young men Such arrowes in the hands of Gyants and many rich Farmers hauing tall and strong men to their sonnes wée might haue séene But now where this late inclosure hath set in foote either there are no families left or else they are so pinched by great rents and pined with want and penurie that they are rather like prisoners then arrows in the hand of a Gyant Thus inclosure where it commeth dispeoples townes and impares the Lords inheritance Therefore all his stewards and ministers ought to inueigh against this sinne and all his children ought to condemne it Againe Dauid speaking of the reprobate and wicked giueth them this cognisance Haue they no vnderstanding or will they not know or vnderstand as it is in the Hebrew all they that worke wickednes who eate vp my people as if they would eate bread they haue not called vpon God Here first we may note the obstinacie of these sinners and depopulators They will not know they will not be perswaded they will maintaine and defend their inclosures and depopulations say what one can against them yea and that out of Gods booke they will writhe all things to maintaine their couetousnes Secondly the grieuousnesse of this sinne with God and the small account that men make of it They make no account nor no more conscience to depopulate townes and to consume men then to eate bread They thinke that they may do it lawfully But God tels all such héere by the Prophet Dauid that though they beare a shew of religion vet they haue not called vpon God that is they are plainely Atheists For by a figure called Synecdoche the part is put for the whole ano inuoration of the name of God is put for all his religion As Gen. 12. 8. 1. Cor. 1. 2. Acts 9. 21. Nay Dauid in another psalm toucheth narrowly these Inclosers and depopulators of townes speaking thus to God Thou hast brought a vine out of Aegypt saiih he thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it No doubt Dauid heare spake typically of the vine Christs Church which God hath in our daies brought out of the Popes spirituall Aegypt as Saint Iohn termes it and that he hath cast out those spirituall heathen that trampled with their feete the holy citie 42. moneths For what did they else in poperie but trample in Gods Church with their féete Their bodies were present in the Church but not their vnderstanding and therefore their hearts were away For where vnderstanding is not there the heart cannot properly be said to be And therfore their vnderstanding was away because Gods worde was read to them in a strange tongue and also they praied in a strange tongue Except I know the power of the voice of him that speaketh I shall bee to him a Barbarian saith Saint Paul And may not these be properly called heathen whom Saint Paul calleth Barbarians and may not these be said to trample in the holie citie when their bodies onely were present and their hearte were away God hath brought a vine out of Aegypt and hath expelled the heathen out of his holy citie and planted this vine in their place He swept before the face of this vine with the winde of his spirit and the béesome os his worde clensing all the dust and sand of mans deuises giuing to it puritie of doctrine It filled the land This vine spred her branches thorow the whole lande and that speedily The Papists maruell they neuer dreamed that this vine would haue spred her branches so far and wide Nay the hilles were couered with the shadow of it Manie noble men verie religiously and zealouslie professed this religion and dranke the comfortable wine of this vine But héere now followes the mischiefe héere followes Sathan Jesus Christs enemie But why saith Dauid hast thou pluct vp her hedge that euery one that goeth by the way hath a snatch as we say at this vine The wild Boare of the wood hath destroied it and the wilde beasts of the field haue eaten it vp And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the young vine which thou madest so strong for thine owne selfe It is burnt with fire and cut downe What doth all this meane but that this vine by couetous and cruell landlords is lopped and diminished and burnt with the fire of couetousnes Euen that vine which God himselfe planted so miraculously and had made so strong in faith to goe out of poperie and not to feare the Diuell This beloued vine and this strong vine haue our wilde Boares deuoured and our fierie couetousnesse hath burnt vp for doe wée thinke that Dauid speakes of any materiall fire or vine Will God take this at their handes Doe they thinke that he makes not high account of euery christian soule and doe they not know that he will be praised with many mouthes And that Christ when he sawe the multitude went vp to the hill to preach and that hee knoweth how manie haue béene in townes in time of poperie and shall wée now in the light of the Gospell impare his shéepe dare wée doe it surely hée will reuenge it And let all such depopulators know that they are but trauellers by the way They shall not long continue héere with their hedges Ioab a bloudie warrier and souldier could say God forbid that I should deuoure or destroy the inheritance of the Lord and shall professors of the Gospell be guiltie of this sinne and depopulate townes It was one of Gods blessings which he promised to Abraham that he would greatly multiply his seede as the starres of heauen and as the sand which is vpon the sea shore And doe we thinke that they shall be blessed which goe about to depriue him of this blessing And Esay likewise thus prophesieth of Christs Church I will power my spirit vpon thy seede and my blessing vpon thy buddes and they shall grow as amongst the grasse and as the willowes by the riuers of waters By how many types here doth the Prophet expresse vnto vs Christs Church of seede of buddes growing amongst grasse and of willowes and doe not all these insinuate vnto vs a multitude They are not Christs friends but his enemies that doe not nourish and cherish this his seede in the besome of their hearts that doe not comfort these his buddes with the curtesie of their spéeches and which doe not water these his willowes with the continuall streame of their liberalities This was the cause why Salomon desired wisdome of God Thou hast made me King ouer a great people like to the dust of the earth Giue me now wisedome and knowledge c. Salomon was but a type of Jesus Christ If that his subiectes were like to the dust of the earth what shall Jesus Christs subiects be likened vnto I reade in a booke of the Suruey of France made by Bodinus in the daies of King Henry the second
giue their wiues to others and their fields to heires for euery one of them euen from the least to the greatest is giuen to couetousnesse and from the Prophet to the Priest euery one dealeth falsly Here first are the effects of this noisome plague of couetousnesse that their wiues were giuen to others and their fields to heires Here is also the infection or cause of these effects because they are all giuen to couetousnes they all deale falsely It is reported that we haue tasted those former fruits effects for there died of the late plague many moe men than women and is it not likely that the same effects sprong from the same roote and if this be true then let vs all beware of couetousnesse and falsehoode in our dealing But the true cure of this plague which followes in the Prophet is taught vs by the contrary For they haue cured the hurt of the daughters of my people saith the Prophet with sweete words saying peace peace when as there was no peace Gods Ministers must cure this plague not with oyle but with sharpe wine they must not here speake faire if they meane to doe any good but thunder And therefore those nice eares that cannot abide their thunder shall die of this plague and perish in their sinnes Lastly if through humaine frailtie any faults haue escaped as who is it that erres not remember that lesson which nature teacheth That of all liuing creatures man doth most often twinckle with his eyes to teach him not to be a rigorous censurer of his brethren Ponder wisely iudge charitable pardon curteously and if thou be sicke of this disease repent speedily For God shakes his rodde ouer thy head euen now and the day of the Lord draweth nigh Thine in the Lord F. T. A BRIEFE OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS TREATISE 1 IT decaieth Tillage 2 It dispeopleth Townes 3 It is against the Common-wealth of the Iewes 4 It is against the state of Christs Church 5 It is against Christian charitie 6 It is against the Church and Common-wealth and auncient liberties and customes of England 7 Inclosure with depopulation is a sinne whereof God shall make especiall inquiry at the day of Iudgement AN HVMBLE PETITION OF THE Church and common wealth with reasons out of Gods word against late inclosure and Depopulation of Townes A preoccupation of an obiection WHereas this present treatise tendeth to the staying and decaying of Inclosure it is to be obserued and noted most dread Soueraigne that héere first I speake against late Inclosure not condemning the Inclosure of Essex Hartfordshire Deuonshire and such like Woodland Countries wherein the beginning if the Woods had not béen inclosed they could not haue béene preserued and so as it may séeme the Inclosures there of necessitie haue euer since beene continued for there euerie Lordship is charitably diuided amoÌ„gst the Tenants and tillage also in most of their Closes is maintained Townes nothing dâ—speopled although those Woodland and inclosed countries bee not so populous as other countries are But I condemne our couetous new deuised â—â—closurs which coÌ„uert champian and fruitfull soiles being good arrable ground to pasture casting halfe a cornefield to a sheepes pasture And so thereby diminish Gods people and depopulate townes Secondly I ioine depopulation of towns and this new kind of Inclosure together because the one of them doth follow the other commonly euen as necessarilie as the shadow doth the body for although in some places where this Inclosure is put in practise as our Inclosers can cunningly affirme that all the houses remaine that haue been yet there be not so many people in them as hath beene because that tillage by meanes of their Inclosure is decaied which required many moe seruants to accomplish it then their pastures will doe to looke to them And thirdly whereas Inclosers distinguish and say that it is not Inclosure but the couetous minds of men that pulleth downe townes To this I answere that Inclosure is the meanes to pull them downe and depopulations follow Inclosure as an accident inseparable as the Logicians call it For marke it who list where this Inclosure hath set in foot they shall sée houses fallen downe and lie in the dust and shall I not héere rather beléeue mine eyes than their faire spéeches The first reason against this Inclosure is it decaies tillage THe Heathen euer made great account of Tillage Cicero writeth thus of Husbandrie That of all things whereby any gaine is gotten there is nothing more excellent than Tillage nothing more commodious nothing more pleasant and nothing more fit for a Gentleman O that our Gentlemen were of his mind The noble men of Rome take the names of corne as Fabij of Beanes and Cicerones of a kinde of Pease and Pisones of Baking They which were married had a garland of corne carried before them Amongst the Romanes also him whom they called Bonum Colonum A good plowman they seemed to praise exceedingly Nay he that did not till his land well the Censors punished him Such Censors were to bée wished amongst vs to make vs till our land It was also by law enacted amongst them that hee that came to take an amercement or penaltie should not take an oxe before a sheepe Nay that a man stealing by night corne that was sowen should be put to death with greater seueritie then an homicide They cal Glory Adoriam of Ador which signifies corne Plinie also writes thus of the fruitfulnesse of the earth What was the cause that the earth was so fruitfull then because saith he that then the earth was tilled with the hands of Emperors And it is not amisse to thinke that the earth did reioice then of her coulter and share being crowned and of her Plowman being a triumphant Emperor They were then as carefull of plowing their lands as of waging their warres And they did as diligently order their fields as their camps The like cause may bée assigned of the barrennesse of the earth in our daies God plagues our contempt of tillage with penurie and scarcitie Gentlemen now a daies thinke scorne of the Plough Tillage was the first worke that was imposed vpon man after that he was banished out of Paradise And God sent man out of the garden of Eden Langabath to serue to waite vpon to till the earth And shall the best of vs all then thinke scorne of tillage Also this was that gracious promise made vnto Noah after the flood That heereafter seede time and haruest cold and heat sommer and winter day and night shall not cease so long as the earth remaineth But if all men should follow Inclosers steps why then in all townes we should haue no tillage or very little but all shéepe Is not this to contradict the ordinance of God But tillage is troublesome vnto them and the other is a more gaineful and easie way as they doe imagine and therefore they
passe not for that Let all such great sheepe-maisters that are decaiers of tillage take héede which will haue no seede furrowes nor haruests nor greatly passe not for them they contradict hoerein Gods ordinance as this place prooues And after we read of Noah as of an obedient subiect to God héerein thus And Noah began to be Ish Haadhmah that is a man wholy giuing himselfe to labour in the earth and he planted a vineyard To plant a vineyard is correspondent in some countries to our sowing of corne and an acre of Mines yeeldes better increase then an acre of our Corne as I haue heard Isaak also as heire of Noah did follow his steps and though a straunger in Aegypt yet we read of him thus And Isaak did sowe corne in that countrie and he found in that yeere an hundred measures and God blessed him Shall Isaak sowe being a stranger in Aegypt and not wée at home Did hée finde an hundred measures for one For so Munster saith that the Chalde Paraphrast doth erpound this And shall we say that we can finde no commoditie by tillage And it followes God blessed him a blessing of God followes tillage They shall not thriue that decay it as erperience teacheth God appeated to Gedeon as he was threshing and appointed him Iudge ouer Israel And doth not this commend threshing Elizeus also whom God did chuse to bee a Prophet in Eliah his roome was a great maintainer of tillage for thus we reade And Eliah departed thence and found Elishah the sonne of Shaphat who was plowing with twelue yoke of oxen before him and he was with the twelue And was not Elizeus a great husbandman who had twelue yoke of oxen and no doubt many plowes going together in his field and many plowmen among whom after hée deuided those two oxen which he killed And doe not all these so beloued of God and giuing themselues so greatly to tillage commend it vnto vs shall we prefer pasture and neglect this Master Camden writes that in England were the stately Palaces of Lady Ceres meaning great Barnes of corne Now we may see in some places some such great Barnes still and Inclosers makes them stande emptie I know whereas 1500. quarters of corne hath béene yéerely growing since inclosure hath beene practised there groweth not now 500. And againe he writes that England for corne was the onely storehouse of all the west Empire And that out of England yeerely the Romanes transported 400. shippes bigger then barkes laden with corne to relieue their souldiers that lay on the borders in Germany In those daies England was able to relieue other countries with corne but sometime now she is glad to buie corne of other countries her selfe Inclosers haue partlie brought this to passe who had rather haue their wooll-houses filled with wooll then their Barnes with corne O dishonorable children to their mother The Preacher also in his booke writes verie excellently in the commendation of tillage If in a countrie saith hée thou seest the oppression of the poore and the defrawding of iudgment and iustice be not afraide at the matter for hee that is higher then the highest regardeth and there be higher then they And the aboundance of the earth is ouer all the King also consists of the field that is tilled Salomon giueth an Item to all that deale hardly with the poore how that the God of heauen beholdeth Nay Shomer as it is in the Hebrew that is marketh and keepeth in memorie all their dealings And that the tillage of the earth surpasseth all and that euen the King thereby is maintained by the foode that it ministreth to strengthen his people and by the multitude of valiant souldiers it affordeth for his warres For as Plinie writes Most strong and valiant souldiers are made of husbandmen and come foorth of the countrie and which thinke no harme And shall wée deale hardly with those that must fight and aduenture their liues for vs And shall wée not maintaine tillage the honorable mother of chiualrie Lechem in Hebrew signifies bread and Lacham to fight They therfore which destroy bread destroy chiualry Nay how can any christian truly say the Lords prayer and pray Giue vs this day our daily bread that decaieth tillage Will he pray for bread and not vse the ordinary meanes to haue bread which is tillage This is plainely to tempt God Will he haue God feede vs miraculously with Manna as hee did Israel in the wildernes In Canaan God will haue plowing and sowing vsed And therefore after the children of Israel came into the lande of Canaan Manna ceased That historie also of the plague in King Dauids daies must teach vs some thing and therein that is especially to be marked to build an Altar in the threshing floore of Araunah It should seeme that God loues threshing flooers and there hée will be praised But Inclosure decaieth tillage and therefore God is not praised in our threshing flâ—oers This may be a cause of the plague amongst vs euen now Let vs erect Altars in the threshing flooers of Araunah and the plague shall cease Inclosers doe thinke that there are too manie men in this lande and that they may decaie townes by their Inclosure and that it is no great matter to â—eâ—aie a towne But God sâ—â—th their thoughts and now he beginneth to diminish the people of this land hee may diminish them as well as they and he beginneth at the very head first Couetousnesse which is the roote of all euill which our Sauiour describes in the Gospel and S. Paul to Timothie and pride which God hates and resists which Esay also paints out vnto vs in his third chapter at large the taking Gods name in vaine for filthy luâ—re For which God wil not hold vs guiltles c. And because deceite and guile goe not out of our streetes And for that by our wicked liues Gods word is euill spoken of These no doubt may séeme to bée the causes of the plague amongst vs God giue all men eies to see their sinnes and to amend them that the plague may cease and especially Citizens and such as inhabit in townes corporate amongst whom these sinnes commonly raigne A second reason against this Inclosure is that it dispeopleth townes THe people are called Gods inheritance Aske of me will giue thee the heathen for thine inheritance the ends of the earth for thy possession And again Behold saith Dauid childreÌ„ are the inheritance of the Lord a reward the fruite of the wombe He putteth behold before this his doctrine as though it were a strange thing and yet most true Secondly he addeth that children are a reward Inclosers manie times lacke this reward they loue the earth so wel that God wil not blesse them with many sonnes Nay Dauid addeth Like as the arrowes in the hand of the Gyant so are the children of
besides Burgundie there were numbred in France 27. thousand villages with steeples And in another suruey of France made in the raigne of Charles the ninth it was found that the number of the inhabitants there were aboue 15. millions of men Did the French thus glory in their multitudes of people and shall not we much more in England séeke to maintaine ours And here I cannot but take away some stumbling blockes for these Inclosers perchaunce will flatter themselues and say that it is but a small village that they haue dispeopled or a small farme or cottage that they haue decaied or pulled downe and what doe you make so much to doe thereof But let all such know that little Zoar saued Lot and Nazareth that obscure citie whereof Nathaniell said can any good come out of Nazareth it nursed our Sauiour Jesus and gaue him a name which from his crosse to this day is honorable And Saint Paul teacheth vs plainely that God hath chosen the weake things of this world to confound the mightie things and vile things and things which are despised hath God chosen And dare any contemne or make light account of that nay destroy that which God hath chosen and maketh great account of Out of that little village or poore cottage which he hath decaied whosoeuer hée is might haue come one as good as himselfe what may I say then of great husband townes where many rich farmers and cottages are decaied Would any of vs willingly haue the little finger of his hand cut off no more no doubt will Jesus Christ suffer one poore cottage which is as it were his little finger to bée cut off vnpunished without repentance There was a statute made of late for the maintainance of tillage and reedifying farmes decaied It is to bée feared that God hath obserued how diligent some were to sée the poore whipped by a statute made at the same time and how slacke in the execution of that other act of reedifying plowing Another stumbling blocke is that some will say they must néedes maintaine their states And this cloake couers all their pride and couetousnes But let all such know that reason thus Must they impare the Lords inheritance to maintaine their estates euen they whom the Lord himselfe hath aduanced they had better to be as poore as Lazarus in state and condition nay they had better neuer haue béene borne then to exault themselues to impare his inheritance Oh let these men of all others take héede of this ingratitude Let the example of King Saul terrifie them who being made of a poore acorne a mightie oake and of a seeker of his fathers asses the first King of Israel yet afterwards for his vnthankefulnes and disobedience he and all his posteritie was quite reiected of God for euer from the kingdome Let Jesus Christs example teach and moue them who to doe vs good did not respect his estate being equall with God as Saint Paul teacheth vs but humbled himselfe and became as a seruant He washed his apostles feete and became obedient to the death of the Crosse And what is the greatest of our estates in comparison of his Surely euen like a little mould-hill to a mountaine And shall we thinke much to impaire our estates to doe our brethren good nay shall we hurt them to maintaine it nay shall we dishonour God Oh not Christs disciples but Mammons worldlings There were as many noble men and gentlemen in England heretofore as are now and of as great estate and how did they maintaine themselues They did not in the Popes darke kingdome depopulate townes and shall we in the light of the Gospell Can we maintaine our estates by no way else but by imparing the Lords inheritance let that be farre from vs. If Inclosers would be content with the auncient apparrell and houses and dyet of their ancestors as they are not ashamed of their lands they néede neuer raise rents nor improue their lands They which stand so much on this point that they must maintaine their estates know not what humilitie is All Christs disciples must be humble And humilitie is to descend a degree or two from our estate and not to seeke to maintaine it Surely that is a spice of pride The daunger and grieuousnes of this sinne makes me in all humilitie to write thus It is to be feared that God may now complaine as he did in the daies of Ieremie Can a virgin forget her ornament or a bride her attire yet my people haue forgotten me daies without number who haue adorned and maintained them Why do you as it were now at last begin to make your waies good againe to purchase my loue yea euen heerein thou declarest that thy waies are euill For in thy wings are found the blood of soules of poore innocents Thou hast not found them with mattockes in their hands such as are mentioned in Greâ—us where theeues are said with matâ—odâ—â—s to digge thorow walles and to 〈◊〉 into houses by night but about all 〈…〉 saith the Prophet no doubt wi 〈…〉 ter instruments euen to puâ—◠〈◊〉 houses and townes And yet th 〈…〉 because I am guiltlesse surely 〈…〉 shall turne from me Behold I wi 〈…〉 with thee into iudgement because theâ— saiest thou hast not sinned Inclâ—sâ—â—s are as guiltie of these sinnes as were those Jewes For after their inclosure they will goe about to make good their waies and they will giue some poore widowes cowegates in their closes as it were to purchase Gods fauour whereas as those Jewes had they haue the blood of poore innocent soules in their wings and worships Nay and they haue also in their hands not mattockes but greater instruments then those euen to pull downe farmes and townes And yet neuerthelesse they saie as the Jewes did that they are not guiltie Therefore saith God I will enter into iudgement with them And this may séeme to be another cause of the pâ—ague amongst vs at this day We sinne in wordly cares and in excesse in our diet whereof our blessed Sauiour biddes vs take héede we excéede in our stately buildings which the Prophet Esay and Ieremie plainely reprooue we sinne in vanitie of apparell which the Prophet Zephanie condemnes and we account these no sins wée say that we are guiltles and therefore doth God enter with vs into iudgement whereas it is the first lesson that the Apostle Saint Peter giues vs which liue in the end of the world that we should be sober and kéepe no doubt that holie meane in all our worldly cares in our diet in our apparell in our buildings and in the furniture of our houses and to conclude in all things But that which followes in the Prophet shall proue them guiltie and condemue them Why labourest thou so much saith the Prophet to change thy waies and to make them seeme good thou shalt be confounded of Aegypt as thou art also confounded
that sentence also shall stand good wherein consistes one maine point next faith of our saluation Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy and iudgement mercilesse shall be to him that hath shewed no mercy as S. Iames teacheth vs. But Inclosers I thinke neuer remember that day if they did they would prefer prayers before payments and the harts of their tenants with that courteous Romane Curius before their heapes of golde and siluer O blind couetousnesse O blinde Inclosers more blinde than Grecians more blinde than Romanes nay more vncharitable and cruell than very Infidels Nature teacheth that the wilde figge tree if it be planted neere vnto the figge tree that it will make it more fruitfull and shall not these Heathen or Pagans who are wilde figge trées in comparison of vs Christians make vs excell in good works shall their figges be sweeter than ours O degenerate and wilde Christians God by his Prophet Ieremie saith Goe to the isles of Chittim and behold and send vnto Kedar and take diligent heede and see whether there be such things Our most gratious God compares his people of the Jewes with the Paganes And will he not much more compare vs christians with them And is it not a shame for vs to be ouercome of them in charitie towards our brethren Surely if we be in the day of iudgement they shall condemne vs. The sixt reason this Inclosure is against the Church and Common-wealth and auncient customes and liberties of England GOds Ministers may make that complaint of Inclosers that Iacob made of Laban Thou hast now changed my wages ten times So haue they changed the auncient liuings of Gods Ministers But in all their exchanges it hath fallen out as it doth commonly in casting of mettals that which hath comne in the second place hath not béen so good as was the former Their summes of money which they doe now alowe are not so good in value as were heretofore tithes in kinde and againe the money due is not so easily obtained at their hands And thus they doe not onely mussell the mouthes of Gods Oxen which doe tread out his Corne but also impouerish them yéerely more more by this their inclosure and yet for all this they will be accounted Laban that is they will séeme white and religious Hierome of couetous Patrons and laie-men which studie to get into their hands Ecclesiasticall liuings writes thus They which serue at the Altar let them be partakers of the Altar Therefore because Priests were wont to pray for all them whose almes and oblations they doe receiue with what face dare laie men either themselues eate or grant to others the oblations which Christians doe offer for their sinnes when as it becommeth not them to pray for the people For this cause O glorious Father we ought to excommunicate those presumptuous persons for euer that others might be afraid and that these things might be no more done in the Church O grieuous sinne which Hierome saith is to be excommunicated for euer And here first the poore husbandmen and cottagers may complaine vnto your Maiestie of the payments of the Subsidie inflicted vpon them that whereas there hath béene rich farmers in euery Towne to pay it now those townes inclosed being dispeopled and those rich farmers which were wont to pay it being fled away the payments thereof are imposed on poore men who being but tenants and hauing but a small flocke of cattell and perchance a great familie to maintaine are enforced to be three pound men in the Subsidie booke whereas the Lord of the mannor or Frée-holder being their Landlords liuing in other places hauing fiue hundred or a thousand shéepe in the said Lordship which they haue inclosed and improued and perchance fiftie or a hundred cattell will pay nothing towards the payment of the same Pleading for themselues that by law they are to be assessed and bound to pay but in one place which for the most part is where they inhabit And so they vsing and enioying the profits and commodities of the farmes which they haue decayed and also eating with their cattel the chiefe commoditie of the field will beare no part of that dutie with their poore tenants which makes them repine and murmur Nay that which is the last refuge if the townes inclosed be so poore that they are not able to pay the Subsidie they will vse meanes to mitigate the same and so make some townes néere adioyning helpe to beare out the burden of those townes that they haue decayed and dispeopled by their inclosure Secondly the poore also may complaine of Inclosers for taking away their Common for herein they are first impious against God and iniurious to their Auncestors and distoyall to the Kings prerogatiue royall For first God himselfe may séeme to haue giuen some Commons as appeares in Holland and in the Marsh in Lincolneshire and Holdernes in Yorkeshire and in Kent where many miles of ground haue béen added by the Sea Secondly some people of godly disposition and great possessions dying without issue haue giuen large Commons in diuers places as in Yorkeshire a great Common called Walling Fenne And lastly Kings haue giuen Commons also William Conqueror gaue Commons and other liberties so that Lords of Mannors did not appoint them and therefore at their pleasures may not take them away And they were giuen as it should seeme vpon these considerations First to maintaine the poore men that fought for him for all were not Gentlemen in that great armie of the Conqueror And as gentlemē had lordships bestowed vpon them for their seruice so no doubt the poore had Cōmons giuen to them also for the same cause that a poore man prouiding onely meate for his Cowe against winter was assured to haue her kept and fedde on the Commons all the summer for nothing and so might be the better imployed about his Maiesties warres so often as néede did require whereas now in many places the poore man is forced to pay very dearely for the summer Common or pasture for his Cowe ouer and besides his house rent which in times past he had belonging to his house for his said rents And so the care for the prouision for his family being great makes many not to be so forward to warres as they both would and ought to be Boterus Benesius writing of the estate of the whole world and strength of England which consistes on the poore Husbandman Cottager and common Souldier reports thus Although saith he the English men are able to bring into the field 2000. Launces and a great number of light horse yet the horsemen of England haue neuer wonne to themselues such credit and praise in war as the footemen haue done King Edward the third who made so many voyages into France and obtained there so many victories to declare in which of his forces he most trusted forsooke his horsemen and went on foote amongst his