Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	borough_n	knight_n	shire_n	4,505	4	13.8737	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54686	Investigatio jurium antiquorum et rationalium Regni, sive, Monarchiae Angliae in magnis suis conciliis seu Parliamentis. The first tome et regiminis cum lisden in suis principiis optimi, or, a vindication of the government of the kingdom of England under our kings and monarchs, appointed by God, from the opinion and claim of those that without any warrant or ground of law or right reason, the laws of God and man, nature and nations, the records, annals and histories of the kingdom, would have it to be originally derived from the people, or the King to be co-ordinate with his Houses of Peers and Commons in Parliament / per Fabianum Philipps.	Philipps, Fabian, 1601-1690.	1686 (1686)	Wing P2007; ESTC R26209	602,058	710

evil Doings marching and maintaining their Army from place to place Ungarrisoning and Garrisoning divers of the King's Castles and Places of strength together with the no small Charges of their disloyal Contrivances Envoys and Ambassadours to their good Friends the King of France and the Pope Their great Necessities appearing very demonstrable in their harshly pressing the Bishops for some Arreares of the Clergy Tenths Seizing and Sequestration of the Rents and Estates as much as they could come at of the Loyal Party to the pretended Use of the King taking away the Tax and Tallage of the Judaism or Banks of the Jews the then besides the Caursini the Popes Bankers or Brokers only Usurers of the Kingdom which had been assigned to the Prince not omitting the getting into their hands the Tolls and Profits of the Markets and Fairs appertaining to his Mannor of Stamford who untill the very instant of his Escape from the Castle of Hereford where he had long lain a quiet Prisoner under their Persecution had enjoyed them All or but some of which might have given them a Temptation and Opportunity if they had had the mind or least Inclination to it to have taken those few Commons that were with them into their Association and moulded them into a neverbefore-used Form or Figure of a Parliament ever since so mistakenly called or Constitution of a third Estate and House of Commons therein when anciently and long before our Kings great Councels or Parliaments consisted only of such Lords Spiritual and Temporal as they should please to advise withal and those Commons which they had with them do not appear to have made any Act of Parliament or Ordinance for the raising of Money to support the charges of their Rebellion But that part of the Baronage appeared to have been so unwilling to take them into their Company or give them any occasion to contemn or lift themselves above their former condition as when in the Difficulties with which they wrestled upon the Prince's denying his Consent ever to have been given to a supposed Ordinance then lately as they would have as many as they could make believe it to have been made at London by the Prelates and Barons by the unanimous Assent of the King and his Son the Prince totius Communitatis Regni concerning the setling of Peace in the Kingdom the freeing of the Prince from his Imprisonment and the Discharge of the ill Opinion which many of the People had of their Actions they were constrained to send Writs in the King's Name the 12 th of June in the same year of that imprisoned King dated at Hereford unto the Bishops of London Winchester Ely Salisbury Chester Coventry and Lichfeild Bath and Wells and the rest of the Prelates who may then be understood to have been absent to come omni festinatione to advise with him at Gloucester to assist him with their Councels and be a Means to take off those Rumours which had been raised that by the Testimony of the King himself and the rest of the Prelats the Truth might appear that it was not the King himself but the Rebels as whilest he was in their Power he was made to stile his Son the Prince and his Loyal Party But none of the Commons before summoned or designed to have been summoned had any new Writs sent unto them for that purpose to meet at Gloucester which would have been very necessary if they could have born any Testimony to that supposed Ordinance which is not in any of the Records of that year or any other year those monumenta vetustatis veritatis to be seen or if they had had any Vote in that imaginary Parliament it would not have been said in that King 's Writ dated at Westminster the first day of February in the year aforesaid and in the Close Rolls of that year That although upon some Discords arising amongst the Scholars in the University of Cambridge the King had given leave that there might be an University established at Northampton yet being informed by all the Bishops of the Kingdom that it would greatly inconvenience the University of Oxford he did de concilio magnatum strictly forbid it But if there had been any Proceedings upon those Writs for the Election of Members to constitute an House of Commons for that or any long time expended in the duration thereof few of whom either came or were willing or dared to be present at that new-fancied Parliament which could not be believed to have had any Duration or long Continuance if it had at all gained a lawful beginning or could have overcome those many Obstructions which lay before them those two Knights of the Shire sent out of Yorkshire who had obtained a Writ for their Wages or Charges in coming tarrying or returning and were possibly gone homeward or shortly going would not have made such hast to be gone It being alwayes to be remembred that although King Edward the First had so subdued Wales as to make them obedient unto such Laws as he would have them obey yet King Henry the Eighth was the first that removed the Barr and accustomed distances and Enmities that had long continued between the English and the Welsh when in the 27 th year of His Reign he did incorporate his Dominion of Wales with his Kingdom of England and ordained that All that were born or to be born in Wales should enjoy the Laws of the Realm which and no other be willed should be used in Wales and that two Knights should be chosen to be Knights as Members in the House of Commons in Parliament for the County and one Burgess for the Town of Monmouth Knights and Burgesses shall be chosen in every Shire and Borough of Wales to come unto the Parliament and have the allowance of Wages as others used to have and there should be two Knights for the County of Chester chosen and two Burgesses for the City to be Members of the House of Commons in Parliament Which rendred it to be not only improbable but impossible that any Knights or Burgesses for Wales and the Counties of Chester and Monmouth and the Boroughs thereof in that so New-created Parliament of Symon de Montfort's own framing in Anno 49 of King Henry the Third or in any other Parliaments better authorized until the aforesaid Reign of King Henry the Eighth And it is also remarkable and to be observed that the County Palatine of Durham and the Borough of Newark in the County of Nottingham had no Authority to send Burgesses to Parliament neither did untill His now Majesties Happy Restauration Or if that so would be called Parliament could by any stretch of Fancy have been supposed to have been itinerant with the Army it could never come up to any Probability that that King so governed against his Will by it would the fourth day of June by his Writ dated at Hereford directed to the Mayor and Bayliffs of Bristol have

quibusdam Magnatibus aliis de Concilio suo super dictis negotiis in brevi specificat eis ibidem plenius exponend tractaturi suumque concilium impensuri ulteriusque facturi quod ibidem de communi concilio assensu contigerit ordinari and that the Sheriff as likewise the Sheriffs of all the other Counties of England were commanded to certify the names of the Merchants sic eligendorum with a severe admonition in the latter end of the said Writ of Summons viz. sciens procerto quod fi dicti Mercatores de discretioribus ditioribus ut praedicitur eligendi ad dictos diem locum non habueris te ab ofsicio tuo amovere teque tanquam expeditionem negotionum nostrorum praedictorum impedieras de impeditione hujusmodi culpabilem invenire absque difficultate aliqua faciemus Teste Edwardo Duce Cornubiae Domino de Cestria filio nostro charissimo Custode Angliae apud Kennington Et Eodem Anno Strangers have been sometimes admitted into the House of Peers after a Summons to be Receivers and Tryers of Petitions but did not sit The Commons at the beginning of every Parliament are sent for out of the House of Commons to come to the Bar of the House of Lords where the Lord Chancellor if he be present or in his absence one of the Lord Chief Justices or an Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and sometimes the Lord Treasurer and in 9. H. 6. Linwood a Doctor of Law in the sickness of a Lord Chancellor declared in the behalf of the King or his Lieutenant the cause at large of the Summons of Parliament commanded them to elect and present their speaker the Writs of Summons making sometimes a short mention thereof and many times none at all In 17th E. 3. the cause of Summons was begun to be declared by the Chancellor but pursued by Sr Bartholomew Burghurst concerning the Kings Actions in France 15. E. 3. The King denied the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to come into the Parliament-House untill he had answered certain Articles objected against him in the Exchequer and then also refused him entrance untill at the last at the intercession of the Lords he was admitted In Anno 16 of his Reign Prince Edward his son Duke of Cornewall and Custos regni with others of the Councell summoned a Parliament in his fathers name to grant him an aid being then in his Wars beyond the Seas The King in the 18th year of his Reign sent his Writs of Summons to a Parliament to treat of the affairs of the Kingdom with these words nobiscum si praesentes fuerimus ibidem seu cum deputandis a nobis si abesse nos contigerit Eodem Anno Writs were issued for the Electing of two Knights for every County without mention of any Citizens Burgesses and in some no manucaptors for the Elected retorned and were to appear at London but before the day appointed come another Writ came to appear at Sarum Eodem Anno The King being offended at the small appearance of the parliament on Monday commanded it to be adjourned untill the next day The Receivers and Tryers being named because the prelates and other grandees were not come on Tuesday the parliament was adjourned untill the Thursday on which day the cause of Summons was declared 20. E. 3. On Fryday the Commons delivered in their petitions which were considered by the Lords upon Saturday Sunday and Monday next following and on that Monday they were Dissolved In the 21st Year of his Reign he declared in his Writs to Summon that parliament that he did call them not to give him Money or Supplies but only to enquire after wrongs done to the people Eodem Anno the Commons having long continued together desire an answer to their Bill leur deliverance Anno 24. E. 3. The King sending his Writs to Elect 2 Knights of every County and 2 Burgesses of every City and Borough caused a Clause to be inserted that none should be placitatores querolarum manutentores aut ex hujusmodi quaestu vincentes In 26. E. 3. the King issued out Writs to the Sheriffs of every County in England to elect one Knight for every County to come to the parliament and sent his Writs to the Mayors and Bailiffs of Burgess Towns not to the Sheriffs as at other time to retorn 1 Citizen for every City and 1 Burgess for every Borough except London whose Sheriffs were commanded to Elect 2 Citizens giving the reason why no more then 1 for other places ut Homines ab ista occupatione Audumpnalo quo nirus possimus retrahomus Anno 27. E. 3. Sent hrs Writs to the Sheriff to Elect de assensu Com. only 1 Knight and to the Sheriffs of London the Mayor and Bayliffs of all other Boroughs that used to send Burgesses to Parliament to Elect and retorn 2 Citizens and Burgesses apiece for the Statute of the Staple made in the same year ca. 3. hath these words viz. Whereas good deliberation had with the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and great men of the Country that is to say of every County one for all the Countys and of the Commons of Cities and Boroughs Anno 28. E. 3. the cause of Summons was first declared before the names of the Receivers and Tryers were published Eodem Anno the King issued his Writs to all the Sheriffs of England to cause 2 Knights of every Shire to come to the Parliament at Lincoln to confirm the perambulation of the Forrests and particularly enjoyned to Summon the Knights Elected the last Parliament but if dead or unable to come to Elect others in their places and the Sheriff for Oxford and Barkshire receiving only a mandate to elect Knights for Oxfordshire did notwithstanding retorn two for Berkshire in this manner Et quia Com. Berks. est in ballia mea licet perambulatio in eodem facta fuit observata pro eo quod in isto brevi continetur quod colloquium in Parliamento tractandum erit Super aliis negotiis praefatum Regem tangentibus Ideo gratis elegerunt duos milites quorum nomina c. Anno 29. E. 3. the Chief Justice declared that the Kings pleasure was that the Cause of Summons should be declared by Mounsieur Walter de Manny and so it was yet the Chief Justice managed the Parliament business in the House of Peers as Speaker for presently after Mounsieur de Manny's discourse he called the Commons to advise thereof and make ready their Petitions In the 34 year of his Reign sent his Writs to all the Sheriffs to cause to appear in Parliament all Collectors of the Tenths and Fifteenths granted to him in Parliament for paying his Forces by Land and Sea for the Kingdoms defence to be restored again to the payers in case no such expences should be made and all Arrayers of Souldiers to give an account of all Moneys received and disbursed

de Wileby Miles de Com. Leic. qui manucapt fuit per Johannem Clerke Johannem Russell Johannem Peche mil. de Com. War per manucapt Johannem Walkere Willielmo peniter For although it hath been said and sometime taken for a Rule in our Laws as well as in others in some cases that qui facit peo alium facit per se yet such trusts as those are as little transferrable as that of a MemberShip of the house of Commons in Parliament to one that was never elected and the Sheriffs are not to trust either Ignorant or Factious men by packing and juggling one with another to choose Boys or Youths under the age of 21. of which sort as Mr Pryn hath publiquely declared there have been above Twenty at a time in the House of Commons in some of our late unhappy Parliaments or Debauches Hereticks or Anti-Trinitarians as one was in one of Oliver Cromwells mock-Parliaments and ejected for it or an Atheist in regard that besides some particular clauses of their Writs mentioned it is allways expressed that the business for which the Parliament was likewise to be Assembled was pro defensione Regni Ecclesiae Anglicanae which do manifestly declare the Intention of the King and his Writs to be that the Madheaded people led by Drink Ignorance Interest Bribes Fear or Flattery are not to be suffered by Sheriffs to chuse Papists Fanatiques or Rigid Presbyterians the greatest or most Inveterate Enemies to the Church and Kingdom or the Sons of such as Sate in the Horrid Convention that murdered their King and when they should make their Election de prudentioribus Discretioribus let Fools Knaves and Drunkards chuse one another for howsoever the House of Commons have been heretofore filled with some or moulded otherwise then they should be yet the Intention of the Writs was never ro Introduce such Fiery Tempers or Granadiers as should do what they Could to Fire all within and without and Elect all the new-fangled untryed Innovations they Can and encourage others thereunto before they know how to Understand them make Remonstrances and Harangues and print and publish them to the people against the Government Fundamental Laws and the just rights of their Sovereign and their Succession the former and later of which the Politiques of former Ages and Queen Elizabeths blessed Reign would never think sit to be there disputed and the perclose or later part of those Writs that one part of the Indentures should be retorned to the King in his Chancery may evidence that the Intention of those Writs and of him that gave them their breath and authority was that the approbation and allowance of the Elections should ultimately reside in the Sovereign which gave occasion to Oliver Cromwell in his Usurped Kingship under the Counterfeit title of Protector of his Fellow-Rebells in an Instrument of his own making to reserve to himself and his Privy Councell the power of allowing and disallowing such as should be Chosen to be Members of the House of Commons in Parliament For by Law it is intended that the King should have the approbation of the men elected and therefore to that end one pair of the Indentures are to be retorned to the Clark of the Crown in Chancery our Kings in their Parliaments that Succeeded the 21th Year of the Reign of King Edward the first as well as the tenor purport of the Writs did provide that the Sheriffs who are the Kings Officers not the Peoples should according to the Kings Writs be Judges of the fitness or unfitness of the persons Elected or to be Elected and did therefore to prevent the defaults of due Elections ordain Penalties to be laid upon them for making false retorns or doing wrong therein and give directions unto them how in many things to manage the affairs in such Elections as in 7. H. 4. 15. where it was Complained that the Sheriffs made the Elections according to affections or otherwise 11. H. 4. that undue Elections should be enquired of by Justices of Assize who should have power to enquire of false retornes made and to examine and Fine the Sheriffs making default at 100 l. and the Knights unduly retorned were to lose their Wages of old time accustomed and by an Act of Parliament made in the 6th year of the Reign of King Henry the 6th the said Sheriffs and Knights were to be admitted to their answers and traverse to such enquests taken which must be understood to be either in the Kings Court of Chancery or Kings-Bench where the King himself is supposed by Law to be present and the Knights should not be endamaged to the King his Heirs and Successors by any such enquest untill they should thereof be Convict according to the form of the Statute of the 1. of H. 5. 1. Knights and Burgesses should be Chosen of such as be resiant 8. H. 6. ca. 7. The People that were to Chose or rather to assent were to have 40 s. per Annum Freehold and none to be Chosen Knights of the Shires that have not above and the Sheriffs were Impowered to examine upon Oath how much every one in giving his Vote or Consent to the● Election might expend by the Year And by the Statute of 23. H. 6. 15. the Sheriffs is to make his Precepts to the Mayor or Bayliff of Cities and Parliament Burgess Towns who were to take Care of due Elections and retorne the Indentures to the Sheriffs and the Penalties given to the King and they that should be mischosen and Sit in Parliament are to forfeit 100 l. to the King and as much to the Party duly Elected or to them that will Sue for the same wherein no wager of Law or Essoyne is to be allowed but such process as are to be awarded as in trespass at the Common Law and Brooker a Sheriff of Wiltshire was in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth prosecuted in the Court of Starr-Chamber upon an Information for perjury at the Queens Suit for a false Retorne made of Sr John Thyn to be Knight of the Shire for the said County in Parliament whereas in truth Penruddock was Chosen by the greater number of the Freeholders in the said County in deceit of the County and of the whole Realm And the Sheriffs and the Chief Magistrates of every City and Burgess town every Knight of the Shire and Burgess of Parliament ought by the mandate and tenor of the Writs and as the Indentures which are not made betwixt the Electors and the Elected but betwixt the Electors and the Sheriff do ordain to take Care that the Knights should have plenam sufficientem potestatem pro se Comunitate Comitatus and the Burgesses Chosen for every City and Burgess town ad faciend Consentiend c. which in a Just formality of Law ought to be signified to the King in his Chancery by their Indentures as an Instrument or Deed of procuration or letter

Status pro Stallo Monachorum Cannnicorum in Ecclesia Galbertus in vita Caroli Com. Flandr n. 72. Status simul sedes Fratrum dejectae sunt Idem n. 98. Inter columnas quippe solarii specula Status suos ex scriniorum aggoribus cumulis scamnorum prostituerant Stephanus Tornacensis Epist. 12. Assignetis ei statum in Choro sicut habere solet sedem in Capitulo Locum in Refectorio statutum de Installatione Canonicorum Bononiensium in Morinis Assignaturque sibi status in Choro secundum qualitatem capacitatem recepti locus in Capituli For they must have no small influence upon the minds and reason of mankind as well as that which they designed to have upon the Estates of those that would be so credulously foolish as to believe them to be a third Estate to be added unto the former two very ancient Estates in times of Parliament viz. The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and it must be a strong and strange kind of delusion as much or more enchanting than the Magicians or Southsayers of Egypt that could not expound the meaning of Pharaohs dreams or far exceed the Art of the Painter that made Zeuxis Grapes so very semblable or like unto them as the Birds were made Fools and essayed to eat them or how should or would be self created Estates think themselves to be such Estates when if any such could have been or ever had been they must rather have been the Estates or such Estates that sent them but not to be such Estates but only as their Procurators Attorneys or Deputies or what an efficacious strange Art must it be that could when miracles have been long ago ceased make a shadow pass for a Substance those that are at home no such Estates but they that were only sent are no sooner once admitted in Parliament but suddenly and ex se they become parts of that they would call the third Estate when they that sent and helped to make them Members of Parliament know of no such Grandeur or title bestowed upon them how or by whom when they were in Drink or Fudled at the time of the Election or Drinking Cheating day of various and senseless bribing bargaining partialities shamefully exercised in those our late times of Rebellion and Confusion when some that were Electors the Sheriff of the County being not himself to be Elected but commanded to cause the Election fairly to be made of Burgesses for Cities or Towns justly sending Knights of the Shires Citizens or Burgesses to Parliament not having a freehold Estate under forty shillings per Annum is at the same time thrashing in another Mans Barn or at Plow or at some dayly servile labour and neither he or his High-Crown-Hatted-Wife knew of any such honour fallen upon them or how such an hic or ubique Estateship vested in him or how he that is represented should be less in degree or honour than he that sent and helped him to be Elected and it will be difficulty enough for the third Estate Asserters to assail them from Perjury and Treason in their endeavouring to usurp upon their Soveraign and to be coordinate with him or to free them from the forfeiture of their Lands and Estates unto their Mesne Lords And it is very probable that King Henry the third in the 52 year of his Raign and his Parliament did not intend to make the Common sort of People or smaller part of the Nation to be equal with the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and Religious Men and Women who were by that Statute exempt from coming to the Sheriffs turn or being ranked with them as Estates the Sheriffs turns being as Sr. Edward Coke saith ordinarily composed of the Bayliffs of Lords of Manors Servants and other Common sort of people that Court having no Jurisdiction to try any Action other than under forty Shillings value And there could not certainly be a greater parcel of wickedness credulity and ignorance hardly to be decerned or distinguished how they or any of their Adherents can harbour or give any entertainment to the least Embrio or parcel of opinion that all or any of the Members in the House of Commons in Parliament are a third Estate when they themselves did so little believe it as in their frequent Petitions in Parliament unto their Kings they could give themselves no greater a Title than your Pauvrez Communs your Leiges and being asked their advice in Parliament touching some especial matters denied to give it themselves but referred it unto the Councel of his Lords Spiritual and Temporal at another time refused because they had no Skill or knowledge in the affairs of Peace or War the principal parts of government and in the 13th year of the Raign of King Edward the third upon that Kings demand of an unusual Tax upon the Common people as they thought prayed leave to go into their several Counties to consult those that sent and returned again with an Assent and Answer And when King Henry the fourth appeared to be offended with them came sorrowfully before him and humbly begged his pardon could not as it appears in several of our Parliament Records when the protection of themselves their Posterities and Estates were deeply concerned give their Kings and Princes any Aids or Subsidies without the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal that in the Raign of King Henry the fourth could not protect Sir Thomas Hexey one of their Members from an Accusation and Punishment by the King that in the Raign of King Henry the sixth could not support their own Clerk and in the Raigns of several of our Kings have been enforced to pray Aid of them by their Writs out of their Chancery to protect themselves and Moenial Servants in time of Parliaments That Queen Mary caused 39. of their Members to be indicted in the Court of Kings Bench for being absent from Parliament wherein none of them though Plowden a very learned Lawyer was one durst adventure to plead or insist upon any their pretended Soveraignty of Parliament or that they were a third Estate or part thereof That Queen Elizabeth one of the greatest and most vertuous of Princess that ever weilded a Scepter and sate in our English Throne could upon no greater an offence of Bromley and Welsh two of the Knights of the Shire for the County of Worcester then endeavouring to Petition the House of the Lords to joyn with them to supplicate her Majesty to declare her Successor did forbid them to go to the Parliament but keep their Chambers and shortly after committed them Prisoners in the Tower of London and did not long after sitting the Parliament Arraign and try in her Court of Kings-Bench for High Treason Doctor Parry a Member of Parliament and caused him to be drawn hanged and quartered and may read that in 16 R. 2. in an Act of Parliament made against Provisions at Rome under a Penalty of

Subjoyned Writ will manifest in the form ensuing viz. Rex dilectis fidelibus suis Godfr Foliambe sociis suis Custodibus pacis nostrae in Com. Lancastr Salutem cum nuper pro eo quod super Electionem recitando usque redder et nobis Certiores ac jam intellexerimus quod praedicti Edwardus Laurentius qui locum tenentes dict vic existunt retornum brevium nostrorum Com. praedict faciunt breve nostrum praedictum penes se retinent executionem aliquam inde hactenus facere non Curarunt nihilominus vadia illa indies levari faciant in nostri deceptionem manifestam nos volentes hujusmodi deceptioni obviare vobis mandamus quod prox Sessione vestra vocatis Coram vobis militibus allis probis hominibus ejusdem Com. aliis quos noveritis evocando diligentem Informationem inquisitionem super praemissis capiatis de eo quod in hac parte inveneritis nos in Cancellaria nostra sub Sigillis vestris aut alicujus vestrum distincte aperte sine dilatione reddatis Certiores hoc breve nobis remittentes T. R. apud Westm. per ipsum Regem Et mandatum est vic Lanc. quod levationi dictorum vadiorum Supersedeat quousque aliud inde de Rege habuerit in mandatis T. ut supra per ipsum Regem Upon which Mr Pryn observeth that the King in that age not the House of Commons examined and determined all disputable and undue Elections Complained of and ordered that the Knights whose elections were unduly made should not receive their wages or expences untill the Legality of their elections were examined and that the King may cause the Elections to be examined by speciall Writts to the Sheriffs or Justices of the Peace in his default to Enquire and Certify the legality of their elections by the Testimony of their Electors or Assenters out of the whole County and untill full Examination Supersede the Levying of their Wages and in his Plea for the House of Lords and Peers saith that the Statute made in the 8th year of the Reign of King Henry the 4th and the 11th of King Henry the 6th upon the Petitions and Complaint of the Commons in Parliament to the King and Lords which Inflicted Penalties upon the Sheriffs for making undue Elections and retorns which formerly were Arbitrary at the discretion of the King and to be Tryed not by the Commons alone without Oath upon Information as now but by the Justices Assigned to take Assizes and that by enquest and due examination therein if the Sheriff be found Guilty he shall forfeit one hundred pounds to the King and the Knights unduly retorned shall lose their Wages not to be turned out saith Mr Pryn by a Committee for Privileges of the House of Commons and that the Statutes of 1. H. 5. ca. 1. 6. H. ca. 4. 8. H. 6. ca. 7. 22. H. 6. ca. 15. touching the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses to Parliament do not alter the Law or Impower the House of Commons to determine the Legality of any Elections but leave them as before to the King by the advice of the Lords to redress as these Law-books viz. Dier 113. 168. Plowden 118. to 131. Old Book of Entries 446. 447. have resolved and are not to follow any late Arbitrary Precedents but the ancient usage and Law of our Parliaments and solid reason which will not Justify those late Innovations or extravagancies for when men are saith the Learned Sr Robort Filmer Assembled by an humane power the authority that doth assemble them Can also limit and direct the execution of that Power SECT XX. Of the small Numbers of Knights of the Shires and Burgesses which were Elected and came in the Reign of King Edward the first upon his aforesaid Writs of Election and how their Numbers now amounting unto very many more were after increased by the corruption of Sheriffs and the ambition of such as desired to be Elected FOr Mr. Pryn in his indefatigable and most exact searches of the Summons and Elections of Members of the House of Commons in Parliament and the return of the Sheriff thereupon which he himself as well as others might have then thought unnecessary and superfluous yet are now of great use for the discovery of long hidden truths hath in all the Reigns of King Edward 1. Edward the 2. Edward the 3. Richard 2. Henry 4. King H. 5. 6. and Edward the 4th found no more then 170. Boroughs Cities and Ports either Summoned by Sheriffs or their precepts or Writs to elect or return or actually electing returning Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of the Cinque ports to attend in Parliament that of those 170. Glastonbury in Somersetshire Overton in Hantshire St Edmondsbury in Suffolk Hoden and Richmond in Yorkshire had only one precept issued unto them Odiham 2 precepts Alton and Basingstake in Hantshire 4 precepts to elect and send Burgesses to Parliament upon neither of which they returned any Burgesses as the Sheriffes returns of ballivi libertatis nullum dederunt responsum or nihil inde fecerunt will attest whereupon they never had any more precepts of that nature sent unto them before the end of King Edward 4's Reign Christchurch only excepted which of late Years hath elected and returned Burgesses So that in truth 20 of those 170. Namely Newbury in Barkshire Freminton Modbury South Molton in Devonshire Bromyard Ledbury Ros in Herefordshire Dunster Langeport Monteacute Stoke Cursey Matchet Ware in Somersetshire Alesford in the County of Southamton Oreford in Suffolk Gatton in Surrey Alverton Malton and Pontefract in Yorkshire elected and returned Burgesses but once for one single Parliament and no more Mere in Wiltshire and Rippon in Yorkshire upon two several precepts made only one election Five more of those antient Boroughs as Lidford in Cornewall Bradnesham Okehamtam in Devonshire Andover in Hampshire Woodstoke in Oxfordshire and that 3 of 5 Severall Precepts the Sheriffs returned quod ballivi nullum dederunt responsum Farneham in Surrey Grantham in Lincolnshire and Beverley in Yorkshire upon five precepts did but twice elect during the Reigns of the aforesaid Kings and 4 more to wit Cheping-Norton and Dodington in Oxfordshire Mulliborne port in Somersetshiee and Coventry in Warwickshire made in all the times aforesaid but 3 elections Poole in Dorsetshire Webley in Herefordshire Witney in Oxfordshire and Aixbrugh in Somersetshire upon 5 precepts had but 4 elections and returns in all those Reigns St Albans in Hartfordshire Kingston upon Thames in Surrey Wich in the County of Wigorn and Heytesbury in Wiltshire made in all that time but 5 returns and elections of Burgesses Five others viz. Honyton and Plymouth in Devonshire Chard in Somersetshlre Seaford in Sussex and Wotton Basset in Wiltshire but 7. Preston in Lancashire Stamford in Lincolnshire Hyndon and Westbury in Wiltshire but 6. Stortford in Hartfordshire only 8. and Lancaster 13. during the Reigns of the