earnest Petition it proceedeth from your inward affections and benevolent minds founded and grounded upon the great good opinion that you have conceived of your Majesties most gracious Government over you according to the Declaration made by you a matter greatly moving her Majesty the rather to allow of your Petition The second note importeth yet more than this for therein she conceiveth that this great good opinion of this blessed Government is not conceived by you as it appeareth by your own Declarations upon any sudden ground or cause but hath grown upon the consideration of her Highness Governance during the Reign of seventeen Years now past whereby it is evident that this is a setled and constant opinion of yours and therefore much the more moving her Majesty to
give a Gracious Ear unto this your Petition And yet the third note exceedeth the other two former for in this note she conceiveth the abundance of your inward affection grounded upon her good Governance of you to be so great that it doth not only content you to have her Majesty Reign and govern over you but also you do desire that some proceeding from her Majesties Body might by a perpetual Succession Reign over your Posterity also a matter greatly to move her Majesty she saith to incline to this your Suit Besides her Highness is not unmindful of all the benefits that will grow to the Realm by such Marriage neither doth she forget any perils that are like to grow for want thereof All which matters considered her Majesty willed me to say that albeit of her own natural disposition she is not disposed or inclined to Marriage neither could she ever Marry were she a private Person yet for your sakes and the benefit of the Realm she is contented to dispose and incline her self to the satisfaction of your humble Petition so that all things convenient may concur that be meet for such a Marriage whereof there be very many some touching the state of her most Royal Person some touching the Person of him whom God shall join some touching the state of the whole Realm these things concurring and considered her Majesty hath Assented as is before remembred And thus much touching this matter As to the fourth part which concerneth a Declaration of the Laws passed in the Session whereunto you do pray that her Majesty would give her Royal Assent her Majesty hath Commended your travel and pains taken in devising of these Laws your Considerations and Carefulness in debating and consulting and your Judgments and Determinations in concluding and passing of the same and meaneth to give her Royal Assent to so many of them as her Majesty shall think meet and convenient to pass at this time But here I am to remember you that this is not all that her Highness requireth in this point for she is desirous that the great travels pains and great charges imployed about the making of these Laws should not be lost neither her Majesties Royal Assent granted in vain which must needs come to pass except you look better to the Execution of Laws than heretofore you have done for as I have before this time seen Laws without Execution be nothing else but Pen Ink and Parchment a Countenance of things and nothing in Deed a cause without an effect and serve as much to the good Governance of the Common-Weal as the Rudder of a Ship doth serve to the good Governance of it without a Governour and so serve to as good purpose to direct mens actions as Torches do to direct mens goings in the dark when their Lights be put out Were it not great folly trow ye yea and meer madness for a man to provide apt and handsome tools and instruments to reform and prune his Trees withal and then to lay them up in fair Boxes and Bags without use of them and is it not as strange trow ye to make Laws to reform mens manners and to prune away the ill branches and members of the Common-Weal and then to lay up those Laws in fair Books and Boxes without Execution of them Surely there is a small difference betwixt these Causes may it were much better to have no new Laws made at all than to have Laws not Executed for the former doth but leave us in the state we were in before the making of the new Laws but not to execute them is to breed a contempt of Laws and Law-makers and of all Magistrates which is the Mother and Nurse of Disobedience and what she breedeth and bringeth forth I leave to you to judge Now this offence of not executing of Laws growing so great it resteth to see in whose default this is and who ought to have the burthen of it First certain it is that her Majesty leaveth nothing undone meet for her to do for the Execution of Laws for first she maketh choice of Persons of most Credit and best understanding throughout the whole Realm to whom for the great Trust and Fidelity that she reposeth in them she giveth Authority by Commission to execute a great part of those Laws who also by Oath be bound to perform the same Besides the most special and needful Laws her Highness causeth to be Proclaimed and published unto her People as over this also lest men should be forgetful of their Duties she causeth a number of her Justices to be called into publick place and there to be exhorted and admonished in her Majesties name to see the Execution of her Laws and what can here be more devised for her Majesty to do Surely in my opinion nothing Then falleth it out necessarily and consequently that the burthen of all these Enormities Absurdities and mischefs that do grow in the Common-Wealth for not Executing of Laws must light upon those persons that have Authority from her Majesty to Execute them and do it not which is a burthen over-heavy for any to bear being justly charged For the avoiding of this therefore methinks men being thus remembred ought to seek with all diligence and endeavour to satisfie for their negligence and uncarefulness past which if they shall forget to do her Majesty shall be then driven clean contrary to her most Gracious Nature and Inclination to appoint and assign private men for profit and gain sake to see her penal Laws to be Executed The course which hitherto her Majesty hath taken hath been to have her Laws Executed by men of Credit and Estimation for the love of Justice uprightly and indifferently but if they shall refuse so to do forgetting their duty to God Soveraign and Countrey then of necessity rather than the Laws should be unexecuted her Majesty shall be driven I say to commit the Execution of them to those who in respect of profit and gain will see them Executed with all extremity And what a burthen that will bring to the Common-Weal I leave it to your consideration But it is to be hoped that if the respects before remembred will not move you to see better to your Charge yet the fear of this great inconveniency should constrain men that be in Commission to look to the better Execution of Laws And thus much touching the fourth part Now as to the fifth and last which concerneth the grant of a Subsidy her Majesty hath Commanded me to say unto you that that grant is a manifest Declaration by Deeds of that which before was declared by words for how could such a Grant be made and in such manner granted and by such persons but that of necessity it must proceed from the benevolent minds and hearty affections of such loving Subjects as are before remembred True it is that her Majesty in these your doings hath noted three things especially and principally every of them tending
last Session shut out of Doors but what fell out of it forsooth his great indignation was therefore poured upon this House for he did put into the Queens Majesties Heart to refuse good and wholsome Laws for her own Preservation the which caused many faithful hearts for grief to burst out with sorrowful tears and moved all Papists Traytors to God and her Majesty who envy good Christian Government in their Sleeves to laugh all the whole Parliament House to scorn and shall I pass over this weighty matter so slightly Nay I will discharge my Conscience and Duties to God my Prince and Country So certain it is M r Speaker that none is without fault no not our Noble Queen sith then her Majesty hath committed great fault yea dangerous faults to her self Love even perfect love void of Dissimulation will not suffer me to hide them to her Majesties peril but to utter them to her Majesties Safety and these they are it is a dangerous thing in a Prince unkindly to abuse his or her Nobility and People and it is a dangerous thing in a Prince to oppose or bend her self against her Nobility and People yea against most loving and faithful Nobility and People And how could any Prince more unkindly intreat abuse oppose her self against her Nobility and People than her Majesty did the last Parliament did she not call it of purpose to prevent Traiterous perils to her Person and for no other Cause did not her Majesty send unto us two Bills willing us to make choice of that we liked best for her safety and thereof to make a Law promising her Majesties Royal Consent thereunto And did we not first chuse the one and her Majesty refused it yielding no reason nay yielding great reasons why she ought to have yielded to it Yet did we nevertheless receive the other and agreeing to make a Law thereof did not her Majesty in the end refuse all our Travels And did not we her Majesties faithful Nobility and Subjects plainly and openly decy pher our selves unto her Majesty and our hateful Enemies and hath not her Majesty left us all to the open revenge Is this a just recompence in our Christian Queen for our faithful dealings The Heathen do requite good for good then how much more is it to be expected in a Christian Prince And will not this her Majesties handling think you M r Speaker make cold dealing in any of her Majesties Subjects toward her again I fear it will And hath it not caused many already think you M r Speaker to seek a Salve for the Head that they have broken I fear it hath and many more will do the like if it be not prevented in time And hath it not marvellously rejoiced and encouraged the hollow hearts of her Majesties hateful Enemies and Traiterous Subjects no doubt but it hath And I beseech God that her Majesty may do all things that may grieve the hearts of her Enemies and may joy the hearts that unfeignedly love her Majesty And I beseech the same God to endue her Majesty with his Wisdom whereby she may discern faithful advice from traiterous sugared Speeches and to send her Majesty a melting yielding heart unto sound Counsel that Will may not stand for a Reason and then her Majesty will stand when her Enemies are fallen for no Estate can stand where the Prince will not be governed by advice And I doubt not but that some of her Majesties Counsel have dealt plainly and faithfully with her Majesty herein if any have let it be a sure token to her Majesty to know them for approved Subjects and whatsoever they be that did perswade her Majesty so unkindly to intreat abuse and to oppose her self against her Nobility and People or commend her Majesty for so doing let it be a sure token to her Majesty to know them for sure Traytors and Underminers of her Majesties Life and remove them out of her Majesties presence and favour for the more cunning they are the more dangerous are they unto her Majesty But was this all No for God would not vouchsafe that his Holy Spirit should all that Session descend upon our Bishops so that that Session nothing was done to the advancement of his Glory I have heard of old Parliament men that the Banishment of the Pope and Popery and the restoring of true Religion had their beginning from this House and not from the Bishops and I have heard that few Laws for Religion had their Foundation from them and I do surely think before God I speak it that the Bishops were the Cause of that doleful Message and I will shew you what moveth me so to think I was amongst others the last Parliament sent unto the Bishop of Canterbury for the Articles of Religion that then passed this House he asked us why we did put out of the Book the Articles for the Homilies Consecrating of Bishops and such like Surely Sir said I because we were so occupied in other matters that we had no time to examine them how they agreed with the word of God what said he surely you mistook the matter you will refer your selves wholly to us therein No by the Faith I bear to God said I we will pass nothing before we understand what it is for that were but to make you Popes make you Popes who list said I for we will make you none And sure M r Speaker the Speech seemed to me to be a Pope-like Speech and I fear lest our Bishops do attribute this of the Popes Canons unto themselves Papa non potest errare for surely if they did not they would reform things amiss and not to spurn against Gods People for writing therein as they do but I can tell them News they do but kick against the prick for undoubtedly they both have and do err and God will reveal his truth maugre the hearts of them and all his Enemie for great is the truth and it will prevail and to say the truth it is an Error to think that Gods Spirit is tied only to them for the Heavenly Spirit saith first seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all these things meaning temporal shall be given you these words were not spoken to the Bishops only but to all and the Writ M r Speaker that we are called up by is chiefly to deal in Gods Cause so that our Commission both from God and our Prince is to deal in Gods Causes therefore the accepting of such Messages and taking them in good part do highly offend God and is the acceptation of the breach of the Liberties of this Honourable Councel for is it not all one thing to say Sirs you shall deal in such matters only as to say you shall not deal in such matters and so as good to have Fools and Flatterers in the House as men of Wisdom grave Judgment faithful Hearts and sincere Consciences for they being taught what they shall do can give
their consents as well as the others Well he that hath an Office saith S t Paul let him wait on his Office or give diligent attendance upon his Ofsice It is a great and special part of our duty and office M r Speaker to maintain the freedom of Consultation and Speech for by this good Laws that do set forth Gods Glory and for the preservation of the Prince and State are made S t Paul in the same place saith hate that which is avil cleave unto that which is good then with S t Paul I do advise you all here present yea and heartily and earnestly desire you from the bottom of your hearts to hate all Messengers Tale-Carriers or any other thing whatsoever it be that any manner of way infringes the Liberties of this Honourable Councel yea hate it or them as venemous and poyson unto our Common-Wealth for they are venemous Beasts that do use it therefore I say again and again hate that which is evil and cleave unto that which is good and this being loving and faithful hearted I do wish to be conceived in fear of God and of love to our Prince and Statè for we are incorporated into this place to serve God and all England and not to be Time-Servers as Humour-feeders as Cancers that would pierce the Bone or as Flatterers that would fain beguile all the World and so worthy to be Condemned both of God and Man but let us shew our selves a People endued with Faith I mean with a lively Faith that bringeth forth good Works and not as Dead And these good Works I wish to break forth in this sort not only in hating the Enemies before-spoken against but also in open reproving them as Enemies to God our Prince and State that do use them for they are so Therefore I would have none spared or forborn that shall from henceforth offend herein of what calling soever he be for the higher place he hath the more harm he may do therefore if he will not eschew offences the higher I wish him hanged I speak this in Charity M r Speaker for it is better that one should be hanged than that this Noble State should be subverted well I pray God with all my heart to turn the hearts of all the Enemies of our Prince and State and to forgive them that wherein they have offended yea and to give them grace to offend therein no more even so I do heartily beseech God to forgive us for holding our peaces when we have heard any injury offered to this Honourable Councel for surely it is no small offence M r Speaker for we offend therein against God our Prince and State and abuse the confidence by them reposed in us Wherefore God for his great mercies sake grant that we may from henceforth shew our selves neither Bastards nor Dastards therein but that as rightly begotten Children we may sharply and boldly reprove Gods Enemies our Princes and State and so shall every one of us discharge our Duties in this our High Office wherein he hath placed us and shew our selves haters of Evil and Cleavers to that that is good to the setting forth of Gods Glory and Honour and to the Preservation of our Noble Queen and Common-Wealth for these are the marks that we ought only in this place to shoot at I am thus earnest I take God to witness for Conscience Sake Love Love unto my Prince and Common-Wealth and for the advancement of Justice for Justice saith an Antient Father is the Prince of all Vertues yea the safe and faithful Guard of mans Life for by it Empires Kingdoms People and Cities be governed the which if it be taken away the Society of man cannot long endure And a King saith Solomon that sitteth in the Throne of Judgment and looketh well about him chaseth away all evil in the which State and Throne God for his great mercies sake grant that our Noble Queen may be heartily vigilant and watchful for surely there was a great fault committed both in the last Parliament and since also that was as faithful hearts as any were unto the Prince and State received most displeasure the which is but an hard point in Policy to encourage the Enemy to discourage the faithful-hearted who of fervent love cannot dissemble but follow the Rule of S t Paul who saith let love be without dissimulation Now to another great fault I found the last Parliament committed by some of this House also the which I would desire of them all might be left I have from right good men in other Causes although I did dislike them in that doing sit in an evil matter against which they had most earnestly spoken I mused at it and asked what it meant for I do think it a shameful thing to serve God their Prince or Country with the tongue only and not with the Heart and Body I was answered that it was a common Policy in this House to mark the best sort of the same and either to sit or arise with them that same common Policy I would gladly have banished this House and have grafted in the stead thereof either to rise or sit as the matter giveth Cause For the Eyes of the Lord behold all the Earth to strengthen all the hearts of them that are whole with him These be Gods own words mark them well I heartily beseech you all for God will not receive half part he will have the whole And again he misliketh those two faced Gentlemen and here be many Eyes that will to their great shame behold their double dealing that use it Thus I have holden you long with my rude Speech the which since it tendeth wholly with pure Conscience to seek the advancement of Gods Glory our Honourable Soveraigns Safety and to the sure defence of this noble Isle of England and all by maintaining of the Liberties of this Honourable Councel the Fountain from whence all these do Spring my humble and hearty Suit unto you all is to accept my good will and that this that I have here spoken out of Conscience and great zeal unto my Prince and State may not be buried in the Pit of Oblivion and so no good come thereof Upon this Speech the House out of a reverend regard of her Majesty's Honour stopped his further proceeding before he had fully finished his Speech The Message he meant and intended was that which was set by her Majesty to the House of Commons in the said fourteenth year of her Reign upon Wednesday the 28 th day of May by Sir Francis Knolles Knight Treasurer of her Majesties Houshold inhibiting them for a certain time to treat or deal in the matter touching the Scottish Queen Now follows the proceeding of the House upon this Speech out of the Original Journal-Book it self M r Wentworth being Sequestred the House as aforesaid for his said Speech it was agreed and Ordered by the House upon the Question after sundry Motions and Disputations had therein
you here but heard it as well as I. I beseech your Honours discharge your Consciences herein as I do Commit We heard it we confess and you have satisfied us in this but how say you to the hard interpretation you made of the Message that was sent into the House The words were recited I assure you I never heard an harder interpretation of a Message Went. I beseech your Honours First was there not such a Message sent unto the House Commit We grant that there was Went. Then I trust you will bear me Record that I made it not and I answer you that so hard a Message could not have too hard an interpretation made by the wisest man in England For can there by any possible means be sent a harder Message to a Councel gathered together to serve God than to say you shall not seek to advance the glory of God I am of this opinion that there cannot be a more wicked Message than it was Commit You may not speak against Messages for none sendeth them but the Queens Majesty Went. If the Message be against the Glory of God against the Princes Safety or against the Liberty of this Parliament House whereby the State is maintained I neither may nor will hold my Peace I cannot in so doing discharge my Conscience whosoever doth send it And I say that I heartily repent me for that I have hitherto held my Peace in these Causes and I do promise you all if God forsake me not that I will never during Life hold my Tongue if any Message is sent wherein God is dishonoured the Prince perilled or the Liberties of the Parliament impeached and every one of you here present ought to repent you of these faults and to amend them Commit It is no new Precedent to have the Prince to send Messages Then were two or three Messages recited sent by two or three Princes Went. Sirs said I you do very evil to alledge Precedents in this Order You ought to alledge good Precedents to comfort and embolden men in good doing and evil Precedents to discourage and terrisie men to do evil Commit But what meant you to make so hard interpretation of Messages Went. Surely I marvel what you mean by asking this Question Have I not said so hard a Message could not have too hard an interpretation and have I not set down the reason that moved me in my Speech that is to say that for the receiving and accepting that Message God has poured so great indignation upon us that he put into the Queens Majesties heart to refuse good and wholsome Laws for her own preservation which caused many loving and faithful hearts for grief to burst out with sorrowful tears and moved all Papists Traytors to God to her Majesty and to every good Christian Government in their Sleeves to laugh the whole Parliament House to scorn Have I not thus said and do not your Honours think it did so Commit Yes truly But how durst you say that the Queens Majesty had unkindly abused her self against the Nobility and People Went. I beseech your Honours tell me how far you can stretch these words of her unkindly abusing and opposing her self against her Majesties Nobility and People can you apply them any further than I have applied them that is to say in that her Majesty called the Parliament of purpose to prevent Trayterous perils to her Person and for no other Cause and in that her Majesty did send unto us two Bills willing us to take our choice of that we liked best for her Majesties Safety and thereof to make a Law promising her Royal Consent thereunto and did we not first chuse the one and her Majesty refused it yet did not we nevertheless receive the other and agreeing to make a Law thereof did not her Majesty in the end refuse all our Travels And did not the Lord Keeper in her Majesties Presence in the beginning of the Parliament shew this to be the occasion that we were called together And did not her Majesty in the end of the Parliament refuse all our Travels is not this known to all here present and to all the Parliament House also I beseech your Honours discharge your Consciences herein and utter your knowledge simply as I do for in truth herein her Majesty did abuse her Nobility and Subjects and did oppose her self against them by the way of advice Commit Surely we cannot deny it you say the truth Went. Then I beseech your Honours shew me if it were not a dangerous doing to her Majesty in these two respects First in weakning wounding and discouraging the hearts of her Majesties loving and faithful Subjects thereby to make them the less able or the more fearful and unwilling to serve her Majesty Another time on the other side was it not a raising up and encouraging the hearts of her Majesties hateful Enemies to adventure any desperate enterprize to her Majesties peril and danger Commit We cannot deny but that it was very dangerous to her Majesty in those respects Went. And is it not a loving part of a Subject to give her Majesty warning to avoid danger Commit It is so Went. Then why do your Honours ask how I dare tell a truth to give the Queens Majesty warning to avoid her danger I Answer you thus I do thank the Lord my God that I never found fear in my self to give the Queens Majesty warning to avoid her danger be you all afraid thereof if you will for I praise God I am not and I hope never to live to see that day and yet I will assure your Honours that twenty times and more when I walked in my Grounds revolving this Speech to prepare against this day my own fearful conceit did say unto me that this Speech would carry me to the place whither I shall now go and fear would have moved me to have put it out then I weighed whether in good Conscience and the duty of a faithful Subject I might keep my self out of Prison and not to warn my Prince from walking in a dangerous course my Conscience said unto me that I could not be a faithful Subject if I did more respect to avoid my own danger than my Princes danger herewith all I was made bold and went forward as your Honours heard yet when I uttered those words in the House that there was none without fault no not our Noble Queen I paused and beheld all your Countenances and saw plainly that those words did amaze you all Then I was afraid with you for Company and fear bad me to put out those words that followed for your Countenances did assure me that not one of you would stay me of my Journey yet the consideration of a good Conscience and of a faithful Subject did make me bold to utter it in such sort as your Honours heard with this heart and mind I spake it and I praise God for it and if it were to do again I
of the Proceedings of this House to direct them with his Holy Spirit and a form of Prayer was then read to the House by the Clerk And then afterwards the House proceeding to the Election of a Speaker the said M r Treasurer first speaking did for his own part name and commend the said M r Popham alledging many good reasons and causes moving him thereunto but still leaving nevertheless liberty without prejudice to the residue of the House to name whom they would or thought good And thereupon the whole House with full consent of Voices agreed upon the chusing of the said M r Popham who standing up and much disabling himself in dutiful and reverend wise and alledging for himself many reasonable causes and excuses besought them humbly to proceed to a new Election whereof the House did not allow and so then was he forthwith by the said M r Treasurer and M r Comptroller brought up and placed in the Chair and order thereupon given that the House should the next day Assemble together both to understand her Majesties Pleasure for presenting of the Speaker and also to determine of the case of the said persons newly returned into this House in the places of others yet living On Thursday the 19 th day of January the House again Assembled the Speaker Elect sitting in the Chair The matter began to be debated touching the said Burgesses of whom question was made the day before and the Case was opened by M r Norton a Citizen of London to the effect following viz. That there be Members of this House absent in her Majesties Service as in Embassage or in her affairs in Ireland in whose place new be returned Item some persons be sick of durable Diseases as Agues c. and new be returned in their places Item one M r Flowerden was the last Session Burgess for Castle-Rising in Norfolk and in the Vacation was sick Upon suggestion of which sickness a Writ went to chuse a new Whereupon Sir William Drewry is Chosen and returned for Castle-Rising who now appeareth and M r Flowerden also In the same Vacation one Beamond a Citizen for Norwich is sick of the Gout upon suggestion whereof a Writ went out to chuse a new for Norwich M r Flowerden is chosen returned and newly sworn for Norwich Vide March 18 th Saturday postea The Questions are whether such as be returned in places of persons sick or of persons absent in the Queens Service be Burgesses and the old discharged M r Norton thought the old Burgesses remained and that the said causes of sickness and service are good excuses for their absence but no causes to remove them and to chuse new And for this he alledged divers Precedents as of Doctor Dale Embassador in France and of Sir Henry Sidney Deputy of Wales who having been formerly both of them Members of the House of Commons and absent by reason of both their said Imployments yet when their case was once made known unto the House and there questioned they were still retained as Members of the said House and no new chosen or admitted But however although such absent Members by reason of sickness or Foreign Imployment might be removed yet that ought not to be done upon a suggestion in the Chancery but by the Judgment of the House of Commons upon information thereof M r Serjeant Flowerden M r Robert Snagg M r Seintpoole and M r Serjeant Fleetwood Comptroller argued to the contrary and said that in all these cases new are to be chosen and the old discharged And that it needeth not to have discharge by the Judgment of the House but it sufficeth to make suggestion in the Chancery and to procure a Writ thereupon for a new Election And to question this was to discredit the Lord Chancellor and to scandalize the Judicial Proceedings of that Court. And it was further alledged that not only in these before-recited Cases but also in all others where any new Elections are to be made if the Lord Chancellor send out a Writ upon any suggestion to chuse a new Burgess in the place of an old whether the cause be sufficient or non-sufficient to remove the old or whether the suggestion be true or false yet if a new be returned the House of Commons is to accept the Burgess and to allow the return and the old Burgess remaineth discharged until the matter be further cleared upon the Examination and Judgment of the said House And according to these opinions the new Burgesses Elected and returned in places of men living were received and allowed in the said House M r Flowerden keeping his place for Norwich Sir William Drewry for Castle-Riseing M r Richard Herbert in place of M r Pugh for Montgomery and so the like of the rest that were new Elected Vide the contrary resolved March the 18 th postea Nota That all this was done after the Election of John Popham Esquire the Queens Sollicitor for Prolocutor or Speaker but before his Presentation to the Queen or her Majesties allowance of him The agitation of which question was doubtless either privately muttered in the House or if it were disputed openly it was suddenly and unwarrantably done in respect that the House of Commons have no power to determine or resolve of any thing after the Election of the Speaker till he be presented and allowed as may easily be Collected by all Precedents both of latter and former times Neither did this opinion of the House thus irregularly given take any great effect because the contrary was resolved March 18 postea In the mean time of those foregoing Arguments and Disputations in the House it was signified unto the said House that her Majesties Pleasure was that the Speaker should be presented unto her Highness on the next day following at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Upper House On Friday the 20 th day of January the House Assembled together and about two of the Clock in the Afternoon they had notice that the Queen with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were all set in the Upper House Whereupon the Knights Citizens and Burgesses hasted thither with M r Popham their Speaker and being let in as many as conveniently could and the said Speaker brought up to the Bar at the lower end of the said House by two of the most eminent Personages of the House of Commons he there made his humble excuse and alledged his insufficience for discharge of his place in such manner and form as in like case is usually accustomed But notwithstanding his said excuse her Majesty by the Lord Chancellor signified her Allowance of him for which the said Speaker rendred his humble thanks and Petitioning in the name of the House of Commons for Liberty of Speech for free access to her Majesty and for freedom from Arrests according to the usual form the Lord Chancellor by the Queens Commandment made him a gracious Answer after which ended the Knights Citizens and
Kirle of the Middle-Temple Gent. sitting in this House who being none of this House and further Examined confessed upon his Knees that he had sitten here this present day by the space of half an hour at the least craving pardon and alledging that he knew not the Orders of this House and was thereupon committed to the Serjeants Custody till further Order should be taken with him by this House M r Speaker coming to the House after eleven of the Clock read the usual Prayer omitting the Litany for the shortness of time and declared unto the House that the time was then so far spent as leisure could not then well serve them to proceed unto the reading of any Bill and therefore willed all the House then present to meet there again on the Morrow at eight of the Clock in the Forenoon And also that every one of the House which were then present should give notice thereof unto all such of the residue of this House then absent as they could in the mean time happen to see or meet with to the end that all they might likewise attend in this House at the time aforesaid accordingly On Tuesday the 24 th day of January Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill that Actions upon the Case shall be brought in proper Counties was read the first time M r Speaker declared himself for his own part to be very sorry for the error that happened here in this House upon Saturday last in resolving to have a publick Fast and sheweth her Majesties great misliking of the proceeding of this House therein declaring it to fall out in such sort as he before did fear it would do and advising the House to a Submission in that behalf further moved them to bestow their time and endeavour hereafter during this Session in matters proper and pertinent for this House to deal in and to omit all superfluous and unnecessary Motions and Arguments with all due regard and consideration to the Order of the House M r Vice-Chamberlain declaring a Message from her Majesty to this whole House by her Highness Commandment shewed unto them her great admiration of the rashness of this House in committing such an apparent contempt against her Majesties express Commandment very lately before delivered unto the whole House by the Lord Chancellor in her Highness name as to attempt and put in Execution such an innovation as the same Fast without her Majesties Privity and Pleasure first known blaming first the whole House and then M r Speaker and declaring her Majesties Protestation for the allowing of Fasting and Prayer with the use and exercise thereof in her own Person but reproving the undutiful proceeding of this House as against the duty of Subjects did nevertheless very eloquently and amply set forth her Majesties most honourable and good acceptation of the Zeal Duty and Fidelity of this whole House towards Religion the Safety of her Highness Person and the State of this Common-wealth in respect whereof her Majesty hath so long continued this Parliament without Dissolution declared further to the great joy and comfort of this whole House that her Majesty nevertheless of her inestimable and Princely good Love and Disposition and of her Highness most gracious Clemency construeth the said offence and contempt to be rash unadvised and an inconsiderate Error of this House proceeding of Zeal and not of the wilful and malicious intent of this House or of any Member of the same imputing the cause thereof partly to her own lenity towards a Brother of that man which now made this Motion M r Wentworth who in the last Session was by this House for just causes reprehended and committed but by her Majesty graciously pardoned and restored again And after many excellent Discourses and Dilatations of her Highness most honourable and loving care for the advancement of Religion and the State wherein she had before signified her Prohibition to this House by the Lord Chancellor shewed that her Highness hath already deeply consulted upon those matters in all due and needful respects and prepared sit and apt courses to digest them meet and ready to be delivered unto this House from her Highness by such direction as her Majesty thinketh most convenient And so perswading this House to imploy the time about the necessary service of the Queens Majesty and of the Common-wealth with due and grave regard to the antient Orders of this House concludeth that he thinketh it very meet that this whole House or some one of this House by Warrant of the House in the name of the said House do make most humble submission unto her Majesty acknowledging the said offence and contempt and in most humble and dutiful wise to pray remission of the same at her Highness hands with full purpose hereafter to forbear committing of the like offence M r Comptroller followed him and spake to the same effect but urged and enforced the fault of the House with much more violence M r Nicholas S t Leger spake next and with a great deal of discretion and moderation extenuated the said offence of the House urging first their great affection to her Majesty the sincerity of their intention in that Motion of the Fast Then the imperfections and sins to which not only private men but publick States are also subject and therefore needed to be supported by Prayer and Humiliation And then he urged the great fault and remissness of the Bishops who suffered that most necessary Duty of Fasting and Humiliation to grow even out of use in the Church And lastly he concluded that he trusted that both her Majesty and all her Subjects would be ready to express their true repentance to God in humbling themselves in Sack-Cloth and Ashes M r S t Poole followed M r S t Leger but spake somewhat differing from him aggravating the fault of the House and urging Submission M r Chancellor of the Exchequer spake next and admonished the House of their duty which they did owe to so good and gracious a Prince as her Majesty hath expressed her self to be in all this long time of her Government and therefore urged the House to Submission M r Sackford one of the Masters of the Requests urged the same Submission but withal he thought it very sitting and could wish it that M r Vice-Chamberlain who had brought the Message from her Majesty of her displeasure might also carry the Houses Submission back again untoher Highness M r Flowerden spake next and shewed the sincerity of his intention in speaking for the Fast when it was first moved but now concluded that it was most fitting for the House to make their Submission to her Majesty M r Carleton stood up and offered to have spoken but was interrupted by M r Speaker and the House Then M r Speaker asked the Question whether M r Vice-Chamberlain should carry the Submission of the House to her Majesty
sice from those troubles that our Neighbours have felt so as this now seemeth to be our present State a blessed peaceable and happy time for the which we are most bound to God and to pray unto him for the continuance thereof But yet notwithstanding seeing our Enemies sleep not it behoveth us not to be careless as though all were past but rather to think that there is but a piece of the storm over and that the greater part of the Tempest remaineth behind and is like to fall upon us by the malice of the Pope the most Capital Enemy of the Queen and this State the determinations of the Council of Trent and the Combination of the Pope with other Monarchies and Princes devoted unto Rome assuring our selves that if their Powers be answerable to their Wills this Realm shall find at their hands all the Miseries and Extremities that they can bring upon it And though by the late good Success which God hath given in Ireland these lewd and malitious Enterprizes seem for a time to be as it were at a stand yet let us be assured that neither their attempts upon Ireland neither the mischiefs intended against England will cease thus but if they find us negligent they will be ready with greater Forces than have been yet seen The certain determination which the Pope and his Combined Friends have to root out the Religion of the Gospel in all places and to begin here as their greatest impediment is cause sufficient to make us the more vigilant and to have a wary eye to their doings and proceedings how smoothly soever they speak or dissemble their Friendships for the time for let us think surely that they have jointed hands together against us and if they can they will procure the Sparks of the Flames that have been so terrible in other Countries to fly over into England and to kindle as great a Fire here And as the Pope by open Hostility as you see hath shewed himself against her Majesty so the better to Answer in time the purposes that he hath set down in the mean season till they may come to ripeness he hath and doth by secret practices within this Realm leave nothing unproved emboldening many undutiful Subjects to stand fast in their disobedience to her Majesty and her Laws For albeit the pure Religion of the Gospel hath had a free course and hath been freely Preached now many years within this Realm by the Protection of her Majesties most Christian Government yet such have been the practices of the Pope and his secret Ministers as the obstinate and stiff-necked Papist is so far from being reformed as he hath gotten Stomach to go backward and to shew his disobedience not only in arrogant words but also in contemptuous Deeds To confirm them herein and to increase their number you see how the Pope hath and doth comfort their hollow hearts with Absolutions Dispensations Reconciliations and such other things of Rome You see how lately he hath sent hither a sort of Hypocrites naming themselves Jesuits a rabble of Vagrant Friers newly sprung up and running through the World to trouble the Church of God whose principal Errand is by creeping into the Houses of men of behaviour and reputation not only to corrupt the Realm with false Doctrine but also under that pretence to stir up Sedition to the peril of her Majesty and her good Subjects How these practices of the Pope have wrought in the disobedient Subjects of this Land is both evident and lamentable to consider For such impression hath the estimation of the Pope's Authority made in them as not only those which from the beginning have refused to obey but many yea very many of those which divers years together did yield and conform themselves in their open Actions sithence the Decrees of that unholy Council of Trent and sithence the publishing and denouncing of that blasphemous Bull against her Majesty and sithence those secret Absolutions and Reconciliations and the swarming hither of a number of Popish Priests and Monkish Jesuits have and do utterly refuse to be of our Church or to resort unto our Preaching and Prayers The sequel whereof must needs prove dangerous to the whole State of the Common-Wealth By this you see what cause we have justly to doubt great mischief threatned to this Realm and therewith you may easily see also how for the preventing and withstanding of the same it behoveth her Majesty not only to provide in time sufficient Laws for the continuing of this peaceable Government but also to be ready with Forces to repress all attempts that may be enterprized either by Enemies abroad or by evil Subjects at home What difference there is between the Popes persecuting Church and this mild Church of the Gospel hath been seen in all Ages and especially in the late Government compared with the merciful time of her Majesties Reign the continuance of which Clemency is also to be wished so far as may stand with Gods Honour and the Safety of the Realm but when by long proof we find that this favourable and gentle manner of dealing with the Disobeyers and Contemners of Religion to win them by fair means if it were possible hath done no good but hath bred in them a more arrogant and contemptuous Spirit so as they have not only presumed to disobey the Laws and Orders of the Realm but also to accept from Rome secret Absolutions Reconciliations and such like and that by the hands of lewd Runnagates Priests and Jesuits harbouring and entertaining them even in their Houses thereby showing an Obedience to the Pope by their direction also nourishing and training up their Children and Kinsfolks not only at home but also abroad in the Seminaries of Popery now I say it is time for us to look more narrowly and strictly to them lest as they be corrupt so they prove dangerous Members to many born within the entrals of our Common-Wealth And seeing that the Lenity of the time and the mildness of the Laws heretofore made are no small cause of their arrogant disobedience it is necessary that we make a provision of Laws more strict and more severe to constrain them to yield their open Obedience at the least to her Majesty in causes of Religion and not to live as they list to the perillous Example of others and to the encouraging of their own evil affected minds but if they will needs submit themselves to the Benediction of the Pope they may feel how little his Curses can hurt us and how little his Blessings can save them from that punishment which we are able to lay upon them letting them also find how dangerous it shall be for them to deal with the Pope or any thing of his or with those Romish Priests and Jesuits and therewith also how perillous it shall be for those seditious Runnagates to enter into the Land to draw away from her Majesty that Obedience which by the Laws of God and Man
their several places the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof who thereupon repairing thither as many as conveniently could were let in and standing all together at the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the Upper House Sir Thomas Bromley Knight Lord Chancellor by the Queen Commandment declared unto them the Causes of the Assembling of this Parliament But what those Causes were neither the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House nor that of the House of Commons do at all mention in setting down the other daily Passages of this Parliament de Anno isto 27 Reginae Eliz. But in respect they are set down the above-mentioned Catalogue of Honour imprinted at London An. Domini 1610. pag. 〈◊〉 and that it is most probable that were there inserted out of the Collections or Memorial of some Member of the House of Commons at this Parliament therefore I have thought good to supply it verbatim as it is there set down The said Lord Chancellor declared unto them in her Majesties name that this Assembly of Parliament was for three causes called viz. For the glory of Almighty God and the furthering of Religion for the health and preservation of her Royal Majesty and the welfare of the Common-Weal Which after that he had a loud and most eloquently at large declared turning his Speech unto the Knights and Burgesses standing on a heap together below he willed them to make choice of their Prolocutor and to give notice of him so Chosen unto the Lords of the Privy-Council from whom they should expect what the Queens Pleasure and Answer was concerning him so Chosen to be afterward presented The substance of this Speech being so shortly set down in the said Catalogue of Honour I thought good to transcribe although it were imprinted because it doth much augment and perfect this present Journal of the Upper House The residue whereof doth next in order follow out of the Original Journal-Book of the same House there being only added now and then as the occasion offered it self some Observations and Animadversions upon it Nota Also that no names of any of the Lords Spiritual or Temporal are noted to have been present this day which happened through the negligence of the Clerk of the Parliament but it may be conjectured who they were by the names of such whose presence is noted on Thursday next following being the 26 th day of this instant November on which said day the presence of such Lords as attended this Parliament is first marked Then follow the names of the Receivors and Triors of Petitions which is the more remarkable at this time because it is said that the Clerk of the Parliament did read them by the Lord Chancellors Commandment whereas it should seem at other times and which is agreeable also to the course at this day he doth presently stand up of himself as soon as the Lord Chancellors or Lord Keepers Speech is ended and reads the said Receivors and Triors names yet the entrance aforesaid is at this time set down in the said Journal-Book in manner and form following Tunc having before-mentioned the Lord Chancellors Speech Parliamenti Clericus ex mandato Cancellarn omnibus Petitionibus exhiberi volentibus Receptorum Examinatorum nomina formâ subsequenti recitavit Then follows all in French of which the names were these Receivors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland Sir Christopher Wray Lord Chief Justice of England Sir Gilbert Gerrard Master of the Rolls Sir Thomas Gawel Knight one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench Doctor Clarke and Doctor Ford. Receivors of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Countries beyond the Seas and the Isles Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Roger Manwood Lord Chief Baron Francis Windam one of the Justices of ..... Doctor Awbery and Doctor Barkley Such as will deliver Petitions must so do within six days next ensuing Triors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland The Archbishop of Canterbury the Earl of Leicester Lord High Steward of England the Earl of Darby the Earl of Rutland the Bishop of Winchester the Bishop of Salisbury the Lord Howard of Effingham Chamberlain of the Queens House the Lord Gray of Wilton the Lord North. All these or any four of them calling unto them the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal the Lord Treasurer and also the Queens Serjeants at their leisure to meet and hold their place in the Chamberlains Chamber Triors of Petitions for Gascoigne and the Countries beyond the Seas and the Isles The Archbishop of York the Earl of Oxford Great Chamberlain of England the Earl of Warwick the Earl of Pembroke the Bishop of Norwich the Bishop of Chester the Bishop of Rochester the Lord Cobham the Lord Lumley and the Lord Buckhurst All these or four of them calling to them the Queens Serjeants and the Queens Attorney and Sollicitor to hold their place when their leisure did serve to meet in the Treasurers Chamber Breve returnatum which was returned this Morning quo Johannes Episcopus Gloucestren praesenti Parliamento interesse summonitus fuit qui admissus est ad suum praeheminentiae sedendi in Parliamento locum salvo jure alieno Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem crastinum horâ nonâ On Tuesday the 24 th day of November the Lords met in the Upper House but nothing was done saving the continuance of the Parliament by the Lord Chancellor until nine of the Clock the next Morning On Wednesday the 25 th day of November there was a like meeting of the Lords but nothing done saving the continuance of the Parliament by the Lord Chancellor unto two of the Clock in the Afternoon the day following But no presence of the Lords is noted on this day in the Original Journal-Book On Thursday the 26 th day of November the Commons having chosen their Speaker who upon his Presentment to the Queen was this day to be allowed of in the said place her Majesty Accompanied with divers of the Nobility came into the Upper House about three of the Clock in the Afternoon whose name and the names of such Lords Spiritual and Temporal as are marked in the Original Journal-Book of this Parliament to have been present this day do here ensue Regina Archiepiscopus Cantuar. Dominus Thomas Bromley Miles Cancellarius Archiepiscopus Eboracen Dominus Barleigh Dominus Thesaurarius Angliae Marchio Winton Comites Comes Oxon. Magnus Camerarius Comes Arundell Comes Kantiae Comes Darbiae Comes Wigorn. Comes Rutland Comes Cumberland Comes Sussex Comes Bathon Comes Pembrooke Comes Hartford Vice-Comes Mountague Vice-Comes Bindon Episcopi Episcopus London Episcopus Winton Episcopus Meneven Episcopus Sarisburien Episcopus Petriburgen Episcopus Norwicen Episcopus Roffen Episcopus Cestren Barones Dominus Howard Camerar Dominus Zouch Dominus Willoughbie Dominus Dacres Dominus Cobham Dominus Grey de Wilton Dominus Lumley Dominus Stourton Dominus Mountjoy
the Debts of Edward Fisher Esquire was after the second reading committed to the former Committees who were appointed on Tuesday the 15 th day of this instant December foregoing and Mr. Recorder was added unto them Vide February the 22 th Monday pojlea The second of the said Bills being for Hue and Cry was brought in again by the Committees somewhat amended and the amendments being twice read the Bill with the said amendments was ordered to be ingrossed and the third Bill touching Under-Sheriffs had its first reading Mr. Sollicitor and Mr. Recorder were added to the former Committees for Sir Thomas Lucy's Bill Sir George Cary one of the Committees in the Bill for the good Government of the City of Westminster in the name of himself and the residue of the Committees brought in the Bill with some amendments Mr. Treasurer declared that he and the residue of this House which are of her Majesties Privy-Council did yesterday according to the charge of this House laid upon them recommend unto her Majesty the most humble dutiful and loyal thanks of this House for her Highnesses good nion conceived of this whole House and her loving and thankful acceptation of their Service which as he said her Majesty did take in most loving and good part so did he refer her Highness's further Answer therein to the report of M r Vice-Chamberlain being charged by her Majesty to deliver the same Speeches unto this House from her Highness Whereupon Sir Christopher Hatton Knight her Majesties Vice-Chamberlain standing up did very eloquently and very earnestly set forth her Majesties most Princely gracious and kind acceptation of the humble and most dutiful thankfulness of this House so presented unto her Highness to her right great and high satisfaction joy and comfort and declared withal that her Highness did for the same give most hearty and loving thanks unto this whole House yea and that in redoubling to them their thanks ten thousand thousand fold and so further very excellently amply and aptly shewed both the ready careful and obedient affections of this whole House to the dutiful service of her Majesty and also on the other side her Highness incomparable Princely accompt and regard of all such loyal loving and faithful Subjects and concluded that her Majesties pleasure was that this House should well know that in the consideration of the free course of the Gospel of Jesus Christ amongst us our long continued Peace and plenty of Gods good Blessings and Benefits bestowed upon us under the Ministry of her Highness her Majesty doth most sincerely ascribe all the same only and wholly to the great goodness and mercy of Almighty God attributing the cause of these good effects next under Gods Providence to the good demerits of so religious godly and obedient Subjects of whom how well and kindly her Majesty doth think and conceive her Highness had much rather have told them in her own most Royal Person than have signified it unto them by any other if it might have conveniently been so done as upon the opportunity of a Prorogation or Dissolution of this Court. And further declared that her Majesty having regard to the great charges and expences of their attendance in the service of this great Council of the Realm wisheth them at their next meeting again to bestow the time as much as may be in publick and general Actions fittest for the Common-Weal of this Realm and that with as little loss of time as may be And withal that those of this House towards the Law would join together to do their best endeavours to devise some good Laws to abridge and cut off the long tedious courses and extream chargeable Circuits and superfluous delays of Suits in Law not doubting but that in so doing God will bless their Wealth and good Estates both in themselves and in their Posterity And so having as he thought dutifully imparted unto them the sum and substance of her Majesties Pleasure and Message committed unto this House by him though not in such effectual and singular kind terms and forms as her Princely Wisdom delivered the same unto him and so referring himself to the residue of this House of her Majesties Council then and now present to be put in remembrance by them if he have omitted any part thereof and they affirming he had not he ended his Speech M r Doctor Ford and M r Doctor Barkeley did bring from the Lords the Bills amended in the indorsement which before were sent from this House unto them for that purpose after they had been first sent unto this House from their Lordships Nota That on Saturday the 19 th day of December last past the House of Commons taking exceptions at this last mentioned matter about indorsing of Bills in the upper parts of them whereas it ought to be done at the nether and lower part the Lords did very respectively both then and now take away their said grievance by the alteration of the indorsements aforesaid according to the usual and ancient form Mr. Treasurer touching the Petitions and grievances of this House drawn into some certainty of convenient particularities to be then afterwards moved by them unto the Lords by way of Petition and request unto their Lordships in the name of this whole House to join with this House in the considerations of the said Petitions and grievances and to exhibite unto her Majesty the humble suit of this House in that behalf shewed that he and the residue of the Committees according to the charge of this House unto them have sundry times met together and set down in writing such particular Contents of the said Petitions and griefs as they resolved to impart unto the Lords And further that having moved their Lordships already in the matter they have received Answer that when their Lordships have further considered and conferred thereof amongst themselves they will then send for the said Committees of this House to receive their Lordships Answer therein Vide concerning this business on Thursday the 25 th day of February ensuing Word was brought to Mr. Speaker by the Serjeant of this House that one at the Door was come from the higher House to require that the Committees of this House do presently repair unto their Lordships which done and signified unto this House by Mr. Speaker the said Committees went up presently unto their Lordships accordingly Mr. Sollicitor touching the returns of some Knights returned into this present Parliament and for some doubts and questions arising in this House upon the same and afterwards by this House referred unto him and M r Recorder of London for making of search of the returns of the Writs and Indentures thereof shewed that they can only find the cause of this question to arise upon the Election of Mr. Bevill and Mr. Darrington to be Knights for the County of Huntington which they are the rather confident of because none others attended them or came unto them in this matter but
for the better assurance that none creep into the charge and Cures being men of corrupt life or not known diligent it might be provided that none be Instituted or by Collation preferred to any benefice with cure of Souls or received to be Curate in any Charge without some competent notice before given to the Parishes where they take charge and some reasonable time allowed wherein it may be lawful to such as can discover any defect in conversation of life in the person who is to be so placed as is aforesaid to come and object the same 7. That for the encouragement of many to enter into the Ministry which are kept back by some conditions of Oaths and Subscriptions whereof they make scruple it may be considered whether this favour may be shewed them that hereafter no Oath or subscription be tendred to any that is to enter into the Ministry or to any benefice with Cure or to any place of preaching but such only as be expresly prescribed by the Statutes of this Realm Saving that it shall be lawful for every Ordinary to try any Ministers presented to any Benefice within his Diocess by his Oath whether he is to enter corruptly or incorruptly into the same 8. Whereas sundry Ministers of this Realm diligent in their calling and of godly conversation and life have of late years been grieved with Indictments in Temporal Courts and molested by some exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions for omitting small portions or some Ceremony prescribed in the Book of Common-Prayer to the great disgrace of their Ministry and imboldening of men either hardly affected in religion or void of all Zeal to the same which also hath ministred no small occasion of discouragement to the forwardness of such as would otherwise enter into the Ministry some good and charitable means may be by their honorable discretions devised that such Ministers as in the publick service of the Church and in the administration of the Sacraments do use the Book of Common-Prayer allowed by the Statutes of this Realm and none other be not from henceforth called in question for omission or change of some Portion or rite as is aforesaid so there doings therein be void of contempt 9. That for as much as it is no small discouragement to many that they see such as be already in the Ministry openly disgraced by Officials and Commissaries who daily call them to their Courts to answer complaints of their doctrin and life or breach of Orders prescribed by the Ecclesiastical Laws and Statutes of this Realm It may please the reverend Fathers or Archbishops to take to their own hearings with such grave assistance as shall be thought meet the causes of Complaint made against any known Preacher within their Diocess and to proceed in the examination and Order thereof with as little discredit to the Person so complained of without great cause and in as charitable sort as may be restraining their said Officials and Commissaries to deal in any Sort in those Causes 10. It may also please the reverend Fathers to extend their charitable favours to such known godly and learned Preachers as have been Suspended or deprived for no publick offence of life but only for refusal to subscribe to such Articles as lately have been tendred in divers parts of this Realm or for such like things that they may be restored to their former Charges or places of Preaching or at least set at liberty to preach where they may be hereafter called 11. Further That it may please the reverend Fathers aforesaid to forbear their examinations ex officio mero of Godly and learned Preachers not detected unto them 〈◊〉 Offence of life or for publick maintaining of apparent error in Doctrin and only to deal with them for such matters as shall be detected in them And that also her Majesties Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical be required if it shall so seem good to forbear the like proceedings against such Preachers and not to call any of them out of the Diocess where he dwelleth except for some notable offence for Reformation whereof their aid shall be required by the Ordinary of the said Preachers 12. Item For the better increase of knowledge of such as shall be imployed in the Ministry It may please their Lordships to advise whether it may be permitted to the Ministers of every Archdeaconry within every Diocess to have some common exercise or conference amongst themselves to be limited and prescribed by their Ordinary both touching the moderation and also the time places and manner of the same so as the moderators of these exercises be Preachers resiant upon their benefices having Cure of Souls and known to bear good affection to the furtherance of such profit as may grow by the same exercises 13. Where complaint is made of the abuse of Excommunication which is the highest censure that Christ hath left to his Church and many are grieved as well in regard of the causes and matters wherein it is at this day used as of the persons which have the common execution thereof and no redress can be had herein but by Act of Parliament that some remedy may be thought of in that behalf before the end of this Session and for reformation to be had herein it may please their Lordships to consider whether some Bill might not be conveniently framed to this effect viz. That none having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction shall in any matter already moved or hereafter mentioned give or pronounce any Sentence of Excommunication and that for the continuance of any Person in Cases depending before them it shall be lawful to pronounce him only contumax and so to denounce him publickly And if upon such Denuntiation as in Excommunications hath been used the Party shall not submit himself nor stand to abide such Order as is to him assigned within forty days then it shall be lawful to signifie his contumacy in such manner and sort and to such Court as heretofore hath been used for persons so long standing Excommunicate and that upon such Certificate a Writ de contumace capiendo shall be awarded of like force to all effects and purposes and with like Execution as the Writ de excommunicato capiendo is 14. Nevertheless for as much as it seemeth not meet that the Church should be left without this censure of Excommunication it may be provided that for enormous crimes as Incest Adultery and such like the same be Executed by the Reverend Fathers the Bishops themselves with the assistance of grave Persons or else by other persons of Calling in the Church with like assistance and with such other Considerations as upon deliberation shall be herein advised of and not by Chancellors Commissaries or Officials as hath been used 15. Where Licences of non-Residence are offensive in the Church and be occasion that a great number of this Realm do want instruction and it seemeth that Cases certain wherein the same may be allowed can hardly be devised such as shall be
for the Execution of the Statute of the thirteenth of the Queens Majesty for reformation of certain disorders in the Ministers of the Church was read the third time and after many Arguments passed upon the question On Tuesday the 23 th day of March Mr. Attorney of the Wards one of the Committees in the Bill to provide remedy against fraudulent means used to defeat Wardships Liveries and primer seisins brought in the same Bill again which had this day its first reading Mr. Morrice one of the Committees in the Bill for perfecting of Assurances brought in the same And also the Bill against Covenous and fraudulent Conveyances and also a new Bill The Amendments in the Bill touching the taking of Apprentices were twice read and Committeed to the former Committees and to Mr. Williams Mr. Hare Mr. Cromwell Mr. Wroth Mr. Cole and Mr. Prowze and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Wroth who with the rest was appointed to meetu pon Thursday next in the Afternoon in the Middle-Temple Hall M r Vice-Chamberlain one of the Committees in the Bill against defeating of Wardships Liveries and primer Scisins Shewed that the Committees have travailed and for some things by them thought requisite to be amended do think if this House shall so like That some of the same Committees may pray Conference with the Lords therein Whereupon it was agreed that the said former Committees or some convenient number of them may so do And then Four Bills of no great Moment were sent up to the Lords by M r Vice-Chamberlain and others of which the last was the Bill for the Paving of the Town of New-Windsor in the County of Berks. Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for incorporation of the Hospital of Christ in the Town of Sherborn neer Durham was read the third time and passed upon the Question The Amendments in the Bill for disarming of Recusants were twice read and the Bill Ordered to be ingrossed Upon further Arguments and Motions had touching the proceeding in the Bill for the Inning of Erith and Plumstead Marsh it was agreed that M r Smith M r Baptist M r Youngue and Roger James be warned by the Serjeant of this House to be here to morrow Morning that upon some Conference to be had with them by this House the said Bill may the better proceed to the passing On Wednesday the Twenty fourth day of March Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the true payment of the Debts of Philip Bassett Esquire was upon the second reading Committed unto M r Vice-Chamberlain M r Chancellor Sir Richard Knghtley M r Digby and others and the Bill was delivered to M r Vice-Chamberlain all these to meet to morrow in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber And the second being the Bill for suppressing of Pirates and Piracy was upon the second reading Committed unto M r Treasurer Sir Drew Drewrie Sir Nicholas Woodruff M r Richard Brown M r Docter Fletcher and others who were appointed to meet on Saturday next in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber The Amendments and Additions in the Bill for reformation of Errors in Fines and Common recoveries in the twelve Shires of Wales and Counties Palatine were read Three times and passed accordingly M r Serjeant Rodes and M r Doctor Barkely did bring from the Lords word that their Lordships do presently desire Conference with some of this House touching the Bill for Continuance of Statutes The Bill for the incorporation of the Hospital of Christ in the Town of Sherborn near Durham with two others of no great moment were sent up to the Lords by M r Treasurer and others who were also appointed to attend the Lords in the Conference touching the Bill for continuance of Statutes according to their Lordships requests M r Vice-Chancellor of the Exchequer one of the Committees in the Bill against frauds used in defeating of Wardships Liveries and primer Seisins shewed that they have met and travailed in the same Bill and have thought good to make a new Bill but yet nevertheless not meaning to impeach the old Bill coming from the Lords and that the said new Bill he said he thought was not so sufficiently considered of by the said Committees but that it requireth further consideration amongst them praying notwithstanding a present reading of the said Bill Which was thereupon so read accordingly M r Grafton one of the Committees in the Bill for preservation of Woods near Crambrook in Kent brought in the Bill again Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the true payment of Tythes was read the Third time and after many long Arguments dashed upon the Question M r Chancellor of the Exchequer returning from the Lords shewed that this morning as he came to this House he found M r Baptist M r Customer Smith and the Sollicitor of Jacob Seal who were all of them agreed to such Conditions of recompence and consideration to be had towards the said Jacob as that the Bill may with their liking be read to the passing whereupon the Amendments ..... same ..... But that which should here follow is through the negligence of the Clerk wholly omitted yet it may seem as may be Collected out of a former passage of this business on Tuesday the 23 d day of this instant March foregoing that this Bill here mentioned by Sir Walter Mildmay Chancellor of the Exchequer was the Bill touching the Inning of Erith and Plumstead Marsh and that the Amendments of the same Bill which had been formerly thrice read on Saturday the 20 th day of this instant March did at this time pass the House M r Treasurer and the residue returning from the Lords M r Treasurer shewed that the cause for which their Lordships desired conference was that in respect of the great experienced benefit grown to increase of the Navy and Mariners of this Realm by the late Law for eating of Fish upon Wednesdays their Lordships wished a Provision to be made for the eating of Fish and no flesh at all hereafter upon the Wednesday in all places of this Realm Twenty five miles distant from the Sea and also in the Cities of London York and Bristol and in all places of this Realm within five miles of the said Cities Whereunto he said as he and the residue could say nothing because they knew not the pleasure of this House therein so he said he thought their Lordships Additions in the Bill passed this House unto the Lords for the good Government of the City of Westminster did seek too much to abridge the Dean of Westminster being the Lord of the said Borough in his Liberty and Jurisdiction of his own House and Servants and of the Prebendaries and other Churchmen and their Servants being all under his own peculiar government And
Stourton Dominus Darcie Dominus Sandes Dominus Windsor Dominus Wentworth Dominus Borough Dominus Cromwell Dominus Evers Dominus Rich. Dominus Willoughby de Parham Dominus Darcie de Chiche Dominus Shandois Dominus S t John Dominus Buckhurst Dominus Delaware Dominus Compton Dominus Cheney Dominus Norris The Lords being all set in this Order in their Parliament-Robes and the Judges placed with other Attendants and Assistants of the Upper House being also before the said Lords Commissioners had taken their places on the right side of the Chair of State the Lord Chancellor shewed forth the Queens Majesties Letters Patents by which She committed full Power to the Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England and the Earl of Darby to supply her place in the said Parliament which were as followeth viz. Hodie cùm omnes Proceres Robis Parliamentaribus induti in suo Loco quisque sederent Milites Cives Burgenses qui ad hoc praesens Parliamentum summoniti fuerunt praesso essent jam universt tam Proceres quà m Communes Reginae adventum expectarent Thomas Bromley Miles Dominus Cancellarius exponit omnibus Regiam Majestatem maximis urgentissimis causis adeò esse impeditam ut non queat impraesentiarum commodè interesse ut decreverat Nihilominus inquit sua Majestas Literis suis Patentibus plenam potestatem commisit Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Johanni Cantuar. Archiepiscopo totius Angliae Primati Metropolitano ac praedilecto fideli suo Willielmo Domino de Burleigh Domino Thesaurario Angliae ac charissimo Consanguineo suo Henrico Comiti Darbiae ad facienda nomine suo omnia singula quae in dicto Parliamento gerenda essent ut per easdem Liter as Patentes 〈◊〉 apparet quas hiis dictis Dominus Cancellarius Clerico Parliamentar publicè legendas tradidit Earum autem tenor sequitur in haec verba ELizabetha Dei graetiâ Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Regina fidei Defensor c. Omnibus ad quos praesentes Literae pervenerint Salutem Sciatis quòd cùm de advisamento Concilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae ae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernen quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westmonaster 29 o die instant mensis Octobris teneri ordinavimus quia verò propter certas causas ad Parliamentum praedictum non potuerimus interesse nos de circumspectione sideliate industria Reverendissimi in Christo Patris Johannis Cantuar. Archiepiscopi totius Angliae Primat Metropolitan ac praedilecti fidelis nostri Willielmi Domini de Burleigh Domini Thesaurarii Angliae ac charissimi Consanguinei nostri Henrici Comitis Darbiae plenam fiduciam reportand eisdem Archiepiscopo Willielmo Domino de Burleigh Henrico Comiti Darbiae duobus eorum ad Parliamentum praedictum nomine meo inchoand tenend negotiáque praedict exponend declarand ac exponi declarari faciend necnon in negotiis illis Parliamento praedicto ac omnibus sin gulis in eo procedend ad faciend omnia singula quae pro nobis per nos pro bono regimine gubernatione praedicti Regni nostri Angliae ac aliorum Dominiorum nostrorum eidem Regno nostro pertinen ibid. fuerint faciend necnon ad Parliamentum illud si necesse fuerit continuand adjournand prorogand de assensu Concilii nostri praedicti plenam tenore praesentium committimus prtestatem Dante 's ulteriùs de assensu ejusdem Concilii nostri tam universis singulis Archiepiscopis Episcopis Comitibus Vicecomitibus Baronibus Militibus quà m omnibus aliis quorum interest ad Parliamentum nostrum praedictum conventur similit tenore praesentium firmiter in Mandatis Quòd eisdem Archiepiscopo Willielmo Domino Burleigh Henrico Comiti Darbiae duobus eorum intendant in praemissis in fornia praedicta In cujus rei testimonium has Literas nostras sieri fecimus Patentes Teste meipsa apud Westmonasterium vicesimo octavo die Octobris Anno Regni nostri vicesimo octavo Per ipsam Reginam c. The Letters Patents foregoing being read the said three Lords Commissioners leaving their own places went to a Seat prepared for them on the right side of the Chair of State beneath the steps Then the said Lord Chancellor going first to the said Lords and conferring a while with them went to his accustomed place and there made intimation of the Cause of this present Summons of Parliament which as he said were no usual Causes not for making of Laws whereof her Majesty thought there were more made than were duly executed nor for Fifteenths and Subsidies although there were some cause yet her Majesty would not charge her loving Subjects so far at this time But that the cause was rare and extraordinary of great weight great peril and dangerous consequence Then he declared what dangerous practices had been contrived of late and how miraculously the Providence of God had by discovery thereof beyond all humane Policy preserved her Majesty the destruction of whose Sacred Person was most traiterously compassed and imagined Here he shewed what misery the loss of so Noble a Queen would have brought to all Estates and said That although some of them had suffered according to their demerits yet one remained that by due course of Law had received her Sentence which was the chief cause of this Assembly and wherein her Majesty required their faithful advice and therefore said he you may orderly proceed therein And you of the House of Commons are to make present choice of some one amongst you to be your Speaker and to present him unto the Lords Lieutenants as soon as conveniently you may Assoon as the Lord Chancellor had ended his Speech the Clerk of the Parliament stood up and read the Names of the Receivors and Tryors of Petitions in French which were as followeth Receivors of Petitions for England Ireland France and Scotland Sir Christopher Wray Knight Lord Chief Justice Sir Gilbert Gerrard Knight Master of the Rolls Sir Thomas Gawdy Knight one of the Justices of ..... Doctor Awberry and Doctor Ford. Receivors of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Lands and Countries beyond the Seas and of the Isles Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Roger Manwood Knight Lord Chief Baron Francis Windham one of the Justices of ..... Doctor Barkeley and Doctor Cary. Tryors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland the Archbishop of Canterbury the Earl of Darby Lord High Steward of England the Earl of Rutland the Earl of Essex the Bishop of London the Bishop of Winchester the Bishop of Salisbury the Lord Howard of Essingham Lord High Admiral of England the Lord Cobham the Lord Grey of Wilton Tryors of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Lands and Countries beyond the Seas and of the Isles the Archbishop of York the Earl
perfected in some places in matter of form and yet the Titles of the aforesaid three daies are set down in three blank Pages On Monday the 31 th day of October her Majesties Person was again represented by those aforesaid three Lords Commissioners constituted by her Majesties Letters Patents on Saturday the 29 th day of this instant October foregoing These being set in the Upper House with divers other Lords in their Parliamentary Robes the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof and repaired thither with John Puckering Serjeant at Law their Speaker who was according to the usual course presented unto the said Lords Commissioners and by them admitted who answered to these his three Petitions of course made in the name of the House of Commons for liberty of Access for freedom of Speech and freedom from Arrests and Suits and lastly for Pardon for himself that the said House of Commons and himself should enjoy and use all such priviledges and freedoms as had in the like case been enjoyed by any others in the times of her Majesties most noble Progenitors Whereupon the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses with their Speaker departed to their own House Nota That there is not any word of all this presentment of the Speaker in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons but only the very Title of the day is thus set down in a blank Page thereof Lunae xxxj Octobris 1586. and the whole matter ensuing by the great negligence of M r Fulk Onslow at this time Clerk of the House of Commons is wholly omitted which also happened in the setting down of the three foregoing days of this Journal upon the two first of which the Parliament had been further Prorogued and upon the third received its beginning in all which the Titles only of the days are set down in the upper part of three several blank Pages as is beforesaid with intention doutless at first to have inserted the passages of each day and therefore it is the more strange that it was never perfected and argueth the greater neglect because the said M r Onslow did live many years in the place of Clerk of the House of Commons after the Dissolution of this Parliament by which means if these foregoing day had not been supplied out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House this other Journal of the House of Commons had remained very imperfect and unuseful And yet at the end of the aforesaid blank Page or bottom thereof in which the Title of this present Monday the 31 th day of October is inserted there followeth the reading of one Bill which is usually done after the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons do return from the Upper House with their Speaker newly admitted upon their presentment of him which said Bill read at this time upon their return is entred in manner and form following viz. The Bill touching Inrollments the first reading After the reading of this Bill the House did without all question Adjourn it self unto Thursday the third day of November ensuing although there be no mention thereof in this said Journal-Book of the House of Commons which must as all other defects be imputed to the former neglect And yet this Adjournment may be collected not only by a like Adjournment of the Lords unto Friday the 4 th day of November aforesaid and by other Adjournments very frequent in the House of Commons during this first meeting of the present Parliament but also out of the very Entrance of the said Thursday following which is on the very next Page after the Entrance of the before mentioned Bill which is never used to be done if any other days passages should have intervened between And therefore it would not be amiss now once for all to observe the cause and ground why the House of Commons did so often at this first meeting of this Parliament Adjourn it self contrary to the usual practice both of former and latter times which was no other than the handling of that great and unusual business touching the Scotish Queen and leaving or forbearing to treat of other ordinary matters usual in the House For by this means it happened that the Original Letters and other proofs produced against the said Scotish Queen for the discovery of her being guilty of the Teason plotted by Ballard Babington and others being all first laid open and urged before the Lords in the Upper House and not at large discussed in the House of Commons till they had been derived unto them from the said Upper House by several Committees It was the only means and cause that the said House of Commons did for want of matter and imployment so often Adjourn it self Whereas usually at other times the passing of Bills with the matter of Subsidy and publick grievances being first debated in the said House and from them derived to the Lords their Lordships are often necessitated in the beginning of each Parliament for want of like imployment to Adjourn themselves On Thursday the third day of November to which day the Parliament had been on Monday the 31 th day of October foregoing last adjourned M r Speaker shewed unto the House that he received Commandment from my Lord Chancellor from her Majesty to signifie unto them that her Highness was sorry this House was troubled the last sitting thereof with the matter touching the chusing and returning of the Knights for the County of Norfolk a thing in truth impertinent for this House to deal withal and only belonging to the Charge and Office of the Lord Chancellor from whence the Writs for the same Elections issued out and are thither returnable again And also that her Majesty had appointed the said Lord Chancellor to confer therein with the Judges And so thereupon examining the said Returns and the Sheriff touching the matter and circumstances of his proceedings in the said Elections to set down such course for making the true Return as to Justice and Right shall therein appertain Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for Orford-Haven had its first reading and the second being the Bill touching Inrollments had its second reading One of the House offering to speak to this Bill M r Vice-Chamberlain stood up and shewed unto this House that having matter of most great importance to deliver unto this House from her Majesty he was so bold with their good favours for this time to interrupt the Speech intended to the said Bill by the Gentleman that offered to speak to the said Bill and so then shewed that her Majesty thinking that all those of this House which were lately in the higher House when the Lord Chancellor declared the cause of her Highnesses summoning of this Parliament could not hear the same and also that many of the Members of this House now here present were not then come up or returned commanded him to deliver unto
this House the summary cause of her Majesties calling and assembling of this great Council at this time which was he said not to make any more Laws as being many more already than well executed nor yet for any Subsidy albeit if need so required the same were convenient enough to be done but said he to consult for such matters as the like were never erst heard of nor any Parliament called for in former time that can be found or read of And so very excellently plainly and effectually made relation of the horrible and wicked practices and attempts caused and procured by the Queen of Scots so called meerly tending to the ruine and overthrow of the true and sincere Religion established in this Realm the Invasion of Foreign Forces into this Realm Rebellion and Civil Wars and dissension within this Realm yea and withal which his heart quaked and trembled to utter and think on the death and destruction of the most Sacred Person of our most Gracious Soveraign Lady the Queens Majesty to the utter desolation and conquest of this most Noble Realm of England And so discoursing of the matter and great execrable Treacheries and Conspiracies of the said Queen of Scots even from the first to the last in particularities very amply and effectually such of them at the least as have been hitherto discovered shewing also very manifestly and evidently the proofs and all other circumstances of the same Treachery and Conspiracies and so thinketh good for his part that speedy Consultation he had by this House for the cutting of her off by course of Justice for that otherwise our said Soveraign Lady the Queens Majesties most Royal Person cannot be continued with safety concludeth with this Sentence Ne pereat Israel pereat Absolon Which done M r Chancellor of the Exchequer M r Chancellor of the Dutchy and M r Secretary Woolley using each of them severally very effectual Speeches at large touching the said horrible Treasons and Conspiracies caused and procured by the said Queen of Scots the House did then rise the time being far spent with reservation nevertheless by M r Speaker remembred for further Speech therein to be had by others of this House to morrow again and a saving also till some other more convenient time for such of this House as shall please to speak to the said Bill of Inrollments upon the said second reading of the same accordingly Vide 7 th November Monday On Friday the 4 th day of November M r Recorder of London having made Declaration unto this House that divers of the Members of the same do find themselves grieved for that their Servants attending upon them are daily arrested contrary to the ancient Liberties and Priviledges of this House and having further moved also that a like Committee of this House may at this time be appointed as had been the last Parliament for the examining and reporting Cases of Priviledge It was resolved and agreed by the House that the same shall be exercised and done accordingly And for the performance thereof the said M r Recorder Sir Henry Gate M r Robert Wroth and M r William Fleetwood were appointed by the Authority of the House Upon the Motion of M r Speaker putting the House in remembrance of continuing and further prosecuting of the great Cause they dealt in yesterday divers Speeches were made to that effect by Sir James Croft Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold Sir Francis Knowles Treasurer of the same Sir William Herbert Sir Thomas Scot M r Francis Bacon M r Alford M r Throgmorton M r Barker M r Dalton M r Biynbrigg and M r Sollicitor by all which it was concluded That considering the late horrible Treasons and Practices conspired against the Life of the Queens Majesty and also for the procuring of Foreign Invasion in respect of the Attempt and also for endeavouring to raise Rebellion within the Realm for and by Mary late Queen of Scots therefore of necessity present remedy and provision must be had for preventing the like attempts and practices hereafter which could never be unless the said Scottish Queen did presently suffer the due Execution of Justice according to her deserts And then upon the further Motion of the said M r Sollicitor for a Committee of this House to be had to confer of some convenient and fit course to be taken by Petition and Suit to her Majesty in that behalf with request also unto the Lords to joyn therein with this House to her Highness if it please them thereupon this Committee following was nominated and appointed in that behalf accordingly viz. all the Privy Council of the House Sir William Herbert Sir Thomas Scot Sir Henry Gate Sir William Moore Sir Thomas Manners Sir Thomas Fairfax Sir Robert Jermin Sir John Petre Sir Henry Cock Sir Henry Cobham Sir Henry Knyvet Sir John Higham Sir Thomas Stanhope M r Fortescue Master of the Wardrobe M r Randal M r Osborne M r George Moore M r Cromwell M r Beale M r Wroth M r Burlace M r George Carie M r Doctor Stanhopp M r Dale Master of Requests M r Francis Hastings M r Sollicitor M r Attorney of the Wards M r Serjeant Snagg M r Morrice M r Sandes M r Dalton M r Bacon M r Alford M r Barker M r Bainbrigge M r Throckmorton M r Corbett M r Palmes M r Pate M r Skinner M r Amersam M r Edward Lukenor M r Thynne and M r Hellyard Recorder of York who were all of them appointed by the House to meet in the Exchequer Chamber at two of the Clock this Afternoon On Saturday the 5 th day of November M r George Moore entring into some discourse touching the great Cause concludeth after sundry great and weighty reasons first shewed that only Popery is the chief and principal root of all the late horrible and wicked treacheries and practices and the Queen of Scots a principal branch issuing from the same root and the most perillous and full of poyson of all the other branches thereof for that the Papists in very deed for the most part not knowing the Person of the said Queen of Scots do wish the Establishing of her in the Crown of this Realm rather in respect of Popery which she would set up than for any affection they bear to her Person and so likewise for the most part all of them either wish or could easily bear the death of our Soveraign Lady the Queens Majesty though perhaps they would not shew themselves to be Actors or Dealers therein He therefore moveth that it may be joyned in the Petition for the great Cause that her Majesty may be moved to retain no Servants about her Highnesses Person but such only as may be well known both to profess the true and sincere Religion and also to be every way true and faithful Subjects And further that the Laws already in force against Papists may be put in due Execution Which Speeches being ended M r Speaker shewed that the
Mr. Recorder of London making a large and plentiful discourse of the ancient priviledges and liberties of this House furnished with recital of sundry Precedents and examples and lastly coming down to the matter in hand sheweth that Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Commons Pleas told him this morning that the said Lord Chancellor and the Judges had resolved that the said first Writ ought to be returned and had so given order to the Sheriff and Clerk of the Crown And that he thereupon answered the said Sir Edmund Anderson again that the censure thereof belonged unto this House and not unto them and that he for his part would take no notice thereof at their hands of their so doing but only by way of instructions and not otherwise And so concluded with the allowance of the good course and order of this House in setting down and entring the said Judgement accordingly as before Mr. Vice-Chamberlain shewed unto the House that according to their appointment he hath been an humble suitor unto her Majesty on the behalf of this House for access there to be had unto her Highness to exhibit their Petition unto her Majesty And that her Majesty thereupon hath very Graciously granted to hear them at the Court upon to morrow next between one and two of the Clock in the Afternoon signifying also unto them further that her Majesty having heard that the Lords do appoint them twenty of themselves of the Higher House to attend her Majesty also for the same purpose so her Highness thinketh meet that forty of this House were likewise appointed for this House which She thinketh to be a sufficient number but is nevertheless well pleased if the House shall think good to send a more or greater Number at their discretions but leaveth the same to their own considerations Which her Majesties most Gracious Favour as the whole House did take it in most joyful and dutiful part So did they then desire the said Mr. Vice-Chamberlain that he would in the name of this whole House present unto her Majesty their most humble and dutiful thanks for the same her Highnesses most gracious clemency and great loving kindness towards them Which so to do the said Mr. Vice-Chamberlain told them he purposed God willing in the Afternoon of this present day And these were appointed by this House to attend upon her Majesty to morrow at the Court as many of the former Committees as would whose names see at large on Friday the 4 th day of this instant November foregoing and also Sir Henry Barkeley Sir William Mohun Sir Edward Dymocke Sir Thomas Jones Sir Henry Bagnell Sir Andrew Nevill Sir Henry Knyvet Mr. Farmer Sir Edward Osborne Mr. Henry Bromley Mr. Ralph Horsey Mr. James Croft and Mr. Tasborough then added unto them which done upon a Motion that for as much as the Knights for the County of Norsolk and the Burgesses for all the Boroughs within the same County saving only the Citizens for the City of Norwich were returned and certified into this House this present day and not before the Petition might therefore be read again in this House in the presence of the same Knights and Burgesses to the intent that they being made privy thereof might also yield their Assents to the same Petition whereby the rather the same being for a matter of so great moment might in very deed be the Action of the whole House then being possessed and consisting of all the Members thereof the same Petition was read by the Clerk and well liked of agreed unto and allowed by the voices of the said Knights and Burgesses upon the question thereof unto them made in that behalf by Mr. Speaker And afterwards Mr. Vice-Chamberlain made a motion that Mr. Speaker be put in remembrance by this House besides the residue of his reasons to be shewed to her Majesty for maintenance of the parts of the said Petition to urge if need be to her Majesty the matter and necessity of the late Instruments of Association respecting especially the Consciences of a great number of her Highnesses good and Loyal subjects which cannot be dispensed with by Laws whereupon request was so made by the House to Mr. Speaker accordingly Mr. Treasurer shewed that yesterday he and others of the Committees in the great Cause presented unto the Lords in the Upper House the Request of this House unto their Lordships to have the said Petition entred and recorded in the Upper House there to remain as an Act. Whereunto their Lordships assented and willed that the same might first be ingrossed in Parchment and so delivered to their Lordships this present Forenoon shewing further That the Clerk of this House then had the same already ingrossed and exact accordingly but that the same could not that day be sent to their Lordships for that their Lordships did not sit this Forenoon and therefore he said it must be delivered at some other time And so then the House did rise and this Court was adjourned till Monday next following Memorandum That in the Afternoon of this present day the said Petition ingrossed was delivered into the hands of the Lord Chancellor by the Appointment of Mr. Speaker and so lest with his Lordship On Saturday the 12 th day of November although the House of Commons sate not any part of the day in their proper place yet in the Afternoon according to her Majesties direction sent unto the House yesterday by Sir Christopher Hatton her Vice-Chamberlain John Puckering Serjeant at Law their Speaker with all the Privy Council and divers other Members of the said House whose Names see before on Friday the 4 th day and on Friday the 11 th day of this instant November last past repaired to her Majesty unto the Court there to joyn with Sir Thomas Bromiey Lord Chancellor and twenty Temporal Lords of the Upper House in presenting a certain Petition which had been agreed upon by both Houses unto her Highness for the speedy Execution of Mary late Queen of Scots according to that just Sentence which had been pronounced against her And to move her Majesty thereunto the said Speaker of the House of Commons did use many excellent and solid reasons which were all found in a certain Memorial written with his own hand being as followeth Unless Execution of this just Sentence be done 1. Your Majesties Person cannot any while be safe 2. The Religion cannot long continue amongst us 3. The most flourishing present State of this Realm must shortly receive a woful Fall 4. And consequently in sparing her your Majesty shall not only give courage and hardiness to the Enemies of God of your Majesties self and of your Kingdom but shall discomfort and daunt with despair the hearts of your loving People and so deservedly provoke the heavy hand and wrath of God And that summarily for the reasons ensuing First forasmuch as concerns the danger of your Majesty Both she and her Favourers think
beseech you c. that speedy Justice be done upon her whereby your self may be safe the state of your Realm preserved and we not only delivered from this trouble of conscience but also re-comforted to endeavour our selves and all ours into whatsover other peril for the preservation and safety of you Lastly Gods vengeance against Saul for sparing Agag against Ahab for sparing the life of Benhadad is apparent for they were both by the just Judgment of God deprived of their Kingdoms for sparing those wicked Princes whom God had delivered into their hands of purpose to be slain to death by them as by the Ministers of his eternal and divine Justice How much those Magistrates were commended that put to death those mischievous and wicked Queens Jezebel and Athaliah How wisely proceeded Solomon to punishment in putting to death his own natural and elder Brother Adonias for the only intention of a marriage which gave suspicion of Treason whereas there is no more desired of your Majesty than the very Pope now your sworn Enemy some of these late Conspirators and this wicked Lady her self have thought fit to fall on her He in like case gave sentence vita Conradini mors Carolo Mors Conradini vita Carolo. They in their best minds and remorse of Conscience setting down the best means of your safety said He that hath no Arms cannot fight and he that hath no Legs cannot run away but he that hath no head can do no harm Pisces primùm à Capite foetent She by her voluntary subscribing to the late Association c. gave this sentence against her self And after in her Letters of these Treasons to Babington wrote that if she were discovered it would give sufficient cause to you to keep her in continual close Prison By which words she could mean nothing else but pains of death Therefore we seeing on the one side how you have to the offence of mighty Princes advanced Religion with what tender care and more than motherly Piety you have always cherished us the Children of this Land with what Honour and Renown you have restored the ancient Rights of the Crown with what Peace and Justice you have governed and with what store and plenty you have raigned over us On the other side seeing that this Enemy of our Felicity seeks to undermine the Religion c. to supplant us and plant Strangers in the place to transfer the Rights of the Crown to that Italian Priest and the Crown to her self or some other from you and therefore lyeth in continual wait to take your life c. Therefore we pray you c. for the Cause of God his Church this Realm our selves and your self That you will no longer be careless of your life our Soveraign safety nor longer suffer Religion to be threatned the Realm to stand in danger nor us to dwell in fear but as Justice hath given rightful Sentence c. so you will grant Execution That as her life threatneth your death so her death may by Gods favour prolong your life and that this evil being taken away from the Earth we may praise God for our deliverance and pray him for our continuance And with the Psalmist say Dominus fecit Judicium and the ungodly is trapped in the works of her own hand And so pray God to incline her heart to our just desires c. Which short Note seemeth to be thus impersectly set down by the said Speaker only to put him in mind to end and shut up his Speech with some short Prayer to the said purpose Nota That all the several passages of this Saturday are supplied out of a very authentick Copy which I had containing the said reasons delivered by the said Speaker and partly out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House being wholly omitted in that of the House of Commons as is also her Majesties Answer which because it is printed at large by Mr. Cambden in Annal. Regin Eliz. edit Lugd. Batav Anno Dom. 1625. pag. 466 467 468. and elsewhere it would be needless to insert it here or any part thereof and the rather because some heads thereof are shortly remembred on Monday next following On Monday the 14 th day of November Mr. Speaker made report to the House of his Message done from this House to her Majesty which see on Saturday last foregoing and also of her Majesties most grateful acceptation of the same and of her Highnesses Answer thereunto but what her Majesties said Answer was is wholly omitted in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons although Mr. Fulk Onslow at this time Clerk thereof had left the entire 187. leaf of the said Journal a blank for the entring or inserting of it Yet it will not be amiss although the said Answer be extant in print as is abovesaid briefly to touch the heads thereof Which were her Majesties thankful acknowledgment for her many miraculous preservations that she was most grieved that so near a Kinswoman as the Queen of Scots had conspired to take away her life That the Law lately made which seemeth to have been that for the preservation of her Majesties person passed the last Parliament was not enacted to intrap the said Queen as some had pretended but only to deter her from such wicked practices That her Tryal had been just and honourable And lastly that she thanked them for their care of her safety and desired them a while to expect her further and final Answer Mr. Vice-Chamberlain affirming the Report of Mr. Speaker to be very true in all the parts of the same and well and faithfully delivered by him to this House and very much also commending his delivery of the Message of this House to her Majesty upon Saturday last at the Court in such dutiful and due sort as all this whole House had he said very good cause to yield him very hearty thanks for the same and therefore required them so to do which they so then did in very loving and courteous sort And he further shewed That he had something more to add to the said Speech reported by Mr. Speaker not of any thing delivered unto him upon Saturday by her Majesty but of something then omitted and forgotten by her Majesty albeit both before purposed by her Highness and then and yet still intended to be signified unto this House and which he himself that morning was commanded by her Majesty to signifie unto them which was That her Highness moved with some commiseration towards the Scottish Queen in respect of her former Dignity and great Fortunes in her younger years her nearness of Kindred to her Majesty and also of her Sex could be pleased to forbear the taking of her Blood if by any other means to be devised by her Highnesses great Council of this Realm the safety of her Majesties own Person and of the State might be preserved and continued without peril or danger of ruine and destruction and else not
of the same Parliaments for certain causes the House then moving disabled for ever afterwards to be any Member of this House at all hath of late brought a Writ against the Inhabitants of the said Borough for his wages amongst other times in attendance at the late Session of Parliament holden at Westminster in the 27 th year of her Highnesses Raign during which time as also a great part of some other of the said former Parliaments he did not serve in the said House but was for some causes as aforesaid disabled to be any Member of this House and was also then committed Prisoner to the Tower of London And so prayeth the advice and order of this Honourable House therein unto the censure and order whereof the said Inhabitants do in most humble and dutiful wise submit themselves And so shewed the said Writ which was then read by the Clerk After the reading whereof and some speeches had touching the former proceedings in this House against the said M r Hall as well in disabling him to be any more a Member of this House as also touching his said imprisonment the matter was referred to further consideration after search of the Precedents and Entries of this House heretofore had and made in the course of the said cause Vide diem Veneries 2 um diem Decembris diem Mercurii 22 um diem Martii postea M r Treasurer shewed that the Committees in the Cause for Conference to be had touching the answer to be made by this House to the Message lately delivered from her Majesty did meet according to the Commission of this House and after long and much debating and many great arguments it appeared very evidently by most strong reason that no other way whatsoever can be taken for the safety and continuance of true Religion of her Majesties most Royal Person and of the peaceable Estate of this Realm but only by Justice to be done upon the Queen of Scots according to her demerits Which Justice as her Majesty ought of duty to cause to be done so they resolved utterly to insist upon the prosecution of the former Petition unto her Highness as the one only way and none other to be performed in the said Cause And so left to some other of the said Committees the more particular discourses of their said Conferences Whereupon M r Vice-Chamberlain very excellently plainly and aptly shewed the manner of their Treaty in the said Conference and of the Reasons therein both brought and confuted touching any manner of possible or conjectural course of the said safety other than only by the death of the said Queen of Scots as neither by likelihood of reformation in her Person hope of strait guarding or keeping of her or of any caution of hostages to be taken for her reciting and applying most apt and invincible reasons in the several proofs thereof and so concluding his own opinion also only to be such and none other wished that if any member of the House could concèive or shew any other course or device tending to the purport of the said Message than hath been erst now remembred or in the said Committee offered he would shew the same And if not that then M r Speaker would move the question for the consent of the whole House to the continuance of prosecuting that said Petition together with the said Committees Whereupon after some little pause and none offering any speech to other end M r Speaker moving the question to the House it was resolved by the whole House to insist only upon the said Petition accordingly And also after sundry other speeches had tending all to the same resolution and some of them urging the remembrance purpose and present consideration of the former Association it was ordered that to morrow when the Lords do sit in the Upper House the former Committees of this House M r Robert Cecill being now added unto them do repair unto their Lordships for Conference with their Lordships touching the said resolution of this House in answer to her Majesties said Message And also with request to their Lordships to give Licence unto this House to join with their Lordships in the said Answer to her Majesty if it so please them M r Comptroller shewing his full assent and good liking of the said conclusion touching the prosecution of the said Petition only and of none other course at all as well in his former delivery thereof upon treaty of the said cause as now at this present declared further That he thinketh himself to have been in some of his late former speeches in that matter mistaken and misconceived by some of this House rather of ignorance in them he thinketh than of any evil disposition and purpose and so affirming earnest and devout prayer to God to incline her Majesties heart to the Petition of this House as a thing much importing he moveth that some apt and special course of prayer to that end might be devised and set down by some of this House and be not only exercised here in thus House every day but also by all the members of this House elsewhere abroad and also privately in their Chambers and Lodgings M r Treasurer liking well the motion and good meaning of M r Comptroller touching Prayer to be exercised as before shewed that fit Prayers for that purpose and extant in print are already used in this House and so may also be by the Members of the same privately by themselves and doth willingly wish the same might be so executed accordingly Sir John Higham assenting very readily to the continuation of pursuing the said Petition urged further very zealously and earnestly the burthen of the Oath of Association and so thereby amongst other things of great and necessary consideration and importance prayeth her Majesty may be solicited to the speedy execution of Justice upon the person of the Queen of Scots Mr. Recorder bending many Speeches and reciting many Precedents of Petitions in former times granted by sundry of her Majesties most noble Progenitors Kings of England to the subjects of this Realm at the humble Suits and Petitions of the Speaker and Commons of the Lower House which the Lords of the Upper House in those days could not obtain at their hands doth not only perswade very earnestly the said insisting of this House upon the said Petition but also undoubted assuredness of her Majesties granting and performing of the same as a thing answerable both unto her Highness most merciful loving and tender care over her good Subjects as also to the very necessity of the case Mr. Cope moved that Mr. Speaker might put it to the Question for the resolution of this House touching the prosecution of the said Petition with all good and fit speed Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer putting the House in remembrance of their resolution therein given already even now at this very instant Court upon the Question then propounded by Mr. Speaker moved the going forward
glory of God and our true and loyal service to our Prince and State For I am fully perswaded that God cannot be honoured neither our NoblePrince or Commonweal preserved or maintained without free speech and consultation of this Honourable Council both which consist upon the liberties of this Honourable Council and the knowledge of them also So here are the questions M r Speaker I humbly and heartily beseech you to give them reading and God grant us true and faithful hearts in answering of them for the true faithful and hearty service of our merciful God our lawful Prince and this whole and worthy Realm of England will much consist hereafter upon the answer unto these Questions Wherefore it behoveth us to use wise grave and godly considerations in answering of them Therefore the Lord direct our tongues that we may answer them even with his spirit the spirit of wisdom without the which our wisdom is nothing else but foolishness The Questions follow Whether this Council be not a place for any Member of the same here assembled freely and without controllment of any person or danger of Laws by Bill or speech to utter any of the griefs of this Commonwealth whatsoever touching the service of God the safety of the Prince and this Noble Realm Whether that great honour may be done unto God and benefit and service unto the Prince and State without free speech in this Council which may be done with it Whether there be any Council which can make add to or diminish from the Laws of the Realm but only this Council of Parliament Whether it be not against the Orders of this Council to make any secret or matter of weight which is here in hand known to the Prince or any other concerning the high service of God Prince or State without the consent of the House Whether the Speaker or any other may interrupt any Member of this Council in his Speech used in this House tending to any of the forenamed high services Whether the Speaker may rise when he will any matter being propounded without consent of the House or not Whether the Speaker may over-rule the House in any matter or cause there in question or whether he is to be ruled or over-ruled in any matter or not Whether the Prince and State can continue stand and be maintained without this Council of Parliament not altering the Government of the State At the end lastly of the said Speech and Questions is set down this short Note or Memorial ensuing By which it may be perceived both what Serjeant Puckering the Speaker did with the said questions after he had received them and what became also of this business viz. These questions M r Puckering pocketted up and shewed Sir Thomas Heneage who so handled the matter that M r Wentworth went to the Tower and the questions not at all moved M r Buckler of Essex herein brake his faith in forsaking the matter c. and no more was done After the setting down of the said Business of M r Wentworth in the Original Journal-Book there followeth only this short Conclusion of the business of the day it self viz. This day M r Speaker being sent for to the Queens Majesty the House departed On Thursday the 2 d day of March M r Cope M r Lewkenor M r Hurlston and M r Bainbrigg were sent for to my Lord Chancellor and by divers of the privy Council and from thence were sent to the Tower Vid. Febr. 27. antea The Bill for explanation of the Law touching Fines and Recoveries levied before the Justices of the Common Pleas whereunto they or any of them be parties was read the third time and passed upon the Question It is ordered That all the Committees appointed before to meet about the Bill for the delay of execution of Justice shall meet about the same to morrow in the Forenoon above in the Room of this House in the time of the reading of the Subsidy See these Committees names on Munday the 27 th day of February foregoing Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for continuance of Statutes was read the first time The Bill last past touching Fines and Recoveries c. was sent up to the Lords by M r Treasurer and others A Proviso offered by M r Recorder of London to be inserted in the Subsidy for saving the liberties of the Officers of the Mint had its first reading On Friday the third day of March four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill against the abuses of Purveyors was read the second time and committed unto all the Privy Council of this House Sir John Cutts Sir William Moore Sir Thomas Scott and others and the Bill was delivered to M r Chancellor who with the rest was appointed to meet to Morrow in the Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Exchequer Chamber On Saturday the 4 th day of March Sir John Higham made a motion to this House for that diverse good and necessary Members thereof were taken from them that it would please them to be humble Petitioners to her Majesty for the restitution of them again to the House To which Speeches M r Vice-Chamberlain answered That if the Gentlemen were committed for matter within the compass of the priviledge of this House then there might be a Petition but if not then we should give occasion of her Majesties farther displeasure and therefore advised to stay until they heard more which could not be long and further he said touching the Book and the Petition her Majesty had for diverse good causes best known to her self thought fit to suppress the same without any further examination thereof and yet conceived it very unfit for her Majesty to give any account of her doings This Book and Petition touching the Ecclesiastical Government and for reformation of matters in the Church were delivered to the Clerk of the Parliament or the Speaker by M r Cope on Munday the 27 th day of February foregoing who with M r Lewkenor M r Hurlston and M r Bainbridgg spake in the commendation of them and desired they might be read Whereupon the said M r Cope with the other three were on Thursday the second day of this instant March foregoing sent unto the Tower and for the setting them at liberty it was that Sir John Higham made the motion foregoing which M r Vice-Chamberlain did answer with this supposition only that they might perhaps be committed for somewhat that concerned not the business or priviledge of the House But whatsoever he pretended it is most probable they were committed for intermedling with matters touching the Church which her Majesty had so often inhibited and which had caused so much disputation and so many meetings between the two Houses the last Parliament in Anno 27 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1584. vide 13 Mar. sequentem A motion
the 7th day of this instant March foregoing The Bill for Fish brought into this House again by the Committees was twice read and committed unto Mr. Serjeant Snagg Mr. Morrice Mr. Attorney of the Dutchy Mr. Recorder and others who were appointed to meet this Afternoon in Serjeants-Inn in Chancery-lane at two of the Clock Here it seemeth Mr. William Onslow who by the Licence of the House supplied the place of Mr. Fulk Onslow his Kinsman Clerk of the same at this meeting is much mistaken in setting down this Commitment for the Bill it self was formerly twice read and according to the usual course committed upon the second reading to Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Sandes and others on Monday the 7th day of March and therefore doubtless this was either a new Bill brought in by the said Committees or else some new Additions and Amendments inserted into the old Bill which had this day their first and second reading and thereupon again committed unto some of the old Committees and others Vide plus die sequente Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for the payment of Sir Gerrard Croker Knight his Debts was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Alford Sir Thomas Browne Mr. Thomas Harris Mr. John Ingleseild and others On Friday the 10 th day of March the Bill for Estretford was read the second time and committed unto Mr. Markham Mr. Topclyffe Mr. Savil and others who were appointed to meet to Morrow in the Afternoon in the Middle Temple Hall Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for stealing of Horses and other Cattel and Beasts was upon the second reading Committed unto Sir William Moore Mr. Sands Mr. Wroth and others who were appointed to meet to Morrow in the Committee Chamber The Bill for bringing in of Fish was brought in again by the Committees by which it is most probable that there was a new Bill brought in yesterday which was twice read at one and the same time and then committed The Bill for Sir Gerrard Crokers payment of his Debts was brought in again by the Committees and amended On Saturday the 11 th day of March the Bill against fraudulent Conveyances by Fugitives was read the first time The Bill for the payment of Sir Gerrard Crokers Debts was brought in again by the Committees and committed to be ingrossed Three Bills being passed the House were sent up to the Lords whereof the two last were the Bill for the great abuses of Purveyors and the Bill for the confirmation of the Attainders of the late Lord Pagett and others A Motion being made by Mr. Treasurer for the matter of benevolence for the charges to be supplied in the Low Countries whether that this House should only deal in it without the Lords or else that they should make the Lords privy to it and join with them It was thought good by the House to join with the Lords in the same cause and commit it unto these persons viz. all the Privy Council of this House Sir Thomas Browne Mr. Sollicitor Sir Robert Jermin Sir John Heigham Master of the Requests Mr. Francis Hastings Mr. Sands Mr. Topclyffe and others Vide diem Saturn 18. diem Mar. This day a new Bill was brought in again for the payment of Edward Fishers Debts by the Committees and therefore the new was twice read and committed to be ingrossed Nota That a Bill to this purpose was in great agitation the last Parliament de anno 27 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1584. The Bill for confirmation of Letters Patents was upon the second reading committed unto all the Privy Council of this House Mr. Sands Mr. Sollicitor and others and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Vice-Chamberlain This day the Committees made report of the priviledge of Mr. Martin a Member of this House Arrested upon mean Process by White above twenty days before the beginning of this Parliament holden by Prorogation mistaken for Adjournment and in respect that the House was divided about it in opinion Mr. Speaker with the consent of the House the sooner to grow to some certainty of the Judgment of the House in this cause moved these questions to the House viz. First Whether they would limit a time certain or a reasonable time to any Member of the House for his priviledge The House Answered a convenient time Secondly Whether Mr. Martin was Arrested within this reasonable time The House Answered yea Thirdly If White should be punished for arresting Martin The House Answered no because the arrest was twenty days before the beginning of the Parliament and unknown to him that would be taken for reasonable time But the principal cause why Martin had his priviledge was for that White the last Session mistaken for Meeting of Parliament arrested Mr. Martin and then knowing him to be returned a Burgess for this House discharged his Arrest And then afterwards Mr. Martin again returning out of his Country to London to serve in this House Mr. White did again arrest him and therefore this House took in evil part against him his second Arrest and thereupon judged that Martin should be discharged of his second Arrest out of the Fleet by the said Mr. White Vide Febr. 27 Monday The Bill to avoid fraudulent assurances made in certain Cases by Traytors was sent down from the Lords to the House of Commons by Dr. Ford and Serjeant Gawdie Nota That this Bill is not mentioned to have been sent down from the Lords to the House of Commons which as it should seem happened through the negligence of Mr. William Onslow who at this time supply'd the place of the Clerk of the said House And therefore it is supplied out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House On Monday the 13 th day of March Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill against fraudulent Conveyances by Fugitives was read the second time and committed unto Mr. Sollicitor Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Sands and others and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Hughes of Grayes-Inn who with the rest was appointed to meet at Lincolns-Inn this Afternoon The Bill for Fish was brought in by the Committees and Ordered to be ingrosted Vide concerning this Bill on Thursday the 9 th day and on Friday the 10 th day of this instant March foregoing The Bills against delay of Execution by suing Writs of Error was read the second time upon the new bringing in of it by the Committees and upon the question was ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for payment of Edward Fishers debts was read the third time and passed upon the Question A Motion was made by Mr. Cromwell to have some conference with the Privy Council of this House and some others of the same concerning those Gentlemen Members of this House lately committed to the Tower Whereupon these were appointed viz. all the Privy Council
day of November in the first meeting of this present Parliament on the behalf of the Borough of Grantham in the Country of Lincoln against Arthur Hall Gentleman that the said Arthur Hall had Commenced Suits against them for Wages by him demanded of the said Borough as one of the Burgesses of the Parliament in the Sessions of Parliament holden the thirteenth fourteenth eighteenth and twenty third years of the Reign of our Soveraign Lady the Queens Majesty wherein it was alledged that the said Borough ought not to be charged as well in respect of the negligent attendance of the said Mr. Hall at the said Sessions of Parliament and some other offences by him committed at some of the said Sessions as also in respect that he had made promise not to require any such Wages the Examination of the said cause on the second day of December in the last Session mistaken for Meeting of this Parliament by Order of this House was committed unto Sir Ralph Sadler Knight Chancellor of the Dutchy Sir Walter Mildmay Knight Chancellor of the Exchequer Thomas Cromwell Robert Markham and Robert Wroth Esquires This day report was made by the said Committees that not having time during the last Session of Parliament mistaken for Meeting to examine the circumstances of the cause they had in the mean Season by their Letters advertised my Lord Chancellor that the said cause was committed unto them and humbly requested his Lordship to stay the issuing forth of any further Process against the said Borough until this Session of Parliament mistaken for Meeting which accordingly his Lordship had very honourably performed And the said Committees did further declare that having during this Session of Parliament mistaken for Meeting sent for Mr. Hall declared unto him the effect of the complaint against him they had desired him to remit the said wages which he had demanded of the said Borough whom they found very conformable to condescend to such their request and that the said Mr. Hall then affirmed unto them that if the said Citizens of the said Borough would have made suit unto him he would upon such their own Suit then remitted the same so was he very willing to do any thing which might be grateful to this House and did freely and frankly remit the same which being well liked of by this House it was by them this day Ordered that the same should be entred accordingly On Thursday the 23 th day of March the Bill for the Queens Majesties most gracious general and free Pardon was sent down from the Lords by Serjeant Gawdie and Doctor Carew which having passed the House was sent back again this Morning unto their Lordships with another Bill which was for the continuance and perfecting of divers Statutes This day finally the Speaker with the rest of the House of Commons being sent for into the Upper House and thereupon repairing thither two Commissions under the Great Seal were read by the first of which her Majesty being absent gave her Royal Assent to ten several Acts or Statutes which passed at this time and by the other this Parliament was dissolved Nota That all this days Passages are supplied out of the Upper House Journal THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS An Exact and perfect Journal of the Passages of the House of Lords in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 31 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1588. which began there after one Prorogation of the same on Tuesday the 4 th Day of February and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Saturday the 29 th Day of March Anno Domini 1589. THE Queens Majesty soon after that her wonderful and glorious Victory which God Almighty had given her Navy over that vainly stiled Invincible Armado sent against her Realm of England by the Spanish King summoned this her High Court of Parliament to begin on Tuesday the 12 th day of November that present year 1588. and the 30 th year of her Reign that so by common Advice and Counsel she might prepare and provide against the inbred malice of that Prince and Nation Sir Christopher Hatton Knight her Majesties late Vice-Chamberlain being made Lord Chancellor in the room and stead of Sir Thomas Bromley Knight who having been sick a great part of the last Parliament dyed in April following Anno 29 Regin Eliz. Anno Domini 1587. But other occasions of some importance requiring the deferring of the said Assembly her Majesty Prorogued the same in manner and form following Memorandum That whereas the Queens Majesty by her Writ summoned her Parliament to begin and to be holden at Westminster this present Tuesday being the 12 th day of November her Highness for certain great and weighty Causes and Considerations her Majesty specially moving by the advice of her Privy Council and of her Justices of both her Benches and other of her Council learned did Prorogue and adjourn the said Parliament until the 4 th day of February next by virtue of her Writ Patent sealed with the Great Seal and bearing date the 15 th day of October last past Whereupon at this said 12 th day of November the Archbishop of Canterbury Sir Christopher Hatton Lord Chancellor William Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer the Earl of Huntingdon the Bishop of London and three other Barons repaired to the Parliament-Chamber commonly called the Upper House and there in the presence of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses summoned to the said Parliament declared That her Highness for divers good causes and considerations her specially moving by her Highnesses said Writ had Prorogued the said Parliament from this said first summoned day until the 4 th day of February next Whereupon the Writ for the said Prorogation in the presence of all that Assembly was openly read by the Clerk of the Upper House in haec verba ELizabetha Dei gratiâ Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Regina fidei Defensor c. Praedilectis fidelibus nostris Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus Regni nostri Angliae ac dilectis fidelibus nostris Militibus Civibus Burgensibus dicti Regni nostri ad praesens Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westmonasterii 12 die Novembris proximè futuro inchoand ' tenend ' convocatis electis vestrum cuilibet Salutem Cùm nos pro quibusdam ardnis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem dicti Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus dictum Parliamentum nostrum ad diem locum praedictos teneri ordinaverimus ac vobis per separalia Brevia nostra apud Civitatem diem praedictum interesse mandaverimus ad tractand consentiend concludend ' super hiis quae in dicto Parliamento nostro tunc ibidem proponerentur tractarentur Quibusdam tamen certis de causis considerationibus nos ad hoc specialiter moventibus dictum Parliamentum nostrum nsque ad in quartum diem Februarii prox ' futurum duximus
Government so also to demonstrate the great Malice and Cruelty of the King of Spain backed and assisted by so many Potent Allies and that therefore it would be most necessary that some timely consultation be had for speedy preparation to be made whereby to resist all his future attempts And that lastly he did thereupon move the House to think of some supply to be given to her Majesty both in respect of her late great Charges and also for the better enabling her to provide for the future safety of her Highness Dominions And that the latter part of the foresaid Speech of Sir Walter Mildmay Chancellor of the Exchequer was touching some Aid to be given to her Majesty it is most probable in respect that the next business which is set down to have followed at the end of his said Speech is the appointing of these Committees following to consider of a Bill of Subsidy to be framed for her Majesties Aid viz. All the Privy Council being of the House the first Knight returned for every Shire and in the absence of the first the second M r Cromwell Sir Edward Dyer M r Morrice M r Beal M r Ancon Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Skinner Mr. Doctor Lewin Mr. William James Mr. Fairfax Mr. Thomas Liefield Mr. Arthur Throckmorton Mr. Fleming Mr. Thomas Hamman Mr. Robinson Mr. Michaell Sands Mr. Rugg Mr. Tasborough Mr. George Moor Mr. Richard Brown Mr. York Mr. Walter Jones Mr. Cope Mr. Alford Mr. Grimston Mr. Finns Mr. Bacon Sir Henry Gray Mr. Owtred Mr. Aldersey Mr. Hutton Mr. Humphrey Conisbie Mr. Robert Sackvile Mr. John Stubbs Mr. William Brunker Mr. Tanfield Mr. Fanshaw Mr. Vivian Mr. Davers Mr. Sands and Mr. Weeks who were appointed to meet this Afternoon at three of the Clock in the Exchequer Chamber Vide Febr. 17. The Committees touching Informers whose names see on Saturday the 8 th day of this instant February foregoing are deferred to Friday next in the Afternoon which had been appointed on the foresaid Saturday to have met this Afternoon M r Speaker moved the House in the behalf of M r Fulk Onslow the Clerk of the same that having of late been long sick and yet somewhat recovered albeit but weak still and sickly and enjoying his Office by Letters Patents of the Grant of her Majesty to exercise the same by himself and his sufficient Deputy or Deputies it might please this House in his absence if he shall happen in regard of his health and necessary ease sometimes to withdraw himself from the exercise of his Office in this House in his own person to accept therein the attendance and service of such of his own Clerks or Servants as before his intermedling therein within this House shall first have taken the Oath usually ministred unto all the Members of this House And thereupon it was so granted and assented unto by this whole House accordingly On Wednesday the 12 th day of February Two Bills of no great moment had each of them their first reading of which the first was the Bill touching Orford-Haven in the County of Suffolk Upon a Motion made unto this House by M r Puleston Esquire returned into this House Knight for the County of Flynt that William Aylmer Esquire did since the beginning of this Session of Parliament cause a Subpoena to be served upon him out of the Court of Star-Chamber to the prejudice of the Liberties and Priviledge of this House to Answer unto a Bill there containing almost forty sheets of paper and so praying the Order of this House offereth forth a Precedent of this House under the hand of the Clerk of this House heretofore in a like Case between one M r Alban Stepneth a Member of this House and M r Anthony Kirle Gent. which said Case was discussed in the Parliament de Anno 27 Reginae Eliz. on Wednesday the 10 th day and on Thursday the 11 th day of February which Precedent being read by the Clerk it was after some Speeches resolved that the said M r Aylmer should be called into this House by the Serjeant to Answer the said matter Whereupon the said Mr. Aylmer being brought to the Bar M r Speaker in the name of this House charged him with the said contempt and required his Answer thereunto who in all reverent and humble sort shewed that the said Bill whereupon the said Subpoena was awarded did concern a wrong not only unto her Majesty but also unto this honourable House in an indirect course of proceeding in the Election of the Knights for the County of Denbigh into this present Parliament procured by the said M r Puleston and so intimating that the said Bill and serving of the said Subpoena did tend to the maintenance he well hoped of the Liberties and Priviledges of this House he was sequestred the House and the said Mr. Puleston likewise and then after some further Speeches had it was partly withal for the good opinion that many Members of this House did conceive of the said Mr. Aylmer being oftntimes heretofore a Member of this House and an honest and grave Gentleman resolved that the said Cause with the circumstances thereof comprehended in the said Bill should be considered of by some Committees of this House and so afterwards report to be made of the same accordingly And that the said Mr. Aylmer should then give his attendance upon the said Committees and presently withal be left to his own liberty free from any Custody or restraint of the Serjeant of this House and shall also be charged by M r Speaker in the name of this whole House to surcease his said Suit and proceeding against the said Mr. Puleston in the mean time And thereupon Mr. Vice-chamberlain Mr. Recorder of London Sir William Moor Sir Edward Hobby Mr. Cromwell Sir Edward Dymock Mr. Wroth Mr. Francis Bacon Mr. Grymston Mr. Conisby Mr. Morgan Mr. Morrice Mr. Cook and Mr. Harris were nominated for that purpose and appointed to meet upon Saturday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon And then the said Mr. Aylmer being brought in again to the Bar Mr. Speaker signifyed unto him the said Order of this House in that behalf discharging him from the Custody of the said Serjeant and requiring him to give his attendance upon the said Committees at the said time and place accordingly and also to forbear any further to proceed in the mean time against the said Mr. Puleston Whereunto he willingly assented Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill to avoid the abuses grown in forestalling regrating and ingrossing was read the second time and after many Speeches and Arguments had upon the same was committed unto Sir Valentine Dale Master of the Requests Mr. Recorder of London Sir Edward Dymock and others who were appointed to meet upon Monday next in the Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Star-Chamber The Committees in the Bill touching Clergy in some
Cases of offenders whose names see on Monday the 10 th day of this instant February foregoing appointed to meet that Afternoon is deferred until Tuesday next in the Afternoon at the former House and place On Thursday the 13 th day of February Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill to reform disorders of common inns and other Victualling Houses was read the second time and after many Speeches and Arguments committed unto Sir Valentine Dale Master of the Requests Mr. Francis Hastings Mr. Cook and others who were appointed to meet on Wednesday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in Serjeants-Inn Hall in Chancery-lane The Bill touching Orford-Haven was read the second time and after some Speeches committed unto Mr. Arthur Hopton Mr. Anthony Wingfeild Mr. Recorder Mr. Grymston Mr. Robinson and others who were appointed to meet upon this day se'night at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber On Friday the 14 th day of February Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being a Bill touching Exactions upon the Subjects of this Realm by the Officers of the Exchequer was read the first time which said Bill was brought into the House by Sir Edward Hobby who alledged that the said Exactions did nothing tend to any further profit or commodity of her Majesty The meeting of the Committees in the Bill touching Informers whose names see on Saturday the 8 th day of this instant February foregoing is again deferred as it had been before on Tuesday the 11 th day of the foresaid February last past till to Morrow in the Afternoon Mr. John Hare maketh a Motion unto this House for consideration to be had for meeting with the disorders of Purveyors and offereth a Bill unto this House for that purpose Two Bills also of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for abridging of Proclamations upon Fines to be levied was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Morice Mr. Broughton Sir Henry Knivet and others who were appointed to meet at Serjeants-Inn Hall in Fleetstreet upon Tuesday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon The Bill touching Orford-Haven committed yesterday was this day delivered to Mr. Arthur Hopton one of the Committees in the same Bill On Saturday the 15 th day of February Sir Edward Hobby moved he said upon good cause that Mr. Speaker do give admonition unto this whole House that Speeches used in this House by the Members of the same be not any of them made or used as Table talk or in any wise delivered in notes of writing to any person or persons whatsoever not being Members of this House as of late is thought hath been done in this present Session And thereupon by consent of this House admonition was given by Mr. Speaker in that behalf accordingly shewing unto them that they are the Common Council of the Realm A Bill to reform disorders in Purveyers was read the first time Mr. Treasurer Mr. Cradock Sir William Moor Mr. Harris Sir Henry Knyvet Mr. Tasborough Mr. Palmer Mr. Francis Bacon Mr. Cromwell Sir Edward Dymock Mr. Vice-Chamberlain and Mr. George Moor did speak to the Bill and afterwards it was Ordered upon the question that the said Bill should be read again this present day for the second reading Whereupon the same was then presently read again and upon the question committed unto all the Privy Council being of this House all those that have spoken to the Bill M r Edward Dyer M r Robert Wroth Sir Henry Grey M r Hare and others who were appointed to meet in this House upon Monday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon and the same time and place is also appointed for the Committees for Informers and that the Serjeant of this House do in the mean time repair to the Clerk of the Higher House for the Bill that passed this House this last Parliament touching Purveyers and was then sent up to the Lords or at least for a Copy of the same Bill to the end the said Committees may consider of the same in the proceeding of this Bill as shall be thought convenient And it is also resolved that such Officers of her Majesties Honorable Household and Court of Green Cloth as shall please to be at the said Committee may be heard and conferred with touching the purport of the said Bill at their good pleasures Vide. 27. Febr. postea On Monday the 17 th day of February the Bill touching the multiplicity of Suits and the excessive number of Attorneys was upon the second reading committed unto the Knights for the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk M r Recorder of London M r Cromwell and others who were appointed to meet on Wednesday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in Serjeants-Inn Hall in Chancery Lane Sir Edwad Hobby shewed with his great grief that since the last sitting of this House he hath been of some great personage being no member of this House very sharply rebuked for some his Speeches delivered in this House by him upon Friday last in the setting forth the Bill for reformation of abuses in some Officers of the Court of Exchequer and that the same his Speeches have been by some he thinketh of this House delivered unto the said great personage very untruly as tending unto all the Officers of the same Court and so shewing other the particulars as well of his own said former Speeches as of the said untrue report and sinister construction of the same somewhat at large doth in the end refer himself therein to the testimony of this whole House And with all praying the good consideration of this House towards him in this his honest and just excuse as in like former cases hath been erst accustomed towards other Members of this House and especially in regard of the maintenance and preservation of the antient Liberties of the same desired that by some of this House the said great personage may be satisfied of the truth of the case and also moved to shew the name of the reporter of the said untrue Speech and to that end citeth unto them two like Precedents of this House the one in the time of King Edward the 6 th and the other of the Queens Majesty that now is And sheweth further that he thinketh his said Speech by him first delivered in this House was discovered since M r Speaker his late admonition generally given to this whole House against the uttering of the secrets of this House either in Table-talk or Notes in Writing and not before And so concluding giveth due commendation to the said Bill and prayeth another reading thereof presently and also all good and speedy course both in the Commitment and other pastages of the same Vide Febr. 27. postea M r Chancellor of the Exchequer sheweth first that he offereth not to
speak to any prejudice of the said motion but putting the House in remembrance of their charge given unto him and others for Conference to be had touching some convenient supply of Treasure to be had and levyed for the necessary defence of her Majesty and this Realm now presently in danger of such mighty and great enemies as erst of late hath been at large delivered unto this House by some Members of the same declared unto them that he and the greater part of the residue of the Committees therein though divers of them did not give that attendance therein which so great and weighty a cause doth require have met and had Conference together about the same four several times and that at the last and fourth time of their said conference they resolved upon such an extraordinary proportion of provision as they thought the present extraordinary occasion of necessity doth require and that they did set the same down in writing which he also moved might be read unto them to the end that if it might upon the reading thereof stand with their good liking to allow of it and give their assents unto it M r Speaker might then deliver it to her Majesties learned Councel to have the same framed into the form of a Bill to be proceeded in and past in this House and shewed further that as the grant of this Contribution is greater than hath been heretofore for the most part ordinarily used to be granted the present necessity so requiring it so thinking good amongst them it should not hereafter be an occasion of a Precedent to posterity for the like without like cause divers of them were of opinion that some meet words to such effect might be inserted in the Preamble of the Bill And shewed further that one of the Committees to wit M r Francis Bacon had for that purpose set down a Note in Writing which he said if it pleased them they might also hear read and afterwards if they so thought good might also be delivered to her Majesties said learned Councel likewise with the said other note and that withal the said M r Bacon might repair to her Majesties said learned Councel for the further proceeding therein with them if this House should so think good Whereupon the House liking well of this motion both the said Notes in writing were read by the Clerk and afterwards agreed by the whole House that the same Notes should be forthwith delivered by M r Speaker to her Majesties said learned Councel accordingly and the said M r Bacon also to repair unto them Sir Henry Knyvet entreth into Speech of some recital of the said grief of the said Sir Edward Hobby and well liking and allowing of due consideration to be had thereof by this House reciteth very briefly the whole substance in effect both of the said first Speech of the said Sir Edward Hobby and also of his said late Motion and giving due commendation of the same his first Speech and also of his said protestation of excuse urgeth the present reading and proceeding of the said Bill withal speed Whereupon after sundry other Speeches tending likewise to the prosecution of the said Bill to Commitment it was upon the question Ordered that the same Bill should be presently read accordingly The Bill Quo titulo ingressus est was read the second time and after sundry Speeches and Motions deferred to further Argument to be had upon the same Bill again to Morrow The Bill touching Informers and Forestallers were delivered to Mr. Cromwell one of the Committees And also the report of the Committees in the cause between Mr. Puleston and Mr. Aylmer upon a Motion made by Mr. Nicholas Hare is likewise deferred until then for lack of convenient time for the same now Vide concerning this matter on Wednesday the 12 th day of this instant February foregoing On Tuesday the 18 th day of February Four Bills of no great moment had each of them their first reading of which the last was the Bill for the relief of Thomas Haselrigge Esquire Sir Edward Dymock Mr. Clark and Mr. Peter Osburn arguing to the Bill of Quo titulo read the second time in the latter part of the day foregoing do each of them hold Sir Edward Hobby free and thereby excused of any such Speeches touching the higher Officers of the Exchequer as he had been charged with and rebuked for And the whole residue of their Arguments shew no misliking at all of his simile's or words used in the setting forth of the said Bill Whereupon after sundry other Disputations of other Members of this House had upon the said Bill it was at last upon the question committed unto Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Parrot Mr. George Moor Mr. Sutton Sir Edward Dymock and others who were appointed to meet to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber Mr. Serjeant Shuttleworth and Mr. Doctor Awberry do bring from the Lords a Bill Intituled An Act providing remedy against discontinuances in Writs of Error in the Exchequer and Kings Bench. Mr. Speaker noting the great disorder in this House by some that standing up and offering to speak sometimes three or four together and persisting still without offering to give place one of them to another knowing well nevertheless which of themselves did first stand up and so by the Order of this House ought to be first heard but yet expecting by Acclamation of the residue of the House growing for the most part to a great confused noise and sound of senceless words do stand still continuing their offer to speak first and do also many times in their Motions and Arguments utter very sharp and bitter Speeches sometimes rather particularly offensive than necessarily with such great vehemency delivered putteth them in remembrance that every Member of this House is a Judge of this Court being the highest Court of all other Courts and the great Council also of this Realm and so moveth them in regard thereof that as in all other Courts being each of them inferiour to this high Court such confused courses either of contention acclamations or reciprocal bitter and sharp Speeches terms or words are not any way either used or permitted amongst the Judges of the said Inferiour Courts or the Councellors admitted in the same Courts so they would hereafter forbear to attempt the like disorders as the honour and gravity of this House justly requireth Upon a Motion made by Mr. Vice-Chamberlain that the Committees in the Bill for Purveyors appointed on Saturday the 15 th day of this instant February foregoing do meet again this Afternoon at three of the Clock And also that the report to be made by him touching the dealing of the Committees in the cause between Mr. Puleston and Mr. Aylmer be deferred till to Morrow in the Afternoon On Wednesday the 19 th day of February Mr. Serjeant Walmesly one of the Committees in the Bill touching the abridging
Westminster It is agreed that the Committees which were appointed to have met this day in the Afternoon about that matter in the Star-Chamber do meet in the Guild-Hall where the said Trussell may be brought before them with his Keeper without danger as it is thought of an escape in the said Execution The Bill for the assurance of the Jointure of Anne the Wife of Henry Nevil Esquire which was committed yesterday was this day delivered to Mr. Henry Savile one of the said Committees The Bill for the relief of George Ognell Esquire committed also yesterday was this day delivered to Mr. George Moor one of the said Committees John Cocks one of the Burgesses for the Borough of Bletchingly in the County of Surrey is for his especial affairs licensed to depart On Tuesday the 25 th day of February Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the first Mr. Cradock offereth unto this House being for continuance and perfecting of divers Statutes and praying the same might be read the same was thereupon then read accordingly for the first reading Mr. Francis Bacon one of the Committees in the Bill for the assurance of the Jointure of Anne the Wife of Henry Nevill Esquire sheweth that divers of the said Committees had met together in Conference about the said Bill and for certain considerations by him then alledged had amended something in the said Bill and also added something to the same Which Amendments and Additions being opened to the House and twice read accordingly the said Bill was afterwards upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed Mr. Recorder moved touching the want of one of the Barons of New Rumney in the County of Kent not returned into this House but yet he said duly Elected as he was informed under the Seal of the Corporation of the said Town of New Rumney And further shewing that he thought the Precedent thereof might tend to the prejudice both to the Liberties and also to the service of this House prayed consideration of this House therein Whereupon after sundry other Speeches and Argument to the like effect by others it was at last Ordered that the state of the Case should be further examined by the former Committees of this House appointed for such Cases of Returns as should happen to fall out during this present Session of Parliament Whose names then being read by the Clerk they were appointed to meet at the Rolls this present day at two of the Clock in the Afternoon and a note of the names of the said Committees was then delivered by the Clerk to Mr. Cromwell one of the said Committees Mr. Damport moved neither for making of any new Laws nor for abrogating of any old Laws but for a due course of proceeding in Laws already established but executed he thinketh by some Ecclesiastical Governour contrary both to the purport of the same Laws and also to the minds and meanings of the Law-Makers to the great hurts and grievances of sundry her Majesties good Subjects and so offereth some particularities in writing to the effect he said of his Motion praying the same might be read and committed to be further considered of and dealt in as this House should think good M r Secretary Wolley putteth the House in remembrance of her Majesties express inhibition delivered to this House by the Mouth of the Lord Chancellor at the beginning of this Session of Parliament touching any dealing with Ecclesiastical Causes And shewed for his own part that he thinketh this House should incur contempt to her Highness if contrary to that inhibition they should deal in the said matter last moved Whereupon the said matter in writing was then received but not then read at all and was afterwards without any thing done more therein delivered back again by Mr. Speaker unto the said Mr. Damport upon Monday the 17 th day of March following in the Forenoon of the same day before the said Mr. Speaker went to the Parliament House M r Serjeant Shuttleworth and M r Doctor Clark do bring word from the Lords that their Lordships do desire that four or five of this House do confer with their Lordships touching a Bill for abridging of Proclamations to be had upon Fines to be levied at the Common Law lately passed this House and sent up unto their Lordships from this House It was Ordered that M r Secretary Wolley Mr. Recorder Mr. Cook Mr. Serjeant Walmesley Mr. Francis Bacon Mr. Morrice and Mr. Harris should presently wait upon their Lordships therein who so did thereupon accordingly The Bill concerning Process and Pleadings in the Court of Exchequer passed this day in this House was sent up to the Lords by Sir John Parrot and others with request to be made unto their Lordships from this House for their Lordships good and favourable expediting of the Bill for reformation of certain abuses by Purveyors lately sent unto their Lordships by this House Mr. Wroth moved for better attendance to be continued and used by the Members of the House in the service of the same House that none after the House is set do depart before the rising of the same House unless he do first ask leave of Mr. Speaker upon pain that every one hereafter doing the contrary do pay for every time six pence to the use of the Poor And it was thereupon assented unto by the whole House accordingly Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill touching secret Outlawries was read the first time and upon further Motion read again for the second reading and committed unto Mr. Serjeant Walmesley Sir Henry Knyvet Mr. Cradock Mr. Cromwell Mr. Cooke and others who were appointed to meet at two of the Clock in the Afternoon at Serjeants-Inn Hall in Fleetstreet The Bill touching Writs of Covenant c. was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Harris Mr. Drew Mr. Cooke Mr. Morrice Mr. Wroth and others who were appointed to meet at Serjeants-Inn Hall in Chancery-lane upon Thursday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon Mr. Sollicitor and Mr. Doctor Cary do bring from the Lords the Bill for abridging of Proclamations to be had upon Fines to be levied at the Common Law lately passed this House with some Amendments viz. in the eleventh line between the word terms and the word next to put in the word holden and to put out the words following viz. unless it be c. and all the words following unto these words and that in the fifteenth line which being opened unto the House by Mr. Speaker the said Amendments were accomplished and perfected with all the due readings and passage of the same Bill so amended accordingly The Committees names in the Bill touching the free Grammar School of Tunbridge in the County of Kent appointed on Saturday the 22 th day of this instant February foregoing were read by the Clerk and the Committees appointed to meet at the Rolls at two of the
accordingly M r Serjeant Puckering and M r Attorney General do bring word from the Lords touching the Motion made of this House in that behalf for M r Sollicitor his Attendance to be given in the service of this House being a Member of the same That their Lordships having had consideration of the said Motion of this House in that behalf are of opinion that the said M r Sollicitor is to continue his Attendance in the Upper House of Parliament and not in this House for that he was called by her Majesties Writ to serve and attend in the said Upper House of Parliament long before he was Elected or Returned a Member into this and also that the said M r Sollicitor by force of her Majesties said Writ had served in the said Upper House since the beginning of this said Session now already almost by the space of one whole Month. On Tuesday the 4 th day of March the Amendments in the Bill touching Writs of Covenant c. and a Proviso added were both twice read and upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed M r Grafion one of the Committees in the Bill for repealing of certain Statutes delivered in the Bill with some Additions and shewed the reasons and also delivered in both the Bill and the Additions Two Bills did each of them pass upon the third reading of which the first was against Common Informers and the second for the assurance of the Jointure of Anne the Wife of Henry Nevill Esquire in which there were several Amendments inserted All which Amendments being thrice read in the end after some Speeches had the Bill was palled upon the question which said Bill with another were sent up to the Lords by Mr. Vice-Chamberlain and others The Master of the Wardrobe one of the Committees touching Conference and search of Precedents for resolution to be had upon the Message of her Majesty delivered unto this House by a Committee of the Lords concerning the passing of the Bills against the abuses of Purveyors and Process and Pleadings in the Exchequer sheweth that they have met and travailed in the said Commitment and so reciting some particularities of their proceedings doth refer the residue of the report thereof unto Mr. Cook one other of the said Committees who likewise setting down at large the whole travail of their search and Conference concludeth their resolution to be if the House shall so think good that in most humble and dutiful wise this House by their own Mouth Mr. Speaker do exhibite unto her Majesty the causes and reasons moving this House to proceed in the two said Bills in such sort as they had done which course after sundry other Speeches was thought fittest by this House to be prosecuted and best to stand with the Liberties and the honor of this House and resolved further that this their resolution might be imparted unto the Lords that with their Lordships good favours this House meant so to do And it was thereupon then also further thought good and prayed by this House that Mr. Vice-Chamberlain being a Member of this House would be pleased at the humble Petition of this House unto her Majesty to know her Majesties most gracious pleasure what number of this House her Majesty would vouchsafe to attend upon her Highness with Mr. Speaker and at what time Which resolution of the House touching their said course in proceeding in shewing unto her Majesty the causes and reasons of their dealings in the said Bills against the abuses of Purveyors and Process and Pleadings in the Exchequer in such sort as they have done was committed unto Mr. Vice-Chamberlain and such others of the House as were sent up with the two last mentioned Bills to the Upper House to signisie their said resolution at the same time unto their Lordships After which the Bill touching the gaging of Casks and other Vessels c. having been read the second time and committed unto Mr. Treasurer Mr. Wroth Mr. Alford and others Mr. Vice-Chamberlain and the rest returning from the Lords he shewed that according to the Commission of this House they had delivered the Message of this House unto those of the Committees of the Lords from whom the Committees of this House had before received this Message from her Majesty shewing them that this House by their Lordships good favours had determined to become Suitors to her Majesty to render unto her Highness the causes and reasons of their Proceedings in the said two Bills by the Mouth of Mr. Speaker And that thereupon he said they were then to hear but not to Answer And that afterwards this House should hear further from their Lordships Vide concerning these matters on Saturday the 15 th day on Monday the 17 th day and on Thursday the 27 th day of February foregoing as also on Thursday the 6 th day Saturday the 8 th day Monday the 17 th day of this instant March On Wednesday the 5 th day of March the Bill concerning Richard Southwell had its first reading Mr. Treasurer one of the Committees in the Bill against Pluralities and Non-Residents appointed on Saturday the first day of this instant March foregoing shewed the meeting and proceeding of the said Committees brought in the old Bill and also a new Bill shewing the reasons of making the same new Bill and doth in the names of all the said Committees pray a present reading of the same new Bill Whereupon the same was then read accordingly for the first reading Which done upon a Motion by sundry of this House for a second reading presently Mr. Treasurer shewed unto the House that all the residue of the said Committees likewise willed him in the name of them all to move this House for a second reading of the same Bill Whereupon the said Bill was read the second time and Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for the maintenance of the Pier of Dover was read the second time and after sundry Speeches committed unto all the Privy Council being of this House Mr. Mills Mr. Alford Sir Edward Hobby and others who were appointed to meet to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber The Bill against Forestallers Regrators and Ingrossers was read the first time and upon further Motion read again for the second reading and upon the division of the House after the question it was upon another question after the same division with the yielding of the negative Voices Ordered to be committed unto all the Privy Council being of this House Mr. John Hare Mr. George Moor Sir William Moor Mr. Grimston Mr. Cromwell and others who were appointed to meet on Friday next in the Exchequer Chamber at two of the Clock in the Afternoon Sir Thomas Throckmorton Knight one of the Knights returned into this present Parliament for the County of Gloucester having lain sick here in London is licensed to repair into the Country to his own House for recovery of his health On Thursday the 6
am to do this Office my present Speech doth tell that of a number in this House I am most unfit For amongst them are many grave many learned many deep wise men and those of ripe Judgments But I am untimely Fruit not yet ripe but a Bud scarcely blossomed So as I fear me your Majesty will say Neglectâ frugi eliguntur folia Amongst so many fair Fruit ye have plucked a shaking Leaf If I may be so bold as to remember a Speech which I cannot forget used the last Parliament in your Majesties own Mouth Many come hither ad consulendum qui nesciunt quid sit consulendum a just reprehension to many as to my self also an untimely Fruit my years and judgment ill besitting the gravity of this place But howsoever I know my self the meanest and inferiour unto all that ever were before me in this place yet in faithfulness of service and dutifulness of love I think not my self inferiour to any that ever were before me And amidst my many imperfections yet this is my comfort I never knew any in this place but if your Majesty gave them favour God who called them to the place gave them also the blessing to discharge it The Lord Keeper having received Instructions from the Queen Answered him M r Sollicitor Her Graces most Excellent Majesty hath willed me to signify unto you that she hath ever well conceived of you since she first heard of you which will appear when her Highness Elected you from others to serve her self But by this your modest wise and well composed Speech you give her Majesty further occasion to conceive of you above that which ever she thought was in you by endeavouring to deject and abase your self and your desert you have discovered and made known your worthiness and sufficiency to discharge the place you are called to And whereas you account your self Corpus opacum her Majesty by the Influence of her Vertue and Wisdom doth enlighten you and not only alloweth and approveth you but much thanketh the Lower House and commendeth their discretion in making so good a Choice and Electing so fit a Man Wherefore now Mr. Speaker proceed in your Office and go forward to your Commendation as you have begun The Lord Keepers Speech being ended the Speaker began a new Speech COnsidering the great and wonderful Blessings besides the long Peace we have enjoyed under your Graces most Happy and Victorious Reign and remembring with what Wisdom and Justice your Grace hath Reigned over us we have Cause daily to praise God that ever you were given us and the hazard that your Majesty hath adventured and the Charge that you have born for us and our safety ought to make us ready to lay down our selves and all our living at your Feet to do you service c. After this he related the great Attempts of her Majesties Enemies against us especially the Pope and the King of Spain who adhered unto him How wonderfully we were delivered in Eighty eight and what a favour God therein manifested unto her Majesty His Speech after this tended wholly to shew out of the History of England and the old State how the Kings of England ever since Henry the Thirds time have maintained themselves to be Supreme Head over all Causes within their own Dominions And then reciting the Laws that every one made in his time for maintaining their own Supremacy and excluding the Pope he drew down this proof by a Statute of every King since Henry the Third to Edward the Sixth This ended he came to speak of Laws that were so great and so many already that they were fit to be termed Elephantinae Leges Therefore to make more Laws it might seem superfluous And to him that might ask Quid causa ut crescant tot magna volumina Legis It may be Answered In promptu causa est crescit in orbe malum The malice of our Arch-Enemy the Devil though it were always great yet never greater than now and that Dolus Malum being crept in so far amongst men it was requisite that sharp Ordinances should be provided to prevent them and all care to be used for her Majesties Preservation Now am I to make unto your Majesty three Petitions in the name of the Commons First That liberty of Speech and freedom from Arrests according to the Ancient Custom of Parliament be granted to your Subjects Secondly That we may have access unto your Royal Person to present those things that shall be considered amongst us Lastly That your Majesty will give us your Royal Assent to the things that are agreed upon But this said last Petition seems to have been mistaken by that Anonymus out of whom this said Speech is transcribed as aforesaid for this Petition is proper and usual at the end of a Sessions upon a Prorogation or of a Parliament upon a Dissolution when the two Houses have passed divers Acts which only want the Royal Assent to put life into them And doubtless the third Petition which should have ensued here was for freedom from Arrests for themselves and their necessary Attendants which being wholly omitted I have before caused to be inserted though more briefly in its proper place And thus this mistake being cleared the residue of the said Speakers Speech ensueth And for my self I humbly beseech your Majesty if any Speech shall fall from me or behaviour found in me not decent and fit that it may not be imputed blame upon the House but laid upon me and pardoned in me To this Speech the Lord Keeper having received new Instructions from the Queen made his Reply in which he first commended the Speaker greatly for it And then he added some Examples of History for the Kings Supremacy in Henr. 2. and Kings before the Conquest As to the deliverance we received from our Enemies and the Peace we enjoyed the Queen would have the praise of all those attributed to God only And touching the Commendations given to her self she said Well might we have a wiser Prince but never should they have one that more regarded them and in Justice would carry an evener stroke without exception of persons and such a Prince she wisht they might always have To your three demands the Queen Answereth Liberty of Speech is granted you but how far this is to be thought on there be two things of most necessity and those two do most harm which are Wit and Speech The one exercised in Invention and the other in uttering things invented Priviledge of Speech is granted but you must know what priviledge you have not to speak every one what he listeth or what cometh in his brain to utter that but your priviledge is I or No. Wherefore M r Speaker her Majesties Pleasure is that if you perceive any idle Heads which will not stick to hazard their own Estates which will meddle with reforming the Church and transforming the Common-Wealth and do exhibite any Bills to such purpose
She did find in her Navy all Iron Pieces but she hath furnished it with Artillery of Brass so that one of her Ships is not a Subject's but a petty King's wealth As for her own private Expences they have been little in building she hath consumed little or nothing in her pleasures As for her Apparel it is Royal and Princely beseeming her Calling but not sumptuous nor excessive The Charges of her House small yea never less in any Kings time And shortly by Gods grace she will free her Subjects from that trouble which hath come by the means of Purveyors Wherefore she trusteth that every good subject will assist her Majesty with his Purse seeing it concerns his own good and the preservation of his estate For before that any of us would lose the least member of his body we would bestow a great deal and stick for no Cost nor Charges How much more ought we in this political Body whereof not only a member but the whole is in jeopardy if we do not once hast to the preservation thereof And for these Subsidies which are granted now adays to her Majesty they are less by half than they were in King Henry the 8th's time Now although her Majesty had borrowed some Money of her Subjests besides her Subsidies yet she had truly repaid and answered every one fully He desired the matter might be put to a Committee Sir Edward Stafford spake next to the like effect but what his said Speech was is not at all set down in the aforesaid Anonymous Journal mentioned more fully at the beginning of this Journal present M r Francis Bacon spake last whose Speech was to the effect following viz. M r Speaker That which these Honourable Personages have spoken of their Experiences May it please you to give me leave likewise to deliver of my common knowledge The Cause of Assembling all Parliaments hath been hitherto for Laws or Moneys The one being the Sinews of Peace the other of War To the one I am not privy but the other I should know I did take great contentment in her Majesties Speeches the other day delivered by the Lord Keeper how that it was a thing not to be done suddenly nor at one Parliament nor scarce a whole year would suffice to purge the Statute-Book and lessen the Volume of Laws being so many in number that neither Common People can practise them nor the Lawyer sufficiently understand them Than the which nothing should tend more to the praise of her Majesty The Romans appointed ten men who were to correct and recal all former Laws and to set forth those Twelve Tables so much of all men to be commended The Athenians likewise appointed six for that purpose And Lewes the 9 th King of France did the like in reforming his Laws ..... But what should here follow is wholly omitted in that Anonymous Journal mentioned in the beginning of these Speeches out of which they are all taken yet it should seem that the main end and scope of the ensuing particulars of this Speech which are omitted were for the appointing of a select and grave Committee both to consider of the dangers of the Realm and of speedy supply and aid to be given to her Majesty And thereupon after the Conclusion of this Speech of M r Francis Bacon's the House did accordingly nominate the said Committee to deliberate and consult in what proportion they might now to relieve her Majesty with Subsidies in respect of those many and great Enemies against whose power and malice she was to provide and prepare for necessary defence and preservation of her Realms and Dominions The names of which said Committees are set down in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons though omitted in that other before-mentioned taken by the said Anonymus in manner and form following viz. All those of this House which are of her Majesties Privy-Council all the Members of this House which are returned Knights for the Counties Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Thomas Cecill M r George Moore Sir Henry Unton M r Wroth Sir Thomas Wilkes M r Francis Bacon M r Nathanael Bacon M r George Cary M r Beale M r Fulk Grevill M r Attorney of the Wards M r Attorney of the Dutchy Sir John Paton M r Robert Sackvill Sir Francis Hastings all the Serjeants at Law which were Members of this House Sir John Hare M r Doctor Caesar M r Doctor James M r William Haward M r Sands Sir Robert Sidney M r Fanshaw Sir Thomas West Sir John Warrington Sir Thomas Read Sir Francis Drake M r Thomas Fane M r Vincent Skinner Sir William Moor M r Fuller M r Heyle M r John Hare M r Shinne M r Christopher Blount M r Edward Lewkenor Sir William Bowes Sir John Wingfield M r Tasborough Sir Edward Stà fford M r Lawrence Fanshaw M r Nicholas Saunders M r Doctor Lewen Sir Thomas Flodd Sir Francis Gudolphin Sir Francis Vere M r Edward Dyer M r Conisby M r Boyse M r Apselie and M r Emersam should be nominated and appointed to have Conference in the said Cause and to meet for that purpose in this House to Morrow next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon On Tuesday the 27 th day of February Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill touching Woollen Cloaths called Vesses Rayes c. was read the first time M r Morrice Attorney of the Court of Wards moveth the House touching the hard Courses of the Bishops and Ordinaries and other Ecclesiastical Judges in their Courts used towards sundry learned and godly Ministers and Preachers of this Realm by way of Inquisition subscription and binding absolution contrary he said to the honour of God the Regality of her Majesty the Laws of this Realm and the liberty of the Subjects of the same compelling them upon their own Oaths to accuse themselves in their own private actions words and thoughts if they shall take such Oaths because they know not to what questions they shall answer till after the time they be sworn And also after such Examination proceed against them by deprivation degradation or suppression upon such their own Accusations of themselves And if they refuse to take such Oath then they commit them to Prison and there keep and detain them at their own pleasure not absolving or releasing them until they shall first have taken a Corporal Oath of their Canonical Obedience to their Ordinaries And shewing further at large the great inconvenience thereby grown unto the free Subjects of this Realm doth in the end pray a Consultation to be had therein by this House for redress of the said Enormities and offereth unto M r Speaker two Bills the one concerning the said Inquisitions subscriptions and offering of Oaths and the other concerning the Imprisonments upon their refusal to the said Oaths praying that the said latter Bill which concerneth the said Imprisonments might be read and the
Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons in which it is generally related that the rest of this Forenoon was spent in the agitation of this and such like business yet because neither any particular relation of the Speeches in this business of M r Fitzherbert or of those other aforesaid Passages handled in the said Committee touching Elections is there set down although all the said matter be of very great weight and consequence I have therefore supplied a great part of the same out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal more particularly mentioned at the beginning of this present Journal Where although all that part of Mr. Serjeant Yelvertons Speech touching Mr. Fitzherberts Election be omitted and which is before very happily supplied out of the Original Journal-Book it self yet the rest or at least the greater part of his Relations before mentioned is set down and is here inserted out of the same with divers other Speeches used and uttered chiefly touching that Question All which some alterations only excepted for order and explanation sake are herein inserted out of the said Anonymous Journal in manner and form following viz. Serjeant Yelverton spake further also after he had finished the Relation of the Committees proceeding touching M r Fitzherberts Election concerning the priviledges of the House In which he declared the Case of the Burgess of Miscread in Cornwall after whose Election the Town refused to deliver up their Indenture to the Sheriff But the party Elected made his Indenture and delivered it to the Clerk of the Crown who filed it with the rest of the Indentures returned by the Sheriffs the Sheriff having Indorsed it upon the Writ But this Indenture was never executed by the Sheriff and yet the Return was holden by the Committees as it should seem to be good Mr. Heile who had been another also of the Committees spake next and shewed the state of this and some other questions handled in that said Committee which were as followeth viz. John c. is returned in the Indenture by the name of Richard and whether this may not be amended by the House Mr. Audeley is returned Burgess for two Towns he having elected for which he will be a New Writ is to be directed to the other Town to chuse another Two Burgesses are returned for one Town One of the Burgesses being mistaken is willing to resign unto the other Whether by the assent of the Sheriff and party this is to be done The Bailiff of Southwark electeth himself by the name of Richard Hutton Gentleman and the Indenture returned by the Sheriff is Richard Hutton Bailiff if this be good Thomas Fitzherbert of Staffordshire being Outlawed upon a Capias utlagatum after Judgment is Elected Burgess of this Parliament Two hours after his Election before the Indenture returned The Sheriff arrested him upon this Capias utlagatum The party is in Execution Now he sendeth this Supplication to this House to have a Writ from the same to be enlarged to have the Priviledge in this Case to be grantable He argued thus That he was not Electable because in the calling and in the electing of parties called there must be chosen Viri idonci But a man Outlawed is not idoneus therefore not Electable Considering this disability holds in all other Causes of Law therefore in this that is the greatest He urged the Authority of 19 H. 7. four parties attainted moved to have their Attainders redressed before they can sit There 't is said a man Outlawed for sorging false Deeds is not eligible to be of the Parliament Then Sir Edward Hobby spake as followeth The party Outlawed is not out of his wits therefore capable and then is a man able to be chosen and idoneus to be a Burgess Only a differrence may be made where the Outlawry is for a Cause Criminal and for a Case personal as in this Cause Is this disability greater that a man Outlawed may not be a Burgess as well as an Attorney to a man or an Executor I think it will stand with the priviledge of this House to deliver him though he were Outlawed Mr. Lewes said that a man Outlawed cannot have priviledge being an Execution upon a Capias Quia frustra Legis auxilium implorat qui in Legem peccat Cardinal Pool would not come into the Parliament House till the Attainder against him was reversed Ignotus quidam Multa sunt quae fieri non debent quae tamen facta tenentur bona It had been a good exception against his Election to say he was Outlawed but 't is no disability to him being Elected Serjeant Yelverton said he could not have the priviledge being in Execution upon a Capias utlagatum after Judgment The Book of 2 Edw. 4. 8. cited to be expresly so And that a Judge reported unto him that in 34 Hen. 8. a Burgess being arrested and in Execution upon a Statute could not have priviledge of the House Whereupon Mr. Finch said he could not tell which to hold or which side to take The Book of 20 Hen. 7. doth prove that there were Elected such as were Attainted and that disability was taken against them The Writ to chuse a Burgess is not Legalem hominem but Idoneum Therefore we ought not to be so strict as if he were to be challenged upon a Jury At the Common Law Outlawry was only for Causes Criminal as for Treason or Felony but this Outlawry in Personal Causes is only by the Statute of 11 Hen. 4. which makes not so great a disability as that at the Common Law On the other side Utlagatus ne Villein cannot be a Champion which is as a Judge to decide then à fortiori he can be no Judge in this House Outlawry is as an Attainder therefore the party so stained is no competent Judge The great Charter is all Tryals ought to be per legales homines parium sitorum The Outlawed man is not of the number of Parium so not to be a Judge Vide 8 Edw. 3. Utlagatus ne poiet estre Mr. Broughton held that a man Outlawed may be a Burgess For in no case is Outlawry disability where a man is en auter droit as to be Executor or Attorney it is no Exception to the party The Case in 38 Hen. 8 Dyer 62. was cited Mr. Hall's man was delivered out of Execution the last Parliament by a Mittimus from the House And though the party be in Execution if not at the Queens suit he is to have the priviledge and yet the party not to lose his debt nor the Sheriff to be charged Vide postea April 5 th Thursday Nota That these Speeches are all transcribed out of the said Anonymous Journal more particularly mentioned at the beginning of this present Journal After which by occasion of a Message sent down from the Lords it should seem this business brake off abruptly at this time And therefore see more concerning it on Friday the 2 d day and on
the same would be much prejudicial to the Ancient Liberties and Priviledges of this House and to the Authority of the same M r Beale likewise shewing himself to be of the same mind with M r Wroth and insisting upon the preservation and maintenance of the former usual and ancient Liberties and Priviledges of this House in treating of Subsidies Contributions and other like benevolences amongst themselves without any Conference therein at all had or used with the Lords of the Higher House doth give an instance of a former precedent in the like Case and offered to shew forth the same precedent to this House which being omitted in the Original Journal-Book it self is here inserted out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal more particularly mentioned at the beginning of this present Journal and was as followeth In Anno nono H. 4. the two Houses being divided about the Subsidy and the Higher House desiring a greater Subsidy than was granted by the Lower House hereupon twelve that were sent as Committees to the Lords came down and informed what was desired by the Upper House namely a greater Subsidy and to that end Conference to be had with them of the House of Commons The Commons thought themselves grieved therewith and so returned their Answer that they would consider what was meet to be done in so general a matter but thought the Conference a Derogation to the priviledge of the House Hereupon the King Answered that he could not neither was it fit to violate the priviledge of his Commons but in all things thought it just to prefer them Which said precedent being thus inserted out of the Anonymous Journal the rest that followeth is continued out of the Original Journal-Book it self taken in the House and committed to writing by M r Fulk Ouslow at this time Clerk of the House of Commons For it should seem the Speaker and the greater part of the House very well approving and being satisfied fully with the aforesaid precedent cited by M r Beale yet those of her Majesties Privy Council and the Courtiers also at this time of the House were still earnest for admitting of a Conference with the Lords And thereupon Sir Robert Cecill spake again and did put the House in remembrance of the great and urgent necessity for the speedy prevention and avoiding of the great and eminent perils and dangers of this Realm and State to be effected both by Consultation and also by provision of Treasure and thinketh good that Conference of this House were had with the Lords as a matter very behoofful Especially for that their Lordships some of them being of her Majesties Privy-Council do know both the purposes and strength of the Enemies on the one side and also her Majesties present store of Treasure more or less on the other side much better than those of this House do Resolveth for his own Opinion still to give his consent that Conference be had therein with the Lords by the Committees of this House according to their Lordships said former Motion and request for the same Sir William Brunker stood up and reciting the said great present necessity of consultation and provision and that it cannot be otherwise but that the proportion of convenient supply of Treasure answerable to the greatness of the dangers which are imminent must needs require a greater Mass of Treasure to be had than hath been as yet treated of in any resolution by this House And then the Question being urged and by the Order of the House propounded whether Conference should be had with the Lords upon the Motion of the Committees of the Lords to the Committees of this House in this Case or no it was upon the doubtfulness of the Voices twice given upon the Question thereof twice propounded resolved upon the division of the House That no such Conference should be had with the said Committees of the Lords by the said Committees of this House for the number of them which were for the said Conference and said I went out of the said House and were found to be in number but a hundred twenty eight whereas those that were against the said Conference and said No sate still in the House being in number two hundred and seventeen So that the matter was over-ruled by eighty nine Voices with which the Order and Judgment of the whole House went thereupon accordingly M r Serjeant Fleetwood and M r Doctor Ford do bring from the Lords a Bill Intituled an Act for the better assurance and confirmation of the Jointure of the Lady Margaret Countess of Cumberland After the delivery of this Bill thus sent from the Lords the House proceeded in the further agitation of the foregoing great business which by the bringing down of the last mentioned Bill from their Lordships had been a while interrupted For it having been already over-ruled by the House that there should be no Conference admitted with the Lords touching the matter of the Subsidy which their Lordships had desired it was therefore Ordered upon a Motion made in the House that some Answer might presently be sent from thence to their Lordships to satisfie them touching their said Motion for Conference for that in respect the said Conference had been already denied and had been voted to be prejudicial to the Liberties of the House by the Judgment of the same that a convenient number of this House should be appointed presently in the name of this whole House to give unto their Lordships most humble and dutiful thanks with all due reverence for their said Lordships good favourable and courteous offer of Conference with this House in the said Cause and to signify unto their Lordships that this House cannot in those Cases of Benevolence or Contribution join in Conference with their Lordships without prejudice to the Liberties and Priviledges of this House and of the infringing of the same and therefore do in most humble wise request and desire their good Lordships to hold the Members of this House excused in their not assenting unto their Lordships said Motion for Conference for that so to have assented without a Bill had been contrary to the Liberties and Priviledges of this House and contrary also to the former precedents of the same House in like Case had Which done all the former Committees of this House were presently appointed to declare the said Answer of this House unto their Lordships and M r Chancellor of the Exchequer appointed to declare the same And for this purpose were nominated and chosen All the Privy-Council now in this House being four Sir Henry Unton M r Wroth M r Beale Sir William Brunker Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Charles Cavendish Sir Edward Hobby Sir Thomas Cecill Sir George Carey Sir Robert Sidney Sir Thomas West M r Anthony Cooke M r Tasborough Sir William Moore M r George Moore M r Serjeant Yelverton Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Hastings Sir William Knowles Sir Fulk Griffin M r William Haward Sir Charles Blunt Sir
three to have spoken striving who might speak first Then the Speaker propounds it as an Order in the House in such a Case for him to ask the parties that would speak On which side they would speak whether with him that spake next before or against him and the party that speaketh against the last speaker is to be heard first And so it was ruled Where it may seem that the Speaker did give admonishment sitting in the House as a Member thereof and not sitting in his Chair as Speaker which he never doth at any Committee although it be of the whole House After which some able Member of the House whose name is not set down spake next and said I could very well agree to the Subsidies if they were not prejudicial to the Subject in other services For Subsidies be in the valuation of every mans Lands and Goods by Records called the Queens Books and according to mens valuation of Subsidies are they at all other charges as to the Wars and in time of Muster with Horse and Armour and this charge maketh men so unwilling to be raised in the Subsidy but if these Subsidies brought in no other charge with them they would be yielded willingly But the tail and appendage of it being so great and higher than the Subsidy it self is the reason that men are so unwilling to yield it Wherefore if a greater Tax or Assessment than heretofore be desired I would wish a Proviso to be added in the Statute That by this Subsidy no man should be raised as to the defray of other charges above the rate they were put to before Sir Francis Godolphin wished the first payment might be at Midsummer for after that time the Receivors had the benefit of the money The next to be at Michaelmas for at that time men would have it in the benefit of their Corn and Commodities And so in four years and a quarter the Subsidy would be paid with more ease M r Lewes agreed to the Subsidies and desired that two things might be granted whereby the Subject should be inriched and the better inabled to pay the Subsidy That is that one liberty may be granted which is transporting of Corn and the other is for somewhat to be restrained viz. bringing in of Wines so abundantly for the vent of our Cloth amounteth not to the sum of our Vintage srugem patrem-familias vendacem non emacem est oportet And thinks it good that the Statutes made heretofore against excess in Apparel might be put in Execution M r George Moore said I am grieved to see it and I speak it with grief how perilous our Estate is and how dangerous a cause we be in We are not sick of one Disease but we labour with a plurality of Diseases To meet therefore with our threefold Diseases we ought like good Physicians to apply a threefold remedy a treble Subsidy And as the Physick is lost which is not taken in time so we must seek to minister the Medicine in good time And our Disease being a Pleurisie it is fit we did so For a skilful Physician though he see in a Pleurisie there is no remedy without letting Blood yet he will then chuse the time of letting Blood when the sign is furthest from the heart Let us let the people Blood and so prevent the danger M r Heyle said If we take care for our Posterity we had best to settle our Posterity which will not be except we prevent dangers now imminent For precedents of Subsidies they are not to be feared because before-time greater were required than ever since were granted Therefore this is no Rule that what we grant now will hereafter be required ..... In the sixth year of King John every one holding by a Knights Fee was bound to find a Knight in the Wars And for this present Law it may be Enacted that this shall be no precedent for Subsidies hereafter like as it was in the fourteenth of Edward the Third Sir Robert Cecill assented to those that had spoken for the Subsidies but to them that had spoken to the contrary he said they speak out of time And to speak to the particular parts as that our Poverty is not to be skinned over but throughly healed that discontentment is to be feared and lastly that precedents for hereafter would be avoided For the first if we be poor yet at this time it is to be considered we are in great danger and of two mischiefs we must chuse the lesser And therefore I would have this question after so much discussing banished the House For Precedents they have never been perpetual but begun and ended with the Causes and as the Causes grew so grew the Precedent In her Majesties time it is not to be feared that this Precedent will ever do us harm for her Majesty will never accept any thing that is given her unwillingly of her Subjects Nay in the Parliament the twenty seventh of her Reign she refused a benevolence offered her because she had no need of it and would not charge her people This being out of fear we have no reason to give prejudice to the best Queen or King that ever came for fear of a worse King than ever was After her Reign I never had so much as one Idea in my Head what would be our Estate then Now to end the matter long debated my desire is that the question might be made for three Subsidies payable in four years This question was made in the House and at the first they gave an I. Thus far out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal that which follows is out of the Original Journal-Book it self On Thursday the 8 th day of March M r Speaker shewed unto the House that according to the appointment of this House he hath attended the Lord Keeper touching his Lordships pleasure for the directing of a new Writ for the chusing of another Burgess for the Borough of Southwark in the County of Surrey instead of Richard Hutton supposed to have been unduly and undirectly Elected and also for the allowing of Sir George Carew Knight to be Burgess for the Borough of Camelford in the County of Cornwall as truly returned Burgess of the said Borough of Camelford to the Sheriff of the said County in the stead of Richard Leech alledged to have been returned to the said Sheriff by a false Return And also for changing of the name of John Dudley Esq returned a Burgess for the Borough of Newtown in the County of Southampton into the House by the name of Thomas Dudley Esquire alledged to be the same person in very deed that should have been returned and that his name was mistaken and none living known by that name of John Dudley His Lordships Answer and Resolution in the said Cases was that the said Returns of the said Burgesses of Southwark and Camelford should stand and continue according to the Returns of the same without taking notice of any matter of
that the Return of the Writ ought to have been returnned into the Court of Parliament but whether the Return be to be made into the Upper House or Lower House I know not For in many Cases we have divided Jurisdictions and the Upper House hath Jurisdiction by it self therefore if a Nobleman hath a Servant that were arrested they might make their Writ of Priviledge returnable before themselves and give him Priviledge And here in this House if one that is a Member of this House and have sate here be arrested sedente Parliamento we are to give him Priviledge But if he be taken before his coming hither it is not in our power to deliver him but we must have the assistance of other Courts in such Causes The use is such in other Causes If the Action be a Mahime whether this be a Mahime or no the Court will not judge until those that have Science in those things affirm it to be so And so when a matter Ecclesiastical or Grammatical is in question the opinion of Civilians or Grammarians is known before the Judgment is given So in this Court we ought to desire Instructions from the Judges of the Realm whether in this Cause by the Law we can grant priviledge or no. For Priviledge there be two Writs issuing out of this House the one is a general Corpus cum Causa and this is granted upon apparent cause of Priviledge as if a Member of the House be taken sedente Parliamento The other Writ is called a Writ of Parliament this is granted when the Cause is to be judged by the Parliament But whether Priviledge be to be granted to this party or no it is not apparent And in the Cause the Lord Keeper is not to be Judge But here the whole Record is to remain and we with the advice and opinion of the Judges are to consult if the party be to have priviledge Therefore seeing the Court hath Coercion in it self let us with the advice of the Judges proceed as we have power For if we give away our Coercion we give away our Jurisdiction M r Serjeant Harris said the Record remaining in Chancery this House is sufficiently possessed of it even as in Case of all the Returns of Knights and Burgesses M r Francis Bacon said The Return is well for the Return is an ensuing of the Writ that must be made under Seal As for taking the assistance of the Judges it is a good course for though we sit here to make Laws yet until the new Law is made the old Law is of force and our Conference with them gives away no resolution from us but taketh advice only from them M r Finch said in my opinion the Return should have been into this House For a Writ of Error sued here the Writ used to be returned hither as it appeareth in 3 E. 3. and 17 Edw. 3. and 1 H. 7. It would seem by Trewinnards Case 38 H. 8. that a Writ of priviledge is never returned but the party appearing the Court proceedeth M r Speaker desired to know of the House if for their better Information they would give him leave to speak which the House willingly granted Whereupon he said For the discharge of my own duty and informing of your Judgments who I know will judge wisely and justly I will deliver unto you what I have learned and what I have observed for ever since the lodging of this Parliament I have thought upon and searched after this Question not particularly for this Cause but this point the priviledge of the House for I judged it would come in question for many occasions The Question is drawn to two Heads the one about the Writ the other about the Return First Whether the Writ might have gone out of this House I will tell you plainly my opinion I beseech you let me not be ill thought of if I be rude in what I say for it is my fault I cannot speak so mildly as some but my manner is that which I speak I speak sharply and somewhat roundly but always with this tacite Condition submitting my self to any better reason that shall be shown me Though any Court of Record hath this Jurisdiction to make out Processes yet this Court cannot Why this may seem strange that every Court in Westminster every Court that hath Causes of Plea every Lords Leet and every Court Baron hath his power that they may make out Process yet this Court being the highest of all Courts cannot how can this be The nature of this House must be considered for this Court is not a Court alone and yet there are some things wherein this Court is a Court by it self and other things wherein it is no Court of it self To know then how we are one House and how we can be divided Houses this would give great light to the Question At the first we were all one House and sat together by a precedent which I have of a Parliament holden before the Conquest by Edward the Son of Etheldred For there were Parliaments before the Conquest This appeareth in a Book which a grave Member of this House delivered unto me which is Intituled Modus tenendi Parliamentum out of that Book I learn this and if any man desire to see it I will shew it him And this Book declareth how we all sat together but the Commons sitting in presence of the King and amongst the Nobles disliked it and found fault that they had not free liberty to speak And upon this reason that they might speak more freely being out of the Royal sight of the King and not amongst the great Lords so far their betters the House was divided and came to sit asunder A bold and worthy Knight at the time when this was sought the King desiring a reason of this their request and why they would remove themselves from their Betters Answered shortly That his Majesty and the Nobles being every one a great person represented but themselves but his Commons though they were but inferiour men yet every one of them represented a thousand of men And this Answer was well allowed of But now though we be divided in Seat be we therefore divided Houses No for if any Writ of Error be brought as you shall see a notable Case in 22 E. 3. this Writ must be returned in Parliament that is to the whole House and chiefly then to the Upper House for we are but a limb of the House Now where a Record is removed upon a Writ of Error given to another Court the manner is that the chief of that Court bring the Writ in his hand to the House But humbly sheweth unto the House that the Record being remitted out of the Court no Execution can go forth though the Judgment be affirmed The Court of Parliament thereupon maketh Transcript of the whole Record and returns the Record again to the Court but if the Judgment be reversed then the Record it self is
Cancelled and rased This I read in my Book For in this Case whatsoever a man tells me 〈◊〉 believe it not unless I see it written Non lego non credo in these Cases In the twenty third of the Queen I was of Councel with one in a Cause where we tryed all means to reverse a Judgment and brought a Writ of Error in the Parliament and the Writ was issuing out of the Parliament and upon the fieri facias was set Domina Regina and it was under the Great Seal of England and the Writ was returned in Parliament So this is plain the Writ is always returnable in Parliament but if in Parliament then of the Upper House for of that House we are but a Limb. This Writ I have seen then thus returned but never any man saw a Writ returnable in the Lower House so for this I hold the Writ cannot be returnable into this House But now for the Authority we have for though this be true I say yet I speak not to take any priviledge from this House for some things there are wherein we have Authority all of us But this is certain whatsoever we do sedente Parliamento it is the Act of the whole Court for the Lords without the Commons and the Commons without the Lords can do nothing Now then at the first before the division of the House all Writs were returned proximo Parliamento but since the division of the House it hath been always used and plainly it must be returned into Chancery And to say we cannot have notice of it nor cannot judge upon the Record being in Chancery plainly we may as well as we do upon the Return of every Burgess which is made into the Chancery and the Cause is all one And the Chancery in making the Writ will not alter from that their Warrant made from this House which must be according unto ancient form for waiting the other day upon my Lord Keeper by your Commandments for the making of this Writ I desired to have a recital added in these words Quòd cùm existente Parliamento captus fuit c. with the recital of the Cause of priviledge My Lord Keeper conferring with the Judges upon it would not allow it but thought better the usual form of Habeas Corpus should be kept without any suspicion of priviledge until there appeared a Cause of priviledge for the party As for the Book of 38 H. 8. Trewinnards Case recited in my Lord Diers I have heard great learned men say that that Cause is no good Law and that the House did more than was warrantable Now for the Motion of Conference with the Judges the Case of Thorpe 31 H. 6. is not able for this point I have the Record Thorpe was Speaker in that Parliament The Parliament being Summoned to be in June it was Prorogued until September in the mean time Thorpe was taken in Execution by the Duke of York he notwithstanding this thought to have had the priviledge of the Parliament At the next Sessions the matter being greatly considered whether he could have a priviledge or no a Conference was had in the Cause with the Judges the Judges being required in humble sort refused except it were so that the House did command them for in the House of Parliament the chief Judges and their Judgments are controulable by the Court but if the House did command them they would be willing to inform them what in their opinions they knew and thought This they did in the great Cause of Thorpe and I think we should do well in doing the like Now another thing is to be considered for Judicis Officium est ut res it a temperari c. The consideration of Time must accompany a Judges Office the Parliament draweth to an end and this would be done with expedition so the party was appointed to have his Councel the next Morning in the Parliament and they to be heard and have the advice of the Judges Vide the Resolution and Conclusion of this business upon Thursday the 5 th day of this instant April ensuing Thus far out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal the residue of this days Passages and part of the next are inserted out of the Original Journal-Book it self M r Francis Bacon one of the Committees in this Bill for relief of Maimed Souldiers and Mariners appointed on Monday the 2 d day of this instant April foregoing shewed the meeting and travel of the said Committees and sundry Amendments thought good to be offered by them to this House and shewing the same Amendments with the reasons of them to the House the same Amendments were well liked of by this House and assented to be inserted into this said Bill and after the twice reading of the said Amendments the said Bill so being amended was upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed Post Meridiem Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for Naturalizing of Justin Dormer and George Sheppy born beyond the Seas had its first reading On Wednesday the fourth day of April M r Barker one of the Committees in the Bill concerning Spinners and Weavers who had been appointed on Monday the 26 th day of March foregoing shewed the meeting and travel of the Committees and their Amendments to the Bill praying the reading of the same Amendments which being read and ordered by the House to be inserted into the Bill the same Amendments were afterwards twice read and the Bill was upon the Question Ordered to be Ingrossed M r Wroth one of the Committees in the Bill concerning Brewers shewed the meeting and travel of the Committees and their Amendments to the said Bill and prayeth the reading of the same Amendments which being read and Ordered by the House to be inserted in the said Bill and also twice read afterwards was upon the Question Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for Explanation of a Branch of a Statute made in the twenty third year of her Majesties Reign Intitled an Act to retain the Queens Majesties Subjects in their due obedience with some Amendments to the same was read the second time Upon which divers Speeches passed in the House before the said Bill was committed some of them being of very good moment Which because they are omitted in the Original Journal-Book it self are therefore supplied out of the often before recited Anonymous Journal in manner and form following Sir Thomas Cecill Doctor Lewen M r Sands Sir Thomas Heneage Sir Edward Dimock and some others spake diversly to this Bill touching the Explanation of a Branch of the Statute made in Anno 23 Regin Eliz. for reducing disloyal Subjects to their due obedience as is aforesaid Sir Walter Raleigh said In my conceit the Brownists are worthy to be rooted out of a Commonwealth But what danger may grow to our selves if this Law pass it were fit to be considered For it is to be feared that
men not guilty will be included in it And that Law is hard that taketh life and sendeth into banishment where mens intentions shall be judged by a Jury and they shall be Judges what another means But that Law that is against a Fact is but just and punish the fact as severeley as you will If two or three thousand Brownists meet at the Sea at whose charge shall they be transported or whither will you send them I am forry for it I am afraid there is near twenty thousand of them in England and when they be gone who shall maintain their Wives and Children M r Finch said There be great faults in the Preamble and in the Body of this Bill It pretendeth a punishment only to the Brownists and Sectaries but throughout the whole Bill not one thing that concerneth a Brownist and if we make a Law against Barrowists and Brownists let us set down a Note of them who they are But as the Bill is not to come to Church or to speak against the government established this is not the opinion of the Brownists The Law that is intituled An Explanation is nothing else save that it hath a name of it For Laws Explanatory are no New Laws of themselves but part of the old for there ought to be nothing in the declaratory Law that was not in the former as appeareth in the Cause of Surnand and Stowell the Statute of 32 Hen. 8. being but an Explanation of 4. H. 7. This Law being allowed to be an Explanation of 25. maketh all the offenders in that Statute to be Traytors This Law excepts no Person So all are in the former penalties of that Law for 23 of Eliz. is only for such as are of the Romish Religion and now to make it include all the opinions is to make additions to that but no Explanations The Clause of speaking against the Law is very dangerous For who can be safe from this Non Hospes ab hospite tutus For if a man speak against Non-Residents Excommunication as it is used or any other abuse in the Church he incurs the danger of the Law The Clause against Conventicles is very dangerous For the Conference of any Persons together being of any number the Prayers of Holy Exercise being not allowable in any place by the Law is an assembling against the Laws for the words be very strict howsoever not contrary to the Law the offence is all one Now in the body of the Law the words Ecclesiastical are not such as be meant in primo of the Queen but such as are intended in this Statute And the annexing of the words He must be an obstinate Recusant and also write and speak c. This is very suspicious for Obscuris vera is never good Whosoever repaireth not to his own Parish Church is a Recusant within this Law Vide Apr. 6. die Veneris sequent Thus far out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal the residue of this days passages and part of the next are transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book it self After which said Speeches touching the Bill of Explanation of the Branch of a Statute made in the twenty third year of the Queen for reducing of disloyal Subjects to their due obedience the said Bill in the end was committed unto all the Privy Council Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Henry Unton Sir Francis Hastings Doctor Jo. James Doctor Lewen M r Doctor Caesar Sir William Moore M r Francis Bacon M r Serjeant Harris M r Wroth Sir Thomas Cecill M r Finch M r Skinner M r Mainard M r George Moore Sir Henry Cocke M r Fuller Mr. Robert Knowls Sir William Knowls Sir Edward Dymock Sir Edward Stafford Mr. Edward Lewkenor Mr. Henry Brett Mr. Periam Sir Thomas Dennies Sir Robert Sydney Mr. Wroth Sir William Bowes Mr. Atie Mr. Helcroft Sir Thomas West Sir Matthew Morgan M r Berkeley Mr. Sands Mr. Boucher Mr. John Payton Sir Richard Molineux Mr. Tasborough Mr. Horsey Mr. Attorney of the Dutchy Mr. Finch Mr. Fuller Mr. Amersam Sir George Cary and Sir George S t Poole and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Treasurer who with the rest was appointed to meet in this House to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon Mr. Serjeant Owen and Mr. Attorney General do bring word from the Lords that their Lordships do pray Conference with some selected Members of this House to be held this Afternoon touching the Bill for the reviving continuance explanation and perfecting of certain Statutes lately passed this House and sent up to their Lordships and do shew that their Lordships for that purpose have made choice of twenty of themselves whereupon the said Mr. Attorney and Mr. Serjeant Owen being sequestred and the Message declared to the House by Mr. Speaker it was required by the House that forasmuch as the Bill last read was then and long before had been in dispute and Argument Answer thereof might be returned unto their Lordships that this House prayeth that a Committee of this House may rather wait upon their Lordships in the Afternoon for that the House is now occupied in Speeches and Arguments to a Bill which came into this House from their Lordships Which being so signified to the said M r Serjeant Owen and M r Attorney General accordingly shortly after M r Doctor Carey and M r Powle brought word from the Lords that their Lordships would be ready this Afternoon to confer with the Committees of this House in the Chamber next to the Upper House Which done it was Ordered that the former Committees of this House who had been nominated on Monday the 28 th day of March foregoing be appointed to attend their Lordships at the said time and place and a note of the Committees names were delivered to M r Treasurer On Thursday the 5 th day of April the Bill for true Assizing and marking of Timber was read the second time and committed unto M r George Moore M r Dalton M r Wroth M r Browne Sir John Hart and others and the Bill was delivered to the said Sir John Hart who with the rest was appointed to meet to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber M r Serjeant Owen and M r Doctor Powle do bring from the Lords a Bill Intituled An Act for Explanation of the Statute made in the thirty fourth year of King Henry the Eighth as well touching Grants made to his Majesty as for Confirmation of the Letters Patents made by his Highness to others and do pray from their Lordships the speedy Execution of the same M r Vice-Chamberlain one of the Committees with the Committees of the Lords in the Bill for reviving continuing explanation and perfecting of certain statutes sheweth the meeting and Conference with the Committees of the Lords and that their Lordships have thought good to add some small Amendments to the said Bill and a Proviso also for her Majesties Prerogative in the point of Transportation of Corn as
only commit a great error in omitting to read some one Bill or other according to the usual Custom but was also much mistaken in informing the House that it had been Adjourned and so now stood Adjourned by those words which the Lord Keeper had spoken in the Upper House for his Lordship at this time as appears plainly by the Original Journal-Book of that House did only continue the Parliament and not Adjourn it which words although spoken by the Queens Commandment being personally present do only concern the said Upper House and reach not at all unto the House of Commons as was directly declared by the Lord Keeper himself in the next Parliament ensuing in An. 43 Regin Eliz. after that M r John Crooke M r Recorder of London their Speaker upon his allowance in and return from the said Upper House on Friday the 30 th day of October in An. eodem had by a like mistake misinformed the House that it was Adjourned and so caused it to rise without the reading of any Bill And therefore here once for all I have caused the true differences as I conceive in this kind to be here inserted viz. If the Lord Keeper by the Queens Commandment being personally present had either prolonged or Adjourned the Parliament or that her Majesty with her own Mouth had pronounced the said words or had caused the same to have been done by a Commission under the Great Seal in her absence in all these Cases it had reached alike both unto the Upper House and unto the House of Commons But if the Queens Majesty had with her own Mouth continued the Parliament as she did here command the Lord Keeper to do it yet this had only concerned the Upper House so that the Lords could not have met again until the day to which the said Parliament had been continued but the said House of Commons whom the said continuance concerned not might have met each day without intermission and have agitated such businesses and have given reading to such Bills as offered themselves And lastly If the Lord Keeper or Lord Chancellor for the time being do at any time Adjourn or continue the Parliament to a further day as of course he doth one of them for longer or shorter time every day the Upper House riseth and that he doth it not by Command or Commission from the Soveraign for the time being but do it of course as is aforesaid this concerns only the Upper House and the House of Commons are neither bound to take notice of it nor to surcease any of their daily Proceedings upon it On Saturday the 5 th day of November the House met about eight of the Clock in the Morning having through a meer mistake and error of the Speaker and themselves conceived their House to have been Adjourned by the Lord Keeper the first day of the Parliament unto this present Saturday as is more largely declared in fine diei praecedentis Nota also that some part of the Passages of this present Saturday following are transcribed out of the before-recited fragmentary and imperfect Journal M r Speaker this Morning according to the usual course brought in a Prayer to be used in the House during this Parliament which was as followeth OEternal God Lord of Heaven and Earth the great and mighty Councellor We thy poor Servants Assembled before thee in this Honourable Senate humbly acknowledge our great and manifold sins and imperfections and thereby our unworthiness to receive any grace and assistance from thee Yet most merciful Father since by thy providence we are called from all parts of the Land to this famous Council of Parliament to advise of those things which concern thy Glory the good of thy Church the prosperity of our Prince and the Weal of her people we most intirely beseech thee that pardoning all our sins in the Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ it would please thee by the brightness of thy Spirit to expel darkness and vanity from our minds and partiality from our Speeches and grant unto us such wisdom and integrity of heart as becometh the Servants of Jesus Christ the Subjects of a gracious Prince and Members of this Honourable House Let not us O Lord who are met together for the publick good of the whole Land be more careless and remiss than we use to be in our own private Causes Give Grace we beseech thee that every one of us may labour to shew a good Conscience to thy Majesty a good Zeal to thy word and a loyal heart to our Prince and a Christian Love to our Country and Common-Wealth O Lord so unite and conjoin the hearts of her Excellent Majesty and this whole Assembly as they may be a threefold Cord not easily broken giving strength to such godly I aws as be already Enacted that they may be the better Executed and Enacting such as are further requisite for the bridling of the wicked and the encouragement unto the godly and well affected Subjects That so thy great blessing may be continued towards us and thy grievous Judgments turned from us And that only for Christ Jesus sake our most glorious and only Mediator and Advocate to whom with thy blessed Majesty and the Holy Ghost be given all Honour and Praise Power and Dominion from this time forth for evermore Amen M r Francis Bacon spake first after that one Bill mentioned in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons had been read the first time viz. the Bill against Forestallers Regrators and Ingrossers and made a Motion against Inclosures and Depopulation of Towns and Houses of Husbandry and Tillage And to this purpose he brought in as he termed it two Bills not drawn with a polished pen but with a polished heart free from affection and affectation And because former Laws are Medicines of our understanding he said that he had perused the Preambles of former Statutes and by them did see the inconveniencies of this matter being then scarce out of the shell to be now full ripened And he said that the over-flowing of the people here makes a shrinking and abate elsewhere And that these two mischiefs though they be exceeding great yet they seem the less because Qui mala cum multis patimur leviora videntur And though it may be thought ill and very prejudicial to Lords that have inclosed great grounds and pulled down even whole Towns and converted them to Sheep-Pastures yet considering the increase of people and the benefit of the Common-Wealth I doubt not but every man will deem the revival of former Moth-eaten Laws in this point a praise-worthy thing For in matters of Policy ill is not to be thought ill which bringeth forth good For Inclosure of grounds brings depopulation which brings first Idleness secondly decay of Tillage thirdly subversion of Houses and decay of Charity and charges to the Poor fourthly impoverishing the state of the Realm A Law for the taking away of such inconveniences is not to
rest was appointed to meet to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Middle-Temple Hall The Bill for Reformation of sundry abuses committed by Souldiers and others used in her Majesties Services concerning the Wars was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Grevill Sir Robert Wroth Sir Walter Raleigh Mr. Henry Nevill Sir George Carcy Mr. Brograve Attorney of the Dutchy and divers others and the Bill and Committees names were delivered to Sir Walter Raleigh who with the rest was appointed to meet to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber Mr. Serjeant Drew and Mr. Doctor Stanhop did bring from the Lords a Bill lately passed in this House Intituled An Act to reform deceits and breaches of trust touching Lands given to Charitable uses and did shew that their Lordships have likewise passed the same Bill with a Proviso and some Amendments The Amendments and Provisoes of the Lords to the Bill lately passed in this House Intituled An Act to reform deceits and breaches of trust touching Lands given to Charitable uses being three times read the said Amendments were assented unto by this House and the said Proviso passed upon the Question accordingly The Bill concerning the Highway Lands of the Town of Aylesbury in the Country of Buckingham was read the third time and upon some Motions by some Members of this House was Ordered to be respited from being put to the Question till to Morrow that the Councel of the other sides may be here M r Doctor Carew and M r Doctor Stanhop did bring from the Lords the Bill lately passed in this House Intituled An Act against lewd and wandring persons pretending themselves to be Souldiers and Mariners And did shew in like manner that their Lordships had passed the same Bill with some Amendments The Amendments of the Lords in the Bill lately passed in this House Intituled An Act against lewd and wandring persons pretending themselves to be Souldiers and Mariners being three times read the same Amendments were upon the question assented unto accordingly The Committees of this House in the Bill from the Lords Intituled An Act for the better Explanation and Execution of an Act made in the thirteenth year of the Queens Majesties Reign Capito quarto concerning Tellors Receivors c. who were appointed on Wednesday the 18 th day of this instant January foregoing were appointed to meet this Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber at two of the Clock and have further consideration and Conference amongst themselves touching the proceeding in the same Bill On Saturday the 28 th day of January the Bill for punishment of Rogues Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars was read the second time and committed unto some Members of this House to be considered of in the Committee Chamber of this House The Bill for Confirmation of the Jointure of Mary Lady Verney Wife of Sir Edmund Verney K t was read the second time and passed upon the Question Goodale one of the adverse Parties to the Bill concerning the Highway Lands of the Town of Aylesbury being present in this House and praying some words to be inserted into the said Bill which being upon due and deliberate consideration of this House admitted to be inserted accordingly and three times read the Bill was put to the question and passed thereupon accordingly Mr. Pembridg one of the Committees in the Bill for reviving continuing and explanation of An Act for the necessary relief of Mariners and Souldiers who were appointed on Thursday the 26 th day of this instant January foregoing shewed the meeting and travel of the Committees and some their Amendments to the Bill and so delivered in the Bill to the House The Bill for punishment of Rogues Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars was read the third time and passed with an Amendment of this House in the last line of the same Bill viz. by inserting these words end of the between the first word the and the word first in the same line Mr. Serjeant Drew and Mr. Doctor Cary did bring from the Lords a Bill passed with their Lordships intituled An Act against the decaying of Towns and Houses of Husbandry and another Bill which lately passed in this House and was sent up to their Lordships intituled An Act for the lawful making of Bayes within the Counties of Fssex and Suffolk which Bill is also passed with their Lordships with a Proviso added to the same by their Lordships which said Proviso being three times read was passed upon the question The Bill against the decaying of Towns and Houses of Husbandry had its first reading On Monday the 30 th day of January the Bill concerning Garret de Malynes and John Hunger Merchant Strangers was read the second time There were seven Bills this Morning sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons by M r Secretary and others of which the first was the Bill for Punishment of Rogues Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars the second for the lawful making of Bayes And the third was the Bill to reform deceits and breaches of trust touching Lands given to Charitable uses with order also to move their Lordships for Conference some time after this present day with their Lordships concerning the Bill lately passed with their Lordships and sent down by them unto this House intituled An Act to reform sundry abuses committed by Souldiers and others used to her Majesties services concerning the Wars M r Chancellor of the Exchequer one of the Committees for Conference amongst themselves concerning the Bill intituled An Act for the better Explanation and Execution of the Act made in the 13 th year of the Queens Majesties Reign Cap. quart concerning Tellors and Receivors c. shewed the meeting and travel of the Committees and their not liking to pass the same Bill in this House in manner and form as the same was passed with the Lords in regard of many inconveniencies appearing in the same Bill which were then opened by him at large And shewed further that they thought good to frame a new Bill in that Cause with a better and more reasonable form and so delivered in the same Bill which was thereupon presently read for the first reading accordingly M r Snagg one of the Committees in the Bill that the Plaintiffs shall pay the Defendants Costs lying in Prison for want of Bail who were appointed on Friday the 27 th day of this instant January foregoing and in the Bill to avoid deceits in Measures and Weights shewed the meeting and travel of the Committees with their Amendments to the said Bill to avoid deceits in Measures and Weights and their opinion of reserving the said other Bill till another Parliament and so delivered in both the said Bills into the said House M r Doctor Carew and M r Doctor Stanhop did bring from the Lords a Bill intituled An Act for the Confirmation of Statutes Merchants acknowledged in the Town Corporate of Newcastle upon Tyne The Bill against the decaying of
was read tertiâ vice expedit Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque ad horam secundam post meridiem hujus instantis diei About which hour the Lord Keeper and divers other Lords assembling Five Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the strengthening of the Grants made for the Maintenance and Government of the House of the Poor called S t Bartholomews Hospital of the Foundation of King Hen. the Eighth was read secundâ vice The Bill for the recovery of many hundred thousand Acres of Marshes and other Grounds subject commonly to surrounding within the Isle of Ely and Counties of Cambridge Huntington Northampton Lincoln Norfolk and Suffolk was read iertiâ vice expedit Upon the third reading of this Bill it was moved by the House that certain Additions might be put in the Title of the Bill and Amendments in some part of the body thereof and the Lord Chief Justice and M r Attorney were required to draw the same which was done presently by them and presented to the House Whereupon the said Additions and Amendments were thrice read and then sent to the House of Commons for their consideration of the same by M r Attorney and M r D r Hone who returned presently from the House of Commons with their allowance of the said Amendments and Addition in the Title of of the Counties of Essex Sussex Kent and the County Palatine of Durham Three Bills also had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill to make the Lands Tenements and Hereditaments of Edward Lucas Gentleman deceased Executor of the last Will and Testament of John Flowerden Esquire deceased lyable c. was read secundâ vice but no mention is made either of the Commitment or Engrossing thereof the reason or cause of which omission see more at large on Monday the 23 d day of November foregoing Conference was desired by the House of Commons with some of their Lordships about the Bill sent to them this day concerning the reformation of Deceits and Frauds of certain Auditors c. The Conference was yielded unto and appointed to be presently at the outward Chamber near the Parliament Presence On Friday the 18 th day of December Four Bills had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for the Queens Majesties most Gracious General and free Pardon was read primâ vice and sent to the House of Commons by M r Attorney General and M r Doctor Stanhop Memorandum that whereas a Bill hath been presented to the High Court of Parliament by the Company of the Mystery or Trade of Painters making thereby complaint against the Company of Plaisterers for and concerning certain wrongs pretended to be done to the said Painters by the Company of Plaisterers in using some part of their Trade of Painting contrary to the right of their Charter as is pretended and humbly seeking by the said Bill reformation of the said wrong And whereas the said Bill passed not the Upper House of Parliament for just and good reasons moving the Lords of the Higher House to the contrary Yet nevertheless the Lords of the Upper House have thought it meet and convenient that some course might be taken for reformation of any such wrong as may be found truly complained of and fit to be remedied and for the setling of some good agreement and Order for the said Painters and Plaisterers so as each sort of them might exercise their Trade conveniently without impeaching one the other It is therefore Ordered by the Court of the Upper House of Parliament that the said complaint and cause of the said Painters which proceeded not in Parliament shall be referr'd to the Lord Mayor of London and the Recorder of London to be heard and examined adjudged and Ordered as in Justice and Equity shall be found meet And that at the time or times of the hearing of the said Cause the Lord Chief Justice of England the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas M r Justice Gawdie M r Baron Clark and M r Attorney General or any four three or two of them shall assist and give their help for the making and establishing some good Order and Agreement And that the said parties complainant and also the Company of the Plaisterers shall observe and keep such Order as by the said Mayor the Lord Chief Justice of England the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas M r Justice Gawdie M r Baron Clark M r Attorney General M r Recorder of London or any six five four or three of them whereof the Lord Mayor and the Lord Chief Justice of England or Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas to be two shall be set down and prescribed Vide concerning this matter on Monday the 14 th day of this instant December foregoing Memorandum that whereas William Crayford of Mongham in the County of Kent Gentleman was this day brought before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the Upper House of Parliament to answer an Information made against him that he had procured and suborned his Son William Crayford to lay sundry Executions and Outlawries on William Vaughan Gentleman Servant to the Earl of Shrewesbury contrary to the priviledge of the Court And the said Crayford having been heard in the presence of William Vaughan what he could say concerning the said Information wherein he protested that he was guiltless and that his said Son had not in any sort received such direction from him as was informed It was therefore by the Court thought meet and so Ordered that the examination and determining of the controversies and Suits depending between the said Crayford and Vaughan should be referr'd to the Earl of Worcester the Lord Bishop of London and the Lord Cobham And that they the said Crayford and Vaughan should enter into good and sufficient Bonds each to other to stand to observe and perform such Award and Arbitrement as the said Lords shall make and set down between them Vide concerning this Matter on Saturday the 19 th day of this instant December immediately following On Saturday the 19 th day of December a Motion was made in the House for avoiding of all further controversy between William Crayford and William Vaughan Gentlemen That forasmuch as each of them took mutual Exception one to the other touching the Bonds whereinto they formerly entred by Order of the Court the said William Crayford alledging that it sufficed not William Vaughan alone to be bound because his Heirs or some other claiming by and from him might trouble and molest him And that the said Vaughan is insufficient And the said William Vaughan alledging that if William Craysord were bound alone his Sons or Heirs might molest and trouble the said Vaughan without hazard of the Bond some further Order might thereupon be taken It was therefore this day Ordered by the Court that the said William Crayford and
which all said A good Motion M r Holcroft of Cheshire said May it please you M r Speaker the County day for Denbighshire is on Thursday next and therefore there had need be speed made otherwise there can be no Election this Parliament M r Speaker said Will it please you to name the six Committees so the House named Sir Edward Hobbie Serjeant Harris Sir Francis Hastings c. The Speaker likewise said Will it please you to name the four to go to the Lord Keeper so the House named Secretary Herbert Sir Edward Stanhop Sir Edward Stafford and M r Fulk Grevill Thus far out of the aforesaid private Journal The next dayes Passages do now follow in part out of the Original Journal-Book it self On Saturday the 14 th day of November M r Cotton a Member of this House moved for the receiving of two Bills which he then offered to the consideration of the House and were accepted accordingly but were not then read by reason of sundry occasions of lett and for that also M r Speaker had not perused them Three Bills also had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill that Edward Markham may dispose of his Lands as other Tenants in Tail lawfully may do was read the second time and committed unto Sir Robert Wroth Sir Moyle Finch and others who were appointed to meet upon Friday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Court of Wards and the Parties whom it concerneth to bring their Evidences and Writings to the Committees One other Bill touching making of Cloathes was read primâ vice M r Johnson informed the House that sundry Members of this House have been served with Subpoena's viz. Edward Mountague Esq to appear in Chancery upon the 6 th day of this instant November ad respondend Will. Riddlesden upon Sir Michael Sandes to appear in the Kings-Bench ad testificand ' die Veneris prox ' post Crast ' Sancti Martin at the Suit of John Stow upon Goddard Pemberton to be in the Chancery vii o die Novembr ad Sect. Will. Wood. Whereupon the Serjeant was appointed to bring unto this House the persons that served or do prosecute the said Subpoena's to Answer in this House for their said Contempts Thus far out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons the further dispute of this business and the residue of the Passages of this day are in the next place supplied out of the often before-recited private Journal of the said House The said M r Johnson after he had vouched the aforesaid precedent instances touching other Members of the House that had been served with several Subpoena's certified the said House further thus much that the Informer came to his Lodging this Morning as he was coming out of his Door and asked for him he told him he was the man Then said the Informer The Queen Greets you well What 's this quoth I A Subpoena quoth the Informer and I charge you to appear upon it according to the Contents Then I told him that I was of this House and could not attend He Answered me again there it is I care not look you to it at your peril M r David Waterhouse stood up and shewed that that Subpoena came out of his Office and further shewed the necessity of obeying of it for that a Cause for want of Witnesses might be lost therefore the hearing being appointed at a day certain the Client might peradventure be undone if he should not have this Subpoena ad testificandum in due time both served and appeared unto Sir Edward Hobbie alledged divers Precedents touching this point as 10 February 27 th Eliz. M r Kerle served one Roger Stepney with a Subpoena into the Star-Chamber and for this he was adjudged to the Serjeants keeping for six dayes and to pay five Marks Charges And 25 March 27 Eliz. M r Crooke served a Member of this House with a Subpoena into Chancery and for so doing was adjudged to give a Copy of the Bill twenty shillings for Charge and was Committed M r Wiseman said notwithstanding the Allegations and excuse of the Gentleman that spake in favour of the Subpoena ad testificandum I think it deserveth no less favour than the other For if the necessity of the Cause were such that he must needs be served and spared out of this House the party ought to ask leave of the House or at least of the Speaker or intreat him to relate the same to the House Sir George Moore said I think as the Gentleman that last spake for the like Subpoena being brought the last Parliament it grew to a question whether it were an impeachment to the Priviledge of the House And after some dispute an antient Member of this House shewed divers Precedents how that the minds of the Members of this House ought to be freed as well as their bodies Whereupon two Members were sent to require the Lord Keeper to reverse that Subpoena c. He also spake of a Quo Warranto for the Liberties of the Black-Fryars withheld but to what purpose ignoro Then it grew to a question whether a Burgess of a Parliament may be served with a Subpoena ad testificandum And it was concluded that he could not So after this dispute they agreed that the Serjeant should be sent to Arrest all those to appear that had procured the Subpoena's aforesaid to Answer their contempts with all speed Sir Francis Hastings stood up and made a relation of the proceedings which he with the other Committees had made according to the Commandment of the House the day before He said We called before us the Clerk of the Crown the Clerk of the petty Bag and our Clerk of the Parliament The Clerk of the Crown shewed us sive Warrants and one Order all one Course and one form and all in the 27 Eliz. Three of the Warrants were directed to the Clerk of the Crown two without direction and he shewed us Writs without Warrant Then we called the Clerk of the petty Bag who would shew us no Warrant but only a Record of Writ in his Roll of 39 Eliz. only he said but we heard him not that Warrants had been granted to the Clerk of the petty Bag. The Clerk of the Parliament shewed unto us two Precedents of 5 Eliz. and of 13 Eliz. every one without direction but with these words or to the like effect as I take it It is required such and such a thing be done Sir Edward Hobbie said Because the truth hereof may be made more plain and that it pleased you to command my unworthy self to attend Yesterdays Service I will under favour of the Gentleman that last spake make a Repetition ab origine a little longer than he did for your satisfactions of this Cause and our pains It pleased you to depute six to this service five attended The Serjeant at Law Serjeant Harris of whose furtherance we best hoped deceived both your
us proceed by Bill and see if the Queen would have denied it Another that the Patents should be brought here before us and cancelled and this were bravely done Others would have us to proceed by way of Petition which Course doubtless is best but for the first and especially for the second it is so ridiculous that I think we should have as bad success as the Devil himself would have wished in so good a Cause Why if idle courses had been followed we should have gone forsooth to the Queen with a Petition to have repealed a Patent of Monopoly of Tabaco Pipes which M r Wingfields note had and I know not how many conceits but I wish every man to rest satisfied till the Committees have brought in their resolutions according to your Commandments On Wednesday the 25 th day of November Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for the levying of Fines in the County and City of Chester was read the second time and committed unto all the Queens Learned Councel being of this House the Knights and Burgesses for the County and City of Chester Sir John Egerton and others who were appointed to meet upon Friday next in the Inner-Temple Hall at two of the Clock in the Afternoon Sir Edward Hobbie made Report of the Committees travel in the Bill touching M r Nevill and delivered in the Bill with some Amendments and a Proviso The Amendments and Proviso in the Bill for Mr. Nevill were twice read and Ordered with the Bill to be ingrossed and not to be read the third time until her Majesties Pleasure be further known to be signified unto this House by Mr. Sollicitor Mr. Speaker or some other thereunto appointed The Amendments in the Bill touching trifling Suits were twice read and with the Bill Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill to prevent double payment of Debt upon Shop-Books was read the second time and committed unto Sir Walter Raleigh Mr. Beeston Sir Francis Hastings and others and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Beeston who with the rest was appointed to meet in the Inner-Temple Hall at two of the Clock in the Afternoon upon Friday next The Committees for the Exchequer Bill who were appointed on Saturday the 21 th day of this instant November foregoing brought in the Bill with some Amendments and after some Speeches therein had upon the question resolved that it should be presently recommitted to be considered of in the Committee Chamber of this House and thereunto are appointed Mr. Mountague Mr. Winch Sir Robert Wroth Mr. Jones Mr. Martin Mr. Tate Mr. Johnson c. Mr. Henry Mountague brought in the Bill touching Process and Pleadings in the Court of Exchequer with Report of the Amendments The Amendments in the Bill for Orders in the Court of Exchequer were twice read and with the Bill Ordered to be ingrossed Mr. Speaker after a silence and every man marvelling why the Speaker stood up spake to this effect It pleased her Majesty to command me to attend upon her Yesterday in the Afternoon from whom I am to deliver unto you all her Majesties most gracious Message sent by my unworthy Self She yields you all hearty thanks for your care and special regard of those things that concern her State Kingdom and consequently our Selves whose good she had always tendred as her own for our speedy resolution in making of so hasty and free a Subsidy which commonly succeeded and never went before our Councels and for our Loyalty I do assure you with such and so great Zeal and Affection she uttered and shewed the same that to express it our tongues are not able neither our hearts to conceive it It pleased her Majesty to say unto me that if she had an hundred tongues she could not express our hearty earty good Wills And further she said that as she had ever held our good most dear so the last day of our or her Life should witness it And that the least of her Subjects was not grieved and she not touched She appealed to the Throne of Almighty God how careful she hath been and will be to defend her People from all Oppressions She said that partly by intimation of her Council and partly by divers Petitions that have been delivered unto her both going to the Chapel and also to walk abroad she understood that divers Patents which she had granted were grievous to her Subjects and that the Substitutes of the Patentees had used great Oppressions But she said she never assented to grant any thing which was Malum in se. And if in the abuse of her Grant there be any thing evil which she took knowledge there was she her self would take present Order of reformation I cannot express unto you the Apparent Indignation of her Majesty towards these abuses She said that her Kingly Prerogative for so she termed it was tender and therefore desireth us not to fear or doubt of her careful reformation for she said that her Commandment was given a little before the late troubles meaning the Earl of Essex's matters but had an unfortunate Event but that in the middest of her most great and weighty occasions she thought upon them And that this should not suffice but that further Order should be taken presently and not in futuro for that also was another word which I take it her Majesty used and that some should be presently repealed some suspended and none put in Execution but such as should first have a Tryal according to the Law for the good of the People Against the abuses her wrath was so incensed that she said that she neither could nor would suffer such to escape with impunity So to my unspeakable comfort she hath made me the Messenger of this her gracious Thankfulness and Care Now we see that the Axe of her Princely Justice is laid to the Root of the Tree and so we see her gracious goodness hath prevented our Counsels and Consultations God make us thankful and send her long to Reign amongst us If through weakness of memory want of utterance or frailty of my Self I have omitted any thing of her Majesties Commands I do most humbly crave Pardon for the same And do beseech the Honourable Persons which assist this Chair and were present before her Majesty at the delivery hereof to supply and help my imperfections which joined with my fear have caused me no doubt to forget something which I should have delivered unto you After a little pause and silent talking one with another M r Secretary Cecill stood up and said There needs no supply of the Memory of the Speaker But because it pleased him to desire some that be about him to aid his delivery and because the rest of my Fellows be silent I will take upon me to deliver some thing which I both then heard and since know I was present with the rest of my Fellow Counsellors and the Message was the same
that hath been told you and the cause hath not succeeded from any particular course thought upon but from private Informations of some particular persons I have been very Inquisitive of them and of the Cause why more importunity was now used than afore which I am afraid comes by being acquainted with some course of proceeding in this House There are no Patents now of force which shall not presently be revoked for what Patent soever is granted there shall be left to the overthrow of that Patent a Liberty agreeable to the Law There is no Patent if it be Malum in se but the Queen was ill apprized in her Grant But all to the generality be unacceptable I take it there is no Patent whereof the Execution hath not been injurious Would that they had never been granted I hope there shall never be more All the House said Amen In particular most of these Patents have been supported by Letters of Assistance from her Majesties Privy Council but whosoever looks upon them shall find that they carry no other stile than with relation to the Patent I dare assure you that from henceforth there shall be no more granted They shall all be revoked But to whom do they repair with these Letters to some out-house to some desolate Widow to some simple Cottage or poor ignorant People who rather than they would be troubled and undo themselves by coming up hither will give any thing in reason for these Caterpillars satisfaction The notice of this is now publick and you will perhaps judge this to be a Tale to serve the time But I would have all men to know thus much that it is no jesting with a Court of Parliament neither dares any man for my own part I dare not so mock and abuse all the States of this Kingdom in a matter of this consequence and importance I say therefore there shall be a Proclamation general throughout the Realm to notify her Majesties resolution in this behalf And because you may eat your meat more savourly than you have done every man shall have Salt as good cheap as he can either buy it or make it freely without danger of that Patent which shall be presently revoked The same benefit shall they have which have cold Stomachs both for Aquavitae and Aqua composita and the like And they that have weak Stomachs for their satisfaction shall have Vinegar and Alegar and the like set at liberty Train Oyl shall go the same way Oyl of Blubber shall march in equal rank Brushes and Bottles endure the like Judgment The Patent for Pouldavy if it be not called in it shall be Oade which as I take it is not restrained either by Law or Statute but only by Proclamation I mean from the former Sowing though for the saving thereof it might receive good disputation Yet for your satisfaction the Queens Pleasure is to revoke that Proclamation only she prayeth thus much that when she cometh on Progress to see you in your Countries she be not driven out of your Towns by suffering it to infect the Air too near them Those that desire to go sprucely in their Ruffs may at less charge than accustomed obtain their wish for the Patent for Starch which hath so much been prosecuted shall now be repealed There are other Patents which be considerable as the Patent of New Drapery which shall be suspended and left to the Law Irish Yarn a matter that I am sorry there is no cause of Complaint for the Salvageness of the People and the War hath frustrated the hope of the Patentee a Gentleman of good service and desert a good Subject to her Majesty and a good Member of the Common-Wealth M r Carmarthen Notwithstanding it shall be suspended and left to the Law The Patent for Calf-Skins and Fells which was made with a relation shall endure the censure of the Law But I must tell you there is no reason that all should be revoked for the Queen means not to be swept out of her Prerogative I say it shall be suspended if the Law do not Warrant it There is another Servant of her Majesties M r Onslow one of her Pensioners an honest Gentleman and a faithful Servant he hath the Patent for Steel which one M r Beale once had this too because of Complaints shall be suspended There is another that hath the Patent for Leather Sir Edward Dyer a Gentleman of good desert honest religious and wise this was granted unto him thirty years ago It crept not in by the new misgovernment of the time Yet this shall also be suspended The Patent for Cards shall be suspended and tryable by the Common Law The Patent for Glasses which though I do least apprehend to be prejudicial to the publick good yet it is lest to the Law There is another Patent for Saltpeter that hath been both accused and slandered It digs in every mans House it annoys the Inhabitant and generally troubleth the Subject For this I beseech you be contented Yet I know I am to blame to desire it it being condemned by you in foro Conscientiae but I assure you it shall be fully sifted and tryed in foro judicii Her Majesty means to take this Patent 〈◊〉 her Self and advise with her Council touching the same For I must tell you the Kingdom is not so well furnished with Powder now as it should be But if it be thought fit upon advice to be cancelled her Majesty commanded me to tell you that though she be willing to help the grave Gentleman that hath that Patent yet out of that abundant desire that she hath to give you compleat satisfaction it shall be repealed This hath come to the Ear of the Queen and I have been most earnest to search for the Instrument and as a Counsellor of State have done my best endeavour to salve the sore But I fear we are not secret within our selves Then must I needs give you this for a future Caution That whatsoever is subject to publick expectation cannot be good while the Parliament matters are ordinary talk in the Street I have heard my self being in my Coach these words spoken aloud God prosper those that further the overthrow of these Monopolies God send the Prerogative touch not our Liberty I will not wrong any so much as to imagine he was of this Assembly Yet let me give you this Note That the time was never more apt to disorder and make ill interpretation of good meaning I think those persons would be glad that all Sovereignty were converted into Popularity We being here are but the popular branch and our liberty the liberty of the Subject And the World is apt to slander most especially the Ministers of Government Thus much have I spoken to accomplish my duty unto her Majesty but not to make any further performance of the well uttered and gravely and truly delivered Speech of the Speaker But I must crave your favours a little longer to make an
by two Witnesses before a Justice of the Peace And by this Statute if a Justice of Peace come into the Quarter Sessions and say it is a good Oath this is as good as an Indictment Therefore for my part away with the Bill Sir Francis Hastings said I never in my Life heard Justices of the Peace taxed before in this sort for ought I know Justices of Peace be men of Quality Honesty Experience and Justice I would ask the Gentleman that last spake but two questions the first if he would have any Penalty at all inflicted the second if in the first Statute or in this an easier way for the levying of this twelve pence If he deny the first I know his scope if the second no man but himself will deny it And to speak so in both is neither gravely religiously nor rightly spoken And therefore for God the Queen and our Countries sake I beseech a Commitment M r Carey Raleigh said The Sabbath is Ordained for four Causes First To meditate on the Omnipotency of God Secondly To Assemble us together to give thanks Thirdly That we might be the better enabled to follow our own Affairs Fourthly That we might hallow that day and sanctify the same King James the Fourth in the Year 1512. and King James the Sixth in the Year 1579 or 1597. did erect and ratify a Law that whosoever kept either Fair or Market upon the Sabbath his moveables should presently be given to the Poor Men gathering of sticks were stoned to Death because that was thought to be a kind of Prophanation of the Sabbath In France a Woman refusing to sanctify the Sabbath Fire appeared in the Air this moved her not it came the second time and devoured all that ever she had only a little Child in the Cradle excepted But to come nearer our selves in the Year 1583. the House of Paris Garden by Gods just Judgment fell down as they were at the Bear-baiting the 23 th of January on a Sunday and four hundred persons sorely crushed yet by God's Mercy only eight slain outright I would be an humble Suitor to the Honourable that sit about the Chair that this brutish Exercise may be used on some other day and not upon the Sunday which I with my heart do wish may be observed and doubt not but great reformation will come if this Bill pass To the better effecting whereof I humbly pray that if there be imperfections in it it may be committed Sir George Moore said I have read that the tongue of a man is so tyed in his mouth that it will stir and yet not so tied that it will stir still It is tied deep in the Stomach with certain strings which reach to the heart to this end I say that what the heart doth offer the tongue may utter what the heart thinks the tongue may speak This I know to be true because I find it in the word of truth Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh For the Gentleman that last spake and so much inveighed against Justices it may be it proceeds out of the corruption of his heart howsoever I mean not to search it or answer him only I turn him to Solomon and mean to answer him with silence Without going to Church doing Christian Duties we cannot be Religious and by Religion we learn both our Duty to God and to the Queen In doing our Duty to God we shall be better enabled to do our Duty to our Prince And the word bindeth us that we should give to God that which is due to God Et Caesari quae sunt Caesaris Amongst many Laws which we have we have none for constraint of Gods Service I say None though one were made in primo of this Queen because that Law is no Law which takes no force for Executio Legis vita Legis Then let us not give such cause of Comfort to our Adversaries that having drawn a Bill in Question for the service of our God we should stand so much in questioning the same Once a Month coming to Church excuseth us from danger of the Law but not from the Commandment of God who saith Thou shalt sanctifie the Sabbath day that is every Sabbath This Bill ties the Subject to so much and no more which being agreeable with the Law of God and the Rule of Policy I see no reason why we should stand so strictly in giving it a Commitment M r Bond said I wish the Sabbath sanctified according to the precise Rules of Gods Commandment but I wish that S t Augustins Rule may be observed in the manner non jubendo sed docendo magis monendo quà m minando I like not that power should be given to the Justices of Peace for who almost are not grieved at the luxuriant Authority of Justices of Peace By the Statute of 1 Edw. 3. they must be good men and lawful no maintainers of evil but moderate in Execution of Laws for Magistrates be men and men have always attending on them two Ministers Libido Iracundia men of this nature do subjugate the free born Subject Clerks can do much Children more and Wives most It is dangerous therefore to give Authority in so dangerous a thing as this is which I hold worth your second thoughts quae solent esse prudentiores Her Majesty during all the time of her Reign hath been clement gracious meek and merciful yea chusing rather delinquere I know not how to term it in Lenity and not in Cruelty But by this Statute there is a constraint to come to divine service and for neglect all must pay Plectentur Achivi the poor Commonalty whose strength and quietness is the strength and quietness of us all he only shall be punished he vexed For will any think that a Justice of Peace will contest with as good a man as himself No this Age is too wise I leave it to this House whether it stand with Policy when four Subsidies and eight Fifteenths be now granted to bring the poorer sort into greater fear by these and such like Laws Malus custos diuturnitatis metus And in the gracious Speech which her Majesty lately delivered unto us she used this that she desired to be beloved of her Subjects It was a wise Speech of a wise Prince for an Historian saith Timor excitat in vindictam Therefore M r Speaker I mislike the Bill in that point touching Justices and also touching taxation I will only say thus much with Panutius in the Nicene Council Absit quòd tam grave jugum fratribus nostris imponamus I am sorry said M r Comptroller after sorty three years under her Majesties happy government that we shall now dispute or commit a Bill of this nature And I would that any voice durst be so bold or desperate as cry Away with this Bill The old Statute gives the penalty this new only speedier means to levy it I much marvel that men will or dare accuse Justices
And therefore I see no reason to confer with the Lords when we may proceed our selves Sir Edward Hobbie said If the Case were but plain of it self I should be of the Gentlemans mind that last spake but I am given to understand and also desire so to inform the House that this Information was put into the Star-Chamber by some kind of Order from the Lords and therefore very convenient a Conference should be had Sir Francis Hastings said who was Brother to the Earl of Huntington To enter into consideration of this Cause by Report and otherwise I cannot I know no man but respecteth the Honourable Person himself and for this Gentleman Mr. Belgrave I ever took him and so do to be a man of very good Carriage To condemn him I do not mean but I humbly pray that a course for his Honour may be taken and the matter so handled that the Honour of the Person may be saved the Gentleman freed from further offence and this Cause ended with good Conclusion And I protest I am not privy to the Prosecution Mr. Dale said Id possumus quod jure possumus and therefore resting in doubt herein the safest course is a Conference Mr. Tate said It is not good to utter things suddenly in great matters Our dispute may seem to have this end either to incur the dangers of our Priviledge by not regarding this Cause or to pry too near into her Majesties Prerogative by examining Informations exhibited into the Star-Chamber Wherefore I think we ought to be Petitioners Nota verbum Petitioners or at least to shew our griefs to the Lords and if by any Order from them as was alledged this Information was put in methinks in reason a Conference were good to examine the Cause and inform this House truly thereof Mr. Skipwith the Pentioner said If I knew or did think that any wrong were offered to the Earl of Huntington I would rather be a Petitioner for this Gentleman to him than I would be a Protector of him against him I knew Mr. Belgrave writ his Letter to my Lord and that it pleased his Honour to Answer him and that he offered to follow his Honour in that sort as is fitting for a Gentleman of his worth and rather his Honour than any man in England This I take it may satisfie the House for Answer to the first part of the Information which containeth a dishonour offered to the Earl For the second which is deceiving of the Burgesses I do Answer this House They were both willing and worthy to be deceived I know they had given their Voices and desired M r Belgrave to take it For the wrong to this Court I hope this Court hath wisdom enough to right it selt without any course to be taken in the Star-Chamber yet by your favour I may say thus much that if we should punish him for coming indirectly into this place we should punish three parts of this House for none ought to be chosen but those that be resident and sworn Burgesses of the Town Sir Robert Wroth said This matter needs not so much dispute There is a Precedent in this House to this point in the last Year of Queen Mary between Pleddall and Pleddall It pleased the Lords of the Star-Chamber sedente Parliamento to bind the one at the Suit of the other to appear twelve dayes after the Parliament and this adjudged to be an infringement of the Liberties M r Davies said The Information savours more of wit than malice And therefore I think upon Conference with the Lords the matter may be brought to good end I therefore humbly pray it may be put to the question and that the Bill may be sent for out of the Star-Chamber M r Carey said I take it M r Speaker the course hath been that if the House be desirous to see any Record you Mr. Speaker should send a Warrant to the Lord Keeper to grant forth a Certiorari to have the Record If by this means this Information be brought into this House upon view thereof perhaps this matter of dispute would take end Sir Francis Hastings offered to speak again in this matter But Mr. Bacon interrupted him and told him it was against the course To which he Answered he was old enough to know when and how often to speak To which Mr. Bacon replyed it was no matter but he needed not to be so hot in an ill cause To which Sir Francis replyed in several matters of debate a man may speak often So I take it is the Order He pointing to Mr. Bacon talk of Heat He tell you If I be so hot as he was Yesterday then put me out of the House The only thing that I would say is this I wish a Conference may be had with the Lord because the matter may be brought to some Friendly end for God knows what may lie in the Deck till after the Parliament And I suspect it the more because the Information and no Process issued forth Mr. Grevill said I with that in our Conference we do not neglect our Priviledges and that we may be means of mediation c. So the House appointed these Members following to have Conference with the Lords viz. All the Privy Council being Members of this House Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Francis Hastings Mr. Fulke Grevill the Masters of Request Sir Edward Hobbie Sir Robert Wroth Sir Francis Darcte Sir George Moore Sir John Grey Mr. Barrington Mr. Tate Mr. Martin and Mr. Skipwith to meet upon Thursday next at eight of the Clock in the Morning These names being thus transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons another passage of this day doth here follow out of a Private Journal of that House Mr. Speaker said I am to certify you from the Lords of a great disorder committed by the Pages and Servants as well of the Lords themselves as of your Servants and Attendants so that not only abuse is offered but weapons and blood drawn For remedy whereof the Lords have given strait Commandment that their Servants keep peaceable and quiet Order and that neither their Pages Attendants or Servants do stand upon the Stairs or nearer the House than the Stair foot They desire that every Member of this House would do the like to their Servants and so expresly to charge and command them And I would move you that you would be pleased the Serjeant might go forth and signify so much from you unto the Company without Mr. Wiseman said The disorder Mr. Speaker speaks of is now grown so great that a man dare not go down the Stairs without a Conductor So the Serjeant went and delivered the Message and the abuse was well reformed Mr. Davies made Report of the meeting and travel of the Committees in the Bill touching Gavelkind Lands and brought in the Bill with some Amendments On Wednesday the 9 th day of December the Bill touching the Assurance of certain Mannors c.